Lamplighter

by D M Cornish

  Pandomë one of the calendars of the Right of the Pacific Dove, a pistoleer (or spendonette as she would be called by her “sisters”) of great skill and fiercely devoted to Dolours, even over her loyalty to the Lady Vey. Her name, given her when she joined the Right, means “of the people, of the house,” essentially “woman of the people.”

  Pannette a purrichinn—or calendine sagaar of the Right of the Pacific Dove, young and fairly newly joined to the Right, being with them not even a year. It is said she was banished from her clave back in Grawthewse for undisclosed “irregularities” of conduct, though word has filtered through from visiting caladines of other claves that it involved a series of assignations with a married peer.The august of the Right has not pressed her for clarity, but rather has welcomed the increase to their numbers regardless of any reservations.

  parenthis waiting room in a coach-host or any other establishment requiring such a place. They are so called because of the Parenthine in Clementine, the great waiting hall where honored and lofty folk tarry before a meeting with the Emperor.

  park-drag very large carriage that can carry up to eight passengers, needing at least a team of six to pull it; it is more common in cities than the country.

  parti-hued multi-colored; mottled with bright hues.

  Paucitine, the ~ eastern half or theme of the Idlewild, from the Wight to Haltmire, gaining its name from the poorness of farming and the harshness of life in general in that region, so much of which is taken up by the Frugelle.

  pediteer any kind of foot soldier. See entry in Book One.

  peltrymen trappers and fur traders living rough lives; tough and resourceful, these fellows know well how to avoid monstrous encounters and some even dare to trap the same and sell them to agents in the dark trades, doing so to supplement their meager earnings.

  pen(s) also imagineer or (derogatory) fabulist; what we might think of as an illustrator or commercial artist. Somewhat confusingly, the term is also used for freelance writers.

  peoneer(s) military laborers with particular skills in constructing fortifications from surrounding materials and sapping, that is, digging trenches near enemy positions and undermining walls.

  pernicious threwd the worst kind of threwd, said to drive people mad with fear. It is the kind of threwd that is said to grip the inland places of the Half-Continent: the Grassmeer and the Witherlends. Some of the more crafty monsters are actually able to amplify the effect of the threwd to terrify an individual. The most mighty of the monsters are said to be able to awe whole armies with such amplification.

  Pettiwiggin, the ~ meaning “little worm,” the more common name for the Harrowmath Pike. Part of the Wormway, running from Winstermill in the west to Wellnigh House in the east.

  phrantry specifically the collective membership or sisterhood of a clave of calendars.

  physician(s) highly respected, these are the main practitioners of physics in the Half-Continent. See entry in Book One.

  physics what we would call medicine. See Book One.

  Pile, Laudibus a native of Brandenbrass and telltale to the Master-of-Clerks. From a middle-class family brought to near ruin by the cheating and falsehood of a viciously unscrupulous peer, Laudibus decided by his tenth birthday that when he was old enough he would become a falseman and bring that same peer undone. This he did, rescuing his family though corrupting himself in the process and earning a short stint in gaol. Thinking his prospects ruined, Pile yet managed to work his way into a minor Imperial clerical position—such is the demand for falsemen. There he was “discovered” by one PodiousWhympre—then a senior tally-clerk in the Imperial Usury Bureau—who took him under his wing, anticipating a general upward movement in his own propects and knowing full well how handy your own falseman can be.When the promotion and shift to Winstermill arrived for his new master, Pile happily followed in Whympre’s wake.

  Pill eminent illustrator of broadsheets and other periodicals known for the firm, confident quality of his lines and the precise detail he can achieve in a relatively short time.

  Pillow, Giddian native of Doggenbrass, Pillow is a younger son of small-time middle-class merchants who was taken out of school and sent to the lighters when his parents inherited an old family debt. This had them put in the sponging house and all the children set to work until the debt was paid.Though Pillow does go on vigil-day trips to Silvernook, he does not spend much there but sends most of his pay back home. He would much rather continue in his father’s line of work than live a life of danger on the road.

  piquet a small collection of ambuscadiers, lurksmen, leers and other sharp-eyed individuals sent to scout or spy and return with their report unnoticed.

  pirouette card game where the highest hand makes the lowest hand dance a particular dance as dictated by the cards of the winner. It is a complex game where knowledge of all the many ranks and meanings of cards is essential if you do not want to find yourself hopping and bop-ping embarrassingly all night. Each combination of cards or “route” has a name: “the Kindly Ladies” are any combination of queens and duchesses; the four of brutes is “the dancing (or hopping) aurang” and so on. Knowing all these names and their combinations is held as proof of your skill with the game.

  pistoleer teratologist who performs services with pistols and other handheld firelocks loaded with various kinds of skold-shot. They are often skolds who make their own potives to be discharged from the barrel of a pistol, though many would be considered ledgermains with just enough habilistics to achieve the chemistry they need to make skold-shot or any other potive that can be discharged. Pistoleers prefer to use hauncets and salinumbus rather than just a simple pistola, though they might possess one to deal with more mundane threats.

  Placidine, the ~ western half of the Idlewild, so named because it is considered safer (and thus more peaceful) than the eastern half. The Placidine is regarded by most (especially those who dwell therein) as the true Idlewild, the only part that really counts or has value. See Idlewild, the.

  plaudamentum the proper name for Cathar’s Treacle, which is taken by lahzars. See Cathar’s Treacle and entry in Book One.

  “playing of strings” also known as “pulling the cords,” both meaning using influence, favors, nepotism and whatever other means at your disposal to achieve an ambition within or through a bureaucracy, political body or anywhere else really.

  pledget(s) absorbent bandages, often made from lint or pullings of cloth and used mostly to staunch flows of blood, such as might occur in a surgery.

  Plod, Punthill prentice in the same course with Rossamünd. A native of Brandenbrass and the youngest of fifteen children, Plod has joined the Imperial Lighters of the ConduitVermis to escape his poverty. He will not be missed by his overtaxed and half-soused mother.

  plush elegant finery, clothes of expensive make often finished with flourishes of lace and fur and metallic cloths and the like. Especially used of uniforms so made; what we might call livery.

  po solemn, serious or innocent-looking; also sometimes used to mean unconcerned or indifferent.

  poker unflattering name for lamplighters, so given because of the pole-pokes (see fodicar) they carry to light the lamps with.

  poleax(es) not actually an ax, but rather a nasty-looking war hammer upon a long pole. At the end of such a length of handle the head can achieve a terrible blow and as such they are the preferred tool of troubardiers wanting to hammer people to stuff inside their gaulded covers.

  po’lent shortened form of post-lentum, “po(st)-lent(um),” and a common vernacular term for carriages of that kind.

  poll person’s head, or the top or “head” of anything.

  pollcarry “on-seller” of a skold’s potives, unable to make them, but buying them from one zaumabalist (or skold) or more and reselling them for whatever price the local market will bear. They have a variable reputation, and are often the only source of potives in some remoter places.

  post-and-six or lentum-and-six, simply the name of th
e carriage and the number of horses in the team pulling it: in this case, a post-lentum and a six-horse team.

  post-lentum(s) among the carriages more commonly used to traverse the highroads and byroads of the Half-Continent, post-lentums deliver mail and taxi people (for a fare) from one post to another. They are manned by a lenterman or driver, an escort (usually armed and armored) known as a side-armsman or cock robin (if wearing a red weskit of Imperial Service) or prussian (if wearing a deep blue weskit of private employment) and one or two backsteppers—either splasher boys or post runners or amblers—sitting upon the seats at the back of the roof.When travelling dangerous stretches, another backstepper may join—a quarter-topman possessing a firelock and a keen gaze—for extra protection. This crew is collectively (and confusingly) referred to as lentermen. The delivery of post in remoter areas is irregular, the lentermen waiting for there to be enough missives and parcels to warrant the dangerous journey (usually a post-bag over half-full). If possible they also prefer to take passengers along with them, the extra income making the risk of travel worthy. Po’lent is the common term for these vehicles, an abbreviated derivation of po(st)-lent(um).

  potive(s) any combination of parts (chemicals) for a particular and definable effect. See entry in Book One.

  prentice(s), prentice-lighter(s) “prentice” is the name given to any (typically young) person taken on to learn a skill-set, in the case of this book, those training to be lamplighters. A prentice-lighter’s duties will include workings (hands-on learning), targets (shooting practice), evolutions (marching and drill), readings (very basic reading, writing and rimitry [arithmetic] lessons from books), refections (meals), impositions (minor punishments), castigations (the period after mains when punishments are read out to remind the prentices of who needs to be where for doing what. This is also the term for major punishments, including time in the pillory and flogging—very very rare) and confinations (when prentices are kept in their cells). The life of prentices is governed by strict routine, and every moment of their day is taken up with military and practical lessons in fighting and lighting the lamps. Four months (roughly thirteen weeks) is deemed long enough to turn a blunderer into a lighter, though once the prentices have been promoted to lampsman 3rd class they are typically billeted to the safer western end of the road till they have achieved the rank of lampsman 2nd class. Because there are far fewer of them, prentices are treated better than other military recruits, husbanded as a precious resource and fed well and trained intensively (though briefly) in their tasks. Given this and that they are better paid (slightly) than your usual pediteer, it is surprising more lads do not sign up for a life tending the lamps on the highroads.

  prentice-watch(es) lantern-watch conducted for prentices, where the platoon of prentices is divided into quartos and each one is sent out onto the road on set nights to learn the job in the field.The quartos are named after noteworthy military persons from history or the current regime. When Rossamünd was prenticing he and his fellows were sectioned into three quartos, or prentice quarters, named as follows: 1st Quarto = Q Protogenës (1st PQP), 2nd = Q Io Harpsicarus (2nd PQIH), 3rd = Q Hesiod Gaeta (3rd PQHG—which is Rossamünd’s quarto). Each one was sent out on this roster:

  Each quarto sets out to light the lamps in the late afternoon of the day named for that quarto, staying overnight at Wellnigh House when they are done. The next morning they wake before dawn, ready themselves and set out at sunup to “douse” the lanterns, arriving back in Winstermill to rest and ablute before rejoining their comrades for the usual day of training. These two days either side of a prentice-watch are long for those involved, hence the two or three days’ break in between for each quarto. See Appendix 8.

  prenticing training and initiating people into a trade.

  “present and level” to present your arm is to hold it out in front of you; to level is bring it up and point it in the general direction of the enemy.

  private room Winstermill has a few small chambers it dedicates to the accommodation and intimate meetings of distinguished guests, found on the second floor of the manse. These are somewhat self-contained, possessing their own jakes, small conference rooms and a wet area for ablutions. Even so, these rooms are still quite spare as city standards go—more on par with a provincial wayhouse.

  privers long sturdy tongs used to grip toxic articles, especially such things as skold-shot.

  proofener one who supplies proofing but does not manufacture it.

  proof-steel metal (usually forged iron and the like) that has been backed with buff or some other sturdy proofed material. This allows the metal to be thinner and therefore lighter while still offering superior protection. The wearing of metal proofing of any sort is regarded as flashy or showing away or old-fashioned or all of these in one, though regardless troubardiers and lesquins typically reserve the right to don - proof-steel.

  pudding(s) what we would call dessert.

  punct, puncting to mark someone with a cruorpunxis.

  punctographist(s) also called a nadeller (Gott) or marker. A person who is skilled in marking or puncting a person with a monster-blood tattoo. A punctographist’s tools are known as grailles, used for either extracting the cruor of a monster or for tattooing (puncting) a mark on a person. A punctographist typically views the head and face of the slain monster in advance of the actual puncting, and makes a design for the tattoo in a book or on some other paper from what they see or are told.

  punt-royale card game where the highest ranked cards are the least desirable.The game revolves around passing these cards off on each other till all the cards are played or a predecided number of passes (turns) have occurred. The loser, or knave, is the one with the most high cards; the winner, or free-man, is the one with none. More of a recreational game rather than one for gambling, though inveterate wagerers have found ways to win and lose money with it.

  purgation taming the land and quelling the threwd through force and violence, especially against the monsters themselves. It is the more immediate way to begin conquest of the wilds, but its effects are only short term, for monsters will always return to places they consider their home, their original/proper range of wandering. See Idlewild, the.

  Puttinger said “Putt’ing’ger”; lampsman 1st class of Winstermill, once a native of Gottland, being born in Wittzingerod; how he came to be in the Emperor’s Service is a tale he isn’t telling. He is the eldest of the three lampsmen set over the young prentices and probably the friendliest—though only just barely. Struggles to make himself understood to the lads through his thick Gott accent.

  Q

  q the symbol for sequins, the middle-value denomination in the common currency of the Soutlands. The average weekly wage for your common working fellows is 8 q, which in turn is about the average hourly rate of hire for your high-class teratologist—such as Europe, the Branden Rose. See money in Book One.

  QGU abbreviated reference to quo gratia.

  Q Hesiod Gaeta the quarto of prentice-lighters to which Rossamünd belongs. The Q stands for quarto, and Hesiod Gaeta was once lamplighter-marshal in charge of the lighters at the time that the Idlewild was founded. The names of the other prentice quartos are also taken from other noteworthy lighters of old. Io Harpsicarius was the founding marshal of Winstermill, while Protogenës is probably the most renowned, performing great feats in defense of the fledgling colonies of the Placidia Solitus.

  quabard vestlike proofing for the chest, sometimes referred to in full as “quarter-bard,” usually reaching down over the abdomen. See entry in Book One.

  quacksalver doctor or dispensurist, but particularly a bad one or one who passes himself off as a person of physics without possessing the actual qualifications or skills.

  quarto(s) the smallest designation of a group of soldiers. It goes:

  quarto = 10 men

  platoon = 30 men = 3 quartos

  company = 100 or more men = 3-4 platoons

  battalion = 300-500 men = 3-6 companies
>
  regiment (million) = 1,000-3,000 men = 3-6 battalions

  tercion (brigade) = 3,000-12,000 men = 3-4 regiments (millions)

  legion = 10,000-40,000 men = 3-4 tercions (brigades)

  division = 30,000-40,000 men = 2 or more legions

  army (marshalsy) = 60,000 or more men = 2 or more divisions

  quiet-shoes also called pattens; soft, heelless, pliable shoes with stoutly proofed soles, usually tied on to the foot with ribands wound way up the leg.Very useful for walking quietly and for activities that require nimbleness, grip and a near-silent step. Easily the most preferred shoe of calendars and sagaars and even some fulgars.

  Quinault northernmost town of the Idlewild, founded by the Sovereign State of Quimperpund with backing from the peoples of the Maund. Situated on the borders of Sulk, it is a major supplier and trafficker of foodstuffs from the Sulk to the other colonies immediately to the south.

  quo gratia shortened form of the Tutin term “quo gratia ex unicum,” “the favor of the peerless,” and often invoked in its abbreviation—QGU; it is the right of a peer to circumvent certain laws—civil or military, though the latter is a little harder—or the due process of the judicial system, or even nullify a court’s ruling, all for personal ends. Based on an ancient code known as the Wittenrood that existed before even the occupation of the Empire, QGU is preserved most in the Soutlands, where the Emperor tolerates it to keep the peers there on his side. It is not common to use this right too frequently, though a peer with enough swagger might carry off even the most outrageous affront under the cover of QGU. Most, however, are careful and sparing in its use, for its invocation can get you unwelcome attention from Clementine. Generally if you are to use it, you want to be pretty sure you can get away with it, either through corrupt practices, the justice of your cause or the power of your lobby in the Imperial Capital.