The Campaign Builder's Guild

The Frontier
From the pollution-choked industrial cities of the Solarian Kingdom, they come. From the darkest swamps of the Marshland Principalities, they come. From the war-torn highlands of the Triple Commonwealth, they come. From every slum, every hovel, every miserable famine-wracked village, every bastion of corruption, they come. They crawl out of the black hole that yesterday seemed endless, they put one foot in front of the other, and they march forth into a brave new future. Life out here isn't easy, but nobody here is expecting an easy life. They don't come out here for that. No, they come out here because this is the only place that a man can forge his own future, that he can shrug off the chains that so-called society uses to keep him under the boot of kings and noblemen and bankers. This is the only place he can stand on his own two feet, hold his head high, and say "this is my land." This is the Frontier.

[ic=Justice]
High noon. The sun beat down, and the wind was still. A deathly calm was in the air, as though the Frontier itself knew what was coming. A small crowd gathered, but not many. This wasn't that important, and, in any case, executions weren't exactly a rarity these days, anyway. If you missed one, you could always catch the next one.

The condemned man was marched up to the ramshackle wooden stage, where his head was to be removed. Swiftly and cleanly was the idea, but it didn't always work that way. Sometimes things got a bit messy. The stains all over the wood were a testament to that.

"Any last words...?" the King's Lictor grunted downward, as his men shoved the condemned downard. He himself didn't even bother to look at the condemned.

There was a long silence, broken only by the Priest of the Holy Light, whispering last rites for the condemned man.

"Thank you, Brother, for your kindness," the condemned man said, somberly. He continued, "For there will be death today, yes. Someone's going to die today... but it isn't going to be me." He looked up with a wicked grin.

The lictor whirled around, drawing his pistol, but it was too late. One bang, and half of his face was on the wall behind him, continuing to spin in place a few more times before falling to the ground with a thud. The small crowd scattered, while the assailant, a Zhatlani woman dressed all in black, swooped in, kicked away another man, and rescued the condemned man.

"About time you got here. They just about managed to do it this time."
[/ic]

[ooc=Important Themes]The one-line description for the Frontier could be "Dark fantasy steampunk western with Asian elements," but that's kind of a mouthful, so I've tried to make a list of important concepts in the setting.

Heroes and Antiheroes
This is not a world with black-and-white morality. It is a harsh world full of people who are doing what they can in order to survive. They may lie, cheat, and steal, but might well also, when it really counts, do the right thing... if perhaps for the wrong reasons. The line between justice and revenge is rather thin, anyway, especially around here. If the bad guy ends up pumped full of lead at the end of the day, what's really the difference?

East meets Weird West
I've retained the general gritty quality of a typical western setting, or dark fantasy for that matter. I've also kept many of the social conventions and incorporated a rather Christian-like monotheistic religion. However, I've also injected a much more Asian feel into the civilizations that are settling the Frontier, merging them with classical steampunk imagery: something like a bit more outlandish version of Meiji-era Japan, or Republic City from Korra. Some things just aligned well; stylish action movie gunslingers almost always reach for a katana when they need a melee weapon, for example.

Magic is Everywhere... Unfortunately
Magic is everywhere, but it's not all that comprehensible in human terms, and there can't and won't be any sort of "magitech" because it can never be systematized to that degree. Rather, it's mysterious, strange, and almost always dangerous. That's not to say there isn't some beneficial magic out there, but it always has its cost. It might be safer to simply avoid it entirely.
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[ooc=Inspirations]The Frontier is a pretty eclectic mashing of inspirations, so it's hard to nail too much down. Movies that particularly inspired me include Django Unchained, There Will Be Blood, Wild Wild West, The Man With The Iron Fists, Serenity (as well as the rest of Firefly) and The Good, the Bad, the Weird, but I've taken cues from a lot of other classic and modern westerns, kung fu movies, and samurai movies. Various steampunk and dark fantasy elements have a place of prominence as well. I also took quite a bit of inspiration from the post-apocalyptic genre, due to the general feeling of lawlessness and isolation. More locally, the assorted writings of Steerpike, Superbright/Rhamnousia, and Weave kept coming to mind.
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The Solarian Kingdom
Two centuries ago, a collection of numerous small warring principalities was finally brought together under the firm but mostly benevolent rule of His Majesty Under the Holy Light, the first Solarian King. They had a land rich in resources, and, free of strife, they expanded themselves into the greatest mercantile and industrial power the world had ever seen. The recent War of Succession cast the Kingdom into turmoil once again, but, with that now over, it grows by leaps and bounds (Solar City alone boasts a population of well over a million people) once more. Great advances like steam-powered industry, electric lights, lumbering automatons, and mechanical computers pave the way, leading the people of the Solarian Kingdom ever forward. Yet, there is also a dark underbelly to this bright future, in the form of teeming city slums overflowing corruption, crime, vice, disease, filth, and rot. Some people yearn for freedom, and there is a way out... westward.

Entering the Frontier
For many years, the westward expansion of the Solarian Kingdom was checked by the vast Sand Sea, a desert so rugged, dry and wind-scoured that is nearly impassable. The invention of the airship changed all that. Now, the great expanse can be crossed, and the Frontier is open for exploration and conquest. Still, even the mighty airship alone is not enough to truly conquer the Frontier. Few have enough fuel to do anything (or at least anything safely) but cross the Sand Sea and turn back. Even those that can press further into the Frontier cannot fly high enough to traverse the soaring Redstone Mountains, and only the most drunk or suicidal airship pilot would dare to fly anywhere near the Weird.

The Marshland Principalities
South of the Solarian Kingdom is a confederation of states that the first Solarian King either had no interest in (according to the Solarians) or failed at (according to the Marshlanders) conquering. As their name suggests, they border a large area of swampy land. This land is ideal for rice cultivation, and much of the population is farmers. The Principalities are, in general, somewhat behind the Solarian Kingdom in technology and education. Due to this lag in development, as well as their focus on agriculture over industry, the prevalence of rural dialects, and religious differences, they are regarded as obviously inferior by most Solarians. This hate has only intensified as increasing numbers of Marshlanders move north to the Solarian Kingdom to attempt to find a better life. Solarians label them with any number of creative slurs, like "marshies" or "bogbottoms." The southern location of the Principalities would make any trip across the Sand Sea much longer, and their native airship technology is too primitive to make the trip anyway. As such, the numerous Marshlanders who wish to travel to the Frontier must do so via Solarian ports.
[ooc=Racism]While I've tried to create a gritty setting with the feel of the 19th century, the rugged atmosphere of the Frontier means that discriminating against people for superficial things is a luxury most people don't have, anyway, and it may be just as well to avoid annoying or offending modern readers. There simply don't exist people that we would understand as "white people" or "black people" as such, with almost everyone a varying shade of brown, so skin color based discrimination would be more difficult anyway. That said, it is not a setting devoid of bigotry: the people of the Solarian Kingdom emphatically believe themselves superior to all others, based on their superior culture, language, and religious beliefs.[/ooc]

Neosolaria
Neosolaria is a lofty and pretentious name for a rotten town. Although ostensibly loyal to and governed by the Solarian crown, the real power in town is a corrupt criminal boss who goes by "The Tiger." What passes for law and order is kept by his gang of thugs. The buildings are mostly ramshackle structures made of splintered wood or cheap bricks, ugly and unpainted, aside from the occasional garish sign. The roads are unpaved, with dust blowing everywhere during dry times and turning to muck when it rains. Just about everything in the town seems like it's originally scavenged from something else. It is the closest thing to civilization this side of the Sand Sea, but, then again, it's mostly got the bad parts of civilization. In the center of the town stands a tawdry imitation of one of the stately towers that fill Solar City, housing a saloon and bordello frequented by the Tiger himself. Neosolaria is the most common port of influx for those going to the Frontier, but most smart travelers spend as little time as possible in this den of smugglers, sky-privateers, drunkards, gamblers, prostitutes, and other unseemly sorts.

The Weird
The Weird is exactly as its name would suggest. A long and thin ribbon of blue-green light that trails several afterimages, with occasional flashes of yellows or purples, it generally flies through the skies harmlessly (except to airships, of course, which it seems to seek out with a malicious intent) drifting this way and that. However, it is anything but harmless should it reach the ground, so all keep a wary eye turned upward when it is overhead... and the black ichor hunters spring into action. When it dips and dives, it splits the ground in two anywhere it touches, and horrific creatures not of this world (generally and fittingly glossed as "weird creatures") crawl out. Contact with the Weird itself also has the same effect on people and animals, so it's best to stay well clear. If it just grazes the ground, it creates a small crack and spawns a few hideous scorpion-things, but that's just another day in the Frontier. Once or twice a year, it scoops up a huge chunk of earth, creating a crevasse from which emerge a horde of hungry man-sized beasts with the faces of things not seen except in the deepest, darkest oceans... or nightmares. The only blessing is that cold steel and hot lead have the same effect on these things as anything else that walks and eats.

Lictors
The Lictors were originally the bodyguards of the Solarian nobility, but as the state stabilized, they evolved into a body responsible for domestic peacekeeping in general. Throughout Solar City and the heartlands of the Solarian Kingdom, the Lictors keep the peace, generally respected but also feared by the common population. Even in the Frontier, the sight of the distinctive gray hat and gold pin of the Lictor still commands respect, if often grudging. Those who have the authority to enforce the King's Law in this lawless place are few and far between, and those who would do so fairly and justly, even more so; most Lictors with a reputation for integrity have enough influence to avoid a Frontier assignment, and eagerly do so.

Samurai
At the time of the birth of the Solarian Kingdom, those known as samurai were an elite class of warrior nobility responsible for the defense of the realm and the king. As the state modernized and the warrior nobility was replaced with a standing professional army, the samurai evolved as well, into a small, elite force that were used when the regular army would be unsuitable or not up to the task. Nowadays, they have mostly abandoned their old arms and armor, now preferring to use the latest state-of-the-art electric power armor and repeating firearms, but they do still carry a blade for close combat, and they remain true to their ancient traditions; each samurai's suit of power armor contains the crests and heraldry of his noble house. No Samurai reside full-time in the Frontier, but they have been deployed during times of extreme peril.

Zhatlan
Even the most isolated lands of the Frontier are not entirely devoid of people, but, as settlers from the east moved in, the nomadic hunter-gatherer tribes living there tended to either assimilate or disperse. To the south, on the other hand, lies the territory of Zhatlan, an ancient and powerful city-state. For many years, Zhatlan was the foremost regional power, and all of the surrounding tribes had to pay homage to the Zhatlani Chieftain. However, its military and technology are generations behind the eastern powers, especially the Solarian Kingdom. It lacks any heavy industry, so, while Zhatlani steel is superlative, it cannot mass produce arms or armor. Its stock of firearms is also limited, and generally inferior. While outright conquest of Zhatlan is impossible due to the inability of airships to transport enough men and materiel, the eastern powers (again, especially the Solarian Kingdom) have been able to impose unequal and unfair treaties on Zhatlan, causing much resentment in the Zhatlani court and provoking frequent Zhatlani raids against nearby Frontier settlements. Many devout easterners see the subjugation of Zhatlan as a moral imperative, beliving that the polytheistic pantheon of the Zhatlani must be replaced with the Church of the Holy Light.

The Sisters of Rectitude
The Church of the Holy Light preaches peace and nonviolence, with one of its core teachings being "no man shall prevail over the evils of the world through force of arms." However, life on the Frontier is not so easy... so the Sisters of Rectitude simply choose to focus on the "no man" part. They are an all-female sect of acolytes and priestesses of the Holy Light (belonging to the strict Orthodox sect) devoted to fighting corruption and impurity wherever they may find it, and not just metaphorically. In addition to their spiritual teachings, all Sisters are trained in close combat, marksmanship, assassination, and other deadly arts. They enter battle dressed in their traditional black robes, but generally with modifications for the sake of mobility and keeping their weapons close at hand.

Witchcraft
Back east, the practice of witchcraft is deemed to do more harm than good. It is frowned upon by every sect of the Church of the Holy Light and strictly regulated by governments, with an onerous licensing procedure and stiff penalties (including capital punishment) for performing unsanctioned rituals. However, even the long arm of the law is not so long that it can reach all the way into the Frontier, and witches of all types ply their trade on the far side of the Sand Sea. Most often, they do so quietly, for there are more than a few people in the Frontier who won't hesitate to gun down or string up someone practicing dark arts, even without legal backing. Even deeper within the wilderness, over the Redstone Mountains, there are tales of secret settlements where they practice their strange arts openly. The more esoteric the art, the more powerful the magic, the more it twists the practitioner, so these witches often resemble creatures of the Weird more than the humans they once were.

Black Ichor
Of all of the things discovered on the Frontier, nothing got the attention of the nations back east quite like black ichor, the black slime that dead weird creatures invariably melt back into. It has the ability to be synthesized into innumerable fuels and chemicals, and with all this miraculous flexibility it almost seemed like witchcraft that followed the rules of science. There are many exports from the Frontier (no point in sending back empty airships, after all) but black ichor is by far the leader. The "safe" way to get it is to find a place where weird creatures died in droves some innumerable centuries ago, mine the congealed residue now buried deep underground (generally called black rock), grind it up, and add alcohol and a few other nasty chemicals until it's a nice thick black soup. Safe is of course a relative term-- the mines and reliquefier vats aren't exactly the greatest places to work. It takes a lot of ground up black rock to get a decent amount of ichor, too. So, at some point, some genius or fool (the jury's still out) decided to just hunt down living weird creatures and harvest 100% pure black ichor instead. This is a quick way to make quite a bit of cash, and it's also a quick way to end up dead.

Dragon Canyon
Dragon Canyon is a rather new town, some distance north of Neosolaria, established around a large black rock mine. It is believed that the canyon itself was carved out by the Weird some centuries ago, resulting in an influx of weird creatures on a truly grand scale. Most of them lived and died in the canyon, leading directly to the profitable mine that now operates here. It is owned by the Eagle Conglomerate, a large and successful corporation with ties to the Solarian royal family; it is generally very good to its shareholders and cares little about safety conditions for its workers. The pay is, on the other hand, seemingly quite generous, although given the level of danger involved, it's likely nobody would sign up at all were any less being offered. Even as it is, it takes a certain amount of desperation to work in the mine... but perhaps not quite as much as it takes to go chase the Weird.

Slaughterhouses
The Frontier is full of open spaces, teeming with herds of buffalo as far as the eye can see. Ranchers saw this combination and immediately went to work, setting up vast areas for grazing, establishing trails for cattle drives, and, of course, constructing slaughterhouses that would be the final destination for the beasts. The slaughterhouses were a grim enough spectacle, made all the more so by the crude quality of them. They were built from local materials, and most of their tools were locally produced, as everything had to go by air. Their products went by air, too, and it wasn't long before airships full of steaks, roasts, ribs, and other choice bits of meat started flying back east, their products gracing the plates of the Solarian Kingdom. Or, rather, the elites of the Solarian Kingdom-- due to the expense of flying the meat in by airship, this was a delight generally out of the reach of the common masses. Of course, if they moved to the Frontier, the airship trip wasn't an issue; if a desire for owning one's own land is the main reason for moving west, wanting to sink one's teeth into something besides rice and tofu is probably the second.

Yeah I would play in this right now - put me down for a hardpan-wandering, revolver-toting gunslinger with a samurai sword.

I love the background of a technologically superior, industrially choked megacity cast against a wild west palette; I think that's very evocative. You mention magic being everywhere, but outside of witchcraft, what does it look like?

Were you thinking of something like FATE for the system?

Love the setting, would love to play in it, already have a million questions about it.

What is the structure and belief system of the Church of the Holy Light like? The snippets that you provide imply a pretty unique religion: a monotheistic (or rather atheistic) state religion that sees the existence of other faiths as an affront while simultaneously preaching strict non-violence, so I'm getting the impression that it's something like Shinto by way of medieval Catholicism. Likewise, I love the concept of Sisters of Repentance - warrior nuns are and will always be my thing - though I'm not sure about the name, if only because it's not clear how much of a thing "repentance" is for the Church. Temperance or Rectitude seem like they fit the concept better, but that's just me.

How do people get around in the Frontier? Are airships closer to trains in that there's a limited number of large ones following fixed routes or are there also smaller "air coaches"? And since you mentioned sky pirates - again, one of my all-time faves - are planes a thing or are they tearing around in blimps and hot air balloons too?

No amount of detail about the Sand Sea would be too excessive, at least for me. What kind of animals live there? What are the indigenous peoples like? What is there to eat out there? Is it constantly baking like the Sahara or does it get snow like the Gobi?

Like Weave, I'm also eager to hear what sort of rules system this will use so I can start fleshing out the nascent character concepts that've already popped into my head.

It's like a post-apocalyptic setting without an actual apocalypse. So far it seems pretty interesting and ventures beyond generic weird west milieu.

What is the status of divinity as a setting element? Real and demonstrable power, a matter of blind faith, or something between? I would expect the frontier to be a fertile ground for all kinds of oddball sects and heresies to sprout up, but if the big major religion can simply call down holy balls of fire on heretics then the religious situation will end up far less complicated.

Post-apocalyptic without an actual apocalypse is pretty good way of describing it in a lot of ways, and I had similar imagery in mind.

I might not have presented the Church of the Holy Light as well as I could have, because it's definitely not atheistic. The closest real religious analogy I could give would be Gnosticism. They believe in a "Creator" who is omnipotent but distant and apathetic, and a "Lightbringer" who is not omnipotent but benevolent. The teachings are, like most religions, full of lots of good-sounding platitudes about being moral and living together in peace and whatnot, but it's less rosy in practice. I think non-violence is one of the core teachings, but I'm not sure how strict it is in practice-- after all, "thou shalt not kill" sometimes didn't hold much weight either. I think the idea is more along the lines that it's not possible to win a spiritual struggle through violent means. This means there's a trend towards confession and forgiveness, and converting one's enemies rather than eradicating them, and it's where the "repentance" comes from... although, now that you mention it, "Sisters of Rectitude" has a nice ring to it, too. To be honest, it's all still a little inchoate; I really just wanted a good "no man" line to exist as a loophole for an all-female group of badasses.

The power of the Church of the Holy Light is real and demonstrable as some sort of power, but nobody can sure quite what. That the power comes from their god and isn't just some weird sort of sorcery is a matter of faith. This means that while holy magic is a real thing, there definitely are all kinds of oddball sects and heresies. It's also rather subtle. A blessing here and a disease cured there, but militant sects like the Sisters can't call down holy balls of fire, they have to make do with blades and bullets just like everyone else.

Airships are similar to trains, in that they mostly follow fixed routes, but perhaps it's more proper to say they're similar to modern commercial aviation. There are specific flight paths selected for reasons of efficiency and safety, but they can theoretically diverge from that, and would if there was a good reason to. There may be smaller balloons and powered gliders, but I think an important aspect of the setting is keeping air travel somewhat exotic and limited, so is still plenty of unexplored and dangerous territory out there.

The Sand Sea is extremely inhospitable to humans. While some nomads may live along the fringes, nobody lives in the deep desert at all. Most overland expeditions in the past eventually had to turn back, and the ones that didn't never returned at all. The animals that live there are mostly weird, hardy reptiles, and I'll probably take a page out of Dune and have some sort of giant sandworms or the like, too. There are some parts that are utterly devoid of (macroscopic) life at all, looking more like the surface of Mars than anything else.

As for rules, since it's me, it's probably going to be some sort of Fate variant, probably with quite a bit of influence from Asura, too. I can already see Fate-like rules working really well for a classic western gun showdown: you spend the first few rounds staring each other down, placing aspects on each other, but eventually someone decides it's time to draw. Both combatants then roll initiative and fire, and can tag all those aspects on either roll-- it's a big advantage to shoot first, so you'll want to boost your initiative, but if you spend all your tags on shooting first, you might not actually hit the other guy.

This is fantastic! I really like the approach to magic, which is honestly not something I would have expected from you - I really like the "magic is strange/dangerous/mysterious" approach, and the idea of persecuted spellcasters, which is probably no suprise.

I'm curious about resources and the lure of the frontier. Historically a lot of western settlements were either cowtowns or mining towns - cattle and metal driving westward expansion. The fur trade was also big in places. You mention There Will Be Blood and we've obviously got airships and other vehicles, so I'm wondering about oil or other fuels. Fleeing persecution, the law, rigid social structures, etc are all valid reasons for heading west, of course, but how does the average settler make their living?

100% here for heresy in the weird west.  I really like the No Man, Sisters of repentance dynamic.  Sounds very fun.  I'd immediately lean towards a disgraced or apostate Sister if building a character, what better place to run than the chaos of the frontier?

I'm glad you guys like it. :)

Quote from: SteerpikeI'm curious about resources and the lure of the frontier.

Giving people a good reason to go to the Frontier is actually something I need to work on. The reason I have now is "the east is overcrowded and full of poverty," which isn't the worst thing to drive migration, but there should probably be some sort of industry waiting for them. Cattle and mining are both good ideas, but the exports from the Frontier can't be anything really too enormously massive, due to the restriction on things being sent back and forth having to go by air-- only higher-value products can go. I'm thinking the Frontier could be rich in some sort of steampunk-pseudosciency energy source that has enough energy density it's profitable to send it back by airship, sort of an analogue to Lunar mining of Helium-3. As for cattle, the stockyards and slaughterhouses would have to be on the Frontier side, as only finished meat products could be shipped back affordably... which adds a bunch of grisly imagery I'm sure you could get behind.

Quote from: NuminousI'd immediately lean towards a disgraced or apostate Sister if building a character, what better place to run than the chaos of the frontier?

The Sisters are a product of the Frontier, they aren't found back east. That said, I'd certainly have no problem with an apostate or disgraced Sister as a character concept.

Some goods that are pretty expensive per weight: platinum (more so than gold), spices (saffron, pepper, etc), gemstones, ivory, drugs/pharmaceuticals; or just something that can't be found in the Solarian kingdom area. Scarcity could make things a lot more expensive.

I don't really have a clear idea of the tech. I mean there's airships and powered armor, but you mention steampunk, electricity, gunpower? and mechanical computers. Speaking of power sources, what powers the airships?

Did the Zhatlani have guns before the airships crossed the Sand Sea?

Quote from: sparkletwistI'm thinking the Frontier could be rich in some sort of steampunk-pseudosciency energy source that has enough energy density it's profitable to send it back by airship, sort of an analogue to Lunar mining of Helium-3.

I think this would be a good fit.

What about hunting? There are mutant beasts and things made by the Weird... maybe their bodies have something of value in them. Like crystalline still-living hearts that function as power sources, or bezoars coagulated form eldritch energy, or even some kind of ambergris-like fluid that serves as fuel (like the whale oil in Dishonored).

If you haven't read Iron Council, by the way, and are interested in weird westerns, I highly recommend it.

Quote from: sparkletwist
Giving people a good reason to go to the Frontier is actually something I need to work on. The reason I have now is "the east is overcrowded and full of poverty," which isn't the worst thing to drive migration, but there should probably be some sort of industry waiting for them. Cattle and mining are both good ideas, but the exports from the Frontier can't be anything really too enormously massive, due to the restriction on things being sent back and forth having to go by air-- only higher-value products can go. I'm thinking the Frontier could be rich in some sort of steampunk-pseudosciency energy source that has enough energy density it's profitable to send it back by airship, sort of an analogue to Lunar mining of Helium-3.

It would go well with the western genre side to have something similar to a gold rush, even one that turns out to be far less lucrative than the people initially thought. You could have ghost towns left from failed mining communities, vicious competition and claim-jumping when someone does stumble upon a rich deposit, treasure-airships hauling the riches of the frontier back east being targeted by pirates, and so on.

Quote from: SteerpikeWhat about hunting? There are mutant beasts and things made by the Weird... maybe their bodies have something of value in them.

One of my character concepts was actually a trapper who hunts Weird creatures for their bones, organs, and other tissue, which she sells to apothecaries for use in medicines.

Those are good ideas, thanks. I decided to combine the hunting and mining aspects, and give a valuable commodity with a connection to the Weird. (It also has strong parallels to oil)

Black Ichor
Of all of the things discovered on the Frontier, nothing got the attention of the nations back east quite like black ichor, the black slime that dead weird creatures invariably melt back into. It has the ability to be synthesized into innumerable fuels and chemicals, and with all this miraculous flexibility it almost seemed like witchcraft that followed the rules of science. There are many exports from the Frontier (no point in sending back empty airships, after all) but black ichor is by far the leader. The "safe" way to get it is to find a place where weird creatures died in droves some innumerable centuries ago, mine the congealed residue now buried deep underground, grind it up, and add alcohol and a few other nasty chemicals until it's a nice thick black soup. Safe is of course a relative term-- the mines and reliquefier vats aren't exactly the greatest places to work. It takes a lot of ground up black rocks to get a decent amount of ichor, too. So, at some point, some genius or fool (the jury's still out) decided to just hunt down living weird creatures and harvest 100% pure black ichor instead. This is a quick way to make quite a bit of cash, and it's also a quick way to end up dead.

Quote from: LlumI don't really have a clear idea of the tech. I mean there's airships and powered armor, but you mention steampunk, electricity, gunpower? and mechanical computers. Speaking of power sources, what powers the airships?

Did the Zhatlani have guns before the airships crossed the Sand Sea?

Anyway, the technology is basically late 19th century, with some steampunk additions like airships and mechanical computers. I haven't totally nailed it down yet, but that's probably enough to give a basic image. Airships are powered by some sort of fuel, that I'm not sure about yet.

The Zhatlani did not have guns before easterners showed up. Their firearms are almost entirely scavenged, or locally made reproductions of inferior quality.

I'm assuming that there's mundane coal or oil back east, correct? How much more energy-rich is pure Black Ich in comparison?

Yes, there probably is, and it gets refined into airship fuel, among other things. I'm not totally sure about the specifics yet, to be honest. For the time being, the best answer I can give is "it's better enough that it's a big deal in the setting." :)