Lamplighter (71 page)

ledgermain(s)
person who has learned
skolding
from books and not from another skold. Ledgermains are considered grossly inferior to the genuine, once-prenticed article.

ledgerstone
stone carved with pretty words commemorating the life of some noteworthy individual. They are usually used as part of a floor or path, and sometimes are actually placed over the remains of the great personage.What is remarkable about this is that the body is typically laid right out rather than placed vertically or crouched in the fetal position. The latter is the common practice in cities not wanting to dispose of the beloved dead outside the city walls where
monsters
can dig the corpses up and
corsers
too, and where they need to conserve space in the tight confines of the city itself.

leer(s)
people who soak their eyes in remarkable concoctions to achieve extraordinary feats of sight. See entry in Book One.

lentum
shorthand for a
post-lentum
or any other covered and enclosed carriage of four wheels.

lesquin(s)
• (noun) honored mercenary regiments and brigades of the obdacar or freebooter (mercenary) class, wandering the lands or stationed in home cities waiting for the highest-paying master. They are special societies of soldiers with elaborate initiation ceremonies that emphasize loyalty to the particular
landsaire
(a lesquin legion). Much used in the squabbles between cities because they are a way—a loophole—around the stringent recruiting restrictions of the
Accord of Menschen
(where numbers within a state’s standing army are limited). The use of lesquins also allows a certain amount of immunity from accountability should it ever be required by the Emperor—“So sorry, your Imperial Highness, the lesquins got out of control and we were not able to stop them,” or that kind of thing. Lesquins dress as gaily as
lahzars
and
calendars,
though with differences that make them immediately recognizable, wearing such things as sammosh (big baggy hats) with guirlandes (enormous dyed feathers worn on the head), plunderhose (baggy pants tied off at the knee), exotic hide proofing such as crocidole (reptile skin), and favoring exotic weapons, especially
combinades.
Lesquin legions, or
landsaires,
originating from nonsignatory countries (Gottingenin,Wörms, the Lausid States and anywhere north of the Marrow and the Foullands) are preferred, though their numbers may still be stocked from Old World (meaning “Imperial”) populations.They will often charge their fee in accordance with their reputation. Still, less expensive
landsaires
have their uses—most notably affordability. The elite regiments are marked out with fancy mottle accoutrements: ospreys and other
hackles,
ailettes, and bonnets to rival a
calendar’s dandicomb.
Champions, known as machismards, are awarded harness and gear of exceptional manufacture, beyond regular issue, to recognize their prowess and encourage such ambition among brother fighters. Lesquins make excellent soldiers, rivaled only by a few standing armies or, more particularly, units within the same. Contests with such as these are fought bitterly to prove, of course, who is best. Ragtag bands of ill-trained, ill-equipped, ill-led and very cheap mercenary regiments are called foedermen, and are not considered worthy of the lesquin name. • (noun) card game commonly played by serious gamblers between a dealer (known as the colonel) and any number of wagerers. It is based on matching cards, and who holds what card determines whether the colonel or wagerers get the pot or ante. It takes its name from the soldiering lesquins, for some mistakenly believe it was invented by these sell-swords, but it is more likely that the lesquins are responsible not for its invention but for spreading it about the known world. They are certainly among its most frequent players.The
prentices
of
Winstermill
would be playing it to feel all manly and brave; the
lighters
on the
Wormway
would be playing it because all soldiers the lands over do.

letter-fall
that is the apt sequence, or “fall,” of the letters as they are in what we would call the alphabet; alphabetical order.

liaphobe(s)
see
gretchen(s), gretchen-globe(s).

libermane
potive
used to prevent the
cruor
of a
monster
from clotting too quickly as it is stored in a
bruicle.
Useful as this is, it also affects the quality of the blood, thinning it and making the
cruorpunxis
it is used for pale, less distinct.Therefore libermane is used only when a
teratologist
is more than a couple of days’ journey from a
punctographist.
Another function of libermane is its application on swords, knives and other blades of war to make a wound flow more than it ought, though by the
Accord of Menschen
this practice is deemed unacceptable in modern conflict.

Lictor
person in charge of punishment and discipline, the deliverer of the lash, the clapper of irons, the locker of stocks, pillories and durance doors; the tightener of the noose or the cords of a Catherine wheel. In more extreme regimes, the Lictor is also the chief torturer.

lighter(s)
shortened name for a
lamplighter.

limes
short, universal morning interval designed purely to make certain
pediteers
get some citrus juice into them. After the discovery by Callio Catio (reputed—along with Asclipides and others—to be the founder of modern
physics
) of the prevention of scurvy and other nutrition-related diseases, military organizations the lands over have fastidiously ensured their men take their lime or lemon juice (Juice-of-Orange is a more recent advent, reserved for those who can afford it and not your ordinary foot slogger).

limulight(s)
small box-light whose source of effulgence is living bio-luminescent mosses and lichens. See
moss-light.

linen package
wrapped parcel containing one’s underclothes.

liripipium
hat with a peak that hangs down at the back in a “tail.”

locum
usually a physician in training or someone working as assistant to a physic with a view toward attending a physactery and gaining a full qualification.

long-rifle
smooth-bore musket with an extraordinarily long barrel to provide greater accuracy.The name is a misnomer, for the bore is not in fact “rifled,” but left smooth, though the great length of the barrel does make for very true shots.

loomblaze
powerful repellent that is also part
fulminant
. Because it both poisons and burns with
false-fire,
it is regarded as a very versatile agrise (violent
potives;
as opposed to palliates—helpful, healthful
potives
; or obstrutes—most other
potives
)
,
useful against both human and
monster.
The nature of its violence means its use is recommended only when deadly force is required.

lordia
mild restorative that is meant to balance the humours (see
Four Humours, the
~ in Book One). Balancing the humours restores equilibrium to intellect and soul, pith and thew, calming the imbiber and setting agitations to ease. Its mild efficacy is matched only by its small expense; a cheap pick-me-up that has been said to be the cause of addiction in some.

lorica
also known as a corslet, a
proof-steel
back-and-breastplate, worn most by
troubardiers
and the few heavy equiteer regiments in the Half-Continent. Its front is fairly steeply peaked to allow shots from a firelock to more easily ricochet. It is a common practice to adhere
lour
or
soe
or villeny to the metal or to black it in order to eliminate or reduce shine.

Lornstone, the ~
also known as the Heptafornix or “seven arches,” a bridge and causeway built as part of the great project to run a road through the
Ichormeer.
The causeway that runs east from it was built on the pattern of the
Pettiwiggin
and had been intended to carry the road all the way through the
Frugelle.
The attrition of economies and a lack of desire meant this ambition was soon abandoned after only a few miles of raised-road were completed. The first of many small failures that dogged the great work of the laying of the
Conduit Vermis.

Lot’s Books
popular diagrammatic readers written on a whole host of topics—navies,
monsters,
famous people, animals, weapons, etc.—and filled with helpful diagrams. Expensive, they are a favorite educational tool for children among the well-to-do.

lour
• (noun) velvet that has been treated with gauld; other gaulded cloths include linteum (lint) = cotton; duram = hemp; buff = leather; ombyx = gauze or other filmy materials;
soe
= silk; pellis = fur; fustian = hessian; villeny or lawn = felt. • (verb) to frown.

Low Gutter, the ~
in the distant past of
Winstermill’s
history, the southern end of the huge mound upon which it was erected collapsed with loss of life, the historied rubble on which it was founded failing at last. Rather than abandon the fortress, as some advised, cooler minds prevailed to have that ruined section of what was once an enormous open ground shored up and leveled, a stable shelf several score feet lower than the main Mead. Upon this shelf it became practicable to construct servants’ quarters and mills for laboring work as the staff of
Winstermill
expanded beyond the simple barracks it once had been. It was during the early repairs that the name the Low Gutter was coined, for the ruined foundation would fill with the rains and spout water from many cracks and corners like a roof gutter.

lurcher(s)
• (noun) also called finegars, the vernacular for those who especially trap
monsters,
doing their level best to keep them alive. They are considered worse than poachers and other such slyboots, and often trap on lands otherwise declared out of their bounds, such as the private lands of a peer. • (noun) derogatory name used to refer to someone who killed a
monster
for which another had the Writ of the Course to slay, thus robbing that second
gallant
of his head-money.

lurksman, lurksmen
sometimes called pathprys, these are trackers and spies, and are often nonleers practiced in the use of a
sthenicon.
Given that a
sthenicon
is made to be used and understood by a
leer,
it takes a lot for nonleers to achieve such skill, and once they have mastered it they are never as good as a box-faced
laggard
. Still, a lurksman is far better than no sensurist at all.

lurksman-general
informal name for the General-Master-of-Palliateers and the commanding officer of the
Palliateer-Major.
Palliateers are those soldiers and
auxiliaries
concerned with sneaking and spying and tracking, including
leers, lurksmen,
ambuscadiers, sneaksmen and other clandestine agents.

mabrigond
one of the constituents of
Craumpalin’s Exstinker
made from the dried and ground buds of the flower of the same name; a typical inclusion in
nullodors,
where its own flat smell helps obscure other scents.

maiden-fraught
any woman given to a life of combat, including
calendars.
In a typically patriarchal society,
skolding
and more recently becoming a
lahzar
has been an oft-used path for young women seeking relief and independence from their fathers, uncles, brothers and the usual social mores.
Lahzars,
particularly, occupy an unusual place in society, outside of it in an ill-defined way: respected, feared, despised and needed. And a woman as one is regarded as the acme of all things “modern”—and modernity is generally regarded as a bad thing by those of breeding. “You look very modern,” one might say with a sneer.

Maids of Malady, the ~
clave
of
calendars
from Burgundia. Little is known of them in the
Empire,
for they direct their activities more to the eastern lands, though any who have had dealings with the
Soratchë
will have likely heard of their allies the Maids as well. Indeed the Maids are said to be aspex (see
invidists
), treating sedorners most severely, going out of their way to chase down a proven
outramorine.
They are even more zealous than their allies in their pursuit of
black habilists.

mains
last official meal of the day, usually begun at 6 P.M. Much to Rossamünd’s early discomfort, mains is later in the day than he was used to at the old marine society, and he was terribly sharp-set in the first week as a
prentice-lighter
at
Winstermill,
as his tummy emptied on habit two whole hours earlier than it would be filled again.

Major-of-House
the correct title of a
house-major.

Makepeace
one of the smaller settlements in the
Idlewild
sponsored by
Brandenbrass.
The sister colony of the mining village Gathercoal, this hopefully named township is the main source of supply and support to the
peltrymen
of the Ullwold to the north, and pastoralists of the Swiddenlands or Swide—the narrow hilly stretch of farms to the south along the northern fells of the
Sparrow Downs.
It is also home to the
cothouse
of Makepeace Stile.

manchin(s)
thick sleeves of proofed materials, usually voluminous enough to be pulled over other sleeves, then tied to the body with straps or ribbons. They serve as extra protection for the arms, and are often lined with fleece for added warmth.

maraude(s)
theroscades
on a large scale, with an abnormally large collection of
monsters
in one attack or many attacks across a range or, most frightening of all, both at once. For reasons not properly understood, winter has proved to be the more usual time for such things, but they are mercifully less common than might be expected. Unless they are beasts who naturally pack together, it takes a mighty showing of will to get
monsters
to behave in concert. Even so, history both popular and obscure is filled with the hushed tellings of these terrible days and the
Empire
is still recovering from the aftermath of the greatest maraudes—those civilization-ruining massings of
nickers
great and small.