balefire

the loud sibling of waypost's quiet candles. build a 2x2 pyre three logs tall, cap it with hay, and light it by hand — flint and steel on the hay, nothing less deliberate. it burns dusk to dawn, leaves a scorch ring and charcoal, and shrugs off rain structurally; only a bucket or a broken column ends it early.

and it is visible from anywhere in the world. beyond render distance the fire draws as a bright point on the sky at its true compass bearing, holding still as you walk toward it, with its smoke leaning downwind at the fire's own hill — a signal and a weather station in one glance. it means one thing, agreed at the hearth beforehand: come.

there is deliberately no code between balefire and waypost: the same philosophy at opposite volumes. a candle is for knowing where your people are; a balefire is for needing them.