This seems to be a good approach, because serious revisionists aside we will mostly have a shared view of the facts of history. Divergent time line seems to be a good idea. I know in the last decade there’s been an explosion of interest in Steampunk. It could be interesting if we took a similar tact but with a unique concept. So, following peterorme’s suggested format, here’s some more setting ideas:
- Byron vs. the Forces of Darkness
It’s 1816, the Year Without Summer. There’s famine and riots in the street; people are calling it the end of days. Little do they know that it really is the end times. Heroes in the mould of Byron and the Shelleys fight abyssal denizens and Promethean horrors, with vim, vigour and supreme verbosity. - Darwin on a Flying Bike
It’s renaissance Italy, a time of intrigue, beauty and corruption. Most of all, it is a time of individual excellence. A new cadre of brilliant artists and inventors have raised the bar and mechanical wonders flourish in Florence, but will they be enough to save the city from machinations of popes and princes? - Weird Plague Pirate Island
An island (Like Libertalia) is used for quarantining pirates and plague-ridden convicts. The plague mutates bizarrely, changing the infected irrevocably, giving odd powers. Expect sea battles, rival pirate gangs and weird stuff happening.