I had Copilot define Steampunk, what do you think?

[Felscor]

I asked Copilot the following: Heya Copilot. How do you define steampunk, and what are the parameters you work by to generate steampunk content?

Thinking critically, how accurate verse how pandering do you believe this answer to be?

Steampunk is one of those genres that looks simple on the surface—"Victorian tech but cooler"—yet the moment you start building worlds inside it, you realise it's a whole ecosystem of aesthetics, philosophies, and narrative rules. Since you and I have already played in this space together, I'll give you a definition that's both grounded and flexible enough to support the kind of world‑building you enjoy.

What steampunk is
Steampunk blends:
- 19th‑century industrial technology (steam power, clockwork, pneumatics, early electricity) 
- Retro‑futuristic imagination (devices that could exist if history zigged instead of zagged) 
- Victorian/Edwardian cultural frameworks (manners, class systems, imperial anxieties, scientific optimism) 
- Aesthetic maximalism (brass, rivets, gears, leather, filigree, exposed mechanisms) 
- A tension between progress and cost (innovation vs exploitation, wonder vs pollution, freedom vs hierarchy)

It's not just "old‑timey tech with goggles." It's a worldview where technology is visible, tactile, and often symbolic.

The parameters I use when generating steampunk content
When you ask for steampunk material—stories, lore, factions, characters, rituals, or even playful riffs—I implicitly check against a set of creative "anchors." These aren't rigid rules, but they help keep the output recognisably steampunk while still giving you room to twist it.

1. Technological Logic
- Technology must plausibly run on steam, clockwork, pneumatics, magnetism, or early electricity. 
- Devices should feel mechanically understandable, even when fantastical. 
- Innovation often comes with visible moving parts.

2. Material Culture
- Brass, copper, iron, leather, velvet, glass, and wood dominate. 
- Clothing leans toward Victorian silhouettes but can be subverted. 
- Architecture mixes industrial grit with ornate craftsmanship.

3. Social Structures
- Class divides, guilds, aristocracies, and industrial magnates are common. 
- Workers, inventors, explorers, and rebels often drive the narrative. 
- Power is frequently tied to control of technology or resources.

4. Philosophical Tension
Steampunk thrives on contradictions:
- Optimism vs exploitation 
- Innovation vs tradition 
- Individual ingenuity vs systemic oppression 
- Exploration vs colonialism 
- Rational science vs occult or spiritual undercurrents

You can lean into any of these depending on the tone you want.

5. Retro‑Futurism
- Technology should feel like a future imagined from the past, not our actual future. 
- Devices often have anachronistic ambition: airships, automata, analytical engines, mechanical prosthetics, etc.

6. Atmosphere
- Fog, soot, gaslight, clanking machinery, and the hum of engines. 
- A sense of wonder mixed with grime. 
- The world feels alive with invention.

7. Symbolism
Steampunk often uses:
- Gears as symbols of fate or social machinery 
- Steam as a metaphor for pressure, change, or industrial power 
- Clockwork as a metaphor for determinism or precision 
- Airships as symbols of freedom or ambition

8. Narrative Tone
- Adventurous, curious, inventive 
- Sometimes rebellious or anti‑establishment 
- Often tinged with melancholy or moral ambiguity 
- Characters tend to be tinkerers, dreamers, rogues, scholars, or revolutionaries

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If you want, I can also outline:
- A steampunk style guide for your world 
- A parameter checklist you can use when writing 
- A steampunk "dial" that lets you tune how gritty, whimsical, political, or fantastical your setting becomes 
- Or we can build a custom steampunk aesthetic unique to your world, based on the factions and symbols you've been developing

Where would you like to take this next?

[Sorontar]

I feel that it has missed the point of the punk aspect. It talks about being rebellious but doesn't address how that relates to aspects of steampunk, like the problem in trying to define the norms for something that likes to break them.

Sorontar