Time: Late Regency/Early Victorian
Approximately thirty years previous, a group of Oxford scholars discovered a portal to another world -- a place rife with monsters, magic, and danger. Since that momentous time, the British Empire has opened this strange world to exploration, conquest, and colonization. It is an uphill struggle, for the kingdoms of this Neverland are mighty in magic, and ruled by distant, godlike beings who seek to drive the British (and various other upstart European powers) back through their portals and reverse the tide of invasion. The wonders of modern science -- steam power, explosives, and so forth -- work only sporadically according to the odd physical laws of this place, and the further one travels into the mysterious western lands of the continent, the less reliable the weapons and engines of the invaders become.
Miss Jane Braithwaite arrives in Neverland, in the British colonial capital of Periopolis, to settle the inheritance of her late father, a Col Braithwaite, assigned to frontier duty to the west. The rumor is that the Colonel took his own life for reasons unknown, perhaps because of mounting personal debts. Indeed, his creditors have arrived before his daughter, and have picked his estate clean, leaving Jane only the deed to a remote villa in the west, outside of British jurisdiction. Penurious, Jane decides to travel west and see if the villa is fit for resale. She is also curious to learn more about the circumstances of her father's death.
At her rooming house, she meets Annie Bull, whose cattle-baron father has sent her on a Grand Tour of Europe and Neverland. Eager to see "the real Neverland", Annie agrees to become Jane's travelling companion. The two ladies set off by train westward.
Along the way, at a remote mountain outpost, they meet an old friend of the Colonel, who casts doubt on the circumstances of his death, and encourages Jane to travel on to the villa. He assigns them an officer, Lt. West, as added protection.
Upon arriving in Ringtong, Jane finds the villa is occupied by a gaunt aesthete named Sebastian Gray, who claims to have been in her father's service. After Jane discovers a secret lab in the basement, Gray is forced to admit that the Colonel is not dead, but has gone missing, part of a nefarious plot by a secret society of which Gray and the Colonel are both members. Jane picks up her father's trail and plunges westward into the jungle with her companions, in search of her missing father...
The subsequent adventure has involved hot air balloons, floating cities, and evil fire priests, not to mention battles against strange monsters and treks through steaming swamps. For those who want more info, I'll try to make some of it available on the web.
Good Gaming,