Inside every hero a fire burns bright enough to be seen by even some normal mortals. Heroes shine so brightly that they sometimes are seen with halos or as a burning pillar. Those heroes though sometimes falter. They sometimes fall. Lust, greed, and fear have broken heroes but that spark cannot die. These heroes leave behind their light, shattered and broken. Two burning points of leftover potential.
Last Lights appear as two glowing embers burning with a faded red light as if the last coals of a birch fire. They wear the clothes they wore in life, though twisted and corrupted by their final sin. The black robe of a magi with eyes like burning coals. The plated mail of an honourable knight, rented and damaged, with the sickening red light issuing forth. The fine clothes of nobility without a head or hands, but able to strangely grasp, and with two eyes floating above the colour. A burial shroud, with the light inside.
These heroes used to be heroically pushed toward a cause, to better the world and serve their community or the cause of weal, but now they are slavishly devoted to the sins that forced them to fall. Slaking horrible lusts, causing great fear, and gathering vast treasures, they have become the embodiment of their tragedies. The Last Lights are almost always found replaying their more horrible memories, over and over, in new places, with new people. Death Knights raiding the castles of good kings and raiding treasure stores, or making off with people for more unspeakable crimes.
This does not mean they are stupid and mindless victims of fate, they are aware and smart. The Last Lights often gather coteries, armies, and minions to build networks or organizations to accomplish their goals. Many mercenaries have been paid by a man in black plated mail whose face they've never seen, except the two burning points of light. Some have seen hordes of the undead lead by a cloak shrouded figure riding a black horse. But these figures are not anonymous, they are shrouded in legend. Their lives are remembered, the things they did to try to change the world still reverberate through history, as do their final fall. They still live in stories and songs, their crimes and their victories still live in history.
Spoken In Song And Story: The Last Lights are spoken of in Song and Story and live in the memories of mortals. They are not fleeting ghosts or long forgotten spirits of the ancients, the scars they left on the land still live in the hearts of the people. When they are no longer spoken of, only then does their light finally give up and flicker out. Another person can slay them, but they will not die naturally. The Last Lights live in the shame of their own dooms, and as such cannot bear to hear their own stories. If an adventurer knows the story of the Last Light's life (interviewing its victims, listening to bards, rolling appropriate wises are great ways to learn), then they can recite it. This recitation causes the Last Light to make a Steel test, with an appropriate skill roll from the storyteller adding to the Last Light's Hesitation.
Former Hero: Every Last Light shade shifts one of its skills and one of its Stats. It was a hero of legend, and still maintains the powers of one. It also gains two of Seven Points of Agility (including all forms and techniques), Sorcery (and five spells), Summoning (and three Orders), Falsehoods, Persuasion, or Strategy at B6 (it can choose one of these skills for its shade shift. It also again a 3D Reputation as a fallen hero. When a Last Light crawls out of the shadows into a town, its history is known, and it is forced to hide and cautiously rebuild itself.
Dread Costume: The Last Light is not truly alive. It is an undead spirit wearing the costumes of humanity in order to convince others it is more. They most often appear as a suit of armour, a black cloak, or a headless outfit of nobility, each with two burning points of light where the eyes should be. These costumes are formed from the shadows, and can only be rebuilt in the darkness. The costume takes a full month for the Last Light to rebuild, and it must stay in shadows (typically inside a crypt or cave) for that entire time. It can speak while not wearing the costume but it cannot touch anything physically. While it is wearing a costume, it can be touched as if it was real. The costume has no armour rating, but takes wounds as if it was the Last Light itself, and dealing a Mortal Wound to the costume destroys it. A spirit weapon deals damage to the Last Light and the costume.
Tragic Flaw: The Last Light has a great flaw at its heart. The Last Light's single tragic flaw is something that it must always pick when made to choose between two choices. If the Last Light is told to leave this please and stop killing, but be paid, a Last Light stained by Greed will always take the offer of money, but it will also always ask for money. A Last Light stained by Wrath will never take the money and instead continue its punishment of those who presumed they could bribe him.
A Burning Wheel Monster Every Week