"Burn ever brighter. Give them hope." — Lorekeeper Aeron
Being able to communicate across distant places is a priviledge unknown to the common and simple people living in Avalonia. For most of them, even talking to the neighbours is kind of a bother, unless both parties are particularly fond of gossip. Writing messages is a priviledge only reserved for those weird scholarly monks and even the untouchable noble lords residing in castles - although half of them do not really bother to write anything more than their signature.
However, there comes a time when you do need to send very urgent and life depending messages across giant distances, and horses or literacy isn't quite enough to really save you or your settlement. Introducing: fire lookouts. They watch out for fires, they can set their towers on fire and they report about fires. But not just any fires - mostly about those requesting aid against raiders. If your village is being attacked by raiders it is crucial that many people start knowing about it as soon as possible so a) someone is send out to help b) nearby settlements are ready to take on refugees and most importantly c) lead them behind the walls of nearby castles so the raiding itself can't really spready much further.
The Avlans are not a nation of fighters. But they are not really fond of being slaughtered either. While the fire lookout system is flawed and simple and can't really help much to those who are striken by raiding parties as the first, it helps to save lives of many others and protects the stability of the entire realm.
Sometimes, setting things on fire is good. Make it a particular colour or height or shape and you might even convey more information about the kind of trouble that your settlement is being besieged - if you do happen to employ a mage up there. And it is well worth it to find one if you don't.
