Lanternlight

Lanternlight clings to the northern edge of Blackstock where smoke, river fog, and industrial haze gather thick enough to dim the sky even during midday. The district is crowded with dyehouses, tanneries, vellum workshops, and cramped labour housing wedged tightly beneath the upper city walls. Nearly every building bears coloured glass lanterns hanging outside its doors, casting blurred reds, blues, and sickly yellows through the smog once night falls. The result is strangely beautiful from afar, though locals know the district by the headaches, fumes, and coughing fits that linger in its streets.

The reeves and gate guards stationed here are notoriously lax compared to the stricter districts uphill. Smugglers, desperate criminals, and drifters often pass through Lanternlight unnoticed among the endless wagon traffic hauling hides, dyes, and river cargo. Workers leave shifts coated in pigment dust while the canals below run stained with runoff from the workshops. The district never truly smells clean. Wet leather, burning oils, smoke, and chemical washes settle permanently into the wood and stone.

Despite the hardship, Lanternlight remains stubbornly alive. Taverns stay crowded with exhausted workers, children chase each other beneath the rainbow lanterns, and shrines tucked into alleyways flicker against the haze.

Type

District

Location under

Blackstock

Included Locations

• Pale Hide
• Shrine of the Unburnt
• Steelbridge Keep
• Tannery Lanes
• Vellum Suedeshop

Characters in Location

• Harl Donwick
• Jonar Pike
• Lyssa Reddin