The tale begins with Vincent Von Weber, the man who taught an age to drink sunlight.
Before his lifetime, the world's machines coughed and groaned, bound to coal and steam. After him, the air itself seemed to breathe differently. His invention—the Sollunis Weber Battery—caught and held the sun as if it were a tame and patient creature, waiting in crystal silence to be called upon.
From this miracle rose another.
Oliver Winkle, Von Weber's brightest protégé, shaped his master's brilliance into motion. With the first Solar Engine humming at the heart of a small craft, and a gleaming Solar Sail unfurling to catch radiant winds, he lifted humanity from the Earth's long tether. His ship's maiden flight was hardly more than a hop across a valley, yet it felt as though the world itself had leaned forward to watch.
Three generations passed.
In the year 4,883, solar ships at last clawed free of the atmosphere and drifted into the quiet sea above. That moment marked the end of the Industrial Age. The Space Age—new, bright, and uncharted—opened its arms.
In the centuries that followed, the vessels themselves became as varied as the travelers who steered them:
Sunsurfer — A metal board with a single sail rising from its spine, favored by those who preferred to slip through the void alone. Small, swift, almost reckless; it was the closest thing to riding sunlight bare-backed.
Sunwalker — A larger craft built for steady interplanetary journeys. The kind of ship that carried families, explorers, and wanderers who trusted long horizons more than familiar skies.
Sunseeker — A civilian vessel meant to ferry passengers across the dark between worlds. Cities in miniature, drifting from star to star on silver wings.
Sunhorder — A broad-bellied carrier built for freight. Its holds ran deep, its engines slow but inexhaustible. Some joked it gathered starlight only so it could spend it hauling everything else.
Humanity's story changed the moment sunlight became a road instead of a ceiling. And each ship—no matter how small or grand—was another step across that shimmering path toward the endless unknown.