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Old 12-18-2018, 02:36 AM   #1
scc
 
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Default Megacorps In Steampunk

Given that Steampunk is a Cyberpunk derivative would it be inappropriate to have megacorps, or at least corporate actors be the villains in adventures? In total I've got three ideas that involve corporate opponents.

The first is why the party is brought together in the first place, the investigate if Parliaments recent de-regulation of trans-lunar shipping and the subsequent economic fallout actually strays into criminal bounds. It turns out that it was caused by certain members being feed heavily edited documents by free trade advocates.

The second is a straight forward follow on from the first, investigate price fixing in the industry in question. For reference it is happening, but when your prices can very between $1 and $24 per pound to ship them with no warning, it's rather hard for it not to happen.

The third is a result of the first investigation: The PC's will have had trouble getting access certain analytical engine because of the use of proprietary formats and an international conference is being held to discuss standardizing formats. The companies that make these machines are unlikely to be happy at the potential outcome of this.
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Old 12-18-2018, 03:00 AM   #2
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Default Re: Megacorps In Steampunk

Absolutely. Look at the British East India Company; they literally had their own army, although they couldn't use it in Britain. Any history of coal mining (just for example) is rife with price-fixing, horrific labour practices, private goon squads (that's where the Pinkertons got their start). Coffin ships might be something to take direct inspiration from if shipping is a big part of the plot.
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Old 12-18-2018, 03:48 AM   #3
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Default Re: Megacorps In Steampunk

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Originally Posted by Dalillama View Post
Absolutely. Look at the British East India Company; they literally had their own army, although they couldn't use it in Britain. Any history of coal mining (just for example) is rife with price-fixing, horrific labour practices, private goon squads (that's where the Pinkertons got their start). Coffin ships might be something to take direct inspiration from if shipping is a big part of the plot.
Exactly. Except Steampunk megacorps aren't called that, they are still called trusts. The East India Company is a good example, also Krupp, Standard Oil, US Steel, and De Beers.

The third plot point reminds me of the Bell Telephone company and the Edison Trust, which were both basically early tech companies based on patents.
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Old 12-18-2018, 04:28 AM   #4
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Default Re: Megacorps In Steampunk

You could also look at the United Fruit Company in Central America, although it comes at the tail end of the Victorian era. Its activities were prototypical naughty megacorp.
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Old 12-18-2018, 11:39 AM   #5
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Default Re: Megacorps In Steampunk

Steampunk isn't just cyberpunk with some brass gears glued on for looks (despite the importance of stylistic details to steampunk). The genre is generally more optimistic and less dystopian than cyberpunk -- though there are certainly dystopian examples, and you'd be in good company to do so. At any rate, there are certainly megacorporations to work with that fit the setting. As villains, a steampunk version is more likely to be caught subverting the proper British Victorian order of things or in outright rebellion than they are actually being the oppressive order, or replacing the actual government.
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Old 12-18-2018, 12:27 PM   #6
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Default Re: Megacorps In Steampunk

I recommend looking up Kipling's "The Mary Gloster" for a look at ethically dubious business practices in the Age of Steam. It's only a few pages long and is a compelling story.
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Old 12-18-2018, 12:55 PM   #7
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Default Re: Megacorps In Steampunk

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Originally Posted by Anaraxes View Post
Steampunk isn't just cyberpunk with some brass gears glued on for looks (despite the importance of stylistic details to steampunk). The genre is generally more optimistic and less dystopian than cyberpunk -- though there are certainly dystopian examples, and you'd be in good company to do so. At any rate, there are certainly megacorporations to work with that fit the setting. As villains, a steampunk version is more likely to be caught subverting the proper British Victorian order of things or in outright rebellion than they are actually being the oppressive order, or replacing the actual government.
One thing is that if you're taking the steampunk period without putting a lot of shine on it, the government is pretty well on board the "oppressive order" thing in its own name and with its own muscle. It's unlikely to welcome or even tolerate a company stepping on its prerogatives overmuch there, in its core areas.

(Unless you're doing American steampunk rather than the stereotypical British setting. The US is in the period of robber barons, cattle barons, transcontinental railway companies, and so forth - and is fast heading towards the point where coal companies assert that machine guns are essential to their business.)

EDIT: Really business usurping government seems to mostly happen where government takes a light hand at best - like certain imperial territories, formally extraterritorial colonial activities, or the US western territories.
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Last edited by Ulzgoroth; 12-18-2018 at 01:02 PM.
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Old 12-18-2018, 01:09 PM   #8
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Default Re: Megacorps In Steampunk

Rail Barons?
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Old 12-18-2018, 01:26 PM   #9
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Default Re: Megacorps In Steampunk

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Originally Posted by a humble lich View Post
The third plot point reminds me of the Bell Telephone company and the Edison Trust, which were both basically early tech companies based on patents.
Actually I'm ripping off 1980's home computers, back then you wouldn't be able to read a floppy disk formatted by and IBM compatible machine in an Apple, and neither could be read in a Commodore machine and so on. In fact depending upon which type of computer the machine was formatted on the amount of data the disk store would change!

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Originally Posted by Daigoro View Post
You could also look at the United Fruit Company in Central America, although it comes at the tail end of the Victorian era. Its activities were prototypical naughty megacorp.
Some definite possibilities along those lines as tropical fruit and other crops are going to be the colonies main exports, the price per pound is too high bulk goods to be moved.

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Rail Barons?
Railway owners who acted like they where kings, or at least some sort of nobility, also called robber barons.
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Old 12-18-2018, 01:28 PM   #10
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Default Re: Megacorps In Steampunk

Quote:
Originally Posted by Anaraxes View Post
Steampunk isn't just cyberpunk with some brass gears glued on for looks (despite the importance of stylistic details to steampunk). The genre is generally more optimistic and less dystopian than cyberpunk -.
I disagree in part. There is a lot of optimism and trust in Queen and Country but a lot of Steampunk is very critical of industry and the poor. There isn't the same sense of helplessness in the face of a system that doesn't care but there are plenty of powerful villains in Steampunk, including the afor mentioned East India Company. I don't believe that a Mega Corporation would make sense but to a world that has recently been run by cottage industry companies, a large manufacturer with industrial machinery and assembly lines that treats their employees like assets would seem very Megacorp for the time period.
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