Ash Lantern

Culture

Ashlanterns believe in death with dignity and liberation from suffering. They do not see themselves as killers or saviors, but as guides across the threshold. Most are atheists, lapsed faithful, or spiritually conflicted, seeing the divine as absent or irrelevant in the suffering around them.

Key customs:

• Each mission begins with a silence known as the “Dimming.”

• Names of those guided are burned into ashwood tablets and kept in the Memory Alcove, a hidden sanctum beneath Syndicate holdings.

• Every Ashlantern carries a vial of black ash from a cremated patient—their “first passing.”

The Dimming is not silence for the dead—it is silence for the living, so we remember that mercy should never be loud.

We do not call the lost to follow—we open the path and wait. Mercy cannot be commanded. It must be chosen.

Public Agenda

Officially, the Ash Lantern Society does not exist. If acknowledged, they are dismissed as myth, rumor, or dark propaganda by Camp Hope authorities.

Unofficially, their mission is to:

• Aid Others, Awakened, and terminal patients who would otherwise be executed or abandoned.

• Evacuate vulnerable individuals from the city when persecution or violence spikes.

• Provide voluntary euthanasia to the suffering, especially those dying of Sonohoka Syndrome or being hunted for awakening signs.

• They offer no judgment and make no demands—only questions and the choice to walk with them.

They are the ones who walk beside suffering, not to save it, but to witness it, to honor it, and when asked… to end it with grace. The Ash Lanterns do not fight the darkness—they carry it, so others don’t have to.

Among the Solstice Syndicate, the Ash Lanterns hold a sacred niche—agents of mercy who walk the line between healer, ferryman, and quiet executioner. They ask no oath of vengeance and offer no glory. Their rise through the ranks is marked by the weight of names carried, not by ambition. Advancement is earned not through loyalty to power, but by one’s willingness to bear pain in silence, to walk into the darkness and not flinch.

Rank 1: Cinder

• Prerequisite: Renown 1 or higher in the Solstice Syndicate

You are a Cinder, a flicker of potential entrusted with the Society’s most basic and quiet duties. You handle the unremarked labor of mercy—running supplies to hidden shrines, sweeping blood from safehouse floors, ferrying ashes to their resting place. You are not permitted to guide a Crossing, but you are expected to witness one.

• You gain access to a hidden safehouse in Camp Hope for rest or emergency shelter.

• You are given a Solstice Syndicate insignia

Rank 2: Lantern

• Prerequisite: Renown 3 or higher in the Solstice Syndicate

You are now a Lantern, permitted to act in the field, guiding the sick, the hunted, or the willing toward escape—or toward a quiet end. You are trained in stealth and griefcraft, and entrusted with the Society’s most delicate work.

• You can choose one of the following proficiencies: Deception, Detection, Insight, Medicine, Persuasion or Stealth.

• You are provided an air dart gun and can now purchase injections from the Ash Lanterns.

• You can choose one of the following tool proficiencies: Drug Kit, Herbalism Kit, Medical Kit or Poisoner's Kit

• Gain a contact from the contact table under the background section. You can choose if this contact is an ally or rival.

Rank 3: Embershade

• Prerequisite: Rank 2 and Renown 10 or higher in the Solstice Syndicate

As an Embershade, you are entrusted to plan operations. You organize evacuations, oversee euthanasia logistics, and must balance mercy with risk. You are expected to document each crossing and maintain the sanctity of the Dimming.

• You are provided a Feign Implant cybernetic to help ensure that you always escape.

• You can now purchase and sell poisons through the Ash Lanterns.

• You gain Empathy (Genetic Benefit) from your experience working with the dying.

• Gain a contact from the contact table under the background section. You can choose if this contact is an ally or rival.

Rank 4: Coalbearer

• Prerequisite: Rank 3 and Renown 25 or higher in the Solstice Syndicate

You are now a Coalbearer, a leader of the Ash Lantern Society. You carry the weight of the Society’s collective grief and direct its mission with precision and compassion. You have completed at least one Last Crossing—an act of true mercy under extraordinary risk—and are considered a living relic among your peers.

• You oversee all Lantern and Embershade operations within a sector of Camp Hope.

• You gain Poison Protection (Genetic Benefit) from your frequent handling of poisons.

• Your familiarity with death has allowed you gain sway over it. You gain the feat Extra Life.

• You are given a 10% discount when purchasing items from the Ash Laterns.

• Gain a contact from the contact table under the background section. You can choose if this contact is an ally or rival.

Rank 5: Coalvoice

• Prerequisite: Rank 4 and Renown 40 or higher in the Solstice Syndicate

You are one of the Coalvoices, a speaker of final names and a high commander of the Society’s presence in Camp Hope. You may act in the Syndicate’s name to protect the mission of the Ash Lanterns. Few know your face; fewer still would dare to stop you.

• You oversee all Ash Lantern operations within Camp Hope.

• You have access to the Solstice Council, speaking with Pontiffs and Oligarchs when needed.

• Your knowledge and mastery of death has increased. You gain the Regenerative Health feat.

• You are given a 20% discount when purchasing items from the Ash Laterns.

• Gain a contact from the contact table under the background section. You can choose if this contact is an ally or rival.

Rank 6: The Last Ember

• Prerequisite: Rank 5 and Renown 50 or higher in the Solstice Syndicate

You are a Last Ember—a figure of myth and mercy. You no longer operate openly, but when you appear, even Oligarchs speak your name with reverence or fear. You are keeper of final truths, witness to what no one else dares remember. Your footsteps mark the end of suffering. Or the beginning of legend.

• You may call upon any Ash Lantern, regardless of rank, for one mission.

• Your understanding of death borders into defience. You gain the Respawn feat.

• You are given a 30% discount when purchasing items from the Ash Laterns.

• Gain one unrecorded contact—a ghost, lost name, or being that no longer exists in official memory. You may call upon this Unrecorded Contact once per a long rest to gain +10 to any Intelligence based Skill Check.