The Lone Swordsman Goes Ambitious
…or delusional. It’s all a matter of perception.
Anyway, how did it all start? Well, by yours truly collecting watches. Why watches? Because in a world of planned obsolescence, they remind us that some things are still made to last. There’s a beauty in their craftsmanship, in the way they defy time even as they measure it.
And how did I come up with the idea for a book? (Wham! Wait, what?!?) Honestly, it wasn’t that difficult. One night, I dreamt about a man—an immortal man. Someone gifted with centuries of wisdom and experience. Someone who, over time (pun intended), became an expert on the nature of time and its measurement. A man who had rubbed elbows with the greatest minds of history, who had seen empires rise and fall, but who, despite it all, couldn’t answer one burning question: why him? Why was he immortal? What—or who—cursed him to live forever?
Our man—the immortal collector—became obsessed with understanding time. Not just how to measure it, but what it truly is. For centuries, he scoured the world for answers, gravitating toward timepieces as his ultimate symbols of humanity’s attempt to tame the infinite. He collected watches not just as artifacts but as clues. Each one told a story—of a moment, a maker, a memory. They became his way of interacting with a world he no longer fully belonged to.
Through these watches, he connected with others who shared his obsession. Horologists, philosophers, scientists, even mystics—they all shaped his understanding of time, yet none could explain him. The curse of immortality remained a mystery, gnawing at the edges of his existence.
And so, his quest evolved. No longer satisfied with collecting, he began searching for the one timepiece, the one artifact that might hold the key to his condition. Was it hidden in the ancient workshops of Geneva? Lost in the wreckage of a forgotten empire? Or perhaps it wasn’t a watch at all, but something greater, something metaphysical?
The idea consumes him. He becomes the perfect paradox: a man with infinite time who feels as though he’s running out of it.
So who is our guy?
Our immortal hero, once a devout Huguenot, flees France amidst the religious persecutions of the late 16th century. He finds refuge in Geneva, the haven of Calvinism, where a strict but thriving community welcomes him. It's here that he first encounters the art of watchmaking, an emerging craft driven by the Calvinist emphasis on precision, discipline, and simplicity.
At first, watches are merely practical tools—a way to regulate the hours of prayer and labor. But for him, they become something more: a symbol of humanity’s struggle to bring order to the chaos of existence, to measure and control the infinite. This resonates deeply with a man who has already begun to suspect that his life exists outside the boundaries of mortal time.
As decades turn to centuries, he becomes entwined with the rise of Swiss horology, learning from the masters and acquiring timepieces that, in their craftsmanship, whisper secrets he hopes will one day lead him to answers. Could his immortality be tied to the faith he fled for or the intricate craft he found refuge in? Or is the truth hidden somewhere he’s yet to uncover?
And yet, despite all his searching, the question remains: is immortality a gift, a curse, or simply a puzzle that no clock will ever answer?
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Of course, these are just thoughts, preliminary drafts of an idea that’s still growing and evolving. Who knows how long it might take before it’s brought to fruition? Months, years? Hell, it took Susanna Clarke a decade to finish Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell. No pressure, right? :))