The Case of the Clockwork Countess
Feb. 9th, 2026 09:00 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
rynlingMy wizard detective story “The Case of the Phantom Portrait” was accepted for publication, so I’m thinking it’s time to write a new one.
The general premise: Fhiad is a wizard detective. He’s supported by his colleague Agnes, a university mage who provides hints to him through letters when he’s traveling for a case.
Fhiad is summoned to the northern city of Lindbhein by a man named Felix, who is acting on behalf of his friend and lover, Istvan. Istvan, the head artificer at a workshop that manufactures animal-shaped constructs, is being held on suspicion of murdering the countess who owns a school of associated workshops and, legally, their patents. Istvan, who hated the countess, isn’t doing himself any favors by insisting that the patents now default to him.
On visiting the late countess’s city estate, Fhiad meets her teenage daughter Selma, who is accompanied by a human-shaped construct named Trina. In a letter to Agnes, Fhiad describes Trina; and, in a reply, Agnes suggests that Trina and Selma are communicating. Fhiad realizes that they are, and that Trina is sapient. Agnes also suggests that Trina had a motive to kill the countess, and Fhiad confirms this to be true – the countess was horribly abusive to Selma.
Fhiad establishes that Trina killed the countess; but, with Selma’s consent, he argues that it was an accident. Istvan is released from custody, and Felix persuades him to allow the construct patents to revert to public domain. Trina is free to live happily ever after, though it’s strongly implied that she’ll remain with Selma because of their friendship.
As a treat to myself, the countess’s “daughter” will be trans and nonbinary. Part of the solution to the mystery will be Fhiad realizing that “Selma” is a deadname, and that Trina respects this and doesn’t use it.
Also, because this is a fantasy world that I can write however I want, no form of slavery exists or has ever existed. Regardless of whether it’s sapient or how it’s shaped, no construct is legally or culturally regarded as property.
Anyway, this story is about creativity and copyright law. And about how the latter shouldn’t exist.
Idk man, sometimes I think about how large animation studios treat their artists, and it makes me want to write stories about murder.
The general premise: Fhiad is a wizard detective. He’s supported by his colleague Agnes, a university mage who provides hints to him through letters when he’s traveling for a case.
Fhiad is summoned to the northern city of Lindbhein by a man named Felix, who is acting on behalf of his friend and lover, Istvan. Istvan, the head artificer at a workshop that manufactures animal-shaped constructs, is being held on suspicion of murdering the countess who owns a school of associated workshops and, legally, their patents. Istvan, who hated the countess, isn’t doing himself any favors by insisting that the patents now default to him.
On visiting the late countess’s city estate, Fhiad meets her teenage daughter Selma, who is accompanied by a human-shaped construct named Trina. In a letter to Agnes, Fhiad describes Trina; and, in a reply, Agnes suggests that Trina and Selma are communicating. Fhiad realizes that they are, and that Trina is sapient. Agnes also suggests that Trina had a motive to kill the countess, and Fhiad confirms this to be true – the countess was horribly abusive to Selma.
Fhiad establishes that Trina killed the countess; but, with Selma’s consent, he argues that it was an accident. Istvan is released from custody, and Felix persuades him to allow the construct patents to revert to public domain. Trina is free to live happily ever after, though it’s strongly implied that she’ll remain with Selma because of their friendship.
As a treat to myself, the countess’s “daughter” will be trans and nonbinary. Part of the solution to the mystery will be Fhiad realizing that “Selma” is a deadname, and that Trina respects this and doesn’t use it.
Also, because this is a fantasy world that I can write however I want, no form of slavery exists or has ever existed. Regardless of whether it’s sapient or how it’s shaped, no construct is legally or culturally regarded as property.
Anyway, this story is about creativity and copyright law. And about how the latter shouldn’t exist.
Idk man, sometimes I think about how large animation studios treat their artists, and it makes me want to write stories about murder.
