Lamplighter

by D M Cornish

  Threnody’s Alembant Schedule

  threwd at its mildest, the haunted feeling of watchfulness that can be felt in wilder, less populated places. See entry in Book One. See also pernicious threwd.

  thrice-blighted emphatic curse meaning that someone is truly wicked, useless and unwelcome.

  thrombis healing script of the siccustrumn group related to the restorative realm, and one of the better kinds of powders used to quickly clot a wound and staunch blood flow.

  thrumcop also called a bog-button and related to a larger, tasty and oddly threwdish fungus known as austerpill, thrumcops are a mushroom with a deep brown pileus spotted with swollen off-white circular patches. The essence of thrumcops can be used in rudimentary repellents, giving rise to the idea that eating them on their own will cause this essence to seep through your pores and make you less appetizing to a monster.

  tinker sometimes mistakenly called a trifler (seller of cheap cutlery and other pewter and tinware), a tinker is a mender of metal items not requiring a forge to fix. One of the wayfarers that go “huc illuc” about the lands to find work, though Winstermill employs a whole bunch of the fellows to look after their myriad of small metal-working needs.

  toscanelle any lovely rich red wine coming from the Tuscanin region; actually named after the stream that runs through that country.

  tow rough fabric made from hemp fibers or from jute—a somewhat finer kind of hessian or burlap.

  tractor(s) also called feralados or feraloderoes; handlers of animals and beasts of war whose task is to feed and clean their charges and make intractable creatures eager to do their master’s bidding.

  transmogrifer(s) surgeon who specializes in the making of lahzars. See lahzar(s) in Book One.

  troubardier(s) heavily armored pediteers trained to fight at hand strokes with a variety of hand arms, including poleaxes, fends, huge swords known as claughs and spadroons, and other exotic tools. See entry in Book One.

  trunk-road(s) roads made by the need for trade and the easy passage of goods.

  Tumblesloe Cot one of the primary duties of the lighters here is to take part in the fatigue parties that venture regularly into the Roughmarch and clear it of monster-harboring vegetation.

  Tumblesloes, the ~, Tumblesloe Heap, the ~ Known by the Plutarch Tutins of old as the Arides, for they were ancient and withered even then; the north-south running range of hills to the east of Winstermill and the Harrowmath. Their tops, constantly buffeted by strong winds and covered with only a thin soil, support no vegetation other than mean, stunted stubble.Their low places, however, are choked with dense knots of brambly plants, sloe, briar and blackberry. Among the oldest hills in the Soutlands, they are known as the “heap” for their tumbledown appearance and the great cracklike gorges that cross them, the evidence of some tectonic violence eons before.

  Tutin language spoken by the inhabitants of Clementine and the lands about. (It is based loosely—or not so, at times—on Latin, and to those troubled or offended by this, the author might dare to say: excusationes offero propter licentiam quam cum hac pulchra lingua in libello meo cepi. Habete eam artificiosam libertatem et, obsecro, mihi ignoscite).

  Tutins the ruling race of the Haacobin Empire, descendants of Dido and her people, speakers of the language of the same name; also called the Plutarchs (actually their ancient forebears); a refined people of great capacity who once, under Dido’s rule, conquered the regions now known as the Soutlands before their decline. For a time they seemed to vanish entirely from the southern parts of the Half-Continent, abandoning their allies and dependants to the ravages of their foes. It was only several hundred years later that they reappeared to rewin lands lost, a lesser people—a shadow of their mighty forebears—but still strong enough to conquer.

  twelve of the best twelve lashes of the straight-whip, or worse yet the three-o’-tail bob.

  twin keep(s) bastions or other small forts built side by side, one to support the other. Some are joined by bridges and covered galleries, others by tunnels, and still others are separate from each other. The most common use of twin keeps is to straddle a roadway, with a tollgate hung between them for duties to be collected from travelers.

  Twörp,Tremendus said “twerp”; a rather fat young man whose now-dead parents were exiles from Gothia. Found wandering and starving by a cruel cantebank man, he was fed and set to work by this fellow as a pan-handler and mute beggar (for he could not speak a word of Brandenard beyond “yes” and “thank you”). Providence stepped in when, while passing through Winstermill, the Lamplighter-Marshal saw the small abused wastrel and bought him from the suspicious cantebank. The Marshal then installed the startled child in Hand Row, the small foundlingery down in the Low Gutter, and taught him the common tongue until Twörp was old enough to begin prenticing.

  tykehound(s) • (noun) collective noun for a set of dog breeds raised to hunt and slay monsters. The collection of tykehounds includes tykehounds themselves (sometimes also called selthounds—see next point), spangled whelp-hounds, Greater Derehunds, garmirvithars and stafirhunds. Their counterparts are the slothounds, who are trained to track monsters from even the faintest trail and corner them, rather than come to grapple with them. A curregitor is the leading dog in a pack of tykehounds, what in our world might be termed an “alpha male”; it runs at the front and is first into the fight. A canignavor, from the Tutin word meaning “lazy dog” (also langsbain, a Gott word meaning “slow-leg”), is the second dog of a tykehound pack; it periodically runs back or lags behind the main chasers waiting for its everyman masters to tell it the path of the rest of the hunt. These animals are anything but lazy, as their title misnomically suggests, usually running twice or three times the distance any of its fellows covers in a course. • (noun) also selthounds, specific breed of hound, the largest of all the monster-hunting dogs: with long, heavy snouts; wide mouths and overlarge teeth for an irresistibly gripping bite; thickly gathered hide about the neck to prevent a monster throttling it; covered in thick, short, wiry black hair and with powerful hips and shoulders, large paws and great cunning. Some of the most famous dogs of matter—such as Garngagarr—are of this breed.

  U

  uhrsprechman (Gott, literally “clock-speaking-man”) also called a night-clerk, found only in cothouses and other military outposts. Their main task is to complete any paperwork not finished by the day-clerks, sort mail as required and read the clock and tell the time for the unlettered soldiers about them—of which there are many.

  umbergog ettin-like nicker, but possessing an oversized head in deformed simulacrum of an animal’s poll. If it were possible, umbergogs are even more dim-witted than their more manikinlike (personlike) cousins, the ettins, more bestial—as their heads might imply. Typically they are a little smaller than ettins, but this does not mean that there are not examples of umbergogs of numbingly enormous size; rivaled only by the singular, portentous appearances of the mighty, mindless false-gods lumbering across the doomed land.

  under-clerk assistant to a clerk, a kind of corporal-clerk, put upon to do the most menial of clerical tasks, the dullest and most repetitive duties, the ones sent to the less friendly places to act as bureaucrat and - paper-shuffler.

  under-sergeant military rank used by landed armies but not navies, and the next in rank under a sergeant and above a pediteer or other 1st class of any type. The equivalent of corporal.

  Under-Sergeant-of-Prentices Benedict see Benedict, Under-Sergeant-of-Prentices.

  ungerhaur one of many Gott names for monsters.

  üntermen Gott word for monsters, roughly translating to “undermen,” meaning that monsters are less than men. As a name for monsters it has gained some currency all over the Half-Continent.

  V

  venificant(s) poison-scripts, also sometimes known as pestilents—these are particularly the more corrupting and wasting potives. Either way they are all very nasty.

  Vey, the Lady ~ official title of Syntychë, the august of the columbines of
Herbroulesse. Born to the role and following her mother through five generations of augusts, five generations of the Lady Vey. Her title comes from a local corruption of the word “fey,” thought to mean that she “convenes with monsters,” yet it actually comes from Feye, a tiny Soutland state that was absorbed by another larger state almost two centuries ago. Fleeing the subtle conquest, the Lady Vey’s ancestors made their way up to the Idlewild to seclude themselves in a small sequestury there, and, by ambition, rose to rule it and expand its work. Syntychë is profoundly aware of her proud heritage, of the aggressive nature of her family’s historied grasp on the control of the Right of the Pacific Dove and the dubious honor it is to be a calendar. Her zeal for her calendars and her heritage is almost consuming.

  Vey, Threnody See Threnody of Herbroulesse.

  vialimn meaning “path-light,” the “correct” name for a great-lamp.

  vigil-day what we would call a holiday.

  Volitus dispensurist of Winstermill, originally simply a confectioner from High Vesting, he has managed to gain status as a true dispenser, though the quality of his work is not always guaranteed. It is fortunate for the others of the manse that his assistant has a better grasp of habilistics.

  W

  wandlimb type of ash tree with a narrow trunk whose gracefully long, straight branches are a favorite for withies, cudgels and the basis for fulgaris.

  watch(es) among the lamplighters there are three main watches that do not revolve so much about four-hour intervals as in the navy, but rather on duties and whether it is day or night. During the day there is the house-watch, whose task it is to maintain the day-to-day running of their posting; the day-watch, who keep lookout during the sunny hours and rove out beyond their posting to accomplish the various tasks the day requires. At night while these two watches sleep it is time for the lantern-or lamp-watch to shine (ha! Get it?).Their duty starts with traveling from their place of day-rest, lighting lamps along the way to the next cothouse or other fortress, where they stay up all night to keep guard.

  wayfood(s) other favorites among hucilluctors are twice-pickled gherkins and evercap, a dainty mushroom that preserves well when dried and can last for many years still edible, though these too are preferred pickled—either with pepper or honey. See entry in Book One.

  Wayward Chair, the ~ a hostelry of barely a dozen rooms found in the more down-at-heel suburb of Marlabone in the city of Compostor; run by a Mr. and Mrs. Phile, and not particularly well known for its appointments or refinements.Why Europe chooses to stay there is a bit of a mystery, for she usually prefers the finer establishments if she can have them, and there is certainly more than one of those in that city.

  Wellnigh House the small twin-keep cothouse most immediately east of Winstermill, gaining its name because it is well-nigh to both Winstermill and the Tumblesloe Heap. It was once the tollhouse for those coming through or entering the Roughmarch, the toll helping to pay to keep the marche clear of the thick briars and thorns that ever seek to choke the path.

  Wheede, Crofton a somewhat clumsy and ineffectual boy of average build and average intelligence, and one of the other prentices at Winstermill. He is actually a native of the Idlewild itself, from a line of cobblers in Hinkerseigh. His mother was slain in a theroscade during a summertime Domesday stroll, his father killed by grief and the viscid humours (a terrible contagious disease said to be spread by nickers). Young Wheede has been shipped off by surviving uncles and aunts to serve with the lighters.

  “When falsemen disagree . . .” comes from an aphorism, “When falsemen disagree, to whom then can the truth be known?”

  Whympre, Podious pronounced “Po’dee’us Wim’per”; see Master-of-Clerks.

  Wight, the ~ also known as Wightbury: Imperial designation of the Imperial fortress-city of Wightfastseigh, built to collect tolls on goods coming down from Sulk and eastern Catalain and the Undermeer states. It is a center of military might in the midst of the Idlewild and the pivot between two themes of the Placidine and the Paucitine, with each settlement of the Idlewild providing contingents of pediteers and even swaggerers to its guard. Yet despite its size and impressive fortifications, it has no direct jurisdiction over the Wormway or in political affairs in the Idlewild (though citizens of influence might have their say). Indeed the cothouses in the Wight are no larger than those along the lonely road; this city is all about taxation revenue and the protection of its collection and the trade route that most supplies it. The citizens of the Wight themselves are generally very concerned with the latest fashions, importing all the new fads and baubles they can from down south—where all the best people dwell.

  Wightfastseigh see the Wight.

  wine-of-Sellry see Sellry, wine-of-~.

  Winstermill great Imperial fortress of Sulk End and home to the lamplighters of the Wormway. Winstreslewe, the ancient, abandoned Tutin fortress upon whose foundations it was built, was itself constructed about and upon an even more ancient great hall and motte. This great hall was once a seat of power for the Burgundian kings before they were pushed aside by the greater might of the Tutins of old.Winstermill is the first port of call for anyone wishing to enter the Idlewild. It is the administrative center, whence are issued all Imperial writs and certificates that allow easier passage through the varied bureaucracies of the colonies along the Wormway. See Appendix 5 and entry in Book One.

  Winstermill, serving staff of ~ an astounding collection of people somehow find their home in the fortress: metalsmiths, wheelwrights, coopers, gaulders, cobblers, tailors, house-tinkers, glaziers, armorers, ostlers, farriers, feuterers, storemen, stewards, cooks, menservants, parlor maids, bower maids, scullery maids, fullers, porters, lighter’s boys, pageboys and general hands.

  wit(s) lahzars who are able to send out pulses of invisible “static” to afflict people’s minds. It is well known that wits lose their hair as they continue to use their potency, and a calvine or calvous wit is a wit completely without hair.There are those wits known as mesmerists, who are skilled in and prefer subtle and gentle techniques of frission, coercing and quietly manipulating their targets without giving themselves away, rather than blasting them with great feats of striving. To be a mesmerist takes great skill, but overspecializing makes one less able to put forth powerful yet well-controlled frission in singularly destructive striving. The opposite of mesmerists are striveners, who practice mighty yet tightly controlled assaults of frission, the perfecters of the nex aspectus—the killing look or “eye of death.” In a similar way coruscists are fulgars who do not thermistor, who do not wish to take the risk of blasting themselves apart if they botch the summoning of lightning. See entry in Book One.

  Witherscrawl trained as a mathematician, he is the indexer and stooge of the Master-of-Clerks. See Witherscrawl, Mister in Book One.

  withy-wall(s) usually naturally occurring barriers of sapling stems (withies).

  works-general properly called the General-Master-of-Labors, the highest ranked peoneer in Winstermill. His charge includes all of the maintenance and works about the fortress and on the road too; he also has charge over the seltzermen as well as the more common laborers. This is part of the reason why lighters do not truly consider seltzermen to be their equals—they belong to another corps.

  Wormstool very last cothouse on the eastern end of the ConduitVermis (from which it gets its name) with only the fortress of Haltmire between it and the untamed wilds. Built simultaneously with Haltmire, at the time when the Wormway was being forged through the Ichormeer, Wormstool is an octagonal tower rather than the usual fortress-house. It shares this trait with Dovecote Bolt and is reached by narrow steps wrapping about three of the structure’s sides. On every level, the windows are shuttered loopholes through which defenders can fire down upon attackers.There is provision for cannon on the third level and on the roof, yet pieces have never been supplied and Wormstool remains without great-guns, despite the presence of umbergogs and other belugigs on the Frugelle.

  Wormway, the
~ vernacular name for the Conduit Vermis (see both entries in Book One); also called the Harrowmath Pike. The Wormway is divided into named lengths:

  ♣ Pettiwiggin—from Winstermill to Wellnigh House

  ♣ Roughmarch Road—from Wellnigh House to Dovecote Bolt

  ♣ Mirthway or Mirthle Road—from Dovecote Bolt to Makepeace

  ♣ Half-wiggin Pike—from Makepeace to the Wight

  ♣ Pendant Wig—from the Wight to Bleak Lynche

  ♣ The Frugal Way—from Bleak Lynche to Haltmire and through to the Ichormeer.

  Wrangle poor boy of obscure origins who goes by this name and this name alone—of too destitute a beginning, it seems, to have more than a first name. A fairly slow-witted but physically adept lad, he is the perfect candidate for a soldier—or lighter.

  wrench-of-arms what we would call arm wrestling.

  X

  Blood and sutures! No entry for x!

  Y

  yesternight last night, the counterpart of yesterday.

  Z

  Pullets and cockerels! Still no entry for z! How is this possible?