Random Sigil questions

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Anarch's picture
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Random Sigil questions

These are related to a short story I'm trying to wrap up:

* Is there a specific street in Sigil associated with brothels? I'm thinking something like, say, Patpong in Thailand -- and if you know what I'm talking about, you should be ashamed of yourself you dirty sod, you! -- where someone could be walking down looking for "negotiable affection". A reasonably well-known street near Sigil's red light district (again, does it have a canon one?) would suffice too.

* What sort of single-word expletives are there in cant? I'm thinking something on the level of "motherf***er" in English; something really vile that someone desperate might hurl as an epithet towards someone they hate. I'd especially like something that feels good in the mouth when you hurl it at them; "leth-piker" is one I usually go with, but I'd like something even stronger here.

* Similarly, what's the most extreme intensifier in cant? "Bleeding", "sodding" and "piking" are too commonplace; again, in much the same moment, I need something as vile as possible for someone to spit out and "f***ing", though accurate, doesn't quite seem cantic.

Clueless's picture
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Random Sigil questions

re: #1 - not that I know of, but I'll pass the question to our Sigil guide writer

re: #2 - loth-lover? I don't know. There was a thread on insults earlier: Here

re: #3 - Technically - since cant is based on cockney english - "bloody" *is* the strongest intensifier. It's just to us casual planewalkers, we cuss like sailors. Eye-wink Anything more than that you'll want to look at the3 Mimir's dictionary as it'll have to be made up.

Anarch's picture
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Random Sigil questions

Quote:
re: #2 - loth-lover? I don't know. There was a thread on insults earlier: Here.

Check the author of that thread Eye-wink My need didn't go away, it was just submerged for a time Cool

Quote:
e: #3 - Technically - since cant is based on cockney english - "bloody" *is* the strongest intensifier. It's just to us casual planewalkers, we cuss like sailors. Anything more than that you'll want to look at the3 Mimir's dictionary as it'll have to be made up.

Oh, Cockney (at least modern Cockney) has worse words than "bloody", it's just that they've entered the mainstream as naughty Eye-wink And yeah, I've scoped out the Mimir but no dice (also Ken Lipka's list of historical slang); nothing there worked, which is why I'm posting here. And yeah x2, if there's nothing canon, I'll just have to make it up.

*exit, pursued by cussing sailor*

ripvanwormer's picture
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Factol
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Random Sigil questions

In Torment, the whole city seemed to be one sodding huge red light district. In any case, there are brothels of various kinds in every ward; the "Patpong" of The Lady's Ward will be very different than the one in the Hive Ward, though not necessarily more palatable. Sensate brothels in the Clerk's Ward will be different from either. The Tenth Pit in the Lower Ward probably has prostitutes working for it. The Mermaid's Cups in the same ward likely does as well, but less obviously - some of its dancers "moonlight."

So maybe, say, Crystal Dew Lane in the Clerk's Ward for Sensate brothels, and Dark Spiral Lane in the Lower Ward for fiendish brothels.

In The Lady's Ward, maybe there should be a play on names, so Lady's Row and Lord's Row are filled with female and male brothels respectively. Dossy Street, where the Twelve Factols tavern is, might be the place where the really extreme underground brothels are, the ones that are augmented by illegal enchantment and transmutation magics so they can meet wealthy patrons' every desire. Now I feel dirty. The Azure Iris in the Fortune's Wheel Inn complex has to have similar services; there's no way it doesn't. Same with the Palace of the Jester.

The Hive Ward is pretty easy. According to the Mimir there's a road called Strumpet Lane. It has at least one strip club, the Fallen Angel. I imagine it's the most benign of all the places of business you'd find on Strumpet Lane in the Hive Ward.

I like "blek" from the Mimir's cant dictionary. It's derived from "Juiblex" - Evil and disgusting.

http://www.mimir.net/cant/cant.html

For a Xaositect, the worst slur might be "cog."

ripvanwormer's picture
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Random Sigil questions

I edited the hell out of the above post, by the way. So there's more info in it than there was at first.

Anarch's picture
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Random Sigil questions

Good point that red light districts will vary depending on Ward; I'd forgotten that I wanted to specify either Hive or Lower Ward, so Strumpet Lane is probably what I'm looking for. I was tempting to make up a Via Amoria (or Vi'Amor) but I'd like to stick with canon for this reference.

As to the swearing, yeah, I've already used blek (as well as its adjectival form, "blexty", courtesy of yours truly IIRC). Guess it's time to get inventive. Thanks for the help, though.

ripvanwormer's picture
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Random Sigil questions

I think Strumpet Lane was created by someone writing for the Mimir, incidently, so it's not strictly "canon." If you chose to use it, it should be more for the sake of a shared world than a canon thing.

Shemeska the Marauder's picture
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Random Sigil questions

The Red District, one of the various layers of the Lotus Blossom District, is a den of prostitution.

And all of the stuff Rip mentioned. Prostitution is pretty much endemic to every ward in the city, just taking a different appearance and tone based on the flavor of each ward or even each district.

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