Gahkthun of the Golden Lightning Steam Edition

The year is 1908. The 20th century is still young. An unfamiliar 20th century - in an unfamiliar world. This is a world that experienced a 19th century very different from our own. A world filled with innumerable steam-powered Engines. The unnaturally rapid development of this steam civilization has left the world's skies shrouded in grey... and its seas dyed in shades of black. "Sea" - Once, the word suggested an expanse of blue. Today, it refers to something dark and putrid. The former harbor city of Marseille in the European Kingdom of France looks out on a sea as black as any other. But these particular waters are home to something that can't be found anywhere else on Earth... A massive artificial island, solid and imposing as a fortress. A city in its own right, but also a school; a place bursting with life and color. Its formal name: The Marseille Offshore Academia. The Academia - a city founded on cutting-edge engine science; an academy designed to produce the greatest Erudite Scholars in the world. It stands above a sea fouled by the flourishing of modern civilization. It sits below a sky polluted by the emissions of countless Engines. And nonetheless, it shines like a jewel, filled with the radiance of students glorying in their youth. This is a place so overflowing with energy as to recall the long-lost sun. A place that glitters with a beauty reminiscent of the long-lost stars. However, the Academia is also a city with a secret. Beneath its facade hides a darkness feared even by the French monarchy. Specifically... the school lies under the control of the "English West India Company," a secret society that rules Europe's underworld with an iron first. Not even the agencies of the great European powers could expose the Academia's true nature; powerless to interfere, heads of mighty states can only watch warily for some sign that might reveal the Society's intentions. The Academia - a gorgeous island closed off completely to the outside world. A school that no student is permitted to leave, except as successful "graduates." A society of the young and for the young, self-sufficient and proudly independent. A city-state under the absolute rule of the "Governing Council," an elite body composed of the "Fraternity" and "Sorority"... and a subordinate branch of the English West India Company. A radiant distortion in the fabric of the world, continually producing both brilliant young talent and fearsome supernatural Arts. A carefully-cultivated, absolutely impenetrable garden of secrets. However, in the spring of 1908... A single young man appears within its walls. After declaring his intent to wage war against the Governing Council, he introduces himself in this way: "Nikola Tesla. 72 years old.…