The steam revolution - introductory

It began in Sigil, as these things always seem to. About a decade after the Faction War, some berk calling himself a "technologist" wandered through a portal in the Lower Ward. Given his impression of the place, Sigil might have only been a few years off without his help. He was sure that all the magic found in the Cage would be a great aid to his technical knowledge and began a new discipline - he called himself a "mechanitheurge" from that day forth.

 Given the nature of the outer planes, it didn't take too long for this new technology to spread across the Ring. Sigil hasn't changed much in an obvious sense, though everyday life is now powered by countless little machines that people rarely pay attention to. It's the planes that seem very different - a few, like the Beastlands, have resisted the revolution entirely, whereas planes like Acheron have adopted it just as absolutely. Most lie somewhere in the middle.

The interesting part of the steam revolution is not how it's changed magic and technology on the planes - that's nothing new - but how it's changed belief. Usually new machines or spells take hold in some small part of the planes, but they don't gain the widespread use of something like crossbows or magic missiles. Steam technology works everywhere, except in a few places where the natural belief of the plane is contrary to mechanical progress. It works on both planes of law and planes of chaos, though the chaoticians have quite a different idea on how the machines work than those of a more lawful bent. In addition to weathering the storms of belief that wash across the populace of the planes, there are beliefs about steam technology. Beliefs about how it should be used, or who should be allowed to use it, in addition to the arguments over how it works and how it can be made to work better.