The New Age of Steam Central Thread

[The Corsair]

I have an idea for an RP that takes a leaf out of every book here. In reality it will be less like an RP...
It takes the separate threads/simultaneous events format of the old Council Wars game
It takes the idea of a single, full narrative from Steam London
It takes the 'piece by piece' approach of the new serial games
It takes the pre-built world layout of Steam and Sand
and so on
and so forth

Basically, I've always felt a lot of these stories would be great if adapted as novels but they are generally incomplete. The point of this style of game would be to have something that can easily be adapted as a novel, almost to the point where it can be copy-pasted out and printed (if not a novel then a collection of stories).

The format would be a lot looser than previous games. What I intend on doing is setting up a world, then people create their characters etc etc and a general story arc for that character, then write in larger chunks at their own pace, developing the story. There would be almost no interaction between characters from separate stories (interaction would have to be arranged in some detail by the authors) but the stories would all happen largely simultaneously and the events of any one story would become canon.

I'm pitching this idea at a busy-ish time for RP's as it's meant to be a much slower-paced series.

There doesn't necessarily have to be interest as I plan on writing my story anyway, but I think it would create a much richer universe if there were multiple people contributing to their own stories in the same world.

If you're interested, please reply here. Please pitch your general story arcs here too (when you have them. You don't need one right away)

The general outline of the world is as follows:

It's sometime in the distantish future (we really don't know haw close or far away). It's been about a thousand years since some unknown apocalypse. The stories of it are largely legends etc etc and initially little technology survived. The world has since recovered and is basically in the Steam-era (surprise surprise). The apocalypse brought about some fairly large geographical changes, so I'll get into those first.

Europe is fairly similar in geography. There is now the large landmass of Doggerland connecting what was France to what was the UK. Europe is less advanced than some regions of the world as it has generally been an unstable area, however for the last half-century or so it has been ruled by the Francs and they are beginning to re-industrialise the continent (railroads exist, there is some mass-production etc). Switzerland is unconquered, as is the region from around the old border of Russia onwards (more on that later). The region is not necessarily perfectly stable, but it is certainly more stable than it has been in a long while. Switzerland, having remained neutral, is among the most advanced regions of the world. However, this is only possible because they still have mandatory military service.

Africa is fairly tribal. Empires spring up, rise and fall in the lifetime of whatever warlord ran the empire (30 ish years would be the longest). It is easily the least advanced region (more 1800's Russia in terms of tech). It's also (obviously) unstable, but they have a 'warriors code' as it were whereby they only fight other soldiers so traders are generally able to go about their business between major cities regardless of who controls it.

There's a pretty large mountain range dividing Europe/Africa from Asia and the remaining space around Arabia and Asia Minor is desert and basically uninhabited (save for nomads etc). Mass transit and communication/trade between the two regions pretty much doesn't exist, but there's been enough travel that most people will have probably heard a story of the other continent. The north of Asia (including the bits of old Russia closest to Europe) are basically frozen wastelands that are again uninhabited. Asia is the more prosperous area. It is basically a collection of self-governing 'states' but they all identify largely as one people (this includes regions like India, Japan and some of South-East Asia). South East Asia largely doesn't exist though. Most of the islands are really too fragmented to be of any use to anyone and those that once lived there have long since moved to the more stable ground of mainland Asia.

South America, when the war was reaching its climax, decided to concern itself with the preservation of life. It is basically a sanctuary for any animal and plant life that will grow there. They are far more advanced than any other region and have dedicated themselves to the biological sciences. They are able to maintain a fairly communist society and live off genetically engineered plants and animals. There is no centralised government in South America. Because travel across the oceans basically doesn't exist, none of South America's advances have made it to the rest of the world and even then they concern themselves with themselves and would avoid contact anyway.

The northernmost parts of South America and southernmost parts of North America were obliterated in the conflict. North and South are completely separate. There is a constant 'land bridge' made up of ice that links North America to Asia. There is some trade between these areas because of this bridge (specialised vehicles exist to make the journeys as railroads would not be possible). The only area traded with is that around the West coast (west of the rockies). This area is considered to be, essentially, another Asian state. The rockies are largely impassable, much like the European mountains, so little is known about civilisation on the far side of them. No effort to establish contact has really been made, no trade exists. In reality this region is similar to Europe (It has been stable for about a century and a half by now) and they are really just concerned with domestic affairs as they begin to properly rebuild the region (having previously been ravaged by non-stop war since soon after the apocalypse).

Australia is essentially again like Europe, only it slightly more advanced. It has a relatively small population, though, due to a lack of agricultural resources. There is no famine, but farming is very tightly controlled by the government and a lot of funding goes into researching better farming methods and advancing the agricultural sector, so technology has somewhat stagnated for the last century-ish.

I will also add that lighter-than-air travel has really only just been rediscovered so airships are used in some trade between close-ish cities but they are not used for transit and are unable to both reach the altitudes necessary for crossing the mountains that divide the regions of the world and travel the distances necessary to cross oceans and reach the Americas and Australia. If you have any questions feel free to ask.



Characters should be profiled in the following format:

Name:
Age:
Gender:
Location:
Occupation:
Brief Description:
Intended Arc:

The reason I include the intended arc there is so we can all make sure in advance that we don't plan on writing major events that will cause discontinuity.

I will post my own character later, but he will begin in Switzerland (just want to make sure nobody snaps up that location )


TIMELINE

April 3rd - Lucerne - Malcolm joins the long-haul airship project
April 6th - Lucerne - Project begins
May 11th - Lucerne - Launch Day

[MWBailey]

Hmmm... Interesting...

[James Harrison]

I like the idea of this; give me the weekend to ponder....

[MWBailey]

I'd like to plant a flag on the ice/land bridge between the Americas and Asia, as well as whatever countries/provinces exist where the bridge gives onto either continent; I have an idea for a road, and 'trains' like the cattle haulers in Australia (in other words, kind of like the 7-7 of Steam and Sand, but on a regular landbridge highway, and more than one such train (thinking they'd be as numerous as the Australian cattle truck trains) on a special road kept open by a somewhat elite force (kind of like MFP from the first Mad Max movie, but with steam vehicles.) Either one character or several, depending on the rules.

[The Corsair]

I'm getting some of the specifics of my own story together while here. I'll put my draft character sheet here now as an example.

Name: Malcom Masters
Age: 18
Gender: Male
Location: Lucerne, Switzerland
Occupation: Aeronautical Engineer
Brief Description: Malcom's family is dead, or at least they might as well. Originally he was Francian, and his last name was different. His parents put their funding behind a series of unnecessary conquests of peaceful peoples on the old Portuguese coast and eventually the rows led to him being disowned. He chose to steal from his family's fortune and flee to Switzerland at the age of sixteen where he became fluent in Francian, German and Anglic. He also found himself lucky enough to get work in the Airship workshop in upper Lucerne. Initially he did the basic jobs, welding, riveting and the like, but he showed an aptitude for the aeronautical sciences and, having helped with the final stages of the Sky Rail project, he is now on the project team for a medium-haul airship, the first of its kind.

I had an intended arc but my browser deleted it... I'll write it later when I'm done enjoying this five star resort

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

suck it!

[James Harrison]

I'll cast down what I'm currently pondering....

Name  Edwin Beazley
Age 26
Gender Male
Location The Southern Ocean
Brief Description  Since a child, Edwin had always wanted to go to sea.  Which was a bit problematic, considering he grew up on the English side of Doggerland.  At the age of 16 his parents had agreed to allow him to study at naval college, from where he had graduated near the top of his class and then been taken into officer training.  After a few years' of sea duty, he had applied for transfer to the Discovery Service and now finds himself on an expedition to Antarctica. 
Intended Arc  Beginning with his acceptance onto the expedition, the arc will follow Edwin's joining the ship(s), the journey south, traversing the sea icepacks and the adventures and hardships thereon.  It is anticipated that, from a position of third in command, circumstances will bring about Edwin's eventual leadership of the expedition, or the remnants of it.  There is no guarantee that he will return home....

[The Corsair]

Intended Arc: Malcom will be aboard the new airship during its maiden voyage where it will make its way to the dividing mountain range. The story will catalogue the journey and end in the Sinian Provinces (Sinian being a mixture of Chinese and Russian).

I had a slightly more detailed one but I should at least leave the surprises out :p

Also, welcome to the universe Mr Harrison, and thank you for choosing to contribute

[MWBailey]

Name:Alecsandyr Subitj Harima
Age:Early 30s
Gender: Male
Location:Inter-Aleutian (?) Ice Bridge, and associated mainland territories.
Brief Description: Stocky, about 5 ft. 11in. tall. Sandy-reddish hair, russo-asian features for the most part, but with aquiline nose.

Alec, as his friends call him, grew up in the mixed-cultural morass that was once known (and still is, at least locally) as Manchuria. His parents were riggers in the Asian hnterland, hauling great traction trains of goods from Mid-Europe to the steppes of what became known as the Sinian Provinces. At the age of 17 he lied about his age, and enlisted in the Northern Branch of the Sinian Legion, a military  organization charged with peacekeeping in and defense of both the Sinian Provinces and The Great Road, which stretches from the icy remains of Peking, along the upper Asian Coast, and across the North Pacific along the string of Ice-covered dormant, active, and extinct-volcanic islets that dot across the transarctic region just south of the North Pole, to the bridge's terminus at the Port of ShangonTao on the Western coast of what was once North America. and form the permanent icebridge that Joins the americas to Asia.

encounters with bandits, including both regular humans and evolved and mutated descendants of what had once been called 'Sasquatch' were commonplace, and things hjad gotten so bad in the past that miliary patrols, much like highway patrolmen of a largely-forgotten previous age, were detailed to maintain a measure of control over what had become a vital trade route. All else on the Ice bridge was (and still is) wild, raw, frozen wilderness, but on The Road, and in it's stopover stations, at least some form of civilization existed.  

After several years in the Legion, Alec was honorably discharged, and now runs a device known as an Icerigger, a huge, Archimedian screw-treaded, steam-hauled train of six or more carriages, some with passenger berths.

There are of course other people operating their own trains of various designs and tractive configurations, and several large hauling companies. Although some degree of civilization exists, the Ice Bridge is much like any previous No Man's Land in history; a wild and largely-lawless place, the only area that is otherwise is  The Great Road, and even that is anything but tamed. Bandits, Wreckers, and Hijackers abound, and the wilder Riggers have been known to fight running battles over almost anything; it is thought that some such battles are started out of sheer boredom with the frozen white monotony that more or less prevails on the longest hauls.

The Great Road, as it is called, has become a major artery of trade across the Pacific ocean and between two continents, and Alec is one of the people who make it their business to haul people and cargo across it.

The Story Arc details a haul or series iof hauls (to be determined) ove rthe Great Road between Peking and ShanGon Tao, and an  outbreak of conflict with a new (sub-human?) group of tribal bandits.

[The Corsair]

I'm going to crack into my first chapter (or at least a significant portion of it) tomorrow if time is available. I'll probably change my character's name too.

I've also had the idea to call the series as a whole 'The New Age of Steam'
It's not too exciting though...
Thoughts?

[MWBailey]

Other ideas for title:
Continental Drift

Future Steam

The Gears of History

Steamed Ice

Sorry, I'm sort of stymied as well...

[The Corsair]

I'm still unsure about my title, but if I stick with it then my story will most likely be titled 'The New Age of Steam: Maiden Voyage'

[James Harrison]

"The New Age of Steam".... I like it. 

I think mine shall be titled "The New Age of Steam: Fire and Ice".

[MWBailey]

Mine:
The New Age Of Steam: Icerigger

[Mercury Wells]

Has anything to happened to Antarctica?. Has the planet shifted on it axis slightly?
 
(If possible, I would like to start from there)

 

[The Corsair]

Has anything to happened to Antarctica?. Has the planet shifted on it axis slightly?
 
(If possible, I would like to start from there)

 

Hmm, hadn't thought about it...
I guess it's still there, largely unchanged. Maybe a few differences in geography but that's it. Nobody would have really been there during whatever apocalypse went on so there's no real reason for it to be dramatically changed.

[James Harrison]

Has anything to happened to Antarctica?. Has the planet shifted on it axis slightly?
 
(If possible, I would like to start from there)

Antarctica's where my characters headed, on an expedition.  So if you'd like to collaborate on a pair of enmeshed story arcs....

[The Corsair]

I feel I should add that my story is starting early spring (April, to be precise) so we should try and keep in mind how fast or slow our stories are relative to each other so we don't have impossible seasons and the like.

[MWBailey]

will there be a posting thread for this game?

[The Corsair]

will there be a posting thread for this game?

Ideally separate threads for each character. I haven't decided on the best and least complicated way to do crossover bits but we can cross that bridge when we come to it. Planning and the like will go in an OOC thread, which will also eventually have something of a master list of important events from all stories chronologically. Remember that the aim is more to have something that could potentially be adapted into a novel or something of the like very easily and less about shorter, often dialogue-based snatches of character interaction like in the other RP's around here. I'm getting tempted to move this out into Textual actually...

[Mercury Wells]

Has anything to happened to Antarctica?. Has the planet shifted on it axis slightly?
 
(If possible, I would like to start from there)

Antarctica's where my characters headed, on an expedition.  So if you'd like to collaborate on a pair of enmeshed story arcs....

Ok, give me a few days/a week to think about ideas though.

[Mercury Wells]

Leave it in Textual for now, just to see what happens.

[Angus A Fitziron]

Registering interest.

I haven't any experience of role playing games but I enjoy reading and wonder if I have what it takes to write and this thread may be a good place to find that out! The outline suits my alter ego and would help explain some of the features in his world. So:

Name: Angus A Fitziron
Age: 54
Gender: Male
Location: Northern India ~ probably what would be called Tibet today
Occupation: Employed by the High Altitude Research Institute, a quasi governmental organisation set up to research the flora and fauna of higher altitudes both from the ground and by airship. This is a way to tap into the very rich vein of extraordinary creatures that inhabit the atmosphere, probably as a result of mutations arising from the apocalyptic 'event'.
Brief Description: Part research scientist, part adventurer, part engineer, Fitziron comes from an engineering background and has branched out into a number of arcane 'sciences' as a result of translating writings discoverd in a Tibetan monastery. Initially thought to be purely spiritual in nature, these writings have contained secrets of some of the secrets of lighter than air flight prior to the 'event'. This has allowed the HARI to become advanced in LTA flight and therefore likely to come to the attantion of other countries seeking this technology. It could be hinted that given the age old frontier between Europe / Russia and the Indian sub continent has always been a source of contention, both before and after the 'event' HARI activities might include strategic observation and counter espionage.
Intended Arc: The arc anticipates approaches from other interested parties which may or may not be friendly. Also, discoveries in the upper atmosphere will lead to new products and capabilities which will increase the wealth and likely attractiveness of India (or whatever it will be called) as a state.

I don't know if this is what is expected and any advice / corrections / etc will be very welcome, plus hints of what to do next!

[The Corsair]

The set universe doesn't have any magic in it so I don't think 'arcane' would really work. I will add that my story deals with advances in lighter-than-air flight, but if the Indian breakthroughs are substantially different then there should be no issue. I think your note at the end about India becoming wealthy is a tad pointless, given that comparative wealth isn't really a thing, but of course if the breakthroughs were applied in a militaristic manner then it could certainly increase the power of India (which you can invent your own name for).
Remember that India is just as cut off from Europe as the rest of the east. It's probably struggled to maintain cultural independence from the Sinian provinces (which would probably cease to be an issue as it grows in power).

I've actually just had a thought. Could it be that he has a hobby of researching old religions and perhaps comes across a monastery that protected the 'secrets' he comes across? It's up to you, of course, I don't want to write your character for you

[Angus A Fitziron]

Thank you, that's the kind of input I'm looking for, so I'll think about it a bit more and edit the profile accordingly.

ffitz

[Angus A Fitziron]

The apocalypse brought about some fairly large geographical changes...

Europe is fairly similar in geography. There is now the large landmass of Doggerland connecting what was France to what was the UK.

There's a pretty large mountain range dividing Europe/Africa from Asia and the remaining space around Arabia and Asia Minor is desert and basically uninhabited (save for nomads etc). Mass transit and communication/trade between the two regions pretty much doesn't exist, but there's been enough travel that most people will have probably heard a story of the other continent. The north of Asia (including the bits of old Russia closest to Europe) are basically frozen wastelands that are again uninhabited.

Asia is the more prosperous area. It is basically a collection of self-governing 'states' but they all identify largely as one people (this includes regions like India, Japan and some of South-East Asia). South East Asia largely doesn't exist though. Most of the islands are really too fragmented to be of any use to anyone and those that once lived there have long since moved to the more stable ground of mainland Asia.

South America, when the war was reaching its climax, decided to concern itself with the preservation of life. It is basically a sanctuary for any animal and plant life that will grow there. They are far more advanced than any other region and have dedicated themselves to the biological sciences. They are able to maintain a fairly communist society and live off genetically engineered plants and animals.

The northernmost parts of South America and southernmost parts of North America were obliterated in the conflict. North and South are completely separate. There is a constant 'land bridge' made up of ice that links North America to Asia.

The rockies are largely impassable, much like the European mountains, so little is known about civilisation on the far side of them. No effort to establish contact has really been made, no trade exists. In reality this region is similar to Europe (It has been stable for about a century and a half by now)

Australia is essentially again like Europe, only it slightly more advanced. It has a relatively small population, though, due to a lack of agricultural resources. There is no famine, but farming is very tightly controlled by the government and a lot of funding goes into researching better farming methods and advancing the agricultural sector, so technology has somewhat stagnated for the last century-ish.

I will also add that lighter-than-air travel has really only just been rediscovered so airships are used in some trade between close-ish cities but they are not used for transit and are unable to both reach the altitudes necessary for crossing the mountains that divide the regions of the world and travel the distances necessary to cross oceans and reach the Americas and Australia. If you have any questions feel free to ask.

I have been trying to get my head around this world and not being a geologist, am not making much progress! It seems to me that the destruction of the land mass between north and south America would have a significant effect on the behaviour of the earth and its atmosphere.

So, where I have got to is that the massive shift in land mass, probably triggering the San Andreas Fault plus associated tsunamis, has shifted the earth's rotational axis from the one we are used to today to one that passes through central Russia, say 75^o N; 75^o E and 75^oS and 105^o W (somewhere in Antarctica). This would explain the frozen nature of Russia / Asia border although the ice bridge between Alaska and Asia would need to be more like Canada and Asia as the shift in pole puts the Bering Starits near the equator! Debris from the vaporisation of the Carribean land masses has formed layers in the atmosphere reflecting sunlight back into space and causing cooling of the earth's surface increasing the ice coverage and hence a lowering of the ocean surface and exposing the Dogger Bank. The mountain range between Europe and Asia is, I assume the Alps and the Himalayas which being passable at the moment, must be impassable due to increased snow and ice.
The changes in climate both global and local, has caused massive agricultural problems as existing plants fail and there is famine until new spieces / varients grow. This might help explain the lack of ocean travel - not enough large timbers to build early primitive ships - as well as increased ice.

Like I say, can't really make it stack up, but to make the story work, I think we need an homogeneous view of the planet so we can individually assess likely conditions.