Steampunk DnD Setting

I know, I know, this has been brought up many, many times.

This is a campaign world I've been working on for some time, and some of you may remember it from BG, ages ago:

It's set in this world, but there are a few major differences:

Major Countries of the World: Russian Empire, Holy Roman Empire (still exists), United Kingdom, Imperial Japan, America, and Australia.

Russia: Russia is pretty much the same as it is in our world, but it now has a booming industrial economy thanks to its alliance with America. Still, much of it's population is still part of the poor peasant class, although this is slowly becoming a rising middle class.

America: Well, it's America. There never was a Civil War, as slavery was abolished shortly after the War of 1812. Most industrialized country in the world. Both coasts are pretty much just huge cities, while the middle of the country is both the agricultural are, and well, a partial wasteland. Also, Cuba is a state.

United Kingdom: British imperialism didn't quite work out, and the 'British Empire' as it is jokingly called, extends to just Britain, Ireland, Scotland, and Wales. They tried with Australia for a while, but it eventually gained independence.

Australia: A mini-America. Rebelled against British rule and succeeded. This occured after the American Revolution, and the Australians based much of their government on the US Constitution. Not very industrialized, but it's working on it.

Imperial Japan: Pretty much like Japan of our world, but they have a larger empire, including Korea and parts of China.

Holy Roman Empire: Imagine a mix the Holy Roman Empire and Nazi Germany, but remove all the evil associated with the Nazis. Extends to Greece, mainland Europe, and Northern Africa. It has a Theocratic/Militaristic government. Not very industrialized. (The phrase ".....dark, Satanic mills....." comes to mind.)

And as for the rest of Asia, Africa, and South America, they are pretty much unexplored. Spain (part of the HRE, never managed to gain a foothold in the Americas, as they were violently repelled by the jungle tribes of South America.
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Time period is roughly late 1800s, to early 1900s. Tech level is pretty much whatever steampunk things I come up with. Magic and other races exist, but are pretty much just as rare as they are in our world.

I'm also working the game into a sort of early Great War type era. Holy Roman Empire possibly going to war with the UK, and with Russia and America coming to the UK's aid. The HRE and Japan already have a secret alliance. Australia is trying to remain neutral (again, a mini-America), but it wil probably be pulled into the war at some point.
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So that's that. I'll be adding more to this as I go along. Expect excerpts from fictional history books, accounts of wars and treaties, and profiles on countries and important historical figures.


What do you guys think? Any suggestions?

Uh...Canada? Where's Canada?

To be perfectly honest, I never had much of a plan for Canada. it kind of just stays out of the way. Like in the real world.

Nah, I had them as being a sort of undeveloped frontier land. Settled, yes. But as a country? Probably not. Perhaps the UK has some dominion over it, perhaps it's similar to Australia, perhaps it's part of America. But on the original map, Canada was just kind of there.

Alain Raethorne wrote:To be perfectly honest, I never had much of a plan for Canada. it kind of just stays out of the way. Like in the real world.

Nah, I had them as being a sort of undeveloped frontier land. Settled, yes. But as a country? Probably not. Perhaps the UK has some dominion over it, perhaps it's similar to Australia, perhaps it's part of America. But on the original map, Canada was just kind of there.

Yeah, I wasn't going to say anything, but I seem to recall the real USA found us more than a little indigestible in 1812. Perhaps with the Empire contracting rather than expanding, we might have been pushed into Confederation a little earlier?

Also, with Great Britain a minor player, and the Napoleonic Empire a no-show, who was the War of 1812 actually between?

Well it has to be SOMEWHERE. Not with America though!

When was the US ever allied with Russia? ... Okay, before WWII when did Russia ally with us? I know we traded with them some, but I heard the Czar's despotism put a bad taste in the mouths of most Americans of the time.
And how did the coasts fill up so fast? They aren't even that populated today.
And what about the American Indians? Do the Five Tribes still rule Indian Territory?

And if the Canadians had joined up when they first had a chance, we woulda had the votes to kill that damn slavery before the cotton gin was invented and saved a hell of a lot of misery on all parties involved.
Sigh... woulda, shoulda, coulda. No use cryin' over milk an' all that.

Well, in this world, the War of 1812 was more of a second attempt for Britain to recapture its former colonies in America. But they failed at that. Not really similar to the real-world War of 1812, just a war fought in the same time period. The multiverse always has similarities like this.
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Okay, yeah. In this world, Russia never allied with the US, but again, this world is different. First of all, the whole Industrial revolution took place earlier, around 1760-ish. This include all the real-world changes it brought, and all sorts of other steampunkery, so to speak, with it. This brings to the modern world tanks, things similar to difference engines, improvements in guns, airships and planes, steampowered pseudo-mechs.

Secondly, when Peter I of Russia sought to westernize his country, he turned to Britain. Later, other tsars tried the same thing, but never accomplished as much as Peter I did, and the policy sort of faded away. However, Alexander I brought it back and turned not the United Kingdom, but it's former colonies in America. It was with Russia's help that the American's drove out the British (the American Revolution lasted longer), and in return America shared it's industrial resources with it's new ally. Since then, the two countries have been staunch allies.
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As for Indians, well, they've mostly been exterminated or placed on reservatios, as they were in our world. However, a larger percentage (than in real life that is) escaped to areas like Canada and the savage lands of 'Mexico'.

Okay, so there, I did have something for Canada after, looking back over some of my stuff.