No, their objections weren't just to the "punk" art, but to the fact that the "steam" aspect doesn't fit with Eberron. You're focusing only on the Victorian aesthetic, but you don't realize that steam implies steam-based technology (in fact, this genre implies that the motor of technology is steam, not electricity, as was historically the case), and Eberron doesn't use steam. It uses magic to replace technology, and it doesn't use steam.
So it can't be steampunk, because Eberron neither uses technology (it's magic) nor does it use steam. Even the Victorian aspect is highly debatable. Just because the overall technological level is roughly late 19th century doesn't make the aesthetic entirely Victorian. Look, Sharn is a city that looks very modern even by our standards. Yes, there are lamplighters lighting lamps, but these aren't the gas lamps of the 19th century, but magical lights that have a very different aesthetic. Damn, the train runs on lightning! No smoking locomotives, it's lightning! Socially, the society isn't Victorian, even though there's still a monarchy and nobility, but it's a surprisingly cosmopolitan and open-minded society, with very little racism (even the criticisms of warforged and changelings are mild compared to the Victorian mentality) and no gender segregation, and without all those prudish scruples of the Victorian era.
Sometimes classifying a game or work within a genre is tricky. But Eberron really doesn't fit as steampunk. You're not the only one who's called Eberron steampunk, no, but that doesn't mean it's true. Again, the creator of the setting himself dismisses it. If you want to think it fits, well, fine, it's just semantics after all. But if you have the creator of the setting saying no, it doesn't fit, maybe you should reconsider a bit, right?
As for the ships being technology, no way. Using Repair has been a thing for the DDO devs in Precious cargo, who said that Knowledge Arcane or, in its absence, UMD aren't used on the table. In fact, on the tabletop, it has to be that way because there aren't any skill called Repair in the 3.5 skill category. Craft skills are used to repair objects.
Let's review what an Eberonian airship is:
- A physical hull constructed of a magical wood that doesn't exist in real life and is almost weightless. The hull isn't particularly aerodynamic because it's literally like a galleon designed to sail on water. Furthermore, although it's designed for high-altitude flight, the deck isn't enclosed, with all that entails in terms of strong winds and pressure issues that should make it impossible to stay on deck. In other words: nothing scientific or technological about its design. It's a ship designed for water but with it is able to fly. In other words, magic, not technology. But building the physical hull requires ordinary science. This absolutely non-aerodynamic physical container is the only "technological" part of the ship.
-Elemental engine. The heart of it is the elemental core, an engraved sphere of brass and mithral with a Khyber dragonshard at the center. A raw elemental is bound to this dragonshard. The elemental is absolutely anchored to the core and can’t be easily released; what the engine does is to pull it out from the core, stretching it out across the ship’s systems and the ring. So, more magic here. No technology.
-Elemental Veins. They are auxiliary devices engraved with sigils and inlaid with Eberron dragonshards (so, magical in nature!) and channel power through the ship. In addition to directly connecting the core to the elemental ring, these channel the secondary enchantments of the focusing nodes and the wind wards. So, another arcane device. It’s not technological, it’s magical. You are not going to find any “elemental device” in the real life. It’s fantasy.
-Focusing nodes. Superficially similar to the conductor stones used in the lightning rail and serve a similar role; they are placed at critical vein junctures and help to draw out and stabilize the power of the core. Focusing nodes also maintain an enchantment that maintains a consistent temperature within the vessel, even at high altitudes that would typically be bitterly cold. So, more magic. No technology.
-Wind wards. An airship is an open-deck vessel that moves swiftly through the upper atmosphere. What keeps people from being blown off the deck? How can people breathe at high altitudes? How does an airship handle turbulence? The wind wards are the answer to these questions. An airship is enveloped in a ward that shunts both wind and small objects (such as birds) around the vessel, as well as maintaining air pressure within the wards. The wind wards are also play a role in maneuvering the ship; the ring provides forward thrust, but the envelope of winds helps the vessel turn. While the wards are controlled by the Wheel of Wind and Water, they draw power from the focusing nodes and have their own system of “ward wings” that must be maintained and adjusted by the crew. Ok, this is evocation magic anchored with abjuration spells. No technology here!
-The Wheel of Wind and Water. This is the dragonmark focus item that controls the ship. It has two purposes: it allows the captain to interface with the elemental, helping to calm it and to direct speed and thrust; and it also allows the captain to maintain the wind wards, and use them to direct fine maneuvering. More magic! This is a magic item. You have the crafting requirements on my last post lol
-The pilot needs to have the Mark of the Storm, More magic here. Keith Baker says he'd allow a character without the Mark to pilot the ship, but only because characters are special and have potential that the world's NPCs lack. And even then, it would require a ton of skill checks.
As you can see, there's no technology on an airship beyond the hull (which is a boat for navigating through water, not air, lol). All the systems that enable flight aren't founded in science, but in arcane knowledge—in other words, in magical science. It's magic, droid.
When you have a spaceship in science fiction, or a hovercar, or any other tecnological device, it's assumed to operate under scientific premises that would work in our world even if we don't yet have the technology for it. But that's not the case with the airships of Eberron, or any other arcane advancement in the setting. These ships will never be achieved in real life because they require magic that doesn't exist. The lighting rail will never exist in our world because its construction and operation involve the use of magic. Hell, the lamps I mentioned earlier have never existed in our world because their operation and aesthetic are magical; they're not the gas lamps of the 19th century. There are no mechanical clocks in Eberron lol; time is measured with prestidigitation cantrips and some similar orations of divine or primal classes.
You can insist it's technology, but that doesn't make it real. It's magic, pure magic. Magic presented as if it were science, because that's the intention of the creator of the setting: to create a world where magic replaces technology.
Obviously, magic is anchored in physical objects. But when you have a cloak of flying in D&D, you don't say it's magic-fused technology because that flight magic is anchored in a piece of clothing! No, you say it's a magic item. Magictech is just a word, but the reality of Eberron's magical devices is that they're created by magic, that they work by magic, and that they're designed with "arcane science" and not with "real science."
And yes, if something goes wrong with the ship, you might need to repair the physical container of the magic (using craft skills or repair/mending spells - in DDO's case it would be repair skill), but you will also need to repair the ship's enchantments, and that requires Knowledge Arcane or Spellcraft (UMD is not for repairing, it's for getting something to work without really knowing how you're doing it, which might be required to get the helm working without the Mark of the Storm), or maybe that is not enough and some enchantments have to be recreated from scratch.
