Avatar by Gaslight - Venus, a historical background. (Battle pics added! 100613)

[Fuzzywuzzieswiflasers]

This month I am running our big Gaslight game at Little Wars in Melbourne.

http://www.littlewarsmelbourne.com/

I have written a historical background to the game. It generally follows the "accepted" history of Venus with some elements of the film "Avatar" thrown in so the novices to the VSF genre will have some frame of reference.

Enjoy!


Avatar by Gaslight- Victorian Science Fiction on Venus.
 
As the first Ether ships took to the Cosmos brave explorers stretched out mankind's reach first to our neighbouring moon then the red planet Mars. Our other neighbour the planet Venus also drew ether ships to explore it with its mysterious surface hidden by a dense cloud cover.

It was the French Ether ship Providence commanded by Manuel Le Febrevere of the French Cartographic guild that first penetrated the cloud barrier to discover Venus' secrets. Le Febrevere discovered a hot, steamy planet covered in dense jungles, ravaged by massive tropical storms and populated by savage beasts of enormous size. Indeed so dangerous was the jungle terrain that Le Febrevere himself was killed in an unfortunate encounter with a giant Lizard creature.

Those first reports on Venus brought back to Earth by the Providence showed that in addition to the terrifying beasts that roamed the jungle there appeared to be two races of intelligent creatures that inhabited the planet. The first was a race of humanoid lizard like creatures, utterly barbaric, violent and merciless. All attempts to communicate with these creatures failed totally.

The second race of creatures was a race of humanoid parrotlike creatures that lived on the amazing floating mesas above the dense jungle. These Parrotmen called themselves the Na'vee. The Na'vee were not imediately hostile to Le Febrevere and his crew and they were able to open a basic dialogue and exchange gifts.

It was not long before other countries joined in the exploration of Venus. Very soon the planet was visited by the British, Americans and Prussians with several countries establishing small outposts for trading and exploration,however the harsh climate took a heavy toll on these settlements as the hot temperature bred disease and the number of deaths was very high.

The extremes of the Venusian terrain and the tyranny of distance would have limited the Venus expansion to a few small outposts for some limited trading and scientific exploration, however two significant discoveries would forever change the level of interest mankind had with this steamy hostile planet.

The first was the discovery of the giant Orcas Levitatus, a species of giant whale like creatures that flew through the skies of Venus. These creatures dubbed "Gales"(gas whales) like their earth cousins provided an array of commodities not least the Levitatus oil, which had many beneficial properties including a cure for gout.
Galing stations were established on the creatures migration routes and a small industry began to flourish.

The second and by far the most significant discovery that would forever alter the lives of humans and Parrotmen alike was the discovery of the rare mineral Unobtainium. This powerful mineral provided an immense power source far surpassing anything on earth. Unobtainium opened up the expansion of the new technologies and enabled great strides to be made in the aerial conveyances and ether ships that had previously only been available to government military of the extremely wealthy. It also unfotunately could be used as a terrible weapon and the great powers looked to secure their own reserves on the planet.

This unfortunately brought the humans into conflict with the Parrotmen as the Unobtainium was most concentrated in the ore veins that coursed through the floating mesas that the Parrotmen inhabited.

Great atrocities were committed by the great powers as they strove to secure Unobtainium. The Parrotmen were driven from their homes and in some cases massacred. The Parrotmen are now (with a few notable exceptions) hostile to humans and most human outposts have a significant military presence.

The great powers conspire against each other to secure the riches of Venus. This conflict takes the form of espionage and intrigue, a kind of "cold war" exists between the nations, but in the vast expanses of Venus far from home, battles are fought and men die, and these events never make it to the front page of The Times or The Washington Post.

Avatar by Gaslight is a Victorian science fiction/ steampunk public participation game with 28mm figures and the ruleset "Gaslight".

[von Lucky]

Sounds exciting - I'm guessing it will be on the scale of your other VSF games. Looking forward to seeing this later in the month.

[tomogui]

Yes indeed, looking forward to seeing this in the flesh soon! Save me a seat!

[Ray Rivers]

Great background story, Fuzzy!

Your Avatar by Gaslight minis and board is absolutely fantastic.

Hopefully you have added to your collection.

Am wondering if any "Gales" will make an appearance?

[Fuzzywuzzieswiflasers]

I do have some designs for my Ghales but I don't think I would have the time.

However Eureka do a Moby Dick whaling set that I could slap a boiler on and some wings and make a aeronef harpoon boat!      Now Fuzzy stop yourself you're getting carried away...again.

Cheers
Fuzzy.

[Traveler Man]

Sounds like a cool concept. Venus really cries out for an Avatar-like setting. 

[Ray Rivers]

We demand photos!

Will be awaiting your report. 

[OSHIROmodels]

Looking forward to the photos indeed 

cheers

James

[Fuzzywuzzieswiflasers]

Little Wara is on the 25th of May.

The Main thing I need to add is the Parrotmen battle barge. I have some more dinosaurs done (you can never have enough dinos!  ).

Also if time allows I have another floating island with a Parrotmen village to construct.

And lastly if imam really motivated, a new British flying ironclad....

Getting motivated is the hard part!

Cheers
Fuzzy.

[OSHIROmodels]

Also if time allows

  It never does unfortunately 

cheers

James

[Froggy the Great]

very nice!  My High Cythereans look remarkably like the na'vee,I might retcon a few things with your inspiration.

[surdu]

Sounds great!  I'm sure it will be a rousing success. I'd love to see pictures and perhaps post one on the GASLIGHT web site if you're willing.

[Sinewgrab]

Hmm, how do I get my Norwegians to Venus?

[Red Orc]

Who are they allied with? Maybe they could hitch a lift with the British, or the Prussians, or the Russians... whoever isn't allied to the Swedes really.

[Fuzzywuzzieswiflasers]

A bit more background. Pictures of barge soon to follow
Cheers
Fuzzy.


Avatar by Gaslight
Part Two - The Na'vee.

The Na'vee Parrotmen of Venus inhabit for the most part the floating mesas that cover the surface of Venus. Scientists suspect that the presence of Unobtainium in these Mesas contributes to their levitation but this has not been confirmed. Certainly the highest concentrated ores of Unobtainium are found in these Mesas.

Before the arrival of Humans, the Parrotmen lived a semi-nomadic hunter gatherer lifestyle. The floating mesas were subject to the strong winds and storms that are common in Venus, and the mesa are prone to move with the winds. Larger Parrotmen communities can bind several mesa together to make larger settlements that are less prone to movement.

The main source of transportation for the Parrotmen are the flying lizards called Banshee. The Parrotmen have trained these creatures, and they ride them during hunting expeditions and in battle. However for the transport of many people or goods for trade, the Parrotmen have constructed flying sail barges. These sail barges use internal bladders full of the gases extracted from butchered Ghales for levitation and sales for propulsion and manuever.
A less common form of transportation is via wooden howdah attached to the backs of captured Ghales but this can prove troublesome as the Ghales are prone to violent thrashing if they are held captive too long.

The Parrotmen have limited technology,but they have perfected a form of gunpowder which they use in their muskets  and in their harpoon guns when hunting Ghales.

When the Parrotmen encountered the humans,they entered into friendly trade relations. However once the humans began mining their homes to extract the Unobtainium, the Parrotmen fought to protect their homelands. Several bloody wars have been fought between humans and Parrotmen. However the Parrotmen are quick learners and realised that the different groups of humans could be played off against each other.

The Parrotmen negotiated temporary alliances or treaty's with the different human factions, trading access to Unobtainium in exchange for weapons and other human technology. It is now not unusual to see Parrotmen war parties armed with modern rifles and the sail barges fitted with cannon and steam engines.

The Parrotmen vastly outnumber the humans on Venus however their main weakness is their lack of unity. Centuries of tribal wars and blood feuds prevent them from working together effectively to cast out the humans. The soothsayers tell of a prophecy that one will arise from among the Na'vee and unite the different nations to rid Venus of the invader. The humans live in fear that one day the chosen one will appear.