Lamplighter (75 page)

scarlet-powder
what we would think of as washing detergent, bright red flakes of crystalline surfactant that lose their color as they form suds in water. Seeing them for the first time you might expect the water in which they are placed to turn red too, but it remains clear.

scourge(s)
skold who specializes in the use of the most potent
scripts
known. See entry in Book One.

scratch-bob
short, powdered wig with dainty curls at the sides and a short tail of hair hanging at the back. Usually referring to those of cheap manufacture, but a common term for all such items of apparel.

script(s)
potives
or the “recipes” for their making. See entry in Book One.

scrubber(s)
very large tubs made from the halves of old brewing butts and used as washing basins to clean dishes or clothes or any other thing that needs a lot of room for a good scrubbing.

Sebastipole, Mister
Lamplighter’s
Agent of
Winstermill
and
telltale
to the
Lamplighter-Marshal.
See entry in Book One.

sectifactor(s)
transmogrifying
surgeons
; that is, those people who conduct the surgeries that make a person into a
lahzar.

sectithere
said
“sek
’tih’theer,” kind of
therimoir;
knives made by a profoundly ancient method, used for the effective cutting of
monsters,
who are otherwise hard to harm with more mundane blades. They were once the standard weapon of the
heldins—
the mighty folk of renown from obscure history—and the weapons of these near-mythical folk are prized relics today, as the quality of manufacture cannot even be approached currently. In more recent times sectitheres are the tools of
sagaars
and
therlanes
(“
monster
-butchers” from the
Tutin
“therilanius”) and some
punctographists.
They are very hard to make, which means they are prohibitively expensive, and as such, very uncommon. The best kind, of course, are the relics. Some sectitheres come in the form of scissors. The blades are made of spiegeleisen (also vitrine or festverglas): a highly refined, almost glasslike ceramic containing powerful
mordants, expungeants
and pestilents such as
gringollsis.
This is applied over metal, or allowed to soak into wood which is then fired many times till it is tempered-steel hard. Different woods give different results: the best woods for the strongest, most potent blades are made from now near-mythical almugwood or exceptionally rare black elder. Wood so treated is known as glanzend (Gott for “gift-glass”) or giftwood.

Secunda Loca
the “bottom half ” of the
Haacobin Empire,
encompassing the lands south-southwest of Tuscanin and Catalain, down to and including the Lent, reaching west as far as the Patter Moil and east to the shores of the
Ichormeer.
The “top half ” is the Prester Regnum, and includes the Seat and the Verid Litus.

seigh
the local Sulk and
Idlewild
name for the more fortified high-houses built in wilder places.

Sellry, wine-of ~
constituent of
Craumpalin’s Exstinker,
a fairly common decoction made from the juices of several common plants that, when put together, have the qualities required by a wide variety of fluid
potives.
Mildly poisonous, it is most frequently used as a base for repellents, though it is seldom seen in
nullodors.

seltzer, seltzer water
salts-infused “waters” used to cause
bloom
to give off light. Depending on the origin of the very first
bloom
from which your stock was raised, the constituency of your seltzer will need to vary to allow for the different marine environments from which each kind of
bloom
was once retrieved. This knowledge tends to be possessed only by
seltzermen,
the suppliers of
bright-limns,
and some skolds, who can tell what breed of
bloom
they might have before them and what mix of seltzer to nourish it in. Generally the composition of seltzer water is:

Some
seltzermen
might also include varying parts of ethulate, of which there are different varieties for the particular breeds of
bloom.

seltzer lamp
larger version of a
seltzer lantern,
though the terms are interchangeable.

seltzer lantern
any
lamp
that uses
bloom
-and-
seltzer
to give light, but most particularly a portable light of larger size than a
bright-limn.

seltzerman, seltzermen
tradesman responsible for the maintenance of all types of
limulights.
Their main role is to make and change the
seltzer water
used in the same. Among
lamplighters,
seltzermen have the duty of going out in the day to any lamp reported by the
lantern-watch
(in ledgers set aside for the purpose) as needing attention and performing the necessary repair.This can be anything from adding new
seltzer,
to adding new
bloom,
to replacing a broken pane or replacing the whole lantern-bell. See
seltzer, seltzer water.

Senior Service
the navy—a name it gives itself; see entry in Book One.

senior-sister
the name
clave
members use among themselves to refer to their
august,
being the highest active “rank” among them. Carlins are the revered “retirees” who often no longer actively serve but live lives of quiet contemplation or—if they are peeresses—return to the glamour of their former lives as wise old dames.

Sequecious
pronounced “seh’
kwee
’shuss”; enormous, easygoing and almost unquenchably jovial, he is a native of the independent realm of Sebastian, a direct western neighbor of the Seat, the heartland of the
Empire.
A war over the fertile lands of the downs of the Agrigentum and the plateau of the Stipula has been waxing and waning between Sebastian and the Haacobins (and the Sceptics before them) for centuries. Sequecious was a camp cook for an eminent Sebastian officer and was captured when the baggage train of that officer’s regiment was am-bushed and ransacked by Imperial ambuscadiers. Spending time first in a war prison, he was processed and sent out to serve as a soldier-slave—as with so many of the Haacobins’ prisoners of war—on the
Empire’s
more southerly borders, despite his size. This found him as the cook for the
lighters
of
Wormstool,
as remote a post as you could want for. The good dealings he has in the hands of the
lighters
give him hope for a better life as a citizen of the
Empire,
as does the promise of actual pay he is due should he become a native of the Haacobin domains.

sequestury, sequesturies
places of quiet and contemplation well within the protecting walls of a
calanserie,
originally established to provide well-to-do women with a refuge to which to retreat from undue attention or unpeaceful lives. Accommodated in their own apartments, these anchoresses (hermit women) are granted the rights of their degree and live in familiar worldly comfort. They are the great benefactresses of the
calendars
the world over and with their support sequesturies are able to take in battered wives, destitute widows,
good-day gala-girls
and other ladies of poor repute fleeing their handlers and seeking a better life. They also seek social justice for women as a sex in general.

sergeant(s)
second highest rank of non-commissioned officer, below master but above
under-sergeant,
involved in the training,
evolving
and supervision of the lives of their charges. A good sergeant will play “mother” to a lieutenant’s or captain’s “father”, tending to the welfare of his subordinates.

sergeant-lighter
alternative to
Lamplighter-Sergeant,
a slightly less formal way of addressing one of that rank and normally allowed only to those of equal or higher rank.

shabraque(s)
proofed coverings for horses, commonly made of panels of buff (gauld-leather), fixed together by rivets or points (reinforced ties) or both, flexible yet solid. Every time a horse goes out with its shabraque, the proofing is smeared or splashed with a
nullodor,
either deadening the horsy odor or transmuting it to smell like some other less tasty creature. Over all this may be hung a couvrette, a colorful, sturdy blanket in your chosen mottle and even marked with sigils, a purely decorative feature and the kind of excess insisted upon only by the conspicuously wealthy.

sheer
crane or winch used to lift loads up and lower them down.

showing away
boasting or showing off.

siccustrumn
any
script
used to staunch a flow of blood from a wound. This is achieved by pastes, fast-setting liquids and powders. The better siccustrumn will not only stop a flow quickly, but will act like sutures and keep the wound from opening and bleeding again. Best results are achieved by a siccustrumn combined with bandages.

signifer(s)
the distinct parts of a scent or other trail that aid
leers
or
lurksmen
in their work. One of the more remarkable applications of a signifer is a group of
potives
known as anavoids, which
leers
use to
mark
someone or something they want to trail, following the distinct scent wherever it may lead.The best anavoids will last for weeks even in water and are hard to detect by fellow
leers
and other “box-wearers,” seeming more like a natural smell to all but the person who used it. It has been known for talented and well set-up
leers
to follow an anavoided trail even over waters from one harbor to another.

sillabub
honey-sweetened milk mixed with either strong wine or, in a
Skyldic
twist, with vinegar—a taste for the dead of mouth and strong of stomach.

Silvernook
miners’ town on the northern edge of the Brindleshaws. See entry in Book One.

Sinster
the best place to go to be made into a
lahzar.
See entry in Book One.

Sinus Tintinabuline
called the Sin Tin for short, and meaning the Bay of Bells, it is the great body of water to the northeast of the Half-Continent, its western shores home to the ports of the Turkemen, its east coast hiding the pirate-kings of the Brigandine States. The Sin Tin gets its name from the many, many buoys and markers with their warning-bells that have been moored by the myriad of submerged hazards for as long as history records. These buoys are freely maintained by all who use the waters of the Bay; even the pirate-kings play ruses with them only very occasionally, otherwise doing their part to tend the ancient warning system.

sis edisserum
Tutin
term, loosely meaning “please explain,” this is an order from a superior (usually the Emperor) to appear before him and a panel of peers forthwith, to offer reasons, excuses, evidence, testimony and whatever else might be required to elucidate upon whatever demands clarity. A sis edisserum is normally seen as a portent of Imperial ire, a sign that the person or people so summoned are in it deep and must work hard to restore the Emperor’s confidence. A sis edisserum is a “black mark” against your name, and very troublesome to remove.

Skillions, the ~
south-eastern corner of the
Low Gutter
in the fortress of
Winstermill.
It gains its somewhat derogatory name from the many small, wood-built single-story sheds, warehouses and work-stalls found there. These are a recent addition to this part of the Gutter, previously being the site of a stately old building designated for multiple uses, including the growing of
bloom
and the making and storing of all lanterns. This reputedly burned down in mysterious circumstances two generations ago, outside of any current occupant’s memory.

skilly
gruel or broth made from scrap meat and leftovers from the previous evening’s mains.

skittle-alley
what we would think of as a “fun-parlor,” where folks pay to play at skittles (obviously), hoop-a-ring, bowlers (essentially carpet bowls) and pegstops (a game that involves using batons known as pegs to knock your opponent’s pegs down and get a ball into their “goal”). The best skittle-alleys also possess billiard tables.

skolding
practices and arts of a skold; to work as a skold or to go out hunting
monsters
with
potives.
See
skold(s)
in Book One.

skold-shot
leaden balls fired from either musket or pistol, and treated with various concoctions of powerful
venificants
known as
gringollsis,
particularly devised for the destruction of
monsters.
These
potives
are corrosive, damaging the barrels of the firelocks from which they are fired and eating gradually, yet steadily, away at the metal of the ball itself. Left long enough, a skold-shot ball will dissolve completely away. Very effective against most
nickers
and bogles, some of the best
gringollsis
actually poison a
monster
to the degree that it becomes vulnerable to more mundane weapons.