The French observatory on the moon was a most interesting venue for a society ball; and indeed a most exciting one as a race of beings from beyond the stars threatened the very existence of New Europa. These strange beings, armed with starmetal weapons that could destroy even those of Faerie blood, had set a comet on a collision course with the Earth and promised to destroy the planet unless all power was given to them.
Even after the alien race was defeated on the moon, the comet was still on a collision course with the earth; and a valiant band of adventurers was despatched to the comet by ether flyer to try and avert the disaster.
The volunteers were drawn from all nations and included my own character, Sir Sebastian Thomas, Princess Victoria from Austria-Hungary, Edward Le Chance from Switzerland, and Grand Vizier Bwhar of the Ottoman Empire (who somehow managed to volunteer against his will). Braving the perils of the alien homeland, we were finally able to thwart the evil plans of the aliens and despatch the comet back into space; but only at the cost of our own most precious memories. In my own case, this was presenting my fiancee to the Prince of Wales (which subsequently led to some embarrasment), but the effects on Princess Victoria were rather more severe.
It was supposed to have been one of Lady deWinter's soirees in Castle Falkenstein itself, but the great and powerful of New Europan society were invited under false pretences. Their host was actually Count Dracula, seeking revenge after his Transylvanian homeland was devastated by the Verne Cannon. Threatened from all sides by the Unseelie Court, the guests were presented with a simple choice: fire the Verne Cannon at every capital city in New Europa, or die.
Naturally, good prevailed in the end: the Verne Cannon was indeed fired, but its payload was garlic and the only damage suffered by the people of London, Berlin, Madrid and the other targets was a few shattered windows. Bound by his promise, the Unseelie Count was then bound magically within an amulet to keep him from causing further harm.
In the meanwhile, my own character (Sir Sebastian Thomas) had managed to acquire the plans for the Verne Cannon from the French, but they had learned his identity from a series of letters that incriminated a lady friend of his. In a spectacular triple-cross, he was able to retain the plans, returning a series of train timetables and programmes from the Paris Music Hall instead, recover his letters with a guarantee of no further recriminations, and evoke a promise of safety from Count Dracula for all the ladies and British subjects trapped within the Castle in exchange for another fake set of Verne Cannon plans.
 The Board of Directors of the White Star Line would like to invite you to an evening of recreation and wagers on board their newest and greatest luxury liner, the SS. Oceanic as it sails from Belfast to Liverpool. |
On the 13th of March 1871, many of New Europa's finest and greatest were invited on the maiden voyage of the SS Oceanic as it sailed from Belfast to Liverpool. The voyage was not without incident.
The World Crime League, under the leadership of Professor Moriarty, held an auction. Up for sale was a landfortress, a set of plans for the Verne Cannon, and Princess Victoria of Portugal. Many of those present felt that the public auction of a New Europan Lady was white slavery, and the one man who bid against the King of Portugal was arrested on just that charge: unfortunately, he subsequently escaped by means as yet unknown. Moriarty himself managed to elude capture together with Fu Manchu. Fortunately, Princess Victoria has some talent for sorcerery and was able to free herself from her captors and was located in Liverpool by the Dragon Lord Tsiun Tsiet of China and Peter Pan of Never-Never Land who had flown ahead of the steamer to Liverpool where the Princess was being held.
Dr. Jules Verne's admission that he was actually an Englishman, Julian Green, threw the Second Compact into a turmoil. Not unnaturally, France considered that he was an English agent provocateur, deliberately keeping France from industrialisation, and has raised serious doubts about the purpose of the Second Compact Alliance.
With a price on his head from the Prussians, upset over a little misunderstanding concerning a set of Landfortress schematics, my own character was not much in evidence having disappeared early in the voyage feigning mal de mer. For the rest of the journey, a Swedish photographer, with very similar initials to Sir Sebastian, plied his trade taking photographs of many guests on board the vessel. Somehow during the voyage, a bar of gold managed to find its way inside his box daguerrotype. He also made a tidy profit when he sold a series of rather risque images of ladies to the Prince of Wales for the walls of Marlborough House.
An evening spent at the Second British Exposition of Technology (by invitation only, courtesy of the Prince of Wales) proved an irresistible draw to many of the movers and shakers of New Europa on 12th February 1872.