Eberron

One of the purpose of this blog is to share some of my D&D adventures and dungeons. But to make this possible let me introduce you to the Eberron's World.

The Khorvaire, the main continent of the Eberron Setting

Eberron is a Steampunk Fantasy Setting for the RPG Dungeons and Dragons. Created by Keith Baker, is setted in a world where magic and technology lives togheter.
The world of Eberron is faster then other setting for D&D, such as Forgotten Realms. There are some facility, like airship and the railway line that speeds the travel between two places. The world includes four continent but the best described is the Khorvaire, that is also the perfect setting for your adventures.

This continent is divided in three hypothetical zone: the left one that includes Droaam, Shadow Marches, Eldeen Renches and Demon Wast; The five Nations, The nation of the ancient Galifar empire, that includes Aundair, Karnath, Breland, Thrane and mournland; And the Ovest that includes Lhazaar principalities, Mror Holds, Q'barra, Talenta Plains and valenar; Dargun and Zilargo can be considered like an extension of the five nation.
You have to imagine that the characters are in a anachronistic historical epoch, corresponding roughly at the European XIX century. In this historical connotation what make the difference is magic and a powerfull use of the steam and anologic technology. In some aspect, the five nations remember the European Nations. In fact, if you look at the core of the politic situation of the Nations of the ancient Galifar's empire, you can see that the Aundair is governed by a Queen (Aurala Ir'wynarn) like the England of the Victorian age or the Thrane that, despite the presence of monarch by birthright, is influenced by a strong theocrazy, like Italy of the "risorgimento"; The Karnath, instead, remember for certain aspect the Germany of Bismarck.
Is a geopolitical intresting situation, that puts in condition to create amazing adventure not only based on simple quests. Furthermore, do not forget that there' are a lot of group of power, firstly the dragonmarked house, and, also, there'is a misterius prophecy that whraps the whole world called the draconic prophecy.

The quest that I will suggest to you, will often be set in Eberron, with an accurate description of their location. If you want to know something more about Eberron I recommend you visit this Wiki.

H.U.M.A.N.W.I.N.E.

This is a US band, from Boston. If you listen to it, you can find steampunk and sociopolitical themes. The singer voice is deep and warm, the music blends ethnic and punk-rock sonority, sometimes it remember the cabaret music.

Deep into That Eternal Darkness

Deep into that darkness peering, long I stood there wondering, fearing,
Doubting, dreaming dreams no mortal ever dared to dream before.

How many of you know this pitcure? Refers to the fifth stanza of the Raven of E. A. Poe. The pitcure is the opening screen of a game called Eternal Darkness: Sanity's Requiem for Nintendo GameCube, I recommend it to you.

The Secret of Blue Water

Hi there,

To begin this adventure I think it can be great that the first post on "Steampunk Tales" is abaout what let me know the Steampunk world: the Anime Nadia - The secret of Blue Water.

Nadia And Jean, The main character of the series.

The mind behind this anime is Hideaki Anno (knowed also for the series Neon Genesis Evangelion). It take ispiration from another Anime, "Castle in the sky" created by Hayao Miyazaki, and is loosely based on the masterpiece of Jules Verne "twenty thousand legues under the sea".

It is settled in the last years of the XIX century. The main Characters of the series are a fourteen years old girl, Nadia, and a fourteen years old boy, Jean. Nadia is a circus performer that hide a strange secret. She has a pendant with a particoular blue stone since she was born. She meets Jean in Paris, where the boy was going to take part in a demostration with his uncle.
Jean save Nadia from a group of thiefs that want the gem that Nadia has around is neck. In the gateawey from this peaple they became the protagonists of a journey in which they meets the crew of the "Nautilus", a submarine equipped with high technological stuffs, that goes beyond the Humans knowledge of the time. At the head of the crew there is the Captain Nemo, a key figure of the entire story. During their journey, Jean and Nadia will lives many adventures and know new friends and enemies.On their way, they will discover the story of human beings, and of the ancient civilization of Atlantis came before the same men.

In the end, the plot hides many shades and key of reading. There are a lot of references to the holy scripture, and to other media like the Verne's work. Neon Genesis Evangelion, that for many is the Anno's masterpiece, contains some quotes of "Nadia". By many ways Nadia - The secret of blue waters can be considered an extension of the concept of Miyazaki's Castle in the Sky. We can find many similarities in the way of acting of some characters of the two works, and do some parallels (we can compare, among the others, the character of Grandis and Captain Dola).
Must be added, also, that the plot is influenced to the thought of some philosophers like Nietzsche or Kant, and from the existentialism movement. In fact, you can find certain quote of these thinkers, expecially in the word of Nemo.

From many points of view, I prefer Nadia to NGE, in this one there is, however, a better characterization of the protagonist. If you are a followers of Anno, or not, you may watch this anime that is one of the best works of the 90' years.

Something to Talk about

Hello, Here we are.

I'm from Italy, probably my english isn't the best you can read. Who had read what I wrote in my language, think that I know How to write. but, Sure, for me, to write on a blog in another language is an hard challenge.
Howbeit, I think that I can learn a lot about writing in english.

After this short introduction, where I offer my apologies to the reader, I want to talk about the aim of this Blog: If you're reading this word, it will means that you want to know something related to "steampunk".

What does it Means?

For the basic information, I'll send you to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steampunk that is a good point to begin to know what steampunk is.

This blog is born, anyway, for two reason.
First of all, I want to share with you my experience with the steampunk media: Literature but also videogames, comics, art, movies and other. Furthermore, I want to write my story, adventure and tales because, in the very end, I'm a writer. If you're intrested in Role play games, such us dungeons and dragons, I will suggest to you some of my adventures, dungeons and settings.