A motorcycle. A fucking Motorcycle? A motorcycle. Huh.
This is so ridiculous, never in my life before have even been remotely interested in owning or riding a motorcycle.
I don’t know what’s changed in the past couple of months, but I have this newfound adoration of the machinery and engineering in bikes; the minutia of deliberate and considered intent involved in their design is fascinating to me, in a way cars never have been. For the first time in my life I’m learning about vehicular construction, maintenance, and and performance; because it’s finally interesting to me. They way various mechanical components work in tandem to perform what is an objectively ludicrous and exhilarating experience, in sometimes impossible terrain
Not to mention a fascination with traveling the lost highways of America; instilled in no small part from watching Mr. Noah gervais’ remarkable travel videos in which his nostalgic observations about a way of life that doesn’t exist anymore shines across a canvas of the most some of the most beautiful landscapes and forgotten stories hidden in plain sight by a society that is hurdling towards a dystopic privatized hellscape wherein genuine experience is abandoned for superficiality and serfdom. https://youtube.com/@broadcaststsatic
I’ve discovered I have a deep yearning to explore the world around me, and to journey across the horizon to all the places I haven’t seen. Without barriers or filters, to step outside the artificial social constructs that dictate so much of our life decisions and see what they’ve painted over.
A lot of romanticized bullshit for the fastest way to die on two wheels I guess; but that’s what the idea of a bike feels to me. Looking to schedule an MSF class this weekend.
Don’t currently have a group, but I’m working on a dieselpunk setting I’m pretty stoked about.
TEN years ago, the world powers signed a détente to end the disastrous Nachtkrieg war. A combination of escalation, outdated military tactics, and the development of chemical necromatic weaponry resulted in millions of deaths with no clear Victor.
Worse, the untested necromatic weaponry resulted In the destruction and abandonment of a large swathe of territory on the Asturican continent where the Mindless undead roam in endless torment; horrible amalgamations of dead flesh and barbed wire.
Unable to cure the afflicted, or diffuse the chemicals they released without understanding the consequences, the geopolitical powers of the world were forced to collaborate and formed a defensive barrier around the dead-lands in hope to contain this threat. But that is not to suggest that they have set aside their differences.
The Nachtkrieg exhausted most nation’s armed forces, and a non-aggression pact Amongst member-states of The Symposium (a League of Nations Analouge) makes outright war both unfeasible and foolhardy. Most average citizens are relieved that the war is over, unaware that the conflict never really ended.
Mercenary companies, composed primarily of battle-hardened veterans of The Nachtkrieg, have flourished in the post-war era. Hired by Nation-states to sabotage and otherwise cause mayhem to their political opponents, they operate largely unregulated; resulting in a cold war where military contractors operate in the shadows for the highest bidder.
All the while, the undead menace remains a very real and present threat to the world. Military intelligence from forces stationed along the defensive barrier have reported that the undead have begun to mutate, their twisted forms becoming less recognizable as anything that may have once been mortal. Behind closed doors, scientists and researchers fear they may eventually be there unable to halt the ceaseless march of the soldiers they left behind. An international man-hunt is underway by covert intelligence agencies for a mythological figure only alluded to in obscure scholarly texts, the first and perhaps only true lich, Zosimos The Apostate; whose supposed writings were the basis for the development of chemical necromatic weaponry.
Anything goes in this brave new world, and traditions clash with progress behind a thin veil of optimism and peace.
This seems way too unlikely to happen, but r/askhistorians. It’s an exceptionally well moderated (if a bit overzealous) community that allows for both the average person to ask seemingly impossible, very specific questions as well as academics to express their knowledge and passion for those very same super specific topics they find fascinating; but have difficulty finding an audience to listen to them in their day to day lives.
Some of those who work forces.