The Lamplighters Guild (WIP)

[LisHz]

Lamplighters Guild

Every night, heavy fog gathers in the streets of Tethenen. Shadows lurk in the fog, waiting for any weakness in the city’s protections to fail. As long as the lamps burn through the night, waiting is all the monsters can do.

Your guild, the one you’ve run for two years now, maintains those lamps. In a happier world, they would receive accolades. In this world, the one where only those wounded by Shadows can perceive them or remember them as anything more than childhood bedtime stories, your guild receives only suspicion and scorn.

After all, when Shadows break through, it is the lamplighters left standing in the aftermath.

In the midst of handling dwindling resources and a falling guild reputation, a mysterious package lands on your doorstep one morning, sending ripples through everything you thought you knew.

You’ve known ever since a Shadow scarred you that Shadows killed your parents. You hadn’t known it was deliberate, that someone had purposefully weakened the defenses.

You hadn’t known it was murder.

Come try out The Lamplighters Guild a WIP about a new and struggling guild leader with a murder mystery to solve.

• Solve the mystery of your parents’ deaths and decide how to handle their murderer

• Discover the truth of the Shadows and the secret of the increasingly heavy fog

• Save your parents’ legacy and maybe even reconcile with your estranged siblings

• Restore the reputation of the Lamplighters Guild and save it from dissolution

• Determine who controls the overly powerful Kyte family…or help lead them to their downfall

• Confront a saboteur and save the renaissance of alchemy

• Fall in love with one of six romantic options

The romantic options are the following:

Elian (same gender/calling as MC) and the MC have been friends ever since they both joined the Lamplighters at 16. Elian runs the clinic for the guild and neighborhood, but the clinic won’t help them reach their true goal: curing their older brother.

Nothia (she/her) should have been the next in line to the lead the guild, but her familial obligations stood in the way. Now, she refuses to let the MC be anything less than excellent.

Kian (ne/nem), alchemical prodigy and leader of the renaissance, once provided the MC a home when they became estranged from their siblings. Now, as ne spirals deeper into alcohol-fueled grief, ne is the one in need of help.

Ostric (he/him) has had an extremely obvious crush on the MC since childhood. Now, though aligned with the guards and his best friend (the MC’s younger brother), he’s crushing still.

Luvia (she/her) is the most notorious and wealthiest party girl in the city. Behind her lavish, laughing mask, though, Luvia hides a sharp intelligence and long-term goals she’s shared with no one. (Note: Players may choose to have had a prior relationship with Luvia, offering a ‘second chance’ romance.)

Frey (he/him) is the new city archivist who lives by the maxim that no one and nothing gets forgotten. While passionate about information, he’s inattentive to his own more-physical needs.

Every romantic option has their own additional concerns intersecting with the other plots. As the MC spends more time with them, the ROs bring you deeper into their personal worlds.

Word count of chapters 1-3: ~189k, with a single playthrough covering about 18%.

Current status: Drafting chapter 4

Link: https://cogdemos.ink/play/lishz/the-lamplighters-guild/mygame

Note: These chapters are drafts and subject to future changes.

Feedback welcome!

Update Log

2026

2026-February: WIP thread posted. (Posted on 3/1)

2026-March: Rules for Maze shared.

2026-April: Chapters 1 through 3 re-uploaded.

[saltwaterwitch]

I thought the save system was broken so I posted about it, but I immediately remembered my internet has been weird, so I doubled checked, and it saved fine. I panic deleted my reply Restored it now

But, the world building when it comes to character creation is strong right out of the gate

[ChanceOfFire]

Early notes:

The stat screen says your character is nonbinary even if you pick a male character with masculine names and he/him pronouns, or a female character with feminine names and she/her pronouns.

During character stat creation, you can select an option for the stats to be explained to you, but reading a long explanation is very tedious. Probably have an option to display it as:

#This is my sneaky way to engage in something I miss. (Subtle)

Would feel easier to digest.

Good luck.

[LisHz]

Ah. When I revised my character creation, I forgot to include setting that string variable again. Easy enough fix. Thanks for highlighting it!

[HomingPidgeon]

I enjoyed the hell out of this and would absolutely have clicked purchase well before the prompt came up. I’ll be following this closely, looking forward to more!

[LisHz]

I’m so glad you enjoyed it!!

Out of curiosity, who did you ask for help and who did you decide to help? (Also, who did you ask about your parents?)

I like knowing which paths people take.

[Jenna_V]

I don’t think it’s just you. I received “Save Failed” errors, too. I refreshed the page several times with no improvement, then tried two other games on COGdemos and had no trouble saving in either of them. Something does seem to be going on with the save system. It appears to be inconsistent, though, because it did save successfully for the first time just now.

[LisHz]

CoGDemos operates its own save system (unlike DashingDon where I had to add a line of code to enable saves). I checked and I have both the save system and back button enabled on the site. I just tested the save and quick save; both worked. I’m not sure what the issue may be.

[HomingPidgeon]

I played a heart-led prepared character and was immediately and without hesitation drawn in by Luvia, so most of my free time was spent helping and getting help from her. I really enjoy a second chance romance, so that element appealed, but also since she’s so influential and also inclined (at least in my playthrough) to believe and assist me, it really hit both the emotional and practical beats for my playthrough.

Otherwise I really leaned a lot on Nothia–I definitely saw how it could be a rivalry (and how she definitely was coming at it from a rivalry angle) but tbh the way the guild was such an isolated unit in the community made it feel like whether or not we personally got along, it was more important to recognize her as a competent and talented lamplighter than as a political rival.

Parental stuff under a cut for potential spoilers!

I spoke with an old coworker but off the top of my head, I can’t remember which one. The familial alienation is a thing my character at this point isn’t interested in healing–they have enough on their plate and just don’t have the emotional bandwidth to spare for trying to fix that rift. But a coworker is going to have more detailed information than a rival, so that’s the direction I went with

[Fraud_Writer]

Cinema, really liked it and can’t wait to see the completed version.

[AletheiaKnights]

I have a question about this one. I understand that the concept of gender in this society is based around connection to the elements rather than reproductive biology, which is pretty cool, but makes it hard to know what gender to pick for my self-insert character. What attributes, qualities, and societal roles are associated with each element? According to ancient Western ideas about humors and temperaments, I’m an earth type, but I don’t know if the same set of associations carry over to this fictional world.

[LisHz]

So, these are my thoughts on how people in-world view the three elemental alignments. Not everyone adheres to these. Sometimes, a specific trait gets more focus than others. Sometimes people announce an alignment even though they don’t fit any of the expected traits because it is still where they feel called. Etc. Some of these are self-fulfilling, too. They’re descriptive, not prescriptive.

ETA: Everyone is of all three elements, as everything in this world is. The alignment is where you’re called most, not a box. Someone who feels called by the land can still be an explorer or artist, etc.

I’ve not quite figured out how to fit this into the setting yet, though if you follow Ostric’s route in ch3, you might encounter this proverb: the sky guides, the land shelters, and the sea provides.

Of the Sky

• Explorers
• Explore possibilities; ambitious
• Willing to take risks
• Fierce; protective
• Strong attention to detail
• Flighty; unreliable
• Trouble with commitment

Of the Sea

• Artists
• Very creative
• A strong instinct for truth
• Nurturing; sustaining
• Strong memorization skills
• Selfish; always wants more
• Can be self-isolating

Of the Land

• Architects
• Makes things happen
• Accepting; open-minded
• Adaptable
• Community builders
• Stubborn; grounded
• Ruthless

[AletheiaKnights]

Thank you so much! I’m called by the sea!

[R1220]

I really enjoyed the demo, and would absolutely buy it based on what’s available. (Though I’m grateful for the current continuation, because I got to see the differences in results, which were awkwardly hilarious.)
Case in point:

I had managed to both convince and protect Feylon, so that the proposal was withdrawn. And when I kept my mouth shut during the proceedings, the proposal failed outright. But when I spoke “logically” against the proposal - the one that was already withdrawn - enough of my fellow chairs felt petty enough toward me that they voted for it, making the result one that would be “revisited” in six months. …Pretty accurate depiction of council-politics, I’d say. Though I may or may not have also failed a stat check based on being more emotional than logical.

I’m kind of hoping I’ll have a chance to introduce Feylon and Kian, maybe they could work on some sort of alchemical innovation together? Going to try to help Kian in any case.

I named my character River (meaning “river” - I really like the mechanic, though in my case it wound up feeling delightfully silly, in that moment.) but he wound up being more of a Land-character anyhow. (I guess Land is what fundamentally separates rivers from the sea, so it weirdly fits!) He’s trying to keep the guild and his family together, as best he can.

I also really appreciated the thoroughness of the “Explain this choice” options, which kept the story rolling without leaving me confused about the greater societal significance.

I’m excited to see how the story expands!

[scriobhaim]

On this note, I wanted to ask about some of the early character choices in the beginning of the story.

This choice gave me pause. In our world, “non-binary” isn’t really a third gender, but the rejection of the binary in itself. In your world, I would assume that’s closer to being “uncalled” than anything else. Similarly, children don’t really have inherent gender until they’re older (they’re mostly just socialised based on their sex), which fits in with your world’s idea of children getting their “calling” at around 13. This state of being “genderless” feels closer to “non-binary” than anything else, (though obviously there’s a lot of variation in how people see themselves, and some do indeed see themselves as a third gender rather than being genderless).

If the gender in your world is completely detached from biological sex, it feels a little weird (at least to me!) to refer to them as male, female, and nonbinary, because those terms are (a) heavily tied to sex in our world and (b) based in a binary spectrum, which this world doesn’t have(?). I don’t know if you think it would be too overboard and intimidating for readers to have neopronouns for all the three genders, but even if you don’t want to do that, the men/women/nonbinary people distinction still feels off to me. I wonder also if certain NB players would be a little annoyed at being lumped in as a “third gender” when some of them (from what I understand) work hard to not be labelled like that.

There’s also this choice, which confused me a little:

Does unisex here refer to the third gender (land)? Or are names based on biological sex rather than gender? If they are based on the in-world gender, shouldn’t the question here be about whether your name is sky-, sea-, or land-based? At the moment the name choice also comes before the information about the three genders so you could end up picking a feminine name before realizing you’d prefer to be of the sea and use he/him, for example.

In general though I do love this concept and I’m excited to read the whole thing! I stopped myself after a while because I want to save it for later, but the story and setting seem right up my alley!

[LisHz]

You are absolutely correct. I’ve already removed male/female/nonbinary from my working draft and shifted the names to sky/sea/land (you’ll see these changes in the next update), but you’re bringing up other great points.

This really is a three-gender system. So while land-called people use pronouns that don’t belong to the traditional male/female binary, they are still within a gender and so aren’t really nonbinary.

Right now the actual nonbinary calling is buried in an ‘explain this choice’ option (at least, I believe it is in the live version, too), but the term is “rain-called.” Rain because it moves through the three elements, but isn’t the elements. For some, this means fluidity. For others, it means feeling equally called to all elements, while for others it means not feeling especially called to any element. In the later half of chapter 4, the MC meets someone who is rain-called. At that point, the MC will be able to reflect on whether that calling resonates with them.

However, it may be better to offer the rain-called option from the start and use chapter 4 as a moment of connection for those who are rain-called rather than a point of discovery.

Thank you so much for your feedback! I’m so happy you’ve enjoyed what you’ve read so far.

[Renjuniverse]

Hello! Enjoyed the demo a lot! It’s interesting to see the concepts of the sea, sky, and land although I don’t fully understand it yet. I think an explanation on the stats page would be helpful, if not in-game.

One error i noticed (i only played once, mind you) was that i asked my sister for help which would naturally mean that i know about the pregnancy but during the meeting, it shows that i wasn’t aware.

[AletheiaKnights]

As I think you already know, I had a lot of the same concerns when I played earlier this week. And for what it’s worth, I like the idea of being able to be rain-called from the beginning, but also to be able to come into that identity later on - especially since players might feel more comfortable after a few chapters with this unique gender system. I think even players who feel more comfortable within the binary as long as gender is sex-aligned might enjoy exploring identity here.

One thing I didn’t really get a sense of in the chapters that are currently available is what gender roles are actually like. You shared here what personal characteristics tend to be associated with each element, but none of that comes through in the game itself even though I knew to look for it. Of course, you say there’s some flexibility, which is fine, but I didn’t get any sense of what it meant to be called by a particular element other than pronouns and a piece of jewelry.

Finally (for now), this may be outside the scope of what this game needs to cover, but I’m wondering how sexual/romantic attraction works, since those are, although somewhat culturally conditioned and to some extent individual, very much grounded in a biological drive. Is it simply left for the reader to assume that their chosen romance option hapeens to have secondary sex characteristics their PC finds attractive?

[LisHz]

I do, and thank you so much for sharing your feedback! If I do decide to add rain-called as an option from the start, that probably won’t be in the next few updates while I work on chapter 4.

To be honest, gender/calling will come up mostly when characters are concerned with it. In the first three chapters, this is really just when Ostric is having lunch with his parents. They wanted a sky-called child to carry on the family business and believe that any other calling has inferior skills when it comes to spotting counterfeit. Much later in Nothia’s storyline, she might talk about feeling like she’s letting her element down due to the decisions she’s made in life. Her youngest sibling, Emdey, is 9 years old and so is also beginning to think about what it means to be called, how that feels, and how they’ll know. I have sketches of a conversation, but I’m not sure yet if it will make it into the story.

And, yeah, I’m probably not going to get into how sexual/romantic attraction work. Since you mentioned biological drive, I’ll also note that beliefs around conception will come up here and there (e.g., Apia and her spouses), but won’t be explored in-depth.

[AletheiaKnights]

Ah yes, I didn’t join Ostric’s family for lunch, but I do remember something about his parents telling him he needed to be “better” if he wanted to be a boy.

My (unsolicited, debatable, feel free to ignore) opinion is that you don’t have to answer all these questions in the game itself, but you do have to know what the answers are, even if you never tell a soul - and it will be felt in the quality of the worldbuilding. For what it’s worth, I am already profoundly impressed with your worldbuilding - this society feels very original, not an obvious copy of anything I’ve seen before, and it also resonates with authenticity, which is kind of a weird word to use in connection with a story about plausibly deniable fog monsters, but the culture and way your characters exist in it feels very natural.