Port of Kasra

Port of Kasra is a small town, with a reef full of Merfolk, and a dock for both airships and ocean going ships. The United States withdrew from Kasra early in 1880 due to budget concerns and to relocate to the new base on Key West. This leaves Kasra once again a free port, open to anyone coming in for any reason.
In 1855, Prince Dakkar of India goes to war against England in an attempt to free India from British rule. He fails, and flees the country aboard a primitive submarine along with his wife and children. He ends on a deserted island in the Caribbean, where he begins the formation of the “Science League”, intending to bring more rational rule to the planet and change the world. 
This shadowy organization has developed a number of technologies. Officially, they act to preserve the freedom of individuals against oppressive governments through applied Science. They advocate a "scientific, rational world government" , which is presumed to be something like Plato's Republic. Members of the Science League occasionally splinter off and go public with inventions. Usually, there are no repercussions from the League for doing this.
== Historical Timeline ==
1864: French “Plonger” submarine launched. Spanish “Ictineo II” launched 
1868-1873: War in Europe. Trade between Europe and other countries ravaged by submarine warfare. 
1868: Indian wars between Lakota and US come to a close. The Fort Laramie treaty puts the Lakota on a huge reservation , along with the promise that they’d be respected and left alone. Red Cloud, a highly respected chief, helps negotiate the treaty wit the US... and then sends an Envoy to Prince Dakkar’s Island, where he offers the Science League a ‘Reservation within a Reservation’ in exchange for helping the Lakota develop enough of a defense to keep the US from taking them over. 
1868: Since Spain is busy fighting, and the unrestricted submarine warfare has them blockaded, Cuba decides to declare Independence. The Science League supports this, since they like the idea of small, weak governments. By 1869, Cuba is it’s own country.... and the government is so weak, they become a haven for pirates, both sea and air. 
1869: A quiet island in the Florida Keys gets the name “Kasra’s Port” when the pirate Juan Kasra builds a new base. 
1870: Science League submarine “Nautilus” completed and launched. “Nautilus” and the Science League fleet begin acting to stop the war by trashing any accumulation of ships on any side - any time someone puts a fleet together to start a major battle, they’re sunk. Eventually, even the Great Powers learn: Big wars don’t work. All sides go to “Pride of the Fleet” concept , building fleets of less than a dozen _outstanding_ ships, which fight one-on-one against other nations as ‘champions’... which spurs more scientific advance as each side tries to get an edge on the others. All sides end up with Science League sympathizers on their weapon development boards / naval design boards.
Science League Reservation begins drawing natural gas, develops method to extract helium from it, experiments with balloons. 
1871: US Navy catches up with Juan Kasra, and sinks him. The Navy decides to make use of the dandy capabilities in Port Kasra, and as anti-pirate operations continue, a nice town grows there. 
1872: Henri Dupuy works on an airship design for France during the war. By the time he’s finished with it, the war is over. [In the ‘Real World’, he lost funding and the technolog languished.] The Science League lured Dupuy into their circle in 1873, and by 1880, the technology is well proven and has been reproduced around the world, with regional variations. The US Government has not fielded very many of them - there is a political battle between the Army and Navy over which service should have control of them (Something like the post-WWII struggle that lead to the US Air Force being broken off from the Army). Right now, the Navy is in the ascendancy, and is basing 4 of the 8 US Airships on the Pacific coast, observing the Chile/Boliva war, and one on the east coast, based out of Falls Church ,VA for protecting Washington DC from pirates. The other three are under the Army’s control, patrolling the border with the Lakota Nation.
The Lakota Air Fleet has 11 ships, all using helium (refined from natural gas wells) as lifting gas, and powered by CNG burning steam turbines.
1874: Various European War surplus airships fall into the hands of unscrupulous folks, and the first Airship Pirates come onto the scene. Social effects of the war in Europe ending start a resurgence of the Libertine movement - ‘social clubs’ spring up here and there with a variety of activities that Casanova or the Marquis de Sade would approve.
1875/6: A delegation of Lakota go to Washington DC to try to negotiate on the issue of violations of the 1868 Fort Laramie Treaty. Negotiations fail, and war started in 1876. Red Cloud and Spotted Tail both supported the war (in the real world time line, they continued to work for peace) and the war drags on. Lakota airships trade with Canada and Russia, bringing in modern firearms and manufactured goods. 
1876: "Battle of the Greasy Grass" at Little Big Horn : The US Army’s 7th Airtroops drop from “USAS-7 Gettysburg” on a Lakota village.... while Sitting Bull is discussing new weapons technology with his warriors and and group of Science League advisers from the “White Reservation” . The 7th is destroyed, the Gettysburg’s hydrogen bag is ignited, and it goes down burning. 
1877: Pirates from Cuba , both sea and air, raid all over the east coast of the US and the Caribbean. The practice of being armed does not go away since you don’t know when Pirates may attack, even inland (from the air). This also generates a “tomorrow we may die” attitude in some people... enough to support the Libertine Movement coming to the US
1878: Continued ocean exploration by submarine results in first contact between humans and the merfolk. Having learned something from the how things worked out when they made first contact with the Indians, the US and other countries decide to act like adults about the whole thing. 
1879: In Tampa, Florida, the cannon "Columbiad" is being excavated by Impey Barbicane and associates (presumed Science League), with the intention of firing a projectile at the moon. Rumor has it, the 'projectile' may actually be a vehicle which people will travel in. Completion is estimated 'in the near future'
The "Wizard of Menlo Park", Thomas Edison (said to be a Science League member), demonstrated the electric light bulb in New Jersey.
Louis Pasteur has developed a number of vaccines. Science League folks are financing their distribution world-wide.
US Senate proposes female suffrage, bill passes and is signed. Rumors of Science League bribes to insure this.
US Supreme court rules race separation on trains unconstitutional.
The Earp Brothers have arrived in Dodge City, their feud with the "Cowboys" which will eventually culminate with the famous OK Corral gunfight is 2 years in the future.
In California, the poet and Air Pirate calling himself "Black Bart" makes his last clean getaway when he steals a safe box from a Wells Fargo stagecoach. The empty box will be found later with a taunting poem inside.
1880: Europe: In Europe, Germany and Austria have recently become allies. England, Germany, and Russia continue to a diplomatic dance that leads to proxy wars around the world. English troops are in heaviest combat in Afghanistan and in the Zulu lands of Africa. The Science League continues to work to crush large accumulations of troops, and assist anti-government groups.
==External Links==
SLURL