Steampunk, Cyberpunk, and Otherpunks!

[Minibit]

There are many subgenres of SteamPunk, which are your favourites and what do you like about them? Could you define them for the rest of us?

In this thread, I'm interested in learning about all things '-punk' genre!

 

[ze_kraken]

Cyberpunk is, at its core, typically thought of as simply a darker future that's constricted to Earth (no space travel). While it certainly contains elements of this, I've never really seen the "dark future" route as cyberpunk. If that were the case, a lot of other worlds/works would be considered cyberpunk when they really aren't. In general, to be considered true cyberpunk it needs at least:

• You need cybernetics - the 'cyber' in the 'cyberpunk.' It's always been a crucial part of the atmosphere, society, and technology level. Without it, it lacks a core element of humanity v. cyborgs v. androids on the social order.
• Elements of corrupt government + strong presence of megacorps/cons. There is a federal government, they still have regulations, laws, and all the things that should in theory prevent the sorts of business practices that happen. However, like today, there are always ways to creep in and around the rules.
• Since cyberpunk was born of the 1980's, the Net needs to be a strong idea in any good cyberpunk world/story. Most often, hacking has become a sort of surreal Inception-like process that involves a hacker (Netter/Decker/etc.) creating and bending the reality of the server/Net to bypass programs that take on physical representations - a firewall might be an armored knight, for example.
• Unless the world is Android, nearly all cyberpunk does not expand beyond the moon. If it has the moon (again, non-Android), odds are the people who live on the moon are the 'bad guys' of the story. The one that started this trope was Hardwired with the idea that "Orbitals" occupied the moon and kept an iron grip on Earth, thus causing all the social plagues of cyberpunk worlds.

As far as sci-fi goes, it's probably my favorite out of all of them. Technology-wise, I've never thought it was too over-the-top (unless you take into account that they believed this would happen as early as 2020) given how far we've come in the past 150 years. While the idea that a corporation could become that powerful may seem unrealistic to some, I've always been of the opinion that sometimes you take a world for its own rules, not what realism drives the society. But quickly summed up, nearly every element of cyberpunk appeals to me. It's a realistic science fiction story that can explore several themes and environments while retaining its core ideals.

 

[gamer5]

Time to reveal MagiPunk

MagiPunk is probably the only way to correctly describe the Steam Age of my setting of Aerethia. It has some usual elements of Steam Punk but the fact remains that some unique ones are present. One of the most notable is that while the technology is that of the steam age the life itself is more similar to our period! How is that possible you might ask, well here magic or the Magi part of the MagiPunk comes in. Using a simplified magical system based on the four elements Aerethia managed to create a magical radio, internet, telephone, transportation system, industry and many other things in the cities. But on the other hand we have steam trains crossing over huge distance to bring resources to the cities and civilization to the rural ares. It is a unique combination of the Steam Age, Steam Punk, Magical Fantasy all in a still-expanding complex setting. If you want to find more about Aerethia visit the Lands of Aerethia interest check or PM for a talk about it!

MagiPunk - When magic and technology are joined before the modern age!

As for other forms of -Punk. Well I like both cyber and steampunk trough for now I had more experiences with reading cyberpunk. I usually include elements of cyberpunk in my science fiction works, trough usually joined with other themes like military, economy, everyday life and so on.