Lamplighter

by D M Cornish

  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.

  B

  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 Nupt
arium 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.