THE STORIES
Kess' "The Empire of Steam and Steel"
The Empire of Steam and Steel
It's been 150 years since the society was built. First a man used a steam pump to get water from wells that were otherwise too deep to pump out. Then he used it to heat houses and power mills. Finally it found its way into trains, and a few extensively wealthy individuals now use it in horseless carriages, a miniaturization of the technology that was thought impossible but ten years past.
In the wake of steam, some twenty small nations have come together. Only one put up a fight, due to a greedy dictator, and the people revolted in preference for the Empire. Everyone wanted the simpler life presented through coal, and coal was abundant in the newly formed empire. Soon a megalopolis was built, spanning hundreds of miles in either direction. A central spire, placed over the legendary first water pump, houses the government for the nation. All railroads lead to The Copper Tower, or so goes the saying.
At current, they people are content. The city runs like a well oiled machine, producing copious amounts of goods. Their export is high, and there is hardly any export to distant nations. They enjoy peaceful relations with their neighbors, and welcome all to come under their banner for an easier life. However, the nation hasn't brought many more villages under the banner. No one knows exactly why this is.
The Copper Tower
The Copper Tower is the center of the Empire of Steam and Steal. The ruling class, based on a technocracy, spends most of their waking hours in the building making sure that everything works well.
The rulers join the Council of Civil Mechanizations by creating a new and nation altering invention, by mastering one specific line of technology to a point of making new innovations, or by mastering many technologies to an astounding degree and bringing on an innovation in one of their fields.
Seats on the council look over the different areas of life, including health quality, food and water supply, factory production, civilian morale, foreign relations, raw materials, and many other positions. Every year generally two new seats are added. At current the council is a lumbering 278 person giant. They meet in a large council chambers with elevated seats. In the center, the oldest member sits, surrounded by the others, calling on the next person to speak and placing motions on the floor. Under each of these councilors, there is an immediate civil service work force of 100, employing 278,000 people total. These people are generally abroad, reporting through telegraph to their council head.
Society of Coal
Vampires dug deep into the society the moment steam proved effective. When steam proved to make life so much easier, they funded it, and pushed the progress of the nation. The social elite of the vampires created the Society of Coal, an organization specifically founded on promoting the use of steam. The socially elite are not the only one in the society, but they are the leaders of it.
The Society of Coal is led by the Board, a group of the five most senior vampires. They pushed the city forward. They met with leaders of neighboring nations to convince them they should join the empire. They organized groups to cut down forests and clear land to build more metal cityscape. The Society of Coal pushed back the werewolves, and made the first truly safe bulkhead for vampires, and they did it through mortals, rarely having to fight any of their own battles.
However, now the Society has an issue pounding on its doorstep: the city is running out of coal. The city was built on large supplies of coal, but the incredible growth and use of it has caused the supply to quickly dwindle. Now vampires keep people out of the nation, when once they were so happy to accept. They try to ration coal to a populace that is so use to having it readily available. Gray outs become more and more common, and though the people are still supportive of their government, people question what's wrong.
The biggest problem is the vampires aren't letting the government know what's wrong. Through faulty reports and bribes, they make it look as if the nation is still fairly set as far as coal. The Society keeps the rations on coal off the books, having it so the government still believes there are massive reserves left. Even though the people are losing faith in the government, the government really can't do anything but smile and wonder why everyone is getting so upset with them.
There was one solution to the problem, however. To the west is a forest, and it was found that the forest has a great deal of coal, more than was under the city before steam came around. The only issue is it is a sacred ground for the werewolves. The human population believes the forest haunted, even though they won't say it, and refuses to go in without proof otherwise. Other nations surround the forest, but none touch foot in it due to the same fears. The vampires, however, need that coal to keep their safety. On the other hand, it was thought another form of power could be found. Several great vampire and mortal scientists work day, and a lot of nights, looking for this mythical source of power.
Humanity's Clockwork Salvation
The world is blind to the true threat. However, a group of disparates has come together, realizing that the government is controlled by vampires. Some of them join because of werewolf attacks on the city from the forest. They all know that something else is out there, and that divided and stricken by fear, humanity doesn't stand a chance. They have come together in secret to make the devices needed to destroy either group. They have an unreliable silver bullet, along with a faulty flame thrower. However, understanding how scarce coal is becoming, they try to use it as little as possible, making it difficult for them to perfect their weapons.
The group is very loosely organized. Cells are generally just ten or fewer people bound together, trading information with other cells. Vampires and werewolves have infiltrated the organization and have planted false information, but unfortunately it's almost impossible to truly root these groups out. It's simply wise to continuously compare notes to see if one cell is providing information that contradicts very solid evidence stating otherwise.
The government deems the louder cells terrorists, as they destroy the homes of prominent leaders of the nation who are also vampires. Some radical groups have destroyed entire trains, killing dozens of humans to get at a couple powerful vampires. More radical groups target coal shipments to vampires, along with coal operations, in the hopes of slowing down the death of the city. Others actively destroy the coal, seeing it as the source to vampiric safety. The group takes on a great many tactics, and generally cells don't work well together because of the vastly differing views.
Notes
Humans are unaware of the vampire-werewolf struggles (Humanity's Clockwork Salvation knows of the two entities, few know of the war, and they are the exception to this majority ignorance). There are a few who know, but those are kept on a tight leash. The vampires want to keep the people busy in factories and wading through paper work so they can't notice that the shadows dance around them. If humans did find out vampires existed, the vampires would quickly be exterminated. With the use of super pressurized steam at ridiculous temperatures, it would be easy enough to fashion it into a flamethrower, a weapon that would truly turn the tables on vampires. If they found out about werewolves, if not for their short supplies of coal, they could easily dispose of them as well. The fight would be more difficult, but ultimately humans would eradicate either side in a blood bath if either side became known.
Teddo's "Feud"
The streets of York are dark tonight. For almost a month now, it seems as if some kind of deathly pall has descended over the city. Rumors of creatures haunting the night abound. Others claim the Ripper has come to York. Still others claim it is the doing of vicious beasts from the moors. There exists only one truth in these rumors: people have been disappearing, or being mutilated in the streets… and no one knows who, or what, is responsible.
Prince Frederick, the new Duke of York, refuses to take any political action. Unrest amongst the population is evident – they believe their government is doing nothing to protect them. Police investigations have been inconclusive, although yet more rumors abound that Prince Frederick has had a hand in destroying evidence… and witnesses. Something is wrong in York… and people aren’t quite sure what.
The Mass Driver Pylons designed to power the newly rewired city have proven to be a great success in the two weeks since they were activated. However, a strange group of people with peculiar contraptions seems to me using them to suit their own means… Whatever the case is, these giant steam drivers shroud the city in mist, and seem to be having adverse effects on the water tables in the nearby Moors of York from which they draw their power…
Outside of the public eye, the vampires are on edge. Recent expeditions into the Moors of York have revealed a startlingly large population of Lycans. Believed to have been eliminated almost a century ago, the population seems to have rebounded, and is now larger than ever. So large, in fact, that their habitat can no longer support them. Reports of woodsmen and hunters being brutally mauled and devoured by giant, bear-like creatures have begun to stack up on the Dukes desk. Secretly formed vampire attacks meant to control the population have met with little success. In fact, it seems to only serve to further aggravate lycan attacks.
Vampires aren’t doing much better. The aristocracy seems to have taken a despondent interest in their ‘cleanliness’. Humans are turned left and right, and unable to control their new forms, turn to lives of murder and lust. Jack the Ripper was a prime example… what a bloody mess that one turned out to be…
The lycans have lived lives of peace and harmony within the foggy, dark Moors of York for almost a century now. However, in recent years, life has taken a turn back to the old hardships. The population, unable to maintain itself on the limited land remaining to them, has begun to encounter numerous problems. Lycans are starving. Exhausted for resources, some clans have even turned to attacking each other… or humans. Much to the dismay of the lycans, these rebellious factions have brought them back under the scrutiny of the vampires. Seeing them as beasts that prey on their subjects, the vampires are once again about to renew their feud with the werewolves…
El's "Out of the Dark"
The Fall
Centuries ago, or so the legends say, humanity was the most populous creature on the planet, second only to cockroaches and mosquitoes. But through their own folly, and the onset of a mysterious disease seventy-five percent of the world’s population died.
This disease was thought to have no cure, and over the ten years that it ravaged humanity, various sects of the metaphysical world watched in horror. Vampires in particular were devastated by this, and worked furiously to find a cure to save their best food source. Lycans and Weres had a more dethatched view, humanity had been raping the planet for far too long, but they too mourned the loss of the few mundanes that had gained the respect of various clans.
Humanity in its panic began to cannibalize itself, so to speak. Each nation thinking another had found a cure and was holding out on the rest. Some even thought that another nation had engineered the virus. War broke out, and the dying race sped itself ever closer to annihilation. At long last, when it had seemed that all hope was lost, a series of cures were found.
The first, Vampiric saliva, and blood, were found to have a purifying effect. They never found a way to turn it into an immunization as the effects were short term. When the substance hit the bloodstream of an infected human it traveled throughout the body and destroyed every trace of the disease. It was also found that an infected human if “turned” was no longer contagious, but would never have the full strength and health as their healthy-turned brethren.
Second, the Lycan clans, in an effort to save their adopted human cousins, sought the aid of their spiritual guides. After much deliberation, the spirits and the very earth itself granted the clans a boon, a ritual that would cleanse the subjects of disease and bind them to the clan.
And now I shall explain the state of things now:
There are no longer any countries; there simply aren’t enough people anymore. Humanity has integrated itself quite fully with either Vampire or Lycan culture. Civilization now huddles in a series of city-states, each populated predominately by a different bloodline. In the wilds outside the cities there are dangers, rabid beasts, Lycan Clans, and who knows what else. This is why all of the cities have a tall wall enclosing them.
Vampires have, one way or another, risen up to rule each of the known city-states. The Lycans and the Vampires have never been able to see eye to eye. In each race there are sects that feel the other is nothing more than an abomination, something that’s only good when it’s dead and gone.
For the most part they’ve maintained a tense neutrality towards each other. However, in recent decades The Cities have gone through a renaissance of industry. With the rebirth of humanity’s need to create, innovate, and explore, vampiric culture has gone from clinging to the rocks for survival, to as flourishing and decadent as it was in the Old Days.
But this steam and clockwork fueled grandeur has come at a high price. The Cities have had to send expeditions out into the wilds for resources. Cutting down the forests, and digging up the hills and mountains, building railways to connect the once distant cities to each other, all these things have earned the ire of the Lycans. Since the Fall, Lycans have been working diligently to set nature to rights after all the wrongs that humanity had caused. And here are the Vampires, starting it all over again, without a single thought about the consequences, without an ounce of respect.
