Diesel Smoke and Magic Mirrors

Tulossa: dieselpunk-kampanja!

"I like the word "dieselpunk" if you are doing something like 'Weird World War II'. I think that makes perfect sense. But to me, World War I is the dividing point where modernity goes from being optimistic to being pessimistic. Because when you put the words "machine" and "gun" together, they both change. At that point, war is no longer about a sense of adventure and chivalry and a way of testing your nation's level of manhood; it's become industrial, and horrible. " -- Scott Westerfeld

The world of 'Diesel Smoke and Magic Mirror' is set in an alternative "dieselpunk" version of the 1920s. The decade following the Great War is filled with deep wounds of the Great War, dark secrets and remains of a mystic past, thirst for glory and revenge on both personal and national scale... But at the same time new technology, new marvelous machines, new ways of life, new freedoms and new ambitions are hurling the humanity towards new era, with promises of better future.

'Diesel Smoke and Magic Mirrors' contains a wide variety of flavor, powered by the greasy and smoky heavy machinery of dieselpunk, spiced up by the roaring 20s decopunk, and shaded by the otherworldly horrors and ancient mystic ways and creatures.

Inspired by:

• Iron Harvest/Scythe/World of 1920s (by Jakub Rozalski)
• Carnival Row
• Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow
• The Rocketeer

Muistiinpanoja teknologiasta

Ilmalaivasto

• ilmalaivat ovat olleet vuosikymmeniä kaupallisen matkustajaliikenteen ja postirahtiliikenteen käytössä
• sotilaskäytössä ilmalaivoja käytetään ensisijaisesti tiedustelussa ja valvonnassa, monilla suurvalloilla on pieni määrä pommittajailmalaivoja ja joitakin lentotuki-ilmalaivoja - jälkimmäiset tyypillisesti "ilmalaivaston lippulaivoja"
• sotilaskoneista https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aviation_in_World_War_I
• siviilikäytössä ei vielä yleistynyt, ensimmäisiä lentoveneyrittäjiä on tullut tarjolle sodan jälkeen

Maaliikenne

• Hevosvetoiset kärryt, valjakkovaunut ja vankkurit ovat pääosassa tiellä tapahtuvassa matkustajien ja rahdin kuljetuksessa
• Hevosautot ovat vauraamman väestön suosiossa (ajurin ohjaama hevosvetoinen katettu vaunu, jossa sähkötoiminen valaistus, kalliimmissa malleissa kamiina lämmittämiseen ja puhallin viilentämiseen)
• Käytössä olevat autot (kts https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brass_Era_car, https://truck-encyclopedia.com/ww1/trucks.php#aus)
• Mekanisoidut kävelijät (automachina, "mech") yleistyivät Suuressa Sodassa, ja muodostivat "iskevän kärjen" kaikkien sotaa käyvien maiden kalustossa. Panssarivaunujen kehitys ei oikein lähtenyt käyntiin, joitain malleja on rajatussa käytössä.
• Panssariautoja konekivääreineen on jonkin verran käytössä

Merenkulku

• Höyrykone on edelleen runsaassa käytössä pienemmissä matkustaja- ja rahtilaivoissa
• Höyryturbiini käytössä suuremmissa matkustaja- ja sotalaivoissa (HMS Dreadnought)
• Purjelaivoja edelleen runsaasti käytössä
• Diesel-käyttöiset sukellusveneet tulivat Suuressa Sodassa käyttöön, mutta ovat edelleen harvinaisuuksia

Tiedonvälitys

• Lennätinverkot ovat yleistymässä kovaa vauhtia syrjemmillekin asutuskeskuksille. Valtioiden väliset ja jopa valtamerien yli ylittyvät lännetinkaapeliverkot ovat olleet arkea vuosikymmeniä. Lennätinviestit ovat tyypillisin henkilökohtaisen "pikaviestinnän" väline.
• Puhelinverkot ovat arkea suuremmissa kaupungeissa, mutta puhelimet eivät vielä ole edes kaikkien vauraiden talouksien käytössä. Kaupunkien väliset yhteydet ("kaukopuhelut") ovat harvinaisia tiheästi asutettujen alueiden ulkopuolella. Valtameriä ylittäviä puhelinyhteyksiä ei ole.
• Radiolähetykset ("langaton lennätin") ovat enemmän tutkimustoimintaa, jossain määrin sotilaskäyttöä testataan. Mitään kaupallista radiotoimintaa ei ole.
• Sanomalehdet mahdollistavat "massaviestinnän ja uutisvälityksen". Jokaisella suuremmalla asutuskeskuksella on oma sanomalehtensä.
• Kirje on yleisin henkilökohtaisen viestinnän väline. Kaikki "kehittyneet valtiot" kuuluvat Maailman postiliittoon, joka mahdollistaa kirjeen lähettämisen lähes mistä tahansa.

Tesla-teknologia

Termillä tesla-teknologia tarkoitetaan kaikkea sitä teknologiaa, joka on peräisin Teslan "Tehtaalta" ('Mašinski Radovi'). Suuren Sodan aikana lähes kaikki valtion ovat saaneet haltuunsa tesla-teknologiaa, ja ovat kehittäneet sitä omilla tavoillaan ja sovittaneet uutta teknologiaa omaan sotakalustoonsa.

Teknologiatasot

Iron Harvestin maailmassa (kuten historiallisessakin 1920-luvun alussa) ihmisten saatavilla olevat teknologiat ja ylellisyydet vaihtelevat rajusti. Toisessa ääripäässä nautitaan länsimaisten suurkaupunkien ensimmäisten neon-valojen säihkeestä, autojen metelistä, zeppeliinien tai lentoveneiden reittilennoista, kaupunkien puhelinverkoista ja jääkaapin kylmentämistä elintarvikkeista. Toisessa ääripäässä eletään samaa talonpoikaiselämää mitä syrjäseuduilla on eletty useiden vuosisatojen ajan; suurperheet asuvat ahtaissa taloissa tai torpissa, kotieläimet elävät pihapiirissä ja talvella samoissa taloissa, ja uutiset kuullaan kyläkokouksissa ja jumalanpalveluksissa.

1. Talonpoikaiselämä
2. Talonpoikaiselämä pienillä kehitysaskeleilla
3. Syrjäseutujen kauppalat ja pikkukaupungit
4. Ydinseutujen läheinen maaseutu
5. Ydinseutujen kaupungit
6. Suurkaupungit
7. Tesla-teknologia

The Alternative History of Earth

TLDR; What is different from our reality?

1. Magic, the fae, and the horrors from the beyond are definitely a difference. The slowly dying and disappearing magic has had little meaning in the last century or two, if you don't count the horrors of dark magic unleashed to the battlefields of the Great War. That mostly replaced chemical weapons, and had as much impact on the end result of the war. Certainly there still are individuals who can testify that there is still magic, mystic beings and otherworldy horrors walking among us. Some might have a mystic item that has been in the family for generations, or a potion with some potent effects, or the knowledge of the location of the hag, who can give you the right numbers for the friday lottery.
2. Dieselpunk and decopunk Even if the technological revolution was moving at stupendous speed, here we will up the volume to eleven. Mechanical walkers were more numerous in the battlefields of the Great War than what the early tanks were in our reality. One might avoid the term "dominating the battlefield", because technology used stupidly is just... stupid. Not ground breaking in the big picture. But the development hasn't stopped, so more and more dieselpunkish war machines and construction machines are seen each year. If you want to see the nazi AT-AT walkers, just wait a few decades more... Decopunk is not the thing yet, but first steps (prototypes, small production runs, spiced up with the so-called Tesla technology) are on the streets, especially in the United States. . Rocketeer, anyone?
3. Tesla technology We need to take the first steps here to see the electric coil guns and antigrav bikes and all that high-end high-imagination dieselpunk items. So, small things so far, but slowly changing the future technology development tree. This Civilization is a long way from Scientific Victory still. Tesla gizmos are a wonderful MacGuffins for a GM with no capacity for complex stories.
4. Politics, and then some The early 20th century was a moment in time where so many things could have taken a new course. So naturally, some on them have. The Ottoman empire did not go full Turk, but managed to survive as an empire, still pushing towards north while now fighting the Allied agendas in the south. Bolshevik Russia went nuts, combining impossible political agendas, multiple levels of internal strife and corruption, and stupid stupid strategic decisions while still making other nations think that they have all the leninists in the Comintern. Oh wait, that was our reality. The Austro-Hungarian Empire took a bad hit but with no TKO, so many things are different in the Czechoslovakia, like for example there isn't one. Charles I continues as the emperor of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, slowly gaining the acceptance of the Allied Powers and looking like a future ally against Ottomans and the Bolsheviks.

History

Great War

Great War was a devastating international conflict -the war to end all wars - as it saw previously unheard-of levels of destruction and untold loss of human lives. The war was the culmination of national tensions and desire for expansion for the great powers. The assassination of a Austro-Hungarian archduke finally lit the powder keg waiting to blow, and the nations went to war one after the other. Their armies of men and conventional weapons were at first bolstered by horrendous magical weapons, that could wipe hundreds of lives in a blink of an eye. Soon all states at war had their chance to try magical weapons, but most came to realize that too often the dark ways turned against the user, and the cost was too high considering the effect magic had on the front lines. As the spark for the mystic diminished, it was replaced by the automachines, mechanical walkers of all shapes and sizes wielding weapons from machine guns and flamethrowers to earth-shattering cannons.

Despite millions of deaths, much of the war was a seemingly meaningless push and pull as the sides fought and paid dearly to take ground only to lose it shortly after, and the cycle would repeat itself as the terrain itself was rendered unrecognizable. More and more men were pulled from reserves and thrown into the meat grinder, encouraged and indoctrinated with propaganda, promises of adventure, and assurances that their side was the right one.

Roll of Years

Date	Event
January 14, 1905	Tesla demonstrates a radio controlled robotic walker - which he dubbed "mecautomaton" - and tries to sell his concept to the US military, which showed little interest.
August 27, 1912	Serbian military tests a new kind of weapon, an automechanical walker, but they lack the resources to finish the prototypes. The prototypes are lost during the First Balkan War.
June 28, 1914	Austrian Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife Sophia are killed by Black Hand Serbian nationalists (Gavrillo Princip).
June 29, 1914	Tirnanoc declares its neutrality on matters of "three and three men". The last remaining fae ambassadors disappear.
July 28, 1914	Austria declares war on Serbia. Russia, an ally of Serbia, prepares to enter the war
August 1, 1914	Germany declares war on Russia
August 3, 1914	Germany declares war on France
August 4, 1914	German army invades neutral Belgium on its way to attack France.
August 4, 1914	Great Britain declares war on Germany.
August 4, 1914	The United States declares its neutrality
August 6, 1914	Austria declares war on Russia
August 12, 1914	France and Great Britain declare war on Austria
August 26-30, 1914	Russians are defeated at the Battle of Tannenberg
September 5-9, 1914	Germans are stopped at the First Battle of the Marne
October 31, 1914	In the First Battle of Ypres, entrenched allies fight off German assault
December 25, 1914	Christmas truce observed on the Western Front
January 31, 1915	First large scale use of magical weapons by Germany against Russian troops during the Battle of Bolimov
April 22 – May 25, 1915	The Second Battle of Ypres. Germans use weapons of magic and break a hole through the long line of allied trenches.
May 7, 1915	German U-Boat torpedoes the Lusitania February 21, 1916
May 20, 1916	Austro-Hungarian troops test rocketeer infantry the first time in the Südtirol Offensive
June 24, 1915	Ottoman mystics test weapons of "al-Limiya" on Armenians.
August 6, 1915	Russians countered the German magic use by deploying their own mystics at the Battle of Osowiec Fortress
June 23, 1916	Germans deploy first regiment of automechanical walkers on the battlefield with little success.
May 10, 1916	Germans suspend unrestricted submarine warfare
May 31, 1916	German and British navies clash in Battle of Jutland
June 24, 1916	The Battle of the Somme begins
September 15, 1916	British use automechanical walkers for the first time at Somme
January 31, 1917	Germany resumes unrestricted submarine warfare
March 1, 1917	The U.S. discovers the Zimmermann Telegram plot
April 6, 1917	The United States declares war on Germany
June 25, 1917	First American troops land in France
June 31 – November 10 1917	British launch Third Battle of Ypres against the Germans
November 2, 1917	The Balfour Declaration is presented in London
November 7, 1917	Bolsheviks seize power in Russia
March 3, 1918	Treaty of Brest-Litovsk is signed between Russia and Germany
June 18 – August 5 1918	Allies launch Aisne-Marne offensive
July 4, 1918	Wilhelm von Mirbach, the German Ambassador to Russia, finds out that the Director of Cheka Felix Dzerzhinsky had approved the execution of Tsar Nicholas II. Von Mirbach launches a covert operation to rescue and evacuate the Tsar from the house arrest.
July 6, 1918	Wilhelm von Mirbach is captured and executed by the Cheka in Moscow. Unknown to the Cheka agents, the rescue of the Tsar was already set in motion.
July 12, 1918	A small group of Austro-Hungarian Jagdkommandos attack the Ipatiev House in Yekaterinburg, where Tsar Nicholas II and his family were kept as prisoners. The jagdkommandos find themselves in a bloody battle against 300 guards, but they manage to evacuate the Tsar and and most his children. The former empress Alexandra Feodorovna and the eldest daughter Olga were shot to death inside the house. Alexei was seriously injured and succumbed to his wounds during the first hours of the escape.
August 2, 1918	Nikolai II Alexandrovich Romanov and his two surviving children, Tatiana and Anastasia, arrive in Vienna (accompanied by Maria Rasputin), where they are given political asylum.
November 11, 1918	Germany signs armistice
September 26, 1918	First phase of the U.S. Meuse-Argonne offensive underway
June 28, 1919	Treaty of Versailles
September 10,1919	Treaty of Saint-Germain-en-Laye

Magic and the Fae

The dying glamour

Magic and all items, creatures and phenomenon associated to it, has been slowly drifting away. Ambassadors from the Empire of Tirnanoc - the fae - once a common sight in the courts of men - are a rare sight in the 20th century, a legend from the days past. The "glamour of Tirnanoc", as magic has traditionally been called, has been replaced by science and technology. During the last century or two, use of magic has been viewed more and more impure, dangerous and sinful. Some countries like Usonia have banned the use of magic during the 19th century, and some have been just looking away, trying to forget both the horrors and the wonders of magic.

Still, the last grand appearance of magic was in the Great War - the final act where the dangers of magic were proven to all men.

Magical horrors of the Great War.

The German military was the first to use massive amounts of magic in warfare during the Battles of Flanders, after German mystics of the Nachtsegnende Society found a method to bind magical effects in weapons, creating magical weapons. The use of magical weapons was approved by the German High Command in an effort to break the presumed alliance between the United Kingdom and the Empire of Tirnanoc. The German High Command has made accusations that the British troops were supported by fae blood wizards, and that Germany was forced to defend in kind.

In time, magical weapons were used by almost all major belligerents, inflicting approximately 1 million casualties. The use of magical weapons in warfare was in direct violation of the 1869 Hague Declaration Concerning Unholy Rites and the 1899 Hague Convention on Land Warfare, which prohibited their use.

The effect of magical weapons was not limited to combatants. Civilians were at risk as the magical effects roamed through their towns, and they rarely received warnings or alerts of potential danger.  An estimated 300,000 civilian casualties were caused by magical weapons during the conflict. Many commanders on both sides knew such magical weapons would cause major harm to civilians but nonetheless continued to use them.

The war damaged the image of mysticism and magic in Europe, and strong objections against all things magical unfolded through the world. The Pope Leo XIV issued a papal bull banning all Catholics from becoming mystics, studying magical arts and using magical items. The bull declares that the canonical penalty of excommunication would be levied for any form of use of magic.

Forbidden magic

Magic is now illegal in most of the memberstates of the League of Nations, and the research and use of magic for warfare has been banned by numerous international treaties. Still, there are rumors about 'dark studies' performed by certain national groups, but no factual accusations have been made yet.

Treaties and laws are one thing, but outside cities and densely populated areas the old habits and beliefs die hard. In remote places religion, natural medicine and 'the old ways' might be hard to tell apart.

"Machines and machinations" - campaign

Premise

The Austro-Hungarian empire was nearly dissolved after the Great War, but the threat of Bolsheviks and the Ottomans gave emperor Charles I just enough bargaining chips to negotiate a future for the empire. The allied states' long-term goal was to rebuild the Austro-Hungarian empire to be capable of standing up to Russia or Ottomans. The allies feared that if the Austro-Hungarian empire is dissolved, the fragmented small nations created would not provide good enough of a buffer zone.

Still the future of the empire was not cheap as Italy, Poland, Romania and Serbia received territories from the Austro-Hungarian empire. The treaty included 'war reparations' of large sums of money, directed towards the Allies, and it limited the size of empire's navy and air force.

In 1920 the Treaty of Trianon decreed that the Principality of Transylvania was a separate kingdom entirely independent of Austro-Hungary. Unification of Transylvania with Romania was agreed to commence as soon as the four main sections of the treaty concerning the independence of Transylvania were fulfilled. The main sections were the founding of the Transylvanian Diet, the process of election for a king in Transylvania, removal of Austro-Hungarian troops from the area, and the methods to secure the safety of Hungarian and German population living in Transylvania.

The Principality had significant support from the Allied Powers, with British, French, and Italian army officers and government officials aiding and supervising in these early phases. Because of the small number of military and police forces the Principality controlled, the Allied Powers requested that Austro-Hungarian empire would give troops to Allied control, to secure the eastern border of the Principality. Emperor Charles I chartered the founding of the k.k. Freiwilligen Ausländisch Schützenregiment and ordered the regiment to be used in "good will and honest intention" to aid the Allied Powers in Transylvania.

Characters

Characters have volunteered to serve in the k.k. Freiwilligen Ausländisch Schützenregiment, the Austro-Hungarian foreign legion. Characters can be of any nationality. Officially the the majority of enlisted men originate from western Europe, but in reality large part of the personnel are Hungarian or Austrian, "ordered to volunteer". The actual foreign members of the legion are always placed in visible tasks, to highlight the "foreign volunteers" charter of the regiment. The officer corps are heavily representated by Austrians, but most of the low- and mid-level officers are foreigners.

Sturmschützen Eskadronen Nr. 2

Characters

THE MECHANIC

THE DETECTIVE

THE DOCTOR

THE PILOT

THE BOMBER

THE SHOOTER

THE RANGER