Chapter Text
VOCABULARY
Amanuensis: Someone hired to write for someone else.
The Bazaar: A massive structure made of spires covered in sigils that is the center of London life and commerce.
The Black Ribbon: A club of duelists unafraid to fight to the death, headed by Feducci himself.
Boneshaker: Slang for velocipede(see below).
The Correspondence: Sigils in a strange language that can cause adverse effects. Usually combustion-related adverse effects. Mainly used by the Masters of the Bazaar(see below).
The Dawn Machine: An enormous, mechanical false-star located in the southeast of the Unterzee that can negatively affect the mind.
Devil/Deviless: One of Hell’s own. Their eyes are yellow-orange and their teeth are sharp. They emanate a certain literal warmth. Be careful around them. They want your soul and they can be quite…persuasive.
Echoes/pence: The currency of London.
Flit: A maze of rope bridges and scaffolding above most of London where urchins and crime-lords reside.
Honey mazed: Absolutely off the shits on prisoner’s honey(see below). Sometimes shortened to mazed.
Lacre: Neath ‘snow.’ It stinks of ammonia and when it melts it refreezes into black ice. If you look closely you can see tiny fish and crustaceans frozen in it.
Master(of the Bazaar): A seven foot tall hunched figure that speaks in a high whisper and tends to the Bazaar. Each of them oversee a certain category of commerce and collects taxes. They use the title ‘Mr’ but no one actually thinks they're men. Some notable ones include Mr Veils who deals in textiles and clothing, Mr Spices who deals in honey, dreams, and sweet smokes, and Mr Wines who deals in drinkables. There’s around eleven of them but no one can ever get a comprehensive count.
The Ministry of Public Decency: Their symbol is a burning book. That should tell you enough about them.
Neath: The massive underground cavern that houses London, the zee, and many other places.
Parabola: The dream realm. Can be accessed through mirrors.
Prisoner’s honey: The preferred drug of the Neath, a type of honey that physically transports its user to Parabola.
Ratmas: A London inside joke and tradition where Londoners send copious amounts of dead rats to each other. What? It’s festive!
The Rings: London's illegal fighting-rings. Every city's got one. London has three: the Ring of Meat, the Ring of Roses, and the Painted Ring.
The Royal Bethlehem Hotel: London is a mysterious place. When the terrors and secrets get to be too much for the human mind, they go to the Royal Beth, an elite hotel of unparalleled luxury, a hotel for the mad and nightmare-plagued.
Seeker: Someone pursuing a fruitless quest, Seeking a certain Name. Do not speak of it.
Snuffer: There are rumors in New Newgate Prison of those that eat candles and change faces…
Sorrow-spider: A spider the size of a cat that steals sleeping people’s eyes to...well, no one’s seen them actually eat them.
Spider-council: What happens when sorrow-spiders go bad.
The Surface: The world above London, the world that still knows the sun. You cannot return if you have died in the Neath.
Taking a trip to the river: Dying and coming back.
The Tomb-Colonies: A place where Londoners who have gotten too old and decrepit go to live out the rest of their days, wrapped in bandages like mummies.
Velocipede: Those weird Victorian bikes. You know the ones.
CHARACTERS (in order of appearance)
Levi “Mumbo Jumbo” Valentin - A struggling writer who dabbles in mechanics and the Correspondence.
Axel Quail Anderson, “Angry Anderson(Grian)” - A mostly-private detective.
Doctor “Doc” Maddox - Co-chancellor of the currency exchange, home doctor, Seeker.
Sirius “Ren” Reynolds - Friends and housemates with Doc.
Scar Goodman - A wealthy individual and member of the Corporation of Conventionality(ConCorp). Tends to be the showier member.
Iskall - A constable who sometimes considers himself outside the law.
Stephanie “Stress” Monroe - A mailperson who hates the holiday season.
Keralis “Rally” - A devil. Lives with Braeden.
Braeden “Doubles” Oleander - An ex-Seeker.
Claire “False” Simmons - A popular Ring fighter, also part of the Black Ribbon.
Joseph Hills - Honestly, who knows what he does with his time. Probably something involving a paper and pen, usually.
Bennet - A cat.
Diana - Also a cat.
Macha - Another cat.
Xavier B. Suma-Voight(Xisuma), The Tortoise Lord - A crime lord of the Flit with some repute.
Benjamin “Biffa” Falkner - A Tomb-Colonist assassin for hire.
Cleo Fasse - A former zailor-turned-mortician. Works as often with the living as she does the dead.
Jonathan “Cocky Jo” Kannon - Zailor, fighter, adventurer. Underslept and overcoffeed.
Bernard “Cub” Cumberland - A wealthy individual and member of ConCorp. Works more behind the scenes, directly with the Masters.