Brummagem (Steampunk | Monster Tamer | Progression Fantasy)
Community Rating
Description
There's magic in the world; aether permeates everything. It's in the air, oceans, and underground, and it gives everyone fantastical powers.A fox-like monster capable of turning its own body boneless and altering the air around, making it thick as jelly? Aye.A four-legged taran barrelling toward you horns first– wait! Are theretwotarans? Nuh-uh – the beast's simply using itsechoability.In fact, everyone has one – a magical trick up their sleeve. Everyone except humans, that is.Incapable of doing any magic whatsoever, humans learned how to survive in the world infested with monsters. They conquered steam, gunpowder, and, more recently, the very aether itself. Not as magic, no, but asfuel. They figured out how to extract, process, and burn it. So what if monsters go berserk when they sense the fallout? That's just the price of convenience.
Most people love it. The corporations too.
After all, who needs to use magic when one canabuseit, instead?
Living in this unforgiving world, there is a young fella named Cillian, who strives to become a chevalier – one of the famous monster tamers roaming the plane and protecting the innocent… Well, not quite. All chevaliers work for Foerstner Group and do the company's bidding. But it's better than being stuck behind Lua's walls his whole life.And during his journey, perhaps the boy will also uncover the mysteries that has plagued him for years. How did humans come to be here? Why are they so different from everyone else? Why can't they do magic? And what's with that giant vortex in the sky, spinning and shifting colors without end?
What to expect:
- Steampunk setting.
- Slow-burn progression both in power and in social status. And I mean it. The monster taming stuff only starts in the middle of book 1. Cause, until then, the characters (who are ordinary 18-year-olds) are not ready.
- Focus on exploration.
- No cheats/shortcuts/chosen ones. Cillian's path to becoming special among specials is going to be long and arduous.
- Book 1 is set in an academy, but the rest will take place in the wider world.
- NOT LitRPG.
- Long chapters spanning anywhere from 5 to 10k, twice a week (Mon/Fri 05:20pm EST).
- Celtic mythology elements.
- Some Irish slang. Should be understandable from context, but I'll be providing explanations in the notes. I'm not from Ireland, so if youare, you should probably skip this one as not to get offended by my occasional misuse.
- Imperfect grammar. Sorry, I'm not a native English speaker; still learning. Steamin' past perfect, man. Hate it. Articles too.
Wikipedia: "Brummagem" and "Brummagem ware" are terms for cheap and shoddy imitations, in particular when referring to mass-produced goods.
The cover art bysrifez.
Information
- Status
- Hiatus
- Year
- 2024
- Author
- C.H. Else
Tags
Royal Road Stats
- Rating
- 4.8/ 5.0
- Followers
- 40
- Views
- 5,345
Chapters(18 total)
- Hiatus notice. IRL problems. Apologies.Feb 7, 2025
- Chapter 15. Out of aether. Out of controlFeb 3, 2025
- Digression 1. Cillian's notesJan 31, 2025
- Chapter 14. A bruteforce approachJan 31, 2025
- Chapter 13. Penetration testJan 27, 2025
- Chapter 12. CooldownJan 24, 2025
- Chapter 11. Run to completionJan 20, 2025
- Chapter 10. BreakpointJan 17, 2025
- Chapter 9. Stepping inJan 13, 2025
- Chapter 8. Stepping throughJan 10, 2025
- Chapter 7. OutlineJan 6, 2025
- Chapter 6. Out of boundsJan 3, 2025
- Chapter 5. Integrated Development EnvironmentDec 30, 2024
- Chapter 4. OnboardingDec 28, 2024
- Chapter 3. Path traversalDec 28, 2024
- Chapter 2. High levelDec 28, 2024
- Chapter 1. Hello, World!Dec 27, 2024
- PrologueDec 27, 2024
Reviews
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Community Reviews(2)
- AmateurHourRoyal Road★★★★★ 5.0Advanced review to follow once we're an arc or so in.
A very promising start in two types of settings I adore ('Industrial boom Victorian coded society in a world full of eldritch horror' and 'Monster Fighting Academy'). Pale Lights fans should be happy to have something else to scratch the itch.
Protag is sufficienty plucky and I smell the beginnings of an ensamble cast (assuming half of them aren't killed off horribly). As long as the author keeps their promise and continues to make the human character scrape and struggle and doesn't give anyone special magic powers we'll be grand.
And hey, it isn't LitRPG! - MarcusSlovanRoyal Road★★★★★ 5.0I've been following along on spacebattles and came to support the author, because I love steampunk. Sadly, good stories in the genre are rare. Don't want to spoil anything, but the world is super interesting.
One thing I'd never seen before is (a small spoiler for the prologue):
There are stories where aether/mana/madra/whatever-you-call-it is used for powering technology, but in this story using the aether like this has negative consequences. Aether burning attracting nearby monsters and making them crazy adds another dimension to the concept, and I love it!