Ever since running Spycraft, I've wanted to incorporate the cinematic combat I could implement there (fights on tractor trailers, fights on trains, fights on airships) into a Fantasy setting. Since Steampunk seems to be the best way to do it, I wanted to write up a cool setting. This is the rough draft.
1. I am horrible at naming things. Yes I've stolen names from EVERYWHERE. Names can change once story is established.
2. The 'known world' is going to be a fertile valley, approximately the size of Australia (This can change). Mountains on 2 sides (North and East), Ocean to West, Desert to South.
3. Dungeoneering guild is basically to give the characters a reason to be associated and to further the storyline in the early going.
4. All the PC races should be accounted for. Let me know if I missed something.
Techo-Magical
Inspirations: League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, Wild Wild West, FF7, Magic The Gathering (Antiquities and Urza's Saga),
Technology = magic items powered by Alkaline Crystals, relics from a fallen empire.
Alchemy plays a must less important role, due to the magically powered nature of ‘tech’
All magic items must use a Crystal as a power source.
Alkaline crystals = mini fusion reactor.
Tech that exists: High Speed Trains, Blimps/Dirigibles, Powered Armor (Functions as +Strength Full plate usually), War Engines (Tanks), Horseless Carriages, Heavy Weapons (“firearms” that mimic spell effects), Iron Clad ships, Automatons (Large numbers of Constructs),
Tech that does NOT exist: Widespread Firearms (Alkaline Crystals are too expensive/Rare to power a large number of weapons necessary for an army), cybernetics (combining alkaline crystals and flesh directly leads to gruesome death), Analytical Engines/Computers, Telephones, Anything that requires a large number of units
History of World:
X Thousands of years ago, world was many tiny kingdoms in typical medieval format. No Magic, Low Fantasy type stuff, albeit with Dwarves and Elves n’at. Then, a court alchemist discovered the ability to distill Alkaline Crystals. Those that came in close long term contact with the crystals (and their offspring) began to exhibit magical abilities and soon using the new found magical abilities, it was discovered Alkaline Crystals could power machinery. The Emperor of, using armies of automated soldiers, conquered the whole land and the world prospered for a time, while Automated Constructs toiled so man did not have to. Eventually, Automatons rose up against their makers. Massive war occurred resulting in the Cataclysm, in which the humans detonated massive numbers of Alkaline Crystal bombs (think nuclear holocaust, without the fallout). Large amounts of land were rendered unusable desert but mankind survived and began to rebuild.
PC(Post Cataclysm) 1765: Archaeologists rediscover Alkaline Crystals and begin working toward duplications/distillation.
PC 1770: Certain children begin displaying magical abilities, as happened in the Alkali Empire.
PC 1772: All attempts thus far to create Alkaline Crystals fails. King Maric II commissions the creation of War Machines to make use of discovered Alkaline Crystals, that retain their power.
PC 1782: King Maric II unites the warring Kingdoms, Principalities, Duchies, and Provinces of the fertile valley into the Confederation of Urza and Allied Nations. The Dwarven Kingdom of Uhgrinar and the Elven Community of Ash’Ranow decline membership. Maric creates a Senate, which includes the highest nobles from each province. The Confederation continues to mine and excavate for Alkaline Crystals.
PC 1785: Construction of Midgard, a large planned city to serve as the capital of the Confederation, begins.
PC1789: Maric dispatches War Machines to forcibly Annex Uhgrinar and Ash’Ranow. Both the Dwarves and Elves mobilize for war. Unbeknownst to the Humans, the Dwarves have been using Alkali Technology for Centuries and, fighting on their home terrain, easily destroy the invading human forces before retreating back into their mountain strongholds. The Elves, having never welcomed Alkali technology, show their innate magical control over the earth itself, causing the planet itself to devour the invading war machines. Urza forces retreat and no further invasion plans are drafted.
PC1791: Urza enters a golden age as several large caches of Alkaline Crystals are discovered. Construction begins on the Trans-Federatory Railline, an Alkaline powered Railroad linking the major cities in each province. Only two crystals large enough to power a locomotive have been found.
PC1794: The Barrens Trading Company is founded to travel the wastes and return with more Alkali artifacts.
PC1795: The BTC goes bankrupt after many large caravans are lost in the Barrens. Smaller traders still attempt forays into the inhospitable waste.
PC1799: The majority of Midgard is completed. Maric moves his seat of government to the city. The senate votes to dissolve the Confederacy and adopts the Articles of Federation. The Confederation of Urza becomes the Urzan Federation. Maric steps down as king and is unanimously named High Councilor, in effect actually gaining additional power over the Federation.
PC1801: The first Airships are envisioned at the Midgard Exposition of 1801. Nine are to be built, one for each of the original nine member-states of the Confederation. The Airships are much slower than the Railway (which now boasts three engines), but allow greater freedom of movement.
PC1805: The First Airship, Maric I, named for High Councilor Maric’s father, flys its maiden voyage, touring the capital of each province.
PC1811: The first Dwarven Emissaries arrive in Midgard, after two decades of non-communcation between Uhgrinar and Urzan. They offer trade in Adamantium and Mithril in exchange for military aid against the growing Orcish threat in the mountain ranges. Urzan and Uhgrinar sign a trade agreement and non-aggression pact while Maric dispatches a contingent of men, Blackstone’s Irregulars (made up of convicts, rogues, and other ne’er do wells [think French Foreign Legion]) to aid the Dwarves.
PC1813: The Orcs suffer a crushing defeat at the hands of the allied Human-Dwarf forces. Members of Blackstone’s Irregulars are the first humans admitted to the Citadel of Uhgrinar in 250 years. It is revealed that the Gnomes survived the Orcish extermination attempt against their people 100 years ago and are living as a client race to the dwarves, albeit in significantly smaller numbers. Less than 10,000 gnomes still live.
PC1814: All the Alkaline Crystals from the original excavation are excavated. The Federation begins attempting to locate additional Alkali ruins.
PC1815: The first attempt to unearth new Alkali stones results in the awakening of a gigantic monster (the Tarrasque). Federation forces mobilize to attack it but not before the monster rampages through southern Urzan. As they Tarrasque is laying waste to the Urzan military, Elven Griffin riders intervene on behalf of the embattled humans, while Dwarven sappers dig a trap to bury the beast. With the three powers acting in unison, the Tarrasque is finally defeated. The elves return to their forest without so much as a “you’re welcome.”
PC1816: Maric II falls ill and dies. His nephew and adopted son is inaugurated as Consul.
PC1817: Following the Tarrasque incident, Alistir I, enacts a number of laws revolving around the collection of Alkali stones.
1. All Alkali Stones and Alkali Dig Sites must be registered with the Federation.
2. A Sorcerer’s Guild is formed to facilitate the knowledge of magic, in the hopes that Urzan will not need to rely on outside assistance should such another situation arise.
3. The Dungeoneering Guild is formed, with the only Letter of Marque to explore, map, and initially excavate Alkali ruins.
PC1820: The Elves finally send emissaries to the Urzan Senate. They pledge to not interfere in Urzan politics as long as all Alkaline Powered Machines remain at least 30 miles away from the Ash’Ranow forest. The Federation agrees, even going so far as to move the eastern Railline so as to not possibly break the treaty.
PC1822: The first Halfling Nomads arrive from the Barrens, bringing with them untold treasures. They quickly amass power as traders and merchants and build a permanent settlement in the northern most Oasis in the Barrens.
PC1823: Further Laws are passed requiring all persons with magical abilities be registered with the Federation. Those who resist are imprisoned.
PC1825: The first Alkaline Powered Soldiers are produced, much to the chagrin of the Dwarves and Elves, whose people still remember the Cataclysm.
PC1827: Production is suspended on Alkaline Powered Soldiers (think Warforged) as their cost outweighs their usefulness. In an uncharacter-like act, Alistir I grants the APS’s some rights, although being essentially immortal, they cannot own land or property. Only 2500 exist. People begin calling them by the derogatory name, Alkies.
PC1830: An explosion rips through the Maric I, sending the flaming airship crashing into the ground below the Midgard Airship Docks. An Anti-Technology terrorist group, The Sons of Tomorrow, claims responsibility and launches additional attacks against Rail Lines and engage in hate crimes against the Alkies. They claim that the Alkaline crystals generate power by drawing it from surrounding life and from the earth itself. Alistair, with full support of the council, declares anyone with any ties to The Sons of Tomorrow to be guilty of treason, heard before a kangaroo court, and executed publicly.
PC1831: SoT attacks continue as questions begin to be asked about their claims. Secret Police begin abducting those thought to be associated with the Sons.
PC1832 April: Alistair I is assassinated by an agent of the Sons of Tommorrow while boarding the Rail Line to prove its safety from attacks. The Government gridlocks as Alistair had no children and did not name an heir. Several men claim the right of succession and the senate floor becomes chaotic.
PC1832 May: Present Day
