World Building for Fun: The Infinite Empire

[Oriflamme]

So I have this worldbuilding project that I do for fun, you might have seen some of the sketches I did for that in other threads. I’m creating this thread as an outlet for presenting some of the work I did, since it is slightly better than screaming into the void.

I plan to periodically post more old stuff I created or some of the new material.

A few thing to keep in mind:
I did this for fun, there is currently no plan to use the setting for a story.
I have somewhat of a kitchen sink approach, so there are a lot of elements, and they don’t all mesh together, or the context for how they mesh exist only in my head.
I will include a short caption to every drawing, to provide further insight into the world and raise even more questions.

So let begin with the premise of this world building project:

Through the manipulation of ether (colloquially called magic, but legally different for theological reasons), the creation of portals to other dimensions is possible. Innumerable numbers of nations exist scattered across thousands of worlds, all connected by a vast network of portals. At the center of it all, there is the Infinite Empire. By controlling a few strategic points, they can exert a degree of control all across the network. It has always existed and will always exist. That being said they are not exempt from earth shattering disruption. The fabric of the empire was completely changed when they opened a portal to our world in 1916, in the middle of the battle of the Somme.

2nd Lieutenant in the Imperial Army, during official force inspection by a Lord Regent. (October 21, 2014)

“Witness the power of a industrial army”. Dragon riders of the Imperial army are often equipped with manpads as a way to counter other dragons or planes with overly cocky pilots.

The early days of ethermancy within the industrial armed forces were filled with wild experimentation that often lead to unorthodox results.

Lord Emissary Ustrecht of the Kalindras, current Imperial ambassador to the United State of America.

R.A.S Phantom, first ship of its namesake class. Served in the Regency’s Air Force from 1965 to 1986. Recommissioned in 2017 during the Dead World campaign, as remote heavy aero-torpedo launching platform for the Cardinal Class. Had its spine broken by an F-22 raptor on October 17, 2019.

"You can't park here, mate" The Empire's mighty airships are still vulnerable to dragons.

[Silver7]

I think your world building is so cool, keep it up, you have an awesome imagination

[Oriflamme]

Some rough airship sketch:
These are arranged in such a way to tell the developmental history of the flying ship.

Typical Escanian air ship as seen during the late necromantique period (640-734 ad).

¨The Ship that shook the world¨ RAS Audacieux (Formerly HNLMS Fret) on her maiden voyage. Photographed above Boston. December 28 1918.

The wreck of RAS Audacieux burning on the Hudson river December 29 1918.

LZ 163, a Z3 class zeppelin engaged in combat against the joint airfleets of the Regency’s Air Force and the Royal Netherland Air Navy during the low country offensive. winter 1921.

As the great war approached its end. Republican France’s industry rose to the occasion and created monsters of the sky to counter the Infinite Empire’s airship.

"When fire was stolen from the gods" HMS Prometheus. Launched September 1925. Commissioned August 1927.

U.S.A.S. Shangri-La (CVV 28) performing flight operations over Brazil to support allied ground troops. March 1949.

RAS Phantom Circa 1969. (This is one of the early sketch)

HMS Typhoon, Launched in 1994.

Concept art of the Cardinal class as part of the millenium airfleet construction program (1999)

U.S.A.S. General Motor™(CVVN 84) flying aircraft carrier performing routine flight operation over the midwest strategic anti air battery.

Modern airship travel sucks! You get to spend a day and half locked inside a flying shopping mall with your aunt, who’s blackout drunk and constantly trying to seduce the minimum wage worker who brought the 80$ margaritas.

The Black Rain is one of many continental cleansing platforms operated by the Knights of Salt.

[Oriflamme]

Made some more sketchs when I visited my parents.

For decades, U-boats of German Imperial remnants were a threat to the trade routes across the realms. The burning of New Berlin in 2001 ended their reign of terror.

The Consolidated-Northrop VF41T A5 “Tremors” was the bane of opportunistic feudal lords hoping to gain favors with the Mesderiah by challenging the U.S. Marine Corps.

Unlike other armies, the mage of the Australian Peoples’ Army, are deployed in mixed special force units, wearing uniforms indistinguishable from their non magical counterparts.

Although vehemently denied by Parliament, it is well documented that the Special Boat Service supported their Chinese allies in Vietnam during the Third Pacific War.

The BRL 08 quietly became a staple of the Anti-Imperial-Alliance with over 2 500 units sold, carving out a place for the Brazilian aircraft industry in the industrialized nations arms market.

Nuclear powered land trains allow the Imperial Army to maintain a dominating presence across large portions of the central interdimensional network.

Despite having a minuscule service life (1958-1969), the Hawker Hannibal is one of the most iconic heavy Vandal type aircraft, mostly for their legendary battle performance against Ruthenian Airfleet during the battle of the Caspian sea.

The m2 machine gun is the among the heaviest guns allowed by treaties to be used by the Peripheral Guard. Bicycle units use barebone scooters to tow them into battle.

[kyupol]

Interesting... cool designs.

Machines definitely not my forte.

[Oriflamme]

I love doing crunchy mechanical designs. Fictional machines work best in my opinion when you can easily imagine them existing in real life. Most of the designs I posted here are heavily based on things that actually existed, which is in stark contrast to my worldbuilding where things happen because I thought it would be funny/weird.

[mccoyamandamarie]

Wow, your sketches are really good! the ideas of your world are really cool, how worlds are kind of like an internet of worlds linked together.

[Oriflamme]

Did some more sketches during the month. Here is some of the better ones:

The uniforms of the presidential guard are a controversial subject in the U.S. The extravagance is deemed a waste of taxpayers dollars, but the spartan design makes it so the uniform fails at its primary purpose: that of power projection during diplomacy.

Due to the low number of magic users per capita, the armies of the Anti-Imperial-Alliance rely on flying deathtrap known as ‘helicopters’ for air mobility.

Italian assault in an attempt to retake Tripoli from Republican-France. (Mediterranean war 1941-1944)

A portable music player recovered from the corpse of an imperial soldier. It appears to be a walkman equivalent using some sort of 35mm film format. The electronic components are all analog like previously recovered Imperial technology. Ipod added for scale.

Despite its appearance the device shown in fig.3.1 is not a personal computer, but an electronic typewriter. The full extent of its utility is still under review, but according to prisoners' testimony such a device is commonly found in offices, schools, and households across the industrialized nations of the Infinite Empire³.

As demonstrated by the October 12th 2019 attack on Coalition HQ, Imperial technology is not to be underestimated. The missile shown in the picture was part of said attack but crashed due to unknown reason. Forensic investigation revealed why our electronic countermeasures failed. The dorsal hump serves as a sort of cockpit for three trained pigeons.