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Desperate to maintain their superiority, Magicians are fighting to keep machinery and inventions out of the hands of their serving class, the commons. To this end, the Magicians have waged a war -- a terribly destructive, magical war -- against any and all who dare to allow the unmagical commons to improve their lives through mechanical means.
In the midst of this terrible battle, a small group of commons struggles to survive. They make their living by serving the dead, charging five cents to dig a grave, sew a shroud, and ring a peal. And in a land decimated by war, plague, and famine, they have plenty of work.
When the group meets a charismatic man by the name of William Rufflit and learns that he is working to build a militia of commons armed with his terrifying new invention -- the fyrestick -- they feel something they haven't experienced in a long time: hope. But what they don't realize is that Rufflit may not be their savior after all. He may, in fact, be an enemy even more fearsome than the one they are already facing.
