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.

Long before the folk, the valley was chosen — not by people, but by the land itself and the quiet magic that had always lived there. It was the remoteness that drew them: the deep connection to earth and root, the old groves where the fae and woodfolk had kept their own counsel since the world was young.

The fae have agendas of their own, and some humans have always carried an affinity for the faefolk. When such a person's intention aligns with the fae's — when magic and will meet in the same place at the same time — miracles can happen. The Choosing is the name the folk give to that first miracle: a single thistledown seed that found the wild lane and decided to stay.

Wisps are small, drifting fae — like Finn — fond of disguise. They wear the shape of thistledown seeds, or motes of pollen, or any small thing that floats on the air, and so pass unseen among the ordinary drift of the valley.

Some say they carry the real seeds along to help themselves fly — but wisps say many things, and not all of them are true. What is certain is that where a wisp lingers, something is usually about to begin.

The tales tell of the first Mead-feast — a small community coming together to share their food and their lives with people and faefolk alike. It was the first time the two peoples sat at one table, and neither side has forgotten it.

Some say that is why the faeries and brownies and gnomes and all the other woodfolk have trusted the lanefolk ever since: they help without hesitation and do not hide as fast as they do in the rest of the kingdom. A balance built on kindness — and that balance is the very heart of the Lane.