Foundling

by Cornish, D. M.

  ♦ scourges—also formally trained, usually the most talented script makers, employing the most deadly and powerful potives to do their work and often excessively violent;

  ♦ dispensurists—formally trained, makers of healing brews;

  ♦ rhubezhals—still existing in the eastern lands of Wörms, Skald and Gothia, they are healer and monster-hunter in one, taking on apprentices to pass on their knowledge. Rhubezhals possess secrets now lost to the skolds, who regard them as backward;

  ♦ ledgermains—self-taught “skolds” making potives from books with often wildly varying results. They are scorned by the others as dangerous, unlearned, irresponsible and dishonest.

  Small groups of skolds might gather themselves into a tight group known as a school, sharing recipes and developing their own special nostrum.

  Slothog, the ~ a famous bolbogis or dog-of-war used by the Turkemen; it was one of the largest ever made and met its end at the Battle of the Gates. Its back and shoulders were covered in four- to six-foot spines which it could burst out just once in a battle to do terrible execution. Like most of the best quality made-monsters, when it died it dissolved into a useless puddle, preventing the enemy from learning the secrets of its creation. Most bolbogis live for only a dozen years or more. The Slothog, at the time of its demise, had been alive for an unprecedented forty-three years, causing misery and destruction for forty-one of them. Bolbogis are more common north of the Marrow, that is, outside of the Empire, especially ones of the Slothog’s size. In the Empire smaller kinds like rever-men and the schtackleschwien (“shta-kell-shween”) can be found, usually employed as “guard dogs” or for hunting criminals. In the Empire, making such creatures is illegal but owning them is not. Other general names for bolbogis include bollumbogs, teratobellum and carnivolpës. See gudgeon and monsters.

  smugglers also called bog-trotters, along with brigands. Many goods are illegal in one city-state or another, banned in the Empire or some other realm, and the smugglers see it as their task to provide relief from the tyrannies of such policies. There is nothing a half-decent smuggler will not secret across borders, carry from one city to the next. They lubricate the dark trades, trafficking all those blasphemous bits about. A smuggler may even turn to piracy if the rewards are high enough. Their main foes are weather, monsters and revenue officers, whose major task is to catch them. Even lamplighters play their part in bringing smugglers to justice. As with most things illegal, the promise of a lot of money makes the danger well worth it.

  Snarl once one of Rossamünd’s fellow foundlings, Snarl was employed a year ago by the Boschenberg navy and considers himself to have reached the acme of all that there is to wish for as a once-rejected foundling. His time at Madam Opera’s was spent bullying and teasing those smaller than himself (almost every other child), but not with anywhere near the vigor or cruelty of Gosling.

  social status comprising ten recognized positions or “situations,” the first two being known as the Peers, the next two the Quality, then the Lectry, the Commonality and lowest of all, the Varletry.

  ♦ First: Lords and Nobles [Peers]—those of highest inherited or granted rank within the Empire, holding the most important tasks, such as regents of the different states, Imperial magistrates or ministers in the Imperial Parliament. Highest ranked for the first and second situations are Princes (rare), then Duke, then Marquis, Earl (or Count), Baron, Viscount and, least of these, Baronet.

  ♦ Second: Antique Sanguines [Peers]—the “Old Blood,” the old families whose rank and line can be traced back to before the beginnings of the Empire. They may not occupy many of the best jobs, but know full well that there is a big difference between “old” nobility and “new” nobility. There are more princes and princesses among the Antique Sanguines.

  ♦ Third: Magnates [Quality]—those who have come from lower ranks to acquired enormous wealth and with it bought great power. Such are the greatness of their riches that the Peers and even the Emperor will go to them for financial backing. The highest-ranked magnate is an Elephantine, followed by a Vulgarine (or Vulgard) and, least, a Niggard. The most senior are called Lords.

  ♦ Fourth: Gentry [Quality]—the landed class, owning vast acreage and living in comfort, burdened by neither the responsibilities of higher rank nor the lack of anything their hearts desire. Although most own land in the country, they prefer to live in the cities. Country gentry are considered a little backward by their city “cousins.” The gentry imitate those of better situation in manner and fashion. Highest rank is Companion, then Esquire and finally Gentleman.

  ♦ Fifth: Bureaucrats [Lectry]—managers, lawyers, physicians, chief clerks, naval officers, administrators, scholars, teachers, guild-masters and other self-made folk. These all work and live in good comfort and are never in want.

  ♦ Sixth: Merchants [Lectry]—as their title suggests, these are the exporters and importers, the shop and factory owners, the sellers, the traders. It is from this situation that many magnates rise, having found a niche market or secured a monopoly and exploited it to the utmost. This class also includes farmers who own their own holdings and guild-affiliated craftsmen. Surgeons are considered among this class, as well as most skolds (except those born into a better situation). They live in moderate comfort with long hours of work.

  ♦ Seventh: Peons [Commonality]—the unskilled or unguilded craftsmen, skilled farmhands, foremen, vinegaroons, soldiers, dispensurists , leers, lamplighters, gaiters and yardsmen, sagaars, miners, factory-hands, stevedores, apprentices, chief servants and such as these. They live tolerably well and work very hard.

  ♦ Eighth: Servants [Commonality]—maids, valets, kitchen-hands, page boys, stable-hands, and all others such as these who live hard and work even harder, often earning not much over ten sous a year. ♦ Ninth: Rustics [Varletry]—unskilled laborers, lower-class farmhands, tinkers, hawkers, woodcutters, peltrymen (trappers), rhubezhals (see skolds), living tough, hardworking lives.

  ♦ Tenth: Destitutes [Varletry]—those with few prospects, living wretched, desperate lives, often driven to desperate acts (such as brigands). Many of the criminal types are lumped into this class, regardless of how successful they might be.

  Those of a higher situation have the power to influence the lives of those below them. Lahzars occupy a strange place in society, and no one is at all sure where to put them. Highborn lahzars rely on their inherited situation, yet those of lower status at birth seem to be accorded a grudging respect similar to their noble fellows. It is all very perplexing and forms a common topic of many a parlor-room gathering.

  Sooning Street street in Boschenberg that leads out of the suburb Poéme and down to the canal-side suburbs and the Padderbeck.

  soporific any potive or draft designed to make people become woozy or sleepy, or put them to sleep.

  sou(s) said “soo”; the highest-value coin of the Soutlands, made of a gold alloy; worth 16 sequins or 320 guise or two thirds of an oscadril—the Emperor’s Billion. It is represented by the letter S. See money.

  Sough, the ~ said “sow”; the hills and more particularly the fenlands right at the southwestern tip of Sulk End and forming the eastern flank of the mouth of the river Humour. The fenlands of the Sough are untamed, despite the presence of the Arxis Sublicum or Pollburg in its midst, a fortress established by the Empire under the pretext of providing protection, but there really to watch over trade coming in and out of the Humour.

  Soutlands, the ~ also the Soutland City-states, said “sowt-lands” or “sutt-lands,” depending on what part of the Empire you are from; all the southern conquests of the Empire situated south of the great threwdish plains of the Grassmeer. They were systematically subdued by the Imperial armies over one thousand years ago and are now home to the racially mixed descendants of the old combatants, many of whom still claim racial distinction from their neighbors.

  spasm, spasming wretched condition where a lahzar’s body rebels for a moment against the foreign organs squeezed within
it and the organs fight back. This happens when the mimetic (introduced) organs are being used and is usually as a result of not taking one’s Cathar’s Treacle and the rest. It is, however, a risk (very slight) that lahzars run all the time, whether they have taken their concoctions or not. The results of spasming can be various, from a slight strain within that goes away after a few hours to severe internal hemorrhaging and serious organ damage. After spasming, a lahzar often needs to return to his or her transmogrifier (lahzar-making surgeon) for observation and even further operations. See lahzar and Cathar’s Treacle.

  Spindle, the ~ rivergate built by the city-state of Brandenbrass as a rival to the Axles. Sanctioned by the Emperor, its presence has added another half to the cost of doing trade on the Humour, making life difficult for all those cities further upriver, including (and most importantly) Boschenberg. Petitioning and debate rage among the two cities’ Imperial ministers and their regents, and for a student of history it all sounds like the rumblings of yet another war.

  spoors marks worn by teratologists and other folk of violence as signs of their trade, made using a milky liquid known as rue-of-asper, or just rue (not to be confused with the repellent “Salt-of-Asper” ), carefully painted onto the skin in whatever shape is desired. Apparently, it stings like lemon juice in a paper cut. Left for about an hour, and stinging the whole time, the rue-of-asper is then washed off with a solution of vinegar and cloves, leaving a deep blue mark. Alternatively, the rue can be washed off with a solution of dilute aqua regia, causing it to leave a white mark. sprig(s) type of monster, small and nasty and often plaguing homes and homemakers, and so its use as an insult is obvious.

  Spring Caravan of the Gightland Queen, the ~ seasonal peregrinations of the Gightland Queen, forced to move from one of her six palaces to another as the stench of the piles of rotting food scraps and backed-up excrement from overused sewers becomes too much to bear or mask. She and all her possessions, family, servants, retainers, ministers, clerks, house guards and spurns (bodyguards) take to the road in a long, gorgeous procession, making their way to the next palace and leaving behind an army of servants to clean the previous one. The comfort and opulence of these caravans are seen as the epitome of all things comfortable and luxurious, as is everything the Gightland Queen is supposed to do. See Gightland Queen.

  stage shorter of the two fulgaris at three feet to four feet long and used by fulgars to help in directing a lightning bolt in the right direction once it has been “thermistored” from the clouds. It is also a convenient baton to extend a fulgar’s reach and parry blows from opponents’ weapons. It is not considered politic to “come to hand strokes” (enter into a hand-to-hand fight) with fulgars, for any metal weapon that touches them will carry a deadly charge back to the wielder, and although wooden weapons do not conduct an arc so easily, they can be burst to bits instead. A better way to fight fulgars is to hit them with the long reach of a flintlock musket or pistol. Indeed, the best way, it is said, to fight a fulgar—or a wit for that matter—is to be on the other side of the Empire and have someone else do it for you.

  steerboard right-hand side of a vessel if you are facing the bow; corresponds to our “starboard.”

  sthenicon said “s-then-i-kon”; a biologue—a biological machine; device used to seek out tiny or hidden smells and to show things difficult to see—whether hidden or far off—more clearly. Usually a simple, dark wooden box, with leather straps and buckles. The back, which goes against the face, is hollowed out and sealed within with a doeskinlike material. On each side of this protrude stubby brass horns. Air and the attendant odors enter through these hornlets and, by the organics inside, are rendered more odoriferous. If the compactly folded membrane inside that enhances smells so effectively was spread out, it would stretch around 120 squares of feet. At the middle of the top of the box is a modest lens, through which vision is received. Upon the sides of the sthenicon, at the same height as the lens, are three slots, which the user can push in and out in various ways to alter the nature of how he sees. A small hole in one of the lower corners is bored into the front of the box, apparently to render the user more audible when talking, so that the device need not be removed to allow the wearer to speak. Another slot in the bottom of the box allows soups, thin stews and special drafts that augment the use of this tool to be slurped with only minor inconvenience. The whole kit is fastened to the head—over nose and mouth—with the straps and buckles mentioned earlier. If a sthenicon is worn for too long, the organ within can begin to grow into the user’s own nasal membrane and even into the face. Used mostly by leers.

  stock • or calmus; the straight stick used by beginners in harundo and other stick-fighting arts. • an elaborately high neckerchief, wrapping about the whole neck and throat.

  strake(s) large cast-iron sheets riveted to the wooden sides of an ironclad vessel. One sheet of a uniform length is one strake, so that someone spotting a ram at sea could count the number of strakes down one broadside and, with a little arithmetic, have a good idea just how big she is.

  stramineous the color of straw.

  “stuck between the stone and the sty” to be faced with two equally unpleasant choices or situations.

  Sub-Elements, the ~ all the metals, earths, liquids and gases that make up the Four Elements. It is the Sub-Elements that form the cosmos, the earth and all that is in it. Some of the many Sub-Elements include fire-flash (hydrogen), fire-damp (methane), small-air (helium), aeris regia (oxygen) and so on.

  Sugar of Nnun one of the more notorious ingredients, it is in its own right a deadly poison whose constituents only “those wicked men of Sinster” know anything about. It is rumored that one of its constituents is corpse liquor, a filthy deep-brown ichor that comes from the rotting of bodies and is highly illegal within the Empire. Sugar of Nnun is used for many of the more dangerous or powerful scripts, particularly those used by scourges. It is Sugar of Nnun that makes Cathar’s Treacle go oily and black, and its combination with the other ingredients that renders it helpful rather than harmful.

  Sulk, the ~ broad flat lands all along eastern banks of the river Humour and south of Gightland (Catalain) extensively farmed by a cooperation of many states and also dug with several quarries, providing many building materials and minerals for much of the Half-Continent.

  Sulk End southwestern tip of the vast breadbasket of the Sulk; probably the least populated part of that region, although the land is well tamed, becoming only middlingly threwdish as it nears the Smallish Fells in the east and the Sough in the southwest. Sulk End is famous for its lettuces and strawberries and the giant windmills that grind most of the region’s grain and much of its powdered earths as well.

  surgeon(s) sometimes called butchers, because they poke and dig and carve into people, or sectifactors (coming from sectification, “to operate on a living creature”). Surgeons are seen as the dark cousin to the physicians. Most surgeons train at the same institutions as physicians , but concentrate more on the autopsy and workings of human and monster than theories and cures and higher knowledge. A surgeon’s main tasks involve amputation of gangrenous or ruined limbs; simple surgeries like appendectomies; the removal of bullets and splinters or teeth and spines from monsters. If anyone in the Half-Continent were bothered to view the statistics, they would find that more people survive the ministrations of a surgeon than of a physician. Yet despite all the seemingly miraculous work surgeons might do, they are still mistrusted; and this is primarily for their connection with lahzars, and with fabercadavery and therospeusia (the making of monsters) and all the worst excesses of black habilistics. Because of this surgeons are far less common than physicians or dispensurists. People prefer, if they must deal with a surgeon, to have a physician or even a dispensurist act as a go-between. Indeed, in many realms it is illegal for a surgeon to practice without the presence of a physician. It is rumored that the current Emperor will not even let a surgeon touch him. As with many other professions, there are various grades of surgeo
n: ♦ articled surgeons—gain their training through apprenticeship only, usually working as aides to more skilled surgeons. Articled surgeons may, through an intensive interview at a physactery (see physician), be granted higher status if they have served ten years or more. Also simply called “articles.”

  ♦ house surgeons—train for a year, gaining a diploma and with it the mandate to perform the simpler operations: extracting foreign matter from the body and amputating limbs.