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Gathra was a city reborn in steam and smoke. Once ordinary, it had transformed into an ironclad sprawl in the golden age of its Industrial Dawn. Endless rows of chimneys choked the sky, veiling the sun in a permanent haze of soot. Massive machines clattered and groaned in their cathedrals of brick, brass, and human bone – factories and foundries where progress was worshipped at the expense of flesh. On the streets below, workers with smudged faces and tired eyes hurried under the glow of gaslamps and the shadow of giant gear-toothed towers. Children darted between steam-powered carriages, coughing at the sulfur stink. The air tasted of coal dust and hot iron. This was a world being remade – improved – by gears and fire, and it did not pause for comfort or kindness.   In recent months, whispers had spread through Gathra of a new wonder fueling the industrialists’ dreams. Deep in the northern mines, laborers had unearthed a strange crystalline ore unlike any known mineral. It glimmered