Will-O'-the-Wisp

Will-o'-the-Wisps, sometimes called Will'o'wisps or ignis fatuus, are a natural phenomena caused by a sudden release of passively accumulated artifact energy. They are a more ambient form of the more concentrated Ball Lightning.

Historical Data
Will-o'-the-wisp appears in folk tales and traditional legends of numerous countries and cultures; notable will-o'-the-wisp include St. Louis Light in Saskatchewan, Marfa lights of Texas, the Naga fireballs on the Mekong in Thailand, and the Hessdalen light in Norway. While urban legends, folklore, and superstition typically attribute will-o'-the-wisps to ghosts, fairies, or elemental spirits, modern science often explains them as natural phenomena such as bio-luminescence or chemi-luminescence, caused by the oxidation of phosphine, diphosphane, and methane produced by organic decay.

Warehouse Interactions
Before the Warehouse was established, it was known among artifact-wielding individuals that certain combinations of peat found in marshes and bogs could have a dampening effect on artifacts, though the cause was not known. Since WH3 various cashes of long abandoned artifacts have been excavated from swamps, having been placed there by superstitious natives decades or centuries earlier.

It was WH3 that also began using peat as a basic neutralizer before the discovery of the Giant Purple Swamphen and it's unique enzyme replaced it as a safer alternative (Peat had an unfortunate tendency to ignite when it came to more violent artifacts and may have contributed to several notable fires during the Warehouse's various iterations.

Eventually Regents of WH4 discovered the the glowing lights known as "Will-o'-the-Wisps" were actually manifestations of artifact energy that had become trapped under the peat, forming into bubbles until it finally slipped to the surface. This was linked to the phenomena of "Static Balls" that occasionally formed in the Warehouse, though less charged due to being formed from small energy over time as opposed to large amounts of energy very quickly.

Behavior
Thought not "sentient", Wisps possess a basic sense of attraction similar to some artifacts. They are naturally drawn to people and other power sources but, paradoxically, are also repelled by them such as the poles of a magnet. This causes them to swarm around humans in large numbers but always remain a fair distance away. This has been long misinterpreted as them "leading" people, and due to the perilous environs where they from many a traveler has followed a Wisp and found their death.

Collection
Many Wisps have been collected by the Warehouse over the centuries, partly as a public safety precaution but also to prevent any dangerous interactions with whatever energy they are comprised of.

Collection is done by placing a small piece of metal, such as a coin, that has been exposed to artifact energy in a glass jar and waiting for the Wisp to investigate. When the energy enters the jar it is quickly sealed and returned to the Warehouse for storage. As long as the bulk of the Wisp is collected the remnants often don't retain enough power to sustain the form and will quickly dissipate.

Will-o'-the-Wisp Globes, as they became known, are stored intermittently throughout the Warehouse. Past Warehouses used them as efficient lighting whereas other simply placed them where they seemed calm. They can also be used, in some cases, to identify the presence of an artifact as they become agitated and glow brightly. This is inexact, however, and depending on the artifact energy it is made from the Wisp may not respond to certain resonances.

Though rare, breakages sometimes happen. This tends not to be considered a danger, as besides a sudden flash the Wisp will merely assimilate into the ambient Warehouse energy.