A Quick Death in Texas

I was bored today so I guess I made a Boot Hill sandbox or something. 

Texas, 1876...

Perdido County

0103 - Van Gundy - Tiny town that serves as a rail stop on the Houston Pacific Railroad. Founded before the Texas War for Independence, it is named for a volunteer cavalry officer who died on the spot in that war.

0716 - O'Farol Ranch - A cattle ranch. Cattle have recently been able to take the short route to Martha (1013) and on the Houston Pacific Railroad from there because the Comanches who would've made that passage impossible have been "removed." Still, there are rumors of Comanche holdouts in the nearby hills.

1011 - Fort Douglas - A small US Cavalry Fort established during the Comanche Wars. Saw fierce fighting even after the removal treaty was signed. US cavalry presence is actually fairly light and many of the people stationed are actually Mexican "contractors" procured by the Pinkerton Detective Agency.

1013 - Martha - Small town and rail water stop. The locals hope the new railroad junction to Chihuahua will make their town more prosperous, but worry about the influx of both Mexicans and Chinese rail workers. A strange phenomenon known as the "Martha Lights" have been sighted at night ever since the town's founding.  Some say that they're the souls of dead Comanches.

1018 - Rail Work Camp - Camp of American and Mexican foremen and Chinese and Black workers making a train junction from Martha to Chihuahua. Overseen by the Houston Pacific Rail Company.

1219 - Plato - Mostly empty ghost town that briefly housed Anglo-Texan settlers. Founded because of a mistranslation - the settlers thought they heard a Mexican say this place was "silver," and thus a good place for a mine, but he was actually saying it was flat "like a dish." Flat desert between the two ridge-lines.

1304 - Cool Water - Sizable town (for the area) founded because of its access to water. Currently the town has taken to a religious mania. The town council has outlawed drinking, gambling, and many other of man's base pleasures. 

1405 - Cool Water Lake - The lake that Cool Water was founded to get water from. Notably it now often sees a steam paddle boat gambling parlor that utilizes the lake to avoid the laws of Cool Water.

1501 - Buck - Small town established initially to trade with Mexicans and Comanche when Anglo-Texans first started settling.

2021 - Cromwell Ranch - A cattle ranch owned by an English immigrant. He has a fierce rivalry with both the O'Farol's and the Montroses.

2024 - Quicksilver - A small town dedicated to a small cinnabar mine. Population is dwindling as locals are falling to a mystery ailment.

2316 - Salamis - Small town founded on the site of a battle with the Comanche.  The officer in charge said his victory was "greater than Salamis," though nobody bothered to remind him that was a naval battle.

2505 - Fort Jackson - Largest town in the area and home of a US Army fort. Presumed base of the PCs. Remarkably like Promise City or whatever it's called in the book.  Former staging area against the Comanches but has seen a massive troop draw down since last year.

2610 -  Montrose Ranch - a ranch owned by Canadian immigrants of Scottish ancestry.

Rumors and Jobs in Fort Jackson

The O'Farol family at O'Farol ranch is looking to hire "regulators" to help with cattle rustlers.  Locals say that they asked the Pinkerton office for assistance but were turned down for some unknown reason. Pay is to be negotiated at the ranch.

The Lyonesse Princess serves as a gambling hall, brothel, and saloon to those poor souls in Cool Water who still desire the sins of the flesh. They have recently taken on a number of Pinkertons as guards and bouncers. Combined with new ordinances forbidding tthem from dealing with the local bank, signs point to the ship having a great deal of money on board. 

A "well dressed" Indian man with a strong, Lousiana accent has been asking around in various saloons and flophouses for a group of "good men" who can take him to Fort Douglas and assure him a face to face meeting with its commander, Major Hogan. He offers $100 but insists that he must see him face to face.

Murdered men and women found brutalized in the open desert have led many locals to think that some tiny hold out of Comanches still exists. Others think it is more likely these murders were carried out by white men - Indian hunters driven mad with blood-lust now that their quarry is gone.  A scant few say these mutilations are too brutal even for a human and suggest that there may be some unknown animal about.