Djelibeybi

2023-03-04T11:08:02Z

Ben: Hersheba

{{Nation Data
|title= Djelibeybi
|picture=Blank.jpg|
|established=ca 7000 years ago
|motto=

|neighbours= [[Tsort]] and [[Ephebe]]
|features=The river [[djel]]

|population= closely packed
|size= 300 square miles.
|capital=(recently) New Djeli
|government= Monarchy (Queen Ptraci}

|notablecitizens= [[Dios]]

|imports=Plumbing fixtures, other technology
|exports=Crocodile leather goods, pickles and preserves

|anthem=

|books= {{P}}, {{CDA}}
}}

'''The Kingdom of the Sun, The Old Kingdom of Djelibeybi''':

At two miles wide and one hundred and fifty miles long this is a narrow country along the river [[Djel]]. It is almost completely submersed during the wet season. It is on the [[Klatch (continent)|Klatchian]] coast of the [[Circle Sea]]. Djelibeybi has spent seven thousand years building [[pyramid]]s for her monarchs, and has driven herself bankrupt. The two most recent monarchs have been more eager for international trading and technological advances like [[Guild of Plumbers and Dunnikindivers|plumbing]] and bridges/viaducts, ideally with crenellations from which the formerly sacred river crocodiles may be shot at/have large stones dropped on them from a suitably great height. Pyramid-building has ceased, freeing the rich soil along the Djel for agricultural uses, which will probably boost the country's economy. After all, a lot of loose building stone is now available, most of it cut up into handy-to-use pre-squared blocks of masonry, so why waste it? Especially now it's going to be needed for all those bridges and aqueducts and things.

Under the benign auspices of the goddess [[Bast]], Djelybeybi is also a country where [[cats]] are considered a sacred animal. Anyone who has encountered a Djelibeybian cat might actively prefer a sacred crocodile, as serious wounds can be inflicted by a hissing, spitting, flattened-eared, highly inbred, maniacal, feline. It remains an unresolved issue as to what the status of formerly sacred cats will be under the new regime, but thus far, nobody has suggested building high bridges over the litter tray so that large stones (of which there is a sudden sufficiency) may be dropped upon them from a great height. Perhaps the problem is that a nation built on sand is effectively one vast litter tray from a cat perspective; at least crocodiles are confined to the river, so providing for their culling is a side-benefit of recycling pyramids into bridges...

Though ostensibly a monarchy, Djelibeybi was in effect ruled by [[Dios]], the never-aging high priest to all of Djelibeybi's monarchs who interprets the laws and is as powerful as any other Grand Vizier, until he was sent back in time (his life is a never-ending time loop) in {{P}}.

Djelibeybi used to be something of an empire thousands of years ago. After the aforesaid bankruptcy, Djelibeybi hasn't been conquered by her strong neighbors [[Tsort]] and [[Ephebe]] (one on each side of the long, narrow country) because if one conquered Djelibeybi, the border would be immediately next to the other strong neighbor, and there would be more trouble.

After [[Dios]] is removed from the loop, or rather, Djelibeybi is removed from the loop in time within which Dios remains inextricably caught up, the country is now on the road to financial solvency and new prosperity under the guiding hand of Queen [[Ptraci]] I, a former handmaid who has come into her own since her parentage was revealed, and who has some good ideas for the future.

Main setting for the novel {{p}}. Djelibeybi also is among the forces that set out to defeat [[Omnia]] once and for all, in {{SG}}. The name literally translates to "Child of Djel". According to the local calendar, which is likely to differ from the [[Discworld calendar|consensus calendar]], the events of ''Pyramids'' took place in the Century of the Cobra.

==Deities==
''An incomplete list of the known gods of Djelibeybi:''

===Supreme Gods===
''The Djelibeybatian pantheon has nine Supreme Gods who all appear to be equally Supreme, including:''
*[[Net]]
*[[Ptooie]]
*[[Set]]
*[[Sot]]

===Supreme Gods of the Afterlife===
''There are also at least four Supreme Gods of the [[Netherworld|Djelibeybatian version of the afterlife]]''
*[[Orexis-Nupt]]
*[[Silur]]
*[[Syncope]]

===Other Gods===
*[[Bast]] - God of cats
*[[Bunu]] - God of goats
*[[Cephnet]] - A sun God
*[[Cephut]] - God of cutlery
*[[Fhez]] - God of the lower [[Djel]]
*[[Gil]] - Another sun god
*[[Hat]] - God of unexpected guests
*[[Khefin]] - God of gateways
*[[Nept]] - Goddess of the sky
*[[Nesh]] - A sun Goddess
*[[Sarduk]] - Goddess of caves
*[[Sessifret]] - Goddess of the afternoon
*[[Teg]] - God of agriculture
*[[Thrrp]] - Sun god and Charioteer of the Sun
*[[Tzut]] - God of the upper [[Djel]]
*[[What]] - Goddess of the Sky
*[[Vut]] - God of the evening
*[[Yay]] - Another sun god

==Annotations==

Djelibeybi is strongly based on Ancient Egypt. A country located by a great river with, pyramids, a multitude of gods and mummies.

The name Djelibeybi is a reference to the sweets called [[Wikipedia:Jelly baby|Jelly babies]], a pun which according to Terry Pratchett many readers seem to have [http://www.lspace.org/books/apf/soul-music.html#p10982 missed]. It may have been inspired by the djellaba, a traditional Arabic garment native to the Maghreb, and/or the jellabiya which is a similar outfit worn around the Persian Gulf.

And of course, just as Djelibeybi is a civilisation founded on the recirculation and manipulation of Time, the popular TV character of the Doctor in Doctor Who (while in his Tom Baker incarnation), who is a Time Lord capable of manipulating with and travelling in Time, had a favourite sweet which he would generously offer to friend and foe alike. Yes, the jelly baby...

Hence also the appearance of the otherwise-unknown Hersheba, a throw-in for the American trade where jelly babies aren't known, but Hershey Bars are..

[[de:Djelibeby]]

[[Category:Discworld geography]]

Annagovia

2023-03-04T10:03:45Z

Ben: Reference to King Arthur

{{Character Data
|title= Duchess Annagovia
|photo= ANNAGOVIA.jpg|The Duchess, as drawn by [[User:Knmatt|Matt Smith]]
|name=
|age=
|race=

|occupation= Duchess of Borogravia and semi-deity
|appearance= fish-faced and old.

|residence= [[Borogravia]]

|death= recent, but not announced to population
|parents=
|relatives=
|children=
|marital status=

|books=
|cameos=
}}

The '''Duchess Annagovia''' is long-dead leader of [[Borogravia]], who was held in high esteem by all her people - indeed, even asked for guidance and help as if she were a saint. They didn't know she was dead. It is thought that the news of her death was withheld from the people of Borogravia as deliberate policy. Faced with an ongoing debilitating war, famine and starvation, with the only alternative being the insane god [[Nuggan]], it is no accident that the fervent wish for change for the better expressed by the people has found a catalyst in the form of the fervent believer [[Wazzer Goom]].

Through Wazzer the Duchess lives again as an [[anthropomorphic personification]] and is able to communicate her wishes to her generals. The Duchess expressed a wish to truly die after establishing her true wishes to Borogravia's generals. But since the belief of the people, acting through Wazzer, created her, will this wish be honoured? Or has the Grand Duchess arrived in [[Dunmanifestin]] to replace the failing [[Nuggan]], and to fill the space his passing has left?

==Annotations==

It is interesting that the idea of a dead leader still being hailed as alive, or even a leader who never actually had any objective physical existence, was mooted on [[Roundworld]], by George Orwell, in ''1984'' where it is suggested, by the highly placed Party member O'Brien, that "Big Brother" was an invention designed to fool the people into making every effort to win the never-ending war with the neighbouring totalitarian powers. (Note that there is a school of thought that suggests Soviet dictator Leonid Brezhnev died during a Red Army review and only his lifeless corpse, propped up by other Politburo members, took the salute from the military)

On the Discworld, that degree of belief would very soon bring "Big Brother" to life....

The Duchess seems to be a figure much like {{wp|Britannia#British Revival|Britannia}} - a national emblem, a symbol of her people. Britannia is commonly depicted as a fearsomely large but handsome woman wearing a toga and a centurion's helmet, holding a trident and leaning on a shield bearing the Union flag. See also [[Morporkia]].

[[File:Borogravian 20 crown note.jpg]]

Could this be the face of the Duchess, whose portrait was kissed by new recruits to the Army?

The English also have a (largely) apocryphal former King, Arthur who is said to be sleeping under the Malvern Hills, awaiting the call to return.

[[Category:Discworld characters|Annagovia, Grand Duchess]]
[[Category:Human characters|Annagovia, Grand Duchess]]
[[de:Annagowia]]

Discworld & Terry Pratchett Wiki - User contributions [en]

Djelibeybi

Annagovia