Dream Gourds

In Solaris, in a few of the northern settlements, there is a small custom of light and wonder. It builds off the floating lanterns made popular by the travelling merchant Mr Kaito .

Built from traded pumpkins and other gourds with blemishes or sizings that make them not fit for eating, they are traded to skilled craftspeople who thin their walls, decorate their insides, and fill them with a fluid to help their preservation - and act as medium to their floating elements.

The internal elements almost always are made from the elements carved away, though other small vegetables or plant elements are sometimes placed into the pumpkins to make their scenes. The floating elements are mostly fashioned after Glimmer though sometimes it is snow or even tiny birds.

Shaking a Dream Gourd is a pray for good luck and fortune, though superstition says that shaking too often invites 'consequences' into a person's life.

Mechanics & Inner Workings

The liquid inside usually is an alchemical mixture that mimics formaldehyde, usually clear although it can be tinted, the fluid keeps the insides fresh, while painting the outside with a thin polish of wax keeps the outside preserved longer. These gourds while high effort are not meant to last, often designed for a season or two at most.

Item type

Art