Thursday, October 27, 2022

We are the sultans

 Latest bunny.

Sprawling fractious largely-dystopian setting with strong Steampunk elements, veering in the direction of real science but only so far.

Catastrophe strikes the Solar System and the only survivors are suspended above the clouds of Venus. Roll the clock forward a few centuries and stir scarcity into the mix and you have an entire ramshackle 19th-century tech level society barely holding on, fishing into the depths to eke out a bare subsistence of useful materials.

Among the hand-waves; breathable atmosphere. 50 miles or so up on the real Venus, the atmosphere is better described as "won't kill you instantly and horribly." Too much CO2, too little oxygen, and a wee small problem of sulfuric acid et al.

Also, no 19th-century diving suit is going to get you on to the surface. Postulate some sort of metal-sequestering Air Whales that can be hunted out where the water -- clouds -- are deep. And maybe some other air-dwellers that can be hunted for meat, fur, feathers, whatever. Have to add rain that you can actually drink and at this point the chemistry of Venus has gone completely fantasy but never you mind.

More to the point is a certain lack of originality. Sure, it is colorful and you could do a comic book or AAA game amid the warring civilizations and hard-scrabble colonies and intrepid explorers and archaeologists of lost technology and of course Heartless Air Pirates.

But it has all been done, more or less. From Bespin to Sultans of the Air to elements of Bioshock and even a little Sluggy Freelance (the "Oceans Unmoving" arc). 

Which is why it goes in the box of free plot bunnies.

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