PRIMER
Characters
Theatre performer. Loyal to Victoria. Can drink you under the table. Looks better in a green cravat.
Alex was a member of a traveling troupe, but under Lady Saporta patronage, and with Victoria’s friendship, he now has a large stake in the fledgling theatre community of the City.
Ashlee, the youngest of the Simpson daughters, has been unlucky so far. After all the scandal her older sister caused, things were just getting back to their rightful place when their father’s business collapsed, taking Ashlee’s dowry and prospects with it. Forced to take a position as chaperone and tutor to the young Miss Wentz, Ashlee is resigned to her fate when the dashing future Lord Wentz, Peter, comes back home.
If you have something to sell, or want to buy something, you need to speak to Mr Bryar. Well-travelled and well-connected, Mr Bryar is the middleman, the mover of merchandise, the acquirer of trifles, large or small.
A young engineer, new to the City, taking his chances on ‘that female engineer’ and her intriguing machines....
As the only vaguely respectable member of the new Works, he’s the stalking horse, the formal face for visitors. In truth, he’s the junior of the workshop with a lot left to learn.
Thief, pickpocket, possibly a child of the gods, definitely a world-class liar and cheat. Brendon sets out to woo Ryan and in doing so accidentally winds up becoming part of the sprawling family of the slums. But though Brendon might start out a petty criminal, he’s on his way to much bigger triumphs (after all, what is big business but petty theft with a tie on?).
A gentleman of leisure, one of those rowdy boys of privilege who, one evening, decide to make a man out of their friend Mike Carden...
A son of privilege, he’s left it all behind to make his own way in the zeppelin fleet. Hard-working, motivated, and maybe a bit of an asshole, he’s still a guy to get stuff done.
If it looks like he’s about to go do something crazy off the bottom of a gondola, it’s probably because he is. You don’t get to be Frankie Jonas’ best friend without being a little crazy too.
A fellow whore of the Hangar, Elisa attracts her fair share of the gents, but unfortunately also attracts more than her fair share of trouble she can’t handle too.
Father Frank, preacher, man of god, shepherd of lost souls because he’s a lost soul himself. A trouble life has led him to religion, and religion has led him to the slums of the City, where he falls in with people who perhaps aren’t as damned as the church says they should be.
The youngest brother who remembers the least and has the most to prove. Frankie is little more than a baby at the start of our tale, but he grows up fast.
One of the most privileged of the privileged, on the death of his uncle he inherits the title of Lord Saporta, and the favouritism of his widow, the Lady Victoria (plus maybe the guts to formally acknowledge whatever it is he and William have been dancing around since boyhood).
As Victoria’s favourite nephew, he gets to play a role in all her games, a position he enjoys to the fullest.
The disinherited eldest son of Lord Way never saw himself as a nobleman; he was a doctor, and that was that. He tended to all sorts, regardless of status or role or whether they could pay. He would fight to the end for the life of any man, except maybe himself.
The serving girl with an engineers’ mind, Greta works nights in the Foundry, ignoring the whispers of the other girls for the chance to build the machines that spin in her dreams.
That most of what she builds is designed to explode is a bonus.
wandering musician. wanted man (for a crime he didn’t commit), currently officially dead, wasn’t looking for love but then he met Marshall.
Street-waif, guttersnipe, one of four brothers struggling in the slums, he seems without a future until he finds himself dragged into helping Doctor Gerard save a man’s life. After that, Joe knows his calling, and he’s willing to do what it takes to become a man of medicine too.
One of three waifs brought home to the apothecary by the good doctor Joe, Johnson is the most battled-scarred by his time on the street, and the quietest of the three Alexes. However, lurking under that street-smart wariness is a gifted mechanic.
Kevin Jonas. Eldest son, substitute head of the household, alehouse whore. You might be able to have him on his back for a couple of coins most nights at the tavern, but if you meet him in a dark alley, watch out. For Kevin also stalks the dark and dangerous streets, watching out for those in trouble.
Very few know the truth about all his night time activities. Most just see the devoted brother, working however he can to keep his family alive. But one gent sees something more. When Kevin meets Mike, it is the start of the strangest adventure yet, and one that will change their lives, their families, and even the whole City forever.
Macy Misa, only child in a long line of apothecaries. She may be ‘just a girl,’ but she’s a gifted chemist, able to mix up anything from a cure for your headache to something that could turn a wall to dust in one very loud second. When she impulsively allies herself with the strange vigilante patrolling the streets her neighbourhood, Macy has no idea of the adventures that await her.
Marshall, the baby of the Alexes even though he was the first to find a home at the apothecary, has grown up secure in his unorthodox family. Loved and adored, he wants nothing more than to become a doctor, just like Joe.
Michael is a vaguely disaffected, sometimes isolated, very protected eldest son of the respectable and well-established Carden family. When his ‘friends’ decide to take him down to the docks to find a whore to ‘make a man of him,’ little do they realize that they were setting in motion events that would see Mike give up everything (and get even more).
The younger son of Lord Way, Mikey might have replaced his brother in the succession for the peerage, but that has never changed the fact that he is Gerard’s brother, first, last and always.
Another member of the theater troupe that finds a friend and benefactor in the Lady Victoria, Nate is a writer, a sneaker, and a gifted performer. He’s also always up for whatever shenanigans his friends and patron have in mind.
The third of the four Jonas brothers, Nick has only the vaguest memories of their parents, but he holds onto them, and the family he has left, with a vicious ferocity. A little troubled by all that Kevin has had to do to ensure their survival, Nick is protective of what they have, but in his own way, is just as much of a fighter as his big brothers.
Pete, the future Lord Wentz, is a dilettante, a gadabout town, a true son of the gentry. But he is also a firm and loyal friend, and while he may not have a head for business, he has a heart for those closest to him (including the mysterious and maybe inappropriate Mrs Simpson?)
Ryan Ross grew up in the gutter. Too small to fight, too slow to steal, he took the only work left, on his back, in the tavern every night. He never expected to be wooed, never set out acquire wealth or power or status. He just wanted to live through until tomorrow. But no matter how much his life has changed, Ryan will never forget where he came from.
The third of the acting troupe, and the one with the grandest gestures, Mr Blackington isn’t the fool he plays on the stage.
Singer is the Alex who landed on his feet. Trained in the chemical arts by Macy herself, Singer somehow attracts the attention of Lady Victoria, who (both to spite her in-laws, and out of some strange sense of kinship) named the boy the heir to her not-inconsiderable fortune. Continuing his luck, Singer also managed to attract the affections of his boyhood crush, Captain Colligan of the fleet. One day the universe might come to collect, but right now Singer is happy enough enjoying his blessings.
Another uptown boy, childhood friends with both William and Michael, Adam T Siska is another inadvertent player in setting the wheels in motion.
The disillusioned son of a master craftsman, Spencer leaves his apprenticeship behind to take a gamble on the world of international trade -- and on Mr Bob Bryar, his partner in business and other matters.
Taylor, the eldest daughter of the well-off Swifts, is set up to meet Mike as a marriage prospect. While marriage isn’t on the cards for either of them, a convenient summer arrangement certainly is. But while Mike thought his secret was big, it’s nothing compared to the scandal Taylor is trying to keep from public view.
They’re rats. They do not have names (just ignore what Brendon says). They do not sleep in the house (just ignore what Marshall does)...
...at some point Ryan is going to give up and admit the rats are part of the family.
Farm boy, visitor to the City, one of those rare clients that Ryan remembers.
Once a teenage tavern whore, VickyT schemed her way into the affections of the old Lord Saporta, and from there into wedlock. On his death, she inherited his huge fortunes, and promptly set about expanding her wealth by fair means or foul. Her closest confidantes, if the Lady is said to have any at all, are her nephew, Lord Gabriel, and the actors, Nate, Alex and Ryland, she adopted through patronage. She also has a cordial (though sometimes tense) understanding with Kevin and his clan in the slums, though things get interesting when one of the little Alexes down there manages without even trying to worm his way into her affections (and then her inheritance!). Though Victoria is forbade to wed again, that doesn’t stop her when the duo of Smith&Bryar catch her eye.
William is from a family rich enough to be acceptable, but not so rich as to have bought or married into a title or property. But William is a dutiful son, and goes happily into the commission his family buys him in the zeppelin fleet. There’s where things get interesting for William, for two reasons. One, he finds he actually likes the romance of the air. And two, a Captain might just be an acceptable consort for the powerful Lord Gabriel Saporta.
Arcs
The story of how Lady Victoria finally returned to help those she left behind in the slums (and how they helped her in return)
First it was Macy, caring for her father. Then Miss Greta moved in to ‘lend a hand.’ Joe never meant to move in, he just came to stay by default. And when Alex Marshall was orphaned, well, where else could he go but to the apothecary. By the time Singer and Johnson are sleeping in the little rooms under the attic, the apothecary is one big happy family.
Like it says on the tin - Kevin Jonas is a victorian batman. Read up on some of his adventures here.
Kevin never set out to start a school. But the little Alexes needed to learn more than how to throw a punch and pick a pocket, and then there were more children, and more, and then there was a school room and books, and classes, and Kevin finally found his calling.
Kevin and Mike, from beginning to end.
Mike’s trips to the slums have not gone completely unnoticed. What happens when someone tries to take Mike to use as leverage!
Mike had always felt disillusioned with the role of the idle gentry. When he first opened that law book on the shelf, though, he finally thought he might have found his role in life.
They’re known as the Alexes, though they answer singularly to Marshall, Singer and Johnson. They’re brothers where it counts, and they’re ready for adventure!
Gerard the doctor tends to the sick, no matter who they are. It’s a lesson he’s passing on to Joe, who, in turn, passes his knowledge on to little Alex Marshall.
Where did our players come from, and how did they end up here?
Brendon sets out to woo Ryan. Ryan is not impressed. Brendon likes to remind Ryan of this fact.
Bob and Spencer have been BobandSpencer pretty much since the day they met. Then they are introduced to the Lady Victoria, and agree that there may be room for one more in their relationship.
The fire changes more than the layout of the City. The fire changes everything.
Mike’s parents are at him to make a ‘suitable’ match. Miss Taylor Swift’s parents have much the same goal. Neither Mike or Taylor consider themselves free to wed, so they come to amicable arrangement.
Alex, Nate, and Ryland - traveling actors and agent provocateurs, at your service.
GROUPS (aka, we just found some really cool pics and needed an excuse to share *g*)
The Uptown Boys
The sons of the wealthy and influential, and as close as you can get to friends in the strange social world of elites of the City.
The Actors and the Saportas
A woman in power like Lady Victoria needs to know who she can rely on. For her, it is a very short list - her late husband’s favourite nephew, Gabriel (the new Lord Saporta), and her ‘boys,’ the acting troupe consisting of Nate, Alex and Ryland.
She’d take them over any army you offered her.
The Slums
Ryan and Brendon start at the bottom, but they rise (together).
The Next Generation
This is Alex and Cash, probably during their honeymoon world tour (everywhere felt cold after India) Yes, they are always this ridiculous in their PDA.
The Alexes, all grown up. Their amulets are courtesy of Miss Greta - none of her boys were ever going to be caught unarmed and unready, ever! (though the cross is one of Frank’s, who believes there’s no such thing as overkill)
The full band of brothers and lovers - from left to right, Ian Marshall, traveling musician (currently believed by the authorities to be deceased), Cash on leave from the fleet, Marshall at home between house calls, Singer, and finally Johnson, who once again has been up all night with Greta and Bob M helping build some contraption. Cash looks particularly Zeppelin-y, and Singer is rocking the latest upCity fashions courtesy of Lady V.
EDITED TO ADD: To clarify, since some people have asked, when we say chronologically, we mean, the very next post is the start of the story, and it ends some skip=160 later. So just read down the page to get started :D