Anachronistic Hearts

In Anachronistic Hearts (AH), the Industrial Revolution is already in full swing, and as electricity is not yet as widespread; the emphasis on steam technology, or spring-propelled gadgets, and steam/spring-like aesthetics has flourished worldwide.

This Industrial Revolution is marked as a major turning point in history; almost every aspect of daily life is influenced by steam, metal, gears, and glass, in some way, shape, or form. Most notably, average income and population have begun to exhibit unprecedented sustained growth. The world's average per capita income
has increased over ten-fold, while the world's population increased over six-fold; but such results are not all positive.

Socialism emerges as a critique of capitalism. Intellectual and artistic hostilities toward the new industrialization has developed and growing, stressing the importance of "nature" in art and language, in contrast to "monstrous" machines and factories…

Death and illnesses from working in factories, poor working conditions, and poor conditions within cities have become prevalent. And so is the introduction of new and improved methods of labor exploitation, by, from, and benefiting the employer… Children, women, dwarfs, and other types are all available for exploitation. Repression, child labor, and not to mention, rather basic hygiene practices, means that it is not the dreamy landscape that is often portrayed.

And lastly, what may be construed as honesty in government, does not exist… So opportunities for theft, bribery, extortion, and general dishonesty in the relationship between business and government are very broad.

So here we are… in an overcrowded steam-mandated fantasy, and essentially taking those elements to the furthest extreme. The lands outside the city are virtually in a time standstill, having been ignored by the city dwellers, and left to Nature’s own method of recovery.

But in the analytical world of those living in this world, there lies a need to protect what is left of the dominion they used to know....
This transformation of what was familiar into an overcrowded, steam, gear, and glass-inundated fantastical world... There are many who would just as soon do one of two things:
(1) Control the world and keep it status quo... The Power Hungry, the Greedy;

(2) Destroy it because of what it has become... The violent Conservatives or Tree-Huggers;

Historically, it had been centuries, or more closely a millennium, in development, but technology, that human knowledge of techniques, processes, and its associative, and its being embedded in machines, allowing its operation without detailed knowledge of the workings and the subsequent advancement of technology pushed humans toward an end that was unsuspecting.

Legal and cultural foundations enabled entrepreneurs, who sought profit, to pioneer a revolution in industry. Key factors fostering this environment were peace and stability, the non-existence of trade barriers between Nations and the changes in rules of law such as respecting the sanctity of contracts, straightforward legal system which allowed the formation of joint-stock companies, and a free market.

There began a transition in previously manual labor and draft-animal based economy towards machine-based manufacturing. It started with the mechanization of the textile industries, the development of iron-making techniques and the increased use of refined coal for steam generation.

Trade expansion was enabled by the introduction of canals, improved roads and railways. With the transition away from an agricultural-based economy, and towards machine-based manufacturing, came a great influx of population from the countryside and into the towns and cities, which swelled in population.

Now known as the First Industrial Revolution, the development of trade and the rise of business during the period from about 1760 to sometime between 1820 and 1840, where changes in agriculture, manufacturing, mining, transportation, and technology which wrought the transition to new manufacturing processes. These processes developed from hand production methods to machines, new chemical manufacturing and iron production processes, the increasing use of steam power and water power, the development of machine tools, and the rise of the mechanized factory system. First in England, secondly in Europe, then in the United States, then to Asia, and country-by-country to the whole productive world.

The Industrial Revolution began in Great Britain, and many of the technological innovations were of British origin. By the mid-18th century, Britain was the world's leading commercial nation, controlling a global trading empire with colonies in North America and the Caribbean, and with major military and political hegemony on the Indian subcontinent, particularly with the proto-industrialized Mughal Bengal, through the activities of the East India Company. The development of trade and the rise of business were among the major causes of the Industrial Revolutions.


The Industrial Revolutions marked major turning points in history; almost every aspect of daily life was influenced in some way. In particular, average income and population began to exhibit unprecedented sustained growth. Some economists say that the major effect of the Industrial Revolutions was that the standard of living for the general population in the world began to increase consistently for the first time in history, thus leading to an unprecedented rise in the rate of population growth.

An economic recession occurred from the late 1830s to the early 1840s when the adoption of the original innovations of the Industrial Revolution, such as mechanized spinning and weaving, slowed and their markets matured. Innovations developed late in the period, such as the increasing adoption of locomotives, steamboats and steamships, hot blast iron smelting and new technologies, such as the electrical telegraph, widely introduced in the 1840s and 1850s, were not powerful enough to drive high rates of growth.

Rapid economic growth began to occur after 1870, springing from a new group of innovations in what has been called the Second Industrial Revolution. These new innovations included new steel making processes, mass-production, assembly lines, electrical grid systems, the large-scale manufacture of machine tools and the use of increasingly advanced machinery in steam-powered factories.


Steam power – the efficiency of steam engines increased so that they used between one-fifth and one-tenth as much fuel. The adaptation of stationary steam engines to rotary motion made them suitable for industrial uses. The high-pressure engine had a high power to weight ratio, making it suitable for transportation. Steam power underwent a rapid expansion after 1800.

These advancement and changes in processes had a profound effect on the social, economic and cultural conditions of the times... leading to an unprecedented rise in average income and population, with not all positive results. The basis of such technological advancements were the mechanical computing devices...

Twas around 1824, when the English scientist, Charles Babbage and his chief engineer, Edward Robertson, succeeded with his Difference Engine and went on to develop the Analytical Engine. Following the analytical/difference engines, came the enhanced metallurgy, followed by the harnessing of natural steam energy…

Edward Robertson became financially and politically powerful and at the 1830 general election, opposed the Royalist Government lead by the Duke of Sleat, Conrad MacGregor; who staged a coup d'etat in 1830 in an attempt to overturn his defeat and prevent the acceleration of technological change and social upheaval, but was assassinated in 1831.

So the Science and Technology Party (STP) came to power. The Royalist Party and hereditary peerage were hidden. Trade unions assisted the ascendancy of the STP. As a result, anti-technological working-class revolutionaries were ruthlessly suppressed. Soon other Political Factions of government, Groups, Circles, Societies, and Criminalities were formed and grew.


By 1848, Babbage computers were abundant, if you were financially influential… Steam powered technologies have developed, so, steam carriages were a common sight of the financially affluent. There still people who explore the social consequences of an information technology revolution in the nineteenth century, such as the emergence of "hackers", technologically proficient people, who are skilled at programming the Engines through the use of punch-cards.

The British Empire, as well as other countries run by influential members of the STP, is now more powerful, thanks to the development and use of extremely advanced steam driven technology in industry. In addition, similar military technology has enhanced the capabilities of the armed forces (airships, dreadnoughts, and artillery); and the Babbage computers themselves. Under the Science and Technology Party, breaks with the past as regards to social prestige and class distinction, was reflected in the educational sphere: classical studies have lost importance compared to more practical concerns such as engineering and accountancy.

Another by-product was the craft of working with metals to create individual parts, assemblies, or large-scale structures… Wooden ships frames and keels, leather hinges in homes, scabbards and holsters, and wooden engineering frames soon went the way of the by-gone, replaced by various forms, styles, and shapes of metal works.

As the extremities of Industrial Revolutions raged onward, so it affected the basics, such as religion, offering a path which supported the freedom of an individual or community, in public or private, to manifest religion or belief in teaching, practice, worship, and observance. It also included the freedom to change one's religion or beliefs.

Despite the throes and extremities of the Industrial Revolution, freedom of religion was, and is, considered by many people and most of the world’s nations to be a fundamental human right.

In a country with a state religion, freedom of religion is generally considered to mean that the government permits religious practices of other sects besides the state religion, and does not persecute believers in other faiths.

Freedom of belief is different. It allows the right to believe what a person, group or religion wishes, but it does not necessarily allow the right to practice the religion or belief openly and outwardly in a public manner, a central facet of religious freedom.

But Religious Freedom in the new world of steam technology led to sporadic and lawless religions allowing types of paganisms to continue.

The Roman Catholic Church had been torn apart and dismantled as paganism grew… religions began to take on illicit practices.

But… despite all the problems… sciences and technologies flourished and pushed forth new realm. Following the Science and Technology came a resurgence in religion… and soon became a dominating social factor.

This same religious domination can be seen… marked by the Church which developed such an influence in politics as well as religion that it became difficult to separate the two. The tyrannical power of the Church fostered many problems (lack of space, not relating to its people, hypocrisy, etc.) and created an air where a variety of dissenting groups could form and develop.

The atmosphere of the High Church compared to that of the dissenting groups explains why the shift of religion occurred with such a large response. In the High Church, funding came from the wealthy which in turn gave them a piece of the church as property--pews. This example of people buying pieces of the church displays how it was growing more concerned with political and economic interests and less concerned with its common congregation and spirituality.

The critical manufacturing change that marked the Second Industrial Revolution is the production of interchangeable parts. Lathes and other machine tools enabled high precision, and mass reproduction of parts with that precision. The introduction of steam power, fueled primarily by coal, underpinned the dramatic increases in production capacity. The development of all-metal machine tools facilitated the manufacture of more production machines for manufacturing in other industries. The effects spread throughout eventually affecting all of the world, a process that continues to enormous impact this change on society.

Granted, the Second Industrial Revolution marked a major turning point in history; almost every aspect of daily life was influenced by steam, metal, gears, and glass, in some way, shape, or form. Most notably, average income and population began to exhibit unprecedented sustained growth. In the two decades following 1850, the world's average per capita income increased over tenfold, while the world's population increased over six-fold.


The results of the Industrial Revolution and the capitalistic growth there from, was not all positive. Socialism emerged as a critique of capitalism. Intellectual and artistic hostilities towards the new industrialization developed, stressing the importance of "nature" in art and language, in contrast to "monstrous" machines and factories…

Some of the negative effects included death and illnesses from working in factories, poor working conditions, and poor conditions within cities. One major cause of the poor sanitary conditions in cities were under-developed sanitation systems, overcrowding, the rapid injection of homes upon homes… the increasing swiftness of daily life… Plus there was pollution… a lot of smoke generated, as many of the technologies of the time entailed simple, crude burning of fuels to generate heat for various industrial processes.

One major event that affected the people of the world, particularly the islands, was the retaliation of Mother Nature. No one knows what caused the geological event, but its affects were felt by everything and everyone. The very core of the world met with destiny. A violent shake under the Sea caused major tidal waves to the west, devastating and swallowing many of the world’s smaller isles… including major devastation on Scotland’s Isle Lewis-Harris, obliterating Stornoway… And if one could only understand the freak of nature that caused the floating isles of Scotland’s Isle Lewis-Harris. And if that was not devastating enough, soon a geological formation formed without consequence on Isles Rhum and Rona… the plates of the earth’s crust shifted forming several volcanos spewing forth steam… instead of lava…

Such phenomena, similar to Rhum and Rona, occurred worldwide, caused by the effects of violent tremors of the seabed, followed by unexplained explosions which disrupted the land masses… As if by magic, several large formations began to float upwards… slowly at first, then more each year… as of recent, to be thousands of feet in the air. The rich and those seekers of fortune soon develop ways to use the steam volcano and means to get to the sky islands. Alas, only a few small settlements remain on the floating isles, those who seek the explanation and commercialization of the steam events.

Isle of Rhùm
Rhùm had been inhabited since the 8th millennium BC and provided the earliest known evidence of human occupation in Scotland. The early Celtic and Norse settlers left only a few written accounts and artifacts. But it would be the explosions on the sea-bed that would nearly destroy the Isles of Lewis-Harris, Rona, and Rum… Now by some odd freak of nature, supposedly shifts in the earth’s core and mantle plates, a volcano has developed and large chunks of land now float above the island. The rich and those seekers of fortune soon develop ways to use the volcano and means to get to the sky islands.


Isle Eilean Leòdhas agus na Hearadh
And the Isles Lewis-Harris have been inhabited for an extraordinary long period of time, where history was history before it was ever written. Gone are the once plentiful golden eagle, red deer and seals... its beautiful scenery now replaced by an active steam volcano.

Stornoway, on the Isle of Lewis, was originally an ancient Viking settlement and developed around its well sheltered natural harbor. Development of the town was spurred by historical events to become a world leader in shipbuilding naval warships and cargo vessels. But as with all great intentions, there are those who would take the good intention down a wrong path.

Destroyed by war, greed, and the unexplained explosions on the sea-bed the large city was destroyed by tidal waves and a volcano. Beside the last operating pier, thrives a settlement of less than 250 people. Some say they are further developing steam machinations, using byproducts of the volcano.

Gambler’s City is a village of about 150 people of various trades and is a sky merchant center. One of the first merchants to inhabit one of the odd freaks of nature, supposedly caused by shifts in the earth’s core and mantle plates.



Wentworth Castle in the Sky... Another one of the freaks of nature, supposedly caused by shifts in the earth’s core and mantle plates. Again, in 1550, the earth shook, and this castle shifted on its foundations… and in 1785, it moved 3 meters… and in 1850, yet in a disturbed by another violent earth shudder, it broke free, entotale, from its earthly bounds, now floating 1200 feet in the air.

Another negative impact of the Revolutions was the host of new and improved methods of labor exploitation, by, from, and benefitting the employer… Children, women, dwarfs, other types were all available for exploitation. Repression, child labor, and not to mention, rather basic hygiene practices, meant that it was not the dreamy landscape that is often portrayed.

And lastly, what may be construed as honesty in government, didn’t exist… So, opportunities for theft, bribery, extortion, and general dishonesty in the relationship between business and government were very broad.

Ah yes, the cities… the cities of the world, ones that survived the Second Industrial Revolution, are large, dirty, overcrowded, dark, and yet stunningly beautiful in its own design. From the stone Gothic skyscrapers, to the ways and means of steam-powered transportation, whether by air or ground, to the highly colorful yet, shabbier and dirtier interiors.

The lands outside the cities are virtually in a time standstill, having been ignored by the city dwellers, and left to Nature’s own method of recovery.

The dream of material progress seemed a reality; man's dominion over the natural world had been enormously increased by achievements in the various sciences and the practical application of their methods and discoveries. The World was undergoing an unprecedented period of rapid changes:
(1) farms were giving way to factories;
(2) science and technology were revolutionizing how people viewed their world.

Practically nothing was left untouched, resulting in a conflict between progress and traditional norms. The period was characterized by rapid change and developments in nearly every sphere - from advances in medical, scientific and technological knowledge to changes in population growth and location.

Over time, this rapid transformation deeply affected a country's mood: an age that began with a confidence and optimism leading to economic boom and prosperity eventually gave way to uncertainty and doubt regarding the country's place in the world.

Aside from wreaking havoc with the landscape and crushing the working-class with intolerable poverty, industrialization was considered by more conservative people to be evidence of a shift in values… where an increasing amount of emphasis was placed on worldly matters instead of spirituality. Commercial, industrial, and scientific progress were writing God out of history.

People who considered themselves engineers learned their empirical art through apprenticeship.

Master builders who held all kinds of jealously, guarded tricks of the trade - a vast inventory of knowledge about material selection, personnel management, geometrical proportioning, load distribution, design, liturgy, and tradition. And make no mistake, those masons saw no clear boundary between things material and things spiritual. Their art flowed from their right brain. It was visual and spatial. They levitated tons of stone into the air to communicate their praise of God, and when they were finished, they embellished the nooks and crannies and high aeries of their buildings with the phantoms of their minds -- with cherubs and gargoyles and wild caricatures of one another.

Of course, working on such a titanic scale in the highest technology of the age, they grew increasingly wealthy, powerful, and proud. They signed their work boldly and dramatically. Even the contemplative labyrinths on cathedral floors led the faithful to a central plaque where they found, not a holy symbol or a saint, but an image of the master mason wielding a compass.

Other inventions that followed include the:
❖ -- cast-iron pipe and the
❖ -- portable clock (mechanical clocks were large, fixed devices). The spring-driven clock made it possible to carry the time around with you.
❖ -- Fire - our worst enemy, our best friend - although fire could be made by rubbing sticks together or by striking flint to steel, this was a time-consuming process. It was discovered that when phosphorus and sulfur were rubbed together, they would burst into flame, not because of friction, but because of chemical nature of these two substances. Although convenient, matches were not very safe, because sometimes they accidentally went up in flames while in a pocket... hence came a new technology, using a similar concept... lighters.

Shipbuilding guilds, as a major economic institution, grew. They grew financially… became organized… and joined forces with the science guilds that developed. Shipwrights became men of great importance and wealth as they seemed very important to trade and engineering. This importance grew as designs improved.

The descendants of Architectural Patriarchs following the architectural laws and designs set to paper spurred forth a new age... architectural designs were put to the reality test of invention.

As poverty became more widespread, interest in the plight of the working class increased. Similarly, the people soon came to evaluate their traditional beliefs, just as ground-breaking scientific discoveries forced the explanatory factors, one way or another, that the Bible could not resolve, thereby opening their minds to new possibilities and the richness of human history.

Ultimately, it was a time of staggering growth – physically, economically, and intellectually – in which ideas developed and like industrialization itself, proved to be as fruitful as they were problematic. In the wake, these issues resulted in new lines of thought, which ventured beyond familiar territory into strand but exciting new worlds. Therefore, whether science and technology were “Death’s white horses” or modern marvels, these controversies served to shape the future.

So here we are in 1875… in an overcrowded steam-mandated fantasy, and essentially taking those elements to the furthest extreme.