High Wilderness

"The rails fall away. The Wilderness is wide before us."

"'Where to?' asks the Navigator."

Into the wilderness! (from the Sunless Skies Kickstarter)

London, 1896

The High Wilderness is the vast and seemingly infinite celestial realm of the Judgements. Also referred to as the heavens, the High Wilderness constitutes outer space, but rather than being mostly empty, it is filled with winds, mist, and fog among which dwell sky-beasts like the Aeginae and Scrive-Spinsters. Avid Horizon serves as a gateway between the High Wilderness and the Unterzee.

Notable features include the fact that there is air in the High Wilderness, abelit thin. While it's not a vacuum, the air is cold and one cannot survive more than fifteen minutes without wearing a proper suit. Wells - the High Wilderness' version of black holes - exist, drawing in unwary travelers. Some cults gather around these hungry manifestations, performing their rites.

Albion, 1906

At the dawn of the 20th century, the Empress Victoria led an exodus from London to the High Wilderness, where a revitalized British Empire established Albion. At the same time, the Judgements have begun dying off, providing opportunities for the Empire to expand and industrialize their vacated domains using a new class of vessels: spacefaring locomotives.

Major locations

• Albion - The heart of the Empire in the High Wilderness, home to New London and Empress Victoria's Throne of Hours.
• Port Prosper - The stronghold of the Windward Company and terminus of the Isambard Line, the Empire's railroad into the Reach from Albion.
• The Reach - The frontier beyond Albion, just waiting to be exploited and industrialized.
• Blue Kingdom - A region said to be populated by the dead.
• Eleutheria - A dark and riotously pagan region.