In the year 1878, a Polish engineer working in Lviv, Franciszek Rychnowski, isolated a mysterious electrical fluid he named electroid from a grey, sedimentary rock known as eteroid.
To the scientific community of Lviv, Rychnowski’s initial descriptions of "anti-gravitational forces" and "electromagnetic ether" were met with dismissal. Yet, when he demonstrated a small, iron flask carrying twenty times its own weight in lead suspended three feet off the laboratory table, the world took notice. Within months, representatives of the British Admiralty, the German General Staff, and the French Republic were descending on Lviv with open checkbooks.
The Nature of Electroid Technology
Electroid is an oily, highly conductive, electrically-charged liquid. Under standard atmospheric conditions, it is extremely volatile: if left exposed to the open air, it will "evaporate" rapidly, releasing its stored anti-gravity potential in a series of violent static discharges.
To contain it, engineers construct high-conductivity metal ballast tanks. By adjusting the electrical voltage applied to the electroid fluid within these conductive cages, crews can alter the buoyancy and altitude of a vessel. Agitating the fluid increases lift, while grounding the charge allows it to be slowly returned to generators, lowering the ship.
"An electroid engine is a controlled storm. Push the current too high, and the system self-catalyzes. We call it a flashover, and when it happens, a ten-thousand-ton ironclad becomes a falling star."
— Lieutenant H. J. Vance, Royal Sky Fleet, 1908
The Dreadnought of the Skies is Born
The first military applications of electroid were modest: reconnaissance platforms and light, steam-propelled gunboats designed to hunt down smugglers. But in 1905, the geopolitical balance shattered at the alternate Battle of Tsushima.
Historically, the Russo-Japanese War was decided on the sea. But in the Leviathans timeline, the Russian Empire deployed its secret aerial High Fleet. Spotting the Japanese battleships from five thousand feet, Russian leviathans used "plunging fire" from heavy cannons, raining destruction down onto unarmored decks. Within hours, the Japanese traditional fleet was decimated. Traditional "wet navies" were rendered obsolete in a single afternoon.
Recognizing the shifting tide of war, Great Britain launched the HML Leviathan in 1906—the world's first "super air ship." Measuring 439 feet, clad in heavy armored steel, and carrying a crew of nearly six hundred men, it ignited a global arms race.
The Race for Eteroid Ore
Because electroid can only be refined from eteroid ore, control of eteroid deposits has become the driving force of international conflict. The search for this sedimentary rock has driven Japan to conquer Chile, and has pushed the United States (led by the hawkish Teddy Roosevelt) to deploy proxy forces in South America.
As the great empires of Europe face off in 1914, their fleets of steel monsters wait in the clouds. The coal-fired boilers burn, the steam turbines spin, and the electroid cells hum with raw, levitating current. The world is about to see just what happens when these monsters collide.