by D M Cornish
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
g the symbol for guise, the lowest monetary denomination in common c
urrency 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:
♣ guillion—also called an acuse or zechnennadel—the needle dipped in cruor and then pricked into the skin;
♣ orbis—in full, orbis malleus, a disc-headed mallet with which the guillion is tapped to puncture the skin and leave a mark.
♣ sprither—the device used to extract the blood from a monster in the first place.
♣ bruicle—the container in which cruor is kept till needed and into which the guillion is dipped every twenty taps or so to refresh the blood.
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:
♣ for scouring—also known as bog- or bogle-toiling or hob-baiting: the hunting and driving out of monsters where the gudgeons are used both as the bait and the main tool of killing.There have been reports of teratologists known as reveners who cart around packs of rever-men, keeping them obedient with special potives and using them in this way.
♣ hob-rousing. See that entry.
♣ as guards for vaults and other sensitive, confined places.
♣ for intellectual pursuits, where black habilists tinker with the possibility of making a half-living thing.The ultimate goal of this is to make a tractable superhuman teratologist, a kind of logical progression from a lahzar, that will fight on no matter how injured.The goal is to send such as these into the wilds to seek out the monsters where they dwell and turn back the tide.
♣ in the search for longer life, perpetual youth; gudgeons and particularly rever-men are made by some for this purpose.
gyrovague one who wanders; a hucilluctor, a wayfarer.
H
Haacobin Empire, the ~ see Empire, the ~ and the entry in Book One.
