Foundling

by Cornish, D. M.

  carlin coin money; a silver ten sequin piece or five eighths of a sou. See money.

  Cathar’s Treacle or plaudamentum; draft drunk by lahzars; its main function is to stop all the surgically introduced organs (mimetic organs) and connective tissues within a lahzar’s body from rejecting their host. The nature of the ingredients and the way in which they react means that Cathar’s Treacle does not keep for very long at all, a few hours at best, and has to be made afresh each time. It must be taken twice a day, or the lahzar risks spasming. If lahzars go more than a few days without the treacle, their organs start to rot within them, and after a week without it the lahzar’s doom is certain. The parts, or ingredients, for Cathar’s Treacle are as follows:10 of water

  1 of bezoariac

  ½ of rhatany

  ¼ of Sugar of Nnun

  1 of xthylistic curd

  ½ of belladonna (optional)

  There are other drafts that a lahzar must take periodically, but Cathar’s Treacle is the most important. For fulgars the next most important is a daily dose of fulgura sagrada or saltegrade. For wits it is a daily drink of iambic ichor; Friscan’s wead every two days; and two tots of cordial of Sammany three times a week plus other traces throughout their lives. Such dependency is a trade-off for the immense power they possess. A physician would also recommend a dose of evander every so often to lift the wind and fortify the pith.

  chain mail despite the advent of proofing, chain mail is still made and worn. It might not be bulletproof like gaulded clothes, but it is effective against the raking claws and snapping teeth of bogles, and if some kind of proofing is worn beneath, then the protection is excellent—a kind of troubarding. See harness.

  Chassart also Chastony or Chassault; one of the southernmost city-states of the Frestonian League, famous for its soaps and perfumes.

  chemicals the main way people have used to confront the threat of monsters of the millennia. These chemicals come in all manner of exotic concoctions and brews. See scripts, potives and drafts.

  Chief Harbor Governor the most senior pilot of a port and harbor, in charge of all the other pilots and of the movements of shipping into and out of his jurisdiction; they have a universal reputation for being irascible and rude, which probably comes from dealing with egocentric captains and masters all day.

  “chiff-chaffing lobcock” talkative fool, someone who says or talks too much, a “flabbermouth.”

  city-state(s) the lands of the Empire are divided into distinct domains, each dominated by a city and ruled by a regent in the Emperor’s stead. These regents are all dukes, duchesses or earls, as the Empire will not allow anyone to hold the title of “king” or “queen” and so get lofty ideas (the only exception to this is the Gightland Queen).

  claret a usually cheap red wine mixed with apple or pear pulp. It has become fashionable for the more jauntily rich to drink it, part of a whole adventure of slumming it with the lesser folk.

  Clementine capital city of the whole Empire, where the Emperor has his three palaces, each housing one of the Three Seats (Imperial thrones). Situated in an ancient region called Benevenetium, upon the edge of the Marrow—a great gorgelike trench or drain dug a millennium ago from the capital to the sea, 2,300 miles to the east. A massive city, it is home to two million souls and the Imperial Parliament, where representatives of all the member states and realms and conclaves bicker for a bigger share. It was built aeons ago on an even more ancient granite plateau; a massive citadel of marble and granite with ponderous fortifications and fourteen huge gates and equally huge drawbridges, famous and named with appropriately lofty names: the Immutable Port, the Port Aeternus, the Immortal Gate, the Undying Door, the Sempiternal Gates, the Amaranthine Gate, the Port of the Elect, the Perdurable Door, the Doors Inviolable, the Stout Gate (Door), the Port Indomitable, the Impenetrable Gates, the Doors of the Potential, the Sthenic Gate. It has been described as “. . . a heap; a rambling urban palace of tall marble and spired granite, its towers sharing spaces with the clouds. It has become a place of corrupt opulence and epitomizes all that is broken in its far-spread kingdom . . .”

  clerk’s sergeant noncommissioned officer in charge of military clerks; a common rank among revenue officers, where they are often far more active than their title of “clerk” might suggest.

  Closet head cook of the Harefoot Dig, with only a modicum of ability as a cook. If he was not an old chum of Billetus, he would probably have been replaced by Uda a long time ago. As one of the live-in staff, part of his pay is given as accommodation in the staff quarters.

  Clunes one of the southernmost realms of the Empire, famous for the skill and sweetness of its singers; they are said to have gained such talent from their contact with the reclusive and musical folk of Hamlin and Cloudeslee.

  Cockeril, the ~ privately owned thirty-two-guns-broad heavy-frigate in harbor at High Vesting.

  concometrist also metrician; one of a highly trained group of fastidious researchers and soldier-scholars whose sworn charter is to measure and record the length and breadth of all things. Trained for five years in colleges known as athenaeums, they are released on the world bearing two precious gifts awarded to them upon graduation. The first is a calibrator, a yard-long ruler of hardened wood marked with feet and inches, either end being capped with brass ferules. The calibrator is both a tool of the trade and a trusty weapon. Concometrists can be recognized by the calibrators they carry. The second award is the mysterious numrelogue, a large book two to three inches thick, to be filled with the cryptic formulas and strings of ciphers that only their kind know, recordings of all a concometrist has seen, investigated and measured. When a numrelogue is full, it is handed back to the concometrist’s governing athenaeum and he or she is handed a new one to fill. Navigators, surveyors and metricians (measurers) are all types of concometrist. They also make good clerks because of their attention to written detail. See Appendix 4.

  conductors also trunk roads; major roads between cities maintained at the expense and energy of the local rulers; these were originally made to allow easier marching for armies but are now just as busy as routes of trade. See highroads.

  conduit(s) major roads between cities maintained at the expense and energy of the Emperor, originally built by the soldiers of the Empire as they forged their way into new lands. See Imperial Conductors and highroads.

  Conduit Vermis the Wormway, running from Winstermill to Wörms and passing through the Ichormeer. Once the Conduit Vermis enters that swamp, it quickly becomes one of the most dangerous roads to travel, oppressed by powerful threwd and haunted by a great variety of monsters. All attempts to civilize that stretch of the Wormway have failed, often disastrously.

  corsers grave robbers, tomb raiders and suppliers to the dark trades. They provide corpses and body parts for the growing demand of benighted laboratories all about the land. It is dangerous, putrid work: corsers run a continual risk of falling foul with the authorities and monsters (those bogles who creep about in cemeteries and tombs are among the most vicious and violent), yet the money earned in this line of work makes the risks worth the while taking.

  Corvinius Arbour one of the more powerful family houses in Boschenberg, connected with the mighty Saakrahennemus clan of Brandenbrass, whose ancient lineage has sprouted many of history’s prominent figures.

  counteroffend counterstrike move in harundo; one of the many moves that are part of the Hundred Rules of Harundo.

  coxswain petty officer in charge of the small boats aboard a ram or cargo such as the jolly boats and the captain’s launch; paid about thirty-six sous a year.

  Craumpalin, Master ~ said “krorm-pah-linn”; dispensurist working at Madam Opera’s Estimable Marine Society for Foundling Boys and Girls, attending to the medicinal needs of children, other staff, Madam Opera herself and even many folks who live and work in the neighborhood of the marine society. Trained as a dispensurist by the navy, he served with his old friend and messmate Master Fransitart. When Fransitart was pr
essed into service as a boy, it was a young Craumpalin who befriended him first and has stayed true to him since. If you ask him, Craumpalin will tell you he was born in the Patricine city-state of Lousaine.

  Craumpalin’s Exstinker a potive Craumpalin makes for Rossamünd, to hide his smell from noses that do not need to know. See nullodours.

  cromster(s) one of the smallest of the armed, ironclad river-barges, having three-inch cast-iron strakes down each side and from four to twelve 12-pounder guns (see cannon) upon each broadside. Generally single-masted, though the biggest may have two masts. Below the open-deck is a single lower deck called the orlop. Forward of amidships (the middle of the craft) is typically hold space for cargo. Aft of amidships the orlop is reserved for the gastrines and their crews. Cromsters sit low in the water and are generally suitable only for rivers and the inshore currents of sheltered bays. You might find cromsters much further up a river than any gastrine craft, yet only the most foolhardy or brave (between which there is seldom any difference) will take them out into the deeps of the vinegar seas. Their short keels make them ideal for shallow waters; however, large swells can wash over the deck dangerously and capsize them. Though not as fast as other gastrine vessels (six knots at best), cromsters are small, sturdy and maneuverable and one will find them the most commonly used of all rivergoing craft. The crew of a cromster, as with all other riverine craft, are known as bargemen. See Appendix 7.

  cruorpunxis spilled-blood punctures, said “kroo-or-punks-sis”; the proper name for a monster-blood tattoo.

  cudgel or fustis; any wooden stick, heavy, sometimes bound or studded with iron or another metal and usually of no more than four feet in length; usually fashioned straight from the branch of a tree and used in the martial training of harundo and other stick-fighting disciplines. Types of cudgel range from the smooth and straight stock to the knot-and-knuckle-headed knout; they include the excessively knobbly knupel, the gabelüng (“fork in the road”) with its two-pronged head, the stang (or quarterstaff) and the overlong prugel-staff. Cudgels are normally preferred over swords because heavy, blunt blows do more harm through proofing than the cut or stab of a blade. They also serve well as walking sticks.

  cudgel-master person who has won the right to bear a knupel, and so is deemed skilled enough to teach others.

  culix said “cyoo-licks”; blow with the butt end of a cudgel or stick: one of the many moves that are a part of the Hundred Rules of Harundo.

  curtain wall surrounding walls of a city, so called because they go straight up and down like a curtain. This makes them vulnerable to cannon fire but provides an impenetrable barrier to adventurous bogles. Curtain walls built in the last few hundred years, however, may have a sloping outer face called a scarp, to help deflect shot from cannon. Each city will have several rings of curtain walls, a new line built as the population expands beyond the previous ring. The older the city, the more encircling curtain walls it will possess.

  D

  Dank day-watchman of the Harefoot Dig, having charge over protecting the wayhouse, its guests, owners and employees against attack from brigands and highwaymen and, most importantly, monsters. He hands over his responsibility to Teagarden when the evening watch begins.

  dark trades, the ~ clandestine trafficking of illegal goods, but most particularly corpses of people, body parts of man and monster and whole monsters, dead or alive. It is exceedingly dangerous for those involved, from the corsers and trappers, the ashmongers in the middle to the various secret clients, yet the demand for the products of the dark trades is the highest it has ever been and the money to be had makes the dangers endured entirely worthwhile.

  day-clothes also schmutter; any garment not proofed.

  days of the week the first is Newich—the “new watch,” then Loonday—the “moon’s day,” Mareday—the “sea’s day,” Midwich—the “middle watch,” Domesday—the “family’s day,” which is a day of rest, followed by Calumday—the “sky’s day,” and finally Solemnday—the last day of the week, when people stop work two hours earlier to go home and celebrate the closing of another successful seven days. See months of the year and Appendix 1.

  Dido ancient Empress and founder of the Empire of the Half-Continent, from whose line was reckoned the Emperors until the Haacobins usurped the Three Thrones. Great-granddaughter of the legendary Idaho of the Attics, she was betrayed by her ministers and fled to save her life, gathering about her other remnant races from the fall of the Phlegms to begin the Empire in which this book takes place. The Didodumese are her scattered descendants, and most peers—especially the Antique Sanguines (see social status)—claim some link to her and so to her glorious great-grandmother.

  Dig, the ~ nickname used by locals for the Harefoot Dig.

  dispensurist(s) said “diss-pens-yoo-rist”; “lesser” kind of skold, concerned only with potives and drafts that help and heal. Six months at a rhombus and two years as an apprentice dispenser under a fully qualified dispensurist will get you your license to practice. Dispensurists are liked and trusted, even more than skolds. They are also considered to be habilists.

  ditchlands as far as men reckon it, the world is divided into five distinct regions or marches. Ditchlands are “frontier territory,” the fourth-most region or march and the outermost domain of man, just before the wilds (where everymen seldom go and never dwell). Ditchlands are the “front line” of humankind’s push to civilize the whole world. In ditchlands populations are small and live very close for mutual strength, always behind walls, with windows permanently barred and doors kept locked even at the height of day. Chimneys here are built highest of all. No one goes anywhere without wearing proofing, even indoors during the day. Everyone keeps stores of potives supplied by skolds and carries some on all excursions out of doors. Many ditchland communities are supported by a sturdy military presence of either pediteers (soldiers) or lamplighters or both. Small fortresses built along the main road in the region typically form the hub of a settlement and are the last places of refuge in event of some major attack by monsters. See marches.

  dolatramentis(tum) said “doll-la-truh-men-tiss(tum)”; any mark made on the skin to show one’s skills and heroic feats, either spoors or monster-blood tattoos.

  Domesday said “doams-day”; fifth day of the week, and typically a day of rest. See days of the week.

  draft(s) • any concoction meant to be taken and have effect by swallowing, as opposed to potives, which work externally. See scripts. • the depth to which the hull and keel of a boat or ship descends into the water. A vessel with a shallow draft can negotiate shallow waters.

  drudge the smallest of the oceangoing gastriners, employed to tug and tow other larger vessels about the crowd of a harbor. Some are armed with cannon and work to guard their port. These are called gun-drudges. See rams.

  E

  eekers folk who, because of poverty or persecution or in protest, live in wild or marginal places, often alone and scrounging what life they can from the surrounding land. Many eekers are political exiles, sent away from, or choosing to leave, their home city because of some conflict with a personage of power. It is often marveled upon by other folk just how it is that eekers survive in the haunted places where they are forced to live. It is commonly held that most have sedorned themselves, that is, become despicable sedorners, so that the monsters will leave them be. They are already mistrusted and despised for their eccentric ways, and such a suspicion only makes them doubly so.

  Elements, the ~ the basis of the four-part system of understanding used by skolds, physicians and other habilists. Simply put, the Elements are earth, air, fire and water and have many accompanying corollaries. See the Four Humours, the Four Spheres, the Körnchenflecter.

  Emperor the supreme ruler of an Empire, in this context the Empire of the Half-Continent; the original line of Emperors was descended from Dido, the founder of the Empire and great-granddaughter of Idaho, the mythic hero-queen of the Attics. The current Emperor is Scepticus XLV Haacobi
n Menangës, who is working to reconcile the Didodumese and their supporters to his dynasty’s claim.

  Emperor’s Billion, the ~ name of the shiny gold oscadril coin given to any person as an incentive to enter the Emperor’s Service and become an Emperor’s Man. This type of payment is called “coat and conduct” money, promised to anyone who wishes to join up, whether to serve the Emperor, or some realm’s navy, or even a mercenary regiment. From this coat and conduct money new recruits are meant to pay for their travel to their new job and for parts of their kit when they get there. A billion is any coin that is the largest denomination of a realm’s currency (for example, the sou is the billion of Soutland money). See money.

  Emperor’s Highroads, the ~ see conduits.

  Emperor’s Man, an ~ any person working for the Empire and therefore the Emperor. Lamplighters are Emperor’s Men because they are employed by the Empire to watch the Emperor’s Highroads.

  Empire, the ~ also called the Haacobin Empire, the Old Empire, the Benevenetian Empire or the Empire of the City-states. When the Sceptic Dynasty (said “sep-tik”) ruled, it had been called the Sceptic Empire. The imperial domains of the current Haacobin Dynasty are divided into three parts (pars regia magna). In the north is the Seat, where Clementine, the Imperial Capital, is, and includes the western lands of the Stipula, the agricultural lands of the Leven and the Table, which extends right along the southern wall of the Marrow. In the east is the Verid Litus, made up of the old inheritance of the Orprimine on the coast, and the mining lands of the Sink beneath. In the south is the Soutlands extending from Catalain and the western edge of the Ichormeer, across to Hergoatenbosch and Thisterland, and down along the Grume, the Patricine and the Lent, reaching as far inland as Maine and ending at the northern edge of the wildlands known as Dusthumlinde (the Dusthumës). These lands are divided up into city-states, the boundaries of each being fixed in the Henoticon—the Formula of the Division of the Land drawn up in HIR 1011 by Empress Quintinia Excrutia Scepticus. Heavily amended, the document still stands as the legal blueprint of borders and border rights and is constantly invoked as states wrestle with each other for mutually coveted lands and their resources. The original Henoticon is kept in the subterranean vaults of the Quintessentum (the Imperial Archive in Clementine). Control is maintained through its sprawling conquests with the aid of the subcapitals: cities of grandeur built by the Haacobins to keep an eye on their restive subjects so far from the friendly gaze of Clementine itself. In the Soutlands are the subcapitals of the Considine and the Serenine. On the Verid Litus is the Campaline. They are gorgeous places and an essential part of the “Grand Tour,” attracting tourists from all the lands.