Steam Charged

[Jharviss]

[spoiler=The REAL Reason I am Here]You might read, at your discretion, my background reasons for Steam Charged's Creation. That's fine. Want to know the real reason?

I'm the executive director of Cracked Monocle. We have a release date on Tephra, our Steam-Powered Fantasy RPG of December. In a wave of inspiration, I developed a completely new gaming system that addressed all of my problems with other systems and began work on a very steampunk setting. My crew, however, doesn't know this, and they can't know it. It's a side project for now, until I'm ready to reveal it. If my company knew I was developing another system and setting, I'd get quite a backlash. Thus, I come here, where it's safe, and ask for y'all's opinions and feedback.

Let's face facts - I need some sort of feedback on my endeavors. We're all a little bit starving for attention.[/spoiler][spoiler=Background Reasons for the Creation of Steam Charged]It's been a long time since I've posted on these forums anything of substance. The last time I was here, I was piecing together the foundation that would become Tephra, a steam-powered fantasy roleplaying game. Since that time, Tephra has taken off, I run a game development company called Cracked Monocle, and have a lore department in charge of making sure the world comes to fruition. Unfortunately, that leaves me without a personal project.

So I'm back, and this time with something a little different. It's an alternate history earth, an endeavor I've always been skeptical of partaking in, but I think I'm ready for it. And, if you hadn't already guessed, it's quite steampunk.

This is going to be pretty sporadic as I organize my thoughts and start compiling a finished product. In the meantime, I would be blessed by the knowledge of my reader and your astute judgments on my opinion of a history that could've been.

My thanks,
Daniel Alan Burrow[/spoiler][spoiler=Legal]The final reason I come here is because I trust this community and know its views on copyright. Thus, if you don't mind, I wish to copyright 2010 all material posted within this topic as belonging to Daniel Alan Burrow, sole proprietor of Cracked Monocle. If anybody has any questions on this or wishes for me to expand further, I am more than willing to do so. For now I will let it be stated that I do want to publish this someday, though I might do it for free via a website, and any suggestions you post I might use. That's the nature of the beast, eh?[/spoiler]

The Steam Charged Boom
It is the early 20th century, but not as you probably know it. Almost eighty years ago, In 1837, the story of the world deviated grandly from the history you know. From almost out of nowhere, a new company known as Utopian Enterprises began selling small, translucent spheres, smaller than eggs, that they called Steam Charges. These charges, made of a composition few chemists can figure out, almost instantaneously turns water into steam. When demonstrated to Isambard Kingdom Brunel, the chief engineer of the Great Western Railway, in the late months of '37, the few witnesses said that there was a glint in his eyes that they hadn't seen since he started work on the Clifton Suspension Bridge in 1831. The immense and immediate amount of steam produced by dropping one of these magical little spheres into a boiler was incredible, and the selling price on each sphere was measly compared to the amount spent on coal for anything near that output.

Within two years the Great Western had entirely changed from steam powered to steam charged. The clean and cheap output so revolutionized the railroad that George Stephenson also quickly adopted steam charge technology, and many of the great engineers of the day invested heavily in opening Utopian Enterprise factories all across Britain.

By this time, Isambard Kingdom Brunel was already working on his second steam-powered ship, the Great Britain, and he converted its engines over to steam charge technology immediately. This improved the production speed of the vessel, and it was launched in 1942. Within 5 years, a ship twice as long was built, the Leviathan, that fully built upon steam charge technology. This set the course for the first major iron-hulled, propeller-driven fleets.

With industry across the British Empire booming within the first decade of Utopian Enterprises opening its doors, parliament passed numerous acts encouraging further scientific progresses. Across Europe, too, as other continental powers fought against Britain's radical new technologies and attempted to bring Utopian Enterprises to their borders, the sciences gained an enormous amount of prestige and capital. Any man who could prove, even slightly, that he was working on steam charges or improving steam charge technology qualified for numerous government grants.

In the early 1850s, the first steam charged dirigibles were exhibited. With engines considerably lighter than if they had been conventional steam engines, the airships were able to carry several tons, soon, the numerous uses for them were seen. Though some minor incidents did occur with the explosive hydrogen gases used aboard the airships, the sudden displacement of coal miners led to there being an abundance of people willing to take any work, and helium extraction soon became a thriving industry. By the time of the American Civil War, the production of helium-based airships of war was well into testing phases.

Meanwhile, analytical engines were becoming quite common, and advancing rapidly. Charles Babbage, using numerous government grants to continue his work, quickly finished the first Analytical Engine. In 1846, Babbage and his new associate, Ada Lovelace, introduced a second analytical engine, this one ready for mass production. Though Lady Lovelace would die by 1853, Charles Babbage would continue to work on his analytical engines, which would become widely known as Adas.

The War Between States
In 1861, the world was shocked by the sudden power seen in the United States. Several states seceded from the Union, and, on April 12, 1861, Confederate forces attacked Fort Sumter. The newly elected Abraham Lincoln wasted little time in rallying the Union forces, which prompted numerous other southern states to secede. Both sides prepared for war, but the Union, with better production factories and more standing military, engaged first. In August, as Britain was considering whether to intervene on the Confederacy's side, Lincoln attacked.

The event would be known as the Bloody August of 1861, as Lincoln steamrolled across the south, obliterating the Confederate forces. The airship bombings, better railways, and stores of superior munitions made the Confederate defenses seem petty, and, by November of that same year, Jefferson Davis publicly announced that he was dissolving the Confederacy and that the southern states would be rejoining the Union.

The Advancement of Bio-Sciences
As the United States began its rather quick road to reconstruction, the rest of the world was left with a newfound understanding and demonstration of the new destructive power that existed. France, Germany, and the Ottoman Empire all redoubled their efforts to catch up to the British Empire, whose influence and power they now greatly feared. This caused an even greater investment into the sciences and, soon, Utopian Enterprises.

The British Empire was surprised to discover that the Utopian Enterprises was not seated in England, and that, for the right price, Utopian Enterprises was more than willing to build factories across continental Europe. Unwilling to block the Utopian Enterprises and without the ability yet to produce the steam charges themselves, Britain begrudgingly allowed Utopian factories outside of Britain to be built.

In 1882, a terrible horror arose in the newly formed German Empire. A man, whose true name is unknown, was dubbed Victor Frankenstein, after Mary Shelley's novel, A Modern Prometheus. This scientist created a new science, called anatomics, and, quite literally, brought Frankenstein's monster to life. Using human body parts, direct current electricity provided by the inventions of Thomas Edison, and a series of nearly inexplicable accidents, this Frankenstein gave birth to true abominations.

Though the life of the man named Victor Frankenstein is virtually unknown, that of Igor Fritz is well documented. In 1885, Igor Fritz took over for the apparently deceased Victor Frankenstein and began mass producing the abominations. Though not nearly as intelligent as the monster in Mary Shelley's novel, the abominations could walk, consume, and think like an intelligent creature, if not a human. Some were more impressive than others, and some were even capable of speaking.

Though German citizens were opposed to the existence of the abominations, the German Empire saw them as one of the few ways to catch up with Britain. The German Empire would soon be filled with abomination foot soldiers, slave labor, and other clever means of using these expendables in labor.

Meanwhile, the idea of evolution was spreading across the world. Darwin's On the Origin of Species made quite a mark in the world, and soon led to numerous new ideas. In the early 1890s, splicing experiments began in secret to help other species more quickly evolve. These scientists, called Evolutionaries, started combining humans with animals, creating people that were no longer just people.

These experiments were soon forcibly stopped, and several of the scientists were executed for murder. However, it is believed that many Evolutionaries still exist and work today.

The Second American Revolution
In the late 1880s, two great American inventors started a feud that the Bloody August of 1861 seem like children's games. Nikola Tesla and Thomas Edison were both geniuses, and their opposing ideas on electricity led to the creation of two camps: the followers of Tesla and the Edison Company.

Going into the turn of the century, both inventors had made vast fortunes with their work, and their companies dwarfed those of the railroad and steel barons. Edison and Tesla both began work on robotics, and, building off of Babbage's analytical engines, their advances soon became great. Tesla created highly advanced robots that could be given orders and powered from miles away. Edison, on the other hand, began work on automatons, advancing the analytical engine to such a degree that the automatons could make decisions for themselves and understand their surroundings. But though Edison's automatons were the more cunning foe, Tesla's lightning-wielding robots were frightening combatants.

The war between the two escalated until the United States army was forced to intervene, and the intervention did not go smoothly. But, as we are nearing present day, I'll leave the story here.

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This is by no means exactly as I want it. I'm also still leaving out some vital information, such as the effects of the steam charges on the human body, the origin of Utopian Enterprises, and the founding of the larger empires that now dominate the world. But, for now, I'd love to hear your thoughts. I know the above is long, but hopefully it has a bit of interest to it. Also, if you find any glaring flaws, please let me know.

Cheers,

[Superfluous Crow]

Hmm, automatons, biological tampering, abominations, electricity, dirigible, steam... All the elements for steampunk seem to be in place :)
It looks interesting, even if you haven't exactly reinvented althis steampunk (yet). The Edison-Tesla war is quite original though, even if the robot/robot conflict gives it a slight cartoonish twist (but if you are a mad electro-scientist why wouldn't you make a robot army?). Could be cool though.
The steam charges are quite interesting (and innovative) and the abominations could well be put to good use. Also, I have the feeling that Utopian Enterprises might not be entirely benevolent, what, with their absolute monopoly on the production of energy?
Maybe you should take the Evolutionaries in a more general direction instead of just having them splice animals (we've seen half-men before). For example, you could have a biological catalyst which would supercharge the force of evolution: Put some on your hand, pour acid over it, and your hand would die, evolve and reconstruct itself to grant itself immunity in the span of a few minutes.
Hope this is of use!

[Jharviss]

I'm not entirely convinced on the Edison-Tesla War where it is. The rest of the history flows pretty well (as far as the author is concerned :P ), but the Edison-Tesla war feels off. As you described, Crow, it's a cartoonish twist, and that makes my skin crawl. I'm going to need to either nix it or re-write it in such a way that it doesn't feel like two mad scientists battling it out with crazy dooms day weapons that you'd only see in a cartoon.

(Unfortunately, that's what it is!)

Your evolution catalyst idea sounds awesome. Bloody painful, but awesome nonetheless.

And yes, my goal is not to reinvent steampunk, but to work very definitely within the boundaries of steampunk. As we've been developing and releasing Tephra, we get a lot of steampunk fans who want to migrate their ideas into a steampunk roleplaying game. Unfortunately, Tephra has such a redefined steampunk element that it's difficult to do so. So, in the creation of Steam Charged, I want something that is very accepting of steampunk, but still has a good, unique, and exciting flavor involved.

Thanks for the feedback!  I'll definitely be updating again soon.