“The Mirk” Campaign Setting (Gear Concepts)

The Mirk is a post-apocalyptic, near future, system-agnostic exploration ttRPG campaign setting. You can find the introduction and index for the Mirk here.

In the Mirk, no electricity works unless it’s part of a biological creature’s internal process. So brain chemistry, nerve cells, and similar interior processes function, but an electric eel’s shock can’t travel beyond the surface of its own skin. Societies existing fully within the Mirk are an uneven blend of modern devices that still function or have been retrofitted to older mechanisms (such as wind turbines that have been reworked for direct mechanical work, grinding grain or driving belt engines rather than functioning as electric turbines), and recreated pre-electric technologies, including coal forges, steam engines, and animal power.

As the world In the Light has come to realize the Mirk is the most important mystery known to humanity, and may be both the greatest opportunity for and greatest threat to those living outside of it, the need to send expeditions into the Mirk for research, study, exploration (and if needed, defense), has become clear.

The organizations tasked with doing this have thus spent considerable time and money creating the most effective technologies for use within the Mirk. These often require computer design and electrically driven fine tool machines to design and manufacture, but once in existence function entirely without electrical parts.

I’ve been considering what such gear would look like, given real-world technological options. This is just the start of such gear write-ups, but I found them interesting enough to turn into an article.

Mirk-Compatible Gear

(Art by Usman)

Lights

Foxlights: Foxlight are powered by bioluminescent “foxfire” fungi. The light is strong enough to read by, and the fungi can be “refueled” with paste packed with their necessary nutrients. However, they are nowhere near as bright as gas or electric lights of the same size, don’t work in below-freezing temperatures, and the fungi can die rendering them useless. However they can be painted onto tiny surfaces, such as instrument dials and even weapon targeting reticules, and glow without radiation or requiring solar charging.

Gas Lights: Modern, super-efficient versions of the old kerosene or propane camping lanterns, gas lights use a variety of fuels (including some bulkier ones that can use a wide range of fuels, including vehicle fuel) to heat a fine ceramic mesh (known as the mantle) which glows when heated. They are heavier and do not last as long as electric lights, but can generate daylight levels of brightness and project it a considerable distance. However, small flashlight-sized units carry no more than a couple of hours of fuel and even big lanterns normally can’t run more than 8 hours without refueling, They also get hot, hiss loudly, require an existing fire source to light (or a flint-and-steel switch, which can be unreliable in poor conditions), and can be fire hazards.

Gas flashlights exist but aren’t popular as their either get hot to the touch, or have so much insulation that their brightness and duration is limited for any given size and weight. Gas torches have actually gained in popularity, with a small lantern on top of a long fuel-filled handle, which increases duration and allows it to be carried with a hand far from the heat source, though they do need to be carried or propped fairly upright to function.

Lumi Lights: Lumi lights use luminous paints, which can absorb energy from sunlight or other bright light sources, and re-emit it as a cool, heatless light for hours.

Rad Lights: The use of radium and similar radioactive materials for lighting has made a return in equipment designed for use in the Mirk. Rad lights need no recharging or battery source, and can be painted onto small spaces like instrument dials and weapon reticules. However, they expose you to, on average, 5 days worth of background radiation for every day you carry them. This goes up to 2 weeks per day if you have a rad light or flashlight size and power, which still gives off only a dim light (and needs a shutter mechanism to shut off the light). However, radiation-generated light does fluctuate in the Mirk, as if the light was passing through water, and Mirk explorers claim you can use that to find the edge of the Mirk, and sometimes even be forewarned if a powerful Mirktated creature comes near.

Motors

While most motors of all types (and nearly all vehicle motors) designed in the decades before the rise of the Mirk depended on electricity in some capacity, be that starter motor, spark plugs, power steering, or (obviously) electric dials and/or computerized systems, motors that have no need for electricity can be designed, and the drive to innovate and improve existing models has skyrocketed since the Mirk became a major world priority.

Diesel-N

The most common of these new motors are Diesel-Ns, with the N indicating that have no electrical systems at all. The most advanced of these use compression ignition and pneumatic starters. Vehicle motors add pneumatic power steering, hydraulic pump motor drivetrains, and regenerative braking via hydraulic accumulators, as well as diesel-fueled gas headlights and spotlights. They are just as efficient as other fossil-fuel motors, moreso in some ways, and while they require a somewhat different set of engineering skills to maintain are not any more complex or fragile, just different.

Other motor options include Flywheel, Gassifier, Pneumatic, and Steam.

Communications

Possible forms of ranged communication without electricity or radio include Carrier Pigeons, Colored Flares, Drums, Flag Codes, Polybius squares, Skywriting, Signal Guns, Smoke Signals, and Whistle Codes.

Documentation

Exploration calls for documenting things seen and results found, but in the Mirk that must be done without digital or electronic tools. Options include Chemical Photography (with zirconium flash cubes), Stenographs, and Typewriters.

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