Vesper Lanterns

Vesper lanterns are kept lit throughout the night, so that their light may drive away malicious spirits and ensure all citizens of Bastollo are alive to see the next morning. It has a special purpose, meant to be lit after everyone has come inside and gone to bed. A vestal lantern burns oil of

Mechanics & Inner Workings

The central functionality of Vesper Lanters comes from the so-called 'midnight oil' stored within their fonts, a fuel noted for its effectiveness as a spirit repellent. The light of the lantern has a curious effect on the bodies of incorporeal creatures, making them more and more intangible the more they draw near. Basically, even if a spirit was to find themself within arms' reach of the lantern, they literally wouldn't have an arm to reach it with.

History

The role of the Vesper Lanterns is derived from a centuries old evening ritual hailing from elvish tradition. In this ritual, after a long time spent deep in prayer, incense is lit when the Prophet's Star illuminates the night sky. These sticks of incense, dipped in midnight oil (or perhaps a more archaic iteration, depending on the century), would release a light and aroma that warded off malicious spirits, at least for the first part of the night. However, the incense burned quickly, leaving the dreams of elves vulnerable to malicious spirits once more. WHile this tended not to pose much danger to experienced practicioners of Omb, laymen and even novice priests were frequent victims of such incursions.
The sticks of incense would eventually become candles, which only grew taller and more long-lasting as time went on. But such items (while still preferred in some more traditional households) were not without their fair share of design flaws. The taller a candle got, the more vulnerable it became to the forces of gravity. Candles would collapse at various points throughout the night, most commonly at the so-called 'Witching Hour'. In addition to giving spirits free access to a vulnerable dreamer, they also were a significant fire hazard. But even with such design flaws accounted for, the design was far from perfect. In the final hours of the night, the candle flame would inevitably begin to fade as it neared the base, and the nearness of the coming day would often make spirits all the more ravenous and desparate.
Finally, near the end of the Third Ellypse, the Vesper Lantern was patented and made available to the public. This device that could sustain its powerful resinous glow throughout the night was incredibly popular when it was first introduced, but it would be quite some time before it would come into its reputation as household staple, mostly due to the Bastollan Civil War. The lanterns, perhaps unsurprisingly, saw a lot of use in the war - if they had remained intact, that is. In fact, the vesper lantern was eventually adopted by the Anti-Monarchist Coalition as a of the Revolutionary because of the potent refutation it brought against Elvish spiritual hegemony.
(Bastollan government taxed alcohol - mostly to fund their side of the civil war, but also the intense flammability of midnight oil was being used to great effect by anti-monarchist factions. this drove up the price of midnight oil and made the lighting less popular).

Significance

The word 'Vesper' is derived from an old, old elvish word, referring to westward winds from the faraway Alexandrian Ocean. The most common usage of the word is in Bastollo's eastern neighbor, the New Voltaic Republic. Here, it is the name of a season, where leaves change their colors and fall to the ground. Here, Vesper is commonly associated with death and decay. Perhaps that is no surprise, as the Alexandrian winds coming off Voltaian shores at this time of year bring with them a deathly chill that portends hard times ahead.
But in Bastollo, the term carries a more fateful reputation, as those westerly winds which crest the Sabelseides can bring with them stormy weather, or extend Cressen as it wanes, a time of year where Bastollo is often seen as being at its most beautiful. Thus the evening prayers made before going an unknown night became known as 'the vespers.'

Item type

Sensory / Aid

Rarity

Vesper Lanterns are another one of those ubiquitous pieces of Bastollo's material culture, found standing in rank-and-file in lines along the city streets. And it's not just the cities. Across the nation, nearly every homeowner will testify that they have one of these tucked away somewhere in an attic or basement. And if you don't? Best get some money to acquire one real fast. Because when the going gets tough, when an ill wind or malicious spirit blows into town, you won't wanna be caught alone in the dark with nowhere to go. There are only two groups with the cash to keep these lanterns lit for more than a few nights. Those groups are the rich, who often greedily hoard this light within their tidy estates, and the Lamplighters, a national organization with the sacred duty of ensuring that every lantern throughout the country stays lit. In the cities and larger townships, this job is relatively stress-free. But for Lamplighters in more remote rural chapters, the job takes on a whole new, dangerous role. When the sun sets, the lamplighters go out to patrol the meandering county lanes, with a blade in one hand and a lantern in the other. They do this to ward off dangerous spirits, and too offer a small reprieve to those poor souls caught without a light.

Raw materials & Components

Midnight oil, itself a blend of turpentine and ethanol. has been present throughout the material history of these Vespers, as it provides the overall ritual with its central functionality. This fuel is formed from a mixing of two liquids: ethanol and turpentine. The latter ingredient gives the whole mixture a strong pinewood scent, as well as some magical properties (as can be seen in several other resin-based products). Of these qualities, midnight oil is known for its effectiveness as a spirit repellent.
The large glass bulb of the lamp, also called the 'camphora', has an overall vase-like shape, with a squat body and a long neck ending in a brief flare. In fact, a common story myth told about the creation of this lamp is that the inventor had merely been looking to freshen up the air in her home one day, so she lit a few sticks of incense and went about her work. Then, as the sun set and it came time to light Vespers for the evening, the inventor looked at the incense which had been burning in the glass bulb all day and had her first idea for the modern Vesper Lamp. This has led to the popularization of the phrase 'lightbulb moment' as being synonymous with divine inspiration.
This fuel burns hotter and brighter than oil, which also means that several precautions must be taken into the design to ensure it remains intact and with no smoke. The flame is kept much smaller than that of an oil lamp, and its turpentine reservoir is kept below the flame by a considerable margin. Several provisions are made within the design to regulate the blow of air throughout the lantern, including an open-top glass head and and an opening sitting below the glass to maintain a draft throughout the mechanism. To initially catch flame, lamplighters light a ring of cotton around a circular wick soaked in midnight oil. This soon produces a small, buttercup-shaped flame that lasts through the night.