Lamplighter

by D M Cornish

  Lot’s Books popular diagrammatic readers written on a whole host of topics—navies, monsters, famous people, animals, weapons, etc.—and filled with helpful diagrams. Expensive, they are a favorite educational tool for children among the well-to-do.

  lour • (noun) velvet that has been treated with gauld; other gaulded cloths include linteum (lint) = cotton; duram = hemp; buff = leather; ombyx = gauze or other filmy materials; soe = silk; pellis = fur; fustian = hessian; villeny or lawn = felt. • (verb) to frown.

  Low Gutter, the ~ in the distant past of Winstermill’s history, the southern end of the huge mound upon which it was erected collapsed with loss of life, the historied rubble on which it was founded failing at last. Rather than abandon the fortress, as some advised, cooler minds prevailed to have that ruined section of what was once an enormous open ground shored up and leveled, a stable shelf several score feet lower than the main Mead. Upon this shelf it became practicable to construct servants’ quarters and mills for laboring work as the staff of Winstermill expanded beyond the simple barracks it once had been. It was during the early repairs that the name the Low Gutter was coined, for the ruined foundation would fill with the rains and spout water from many cracks and corners like a roof gutter.

  lurcher(s) • (noun) also called finegars, the vernacular for those who especially trap monsters, doing their level best to keep them alive. They are considered worse than poachers and other such slyboots, and often trap on lands otherwise declared out of their bounds, such as the private lands of a peer. • (noun) derogatory name used to refer to someone who killed a monster for which another had the Writ of the Course to slay, thus robbing that second gallant of his head-money.

  lurksman, lurksmen sometimes called pathprys, these are trackers and spies, and are often nonleers practiced in the use of a sthenicon. Given that a sthenicon is made to be used and understood by a leer, it takes a lot for nonleers to achieve such skill, and once they have mastered it they are never as good as a box-faced laggard. Still, a lurksman is far better than no sensurist at all.

  lurksman-general informal name for the General-Master-of-Palliateers and the commanding officer of the Palliateer-Major. Palliateers are those soldiers and auxiliaries concerned with sneaking and spying and tracking, including leers, lurksmen, ambuscadiers, sneaksmen and other clandestine agents.

  M

  mabrigond one of the constituents of Craumpalin’s Exstinker made from the dried and ground buds of the flower of the same name; a typical inclusion in nullodors, where its own flat smell helps obscure other scents.

  maiden-fraught any woman given to a life of combat, including calendars. In a typically patriarchal society, skolding and more recently becoming a lahzar has been an oft-used path for young women seeking relief and independence from their fathers, uncles, brothers and the usual social mores. Lahzars, particularly, occupy an unusual place in society, outside of it in an ill-defined way: respected, feared, despised and needed. And a woman as one is regarded as the acme of all things “modern”—and modernity is generally regarded as a bad thing by those of breeding. “You look very modern,” one might say with a sneer.

  Maids of Malady, the ~ clave of calendars from Burgundia. Little is known of them in the Empire, for they direct their activities more to the eastern lands, though any who have had dealings with the Soratchë will have likely heard of their allies the Maids as well. Indeed the Maids are said to be aspex (see invidists), treating sedorners most severely, going out of their way to chase down a proven outramorine. They are even more zealous than their allies in their pursuit of black habilists.

  mains last official meal of the day, usually begun at 6 P.M. Much to Rossamünd’s early discomfort, mains is later in the day than he was used to at the old marine society, and he was terribly sharp-set in the first week as a prentice-lighter at Winstermill, as his tummy emptied on habit two whole hours earlier than it would be filled again.

  Major-of-House the correct title of a house-major.

  Makepeace one of the smaller settlements in the Idlewild sponsored by Brandenbrass. The sister colony of the mining village Gathercoal, this hopefully named township is the main source of supply and support to the peltrymen of the Ullwold to the north, and pastoralists of the Swiddenlands or Swide—the narrow hilly stretch of farms to the south along the northern fells of the Sparrow Downs. It is also home to the cothouse of Makepeace Stile.

  manchin(s) thick sleeves of proofed materials, usually voluminous enough to be pulled over other sleeves, then tied to the body with straps or ribbons. They serve as extra protection for the arms, and are often lined with fleece for added warmth.

  maraude(s) theroscades on a large scale, with an abnormally large collection of monsters in one attack or many attacks across a range or, most frightening of all, both at once. For reasons not properly understood, winter has proved to be the more usual time for such things, but they are mercifully less common than might be expected. Unless they are beasts who naturally pack together, it takes a mighty showing of will to get monsters to behave in concert. Even so, history both popular and obscure is filled with the hushed tellings of these terrible days and the Empire is still recovering from the aftermath of the greatest maraudes—those civilization-ruining massings of nickers great and small.

  Maria Diem old Tutin word meaning “Meerday”—the Day of the Sea. For the other days of the week there are Newwich = Prima Diem, Loonday = Luna Diem, Midwich = Media Diem, Domesday = Festus Deis, Calumnday = Caelum Dies, and Solemnday = Gravis Deim.

  mark • (noun) monster-blood tattoo; • (verb) to apply a monster-blood tattoo.

  marshal-lighter alternative rendering of Lamplighter-Marshal.

  massacar(s) common name for a black habilist, especially those loathsome dabblers who make rever-men and other gudgeons. See habilists in Book One.

  Master Come-lately a mildly derogatory name for Rossamünd, given to him first by Lamplighter-Sergeant Grindrod and quickly adopted by the other prentices.

  Master-of-Clerks, the ~ also known as the clerk-master, the rank of Podious Whympre, the youngest son of a youngest son of a line of glossagraphs (foreign clerks) from Brandenbrass. There is money in the family, but Podious is not likely to inherit. The parsimonious fellow is an ambitious and shrewd administrator who loves a complete and thorough system of paperwork. His substantive (actual) rank is the highest non-commissioned clerk in a military establishment; his brevet (temporary) rank as Comptroller-Master-General puts him equal with the second highest ranks in Winstermill, though its position as the leader of all bureaucracy makes him the second-in-command. His appointment to this powerful position, after the original Comptroller-Master-General took sudden leave of his senses and the manse, was due to the influence of the Imperial Secretary stationed in High Vesting. An old friend of the family’s scrupulus sicus has taken to patronizing Whympre, exerting influence at the political end in the clerk-master’s favor. Ultimately taking his orders from Imperial bureaucrats, the Lamplighter-Marshal, whatever his personal take, has had to promote as directed. It is very frustrating for a military leader to have his affairs meddled with from afar.

  mathematician(s) bitter rivals of the concometrists (see entry in Book One), trained at an institution known as an abacus, and more interested in the beauty and function of pure numbers and systems than the functions of society. Trainees of an abacus are prized for their sharp minds, rapid calculations and other skills of genius and mental aptitude. Indexers, for example, are those who can organize figures and information in their heads without writing anything down, then remember it all and retrieve some point of fact for you at will, like thumbing through a file. Probably the most famous kinds of mathematician are the Imperial Computers, striving up in Clementine, figuring probabilities and sums that might affect the Empire.

  Maudlin said “Moord-lin”; a planet, and one of the brightest lights in the night sky, having a distinct greenish tinge. See entry in Book One.

  mercer public messengers and p
arcel deliverers with a distinctive red-and-yellow-checked mottle. Usually employed within the confines of Imperial bureaucracies, they are sometimes sent to roam the lands taking notes, letters, invitations, packages and advertisements from someone to another and back.

  middens meal between breakfast and mains, around the middle of the day; lunch.

  milt the depth of one’s self; the core of one’s soul and convictions, deeper even than the heart.

  Mirthlbrook, the ~ sometimes spelled Myrthlbrook; also known as the Mirthbyr or Mirthlstream or just the Mirthle, the fast-running stream that runs the length of the main valley that is the western Idlewild (otherwise known as the Placidine). The origin of its name is unclear; some say it is because of the many kinds of myrtle crowding along great lengths of its bank; yet others hold that it is because of the merry sound of its waters bubbling along its stony bed.

  monster(s) the nonhuman denizens of the Half-Continent. See entry in Book One.

  monster-blood tattoo cruorpunxis; see entry in Book One.

  monster-making province of the massacars—or monster-makers—its practitioners are either called cadaverists (working in fabercadavery—making monsters from parts) or theropeusists or theropusists (working in theropeusia—making monsters by growing them). See habilists in Book One.

  mordant(s) scripts that work by corrosion, otherwise known as distinct acids.

  moss-light also known as a limnulin or limulight, this is a small, pocketable device, a simple biologue consisting of a small, lidded box holding a clump of naturally phosphorescent mosslike lichens (either funkelmoos or micareen), set on a thick bed of nutrient to keep it alive. This nutrient bed can be reinvigorated with drops of liquid similar to seltzer. The light provided by a limnulin is not bright, but can give you enough to see your way right on a dark, dark night, and is diffuse enough to not attract immediate attention. The color of the light varies widely: white, yellowish, green, blue and reddish illumination.The light produced has a distinctive natural glow and discrete focus that keeps it from being seen by unwanted eyes at oblique angles.

  munkler(s) also known as holzkreggers or nimsmen, being the fellows whose dangerous task it is to go into the deep wild woodlands, seek out, cut down and carry away as much almugwood, black elder and other are growths (see sectithere) as they can find. These woods are found mostly in the dark forests of Wörms and the central Gottskylds (as well as the uninhabitable spaces between Wencleslaus and Ing), and the name comes from the Gott word for “whisper.” It is given to them because of the silence and care with which they must proceed into the remote places and the relative quiet they must employ when taking down a tree. This is done using a great array of tackle and ropes strung from surrounding trees, which prevent the felled logs from crashing noisily. Munklers are therefore skilled climbers and knot-tiers. Animals are never taken on these expeditions, and the munklers carry out only what they themselves can bear. This is not much as woodcutting might go, but such a high price can be got for their precious cargo that four or five back-loads is enough to set a man up for more than a year’s living. Consequently, munklers make their dangerous forays only once or twice a year. One of the characteristic practices of munklers is to always cover themselves in nullodors so as to attract as little monstrous attention as possible as they extract the rare timber.

  muttony-greasy rich stew of lamb-gristle and goat meat, cooked all day to make it digestible, its sauce rich and salty, the best aromatic with a myriad of herbs.

  N

  Naught Swathe also known as the Blank Swathe or the Dodderbanks, a region of the eastern bank of the Humour, near its mouth, and the lands farther east, inland to the Tumblesloe Heap. Home to several villages, the most prominent being Red Scarfe and Sodbury Wicket. Rossamünd actually made his way through the southern end of the Dodder Swathe during his flight from the Spindle to High Vesting.

  neuroticrith technical or proper name for a wit.

  new-carved used to describe a lahzar who has only recently been operated upon to become one.

  nicker(s) generally any monster. See entry in Book One.

  night-clerk an uhrsprechman.

  nihillis one of the parts that make up Craumpalin’s Exstinker, being a distillation of the odor-absorbing chalks dug from the mines of the Orpramine and Euclasia on the Verid Litus. The best chalks come from the pits at Caulk Sinter, Ferdigundis Rex and Calcedonys. It is a common ingredient in nullodors.

  nullodor(s) any potive that changes or hides an existing smell. See entry in Book One.

  Numps, Numption Orphias highly talented, semiretired seltzerman kept in service at Winstermill by the goodwill of the current Lamplighter-Marshal. Disowned by his family after the terrible incident of three years ago.

  Nuptarium, the ~ also known as the Collocation; lines down in the Low Gutter where married pediteers and lampsmen live with their wives and even children—though fortress life is not considered best for little’uns. Married men with rank are still expected to spend two or more nights sleeping in the bachelors’ lines each week.

  nutrified wine usually claret that, along with pear or apple pulp, is mixed with concentrates of oranges, lemons and limes and other decoctions of healthful herbs to provide a method of keeping folks healthy by duping them with alcohol.

  O

  obsequy what we would call a funeral, also known as a funery or inurment. These rites typically include a declaration of the person’s merit and then some traditional farewell given by the mourners. In the Haacobin Empire it is most commonly thought that when people die they simply stop: a life begins, a life ends. In the cultures about them and their own past there have been various beliefs about afterlife and some all-creating elemental personage, but such notions are considered oppressive and outmoded. They would rather leave these ideas to the eekers, pistins (believers in a god) and other odd fringe-dwellers.

  obstacular(s) often billeted alongside the lighters might be a small garrison of suicidally zealous obstaculars: thief takers and excise-men who make oaths with their own blood to ferret out all lurching, smuggling, banditry and dark trades in their range.

  Ol’ Barny the Old Barn Owl, the affectionate epithet given to the Parracallid, also known as Sagax Glauxës or Saxo Glauxës, the Sagacious Owl of the Haacobins, the sigil of the Empire, which common pediteers of old held to look like a barn owl.

  Old Gate pensioner, stiff as an ~ Old Gate in Brandenbrass is a hospital for aged pensioned pediteers to spend what years are left to them in a quasi-military environment, still performing evolutions, though not as easily as they once did—hence the expression.

  Old Lacey the name the lighters of the Paucitine have given to the fleermare— more properly called the Lacrimaria—that comes in from the Swash. They use this name both as a corruption of its proper designation and because commonly as it is falling or lifting it looks like a web or “lace” of foggy tendrils.

  ossatomist sometimes also called a bone-setter; the proper name for a person whose job is indeed to reset broken bones, a practice known as ossatomy. Because proofing is so effective in stopping lacerations, the more common wounds are bruises and breaks, as the body beneath the gaulding absorbs blows. There are no colleges or insitutions that train ossatomists; they rather pass their trade on through prenticing, and yet are still considered higher in value than surgeons. Ossatomists also perform dentury, that is, many of the functions we might recognize as the work of a dentist.

  outramorine one accused or taken by outramour, a monster-lover.

  outramour high regard for or love of monsters; the crime of which sedorners are guilty.Technically this is known as theiragapia (and its perpetrators as theragapins), and is also called sedonition (of course), and sometimes bewilderment (the state of being dazzled by—and therefore sympathetic to—the wilds).

  Owlgrave, the ~ a thick wood at the eastern end of the Ullwold, in which can be found many boneyards—threwdish places where monsters of the region will take their prey and where they go to die whe
n the weight of the everlasting war with the everymen weighs too heavy or wounds too deeply. Most animals eschew such places and they are characterized by the absence of birdsong—but for the hoots of owls and other scavenging birds who dare to go there at night for the promise of a feast of moldering monster-meat.

  ox dray large, long, heavy, flat wagon with 4, 6 or even 8 wheels for the carting of big loads and pulled by teams of 6, 8 or even 10 oxen. When there is a paucity of these beasts, great trains of 20 or more mules are used instead to achieve the same hauling strength. In tamer places, dobbins—great draft horses as strong as any ox—are employed.

  P

  pagrinine also known as a filzhüt, the soft squarish cap of proofed felt (lawn) worn by troubardiers.

  palisade cloth and wire cap favored by women of the southern Patricine and Frestonia.

  Palliateer-Major in charge of small groups of leers, lurksmen, sneaksmen and other erapteteers (those who creep), with captains to aid in their command. Palliateers tend to be divided into ambuscadiers (sneaking, ambushing soldiers) and erapteteers (sniffing, ferreting spies and trackers).

  palliatrix one who is trained to lie and deceive without giving any hint of mendacity, gaining mastery over reflexive gestures and nuances of expression—any small tic or twitch or stutter of the eye or voice that could give away a falsehood. Not a very common class of person and typically used only by less-than-savory employers.

  pallmain(s) heavy, oiled coat used to keep the wearer dry rather than for warmth. Typically they are proofed, which adds to their water-resistant qualities as well as their protective ones; among the few items of proofing vinegaroons will wear in service.