Steampunk: Brain Storming, Rants, Mutual Support, Plots

[professorzed]

One important thing to consider regarding steampunk is that it is soundly based upon the 'paleo-futurism' of the Victorian era. The futuristic visions of H.G. Wells and Jules Verne prevail.

Most often, a cyberpunk version of the future means such things as mechanic's goggles with brass watch-gears affixed to the sides and other such accoutrements.

One of the most oft-neglected considerations however, is the [b]gentleman's walking stick[/b] most commonly carried during the Victorian era. This wasn't because everyone in the 19th century had a bad leg. Rather, it was because there was a tremendous international crime wave during the 19th century which the police were unable to contain. The most effective way for most persons of gentle breeding to defend themselves from the common street thug was with a heavy walking stick.

The only thing that eventually alleviated this world-wide crime wave was the massive obliteration of the labor classes in the trenches of the first world war.

Sherlock Holmes in particular was an adept 'two-stick' fighter. He practiced the Victorian martial art of Bartitsu, invented by the British Engineer Barton-Wright.

http://www.bartitsu.org/

The Victorian gentleman could scarcely imagine leaving the house without his walking stick. The average English gentleman often had a collection of hundreds of such sticks. Many walking sticks of the era were 'trade canes' or 'gadget canes'. These contained the tools of one's trade, or in some cases secreted a weapon or a flask.

Gentle women of this era normally only carried a walking stick while in the countryside, or carried a 'Market stick' while shopping in the markets. In the city proper, most women thought of a gentleman's cane as 'too mannish', and restricted themselves to using 'cane like' umbrellas and parasols as very effective weapons of self-defense. Normally, this consisted of using the tip of the umbrella to jab like a bayonette, although the handle could be called upon to be used as a blunt striking weapon as well.

Fortunately, the Victorian martial art of Bartitsu has seen a resurgence. I myself was quite delighted to receive the quite excellent 'Bartitsu Compendium volume one' in the mail.

http://ejmas.com/jmanly/articles/2006/j ... _0506.html

[theCryptofishist]

The only thing that eventually alleviated this world-wide crime wave was the massive obliteration of the labor classes in the trenches of the first world war.

Cites? I do know that some sort of class rearrangement took place between the wars--large houses had servants in the Great War, in WWII, much less so. And certainly "carnage" was not an incorrect word for the damn thing. But really, killing off an entire undesirable class? I'm not convinced.

[Toolmaker]

The only thing that eventually alleviated this world-wide crime wave was the massive obliteration of the labor classes in the trenches of the first world war.

Cites? I do know that some sort of class rearrangement took place between the wars--large houses had servants in the Great War, in WWII, much less so. And certainly "carnage" was not an incorrect word for the damn thing. But really, killing off an entire undesirable class? I'm not convinced.

I think they were merely stating that most of the combatants were of the working class and lower class. I don't think they were trying to imply anything more sinister.. just a commonly known fact about war.

[theCryptofishist]

The only thing that eventually alleviated this world-wide crime wave was the massive obliteration of the labor classes in the trenches of the first world war.

Cites? I do know that some sort of class rearrangement took place between the wars--large houses had servants in the Great War, in WWII, much less so. And certainly "carnage" was not an incorrect word for the damn thing. But really, killing off an entire undesirable class? I'm not convinced.

I think they were merely stating that most of the combatants were of the working class and lower class. I don't think they were trying to imply anything more sinister.. just a commonly known fact about war.

Hm. I'm not sure that I'd peg a change in crime rate on that.

What was the death rate, by class, from "Spanish" Flu?

[professorzed]

[quote="theCryptofishist"][quote="Toolmaker"][quote="theCryptofishist"][quote="professorzed"]The only thing that eventually alleviated this world-wide crime wave was the massive obliteration of the labor classes in the trenches of the first world war.[/quote]Cites? I do know that some sort of class rearrangement took place between the wars--large houses had servants in the Great War, in WWII, much less so. And certainly "carnage" was not an incorrect word for the damn thing. But really, killing off an entire undesirable class? I'm not convinced.[/quote]

I think they were merely stating that most of the combatants were of the working class and lower class. I don't think they were trying to imply anything more sinister.. just a commonly known fact about war.[/quote]
Hm. I'm not sure that I'd peg a change in crime rate on that.

What was the death rate, by class, from "Spanish" Flu?[/quote]

Hmn. Well the Spanish Flu epidemic happened after the war (1918), and was no respecter of class or gender. The poor would often pass it on to their wealthy employees, easy enough to do when you share the same house. It's also an airborne disease.

http://history.cbc.ca/history/?MIval=Ep ... d=6&lang=E

Keep in mind that many people either had or domestic servants, since many of the labor saving devices we take for granted today had not been invented yet or were too expensive, and domestic labor was cheap and plentiful.

Yes, it's true that World War One was more of a convenient historical event, rather than a deliberately planned genocide of the lower classes. The war just happened to kill off millions of the unemployed, reckless youths that were making their living as thugs, prostitutes and pickpockets in streets of Victorian Europe and the United States. Most people at the time thought of war as a great adventure, and had no ideas of the horrors that waited for them from the machine gun, mustard gas, etc.

Of course, Karl Marx (and others) would argue that war is in fact, a very deliberately engineered by the state in order to rid itself of surplus labor. This is of course, his interpretation and there is no way to [b]prove[/b] or [b]disprove[/b] if such a thing is true.

However, we have to consider that there must have been some sort of impetus behind the First World War and the slaughter of millions of men besides the assassination of an Austrian Archduke by an Anarchist.

The lowest classes tend to be the ones that mostly died in the trenches. For one thing, there were simply a lot more of them than there were of the upper classes. Also, the upper classes were usually the Officers, directing the enlisted men to put themselves in the dangerous situations while staying out of harm's way. The pistols carried by officers were not designed to shoot at the enemy, but instead to shoot their own men who retreated or deserted.

An indication of the Victorian crime wave can be seen in pretty much any books by Charles Dickens (especially Oliver Twist), or any of the stories of Sherlock Holmes. The crime wave was present in the United States as well, such as (falsely) portrayed in the film 'Gangs of New York.'

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news ... gangs.html

During the Victorian era, there was very little or almost no social mobility. If you worked as a laborer, you were hired as a child of six years old and paid a sustenance wage to work in horrible, unsafe conditions. If you didn't work as a laborer, you had to resort to crime to survive. If you were a woman, either you were married, a maid, or a prostitute or pickpocket.

London was particularly bad, since it was the first city to have a population of one million since ancient Rome. The streets of London were poorly lit (gas lamps), and the understaffed, under paid Police force didn't have radios, telephones, police cars, or even pistols.

The Police at this time were a fairly new invention, created in 1812 by Robert Peel (and called 'Bobbies' or 'Peelers'). Policing of the city streets had previously been the job of the Militia, (i.e. the second Amendment) but England had an empire to maintain so their military resources were frequently depleted. A special quasi-military force had to be created specifically to control crime, and these were called 'Police'.

One interesting book about the Victorian crime wave is 'Hooliganism, A history of respectable fears'.


This is about the garroting gangs which plagued Paris, France and London, England during the 1860s. These gangs were called 'garroting gangs' because they would sneak up behind the victim and choke them with a silk scarf, while an accomplice simply helped the victim to the contents of their pockets.

http://openlearn.open.ac.uk/mod/resourc ... ?id=184696

One particularly nasty street gang in Paris called themselves 'The Apache', after the American Indians of the same name. These thugs developed very sophisticated 'dirty tricks' which they used to overcome their marks. Such as saying 'Oh, excuse me? Do you have a match?' When the mark lowers his guard, head butt him, or grab his head and smash it into your knee, etc.

http://www.savateaustralia.com/Savate%2 ... apache.htm

So, back to the topic of the street canes of the Victorian gentleman. Swords had been made illegal to carry in the streets of England, and while pistols were available many Englishmen felt uncomfortable carrying them. It was necessary to defend one's self in close quarters, and the Police could not be called quickly. It is for this reason that in every picture you see from Victorian England, every man is carrying a cane.

Incidentally, it was after the First world war that canes fell out of fashion. They were used by the war wounded as an ambulatory aid, and thus it was only acceptable to be seen with a cane if one needed it to assist in walking.

[professorzed]

[quote="theCryptofishist"]Hm. I'm not sure that I'd peg a change in crime rate on that. [/quote]

Well, picture it this way.

Have you ever seen this movie?



In this movie, a charismatic leader tells the gangs that there are 100,000 of them, and only 20,000 Police in New York City. If all the gangs agree to a truce, the street gangs can do pretty much whatever they want and the Police won't be able to stop them.

Now, imagine that a war breaks out and all 100,000 street gang members willingly agree go off to fight in a foreign overseas war, and end up getting killed or wounded.

What do you think the effect on the crime rate of New York City would be, as a result of the street thugs enlisting in the military?

Personally, I would see a massive drop in the crime rate as a result.

[madmatt]

Okay, okay. Here's a Steampunk Thread.

Long may it grow, and let my Firefox spell check learn "Steampunk" is a real word.

Out of curiosity, I borrowed "Steampunk Trilogy," the book from whence the terms springs, from the library. I just started reading it and it's pretty interesting.


"Steampunk Trilogy" by Paul Di Fillipo (1995) - Review by Publisher's Weekly

The term ``steampunk'' has come to intimate a subgenre of work set in a fantastic 19th century characterized by the inhumanity wrought by bogus science and a fanatical embrace of scientific method. Di Filippo's first book is a collection of three novellas that jumbles science and pseudoscience into an interesting, if not always completely successful, melange. The narratives are united not only by their reliance on the occult--mysticism dominates ``Walt and Emily'' while Lovecraft's monsters appear in the previously published ``Hottentots''--but also by their focus on female sexuality. ``Victoria'' replaces the Queen of England with a licentious salamander, while ``Walt and Emily'' features a robust poetic encounter between Ms. Dickinson and Mr. Whitman. Even the weakest of the pieces here--``Hottentots,'' in which nothing is learned while much credulity is stretched--features amusing faux-Victorian prose worthy of Anne Rice (``Like a Maine sawmill, like an asthmatic platypus... like a Michigan beaver... uneasily winter-dreaming of Ojibway hunters led by a wild Chief Snapping Turtle, Mister Dogberry roughly rasped and snorted through the night, making it nigh impossible for Agassiz to get any rest'') and enough ``scientific'' pasquinades to satisfy the Luddite in anyone

[madmatt]

Out of curiosity, I borrowed "Steampunk Trilogy," the book from whence the terms springs, from the library. I just started reading it and it's pretty interesting.

Ok, sorry, spoke too soon. First story of the trilogy was pretty interesting, and had a lot of wacky bizarro world evolutionary stuff. Ie giving growth hormones to a newt to create a human sized fuck puppet that lives in a brothel and that everyone loves to bone because she's all slippery and hairless. Yecch!

Anyhoo, spoke too soon because the book turned out to be total trash, somewhat entertaining. NOT what I would think would be the "steampunk bible" he he.