Foundling

by Cornish, D. M.

  ♦ Imperial or senior surgeons—having completed the full examination of three to four years, they are granted a degree, which warrants these surgeons to perform all and any kind of “butchery” they deem necessary.

  ♦ carvers—self-taught, book-learned individuals, often serving because there is no qualified surgeon available. They will normally do only amputations and bullet extractions and are most common in armies and navies.

  A strange little twist that goes some small way to salvaging the surgeons’ generally bad reputation is that they are prepared to attend duels and there tend wounds, while any self-respecting physician would never be party to such knavery.

  Surprise, the ~ 28 guns-broad frigate of the Boschenberg navy, which has been in service for a century. Formerly part of Brandenbrass navy, it was captured by Boschenberg shortly after the Battle of the Mole. It has a glorious history, taking many prizes of pirates and sea-monsters, making successive generations of crews wealthy. At the Battle of the Mole, while still serving Brandenbrass, it played a significant role in the fighting. For much of the battle the frigate had served as all smaller rams do, trawling behind the main line of battle in support, picking up survivors, towing larger vessels that had been immobilized, watching exposed flanks. For several hours its captain, a certain Mister Codmoss, had been watching his confederates in the Solemn League’s combined navy being ground to a stalemate by the Wretcherman fleet: an immovable line of the 23 main-rams centered on the cumbersome Sucathia, an enormous main-sovereign of 156 guns-broad. For the Solemn League a stalemate was a loss: Wretch could still dictate the terms of its waterways and hold the Grumid states to ransom. At a critical moment Captain Codmoss spied a break in the Wretcherman line as a rising swell shifted the well-founded positions of the enemy rams. Though it was not its role, the courageous Captain Codmoss could see that there were no capital rams available to seize this opportunity. Signaling another frigate to follow his lead, Codmoss sent the nimble Surprise dashing through the fortuitous gap into the waters beyond the enemy line. As it passed the stern of the main-ram Caldbink 74, it sent a volley of raking fire from its 32-pounder lombarins, crashing through the main-ram’s vulnerable stern windows. The crew of the Surprise who survived would recall the horrid sound of their shots smashing down the length of the Caldbink’s gun decks, causing great execution to her startled gun crews. Once clear on the other side, the quick-thinking Codmoss spied the Sucathia and came about in a wide arc, avoiding the determined attentions of enemy frigates and gun-drudges as he did. Putting all limbers to the screw, the Surprise gained all possible speed and rammed the mighty main-sovereign just slightly forward of amidships. The clamor of the impact—of rending, tortured metal and splintering beams—was said to be heard over the muffled din of battle by those watching the distant battle through spyglasses from the Foulmouth on the northernmost tip of Wretch. Indeed, the force of the impact was enough to tip the Sucathia sharply to its left, listing dangerously to the ladeboard side, pointing the guns on that broadside uselessly into the water, while the unengaged guns of the steerboard poked into the sky. The valiant Surprise was even worse off; now taking on water, its ram and bow were staved almost completely in and stuck fast in the shattered side of the main-sovereign. With half its crew sustaining serious injury in the collision, worse was yet to come. As the gun crews of the Sucathia recovered, they quickly learned their predicament and turned their attention and their guns to the diminutive upstart protruding from the ram’s steerboard side. Cannon-muzzles were traversed as low as possible and soon enough a murderous fire was pummeled down onto the exposed wooden decks of the Surprise. In less than one quarter of an hour the valiant frigate was smashed to a useless hulk. But this was all the Sucathia could do, for even in such a ruinous condition the Surprise could not be pried free, and the main-sovereign was unable to contribute any more to the fight. With the Sucathia neutralized by a vessel almost one sixteenth its size, the main-rams fighting against her were released to bring pressure to other points along the enemy line. After only another hour the Battle of the Mole was over, with the Solemn League the winner.With this victory the easy passage of their cargoes was secured. As for the heroic, hapless Surprise, with three quarters of her crew dead or dying (including Captain Codmoss) and nothing more than a ironclad shell of splinters and blood, she was towed back to Brandenbrass by the 80-gun main-ram Director. There she was left for several years, rusting in the shallows off the Silt Mounds, before a private contractor, in a fit of patriotism, took her into dry dock and remade her anew to be employed as a marquelin (a privateer vessel—see navy). It was in this capacity that she was captured by the Boschenberg navy, which quickly took her into its service, proud to have won such a noble vessel for its fleet.

  sustis pure determined defense, with cudgel held up; one of the many moves that are part of the Hundred Rules of Harundo.

  swamp oak dark, scruffy tree that grows tall in bogs and fens; the presence of swamp oaks is said to indicate the presence of monsters, and so they are chopped down when found in the precincts of man.

  swine’s lard oily fat of dead pigs, boiled and used for cosmetics and scripts alike.

  T

  Teagarden gater, head of the night watch and chief yardsman at the Harefoot Dig. The chain mail he wears, though a little old-fashioned, is an heirloom that has passed through twelve generations to make it to him. He wears it with pride, but is a practical man and so has a stout haubardine beneath (see harness).

  teratologist(s) also pugnator, monster-hunter, theroscaturgis (“beast-destroyer”) or catagist(~is) (“destroyer”). Strictly speaking, a teratologist is one who studies monsters. The term is used, however, to mean anyone with a professional interest in monsters, especially those who simply want to destroy them. Teratologists include: lahzars—both fulgar and wit; skolds and scourges; sagaars (the dancers); and filibusters or venators, everyday folks with no particularly unusual skill, just a bunch of potives bought from a skold, a sturdy brace of weapons, a keen eye and a cunning mind.

  Different teratologists have different reputations:♦ A skold or filibuster walking into the common room of a wayhouse will typically find himself or herself being greeted warmly and invited to join a table of regulars in a drink.

  ♦ If a fulgar or a scourge walks into the common room of a wayhouse, he or she might be greeted by a wary nod, a brief word of welcome or general wariness.

  ♦ The arrival of a wit is met with suspicious silence, with people staring, or turning away embarrassedly if the wit looks their way; no hearty welcomes, no free drinks, just barely concealed fear and loathing.

  ♦ Sagaars are too new to the culture of the Empire for folks to generally know what to do with them. Usually they are regarded as strange curiosities or otherwise ignored.

  teratology technically it is the study of monsters and anything to do with them (such as threwd); more broadly it also means the study and practice of theroscaturgy (“beast-destroying”); that is, monster-hunting.

  test shortened from testle (“appliance, apparatus”); the place where a skold or scourge or any other habilist makes potives and drafts; what we would call a “laboratory.” Confusingly, it can be anything from a building to a cart or portable box.

  thermistor • act of thermistoring. • the name for a fulgar who thermistors—that is, causes lightning to strike from an overcast sky. They do it at great risk to themselves, and because thermistoring can only be done on cloudy, rainy days, thermistors have a reputation for being gloomy and dour—which, as it happens, is often true. Sometimes also called thunderers. See fulgar, fulguris, lahzar, stage.

  thermistoring the action of using a fuse to make lightning strike from the sky. See fuse for a more detailed description of how this is done. See fulgar and thermistor.

  thew the body; one’s strength of limb and health, including pith, one’s metabolism.

  threwd also called the Horrors; threwd is the sensation of watchfulness and awareness of the land or waters abou
t you. Although no one is certain, the most popular theory is that the land itself is strangely sentient, intelligent and aware, and resents the intrusions and misuses of humankind. Paltry threwd, the mildest kind, can make a person feel uneasy, as if under unfriendly observation.The worst kind of threwd—called pernicious threwd—can drive a person completely mad with unfounded terrors and dark paranoias. Many expeditions of several thousand sent to tame certain regions of terrible threwd have disappeared without a trace. Once or twice a survivor or two has returned, ravening and broken. Not even a lahzar’s potencies can protect from the most pernicious threwd. It is well known that wherever threwd occurs, there monsters are too. Some teratologist scholars go so far as to suggest a mutually beneficial relationship between all monsters and the threwd. It has even been posited by the more eccentric natural philosophers that threwd is not just strong and weak, but also good and bad. Such an idea borders on sedonition and is not taken seriously. Several old books have said that there are those monsters powerful enough to have their own threwd, the power to terrify, drive mad or control weak minds at will, and that the worst of them can project such threwd far beyond themselves to take a whole place under their control—a forest for example. In fact the mind-control exercised by the false-gods is thought to be a kind of threwd.

  threwdish possessing or radiating threwd; haunted; frightening or terrifying, especially because of the threat of monsters.

  thrice-high taller variation of a tricorner hat, with its three angled brim-panels protruding straight rather than curving in toward the crown.

  Tin Drum Lane main thoroughfare of the Mortar in Boschenberg, where some of the city’s, even the region’s, best gaulders can be found. The stink of boiling gauld in all its varieties hangs over the street like a cloud.

  Tochtigstrat Hergott for “windy or breezy street.”

  tomahawk small-headed ax with a hollowed blade on one side and a broad spike on the other; the handle is often entirely bound with leather or sergreen (sharkskin); light, effective in a fight and good for throwing too.

  tormentum(s) essentially large catapults used to throw great hollow metal shells called censers at any threatening monsters, especially the bigger kinds. These four-foot-diameter censers are filled with prodigious amounts of fizzing, smoking potives and are flung in fuming arcs at any oncoming nicker. They are especially popular in harbor defenses, for gigantic nadderers (sea-monsters) have the nasty habit of rising out the depths at certain times each year.

  treacle shortened form of Cathar’s Treacle.

  trews either long, thick woolen stockings or tight-fitting leggings of the same material, worn as an undergarment.

  troubardier said “troo-bard-ear”; foot soldier or pediteer wearing full-harness of a haubardine with tassets, a testudo (metal back-and-breastplate) and sometimes pauldrons (metal shoulder armor). They protect their heads in distinctive full-faced metal helmets such as bascinets, sallets or the odd-looking hundshugel. Main weapons are the poleax (actually a hammer and a bec-de-corbin on a pole), langrass (huge two-handed sword) or clauf (long metal-studded club). Designated assault infantry. See pediteer and harness.

  tuck • or tuckin; small tin-silver coin worth two sequins or one eighth of a sou. • name given to a small foldable knife.

  Turkemen, the ~ said “tur-keh-men”; not in this current story. The Turkemen, their ruling caste the Omdür and their Emperor the Püshtän rule a vast empire to the north of Clementine and the rest of the Haacobin Empire. For many centuries they have had their thoughts bent on conquering the Haacobins. The threat of the Turkemen is the main reason the various rivaling parts of the Empire remain in uneasy unity.

  turnery eating utensils made of wood instead of cuttle, that is, pewter.

  turpentine tall, broad-spreading evergreen tree with a rough dark gray trunk and small dark leaves, associated with threwd and monsters. Its sap and wood are strongly resistant to the caustic waters of the vinegar seas, making it favored for the construction of wharves and other harbor structures. Great forests of turpentine are grown to meet the demand for lumber, and these plantations attract all sorts of skulking bogles and nickers.

  Tutin said “tyoo-tin”; a race of people who conquered the Soutlands and beyond, the most senior being the Emperor, who rules from Clementine. Also the language spoken by them, which is very close to Latin in our own world (to the purists I give my deepest apologies).

  tyke another name for urchin.

  tyke-oil potive that works in the opposite way to a nullodour, in that it intensifies your smell while making it as foul to a monster as possible. The idea is to make you repulsive and seemingly inedible. It is a last measure when you know there is no getting away from a monster.

  U

  Uda said “yoo-dah”; second cook of the Harefoot Dig, serving under Closet. Most people would say that Uda is a better cook, that you can tell when she has made a dish and when she has not; so much so that some regulars ask for her to cook their meal, which she hates because Closet finds it so offensive. Once or twice Closet has ignored these requests and has been caught out each time. Uda has even been employed by local nobles to cook for their grand dinners.

  umbles one’s gizzards and guts.

  Unhallows Night another name for Gallows Night.

  urchin(s) also tyke; among the most powerful of monsters, having humanlike bodies but heads like different kinds of animal. Very rarely seen by people, if at all in modern times, they are said to be almost indestructible. Ancient texts suggest that the lords of the monsters are among their number and that there was once, many thousands of years ago, free communication between everymen and urchins. Probably the best known is one called the Duke of Crows, an urchin-lord or nimuine, ruling an enormous threwdish forest called the Autumn of Sleep.

  utterworsts • the wildest, most black-hearted of monsters; • anything considered the worst kind of evil.

  V

  Vadè Chemica said “vay-dah kem-i-kah”; ancient book on habilistics, particularly the making of scripts (called scryptia or scryptics). Said to contain destructive, forbidden information, it was apparently written by a group of unknown authors from a now-lost race who were so far in advance of current “technologies” that it is still an authority today. Indeed, most have trouble fathoming exactly what large parts of it mean. In the Empire it is illegal to have a copy of the Vadè Chemica, though many people have secret copies of excerpts from it, including a small seven-volume series called the Seven Nephthandous Tomes. Outside of the Empire it is held in higher regard. The rhombus in Wörms, for example, has well over a dozen copies and its apprentices study it closely the entire duration of their training. The skolds from Wörms are thought to be the best in the Half-Continent.

  venison ragout spicy dish made of cubes of deer-meat and various vegetables, cooked in a thick, rich sauce till they are so tender they almost fall apart.

  Verhooverhoven, Doctor ~ local physician of the Brindleshaws, a fellow in his early thirties who enjoys the good favor of the peers and gentry of that region. Born in High Vesting of poor parents, he scraped together enough to pay for his own training in the physic arts, working for four years as a surgeon’s assistant onboard various rams of the Boschenberg navy.

  Verline said “verr-leen”; parlor maid to Madam Opera and the eldest daughter of a proud serving-family, who see service as an honor and a dignity. Tender and caring of almost all of the children of the madam’s Marine Society, Verline has a soft spot for Rossamünd: something in his awkwardness reminds her of herself as a child. Her role is to tend to the needs of Madam Opera, though she is often caught up in some mission of tenderness for some child or other. Almost as beautiful as her younger sister Praeline, Verline is the darling of the all-male staff at Madam Opera’s, who often leave her little gifts and do whatever she asks. Verline herself would never dream of abusing such affection, and returns it wholeheartedly to the men she calls “those dear old salts.” Praeline (or more properly the Lady Praeline, for she ha
s married well above her station) provides the money to her older sister to buy such small luxuries as pamphlets.

  Vespasia also Vespasio; constellation sitting high in the night sky. At certain times the red planet Faustus will appear like an eye in the midst of Vespasia. This is regarded by the superstitious as a sign of ill fortune.

  Vestiweg, the ~ or Vesting Way; road running from Proud Sulking, parallel with the river Humour, meeting with the eastern bastion of the Spindle before going through the Brindleshaws to a junction with the Gainway.

  Vigilus, Rivermaster ~ master and owner of the fine sixteen-gun cromster Rupunzil.

  vigorant(s) scripts concerned with reviving and healing. See scripts.

  vinegaroon(s) common term for a sailor at sea but not on a river (bargemen), whether working a ram or a cargo, and of any rank. Two things that make a vinegaroon stand out in a crowd is the clumsy, rolling walk that comes from moving around decks constantly pitching and yawing with the sea; and red, pitted and blotchy skin, especially on the face, damaged by the caustic sprays and spindrift of crashing waves and wind-whipped waters. The life of a vinegaroon is hard and they often die young; for one to live into his sixties is a remarkable feat.

  vinegar seas, vinegar waves also the acerbic seas, the lurid seas, the soda-seas or the Main; sometimes also called simply “the vinegar,” “the deeps” or even just “the sea” or “the ocean,” of course; named for the sharp, sour-wine smell of their waters, caused by the exotic salts that dissolve up from the ocean floor. Although these salts smell similar, they make the seas and oceans distinctly different colors: bright yellow, orange, red, violent blues, murky greens, white and even black. The acrid nature of the seawater is inhospitable to people. After half an hour in the water, your skin will become red-raw and sting sharply. After about three quarters of an hour, painful blisters will form and even pop. After an hour and a half in the vinegar, the salts in the water will have leeched into your body, retarding and even stopping the precise chemical reactions in your cells that keep you alive. Shock sets in, and soon after this your end will come. The creatures that make the vinegar seas their home, including the nadderers (sea-monsters), are made to live in it and thrive. Anything caught from the oceans for eating has to be soaked in brews known as dulcifiers (said “dool-sih-fy-ers”), which neutralize the poisonous salts and (apparently) improve the flavor of the meat. This process is known as “soaking,” and can take a long time to do properly. Fortunately, there are several types of fish that do this naturally within their own bodies and can be caught, cooked and eaten straightaway. Most of these, however, do not taste nice.