Steampunk AU

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A picture of Gothia from 'Jasper Morello' to distract from the fact that aa is too lazy to draw Sky City herself.

If you're all about steam and brass
And all you need to start is tea and a flask
Sharp set of gears in a gleaming arc
In the sky race heaving and screaming past

~ Professor Elemental

Steampunk AU (or Hattie!AU) is a single-author alternative universe spanning several fics, though the main focus is the New Labour period, with Blair, Brown, Mandelson and Campbell making up the main cast of characters.

Setting[edit | edit source]

As is typical for a Steampunk AU, the fics are set around the Industrial Revolution, in which steam power has allowed technology to develop rapidly.

Sky City[edit | edit source]

The centre of the stories is "Sky City", an alternative London, which has been built upwards into the sky until several layers of the city exist, connected by the Griddle Railway, which was built to improve social mobility. There is a socio-economic divide between the upper city, which is considered more elite, and the lower city, which is far poorer. The upper city is interconnected by brass walkways, and a child born into privilege should never have to lay foot on the surface. It is bright, clean, bustling and filled with merchants, financiers and other professionals. The lower city is always dark, the daylight being blocked out by the upper city above it, and is lit 24 hours a day by orange street lamps. It is filled with factories, heavy with smog and ridden with crime.

The divide between upper and lower Sky City bears a mild similarity to the worlds of the Eloi and the Morlocks in H. G. Wells’ novel The Time Machine, though the divide is far less extreme, and social mobility is possible.

Law is kept by the King's Men - who are elite detectives with extensive legal training, and the "Bobbies", mechanical policemen who roll around the streets of Sky City to keep order from petty crime.

Britannia and the rest of the world[edit | edit source]

The geography of the earth's surface is largely the same as in reality, though countries and regions are sometimes given alternative names. France is referred to as "the continental swamp", and is infested with frogs, the East is referred to generally as "the Orient", and the term "Turk" is applied to non-Ottomans as well as Ottomans in the Middle East. The Anglo-Saxon heptarchy is still significant, with the seven protokingdoms retaining some sovereignty. Queen Victoria sits on the throne and the British Empire, though never explicitly mentioned, is strong, with colonisation rife.

Above the surface of the earth are thousands of floating islands, some barren, some with their own species and cultures. These are of interest to naturalists (due to the biodiversity in the Sky) and explorers (who want to expand the Empire and win the Queen's favour).

Living in the Steampunk AU[edit | edit source]

Quality of life depends strongly on who you are born. Those who are born in the country are likely to enjoy a quiet life, but may travel to Sky City in search of fortune or adventure. The centre of learning is the "Academy", an elite research institution employing many of the most brilliant men and women of the age, including Charles Babbage, Ada Lovelace (until her premature death) and Isambard Kingdom Brunel. It sprawls over Sky City, incorporating the Imperial Library, two Observatories and half a dozen museums.

There is plenty of work for scientists, mathematicians and engineers due to technology evolving so rapidly. With the British Empire spanning the globe and sky, there is also a lot of money to be made in trade with the colonies. However, those who cannot afford a full education may find themselves unable to support themselves. These are often the children of the lower city, who can find employment in the factories, churning out luxury goods for those with more luck. Some turn to organised crime, petty crime or prostitution in order to break from poverty.

Flying Machines[edit | edit source]

Some airships. Again, not fan-drawn.

Airships are status symbols, as well as being of immense practical value. They are generally referred to by the feminine pronoun. They can be used for voyage, trade and leisure. Normally larger ships are employed as cargo ships to follow familiar trade routes within the Empire. Smaller, more nimble ships are used for exploration, and these are often armed to protect their crews against the unknown. Leisure or cruise dirigibles can be of any size, and are installed with luxury facilities such as ballrooms or verandas. They move more slowly than trade or voyage airships, and generally don’t fly any higher than the clouds, due to the cold at a high altitude.

As well as airships, other flying machines exist. There are winged penny farthings, for short distance travel, winged carriages (not pulled by winged horses, because that would just be silly) and other, smaller pods, which could be allied to a larger airship.

Political Parties are replaced by powerful airships with large crews. The Labour Party is represented by the Hatshepsut, or "Hattie", a slightly battered airship modelled after an old galleon. She has a patched brass hull, quarter galleries, a bovine figurehead and rag-taggled chimneys puffing steam. Inside, her corridors are low-ceilinged, with walls covered with pipes and naked machinary. The Tory Party is a sleaker ship of steel, called the Margarita. The Margarita, unlike Hattie, is winged. The Liberal Democrats have the Wings of Liberty, or "Libby", which is unarmed. It was originally named the Whigs of Liberty, but when the 'H' fell off, the blacksmith accidentally replaced it with an 'N' instead. Too bankrupt to pay for another letter, the crew shifted the letters across the bow and changed its name. The Social Democrats began constructing an airship, but she never took to the sky.

In order to fly an airship, one must first get an approved license from the DLA (Dirgibles Licensing Agency). However, officers are well known to be prone to corruption.

Press[edit | edit source]

The Fleet Street equivalent in Sky City is Stobbart Street (derived from Stoddart, an early editor of the Times). The pressmen work around the clock, and are just as vicious as their real life namesakes.

The Locomotive (Telegraph) and the Chimes (Times) are newspapers for gentlemen and merchants. They are respectable newspapers but sometimes associated with class snobbery. The Solaris (Metro) is a cheap newspaper distributed in Sky City. The Chainmail (Mail) is printed entirely in capital letters "since the lower case typewriter keys were thrown out by the editor, who decided that the newspaper needed to pack a tougher punch". The Ding-Dong (the Sun) is a gossip-fuelled newspaper written entirely by squirrels breaking open fortune cookies and pasting together the messages into articles. The Radar (Mirror) is a lower city friendly newspaper with sharp editors, including Alastair Campbell.

Synopsis[edit | edit source]

The main narrative in the Steampunk AU follows 2 medium-long length stories.

In Hattie and the Plague of Alchemists, John Smith, the captain of the Hatshepsut dies, leaving his estate, collection and airship to his nephew, Tony. This infuriates his protegee, Gordon, who takes a grudge against Tony and his friends. They set off on an impromptu journey together with Peter and Alastair, and Tony crash lands the ship on an unknown floating island. While Tony and Gordon remain behind to fix their airship, Alastair and Peter decide to go exploring. They meet a hermit called Mr Crab. His wife, Matilda (a goat) warns them of the ‘Plague’, and suggests that they seek shelter in the monastery. However, the monks quickly turn against their visitors, and Tony is abandoned on the floating island as the Plague descends.

In Hattie and the Pirates of Dodrago Cove, Tony and Peter find themselves sitting on a potential goldmine, and recruit weathered explorer Edwig Ellswater to guide them to Dodrago, a legendary floating island. However, Gordon has visited the lower city and forged a deal with a crook which he hopes will cost Tony and Peter their good reputations. Tony, Alastair and Ellswater leave Sky City, but soon find that Gordon, John Prescott and a suspiciously ugly woman called Lullabub have stowed away on board Hattie. They navigate to Dodrago with only a minor scrape with some airship pirates, and enter the mines. However, somebody else is down there with them, and they soon find themselves trapped in the pitch-black mines with rapidly disappearing food sources and too many inconvenient truths waiting to be unearthed.

Characters[edit | edit source]

Character Role
Tony Blair Merchant who inherits the Hatshepsut and becomes its captain. Also likes playing the ukelele.
Gordon Brown Naturalist and misanthropic academic who feels that he should have become Hattie's captain.
Peter Mandelson Merchant and social climber who joins Hattie's crew.
Alastair Campbell Short-tempered pressman for the Radar and able pilot.
Charlie Whelan Lower city crook and compulsive liar.
John Prescott A hopeless case from the lower city who can't hold down a job.
John Smith Former captain of the Hatshepsut and dedicated naturalist.
Robin Cook Gnome.
Carla Powell Socialite and friend of Peter's.
David Cameron of the Margarita.
George Osborne Crew mate of the Margarita.
Michael Gove Crew mate of the Margarita.
Benjamin Disraeli Dandyish explorer who is in the Queen's favour and spews out pennydreadfuls.
William Gladstone Rival of Disraeli, a quiet, seething academic without a fancy airship of his own.
John Prescott with Lullabub (Peter)

Original characters include Mr. Crab (a philosopher and hermit), Matilda Crab (a goat with a fine udder), Concarron (a psychopatic monk), Edwig Ellswater (a wistful and world-wise explorer) and Lullabub (who turns out to be Peter in drag). Characters with planned debuts in 'Steam Powered Stories' include David Owen, David Steel, Norman Tebbit, John Major, Norman Fowler, Michael Portillo, Herbert Morrison and Clement Attlee.

Shipping[edit | edit source]

The only prominent ship is Mandelbell. Peter and Alastair are secretly involved from Plague of Alchemists onwards in a largely unsentimental, secretive sexual relationship.