Foundling (39 page)

gauld, gaulding
chemicals and processes that make many different kinds of cloth and other organic materials highly resistant to tearing, cutting or puncturing—“bulletproof” if you wish—yet not much heavier than the original fiber and still almost as flexible. Any garment like this is called
proofing
or, less commonly, gaulding or gauld-cloth. Each
gaulder
has his own secret recipe, inherited and vigilantly guarded, and, though some recipes are more effective than others, the end result is much the same: cloth, leather and such once soaked, boiled, baked, dried and resoaked and so on in a series of solutions will by the end of the process be extraordinarily toughened. Combined with panels of multilayered gauld-leather or plates of steel, and backed with
pokeweed
padding,
proofing
can keep the wearer very safe indeed. Another of the advantages of
gaulded
clothing is that it is incredibly hardwearing—even the cheaper kinds. Consequently, the uniforms of soldiers on campaign and
wayfarers
out on the road typically last for years rather than months. In fact it has become more common for those who can afford it to wear
proofing
more than
day-clothes
. While
proofing
will stop a sword thrust or a musket ball, it cannot, unfortunately, stop bruising or bones being broken beneath it as they take the shock of a blow, or internal ruptures from heavy hits to the chest or abdomen. This is why blunt and heavy weapons like cudgels are so popular. And all
gaulded
cloth will eventually wear out. Fibers being struck repeatedly begin to crush and tear till the
proofing
is useless. Damage like this appears slightly darker and scuffed, and the cheaper the gaulding is, the quicker this “wearing out” in battle occurs. Small areas of light scuffing can be re-treated and “healed” by a
gaulder
who knows his business, but once the damage to your
proofing
goes beyond this, you know it will soon be time to replace your
harness
.
Gaulded
clothing that is new and in good repair is said to be “bright,” a term left over from the days when metal armor was the norm.

gaulded
treated with the
gaulding
process.

gaulder
craftsperson who makes
gauld
and uses it to make
proofing
.

Gauldsman Five
one of the best
gaulders
in
Boschenberg
; he has been supplying high-quality
proofing
to most of the city’s wealthiest
peers
and magnates for over four decades. With a good reputation comes high prices, though even Gauldsman Five’s cheapest garments offer excellent protection for the
money
.

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.

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 cover 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.