Tortallan Dictionary

The following is a glossary of various terms that you might want to use in the course of the role play.

A

 * Afore ∙ before
 * Aright ∙ right; correctly
 * Aught ∙ anything

B

 * Bardash ∙ male homosexual
 * Bazhir ∙ collective name for the nomadic tribes of Tortall’s Great Southern Desert.
 * Birdie ∙ informant
 * Black God’s Option ∙ suicide.
 * Bordel ∙ house of prostitution
 * Buckler ∙ round, plate-like shield
 * Buffer ∙ thief of cattle, sheep, goats, or horses
 * Buffle ∙ empty; "buffle-brained"
 * Bugnob ∙ person of little brain.

C

 * Cages ∙ holding cells for kennel prisoners.
 * Canoodling ∙ sexual activity
 * Cipher ∙shorthand method used by Dogs, with symbols for entire common words
 * Cityman ∙ any respectable person who is not noble; knight’s usage means peaceable, sheeplike person.
 * Code of Ten ∙ the set of laws that form the basis of government for most of the eastern lands.
 * Coffin ∙ narrow cell with no windows are doors, only a long, well-like opening overheard; prisoners are often left in one and forgotten
 * Cog ∙ cheat
 * Cole ∙ false coin
 * Colemonger ∙ someone who makes or passes false coins
 * Colesmith ∙ counterfeiter
 * Common Eastern ∙ languages spoken in Tortall, Tusaine, Maren, Tyra, Saraine, and Scanra
 * Coney ∙ victim of a theft or any crime; sucker
 * Corbie ∙ raven
 * Countinghouse ∙ room or building where a business does its accounting; chiefly useds here for buildings where shipping firms do business and keep track of what is bought, sold, and traded
 * Cove ∙ man, common-born.
 * Cracknob ∙ madman.
 * Craven ∙ coward; cowardly
 * Cresset ∙ metal wall fixture containing wood or oil to be burned for light
 * Cuddy ∙ slob.
 * Curst ∙ cursed; very
 * Cutter ∙ braggart

D

 * Dog ∙ member of the Provost’s Guard.
 * Douse ∙ to murder.
 * Doxie ∙ female prostitute.
 * Dozy ∙sluggish
 * Ducknob ∙ person of low intelligence.

E

 * Eastern Lands ∙ name used to refer to those lands north of the Inland Sea and east of the Emerald Ocean: Scanra, Tortall, Tyra, Tusaine, Galla, Maren, and Sarain.
 * Elsewise ∙ otherwise.

F

 * Fambles ∙ hands
 * Fen ∙ a swamp or marsh
 * Fen-sucked ∙ sucked out of a fen
 * Ferrets ∙ street nickname for Crown spies
 * Filcher ∙ small-time criminal.
 * Flower-sellers ∙ women of that trade who are also prostitutes and thieves
 * Foist ∙ master pickpocket.
 * Fou ∙ well and truly drunk
 * Fribbety ∙silly, frivolous

G

 * Gab ∙speach
 * Gauds ∙ bright, costly things.


 * Get bit ∙ be cheated
 * Get in the way of ∙ become, learn
 * Gift∙ human, academic magic, the use of which must be taught.
 * Gillyflower ∙ older name for carnation.
 * Gixie ∙ girl.
 * Glims ∙ eyes.


 * Glump ∙ To manifest sullenness; to sulk.
 * Gob ∙mouth
 * Gold kiss ∙ a bribe, more than a silver kiss
 * Gorget ∙ mail plate cover for the neck, like a collar.
 * Growl ∙ sound made by a roomful of Dogs about to be released upon criminal prey

H

 * Harlot ∙ a female prostitute, with indiscriminate tastes
 * Happy Bag ∙ the collection of weekly bribes for Provost’s office – jewels, coins, art, magical objects – anything of value that can be sold for cash.
 * Headman ∙ leader of a tribe, mayor of a small town.
 * Healer ∙ a health-care professional with varying degrees of education, magic, and skill.
 * Hedgecreeper ∙cheap prostitute
 * Hedgewitch ∙ small-time mage serving lower-class clients, usually deals in healing humans and animals, fertility charms/potions, small battle/annoyance spells
 * Hobble ∙ tie up or arrest.
 * Hobbles ∙ rawhide restraints used on prisoners.
 * Honeylove ∙ female homosexual
 * Hotblood wine ∙ wine spiked with an amphetamine-like substance.
 * Hunkerbones ∙ haunches.
 * Hunter ∙ a hound specially trained to hunt down escaped prisoners and slaves

J

 * Jabbernob ∙chatterbox
 * Jack ∙ tankard, often leather.
 * Jinglenob ∙ empty-headed person.

K

 * Kennel ∙ Provost’s guardhouse; police station.

L

 * Ladymoon ∙ symbol of the Goddess.
 * Liar’s fanfare ∙ overstuffed codpiece.
 * Loaner ∙ mocking term for nobles’ sale of heirlooms they buy back when they get more money; also a scornful term for a noble.
 * Looby ∙ fool
 * Lord Provost ∙ nobleman in command of the Provost’s Guard throughout the realm; most take a personal interest in the Guard in the capital, Corus, as well as in the running of the Guard throughout the realm.
 * Loose Dog ∙ croocked dog: one who exceeds the normal allowances of bribery

M

 * Mammering ∙ wavering; hesitating
 * Mage ∙ wizard.
 * Master ∙ Mr.; mister
 * Maul ∙ heavy hammer with one wedge-shaped head
 * Mayhaps ∙ perhaps
 * Midden hen ∙ chicken that lives in dung; someone completely crazy.
 * Minnow ∙ very small-time criminal, not worth the trouble to arrest.
 * Mistress ∙ Mrs.; ma'am
 * Moneystream ∙ flow of money as it passes through the hands of buyers, sellers, and bankers
 * Moonsong ∙ idiocy
 * Mot ∙ woman, common-born.
 * Mumper ∙ beggar.
 * Murrain ∙ (MUHRenn) pestilence or plague, mainly affecting domesting animals.

N

 * Nab ∙ arrest
 * Nob ∙ head.
 * Noll ∙ head.

O

 * Orange girls ∙ walking fruit sellers who are also prostitutes and thieves.
 * Opine ∙ to have opinion.

P

 * Patten ∙ hard wooden shoe, keeps feet out of the mud.
 * Peaches ∙ breasts
 * Peck and cass ∙ meat and chese
 * Piece ∙ lowlife woman; dirty woman
 * Pigsticker ∙ big knife
 * Players’ jollity ∙ professional performance, play, or musical entertainment.
 * Pluck a rat ∙ do something really stupid, such as try to pull feathers off a rat
 * Puppy ∙ trainess in the Provost's Guard
 * Puttock ∙ low level female prostitute.

R

 * Raka ∙ native of the Copper Isles
 * Rat ∙ criminal; prey; captive (to Dogs)
 * River dodgers ∙ hard men and women who work on and around the river, on boats, in shipping, trade, and smuggling.
 * Rook ∙ cheat
 * Rushers ∙ thug.

S

 * Sap ∙ lead-filled six-inch leather cylinder with a loop for wrist to be held in the hand; a knock-out or bone-breaking weapon
 * Sarden ∙ blasted; damned; detestable.
 * Scale ∙ fence, or receiver of stolen goods.
 * Scummer ∙ animal dung.
 * Scut ∙ idiot.
 * Seekings ∙ investigations; hunts for criminals or missing persons. To seek.


 * Shang ∙ an order of warriors, mostly commoners, whose principal school is in northern Maren. They specialize in hand-to-hand combat.
 * Sheeplings ∙ Player slang: those who are born to be shorn of their money
 * Sight∙ aspect of the magical Gift that gives its holders certain advantages in matters of vision. It can be erratic, showing holders only lies, illness, magic, or future importance. In its fullest form, it can allow the holder to see clearly over distance, see tiny things in sharp detail, and to detect illness, lies, godhood, magic, death, and other aspects of life.
 * Sign ∙ trhe Sign against evil; an X instersected by a verticle line forming a start on the chest
 * Silver kiss ∙ a bribe, less than a gold kiss
 * Sing on ∙ to inform on
 * Slubbering ∙ slobbering, licking, or lapping
 * Snoove ∙ to stab, especially by stealth or from behind
 * Sommat ∙ something
 * Southern Lands ∙ another name for the Carthaki Empire.


 * Spintry ∙ male prostitute.
 * Sutler ∙ thief who takes good from shops or vendors’ stalls.
 * Swilled ∙ drunk
 * Swive ∙ have sex

T

 * Tarse ∙ piece of meat
 * Ticklers ∙ fingers.
 * Tosspot ∙ drunkard.
 * Treats ∙ bribes.
 * Trencher ∙ "plate" cut from a stale loaf of bread, used to hold food
 * Trollop ∙ woman who is morally lax, usually sexually.
 * Trull ∙ very low-class of woman; the dregs.
 * Twilsey ∙ a refreshing drink made of raspberry or cider vinegar and water.

W

 * Wildmage ∙ a mage who deals in wild magic.


 * Wild magic∙ the magic that is part of the natural world. Unlike the human Gift, it cannot be drained or done away with; it is always present. Wild magic is believed by most to be a myth.


 * Worship, Your ∙ typically a derogatory term, often said to indicate someone is spoiled and uppity