Person
Hollis Crane
Proposed nameMire's keeper and the oldest Lamplighter: an old fisherman on the stilt shack's porch, once a Relay Corps signals man posted to the front, who stayed when the war moved on. Fixes what nobody else remembers how to fix, talks to the war machines (the Sleepers wade past his porch like neighbours), and is the only keeper who claims to have met BLACKFLAME, once; he won't say where.
Lanes
Connected entries
keepsThe stilt shackMire's post: a stilt shack on the water at the edge of the old front, with a tin roof, a porch lantern, a rocking chair and a radio mast taller than the trees.- member ofThe LamplightersThe keepers of the unlisted relays' posts, one to a world. Their creed: a black flame gives no light, but someone keeps it burning.
- veteran ofRelay CorpsOld signal units that kept isolated garrisons connected before network unification. Their repairable hardware and keep-talking doctrine shaped Rourke and Flint.
- talks toThe SleepersLedger Wars exo-frames left standing in Mire's water, moss-covered, herons nesting in their hatches.
claims to have metBLACKFLAMEThe network's operator: the legend who lit the first unlisted relay during the Switch-Off and keeps the Bromigos network's relays, racks, and worlds lit. Real name CLASSIFIED;
remembers drawings forTamsin RookKeeper of the Spine: a young salvage-clan mechanic who knows which wreck holds the part a post needs. Half the posts still have working gear because of her.- links hereMire's markThe stilt shack's own mark: the burn-in as Mire carries it. The black flame stands on the flood line with its reflection broken by ripples, and two Sleeper eye-lamps glow low in the water…
On the timeline
When it happened
- War's end
The money moves on. Mire's jungle front is left to sink into the swamp with its exo-frames still standing, and in Sunder's orbit the dreadnoughts lose station-keeping and begin to fall.
- War's end