Aetherpunk! (Steampunk, Alt History, LGBTQ Friendly)

[Crash]

Gonna get my Face claim in quickly:  Kate "Kato" Lambert.

She is a popular claim in these kinds of games

[Crash]

I have a couple of Pinterest Boards if people are interested.

Steampunk Women

Steampunk Men

[RedPhoenix]

The aetherlich. :)

Name: Valentina Gruber (real name Magdalena Rejcka)
Player: RedPhoenix
Concept: Nun turned Mad Scientist turned Chemical Messiah
Trouble: The Crushing Existential Dread of Being Solely Responsible for the Salvation of Humanity
Sex: Female
Age: 53 (appears late 20s)
Orientation: Fluid
On’s: Whims in the moment, whatever satisfies her the fastest so she can get back to work.
Off’s: Same

National Affiliation and Ancestry: Austro-Hungarian, but believes the concept of nations is a phenomenon of the malignant will that controls mankind and no different than tribalism or random violence.

Appearance: Unremarkable height and build, brown eyes, often unkempt in appearance due to working too much.
Hair: Brown, thick, often tied up in a loose bun.
Eyes: Brown, sometimes wild and darting all over, possessed of manic energy, sometimes eerily calm.
Height: 5'5"
Weight: 130 lbs.

Description: See image.

Personality: A frantic mind possessed by a constantly swirling eddies of inspiration and madness, Valentina works extraordinarily hard and spends almost all of her time either actively overseeing experiments or seeking the funds to continue doing so. She is obsessive and manic and devastated by anything that could even be remotely perceived as failure. She has almost no connection at all to anyone socially and is barely capable of normal human interactions when she isn't concentrating hard on it, although she is improving in this area. Since developing the Semiramis mixture, Valentina also experiences long periods of profound peace and insight.

Background: Valentina (real name Magdalena Rejcka) was born  into a middle class family in Vienna. Her father was a barrel maker and her mother the daughter of a lesser noble who was not landed and whose title died with him. She was the fifth of nine children and was often overlooked. She spent much of her time teaching herself how to read, how to write, and the maths and sciences. She would sneak into the University and listen to lectures while hiding in the rafters and in hallways, scribbling notes to herself in her little books. When she grew old enough that her parents could no longer afford to feed her she was sent off to a Cistercian Monastery called Aula Sanctae Mariae at the old Church of Our Lady Mary, where an order of nuns that were sisters to the Order of St. Augustine were housed.

Valentina easily understood the teachings of Christianity and found it child's play to recite the lineages and the words of the Bible, but she wasn't particularly interested in religion. She spent her time in the order's library, which housed a great deal of learning and natural science. She would have likely spent most of her life lost in mundane learning had it not been for the experiments of an Abbot at nearby St. Thomas's that begun some novel experiments into heredity and aether. Gregor Mendel was the abbot's name, and Valentina became his prize assistant.

Mendel's teachings set off sparks in Valentina's mind. But where the Abbot was an observer who wished to learn the nature of genetics and aether, Valentina saw opportunity to control it. Her experiments began to deviate more and more from Mendel's, infusing aether into plants and livestock to observe the consequences. They were often horrific. Valentina would refer to them as setbacks and move on. She created prototype processes for recreating many of the aethermonsters that ravaged central europe during this time period.

Valentina's techniques in chemical engineering led to her independently discovering aethersprite. She would surreptitiously dose her fellow nuns and monks and certain townsfolk to observe the effect of various recipes on them. She refined her product until, at first unaware, she became the best aethersprite concocter in Europe. What fascinated her about it was how often those under the influence would claim to see God. She became convinced that aether was the key to interacting with the will that controlled the universe, and that the right dose would be able to break that will, and thus actually lead to true freedom.

Valentina never believed in God herself, but she believes in the phenomenological observations of Schopenhauer and Kant, and she believes "God" is a human attempt to make this will less terrifying. She believes that man cannot will what he wishes and that the malignant influence of will permeates and warps all human activities, with the primary goal of ensuring the survival and contemporaneous misery of mankind. Valentina believes it can be beaten with the right experimental procedures, and then mankind can abandon the hatred and petty infighting that ensures misery and backwardness.

Gradually, the disagreements between herself and Mendel came to a head and he exiled her from the abbey, which was tantamount to exile from the Empire. Valentina left in an outrage, taking most of her equipment with her. She traveled from city to city, slowly being thrown out of them all, leaving a trail of staggering mind-destroyed aethersprite addicts in her wake. But she accumulated wealth everywhere she went. Gradually she ended up where most exiles end up, San Francisco, a very rich, very smart, very good aethersprite manufacturer. She fit in perfectly with her assumed identity.

Valentina purchased a large mansion with an attached chapel and a staff that knew to keep their mouth shut. She lives near enough to Chinatown and has a lot of contacts there, quickly picking up their language although having no more use for their culture and customs than she does for her own. She appreciates how cheaply the Empress and her cohorts see life, it makes her experiments easier to process. Valentina funded herself with aethersprite, the producing significant amounts of high quality commercial grade narcotic. Her experiments on the interaction of aethersprite and the human mind continued in full force. She also took special assignments to create aether infused weapons and ammunition for special buyers when the price is right.

Valentina's experiments became macabre as she started the process of dosing the minds of the recently deceased. After several years of these experiments her mansion became known as a compound where the walking dead could be seen in the fog and the night. They were supposedly never there when any sort of inspection arrived, although in reality the inspectors were simply bribed not to look and Valentina became adept at flying just enough under the radar of local authority that her experiments continued. There were always bigger problems in San Francisco after all, and when there weren't - Valentina created them. Her old experiments with aethermonsters became quite helpful in this regard.

Eventually she had a breakthrough with her experiments, a compound called Semiramis, which she observed broke the hold of the malignant will of the universe on the recently deceased. With this, the dead were finally able to rest in peace and Valentina dosed herself with her own compound. The results were staggering and significant. Valentina no longer ages, and she experiences periods of profound insight and meditation that open the doors of reality wide to her. ...or possibly she's gone completely insane. It's a matter of perspective. She also finds much more distraction in physical sensation than she used to, no longer as able to lose herself in work and study and completely shut out human desires.

Unfortunately, she has found that Semiramis is fatal on other people, and unpredictable when directly applied to those whose death is more than a week or so old. It is also a very expensive and unstable concoction. Her work is now to fix these problems and bring her state of mental freedom to both the living and the dead of San Francisco.

Every once in awhile she finds it expedient to make social contacts and attends gatherings. She does a surprisingly good job of channeling her grandfather's nobility at these occasions, although she cannot stand be social for more than an hour or two at most, unless she finds herself distracted by the experience as has happened more frequently since Semiramis. 

Know For: Currently, being an eccentric loner, probably suspected of being some sort of exiled baroness or something like that. She has also due to her long time now in San Francisco (nearly 30 years) been known as a patron of certain types of art and development.

Goals: Pierce the veil. Save you all.

Plots: She's Frankenstein mixed with MK-ULTRA and a dash of Schopenhauer in a Helena Bonham-Carter package. The multiplying absurdities of plotting shall swarm upon her.

[Levi]

She is a popular claim in these kinds of games

I can see why! Hot!

[Crash]

The aetherlich. :)

Aetherlich is approved!

[Levi]

Would this be an acceptable face claim



https://imgc.artprintimages.com/img/print/portrait-of-a-beautiful-steampunk-woman-holding-a-gun-over-grunge-background_u-l-pn0ptf0.jpg?h=550&p=0&w=550&background=fbfbfb just in case

[keyotess]

~Tabitha~

Player: Keyotess
Concept: Tinker and A Finder of Things
Trouble: Avoiding notice of the Rich and Powerful
Gender: Female
Age: 24
Sexuality: Lesbian
On’s:  Connection, Energetic sex, dirty talk, hair pulling, Big Strapons, being pinned, being stripped
Off’s:  Violence, Gore, Vore, S&M, D/s, edging/orgasm denial, being hit, torture scenes, toilet scenes, major bondage, slavery, heavy angst or drama scenes, and heavy mind control
Appearance:
Hair: White Blonde
Eyes: Brown
Height: 5'7"

Distinguishing Features: Her hair is nearly pure white naturally.  Her eyes turn a solid milky white, covering up her pupils while she is dowsing.



Additional Description:
Tabitha is on the tall side, very slim and busty.  She is the slim of someone who is never quite getting enough to eat.

Personality:
Loyalty to friends
Curiosity
Cautious
Tabitha is generally a happy person although she is realistic enough to know that most people are self-involved, causing harm unintentionally.  she can not depend on the goodness of people, but being poor, she has learned to put aside her pride and accept help when it is given.  She prides herself on giving value service for any payment she receives.

Tabitha's view of the Rich:  There are three kinds of rich. the lucky, the inheritors and the robbers.  The Lucky are few and far between and Luck is a fickle mistress, she giveths and she takeths. The Inheritors are spoilt, entitled jerks.  The Robbers are the worse, they take and take from everyone and they never get enough.

Background:
Tabitha's first memories are of living on the streets in the Below with a child gang.  They stole and begged for food to survive, this is where Tabitha started using her Dowsing ability, to find dropped money and dropped valuables that could be sold at pawn shops.  The kids from the gang were both freaked out by and appreciative of her ability.  She had friends, compatriots, food some of the time and shelter sometimes, life was good.

When homeless children turn to teenagers, the officials start paying attention to them and press gangs move through the streets grabbing up every homeless teenager they got their hands on to press them into working in Hell in some form or other. This was promoted as for the good of the teenagers and turning them into productive members of the City.  Tabitha got away by hiding in Old Man Johnson's Repair Shop.  Old Man Johnson took her in as his apprentice once she showed how she could find things for him.  The tinker's shop was a disordered mess, making it hard for Old Man Johnson to find anything, but Tabitha was able to quickly find the parts he needed for what he was repairing.  So when the Press gang entered and asked if she was his responsibility, Old Man Johnson stated that she was his apprentice.  She had a roof over her head every day, a little food everyday, a mentor to teach her a craft to support herself with in the future, life was good.

7 years pass as Tabitha worked for Old Man Johnson, learning how to fix things.  Gaining more skill with her Dowsing ability, the shop was never organized.  Why organized things when Tabitha could find anything easily.  On the side, Tabitha would help neighbors find things they loose, for a small fee.  Unfortunately Old Man Johnson's health was failing rapidly and one day he died.  She naturally took over his business and the building he worked and lived out of since he had no children to leave anything to.  She wasn't as good as Old Man Johnson a repairing things, but she had learned a lot at his feet and she still had her ability to find things, supplementing her tinkering income. She left the name of the repair shop as Johnson's Repair Shop in honor of Old Man Johnson and took over the business.  The business was in the Below, between the low income residential area and where the small businesses were. She had taken in a friend, Alfred, that was naturally good at tinkering and the two of them ran the business.  She had a steady income that paid for food and maintaining the house, a friend and business partner, good neighbors, life was good.

Magic:
Tabitha is a innate Dowser and her eyes turn a solid milky white when she is dowsing.  She can find things just be focusing on what she wants to find.  Her range is about 1 mile.  If she wants to find a particular item, the better she knows the item the more likely she is to find it,  detailed description, a picture are a great help in finding the thing.
If you ask her to find a brooch, she will find the closest brooch to her.  If you ask her to find a gold brooch craved to look like a lion's head with rubies as eyes, she will find the closest gold brooch craved to look like a lion's head with rubies as eyes within a mile.  If the item is outside of her range, she will know that the description was good enough, but it is out of range. 

Possessions of Note:
Locket that doesn't open and has an ivory inset carved into the outline of a woman.  She has no idea what it means, it is the only object that she has owned all her life.  It is a very elegant, finely crafted locket that she imagines was her mothers.  Occasionally she will wear it, but she usually keeps it safe in a hidden location.

Approved

[Karma]

Found a higher quality version of the first pic for ya! https://i.imgur.com/smjesMA.jpg

[Karma]

Would this be an acceptable face claim



https://imgc.artprintimages.com/img/print/portrait-of-a-beautiful-steampunk-woman-holding-a-gun-over-grunge-background_u-l-pn0ptf0.jpg?h=550&p=0&w=550&background=fbfbfb just in case

I think so!

[Crash]

Would this be an acceptable face claim



https://imgc.artprintimages.com/img/print/portrait-of-a-beautiful-steampunk-woman-holding-a-gun-over-grunge-background_u-l-pn0ptf0.jpg?h=550&p=0&w=550&background=fbfbfb just in case

Yep.  No one has claimed her.

[Dhi]

I'd like to claim Sasara Miyako for Meow.

[Karma]

Oh man, the same Meow as from the first time? She seems better suited to this version of the game than the original!

[Crash]

I'd like to claim Sasara Miyako for Meow.

I <3 Shooey!

[Levi]

Victoria

Player: <Your Elliquiy handle>
Concept: Crime Lord or this case Lady
Trouble: The long and silly arm of the law
Gender: Female
Age: 31
Sexuality: Straight
On’s: Levi
Off’s: Also Levi

Appearance:
Hair: Brown
Eyes: Green
Height: 5'8






Additional Description:

Personality:

• Honest amongst theves
• Untrustworthy
• Power Hungry
• Resilient
• Quick to judge
• Shoot first, ask questions later
• Family Orientated

Background:
Background? What Background? I'm all about the now! I've reached the top of my ladder and I'm looking for the next, but I guess I can tell you just this once about me. I started of with next to nothing, see to have nothing means you don't got clothes, well I had them even if I wore the same thing till it rotted of my body. I also had what the really really poor call a home. It was four walls and a roof not all in one piece but it was more then a lot of folks right down in the dirt. Ma was and is a seamstress, her sight is starting to fail her now but I hear back in the day she sewed the most amazing clothes for the up toppers!

What went don't you ask? Well those of higher birth, those who are born to riches and clear sky they think they are better then everyone right?! Well a high born son of some family or other.....no I don't know Ma never said, anyway don't interrupt.....where was I? Oh yeah mum caught the eye of this high born guy, he wanted her and he would have her willin or not. Fortunately for him my Ma thought the sun shined out his ass, she adored him, one thing led to another and three months later she's telling the guy shes expectin'. Well I can guess you know what happens now. The guy he entered interested, he tells his folks and they send my Ma off with a few bucks and tell her never to call again.

The family had my Ma's name blacklisted from every house stay away from that one she is bad news, caught her stealing, not even a good sewer. The lies built and built and Ma broken hearted and penniless had to come down into the mist. She gave birth to me alone and was sick for a time after my birth, soon as she could though she was up and working. Didn't matter where or doing what. Anything to feed her and me. Soon as I could talk enough and walk I was helping Ma anyway I could, I also took to exploring. Where we lived there weren't many better off then us so I would walk up to the cleared areas and that's where I learnt pick pocketing.

I was small as a kid, small and fast so it was easy getting a coin here or a bit of nice lace there and all of it got used, the trinkets I sold and the coin went back to Ma and she would make it seem like a kings ransom. As I grew I to my team's I started setting my sites on bigger and more sites. I started working my way up the ladder of crime, I also started tinkering with scraps and metal. Despite no education apart from my P's and Q's, I was shooting my bright and became a good engineer in making guns.

It was around ten years ago that I decided I wanted to be the top of the crime ladder, the big boss. I knew the risks which is why I created a small and elite team. We're called the four fingers, now there are many groups and many crooks and lots of low life's in this joint so to climb up I needed the best of every type and I got them over time. Explosives, robbery, gambling, and prostitution, four comrades in arms and me the fifth. They call me The thumb.

[Dhi]

The same Meow as before, but as my main this time. I feel pretty confident I'll want to write a second character, depending on some moving pieces and, you know, whether we're allowed. Panda, Hart, or something new are my initial thoughts.

[Crash]

The same Meow as before, but as my main this time. I feel pretty confident I'll want to write a second character, depending on some moving pieces and, you know, whether we're allowed. Panda, Hart, or something new are my initial thoughts.

Multiple characters are allowed.

[Dhi]

Has the timeline advanced about 20 years?

[Karma]

17 years from v2, 18 years from v1 I believe.

[Dhi]

I guess it's a credit to Taoist living that Meow still looks so good?

Panda is almost certainly deceased.

Hart or a new character make the most sense. I'm honestly blown away by the number of women of color in the Pinterest thread, which is more than one. Maybe I will ruin one with another half-baked idea.

[Crash]

I guess it's a credit to Taoist living that Meow still looks so good?

Panda is almost certainly deceased.

Hart or a new character make the most sense. I'm honestly blown away by the number of women of color in the Pinterest thread, which is more than one. Maybe I will ruin one with another half-baked idea.

I have tried so hard to find Afro Steampunk and non-white Steampunk images. It is not easy so if people find images please let me know.

[Crash]

Added a couple pf paragraphs on Aether Resonance in the Aether World Building Section.

[Crash]

If anyone, including those still working on their characters, would like to join the Discord server I have made for this game please let me know and I will invite.  It is not mandatory for the game and I will post all game notices in the forum OOC.

[Crash]

Just a reminder.  If you have completed your character sheet please PM it to Karma and Myself.  I know we have more than one WIP posted here and that is fine.  When you are finished though, make sure we get it.

[Geeklet]

I'm gonna need to read up on the lore, but I have been looking for a group game, and I have always wanted to, but never really been able to do something with steampunk

[Karma]

Aw yiss! Hi Geeky!