The taste of blood and dirt and the smell of burning wood and rubber awaken you from your slumber. You're sore, but a quick check shows that your injuries are minor, little more than bruises. All around you is wreck, ruin, and corpses, shattered wood and twisted metal from a zeppelin crash, sprayed all around this vale. Here and there are dead bodies, men and women in their finest clothing impaled and dismembered by shrapnel, or scorched to a crisp by flames. How you escaped harm is anyone's guess.
Who the hell are you, anyway? Try as you might it just won't come to you, not even a name. There's a weight in your pocket, and you withdraw it. A large, folded sheet of paper covered in writing - near the top is a name. A familiar name, it feels like yours.
There are a handful of others stirring around you, men and women of various races, and they look to be in the same shape as you...
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TICKET:
This ticket registered to _______ on this third day of Mara, 1905, for accomodations in _____ class (economy, business, luxury, or crew) aboard the C.A.S. Victoria, on the route from Davenport to Morgenstern.
Photograph: (Description or Text, preferably in black and white. It's pretty simple to flip a picture to black and white if you need to, just PM me if you need assistance)
More information regarding your character will be PMed to you after you post your ticket.
Regarding species of this world, for reference on your photograph:
Humans average between 5'4 and 6'0 in height, and have a more or less average build.
Elves towards greater height, averaging between 6'0 and 6'6 in height, with long limbs, fingers, narrow, pointed ears, and a generally lanky build. They are among the more primitive peoples, favoring magic over technology, and have remarkable longevity. They are also known for being beautiful, insufferable, wise, and arrogant. Ask three people about Elves and you'll get four opinions, more if one is an Elf.
Dwarves tend between 4'6 and 5'0 in height, with broad shoulders and chests, in many ways looking like large, burly humans that have been severely reduced in height. The males of the species wear facial hair roughly 70% of the time. While known for constructing great mountain fortresses and mines there are a number of aboveground Dwarven settlements, resulting in something of a cultural rift between the Plains (or City) Dwarves and the Mountain Dwarves.
Gnomes are cousins of the Dwarves, of comparable height but with a less burly build, and without the cultural disposition towards facial hair. They are common within Human lands, and are believed to be a evolutionary offshoot of the Dwarves.
Orcs are massive, heavyset beings. When standing upright they are of a comparable height to Elves most of them are afflicted with spinal trouble that results in them having a hunched back or protruding head that reduces their apparent height. They have a somewhat porcine appearance, with an upturned snout and massive canines that often make fully closing their mouths impossible. Orcs are a race that is treated with disdain, as is their half-breed offspring. Many Orc tribes are violently hostile to Humanity owing to historical tragedies, some of which are still perpetuated, but in certain culturally advanced cities Orcs can be found employed as chimney sweeps and factory laborers, along with other menial, physical jobs.
All of these species are capable of creating viable, healthy offspring with each other - most common half-breeds are Dwarf/Gnome, Orc/Human, Orc/Elf, and Elf/Human. All species have significant variation in skin color and facial features due to racial differences.
As your characters are amnesiac this is strictly out of character information. A foreword: While this is borrowing story and setting elements from the game Arcanum: Of Steamworks and Magick Obscura it is not set within that world, primarily so I can avoid stepping on elements of that setting. That said:
While world technology and culture are heavily anachronistic it is primarily a Victorian-esque setting, albeit one with zeppelins and very early heavier-than-air aircraft, The Firearm is rapidly becoming the dominant weapon of war with the recent invention of the revolver, the breech-loading rifle, and the cartridge. Nations that cling to the old ways are rapidly being crushed underfoot. However the Sword and its attendant weapons have not seen the extinction they did in our own world due to the existence of Magic.
Magic is a force that bends and twists the laws of nature. Sometimes this Magic is created by an individual or a creature, other times it is a natural part of the landscape. In all cases it interferes with the natural laws, causing unpredictable effects. Compasses will stop reliably pointing north, electrical circuits will behave erratically, current flowing in random directions at random intervals, and even friction will be altered, a slope that was previously insufficiently steep to allow something to roll freely now more than able, albeit in fits and starts. Advanced technology has a similar effect on Magic and Magical creatures, with Mages known to become violently ill in the presence of powerful combustion or steam engines, and magic to fizzle and fail.
