Talk:Bas-Lag

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[edit] Known Races Split

I think it is a good idea to split the Known Races section into its own article, since their definitely is enough information to create one and it will take way from the appearance of the article just being a giant list Deyyaz 16:46, 14 January 2006 (UTC)

I agree. There is enough information about culture, language, religion, etc. for each race that it could easily have it's own article. Moongoblin 21:46, 18 January 2006 (UTC)

I did the split. The new article needs alphabetisation. Also, I can't for the life of me remember the difference between the cray, wyrmen, grindylows etc. I may have the wrong one in the major races section. - Tredanse 02:20, 19 January 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Which coast is New Crobuzon ?

Reading through the artical for Bas Lag, I noted that there was a problem locating where New Crobuzon was located on the Rohagni continent.

Stated in the geography section, it mentions that New Crobuzon (NC) lays about 10 miles inland from it's eastern coast.

In the Politics and society section, it states NC to have the rivers Tar, Canker and Gross Tar, 10 miles EAST of the swollen ocean, which places it on the west coast.

As all other locations and cities/towns are mentioned to be south west of NC, (see Iron Council), the dominating suggestion is that NC is on the east coast of Rohagni.

--217.37.204.61 11:57, 27 October 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Flat?

I just finished reading The Scar, and don't recall any suggestion that the world is flat. If it were, the utility of crow's nests on ships would be lhttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Talk:Bas-Lag&action=edit&section=3argely diminished, as the extra height is useful to extend the view distance around the surface of a sphere (eg, to spot land and ships that would be hidden by the horizon for a lower observer), but not on a flat plane. Would someone care to cite a supporting bit? (There's no worries about posting spoilers in discussion threads, right?) 18:29, 24 April 2007 (UTC) Echonull

I also got no hint of that from the book and "strongly hints" sounds like weasel words to me. It needs sourcing as do other statements (even if from primary sources). It also needs cleaning up (too much bold in geography and languages) and "Science, technology and magic" is rather speculative. (Emperor 18:43, 24 April 2007 (UTC))
I'd just assumed the preponderance of bolding was some kind of wiki style standard. *shrug* Will remove the "flat" mention in a day if nothing shiny turns up. If others dispute they can do no worse than I. 19:03, 24 April 2007 (UTC) Echonull
Seems fair. You can always move it in here so nothing is lost if it turns out to be true (it wouldn't be the first time I've missed something obvious but two of us...). Also bold should be used sparingly and there are only a few places where it should be used: see here. (Emperor 19:21, 24 April 2007 (UTC))
Yoinked out: "Miéville's second New Crobuzon novel, The Scar, strongly hints that Bas-Lag, unlike other worlds in the same universe, is flat. [citation needed]" from the article. I assume this stems from the early description of the Scar itself, but that culminates in a mention of the far edge, too, so it doesn't form the edge of the world.
.... Also, what's this "unlike other worlds in the same universe" dealy? Does Iron Council include interstellar travel all of a sudden? 19:26, 26 April 2007 (UTC) (Echonull)
FWIW, coming to this a few weeks later I was surprised that the article didn't mention the flat thing, because it seemed very obvious to me from the end of The Scar that the Ghosthead had flattened Bas-Lag from a previously spherical shape on their arrival. It also seems to fit more thematically with Mieville's general subversion of fantasy tropes as an inversion of Tolkien's thing where Middle-Earth was flat until it was turned into a sphere (AIUI). I'll try and dig out the book and see if I can find something verifiable to put it back in the article (and/or revise my own opinions!). 86.128.139.22 21:54, 13 May 2007 (UTC) (User:Bth when he's not bothering to sign in)

[edit] Significant characters

The list of characters is currently a little pointless. Maybe the list could be broken up in several ways? Into lists of characters from each book, or possibly into lists of different factions/groupings, such as "Citizens of Armada", "Iron Council", "New Crobuzoners", etc... or even divided by race? (this last one could be done on the races of Bas-Lag page, under each heading. For example, the Khepri section could say, "notable Khepri include..") Tredanse 03:18, 30 September 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Nova Esperium not a penal colony

There's nothing in the books to suggest that Nova Esperium is a penal colony - they pay people to travel and settle there, as Coldwine states in The Scar. Certainly Remade are sent along with them to aid the settlement, but NE is never described as a penal colony in any text. Thus I removed the word "penal". 75.183.86.60 (talk)

[edit] Tesh = Witchocracy

I had never heard of the idea that Tesh was something separate from The Witchocracy; to me it had always been obvious from reading that The Witchocracy was to Tesh what Parliament was to New Crobuzon. I had to search a bit to find supporting evidence, since these places are always referred to almost always in passing, but I found this from a mayoral speech which makes it fairly clear:

This was not Tesh, nor Troglodopolis, Vadaunk or High Cromlech. This was not a city ruled by witches; this was not a cthonic burrow; the seasons’ changes did not bring an onslaught of superstitious repression; New Crobuzon did not process its citizenry through zombie factories;

Quite obviously Troglodopolis is an underground city (cthonic burrow) and High Cromlech is the undead city which would put its citizens through "zombie factories". The parallel structure makes it rather obvious that Tesh is the "city ruled by witches" - the Witchocracy. It's also simpler than the idea that somehow there were two powers in control of the Firewater Straits.75.183.86.60 (talk)