A word set in italics indicates that you will find an explanation of that word also in the Explicarium; the only exceptions to this are the names of rams and other vessels, and the titles of books, where it is simply a convention to put these names in italics.

“See (entry in) Book One” refers the reader to the Explicarium in Foundling, Monster Blood Tattoo, Book One by D.M. Cornish.

PRONUNCIATION
ä is said as the “ar” sound in “ask” or “car”
æ is said as the “ay” sound in “hay” or “eight”
ë is said as the “ee” sound in “scream” or “beep”
é is said as the “eh” sound in “shed” or “everyone”
ö is said as the “er” sound in “learn” or “burn”
ü is said as the “oo” sound in “wood” or “should”

~ine at the end of pronouns is said as the “een” sound in “bean” or “seen”; the exception to this is “Clementine,” which is said as the “eyn” sound in “fine” or “mine.”

Words ending in e, such as “Verline” or “Grintwoode”: the e is not sounded.

SOURCES

In researching this document the scholars are indebted to many sources. Of them all the following proved the most consistently sourced:

The Incomplete Book of Bogles
Weltchronic
The Book of Skolds
& extracts from the Vadè Chemica

abinition spontaneous generation of life from muds and clays warmed by the sun in powerfully threwdish places. Such soils are called fecund or abinitive muds, or in the uncommon vernacular, life-loams. Some more extreme theories hold that these life-loams, these dipherbiosës (literally “seats of life”) can exist even in the heart of an urban park or rural lumber plantation, that where plants flourish (even domesticated varieties) threwd can concentrate in boggy dells and the ground become fecund. When known beyond the esoteric provinces of the teratological habilists this concept is generally rejected as being too terrible to contemplate.

Accord of Menschen, the ~ what we would think of as an “international” agreement upon the rules of conduct in warfare, standardizing procedures of victory, surrender, the treatment of the loser and of neutrals; a reratification of a much older document known as the Usages of War, a set of dogma governing behavior to foes, prisoners, noncombatants, and the wounded and infirm during war.Though it was primarily drawn up in reference to land warfare, naval officers will also cite it, though they have their own accord—the Articles of Conduct; however, this is not as comprehensive in its statutes.

“ad captandum vulgus” a Tutin political term literally meaning “toward courting the crowd” but used more in the sense of doing things to please the people, to inspire confidence.

alembant(s) broadly speaking, scripts that alter the biology of a person, such as the washes that make a leer’s eyes. Specifically, the term can be used to refer to the potives taken by lahzars to keep their surgically introduced organs from vaoriating (spasming).The best known of these is Cathar’s Treacle. See lahzar in Book One.

almonder assistant to a dispensurist or a skold, who does much of the fetching and carrying and reordering and other less glamorous work.

alternats, the ~ catch-all name for the secondary or subcapitals of the Haacobin Empire, being the Considine and the Serenine in the Soutlands, and the Campaline on the Verid Litus.

amanuensis clerk who takes minutes, makes duplicates and triplicates of documents and writes notes on the details of official conversations.

Approach, the ~ steep “driveway” that leads up to Winstermill from the Harrowmath. It is actually split in two, one way continuing east down to the Pettiwiggin and the other curving south to join the Gainway.

Arabis, Arimis son of a poor peltryman, Paddlin Arabis from Fayelillian way, who died of exposure on a desperate winter’s foray along with his crew of trappers. Raised by his mother in deep squalor, Arabis was first prenticed to another peltryman; when things turned foul he escaped, living by his wits and making his gradual and circuitous way to the capital. There he chanced upon a recruitment drive for the lamplighters of Winstermill, and took the Emperor’s Billion there and then.

ash-dabbling(s) working with organs and other parts of corpses.The “hobby” of massacars and other black habilists, taking this name from “ash” as a synonym for the remains of a person.

Ashenstall last cothouse east before the Wormway descends out of the highlands of the Placidine down onto the Frugelle and the start of the “ignoble end of the road,” taking its name from the gray land about it, and perhaps from the local stone of which it is mostly built.

ashmonger(s) part of the chain of supply in the dark trades. When stocks of body parts are low, the worst of these will stoop to abduction and murder to get the required items. If such items need to be of a certain “ripeness” to be useful, they will achieve this artificially, with chemistry. Stolen bodies are sometimes called anthropelf. See entry in Book One.

aspis as stated, this is a venificant, a highly toxic contact poison that allows the often harmless blows of a person against a monster to have rapid and deadly effect. The only problem with such potives is that they are deadly to people too, one touch being enough to cause some great discomfort in the very least. Aspis is one of the more preferred venificants because it is a little slower to act, meaning that accidental touch will not do much harm, although it is deadly once a good dose of it has entered a body’s system.

Assimus surly, sandy-haired, pinch-faced lampsman 1st class serving at Winstermill. In semiretirement owing to the early onset of arthritis, this lighter has been granted the easiest stretch of the Wormway on which to work and see out his days. Along with his old mate Bellicos, he has seen service on most of the inner stretches of the highroad, even enduring a spell at the “ignoble end of the road.”

astrapecrith the correct technical term for a fulgar. The equivalent for a wit is neuroticrith.

Atopian Dido reference to the time when Dido, the great ancient queen and founder of the Empire, was without a home, wandering the region once known as Opera and the Witherlends, driven to flight through the attempt on her life by jealous ministers wanting power for themselves. For several years she wandered from kingdom to kingdom, staying where she might, till the monarch of Patris took her in and rallied in support of her as the last surviving shoot of Idaho’s line.

Attic language of the ancient people of the same name, a mighty race of great learning and sophistication, the direct inheritor of Phlegm’s cultural, technological and sociopolitical legacy. Much of what they knew is now lost, the remnants still considered the acme of wisdom and habilistics. Idaho is considered their greatest ruler, and Dido, her great-granddaughter, second only to her. The language itself is based on the real Attic (otherwise known as classical Greek), and with this comes the author’s usual apology for any offense his current usages might incur.

Aubergene Lampsman 1st class billeted at Wormstool and a native of Burgundis, he is renowned for his steady aim even in the most trying situations. Though little is said of it now, early last decade he earned deep respect and not a few cruorpunxis when defending a search party in the Ichormeer. These foiled rescuers had been attempting to find the lost family of the Warden-General of Haltmire, who disappeared in the terrible swamp. Few traces found could be followed, and those that could led only to disaster as the swamp swallowed men whole and its denizens preyed on them like cats in a mouse plague. As part of a rear guard, Aubergene’s deadly shots bought space for the retreating party, who found only one child—the middle daughter—to take back to her agonized father. For his deeds the young lighter was awarded the Carpa Virtus (the Hand of Valor), the highest honor available to a mere lighter.

aufheitermen said “owf ’high’ter’men”; the Gott word for lamplighters, meaning literally “the gloom lighteners” or “those who bring lightness to the gloom.”

august ruler of a single calendar clave; typically a woman of some social stature, perhaps a peer, or noble, with a social conscience. To have any chance of affecting their surrounds, calendars need money and political clout, and those with high standing socially possess these attributes natively. A clave that does not have ranking gentry or nobility at its head and core, or at least as a sponsor, will most certainly be marginalized. Augusts are seconded by their laudes, who are their mouthpieces and their long reach. With a well-organized and talented clave with her, an august can be a daunting and influential figure in Imperial politics and society. Within her own clave the august is often referred to as the senior-sister.

aurang in the Half-Continent’s version of a card deck the aurang is the fourth station (card value) in the house of brutes (animals), below the daw (3) and above the crocidole (5). An aurang is what we would call an orangutan, being found on the smaller islands of the northern Sinus Tintinabuline and found in the Half-Continent usually only in books, though wide-faring vinegaroons may well have seen one or two.The aurang lends its name to one of the winning hands in the card game pirouette, “Kindly Ladies Watch the Happy Aurangs Again.”

auto-savant a person who, by the exercise of extremely sensitive and attuned intuition, is supposed to be able to tell a person’s thoughts and needs. Most of these are rejected as humorless fakers and fabulists by those of the more serious habilistic turn of mind.

auxiliary, auxiliaries in this circumstance the people in support of Winstermill and her lamplighters, including the house guards of musketeers, haubardiers and troubardiers; leers and lurksmen and other “creepers”; skolds and other thaumateers; and the artillerists tending the great-guns on the walls.

ax-carabine also called axe-carbine or fusiscuris, a combinade made of a fusil-like firelock with an ax-blade attached to the muzzle.

bane teratologist who is both wit and skold, either beginning as a skold then choosing the neuroticrith’s path to increase his or her power, or beginning as a wit and becoming adept at skolding. This second path is not uncommon: a wit has to take many more concoctions than a fulgar to keep healthy—and many of these are more complex to make than Cathar’s Treacle. Wits may well opt to make these themselves rather than be tied to other suppliers, which is said by some to be a risky business as far as consistency of quality and efficacy are concerned. In the way of learning their own scripts, wits may well discover that it is within their abilities to make other potives, and branch out into skolding. A bane is therefore considered more versatile and greater in power than a plain wit.

bastion-house strongly fortified house or other such dwelling reinforced to withstand the rigors of conflict. Cothouses are often a form of bastion-house.

Baton Imperial of Fayelillian, the 8th Earl of the ~ the Lamplighter-Marshal’s proper title, the hereditary rank granted to his Fayelillian family by Menagës Scepticus Haacobin I, the usurper of the Sceptics and the original Emperor of the current dynasty. Even so the Lamplighter-Marshal will not allow others to address him by any other title than “sir,” as befits his military rank.

bee’s buzz, the buzz gossip and rumor, so called for the buzzing sound of folks engaged in hushed mutterings about another.

Beggar Sea the body of water off the Stander Lates and the southern coasts of Hagenland, the Stafkärlsstig or “wandering beggar” in Brandenard. In the Half-Continent it is known as the Pontus Mendicus.

Bellicos one of the three semiretired lampsmen who look after the prentices as they practice at lighting along the Pettiwiggin. A little younger than his two compatriots, Bellicos is probably the surliest of the three, though he is generally forgiven this for the feats of valor he performed during his full service out Ashenstall way.

bellpomash mild restorative which, though drunk, is said to help the clotting and healing of wounds by fortifying the body’s functions from within.

belugig(s) also belungs; large monsters, especially ettins or even the great beasts of the mares.

Benedict, Under-Sergeant-of-Prentices ~ red-haired assistant to Lamplighter-Sergeant Grindrod. Benedict’s carrot-colored hair is remarkable in northern Soutlands, showing his Wretcherman heritage. He and his sweet little wife, Daisy, live down in the Nuptarium in the Target Row, on Target Street.

benthamyn constituent of Craumpalin’s Exstinker; a distillation of oils found only in the rock of certain regions of the Sinus Tintinabuline, Wretch and the Gottskylds, with the best quality part coming from the Heilgolands.

Berthezene artist sometimes going by the name of Berthezar, once a native of Turkeman, come to the Sundergird in flight from the husband of a mistress, and shopping his considerable skills as an imagineer (an illustrator) to any buyer, including pamphlet makers both reputable and disreputable. His talent is lauded by some as the most remarkable of the age, rivaling even the legendary Gouche, though that fellow’s admirers disagree.

besomer(s) broom-makers.

Biargë the Beautiful (said “bee-arr-gee”—with a strong g as in “get”); common, easier to pronounce form of Ingébiargë (said “Ing’ga’bee’arr’gee”), the name of the cannibalistic monster-woman of Hagenland’s southern shores, also known as Biargë the Salt-skold or, in Gott folklore, as Beogerthë the Cruel. Of the few manikins known to history, Biargë is perhaps the best documented, though few ordinary folk know her origin—or even know of her. Her origin is found in times long gone, in the lands of the Skylds, during a period of particular and morbid conflict there between human and monster known as the Volkammerung—a time of decay after the Heldinsage when heroes prevailed and civilization flourished. A faithful servant and yrrphethäl (“earr’feh’tharl,” equivalent to a rhubezhal—see skold in Book One) to Ulfe Pytr (said “Ull’fer Pie’ter”—the great Hagen king who drove the Skylds from their rightful land), Biargë was hailed for her cold beauty and treacherous use of her great skill to aid the Hagenards against her own people. As time passed, and well after the Skylds had fled west across the Gramlendenmeer (“The Sea of Heavy Sorrows”) Biargë became noted most of all for the longevity of her beauty, and it was soon rumored that she had brewed a potion of powerful virtue to prolong life and youth. Puzzled as to her own juvenescence, Biargë encouraged this rumor, yet it doubled back on her: Uthoedë (said “yoo’tho’dee”), Ulfe Pytr’s wife, pressed her husband mercilessly to insist that their court’s beauteous concocter make this tender brew for the queen as well. Many times he cajoled, remonstrated with and railed against Ingébiargë , and each time he was refused, first with kind excuses then with outright obduracy. On each occasion he had to return to a furious wife and a night spent banished from the conjugal bed. Goaded by her imperturbable obstinacy, Uthoedë went herself to Biargë’s test, taking with her a number of mighty men of the Volkammerung—Skarphethinn (said “Skar’feh’thin”) and Grettir preeminent among them. They took Biargë into custody, ransacked her home, turned up no vital potive and imprisoned the rhubezhal in the darkest depths of Steindurom, the regal stronghold. There, under pain of torture, Biargë confessed that there was no potion of youthfulness, that she did not know why she was still young after so long. Väkr, the royal signifer (“watcher of stars”) tested her for threwd. On finding its subtle but definite presence, he renamed Biargë the Tvymadthrmaen—the twice-false maid—and she was declared a samligr (something akin to a sedorner). Uthoedë screamed for her doom and Ulfe Pytr sentenced Biargë to be executed at next moon’s dark.Yet not all were against her. One Freyr, brother and equal of Grettir and nephew to Ulfe Pytr, was besotted with the long-lived beauty, and when time came for her burning, contrived to set her free. In their flight Väkr was slain by the chemistry of the damned maiden and many houseguards with him. The two lovers fled to the Illr and lost themselves in that haunted land; not even Skarphethinn, Biarkamil, Syfyrd, Gudbrand or the wounded and anguished Grettir nor any other of the men of renown would follow after. So Biargë and One Freyr wandered in the wilds, aided by strange and inscrutable folk—the haustayr or hausti, the autumn-folk that men were forbidden to converse with—till they made their home across the Leith Fol, on the Stendrlaeti (see the Stander Lates), the shores of the Linden Finné. Here Biargë suffered the deep grief of watching her young love One Freyr age, and decrepitude approach, while she stayed forever young. In bitterness and grief her thoughts blackened, and she cursed the cosmos and plotted useless revenge—for all but Biarkamil, the warrior-poet, had withered and died. She searched and brewed and scoured the lands, trying to find the secret of the vital brew she had once been so mistakenly condemned for making. She terrorized communities and stole their parts and potives, slew young men out of spite or abducted them to test and refine her concoctions. Many of these poor subjects did gain a kind of prolonged life, but each one was twisted and broken by the experiments he endured. No matter what the increasingly crazed Biargë tried, she failed utterly to find the perfect elixir to keep her lover and rescuer whole and by her side for always.The common end for Freyr is that he went the way of all people, yet awed stories remain that, among the many walking, shuffling horrors that make the Stendrlaeti an impossibly dangerous place, is the moldering mindless hanuman of One Freyr, aching with longing he no longer understands. As for Biargë, she is said to live still, her skin gone gray with time and her eyes red and yellow from centuries of skolding—utterly mad and insatiably ravenous, seeking to devour all men she can find, wanting in twisted love to take them unto herself, where they might continue on and not wither with age. She is said to have devised many ways to lure vessels and their crews onto the risky shores of the Stander Lates, whereby she desires to consume each one. The best source of information on Biargë can be found in that ancient book of horrors, the Derereader.

billet where pediteers, lamplighters or other military personnel sleep and live when not on duty.

Billeting Day day when prentice-lighters are granted status as full lampsmen, having completed their training. In a solemn ceremony, prentices reswear their vow of service to the Emperor and are assigned to a cothouse where they will serve out what days are left to them lighting and dousing the lanterns on the appropriate stretches of road.

biologue(s) any device or machine that uses actual living organs to provide its functions. See sthenicon in Book One.

Bitterbolt cothouse on the Wormway situated just beyond the eastern bank of the Bittermere.

bitterbright powerful and rare potive, a delicate fulminant that, by the cunning artifice of its chemistry, produces light to hurt the gaze of any who look at it. Unless it is actively replenished, bitterbright burns for a limited duration, its effect lessening dramatically as it burns low.Therefore you must be constantly working to keep it “burning” if you want its painful glow to remain.

Bittermere, the ~ small river running from high in the Owlgrave that swells greatly in size before joining the Migh on the northern edge of Needle Greening. Said to be threwdish, it derives its name from the sharp, foul taste of its tealike waters, sweetened only slightly by the joining of its flow with the swift-flowing Mirthlbrook.

black habilist(s) term most commonly used to refer to massacars or transmogrifers; those considered to be dabbling in the darker sides of learning; the great patrons of the dark trades, which would not exist without them. See habilists in Book One.

blaste any fulminating potive or script that erupts or explodes, loomblaze being an excellent example.

Bleakhall cothouse at Bleak Lynche, upon which its inhabitants are greatly dependent for safety and the dispensing of justice. It is one of the more irregular duties of the house-major to preside over the smaller local civil disputes. Built before the town, as a position of retreat for those dwelling at Haltmire, Bleakhall is one of the larger cothouses on the way and is meant to be billet to an overstrength platoon of lamplighters and their auxiliaries.

Bleak Lynche last civil settlement in the eastern edges of the Idlewild, gaining its name from its remoteness and the poor prospects of the land about it, and from the bridges spanning between the high towerlike houses built there—otherwise called “linches.” Founded by the state of Doggenbrass, the settlement’s best source of corporate income is tending to the needs of the lamplighters and postmen posted there, and as a trading post and “stopover” for those few travelers coming up on the Wettin Lowroad from Burgundis and Hurdling Migh. This is still thin pickings, and the lords of Doggenbrass have found themselves paying frequently to prop up the ailing colony, many of whose citizens have moved to the more prosperous mining settlements in the region, the Louthe or Pot. One can find pathsmen here: private wayfarers who contract out their energies as guides and guards to those foolish few who wish to travel the Wormway into and through the Ichormeer, or take the Wettin Lowroad down to Hurdling Migh and beyond.

blighted of or pertaining to monsters or threwd, especially the worst kinds of threwd. Used as an emphatic curse—with “twice” or “thrice” or some other preceding qualification for extra emphasis—to declare a person or thing bad or unworthy or worthless.

bloom shortened form of “glimbloom,” also known as frons lumen or collucia, and sometimes referred to as stuff (though this is a catch-all term); the aquatic, weedlike plant possessed—in certain circumstances—of bioluminescence used to provide the source of illumination for bright-limns and the great-lamps of the highroads and cities. It is a wonderful, regenerating source of light, but there are those who hold that having it, and particularly growing it, is an enticement to monsters, who are said to like the taste of it. Others disagree, particularly lampsmen out on the roads working with bloom each day, who argue that the monsters tend to find them much more toothsome. Some seltzermen, on the other hand, might complain of a disproportionate incidence of theroscades when they are out replacing the worn-out bloom of a great-lamp.

blunderer offensive term for a nonmilitary person, used by pediteers and their like in the same way a vinegaroon might call a landsman a lubber. Very rude when said to another soldier.

boltarde a combinade or weapon made of a combination of two or more other tools of violence. Essentially a boltarde is the bringing together of a helmbarde (what we would call a halberd) with two wheel-lock pistols formed as part of the shaft, one short barrel on either side of the ax-and-spike-head. The wheel locks are fired by means of triggers farther down, just above the rondel that protects the hand. Shallow grooves run down the middle of the blade to allow the ball to fly unhindered. An invention of the Sebastians, it is unwieldy but highly effective in the right circumstances, although boltardes have not gained much popularity in the Haacobin Empire.

book(s) in the Half-Continent there is a whole library of catalogs and matters on monsters, habilistics, necrology and more; among the more necessary (other than the Vadé Chemica—see Book One—and related texts) are Ex Monsteria (by Wytwornic) and Phantasmagoria. Also there is the Nomenclator Animantium (unknown author), Historica Monstorum (a modern publication by Pellwick), De Dinpiscibus (on sea-nickers and kraulschwimmen by Aldrovand), Labyrinthion (an ancient text on teratology by Stabius and translated by Wünderhuber) and the strange and antiquated Historie of Fourfeeted Beastes by Topsell—to name but a few. Clysmosurgical Primer is a learned and rare book on the actual techniques involved in transmogrification (surgery making a person into a lahzar) complete with diagrams. Its sources are the ancient and even rarer writings of the Phlegms and most particularly the Cathars, now extinct races known for their skills and learning in such things. This is not a proscribed book as such in the Empire, but owning one is a sign of dabbling in unusual, esoteric things. Because of what is deemed dangerous content or encouraging outramour, it is illegal to sell many of these within the Empire, though not necessarily to own them. The banning of books is an inconsistent practice, with each state interpreting the laws differently, and it tends to be the paleologues (the “ancient texts”) that suffer the most restrictions. People of yore often thought very differently of the race of monster than folk of the Half-Continent do now.

Bookday Rossamünd’s birthday, as it is for every ward of Madam Opera’s Estimable Marine Society for Foundling Boys and Girls. See entry in Book One.

bossetation making gardens (what we would call landscaping). Though the making and planting of gardens might seem a worthy and peaceful pastime, its main purpose is to expunge the threwd, to keep the land tame.

bossock also known as a mayotte, the basic well-fitting proofed-silk (soe) harness of the calendars and one of their most distinctive items of apparel. It is made close to allow free movement and, while it prevents moderate lacerations, thicker items of proofing must be worn over it to give better protection.

Brandenard language of the Brandenards, the race who populate much of the northern Soutlands and even beyond and have contributed much to the exploration and expansion of the Empire’s mercantile and geographical interests; the Half-Continent equivalent of English. In HIR 1311 the Imperial declaration on the languages of its subjects, “The Correct Sounds to Instruct the People,” officially recognized Brandenard as the vulga lingua—the common language among peoples of differing states and even countries, the tongue of trade. Tutin, however, was declared—and is still regarded—as the language of education and politics.

Brandenbrass major city of the Grume. See entry in Book One.

bravo(es) generally any hired killer, but also used specifically to describe what we would call assassins; also known as pnictors or pnictardos (“stranglers”).

Briary, the ~; Briarywood small thorny woodland that stubbornly grows about the eastern end of the Pettiwiggin. It has been allowed to remain, as a source of firewood and small timber for the needs of both Winstermill and Wellnigh House.

bright-limn(s) small portable seltzer lights. See Book One.

Brisking Cat, the ~ wayhouse on the highroad of the Conduit Vermis, and one of the longest established in the Idlewild. Situated near the confluence of the Mirthlbrook and the Bittermere, it was founded three generations ago by the father of the current enrica d’ama, Madam Oubliette. The family of Parleferte (said “Par’leh’fert”), her steward, has served there for as long as the “Cat” has been open. A popular billet for many teratologists. Ever prone to grumbling, local townsfolk will complain bitterly of the coxcombry and inconvenience of knaves when they are bunked in the townships. It’s all very tedious. They want the work but not the persons who do it, so most pugnators prefer to stay in knaveries, cot-rents or wayhouses and avoid the nonsense.

brocander(s) sellers of secondhand clothing, particularly proofing.

bruicle tool of physics used for holding blood, made usually of glass or porcelain. Teratologists and punctographists use them too for storing cruor. The arrangement of one bowl inside another within a bruicle insulates the stored blood, keeping it viable for longer and making it ideal for carrying cruor back to your friendly neighborhood punctographist. See graille(s).

bully-dicey what we would call a meat pie.

burge(s) small flags for signaling, made in sets of distinct patterns for the representation of letters, numbers, cardinal points, titles of rank or social elevation, even whole words.The color of a burge is first and foremost for distinction, though the meaning of the colors can be inferred if a small multistripe, multicolored flag—known as the parti-jack—is flown with them. Burges are used for both civil and military purposes on land and the vinegar seas.

caladine also aleteins, solitarines or just solitaires; calendars who travel long and far from their clave spreading the work of good-doing and protection for the undermonied. The most fanatical of their sisters, caladines are typically the most colorfully mottled and strangely clothed of the calendars, wearing elaborate dandicombs of horns or hevenhulls (inordinately tall thrice-highs) or henins and so on.They too will mark themselves with outlandish spoors, often imitating the patterns of the more unusual creatures that their wide-faring ways may have brought onto their path. Claves tend to confine their actions to a defined jurisdiction known as a diet, and customarily seek permission to enter another clave’s diet. However, caladines have a unilaterally agreed right to travel freely from one diet to the next, though it is considered polite and proper to visit with the august while you are there. Sometimes a caladine is called by the local laude to produce credentials before getting an affirming nod.

calanserie, calanserai, calansery headquarters and home of a calendar clave, and therefore also called a clariary. Usually situated well away from urban buildup, out in more rural places where there is a greater need for the calendars’ work, though there are a few notable exceptions: the oldest clave-homes are found near cities and there are even calanseries in Catalaine, Millaine, Ives and Chastony. Calanseries are typically fortified against assault from both monster and man, especially given that several are home to sequesturies as well.

calendar(s) sometimes called strigaturpis or just strig—a general term for any combative woman; the Gotts call them mynchen—after the do-gooding heldin-women of old. Calendars gather themselves into secretive societies called claves (its members known as claviards), constituted almost entirely of women, organized about ideals of social justice and philanthropy, particularly providing teratological protection for the needy and the poor. They usually live in somewhat isolated strongholds—manorburghs and basterseighs—known as calanseries. Some claves hide people—typically women—in trouble, protecting them in secluded fortlets known as sequesturies. Other claves offer to teach young girls their graces and fitness of limb in places known as mulierbriums. Calendars, however, are probably best known for the odd and eccentric clothing they don to advertise themselves. Over the years a distinct nomenclature has emerged for the various “trades” within a calendar clave, for example:

All kinds of teratologists form secret societies, but calendars are one of the few who generally seek the welfare of others. The calendar ranks in descending order are:

See Appendices 2 and 3.

calendine of or pertaining to calendars.

Callistia, Damsels of ~ fabled beauties from the Heldinsage, ever-living beauties dwelling in the autumn-lands of the urchin-lords. Many tales of love unrequited and rapacious appetites and much misery surround them. The salient lesson in the histories of not putting too much stock on physical beauty is lost, however, on modern folk. For the idea of these mythic ladies has given rise to parades known as Callistia or callic-shows, beauty galas with awards for the most poised, graceful, well-turned out and rational girl in the show.

cantebank(s) peregrinating songsters and prosodists who also sell their talent for words to pen panegyrics for teratologists wishing to boast of their skills either to prospective employers or to be read out in a common room or other public place.

cantus properly called the cantus-and-laude, this is the creed by which a calendar clave lives and dies. Often it is rendered in abbreviated verse form so that it stays in the mind. Calendars are continually indoctrinated with their cantus till obedience to it is reflexive.The In Col umba Alat is an excellent example of a cantus, and each clave will have its own variation of such a creed. See In Columba Alat.

carum, dust-of-~ pronounced “kar’room,” one of the parts that go into the making of Craumpalin’s Exstinker. It comes as a gray powder made from the dried and ground buds of a type of seaweed commonly found along the entire southern coast of the Half-Continent.The dust is a common base for many powdered scripts.

caste small, fragile flasks usually made of glass or delicate porcelains designed to fracture when dashed against a hard surface. These are used to hold liquid potives that burst and react violently when released. Castes have to be stored and carried in padded receptacles; a salumanticum, for example, will have a reinforced pocket as part of the inner linings, divided into softly cushioned slots in which individual castes can be kept. Another method of carrying them is in a digital, a small, sturdy, well-cushioned container, usually of tin or pewter or wood, worn handy on a belt or in a pocket, into which four or five castes can be kept for easy use. There are some different types of digital, and they are common accoutrements of a well-prepared hucilluctor.

castigation(s) • (noun) severe punishments starting with time in the stocks and moving on to increasing strokes of the lash • (noun) period in the afternoon when defaulters are named and their punishments determined. These will typically be impositions; only very rarely will actual castigations be given, despite the grim name—only for larceny or brawling or some gross dereliction of duties. Prentices are often threatened with castigations, but these are empty threats (not that the prentices are usually aware of this) to keep them well in line.

cathared to be made into a lahzar, to have undergone transmogrification.

Cathar’s Treacle also called plaudamentum; draught imbibed by lahzars—both wits and fulgars—to keep their introduced organs from rebelling inside their bodies. See entry in Book One.

catillium, catillium-hat round, broad-brimmed, squat-crowned hat, usually made of straw and lined with felt.

catlin also called a catling; a long-bladed, long-handled surgical knife, sharply pointed and double-edged. The preferred tool in amputations and the making of major incisions.

Childebert one of Rossamünd’s fellow prentices; a fairly quiet but capable lad who paid Rossamünd little mind as they shared their lives in Winstermill.

Chill often used as a synonym for winter, but more specifically referring to the coldest months in the year—Pulchrys, Brumis, Pulvis and Heimio, considered usually an ill time for travelers.

chymistarium or test-barrow; cupboard or portable barrow where skolds and their ilk can make their potives. Very compact, with ingenious drawers and foldable sections, an entire miniature test crammed into as small a space as possible. Skolds may port the cupboard variety on a cart or carriage to take about with them or pull the barrow (or hire some sturdy rough to pull it for them) to make what they need when they need it. Not to be confused with a test itself, which is a whole room and its tools given to this purpose.

cicuration said “kick-u-ray-shun”; determined process of bringing the wilds under control by farming and cultivation, by digging and cutting and landscaping, and by colonization to bring the land fully under everyman control. It is a slow form of taming, but its effects are deep and long lasting. Even so, some places refuse to be brought under heel—such as the Harrowmath, large parts of the Mold, the Frugelle and so on. See also the Idlewild.

claustra small booths used in the more fancy alehouses, coffeehouses, wayhouses, tomaculums and any other such public place, made to seat no more than four comfortably. Designed to provide a modicum of privacy to guests, they were originally used in the less salubrious establishments to allow nefarious conversation to happen somewhat publicly without being too public. As is so often the case, the fashions of the wealthy romanticize and ape the daily realities of the less well-heeled, who in turn copy things they like from those of higher station—and so it goes around.

clave(s) group of calendars, particular and distinct, set to protect a defined area. A clave has its own unique mottle and spoors that its phrantry are expected to wear at all times with pride. Calendars in general hold to universal beliefs and rules, but a clave is free to emphasize or add bits as they see fit. The augusts of all the claves in a region may meet every so often to coordinate and bond. There is normally no real animosity between claves, and caladines tend to be the glue that keeps it all one big happy family.

Clementine capital city of the whole Empire; some may use the name Clementine when referring to the Emperor and his ministers as a collective; a general term for all the powers that govern the Empire. See entry in Book One.

clerk(s) at Winstermill these are essentially civilians with a military rank: few states have professional military staff. Given this, the most preferred clerks are concometrists, the combat-clerical graduates of athenaeums such as Inkwill, who are highly trained in both paper shuffling and the stouche.

clerk-master another rendering of the title Master-of-Clerks, slightly less formal and typically allowable in use only by those of higher rank.

coach-host harbor for post-lentums and other public carriages situated at a convergence of routes, where a passenger can while away minutes and hours either eating and drinking in the refectory or sitting and waiting in the parenthis. Coach-hosts are not wayhouses: they have no facilities to accommodate travelers, though folk are allowed to sleep in the parenthis if they wish, at no charge, sitting on hard benches and locked in at night with limited access to the jakes or refreshments and no bedding. Still, for those short of money this is a better option than a night exposed on the streets or in the wilds.

color-party small group bearing the colors before a body of soldiers. A typical color-party holds the colors—the flag that signifies the pride of its soldiers—and the pensills—the personal pendants of the officers in charge of that unit. A marshal’s color-party will also carry the spandarion. With the color-party will also go a drummer boy and a fyfesman beating time and encouraging their comrades with martial music.

Columbine(s) calendars belonging to the Right of the Pacific Dove.

Columbris calansery and sequestury of the Right of the Pacific Dove who otherwise call themselves Columbines, from the Tutin for “dove.”

combinade(s) hand arms that are a clever combination of melee weapon and firelock. The firing mechanism on most combinades is an improved wheel lock, being more sturdy than a flintlock, and able to take the jars that come when the weapon is used to strike at a foe. Added to this, the lock mechanism, trigger and hammer are usually protected by gathered bands of metal, a basket much like those protecting the hilts of many foreign swords.When edges and bullets are treated with gringollsis, combinades become very effective therimoirs (monster-killing tools).

commerce men smugglers and other such illegal traffickers working in concert and with some kind of centralized leadership or organizer, an unduly respectable title for a very unrespectable lot. It is applied, a tad sarcastically, to all such folk whether they belong to an actual commerce society or not.

compeer how one peer may refer to another.

compliment what we would call a toast, when glasses are filled and touched together as things are declared and wished for.

Compter-of-Stores chief accountant of Winstermill, apparently of equal rank to the Master-of-Clerks, though in practice very much under the latter’s sway.

Conduit Felix, the ~ reputed to be the longest highroad in the Empire, reaching from Clementine, the Imperial Capital far in the north, through the very midst of the Grassmeer and on to Andover in Hergoatenbosch. The Conduit Felix is used to mark the separation of the Grassmeer into the Ager Magnus on the eastern side and the Solum Magnus to the west.

Conduit Vermis, the ~ proper name of the Wormway. See entry in Book One.

confectioner any seller of potives, whether skold, hedgeman or simple shopkeeper; also sometimes called fargitors (“makers of potpourri”), an ancient Tutin name for skolds given them when the first rhubezhals arrived from across the eastern mares.

confustication confusion or fight, particularly a wild brawling fight or a fight that has turned out badly.

Considine, the ~ one of the alternats or subcapitals situated at strategic places within the Haacobin Empire. Alternats were founded to allow the Empire to keep greater control over its subject states, most of which lie beyond inveterately threwdish land, well past easy reach. Large armies and navies are kept at each alternat, ready to venture forth and chastise any overweening state or peer or defend the lands against the monsters. In the Soutlands, the Considine is the larger, older and therefore senior of two alternats, the other being the Serenine, farther south.

corser(s) grave robbers and traffickers in dead bodies for the service of high-paying massacars and all the rest. Probably their best-known tool-of-trade is the corpse-fender, a long pointed pole driven into the mold to test the location of a possible grave. Apart from the dangers of monsters and the ever-vigilant obstaculars and revenue officers, you might also come into conflict with other corsers over a prize tomb. Edgar Shallow, a somewhat well-known corser, wrote a book on the subject; part treatise, part sage advice, part fictional license—The Ashmongers’Almanac. Other books on the subject include Codex Necropoli by Tichanus, an old catalog and guide to all the known cemeteries of the Old World (recent revisions by Tidswell include references to Turkeman grave sites); and Fossae Magnum (or “The Book of Graves”), a treatise on the trade of the corser with a cursory guide to the main cemeteries in the larger cities. See corsers in Book One.

costermen small-time traders who travel about selling fruits and vegetables and any other foodstuffs they might have.

Cothallow built between Makepeace and the Three Stile Junction, this is one of the best cothouses on the Wormway, with a reputation for smartness and punctuality and for the comforts of its cot-rent. The lighters serving there are a happy bunch (as lighters go), flourishing under an uninterrupted string of competent, good-natured house-majors.

cothouse(s) type of fortalice, the small, often houselike fortresses built along highroads to provide billet and protection to lamplighters and their auxiliaries. Cothouses are usually built no more than ten to twelve miles apart, so that the lamplighters will not be left lighting lamps and exposed in the unfriendly night for too long.Their size goes from a simple high-house with slit windows well off the ground, through the standard structure of a main house with small attendant buildings all surrounded by a wall, to the fortified bastion-houses like Haltmire on the ConduitVermis or Tungoom on the Conduit Felix. Sometimes called a little manse.

coty gaute pronounced “co’tee gort,” a delicate pastry from the Patricine stuffed with quail cooked so long the bones are edible.

course • (verb) to hunt, particularly to hunt monsters. • (noun) the hunt itself, usually referred to as a coursing-party, or in such phrases as “to go on a course.” A course is, obviously, a dangerous affair. One undertaken lightly will always result in the doom of some, if not all, of those involved. A prospective courser is always advised to take at least one skold and one leer—or, if they are unavailable, a quarto of lurksmen, even a navigator or wayfarer, and a hefty weight of potives and skold-shot. Not to be confused with “corse,” meaning (of course) a dead body, a corpse.

court-martial a court or tribunal made up of military or navy officers who try their own for any offense committed by pediteers or vinegaroons against military—and even sometimes Imperial—law; a martial court rather than a civil court (court-civil), where everyday folk are tried. To be subject to a court-martial does not necessarily mean being cashiered from one’s chosen service; the tribunal of officers in a court-martial have to establish guilt or innocence, just as in a civil court. Therefore you can be tried in a court-martial and be found innocent and so return to service.

crank in habilistics this term is used to mean something that is of dubious or unknown origin and/or effect, something made with little skill and giving little real benefit; it is also used to refer to something that is broken or impaired in some way.

crank-hook(s) another name for fodicars, so given for the blunt spike sticking from one side that is used to wind the mechanism of a seltzer lamp to draw out the bloom into the seltzer water.

Craumpalin’s Exstinker nullodor made by Master Craumpalin for Rossamünd, which Rossamünd is meant to apply frequently; he works hard to do so, keeping a careful eye on how much he has used and how much he has left.

crinickle bonnet of muslin or silk worn by women to bed at night to keep their hair in place during the night’s sleep.

Cripplebolt cothouse situated on the Frugelle built atop the ruins of an ancient Burgundian tollhouse; most famous for the horse-stud kept within the old, still-intact cellars protected by three sets of strong doors and the vigilant maintenance of powerful nullodors.The stocky nags bred there are not the sleekest beasts, but they still pull a load as they are meant to.

Critchitichiello, Mister itinerant ossatomist hailing originally from Seville who finds life down in the cooler climes of the Soutlands more to his liking because people are not so aware of his unusual past, and rumor so far has not managed to follow him across the Grassmeer. A ledgermain of natural gifts, he is talented at basic skolding too, and has made a comfortable living in the less traveled habitations of the Empire’s southern conquests.

Crofton Wheede prentice-lighter. See Wheede, Crofton. cruor monster’s blood once it has been taken from the beast.

cruorpunxis monster-blood tattoo. Though cruor is used to mark a monster-slayer, this is not because of any special properties in the blood of a dead monster over the blood from a live monster (ichor). It is simply that getting a bruicle of blood from a still-living nicker might seem a difficult task: the author would defy anyone to attempt it and come away whole. See Book One.

curricle light two-wheeled cart or carriage usually pulled by a team of two horses or, in a pinch, a pair of strong mules or donkeys—though at a slower pace.

cursor(s) mathematical clerks employed for their ability to count and arithmecate (do all manner of sums) quickly and without the aid of counting devices.

dancing calendar(s) more properly calendine sagaars.

dandicomb(s) large, gaudily decorated “novelty” hats, designed to attract attention. Worn almost exclusively by teratologists, dandicombs declare very much that the wearer is serious about killing monsters. They come in a variety of forms with wings (ailettes), horns, multiple crowns, twisted crowns; whatever the imagination of the wearer, the depth of his or her purse and the skill of the milliner might conjure.

dandidawdler(s) rich, affected men who dress expensively in fussy, frilly threads; those of the modern fashionable set known as fluffs. See Appendix 4.

dark trades illegal trade of body parts and monster bits. See entry in Book One.

day-clerk(s) in cothouses much of the clerical work—filing of indents, sorting of work cards, auditing of stores, concatenation of papers—is in the hands of one person, the day-clerk, who may have an assistant, if he or she is fortunate. Day-clerks are also responsible for the transit of mail through their station and the dissemination of the same to and from postmen serving the area.

day-watch watch in a cothouse responsible for guarding their billet and the sleeping lantern-watch and the immediate road during the day; for driving off monsters from their stretch of the way; for aiding in the chasing and apprehension of lurchers and other commerce men; for participating in fatigue parties either on ditch duty or as laborers themselves; and for whichever other duties might present themselves for the doing. At determined intervals that vary with the needs of each house, the day-watch and lantern-watch will swap duties, making it a long day for the previous day-watch and a shortened vigil-day for the relieved lantern-watch.

Dead Patch, the ~ the common grave of the lamplighters and auxiliaries in Winstermill. Indeed there are many graveyards throughout the Half-Continent and beyond with this name. A noteworthy feature of the one in Winstermill is that the dead are buried feetfirst—standing upright, as it were—to conserve room, so that as many as possible might be interred there.

degree another term for the situations of social status and rank. The highest degree is a duke/duchess, then marche/marchess, followed by a count/countess, then viscount (or reive)/viscountess (or revine), after which are baron/baroness, then companion/companine, then armige (or esquire)/armigine and finally gentleman/gentlewoman. Each degree above companion may be referred to as “lord” or “lady,” and those below as “sir” or “dame.”

Dereland the vast southeastern continent beyond the Liquor and the Mare Periculum (Gramlendenmeer), a region which includes the Hagenlands, the eoned home of the Gotts before they were driven out by the Hagenards.

diet the defined range of a calendar clave’s—and therefore its august’s— influence as stipulated by the clave’s Imperial Prerogative (a commission from the Emperor). Any calendar entering another clave’s diet must seek permission either from the laude or the august herself, depending on circumstances.

dispensurist(s) in Winstermill, dispensurists occupy a rank between sergeant and under-sergeant, meaning they are one step down from a leer and therefore subordinate to the same. See entry in Book One for more on dispensurists in general.

distinct acid(s) acidic scripts made especially for a reactive corrosion upon contact, properly known as mordants.

ditchland(s) also known as fossis, ditchlands are the last march of human habitation, being disputed territory where men and monsters vie for control of the land. Essentially you could think of a ditchland as the “front line” in the never-ending war between everymen and üntermen.

doglock heavy firearm, somewhere between a pistol and a carbine in length, and often with a very large bore. Also known as a hauncets, they make excellent salinumbus.

dolly-mop(s) a fairly recent social innovation, these are the working girls of a city or town, ones living for fun and fashion, using their self-earned income in pursuit of the same.

Dolours, Lady ~ pronounced “doll-loors,” a power calendine bane and the laude of Syntychë, the LadyVey and protectress of Threnody. Her origins are uncertain; she perhaps comes from the Patricine state of Vauquelin or Haquetaine. Only a handful of years younger than the Lady Vey, she arrived at Herbroulesse as a teen, already well along the path of skolding. There she was so well cared for by Syntychë’s mother (the existing Lady Vey) and by all of the Right that she willingly transmogrified to become the personal protectress of the heiress of the clave—a young Syntychë herself. Dolours is the oldest serving friend of her mistress, and though she does not agree with all Syntychë does or says, she remains fiercely loyal to her, taking on the role of spurn to Threnody, the next heiress of Columbris, with pride (even though in some ways this is a demotion). There are rumors about, vague hints that Dolours has been spied in conversation with monsters, suspected of discerning between monsters that must be slain and those that should be spared, of being affected with outramour. All of this is conjecture, and the bane herself remains taciturn when asked: what business is it of others? It is unknown if the title of “lady” is a courtesy or a declaration of rank, and Dolours has never sought to clarify this either way.

domesticar(s) pediteers in the employ of a particular individual, serving as the personal guard and even army of the same.

Dovecote, the ~ also known as Herbroulesse or Columbris; the home and headquarters of the Right of the Pacific Dove, gaining its name from the title of the calendar clave living within.

Dovecote Bolt cothouse situated nearest to the Dovecote and one of the smallest cothouses on the Wormway, known as the Bolt by its inhabitants; an unremarkable billet, and notable only for its proximity to the incidents involving Numps and his fellow seltzermen.

Drüker derived from the Gott word for “crush,” the name of one of Winstermill’s fourteen tykehounds, and their curregitor. See tykehound(s).

Duke of Sparrows, the ~ also called the sparrow-king or sparrowlengis; urchin (see entry in Book One), and one of those known as a nimuine, or monster-lord, who have sway over the behavior of the lesser monsters about them.Though most do not believe he exists, the common myth states that the sparrow-king is a friend of the Duke of Crows. He is said to hold court in the woods of the Sparrow Downs, resisting the conquering actions of those monsters set against the realm of everymen. Even so, reputed autumn-land or not, few dare to venture too far into the Downs. People of the Haacobin Empire have dismissed the ancient foolishness that there are two kinds of monster-lord: the nimuines who are kinder, seeking to benefit everymen, and the cacophrins or tlephathines, who seek their own ends and the destruction of everymen.

dust-of-carum see carum, dust-of-~.

dyphr said “die’ferr,” from the Attic for “seat” or “chair”; a light, two-seater, four-wheeled carriage with a high dashboard, open-topped and open-sided before the driver and with the back wheels much greater in diameter than the front wheels. Built for speed and recreation, it is driven by the owner, with no lenterman’s seat at the front. For inclement weather, a foldable top can be pulled over the occupants, and higher sides can be folded up to help protect against a theroscade, though a hasty retreat is a dyphr’s best protection.

einsiedlerin the Gott word for an eeker, those people living by choice or imposition on the fringes of society. See eeker in Book One.

Emperor’s Own Lighters the formal and glorious title of a lamplighter in the service of the Haacobin Emperor. Declared boastfully to the listener, it is used particularly by lighters when referring to themselves.

Empire, the ~ meaning the Haacobin Empire of current rule or the Sceptics whom they overthrew. See entry in Book One.

enkle Gott for “grandson,” a name kindly old Gott folk sometimes give to any young person.

epimelain pronounced “eh-pihm-eh-layn” or “eh-pihm-eh-line” and sometimes shortened just a little to pimelain; also known as an abergaile, a person we would call a nurse, employed in infirmaries and sequesturies to tend to the routine cares of the sick and recovering; regarded as a superior class of maid.

Eugus Smellgrove see Smellgrove, Eugus.

eurinine(s) said “yoo’rah’neen”; the original monsters who were granted the capacity to make life come from the earth. In some texts they are written of as the Primmlings—the first. All the nimuines, tlephathines and cacophrins were once of these kind—or so some antiquated sources say.

everymen people, humankind.

Evolution Green also called Evolution Square; the oblong space south of the Grand Mead in Winstermill designated for marching and other drills of movement.

evolution(s) training in the correct movements in marching and the right handling of weapons and other equipment. Evolutions are taken very seriously in military organs, especially in armies, where pediteers are drilled over and over and over in all the marches and skills required until they become a habit. Failure to perform evolutions successfully is punished, sometimes severely, and this is usually enough to scare people into excellence. Evolutions form part of a hierarchy of military motion and drill starting with manual exercises (individual drill), evolutions (quarto and platoon movements), great exercises (company and battalion movement), and maneuvers (in concerto movements of regiments or forcces of greater size).To evolve is to be put through drill maneuvers such as marching or handling weapons.

Ex Monsteria also known as the Liber Beluafaunis or “Book of Monsters”; an exceedingly rare tome written by the eminent and assassinated scholar and Imperial teratologist Hubritas Whittwornicus of Wörms or, more simply, Wittwornick. It is considered the most learned and thorough study of theroids, but is unofficially considered a banned book for the dubious conclusions Wittwornick comes to about the nature of the ancient foe. It is so hard to get, however, that few but the most learned know of it, and fewer still have a copy to read. A thoroughly abridged form exists—The Incomplete Book of Bogles—but even this is regarded as containing sedonitious information despite the truncation of its contents.

expungeant(s) another rendering of expunctants; those scripts that slay instantly.

Exstinker the nullodor made by Craumpalin for Rossamünd before he left Madam Opera’s, given to him to keep our hero “. . . safe from sniffing noses.” See Craumpalin’s Exstinker and nullodors in Book One.

fabulist(s) one practiced in and gaining income from the arts of sleight of hand, juggling and other feats of prestidigitation. Also used to refer to artists and other image makers.

false-fire potives that cause kinds of chemical burning and melting; the glowing, often firelike reactions of these same potives; chemical “flames” and burning.

falseman a leer whose eyes have been altered so that she or he can detect when another is being truthful or not. See leers in Book One.

fascins said “fass’skins,” coming from infula fascia, the retardant-treated bandages or wrappings and covers worn by scourges to protect them from the workings of their own chemistries.

fatigue party group of laborers, peoneers, and/or seltzermen set to manual labor. If a fatigue party ventures out beyond its protective bounds, it will be accompanied by a quarto or more of pediteers and maybe a lurksman or leer. Soldiers so engaged are said to be on ditch duty.

Fayelillian small northern Soutland state, north of Brandenbrass and directly west over the River Humour from Sulk End; one of the states that during the Dissolutia (see Gates, Battle of the ~ in Book One) did not venture out against the Imperial Capital. As a reward in HIR 1413 the new dynasty expanded Fayelillian’s borders (much to the disgust of her neighbors), elevated her existing peers, granted patents to the most eminent nonpeer families and bestowed hereditary responsibilities, such as the peerage-marshalsy given to the forebears of the Lamplighter-Marshal. To common folk the people of Faylillian have a reputation for gentle simplicity and hospitality greatly at odds with their conquered ancestors, the fierce and indomitable Piltdownmen, who well over a thousand years ago vied with the Brandenards, Burgundians and Wretchermen of aulde for control of lands about the Grume.

fenceland also called sokes or scutis, fencelands are a marche or region of human habitation, where people have a firm hold of the land but still come into frequent contact with monsters. See entry on marches in Book One.

fend any long pike or spear-like weapon with long barbettes or other crossing-pieces protruding perpendicularly at the base of its head or along the shaft, manufactured so to prevent a nicker from pushing itself down the shaft.

Fend & Fodicar wayhouse in Bleak Lynche lovingly known by the locals as “the Pointy Sticks” and run by a kindly widow, Goodwife Inchabald—a large, socially fearless and universally genial woman, as all good enrica d’amas should be. As the only wayhouse in the whole Frugelle, it actually does a stiff trade despite its remoteness.

fetchman also fetcher, bag-and-bones man, ashcarter or thew-thief (“strength-stealer”); someone who carries the bodies of the fallen from the field of battle, taking them to the manoeuvra—or field hospital. Despite their necessary and extremely helpful labors, fetchmen are often resented by pediteers as somehow responsible for the deaths of the wounded comrades they take who often later die of their injuries. Indeed, they are regarded as harbingers of death, sapping their own side of strength, and as such are kept out of sight till they are needed. Such a thankless task. What we might call a stretcher bearer or orderly.

fettle mental fitness and stability, general soundness of attitude and emotion.

feuterer(s) the hundfassers, hound-hands or hundsmen who look after dogs in their kennels, feeding said animals and mucking out their dwellings. Feuterers are usually required only in the care of tykehounds, which need special care and calming, raised as they are to be nervous (and so give quick alarm to the presence of a monster) and cruel (so that they may not shy from attacking a monster). Nevertheless, even a half-decent feuterer and his fellow hundsmen will train their charges to react only to monsters and not everymen.

file what we would think of as an office, where clerks labor and leaders complete all the necessary and burdensome paperwork their positions require.

firing by quarto a platoon giving fire by division of quartos, each quarto firing separately while the other two reload.

fish, fishing common, vulgar term for the sending of a wit; a corruption of frission.

fitch attachable collar of feathers, themselves proofed or fixed into a gaulded cloth or buff lining and consequently a kind of armor.

flammagon stubby, large-bore firelock used to fire flares high into the air. In a pinch it can double as a weapon, but it is best suited as a launcher of bright signals.

flam-toothed saw medical tool used by surgeons to saw bones.

flanchardt similar to shabraques but used on oxen, bullocks and other beasts of burden. It is made of lower quality proofing but uses more layers to achieve comparable protection.

flash swell(s) idle rich young men who carouse and duel and woo the wrong women and are more trouble to the city folk than all the monsters combined. See dandidawdlers.

fleermare meaning “the weeping of the sea,” an extraordinarily thick and drenching fog that comes in off the seas, most commonly in more arid places, acting as the “waterer” of the land in the place of highly infrequent rains. A fleermare can be so thick that it leaves everything dripping as if sodden by a good downpour.

Fleugh, Mister clerk of Winstermill, subordinate to Witherscrawl and very much in that man’s sway.

Flint founded by a collective of Soutland states: a small but very wealthy non-Imperial state belonging unwillingly to the Sigismündian hegemony of the Gotts and its allies.The first stop on the way inland to Sinster, it has grown wealthy on gold and silver mining and on the trade of gretchens, which are most commonly found in waters off their coasts, and has recently begun to expand its navy—each vessel having as its aft-lantern a beautiful gretchen pearl. This militarism has people alarmed on all sides of the Pontus Canis, for a belligerent state could easily upset the fine balance of power that currently exists in the south of the Half-Continent.

fluff(s) wealthy people, peers, especially those who dress showily. No one really knows for certain where the term comes from; some suggest it is because of the continuing fashion for the well-to-do to wear all kinds of expensive furs and trim their hats and boots and even parasols with the same. See Appendix 4.

fodicar(s) (noun) also lantern-crook, lamp- or lantern-switch, poke-pole or just poke; the instrument of the lamplighters, a long iron pole with a perpendicular crank-hook protruding from one end used to activate the seltzer lamps that illuminate many of the Empire’s important roads.The pike-head allows the fodicar to be employed as a weapon—a kind of halberd—to fend off man and monster alike. The bunting-hook on the reverse side to the lantern-hook can also be employed as a sleeve-catcher, making the fodicar a useful tool to parry and tangle fellow people should the need arise.

fortalice any small, usually freestanding building built or reinforced for use as a fortification, seldom used to garrison more than a platoon.

frank to be an accurate or “true” shot with a firelock; to shoot accurately.

Frazzard’s powder one of a powerful set of repellents known as urticants, Frazzard’s powder affects the mucous membranes and eyes most, reacting sharply with the moisture to sting painfully and even burn, scalding the eyes and rendering a foe permanently blind. Harsh stuff, by convention it is used only on monsters.

Friscan’s wead one of the more common alembant treacles required to be taken by a wit. Its main purpose is to stop those specific organs inserted into the cranium from driving a wit mad and vaoriating (See spasm, spasming in Book One), witting anyone unfortunate enough to be near.

frission the collective and general term for the invisible energetic “pulse” of a wit; see wit in Book One.

fronstectum what we would call an eye-shade or visor, made of solid felt with a three-quarter-circle band of cloth-covered bone that fixes about the head.

Frugal, the ~ starting in the hills about the lead mines of the Louthe, this small river is noteworthy as the largest water source running through the Frugelle. Many tiny tributaries flow into it as it in turn flows into the Ichormeer, running right by the wall of Haltmire and serving as that fortress’s source of water before bending away to the northeast and on into a great swamp.

Frugelle, the ~ great plain upon the western shores of the Ichormeer and the source of many small runnels and creeks that feed the wet of that notorious bog. It gains its name from the lack of arable soil and little rain there, moisture coming to the hardy plants and beasts by way of thick fleermares (fogs) off the Swash, the great bay to the south.

fugous cankers terrible and contagious disease spread by sneezing and showing worst as excruciating, rupturing, suppurating ulcers all over the body. Can be fatal if left unchecked, with the worst sufferers having to be shipped to a pestilentarium or pestifery, isolated houses for the separation of the sick from the living. The best run pestiferies will even treat and heal the sick held there; the worst are no better than prisons.

fulgar(s) lahzars that make powerful electrical charges in their body and use them to fight monsters. See entry in Book One.

fulminant(s) potives that cause explosions and flashes and bursts of fire.

furtigrade secret staircase hidden in the cavities of a wall. Such things were once built into almost every structure of more decent size, though now they are included only by request of the architect and builder.

fusil also known as a fusee or carabine or harquebus; a lighter musket with a shortened barrel that makes for simpler loading, is less cumbersome to swing about in thickets and woodland and saves considerable weight. Its shorter length also makes it handy as a club when the fight comes to hand strokes.This makes the fusil a preferred weapon of ambuscadiers and other skirmishing foot soldiers, and also comes a-handy for the drilling of smaller folk in the handling and employment of arms.

g the symbol for guise, the lowest monetary denomination in common currency of the Soutlands. See money in Book One.

Gall, Foistin near relation to the Lictor of Winstermill, Foistin was not proving to have either much aptitude or inclination for the lictoring trades (in which the Gall family has been a proud participant for thirteen generations) and, after a little “playing of strings” by his relation, was afforded a place in the lamplighters of Winstermill.

Gall, Grizzelard Lictor of Winstermill, the continuer of a greatly esteemed family trade, who delights in terrorizing the prentices with the power of his threat.

gallant monster-hunter, a more vulgar term than teratologist. Sometimes used to refer to venators (non-surgically improved hunters of monsters) but is a general appellation too.

gargant any large nicker.

gaudery odd and colorful garb that many teratologists wear: actually a stage term for the overdone costumes worn in plays and other performances.

geese vulgar term for the smallest denomination of Imperial coin, the guise piece, often used as a general reference to money of all kinds and amounts.

Gethsemenë blue glowing planet and one of the brighter heavenly bodies in the night. Not nearly as large as Maudlin or Faustus, it gains it prominence for being, after Phoebë (the moon), the closest object in the cosmic sky.

Giddian Pillow see Pillow, Giddian.

glaucolog sweet-talker; the less-than-polite name given to politicians, ministers, bureaucrats, lobbyists, factors and clerks—anyone in an official position who needs to persuade or coerce with words.

glimbloom see bloom.

Gomroon porcelain one of the finest kinds of porcelain, coming from the tiny kingdom of Gomroon far away on the shores of the Sinus Tintinabuline. This place has grown rich and powerful almost solely from the export of its much sought after tableware.

good-day gala-girls women of ill repute.

Gotts the proud race of people living in the southeast of the Half-Continent, their ancestors—the Skylds—coming once from far over the western waters, from the Hagenlands, driven out by crueler men and settling first in Wörms (see entry in Book One). From there they spread, mingled and merged with the local wildmen and eventually forged a small empire of their own to resist the rise of the Haacobins and the Sceptics before them. Gott, their language—sometimes still referred to as Skyldic—is somewhat akin to German in our own world.

gourmand’s cork also known as a throttle or a gorge; the projecting “knuckle” of cartilage in a person’s throat, in which is situated the vocal cords; what we would call the Adam’s apple. It is called the gourmand’s cork (a gourmand being one who is a gluttonous or greedy eater) because of the tight sensation you can get there when feeling nauseated, which vulgar folk hold is your throat trying to prevent or “cork” any further eating.

graille(s) tools of a punctographist. A marker needs four particular utensils to make a cruorpunxis upon the skin. These are the: Other tools necessary to a punctographist are a notebook and stylus to take an observation of the fallen monster’s face (either by description or by the presence of a corpse—or the head at least). From this is then figured the design of the mark, usually in consultation with the “markee.”

great-lamp(s) also called a vialimn, the roadside seltzer lamps that illuminate the conduits and conductors of the world.They are larger, brighter and more robust than the street-lamps of the cities. In safer places, they are placed about 400 yards apart, and in more wild lands from 200 to 300 yards apart, though this is not a hard rule. The action of winding out the lamp is sometimes known as a hoist or lift-and-drop, each lamp requiring a different number of hoists to wind out fully. A lamp that has not been fully wound does not really pose any problems, but simply cuts down the amount of light thrown and is not good practice.

Greater Derehund(s) one of the larger breeds of tykehound with brindled hindquarters, a blunt, squarish snout and small, sharply pointed ears; originally from Dereland (hence their name), where they have served for centuries as defenders of everymen. Among the biggest of the tykehounds, the largest specimens can attain the size of a donkey and are a genuine terror to the lesser kinds of monster.

gretchen(s), gretchen-globe(s) also called liaphobes or Phoebë’s Daughters (after a most famous collection of them); giant, beautiful “pearls” gagged up by kraulschwimmen. Formed in the bellies of the mighty sea-beasts in much the same way as the small nacreous globes are made inside an oyster, their most remarkable trait is that, from no cause the habilists can currently fathom, they glow naturally. The best, those considered flawless, are perfectly round and glow with such intensity that they are hard to look at. By action of currents and the occult movements of the sea-nickers, gretchens are found in greatest number along the Enne. Consequently the near-independent duchy of Flint and its lesser neighbors have a monopoly on the “harvesting” and trade of the beautiful globes. The smallest liaphobes can be no bigger than a typical oyster-made pearl, but the largest known—the Great Gretchen, from which all others take their name, which was found washed up on the shore of the Flintmeer after a mighty storm—was the size of a cottage. The cause of much envy and, in the end, a terrible war, it was lost along with the Phoebë’s Daughters and a vast collection of the biggest liaphobes ever discovered. All those since found by the foolishly brave divers—encouraged by the great wealth to be had from their labors—have never come close in size.

Griffstutzig the name given to the best canignavor of Winstermill’s tykehounds. Derived from the Gott for “dim-witted.”

Grindrod, Lamplighter-Sergeant ~ said “Grind’rod”; senior non-commissioned officer in charge of the training of prentices at Winstermill. Covered with scars, he has, as he would put it, “survived more theroscades than ye’ve had puddings on Domesdays.” He is a rough man but is genuinely concerned that the young souls he trains are prepared well for the labors of a lamplighter, that they well understand the terrors they face and are ready to cope with them.

gringollsis potives made to paste on to blades or coat the lead bullets of firelocks, making these better able to harm a monster. See skold-shot.

gromwell inexpensive and barely effective restorative having the equivalent impact on the imbiber of a shot of brandy, a warming jolt that does not last terribly long. Some who take it might also suffer the “runs” and bouts of austeration (meaning farting, taken from auster = “the south wind”).

Grystle, House-Major ~ once a highly successful captain of a ram. An indiscretion in money and being outspoken about a clear tactical error of his commanding admiral on a blockade led to Grystle being broke (dismissed of service). Finding himself a bachelor without hearth or immediate prospects, he chose the next best military service (where folk are not fussy of your origins) and took the Emperor’s Billion to become a lamplighter. Long years of habit mean he quite naturally runs the small stone world of Wormstool like the wooden ones he was used to on the vinegar seas. Indeed, he would tell you that there is little difference, both ram and cothouse being isolated in hostile regions and beyond immediate recourse to outside assistance, where survival depends upon the smarts and skills of its watches. Grystle is tight-lipped about his origins and the navy in which he served, though certainly by his accent and turn of phrase he is a native of the Grumid states (those states whose shores lie on the Grume).

gudgeon(s) sometimes rendered “gudjins”; also called nandins (meaning “simpleton,” “idiot”); man-made monsters built by massacars (black habilists ) from bits of people, animals, vat-grown organs, bits of machines and monsters. The most common are the corpselike rever-men or revenants. The major objection to the manufacture of gudgeons is that many body parts used once belonged to people, usually exhumed corpses. Massacars argue that this must be, especially with the brain, for without this the gudgeon will not be in any way controllable or useful.Yet with the rise of demand, kidnapping and murder have been employed to furnish the ever-needy black habilists, to the great sorrow of many. Publicly the Emperor is set against black habilistics, though his “backroom” opinion remains unknown. The more common uses people find for gudgeons are:

gyrovague one who wanders; a hucilluctor, a wayfarer.

Haacobin Empire, the ~ see Empire, the ~ and the entry in Book One.

hackle(s) • (noun) also called a fitch, a broad collar or shoulder-cape made of proofed fur; • (noun) any fur or unshaven animal hide that has been proofed. The gaulding process also affects the hairs themselves, adding to the protective qualities of the material.To gauld furs and keep the hairs, however, requires care and low apseric gaulds, of high quality, which of course increases the cost of the hackle, making it accessible only to the wealthy.

hack-watch pocket watch used by vinegaroons on a marine vessel as an aid to navigation and to determining noon by the sun.

Hagenards, Haganards, the ~ people of the Hagenland and much of the Derelands who, long, long ago, drove the Skylds out of their homelands and across the western seas. The Hagenards took possession of Ald Skyld and the Skylds took possession of what is now known as the Gottlands.

half-pay poker(s) older or worn-out lampsmen serving lighter duties either within a cothouse or on quieter stretches of road.The name “poker” is a somewhat derogatory reference to putting a lantern-crook—otherwise known as a poke—into the ratchet workings of a great-lamp.

Hall of Pageants large meeting hall built in the southwestern corner of Winstermill’s vast grounds. It is used for all ceremonies, from the puncting of its victorious monster-slayers to the bestowing of commissions and other noteworthy promotions and awards, and usually the Billeting Day parade, held amid much pomp and splendor for each “batch” of fully trained prentices. Situated by the Dead Patch, the hall has in its cellars and foundations the tombs and sepulchres of its seniormost officers, who served with distinction over the century of its existence. Indeed, the hall is said to be actually erected over the old grave site of the original fortification of Winstreslewe.

Hallow Sill commonly known as the Hagwood, the forest surrounding Herbroulesse, which takes its less than friendly name from the very presence of the calendars, or hags, in that wood.

Haltmire very last fortress before the eastern borders of the Soutlands give over to the Ichormeer; built originally as a bastion, dormitory and storehouse for the engineers and laborers attempting the enormous work of building a road through the dread swamp. Not as large as Winstermill or the Wight, yet it is mighty enough to provide a permanent foothold in the isolated and threatened lands—with a reputation similar to the manse’s for impregnability. Stationed there is the Warden-General, who has secondary command of the “ignoble end of the road,” and is the highest-ranking officer of the lamplighters on the road itself, topped only by the Lamplighter-Marshal. Like every other cothouse on the Wormway, Haltmire is undermanned, its company of pediteer auxiliaries reduced to one full platoon and one at half-strength, its lighters down to a quarto, its thaumateers limited to two skolds.There was once a fulgar employed there who was lost in the Ichormeer protecting the wife of the Warden-General as she desperately searched for their young children gone missing in that wretched place.The lighters of Wormstool and Bleakhall joined a greater and near futile search for the wife and daughters in which Haltmire’s scourge was also lost and many lighters and auxiliaries barely returned with their lives. Managing to at least save the Warden-General’s middle child, men of courage and a frank aim such as Aubergene proved their worth that day, and many were awarded by the grief-struck father. Situated so near to the southeastern city of Hurdling Migh, Haltmire gets most of its supplies from there and is a stockpile of resources for the cothouses to the west.

hand strokes close combat where blows with hand arms such as swords or cudgels are exchanged. The opposite is to “stand a pull,” that is, to trade shots (“pulls”) over a distance.

harlock means, quite simply, “white hair.” See Hermogenes, Cot-Warden~.

Harrowmath, the ~ wide, boggy plain upon which Winstermill is situated, gaining its name from an ancient intention to drain the area and replant it with crops. However, all attempts to run off water from it and mow it failed: the water just kept seeping back and the grass resprouted stubbornly no matter what was done. Now it is left alone, home to frogs and salamanders and small water snakes, egrets, herons and screaming curlews, coties (small quail) and tiny hopping mice, and mown only occasionally to prevent it from becoming a perfect matted hiding place for monsters.

Harrowmath Pike, the ~ another name for the Pettiwiggin. It gained the name “pike” from the time when people were taxed a toll for its use, levied at Wellnigh House when travelers went to pass through in either direction.

haubardier(s) essentially a heavily armored musketeer. See entry in Book One.

hauncet(s) very heavy barreled pistol that takes great skill and strong wrists to fire and delivers a heavy, crushing blow of a shot. Loaded with skold-shot they become deadly tools against the monsters.

hedge, hedgeman “part skold, dispensurist and ossatomist”; often not especially well versed in any of the three trades, or particularly talented at one while offering the others out of need or sheer mercenary intent; one of the many types of gyrovague wandering the Half-Continent and indeed the entire world offering services to any paying person.

Heil glassware high-quality glassware coming predominantly from the city of Tüngasil in the fabled southern marches of Tüngusia in Heilgoland, the huge continent and empire south of the Gurgis Magna—the great southern ocean. The glass is made from the extra-fine sands mined from beneath the permafrost of the steplands on the borders of Magog.

heldin(s) mighty folk of ancient history who fought with the monsters, employing their infamous therimoirs to keep the eoned realms of humankind safe; known by many collective titles, including beauts (common), haggedolim (Phlegmish), herragdars (Skyldic), heterai (Attic), orgulars (Tutin), sehgbhans (Turkic): what we would call “heroes.” The time of their supremacy, when they were relied upon to stand in the gap between everymen and üntermen, is known as the Heldinsage. Said to have begun with the Phlegms—those most ancient of forebears—and ended with the Attics, their heirs, it was the time of Idaho, the great queen of the Attics, and of Biargë the Beautiful, among many other glorious and infamous folk and their usually tragic stories. Not all of the weapons of the heldins were destroyed in the violent cataclysms that punctuated and finally concluded that time: many are said to remain, and are most highly prized by collectors and combatants.

Herbroulesse also known as the Dovecote or Columbris; the home of the calendars of the Right of the Pacific Dove. The original name of the old, moldering fortress that the Right occupied when they first moved into the region at the Idlewild’s beginnings.

hereward westward. In the Half-Continent, although the usual north, south, east and west are common terms, directions of the compass are often given more classical names: See “by the precious here and vere” in Book One.

Hermogënes, Cot-Warden ~ said “Her-moj-anees”; once a native of Seville, far to the north, he has carried with him for a long time the name harlock, which means simply “white hair,” having been born with those unusually pallid locks. Cot-Wardens are the senior-most sergeants (sergeant-master) of a cothouse.

Hinkerseigh said “Hink-ker-see”; a small city/large town in the Idlewild whose founding state is the Sangmaund state of Maubergonne. It gets its name from its most prominent founding family, the Hinkers, and their grand fortified high-house (a seigh). Hinkerseigh is most noted for its many water-driven mills and heavier industry, a small copy of the original city of its founders—one of the more industrialized of the Soutland states.

hirsuite partially cured animal leather with the hair left on, the hair usually being shaved or trimmed short but not removed. See rimple.

hob-rousing also known as sheboggery, or pit-fights; a recent invention of the affluent bored and a major customer of the dark trades. Hob-rousing is the practice of pitting a gudgeon and nicker against one another and betting on the outcome. Under the charge of a rouse-master, gents known as pit-bobs (or tractors) wrangle these beasts together into a pit (10-plus-foot deep x 12-plus-foot wide), initially separated by bars. This barrier is removed and the two allowed to stouche it out until one is left alive (with gudgeons usually proving the more aggressive but the less robust). Gudgeons that survive for many bouts can gain a kind of fame among the hob-rousing regulars (the gamers or cubes, who come to watch and wager, and the nullards or pigeons, who come only to watch), gaining names like “the Matschig Mauler,” “Old Feisty” and such like, “Mary’s Long-Dead Mother” being one of the more gruesome and ironic appellations. Indeed, even some monsters who have survived for many fights have gained grudging admiration. The rousing-pits are typically maintained by either a peer or magnate or by a cartel of mercators (dark trade bosses)—someone with the will and money to establish and maintain such a place.They will be found deep in the foundations of a manor house (with tunnels and their entrances leading well away from the host) or some abandoned hall or cave out in the country. Hob-rousing is a big money-spinner for the organizers, with fights sometimes rigged in the rever-man’s favor to give the spectator some much-needed satisfaction against the monstrous foe. Of course, if a rousing-pit is secreted out in the wilds, any gudgeon kept there will eventually attract nickers; this, although highly risky, usually suits the organizer/owners, who will try to trap any monsters lurking near and use them in the next fight.

Hognells, the ~ broad gray escarpment regarded as the natural division between the Idlewild proper and the poor lands of the Paucitine. They form part of the range of hills rich in mostly as yet untapped ores: lead, copper and, some say, even silver. Fossickers can often be seen ranging about the surrounding lands, sent by the big states to find sources of these precious metals.

horrors, the ~ • (noun) common term for threwd. • (noun) lingering and malingering effects of pernicious threwd, the sufferers remaining in a fragile, frightened and broken state. Some folks hold that those touched by the horrors have a greater sensitivity to threwdish things and are more aware of the monstrous in the world around them. More sensible people dismiss this as arrant rustic nonsense. The horrors are related to the blue ghasts, which is a more darkly depressive state.

house-major more properly titled Major-of-House, this is the most senior officer of a cothouse with charge over all the doings therein and along the span of road put under his responsibility. If something happens to or along that span, then it is his duty—and the duty of those he commands—to initiate a solution, whether it is road repairs, clearing the verge, rescuing stranded travelers, hunting lurchers or brigands or monsters.

house-watch permanent staff of a cothouse who do not go out on the lantern-watch. These can include the house-major, the day-clerk, uhrsprechman, the kitchen staff (if present) and the various trades and laborers required for daily tasks such as tinkers, proofeners, seltzermen and the like. Some cothouses were once manned well enough to possess a large house-watch of pediteers as well to relieve the day-watch at intervals and provide them with extended rest.

hucilluctor(s) said “hyoo-sil-luck-tor”; a wayfarer. The word comes from the Tutin term meaning “hither and thither.”

hugger-mugger one of the many synonyms for monster, referring to a common manner of attack among the üntermenschen, which is to leap from an ambush—to “hug”—and grapple closely with their prey—to “mug.”

huque said “hyook”; a long cloak with split sides to allow the wearer’s arms free movement.

ichor when talking of cruorpunxis, a monster’s blood when still inside it is known as ichor, and when extracted by a sprither into a bruicle it is called cruor.

Ichormeer, the ~ great threwdish swamp to the east of Sulk and west of Wörms said to be the origin of monsters, the place where they are “born” from to terrorize the Soutlands. See entry in Book One.

Idesloe calendar purrichin of the Right of the Pacific Dove, originally coming from Flint, and once speardame to Sophia Idaho II, its ruling Duchess. The eldest purrichin, she is the mentor of the other sagaars of the Right, going into a stouche bearing her ancient therimoir, a sword-of-wire called Glausopë—or “Asp’s Tongue,” a relic of the Heldinsage.

Idlewild, the ~ officially known as the Placidia Solitus, a gathering of client-cities (colonies) along the Imperial Highroad of the Conduit Vermis. Each town, village or fortress is sponsored by a different state of the Empire—Brandenbrass, Hergoatenbosch, Quimperpund, Maubergonne, Termagaunt, even Catalain. Established in the late fifteenth century HIR, it is the latest great project of what is grandly termed cicuration—taming by farming; purgation—taming by force; and bossetation —taming by landscaping, originally proposed by Clementine itself. The Inner Idlewild or Placidine, from Tumblesloe Cot to the Wight, was declared “regio scutis”—a fenceland—over a decade ago. This heralded a brilliant success of the great labor of pushing back the monsters and the threwd. The marches from the Wight to Haltmire—otherwise known as the Paucitine (also the Frugelle)—are still considered ditchland. These two divisions of Placidine and Paucitine are known as themes, or military districts, the western governed by Winstermill, the eastern by Haltmire, with the Wight situated at their meeting and concerned only with the taxation of trade from Sulk.

“ignoble end of the road” title given to the remote and dangerous stretch of road that runs along the flat of the Frugelle, beginning at the Hognells and ceasing at Haltmire, and to the cothouses found thereon.

IMIR In Ministerium Imperia Regnum (or Rex), meaning either “In Service to the Empire” or “In Service to the Emperor”; the motto of any ministry or body working for the Haacobin Empire.

Imperial fumomath scourge, skold or dispensurist in the direct employment of the Empire; the term can be used to refer to such skolds and scourges that are employed at Winstermill and elsewhere, but more properly means those who serve in the Emperor’s courts in Clementine, especially those tending to the Emperor himself.

Imperial Prerogative a mandate from the Most Serene Emperor granting limited yet often far-reaching rights to certain individuals or groups (such as many calendar claves) allowing them to operate outside the governances or interference of state or other local authorities. It can even be pushed (some might say abused) to allow things contrary to the Imperial interest to proceed unhindered, such as the breaking of an Oath of Service.

Imperial Secretary highest ranked of all the Haacobin Empire’s bureaucrats; men and women of great influence and power, not so much because of their own rank, but because of the status of the ears and minds they have such ready access to—the senior ministers of the Emperor, and even the great man himself. The favor of an Imperial Secretary can be the making of you, their disfavor your ruin. Though often of common birth, they are typically courted and feted by peers, especially the lowly ranked, and by gentry and magnates too, eager for some kind of advancement or boon. One does not strive to be an Imperial Secretary for dreams and hopes of reform, but for the sake of pure ambition and ego.

In Columba Alat meaning “a dove’s wing” or “the wings of a dove,” and also known as the Columbinale; the cantus (or creed) of the calendar clave known as the Right of the Pacific Dove to which each adherent must ascribe and swear:

Another version replaces “chattels” in the third line for “labors”—though the idea is held to be the same. Other claves will have similar creeds, for calendars of any stripe live by such things.

Ingébiargë pronounced “Ihng’geh’bee’arr’gee;” or Biargë the Beautiful, as she is commonly known, a powerful creature who relishes the taste of vinegaroon and has lived as long as modern matter can tell. See Biargë the Beautiful.

invidist(s) commonly thought of as loathards, those who utterly hate monsters, who feel theiromisia (deliberate and pointed malice against teratoids), as opposed to those who feel a general dislike or habitual, mindless fear (the average citizen of the Empire). Also known as aspex (typically used in reference to a teratologist), theirmisers, execrats, these are the inveterate enemy of sedorners.

ipse adversus as the Marshal says, this roughly means “standing alone” and comes from “(ipse) solus adverso malus,” literally, “(oneself) alone against the evil.”

“I will wait for thee/If thou wouldst come with me” a quote from “The Wide-faring Merchant,” also called “The Plaint of the Merchant’s Wife,” a popular tune heard the Soutlands over.

jakes, the ~ toilets, also called heads (navy), or garderobe, water closet, the gong and the rest.

Josclin said “joss’lyn”; scourge of Winstermill. Hailing from Brandenbrass yet said to be descended from Cloudeslee stock, that quasi-mystic land beyond the southern bounds of the Haacobin Empire, reputed to be populated with sedorners and most famous for its deadly accurate archers—or toxothetes. Josclin does not elaborate on his heritage and, as a scourge, has chosen a profession quite at odds with the principles of his reputed forebears. He trained at the Madrigoll, the much-vaunted rhombus in Maubergone, rather than at the Saumagora—or “Soup Pot”—in Brandenbrass, won by the former’s well-earned reputation for producing first-rate scourges. He so rarely ventures forth without his fascins that though he has served with the lighters at Winstermill for nigh on a decade, only a few of his fellows know what he actually looks like.

knave(s) • (noun) the opposite of a spurn; broadly any teratologist who hires services out to the highest bidder or any other paying customer, but used in reference to lahzars particularly—a nonlahzarine monster-slayer is sometimes called a hack, because these nonsectified gallants have to “hack” at a monster to battle it (as with a sword or cudgel or the like). How this includes skolds (which it does) is unknown and also unquestioned. • (verb) to hire oneself out, especially as a teratologist; to sell one’s services.

knavery offices where a person can go to hire a teratologist or three or as many as are needed. Such establishments gain their name from the term “knave,” that is, any person who sells services to any paying client, as opposed to a spurn, who serves a retaining lord or master. When entering a region for the first time, a teratologist may register at the local knavery to make it known that he or she is about and going on the roll offering services. In doing this monster-hunters are agreeing not to shop their skills through other neighboring knaveries or their own advertisement, thus denying the knavery its commission.The knaving-clerk will take a request from a customer and offer a selection of monster-hunters they believe will solve the dilemma. Once the teratologist has been selected, he or she is approached with an Offer of Work, which may be accepted or rejected. Work is more steady for teratologists who use the knaving system, though they usually make less money for service rendered.

lackbrained empty-headed, slow-witted, not very bright or clever.

Lady Dry-stick vulgar term for an uptight, unfriendly, upper-class woman.

Lady Vey, The ~ see Vey, the Lady ~.

laggard(s) leers specializing in the detection of hard to see things and things far off, getting greater use out of a sthenicon, which is made in part to enhance such senses, than a falseman.

lahzar(s) said “luh’zahr”; the premium monster-hunter, gaining peculiar and deadly abilities through surgery. See entry in Book One.

lale short afternoon break usually held at 4 P.M., where the lantern-watch ready themselves to depart, taking a small meal to help them on the road. The word is an antiquated rendering of “lull,” a time of quietude.

lambrequin simple proofed cover-all armor, worn over the top of normal clothing, like a kind of heavy gaulded poncho.

“Lamp East Winst(ermill) x West Well(nigh House) y” system for designating the placement of a great-lamp on a highroad, x and y being the number of lamps away from a cothouse or other fortification.

lamplighter(s) pediteer responsible for the lighting and dousing of lamps along highroads, low-roads and any other roads in between. One of the benefits of experience is knowing just how many winds it takes for each lamp to be fully wound out, for not every great-lamp requires the same number of lift-and-drops to bring out the bloom. Upon joining as a prentice, a lighter is issued with the following items:

Of course, if fellows possess equivalent items of their own, then these are employed instead, and they may expand their equipment as they wish. At some cothouses each lighter is also issued with charges of repellents or blastes (such as bothersalts, Frazzard’s powder, salt-of-asper and the like) and given a little training in how to use them, thus acting as his own skold. Every second lighter is also issued a record: a small book in which the disrepair of a lamp can be recorded and left for the seltzermen to read and act upon. See entry in Book One and Appendix 7.

Lamplighter-Marshal, the ~ his correct title is the Eighth Earl of the Baton Imperial of Fayelillian. Though he comes from a well-to-do family, an entire life spent in military service in close association with the common pediteer has meant the Marshal has picked up their less-than-couth manners. He is the kind of leader who shows by example and has fought several stouches in the front with his men, gaining himself their deep respect, several gruesome scars and no small number of cruorpunxis. The rank itself is the highest possible for a lamplighter, an Imperial commission that is usually only granted to peers—with the heroic Protogenës being a notable exception. In order for the Lamplighter-Marshal to succeed at his tasks he is heavily reliant on the cooperation and skill of the Comptroller-Master-General and with him the Master-of-Clerks to keep the more bureaucratical gears of the lighters’ world turning efficiently.

Lamplighter-Sergeant Grindrod see Grindrod, Lamplighter-Sergeant.

lamps collective noun for all lights, and particularly those that give light to streets and roads.

“A lamp’s worth is proved by its color” also “a lamp’s weal (health) is proved by its color,” an old lamplighter truism meaning that someone’s moral value is proved by his or her actions, or “actions speak louder than words.” It comes from the idea that you can tell a seltzer lamp’s condition by the color of the light coming through the seltzer.

lampsman 3rd class the lowest rank of a properly qualified lighter, being the rank prentices are promoted to once prenticing is done. See Appendix 6.

lampsmen another name for lamplighters, meaning generally the non-officer ranks.

lamp-watch also called the lantern-watch; the nightly duty of moving along a stretch of road to light the lamps and then spend many hours on watch in your bastion-house till early morn when you go out once more and put all the lamps out again. After this it’s a well-earned sleep during daylight hours.The term also refers to the folk involved in the performing of the lamp-watch.

landgrave a rank of peer in the Lauslands, equivalent to somewhere between a duke and an earl of the Haacobin Empire; essentially the now hereditary rulers of their lands, the ranks formerly granted by a long-gone dynasty of kings when the Lauslands were once a part of Ing. Now they elect for themselves a valastin (chief elector) from among their own, who rules for a set period and is responsible for those troubles of state that require centralized governing. The Haacobins and the Sceptics before them have long coveted these fertile western lands of the landgraves and have long waged war to get them. Yet they have never been able to prevail over their western neighbors.The soldiers on those failed campaigns have claimed that the monsters of those lands are actually working in the favor of the landgraves and their peoples; the ministers back in Clementine dismiss this as an excuse.

landsaire also spelled landtseir, an organized group of lesquins of battalion strength or greater. Sometimes they include “legio” or “legion” in the names, after the Tutin armies of old.

lantern-crook another name for a fodicar.

lantern-span distance between great-lamps on a highroad, the agreed standard being 400 yards, though the lamps themselves can be anything from 200 to 600 yards apart, depending on where in the road they are situated.

lantern-stick(s) mildly deprecating name for prentices given them by full-ranked lampsmen. It comes from the name for the lighter wooden practice-crooks that are sometimes employed to help young would-be lighters in winding a great-lamp’s mechanism. It is also an insulting nickname infrequently given to fodicars by nonlighters.

lantern-watch another rendering of lamp-watch, used especially to refer to the period of duty itself rather than the group of lamplighters.

lark-lamp also called a swadlimn, a 1:6 to 1:10 scale model of a great-lamp, used to instruct lamplighters on the workings of the lights used along the Emperor’s highroads. They are lights in their own right, fully functioning, with the bloom capable of being wound in and out of the seltzer. Unlike bright-limns, however, they do not suffer being tipped about, such action generally causing them to spill seltzer water and foul up the fine gears of their workings.

laude assistant, voice and rod of the august of a calendar clave who knows all the comings and goings of the local area. It is to her and her assistants that all appeals, requests and visitors must come before being referred to the august for final arbitration. Highly capable and dangerous in her own right, a laude is the deliverer of all the censures and commendations of her august and clave.

leakvane kind of tarbinaire, a potive composed of two parts that combine to make the required reaction. Leakvanes themselves are small elongated boxes of thin light wood, designed to break apart, divided into two wax-sealed halves between which is a heavy film of treated velvet that protrudes from the top of the box. When this tab is pulled the two potives kept separate in either half mix together, and after anywhere from a few seconds to a minute they will react with the desired effect. The best tarbinaires will have the expected time for reaction stamped on them, and it is recommended never to shake one, as this can cause an almost instantaneous effect while the device is still in your hand.

ledgermain(s) person who has learned skolding from books and not from another skold. Ledgermains are considered grossly inferior to the genuine, once-prenticed article.

ledgerstone stone carved with pretty words commemorating the life of some noteworthy individual. They are usually used as part of a floor or path, and sometimes are actually placed over the remains of the great personage.What is remarkable about this is that the body is typically laid right out rather than placed vertically or crouched in the fetal position. The latter is the common practice in cities not wanting to dispose of the beloved dead outside the city walls where monsters can dig the corpses up and corsers too, and where they need to conserve space in the tight confines of the city itself.

leer(s) people who soak their eyes in remarkable concoctions to achieve extraordinary feats of sight. See entry in Book One.

lentum shorthand for a post-lentum or any other covered and enclosed carriage of four wheels.

lesquin(s) • (noun) honored mercenary regiments and brigades of the obdacar or freebooter (mercenary) class, wandering the lands or stationed in home cities waiting for the highest-paying master. They are special societies of soldiers with elaborate initiation ceremonies that emphasize loyalty to the particular landsaire (a lesquin legion). Much used in the squabbles between cities because they are a way—a loophole—around the stringent recruiting restrictions of the Accord of Menschen (where numbers within a state’s standing army are limited). The use of lesquins also allows a certain amount of immunity from accountability should it ever be required by the Emperor—“So sorry, your Imperial Highness, the lesquins got out of control and we were not able to stop them,” or that kind of thing. Lesquins dress as gaily as lahzars and calendars, though with differences that make them immediately recognizable, wearing such things as sammosh (big baggy hats) with guirlandes (enormous dyed feathers worn on the head), plunderhose (baggy pants tied off at the knee), exotic hide proofing such as crocidole (reptile skin), and favoring exotic weapons, especially combinades. Lesquin legions, or landsaires, originating from nonsignatory countries (Gottingenin,Wörms, the Lausid States and anywhere north of the Marrow and the Foullands) are preferred, though their numbers may still be stocked from Old World (meaning “Imperial”) populations.They will often charge their fee in accordance with their reputation. Still, less expensive landsaires have their uses—most notably affordability. The elite regiments are marked out with fancy mottle accoutrements: ospreys and other hackles, ailettes, and bonnets to rival a calendar’s dandicomb. Champions, known as machismards, are awarded harness and gear of exceptional manufacture, beyond regular issue, to recognize their prowess and encourage such ambition among brother fighters. Lesquins make excellent soldiers, rivaled only by a few standing armies or, more particularly, units within the same. Contests with such as these are fought bitterly to prove, of course, who is best. Ragtag bands of ill-trained, ill-equipped, ill-led and very cheap mercenary regiments are called foedermen, and are not considered worthy of the lesquin name. • (noun) card game commonly played by serious gamblers between a dealer (known as the colonel) and any number of wagerers. It is based on matching cards, and who holds what card determines whether the colonel or wagerers get the pot or ante. It takes its name from the soldiering lesquins, for some mistakenly believe it was invented by these sell-swords, but it is more likely that the lesquins are responsible not for its invention but for spreading it about the known world. They are certainly among its most frequent players.The prentices of Winstermill would be playing it to feel all manly and brave; the lighters on the Wormway would be playing it because all soldiers the lands over do.

letter-fall that is the apt sequence, or “fall,” of the letters as they are in what we would call the alphabet; alphabetical order.

liaphobe(s) see gretchen(s), gretchen-globe(s).

libermane potive used to prevent the cruor of a monster from clotting too quickly as it is stored in a bruicle. Useful as this is, it also affects the quality of the blood, thinning it and making the cruorpunxis it is used for pale, less distinct.Therefore libermane is used only when a teratologist is more than a couple of days’ journey from a punctographist. Another function of libermane is its application on swords, knives and other blades of war to make a wound flow more than it ought, though by the Accord of Menschen this practice is deemed unacceptable in modern conflict.

Lictor person in charge of punishment and discipline, the deliverer of the lash, the clapper of irons, the locker of stocks, pillories and durance doors; the tightener of the noose or the cords of a Catherine wheel. In more extreme regimes, the Lictor is also the chief torturer.

lighter(s) shortened name for a lamplighter.

limes short, universal morning interval designed purely to make certain pediteers get some citrus juice into them. After the discovery by Callio Catio (reputed—along with Asclipides and others—to be the founder of modern physics) of the prevention of scurvy and other nutrition-related diseases, military organizations the lands over have fastidiously ensured their men take their lime or lemon juice (Juice-of-Orange is a more recent advent, reserved for those who can afford it and not your ordinary foot slogger).

limulight(s) small box-light whose source of effulgence is living bio-luminescent mosses and lichens. See moss-light.

linen package wrapped parcel containing one’s underclothes.

liripipium hat with a peak that hangs down at the back in a “tail.”

locum usually a physician in training or someone working as assistant to a physic with a view toward attending a physactery and gaining a full qualification.

long-rifle smooth-bore musket with an extraordinarily long barrel to provide greater accuracy.The name is a misnomer, for the bore is not in fact “rifled,” but left smooth, though the great length of the barrel does make for very true shots.

loomblaze powerful repellent that is also part fulminant. Because it both poisons and burns with false-fire, it is regarded as a very versatile agrise (violent potives; as opposed to palliates—helpful, healthful potives ; or obstrutes—most other potives), useful against both human and monster. The nature of its violence means its use is recommended only when deadly force is required.

lordia mild restorative that is meant to balance the humours (see Four Humours, the ~ in Book One). Balancing the humours restores equilibrium to intellect and soul, pith and thew, calming the imbiber and setting agitations to ease. Its mild efficacy is matched only by its small expense; a cheap pick-me-up that has been said to be the cause of addiction in some.

lorica also known as a corslet, a proof-steel back-and-breastplate, worn most by troubardiers and the few heavy equiteer regiments in the Half-Continent. Its front is fairly steeply peaked to allow shots from a firelock to more easily ricochet. It is a common practice to adhere lour or soe or villeny to the metal or to black it in order to eliminate or reduce shine.

Lornstone, the ~ also known as the Heptafornix or “seven arches,” a bridge and causeway built as part of the great project to run a road through the Ichormeer. The causeway that runs east from it was built on the pattern of the Pettiwiggin and had been intended to carry the road all the way through the Frugelle. The attrition of economies and a lack of desire meant this ambition was soon abandoned after only a few miles of raised-road were completed. The first of many small failures that dogged the great work of the laying of the Conduit Vermis.

Lot’s Books popular diagrammatic readers written on a whole host of topics—navies, monsters, famous people, animals, weapons, etc.—and filled with helpful diagrams. Expensive, they are a favorite educational tool for children among the well-to-do.

lour • (noun) velvet that has been treated with gauld; other gaulded cloths include linteum (lint) = cotton; duram = hemp; buff = leather; ombyx = gauze or other filmy materials; soe = silk; pellis = fur; fustian = hessian; villeny or lawn = felt. • (verb) to frown.

Low Gutter, the ~ in the distant past of Winstermill’s history, the southern end of the huge mound upon which it was erected collapsed with loss of life, the historied rubble on which it was founded failing at last. Rather than abandon the fortress, as some advised, cooler minds prevailed to have that ruined section of what was once an enormous open ground shored up and leveled, a stable shelf several score feet lower than the main Mead. Upon this shelf it became practicable to construct servants’ quarters and mills for laboring work as the staff of Winstermill expanded beyond the simple barracks it once had been. It was during the early repairs that the name the Low Gutter was coined, for the ruined foundation would fill with the rains and spout water from many cracks and corners like a roof gutter.

lurcher(s) • (noun) also called finegars, the vernacular for those who especially trap monsters, doing their level best to keep them alive. They are considered worse than poachers and other such slyboots, and often trap on lands otherwise declared out of their bounds, such as the private lands of a peer. • (noun) derogatory name used to refer to someone who killed a monster for which another had the Writ of the Course to slay, thus robbing that second gallant of his head-money.

lurksman, lurksmen sometimes called pathprys, these are trackers and spies, and are often nonleers practiced in the use of a sthenicon. Given that a sthenicon is made to be used and understood by a leer, it takes a lot for nonleers to achieve such skill, and once they have mastered it they are never as good as a box-faced laggard. Still, a lurksman is far better than no sensurist at all.

lurksman-general informal name for the General-Master-of-Palliateers and the commanding officer of the Palliateer-Major. Palliateers are those soldiers and auxiliaries concerned with sneaking and spying and tracking, including leers, lurksmen, ambuscadiers, sneaksmen and other clandestine agents.

mabrigond one of the constituents of Craumpalin’s Exstinker made from the dried and ground buds of the flower of the same name; a typical inclusion in nullodors, where its own flat smell helps obscure other scents.

maiden-fraught any woman given to a life of combat, including calendars. In a typically patriarchal society, skolding and more recently becoming a lahzar has been an oft-used path for young women seeking relief and independence from their fathers, uncles, brothers and the usual social mores. Lahzars, particularly, occupy an unusual place in society, outside of it in an ill-defined way: respected, feared, despised and needed. And a woman as one is regarded as the acme of all things “modern”—and modernity is generally regarded as a bad thing by those of breeding. “You look very modern,” one might say with a sneer.

Maids of Malady, the ~ clave of calendars from Burgundia. Little is known of them in the Empire, for they direct their activities more to the eastern lands, though any who have had dealings with the Soratchë will have likely heard of their allies the Maids as well. Indeed the Maids are said to be aspex (see invidists), treating sedorners most severely, going out of their way to chase down a proven outramorine. They are even more zealous than their allies in their pursuit of black habilists.

mains last official meal of the day, usually begun at 6 P.M. Much to Rossamünd’s early discomfort, mains is later in the day than he was used to at the old marine society, and he was terribly sharp-set in the first week as a prentice-lighter at Winstermill, as his tummy emptied on habit two whole hours earlier than it would be filled again.

Major-of-House the correct title of a house-major.

Makepeace one of the smaller settlements in the Idlewild sponsored by Brandenbrass. The sister colony of the mining village Gathercoal, this hopefully named township is the main source of supply and support to the peltrymen of the Ullwold to the north, and pastoralists of the Swiddenlands or Swide—the narrow hilly stretch of farms to the south along the northern fells of the Sparrow Downs. It is also home to the cothouse of Makepeace Stile.

manchin(s) thick sleeves of proofed materials, usually voluminous enough to be pulled over other sleeves, then tied to the body with straps or ribbons. They serve as extra protection for the arms, and are often lined with fleece for added warmth.

maraude(s) theroscades on a large scale, with an abnormally large collection of monsters in one attack or many attacks across a range or, most frightening of all, both at once. For reasons not properly understood, winter has proved to be the more usual time for such things, but they are mercifully less common than might be expected. Unless they are beasts who naturally pack together, it takes a mighty showing of will to get monsters to behave in concert. Even so, history both popular and obscure is filled with the hushed tellings of these terrible days and the Empire is still recovering from the aftermath of the greatest maraudes—those civilization-ruining massings of nickers great and small.

Maria Diem old Tutin word meaning “Meerday”—the Day of the Sea. For the other days of the week there are Newwich = Prima Diem, Loonday = Luna Diem, Midwich = Media Diem, Domesday = Festus Deis, Calumnday = Caelum Dies, and Solemnday = Gravis Deim.

mark • (noun) monster-blood tattoo; • (verb) to apply a monster-blood tattoo.

marshal-lighter alternative rendering of Lamplighter-Marshal.

massacar(s) common name for a black habilist, especially those loathsome dabblers who make rever-men and other gudgeons. See habilists in Book One.

Master Come-lately a mildly derogatory name for Rossamünd, given to him first by Lamplighter-Sergeant Grindrod and quickly adopted by the other prentices.

Master-of-Clerks, the ~ also known as the clerk-master, the rank of Podious Whympre, the youngest son of a youngest son of a line of glossagraphs (foreign clerks) from Brandenbrass. There is money in the family, but Podious is not likely to inherit. The parsimonious fellow is an ambitious and shrewd administrator who loves a complete and thorough system of paperwork. His substantive (actual) rank is the highest non-commissioned clerk in a military establishment; his brevet (temporary) rank as Comptroller-Master-General puts him equal with the second highest ranks in Winstermill, though its position as the leader of all bureaucracy makes him the second-in-command. His appointment to this powerful position, after the original Comptroller-Master-General took sudden leave of his senses and the manse, was due to the influence of the Imperial Secretary stationed in High Vesting. An old friend of the family’s scrupulus sicus has taken to patronizing Whympre, exerting influence at the political end in the clerk-master’s favor. Ultimately taking his orders from Imperial bureaucrats, the Lamplighter-Marshal, whatever his personal take, has had to promote as directed. It is very frustrating for a military leader to have his affairs meddled with from afar.

mathematician(s) bitter rivals of the concometrists (see entry in Book One), trained at an institution known as an abacus, and more interested in the beauty and function of pure numbers and systems than the functions of society. Trainees of an abacus are prized for their sharp minds, rapid calculations and other skills of genius and mental aptitude. Indexers, for example, are those who can organize figures and information in their heads without writing anything down, then remember it all and retrieve some point of fact for you at will, like thumbing through a file. Probably the most famous kinds of mathematician are the Imperial Computers, striving up in Clementine, figuring probabilities and sums that might affect the Empire.

Maudlin said “Moord-lin”; a planet, and one of the brightest lights in the night sky, having a distinct greenish tinge. See entry in Book One.

mercer public messengers and parcel deliverers with a distinctive red-and-yellow-checked mottle. Usually employed within the confines of Imperial bureaucracies, they are sometimes sent to roam the lands taking notes, letters, invitations, packages and advertisements from someone to another and back.

middens meal between breakfast and mains, around the middle of the day; lunch.

milt the depth of one’s self; the core of one’s soul and convictions, deeper even than the heart.

Mirthlbrook, the ~ sometimes spelled Myrthlbrook; also known as the Mirthbyr or Mirthlstream or just the Mirthle, the fast-running stream that runs the length of the main valley that is the western Idlewild (otherwise known as the Placidine). The origin of its name is unclear; some say it is because of the many kinds of myrtle crowding along great lengths of its bank; yet others hold that it is because of the merry sound of its waters bubbling along its stony bed.

monster(s) the nonhuman denizens of the Half-Continent. See entry in Book One.

monster-blood tattoo cruorpunxis; see entry in Book One.

monster-making province of the massacars—or monster-makers—its practitioners are either called cadaverists (working in fabercadavery—making monsters from parts) or theropeusists or theropusists (working in theropeusia—making monsters by growing them). See habilists in Book One.

mordant(s) scripts that work by corrosion, otherwise known as distinct acids.

moss-light also known as a limnulin or limulight, this is a small, pocketable device, a simple biologue consisting of a small, lidded box holding a clump of naturally phosphorescent mosslike lichens (either funkelmoos or micareen), set on a thick bed of nutrient to keep it alive. This nutrient bed can be reinvigorated with drops of liquid similar to seltzer. The light provided by a limnulin is not bright, but can give you enough to see your way right on a dark, dark night, and is diffuse enough to not attract immediate attention. The color of the light varies widely: white, yellowish, green, blue and reddish illumination.The light produced has a distinctive natural glow and discrete focus that keeps it from being seen by unwanted eyes at oblique angles.

munkler(s) also known as holzkreggers or nimsmen, being the fellows whose dangerous task it is to go into the deep wild woodlands, seek out, cut down and carry away as much almugwood, black elder and other are growths (see sectithere) as they can find. These woods are found mostly in the dark forests of Wörms and the central Gottskylds (as well as the uninhabitable spaces between Wencleslaus and Ing), and the name comes from the Gott word for “whisper.” It is given to them because of the silence and care with which they must proceed into the remote places and the relative quiet they must employ when taking down a tree. This is done using a great array of tackle and ropes strung from surrounding trees, which prevent the felled logs from crashing noisily. Munklers are therefore skilled climbers and knot-tiers. Animals are never taken on these expeditions, and the munklers carry out only what they themselves can bear. This is not much as woodcutting might go, but such a high price can be got for their precious cargo that four or five back-loads is enough to set a man up for more than a year’s living. Consequently, munklers make their dangerous forays only once or twice a year. One of the characteristic practices of munklers is to always cover themselves in nullodors so as to attract as little monstrous attention as possible as they extract the rare timber.

muttony-greasy rich stew of lamb-gristle and goat meat, cooked all day to make it digestible, its sauce rich and salty, the best aromatic with a myriad of herbs.

Naught Swathe also known as the Blank Swathe or the Dodderbanks, a region of the eastern bank of the Humour, near its mouth, and the lands farther east, inland to the Tumblesloe Heap. Home to several villages, the most prominent being Red Scarfe and Sodbury Wicket. Rossamünd actually made his way through the southern end of the Dodder Swathe during his flight from the Spindle to High Vesting.

neuroticrith technical or proper name for a wit.

new-carved used to describe a lahzar who has only recently been operated upon to become one.

nicker(s) generally any monster. See entry in Book One.

night-clerk an uhrsprechman.

nihillis one of the parts that make up Craumpalin’s Exstinker, being a distillation of the odor-absorbing chalks dug from the mines of the Orpramine and Euclasia on the Verid Litus. The best chalks come from the pits at Caulk Sinter, Ferdigundis Rex and Calcedonys. It is a common ingredient in nullodors.

nullodor(s) any potive that changes or hides an existing smell. See entry in Book One.

Numps, Numption Orphias highly talented, semiretired seltzerman kept in service at Winstermill by the goodwill of the current Lamplighter-Marshal. Disowned by his family after the terrible incident of three years ago.

Nuptarium, the ~ also known as the Collocation; lines down in the Low Gutter where married pediteers and lampsmen live with their wives and even children—though fortress life is not considered best for little’uns. Married men with rank are still expected to spend two or more nights sleeping in the bachelors’ lines each week.

nutrified wine usually claret that, along with pear or apple pulp, is mixed with concentrates of oranges, lemons and limes and other decoctions of healthful herbs to provide a method of keeping folks healthy by duping them with alcohol.

obsequy what we would call a funeral, also known as a funery or inurment. These rites typically include a declaration of the person’s merit and then some traditional farewell given by the mourners. In the Haacobin Empire it is most commonly thought that when people die they simply stop: a life begins, a life ends. In the cultures about them and their own past there have been various beliefs about afterlife and some all-creating elemental personage, but such notions are considered oppressive and outmoded. They would rather leave these ideas to the eekers, pistins (believers in a god) and other odd fringe-dwellers.

obstacular(s) often billeted alongside the lighters might be a small garrison of suicidally zealous obstaculars: thief takers and excise-men who make oaths with their own blood to ferret out all lurching, smuggling, banditry and dark trades in their range.

Ol’ Barny the Old Barn Owl, the affectionate epithet given to the Parracallid, also known as Sagax Glauxës or Saxo Glauxës, the Sagacious Owl of the Haacobins, the sigil of the Empire, which common pediteers of old held to look like a barn owl.

Old Gate pensioner, stiff as an ~ Old Gate in Brandenbrass is a hospital for aged pensioned pediteers to spend what years are left to them in a quasi-military environment, still performing evolutions, though not as easily as they once did—hence the expression.

Old Lacey the name the lighters of the Paucitine have given to the fleermare— more properly called the Lacrimaria—that comes in from the Swash. They use this name both as a corruption of its proper designation and because commonly as it is falling or lifting it looks like a web or “lace” of foggy tendrils.

ossatomist sometimes also called a bone-setter; the proper name for a person whose job is indeed to reset broken bones, a practice known as ossatomy. Because proofing is so effective in stopping lacerations, the more common wounds are bruises and breaks, as the body beneath the gaulding absorbs blows. There are no colleges or insitutions that train ossatomists; they rather pass their trade on through prenticing, and yet are still considered higher in value than surgeons. Ossatomists also perform dentury, that is, many of the functions we might recognize as the work of a dentist.

outramorine one accused or taken by outramour, a monster-lover.

outramour high regard for or love of monsters; the crime of which sedorners are guilty.Technically this is known as theiragapia (and its perpetrators as theragapins), and is also called sedonition (of course), and sometimes bewilderment (the state of being dazzled by—and therefore sympathetic to—the wilds).

Owlgrave, the ~ a thick wood at the eastern end of the Ullwold, in which can be found many boneyards—threwdish places where monsters of the region will take their prey and where they go to die when the weight of the everlasting war with the everymen weighs too heavy or wounds too deeply. Most animals eschew such places and they are characterized by the absence of birdsong—but for the hoots of owls and other scavenging birds who dare to go there at night for the promise of a feast of moldering monster-meat.

ox dray large, long, heavy, flat wagon with 4, 6 or even 8 wheels for the carting of big loads and pulled by teams of 6, 8 or even 10 oxen. When there is a paucity of these beasts, great trains of 20 or more mules are used instead to achieve the same hauling strength. In tamer places, dobbins—great draft horses as strong as any ox—are employed.

pagrinine also known as a filzhüt, the soft squarish cap of proofed felt (lawn) worn by troubardiers.

palisade cloth and wire cap favored by women of the southern Patricine and Frestonia.

Palliateer-Major in charge of small groups of leers, lurksmen, sneaksmen and other erapteteers (those who creep), with captains to aid in their command. Palliateers tend to be divided into ambuscadiers (sneaking, ambushing soldiers) and erapteteers (sniffing, ferreting spies and trackers).

palliatrix one who is trained to lie and deceive without giving any hint of mendacity, gaining mastery over reflexive gestures and nuances of expression—any small tic or twitch or stutter of the eye or voice that could give away a falsehood. Not a very common class of person and typically used only by less-than-savory employers.

pallmain(s) heavy, oiled coat used to keep the wearer dry rather than for warmth. Typically they are proofed, which adds to their water-resistant qualities as well as their protective ones; among the few items of proofing vinegaroons will wear in service.

Pandomë one of the calendars of the Right of the Pacific Dove, a pistoleer (or spendonette as she would be called by her “sisters”) of great skill and fiercely devoted to Dolours, even over her loyalty to the Lady Vey. Her name, given her when she joined the Right, means “of the people, of the house,” essentially “woman of the people.”

Pannette a purrichinn—or calendine sagaar of the Right of the Pacific Dove, young and fairly newly joined to the Right, being with them not even a year. It is said she was banished from her clave back in Grawthewse for undisclosed “irregularities” of conduct, though word has filtered through from visiting caladines of other claves that it involved a series of assignations with a married peer.The august of the Right has not pressed her for clarity, but rather has welcomed the increase to their numbers regardless of any reservations.

parenthis waiting room in a coach-host or any other establishment requiring such a place. They are so called because of the Parenthine in Clementine, the great waiting hall where honored and lofty folk tarry before a meeting with the Emperor.

park-drag very large carriage that can carry up to eight passengers, needing at least a team of six to pull it; it is more common in cities than the country.

parti-hued multi-colored; mottled with bright hues.

Paucitine, the ~ eastern half or theme of the Idlewild, from the Wight to Haltmire, gaining its name from the poorness of farming and the harshness of life in general in that region, so much of which is taken up by the Frugelle.

pediteer any kind of foot soldier. See entry in Book One.

peltrymen trappers and fur traders living rough lives; tough and resourceful, these fellows know well how to avoid monstrous encounters and some even dare to trap the same and sell them to agents in the dark trades, doing so to supplement their meager earnings.

pen(s) also imagineer or (derogatory) fabulist; what we might think of as an illustrator or commercial artist. Somewhat confusingly, the term is also used for freelance writers.

peoneer(s) military laborers with particular skills in constructing fortifications from surrounding materials and sapping, that is, digging trenches near enemy positions and undermining walls.

pernicious threwd the worst kind of threwd, said to drive people mad with fear. It is the kind of threwd that is said to grip the inland places of the Half-Continent: the Grassmeer and the Witherlends. Some of the more crafty monsters are actually able to amplify the effect of the threwd to terrify an individual. The most mighty of the monsters are said to be able to awe whole armies with such amplification.

Pettiwiggin, the ~ meaning “little worm,” the more common name for the Harrowmath Pike. Part of the Wormway, running from Winstermill in the west to Wellnigh House in the east.

phrantry specifically the collective membership or sisterhood of a clave of calendars.

physician(s) highly respected, these are the main practitioners of physics in the Half-Continent. See entry in Book One.

physics what we would call medicine. See Book One.

Pile, Laudibus a native of Brandenbrass and telltale to the Master-of-Clerks. From a middle-class family brought to near ruin by the cheating and falsehood of a viciously unscrupulous peer, Laudibus decided by his tenth birthday that when he was old enough he would become a falseman and bring that same peer undone. This he did, rescuing his family though corrupting himself in the process and earning a short stint in gaol. Thinking his prospects ruined, Pile yet managed to work his way into a minor Imperial clerical position—such is the demand for falsemen. There he was “discovered” by one PodiousWhympre—then a senior tally-clerk in the Imperial Usury Bureau—who took him under his wing, anticipating a general upward movement in his own propects and knowing full well how handy your own falseman can be.When the promotion and shift to Winstermill arrived for his new master, Pile happily followed in Whympre’s wake.

Pill eminent illustrator of broadsheets and other periodicals known for the firm, confident quality of his lines and the precise detail he can achieve in a relatively short time.

Pillow, Giddian native of Doggenbrass, Pillow is a younger son of small-time middle-class merchants who was taken out of school and sent to the lighters when his parents inherited an old family debt. This had them put in the sponging house and all the children set to work until the debt was paid.Though Pillow does go on vigil-day trips to Silvernook, he does not spend much there but sends most of his pay back home. He would much rather continue in his father’s line of work than live a life of danger on the road.

piquet a small collection of ambuscadiers, lurksmen, leers and other sharp-eyed individuals sent to scout or spy and return with their report unnoticed.

pirouette card game where the highest hand makes the lowest hand dance a particular dance as dictated by the cards of the winner. It is a complex game where knowledge of all the many ranks and meanings of cards is essential if you do not want to find yourself hopping and bop-ping embarrassingly all night. Each combination of cards or “route” has a name: “the Kindly Ladies” are any combination of queens and duchesses; the four of brutes is “the dancing (or hopping) aurang” and so on. Knowing all these names and their combinations is held as proof of your skill with the game.

pistoleer teratologist who performs services with pistols and other handheld firelocks loaded with various kinds of skold-shot. They are often skolds who make their own potives to be discharged from the barrel of a pistol, though many would be considered ledgermains with just enough habilistics to achieve the chemistry they need to make skold-shot or any other potive that can be discharged. Pistoleers prefer to use hauncets and salinumbus rather than just a simple pistola, though they might possess one to deal with more mundane threats.

Placidine, the ~ western half of the Idlewild, so named because it is considered safer (and thus more peaceful) than the eastern half. The Placidine is regarded by most (especially those who dwell therein) as the true Idlewild, the only part that really counts or has value. See Idlewild, the.

plaudamentum the proper name for Cathar’s Treacle, which is taken by lahzars. See Cathar’s Treacle and entry in Book One.

“playing of strings” also known as “pulling the cords,” both meaning using influence, favors, nepotism and whatever other means at your disposal to achieve an ambition within or through a bureaucracy, political body or anywhere else really.

pledget(s) absorbent bandages, often made from lint or pullings of cloth and used mostly to staunch flows of blood, such as might occur in a surgery.

Plod, Punthill prentice in the same course with Rossamünd. A native of Brandenbrass and the youngest of fifteen children, Plod has joined the Imperial Lighters of the ConduitVermis to escape his poverty. He will not be missed by his overtaxed and half-soused mother.

plush elegant finery, clothes of expensive make often finished with flourishes of lace and fur and metallic cloths and the like. Especially used of uniforms so made; what we might call livery.

po solemn, serious or innocent-looking; also sometimes used to mean unconcerned or indifferent.

poker unflattering name for lamplighters, so given because of the pole-pokes (see fodicar) they carry to light the lamps with.

poleax(es) not actually an ax, but rather a nasty-looking war hammer upon a long pole. At the end of such a length of handle the head can achieve a terrible blow and as such they are the preferred tool of troubardiers wanting to hammer people to stuff inside their gaulded covers.

po’lent shortened form of post-lentum, “po(st)-lent(um),” and a common vernacular term for carriages of that kind.

poll person’s head, or the top or “head” of anything.

pollcarry “on-seller” of a skold’s potives, unable to make them, but buying them from one zaumabalist (or skold) or more and reselling them for whatever price the local market will bear. They have a variable reputation, and are often the only source of potives in some remoter places.

post-and-six or lentum-and-six, simply the name of the carriage and the number of horses in the team pulling it: in this case, a post-lentum and a six-horse team.

post-lentum(s) among the carriages more commonly used to traverse the highroads and byroads of the Half-Continent, post-lentums deliver mail and taxi people (for a fare) from one post to another. They are manned by a lenterman or driver, an escort (usually armed and armored) known as a side-armsman or cock robin (if wearing a red weskit of Imperial Service) or prussian (if wearing a deep blue weskit of private employment) and one or two backsteppers—either splasher boys or post runners or amblers—sitting upon the seats at the back of the roof.When travelling dangerous stretches, another backstepper may join—a quarter-topman possessing a firelock and a keen gaze—for extra protection. This crew is collectively (and confusingly) referred to as lentermen. The delivery of post in remoter areas is irregular, the lentermen waiting for there to be enough missives and parcels to warrant the dangerous journey (usually a post-bag over half-full). If possible they also prefer to take passengers along with them, the extra income making the risk of travel worthy. Po’lent is the common term for these vehicles, an abbreviated derivation of po(st)-lent(um).

potive(s) any combination of parts (chemicals) for a particular and definable effect. See entry in Book One.

prentice(s), prentice-lighter(s) “prentice” is the name given to any (typically young) person taken on to learn a skill-set, in the case of this book, those training to be lamplighters. A prentice-lighter’s duties will include workings (hands-on learning), targets (shooting practice), evolutions (marching and drill), readings (very basic reading, writing and rimitry [arithmetic] lessons from books), refections (meals), impositions (minor punishments), castigations (the period after mains when punishments are read out to remind the prentices of who needs to be where for doing what. This is also the term for major punishments, including time in the pillory and flogging—very very rare) and confinations (when prentices are kept in their cells). The life of prentices is governed by strict routine, and every moment of their day is taken up with military and practical lessons in fighting and lighting the lamps. Four months (roughly thirteen weeks) is deemed long enough to turn a blunderer into a lighter, though once the prentices have been promoted to lampsman 3rd class they are typically billeted to the safer western end of the road till they have achieved the rank of lampsman 2nd class. Because there are far fewer of them, prentices are treated better than other military recruits, husbanded as a precious resource and fed well and trained intensively (though briefly) in their tasks. Given this and that they are better paid (slightly) than your usual pediteer, it is surprising more lads do not sign up for a life tending the lamps on the highroads.

prentice-watch(es) lantern-watch conducted for prentices, where the platoon of prentices is divided into quartos and each one is sent out onto the road on set nights to learn the job in the field.The quartos are named after noteworthy military persons from history or the current regime. When Rossamünd was prenticing he and his fellows were sectioned into three quartos, or prentice quarters, named as follows: 1st Quarto = Q Protogenës (1st PQP), 2nd = Q Io Harpsicarus (2nd PQIH), 3rd = Q Hesiod Gæta (3rd PQHG—which is Rossamünd’s quarto). Each one was sent out on this roster:

Each quarto sets out to light the lamps in the late afternoon of the day named for that quarto, staying overnight at Wellnigh House when they are done. The next morning they wake before dawn, ready themselves and set out at sunup to “douse” the lanterns, arriving back in Winstermill to rest and ablute before rejoining their comrades for the usual day of training. These two days either side of a prentice-watch are long for those involved, hence the two or three days’ break in between for each quarto. See Appendix 8.

prenticing training and initiating people into a trade.

“present and level” to present your arm is to hold it out in front of you; to level is bring it up and point it in the general direction of the enemy.

private room Winstermill has a few small chambers it dedicates to the accommodation and intimate meetings of distinguished guests, found on the second floor of the manse. These are somewhat self-contained, possessing their own jakes, small conference rooms and a wet area for ablutions. Even so, these rooms are still quite spare as city standards go—more on par with a provincial wayhouse.

privers long sturdy tongs used to grip toxic articles, especially such things as skold-shot.

proofener one who supplies proofing but does not manufacture it.

proof-steel metal (usually forged iron and the like) that has been backed with buff or some other sturdy proofed material. This allows the metal to be thinner and therefore lighter while still offering superior protection. The wearing of metal proofing of any sort is regarded as flashy or showing away or old-fashioned or all of these in one, though regardless troubardiers and lesquins typically reserve the right to don - proof-steel.

pudding(s) what we would call dessert.

punct, puncting to mark someone with a cruorpunxis.

punctographist(s) also called a nadeller (Gott) or marker. A person who is skilled in marking or puncting a person with a monster-blood tattoo. A punctographist’s tools are known as grailles, used for either extracting the cruor of a monster or for tattooing (puncting) a mark on a person. A punctographist typically views the head and face of the slain monster in advance of the actual puncting, and makes a design for the tattoo in a book or on some other paper from what they see or are told.

punt-royale card game where the highest ranked cards are the least desirable.The game revolves around passing these cards off on each other till all the cards are played or a predecided number of passes (turns) have occurred. The loser, or knave, is the one with the most high cards; the winner, or free-man, is the one with none. More of a recreational game rather than one for gambling, though inveterate wagerers have found ways to win and lose money with it.

purgation taming the land and quelling the threwd through force and violence, especially against the monsters themselves. It is the more immediate way to begin conquest of the wilds, but its effects are only short term, for monsters will always return to places they consider their home, their original/proper range of wandering. See Idlewild, the.

Puttinger said “Putt’ing’ger”; lampsman 1st class of Winstermill, once a native of Gottland, being born in Wittzingerod; how he came to be in the Emperor’s Service is a tale he isn’t telling. He is the eldest of the three lampsmen set over the young prentices and probably the friendliest—though only just barely. Struggles to make himself understood to the lads through his thick Gott accent.

q the symbol for sequins, the middle-value denomination in the common currency of the Soutlands. The average weekly wage for your common working fellows is 8 q, which in turn is about the average hourly rate of hire for your high-class teratologist—such as Europe, the Branden Rose. See money in Book One.

QGU abbreviated reference to quo gratia.

Q Hesiod Gæta the quarto of prentice-lighters to which Rossamünd belongs. The Q stands for quarto, and Hesiod Gæta was once lamplighter-marshal in charge of the lighters at the time that the Idlewild was founded. The names of the other prentice quartos are also taken from other noteworthy lighters of old. Io Harpsicarius was the founding marshal of Winstermill, while Protogenës is probably the most renowned, performing great feats in defense of the fledgling colonies of the Placidia Solitus.

quabard vestlike proofing for the chest, sometimes referred to in full as “quarter-bard,” usually reaching down over the abdomen. See entry in Book One.

quacksalver doctor or dispensurist, but particularly a bad one or one who passes himself off as a person of physics without possessing the actual qualifications or skills.

quarto(s) the smallest designation of a group of soldiers. It goes:

quiet-shoes also called pattens; soft, heelless, pliable shoes with stoutly proofed soles, usually tied on to the foot with ribands wound way up the leg.Very useful for walking quietly and for activities that require nimbleness, grip and a near-silent step. Easily the most preferred shoe of calendars and sagaars and even some fulgars.

Quinault northernmost town of the Idlewild, founded by the Sovereign State of Quimperpund with backing from the peoples of the Maund. Situated on the borders of Sulk, it is a major supplier and trafficker of foodstuffs from the Sulk to the other colonies immediately to the south.

quo gratia shortened form of the Tutin term “quo gratia ex unicum,” “the favor of the peerless,” and often invoked in its abbreviation—QGU; it is the right of a peer to circumvent certain laws—civil or military, though the latter is a little harder—or the due process of the judicial system, or even nullify a court’s ruling, all for personal ends. Based on an ancient code known as the Wittenrood that existed before even the occupation of the Empire, QGU is preserved most in the Soutlands, where the Emperor tolerates it to keep the peers there on his side. It is not common to use this right too frequently, though a peer with enough swagger might carry off even the most outrageous affront under the cover of QGU. Most, however, are careful and sparing in its use, for its invocation can get you unwelcome attention from Clementine. Generally if you are to use it, you want to be pretty sure you can get away with it, either through corrupt practices, the justice of your cause or the power of your lobby in the Imperial Capital.

Red Scarfe rural center considered a part of Sulk End, though many of its inhabitants have family and associates in the Idlewild and so consider themselves as being part of the westernmost end of the Idlewild. It gets its name from the red bricks that were originally used to make its encircling, sloping walls (a scarfe or scarp).

revenant simply a more formal, educated rendering of rever-man.

rever-man “zombielike” gudgeon, and the most human-looking of the same. See entry in Book One.

Right of the Pacific Dove, the ~ calendar clave found in the historied fastness of Herbroulesse, led by Syntychë, the Lady Vey. The clave-members are usually called columbines, from the Tutin word “columbarium,” meaning “dovecote.” Originally dwelling in Brandenbrass, the Right—as it is called by its own—was founded over three hundred years earlier in the time of the Sceptic Dynasty. After too many rivalries with local lords, as well as with another, better connected clave, they had their charter to exist in that city revoked. Acquiescing meekly, the Right moved to remoter lands, finding Herbroulesse, where it has endured ever since. Their motto is “Semper Fidelis”—“always faithful.”

rimple a curious-looking hairy-leather purse made from the entire skin of a small rodent, shaved, with a drawstring at the neck hole, and the skin of one limb sewn back on itself as a loop to fix on to a belt. Actually looking like some bloated rat, a rimple is all the fashion as a coin-bag among the wayfaring classes.

Roughmarch, the ~ the combination of two deep gorges cutting through the southern tip of the Tumblesloe Heap, worn down into the rock and earth by the action of two ancient, now-dry waterways: one running roughly west, the other east.

Roughmarch Road, the ~ road that runs through the Roughmarch gorge, running along the serpentine wendings of the dry streambeds. The middle part of the road is straightest where Imperial peoneers and road-builders blasted and cut the small spur of rock that separated the two original gorges to allow the road to continue through. The threwd is never far gone from this place, and the thorny plants that grow along its edges are in need of constant pruning and lopping. Fatigue parties are sent out at least every two months to do this, thus preventing a monster from having a place whence to ambush passing traffic.

rouse-master one in change of a rousing pit. See hob-rousing.

rousing-pit(s) holes in the ground with stalls or stands or make-shift seats about and in which gudgeons and bogles are set to fight to the death while the spectators above wager on the outcome. Such pits are usually situated well away from prying authorities and common paths, kept hidden and secret to all but to those initiated into the local rousing brotherhood.

ruttle to clear the throat; the sound of mucus in the windpipes.

sabine expensive weave of soft wools from the small kingdom of the same name, found beyond the northern shores of the Sinus Tintinabuline. It would be held as mythic by southern folk but for the existence of its exquisite wools, and there are many imitators of their product, some so good only a connoisseur can tell the difference.

sagaar(s) the combatant teratologist dancers who use their nimbleness, the prescribed movements of their chosen “dance,” and therimoirs to defeat the nickers and the bogles. See entry in Book One.

salinumbus meaning “salt-shaker” and also called a salt-gun; a straight-handled pistol made to fire special potives designed for the purpose. The inside of its barrel is treated with coatings to reduce the corrosive damage done by the chemistry of its shots.

Sallowstall a cothouse on the Wormway situated in a small dell, by a ford-crossing on the Mirthlbrook. Sallowstall is thickly surrounded by a small wood of maples and ancient willows, and gains its name from the thicket of willows—sallows being the local name for willows—that grow about it and along the banks of the Mirthlbrook on which it is built. It is actually a cot-rent, with a few extra, cramped rooms where non-lampsmen can stay for modest board.

salpert(s) small, fragile sacks of cloth that hold potives, especially those that need to burst when they are thrown and hit something. A fair amount of care must be taken when handling them, and the recommended method for carting them is inside some kind of padded box such as a stoup or digital.

salt-bag(s) simple name for a salumanticum, and so called because it is designed to hold the parts or “salts” of a skold or other habilist or - parts-dealer.

salt-horse a useless person, taken from the idea of a horse that is so old it is no longer good for anything but being turned into dried, heavily salted meat.

salumanticum (Tutin, meaning “salt-bag”) also known as a salt-bag, usually a satchel with various pockets, flaps and slots for holding potives in all their varied forms. The arrangement of a salumanticum should facilitate easy access to the right chemical at the right time, and skolds will know and recall the inside of their salt-bags better than their own birthdays.

Scale of Might, the ~ originally an anecdotal reckoning of the number of everymen it takes to best an ünterman, it has since been extensively codified by Imperial Statisticians, but simply put it is deemed possible for three ordinary men armed in the ordinary manner to see off one garden-variety bogle, and for about five to handle your more common nicker. Add potives or teratologists to the group and this number fluctuates significantly—depending on the quality of potive or skill and type of monster-slayer.

scarlet-powder what we would think of as washing detergent, bright red flakes of crystalline surfactant that lose their color as they form suds in water. Seeing them for the first time you might expect the water in which they are placed to turn red too, but it remains clear.

scourge(s) skold who specializes in the use of the most potent scripts known. See entry in Book One.

scratch-bob short, powdered wig with dainty curls at the sides and a short tail of hair hanging at the back. Usually referring to those of cheap manufacture, but a common term for all such items of apparel.

script(s) potives or the “recipes” for their making. See entry in Book One.

scrubber(s) very large tubs made from the halves of old brewing butts and used as washing basins to clean dishes or clothes or any other thing that needs a lot of room for a good scrubbing.

Sebastipole, Mister Lamplighter’s Agent of Winstermill and telltale to the Lamplighter-Marshal. See entry in Book One.

sectifactor(s) transmogrifying surgeons; that is, those people who conduct the surgeries that make a person into a lahzar.

sectithere said “sek’tih’theer,” kind of therimoir; knives made by a profoundly ancient method, used for the effective cutting of monsters, who are otherwise hard to harm with more mundane blades. They were once the standard weapon of the heldins—the mighty folk of renown from obscure history—and the weapons of these near-mythical folk are prized relics today, as the quality of manufacture cannot even be approached currently. In more recent times sectitheres are the tools of sagaars and therlanes (“monster-butchers” from the Tutin “therilanius”) and some punctographists. They are very hard to make, which means they are prohibitively expensive, and as such, very uncommon. The best kind, of course, are the relics. Some sectitheres come in the form of scissors. The blades are made of spiegeleisen (also vitrine or festverglas): a highly refined, almost glasslike ceramic containing powerful mordants, expungeants and pestilents such as gringollsis. This is applied over metal, or allowed to soak into wood which is then fired many times till it is tempered-steel hard. Different woods give different results: the best woods for the strongest, most potent blades are made from now near-mythical almugwood or exceptionally rare black elder. Wood so treated is known as glanzend (Gott for “gift-glass”) or giftwood.

Secunda Loca the “bottom half ” of the Haacobin Empire, encompassing the lands south-southwest of Tuscanin and Catalain, down to and including the Lent, reaching west as far as the Patter Moil and east to the shores of the Ichormeer. The “top half ” is the Prester Regnum, and includes the Seat and the Verid Litus.

seigh the local Sulk and Idlewild name for the more fortified high-houses built in wilder places.

Sellry, wine-of ~ constituent of Craumpalin’s Exstinker, a fairly common decoction made from the juices of several common plants that, when put together, have the qualities required by a wide variety of fluid potives. Mildly poisonous, it is most frequently used as a base for repellents, though it is seldom seen in nullodors.

seltzer, seltzer water salts-infused “waters” used to cause bloom to give off light. Depending on the origin of the very first bloom from which your stock was raised, the constituency of your seltzer will need to vary to allow for the different marine environments from which each kind of bloom was once retrieved. This knowledge tends to be possessed only by seltzermen, the suppliers of bright-limns, and some skolds, who can tell what breed of bloom they might have before them and what mix of seltzer to nourish it in. Generally the composition of seltzer water is:

Some seltzermen might also include varying parts of ethulate, of which there are different varieties for the particular breeds of bloom.

seltzer lamp larger version of a seltzer lantern, though the terms are interchangeable.

seltzer lantern any lamp that uses bloom-and-seltzer to give light, but most particularly a portable light of larger size than a bright-limn.

seltzerman, seltzermen tradesman responsible for the maintenance of all types of limulights. Their main role is to make and change the seltzer water used in the same. Among lamplighters, seltzermen have the duty of going out in the day to any lamp reported by the lantern-watch (in ledgers set aside for the purpose) as needing attention and performing the necessary repair.This can be anything from adding new seltzer, to adding new bloom, to replacing a broken pane or replacing the whole lantern-bell. See seltzer, seltzer water.

Senior Service the navy—a name it gives itself; see entry in Book One.

senior-sister the name clave members use among themselves to refer to their august, being the highest active “rank” among them. Carlins are the revered “retirees” who often no longer actively serve but live lives of quiet contemplation or—if they are peeresses—return to the glamour of their former lives as wise old dames.

Sequecious pronounced “seh’kwee’shuss”; enormous, easygoing and almost unquenchably jovial, he is a native of the independent realm of Sebastian, a direct western neighbor of the Seat, the heartland of the Empire. A war over the fertile lands of the downs of the Agrigentum and the plateau of the Stipula has been waxing and waning between Sebastian and the Haacobins (and the Sceptics before them) for centuries. Sequecious was a camp cook for an eminent Sebastian officer and was captured when the baggage train of that officer’s regiment was am-bushed and ransacked by Imperial ambuscadiers. Spending time first in a war prison, he was processed and sent out to serve as a soldier-slave—as with so many of the Haacobins’ prisoners of war—on the Empire’s more southerly borders, despite his size. This found him as the cook for the lighters of Wormstool, as remote a post as you could want for. The good dealings he has in the hands of the lighters give him hope for a better life as a citizen of the Empire, as does the promise of actual pay he is due should he become a native of the Haacobin domains.

sequestury, sequesturies places of quiet and contemplation well within the protecting walls of a calanserie, originally established to provide well-to-do women with a refuge to which to retreat from undue attention or unpeaceful lives. Accommodated in their own apartments, these anchoresses (hermit women) are granted the rights of their degree and live in familiar worldly comfort. They are the great benefactresses of the calendars the world over and with their support sequesturies are able to take in battered wives, destitute widows, good-day gala-girls and other ladies of poor repute fleeing their handlers and seeking a better life. They also seek social justice for women as a sex in general.

sergeant(s) second highest rank of non-commissioned officer, below master but above under-sergeant, involved in the training, evolving and supervision of the lives of their charges. A good sergeant will play “mother” to a lieutenant’s or captain’s “father”, tending to the welfare of his subordinates.

sergeant-lighter alternative to Lamplighter-Sergeant, a slightly less formal way of addressing one of that rank and normally allowed only to those of equal or higher rank.

shabraque(s) proofed coverings for horses, commonly made of panels of buff (gauld-leather), fixed together by rivets or points (reinforced ties) or both, flexible yet solid. Every time a horse goes out with its shabraque, the proofing is smeared or splashed with a nullodor, either deadening the horsy odor or transmuting it to smell like some other less tasty creature. Over all this may be hung a couvrette, a colorful, sturdy blanket in your chosen mottle and even marked with sigils, a purely decorative feature and the kind of excess insisted upon only by the conspicuously wealthy.

sheer crane or winch used to lift loads up and lower them down.

showing away boasting or showing off.

siccustrumn any script used to staunch a flow of blood from a wound. This is achieved by pastes, fast-setting liquids and powders. The better siccustrumn will not only stop a flow quickly, but will act like sutures and keep the wound from opening and bleeding again. Best results are achieved by a siccustrumn combined with bandages.

signifer(s) the distinct parts of a scent or other trail that aid leers or lurksmen in their work. One of the more remarkable applications of a signifer is a group of potives known as anavoids, which leers use to mark someone or something they want to trail, following the distinct scent wherever it may lead.The best anavoids will last for weeks even in water and are hard to detect by fellow leers and other “box-wearers,” seeming more like a natural smell to all but the person who used it. It has been known for talented and well set-up leers to follow an anavoided trail even over waters from one harbor to another.

sillabub honey-sweetened milk mixed with either strong wine or, in a Skyldic twist, with vinegar—a taste for the dead of mouth and strong of stomach.

Silvernook miners’ town on the northern edge of the Brindleshaws. See entry in Book One.

Sinster the best place to go to be made into a lahzar. See entry in Book One.

Sinus Tintinabuline called the Sin Tin for short, and meaning the Bay of Bells, it is the great body of water to the northeast of the Half-Continent, its western shores home to the ports of the Turkemen, its east coast hiding the pirate-kings of the Brigandine States. The Sin Tin gets its name from the many, many buoys and markers with their warning-bells that have been moored by the myriad of submerged hazards for as long as history records. These buoys are freely maintained by all who use the waters of the Bay; even the pirate-kings play ruses with them only very occasionally, otherwise doing their part to tend the ancient warning system.

sis edisserum Tutin term, loosely meaning “please explain,” this is an order from a superior (usually the Emperor) to appear before him and a panel of peers forthwith, to offer reasons, excuses, evidence, testimony and whatever else might be required to elucidate upon whatever demands clarity. A sis edisserum is normally seen as a portent of Imperial ire, a sign that the person or people so summoned are in it deep and must work hard to restore the Emperor’s confidence. A sis edisserum is a “black mark” against your name, and very troublesome to remove.

Skillions, the ~ south-eastern corner of the Low Gutter in the fortress of Winstermill. It gains its somewhat derogatory name from the many small, wood-built single-story sheds, warehouses and work-stalls found there. These are a recent addition to this part of the Gutter, previously being the site of a stately old building designated for multiple uses, including the growing of bloom and the making and storing of all lanterns. This reputedly burned down in mysterious circumstances two generations ago, outside of any current occupant’s memory.

skilly gruel or broth made from scrap meat and leftovers from the previous evening’s mains.

skittle-alley what we would think of as a “fun-parlor,” where folks pay to play at skittles (obviously), hoop-a-ring, bowlers (essentially carpet bowls) and pegstops (a game that involves using batons known as pegs to knock your opponent’s pegs down and get a ball into their “goal”). The best skittle-alleys also possess billiard tables.

skolding practices and arts of a skold; to work as a skold or to go out hunting monsters with potives. See skold(s) in Book One.

skold-shot leaden balls fired from either musket or pistol, and treated with various concoctions of powerful venificants known as gringollsis, particularly devised for the destruction of monsters. These potives are corrosive, damaging the barrels of the firelocks from which they are fired and eating gradually, yet steadily, away at the metal of the ball itself. Left long enough, a skold-shot ball will dissolve completely away. Very effective against most nickers and bogles, some of the best gringollsis actually poison a monster to the degree that it becomes vulnerable to more mundane weapons.

Skyldic coming from or of the Skylds. In modern parlance it is used in reference to the people of Wörms or Frissia.

slot and drag a slot is a trail of smells and a drag is a trail of prints and other visible signifers of passing.These two trails are much more acute to a leer’s augmented senses.

slug(s) truly insulting invective against profound dim-wittedness and tardiness.

Smellgrove, Eugus wastrel from Brandenbrass and fellow prentice with Rossamünd who loves his sleep. Smellgrove started out promisingly as a journeyman rat-catcher before being enticed by the romance of Imperial Service and the immediate glory of a whole Imperial billion.

Snooks, the culinaire of the Winstermill kitchens, who rules her boiling, bubbling, savory domain from the head of a long scarred bench—a scale and weights always handy—attended on either side by a row of hanging carcasses glistening in the heat—mutton, bully beef, coney, pullet, venison for the officers. She reads from recipes and writes lists of comestibles required while kitchen hands chop and carve before her and the harried bustle spins about her. She rarely moves; certainly she never lifts a limb to help her henpecked staff, tyrannizing all with her wheezing, penetrating voice. A near-mythic fear of her makes pots-and-pans an excellent punishment for defaulting prentices.

snuftkin what we might call a muff, a “tube” of fur worn over the hands, wrists and lower arms, for the warming of the same.

sobersides one who does not drink or get drunk.

soe gaulded silk; already a strong material, silk made into soe is an expensive but highly sought material for proofing. See lour.

Soratchë said “Saw’rat’kee”; a small but widely spread and well-known calendar clave consisting almost entirely of caladines, those wandering loner calendars. The Soratchë’s stated mission is not so much to fend for the poor and helpless, but to eradicate the dark trades, especially the abominable practices of the massacars. Strangely, they have not been granted an Imperial Prerogative (an official commission from the Emperor). Notwithstanding, they are infamous for the vigor and violence with which they pursue their self-appointed mandate.

sot-headed drunk or acting as if you are drunk; to be slow-witted and stupid.

soutaine long coat with dead straight hems reaching to the knees or even ankles. A foreign style imported from Heilgoland and worn by those seeking to look serious and unaffected by fashion.

Soutland(s), the ~ the large southern part of the Haacobin Empire, requiring two secondary capitals—the alternats—to govern properly and keep under the Imperial thumb. See entry in Book One.

sovereign lime thickened lime juice mixed with lemon juice and other fortifying traces. Often mixed with cheaper alcohols to add flavor and encourage people to ingest some kind of antiscorbutic.

spangled whelp-hound(s) smaller kind of tykehound but still big as dogs go, white with black spots on the rump and flanks and black points. Probably one of the more people-friendly of the tykehound family, and very similar to our own Dalmatians, yet a little larger and bulkier.

Sparrow Downs, the ~ range of hills between Small and the Idlewild that acts as a boundary between the two. It is the reputed home of the Duke of Sparrows, an urchin-lord said to lurk and hide within. There are no official reports of a sighting of this mythical monster, and many doubt the truth of the tale. The deeps of the forest (the Nigflutenwald—“the Wood of Little Wings”) are held to be a tykewood—a woodland haunted by monsters, impenetrably threwdish and thickly grown.Those few peltrymen who dare to venture there report skulking threats and an inordinate number of sparrows and other small fowl.

Sparrows, the Duke of ~ see Duke of Sparrows.

spatterdash(es) also known as spats—which are usually a shorter version of the same—these are leather-and-buckle coverings for the shins and reaching over the top of the foot. Often proofed, they provide excellent protection for the lower leg.

spendonette the term used among calendars for a pistoleer.

spittende(s) a kind of fend, spittendes are very long pikes used especially to fend away monsters and sometimes large game, with barbed points and strong flukes to prevent a skewered beastie from pushing down the pole and harming the wielder. Also known as a durckshlägen.

splasher, splasher boy most junior member of the lentermen crew, sitting at the back of the carriage ready to open doors, haul luggage, run messages, carry the post when necessary and otherwise serve the needs of the passengers, the driver and his side-armsman. It is a dangerous job, but a good one for a lad of between twelve and eighteen, paying pretty well, near as much as the prentices of Winstermill earn in a year, and without quite the same constrictions on their lives.When a carriage is in port and the splasher’s chores are done his time is his own.

Splinteazle, Seltzerman 2nd Class ~ bosun to House-Major Grystle when he was a ram captain, following him from vessel to vessel and so loyal he went with the man when he was ejected from the navy. As the best fit for his previous skills he has taken up the role of seltzerman, and though in the ranks of Winstermill he no longer has quite the same authority, he is known as the old servant of the house-major’s and is respected accordingly.

sprither said “sprih-ther,” with a short i; the common name for the tubelike needle used to extract ichor (monster blood) from a slain monster; also known as a bludspritz, its technical name being a cruorclyst. It comprises a long, thick, needle-pointed, steel tube known as a clystron; a round pewter or tin receptacle known as a curbit is fixed to the clystron’s blunt end. Usually, a preserved gut tube—the intestin—is attached to the other side of the curbit, upon which the user draws with the mouth, sucking the ichor out of the monster and into the curbit.The more advanced cruorclysts will have a small preserved bladder instead of the intestin, which is squeezed rapidly to achieve the same outcome. Ichor, once taken out of the monster, is known as cruor—“spilled blood.” If the curbit becomes full, the cruor is siphoned into a bruicle. See graille(s).

spurn(s) lahzar or other teratologist who faithfully serves one master or organization. The word is used more generally to mean someone acting as personal bodyguard to an individual, the non-teratologist kind sometimes known as harnessgarde.

Squarmis a costerman who dares the long stretch of the Frugal Way (see entry on the Wormway) to make occasional deliveries to Haltmire with an old boneshaker of a cart harnessed to a crotchety she-mule, Assanina, hiring out his services as a kind of wayfaring porter; a native of Brandenbrass, come to the Idlewild to escape some unpleasant business back home.

“Stand While You Can” rousing military tune with an up-tempo beat despite the grim turn of its content, showing typical bravado in the face of a violent end. Sung by soldiers throughout the Haacobin Empire, it goes something like this:

And so on like this for a whole twenty verses. Its history is obscure, though the tune is of some antiquity and was around in other songs well before these words were put to it.

Stander Lates, the ~ Brandenard rendering of Stendrlaeti (“shores of fiendish howling”), the Hagenard name for the southwestern coast of the Hagenlands, where Ingébiargë is said to dwell, devising her wicked brews and waiting for sailors to eat.

sthenicon these sensory-enhancing biologues are worn by nonleers as well; such folk are called lurksmen. For both lurksmen and leers the sensation of removing a sthenicon is, for a very brief moment, powerfully disorienting as the wearer’s senses adjust back to normal input: the world seems dull and colorless, sounds oddly muted, the air too still and bland.This confusion is properly known as accosmia or more commonly as the dulldrins or dimmings. In a few this can continue on for several days, characterized by the squints—or strabismic droop—with squinting eyes and disorientation.The squints is almost guaranteed if you wear a sthenicon for more than a week without respite.

stingo(s) a common term for pints of beer.

storm-bird(s) cuckoo-shrikes, whose appearance is said to precede and therefore announce the arrival of rain, especially heavy, storming rains.

stouche • (noun) a fight, a battle. • (verb) to fight.

stoup also called a fistulum, a cylindrical case of (usually) leather-covered wood or just layers of stiffened leathers, in which scripts are carried for easy access. The interior of a stoup is well padded and so arranged with removable platelike layers that allow the most needful potives to be got to first, with others arranged by priority beneath. Most stoups have about 4 or 5 layers, but some are double-ended and can be up to 12 layers long. See Appendix 7.

stovepipe hat vernacular for a copstain or capstin, a tall cylindrical hat with a flat crown and a somewhat narrow brim. Some varieties are a little more conical.

strig(s) shortened form of strigaturpis; not considered a very polite word.

strigaturpis originally the wild heldin fighting women of the Phlegms and then the Attics during the Heldinsage.The term is used now to refer to any combative female, especially a teratologist. Such women are also known as beldames. See calendar(s).

stuff • (noun) clumps of thread or frayings from rope or cloth. • (noun) synonym for bloom. • (noun) flesh—though this is not a common use except in the phrase “stuff and bits.”

“stuff and bits” flesh and bones.

sturdy rough(s) hired muscle, as they say; your “heavies” used to do dirty work and intimidate opponents.

Sulk End south-westernmost part of Sulk of which the Harrowmath is considered a part. See entry in Book One.

Sundergird the Half-Continent, including all the lands outside the Haacobin Empire: Escatoris, the Gottskylds, the Herelands, the Netherlands and beyond, and the southern reaches of the Witherlends.

surgeon(s) considered the lesser counterpart of physicians. See entry in Book One.

swab • (noun) small child. • (verb) the action of washing a floor with a mop, which is also called a swab.

swaggerer knave or hack or other hired tough; those who put themselves forward as monster-hunters or spurns; a mercenary.

Swash, the ~ the great bay east of Needle Greening, south of the Frugelle and northwest of Flint, the source of thick fleermares that are blown inland by strong southerlies to saturate and water the parched Frugelle.

Swill, Honorius Ludius Grotius named after an empress-dowager of old, Honoria Ludia Grotinia—said to be a revered distant relative of Swill’s line—Grotius is the young and gifted surgeon and physician’s ward at Winstermill, gaining the position through the influence of the Master-of-Clerks. A true Imperial subject, being born and raised in the Considine, his original poverty did not prevent him setting up shop as a talented carver. He soon got the attention of the surgeons of Sinster and became an articled man there under the tutelage of Flaccus Fusander, a sectifactor of great and irregular vision.There is a strange, suspicious cloud over Swill’s departure from Sinster, a departure he says was due to the near-violent jealousies of his rivals. A voracious reader with a large personal library, Swill is ambitious for knowledge—the more obscure the better—and with this the power it might bring.

Syntychë see Vey, the Lady; forename of the august of the Right of the Pacific Dove, and Threnody’s mother. A peer of middling rank, she possesses the hereditary title of marchess and, like most peers, claims a blood-link to Dido’s race. It is said she was transmogrified when in her twenties, though none beyond the intimacy of the Dovecote have ever seen her perform a lahzarine act, and her true nature remains a mystery.

tally-clerk person responsible for counting and recording the comings and goings through whichever door, gate or other portal he or she is assigned to watch. The use of such a function in a place like Winstermill is to regulate trade, traffic and even emigration, and for awareness of who and what is within the manse. They are assisted greatly in their duties by cursors.

tandem, tandem chair finely carved, two- or three-seater cushioned seat; what we might call a chaise lounge.

telltale(s) falsemen retained by one of office or status to inform their employers of the veracity of others’ statements or actions, to signal if fellow interlocutors are lying or dissembling or masking the truth in any other way. If they could afford to, most people of any significance would employ telltales, but there simply are not enough falsemen to fill so many vacancies. This means that a leer can earn a truly handsome living as a telltale, many commonly charging a premium for their service at fees usually beyond all but the very well off, or serving with promises for advancement and personal advantage. Then there are those honorable few who do it simply because it is their job and responsibility. Despite this rarity, many of the prominent work hard to nullify the advantage a telltale will give, either by employing their own falseman, or having a palliatrix (a highly trained liar—even rarer than a falseman) attend in their stead.

tempestine military term for a wit, gained from the notion that they cause a tempest within the minds of the enemies.

teratologist(s) monster-hunter. In truth there are not a great number of teratologists in the Half-Continent, and those who are there are stretched thin and typically prefer the higher financial recompense of knaving themselves to the poor pay received in direct Imperial Service. This is especially true of lahzars, who may well have a large debt to service, incurred to pay for their original transmogrification. Consequently it is only a few teratologists ever feel community-hearted enough to work permanently in the government’s pay at fortresses, manses and other outposts on the edges of civilization—and when one dies he or she is very hard to replace. See entry in Book One.

test place where skolds, dispensurists or other habilists do their makings, their brewings and combinations of parts. What we might term a “laboratory.” Consequently, to brew or otherwise make a potive is to testtelate.

test-barrow or chymistarium or testtle; a wheelbarrow-like device, a sizable oblong box striated with hinges and doors, drawers and locks, that folds open to reveal many compartments and a small yet fully functioning and very portable test. This includes a small but remarkably well-appointed portable chymistarium (what we might think of as a chemistry set) that can include a little stone-lined stove-plate, kept hot even when on the move, providing the clean puffs of smoke from its chimney. Test-barrows are ancient tools, more basic versions used first by the rhubezhals of old and refined over the centuries. Expensive items, their possession proves the affluence and (assumedly) the successful skill of its possessor.

thaumateer(s) term for a teratologist in military service; taken from the Attic word for “a wonder” or “a marvel.” As may be expected, the various kinds of teratologist are given their own military designation, such as tempestines for fulgars, torsadines for wits, bombastines for scourges, avertines for skolds and so on.

theiromisia also known as theiraspexthis, apexthia or, most commonly, invidition: the implacable hatred of monsters. The opposite of outramour, which is the love of monsters, as an invidist or execrat is the opposite of a sedorner (see sedorner in Book One). See individist(s).

theme(s) military districts that are given into the charge of a general or even a marshal—who may even be in charge of a multiplicity of them. All matters military or to do with the defense of the people are under the control of the marshal or general. There are two kinds: Static themes—under the control of a state, and Imperial themes, established by Clementine and not necessarily conforming to sociopolitical boundaries established by the states. Where Static themes and Imperial themes overlap there can be a great deal of wrangling and collision of jurisdictions.

therimoir(s) pronounced “there’ih’moyr” (Attic, literally, “monster-fate”), also tierschlächt (Gott); weapon designed or fitted to slay monsters. The most famous and useful of these are ancient devices, many of which have been lost in the many rises and falls of civilization.

therlane(s) literally, “monster-butchers,” typically members of the dark trades who, by experience, are usually able to make a common sense of the varying anatomies of dead monsters and cut them up with sectitheres for the various uses for which each part will be employed. Those who use such parts are utterly reliant on these monster-carvers, and skilled therlanes can command high prices for their expertly dissected bogle-bits.

theroid(s) a more technical term for a monster.

theroscade(s) quite simply, an attack by monsters, particularly an ambush, but the term is used to mean any assault by üntermen.

Theudas, Fadus young lamplighter serving at Wormstool, born and raised in the Considine. His father is a midlevel bureaucrat in the Imperial Service.Theudas could not bear the idea of the desk life and fled his home; after many adventures he found the active simple life he desired with the lamplighters of the Wormway. An eager fellow who, through persistence and the excellence of his brief service record, gained a billet out on the “ignoble end of the road.”

thill(s) shafts on a cart or carriage onto which a horse or other such animal for pulling the vehicle is harnessed.

Threnody of Herbroulesse, Marchess-in-waiting, the Lady ~ only child and daughter to the LadyVey, conceived outside of the banns of any intended marriage, simply for the purpose of producing an heir. She is a self-determined girl, stubborn and quick-witted, and even quicker tempered, sent to Sinster by her mother on the advent of her thirteenth birthday to be transmogrified into a lahzarine wit. Consequently, when Rossamünd was still at Madam Opera’s despairing of his chance at getting work,Threnody was under the knives of Spedillo and Sculapias, said to be among the best surgeons to have ever held a catlin. Dolours and others of the clave advised the LadyVey to wait, but she would not, determined to have her daughter as a powerful wit, well learned in antics by the time she was old enough to begin to share the lead.Threnody has ideas of her own which (of course) do not always correlate to her mother’s ambitions for her. The tension between them is continual, often emotionally violent, to the point that Threnody’s request to become a lamplighter was granted her, if only to give Syntychë and the columbines of Columbris a rest from all the agonies of mother-daughter angst. One of the “joys” of Threnody’s new state is the endless imbibing of the necessary chemistry to keep her new organs in check.

Threnody’s Alembant Schedule threwd at its mildest, the haunted feeling of watchfulness that can be felt in wilder, less populated places. See entry in Book One. See also pernicious threwd.

thrice-blighted emphatic curse meaning that someone is truly wicked, useless and unwelcome.

thrombis healing script of the siccustrumn group related to the restorative realm, and one of the better kinds of powders used to quickly clot a wound and staunch blood flow.

thrumcop also called a bog-button and related to a larger, tasty and oddly threwdish fungus known as austerpill, thrumcops are a mushroom with a deep brown pileus spotted with swollen off-white circular patches. The essence of thrumcops can be used in rudimentary repellents, giving rise to the idea that eating them on their own will cause this essence to seep through your pores and make you less appetizing to a monster.

tinker sometimes mistakenly called a trifler (seller of cheap cutlery and other pewter and tinware), a tinker is a mender of metal items not requiring a forge to fix. One of the wayfarers that go “huc illuc” about the lands to find work, though Winstermill employs a whole bunch of the fellows to look after their myriad of small metal-working needs.

toscanelle any lovely rich red wine coming from the Tuscanin region; actually named after the stream that runs through that country.

tow rough fabric made from hemp fibers or from jute—a somewhat finer kind of hessian or burlap.

tractor(s) also called feralados or feraloderoes; handlers of animals and beasts of war whose task is to feed and clean their charges and make intractable creatures eager to do their master’s bidding.

transmogrifer(s) surgeon who specializes in the making of lahzars. See lahzar(s) in Book One.

troubardier(s) heavily armored pediteers trained to fight at hand strokes with a variety of hand arms, including poleaxes, fends, huge swords known as claughs and spadroons, and other exotic tools. See entry in Book One.

trunk-road(s) roads made by the need for trade and the easy passage of goods.

Tumblesloe Cot one of the primary duties of the lighters here is to take part in the fatigue parties that venture regularly into the Roughmarch and clear it of monster-harboring vegetation.

Tumblesloes, the ~, Tumblesloe Heap, the ~ Known by the Plutarch Tutins of old as the Arides, for they were ancient and withered even then; the north-south running range of hills to the east of Winstermill and the Harrowmath. Their tops, constantly buffeted by strong winds and covered with only a thin soil, support no vegetation other than mean, stunted stubble.Their low places, however, are choked with dense knots of brambly plants, sloe, briar and blackberry. Among the oldest hills in the Soutlands, they are known as the “heap” for their tumbledown appearance and the great cracklike gorges that cross them, the evidence of some tectonic violence eons before.

Tutin language spoken by the inhabitants of Clementine and the lands about. (It is based loosely—or not so, at times—on Latin, and to those troubled or offended by this, the author might dare to say: excusationes offero propter licentiam quam cum hac pulchra lingua in libello meo cepi. Habete eam artificiosam libertatem et, obsecro, mihi ignoscite).

Tutins the ruling race of the Haacobin Empire, descendants of Dido and her people, speakers of the language of the same name; also called the Plutarchs (actually their ancient forebears); a refined people of great capacity who once, under Dido’s rule, conquered the regions now known as the Soutlands before their decline. For a time they seemed to vanish entirely from the southern parts of the Half-Continent, abandoning their allies and dependants to the ravages of their foes. It was only several hundred years later that they reappeared to rewin lands lost, a lesser people—a shadow of their mighty forebears—but still strong enough to conquer.

twelve of the best twelve lashes of the straight-whip, or worse yet the three-o’-tail bob.

twin keep(s) bastions or other small forts built side by side, one to support the other. Some are joined by bridges and covered galleries, others by tunnels, and still others are separate from each other. The most common use of twin keeps is to straddle a roadway, with a tollgate hung between them for duties to be collected from travelers.

Twörp,Tremendus said “twerp”; a rather fat young man whose now-dead parents were exiles from Gothia. Found wandering and starving by a cruel cantebank man, he was fed and set to work by this fellow as a pan-handler and mute beggar (for he could not speak a word of Brandenard beyond “yes” and “thank you”). Providence stepped in when, while passing through Winstermill, the Lamplighter-Marshal saw the small abused wastrel and bought him from the suspicious cantebank. The Marshal then installed the startled child in Hand Row, the small foundlingery down in the Low Gutter, and taught him the common tongue until Twörp was old enough to begin prenticing.

tykehound(s) • (noun) collective noun for a set of dog breeds raised to hunt and slay monsters. The collection of tykehounds includes tykehounds themselves (sometimes also called selthounds—see next point), spangled whelp-hounds, Greater Derehunds, garmirvithars and stafirhunds. Their counterparts are the slothounds, who are trained to track monsters from even the faintest trail and corner them, rather than come to grapple with them. A curregitor is the leading dog in a pack of tykehounds, what in our world might be termed an “alpha male”; it runs at the front and is first into the fight. A canignavor, from the Tutin word meaning “lazy dog” (also langsbain, a Gott word meaning “slow-leg”), is the second dog of a tykehound pack; it periodically runs back or lags behind the main chasers waiting for its everyman masters to tell it the path of the rest of the hunt. These animals are anything but lazy, as their title misnomically suggests, usually running twice or three times the distance any of its fellows covers in a course. • (noun) also selthounds, specific breed of hound, the largest of all the monster-hunting dogs: with long, heavy snouts; wide mouths and overlarge teeth for an irresistibly gripping bite; thickly gathered hide about the neck to prevent a monster throttling it; covered in thick, short, wiry black hair and with powerful hips and shoulders, large paws and great cunning. Some of the most famous dogs of matter—such as Garngagarr—are of this breed.

uhrsprechman (Gott, literally “clock-speaking-man”) also called a night-clerk, found only in cothouses and other military outposts. Their main task is to complete any paperwork not finished by the day-clerks, sort mail as required and read the clock and tell the time for the unlettered soldiers about them—of which there are many.

umbergog ettin-like nicker, but possessing an oversized head in deformed simulacrum of an animal’s poll. If it were possible, umbergogs are even more dim-witted than their more manikinlike (personlike) cousins, the ettins, more bestial—as their heads might imply. Typically they are a little smaller than ettins, but this does not mean that there are not examples of umbergogs of numbingly enormous size; rivaled only by the singular, portentous appearances of the mighty, mindless false-gods lumbering across the doomed land.

under-clerk assistant to a clerk, a kind of corporal-clerk, put upon to do the most menial of clerical tasks, the dullest and most repetitive duties, the ones sent to the less friendly places to act as bureaucrat and - paper-shuffler.

under-sergeant military rank used by landed armies but not navies, and the next in rank under a sergeant and above a pediteer or other 1st class of any type. The equivalent of corporal.

Under-Sergeant-of-Prentices Benedict see Benedict, Under-Sergeant-of-Prentices.

ungerhaur one of many Gott names for monsters.

üntermen Gott word for monsters, roughly translating to “undermen,” meaning that monsters are less than men. As a name for monsters it has gained some currency all over the Half-Continent.

venificant(s) poison-scripts, also sometimes known as pestilents—these are particularly the more corrupting and wasting potives. Either way they are all very nasty.

Vey, the Lady ~ official title of Syntychë, the august of the columbines of Herbroulesse. Born to the role and following her mother through five generations of augusts, five generations of the Lady Vey. Her title comes from a local corruption of the word “fey,” thought to mean that she “convenes with monsters,” yet it actually comes from Feye, a tiny Soutland state that was absorbed by another larger state almost two centuries ago. Fleeing the subtle conquest, the Lady Vey’s ancestors made their way up to the Idlewild to seclude themselves in a small sequestury there, and, by ambition, rose to rule it and expand its work. Syntychë is profoundly aware of her proud heritage, of the aggressive nature of her family’s historied grasp on the control of the Right of the Pacific Dove and the dubious honor it is to be a calendar. Her zeal for her calendars and her heritage is almost consuming.

Vey, Threnody See Threnody of Herbroulesse.

vialimn meaning “path-light,” the “correct” name for a great-lamp.

vigil-day what we would call a holiday.

Volitus dispensurist of Winstermill, originally simply a confectioner from High Vesting, he has managed to gain status as a true dispenser, though the quality of his work is not always guaranteed. It is fortunate for the others of the manse that his assistant has a better grasp of habilistics.

wandlimb type of ash tree with a narrow trunk whose gracefully long, straight branches are a favorite for withies, cudgels and the basis for fulgaris.

watch(es) among the lamplighters there are three main watches that do not revolve so much about four-hour intervals as in the navy, but rather on duties and whether it is day or night. During the day there is the house-watch, whose task it is to maintain the day-to-day running of their posting; the day-watch, who keep lookout during the sunny hours and rove out beyond their posting to accomplish the various tasks the day requires. At night while these two watches sleep it is time for the lantern-or lamp-watch to shine (ha! Get it?).Their duty starts with traveling from their place of day-rest, lighting lamps along the way to the next cothouse or other fortress, where they stay up all night to keep guard.

wayfood(s) other favorites among hucilluctors are twice-pickled gherkins and evercap, a dainty mushroom that preserves well when dried and can last for many years still edible, though these too are preferred pickled—either with pepper or honey. See entry in Book One.

Wayward Chair, the ~ a hostelry of barely a dozen rooms found in the more down-at-heel suburb of Marlabone in the city of Compostor; run by a Mr. and Mrs. Phile, and not particularly well known for its appointments or refinements.Why Europe chooses to stay there is a bit of a mystery, for she usually prefers the finer establishments if she can have them, and there is certainly more than one of those in that city.

Wellnigh House the small twin-keep cothouse most immediately east of Winstermill, gaining its name because it is well-nigh to both Winstermill and the Tumblesloe Heap. It was once the tollhouse for those coming through or entering the Roughmarch, the toll helping to pay to keep the marche clear of the thick briars and thorns that ever seek to choke the path.

Wheede, Crofton a somewhat clumsy and ineffectual boy of average build and average intelligence, and one of the other prentices at Winstermill. He is actually a native of the Idlewild itself, from a line of cobblers in Hinkerseigh. His mother was slain in a theroscade during a summertime Domesday stroll, his father killed by grief and the viscid humours (a terrible contagious disease said to be spread by nickers). Young Wheede has been shipped off by surviving uncles and aunts to serve with the lighters.

“When falsemen disagree . . .” comes from an aphorism, “When falsemen disagree, to whom then can the truth be known?”

Whympre, Podious pronounced “Po’dee’us Wim’per”; see Master-of-Clerks.

Wight, the ~ also known as Wightbury: Imperial designation of the Imperial fortress-city of Wightfastseigh, built to collect tolls on goods coming down from Sulk and eastern Catalain and the Undermeer states. It is a center of military might in the midst of the Idlewild and the pivot between two themes of the Placidine and the Paucitine, with each settlement of the Idlewild providing contingents of pediteers and even swaggerers to its guard. Yet despite its size and impressive fortifications, it has no direct jurisdiction over the Wormway or in political affairs in the Idlewild (though citizens of influence might have their say). Indeed the cothouses in the Wight are no larger than those along the lonely road; this city is all about taxation revenue and the protection of its collection and the trade route that most supplies it. The citizens of the Wight themselves are generally very concerned with the latest fashions, importing all the new fads and baubles they can from down south—where all the best people dwell.

Wightfastseigh see the Wight.

wine-of-Sellry see Sellry, wine-of-~.

Winstermill great Imperial fortress of Sulk End and home to the lamplighters of the Wormway. Winstreslewe, the ancient, abandoned Tutin fortress upon whose foundations it was built, was itself constructed about and upon an even more ancient great hall and motte. This great hall was once a seat of power for the Burgundian kings before they were pushed aside by the greater might of the Tutins of old.Winstermill is the first port of call for anyone wishing to enter the Idlewild. It is the administrative center, whence are issued all Imperial writs and certificates that allow easier passage through the varied bureaucracies of the colonies along the Wormway. See Appendix 5 and entry in Book One.

Winstermill, serving staff of ~ an astounding collection of people somehow find their home in the fortress: metalsmiths, wheelwrights, coopers, gaulders, cobblers, tailors, house-tinkers, glaziers, armorers, ostlers, farriers, feuterers, storemen, stewards, cooks, menservants, parlor maids, bower maids, scullery maids, fullers, porters, lighter’s boys, pageboys and general hands.

wit(s) lahzars who are able to send out pulses of invisible “static” to afflict people’s minds. It is well known that wits lose their hair as they continue to use their potency, and a calvine or calvous wit is a wit completely without hair.There are those wits known as mesmerists, who are skilled in and prefer subtle and gentle techniques of frission, coercing and quietly manipulating their targets without giving themselves away, rather than blasting them with great feats of striving. To be a mesmerist takes great skill, but overspecializing makes one less able to put forth powerful yet well-controlled frission in singularly destructive striving. The opposite of mesmerists are striveners, who practice mighty yet tightly controlled assaults of frission, the perfecters of the nex aspectus—the killing look or “eye of death.” In a similar way coruscists are fulgars who do not thermistor, who do not wish to take the risk of blasting themselves apart if they botch the summoning of lightning. See entry in Book One.

Witherscrawl trained as a mathematician, he is the indexer and stooge of the Master-of-Clerks. See Witherscrawl, Mister in Book One.

withy-wall(s) usually naturally occurring barriers of sapling stems (withies).

works-general properly called the General-Master-of-Labors, the highest ranked peoneer in Winstermill. His charge includes all of the maintenance and works about the fortress and on the road too; he also has charge over the seltzermen as well as the more common laborers. This is part of the reason why lighters do not truly consider seltzermen to be their equals—they belong to another corps.

Wormstool very last cothouse on the eastern end of the ConduitVermis (from which it gets its name) with only the fortress of Haltmire between it and the untamed wilds. Built simultaneously with Haltmire, at the time when the Wormway was being forged through the Ichormeer, Wormstool is an octagonal tower rather than the usual fortress-house. It shares this trait with Dovecote Bolt and is reached by narrow steps wrapping about three of the structure’s sides. On every level, the windows are shuttered loopholes through which defenders can fire down upon attackers.There is provision for cannon on the third level and on the roof, yet pieces have never been supplied and Wormstool remains without great-guns, despite the presence of umbergogs and other belugigs on the Frugelle.

Wormway, the ~ vernacular name for the Conduit Vermis (see both entries in Book One); also called the Harrowmath Pike. The Wormway is divided into named lengths:

Wrangle poor boy of obscure origins who goes by this name and this name alone—of too destitute a beginning, it seems, to have more than a first name. A fairly slow-witted but physically adept lad, he is the perfect candidate for a soldier—or lighter.

wrench-of-arms what we would call arm wrestling.

Blood and sutures! No entry for x!

yesternight last night, the counterpart of yesterday.

Pullets and cockerels! Still no entry for z! How is this possible?