 Nockers. Grim. Dour. What lies beneath the surface? This page is intended as a resource for Nocker players. Other players should be warned: learning these secrets may ruin many of the surprises of the game for you, in your interactions with this kith. Like any kith, Nockers have secrets. These are they. Nockers.
Nockers are born half from the incandescent joy of creation and half from the dark depths of frustration. They personify the wonder of beginning a new work of art, and the angst and desperation that comes over someone when a creative endeavour reaches an insurmountable obstacle. They are the result of those inner demons that torment crafters to make certain every detail of their work. Unfortunately, they could not avoid being tainted by the disappointment inherent when the final piece could not fit perfectly into place or when the eyes didn't look "exactly right." The dreams of these artists, builders and craftspeople brought forth a hardy race of Kithain, rough and ready to tackle the world and shape it to their needs. Living within these fae were the dreams of construction, artistry, and invention. Nockers are a conundrum to the other Kithain because they defy investigation. Their vile manners make careful scrutiny discomforting, much like poking a cow-pat with a stick in July brings its own unpleasantries. A venerable pooka once observed that under the venom and bile of nockers, was a much kinder, gentler venom and bile just waiting to ooze out onto your shoes. The Nocker perspective is unique among kithain. Born half from creation and half from frustration, nockers spend their existence in a manic state. They wrestle with the forces of absolute artistic abandon and the inability to accomplish anything "just right." They are, by necessity, a little mad. Most nockers are fastidiously clean, in glaring contrast to their verbal manners. They may tolerate almost any mess in their workshops or mines, but they are fashion trend-setters in public. More is better according to most nockers' fashion sense. Their voile is bedecked with every type of ingenious fastener, eyelet, truss, lace, and type of stitching known to fashion designers (and some that have yet to be "discovered"). Most nocker clothing utilizes starkly defined lines and a geometric, almost sculptured look. Nocker fashions borrow from every age, combining the elegance of high sidhe voile with the decadence of the seventeenth century French court, and the quirkiness of the Mod and New Wave movements. Those who admire nockers' mechanical devices also acknowledge that they know their way around a sewing room, though as a satyr once less than kindly observed, many look as though they wear their underwear outside their clothing. Nockers aren't embarassed by unique fashion styles, arguing that their clothes only accentuate their superior features. Even in their human mein, most nockers tend to dress eccentrically. Physically, nockers are gnarled and often grotesque in appearance. Most of them tend toward pale complexions, or else ruddy features. |
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 Lies
Nockers define themselves almost completely by their science and craft (and in no pleasant terms). Part pseudoscience, part Kabbalistic tradition, and a whole lot of ingenious tinkering, nocker craft simply should not work. Whether nockers are building weapons, toys, or more esoteric inventions, they never let a little thing like scientific plausibility get in their way. Things that could never work in the Real World are possible in the Dreaming. The normal laws of science do not apply, and nockers are best at stretching the limits of even limitless possibilities. Nocker science derives its mathematical language from the ancient Kabbalistic discipline of Gematria. dating back as far as the reign of Sargon II (727 to 707 B.C.), Gematria was originally a mystic language that converted names to a numerical value for mystical purposes. The system was used by the ancient Babylonians and Greeks, and some magical traditions still use it today. Nockers have added mroe practical mathematics, such as Pythagorean Theory, to the mix however. Their Gematria now bears little resemblance to the original craft and its applications. Nocker invention comes at a price. Despite their claims to the contrary, nockers realize that there is a danger to applying rational thought processes (even a rationality as erratic as Gematria) to the Dreaming. More than other Kith, nockers succomb to Banality. Additionally, many throw themselves so passionately into their work that they become oblivious to the need for sleep or safety precautions. Any nocker worth her craft is recognizeable by her hollow eyes, burn marks, cuts and abrasions. Since nockers work mostly with chimerical materials, fatalities are rare; but they do occur. Nockers tend to live alone in the midst of others. Many lords have a nocker on call to create chimerical weapons and armour, and other such tasks. Such nockers are usually given a room or shop in a secluded part of a freehold, where they may tinker and create (or explode) their contraptions to their heart's content. Nockers are also found in small basement labs, or weekend machine or wood shops. Balefire runs hotter than most normal faerie flames (though certain legendary volcanoes, dragon breath, etc. may be just as hot or even hotter). For certain nockers, Balefire's chaotic, creative nature renders it as an unparalleled tool for creating Treasures that would be impossible using lesser chimerical flames. Its raw dream energies make it particularly useful for melting materials that might otherwise resist more mundane forging methods. Under certain circumstances even Autumn materials, if properly enchanted can be melted using Balefire which can distill their Dream aspects from the banal dross of the waking world. Certain enterprising nockers have attempted to use this process to bring modern materials such as advanced ceramic composites, plastics and metal alloys into the Dreaming. While occasionally successful, this process is a long and arduous process fraught with difficulty. While not usually dangerous, it typically entails more frustration than most nockers care to contend with (especially when there are equally useful materials distributed throughout the Dreaming). The Dreamers nockers prefer to associate with include those who can see the Glamour and beauty in science and engineering, as well as those who love fine, detailed work. Computer programmers, architects, carpenters, blacksmiths and engineers of any stripe are all good choices by a nocker's criterion. |
  There are a number of semi-formal guilds which operate within Nocker society. Amongst these, and the most prominent, are the Aethernauts', the Builders', the Toymakers', the Weapons, and the Miners' Guilds.
The Aethernauts are made of some of the most brilliant Nocker minds. These explorers and scientists have traveled far into The Dreaming and have charted maps of The Near Dreaming. This Guild also has ties with the Sidhe of the Crystal Circle and the The Brothers of Aether mages. 
Nockers and Boggans work hand in hand within this Guild to construct most fae structures and buildings. Though strained, the relationship between the Boggans and the Nockers continue through a carefully written contract. The Boggans do the actual construction work in this Guild while the Nockers are designers and foremen. 
Nocker toys are some of the most ingenious in the the world. Every toy built by a Nocker is custom made and therefore more expensive than their counterparts, causing a great battle over the changeling toy market. The Toymakers' Guild also mass produces glamour-inducing toys for children. The Toymakers' guild holds patent over certain golem internals and produces them solely. Toys by Unseelie Nockers often have a nightmarish quality and are quite often illegal under Sidhe Law. 
Nocker weapons are by far the best that can be crafted in The Dreaming and all other kiths recognize this fact. The Guild makes mostly medieval type weaponry and other low-tech stuff, but for the right price one can commission more advanced weaponry. The Bes Din forbids the sale of this advanced weaponry to other kiths. The Weapons Guild also supplies tactical squads for Nocker Security, under the aegis of The Bes Din. 
Not fully an official guild there are several smaller ones that are made of the miners that work in that mine. Slowly these guilds are organizing together and gaining more power, but for the most part are subject to the demands of a few rich Nocker foreman and Mine Owners. |
 Nocker Dictionary
 For those few brave souls who seek the meanings of those bons mots which spew forth in a caustic torrent from the Nocker mouth, we provide this Glossary - do not claim that you were not warned. Here be Dragons. Go no further.
alter kocker  crotchety, fussy, ineffectual old bastard - from a nocker, a REAL insult.
badchen professional fun-maker, a jester; a semi-respectful term for pooka.
balmalocha craftsperson, expert; the highest compliment among nockers.
barker pistol.
batlan a person who does nothing, a wastrel; a derogatory term often reserved for pooka, eshu, and satyrs.
beef raise a hue and cry.
blamalocha craftsperson, expert; the highest compliment among nockers.
bend waistcoat.
beschissen shitty, fucked up, quite poor.
betty picklock.
blab beg by telling hard-luck stories.
blow inform; turn "stool-pigeon".
boat, get the be sentenced to transportation or a severe form of penal servitude.
bogey the posterior. synonyms include ass, bom, botty, bucket, bumbo, bummy, chuff, corybungus, crupper, dokus, droddum, duff, fife and drum, fud, gluteus maximus, hunhers, labonza, mottob, pod, pooper, prats, quoit, rumdadum, rumpus, toby, tokus, and over 200 other terms.
bone good, profitable.
bubkes a scornful way of describing something foolish or nonsensical.
bulvan lumbering oaf, a bruiser.
cacafuego literally "shit-fire," a very difficult or devilish person. also the very nasty cramps or diarrhea a redcap gets if he eats a nocker.
cant present, free meal, quantity of some article.
cash carrier prostitute's manager; ponce.
chiv knife, blade.
choker clergyman.
christen or church remove all marks of identification (to church a pistol).
cool look, look at.
coopered worn out, useless.
crusher policeman.
cuck shit. also alley apples, ca-ca, cack, cacky, clart, cradle-custard, danna, dejecta, dreck, excrementum, feculence, fiants, fuants, gong, grunt, hockey, jank, job, jobber, merd, mollock, muck, night-soil, ordure, orts, recrement, residuum, scharn, scumber, sirreverence, sozzle, spraints, stercus, tad, taunty, yackum and over 100 other terms.
dab bed, place where you fall over from exhaustion.
deadlurk empty premises.
dewskitch thrashing.
ding throw away, pass on.
dollymop midinette, promiscuous servant girl.
dreck (noun) sheep shit, filth. a serious insult to a nocker's craft.
dummschwallen to talk nonsense, gibberish, pooka.
fakement device, pretence.
farbissen embittered, dour, mean. when nockers use the term, the subject must be really bad news.
farblunjet mixed up.
faygele a flamer, someone who is not only homosexual, but exceptionally gay.
ferd stupid - literally "horse" as in "brain of a".
flag apron.
flash show, hence show off; vulgarly smart; criminal.
flat easily deceived person.
FUBAR Fucked Up Beyond All Recognition.
furk literally to copulate, also to cheat or swindle.
gaff show, exhibition, fair.
gammy false, undependable, hostile.
gebentsht blessed with exceptional gifts, a high compliment.
gematria the use of letters as numbers. originally a Kabalistic numerology, now used as a mathematical language central to nocker craft.
gimpy gammy body part; "my gimpy leg".
glim venereal disease.
glitch a risky undertaking or venture, or an unexpected problem.
goblin unseelie nockers, also a little-known "thallain" kith related to them.
golem a chimerical robot or animated creation.
greptz a belch. see also Cacafuego.
gridzheh to complain, carp, nag.
gurk an audible release of intestinal gas. also backfire, blast, blow off, borborygmus, botch, breeze, buster, butler's revenge, buzz, carminate, cheezer, crepitate, drop a rose, fart, fizzle, flatus, hinder-blast, honk, make wind, nose closer, pass gas, pocket thunder, poot, rasper, rouser, scape, sneeze, tail-shot, trump, vent, wet one, whiffer, wind, and approximately 350 other words.
heebie-jeebies fright, nerves, sluagh.
jack detective.
jemmy smart, of superior class.
judy woman, prostitute.
kennetseeno bad, stinking, putrid.
kibble "stuff" accumulated over a nocker's lifetime.
kidsman organizer of child thieves.
knap steal, take, receive.
knapped pregnant.
K'nocker arrogant big-shot.
krechtz to complain or whine.
kurva, kurve (fem.noun) whore, hooker, prostitute - self explanatory.
kush meer in toches Kiss my ass - Basically telling someone to get lost, but in a humerous yet slightly rude way.
lurk place of resort and concealment; scheme, method.
macer cheat, sharper.
magsman cheat, sharper of lower class and skill than a macer.
mamzer bastard.
mauley handwriting, signature.
mazuma money, dross, a just payment for hard work.
miltonian policeman.
mishugeh, mishigeneh crazy, insane, loopy, pooka, deranged, Bedlam.
momzer bastard, both in the literal and the colloquial sense.
mouth blabber, fool; pooka.
muck snipe one totally down and out; sluagh.
naar fool, buffoon, derogatory term for pooka.
nancy buttocks.
nethersken slum, low-lodging house.
Newton a Banal person, someone who gives nockers a bad name. Sir Isaac Newton, upon whose grave many nockers make pilgrimages to piss. A plagiarist and idea-stealer.
nibbed arrested.
nudnik nuisance, pest, pooka, annoyance.
ongepotchket slapped together, constructed without any sense of aesthetics or planning. also a scornful way of describing boggan work.
oy, oy vey, oy vey ismier (interjection) anything you want, generally expressing a negative emotion Can express anything from tiredness to sadness to martyrdom to anger to annoyance and so on. Listed as very strong, but it's all contextual (the stronger the emotion, though, the more appropriate one of the longer forms is). "Oy, it's so hot outside." "Oy vey, three tests this week! What will I do?" "Your mother? Cancer? Oy vey ismier. I'm so sorry."
pisher young and inexperienced kid, a know-nothing, a bed-wetter. semi-affectionate applied to nocker childlings, an insult when used in regard to boggans.
plotz (verb) fall down dead right now - Usage: "oy, after all that shopping I'm about to plotz" Or "Ham and cheese sandwiches? If your grandfather weren't already dead, he'd plotz." Also see shikse for usage.
putz (noun) dick, penis As in, "He's such a putz" or "I bet his putz is softer than a boiled carrot".
schlock a shoddy, cheaply made article (the best that boggan work can be), only one step above ongepotchket.
shikker (adj.) drunk - Common word for being drunk, though not in a positive, happy sense. A trait often associated with Gentiles.
shikse (noun) a ditzy, generally busty, female - Pronounciation is closer to SHIK-suh. This is the kind of word grandmothers use to describe the blonde boy-toys that their teenage grandsons want to date. Generally insulting to a woman's mental abilities. As in, "You're dating ***HER***?? That shikse?? You want I should plotz?"
shlemazle (noun) unlucky oaf. The sort of person who has soup spilled upon him by somebody else. (see schlemiel)
shlemiel (noun) clumsy oaf. Klutz. The sort of person who, when at a fancy restaurant, invariably spills his soup.
shmuck (noun) asshole.
schtunk a stinker, an unpleasant person, a redcap.
shtup (verb) fuck, bang.
tokhes (m. noun) ass, bottom.
tsatske a chimerical toy, a plaything, a gewgaw, a useful treasure of some sort, and often a weapon..
tukhes oyfn tisch "let's get down to brass tacks", "let's cut the crap" This literally means "ass on the table". It's not as offensive as it may sound, but it's mostly used among members of the same sex.
tukhes lecker as licker, brown noser, titled commoner.
vashnukad drunk; FUBAR; shit faced. "It is good to be Vashnukad!"
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Nocker craftsmanship, due to the stylistic preferences of the physics of the Dreaming, tends towards what is colloquially termed "Steam Punk" in appearance and design. For a look at nocker invention and organization, please browse the vaults of the Bes Din. An examination of Nocker Kraft, and the forging and creation of Chimerae by Nockers and others can be found here. For an examination of Steampunk, as well as numerous links to other pages on the World Wide Web that players of nockers may find of interest, please visit Dr. Fyne's Laboratory. [The Camarilla's Global Specialist Advisor for the Nocker Kith is Andrew Davies, and the UK Nockers are here. The Assistant GSA Nockers is Isabel Dostal.] |
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