Incidentally, Vapor's Vincent van Gogh was sitting next to a railroad when he painted his "Starry Night".
Vapor: A Steampunk RP is a NationStates roleplay located in the International Incidents forum, which began on a Sunday in July, 2012. As the name implies, the roleplay is a steampunk style, but played out among a collection of fictional nations, some of which mirror cultures and nations from Earth.
Vapor takes place on the fictional planet Gaia Atlia, and besides chronicling the history of these nations, does not have a plot. It is instead a collection of roleplays taking place in the same universe, all of which can be found on the OOC page here
.
It was discontinued somewhere within 2016.
Vapor: A Steampunk Rp includes examples of:
open/close all folders
General
- Alternate Techline: Very. For example, the computer was invented in 1900, before the mainstream use of the automobile.
- Fantasy Counterpart Culture: Inoroth is Italy, Fanaglia is France, and Vjiay is the United Kingdom. Servoth, Cygnar, and Vitzenburg are various incarnations of Germany. Cyprum Xecuii represents a mish-mash of various Far Eastern nations. Prinnia represent a collective of Islamic states, as does Sarmandars. Pavlostani and Inesea are based largely on Eastern Europe, Russia, and their various iterations.
- Gratuitous German: Having three (at one time four) nations based off of Germany, use of German was bound to pop up.
- Gratuitous Latin: Latin pops up in mainly Inoroth and Mishmahig, but the entire work being set in the 19th and 20th centuries results in this being in many places.
- Our Dragons Are Different: Two separate but related species living in different environments called "Wyrms". Each species are mesothermic and have hollow scales. Neither can breath fire or fly, and with that the similarities end there.
- Lesser Wyrms are small, generally the size of a large dog or wolf, and generally about as aggressive as a wolf. Usually grouped together in packs.
- Great Wyrms are taller and more bulky than humans, but are few in number.
- MegaCorp: A few pop up.
- Fanaglian Central Textiles (FTC): A Fanaglian based company (duh) that makes "nearly everything from apparel to airships to firearms".
- 7 Companies, Inc.: A conglomerate of seven companies, but brought together under one roof. They make a wider range of products than their rival, FTC, but are mostly employed by the Servothian Government.
- King's Companies: An umbrella for multiple companies owned by the Inorothian Monarchy. An example of a more-or-less benevolent MegaCorp.
- Black Shield: Really the only evil company on this list, another Fanaglian based company with two sides. They do everything from transportation to mercenary groups and arms smuggling. They've destabilized three nations; which include Vitzenburg, Averi, and Voerdeland.
- Retcon: Since there are multiple authors, canon is a bit weird. Authors going inactive and having their nation deleted is relatively common. However, some authors would occasionally come back; this resulted in a series of rules being put into place to deal with the problem.
- Wirbel was the fourth Germanic nation, and was also the creator of Vapor. Although, Wirbel never contributed much to canon at all, so his nation was easily retconned and removed. However, this left a large section of uninhabited land in the middle of Amplector (Europe analogue).
- Desaltonia was one of the first nations to be added to the map. However, he was also the largest nation on the map, he later became inactive and was retconned, but left a legacy behind as having named an entire subcontinent.
- Also due to the nature of the format, new authors have occasionally been brought in resulting in cases of Remember the New Guy?. Some significant examples include Prinnia, Sarmandars, and Averi. Several others got this treatment too, but did not contribute a significant amount of canon material or nothing at all and were retconned out before they were even retconned in.
- The Theocracy:
- The Dominion of Mishmahig for the entirety of it's existence since it's founding in the early medieval period. It is ruled by a fairly benevolent and pragmatic Mishmahigan Church, under the leadership of the Archbishop
- The Union of Mishmite Territories is a theocratic republic that was founded after the Inesean Civil War. It is ruled by the Mishmite Church, a sect of the Mishmahigan Church, under the leadership of the Patriarch of Henria.
Nation Specific
Averi
A moderately small, mountainous landlocked nation wedged between Inoroth and Prinna. A rather insignificant nation until their war with Prinnia, to their south.- Curb-Stomp Battle: In their war with Prinnia, the Averian Army performed this a few times on their target. However, after a month, the tables were turned. The Prinnians, backed by Sarmandars, turned it into a Curb Stomp War.
- The Good King: Averted with King Aethlered, who started the war by invading Prinnia, saw the absolute destruction of his nation by enemy forces, and only agreed to peace after he was kidnapped and his son was taken in custody by the Fanaglians.
- Quirky Neighbour Country: Shares language and much of the same culture with Inoroth... only those Inorothians are so different!
- Ruritania: Averi is the closest Vapor has to this. Being a mountainous nation, wedged between an Italian superpower and a few Islamic neighbors to the North and South.
Black Isles (Nusheba)
A medium sized island located in the Imogen ocean, not far from Oulen. Controlled and inhabited by pirates.- Ruthless Modern Pirates: As modern as the 20th century is. They wrecked the entire economy of Vitzenburg by themselves and marauded merchant ships all across the Imogen.
Cygnar
A large nation on the Promethian continent, located south of Mishmahig. Known for their mechas and eastward moving imperialism.- Cosmopolitan Council: Cygnar is a large nation by itself, the addition of several smaller nations and tribes by both agreements and military expansion means Cygnar is ran by a very diverse group of people.
- Hegemonic Empire: They are trying this, at least in Desaltonia. They've made alliances with several Desaltonian Tribes to their immediate south, then building a railroad connect their capitals.
- Mecha: Cygnar invented these. They tend not to be large than a few tanks.
- Rising Empire: Meanwhile, in the land east of Cygnar, a military expansion is being undertaken in order to rebuild the Holy Promethian Empire.
Cyprum Xecuii
A large nation on a peninsula in Zhao; once a mighty power of the region, now a slowly dying giant.- Asskicking Leads to Leadership: Exemplary performance will get you far in the Cycuiian Army; after all, it takes a special type of person to charge an enemy face on, survive, kill some folks, and later command his or her comrades to do the same.
- Authority in Name Only: Autarchess Nozomu has appeared occasionally as an ambassador of sorts. Her involvement often amounts to zilch, especially within the affairs of the state.
- Badass Longcoat: The Cycuiian Army loves these, though the majority of the soldiers are far from badass.
- Crippling Overspecialization: Military doctrine currently (1900-1907) holds the ground force above all other branches. Though this makes the nation practically invulnerable from foreign invasion, there is little ability to project its influence and whim beyond the continent of Zhao.
- Dirty Communists: This view was taken largely before the turn of the century in 1900, after that, Cyprum Xecuii became increasingly weakened both by bad military choices and changing economic environments. With this change, they became more of a laughing stock than a major threat.
- Gratuitous Japanese: Cyprum Xecuii's main language is (a considerably corrupted) Japanese, called in game as "Cycuiian".
- The Man Behind the Man: The Head of State serves as a figurehead for the multitude of actually competent aristocratic, military, and socialist party authorities of the country.
- My Greatest Failure: AMEN was on the verge of collapse near the end of its war with Sri Tschow, and many opportunities were presented to pursue for a more favorable result. Because of the quite poor decision to leave the matter to a Head of State who had no resolve, Cycuiia withdrew its troops from Pavlostani and received nothing for its involvement in the war. To add insult to injury in hindsight, Cycuiia agreed to leave because the nation it aided militarily capitulated on its own (an unnecessary move considering the proximity of the two).
- Pyrrhic Victory: As a consequence of the Sri-AMEN war, AMEN was dissolved; such result couldn't have meant anything less than nothing in regards to Cycuiian affairs.
- Red Shirt Army: Though the impression of the Cycuiian Armed Forces having a total disregard for it's soldiers' lives is over-exaggerated, the strategy of quantity over quality still lingers in minds of those running it.
- Tank Goodness: Dubbed "gun-tractors" in game, Cyprum Xecuii paved the way in their development and stockpiles of such machines remain despite the worsening economy.
- Was It Really Worth It?: Cyprum Xecuii gained absolutely nil from it's involvement in the Sri-AMEN war. The rationale for intervening was pretty dubious from the start anyhow.
Dalruanazkal
An Islamic nation north of Inoroth, once a power of the Amplector many centuries ago, this rival of Inoroth has been slowly going weaker every decade.- Unknown Rival: You may forgiven for thinking this since Dalruanazkal has been shifted to the backburner in recent years, but their rivalship is the reason Inoroth exists and incidentally one of the major reasons for possible World War to start.
Fanaglia
A powerful economic nation, located below Inoroth.- The Alcoholic: The national pastime of Fanaglia is drinking. Alot. This naturally applies to any character from the nation, though they don't have any major reason for their drinking, only that they can.
- Ambiguously Gay: Queen Autumn. She hasn't married and surrounds herself with mostly women, yet no confirmation of her sexuality exists.
- Royals Who Actually Do Something: Famously, Queen Autumn raised a revolution to stop the oppressive practices of her father, King Dimarco.
Inoroth
One of two superpowers in the world, home to the Rothian Catholic Church, and various engineering schools of thought.- Arch-Enemy: Inoroth and Dalruanazkal are eternal enemies, clashing on almost every issue.
- Beleaguered Bureaucrat: A complicated class-based governmental system, strong provincial governments, and multiple (often redundant) political entities results in many a over-worked public servant.
- The Church: The Rothian Catholic Church was founded in Inoroth, and though wielding less power than it did under the empire, the RCC is still a force to be reckoned with.
- Church Militant: The Sistine Order, which is part of the RCC, has a militant wing.
- Combat Pragmatism: Inoroth has not lasted as long as it has without being willing to do what it takes to win a fight, even if it's not all that ethical.
- Conscription: Every male is required to serve a period of time in either one of the nation's military or an approved civil service organization.
- Good Old Ways: New is not always better in the Inorothian mindset, though the new is not always feared either.
- The High King: Long reigning benevolent monarch who cares for his people.
- Hijacked by Jesus: The Empire converted to Christianity, but it was originally pagan.
- Home Guard: Militias are composed of all able-bodied men and are mobilized in times of war to defend the kingdom.
- Jack of All Trades: Inoroth rarely makes the number one spot in most categories or stats, but neither is the nation too far behind, rarely ranking below the top two or three spot.
- Long Runner: Inoroth is one of the oldest nations in Vapor, both IC and OOC.
- Macross Missile Massacre: Inorothians love all things artillery, as well as long-range explosions.
- MegaCorp: The 'King's Companies' are an umbrella for multiple sub-companies owned by the Inorothian Monarchy. An example of a more-or-less benevolent MegaCorp, as these companies tend to set industry standards for safety practices and higher wages in the country.
- Must Make Amends: After the Mishmahig Genocide in the 700's AD, the national conscience has sought to atone for the actions of the old empire.
- Not-So-Omniscient Council of Bickering: The large population and industrial capabilities of Inoroth could be quite intimidating, but class-friction and rivalry between the provinces prevents this from being brought to bear.
- Obsessed with Food: Eating and cooking are THE Inorothian national pastimes.
- Quirky Neighbour Country: Shares the same language and much of the same culture with Averi... only those Averians are so different.
- To Win Without Fighting: Inoroth seeks to use diplomacy and political maneuverings, rather than outright conflict, to achieve her goals.
Inesea
A fairly religious nation located west of Khamul.- Arcadia: Inesea is called the Breadbasket of the World, with many nations importing food and grain from there.
- Full-Circle Revolution: Inesea, in her various forms from 1750 to 1900, has gone through several major successful revolutions and countless failed rebellions. Each revolution promises to do better, yet ultimately oppresses the masses or goes on a bankrupting spending spree.
- First was the Aristocrat's Uprising of 1750, when the old Ming Emperor was overthrown by the Aristocratic Council and Oligarchical Order. Aristocrats won, forming the Aristocratic States of Inesea.
- Second was the Socialist Revolution of 1823, when the Socialist Yellow Armies fought a decade long civil war with the Aristocratic Council. Socialists won, forming the Former Aristocratic States of Inesea.
- Third was the Great White War from 1895-1898, when the country shattered into warring sects of the Old Regime(The Socialists), The White Army(Republicans in the northern states), The Mishmite Commonwealth(Theocracy in the south. Becomes the Union of Mishmite Territories), and the Caliphates of the West. No real victor.
- The Unpronounceable: In-universe, the typical Inesean name happens to rather long. This would be fine if said names didn't come out looking like this, "Necroformbicus Xianixa Mextaphilium Camara'bin'Huehuahui."
Khamul/Pavlostani
A small nation wracked by instability.- Ambiguous Innocence: Tom Braiton seems innocent but has a ruthless streak deep within.
- Being Evil Sucks: The genocide causes years of instability and misery in Pavlostani.
- Guilt-Free Extermination War: The Apelanese Empire has no qualms about eradicating the Pavlostani in their 1906 invasion.
Mishmahig
A pious, small, and influential nation north of Cygnar.- The Heretic: Mishmite religion was viewed as heretical by the Inorothian Catholic Church, leading to their slaughter and the Rothian Civil War.
Servoth
A militaristic and heavily polluted Industrial nation between Vitzenburg and Inoroth.- City Noir: Imperia, the Servothian capital, is constantly covered in overcast and heavy rain. It doesn't help that the city is also heavily polluted. The city would be considered beautiful, if not a bit garish, had it not been for these factors.
- Gas Mask, Longcoat: The Schwarze Sonne, the personal guard of the Kaiser, employ this. Wearing black leather trenchcoats and wearing gas mask whenever on duty. The gas masks are used primarily to defend against possible gas attacks.
- Germanic Efficiency: Servothian technology is typically cutting edge and they are tend to run their nation a efficiently possible.
- Hollywood Atheist: Averted with in Servoth, as the State has made it very clear they (and the populace they represent) do not believe in gods. Outside of the State, more religiously inclined nations tend to think that Servothians either worships dragons or science.
- Nature Spirit: The Servothian people believed, or at least use to, in these. Remnants of the belief still exist, with newborns still being assigned a guardian animal spirit despite the destruction of the old Animist and Shamanistic Belief system. Another example is that every place that is under Servothian control usually has a stone dragon statue carved to "protect" the area, again despite the knowledge that it is just a statue with no special powers.
- Polluted Wasteland: In attempt to industrialize in the 1860s and 1870s, Servothian industry adopted a laissez-faire policy regarding the environment. The pollution has gotten so bad by the 1910s, electric cars are being promoted en masse.
- Proud Scholar Race: Servothians prefer to be at the forefront of technology, with the State pushing high-education on many regardless of whether they want it or not, and the State also running a good many of military owned R&D labs.
- Proud Warrior Race: The entire nation is practically built to service the military, to even qualify for a major government position you must be actively a part of the military.
- Then Let Me Be Evil: Coming out of the 1880s, Servoth was a relatively minor country in the way of notoriety. But after the Servothian State invaded a city named Luxburg in Voerdeland, perceptions of the country generally became sour. This got worse after they allied with Cygnar and Vitzenburg, creating the Federation of Imperial Nations in 1901. And even after FIN dissolved in 1905, Servoth was still thought more or less evil by other Amplector nations. The fact that they continued to screw with the affairs of nations in Zhao and made a deal with Prinnia to help disrupt the Haven Compact in 1911 doesn't help.
Vitzenburg
An insane industrial nation on the far western reach of Amplector.- Honor Before Reason: This is very much in effect, as mentioned above, in the Cool Plane section, a Kaiser dead-and-gone who had gone crazy, outlawed airships. This helped to destroy the Vitzenburgian economy, as most other nations used airships for commerce. After the Kaiser's death, the law was maintained to honor him despite the detrimental effect.
Voerdeland
The punching bag of the early 1890s, and battle ground of the many land claims of foreign powers.- Butt-Monkey: Let's start shall we:
- First, Voerdeland was an isolationist state in the 1870s, this led to mass unemployment. A 1885 conference in Fanaglia, which was attend by many nations, agreed to build an international railroad, wrapping all the way around the world. The Voerdish completed their part of the railroad in 1889, but the costs drove them further in debt.
- Black Shield then stepped in and raised a revolution to destabilize the nation, which then split into two.
- Next came the increase in tariffs on the International Railroad, as Vjiay wished to increase their profits. This caused nations in Amplector to stop sending supplies to Voerdeland, as well as increased tension on the continent.
- Then a number of outside nations, dubbed the "Imperials" (Cyprum Xecuii, Inesea, Khamul, and Servoth), invaded at various times and made claims to the land.
- Khamul then started a genocide against the Voerdish peoples, which lasted thirteen years and resulted in the death of several million, utterly dwarfing the Holocaust.
- The two split factions of Voerdeland banded together and called for several Promethian and Amplector allies to come help them; in total the Voerdeland Allied Forces included the Republic of Nova Voerda (RNV), the Voerdish Provisional Government (VPG), Inoroth, Gratia Infinita, Mishmahig, Vjiay, Black Sheild, Fanaglia, and Vitzenburg.
- Servoth, having only held one city for their time there, left quickly in late December, 1890 after meeting local resistence. The other Imperials stayed, but Cyprum Xecuii faught and then surrendered. Inesea managed to stay by claiming Neutrality, and Khamul managed to magically stay for another thriteen years.
- The two halves of Voerdeland reunited, but lost a majority of their land. Khamul stayed another thirteen years, only leaving after the conclusion of the Sri-AMEN War in 1903. And Vjiay managed to maintain an occupational forces in the country for another few decades.
