Seneschal

From Girl Genius

Seneschal (fem. "seneschale") is a very old term for the senior servant of a noble household. The word is recorded in English since 1393, deriving via Old French seneschal, from Frankish Latin siniscalcus, itself from Proto-Germanic roots sini- "senior" and skalk "servant" (as in "marshal" etc.).

Roughly equivalent titles/positions would be "majordomo", "steward" or in later centuries, "head butler" − someone entrusted with the keys, even to the wine cellar − although the seneschal also had to oversee the lands of his liege, and sometimes administer justice. (The Catholic Bishop of Rome assumes this role for the universal Church, using the symbol of "the Keys of Peter" to represent this office.) However, none of these outside-world concepts does justice to the crucial (so to speak) role that the seneschal to the Heterodynes plays: that of interlocutor on behalf of the intelligence of Castle Heterodyne via the Throne of Faustus Heterodyne. This role, it's fair to say, is, well, creepy.

The von Mekkahn family has served House Heterodyne as their hereditary seneschals for many generations. Old Carson has the holes pre-drilled in his skull (for "interfacing," to use the polite word, with the Throne) to prove it.