Ankh-Morpork is a fictional city-state that is the setting for many Discworld novels by Terry Pratchett .
93-482: Pratchett describes Ankh-Morpork as the biggest city in Discworld and its corrupt mercantile capital. In The Art of Discworld , Pratchett explained that the city is similar to Tallinn and central Prague , but adds that it has elements of 18th-century London , 19th-century Seattle and modern-day New York City . He also said that since the creation of The Streets of Ankh-Morpork , he has tried to ensure that
186-639: A boomerang , with which he manages to hit himself in the head. In an interview republished at L-space, the Terry Pratchett wiki, Pratchett explains the concepts behind the novel. "It'd be easier for people to read Interesting Times , than to sum it up, but I would say that one of the things I wanted to develop in the story was the strange way in which revolutions can turn into tyrannies. People struggle to over-throw tyrants, then suddenly find that they're ruled by "The Government" once again - and popular uprisings don't stop often to ask common people what it
279-588: A certificate to prove that he is probably human. The addition of Lance-Constable Carrot was the catalyst for their reform in Guards! Guards! . The Watch grew under the leadership of Commander Samuel Vimes to become the most modern police force on the Disc. The Ankh-Morpork Assassins' Guild was widely considered by the elite to be the best option anywhere for a well-rounded education. Lord Vetinari received an Assassins' Guild education in his youth. The Guild of Assassins
372-567: A female Luggage. Upon Rincewind's disappearance, the Luggage leaves its mate and their offspring to once again follow its owner. The Lady has won the game against Fate. She also interfered in Hex's calculations so that Rincewind is teleported to the unexplored continent of XXXX where he lands safely, while an XXXXian kangaroo (instead of Rincewind) suffers a fatal collision with a wall at Unseen University. Rincewind meets XXXXian natives who give him
465-479: A half day's journey by horse, less if the horse is Boris from Going Postal ) and to which it is connected by two clacks towers. It encompasses a large boulder emerging out of the Sto Plains like 'a geological pimple', left there by the retreating Ice Giants. The castle is built into this rock. Its most recent king before the present monarch was King Olerve, who was shot with a crossbow by an assassin hired by
558-424: A house in (or even walking into) a region where this has happened is extremely dangerous, as it is mentioned that an individual may not remain the same species, shape or level of sanity as they were when they entered. Medium levels cause odd effects, such as coins landing on their edges and turning into caterpillars. Areas with larger than normal quantities of background magic tend to display unusual qualities, even for
651-532: A human, the easiest way is to convince the cat, on a deep level, that he is a human. In fact, the main reason the Auditors of Reality dislike sentient beings in the Discworld universe is that the Auditors are the personifications of the real-world laws of physics, but the Discworld physics' power of belief and the humans' ignorance constantly remake the world, making their work fruitless. More significantly, it
744-519: A loose collection of independent city-states, ruled over by a close-knit (and probably interrelated) ruling class. The Sto Plains could be thought of as being similar to Germany prior to the unification of the states into the German Empire , with no overall authority. According to Mort the area was to be united in the coming decades. As reality was given a retcon in the book, the Duke who united
837-512: A million thaums, beyond that level, Discworld reality starts to break down. Parodying the introduction of the metric system, later Discworld novels refer to the introduction of the newer unit, the Prime, to avoid arguments over the standard sizing of pigeons. It is defined as the magical energy required to move one pound of lead one foot, referencing the Joule . The thaum also appears to be a particle,
930-652: A reference to Frances Buss ). It is explained in Soul Music that few of the Discworld's higher-class schools (such as the Ankh-Morpork Assassins' Guild School) will admit female students (although the Assassins have since changed this policy), so Miss Butts founded the College "on the astonishing principle that, since gels had nothing much to do until someone married them, they might as well occupy
1023-463: A school of magic, Braseneck College (a parody of Brasenose College, Oxford ), which is apparently in competition for prestige with the larger, older Unseen University in Ankh-Morpork. In fact, the novel Raising Steam makes clear that this rivalry extends to the city level, as Pseudopolis refuses to accept an Ankh-Morpork-constructed trainline. As of Unseen Academicals , the aristocracy of
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#17327719770831116-473: A swamp dragon-breeding dowager duchess in Guards! Guards! . In Sourcery , Quirm was destroyed by wizards in a magic war, but presumably restored by Coin when he put everything back as it had been before the war. Susan Sto Helit , Lady Sybil Ramkin and Miss Perspicacia Tick were educated at the Quirm College for Young Ladies. The school's headmistress and founder is Miss Eulalie Butts (possibly
1209-633: A teacher now, but, apparently, as of Thief of Time , she still is duchess of Sto Helit. Interesting Times Interesting Times is a fantasy novel by British writer Terry Pratchett . It is the seventeenth book in the Discworld series and is set in the Aurient (a fictional analogue of the Orient ). The title refers to the English expression, " may you live in interesting times ", which
1302-512: A travelogue of Ankh-Morpork written by Rincewind's former traveling companion Twoflower , whom Rincewind frees from a dungeon and whose two daughters are leaders of the Red Army. It turns out that the villainous Grand Vizier, Lord Hong, has made the harmless Red Army appear to be a threat to the Empire and had Rincewind brought to Agatea so that he could blame the problems on foreigners, then put
1395-578: A very heavy live cannon (which they extinguish upon its arrival). This results in Rincewind arriving in Agatea at a very high speed, but he lands safely in a snowbank. Rincewind's efforts to run from any kind of danger quickly embroil him in momentous events. He encounters his friend Cohen the Barbarian , now accompanied by a "Silver Horde" of elderly warriors and Ronald Saveloy, a former teacher. Cohen
1488-399: Is almost always highly trained in martial arts. Discworld witches often employ narrative in their magic, but consider it ethically tricky since it interferes with free will . Discworld wizards avoid doing so because narrative that severely strains credibility requires outright sources of magic to feed on, sometimes indiscriminately. Knowledge of stories, their use and how to change them forms
1581-542: Is also belief that gives Discworld's gods their powers. Discworld gods start off as tiny spirits, and gain power as they gain believers; this is explored most thoroughly in Small Gods . A similar effect has led to the personalisation and "reification" in the Discworld universe of mythological beings symbolising abstract concepts, such as Death , the Hogfather and other anthropomorphic personifications. In Hogfather ,
1674-417: Is also the location of Dunmanifestin, the home of many of the Disc's gods and the Discworld analogue of real-world Greek mythology 's Mount Olympus . The area surrounding Cori Celesti is known as The Hub, a land of high, icebound mountains that serves as an analogue to the real-world Himalayas , polar regions (since, although the Disc has no poles as such, it is as far as possible from the Disc's edge and thus
1767-699: Is an almost landlocked body of water approximately halfway between the Hub and the Rim, opening at the turnwise side into the Rim Ocean. The Circle Sea is analogous to the Mediterranean , in that it is bordered both by countries on the Sto Plains (Europe) and continent of Klatch (Middle East, North Africa). Its principal trading ports are Ankh-Morpork and Al Khali and Ephebe on the Rimwards side. The countries around
1860-404: Is believed strongly enough, or by enough people, it may become true. Jokes such as treacle mines and drop bears are real on the Disc. In reality lemmings do not actually rush en masse off cliffs; on the Disc, they do, because that is what people believe. These concepts of Discworld physics are also exploited in both wizard and witch magic. For example, when a character wishes to turn a cat into
1953-531: Is described as roughly 10,000 miles (16,000 km) wide, giving it a surface area two-fifths that of the Earth , which would make it roughly the size of the Pacific Ocean . In addition to its flatness, Pratchett gives it another principal geographic feature; Cori Celesti, a 10-mile-high (16 km) mountain that lies at its exact centre and is the point of origin for its standing magical field. Cori Celesti
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#17327719770832046-574: Is from a type of New Zealand owl called the morepork , which is depicted holding the ankh on the coat of arms. " Discworld: Ankh-Morpork " was published as a board game in 2011. Many details of Ankh-Morpork appear to have been inspired by Fritz Leiber 's fictional city Lankhmar (although Pratchett has said "I didn't – at least consciously, I suppose I must say – create Ankh-Morpork as a takeoff of Lankhmar"); John D. Rateliff notes that Leiber's characters "the Gray Mouser and Fafhrd guest-star in
2139-468: Is hypothesised that new turtles would be born to carry a new pattern of worlds. Attempts by telepaths to learn more about Great A'Tuin's intents have not met with much success, mainly because they did not realise that its brain functions are on such a slow timescale. All they have been able to discern is that the Great A'Tuin is looking forward to something. The other theory, described as being popular among
2232-411: Is known as narrativium, the elemental substance of Story . Nothing on the Disc can exist without a Story first existing to mould its destiny and determine its form. This is, perhaps, a take on the fact that nothing can ever happen on the Disc unless it is written in a story by Terry Pratchett. On the Disc, if a story or legend is told often enough and believed by enough people, it becomes true. This
2325-609: Is known as the law of narrative causality. For example, characters in Guards! Guards! describe the marauding (noble) dragon as an "impossible" creature, yet it is able to fly and breathe fire because that is what dragons are expected to do . Similarly, a witch gone bad may meet a bad end after building a house of gingerbread . If a miller has a third son, he will invariably leave him only his cat . A hero will always win when outnumbered, since million-to-one chances are dramatic enough to "crop up nine times out of ten", but always lose when faced with "a little bald wrinkly smiling man" who
2418-514: Is located in a light, airy series of buildings next to the Guild of Fools and Joculators, which, being a far more sinister building, is often mistaken for the Assassins'. The Guild was headed by Lord Downey. The Assassins' Guild was founded on 27 August AM1512 by Sir Gyles de Munforte as the de Munforte School for Gentlemen Assassins . Sir Gyles was a warrior knight who, during his crusades in Klatch ,
2511-459: Is octiron, a dense black metal that is a large part of the Discworld's crust. Its melting point is above the range of metal forges. The gates of Unseen University are made out of it, as is Old Tom, the university's bell. It is used to make magic needles and bells. It releases magical radiation, but if it becomes negatively polarised, it can be used to absorb such radiation. It generates significant amounts of heat under pressure, accounting for most of
2604-489: Is officially endorsed by the imperial authorities to maintain domestic order, dispelling the rumour proves difficult. As the battle begins, Rincewind inadvertently discovers the actual Red Army, a multitude of terra cotta warriors that can be controlled by magical armor that he accidentally dons. The automatons destroy the Agatean forces. However, Rincewind inadvertently wanders into a ditch and begins to sink. He realizes that
2697-419: Is planning to infiltrate the Empire and live a luxurious retirement by taking over as Emperor. Rincewind learns that the first Agatean Emperor supposedly conquered the land with the assistance of a "Great Wizard" and a "Red Army." Now, a new "Red Army" movement of young people, dedicated mainly to the promulgation of mildly worded slogans, has been inspired by a supposed revolutionary tract, which turns out to be
2790-592: Is said to be much easier to discover than fire, and only slightly harder to discover than water. One of Rincewind's many accumulated positions is Reader in Slood Dynamics. The General Theory of Slood was discovered by Archchancellor Sloman, and a stained glass window representing this event is in the meeting room of the Unseen University college council. The University's plumbing system contains pipes for maintaining slood differential. The Disc itself
2883-521: Is the nature of belief on the Disc that temporary new gods come into being on a regular basis, and often for such mundane things as stuck drawers; Anoia, Goddess of Things That Get Stuck in Drawers, came into her powers in such a manner, though she was previously a volcano goddess. The Disc's nature is fundamentally teleological ; its basic composition is determined by what it is ultimately meant to be. This primary element, out of which all others spring,
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2976-405: Is the principal force in the Discworld and operates in a similar vein to real-world elemental forces such as gravity and electromagnetism . The Disc's "standing magical field" is essentially the local breakdown of reality, which allows a flat planet on the back of a turtle to even exist. The force called "magic" is really just a function of the relative absence of reality in the local area, much in
3069-420: Is the setting for all forty-one Discworld novels; it was influenced by world religions which feature human worlds resting on turtles, as a setting to reflect situations on Earth, in a humorous way. The Discworld is peopled mostly by the three main races of; Men, Dwarves and Trolls. As the novels progress, other lesser known races are included, such as; dragons, elves, goblins and pixies. Pratchett first explored
3162-419: Is the size of a Venetian sequin , and although theoretically made of gold the metal has been adulterated so many times that, according to The Discworld Companion : There is more gold in an equivalent weight of seawater. In a sense, then, Ankh-Morpork is on the gold standard in all respects except the one of actually having any gold to speak of. In Making Money , Moist von Lipwig , as deputy chairman of
3255-461: Is the thaum (from the Greek thauma , marvel), equal to the amount of mystical energy required to conjure up one small white pigeon , or three normal-sized billiard balls . Several SI -modifiers have been applied to it (e.g. millithaum, kilothaum) in the books. Magic can be measured with a thaumometer, which is described as a black cube with a dial on one side. A standard thaumometer is good for up to
3348-629: Is typically presented as a translation from a traditional Chinese curse. Two gods, Fate and the Lady, oppose each other in a game over the outcome of the struggle for the throne of the Agatean Empire on the Counterweight Continent . The Patrician of Ankh-Morpork receives a demand that the "Great Wizzard" be sent to the distant Agatean Empire, and he orders Archchancellor Mustrum Ridcully of Unseen University to comply. As
3441-519: Is unknown to the inhabitants of Discworld (though in The Colour of Magic Pratchett describes the turtle as male), but the subject of much speculation by some of the Disc's finest scientific minds. The sex of the World Turtle is pivotal in proving or disproving a number of conflicting theories about the destination of Great A'Tuin's journey through the cosmos . If, as the Discworld version of
3534-590: The post . Astolat is a legendary location in Arthurian mythology , and Sto lat is also a traditional Polish song equivalent to Happy Birthday to You ( sto lat literally means "hundred years"). Sto Helit is a duchy within Sto Lat, which was given to Mort in Mort , after he'd saved Queen Kelirehenna. After his death in Soul Music , his duchy apparently was passed to his daughter, Susan . She works as
3627-442: The red- and blue-shifting of light becomes noticeable when travelling at speeds of merely a one hundred and twenty miles per hour (190 km/h). Reality is spread thinly on the Disc, so events may be affected by expectations, especially those of 'intelligent' species such as humans, dwarves, etc. As such, the Discworld is not governed by real-world physics or logic but by belief and narrative resolution. Essentially, if something
3720-604: The "revolution" down violently and turn to the conquest of Ankh-Morpork, whose culture he secretly seeks to emulate. When Hong murders the Emperor with the intention of framing the Red Army, it creates the opportunity needed by the Silver Horde to infiltrate the palace. Cohen and Saveloy had hoped to conquer the Empire by simply installing Cohen as Emperor, since almost nobody has ever seen the Emperor's face. But Lord Hong leads four other lords who had been vying against him for
3813-508: The Circle Sea are Ankh-Morpork , Ephebe , Djelibeybi , Klatch, Omnia and Tsort. The Circle Sea is the location of Leshp, an island that occasionally rises to the surface on a cushion of foul-smelling gas, before settling back to the seafloor once more. Leshp's last appearance sparked a near-war between Ankh-Morpork and Klatch in Jingo . The unnamed continent is the one on which most of
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3906-462: The Disc use a compass with a needle of the magical metal octiron , which will always point towards Cori Celesti. Light is so oddly affected by magic that, as it passes into the Disc's atmosphere, it actually slows down from millions to hundreds of miles an hour. One odd effect of this is that the Disc has time zones , however, as a flat world, it should not. Another effect is that, as reported in Thud! ,
3999-421: The Disc, (e.g. the number of the colour of Magic, octarine) and should never be spoken by wizards, especially in certain places. Doing so may allow the ancient dungeon dimension creature "Bel-Shamharoth the sender of eight" to break through (this is taken to an extreme end in one book, as even the narrator takes great pains to avoid saying the word). On the other hand, eight turns up in many places one would expect
4092-531: The Disc. Very high quantities of magic can knock a hole in Discworld reality, leading to an invasion by Lovecraftian monstrosities from the Dungeon Dimensions, or, almost as bad, the world of the Elves . In the Discworld universe, magic is broken into elementary particulate fragments in much the same way that energy and other forces are in real-world quantum physics . The basic unit of Discworld magic
4185-503: The Discworld are not given as North, South, East and West, but rather as directions relating to the disc itself: Hubward (towards the centre), Rimward (away from the centre) and to a lesser extent, turnwise (direction of the disc's rotation) and widdershins (against the direction of the disc's rotation). The drawing on the front cover of Jingo shows a weathercock fitted with the requisite H , R , T and W letters. The disc rotates clockwise as seen from above. The Circle Sea
4278-402: The Discworld physics equivalent of the atom . "Splitting the thaum" revealed that it was in fact composed of numerous sub-particles, called resons ("thingies") which in turn are created from a combination of up to five "flavours": up, down, sideways, sex appeal, and peppermint (parodying the real-world quarks ). In the opening books, the number eight is significant and has magical properties on
4371-476: The Discworld's academics as the Discworld version of the steady state theory , which in-universe is known as the "steady gait" theory, is that Great A'Tuin came from nowhere and is going to keep swimming through space to nowhere forever. Eric shows Great A'Tuin being made instantly from nothing, seemingly in support of the "steady gait" theory; however, the events in The Light Fantastic , in which
4464-439: The Discworld, also referred to as the eighth colour . This fictional colour is strongly indicative of magic and can only be seen by wizards and cats, who both possess "octagon cells" in addition to the normal cones and rods possessed by humans. (See tetrachromacy for the real-world equivalent.). Rincewind, a wizard, describes it as resembling a fluorescent greenish-yellow purple. The Disc contains magical substances. One such
4557-452: The Discworld, which divides it into the more affluent Ankh and the poorer Morpork (including the slum-like "Shades"). Lying approximately equidistant from the cold, mountainous Hub and tropical Rim, Ankh-Morpork is in the Discworld's equivalent of the temperate zone. Ankh-Morpork is built on black loam , broadly, but it is mostly built on itself; pragmatic citizens simply built on top of the existing buildings rather than excavate them out as
4650-685: The Duchess Annagovia of Borogravia in Monstrous Regiment . It is possible for gods to derive power from misotheists , as demonstrated in Small Gods when Om takes a liking to the ardently anti-Omnianist Sergeant Simony. As demonstrated in Faust Eric and Mort , personal belief determines someone's fate in the afterlife, rather than divine judgement, whether it is going to paradise or Hell, or being reincarnated. Such
4743-572: The Great A'Tuin attended the hatching of eight baby turtles, each with four baby elephants and a tiny discworld of their own, would seem to support the Big Bang hypothesis. The little turtles have since gone off on their own journeys. Whether this was the event the Great A'Tuin was looking forward to or merely one step towards its ultimate goal is not mentioned. Great A'Tuin has been mentioned to frequently roll on its belly to avoid asteroid and comet collisions, or even to snatch these projectiles out of
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#17327719770834836-413: The Great A'Tuin's travelling through the universe, the night sky of the Discworld changes markedly over the course of decades, as the turtle departs older constellations and enters new ones. This means that astrologers must constantly update and alter their horoscopes to incorporate all-new zodiacs. A tiny sun and moon orbit the Great A'Tuin, both about 1 mile (1.6 km) in diameter when described at
4929-599: The Guild of Historians, comparable to English Heritage . The City Watch is one of the great success stories. It originally consisted of the Day Watch, popinjays headed by Captain "Mayonnaise" Quirke (rich, thick, oily, and smelling slightly of eggs) and the Night Watch, three unemployable men: then-Captain Vimes, a drunk, Sergeant Colon, whose idea of major crime would be the theft of a bridge and Corporal Nobbs, who has
5022-563: The Marquis des Aix en Pains speaks Morporkian with a French accent. Quirm is famous for its floral clock : a circle of flowers, each of which opens its petals at a different hour. Quirm is also famous for its (blue-veined) cheese. Quirmian cuisine is generally characterised by avec (French for "with"). Quirm is a duchy ruled by the Rodley family. Members of this family include Lord Rodley, an upper-class twit in Mort , and Brenda Rodley,
5115-470: The Pseudopolis city militias; curiously (and this may be no more than a coincidence, although there may be a connection given Nobby's penchant for nicking and flogging [i.e., stealing and selling] anything not nailed down), Pseudopolis always lost its wars at this period because of an unaccountable shortage of weapons. John Keel, a city watchman, moved from Pseudopolis to Ankh-Morpork and was the mentor of
5208-508: The Rim, a great, encircling waterfall (the Rimfall) sends the Disc's oceans cascading into space. Pratchett is evasive about how the water eventually returns to refill the oceans, only saying, "Arrangements are made." The mist from the plunging waters creates the Rimbow, an eight-colour (the eighth is octarine ) double rainbow consisting both of light and of magic. Cardinal directions within
5301-554: The Royal Mint of Ankh-Morpork (acting under authority of the actual chairman, a small dog named Mr. Fusspot), sought to take Ankh-Morpork off of the gold standard and make the Ankh-Morpork dollar a fiat currency backed by the economy of the city. And, inspired by the Ankh-Morpork citizens using stamps as currency, he introduced banknotes for multi-dollar denominations. Making Money "has often been highlighted as an example of Pratchett’s perspicacity, thanks to its superb depictions of
5394-399: The Sto Plains was Mort, and he did it by diplomacy rather than conquest. The principal city of the Sto Plains is Ankh-Morpork . While it does not exert any political power over its neighbors, its economic domination of the region (summed up by the phrase, "Attack us, and we'll call in your mortgages") has meant that the smaller cities around it are essentially its satellites. For some reason,
5487-650: The United Kingdom, or even Greece (as a description in Unseen Academicals describes Quirm as having "strange water", which is the typical stereotype of the Greek water supply). The Quirmian language is occasionally described as similar to French or Spanish, but Snuff notes that all Quirmians speak perfect Morporkian. Spoken Quirmian in Making Money , is identical to French. In Raising Steam ,
5580-660: The assassin Mr. Teatime tries to kill the patron of Hogswatch by using an old magic that involves controlling a person with a part of their body (in this case, the teeth collected by the Tooth Fairies), in order to stop children from believing in him, and almost succeeds. It is also possible for humans to gain godly powers through the power of belief, typically venerated rulers such as the Kings of Djelibeybi as seen in Pyramids , and
5673-524: The basis of many forms of magical power in Discworld physics. Pratchett characters who use or change stories include Lilith, Black Aliss, and Granny Weatherwax. The habit of many Discworlders to take metaphor literally has combined with the power of belief to produce some very odd areas on the Discworld. The Place Where The Sun Does Not Shine, for instance, is a deep crevasse in Lancre, incidentally located between A Rock and A Hard Place. The colour of magic on
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#17327719770835766-399: The books are set. It is essentially the analogue of Europe, and contains among other things the Sto Plains and Ramtops, as well as the more Eastern European lands around Überwald. The Sto Plains are the rough analogue to Western Europe on the Discworld. They are a land of rich black loam, upon which rests a great squat forest of cabbages . In Soul Music , a footnote states various facts of
5859-487: The city appear to have undertaken an experiment in representative democracy , much to Lord Vetinari 's amusement. While no Discworld novels have been set in Pseudopolis, a number of characters have roots there. Eric Thursley lives/lived at 13 Midden Lane ( Faust Eric ). Charlie, a man with an extraordinary physical resemblance to Ankh-Morpork Patrician Havelock Vetinari , ran a clothes shop there ( The Truth ). Nobby Nobbs had an early career as an armourer in one of
5952-748: The city led it to suspend contracts on both the Patrician and the Commander of the City Watch. This led to the rise of unlicensed assassins such as the banshee Mr Gryle in Going Postal and Mr Pin and Mr Tulip of the New Firm in The Truth . The AM$ (Ankh-Morpork dollar) is equal to 100 pennies (pence). The AM$ is reputedly the hardest currency outside of the Agatean Empire . A dollar coin
6045-507: The coat of arms has a hippo on each side. Pseudopolis (its name translates to "false city") is first mentioned in the first Discworld novel, The Colour of Magic . That novel also refers to Psephopololis, which according to The Discworld Mapp is the same place. The city is not to be confused with Pseudopolis Yard, the headquarters of the Ankh-Morpork City Watch (a reference to Scotland Yard ). Pseudopolis possesses
6138-468: The descriptions of character movements and locations in the books matched the Ankh-Morpork map; this allowed him, and fans of the series, to visualise the story more clearly. The name "Ankh-Morpork" refers to both the city itself, a walled city about 5 miles (8 km) across, and the surrounding suburbs and farms of its fiefdom . The city itself lies on the River Ankh, the most polluted waterway on
6231-585: The idea of a disc-shaped world in the novel Strata (1981). Great A'Tuin is the Giant Star Turtle (of the fictional species Chelys galactica ) who travels through the Discworld universe's space , carrying four giant elephants (named Berilia, Tubul, Great T'Phon, and Jerakeen) who in turn carry the Discworld. The narration has described A'Tuin as "the only turtle ever to feature on the Hertzsprung–Russell diagram ". Great A'Tuin's sex
6324-579: The inhabitants of a world where he forgot to include any. Since fingles do not exist on Earth, it is implied that Earth is the planet the Creator is referring to, and humanity is the species that is fundamentally incomplete because of their absence. Another is slood. First mentioned in The Last Continent , slood is a natural substance that could be discovered by intelligent beings, but that humans on Earth have been too unintelligent to find; it
6417-680: The luminescent side is completely visible from the Disc; the new moon when the dark side is shown. The sun's orbit is so complex that one of the elephants has to cock its leg to allow the sun to continue on its orbit. According to the wizards of Unseen University , Chelys galactica , and thus Great A'Tuin, are composed largely of the fictional element chelonium, the properties of which are apparently known to them (they do tests to look for it in Roundworld [the Discworld analogue of Earth] in The Science of Discworld ), but not to readers. Magic
6510-427: The magic boots are weighing him down, and frees himself with Twoflower's help. Cohen realizes that he is now recognized as the Emperor, and prepares proclamations to relax the regime's oppression of the people. He invites Rincewind to serve as Chief Wizard and found his own university, which convinces Rincewind that something horrible is about to happen. Indeed, Lord Hong takes Rincewind hostage and plans to murder him on
6603-407: The number seven in the real world (e.g. the Discworld week contains eight days, not seven). After The Colour of Magic , both the colour and the number eight no longer appear as dangerous. The Disc's magical field is centred on Cori Celesti. Everyday natural forces, such as light and magnetism , are muffled by the power of the Disc's magical field, and rather than a magnetised needle, navigators on
6696-583: The original Duke of Sto Helit, a thoroughly nasty man who staged a bid for the succession, thwarted only by Mort in Mort . At the end of Mort , Princess Keli became Queen. Politically, Sto Lat is the capital of a kingdom ruled by Queen Kelirehenna, which includes Sto Helit, Sto Kerrig, and the Eight Protectorates. Her authority is exercised through a Mayor. The kingdom was one of the first places outside Ankh-Morpork to adopt its own stampings for
6789-546: The popular " Big Bang theory " states, Great A'Tuin is moving from the Birthplace to the Time of Mating, then at the point of mating the civilisations of the Disc might be crushed, simply slide off, or else the entire world will end. The hypothesis is that all stars in the sky are also worlds carried by giant turtles, and that when all the turtles meet they will mate passionately, for the first and only time; from that mating, it
6882-471: The precarious unreality of banking systems." Ankh-Morpork was twinned with the town of Wincanton in Somerset , in the south-west United Kingdom on the spherical planet Earth (known in the Discworld books as Roundworld) on 7 December 2002. The town is home to a shop called "The Discworld Emporium", which also doubles as an "Ankh-Morpork Consulate" according to the shop sign. However, for legal reasons,
6975-475: The region: The cabbage has an almost mythic status among the people of the Sto Plains, and is an emblem of its largest and dominant city, Ankh-Morpork , which is located near the northeast of the coat of arms. Many young people who leave the farming areas of the Plains for life in the big city would happily never see a cabbage again. Although they have been an empire in the past, the Sto Plains currently exist as
7068-406: The river flooded and the sediment grew too high. There are many unknown basements, including an entire "cave network" below Ankh-Morpork made up of old streets and abandoned sewers. The succession of the Patrician normally occurs by either assassination or revolution. Patricians have been known to resign, but this is very much the exception. Power is, to some degree, shared with the many Guilds and
7161-443: The same energy expenditure. This is why most Discworld wizards store magic in a staff, which is a sort of capacitor for magical energy. On the Discworld, where magic has more in common with particle physics than Houdini , high-level background magic (most likely a reference to real-world background radiation ) occurs when a very powerful spell hits, creating myriad sub-astral particles that severely distort local reality. Building
7254-440: The same way that the absence of heat is described as "coldness". Magic warps reality in much the same way as the real universe's gravity warps its space-time. The act of performing magic is, essentially, telling the universe what form it must take, in terms that the universe cannot ignore. This is very draining to magic users, due to Discworld science's Law of Conservation of Reality, which states that magic and mundane methods require
7347-419: The sky which might otherwise destroy the Disc. These stunts do not affect the Disc's population, other than to induce severe seasickness on anyone who happens to be looking at the night sky at that time. A'Tuin has been known to do more complex rolls and corkscrews, but these are rarer. This is similar to real-world sea turtles' habit of rolling over with their shell down to protect themselves from sharks. Due to
7440-485: The spelling, "Wizzard," matches that on Rincewind's hat, the faculty decide to send him. Using the machine Hex , they teleport him to the University from a desert island where he has been living since the events of Eric . They offer him the right to call himself a Wizard, which he never actually earned, if he agrees to be sent to Agatea. Teleportation requires an exchange of mass, and they end up exchanging him with
7533-404: The start of the series, but the description of their diameter is increased to at least 80 miles (130 km) later in the chronicles. The moon is slightly closer to the Disc than the sun. One half is covered with silvery glowing plants, which feed the lunar dragons. The other half is burnt black by the sun. The moon rotates and completes a full revolution in about a month; the full moon occurs when
7626-480: The steps of the palace. Just then, the faculty of Unseen University teleport Rincewind away. Twoflower challenges Hong to a duel, as his wife was killed in a battle waged by Hong. The cannon, re-lit by the faculty, then arrives and kills both Hong and Saveloy; Saveloy, despite never having managed to be a barbarian in life, decides to go to the warrior's afterlife. The Luggage had followed Rincewind to its native Agatea, but became distracted by meeting and mating with
7719-469: The sun), and Scandinavia – the Hublanders share many features with Vikings . Polar bears are renamed "Hubland bears", while the Disc's equivalent of the aurora borealis (described as being produced by the Disc's magical field, rather than by magnetism) is known as the "Aurora Coriolis". The areas closer to the Rim are warmer and tropical, since the Disc's sun passes closer to them in its orbit. At
7812-662: The surviving nobility. They form a sort of advisory city council, with a system of one man, one vote – the Patrician being the "one man" in question. According to The Truth , as per the city charter, a new Patrician must be elected with the unanimous approval of all Guilds. The primary engines of Ankh-Morpork's economy are the Guilds. There are hundreds of Guilds, for every conceivable profession, from clowns to butchers , and each has its own strictly maintained laws and trading practices. Many Guilds have assumed roles which in real-world cities would be assumed by government agencies, such as
7905-404: The teaching profession themselves, or become governesses . Sto Lat, ruled by Queen Kelirehenna , is located about 20 miles (32 km) from Ankh-Morpork. According to the books, Sto Lat is a sizable walled town in the Sto Plains, although eclipsed enormously both in size and influence by the neighbouring city of Ankh-Morpork . Sto Lat is the nearest major city to Ankh-Morpork (approximately
7998-469: The throne to rally their armies against the Horde, to the chagrin of Saveloy who had been trying to civilize the barbarians. Before the battle begins, Rincewind attempts to tip the balance in the Horde's favor by spreading rumors amongst the encamped armies that the Horde is being supported by an army of 'invisible vampire ghosts', who Agateans believe inhabit the lands outside of the Empire. Since this belief
8091-439: The time with learning things." The school resembles a traditional English independent girls' school, with an academic curriculum and heavy emphasis on respectable and decent behaviour. Students at the school do not seem to be preparing for any particular profession. Susan Sto Helit describes it as "an education in, well, education" ( Hogfather ). It appears that those students who do not marry upon leaving school generally go into
8184-490: The twinning was not officially displayed on the road sign. Fans, however, added stick-on notices to some of the signs. In 2009, this was changed, and a new town sign prominently declaring the twinning with Ankh-Morpork and other Roundworld places was erected. Several streets in a new housing development in Wincanton have been named after Ankh-Morpork Streets, including Peach Pie Street and Treacle Mine Road. The word "Morpork"
8277-483: The very first Discworld story, The Colour of Magic , under the pseudonyms of The Weasel and Bravd". Discworld (world) The Discworld is the fictional world where English writer Sir Terry Pratchett 's Discworld fantasy novels take place. It consists of an intersteller planet-sized disc , which sits on the backs of four huge elephants , themselves standing on the back of a world turtle , named Great A'Tuin , as it slowly swims through space. The Disc
8370-478: The volcanic geological processes on Discworld. When struck (such as with Old Tom), instead of producing a sound it briefly silences anything around it. Another is fingles, insinuated in Eric to be an important part of human psychology. Their absence, according to the Creator, can cause psychological problems. "On the surface they were all right, but deep down they knew something was missing", as he put it, referring to
8463-523: The young Sam Vimes ( Night Watch ). Quirm is the location of the Quirm College for Young Ladies (formerly attended by Susan Sto Helit ) and the birthplace of Leonard of Quirm (the Disc's Leonardo da Vinci ). It is a quiet and peaceful town, and for this reason is a popular holiday destination. It is also where Morporkians go when they retire (including Lord Vetinari 's aunt, Lady Roberta Meserole). In this regard, it relates to Ankh-Morpork as Eastbourne relates to London, or possibly as Spain relates to
8556-635: Was a male-only establishment (although talented, self-taught women might become members of the Guild itself); however it became co-educational. It is said to be the only school of assassination on the Discworld. However, assassination began in Klatch, and it is stated in Interesting Times that there is a small, very select Guild in Hunghung, in the Agatean Empire . The unwillingness of the Assassins' Guild to accept contracts that might undermine
8649-688: Was intrigued by the Klatchian tradition of professional gentleman assassins, and decided to set up a similar organisation at home, only without the drugs . In AM1576, it became a Guild and changed its name to the Royal Guild of Assassins . The "Royal" was dropped after the "events" of AM1688 (i.e. the Ankh-Morpork Civil War, in which the monarchy was overthrown). For most of its history, the Assassins Guild School
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