Game: Microscope
Players: Amrita, Brett, Mark
12/29/2016 Phoenix Games, Seattle
Big Picture: Rise and Fall of Steam
Bookends: Early Experimentation with Steam through the Clash of Powers

The history of steam and its use for power both in the mechanical sense and the political wouldn't be complete without dirigibles, but it also, perhaps surprisingly, also involves Prophets, Lords, Druids, Spark Stones, knife-murders, tinkers, and rum.

Our investigation of this part of history started, chronologically speaking, with the (thankfully) rather uneventful first flight of the first steam-powered dirigible, the Victoria. Although the great ship was secretly saved on its third voyage by the brave self-sacrifice of second mate Johnson, Captain Roberts felled it himself, in grief for dear Johnson, on a later voyage; he misplaced his rum near the flames. Captain Robert might have been mostly forgotten, but the great ship was still remembered years later when a Guild was named after it.

After the initial exploration came the Age of the Steam Prophets, when use of steam was pitched by men with resonant baritones who called themselves prophets and made great promises, such that they convinced even the most (well not really) dubious bakers. In particular we looked at Prophet Mike, who rose from his humble plumber beginnings to the height of fame and power, fueled by his amazing speaking ability and a stone referred to in conspiratorial whispers as "Mike's Heart." The stone, when dropped into water, instantly and continuously boiled it, such that a large amount of steam could be produced without flame. Mike's works made him famous and powerful and everything was going well for him until he accidentally put the stone into alcohol instead of water in Ocean the Tinker's workshop, ending his and the tinker's life and losing that particular stone forever. This was quite the tragedy, especially coming so soon after the very public knife-murder of Prophet Jed by Prophet Heraculus.

The death of Mike the Prophet let to a fracturing of his powerful Guild among his octuplet children, leading to the Age of Mikes Descendants or the Age of Guilds. We did not explore all of the eight guilds, but we learned a bit about the Guild of Victoria, founded by Victoria, child of Mike, but actually named after the Victoria. Also, we learned about the Norumites were founded by child of Mike "Mel the Snitch," was secretly funded by the Druids, and worked against rum -- not alcohol in general, just rum. Finally, we learned that the Druids, near the end of the period, conspired to get Alara, not-really-child-of-Mike, to discover spark stones, the pairing of Mike's heart with a cold blue stone, which causes lightning to shoot forth, thus probably eventually ending the primacy of steam, eventually, if the Druids have anything to say about it. Also, it is illegal to murder a Druid, even if no one sees you do it.