New Fiction Idea #54

Working Title: The Final Apprentice

Genre: Steampunk

Protagonist: No one clear protagonist. The narrative switches between the main eight characters as equally as the plot allows.

Other Main Characters: Alejandro, a short but sturdy young man with a fox-like face and chronically unkempt hair. He's rather overreactive when startled, and he's a bit of a know-it-all, ready to correct others with a little finger-waggling.
Adelita, a tall and fairly muscular young woman who always keeps her hair in a thick braid over her right shoulder. At times, she's a bit flighty and tends to trail off into semantics; at other times, she's very decisive and aggresive. She tends to jump between personalities rapidly.
Fermín, a young man of average stature and cropped hair. He's a bit shady and has been known to swipe money and items from friend and foe (usually returning them to the former). He considers himself very masculine and as such can often be seen shaving with a knife, even when he doesn't really need it.
Guadalupe, a pudgy young woman who's always smiling and has a habit of pulling down her bangs temporarily when she's thinking. She's a bit preoccupied with her appearance, particularly her face and makeup, butshe's very caring and giving and doesn't expect much in return.
Lorena, the youngest of the group. She's quiet, easily flattered, and very superstitious, particularly concerning the presence of interfering demons.
Tercero, a young man of impressive stature with a well-kept beard. He's very laid back and unopinionated, although he's brought to sniffles easily and keeps a handkerchief on hand. He tends to trail off sentences and in general leave things unfinished.
Hernando, a bony but very loud young man who's always wearing a tasteful hat. He tends to be showy, and his default pose is an upright stance with his fists against his hips. He feigns confidence but can easily lapse into screeching or wailing when he gets ignored. He also claims to have demonic heritage (much to the chagrin of Lorena) and to be sparing the world of the full extent of his powers.
Roque, a well-spoken young man with particularly curly hair and a lopsided smile. He considers himself quite the gentleman and goes out of his way to be effusively polite. He relies on others for most things and has a habit of crinkling some mechanism or another in his hands when he's nervous.

Antagonist: Mostly unknown. Several other armies stir up trouble.

Setting: Latin American steampunk. The nation has little identity in its state of war.

Plot: Eight promising young students have made it to the safe home of The Animator, a tinkerer who believes creating a functioning clockwork army is the solution to unifying the state and ceasing the strife. Although all are put to work, The Animator intends to only take one on as his personal apprentice based on their work—but one hopeful apprentice is found killed in the estate, and the remaining students must figure out how such a thing happened and how the rest of them may stay safe to aid in the army construction in light of it.

Point of View: First person.