A Rigged World

It's 1941 and the world is radically different from the one we know from history books. Geopolitics has developed strangely: Napoleon V rules France and, for the last 70 years, scholars have been mysteriously disappearing, depriving mankind of their inventions. Without radio, television, electricity, aviation, and the combustion engine, the world is mired in outdated technology, dozing in the previous century's knowhow dominated by coal and steam. In this bizarre universe, young Avril sets out with her grandfather Pops and a young scoundrel called Julius in search of her parents, two of the missing scientists. The trio will face many dangers in this "rigged world." Who has been doing away with the scholars? And to what sinister end?