While “steamcraft” is used as a short-hand for advanced alternate technology throughout the book, there are options other than boiling water and burning wood. The power sources used are irrelevant on one level; steampunk is not about plausible technology, and any effect can be accomplished by any set of technologies. A sentient computer can be built out of clock- works and mercury valves. In fantasy, the nature of the technology used has far more to do with aesthetics than what can be accom- plished. Giant walking war machines can be powered by steam boilers, bound demons, elec- tricity elementals, the divine will of the god of war, or anything else. The effectiveness of the machines will be roughly equal, but the look will vary. Steam-powered machines will belch forth clouds of vapor and have a raging furnace in their hearts; electrical walkers crackle with power and spit sparks; machines powered by divine energy shine with an inner light and look like mobile church organs.
Sorcery & Steam:
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Sorcery & Steam:
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Although the technology denoted by steamcraft does not determine what effects are impossible, it does affect how things are achieved. When characters are trying to restart a stalled engine, the nature of the repairs will vary; if the dri- ving force is steam, then the characters’ efforts will revolve around finding a new source of combustible fuel. If the driving force of technology in the game is electri- cal, then the characters will have to string together lengths of cable and gather light- ning bolts to resurrect the machine. The products of steam technology do not have to be realistic, but as the genre demands technical solutions to problems, the underlying principles should be made clear to the characters. Unlike magic, which is essentially arbitrary in its effects, technology has to be structured and pre- dictable on some level.
Steampunk is a state of mind more than anything else, a science-fantasy view of the world. It isn’t simply adding science; it is channeling fantasy through the scien- tific mindset. Instead of sages learning about chemistry, have them build on the wilder aspects of alchemy, building vast alchemical reactors that conjure the philosopher’s stone at a thousand atmos- pheres of pressure, or spin straw into gold at a hundred revolutions a second. Beyond steam, there are several other options for powering machines. Any or all of them can be combined in a setting. Smaller items can be driven by clockwork or even primitive alchemical-electrical batteries. Using bound elementals as power sources is a common fantasy idea; steam engines could be fuelled by fire ele- mentals channeled through watery undines, or devils forced to endlessly turn cranks deep underground. Steampunk is all about ambition and technical accom- plishment, which results in terrifyingly huge, audacious schemes and projects. At the extreme end of steampunk…
• Siguard, a nation once in desperate need of fuel for fires. The steam boilers and fur- naces of the nation needed wood and coal, but the druids of the surrounding wilder- ness forbade the engineers from taking what they needed. The folk of Siguard
turned to the hottest natural flames of all: drag- onfire. Zeppelins armed with cannon-fired dragon-spikes captured a host of red dragons and put the chained wyrms to work heating boilers. Now, three centuries later, the dragon farms of Siguard hatch hundreds of eggs each year: reds for the furnaces, blues and blacks and greens for the alchemical facto-
ries, and whites to keep the meat stockpiles frozen until it is time for the dragons to feed.
• In the realm of Thykist, the blood of the aristocracy carries lycanthropy. Only those who change may rule. Alchemical potions control their animal rage, and brass clocks and orreries precisely track the position of the nur- turing moon. Now, the nobles have conceived a glorious plan to cement their place atop society. Rocket vessels bearing mighty adamantine chains shall fly to the moon and drive pitons deep into its silver crust. In Thykist, engines of surpassing power shall then draw on the chain, dragging the moon back and holding it in place, eternally bright and full.
• Life is not so bad, work- ing on the drilling rigs of the Outworlds Cartel. The huge rigs float in the astral sea, just beyond the ele- mental planes. Each rig drives enchanted drills deep into the neighboring realm, pumping out ele- mental energy. The water rig has the easiest job of all, draining pure icy water and piping it to the fire rig. Workers at the
fire rig are always blackened and scorched by their work, but they know that without the steam power produced in their boilers, the other rigs would fail. The air rig’s thundering fans suck elemental air from its plane and
send it to the largest of the four—the earth rig. There, miners sustained by the elemental air delve deep into the eternal stone of the plane of earth, searching for huge quantities of metals and gemstones. Some whisper that the analyti- cal engines that guide the Cartel have greater plans for the future; that two new rigs are being built to create a vast circuit between the positive and negative
planes…
The beginnings of steam may pro- duce nothing but a few humble weapons and constructs, but very great things may grow from these beginnings.