His Dark Materials: The Northern Lights Day 2

Courteous

polite and gracious; considerate toward others; well-mannered.

Impassive

(adj.) showing no feeling or emotion; inanimate; motionless.

Eloquence

the ability to speak vividly or persuasively.

Diplomatic

skilled in dealing with sensitive matters or people.

Porcelains

a white, nonporous, translucent type of ceramic ware.

Insulators

materials that prevent electric charges from flowing through them easily.

Emulsions

mixtures of matter that readily separate such as water and oil.

severed

to have been cut or broken apart; disjoined.

Invoke

to call on for support, to call upon.

contempt

scorn, extreme dislike or disdain.

Venerable

worthy of respect.

Crevasse

a deep open crack, especially one in a glacier.

Sardonic

grimly or scornfully mocking, bitterly sarcastic.

Usurper

one who wrongfully or illegally seizes and holds the place of another.

Ludicrous

ridiculous, laughable, absurd.