No one would have believed,
in those last years of the eighteenth century-
That this mighty engine of technology,
the steam engine,
that smoke-belching workhorse that had brought peace and prosperity to the civilized world-
That selfsame workhorse had brought within itself
an evil twin.
Alongside the vast plains of green growing grain and corn,
there also grew advances in the arts of war.
The same steam engine that plowed our fields and moved our goods across the globe?
It also powered the newest and most horrible weapons of war.
Side by side,
the engines of prosperity grew more numerous,
as did those mighty new engines of destruction.
The airship, that icon of our modern age,
able to carry many tons of passengers and goods from one far-flung land to another?
Just as easily,
those icons of the age could carry the tools of war and destruction.
That same steam tractor that plowed our fields could easily be turned to power mobile fortresses,
turning those once green fields into killing grounds.
But few people stopped to consider the fact that for every advance in transportation and industry we made,
an equal advance had also been made in that sorriest of human pastimes -
war.

After all,
we had yet to explore the entirety of our own world.
Vast areas of our globe were uncharted,
wild,
and populated with fierce animals and even fiercer "uncivilized" native tribes.
For in that day and time
humanity had, as yet, not been forced to unite against a common enemy.
Civilized Man arrogantly believed themselves restricted to the European continent
and to tiny portions of their far-flung colonies across the globe.
The written history of the known world only included Europe, the Middle Eastern region, and some small fraction of far Eastern Asia.
Even the European conquests of the American continents,
of India,
and of Southeast Asia
had failed to bring the lesson home
that wherever Mankind could be found,
civilizations arose.

As I said,
the European colonies upon the East coast of North America had only recently concluded an armed revolt against their far-off mother countries.
New nations had been formed there,
secure in the belief that they would no longer need bow to any external authority.
Freedom, and liberty,
and just laws for all seemed to fill the American air like the perfume of exotic flowers.
Grand treaties had been signed and solemnly sworn to between the former colonists and the native tribes of American Indian nations.
Even those multitudes of African natives that had been transported against their will,
to serve as slaves in the colonies,
were gradually being given their freedom and the liberty to make of their lives what they willed-
Rather than serve the will of others.
It was a time of peace,
new prosperity,
new ideas,
and fresh hopes for all mankind.

But those hopes would soon enough be dashed.
The awful truth of humanity would once again stand revealed.
The sad fact that wherever civilizations arose,
soon would follow that baleful specter
of war.
But the shadow of war is still on the far horizon,
for now.

At the moment,
mankind is still unwittingly enjoying an uneasy peace.
Great fleets of airships ply the skies,
carrying passengers and cargo between cities scattered across the civilized world.
Thousands of people and tons of goods shuttle back and forth between Europe,
the Americas,
Asia,
and the islands nations in the South Pacific Ocean.
Crossing the Atlantic is a mere five-day journey for the amazing airships of the modern age.
Explorers using private airships
reach deep into the African and South American continents.
Even the vast reaches of Russia and China are connected by routes through the air.
Mankind is slowly bringing the furthermost reaches of the globe closer together.
The airship is rapidly becoming the single most recognizable symbol of the modern age.
Just as the locomotive became the symbol of the 18th century,
the airship quickly supplanted that image as the icon of the 19th century.

This,
my friends,
is the age of the Airship.
The single most useful tool invented in the great Age of Steam.
For the purpose of commerce,
exploration,
transportation,
and even of conquest
– The Airship stands alone.
Supreme among the inventions of human kind.
For no matter what use to which a tool is put,
it remains just and only that
- a tool.
In the hands of humanity
our beloved airship finds many uses.
There are many dangers that still abound
in this modern world we occupy.
But high above our petty problems
the Airship reigns supreme
on the long list of human endeavors.
Alone in the air,
in mighty fleets,
in danger,
at rest...
Our modern Victorian age
would be as nothing
without the Airship.