Empire of Steam
It is 1882 of the Common Era and the era of Imperialism, Colonialism, Mass Industrialization, Mechanization, and Progress is spreading across the globe. The Human Empires, Kingdoms, and Republics of the Continent of Boreana are spreading their influence and power across the lands. Human traders ply far off oceans with the notion of exploration, empire, and 'The Burden of Mankind' to civilize the world. It is an age of wonder and advancement but also of social upheaval, great conflict between rival powers, and the concepts of social and cultural revolutions!
The roleplay itself is centered around player control of a nation or political party/enterprise in a nation. Due to the setting much of the planet has been carved up into competing colonial empires (yes there are various small politics and regional powers) but ultimately the Great Powers are the primary competing agencies. As such players are more or less involved in a Great Game, if you will, between each other. Now, war is not the only way this can be conducted as proxy conflicts, influence over smaller polities, economic control, and social concerns all will play a part. Players are encouraged to treat their nation as it were an actual 19th century nation and all the boons and problems that entails.
Players will be set with a variety of choices as well. Social choices will periodically come up and players will be expected to make a choice which could have variable short- and long-term outcomes. Technology will similarly follow a general pre-set track and players will be expected to make choices that will occasionally pop up. Such as the location of an invention, the adoption of a particular product or patent, and investments into certain industries or fields of science. In this way the RP avoids 'tech-creep' and will simulate the development of a nation.
There will be some pre-set parameter as well outlined in the history section of the Roleplay. This will give guidance for players in developing their applications. If you are thousands of kilometers away from an invention or industrialized nations, then odds are you won't be the economic powerhouse. This posits the conflict of industrialization versus pre-industrial societies and the balance players will have to choose. Rapid industrialization can yield significant social upheaval for example and also lead to quickly altering socio-economic and sanitary conditions for your populace. While those that industrialize at a more moderate pace may lack the economic yield of some other players but face less of their attendant issues. The choices are all yours.
Time will pass based on the posts of the Operator and any appointed CO-OP and will typically go through one-to-three week framing posts. More personal narratives will not be bothered by this but expected to not contradict the larger 'timeframe' of events. So do not worry about your personal character conversation pieces.
The World
The World, the Globe, the Planet, Terra, however you wish to call it in this setting is somewhat analogous to real-life Earth. I say somewhat because aside from the altered landmasses there is host to sentient non-human races and creatures which influence the development of the setting. The World is approximately 13,756 kilometers in diameter and slightly flattened much like real-life Earth when measuring pole to pole. It is host to a variety of continents and regions which are listed in rough summary below to allow for maximum player customization.
Boreana
Boreana is the widely believed birthplace of Humanity though some posit they migrated from a sunken land in the middle of the Pandomeic Ocean just off the Gulf of Atalantys. It is host to the majority of the Human population and many of their nation-states. The exact origin of where on Boreana is hotly contested by contemporary archaeologists but the general consensus is somewhere in the South-East.
Ummhara
Named after the 'Um'Harra' which in the Al-Zoroaste faith means 'Domain of the People/Man' is the smaller continent just South of Boreana and was settled by Humanity some six thousand years ago.
Polairya and Hyperpolairya
The 'Lands of the Stars' is the homeland of the Elves or 'Eldairani' in their tongue which roughly translates to 'Star-Born.' Polairya was apocryphal to humans with some explorers like Reid Leifensson having supposedly visited the mysterious land over a thousand years prior, but no human habitation survived.
Novoboreana
Discovered by Boreans in the 1490s of the Common Era and quickly host to Human settlements and trading outposts. Most shocking was the finding of Dwarven settlement in some of the mountain ranges separating the land of Novoboreana from the wild sparsely populated forests and mountains of Osia.
Great Sahal
A vast equatorial hot desert and supposed birthplace of the Greenskins.
Pandyssia
Tropical jungles and sparsely populated with the rare siting of abandoned, overgrown, cities and pyramids. A 'dark' region of the planet.
Al-Khair
A region settled by people from Ummhara during the 14th century.
Australor
First sighted by Boreans in the early 18th century the lands of Australor are the 'most recent' landmass discovery by Boreans. Ruins similar to the current Khmori have been found and it is postulated that this was their original homeland.
Khmor
The lands of Khmor are humid, prone to monsoons, but diverse with various kingdoms and polities and rich wealth and often a region of interest for the expansionist empires of Boreana. The Khmori state they arrived from 'the South' and settled Khmor as a 'promised land' from the Gods of their Henotheistic religion.
Qhin and Asakara
Settled by humans over ten thousand years ago who arrived 'from the North-East' across a 'land-bridge' which may have stretched from Boreana to Osia during the last Ice Age. The Khmor may have also traveled across this bridge and managed to reach Australor before then abandoning it for their current namesake region.
Osia
A remote and land of endless wilderness. Only small, distant, primarily neolithic fishing villages and nomads have been seen along the Eastern coasts near Qhin.
The Races
While fantasy creatures like sea-drakes and the Pandomeic Devilfish (giant octopus) exist in the seas, Dragons in Polairya, and dog-sized spiders in Australor. The sentient races of the world are myriad.
Humanity
The inventors of Steam power and the most expansionist species of the World. Humanity can now be found in every continent and in most regions of the world to some degree or another. Ranging in fair skinned Boreans from the continental and northern latitudes to swarthy olive from the South and Ummhara to dark-skinned of the Western Borean Desert or even the peoples of Qhin, Asakara, and Khmor. Humanity is considered one of the most populous of the races at least 1.2 to 1.3 billion persons by 1882.
The Greenskins
A large and strong race of tribal, clan, and confederately nomads that ply the dunes of the Great Sahal and the jungles of Pandyssia. The Greenskins are notorious raiders, slavers, and warlords but also clever and rather intuitive pathfinders, explorers, and appreciators of nature. The exact population of Greenskins is not known but they are expected to be around twenty-five to fifty million.
The Dwarves
The Dwarves originated, according to them, in the mountains and hills surrounding the Gulf of Atalantys and then some 'clans' migrated to other mountainous regions, except Polairya, over the centuries in the last three thousand years. The Dwarves typically live as long as humans though with their hardiness and apparently robust immune system their populations were historically higher than humans till the advent of the Human Renaissance in Boreana. Dwarves also have a penchant for remaining healthy and hearty into their eighth, ninth, or even tenth decade but no recorded Dwarf is recorded to have lived past one-hundred and fifty years of age except for legends. Outstripping the very rare Human centarian. The global Dwarf population has entered somewhat of a boom especially for those migrating to Borean and Ummharan nations with the total dwarf population around two hundred and fifty to three hundred million.
The Elves
The Eldairani are naturally long lived and show a remarkable immunity to various diseases which plague humanity like Bloody Flux, White Pox, The Rat Plague, and Water Sickness (Cholera). Able to live three to five hundred years of age but are notoriously traditional and despite being masters of the 'Voltaic Arts' around electricity they are hesitant to adopt many foreign inventions. As such their aesthetic is very much a mix of old and new. The total Elven population is around one hundred million and shows no boom even from Elf migrants to Boreana. The Elves are however considerably unified as a people under a singular dominion and quite isolationist.
The Satyrs
Natives of Pandyssia and the coastal regions from Al-Khair to Novoboreana. The Satyrs were a people who had their own kingdoms and cultures before colonization by humans. Typically warring or trading with the Dwarves and Orcs. The Satyrs quickly also became a cohort of the growing labor pool for Human empires due to their strength and intelligence. More docile and easier to 'civilize' than Orcs but just as strong. They also at least from the waist up appeared like humans with ram's horns and have their own varied complexions and colorations which allowed them to be more relatable to the various Human cultures. Satyrs live a typical human-length lifespan and their population is estimated around twenty million but growing.
The Faerie
The Faerie or in their tongue the 'Tirnanocii' are a race identical to humans except their dragonfly like set of four wings which allow them to fly for short durations. Natives of the mountains of Novoboreana the Faerie find themselves often working as one of the emerging 'underclasses' in Human empires. Faerie will live a span of typical human-length and a population of around ten million but growing.
The Kobolds
The Kobolds are native to Polairya alongside the Elves and used to have enmity between the two until in the last few hundred years an accord was struck. The Kobolds would be granted equal citizenship and office appointee potential along with jurisdiction over Kobold matters. The trade off being that the Kobolds are often staunchly loyal to their Elven allies and often work as border patrol, customs, and in military capacity as befitting their martial nature. While, also often working with Elven smiths and artisans in metallurgy and jewelry. It is the Kobolds that patrol for Human vessels off the coasts of Polairya. Kobolds typically live to around eighty to one hundred years of age and capable of surviving grievous injury due to their biological differences and hardened skin. While being higher in resistance to many toxic or polluted environments. As such the few Kobolds that do leave Polairya often work in mines, chimney sweeps, or other jobs deemed 'hazardous' for other races. The Kobold population is estimated to be around thirty million.
Technology
The Technology of the setting mirrors that of the 1870s and 1880s except for some outliers such as lack of electrification. Dreadnaughts and other fully armored battleships have existed since 1871 but Diesel engines are not even in experimental stages for military or commercial use. Instead, Steam is the primary energy source for Humans and other 'civilized' nations. Land armies still fight with rifles, breach loading artillery, and so forth. Medicine in regard to surgery is a bit more advanced then the real-life era but still rudimentary compared to the 21st century. Disease outbreaks still occur such as 'Consumption' but are more treatable just not totally curable like real-life.
The other facet of the RP to a lesser extent is the technology of the 'Voltaic Arts' which is the Elven mastery of electricity. Essentially, the Elves has mastered electrical and light weaponry in the vein of Nikola Tesla. In the civil realm Elven cities are noticeably 'electrified' without 'wiring' and are secretive in their arts of such mastery.
Unique Materials & Substances
While much of the world is largely following real life materials and technical progressions. There are some unique materials to this world listed below:
Aetheric Oil & Gas
Essentially, the in universe oil and gas used in many modern or able to afford homes of the Borneanic empires and some other states. The Oil is distilled primarily from Whale Oil from the Great White Whales that are common sites in the Pandomeic and Sunrise Oceans. Infused with 'Aethyric Gases' siphoned from the Atmosphere for a more combustible material has also some experimental applications.
Dwaron
A heavy, dense, element found in the mountains near the Gulf of Atalantys and long known to the Dwarves. Its properties as an alloy allow for extremely hardened and pressure resistant traits. By itself it is however quite heavy and thus 'lightened' with lesser metals.
Sun Steel
An Elven export it is a steel with a mild golden hue as if glowing. Strong, ductile, and does not seem to dull even when ground against diamonds. It is possibly derived from the unique ores said to be found in Polairya and possibly Hyperpolairya and Osia.
Startear
A glowing diamond like mineral found in certain deposits or meteorological sites mainly near the poles. It is a material that seems to be able to store energy, but the exact means is not known and rumored to be part of Elven Voltaic technology. Something the Elves seem to jealously guard.
Fulgarix
A crystalline, charged, mineral substance able to be smelted down and used in Elven voltaic technology. Namely Arc and Light technology. Jealously guarded by the Elves and deposits of the substance seem to only be in Polairya and possibly Hyperpolairya and Osia. Dubbed "The Lightning Iron' or 'The Lightning Stone.' When combined with other materials in its metallic form it is able to give off a significant electro-magnetic field capable of working on even non-ferrous material.
Sahel Spice
An addicting but extraordinary immune stimulant and muscle relaxing compound found in the dunes of the Great Sahel from the excretions of the meter long Duneworm.
Faerie Wing
A rare plant found in vales and woodland in Atalantys and Pandyssia. Seems to provide treatment for certain tropical illnesses like Malaric Fever and halt progression of Consumption in high doses (may cause delirium as a side effect). Often crossed with Umm'haran Cocoa Extract for a soothing salve.
Satyrwood
Apparently, a natural fertilizing substance secreted from certain rare trees in Pandyssia, namely the Pandyssian Black Oak and Azure Eucalyptus. Can be refined with Sahel Spice to create...giga weed.
White Leaf Tabac
Tobacco but kills you less. High quality. Only found on tropical and sub-tropical climates.
