#RPGaDay2024 Day 10 – Steampunk

Day 10 #RPGaDay2024, I continue writing using the alternative prompt challenge list by Skala Wyzwania. For more information on RPG a Day, see David Chapman’s Autocratik blog post for 2024.

The RPG challenge theme for today is Steampunk. This topic changes the narrative I’ve been threading through these posts. Let’s see what comes out of this—rolling a 1d10 for the quest. The result is 5: Write a legend or rumor.

The Legend of Ancient Ravall

The clockwork makers of ancient Ravall were renowned for their steam-powered mechanical constructions. From the Iron Wagons that crisscrossed their Princedoms with thunderous clatter, trailing the smoke plumes they left behind, to the soot-covered automated great gates to the capital of Ravall’ker, to the automaton servants and warriors that fought wars and harvested food as the people of Ravall grew complacent and decadent.

The automatons rose and slayed their mortal creators and took the place of their masters. But the machines decayed, the automatons could not fix their creators’ works or create new automatons, and Ravall fell into silence. The machines were motionless and soundless, the steam no longer bellowing over their cities. The other peoples of the world saw Ravall as a warning; the terrible dangers of clockwork and steam and distant Ravall went unvisited; eventually, the way there was lost and became simply a curiosity to scholars and a tale told to children as a warning.

But during these dark times, the forbidden legendary wonders of Ravall are whispered by some as the answer to the time of the Potentates of the Night and the Darkness. Weapons of war and automaton warriors who can face the creatures of the night without being tainted by the Darkness; the brave, or foolhardy, search for the way to reach the lost valleys of the Princedom. Others say that the secret way there has been found. That a cabal of warlocks holds court in the silent cities of brass and steam and that the gears of old Ravall turn once more.

I thought writing for this challenge would be harder, but the ideas flowed. This prompt inspired the continuing story I’m crafting in these posts. However, they are becoming self-referential, and I wonder if this makes it more difficult for the casual reader to pick up. What do you think? Should I make connections to the previous post more evident in the post or add some footnotes? Are they necessary? I’d love to know your thoughts.

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