The Artificer's Knot

Randyll Tephius was looking forward to earning his Journeyman Artificer's rank, a respectable pillar of the new industrial age. But when his University thesis concerning newly-discovered oil deposits inadvertently challenges the energy monopoly of the elite Alchemists and their semi-magical Vril, he's expelled in disgrace.

He's rescued at his most desperate moment by an unlikely benefactor: aging mob boss Gouger Nebb. Ran puts his skills to work for the gang, turning machines and technology into profit. He rises in favor until learning Nebb's true plan: to break into the fledgling oil industry using Ran's revolutionary designs and retire a ‘legitimate businessman.’ Small crimes become larger ones as Ran falls deeper into the mob world, but he won't abandon the work that could restore his shattered career.

Ran’s efforts are soon sabotaged by a syndicate of Alchemists, the same people who ruined his reputation. Emerging from the shadows, they now promise the prestige he craves in exchange for joining them and helping them seize total power. It’s a tempting offer that would mean betraying the very man who saved him.