The Cant
The "Cant" is the Cage's own variety of slang. Both the Mimir and Planewalker sites above have links to fuller dictionaries, but here's a short sampling that includes a few other useful terms:
ADDLE-COVE - A not-particularly friendly way to call someone an idiot, as in, "Did you hear what that addle-coved wizard wanted us to do?" Also a noun: "He's an addle-cove!"
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 bigness of the planes.
BERK - A fool, especially one who got himself into a mess when he should have known better.
CAGE, THE - A common nickname for Sigil, used by locals. It's derived from "birdcage," so it's a pretty harsh judgment on the place.
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 on a basher's heard.
CLUELESS, THE - The folks who just don't get it, usually primes. Use this on a planar and there'll likely be a fight. Also an adjective, like calling someone a "clueless berk."
CROSS-TRADE - The business of thieving, or anything else illegal or shady. "A cross-trading scum" is a thief who's probably angered the Mercykillers.
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."
GREAT RING, GREAT WHEEL - The Outer Planes, often depicted in maps and diagrams (which are often misleading) as a ring. This also refers to their infinite size, another allusion to the endlessness of a ring.
INNER PLANES - The Elemental Planes (Air, Earth, Fire, Water), Paraelemental Planes (Ice, Magma, Ooze, Smoke), Quasielemental Planes (Ash, Dust, Lightning, Mineral, Radiance, Salt, Steam, Vacuum), and Energy Planes (Positive and Negative). They are planes of elements and energy, as opposed to those of concepts and alignment.
JINK - The goal of the poor: money or coins. "That's going to take a lot of jink!" means an expensive bit of garnishing.
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.
LADY OF PAIN - the ruler of Sigil, a Power probably (but don't worship her! that will encure her wrath as much or more than anything else), pictured as a woman with blades for hair.
LOWER PLANES - Also called the dark planes, or nether regions - the Abyss, Acheron, Baator, Carceri, Gehenna, the Gray Waste, and Pandemonium, the planes of evil alignment. Fiends inhabit these dismal planes.
OUTER PLANES - The Abyss, Acheron, Arborea, Arcadia, Baator, the Beastlands, Bytopia, Carceri, Elysium, Gehenna, the Gray Waste, Limbo, Mechanus, Mount Celestia, the Outlands, Pandemonium, and Ysgard. The planes of concept rather than element.
PEEL - A swindle, con, or trick. It's often used as a verb. Peeling a tanar'ri is usually a bad idea.
PIKE IT - A useful, all-purpose rude phrase, as in, "Take a short stick and pike it, bubber."
PLANEWALKER - A cutter who travels the planes looking for adventure, jink, or glory - a plane-traveling adventurer. Usually, to refer to someone as a planewalker carries a tone of some 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 re- quire 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. Someone a body shouldn't ever mess with.
PRIME - The Prime Material Plane or someone from that plane. Also a single prime-material world.
RULE OF THREES - One of the fundamental rules of the multiverse: Things tend to happen in threes.
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 rnesses.
SODDING - A derogatory term used to stress magnitude. A "sodding idiot" is an amazingly stupid berk.
UPPER PLANES - Arborea, Arcadia, the Beastlands, Bytopia, Elysium, Mount Celestia, and Ysgard. The good- aligned planes.
YAWN, THE - The state of being bored: "This place gives me the yawn."
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