The game presented a alternate history in which certain discredited Victorian

scientific theories were instead provable and have lead to the existence of new
technologies. Space is permeated with the universal medium ether and pre-twentieth
century theories about the planets are presented as fact. In the setting, Thomas
Edison invented an "ether propellor" which could propel ships through space, and
traveled to Mars in 1870 accompanied by the ether propellor's co-inventor, the
Scotsman Armstrong, where they discovered that the planet was inhabited. By the
time of the game's setting in 1889, the great powers have used Edison�s invention
to extend their colonies and interests to the inner planets of the solar system.
Great Britain, Germany, France (Mars only), Italy (Venus only), Russia, and Belgium
(Mars only) all have extra-Terran colonies, whilst Japan and the USA maintain
economic and scientific enclaves. There are no colonies or bases on the Moon.

The inner planets reflect an evolutionary progression, the planets nearest to the
sun being younger than those farther out. All planets have life, and most bear
native sentient species. Mercury is primeval, tide locked and possesses only
rudimentary lifeforms. Venus is a vast swamp world dominated by hulking reptiles
and lizard men. The Moon is an airless dead world, but with mysteries hidden deep
beneath the surface. Mars is an ancient desert planet in decline, divided into
warring decadent city-states clinging to a failing system of canals. Vulcan has
died and become the asteroid belt. Due to limitations in technology the outer
worlds remain unreachable and unexplored. There are also hints that some worlds may
have terrain hidden beneath their surface.

One of the treasures that spurred the Europeans to Mars was liftwood: a rare
cultivated plant with anti-gravity properties that allowed for the construction of
giant floating ships. While the Earthers used Martian sky galleons at first, they
later constructed their own armored, steam powered flyers.

Since wireless was not invented yet in 1889, communication between Earth and Mars
is handled by orbital heliograph stations. The game contains much more detail on
the flora, fauna, and peoples of the planets. The majority of the published
material is centred on Mars.

Publications
Space: 1889 The core rulebook for the role playing game.
Tales from the Ether Five adventures set on the planets and the British orbital
heliograph station.
More Tales from the Ether More short adventures on Mars and Venus.
Beastmen of Mars A campaign dealing with debased Martians, liftwood, and some
mysteries of the planets.
Canal Priests of Mars By Marcus Rowland. A campaign that begins on the Earth,
includes a voyage by ether liner to Mars, and concludes with a twist ending. The
published version cut about a third of the author�s manuscript; Heliograph
initially announced that they intended to publish the author�s version, but this
now seems unlikely.
Steppelords of Mars & Caravans of Mars Source books on Mars.
Cloud Captains of Mars Details on the sky pirates and privateers of Mars.
Conklin�s Atlas and Handy Manual of the Worlds A gazetteer to the planets,
including maps and information on Earth.
Soldier�s Companion Rules for colonial ground warfare using miniatures, including
detailed army lists, as well as rules for tripods and land juggernauts.
Ironclads and Ether Flyers Rules for surface naval combat, including detailed
information about Earth�s navies and flyers. The rules are a simplified version of
Sky Galleons of Mars (see below).
The Liftwood conspiracy (published under licence by 3W) Scenario involving liftwood
poaching, and the bestial High Martians.
Boxed Games
Sky Galleons of Mars Boxed game of aerial combat on Mars. It included large scale
maps, ship minis, and rules.
Cloudships and Gunboats Role playing game suppliment with mini-scale deckplans,
cardstock minis, rules, and ship diagrams.
Temple of the Beastmen Boxed modular board game which never plays the same way
twice.
Heliograph reprinted the rules portions of Sky Galleons of Mars and Cloudships and
Gunboats, but did not reprint the boxed games themselves.

Miniatures
RAFM produces a range of figures. There are three boxed sets (of around 20
miniatures), Solders of the Queen, Canal Martians, and High martians. There is a
box of 10 adventurers (though one or two of the figures come from their historical
ranges). They also do Martian soldiers as individual figures.

Computer Game
A computer game adaptation by the same name was also released in 1990 at the height
of the game's popularity. It was developed by frequent GDW licensee Paragon for the
Amiga, Atari ST and PC platforms.

Audio dramas

The Steppes of Thoth CD CoverIn 2005, Noise Monster Productions, run by Big Finish
stalwart John Ainsworth, started releasing a new series of full-cast audio
adventures on CD. These are produced under exclusive license from Frank Chadwick.
Each adventure is a self-contained story and is released on a single CD with a
running time of approximately 70 minutes.

As of 2006 the stories released have been:

Red Devils by Jonathan Clements

The Steppes of Thoth by James Swallow
The Siege of Alclyon by Marc Platt
The Lunar Inheritance by Richard Dinnick & Andy Frankham