Thursday, September 30, 2010

Magic Items: Light Stones

Light Stones were originally designed by the mages of Jenish. Though the ability to create light by means of magic has been around since the end of chaos, no one knew how to create something which would retain illumination.

Mariko worked hard on designing something which would continue to glow long after a mage stopped concentrating upon the light for he loved to read at night once his wife went to bed. It was mostly by accident. He was carving the rune for light next to the rune for eternal when his pet pixie dragon bumped him. The two runes connected, but he was loathe to give up all the work he'd done. He cast a spell of illumination and the magic remained for some time.

The name is a bit of a misnomer since lamps, candles, anything, can be a "light stone". A light stone has to be renewed once a month and can be turned off or on by a magic word or phrase. Originally there was no way to do this, but this was refined over time.

In game terms the light given off by a "light stone" is simply a mage's light spell on an object. Anyone can use this item and they are so common even most poor people in the city have one. The phrase is usually light or some sort of variation in the language of magic. Mage apprentices usually create the cheapest versions as part of their apprenticeships.
Tomorrow: a taste of my novel

1 comment:

Violet said...

I like that Mariko was not trying to develop a long-lasting light for safety or to sell for profit, but that he just really wanted to read at night. I also like that he has his pixie dragon to thank for the accidental discovery of the light stone rune! :)