Eidolon is a gaslamp fantasy setting, set in the year 1900. The Realm of Eidolon has accepted the sovereignty of the Imperium, a pantheon of powerful nobles that have transcended their flesh and become immortal. The eight great nations of the Litoral Continent are now tributary provinces, governed by the Emperor's policy of Absolute Enlightenment and the Oracle's vision of worrying portents of a total war that will soon eclipse the 20th Century. Nevertheless, each nation remains a powerful political entity, with distinct cultural identity.
In the centre of these lands lies the great city Metropolaris, the city of millions that lies under the eaves of Asherah, the world tree, which reaches like a mountain into the heavens. Overhead, the great pendulum counts the day and night, its great polished mirror casting the alternating lights of day and night to the Realm below. By night, one can even glimpse the great celestial mechanisms of the Orrery, of which the firmament is but one gear. One might even admire the low-hanging star that is Diadem, the imperial city as it hangs from the scaffold of the Orrery.
The borders of the Empire knows many alien threats and competitors. The border marches of faerie surround the Empire and, though the Imperium has successfull asserted dominion over them as viceroyalties, they remain a source of insurrection and rebellion. In the hollows beneath the mantle, the might of the Ozman Empire and the elemental kadmon ever threatens to undermine the world of humanity, and even in the great capital cities many members of humanity have fallen victim to corruption becoming one of the damnable nightbreed denizens.
The stage is set for you and your cohort of nobles, to govern your own domain as you might. Each and every domain is an independent estate whose borders are defined and divided by the enchanted bramblewoods, which meander across the land. Trade, communication, and conventional travel are all hampered by these barriers, and not all domains have left the feudal era behind. From the smallest domain to the greatest empire, the Empire is a tapestry of politics, coloured by romance, intrigue, and vendetta.
The characters represent the nobility of the era; mortals whose flesh is quickened with the essence of stories. Each and every noble embodies a story and though it brings with them a manifest destiny that grants them power and prestige, they must contend with the narrative conventions that these impose. For each story is a destiny, a dream, and a death, and not all nobles go to greet these quietly and with good manner.
Yet, those nobles who pursue their own personal story into its ultimate conclusion may earn for themselves fame, and as the notoriety of their story grows so too does their own majesty and power. The most beloved stories of them all eventually become so potent that they render their vessel immortal. Until they fade away into obscurity once more.
Each noble is either born into or sained into one of twelve ancient dynasties, whose progenitors were the last of the antediluvian kings that survived the deluge of Atlas. Each has given their scions powerful legacies that bear them up and spur them onto fame, adventure, and drama. Each noble may succeed and become a powerful landed lord or prophetic muse, or accept duties in one of the military, scholastic, or economic orders.
The modern era is one of great technological change and prowess, where alchemy fuels strange and eldritch devices. The skies are plied by dirigibles, and the heavens broken with many ether craft that charter a course to the planets Barsoom and Amtor.
It is a world shaped by industry, steam, electrodyne power and the labour of the masses. No leaders have managed to touch to many lives, and the stories of nobles great and small are constantly captured by the emerging media technologies.