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The Lightning Age: (The Next Jaunt).

THE LIGHTNING AGE
September 12th-October 19th

It is the Hijra year 1314, the 12th day of Rabi Al-Akhir, and in the Flying Market of Nova Venezia, there is trouble. That is not new. Nova Venezia is a balloon city, tethered above the neutral city-state of Venice, a Vatican protectorate. At first, the balloons were meant only to keep the buildings below from sinking, but the people who maintained them began to build settlements on their platforms, and eventually it became a small but thriving sky-port.

Northern Italy lies at the border of three of the Great Imperial Powers. To the north and east, the Prusso-Zaporizhian Empire, a warrior-state of aerialists whose superiority in the skies is unquestionable. To the south and east, the Golden Khanate, a pan-asian pluralist kingdom who have done things with gunpowder no other nation has dreamed of. To the west, both north and south, the Ummah Caliphate, careful mercantile masters of steam science whose rule circles the Mediterranean.

To all three of the Powers, no resource is more valuable, or weapon more dangerous, than the innovations of the human mind. And the Prussians and Caliphate have both dispatched forces to the Flying Market now seeking weapons of mass destruction.

Captain Phoenix, a pyromaniacal pirate, used to be a servant of the Caliph, may he live forever, before the Captain’s impetuous ways and destructive urges became simply too much. The greatest pyrotechnician in the world, the Captain is a human time-bomb in every sense but the literal, and is hiding in a city held up by vast envelopes of hydrogen gas.

Herr Doktor Kilroy Schweizerkaze Von Blitzkopf was once the greatest aeronautical engineer in the Prussian arsenal, designer of airships which could survive thunderstorms unscathed, until the good Doktor raided designs, arsenal, and fleet, and vanished utterly for causes unknown. Blitzkopf, along with the Masked Senseis of Uchinaa, is a master of electricity, deviser of devices which can run on this strange force and not mere hydraulic power or combustion. The nation who owns the Doktor can harness the lightning. But again, not the most comfortable personage to share a balloon with, really.

Into this morass of espionage, manhunt, and international trade; sky pirates, smugglers, and innovators from around the world, a new element has come into the mix. Foreigners not only to the nation, but to the world itself. Paranoids and conspiracy theorists have whispered of their existence for a year, and some in Venezia remember them, and know a few signs and tricks that may be used to identify and get the better of these strange invaders… because knowledge is power, power is money, money is opportunity - and opportunity is about to strike like lightning.

The question is what it will leave behind.

COLONIAL DISCLAIMER | WORLD INFO | MAPS | TECHNOLOGY | SKILLS | CALENDAR | CASTING CALL | INFILTRATOR INFORMATION | VETERAN INFORMATION | INTRIGUE & ESPIONAGE | PLAYER RESOURCES | QUESTIONS | PLOTTING

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The Lightning Age, as a setting, is designed to combat some of the harmful colonial stereotypes often employed in steampunk by imagining a plausible history where pluralistic non-European empires dominated but did not eradicate conquered cultures, a benevolent funhouse mirror of our own world’s colonial period. Obviously the success of this approach will vary - for some people it may work fine and for others it may be equally problematic. If anything in the descriptions or depictions of other cultures makes you uncomfortable, please let us know.

When it comes to Australia and the Americas, native or aboriginal peoples have often expressed a wish to neither be erased nor to allow their stories to be co-opted. In respect for those wishes, Australia & the Americas are assumed to be known to have diverse and powerful nations which are a technological match for the Old World countries, but who do not have active trade and foreign relations across the oceans. This is probably a precarious balance, but it’s the best we feel we can do at this level and format of storytelling.

Golden Khanate
The largest empire in the world, ruled by Mongols and Huns, stretching from the east of Italy to the coast of Manchuria. While other empires build huge siege engines, tanks, and airships, the Khanate still relies on mobile horse cavalry… and the most advanced explosives and rocketry in the world.
Current Allies: Vatican City.
Current Rivals: Ummah Caliphate, Prusso-Zaporizhia, Joseon, Uchinaa, Chakravartin Raj.

Prussia-Zaporizhian Empire
The alliance of Germans, Russians, and Cossacks, dominating Northern and Eastern Europe beneath the shadow of their ubiquitous airships. With a near-monopoly on compact methane fuels, they're an economic powerhouse most nations cannot afford to antagonize.
Current Allies: Joseon, Vatican City.
Current Rivals: Golden Khanate, Ummah Caliphate.
Special Holdings: Tunguskan Penal Colony

Ummah Khalifa
The unified Sufi Islamic theocracy, stretching from Afghanistan through the Arabian Peninsula, across northern Africa, through the strait of Gibraltar and over Western Europe, held together half by wealth and trade and powerful navy, half by the best education system in the world. Due to Islamic notions of modesty, women and men in the Khalifa dress in precisely the same fashion: at the moment, that means suits, tuxedos, and tailcoats for all.
Current Allies: NONE.
Current Rivals: Golden Khanate, Zulu Paramountcy, Kingdom of Monomotapa, Prusso-Zaporizhian Empire.
Special Holdings: Al-Andalus, Kingdom of Carthage

Chakravartin Raj
The combined Buddhist and Hindu states of Southeast Asia, held together more loosely by willing alliances and diplomacy rather than threat of force – and backed by the most sophisticated analog computers in the world. Their clockwork devices and piezoelectrics allow a degree of remote-controlled technology no-one else in the world can duplicate.
Current Allies: Zulu Paramountcy.
Current Rivals: Golden Khanate, Joseon, Uchinaa.
Special Holdings: Madagascar Special Economic Zone

Zulu Paramountcy
Southwestern Africa, a proud state of elite warriors whose steamplate armor and crude cybernetics make them the most dangerous one-on-one combatants in the world.
Current Allies: Chakravartin Raj, Vatican City.
Current Rivals: Monomotapa, Ummah Caliphate.

Vatican City
Home to the Catholic Church, the Vatican holds no land outside the city-states in its tiny corner of Italy, but its power and influence are undeniable worldwide. It determines its alliances solely based on religion: Christian nations, or those nations friendly to the Christians within their borders, are its friends, all others its foes. The cryptocatholic secret agents of the Vatican are famed as the best spies in the world, and the knowledge contained within the Vatican library is unparalleled.
Current Allies: Zulu Paramountcy, Golden Khanate, Prusso-Zaporizhia, Kingdom of Uchinaa.
Current Rivals: Chakravartin Raj, Ummah Caliphate, Kingdom of Joseon.
Special Holdings: Protectorates of Milan, Venice, Florence, & Avignon.

Kingdom of Monomotapa
Southeastern Africa, a confederacy of tribes opposed to Zulu rule – militarily, one of the weakest and most precarious empires, kept together against every threat by last-minute development of unusual technologies or clever diplomatic coups that forestall their enemies. A negligible threat, but unpredictable if threatened.
Current Allies: Joseon, Uchinaa.
Current Rivals: Zulu Paramountcy, Ummah Caliphate.
Special Holdings: Madagascar Special Economic Zone

Kingdom of Joseon
A Korean Empire with an unprecedented mastery of magnetism and surprisingly modern electrical systems. Aggressive and expansionist, only the Khanate & the Prusso-Zaporizhians combined keep them at bay.
Current Allies: Kingdom of Monomotapa, Kingdom of Uchinaa.
Current Rivals: Chakravartin Raj, The Golden Khanate, Prusso-Zaporizhian Empire.

Kingdom of Uchinaa
An energetic kleptocracy and strong ally of Joseon consisting of Japan & the Phillippines, ruled from modern-day Okinawa, their martial and mental disciplines mean that even without their refinements on Joseon & Monomotapan technologies, they have a startling and fearsome reputation worldwide.
Current Allies: Kingdom of Monomotapa, Kingdom of Joseon, Vatican City.
Current Rivals: Chakravartin Raj, The Golden Khanate, Prusso-Zaporizhian Empire.

WORLD MAP:

Slight error: Britain should be Prussian, not Caliphate, having been conquered about ten years ago.

FLYING MARKET:

(coming soon)

Edited 2015-09-06 19:19 (UTC)

Everything listed below are merely examples of available technology, and players are free to devise their own gadgetry.

Edited 2015-09-05 23:42 (UTC)

Gold Troys ($20), Silver Troy ($10) (available in quarters [$2.50] & decs [$1]), Copper Troy [$.50] (available in decs [$0.05])

Methane Fuel Canisters: the most well-known and mature sort of energy, these pressurized metal canisters are full of frozen methane clathrates. Bulky but reliable.

Lightning Cells: more capacitor than battery, finicky and full of static electricity.

Phoenix Cells: high explosives in a can, used rarely by the Caliphate or Khanate, and the deadly brainchild of Captain Phoenix, these batteries double as grenades but can be socketed into nearly anything. Of course, they also rupture with alarming frequency.

Piezoelectric Winders: Clockwork batteries relying on springs and pressure alone.

Scientifically advanced weaponry comes in a few distinct styles, each of which is a signature of one or more nations. People from outside those nations can certainly have picked them up - it’s more a guideline than actual rule.

Pneumatic Weapon: steam-powered and pressure-driven, operated by heating and pressurizing the fuel inside methane fuel canisters, they tend to be bulky and powerful, but a little slow unless they’re motorized. An Autoglaive is a polearm with a motorized shears on the end, a Pneumatic Swordbreaker is a serrated blade whose serrations open and close, clamping down on other weapons; Mantis Gauntlets are bladed and have piston-powered crushing action; a Convection Staff simply carries the heat and pressure of the combusting fuel along its extendable length, and a Suction Whip creates a pressurized vacuum used to expel or inhale small objects or projectiles, but especially capsules of gaseous poisons. The Caliphate, the Empire, the Paramountcy, and Monomotapa all primarily use pneumatic weaponry.

Magnetic Weapons: The exclusive purview of Joseon and Uchinaa, powered on Lightning Cells, these weapons exploit principles of electromagnetism to deliver attacks with magnetic force, counter other metal objects, or give their victims a shocking surprise. Polarized Shuriken or Compass Darts can hold a target in place against a metal surface, Magnetic Sais seek metal armor when thrown, Coilwhips are flexible supermagnets and conductors, and a Shurikaster is a shuriken-firing railgun that uses magnetic force to launch blades at supersonic speeds.

Respiring Weapon: a respiring weapon is a melee weapon of any sort which violently expels the energy produced by its fuel. Load a lightning cell, deliver a shock. A phoenix cell, a burst of flame. A methane canister, noxious gases. A cryostone, a quick freeze. While the technology to make respiring weapons is spread internationally, given the stress placed on such weapons, they are commonly either fragile or supremely expensive, and the sight of one is the mark of a truly elite warrior.

Alchemical Weapon: darts, grenades, spring-powered needle-guns, or Syringe Daggers, these weapons are commonly used by the Caliphate and by Uchinaa, and deliver some sort of drug or poison payload to their targets.

Clockwork Weapon: primarily used by the Empire and the Raj, these windable weapons are either spring-powered, or have pressurized piezoelectric reservoirs. Windable Flails, Needle-Guns, Cog-Axes that squeeze and crush armor, or Lotus-pod Pistols that act as handheld gatling guns with variable loads, from shrapnel to explosives, are just a few variations.

Rocket-powered Weapon: almost the exclusive domain of the Golden Khanate, these weapons use gunpowder, high explosives, and rocketry. A Rocket Bow fires rockets. A Parthian Spear has an exploding spearhead. A Meteor Hammer is a chain flail whose pointed, weighted end is a rocket engine. Bombs, grenades, rockets of all kinds and all sorts of creative payloads are ubiquitous.

Other weapons: some weapons resist categorization, span multiple categories, or have a national flavor but no particular technical component. Due to their versatility, Ninja-To and Kunai are commonly used in Uchinaa. Uchinaa and Joseon both use Polarized Smokebombs, whose clouds can be seen through by anyone wearing polarized goggles. Harpoon Rifles and grappling hook weapons are common in the Empire, but also in the Caliphate Navy, or among Sky Pirates anywhere, and can be clockwork, steam-powered, or explosive. Harpoon-Fingered Gloves, on the other hand, are an entirely Prussian perversity, as are Prussian Balloon Darts, which inflate when they strike and carry their target off into the sky. Motorized Flails and other chain weapons can be powered by any source and used by any nation. Cane swords, cane rifles, flamethrowers, and spring-powered sleeve knives are in common usage worldwide, although rare in the far east. A rare curiosity is the lone New World import, a Chain Macahuitl: like a cricket bat with a spinning obsidian sawblade rotating around its edge.

Defensive technology is much more straightforward. Convection Armor holds pressure and heat and releases it when hit, burning attackers. Exoskeletal Decoys expand to encase their wearers, but have an escape hatch, so an armored figure can menace their enemies while they run away. Gas masks are an obvious precaution, but Vatican Mortification Girdles and Scalding Helms both cause their wearers pain as a way of negating mind control or other distracting effects. A Magnetized Mantle catches incoming metallic attacks, and a Thievesbane Bandolier is heated or electrified to injure potential pick-pockets.

Autoscribing Phonographs record any noise near them, while Self-Playing Phonographs allow technical feats of ventriloquism, and Weirding Phonographs play noises, often unhearable, which have peculiar effects on the human nervous system - fear, anger, hypnotic suggestion. Daguerrotype Goggles take snapshots of what the wearer sees. Polarized Goggles and lanterns allow the wearer to see through certain smoke clouds, or to shine or see lights that no one else can see. Spring-Wrist Gloves allow pick-pockets and assassins to ply their trade from meters away. Inquistorial Ink & Polygraph Paper are used in combination by the Vatican, especially, to make contracts which either compel their signers to honesty or display the sincerity of their intentions in the color of their ink. Tracking devices are also common - and countless innovators have other, similar dirty tricks.

Hussar Ornithopter Backpacks give their (Prussian) wearers wings. Magnetic Tabi are sandals used in Joseon & Uchinaa which allow their wearer to walk in any direction on any metal surface. Personal-Scale Escape Balloons are just what they sound like, and used by Sky Pirates and the Empire. Rocket Boots, used by the Khanate, run out of fuel quickly, but are precisely what they sound like, and can be used for ground acceleration as well as flight. Springheel Boots are the Raj version, clockwork items allowing inhuman leaps. Yin & Yang Belts are paired, magnetized belts which pull one wearer to the other - used in Joseon & Uchinaa, mainly by nobles and their bodyguards, allowing bodyguards to be summoned instantly or nobles to be extracted from danger.

Practiced especially by the Caliphate, the Paramountcy, Uchinaa, the Vatican, & Tunguskan criminal prison cults, alchemy allows a wide variety of complex acids and poisons to be produced, burning, blinding, sickening, distracting, or brainwashing targets. It also allows for the creation of elixirs which heighten reaction time, numb sensitivity to pain, allow greater focus, greater strength, or other effects which boost the body and mind - but always at a dramatic cost, often with a distinct hangover, a crippling addiction, damage to the heart or other organs.

A wide variety of repair tools and diagnostic devices are used, but because many technologies are secretive and proprietary, fixing or analyzing foreign devices can be risky or destructive. Diagnostic Drills and Skeleton Spanners are versatile tools used by most dedicated mechanics. But the everyday use of technology ranges from truly excellent teapots and clocks to things like Clockwork Hands, which perform programmed actions on a delay, Pneumatic Lockboxes or Clockwork Puzzleboxes for storing valuable goods, Steam Abacus for rapid calculations of mathematical and geometric problems, Piezocharge Panels for jumpstarting or overloading other technologies, Trauzl Detectors for locating concentrations of explosive fuels of all kinds, and almost anything else that can be powered by pressure, steam, springs, magnets, or fire.

Zulu cyborgs rely on a variety of Pneumatic Prostheses, or other items listed above worked into their bodies rather than worn on them. Arterial Pressurizers allow adrenaline rushes to be triggered, Cortical Injection Sites allow reservoirs of alchemical elixirs to be automatically injected or stored for later.

When it comes to automata, the Raj are the unquestioned masters. Monodrones are simple robots, often in whimsical shapes like frogs or disembodied hands, which can perform only a single task programmed into their clockwork - stealing, eavesdropping, or exploding (sometimes with smokebombs or chemicals, sometimes with shrapnel) are common programs. The Raj also produces high-end clockwork prostheses, but these are delicate porcelain, glass, and brass, not combat models, although they allow more finesse than steam-driven Zulu models. Their most famous are Prosthetic Faces, for those burned, scarred, or disfigured, beautiful cyborg masks which duplicate expressions exactly - although they do not pass for natural on inspection.

Last and perhaps most importantly are Proxies, radio-controlled clockwork androids which are used in situations where it’s too dangerous to risk a person - assassinations, anonymous business dealings, messages delivered, and so on. The Raj will rent use of a Proxy and a Radio Control Booth to anyone, and while they keep meticulous customer records, they do not willingly share them. (ooc: an NPC account will be made available to players renting Proxies, although they will need to note in an OOC info post here who used a proxy and when).

Edited 2015-09-06 00:08 (UTC)

Mostly used for quick sabotage, every kind of technology has its downfall. Cryostones are hard chemical rocks which shut down combustion. Gearscream Sand is superfine shrapnel which clings to gears and is attracted to friction. Magnetic Powder clings to lightning devices and redirects current. Methane-Melt Sponges are just what they say on the tin.

Lightning Age Technology (S): knowledge of one area of tech (steam-powered, clockwork, magnetic, pyrotechnic, alchemical) as well as 2-3 items of technology (not necessarily all that type).

Lightning Age Innovation (T): requires Lightning Age Tech. Knowledge of how to repair, construct, and even design technology of one type.

Lightning Age Combat (S): proficiency with exotic technological weapons, and 1-2 weapons + 1 defensive item.

Lightning Age Prostheses (S): Zulu or Raj prosthetics, as described in the technology section. Please keep in mind that this is not a "transformation" skill, and replacing an existing part with a prosthetic will mean losing that part.

Eidetic Memory (T): the mental discipline of perfect recall.

Advanced Mnemonics (T): requires Eidetic Memory. The ability to reconstruct and analyze memories, including curing amnesia, producing blueprints of locations visited, analyzing technology, investigating a scene for evidence - the ability to effectively be any place you have ever been, for as long as you need to be, in exquisite detail.

Superhuman Computation (T): requires Eidetic Memory or Technology: Alchemy. The ability to do computer-like calculations, mathematics, and measurements as quick mental math.

Aerial Acrobatics (T): the ability to maneuver flying devices, parachutes, or yourself in an aerial, suspended, or climbing environment, including the ability to perform gymnastic stunts or effective martial arts while airborne or etc.

Three-Dimensional Stealth (T): the ability to go unseen and penetrate security or surveillance while flying, climbing, moving on ceilings or in other nontraditional three-dimension environments.

Mastery of Disguise (T): the ability to effectively use clothing, basic cosmetics, local knowledge, and altering your voice to assume one or many alternate identities, avoid detection, produce false identification, and generally not be seen as yourself.

Edited 2015-09-29 20:14 (UTC)

Rabi Al-Akhir (September) 12: Shore Leave / The Flying Circus
Rabi Al-Akhir 20: Exhibition Exposition
Rabi Al-Akhir 28: Michaelmas
Jumada Al-Awwal (October) 6: Thunderstorm
Jumada Al-Awwal 14: Scheduled Demolition

Edited 2015-09-05 23:58 (UTC)

Plot-Important Infiltrators
If you want to play one of the six following roles, please leave a comment here and we'll do our final casting between now & the 8th.

Captain Phoenix: a pyromaniacal, megalomaniacal pirate pyrotechnic. CAST.
Herr Doktor Kilroy Schweizerkaze Von Blitzkopf: a classical cackling mad scientist, eccentric, genius, amoral. CAST.
Prussian Fliegercossack: an aerial marine and implacable bounty hunter. CAST.
Caliphate Magistrate: devout Sufi, honorable spymaster, clever game-player, & determined patriot.
Cryptocatholic Ninja Saboteur: master of magnetism and mysticism, a faithful traitor. CAST.
Khanate Sky Pirate: a wild-haired anarchist, scurrilous plunderer, decadent bon vivant, and secret softie. CAST.

Example Roles:
Feel free to infiltrate as anything you like from any nation you like, but here are some pre-made groups and concepts for you.

Masked Senseis: savant-like anonymous ninja scientists of Uchinaa
Janissaries: Christian slaves raised as defenders of the Muslim faith, an elite warrior caste.
Fliegercossacks: literally: Flying Cossacks. Rough, tough aerial marines.
Wolves’ Children: organized crime: the orphans of Tunguskan prisoners, trained as thieves and spies with perfect memories.
Vatican Librarians: the best spies, interrogators, and document retrieval experts in the world, who often spend years in deep cover.
Hashashin: fanatical alchemist-assassins who fight better with pharmacology. Sometimes for the Caliphate, & sometimes rebelling against it.
Zulu Cyborgs: warriors with pneumatic prosthetics and pacemakers to power their pressurized blood, sacrificing long life for strength and glory.
Socialists: revolutionary scum of the world, radicals and idealists with destructive agendas.
Uchinaan Shamans: mystics who use drugs and mental discipline to enhance their intellect and abilities.
Sky Pirates: Sky Pirates!

Edited 2015-09-09 05:06 (UTC)

Last year, the flagship of the Prussian airfleet, the Zeitgeist, flew a diplomatic tour of Asia, with delegates from across the world aboard. If you believe your character would have been present for this voyage, comment here to receive additional information on what happened and who was involved.

Edited 2015-09-06 00:04 (UTC)

Pre-Moebius Veterans looking at the technology and architecture will experience a strange sense of deja vu. Please comment here if you were present for the last flight of the Zeitgeist, and we can work out the forgotten details of your previous experiences here, including infiltrator role, acquaintances, & vestigial knowledge of the world.

Edited 2015-09-06 00:02 (UTC)

We encourage players to engage in dishonest dealings and snoop on one another in this setting, infiltrators especially, and for ease of exchange, to leave the details of their schemes here in this post. Characters who are snooping can go, check out this post, & plot with characters who are smuggling, breaking the law, stealing, or other illicit activities to sort out how they’d discover this sort of thing.

Edited 2015-09-06 00:00 (UTC)

Ask 'em here!

Let us know who your character will be and what they'll be doing, and work out storylines and schemes!

Thorne will be Infiltrating again because I enjoy letting her live the AU life. Since she was a mad scientist's loyal assistant in her out of Jaunt background, I'd be very interested if someone wants to pair up with her so she can be again! (Herr Doktor von Blitzkopf, I am here for you.)

(If nobody wants to pair up for this purpose and she doesn't get involved in anything else, I might just handwave she's still a mad scientist's loyal assistant, only on a business mission for her boss who is Sir Not Appearing In This Jaunt. Or possibly is a mad scientist herself. We Shall See.)

Otherwise, I'm still figuring out her background. I'd be beyond happy, however, to work out any family relations or previous CR between her and the other Infiltrators.

Also, whatever I do with her, she totally has a clockwork automaton bunny that's basically standing for Selene.

There is a very likely chance that she and Armin's eventual infiltrator-self would have once been a brother-sister mad science team. More details to follow.

Edited 2015-09-06 09:40 (UTC)

Naoki will be investigating this time out. He needs more than a week as himself, and he has enough pieces about Moebius to suggest 'pre-Moebius' as a possibility after the veterans start going '????' (Also someone other than Adachi needs to be able to... appreciate what Quinn's got in mind for Naoto. XD)

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Page 1 of 14

The Lightning Age: (The Next Jaunt).

COLONIAL DISCLAIMER

WORLD INFO

MAPS

TECHNOLOGY

MONEY

FUEL

WEAPONS

DEFENSES

ESPIONAGE & LARCENY

MOVEMENT

PHARMACO-ALCHEMY

UTILITY

AUTOMATA & CYBERNETICS

UNPOWERED DEVICES

SKILLS

CALENDAR

CASTING CALL

INFILTRATOR INFORMATION

VETERAN INFORMATION

INTRIGUE & ESPIONAGE

PLAYER RESOURCES

QUESTIONS

PLOTTING

Charlene "Thorne" Durante

no subject