Here's the Steam Punk story behind the artifact:
As I wandered the Wastelands of Nuveau Culture, I somehow stumbled into a curious and savage land populated by the oddest of creatures and their human masters.
It seems the people of this nation physically capture and force into servitude wild animals from the surrounding countryside. The locals referred to it as "training", but owing to the fact that these creatures were semi-literate and obviously capable of understanding the Queen's English, any educated man would immediately dub this slavery... especially when it was revealed the TRUE PURPOSE of this activity.
Like the Cock fights and Mastiff bouts held in the more deplorable regions of our country, these wretched souls are held, as if by magick or some technology undiscovered in our lands, inside amazingly compact and hand-held spherical prisons. Upon their Master's bidding, they are thrust from this captivity into what can only be likened to the colosseum battles of ancient Rome. Two "trainers" engage in remote melee via their slaves.
I can say, to their credit, that the fighting (unlike the gladiatorial combat of the ancients) never concludes with the death of either party. But often the combatants are run to the full extent of their constitution and only allowed reprieve at their utter exhaustion.
I left this world as quickly as my mechanical steed could carry me after the full extent of this barbarity was exposed and understood. But being the light-fingered bloke I am, and captive to my own slave-driving force (curiosity), I carefully relieved one of these so-called "trainers" of an empty "cage" and brought it home for extensive study and research.
And here's the reality behind the prop:
In actuality, I found this decorated sphere at the local fabric store. It is made of polyester resin (fiberglass resin) and was easy to modify into a "Steam Punk Poke' Ball" by adding paint detail (it was all brassy/bronze colored at the outset) and a special resin replica cloak button I had from long ago. And that's it. Some acrylic paint and a coat of Crystal Clear and I was done.
I wouldn't be opposed to making more if people were interested. Obviously this thread should be continued in the Junkyard or you can PM me.
-Gordon
