no clue what the context for Carmilla is with the Mechanisms but I want to know more - where do I start?
(Anyone, feel free to correct me if I get something wrong)
So, The Mechanisms started as "Doctor Carmilla and The Mechanisms" with the lineup:
Maki Yamazaki as Doctor Carmilla (whose music can be found on YouTube and Bandcamp)
Jonny Sims as Jonny D'Ville (Backstory in the song "One Eyed Jacks")
Frank Voss as Ashes O'Reilly (Backstory in the song "Lucky Sevens")
Anonymous as Scuzz Nishimura
(Different) Anonymous as Nastya Rasputina (Backstory in the song "Cyberian Demons" which can be found on YouTube)
Morgan Wilkinson as Ivy Alexandria (a bit of her backstory is on the website)
and Ben Below as Drumbot Brian (Backstory in the song "Lost in the Cosmos")
Shortly after the establishment of the band, Jessica Law subbed in for Jonny, then eventually started performing fully with the band as The Toy Soldier (Backstory on the website.)
Maki Yamazaki and Scuzz's actors both left around the same time, Maki leaving due to the lack of accessible performing venues (iirc) though Maki continued to make music about Carmilla. This is when the name of the band changed to simply "The Mechanisms."
The actor Tim Ledsam joined a little after those two left, playing the character Gunpowder Tim (whose backstory is in the song "Gunpowder Tim vs. The Moon Kaiser.)
A bit later, actors Kofi Young and Rachel L. Hughes joined, playing Marius von Raum and Raphaella La Cognizi in turn.
Mechanisms, mechanized, etc: all of the members have been 'mechanized' meaning they have died, but got the part of them that failed (i.e. they had a heart attack, so it would be their heart) got replaced with a mechanical version. Carmilla mechanized all of the crew, except Gunpowder Tim, Marius von Raum, and Raphaella La Cognizi. (and The Toy Soldier, but it isn't technically mechanized.)
The rough timeline is as follows:
Doctor Carmilla's backstory is in the songs Rocket Girl, Homesick, After the Bomb, Thick as Thieves, Lullaby, then Pin Cushion. As stated previously, these can all be found on YouTube and Bandcamp.
"One Eyed Jacks" happens, Jonny gets mechanized by Doctor Carmilla. His heart gets replaced.
The fiction "How The Aurora Was Won" takes place.
"Cyberian Demons" takes place, Nastya gets mechanized and joins Carmilla and Jonny.
"Lucky Sevens" happens, Ashes gets mechanized and joins the crew.
Ivy joins the crew.
Around this time, Drumbot Brian gets cast from a planet due to his ability to revive the dead, and so "Lost in the Cosmos" happens. He joins the crew.
The fiction "Breakup" happens a little bit after this, since Tim is not present.
Around here Gunpowder Tim vs. The Moon Kaiser takes place, Gunpowder Tim joins the crew, and Carmilla leaves. The fiction "Who Killed Doctor Carmilla" takes place. Tim's mechanism was a bit of a combined effort of the crew.
The Mechanisms find the universe in which the album "Once Upon a Time (in Space)" takes place
I think around here Marius and Raphaella join. Raphaella mechanizes herself, I believe Marius's mechanism grew on like a fungus.
"The Ignominious Demise of Dr. Pilchard" happens around here.
The album Ulysses Dies at Dawn happens. Morgan Wilkinson and Nastya's actor both go on hiatus
A bit later, both the actors return and the album High Noon over Camelot happens.
Transcript 34/08/7012 might take place around here, sometime between High Noon over Camelot and Death to the Mechanisms.
The fiction "Out" happens and Nastya leaves the crew.
The album "The Bifrost Incident" takes place.
Then finally, "Death to the Mechanisms" happens. The Toy Soldier is the last to die. Somethings I know I skipped over:
The Aurora: The sentient, living starship that The Mechanisms live on.
Each of the crew member's mechanisms and role on the ship:
Carmilla - no mechanism, was a vampire though, captain
Jonny - his heart, captain first mate
Ashes - their lungs, quartermaster
Brian - everything but his heart. He also has a 'morality switch' that goes between 'end justifies mean' and 'mean justifies end." Pilot
Tim - his eyes, gunner
Raphaella - her wings/part of her back, science officer
Marius - his arm, medic
Ivy - her brain, archivist, navigator
Nastya - blood, engineer
The Toy Soldier - all but its voice, "We don’t know what it does, but it’s here and it won’t go away."
and, of course,
Scuzz - unknown, was a ninja though
Several links which may be helpful:
https://themechanisms.com/
https://mechanismslorearchive.tumblr.com/
I have absolutely no clue if this is comprehensible, but please! If you have questions, ask them! There are totally people out there who know much more than I do. I don't even know if this answers the original questions you had, but, here you go anyways.
that was INCREDIBLY helpful thank you so much
i knew of some but not all of the lore here....... I WAS RIGHT ABOUT NASTYA BEING ANASTASIA YAYYYYY
maybe someday i will go over this and listen to/read everything in chronological order 👀 that's a hell of a useful timeline
it is both very cool and deeply heartbreaking to me that Carmilla is the reason Jonny is the First Mate and not Captain...
THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!!!!!!
@nether-demon-warthog this is a very good timeline breakdown! My only major note is that the Transcript 34/08/7012 takes place a few thousand years after OUATIS- it's one of the few things in this canon we have an exact date and relative date to other things for! (Minus any time travel.)
The original title of that interview fiction can be seen in the url (an the wayback machine, but this is easier:)
https://themechanisms.com/fiction/interview-transcript-34087012-periphery-police-suspect-266968-jonny-dville/
Interview Transcript 34087012 periphery police suspect 266986
The Periphery is mentioned as a location in the Cole Dominion, within OUATIS! Ouatis is in another post on the website...
This post here
In 4388AD, the despot king of New Constantinople took his finest soldier against her will and used her as the genetic base for his entire clone army. To date she has died approximately 1,450,000 times.
So ouatis starts in 4388 AD, and then in 7012 in the same galaxy he gets arrested and left behind by Brian.
Then again - it could always be a case of inconsistent dates and lore, and that interview could be set DURING ouatis! But in the very least it is in the OUATIS galaxy!
(Also- This is a very very good timeline breakdown! I've been meaning to write a decent timeline to include in the archive. Would you allow me to use this as a basis for one? I would credit you and include you in the document / etc)
Additionally, I am CERTAIN 266968 in jonnys prison ID probably means SOMETHING. I have no idea what though. If anyone wants to take a crack at it have fun!
