The premise
The valley is supposed to be the safe part of France. The line is far enough north that the workshops still run, the cooperative still bottles, the radios still broadcast. The supposed-safety is a fiction every villager has agreed to maintain, because the alternative is not bearable. You can see the smoke from the foundries on a clear day. You can hear the trains at night.
The Coopérative des Serres de la Loire is hiring. The Guilde des Mécaniciens at Saumur is hiring more. The Vignerons d'Anjou are not hiring; they are deciding which of their old families to lose first. The Voix Libres broadcast at irregular hours from somewhere upriver and the Préfecture has stopped pretending not to know who runs the transmitter.
You arrive in the Loire as a worker, a courier, a cousin of someone who owes a favour. You can build a life here while the war is still at arm's length, or you can take a side, because every side in this valley is taking sides. The diesel-punk machines at Saumur work. The old vines at Angers work. The radio works. The river knows.
This is a diesel-punk historical sandbox. The world has a calendar, and the calendar is 1917.
What this world plays like
Your first ten turns put you on the train to Tours-sur-Verre. You will choose the cooperative, the workshops, or the vineyard within the first day, and the choice will set who greets you and who watches you. The Voix Libres will find you within the week if your face is the kind they remember.
By turn fifty, you have a wage in francs and a side-account in favours. You know which mechanic at Saumur takes meetings after dark. You know which vintner left for the front in '15 and never came back. You know which curé will not ask a question. Standing with each of the four factions exists as a real number, and the Préfecture's interest in you is its own number, growing.
By turn one hundred, the war is closer. The Voix Libres are louder. The Saumur workshops are running double shifts on something they will not name. You may be running couriers. You may be sabotaging a foundry. You may be trying to hold a vineyard together for an old man's daughter. The valley remembers what you whispered into a copper microphone in March.
The Loire does not reset between sessions. Close the tab on Tuesday. The war does not.
Factions in motion
Coopérative des Serres de la Loire
The economic heart of the valley, this cooperative manages the massive greenhouse complexes that produce food for the region and for export. They prioritize efficiency, innovation, and meeting production quotas for the war effort, viewing well-managed logistics as the highest form of community service.
Guilde des Mécaniciens de Saumur
A collective of highly skilled mechanics and engineers responsible for maintaining the valley's diesel engines, water pumps, and clockwork regulators. They are the primary practitioners of Mechanical Animism, believing each machine has a spirit that must be understood and respected for it to run well.
Les Vignerons Traditionnels d'Anjou
An association of winemaking families from the Angers area who uphold centuries-old viticultural practices. They are more reliant on traditional Catholic faith and weather-lore than modern machinery, taking pride in the artisanal quality of their wines. They view the industrial scale of the greenhouses with a friendly skepticism.
Les Voix Libres de la Loire
A valley-wide club of amateur radio enthusiasts who build and operate the communication network. They are a social hub, connecting distant homesteads, sharing news from the front (when available), and broadcasting music and stories. They are beloved for their role in organizing the 'Jour de la Première Voix' festival.
Places that matter
Tours-sur-Verre
The heart of the greenhouse cooperative, this part of Tours is a labyrinth of glass and steel connected to the old city. The air is warm and humid with the smell of growing plants and diesel exhaust. By night, the entire district gives off a soft, golden-green glow.
Saumur Motorworks
A town where the clang of hammers and the roar of test engines never ceases. Small workshops line the cobblestone streets, each specializing in a different component: pistons, gears, clockwork regulators, or radio coils. The air smells of hot metal and lubricating oil.
Vignobles d'Angers
West of the main greenhouses, the rolling hills are covered in ancient vineyards. Here, technology is used sparingly. Old stone wineries stand beside sheds housing diesel pumps for irrigation, a blend of the ancient and the modern. The pace of life is slower, dictated by the seasons of the grape.
La Voix de la Rivière
A collection of small villages and isolated farmhouses along the banks of the Loire. This region isn't known for industry, but for the towering radio antennas that sprout from barns and cottages. This is the heart of the amateur radio community.
A real turn from this world
The mechanic at Saumur sets the wrench down and wipes his hands on a rag that has not been clean in a year.
"Tu es venu pour la commande ou pour autre chose?"
You came for the other thing. He knows you came for the other thing. The question is procedural. He is asking the wall, not you, because the wall might be listening.
He sets a small parcel on the bench. He does not look at it. You take it. You leave through the side door.
Standing with the Guilde des Mécaniciens shifts +2. Préfecture interest shifts +1. The parcel is recorded as carried. Three days from now, when you are asked where you got it, the world will remember the name you did not say.
Why Loire Valley, 1917 holds up over a long campaign
Most AI roleplay tools are built around a single session. They start to fall apart at hour ten and are barely playable at hour fifty. Loire Valley, 1917 doesn't, because the world isn't living in a chat history - it's living in a database.
Mechanical truth in Postgres. Coins, inventory, NPCs, factions, locations, properties - all in real database rows. The narrator describes around the database; the database is what's true. By turn 500, your business ledger still balances and your apprentices still have the names you gave them.
Hierarchical chapter compression. Every chapter compresses into a tight summary; summaries compress into act-level summaries. The hundredth turn can pull a relevant detail from chapter two without flooding the context window.
Semantic memory. Important moments are embedded as vectors. When the current scene references an old promise, the engine retrieves the exact exchange where that promise was made - even 800 turns ago.
You'll be asked to choose Quick Start or build a character of your own.