Foundling

by Cornish, D. M.

  Ives one of the larger city-states of Frestonia and Fransitart’s place of birth.

  J

  jackboot high boot reaching over the knee and having a flaring “collar” about the top, but being open behind the knee.They are usually made of bright-black leather.

  jackcoat differs from a frock coat in that its frock is not as long and does not flare out as far. The materials used to make a jackcoat are cheaper or less fine. It is more a commoner’s item of clothing.

  jacksword or infantry hanger; straight single-edged sword with a short, heavy blade and heavy handle; as much good as a club or a sword, and favored by soldiers.

  jakes, the ~ latrine, loo or water closet.

  john-tallow repugnant potive kneaded into an oily clay whose main purpose is to smell so good to a monster that it draws it more than the scent of a person. Given that smell is one of the subtler senses of a monster, that they can tell the difference between everymen and their own kinds by smell, deluding them in this way is very effective but also very difficult. Used in conjunction with other odor-alterants, it can make for some powerful effects. See scripts.

  Juice-of-Orange though we might take orange juice for granted, for the poor and rustic of the Half-Continent it is typically unheard of and a rare treat indeed. The growing of particular fruits can be a mildly difficult task, as orchards attract certain monsters. As such it makes the price of these fruits prohibitive for the less well-to-do.

  K

  knupel said “noo-pull,” also called a virga; the most rough and knobbly of all the cudgels, it is often awarded to those who gain mastery of a bastinade (stick-fighting) art such as harundo.A knupel is about 4½ feet to 5 feet long, thick at the hitting end and thinner at the strap-bound handle. Regarded as a “battlefield” weapon, a knupel can cause horrendous injuries.

  Körnchenflecter, the ~ said “kern-chen-flek-tr”; also called the Parts-wheel or Principia Circum: a table showing how the Four Elements react to or retard each other. From this is made a complex set of tables known simply as the Reactive Index, where all the Sub-Elements are shown in their reactions to each other. With it a habilist will plan combinations and experiments accordingly. The Körnchenflecter is valued not so much for the information it displays but as part of a skold’s history, a treasured symbol of the trade. See Appendix 3.

  kraulschwimmen said “krowl-shwim-men”; some of the biggest and most cantankerous of the nadderers (sea-monsters), usually resembling enormous, grotesquely deformed fish. Intelligent and cunning, they spend most of their time warring with the false-gods over control of the Deeps. Many also have a sweet tooth for vinegaroons and the muscles inside gastrines and will come to the surface to hunt for these along the cargo lanes of the world’s oceans.

  L

  ladeboard left side of a ship if you are facing the front or bow, the side of a vessel usually put against a wharf or pier; corresponds to our “port.”

  laggard a leer who can see through things, into dark and hidden places, and look at things far off. The name comes from the word “lag,” which means to scour or scrub something. The washes they use to change their eyes make the whites turn olive-brown while the irises become a deep yellow. See leer.

  lahzar(s) sometimes spelled in old texts as “lazhar,” said “luhzar”; also called catharcriths, thanatocates (“death-bearers”), orgulars (“haughty ones”—the name once given to the heroes of old), spooks-and-pukes or just spooks.Though no one knows for sure, it is commonly held that lahzars first appeared in the Empire around HIR 1263, over a century before the Battle of the Gates. They were said to be among the survivors of a race of previously unknown peoples from far northwest beyond the Half-Continent who called themselves the Cathars. It was rumored that these Cathars were fleeing the destruction of their realm by the rise of one or many false-gods. Settling in the far west beyond Hamlin and Pechenneg, and in the once small stronghold of Sinster in the east, these Cathar refugees brought with them their ancient surgical knowledge, techniques unknown in the Half-Continent except to a learned few. These techniques were called clysmosurgia and involved grafting into a person’s body special organs—called mimetic organs—harvested from beasts, altered and grown in vats. Once put inside a person’s body, these mimetic organs could give the subject unheard-of abilities; the power to generate deadly arcs of electricity inside the body (the fulgar), or send forth brain-frying waves of invisible energy (the wit). Clysmosurgia was quickly rejected by the conservative as a form of “dark” or “black” habilistics (also called morbidology) and it was declared illegal throughout the Empire. Yet since their refuges were, and still are, beyond the Imperial jurisdiction, the Cathar surgeons continued their work. To put a person through clysmosurgia is called transmogrification, and a person so transmogrified is called a “lahzar,” a Cathar word meaning “those who have returned (from the grave),” called so because of the long period they are under the surgeon’s knife. One side effect of having these impostor organs within them is a constant dull ache, occasionally sharp. For wits it manifests itself behind the eyes and in their skulls; for fulgars it hurts in their arms and shoulders and down in their guts. Even a lahzar’s scars might ache on cold days. Another problem is gauntness caused by the overworking of their pith—what we would call “the metabolism” and “immune system,” as their bodies strive to accommodate the intruding flesh; this can bring on mood swings and even psychotic episodes. Lahzars might be powerful, but they are far from happy folk. It took almost three quarters of a century before people began to catch on to just how much more effective these new lahzars were against monsters. During that period lahzars were outlawed in Imperial lands. Their success at the Battle of the Gates, employed in disobedience to Imperial law, won them a grudging acceptance in society. Since then, while clysmosurgia remains an illegal realm of habilistics, lahzars themselves have been legitimized, their labors rivaling and even eclipsing the work of the traditional skolds. Because, however, lahzars have so many alien organs stuck into them, it is still a topical parlor-room debate as to whether or not lahzars are actually a kind of gudgeon. This is an idea that lahzars find completely offensive and refute utterly. As a consequence of this question, their foul moods and strange drafts, lahzars are still considered pariahs, a necessary evil. Even with an expensive set of proofing, nonlahzars would find them extremely difficult to beat in a fight, and this has granted them a status that is not low but simply outside the existing social ranks. This unique status has made becoming a lahzar popular with the fashionably bored young sets of the gentry and the peers, and they spend large chests of their mama and papa’s sous to make the trip to Sinster and seek out the best transmogrifer they can afford. A surgeon of average skill will perform clysmosurgia for about 1,200 sous; the best will do it for about 3,000 sous. Payment can be made in advance, or over a period of time from the lahzar’s earnings as a monster-slayer, soldier or bodyguard. After an initial period of interviews and testing, a subject is either refused or allowed to proceed. A refused subject is free to seek another surgeon. If accepted, it takes several days to complete the operations to make a person into a lahzar (transmogrify them). The whole time the subject is kept drugged and strapped to the cutting table. Once the transmogrification has been done, and the lahzar has been “made,” it can take anywhere from one month to half a year for a person to recover. During this recovery they receive training from the surgeon’s aides (called articles) in the ways of a wit or a fulgar. From time to time it is common for lahzars to return to their surgeon for observation and “repairs”—operations to mend damage caused by illness, organ rot, spasming or violent injury. These repairs require only a day or so under the knife and a fortnight at the most for healing afterward. The “skills” or “abilities” or “powers” their organs give to a lahzar are called potencies (sing. potency). It is these potencies that make a lahzar so effective against monsters (and people too for that matter). The arcs and lightnings of a fulgar and the mental and sensory assaults of a wit
are much more consistent in their deadly power and easier to deliver than a skold’s or scourge’s potives. Despite this lahzars are regarded less as civilization’s heroes and more as a distasteful new “fad.” Obviously lahzars will charge for their services, commanding high prices for the efficacy of their labors:. . . when a spook does set their hand to job,

  ye’ll knows ye nickers be gone for good.

  In a quiet year they can earn around two hundred sous; in bumper years when monsters are overactive this can rise to five hundred sous. See fulgar, wit, Sinster and surgeon.

  lahzarine said “lazz-er-reen” and also orgulous; of or pertaining to a lahzar; concerning all things to do with lahzars.

  laid up in ordinary vessel that has been emptied of most of its crew and its stores, taken up out of the water onto a dry dock to be careened (have its hulled cleaned), thoroughly repaired, overhauled, refitted and made ready for another lengthy service on the vinegar waves.

  lambast(s) great rope-and-steel sprung engines of war used to hurl large harpoonlike projectiles known as bastis. The bladelike tips of these bastis are typically treated with toxic scripts designed to especially harm monsters. A thick chain attached to powerful steel arms is wound back with a large winch that takes several men to operate. When the chain is wound right back, it is locked with a trigger and the bastis is laid into a special groove or track. When all is ready, the trigger is tripped and the bastis is flung out as far as three hundred yards. Lambasts are most usually found on rams, where their main job is for use against kraulschwimmen and other nadderers (sea-monsters ), but they are also used to throw harpagons, great grappling hooks made to ensnare other vessels, or as a last resort when the shot lockers are empty and the powder all used.

  lamplighter(s) essentially a kind of specialized soldier, mostly employed by the Empire, though some states also have them. Their main task is to go out in the late afternoon and evening to light the bright-limn lamps that line the conduits and conductors (highways) of the Empire, and to douse them again in the early morning. They are fairly well paid for soldiers, earning about twenty-two sous a year.

  Lamplighter-Marshal most superior officer of the lamplighters; the one that Rossamünd is going to serve under is in charge of the whole of the Wormway from Winstermill to Wörms and the lamplighters who work along it.

  lamplighter’s agent clerks and the like seeing to the business of the manse and the Lamplighter-Marshal in far-off cities and other lands. Their main tasks include visiting and delivering dispatches to other manses and Lamplighter-Marshals, organizing supplies and suppliers from the suppliers’ end, seeking new recruits, hunting down leads on smuggling rings, appealing to the Emperor in Clementine itself for more pay or resources and so on.

  landaulet said “land-or-let”; open-topped, four-wheeled carriage usually drawn by a single horse and having two seats within that face each other. A folding top divided into two parts may be drawn completely over to protect from inclement weather. Used in the cities where horses are safer; only the foolish or those capable and willing to defend their trusty nag dare take a landaulet out beyond.

  leer(s) also called perspicriths (“sense-holders”), cognisters or vatiseers; a creepy lot trained in seeing small and otherwise missed detail, remembering faces, following scents and trails, spying, shadowing and all such prying arts and the use of the sthenicon and olfactologue. They soak their eyes over a period of months in special potives collectively called washes or opthasaums, which irreparably change the colors of the eyes and permanently alter the abilities of their sight. The first of these opthasaums prepares the eye for transformation and is called Saum of Adparat or adparatic syrup. After a month of soaking in this wash, one hour each day, the leer spends another month soaking his or her eyes in either of two washes: Bile of Vatës will make the more common leer known as a laggard with brown and yellow eyes, and cognistercus or Swill of Cognit the less common falsemen, with red and pale blue eyes. The whole process of changing a person’s eyes is called adparation, and one can tell a leer by these weirdly colored orbs. Each also takes particular kinds of drafts to enhance his or her capacities in day-to-day duties. Leers are highly sought after: laggards in the wild places to warn against monsters and other lurking dangers and to track brigands, smugglers and escaped prisoners; and falsemen in the cities to work for the wealthy and for government, wheedling out the dishonest and sycophantic and interrogating the suspicious. Though they alter their biology in a chemical way, they are not regarded with nearly as much suspicion or loathing as lahzars and are not questioned as potential gudgeons. See falsemen and laggards.

  left-decede to decede is to step aside quickly, 90° to the line of attack, while turning to face your attacker as, it is to be hoped, he or she stumbles past you. A left-decede is a rapid sidestep to the left with a half turn to the right—a defensive move that is part of the Hundred Rules of Harundo.

  Lentine grand-cargo massive cargo vessel that comes from the ports of a distant southern coastal region known as the Lent.

  letter of introduction letter written for you by a significant person of rank and merit, saying who you are and your qualities (and flaws), recommending you to whomsoever should read it. It is often sealed with a wax seal, to add a sense of veracity. An excellent letter of introduction can open many doors.

  letters, to have your ~ to be able to read and to write competently—neatly and with correct spelling—more than a few words or simple scrawled sentences. Those who can read but have never been taught to write are called partly lettered. (“I can read me letters, sir, but a cain’t make ’em.”) levin-bolt another term for lightning.

  Liberum Infantis Tutin for book child.

  Licurius said “ly-kyew-re-us”; a leer and factotum for Europe. Originally one of the lifeguards of the Duchess of Naimes, he has served Europe for over ten years. Licurius has left his sthenicon on too long, letting the organs within grow up into his nose and face. Leers who let this happen are known variously as breach-faced leers, aspexitors or leerbrechts; and any biologue that is allowed to grow unchecked like this is said to be exitious (said “eck-zi-shoos”) or ruinous. During his time with Europe, Licurius’ thoughts have become darker, more suspicious and bitter, and his hatred for monsters has grown. More recently the two of them have begun doing wicked and infamous things, things they will not talk about, and somehow it has been Licurius who has led in them.

  limbers small versions of a gastrine, metal-bound boxes of wood in groups of twos or threes down either side of each gastrine. They are used to warm up and loosen the muscles of the much bigger counterpart to make them ready for operation. If a gastrine is not massaged by a limber first, it could tear, become swollen and infected, thereby reducing its performance and even occasioning its death. The limbers themselves are warmed up by the gastrineer’s mates, who crank long handles in the limber-box that turn a much smaller version of a treadle-shaft within called a maiden. Once the revolutions of the maiden have reached a certain rate, the muscles of the limber, having been nicely massaged by this turning, will take over and by a series of jointed levers, repeat this process on a greater scale with the gastrines. If a vessel needs more speed it may put some or all of its limbers to work, helping the gastrines to turn the main treadle-shaft. There is a risk of permanent harm being done to the limber, but because they are much easier and cheaper to replace, this risk is often taken. The best a captain could hope to get by putting “all limbers to the screw”—as it is called—is an extra knot or, at best, two. This may not seem like much, but at the relatively slow speeds of all watergoing craft of the Half-Continent, one to two knots can equal the difference between success or doom. See rams, gastrines and gastrineer.

  limn-thorn bright-limn fixed to a pole, or hanging from the same.

  Liquor common collective name for the vast expanse of deep ocean or gurgës to the east of the Half-Continent, beyond all the smaller pontis (seas) and mares (oceans).

  Little Dog quiet page boy in service to
the Harefoot Dig. He is the bottom of the rung and it is his job to fetch and carry and run messages to wherever he is sent, even the dangerous countryside. Although Little Dog is well aware of the risks he endures and lives in constant dread of being sent out on wild nights, no one else seems to consider this, and he finds himself dashing about in the unfriendly dark bearing little more than an RSVP to a dinner. Poor little fellow—he has faced many terrors for a boy so young, and has survived each one so far . . .

  long johns outer underwear made from wool; leggings for warmth and protection, with reinforced knees. Some have socks sewn onto the ends and are referred to as sock-johns or smockjacks.

  longshanks shorts with legs reaching to the knees, often proofed and very hardwearing. Typically worn with long johns as is the fashion, longshanks are preferred to breeches, and are certainly more fashionable. looby fool, idiot, stupid person, ignoramus. A lubber.

  Loquor said “loh-kor”; a distant land far to the east, beyond Wörms and the mountains of the Tausengramdornin (“thorns of a thousand tears”). It is said to be deadly threwdish and filled with the most fearsome utterworsts.

  lubber or landlubber; a derogatory name given by vinegaroons to any landsman, or anyone clumsy or dangerously awkward.

  M

  Madam Felicitine see Felicitine, Madam.