When the American frontier was young, the West was not ruled by Man alone.
Long before California became an official state of the U.S., its vast plains and hidden valleys were contested by two ancient powers: the nomadic Native tribes who lived in harmony with the land, and the Vampire Nation—shadow rulers who seized tribes by force, turning peaceful communities into savage warbands driven by blood, fear.
West Point graduate and veteran of The Plains Indian wars, William Leland Staffordshire was recruited into a secret military initiative designed to break the Vampire Nation’s hold on the West. Under the guise of the Western Pacific Railroad Company, Staffordshire led an elite unit of soldiers and K9 packs trained in guerrilla warfare, striking from the shadows just as the vampires did. Their mission: reclaim the frontier, and erase the threat that had manipulated tribal wars for generations.
The campaign was brutal. With the help of Mexico’s own special forces—the Martino brothers, Ricardo and Roberto—Staffordshire drove the Vampire Nation north, west, and finally into the burning deserts. Human settlement returned. Mexico ceded the land. Peace, for a moment, seemed possible.
Until the outpost at Los Fresnos in Central California went silent.
Rumors spread of savages reclaiming the valley. Trains arrived at empty stations. Telegraph lines hummed with nothing but static. And the fertile heart of California fell under a fog thicker and darker than any had seen before.
Ordered by Washington D.C. to “initiate the Staffordshire Protocol,” the now, General Staffordshire boards The Aegis and heads into the Central Valley to confront whatever has awakened in the shadows of Fresno. On their way to meet him are the Martino brothers, the remnants of Mexico’s elite, and a threat older—and far more dangerous. 
 
Join the New Bloods on their quest to settle Central California.