Terry Pratchett's Discworld(Theory of Settlements)

Terry Pratchett's Discworld (Theory of Settlements)

Deep in space swims the Great A'tuin the heavenly turtle. He swims. Where, no one knows. On his back stand the four great elephants of the directions. They have been standing since the dawn of time (but they shift weight once in a while). On their backs lies Discworld. From the Cori Celesti at the centre, to the Hubward Mountains, the Ramtops, the circle sea and the rim ocean, all of Discworld rotates turnwise.

The Gods of Discworld live on the Cori Celesti, where they play games with the lives of the inhabitants of Discworld. The have a board of Discworld on which - if you look hard enough - at the Cori Celesti there is a smaller model of the Discworld on which there is a further smaller model and on and on and on and on till you brain explodes with the thought of it all.

Many great cities exist on Discworld. The most obscure of them all is Hunghung, the capital of the counterweight continent. The entire continent is surrounded by a great wall to protect its people from the vicious blood sucking ghosts the people there believe exist beyond those walls. The streets of Hunghung are crowded. So crowded in fact that on Sundays there is just about enough space to walk. The counterweight continent is ruled an emperor chosen from one of the five families who constantly murder one another to become the next emperor.

Another great city is Al-Khali capital of Klatch. The City is ruled by the great Seriph, a poet by compulsion and not a very good one at that. Klatch is home to several hundreds of tribes, chief among them the D'regs, who may not harm a visitor for at least 72 hours.

The greatest city in Discworld is Ankh-Morpork. The city of a million dreams ; all of them swindled. The city spanning the only river you can walk on (the Ankh has no water – if it has any liquid it is not advisable to come in contact with it). The city which has long since abandoned an army because their motto is - “if you fight us, well call in your mortgages”. Economy is so central to Ankh-Morpork that every profession has a guild. The Thieves Guild (whom you can pay an advance to prevent random thieving), The Assassin's Guild, The Beggar's Guild and even The 'Seamstresses' Guild. Unlicensed begging, thieving assassination and other activities can result in swift punishment.

Ankh-Morpork is also the home of The Unseen University, the premier university for wizards on Discworld. The UU has more students than it can handle, more faculty than it needs and more twists and turns than anyone can remember. The greatest spectacle of the UU is the library. Manned by the librarian ; an orangutan as for as much his life as anyone can remember, it bends the laws of space and time. The library contains all the books that have been written, that are being written and will ever be written in any universe at any time.

This is but a peek into Discworld, a world so complicated and confused, it makes our world look as simple as a pin-head (in our universe it is quite simple, but in other universe it can be quite complicated you know). Enter Discworld at your own peril.