League of Uncomfortably Seductive Travelers (interest check)

[Nowherewoman]

BE IT KNOWN:


Her Grace Evangeline DuRien y Velasquez, Grand Duchess of Barcelona;
by the Grace of the Creator a Peer of the Glorious Gallic Imperium;
and a Lady of Substantial Means and Accomplishments;


seeks Applications


from Ladies of good Mind and Manners
to join Her Grace on a Voyage of Discovery
aboard Her Grace's Airship Diáne.


The Voyage to be of unspecified Duration.
with all expenses to be defrayed by Her Grace's Establishment.


Applicants should be: 

Women having reached their majority, and not above forty Years of Age;
Graceful in Speech and Body;
Careful of their Manners and Dress;
And possessed of some Skills or Achievements that set them apart from the
common Female.

No person with Family Concerns, currently in Service to another, whether by Indenture or Contract, nor any person who for other reasons does not meet Her Grace's standards
for Companionship and Social Discourse will be considered. This being a private Venture, all decisions are in the hands of Her Grace, and may not be disputed.

Those meeting thees Strictures, and possessed of an Interest and Inclination towards Travel and Adventure may submit their curriculae to Her Grace's Agent at the Sign of the Crossed Swords,
Upper Merchant's Way

What this is:

An interest check for a small-group (prolly 4-5 characters plus myself) sandbox game based aboard a large airship travelling the face of a Steampunk world.  I will play the Duchess and act as GM for the overarching plot, which may be more than meets the eye (hint hint).

The game will likely move fairly slowly; I'm looking for a fairly stylized manner of writing that would be in keeping with the times and the behavior of the era- though, as one might expect, a handful of strong-minded and attractive women on their own and abroad are likely to get into all sorts of...situations.

I'll be giving preference to female writers first, but I won't be locking anyone out. If there's enough interest, I'll ask for character writeups from all concerned, but they will be in a somewhat different format from the usual character 'sheet'.

A few world details:

The tech level is about equivalent to the Civil War era; steam powers a number of things, including horseless carriages; gunpowder weapons are becoming slowly more reliable but soldiers still place their trust in the sword, the bayonet, and the cavalry charge; gaslight is common, but the first experiments in practical electricity are beginning. Spiritualism is very much a Thing- but in amongst the charlatans and tricksters are some real ghost callers and mediums. Likewise, while few and far between, there are successful Alchemists and Sorcerers.  While they tend to keep their business to themselves, for obvious reasons, their services are worth their body weight in silver.

The world is still Euro-centric, and is divided into four major spheres of influence:

Britannia is basically the old English Empire; the New World never broke away, so the East Coast of what is now the US is part of the Empire, except for Florida.

The Gallic Imperium: based very loosely on Napoleonic neo-Roman-Republic forms, France and Spain are a joined dual republican monarchy, each with a ruling 'consul' reporting to a joint elected Senate. They control a goodly portion of the European continent, South America, Florida and the Gulf Coast of the New World, and the expected French island dominions.

The Iron Czar controls Germany, Austria, the Balkans, Westernmost Russia, and some other bits. Man for man, he commands the most powerful military in the world, including steam-powered war wagons and battle automata; but the Czar is constantly pinched between the Eastern Axis and the Imperium.

The Eastern Axis is under the domination of the Star Throne of China, and includes nearly all of Asia, Siberia, and the Russian subcontinent. Still pretty isolationist, the Axis has to deal with constant fractures and uprisings based on ethnic lines, far more so than the 'civilized' Empires.

If this gets off the ground, I'll come up with a decent map.

Women are still very much second-class citizens, unless they are extremely wealthy or influential, but less so than in the real historical record.

Slavery and indentured servitude are still very much present, though slaves are seldom seen in the Old World cities of the various Empires, being instead used in the overseas Dominions.

More detail when needed.

[Jinx]

This sounds like a really cool adventure. If you have room for a male writer, I am interested. It would be my first female character, so would be happy to submit a writing sample for your approval.

[Nowherewoman]

Excellent. Probably right before the holidays wasn't the smartest time to float this, so I'll leave it up for a while, see if anyone else nibbles.

[Jinx]

Can you clarify what types of skills (generally) will be important for this adventure? Or perhaps provide some clue as to it's purpose? Might attract more people if they have a better idea what they're getting into. I am toying with either some sort of accomplished academic, scientist, or business woman.

[Nowherewoman]

I'm trying to not spoiler too much. Character sheets, if/when, will be in the form of letters of introduction to the Grand Duchess, basically a short in-character CV. It's possible that a given character will not be chosen, but a writer is certainly free to reapply, should that happen.

Basically, anything that makes a character stand out in some way from an 'average' woman of the period will be useful. And a small semi-spoilery note:  DuRien doesn't care if you're a good person or not- only if you are competent, and can behave yourself appropriately in her company.  So a gifted cutpurse, if she can write a convincing letter, has as good a chance of being selected as a schoolmarm. She wants interesting people, and, perhaps more important, ones who are not totally mired in convention.

If/when folks pitch characters I will try to pick a balanced cast.

[Chrystal]

*nibble*

I would like to offer my services as a genuine psychic - although I'd prefer to be a large than a medium... *snerk*

May I make a recommendation based upon experience? Start the game with everyone already aboard and the journey underway? If you start it with everyone arriving it will never get going!

[Nowherewoman]

*nibble*

I would like to offer my services as a genuine psychic - although I'd prefer to be a large than a medium... *snerk*

May I make a recommendation based upon experience? Start the game with everyone already aboard and the journey underway? If you start it with everyone arriving it will never get going!

That was the plan, once the semi-IC 'application' process is done with.


And no diet Psychics- gotcha! ;D

[Chrystal]

Well now, this actually raises a question: See, I was just making a pun on the word medium... similar to talking about the overweight psychic's underwear as the "large medium's smalls".

But, Graceful in Speech and Body; being specified, would that preclude someone of this sort of appearance? Don't get me wrong, I will quite happily play a more slender maid, but your comment made me wonder.

[Nowherewoman]

'Graceful' refers more to the way one moves in one's skin than one's actual build.


And yes. I know.  Hence my diet joke.

[Chrystal]

Cool... I think I have my character pic sorted then! ;)

[Crash]

Steampunk and women.  Yep interested.

[Idlewyld]

Could be fun... Though I can't really begin until after Christmas. Still, count me interested

[Dhi]

I'm interested in this kind of thing, though I'm also unavailable until after Christmas, so I might miss the casting call.

[Nowherewoman]

I'm interested in this kind of thing, though I'm also unavailable until after Christmas, so I might miss the casting call.

Actually, I'm going into my last crazy busy holiday period, so it's very unlikely I'd be asking for character concepts til after New Year's. This was just to see if I could attract enough attention to fill out the game.

[Wolfling72]

whimpers Why for did thou do this to me? cries

[Esmeralgirl]

It looks like a good idea and I always have a soft spot for steam punk, count me interested, as I'll love to play a character in this world :-)

[Nowherewoman]

Started the world building thread. It's going to take me a bit, since my art skills suck, and I'll need to come up with several maps.



https://elliquiy.com/forums/index.php?topic=241867.0

[Chrystal]

If it's maps of the world the way it is now but with a different political layout, you could do what I did and use something like this... http://mapchart.net/

It's not perfect but better than nothing....

[Nowherewoman]

If it's maps of the world the way it is now but with a different political layout, you could do what I did and use something like this... http://mapchart.net/

It's not perfect but better than nothing....

ARRSOME!  Thank you, That's exactly the sort of thing I was looking for. Should cut worktime enormously.  Now I need to find a good tool for a map of the airship...

[Angie]

I would be highly interested in playing a lady thief without a penny to her name, but is doing her damnedest to get on board this ship with the hopes that she might be able to break out of being an outlaw by being in Her Grace's company. She might come from a wealthy family that lost everything, but perhaps she escaped her family's fate and make her own way. Yes, I do quite enjoy playing thief characters in steampunk settings-blame the old Thief games.

[Dhi]

These are a couple of airship designs from an old D&D product all about airships. They're the most "normal" of the bunch, others being almost too weird even for their own gonzo setting.

https://spelljammerblog.wordpress.com/2014/10/18/mystaran-skyships-in-spelljammer-part-vii-schooner/
https://spelljammerblog.wordpress.com/2014/07/26/mystaran-skyships-in-spelljammer-part-i-ship-of-the-line/

[Nowherewoman]

The links are very cool, Dhi, but I'm looking for an actual dirigible-type lighter-than-air craft, a bit (but not TOO much) in line with real-world technology.  I can prolly come up with a basic outline design from somewhere and fill in some detail.

[Idlewyld]

Started the world building thread. It's going to take me a bit, since my art skills suck, and I'll need to come up with several maps.

https://elliquiy.com/forums/index.php?topic=234826.0

I think you linked to the wrong thread

[Nowherewoman]

I think you linked to the wrong thread

LOL I sure did. NO idea how. Hangon...

[Nowherewoman]

OK, that was...odd. I had to paste the correct link several times before it would actually lead to the right page. Fomr inside El. If I put it in my nav bar, no problem.  Put it on the page, it would keep taking me back to the Treehouse, despite it being a totally different thread number.


*sigh* The editor here hates my skinny ass.  Anyway, fixed now. I hope.

[Angie]

I personally think your skinny ass is just fine. Not sure how that helps, but...

[Nowherewoman]

And now I see that somehow my beginnings of notes for the various Empires did not get saved. *headdesk*  Truly, I am jinxed.


But at least someone likes my butt ;D

[Crash]

[Dhi]

Oh that is cool!

[Nowherewoman]

That's excellent, Crash. A bit bigger than Her Grace's airship, but very much the right idea.

[Crash]

Thanks Nowhere and Dhi.  Graf Zepplin may be more the right size. I'll see if I can't dig up some of those deck plans.

Smaller deck plans

[Chrystal]

Wow, cool. Love those ship plans.

Okay, NW, a suggestion?

Start us off in Liverpool or Southampton, NOT London.

London was never a major port city, because of being way inland on the Thames. I know we are talking airships rather than surface ships, but without WWII, there would be no airfields across the south of England, and thus there would be no Heathrow Airport, no Gatwick, no Luton and no Stansted.

Port facilities would simply have migrated upwards from surface vessels to airborne vessels. In fact, it would be quite likely that airships would touch down in the sea first and then dock with the regular ship docks...

I draw your attention to the first trans-Atlantic passenger flights, which were made by flying boats (the same as a sea-plane but the other way on... A boat with wings rather than a plane with floats) from Southampton to New York...? 

[Angie]

To add on to that point, Final Fantasy 3 has an airship that can only "land" on the seas-at one point Cid upgrades your regular ship into an airship and tells you since it was a sea ship before, it has to touchdown in the sea. I can see a lot of the airships in this world behaving similarly, or at least having the ability to make an 'emergency splashdown'.

[Esmeralgirl]

All the details are going awesome :-) So when are you planning to make a character thread ?

[Nowherewoman]

Emergency spashdown, sure. But since a lighter-than-air airship relies on maintaining a level of lift, landing it on water would not work. Well, it WOULD, but it would be a screaming PITA. You'd essentially have to collapse the gasbag, which would then settle over the compartment, quite likely capsizing it, since the cross-setiton of the cargo and living compartment is substantially less than that of the gasbag...even assuming you had some way of keeping the thing rigid and upright during and after such a landing, it would then take you quite some time to regain your lift; in fact, if you used a hydrogen or helium bag, the gas would have to be transported to your landing sport and pumped in- not impossible, but difficult on water.

[Nowherewoman]

All the details are going awesome :-) So when are you planning to make a character thread ?

Not for a bit. I still need to straighten out some details in my own head, and make sure folks have all the data they need about the world.

[Chrystal]

Emergency spashdown, sure. But since a lighter-than-air airship relies on maintaining a level of lift, landing it on water would not work. Well, it WOULD, but it would be a screaming PITA. You'd essentially have to collapse the gasbag, which would then settle over the compartment, quite likely capsizing it, since the cross-setiton of the cargo and living compartment is substantially less than that of the gasbag...even assuming you had some way of keeping the thing rigid and upright during and after such a landing, it would then take you quite some time to regain your lift; in fact, if you used a hydrogen or helium bag, the gas would have to be transported to your landing sport and pumped in- not impossible, but difficult on water.

separate points here...

1) Landing on water for an aircraft that takes off and lands vertically is no different whatever than landing on land. You have to loose buoyancy some how, regardless of what is directly underneath you, and become heavier than the air around you. However, you don't have to deflate the gas bag entirely. Once on the surface of the sea, or on the land, you return to neutral buoyancy.

2) Actually airships gain lift in exactly the same way as harrier jump jets. They have thrusters that point down and back, which are capable of being reversed. So to push the aircraft down all you do is reverse thrust on the fans that would normally push it up. Then once you get close enough you drop your mooring lines and the dock crew secure the ship so it can't float away...

3) Actually if you use hydrogen you can refill your lift bags from the ocean, simply by passing an electric current through the water, and collecting the gas that comes off the negative electrode (I think). The other electrode is going to have a nasty mix of oxygen and chlorine if you're using sea water, though, so best to vent that outside the ship.

[Esmeralgirl]

Not for a bit. I still need to straighten out some details in my own head, and make sure folks have all the data they need about the world.

That's great :-) More the details, Vivid the world is and more fun. Keep up the thinking girl.

separate points here...

1) Landing on water for an aircraft that takes off and lands vertically is no different whatever than landing on land. You have to loose buoyancy some how, regardless of what is directly underneath you, and become heavier than the air around you. However, you don't have to deflate the gas bag entirely. Once on the surface of the sea, or on the land, you return to neutral buoyancy.

2) Actually airships gain lift in exactly the same way as harrier jump jets. They have thrusters that point down and back, which are capable of being reversed. So to push the aircraft down all you do is reverse thrust on the fans that would normally push it up. Then once you get close enough you drop your mooring lines and the dock crew secure the ship so it can't float away...

3) Actually if you use hydrogen you can refill your lift bags from the ocean, simply by passing an electric current through the water, and collecting the gas that comes off the negative electrode (I think). The other electrode is going to have a nasty mix of oxygen and chlorine if you're using sea water, though, so best to vent that outside the ship.

Sounds fascinating Crystal darling. Although I've no idea of physics lol. It hates me.

[Crash]

Ooo I think I might have to use this lovely lady for my character.  I feel she has a story.