// THE PREMISE
What this world is
The Shattered Sky of Aethelgard is a world where the ground broke apart an age ago and the poisoned surface was abandoned to fog and rot. Humanity lives aloft now, on a thousand floating sky-islands held up by aether-crystal, and the only way between them is the airship: brass-hulled, steam-and-aether-driven, sails of treated silk catching the high winds. You are an aeronaut beginning a hired hand - a deckhand on a tramp freighter, a sky-pirate's gunner, a fast-cutter courier, or a discharged navy airman with a debt - and a working ship is the only freedom that matters.
The Aether Cartel, under the silken Director Cassian Vark, controls the refining of the fuel every ship burns and would rather own you than fight you. The Navy of Highholm, led by Commander Solan Verrick, means to bring the crown's law to skies that have known none for a generation. The Free Fleet of sky-pirates - captains like Jek 'Grit' Corvan and the privateer Marnie 'Cloudsplitter' - prey on Cartel convoys and answer to a fraying code. The Cogwright Guild under Master Forger Brennan Coggs keeps every ship in the sky flying, for a price. And the Cult of the Fallen World preaches that the Shattering was judgment and the surface must be returned to.
An old prospector's chart has surfaced in the free port of Brasshaven, pointing to a lost pre-Shattering sky-island and an aether-vault that could shift the balance of the entire sky. Now every power is racing for it. Choose whether to chase the chart, serve a fleet, or seek a ship and a crew you can call your own.
// PLAY PROFILE
What this world plays like
Begin aboard a ship as a deckhand, gunner, courier, or discharged navy airman. Find your place in a crew before choosing whether your next opportunity is cargo, a prize, or a better berth in Brasshaven.
The chart can draw you toward the Aether Cartel's contracts, the Navy of Highholm's law, or the Free Fleet's uncertain code. Seek the Cogwright Guild's help and consider whose fuel and favors would support the freedom you want.
You could chase the lost vault, work toward a ship of your own, or keep the story close to a crew trying to cross the next storm. Begin with the voyage you can take and the captain you are willing to follow.
// FACTIONS IN MOTION
Principal factions
The ruthless corporate monopoly controlling the refining and distribution of all aether-fuel. The Cartel's Directorate prioritizes profit above all else, secretly suppressing the truth of the Great Rupture to protect their power and driving the world's ecosystem to a breaking point with their reckless exploitation.
The formal military and political power of Aethelgard's aristocracy, enforcing the King's Law from their fortress-island. The Navy struggles to maintain the old order and the security of the charted sky-lanes, caught between their dependence on Cartel fuel and the rising tide of piracy and fanaticism.
A nihilistic death cult that worships the Miasma below, believing the sky is an unnatural prison. Adherents, known as 'Grounders', commit acts of terrorism to destroy aether-tech, seeking to force humanity's 'purifying' return to the poisoned surface. Their whispers of a final, silent fall are spreading among the desperate and dispossessed.
A nomadic confederation of salvage clans who live and die aboard their multi-generational ships in the vast wreckage fields of the Drift. Possessing unparalleled knowledge of the sky's secrets and dangers, they are the first to notice the changing, increasingly coordinated behavior of the sky-leviathans.
The insular and pragmatic union of engineers and artisans who build and maintain all of Aethelgard's technology. They mint the common currency from their forges in Brasshaven and jealously guard their schematics, selling their innovations to any faction with enough brass to pay.
// KEY FIGURES
People you'll meet
// SITES OF RECORD
Places that matter
A cluster of majestic, flat-topped islands, their verdant plains dotted with aristocratic spires and manicured estates. The capital city of Highholm gleams with brass and polished stone, its sky-docks bristling with the cannons of the Aeronautical Navy. The air is clean, the law is iron, and the poverty is kept carefully out of sight.
A chaotic tangle of dozens of smaller, forest-covered islands, all chained and bridged together with a century's worth of scrap metal and desperation. The 'city' is a grimy, bustling riot of workshops, taverns, and black markets, perpetually shrouded in smoke and the roar of engines. This is where fortunes are made, ships are fixed, and throats are cut with equal frequency.
A vast, sparsely populated expanse of rugged, mountainous islands and windswept plains. This is the frontier, home to independent aether-prospectors, hardy homesteaders, and those wishing to escape the notice of the major powers. The winds here are unpredictable, and settlements are small, fortified affairs against the elements and sky-beasts.
A massive, slow-moving vortex of atmospheric currents filled with the wreckage of centuries. Broken ships, shattered chunks of pre-Rupture cities, and the skeletons of leviathans are all caught in its grasp. The entire region groans with the sound of grinding metal, and navigating its shifting reefs is a deadly art.
The sky here is perpetually stained orange-grey with the smoke from the Aether Cartel's primary refinery, Cinderfall. The platform itself is a colossal, fortified structure built onto a barren, mineral-rich island, surrounded by a fleet of tankers and armed patrol ships. The surrounding smaller islands are strip-mined and desolate.
A fog-drowned region of low-hanging, jungle-choked islands close to the Miasma. This is the prime hunting ground of the sky-leviathans, whose colossal skeletons lie draped over many of the islands, giving the region its name. The air is thick, visibility is poor, and compasses are known to spin wildly due to strange magnetic interference.
// STORY PASSAGE
A passage from the published profile
Director Cassian Vark does not rise from his chair on the Cartel platform at Cinderfall. "I sell the fuel that holds your ship in the air and the fuel that holds this city off the surface," he says, pouring two glasses you did not ask for. "So when I tell you the Brasshaven chart leads somewhere I would prefer it did not, understand that I am offering you the kinder option." He slides a contract across the brass. "Bring it to me. For a price you will not like, and a loyalty you will like less."
Out past the viewport, Commander Verrick's frigate sits at anchor, and somewhere a Free Fleet captain is already asking whose coin you took.
Selected story passage. Your choices can lead elsewhere.
BEFORE YOU ENTER
Choose a first decision
Start with a person you want to meet, a place you want to see, or a problem you want to understand. You make choices through written actions and read the Narrator's response. The people and places above introduce this world; they do not promise a fixed sequence of scenes.
Completed turns save to your account. Review the latest scene and the relevant in-game information when returning. Check current access and Spark allowances before a longer session, and use the player guide for help with saves, artwork, possessions, and other supported features.
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