[quote=@Lucius Cypher]
[@Prince of Seraphs]

Trains and blimps are crucial elements to steampunk. Mix it up with some clockwork too to get a whole spectrum of quasi-techy goodness. If it's not action oriented, might I suggest that the political climate being not too dissimilar to the American Gold Rush? Plenty of reason to show off big steamy machines that way, without bloodshed too. Of course you need migrant workers who completely differ from the native population in not just geographical origins, but also appearance and language too. Normally I would suggest trying to portray the plights of Chinese miners in California, but I don't give a shit about the Chinese. Instead do a complete 360: The goldmines are owned by oriental overlords who have "Accepted" down-on-their luck quasi Angelo-Saxon people to do the hard work for them, including both mining and administrating said mines. Of course you can't be too racists, so throw in a exotic Asian lady to wants to make things better for the foreigners, but doesn't have the slightest idea of how to do it until you're main character, one of said foreigners, romances her and acts as the spokesperson and leader of a potential worker uprising.
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Isn't that a little, how do I say this, given the number of different cultures white people (term used loosely to cover most of Europe, early Canada and past/present US) have oppressed, converted, destroyed and integrated over the centuries isn't making the oppressed people nearly all Angelo-Saxon's while the taskmasters are Chinese sort of insensitive. I think there is a word for "denying the historical mistakes of your culture in order to make yourself feel better about your ancestry". Don't know what the word is but that's sort of what that feels like and definitely what a lot of people would read it as.

[quote=@Lucius Cypher]
As for how Sapphire fits into all of this, I dunno, make her a lesbian or something. Then you can twist it into a sort of feminist/pro-homosexual fic and people won't notice your white washing. It'll make millions I tell you, MILLIONS! 
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Porting may have been the wrong word, I meant creating a steampunk world in which she serves as a major if not main character. I already have a vague plan was just looking for some discussion and possible ideas. And Homosexuality is never something to just toss on top of a character to make people think you're more diverse than you are. That's both bad character design and looking to please an audience which damages a story on two fronts. If the character is gay they should be gay just cause, it should be reflected in their past, how they deal with other people and how they recognize their own sexuality.

In any case that's not exactly my kind of story but you look to have a pretty good handle on it so you might consider writing that one.