EARLY LIFE[]
Edward Von Arkham was born in London in the late 30th century, sometime around 2960. It is unknown exactly when he was born or who his parents were because he was orphaned before his first birthday anniversary. He spent the first ten years of his life as a street urchin, begging on the streets, scrounging for food, and jumping from workhouse to workhouse. He had a natural aptitude for mechanical engineering. He loved building things. Small devices and tools that he would try to sell on the street for pocket money. At ten years old, he was lucky enough to land a job sweeping up the laboratory of a renowned mechanist, a kindly old man who took a liking to him. The mechanist taught Edward everything he knew about machines. Every night when the man went to bed, Edward would sneak into his workshop and look through his science and history textbooks. He became enthralled by the subject of metaphysics, and the science of time travel. Eventually, the mechanist decided to take Edward on as an apprentice. Edward worked in the man's workshop until he was twenty, when he had earned enough money to afford a proper education.
THE ROYAL ACADEMY[]
Edward applied to the British Royal Academy of Science and Engineering. His aptitude test scores exceeded any of those who had taken them before him. His brilliance earned him three scholarships, and he excelled in his studies. His professors thought highly of his prolific intelligence, but often found themselves being corrected by him during lectures. Edward absorbed all that was taught at the academy, but challenged it all as well. He would never believe anything a professor would tell him without proof. He specialized in transtemporal science, and sought to revolutionize modern time travel. In his time, transtemporal navigation relied upon bending the laws of physics. Edward believed there was another way, a way of moving through time as if it were space. He devoted the next seven years of his life to developing a formula for engineering such a method. By 2987, he had perfected his formula and sought to begin construction of his revolutionary new time machine: The Eternity Clock. However… politics stood in the way.
THE ETERNITY CLOCK AND THE WAR[]
In March of 2987, war broke out between Great Britain and Bavaria. In an arrogant and assuming motion, Queen Victoria XI passed the National Scientific Injunction, decreeing that any and all scientific or technological patents be made property of the crown. Unwilling to devote his lifelong ambitions to a petty and meaningless war, Edward left the Royal Academy and went underground. He built a laboratory in the cellar of a disused theatre in London's West end and secretly gathered the components he needed to build his incredible machine.
THE ACCIDENT AND THE TOPSY TURVY TOPPER[]
On the eve of October 4th, 2990, Edward had finished constructing the Eternity Clock. At 11:59 p.m. he set to embark on the maiden voyage: a simple ten minutes into the past. The voyage was a success, but at a price. Because it was the first voyage, the clock had to attune itself to every event in eternity by mapping it out and binding it to its machinations beginning with the timeline in closest proximity: Edward's own personal timeline. The entirety of eternity was poured into Edward's mind. His body and brain were racked with metaphysical trauma. He collapsed on the floor of his laboratory, writhing in cataclysmic agony, he was close to death. Miraculously, he was saved by a remarkable trick. In a flash of light, there appeared the strangest most brilliant top hat ever imagined: the Topsy Turvy Topper. The strange hat automatically implanted itself to Edward's brain. When Edward came to his senses, he inspected the hat in the mirror. Tied to the chimney by a string was a note that read "Save yourself" in his own handwriting. In a transtemporal event loop, Edward had built a mechanical containment vessel in the shape of a top hat in the future and sent it back in time to save himself and contain the furious energies that had been compressed inside his brain. Edward's had saved his own life, but at the price of his sanity. Having all of eternity bound to his mind drove him to eccentric madness, which the Topsy Turvy Topper was designed to convert into energy and back again. He spent the next two months designing the hat off of the principles of the Eternity Clock and by late December it was complete and he sent it back to save himself. Thus: Edward Von Arkham became the Mad Hatter.
THE M.H.S. HYSTERIA[]
In early 2991, Queen Victoria's agents were closing in on Edward. They knew he had been working on a new method of time travel before he left the Royal Academy. Wary of this, Edward took precautionary action and moved the Eternity Clock to a warehouse by the London shipyards. Soon after, Edward's old laboratory was ransacked by Royal soldiers. Edward knew that there was little time to act. The clock, being far too large to move with ease, needed to be adapted for movement through space as well as time. With the resources available to him in the shipyards, Edward crafted a ship around the Eternity clock, and fitted a durable airbag to the hull. Naming it the M.H.S. (Mad Hatter's Ship) Hysteria , he took to the skies, escaping the crown and the meaningless war. When Queen Victoria discovered Edward's flight, she named him a fugitive and branded a massive price on his head.
JOURNEY THROUGH TIME[]
Edward fought with the scientific resistance for three years before crown overpowered their efforts. Some managed to escape, Edward among them. Taking the Hysteria through history to evade the crown. He became classified as a pirate and an enemy of Great Britain. To protect himself and his creations, Edward spent years out of his own time searching history for new knowledge and skills. He trained with master swordsmen and became acquainted with many different combat techniques. He sought out geniuses like Nikola Tesla and Leonardo DaVinci to help cultivate his extraordinary genius and enhance his ship. Eventually, Edward learned how to temper his madness and became an excellent airman and captain. Returning to his own time, Edward used his newly augmented ship to wage war against Britain and Bavaria, making mischief wherever he could. He became a patron of scientific rebellion among his fellow exiled 'pirates' and became one of the founders of the floating fortress, Coppersteam City. Edward became used to an intertemporal life in the skies. In his travels through time, he assembled a crew of likeminded individuals who shared a love of adventure.