Okay, so if you look at a helpful map of Allied versus Central powers in World War I, you'll see that the Darwinist (Allied) countries and Clanker (Central) nations are all kind of mixed together, but in fiction at least, their cultures are different enough that we feel okay referring to them as contrasting regions.
And the big contrast comes down to fabricated beasts versus steam-powered machines, and the big journey for our characters is seeing that each group borrows technology from—and can learn from—the other. In other words, both sides and their ways are valuable. It's no surprise to us, but it certainly blows people's minds in Leviathan.
Questions About Contrasting Regions: Clankers and Darwinists
- Is there any fundamental philosophical difference between Clankers and Darwinists, or is it just all about which technology each group has chosen to pursue?
- Our two main characters are a Darwinist commoner and a Clanker prince. How do you think the book would have been different if those roles had been reversed?
- The Clankers seem to be at least nominally Catholic. Does religion play a role in Darwinist society?
- Which side do you think would really win in a fight? The characters think about this a lot.
Chew on This
Most of the Clanker/Darwinist hostility seems to stem from a misunderstanding of each other's technology.
Clanker and Darwinist technology is about equal in terms of ability, so dominance of one over the other would probably depend mostly on conditions at the time.