The world of Skybreaker

Skybreaker is set in an alternative late 19th century/early 20th century Steampunk  world. Steampunk means a genre of science fiction that typically features steam-powered machinery rather than advanced technology.(Usually taking place in the Victorian era).

The world of Skybreaker is in the middle of an industrial revolution but in their world instead of inventing internal combustion engines they have Hydrium power, instead of airplanes they have Airships. Now airships are one of the most important thing in the entire story because are they are used for everything from cargo to transport, They have completely replaced Ships in every aspect. But probably the biggest reason for airships being so important is because of the relationship between airships and Matt Cruse.

Matt Cruse’s spends the majority of the novel working on airships as his dream is to through either rising through the ranks slowly or going to the airship academy to become a captain of his own airship. This is because he feels more alive when he is in the sky as he was born in the sky. In Fact all three books of the series are about going on an airship or something resembling an airship and accomplishing a goal from that Airship.

But in terms of context for Skybreaker  one of the more important pieces of context is the fact that at the time almost all of the world Hydrium is owned by one company. This is important because this one company has a huge interest in making sure that no alternatives to hydrium and using legal action or other more desperate methods to make sure no alternatives are found and no additional hydrium deposits are found.

Another important piece of information is the fact that 50 years before the events of the book Skybreaker happened a man named Henry Grunel invented the Hydrium powered engine but after becoming the richest man in the world he decided to build the most expensive ship in the world, The Hyperion a  place where he could invent in peace at altitudes higher then what any other ship could go to. But tragically well cruising at high altitudes him and his crew died of altitude sickness with not enough oxygen.But for years people thought that the ship crashed into the sea or got wrecked and nothing of it remains. That is until while on a routine transport mission over the Indian sea Matt and the crew of his ship spots the fabled ship.