Mage Candles

Mage Candles are intricately carved candles which contain a variety of special materials, carefully made to house the magical formula of a spell. Lighting one will cast the imbued spell, though controlling the spell is still up to the individual who lights the candle.

Variety and Usage

Mage Candles have a large number of uses, and see use across many social classes. Their value varies greatly by their effect but they're commonly thought of in four groups: Magician Candles, Sorcery Candles, Miracle Candles, and Adventuring Candles. These categorizations are somewhat arbitrary, and many candles straddle the lines.
Magician Candles are thought of as common among Mage Candles, and are candles with minimal magic power. Common varieties contain simple magic which can ease daily tasks, summon a light breeze, or grant a small boon to the user such as enhanced luck, or ward off mild sicknesses. These candles are the most commonly found, but their magic is often simple or subtle enough that they're easy to counterfeit. Most authentic mage candles with this level of simplicity are created by apprentices of the craft and sold at a loss for the practice. One of the most useful varieties just create additional ghost lights, effectively extending the candle's function as a light source.
Sorcery Candles are candles with recognized or respected magic. When used it becomes clear that they're using magic to accomplish something, though what that something is is sometimes hard to identify because some candles magic is more potent but subtle. These candles are considered to be uncommon most of the time. These candles can do anything from from enhancing a user's physical or mental attributes while the candle burns nearby, to levitating objects in the order of 150kg, warding off evil spirits, cleansing large areas of filth, telepathically connecting one individual to another within a limited range and time, and detecting all manner of things such as poison and ill intent. Uncommon candles are almost never sold at a loss because they're magically potent enough to see use in a large variety of places. Many noble houses keep a few candles around as a precaution. Due to their complexity its much harder to create a convincing forgery of a more potent candle, additionally hucksters of such fakes need to move frequently for fear of getting caught.
Miracle Candles frequently cost small fortunes. It would cost far less to hire a mage for a day than it would to buy a single candle. While the market for these candles is small due to price, the fact that they can be counted on to reliably provide their magic at any time makes them indispensible to those that would call on their power. The limit of what kind of magic a mage candle can use hasn't been discovered yet, but the cost to create the most potent candles is so high that research to find such a limit is unapprochable.
Adventuring Candles aren't really a classification of Mage Candle so much as they are a specific group of candles targeted at adventurers due to their utility. Effects include creating an air bubble for underwater exploration, lighting entire cave systems, detecting magical traps, exploding, purging undead, and countless other effects that no reasonable person would need on a regular basis. Candles like this are near impossible to find outside of very large markets, or towns known as adventuring hubs. Their rate of consumption among adveturers is high though, and many adventurers will provide rare Arcane Chandling supplies, meaning that their cost is often significantly lower for their potency compared to more utilitarian Sorcery and Miracle candles.

Manufacturing process

Creating a mage candle often takes weeks of work, collecting ingridients, preparing rituals, dipping and carving candles. The more complex the magic within the candle, the longer this process can take. The Palace of Makereva is said to have a potent mage candle called The Thousand Moon Candle which is believed to have taken nearly one-hundred years to make, having been meticulously worked on by multiple generations of craftsmen.

History

The practice of making Mage Candles predates most modern empires, and is a craft passed down from master to apprentices for an estimated two-thousand years. Early candles were simple and used few ingridients, and their potency is believed to be mostly in the minds of the purchasers. As the craft developed and the pursuit of greater magical effect increased so too did the complexity of their craft. Eventually making mage candles became its own dedicated craft, no longer something that could be done by regular chandlers who dabbled in magecraft.
The Term Arcane Chandler came about in the late 1400s when the a small kingdom south of The Divining Line brought the practice of making mage candles into the palace by hiring several craftsmen fulltime, and giving them the title Arcane Chandlers. The term originally referred only to those hired by the palace, but over the next hundred years the term spread more widely, and today the term outlives most other surviving information about the kingdom.

Recent History and Modern Reception

Today The Theocracy of Thasselonada claims to be the birthplace of the craft, citing the origin of the name as proof of the origin of the craft itself. Arcane Chandling is regarded as a holy profession in The Theocracy, though it most other nations its merely a very rare and valuable craft. The Theocracy has dozens of holy rituals which heavily feature the use of Mage Candles, and several festivals which celebrate the craft.
Umbrethorn has taken the opposite stance of The Theocracy, and banned the craft shortly after its capital Jericho became shrouded in darkness. The crown of Umbrethorn officially believes the origin of the darkness to be the work of someone abusing Mage Candles to maintain the permanent night that engulfs the city; though they've brought forth no direct evidence of the use of Mage Candles. In addition to the craft's banning, officials have been ordered to seize all Mage Candles, arrest those in possession of three or more, and execute anyone caught practicing the craft on the spot. The stricness of enforcement has lead to even normal chandlers making only simple white or cream candles to avoid suspicion. The price of candles in Umbrethorn and its neighbors is in constant flux due to the exodus of craftsmen from Umbrethorn, and many Arcane Chandlers turning to normal candle making as they attempt to wait out the political storm around their profession.

Creation Date

Estimated ~1270s ADE

Rarity

Mage Candles can be found in many market places, though their quality and potency can vary greatly. The availability of candles is highly regional.

Weight

varies, typically ~0.2 kg

Dimensions

varies ~2cm-8cm diameter, ~6cm-35cm tall

Raw materials & Components

The exact composition of a mage candle varies by both its creator and the magic being contained within the candle. Many materials can be substituted for others with similar or adjacent properties, but a common thread among materials is that the closer their natural association is to the intended effect, the less you need to create the intended effect. Below is detailed one partial recipie found in the workshop of a deceased Arcane Chandler.

Wind Harvester Candle
1/2kg Purified Sword-Mantis Wax
25grams Echo Hawk Down
15grams Muddled Golden Wheat
10cm Braided Spark Wire
3grams Viridian Pigment (made from plants only!)
1gram Unalloyed Gold Dust

The recipie resembles other recipies in the region it was found, but its known that many Arcane Chandlers intentionally include erronious ingridents, wrong measurements, or leave off critical ingridients as a way to protect their trade secrets. Additionally this recipie is notably missing the entirity of the instructions for the creation process itself, making it useful only as an example of what a recipie might look like.

Tools

Creating Mage Candles requires a variety of magical implements depending on the exact process used, but its not uncommon to find a variety of carving tools, wind maps, astrolobes, and of course the vats, rods, and dyes needed for candle dipping. The full process appears to be a melding of many crafts including chandling, star reading, and alchemy.