Discworld & Terry Pratchett Wiki - User contributions [en]

Short Story:Twenty Pence With Envelope and Seasonal Greetings

2013-01-26T20:43:27Z

Stanley Howler: Created page with "A short story written in the style of the great Victorian horror writers, like M. R. James or Edgar Allan Poe. A man appears on the writer's doorstep, and tells him a chilling..."

A short story written in the style of the great Victorian horror writers, like M. R. James or Edgar Allan Poe.
A man appears on the writer's doorstep, and tells him a chilling tale of a portal to a world filled with horribly large kittens, robins, and festive messaged, scrawled over the night sky. He has been driven mad by the dread images, and can only yell such mystifying messages as ''Merry Christmas From Alan And The Kids'' and, of course, ''Twenty Pence With Envelope and Seasonal Greetings''.

Happy Landings

2012-07-21T18:32:02Z

Stanley Howler:

A series of towns extremely deep in [[Long Earth]] inhabited by both humans and trolls for many centuries, with most of the humans getting there by accident. New human arrivals are welcomed by the inhabitants. The buildings are unusual- although, at first glance, it seems new, the architecture at the base is virtually Roman. Things are too ''nice'' there; there are no arguments, and no sign of violence whatsoever. To [[Joshua Valienté]], it is like one of those dreams where things seem too normal, too idyllic.

Curiously, the main township is at the same place as Humptulips would be if this was the [[Datum Earth|Datum]]- although the name is not to be confused with the ''other'' [[Humptulip]]s...

[[Category:The Long Earth|Landings Happy]]

==Annotation==

Natural Steppers from all periods of [[Datum Earth]]'s history have found their way here, and elected to stay. This suggests Tanelorn in Michael Moorcock's opus, a city founded by free spirits from all parts and phases of the Multiverse who chose to renounce the old Gods. But Tanelorn was attacked by things of Chaos...

Douglas Black

2012-07-20T13:52:23Z

Stanley Howler:

Along with [[Lobsang]] '''Douglas Black''' is one of the owners of the [[Black Corporation]] of which [[TransEarth]] is a branch. Little is known about him, but from what has been seen of TransEarth it can be expected that he is probably immensly rich and powerful. Anybody who is in any way talented will eventually work for Douglas; It is common to see people with an earpiece affixed to the side of their head, so that Douglas can speak to them personally.

{{Stub}}
[[Category:The Long Earth|Black Douglas]]

Book:The Long Earth

2012-07-17T18:25:46Z

Stanley Howler:

{{Book Data
|cover=[[File:LongEarth.jpg|220px]]
|date=Jun 2012
|publisher=Doubleday
|isbn=0857520091
|pages=
|rrp=£18.99
|series=
|characters=Percy Blakeney, Monica Jansson, Willis Linsay
|annotations=Yes
|notes=with Stephen Baxter
}}

Released 21 Jun, 2012 in the UK. A Science Fiction novel in collaboration with {{wp|Stephen Baxter|Stephen Baxter}}. It is based on a pre-{{COM}} concept then called ''The High Meggas''.

==Blurb==
The possibilities are endless (just be careful what you wish for...)

1916: the Western Front, France. Private Percy Blakeney wakes up. He is lying on fresh spring grass. He can hear birdsong, and the wind in the leaves in the trees. Where has the mud, blood and blasted landcape of No man's Land gone?

2015: Madison, Wisconsin. Cop Monica Jansson has returned to the burned-out home of one Willis Linsay, a reclusive and some said mad, others dangerous, scientist. It was arson but, as is often the way, the firemen seem to have caused more damage than the fire itself. Stepping through the wreck of a house, there's no sign of any human remains but on the mantelpiece Monica finds a curious gadget - a box, containing some wiring, a three-way switch and a...potato. It is the prototype of an invention that Linsay called a 'stepper'. An invention he put up on the web for all the world to see, and use, an invention that would to change the way mankind viewed his world Earth for ever. And that's an understatement if ever there was one...

...because the stepper allowed the person using it to step sideways into another America, another Earth, and if you kept on stepping, you kept on entering even more Earths...this is the Long Earth. It's our our Earth but one of chain of parallel worlds, lying side by side each differing from its neighbour by really very little (or actually quite a lot). It's an infinite chain, offering 'steppers' an infinite landscape of infinite possibilities. And the further away you travel, the stranger - and sometimes more dangerous - the Earths get. The sun and moon always shine, the basic laws of physics are the same. However, the chance events which have shaped our particular Earth, such as the dinosaur-killer asteroid impact, might not have happened and things may well have turned out rather differently.

But, until Willis Linsay invented his stepper, only our Earth hosted mankind...or so we thought. Because it turns out there are some people who are natural 'steppers', who don't need his invention and now the great migration has begun...

==Characters==
* Private [[Percy Blakeney]] - A World War I soldier.
*Madison Police Department
** Officer [[Monica Jansson]] - A Madison police officer with more imagination than most, who is first on the scene when children start disappearing all over the city.
** Lieutenant Clichy
** Junior Patrol Officer Mike Christopher
** Station Master Dodd
*The House
** [[Joshua Valienté]] - Joshua was an orphan born in another world, and he would rather lose himself in a forest than in the crowds of our Earth, and can’t wait to get away from it again.
**[[Sister Agnes]]
**[[Sister Serendipity]]
**[[Sarah]]
**[[Freddie]]
**[[Billy Chambers]]
*The Black Corporation and [[transEarth]]
**[[Douglas Black]]
**[[Lobsang]] - A Tibetan mechanic reincarnated as a highly intelligent machine, with a high opinion of himself to match.
**Shi-Mi
**Selena Jones
* [[Brian Cowley]] a demagogue and founder of [[Humanity First]]
* [[Willis Linsay]] - The inventor of the [[Stepper]].
* [[Sally Linsay]] - Daughter of Willis Linsay and a natural stepper.
* [[Maria Valienté]] - The mother of Joshua, and at only fifteen.
* Rod Green
* [[Jim Russo]]
* Hermione Dawes
* [[First Person Singularity]]

==Things and Concepts==
*[[Humanity First]]
*[[The Black Corporation]]
*''[[Pack Up Your Troubles in Your Old Kit Bag]]'' - song
*[[The Silence]]
*[[Step day]]
*The [[Stepper]]
*The [[Long Earth]]s
*[[transEarth]]- an arm of the Black Corporation
*''Mark Twain''
*[[The Cosmic Confidence Trick Victims]]

==Locations==
*[[Datum Earth]]
*A forest
*The Home
*Madison, Wisconsin
*[[Happy Landings]]
*The Western Front, France
*Reboot

[[Category:Books by Terry Pratchett]]

Joshua Valienté

2012-07-16T19:57:17Z

Stanley Howler:

'''Joshua Valienté''' is one of the main characters in ''[[The Long Earth]]''. His mother, [[Maria Valienté]], gave birth to him in strange circumstances- even more strange than the business with [[Jeremy Clockson]]. Like Jeremy, therefore, he is quite a recluse, enjoying the presence of what he terms the 'Silence'. Indeed, compared to Joshua, [[Wikipedia:Daniel Boone|Daniel Boone]] was pathologically gregarious. He follows instructions zealously- the similarities are stacking up- and he looks down on others who do not prepare. He was brought up by an unusual convent of nuns, in that they prefer listening to Bob Dylan than the hymns of the faithful. He is quite a celebrity, in that people stop him in the street and go: "Joshua Valienté? You're ''him'', aren't you? The weird one? With the [[Stepper]]? And the nuns?"

He demonstrates his usefulness during the events of ''[[The Long Earth]]'', in that he and [[Lobsang]] embark on a top-secret mission to the depths of Long Earth for that most natural of reasons: to see what is out there, and whether it turns a profit.
[[Category:The Long Earth|Valienté Joshua]]

Long Earth

2012-07-15T15:12:43Z

Stanley Howler:

The '''Long Earth''' is a phenomenon explored in (unsurprisingly) ''[[The Long Earth]]''. Imagine a pack of cards. Our world- [[Roundworld]], [[Datum Earth]], it goes by many names- is in the middle, and one can travel, using the [[Stepper]], through the cards, although one often experiences nausea. Hardly any of the worlds are occupied, so it seems the evolution of mankind is a unique thing. It is unknown whether the card pack circles round to meet itself, or whether there is something more mysterious at the end.

Datum Earth is one of many 'interglacial' worlds; that is, worlds that are covered in trees and rich forms of life. Animals thrive there, with unusual species of armadillos and horses being in profusion. Who knows, there might be a [[Hermit Elephant]] in there. The interglacial worlds are surrounded by a set of worlds experiencing ice ages- this is called the Ice Belt, and it starts at West 11. As a result the previous world, West 10, has become a sort of 'mustering' world, where supplies and suchlike can be purchased.

Similarly there is the Mine Belt, a set of worlds filled with desolate deserts and rich minerals, and the Corn Belt, which is good farming country and is ideal for setting up colonies. It starts at West 100,000, but nobody knows how deep it is.

There are some worlds that are mere dust-bowls, like the worst class of planets, or are covered in ice, where nothing can grow. These are called Jokers, and are not to be confused with the other [[Jokers]]...

==Notable Earths==
* [[Datum Earth]]
* East 3
* West 5
* West 10
* West 100,000, also known as Good Old Hundred K.
* West 101,754

[[Category:The Long Earth|Earth Long]]

Talk:Pictsies

2012-07-01T20:14:13Z

Stanley Howler:

Has anyone ever made a dictionary of Pictsie-speak? I would very much like to know some of the finer nuances of the meanings of their various verb-inflections. Or something, wha hae. --[[User:Kiwibird|Kiwibird]] 19:57, 12 November 2005 (CET)
:A few words are explained in the first pages of [[Book:A Hat Full of Sky|A Hat Full of Sky]]. It might be interesting to list some more on the picties language. --[[User:Sanity|Sanity]] 11:45, 13 November 2005 (CET)

I now have wintersmith, and there is a much better vocab list in that one. I'll get on it asap...--[[User:CommanderJake, AMCW|CommanderJake, AMCW]] 20:06, 22 January 2007 (CET)

:I've done a bit of what I can remember, can't remember what else there is.--[[User:CommanderJake, AMCW|CommanderJake, AMCW]] 10:09, 15 October 2006 (CEST)

One more thing, is there any reason that the article is called "pictsies", I thought the official name was "Nac Mac Feegle". Can this be changed? Or does it not matter?--[[User:CommanderJake, AMCW|CommanderJake, AMCW]] 10:09, 15 October 2006 (CEST)

Ref. "language and dialect" - "carlin" - given as "a weak person". This can also mean "unworthy person", "nasty/evil/ill-natured person", or in parts of the Borders and the North of England, "witch" in the pejorative "crone" sense.--[[User:AgProv|AgProv]] 00:57, 27 April 2007 (CEST)

Elsewhere [[Annotations]] I've introduced the interesting similarities between Pterry's Feegle and the Gordon Highlanders, as written about by Scottish author George McDonald Fraser. He wrote three books of semi-autobiographical short stories about his time as an officer in a Scottish regiment whose soldiers have a STRONG resemblence to the Feegle. At least two of them have glossaries of Scottish and military slang - a lot of which is also used by Pterry's Feegle. Search out ''The General Danced at Dawn'', ''McAuslan in the Rough'' and ''The Sheik and the Dustbin'' (all published in paperback by Pan) for further info and an extended "Feegle" vocab! --[[User:AgProv|AgProv]] 00:57, 27 April 2007 (CEST)

Here goes...

* ''banjo'' (v) - to assault, beat up. ([[Banjo Lilywhite|''more here'']])
* ''bauchle'' (v) - to shamble, stagger, walk unco-ordinatedly. (n)an awkward person, ref. [[Mort]] as we first encounter him, who is made out of knees
* ''baur'' (n) - a joke, an amusing story
* ''brammer'' (n) - a beauty, esp. of a girl.
* ''claim'' (v) - to accost for purposes of violence. ''("I'm claiming ye, ye wee scunner that ye are''!")
* ''crommach'' (n) - long shepherd's crfook carried by Highland shepherds
* ''glaur'' (n) - mud, filth
* ''greet'' (v) - to cry, weep, do the waily-wailies
* ''hoatchin' '' - infested with, crawling with, heaving with.
* ''humph'' (v) - to strain under a heavy load, such as a coo-beastie
* ''intellek-shul'' (n) - a clever b*******
* ''manky'' (n) - dirty, soiled
* ''melt'' (v) - to assault, beat up
* ''nyaff'' (n) - an unworthy or untrustworthy person
* ''oxter'' (n) - armpit
* ''peching'' (adj) - panting, breathless
* ''pit the heid on'' - to deliver a sound head-butt
* ''sclim'' (v)- to climb
* ''schachle'' (v/n) - see ''bauchle''
* ''skelf'' (n) - fragment or splinter
* ''stotter'' (n) - see ''brammer''
* ''shilpit'' (adj) - undersized, weakly, stunted
* ''yahoo'' (n) - a barbarian, a person too slovenly even by Feegle standards

Hoping this serves as a start! I've placed this list here as this is Feegle-like language garnered from other sources: I'm sure one or two of the words in this list are "genuine", in that they can be found in the recorded speech of the Feegle in the books. I just don't want to add them "unproven" to the main list of words which the Feegle definitely use. --[[User:AgProv|AgProv]] 19:20, 11 May 2007 (CEST)

:"Eldritch" and "Special Sheep Liniment" are included in Miss Tick's glossary, but that doesn't make them particularly Feeglish (perhaps where "eldritch" = "oblong", but that might also be called illiteracy). TP uses "eldritch" frequently through the "adult" series as well. Likewise "yahoo", above, is from Jonathan Swift and common in English. --[[User:Old Dickens|Old Dickens]] 14:50, 13 March 2010 (UTC)

Incidentally, on the APF, in the section about Terry Pratchett in his own words, Terry identifies one of his favourite authors (ie, one where he will go out, buy, and read everything the author has written) as being... '''''George McDonald Fraser'''''. Isn't it nice to know that what started out as a suspicion concerning an influence on Pratchett's writing is almost certainly true.... I'm quite chuffed!--[[User:AgProv|AgProv]] 13:44, 21 May 2008 (UTC)

Also regard [http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/h2g2/A839207] on the Scots English dialect.

[[User:Daibhid Ceannaideach]] has done a complete translation of [http://www.lspace.org/books/dawcn/dawcn-scots.html ''Death and What Comes Next''] into Scots/Feeglish for L-space. --[[User:Old Dickens|Old Dickens]] 18:16, 29 December 2008 (UTC)

==The Feegle: the soundtrack?==

I've just been re-acquainting myself with Black Sabbath's LP ''Paranoid'', and there's an interesting track called ''Fairies Wear Boots''.

''Goin'home, late last night -

''Suddenly I had a fright!

''Looked through the window, can't believe what I saw -

''Fairy boots, a dancin' without pause!''

Ozzie Osborne (and his doctor) finally diagnose the complaint as being due to too much smokin' and trippin', but what if Ozzie, a man renowned for not quite living in this world, really DID see the Feegle, possibly working up to a 512-some reel...--[[User:AgProv|AgProv]] 08:56, 3 June 2008 (UTC)

== Smurfs ==

Has anyone noticed the similarily with smurfs (small, blue with only one female in a group. It's as though the pictsies are the drunken cousins. (unsigned jibe by [[User:BOZZ]] 12:58 14 Jul

No, I can't say the connection ever crossed my mind. Maybe the original Belgians, but the North American television sort, no. gods, no. Executives from various manufacturers of highly sweetened breakfast cereal and their advertising agencies are looking for the numbers of those Swiss accounts.
no...(shakes head vigorously, bangs ears with palms; the terrible thought clings to his brain like a Great Spell) noooo........ --[[User:Old Dickens|Old Dickens]] 21:54, 14 July 2008 (UTC)

American commentator on all things Pratchett, Lawrence Watt-Evans[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lawrence_Watt-Evans#Works], says (in his overview of the Discworld books, '''''The Turtle Moves''''', Benbella Books, 2008, $14.95 US, $16.95 Canadian, £10.99 British), that

''...the first impression is that they're a cross between Smurfs and soccer hooligans, but they're more than that..."'' and goes on to sum up that ''they live in matriarchal clans, serving a witch-mother called a kelda, who is abolutely nothing like Smurfette. They have a social structure that makes sense, in its own bizarre way..." (TTM, p135)

Actually the mother of the Smurfs is never mentioned. We only come across Papa Smurf (a skilled wizard) so it could well be that Mama Smurf was a lot like a Kelda:)

Intriguingly, mr Watt-Evans admits to having used the L-space web as a research source and deminstrates a familiarity with it, so I wonder if he's one of our band of L-space Wiki contributors? If so, hello! (Haven't seen any ideas I can definitely identify as mine coming back at me in his book, though....)

--[[User:AgProv|AgProv]] 20:36, 18 October 2008 (UTC)

More thoughts on the similarity between Pictsies and Smurfs:- as TP remarked over apparent similarities between his and JK Rowling's ideas, "we're both fishing from the same stream here".

In this case the stream is the historical one, which allowed ample fishing for both Pterry and Father Abraham in shaping their respective creations. The reason both Smurfs and Pictsies are apparently blue: this draws on the Celtic tradition of two thousand years ago, which dictated a well-dressed warrior should go into combat having first covered himself with blue dye derived from the woad plant. Some sources suggest the woad was used as ink for more permanent tattoos.

The Pictsies are explicitly described as painted or tattooed so extensively their skins appear blue: the Smurfs just are blue. (Indeed, the Picts and the Caledonians were the northern-most Celtic tribes occupying modern-day Scotland: another tribe called the ''Belgae'' straddled both sides of the English Channel, and yes, incorporated modern-day Belgium, where some two millenia later, Father Abraham had an idea for a cartoon folk based on the Belgae of old...)

The shared cap is another item originated by neither Pratchett nor Abraham. The floppy conical cap falling over at the top is at least as old as the original Celts, and variations have been found all over Europe and the middle-East. Known as the Phyrgian Cap, this has been found in the sacrificial bog-graves in Denmark (Tollund Man) and England (Lindow Man). It was worn by Persian tribes fighting Romans on the eastern border of the Empire, it was requisite headgear in the French Revolution (look at pictures of revolutionaries dressed in the "Smurf-Hat"), and even Stalin's Red Army wore a version in the early years of WW2. (but in khaki and caled a ''budionovka''). --[[User:AgProv|AgProv]] 10:35, 12 November 2008 (UTC)

=='''Wee''' hags==

Can anyone confirm that they ever called anyone but Tiffany the "big '''wee''' hag"? I don't recall and it seems unlikely. I think she's the only wee hag they know; Miss Level is full-sized and elderly. --[[User:Old Dickens|Old Dickens]] 21:46, 9 October 2008 (UTC)

It was only Tiffany. They called all witches hags but Tiffany was the big wee hag or their big wee hag. --Confusion 20:39, 25 November 2011 (CET)

== Should this be added? ==

In the extras section of one of the Harper-collin Tiffany Aching series books (I think it was {{W}} but I can't be sure) Pratchett describes the Feegles as ''Scottish Smurfs who've watched ''Braveheart'' one too many times.''

Should this be added to the Pictsies article, or no? [[User:Doctor Whiteface|Doctor Whiteface]] 05:04, 6 December 2009 (UTC)

It's an annotation, so I'd rather put it in a <nowiki>[[Book:Title/Annotations]]</nowiki> page. --[[User:Old Dickens|Old Dickens]] 14:14, 6 December 2009 (UTC)

==possible connection==

Anyone else thinking of the Silastic Armourfiends of Striterax? Anyone? --[[User:Nowwaitjustaminutehere|Nowwaitjustaminutehere]]

Interesting idea, but the only real comparison point is that both races like to fight - the Feegle are pretty much a low-tech SAS (interesting acronym on the part of Mr Adams) who are satisfied with the potential of heads, fists and feet. Although if you took them into space and showed them the potential, who knows, and in a fiht between the two, would you bet on the Armorfiends? (Douglas Adams deliberately used American spelling to describe a space-age race of bloodthirsty maniacs. Interesting detail.) [[User:AgProv|AgProv]] 20:05, 30 June 2012 (CEST)

I would say that the Armorfiends are more malevolent, while the Feegles are quite daft. It's like the difference between soldiers and the certain kinds of football fans; they are both likely to hurt you if you are wearing the wrong clothes, but one would cheerfully buy you a meat pie afterwards. Well, maybe. And the Feegles would never beat up a sack of [[Potato]]es.--[[User:Stanley Howler|Stanley Howler]] 22:14, 1 July 2012 (CEST)

Felicity Beedle

2012-06-30T20:08:22Z

Stanley Howler:

{{Character Data
|title= The Poo Lady
|photo=
|name= Miss Felicity Beedle
|race= Human
|age= Older

|occupation= Author
|appearance=

|residence= At Apple Tree Cottage, near [[Ramkin Hall]]

|death=
|parents=
|relatives=
|children= None
|marital status= widowed

|books= {{SN}}
|cameos=
}}

'''Miss Felicity Beedle''' is the bestselling author of [[57]] books many of them having to do with poo. She is the favorite author of [[Young Sam]].

Her mother had been found by goblins in Uberwald when she was three and was raised by them. They embraced her as one of their own- teaching her the language, giving her a mushroom farm plot, allowed her to look after a rat farm. However, one day, when she was eleven, humans came into the goblin cave, and massacred most of them, but took the young girl and 'tutored' her- by whipping her whenever she spoke the goblin tongue. They did not break her, though. She had enough sense to learn to be sufficiently normal for them to trust her in the garden, where she vaulted over the wall and escaped. Until she met Mr Beedle, some of her best memories were in the goblin cave. As a result of this, however, she often swore in Goblin (an unpleasant noise, which sounds like walnuts being crunched.).

She became a writer- after all, the words are out there, and it can't be too hard to put them together- for children. Titles include:
*''[[Book:The World of Poo|The World of Poo]]''.
*''The Joy of Earwax''.
*''Melvin and the Enormous Boil''.
*''The Wee Wee Men''.
*''The War with the Snot Goblins''.
*''Geoffrey and the Land of Poo''.
*''The Boy Who Didn't Know How To Pick His Own Scabs''.
*''The Little Duckling Who Thought He Was an Elephant'' (but not ''The Elephant Who Thought it Was a Duckling'', because that would be silly).
*''Daphne and the Nose Pickers''.
*''Gaston's Enormous Problem'', which won her the Gladys H. J. Ferguson Award, for the fifth time.
*''Geoffrey and the Magic Pillow Case''.
*''Wee''.
As has often been pointed out, she gets children interested in reading, even if it is reading about poo and brain-dead ducklings.

She did have a husband, although no children, but he died shortly after the marriage in the Klatchian war recounted in {{J}}. When she moved to Apple Tree House in the Shires, she changed her title from 'Mrs' to 'Miss', because it tends to be more authory.

She seems to have an interest in education; she finances scholarships at the [[Quirm College for Young Ladies]] and also teaches goblins in secret- to read, play music and so forth. It has been hinted that the 'A for Apple' system is not working, as the goblins didn't know what one was before she had brought one in. It should be noted, however, that she is not teaching them to be miniature humans, but to be well-educated goblins. For example, she is improving the sanitation of the caves, introducing greens instead of rabbit to help with digestion. She concentrates on the females, on the basis that they are more prone to be maternal and sensible. The male goblins think that a rabbit on a stick is healthy eating taken to extremes.

The goblin girl, [[Tears of the Mushroom]], is her star pupil, the large hands being helpful when she plays the harp. It is unknown what she would think of [[Stinky]]...

She's probably the only publishing phenomenon mentioned living on the Discworld, which seems (surprisingly) to have less of them than on our world (fill-in-names here...)

Book:Monstrous Regiment/Annotations

2012-06-29T17:18:11Z

Stanley Howler:

In the British Army, the Tenth of Foot are, or were, the Lincolnshire Regiment. Originally raised in 1685 to fight the Duke of Monmouth's rebellion, the regiment later fought in the American War of Independence, where Washington's army derisively nicknamed them "the yellowbellies" because of the buff-yellow cuffs, turnbacks, and lapels of their red tunics. (a regiment only wore blue turnbacks if it had been granted "Royal" status, which the Lincolns did not achieve till the late 19th century). After service in Egypt in the early 1800's, their cap-badge became a stylised sphynx and pyramid. The Regiment died almost to the last man at Gandamack in Afghanistan in 1840, with its last survivor escaping with one of the regimental colours. It fought later on the Crimea, in WW1 and WW2, and finally "died" in 1960 when amalgamated into the Northampton Regiment. Later defence cuts saw further amalgamations, and the current "ghost" of this old unit lives on as part of the Royal Anglian super-regiment. Interestingly, the Lincolns were also known as "The Poachers", partly as a reference to their rural recruiting ground, and partly because of the song "The Lincoln Poacher", which was an unofficial regimental march:-

'' 'tis my delight on a shining night...''

The "Cheesemongers" is a nickname for the Life Guards of the Household Cavalry, also known as (apparently) The Bangers, The Lumpers, The Fly-Slicers, The Picadilly Butchers, The Roast and Boiled, The Ticky Tins. (But the rest of the British army affectionately refers to the Household Division as "the Woodentops") The Cheesemongers is a derogatory nickname dating from 1788 when the regiment was being re-organised. Some commissions were refused because the officers concerned were the sons of merchants and tradesmen, even, shock horror, grocers and general provisioners, and therefore not, “gentlemen.” Issues of education, social standing, independent income, et c, still appear to matter in these upscale regiments in 2008: 230 years ago, it mattered a lot more!

There does not appear to ever have been a British Army unit nicknamed the "Ins-And-outs". However, the 96th Regiment of Foot (The Welsh Regiment) were nicknamed "the Ups-And-Downs". Again, the curse of amalgamation means that the Welsh Regiment today lives on as 2nd Battalion the Royal Welch.

'''''The Duchess'''''. A pub where a woman called Polly Perks has a big stake. Think of long-running BBC radio soap opera '''The Archers''', where the village pub, the Bull, is run by licencee Sid Perks. And for many years, also by his wife. '''''Polly Perks'''''.

It would be utterly unsurprising if a bit of Hašek’s classic satire '''''The Good Soldier Svejk[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Good_Soldier_%C5%A0vejk]''''' creeps in there as well... in fact, there are odd echoes.

The idiot-savant Svejk, a peasant who hides cunning under a stupid-seeming exterior,narrowly evades arrest by the secret policeman Corporal Bretschneider (Strappi?) and on enlistment into the 91st, is assigned as batman to the officer Lieutenant Lukaš and at one point has to shave him (cf Polly and Blouse). The company cook is a mystic who claims to receive spiritualist messages from long-dead monarchs. The regiment belongs to an Army serving a dying empire (Austro-Hungary, which fits the central European vibe of "Borogravia") and in fact crumbles into defeat in its first serious engagement. Svejk spends a long time detached from his unit and trying to find his way back to it, evading capture and the enemy on both sides (he is nearly shot for spying and/or desertion)

Another general observation: on page 342 of the paperback of {{CJ}}, when the vampires are defeated in Escrow, one of the defeated vampyres is called ''Maladicta''. Did she decide on a career change shortly after this and joined the Army to forget?

{{Annotation|HB, page 85) ''a banknote'' - of course, Borogravia uses paper banknotes, ahead of Ankh-Morpork, but possibly fuelled out of desperation and ''fiat currency''. See here:- [[Annagovia|a possible sample banknote]]

{{Annotation|Corgi PB, page 127|"We have met the enemy and he is nice":}}

'' 'Was she supposed to think ''We have met the enemy and he is nice?'' Anyway, he wasn't. He was smug....''

a parody of the famous Pogo quotation :"We have met the enemy and he is us" which, in turn, refers to a message sent in 1813 from U.S. Navy Commodore Oliver Hazard Perry to Army General William Henry Harrison after the Battle of Lake Erie, stating "We have met the enemy, and they are ours."

{{Annotation|Corgi PB, page 45|Several of the cadets go by nicknames:}}

''"...'Shufti' Manickle..."''

Shufti is a military term meaning a quick look or reconnoitre. It is actually derived from an arabic word that was learned and brought back to England by British troops defending the Empire in the Middle East.

Annotation|Doubleday HB, page 59:-
Jackrum is warning the Detail of possible hard times ahead by reminiscing about the retreat from Khurusck, where he went three days without either food or water. The Roundworld parallel is the German retreat from Kursk in the late summer and autumn of 1943, where the remnant of the German army defeated by the Russians fought several hundred miles back to the next defensible position, the line of the river Dneiper. Many units went wholly unsupported by logistic support, marching at least without food in a blazing late summer. At least the water supply was eased when the autumn rains started... (ref. Guy Sajer, ''The Forgotten Soldier''. Sajer relates the privations of the forced march out of Kursk to the west, one step ahead of the Russians, where pondwater was a luxury and the only food discovered were green potatoes and an old stale loaf. The Russians were also expected to live off the land - their logistics service gave priority to bringing up fuel and ammunition, food rations coming a poor third).

The incident in the village where the Last Detail have to play cat-and-mouse with a numerically superior enemy patrol who are out looking for them: Manfred von Richtofen, later to become the Red Baron of aerial combat, started WW1 as a cavalryman and relates a suspiciously similar tale of being caught out by Cossacks on the Eastern Front in WW1. Although the violence here is directed against a Russian Orthodox priest suspected of using his church bells to signal to Russian troops that the Germans were here. [http://www.patriotfiles.com/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=305|Die Rote Kampfflieger]

{{Annotation|Corgi PB, page 208|We first meet the dead Borogravian generals, in a reveneant zombie state in the crypt at Kneck.:}}

German SS leader, Reichsfuhrer Heinrich Himmler, kept a castle at Wewelsburg as a meeting-place for the inner orders of the SS movement. Underneath his fortress was a crypt with places for perhaps twelve corpses, which he intended to be the last resting place for the fighting generals who led the Waffen-SS in combat.

Today, some evolutions of the wargaming hobby involve sci-fi/fantasy gaming scenarios where in 1945, the Germans stave off final defeat by learning how to reanimate their dead soldiers as zombie divisions, causing the Allies a bit of a headache. This is also yet another theme of Shea and Wilson's '''''Illuminatus!''''' - in the concluding acts, a division of German soldiers ceremonially poisoned by Himmler on April 30th 1945 and consigned to Lake Totenkopf under a bio-mystical preservation field are revived as zombies (under the command of General Hanfgeist), to wreak destruction and consternation and take unfinished business back to the Russians in East Germany, thus starting WW3.

There is also, of course, a popular computer game on exactly this theme. ("You are the hero seeking to prevent revived Nazi Zombies taking over the world. You must seek and destroy them in their Bavarian castle lair.") it's caled the Wolfenstein Series, dating from yhe early 1980's. Terry may have played it. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Return_to_Castle_Wolfenstein]

The Detail encounter the zombie soldiers on pp270-273.

{{Annotation|Corgi PB, page 311|Whilst discussing disguising himself as a woman, Lieutenant Blouse mentions a few of his previous forays into "Theatricals":}}

''"I got a huge round of applause as the Widow Trembler in 'Tis Pity She's A Tree."''

This may refer to the 1630s play ''{{wp|Tis_Pity_She%27s_a_Whore|Tis Pity She's a Whore}}'' (also known as "Giovanni and Annabella", or simply "Tis Pity") by John Ford. This device is also used in {{MM}}, where Professor [[John Hicks]] artlessly reveals he is a member of the [[Dolly Sisters Players]], and have you seen my Lord Fartwell in '' 'Tis Pity She's An Instructor in Unarmed Combat''?

''"The world turned upside down"'' - this is a reference to Cornwallis' surrender of British armies to Washington, at the end of the War of Independence, where the bands sardonically played this tune during the surrender ceremonies.

{{Annotation|Doubleday HB, page 328|Vimes says "''Ze chzy Brogocia proztfik''":}}

''"Didn't I say I was a citizen of Borogravia?"''

''"No. ''Brogocia'' is the cherry pancake, ''Borogvia'' is the country"''

This is probably a reference to the famous (and possibly untrue) political moment when the president John F. Kennedy said ''Ich bin ein Berliner'' [I am a jam-filled doughnut] instead of ''Ich bin Berliner'' [I am a citizen of Berlin]. Apparently, satirists had a field day, and for several weeks the political cartoons were filled with talking doughnuts. See {{wp|Ich bin ein Berliner|Ich bin ein Berliner}}.

The title {{MR}} is a reference to John Knox's ''{{wp|The_First_Blast_of_the_Trumpet_Against_the_Monstrous_Regiment_of_Women|The First Blast of the Trumpet Against the Monstrous Regiment of Women}}'', a treatise against female rulers in the 16th century. Knox had Mary Tudor, Mary Stuart and Mary of Guise in mind. It was his misfortune that the next ruler of England, Elizabeth I, although theoretically on Knox's side, took offence at his title and argument. Fiction writer Laurie R King has also made use of the phrase in connection to the {{wp|Women%27s_suffrage|suffragette}} movement in the United Kingdom. I should make it clear that Pratchett is not adopting Knox's ideas, almost the reverse in fact.

== See also ==

Annotations for [[Borogravia]] and [[Zlobenia]].

== External ==

* [http://www.lspace.org/books/apf/monstrous-regiment.html Monstrous Regiment] in the [[Annotated Pratchett File]]

[[Category:Annotations|Monstrous Regiment/Annotations]]

'''From the APF:-''' + [p. 28] "you can call me Maladict"

"The name is both a play on the name 'Benedict' and on the word 'maledict', which Webster's defines as accursedness or the act of bringing a curse. "

The word ''maledict'' is also the term used to describe the moment in a cartoon speech bubble where a character, provoked beyond endurance, starts to seriously swear. And as we all know that cartoons are for children, normal fonts are replaced in the speech bubble with what Terry calls "the sort of characters only found on the top row of a computer keyboard", to leave no doubt that swearing is happening, without referencing any real or actual swear words. ("The sort of characters only found on the top row of a computer keyboard" may of course be supplemented with little pictures, say skulls and lightning flashes, from the Wingdings fonts) This representation of cussing in a cartoon strip is known in the trade as '''''maledict'''''.

The word "maladict" could also be a play on "mal addict", with "mal" being the French for "bad", referring to Maladict's serious coffee addiction. As for what provoked Mal to join the Ribboners - see note above regarding p342 of {{CJ}}.

If I can quote the APF official annotation:

+ [p. 86] "One shilling extra 'per Diem'"

Using this information and UK army pay scales, one can estimate that a second lieutenant in the Borogravian army receives approximately 1807 shillings per year as payment, compared to 2012 shillings per year for a first lieutenant; and that there are approximately 11.16 Borogravian shillings to one UK pound.

As my original afp source for this annotation puts it: "Working this out may be the single geekiest thing I have ever done."

Er... an easier way to get to the same result ref. pay scales for junior officers is to go to Terry Pratchett's favourite author George McDonald Fraser, who in one of his autobiographical short stories reveals that the pay rate for a full Lieutenant in the British Army (in 1946) was in fact seven shillings a day. (£3,5/- per week). Like Borogravia, the British currency had been thoroughly devalued and ravaged by six years of total war. This ties in well with the calculation above and took less brainstrain...

On page 217 of the Harper Collins hardback and 239 of the Harper Torch paperback, Lieutenant Blouse mentions a classmate named Wrigglesworth, who was particularly good at impersonating women. In the 1981 movie ''Zorro the Gay Blade'', Zorro's long-lost twin brother (who is rather flamboyantly gay) goes by the name of Bunny Wigglesworth.

This might also be a knowing nod to that icon of the Great British Boys' Adventure Story, Squadron Leader James "Biggles" Bigglesworth.
The Biggles books chart his life roughly from age nine, as a typical product of Empire and the British Raj in India, through his answering the patriotic call to the British colours in World War One (he tries the Infantry, realises it isn't to his taste, then transfers to the fledgling Royal Flying Corps where he becomes an Ace). In between the wars he and his jolly - all-male - band of chums become freelance adventurers, then when WW2 happens, he rejoins the RAF, much to the woe of the beastly Hun, the braggart Italians and the diabolical Japanese. After the war, he is signed up to Scotland Yard as Commander of the "Air Police" and occasional special agent - indeed, his last active service as an over-age James Bond is a dangerous (and deniable) incursion into the Gulag to spring his old arch-enemy Erich von Stalheim from Soviet captivity, sometime around 1965, when Biggles would have been as old as the century....

It is noticeable that ''in all that time'' Biggles is only diverted ''once'' from the manly bosom of his chums by a woman's infernal wiles, and otherwise he remains a confirmed bachelor all his life. Unkind commentators have deduced somewhat...errrm.... ''homoerotic'' overtones in the intensity of his relationship with Bertie, Algy and the boy who he takes in as protègé, Ginger Hepplethwaite, (who is described in quite loving physical detail by Captain Johns). What could be ''more'' natural than a band of bosom chums spurning the advances of women, and going off into the wilds of the world together in pursuit of healthy masculine activity,(often at the direction of a shadowy father-figure and Intelligence patriarch called Colonel Raymond, who takes close attention to the lads) and indeed doing so until they are in their late fifties and early sixties?

TransEarth

2012-06-27T17:23:58Z

Stanley Howler:

When the power for humankind to step into a identical world was first discovered, people had different approaches to it. Some said that it was a sign of the incoming apocalypse, others that it was an unnatural thing and should be shunned. [[The Black Corporation]], however, believed that it was an easy way of getting money quickly and easily, and so '''transEarth''' was born- a company trying to extract as much wealth as possible from the alternate realities. It is part-owned by [[Douglas Black]] and [[Lobsang]].

[[Category:The Long Earth]]

Zchloty

2012-06-19T19:18:55Z

Stanley Howler:

A small unit of coinage mentioned in {{COM}}.

There has been a bit of confusion about this: {{DC}} states that Zchloty is actually a region, and that the corresponding currency is actually the ''iotum'' (or would it be ''iota''?)

==Annotation==

Possibly related to [[Roundworld]]'s Poland, whose unit of coinage is the ''zloty''? Is this the currency used in [[Sto Lat]]....

[[Category:Things]]
[[de:Zchloty]]

The Nice and Accurate Prophecies of Agnes Nutter, witch

2012-06-19T17:19:08Z

Stanley Howler: Cannot add columns. Not yet wiki'd enough.

A book unique among all books on prophecies and the future in that it is completely accurate to the letter. Written by [[Agnes Nutter]], it recounts all of history's most important events up to and including the Apocalypse. However, there is an idiosyncratic twist in that while all the described events are 100% accurate, they are historically important ''only'' to her linear descendants. Thus, an entry that can be dated "22nd November 1963" says ''nothing'' about an assassination in Dallas, Texas, and ''everything'' about the need to avoid falling roof slates in Hull. This is because John Kennedy is not a descendant of Agnes, but [[Anathema Device|Anathema]]'s father, who was visiting Hull at the time, most definitely is, and needed to be warned about a more immediate risk.

In some ways, it is a spiritual link between Anathema and her ancestors, as they have throughout the book scrawled their own notes next to the passages. Including some encouragement on their parts for Anathema and [[Newton Pulsifer]] to enter in a relationship with each other.

==Entries==
The [[Anathema Device|Device]] family have devised a complex reference system, with cross-references and all printed on small cards. It is easy to see why the family are ''extremely'' good at crossword puzzles...

Do Notte Buye Betamacks.

1002: He is Not that Which He Says He Is.

1111: An the Great Hound sharl coom, and the Two Powers sharl watch in Vane, for it Goeth where is its Master, Where they Wot Notte, and he sharl name it, True to Ittes Nature, and Hell sharl flee it.

2315: Sum say It cometh in London Town, or New Yorke, butte they be Wronge, for the plase is Taddes Fild , Stong in hys powr, he cometh like a knight inne the fief, he divideth the worlde into 4 parteth, he bringeth the storme.

3001: Behinde the Eagle's Neste a grate Ash hath fallen.

3017: I see Four Riding, bringing the Ende, and the Angells of Hell ride with them, And Three sharl rise. And Four and Four Together be Four, an the Dark Angel sharl Own Defeat, Yette the Manne sharl claim his Own.

I tell ye thif, and I charge ye with my words. Four shalle ryde, and [[Four Other Riders Of The Apocalypse|Four]] shalle alfo ryde, and Three sharl ryde as twixt, and [[Anthony Crowley|Wonne]] shal ryde in flames, and theyr shall be no stopping themme: not fish, nor rayne, nor rode, neither Deville nor Angel. And ye shalle be theyr alfo, Anathema.

3477: Lette the wheel of Fate turne, let harts enjoin, there are other fyres than mine; when the wynd blowethe the blossoms, reach oute one to anothere, for the calm cometh when Redde and Whyte and Blacke and Pale approache to Peas is Our Professioune.

3819: When Orient's chariot inverted be , four wheles in the sky, a [[Newton Pulsifer|man]] with bruises be upon Youre Bedde, achinge his Hedde for willow fine, a manne who testeth with a pyn yette his hart be clene, [[Thou-Shalt-Not-Commit-Adultery Pulsifer|yette seed of myne own undoing]], take the means of flame from himme for to mayk ryght certain, together ye sharle be, untyl the Ende that is to come.

3988: Whene menne of crocus come from the Earth and green manne frome thee Sky, yette ken not why, and Pluto's barres quitte the lightning castels, and sunken landes riseth, and Leviathan runneth free, and Brazil is vert, then Three cometh together and Four arise, upon iron horses ride; I tell you the ende draweth nigh.

Do Notte Buye Betamacks.

[[Category:Good Omens]]
{{stub}}

Woolly Goat

2012-06-12T18:09:57Z

Stanley Howler: Created page with "The '''Woolly Goat''' is a denizen of the Trollbone Mountains, and seems to be similar to the classic mountain goat or the Ramtop Sheep, the coats of which can be made int..."

The '''Woolly Goat''' is a denizen of the [[Trollbone Mountains]], and seems to be similar to the classic mountain goat or the Ramtop Sheep, the coats of which can be made into kind of fabric chainmail. At certain parts of the year, the wool of said goat grows so long that it is impossible to tell any features of the creature- it merely looks like a walking moustache. The only way of seeing which end to feed them is to wait until one has a poo, and then waft a bundle of [[cabbage]] leaves around the other end. They have long, leathery tongues, presumably to get food from outside the mass of hairy thatch.

One is kept in the [[Menagerie]], and we encounter it, along with [[Geoffrey]], in {{TWOP}}.

Talk:Book:The World of Poo

2012-06-11T17:03:34Z

Stanley Howler: Created page with "Ah. A bit of pickle, this. As it is a work of fiction ''written on the Disc'', should we accept it as canon? The footnotes are factual, Gargoyle's digestive tracts, gongfemers..."

Ah. A bit of pickle, this. As it is a work of fiction ''written on the Disc'', should we accept it as canon? The footnotes are factual, Gargoyle's digestive tracts, gongfemers and so on, but is Geoffrey real, and does he deserve a page? And what of Louis? Or Plain Old Humphrey? Or Lily? And should we note the events of the book in the Harry King or Charles Lavatory page?--[[User:Stanley Howler|Stanley Howler]] 19:03, 11 June 2012 (CEST)

Cabinet of Curiosity

2012-06-11T16:34:56Z

Stanley Howler:

This is an artefact currently residing at [[Unseen University]], and which is the only other thing, apart from [[Golem|golems]], which is known to make [[Adora Belle Dearheart]] lose her usual spiky combativeness and come over all gooey and faraway. Apparently, when the University first acquired it, a wizard at the time had the rare wisdom and common sense to wonder what one of the best craftsmen and artisans in the City might make of it. Mr Dearheart brought his then-tiny daughter with him, and it's the sort of thing a girl ''remembers.''

The cabinet, at rest, is demure and antique and slightly bow-legged. It has little clawed feet, a cabinet-makers' affectation or perhaps a universal law when making period furniture. Fully opened - or at least, as far as the wizards can get it to open - it resembles a monstrous many-branched tree in the shape of a venerable oak, which stretched the [[wikipedia:Tardis|Tardis]]-like inner space of the university to the limits. Wizards on broomsticks were barely visible in the far-distant upper-branches.

Several hypotheses have been advanced to describe and attempt to explain the Cabinet's behaviour:

* [[Ponder Stibbons]]:- "''Technically, it appears to be a classic {{wp|Bag_of_holding|Bag of Holding}} but with ''n'' mouths, where ''n'' is the number of items in an eleven-dimensional universe which are not currently alive, not pink, and can fit in a cubical drawer 14.14 inches on a side, divided by P''."

* [[Adora Belle Dearheart]]:- "''It's a sliding puzzle, but with lots more directions to slide" and "You know it wasn't built for or by a girl between the ages of four and, oh, eleven years old", or it would contain pink. Trust her on that. No girl of that age would leave out pink. And anyway, when she was a little girl, "it was just a magic box''."

* [[Moist von Lipwig]]:- "''...Er, a drawer about a hundred yards long has just slid out of a box about fourteen inches square". And all along the sides of this hundred yard length are ''more'' drawers.And one of those has just slid out to a hundred yards' length at right angles to the first drawer. And guess what...''

Apparently, that's what it does. Until Ponder Stibbons took an interest, it was up in the attic tucked away behind a long-deceased wizard's collection of stuffed frogs. Nothing stored in the Cabinet is bigger than fourteen inches square, but it appears to be able to contain an infinite number of things which are fourteen inches square. Such as an [[Umnian Golems|Umnian Golem's]] foot, a football or a bacon sandwich. It should also be noted that anything removed from the box must be returned within 14.14 hours. This includes the bacon sandwich, which in the case of Mr Floribunda had already been consumed by this time.

[[Mustrum Ridcully]] is rather wary of it, and never goes into the cabinet's room without first having armed himself some powerful spells. Quite apart from it's unknown nature, he fears that a great many dangerous items could be less than 14 inches square and lie concealed within one of it's many draw.

In [[Book:The World of Poo|The World of Poo]] we learn that the Cabinet of Curiosities is believed- as no scholar has plumbed its limitless depths- to contain samples from every living animal and insect in the multiverse, including more exotic animals such has the [[phoenix]], [[unicorn]] and [[Quantum Weather Butterfly]], and, presumably, the [[Counterweight Continent]] denizen, the Ting-Tang-Bang Cat, whose faeces is used for fireworks. It lacks, however, the scat of the rocking horse, which is thought to be rarer than anything known to humankind.

==External Reference==
{{wp|Cabinet_of_Curiosities|Cabinet of Curiosities}}

==Annotation==
In a very old episode of the future cop cartoon '''''Judge Dredd''''', Dredd and fellow Judges Larson and Hershey briefly become very small (12")Curiosities in such a Cabinet, in this case toted by an intergalactic door-to-door salesman.

[[Category:Discworld concepts]]
[[Category:Devices]]
[[de:Kuriositätenkommode]]

Wilf

2012-06-10T09:39:10Z

Stanley Howler:

The [[The gods|God]] of astrology. In the consensus present, on a disc/turtle cosmology that moves so rapidly that the relative positions of the stars alter from week to week, it has been pointed out that astrology stands little chance of entrenching itself and has not been able to break out of being a highly specialised niche subject.

Therefore, in a last-ditch attempt to retain something other than Small God status, Wilf himself writes several astrology columns, including the year ahead's predictions for the Discworld [[Almanack And Booke Of Dayes|Almanack]]...

As the sacred texts go:
''Lo, he comes with three stars on his brow, and on his hand nine daggers, which is a good trick, and about him spin five orbs; his left foot resteth upon a lion and his right foot upon a crocodile, so it's a bit tricky getting him in the door. Around his head gleameth the rayed bolts of the sun, and in his hand- the other hand, not the one with the daggers- is the crescent moon, and his waist is engirdled with stars. His voice is as the sound of trumpets, which is useful in the machine room. He hands over his predictions, has a cup of tea and pushes off.''

[[Category:Supernatural entities|Wilf]]

Book:Snuff

2012-06-07T17:25:45Z

Stanley Howler:

{{Book Data
|cover=[[File:Cover_snuff.jpg|220px|Cover art for {{PAGENAME}}]]
|date=October 2011
|publisher=Doubleday
|isbn=038561926X
|pages=378
|rrp=£18.99
|series=Watch Series
|characters=[[Sam Vimes]] [[Feeney Upshot]] [[Willikins]]
|annotations=View
|notes=
}}
On sale as of Thursday 13th October 2011, '''''Snuff''''' is the thirty-ninth book in the [[Discworld]] series, after {{ISWM}}. It primarily features [[Sam Vimes]] his family, and their domestic servants, and expands on the continuing story of the [[Ankh-Morpork City Watch|Watch]] as well. A sub-plot involves [[Mightily Oats]] and the [[goblins]], and new Watch characters are referenced, including [[Emile|Captain Emile]] of the [[Quirm City Watch]].

Terry's hint as to plot and content is that we should be aware that there are at least two meanings to the word "[[wikipedia:Snuff (disambiguation)|snuff]]".

Rob Wilkins (Terry's stenographer) read an extract from the current text at the 2010 Discworld Convention: the story features [[Goblin]]s and commences with Sam Vimes going away on a two-week holiday with his wife to their country house, Crundells (which was mentioned in passing in the earlier half of the events in {{T!}}).

==Blurb==

According to the writer of the best selling crime novel ever to have been published in the city of Ankh-Morpork, it is a truth universally acknowledged that a policeman taking a holiday would barely have had time to open his suitcase before he finds his first corpse.

And Commander Sam Vimes of the Ankh-Morpork City Watch is on holiday in the pleasant and innocent countryside, but not for him a mere body in the wardrobe, but many, many bodies and an ancient crime more terrible than murder.

He is out of his jurisdiction, out of his depth, out of bacon sandwiches, occasionally snookered and occasionally out of his mind, but not out of guile. Where there is a crime there must be a finding, there must be a chase and there must be a punishment.

They say that in the end all sins are forgiven.

But not quite all...

==Characters==

===Main characters===
* [[Sam Vimes]]
* [[Sybil Ramkin]]
* [[Stinky]]
* [[Feeney Upshot]]
* [[Havelock Vetinari]]
* [[Willikins]]
* [[Young Sam Vimes]]

===Secondary characters===
* '''The Shires'''
** [[Charles Augustus Makepeace|Colonel Charles Makepeace]]
** [[Letitia Makepeace]] - Chair of the local Magistrates
** [[Mrs Pickings]] - Local Magistrate
** [[Very Reverend Mouser]] - Local Magistrate
** [[Edgehill]] - Local Magistrate
** [[Honourable Ambrose]] - Local Magistrate
** [[Felicity Beedle|Miss Felicity Beedle]]
** [[Rust|Lord Rust]]
** [[Praise and Salvation False]]
** [[Ted Flutter]]
** [[Ariadne|Ariadne Gordon]]
** [[Bewilderforce Gumption]]
** [[Jethro Jefferson]]
** [[Jiminy]]
** [[Captain Murderer]]
** [[Gastric Sillitoe]]
** [[Mrs Sillitoe]]
** [[Silver (Crundells)|The Silvers]]
** [[Stratford]]
** [[Ten Gallons]]
** [[Mrs Upshot]]
** [[Stump]]
* '''Goblins'''
** Billy Slick (Of the Wind Regretfully Blown)
** Granny Slick (Regret of the Falling Leaf)
** The Cold Bone Wakes (Chieftain)
** Sound of the Rain on Hard Ground
** Shine of the Rainbow
** Tears of the Mushroom
** The Pleasant Contrast of the Orange and Yellow Petals in the Flower of the Gorse
** [[Nobby Nobbs|The Breaking Wind]]
* '''Ankh-Morpork'''
** [[Fred Colon]]
** [[Rufus Drumknott]]
** [[Carrot Ironfoundersson]]
** [[Harry King]]
** [[Cheery Littlebottom]]
** [[Nobby Nobbs]]
** [[Mightily Oats]]
** [[A.E. Pessimal]]
* '''Quirm'''
** [[Emile|Captain Emile]]
** [[Haddock|Acting-Captain Haddock]]
** [[Lieutenant Perdix]]

===Mentioned===
* [[Slant|Mr Slant]]
* [[Ly Tin Wheedle]]
* [[Gravid Rust]]
* [[Regina Rust]]
* Mistress [[Slightly]]

==Locations==
* [[Ankh-Morpork]]
* [[Quirm]]
* [[The Shires]]
** [[Crundells]]
** [[The Goblin's Head]]
* The river [[Quire]]

== Things and concepts ==
* [[Piecemaker#Piecemaker_Mark_IX|Burleigh & Stronginthearm Piecemaker Mark IX]]
* ''[[Glorious Peggy]]''
* [[Goblins]]
* ''[[Queen of Quirm]]''
* ''[[Roberta E. Biscuit]]''
* [[Unggue]]
* ''[[Wonderful Fanny]]''
* ''[[Book:World of Poo|World of Poo]]

==Extra content==
In some editions, most notably the Waterstone's Gold imprint, the short story ''[[Short Story:A Collegiate Casting-Out of Devilish Devices|A Collegiate Casting-Out of Devilish Devices]]'' is included as a supplementary bonus story at the end of the main tale.

This story describes the reaction of the [[Wizards|wizards]] of [[Unseen University]] to a proposal from the [[Patrician]] to introduce regulation of university education. It references the government inspector [[A.E. Pessimal]], who goes on to have a significant role in {{T!}}

It was first published in the May 13th, 2005 issue of {{wp|The_Times_Higher_Education_Supplement|The Times Higher Education Supplement}}. This is its first print in the less ephemeral world of hardback books.

The new paperback edition of Snuff contains the first chapter of [[Book:Dodger|Dodger]] and chapters one and two of [[Book:The Long Earth|The Long Earth]].

== External links ==
* ''[http://www.terrypratchett.co.uk/index.php/books/snuff/ Snuff]'' on Terry Pratchett.co.uk. An extract from the opening chapter may be read here, and free extracts can be picked up from Waterstone's.
* ''[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Snuff_%28Pratchett_novel%29 Snuff]'' on Wikipedia
* [http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10150118868755025&set=a.414453865024.181790.43413980024&ref=nf Draft sketch of ''Snuff'''s cover] on Terry Pratchett's Facebook page, showing Sam Vimes at the wheel of the ''[[Wonderful Fanny]]'', vexed by a flock of startled chickens, with Old Treachery coming up behind him.

{{series|series=Watch|before=Thud!|altafter=TBA}}

[[Category:Watch Series|Snuff]]
[[de:Buch:Snuff]]

Slightly

2012-06-07T16:55:48Z

Stanley Howler: Created page with "Mistress '''Slightly''' ran the Dame School in Cockbill Street, which was where the six-year-old Sam Vimes had attended for nine months. It had cost a penny a day, but..."

Mistress '''Slightly''' ran the Dame School in [[Cockbill Street]], which was where the six-year-old [[Sam Vimes]] had attended for nine months. It had cost a penny a day, but the dame had been happy to accept old clothes, firewood, or, best of all, gin. She taught a limited curriculum of Numbers, Letters, Weights and Measures. It seems that, when she accepted to much gin from well-wishers and clients, a certain Dame [[Venting]] took over. She was the stereotypical dame; fat, with the impression that she was made of marshmallows. She was aware of the fundamental law of preschool teaching, that the bladders of small boys were equivalent in treachery to the bladders of old men. She taught the basics of the world with a minimum of cruelty and a maximum of marshmallow, and always had a peppermint in her pocket for a boy who knows his alphabet and could say it backwards.

It should be no surprise to scholars of [[Narrative Causality]] that Mistress Slightly kept geese, had a mob-cap and a laugh like rainwater going down a drain. It can be conjectured that, underneath the endless layers of petticoats, she wears red and white spotted drawers, although no-one has the bravery to verify this claim. She takes lessons while peeling potatoes, or plucking one of the geese from her growing collection.

Dame Slightly holds a special part in Vime's heart, as she helped him conquer his fears. A book in her tiny sitting room (''[[The Goode Childe's Booke of Faerie Tales]]'') had a picture of a [[Goblin]] on page seven- the "Jolly Goblin", if the caption is anything to go by. The young Sam, in a fit of anxiety, was terrified of this image. Was it laughing? Was it scowling? Was it hungry? Was it about to bite your head off? Therefore, he had spent the rest of the morning under a chair, with the proviso that most of the other children felt that way. The famed innocense of childhood was often more of a slightly damp terror. However, Mistress Slightly took the future policeman on her knee and made him look carefully at the picture- it was made up of dots! Tiny dots! The closer you looked at the picture, the more it lost its ability to frighten, the more it disappeared. The dame herself said: "I hear that they are wretched, badly made mortals. Half-finshed folk, or so I hear. It's only a blessing this one had something to be jolly about."

As Sam Vimes was trustworthy, he was given the prestigious role of Blackboard Monitor- one who can erase the writings that are already there, and a role that carries a lot of weight in the [[Dwarf]] community.

[[Category:Human characters|Slightly]]
[[Category:Discworld characters|Slightly]]

Book:Raising Taxes

2012-06-07T15:06:16Z

Stanley Howler:

This is a book rumoured to be forthcoming from the prolific pen of Terry Pratchett. If it is to arrive it will no doubt continue the adventures of [[Moist von Lipwig]] who has so far - by the age of 26 - been hanged, saved the [[Post Office]], revived the [[Royal Bank of Ankh-Morpork]] and reinvigorated the [[Ankh-Morpork Mint|Royal Mint]]. Taxes should be easy...

When, and indeed ''if'' it will be released is at present unknown. It was expected to be the next book after {{ISWM}}, but most recently Terry has released a new [[Sam Vimes]] story, [[Book:Snuff|''Snuff'']].

It must be noted that, at the recent Hay-on-Wye festival, Terry noted that he was interested in a Lipwig book revolving around the logging industry, with a possible title of ''Running Water''...

== Characters ==
* [[Moist von Lipwig]]
* [[Adora Belle Dearheart]]
* [[Lord Vetinari]]
* [[Rufus Drumknott]]

== Locations ==
*[[Ankh-Morpork]]

[[Category:Ankh-Morpork Books|Raising Taxes]]

Quire

2012-06-01T17:24:00Z

Stanley Howler: Damn slam

The '''Quire''' is the river which descends from the [[Ramtops]] and drains the [[Octarine Grass Country]]. According to [[Lady Sybil Ramkin]], who evidently paid attention in [[Miss Traitor]]'s geography lessons at the [[Quirm College for Young Ladies]], this is the principal river of [[Quirm]], passes through the city of Quirm, and which sustains a thriving river trade. While most of the time placid and navigable without risk, it apparently has ''moods'' which can make it unpredictably dangerous and in fact it is known colloquially as "Old Treachery" (''Vieux Trahison''?).

The Quire... meanders. It has the currant speed of a squashed raisin, so it has a myriad snags and sand bars, and it bad to navigate at night. It also has a population of alligators, and several thousand flies.

One of the most dangerous elements of the Quire is the damn slam, which has gained an infamous repute in boating circles. In the technical manuals, of course, the phenomenom is known as a 'Dam Slam', but anyone who experiences one learns to swear, hence the subtle change of name. A damn slam is when the debris floating on a river tangles up until it is one mass, and when the river builds up sufficiently to overcome the strength of the natural dam, it will plough it down the river, mercilessly sweeping up or capsizing everything in its path, all the way to the sea. Things can get really ''intense'' on Old Treachery in bad weather.

The details of how a damn slam was bested is recounted in {{SN}}.

Vessels known to travel along the Quire include:
* ''[[Black-Eyed Susan]]''
* ''[[Glorious Peggy]]''
* ''[[Queen of Quirm]]''
* ''[[Roberta E. Biscuit]]''
* ''[[Wonderful Fanny]]''

[[Category:Discworld geography]]
[[Category:Streets and Landmarks of Quirm]]
[[Category:Snuff]]

Cabbage

2012-05-31T17:52:21Z

Stanley Howler:

Most of the [[Sto Plains]] is sown to cabbage, the main source of food on the Plains. To the stolid hard-working farming community, this is a source of pride.

During the events of {{GP}}, [[Moist von Lipwig]] and [[Stanley Howler]] were not slow to capitalise on this by bringing out a range of commemorative [[stamps]], one of which, the Cabbage Green, is entirely made from cabbage-derived material and prone to spontaneous combustion.

==History==
Cabbages are believed to have originated in the [[Agatean Empire]], where it was considered a compliment to the host to break wind loudly after a meal. From there, cabbages were brought across the Hub and found their way down to the Sto Plains. In the "Burpy", a small, dark cabbage, can probably be seen the Agatean original.

The splendour of a crop is often the judge of a farm and family's diligence, and the endless nature of this is noted in a famous song:

:Cabbages in my garden grow,
:Cabbages in the fields do show,
:I must get out there with my hoe,
:Diligently tilling, row on row,
:But rather to the pub will go.

==Varieties==
There are over 300 different varieties of cabbage, some of which are listed below:

* Autumn Reliant
* Big Hearted Arthur
* Blue Bolter
* Burly Bolter (will leap out of the ground and headbutt you.)
* Burpy
* Choi Champion
* Helit Prize
* Jolly Giant
* The Kendle Green (actually red. Oh, how cabbage farmers laugh!)
* King's Snivel
* Micklegreens Juicy
* Morning Glory (tastes slightly of mice.)
* Offle King
* Old Anchor
* Porraceous Sprouter
* Red Whammy
* Rumptuous Javelin
* Savoloy Special
* Scentless Mute
* Schweinfart Emperor
* Spring Pouncer
* Sto Leafy
* Sto Red (actually green. The long winter evenings simply fly by down on the Sto Plains.)
* Sto Stalker (follows you home and waits outside the privy when you've had cabbage beer.)
* Sto Stout
* Sto Whopper
* Titanic Iceberg (most of the cabbage forms underground.)

The varieties Old Anchor and Red Whammy were originally cultivated for use in cabbage duels, the first recorded one taking place in the Year of the Pensive Frog. This event, once popular with the gentry of the Plains, has now all but died out.
Of special mention is the False Cabbage, which is a poisonous plant that mimics cabbages in order to tempt in prey. The poison can be neutralised if accompanied by beer.
Also note the Cabbage Frog, which grows 'leaves' and stays very still until butterflies lay their eggs on it, whereupon it eats them.
==Also see==
* [[Big Cabbage]]
* [[Makepeace Thomas Bounder]]

[[Category:Food and drink]]
[[de:Kohl]]

Talk:Librarian

2012-05-29T16:56:09Z

Stanley Howler:

OK, I was just thinking of adding the Librarian's species when I came across two oppossing facts. In the "Discworld conpanion", (IIRC) it is stated as ''pongo pygmaus'' (or thereabouts). However, in "Thud!", his species is stated by A.E Pessimal as ''pongo pongo'', which is declared as correct by both Vimes and the Librarian himself. So which is true? -- [[User:CommanderJake, AMCW|CommanderJake, AMCW]]

:On Roundworld, it's Pongo Pygmaeus (see:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orang_utan.) On Discworld, I'd take the Librarian's word for it. --[[User:Old Dickens|Old Dickens]] 21:12, 5 October 2006 (CEST)

In {{SOD3}} Darwin says Pongo Pongo on page 256 Edbury Press version. --Confusion 20:34, 30 October 2011 (CET)

== ==

''Very soon, people forgot how the Librarian looked as a human, or what his given name was''
:I think this was less a case of forgetting and more a case of the rapid turnover of university staff (especially during {{S}}) to the point that Rincewind is the only one left who knew the Librarian as a human.{{TLC}}--[[User:Teletran|Teletran]] 11:27, 2 March 2007 (CET)

== ==

The librarian manages to communicate with only two syllables. Strangely, one is Dutch for ''also'', and the other is Middle English (practically Dutch) for...''also'', also.--[[User:Old Dickens|Old Dickens]] 22:57, 6 May 2007 (CEST)

== A further interessting note ==

I don't remember the full sketch, but there is a Monty Python Sketch 'bout a gorilla librarian. Light allusion to that with THE Librarian...in a way...perhabs?--[[User:LilMaibe|LilMaibe]] 17:34, 15 May 2011 (CEST)

== Lords and Ladies ==

Why is his appearance in {{LL}} only a cameo? I think that he had a more major role. --Confusion 19:25, 20 November 2011 (CET)

== Ankh–Morpork slang ==

In context of Sam Vimes finding something out, a members of Ankh–Morpork city watch (most likely Fred Colon)says: "He'll go totally Librarian...". It probably is a variation on expression "To go ape..." meaning mad or crazy. Probably in "Making Money"
:Actually, it was {{TFE}}, and the line was "He will go totally Bursar. He will go totally librarian-poo."
:I think, anyway.--[[User:Stanley Howler|Stanley Howler]] 18:56, 29 May 2012 (CEST)

Stump

2012-05-24T20:53:23Z

Stanley Howler: Created page with "'''Stump''' is the resident hermit at Crundells. He has a grubby brown robe and a bad sense of humour. He is of uncertain age (and teeth), and has an incredibly long beard..."

'''Stump''' is the resident hermit at [[Crundells]]. He has a grubby brown robe and a bad sense of humour. He is of uncertain age (and teeth), and has an incredibly long beard, that trails, comet-like, behind him. When he stops, by some unknown source of momentum, his beard continues, piling up on his head. His hand is mostly fingernails.

His name is Stump, although, as the man himself reveals at every possible injunction, he is not often stumped. He has been following herming and its various accompaniments- piety, sobriety, celibacy and the pursuit of true wisdom- for the past [[57]] years. The herming business runs in the family on the male side, with the skulls of various family members kept on a shelf in the grotto. While dispensing the knowledge that all paths lead to the grave and that celibacy should be widely practiced, the profession does have a week's holiday every year, on the basis that one cannot live on snails and herbs of the riverbank alone. It seems, however, that this time is sufficient for his social life, as he has a wife and a son.

Of course, the position of hermit was a noble one in the old ancestral homes- they were like sapient garden gnomes, giving the place a romantic air. They are not allowed to bathe- explaining Stump's whiffiness of the nose- but they did get a salary of two pounds of potatoes, three pints of beer, three
loaves of bread and one pound of pork dripping per week, as well as the aforementioned snails and herbs.

[[Category:Snuff]]
[[Category:Discworld characters]]

Thud

2012-05-24T19:12:00Z

Stanley Howler: The rules

''If you were looking for the book, see {{T!}}''

'''Thud''' is a boardgame based on the earlier dwarven game of [[Hnaflbaflsniflwhifltafl]]. It is played mainly by dwarfs and trolls, although it does have devoted human players as well. In a game of Thud, the Dwarfs' side has a natural advantage and will inevitably win against an unskilled player. A careful player can achieve victory for the Trolls, however. According to [[Reacher Gilt]], a well-played game of Thud can reveal the weaknesses of one's opponent. According to [[Lord Vetinari]], the goal of the game should be to discover one's own weaknesses. [[Mr Shine]] hopes that encouraging Dwarfs and Trolls to play Thud will promote peace between the two by providing an outlet for replaying the [[Battle of Koom Valley]] in miniature - and ''bloodlessly''.

The game itself echos the game played by Vikings and Anglo-Saxons "Hnafletafle"- which literally means "Kings Table" (cf p350 "Kings Game"). Hnafletafle echos go beyond just the name. Like 'Thud' it is unusual in that it is an 'asymmetrical' game- each side has different forces and different objectives (unlike, say, Chess). The defending side is trying to get the King to safety and escape on a corner square, while the besiegers/attackers are trying to either capture the king, or position their forces so his escape is impossible. Making Kings safe is of course a recurring theme in {{TFE}} and {{T!}}.

The dwarven pieces on the 1st edition front cover echo the 'Lewis' chess set, often used as an inspiration for modern reproductions, as it is the only known set of a Dark Age board game. This, along with the game, reinforces the 'pop-viking' imagery Pratchett uses for dwarfs.

==The Rules==
*The thirty-two dwarfs are arranged around the edge of the octagonal board, while the eight trolls are placed around the Thud-stone in the middle. The dwarf side goes first.
*The dwarfs can go any number of squares in any direction, including diagonals. The trolls, however, can only move one square in any direction.
*If a troll moves into a space next to a dwarf it can capture it. It has to move, however- it cannot take it while standing still. It can take any number of dwarfs with one move.
*If a dwarf is next to a troll and it has not been captured, it can capture the troll. However, what mostly happens is that the dwarfs are arranged into a huddle, and the front dwarf is 'hurled' by the back one to capture the troll. The number of squares it can be hurled is dictated by the number of dwarfs in the line. Trolls can also do this.
*The game ends when no more captures can be made. The pieces that still remain are given points- four points for an uncaptured troll and one for an uncaptured dwarf- and the players recommence, playing on the opposite side. The player with the most points wins.

[[Category:Discworld Games]]
[[de:Klonk]]

Nisodemus

2012-05-19T20:54:41Z

Stanley Howler:

'''Nisodemus''' is a young [[Nomes|nome]] appearing in [[Diggers]], the second book of the [[:Category:Bromeliad series|Bromeliad series]]. He is part of the [[Stationeri]] tribe, and therefore can read, believes strongly in [[Arnold Bros (est. 1905)]] and becomes the assistant to the new abbot, [[Gurder]]. He apparently goes mad because he breathes too much fresh air or something like that. Nisodemus becomes a leader of the nomes in the [[Quarry]] when the Abbot leaves with [[Masklin]] and [[Angalo]], and tries to recreate The [[Store]] so as to be able to worship Arnold Bros (est. 1905) again- indeed, he is still sceptical that the Store was ever destroyed. He resists the plans to move the nomes to a place of safety, unwilling to accept that the humans want to intervene, and leads a delegation to face the oppressors. His belief that he could withstand being run over by a police car was strong, vivid, and, above all, ''short''.

It is possible that Nisodemus comes from [[Wikipedia:Nicodemus|Nicodemus]], a leader of the Jews mentioned in the Gospel of St. John.

[[Category:Bromeliad characters]]

Book:The Discworld Companion

2012-05-19T18:35:02Z

Stanley Howler:

{{Book Data
|title=The Discworld Companion
|cover=[[File:The Discworld Companion.jpg|220px|The Discworld Companion]]
|coauthors=[[Stephen Briggs]]
|illustrator=Stephen Briggs
|date=
|publisher=Victor Gollancz
|isbn=0575075554
|pages=
|rrp
|series=Discworld Series
|characters=
|annotations=
|notes=
}}
Originally published in 1994, '''''The Discworld Companion''''' has gone through several editions as the series expands to cover more ground and add more places, characters, locations and concepts. The First Edition also had quite a few errors in it, which have been progressively corrected in subsequent versions as they came to light. No doubt the Companion will be revised again as new books come on stream, and it can safely be said that there will ''never'' be an absolutely final last version... just like this wiki, in fact.

It is worth noting that the Companion has an entry on [[William de Worde]]- although it merely serves as an annotation- six years before {{TT}} came out.

==Blurb==
For the newcomer and the old hand alike the Discworld can be a fatally confusing planet. From the great city of [[Ankh-Morpork]], featuring a river you could skateboard across if it wasn't so knobbly, to the distant [[Ramptop ]]Mountains and the mysterious [[Counterweight Continent]], the Discworld is a place where [[Death]] waits around every corner...

For safety's sake, you need a guide.

And here it is. [[Terry Pratchett]] and [[Stephen Briggs]], respectively chronicler and cartographer of the Discworld, have produced the one and only definitive guide to the flat planet – its geography, its flora and fauna, its (many) religions, its architecture and customs, and its outstanding personalities.

What is a [[Quantum Weather Butterfly]]? What does Death keep on his desk? Would you drink Bearhugger's Homeopathic Sipping Whiskey? How are the kings of Ankh-Morpork different from the kings of Ankh?

Everything the Discworld traveller needs to know is contained in these pages, together with useful maps and illustrations of significant places and emblems in this unique world.

==Also see==
* {{NDC}}

==External links==
* [http://www.lspace.org/books/apf/the-discworld-companion.html The Discworld Companion] on the [[Annotated Pratchett File]]

[[Category:Reference|Discworld Companion,The]]
[[de:Buch:Die Scheibenwelt von A-Z]]

Uncle Jim

2012-05-18T18:40:03Z

Stanley Howler: Created page with "From 1975-1980 Terry wrote regular stories for the ''Bucks Free Press'', in the format of regular episodes. His pseudonym for this was '''Uncle Jim''', who wrote in the Childr..."

From 1975-1980 Terry wrote regular stories for the ''Bucks Free Press'', in the format of regular episodes. His pseudonym for this was '''Uncle Jim''', who wrote in the Children's Circle section of the newspaper. He wrote a total of sixty-seven short stories for the paper, several of which are now available online [http://terrypratchett.weebly.com/stories.html].

It is interesting to note that several ideas present in the later novels where being mulled over in these early days; [[Blackbury]] is used as a location several times, and there is an equivalent of [[Bergholt Stuttley Johnson]] in one tale. There is even an early version of {{TCP}}, and a story that has some distinct similarity with the denizens of the Post Office.

==Stories that are currently available online==
*The Carpet People, episodes 1-4.
*Steam Operated House, complete.
*Thrist Pin, complete.

Path of The Scorpion

2012-05-16T17:55:20Z

Stanley Howler:

A book owned by [[Magrat Garlick]] in [[Witches Abroad]]. The book was authored by the famous [[Ankh-Morpork]] ninja [[CMOT Dibbler| Grand Master Lobsang Dibbler]]- who lives in [[Ankh-Morpork]], a somewhat unlikely seat of cosmic wisdom. Of course, the techniques listed (hitting people with rice flails, twisting an opponent's elbow through 360 degrees, and ahouting 'Hai' very loudly) should not be used in aggression- otherwise it would be impossible to discover one's true place in the cosmos. In later chapters, it is hinted, one can learn how to chop bricks in half with your bare hands and walk on red-hot coals, and other cosmic things.

Unfortunately, the citizens of [[Lancre]] look down on cosmic wisdom, on the basis that it doesn't get the sheep sheared or the privy dug. The chrysantheum-patterned headband only succeeds in people enquiring on whether you've hit your head, and the central tenet of using your opponent's strength against himself results in vague ponderings on the likelihood of imposed self-harm.

This highly mysterious and, above all, ''cosmic'' can be purchased quite cheaply in Ankh-Morpork, and should not be confused with the [[History Monks]], the [[Yen Buddhism| Yen Buddhists]] and other sects found in [[Enlightenment country]]

Wolfgang von Überwald

2012-05-15T20:19:00Z

Stanley Howler:

{{Character Data
|title= Wolfgang Von Überwald
|name= Wolfgang Von Überwald
|age=
|race= Werewolf

|occupation=
|appearance=

|residence= Überwald

|death= At the end of [[The Fifth Elephant]]. Killed by [[Sam Vimes]] wielding a firework.
|parents= [[Guye von Überwald]] and [[Serafine von Überwald |Lady Serafine]].
|relatives= [[Angua von Überwald|Angua Von Überwald]], Elsa, [[Andrei]]

|books= {{TFE}}
|cameos=
}}
'''Wolfgang''' is the brother of Sergeant [[Angua von Überwald|Angua]] of the [[Ankh-Morpork City Watch]], and son to the Baron [[Guye von Überwald]] and [[Serafine von Überwald |Lady Serafine]]. Like the rest of his family, he is also a werewolf. Unlike Angua though, his character is cruel and unrestrained.

He is also a traditionalist. It is suspected that he drove away his brother Andrei and killed his sister Elsa, because they were both [[yennorks]], werewolves that are stuck in one shape. To the pure-blood werewolf, these "abominations" cannot be tolerated.

In his opinion, [[werewolves]] are born to rule. He keeps his body in shape with lots of exercise outdoors. He prefers to run around naked, even in human shape, because in his opinion it is more natural.

[[image:Wolfgang.jpg|thumbnail|Wolfgang's insignia, as drawn by [[User:Knmatt|Matt Smith]]|200px|left]] He has been read as a Nazi in lupine form: determined that werewolves are the pure-breeds, and whose insignia is a silver wolfshead on a crimson banner whose snarling mouth is filled with flashes of lightning. He also acts as a representative of what happens when the Jungian shadow is too fully embraced. Even this just scratches the surface.

Wolfgang appears in the book {{TFE}}. He plays a major part in the intrigue to bring down the [[dwarfs|dwarf]] [[Low King]]. Wolfgang feels superior to other species, and is the leader of a pack of vicious werewolves, who try to take over the power in [[Überwald]]. They have re-installed [[the Game]], in which a man has to try to outrun the werewolves. If he can't, he will be killed. Wolfgang is cunning though, and doesn't play the game by the rules. People seldom have a chance against him.

Remaining too often and too long in wolf-shape made him go crazy in the end. Completely enraged by his contempt for everything civilized, he became a sort of psycho-killer on the loose, who had to be stopped.

Angua fights him when he attacks [[Carrot Ironfoundersson|Carrot]], but it is [[Samuel Vimes|Sam Vimes]] who finally puts him down, because calling it murder would've been obscene.

==Annotation==

And of course the lightning-flash S-rune, when you put two of them side by side, was also the insignia of Heinrich Himmler's SS., a group equally obsessed with notions of racial purity and the "Superman".
The runic symbol came first, btw: the designation "schutz-staffel" to go with the letters came afterwards. What mattered was first and foremost having the right insignia! Now try crossing one runic S over the other so they meet in the middle. Yup, it's the good ol' sun-wheel rune: the ''swastika''.

[[Category:Discworld characters|Überwald, Wolfgang von]]
[[Category:Undead characters|Überwald, Wolfgang von]]

[[de:Wolfgang von Überwald]]

Willikins

2012-05-13T19:00:50Z

Stanley Howler:

{{Character Data
|title=Willikins
|photo=
|name=Willikins
|age=
|race=Human
|occupation=Butler A Member of the City Watch [[Specials]]
|appearance=
|residence=[[Ankh-Morpork]]
|death=
|parents=
|relatives=
|children=
|marital status=
|books= {{MAA}} {{FOC}} {{J}} {{T5E}} {{NW}} {{T!}} {{SN}}
|cameos=
}}

Willikins is the butler of [[Sybil Ramkin]] and, after their marriage, [[Sam Vimes]]. He has been part of the Ramkin household for some time, starting work as [[The Boy|a scullery boy]] when [[Forsythe]] was family butler. He has now been raised to the role of butler himself and, in this role, he is a paragon of civility; mildly disapproving of Vimes's uncouth habits. Though Vimes remains uneasy with the idea of having a servant, he seems to have accepted the idea.

This is possibly because of Willikin's distinctly non-butler like abilities, as revealed in {{J}}. When Willikins temporarily suspends his duties to sign up with [[Lord Venturi's Heavy Infantry]], he soon reveals himself to be an exceptional fighter, and an abnormally violent one at that. During the brief war with [[Klatch (country)|Klatch]] (see {{J}}), Willikins manages to kill a number of Klatchians, bite off a nose during hand-to-hand combat and turn out to be an exceptional leader of men in his own right, managing to keep them alive despite numerous encounters behind enemy lines. He would later have a very surprising reunion with his employer, though he would not be nearly as surprised as Vimes (which can only be summed up in the mans own words: "I'll chop ya tonker off you greasy... Oh is that you Sir Samuel ?"). We hear of Willikin's fighting prowess once more in {{T!}}, when a group of would-be [[dwarfs|dwarf]] assassins attacked the manor by tunnelling into the basement. Unfortunately for them, at the time, Willikins was in the ice cellar carving ice, and upon encountering the assailants, makes use of the only weapon close at hand – an ice knife. He manages to keep one alive and hang him on a meat hook by the collar, only to discover that his captive had died from poison ingested before the mission.

The origins of his violent tendencies are shown to lie in his youth, when he was a member of the Shamlegger Street Rude Boys. His weapon of choice was an old hat/cap with sharpened pennies sewn into the brim (similar to James Bond's enemy Odd Job, who incidentally also served in the capacity of a butler). According to the man himself, the weapon could take someone's eye out, "with care". Due to his formidable skill in combat, Willikins is also part of the [[Specials]], an auxiliary police force called up by the Watch when more men are required.

Fighting skills aside, Willikins is a very competent butler, embodying the very image of a butler "as fat as butter and as shiny as schmaltz". He coughs in a certain way, he politely requests that Vimes removes his razor before reading out a bit from the [[Ankh-Morpork Times]] that he has worked out that Vimes will react violently to, and he quietly but competently goes about his business.

During the events of [[Snuff]] he acts as a loyal and resourceful companion to Vimes providing him with information about the local area and its people, backup, and when required, lethal weapons. Willikins takes pleasure in pointing out that as Vimes' personal valet and manservant he outranks all other servants including [[Silver (Crundells)|Silver]], butler of [[Ramkin Hall]]. We also learn that he as an 'understanding' with [[Purity]], the maid, although precisely what is understood remains a mystery. Willikins also has the wit to use psychological warfare; when it is necessary to bring out the best of Feeney Upshot he fires a crossbow (the [[Piecemaker|Burleigh & Stronginthearm Piecemaker Mark IX]], no less) at his old mum, thus angering him sufficiently to daunt the Shire public. His skill with a steel comb as a lethal weapon has to be seen to be believed; he uses knives as nail files. Together with [[Detritus]], he has enough firepower to match a platoon.

At the end of Snuff, and without his master's knowledge, he makes use of his day off by following the murderer [[Stratford]] while he is in the custody of the [[Quirm]] gendarmes. Knowing that the ruthless Stratford held a grudge against Vimes and would likely seek revenge should he manage to escape, Willikins watched and waited. He was still watching when a mail coach collided with the prison wagon and Stratford escaped in the confusion. He approached the killer on the open road, and calmly informed him that he had come to kill him 'to tidy the world up a bit'. The conclusion was that Stratford was very fast, but not fast enough and only managed to come second in the duel to the death with Willikins.

Willikins the butler is not to be confused with another Willikins who was a young actor with [[Olwyn Vitoller|Vitoller's]] Men when [[Tomjon]] was a baby.

==Annotations==

Willikins is more or less the classic example of the butler/manservant. He is also reminiscent of the kind of fictional butler/manservant who complements his master wonderfully yet unobtrusively. Following are some of the aspects he may be drawn from:

# Alfred displayed his hidden depths to his employer Bruce Wayne by defending the secrets of the Batcave against all foes, with extreme prejudice and great technical competence. In the later ''{{wp|Batman|Batman}}'' stories, there is a suggestion that the Wayne family butler has been in gentlemen's service all his life, save for a few trifling years, in his youth, spent in the British Army's special forces.
# In the long-running BBC Radio thriller serial ''{{wp|Paul_Temple|Paul Temple}}'' (first broadcast in the 1950's and still a favourite today on BBC Radio Seven), the gentleman crime novelist turned Sherlock-Holmes-alike is ably assisted by his manservant, a salt-of-the-earth Cockney who can deliver a killer punch in his master's service.
# In the Japanese manga and animated series ''{{wp|Hellsing|Hellsing}}'', a butler named Walter is seen early on as a thin, middle aged-old man. However, when the Hellsing HQ is attacked, he displays impossible and amazing abilities: Namely manipulating spiderweb-thin razorwire with his fingers in such a way that he is able to slice a cigar in half from across a room, cut undead soldiers to pieces and, at one point, rip a piercing out of a mans lip. Later in the sieres he even uses his wires to "puppeteer" a corpse and make it fight for him. Walter also displayes the ability to dodge bullets. In his youth, he fought in World War II and aided the stories' protagonist - Alucard - in detroying a Nazi undead research facility. The echoes of a young Walter in his older self are reminiscent of the echoes of a young Willikins.
# There is an air of Jeeves about Willikins too, the utterly unflappable and far-more-intelligent-than-his-master manservant from PG Wodehouse's incomparable ''{{wp|Jeeves_and_Wooster|Jeeves and Wooster}}'' series. Suave and completely in control of every situation, preternaturally aware of what needs doing/preparing, yet always in the background, allowing his preposterous master to reap all the benefits.
# These skills seem also to be combined and allied to the rarer skills of {{wp|Margery_Allingham|Margery Allingham}}'s fictional manservant Magersfontein Lugg (played by {{wp|Brian_Glover|Brian Glover}}), in the TV series ''{{wp|Campion_(TV_series)|Campion}}''. Servant and factotum to Mr Campion, Lugg is a former burglar with a gruff manner, who hinders Campion socially as much as he helps in his investigations. With reference to the underworld dialect of the [[Thieves' Guild]], Lugg is the originator of the curious sentence, "It's crackers to slip a rozzer the dropsy in snide". The sentence means, "It's insane to try and bribe a policeman with fake money."
# In {{SN}}, Willikins takes on aspects of {{wp|The_Admirable_Crichton|The Admirable Crichton}}, refusing a drink with his master as something "just not done", feeling bound by a code of class relations.

[[Category:Discworld characters|Willikins]]
[[Category:Human characters|Willikins]]
[[de:Willikins (Butler)]]

Gavin

2012-05-12T20:38:24Z

Stanley Howler: Created page with "A large wolf who appears in {{TFE}}, and one who is a (potential) rival with Carrot for Angua's heart. He is the leader of an Uberwaldean wolf pack, and c..."

A large wolf who appears in {{TFE}}, and one who is a (potential) rival with [[Carrot]] for [[Angua]]'s heart. He is the leader of an [[Uberwald|Uberwaldean]] wolf pack, and commands quite a lot of respect in the canine community. For one thing, he has the power to protect Angua, Carrot and [[Gaspode]] from the other wolves.
Although his 'dog name' isn't Gavin, he once ate someone called that (not all of him, but just enough to prevent him from setting wolf traps).

Gavin used his status in wolf hierarchy to prevent the wolves from attacking Angua when she fell in a pit trap before she came to [[Ankh-Morpork]], and ever since he has had a soft spot for her. He even came into the city- by timber wagon, when necessary- to warn Angua about the [[The Fifth Elephant|business in Uberwald]].

He died trying to save Carrot from [[Wolfgang]], or, at least, he died using the [[Marquis of Fantailler]]'s rules.

Leonal Felmet

2012-05-12T16:22:26Z

Stanley Howler:

{{Character Data
|title= Duke Leonal Felmet
|photo=
|name= Leonal Felmet
|age=
|race= [[Humans|Human]]
|occupation=
|appearance= insect-like, thin. Wears lots of rings. Right hand is barely a hand.
|residence= [[Lancre Castle]], [[Lancre]]
|death= dropped to death in [[Lancre Gorge]], [[1984 UC]]
|parents=
|relatives= cousin of [[Verence I]]
|children=
|marital status= [[Lady Felmet]]
|books= [[Book:Wyrd Sisters|Wyrd Sisters]]
|cameos=
}}

Duke Leonal ruled the kingdom of [[Lancre]] for a while after murdering King [[Verence I]]. He had a mind like a clock, and like that clock it regularly went "cuckoo". He married [[Lady Felmet]] for the power, but found that she kept it anyway. Murdering his cousin to become king drove him insane, leading to his death. Believing he was a ghost, he slipped on the battlements of [[Lancre Castle]] and dropped to his death in the river.

Duke Felmet's story resonates around the multiverse like so many others. We are familiar with a version known as ''the Scottish Play'', which is associated with bad luck in the theater whenever it is performed. Our popular version relegates the Witches to the chorus; in Lancre they are always featured players.

Like the [[Roundworld]] version, Felmet's wife is infinitely more ambitious and she inspires his murder of the rightful king. However, in a characteristically neat twist, it is Felmet who loses his marbles with regard to the blood that won't wash away. In Shakespeare's play it is Lady Macbeth who repeatedly washes her hand to rid herself of the stain: ''Will all great Neptune’s ocean wash this blood Clean from my hand? No; this my hand will rather The multitudinous seas incarnadine, Making the green one red''. Duke Felmet washes his hand with increasing vigour and increasingly rough tools until it begins no longer to actually resemble a hand.

He bemuses [[Death]] by acting like a [[Ghosts|ghost]] when not yet dead. Asked why he's still here, Death calmly replies, {{Death|Waiting}}. At that point, in a deeply satisfactory-to-the-readerly fashion, Felmet falls from the battlements. His venom is still not entirely abated however: he vows to stay around and 'make basket chairs creak alarmingly at nights'.

[[Category:Undead characters|Felmet, Leonal]]
[[Category:Discworld characters|Felmet, Leonal]]
[[Category:Human characters|Felmet, Leonal]]
[[de:Leonal Felmet]]
{{stub}}

Master of the Royal Mint

2012-05-12T16:12:28Z

Stanley Howler:

[[Moist von Lipwig]]'s latest official title. As with Postmaster-General, it comes with a [[Headology|Hat]] of office, which Moist improved upon by adding lots and lots of his trademark golden glitter.

The full tale of what happened to him as Master of the [[Ankh-Morpork Mint]] and Deputy Chairman of the [[Royal Bank of Ankh-Morpork]] (ie, the one who takes the Chairman for walkies) is told in {{MM}}.

The position dates back hundreds of years, when it would be given by the ruler of [[Ankh-Morpork]] to his drinking pal. The mint would then be used as an overly elaborate money-box, with the Master turning up every now and then with a big sack, a bad hangover and a meaningful look. Eventually, people realised that someone should be present who knew what was going on and was (mostly) sober, and so the position of foreman was also instituted, a position of which [[Shady|Mr. Shady the Eighteenth]] is the latest incumbent.

[[Category:Discworld characters]]

Moist von Lipwig

2012-05-10T19:39:44Z

Stanley Howler:

{{Character Data
|title= Moist von Lipwig
|photo=
|name= Moist von Lipwig
|age= born 1965
|race= [[Humans|Human]]

|occupation= [[Ankh-Morpork Post Office|Postmaster General]], Chairman of the [[Grand Trunk Semaphore Company]], [[Master of the Royal Mint]]
|appearance= Six foot two, brown-blond hair, average and nondescript.

|residence= [[Ankh-Morpork Post Office|Post Office]], [[Ankh-Morpork]]
|death=
|parents=
|relatives=
|children=
|marital status= Not yet married. [[Adora Belle Dearheart]] has, however, consented to make him her husband at some point next year.

|books= {{GP}}, {{MM}} and possibly in the upcoming book {{RT}}

|cameos= {{T!}}
}}

Swindler, con artist and fraud wanted dead in several cities, and currently Postmaster General and Master of the Royal Mint of [[Ankh-Morpork]]. Smitten with [[Adora Belle Dearheart]], whom he calls "[[Spike]]". He is, at present, her fiancé (note that it is not the other way around). He revived the [[Ankh-Morpork Post Office|postal service]] in Ankh-Morpork, inadvertently challenging the [[clacks]] [[Grand Trunk|company]], which was stolen from Adora Belle Dearheart's family by a still much bigger fraudster, [[Reacher Gilt]]. Reacher Gilt is also rumoured to have had her brother, John Dearheart, killed.

Usually dressed all in gold in his capacity as Postmaster General (with corresponding wingèd golden hat; gold paint, of course), Moist was entrusted with the running of the clacks company after it was ascertained that Reacher Gilt and his gang of financial cronies had obtained the company by illegal means.

He is of a nondescript appearance, leading people who see him to look through him without noticing anything prominent or memorable about him. This proved a valuable asset in his previous profession (for avoiding angry mobs) however this advantage is now negated by his big shiny golden suit that makes him instantly recognizable, at least while wearing it. He consoles himself with the fact that it's the suit that people recognize, rather than him. Moist turns this to his advantage: if he really wants to go incognito, he can just change into the shabby old grey suit that [[Albert Spangler]] was executed in. The effect is rather like that of Clark Kent emerging unremarked from a nondescript telephone box - as Superman also knew, people never really '''''look''''', or make connections from what they see.

As of ''Making Money'' and his confessions of his criminal past in open court, it may be that going incognito is far more difficult, and that he may very well become one of Ankh-Morpork's most recognizable citizens, much to his chagrin.

In Going Postal Moist was temporarily linked to the consciousness of the collective letters of the Post office after he delivered one of them and was officially made the Postmaster by the post guild. The consciousness was aware of Moist's shady past but were by that point willing to take anyone as Postmaster so they could be delivered. The link was painfully severed when the Post Office was burnt down: it nearly killed Moist in the process, as Adora noted. He went deathly pale when the consciousness started screaming in his mind.

A definite crowd pleaser, he uses their favour to further his aims. Lord [[Vetinari]] seems to hold him in high regard; he appears to be one of his lordship's favourite pawns.

Moist's exploits, recounted in ''Going Postal'', include resumption of the post, in Ankh-Morpork as well as surrounding areas such as [[Sto Lat]] and [[Pseudopolis]], the invention of "stamps", facilitating its use, and the liberation of the Grand Trunk from Reacher Gilt and his henchmen. In ''Thud!'' Vimes mentions (angrily, of course) that 'that idiot at the Post Office' has brought out a [[Koom Valley]] stamp, or rather two : you can choose between the dwarves ambushing the trolls or the trolls ambushing the dwarves.

The invention of stamps eventually leads to their use by the populace of Ankh-Morpork as a sort of paper currency, prompting Vetinari's need to transfer Moist to overhaul the Royal Mint and by extension, the banking system. As [[Master of the Royal Mint]], his new hat of office is a threadbare, worn-out, top hat in worn-through black felt. However, Moist makes a visit to the [[Boffo Novelty and Joke Shop|Boffo]] emporium on [[Tenth Egg Street]] and buys glue and golden glitter for a necessary improvement in keeping with his public image, and so that the hat does not clash with the golden suit. His experiment with the creation of stamps leads him to a wider usage of paper with the creation and use of the revolutionary [[Paper Money]].

It is tempting to note here that as Master of the Mint, Moist is effectively playing [[Exclusive Possession]] with two of the standard six game tokens: the Hat and the [[Mr Fusspot|Dog]]. If you stretch a point, he also has the services of the [[Golem]] [[Gladys]], who '''''irons''''' his trousers just by smoothing them against a wall, instead of using the iron in the postmen's locker room; and the coach motif recurs throughout the book (taking the place of the car/train token - although the coach invariably belongs to another player with an agenda of their own, except for when Moist briefly rides the mail coach at the start of the race). Moist also receives, along with the Dog, the promise of $AM20,000 for passing "Go!" right at the start of the game, due to the bequest in Topsy Lavish's will. And the "Go To Jail" penalty certainly applies to Moist's visits to the [[Tanty]]... (To follow this metaphor more closely, [[Exclusive Possession|see here]].)

Although he has recently taken a (rather spectacular) turn toward public service, Moist is still very much in possession of the mind of a criminal, as [[Vetinari]] notes happily. He is addicted to the rush, and is never happier than when he is making things up on the fly; almost all of his solutions to the many problems he faces are the result of winging it. When oppressed by the legitimate (and boring) responsibilities of his position(s), Moist has been known to go to increasingly desperate resorts to feed his need for danger, such as taking up [[Edificeering]] and [[Extreme Sneezing]] as leisure pursuits. Breaking into his own office, when the penalty for getting it wrong is rough justice from vigilante-minded citizens, is just a part of this syndrome, as is his continued pilfering of [[Drumknott]]'s pencils. Notably, he is much less prone to this behaviour when [[Adora Belle Dearheart]] is around, leading to the inevitable conclusion that he finds her dangerous enough that he doesn't need to engage in other crazy stunts. She finds this rather romantic.

==Aliases==
*Ethel Snake
*Mr Robinson
*[[Albert Spangler]]
*Mundo Smith
*Edwin Streep
*[[Mr Trespass Hatchcock]]
*Jeff the Drover

==Annotation==

Moist von Lipwig. Lip wig = "Moist of the false moustache": the master of disguise!

Moist also does self-designed ''ear wigs''. These are designed to draw attention to themselves - say if the mark is trying to explain things to the Watch afterwards about the gentleman with the steady gaze and the firm handshake and the hair growing out of his ears, the one who convinced me that Vetinari had entrusted him with the right to sell the Brass Bridge... all he will be able to describe with any certainty is the eye-catching undergrowth in both ear-holes. Oh, and he might have had a moustache, too...

It is possible that the Patrician is secretly grooming Moist to be his successor.

[[Category: Discworld characters|Lipwig, Moist von]]
[[Category: Leading characters|Lipwig, Moist von]]
[[Category: Human characters|Lipwig, Moist von]]
[[Category: Making Money|Lipwig, Moist von]]
[[de:Feucht von Lipwig]]

Guilds of Ankh-Morpork

2012-05-09T19:33:25Z

Stanley Howler:

==History of Guilds==
[[Ankh-Morpork]] has over 300 guilds.

Some guilds have been in existence for centuries, and some guilds are modern forms of ancient syndicates. The Patrician [[Havelock Vetinari|Lord Vetinari]] made the guilds register with the [[Patrician's Palace]], and made them regulate their members' behaviors. For example, before the legalization of the guilds, thieves could rob and mug as many people for as many times as they, the thieves, liked, and the monetary gain may be high or low depending on luck or hard work; after legalization, the [[Thieves' Guild]] makes money mainly by having rich people pay an annual premium so that members of the guild do not have to break into people's houses and rob them. This and similar systems make life more predictable, and people, including the Thieves, have time to get on with their lives.

Guild enforcers police the behaviors of guild members and make working a privilege of guild members. This ensures two things: clients will get fully professional services, and guild members can charge a high price for their work. Guild enforcers have the right and indeed duty to catch and punish a working non-member; this kicks the [[Ankh-Morpork City Watch|City Watch]] out of a lot of its traditional jurisdiction (A cop will only catch you. What would, say, an Assassin do to a freelancer?). A Guildhouse and its grounds are considered private properties, and even in case of a suspected crime are not to be intruded by Watchmen. Many guilds take in orphans and train them up in guild schools, giving them skills for a career for life- the surnames ([[Jeremy Clockson|Clockson]], [[Lobsang Ludd|Ludd]]) are a telling sign of this heritage. Some guilds, such as the [[Assassins' Guild]], offer such a high-quality education that people pay for their children to be educated there. Many guilds hire their own physicians and run their own private hospitals for members.

==Most Powerful Guilds==
In [[Ankh-Morpork]], citizens do not vote, and the [[Patrician]] is the absolute ruler; however, Lord Vetinari does hold meetings with civic leaders. During these meetings, the more powerful guilds appear to be:
*[[Assassins' Guild]], leader [[Lord Downey]]
*[[Beggars' Guild]], leader [[Queen Molly]]
*[[Fools' Guild]], leader [[Dr. Whiteface]]
*[[Seamstresses' Guild]], leader Mrs [[Rosemary Palm]]
*[[Thieves' Guild]], leader Mr [[Boggis]]
*[[Guild of Merchants]], leader; Current Grand Master is the greengrocer [[A. Parker and Son's|Antimony Parker]].

[[Mr. Slant]], president of the [[Guild of Lawyers]], also has heavy influence on matters, but this is less because of the power of the members, and more because Slant himself personifies precedents and is terrifyingly good at finding precedents and loopholes.

==Additional Guilds==
Other guilds mentioned through the books include:
{|
|
*[[Guild of Accountants]] and Usurers, leader Mr [[Frostrip]]

*[[Actors' Guild]]

*[[Archaeologists' Guild]]

*[[Alchemists' Guild]], leader [[Thomas Silverfish]]

*[[Guild of Architects|Architects' Guild]]

*[[Armourers' Guild]]

*[[Artificers' Guild]], leader [[George Pony|Mr Pony]]

*[[Bakers' Guild]]

*[[Bandits' Guild]]

*[[Guild of Barber-Surgeons]]

*[[Butchers' Guild]], leader [[Gerhardt Sock]]

*[[Butlers' Guild]]

*[[Carters' and Drovers' Guild]]

*[[Chefs' Guild]]

*[[Clockmakers' Guild]], Secretary Dr [[Hopkins]]

*[[Council of Churches, Temples, Sacred Groves and Big Ominous Rocks]] ''(While not a guild per se, the Council performs the same political role for its member organizations as many of the Guilds do for their members.)''

*[[Guild of Confectioners]]

*[[Conjurers' Guild]]

*[[Guild of C.M.O.T. Dibblers]]

*[[Dogs' Guild]] ''(previous leader [[Big Fido]])''

*[[Guild of Embalmers and Allied Trades]]

*[[Guild of Engravers and Printers]] ''(formerly the Guild of Engravers)''

*[[Guild of Ecdysiasts, Nautchers, Cancanieres and Exponents of Exotic Dance]]

*[[Firefighters' Guild]]
|
*[[Fools' Guild|Guild of Fools and Joculators]] and College of Clowns

*[[Gamblers' Guild]], leader [[Scrote Jones]]

*[[Glassblowers' Guild]]

*[[Haberdashers' Guild]]

*[[Handlemen's Guild]]

*[[Guild of Historians]]

*[[Lags' Guild|Guild of Lags]], headed by [[Joe "Lifer" Bushyhead]]

*[[Launderers' Guild]], headed by Mrs. [[Manger]]

*[[Guild of Lawyers]]

*[[Guild of Merchants]], ''(formerly Guild Of Merchants and Traders)''

*[[Guild of Musicians]]

*[[Guild of Plumbers and Dunnikin Divers]]

*[[Guild of Priests, Sacerdotes and Occult Intermediaries]]

*[[Rat Guild]] ''(alleged)''

*[[Ratcatchers' Guild]]

*[[Guild of Shoemakers and Leatherworkers]]

*Smugglers' Guild

*[[Tailors' Guild]]

*[[Teachers' Guild]], latest leader Master [[Greetling]]

*[[Guild of Town Criers]]

*[[Guild of Victims]], only member Mr [[Echinoid Blacksly]]

*[[Watchmen's Guild]]

* A new guild associated with the [[Clacks]] is briefly mentioned in ''The Fifth Elephant'', although not named.
|}

[[Category:Guilds]]
[[Category:Ankh-Morpork Businesses]]
[[de:Gilden]]

==Annotation==
Until recently, Japanese police considered [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yakuza Yakuza] gangs a necessary evil that helped keeping street crime down, under the motto: the only thing worse than organized crime is disorganized crime. Vetinari would approve.

Talk:Lu-Tze

2012-05-09T18:56:13Z

Stanley Howler:

This is the 100th real article according to [[special:statistics]]. :) [[User:Jeltz|Jeltz]] 22:33, 13 Sep 2005 (CEST)
:Yeah! --[[User:Jogibaer|Jogibaer]] 22:31, 14 Sep 2005 (CEST)
----
About his age, in Thief of Time it is said twice that Lu-Tze is 800 years old (p. 132 of US paperback, when the Abbot is sending the young operatives to Uberwald and Lu-Tze asks permission to take Lobsang to Ankh-Morpork) (p. 51 US paperback, after presentation of sweeper's robe and broom to Time/Lobsang, when Lobsang asks what small gift he can give Lu-Tze). Is there any change about his age in the books after that?
:The 6000 years are taken from the Discworld Companion (2nd edition). I just checked with the 3rd edition where it states:
'Although he is generally acknowldeged to be 800 years old, there are some who claim he is 6000 years old, because for History Monks time is a resource to manipulate rather than an amber in which they are imprisoned.'
:So there seems to be an inconsistency somewhere. However, I don't know in which book it occurs. --[[User:Jogibaer|Jogibaer]] 11:21, 1 November 2005 (CET)

== Lu-Tze's Rank ==

Lu-Tze is not a history monk. He works in Oi Dong monastery, and he has all the abilities of a history monk, with the addition of being able to use the deadly art of Deja-Fu, but he was never initiated as a monk. He is a sweeper. His job is to sweep the floors of Oi Dong. The fact he knows so much about time manipulation is just a result of his sweeping the right rooms at the right time (during classes, for example).

That said, he still goes on History Monk errands, such as making sure history happens, but he is still only a sweeper.

The interesting (possible contradiction) here is that when the character of Lu-Tze first appears in {{SG}}, (ref '''''Corgi Paperback p.8'''''), he is introduced thus:-

''The 493rd Abbot... addressed Lu-Tze, one of his most senior monks.''

He is still a History Monk on pp 376-377, at the end of {{SG}}.

Here, Lu-Tze is a fully-fledged and acknowledged History Monk who while in the field adopts the guise of a humble sweeper. It is only in the later books, {{TOT}}, {{NW}}, that the reverse is emphasised: here, the story is the Lu-Tze never graduated as a monk nor was selected as one at all. What he has learnt has come from years of sweeping up, inobtrusively, in classrooms where the monks are trained.

Perhaps even though he is a sweeper he is treated by the abbot as a monk. He certainly is a sweeper but many of the monks who know him respect him as if he was a high ranking monk. --Confusion 03:31, 22 October 2011 (CEST)

==She's '''how''' old?==

Re:"As a young man...": is it really mentioned somewhere that Mrs. Cosmopolite is also 800 years old? ..[[User:Old Dickens|Old Dickens]] 8:15 EST 20 Aug 2006

:In the book The Way is described as something Lu-Tze has for a long time. I'd have to search the book for the exact story of him going to Mrs Cosmopilite though, but I think this could be an inconsistency. Mrs. C is definitely not 800 years old, she sounds like a middle-aged woman who is as common as muck. Not some secret ancient history nun of centuries old ;) --[[User:Sanity|Sanity]] 00:02, 21 August 2006 (CEST)

:Found it: "The first words read by the young Lu-Tze when he sought perplexity in the dark, teeming, rain-soaked city of Ankh-Morpork were: 'Rooms For Rent, Very Reasonable'. And he was glad of it." - Corgi paperback of ToT, page 40 at the top. --[[User:Sanity|Sanity]] 00:55, 21 August 2006 (CEST)

Moving around in time is what the Sweeper does, of course. He could just as easily show up as his
younger self. ..[[User:Old Dickens|Old Dickens]] 10:25 EST 21 Aug 2006

:He's not a wizard. He looks as he looks. He can only show up as a young Lu-Tze if he's really young, which suggests he is hardly trained (ToT suggests he did start training as a monk but never finished, moving on to becoming a sweeper). So he's definitely young, which shouldn't be possible. Unless Mrs. Cosmopilite lived hundreds of years ago, which she didn't because she is referenced in MP as well.

:Actually, if Lu-Tze can move around in time, then why didn't he go back in time to stop the clock? --[[User:Sanity|Sanity]] 17:08, 21 August 2006 (CEST)

Dunno, he went back to get Sam...[[User:Old Dickens|Old Dickens]] 13:20 EST 21 Aug 2006

: [http://groups.google.com/groups/search?q=age+cosmopilite+group:alt.*.pratchett Google Groups discussions] on this matter. It wasn't resolved then, too. --[[User:Sanity|Sanity]] 17:30, 21 August 2006 (CEST)

:: History Monks cannot change the past. It's a law. Or something. He went back to get Sam so he could correct the fluxes in the space-time continuememememem. There might be a line of Mrs. Cosmopilites- it's a surname, it must have started somewhere- and the 'Way of Mrs. Cosmopilite' Mrs. Cosmopilite is different from the 'Moving Pictures' Mrs. Cosmopilite. To paraphrase a line from {{M!!!}}: ''Who says there's only one Mrs. Cosmopilite''?-- Stanley Howler 20:56, 9 May 2012 (CEST)

== Another Lu-Tze sighting ==

Lu-Tze has a brief cameo in Going Postal, when Moist visits the temple of Offler in the wee hours. The nave (quoting from memory) was deserted except for Moist, the junior priest on duty, and a little old man vigorously sweeping the floor. Surely this is Lu-Tze again? --[[User:Eitheladar|Eitheladar]] 05:50, 24 August 2008 (UTC)

:See {{GP-APF}}, p.263. On the other hand, sextons are sweeping out churches all the time...--[[User:Old Dickens|Old Dickens]] 15:49, 24 August 2008 (UTC)

Enrico Basilica

2012-05-07T18:38:40Z

Stanley Howler:

{{Character Data
|title= Enrico Basilica
|photo=
|name= Henry Slugg/ Enrico Basilica
|race= Human
|age=

|occupation= Opera singer (tenor)
|appearance= Well-built. Has a friendly, bearded, small face and a squeaky speaking voice.

|residence= Ankh-Morpork(by birth), Brindisi (by repute)

|death=
|parents=
|relatives=
|children=
|marital status= Now (presumeably) married to Mrs. Lawsy.

|books= {{M!!!}}
|cameos=
}}

Senor Enrico Basilica started off life as plain old Henry Slugg in [[Ankh-Morpork]], but soon realised that he wouldn't get far in his chosen life of Opera-singing with a name like that. A shame, because he had a magnificent talent. He went off to [[Brindisi]], learnt the language, changed his name to Enrico (a fair exchange for Henry) Basilica, and began touring the truly grand [[Opera House|Opera Houses]] of the Disc.

He is an ''enormous'' man whose greatest wish in life is that he wouldn't be given Brindisian dishes everywhere at banquets in his honour as pasta doesn't do it for him. What he truly desires is good old Ankh-Morporkian food such as [[Slumpie]] and [[Distressed Pudding]].

He has a run-in with the [[Witches]] [[Nanny Ogg]] and [[Granny Weatherwax]] during the events of {{M!!!}}, during which he is finally fed ''real'' food, and reunites with his old love, Mrs Lawsy. It wouldn't happen in real life, but ''this is opera!''

==Annotation==

His physical description - and that of his tenor voice - seems to match that of [[wikipedia:Luciano_Pavarotti|Luciano Pavarotti]].

[[Category:Discworld characters|Basilica, Enrico]]
[[Category:Human characters|Basilica, Enrico]]
[[Category:Discworld culture]]
[[de:Henry Faul]]

Stephen Player

2012-05-07T17:26:10Z

Stanley Howler: Created page with "Stephen Player is a (Roundworld) artist who illustrated the first two Discworld Maps, an alternative cover for {{COM}}, the plays by Stephen Briggs and the ''[[The Wee..."

Stephen Player is a ([[Roundworld]]) artist who illustrated the first two Discworld Maps, an alternative cover for {{COM}}, the plays by [[Stephen Briggs]] and the ''[[The Wee Free Men|The Illustrated Wee Free Men]]''.

Other works include doing production design for the Sky One production of {{H}} and {{COM}}. He has also attributed to some Discworld Calenders, games books and money for the Discworld convention.

He was born in 1965 in Hertford, and now lives in the United States.

{{Stub}}

[[Category:People]]

Nora Tachyon

2012-05-07T17:00:02Z

Stanley Howler:

{{Character Data
|title= Mrs. Tachyon
|photo=
|name= Mrs. Tachyon, also known as "Tacky Nora"
|age= Very old

|occupation= Tramp
|appearance= Old, wearing all her clothes at once

|residence= [[Blackbury]] through the ages

|death=
|parents=
|relatives=
|children=
|marital status=

|books= {{JatB}}
|cameos= {{JatD}}
}}
'''Mrs Tachyon''' is the local baglady of [[Blackbury]]. She pushes a shopping cart filled with black plastic bags wherever she goes. She has been an old lady for ages...

In The BBC adaptation of {{JATB}} she was played by [[Wikipedia:Zoë_Wanamaker|Zoë Wanamaker]].

==Annotation==
A Tachyon is a theoretical faster than light particle, which a neutrino ''may'' be an example... As it moves faster than light, it must also move backwards in time, and is therefore a staple for sci-fi writers everywhere who want to add some quantum physics into their novels.

[[Category:Johnny Maxwell characters]]
{{Stub}}

Talk:Roundworld

2012-05-07T16:51:41Z

Stanley Howler:

Just a thought that nags at me.

In {{COM}}, it is established that Rincewind has an alter-ego on Planet Earth (Roundworld). When he manifests on Earth out of his desire not to be killed by falling through a dragon that has just lost corporeal integrity at great height, he re-appears inside an airliner. (Either he is transported to Earth or a little bit of Earth is temporarily relocated to the Discworld. As all appears well on the plane and the pilot isn't babbling about "where the Hell am I?", I would suspect they are temporarily transported to [[Roundworld]] and everything is going according to schedule. (Until [[the Luggage]] turns up)

[[Dr van Rijnswand]], (who perplexingly has a South African-sounding name but is given Swedish identity), has a few confused thoughts about dragons and some outlandish "hublandish" language, as well as a moment's confusion about the weird clothes, but inertia soon restores his full Roundworld identity with the odd thoughts being dismissed as some sort of dream.

The question is - if Rincewind is sent into Roundworld to explore and discover, how come he doesn't assume the aspect of himself which is already there, and forget his Discworld identity? (Would this only apply during the brief span of [[Dr van Rijnswand]]'s lifespan on Roundworld?) In which case he would have had the Professor's knowledge of nuclear physics to confuse the Faculty with.

This may also be a temporal paradox - the wizards have not called Roundworld into existence at this point, so it is possible Rincewind and Twoflower's personal timeline was wound forward to the time of the Roundworld for this brief span, and then back again on their return to the Disc.

The mind fairly boggles...--[[User:AgProv|AgProv]] 15:45, 3 May 2007 (CEST)

:Rincewind's "timeline" is a something of an external golden braid cat's-cradle. Dunno about Twoflower, but tourists aren't actually involved, after all. [[Special:Contributions/207.112.84.33|207.112.84.33]] 03:43, 26 December 2008 (UTC)

== Is the term "Roundworld" a misnomer? ==

Although the term “roundworld” has been well established for a long time, wouldn’t “sphereworld” be a better reference than “roundworld”?

(The Discworld ''IS'' round at the circumference.)

:Maybe, but the term "Roundworld" is used in the {{SOD1}} books, making it official. And it doesn't just refer to Earth, it also refers to the entire universe the wizards create in that book. [[User:TC01|TC01]] 19:37, 8 January 2010 (UTC)

== Roundworld characters ==

Should historical Roundworld characters featured in the {{SOD1}} books get their own pages? After all, William Shakespeare, John Dee and Charles Darwin are all characters with large roles (and various scientists are mentioned in passing in {{N}}). [[User:Stanley Howler|ASK ME ABOUT STAMPS]] 18:49, 7 May 2012 (CEST)

Pins

2012-05-07T16:19:39Z

Stanley Howler:

[[Pins]] are not just for holding pieces of cloth together. At least in [[Ankh-Morpork]] pins are something worth collecting. In this city over twenty-seven million pins are produced per year by the combined workshops called pinneries. Among them are specials like wax-headed, steels, or silver-headed. Lapel pins, or ''blazons'', do not count since they are not true pins. Mere needles are looked down upon as just faux-pins with a hole knocked through one end. Nails cause strife: [[Dave's Pin Exchange|Dave]] refuses to have them in the shop, citing as his reason the fact that some collectores are young boys, thank you very much. The collectors of pins call themselves pinheads. A great number of [[magazines]] on pins exist with titles like ''Pins Monthly'', ''Popular Needles'', or ''Total Pins''. The specialist shop to go to for all things acuphile is [[Dave's Pin Exchange]], on Dolly Street. The collecting of pins has decreased greatly since the collecting of stamps has cought on. The details on pins are revealed in ''[[Book:Going Postal|Going Postal]]''

Sometimes pins have been discussed for more practical reasons. In {{MAA}}, when [[Fred Colon]] finds a drawing pin stuck in his sandal, Lance-constable [[Cuddy]] advises him to keep it, as his cousin [[Gimick]] makes them, and they sell at five for a penny. This is not an interest in pins as such, more a generalised Dwarvish interest in good metalwork and value for money. As the old phrase goes: ''See a pin and pick it up and all day long you'll have a pin''.

[[Category:Discworld culture]]

==Annotation==
Pins feature on the British twenty pound note. This honours laissez-fare economist Adam Smith, who devised his theory on the division of labour (the first stage towards establishing a mass production line, and indirectly the inspiration for Karl Marx' theories about the alienation of labour in a capitalist society) after making observations in a pin factory. A reproduction of part of the pin-making process is part of the £20 note's design.

[[de:Nadeln]]

Wights

2012-05-07T12:20:10Z

Stanley Howler:

Travelling around the [[Carpet]] are the nomadic Wights, who seem to be spiritually connected to the Carpet, "remembering" everything in there own life, includeing the future but they must follow the "thread" of there lives. As a result of this they are almost incapable of makeing a choice and dread of the unknown. The Wights can work all elements of the Carpet: grit, sugar, bronze, varnish, wood, hairs and dust and incorporate these into there spritiual beliefes. They represent time in a series of Chay's, each represented by one of the above elements showing how the next preiod will be seen; such as the chay of Growth of represented by Dust.

The are said to be the First people of the carpet, they travelled accross the tiles to bring back fire and discovered the secrets of smelting varnish. They travel in groups of seven, twenty-one or fourty-nine (no one knows what happens to the extras) and are led by a master. They offer varnish smelting services to the locals but they are not considered part of the [[Dumii]] Empire, living apart from other tribes and not participating is the counting.

They wear dark (almost black with a crisscross pattern) robes with a deep hood. Very Rarely one Wight is born who is a [[Thunorg]].

It is interesting to note that, in the original 1971 edition of the book, Culaina is male and known as 'Culain'.

== Named Whites ==
* The Master
* Neral The Kilnmaster
* Alham the Kilnmaster
* Derna
* Culaina - [[Thunorg]]
* Tarillion the Minemaster

[[Category:The Carpet People]]

Book:The Carpet People

2012-05-07T12:18:29Z

Stanley Howler:

{{Book Data
|title= The Carpet People
|photo=
|date= 1971
|publisher= Colin Smythe
|isbn= 0552551058
|pages= 200

|series=
|characters= [[Snibril]], [[Glurk]], [[Pismire]], [[Brocando]]
|annotations=
|notes=
}}
The Carpet People was first published in 1971 by [[Colin Smythe|Colin Smythe Ltd.]], and was Pratchett's debut novel. It was heavily revised and republished in 1992. The original was an ode rather than a satire to Tolkien.
==Blurb==

In the beginning there was nothing but endless flatness. Then came the [[Carpet]] ...

That's the old story everyone knows and loves (even if they don't really believe it). But now the Carpet is home to many different tribes and peoples and there's a new story in the making. The story of the [[Fray]], sweeping a trail of destruction across the Carpet. The story of power-hungry [[mouls]] - and of two [[Munrung]] brothers, who set out on an adventure to end all adventures when their village is flattened

It's a story that will come to a terrible end - if someone doesn't do something about it. It everyone doesn't do something about it ...

==Characters==
* [[Glurk]], chief of the [[Munrung]]s
* [[Snibril]], Glurk's younger brother
* [[Pismire]], the wise man of the [[Munrung]] tribe
* [[Bane]], a [[Dumii]] general
* [[Brocando]], King of the [[Deftmenes]]
* [[Fray]], a natural phenomenon wreaking havoc on the Carpet
* [[Mouls]], a power-hungry species
* [[Wights]], who remember the future
* [[Camus Cadmes]]

Various animals, such as [[pones]], [[snargs]], [[hymetors]], etc.

==Locations==
* [[Ware]], the Dumii capital
* [[Jeopard]], the Deftmene city
* [[Achairleg]], source of varnish
* The [[High Gate Land]], where bronze is mined, home of the [[Vortgorn]]
* [[Burned End]], source of wood
* [[Tregon Marus]]

[[category:Books by Terry Pratchett|Carpet People, The]]
[[category:Children's books|Carpet People, The]]
[[category:The Carpet People]]
[[de:Buch:Die Teppichvölker]]

Verence I

2012-05-07T11:16:03Z

Stanley Howler:

Murdered by [[Leonal Felmet|Duke Felmet]], his [[Ghosts|ghost]] haunted [[Lancre Castle]] until his presumed son [[Tomjon]] returned to claim the throne.

He was said to be a womanizer, and people assume [[Verence II]] is a result of a nightly adventure with the Fool's mother. Unfortunately for him, it isn't, but that doesn't really matter as the people of [[Lancre]] don't really care who their king is, as long as he does his job and doesn't bother people too much. He apparently has quite the body, likes big dogs, and lived life fully, one bit at a time. See {{WS}} for details.
He enjoyed excersising his ''droit de seigneur'', and, although a lot of the characters seem to be under the impression that it is actually a large, shaggy dog, it actually translates as 'Lord's Right'. What this actually allows is (thankfully) lost in the mists of time.

==Annotation==

He can be seen as similar to the ghost of Hamlet's father in the Shakespeare play, {{wp|Hamlet|Hamlet}}.

[[Category:Undead characters|Verence I]]
[[Category:Discworld characters]]
[[Category:Supporting characters]]
[[de:Verence I von Lancre]]

{{stub}}

Monarchy

2012-05-07T11:06:25Z

Stanley Howler:

The [[Discworld (world)|Discworld]] has several monarchies, among them empires, kingdoms, dukedoms, seriphdoms - some of them flourishing, some of them already extinct.

==[[Agatean Empire]]==

* [[One Sun Mirror]], the first Emperor
* The [[Boy Emperor]] who allows [[Twoflower]] to visit Ankh-Morpork and orders the [[Patrician]] to keep him safe ({{COM}}, {{TLF}}, {{M}})
* The [[Emperor]] who is murdered by [[Lord Hong]] in {{IT}}
* [[Cohen]] the Barbarian

==Ankh-Morpork Monarchy==
There are two lines of kings in [[Ankh-Morpork]]. The Kings of [[Ankh (city)|Ankh]], considered to be the true noble line, died out around the foundation of [[Unseen University]], 2,000 years ago. After that, the crown was available to the king with the most muscle. These Kings of Ankh-Morpork ruled until [["Stoneface" Vimes]] personally ended Ankh-Morporkian monarchy in the [[Ankh-Morpork Civil War|Civil War of 1688 UC]]. According to facts from Ankh-Morporkian chronicles, both men and women seem to have occupied this noble but not always pleasant office. We are also told that the courtesy title for the eldest son of the monarch is ''[[Prince of Llamedos]]''.This no doubt stems from a time when Llamedos was a tributary part of the Ankh-Morporkian Empire.

===Kingdom of Ankh===

* King [[Artorollo]]
* King Paragore
* Queen Alguinna IV
* King [[Veltrick I]] 1561-1561
* King Veltrick II 1562-1572
* King Veltrick III 1572 - unknown

It is suspected that [[Carrot Ironfoundersson]] is the heir to the throne in the line of the kings of Ankh. The aforesaid five are (according to Mr. Pratchett's chronicles) supposed to be ancestors of him. Dates are taken from the New Discworld Companion.

===Kingdom of Ankh-Morpork===

* King [[Cirone I]]

* King [[Cirone II]] (was known to be king in 1511-1512)- cannot therefore ''be'' or be related to the Cirone IV who had the [[Cloaca Maxima]] built [see {{MAA}}]), which means that there must have been at least four Kings of Old Ankh named Cirone.

* King [[Cirone III]]
* King [[Cirone IV]]
* King Lorenzo I (circa AM1635)
* King [[Lorenzo the Kind]]

==[[Seriph|Seriphdom]] of [[Klatch]]==

* [[Creosote]]

==Kingdom of Lancre==

* King [[Champot]]
* Queen [[Ynci]]
* King [[Murune]]
* Queen [[Grimnir|Grimnir the Impaler]]
* [[Ronald III]]
* King [[Thargum]]
* King Lully I
* [[Verence I]]
* Duke [[Leonal Felmet]]
* [[Verence II]]

==Duchy of [[Pseudopolis]]==

==Duchy of [[Quirm]]==

*[[Lord Rodley]]

==Duchy of [[Sto Helit]]==

* [[Mort]]
* [[Susan Sto Helit]] (not ruling)

==Kingdom of [[Sto Lat]]==

* Queen [[Keli]]

==Eorles and duchesses of [[NoThingfjord]]==

*[[Picric]]

==Dwarf Monarchy==
"King" is the term used to translate the [[dwarfs|dwarfish]] word whose actual meaning is closer to "Chief Mining Engineer."

* The [[Low King]] of [[Überwald]], currently [[Rhys Rhysson]]
* [[Ironfoundersson]] of [[Copperhead]]

{{stub}}

==Trolls==
All trolls acknowledge at least a nominal allegiance to their [[Diamond King]], although there is not necessarily a diamond troll (openly) in existence at all times.

*[[Mr. Shine]]

Ham-on-Rye

2012-05-06T10:56:31Z

Stanley Howler:

Ham-on-Rye is a town in the Shires, the border area between [[Quirm]] and [[Ankh-Morpork]]. It is famous for its therapeutic mineral baths, and for its [[St Onan's|theological college]], an establishment which despite its possibly unfortunate name has turned out a goodly number of priests, including the current Bishop of Quirm. The name must have taunted [[Sam Vimes]], a man craving a bacon sandwich.

==Annotation==
In the real world there is a ''Ham'' about 5 miles from ''Sandwich'', Kent, annoyingly in the Parish of Northbourne.
It may be a reference to Hay-on-Wye, a town famed for its literary festivals.

[[Category:Discworld geography]]

Sheepridge

2012-05-06T10:52:38Z

Stanley Howler:

'''Sheepridge''' is what passes for a major town on the widdershins end of [[Octarine Grass Country]], not far from [[The Chalk]] and the upper [[Ankh (river)|Ankh]]. 

In {{M}}, it's the town where [[Mort]] is hired by [[Death]] as an apprentice, surprisingly at an apprentice fair and at the stroke of midnight. The town has a tavern run by the [[Sal Lifton|Lifton family]] and a smithy owned by [[Ned Simnel]]. The most impressive feature of Sheepridge is the town clock where little figures emerge to strike the hour from their little house. There is also a small cemetery, though people in these parts are so long-lived that it was said that they had to hit someone over the head with a spade before they could bury anyone. Various shops for the farming classes can be found in the main square, and there is an ornamental clock tower.

During the events of {{RM}} the town had some excitement when a mysterious stranger called [[Bill Door]] rode into town to take the reaping job at [[Renata Flitworth|Miss Flitworth's farm]]...

[[Category: Discworld geography]]
{{stub}}

Aristocrates

2012-04-25T16:32:58Z

Stanley Howler:

Aristocrates was an [[Ephebe|Ephebian]] [[Philosophers|Philosopher]] specifically mentioned in {{SG}} by others who follow him, [[Ibid]], [[Didactylos]] and [[Xeno]] being the most notable. He wrote the ''[[Platitudes]]''.

His name is a clever combination of two the three great fathers of [[Roundworld]] philosophy, {{wp|Aristotle|Aristotle}} and {{wp|Socrates|Socrates}} (the only one missing is Plato), and it also works as a play on 'Aristocratic'. There did exist an '[[Wikipedia:Aristocrates of Athens|Aristocrates of Athens]]', although this may not be where Terry got the name from.

{{stub}}

[[Category:Discworld characters]]
[[de:Aristokrates]]

Talk:Pubs

2012-04-23T17:32:20Z

Stanley Howler:

Has anyone else noticed that pterry has a tendency to show cultural/spiritual/magical revolutions with the change of pubs? There is the Quene's Head/Duke's Head from Mort, to represent the space-time continununununum changes. There is the Goblin's Head/Commander's Arms from Snuff, to represent the changing opinions towards goblins. There is the Mended/Broken Drum, representing the Ankh-Morpork fire (although it might just be an attempt to dissociate itself from the pub in the Dark Side of the Sun). Then there is the Klatchian's Head from Jingo, which both Fred and Nobby decide to leave. --[[User:Stanley Howler|Stanley Howler]] 18:31, 23 April 2012 (CEST)

The Goode Childe's Booke of Faerie Tales

2012-04-22T15:10:12Z

Stanley Howler:

Author unknown, this book of highly suspect and factually inaccurate stories is on the shelf at the [[Tiffany Aching|Aching]] family farmhouse on [[The Chalk]].

However, the equally unknown illustrator is a hundred times more talented than the storyteller, as his/her pictures are ''right'' on the money, as regards accurate depictions of supernatural entities. For one thing, the normally elusive [[Pictsies|Nac Mac Feegle]] were somehow persuaded to send a representative member of the race to pose for the artist, right down to the rude gesture.

It is possible that this book was also owned by [[Letitia]] in [[I Shall Wear Midnight]] and Mistress Slightly of the Dame School, mentioned in [[Snuff]]. On page seven there is a picture of a 'Jolly [[Goblin]]', and there is also the Discworld equivalent of the [[Wikipedia:The Fairy Feller's Master-Stroke|The Fairy Feller's Master-Stoke]]

[[Category:Discworld culture|Goode Childe's Booke of Faerie Tales,The]]
[[Category:Discworld publications|Goode Childe's Booke of Faerie Tales,The]]