Prologue
Published in The Dayclock Gazette,
Issue No. 12,084
Date: First Cycle of the Year of Stillness
TO ALL CITIZENS OF THE KINGDOM OF GEARS,
It is with the utmost pride that the Ministry of Mechanica announces the forthcoming Reactivation of the Great Clock of Irondale, to take place at the morning chime this coming Sunday.
After years of meticulous preparation, calibration, and purification of our civic systems, the moment has arrived when our world shall at last reclaim its perfect rhythm.
The Great Clock, originally conceived by the esteemed Dr. Elias Thorne, has been completed and perfected under the supervision of His Excellency, Minister Caelum Drake, Head of the Ministry and Guardian of Time.
The restored Chronomech now contains a newly engineered aether-steam core, calculated to produce an absolute deviation of zero for the next one thousand years.
As every loyal citizen knows, our world has in the past suffered from certain irregularities, defective timepieces, unexplained delays, days repeating themselves without reason.
Such phenomena are not natural. They are the result of human disorder.
Under the vigilant leadership of the Ministry, the cause of these disturbances has been identified as the reckless experimentation of unsanctioned individuals tampering with the temporal cycle.
Thanks to the unwavering efforts of the Steamwardens, these disruptive elements have been located, neutralized, or re-calibrated.
With the Reactivation of the Great Clock, Time itself shall be cleansed.
Every second will once again be trustworthy.
Every heartbeat will tick in harmony with the grand mechanism of progress.
Upon completion of the ceremony, the Law of Perfect Synchronization shall come into full effect.
Henceforth:
Every citizen shall carry a Time-Code Implant, calibrated to the Great Clock.
Private or unregistered timepieces are strictly forbidden.
Travel between temporal zones within the city requires official authorization.
Any attempt to delay or accelerate time through experimental machinery constitutes high treason.
Citizens must attend daily calibration at the Stations of the Second to maintain rhythmic balance.
Adherence to these ordinances ensures a future free of error and unpredictability, a future where humanity finally marches in step with its own creation.
“Time is mankind’s greatest invention. Yet so long as it flows freely, it remains imperfect. With the Reactivation, we return time to its origin, to order, to purity, to eternal repetition.We close the circle. A day begun in perfection need never end.”
On the day of the Reactivation, all citizens are required to gather in the Gearward District, beneath the shadow of the Great Clock Tower.
The ceremony will commence at the stroke of noon.
It is the duty of every loyal subject to witness this historic moment of everlasting harmony.
Pay no heed to circulating rumors of “time distortions,” “living mechanisms,” or “voices within the Clock.”
Such myths are unfounded and constitute obstruction of progress.
Time is stable.
Time is safe.
Time belongs to the Ministry.
