Celesti Lighthouse Keeper
Overview
The Celesti Lighthouse Keeper is an Imperial title created by the Freeborn Civilian Commissioner in Winter 380YE. The Celesti lighthouse itself is built near the town of Oran, in Feroz; a stone tower topped with a massive beacon of polished mithril mirrors.
Responsibilities
The Lighthouse Keeper is expected to ensure the Celesti lighthouse remains functional, providing a beacon to sailors along the coast of Feroz. They would also be the responsible for dealing with any threats to the Lighthouse - or in theory to Oran itself - but would also to deal with any opportunity related to the Celesti lighthouse.
Powers
| Total Money Spent | Production |
| 7 Crowns | 8 mana crystals |
| 17 Crowns | 16 mana crystals |
| 35 Crowns | 25 mana crystals |
| 48 Crowns | 33 mana crystals |
Ministry
The Celesti Lighthouse Keeper is a ministry. The Keeper can purchase quantities of crystal mana from mariners and ship-captains that visit Oran, buying at a set price. The Keeper makes their decision how much money to spend during downtime from their character page. Money is removed from, and resources are placed into, the character's inventory when the downtime is processed.
Selection
The Celesti Lighthouse Keeper is a Freeborn national position appointed by the Senate. Under normal circumstances, it will be appointed by unanimous vote of the senators of the Brass Coast.
This is a national title and can only be held by a Freeborn citizen.
Removal
The Keeper is appointed during the Spring Equinox and serves for a year, until they die, step down or are revoked.
The Keeper can be revoked by a lesser majority of the General Assembly, the Freeborn National Assembly or the Assembly of Nine.
The Celesti Lighthouse
The Celesti lighthouse was originally constructed as part of the massive investment in coastal ports and defences during the reign of Emperor Barabbas. The lighthouse was intended to serve not only as a navigation aid but also to keep a watch for signs of Grendel ships. As befitting Barabbas’ grand ambition, the structure was significantly larger than was strictly appropriate to the traffic through a moderate sized coastal town - making it an object of fun for satirists and humourists around the Bay of Catazar.
The original architectural plans were put together in collaboration with the Hakima known as the Celesti, ensuring that it was built with a distinctly Freeborn aesthetic. While the original lighthouse was portrayed outside the Coast as something of a white elephant, the Freeborn appreciated the beautiful structure as much for its aesthetic as for its value as a beacon. The most significant contribution of the Celesti however - and perhaps the real reason for their inclusion in the project - was the beacon. The Celesti’s home since the founding of the Brass Coast is a reclusive monastery near the summit of the Gilded Peak in Kahraman. Here they conducted extensive research on the natural phenomenon that gave the summit its name, and the peaks are rich with orichalcum and mithril with which they crafted fine mirrors to recreate the golden light of the peaks.
Barabbas had originally planned to have the lighthouse lit in a dramatic display as his great flotilla sailed past on its way to conquer the Grendel. It was perhaps an ill omen that due to overspending and delays, construction hadn’t yet started on the complex beacon and only the tower itself was finished. With Barabbas' death just a few days after, funding for coastal projects abruptly stopped, and there was little interest from Senate in finishing what was largely seen as one of the late Throne's great follies. With no further money forthcoming, it proved impossible to complete the lighthouse.
For the past century, a small group of Guerra hakima have kept a large bonfire lit at night in the otherwise empty beacon room to maintain its function as an aid to sailors through the treacherous isles and sandbanks of the southern coast. Though using only a simple bonfire the beacon is nowhere near as clear or bright as was intended. Tourists and pilgrims to the site have provided enough funds to keep the structure itself in fair condition, though never enough to build its complex beacon.
In 380 YE, Ahraz i Guerra, one of the remaining hakima of the Celesti, raised the funds necessary to complete the beacon and recovered the plans from the Celesti archives. The work was then authorised by the Civilian Commissioner for the Brass Coast, thus ensuring that golden light of the Gilded Peaks will, after a long century of absence, finally be brought to shine out across the bay; welcoming those from near and far to the Brass Coast.
The lighthouse is situated near the farthest tip of the Oran peninsula at one of its highest points, and was engineered so that its beacon sat a square 500 ft above the sea. Making it visible from the mast of a moderately sized ship for some 30 miles, and enabling navigators to quickly calculate their distance from shore taking into account its known elevation. This makes it a useful navigation aid for those attempting to traverse the many isles and sandbanks of Cazar. By no coincidence, this also makes it visible to the taller structures in Siroc, Oran, and Joharra.
To ensure the monument would not fall into disrepair again, the title "Celesti Lighthouse Keeper" was created, to be appointed by the Freeborn senators. Keen to promote trade with the newly opened foreign ports in Rigia and Kantor, the Keeper was given powers of a ministry and empowered to purchase mana directly from ships captains, ensuring guaranteed prices on the docks of Oran for those willing to sell to Civil Service factors.
“It’s a metaphor you see”
I was attempting to answer their question of “what was all this about”. As the town had been using the lighthouse, even its diminished capacity, for the past century I assumed they were well aware of its literal function and was attempting to explain the wider implications and intricacies.
“A century ago Emperor Barabbas invited the Celesti as hakima to design this lighthouse not just because of their expertise in the matter, but for its symbolic importance. We as Hakima serve to advise and guide the nation so that it may make the best decisions. The Celesti oath makes reference to bringing the light of Wisdom to all the Families. Thus this lighthouse doesn’t just serve a literal purpose in providing a light by which sailors may navigate; but it is a metaphor for the light that the hakima shine to guide the Families.”
The man in the lead of the small group sucked his teeth and thought on this for a moment.
“That may be the case good sir
But we would much appreciate it if the hakima didn’t shine their light of Wisdom through our bedroom windows when we are trying to sleep”Original text from Charles Philip Wilkinson