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Steampunk Private Contractors & Exploring Officers
The Steampunk Private Contractor (Mercenary) and Exploring Officer (aka Secret Agent, Spy, expert in skulduggery) style is closely related in many ways to the characters we have already seen, and yet they are a different, edgier, tougher breed altogether. They lack the money, the family connections or name, and most definitely they share none of the effete manners of the Ladies and Gentlemen of Leisure, although they probably come from minor nobility or from a somewhat moneyed family, at least at some point in their background. They are likely the second or third sons without a direct inheritance, or the wayward, wild daughters not content to marry the foppish Lord next door for the status.
They will certainly have many years experience in military or government service, in the wilder, remoter corners of the Empire and probably speak half a dozen languages like Hindi, Pashtu and Farsi. They will be expert in martial arts of all kinds, crack shots and superb equestrians. They will be able to drive or fly or ride anything, with or without wheels.
This breed of Steampunk shares the curiosity and desire to experience the new with the Adventurers and Explorers, but they lack the enthusiasm and obsession of the amateurs. They will lead the butterfly collectors into the sweltering depths of Amazonia, or the flora and fauna research expedition into the heart of darkness – but don’t expect them to care about the butterflies, or the flowers and herbs, unless medicinal. They are only there for the pay day, and the adventure. And maybe the rum. If they had been born two or three hundred years earlier, they would almost certainly have been Privateers. Or pirates.
The Private Contractors and Freelance Exploring officers are the hired guns and trouble-shooters, the expedition guides and professional soldiers, the go-to-guys when there is a difficult job that needs doing well. Or maybe a dirty job that needs doing dirt cheap, depending on how fast they need to get out of town. In truth, they work for money, or for the fun of it, or just to be somewhere else. What motivates them depends on wildly fluctuating variables. They will almost certainly have left a string of broken hearts in their wake, probably gambling debts, and possibly the long arm of the law in some foreign land.
These professionals are aways on the move and travel light, living out of a carpet bag and valise. Their clothing and equipment is well made, and built to last, with evidence of field repairs and expert mends. They forego frippery for tools of the trade. Their spyglasses, monocular devices, watches, goggles (blue lenses of course, as we learnt previously), and compasses all serve as decoration. Every item has an essential function as well as a frankly flabbergasting story to tell. As with the Steampunk Adventurers and Explorers, the basic requirements of weather protection, warmth, and longevity are met with sturdy boots, a long coat made of leather or cotton canvas, and a good hat with a wide brim. In town a Gaberdine or Crombie woollen overcoat will be worn. When not being worn in town, the wool greatcoat makes for a very warm field blanket. Well cut riding breeches, a couple of shirts, and a waistcoat with handy ticket pockets are all the Steampunk Private Contractor or Exploring Officer really needs for life's adventures. Oh, that - and the weapons.
No hired gun can go without a weapon or two, or three. Or six. They will wear a leather gun rig around the waist, or a shoulder holster, with a reliable and powerful sidearm, usually something like the tried and tested Colt Peacemaker or Remington 1863 New Model Army revolvers in .44" calibre, though this is a matter of personal choice and taste. They will almost always have at least one hidden back-up pistol too. There will be rifles, for hunting or killing, whichever is required. The Exploring Officer on Government business, even if it is on deniable black ops, will carry the latest in experimental Aether Powered Light Weapons, straight from the top secret laboratories hidden under Whitehall in London or the St Cyr in Paris. Even if the Exploring Officer appears to be unarmed, don't be fooled. His cane will be a transforming marvel of miracles serving as rifle, telescope, martial arts weapon, and a make shift seat. It might even work as a walking cane too. And don't be fooled by the girls either. They will have all of the above plus their natural feminine guile and femme fatale wiles to fall back on. There is a reason the female is the deadlier of the species. You have been so advised.
The Steampunk Professional Contractors and Exploring Officers, and their ilk, are not quite out of the top drawer of society. They are in fact the male demimonde, a part of, but not quite of, 'society'. They know it, use it, and abuse it. And what's more, they give zero flippity-flops, if you catch my drift. They are the heroes, the leaders, the guides, the experts, the get-it-done-by-any-means-possible boys and girls.
If you have a problem, if no one else can help, and if you can find them - maybe you can hire the A-Steam-Team.
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