Titan Saga: Chains of Kronos

Imperial Unity was supposed to restore order. Instead, as the lord ruler's grip on the noble houses weakens, he resorts to forced inter-house marriages between powerful heirs and the lesser houses on the edges of human territory — a redistribution of influence designed to prevent the coup he can feel building. Meanwhile, something older than politics is stirring. The elves have found their paragon: the Titan of Air, whose emergence means the magic sealed away by the Chains of Kronos is slowly returning to a world that built its dominance on blackpowder and steam instead. You begin as a young heir to a minor house, forced to flee after an elf attack provokes what seems to be a deliberate attempt to destroy your family name. The strange magical anomalies you notice along the way are not incidental. Something much larger than your own survival is happening around you.