A young man laid on the shore unconscious. He had a red jacked on and red pants with black leather boots. His hat, an aviator's hat, was also red, but his goggles had yellow lenses and around his waist was a red sash with a white end. A fisherman found him and carried him to his home where he laid the young man in a bed. Taking of the aviator hat the young man had short black hair. " Lisa, help me get this coat off of him." The fisherman said as he unwrapped the sash from around the young man's waist. A number of tools fell down on the floor once they removed his coat. " I think he's a tinker pa." A girl said picking up a file. The fisherman frowned. " Go alert the Templar." The fisherman said calmly.
Soon the young man was in the care of the Templar, laying in a bed of a room locked from the outside. His coat hung inside the the room, along with his tool belt, his sash, boots, and gloves, which were black leather and held together by clothespins. He was wearing a white shirt and his pants were held up by a belt and suspenders.
Eventually the young man woke up feeling a nasty headache. He saw a jug of water on a bedside table and frowned at it. Immediately he went to his coat and pulled out a thin stone on a string and brushed it off before dipping it in the water. No reaction. He returned the stone back into the packet he had taken it from. Next he rubbed his finger along the lip of the jug and smelt it. Nothing. He went back to his coat and searched for a crystal and used the light coming into his cell to examine the jug. Nothing.
The young man sighed. Whoever had him, didn't want him dead. Or wasn't testing him. One last test. He looked underneath the jug and saw runes scribed in ink on the bottom. The young man sighed. Magic. If not poison, magic! He immediately went to hi coat pocket and pulled out a vial that he emptied onto the jug. It didn't spill onto the floor but rather circled around the jug until the ink and the spell was eaten away. The liquid then returned back to its vial where the young man stoppered the vial and returned it to his coat. He then checked underneath the table. There was also a spell but this one he ignored.
He drank from the jug and set it back down. The spell on the table was a cooling spell, so he didn't worry. Next he wanted to leave his cell. He got dressed and pulled out a pick and torque. In only a few minutes the lock on the door was unlocked. He listened. No guards. Putting his tools back in his belt he made a careful inventory of what he had. Nothing was missing other than his knife, but that was accounted for. Adjusting his aviator hat he opened the door walked down the hall and there stood a man in robes who began to clap his hands while a girl with black wrappings around her eyes stood next to him.
"I see you are a very confident man. I must say, I am surprised to come across someone of your talent." The man said. The young man in red walked right through the other man, who was only an illusion. " If you are going to talk to me, please do it in person." The young man said as the girl followed him. " This way sir. Father is waiting for you in his office." She said. The young man frowned. He followed her directions to the man's office and was directed to have a seat.
" I see, you share the customs like many others of your craft. Shall we get down to business?" The man asked. The young man looked at his surroundings. The office was a study. He rose his hand up in indication for the man to continue speaking. The robed man smiled. " I would like you to use your skills to help with the construction of a final project that is on its way." The man said. The young man folded his hands. " I'm not interested. I don't work alongside magical instruments. They are too unstable and can become too unpredictable. If you want my services on anything else I'll happily work on anything outside that parameter. Otherwise, I can not offer my services to you sir." The young man said.
The robed man frowned severely, even looking angry. " You will not change your mind?" The man asked. The young man sighed. " I will not work along side magical instruments. A user is far more predictable then an instrument. I will warn you out of good intentions. Any project you start that uses magic to drive it will eventually fail. They always have. Mechanical instruments are more reliable. They break down eventually, but machines can be repaired, replaces, and maintained. Lives can not. The study of Magic is a field of science best not explored with arrogance. I've seen what failure to abide by that law results to." The young man said concluding.
The robed man looked at the man across from him. " Even if there is 'an acceptable' parameter of variation?" The man asked. The young man frowned. " With magical instruments there is never an acceptable variation. There is 'it works for now' and 'it blows up and causes massive damage now' variation. The only difference made is the size of the instrument and how much mana it condenses." The young man said.
The robed man sighed. " I see. I am disappointed then. You may leave." He said calmly. And the young man bowed. " I apologize that my services are not what you require and wish my employment may be needed again. Have a good day sir." The young man said and left. The blind folded girl stood next to the robed man. " Will it be okay to just let him go father?" She asked. The robed man glared at the closed door.
" As much as I want to ring his neck, that is how they all are. Stubbornly adhering to the clocksmith's code. He shouldn't cause any problems to my plan. But we would finish much sooner with his or any of his profession's help." The robed man said. " We don't need them though."
The young man sighed when he was let out the front gate of the Templar castle. He wasn't going to find much work in this place. And he didn't have any coin. So he needed to leave.
Luckily he didn't have to travel far before he could catch a ride to a village with a wind mill. He slept along the way and asked if he could look at the windmill once he got their the next morning. He examined its construction and sighed. They were using wooden cogs and already had replacements. Likely he wouldn't find employment here. He checked the nearest water mill. Same story. Local black smiths were willing to work with him though. He spent the day explaining to one particularly large fellow how he could benefit from a foot powered bellow and a fan that could help add ventilation. Unfortunately, the blacksmith was not willing to bay him until construction was complete. Luckily, he was more than happy to provide the materials. So things were not that bad. It was just that he had no where to stay.
Well, there was a tavern. He headed that way hoping he could beg the owner for work so he could pay for room and board. He was surprised when he walked in to find a Keidran woman greeting him. He blinked. Sure, he had met plenty of Keidrans before, but not a free one in human territory. And not one with beautiful fur like hers. "Oh, excuse me! I was hoping I could beg for work. I have managed to find employment with the local blacksmith but unfortunately he won't arrange for payment until after the construction is finished." The young man said. The Keidran woman, a snow leopard with dreads stared at him with a serving trey under her arm. She was frowning. "I'm afraid not. I have enough help from my daughter. You will have to look elsewhere." She said. The young man gave her a polite bow and left, still blushing.
The next morning the tavern owner found the young man sleeping in the back under the eve of her tavern next to some water barrels collecting the rain water from the storm. She frowned. Could he really not afford a room or a meal? The keidran woman gave him a look over. His clothes made him look eccentric, like he was trying to look like a fox. But it was obvious that he was some kind of tinker from his goggles. It was still raining heavily. How stupid was this human anyways? He should have just staid in the city where the Templars could use him. She had heard from her night's patrons about this young man. She left him there and went inside. She was still unsure if she should bother with the weirdo.
The next day he came in a little afternoon inside the tavern and sat at a table dropping a few copper coins and a silver coin. " Will this get me a meal and something warm to drink?" The young man asked. The Keidran woman frowned. He wasn't from around here. Maybe he wasn't really even from the human territory. This was strange. " The three copper will do it. Save the silver for your boarding fees." She said giving him a cautious look. The young man pushed three copper coins towards her while putting the rest in a coat pocket. He wasn't paid much. The materials he required and work done was mostly done by the blacksmith. He would check to make sure the fan was holding up well as well as the foot pedal. He didn't want an unsatisfied customer. But he was sure his work met the quality expected. It wasn't like he had much to work with anyways. But all he had to do was use some of the basic mechanics used for a spinning wheel.
The Kiedran woman set a plate with bread, a slice of meat and a wedge of cheese. A mug of hot tea was also brought. " You aren't going to find much work out here. Why not work for the Templars?" She asked. The young man sighed. " Thank you for the food." He said and took his gloves off before making his sandwich. " It is a law my guild has placed. We don't work alongside magic driven machines. And that is exactly what Templars do. So, naturally... I can not employ myself with them." The young man said as he spread the cheese over his bread before placing the slice of meat on it. " Magic is more stable when it is being used by a person or living thing. Otherwise it becomes unstable."
The tavernmaid stared at him. "So it is just on some principle you have to follow?" She asked. The man simply nodded. "I've worked with volatile substances and dangerous things. Some of which I would gladly work with again. Magical machines? Not one of them. You can loose an arm working in a mill if you aren't careful. You'll loose more than that with magic even if you are careful." The young man said. He noticed a young girl who was hiding behind the tavernmaid. He smiled and waved to her before looking up at her. " May I?" He asked. She looked at him cautiously but sighed and nodded. He pulled out a pendant that was a series of rings held together by a series of pins. One small disk was in the center of them all. He held it up by the the string that loops through an eye at the top of the pendant. There was a pin going through each ring, which were all the same thickness but were all different sizes. He pulled the pin completely out and by their own volition, they began to spin.
The girl cautiously peeked out from behind her mother and slowly walked up to the young man. She looked at the pendant, fascinated. She poked the rings and they stopped all at once. When she pulled her finger away they continued their spin at a consistent slow pace, each spinning in different directions. " Don't worry. It is just a little trinket I make when I have the spare time. It works... Well, to be frank, I'm not sure how to explain it in a simple manner. Each ring causes another to move in a constant rotation without any outside force required to drive them." He said and placed the pin back into the rings. He didn't take it back from the girl. She looked at looked up at her mother in wonder. Her mother on the other hand looked at the human. " How much does something like this cost?" She asked.
The young man chuckled. " Depends on the material and the maker. It is made out of an ounce of a pure but lesser metal and the time and craftsmanship put into it is more hobbyist's work." He said and frowned when he looked at the woman's annoyed face . "I can't really say. I don't think they are sold in the market. They are practically a toy."
The tavernmaid sighed. " It can be sold for a lot of gold can't it?" She asked. The young man pondered about it. He shook his head. " I can imagine scenario after scenario where that could be true. But as I stand, logically it is about as much as an single copper nail can be sold on market... If that." The tavernmaid sighed once he finished his meal and left. She looked at the pendant and smiled. He may not have left a good tip but it was still nice of him to give her daughter a nice human bauble. Her daughter stared at it with fascination before putting the pin back in and getting tucking it in her shirt. It was time to get back to peeling potatoes for their customers.
The young man spent the rest of his day explaining how the machine worked to the local black smith and how to avoid damaging it. He explained that oil would help preventing ware and tare and with that he left to stay at an inn.