PLANAR CANT (SIGIL SLANG)

Addle-coved
A rather unfriendly way to call someone an idiot. "That addle-coved barkeep threw me out of the Styx Oarsman just for lighting a torch!" Also a noun, as in "He's an addle-cove!"

Bang around
To hang around, or waste idle time. Between adventures, bashers sometimes "Bang around the Cage".

Bar that
An almost-polite way to say "shut up" or "don't talk about that." It's quick, to the point, and can be used as a warning: "Bar that, there's a Dustman over there!"

Barmy
Insane. As in, "The winds of Pandemonium'll drive a body barmy if he stays too long." Barmies are insane folks, especially those in Sigil, who've been "touched" by the impossible size of the planes.

Basher
A neutral reference to a person, usually but not always, implying a thug or fighter.

Be open to
Be wary, keep track of, stay on guard, keep your eyes open or peeled "Be open to that one, he's a scriber".

Berk
A fool, especially someone who gets himself into a mess when he should have known better.

Birdcage
A cell, prison, or anything that compares to one.

Biter
Anybody very short and very, very mean. Insult. "Don't mess with Urdlen's proxies. They're vicious biters."

Bite the iron
To be murdered or slain in a vicious manner. "That sodding berk's gonna bite the iron if he tries bobbing a baatezu!"

Blood
An expert, sage, or professional in any field. Calling someone a blood is a sign or deep respect.

Blood War, the
The name given to the eternal conflict between the fiends, specifically the baatezu and tanar'ri.

Bob
The business of cheating someone, whether it's of their cash, their honour, or their trust. Good guides in Sigil warn a cutter when someone's bobbing him. A thief might boast he'd "bobbed a leatherhead on the street".

Bolt, or do the bolt
Run, flee the scene. "He saw the Hardheads coming and did the bolt."

Bone-box
The mouth, named because of its teeth, fangs or whatever. "Stop rattling your bone-box", is telling a berk to lay off the threats or bragging.

Box
A rogue modron.

Boxed, getting
Dead, getting.

Brain-box
This refers to a cutter's head, usually in a crude or uncomplimentary way. "Go soak your brain-box", is a common phrase in Sigil, and "He banged his addled brain-box on it" means a berk finally figured something obvious out.

Bub
Booze, wine or ale -- usually cheap and barely drinkable.

Burg
Any town smaller than Sigil, in size or in spirit -- at least that's how folks from Sigil see it. Other bodies don't agree.

Cage, the
A common nickname for Sigil, used by the locals. It's derived from "birdcage", so it's a pretty harsh judgement on the place.

Cager
A native or resident of Sigil.

Cant
Slang expressions used by planewalkers and residents of Sigil.

Case
The house or place where a cutter lives. Has a positive connotation as a nice or decent place.

Celestial
An intelligent being native to the good-aligned domains of the Astral Sea. Includes aasimon, angels, guardinals, and more.

Chant, the
An expression that means news, local gossip, the facts, the moods, or anything else about what's happening. "What's the chant?" is a way of asking for the latest information a basher's heard.

Chiv
A weapon, usually something with a blade.

Clueless
The folks who just don't get it, usually primes. Use this on a planar and there's likely to be a fight. It's also an adjective, like calling someone a "clueless berk."

Cross-trade
The business of thieving, or anything else illegal or shady in nature. A "cross-trading scum" is a thief who's got on the wrong side of the Mercykillers.

Cutter
A complimentary term that refers to anybody, male or female. It suggests a certain amount of resourcefulness or daring, so it's a lot better than calling someone a berk.

Dark
Anything secret is said to be dark. "Here's the dark of it" is a way of saying "I've got a secret and I'll share it with you."

Dead-book
A body in the dead-book is dead. Some people have others "put in the dead-book".

Fiend
Primarily refers to devils (baatezu) and demons (tanar'ri), but sometimes includes any intelligent beings native to the Abyss, the Nine Hells or other evil-aligned plane (night hags, imps, quasits, and the like). Also includes the extinct races of yugoloths, gehreleths and hordlings.

For the Mazes
Absolutely and completely fed up. Meaning a blood would rather be in the Mazes than the position they're in now. "I'm for the mazes if the Sinker-Sensate alliance sticks!"

Gate
Another term for a portal. All gates in Sigil are generally called portals. The term is also used in a general sense to describe any sort of passage between one plane and another.

Gate-town
One of 16 settlements in the Outlands of the Astral Sea known to have permanent portals to both Sigil and another major Astral domain.

Give 'em the laugh
To escape or slip through the clutches of someone. Robbing a tanar'ri and not getting caught is giving it the laugh.

Glooming
Depressing: "There's some real glooming news this week."

Go to the Mazes
An idiomatic curse meaning "go away," and wishing a terrible fate upon the berk as well.

Grail
False information: "That addle-cove speaks nothing but grail."

Great Ring, Great Wheel
An archaic term for domains in the Astral Sea. Maps pre-dating the lastest planar cataclysm often depicted the relative positions of 16 Astral domains as being in a circle around the Outlands.

Gully
A potential victim of a peel, a gullible sod.

High-up
Powerful. This refers to a spell, position, or anything else with plenty of power that can theoretically be measured. A person of money and influence. It's bad form to call one's self this; it's a phrase that others bestow.

Inker
anyone who records or reports events through writing.

Jinx
Gold coins.

Kip
Any place a cutter can put his feet up and sleep for a night, especially cheap flophouses in the Hive or elsewhere. Also, to call kip is to make a place a body's home, at least for a while.

Knight of the post, knight of the cross-trade
A thief, cheat, and a liar -- clearly not a compliment unless, of course, that's what the basher wants to be.

Leafless tree
The gallows, which is where some berks wind up after they've been scragged.

Leatherhead
A dolt; a dull or thick-witted fellow. Use it to call someone an idiot. Also an adjective; "a leatherheaded sod."

Lost
Dead. "He got lost" means he ain't coming back without a resurrection.

Mazes, the
The nasty little traps that the Lady of Pain creates for would-be dictators. It's also come to mean any particularly well-deserved punishment, as in, "It's the Mazes for him and I can't say I'm sorry."

Mimir
A magical device - specifically an enchanted skull - which can record information told to it and play it back upon demand. The phrase as can refer to someone who mindlessly repeats whatever he is told. Typically used to refer to anyone who is putting forward the "official" stand on any event.

Music
A price a cutter doesn't usually want to pay, but has to anyway. As in, "Pay the music or you'll never find your way out of here." Not a literal amount.

Namer
Someone who belongs to a group in name only, paying lip service to its philosophy but not really dedicated to its principles.

Out-of-touch, out-of-town
Someone traveling the planes outside of Sigil.

Outer Planes
Astral dominions, planes of concept rather than element.

Park your ears
To eavesdrop, spy upon, or just simply listen intently. "He parked his ears in the Hall of Speakers to keep up with the very latest chant."

Peel
A swindle, con or trick. It's often used as a verb. Peeling a demon prince is usually a bad idea.

Peery
Suspicious and on one's guard. What a basher should be if she thinks she's going to get peeled.

Pike it
A useful, all-purpose rude phrase, as in, "Take a short stick and pike it, bubber."

Pike off
To anger someone, as in, "Once he discovers he's been peeled, he's going to be really piked off."

Planar
Any living or undead being native to a plane other than the mortal realm.

Planar conduit
A wormhole-like connection that links two layers of the same plane, or (rarely) two layers of two different planes.

Plane-touched
A planar crossbreed. Any offspring of a planar native and a human. Tieflings, aasimar and genasi are plane-touched.

Planewalker
A cutter who travels the planes looking for adventure, jink, or glory -- a plane-travelling adventurer. Usually, to refer to someone as a planewalker carries a tone of respect, for such individuals are considered capable, knowledgeable, and experienced.

Portal
A doorway allowing passage to (and possibly from) another plane. These are always found in bounded spaces like archways, and always require a key. Also called gates.

Power
A being of incredible might, drawing energy from those who worship it and able to grant spells to priests. Also called a deity or god. Somebody a body shouldn't ever mess with.

Prime
A mortal world, or a living native of the mortal world.

Proxy
A mighty servant of a power -- usually a former mortal servant of that power.

Rule of Threes
One of the fundamental rules of the Multiverse: Things tend to happen in threes.

Scan
Look, listen or learn. "Scan this, berk," can mean "listen up," "look at this", or "check this out."

Scragged
Arrested or caught.

Screed
A monotonous tirade, or someone who gives one. If used to refer to a person, it means someone who speaks at length without any real knowledge, or simply an argumentative person. As in "Don't listen to him, he's just a screed."

Scribe of the dead book
An assassin or hired killer, somebody who makes a living killing others for profit.

Sod
An unfortunate or poor soul. Use it to show sympathy for an unlucky cutter or use it sarcastically for those who get into their own messes.

Spiv
An individual who lives by his wits (rather than by having regular employment).

Twig
To take a liking to, as in, "One particular deva twigged to the idea of interfering with the Blood War."

Unity of Rings
The theory that everything forms a logical ring or circular pattern of some kind.

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