Realms Lexicon

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Conversational

  • anyhail: "anyhow" or "anyway"
  • badaulder: (adj.) (bah-doll-durr); something ridiculous or unbelievable. "Hogwash". Western Heartlands, steadily creeping east; in use in Cormyr, headed for Dales, Sembia and the Moonsea.
  • brightstar: (adj.) great, exciting, pleasing, marvelous or superb
  • darburl: (adj.) (dar-burl) Angry or enraged
  • galad: "I'm astonished" or "I'm impressed". A nonsense word most often used by itself as an exclamation: "Galad!"
  • glim: (adj.) beautiful
  • glimmer: (n.) beauty
  • kell: (v.) "try," but only used when something is unfinished, nigh impossible, tricky, dangerous or there's doubt as to the possibility of success. Polite speech uses "try," "tried," and "done"; kell is cynical and derisive, and a method of communicating doubt in someone's ability. Sometimes used in the place of "accomplish".
    • Ex: "You're not hoping to kell stealing that, are you?" or "Do you truly kell that ye'll take me in this fight, lad?"
  • lalandath: (adj.) agile, sleek and lithe. Often used to describe acrobats, dancers and those whose physical beauty is accentuated by their movements and grace.
  • mayhap: perhaps
  • outland goods: foreign goods (not pejorative)
  • rivvim: (adj.) lusty or amorous
  • thael: (adj.) glad, pleasant or heart-lifting

Food & Drink

  • evenfeast: dinner
  • gullet-fire: cheap beer or wine that "does the job" but isn't necessarily very pleasant
  • highsunfeast: lunch
  • morningfeast, mornfeast: breakfast
  • X: x
  • throatslake: any drink that takes care of thirst and doesn't cause illness, but isn't necessarily very pleasurable.
  • X: x
  • X: x

Time

  • X: x
  • highsun: sun
  • on the morrow: tomorrow
  • this night: tonight
  • time-bells: any bells, chimes or gongs maintained and rung to keep track of time
  • X: x

Esoteric

  • Art, the Art: magic and its mastery
  • Power: divine magical power
  • X: x
  • X: x


People

  • clevershanks (m), clevertongue (f): know-it-all, wise ass
  • hardjaws: a regular at a tavern, a "bar fly"
  • hay-nose: bumpkin or hick
  • outlander: foreigner (not pejorative)
  • scorchkettle: someone who routinely delivers blistering words; connotations of quick-temperedness
  • spurnarmor: a particularly good-looking man or woman; from a jesting notion that beautiful women and comely men ought to not wear armor which would conceal their fine forms
  • vanishcoin: someone who cheat in a deal

Occupations/Background

  • caravan merchant: merchant who travels via caravan to purchase outlander goods and returns to sell them locally
  • far-trader: a local merchant who deals in imported goods; "importer," rather than "foreign merchant" (which would simply be an "outland merchant"); different from "caravan merchant" in the assumption that the far-trader sells what others bring, while the caravan merchant goes to get them himself.
  • highborn: noble (polite use)
  • highnose: noble (pejorative)
  • holy-nose: priest (only slightly pejorative, like using "cop" for policeman)
  • tavernmaster, innkeep(er): bartender
  • X: x
  • X: x

Escorts & Soft-Traders

Classes of Soft Trader

There are four "classes" of soft-trader, generally speaking.

  • street walker: Very low class soft-trader who works on the streets. Often have bad reputations, as they have sometimes fallen prey to drunkenness or disease, and can't find work in reputable establishments. Others may simply be too plain or unrefined to work in such places. Unlike coin lasses and turncoins, they often are too poor to have someplace to take their clients back to, living in large numbers or in inns or with family, so they accompany clients back to their own places (a practice almost universally considered foolhardy and dangerous) or simply engage in a nearby shadowy alley. Street walkers generally charge copper for their services.
  • coin lass, turncoin: soft-trader (female and male, respectively), who wait in alleys to attract custom. Frequently return to rented rooms or dwelling. Coin lasses and turncoins most often solicit in silver coin for their services.
  • highcoin lass, laugh-lad: soft-trader (female and male, respectively), who is higher-class than a coin lass or turncoin. Frequently employed by establishments of some kind, and often solicit for their services in gold coinage.
  • highcoin lady, bright-spear: soft-trader (female and male, respectively), who is able to blend in with the very rich and noble. Rarely solicit in individual payments for specific instances of their services, but take on "patrons" who pay regular coin in exchange for being able to visit often during their patronage.

Professions of the Soft Trade

  • arcanator, arcanatrix: Soft-traders who employ magical talents in their professions, most often illusions and enchantments. Often quite rare and in demand, they can charge quite large amounts of coin.
  • body servant, concubine: A concubine is a type of domestic servant, generally very beautiful and genteel. A concubine is basically just another sort of household servant, save that their duties lie in the bedroom (or wherever else their amorous employers desire). Though the term originally applied only to those servants of the very wealthy who could afford to bring in a live-in soft trade servant, it is also sometimes applied to those soft traders who "make house calls," arriving at a patron's home to provide a few hours' entertainment.
  • courtesan: Beautiful and well-trained in the bedroom arts, but also expected to maintain artistic or social skills as well. Most often be woo'd for patronage.
  • doloror, dolorix: The polar opposite of the tormentor or tormentrix, the doloror and dolorix are professional submissives who offer themselves up to sensual torture by their patrons. They are skilled at subtly aiding their (sometimes inexperienced) patrons' efforts while maintaining their own personal safety, and frequently well-trained in healing arts and the talents of escaping from bonds. Dedicated dolorors and dolorixes are frequently devotees of Ilmater, the Crying God.
  • escort: Escorts are soft traders whose work takes them out in public, as attractive companions to social events or simply for a night out on town. Whether coin-lasses or courtesans, an escort must be beautiful and fashionable, and above all an able conversationalist, providing stimulating discourse while not dominating the discussion. They are frequently well-known in social circles and in establishments such as festhalls and theaters.
  • father, pander: A term with connotations of roughness, traditionally the purview of rough men who employ street walkers and keep them safe on the streets. May also be a man who runs a festhall or brothel.
  • festlass, festlad: a soft-trader who also works as a performer in a festhall, providing entrainment of some kind. Whether acting, singing, dancing, vaudeville or some other art, every festlass or festlad is expected to strive to become a star. Of course, the reality is that many of them simply remain in the background of big productions, and the rest of the time roam the taproom of the festhall seeking to entice customers. Nonetheless, all of them are required to spend hours every week practicing and learning their arts, often from well-renowned artists. These soft trade workers are often quite glamorous and develop devoted fanbases of folk who are content to simply see their performances without ever employing them as companions. It is also not unknown for some of the less-known festlasses and -lads to hire themselves out as entertainment at parties and the like, but these tend to be hard currency workers rather than courtesans.
  • hidecoin: soft-trader of either gender who is so slick in manner and subtle in solicitations that only a few clients know their trade.
  • hierodule: Some temples maintain small populations of hierodules or holy prostitutes. Their exact purpose varies by faith, but they all offer their intimate companionship to the faithful, bringing blessings, healing and sometimes even experiencing prophecies and visions on behalf of the worshipper. Of those in Waterdeep, only Sune's maintains active hierodules in its organization.
  • mother, mander: the owner of a festhall or brothel, who hires and watches over her soft-traders. Less frequently, the term used for a woman responsible for overseeing the safety of street walkers under her employ.
  • tormentor/tormentrix: Simply a distinction in services provided by any given soft trader, the tormentrix or tormentor are skilled at the application of erotic pain for the pleasure of the patron. Their arts are myriad and impressive, often requiring extensive training who specialize not just in physical experiences, but in emotional and mental cruelty and torture. These soft traders are often devotees of Loviatar.

Hooligans & Thugs

  • alleyblades: lowlife scavengers and muggers ready to steal someone's goods.
  • bullyblade: someone hired to hurt someone else.
  • cask-smashers: vandals, who perform "casking" (any act of vandalism, whether or not actual casks are involved)
  • fang-gangs: Dock Ward and South Ward street gangs who carry knives and carve gang sigils in their forearms.
  • fastfists: those who are combative right now, whether or not that is their long-term personality.
  • sharpjaws: posers who pretend to be hard, violent types, but who are usually just thrill-seeking adolescents and adults who should know better
  • toughs: those with a generally belligerent disposition

Paramours & Lovers

  • brightbirds: Two people who are courting and romantic, but have not yet been intimate
  • brightheart: Someone you love, and you loves you in return. Usually has connotations of someone one has danced with and been seen at revels with.
  • doe, stag: terms for a lover (female and male, respectively); polite and bardic in usage.
  • fancylass, fancyman or fancylad: disapproving, pejorative terms for a lover, female and male respectively; "fancylad" is used when an older person is referring to a male younger than they
  • filly or mare, buck or steed: terms for a lover (female and male, respectively); considered vulgar and impolite, "among-the-lads" kind of talk not to be used in front of parents, priests or disapproving relatives.
  • lover: a polite, neutral term in Sword Coast cities, usually refers to one that has been won romantically and intimately, without connotations of possible marriage or other union
  • rose: Waterdhavian term for a beau, suitor or "one that I desire." It can mean "the love of my life" or "my lover" but it most often means "someone I long for, but haven't won."

Races

  • Drow: the Dark Elves, the Dark Ones, the Accursed (by elves)
  • Dwarves: the Stout Folk, anvil-hammerers (diminutive or contemptuous)
  • Elves: the Fair Folk, Tel'Quessir ("the People", by elves)
    • Sun Elves: gold elves, Ar'Tel'Quessir ("the People of the Sun", by elves)
    • Moon Elves: silver elves, Teu'Tel'Quessir ("the People of the Moon", by elves)
    • Wood Elves: copper elves, Or'Tel'Quessir ("the People of the Wood", by elves)
    • Dark Elves: drow, Ssri'Tel'Quessir ("the People of the Dark", by elves)
  • Gnomes: the Quiet Folk
  • Halflings: the Quick Folk, the Sly Folk (mostly humans and dwarves, once considered diminuitive, but now a badge of pride), hin (by halflings)
  • Humans: the manyhanded (by halflings and elves), oroosh ("never-stopping talkers", by treants), hurbryn ("heavy-footed", by halflings, gnomes, satyrs, other sylvan and fey creatures)
  • Korred: the Dancing Folk
  • Ogres: Beast-men
  • Orcs: the Mighty (by orcs), slaugh ("mud-wallowing-dogs", by elves, a term that is creeping into sylvan usage)
  • Satyrs: the Free Folk
  • Svirfneblin: deep gnomes, the Deep Folk
  • Collective Terms: Phrases for multiple races, usually made by a single race in reference to others
    • the Proud Peoples: dwarves and elves collectively (by humans)
    • Ugrukh: any non-orc intelligent race; using a term meaning "broken bones," a reference to wounded, defeated, slaves and those too weak to defend themselves or be worthy of attention.
    • Worms: lesser goblinkin, by orcs