0. Skyway Robbery - Preparation

[Interovegas]

YES.

WE BACH NOW.

Step 1: Go make characters and rough concepts using random rolling or 85 point baselines. We'll see what comes out and probably allot extra points until your shrimpy arms are strong enough to stay attached in the face of great winds.

Step 2: Have premise delivered unto you. Create backstories.

Step 3: Pr0fit.

Points of order:
- Your backstories should include a serviceable reason why you lot are working together at this moment in time.

[Interovegas]

Year By Imperial Count (YBIC):

312 YBIC - An Uldish weaver is inspired by floating cloth balls at a festival in the Ruhini desert. She pays for written record of the underlying magic ritual and returns to Uld. Lords and Lordesses along the borders of the empire grow discontent with their lot under the rule of the empress.  

314 YBIC - First floating vessel is demonstrated before guilds in Uld. The soldier's guild commissons a larger vessel with a steering mechanism.

316 YBIC - Fringe lords from the south and west of the empire grow their armed forces with nationalistic militia.

317 YBIC - Successful prototype airship flies her maiden voyage. Word spreads across Heluso quickly.

318 YBIC - The empress decrees no less than 100 airborne vessels be constructed. The project is begun promptly and without proper resources.

319 YBIC - The fringe lords' refusal to cooperate with the empire comes to a head as the imperial sky fleet stalls due to logistic strains. The conflict breaks out into a civil war called the "Thousand tree war" by the commonfolk.

320 YBIC - The Heluso Confederacy sends troops to to aid the rebel factions of the Thousand tree war on the southern front. The scope of the war forces the great lgions of the empire to spread thin and results in a protracted and grueling conflict.

322 YBIC - Uldish "Swallowdecks" enter active use. Their crews make deep scouting expeditions behind adjacent borders.

323 YBIC - Dindavarans respond to perceived Uldish invasions of their borders via airship with their own variation of airship.  Their peerless craftsmanship yields the 50 man "Winds of Dindavara". Volley fire from rows of trained archers aboard the Winds of Dindavara fell two attuned stormtongues and a Swallowdeck during the ship's first patrol voyage. In this same year the first 10 vessels of the imperial sky fleet take to the skies. The scouting and skirmishing operations carried out by skyfleet quickly turn the tables in Thousand Tree war.

324 YBIC - The empire brutally reconquers the western front rebels with the aid of their steadily growing skyfleet. Fighting in the southern front continues. The arms war for aerial supremacy as well as the potential new trade routes drives the production of "airships" all across both continents. The Dindavarans and Uldish avoid war thanks to the pact of no war making.

325 YBIC - The numerous lords of the empire grow weary of waging war on their southern brethren and lobby the empress for peace. She acquiesces out of fear of starting a second chain of secessions. Peace with the multitude of new mud duchies is made in return for a final lump sum payment of tribute that sends them into poverty.

328 YBIC - Skyfleet counts 63 ships amongst its ranks. Scholars in Uld estimate at least 400 ships fly the skies across Heluso and Milonda.

330 YBIC - The last descendant of the pact of no war making passes. Uld declares war seven days after. The first months of war consist of skirmishes initiated by both sides in an effort to test one another. The empire is still beholden to peace with southern mud duchies.The Heluso Confederacy begins preparing for a proxy war via the mud duchies.

333 YBIC - War between Uld and Dindavara continues with regular skirmishes along the border. Neither side wants to risk marshalling their full forces for invasion. The empire garrisons more and more soldiers along the southern front.

334 YBIC - The estimated count of skyfaring vessels rests at over 850. Sovereign nations begin offering privateering contracts to bolster their official aerial militaries with spontaneous independent agents. War between Uld and Dindavarans cools down.

342 YBIC - Skirmishing and tense short lived peace treaties become the norm. The era is known to many as "The years of blades". The arms race continues but is presently at a local equilibrium. Most airship travel is still limited to the continents and their coasts. It is believed that more than 2000 airships are in service.