AoI 1 Primer

A Primer on the World of the Association of Ishtar

Are you a steampunk fan—but tired of top hats and goggles? Are you looking for worlds that are ocean-wide and canyon-deep?

Then The Association of Ishtar might be the series for you.

It is a collection of books and games set in a world of weird fiction and cosmic mystery, accompanied by a tabletop role-playing game called Nightwatch. If you are looking for a steampunk RPG with a relatively simple ruleset—something you can run alongside systems like Dungeons & Dragons or Daggerheart—this setting may be exactly what you need.

This primer explains the core concepts, terminology, and essential technologies required to understand—and run—your own game in this expansive alternate nineteenth century. For clarity, the setting will be referred to here as Nightwatch.

Let’s begin.

What Is Nightwatch?

Nightwatch is set in an alternate 19th century in which anomalies called rifts are opening across the globe.

These rifts are gateways to other worlds within a vast multiverse. They bring strange technologies—but also alien threats.

Standing between humanity and those threats is a volunteer

organization known as the Association of Ishtar. Its members, called Associates, consider themselves the first line of defense against alien agents seeking to manipulate human affairs.

That is the core premise.

It only gets much wyrder from here.

A Very Brief History Lesson

The divergence in this timeline begins in 1792, when a strange bell-shaped object appeared in the wake of the Moon.

This object became known as Elysium.

What it is, where it came from, and what it’s doing up there remains a mystery—unless you’ve read the books, which I’ll assume you haven’t.

Then the French Revolution happened.

History proceeds much as you’d expect: the beheading of the king,

Robespierre, the Directorate, and Napoleon’s rise to power. Eventually, Napoleon defeats every major power in Europe and crowns himself Emperor.

Britain refuses to yield, and the Napoleonic Wars continue—until Napoleon begins launching actual rockets, traveling faster than the speed of sound, at England.

At that point, the powers that be become very nervous.

The war still ends as history remembers it. Napoleon is defeated at Leipzig in 1814 and at Waterloo in 1815.

But the legacy of those rockets endures.

For now, we’ll skip ahead to 1869, the year in which the first edition of Nightwatch takes place.

The World in 1869

Let’s start with what most steampunk fans are most interested in: the technology.

By 1869, consumer-level technology was about on par with what we had in the 1920s—at least in the most advanced metropolitan areas. When it comes to the proliferation of technology, you can compare it to the world of Fallout. At one point, you visit a town whose most advanced product is horse dung. The next time, you’re debating political philosophy with a rogue AI.

Due to the rifts, this world has access to blueprints that are even more advanced than those on our own. However, it does not have the manufacturing and logistical capacity to produce advanced technology in large quantities. Yes, there are companies that know how to create microchips on par with an Intel Pentium I586—if you don’t know what that is, ask your grandparents.

Damn, I’m old.

So yes, there are definitely places that look historically Victorian. And then there are locations that look like something out of a 1950s supervillain’s lair.

Steam trains are prevalent, but early cars use combustion or electric engines. And just so you know, electric cars are not some futuristic super-tech. Most early cars used batteries. They even had charging stations. But just like today, they have a very short range and a tendency to catch fire.

It’s important to mention that every metropolitan household already has a radio called a Wavecaster, produced by Ütter-Krapp. Much of the entertainment industry has been monopolized by this corporate giant.

They even owned their own bank until the Dutch government broke up the corporation after a scandal I will not get into here.

The point is: news travels fast in this setting. Radios can make characters aware of events without requiring them to gather in a single location first.

The Political Situation

At first glance, the map of 1869 looks familiar—except for one detail.

The Dutch Commonwealth.

And yes, I know. Who cares about Belgium? However, this is the only way I’ll ever get to talk about a Flemish province.

The Dutch Commonwealth is a direct result of the Napoleonic Wars. To prevent Prussia and France from immediately tearing into one another, the Congress of Vienna created the Commonwealth as a buffer state between the two empires.

Unfortunately, they made the mistake of installing Napoleon’s brother, Louis Bonaparte, as King of the Netherlands.

They expected him to preserve the status quo. Unfortunately for them, Louis was ambitious.

Free from his brother’s oversight, between 1815 and 1850 he initiated a small industrial revolution within the kingdom, aided by a company called Ütter-Krapp. Get used to that name. You’re going to hear it a lot.

No, I’m not sorry.

Together, they dragged a stagnant economy into the 19th century, transforming it into one of the world’s most technologically advanced nations.

This also meant the Dutch began interfering in the heavily contested German regions of Lorraine and Alsace, much to the irritation of both Prussia and France.

Why are these kingdoms important?

Because this is where the rifts begin to change politics.

What Is a Rift?

Rifts are two-way portals between alternate versions of Earth, known as planes.

To distinguish these worlds, the primary world is code-named Atlas—a designation used only by high-level organizations. To ordinary people, Earth is just Earth. Everything else is simply an alien world.

Stepping through a rift is easy. You can even bring things back with you.

Napoleon’s rockets were developed using technology recovered from rifts. He was one of the first to realize that these anomalies could be exploited for innovation.

After the Napoleonic Wars, more rifts were discovered. For decades, they were treated as curiosities—strange, unsettling, but not immediately life-changing.

That illusion collapsed in 1850, when a dinosaur rampaged through the Spanish countryside.

It’s hard to hide a ninety-foot behemoth that levels entire towns.

In response, scandals mounted, and governments were forced to acknowledge the problem. This led to the creation of the International Committee of Rift-Related Activity, commonly known as RA. Some people call it the Rift Authority.

I’ll allow it.

To most people, rifts are like volcanoes. They could erupt at any moment. But they’re quiet now, so it doesn’t matter.

Of course, rifts are not entirely innocent. Many of the worlds they connect to are primitive or devoid of intelligent life. The worst thing that might wander through could be a lost chicken.

But sometimes something far worse comes through.

These creatures are collectively called wyrd beasts. Most are just exotic animals. Some possess preternatural abilities.

Traveler’s Decay

If rifts connect worlds, what prevents alien civilizations from conquering Atlas?

Traveler’s Decay.

Traveler’s Decay is a poorly understood anomaly that affects anything—or anyone—that leaves its world of origin. It destroys them within thirty days.

The moment you leave your native world, the process begins. Symptoms appear around day twenty-one. After that, decay accelerates. The body physically falls apart until nothing remains except an anthracite-like residue known simply as gray stuff. Many rifts are surrounded by it.

Living beings often notice nothing if they remain only briefly in another world. Objects fare far worse.

The more advanced the technology, the faster it breaks down as individual components decay beyond repair. For this reason, Associates on expeditions often rely on less advanced equipment.

Traveler’s Decay prevents large-scale invasions between worlds.

Advanced armies cannot sustain themselves. Harvested materials cannot be transported back. Mining outposts and mass extraction are simply impossible.

Whatever enters eventually leaves a pile of ash.

Rift Biology and Subversion

Some species have found ways to reproduce across worlds. Not individually—but on a species-wide level.

Rift fairies, for example, send pregnant queens through rifts. The queen plants crystallites in local flora. By the time she dies from Traveler’s Decay, the eggs hatch and a new colony forms.

Other civilizations have developed less ethical methods—parasites, possession, mind control.

These subversive strategies are extremely difficult to detect.

That’s where the Association of Ishtar comes in.

A secretive organization of volunteers who seek to protect the world from enemies both within and without. Although they operate within a formal framework, they act like vigilantes.

They even have a motto:

Sodales nullis imperiis parent. Associates obey no commands.

Each Associate operates as they see fit and can act instantly on suspicious activity.

They often work alone or in ad hoc groups, but there are permanent special committees. One such group is the Resurrection Men, dedicated to identifying and tracking compromised individuals—known as Outsiders. By the time they are uncovered, they are often surrounded by collaborators, sometimes entire Rift cults willing to defend them to the very end.

Yes. Cults.

Some are native movements. Others are subverted by Outsiders. Not all are malicious. Some seek to mitigate the harmful effects of rifts.

Others want to accelerate the environmental changes they bring.

Tears and the Exclusion Zone

And then there are Tears.

Experts debate whether Tears should even be classified as rifts, because they are something else entirely.

Lorraine once had a prosperous city called Schildbourg. Then a Tear opened near it. Before anyone could respond, aliens overran it completely.

Tears are not gateways. They are catastrophic breaches.

Preternatural abilities are the rule, not the exception.

The French Emperor Charlemagne I personally attempted to contain the disaster. Thousands died.

The region became an Exclusion Zone—an alien hellscape sealed off from the rest of the world.

Meanwhile, the Low Countries expanded their trade networks, founding the Henaultic Restauration—more commonly known as the Hansa. It guarantees trade to allied cities and funds the Rhine Guard to patrol volatile regions.

Notice: cities, not nations.

This tension between self-governance and state control is not petty politics. It is a direct consequence of the rifts.

The Core Theme

There is one crucial thing to understand about this setting.

Nightwatch isn’t about saving the world.

It’s about preparing for the next paradigm.

This is an alternate nineteenth century where the unknown isn’t lurking among the stars, but beyond a rift in your garden shed.

Progress is not a straight line. It is something closer to an Escher painting.

Future explorations will narrow the focus onto factions, nations, corporations, cults, and the people who believe the world must change—no matter the cost.

If you’re a reader of the Association of Ishtar books, this expands the wider setting behind them.

If you’re a game master, this provides contexts, pressures, and factions you can drop directly into your own campaigns.

And if you’re simply here for the lore, then you’re already exactly where you’re supposed to be.

May she see us through. The Prying prevail.