Lux Mites
These mites fly silently and are small enough to be nearly invisible to the naked eye. If it was not for light, no one would know they were there. These creatures absorb and re-emmit light, turning dim to bright, and bright to blinding.
Full Description
A small insect, not dissimilar to a firefly, which, as a defense mechanism, is able to warp waves of light, magnifying it and intensifying. It increases the 'Lux' value substantially, and, using these extremely bright flashes of light, is able to confuse, distract or even blind both its predators to make a hasty getaway, or to confuse its prey (smaller insects).
These creatures are mostly nocturnal, but they will operate in daylight hours. If trapped in full sun, they will glow so brightly they "burn themselves up".
Additional Information
Now, If an adventurer were to catch several of these and place them in a transparent vial or bottle - He now has an inexhaustible, efficient light source when traversing those dark dungeons. The insects will increase the light value substantially, so even the dimmest of rooms will be lit up - of course, it wont work in pitch black, as the insects would need SOMETHING to work off.
Now, this would also be useful in brighter areas: A goblin swings a sword at an ally, you flash them with these insects, the goblin gets blinded or distracted, thus missing its foe, and hitting another goblin instead.
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? Responses (7)
These critters would 'feed of' the sound I would think. That vibration is converted into the light energy. In addition, it explains their silent flight.
I could of sworn I had voted as well.
This thought amuses me: in total darkness, light a match near a lux mite lantern (LML)and blow it out. The LMs will begin to glow (magnifying the light). They will stop glowing when the light from the extinguished match stops hitting them, but then will start glowing again the instant they get hit by the light emitted from neighboring lux mites hits them (because light is fast but not instant). This means, once a lux mite lantern is turned on, it will never go out, because travel time is so short the 'flickering' will be much quicker than lightbulbs at 60 hertz, but because it is not instant, even just two of them would keep going forever.
If you don't like the science babble above, I suppose you could just line a mine shaft with these lanterns... As long as one sees sunlight (or moon/starlight) it relays it to the next, which relays light to the next... you don't even need mirrors, just put bugs at corners and you can bend light.
Interesting. Also perhaps sound mites? What about smell mites? (3/5)
I could see these creatures 'storing' light and releasing it in bursts, which would explain how they are able to increase the brightness beyond that of the original light source.
I would assume they are highly magical, either some freak creation by a spell gone awry - perhaps they _are_ a light spell that went strangely wrong.
I want a lux mite lantern.
Ooh, these are neat!
How would one go about catching enough of them?