Anyone Up for a Steampunk Roleplay?

[Tysyacha]

WHAT IS STEAMPUNK?

 

Steampunk is a genre of art and literature in which the setting and characters use both magic (sometimes spelled magick) and technology. Usually, the characters are either technologically-oriented OR magically-oriented, and not both, but in certain cases (such as with Gnomes in games like EverQuest) they can be skilled in magic and technology at the same time. Typically, a steampunk setting resembles Victorian England or the United States in the late 1800's. The technology used is nineteenth-century and earlier, and not what we 21st-century people would imagine when we hear the word "technology".

 

WHAT KIND OF MAGIC DO STEAMPUNK SETTINGS AND CHARACTERS USE?

 

Any kind of magic you can think of, including:

 

Elemental (spells based on Fire, Air, Earth and Water--the 4 elements)

Healing (spells that heal wounds, restore stamina, and even resurrect the dead!)

Necromancy ("black magic", spells that harm, the creation of undead)

Druidic (spells that call upon Nature to defeat foes and aid allies)

Shamanic (spells that call upon spirits, especially of ancestors/animals)

Illusion (spells that deal with shapeshifting, invisibility, enchantment)

Temporal (spells that deal with manipulating the space-time continuum)

 

WHAT KIND OF TECHNOLOGY DO STEAMPUNK SETTINGS AND CHARACTERS USE?

 

Please refer to these handy-dandy (but not exhaustive) lists:

 

RIGHT

 

Steam engines and railroads

Pure and patent medicines (aspirin, quinine, snake oil, "miracle cures")

Early electrical machines (light bulbs, telegraphs, lightning rods, wiring, etc.)

Robots (often called "clockworks" in steampunk--"robot" not yet coined)

Carriages (horse and buggy)

Gas-lit lamps, especially in cities

Early firearms and guns (rifles, pistols like the first varieties built by Colt)

Early flying machines (monoplanes, "airships"--basically a blimp prototype)

Bombs (the dynamite-and-ticking-clock kind, not the sci-fi kind)

Anything and everything 1800's-mechanical, using mostly gears and wiring

 

WRONG

 

Computers

Cars

Cell phones (although telephones, a la Bell's invention, are newly arriving)

Anything that the 20th and 21st century brought about, but the 19th didn't

 

So...anyone up for a steampunk roleplay?

[Alkonium]

This sounds fun. I'm all for it.

[DrPhil2501]

I am very intrigued - as of my huge fascination with Steampunk. So its a definate yes for me

[Master_Archon]

I might as well put a post up to encourage others: So as I said to you, Tysy, I guess I shall join also.

[Tysyacha]

Okay, here's what I have in mind for the story arc: A CLOCKWORK APOCALYPSE

 

Once upon a time, in the not-so-distant past (around the late 1800's or so in my steampunk realm), crime, skullduggery, and general evildoing were at an all-time high. In certain parts of the realm, Necromancers were even resurrecting the dead to force others to do their bidding--although not yet to the extent that an army of zombies is on the loose! Nevertheless, unless something drastic is done, the realm will be plunged into an endless nightmare of pain and destruction. Everyone's nerves are on edge, and for good reason.

 

That is why an elite team of subterranean scientists (mainly Dwarves and Gnomes, but those of other races, too) have secluded themselves in a complex labyrinth of mountainside tunnels. It's a bunker and laboratory in which to build the ultimate clockwork machine, which can detect and destroy all forms of evil. (Kind of like it has Force Sight, as displayed with Visas Marr in KOTOR: TSL.) Unfortunately for everyone involved, they set the parameters WAY too broad for being destroyed or killed, and the clockwork has gone rogue.

 

We three (who have signed up to be in this RP) are the last survivors of the clockwork's rampage. It basically slaughtered the other scientists who built it, and left all of us for dead as well. The clockwork has crashed through the mountainside and is now headed for the surface world at large, a mechano-magical beast that feeds on both the metal and organic material (flesh and blood) that it consumes. In the midst of the debris and ruin, we discover a terrible secret: our scientist bosses have fled to parts unknown, for they KNEW that they set the parameters for their guardian machine to be too broad. They WELCOME the Clockwork Apocalypse. Is everyone else doomed?

 

Not if we have anything to say about it!

[Astor]

I don't think that I'll be able to join - my record for sticking with an RP is less than spectacular, but a few suggestions from my time spent VSF wargaming -

 

Early firearms and guns (rifles, pistols like the first varieties built by Colt)

 

The weirder, the better, in my opinion. My favourite is the Electro-Galvanic Hyperbaric Ether Rifle, although I haven't quite figured out how one works (But I suppose that's rather the point. ).

 

Early flying machines (monoplanes, "airships"--basically a blimp prototype)

 

Dirigibles ('Digs'), Ornithopters and a whole host of other flying doo-dads should be considered as well. And, of course, the 'Aeronef' - giant flying battleships, powered by magic, super-science or whatever you choose. Most tend to use 'Element Zero', collected from fallen meteors, but again, the power source isn't that important.

 

I should also mention 'Land Ironclads' - giant land based battleships on tracks, basically.

[Tysyacha]

Thanks, Astor! I'm a steampunk rookie myself, so please keep the suggestions coming!

[Ping]

I'd love to join, though truth be told I'm a little more intersted in clock punk than steam punk.

[Cyborg Ninja]

Count me in as well

[Tysyacha]

Awesome! Now that we have some survivors of the first rogue attack, it's time for (drum roll, please...) The Roll Call of Dramatis Personae (character sheets)!

 

NAME: Yery Wisdomgiver

GENDER: Female

AGE: 34 (would be 17 in Human years)

RACE: Gnome

OCCUPATION: Apprentice Eidetic (a prophet of the Gnomish people)

APPEARANCE: Blue eyes, very fair skin, short red hair, bespectacled

STRANGE ATTRIBUTES: Resurrected from the dead at the story's start!

 

BACKSTORY: Yery was originally assigned to "Project Z" as a courier and assistant to the (rogue) clockwork's Designers and Engineers. However, as an Apprentice Eidetic, her wise advice and ominous premonitions proved far more valuable than her message delivery, efficient though it was! Out of all the Gnomes, Dwarves, and people of other races who worked on the one machine which would eradicate evil from the world, Yery was one of the few who spoke against the steady broadening of the parameters to be destroyed. The Architects of the project seemed to listen to her, but in reality Yery's protests fell upon deaf ears. In time, she became bitter and hardened her heart as the clockwork attacked first hostile creatures, then criminals, and finally ordinary citizens who had the slightest trace of evil in their hearts.

 

With her last breath before she died, Yery swore to redeem her wasted life in exchange for resurrection. She would fight this threat--and the creators of the clockwork--before all was lost!

[Alkonium]

This Ultimate Clockwork Machine reminds me a bit of Robot Santa from Futurama.

 

Name: Anthony Peterson

Gender: Male

Age 23

Race: Human

Occupation: Clockwork Engineer/Gunslinger

Appearance:

Strange Attributes: His entire left arm is a clockwork construct.

 

Back Story: He was hired by the Architects for his expertise in clockwork machinery, having personally constructed his artificial arm, and modified his pair of flintlock pistols into semi-automatic Clockwork Pistols. He did, however, have his doubts about the nature of the Clockwork Automaton he was helping to build. He felt that its definition of evil was too defined, and its methods were far too extreme. As he saw it, killing on such a scale surmounted to genocide, which would make the Machine into the very thing it was built to destroy. His protests resulted in him being detained, out of the rightful concern that he would attempt to tamper with it. Because of this, he was spared when the machine went rogue, as it was too concerned with its immediate prey.

[Ctrl Alt Del]

So one can still join in this? Seems like there's only a trio of survivors.

[Tysyacha]

Indeed, one can still join this. So far, we have Yery and Anthony as definite characters.

[Ping]

Name: Robert O'Leary

Gender: Male

Race: Human

Age: 22

Occupation: Clockmaker, engineer

Appearence: Shock of brown hair, tall, a bit on the thin side, blue eyes, carries around tools needed for making clocks and machines.

Attributes: Dexterous with his long fingers, knows the ins and outs of plenty of machines and clocks, alot stronger than he looks.

 

Bio: A half-Irish, half-English man who started out making clocks for a living, he also worked as a repairman for factories to make end's meet. As a result, he eventually learned about how most machines worked, and his knowledge caused him to be recruited by the clockwork's engineers. Robert was initially unaware of what the clockwork was. Once he was, he attempted to quit, though before he could, the clockwork was activated. He now feels guilty for his part in the design, and wants to atone by stopping the machine.

[Tysyacha]

Awesome! If anyone else wants to join, we need more girls and magic users! The exact nature of the clockwork is "mechanomagical", meaning it uses both magic and technology (a la Gnomes in most MMORPG's, who can use both.) In setting the parameters and giving the clockwork its "psionic edge", magic has definitely been used so it can sense evil and evil thoughts in the minds of those it encounters. I am so glad we have our trio now, but the more the merrier!

 

By the way, who wants to find and resurrect Yery at the start of our saga?

[Alkonium]

By the way, who wants to find and resurrect Yery at the start of our saga?

 

Also, someone will need to break Anthony out.

[Ctrl Alt Del]

Guess I'll roleplay as a girl then (also, my character's occupation seems to fit Yery's pressing needs). Tell me if I need to change anything.

 

NAME: Anita Baudelaire

GENDER: Female

AGE: 26

RACE: Human

OCCUPATION: Former neophyte Necromancer, now a rogue necromancer.

APPEARANCE: Suntanned, hazel eyes, quite short and delicate, black haired. Has a constant determined look on her face that is usually mistaken with anger - and no one can say for sure it isn't that. Carries no staff, but a short sword, barely longer than a dagger.

STRANGE ATTRIBUTES: Seldomly smiles.

COMPANION: Anita rides a snow white horse.

BACKSTORY: The life of a farmer is a hard one, and that of a Necromancer is even harder. Anita was born on a small farm on the countryside and lived an uneventful life. Her fate seemed sealed; she would live her life like her parents did and as her children would. Then one day, while 17 years old Anita was away at the field riding her horse as she often did, their farm was raided by a group of bandits that attacked with clockwork tanks and murdered her parents. When Anita saw the smoke that came from the farm direction she ran back home, only the find half of it already burned down and the other part in a fiery hell. She could never find her parents' bodies. Although she never actually saw the bandits, Anita had enough evidence to determine they used clockworks on their attack. That was enough to bring her deranged mind to hate the machines with passion.

 

Before giving into despair and grief, she went to the nearest county and eventually found her way into a Necromancer's guild. There she was taught for seven years before deciding she had had enough and could resume her quest for catching the responsible for her parents' deaths.

 

Two years have passed since she left her guild and now she has heard news of a huge clockwork incident which left many dead. She thought of it as a good opportunity to meet her targets on a battlefield that would prove mostly advantageous for her.

[Tysyacha]

Ctrl-Alt-Del, you are psychic. I was hoping that someone evil would resurrect my dear little Gnome girl! Anita sounds positively dastardly--er, delightful!

[Sabretooth]

Devon and I attempted an alternate history WW2 steampunk RPG about 2 years ago. Didn't work out for trivial reasons, but it would have been pretty cool.

 

Count me out of this one though, I don't have enough time and I prefer real-world steampunk anyway.

[Tysyacha]

I'm ready to start this! Check under Mechamillennium: A Clockwork Apocalypse!

 

Also, I'd love it if each person posts a couple of lines from a poem, story or song that describes or relates to their character. I'll see you in the RP!

[The Doctor]

On Tysy's invitation, I'll be working on a character and should have it posted either tonight or by mid-afternoon tomorrow.

[The Doctor]

Alright, here she is. A bit... different, to say the least, and definitely fairly dark. In fact, I'm not even sure if her background is SFW or not, to be honest... but it is what it is. If anyone has a problem with it, I'm sorry.

 

 

"I feel only misery for myself when I / Look through the eyes of someone else." ~ 'The Obsessive Devotion', Epica

 

Name: Memoria Saeculum. Also occasionally uses the pseudonym 'Tempus'.

Gender: Female.

Age: Twenty-six.

Race: Human.

Occupation: Vigilante/Bounty Hunter (she normally takes only legitimate, officially sanctioned contracts, though will occasionally hunt necromancers or slum lords independently - she sees these targets as 'freebies').

Appearance:

• Height: 166cm (~5'5").
  
• Weight: 54.8kg (~120.8lbs).
  
• Hair Colour: Raven black.
  
• Eye Colour: Steel grey; they turn black when she utilises her abilities.
  
• Clothing: Memoria wears black leather pants, which allow for unencumbered movement without being skin tight. She wears a black jumper beneath a black leather jacket. She carries a pair of rapiers and two bottles of a painful chemical spray she uses to apprehend her targets - one up each of her jacket sleeves.

Attributes: Precognition and limited clairvoyance. She also has the ability to slow time, though not to the point where she can stop it altogether. She's very athletic and self-trained in various forms of hand-to-hand combat, which she uses in her day-to-day 'duties'.

Personality: Quiet and serene, yet amoral. Memoria doesn't speak often, but thinks constantly. When she does speak it's normally to either ask a question or answer one put to her. She isn't unfriendly, but she's not one for chit-chat either. She has an unwavering, black-and-white sense of right and wrong and strict ideas about justice. She doesn't hesitate to kill her targets, firm in the belief that whomever she's hunting is deserving of whatever she's forced to inflict on them in the course of the chase. She hunts not for pleasure of the kill itself, or even of the hunt that leads to it. She hunts for the satisfaction of destroying what she sees as evil or immoral.

 

Background: Memoria is very quiet about her past before the age of seventeen. She doesn't get upset nor violent when asked about her childhood; she doesn't argue, or change the subject; she doesn't even refuse to answer. She makes no response whatsoever. She simply doesn't answer. She is not so secretive about her more recent history, however. Her current lifestyle began on a night shortly after her seventeenth birthday, when she came across a young woman and a small group of men in the course of a robbery and rape. She intervened, attempting to chase off the attackers single handed. Needless to say, a lone seventeen year old girl was no match for a group of grown men. She was repeatedly molested in place of the original victim, who had fled. Memoria was robbed, beaten, and left for dead.

 

After it was over, she spent the following days tracking the woman who she'd attempted to rescue, and who had left her fate to someone else. Once she found her, she did to her what she had had done to her in her stead: she raped and beat her, then robbed her; she then dragged her, half unconscious, to the same alley she had escaped from nights before and left her there. To this day she doesn't know whether the woman survived the night or not.

 

She spent the next six years of her life hunting the four men who'd subjugated and degraded her. She brutally murdered each of them, one by one, until there was no one left. But she was still angry. She has dedicated her life since then to hunting down those she sees as selfish or immoral in the hopes of satisfying her anger and hate.

[Tysyacha]

I'm impressed! Memoria is definitely welcome on our--team? Can't wait to meet her!

[The Doctor]

Well, you don't have to wait long - I've just posted her introduction.

[Master_Archon]

Ah, the ever meticulous and refined 'The Doctor' has returned *shakes head*. Good to see ya, how've you been? Hope you don't mind me borrowing your character sheet layout; I liked it too much to let it pass me by.

 

"The Wisest follow their own direction." - Euripides

"The man who moves a mountain begins by carrying away small stones." - Confucius

 

Name: Malin Tinuviel

Gender: Male

Age: Very Old

Race: Elven (Seeing as there are Gnomes and Dwarves, I'm assuming Elves exist too, and are permissible.)

Occupation: Apothecary and Alchemist (Someone neither magic nor technological, but in practice, they utilize both.)

Appearance:

• Height: 6'2"
  
• Weight: 162 lbs
  
• Hair Color: Ash-Blond
  
• Eye Color: Amber
  
• Clothing: General Attire; weapon-wise consisting of, nothing really, only a siphon-trowel he uses in his apothecary and alchemy work, and a small hand-mattock which he also only really uses for his work. But as an alchemist and an apothecary he does carry a repertoire of very deadly elixirs and compounds.

Attributes: Moderate knowledge of all types of magic, and a decent understanding of technology, but no great strength in any specific area; causing his reliance to be based upon a great intellect, vast experience, combat knowhow, and a degree of persistence that would cause even the strongest/most boisterous and long-winded to grow weary of putting him down.

Personality: Meek and kind-mannered, he's quite virtuous in heart, and carries a soul of compassion unlike any other. His face speaks differently, however, as a good look at him will show a stern countenance, and old, embittered eyes. Which one is the farce is unknown, as they contrast each other so directly, yet he gives no sign as to what isn't an illusion with him; are his great mercies a superficial act at deflecting others away from a cruel and unknown heart, with a scarred past and unknown agendas? Or is his appearance a front to stall others from tearing into sad memories, broken dreams, and a wearied being with lost purpose? No one knows, and not even he is certain of the answer to such a question.

 

Background: That's all you get for now folks, I need to go to bed (from moment of posting that is), I've got work, and I need sleep. You'll get a BG when I'm good and ready, so stow it folks, 'kay!?

 

There's a saying amongst people, 'There are no more young Elves.' Honestly they think this a jest, but how true they are, they do not fathom. Elves are a dwindling people, the youngest were born centuries before steam-tech ever existed, and the peak of the magical era was falling into the past like all other great times. This is the harsh reality that has beset itself into the mind of Malin, and all the others of his kind. Elves like all others, across different expanses, are ageless beings, they are not immortal, but they do not decay, both in body, and mind. They do not lessen in eyesight, their hearing does not fade, and they do not contract disease; even some of the deadliest maladies are null to affect them. Their minds too stay sharp, and as intelligent as they make them, and this is their curse, as ages roll, memories upon memories build, and these memories weigh heavily upon Elves as they are tormented by an ever progressing world while they just seem to stand and watch: many recall time by centuries rather than years, and this leads into both sadder and deadlier things for Elves.

 

Elves were once a numerous and joyous people, who loved, and were loved, and had ruled vast kingdoms. Now they are a rare, if not sad sight to see as they slowly fade into becoming stories and legends amongst the younger races; disappearing, or simply ceasing to remember, slipping off into 'trances' as the weight of their memories and ageless existence overcome them.

 

Malin is a sad last testament to the throwback of Elven dominion, and a walking spectacle as one of the rare, Last Elves. He is as old as Elven-kind itself (or so he says) and carries memories of times people no longer even tell in myths anymore; he himself sees the coming of his people becoming myths themselves, and 'Being-Nothing-More than Dragons' as the saying goes, as Dragons were once creatures that existed in ages past, but are nothing more than stories and myths that themselves are falling into disuse and forgetfulness. To say Malin is burdened however, is different, no one can say or tell whether he feels any pull of pity, or sorrow for the plight of his disappearing people, for his motives are all so very well coated behind illusions of word and countenance.

 

What is known about him is only what he is, an Elf, an Apothecary (a good one at that), an Alchemist, and a sad reminder. What people do not know is that if they simply ask him he would freely tell them of the days of his youth, and that of his people's; he freely recalls all that he can about things now unknown, forgotten, or mythos, and speaks of times when steam-tech wasn't even a whispered thought, and magic was in it's prime, where spells and abilities in the arcane were used that aren't even recalled in the days of today.

 

Not much else can be said of Malin, for there is too much to tell, and his more recent history is kept as a treasure to himself. One must peel away at the layers of his existence to truly know anything about him as he is today, for his motives are truly unclear.

 

 

(There, my character is done, hope he's to your liking Tysy. I'll post soon enough.)