Foundling

by Cornish, D. M.

  generalities geography, general knowledge and common sense.

  Germanicus, Mister ~ agent of Winstermill Manse, who is waiting for Rossamünd in High Vesting to take the boy on to his new masters. Mister Germanicus is a patient man, but even he has his limits.

  Gibbon boatswain’s mate and bargeman aboard the cromster Hogshead; his big hope is to one day own his own vessel and press his crew to do his dastardly doings.

  Gightland Queen, the ~ common name given to the Queen of Catalain, because much of that realm’s lands are taken over by the swamp known as the Gight. She is the only “king” or “queen” allowed within the political structure of the Empire. No one remembers how this liberty was secured, and the records of it are kept utterly secret, yet every Emperor or Empress has allowed the title to remain while the best a regent of any other state can hope for is grand duke or archduke or duchess. It is boasted that traditions maintained in the Gightland Queen’s courts are a faithful continuation of the ancient rites of the Attics, the long-gone ancestors of the Empire.

  glamgorn or glammergorn; one of the smaller kinds of monster, a true bogle; they come in all manner of shapes, pigmentation, hairiness; big eyes, little eyes; big ears, little ears; big body, little limbs; little body, big limbs; and all the variations in between. Often feisty and jittery, certain kinds can get downright nasty, the worst of them being known as blightlings. One of the bizarre idiosyncrasies of glamgorns is that they like to wear clothes, everyman clothes pinched from washing lines and unguarded trunks. There are rumors that, dressed like this, glamgorns—and worse yet blightlings—have been able to sneak into the cities of everymen to spy and cause mischief.

  Gluepot, the ~ another name for the Ichormeer, an enormous swamp and fen on the western borders of Wörms, through which the Conduit Vermis runs—a very dangerous and threwdish place.

  Gosling (Gosling Corvinius Arbour) foundling at Madam Opera’s Estimable Marine Society for Foundling Boys and Girls. Being born of nobility, he truly thinks he is better than the common “plugs” he is forced to bunk with at the foundlingery. He is just biding his time until he is allowed to leave—not long now—and then he will show us all just how superior he is. Then we will all be sorry we ever thought we were even worthy of breathing the same air as he.

  great-guns another name for cannon, especially those firing twenty-four-pound shot and heavier. See cannon.

  green-fire name for the electrical sparks and arcs made by a fulgar.

  Gretel bower maid at the Harefoot Dig, born in Boschenberg but now one of the live-in staff at the Dig. She is cheerful and chatty and has a “thing” for Doctor Verhooverhoven.

  Grinnlings, the ~ name Rossamünd gives to the nimbleschrewds because of their broad, apparently wickedly grinning mouths. See nimbleschrewds.

  Grintwoode, the ~ Hergott name for the Brindlewood.

  Grume, the ~ said “groom”; the bay of milky olive water on which High Vesting and Brandenbrass have their ports and harbors.

  grummet least-skilled and lowest-ranked ship’s boy aboard a vessel; an offensive term when used against anyone of higher rank or standing. Because of their special instruction, children from a marine society are automatically of a higher rank than these when they arrive to serve on a vessel. To use this term of them is very insulting.

  gudgeon said “gudd-je-onn” or “gud-jin,” also made-monsters; any monster that has been made by men, by necrologists, black habilists and taxidermists out of parts of real monsters, people, inanimate objects and animals. Usually the most vicious of any creature. Rever-men are a type of gudgeon, as are bolbogis like the Slothog; it is also argued that lahzars are gudgeons too.

  guildhalls headquarters of the local arm of a guild. Guilds are composed of tradesmen of a particular trade who once, many centuries ago, got together to make sure that the quality of their work was uniformly high, and that prices were always fair. They have grown to have significant monopolies, wrestling with mercantile corporations over markets, with peers over self-governance and even with the Emperor over the running of the Empire. At their worst they fix prices, hold suppliers to ransom and in some cities force nonmembers out of their trade. At the same time they do well at protecting their own from exploitation.

  guise said “geez” or “gees”; coin of smallest value of the Soutlands, made of bronze.Worth one three hundred and twentieth of a sou or one twentieth of a sequin or one four hundred and eightieth of an oscadril. It is represented by the letter g. See money.

  Gull friend and gormless stooge of Weems; foundling at Madam Opera’s Estimable Marine Society for Foundling Boys and Girls.

  gun-broad, guns-broad a description of the number of cannon down just one broadside of a vessel of war.

  gun-drudge drudge fitted with a small battery of cannon. See drudge.

  guns the measure of a vessel’s strength in cannon; the entire battery of cannon carried by a vessel.

  H

  Haacobin, Haacobin Dynasty said “har-koh-bin”; the current family and court ruling the Empire. They overthrew the old Sceptic Emperor immediately after the Battle of the Gates and have ruled ever since.

  Haacobin Empire another name for the Empire in which Rossamünd is a citizen; so named for the current ruling dynasty, the Haacobins, who seized power in Clementine two centuries ago. Before them was the Sceptic (said “septic”) Dynasty, which held power for half a millennium.

  habilist(s) “clever people”; what the citizens of the Half-Continent think of as a “scientists,” who study and are involved in one, some or all of the pursuits of habilistics. Includes dispensurists, skolds, scourges, physicians, surgeons, viscautorists (“gut-growers,” those who grow organs such as are required in sthenicons and gastrines, a process known as viscautory), even taxidermists. The darker students of habilistics are the black habilists or morbidists: the necrologists (those who raise corpses to life); the cadavarists (those who make monsters from parts, an illegal discipline called fabercadavery); the therospeusists (who grow monsters from living matter, an illegal art known as therospeusia, said “ther-rosspew-zee-ah”); or the transmogrifers (surgeons who operate on people to make lahzars, a process known as transmogrification or clysmosurgia). Though these dark philosophies are illegal throughout the Empire, they are welcomed in other realms, such as Wörms or Sinster (yet their secret work continues unabated). Habilists are sometimes derogatively called cankourmen, for all their dabbling about with chemicals, and this term is often used to especially mean a black habilist.

  habilistics or natural philosophy; “science” as the people of the Half-Continent understand it, involving the studies of how things work and perhaps even why they work. Mostly it involves lots of reading of ancient or even secret texts, dissections of corpses of men and monsters, making lots of potions (scripts), watching the stars wheel about the heavens and searching for the most powerful chemical in the cosmos. Each domain of study is called a philosophy.

  hair-tine ornamented “needle” of wood or cane used to hold hair in place; often lacquered and richly decorated at one end.

  Half-Continent, the ~ also called the Haufarium, Sundergird or Westelünd; broad oversized peninsula where, in one small part, this story takes place.

  hanger or sometimes sea-hanger; slightly curved military sword with the narrow yet heavy blade favored by the navies of the Half-Continent; not to be confused with the infantry hanger, which is more typically called a jacksword and has a straight blade.

  Harefoot Dig, the ~ “rabbit-footed” (as in “fast-footed”) girl; wayhouses such as this are typically given names taken from a locally famous event or person or object.

  harness also called barding; another term for a set of proofed garments. The most basic is a proofed weskit and jackcoat or frock coat or platoon-coat, and as a set is called half-harness. After that comes threegauld or trebant, comprising a more solid, close-fitting garment called a haubardine which reaches the top of the thighs, from which hangs tassets or plates of proof-steel that co
ver the upper leg, over which is worn a well-proofed jackcoat or frock coat. The most complete harness is known as true or full harness or troubarding, and usually incorporates a haubardine with tassets and metal chest and even arm armor as well. Anything less than half-harness is known as dog-, jack-, or parlor-harness, a make-do of bits and strips of gaulded cloths, and is considered as useless as not wearing any proofing at all. See proofing and gauld.

  Harold (Haroldus, the Great Skold ~) actually a scourge, he is lauded as the hero of the Battle of the Gates, even though he died in that fight and was on the losing side. In the unsettled times that followed the battle, the new Emperor needed a hero to focus attention on positive things, and the greatest advantage that Harold presented was that he was not alive to argue or disappoint. Ah, such is propaganda. See the Battle of the Gates.

  harundo a form of bastinado (or bastinade art) or fustigating, that is, stick-fighting or cudgel-play. There are other types of bastinado, including a wild version called gyre and a graceful form from Tuscanin called fustigio. Harundo is popular because of its elementary yet effective moves. It is capable of taking on most other forms but lacks their distinctive or flamboyant strikes.

  haubardier(s) said “haw-bard-ear”; foot soldier or pediteer wearing threegauld harness of a haubardine with platoon-coat and tassets. On their heads they wear their telltale miter, a tall tapering hat with a flat crown. Their main weapons are the musket with bayonet and a jacksword. Designated heavy infantry. See pediteer and harness and Appendix 2.

  haunted frequented by monsters, home to nameless fears; infected with threwd.

  Heddlebulk, Master of Ropes ~ master and teacher at Madam Opera’s Estimable Marine Society for Foundling Boys and Girls. As his title suggests, his main responsibility is to teach the knots, splices and rope-work required of little vinegaroons ready for service to their regent. He is an old bargeman who used to work the Humour aboard cromsters and monitors and on the piers.

  Hergoatenbosch said “herr-goh-ten-bosh”; the vast protectorate lands of grain fields and pastures stretching west from the shores of the Humour and Boschenberg, and under the control of that city.

  Hergott(s) race of people who live in Boschenberg and Hergoatenbosch. It is also another name for Bosch, the language they speak; though, as true children of the Empire, they more commonly use Brandenard, the language of trade throughout the Soutlands.

  Hermenèguild canal-side suburb of Boschenberg, crowded with merchants and their shops.

  Hero of Clunes famous actress and singer who comes from Clunes, and whose reputation for beauty of face and voice are well deserved.

  High Vesting originally a harbor guarded by a fortress with a score of eekers as neighbors. In the 150 years since its founding it has grown into a city of one hundred thousand souls. It was sited and built by Brandenbrass as a harbor exclusively for an expanding navy. After the Battle of the Mole the rams were moved closer to home, while many Boschenbergers began to settle behind its walls, using it as a welcome port of trade free from the strictures of the Axles. A power shift inside the city gave the more numerous Boschenbergers control of the city and immediately placed it under the protection of their old home. The Dukes of Boschenberg were only too happy to oblige. Though perfectly legal, this understandably infuriated the regent of Brandenbrass and his subjects, who built the Spindle in retaliation.

  highroads also called conductors; major ways of traffic between cities. Imperial Highroads, or conduits, are those sponsored and maintained by the Empire, while ordinary highroads are tended by the states they travel through. Any one highroad will be in various states of repair along its path: anything from paved to bare earth that becomes a quagmire in the wet. The farther a highroad travels from civilization, the worse its condition becomes. Some, like the Felicitine Way connecting Clementine with the Soutlands, almost disappear. The Felicitine Way becomes little more than a rutted footpath as it goes through the Grassmeer before emerging again in friendlier lands. See conduits and conductors.

  HIR stands for “Horno Imperia Regnum” (this year of Imperial Sovereignty) and is a designation of years of the current age reckoned from around the time of the Empire’s first establishment.

  Hogshead, the ~ slow, run-down cromster of six guns-broad. See Appendix 7.

  hogshead large barrel holding about fifty-four gallons. A normal barrel holds about thirty-six gallons.

  Humour, the River ~ ancient waterway draining out of the swamps of the Gight in Catalain and running south to empty into the Grume. It is the main line of communication for great cities such as Catalain, Andover, Boschenberg and Proud Sulking, as well as many smaller towns and fishing villages. Once threwdish and haunted by all kinds of monsters , the Humour has been tamed by centuries of use by everymen, making it safer, although not monster free. Sometimes also called the Humourous.

  Hundred Rules (of Harundo), the ~ rules encompassing the movements and countermovements of the bastinade (stick-fighting) art of harundo, as learned by Rossamünd at the marine society. As a part of these Hundred Rules are the names given to each of the moves or positions. These include:dexter—the right-hand side

  sinister—the left-hand side

  decede—step aside

  regrade—step back

  procede—step forward

  pugnate—charge or rush

  offend—strike out

  counteroffend—counterstrike

  absist—defend to attack again

  sustis—pure determined defense

  machina—unbalancing strike to torso

  turbus—high to low overhead strike

  falacia or faust—a feint

  iterictus—low, tripping strike

  frausiter—leg strike

  torque—“roundhouse” strike

  ban—disarming strike

  titubarus—unbalancing hip strike

  capat—strike at the head

  internunt—strike at the body

  bracchiatus—strike at the arm

  lacert—upper arm or shoulder strike

  obtrector—quick follow-up attack

  spinat—back or upper spine strike

  posticum—buttocks or lower spine hit

  radix—(illegal) strike to the groin

  culix—hit with the handle-end

  ventus—spinning strikes

  intrudus—poking strikes

  versus—flat strike, side to side

  orto or ortus—upper cut, low to high

  These can be employed in combinations, including the obturamentum, a defensive routine with counterstrikes, or the flagellum, a series of quick strikes, and many others. To have even a basic facility with harundo, you are expected to know every one of these names.

  Hurlingstrat Hergott for “hireling street,” where those looking to ’prentice themselves out to a master or those seeking an apprentice can go at certain times of the year to a public market held for the purpose. Found in the suburb of Bleekhall.

  I

  ichor any fluid of the consistency or color of blood such as monster blood, or like a discharge of pus.

  Ichor shortened, poetic form of Ichormeer.

  Ichormeer, the ~ proper name for the vast swamp also known as the Gluepot or Sanguis Defluxia, taken from the vile, dark, bloodlike color of the waters and bogs. It is said that parts of the Ichormeer are so threwdish that they can drive a person mad. With a great loss of life, the Wormway was cut through its southern reaches and the Ichorway joined to it in the hope of taming the swamp. These roads have done little, however, to curb the threwd or cow the monsters that make the Ichormeer their home. Full of festering bogs and farting ponds, it is shunned now by men, and any who travel through it along the Wormway do so seldom, very quickly and under heavy escort.

  Imperial Capital capital city of the whole Empire. See Clementine.

  Imperial Post Office a rather excellent service provided by the Emperor and his bureaucracies; a mail-delivery service mostly done by coaches along highroads between citi
es and major rural centers. For places off the highroads, the Emperor kindly provides amblers—walking postmen who get into all the nooks where people sequester themselves. An ambler’s life is dangerous; they are typically skilled at avoiding or protecting themselves against monsters. Frequent customers of skolds, amblers invent clever and slippery ways to make sure the post always gets through. Mortality rates are high among them, however, and the agents who employ them prefer orphans, strays and foundlings who will not be missed by fretting families.Your lowest-ranked ambler can earn about twenty-seven to thirty sous a year.

  indexer mathematicians trained to keep large lists of numbers in their heads, and to have sharp memories that can be accessed in much the same way you or I might go through a filing cabinet.

  Indolene said “inn-doh-leen”; fellow gater with Teagarden, guarding the Harefoot Dig during the bitter night. She is actually a sagaar, a combative dancer who has slain more than a handful of monsters in her time, several of them in the act of assaulting the Dig, as is proved by the cruorpunxis marked upon her arms. Indolene hails from a large Soutland state called Isidore.

  Inkwill, Mister ~ one of the registry clerks at Winstermill, recording in triplicate all documents and forms received by or sent from the manse. Inkwill is actually a concometrist who did his five years’ training at the Pike Athenaeum in Brandenbrass. As concometrists and mathematicians are old rivals, Inkwill and Witherscrawl do not get on very well at all.

  Instructor Barthomæus see Barthomæus, Instructor.

  ironclad • (adj.) to be covered in riveted strakes (sheets) of cast iron thick enough to stop a cannon ball. A strake will stop any cannon shot, though it might buckle some under the blow of a sixty-eight pounder. Repeated hammering from many hits can, however, weaken the great rivets holding the plates to the side to the vessel, eventually causing them to come away. The exposed wooden planks beneath, while sturdy enough to repel a few shots, become a weak point and a target. For ram captains who prefer a straight shoot-out, this is the goal of their tactics, to pound off an opponent’s strakes and leave him vulnerable and ready to “strike his colors” (lower his flag and give in). • (n.) another name for rams or any other craft covered in iron sheet armor. These iron sheets are coated in a protective chemical known as braice, which makes the metal turn dark brown and stops the caustic waters of the vinegar seas from corroding it.