Topic: Phlogiston: A Steampunk Adventure OOC

[Neoadept]

Alright, we're giving the Steampunk RP another go and are going to try to avoid the mistakes made in the first two iterations.


This time, the setting is a sprawling megalopolis, a city that stretches across the horizon.  For years beyond reckoning the city has grown and advanced, physically and technologically building upon it's past as it expanded.  As a consequence, the air above the city is chocked with smog and the plains surrounding it have been cut, mined, and generally abused into little more than a wasteland, the only features the long railways that run to distant lands where, some say, green things still thrive.

Within the city the rich live in domed villas where the air is clean and the most beautiful plant and animal life are raised for their pleasure.  The lower classes live out in the choking air and the sickly sunlight, many of them forced to work for one of the vast corporate empires which are the closest thing to the law the city has.


Usual RP rules apply, post a bio and let's get this ball rolling!


Information Station

Story:

Arc I:  Breakfast at the Grand Central
Arc II:  Kill Keysely!
Arc III:  Bold As Brass
Arc IV:  Aqueous Humor
Arc V:  Retinal Burns


Phlogiston: Return to Adventure - Information Station


Characters:
Patman33 - Lucinda Tos, Aaron Saint-Cloud, Alejandro Tos, Tophat, Boris Stern
Krakow Sam - Mister Cicada, Mister Firefly
Little - Sir Horace Mockett
Andrew Ryan - Noel Allen
Josasa - Saburo Matsudo
Neoadept - Isaac Kysely
Spartan King - Phigston Terruak
Badger Man - Vering Dering
Metalic Dragon - Undecided
Erops - Christopher (Chris) Santucci
MartyK - Ian Keringer
Zolinn - Eliza Ackart

[Badger Man 22]

Bio Place holder.

[PatMan33]

Name: Lucinda Tos

Age: 37

Bio: Lucinda Tos is the President of the People's Power Company. She is known far and wide as a passionate businesswoman and a cutthroat negotiator. Using her formidable in-house development teams, Tos hopes to corner the energy market by rendering all other methods of energy production obsolete. Employees of the People's Power Company are part of an exclusive group and are well taken care of. Their housing, attire, education, and food are all taken care of by the Company and they are given a competitive wage. The only thing that is asked in return is their unwavering loyalty to the Company. Of course there are some people that are inexplicably against what Tos has been able to accomplish; however, only the most ferocious of dissenters are able to resist for long. It is true, few are able to deny the brilliance of Tos' grand vision for the world. Her's is a world that runs like clockwork; it would be a clean place filled with greenery and a place where everyone would be allowed to live their lives in peace.

Only a few obstacles remain between Tos and her goal. With the same strategic maneuvering that has seen her through the past, Tos hopes to be at the top of the pile very soon; then, and only then, can her dream for a global utopia become a reality.

[Krakow Sam]

Name: Mister Cicada

Age: Late thirties

Bio: The enigmatic Cicada is hired gun of some repute, working for whoever will pay him (Though no-one knows what he uses his exorbitant fees for) be they legitimate businessmen, law enforcement, or underworld scum. Cicada wears a (relatively) lightweight leather and metal armoured suit equipped with experimental spring powered jumping apparatus and foldaway canvas wings which allow him to jump to formidable heights and glide short distances. In combat he favours his brass-knuckled fists or his deadly hand cannon revolver.

Hero machine mockup. Not perfect, but it gives a fair idea.

[Little]

Name: Sir Horace Mockett

Age: 29

Bio: Horace Mockett is a famous outlaw, whose goal is to topple the power of the corporations and set up a real government. He was the son of two factory workers, and he saw first-hand what damage the corporations were doing. He got leadership experience by organizing strikes in secret, and he slowly began to plot more and more ambitiously. He is famous for the attempted revolution nine years ago, and while it failed miserably, it was still a revolt. He has been on the run ever since, staying low in the city under various assumed names and identities. He runs a small rebel group, called Brass Goggles, and he has various contacts throughout the city. His trademark outfit is a pair of leather pants and a smoking jacket, topped by a fedora with gleaming brass goggles mounted on it. He hopes to don his outfit again a day very soon and begin to work again. He wants to attempt another revolution, and he hopes this one will not fail.

Comments, criticism?

[Andrew Ryan]

Name:Noel Allen

Age: 29

Bio:Noel Allen was born into a rich family of nobles living up in the domes. Currently, he is the heir to their estate, lives in a magnificent mansion, and has well over a kings ransom in gold and silver stored up in the area's local banks. You wouldn't know his noble roots by looking at him though, he mostly spends his time walking through the slums in a horribly old linen suit, looking absent mindfully at the sky and greeting people on the street with "Hi, I'm Noel Allen. It's a pleasure to meet you." Noel has some 'issues' you see. Since the time he was a boy he was always greeting people like this and to say that he knows how to multiply, tie his shoes, or even cook or clean for himself would be a lie. The truth is is that he has the mind of a small child, and although he try's his best to fit in with people and act normal he just can't help himself when it comes to hugging certain people he knows in the middle of the street. It's not that he wants to, it's just that he doesn't know and really can't know any better. This isn't to say that he's some simpleton that can be shoved and told around like some mindless automaton. He may be lacking in some area's but that doesn't mean he isn't also sharp as whip when it comes to some tasks. He can literally read books like someone reads a newspaper and almost as fast too. He has an affinity for clockwork, can work out many complex problems mechanical problems, and is described by many people as a damn good shot with a gun. Still, even with all of these skills, he mostly doesn't want to get involved in anything. Too him the number of clouds in the sky and the amount of warts on a persons face... or the color of her undergarments are more important to him.

Noel mostly keeps to himself most of the time and mostly wants to meet new people and see new things, although his nonchalant attitude to normally taboo things has gotten him in a number of sticky situations.

[Josasa]

Name: Saburo Matsudo

Age: 41

Bio: The third son of a working class family, Saburo never expected to amount to much in life. At a young age he entered into the factories, following in the footsteps of both his father and his two older brothers. It was here that he stayed for several years of his life. Eventually, Saburo dropped out of his factory job and entered into one of the major company's security forces where he went about dissolving strikes and breaking things that belonged to competitors. Although it was a dramatic shift to the 'other' side Saburo enjoyed his job which allowed him to get into scuffles and handle weapons that he wouldn't have been allowed to touch otherwise.

Later on in his life Saburo joined one of the local churches where he became a priest. Even though he wasn't a firm believer in God (if he believed at all) it offered a nice respite from his reckless years as a young adult. Now Saburo is more likely to be found in local bars drinking away his memories rather than holding mass at his church. This has made him disliked by the more devote of his congregation while securing the trust of those that aren't so religious.

[PatMan33]

I'm not gonna post my hero's bio yet. Yeah yeah... Neo and I took some creative license and did a little flam-dunkery behind the scenes. What's-her-name isn't my hero, she's just an important secondary character. So don't fret, I've got a proper hero and even a completed bio... but you don't get to read it yet! Suckerrrrrrrs!

[martyk]

I'm probably gonna dust off Ian again.  Soon.  Tomorrow probably.

[Neoadept]

Name:  Isaac Kysely

Age:  39

Bio:  The owner of the Kysely Power Company, Isaac is one of the most powerful men in the city.  Nobody is certain where he came from before he made his entrance onto the corporate scene, but what an entrance it was.  There had been numerous attempts to use pipeline distribution for water and oil, but they had failed miserably due to the city's pragmatic tendency to tap the pipelines without paying a cent.  By buying up the old pipelines cheap Isaac was able to almost immediately begin distribution to most of the city.  From there he expanded into pneumatic technology and began producing some of the best engines around.  Word is that some secret project is in the works that will change the way people view power forever.

As for the line tapping problem...  People learned rather quickly that, despite his whimsical personality and cheerful attitude, you should never, ever steal from Kysely Power.  People who stole from Kysely had a tendency to vanish under mysterious circumstances, followed by their immediate family being billed for the stolen substance and an "illegal tapping" fine that was strangely similar to the cost of a company burial.  Wherever you go, whatever you do, Isaac Kysely will get his due, no more, no less.

[PatMan33]

Name: Aaron Saint-Cloud

Age: Unknown

Bio: Aaron Saint Cloud is one of the many nameless and faceless denizens of the megalopolis. He grew up in the slums like so many others, made his pittance, and managed to get by day after day. As a child, Aaron would often stare up at the shimmering domes that housed the world's wealth and become lost in a world all his own; however, as time went on, he began to despise what the domes stood for and what they meant for him. Still, Aaron was a smart boy and knew that he would have to play the game if he wanted to survive. He discovered early on that he had a knack for working with clockwork mechanisms. With the rise of the People's Power Company, a company that was built around the intricacies of clockwork mechanisms, Aaron suddenly found a purpose. Aaron slowly built a name for himself as a master repairman as the PPC's devices began to flood the marketplace. Unfortunately, the PPC frowns upon any unlicensed persons working on their equipment; because of this, Aaron now works in secret and is very difficult to find. Still, he makes himself available to any and all that are able to seek him out; and seeing that he is one of the best, it is almost always well worth their while.

Despite having origins that are commonplace at best and cliche at worst, Aaron is known to have an oddly-warm personality. He is described as a man out of place, a noble in poor man's clothing. His tastes are fairly refined and he tries to look at most things with at least a little bit of open-mindedness.

[MetallicDragon]

Is there any more information on this setting than that first post? What kind of technology is there, what era steampunk it is (Is it early 1900's style steampunk or future-sci-fi steampunk?) or anything else I should know before making a character?

[PatMan33]

I'm not the Steampunk expert but the way I was told things would be on the more advanced end of steampunk. Like, the world has known about and used steam-based technology for quite a long time. Everything else we get to make up as we go!

And if there's a problem someone will swoop down and gouge out your eyes, so don't worry!

[Andrew Ryan]

Let's just hope it doesn't fall apart like the last Steam Punk RP...

[Spartan King 95]

Name: Phigston Terruak

Age: 37

Bio: Phigston is the owner of Terruak Gas Co., and is a very powerful man. Never tap an old gas main, if you do, well, you better be good at hide 'n seek, the hiding part that is. Although Phigston is a very generous man, he doesn't take to kindly to people stealing his gas and other resources. He attended the best of schools and was a very good student, greedy, but good. He would never share anything, not even a toy he took from his little brother. He was very, very spoiled as a child and he always got his way. Even now he always get's his way. He was very nice to his servants realizing their happiness came from filing their allotted role in life.