ViceVersus
The character on the box art.
Helios Line is PROUD to bring you the LATEST, LARGEST, and MOST LUXURIOUS passenger airship to CLAIM these skies.
MAGNIFICA! Queen of the Horizon
LENGTH: 9881/2 feet | EFFORTLESS Tonnage | LIVE LIKE GODS in the sky
NEW SUMTER **** CARROWAY **** EMERALD ISLES ****NEW BRISMON ****
WEDNESDAY, ARIO 8th
Wax paper crinkled as Alysanne Prior tore an unladylike chunk out of an airship-shaped funnel cake. It was the first chance she'd had to eat all day. She brushed cinnamon sugar from her lips, eyes skyward as she plunged through the crowd.MAGNIFICA! Queen of the Horizon
LENGTH: 9881/2 feet | EFFORTLESS Tonnage | LIVE LIKE GODS in the sky
NEW SUMTER **** CARROWAY **** EMERALD ISLES ****NEW BRISMON ****
WEDNESDAY, ARIO 8th
Around her, carriage doors slammed and voices mingled with the hum of invention. At eye-level, citizens of New Sumter clamored and crowded, forming queues as gestured by Helios Line officials.
"BOARDING PASSES READY!" the roars overlapped in different temperaments and accents. Alys weaved through passengers, entertainers, and those who were simply there to witness the spectacle of the launch. "BOARDING PASSES OUT! AND! READY!"
Chewing furiously, Alysanne balled up the wax paper. She found a trash bin, overflowing with plates, streamers, and pretend-boarding passes. Alys made the mistake of hesitating for one moment as she pressed the paper ball into the mess.
"Madame Prior!" the voice announced itself with the hot burst of a camera flash. Alysanne raised a hand to shield her eyes. She recognized the harsh, clipped bark of a reporter. "Madame Prior -- a word on today's launch!"
"No comment, no comment!" Alysanne turned, pressing back the way she had come. She heard a clattering, the reporter was following her.
"YOUR word, Alys, not your father's!"
Alysanne whirled around, maroon cowl cape spinning. The young man following her did not match the voice. He was too small for his gray suit, and the shiny press pin seemed to weigh him down. But he smiled at her, lopsided, even as passengers surged around them.
"Buy yourself a boarding pass, then ask me all the questions you like once we're underway!" the Prior heir said in her precise, not quite curt manner.
All around them, a sharp tweeee, and the enormous blades of the MAGNIFICA began to twirl. The keening sound of the engines was something that Alysanne had known her whole life. A collective gasp went up from the crowd - most of the civilians knew airships, but nothing the size and ambition of the MAGNIFICA.
The MAGNIFICA was simply too large to port on New Sumter's airdock as normal. In the days preceeding the maiden voyage, special platforms had to be constructed to support the weight of passengers making the transition from Sumter to the luxury passenger airship. Alysanne, the daughter of Helios owner Camden Prior, and noted inventor had engineered the platforms herself which was part of her anxiety as the thronging spectators grew and grew.
But the platforms were not the only part of the MAGNIFICA'S maiden voyage that was causing her and her father stress. Counterfeit boarding passes, unrest in the upper and lower sects of Sumter, jealous competition from other airship lines, and even threats of governmental corruption in the province were all convening in the launch of the Magnifica. The Magnifica's maiden voyage would take her from New Sumter to the region capitol of Carroway, to the tourist destination of the Emerald Isles, and then finally to New Brismon. Everything had come down to this day, to these two weeks.
Alysanne flounced away from the thin-faced reporter, mind still on every detail of the launch. There was so much more on the line than just her father's reputation, or the reputation of Helios Line. Some days, Alys wondered if her father's hubris would be the best of him - and what consequences that might have for their passengers.
The Magnifica gave another tweeeee, and this time only cheers went up, there was no apprehension. Alysanne made strides towards the gangway, to head back onto the ship. Soon boarding would commence, and there would be nothing more for her to do.
This may be the happiest moment of my father's life Alys thought to herself, mutinously, drawing back the maroon cowl cape to check the watch built into her arm. Soon. Things would be moving soon. Including the day I was born. So let's make this count ..
As the crowd surged and celebrated the launch like a festival, not all were happy. Some plotted and schemed the downfall of Sumter, its provinces, its companies, and beyond. The key to many machinations funneled through the floating paradise of the Magnifica, which was soon to make itself a humming hive of "who's who" and nobodies.
MAGNIFICA, Queen of the Horizon
And so the journey would begin ..