Zephyr's Wing - The Kipps and Featherstone Flying Machine

Tell us about a famous wreckage in your world. What happened to it?

An extraordinary marvel of engineering and technology, the Kipps and Featherstone Flying Machine was expected to be a revolutionary form of travel across the world prior to its maiden voyage. Expanding on the established techniques of ballooning technology used by explorers, the Gnomish inventors Rosalind Kipps and Horace Featherstone created a vessel that could power its way through the sky with its combination of steam-powered propellers and sails. Unlike its ballooning predecessors, the flying ship was able to carry a full platoon of soldiers or a scientific expedition force and all of their equipment. With its scientific and military potential it was unsurprising to most that the flying machine received not only a great deal of attention but a lucrative amount of investment from a variety of donors, the Albion Treasury amongst them.
Despite its potential and its support, the Flying Machine seemed to many, particularly superstitious sailors, to be doomed to fail. There were numerous reports of explosions, mysterious fires and rumours of sabotage during the building process and the project experienced countless delays and setbacks. Because of this when the day finally came for the Flying Machine, by then officially named Zephyr's Wing, to set sail, conditions were far from ideal. Pressured by their influential investors, the two inventors, despite their better judgement, lifted anchor, steering their creation towards Galin's Rest, a normally impassable stretch of the Mistmourn Mountains.
Inevitably, the fierce winds and poor visibility present on that day led to the crashing of the Zephyr's Wing on the slopes of the Mistmourn mountains with all of its crew on board, Kipps and Featherstone among them. Many regarded the incident as a tragic accident but whispers still abound that the voyage was sabotaged with some reports telling of smoke coming from the engines prior to the crash. Indeed, there were countless individuals and organizations that felt threatened by the engineering marvel, the coaching and sailing services amongst them, and many were unsurprised at its ultimate fate.
Despite the exposure on the mountain, the wreckage of Zephyr's Wing is still visible to this day to those with sharp eyes or expensive optics and is used by many as a lesson against reckless invention, the dangers of the Albion wilderness and the perils of disgruntled businessmen.

Manufacturer

The Kipps and Featherstone Engineering Company