You wake in the dark at the heart of a fortress older than any empire still standing. The systems answer to your voice. The crew call you Lord Captain, because the fortress told them to.
Beyond the hull, Sol burns young and bright, and the lanes run outward to a galaxy that has forgotten the empire that built your ship. The Industrial Combine wants your foundries. The Bio Collective wants your hull. The Necro Dominion wants your dead. The Steam Confederacy simply wants to know how it works.
Build your ship. Then build your empire. Then find out what the First Empire buried, and why.