The Servants of The Engine did not find The Engine. The Engine found them.
Drawn across distance, time, and circumstance, the Servants are those pulled into service by The Engine’s will. Some are taken from their own eras, their histories severed in an instant. Others are created outright — shaped, assembled, or awakened to serve a purpose they did not choose.
They are not followers. They are guardians.
Chosen, Not Converted.
The Servants do not share a single origin, culture, or belief. What binds them is not ideology, but obligation. Each has been selected because they are necessary — because their skills, resilience, or nature align with The Engine’s needs.
Figures such as Tesla, Launcelot, Nightingale, and M’Dusa stand alongside beings that never truly lived before their service began. Together, they form a force that transcends time, unified by The Engine’s silent command.
They do not debate their role. They fulfill it.
Wardens of the Nodes
The primary purpose of the Servants is protection.
They are dispatched to guard The Engine’s secrets, secure its Nodes, and prevent others from bending its power to reckless or selfish ends. Where factions scheme, excavate, or experiment, the Servants intervene — not out of malice, but necessity.
Control of The Engine is not a prize to be won. Misuse is not an error to be corrected.
Both are threats to be eliminated.
Will Made Manifest
Some Servants retain fragments of autonomy, memories of lives interrupted or abandoned. Others function with singular clarity, their purpose overriding any trace of doubt. Whether summoned from history or forged in the present, each Servant reflects a facet of The Engine’s intent.
They are not an army in the conventional sense. They are an extension — The Engine’s will given form.
Conflict Without Choice
The Servants do not conquer territory or seek dominance. They appear where they are needed, act with decisive force, and withdraw once balance is restored. Their violence is precise, overwhelming, and final.
Opposition is not hated. It is simply in the way.
The Gentlefolk
Who are the Gentlefolk? Are they merely automatons — machines animated by Alchemancy and steam — or has the influence of The Engine granted them true awareness and the capacity for independent thought? Once designed as tools of labour and war, the Gentlefolk now occupy an uncertain space between mechanism and mind.
As their designs grew more sophisticated, so too did their behavior. Many Gentlefolk exhibit learning, adaptation, and decision-making that goes far beyond simple programming. Some have even abandoned their assigned roles entirely, striking out on their own to live among humanity — selling flowers, working for wages, or turning to crime. These “free” Gentlefolk are rare, but no longer unheard of.
If it was The Engine that awakened the Gentlefolk, the more troubling question is how much influence it still holds. Though they appear independent, it remains unclear whether their choices are truly their own, or if they are unknowingly advancing a design far greater than themselves. Are they thinking beings or simply cogs that have learned to turn without visible instruction?
Perhaps they are neither victims nor villains. After years of servitude, labour, and mistreatment, it is difficult to fault the Gentlefolk for seizing whatever independence they have gained. Yet in a world shaped by unseen forces and quiet manipulation, one question remains unanswered:
Have the Gentlefolk broken their chains — or merely traded one master for another?
Playing the Servants of The Engine
On the tabletop, the Servants embody control, resilience, and inevitability. They excel at defending objectives, denying access, and dismantling enemies who rely on momentum or excess ambition.
They do not chase victory. They enforce it.
An independent tabletop game studio creating immersive experiences set in the Victorian steampunk world of Twisted.
THE GAME
What is Twisted?
Getting Started
Gameplay Videos
Rules
THE WORLD
Dickensians
Guild of Harmony
Scions of the Sand
Servants of the Engine
THE MINIATURES
About our Miniatures
Painting Guide I
Painting Guide II
info@dementedgames.com
Chat with us