12-18-2018, 02:36 AM | #1 |
Join Date: Mar 2013
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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. |
12-18-2018, 03:00 AM | #2 |
Join Date: Nov 2004
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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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12-18-2018, 03:48 AM | #3 | |
Join Date: Jun 2017
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Re: Megacorps In Steampunk
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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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12-18-2018, 04:28 AM | #4 |
Join Date: Dec 2006
Location: Meifumado
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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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Collaborative Settings: Cyberpunk: Duopoly Nation Space Opera: Behind the King's Eclipse And heaps of forum collabs, 30+ and counting! |
12-18-2018, 11:39 AM | #5 |
Join Date: Sep 2007
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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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12-18-2018, 12:27 PM | #6 |
Join Date: Jun 2005
Location: Lawrence, KS
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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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Bill Stoddard I don't think we're in Oz any more. |
12-18-2018, 12:55 PM | #7 | |
Join Date: Jul 2008
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Re: Megacorps In Steampunk
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(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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I don't know any 3e, so there is no chance that I am talking about 3e rules by accident. Last edited by Ulzgoroth; 12-18-2018 at 01:02 PM. |
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12-18-2018, 01:09 PM | #8 |
Join Date: Feb 2014
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Re: Megacorps In Steampunk
Rail Barons?
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12-18-2018, 01:26 PM | #9 | ||
Join Date: Mar 2013
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Re: Megacorps In Steampunk
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Railway owners who acted like they where kings, or at least some sort of nobility, also called robber barons. |
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12-18-2018, 01:28 PM | #10 |
Join Date: Sep 2018
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Re: Megacorps In Steampunk
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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