This world is set in a timeline wherein "Illuminated Earth" progressed technologically to the point of Cowboy Bebop, encountering the Astral Gate Disaster as well. Now, humanity lives in the stars in terraformed habitats and space stations - still haunted by the things that go bump in the night.

They named that time The Illumination, and it was by the flash of a camera phone.

The year was 1976. Until that point the Earth was as we had always known her. We filled her cruel vastness with legends, superstitions, and rumors. Warlocks, monsters, and gods lurked on the edge of the collective consciousness, always a possibility but never more. We lacked evidence. That evidence came as humanity invented the means necessary to capture and share it.

Stephen Klienman's shredded body was found, his heart notably missing. Next to him was a handheld video recorder, one of the first of it's kind. On the tape inside was grainy but undeniable footage of a monstrous wolf creature chasing, killing, and ripping out Stephen's heart. A Brazilian widow documented a series of conversations with the misty figure of her late husband. A Chinese fishing boat caught a mermaid in a net and put it on display in the Beijing aquarium.

Each month brought a new revelation that we were not alone. Superstitions reversed their slow death overnight. Salem held their first witch trial in a century. The jury rendered a verdict of “guilty on all charges” and sentenced Maxibelle Horux to death. A week after her lethal injection, half the jury died from a tainted batch of flu vaccine. A fearful, populist movement arose to rid humanity of the creatures lurking in its ranks. Suspects are forcibly subjected to bizarre tests of their humanity, and the results are often open to interpretation. A mob’s justice is swift.

Yet the paranormal is not merely relegated to a persecuted class. Where some see monsters, some see sentience, and others see opportunity. If a vampire can sustain themselves on cloned blood and work the graveyard shift, why not legalize and tax? Politicians and Aristocrats employ odd-looking individuals as "advisors" or "protection." Entertainment magazines publish revelations every week about which celebrities shed their human skins at home. Charlatans of all stripes, from palmistry mediums to televangelists, have flourished despite the risks. The treatment of the paranormal varies from place to place, person to person.

This went on for half a century. Humanity progressed, helped and hindered in equal measure by the supernatural it could now document. Then, in 2022, humanity reached for the stars. A great project, the Astral Gate, was concieved, and brought to fruition. And then the stars reached back, and blew it up. No one is sure why the gate detonated, though many blame supernatural influence trying to keep humanity bound to Earth. If that's the case, the supernatural failed spectacularly, as the resulting rock showers of the shattered Luna made the Earth completely uninhabitable. Nearly 80% of the population died within the first month.

It was then that the Powers That Be first made themselves known to their Contractors, employing them across the ruined Earth to rally humanity and take them off that ruined rock and into the stars. They did, managing to save over a billion desparate souls - and all the other things hiding in their midst. Humanity took to the stars, the second Astral Gate providing it's successful exodus. And then, it seemed to Humanity, as soon as the Powers That Be had saved them, they forsook them.

Contractors began to act in their own interests, along with doing things that seemed antithetical to the work they had been toiling on months prior. In short, they went from champions of humanity to mistrusted bounty hunters. As such, Contractors earned a nickname in this new 'verse - Cowboys. Ordinary citizens are mistrustful at best and downright hateful at worst of Cowboys. Most think that the only Cowboys are those that have been around since after the Astral Gate Disaster. You know better.

Long have cabals, cults, and secret societies thrived in the shadows. Their roots run deeply through humanity’s oldest systems of power. Machinations are challenged, and sleeping dangers awaken. The world is changed, forcing long-dormant powers into desperate action. The Powers That Be know this, and see fit to return to the shadows for now, though their attention to the 'verse has not waned. Since the Astral Gate Disaster, The Powers That Be have activated several waves of Cowboys.

The Games continue, and a new wave of Cowboys is being forged.