The Broken Light

Featured heavily in A01, the Broken Light is a lamphouse two miles off the coast of Blackmill Township. Though its origin is unknown to villagers in the township, they regard it with fear and suspicion, and a number of popular myths discourage investigation.

History of the Broken Light
In the early years following the Great Undoing, the Sixth Keep of Civilization dissembled and hunted the land for Old Ones who had escaped the wars. Their campaign was highly successful, exterminating all but a select few: the Deathless Ones. The Deathless Ones were six Old Ones described by Gilgam of Morrow, Commander of the Hunt, as "vulgar, slopping beasts whose innumerable limbs savagely thrashed and assailed any who would approach it". He also observed that they "lacked any apparent intelligence or motive beyond the dealing of death".

Upon the Hunt's discovery that these creatures were impossible to kill, they enlisted the help of Civilization's remaining scholars, builders, and wizards to construct prisons in which the Deathless Ones would dwell eternally.

The first of these cells was the Broken Light, which was at the time a disused lamp house that had been abandoned after finding a complex and unknown cave system beneath it. The Hunt suffered many casualties while imprisoning the first of the six Deathless Ones, though were ultimately successful.

Gilgam ordered that a keeper be appointed to guard the light at all times, his or her duties fulfilled only upon their relief at the age of 60. Should any disturbances be observed, the keeper was to illuminate the light using stones designed by alchemists specifically for their bright and long-lasting burn.

Due to the foggy nature of Blackmill, however, it was soon discovered that monitoring the light was nearly impossible from the shore. As a result, a tower, known now only as the Keep in the Woods (A03), was built, and a small group of Huntsmen assigned to it.

In the early 18th century (1700 PE- ), a small religious group obtained an ancient scroll describing many of the events of the Great Undoing. The group grew in influence, spreading quietly throughout the land, and began to call themselves the Order of the Old Light. Shortly after adopting this moniker, the group abruptly disappeared from public view, though maintained an intense interest in the Broken Light.

The Broken Light: Today
For the people of Blackmill Township, the true name of the Broken Light has long been forgotten. It exists now only in myth and legend, its original purpose unknown, and is rarely even seen due to the dense fogs common to the area.

On that rare occasion when the mists clear, the people of Blackmill watch it closely and with great suspicion, concerned that its light would become bright and cast some unknown, sinister meaning onto their shore. At no point, however, has it been observed lit in the history of the township.