Hello folks, have any of you read the Leviathan trilogy by Scott Westerfeld? I'm really interested in starting up a roleplay based around the world of Leviathan. Leviathan is based in a drastically alternate history during World War I, it is a steampunk world with two alternate ways of living that differ vastly in the different countries of the world, the two sides being The Clankers and The Darwinists. The Clankers base their lifestyles around machines - Zeppelins, walking war machines/vehicles called walkers, gyrothopters, aeroplanes, and mechanical contraptions that make their lives easier. Then there are the Darwinists, who use DNA cells and strands of life to fabricate creatures that fulfill duties and do jobs that they're trained for. They can vary from small lizards that carry messages across ships to giant hydrogen powered flying whales. Y'know, the usual. The Darwinists creatures can be unpredictable at times and have a will of their own, though they're able to adapt to situations and are more flexible than machines. The Clankers machines, while being predictable and powerful, are inflexible and cannot adapt to situations around them as easily as creatures. This would be a roleplay with original characters, probably set in a certain country and in a certain military regiment to provide more interactions. Would anyone be interested in this?

"Mr Sharp"

Oh.... my... god.... That was only my FAVORITE FUCKING SERIES EVER!!!!! Count me in or I will Fly a freaking skywhale into your house!

Woo! It really is the best series I've ever read, it's AMAZING! I really wanna get this started, I hope more people would be interested in this too!

(ﾉ´ヮ´)ﾉ*:･ﾟ✧
I'm bumping this, because it deserves to be made! I really must know the answer to a very important question: Do you oil your war machines? Or do you feed them?

Sounds like a great idea to me

Oil them! >:0 But my idea was to maybe have the roleplay based around the same time of the Leviathan trilogy, when the war starts, and perhaps have one side for the Darwinists, like maybe have it on a smaller airship that has nothing to do with the Leviathan itself but is still in the same world, but we make original characters and everything, and perhaps a side for the Clankers too? Or maybe just do one of those sides and base it off of that? I honestly have no idea how to go about it, so suggestions would be appreciated. :D

Sounds like a good start, I was thinking more like the treaty of versailles and there after. There was a lot of chaos back then

Yeah, something around there sounds good! I need to do a little research on World War I and the timelines and stuff, so I'll try to figure out a good point!

History channel just did a wonderful documentary on that time period. I never got bored because of the copious amounts of explosions and dubstep. As far as history goes, everything was mostly fighting, with one or two major battles, then the treaty, then nazi's were doing secret stuff and then ww2 happened. I love history~! (／・ω・)／

This sound really interesting, but do I have to read the books to understand the plot?. I will probably look for the books anyway.

The book does not follow any major battle of world war 1, As far as things go, you have to understand the time period and the two factions. There are some countries who use both methods of living. For an idea of who fights how:

I won't speak of the book to avoid spoilers, but Westerfield leaves things to the imagination a lot.

Automaton said
This sound really interesting, but do I have to read the books to understand the plot?. I will probably look for the books anyway.

Google Leviathan Wiki and do some reading up on there if you can, you'd probably just need a decent understanding of the Clankers/Darwinists, some knowledge about the common contraptions/beasties (fabricated creatures) that will probably be included, and the timeline. Try not to spoil the books though, just get an understanding of the sides. It's set in 1914, though I'm not sure if we'll be roleplaying in the exact same time. I'm still working things out.

oops, ninja'd me. Haha.

Right, thanks :)

So' will we be playinf as the Clankers or Darwinists?

I'm not sure really, what do you guys think? Playing as Darwinists would, in my opinion, provide a lot more interesting roleplay, but Clankers have their good things too. We could do both, though I'm sure that would get a bit cluttered and inconvenient. Do you guys have any opinions?

Well, from what I have read from the wiki, they both have their bad sides, I was thinking we could be a mercenary type espianoge team that works foe whichever side pays more, this team could use any weapon or equipment from both sides.

You know, I never really thought of that! A mercenary team or something of that sort could prove to be really interesting, and it would provide a lot more customization in our characters. We'll have to talk it over some, so let's all plan out something that we agree on! :)

I'm glad you enjoy my idea.

Now that sounds like fun~! let's get this down on paper folks! φ(・ω・｀ )

Okay, awesome! You said that you think it should be during the treaty and afterwards, could you explain that more a bit? I'm honestly horrible with remembering history, so you may need to help out a bit with that, haha. By the way...is anyone against our headquarters being a small whale ship? BECAUSE HAVING OUR OWN QUESTIONABLY OBTAINED WHALE AIRSHIP WOULD BE AWESOME! >:0