The Essential Writer’s STEAM PUNKS Theme : Steam Punk ( A Fantasy / Victorian setting filled with mechanics, clockworks, and advanced steam / coal power machines.) Goals & Focus : Explore, Survive, Colonize, & Report Back. Story : It is the year 1308 in an alternate Earth where steam powered machines advance exponentially. Despite this scientific phenomenon, many explorers have failed to explore various hidden continents. Under the command of the New Age Republic, Commander Obadiah Rush is leading an expedition across the sea and into the Newland. He is recruiting various professionals, including Inventors, Scouts, Infantry, Clockmen*, and Clock-Magi**. * & ** See Jobs to find out what these are. The Continent : The Newland you are heading towards is dangerous and deceiving. Sailors who have sailed to the edges of the New Age Republic Limits report seeing large Kraken, Exotic Boats, Sea Creatures, and Treacherous Weather. No one exactly knows what the continents holds, but myths tell of a barbaric native race. Background : The New Age Republic is a colonized continent living in peace and harmony. This has lead to many scientific advances, magical advances, and overall better life styles for it’s citizens. There are, however, growing bands of pirates, thieves, and bandits, which is threatening the safety of the Republic. Jobs : Inventors have the ability to create a steam punk invention to aid there character during the game. They can not change it during the game, but alter it’s parts or contribute them to other efforts. Think something beneficial to the expedition! Scouts & Infantry are soldiers who are experts in one of the following fields: Explosives, Survival, Ranged Combat, Melee Combat, or Pilot. Clockmen are humans who have been infused with the latest of Steam Punk technology. They get to choose three enhancements of there own creativity to benefit them towards the expedition. Note: No God-Enhancements. Clock-Magi are mages who have woven together both magic and Steam Punk technology to create enhancing armor, weapons, and other items to benefit the greater good of the expedition. The Game : You will first start upon the Sea Port, where you will say goodbye to love ones, receive blessings, and leave via Axiom, a massive steam punk ship that can lift from the seas and head toward the skies. Then you will dare to brave the seas, and from on their you will sail towards the continent and venture throughout it. With all hope, you will colonize a small town and report back, which in turn will send for more colonizers and terraformers. The Ten Commandments, stolen rightfully from Foxee because it’s Genius. Foxee’s Ten RPG Commandments 1. Read everyone’s posts! Not only does this keep us all on the same page, it’s fun to know your posts are being read and acted upon. Respond to stimuli and events from other players’ posts. 2. Avoid writing one-line posts or extremely long posts. A range of 40-300 words is good to shoot for. 3. Edit before posting, we’re all here to improve as well as enjoy. 4. No God-Modding or perfect characters. (boring!) 5. Fights between characters should be kept to a minimum and I would like to see no killing of humans at all. However, if a fight or killing is unavoidably called for the players concerned must work the action out in PM and both parties should be amenable to the outcome. 6. Do not control another person’s character without their express consent. 7. If a player is AWOL and holding up the game the character will be NPC’d at the GMs’ discretion. If you know you’ll be gone for some time you may hand over your character to another player’s care. 8. Don’t flood the thread with long conversations. Give others a chance to post. 9. Please discuss any issues in the Discussion thread or PM The Essential Writer with your concerns. Gossiping about issues or spamming up the story thread is counterproductive. 10. And lastly…the GMs’ word is law. Character Building Be realistic, no “Perfects,” and have original characters. Please balance character numbers, at least one player for each profession! Have flaws but virtues too! ONLY Humans Profile Template Name: Profession: (Inventor, Scout, Infantry, Clockman, or Clock-Magi) Gender: Age: Appearance: Reason For Recruitment: Personality: Background: Enhancement: (Clockmen Only) Specialty: (Scouts & Infantry Only) Invention: (Inventors Only, no God Machines. Think beneficial to the expedition!) Magical Focus: (Clock-Magi Only! Focuses Include: Offensive, Healing, Druidic, & Terra-Mage. Terra-Mage’s have useful exploring abilities such as Teleportation, Language Translator, & Animal Control)
Profile Template Name: Edward Hinder Profession: Clock-Magi Gender: Male Age: 37 Appearance: Reason For Recruitment: Personality: Bloodthirsty, likes war, hopes to find adventure and battle in the Newland. Background: Enhancement:N/A Specialty: N/A Invention: N/A Magical Focus: I'll go with Offensive for now, but I'm not sure what Druidic would be, is that controlling plants and stuff?
Okay, I'm not joining at the moment, but I thought I'd inform because I usually miss out when it starts.
Name: Travis Perik Profession: Scout Gender: Male Age: 22 Appearance: 5'10", 170, lean with defined muscle, generally wears all brown clothes, light auburn hair and almond colored eyes. Reason For Recruitment: Young and rash, Travis is excited to explore the new world. Personality: Very light-hearted and difficult to dispirit. Likes to crack jokes. Background: Ever since he was young, Travis has been interested in archery. When he was 12, his father took him hunting for the first time, but he did not manage to actually capture anything until he was 15, when he killed a deer. He still lives with his parents, helping support them because his father sustained an injury to his leg. Now he is leaving them to go on an expedition to the new world and his parents are worried for him, but also excited. The decision to leave was prompted by Travis's father behind his mother's back. Mr. Perik doesn't like to see Travis couped up with his parents, and promises that they will be able to make do without him. Enhancement: N/A Specialty: Survival Invention: N/A Magical Focus: N/A
I'm playing as Obadiah, so here he is! Profile Template Name: Commander Obadiah Rush Profession: Commander Gender: Male Age: 41 Appearance: Square, Broad, Towering, Passive Reason For Recruitment: The Greater Good of the New Republic Personality: Traditional, Intellegent, Wise, Logistic, Willing To Sacrifice Background: Trained as a grunt in the New Age Republic, Obadiah quickly escalated to the top of his rank. He has been praised for reducing crime, quickening trade routes, and planning defences. He was born and raised in a small farm and was recruited at age 16. Enhancement: Due to an order by The New Republic, Obadiah has replaced his right hand with a full mechanical gauntlet after a horrible accident. Specialty: Commanding Invention: Obadiah has a small telescope headgear piece that hovers over his left eye, enabling him to see far off into the distance.
Name: Henry "Hank" Jameson Profession: Clockman Gender: Male Age: 15 Appearance: 5'8, dirty blond hair, green eyes. Strong build for a kid his age. Wear's denim overalls, a blue vest and knuckle length gloves. Has a red bandana over his forehead. Various scars cover his body. Appearance his slightly disheveled. Reason For Recruitment: His doctor signed him up, using the cover story that he is a good hardworker to hide his true intentions: putting Hank's abilities to the test. Personality: Happy, always willing to help. Background: Hank was 10 when he lost both his parents. An accident claimed their lives and nearly his. During the accident, both Hank's lungs were punctured. Dr. Manning, a Steam Punk, worked round the clock and infused a larger set of lungs and saving his life. Manning couldn't say his parents, however, and took to looking after the boy. When the doctor learned that Hank could hold his breath for incredible lengths of time, he took to mending the boy's body some more, becoming increasingly maniacal about it until he found a beneficial combonation. When he learned of the expedition, he signed Hank up in order to see if his experiment would work, and allow him to infuse soldiers in the same way and great a group of aqua soldiers. Enhancements: Dr. Manning's enhancements to Hank are as such- 1. Larger and enhanced lungs: Hank can hold his breath up to forty minutes after the enhancements and long hours of practice. 2. Separate set of eyelids: Dr. Manning infused a vertical blinking set of clear eye-lids to allow Hank to see under water. 3. Temporal enhancement: Manning made modifications to Hank's temporal region in order to allow his ears to cope with the depths that Hank could dive. The side effects of the enhancement bettered Hank's speech, hearing, memory and balance as well.
Name: Jeno Fracci Profession: Soldier Gender: Male Age: 30 Appearance: Jeno is 5'6" with short, well kept black hair and brown eyes. He has tan skin and a full face with a large forehead and stubby nose. He wears, from bottom to top, shiny black wing tips, gray trousers, a white dress shirt and nice black sports coat, all topped with a signature coal black fedora. Reason For Recruitment: To get away from it all. Personality:He is, on the outside, a cliche'ed, wise cracking goodfella. He knows how to threaten people, but he shows respect to men of power, and for the most part he is arrogant and cold. On the inside he is much different. He is empty, a shell of a person, dealing with past emotional issues and the moral problems of his business. Background: Jeno is a son of the big city. He had an abusive father and an alcoholic mother, both saw to it that he had an emotionally unstable childhood. After his eighteenth birthday he had enough of the cigar burns and drunken slurs, Jeno fled his home and began a life on the streets, making friends with a gang of thieves, young outcasts like himself. He like the other boys a great deal, which made it all the harder when they accidentally stole from the Graztini crime family. In return for selling out his friends, Jeno was spared by the don Gratzini, but with no where else to turn and an empty heart, he decided to work for the old man, and grew to forgive and respect him. He was a man of business, but Jeno could never shake the deep rooted hate he felt inside, part of the reason that after ten years of doing unthinkable for him the prospect of journey, and a new beginning seemed so good. Specialty: Melee/Close range
Profile Template Name: Zacky Angel Profession: Inventor Gender: Male Age: 26 Appearance: Long hair brushed to the left side of his face, jet black hair, black eyes, 5'7'', average build, not too strong, not too weak. His right hand up to his forearm is in a silver gauntlet. Has a 2 inch scar above his left eye. Blue jeans, dark purple dress shirt, and if it's cold, he likes to wear a black coat. Reason For Recruitment: Lending a helping hand Personality: Peaceful, Understanding guy, but if he's angry, he has a baaaad temper Background: Zacky's parents were poor low-class workers, and when he was young he had to help his parents to get money. But he soon grew tired and went to school, there he found he loved engineering, and would steal anything that runs on steam punk, dissects it, and learn from it. When he was 16, his mother died, sending his dad to a depression, his dad became an alchoholic and beat Zacky every now and then in a drunken stupor. Only 3 months later his dad killed himself. Zacky was alone in the world, and he decided to make a name for himself. He joined a company and made things for them, but one day his right arm was caught in gears, crushing it, he was at the hospital for awhile, and the doctors made it into a prosthetic. Zacky couldn't work for 2 months, but in that 2 months, full of experimenting and failures, he created a silver gauntlet that would let his arm be "normal" again. It also increased the strength in his right arm. With that creation, he quit his job and started inventing, he had invented many things such as the S. Goggles. Goggles scouts use to seek out anything, the goggle brings up a HUD display showing a radar, a compass, and you can switch to thermal vision etc. Specialty: N/A Invention: A simple attachment to his silver guantlet, only in prototype mode, scans the area within a 1 mile radius and shows of any life forms, water etc, and creates a 3D map of that mile radius. Also comes with a Steam Pistol, only to be used in necessary circumstances. Magical Focus: N/A
Players... The Essential Writer - Commander Obadiah - Commander LagunaX1 - Edward Hinder - Clock-Magi Tsukuru - Travis Perik - Scout FlakeandFins - Henry "Hank" Jameson - Clockman Chickidy - Jen Fracci - Soldier BatCountry - Zacky Angel - Inventor We're starting tommorow. Any last minute joiners are welcome! ~The Essential Writer
They cheered, all of them, in a beautiful chorus that echoed throughout all of the New Age Republic. Crying tears of joy and yelling shouts of encouragement. Oh they cheered, and it made Obadiah feel great. He paced the deck of the massive ship Axiom, waving good bye and smiling to the crowd as they cheered. But behind his smile was madness. The crew was two days behind schedule already, and clouds began to form above him. His eyes hurt and his nose was stuffed. He was catching the flu on their first day of adventure. But he smiled anyway, because they were all cheering. And it made him feel good.
Henry Jameson sat on a keg of gun powder listening to the roaring crowd at the harbor. His eyes searched the crowd until he spotted Dr. Manning. He was standing on some steps waving at the ship. Their eyes locked and Manning brought a finger to his lips before waving again. Henry knew what it meant. "I spoke with the Commander," he had told Henry. "They're looking forward to you joining the crew." "I'm nervous," Henry had said. "You'll do fine," Manning replied. "Just remember, don't tell them about your enhancements." "Dr. Manning I don't like being dishonest!" Henry had protested. "Do as I say, when you get back and I reveal my workmanship to the monarchy, we'll be greatly rewarded," Manning came back. "Don't ruin this for me, now are you all packed?" "Yes...oh wait I forgot something." He had told the doctor that he forgot his diary. He looked at his duffel back, and sitting on top was a diary with an elaborate lock system. It belonged to the doctor. Henry sealed up his bag and hopped off the keg. He looked around and spotted Commander Obadiah. Henry approached him cautiously. "Thank you for giving me this opportunity Commander," he said timidly.
Jeno walked down the sidewalk, a bounce in his step as he thought about what he was about to do. Say goodbye to crime for a while, take a trip on the legit. All around him towered big old apartments, little shops, bakeries and cigar emporiums. The red brick added a flavor to the neighborhood, his neighborhood. A man in an apron, sweeping the sidewalk, waved and gave a friendly smile, and Jeno waved back. A lovely lady in a red jacket walked by, blushing as he shot her a smile. It was his neighborhood; ten years working for the man who ran the place had made him a well known and respected figure in the area. Stopping in front of Benji's Bar, a few faces visible from the old windows out in front, and wiping off his jacket a little, Jeno grabbed the handle and walked in. The bar was a place of dignity, two bouncers stood outside on the sidewalk at all times, on the inside everyone had a good time. Dim lights and hardwood floors defined the room, no more than 100 square feet, an exclusive place where sitting down was a luxury. Jeno looked to the far end of the wall, Benji himself, the old fat bartender, filling drinks and giving smiles at everyone as in the background played Limehouse Blues, the trumpet really setting the mood. Jeno approached Benji, offering him a hand and saying, "Boss in today?" Shaking Jeno's hand and his head, the man said, "No, not at the moment, but have yourself a drink, he'll be coming in later." and with that the old bartender prepared the wise guy a drink, a Brandy old fashioned, and taking it, Jeno sat down. The bar activity died down a bit in the next half hour, the faces and music changing constantly as people came in and out, either sitting down at one of the booths or barstools, or hitting the dance floor. With the number of booze hungry patrons thinning, Jeno finally managed to ask the less busy barman, "So Benji, boss aint here yet, what’s going on?" He looked up from the glass he had been washing in that, the oldest bartender stereotype, his full face a bit worried. "Nothings going on Jeno, boss is busy, you know that. What’s going on with you?" "Nothings going on with me, I just need to tell the boss something-" "What?" A long silence erupted as in the background people were laughing over the tune Belleville, drunk and dancing. Jeno tried to say something, opened his mouth, but nothing came out. He looked away from the old bartender, sipping his drink, watching the normal, lucky people enjoy themselves. Finally, he said, "I'm going to be taking some time off, heading to that newland. I need to get away from it all, you know? I'm just a little worried what the Don ll'say." Benji put a hand on the gangsters shoulder and said, "Hey, you been loyal to that man for a long time, ten years aint no short time son, he'll understand." Jeno averted his eyes, sipped his drink again and said, "Yeh, your right . . . it’s just that-" just as he began to finish the door opened and every patron in the bar looked at who walked in. Don Gratzini, wearing a fine, jet black suit, leather coat hanging off his shoulders, flanked at both sides by a pair of equally respectable looking men. As people began to greet him, everyone wanting to shake the man's hand, Jeno looked back at Benji and said, "I gotta go, see you around." * * * * * * Less than half an hour later Jeno stepped onto the Axiom, looking a bit out of place among the military types in his coat and wing tips. Searching around a bit his eyes happened upon a man who was obviously the one in charge, waving happily amongst the various others rushing around, trying to get ready. Stepping through the crowd of sailors and soldiers, pushing wheelbarrows and dragging around rope, Jeno reached the man, saying, “Dis where I sign up?”
"Henry me boy," said Obadiah as the clockman approached him. He looked nervous, but Obadiah had faith in him. He was a great addition to the team. "Thanks, sir" said Henry nervously. “For the job.” Obadiah smiled. "Nothing to be worried about lad. Everything's going fine." Obadiah paused and let out a hoarse cough. Henry looked at him strangely. "It's nothing but a flu," said Obadiah, reassuring Henry everything was fine. But things were not fine. They had to depart, soon, otherwise they might suffer a great loss of time. "Why don't you reel up the anchor boy," said Obadiah. Henry snapped into a stiff posture. "Yes sir," he said with a smile. Obadiah patted him on the shoulder before leaving. He felt his throat, dry and coarse. This was going to be a horrible start. This was going to be a horrible day.
Zacky Angel paced in his room when he heard some cheering from the docks. "Oh CRAP!" He yelled "I forgot! Today's the day!" He grabbed all his stuff and shoved them in his duffel bags, he checked his gauntlet, put on his coat, and ran out the door. 10 seconds later, he ran back inside the home to grab his lucky charm, a black bandanna and tied it around his biceps. He ran up the ship and almost crashed into Jeno. He put his stuff into his cabin and went back up; he paused at the side of the ship, staring out into the ocean. He sighs, and tugged on his bandanna.
Obadiah nearly lost his footing when he bumped into Jeno. He was walking backwards and talking to one of the sailors when suddenly Jeno came out of nowhere and nearly bumped him off the boat. "Jeno," said Obadiah, nearly breath taken. "What are you doing?" "Heading to my cabin, sir," he replied, holding up a suitcase. It looked as if it might burst open any second. "Careful lad," Obadiah said, and began to walk away. Then he turned around and yelled for Jeno. He looked back at Obadiah. "No funny business," said Obadiah calmly. "I know about your past." Jeno paused, almost fear stricken, and then smiled back. "No funny business, sir," he said.
Travis leaned against the railing of the Axiom, saying goodbye not only to his parents, family, and friends, but also to his life. His parents had spent a rediculous amount of money to buy him a new, very sophisticated compact bow, as well as a box filled with ten extra bowstrings in case one was to break. He took a deep breath and turned around, facing the rest of the crew. He saw Commander Obadiah coughing, and dark clouds in the sky. He began to wonder if he'd made the right decision in leaving home.
"Ahhh," said Obadaih, relaxing comfortably in his chair. The lounge was quiet, save for the low hum of The Axiom. Finally departing, Obadiah could rest as night fell upon the skies. The ship was quiet, and his throat was beginning to clear. He could finally breathe out of his nose. All was well. For now.
Henry sat down on the deck and leaned against the smoke stack of the ship. It was a long and tough day, but he enjoyed it. He finally felt like he fit in somewhere. His entire life he had been couped up, being worked on by the doctor, only getting out to hone his enhanced body. He always felt like an outcast. A chance to start over, he thought. He had thought that a lot. His mind raced all day, jumping between thoughts of leaving for good and upholding his loyalty to Dr. Manning. He had saved his life after all. If he could just get into that diary, Henry felt that his choice would be simple. Henry shook his head clear of his conflicting feelings and focused on his new found sense of belonging. He was on a big adventure, with people who didn't know he was a clockman, and he felt like he fit in. He kept thinking the same four words over and over again in his head. He wanted to execute them perfectly the first time he said them to another person. Henry looked up at the night sky, now noticing the thousands of stars for the first time, still repeating those same four words in his mind. He adjusted himself and lay down on the deck staring up. "Just call me Hank," he said quietly and drifted off to a peaceful sleep.
Obadiah let the wind stroke his hair; it felt great. The night sky was illuminated by an array of stars. It was beautiful. Obadiah soaked in the air. The deck was nearly empty, save a few crew members who were taking a night stroll. Yep, thought Obadiah as he stared across the ocean. This was gonig to be an adventure.
Obadiah awoke to Doc, who was shaking him uncontrollably. “Wake up! There is a leak in the lower level!” Leak? What leak? “Now, come quick!” Obadiah’s eyes were flashing as Doc lead him out of his cabin. First the hallway, then the lounge, then a staircase. When he saw the flooded engine room, he finally woke up. “What happened here,” asked Obadiah, appalled at the scene. The massive engine room was flooded with knee high waters. Engineers were trudging through it, trying to seal up busted pipes. Obadiah jumped from the platform and into the water. Doc seemed to reach out for him, but it was too late. Obadiah splashed into the water and searched for Hank. He found the clock man tugging on a pipe, trying to bend it into place. “What happened,” yelled Obadiah. Hank looked up at him. “To much pressure, we’ve gatta go slower!” Damn. I thought the Axiom could’ve taken the extra pressure. Now we’ll be delayed even more. Obadiah stopped thinking and began to act: He walked up to Hank and helped bend the pipe back into place. Obadiah was shocked when he saw Hank look up and yell. “Move Commander, mo--” Their was a clank of fallen pipes, echoing and chiming. Then their was blackness.
Travis could not sleep. Instead, he lay on top of the deck, a bag filled with his belongings under his head. He looked up at the stars, simultaneously admiring their beauty and reminiscing about home. He eventually drifted off, his eyes working themselves shut.
