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[B]When the Smoke Clears[/B]

[B]Influences:[/B]
Dishonored, The First Law (Joe Abercrombie), Fable II & III, Thief, Victorian Age, Bas-Lag (China Miéville), common ‘steampunk’, …

[B]General overview:[/B]
Focus of the RP is not to lose ourselves in game mechanics, instead this is a game of logic, reason and collaborative writing. Our goal is not to have an overly competitive game, but to immerse into a nice creative experience for all parties. We write a story with each other, not against each other.

Players are rather free to engage in their own sub-plots and character development. Though a setting and possible storylines are provided, participants are free to pursue their own course on the proviso it does not conflict with elements already in place.

The story will be set in a fantasty (pun intended) world -called Ardua- in the middle of, what we historically refer to as, an Industrial Revolution.

[B]Rules and guidelines:[/B]
[LIST]
[*]GM is myself. Feel free to contact me whenever should you require assistance or information. GM has the final word in case of conflicts.
[*]Advanced standards; common sense approach; game of logic and collaboration.
[*]Character Sheets should be posted on the OOC (though they can be sent via pm as well) for approval/disapproval. Not all decisions will be made public.
[*]You are assumed to be an adult by submitting a character for this game; please act like one.
[*]Applications may take a few days before a decision can be made. Generally issues will be resolved over pm.
[*]Players are encouraged to be creative, and to be interactive with their fellow players on their own to plot. Take initiative.
[/LIST]

[B]IC information - setting:[/B]

Kingstone, capital of the United Kingdom of the Isles

[I][CENTER]Abercrose Square was largely deserted at this time of day. Few citizens dared venture out in a downpour such as this, especially not when the wind swept in the cold from the bay. Even though the waterfront was several blocks away and out of sight, the stones of Abercrose were being whipped by a merciless wind. Fortunately none of the smell reached the square.

Calwin Ruyne disembarked from the railway wagon, umbrella at the ready. Luckily the platform was inside of the train station so the roof shielded him from the rain. A sudden thought hit him in force. Not even ten years ago was the first time this big mechanical beast was put into use for the first time. Society had eagerly welcomed the invention, gratefully tolerating the crowded wagons as long as it shortened their commutes. Already it was unthinkable -even outright impossible- to remove the railway. The last four decades had seen a plenitude of scientific and technological breakthroughs. Progress they called it, but Calwin couldn’t help but see the analogy between society and a junky needing its next fix.

The age of industry had arisen from the workshops and factories of social pariahs called scientists and inventors. Factories had sprouted up like mushrooms, each producing more grime and muck than the last. Calwin thought them filthy, polluting the air, the water even the people working there. Everything was so crowded now as everyone came to live in the cities. The working class reminded him of squalor in need of nesting... First the area within the walls was filled up with brick housing, warehouses and industry. Afterwards the city had poured out in the countryside, like a popped boil.

Everyone, and he meant everyone, wanted to move forward, to discover new things. A better faster way of making money or living. Even a natural cynic as he, had to acknowledge the fact several inventions had caused an improvement in living conditions. Sadly, others negated those effects. Tooth paste for example: excellent for dental hygiene, the downsides were that it needed child labour forces and was a pricy commodity. Society and its paradoxes was what occupied Calwin’s mind as he made his way across Abercrose Square, avoiding puddles as he went. It would be a damn shame if his black shining leather boots got dirty.
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Some 60 years ago the world experienced an earth-shaking socio-economic development that reshaped the balance of power. Unprecedented scientific and technological progress uplifted ancient societies in an era of prosperity as the power of steam was harnessed. No longer subject to the fickle means of natural energy coming from wind or water. Production and trade skyrocketed. Society evolved from rural to urban.

As an economical golden age dawned, other fields, from agriculture to transport, took advantage of the ever growing understanding and knowledge. The cascade of developments sent ripples through society’s structure. Nobility, clinging to ancient rights and prerogatives, increasingly finds itself toe-to-toe with the growing influence and wealth of the bourgeoisie and merchants. Industrialists, bankers and businessmen are organising themselves politically to defend their interests. However, they are not the only ones with a growing sense of identity and camaraderie. The lower classes, exploited by both, are forming farming and labour movements to make their voices heard. Several new ideologies and ‘-isms’ have reared their heads.

In an attempt to vent domestic issues, the advanced nations of Ardua look outside their borders. Some employ the technological advancements on a military level to safeguard their sphere of influence, while others take to the seas and the newly discovered continent of Pan-Dessia in order to deal with an exploding population. Relationships between the advanced nations have begun to erode quickly; free trade has been replaced by tariffs, regulation, and distrust.

With the increasing understanding of the workings of the world, religion has taken to provide either charity to the populace or pursue worldly goals to maintain its influence. Though the power of the Church and general faith is waning, it is still a considerable international powerhouse. Especially among the solace-seeking lower classes, stuck in the mud and grime of physical labour, the Church of the Maker has a strong following. They are not alone though seeking to capitalise influence in the ‘crowd’ and proletariat. Socialism and nationalism are finding a fertile soil to put down roots. Both are eagerly used in the pursuit of political goals. Additionally there are the urban cults and splinter groups. They range from the ridiculously harmless to the unsettling dangerous. Of course, there is the ever present smudge of crime, organised or not.

[B]OOC information:[/B]
Technology is clearly of industrial age, generally steam-power based. Gunpowder exists as do ironclad ships and steamers. There is no flight except for hot-air balloons and small zeppelins. Electricity is only experimental.

Though we play in a custom created world, it is styled after our own. Similarities may incur and are mostly even encouraged for the safety they provide.

The United Kingdom of the Isles is the most dominant nautical power and industrialised nation. Clearly based on the British Empire, it is relatively small in size but has a large population. Other nations will be thought of and included further along the way. They will probably be styled after genuine contemporary nations.

There are several factions such as the government, nobility, mercantile class, lower class unions, clergy, criminal organisations,... However, that is not to say any of the aforementioned is a consolidated block on its own.

Some roles I can easily see being played are: politician (noble or merchant), banker, crime lord, high clergyman, inquisitor or constable, military, trader, celebrity (actor, artist, painter,...), spy, scientist, revolutionary voice, spokesman of a union, ... It's not an exhaustive list, obviously. There are almost endless possibilities.

At this point I am unsure where to place the players, though I have several ideas brewing. I have a few plots in mind, but am looking to include player characters as focal points in these.

[B]Geography:[/B]
[Hider=The Union]
Kingstone, capital of the United Kingdom of the Isles (also referred to as the Union) is considered to be the centre of Ardua. As big as it is ancient, it was originally founded by the Old Empire which fell into ruin over one and a half millennium ago. As a result citizens of the Isles are rather full of themselves, their heads filled with ancient glory and history. Additionally, the United Kingdom boasts the largest ocean fleet in all of Ardua and in spite of its limited landmass is considered the biggest powerhouse on the international stage.

The Union itself comprises of a series of large and small islands a good deal off the coast of Eronia, the Old Continent. The biggest island is Erdley, on which southern coast Kingstone is comfortably nestled. Wrenscote is the second largest island known to be the largest producer of wool of the United Kingdom. The wool is shipped from Wrenhaven to Erdley where it is turned into clothes and cloth, after all, it was the textile industry which was the engine behind Ardua’s first real industrial progress. The third island worthy of note is Grenwen. The majority of the United Kingdom’s production of metal and steel comes from the Grenwenian mines and factories, though Erdley itself holds a few mines as well. Other Islands are Shelly, Ryken and Turwall.

To the west of Erdley lies Eronia, the Old Continent on which a variety of nations vie for control and hegemony. While the continentals bicker among themselves, the United Kingdom of the Isles has cast its gaze east, to the newly discovered continent of Pan-Dessia, content to leave Eronia to Eronians as long as Union naval supremacy is respected. Kingstone has a thriving war industry producing ammunitions, firearms, artillery and canned food. It would be a shame if a profitable market would instantly be shut off.

Pan-Dessia is vast, unexplored and unexploited. Expeditions are under way to chart the interior of the huge landmass while the Union is busy along its coastline with setting up bases, penal colonies and factories. The natives have proven to be a cautious lot and seem to lack a central government. The only town worthy of note on the Pan-Dessian continent is Richmond which is quickly developing into a full-fledged city.[/hider]

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[hider=The capital]
[B]Kingstone:[/B]
The capital of the modern world has as many facets as it has streets. Named after the tall donjon looking out across the sprawling urban landscape that makes up the city, Kingstone is the seat of the High-King of the Union. It is also sometimes called the White City because of the distinct colour of the stone predominately used in Kingstonian buildings.

[B]The Abercrose District:[/B]
The heart of the city, Abercrose shares its name with the large square in the centre of it. Many official buildings and institutions of the government are found within the district. One of them is the Hall of Questions, the ominous seat of his Majesty’s Inquisition. There is no missing this building as it is erected in black stone and sports a plain facade, standing out like a sore thumb among the pristine white of the other richly decorated buildings. On the opposite end of the square lies the Dome, the official building of the Open Council, an assembly where lords and ladies that have inherited their seat share their legislative powers with an elected portion of the upper civil class.

[B]The Croombe District:[/B]
Home to most of the artists and actors of the city, it is not surprising most -if not all- theatres and public ballrooms are situated here. The Promenade cuts straight through the district, lined with theatres, opera houses and rentable halls where travelling companies might put on their show. Croombe is historically colourful and easy-going. Brothels of great quality are to be found here, as is the Courtesan Institute. A pseudo-official organisation with the emblem of a rose, renowned for tutoring promising girls into courtesans.

[B]The Old Commons:[/B]
The streets here are still unhardened and hardly worth the name of street. Instead they smell and resemble an open sewer. No impressive pieces of architecture are to be found here, unless you count the closely guarded distilleries lining the aptly named Bottle Street, and prison. Most buildings are of wood or cheap low-quality brick. The Old Commons are best to be avoided by people with full purses and wallets. Though City Watch patrols are known to pass through the Old Commons, they are also known to be persuaded to turn a blind eye for sufficient coin. Actual patrols are far in between and in some areas non-existent. The Old Commons lie not far from the harbour where most dockworkers and sailors have made their dens. Criminal syndicates have their headquarters here, mounting raids and shady dealings from their underground clubs and headquarters. Additionally they operate cheap whorehouses, taverns and brothels to easily relieve sailors from their hard earned coin.[/hider]

[B]Government & organisations:[/B]
The United Kingdom of the Isles, or the Union, is as the name might allude a monarchy. However, King Harold IV is not alone in governing his great nation. He is aided by a variety of bureaucratic institutions and legislative bodies. Fortunately, for Harold IV is extremely obese, nearing sixty and senile. Already he spends more hours asleep than awake and his son prefers parading around the royal grounds like a peacock and living in a romanticized fantasy. 

There are two councils with legislative powers. The first is by far the biggest, the Open Council, consisting of 240 seats. Half of which are occupied by people descendant of ancient and respected bloodlines. Their seats are their birthright on which they may rest their pompous behinds. The second, the Closed Council, is smaller. However, what it lacks in size it makes up for in power and influence. Twelve of the most influential people of the Union occupy a chair in this most august body. These men and women take care of the everyday politics of the Union, possessing both minor legislative and almost total executive powers.

The Union’s military is a well-ordered and structured machine with clear outlines concerning rank and discipline. Though gunpowder weapons are becoming of increasing importance, conventional weaponry such as sword, pike and cavalry still make up the mainstay of the Kingdom’s armed forces. The most notable weapon which uses gunpowder is the cannon, of which His Majesty’s navy generously makes use of. Though uniforms may vary per regiment (6,000 men), they usually are of a red colour. The highest ranks in the military are those of Lord Marshal (commander in chief for terrestrial forces) and Lord Admiral (commander in chief for nautical forces).

The Kingstone City Watch is the police force of the capital. Though not professional soldiers, these men are well-equipped and decently trained nonetheless. They wear a blue and white uniform and are armed with a variety of weapons. The Kingstone City Watch Commander has jurisdiction over most of Kingstone and its suburbs and employs constables and detectives to solve petty crimes, while agents and police officers patrol the streets.

The more serious cases are handled by the ominous Inquisition. Nobody knows exactly how many agents there are or who spies on who. However, to lay hands upon an agent of this institute is a capital offence. The primal weapon of His Majesty’s Inquisition is fear. People that have crossed an Inquisitor have been known to disappear. And it is more than likely that a decent portion of the bloated unidentifiable bodies floating in the Bay come from the underground complex of the House of Questions. To this end the Inquisitorial agents, called Practicals, are clad in grey and black uniforms and masks that cover up the lower half of their face. Every Practical is in the service of an Inquisitor. Usually an Inquisitor has about two or three Practicals under him, though that number may vary depending on the workload or assignment. Department leaders of the Inquisition are called Superiors, usually there is one in every city. Inquisitors Exempt are those men and women who serve directly under the Arch Inquisitor, who is the overall leader.

More to be added when they come up.

[B]Glossary:[/B]
[Hider=Thaumaturgy]
Thaumaturgy - Mixing technology and constructs with magic. All magic is classed as part of thaumaturgy. Fetishes/props/foci for Thaumaturgy often include chymical batteries, charms, animal parts, and clockwork devices.

Call it what you like; sorcery, magic, witchcraft or the arcane. A thaumaturge or thaumaturgist is someone who is known to tap into the mysterious powers of the Other Side. Everyone knows about it and most likely knows someone who has used it. However - skills in the field of thaumaturgy are rare. While there may be 1 in 1000 people capable of minor magics, the more skilled and more powerful occur 1 in half a million or even less frequently.

Magic in Ardua, like much of life in general, comes at a cost. Puissance (the power for a magic) must come from a source, usually what is referred to as ‘the Other Side’. Either the stamina and blood of the casting mage, the sacrifice of others, or chymical (pseudo-chemistry) and thaumaturgic batteries constructed for the purpose. These are extremely expensive to build and even more costly to maintain. 

The most common source of chymical essence comes from the whale oil. This substance harvested from the rare avankh-whales that populate the ocean between Eronia and Pan-Dessia. Another use for chymistry is that batteries with thaumaturgic properties can be adjusted to give off power and current. Trains and ships can be powered with such a special core. Because of the huge demand of whale oil, over fishing is threatening to exterminate the nautical behemoths and scientists and thaumaturges alike are frantically looking for an alternate source of power.

As stated, magic can come from the Other Side - but whatever dwells there must be bargained with and magic must be bought. For example there are people that have the powers to find hidden pathways (teleport of a kind), to remain unseen and to learn secrets. For each use they must have something of theirs hidden - they forget a memory, or have a skill removed, lose their native language or have a body part taken away, hidden forever by the Great Other.

Some examples of thaumaturgy:
Communicaturgy - Able to communicate over vast distances with psychometry. A female of this art is called a communicatrix.
Biothaumaturgy - Mixing technology and biology. Most biothaumaturges work in the Punishment Factories creating Remade from criminals.
Subvocalurgy - Mind control through suggestion and whispers. They charm their conversational partners. Powerful Sussurators (or Wordsmiths) can whisper to a specific target over miles. However, this is practically impossible to pull off with strong-willed people.
Geothaumaturgy - Manipulation and sensing of the earth. Turning rock to mud, detecting Smokestone eruptions or finding types of rock. These thaumaturges are often employed in the mining industry.
Elementurgy - Elementurgists have an affinity to one of nature’s 4 basic elements. They are sensitive to it and able to shape elemental powers. However, they cannot conjure up these elements from thin air (excluding air itself, obviously).

[/Hider]

[Hider=Gender Issue]
As workers, labourers and farmers took to the streets over the past decades for more rights, there are other groups and minorities demanding fair treatment as well. Though not a minority, women suffrage movements have allowed the modern woman to enjoy liberties previously reserved for men. Though demure and modest behaviour and character are a much desired quality of the fairer sex, headstrong and willful women have succeeded in establishing a comfortable position for themselves.

Particular outlets of the coming aware of female identity are the many female singers and actresses, often pioneers of female right movements. Other such outlets, funded by female frivolity are soirees and masked balls. More and more women are to be not just beautiful but also witty and intelligent. However, it is almost uniquely in the upper echelons of society that there are well-educated and pretty women. They often accompany people of importance.

Though many types of office and rank are still solely filled by male occupants, women are allowed to sit in the High Kingdom’s Open Council (parliament). Still, the actual female members of the Open Council can be counted on two hands.

In short, nobility and upper class bourgeoisie women have a say -however limited- in politics, their lives and the upbringing of their children. No longer confined to inside, they venture outdoors and make themselves known to the world. This is not true for the average Jane still slaving about the kitchen for her worker class husband.[/Hider]

[Hider=The Remade]
The men and women convicted for medium crimes and felonies are brought to the Punishment Factories. What happens there is all hush hush and secret. Government biothaumaturgists, biologists, scientist and their lackeys work day and night forging human bodies in something new. The initial goal is to turn the person into something useful, like providing him or her with a series of gils and fins to work underwater, repairing the hulls of ships. This takes away the need to put the vessel into dry-dock. Karl Marx speaks metaphorically of this condition when he famously described exploited workers as, "an appendage of flesh on a machine of iron." However in recent years, the Punishment Factories are churning out increasingly disturbing variations of Remades.

Remade are a horribly exploited underclass of the Union. Their condition and place in society is a form of indentured service or slavery (in the city and the Isles themselves as well as in its colonies and armies). The Remade are usually people who are caught up in the criminal justice system and then forced to undergo a capricious and cruel alteration at the hands of the Union’s biothaumaturges. In the punishment factories, the prisoners' bodies are horrifically altered, limbs and other body parts replaced with steam-powered machinery, heavy mechanical metal parts, or grafted together with human or animal components. There are reported cases of live foxes sewn into chests, torsos attached backwards to a horse, tentacles and pistons and caterpillar treads and eyes and lizard claws fitted wantonly wherever they will go; the sadism of Remaking seems to know no limits. 
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[B]Other entries will follow[/B]

[B]Character Sheet:[/B]
Name:
Age:
Profession/vocation:
Affiliation:
Skills:
Traits:
Personality:
Biography: