Really solid entry. The rules encompass relationships, secrets, challenge, trials, and a fail state. Hard to do in the word count for sure.
Mechanically, my one question is why a player would ever choose to extinguish candles when resting. I was looking for a push/pull mechanic of some kind against having lit candles and couldn't find it. Otherwise seems great!
Thanks for the feedback! The idea I had for the candles is that they would be a way to measure how hard a character was pushing themselves/their resources. A standard birthday candle burns for approximately 15-20 minutes (according to some brief googling I did during the jam), giving the average, 5-candle character a lifespan of 75-100 real-life minutes if they manage their candle conservatively and try to keep only one burning at a time. If they want to get the bonus to rolls from burning more, they also have to burn more candles in parallel, reducing the character's lifespan.
Due to the nature of the jam this didn't get extensively play tested, so I don't really know how much this "rest" option is used in actual play. I suppose the other similar (but more aggressive) option of stealing candles from others may come up more often. Which is also okay by me!
