I was just watching the Disney Shorts film on Netflix, and the first short was a musical adaptation of the story of John Henry. Now, I know there are steampunk stories set in the United States during and after the Civil War, but most of them mix fantasy things like dragons or zombies into what would otherwise be a type of sci-fi, and they often don't use steampunk for anything other than introducing modern technology into a fantasy setting. More importantly, stories like John Henry portray the industrialization brought about by steam as an evil thing, crushing the human spirit or, in the adaptation, takin' yer jahbs.
Are there any stories, settings, or other where the industrialization brought about by steam is actually portrayed as a positive, like it was during the actual Industrial Revolution?
Are there any steampunk settings that are set in America and involve entrepreneuers using steam to make themselves fabulously wealthy, aside fromTicket to Ride?
And are there any steampunk works where the actual engineering is given even a modicum of development and the world isn't just instantly turned into rusting, pipe-covered shantytowns?
>>44070057
While not quite steampunk Bioshock Infinite is pretty cool and seems really nice and positivetill it turns out the whole thing is run by fanatical racists 5 min in
>>44070124
Well that's more just Hollywood doing its best to be as reactionary as possible.
I guess technically Valkyria Chronicles fits? Though it's more like magitek than dieselpunk.
>>44070057
That Nintendo 3ds vidya STEAM or whatever, I think
Also Dark Cloud 2
>>44070768
Codename: STEAM you mean? It's really American, but I don't know if it's any better at steampunk than 90% of the magitek steampunk we see.
You can also look into the precursor that pretty much led to steampunk.Pretty much any story written by Verne
>>44070124
And then it turns out you can't choose racist side, and all falls to shit.
>>44070124
>individualist society
>created by a libertarian
>cold, dark and underwater
>goes to shit in about 5 mins
>filled with junkies
>fucked over by civil war
>sustained by forsaken children
>collectivist society
>created by the government
>bright and floating in the heavens
>peaceful and tranquil
>citizens are nice, friendly, god-faring folk (though racist, but that's not a problem if you are the right color)
>some fringe groups but none of them get any power until the MC shows up with his MC-magics
>sustained only by the leader's daughter
>more technologically advanced than the above
collectivism: 1
libertarian: 0
>>44076159
I agree that columbia was better off than rapture, but wasn't the former using their dimension machine to basically rip off all of the latter's good ideas?
>>44076159
>Underwater City
>an environment that demands constant regulation and strict societal standards to avoid catastrophic damage
>because FUCK WE'RE UNDERWATER
If you want an Objectivist paradise, please don't do it in a place where it makes zero sense.
