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The different flavors of Dieselpunk contribute to both sub-genre of fiction and preferred type of lifestyle for any Dieselpunk in question. Used to categorize and specify, the different flavors are important and inforative for the current and the intriged.

Ottensian/ Decopunk(Utopian Science Fiction)[]

Ottensian, also known as Decopunk, is a recent subset of Dieselpunk, centered around the Art Deco and Streamline Moderne art styles, and based around the period between the 1920s and 1950s. In an interview at CoyoteCon, steampunk author Sara M. Harvey made the distinctions "...shinier than DieselPunk, more like DecoPunk." and "DieselPunk is a gritty version of Steampunk set in the 1920s-1950s. The big war eras, specifically. DecoPunk is the sleek, shiny very Art Deco version; same time period, but everything is chrome!" It's fandom arose around 2008.

Ottensian Decopunk is often claimed the "brighter side" of Dieselpunk, having more to do with a Utopian view of life and rapid technological advances than the gritter and dystopian alternative.

Popular example:[]

  • Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow
  • Most of the books written by Isaac Asimov
  • The Rocketeer

Piecraftian(Dystopian Science Fiction)[]

Piecraftian is the "Darker, more grittier" side of Dieselpunk, trapped in a dystopian world, mostly taking place after WW2. The country(or entire world) is under the single rule of a mighty iron fist, almost always followed by a civil war and uprising. Piecraftian can either take place on Earth or a seprate Earthling Colony on another planet, or

Examples of Piecraftian related works:[]

  • Killzone
  • 1984
  • Wolfenstein: New Order
  • Judge Dredd
  • Dark City

Pulp Fiction Fantasy/ Occultian (Fantasy Fiction)[]

Dieselpunk fantasy is unique and nearly qualities as it's own specific genre. Popularized during the 1940s from the Nazi's obsession and deviling into the Occult, it consists of anything mythical or even spiritual during the Diesel era. Mixing with medieval fantasy, most Occultian fantasy is based around Norse Mythology, Christianity Mythology, or Egyptian Mythology.

The pulp fiction half is filled with adventures into the wildlands of Africa or the Amazon, popularized by the stories of Doc Savage and Solomon Kane. Voodoo magic, dark rituals, long lost creatures, and booby-trapped tomb raiding are the main factors that fit the criteria.

Dinosaurs[]

Due to the dicovery of dinosaurs in the 1800s and the growing obsession in the early 20th century, dinosaurs became a huge part of pulp fiction titles and alternate history genre. Time travel, other planetary travel, or hidden away prehistoric sanctuaries(or the center of the earth) were the major means that allowed humans to clash with the reptile giants of pre-written history.

Examples of Occultian related works:[]

  • Return to Castle Wolfenstien & Wolfenstien(2009)
  • Indiana Jones
  • Rise of the Triad
  • Tomb Raider
  • Lost World

Examples of Dinosaur related works:[]

  • Journey to the Center of the Earth
  • Carnivores(Video Game)
  • Turok
  • A Sound of Thunder

Lovecraftian(Horror Fiction)[]

Monsters and beings are present and bringing every citizen in the Lovecraftian world to the brink of insanity. Similar to the "Alice in Wonderland" Steampunk, Lovecraftian is filled with imaginative and horrifying creatures from the higher dimensions. But, the biggest difference between the two is that while Alicepunk brings the person to the dreamworld, Lovecrafian has it the other way around- the creatures of another world brought to the person's world. Not nessessarily having to involve the writing of the actual author, H.P. Lovecraft, the Lovecraftian flavor of Dieselpunk is another way of saying "Urban Fantasy" in the Diesel Era.

Instead of resembling the sword and sorcery type of pulp fiction from the Diesel Era, the fantasy aspect of Lovecrafian is filled with beings and artifacts appearing in our world and being used for the worst. In it, magic is real, but still in a very limited(and highly destructive) form.

Mixes well with Piecraftian, Noir, and War Torn.

Examples of Lovecraftian related works.[]

  • Call of Cthulu
  • Cryostasis
  • Alone in the Dark
  • Dead Space
  • Eternal Darkness: Sanity's Requiem

Noir(Crime Fiction)[]

Noir is a highly stylized and borderline mystical version of the common crime genre; using a number of darker tones and urban themes to create an almost surreal environment.

Examples of Noir related works:[]

  • Chinatown
  • The Maltese Falcon
  • L.A. Noire
  • Sin City
  • Dark City
  • Casablanca
  • A Streetcar Named Desire
  • The Man with the Golden Arm

War Torn(Military Fiction)[]

WW2(and sometimes WW1) are twisted into an endless or losing battle between the Axis and Allies

Diesel Desolation(Apocalyptic Fiction)[]

The war between the Axis and Allies have ended because there is nothing left. A sort of "early WW3" where everyone was ready for the Soviets and United States to fire nuclear warheads all over the world in the 1950s-60s, but instead preformed by non-nuclear means. Uncommon, yet not unseen, Diesel Desolation has had a few developments resently. Instead of humans living in a destructed and wiped out world, it is usually robots or cyborgs, all without any real nuclear tech to see. Earth is almost always left and the few surviors carry off into other planets to recontruct there. Again, must have little to no nuclear tech. Any nuclear focused apcolyptic world is considered Atompunk instead.

Causes for apocalypse:[]

  • Virus(zombification or genetically engineered Black Death)
  • Alien Takeover
  • Extreme War duration
  • Meteorite(resulting in second ice age)
  • post world-wide Dystopyian Downfall
  • Demonic or other dimensional involvement

Examples:[]

  • Primordia
  • Warhammer 40,000
  • Sins of a Solar Empire
  • Gemini Rue
  • Advance Wars: Days of Ruin
  • One Whole Unit of Blood
  • Fist Full of Nothing: A Dieselpunk Noir
  • War of the Worlds(1953) Note: Nukes were used but not the cause of the Apocalypse.
  • Flash Gordon(although the worlds he visits are not part of the Diesel Desolation, only Earth itself)

Fashion & Style[]

Resembling the "Mad Max" motif, Diesel Desolation attire contains a mixture of renegade military and wastland wanderer with possible facsism themes. Similar to any post apocalyptic color, buildings and machinery are constructed by scavenged means, having little to no manufacturing in the world to continue national development.

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