Tyternus: Where Revolutions Collide

[Malachi Lemont]

Naomi Matahar remembers the days before the war. She never speaks of them, nor would she have a chance, between her estranged sister, exiled mother, and callous husband. Now she can only dream of the man she once loved, sturdy and gentle and wise. Past her prime and stripped of the delusions she once clung to, she sees in her future only the long and joyless road to senility.

One evening, tragedy strikes. In the smog-filled streets of Ironloch, Naomi puts aside her futile hopes for peace and embarks on a mission for justice. With two companions – a prostitute and a bounty hunter – she traverses her collapsing nation to find the identity of her wrongdoers. But she discovers far more than she ever wanted to know. Beyond the highways and factories lies a band of outlaws, waiting to douse the country in the flames of revolution – and no doubt leave thousands dead for the sake of a tarnished ideal.

This is Tyternum - a world of decaying empires and rising extremists, trenches and turrets, steamships and zeppelins, where one woman struggles for her sanity. Each day she waits means a hundred more injustices. Each day she fights, everything she holds dear may fall into ruin. Kings and Princes gamble with human lives. Children come of age behind bars. Judges and convicts, priests and heretics, merchants and thieves, all have a tale to tell and a choice they may soon regret.


****Thanks for reading! This is a new world-building project I have started mainly for free-form role-playing, so it won't be tailored to any rule set. Let me know what you think. I'll be glad to answer any questions!****

[Alexkubel]

here is some questions I always want people to clear up when they talk of steamships, does this mean that it is:

Steamships in general
Dreadnaught era warships ( first half of 20th century) triple exapnsion engine for the win
Paddle steamers
Semi-dreadnoughts
Ironclads
Predreadnought warships (ships of the line very early steamships)


define zeppelin:

airship
massive airship
other


and those are what I would want to know

[Malachi Lemont]

Thanks for the reply. I was intentionally vague on the intro because I just wanted to set the mood, not get into details. But as for the technology, well, I'm not really sure what the steamships will look like, since I don't know much about steamships - maybe something like the Titanic?

As for the zeppelins, I imagined them as larger and sturdier than real historical zeppelins, and they don't have a tendency to catch on fire. There may be some sort of fictional technology involved - but nothing explicitly magical.

Some of the largest zeppelins will act like "aircraft carriers in the sky." They will be able to carry a few smaller planes or jets to dispatch in enemy territory. I realize this would be highly impractical, but it seems like a intriguing idea, so is there any way I could implement it without losing the suspension of disbelief?

[Alexkubel]

hmm from your reading I can make out we're dealing with Dreadnought era ships, the triple expansion engine and massive airships an actual zeppelin

once I know a map and political climate, I can very easily do the rest as this appear to be 1900-1920 in tech wise, an world where the industrial revolution was far more extravagant and rapid leaving a great distance between the cities and the countryside. a very interesting concept .

[Malachi Lemont]

Thanks for the feedback. I'm working on a map but it's not very detailed yet. It involves two main continents: The southern hemisphere has a huge continent about the size of Eurasia - this is where human life and civilization began. This continent is usually called Old Yonder, since it is the Old World where people came from.

The other continent, where the story takes place, is called the Brotherland. It is similar in size and shape to Australia, but situated in the Northern temperate zones at about the same latitude as Europe. The Brotherland will have maybe 4 countries in it - the most important one being the Union of Cassidor, where the action takes place. The Union Cassidor is a semi-democratic nation with an elective monarchy and lots of political intrigue. It borders the Protectorate, a state that is egalitarian in name, but in reality a military dictatorship.

The Union has lots of factions within it vying for power. One of the prominent revolutionary groups - the most radical, perhaps - will be called the Silent Fist. The others I have not decided on, but they all want a piece of the government. The Monarchy is not evil, but a bit out of touch with the rest of the nation, even though monarchs are elected. The current Queen, Jocelyn Calhoun, is trying to portray herself as "one of the common people" but it's not exactly working.

Also, a somewhat-minor, somewhat-major issue to settle: How should I spell the name of the world? You may have noticed that it's spelled "Tyternus" with an "S" in the title, whereas it's spelled "Tyternum" with an "m" in the intro. This is because I have not yet decided which to use. Here's how I picked the name:

I chose "Titernus" or some variation on it, because I wanted to suggest both the words "Titanic" and "Eternal" to give a sense of the scope of the conflicts within this world. "Titernum - All that ever was, and all that will be," a priest of this world might say. And then I replaced the "I" with a "Y" just for dramatic effect, and because I like the "Ty" spelling in Tyrion and Tywin Lannister. Now the question is, -s or -m? The -s spelling looks too much like "tetanus" the disease, while the -m looks too much like "titanium" the element. What do you think?

[dasein]

Some of the largest zeppelins will act like "aircraft carriers in the sky." They will be able to carry a few smaller planes or jets to dispatch in enemy territory. I realize this would be highly impractical, but it seems like a intriguing idea, so is there any way I could implement it without losing the suspension of disbelief?

At the level of technology that you've given us a picture of, I suspect that pretty much any planes with sufficient maneuverability to be effective in combat will be short-range. Thus, I think it would make perfect sense that there would be some kind of aircraft carrier, and I don't see why a zeppelin couldn't be that carrier--especially if the zeppelin is sturdier, it would be an ideal hanger bay for short-range combat planes. Would the airships from "Castle in the Sky" be a good approximation of the zeppelins you're trying to describe?

[Malachi Lemont]

Thanks. I appreciate the help. I need to do some research on WWI and WWII aircraft, but until then, I'll count on you for advice. I'm not sure what "Castle in the Sky" is, but it sounds cool from the way you described it.

[Baj]

In case you haven't already found them yet, may I present the USS Akron http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Akron_(ZRS-4) and the USS Macon http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Macon_(ZRS-5), the U.S. Navy's "flying aircraft carriers."

Each airship carried three to five Sparrowhawk http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Curtiss_F9C_Sparrowhawk fighters.

The two airships were designed to provide long range recon for the navy. While the fighter aircraft they carried where armed, they were mainly intended to help expand the search radius of the airship.

I'm guessing you're looking for something a little more grandiose then that, but it's a good place to start. Basically your airplanes based out of your airship should be small planes so they don't take up much room. Also, they might not necessarily "land" on the airship (the Macon and Akron used a trapeze contraption to retrieve their aircraft. Pics in the links). As for the range question, the Sparrowhawk had a range of roughly 300 miles.

Honestly the easiest way to keep your zeppelins from bursting into fire would be to use the same solution the Navy did: fill them with helium instead of hydrogen (or you could use some other "unobtainium" gas for lift). While both the Macon and Arkon where lost in fatal accidents neither one of them caught fire.

Hopefully that helps some! Military history is hobby of mine (especially naval and aircraft) so if you have any other questions feel free to ask!

[Baj]

One quick question: you said that you were being intentionally vague about the technology because you mostly just wanted to set the "feel" of the setting.

I know we all kind of ran off on the technology angle, but is there some other part of this setting/world that you'd rather us bounce ideas around?