"Give your light freely, and it will be kept for you."
Every soul in good standing is given a tintype at their registration — a small glass vial, worn at the throat, that gathers the light of a devout life. When it is full, it glows amber, and the faithful bring it to a Lantern Post to be surrendered and renewed. It is a gentle observance, and a comfort. The cathedral holds your light so that you need not carry its weight.
What the Tintype Is
A tintype is a round glass vial on a short chain, the house seal stamped upon its cap. You are told it gathers devotion — that a life lived in the observances leaves its trace in the glass, the way breath fogs a cold pane, and that when the glass has gathered enough it clouds and warms to amber. This is the sign that it is full. You are not asked to do anything. You need only wear it, and live faithfully, and it fills on its own.
When it is full, you bring it to a Lantern Post. There you surrender the full tintype and receive a fresh, empty one in its place. The full one is carried to the cathedral, where it is "kept in the Light" — and so, the faithful are told, no devout act is ever truly lost, but gathered up and remembered on your behalf.
The Grades of the Glass
Not all tintypes are alike. The glass a soul is given marks their standing, and the Post they bring it to is not the Post another would use. The high and the low do not surrender their light at the same alcove.
| Grade | The Glass | Who Carries It |
|---|---|---|
| Common Issue | Plain glass, iron cap. | The Counted — laborers, conscripts, the working tiers. |
| Warden-Grade | Tinted glass in the house colour, silver cap. | The Registered — skilled hands, licensed merchants. |
| Sanctioned | Etched glass, gold-plated cap, the sigil in relief. | The Sanctioned — officers, senior clergy, guild masters. |
| The Graven | Dark glass in gold-and-bone, often set with a stone. | The Named — the bloodline houses. Collected privately. |
The Named do not stand in line at an embassy alcove. A Warden of the Post attends them where they dwell, and their Graven glass is received by hand, by a Pale Sister, and carried apart from the common vials.
Where the Posts Stand
A Lantern Post keeps to the embassies and buildings of the United House Tribunal, one in every territory, so that no soul need travel far to surrender their light. The Tribunal keeps the Posts; the cathedral keeps what they gather.
The Lantern Post of Eikthyr is permanently suspended until further notice, by no fault of the Tribunal. The house of the stag has closed its embassy to the Post and turns away those who would surrender their light within its bounds. The faithful of the wood are directed to carry their full tintypes to the nearest neighbouring territory. The Tribunal regrets the hardship and reminds all houses that the keeping of the light is a shared observance under the Joint Charter.
The Keeping of Your Light
Surrender your tintype when it glows amber, and not before — a half-full glass is a light half-kept, and the cathedral would have your devotion whole. Bring it to the Post that matches your grade. Receive your fresh glass, wear it from that hour, and let it fill again. So the observance turns, season upon season: you give your light, and it is kept, and you are given an empty vessel to fill with more.
There is no charge for the renewal. The Tribunal keeps the Posts as a mercy, and the cathedral asks nothing but that you wear your glass faithfully, and speak, and live, and let it gather what it will.
KEPT BY · THE UNITED HOUSE TRIBUNALPosted by the Office of the Joint Record, that the faithful may know where to bring their light. The keeping of the tintype is an observance of good standing under the Light of the Root.