Lantern of Eternal Light
Also known as: Eternal Lantern
A hand-forged lantern of pale Dwarven ironwork, its four-paned housing filled with a flame that has never once guttered since the day it was kindled, a cool, silver-white radiance that casts no shadow and dims neither in the crushing dark of the Iron Mountains nor beneath the lightless depths of the Deep Earth. Runes of the Order of the Starlight ring its base, and the handle is worn smooth by centuries of desperate hands.
Artifact Details
- Type
- Relic
- Rarity
- Rare
- Origin
- Forged in the deep foundries of the Iron Mountains by the Dwarven master-smith Gordrek Ashveil during the Age of the Long Dark, a century-long eclipse caused when the Celestials withdrew their light as punishment for the wars of mortal kingdoms. Ashveil, unwilling to watch his people perish in eternal darkness, petitioned the Order of the Starlight, who consecrated a single captured Aetheric ember into the lantern's iron heart, binding it with runes that would sustain the flame until the world's last breath.
Overview
Lantern of Eternal Light is a rare relic in Landorya. Its known origin is Forged in the deep foundries of the Iron Mountains by the Dwarven master-smith Gordrek Ashveil during the Age of the Long Dark, a century-long eclipse caused when the Celestials withdrew their light as punishment for the wars of mortal kingdoms. Ashveil, unwilling to watch his people perish in eternal darkness, petitioned the Order of the Starlight, who consecrated a single captured Aetheric ember into the lantern's iron heart, binding it with runes that would sustain the flame until the world's last breath.. Its most cited abilities include Emits an unwavering, sourceless light that cannot be extinguished by wind, water, magical darkness, or the breath of Dragons, it illuminates a radius of roughly thirty paces in perfect clarity., Living creatures touched by its light are immune to mundane and magical fear effects, as though the dark itself has lost its hold on them., and When raised aloft as a beacon, it can be seen from impossible distances, sailors of the Shimmering Isles claim to have spotted its glow from beyond the horizon during the blackest of storms.. Accounts also warn of a drawback: The lantern's light is utterly impartial, it reveals all things equally, including what the bearer most wishes to keep hidden. Secrets, concealed wounds, disgu…
History
For three generations the Lantern of Eternal Light hung in the Grand Hall of Clan Ashveil, guiding Dwarven miners through the lightless veins of the Iron Mountains and twice serving as a rallying beacon when Orc warbands breached the lower gates. It was lost when the Dwarven emissary Breta Stoneclad carried it into the Fey Court of the Eternal Twilight as a diplomatic gift, a gesture that ended in treachery, as the Fey, covetous of its unnatural radiance, imprisoned Breta and kept the lantern for their own twilit halls for over two centuries. A Sylvan Elf ranger named Vaelithor Duskmantle is said to have stolen it back from the Fey Court during the Reclamation Skirmishes, only to lose it crossing the Sun-Scarred Peaks when a Sphinx demanded it as the price of passage, and the Sphinx, satisfied, has kept it ever since, hanging it in the mouth of her cave-lair on the highest ridge, where its silver glow can be seen from the desert plains below on moonless nights.
Powers & Abilities
- ✦ Emits an unwavering, sourceless light that cannot be extinguished by wind, water, magical darkness, or the breath of Dragons, it illuminates a radius of roughly thirty paces in perfect clarity.
- ✦ Living creatures touched by its light are immune to mundane and magical fear effects, as though the dark itself has lost its hold on them.
- ✦ When raised aloft as a beacon, it can be seen from impossible distances, sailors of the Shimmering Isles claim to have spotted its glow from beyond the horizon during the blackest of storms.
- ✦ Once per night, the bearer may speak the Aetheric word inscribed on its base to project a focused beam that reveals hidden or invisible entities cloaked by shadow or illusion.
- ✦ The lantern faintly warms the air around it, warding off the supernatural cold of the Frostborn and the numbing chill of deep underground passages.
Curse or Drawback
The lantern's light is utterly impartial, it reveals all things equally, including what the bearer most wishes to keep hidden. Secrets, concealed wounds, disguised identities, and even buried grief manifest visibly as dark stains on the skin of those who stand in its glow for too long, readable by any who know the Aetheric script. Those who carry it for more than a full lunar cycle find they are constitutionally unable to speak falsehoods, a mercy or a torment, depending on one's nature.