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Jan. 29th, 2010
Steampunk LARP Plotting.
Jan. 29th, 2010 12:51 pmOkay. I've only been working on this since last night, but I think I at least have my map figured out. Steampunk tends to be very focused on conquest, imperialism, the romanticization of the Industrial Revolution, and I want to capture that in my game without becoming an apologist for colonialist attitudes, at a minimum managing to problematize and acknowledge the issues inherent in the genre.
I've designed my map with that in mind, doing what I could to even the odds somewhat, so that there's no White Christian European hegemony of the Old World continents. Instead I've got a Golden Khanate that spans from Manchuria to Hungary; a Prusso-Zaporizhian Empire covering eastern Europe; independent Asian kingdoms of Joseon and Uchinaa (Korea and Okinawa); a Caliphate that spans from Afghanistan through Northern Africa, Spain, Portugal, and half of France; strong Zulu and Monomotapan (Zimbabwe) empires in southern Africa; a large independent India, possibly Mughal, called the Hindustani Raj until I find something better; something called the Chakravartin Empire spanning the rest of Southeast Asia; small fractured Chinese states rather than a single great power; a TINY League of Independent Catholic Nations, and, of course, the Tunguskan Dominion of the Great Old Ones.
Far from perfect, of course, and I keep remembering slips I've already made in the construction here that make me wince, but it's a base to work from, not a finished product. I want an independent set of American continents ruled by their own people, and I'm making Australia and New Zealand Terra Incognita rather than appropriate Aboriginal culture in any way.
Please tell me about any egregious and obvious fuckups I've made already - I want a rollicking LARP full of Ruritanian political machination, socialist revolution, Lovecraftian horror, and Fin-de-Siecle ambience, but I also want to be as conscious and responsible about it as I can manage.
I've designed my map with that in mind, doing what I could to even the odds somewhat, so that there's no White Christian European hegemony of the Old World continents. Instead I've got a Golden Khanate that spans from Manchuria to Hungary; a Prusso-Zaporizhian Empire covering eastern Europe; independent Asian kingdoms of Joseon and Uchinaa (Korea and Okinawa); a Caliphate that spans from Afghanistan through Northern Africa, Spain, Portugal, and half of France; strong Zulu and Monomotapan (Zimbabwe) empires in southern Africa; a large independent India, possibly Mughal, called the Hindustani Raj until I find something better; something called the Chakravartin Empire spanning the rest of Southeast Asia; small fractured Chinese states rather than a single great power; a TINY League of Independent Catholic Nations, and, of course, the Tunguskan Dominion of the Great Old Ones.
Far from perfect, of course, and I keep remembering slips I've already made in the construction here that make me wince, but it's a base to work from, not a finished product. I want an independent set of American continents ruled by their own people, and I'm making Australia and New Zealand Terra Incognita rather than appropriate Aboriginal culture in any way.
Please tell me about any egregious and obvious fuckups I've made already - I want a rollicking LARP full of Ruritanian political machination, socialist revolution, Lovecraftian horror, and Fin-de-Siecle ambience, but I also want to be as conscious and responsible about it as I can manage.