Foundling (36 page)

conductors
also trunk roads; major roads between cities maintained at the expense and energy of the local rulers; these were originally made to allow easier marching for armies but are now just as busy as routes of trade. See
highroads
.

conduit(s)
major roads between cities maintained at the expense and energy of the
Emperor,
originally built by the soldiers of the
Empire
as they forged their way into new lands. See Imperial
Conductors
and
highroads
.

Conduit Vermis
the
Wormway,
running from
Winstermill
to
Wörms
and passing through the
Ichormeer
. Once the Conduit Vermis enters that swamp, it quickly becomes one of the most dangerous roads to travel, oppressed by powerful
threwd
and
haunted
by a great variety of
monsters
. All attempts to civilize that stretch of the
Wormway
have failed, often disastrously.

corsers
grave robbers, tomb raiders and suppliers to the
dark trade
s. They provide corpses and body parts for the growing demand of benighted laboratories all about the land. It is dangerous, putrid work: corsers run a continual risk of falling foul with the authorities and
monsters
(those
bogles
who creep about in cemeteries and tombs are among the most vicious and violent), yet the money earned in this line of work makes the risks worth the while taking.

Corvinius Arbour
one of the more powerful family houses in
Boschenberg
, connected with the mighty Saakrahennemus clan of
Brandenbrass
, whose ancient lineage has sprouted many of history’s prominent figures.

counteroffend
counterstrike move in
harundo;
one of the many moves that are part of the
Hundred Rules of Harundo
.

coxswain
petty officer in charge of the small boats aboard a
ram
or
cargo
such as the jolly boats and the captain’s launch; paid about thirty-six
sous
a year.

Craumpalin, Master ~
said “krorm-pah-linn”;
dispensurist
working at
Madam Opera’s Estimable Marine Society for Foundling Boys and Girls
, attending to the medicinal needs of children, other staff,
Madam Opera
herself and even many folks who live and work in the neighborhood of the
marine society
. Trained as a
dispensurist
by the
navy,
he served with his old friend and messmate Master
Fransitart
. When
Fransitart
was pressed into service as a boy, it was a young Craumpalin who befriended him first and has stayed true to him since. If you ask him, Craumpalin will tell you he was born in the Patricine
city-state
of Lousaine.

Craumpalin’s Exstinker
a
potive Craumpalin
makes for
Rossamünd
, to hide his smell from noses that do not need to know. See
nullodours
.

cromster(s)
one of the smallest of the armed,
ironclad
river-barges, having three-inch cast-iron strakes down each side and from four to twelve 12-pounder guns (see
cannon
) upon each
broadside
. Generally single-masted, though the biggest may have two masts. Below the open-deck is a single lower deck called the orlop. Forward of amidships (the middle of the craft) is typically hold space for cargo. Aft of amidships the orlop is reserved for the
gastrines
and their crews. Cromsters sit low in the water and are generally suitable only for rivers and the inshore currents of sheltered bays. You might find cromsters much further up a river than any
gastrine
craft, yet only the most foolhardy or brave (between which there is seldom any difference) will take them out into the deeps of the
vinegar seas
. Their short keels make them ideal for shallow waters; however, large swells can wash over the deck dangerously and capsize them. Though not as fast as other
gastrine
vessels (six knots at best), cromsters are small, sturdy and maneuverable and one will find them the most commonly used of all rivergoing craft. The crew of a cromster, as with all other riverine craft, are known as
bargemen
. See Appendix 7.

cruorpunxis
spilled-blood punctures, said “kroo-or-punks-sis”; the proper name for a
monster-blood tattoo
.

cudgel
or fustis; any wooden stick, heavy, sometimes bound or studded with iron or another metal and usually of no more than four feet in length; usually fashioned straight from the branch of a tree and used in the martial training of
harundo
and other stick-fighting disciplines. Types of cudgel range from the smooth and straight
stock
to the knot-and-knuckle-headed knout; they include the excessively knobbly
knupel,
the gabelüng (“fork in the road”) with its two-pronged head, the stang (or quarterstaff) and the overlong prugel-staff. Cudgels are normally preferred over swords because heavy, blunt blows do more harm through
proofing
than the cut or stab of a blade. They also serve well as walking sticks.

cudgel-master
person who has won the right to bear a
knupel
, and so is deemed skilled enough to teach others.

culix
said “cyoo-licks”; blow with the butt end of a
cudgel
or stick: one of the many moves that are a part of the
Hundred Rules of Harundo
.

curtain wall
surrounding walls of a city, so called because they go straight up and down like a curtain. This makes them vulnerable to cannon fire but provides an impenetrable barrier to adventurous
bogles.
Curtain walls built in the last few hundred years, however, may have a sloping outer face called a scarp, to help deflect shot from
cannon
. Each city will have several rings of curtain walls, a new line built as the population expands beyond the previous ring. The older the city, the more encircling curtain walls it will possess.

Dank
day-watchman of the
Harefoot Dig,
having charge over protecting the
wayhouse,
its guests, owners and employees against attack from
brigands
and highwaymen and, most importantly,
monsters
. He hands over his responsibility to
Teagarden
when the evening watch begins.

dark trades, the ~
clandestine trafficking of illegal goods, but most particularly corpses of people, body parts of man and
monster
and whole
monsters
, dead or alive. It is exceedingly dangerous for those involved, from the
corsers
and trappers, the
ashmongers
in the middle to the various secret clients, yet the demand for the products of the dark trades is the highest it has ever been and the money to be had makes the dangers endured entirely worthwhile.

day-clothes
also schmutter; any garment not proofed.

days of the week
the first is Newich—the “new watch,” then Loonday—the “moon’s day,” Mareday—the “sea’s day,” Midwich—the “middle watch,” Domesday—the “family’s day,” which is a day of rest, followed by Calumday—the “sky’s day,” and finally Solemnday—the last day of the week, when people stop work two hours earlier to go home and celebrate the closing of another successful seven days. See
months of the year
and Appendix 1.

Dido
ancient Empress and founder of the
Empire
of the
Half-Continent
, from whose line was reckoned the
Emperors
until the
Haacobins
usurped the Three Thrones. Great-granddaughter of the legendary Idaho of the Attics, she was betrayed by her ministers and fled to save her life, gathering about her other remnant races from the fall of the Phlegms to begin the
Empire
in which this book takes place. The Didodumese are her scattered descendants, and most
peers
—especially the Antique Sanguines (see
social status
)—claim some link to her and so to her glorious great-grandmother.

Dig, the ~
nickname used by locals for the
Harefoot Dig
.

dispensurist(s)
said “diss-pens-yoo-rist”; “lesser” kind of
skold,
concerned only with
potives
and
drafts
that help and heal. Six months at a
rhombus
and two years as an
apprentice
dispenser under a fully qualified dispensurist will get you your license to practice. Dispensurists are liked and trusted, even more than
skolds
. They are also considered to be
habilists
.

ditchlands
as far as men reckon it, the world is divided into five distinct regions or
marches
. Ditchlands are “frontier territory,” the fourth-most region or
march
and the outermost domain of man, just before the
wilds
(where
everymen
seldom go and never dwell). Ditchlands are the “front line” of humankind’s push to civilize the whole world. In ditchlands populations are small and live very close for mutual strength, always behind walls, with windows permanently barred and doors kept locked even at the height of day. Chimneys here are built highest of all. No one goes anywhere without wearing
proofing,
even indoors during the day. Everyone keeps stores of
potives
supplied by
skolds
and carries some on all excursions out of doors. Many ditchland communities are supported by a sturdy military presence of either
pediteers
(soldiers) or
lamplighters
or both. Small fortresses built along the main road in the region typically form the hub of a settlement and are the last places of refuge in event of some major attack by
monsters
. See
marches
.

dolatramentis(tum)
said “doll-la-truh-men-tiss(tum)”; any mark made on the skin to show one’s skills and heroic feats, either
spoors
or
monster-blood tattoos
.

Domesday
said “doams-day”; fifth day of the week, and typically a day of rest. See
days of the week
.

draft(s)
• any concoction meant to be taken and have effect by swallowing, as opposed to
potives
, which work externally. See
scripts
. • the depth to which the hull and keel of a boat or ship descends into the water. A vessel with a shallow draft can negotiate shallow waters.

drudge
the smallest of the oceangoing
gastriners
, employed to tug and tow other larger vessels about the crowd of a harbor. Some are armed with
cannon
and work to guard their port. These are called
gun-drudges
. See
rams
.

eekers
folk who, because of poverty or persecution or in protest, live in wild or marginal places, often alone and scrounging what life they can from the surrounding land. Many eekers are political exiles, sent away from, or choosing to leave, their home city because of some conflict with a personage of power. It is often marveled upon by other folk just how it is that eekers survive in the
haunted
places where they are forced to live. It is commonly held that most have sedorned themselves, that is, become despicable
sedorners,
so that the
monsters
will leave them be. They are already mistrusted and despised for their eccentric ways, and such a suspicion only makes them doubly so.

Elements, the ~
the basis of the four-part system of understanding used by
skolds, physicians
and other
habilists
. Simply put, the Elements are earth, air, fire and water and have many accompanying corollaries. See the
Four Humours
, the
Four Spheres,
the
Körnchenflecter
.

Emperor
the supreme ruler of an Empire, in this context the
Empire
of the
Half-Continent
; the original line of Emperors was descended from
Dido
, the founder of the
Empire
and great-granddaughter of Idaho, the mythic hero-queen of the Attics. The current Emperor is Scepticus XLV Haacobin Menangës, who is working to reconcile the Didodumese and their supporters to his dynasty’s claim.

Emperor’s Billion, the ~
name of the shiny gold
oscadril
coin given to any person as an incentive to enter the
Emperor’s
Service and become an
Emperor’s Man
. This type of payment is called “coat and conduct” money, promised to anyone who wishes to join up, whether to serve the
Emperor
, or some realm’s
navy,
or even a mercenary regiment. From this coat and conduct money new recruits are meant to pay for their travel to their new job and for parts of their kit when they get there. A billion is any coin that is the largest denomination of a realm’s currency (for example, the
sou
is the billion of
Soutland money
). See
money
.

Emperor’s Highroads, the ~
see
conduits
.

Emperor’s Man, an ~
any person working for the
Empire
and therefore the
Emperor
.
Lamplighters
are Emperor’s Men because they are employed by the
Empire
to watch the
Emperor’s Highroads
.

Empire, the ~
also called the
Haacobin
Empire, the Old Empire, the Benevenetian Empire or the Empire of the
City-states.
When the Sceptic Dynasty (said “sep-tik”) ruled, it had been called the Sceptic Empire. The imperial domains of the current
Haacobin Dynasty
are divided into three parts (pars regia magna). In the north is the Seat, where
Clementine,
the
Imperial Capital,
is, and includes the western lands of the Stipula, the agricultural lands of the Leven and the Table, which extends right along the southern wall of the
Marrow
. In the east is the Verid Litus, made up of the old inheritance of the Orprimine on the coast, and the mining lands of the Sink beneath. In the south is the
Soutlands
extending from Catalain and the western edge of the
Ichormeer,
across to
Hergoatenbosch
and Thisterland, and down along
the Grume
, the Patricine and the Lent, reaching as far inland as Maine and ending at the northern edge of the wildlands known as Dusthumlinde (the Dusthumës). These lands are divided up into
city-states,
the boundaries of each being fixed in the Henoticon—the Formula of the Division of the Land drawn up in
HIR
1011 by Empress Quintinia Excrutia Scepticus. Heavily amended, the document still stands as the legal blueprint of borders and border rights and is constantly invoked as states wrestle with each other for mutually coveted lands and their resources. The original Henoticon is kept in the subterranean vaults of the Quintessentum (the Imperial Archive in
Clementine
). Control is maintained through its sprawling conquests with the aid of the subcapitals: cities of grandeur built by the
Haacobins
to keep an eye on their restive subjects so far from the friendly gaze of
Clementine
itself. In the
Soutlands
are the subcapitals of the Considine and the Serenine. On the Verid Litus is the Campaline. They are gorgeous places and an essential part of the “Grand Tour,” attracting tourists from all the lands.