The Canon Database
The brass-powered card index
Every title in the field guide, in one searchable cabinet. Filter by medium, era, steampunk fit, origin and motif, or simply type a name and see what surfaces.
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| Title | Year | Medium | Fit | Motifs |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Frankenstein | 1818 | Novel | Borderland | science unleashed, creator and creature |
| Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Seas | 1870 | Novel | Proto | Nautilus, submarine wonder |
| Around the World in Eighty Days | 1873 | Novel | Borderland | global travel, empire-age logistics |
| The Steam House | 1880 | Novel | Proto | steam elephant, colonial India |
| The Time Machine | 1895 | Novel | Proto | time travel, class evolution |
| The War of the Worlds | 1898 | Novel | Proto | Martian invasion, imperial reversal |
| A Trip to the Moon | 1902 | Film | Proto | moon voyage, theatrical science |
| Lost World | 1948 | Manga | Proto | lost world, early manga futurism |
| Metropolis | 1949 | Manga | Proto | robot girl, class city |
| Nextworld | 1951 | Manga | Proto | global crisis, science |
| 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea | 1954 | Film | Proto | Nautilus, Captain Nemo |
| From the Earth to the Moon | 1958 | Film | Proto | moon cannon, gentleman science |
| The Fabulous World of Jules Verne | 1958 | Film | Proto | engraving-like visuals, retro machines |
| Journey to the Center of the Earth | 1959 | Film | Proto | lost world, expedition science |
| The Time Machine | 1960 | Film | Proto | time machine design, Eloi and Morlocks |
| Master of the World | 1961 | Film | Proto | airship, inventor |
| First Men in the Moon | 1964 | Film | Proto | lunar voyage, cavorite |
| The Wild Wild West | 1965 | Television series | Proto | secret agents, gadgetry |
| Queen Victoria's Bomb | 1967 | Novel | Borderland | Victorian nuclear anxiety, secret weapon |
| Captain Nemo and the Underwater City | 1969 | Film | Proto | undersea civilisation, Captain Nemo |
| Warlord of the Air | 1971 | Novel | Proto | airships, empire |
| The Asphyx | 1972 | Film | Proto | Victorian photography, immortality |
| The Rose of Versailles | 1972 | Manga | Adjacent | court intrigue, revolution |
| Space Battleship Yamato | 1974 | Anime TV series | Adjacent | space battleship, naval nostalgia |
| The Land Leviathan | 1974 | Novel | Proto | alternate empire, world war |
| The Adventures of Adele Blanc-Sec | 1976 | Comic book series | Proto | Belle Epoque Paris, monsters |
| The Space Machine | 1976 | Novel | Proto | Wells mash-up, Mars |
| Future Boy Conan | 1978 | Anime TV series | Proto | lost technology, island adventure |
| The Adventures of Luther Arkwright | 1978 | Comic book series | Proto | parallel worlds, revolutionary Victoriana |
| Morlock Night | 1979 | Novel | Core | Morlocks, Arthurian weirdness |
| The Rose of Versailles anime | 1979 | Anime TV series | Adjacent | French Revolution, aristocratic melodrama |
| Time After Time | 1979 | Film | Proto | H. G. Wells versus Jack the Ripper, time machine |
| The Mysterious Castle in the Carpathians | 1981 | Film | Proto | castle technology, illusion |
| The Steel Tsar | 1981 | Novel | Proto | airship empire, alternate Russia |
| Time Bandits | 1981 | Film | Adjacent | historical absurdity, map of creation |
| Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind | 1982 | Manga | Adjacent | toxic ecology, airships |
| Q.E.D. | 1982 | Television series | Proto | Edwardian inventor detective, gadgets |
| Voyagers! | 1982 | Television series | Adjacent | time tourism, historical repair |
| The Anubis Gates | 1983 | Novel | Core | time travel, magic |
| The Obscure Cities / Les Cites obscures | 1983 | Comic book series | Core | impossible cities, Art Nouveau |
| Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind | 1984 | Anime film | Adjacent | aircraft, toxic jungle |
| Nemesis the Warlock: The Gothic Empire | 1984 | Comic book arc | Adjacent | alien anti-hero, gothic empire |
| Brazil | 1985 | Film | Adjacent | bureaucratic retrofuture, ducts |
| The Adventures of Mark Twain | 1985 | Animated film | Proto | airship, Mark Twain |
| The Eidolon | 1985 | Video game | Proto | Victorian-style contraption fantasy, dimensional exploration |
| Castle in the Sky | 1986 | Anime film | Core | air pirates, floating city |
| Homunculus | 1986 | Novel | Core | London eccentrics, occult science |
| The Great Mouse Detective | 1986 | Animated film | Adjacent | Victorian detective, clocktower mechanisms |
| Final Fantasy | 1987 | Video game | Adjacent | airships, crystals |
| Infernal Devices | 1987 | Novel | Core | clockwork devices, secret societies |
| Space: 1889 | 1988 | Tabletop RPG | Core | ether flyers, Victorian Mars |
| Young Einstein | 1988 | Film | Adjacent | alternate Einstein, invention comedy |
| Gotham by Gaslight | 1989 | Comic book | Core | Victorian Batman, Jack the Ripper |
| Nadia: The Secret of Blue Water | 1990 | Anime TV series | Core | Nautilus, lost civilisation |
| The Difference Engine | 1990 | Novel | Core | Babbage computers, alternate Britain |
| Ultima: Worlds of Adventure 2: Martian Dreams | 1991 | Video game | Core | Victorian celebrities on Mars, ether adventure |
| Anno Dracula | 1992 | Novel | Adjacent | Victorian vampires, alternate history |
| Lord Kelvin's Machine | 1992 | Novel | Core | Victorian invention, cosmic peril |
| Porco Rosso | 1992 | Anime film | Adjacent | seaplanes, interwar Adriatic |
| Steel Empire | 1992 | Video game | Core | steam aircraft, battleships |
| Anti-Ice | 1993 | Novel | Core | alternate Victorian super-fuel, lunar voyage |
| Forgotten Futures | 1993 | Tabletop RPG | Proto | public-domain scientific romance, Victorian futures |
| Myst | 1993 | Video game | Adjacent | strange mechanisms, island machines |
| Sebastian O | 1993 | Comic book miniseries | Core | decadent assassin, alternative Victorian London |
| The Adventures of Brisco County, Jr. | 1993 | Television series | Adjacent | frontier adventure, orbs |
| The Chaos Engine | 1993 | Video game | Core | mad machine, alternate Victorian Britain |
| Castle Falkenstein | 1994 | Tabletop RPG | Core | faerie Europe, steamtech |
| Final Fantasy VI | 1994 | Video game | Core | magitek, empire |
| For the Crown and the Dragon | 1994 | Novel | Adjacent | alternate war, dragon power |
| Pasquale's Angel | 1994 | Novel | Adjacent | Leonardo's Florence, alternate Renaissance |
| Steam Detectives | 1994 | Manga | Core | Steam City, detective adventure |
| Wild Guns | 1994 | Video game | Core | cowboys, robots |
| Legend | 1995 | Television series | Adjacent | dime-novel hero, inventor sidekick |
| Northern Lights / The Golden Compass | 1995 | Novel | Adjacent | daemons, alethiometer |
| The City of Lost Children | 1995 | Film | Core | dream theft, industrial waterfront |
| The Steampunk Trilogy | 1995 | Short fiction collection | Core | Queen Victoria, Lovecraft |
| Deadlands | 1996 | Tabletop RPG | Adjacent | ghost rock, undead gunslingers |
| Sakura Wars | 1996 | Video game | Core | Taisho steam mecha, theatre troupe |
| Wild Arms | 1996 | Video game | Adjacent | frontier fantasy, ancient technology |
| Jeff Wayne's The War of the Worlds | 1998 | Video game | Adjacent | Martian war machines, Victorian Britain |
| Steam Detectives anime | 1998 | Anime TV series | Core | Steam City, boy detective |
| Thief: The Dark Project | 1998 | Video game | Adjacent | Victorian shadows, Hammerites |
| Wachenröder | 1998 | Video game | Core | polluted city, tactical RPG |
| Elemental Gimmick Gear | 1999 | Video game | Adjacent | ancient machinery, robot-like armour |
| Pro Pinball: Fantastic Journey | 1999 | Video game | Adjacent | pinball adventure, mechanical spectacle |
| The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen | 1999 | Comic book series | Core | Victorian literary team-up, empire |
| Turn A Gundam | 1999 | Anime TV series | Adjacent | industrial society, buried advanced tech |
| Wild Wild West | 1999 | Film | Core | giant mechanical spider, gadgets |
| GURPS Steampunk | 2000 | RPG sourcebook | Core | genre guide, alternate history |
| Perdido Street Station | 2000 | Novel | Adjacent | industrial fantasy city, monstrous sciences |
| Sakura Wars | 2000 | Anime TV series | Core | Taisho-era theatre troupe, steam mecha |
| Skies of Arcadia | 2000 | Video game | Core | sky pirates, floating islands |
| Steampunk | 2000 | Comic book series | Core | revolution, bio-mechanical imagery |
| The Secret Adventures of Jules Verne | 2000 | Television series | Core | Jules Verne as adventurer, airship |
| Arcanum: Of Steamworks and Magick Obscura | 2001 | Video game | Core | magic versus technology, industrial fantasy |
| Atlantis: The Lost Empire | 2001 | Animated film | Adjacent | submarines, lost city |
| Fullmetal Alchemist | 2001 | Manga | Adjacent | automail, alchemy |
| Girl Genius | 2001 | Webcomic / comic | Core | mad science, sparks |
| Metropolis | 2001 | Anime film | Adjacent | robot girl, stratified city |
| Mortal Engines | 2001 | Novel | Core | traction cities, scavenger empires |
| Progear | 2001 | Video game | Core | child pilots, ornate aircraft |
| Vidocq | 2001 | Film | Adjacent | 19th-century Paris, alchemy |
| Elemental Gelade | 2002 | Manga | Adjacent | air pirates, living weapons |
| Scarlet Traces | 2002 | Comic book series | Core | post-Martian War Britain, imperial reverse engineering |
| Syberia | 2002 | Video game | Adjacent | automatons, melancholy journey |
| The Peshawar Lancers | 2002 | Novel | Adjacent | neo-Victorian empire, apocalypse aftermath |
| Treasure Planet | 2002 | Animated film | Adjacent | solar sailing ships, pirate adventure |
| Fullmetal Alchemist anime | 2003 | Anime TV series | Adjacent | automail, alchemy |
| Gintama | 2003 | Manga | Adjacent | Edo invaded by aliens, anachronism |
| Last Exile | 2003 | Anime TV series | Core | airships, aerial courier pilots |
| The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen | 2003 | Film | Core | Nautilus, literary heroes |
| The Light Ages | 2003 | Novel | Core | aether economy, class struggle |
| Victoriana | 2003 | Tabletop RPG | Core | fantasy races, class struggle |
| Airborn | 2004 | Novel | Adjacent | airships, adventure |
| D.Gray-man | 2004 | Manga | Adjacent | exorcists, Akuma machines |
| Eberron | 2004 | D&D campaign setting | Adjacent | lightning rail, airships |
| Howl's Moving Castle | 2004 | Anime film | Core | walking castle, war machines |
| Iron Kingdoms | 2004 | Tabletop RPG / Wargame setting | Adjacent | warjacks, magic industry |
| Steamboy | 2004 | Anime film | Core | steam ball, Victorian London |
| Van Helsing | 2004 | Film | Adjacent | monsters, gadgets |
| Darkwatch | 2005 | Video game | Adjacent | vampire gunslinger, steam-gothic weapons |
| Elemental Gelade anime | 2005 | Anime TV series | Adjacent | air pirates, living weapons |
| Fullmetal Alchemist the Movie: Conqueror of Shamballa | 2005 | Anime film | Core | alchemy, interwar Germany |
| Steambot Chronicles | 2005 | Video game | Core | trotmobiles, musical life sim |
| The Mysterious Geographic Explorations of Jasper Morello | 2005 | Short film | Core | airships, plague |
| D.Gray-man anime | 2006 | Anime TV series | Adjacent | exorcists, mechanical demons |
| Iron West | 2006 | Graphic novel | Adjacent | cowboys, robots |
| Rise of Nations: Rise of Legends | 2006 | Video game | Core | Vinci machines, clockwork armies |
| The Amazing Screw-On Head | 2006 | Animated TV pilot | Core | Lincoln's robot agent, occult villains |
| The Glass Books of the Dream Eaters | 2006 | Novel | Adjacent | conspiracies, forbidden technology |
| The Prestige | 2006 | Film | Adjacent | stage magic, Tesla |
| Mainspring | 2007 | Novel | Adjacent | mechanical universe, gears of creation |
| Pax Britannia | 2007 | Novel series | Core | Ulysses Quicksilver, empire adventure |
| Professor Layton and the Curious Village | 2007 | Video game | Adjacent | puzzle village, automatons |
| The Court of the Air | 2007 | Novel | Core | Jackelian world, airships |
| The Golden Compass | 2007 | Film | Adjacent | alethiometer, armoured bears |
| Unhallowed Metropolis | 2007 | Tabletop RPG | Adjacent | plague, undead |
| Extraordinary Engines | 2008 | Anthology | Core | wide-angle steampunk stories, new wave of writers |
| Murdoch Mysteries | 2008 | Television series | Adjacent | Victorian forensics, inventions |
| Mutant Chronicles | 2008 | Film | Adjacent | retro-industrial war, mutants |
| Nostalgia | 2008 | Video game | Core | airship adventure, nineteenth-century world tour |
| Sanctuary | 2008 | Web / TV series | Adjacent | abnormals, secret science |
| The Affinity Bridge | 2008 | Novel | Core | Newbury and Hobbes, airships |
| The Kingdom Beyond the Waves | 2008 | Novel | Core | lost civilisation, airships |
| 9 | 2009 | Animated film | Core | ragdoll beings, machine apocalypse |
| Boneshaker | 2009 | Novel | Core | Seattle, zombies |
| Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood | 2009 | Anime TV series | Adjacent | automail, alchemy |
| Grandville | 2009 | Graphic novel series | Core | badger detective, alternate France and Britain |
| Guns of Icarus | 2009 | Video game | Core | airship combat, crew roles |
| Leviathan | 2009 | Novel | Core | WWI alternate history, Darwinist biotech |
| Riese: Kingdom Falling | 2009 | Web series | Core | fugitive princess, oppressive empire |
| Sherlock Holmes | 2009 | Film | Adjacent | Victorian action, hidden machines |
| Soulless | 2009 | Novel | Core | werewolves, vampires |
| The Kerberos Club | 2009 | Tabletop RPG setting | Adjacent | Victorian superheroes, clubs |
| The Rise of the Iron Moon | 2009 | Novel | Core | alien invasion, Jackelian world |
| Warehouse 13 | 2009 | Television series | Adjacent | secret warehouse, Tesla tech |
| Worldshaker | 2009 | Novel | Core | juggernaut city, class hierarchy |
| Clockwork & Chivalry | 2010 | Tabletop RPG | Core | English Civil War, clockwork engines |
| Lady Mechanika | 2010 | Comic book series | Core | cyborg heroine, Victorian mystery |
| Resonance of Fate | 2010 | Video game | Adjacent | tower city, gun ballet |
| Secrets of the Fire Sea | 2010 | Novel | Core | island mystery, ancient tech |
| The Bookman | 2010 | Novel | Core | lizard monarchy, terrorism |
| The Dream of Perpetual Motion | 2010 | Novel | Adjacent | airship imprisonment, Shakespeare echoes |
| The Half-Made World | 2010 | Novel | Core | railway empires, gun spirits |
| The Iron Duke | 2010 | Novel | Core | airships, nanotech |
| The Strange Affair of Spring-Heeled Jack | 2010 | Novel | Core | Burton and Swinburne, time distortions |
| Abney Park's Airship Pirates | 2011 | Tabletop RPG | Core | airship pirates, post-apocalyptic future |
| Gatling Gears | 2011 | Video game | Core | mechs, twin-stick shooting |
| Hugo | 2011 | Film | Proto | automaton, station clocks |
| Jack Cloudie | 2011 | Novel | Core | airship war, low-born hero |
| Phoenix Rising | 2011 | Novel | Core | Ministry of Peculiar Occurrences, agents |
| The Three Musketeers | 2011 | Film | Adjacent | airships, musketeers |
| Dishonored | 2012 | Video game | Adjacent | plague city, whale-oil technology |
| From the Deep of the Dark | 2012 | Novel | Core | subsea world, revolution |
| Tephra: The Steampunk RPG | 2012 | Tabletop RPG | Core | custom steampunk world, crafting |
| The Janus Affair | 2012 | Novel | Core | secret agents, suffragists |
| The Legend of Korra | 2012 | Animated TV series | Adjacent | industrial city, bending and technology |
| The Mammoth Book of Steampunk | 2012 | Anthology | Core | broad survey, modern short fiction |
| Vessel | 2012 | Video game | Core | liquid automata, inventor protagonist |
| BioShock Infinite | 2013 | Video game | Adjacent | floating city, American exceptionalism |
| Clockwork Planet | 2013 | Light novel series | Adjacent | planet-sized machinery, clockwork body |
| Senlin Ascends | 2013 | Novel | Adjacent | tower city, bureaucracy |
| Snowpiercer | 2013 | Film | Adjacent | train world, class revolution |
| SteamWorld Dig | 2013 | Video game | Core | steam robots, mining |
| The Aylesford Skull | 2013 | Novel | Core | Langdon St. Ives, occult science |
| The World of Steam | 2013 | Web series | Core | short-form Victorian weirdness, machines |
| 80 Days | 2014 | Video game | Core | world travel, automata |
| Castle in the Stars | 2014 | Graphic novel series | Core | aether spaceflight, imperial Europe |
| The Bullet-Catcher's Daughter | 2014 | Novel | Adjacent | split England, stagecraft |
| Airships: Conquer the Skies | 2015 | Video game | Core | airship construction, tactical battles |
| April and the Extraordinary World | 2015 | Animated film | Core | Napoleon III alternate history, coal world |
| Code Name: S.T.E.A.M. | 2015 | Video game | Core | Lincoln-led squad, steam weapons |
| SteamWorld Heist | 2015 | Video game | Core | steam robots, space piracy |
| The Aeronaut's Windlass | 2015 | Novel | Adjacent | crystal technology, airships |
| The Mechanical | 2015 | Novel | Core | clockwork servants, Dutch empire |
| The Order: 1886 | 2015 | Video game | Adjacent | Victorian knights, alternate weapons |
| The Thrilling Adventures of Lovelace and Babbage | 2015 | Graphic novel | Adjacent | Babbage engine, Lovelace |
| The Watchmaker of Filigree Street | 2015 | Novel | Core | watchmaker automata, London |
| Through the Breach | 2015 | Tabletop RPG | Adjacent | Malifaux, fate cards |
| Dishonored 2 | 2016 | Video game | Adjacent | clockwork soldiers, plague politics |
| Everfair | 2016 | Novel | Core | Congo, anti-colonial alternate history |
| Kabaneri of the Iron Fortress | 2016 | Anime TV series | Core | armoured trains, zombie siege |
| Blades in the Dark | 2017 | Tabletop RPG | Adjacent | haunted industrial city, crime crews |
| The Bedlam Stacks | 2017 | Novel | Core | quinine expedition, Peru |
| Frostpunk | 2018 | Video game | Core | coal furnace city, social ethics |
| Mortal Engines | 2018 | Film | Core | traction cities, mobile London |
| Carnival Row | 2019 | Television series | Adjacent | fae refugees, empire |
| Close to the Sun | 2019 | Video game | Adjacent | Tesla ship, alternate science |
| His Dark Materials | 2019 | Television series | Adjacent | daemons, alethiometer |
| Sunless Skies | 2019 | Video game | Adjacent | locomotives in space, Victorian empire |
| Volcanoids | 2019 | Video game | Core | drillship base, volcanic island |
| Arcane | 2021 | Animated series | Adjacent | hextech, class city |
| Girl Genius RPG | 2021 | Tabletop RPG | Core | mad science, clanks |
| The Nevers | 2021 | Television series | Adjacent | Victorian superpowers, social outcasts |
| Lies of P | 2023 | Video game | Adjacent | Pinocchio, puppet automata |
| Poor Things | 2023 | Film | Adjacent | Frankenstein echoes, surreal Victoriana |
| Sovereign Syndicate | 2024 | Video game | Core | Victorian London, tarot mechanics |