[IW] 'Steampunk' timelines and settings?

[Qoltar]

Infinite Worlds....

Are there any worlds or timelines that are very "Steampunk" in style?

Has anyone created one using the rules in the Infinite Worlds book?

By 'Steampunk" I mean it has to have these features:
1) Late 19th century in fashion and style,
2) Common usage of Airships for travel.
3) Mostly full equality of women as far as voting rights, holding major jobs, etc..
4) Full equality for Blacks and other ethnic groups when compared or contrasted with our history...

Any timelines or settings like that?

What was the Point of Divergence to get there?

- Ed C.

[ericthered]

Originally Posted by Qoltar

Infinite Worlds....

Are there any worlds or timelines that are very "Steampunk" in style?

Has anyone created one using the rules in the Infinite Worlds book?

By 'Steampunk" I mean in has to have these features:
1) Late 19th century in fashion and style,
2) common usage of Airships for travel.
3) Mostly full equality of women as far as voting rights, holding major jobs, etc..
4) Full equality for Blacks and other ethnic groups when compared or contrasted with our history...

Any timelines or settings like that?

What was the Point of Divergence to get there?

- Ed C.

I'm not sure what the last two items have to do with steampunk...

Brittanica-6, an officially published world (its own book) certainly counts as steampunk. The divergence point is the survival of a heir to the british throne (both mother an child died at birth on homeline), who proves a solid figurehead for post-napoleonic whigs. It doesn't have modern politics, but it does lean a little more that way.

The reality seeds thread surely has some steam punk stuff....

[Qoltar]

The last two item?
Numbers 3 & 4?

Have you browsed Steampunk fiction or been to major Steampunk conventions?

Those two items are a Big facet of Steampunk.

One local guy calls it "The future that should have been".
My version of that is that Steampunk is our 19th Century if it had gone much more interesting - in a good way.

If you're wondering, this does overlap in some ways the question I asked down in the Geek Culture sub-forum.


- Ed C.

[Xenarthral]

Possibly Britannica-2.
If nothing else it's TL5+2, which has a tendency towards being equated with
1 and 2, and has been part of Centrum's Zone Green for over a decade,
which should at least push it towards 3 and 4.

Unless there is more about it written somewhere - and I've got a vague feeling it is referencing something (might be a Suppressed Transmission).

[ericthered]

Originally Posted by Qoltar

The last two item?
Numbers 3 & 4?

Have you browsed Steampunk fiction or been to major Steampunk conventions?

Those two items are a Big facet of Steampunk.

Frankly, most of the time I run into steampunk its because a work I'm interested in gets called steampunk. None of them have really been core steampunk works though, so most my exposure is discussion about whether a given work is steampunk or not.

You learn something every day.

[warellis]

There's the world line known as Etheria which is found in GURPS Infinite Worlds: Lost Worlds, there's the world line known as Falkenstein, found in both GURPS Castle Falkenstein & the Castle Falkenstein RPGs from R Talsorian Games.

That's at least two steampunkish worldliness in Infinite Worlds. Note that the Falkenstein worldline also has quite a bit of magic due to elves, fairies, dragons, and other magical beings there openly living in society as well. Also I think it has some sort of SciFi Inca civilization I believe. Anyways while women don't have quite full equal rights in Falkenstein they're definitely better off than they were in OTL.

[Gold & Appel Inc]

Originally Posted by Qoltar

By 'Steampunk" I mean in has to have these features:
1) Late 19th century in fashion and style,

I'm with you so far.

Originally Posted by Qoltar

2) common usage of Airships for travel.

Sure.

Originally Posted by Qoltar

3) Mostly full equality of women as far as voting rights, holding major jobs, etc..
4) Full equality for Blacks and other ethnic groups when compared or contrasted with our history...

Any timelines or settings like that?

What was the Point of Divergence to get there?

Here's where you go off the rails a little, IMHO. I can't personally think of any examples of steampunk that give full equality without at least mild condescension to women and non-WASPS as classes, but I would definitely say that allowing exceptional individuals to buy off various Social Stigmata for all practical purposes is very much in-genre. There should be no barrier in a steampunk game to creating a highly-competent and respected PC from a minority demographic, but that character will always be considered remarkable, and that's treated more as a good thing about them than as a failure of society. In other words, social inequality still exists (but is blunted to some extent) for groups as a general thing, but the "glass ceiling" more-or-less doesn't exist for individuals.

[aesir23]

Originally Posted by Gold & Appel Inc

Here's where you go off the rails a little, IMHO. I can't personally think of any examples of steampunk that give full equality without at least mild condescension to women and non-WASPS as classes, but I would definitely say that allowing exceptional individuals to buy off various Social Stigmata for all practical purposes is very much in-genre. There should be no barrier in a steampunk game to creating a highly-competent and respected PC from a minority demographic, but that character will always be considered remarkable, and that's treated more as a good thing about them than as a failure of society. In other words, social inequality still exists (but is blunted to some extent) for groups as a general thing, but the "glass ceiling" more-or-less doesn't exist for individuals.

I agree entirely.

I'm a big fan of steampunk. From the very beginnings of the literary genre (Moorcock's Warlord of the Air and certain works by KW Jeter, James P Blaylock, and Tim Powers), and certainly in it's most successful incarnation to date (The Difference Engine) Steampunk has addressed issues of social import with a critical and thoroughly modern moral sensibility. That's the "punk" in Steampunk. But it's often done so by shining a light on the injustices of the past, rather than erasing them.

Personally I find such utopian revisionism to be a pretty anemic approach to social critique compared to the unflinching eye.

That said, social critique isn't usually that fun in a friendly game, so the OPs approach is a perfectly acceptable one. I just object to it being considered a necessary component of steampunk as a genre.

To more directly address the OPs question: One of the settings presented in GURPS Horror is pretty promising Steampunk--I forget the name at them moment, but it's set after the Martian Invasion from War of the Worlds.

[Ashtagon]

Also agree that steampunk should have at least nominal amounts of dystopia for it to be true to the origins of the genre. The essence of *punk isn't a particular set of clothing, but a cynical attitude to how society is developing, coupled with an optimistic view of how technology is developing.

Just as cyberpunk where everyone is happy is often called cyberprep, steampunk where everyone is happy is,perhaps, better called steamprep.

[aesir23]

Originally Posted by Ashtagon

Just as cyberpunk where everyone is happy is often called cyberprep, steampunk where everyone is happy is,perhaps, better called steamprep.

Thanks for expanding my genre lexicon! Those are useful terms.