Glossary of the Lane

Magical flame creatures created by the fae to make light. They glow a pale bluegreen and are warm to touch, but never hot. It takes skill and dedication to learn how to light them, as they respond to emotions.

They are in many respects alive, though they show limited intelligence and cannot reproduce. In a slumber state, they lay still in a small iridescent, slightly glowing pool. When coaxed by a lightbringer, they dance and glow brightly almost like a regular flame, but brighter.

A type of faeriefire created in the Farnorths, it glows redorange and is hot to touch — hot enough to hurt, but typically not hot enough to burn — and does not 'slumber' like faeriefire, so there is no need to 'light' them or for the skill to do so. It is created by the elementals of the northern coast instead of by faeries.

It is common among fishermen and peoples of the north, where it is cold often, as it is able to provide warmth without danger to wooden ships. However, Sailors Fire also responds to emotions, particularly 'heated' emotions such as anger or fighting.

In some cases, Sailors Fire is even capable of merging together if closer than about 7 feet, and excited by high emotions such as those during war. This exact issue caused the majority of the northern fleet to be lost when the blockades were attacked by the Ulgoth during the beginning of the War of the Seven Kingdoms.

About a decade before the tales, a great war between the seven Kingdoms that existed at the time. A trade dispute between Aramour — the Kingdom in which Thistledown Lane exists — and the Ulgoths, a kingdom on the far side of the Farnorths (upper Aramour), led to the Ulgoths blockading the fishing and trade lanes around the Farnorth Islands along the Northern Coast. Aramour did not have a navy, so it conscripted many fishermen to 'blockade the blockades' — prevent the Ulgoth ships from receiving supplies.

Meanwhile, the nations to the south and east began their own trouble. Mar-Bourab, across the inland sea from Argonne, began fighting with its neighbors to the north — Uk and Azam. Trade wars, piracy, and political upheaval led Argonne to fight with Aramour.

To the east, over the mountains, the El-Uvynn tried to stay neutral, but the dwarvish kingdoms of Tuarnn and Nuarrn conspired to use their resources to play the others against each other, and led to an attack on the elves. The war raged for years, but eventually came back to peace after the Council of Five Kingdoms came together to defeat and contain the Dwarven empire.

The most 'official' coin used entirely on the lane — small gold, silver, and copper coins with holes in the center, often carried on a string. It was one of Rhonan's most ingenious ideas, shaped with input from Ely the Innkeep, who deals most with travelers.

Money is rare on the lane. Many of the deals among the Lanefolk are barter and trade — goods, services, help-in-kind, even paid months after a trade. Ledgers are often just a list of names, if kept at all. Coin from other kingdoms shows up only when brought by travelers, or by the near-Lane farmers who need it to track their expenses and contracts with other regions. The Thollar gives the lane a coin of its own for the few times one is wanted.

A creature of the lane, and in one regard the opposite of ravens: where ravens collect shiny objects for their beauty, a dragonkite sees a shiny object as the scales of another dragonkite — and assumes it marks the claimed nest of another dragonkite, to be avoided.

Maren Mossbeard hangs a formidable string of Thollars in her window that faces the garden, a shiny warning to keep dragonkites from stealing her sweetberries as they dry.