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The flowery speech in written text is a vital hallmark of the era. As such, it cannot be completely removed from Steampunk without losing something crucial to the flavor. It would be like removing all the sugar from a cookie recipe and expecting it to still taste like a cookie.

Also, in regards to Temporal Chaos's confusion over the time period of Steampunk, I can understand the confusion when you consider movies like The Iron Giant or Sky Captain and the World Of Tomorrow. That's the same style of anachronism that Steampunk embodies, even though it's not quite the right era or aesthetic.

If you can blend cyberpunk with fantasy and get shadowrun, I'd bet you can blend steampunk with fantasy just as easily.

There's also a SteamPunk Anthology coming out May 1st.

sweatdrop I can't really help with most of your post -kinda still new at this myself- but as for where to get gears:

If you want old, "real" clock/watch gears and the like, the best (and cheapest) way I've found are flea markets, honestly. There's usually old watches really cheap, and they aren't that hard to take apart. Plus you get such a lovely assortment of them..... smile Antique stores are more expensive, but you might get lucky.... The only problem with watch gears are they tend to be on the tiny side - good for little lightweight accents and some jewelry, but if you want a bolder focal point, they might not be the best.

For bigger, or newer, gears, I'd imagine any hardware store might have them? Not too sure about those, there aren't many convenient ones to wander around in here....

Worst comes to worse, you might be able to find little fake gears at an arts and crafts store chain. That's a big stretch, though.... confused

If you don't mind ordering off the internet (and are able to), I'm sure people here could point you to a few good websites to order from. smile Worst comes to worst, you could always use eBay - there's pretty much anything on there.

::edit:: Okay, I know they aren't chain stores (or... even stores, in some cases), necessarily, but... I really can't think of any one that would have them.... xd

Haha, steampunk fashion is already highly associated with gothic fashions as well. If you go to Aether Emporium, there are links to all sorts of goth sites. Don't be affraid to mix it. Make it your own. That's what is so cool about steampunk; it can be mixed with almost anything!

I am going to make a steampunk prop in the near future, and I am debating with myself what should I addon to it to give it a more unique look, then I found this but I am not sure if it would classify for looking good on it.
This is basically what I am going to be making
This is the part of what I want to add onto it
But, the little symbol circle is slightly more gold than in the picture.

I don't know if there are pre-made sets (...wouldn't that defeat the purpose of steampunk somewhat?) but surely you can find clothes from different sites and put them together. A button-down shirt, pair of brown pants, steel-toed boots... accessories are easily handmade, maybe more so than human-sized ones!