Old Man Chompy's Workshop

Old Man Chompy's Workshop is one of the few workshops still standing in the Soot District, and perhaps the most famous. Since the industrialization launched by Walter, large factories have taken the place of the many small workshops that filled the ground floors and courtyards of the district. The king presses Old Man Chompy to close so the house can be razed and a factory built there, and he has refused from the start: old property deeds do not allow the king to impose his will.

This stubbornness has cost him dearly: three of his grandsons and two of his granddaughters have been exiled, and the house is sad now. He nonetheless keeps making useful and beautiful objects, repairing old things people bring him and taking on apprentices, at the risk of seeing them exiled in turn.

Little by little, he is perhaps becoming the most important figure of the resistance to Walter. Neighbors take turns watching the place to prevent accidents and "accidental" fires.