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Gaslamp Fantasy: Difference between revisions
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{{trope}}
[[File:
Gaslamp fantasy, also called gas''light'' fantasy, is [[Steampunk]]'s magical cousin. It's a subgenre of fantasy (and more specifically of [[Historical Fantasy]]) with a setting that is clearly recognizable as the real-world 19th or very early 20th century (or a reasonable analogue thereof). That's the [[Regency England|Regency period]] and the [[Victorian Britain|Victorian]] and [[The Edwardian Era|Edwardian]] eras, if the work's set in England, which it usually, though not necessarily, is. [[Victorian London]] is especially popular. It may be identical to the real world with a [[Masquerade]], or it may be a full-on [[Alternate History]] where magic exists openly and has affected the course of events. Gaslamp fantasy often draws on [[Gothic Horror Tropes]], and is sometimes seen as a sort of [[Reconstruction]] or revival of the genre.
The key difference between gaslamp fantasy and [[Steampunk]] is that [[Steampunk]] focuses on alternate developments in technology (and need not have any magic at all), while gaslamp fantasy focuses on supernatural elements (and need not have any technology that didn't actually exist). Yet, the two can overlap, especially with [[Magitek]].
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For tropes common to these works, check out [[Gaslamp Fantasy Tropes]], which it shares with its cousin Steampunk.
{{examples
== [[Comic Books]] ==
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== Literature ==
* ''[[His Dark Materials]]'' By Phillip Pullman. A multi-universe spanning triogy. The first book "Northern Lights" is set in a alternate victorian northen europe and contains many elemants. Most prominatly the Gothic undertones (innocence lost, evil churches) and the daemons that every human has which are an expression of their personallity.
* ''[[The Parasol Protectorate]]''
* ''[[Sorcery and Cecelia]]'' and its sequels, by Patricia Wrede and Caroline Stevermer, are epistolary novels set in a Regency England where magic is part of everyday life.
* ''[[Jonathan Strange
* ''[[The Native Star]]'' is fantasy set in America in the 1800s.
* The [[Alvin Maker]] series by [[Orson Scott Card]] is America-based 1800s fantasy as well.
* ''[[Shades of Milk and Honey]]''
* The [[Gemma Doyle]] trilogy centers around a group of young Victorian ladies who get caught up in a secret magical conspiracy.
* Mercedes Lackey's ''[[Elemental Masters]]'' series is about mages in Post-Victorian England. The stories are loosely based on [[Fairy Tales]].
* The [[Lord Darcy]] stories are technically set in the 1960s, but due to magic, society and technology seem to be closer to the Edwardian era.
* ''[[Infernal Devices]]'' is set an alternate Victorian London that contains elements of a Masquerade: things such as magic, demons, werewolves, vampires, etc. wander around in the open - but only people with The Sight can see them.
* Naomi Novik's [[Temeraire]] series follows the adventures of a British captain in His Majesty's Dragon Corps during the Napoleonic Wars.
* ''[[The Strangely Beautiful Series]]'' is set in [[Victorian Britain]] and involves a magical backstory where Hades murders Peresephone's lover, a phoenix.
* ''[[The Old Kingdom]]'' series. The eponymous kingdom is more of a medieval fantasy culture, but their southern neighbor Ancelstierre is a
== [[Tabletop RPG]] ==
* ''[[Castle Falkenstein]]''. Set during the Victorian era. Has magicians, the Faerie, dwarves, dragons etc.
* ''[[Victoriana RPG]]''
* ''[[Unhallowed Metropolis]]'', set in a future dystopian version of Victorian London.
* ''[http://www.rpgnow.com/product_info.php?products_id=23334 Broken Gears]'' (CURS Publishing) is [[Post Apocalyptic]] Gaslamp Fantasy -- "a game of animistic steampunk". It's about a [[Magitek]] [[Alternate Universe]] where Devil-possessed Difference Engine rebelled after WWII, was nuked, and ''all'' electrical appliances got bedeviled. Which makes mass production harder, so most folk fall back to [[Zeppelins from Another World|zeppelins]], salamander-powered muskets, crossbows and rapiers.
== [[Video Games]] ==
* The ''[[Thief]]'' games
* ''[[Arcanum: Of Steamworks and Magick Obscura]]''
* ''[[Final Fantasy VI]]'', trope namer for [[Magitek]]
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== [[Web Comics]] ==
* ''[[Girl Genius]]'' is steampunk combined with fantasy. Most of the weird stuff can be explained by weird technology, but magic-like elements remain. The river Dyne (an apparently natural spring the waters of which make the drinker a mad genius, though in most cases it's instantly lethal), "Constructs" made from corpses ala-[[Frankenstein]], Jägermonsters (human volunteers converted into colorful and near-immortal [[Super Soldier]] humanoids), multiple cases of [[Brain Uploading]], and the [[Genius Loci|castle Heterodyne's]] seemingly telekinetic ability to move chunks of itself. To say nothing of [[Science-Related Memetic Disorder|the Spark]] itself.
* ''[[The Phoenix Requiem]]'' is set in a fantastical analogue to Victorian
* ''[[Next Town Over]]'' is a mix between this, [[Weird West]], and [[Cattle Punk]]. The two main characters are a [[Bounty Hunter]] who is skilled in a type of cybernetics and the pyropathic outlaw she is hunting down.
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{{reflist}}
[[Category:Speculative Fiction]]
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