Making his debut at this Exposition is Brassy Galore’s faithful metal companion, Grover Marland the Second. Brassy encounters more than few spooks and spirits in her line of work, and most of them are not at all civilized. For detection of such malevolent beings, Brassy is always sure to have Grover loyally standing by her side. His special mechanical sensory devices are able to detect the faintest traces of ectoplasmic material and his flashing tail beacon provides a warning that is easily seen in dark places. He is tenacious in his defense of Brassy, lending credence to stories of his power source being derived from the soul of a particularly fierce chihuahua.
Come see Grover Marland and many, many contraptions and oddities at our Exposition, starting tomorrow. We are still trying to reach our Kickstarter goal to cover the costs of this huge endeavor, so please donate if you have not. Every dollar counts!
Excuse me, madam. Is your dog relieving its steam residue on my tree?
Dr. Torque prefers to labor over his fantastic inventions in seclusion in his sprawling laboratory complex. Though his isolation frees his mighty intellect from social constraints, he is but one man and is often in need of additional strength in order to assemble his larger constructs. To this end, Dr. Torque has devised the Heavy Ambulatory Rider Operated Load Dispatching Equipment, or H.A.R.O.L.D.E. as he is affectionately referred to by his Creator. This ìiron manî amplifies a normal fellowís strength fiftyfold and is easily and surely controlled by a series of pulleys and gears as well as the Torque Laboratories patented Emeraldic Energy Extrapolators™ concealed within this behemoth.
The miracle of near-instantaneous messaging notwithstanding, recording and decoding telegraph messages is, at least, massively time consuming and, at worst, is the type of barbaric labor that a gentleman should avoid. Dr. Torque happens to be such a gentleman and has devised an elegant solution to this conundrum. Torque Laboratories is proud to present the Automated Torque Telegrapher, or A.T.T. for brevity’s sake. This ingenious contraption converts the crude dots and dashes of a wired transmission into a finely penned manuscript fit for the civilized eye. Its operation is a closely-guarded secret, and any specious mention of “orphan’s souls” will be met with the fiercest of lawsuits.
In the mid 1870′s,TORQUE Laboratories was well on its way to being the world’s most in-demand company to do business with. Everything that TORQUE put on the market was gold in the eyes of the investors. He had patents ranging from top-secret military contraptions all the way down to delicious meat pie recipes. All was going well for Dr. Torque, until the Great Disaster of ’77.
A very close colleague and long time friend of the family stole one of his patents and sold the underdeveloped product to a rival company. Things went horribly wrong and the rival company blamed Torque for the catastrophe that followed. Dr. Torque still feels responsible for what happened to all of those innocent people. He felt so betrayed that he terminated the employment of all of his technicians at TORQUE Laboratories and moved all future research into a secret limestone mine.
Alone in the mine, he began building a mechanically driven workforce to staff his laboratory.
One member of this mechanical workforce is the Heavy Ambulatory Rider Operated Load Dispatching Equipment, or H.A.R.O.L.D.E. for short. H.A.R.O.L.D.E. was initially designed to help Torque with lifting heavy materials and reaching certain areas with greater ease. After a few upgrades, Torque found that H.A.R.O.L.D.E. proved helpful elsewhere than the lab, like on the front lines of war… against the supernatural.
We will be seeing more of H.A.R.O.L.D.E. in the near future. In the meantime enjoy these rough thumbnails and concepts that became H.A.R.O.L.D.E.
Urban Ghosts Media is a great online magazine that focuses on abandoned places, hidden history and alternative travel. They recently posted a few postcards from French artist Villemard and his “Visions of the future” – 1910 postcards depicting the year 2000 . We think they are great inspiration for Steampunkers, so we felt the need to share a few with you. Here is what they have to say about these amazing illustrations.
“In the years prior to the dawning of the new millenium, there was an intense exitement for what the year 2000 might hold for the world. Science fiction writers have long expressed their visions of the future in their work. H.G. Wells did so in The Time Machine, while George Orwell examined an altogether more dystopian future in Nineteen Eighty-Four. But less well known – and every bit as inspired – are French artist Villemard’s 1910 postcards showcasing his vision of Parisian life in the year 2000.”
Dr. Torque created this pair of plasma pistols at Jasper’s request. These unique weapons can affect both spiritual and physical foes with equal ferocity.
To keep from encumbering Jasper with an over-abundance of gear on his back, each pistol carries a miniature version of the Emeraldic Energy Extrapolator, which in turn powers each plasma containment sphere. The excess power generated by the Emeraldic Energy Extrapolators is fed back through braided hoses to a small boiler and converted to steam. This steam is, in turn, stored under pressure in the cannisters on Jasper’s back.
The pistols can be switched from plasma to steam power and back, depending on the type of adversary that is encountered. Japser’s heavy leather gauntlets protect his forearms from any errant steam or plasma discharges.
Jasper has a special fondness for his plasma pistols, and often can be seen brandishing them with great pride.
