Steampunk In Space! Ideas
Jan. 28th, 2026 11:34![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
abyssal_sylph
So this post talked about tech ideas for a sci-fi setting which is steampunk in nature. Here's my attempt to share my thoughts on it:
Anti-Gravity
iirc Victorians didn't think they'd get to space because at the time, rockets sucked. And so they thought they'd use anti-gravity tech. Now, with steampunk in space we props have to bend a lot of suspension anyway, and magic (even in low amounts) might be needed. Depending on if reletivity still existing, this could be a way for the people to get to space without electricity. Though if they have anti-gravity tech or magic, i can see it also bleeding through their infrastructure & sports. Astronauts IRL do training in underwater to prepare for little to no gravity. So I don't think it's absured for water + wuxia level sports to become popular.
The Gun
Now this idea I adore. Basically one idea early people had for getting into space was, just a big gun & shooting the people into space. My & I discusses many of these ideas & he suggested that the moduals would be water-filled, to avoid the astronauts getting injured. Which basically makes them reverse submarines. Which I think is fitting, with how ocean obssessed victorians were. I think it's fun to think of space as a special ocean or "Sea of Stars", so I'm biased towards this idea. But I'd still like anti-gravity wuxia.
Other Things
Other things that I'd think happen:
- Ladies being banned from space travel for a bit, only to be later allowed. Maybe they even have their own Amelia Earhart.
- People being banned from space travel till 16 cause of how terrorizing it is.
- So many company towns, oh god /intrigued.
- If radios aren't a thing yet, astronauts could possible mostly communicate via morse code + heliographs.
Anti-Gravity
iirc Victorians didn't think they'd get to space because at the time, rockets sucked. And so they thought they'd use anti-gravity tech. Now, with steampunk in space we props have to bend a lot of suspension anyway, and magic (even in low amounts) might be needed. Depending on if reletivity still existing, this could be a way for the people to get to space without electricity. Though if they have anti-gravity tech or magic, i can see it also bleeding through their infrastructure & sports. Astronauts IRL do training in underwater to prepare for little to no gravity. So I don't think it's absured for water + wuxia level sports to become popular.
The Gun
Now this idea I adore. Basically one idea early people had for getting into space was, just a big gun & shooting the people into space. My & I discusses many of these ideas & he suggested that the moduals would be water-filled, to avoid the astronauts getting injured. Which basically makes them reverse submarines. Which I think is fitting, with how ocean obssessed victorians were. I think it's fun to think of space as a special ocean or "Sea of Stars", so I'm biased towards this idea. But I'd still like anti-gravity wuxia.
Other Things
Other things that I'd think happen:
- Ladies being banned from space travel for a bit, only to be later allowed. Maybe they even have their own Amelia Earhart.
- People being banned from space travel till 16 cause of how terrorizing it is.
- So many company towns, oh god /intrigued.
- If radios aren't a thing yet, astronauts could possible mostly communicate via morse code + heliographs.
