Lightning Pen

The drawing spanned almost half the plain, it seemed. From the ground, the blackened tangles of seared earth formed pathways and little hillocks, sprinkled with the gleam of the remaining silver preparation. From the skies, it formed a breathtaking portrait.

— A humble human author

Also known as the Adlawtre in the native Grazu, the lightning pen is a tool used by Garruw artists to create some rather magnificent works on the plains.
The pen contains a solution containing silver, among other ingredients designed to make it attract lightning in a concentrated way. The person wielding the pen will press a series of buttons to regulate the flow of the solution, and then apply the solution to an external surface. Usually this surface will be a flat plain, although some of the more daring artists will apply the pen to a vertical cliff face or to a craggy mountain ridge.
When lightning from the many storms strikes the prepared area, the solution reacts and turns a deep blue-black, with hints of silver gleam to it. The designs created are quite stunning, if impermanent.

Mechanics & Inner Workings

The pen consists of a large capsule containing the silver fluid used to draw, a non-conductive outer layer, and a series of buttons designed to direct the stream of the fluid.

Significance

Lightning pens are one of the most popular forms of artistic medium among the Garruw. The extravagant nature of the art it creates, the inherent danger of wielding a conductive material in the middle of a lightning storm, the impermanence, all these factors come together to make for an intriguing item. While artists are not typically esteemed in Garruw society, there is a degree of respect given to those who use this specific tool.

Item type

Mechanical

Rarity

The pens themselves are easy to make, but there are not many because the silver preparation used inside is a bit more rare.