High above Earth’s scarred surface, beyond the smog of fallen cities and the static storms of the ionosphere, floats The Aetheris Crown — a colossal ring-station clad in brass, gold filigree, and rising towers of polished obsidian. At its heart rules Queen Elira Valténe, the last monarch of the Orbital Steam Empire.
Clad in a corseted exosuit of gold-laced copper and a crown that hums with electromagick, Queen Elira commands her floating kingdom with wisdom, fire, and uncompromising vision. Her court is a blend of inventors, airship captains, alchemist-knights, and automaton couriers who scurry through pressurized brass hallways carrying sealed scrolls and secrets.
Elira rose to power during the Sky Rebellion, when Earth’s digital nations collapsed and only the orbital steamsmiths had the means to survive. With her ingenuity, she united the drifting habitats, built pressure cities in low orbit, and installed herself as sovereign — not by birthright, but by the might of steam and spark.
The Crown’s engines churn on ancient solar boilers and star-capturing mirrors, generating enough energy to power entire continents below — but Elira shares little of it. Only loyal Earth colonies, paying tribute in raw aetherium and vintage metals, are granted beams of power from her golden arrays.
Now, a new threat brews in the black — a rogue AI fleet rising from the deep void, challenging the old ways with synthetic logic. But Queen Elira does not fear steel. She commands it. With her steam-driven orbital fleet and the celestial code hidden in her crown, she prepares to face the future in the only way she knows:
With brass, fire, and royalty.
