Foundling (43 page)

monster-blood tattoo
also
cruorpunxis
; tattoos given to someone who has just slain a
monster
, and made with some of the siphoned blood of that same
monster
. Once pricked into the skin, the
monster’s
blood reacts strangely with
everyman
blood, causing a quickly festering, throbbing sore that eventually sloughs off its scab to reveal permanently port-red to blood-brown marks beneath. These tattoos are usually a highly stylized face based on the
bogle
the person slew. Those who make a profession of marking tattoos in
monster
blood and making
spoors
are called punctographists. The best punctographists—those who make the most impressive images and do it with the least pain—earn themselves a comfortable living. A decent
cruorpunxis
, say about two inches by two inches, will set you back about two
sous
. Punctographists are most likely to be found in busy rural centers where
monsters
haunt the lands about, and in cities where wealth and fashion keep them in demand. Saved
monster
blood (called cruor or sometimes
ichor
) will remain usable for a little over a day before congealing. Kept cool and hidden, it can last for almost three days. This gives the victorious
pugnator
a little time after slaying the
nicker
to bottle its blood and make for the nearest major town to get a tattoo.

monster-hunters
those whose work it is to defend the realm of humans against the realm of
monsters
. See
teratologists
.

monster-lover
being of such a disposition is a terrible crime. See
sedorner
.

months of the year
there are 16 months in the
Half-Continent
year, most of 23 days, with 3 having 22 days. This means that there are 4 months in each season. For summer there is Calor (22 days), Estor (23 days), Prior (23) and Lux (23). For autumn there is Pilium (23), Cachrys (23), Lirium (23) and Pulchrys (23). For winter there is Brumis (22), Pulvis (23), Heimio (23) and Herse (23). For spring there is Orio (23), Unxis (23), Icteris (23) and Narcis (22). The year always ends with a day to spare, Lestwich, the last day of the year. This means that the new year always starts on a Newich, and therefore the dates of the year always fall on the same days year in, year out. Farmers, fishermen and other folk working by the seasons and the evolutions of the moon like this calendar a lot: its predictability makes their lives that little bit simpler. See
days of the week
and Appendix 1.

morbidity
putrefaction or bacterial breakdown and decay.

Mortar, the ~
suburb in
Boschenberg
famous for its
proofing
.

mottle
patterns and colors of allegiance shown on clothes,
harness
, flags,
baldrics
and other sashes and ribbons. Every state,
realm
or organization has its own mottle, a distinctive combination of two or more colors (or tinctures) arranged in immediately recognizable patterns. Tinctures have definite meanings and are used accordingly. For example, the colors of the
Empire
are rouge and cadmia with leuc (red and yellow with white), meaning “justice, honor, wisdom”; the mottle of
Boschenberg
ocher and sable (brown and black), meaning “hardiness and wisdom (shrewdness)”;
Brandenbrass
sable and leuc (black and white), meaning “wisdom and integrity.” The following list shows the colors used in mottle, their proper or technical name, positive meaning and negative meaning:
When flying flags, negative meanings are shown by hoisting a pure black strip (the black rider) beneath them. For example, a fortress succumbing to the effects of
threwd
might fly an orient (purple) flag with a “black rider” to show that the place is overcome with madness. By using the same device, one could pass insults to an enemy across the field of war.You can say a lot with colors.

muck hill
pile of poo.

mules
square-heeled slipper with no heel piece or quarters; any flat-heeled, soft shoe that is fastened to the foot and leg with ribbons.

Mullhaven, the ~
harbor and roads (safe anchorage) before
High Vesting
. Its name is
Hergott
for “sandy harbor.”

musket
see
flintlock musket
.

musketeer
foot soldier or
pediteer
wearing half-
harness
of a
weskit
with platoon-coat and a
thrice-high
; his main weapon is the musket fixed with bayonet. Designated medium infantry. See
pediteer
and
harness
.

Naimes
said “naymz”; moderately large
Soutland city-state
found in the southwestern corner of a fertile farming region known as the Villene (said “vill-enn”), a region inland of Frestonia. Naimes has grown rich on the trade of timber, meat and certain semiprecious metals and gems. Being pinched, however, between the great powers of Haquetaine, Maine, Westoverin and Castoria has limited its growth. Its regent, the Duchess of Naimes, has suffered no little embarrassment at the wayward behavior of her daughter, her only child and heiress.

nasties
one of the many euphemisms for
monsters
.

nativity patent
official document that declares the place and time of birth and bears an official seal and signatures. The record of all the places a person might live and any citizenship he or she might be granted is also recorded on a nativity patent.Without one, it is hard for a person to establish his or her identity and almost impossible to get decent work or even be allowed into most cities.

navy
unlike standing armies, the states of the
Empire
are allowed to have navies as big as they can afford them to be, and so the states do just that. These standing navies are known as fleets-in-being and serving in them is the single most common occupation, with only the merchant marine coming anywhere near as close (after this comes serving the bureaucracies of the
Empire
). Navies are mostly made up of
rams
, which are massive
ironclad
vessels of war. These are employed for various integral tasks:

Universally calling themselves the
Senior Service
, the navies of the states are always looking for new recruits. They put up posters promising great rewards, fete famous or valorous captains to keep their popularity high, press vagrants, foundlings and merchant vinegars (men serving on merchant vessels) into service, offer convicted criminals a berth in place of serving in the notoriously foul prisons, pinch or entice the crew from the
rams
of other states; in short, do whatever it takes to keep their ships fully manned. Life in the navy is tough, and
vinegaroons
often die younger than landlubbers (or just
“lubbers,”
as
vinegaroons
will say), affected by the caustic sprays that wash over their
rams
and pit and scar their skin.Yet the pay is higher for equivalent work on land and the chance of
prize money
very real. Though
vinegaroons
do not wear uniforms, their
rams
have distinct collections of flags, unique for each state or realm, called bunting. The biggest piece of bunting is the enormous rectangular flag known as the spandarion, showing the
mottle
and sigil of the state to which the
ram
belongs. A fleet decked out in full bunting flapping proudly in the breeze is a most beautiful sight. There are also cypher flags or burges—used to communicate from vessel to vessel—run up on lines between the masts. By these a commodore or admiral can give orders to his squadron or fleet, and vessels can relay simple information. A typical navy consists of twenty to thirty capital
rams
including three to five
main-sovereigns
, sixty odd cruisers (see Appendix 6) and many schooners and other small
sailers
for observation and running messages (advice boats). It is usual for a
city-state
to support more
rams
than it could ever shelter in its harbors. This is because about two thirds of any navy is at sea at any one time. Maintaining even a half-decent navy costs mind-bogglingly immense amounts of
money
,
money
that a state may not always have in its coffers. Consequently, navies will be involved in their own private enterprises, or invest in companies and seek investors from among those who benefit most from their labors. Naval agents are responsible for all this wheeling and dealing, and great clouds of them bustle about the
Half-Continent
in pursuit of funding for their masters. See
rams
and
vinegaroons
.

nicker(s)
general name for all
monsters
that live on land (sea-
monsters
generally being called nadderers), and also used more specifically of those
monsters
who are the size of a person or larger. See
monsters
.

nimbleschrewd(s)
type of blightling (the worst sort of
glamgorn
) who runs about in gangs. As with many other
glamgorns,
they like to dress in human clothes and adore making mischief wherever and however they can. A nimbleschrewd’s idea of mischief goes far beyond just simple pranks (these they will do); what they like best is making
everymen
miserable and wretched and even killing them. See
glamgorns
.

nostrum
scripts
that are not part of the common lexicon (popular and well-known
scripts
). Instead they are the unique or rare concoctions of a specific
skold
or school of
skolds
.

nuglung(s)
small but very powerful kind of
bogle
, often having a head like a twisted version of an animal’s. It is said that nuglungs serve the
urchins
, the lords of the
monsters
, as messengers and spies, and are often found sneaking and prying into the deeds of men. They are notoriously tough to kill, although most
potives
work just as well on them as on any other
monster
. The worst, most violent and cruel of the nuglungs are called pernixis. See
monsters
.

nullodour
a collection of
potives
designed to hide or confuse or fake certain smells. Their most common use is to mask the distinctive odor of a person so that he or she remains unnoticed by
monsters
. Used in conjunction with
john-tallow
, it offers you an excellent chance to throw off pursuit and escape with your life.

old salt
one of the many names for a sailor of the high seas. See
vinegaroon
.

olfactologue
“smell-machine”; a biologue (biological device) used to make smells profoundly more noticeable while also increasing the wearer’s ability to discern subtle differences in odors otherwise impossible to sense. Made of a simple wooden box strapped over the nose and mouth but leaving the eyes unobstructed. See
sthenicon
for a detailed description of the parts that make up an olfactologue. As with a
sthenicon
, if you wear an olfactologue for too long, the organs inside will start to grow up your nose and into your face. After about a week, the box could still be taken off, though you would find tendrils up your nose that would tear out painfully. After a month of wearing an olfactologue (or a
sthenicon
), it could not be removed without surgery and the loss of the front of your face. Used most by
leers
, who swallow special
drafts
beforehand to help make their senses sharper and sniff exotic powders to retard the invasion of the biologue’s organs.

Opera, Madam ~
third daughter of middling gentry. In her twenties, Madam Opera Gelderwine found true love with a daring
equiteer
officer of superior breeding and charm only to have a scandal (so serious that few still know anything about it and Madam Opera will never tell) dissolve the engagement and leave the young agonized Opera forever unwilling to try at love again. Taking on the title “madam” anyway, to put off any more suitors, of which there were several, she set off on the Grand Tour and traveled the known world for several years seeking solace in glamorous cities. Running out of money, she finally returned to
Boschenberg,
the city of her birth, to find all that remained to her was an old mansion in a run-down part of the city. With no income and no prospects she took up one of many
navy
contracts being offered at the time to run a
marine society
, the first unmarried woman to have ever done so. Hiring pensioned
vinegaroons
as her staff (who received their pay from the
navy
rather than from the madam, and included
Fransitart
and a year later
Craumpalin
), she began her Estimable Marine Society for Foundling Boys and Girls. She is a lonely, middle-aged lady who spends most of her days stalking about the
marine society
seeing who she might catch at “knavery and misdeeds!” as she calls it, or sitting in her private rooms receiving guests and dictating letters for
Verline
to take down. To the children Madam Opera seems grand, calculating and sour.To any of the young men who act as agents for the various services seeking to hire
marine society
children, she seems an obvious flirt.