Steam and Steel Discussion Thread, Westward, Ho! Options

[Rohirrim]

This is a new Steampunk Western RP that the Colonel and I are planning, and we're looking for contributors. It won't be freely drop in/drop out, but if you want, we can work something out at a point in the adventure. The year is 1859. The story starts in the town of Dodge, Kansas. The characters are in a saloon in the slaughterhouse district.

-Horses are for middle and lower class people. The military, law enforcement, and upper classes all use steam-powered horse automatons, or "burners". These are classified by their metal plating:

Iron: Draft horse
Steel: Cavalry, heavy
Brass: Cavalry, light
Copper: Civilian, fast and weak
Bronze: Civilian, slow and tough
Tin: Pony

-Railroads have been established throughout all the major towns. They also run on steam, as do the zeppelins that service large cites.

-Where there is no steam, there is clockwork. Used since the beginning of the century, clockwork powers smaller machines and cut-rate automatons.

-In the early stages of development are some gigantic war machines; walkers, battle carriages, Darwinist mutants, the like. The American state governments are all buying them as tensions between the North and South grow hotter.

-Charles Darwin and Nikola Tesla are both regarded as great scientific individuals, responsible for mush of the world's rapid growth. (Ignore the timeline issues.)

-Firearms are still somewhat the same as in this period in history, with sniper rifles, hi-powered steam and clockwork guns, and rockets, as well as combat automatons, being some differences.

*Mustard's Stuff*
-Due to Darwin's recent theories and progress in mutation, white Southerners have adopted the idea that Anglo-Saxon Americans are God's chosen race, who are superior to all others through natural selection on account of the fact that they've conquered most of the known world.

-Secondly, in order to make them more efficient at working, black slaves are genetically manipulated and mutated. Generally, there could be a huge social stigma against mutating people (if they're not genetically superior white Anglo-Saxon people, at least) but seeing as black people are seen as subhuman there's not a problem for them there.

-Anyway, this leads me into my next point; people are sometimes mutated using genetic manipulation for various reasons, and these mutants face the same level of prejudice and bigotry that black people would have faced at the time, even if they're white, on account of being 'genetically corrupt'. As a result, having 'indentured mutants' is a thing where they're kept as slaves in all but name; one of the things Lincoln can be pushing for, and one of the things that eventually sparks a civil war, is giving mutants the same legal standing as non-mutants. I'll admit that the idea is shamelessly cribbed from the Remade in China Mieville's Bas-Lag novels, but it could be interesting.

- Minor occult element in their as well; occultism was a big thing in the West around that time, with people convinced stuff like telepathy, telekinesis and communicating with the dead could work, and could work in a scientific manner as well. It could be interesting to have something like telepaths and telekines (perhaps limited ones) and mediums be included in the world. The pioneer of telepathic practice was and is Sigmund Freud.

-Since Darwin, Tesla, and Freud have contributed so much to this society, they have almost Demi-God status and some people actually worship them, with neither their encouragement nor approval.










Happy trails, pardners.

This post has been edited by Rohirrim: Oct 17 2013, 11:17 PM

[Colonel Mustard]

Alright, here's my character. Let's be off, and all that.


Name: Mr Algernon 'Algy' Demontjoy (In reality, it's Lucius Delmont, but due to...extenuating circumstances he prefers not to use that name)

Age: 26

Appearance: A gentleman of refinement, class and style, Mr Delmont is never, ever improperly dressed. His three-piece suits (which he always wears) are perfectly tailored, and the top hats that he wears with them will, of course, be colour co-ordinated with his suit. His right arm is mechanical, a finely crafted device of brass, ivory and ceramics, with a pen placed in the tip of his main index finger. The right side of his head, as well as most of his forehead and the top of his skull, is covered with an expressionless mask of white china, and what remains of his hair is black (it goes without saying that it is meticulously kept). Those who might see him beneath his shirt will discover that most of the right side of his torso is covered in finely engraved steel.

Occupation: When asked, Lucius typically describes himself thus; "I am a gentleman of business. In stocks, typically, but also in railroads, gold, steel or telegram wires. Wherever there is money, you see." In reality, he is a fraud, cheat, con-man and liar, who make his money ripping off whoever he feels is the most profitable.

Skills: Lying, bluffing, fast-talking, cheating at gambling (that's his bread-and-butter, really, when he isn't thinking up larger and more profitable schemes), forgery, being generally charming and socially adept, affecting a very convincing English accent ("An English accent is the most refined, you see. Unless it is Northern. Perish the thought of those accents!").

Worldly possessions: His extensive array of suits and fashionable clothing, tools used for forgery. For weapons, he carries a Smith and Wesson Automatic Dual-Chambered Revolver ("A revolver is a gentleman's weapon. Any other firearm just seems crass to me") and has a foot long blade of thin, straight steel concealed in his mechanical right arm.

Biography: The story he gives is that he is an Englishman born into a family of noble descent, but one that is absolutely penniless, and that he came here to the new world to seek his fortune anew. If you believe him, the reason he gives for his extensive mechanical injuries are of an unfortunately timed accidental explosion at a railway site he was inspecting with the thought that he might invest in it.

In reality, 'Algernon' was born and raised in New York, and has never visited anywhere in Europe, let alone England. There, he grew up doing what he currently does in the south; ripping people off and conducting elaborate schemes in order to rip people off for even more money than usual. Unfortunately, one of his schemes ended up going awry and a local crime boss was out for Lucius' blood; in what was supposed to be an execution, he was brutally beaten, attacked with a knife, lost his arm and was left for dead.

Miraculously, he survived and was able to pay for a mechanical arm as well as appropriately fashionable coverings for his injuries. It was abundantly clear to him, however, that getting out of New York as soon as possible would be greatly conducive to his continued survival, so he upped sticks and headed south without a word, starting a new life under a new name and new personality. Either unwilling or unable to learn from his past experiences, 'Algy' now does much the same as he did before, with his main targets being rich, (usually) single women he can take in by his act as a down-on-his-luck aristocrat from the motherland.