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Aether Works: a Victorian steampunk theme for Obsidian

Ruled parchment, stitched saddle leather, domed brass buttons and copper plates: Aether Works, a Victorian steampunk theme for Obsidian.

Aether Works is a Victorian steampunk theme for Obsidian. Notes are written on ruled parchment under a brass plaque. The sidebars are stitched saddle leather, the ribbon buttons are domed brass, and the open note and open file are copper plates. Headings are set in period serifs, with a typewriter face drawn from an 1889 typewriter for code and properties. It comes in a dark and a light mode, works on desktop, tablet and phone, needs no plugins, and loads nothing from the internet. Every text colour is tested for readable contrast.

Dark mode, editing a note
Dark mode. A column of domed brass buttons, a file explorer in oxblood leather with a running stitch, and the open file as a raised copper plate. The note's title is lit like a lamp above a brass flourish.
Light mode, editing the same note
Light mode. Tan saddle leather and cream parchment ruled like a ledger, with the title in dark brown ink and links in italics over a double brass underline.
Reading view in dark mode
Reading view. Section headings gain a copper Roman numeral and a fine brass rule to the margin, like a printed manual.
Callouts, a table and a code block in light mode
Callouts are metal plates with riveted brass ends, in verdigris, copper and blackened iron. Tables are ledgers, and code runs like telegraph tape.
The same note with three options switched on
Options switched on: a plain, left-aligned title, no Roman numerals and ordinary bullets. Each option is a CSS snippet, so no plugin is needed.

Scroll sideways for more screenshots.

Open in Obsidian Community Themes GitHub repository User guide
PlatformObsidian
TypeCommunity theme
StatusPublished

Core features

  • The whole window, not just the editor: stitched leather sidebars, domed brass ribbon buttons, brass nameplates on the sidebar tabs, brass-tag editor tabs and a leather status-bar strap.
  • Notes in the same idiom: a centred title with a kicker and flourish, Roman-numbered sections, fleuron bullets, valve-knob checkboxes, ledger tables, telegraph-tape code blocks and riveted callout plates.
  • Period type: Bodoni or Didot headings, Baskerville text and Copperplate capitals from your system, with the Cutive Mono typewriter face built in. An optional snippet adds the three faces the theme was designed with: Playfair Display, IM Fell English and Cinzel.
  • Seven options that work with Obsidian alone, as CSS snippets or note by note through cssclasses: period typefaces, use your own fonts, plain leather, no stitching, no Roman numerals, plain bullets and a plain title.
  • Responsive: on phones, tablets and narrow panes the ornaments scale down and the page comes first.

Good for

  • Writers of period and speculative fiction: A desk that looks like the world you are writing, in light or dark.
  • Long reading sessions: Warm parchment and ink colours, all tested for readable contrast in both modes.
  • People who want a theme without setup: No plugins to install; switch off any ornament you do not want from Obsidian's own settings.

Installing

In Obsidian, open Settings → Appearance → Themes → Manage, search for Aether Works and choose Install and use. Or open the theme's page on the Obsidian community site.

The seven options are CSS snippets that come as a zip in the latest release; the user guide explains how to install them. To install the theme by hand instead, download manifest.json and theme.css from the same release and place them in YourVault/.obsidian/themes/Aether Works/ (the folder name must match exactly). It needs no plugins and loads no remote assets, so it works offline. It needs Obsidian 1.6.0 or later.

License

This theme uses the MIT License. Copyright is held by Anthony Fitzpatrick. The embedded typefaces keep their own licence, the SIL Open Font License.

Feedback

Found a rendering problem, a contrast issue, or a part of the interface the theme has not reached?

Report a bug Request a feature

This is an independent theme and is not affiliated with or endorsed by Obsidian.