Greek Mechology - Part 1 - Overview

This is an idea I've been stewing on off and on and decided to flesh it out to see if interest to develop further.

It's essentially its own sandbox of the Ancient world, with a few twists to make it different.

Automatia

One of the defining moments of the settings is just after the 2nd Punic wars.

1. Archimedes of Syracuse is captured, rather than killed.
2. He's then sent to Alexandria with his new patron as a "wonderous consultant" and expands on the knowledge there.
3. He finds out about the aeolipile and refines it with the knowledge of the day.
4. These toys win favor at court.
5. Athens takes issue and starts a "toy war" with Alexandria
6. with this rivalry pushing innovation, within 50 years, it allows the Greeks to push back the Roman expansion for a while with automatic as well as low-grade rail transportation.

This is an ancient world where technology managed to be driven to mythic levels and has changed a lot of how the world works, for good and ill.

Rome, while powerful, hasn't reached it's insane empire building levels yet, mainly due to its rivals stealing state secrets and developing their own weapons and countermeasures.

Shades of the Past

Hades/Pluto must have opened the gates because of this blood because the spiritual dead are surprisingly common.

Some claim to be fragments of the gods, some claim to be great figures of history and it's very hard to confirm which shades are telling the truth.

While the mainstay is Greco-Roman, every culture of the ancient world has had this occur causing the need for inter-pantheon politics through the possessed Council, an international organization dedicated to deruffling feathers with varying degrees of success.

While they can do little directly to affect the current world, they can use worshipers and ride them, not unlike the voodoo tradition, while offering mystical insight and power.

(Heck it is rumored that the Shades of great scientists and builders of the past is the reason why the ancient world has gone through such innovation as cults seek to out tech each other until they are grabbed by the local authorities).

Sometimes it comes as incantations, other times comes as essentially superpowers, but there is usually a trade-off to control such power and makes many superstitions have real power, at least in their jurisdiction.

This has caused many historical figures to play a prominent role long after their deaths.  Although it does make people somewhat blasse whenever yet another "Alexander the Great" or "Hercules" comes to town.

For example, there is a feud where a shade of Socrates has accused a shade of Plato of corrupting his words and using his mouthpieces, causing a feud between the Socratic Order and the Philosopher kings that has been going on since the return of the shades and it's only going to get worse from here.

This also allows many people who were relatively mundane in life and forced to walk the living world to setup mystery cults or agreements with adventurers to make something of their afterlife
(which can even include former player characters).

Sometimes these Shades end up mutating the living, resulting in the transformation of entire people into mythical creatures, both monstrous and playable, many of which are still trying to find their place in life, which often leads to the multicultural center
that is Rome.

Now the Punk

The punk aspect would be patrons in all cultures, but especially Rome, owning most of the pie by being able to trace it to the founding of the republic.

A lot of the others have hereditary kings that claim to go back to divinity.

Your characters are the plucky upstarts that have to wade through the various power plays of both external and internal politics while wondering where your next meal is, at least at first. :)

Additionally, a lot of underground cultures based on ideas, professions (such as the firemen of Rome) and mystery cults that "do your own thing" as contrast and potential political upheavals.

It gets worse if a shade gets a liking to you.   Suddenly, you have a fragment of the gods/ancients/spirit and are usually considered "unfit" by your betters.  Whether they exploit or exterminate you, they will consider you beneath them unless you can bring them to heel.

Inspirations

Disneys Aladdin (because Mechanicles started it all)
GURPS Rome
Hercules (1983)
Hercules vs the Moonmen
History Bites
Hardcore History: Dan Carlin (Punic Nightmares, Death Throes of the Republic, Celtic Holocaust, King of Kings)
Rinse the Blood off my Toga (a Wayne and Shuster Special).
Rome (HBO Special)
The History of Rome (Michael Duncan)
The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire (Edward Gibbon)
The Storm before the Storm (Michael Duncan)
Into the Lands of Bones-  Alexander the Great in Afghanistan - Frank L. Holt