Steampunk

Player: @First Player

NAME: Jack Quinn
AGE: 26
EQUIPMENT:

• FIREARM
  A high-tech blunderbuss that projects concentrated beams of heat & flame
  
• ARMORED SUIT
  Steampunk possesses a suit of armor that grants him enhanced strength and immunity from the effects his weapons generate.

ABILITIES:

• Skilled engineer
  
• Weapon/tool improvisation
  
• Proficient inventor
  
• Knowledge of pyrotechnics and combustibles

The story of Steampunk truly begins in 1886 with Jonathan Quinn, a disgraced Royal Engineer turned anarchist inventor. After witnessing the Empire’s machinery grind human lives into dust, he built his own armor—a clanking, hissing contraption of gears, pistons, and moral fury—and became The Steam Knight, protector of London’s underbelly. He didn’t fight for queen or country but for the factory workers, the urchins, the poets choking on soot. His creed: “If the crown owns the engines, then we’ll steal the steam.”

Fast forward through the generations: each Quinn inherits some version of the armor, rebuilt and reimagined for their era. By World War II, the third Steampunk was flying sortie-style with the RAF—part hero, part propaganda machine. After the war, the family fortune ballooned as they industrialized their technology—turning rebellion into profit.

Jack Quinn grew up rich and furious. His father, Malcolm Quinn, was the face of a multinational weapons firm built on the bones of the Industrial Revolution. Malcolm sold “defense solutions” to the highest bidder, wrapping greed in the Union Jack and calling it patriotism. Jack wanted none of it.

By his late teens, Jack was fronting a politically charged punk band called The Dizzy Blisters, screaming against corporate fascism and government surveillance. They weren’t famous, but in the backrooms and basements of London, they were infamous—especially after one of their protest gigs ended in a street brawl with a far-right group. Jack got busted for assaulting a “patriot” who tried to plant a flagpole in his chest. Community service followed. A criminal record. A few lost years of bouncing between garages, pubs, and protests.

Then his grandfather died.

Arthur Quinn, a reclusive old man the family barely mentioned, was found dead in his crumbling countryside estate—burned-out workshop, scorch marks on the walls, no body recovered. The official report said “gas explosion.” The tabloids whispered mad inventor. Malcolm, embarrassed, had the place locked down and forgotten. But Jack—angry, curious, half-drunk on resentment—broke in.

Inside the ruins, beneath layers of soot and secrecy, he found something impossible: a workshop frozen in time. Brass schematics, journals filled with furious handwriting, and a half-dismantled suit of armor that looked like a nightmare dreamed by Jules Verne. It was heavy, hissing, powered by glowing coils and whispering turbines. The notebooks spoke of a legacy of resistance—a line of vigilantes, each taking up the mantle of Steampunk to fight the tyrants of their age. Jonathan Quinn, the first, had battled factory barons in the smog-choked alleys of Victorian London. His descendants had fought fascists, profiteers, and corrupt kings. Somewhere along the line, the family stopped fighting and started selling.

Jack pieced the suit back together, following the designs scrawled in his grandfather’s notes. He wasn’t a genius, but he was a hell of a mechanic—quick hands, clever mind, punk stubbornness. He modernized it with scavenged tech and street-level ingenuity: repurposed microreactors, electromagnetic plating, a weapon that looked like a Victorian blunderbuss but spat plasma and fire. The thing groaned and steamed and rattled like it hated being alive—just like its pilot.

He took the mantle not as heir but heretic. Steampunk was reborn, not as a savior of empire but a saboteur of it. Jack turned the armor into a weapon against the system that made his father rich—the corporations, fascist movements, and corrupt politicians who treated people like expendable cogs. He became an icon of rebellion: a punk-rock knight of the modern age, armored in the ghosts of his ancestors’ sins.

The mystery of Arthur Quinn’s death lingers, though. Jack’s pretty sure the old man didn’t blow himself up. There are hints in the journals—references to a “shadow consortium,” their secret project, and a final line scrawled in the margins: The steam must rise again...

Steampunk possesses no superhuman abilities, but often utilizes cunning, improvisation, and intelligence as tools for victory. He relies on the vast array of equipment he has either developed or inherited. But never read a book by its cover. While his forefathers were slaves to the mechanical and steam-powered technology of their times, Jack's weapons and armor are actually crafted from modern technology and only masked by a Steampunk aesthetic. This often leads to his enemies underestimating his capabilities. Among these gadgets are:

Firearm, his main weapon. An exaggeratedly large blunderbuss that projects a concentrated stream of fire at his enemies.
An insulated, fireproof battle suit that affords him protection against the fire and heat his weapons generate.
A high tech backback that boosts the power of his flamethrower. It also puffs steam.
Various incendiary devices such as wick-fused smoke bombs, blinding flares, and incapacitating gas grenades.

Brash. Impulsive. Rebellious. Aggressive. All words others have used to describe Jack at one point or another. But what others perceive as recklessness, Jack views as passion.

Anti-capitalist. Anti-government. Basically anti-any-type-of-authority. Jack loathes the greedy and corrupt and any system that allows them to stay in power. He considers himself the voice of the voiceless, defender of the underprivileged and regularly takes on corrupt politicians and businessmen, declaring war on those who misuse their power at the expense of those without any.

Though he lacks the technical brilliance and experience of his predecessors, he makes up for it in street smarts, ingenuity, and determination.

• Cult Defector - Cults are based around the blind obedience of their followers and the authority of their leader, with individuality stripped away in favor of assimilation. High society in a nutshell. Jack left both his fortune and home as soon as he was able, flipping off the wealthy elite on his way across the pond.

• Well-Intentioned Extremist - While his goals may be altruistic, his methods are far from it, often causing more harm than good. Both the amount of property damage and chaos Steampunk brings about usually outweighs the positive impact he intended to make.

• Homemade Inventions - Before he left London, Jack "borrowed" his grandfather's suit of armor and arsenal of weapons. He makes regular upgrades and repairs in his free time.

Fire-Breathing Weapon - Jack's main weapon is his devastating flamethrower, Firearm.

• Combat Pragmatist - Some fights have rules. Most don't. However, a lot of people will still fight as though there are rules. Steampunk is not one of those people. When the chips are down and his back's against the wall, Jack will do whatever it takes to survive. Biting, kicks to the groin, sand in the eyes - Nothing's off limits.

• Legacy Character - Steampunk is the fifth generation of costumed vigilante within his family. Though they've all been called different things over the years, the goal remains the same - standing up for the little guy.

"My Own Worst Enemy" by Lit
"Walk Idiot Walk" by The Hives
"Rise Above" by Black Flag
"Hate Everyone" by Say Anything
"Institutionalized" by Suicidal Tendencies
"Damnit, I Changed Again" by The Offspring
"Number Five With A Bullet" by Taking Back Sunday
"Pain" by Jimmy Eat World
"Dismantle Me" by The Distillers