In the days of the village, before the Shift, it was believed that the Benevolent Master and the Unspoken God were two sides of a coin, each complementing the other. One would create and reward; the other, destroy and punish. It was part of the natural cycle of the world, and although people feared the Unspoken God, they respected his role.

After the Shift, people lost their respect for the Unspoken God, and for a time, he weakened as much as anyone else. But as Aren continued to wither away, the lax morals and the secrets and shadows gave the Unspoken God more strength. With this strength came something else with which he was not familiar – a lust for more.

Every broken deal that the Council brokers, every deception a dishonest salesperson pulls, every con a trickster runs, they all contribute to the power of the Unspoken God. Twisting the meaning of “Justice” for his own purposes, his acts have destabilized the balance of the world. And though nobody fears him anymore, being nothing more than a faint memory of a legend, day by day he creeps into more and more of their hearts, until one day he will be something that all men fear.

In the Outer District of the city, there’s an out-of-the-way shop that, despite it’s small size, always seems to have a patron or two inside. Nearly half the customers are just curious – shops aren’t often found in the Outs, and they’re trying to find out what this bauble store is doing there. The rest, though, come there to speak to the manager – a certain Princeton Hawthorn.

No one can do what Princeton can. He knows things. He can find things. And he can do things – things that are lost to most people. It’s not merely a matter of being magical, since wizards and sorcerers still exist in the City. He’s in touch with the natural world and the technological world both, and he can use it in any number of combinations. That he’s been cast out from the ruling class that most half-elves occupy can’t be a coincidence.

No one knows why Princeton put his shop all the way in the Outs – and very few ever ask him. There’s an unspoken pact between him and his customers, that they stay out of his business and he keeps their business quiet. Those who don’t respect his privacy soon find their dirty laundry hung out for all in the City to see.

No one betrays Princeton Hawthorne.

It does not always go as well as he would like.

For every follower he gains, there is another who instantly sees his lies for what they are. Consumed with the fear of what he might do to them, they fall off the radar – not very hard to do in a place like the City. They run anywhere they can – abandoned gardens underground, self-maintaining furnaces – anywhere they think they will be safe from him. Occasionally, a few of them meet and form a cabal, working together to run from the Deus or resist him. Most importantly, they all abandon any technology he might be able to inhabit.

The irony, of course, is that by abandoning their technology, they are only making the Deus ex Machina stronger by adhering to the ideals of his old world order. For this reason, he has decided to leave them alone, for now. If the small isolated pockets should one day meet and farm a larger alliance, he may begin to take action – but for now, he’s focused solely on finding a way to the Great Furnace.

Wu’s domain is that of Wine and Frivolity, two domains that do not often meet. In a world where alcohol is used to dull the edge, rather than liven the spirits, very few people find their nights in taverns full of joy and mirth. But others, whether it’s through genuine happiness or ignorance of what’s going on around them, manage to find happiness in their cup and thank Wu for it.

Wu’s gaiety is infectious – literally. Very few people in her presence can dear help but to at least smile. Perhaps that’s why Wu has continued to exist when so many other gods have risen and fallen over the years. In a place like the City, happiness is hard to find. If, occasionally, the inhabitants can find it in the bottom of the tankard, then they’ll take what they can get.

But this has downsides of its own. Through no fault of her own (except for her nature), some of Wu’s followers, once they get a taste of happiness, can’t help but try to get that feeling again. Oftentimes, people will drink themselves to oblivion if only to get a tiny drop of happiness. Some people have begun to decry Wu’s power over men and women alike. For now, though, her power remains mostly unchallenged, and legend has it she visits a different tavern every night just to remind people of that.

And then there’s the clockwork.

Azarad’s whispers are only ideas – they still need to given shape and form. But the whispers want to be brought to life, and if a clever mind fails to hear their call, then nature takes its natural course, and they turn into the clockwork aberrations.

The aberrations, born without the caring mind of a creator, are like petulant children. Jealous of their siblings, their one and only thought is to destroy all of Azarad’s other whispers. Thus, they are a menace to society – devouring one creation after another, they run rampant in the city with little to stop them. And this is without mentioning the destruction that results when one aberration fights another.

The clockwork aberrations come in all shapes and sizes, but most commonly they look like spiders the size of an average adult male human’s hand. Their primary method of attack is their pincers – dull, but with a bit of effort on the aberration’s part, they can easily pierce flesh.

Recently, the Council has begun to put out the call for a task force specifically designed to deal with the aberrations. To date, no one that has stepped forth has been able to effectively fend them off, but it’s only a matter of time.

Then the elves of the forges came to the city, bringing with them the technology they had crafted under Azarad’s guidance. They propelled the village forward, and soon, the City grew expanding from its core. Aren was all but forgotten, the shrines formerly dedicated in his honor retrofitted to house the furnaces that powered the city.

Aren was forgotten. But he was not gone. Weakened without the power of his followers, he existed only as a wisp of energy trapped in the physical realm. Turned into a wisp, the Benevolent Master swore revenge on those who had forsaken him.

As a wisp, he travels from machine to machine, possessing them and taking control. His ultimate goal is the Great Furnace in the center of the City - formerly his largest shrine, and now the largest power source in the City. When he reaches it, he hopes to use it to destroy the City from the inside out.

In his current form, he is weak, and is unable to travel for very long. In the meantime, he attacks everyone who he can and lures others to his side. As his followers grow, so too does his strength – until he inevitably gains the power to attack the City at its core.

1. Pure, unadulterated belief in their power.
2. Adherence to an ideal that the deity embodies.
3. A physical representation of the deity that has been blessed by a cleric.

Since the Shift, many gods have died, others greatly weakened, and even a few have been created. Unfortunately, this has led to a great amount of tension and bickering within the pantheon of the remaining gods, each worried to lose whatever little power they have to another.

Because of the way they are formed, anyone can believe in any deity and they generally can be “right” about their beliefs. However, there are a few core deities that form a central pantheon that is widely acknowledged and (more importantly) respected within the City. In particular, three gods are revered (and feared).

Azarad, the god of artifice and madness. The source of power for most of the technology that powers the city. He is said to live at the top of the mountains where the elves make their forges, and that his energy is what brings their inventions to life. He also has a reputation as a dangerous and wild god, though not intentionally. He mutters nonsense words and phrases from atop his perch, and each one manifests its way on the material plane in some way or another, be it through an elf’s invention, a cleric’s spell, or a twisted piece of clockwork. All the other gods keep a close eye on him, in case he says anything that might require divine influence (and perhaps will help them regain some of their fame and power).

Laywen, the goddess of ice and snow. Before the Shift, she was one of the most beloved goddesses, the fire of her heart keeping people’s hearths lit, and her breath melting the snow when wintertime ended. But when the Shift came, altars to her husband, the king-god Aren, were replaced with furnaces and machinery, and her warm heart froze. Her power now comes from those who whisper her name in fear, and those who hope her icy breath will never touch them.

Ruman, the fierce, but detached, god of war and battle. His existence in the City is a bit of an enigma to some, as there have been no other cities or kingdoms to be at war with. But he finds his strength in the secret war that lies underneath most people’s notice. The constant struggle within the upper echelon of the government is only part of a much greater battle for control. However, to this day, nobody has been able to gain an edge in the battle – perhaps because no side has found an offering great enough to entice Ruman to their side.

Humans are the oppressed majority in the City. Their time as leaders and rulers vanished along with the village – though there are some in power, they often have to fight to keep it that way.
Dwarves are the gardeners of the city, responsible for the food. They spend most of their time in the underground farms, making sure that everything is taken care of. Though all have houses on the surface, many choose to carve out their homes underground – which is of questionable legality.
Elves are the inventors, from the mountain forges in the forest of Alderbrook. Though they are the ones who came up with the technology that enabled the City, they aren’t the ones that utilized it.
Half-elves are closer to humankind than to elf-kind. Most of them lack the connection with the forges that makes it possible for the elves to create the world’s technology. However, they are held in higher regard than humans, and often hold powerful roles in the city.
Gnomes are the ones who brought the City to life. They realized the potential in the elves invention, and “marketed” it to the others in the village. An interesting split occurred at this point – the gnomes who took up positions in power, and the gnomes continued to hold their entrepreneurial spirit in the highest regard and are the shopkeepers of today.
Halflings are the true leaders of the city. Despite the equality allegedly brought about by the Council of Races, there’s no doubt in anyone’s mind that the halflings have made their way to power, either by hard work or, more commonly, through trickery.
Half-orcs are elves (or descendants of elves) who have been twisted by the magic of the forges. No one knows what causes it, and those who suffer from it are looked upon with pity before revulsion.

Right now, I’m a bit torn. I want to make the races stand out against the fantasy norm, but I’m worried it’s going to turn a bit too much into just an example of Our Elves Are Different (although I’m keeping the Elves – they were one of my first ideas for the City). For now, I’ll keep the races as they are until I get some feedback.

Imagine a world where the Industrial Revolution came abruptly. A small, idyllic town transformed into the center of society. The power of magic all but replaced by the power of steam and steel. The goblins and kobolds of the outside replaced by the treacherous and greedy politicians of the inside.

Imagine a world where magic spills over into the material plane in wondrous ways, yet there is no one there to observe it. Where mages and clerics are a dying breed, where

Imagine a world where the gods are given power by the ones who follow them. Where, when technology took precedence over religion, many of them were forgotten, losing much of their power, and in some cases, killed.

Now, imagine a world where the gods want revenge.

Still a bit of cleaning up to do, but I think I’ve captured most of the feel of the setting in these few paragraphs. Since it is a work in progress, this could easily change substantially by the time I actually get “done” with it.

Steampunk is not a very well-defined term, so I turned to the vast resources of the internet to get me a good definition. What I found that helped me the most was this quote from Uncle Bear (@unclebear):

When I think of steampunk, I think of three things: the industrial revolution, people working under oppressive conditions, and anachronistic technology.

So, keeping these three criteria in mind, and adding in some superheroes for good measure, I came up with The Empowered.

The year is 1816, and the Industrial Revolution has started to take hold in the United States. The government is looking for someone to represent the strength and stability of the new United States. Little did they know the upcoming convergence of events that would give them exactly what they wanted – and more.

A slave on a farm gets in an accident when working with a cotton gin. The county doctor proposes an advanced surgery that replaces the heart with an intricate ticking mechanism. When the slave awakens, he is endowed with incredible strength.

Francis Cabot Lowell, a few years after his return to America, learns that his memory is more than just willpower, and begins to commit to memory the plans of many devices beyond current technology, and works with some of the most talented inventors to bring them to life.

A young boy working in the factories disappears after being sick for a few days. When he returns, he has changed, no longer human, with traits similar the smog he had been coughing up.

These are just three of the nearly one thousand recorded incidents across the country. These people, the Empowered, were endowed with a wide variety of powers. And in them, the government found many allies to represent the country. They became known as the Icons, and they were used to enforce the laws of the United States Government – forcefully and with extreme prejudice, if need be.

Not all of those who were Empowered allied themselves with the government, however. Two other factions sprung up, although neither of them were official in any way. There were those who were opposed to the way the government was taking advantage of the Icons’ powers and sought to bring them down. They were known as the Rebels. Working underground, they have managed to destroy some of the highest officials in the Icon Project, including Francis Lowell in 1817.

Some of the Rebels after getting a taste of power have become corrupt, and use their abilities to gain more power. They’ve turned against all other Empowered, including other Chaotics. Because of this, the Chaotics are some of the most dangerous of the Empowered to be around. However, not all of them (in fact very few of them) are actually evil. Most believe that what they’re doing is right, that their power is what is needed to make the world a better place.

The players are Rebels, trying to bring about the downfall of the Icon Project. Though fighting for the forces of good, they often have to avoid the enforcers of the law, primarily the super-powered Icons. And amongst it all, they must avoid being tempted by their power into joining the Chaotics.