Lamplighter

by D M Cornish

  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:

  ♣ north = nere, said “near”; also nout, said “nowt”

  ♣ south = sere, said “seer”; also scut, said “scoot,” or sout, said “sowt”

  ♣ east = vere, said “veer”; also est

  ♣ west = here, said “heer.”

  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 practi
ce 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.

  I

  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:

  Defend the oppressed where e’er thee can,

  Defend the woman e’er ’gainst man;

  From thy own chattels another soul aid,

  Clear the writs that cannot be paid;

  Shelter the shelterless through heat or snow;

  Set wings of Dove ’gainst cunning crow.

  Live thee rightly, ready to die,

  Uphold the true, expose the lie;

  Gentle yet strong, humble yet bold,

  Guidance for young and succor for old;

  And where e’er thee walk and whither thy go,

  Set wings of the Dove ’gainst monstrous foe.


  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.

  Off go thou to a fabled land,

  To mystic Fiel and Samaarkhand,

  For prospect’s grasp at money’s hand

  and that fortune’s making;

  I wouldst go with thee,

  If thou wouldst wait for me.

  We’ll sit on plushest gala seats,

  Eat mani-plattered sweetest meats,

  A plethora of toothsome treats,

  till our stomachs’ aching;

  I will wait for thee

  If thou wouldst come with me.

  We’d charter ram to Hagen’Sere,

  Ply the mares to farthest vere,

  From Tintinabuline to Quimpermeer