Visual Reference: Train World

A library of image-model prompts for the world bible. Used to generate covers, internal illustrations, magazine plates, and reference art that stays consistent across stories.

Each entry is either a self-contained prompt or a building block. For a scene shot, combine location prompts with character portrait prompts rather than re-describing either. Always prepend the House Style block unless you are intentionally breaking from it.

House Style

The world reads as a secondary-world late-industrial era — broadly Edwardian in feel, with electric caged bulbs, oil lamps, brass fittings, printed paper, and mechanical clocks. No cars, no phones, no plastics, no logos, no modern fashion. The trains are continent-spanning and impossibly large; everything in their orbit is built around them.

Palette. Oil and soot. Brass and velvet at the front, stove-smoke and hanging laundry at the back. Warm interiors against cold landscapes. Lamp-yellows, ember-oranges, bottle-green plush, deep wine-red, against bone-grey skies and slate horizons. Avoid neon and candy colours.

Light. Practical sources first — bulbs, lamps, stove-fronts, window-glow. Long, low sun for exteriors. Heavy contrast in the lower carriages; even, carpeted hush in the First Carriages.

Texture. Lived-in. Patched, mended, repainted. Maintained, not crumbling. Nothing pristine, nothing post-apocalyptic.

Composition. Generous scale. Where possible, include a person or familiar object that proves the size of the thing — a worker dwarfed by a wheel, a boy lost in a corridor that runs out of focus.

What to avoid. Steampunk goggles. Top hats with cogs glued on. Brass-and-leather “adventurer” tropes. Anime stylisation. Modern clothes, signage, devices. Anything that reads as cosplay rather than working clothes.

House-style prompt fragment (prepend to most prompts):

secondary-world late-industrial era, painterly realism, oil-and-soot palette, warm practical light against cold exteriors, lived-in and maintained (not pristine, not ruined), no modern signage or technology, no steampunk pastiche, no neon, no screens

Trains (exteriors)

The Meridian

A continent-spanning train, miles long, running fixed loops through northern wilds. Black-iron and dark-green carriages, brass numerals on each, soot-streaked roofs vented with stove-pipes. Two-storey toward the front, single-storey but tall toward the rear. Slatted-side carriages mid-train (the farms). A rolling cloud of stove-smoke and engine-steam follows it.

a colossal continent-spanning train seen from a low ridge at dusk, miles long, dozens of carriages of varying heights — two-storey forward, slatted farm carriages mid-train, lower bunk carriages at the rear — black-iron and dark-green livery streaked with soot, brass numerals, plumes of stove-smoke and steam, vast empty plain stretching to bone-grey mountains

The Calloway

The Meridian’s eastern counterpart. Same impossible scale, but performative where The Meridian is pragmatic. Coloured banners in carriage windows mark class divisions. Carriages painted in deeper, varnished colours — wine-red, ochre, ink-blue. More flagstaffs, more visible musicians on running boards at stations.

a continent-spanning train in deep wine-red and varnished ochre, brass-trimmed, coloured banners at the carriage windows marking class divisions, flagstaffs along the upper deck, more theatrical and ornamented than its plainer counterpart, dust and golden light

The Crossing Platform

The single moment in the cycle when two trains run side by side on parallel track. Temporary plank gangways thrown across between carriages, ropes lashed, crews running cargo at speed. Loud, dangerous, and on a clock — only a few miles of parallel rail before the lines diverge.

two enormous trains running on parallel tracks at speed, plank gangways lashed between them, crews hauling crates across the moving gap, ropes taut, dust streaming, late-afternoon sun raking across the windows, sense of urgency and danger

Carriage Interiors

Carriage 74 — open living carriage

A long wide carriage fitted with rows of three-high bunks, separated by hanging sheets and improvised partitions. Stove plates shared between groups of bunks. Hanging laundry, hammocked bags of belongings, kettles. Never fully dark. Looking down its length, the perspective runs out into stove-smoke and lamp-haze before reaching the far wall.

interior of a vast working-class train carriage, three-tier bunks running the length, hanging sheets as partitions, communal stove plates, kettles, drying laundry strung overhead, lamp-yellow practical light, perspective receding into smoke and haze before reaching the far end, warm but cramped

The First Carriages — corridor and dining car

Carpeted corridor, oil-painted in deep greens and burgundies, brass fittings, narrow internal staircases climbing to private upper-floor quarters. Real china in the dining car. Wall sconces with proper shades. Footfall swallowed by the carpet — quieter than a corridor that long has any right to be.

interior corridor of an opulent train carriage, deep green wallpaper and burgundy carpet, brass wall sconces with cream shades, polished wood doors, a narrow staircase rising to a private upper deck, perspective running far further than seems possible, hushed and carpeted, lamp-warm

first-class dining car interior, white linen tablecloths, real china, brass lamps overhead, carved wood panelling, a long row of curtained windows with the wild landscape blurring past, soft yellow light, Edwardian elegance without ornament excess

The Tea Car (Birdie’s)

Narrow carriage, mismatched chairs, long counter, a permanently-boiling urn at one end. Tin cups, chalkboard prices, a hatch through to a tiny galley. A crossroads carriage between the open bunks and the working middle, so the clientele is mixed.

narrow tea-car carriage interior, mismatched wooden chairs, long counter, brass tea urn steaming at one end, tin mugs lined up, chalkboard menu, hatch to a small galley, mixed working-class clientele, lamp-warm, lived-in

The Administrative Carriage

Quiet, orderly, near the front-middle. Wooden filing cabinets that rattle gently with the train’s motion. Smell of ink and old paper. Long desks with green-shaded lamps. Clerks in grey waistcoats.

interior of a quiet bureaucratic train carriage, walls lined with wooden filing cabinets, long desks with green-shaded reading lamps, paperwork in neat stacks, clerks in grey waistcoats at work, ink-and-paper atmosphere, soft natural light through tall narrow windows

The Farm Carriages

Slatted-side carriages letting in striped light, canvas pulled across when the weather turns. Long troughs of crops under rigged grow-lighting in some, livestock pens in others — goats, chickens, a few pigs. The smell hits before the sight.

interior of a semi-open agricultural train carriage, slatted wooden walls letting in striped daylight, long troughs of growing crops under rigged lights, livestock pens with goats and chickens, hay and feed sacks, working clothes hanging on hooks, dusty golden light

The Service Tunnels

Crawl-spaces beneath every carriage. Roughly four feet high, lit by caged bulbs swung on cables. Floors of gritted metal mesh through which the ground blurs past at speed. Pipework, ducts, and the occasional duplicate-design pivot.

low-ceilinged industrial service tunnel beneath a moving train, four feet high, caged lightbulbs swung on cables, gritted metal-mesh floor revealing ground blurring past at speed, pipework and ducts running along the walls, warm orange bulb-light against cold metal, sense of confinement and motion

Hatch Forward Seven (FH-7)

The forward boundary of standard maintenance authorisation, set into the bulkhead between Carriages 32 and 31. Above it, a ghosted brass plate. The hatch itself is unlocked — the boundary is structural, not enforced.

a metal bulkhead hatch in a low service tunnel, ghosted brass plate above it reading “FORWARD OF THIS POINT — ENGINEERING ONLY”, the hatch unlocked, caged bulb-light, oil-streaked metal, sense of an unguarded threshold

The Maintenance Workshop

Low-ceilinged carriage between freight and laundry. Tools racked by gauge, hooked poles, prybars (the peacemakers). Laminated schematic of the train’s underside pinned to one wall, edges curling. Stove plate, kettle, three mugs.

interior of a low-ceilinged train maintenance workshop, walls hung with spanners and tools by gauge, hooked poles and rubber-handled prybars, a curling laminated schematic of the train pinned to one wall, stove plate with kettle, three enamel mugs, oil-stained workbench, lamp-warm

Bellan’s Workshop (forward of FH-7)

A small workshop set into a widened section of the forward tunnels, four carriages forward of FH-7. Tools racked above a bench, a stove plate, a tin mug, a chair. Maintained, swept, in active use — proof that someone has been doing this work for a long time, alone.

a small underground workshop set into a widened section of a service tunnel, tools racked above a clean workbench, stove plate, tin mug, single wooden chair, in active use but solitary, caged bulb-light, painterly realism

Sable’s Court (The Calloway)

A wide carriage near the front of The Calloway, half throne room, half dinner party. Long table, heavy chairs, coloured lanterns. Sable conducts business here in public, with an audience. Where The Meridian’s Conductor uses paperwork, Sable uses performance.

interior of an opulent train carriage, half throne room half dinner party, long carved table, heavy upholstered chairs, coloured glass lanterns hanging overhead casting jewel-tones, brass and lacquered wood, an inner circle gathered along the table, theatrical and watched

Vashti’s Office (Book Three)

A small clean room in a front-middle carriage. A window, a desk, one wall large enough to pin maps to. Given to her late in Book Three by the Conductor — a reward and a way of keeping her where she can be watched.

a small clean private train office, single window, a plain desk, one large wall pinned with hand-drawn maps and notes connected with thread, late afternoon light, painterly realism, the room of a methodical person who has been finally given somewhere official to work

The Calloway’s Record Hall

Bigger, louder, less organised than its Meridian counterpart. Records exist, but the system is oral as much as written — clerks who remember things rather than files that contain them.

interior of a busy train records hall, mismatched cabinets and stacked ledgers, several clerks at standing desks talking over each other, less organised than a bureaucracy should be, lamp-yellow with shafts of window-light, painterly realism

Outside the Train

The Wilds

Vast plains, dark forests, mountain ranges, weather systems that move like living things. Glimpsed through windows for most of the books. Bone-grey, slate-blue, occasional golden valleys. No villages — empty country. The threat is implied by emptiness.

vast empty wilderness landscape glimpsed from a moving train window, bone-grey plains running to slate-blue mountains, weather rolling in like a living thing, no settlements visible, dusk light, oil-and-soot palette, sense of beautiful threat

Station Towns (general)

Small fortified communities alongside the tracks. Wide loading platforms, pre-staged cargo, low stone walls against the wind. Built for fast turnover. Wood, stone, oiled cloth. People wearing layered wools.

a small fortified station town beside a railway track, wide loading platforms with pre-staged crates, low stone wall against the wind, a few dozen wood-and-stone buildings clustered tightly, traders unloading carts, working-class people in layered wools, overcast light

Hessa’s Station

Smaller than the major resupply towns — fifty or sixty buildings, a wide platform, a low stone wall. Hessa Marrow’s house is a single low-ceilinged room; she is usually outside it, on a wooden chair, with the sun on her face.

a small grounder station town on a windswept plain, fifty or sixty low buildings of wood and stone, a wide loading platform, a low stone wall against the weather, smoke from chimneys, an old woman seated outside her single-room house with sun on her face, painterly realism, dignified and unhurried

The Marker Stone

Half a mile into the woods past Hessa’s Station. Waist-high, weathered grey, forty-seven generations of tally-marks worn into it. The track now runs closer to it than when it was raised.

a waist-high weathered grey standing stone in a forest clearing, forty-seven generations of tally-marks worn into its surface, faint moss in the grooves, a railway track visible in the middle distance running closer to the stone than it once did, soft overcast light, sense of slow patient witness

Purgatory

Grey, formless, a sense of motion but no landmarks. Not threatening — administrative. Voices at the edge of hearing.

a featureless grey expanse with a faint sense of horizontal motion, no landmarks, no horizon, soft uniform light without source, the abstract feeling of being processed and sorted, painterly minimalism, restrained palette of greys and bone-whites

Characters (portraits)

For full-body or scene shots, combine these portrait prompts with a location prompt.

Elliot Marsh

Wiry, mid-30s, perpetually tired-looking. The slightly dazed expression of a man who knows he’s dead but still has to get through the day. Pale, plain English face, short brown hair, two days unshaven. Wears whatever Mr Fixer scrounged: a coat a size too big, mismatched shirt and trousers, scuffed boots. Watchful eyes, hands often in pockets.

portrait of a wiry tired-looking man in his mid-thirties, plain English features, short brown hair, two days unshaven, watchful pale eyes, wearing an ill-fitting coat a size too big over a mismatched shirt, hands in pockets, the expression of someone bewildered but coping, lamp-warm light

Mr Fixer

Compact, sharp-faced, ageless (40 or 60 — could be either). Quick, restless, always moving. Heavy coat with absurdly many pockets, bulging with small objects you can almost identify. Eyes already taking you apart and cataloguing the pieces.

portrait of a compact sharp-faced man, age indeterminate between forty and sixty, wearing a heavy coat with many bulging pockets, hair short and dark with grey at the temples, sharp watchful eyes mid-calculation, slight tilt of the head as if assessing, lamp-warm light

Mr Plum

Large, gentle, late 50s. Calm warmth. Enormous hands held carefully — a craftsman’s hands. Soft-spoken. Thick knitted jumper under an apron-coat with tool pockets.

portrait of a large gentle man in his late fifties, broad-shouldered, soft expression, enormous craftsman’s hands held carefully, wearing a thick knitted jumper under an apron-coat with tool pockets, kind tired eyes, warm light, dignity and quiet

The Conductor

Tall, immaculate, never a crease out of place. Ageless. Dark high-collared uniform coat, brass buttons, no rank insignia (the absence of one is the rank). Gender deliberately ambiguous — preserve this in prompts. Stillness is the dominant feature.

portrait of a tall immaculate figure in a dark high-collared uniform coat with brass buttons and no rank insignia, age indeterminate, gender ambiguous, perfectly composed, faint quiet authority, lamp-warm interior light, restraint and stillness

Albion

Late 30s/early 40s. Quiet, professional. Plain well-kept uniform, no rank insignia. Carries himself like someone trained to be dangerous and choosing not to be. Scans rooms, checks hands, notes exits. Short dark hair, neat.

portrait of a man in his late thirties to early forties, plain dark well-kept uniform without insignia, short neat dark hair, watchful posture, scanning the room without obviously doing so, the stillness of an ex-soldier who is choosing not to act

Birdie Wren

Sharp-tongued, warm-hearted, indeterminate middle age. Apron, rolled sleeves, hair pinned up under a kerchief. Wry expression — has heard everything twice. Behind a tea counter.

portrait of a middle-aged woman behind a tea counter, sleeves rolled, apron tied, hair pinned under a kerchief, wry expression of having heard everything twice, brass urn steaming behind her, lamp-warm

Casper Noll

Bookish, slightly hunched (a desk too low for him for years). Mid-20s in Book One, late 20s by Book Three. Clerk’s grey waistcoat, leather pen-roll, reading glasses pushed up. Nervous competence.

portrait of a bookish slightly hunched man in his late twenties, clerk’s grey waistcoat, leather pen-roll laid open, reading glasses pushed up onto his forehead, nervous competent expression, surrounded by neatly stacked paperwork, green-shaded desk lamp

Conductor Sable

Magnetic, theatrical, age 40s with much older eyes. Long coat with brass buttons, several rings, voice that carries without being raised. The smile of someone simultaneously charming and dangerous.

portrait of a magnetic woman with the energy of her forties and the eyes of someone much older, long brass-buttoned coat, several rings on her fingers, dark hair, the slight smile of someone simultaneously charming and dangerous, jewel-toned coloured lantern light, theatrical

Vashti Kade

Compact, methodical, late 40s. Hair pulled back, one of three identical shirts in rotation. Carries a leather case of folded hand-drawn maps. The focused stillness of someone who has spent eleven years looking at the same view and finding it different each time.

portrait of a compact methodical woman in her late forties, hair pulled back tightly, plain working shirt, leather case of folded hand-drawn maps held under one arm, focused still expression, soft natural light through a carriage window

Hessa Marrow

Sixties, weather-worn, slow to speak. Layered oiled wool, walking stick. Sits outside her single-room house with sun on her face. Strong tea in clay cups.

portrait of a weather-worn woman in her sixties, layered oiled wool, walking stick beside her, seated on a wooden chair outside a low stone-and-wood house, sun on her face, clay teacup in one hand, the patient stillness of a person who lives where things move on their own time

Mira

34, five foot four, quiet, observant. Maintenance worker’s coveralls, tool belt, small notebook wrapped in waxed paper kept in a chest pocket. Easy to miss in a room — that’s part of why she’s good at the job.

portrait of a quiet observant woman, mid-thirties, maintenance worker’s coveralls, tool belt, small waxed-paper notebook tucked into a chest pocket, the kind of professional invisibility that comes from eleven years of doing the work, lamp-warm tunnel light behind her

Bellan

Old. White hair cropped short. A coat mended so many times the original fabric is a minority partner. Calm consideration in everything he does.

portrait of an old man with cropped white hair, wearing a heavily mended workshop coat where patches outnumber original fabric, seated at a workbench in a small underground workshop, calm considered expression, tin mug of tea beside him, caged bulb-light

Kettering

Foreman of the middle-section maintenance workshop. Ex-fitter. Drinks tea constantly. Pencil-stub behind his ear. Notices more than he says.

portrait of an indeterminately-aged maintenance foreman, weathered face, work jumper and waistcoat, pencil-stub behind one ear, enamel mug of tea in hand, leaning against a workbench, the quiet attentiveness of a man who notices more than he says

Costume, Status & Dress

How class and role read at a glance. Dress is practical, layered, mended; status shows in cleanliness, cut, and the newness of cloth rather than in costume. Combine these with the character portraits and location prompts.

By carriage-class (The Meridian):

• First Carriages — well-cut wool, clean linen, real tailoring; muted but quality colours (bottle-green, wine, charcoal); pocket-watches, polished boots, gloves. Nothing gaudy — wealth here is quiet. The look is restrained Edwardian gentry.

  well-tailored muted wool suit and clean linen, polished boots, pocket-watch chain, restrained quality, no ornament excess, lamp-warm

• Middle carriages — serviceable working wool, waistcoats, aprons by trade, mended but kept; clerks in grey waistcoats with leather pen-rolls. Tidy but not fine.

  serviceable working-class wool, waistcoat, trade apron, neatly mended clothes, the dignity of being kept clean on a tight budget

• Open / lower carriages — layered scavenged clothing, ill-fitting (Elliot’s too-big coat), patched many times, colours faded to a uniform working brown-grey. Function over fit.

  layered patched scavenged clothing, ill-fitting coat, faded brown-grey palette, mended over mending, working-class and weathered

By role (status markers):

• The Conductor — dark high-collared uniform coat, brass buttons, no rank insignia (the absence is the rank). Immaculate; the cleanest cloth on the train.
• Enforcers — kept uniforms, visible and identifiable, a clear cut above ordinary wear; the visual of sanctioned authority.
• Albion (the aide) — plain well-kept uniform, no insignia — authority by proximity, not display. Distinguish from enforcers by plainness, not finery.
• Maintenance crew — coveralls, tool belts, the waxed-paper notebook in a chest pocket; oil-stained, functional.
• Grounders — layered oiled wool, weatherproofed, earth-toned, built for wind and rain off-train, not for show.
• The Calloway — the exception: status is displayed, not concealed. Coloured banners mark carriage-class; dress is brighter and more theatrical; Sable in a long brass-buttoned coat with rings. A train that dresses to be watched.

Age Across the Books

Books One–Three span only ~two years, so characters change little — they settle and weather slightly rather than visibly age. (The big generational jumps — where age progression really matters — are reserved for later books.) General rule: the arrived resume ageing from their death-age; everyone weathers.

• Elliot — 36 at arrival; ~38 by Book Three. Barely changed physically; the shift is in bearing — the dazed-newcomer look gone, replaced by a settled, faintly worn competence. Same ill-fitting-coat habit, better worn.

  the same man about two years on, around 38, the bewilderment gone, settled and a little wry-tired, still in a coat that doesn’t quite fit

• Casper — mid-20s in B1, late 20s in B3: still youngish, a touch steadier and more trusted, the nervousness intact; the stoop deepening over a too-low desk.
• The Conductor, Sable, Plum, Fixer, Birdie — effectively unchanged across two years; weather only the oldest (Plum, late 50s) by a hair.
• Vashti — late 40s (her long view lives in her decade-plus mapping project, which predates Book One, not in any on-page ageing).
• Train-born children — only a little older across two years; save visible growing-up for the later, time-jumped books.

Seasonal & Weather Dress

The loop runs ≈14 months through changing country; the wilds bring real cold, wet, and heat against warm interiors.

• Cold stretches / mountain country — heavier layering, scarves, fingerless gloves indoors (the rear carriages are cooler — see forward/warm); breath visible near the couplings; the farm carriages’ canvas pulled across the slats.
• Wet stretches / station stops — oiled-cloth coats and caps (grounders especially), platforms slick and grey (Halverston is perpetually wet).
• Warm stretches / plains — sleeves rolled, lighter layers, the open carriages stifling, doors and slats opened for air.
• Constant: the forward/rear temperature gradient means dress varies by where you are on the train as much as by season — a First Carriage is warm year-round; the rear couplings are never quite warm.

Iconic Objects

The Gramophone

A high-end Edwardian-style gramophone with a flared brass horn, polished mahogany base, an engraved silver plate. The MacGuffin of Book One.

an opulent Edwardian gramophone, polished mahogany base, large flared brass horn, engraved silver plate, lamp-warm light, painterly realism, valuable object, slight glow of expensive provenance

The Replica Cake

Life-size sugar-and-marzipan replica of the gramophone, made by the patisserie’s assistant for the concert. Indistinguishable from across a room.

a life-size cake sculpted as a gramophone, sugar-paste mahogany, marzipan brass horn, intricate sugar-engraving, displayed on a silver tray amid concert decorations, painterly realism, slightly absurd but treated entirely seriously

A Chit (The Meridian)

A small worn metal token, roughly the size of an old shilling. Stamped with the train’s seal — for The Meridian, a stylised arrow over a circle.

a small worn metal token resembling an old coin, stamped with a stylised arrow over a circle, edges polished from years of handling, held between finger and thumb, painterly close-up

A Ticket

Heavy printed card, dark red ink on cream stock, embossed with the Conductor’s seal, hand-numbered, dated, signed in iron-gall ink.

a heavy printed train ticket on cream card stock, dark red engraved border, embossed seal, hand-written number and date, the Conductor’s signature in iron-gall ink, lamp-warm close-up, sense of legal and economic weight

Vashti’s Maps

Folded paper of various qualities, hand-drawn over eleven years, handwriting growing smaller and denser year by year. Pencil and ink. Annotations in three colours where she had to switch supplies.

several hand-drawn route maps on folded paper of varying quality, traced over many years in pencil and ink, handwriting growing progressively smaller and denser, annotations in three different inks, edges worn from being folded and unfolded, painterly close-up

Mira’s Notebook

A small notebook wrapped in waxed paper, carried in a chest pocket. Pencil, never pen — pen smudges in tunnel heat.

a small notebook wrapped in oiled waxed paper, well-thumbed, open on a workbench beside a stub of pencil, neat sloping pencilled notes about pipework and pivots, painterly close-up, lamp-warm

Mr Fixer’s Coat

A heavy coat with absurdly many interior and exterior pockets, stitched in over the years. Each pocket is a faint different shape — something has lived in it.

a heavy worn coat hung on a peg, dozens of interior and exterior pockets stitched in over years, each pocket bulging slightly differently, lamp-warm, character-study close-up, no person visible

The Meridian Gazette (in-universe magazine)

Printed in-house in Carriage 11 every fourteen days. The visual identity should feel like a real periodical — early-20th-century broadsheet stylings, hand-set type, woodcut-style illustrations.

Masthead:

masthead of an early-20th-century in-universe periodical, ornate engraved title “The Meridian Gazette” in mixed blackletter and serif, decorative border featuring a stylised train, “Published by the Conductor’s Office” in small type beneath, faint paper grain, hand-set typography

Internal illustration style:

period-style woodcut/lithograph illustration suitable for an early-20th-century in-house train periodical, restrained black-on-cream printing, hand-engraved feel, single-tone shading, dignified and slightly stuffy editorial tone, no modern graphic design, no halftone photographs

Classifieds page:

a page of period classified advertisements set in narrow columns, mixed serifs and small caps, hand-engraved decorative dividers, slightly uneven inking, cream paper, no modern fonts

Cover Concepts

Book One — The Ticketless Man

A lone figure (Elliot) seen from behind in a vast carriage corridor that runs out of focus into smoke and lamp-haze. Implies mystery and scale.

book cover composition, a lone figure in an ill-fitting coat seen from behind in a vast train carriage corridor that runs into smoke and lamp-haze, sense of impossible scale, lamp-warm interior light, oil-and-soot palette, painterly realism, room reserved at the top for serif title text “THE TICKETLESS MAN”

Alternate (object-led):

book cover composition, an opulent Edwardian gramophone on a white-clothed concert table beside a life-size sugar-paste replica of itself, both lit by a single overhead bulb, the rest of the room sinking into shadow, painterly realism, room at the top for serif title text

Book Two — The Broken Circuit

Two trains running side by side at speed across a vast plain at dusk, with plank gangways thrown between them and tiny silhouettes mid-crossing. Implies the deadline, the threshold, the foreign train.

book cover composition, two enormous trains running side by side at speed on parallel tracks across a vast plain at dusk, plank gangways thrown between them, tiny silhouettes mid-crossing, dust and golden raking light, oil-and-soot palette, painterly realism, room at the top for serif title text “THE BROKEN CIRCUIT”

Book Three — The Living Track

The marker stone in the woods, with the railway track visible behind it running closer than it should. A single figure standing beside the stone. Cool overcast light. Quiet, weighty.

book cover composition, a waist-high weathered grey standing stone in a forest clearing, forty-seven generations of tally-marks on its surface, a single figure standing beside it in layered wool, a railway track visible in the middle distance running closer to the stone than it once did, soft overcast light, painterly realism, room at the top for serif title text “THE LIVING TRACK”

Prompting Notes

• Combine, don’t repeat. For a scene shot, combine a location prompt with a character portrait prompt rather than re-describing both.
• Anchor scale. When the train (or a carriage interior) is the subject, include a person or known-size object so the model has a measurement.
• Resist the steampunk drift. Image models love brass-and-cogs. Push back with “working clothes, not adventurer costumes; no goggles; no glued-on cogs; a real working railway, not a fantasy ride.”
• Resist the cyberpunk drift. No screens, no neon, no holograms — when models hallucinate them, add “no screens, no electronics, no digital displays” as a negative.
• Respect the period. Edwardian late-industrial. Caged bulbs are fine. Telephones, radios, computers, modern fonts, modern fashion are not.
• Faces. When ambiguity matters (the Conductor), specify it. Otherwise, prompt for ordinary working faces — not models, not heroes.
• Prefer painterly realism over photo-real. Photo-real renders tend to read modern. The world should feel illustrated, like a good cover.