Lamplighter (77 page)

tally-clerk
person responsible for counting and recording the comings and goings through whichever door, gate or other portal he or she is assigned to watch. The use of such a function in a place like
Winstermill
is to regulate trade, traffic and even emigration, and for awareness of who and what is within the manse. They are assisted greatly in their duties by
cursors.

tandem, tandem chair
finely carved, two- or three-seater cushioned seat; what we might call a chaise lounge.

telltale(s)
falsemen
retained by one of office or status to inform their employers of the veracity of others’ statements or actions, to signal if fellow interlocutors are lying or dissembling or masking the truth in any other way. If they could afford to, most people of any significance would employ telltales, but there simply are not enough
falsemen
to fill so many vacancies. This means that a
leer
can earn a truly handsome living as a telltale, many commonly charging a premium for their service at fees usually beyond all but the very well off, or serving with promises for advancement and personal advantage. Then there are those honorable few who do it simply because it is their job and responsibility. Despite this rarity, many of the prominent work hard to nullify the advantage a telltale will give, either by employing their own
falseman,
or having a
palliatrix
(a highly trained liar—even rarer than a
falseman
) attend in their stead.

tempestine
military term for a
wit,
gained from the notion that they cause a tempest within the minds of the enemies.

teratologist(s)
monster-
hunter. In truth there are not a great number of teratologists in the Half-Continent, and those who are there are stretched thin and typically prefer the higher financial recompense of
knaving
themselves to the poor pay received in direct Imperial Service. This is especially true of
lahzars,
who may well have a large debt to service, incurred to pay for their original transmogrification. Consequently it is only a few teratologists ever feel community-hearted enough to work permanently in the government’s pay at fortresses, manses and other outposts on the edges of civilization—and when one dies he or she is very hard to replace. See entry in Book One.

test
place where skolds,
dispensurists
or other habilists do their makings, their brewings and combinations of parts. What we might term a “laboratory.” Consequently, to brew or otherwise make a
potive
is to testtelate.

test-barrow
or
chymistarium
or testtle; a wheelbarrow-like device, a sizable oblong box striated with hinges and doors, drawers and locks, that folds open to reveal many compartments and a small yet fully functioning and very portable
test.
This includes a small but remarkably well-appointed portable
chymistarium
(what we might think of as a chemistry set) that can include a little stone-lined stove-plate, kept hot even when on the move, providing the clean puffs of smoke from its chimney. Test-barrows are ancient tools, more basic versions used first by the rhubezhals of old and refined over the centuries. Expensive items, their possession proves the affluence and (assumedly) the successful skill of its possessor.

thaumateer(s)
term for a
teratologist
in military service; taken from the
Attic
word for “a wonder” or “a marvel.” As may be expected, the various kinds of
teratologist
are given their own military designation, such as tempestines for
fulgars,
torsadines for
wits,
bombastines for
scourges,
avertines for skolds and so on.

theiromisia
also known as theiraspexthis, apexthia or, most commonly, invidition: the implacable hatred of
monsters
. The opposite of
outramour
, which is the love of
monsters
, as an
invidist
or execrat is the opposite of a sedorner (see
sedorner
in Book One). See
individist(s).

theme(s)
military districts that are given into the charge of a general or even a marshal—who may even be in charge of a multiplicity of them. All matters military or to do with the defense of the people are under the control of the marshal or general. There are two kinds: Static themes—under the control of a state, and Imperial themes, established by
Clementine
and not necessarily conforming to sociopolitical boundaries established by the states. Where Static themes and Imperial themes overlap there can be a great deal of wrangling and collision of jurisdictions.

therimoir(s)
pronounced
“there
’ih’moyr” (
Attic,
literally, “
monster
-fate”), also tierschlächt (Gott); weapon designed or fitted to slay
monsters.
The most famous and useful of these are ancient devices, many of which have been lost in the many rises and falls of civilization.

therlane(s)
literally, “
monster
-butchers,” typically members of the
dark trades
who, by experience, are usually able to make a common sense of the varying anatomies of dead
monsters
and cut them up with
sectitheres
for the various uses for which each part will be employed. Those who use such parts are utterly reliant on these
monster-
carvers, and skilled therlanes can command high prices for their expertly dissected bogle-bits.

theroid(s)
a more technical term for a
monster.

theroscade(s)
quite simply, an attack by
monsters,
particularly an ambush, but the term is used to mean any assault by
üntermen.

Theudas, Fadus
young
lamplighter
serving at
Wormstool,
born and raised in the
Considine.
His father is a midlevel bureaucrat in the Imperial Service.Theudas could not bear the idea of the desk life and fled his home; after many adventures he found the active simple life he desired with the
lamplighters
of the
Wormway.
An eager fellow who, through persistence and the excellence of his brief service record, gained a
billet
out on the
“ignoble end of the road.”

thill(s)
shafts on a cart or carriage onto which a horse or other such animal for pulling the vehicle is harnessed.

Threnody of Herbroulesse, Marchess-in-waiting, the Lady ~
only child and daughter to the
LadyVey,
conceived outside of the banns of any intended marriage, simply for the purpose of producing an heir. She is a self-determined girl, stubborn and quick-witted, and even quicker tempered, sent to
Sinster
by her mother on the advent of her thirteenth birthday to be transmogrified into a lahzarine
wit
. Consequently, when Rossamünd was still at Madam Opera’s despairing of his chance at getting work,Threnody was under the knives of Spedillo and Sculapias, said to be among the best
surgeons
to have ever held a
catlin
.
Dolours
and others of the
clave
advised the
LadyVey
to wait, but she would not, determined to have her daughter as a powerful
wit,
well learned in antics by the time she was old enough to begin to share the lead.Threnody has ideas of her own which (of course) do not always correlate to her mother’s ambitions for her. The tension between them is continual, often emotionally violent, to the point that Threnody’s request to become a
lamplighter
was granted her, if only to give
Syntychë
and the
columbines
of
Columbris
a rest from all the agonies of mother-daughter angst. One of the “joys” of Threnody’s new state is the endless imbibing of the necessary chemistry to keep her new organs in check.

Threnody’s Alembant Schedule
threwd
at its mildest, the haunted feeling of watchfulness that can be felt in wilder, less populated places. See entry in Book One. See also
pernicious threwd.

thrice-blighted
emphatic curse meaning that someone is truly wicked, useless and unwelcome.

thrombis
healing
script
of the
siccustrumn
group related to the restorative realm, and one of the better kinds of powders used to quickly clot a wound and staunch blood flow.

thrumcop
also called a bog-button and related to a larger, tasty and oddly threwdish fungus known as austerpill, thrumcops are a mushroom with a deep brown pileus spotted with swollen off-white circular patches. The essence of thrumcops can be used in rudimentary repellents, giving rise to the idea that eating them on their own will cause this essence to seep through your pores and make you less appetizing to a
monster
.

tinker
sometimes mistakenly called a trifler (seller of cheap cutlery and other pewter and tinware), a tinker is a mender of metal items not requiring a forge to fix. One of the wayfarers that go “huc illuc” about the lands to find work, though
Winstermill
employs a whole bunch of the fellows to look after their myriad of small metal-working needs.

toscanelle
any lovely rich red wine coming from the Tuscanin region; actually named after the stream that runs through that country.

tow
rough fabric made from hemp fibers or from jute—a somewhat finer kind of hessian or burlap.

tractor(s)
also called feralados or feraloderoes; handlers of animals and beasts of war whose task is to feed and clean their charges and make intractable creatures eager to do their master’s bidding.

transmogrifer(s)
surgeon
who specializes in the making of
lahzars.
See
lahzar(s)
in Book One.

troubardier(s)
heavily armored
pediteers
trained to fight at
hand strokes
with a variety of hand arms, including
poleaxes, fends,
huge swords known as claughs and spadroons, and other exotic tools. See entry in Book One.

trunk-road(s)
roads made by the need for trade and the easy passage of goods.

Tumblesloe Cot
one of the primary duties of the
lighters
here is to take part in the
fatigue parties
that venture regularly into the
Roughmarch
and clear it of
monster-
harboring vegetation.

Tumblesloes, the ~, Tumblesloe Heap, the ~
Known by the Plutarch
Tutins
of old as the Arides, for they were ancient and withered even then; the north-south running range of hills to the east of
Winstermill
and the
Harrowmath.
Their tops, constantly buffeted by strong winds and covered with only a thin soil, support no vegetation other than mean, stunted stubble.Their low places, however, are choked with dense knots of brambly plants, sloe, briar and blackberry. Among the oldest hills in the
Soutlands,
they are known as the “heap” for their tumbledown appearance and the great cracklike gorges that cross them, the evidence of some tectonic violence eons before.

Tutin
language spoken by the inhabitants of
Clementine
and the lands about. (It is based loosely—or not so, at times—on Latin, and to those troubled or offended by this, the author might dare to say:
excusationes offero propter licentiam quam cum hac pulchra lingua in libello meo cepi. Habete eam artificiosam libertatem et, obsecro, mihi ignoscite
).

Tutins
the ruling race of the
Haacobin Empire,
descendants of Dido and her people, speakers of the language of the same name; also called the Plutarchs (actually their ancient forebears); a refined people of great capacity who once, under Dido’s rule, conquered the regions now known as the
Soutlands
before their decline. For a time they seemed to vanish entirely from the southern parts of the Half-Continent, abandoning their allies and dependants to the ravages of their foes. It was only several hundred years later that they reappeared to rewin lands lost, a lesser people—a shadow of their mighty forebears—but still strong enough to conquer.

twelve of the best
twelve lashes of the straight-whip, or worse yet the three-o’-tail bob.

twin keep(s)
bastions or other small forts built side by side, one to support the other. Some are joined by bridges and covered galleries, others by tunnels, and still others are separate from each other. The most common use of twin keeps is to straddle a roadway, with a tollgate hung between them for duties to be collected from travelers.

Twörp,Tremendus
said “twerp”; a rather fat young man whose now-dead parents were exiles from Gothia. Found wandering and starving by a cruel
cantebank
man, he was fed and set to work by this fellow as a pan-handler and mute beggar (for he could not speak a word of
Brandenard
beyond “yes” and “thank you”). Providence stepped in when, while passing through
Winstermill,
the
Lamplighter-Marshal
saw the small abused wastrel and bought him from the suspicious
cantebank.
The Marshal then installed the startled child in Hand Row, the small foundlingery down in the
Low Gutter,
and taught him the common tongue until Twörp was old enough to begin
prenticing.