Over the last couple of months and for reasons I can’t really explain, I’ve been getting interested in the US and Canadian Great Lakes and parts of their history. Much of this has centred on the role of the lakes in enabling commerce, and the sad tales of vessels such as the Edmund Fitzgerald (perhaps brought to international recognition by songster Gordon Lightfoot, and the loss of which occurred 50 years ago this past November), the Carl D. Bradley and the Daniel J Morrell, to name but three of the largest vessels to go down on the lakes.
I mention this as a roundabout way of introducing the December 2025 Natthimmel build by Konrad (Kaiju Kohime) and Saskia, and which draws inspiration from the shores of Lake Michigan (although not, admittedly, any of the vessel losses which have occurred on Michigan and her sister lakes down the centuries; that was something my little mind just jumped to in visiting the setting, for the reasons noted above).
Entitled The Keepers of Twin Lights, St. Castoris, the region design appears to draw its inspiration from the paired lighthouses of St. Joseph, Michigan, where two very similar lights (now decommissioned) once guarded the entrance to St. Joseph River, some 190 km northeast of Chicago.
The river had long been a trade and transport route linking the Great Lakes with the Mississippi River prior to the arrival of European settlers as they muscled their way westward. However, they established a significant outpost at the mouth of the river at the end of the 1700s, starting a continuous presence there which led to the establishment of St. Joseph village (now city).
The two lighthouses that inspired St Castoris were built in 1906 and 1907. They are very distinctive in terms of both looks and location. Both stand on a long pier extending out into the lake (one of two piers extending out from the mouth of the river), with a raised catwalk running the length of the pier to connect both lighthouses with the land.
The outer lighthouse is of a tapering conical build topped by a distinctive 9-sided lantern room. The inner lighthouse is a little more distinctive: a square lower level with a pyramidal roof rising to an octagonal tower with its own external access via steel dog-leg stair from the pier (and via the catwalk).
Many of these elements are captured in Konrad’s custom models of the lighthouses within St. Castoris; the distinctive similarities (if you’ll forgive the term!) leading me to conclude that St Joseph serves as the inspiration here. Indeed even the frozen water spray hugging the outer tower is mindful of a 2010 snapshot showing much the same.
But again, it’s important to note that even if inspired by the lighthouses at St. Joseph, Saskia and Konrad’s St. Castoris is very much its own place; there is no beach or harbour entrance at what might be the landward end of the setting. Nor do the lighthouses stand on a pier of relatively modern construction, as is the case with St. Joseph.
Instead, St. Castoris’ lighthouses appear to be built upon a long, narrow breakwater formed by earth, boulders and rocks dumped into the water to extend a finger outward, one with enough soil present to allow lines of frosted aspen to march out on either side of the catwalk at least as far as the inner lighthouse. And while the lighthouses of St. Joseph may have been decommissioned in 2005, the lights of St. Castoris remain active, sweeping out towards the horizon, twin beacons indicating the safety of land, while much smaller buoys cast the red glow of warning against vessels coming too close in error to the more dangerous shores and ice floes lurking there.
It is to one vessel in particular that the lighthouses call, and the story of that vessel and its master can be found in the setting’s introductory notecard available at the Landing Point, as always. This offers further insight to St. Castoris, and carries with it the faint suggestion that within its narrative, the story refers to an earlier age whilst also offering a subtle hint as to the wayward nature of the weather over the Great Lakes during the winter months.
As always with Natthimmel, Konrad and Saskia have created an engaging setting which sinks its roots into history and the physical world whilst offering its own uniqueness. Look for the places to sit that await discovery and enjoy!
SLurl Details
- Natthimmel: The Keepers of Twin Lights, St. Castoris (NewMoon, rated Moderate)
Inara Pey: Living in a Modemworld 
