>Bolt-action rifles are being developed, but are still new-fangled.

>as well as airships and aircraft such as very basic gyrocopters.

Frak, box ate some of my text.

> making a steampunk setting.

>>13827368

Why the hate?

>>13827394
It's not 40k

>>13827418

I see my mistake.

>>13827394
"Steampunk" is shorthand for "I want to include technology, but I don't want to examine its ramifications or how they operate in conjunction to each other".

>>13827434

Oh, the complete opposite.

I'd be interested in seeing how airships change warfare, and heck, economics, what could be the civilian and military application of power armor...

I'm a history major. I love going into detail and finding ramifications and links.

So how weird do you want it? Do you picture personal flying transports carrying couriers from place to place? Do you see luxurious sky motels? Do you see mad scientists creating unstable weapons with unknown power sources, mechanical man battles? Science and industry warring against religion and the way things have been done? There isn't much to grab onto in your original post. I can dump some pics to help though.

Ask yourself why airships are so popular instead of ships and trains.

Maybe they're primarily used because there are massive areas covered in mountains and forests that are practically impossible to cross by ground. Just an idea.

>>13827470

Yes, this was a very spur of the moment idea.

As to how weird I want it, I imagine it being a "practical" steampunk, at least at the base. Airships are mostly larger, with small personal aircraft being short range and mostly being used as fighters and troop transports.

There is a lot of "tried and tested" technology, but therecan be the crazy new realms of science, like floating bases or new weapons.

Okay, some random thoughts:

How about the country based on Germany (you know, there'll be one) not being evil?

Can magic create sentient beings or just influence the physical world?

Are your guns using paper cartridges or brass? (Give this one some thought, it influences the design of weapons quite a bit)

Will it be Steam*punk* or Steam-True-Power-Speed-Metal?
(Grimmdark or Glorybright?)

Horses. Horses were in military and agricultural use till way after the end of WWII. Not every form of transportation will be ALL STEAM ALL THE TIME.

It's hard making something with steampunk without resorting to basic tropes. I embrace the whole anachronistic tone of technology and the "what if" tone of sudden technological advancement. I'm generally ok with goggles, top hats, and corsets, that doesn't need to be central to steampunk, just like elves and dwarves don't have to be the always-used staple of fantasy.

>>13827490

That's what I was considering. I'm also considering an idea that perhaps the seas are too "wild" to cross by ship, which is why airships with longer ranges exist. Say, a certain breed of predator that liked to fuck up ships grew too populous?

>>13827517
If they can't use regular ships there'd be a massive decrease in total wars fought across oceans since you can't carry the necessary manpower, hardware and supplies in "realistic" airships.

>>13827514
FFFFFFFFFFFFFFFUUUUUUUUUUUUU-

>>13827490
Maybe they didn't have The Hindenburg Moment, so the public isn't irrationally afraid of anything that looks like it might be a blimp.

Airships are cheap and safe (provided that you fill it with an inert gas and not with rocket fuel), faster than ships, and don't require the infrastructure needed for a train. They have low carrying capacity for their size, and they are very vulnerable to weather conditions, but there is a huge niche for them in the transportation market.

>>13827557
Makes sense.

>>13827517
Well, if you're going to mention a creature that makes the sea unsafe to traverse, you can extend that to some land as well. Maybe this is a world with horrifying creatures. The world had to create more isolated cities, making intrepid explorers that much more useful. The world could also have a lot of volcano vents, justifying the early utilization of steam mechanics. Survival in a harsh world would give the setting more teeth than the usual steampunk aesthetic and tone.

>>13827508

For nations, I'm not really sure what I want yet, though a German-based nation would be pretty powerful. Consider that one of Germany's big problems was that they didn't have colonies, which is somewhat differed when you have two large landmasses and small islands.

Magic is there just to influence the physical world. If I have other sentient beings introduced, it creates a desire to create demons and the like, which isn't really what I'm going for.

They would be using brass cartridges, I think, but this could vary by nation. Paper cartridges would be a relic, or a civilian usage.

This would lie more towards a grimdark approach, as much as I hate to say it, though the theme I could imagine would change greatly. The Navies of these nations could be a great Horatio Hornblower romp, but the battles on the ground could end up being a Great War nightmare.

Pic: What I imagine the ships to look like. Sorry, not zeppelins, but more traditional ships made for the air. Not entirely plausible, but naval battles are a weakness of mine. Airship battles make it even better.

So wait, do you want to be Realistic or do you want to be Steampunk? The whole point of the latter is that it's not the former.

>>13827572

That's entirely possible. I'd imagine they wouldn't be "Humongous fucking monsters", but rather, since humanity is the natural aggressor, survival of the fittest sees that the largest and nastiest of the beasties breed, and your average wildcat is enough to need more than a shot from a rifle to take out.

More militia with guns might be some nations' solutions, but others might just say "fuck it, we can always find more peasants."

>>13827588
This could be the second iteration of civilization. The last civilized culture could have possibly blasted each other back into the dark ages. Now people are trying to find old technical designs trying to fit the pieces together. Old tech could be regarded as evil or fascinating by the populace.

>>13827554
Fool! It is a USC - Universal Serial Cog! It is there to allow the attachment of expansion gadgets and external gizmos. DO YOU KNOW NOTHING OF SCIENCE?!?!?!

>>13827588
Let them keep a sort of optimistic ruthlessness to both downplay and enhance the "grimdark" thing.

Have the generals drink tea and joke with each other while viewing the battlefield where countless young men lose their lives among the horrors industrialized warfare. Meanwhile the general population still views war as a glorious adventure.

>>13827557
>>13827490

This is where the "peculiar science" OP mentioned could come in to play. New elements created through magical means with greater stability and more lift capacity. Shielding for steam engines so that they can run at higher pressures, with a magical heat source so that dragging along a supply of fuel becomes unnecessary. If magic exists as a physical reality within the world, it would go hand in hand with other scientific disciplines such as physics and biology. Remember, Alchemy was considered a science throughout much of the medieval and renaissance periods. It is also what gave us the modern discipline of chemistry. Magic allows the side-stepping of many of the limitations present to early technology.

Allright, I'll pull something out of my ass:

Federation of Tromanian Nations:

Tromania historically used to be a loose conglomerate of city states and kingdoms, held together by the emperor. After the Tromanian-Naronian-war, with the emperor and his family dead and the capital destroyed the empire fell apart. The Federation is little more than a label, with its members hardly cooperating and only narrowly avoiding war.
However, the younger generation, raised on stories of a glorious and strong empire and influenced by radical ideas from the south begin to rise up and demand civil rights, democracy, but above all unity.
Tromanians neighbours are unsure how they think about this: One one hand, they could grab territories while the Tromanians are busy with themselves, on the other hand, can they survive with a strong unified Tromania throwing over the balance of power on the continent?

>>13827639
Playing off this idea. Maybe they blasted each other quite a ways back. To the dark ages is a bit much, but perhaps there was a WWII scenario, majority of the nations in one landmass are devastated from protracted conflict with these devastating new weapons.

From there you may perhaps have another nation or group providing loans/funding for rebuilding. They start doing so willingly, but eventually they start having an economic crisis. Torn between supporting their allies/moral duty to rebuild and suffering economic hardship at home, which may lead to open rebellion.

>>13827639

Interesting idea. I do enjoy the idea of the current civilizations being a second iteration, though I am unsure of how often it might come up or advance civilization.

>>13827673

Oh, fuck yea! I love it. It's fantastic!

>>13827663

Exactly. Have them all being the "tip top cheery-o!" generals.

>>13827673
Smiths were believed to have magical powers back when steel weapons were new.

>>13827678

The Tromanians seem interesting.

It's also giving me the idea that a lot, if not all of the Southern Islands are a liberal empire of some sort.

>>13827684

So, while one continent has blasted each other apart in a war, the other continent sat back, and is now helping the countries rebuild? Interesting.

Or is it more of a "we're friends with you from the last war, let us dump money into helping you rebuild"?

Sorry for the double posting, but I'm not catching all the replies. Herpaderp.

>>13827744
Well I wouldn't say its a "kumbaya" feeling between allies. There may be lots of resentment thrown around. But the feeling of rebuilding is one of mutual progress and advance. Rebuild it, for we can make it better. That and helping to rebuild may secure you allies in the future.

Maybe the continent where the war was fought was the "proving grounds" a land that was used as a proxy war.

Regardless of the causes, that landmass was irrevocably harmed and hundreds of thousands, if not millions (depends on how populated your world is) died. Cultural identity was smashed as their historic sites were reduced to rubble. Fringe groups spring up here or there, but there seems to be a general lack of direction.

>>13827715
Southern Islands:

Always dependant on resources from the mainland, the various kingdoms of the icy south tend to be open minded and industrious, making a living mostly through fine craftsmanship and precision machinery.
They see themselves as the legacy of the ancient Menostans, if not in blood, then in culture.

In response to King Bergalius' conquest of neighbouing islands in his campaign to unify the islands, a democratic movement after Menostan model has risen to power on several islands in an attempt to protect their independence.

>>13827905

Sweetness. The Menostans are an interesting idea...a former empire, a Rome-analogue? Or maybe even a mythical civilization?

I'm going to step out for a few and grab lunch. Going to think up a few more things while I'm out.

>>13827554
>does nothing
It could be a locking mechanism, a device to control pressure and so on.

So shut the fuck up retard.

Your setting could savages, some kind of prolific culture of mysticism. Some foil to practical and functional. For some reason, I picture something with an Aztec aesthetic.

>>13828006

I have a feeling that most primitive societies would be subject to social darwinism. Unless they had some serious shit going through them, they'd either be subjugated or wiped out.

The League of Universities:

Universities traditionally were independant entities with their own terretories (rarely more than a few acres), laws and administration. They used to get away with it because they were both useful and harmless. The second part is no longer true.
Over the last century Universities all over the world have formed a tightly connected network that shares scientific advancements and pools its resources for joint projects uninhibited by national borders.
Through cunning political maneuvering, several Universities managed to aquire significant industrial production capabilities and have carved out a nice cozy monopoly in cutting edge technology.
The Bedels (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bedel), originally there to keep the peace on campus, became their military, and soon the League became powerful enough to influence international politics.
The League stays politically neutral and is protected by a labyrinthine system of treaties, counter-treaties and counter-counter-treaties with practically every nation worth mentioning.
No country likes to have an enclave of the League within their borders, but to raise the sword against them is an invitation for the rest of the world to gang up on them while their main supplier of weapons is no longer supplying them.

Also: This setting needs a name. I propose "Ostrakon" (greek for "shard" seems to fit the setting.)

Interesting idea:

Post apocolyptic steam punk, maybe a few hundred years after a steampunk/magical world war (think steam powered nukes)

>>13828184

I like Ostrakon. Very classy.

AND HOLY SHIT LEAGUE OF UNIVERSITIES. I love it!

Archived here: http://suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com/archive/13827354/

>>13828184

This is fucking brilliant. It's also a great way to hook in PCs - the League of Universities trains and/or hires "Gentleman Adventurers" - Tom Strong/Alan Quatermain/Indiana Jones types to travel and search out relics and tomes from the previous age, in order to continue to establish their dominance.

Perhaps to also keep up their favor with the common people (thus making it harder for governments to move against them) they celebritize these Gentleman Adventurers with books, press, etc...

>>13828255

I ran something like that once. The setting had, several hundred years prior, all sort of crazy technology based on magic-powered superscience... until a global war had blasted the planet into a Mad Max-style wasteland. The primary power in the wastes was the Clockwork City, which was built upon the ruins of an old royal palace. Their steam-tech was based on salvaged and repaired old-world tech, cobbled together to run on much less or imperfect versions of the magic fuel; the recipe to make it had been lost.

The moon was the only outpost of old-world technology left, but the world no longer had the technology to visit the moon... so the moonbases that manufactured the fuel had experienced a slow death. Occasionally, some of the tech (which had been left to putter onwards until it broke after all the people had died) would break down and some small chunks of the pure magical fuel would end up falling to the planet's surface, causing a massive war.

I also had a caste of Frankensteinian madmen, who used derivatives of the rare magical fuel to make monsters by either stitching together parts of mutated animals, or mutating creatures even farther in vats of "Monster Elixir".

Was pretty fun, bro.

>>13828436

This makes me so happy.

Anyways, here's my take on the Menostans:

The Menostan Republic existed 1,000 years before our present steampunkish date. Originally from the Southern Islands, they were the only civilization to date to be able to master the seas. While as airship travel is slow and reliable, the Menostans, using their sorcerers, were able to navigate the treacherous, monster-filled waters and raid all across the mainlands.

They are also the earliest recorded democratic society in Ostakronan history. Each year, ship captains from each of the Menostan fleet would meet on a volcanic island and settle issues over the length of a full moon.

The Menostan Republic ended nine hundred years ago, with the First Plague. Their numbers never recovered, and the Republic devolved into island-states. Recently, there has been a spirit of unity amongst the Southern Islands as the Menostan Renaissance began, with a focus on industry and enlightened thinking.

>>13827354
>time to make some shi/t g/et done.

Another airship image that I liked. I do enjoy the idea from World War 1 as pilots being "knights of the sky." I think that the aeronavies of most nations share that view, with the Navy being a lot more classy and much more traditional than the dirty and rough infantry.

The Front
(aka the Builder's League, the Union, Anti-War Front, that anarchist rabble)

From the ruins of war-torn civilizations, survivors are a malleable commodity. They seek outlets for the emotions. Anger, despair, hope. The Front as it simply calls itself is a loose organization of these survivors. It was created shortly after the last great war rocked the cities. As the dust settled and people began to pick up the pieces of their shattered lives they began to wonder, "How can I prevent this from happening again."

The Front is not a large, or well-organized, group. Of its members it is predominately filled with the lower rungs of society, and many of them suffer from survivor's guilt. Many members simply attend its meetings and rallies to vent some form of frustration, as a cathartic exercise. Financial support is spotty at best.

What the Front lacks in stability, it makes up for in mutability. It can easily find ways of championing any cause. It started as a simple group of anti-war protesters, but has come to include union organizers, anti-government types, various fringe government groups, and so on.

Some say the Front is nothing more than a collective of terrorists and anarchists. A few isolated cases of violence point back to the group, but little implicates the group as a whole. It may be only a matter of time before the pot boils over and their supporters cannot be held in check.

>>13829088

Hmm, I like. Industrial-era workers movements are always fun.

I'll post more ideas if time allows. Running around like a headless chicken today around the office.

>>13827508
>Nation based on Germany that isn't evil.

Been done. And it's fucking awesome. Pic Related

>>13828174
If you're not a fan, then it's cool, but a couple points.
With magical power being present, proper utilization of said power can be a massive wildcard. The savages may have built their entire culture from some external source of power. It's not a common historical happening because magic (as it exists in your setting) doesn't exist to create potential situations.

At the very least, there are many people who have no interest in comprehending power and are willing to ignorantly embrace it.

>>13829408
>Germany
>not evil
I am German, and what is this?

>>13829437
Prussia.

>>13829434

All right. I could see that working, though they would probably end up being a minor power, I think, if having any power beyond their own territory.

>Bolt-action rifles are being developed, but are still new-fangled.

>Tanks and small mechs(think 'battlesuits' of powered armor more than anything) exist, as well as airships and aircraft such as very basic gyrocopters.