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Riding the water dragon (silkpunk): intro-excerpt. [70ab]

Riding the water dragon

Silkpunk (bamboo, paper, silk) is an evocative way of describing that mix of organic materials with machine-driven tech.

FORWARD?

"Running tea and coffee to the coasts while lifting rice and seafood to the mountain villages was a lucrative business for the Chen and Li families. Although they were Hokkien and Hakka they wedded their complementary interests into a business."

Ever since the Taiping rebellion and the establishment of the Formosa Republic business had been brisk. Let the Inland courts of pomp and circumstance do and say what they wanted. Here on the Beautiful Island it was all about business and trade. The straights provided plenty of seafood, the rice fields plenty of rice for noodles, sake and fuel. The Japanese had been invited to build a railroad. The Hakka had started hotels staffed by Philippinos. The Hokkien fished and mountain people just wanted to be left alone.

It was idyllic for many and came to be known as the Halcyon Decade, until the pirates saw an opportunity to live off the wealth and missionaries came to manipulate the misfortunate. Neither succeeded. Perhaps due to the unintended consequences of the Li and Chen families. Perhaps due to the tolerance and resiliance of the multi-cultural Formosans.

Li Vi, eldest daughter and the family-business boss, wanted to sell tea to the world one shipload at a time. Chen Rong, the smartest daughter in her family (by far), wanted to fly seafood to Beijing and Tokyo. Li Chok the unwanted son just wanted Chen Poh the invisible one. But that's another story.

Hoan... daughter of an Immortal... in spite of her name... just wanted her cut.

Chen and Li hatched a plan to have Chok and Poh ride the air in two seater airboats that were all the rage among the wealthy youth. Everyone else had fancy fish or dragons but they had other ideas. The world was changing and they wanted to observe it discretely. They bought one and, dyed the silk blue-of-the-sea over blue-of-the-sky. It was shaped like a fish or a wisp of cloud. Seen from above or below it was practically invisible. So, they sent their brothers to spy on the airships (dirigibles) that ferried people to and from Tainan and Xiamen, the sea-ferries and fishing vessels, the underwater boats that swam like whales driven by steam engines.

The "fish-and-dragons" were super-light, bamboo framed, covered with silk, with a helium bladder to help it rise, a release valve to slowly descend, (equipped with mandatory parachutes of woven silk in case it crashed), shaped like a cigar, a baffled "tube" running though it from mouth to anus to control speed, a ridge to right it, flippers of fish and dragon feet to steer it. Just a toy-for-boys, of no real use. Li and Chen had found another use... and intended to blackmail a pirate...

They fashioned another with a green top over grey, that looked like a tortoise or a mossy rock, to be used on cloudy days to fly over the mountains. They were happy that their younger useless brothers (Chok and Poh) thought this was fun and just a joke; at least they were keeping each other amused... and out of trouble. Plus, what news they brought helped business.

But... Hoan was not as amused that they were finding out her secret hiding places. This threat from above was merely a nuisance ... so far ... but ...

© Copyright 2021 Kåre Enga [178.70a]

—A calm night in winter—

"Their airboats rising like one of Pingxi's sky-lanterns. A deep-blue/light-blue flying-fish out of water, a blue-green sea dragon soaring."

The young naive friends, Chok and Poh, rose in Li's blue-green three-seat dragon, tethered to a pole like a kite. It was past midnight, an hour when good people were fast asleep or fishing by lanterns for squid. It was calm with a crescent of moonlight, no one suspected them. If anyone were up and out they would only see a blue-green dragon and swear that they needed to cut back on the sake.

But, the calm was deceptive. Mazu (媽祖), Goddess of the Sea a protector of the fisher-folk, had caught a cold, gone south to take a nap and the mô-sîn-á [魔神仔], mischievous tricksters, were out and about.

© Copyright 2021 Kåre Enga [178.70b]

Elements

Setting: Taiwan 1890s
Silkpunk (flying-fish-and-dragons (airboats), airships, mechanical whales, steam, rice-alcohol-fuel)
Conflicts: commerce and pirates, conventional cultural expectations at a time of change.
Shenmo (immortals, gods): Mazu, Hoan
Cryptids (mythological creatures): mo-sin-a
Bromance/BL/Yaoi: Chok, Poh

I want to create layers. Or maybe just hot-pot.

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