An original role play about steampunk, the hollow earth, and lots of big ass monsters
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[OOC] Steampunk ⚙ Big Ass Monsters
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An original role play about steampunk, the hollow earth, and lots of big ass monsters
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World History
Discovery
"We have lived long, but this is the noblest work of our whole lives...From this day the United States take their place among the powers of the first rank."
-Robert Livingston, 1803
The beginning of the 19th century, when history as we knew it developed, an alternate history of steam and fantasy unveiled itself right underneath our feet. It all began after the United States acquired the Louisiana territory from France in 1803 through the signing of the Louisiana Purchase Treaty on April 30 in Paris. On October 21 of the same year, the Senate authorized the third US president, Thomas Jefferson to take possession of the territory and establish a temporary military government. In legislation enacted on October 31, Congress made temporary provisions for Louisiana's local civil government to continue as it had under French and Spanish rule, and authorized the President to use military forces to maintain order. Plans were also set forth for several missions to explore and chart the territory, the most famous being the Lewis and Clark Expedition.
For years, Jefferson had heard of and read accounts of the various ventures of other explorers in parts of the western frontier and consequently had a long-held interest in further exploring this largely still unknown region of the continent. Two years into his presidency, Jefferson asked Congress to fund an expedition through the Louisiana territory to the Pacific Ocean. He did not attempt to hide the Lewis and Clark expedition itself from Spanish, French, and British officials, but rather claimed different reasons for the venture. He used a secret message to ask for funding due to poor relations with the opposition party in Congress.
On May 14 1804, the Corps of Discovery departs from Camp Dubois at 4 pm, marking the beginning of the voyage to the Pacific coast. The expedition progressed rather uneventfully until June 26 when Lewis and Clark arrived at Kaw Point where the Kansas River drains into the Missouri River basin, as the team discovered a seemingly bottomless big hole the size of a soccer field across the new territory. When news of the discovery reached Jefferson through letter the following month, the fascinated and extremely curious President decided that it was a good idea to assemble and send an exploration team into the mysterious hole with the country's newly developed airship prototype.
Charles Floyd was one of the first explorer to sign up for the unprecedented exploration mission. As a non-commissioned officer in the U.S. Army and quartermaster in the Lewis and Clark Expedition, he was chosen to undergo navigation and flight training of the airship prototype, Agartha (named after a prominent hollow earth theory). He officially became the first aviator of the human history. On September 1 1806, the team was ready and Agartha was shipped to Kaw Point, as the first human expedition to a new world beneath began.
When Floyd navigated the airship carefully descending through a long windy cave, the team felt a flip in gravity as the airship began to row slowly about its longitudinal axis. The whole world in front of them rotated upside down, and right after the airship stopped rowing it started ascending. They were confused, but they proceeded. Eventually, the airship found its way to an exit. With much contrary to their expectations, the team saw sunlight. The sky was as blue as the outside world and the sun shone brightly above them. Appeared in front of them was a vast land of desert; unfamiliar gigantic creatures were spotted traversing the land. The team immediately knew that they had arrived at Agartha, the hollow earth.
News on the discovery of Agartha and Big Ass Monsters (BAM) soon reached the earth's surface, sending shockwaves across the whole globe. At first, people around the world were deeply skeptical and full of disbelief; but as the first primitive camera was invented by a french inventor Nicéphore Niépce in 1807, more photographic evidences of the hollow earth were produced and it caught their attention. Scientists and aristocrats around the world started flocking in to Kansas, hoping to spectate the hollow earth with their very own eyes. The following decade saw hundreds of airships built as young brave explorers were brought into the hollow earth. A new age of steampunk had just begun.
Conflict
The half minute which we daily devote to the winding-up of our watches is an exertion of labour almost insensible; yet, by the aid of a few wheels, its effect is spread over the whole twenty-four hours.
-Charles Babbage, 1835
A difference engine is an automatic mechanical calculator designed to perform simple calculations and tabulate polynomial functions. The idea of a difference engine was first conceived by J.H.Müller, an engineer in the Hessian army in 1786, but he was unable to obtain funding to progress with the idea. Charles Babbage, an English polymath stumbled upon Müller's idea when he was self-studying about contemporary mathematics in the library of Trinity College, Cambridge as a student in 1810. He quickly became fascinated by the mechanics of the machine and began constructing a small difference engine with the help of his friends from the Analytical Society.
The Difference Engine 0 finished its construction the following year and the group announced their invention on Jan 14, 1811, in a paper to the Royal Astronomical Society (founded in 1809 to support astronomical research), entitled "Note on the application of machinery to the computation of astronomical and mathematical tables". This machine used the decimal number system and was powered by cranking a handle. It was a special-purpose machine designed to tabulate logarithms and trigonometric functions by evaluating finite differences to create approximating polynomials.
During this project, Babbage realized that a much more general design, the Analytical Engine, was possible. The Analytical Engine incorporated an arithmetic logic unit, control flow in the form of conditional branching and loops, and integrated memory, making it the first design for a general-purpose computing machine. The engineer went on to publish an article proposing his idea of the programmable engine system. The paper caught interest of the British government, as they decided to give Babbage all the financial support he needed to start work on this project, with the condition that Babbage help them build machines with the analytical engine for military usages.
In fact, the British Empire was desperate for any technological breakthroughs in their military at that time. Ever since the discovery of the hollow earth, the United States had underwent a series of technological revolution as thousands of scientists gathered to make speculation of the new world. Ideas were shared and world-changing inventions were made. Dozens of mining sites filled with a rich variety of minerals were discovered, giving the inventors more than sufficient resources to bring their creations into fruition. As there was a high demand for safer and more efficient flying machines to transport people in between Agartha and the outside world, the US air force technology boomed. The British Empire saw this expanding power of the Unite States as a big threat, and recent events in the Napoleonic War had just worsen the relationship between the two world leading powers.
Since the outbreak of war with Napoleonic France in 1803, Britain had enforced a strict naval blockade to choke off neutral trade to France, which the United States contested as illegal under international law. In fact, the British main intention was to prevent the United States from selling its airship technology to Napoleon, as it could turn the tables greatly in the Napoleonic Wars. To man the blockade, Britain impressed American merchant sailors into the Royal Navy. Incidents such as the Chesapeake–Leopard Affair (The crew of a British warship pursued, attacked, and boarded an American frigate, looking for deserters from the Royal Navy) occurred and further inflamed anti-British sentiment, as Americans of every political stripe saw the need to uphold national honor and talked incessantly about the need for force in response.
Tensions between the two nations peaked when the British Empire publicly supported Native American raids against the United States in the Northwest territory between years 1810-1811. The Britain had ceded the area to the United States in the Treaty of Paris in 1783, both sides ignoring the fact that the land was already inhabited by various Native American nations. The Indians wanted to create their own state in the Northwest to end the American threat forever as it became clear that the Americans wanted all of the land in the Old Northwest for themselves. The British saw the Native American nations as valuable allies and a way to delay the United States growth in power and secretly provided arms. By 1811, the support became too apparent and this had finally angered the United States. On June 18 1812, after receiving heavy pressure from the War Hawks in the Congress, President James Madison signed the American declaration of war into law, hence officially starting the War of 1812 between the United States and the British Empire.
Defeat
The battlefield is a scene of constant chaos. The winner will be the one who controls that chaos, both his own and the enemies.
-Napoléon Bonaparte
While the Napoleonic wars continued, the United States started invading Canada after it had declared war on the Great Britain. At first glance, the Britains were far superior than the Americans in terms of military force since their trump card, the Royal Navy continued to dominate the sea. Its naval technology was top-notch, and its fleet size could easily outnumber the US navy force by a 10 to 1 (In 1807, construction of the largest factory complex in the world that employed the usage of steam power acquired from burning coal had allowed Britain to mass-produce new combat vessels within a short period of time). However, the empire could only commit just enough forces to the war to prevent American Victory at that time, as it was more occupied by its death struggle with France. On land, this meant a great reliance on militia and Native American allies. On the water, the Royal Navy kept its large men-of-war in Europe, relying on smaller vessels to counter the weak United States Navy. The war eventually turned into a stalemate.
The War of 1812 was seen by the Britains as only a minor theater of the Napoleonic Wars, but Prime Minister Robert Jenkinson, the 2nd Earl of Liverpool thought otherwise. When Lord Liverpool succeeded as Prime Minister after Perceval was assassinated in May 1812, he cleverly made use of his political skills in diplomatic relations to gain information about the United States' airship development. From his source, the Americans had at least 80 non-combat dirigibles built at that time for cargo and transport purposes, and were starting to design new combat aerostats. Liverpool was concerned that the construction of a combat air force would give the United States an unbeatable position in the war of 1812, as the British's current artillery technology did not have the capability to target a flying enemy. Destroying the whole royal fleet would be child's play to the United States if they could finish building such combat airships in time. The Prime Minister knew that they had to do something to break the stalemate position before that happened. He was looking into a peace negotiation with the United States in April 1814 after the Napoleonic Wars had intensified, when an unexpected solution came into his office. Charles Babbage had completed his design on the world's first and most important analytical engine.
Lord Liverpool was thrilled by what an analytical engine could do as Babbage explained about the machine's inner workings. He quickly asked Babbage to put the analytical engine into use in the military's artillery technology as it would surely help in the still ongoing Napoleonic Wars and the war with the Americans. With more financial support from the government, Babbage immediately hired a company of experienced engineers and put them into work on the project. With the employment of steam power combined with the usage of the programmable analytical engine, the world's first semi-auto artillery capable of targeting flying objects was created in January 1815. A typical broadside of a Royal Navy ship of the late 18th century could be fired 2–3 times in approximately 5 minutes, but Babbage's artillery had the efficiency of once per minute. Babbage also made use of the engine to make factory production much more efficient and customizable; it took the British Empire only four more months to equip all their navy fleets with the new artillery technology and was ready to settle their scores with Napoleon and the United States. By that time however, the United States had also finished their production on the first batch of combat dirigibles. They have also invented the world's first air-dropped bombs. A new stage of war had just begun.
The strategic location of the Chesapeake Bay near America's new national capital, Washington, D.C. on the major tributary of the Potomac River, made it a prime target for the British's Royal Navy and the King's Army. Starting in June 1815, a squadron under Rear Admiral George Cockburn started a blockade of the mouth of the Bay at Hampton Roads harbour and raided towns along the Bay from Norfolk, Virginia, to Havre de Grace, Maryland. Provoked, the United States immediately deployed ten combat airships with the expectation that they would destroy all the British's navy force with little effort. It took them by shock when the Royal Navy's artillery fired and hit the first airship accurately, destroying it far before it could even reach the sea. The attack turned out to be extremely unsuccessful as all the airships were soon eliminated, only barely able to damage two of the navy's vessels.
The Americans were devastated. Their most trusted new technology had just been annihilated with little outcome. It was a really unwise and reckless attack, as it had also given the British enough confidence to initiate a full assault. In July 1815, just a few days after the attack attempt, the Battle of Bladensburg occurred. Although Major General Ross commanded the British troops in Chesapeake Bay, the point of attack was to be decided by Vice Admiral Alexander Cochrane, commander in chief of the Royal Navy's North American Station. Cochrane had concentrated four ships of the line, twenty frigates and sloops of war and twenty transports carrying Ross's troops at Tangier Island. Rear Admiral Cockburn, Cochrane's second in command, favoured a quick attack on Washington, but Ross was not eager. He was wary of the whereabouts of American's remaining airship force - intelligence gathering revealed that the United States had built at least 50 war aerostats. Ross knew that his first objective had to be the capture or destruction of the American air force, but Cochrane convinced him with a better plan.
On 2 July, Cochrane dispatched two forces to make diversions. A frigate and some small craft threatened a raid on Baltimore, while two frigates, some bomb ketches and a rocket vessel ascended the Potomac River, an expedition that resulted in the successful raid on Alexandria. His main body proceeded quietly into the Patuxent. The Americans, still overwhelmed by their recent defeat, panicked and sent all their remaining airships towards Baltimore, completely falling for Cockrane's trick. Ross's troops landed at Benedict on 4 July, and began marching upstream the following day, while Cockburn proceeded up the river with ships' boats and small craft. By 6 July, Ross had reached Nottingham, and an unprepared US Commodore Joshua Barney was forced to destroy his gunboats and other sailing craft of the Chesapeake Bay Flotilla (built to defend Chesapeake Bay) the next day, and retreat overland towards Washington.
From Nottingham, Ross continued up the Patuxent to Upper Marlboro, from where he could threaten to advance on either Washington or Baltimore, confusing the Americans. Before the US could change the course of their airships, Ross decided to risk an attack on Washington at the urging of Rear Admiral Cockburn and some of the British Army officers under his own command. Ross had a choice of two routes by which he could advance: from the south via Woodyard or from the east via Bladensburg. The former route would involve finding a way across an unfordable part of the Eastern Branch of the Potomac (now called the Anacostia River) if the Americans destroyed the bridge on the route. In the morning of 8 July, Ross made a feint on the southern route, before suddenly swerving northwards towards Bladensburg. The inexperienced American militia, which had congregated nearby at Bladensburg, Maryland, to protect the capital, were defeated in the ambush, opening the route to Washington.
Seeing the sudden turn of events in Bladensburg, fourth US President James Madison and the government with members of the Presidential Cabinet quickly fled to Virginia using a non-combat dirigible. To prevent the Britains from getting hold of crucial US industrial technologies, several facilities were set ablaze within Washington before British arrival at the capital. Upon the capturing of Washington DC, British commanders ate the supper that had been prepared for the President and his departmental secretaries before they burned the Executive Mansion down to ashes; the United States had received an utterly humiliating defeat that day.
Closure
Depends on how RPers develop the lore
Aftermath
A distant, possible future
Today, I bring grave news to all of you regarding what have just happened... Sixteen hours ago, an American airplane dropped one bomb on Hiroshima. That bomb had more power than 20,000 tons of T.N.T. It had more than two thousand times the blast power of the British "Grand Slam" which is the largest bomb ever yet used in the history of warfare......yes, casualties are predicted to be beyond 100 thousands......believe me, it was really a hard decision for the Congress. We only considered it as a final measure against that thing, there was no other way we could...
Thank you, I believe you have more questions but I will address it in another formal statement later... thank you, no more questions for today...
-Statement by the President Announcing the Use of the A-Bomb at Hiroshima (August 6, 1945)
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GM
The World
Environment
The environment of Agartha is a peculiar one. Not much different from the outer world, the blue sky stretches infinitely into the far horizon, with an inner sun hanging in middle shining as bright as the outer one. However, this sun does not move across the sky, as it remains in the same spot eternally. Interestingly, the daytime period is still roughly similar to that of the earth’s surface. As the day passes by, an eclipse forms, gradually putting the world into complete darkness. Night befalls and the inner moon glows in place of the sun. Showers of stars then become visible over the hollow earth’s night sky. It has been theorized that the twinkling stars are mere reflections of jewels from the other side of Agartha, but no one has ever ventured that far into the hollow earth to prove it - at least not in the recorded history of mankind.
It is not possible however to determine direction by identifying the stars within the hollow earth, as the stars seem to change their positions randomly from time to time. Luckily, navigation using compass is still possible as it still points towards the north pole. The only caution to take is that east and west have switched place when navigating within the hollow earth - going east in the hollow earth means going west from the earth’s surface point of view. Some regions of Agartha may cause some magnetic disturbance to the compass, influencing its accuracy as there may be an abundance of metal right beneath the terrain.
The seasons in regions of Agartha match that of their surface counterparts. Take Aeraport for example, the four seasons begin around the same time as that of Kansas, its earth counterpart. It is not hard to understand this coincidence, as the seasons are the result of the Earth's axis of rotation being tilted with respect to its orbital plane by an angle. Climate and weather in the hollow earth is much more moody and unpredictable than the earth’s surface. It is possible to have a calm sunny morning and a stormy night coupled with destructive tornadoes in the same day.
Sociocultural
Social status and stereotypes are a real thing in the metropolis. There are places only aristocrats have access to, while skin-color and gender are still an issue; but at least the situation is improving. As the number of female inventors and politicians increase, the city hears new voices as groups and societies are formed to protect certain human rights.
The Natives
The giant civilizations lived on the surface of the earth in antediluvian times. Way before the modern human had even a concept of something living on our earth. They were both highly technologically. The Atlantians averaged at 15’ in height while the Maya averaged at about 30’.
Maya - extinct
The original forefathers of the Maya we know
The Maya were a peaceful builder race. They lived to create, to improve, to better everything and all they could. No one could work the stone like the Maya of old. Giant as they were they never used brute force to erect their buildings. Antigravity technology was applied for the moving and lifting of the stones, while a method called rock plastification was used to fuse the rock slabs together. It was their legacy that is seen in all building efforts of later civilizations. The Maya were also an incredibly spiritual species capable of accessing other dimensions and experiencing the world in different states of mind and existence.
Atlantians - extinct
Anglo-Saxon/Scandinavian forefathers
The Atlantians who were also very technologically advanced lived too much on the material plane and as a result grew to be self-absorbed, over ambitious, greedy and belligerent. They set forth to populate as much of Earth’s surface as they could, polluting, destroying and defacing followed in their wake. Their technology reaching and surpassing singularity. It was then, on the brink of total annihilation that another race, the Lemurians, interfered as the Maya were pacifistic and were incapable of military action as such.
Lemurians
Not to be confused with the Atlantians. Shorter in stature /as tall as a Tolkien dwarf/
The Lemurians were a short and stout race of people that lived on the surface of the Earth together with the Atlantians and the Maya of old. Unlike the Maya who were builders by nature and the Atlantians who pursued any technological progress, the Lemurians developed their technology to benefit the most nature as their connection to it was unparalleled compared to any of the other two races.
Following the war with the Atlantians and the near destruction of the Earth’s surface the Lemurians felt the deepest shame end elected to live far, far away from the other two races in Inner Earth. As a form of self-seclusion where they could reconnect with the spirit of their Mother Earth and beg for her forgiveness day after day. Nowadays their technology is even more nature friendly but they’ve grown to be a bit of a recluse civilization. Not unwelcoming or xenophobic per se. They are however extremely unfriendly towards any surfers that would harm nature and will use extreme prejudice to deal with those as long as no harm befalls their beloved Mother Earth.
The Ascended Masters - mostly extinct or with very diluted blood
Ancient humans/protohumans with more developed ESP abilities than the modern human, who emerged on the surface at various points and sparked the birth of various civilizations – Sumer, Egypt, Asia to name a few. It is theorized that the Ascended Masters are descendants of the Giant races of antediluvian Earth
The Ascended Masters is a moniker given to a race of antediluvian human beings, protohumans, descended from the olden races. Either through generations of cross breeding or genetic manipulations and artificial inseminations. These protohumans lived for generations within Inner Earth with their forefathers the Atlantians, Lemurians and the Maya. They learned from them and developed later on as their own separate civilization implementing the lessons they took from their sires. And it was those protohumans that repopulate the surface of the Earth. Giving birth to civilizations like the Sumer, the Egyptians, and the civilizations of ancient Asia and many more. With the passage of time their origins were forgotten by their descendants and they were relegated to myth and legend, becoming known as the Ascended Masters.
Various surface earthers who discovered hollow earth during history and stayed to live in inner earth with the Ascended Masters or forming their own small nations.
The war between the two races was waged for generations with the Earth ending up paying the ultimate price. Even the constant restorative efforts of the Maya were all for naught. At a point the two warring factions reached an impasse. Further military action would mean the destruction of the planet they all shared. Thus a treaty was signed. Both sides would cease all military efforts and all three ancient civilizations would retreat within the depths of the Earth to allow the surface to heal. It was so that the Atlantians, the Maya and the Lemurians came to live in Inner Earth, discovered by the Maya during their restorative efforts.
After the surface conflict the giant civilizations remained very few in numbers when they reached hollow earth. But enough to bring about the protohumans to life. Once in Inner Earth however they mostly went extinct battling the BAMs for territory for their new home. As the large races went extinct and the Lemurians drew away, secluding themselves in some hidden pockets of hollow earth, the fantastical technology declined and also mostly went extinct with its creators. What remains now is known as the Lost Technology and few know how to make it work and how it works. And with the constant fight with the BAMs for survival there is really no time for technological invention and progress. What is left of the natives is a small number of Lemurians and protohumans /the Ascended Masters who were descended from the giants and the Lemurians/ and some surface humans who find themselves in hollow earth by accident.
The Lemurians survived in bigger numbers because they were reluctant to kill creatures of Mother Earth and so adapted their technology to get on with their life in Inner Earth by getting around the BAMs as best they could. And what humans from the surface found their way into inner earth could not really go back as it was deemed too dangerous to make the trek.
The Lost Technology mostly serves to help the Lemurians and inner earth humans to get around the BAMs. And other technology in the same vain.
The remaining protohumans after coming to live with the Lemurians adopted their pro-nature attitude and strive to live off the Earth without disturbing it too much and had hence developed a danger sense of kind that allows them the nearing of BAMs. And for those who practice with it even some very, very minimal form of exerting control over some of the smaller BAMs for a second or a fraction of a second. Only long enough to allow them to escape with their skin intact.
GM
Technology
The year is 1861. At least half a century has passed since the discovery of the hollow earth, technology advances exponentially as the analytical engine was invented. Machines and weapons are now powered by steam, diesel, springs, gears and cogs. The next step in technological advancement will possibly be the achievement of consciousness in machines.
Economy
As explorers first paved the land of Scorpion's Ville, new mining sites of rare minerals (gold, iron, copper, jewels) and oil are discovered. The economy in Aeraport immediately boomed. Merchants from all walks arrived at the metropolis to sell and buy goods. New types of jobs are created as there are needs to protect the mining sites from creatures and bandits.
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A unified currency of cog-shaped coins, commonly called "Chink" was created and used to facilitate trades. There are currently three types of Chinks: the gold chink, the iron chink, and the copper chink (1 gold = 100 iron = 10,000 copper); they are commonly written as Go.ℂ, Ir.ℂ, and Co.ℂ respectively. The wealth gap in Aeraport is ridiculously wide - a few copper chinks are enough to buy you a hearty meal in the Lower District; a minimum of iron chinks are required to buy things on the second floor; it is impossible to eat a loft of bread without having a gold chink in the Upper District.
Politics
Politics-wise, different empires found their way into Agartha and are trying to grab their share of power within the Aeraport. Intense negotiations and debates still occur on a daily basis on how to divide the newly conquered lands from the native creatures. There are rumors that a certain country/organization just declared war on the city.
On the other hand, religion also finds its place into the city. New beliefs have formed when the hollow earth is proven. Some people believe that the hollow earth is where hell is, and man has no rights to conquer the land; some others think that the creatures here are the gods and started worshiping them. Of course, there are also some extreme occultists...
Nations
Kingdom of Italy
Flag
Coat of Arms
Italian Unification Timeline
HistoryTimeline | Major Event |
|---|---|
| 1849 August 24 | Venice falls to Austrian forces that have crushed the rebellion in Venetia and other northern Italian states |
| 1850 | Garibaldi moves to New York City after the Pope takes control of Pompeii. |
| 1852 November 4 | Conte Camillo Benso di Cavour to Venetia |
| July 11 | Napoleon III meets with Franz Joseph (Austria) and backs out of the war. Among other land negotiations, Lombardy will be transferred to Sardinia |
| November 10 | Treaty of Zurich ends conflict in northern Italy for a time; Sardinia occupies some central Italian states |
| December | Tuscany, Parma, Modena, and some other states join the United Provinces of Central Italy, and seek annexation by Sardinia |
| 1860 March 20 | Sardinia annexes central Italian states by giving Nice and Savoy to the French, now only four states remain in Italy: Austrians in Venetia, the Papal States, the Kingdom of Piedmont-Sardinia, and the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies |
| February 18 | Victor Emmanuel II assumes title of King of Italy with an Italian parliament under him |
| May 6 | Garibaldi and about a thousand Italian volunteers leave Genoa, and on |
| May 11 | land near Marsala on the west coast of Sicily |
| May 14 | After many victories, Garibaldi names himself dictator of Sicily |
| May 27 | With British help Garibaldi seizes capital of Palermo |
| August 18 | Basilicata is the first continental province to declare the fall of Francis II.[1] |
| September 2 | Garibaldi entered Basilicata through Rotonda, encountering no difficulty. The provincial government raised a "Lucanian brigade", which followed Garibaldi to Naples.[2] |
| September 7 | After victories throughout Sicily and Italian mainland, Garibaldi is welcomed into Naples. |
| October | Victor Emmanuel II leads Sardinian forces through the Papal States south to meet Garibaldi in Naples, Garibaldi hands over his power to Victor Emmanuel II |
| December | France and Sardinia sign a pact stating that French forces situated in Rome will not engage with Sardinian forces in the case of an attack on Rome. |
| 1861 February 2 | Victor Emmanuel II sends Count Ponza di San Martino with a letter to the Pope proposing a peaceful entrance of the Italian army into Rome, but the Pope rejects the letter and the Count leaves the next day |
| February 5 | Sardinian forces start advancing into Rome. |
| February 14 | Sardinian forces enter Rome without much resistance. French army does not engage the Sardinians, as agreed on the pact. |
| February 15 | The Papal States are annexed by Sardinia after a plebiscite. |
| March 1 | The Italian Kingdom is officially declared and Vittorio Emanuele is crowned king. |
Economy
The Italian Kingdom holds rather important cities such as Genoa that contribute much to its economy, but it is unable to use it's economy to move forwards and become a global power because it is recovering from its Unification wars, and is extremely unstable because of this. The country is riddled with small riots, especially in the newly annexed Rome and the area, forcing it to mainly focus on local politics rather than international ones. Nevertheless, Italy has a large population of inventors, and has a booming vehicle economy. (I'd imagine the Italians were the first to make steam powered cars and the first to make them accessible to the middle and high class, though I'll leave that to you.) While civilian technology is fast to advance, in Italy's case military technology advances much more slower as the scientists, inventors and the general public of do not support it.
Politics
Italy is a constitutional monarchy: It has a parliament, currently situated in the capital Florence, but soon to be moved to Rome. Vittorio Emanuel, the King, has a rather impressive reputation, being the one who unified Italy after all however is seen lowly by a lot of Catholics, having attacked the Papal States and annexed them. On an international level, Italy lost a lot of it's reputation when it attacked the Papal States. Italy holds claims on the Italian-speaking provinces of Switzerland and Venetia, which is under Austrian control.
Factions
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GM
Maps & Locations
Agartha
Aeraport
Earth Surface Counterpart: Agartha Entrance, Kansas
Victorian-era metropolis surrounded by the Scorpion's Ville. As the first human settlement in Agartha, the pit to earth's surface lies within the center of this city. Aeraport is made up of three different regions: Mudburg, Höllenmaul, and Arcastein.
Regions
Mudburg
Mudburg is the region closest to the three main gates of the city. It has only one floor, the Lower District which is accessible to the general public. Covered with sand and full of people from all walks, living standard in the Lower District is somewhat undesirable as crime and death rate are extremely high in this area. The poor and the powerless live here in unorganized clockwork houses that are very poorly constructed - often built by themselves. Points of interest such as the Victorian Hospital, the Travelers' Lodge, the Dark Bazaar, and the Steelborne Arena can be found here.
Places of Interest
Lower District
Victorian Hospital is easily the scariest place in Aeraport. Dingy, grimy, and overcrowded, it is not a place for the faint-hearted or anyone that is wealthy enough to be nursed at home. Screams of agony and pain can be heard perpetually within the 24-hour hospital. As anesthetics is not invented yet, people go into the hospital expecting pain as part of the experience during the 19th century. For the doctors, it is a butchering job as they are often rated for their brute strength and speed - for their skill of ripping off patients' body parts during amputation. Explorers usually get a better pay than most of the medics in the Victorian Hospital.
The hospital only admits patients that they feel they can cure; and there are a lot of diseases that doctors cannot cure during this period. Amputation is often the only solution to everything. As knowledge of germs is not discovered yet, there is no need to keep the hospital and operation rooms clean since they get dirty and bloody real quick. Surgeons do not feel the need to clean their bloodied hands after a surgery as they dive into the next operation. Post-surgery infections are very common and they are often viewed as part of the recovery process. Needless to say, death rate is mile high.
The receptionist at the hospital lobby keeps a logbook recording a list of addresses of combat medics and home doctors that people may use to contact if they require their services. Combat medics come at the price of normal explorers, and home doctors often charge at a higher hourly rate depending on their reputations. Solo doctors may register their names in the logbook at the cheap cost of a few chinks.
Established since Mudburg was built, the Travelers' Lodge is a common gathering point for the adventurers of Aeraport. Cheap beers and meals are provided to the hungry explorers after their day of adventure, where they share their glorious (or terrifying) stories of exploration within the Scorpion's Ville. Guilds and raid parties make announcements on new member recruitment, while factions and individuals post job requests on the lodge billboard. This is the place for newbie adventurers to go as they will be able to join a party, get tips from senior adventurers or get a new quest before venturing into the vast desert of Scorpion's Ville. Note: the opening hours of the Travelers' Lodge is only from 8:00am to 10:30pm.
Taking over his father, Logan Griffin's place as the lodge keeper fifteen years ago, Horatio Griffin is the one and only owner of the Traveler's Lodge. His daily job scope includes preparing meals and drinks for the hungry adventurers, organizing billboard posts, cleaning the lodge area, and managing the occasional conflicts between explorers. Just like his father, Horatio Griffin is very skillful in conversations and is a good listener. People think that this is the main reason why the lodge is still in one piece with this many uncivilized adventurers gathering in one place.
The Dark Bazaar is a market in the Lower District where illegal and morally questionable trades and auctions constantly take place. This is also a place to go if you need some "special" services. To prevent unwanted attention from law enforcers, the market changes its location once in a while; though the main reason for its survival is the bandit faction behind its main operations- the Viper Brotherhood.
The Gates
Outside the Gates
Höllenmaul
Höllenmaul, the middle region of the city consists of two floors. The ground floor, which is connected directly to the Lower District, is the Industrial Zone. Heavy factories, industrial operations can be found here. A steam powered railroad system connects all factories and the mining site north of Aeraport to facilitate the transportation of raw materials. The zone is heavily regulated and protected by the Agartha's military force. There is a military restricted area here, possibly where the government trains its army and stores away military resources. The city's prison is located right beside the military zone.
The first floor of Höllenmaul is an artificially constructed metal platform serving as the city's main Business Zone; the locals often refer it as "The Platform". Merchants from around the world come to trade all sorts of goods and services here. Different workshops, company/faction buildings, and shops are located here. Some points of interest are the Aeraport Central Shipyard (built around the pit and spans two floors - industrial zone and business zone), the Feminist Union's main building, and the Lingot Bank.
Places of Interest
Industrial Zone
Business Zone
Arcastein
Places of Interest
River Area
Middle District
Upper District
Scorpion's Ville
Earth Surface Counterpart: Kansas
Description: A vast land of desert surrounding the city of Aeraport. Numerous clockwork outposts called Rustpoints were set up by adventurers.
Land of Shadows
Earth Surface Counterpart: Japan, Russia and beyond.
Description: Monsters as big as mountains roam the continent, casting shadows across the wasteland.
New Mu
Spans a territory underneath most of South America
The giant Maya of old found this entrance to Inner Earth during their explorations and nature preservation efforts in the height of the Atlantian-Lemurian War. It is hidden deep within the rain-forests of the country. A couple of settlements were abandoned upon the relocation to hollow earth. Chief among them Tiwanaku and Puma Punku. A number of Lost Technology machinery are employed to keep the entrance hidden and inaccessible to the new humans populating the surface of the earth. The only way for someone to use this entrance is if the Lemurians operating the machinery from inside hollow earth allow them in.
The road to Albion City, the capital of New Mu, is littered with giant statues and petrified Batu'i, demonstrating the building prowess of the ancient Maya and the military power of the Atlantians and the Lemurians. Nowadays the giant races are extinct and the Lemurians would soon take their own life than harm a Batu'i.
Albion City can be considered the capital city of New Mu, the state formed by the antediluvian races after they left the surface, rendered uninhabitable by the Atlantian-Lemurian War. Albion City is the only city of this scale within New Mu /again, I can't decide on a scale or I would have given an equivalent contemporary city, like say London, as example/. The natives of Inner Earth prefer to congregate in small townships and villages. Albion is a throwback to the surface cities of old built by the giant Maya. With elaborate infrastructure and waste and sewage systems. Huge pyramid-like structures, built by the now extinct giant races, are responsible for the complete recycling of any waste the city generates. Considered part of the Lost Technology they are still largely operational, but their upkeep is ever more difficult as there is no production of new parts and the people qualified to do maintenance are few. Albion is the most secure settlement within New Mu. Lost Technology security measures are strewn about its perimeter. A territory densely populated by Batu'i stands between the territories of New Mu and Aeraport.
Arboram
An amalgamation of stone and wood Arboram is small town housed within a rock formation, consumed by vegetation.
Gildarn
A small village, hidden within a dense forest, overlooking a picturesque river.
Nastur
A small desert town, located in the southern outskirts of New Mu.
GM
Big Ass Monsters
Biologically evolved creatures found within the hollow earth.
LAND
Basilisk
Sand Viper
Sand Worm
SEA
Leviathan
Kraken
SKY
Insect
GM
Game Mechanics
Inventors' Idle Game
For every in-game week, each inventor will get to start a personal project and also join a group project (if they are from the inventors' institute) by choosing from a list like the one below:
Repair | Creation | Innovation | Invention |
|---|---|---|---|
| Aeraport Defense Cannon Time: 1-2 days Funding: Resource: | Espionage Spider(client request) Time: 3-5 days Funding: Resource: | Airship speed (+10%) Time: 6-7 days Funding: Resource: | Atomic Bomb Time: 6-8 weeks Funding: Resource: |
| Submarine(client request) Time: Funding: Resource: | Toe Prosthetic(client request) Time: Funding: Resource: | Pistol gunpowder usage (-10%) Time: Funding: Resource: | Germs Discovery Time: 2-3 weeks Funding: Resource: |
| Flintlock(personal) Time: Funding: Resource: | Chainsaw(personal) Time: Funding: Resource: | Mining efficiency (+5% minerals) Time: Funding: Resource: | Weather Machine Time: Funding: Resource: |
The projects will run on itself for the specified time period (don't have to make continuous posts about the mundane work). For efforts/time required, generally Invention > Innovation > Creation > Repair.
Repair: Help fix something, such as weapons, airships, defense towers etc.
Creation: Design and produce a weapon/machine/transport with existing technology (for personal use or trading in for money).
Innovation: Research and make improvements on existing technology, making them more efficient.
Invention: Creating something original that will have a huge impact on the society.
Players working together (group projects) will reduce the time effort significantly.
For personal projects, players may be able to patent their own creations and commercialize them; they may also choose to contribute to a certain organization or release to the general public. For group projects, the inventors may vote for the invention to be released in public or contribute to the institute's funds.
Players may also create their own customized project and the GM will help in setting realistic time/effort needed to complete it.
Political Sway
Each political figure will have an inclination meter on certain political viewpoints. Depending on your "relationship" with the NPC, you may converse with politicians and attempt to sway them (sweet talk, intimidation, bribery, blackmail, etc.), changing their neutrality in certain issues. This may have an impact on the weekly round table meeting, depending on both dice rolls and how much did you sway the target. For example, if James Smith the United States representative has a neutral standpoint on feminism, persuading him will make him slightly more inclined towards helping feminist activities. In next week's round table if there is a call to vote on whether to ban a certain feminist faction, there will be a higher chance that he vote in favor of feminism. You may even sway the person to propose things like an increase in funding to the inventors' institute. Votes will depend on each political leaders' neutrality on issues, and some dice rolls.
Activities like human rights activities, terrorist attacks, new inventions, extreme occultists actions, etc will also catch the eyes of the politicians. The issues will be raised based on priority in the next round table and appropriate actions will be determined through the voting system.
Political Strategy Game (For the more politically involved)
This can be implemented if there are at least 3 RPers interested in political roles. They will be able to participate directly in round table meetings, vote to pass policies, negotiate with other political factions, and also make individual political/military actions to obtain resources, build outposts and conquer land.
Due to a fair competition agreement, individual political powers will be able to make attempts to snatch and conquer land or outposts from the others outside Aeraport. Execution will be similar to a full NRP, each week equals to one turn, with some time adjustments to accommodate simultaneous events by other RPers within the world. Other non-political RPers will feel the chaotic changes in political geography on a weekly basis. They may even make attempts to change the outcome of events such as an outpost siege.
Army | Air Force | Navy | Beasts(Unlockable) | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Size | ||||
| Training | ||||
| Technology |
Background Events
This is more of a background game mechanics. In an open world video game, things happen even when players are not interacting with them. In this role play, I will simulate that by coding a simple program that helps me generate all the (big number of) events from regional weather to location events in the beginning of every in-game week, and write them down in each location tab beforehand. For example, a clockwork suicide bomber named James Smith who was a fired doctor will go into the central hospital on Wednesday morning for a terrorist attempt. So the player may choose to intercept or let it go. Each event will come with a default consequence if left unattended.
Content Generation
Essential NPCs (political figures, company leaders, etc.) weekly schedule
location events (weather, natural disasters, military movement, creatures invasion, slave auction events etc.)
Disposable NPCs (names, roles, demographics) generation for some short interactions
Maps (new outposts maps, underwater passages maps)
City Statistics (birth death migration count, industry GDP, resources consumption, military outcomes, etc.)
GM
Role Player's Guide
This world belongs to everyone here. Have fun and respect others. That is all.
*You may create your own roles as well
Explorer/Adventurer
Military/Police
Gunslinger/Mercenary
Inventor/Engineer
Mechanic/Weapon Smith
Merchant/Shop Owner
Aviator/Captain
Pirate/Bandit
Politician/Ambassador
Aristocrat/Noble
Dandy/Femme Fatale
Ragamuffin
Explorer/Adventurer
Military/Police
Gunslinger/Mercenary
Inventor/Engineer
Mechanic/Weapon Smith
Merchant/Shop Owner
Aviator/Captain
Pirate/Bandit
Politician/Ambassador
Aristocrat/Noble
Dandy/Femme Fatale
Ragamuffin
*You may design the Character Sheet yourself
[Appearance Image] (optional)
[Name Font Image] (optional)
Name
real name and nicknames.
Gender
Nothing too fancy.
Age
0-90. Instant death if out of range.
Birth Place
Are you born in Agartha or are you from another country?
Role/Occupation
What do you do for a living?
Appearance
Boast about how ugly you are.
Equipment/Inventory
Do you wear any clockwork accessories? How rich are you and what do you have in your inventory?
Strengths
What you are good at that keeps you alive. No superpower or magic.
Weaknesses
What you are bad at that will eventually get you killed. Try to balance out strengths.
Personality
A few key words to summarize your personality.
A full essay about how you behave in different situations. (optional but recommended)
Background
Who you were, who you are, what are your current goals and who you wanna be?
[Appearance Image] (optional)
[Name Font Image] (optional)
Name
real name and nicknames.
Gender
Nothing too fancy.
Age
0-90. Instant death if out of range.
Birth Place
Are you born in Agartha or are you from another country?
Role/Occupation
What do you do for a living?
Appearance
Boast about how ugly you are.
Equipment/Inventory
Do you wear any clockwork accessories? How rich are you and what do you have in your inventory?
Strengths
What you are good at that keeps you alive. No superpower or magic.
Weaknesses
What you are bad at that will eventually get you killed. Try to balance out strengths.
Personality
A few key words to summarize your personality.
A full essay about how you behave in different situations. (optional but recommended)
Background
Who you were, who you are, what are your current goals and who you wanna be?
*This is to keep the posts organized. You may skip back and forth to any in-game dates as you see fit as long as they are within the current in-game week stated.
Date: March 11th, 1861 for example.
Time: Morning, Noon, or Night (you can be more exact or vague depending on situation)
Location: Hospital, Mudburg (you can be exact or vague as well)Social Groups (links)
1x Like
GM
Extra
External Steampunk Resources (with Links)
Articles/Guides
Victorian-Steampunk Glossaries: A rich list of words and phrases commonly used in the victorian-steampunk universe.
Books
Leviathan (by Scott Westerfeld): A dystopian novel set around world war 1 about the clash between clankers (controlling machines) and darwinists (controlling genetically modified beasts). Very interesting read with several sequel books.
The Difference Engine (by William Gibson and Bruce Sterling): An alternate history of steampunk set within the 19th century victorian England, where Charles Babbage perfected his analytical engine and the computer age came a century ahead its time. Said to be the pioneer of the steampunk genre. A must read for steampunk and alternate history lovers.
Podcasts
Steampunk Dollhouse: Steampunk Dollhouse is a podcast for deep-dives into steampunk literature and how it relates to colonialism and postcolonial societies, intersectional theory and the damage technology can do when we don't understand its potential.
History Extra (top 10 victorian podcasts): Not strictly a steampunk podcast, but the channel does give a very thorough insight to how lives in victorian age was like from a different perspective.
The Tales of Sage and Savant A Steampunk Audio Drama: A laboratory accident sends Dr Sage and Professor Savant's minds through space and time to reanimate dead bodies. Join them as they explore past, present and future.
Magazines
Steampunk Magazine: An online and print free semi-annual magazine devoted to the steampunk subculture. Unfortunately publications have stopped years ago, but the published magazine contents are still available online.
Purchasable Games
null
Free Games
Fallen London: A browser-based interactive narrative game set in "Fallen London", an alternative Victorian London with gothic overtones. Also available free in apps store (with microtransactions), but the app is kind of buggy.
Steampunk Tower: A mini tower defense game steampunk-styled.
Steampunk Odyssey: a 2D platform mini puzzle game with nice graphics, steampunk-styled.
Tabletops
Tephra: A tabletop roleplay system designed specially for steampunk roleplay games.
Movies
null
Short Videos
Airlords of Airia: A fast-paced mix of science fiction, fantasy and steampunk elements. Airlord Karak, admiral of a fleet of airships, discovered a powerful ancient weapon on an expedition. After he conquered the Wodnik 7 naval base, he plots to seize power of the Airia Republic and drag the entire continent into war. Lura the chief of police joins forces with a gang of smugglers in order to thwart the power-hungry admiral's plans.
Tea Time: Set in the fanatic alternate history of the 1800s, Tea Time is a comedy that follows a conflicted mad scientist. Elizabeth is in a proper and strict world where inventors are held in high regard, but only ones that fit in. Her work has been rejected (again) and she has had it. Her Aunt Judith wants nothing more than for her to give up this foolishness, marry a proper gentleman and get out of her house (taking her machines with her). This particular day Judith has a different potential suitor waiting for her. A man Elizabeth is somewhat familiar with...
Supermaxx dumbass
Member
Seen
3 days ago
Wew lad.
ayzrules CEO of staying up all night
Member
Seen
4 mos ago
wip
"Even the most beautiful roses have thorns."-Unknown
Name: Rowena Henrietta Imperia-Airwright (and that's Lady Rowena Henrietta Imperia-Airwright to you, thank you very much). She was once called Mai Mei...but that was a long time ago. And if you know that, then Rowena probably wants you dead, exiled, or (at the very /least/) the subject of all the nasty gossip that floats around.
Gender: Female
Age: 26
Birth Place: Shanghai, China
Role/Occupation: The wife of a man by the name of Lord Lysander Imperia-Airwright, the British representative in Agartha. Lord Imperia-Airwright is a politician, merchant, and collector.
Appearance:
Rowena is taller than average, standing at five feet and eight inches. She is about 125 pounds, giving her a rather slender figure. Rowena has thick, wavy, midnight-black hair that goes down to her waist and relatively pale skin, made paler by the excessive application of powder. Her eyes are a chocolate brown color, and she has naturally long eyelashes. She has a heart-shaped face and long, thin fingers. Rowena's rosebud lips are usually painted a deep red color with a scandalously dark lip tint.
Rowena's delicate features give her a doll-like, dainty appearance. She likes dressing up and takes great pride in her appearance. Her preferred apparel is most definitely expensive, fashionable gowns; gowns are perfect for hiding weaponry in-and besides, they're pretty. She prefers elegant, expensive gowns that show off Rowena’s impeccable taste as well as how wealthy she and her husband are in a refined, understated manner.
Likes: accessories that are both beautiful and deadly (bladed fans, armored/bladed parasols, dagger-like hairpins and hatpins, pointy boots, and the like), scandalously dark lip tints, expensive alcoholic beverages (Rowena is particularly fond of champagne and sherry), her family and those loyal to her family, cherries, toying with and manipulating others (especially men), vengeance against those who have wronged those she cares about in the past, blades and daggers with ornate hilts and pretty little pistols with gilt metalwork and mother-of-pearl handles, silk, lace, pearls, not being viewed as a threat (or being viewed as a threat, depending on the situation), power, information and the network of informants that she has built up, the smell of cinnamon and cardamom, a good poisoning or a perfectly executed murder or heist, tea with milk added to it, pear turnovers, subtlety, roses, knowing everyone's secrets, roses
Dislikes: sloppiness and messiness, drunkards, incompetence, useless, meaningless violence and destruction, cheap, tasteless beer, when someone/something unnecessarily ruins her hair or gown, people who feel the need to question her motives, people who genuinely believe that women should stay out of business, politics, and science, the smoke and soot that’s practically everywhere in British and American cities, the British in general, her husband's insistence that they keep trying for children until they have a boy (even though Rowena knows that it's perfectly logical), the practice of foot binding, people who can’t for the life of them think something through before they dive head-first into the endeavor, being blunt, crude manners, red meat, overly sweet desserts, direct confrontations (Rowena prefers to be as discreet as possible), excessively frilly hats, parasols, and gowns, being completely, totally helpless
Equipment/Inventory: Rowena always carries a bladed fan, and she always has a multitude of hairpins, whether they are designed for picking locks, stabbing someone's eyes out, or simply to shimmer nicely in the light. If it is a socially acceptable situation, Rowena also will carry around a parasol that can spray acid out of the tip (a gift from a dear friend, that parasol). Other than that, she always has a red doily (a nice blood-red colors. For reasons), a perfume bottle filled with a nasty mixture of lemon juice and vinegar (for blinding an enemy at close range), and a handkerchief (because it is only proper). She's never been overly fond of firearms (too loud, and too messy), but if she's feeling particularly anxious, Rowena will bring along a pretty little pistol decorated with gilt metalwork and featuring a mother-of-pearl handle, which can be concealed within a special pocket sewn into her petticoats or inside a reticule. Whichever one works better.
Strengths: charming the secrets right out of someone without their knowledge, getting people to do exactly what she wants them to do, styling her hair, extremely proficient with knives and blades and a fair shot with a gun (she hates resorting to firearms-too loud. Daggers, on the other hand...), competent with mixing poisons and the actual act of poisoning, pick-pocketing and picking locks, all forms of blackmail and manipulation, remembering names, faces, and small details, flirting, saying exactly what she means to say without saying anything at all, flattering and insulting someone in the same breath, being thoughtful and dismissive at the same time, lithe and graceful in a physical altercation, being perfectly polite and proper while killing a man, somehow getting her hands on things that she was never meant to see in the first place, lying through her teeth, manipulating others (especially men, and her husband)
Weaknesses:Rowena possesses a blind, sometimes stupid loyalty to her family and their trusted associates, she has a lack of brute physical strength (it's not proper for ladies of her social standing to be strong like that!), an inability to trust others outside her family, her rather cynical view of the world, her tendency to be very judgmental of others, the way that she will hold a grudge until the end of time if necessary, her sometimes destructive fixation on revenge, her bitter and cynical view of the world, can be blinded by her own pride at times, rather disdainful of others unless she has reason to believe otherwise (in other words: she's snobby as hell)
Personality: Rowena has always been a people person. There is something about her that seems to draw others to her-whether it's her carefree laugh, her twinkling eyes, or her bright smiles, no one can say. She can be a sultry, intoxicating temptress, capable of charming the secrets right out of others with a coy glance and a flutter of her long eyelashes, or an innocent, demure young lady who has absolutely nothing to hide but plenty of gossip to share. She thinks with her heart when she needs to, but uses her brain at the same time.
Behind brown eyes sparkling with mirth and delicate lips curved up in a half-flirtatious, half-demure smile is a woman made of steel who is keenly aware of her surroundings. Rowena processes vast amounts of information all at once, taking in people's actions, words, and emotions at the same time and forming a conclusion based on what she sees and what she knows. She's always been especially good at reading people like an open book. Sharply observant, perceptive, and brutally analytical, Rowena is able to detect even the most subtle shifts of emotion, assess entire situations with one inconspicuous sweep of her wide brown eyes, and kill a man in a dozen different ways while dancing the waltz. Rowena is constantly listening, though she’ll rarely tell the world what she's thinking.
Enigmatically charismatic and exuding an air of elegant refinement, Rowena puts up a playful and coquettish front all while maintaining a certain air of mystery that makes her that much more attractive. Depending on the people around her, Rowena is either a charming, polite young lady of considerable wealth and status or a deadly and alluring seductress of equally considerable wealth and status. Rowena is not “smart” in the traditional sense of the word-complicated mathematics and the latest development in air-travel technology all go straight over her head, though she is able to hold her own in conversations about a wide variety of “sophisticated” topics. When around “polite” society, Rowena hides her true nature behind expensive gowns and delicate lace, pretending that she is an innocent little girl with easily offended morals. She has mastered the right combination of sugary sweetness and sharp wit to detract attention from her real intentions as she shrewdly advances her own agenda.
Rowena is ferociously loyal to her family. Rowena believes that family is /everything/, and she is fiercely protective of people that she considers part of her family. She is scarily manipulative, and she isn’t afraid of resorting to less savory methods to achieve her goals. Rowena is calm and collected in times of crisis, and she rarely allows herself to panic. She is truly afraid of very, very few people, and she holds no qualms against playing others like a violin to get what she wants, all while smiling prettily and sipping tea from a dainty porcelain tea cup. Sly, shrewd, and cunning, Rowena is an ice queen dressed in ruffles and lace.
If one is able to see past the many, many layers and intricacies of Rowena Imperia-Airwright, one would come face-to-face with an intensely driven yet extremely insecure woman who has been bottling up her emotions for much too long. Rowena may be willing to sacrifice everything for her family, but she doesn’t know what it is that she truly wants. Rowena does not know who she actually is, and it makes her wonder-is there anything to her besides the mask that she wears in front of others?
Background
Who you were, who you are, what are your current goals and who you wanna be?
"Even the most beautiful roses have thorns."-Unknown
Name: Rowena Henrietta Imperia-Airwright (and that's Lady Rowena Henrietta Imperia-Airwright to you, thank you very much). She was once called Mai Mei...but that was a long time ago. And if you know that, then Rowena probably wants you dead, exiled, or (at the very /least/) the subject of all the nasty gossip that floats around.
Gender: Female
Age: 26
Birth Place: Shanghai, China
Role/Occupation: The wife of a man by the name of Lord Lysander Imperia-Airwright, the British representative in Agartha. Lord Imperia-Airwright is a politician, merchant, and collector.
Appearance:
Rowena is taller than average, standing at five feet and eight inches. She is about 125 pounds, giving her a rather slender figure. Rowena has thick, wavy, midnight-black hair that goes down to her waist and relatively pale skin, made paler by the excessive application of powder. Her eyes are a chocolate brown color, and she has naturally long eyelashes. She has a heart-shaped face and long, thin fingers. Rowena's rosebud lips are usually painted a deep red color with a scandalously dark lip tint.
Rowena's delicate features give her a doll-like, dainty appearance. She likes dressing up and takes great pride in her appearance. Her preferred apparel is most definitely expensive, fashionable gowns; gowns are perfect for hiding weaponry in-and besides, they're pretty. She prefers elegant, expensive gowns that show off Rowena’s impeccable taste as well as how wealthy she and her husband are in a refined, understated manner.
Likes: accessories that are both beautiful and deadly (bladed fans, armored/bladed parasols, dagger-like hairpins and hatpins, pointy boots, and the like), scandalously dark lip tints, expensive alcoholic beverages (Rowena is particularly fond of champagne and sherry), her family and those loyal to her family, cherries, toying with and manipulating others (especially men), vengeance against those who have wronged those she cares about in the past, blades and daggers with ornate hilts and pretty little pistols with gilt metalwork and mother-of-pearl handles, silk, lace, pearls, not being viewed as a threat (or being viewed as a threat, depending on the situation), power, information and the network of informants that she has built up, the smell of cinnamon and cardamom, a good poisoning or a perfectly executed murder or heist, tea with milk added to it, pear turnovers, subtlety, roses, knowing everyone's secrets, roses
Dislikes: sloppiness and messiness, drunkards, incompetence, useless, meaningless violence and destruction, cheap, tasteless beer, when someone/something unnecessarily ruins her hair or gown, people who feel the need to question her motives, people who genuinely believe that women should stay out of business, politics, and science, the smoke and soot that’s practically everywhere in British and American cities, the British in general, her husband's insistence that they keep trying for children until they have a boy (even though Rowena knows that it's perfectly logical), the practice of foot binding, people who can’t for the life of them think something through before they dive head-first into the endeavor, being blunt, crude manners, red meat, overly sweet desserts, direct confrontations (Rowena prefers to be as discreet as possible), excessively frilly hats, parasols, and gowns, being completely, totally helpless
"Be like a duck. Remain calm on the surface and paddle like hell underneath."-Michael Caine
Equipment/Inventory: Rowena always carries a bladed fan, and she always has a multitude of hairpins, whether they are designed for picking locks, stabbing someone's eyes out, or simply to shimmer nicely in the light. If it is a socially acceptable situation, Rowena also will carry around a parasol that can spray acid out of the tip (a gift from a dear friend, that parasol). Other than that, she always has a red doily (a nice blood-red colors. For reasons), a perfume bottle filled with a nasty mixture of lemon juice and vinegar (for blinding an enemy at close range), and a handkerchief (because it is only proper). She's never been overly fond of firearms (too loud, and too messy), but if she's feeling particularly anxious, Rowena will bring along a pretty little pistol decorated with gilt metalwork and featuring a mother-of-pearl handle, which can be concealed within a special pocket sewn into her petticoats or inside a reticule. Whichever one works better.
Strengths: charming the secrets right out of someone without their knowledge, getting people to do exactly what she wants them to do, styling her hair, extremely proficient with knives and blades and a fair shot with a gun (she hates resorting to firearms-too loud. Daggers, on the other hand...), competent with mixing poisons and the actual act of poisoning, pick-pocketing and picking locks, all forms of blackmail and manipulation, remembering names, faces, and small details, flirting, saying exactly what she means to say without saying anything at all, flattering and insulting someone in the same breath, being thoughtful and dismissive at the same time, lithe and graceful in a physical altercation, being perfectly polite and proper while killing a man, somehow getting her hands on things that she was never meant to see in the first place, lying through her teeth, manipulating others (especially men, and her husband)
Weaknesses:Rowena possesses a blind, sometimes stupid loyalty to her family and their trusted associates, she has a lack of brute physical strength (it's not proper for ladies of her social standing to be strong like that!), an inability to trust others outside her family, her rather cynical view of the world, her tendency to be very judgmental of others, the way that she will hold a grudge until the end of time if necessary, her sometimes destructive fixation on revenge, her bitter and cynical view of the world, can be blinded by her own pride at times, rather disdainful of others unless she has reason to believe otherwise (in other words: she's snobby as hell)
Personality: Rowena has always been a people person. There is something about her that seems to draw others to her-whether it's her carefree laugh, her twinkling eyes, or her bright smiles, no one can say. She can be a sultry, intoxicating temptress, capable of charming the secrets right out of others with a coy glance and a flutter of her long eyelashes, or an innocent, demure young lady who has absolutely nothing to hide but plenty of gossip to share. She thinks with her heart when she needs to, but uses her brain at the same time.
Behind brown eyes sparkling with mirth and delicate lips curved up in a half-flirtatious, half-demure smile is a woman made of steel who is keenly aware of her surroundings. Rowena processes vast amounts of information all at once, taking in people's actions, words, and emotions at the same time and forming a conclusion based on what she sees and what she knows. She's always been especially good at reading people like an open book. Sharply observant, perceptive, and brutally analytical, Rowena is able to detect even the most subtle shifts of emotion, assess entire situations with one inconspicuous sweep of her wide brown eyes, and kill a man in a dozen different ways while dancing the waltz. Rowena is constantly listening, though she’ll rarely tell the world what she's thinking.
Enigmatically charismatic and exuding an air of elegant refinement, Rowena puts up a playful and coquettish front all while maintaining a certain air of mystery that makes her that much more attractive. Depending on the people around her, Rowena is either a charming, polite young lady of considerable wealth and status or a deadly and alluring seductress of equally considerable wealth and status. Rowena is not “smart” in the traditional sense of the word-complicated mathematics and the latest development in air-travel technology all go straight over her head, though she is able to hold her own in conversations about a wide variety of “sophisticated” topics. When around “polite” society, Rowena hides her true nature behind expensive gowns and delicate lace, pretending that she is an innocent little girl with easily offended morals. She has mastered the right combination of sugary sweetness and sharp wit to detract attention from her real intentions as she shrewdly advances her own agenda.
Rowena is ferociously loyal to her family. Rowena believes that family is /everything/, and she is fiercely protective of people that she considers part of her family. She is scarily manipulative, and she isn’t afraid of resorting to less savory methods to achieve her goals. Rowena is calm and collected in times of crisis, and she rarely allows herself to panic. She is truly afraid of very, very few people, and she holds no qualms against playing others like a violin to get what she wants, all while smiling prettily and sipping tea from a dainty porcelain tea cup. Sly, shrewd, and cunning, Rowena is an ice queen dressed in ruffles and lace.
If one is able to see past the many, many layers and intricacies of Rowena Imperia-Airwright, one would come face-to-face with an intensely driven yet extremely insecure woman who has been bottling up her emotions for much too long. Rowena may be willing to sacrifice everything for her family, but she doesn’t know what it is that she truly wants. Rowena does not know who she actually is, and it makes her wonder-is there anything to her besides the mask that she wears in front of others?
Background
Who you were, who you are, what are your current goals and who you wanna be?
Enigmatik Overly-Caffienated Thembie Supreme
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Good lord the amount of work.
Explorer James McKain- Scotsman, hunter and submarine owner, and Politician Lena Durnham- Philanthropist, playgirl and owner of the largest zepplin ever made, will be arriving shortly. Tea in the loungue.
Explorer James McKain- Scotsman, hunter and submarine owner, and Politician Lena Durnham- Philanthropist, playgirl and owner of the largest zepplin ever made, will be arriving shortly. Tea in the loungue.
@Traps
First off, let me say this. Amazing job! Love the detail that went into it and hope to read some more. I'll post my character here, and I'll adjust should I need to.
Name
Forename: Osgood
Middlename: Winthrop
Surname: Fisher
Nickname: “Wench”
Gender
Male
Age
25
Birth Place
Aeraport: Slums, Agartha
Role/Occupation
Professionally: Airship Aviator
On the side: Tinkering Mechanic
Appearance & Equipment
Strengths & Weaknesses
Personality
Generic Scenarios & Behavior
Background
Personal Goal
First off, let me say this. Amazing job! Love the detail that went into it and hope to read some more. I'll post my character here, and I'll adjust should I need to.
Name
Forename: Osgood
Middlename: Winthrop
Surname: Fisher
Nickname: “Wench”
Gender
Male
Age
25
Birth Place
Aeraport: Slums, Agartha
Role/Occupation
Professionally: Airship Aviator
On the side: Tinkering Mechanic
Appearance & Equipment
Wench is a head shorter than the average male, with a light build consisting of lean, stringy muscles. His limbs are long and thin, and he is missing two fingers on his right hand (his pinky and ring finger), which he covers up with a welding glove.
Possessing dark, tousled short hair -- which he cuts himself whenever it gets too long, for convenience’s sake -- his face is angular with a broken nose, and sports a soul patch on his chin. Due to his wide mouth that is often in a half-crazed grin, and his intense blue-eyed stare, he generally comes across as insane.
His attire usually consists of simple shirts, baggy pants where he keeps his assortment of tools and cigarettes, and a leather harness to which he attaches a fuel-tank that powers his large blowtorch (All-Purpose Burner 5000), with tuneable settings to make it a proper flamethrower or welder depending on the situation.
To help him with it, he has a pocket watch that he repurposed into an attachable gauge, so he can check the pressure and adjust accordingly. When it’s not attached to the fuel tank, he uses it as a watch, although it has stopped working as a time measurement device since his modifications. He also has a lighter which uses the same fuel that is in his fuel-tank, and a wrench strapped to his left leg that serves as a tool to fix things as well as to bash in skulls if the need arises.
On his head he wears a welding mask, which provides shade from the sun, and also serves its original purpose. He uses it in place of goggles while flying, as it has a slider to adjust for welding and for normal vision. His left ear’s piercing is actually a small screwdriver, which he can remove at will when he needs to.
Strengths & Weaknesses
Despite his looks and attitude, Wench is an excellent airship pilot, knowing the limits of the vessel he is currently piloting, and pushes its limits to the fullest. He can fly through tight spaces that others might not consider even on their best days. Still, while he might be skilled enough in their navigation, it is still risky and there’s a very small margin for errors. He disregards safety and purposefully makes things more “exciting” than they ever need be, which doesn’t always end well.
He is also a skilled climber and a fairly decent tinkerer and mechanic, although his modifications often end up being only crudely functional, and more than a little dangerous. All in all, he is an illiterate adrenaline junkie.
Personality
Wench is decent enough when you get to know him, even if he is very odd. He cares more for the airships he pilots and tinkers than for people, and it shows in his lackadaisical attitude whenever he’s away from those two things. He prefers the company of women, especially ones who offer lady favors, but he is not averse to drinking himself into a stupor. While he might come off as standoffish, his true personality comes out whenever he’s near children, showing that he is caring even if he is rough around the edges. He knows how to handle them well, and the children love playing with him because of it.
Generic Scenarios & Behavior
He is incredibly meticulous when it comes to caring for airships, checking to see if everything is in perfect order before setting off from a town, although he has been known to cast off without it when the need arises. He knows the ins and outs of airships, and this is a step that he does not let anyone else do in his stead (other than perhaps his mentor and father figure), no matter how long it takes for him to do alone.
When he encounters new people who don’t catch his attention, he nonchalantly ignores them, sometimes pointedly so. If they are people he is supposed to be working with, he’ll tolerate them, but his current mood and their attitudes determine how he initially receives them. People in the same line of work as him, namely Airship Aviators and Mechanics start off on a positive note in his book, and are generally the people he feels most comfortable talking to.
His social interactions are all crude and uncouth, his choice of words generally gravitating towards vulgarity, even when he’s not trying to be offensive. Funnily enough, he actually gets more vulgar the more he likes the one he is talking to. If he dislikes someone, he’ll generally tend to simply ignore them.
On land, he’ll happily join in brawls, sometimes even starting them, but due to his shorter stature and lighter weight class he gets easily beaten if grappled. If he’s truly serious about hurting someone, he’ll wield his wrench as a weapon, but those moments are rare as he’s usually just in it for the thrill and not for the pain.
When he is on an airship that he is piloting, he takes his job seriously and follows the orders he’s given, although he takes unique spins on every occasion he can get, like flying way too close to the ground or some BAM -- more commonly known as Big Ass Monster -- to make it more exciting. As such, he’ll generally weave in and out of the BAMs’ proximity, attempting to catch their attention and irritate them, then lead them around while the crew uses the various weaponry on board or at their disposal to take it down. This baiting to kill maneuver is dubbed “Kiting”.
In the rare case that somebody needs help outside of the civilized areas, he will do his damndest to try and help them, although that’s exactly the behavior that pirates and bandits like to exploit. Still, he knows that if he were in a similar situation, he’d be helpless on land against the BAMs and the environment, so this knowledge motivates him to act even if he does not know the person. You wouldn’t want to be stuck in the same situation with no help coming, after all.
Background
Born to a prostitute in the slums of Aeraport, his mother named him as Osgood Winthrop Fisher, her way of dreaming for a better life for her son, something she was unable to provide. She passed away not long after due to an infection, leaving Osgood at an orphanage, where he would live for a good part of his childhood.
At the orphanage, he’d constantly be teased about his origins by the other kids, who weren’t born to much more prestigious means, just had the “good fortune” of not knowing their origins so they could fantasize about their parents. They coined the nickname “Wench” on him, meant to be taken as an insult. Around the age of 8, Osgood started wearing the name as a badge of honor, in the memory of his mother, and from then on the name had lost its initial bite.
At the age of 10, when the older kids had moved on to military schools, Wench was left as the oldest kid at the orphanage, and was tasked with caring for the younger children. He was the older big brother who they could turn to for anything, sometimes even taking on the blame for things they did, as physical punishment was very much a disciplinary measure used by the Keepers of the orphanage. Eventually, before he could be recruited into a military school, he left the orphanage and joined a group of street urchins. He spent the better part of his adolescence with them, where he was taught to live off of other people’s trash, as well as things they could steal. This was the time when he first started getting addicted to the adrenaline rush that comes during fight or flight situations. Whether running from the law enforcement or taking part in gang fights, he enjoyed every part of living for the thrill.
Around the age of 16, he attempted to shoplift from an old mechanic, who was onto him before he could even take two steps toward the door. The big, bulky man gave him a good and thorough beating, then decided that it would be better to take Wench on as an apprentice, rather than turn him in for attempted theft. At first Wench wanted to get away, but his fascination with the whizzing and whirring gizmos soon win his curiosity over and he decided to stay.
Anders was a mechanic of Norwegian descent, who had come to make his good fortune in this new world within a world. He specialized in airship maintenance -- as his shop of mechanical goods was a side business when the going was slow -- and would often visit various airship hangars to ply his trade, sometimes even taking off to test things out in the air. Though Wench was never studious, always skimping on lessons during his time at the orphanage, he was absolutely captivated by these giant machines.
He was mostly made to sit on the side and watch, and he missed little when observing. He was always tagging along on Anders’ side, quickly learning the necessary tools and techniques for each type of repair or maintenance, as well as the way the airships operated, and how they were handled by the Aviators when they took one out for a test flight. Then, one day he inevitably stole an airship just as it was being prepared for live testing.
He was around the age of 20, with enough knowledge that Anders sent him with the confidence that he could handle the job. Without the old Norwegian’s supervision, and the careless negligence of the airship staff, he took off and started flying the airship before anyone could even comprehend why the vessel was moving without the pilot.
As the now familiar feeling of leaving the ground rushed him, Wench was incredibly thrilled to know that the flying ship was now under his control, and it would move according to his whims. He fixed the steering wheel so that it wouldn’t sway in its course and performed the necessary checks that were drilled into him by Anders. Once satisfied, he turned it around and brought it back to the hangar he originally took it from.
There was some confusion when he landed and casually told the people there that everything was in order. Apparently, another airship was sent after him to try and retrieve the stolen vessel, which had to be called back soon after as its search would ultimately prove futile. While Anders had a heart-attack when the news reached his ears, the company management -- upon learning that this was the first time Wench had ever flown an airship -- were impressed by the finesse he showed, and ended up hiring him as an Aviator.
Airship Aviators were in great demand, especially since their training was a tedious and costly affair, so they were delighted to find such raw talent. They made a deal with Wench that the incident would not be brought to the attention of the authorities, if he started working for them. At first he was supervised by other Aviators while on trips, but it soon became apparent that he had an innate knack for handling airships, and eventually Wench left to his own devices. He has been an Aviator for 3 years now.
Personal Goal
Wench has been saving up for parts and materials to build his own airship (with the help of Anders), but this is an incredibly costly endeavor for a single person with an Aviator’s income. Still, while he is nowhere near even partially completing the base frame for the ship, bit by bit and piece by piece he is determined to build and own his personal airship, which he’d build according to his designs and specifications (supervised by Anders so it would retain some semblance of functionality).
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BespeckledCeph Your Friendly Neighborhood Mr. Danklage Spanklage
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Your Friendly Neighborhood Mr. Danklage Spanklage
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@BespeckledCeph
Two in particular. A public extreme one that goes around protesting and advocating humans should not be in hollow earth or harm the creatures as god will punish those who do, and technology is evil; another with secret members and recruitment process, worships the devil and thinks Agartha is the real hell. They do "silly" things like blood sacrifice, and has some in-dept research of poisons and the behavior of BAMs. I will post the factions descriptions tonight!
Two in particular. A public extreme one that goes around protesting and advocating humans should not be in hollow earth or harm the creatures as god will punish those who do, and technology is evil; another with secret members and recruitment process, worships the devil and thinks Agartha is the real hell. They do "silly" things like blood sacrifice, and has some in-dept research of poisons and the behavior of BAMs. I will post the factions descriptions tonight!
BespeckledCeph Your Friendly Neighborhood Mr. Danklage Spanklage
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Your Friendly Neighborhood Mr. Danklage Spanklage
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Azazaa Genghis Khan
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Edit: Nothing to see here
6slyboy6 The More Awesomest Potato
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Sierra The Dark Lord
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2 yrs ago
BTW @Traps do you mind if I leave my sheet in its existing format? I'm finishing up the edits right now, or at least trying to. Kinda braindead with crunch week upon me ... and working late at night because spent three hours earlier working on a damn project.
TBH it'd be a pain to reformat it to the template so it is actually the difference between Sam being ready for a formal critique tonight versus it possibly being until friday AM (my AM, evidently not yours).
EDIT: Actual lore question. I currently make reference to the "Agartha gate" as if the passageway between the known world and the new world has been carved into a proper high-traffic passageway rather than an old windy cave still (this would make sense to be done as permanent human settlement becomes a priority). Is this a remotely reasonable assumption to make or do you want me to nix that choice of phrasing?
EDIT 2: The same link as before works, and I think I've finished all the minor edits to ensure lore compatibility. It should be good for a proper critique I hope. Let me know if you catch any lore issues I may have missed.
TBH it'd be a pain to reformat it to the template so it is actually the difference between Sam being ready for a formal critique tonight versus it possibly being until friday AM (my AM, evidently not yours).
EDIT: Actual lore question. I currently make reference to the "Agartha gate" as if the passageway between the known world and the new world has been carved into a proper high-traffic passageway rather than an old windy cave still (this would make sense to be done as permanent human settlement becomes a priority). Is this a remotely reasonable assumption to make or do you want me to nix that choice of phrasing?
EDIT 2: The same link as before works, and I think I've finished all the minor edits to ensure lore compatibility. It should be good for a proper critique I hope. Let me know if you catch any lore issues I may have missed.
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@Sierra I feel you cause I'm getting caught up at work as well. Q.Q
The cave remained largely the same except that gates like these (does not float, has no magic) were constructed and set at regular intervals within the cave to regulate air traffics and also make travelling safer between the worlds. The gates control the moving direction of aerostats.
edit: and I will read everyone's CS once I'm done with work x'D
Edit: Everyone feel free to ask lore questions if you start on CS.
The cave remained largely the same except that gates like these (does not float, has no magic) were constructed and set at regular intervals within the cave to regulate air traffics and also make travelling safer between the worlds. The gates control the moving direction of aerostats.
edit: and I will read everyone's CS once I'm done with work x'D
Edit: Everyone feel free to ask lore questions if you start on CS.
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