The Diesel Society: Seekers of Futures Past

There are some who strongly object to Adelian ideology and traditions, regarding society, technology and much more. They believe technology should not be something feared, but fostered, and everyone should be willing to sacrifice for the development of greater technology. Worship and ritual should be discarded, in their eyes, as it is a useless protection, which magic and technology do not require. Rural tradition is stagnant, and industrialization and efficient labor placement would benefit all. From scraps of the Lost World’s lore came the ideals of the steam and fuel-driven Diesel Society, for whom total scientific efficiency should be acquired at all costs – technology is an end unto itself.

Origin of the Threat

The Aptoa funded much exploration during the Age of Discovery. Two larger groups dedicated to expeditions would arise, one the beginnings of the ritualistic Andaliel Archeological Society and the other the Precursor Society. The Precursor Society were those explorers and scholars who believed that the Aptoan Empire should seek to emulate all things learned from the Lost World. They were fascinated by accounts of perfect medicines, weather-altering machines, robotic servitors, synthetic plants. They saw a world that erected incredible monuments, completely controlled its environment, and could produce weapons the Adelians could hardly even conceive of. The Precursor Society saw the Lost World as a Great Machine, whose people were all parts that worked as a controlled whole. They didn’t know about the numerous wars, the dark clouds over the sky, the ecosystem collapse, that led to these technologies. They saw Utopia and wanted the Aptoan Empire to be the same.

The Precursor society were one of the elements leading to the radicalization of the Empire. It was they who, for example, pushed for the indentured servitude of the Vedarian population in the project to uncover the Necropolis and dig out its dangerous treasures. After all, who cared about a few desert dwellers, when beneath their traditional lands there was knowledge and power to be uncovered? This disrespect, however, would cost them. After the Intolerable War, the peoples they wanted to incorporate into their great machine were independent, and dismantled the Empire and cast away its institutions. The Precursor Society was no more. The advancements they struggled to understand (and never quite did) were gone forever.

Adelians adopted what technologies they could glean from the Lost World, slowly, over hundreds of years, in what forms they could, and with characteristic ritualism. Computers remain puzzling (and wholly unwanted) and Industrial production is seen by them as a malaise that allows machines to take over their world; but they invented gramophones and mutoscope theater-boxes (and even, through their own ways, improved such designs), discovered pictograph boxes and voicecasters, even made cannons, rifles, flying machines and tanks in their own artisanal, religious ways. Yet, these still exist alongside a mostly agrarian world, where people still wield swords, and still quietly revere nature.

In 2012 A.C. Adel, the current day, these technologies have existed for about 200 to 500 years with minimal change to either them, or their society. Technology took its last great leap during the Intolerable War – since then, it has all been minor improvements on mostly traditional designs. Adel as a society doesn’t feel the need for the radical changes the Precursor Society wanted, especially since they associate them with the oppressive Aptoan Empire. The Diesel Society cannot stand this state of affairs. They cannot stand that the majority of Adel is still agrarian populations in little villages. They might hunt with guns now, and they might amuse themselves with a gramophone, but their provincial lives spit in the face of the Great Machine of the Lost World.

It is difficult to blame the Adelians for ridding the world of things that had enslaved them for hundreds of years under the Aptoan yoke. The remnants of the Precursor Society regrouped again, but they had their faith in the Lost World shaken. With the great zealots among them, the true Aptoan hardliners, all gone, what remained were merely apprentices who nurtured a desire for knowledge, but were lost without the ironclad directives of the past.

This was the Diesel Society – those who still dreamed of mechanical power in the face of all the dangers it had brought and could still bring. Some were naive idealists, who did not know better than to believe the Lost World had to have been better, because such great technology could only have been made by a great society! Others were bitter pioneers, who saw their inventions rejected by the Adelian public for a lack of religious observance. To the Adelians at large, machines are only safe if the faith of their creator is evident in the rituals and symbology used in the construction. To the Diesel Society a machine is a sacred object whose benevolence is unquestionable, and whose power is needed for the Adelians to achieve the miracle society of the Lost World.

Modus Operandi

To call the Diesel Society “evil” would be a stretch. They are often dangerous and often misguided, but none of them really lust for widespread destruction, nor do they explicitly wish to bring harm – they just do so incidentally because of their actions and beliefs. Each individual Diesel Society member might just be a normal Adelian who just doesn’t think you should take a month to craft a single pistol in order to insure that it is properly crafted and religiously consecrated. Or he or she might be an eccentric scholar with a hateful callousness toward anything but his or her work.

Many don’t consider their ideology and actions might be hurtful, because they don’t really understand them. No member of the Diesel Society (or at least, only very, very few of them) has knowledge advanced enough to really understand or fully explain things like eugenics or to understand the greenhouse effect or radiation or toxic disposal procedures. Their sources are imperfect, but seem impressive enough to be a whole truth. The Diesel Society worships machines because their information seems to point towards a grander scheme, irregardless of the dirt and soot they will covered under, the loss of the culture of the rural peoples they’d displace to work under them, the resources needed, and so on.

It is unknown just how large the Diesel Society is. Of all the groups that Adelians could consider threatening, the Diesel Society is probably the smallest. They are small cult-like sects, sometimes operating in the city, or wherever tolerated, and sometimes hidden, in deep wilderness places where they can experiment and work at improving steam engine and diesel sources and other designs. Sometimes they trick nearby villages in working with them or for them. For the villagers, the promises of perfect medicine, longer life, stronger bodies, all given by these strange machines, can, with careful framing of the issue, undermine their usual trepidation. The Diesel Society are often callous toward these people, and towards new members – but they’re all needed. Even the poorest minds, say the Grandmasters, are cogs in our machine. Their promises are as utopian as their own dreams and as impossible to deliver on, but villagers hardly ever know better.

Though the Diesel Society seems like it would be secular, for Adelians Atheism isn’t even an idea they conceive as being possible. They have no word for it. Though the Diesel Society worship the spirits of machines and even some old human gods, they are still also polytheistic spirit worshipers like most Adelians. Even the Diesel Society acknowledges by their learning that Spirits are basically little gods for whom the entire world is morphic, without need for technology to do the shaping. Spirits at their zenith are far more powerful than any machine, and their aid and wisdom should be sought. They just operate under different superstitions, and they have a different relationship to these superstitions. Most Adelians are driven either to fear, respect or reverence in the face of power. The Diesel Society tends to be driven to exploit it, instead.

Powers, Allies, Equipment

Diesel Society members are often of a scholarly bent, so they tend to use magic, and not particularly enjoy heavy lifting. They are essentially Adelian individuals: often Iomadi, but also Cuporo, or rarely, Damakran or Dromedae, can comprise the ranks. Sorians and other mercenaries are also sometimes employed. The Diesel Society are Adelian people with no really unique powers, though they do dress funny (goggles, gear-shaped ornaments and belts seem to be in fashion for them). Their equipment is what sets them apart, as they often carry rare pieces from the Lost World that few understand.

The Diesel Society discards the traditional notions Adelians hold towards artifice. Most Adelians spend a great amount of time on their craft, careful, artisanal and reverent in the production, polish, symbol-carving and consecration of any equipment or machine they produce. The Diesel Society strives for efficiency and speed. They don’t just discard the idea that they should put the pistol in a magic circle with incense and pray over it for a few days – they reject all of the method. To them, machines are inherently reliable, and the care Adelians take is extraneous. This often results in worse craftsmanship and reliability, which can undermine the marginal benefits of their technology over Adelian counterparts.

Vibroblade: A rare melee weapon, often prized among the higher echelons of the Diesel Society, these are Lost World swords. Some kind of substance inside the blade, or a mechanism in the handle (it is not clear which, or if it’s both) causes the blade to vibrate lightly as it cuts, resulting in a stronger attack. Adelian martial artists often dislike vibroblades, as it is hard to incorporate their unique weight and motion into traditional martial arts.

Steam Baton: A more common melee weapon among the Diesel Society, it is essentially a mace or club with a hot gas canister inside. Before attacking, a catch on the weapon is released by the wielder. This prompts the canister within the handle to vent its hot contents into the metal striking head, heating the steel and thus delivering a painful burn along with the bludgeoning impact. It must be handled with care, and refilled with gas often.

Of note, the gas used in the handle isn’t actually steam, though it is referred to as such.

Steam Gun: The standard issue firearms of the Diesel Society use refillable pockets of hot gas to propel bullets. They have a pistol and a rifle. As with most Diesel Society stuff it is less reliable than the Adelian counterpart – it is rougher and a bit bulkier, but it packs more punch than an Adelian repeating or smoothbore rifle does. The canisters needed to refill the weapon’s gas pockets are small enough to be carried safely in pouches or belts. Reloading the weapon can take time due to needing to feed the internal magazine as well as apply gas canisters in the heat of battle.

Machine Gun: The Diesel Society has a fully-automatic rifle weapon, but at a large price. The weapon propels bullets using a large backpack full of gas pumped into the rifle through tubes. The tank is heavy and a large target. The fire rate is phenomenal, but the rifle is prone to jams, and the ammo belts are heavy. This technology was discarded by Adelian military, but finds a good home in small numbers with the Diesel Society.

Vehicles: Some sects of Diesel Society members own modified Adelian vehicles, including autowagons, landships and sometimes even airships, with either steam or diesel engines (often steam, even though diesel is preferred – diesel is not easy to acquire). Airships use multiple rotor blades instead of magic-engine kinetic thrusters, and landships and engines use Lost World internal engine designs. While volatile, their ground vehicles do have slightly better performance than Adelian counterparts, but practically the same weakness – shot in the back, the engine will likely explode. Their air and sea vehicles are basically the exact same in performance, just outfitted to the Diesel Society’s preferences.

MK14 Abraham: The Abraham tank is an ancient landship from the Lost World. Quite rare, whenever it is unearthed by Adelians it is often stripped down, analyzed and ultimately left in pieces. The Diesel Society strives to recover all Abrahams in Adelian custody and put them to dark purpose. They are powerful weapons with better armor and mobility than Adelian heavy tanks at the same size, but they are difficult to repair to maintain.

Logic Engines: From the size of a suitcase, to the size of a pocket watch, to the size of a desk, various computers, known as “logic engines” have been uncovered by the Adelians. Logic Engines use a text-based command line operating system that Adelians have a hard time dealing with, though some have voice recognition or graphics. Computers from the Lost World have partly biological brains, and a capacity for independent thought, and as such the Diesel Society tries to communicate with them and follow their directives as though they were old gods, or immortal mentors. However, like the intelligence controlling the Angels, logic engines were designed to preserve the status quo of the Lost World. To perform their function, they must destroy the Adelian people, find a way to revive humanity, and terraform the new environment. As such consorting with these powers often leads the Diesel Society on a collision course with authority and can result in disaster.

The Diesel Society often interact with other groups that Adelians consider threatening.

Sorians: Whether as hires or sometimes as members, Sorians are not as uncommon among the Diesel Society as one might think. If a Sorian has The Shine, it’s difficult for it to channel this creativity into a Sorian community. Sorian Shiners have the same technological dreams as many Diesel Society members, and tend to get along quite well – if not better, since most Shiners have a natural proficiency with machines that most Diesel Society members can’t match. Sorian mercenaries are also somewhat common as guardians and laborers, for their brawn and simple demands.

Elves: Elves had the ears of the Aptoan Empire and the Precursor Society, usually for the worse rather than better. Their relationship, though somewhat strained, continues in the current age. The Elves hate the Diesel Society as they hate all Adelians – they are just another group of meddlers who stand in the way of the Elven master race. However, the Diesel Society are useful to collaborate with, and aren’t as naturally suspicious of Lost World things as normal Adelians are. Elves are often looking for ways to exploit or backstab the Diesel Society out of knowledge and relics.

Erinys: It is rare for the Erinys to collaborate with the Diesel Society. They are usually more interested in magic than technology, but the Lost World has plenty of demonic things to attract their attention. Ancient magic and lore, and tainted relics in the blasted lands of Noshiki, often require people of a more mechanical bent to uncover. Erinys will as usual only collaborate with female Diesel Society members, and probably betray and enslave them after.

Angels: Diesel Society members are dangerously attracted to Angels, revering them as the ultimate expression of the Great Machine’s power. These mechanical servitors, even long past the extinction of their masters, continue to serve them and to try to restore the Lost World to prominence. The Diesel Society has attempted to contact the Angels and communicate with Cephaetera Administrator Angels several times. Most Cephaetera do not humor them – they have a directive to exterminate Adelians, no matter how cooperative. But the Diesel Society continues to try. Perhaps at some point they might discover a Cephaetera whose genocidal programming is broken enough to allow some discourse.

Diesel Society As Antagonists

The Diesel Society essentially function as a kind of Lovecraftian cult in some ways. They consort with powers they only barely understand, heedless of the consequences. The things that speak to them – the words of long-dead philosophers of the wasted lands, the quiet intelligence of the Logic Engines they’ve unearthed and awakened – don’t understand them or their world, or care about them, but they worship them nonetheless. They delve into dark places and do dangerous things, uncovering powerful weapons they can barely control, discovering dark unknowable powers that were best left sleeping. The Diesel Society is callous to the plight of those who don’t strive for the Great Machine.

In a sense, the Diesel Society is anathema to everything Adelians believe. Adelians have an unshakeable faith and respect in the traditions from which they all arise, the traditions the Aptoan Empire tried to stamp out. Religion is their cardinal word, and even with the few great cities they’ve made, and the technologies they’ve adopted, in their hearts they are still indigenous rural villagers who come from out of nature. All of this is damnable to the Society. They look back upon the Lost World and its achievements, and they see better times and more fulfilling lives, where there are none. They think the Lost World was a time where technology could accomplish anything and uplift everyone – this wasn’t the case.

Yet, the Adelians will always live and let live. Sects of the Society may be destroyed and tried for crimes, but they will always be allowed around. They will, perhaps forever, be there to clash with or try to change the culture of Adel, and finally get the Machine rolling towards an industrial future. But the Diesel Society’s technological future won’t be as bright or as convenient as they believe. For the Diesel Society, the Great Machine is an end in itself, a dream for a grander future, however unnecessary it might be for the population as a whole. This Utopia is worth any sacrifice.