Introduce yourself (Mk. III)

[J. Wilhelm]

Hullo everyone,

I'm a general science fiction fan who's joining the community forum to learn more about steampunk. I grew up in the shadow of Manchester's dark satanic mills, tramped around Great Britain as an antiquarian (i.e., "archaeologist"), and moved to Emperor Norton's California, before finally settling in New Jersey. It was in New Jersey, that I attended one my first steampunk convention—one of the COGS Steampunk Expositions (a gaming-centric one).

My curiosity about steampunk is driven by several adjacent or near-adjacent enthusiasms, including:

• games, whether tabletop role-playing games, miniature war games, board games, or play-by-(electronic)-mail games,
• fanzines (I edit—well, write—a general SF analogue games 'zine titled Back to the Spaceport),
• scientific romances,
• Mr. Bryan Talbot's Luther Arkwright and Mr. Michael Moorcock's Oswald Bastable,
• psychogeography and hauntology (especially utopian futures that never happened).

Finally, I have a (slowly) developing interest in eco-marxism and William Morris's dream visions which I hope steampunks will not find too distressing.

Sincerely,

Welcome to the forum Mr. Harsldson! Feel free to post, and don't forget we have a Historical section for those personalities from yesteryear, A Metaphysical section for all the theoretical discussion, and a Textual section should you engage in fiction writing.  There's a couple of Esoteric Meta-Clubs in a child section of Metaphysical that may need dusting off, but they're still there.

One thing though, we are strictly an apolitical forum. And finally, you'll find that we are strong on aesthetic movements of the 19th and early 20th centuries.

I remain at your service

Adm. J. Wilhelm.

[David Vivian Haraldson]

Thank you for the warm welcome, Adm. Wilhelm--and for the helpful clarifications. All greatly appreciated.

[Ernst Frutphlinguhr]

Greetings to you, my Lords, Ladies and Distinguished Personages of Other Designations. Permit me to introduce myself. My name is Ernst Joachim Frütphlïnguhr and I am a scientist (principally of biology, but with an interest in Aetheric Physics and certain branches of organic chemistry), irrespective of the less savoury sobriquets that have been assigned to me by lesser minds. I am quite sure you have at least some familiarity with them. The Beast of Berindu, the Maniac of Mukacheve and the Monster of Marston Bigot. Yes, I am familiar with those and sundry others. What I trust is apparent to you is that these events and similar unpleasantnesses are the exception, not the rule. You only hear of my exploits, outside of refined academic circles, when those heroic do-gooders and their assorted hangers-on turn up to disrupt my perfectly reasonable experiments. As may then be expected, certain disasters are more or less bound to occur. I freely admit, in the spirit of openness to which I have signed, that the incident in Jalová was entirely my own fault, and I am pleased to learn that most of the valley returned to habitability within two years; although I am given to understand that the locals now lock their doors at night and burn their dead.

Until October 1886 I held tenure at the Ostoba és Veszélyes Gyakorlati Tudományok Akadémiája Kárpátalján, or for my English speaking readers, the Transcarpathian Academy of Ill-Advisedly Applied Sciences, as the Chair of Applied Kakóology. However, after the blundering idiots of the Ethics Committee¹ decided to investigate the hybridisation process that I had developed in, might I say, mid-experiment and the resultant release of a pack of honey badger-cassowaries² with their eidolonic fields still in morphic flux, I was called to order. Or at least I would have been if not for the tragic misunderstanding with the splendid chaps of the High Energy Aether team, now deceased³, that lead to the creation of the lovely new geological park and lake east of Synevyrs'ka Polyana. This explosion, which I am pleased to report was heard as far away as Uzhhorod and Stryi, was apparently the last straw and I found myself stripped of my Seat⁴ and expelled from the Academy. To be honest, I do not fully understand the seriousness of the problem. Within two days a matter copy had been assembled of the Academy itself, lifted from a nearby partial parallel that we had initiated for just this type of event. There was some muttering about unethical animal experimentation and a jaw-droppingly cavalier attitude to workplace safety, or so I'm told, but since the evidence was now safely lost in the functionally infinite parallel realms, I felt that it didn't really matter.

I did, however, find myself without board and lodgings and my stipend for some tediously bureacratic reasons, so I was forced to seek my sustenance elsewhere whilst the last wrinkles were ironed out.

A brief career as an itinerant doctor came to an abrupt halt when agents of Her Imperial Britannic Majesty's government found me in Strasbourg, eager to ask me pointed questions about the Marston Bigot affair. To cut a long story short, I was given the offer of joining the active arm of the British Imperial Expeditionary Force or discovering the joys of the gulags. Two airships, one train ride and a secret court hearing later and I found myself paired with Lady Emeline Mausbracket and whisked off on my first out of context adventure. That was nearly a decade ago.

I am now three years beyond my initial term of service and parole, but I have come to realise that the war we fight is bigger than my pride. We cannot lose this, the stakes have never been higher.

Cogsworth Hall, October 15th 1897

______________________________

¹  A recent visit to another Earth introduced me to the remarkable word, "Cockwomble", defined as a useless bumbling idiot. Never has a word so accurately captured the members of the Ethics Committee.

²  Unusually for me, this was a comission rather than pure research. No, I am still not at liberty to identify the client.

³  For a suitably vague definition of that word. I understand that it has recently become the fashion to descibe their status as, "Discorporated, banished or otherwise presumed absent for the conceivable future".

⁴  Interestingly, owing to the loss of records resultant from the event, although I was stripped of my seat, I still technically hold tenure, if only because without the original certificate bestowing the position, it is apparently bureaucratically impossible to revoke it. What a fascinating world we live in!

[von Corax]

Welcome aboard, Prof. Frütphlïnguhr, and my condolences to a fellow victim of the Ethics Committee, bane of Doctoral candidates everywhere.

[RJBowman]

I don't think I ever submitted an intro. Since the board has completed migration, I guess this is a good time.

I'm Robert Bowman from Monroe, Michigan, a town on Lake Erie where General Custer was born. I co-own a comic shop and handle the mail order portion of the operation. Since I was a child, I've loved antique machinery, early science fiction, and Rowland Emmet kinetic sculptures. There was a 1910's era book of electrical experiments that I used to love to read, but at the age of 12, I didn't really have the skill or resources to build any of the apparatus described. That was the 1970's. I guess was into steampunk before it had been named as such.

[IRON JACK]

Come onboard ladies and gentlemen!  Don't be shy!  I know there are a few new members out there!

I am also a member of a robot collecting forum called Alphadrome. About 10 years ago we decided to build an orig model robot. As I was from London I invented a Victorian robot called IRON JACK a while later I invented his robot dog BARKER. Soon after I used all my focus to write a book based on the characters and after numerous edits and eventually a complete re write I got 4 offers from publishers. The book IRON JACK is released on the 28th November.

[Hez]

Welcome and best wishes for your book.

[Sorontar]

Welcome to Brass Goggles. I hope your book is well received.

Sorontar

[Xenos]

So, I'm still alive. Been a couple of years (come December). My health took another nasty turn. That's all done and dusted though. And as of September THIS year, I've been deemed no longer in remission but officially cured of cancer, so that's nice.

Uh... Probably the biggest thing though is uh, them of you what's none me for... However long I've been a member (13 years? Ish?), you lot have known me as a fella. Well, last December, I finally decided to stop living that lie and uh...

Hi everyone, I'm Xenos Mary O'Sullivan. Even started on the girl juice. Have my second referral for surgery as well, I speak to the consultant this December.

Before anyone asks, no, this isn't sudden. This isn't out of the blue. A whole host of my health issues have been resolved (including my heart issues!) since starting the fem-n-m's. I've had my (actual, not the one presented here) femme name picked out since I was 12.

But yeah... uh... Hi. I'm trans. And that's uh... a big reason I've had so many health issues for so long. It was actually pretty hilarious how quickly my metabolic panels started to straighten out, within 3 months I went from "Hey, you're a medical malady and close to dying" to "Hey, you're still disabled because of seizures, PTSD, and autism, but your metabolic panels are AMAZING now!"

Anyway, yeah...

I'm around... ish... terrified of coming out here. But you lot deserve to know the real me!

~X.M.O.

[von Corax]

Hi, Xenos, and welcome (back) to Brass Goggles!

[Sorontar]

Good to see you back Xenos.

Sorontar

[Xenos]

I'm glad to be back! This time armed with a 3D Printer! I may actually get to making some stuff once the weather changes (resin it turns out is uh... particular about that sorta thing)

[J. Wilhelm]

So, I'm still alive. Been a couple of years (come December). My health took another nasty turn. That's all done and dusted though...

Anyway, yeah...

I'm around... ish... terrified of coming out here. But you lot deserve to know the real me!

~X.M.O.

Xenos, welcome back!  I'm very glad to see that things have turned out for the better, health wise.

And don't worry about coming out.  This is by far the easiest place to do so.  Brassgoggles is where I first came out as enby/fluid about a decade ago.

At the end of the day, you were always the same person we knew.  You just couldn't express all of yourself. And yes, life is all about change and self discovery. A few gifted ones know right away, as soon as they can talk.  Most of us, just struggle with it.

You might want to sneak a peak to the Queer Geer (as sparse as the thread is), just in case you're interested, as we've added a few members to the club, some old veterans of the Forum, and some as new(er) members of Brassgoggles. We've also lost contact with at least one other member -a long time member of BG, with no prior notice, and hope they're alright and nothing has happened to them, but I haven't a way to know.

Anyhow, hop in!

Johannes Wilhelm
AKA
Julin Wodinaz Bahlmann.

[Xenos]

SNIP

Thanks kindly for the welcome. And indeed I shall poke my head in over at the Queer Gear!

It's right you are I'm the same person I've always been. Not much has changed, other'n now my smile is genuine, and I'm much happier!

Always sad to hear a longtime member has dipped--it's why I try and pop in at least every few years--then again, you lot should be pretty used to my routine absences by now!    Rest assured though, I have things in place you lot will have closure with me, should I ever leave the board, there will be a farewell. If I ever shuffle loose this mortal coil, my nesting partner will make a post here for me. /shrug

I don't like leaving people in the dark, even if I do end up popping off for... nearly two years at a time!

[Ore Cart]

  Well, I am new here and typed out a nice long introduction but left the page to look up a definition and the whole thing disappeared and logged me out.  I'm not very tech savy, but I used to be.  I'm a scrap metal artist interested in what constitutes steampunk.  I am sending this before it goeas away.

  So, I see I have to verify a bunch of letters to post this.  Not crabbing, just new to this forum. 

[von Corax]

Welcome, Ore Cart! I do hope you'll share your interpretation of Steampunk with us.

So, I see I have to verify a bunch of letters to post this.  Not crabbing, just new to this forum. 

I had forgotten that I had turned that on a year or so back when we were inundated with spambots. It's off now. (Anyway, they say 'bots are better at solving those things than we humans are... )

[Ore Cart]

  Thanks for the welcome!  I certainly will share, but right now I'm just doing some resesrch and gathering ideas.  Looking for a new direction to take my art.   I just wanted to introduce myself.

  I used to tinker around with robotics and electronics....  I think I tinker around too much sometimes.   

[Ore Cart]

  Btw, I have just never ran into the verfy post feature anyway.

[Hez]

So Welcome and welcome back. 
the more the merrier!

[Sorontar]

At least you don't have get a verification letter from your Great Uncle Gerald Whilmingston, from Upper Turnspike in another county or shire or province, delivered post haste via the mail service within the next 24 days.

Well, I hope you don't. Welcome regardless.

Sorontar

[J. Wilhelm]

At least you don't have get a verification letter from your Great Uncle Gerald Whilmingston, from Upper Turnspike in another county or shire or province, delivered post haste via the mail service within the next 24 days.

Well, I hope you don't. Welcome regardless.

Sorontar

That would be too antiquated. It'll probably be delivered by Wells Fargo Stage Coach.

[Ore Cart]

  I am currently located in a diving bell, deep beneath the ice crust on Europa so Wells Fargo Stage Coach presents a problem.  It came through via telegraph key. 

  Edit: Just joking around about that.... I really am not in a diving bell on a moon.  8-)

[Hez]

I am currently located in a diving bell, deep beneath the ice crust on Europa so Wells Fargo Stage Coach presents a problem.  It came through via telegraph key. 

  Edit: Just joking around about that.... I really am not in a diving bell on a moon.  8-)

Ohh, how disappointing.  I was going to invite you to the submariners station for tea and crumpets.  Make that tea and scones.  I am unsure what exactly a crumpet is or how to catch and prepare one.

[Ore Cart]

  Ok, I was just joking about joking about living in my diving bell.  It's an odd thing.....   

  What a kind offer, I may take you up on it.  I haven't hunted crumpets in years, though, after having been viciously mauled by one.  They are good fried in lard with salt and pepper.  Just a pinch and hint of tarragon, oh my.  I'm getting hungry now.

  This is a nice forum, it seem's non judgemental for the most part and is filled with creative, immaginative people.  From what I have seen.  I don't understand it all but it's fun reading and learning from a new angle.

  Btw, Ore Cart isn't my real name.

[Ore Cart]

  I don't fit in anywhere.  I give up.  Maybe I should cave in and go on facebook or instogram.  Mayby if I had a brass steam guage implanted sticking out the top of my head?