The Rumor Mill - Week 16

I'm currently lacking inspiration for week 16 of The Rumor Mill, so let's find a theme. Numerically, 16 is the first perfect hypercube (2 to the 4th power), and its only factors are 2s. I suppose some sort of duality theme would make sense, but I'm not feeling it. Traditional 16th anniversary gifts involve wax. That sounds like a plan to me, so let's see how far we can cast the net for rumors about wax.

Just on a quick check, we've got bees, waterproofing, candles, candy making, writing tablets, official seals, and perfume. And where does all this wax even come from? Let's dive a little deeper.

1d8	Rumor	True?
1	The Amaryllis Estate maintains several beehives for pollination and beeswax.	Yes1
2	Eventide Keelworks seals smaller hulls with tallow for speed and stealth.	Maybe2
3	Beacon Point makes the best candles and incense in Fellport.	No3
4	Mage Threads makes waterproof robes and cloaks out of wax-treated fabrics.	Maybe4
5	Official wax seals from Fellport and Alfinwald contain fey tallow.	Yes5
6	Ryn at Terra's Bones specializes in intricate cast metal jewelry.	Maybe6
7	Beeswax is the secret ingredient in every piece of Pull & Chew Taffy.	No7
8	Wax tablets haven't been used by students at the College for decades.	Yes8

1 - The estate keeps many bees. Most of the wax used in Fellport is beeswax. Ionia sells soy wax, and Islanders sell palm wax.
2 - The shipwrights at Eventide strongly recommend sealing hulls with magic-aided pitch, but they still use tallow on request.
3 - Beacon Point only manufactures incense. They resell unscented fine soy candles made by Both Ends Candles.
4 - As a magical clothing vendor, Benson Skinner usually enchants his fabrics, but he sometimes uses wax treatment too.
5 - It's much harder to forge a seal containing fey animal fat. Fey tallow is yellow, but glows with faerie fire under moonlight.
6 - Ryn lives in the Artist's Quarter and has many interests: lost wax metal casting, forging, wood carving, and gem cutting.
7 - Taffy contains no wax at all. The combination of precisely-heated sugar and continuous pulling makes it chewy.
8 - Paper became far cheaper than tablets since the Doric Pulpworks stared producing high-quality paper over a century ago.

Part of T.W.Wombat's Lore 24 project, detailing the world around Fellport.
For all city posts, see the Fellport Index. For posts about the wider world, see the Beneterra Index.