Actually, in seeing the relatively slow progress of this thread, it just occurred to me that we can't see the forest for the trees. Folklore is exactly that. Folk Lore. The localized culture, customs and myths of regional groups of people.
You see Steampunk IS folklore by definition. It is the idealization of a certain period of time that is re-imagined as an alternate time-line. It's the idealization of a world where people were in transition from a horse driven culture to a locomotive driven culture, which we re-imagine by way of airships and ray guns and all sorts of retro futuristic technologies, with the advantage that WE actually live in future, and we unfairly know what technology looks like when Jules Verne had no choice but to make it all up in his mind. We idealize the historical technological events which helped spread Britain (19th century ) and a newfangled United States (20th century ) into global cultural dominance.
In the British world it can also be Imperial folklore, with various spin-offs, such as British India folklore. In other countries touched by the industrial revolution it can also involve their own historical folklore. In Japan, it's Meiji Era Folklore, in Russia there will be folkloric elements too. I've written quite a bit on Mexico in the late 19th century (Porfiriato and industrialization with massive European migration) and of course there is the Weird West folklore in the United States which we don't see so often in these days - probably because we're missing various American members now.
So in my mind folkloric elements will be geographically derived based on the local history which will involve some sort of technological and cultural influence and exchange from Britain or 19th century Europe. And for examples, there's probably a great many threads in this forum! It's just that we don't commonly use the word "folklore" to describe Steampunk. If you search the threads, you'll find it!
Germanic Steampunk:
http://brassgoggles.co.uk/forum/index.php/topic,47188.msg957489.html#msg957489Mexican Steampunk:
http://brassgoggles.co.uk/forum/index.php/topic,26636.msg592752.html#msg592752Japanese Steampunk:
http://brassgoggles.co.uk/forum/index.php/topic,38619.msg828422.html#msg828422Steampunk in Russia:
http://brassgoggles.co.uk/forum/index.php/topic,47396.0.htmlSince you can "Turn Anything into Steampunk™" the list of folkloric Steampunk ideas is endless.
In my not yet written novel "The Valkyrie and the Eagle" I make use of Germanic folklore by bringing to life elves and making them human. That's Germanic folklore. I also introduce Wild West elements, which are American folklore and history (eg Civil War, Indian Wars type characters), and also Mexican history (French Intervention / Maximilian Empire) which involves both Germanic (Austrian) history.
http://brassgoggles.co.uk/forum/index.php/topic,49108.msg983624.html#msg983624
