Free State of Ether

Splinter faction of the Society of Ether that returned to the Society in 1936.

Long before the Electrodyne Engineers left the Technocratic Union, there was growing dissent within their ranks. Some of these began looking for somewhere to establish a secret chantry in the event of open conflict between the convention and the Union. Lady Winterbottom, a British Explorer, set out with the airship ES *Hypatia* to search for a rumoured Umbral Realm called Barbosa’s Archipelago. Neither the ship nor any of her crew was heard from for decades and the ES *Hypatia* was believed to have been lost with all hands. Nothing could be further from the truth.

Lady Winterbottom did indeed find the archipelago and began building a safe haven for any of her convention who would need a refuge from the Technocracy. This was done with the utmost secrecy, and she took great care not to alert any spies from the other conventions.

When the Electrodyne Engineers defected tho The Council of Nine in 1904, coordinates for the archipelago was shared among a few trusted captains. Some chose to come to the archipelago, but most tried to establish themselves within the Traditions, now under the name Society of Ether. At this point, Lady Winterbottom had been living in the Umbra for over a decade, and she saw no point in moving back to a world she suspected wasn’t ready for her ideas. Besides, she really enjoyed the climate. Her base, Port Athelney, had now grown to a small but vibrant colony where enlightened scientists could pursue their studies without the distractions of a constantly narrowing Paradigm and the suspicion of both Technocrats and Traditions.

When Andreas Vargo left the Sons of Ether in 1909, he first came to Port Athelney. Vargo and Lady Winterbottom had been exchanging correspondence since the turn of the century. Although Lady Winterbottom did not agree with Vargo’s absolutist approach to pacifism, the two shared similar views on the current trajectory of civilization.

It was around this time, with the advent of aviation and the conquering of the Earth's Poles, that the Cyclone appeared. This enormous storm cut the archipelago off from the Physical world, leaving only a few safe routes to the islands.

Over the next few years, Vargo spent all his time improving his ship at his own base, a sky-island deep in the archipelago. Here, at Vargo’s Anchorage, he tirelessly invented new systems, weapons, and designs. Other Etherites, feeling increasingly disenfranchised by the world or the way the Paradigm was developing, flocked to the charismatic and energetic genius. As the world moved ever closer to the great disaster that would become known as World War I, Vargo, now styling himself Czar Vargo, had amassed the greatest fleet of Etherite airships ever assembled.

Vargo's attack on the world’s capitals took place 1914. Had he not ordered his fleet to withdraw, rather than to unleash destruction upon the mages and sleepers who rejected his offer of world peace, the world would have been a very different place today. Many in his fleet were unable to reach the archipelago safely, some were caught in the Cyclone, others headed for Etherspace and hid in the vast emptiness. Those who chose to stand and fight ultimately succumbed to Paradox or massed cannon-fire from the Void Engineer gunships who had returned to Earth at full speed.

The despondent Czar didn’t stay in Barbossa’s Archipelago for long this time. He refitted his airship and set off into the Deep Umbra to find those of his fleet who hid there. In the years since, he has returned every so often to resupply or make repairs.

Before Czar Vargo set out to subjugate and pacify the world leaders, a group of Etherites based in the archipelago signed a declaration of unity and formed the Free State of Barbosa and many of the ships in the Czar’s fleet flew its flag. This free state is ruled by a Tribunal, who in turn acknowledge the Czar of Terra as their sovereign. With the Czar now gone for over a decade, the Tribunal has approached the Grand Symposium of the Society of Ether and negotiated its official return to the Tradition. These negotiations were handled by a select group of trusted Chairs of the Society, and the details, especially the exact location of the archipelago, is closely guarded. Still, shortly after the negotiations began, Technocratic agents began sniffing around Ethership ports.