Foundling (40 page)

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:

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.

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 cities 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.

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

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.

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.

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
.