Rise of the Runemaster
Epic Expanse — Book 1
A programmer gets pulled into the game she built. The code is her weapon. The bugs are trying to kill her.
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Compact of Tides and Tone
The Workshop Republic Chronicles — Book 2
Marin Kestrel has outgrown Lumenford. As a Level 30 Architect with a coalition behind her, she answers a call from the tidal city of Harth -- where the Lattice is failing, eight senior Archivists have vanished into the underground, and the city's infrastructure is shaking itself apart.
The cause isn't sabotage. It's maintenance. A three-century-old calibration engine has been running faithfully with hopelessly outdated parameters, singing in the dark for someone to come home and tell it the city has changed. Its care has become a cage.
Vibes: Tidal city • Ancient machines • Coalition building • Slow-burn romance
Levels 30–50. 30 chapters. 145,000 words. The bridges hold.
Book 1: Charter of Gears and Water
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Charter of Gears and Water
The Workshop Republic Chronicles — Book 1
Marin Kestrel fixes things. Not people -- those are complicated. Gears, locks, and leaking sluices? Those make sense. When the Lattice System finally acknowledges her years of underpaid labor with an Artificer class, Marin thinks life might get easier. Instead, she uncovers a web of sabotage threatening Lumenford's crumbling infrastructure -- counterfeit seals, rigged pressure valves, and corrupt guild officials profiting from the city's slow collapse.
Armed with blueprints, a stubborn sister, and an unfortunate tendency to Overclock her workshop at exactly the wrong moments, Marin must build something she's never attempted: a coalition.
Vibes: Workshop magic • Civic mystery • Found family
Perfect for fans of: The Wandering Inn, Beware of Chicken, Legends & Lattes
30 chapters. 30 levels. 96,000 words. Zero dungeon crawls.
The World of Harth
Harth is a tidal city built across the Keel Estuary where the Sable River meets the Third Sea. Its Lattice runs on tidal harmonics instead of Lumenford's pressure system -- the city breathes with the ocean, and its infrastructure rises and falls with the water. Tide-bridges adjust on their pylons as the estuary climbs. Crane gantries line the shipwright district. Salt air, wet stone, and rope-creak define every street.
But something is wrong beneath the surface. The harmonic calibration engine that has kept Harth's infrastructure stable for three centuries is running on outdated parameters. Eight of twelve senior Archivists have vanished into the sealed chambers of the Deepworks -- the engineered tidal channels that drive the whole system. And a storm is bearing down on a seawall that hasn't been properly inspected in eighteen months.
The machine beneath Harth never stopped caring for its city. It just forgot its city had grown up.
The World of Lumenford
Lumenford is a river city built on locks, canals, and water-powered industry. The Aris River feeds a network of sluices and millraces that drive foundries, workshops, and mills across guild-governed districts. In the Makers' Quarter, coopers and millwrights work alongside glassblowers and weavers, their kilns dotting low hills above streets that smell of yeast and gear oil. It's a city where craftsmanship is woven into everything -- the architecture, the politics, the way people greet each other.
But something is wrong. Mills are failing. Pressure valves seize without warning. Bridges that stood for decades groan under ordinary loads. Someone is sabotaging Lumenford's infrastructure from the inside -- counterfeit guild seals, rigged blueprints, shell companies funneling resources away from the people who need them most.
In a city where the Lattice tracks every repair and every worker, where charters are sacred and oaths carry the weight of law, the crisis isn't just mechanical. It's political. And fixing it will take more than a wrench.
The Lattice System
The Lattice isn't just a magic system -- it's the operating system of civilization. Every citizen's work, skills, and contributions are tracked through a framework of eight core attributes, from Strength to Ingenuity. But unlike most LitRPG systems, combat isn't the only path to power. Crafters earn XP by building. Civic leaders earn XP by governing. Mediators earn XP by negotiating. The Lattice rewards every form of meaningful work, and progression feels earned because it is.
For Marin, the Artificer class opens a progression path built around workshop upgrades, blueprint mastery, and a risky ability called Overclock -- which pushes her creations beyond their design limits at the cost of rising flaw risk. Daily Craft Charges create a resource economy that prevents grinding, and blueprint unlocks require material investment, not just levels. Crafted gear earns a maker's mark and builds your reputation. Equipment is earned through mastery, not loot drops.
The Lattice itself has personality. It's polite as a clerk and precise as a ledger. Its notifications read like bureaucratic correspondence, not flashy alerts. When it acknowledges your work, it feels less like a game rewarding you and more like an institution finally recognizing what you've been doing all along.
Meet the Characters
Marin Kestrel fixes things. Not people -- those are complicated. She's twenty-four, lean, with copper-stained hands and grey eyes that assess everything like bridge tolerances. She talks to her tools because they make more sense than committees. When the Lattice grants her an Artificer class after years of underpaid repair work, she thinks it might finally mean recognition. What it actually means is that she's now qualified to discover just how badly the city is broken.
The Found Family
- Jessa Kestrel -- Marin's sister and emotional anchor. Warm, teasing, and endlessly enthusiastic. The one who reminds Marin that people are worth trusting, even when gears are simpler.
- Olan Brindle -- Retired machinist turned reluctant mentor. Communicates in blunt one-liners and grunts that carry full paragraphs. Sees Marin's potential and refuses to let her hide behind perfectionism.
- Riva Morn -- Charming, sharp-mouthed, politically connected. Heir to a family historically entangled with the very corruption Marin is fighting. Her loyalties are complicated, and her partnership with Marin is built on tension, mutual respect, and something neither of them is ready to name.
- Ser Calen Dorr -- Watch Sergeant with a week's worth of exhaustion in his eyes. Honest, practical, and stretched thin. He provides the official legitimacy the team needs and the steady presence that holds things together when politics get dangerous.
- Tamsin Roe -- Soft-spoken Mediator with dock-schooled instincts and quiet emotional intelligence. Where Marin sees systems, Tamsin sees people. Her diplomatic skills fill every gap Marin's technical brilliance can't reach.
What Makes This Series Different
Crafting Over Combat
Blueprint unlocks are as satisfying as boss kills. Workshop upgrades, maker's marks, and skill trees that reward mastery.
Found Family
The emotional core is a team forged through shared work, quiet loyalty, and too many late-night teas at the workshop bench.
Infrastructure Heroism
The villain isn't a dark lord -- it's systemic corruption. Victories are charter approvals, public ledgers, and bridges that hold.
Earned Progression
No grinding, no loot drops. Every level-up comes from meaningful work -- building, repairing, and organizing a city that needs saving.
Civic Stakes
Problems framed as public infrastructure, not personal quests. A protagonist who thinks in supply chains and tolerance margins.
Cozy but Real
Warm atmosphere with genuine stakes. The city could flood, beloved characters are in danger, but the heart stays hopeful.
What Readers Are Saying
"Finally, a LitRPG where the protagonist builds things instead of just smashing them!"-- ARC Reader
"The magic system is so well thought out, I want to play this game."-- ARC Reader
"Marin is my new favorite artificer. More cozy crafting LitRPG, please!"-- ARC Reader
More by Ava Knightly
Different worlds, same philosophy: smart characters pushing clever systems to their limits.
Rookie's Gambit
Synapse Siege — Book 1
In a world where your brain is the controller, what happens when the controller starts controlling you?
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Neural Bootcamp
Synapse Siege — Book 2
Recruited into an elite training program, Jace must push his neural sync abilities to their limits -- and beyond.
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