INKTOBER '20 #12 - Slippery

While electricity exist in the center of the city, it is still a relative luxury. The means of generating power are to this day a bit eldritch and poorly understood, even by robots that are entirely powered by it. And so, only rich and powerful can afford the complex arcane technomancy that is required to connect them to the humble grid, and only few streets have the blinding, powerful lamps shining with – to some – holy motive force. Rest of the city uses the more trusted method of fire, however wooden hearths were quickly replaced by safer, longer lasting and more efficient oil lamps. Oil wasn’t exactly a rare resource, but the fishing industry that provided it was struggling to keep in with the growing demand for the hectoliters of the stuff needed to keep the city in soft glow of the oily lamps. And of course where is demand, there are crafty suppliers – one of such was Jonathan of the Scalded Mountains from the far North. Many suspected him to be a mutant, changed by the Dreadwake, but alas he was merely a distant folk from a tribe of half-elementals, attuned with the harsh volcanoes and craggy mountains of his land. And he produced oil from his glistening chimneys, in quite the amount to boost! Reluctant at first, cityfolk warmed up to his industrious spirit and of course, cheaper prices. The oil he makes also burns brighter and has none of that fishy smell that people using whale oil had to get used to, and so it quickly became a valued possession and preferred source of fuel for anyone who could afford the bottles and later barrels of his stuff. Now we runs a successful business, hiring and welcoming into the city more of his kin, giving them employment in his brand – The Slippery Jon Oil.