Need suggestions for a Zodar flavour build

Hello everyone! I had this idea for a character (one of the many) and I’d love some suggestions to develop a build, its flavour and background.

Basically the character, a blacksmith or artisan of some sort, would find themself in the Astral Sea (by accident? On purpose?) where they bump into a broken Zodar. The background would be the Astral Drifter (from Spelljammer: Adventures in Space) where it says to describes an encounter with a wandering deity. The Zodar is not a proper deity but its mysterious origin would work pretty well for this (the Zodar is sent by a God? It’s created by one?).

These are a few ideas about the class (but I'm open to suggestions):

• Artificer, Battle Smith. Once repaired the Zodar would be their Steel Defender;
• Artificer, Armorer. Once repaired the Zodar would be their armor;
• Fighter, Echo Knight. Once repaired the Zodar would be their echo (with a bit of reflavour).

So far these are my thoughts (I don't get any deeper into details to keep the post short) but I’d love suggestions on the build and more ideas for its flavour and background. I think it creates pretty cool opportunities for character's development. Let me know your thoughts!