Jack-o-Lantern

Hollow-headed and lit from within, the jacks are the dark mirror of the Wisps: where wisp-light is celestial, jack-light is foolsfire, born of rot and marsh gas. They drift the reed channels and crossroads of the fens by night, and their lanterns can lead a traveler home or lead them under.

They are cheerful, morbid, and fatalistic, being the only fey who visibly burn down — a jack hollows further with every passing season until metamorphosis takes them. They are the only people in either category who can see it coming, and they treat the fact as a joke that everyone else is too polite to get.

Appearance

Thin-limbed and lantern-headed, with a light inside that shows through the eyes and mouth and dims measurably with age. A jack's remaining seasons can be estimated by anyone who knows how to look, which is considered extremely rude to do in company and is done constantly.

Attuned Magic

Foolsfire. A nascent jack makes cold light and carries it. A powerful one can put a light anywhere within sight, make it move convincingly, cast the appearance of a lit window or a distant campfire, and — the trick the fens are named for — make a traveler certain they are walking toward something.

Society

Loose, itinerant, and organized entirely around the causeways: who guides which route, and what the crossing costs. Jack Nine-Wicks is the eldest and has burned down to almost nothing.

Relations

The jacks are the Wilds' ferrymen. They will lead a traveler through for a price, honestly and reliably — and they will lead an unwelcome one in circles until the marsh takes them, with exactly the same cheerful courtesy. The distinction between the two services is not made explicit at the time of purchase, and the fens have swallowed more Faerie expeditions than every other region combined.