Steam Spy: Steam and Mirrors

Steam and Mirrors: Act 1

Over 500 years ago Guttenberg invented the printing press and changed the world. Just as the black plague swept through the Middle Ages, the printing press created an opportunity for a spread of knowledge and ideas that poured through and defined the renaissance, essentially creating modern arts and sciences. Philosophers, artists and scientists were able to develop and adapt the work of those that came before to create wonders never before dreamt of. Those new approaches and techniques eventually grew and evolved to become an industrial revolution that would forever change the world.

One of the first opportunities of this printing press was realized by Hans Humberg, an apprentice of Guttenberg's who set up one of the new printing devices to create a method for transferring information to the population on a regular basis. Das Wort (The Word) became the first broadsheets and invented the founding concepts of modern media.

Further west, tireless monks had been collecting and organizing knowledge for centuries. But with the perfection of mass publication some of this knowledge could finally begin to be collected and publicly distributed by The Encyclopedia Englania Company. While Das Wort spread current events, announcements, opinions and entertainment to the masses, The Encyclopedia spread history and science.

The value of the thoughts and ideas that were being spread quickly became apparent as they worked to expand that industrial age. Companies and industries were created to turn those ideas into tangible applications that brought a better way of life to those that could afford it. Orisaku Artificials Inc, Renningson & Sons Firearms and Navidad Pharmaceuticals all organized, and the Translatvian Transportation Company stepped to do their part in supplying trade opportunities between the various regions.

Fortunes were made based on the science and technologies that were developed. This began to create a battle to gather, steal and maintain a hold on the plans and processes that arose to create the various industries involved. The fight for intelligence was on. "Standing on the shoulders of giants" was extremely profitable as long as you weren't the giant. Seemingly overnight, the art of espionage was created.

As the self proclaimed keepers of the intelligence, The Encyclopedia Englania Company created a division they called M-5 to assist with covertly gathering and evaluating intelligence and data from all corners of the world. Although the initial intention of the M-5was meant to be benevolent, many foreign organizations began to feel threatened by the potential of having valuable information taken from them against their will. Orisaku Artificials Inc was one of the first organizations to react defensively; they created the Dragon Sect to protect its copyrights.

Reacting to the rising tensions between the two organizations, The Transylvanian Transportation Company created the Shadow Bureau in order to protect their interest as they developed transportation between the various regions.

Not to be outdone, Renningson & Sons, while always maintaining their own small private guard unit, coordinated with the North American government to create the Federal Agency, or "Feds" to ensure that their weaponry was not being misused around the globe.

Navidad Pharmaceuticals attempted to calm the growing tension between the other factions through peaceful diplomacy, but eventually they realized that they would be forced to work within the system and created the Unified Alliance to work with the other organizations while maintaining the objectives of Navidad Pharmaceuticals.

While the gathering of news and information was always a part of the goal of Das Wort's mission, it has long been suspected that they also had a secret organization behind them named the Diamond Club that was helping finance them, as well as create many of the horrific crimes and disasters that fueled the sensation seeking reporters and audience of the growing media machine. Over the centuries, Das Wort moved its central offices to South America, but it grew to a global publication that spread news and entertainment to the world. Rumors of the subtle use of coercion and manipulation within the newspapers have never been proven.