| There are any number of ideas and suggestions for Nocker characters. Concepts, costumes, inventiones and technology and props... The list is endless. So, without further adieu, here are some of the above.
Concepts:
... include such means of employment as Harbour Pilot, Salvage Tug Captain, Environmental Engineer, Architect, Craftsman at the Farmers' Market, Unemployed Inventor, Cinematographer, Shag Harbour UFO Researcher, Shipwright, Ship's Architect, Sanitation Engineer, Secondary School Teacher, Cryptozoologist*, Psychiatrist*, Photographer*, University Mechanics Student, Anarchist, Political Social Scientist, Train Engineer, Tattoo Artist, Automotive Mechanic for a Race Car Team.
Costuming:
Nockers could tend to be grubby and dirty from their work, however they also tend to craft very elaborate 'dress' clothes for themselves, with a very ornate sense of style. Still, one should still have the tools of the trade somewhere (fancied up tool belts or work aprons come to mind). I would imagine that most of the time (like most truly inspired geniuses) would give little thought to clothing but for courtly functions a Nocker may wish to look his or her best (though most likely they will grumble about it). Make up can easily be done to point out this Kith for what it is. Simple measures such as some rouge on the nose and cheeks and even swirl markings on the face are good. Extreme might be added white to the face with make up and even gluing on extend wispy eyebrows or long ears. With a Kith as easily marked as this, something along these lines should be done. As for Goblins, these wicked monsters tend to be outlandish in any case. Fluffy and tacky dresses, stained shirts, harsh clothing of any kind. They most likely have tools somewhere on hand (even the manner of how they carry them can play an important part in defining and individualizing a character). Duct tape would seem a logical must. Make-up for Goblins can be done in a variety of ways (such as all green) but much success has been demonstrated with a little well placed green.
As the book says, "Most nockers are fastidiously clean,
in glaring contrast to their verbal
manners. They may tolerate almost
any mess in their workshops or
mines, but they are fashion
trend-setters in public. More is better
according to most nockers' fashion
sense. Their voile is bedecked with
every type of ingenious fastener,
eyelet, truss, lace, and type of
stitching known to fashion designers
(and some that have yet to be
"discovered"). Most nocker clothing
utilizes starkly defined lines and a
geometric, almost sculptured look.
Nocker fashions borrow from every
age, combining the elegance of high
sidhe voile with the decadence of the
seventeenth century French court, and
the quirkiness of the Mod and New
Wave movements.
Those who admire nockers'
mechanical devices also acknowledge
that they know their way around a
sewing room, though as a satyr once
less than kindly observed, many look
as though they wear their underwear
outside their clothing. Nockers aren't
embarassed by unique fashion styles,
arguing that their clothes only
accentuate their superior features.
Even in their human mein, most
nockers tend to dress eccentrically.
Physically, nockers are gnarled and
often grotesque in appearance. Most of
them tend toward pale complexions, or
else ruddy features."
Q.E.D.Fyne in adventuring clothes.
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nocker Deadbolt Hart in "dress whites".
An American nocker.
 .. another American nocker.
The nockers at the UK Changeling National Event 2003.
UK nockers again. |
Properties:
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Steam drives most of our powered inventions. There's only so much you can do with a gerbil on a treadmill. The old brick walls of Banality and thermodynamics won't let most chemical reactions work in the Dreaming. Steam, on the other hand, is easy. A little balefire, a little chimerical water, and you're cooking. We've built steam ships, and even our balloons and rocket-shell ships are steam driven. Just think Jules Verne.
- Kithbook: Nocker, p. 29.
Beyond Steam, clockwork and spring provides a solid foundation for motive power and sources of energy. Diesel, gasoline, and old car batteries, 'though, are right out.
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|  In the words of journalist Douglas Fetherling, Steampunk science fiction imagines "how the past would have been different if the future had happened sooner."
What is Steampunk?
Generically, the term Steampunk is used to include the genres of Victorian-Edwardian Science Romance, Gothic horror, Steampunk, Victoriana, and even silent films. Specifically, Steampunk is a relatively new genre within Science Fiction. There are actually 2 sub-genres of Steampunk: Victorian Steampunk, and Fantasy Steampunk.
steampunk
(STEEM.punk) n. A literary genre that applies science fiction or fantasy elements to historical settings and that features steam-powered, mechanical machines rather than electronic devices. Also: steam-punk.
Backgrounder:
Although there are antecedents, William Gibson's 1982 novel Neuromancer is generally considered to be the first example of a literary form called cyberpunk. This science fiction subgenre places computers, networks, and electronics (the cyber- part) inside a future that is anarchic and often dystopian (the punk part; from the anarchic, dystopian punk rock music of the mid- to late-70s). Move the setting to the past, especially the Victorian age, take out the electronics and replace them with mechanical devices, especially elaborate, steam-powered contraptions, and you have a new genre: steampunk.
Steampunk often imagines what the past would have been like if the future hadn't happened so quickly. It imagines, in other words, what engineers and inventors might have come up with if they'd had another, say, one hundred years to tinker with mechanical and steam-powered machines. (Some examples: a steam-powered flamethrower; a spaceship made of steel and wood.) In other cases, steampunk envisions a historical world that has modern elements. For example, in The Difference Engine, Gibson and coauthor Bruce Sterling imagine a late 19th century world in which Charles Babbage was able to build his "difference engine" — the first computer — and so the computer and communications revolution occurred one hundred years earlier than it did [in history].
I should note, as well, that people are also describing other media as steampunk, especially video games and movies. For the latter, the steampunk label has been applied to films such as Wild, Wild West, Brazil, and even Edward Scissorhands.
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What is Victorian Steampunk?
Victorian Steampunk is any work of modern Science Fiction which is: set in the Victorian-Edwardian period; imitates the style, themes, and content of Scientific Romance, Gothic horror, and Imperialist Adventure; and may use characters from those genres as well. Examples include Dinotopia by James Gurney, The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen comic, and The Difference Engine by Willam Gibson. What is today known as "Steampunk" has its beginnings in the early days of pulp fictions, for the genre is really a combination and imitation of the Scientific Romance and Gothic Horror genres of literature.
What is Fantasy Steampunk?
Fantasy Steampunk is any Sci-Fi which combines elements of Fantasy and the Industrial Revolution, mixing magic and steam power. Examples include the Castle Falkenstein role-playing game, the anime Escaflowne (kind of), and the computer game Arcanum.
What is Science Romance?
Science Romance is the name attributed to the pioneer Science Fiction produced in the Victorian (1837-1901) and Edwardian (1901-the interwar period) eras. It includes the work of H.G.Wells, Jules Verne, and Edgar Rice Burroughs.
What is Gothic horror?
Gothic horror is a style of horror literture which features antique settings, isolation, family curses, insanity, incest, and often ghosts or vampires. The genre actually began in the 1700s, but was still around by the end of the Victorian era. The two best known Gothic novels are Frankenstein and Dracula. Gothic Horror is the underside of the Imperial experiment, the indulgence and exploration of the shared Victorian phobias and fears. In a society where pedigree is everything, what if there is some abhorent curse in the family past? Where the heirarchy of status is all-important, what if a malevolent kitchen boy conives his way to the throne? What of the miracle of technology when it is used to learn that which man was not meant to know? Incest, lingering ghosts and family curses, darkened moors and ruined cathedrals, melodramatic emotional supermen and Satanic rites mark this genre.
 Return to the main nocker page.
Visit the vaults of the Bes Din, or the VSS for Jumpstation Acadia.
Explore the options for villainy.
The UK Nocker page.
Perhaps of interest...
.. Paradigma Online - not as good as the Chimerical Advocate.
.. Sons of Ether Tech - mad scientists and aethermen.
 .. John Worrell Keely and his Free Energy machine may provide some inspiration for the budding Inventor or Mastermind.
.. Also available is Nineteenth Century Scientific American Online; a repository of Divers and Curious Designs and Patents intended to Delight and Inspire.
 .. Zeppelins, the way of the Future, brought to you Today!
.. One last look at the ideas of misguided mortals, before encouraging you to sign up for courses at Transylvania Polygnostic University.
 .. In standard Aethernet tradition, a number of nockers have prepared a F.A.Q.U.
.. While planning your next campaign of world domination, it may be wise to consider the following advice.
.. Another Aethernet site has also compiled a list of resources for those they have dubbed "Mad Scientists" - Mad? Mad! I'll show them! I'll show them all!!
 .. Feld's Geegaws are an assortment of devices and additionals of interest for your Calculating Babbage Engine.
.. A Difference Engine, designed by the scientists Gibson and Sterling, with experimentation and further theoretical diversion by Eileen K. Gunn.
.. Potentially useful is this Page of Fantastic, Mysterious, and Adventurous Victoriana.
.. Also within our Library are the assorted works of Leonardo da Vinci, including his Adding Machine, as well as the Museo Leonardiano Di Vinci.
.. The Resources and Bibliograph List of Philip Masters can prove a Valuable Resource.
.. The Engine-text versions of a number of fine works of Literature are available thanks to Mount Royal University in the Kingdom of Northern Ice.
.. Prominently, we also offer an Aethernaut Gallery of Vanished Orbital Bodies, of use both in an Historical and a Contemporary Setting.
.. Fear the Orbital Mind Control Lasers of Doktor Fyne (patent pending)? this man does, but he has the solution (patent unapplied).
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.. another American nocker.
