A steampunk world of adventure into the farthest reaches of imagination and industry. A world populated by Anthros and Humans; where the brave explore, the billiant discover, and the industrious build the future. Also, pirates of both seas and skies.
Type: BlossomWhile the majority of the known world as Verdigris is either ruled or colonized by the Victorian nation, it's primary regions are as different as night and day. Steampunk and clockwork are still the primary technologies, but each region has developed it's own deviations in style and method to adapt to their locations. The primary known Regions are:
Victoria - A nation of anthropomorphic peoples that is the basis of the world, reaching out into the other regions as courage and curiousity compel them to. While the use of aether allows grand ships to sail the skies, their industry is still primarily steam and clockwork, resembling the 'classic' style of steampunk in an area of imperial fleets and pirates.
Borealis - Mostly a frozen wilderness to the far north, but there are untapped resources beneath the snow and permafrost. The southeastern corner of the region is less harsh, and home to Cape Chilblain, a thriving trade port and basis of the expeditions into the wilderness of ice. Notibly it is one of the few regions with oil reserves if you can manage to find them, allowing for the developement of internal combustion engines and more streamlined dieselpunk technologies, while steam still provides much needed heat against the extreme cold. Unfortunately this has also made noir and corperate crime more common, and the militia that guards the cape has gotten more rigid to contend with it.
Teslavania - If you like classic folklore or gothic horror, Teslavania is the place for you. Vampires, evil geniuses, or just those too eccentric for the normal societies to understand make their home in the cities and dark woodlands here. As does the largest population of humans in Verdigris. The region is named in part after one such misunderstood genius who developed the means of harnessing electrical storms to provide power and harvest aether.
Calderado - A region of wide frontier wilderness and deserts made of volcanic ash, with temperatures the literal opposite extreme from Borealis. Settlements are few and far between the mines and foundries, so while there is a government you're more likely to have local Rangers and gunslingers dealing with outlaws. As such it has a society more akin to the Wild West in nature. Foundries pump magma to heat their forges and generators, creating temperatures that can produce alloys other regions cannot.
Cyberia - The region where everything went wrong. Where industrialists got too greedy, technology was pushed too fast, and it all collapsed on itself when the infrastructure couldn't take it. It is now a blighted wasteland, a reminder of how industrialization can take a very bad turn when not properly managed. The land is overrun by mutated wildlife, unnatural abominations, amok automatons, and other fiendish foes. Amongst it all, at the center of crumbling urban decay, looms the hellish form of the Nightmare Factory. To this day it seems to somehow be active to create these horrors and no one knows how, or who is controlling it.
Deadlight Isles - More of a chain of islands than a region, far to the south and west of Victoria and Calderado, that is neutral ground between most active pirate clans. It is hardly a safe place to anchor for repairs and supplies, but at least its far away from the Imperial Navy's influence. Crossbone Cove at the center is also home to the largest hub of Verdigris' black market, and the Kludgewerks reconstruction docks.
The revolution of industry and technology took a very different course in Verdigris. One of the primary reasons for this is the concept of Universal Elements being valid science in this world. Being able to manage heat and water at their elemental basis made Steam power much more efficient, allowing it to be easily downsized in scale over time. This made the technology overall more practical, as usable at the personal scale as it is powering great transports and providing full sized cities with heat and energy. This was farther refined by the creation of materials unique to this world, like the thermodynamically effecient brimsteel alloy that Calderado produces.
Refinement in durability and precision also allowed gear and clockworks to advance in similar divergences, taking the place of much of what electronics would in other realities. The analytical engine, a sort of clockpunk computer, did work in this world. It became the basis of the controls and navigation systems of airships, as well as keeping factories running like, well, clockwork.
Finally there's aether, the element of energy itself, though it's most visible and known form is the electricity in thunderstorms. Aether can provide a source of energy, though it's volatile nature makes it difficult to build large systems around without heavy shielding and resources. It is better suited for weapons and personal items. It also reacts in certain mediums as a sort of anti-gravity; aetheric gas and infused metals is the means by which airships are light enough to sail in the skies instead of just across the seas. Using it in forging can also grant some elemental properties to the alloy. This is part of how brimsteel alloy and frostburn metal are made.
There is also the fact that the resources or demand for other technologies do not exist in large quanities in this world. The most notible being oil, only found in small deposits in Calderado and under massive layers of ice and rock in Borealis. Aether and refined clockworks render the need for more advanced electronics little more than a tinkerer's hobby. As such, each region may branch into other genres to suit their needs. But Steampunk, Clockpunk and Aether are still the primary technologies so far.
The primary draw to other worlds Verdigris has is what amounts to grand scale tourism. It is a chance to see areas resembling other historical eras, or technologies that exist only in fiction and fantasy. Some may even take an interest in studying the differences in technological advancement, or that both biped animals and humans exist in this world. For the more bold (or foolish) the expeditions are always looking for willing members.
The Imperial Government of Victoria does its best to keep too much offworld influence trickling into Verdigris, and vice versa. This is primarily applied to economy however, as while it will gladly negotiate for general resources and trade goods it would rather keep its unique aspects to itself and not get bloated by foreign luxuries. Unfortunately this does create more business for pirates and smugglers who are willing to subvert the restrictions for those willing to pay. It's not an isolationist effort, just restrictions and regulations to keep things under control. What goes in and out of Verdigris is watched as closely as possible... Which unfortunately some unsavory sorts just take as a challenge to do so anyways. The Imperial Navy will often pay handsome bounties for criminals that tried to escape to other worlds or have been smuggling offworld goods and weapons in.