A Steam-Powered World

Steam is a very powerful force, and by careful recycling, a steam driven machine, and run for a very long time without being refilled. In my Steampunk/Fantasy series, “After: Earth”, there are odd mixtures of technology. Steam power is used for almost everything, though the city-states have gaslight illumination, and, because the people who returned to the cities centuries before, have forgotten any farming skills they might have had. Because of this and the millions of people packed into the widely separated cities, there had to be some way to feed everyone. That way was hydroponics. And so they built multi-story buildings to hydroponically grow much of the food for the people of the cities. Though there are a few farms that raise animals, much of the meat used in the city is the result of hunting and bartering with some of the close free tribes. This also benefits those tribes, as they gain gaslights, roads, and some of the other trappings of civilization, without having to bow down to the ‘city dwellers.’ Because of this trade, some of these tribes have grown large as others merge with them to share in the benefits of this symbiotic relationship.