Lamplighter (72 page)

Maria Diem
old
Tutin
word meaning “Meerday”—the Day of the Sea. For the other days of the week there are Newwich = Prima Diem, Loonday = Luna Diem, Midwich = Media Diem, Domesday = Festus Deis, Calumnday = Caelum Dies, and Solemnday = Gravis Deim.

mark
• (noun)
monster-blood tattoo;
• (verb) to apply a
monster-blood tattoo.

marshal-lighter
alternative rendering of
Lamplighter-Marshal.

massacar(s)
common name for a
black habilist,
especially those loathsome dabblers who make
rever-men
and other
gudgeons.
See
habilists
in Book One.

Master Come-lately
a mildly derogatory name for Rossamünd, given to him first by
Lamplighter-Sergeant Grindrod
and quickly adopted by the other
prentices.

Master-of-Clerks, the ~
also known as the
clerk-master,
the rank of
Podious Whympre,
the youngest son of a youngest son of a line of glossagraphs (foreign
clerks
) from
Brandenbrass.
There is money in the family, but Podious is not likely to inherit. The parsimonious fellow is an ambitious and shrewd administrator who loves a complete and thorough system of paperwork. His substantive (actual) rank is the highest non-commissioned
clerk
in a military establishment; his brevet (temporary) rank as Comptroller-Master-General puts him equal with the second highest ranks in
Winstermill,
though its position as the leader of all bureaucracy makes him the second-in-command. His appointment to this powerful position, after the original Comptroller-Master-General took sudden leave of his senses and the manse, was due to the influence of the
Imperial Secretary
stationed in High Vesting. An old friend of the family’s scrupulus sicus has taken to patronizing Whympre, exerting influence at the political end in the
clerk-master’s
favor. Ultimately taking his orders from Imperial bureaucrats, the
Lamplighter-Marshal,
whatever his personal take, has had to promote as directed. It is very frustrating for a military leader to have his affairs meddled with from afar.

mathematician(s)
bitter rivals of the concometrists (see entry in Book One), trained at an institution known as an abacus, and more interested in the beauty and function of pure numbers and systems than the functions of society. Trainees of an abacus are prized for their sharp minds, rapid calculations and other skills of genius and mental aptitude. Indexers, for example, are those who can organize figures and information in their heads without writing anything down, then remember it all and retrieve some point of fact for you at will, like thumbing through a file. Probably the most famous kinds of mathematician are the Imperial Computers, striving up in
Clementine,
figuring probabilities and sums that might affect the
Empire.

Maudlin
said “
Moord-lin
”; a planet, and one of the brightest lights in the night sky, having a distinct greenish tinge. See entry in Book One.

mercer
public messengers and parcel deliverers with a distinctive red-and-yellow-checked mottle. Usually employed within the confines of Imperial bureaucracies, they are sometimes sent to roam the lands taking notes, letters, invitations, packages and advertisements from someone to another and back.

middens
meal between breakfast and mains, around the middle of the day; lunch.

milt
the depth of one’s self; the core of one’s soul and convictions, deeper even than the heart.

Mirthlbrook, the ~
sometimes spelled Myrthlbrook; also known as the Mirthbyr or Mirthlstream or just the Mirthle, the fast-running stream that runs the length of the main valley that is the western
Idlewild
(otherwise known as the
Placidine
). The origin of its name is unclear; some say it is because of the many kinds of myrtle crowding along great lengths of its bank; yet others hold that it is because of the merry sound of its waters bubbling along its stony bed.

monster(s)
the nonhuman denizens of the Half-Continent. See entry in Book One.

monster-blood tattoo
cruorpunxis;
see entry in Book One.

monster-making
province of the
massacars—
or monster-makers—its practitioners are either called cadaverists (working in fabercadavery—making monsters from parts) or theropeusists or theropusists (working in theropeusia—making
monsters
by growing them). See
habilists
in Book One.

mordant(s)
scripts
that work by corrosion, otherwise known as
distinct acids.

moss-light
also known as a limnulin or
limulight,
this is a small, pocketable device, a simple
biologue
consisting of a small, lidded box holding a clump of naturally phosphorescent mosslike lichens (either funkelmoos or micareen), set on a thick bed of nutrient to keep it alive. This nutrient bed can be reinvigorated with drops of liquid similar to
seltzer.
The light provided by a limnulin is not bright, but can give you enough to see your way right on a dark, dark night, and is diffuse enough to not attract immediate attention. The color of the light varies widely: white, yellowish, green, blue and reddish illumination.The light produced has a distinctive natural glow and discrete focus that keeps it from being seen by unwanted eyes at oblique angles.

munkler(s)
also known as holzkreggers or nimsmen, being the fellows whose dangerous task it is to go into the deep wild woodlands, seek out, cut down and carry away as much almugwood, black elder and other are growths (see
sectithere
) as they can find. These woods are found mostly in the dark forests of Wörms and the central Gottskylds (as well as the uninhabitable spaces between Wencleslaus and Ing), and the name comes from the Gott word for “whisper.” It is given to them because of the silence and care with which they must proceed into the remote places and the relative quiet they must employ when taking down a tree. This is done using a great array of tackle and ropes strung from surrounding trees, which prevent the felled logs from crashing noisily. Munklers are therefore skilled climbers and knot-tiers. Animals are never taken on these expeditions, and the munklers carry out only what they themselves can bear. This is not much as woodcutting might go, but such a high price can be got for their precious cargo that four or five back-loads is enough to set a man up for more than a year’s living. Consequently, munklers make their dangerous forays only once or twice a year. One of the characteristic practices of munklers is to always cover themselves in
nullodors
so as to attract as little monstrous attention as possible as they extract the rare timber.

muttony-greasy
rich stew of lamb-gristle and goat meat, cooked all day to make it digestible, its sauce rich and salty, the best aromatic with a myriad of herbs.

Naught Swathe
also known as the Blank Swathe or the Dodderbanks, a region of the eastern bank of the Humour, near its mouth, and the lands farther east, inland to the Tumblesloe Heap. Home to several villages, the most prominent being
Red Scarfe
and Sodbury Wicket. Rossamünd actually made his way through the southern end of the Dodder Swathe during his flight from the Spindle to High Vesting.

neuroticrith
technical or proper name for a
wit.

new-carved
used to describe a
lahzar
who has only recently been operated upon to become one.

nicker(s)
generally any
monster.
See entry in Book One.

night-clerk
an
uhrsprechman.

nihillis
one of the parts that make up
Craumpalin’s Exstinker,
being a distillation of the odor-absorbing chalks dug from the mines of the Orpramine and Euclasia on the Verid Litus. The best chalks come from the pits at Caulk Sinter, Ferdigundis Rex and Calcedonys. It is a common ingredient in
nullodors.

nullodor(s)
any
potive
that changes or hides an existing smell. See entry in Book One.

Numps, Numption Orphias
highly talented, semiretired
seltzerman
kept in service at
Winstermill
by the goodwill of the current
Lamplighter-Marshal.
Disowned by his family after the terrible incident of three years ago.

Nuptarium, the ~
also known as the Collocation; lines down in the
Low Gutter
where married
pediteers
and
lampsmen
live with their wives and even children—though fortress life is not considered best for little’uns. Married men with rank are still expected to spend two or more nights sleeping in the bachelors’ lines each week.

nutrified wine
usually claret that, along with pear or apple pulp, is mixed with concentrates of oranges, lemons and limes and other decoctions of healthful herbs to provide a method of keeping folks healthy by duping them with alcohol.

obsequy
what we would call a funeral, also known as a funery or inurment. These rites typically include a declaration of the person’s merit and then some traditional farewell given by the mourners. In the
Haacobin Empire
it is most commonly thought that when people die they simply stop: a life begins, a life ends. In the cultures about them and their own past there have been various beliefs about afterlife and some all-creating elemental personage, but such notions are considered oppressive and outmoded. They would rather leave these ideas to the eekers, pistins (believers in a god) and other odd fringe-dwellers.

obstacular(s)
often billeted alongside the
lighters
might be a small garrison of suicidally zealous obstaculars: thief takers and excise-men who make oaths with their own blood to ferret out all
lurching,
smuggling, banditry and
dark trades
in their range.

Ol’ Barny
the Old Barn Owl, the affectionate epithet given to the Parracallid, also known as Sagax Glauxës or Saxo Glauxës, the Sagacious Owl of the Haacobins, the sigil of the
Empire,
which common
pediteers
of old held to look like a barn owl.

Old Gate pensioner, stiff as an ~
Old Gate in
Brandenbrass
is a hospital for aged pensioned
pediteers
to spend what years are left to them in a quasi-military environment, still performing
evolutions,
though not as easily as they once did—hence the expression.

Old Lacey
the name the
lighters
of the
Paucitine
have given to the
fleermare—
more properly called the Lacrimaria—that comes in from the
Swash.
They use this name both as a corruption of its proper designation and because commonly as it is falling or lifting it looks like a web or “lace” of foggy tendrils.

ossatomist
sometimes also called a bone-setter; the proper name for a person whose job is indeed to reset broken bones, a practice known as ossatomy. Because proofing is so effective in stopping lacerations, the more common wounds are bruises and breaks, as the body beneath the gaulding absorbs blows. There are no colleges or insitutions that train ossatomists; they rather pass their trade on through
prenticing,
and yet are still considered higher in value than
surgeons.
Ossatomists also perform dentury, that is, many of the functions we might recognize as the work of a dentist.

outramorine
one accused or taken by
outramour,
a monster-lover.

outramour
high regard for or love of
monsters;
the crime of which sedorners are guilty.Technically this is known as theiragapia (and its perpetrators as theragapins), and is also called sedonition (of course), and sometimes bewilderment (the state of being dazzled by—and therefore sympathetic to—the wilds).

Owlgrave, the ~
a thick wood at the eastern end of the Ullwold, in which can be found many boneyards—threwdish places where
monsters
of the region will take their prey and where they go to die when the weight of the everlasting war with the
everymen
weighs too heavy or wounds too deeply. Most animals eschew such places and they are characterized by the absence of birdsong—but for the hoots of owls and other scavenging birds who dare to go there at night for the promise of a feast of moldering
monster
-meat.

ox dray
large, long, heavy, flat wagon with 4, 6 or even 8 wheels for the carting of big loads and pulled by teams of 6, 8 or even 10 oxen. When there is a paucity of these beasts, great trains of 20 or more mules are used instead to achieve the same hauling strength. In tamer places, dobbins—great draft horses as strong as any ox—are employed.

pagrinine
also known as a filzhüt, the soft squarish cap of proofed felt (lawn) worn by
troubardiers.

palisade
cloth and wire cap favored by women of the southern Patricine and Frestonia.

Palliateer-Major
in charge of small groups of
leers, lurksmen,
sneaksmen and other erapteteers (those who creep), with captains to aid in their command. Palliateers tend to be divided into ambuscadiers (sneaking, ambushing soldiers) and erapteteers (sniffing, ferreting spies and trackers).

palliatrix
one who is trained to lie and deceive without giving any hint of mendacity, gaining mastery over reflexive gestures and nuances of expression—any small tic or twitch or stutter of the eye or voice that could give away a falsehood. Not a very common class of person and typically used only by less-than-savory employers.

pallmain(s)
heavy, oiled coat used to keep the wearer dry rather than for warmth. Typically they are proofed, which adds to their water-resistant qualities as well as their protective ones; among the few items of proofing vinegaroons will wear in service.