[OOC] World Information
World Information
Overview
In an alternate reality to this one, the industrial revolution went just a little bit differently to how it did here. Rather than progressing gradually forwards from steam to electronics, steam and clockwork were simply improved upon and improved upon. Eventually, with this focus, a new craft was discovered--ergaleomancy. Meaning 'magician of gears', an ergaleomancer is a very rare person capable of not only building an intricately crafted machine, but capable of bringing life or magical power to the small things known as 'clockworks'.
Clockworks are the small devices that make this world flow smoothly. From an automatic clockwork water boiler to a clockwork animal that functions as a pet, they can come in all shapes and sorts. Clockworks are limited only by the law, which states that no clockwork can be able to wind itself or be designed with AI to harm living beings. Clanks are a larger relative to clockworks (though any clockwork over four feet tall is considered a clank), used more in industrial applications, though there are rumours that there are machines called "war clanks" available at the Queen's command to defend England.
Not that there's ever much call for that. Queen Victoria is approaching her 175th year on the throne after having her body modified with immortality granting clockworks, and has reigned over one of the most peaceful and glorious periods in British history. The British Empire has holdings on five continents, and is recognised as the foremost superpower of the world. If only society were also as enlightened as they liked to believe they were, the world might be considered perfect.
Victorian society both was in this dimension and is in this alternate world, very prudish and very gender segregated. Women are considered weaker than and subservient to men, with only two existing exceptions. The first is of course the Queen herself, ruling over the country with the power of a monarch despite her gender. The second is a set rather than a specific person, and encompasses the small group of people in the world known as ergaleomancers.
A female ergaleomancer is considered to be almost of equal standing with the men of society. The trade off is that she is then considered to be a man in society's place--no marriage, courtship, or children allowed, on pain of losing her 'status' and being expected to act like a 'normal' woman despite her talents. Then again, while they are allowed to hold the status of a man in society, there's still an undercurrent of resentment and insinuations that this is special treatment that can be revoked.
As such, the 'average' female ergaleomancer, generally speaking, will wear a skirt, but with a top with a man's cut (because the current fashion for normal women includes restricting the mobility of their arms, while a female ergaleomancer needs freedom of movement for her work), will still be soft-spoken and defer to male ergaleomancers. She is allowed to have an opinion, but it's generally considered polite to wait to be -asked- for it.
Over the course of history, different things have been invented, language has progressed, and generally things are quite different to how they were during the early years of Queen Victoria's reign. Though things are still reminiscent of the Queen's early life, many things are also different in this fantasy world.
Naming Conventions
Theta's name is half intentionally baffling and half explicable. There are other people with such names in her world, Φlip and Λaura are two named examples. There was a brief period of about five years (encompassing the time during which Theta was born) that ancient Greece was the 'in' thing and it was considered avant-garde amongst the celebrity culture to give their children names with Greek letters in the spelling. It's not even necessarily done -well-, as θ is pronounced 'th' and yet Theta's name is pronounced Elizabetheta. It -was- just jammed in there to look cool. ...And has been influencing the way people in Theta's own world react to her, up to and including a predisposition for the "*facepalm* Oh god, celebrities..." reaction, just like how real-world celebrities name their kids baffling things. She probably wouldn't have gotten the attention of the tabloids nearly as quickly as she did if her parents had given her a sensible name.
Overview
In an alternate reality to this one, the industrial revolution went just a little bit differently to how it did here. Rather than progressing gradually forwards from steam to electronics, steam and clockwork were simply improved upon and improved upon. Eventually, with this focus, a new craft was discovered--ergaleomancy. Meaning 'magician of gears', an ergaleomancer is a very rare person capable of not only building an intricately crafted machine, but capable of bringing life or magical power to the small things known as 'clockworks'.
Clockworks are the small devices that make this world flow smoothly. From an automatic clockwork water boiler to a clockwork animal that functions as a pet, they can come in all shapes and sorts. Clockworks are limited only by the law, which states that no clockwork can be able to wind itself or be designed with AI to harm living beings. Clanks are a larger relative to clockworks (though any clockwork over four feet tall is considered a clank), used more in industrial applications, though there are rumours that there are machines called "war clanks" available at the Queen's command to defend England.
Not that there's ever much call for that. Queen Victoria is approaching her 175th year on the throne after having her body modified with immortality granting clockworks, and has reigned over one of the most peaceful and glorious periods in British history. The British Empire has holdings on five continents, and is recognised as the foremost superpower of the world. If only society were also as enlightened as they liked to believe they were, the world might be considered perfect.
Victorian society both was in this dimension and is in this alternate world, very prudish and very gender segregated. Women are considered weaker than and subservient to men, with only two existing exceptions. The first is of course the Queen herself, ruling over the country with the power of a monarch despite her gender. The second is a set rather than a specific person, and encompasses the small group of people in the world known as ergaleomancers.
A female ergaleomancer is considered to be almost of equal standing with the men of society. The trade off is that she is then considered to be a man in society's place--no marriage, courtship, or children allowed, on pain of losing her 'status' and being expected to act like a 'normal' woman despite her talents. Then again, while they are allowed to hold the status of a man in society, there's still an undercurrent of resentment and insinuations that this is special treatment that can be revoked.
As such, the 'average' female ergaleomancer, generally speaking, will wear a skirt, but with a top with a man's cut (because the current fashion for normal women includes restricting the mobility of their arms, while a female ergaleomancer needs freedom of movement for her work), will still be soft-spoken and defer to male ergaleomancers. She is allowed to have an opinion, but it's generally considered polite to wait to be -asked- for it.
Over the course of history, different things have been invented, language has progressed, and generally things are quite different to how they were during the early years of Queen Victoria's reign. Though things are still reminiscent of the Queen's early life, many things are also different in this fantasy world.
Naming Conventions
Theta's name is half intentionally baffling and half explicable. There are other people with such names in her world, Φlip and Λaura are two named examples. There was a brief period of about five years (encompassing the time during which Theta was born) that ancient Greece was the 'in' thing and it was considered avant-garde amongst the celebrity culture to give their children names with Greek letters in the spelling. It's not even necessarily done -well-, as θ is pronounced 'th' and yet Theta's name is pronounced Elizabetheta. It -was- just jammed in there to look cool. ...And has been influencing the way people in Theta's own world react to her, up to and including a predisposition for the "*facepalm* Oh god, celebrities..." reaction, just like how real-world celebrities name their kids baffling things. She probably wouldn't have gotten the attention of the tabloids nearly as quickly as she did if her parents had given her a sensible name.