Shameless steampunk scoundrel Jaf Daskal looks back at the adventure that started his unlikely climb to 'hero'. While fleeing his latest larceny he and his criminal crew stumble on the 'lost continent' of Caliuga and are mistaken for royalty. True to form they discover a new drug, start a new religion, ignite a war, and maybe use magical artefacts.

Having betrayed the sinister fellow who paid him to recover a mysterious ‘treasure,’ Jaf and his little band of knaves are launched into a bizarre adventure of fraud, power, sex, drugs, and religion that culminates in a battle for freedom.

The Caliuga Set-Up is a steampunk adventure story that continues the saga of Jaf Daskal, the poor orphan from Kipple --his hometown now gone, replaced by urban renewal into a playground of the wealthy.

From his foster mother Jaf learned the world wasn't all bloody fists and empty bellies; from the streets he learned how to get by, to be everybody's friend, and to disappear when it was time. To recover the mysterious treasure from the Mobahey Desert he signs on a couple drifters, one oh-so-sharp and one oh-so-peculiar, and the three head out with a vague map with multiple 'X's. The treasure is not what anybody expected -- two big rubbery balls with lights dancing inside! While the conspirators debate what to do next the betrayed sponsor susses out their scheme. Now pursued with unexpected fury the little band crafty crooks makes a hasty escape in a stolen airship.

After crash-landing they find themselves in the unknown land of Caliuga, a place settled by wayward travelers over the past couple centuries, and now ripe for Jaf's people to work their magic. There they are mistaken for the Empire’s Inspector General, Caliuga’s first contact with the Empire ever, bringing hope to the land of castaways that they will soon be re-connected to the Empire and reap all its blessings.

The Caliugan settlements have long prospered peacefully, but more recent arrivals are trying to consolidate and gain power over the others by forming a continental union. They strong-arm other colonies into joining, and one after another they fold. Jaf stumbles into this vortex of power and immediately finds ways to profit, dancing through the fraud, confusion, intrigue, schemes and plots bubbling up in his wake. What began as a prank blows up into battles and bloodshed.

The Caliuga Set-Up is from a series of stories told by an aged Jaf Daskal, a man of another world who has been many things in his life, most of them shady, and is somehow often mistaken for noble or heroic. Here he continues a shameless look back at his career that made him famous enough that people would care about his life, and candid enough that they would enjoy his account.