Steampunk

In our discussions yesterday I was trying to refer to the term 'steampunk', but I think I am incorrect in my definition. I was really thinking more of an 'alternate reality' than true steampunk, but incorporating certain steampunk elements may be interesting.
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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steampunk

Steampunk is a subgenre of speculative fiction which came into prominence in the 1980s and early 1990s. The term denotes works set in (or strongly inspired by—see fantasy-world steampunk below) an era when steam power was still widely used—usually the 19th century, and often set in Victorian England—but with prominent elements of either science fiction or fantasy, such as fictional technological inventions like those found in the works of H. G. Wells, or real technological developments like the computer occurring at an earlier date. It is often associated with cyberpunk and shares a similar fanbase but developed as a separate movement (though with considerable influence on each other). Their main difference beyond the chronological differences in settings is that Steampunk settings tend to be less obviously dystopian...


...Although originally conceived as being Victorian-era science fiction only, the term has become common use for many related forms of speculative fiction set in the pre-Electric age era.
There are two main sub-genres of steampunk: historical steampunk and fantasy-world steampunk. Historical steampunk tends to be more "science fictional": presenting an alternate history, presenting real locales and persons from history with different technology. Fantasy-world steampunk, on the other hand, presents steampunk in a completely imaginary fantasy realm, often populated by legendary creatures coexisting with steam-era or anachronistic technologies.