In a universe where the social revolutions of the 18th Century never happened, the skies are filled with mighty airships, while Cavorite-hulled aetherships ply the airless voids between the planets. From the torrid jungles of Venus to the frigid deserts of Mars, the British Empire has truly become “the Empire on which the sun never sets.” The crowned heads of Europe share power with the immensely wealthy chartered companies created to exploit the wealth of the Solar System. Political activists and dissidents are shipped offworld to work alongside criminal transportees in the company towns of Mars and Venus. The Empires of Mexico and Brazil dominate the Americas, while Japan is a rising force in the East, and from the deep fastness of Nix Olympica the Martian High Emperor reigns over the remnants of his slowly dying planet.