Medinan Thieves Cant (The Baker's Code) Language in Meaghana | World Anvil
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Medinan Thieves Cant (The Baker's Code)

Medinan Thieves Cant is a commonly used verbal code originating in the lost Medinan capital of Syrap. While not truly a separate language, the Cant uses seemingly innocuous words to hide the content of illicit plans.   Scholars believe that the Cant originated with the joining of the Syrap Baker's Guild into the Crime Syndicate known as the "Grey Takers". The Takers began just pressing the guild for protection money, but as the two groups joined, the Baker's good were commonly used for smuggling and cover for other nefarious dealings.   Fearful of the spread of their power, the King of Medina ordered his guards to dismantle the Grey Takers. In response to this heightened pressure, the Takers began encoding their written orders as baking recipes, assigning alternate meanings to the various ingredients.   This proved astoundingly successful, and many other guilds began doing similar things, with other industries. The Baker's Code, as it is also known, became one of the most successful due to the wide variety of recipes from various lands on the continent of Lerias.   In the 3rd age, the Cant has become so complex that various shades of meaning can be communicated by everything from the choice of country of origin of the recipe to the proportions of the ingredients used. Furthermore, a pidgin cant is often used when speaking aloud to further obfuscate the speakers meanings. These pidgin cants tend to use terms from alternate cants (such as the Fetescan Hatter's Cant) to mean a term that it rhymes with in the Baker's Cant.   Example: The common term "hat", from the Hatter's Cant where it stands for a bystander or civilian, is often substituted for "fat" in the Baker's cant, where it can mean guard or other form of legal authority. So the phrase "Teas off, too many hats to make." in the Hatter's Cant means that a Job is being cancelled due to it being too easily observed by the common folk. But in the Baker's Cant, both the meaning of Hat and off are slightly different, leading to the meaning of "There is something wrong about this job, the guard are alerted."
Common Phrases
"Take 2 Cups flour, and a pinch of baking salt and heat with rendered fat until smooth." (Bribe the local Guard with two trade bars of silver to assure they will not interfere.)   "Tea's ready, make sure to bring the butter biscuits." (The job is approved, you will need extra muscle.)

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