Steampunk Writing Competition with prize

[tombanwell]

Only six more days to enter my steampunk writing competition. Winner gets a $75 gift certificate at my Etsy shop. http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=5814276  Everyone is invited to enter. Details on my blog:

http://tombanwell.blogspot.com/2009/07/call-for-entries-steampunk-writing.html

[Lazaras]

Seven Hundred words seems... brief. I should be able to come up with something though.

[tombanwell]

My first competition was only 500 words, and I received some great strories.

[vela]

I too submitted.

I don't think I could have done it in 500 words or fewer.  Not this story, anyway.

-vela

[Lazaras]

Well, my hat's now officially in the ring... though I'm not sure how steampunk the thing is, I actually like how it turned out given the brevity required.

[Argyle]

i would like to summit my radio show if posable http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TSfrqAAcHBY

[Lazaras]

So, who other than Vela and myself have dropped their names in the hat?

[tombanwell]

And the winner is Craig Hartel of Dawson Creek, BC, Canada. His winning story in on my blog. Congratulations to Craig, and thanks to all who entered.
http://tombanwell.blogspot.com/2009/08/and-winner-is.html

[Lazaras]

Ah well. So much for that. Congrats Craig.


Curiosity demands me to ask the obvious. Who was the close second?

[vela]

'Grats, Craig.

*runs over to tombanwell's blog to read winning entry.*

-vela

[Lazaras]

I have to say it IS rather good. Period appropriate rather than my take on it as a time travelers trope. Ah well. Unless anyone has any objections I'm going to post my entry here.

[vela]

That's a capital idea.  I think we all should.
I'll post mine after yours. 

-vela

[Lazaras]

Defenders of Everlasting Trueth and Hope (DETH)

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Your search for 'Defenders of Everlasting Trueth and Hope (DETH), 'Late Nineteenth Century Secret Organizations',  and 'The Guide for Temporally Dislocated Tourist Consortium' have come up with 493179201 Results returned in 0.00345 seconds.
(Copyright USE 2475 CE - 2539 CE)

Other Users of this database have recommended the following.

Defenders of Everlasting Truth and Hope (DETH):

Most easily identified by their highly ornate body armor each member of DETH is tasked, according to their charter and scraps of personal journals from different known members, to defend and preserve our plane of existence from 'Creatures of Paradox and Destruction', 'Things from outside their proper time,' and 'Threats that no other organization of men have the capacity to face.'

Individually each piece of armor is powerful. the full suit (only three partial suits have been retrieved at the time of this writing) confers benefits and capabilities not seen on the battlefield till the mid-22nd century Mjöllnir battle armor. It should be noted that pieces from one suit have been found incompatible with other suits lending to the belief that each suit is matched to its original wearer, or possibly require tuning from equipment that has yet to be found.

Of particular interest is their helmets, giving the overall ensemble a Roman/Ww-I Germanic motif and gives it the more often cited name for DETH's armor Römischer Geist (Roughly translates to Rome's Ghost). Scholars have argued, written papers, come to blows with each-other over, and otherwise theorized all sorts of origins based on iconography, construction methods, and functionality. Sadly they have only been able to trace down the designers of the cosmetic outer shell {See bibliography/notes at the end of article}, with the internals, even in the age of reletivly easy time travel to any point/when within the Q-Web, being a complete mystery.

Functionally it can be split into two different parts. The Helmet, which consists of the Headdress and Gorget, and the Face-mask. The Actual Helmet contains the mechanism that stabilizes each DETH Geist's presence in a single point in space-time (the actual mechanism for un-sticking themselves and propelling themselves to different points/times being contained within the main curass of their armor). Also the Helm provides adequate defense against all manner of historic weaponry {short of a battle-axe to the skull of course, one would need hardened composite armor for that threat, and even then it's an uncertain thing), and surprisingly good defense against modern plasma/coherent energy weapons... and in fact seems to extend its own batteries by drawing off power from these attacks.

The Mask draws from an unknown source, referred to in literature contemporary with the founding of DETH as Aether, to allow the wearer to breath in any environment regardless of atmosphere, or even within the vacuum of interstellar space. The goggles display not only the condition of the armor and wearer, but also the time/space coordinates, mission-specific data, the status of specialized equipment brought by each Geist. Often this has been compared to the User Interface of First Person Shooters, which would be a fair assessment for those that need a real-world analogy.

Pictured here is an example of a reproduction crafted for the sake of public enlightenment on the matter. With any luck whatsoever this exhibit shall provide enough public interest and support to secure funds to reverse-engineer the different technologies the Römischer Geist and all relevant materials, not to mention researching the organization itself. Hopefully, and this is merely personal speculation, all this attention will draw out any surviving DETH Geist to our time so that we may meet as equals, rather than treat their organization and members as historical abberations scattered throughout the time-stream.

[vela]

GRYPHON:      

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

      Taryn was comfortably, almost casually, piloting her small space-pod when suddenly she felt a tremendous impact, most likely from an M’trage who refused to relinquish a long-over battle.  It plunged her into chaos.  
    A grapple took hold of her pod and instantly stopped its erratic movement.  She looked up and saw a behemoth aeroship.  It filled the sky with its enormity.  It filled Taryn with dread.  Only Grfn utilized aeroships.  The Grfn were vile creatures.  They were cannibals.  She realized her pod was being hoisted into the behemoth’s obsidian belly.  She was powerless to stop its action.  
     Taryn became aware of approaching footsteps.  She was sure a Grfn was coming to devour her.  She compressed herself into the very back of the pod, hoping not to be noticed, but the creature already knew of her presence.  She heard the wheel turn, the gears engage, and the hatch open.  She felt the changes in the pressures as they equalized.
     A single beam of light shined into the pod.  It emitted from an orb on the creature’s dome-shaped head.  Its light grew more intense until Taryn squinted at it.  Then it lowered its strength a lumen, and remained there.  Steam billowed from the creature’s encounter suit.  Its vapor was vaguely illuminated by the head-lamp.
     The creature was enormous, at least twice Taryn’s size!  A huge paw swept into her pod.  In one deft motion, it scooped Taryn out.
    Taryn recognized that the creature was indeed a Grfn.  Since the time she was a small girl she had been taught to fear the Grfn.  They were fierce warriors who ate their captives.  Though the war was over, they still had a taste for blood.  She became paralyzed with fear.  The huge Grfn carried her easily.  He exited the dark bay and entered a lighted hallway.  The sudden brightness overwhelmed the last of Taryn’s senses.  
When she came to some hours later the Grfn was administering to her.  His encounter suit was off.  His body looked significantly smaller.  Taryn would not have recognized him, had it not been for the helmet, gas mask, and gorget, which he still wore.
     She took in the details of these carefully:  
     At the top, on the left, there was a horn-like device that opened like a bell and tapered in as it neared the helmet.  It was an ear-stalk.  But there was none on the right.  In the top center of the helmet there was a headlamp.  Guarding the headlamp on either side were seated winged gryphon.  They guarded the words which encircled the headlamp:  Gryphon Interplanetary Aeroship Expedition.  
   The ocular ports were of slightly different diameter:  The left lens appeared slightly larger, but the right lens protruded slightly further.  
   The Grfn had no nose.  There was a smooth section of leather over the nasal area.  It exchanged air through twin anemone respirators on either side of the mask.  Below these, on either side of the neck-guard (gorget) were a row if ten half-inch diameter luminous disks that shone like a cat’s tapeta:  Gryphon Luminiferous Aether Collection Devices.  They powered the helmet.     
The Grfn spoke.  Though the mask obscured his mouth, it neither distorted his words, nor his voice which was surprisingly a pleasant baritone.  His words were H’man though his accent was distinctly Grfn.  His name was also H’man:  Cornelius.
    Taryn knew now where he had come from:  The Great Battle of the Grfn versus the M’trage.  The Grfn fought to keep all the H’man free from the M’trage.  The Grfn won, though it had hardly been a victory.  There were very few survivors.  Those that were left were maimed and scarred beyond recognition, and were feared by all.  
   Taryn understood now why Cornelius wore the mask.
     As Taryn recovered and came to know him, she realized the fallacy of what she had been taught to believe.  
     She realized that the Grfn were not evil creatures to be shunned and feared.  
    She came to know Cornelius as a defender and a survivor, and now an explorer.  She came to know him as a person to be esteemed, honored and, -dare she allow herself?…loved.

[/spoiler]

[Lazaras]

i couldn't have done that story in the time available Vela. Possibly in 1 500 words, but not this. A few misspellings kinda stuck out, however calling you on them would be like the pot screaming at the kettle in this instance.

[Mssr Delaney]

Though I neglected to post on this thread that I was entering, Vela-san Has told me you're posting in your entries and I feel compelled to join in the fun.

Mine is titled Crusaders.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Once upon a planet, which one could reasonably liken to Earth, there was a mighty empire. It was an empire of such force that has not been reckoned or seen since. Unfortunately, this left no place on the planet to continue the Empire’s holy domination.
As such, the Imperial Aeronauts began research on interplanetary travel. One of these IA squadrons, the Gryphons, were sent off in an experimental craft to traverse the galaxies.
Obviously, in the deadly vacuum of space the aeronauts could hardly be expected to walk about in suits and top hats. So, the Empire had properly decked them out, most notably in air-tight helmets, dubbed Crusaders…
…at least, the researchers had claimed they were air-tight, Philip thought miserably to himself. Philip Carter was the younger of two ship boys on the Phoenix, the largest of the three ships in the Gryphons’ fleet, and as such was subjected to all the lowest and most dangerous jobs about.
Philip peered at the Gryphon Luminiferous Aether Collection Device, reassuring himself that the dimness of the indicators was just his imagination. The engineers had reported that the ship had recently flown through a slew of tiny meteors, and it was his job to reinforce the forward-most (and most damaged) part of the hull, which meant climbing into the space-walking suit and venturing into the treacherous vacuum.
He strapped the breathing apparatus in place, adjusting the fit until no air escaped. Then he placed the helmet on, hooking up the aether tubes that provided him with air where no air was. Lastly, he checked that his safety line was properly in place.
From the air-lock, Philip gave the attending engineer a thumbs-up, indicating that the door could be open. The engineer responded by flipping the large switch that opened the door. Philip was sucked out of the air-lock, just barely managing to grab the handles on the side of the Phoenix with his sticky gloves. Next to him, the door slid shut.
Thinking fearfully on the weak light of the aether collectors, Philip moved hastily along the side of the ship, eager to return to the relative safeness of the reinforced walls. Upon reaching the bow, he used the spray-canister of expanding metal to fill the holes left by the miniature meteors.
Though he tried to work quickly, it was at least two hours before the job was finished to anything near satisfaction. While he wasn’t happy with the fix-up, he couldn’t stay out much longer. He had been issued a pewter headlamp, Gryphon adorned and marked Gryphon Interplanetary Aeroship Expedition, and it was growing alarmingly faint.
At the air-lock porthole, he knocked impatiently, eager for fresher air. The engineer in the room looked up to him, and gave him an okay thumbs-up, moving out of the air-lock and shutting the door to let him in.
Philip pressed himself against the door, waiting to step inside the room like he had been taught. And he waited. And waited. And waited a bit longer. Finally, he broke from the door to rap at the porthole again.
There. He didn’t really believe it at first glance…the engineer was missing. He should have been able to see him. He jammed his mask into the round window, searching for some hint of a joke and seeing none.
Philip stayed there for what felt like hours, waiting for the missing engineer. Finally, though, another showed up, and jumped at his goggled face pressed forlornly in the window, the headlamp long extinguished, aether almost spent.
The new engineer ushered Philip inside, allowing him to remove his Crusader before holding a pistol to his head. Reasonably so, as the bullet probably wouldn’t have penetrated the thick helmet. Philip looked at the engineer with confusion in his eyes.
The engineer delivered a long-winded monologue, outlining an intricate anti-imperialism plot, complicated mutiny and the slightly ridiculous aims of the rebellion, and in the end demanded of him; friend or foe?
Philip looked from the body of the other engineer, and out to the dark vacuum of space. Then he opened his mouth, and answered.

[Lazaras]

Interesting. Not a big fan of the formatting, but niggling personal quirks aside it's a good story. Interesting to see the styles each of us went in for with this piece, not to mention informative.

[vela]

Mr Lazaras,

I only discovered one spelling error (while posting). 

Anything else is most likely my giving credit to the British, and/or archaic ways.   

-vela

[Lazaras]

Ah... wel lI had figured it was either my spelling problems keeping me from recognizing \correct, if underused, spellings.