Tales From Rivermark

Prologue

At sometime around 06:43 on January 23rd, 2020, the world changed - forever.

No, literally, it changed! Out of absolutely nowhere, an entire continent roughly the size of Australia sprung up in the middle of the Atlantic. Unseen from satellites, only accessible by special routes through the sea - this landmass stumped scientists. But that wasn't all that confused them.
Even more strangely, nothing seemed affected. There were no before- or after-shocks, no disturbances in the atmosphere, nor even the smallest wave. It appeared to just integrate into the world naturally.

And the world did not let this oddity stay an oddity very long.

While some espoused theories of Atlantis, or of the end of the world, scientists from around the world rushed to study the new land. But what they found confused them more than anything before: on the East, a land full of European flora and fauna, indistinguishable from that of the real continent; and on the West, a land equally indistinct from North America. The two parts were split by a large river wider than the Amazon and comparable to the Nile that ran through most of the continent, and so forth, those brave new souls who came to settle the land decided to name it "Rivermark".

However, as the settlers - primarily American and Canadian in the West, and European, mainly British, in the East - began to settle the lands over the next few decades, something sinister began to emerge. By the end of the 2040's, out of oceans far and near, mysterious creatures started appearing. Hostile creatures, who attacked with coordination anything or anyone that drew near. After a truly devastating attack on Okinawa, the sea-spawning demons were dubbed "Abyssals" by the Japanese, and well, the name just stuck.

For over a century, the Abyssals ravaged the seas, coasts, and inland coastal regions of the world. Luckily, their low numbers meant they could be kept in place by the militaries of the world, with varying degrees of success. Though not always expressing it to the public, the collective consciousness of the leaders of the world concluded that this was humanity's last leg; a final stab into the darkness before it would be crushed by this mysterious menace.

But yet, salvation came.

During the middle of the 22nd century, around the late 2150's, a discovery was made. The ability to summon the spirits of warships long ago back to the present to fight the abyssal menace. Soon after, it was discovered that the same could be done with tanks, and self-propelled guns, planes, and even railway locomotives! This ability to create "Summoners'' (as they were dubbed) quickly spread across the globe as a cheaper, more efficient way to fight off the Abyssals. And fight they did, as the Abyssal menace began to slowly shrink back into the oceans from which they came.

Now, the year is 2235. It seems like humanity's darkest days are behind them, and the world is continuing on as normal. Two Summoners - a destroyer, and a locomotive - are being sent away to Rivermark as a token of goodwill. 
While there, they will meet all kinds of new faces; some friendly, some not-so. And certainly, there is lots of work and fighting up ahead.

These are their stories.