The Cogwheel Coda

In the sprawling, smoke-shrouded metropolis of Veridia, a city powered by colossal steam engines and intricate clockwork mechanisms, Callen Vex, a reclusive but unparalleled artificer, makes his living repairing complex automatons and crafting wondrous, bespoke devices. He operates from a hidden workshop beneath the city's poorest district, avoiding the watchful eye of the Ministry of Progress, a powerful governmental body that controls all technological innovation. Callen lives a quiet life with his only companion, Kerro, a small, highly intelligent automaton he built himself. When a series of inexplicable malfunctions plagues the city's vital clockwork systems, leading to widespread chaos and accusations against "unlicensed" inventors, Callen finds himself drawn into the mystery. He crosses paths with Tessera Vale, a sharp-witted airship pilot and smuggler, and Brother Gannon, a grizzled priest who believes the malfunctions are a sign of a deeper, spiritual ailment. Together, they uncover evidence of sabotage, pointing to a shadowy cabal within the Ministry of Progress that seeks to centralize all power and eradicate independent thinkers. The Cogwheel Coda focuses on their initial investigations, daring escapes through steam-filled alleyways and over rooftops, and the assembly of their unlikely team. The climax involves Callen using his unique genius to repair a critical city mechanism under pressure, exposing the saboteurs but also making them a direct target of the Ministry and its ambitious leader, Minister Halric Dorne.