The Bullet-Catcher's Daughter (36 page)

The southernmost nation formed by the partition of Britain following the 1819 armistice.

With its capital and agencies of government in London, it would be easy to mistake the Kingdom as merely the rump of the older, larger Britain. However, with the rule of the country passing out of the hands of the monarch and parliament and into the control of the Council of Aristocrats, it must be regarded as a revolutionary nation in its own right.

Ned Ludd

Inspirational figurehead of the Luddite movement. A weaver from Anstey in Leicestershire, Ned Ludd inspired the Luddite movement by smashing two mechanical knitting machines in 1799. He was posthumously named “father of the revolution” and “Father of the Anglo-Scottish Republic”.

Ned Ludd Day

The annual celebration of Ned Ludd’s life. It takes place on 21st March, though there is no reason to believe this was his actual birthday. It is traditionally marked by the presentation of gifts and the symbolic destruction of models of the “infernal machines” by the head of each household. Bank Holiday in the Anglo-Scottish Republic.

Polari

The cryptic vocabulary that makes up a private language used by travelling showmen, circus people and other sub-cultures throughout the Kingdom and the Republic. Polari words and phrases include:

Gaff:
The fairground

Jal:
To arrive or leave

Josser:
Non circus people

Rum Col:
The boss. Literally, your best friend.

Scarper:
To run away

Tober:
The fairground lot

Patent Crime

The production, sale or use of any technology judged by the International Patent Office to be “unseemly” or otherwise lacking a patent mark.

The Rational Dress Society

An organization dedicated to minimising the harm caused to women by excessively restrictive clothing.

Revolutionary Nations

Those nations established during the European Spring.

The Second Enlightenment

The long period of relative peace that followed the establishment of the Great Accord. Though nations have engaged in border skirmishes and imposed trade embargoes on each other and used their economies as a weapon, there has been no pan-European conflict since stalemate and exhaustion ended the Napoleonic Wars in 1815.

Wild Eights

A gambling game typically played for low stakes by working men and travellers. Though sometimes viewed as a simplified version of poker, Wild Eights may be the game from which poker emerged.