New Crobuzon Series

[Map Rousch]

BasLag is a fictional universe in which several of China Miville's novels are set. Bas-Lag is a world where both magic (referred to as thaumaturgy) and steampunk technology exist, and where many intelligent races live. This world and the novels set in it are, in generic terms, informed by the Horror, Fantasy and Science Fiction traditions. As with all China Miville's works, there is also a strong presence of social and political opinion.

The exact geography of Rohagi is unknown. New Crobuzon lies about 10 miles (16 km) inland from its eastern coast, which borders the Swollen Ocean. South of New Crobuzon is the Rudewood, beyond which are the Mendican Hills. North of New Crobuzon, along the coast but separated from it by the Bezhek Mountains, are the ruins of Suroch. To the west, about a thousand miles from New Crobuzon and beyond the Dancing Shoe Mountains, lies a four-hundred mile wide freshwater lake called Cold Claw Loch. The Loch connects with the inland Cold Claw Sea, eight hundred miles to the north, via a natural channel called Cold Claw Sound. The Cold Claw Sea is talon-shaped, stretching eastward a great distance, almost connecting with the Swollen Ocean before curving southward for about two hundred miles, ending about seven hundred miles north of New Crobuzon. This southward curve is the Gengris, populated by the dangerous grindylow.

According to a character in Iron Council, both Cobsea and Myrshock lie about 750 miles (1,210 km) southwest of New Crobuzon. Cobsea lies inland and borders the Cacotopic Stain, a large wasteland created by the unreliable magical energy known as Torque. Myrshock lies on the northern coast of the Meagre Sea. A wealthy industrialist attempted to build a transcontinental railway that would link New Crobuzon with Cobsea and Myrshock, as the two states are trading partners, but was unsuccessful. However, the end of Iron Council indicates a second attempt at the project, using information gathered by the industrialist's agents throughout the course of the book.

South of the Meagre Sea is the Cymek Desert, which is home to the nomadic garudas. The Cymek also contains the northern port city of Shankell, which is known for its brutal gladiatorial combat, and the southern city of Dreer Samheer, both of which are predominantly populated by the cactacae.

West of the Cymek Desert lies the Galaggi Veldt, which is home to Tesh and is neighboured by the Witchocracy, which it goes to war against New Crobuzon with in Iron Council. Tesh controls the Fire Water Straits, which lead to an unidentified inland body of water that borders the Swollen Ocean. The control of the Fire Water Straits results in a war between New Crobuzon and Tesh. Crobuzine victory in this conflict is implied following the failure of the Teshi thaumaturgical attack upon the city. The Firewater Straits are renamed the Sanguine Straits during the course of the war, due to the ferocity and cost of the naval battles to control them.

Bered Kai Nev is a continent to the east of Rohagi. The khepri are believed to be native to this continent, but were driven out by an event known as The Ravening, and now live as refugees in various cities in Rohagi, although primitive khepri are rumored to still inhabit Bered Kai Nev.

Gnurr Kett is an island that lies 2,000 miles (3,200 km) south of New Crobuzon and 500 miles (800 km) east of the Cymek Desert. The island is known for its scholarly capital city, Kohnid. Some of its knowledge is derived from a colony of anophelii that they maintain. This colony is the only known remnants of the Malarial Queendom, a brutal regime that was active in the areas of Bas-Lag with a warm climate.

Nova Esperium is one of New Crobuzon's colonies. Very few people choose to go to Nova Esperium of their own volition because of the long journey to the colony and rampant disease, but New Crobuzon's government pays for the passage of any volunteers. The exact location of Nova Esperium is not given, although it lies a great distance across the Swollen Sea, southeast of New Crobuzon.

The pirate city of Armada is a mobile city-state consisting of numerous ships lashed together to form a large, connected settlement. It is divided into small districts which are ruled by unique rulers, such as a High Cromlech vampir. Armada moves around the Swollen Ocean by means of a small fleet of tug ships, and is the central setting of The Scar. Armada's origins are unknown, but it has existed in one form or another for at least a thousand years. At the opening of The Scar, its population is said to number in the hundreds of thousands. The city itself is only about a mile wide, though one character claims that "there are probably as many miles of streets here as in New Crobuzon" owing to all its "layers and layers of decks."

The city's population is made up of humans, cactacae, khepri, ab-dead, remade, scabmettlers, and other races. People considered criminals (or of lower classes) in their former home states are recast as equals upon joining Armada, and often go on to hold positions of power.

Armada gains its wealth through piracy. Piracy also leads to acquisition of knowledge in many languages (books are stolen for the Grand Gears Library), and the growth of Armada's population, since any ship intercepted by Armada's forces is assimilated into the city and its crew and passengers press-ganged into citizenship for life. The language of Armada is Salt, a constructed language deliberately made easy to learn and consisting of vocabulary from the languages of the many races that inhabit the city.

During The Scar, the rulers of Garwater riding, the Lovers, carry out a plan to raise the legendary avanc to give Armada ultimate power over the seas. This was tried once before in Armada's history, as evidenced by five enormous chains attached to the undersides of the city's largest ships. Along with a team of scientists and engineers, and against the wishes of several of the other ridings, Garwater is able to summon the avanc using great physical and magical energy. This gives Armada the means to travel to the mythical "Scar".

Over three thousand years before the events of The Scar, powerful entities from another plane of existence ruled all of Bas-Lag for a period of 500 years. The Ghosthead, as these entities were known, originated from a different plane of existence somewhere on the eastern rim of the universe. Seeking a milder place to live than their homeworld, which had a cycle of days and nights that created oceans of molten iron and froze the atmosphere, the Ghosthead built a "metal fish" and used it to find Bas-Lag. Their arrival created The Scar, a massive physical and dimensional rift on Bas-Lag's surface. The Ghosthead harnessed the energy from The Scar by a process called "possibility mining", and used this power to gain control over all of Bas-Lag. The Ghosthead Empire was ultimately destroyed by a rebellion called the Contumancy, followed by a period known as the Sloughing-Off. The Empire's history survives in documents such as the Imperial Canon, and in lost technologies and structures, like Possible Swords and Possible Towers, scattered in hidden places across Bas-Lag.

The Malarial Queendom was a short-lived empire built by the anophelii, with territory in Rohagi, Shoteka, and the Shards. Two thousand years before the events of The Scar, the Queendom collapsed and the anophelii were nearly eradicated. The remaining anophelii were driven to a small island south of Gnurr Kett, where they are kept in isolation as captive scholars for the Gnurr Kett nobility.

The First Umbric Age, in which the Bas-Lag novels are set, is a period of feuding between the states on Rohagi after the Ghosthead Empire falls. The calendar used by New Crobuzon marks its years from the start of the First Umbric Age.

The Full Years are New Crobuzon's golden age, when the city achieves its greatest advances in science, technology, and thaumaturgy. Decline sets in during the late 15th century and some of this knowledge is lost. To prove that the golden age is not at an end, New Crobuzon constructs a massive ship, the largest in the world at that time, intended to be the pinnacle of New Crobuzon industry. However, the Grand Easterly is a boondoggle that suffers from several design flaws. It is briefly converted into an ineffectual warship during the Pirate Wars, and unbeknownst to New Crobuzon, the ship is captured by Armada.

Also known as the "Slow War" and the "False War", the Pirate Wars is a protracted conflict between the City-State Republic of New Crobuzon and the cities of Suroch and Jheshull. The Wars end in the year 1544 when the New Crobuzon militia drop Torque bombs on Suroch, with horrific results. In 1545, New Crobuzon attempts to cover this up by dropping colourbombs on Suroch's ruins, but two colourbombs misfire; the third detonates as planned, obliterating a few square miles of what is left of Suroch. When heliographs of the destruction are taken by a militia research team and leaked to the New Crobuzon public a century later, widespread riots almost bring down the government in 1689. Research into Torque is permanently stalled when financiers back out, cowed by the public.

Around the year 1679 (a century before the events of Perdido Street Station), khepri civilization in Bered Kai Nev is wiped out by a disaster described as "The Ravening". Khepri refugee ships arrive at New Crobuzon for the next 25 years, which is known as the "Tragic Crossing." The Ravening is such a traumatizing event that nearly all khepri survivors have forgotten or refused to speak about ten thousand years of khepri history; as a consequence, most khepri culture is lost forever.

Ragamoll is the common tongue of New Crobuzon. It seems to be widely spoken throughout eastern Bas-Lag by members of all races. Likewise, Salt is the language of the Swollen Ocean, spoken by pirates, sailors and other maritime peoples. In The Scar, Salt is described as a patchwork language which borrows aspects from various other tongues, principally Ragamoll.

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