A city where magic and mechanics are opposed, power over life belongs only to masters. Quint Ferrat is the City's consummate artisan, a retired military man living as a recluse. He almost completely severed relations with the outside world, giving himself up to his cause forever. But one day an unusual customer visits his workshop. Haran, a representative of the Elf people who introduced the laws of mechanics to the City, offers master Ferrat an unusual project - to create a mechanical golem, a humanoid mechanism - a container for the soul of a living being. Blacksmith Ferrat, succumbing to temptation, accepts an order to create a forbidden device.