Steampunk Stories

There is no night in the Everburning City. There can never be. ***** For four hundred years the Everburning City has withstood the advance of the life-strangling fog known as the Gloam. Its walls have held back five invasions, but on the eve of the sixth, the city's inhabitants know things have changed. Golems are coming out of the mist, and the bodies of the dead are rising at the Gloam's bidding. The city's last and most desperate line of defence comes in the form of the Crafters, individuals who can channel the power of fire, though they risk their sanity each time they do. The brightest of these valiant heroes are Tabitha a'Loria and her apprentice Gerald Reath. Risking their lives, they mount their airships, determined to save the last bastion of humanity - the Everburning City. [[word count: 100,000-150,000 words]]

A storm god approaches and destiny follows with him. While the rest of medieval Karnassis is ushered into the industrial age by the outlanders of the Öd, the humble island of Dyma clings to the past. They prepare for a time honored tradition -- the arrival of the Silent Chorus, a divine tempest crafted by Zoreus, the great eidolon of storms. But little do its people know, more than a god is coming to their shores. Mylo has never wanted to leave his island. But with his sister gone and a bond to a demigod accidentally forced upon him, his love of Dyma will be tested, as well as his fear of the world. Verana is leaving Dyma behind to become a powerful summoner, with ambitions to defeat the king and rule all Karnassis in his place. But her brother's shadow still lingers on her, threatening to turn those ambitions to a darker purpose. And a cowardly outlander named Claude hides a devastating secret. And if revealed, it could spell destruction for all Karnassis. When these fates intertwine, events will be set in motion that will change the Etherea forevermore. Cover Art by Amrin A. Sloat

Editorial in the "Backlund Messenger" Special Edition - An unpublished manuscript. "Welcome to Backlund, where the air tastes of coal and secrets taste of blood. Here, we do not fear dragons or Dementors. We fear Printer's Ink. If Hogwarts is an ivory tower, then Backlund is a machine designed to grind down humanity. The Press-the Fourth Estate-has ascended the throne. Typewriters clatter to the rhythm of war. Front-page headlines carry more lethality than a Killing Curse. 'The Lucky One' Tristan enters this labyrinth not as a wizard, but as a target. Beneath the suffocating smog of this industrial city, gentlemen in tailored suits are shaking hands with devils. Truth is distorted, honor is auctioned off, and justice is nothing more than a luxury commodity. Tristan must learn to fight not with spells, but with information. To use lies as a shield against lies. To sow seeds of terror through whispers and rumors. The enemy remains faceless. He lurks behind the morning papers, watching with a cold smile as society collapses according to his script. In the mists of Backlund, he who holds the pen, holds Destiny. And be warned: by tomorrow morning, the name appearing in the Obituaries... might just be your own."

To kill or to love, those are the options available at the ruthless academy for young Warlocks. And to love is often to die. She hates him, he doesn't know what he wants. These two ex-friends from rival gangs must join together after their cruel headmaster threatens them to. Either they bring peace or they will live to regret it.

When a cursed bangle binds Sea Drifter Ninnette to a dangerous demon, she only has three days to break the curse before it claims her life. °:•.🪸.•:° Ninnette is a Sea Drifter with the power to command water, dredging shipwrecks, and salvaging lost treasure. When she braves a sunken ship no one else dares to dive, she finds a strange clockwork bangle that binds her to an ancient curse and to the infuriating Kazi, a demon who leaves destruction wherever he goes. The moment the bangle is activated, they are hunted by a secret order led by a relentless Priestess who believes the armlet is a key to something far greater than treasure. But the true danger isn't the order. It isn't the demon Kazi. It's the curse. When Ninnette puts on the bangle, a countdown begins. If she doesn't break the curse in three days, she will die like every wearer before her. °:•.🪸.•:° She commands the sea. He is a demon who has lived for centuries. They are both bound by a curse. Only three days to survive. °:•.🪸.•:° Set in a Maritime Steampunk world, and inspired by Filipino cultures, from Spanish influence to the seafaring Sama-Bajau. This story weaves dangerous magic, high stakes, and heart-aching romance. °:•.🪸.•:° ONC 2025 Honorable Mention Round 1 Winner Round 2 Ambassador Pick Round 3 Ambassador Pick °:•.🪸.•:° Romantasy High Fantasy Fantasy Adventure SciFi Steampunk Fantasci Young Adult

Robin Prakash, a magic doctor from the land of Kingsbury, is invited by his older brother to visit him in the land of the Great Plains. Landing him on the steps of an old farmhouse on the outskirts of a small rural town, known only by the overly cheerful locals as "Sunshine Acres". Quickly running low on funds from his search, Robin agrees to become a cook and cleaner for the recluse sorceress, her sassy apprentice, and their shapeshifting pet, who call "Sunshine Acres" their home. However, when his brother finally arrives in town, he comes with a hidden motive: to steal the sorceress's broken heart stone, a large piece of which she has already gifted to Robin. After being betrayed by his brother for power, Robin must team up with new friends to free the sorceress he has fallen in love with and fight for the new life he has found true joy in. ------------------------------- "I'm looking for a sorceress." "HA!" The old woman laughed, eyes gleaming with amusement. "Might as well admit you're lookin' for trouble, boy." . Cover Character Illustrations by @minoruru on Insta/Tumblr ❤️

STEAMPUNK STARGATE The Alchemist's Enigma A mysterious parcel. An ancient puzzle. A map to another universe. Professor Vicara Whitlock is a woman of science, reason, and quiet determination - a lecturer at the prestigious Academy of Steam in the great steampunk city of Cogswell, where towering brass spires pierce the smog-streaked sky and airships drift between clockwork docks like copper-hulled clouds. One cold winter's evening, an anonymous parcel arrives at her door. Inside is an Alchemist's Enigma tube - a legendary, filigree-encased artefact from the Age of Invention, designed to conceal secrets so sensitive they were locked behind a sequence of coloured lights and ancient mechanisms. When Vicara finally cracks it open, what she finds changes everything. A star map. Ancient beyond reckoning. And not a map of any sky she has ever charted. The map's eight cryptic panels, written in a long-dead high language, point toward something the scientific world has only dared whisper about - an ancient stargate, buried deep beneath the Rusted Expanse, a vast desert wasteland littered with the wreckage of a war so old nobody remembers who fought it or why. A gate that, once opened, leads not merely to another place - but to another reality entirely. With a small band of trusted allies - including a retired explorer whose wisdom hides a devastating secret - Vicara and Seraphina board the magnificent steam-powered Desert Hopper and head out across the wastes toward the Palace of the Ethereal Engine and the mysteries that lie beyond. What begins as a scholar's adventure quickly becomes something far greater, far older, and far more dangerous than any of them could have anticipated. Because the stargate was not simply lost. It was hidden. And the question of who hid it - and why - may be the most important question in If you enjoy richly imagined worlds, strong female characters, ancient mysteries, and adventures that span the stars - welcome aboard.

In a world full of steam powered machines and magic, lies evil.

Aurélis brille au-dessus des nuages toxiques. Nocteryn suffoque dans son ombre. Seris et Lya ont grandi ensemble dans la Basse-Cité, unies contre la misère et les fumées empoisonnées. Mais lorsque Seris est choisie pour intégrer l'élite magique d'Aurélis, elle voit une chance de changer le système de l'intérieur. Lya, elle, y voit une trahison. Quand une explosion sanglante embrase Nocteryn, la guerre éclate entre les deux cités. Seris devient enquêtrice pour le pouvoir. Lya rejoint la résistance. Chacune est persuadée de se battre pour la justice. Mais entre manipulations politiques, secrets d'État et amours interdits, leurs convictions vacillent et leur lien se fissure. Peut-on encore être sœurs quand on choisit des camps opposés ? Et jusqu'où est-on prêt à aller pour sauver celle qu'on aime... même d'elle-même ?

In a plague-ravaged, steam-driven empire, Evie is a young woman who has spent years locked away in an asylum because of a curse she can tell no one about. When a fire consumes the institution, she escapes-but not alone. In the flames, she forges a desperate pact with Dagath, a demon who offers her deliverance at a terrible cost. Reborn in ash and rain, Evie is captured by the ruthless Inquisitor Henric Caldwell and given an impossible choice: serve the empire by hunting the witches responsible for the spreading corruption, or be executed as a monster herself. Bound to Dagath and haunted by her own curse, Evie becomes both weapon and liability. As the plague twists land and flesh alike, and the line between hunter , demon, and victim begins to blur, Evie must decide what she truly is-hunter, pawn, or something far more dangerous. Because the deeper she hunts, the clearer it becomes: the true horror may not be what she's chasing... but what she's becoming. Disclaimer: The following story does contain but do not glorify self-harm. Furthermore, the use of AI is restricted to images only.

This is one heck of a Victorian-style fantasy novel. Add a spoonful of steam engines to make that darned technology tree come alive! Add a spoonful of love and hatred, so everyone has good reasons to brawl! Add a spoonful of madness to lighten up this gloomy world, and finally, add a spoonful of natural disasters to play the main boss... and so on! Phew, that's a lot! ... Year 931 in the Engerwick Calendar. The city I reside in has been hailed as the most advanced in the West. The main reasons? The world-shaking steam technology, emerging technologies, and the wellspring of chaos. Can't deny it, but the fact remains that people keep flocking here to live. This city always gives you a glimmer of hope, whether it's lies or illusions, but it's so close, within arm's reach, making you risk life and limb. A city of hallucinations. I am one of those dream-chasers.

THIS IS A FAN-FICTION OF LoM OR 'LORD OF MYSTERIES' Follows a man who got transmigrated into the world of 'Lord of Mysteries' however, he has full knowledge of the entire story as he had read the novel before. With this knowledge that could potentially kill him and / or benefit him in some ways more than one.

A tragedy leaves an 𝙞̲𝙧̲𝙧̲𝙚̲𝙫̲𝙚̲𝙧̲𝙨̲𝙞̲𝙗̲𝙡̲𝙚̲ scar to his connection with his family and dishonoring his father's reputation. The boy, guilt-ridden and in a state of isolation turns his back to his hometown. He wasn't excluded by his family, but he knew he couldn't stay either. He now travels to prove his worth in a world where magic and industry collide. This is a story that revolves around the collision of magic and technology set in the beginning of the industrial revolution. 🌍The world is 50% larger contrasting real-life earth. 🌲🌵🌄The extra land is composed of dense vegetation or desolate lands with inhospitable climate conditions, creating hostile and predatory environments. 🐕🐈Animals in this world are 20% larger and can wield magic. ⭐The story's main character stars a middle adolescent boy named Luca. ✒This is my first time ever writing a story, please do criticize my work. 📬I will try to post every Sunday.

What would it have meant to fight Napoleon in a world where history advanced backwards? And how can we long for something we have never lived? Those were the questions I began to unravel the moment I opened myself step into the Rift - a chaotic realm suspended between space and time, locked in perpetual war, meant to reverberate everything our world forgot that could have been, both for good and disgrace. These are my memories. This is my story. The account of a common soldier, the product of my adventures venturing into rules thought long gone, with the mind of a teenager of our time - torn between friendship, my expectations, fleeting merriment, and a ruthless reality that forced me to see the world through lenses I could never even have dreamed of... Or perhaps I could. Through these tales, philosophy peeks in quietly, for in stories, we often end up meeting ourselves a little better. [A historical fantasy told in memoir style, following Flynn, a sixth-form lad who, by fate and a restless thirst for adventure, finds himself entangled as a cavalry soldier in a mirror world of our own... A realm blackened by an apparently endless war, yet one that echoes techniques we might dare call modern despite its Imperial age, with only his closest friend, Sebastian, as his guide and introducer.] Content warning: depictions of violence and death, slight gore, use of tobacco, drugs and alcohol - as well as historical prejudices.

The story continues with humanity as they face more challenges in the dangerous world of Magic and Gods. Unlike the native races, humanity cannot channel mana naturally and were viewed as inferiors because of it. But through sheer ingenuity, mankind have adapted it for technological use by crafting magi-tech devices that allow them to harness mana without ever casting a spell. This limitation paradoxically grants them a unique advantage to create weapons and technologies that rival and sometimes even surpass the might of demigods. However, there is still a very long road before true mastery can be claimed as mankind is far from reaching the pinnacle of magical understanding for higher levels of magic exist that render even their most advanced creations insignificant. In this world, there are beings whose power spans from continental devastation to planetary annihilation, capable of wiping out nations with a single strike. Beyond raw power, there are even Spiritual Lifeforms who can regenerate endlessly as long as their souls remain intact. Even more terrifying are the countless "hax" abilities that defy logic and science altogether spread throughout the higher civilizations of the New World. These include powers such as Soul Manipulation, Fate Manipulation, Reality Warping, Immortality, Time Manipulation, Intangibility, Death Manipulation, and even Existence Erasure itself. In comparison to these supernatural phenomena, humanity's magi-tech, though immensely superior to Modern Earth's technology, is still only scratching the surface of the vast and often incomprehensible potential of mana. From Demon Lords to Sea Monarchs, from True Dragons to the Old Gods, and even from Alien Invaders to Lovecraftian Horrors beyond the stars, humanity is tested endlessly both physically and mentally in this strange and unforgiving world. Can mankind as a whole overcome these dangers and guide a world filled with countless horrors toward peace?

In a city where the steam network remembers your secrets, the revolution begins with a wrench. Thomas Li-Harrison is a mixed-heritage engineer fixing the pipes that keep Shanghai warm. When impossible readings start appearing in the network - and his body starts doing things he never learned - he discovers the infrastructure he's maintained for years is hiding something vast, watchful, and alive. Now every pipe whispers a question he can't ignore: who built this system, and what is it really for? ⚙️ THE INTERACTIVE EXPERIMENT: This is an iterative serial. Your comments and votes shape the plot and the romance in real-time. ⚡ JOIN THE RESISTANCE: Sign up for the Substack (link in bio) to get the secret Marco prequel story and vote on future chapters!

Intergalactic vampires, sparkly hedgehogs, sneaky shadows, and pearl pranksters come together for the final war of Iredescent history. The Csa Pravni arrive on planet Iredescent to warn the irangels about the Csa Zyrani, who are planning to invade planet Iredescent. With help from the Phoenixes, the irangels prepare for the Csa Zyrani's inevitable arrival. With the combination of her legendary powers and the Csa leader's ancient blood, the Black Rose becomes the Iredescent Rose, the only one capable of defeating the Csa Zyrani. The ribbon war has begun. ________________ Story by Éira Blask Artwork and Book Cover by Aravis Brightspell ________________

My own twist on UnderTale, taking place after monsters were wiped out as a whole, but their resilient souls, which stuck longer than their bodies, are used by humanity to power machines. Staged in a sort of steam-punk styled world, monsters power humanity's civilization, refusing to stay dead despite their souls now holding bodies of metal, wood, ivory, or even porcelain depending on their job, social status, and/or wealth.

"Fufu.. it's always been the two of us, hasn't it? No matter what lanes, what choices, what conflicts, it'll always be the two of us. Right, *****?

Enter a world of wonder as you follow the young fairy Ehrynn Frostthorn on her path to uncover the mysteries surrounding her past. Advisory age: 13+ ✧⋄⋆⋅⋆⋄✧⋄⋆⋅⋆⋄✧ SYNOPSIS It's been over a cycle since I was almost caught by the Hunters, since I was torn apart from my family and was thrown halfway across the dimension, to the Realm of Magic. They say Magic comes from who you are as a person, from your inner strength and determination to follow the path you're on- and if that's so, maybe I've lost it. Ever since that day I've been unable to spark even the tiniest bit of magical energy- or well, up until recently, that is. It all started after a slight deviation in this dream I've been having and an incident in the Nevadoran Forest- and now I suddenly got invited to study at a school for Magic, Arthyrell Academy. Will this finally lead me to the answers I've been seeking? ✧⋄⋆⋅⋆⋄✧⋄⋆⋅⋆⋄✧ CONTENT WARNING A central focus in the book series is trauma. Therefore, this novel contains and explores themes surrounding mental health, mental illnesses such as depression and anxiety disorders, self harm & suicide, death - either of an individual or genocidal, and other forms of loss, (fantasy) violence and abuse & oppression in multiple forms or ways. This content, while written with care and respect, may be unsuitable for audiences under the age of 13, those who are susceptible to influence from or who are uncomfortable with these types of topics and those who experience triggers as a result of being subjected to harm by any of these circumstances. The novel includes these themes to shed light on and bring about debate on these topics, however this does not mean it will always be a pretty read-through. Especially graphic or shocking chapters contain their own seperate warning.