Ether Skies-1

High adventure awaits on many worlds in this realm of witchcraft, fantastical diesel-based technology, and sailing ships that sail between the planets.

Type: Blossom

Active Characters

Justine Lawson

Overview

    It is the early 20th century, and the solar system has been colonized heavily by the various world powers. Ships sail the void between worlds, settling the planets by catching currents of ether on their sails, or by using fantastic engines built by Rune Engineers to propel massive ships of steel hulls. Tenuous political alliances are made, undermined, and broken with regularity while the powers attempt to control distant colonies and their exotic resources.

    Technology is in an explosion, with the industrial powers building larger and larger engines of steam and diesel power, and automobiles becoming commonplace. The invention of the airplane, able to fly without the use of the mysterious Arcane Engines that lift the spacefarind navies into the sky, has excited the world.

    Alongside this technology, alchemy and mystical forms of runic artifice have changed the social landscape, allowing wonders that are far beyond what were available in most Earths of this time, while stunting development of other advances. Magic is an accepted part of life, even if it is mysterious and poorly understood by the average person, leading to small clusters of cults and traditions to refine jealously-guarded magical formulae.

    But in the end, people are people, and nationalism and envy make for a source of smoldering tension that can't be ignored. The Ottoman Empire clings to its holdings around Jupiter with increasing tension, while the massive British Empire spans most of the outer planets, their hold slipping. Germany is probing for more expansion, especially now that the option of the World Tree has opened up new areas ripe for exploration and colonization, but the Triple Alliance of France, United Kingdom, and Russia are racing to do the same, leaving the largely defensive-leaning allies of Germany quietly keeping their holdings. Trade overtures have begun with many seeking to flow goods between the solar system and the World Tree, but with unexpected results as tourism of the planets is far higher than expected, while imports of weapons and steel are skyrocketing from the growing tensions.

Starships

    The ships that sail the stars are very similar to the ships that sail the seas. The rigging is subtly different, and the materials used more sturdy, but most starfaring ships can also sail in water just as well. Their lift into the sky is provided by large Arcane Engines that provide a means of antigravity, utilizing a mixture of runic engineering and the alchemical compound known as Cavorite. This only provides gross lift and propulsion though, requiring either sails laced with ether-sensitive thread or some kind of propellant engine to provide thrust and steering. Steel battleships and the like are common for militaries, but most commerce still relies on wooden ships providing a feel similar to the very end of the age of sail. Starships have an artificial gravity about three quarters that of Earth thanks to the Engines, and naturally cling to an envelope of breathable air that extends quite a distance past the ship itself, though the air requires regular refreshment or carrying greenery.

Planets

    The various planets of the solar system are much more habitable in this reality than most. Almost all have breathable air, though not all are friendly toward life...

    Mercury has a thin atmosphere and alternately scorching and freezing temperatures, with a sweltering desert at one pole, and a thick jungle at the other. A few outposts dot the fringes of the jungle, but only France maintains a sizeable force here, maintained under a treaty allowing taxation of visitors in order to maintain the docks.

    Venus is a toxic and blistering swamp and jungle world, almost completely, with tentacle-bearing and xenophobic natives that make the surface inhospitable. A few mining colonies are on the ground under constant threat of attack, but the world is rich with natural valuable minerals. Many more colonies, most of them British or French, lay in the thick cloud cover, the upper atmosphere warm but breathable and the cloud layer so viscous that broad, flat mats support entire cities, and ships can travel between them atop the clouds... ever wary of the thinner regions that cannot support them.

    The Moon is a US colony, with off and on tensions with the remaining short but normally peaceful Lunarians. The United States has an unpleasant history with them, mostly exploitative, but in recent years this has become less so and reparations have been extended, leaving the Lunarians distrustful of Terrans but not hostile.

    Mars is a dangerous world with a largely Russian presence backed up by forces from France. The atmosphere is thin, the world dying, and many of the canals dried. The Martians are few in number but incredibly hostile, and their superior technology of advanced war tripods and heat rays make their territory dangerous.

    The Asteroid Belt is home to several mining colonies, along with numerous hidden pirate dens, but as the atmosphere on these tends to be imported and poorly-maintained the health is very bad. Piracy is an even more dangerous occupation with the powerful steel-based navies now present in space.

    Saturn is largely toxic gasses, but the numerous moons provide a variety of places for the colonies of Germany, Austria, and France.

    Jupiter has no solid surface, but the advent of fixed wing flight has made exploration of the floating islands hidden within viable. It is still a very unexplored frontier, unlike the moons shared between the Ottoman Empire and the British, with the remainder of the moons split up amongst the other colony-owning nations.

    Neptune has a few outposts on barely-liveable moons, and most of the moons have air, but with a sterile smell and completely barren, dust-covered surfaces, as if every one was subject to some calamity. Neptune itself is a storm-ridden gaseous world with an unstable tilt.

    Uranus still has a breathable upper atmosphere, though very cold. The moons are dark and cool, but have a smattering of small outposts and outer-system pirate dens. It is too far away to be a viable colony until recently, with advances in speed opening it up to exploration.

    Pluto is not known to exist, but several explorers have attempted to find the fabled ninth planet.

Magic

    Alchemy is an accepted science in Ether Skies, creating exotic alloys and materials with a steadily-advancing collection of knowledge. Also accepted are Rune Engineers, mechanists that augment their craft with runes to channel magical energy and add special effects that allow for advanced creations including complex prosthetics and automatons.

    More strange and direct effects, what is commonly thought of as 'magic,' does exist, but the talent is rare and unpredictable. It is not that uncommon for a person to have some strange ability, entirely mystical but unique to them and unable to be taught, but Witchcraft and Sorcery do exist in small traditions and covens for those who have the talent. It is not well-understood by most, and many of these tiny traditions jealously guard their secrets, making actual magic extremely rare.