Somehow came to me while doing the environmental unit in chemistry (which makes me happy for the sole reason I haven't already had those lessons).
Title: Mount (could be changed)
Genre: Steampunk
Protagonist: Theodore Florence, a twenty-something young man with dark hair, olive skin, and hazel eyes. He's tall but skinny and dresses very well. His family is filthy-rich, and he's grown up in a sheltered place that let him stay cheerfully naive. He has an extremely positive view of human progress. He is stubborn and may be prone to challenging others to a duel-to-the-death if he doesn't get what he wants.
Other Main Characters: Daphne, Theodore's 19-year-old sister. Her skin and hair are lighter than her brother's, but they certainly have a family resemblance. She keeps her very long hair in a fancy updo and has a weakness for elaborate dresses and hats. She's very sympathetic towards others. She's just as naive as her brother but handles affronts to her fantasy world a bit better.
Dobson and Crick, two high-class engineers in the Florences' service. They're both well-built geniuses (though Dobson is a bit on the short side) that have fallen on hard times. They'll happily work on foolish projects just for the money.
Antagonist: At this point, nature and the laws of physics. There could be other opposition as the story progresses.
Setting: Typical steampunk universe. The actual story takes place in a Himalaya-type area, specifically their world's largest mountain. It has enough areas of vegetation to support some wildlife and peoples but is mostly rock face. The incline generally increases as the mountain goes up, and there are no roads beyond a few simple foot trails.
Plot: Theodore wants to build a railroad straight up the side of the mountain, more or less just because he can. Given the track and train won't be serving any real jobs, Dobson and Crick manage to work some steampunk engineering magic (depending of the advice of my engineer friends, it could involve actual magic if necessary) and start building the rails. The trip does not go smoothly, however, and Theodore's insistence on watching the entire process—and Daphne's tendency to follow him everywhere—starts to take a toll as the comforts available drop off. Still the Florences and their workers continue, challenging themselves to get past natural obstacles and the troublesome natives until they reach the summit.
Point of View: First person (Theodore).
Seems like pretty standard steampunk stuff. If the physics is a bit too much, I could make them try to get to the top to build a zeppelin airport, but that seems a little less fun.
Theodore sounds so endearing, for some reason. Probably because he's so naive and has such foolish ideas, but remains so optimistic.
ReplyDeleteI'm guessing that the environmental antagonists would slowly wear down the characters' idealism, as opposed to a human threat waking them up to the realities of the world. That sounds like it could end up being a pretty well-done allegory.
Environmental units in chemistry. *Shudders* I always hated that sort of "you're destroying the ecosystem!" type stuff.
Yes, I feel he would be endearing yet annoying. Maybe a bit like America. XD
ReplyDeleteI feel like most of their interactions with natives is going to be pretty positive, so it would definitely be the environment dragging them down. In fact, the natives could end up giving them a lift (emotionally).
Yeah, that part's not so much fun. On the bright side, the teacher presented me with my first non-biased view of global warming. It was quite refreshing.