Welcome Lords, Ladies and Gentlemen.



Welcome Lords, Ladies and Gentlefolk.

This blog will be devoted to my literary and cosplay interests and stories set in my own alternative historical steampunk background. I hope people enjoy the stories, as much as I enjoy devising and writing them and that it stimulates their own artistic interests, entertains them or if nothing else fires their own imaginations.

A special note to new readers of this blog, the entries "Nation States" are gazetteers of the nations as they exist in the An Age of Steam, Steel and Iron background, each with a few remarks/observations about each nation as they exist within. Any post headed by the title containing the words "Story Snippet" or "Fragments" is a stand alone, snapshot of the background, they will be developed into fuller stories in future, but at present they serve to give the viewer/reader a measure of what this world is like, what is going on in it and who some of the players are. Full stories, will be headed by their title and a roman number, as they will generally be in several parts.

Comments, suggestions or remarks by readers are welcomed.

I would like to thank the following people:

Yaya Han, for getting me seriously interested in cosplay at a time when things were looking very glum for me back in 2006 with several extended stays in hospital due to illness, and motivating me to get actively involved.

Ashley Du aka UndeadDu, for her unfailing friendship and cheerful support since we first met in 2014 at the Hamilton Comic Con, and for being my Cosplay mentor and advisor.

Sara Marly, for her interest in and support for my writings, since we first met in 2016 at the Hamilton Comic Con and incidently helping me make up my mind to finally do this.

Stephen Thomson, my friend, for his advise and assistance with creating and setting up this blog.

Daniel Cote, my friend and co-worker for his advise and friendship over the years.

The People of the The Aegy's Gathering (particularly Jonathan Cresswell-Jones, Scott Washburn and Jenny Dolfen, all of whom I have kept in contact with over the years), who were brought together in friendship by a certain randomness of chance and a common interest in the Honor Harrington books and stayed together despite distance and the strains of life.


The People of the Wesworld Alternative History website, who gave me the opportunity to sharpen my writing and story telling skills while directing the affairs of Lithuania and briefly France during their 1930s timelines.

My parents Mary Ellen (1946 - 2019) and Logan, my siblings Adam and Danika and various friends both online and at work and play for putting up with me, encouraging and supporting me both in the very good times and the very bad times.

I remain as always yours very sincerely, your obedient servant, Matthew Baird aka Sir Leopold Stanley Worthing-Topper








Wednesday, December 6, 2017

A Hidden Past (Part V)

Althorpe fell suddenly silent, as Sir Nigel and Josephine Rumbleton appeared in the hall and began to walk towards them. Carmichael smoothed her agitated features into her normal demure expression to betray nothing of her concerns given what Althorpe had just said to her. She would tell Sir Nigel in due course, that Miss Rumbleton worried Althorpe very deeply and the matter needed to be investigated as soon as possible. Carmichael noticed that both of them seemed to be in a relaxed, mildly amused mood, obviously due to some remark that had just passed between then when they had first entered into the hallway.

"Everything all right with you, Althorpe?" Sir Nigel asked in passing as the four of them joined up and began making their way towards the Scotland Yard Annex, where the specialized internal branch of the Dead Watch which Sir Nigel and his team belonged had it's offices. Althorpe gave a brief nod to Sir Nigel, but said nothing more. Josephine Rumbleton noticed the uneasy, almost worried gaze the man gave her for a long moment before withdrawing into silence as they walked.

Millicent Carmichael on learning from Sir Nigel that Josephine was definitely going to be added to the team after taking the required 'examination' became rather more chatty, in fact downright gossipy as she traded high lights of some of the team's less classified investigations. Josephine added some of her own investigations experiences from her time with the street patrol and regular detective force, although she felt compared to Carmichael's commentary that her own experiences were rather less interesting. To her surprise, both Carmichael and Sir Nigel disagreed, to them all investigations had value or merit no matter how common place they might seem, as all too often they found in their own investigations the simplest item could have enormous importance when put in it's proper place in the solutions and operating theory of an investigation.

In many ways the building they were now in referred to by most Londoners as the Old Scotland Yard had become the offices, laboratories and records and evidence collection establishment of the Dead Watch, much of the regular police detectives and street patrol types had moved their offices to the newer and purpose built cluster of  buildings now increasingly called the New Scotland Yard. Technically the Dead Watch was actually called the Special, Paranormal and Occult Investigations and Studies Bureau. Although almost nobody inside or outside the British Police forces called it that, at least not for very long. The Bureau's chief was Sir Duncan Baird, a quiet, hard headed Scot, and an accomplished veteran of British and Imperial police work in all it's varied forms since Prime Minister Robert Banks Jenkinson, the 2nd Earl of Liverpool had set up the new model national British police administration back in 1822 through to 1829 under the guidance of the then Home Secretary Sir Robert Peel .

Originally the whole Special Investigations and Studies Bureau as it had then been called at the time, the Paranormal and Occult being added in much later, confined to the odd cluster of buildings adjacent to Old Scotland Yard, dubbed the Scotland Yard Annex. This had given the old Bureau it's nickname of the Annex Bureau, and this name still clung to the Paranormal and Occult section of the Bureau as it now largely occupied the Annex in its entirety, when the Special Investigations (now referred to by both the public and the regular police and detective force as the Dead Watch) part of the Bureau took over Old Scotland Yard as it's new place of business and operations.

Sunday, December 3, 2017

My brother's first step into Cosplay

My brother Adam, tried out his Victorian attire for Hamilton Comic Con 2017. He garnered considerable attention and quite a few interested comments from others present. Adam was taken to be various characters ranging from Doctor Who, Doctor Jekyll/Mister Hyde and even Jack the Ripper amoung others.