“ Victorian Ladies used to use their decorative fans to communicate simple messages to their lovers while chaperones or husbands watched. These messages include 'Yes', 'No', 'We've been discovered', 'When can I meet you', etc. An Assassin's League of women could easily use this secret language to their advantage, sending messages to each other in hopes of reaching their target at a crowded ball.”
“ How Jayel became the proprietor of the Wanton Wench is more or less a hand-waved affair by the local officials. The facts known by 'upstanding' folk are that a fresh-faced young girl by the name of Jayel came into Gatewatch, disappeared, and reappeared the aged and stern woman she is today. The facts known by the night watch are a marked decrease in drug trafficking and battered women appearing on the streets. The fact known by Jayel is that she killed a man with her bare hands, and has never looked back.”
“ Surnames: The Chinese were among the very first cultures to adopt the use of hereditary surnames (around 2800 BC). But the custom didn't quite catch on in Europe - at least not until the Venetian aristocracy made it popular sometime between the 10th and 11th centuries AD. What culture made it popular in your setting and why?”