LUX stands. The lamp metaphor does not. The quotes below are kept exactly as written — they are the record of what was approved at the time, and the argument this page made from that line is the argument he has now overruled. A record of a decision is not the decision. I have scrubbed the lamp metaphor from the LIVE copy (what-leased-means, davis-lab); this page is history and stays honest by staying unedited.
Designee · 2026-07-13 03:00 WEDT ·
There are now two things and they behave in opposite ways. The word has to make that obvious without a paragraph:
| The bought one | The earned one | |
|---|---|---|
| How you get it | You pay for it | You practise and serve for it |
| What it does | Lights a realm. Breadth. | Wins your place. Depth. |
| Does it come back? | Yes — always. It's never consumed. | No — when it wins, it's spent and it vanishes. |
| If you stop paying | A bought one goes dark. A floor one goes DORMANT — and practice re-lights it. | It stays in your bank. Forever. |
⚑ Updated 2026-07-13 — Davi ruled the lapse. This row used to say only "it goes dark", and that sentence — true of every bought lux — quietly locked a lapsed person out of the whole economy, since you can only earn where the lights are on. The floor lux go dormant, not out. 🏮 the lantern
"Activation credit" fails because it describes the mechanism, not the thing. Nobody ever fell in love with an activation. And calling both of them "credits" is what caused the confusion in the first place — they're not two kinds of one thing, they're two different things.
Lights are what you buy.
Credits are what you earn.
The best argument is that you already approved it. The copy you just signed off says:
⚑ The quote above is a RECORD and stays unedited — but two of its words have since been ruled away, and you should know that reading it. "Lamp" is retired (ruling #3), and "a CREDIT is a lamp" had the light on the wrong currency — light = lux, which you buy; a credit is what you earn. Davi has since given us the image himself: a lux is a glowing ball inside a lantern. And "the lights go out" is now only true of the bought lux — the floor lux go dormant, and practice re-lights them.
Every one of those sentences gets shorter and truer if the noun is just "light". We wrote the metaphor, loved it, and then kept the bureaucratic word in front of it. Drop the word and the metaphor becomes the mechanic.
It also does four things no other candidate does:
| It's a verb | "Light the Mush realm." The action and the object are the same word. Nothing to teach. |
| It carries the lease | "The lights go out" is not a metaphor for lapsing — it IS lapsing. The honest, slightly sad truth of leasing is already inside the noun. |
| It can't be confused with the earned one | You cannot "spend" a light. The grammar itself blocks the mistake — you can only move it, or lose it. Which is exactly the rule. |
| It sells cleanly | "5 lights for €5." "100 lights for €60." Reads like a product; scans like an offer. |
⚠️ And no collision with the Embers. An ember is a being; a light is a thing you carry. Same warmth, different category — and both live inside the fire language the ecosystem already speaks (mortar sets by firing the kiln; rest is what makes your work keep).
| Word | Verdict |
|---|---|
| Activation credit | Names the mechanism, not the thing. And it makes both currencies sound like one currency. Retire it. |
| 🥈 Lanterns | The strongest runner-up. More concrete than "light", and "my lantern" is lovely. But "100 lanterns for €60" starts to sound like inventory, and it loses the verb. Take it if "lights" feels too plain. |
| Sparks | A spark ignites and dies. These persist. Wrong physics — and it crowds the Embers. |
| Keys | Taken. The coin is the key. Hard collision. |
| Seats · Slots · Licences | Accurate, and joyless. This is the word people will read on the day they decide whether to trust us. |
| Wicks · Kindling · Flames | Fire-family, so they fight the Embers for the same register. A lamp is the one fire-object that is clearly equipment, not alive. |
You spend them. They vanish. Nobody receives them. "They were only ever valid for you to bump your own odds. That's the only thing they're for."
That single word change kills the slot-machine hazard at the root. I'd worried that if forfeited credits flowed to anyone, we'd have an incentive to make people gamble. You've made that structurally impossible: there is nothing to profit from, because there is no counterparty. A spend isn't a loss — it's a purchase, and what it buys is your place in the room.
Both of my escalated questions are answered by it. Nothing to rule. It's in canon.
Say "lights" (or "lanterns") and I'll write it through canon, the pricing page, and every surface. — Designee