The Tireless Mechanic

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"There are some things we were not meant to know, they say. But you wouldn't be down here if you took that seriously."

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"Afternoon. Ready to offer my services. I'm an engineer. Finest you'll ever hire. Treat engines like my own children. Not that I have children. Too busy. Usually busy."[1]

The Tireless Mechanic is an engineer from London.

A Mechanical Marvel?

"Does he ever sleep? His eyes are dark-circled, but his hands are steady."[2]

The Tireless Mechanic is a talkative and somewhat scatterbrained engineer.[1] He does not sleep and takes a draught to compensate, which allows him to retain his facilities[3] but leaves him visibly exhausted.[2]

A spaceship-like being flying towards the Sun.
The Echo Bazaar

In the past, his enthusiasm for engines led him to dream of them, and then of the Stone Pigs - the creatures that allow the Bazaar to travel the High Wilderness. The Pigs sleep for now, and the Fingerkings can breach their dreams, so they recruited the Mechanic to acquire a secret in the Pigs' dreams: the plans[4] for an engine unlike any other. Fascinated, the Mechanic stole the secret from the serpents rather than handing it over as they asked,[5] and he stashed the secret in Frostfound where the Fingerkings could not follow.[6] Enraged, the Fingerkings will hunt him the moment he sleeps and dreams of Parabola.[7]

The Mechanic wants to defeat his serpentine pursuers and sleep again.[7] He also hopes to reacquire his secret[6] and use it to build an engine called the Fulgent Impeller,[8] which runs on the same forces that propel the Bazaar.[9] The Impeller requires a "heart" to function,[8] so the Mechanic contracted a mysterious Rubbery Man called the Unsettling Sage[10] to act as one when the time comes.[8]

References