Lankhmar
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Lankhmar | |
---|---|
'Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser' location | |
Created by | Fritz Leiber |
Genre | Fantasy, sword and sorcery |
In-universe information | |
Other name(s) | Lankhmar |
Type | Monarchy |
Locations | Lankhmar (capital) |
Language(s) | Lankhmarese |
Lankhmar is a
Description
Lankhmar is richly described as a populous and labyrinthine city rife with corruption, "the City of the Black Toga." It is decadent or squalid in roughly equal parts and said to be so shrouded by smog that the stars are rarely sighted (the city's alternate name is "the City of Sevenscore Thousand Smokes"). Located next to the Inner Sea, Lankhmar is visited by ships from across Nehwon and is the starting point for Fafhrd and the Mouser's many sea voyages.
The city is ostensibly ruled by an overlord and his nobility. The Thieves' Guild is influential, too, and controls Lankhmar's abundant criminal element, with the notable exceptions of Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser.
Streets in Lankhmar are often evocatively named (the Thieves' Guild is located on Cheap Street near Death's Alley and Murder Alley). Commonly referenced locations are the Silver Eel Tavern, behind which is Bone Alley, and the Golden Lamprey Inn. The main meeting place is the Plaza of Dark Delights, which is the setting for the story "The Bazaar of the Bizarre". The religious center of Lankhmar is the Street of the Gods (the Gods in Lankhmar), along which numerous (and often bizarre) cults seek to arrange themselves in order of popularity. The true gods of Lankhmar, however, are feared rather than worshipped. These "Black Bones" (mummified ancestors of the Lankhmarese) occasionally leave their temple and battle threats to the city—or threats to their own position as the preeminent religion within Lankhmar.
Beneath Lankhmar is an underground city inhabited by sentient rats. At one point, the Mouser, magically reduced in size, infiltrates this hidden world.
Leiber's Lankhmar bears considerable similarity to 16th Century
In its earliest incarnations, Lankhmar was sometimes called "Lankmar" or "Lahkmar". The change in the final published spelling may have been due to Leiber misreading some of the early maps created by Harry Fischer and his wife Martha.[1]
In games
Board games
In 1937, Leiber and his college friend Harry Fischer created a
Role-playing games
Advanced Dungeons and Dragons
The first edition AD&D game book
Lankhmar – City of Adventure (1985) was a supplement produced by TSR for their Advanced Dungeons & Dragons (AD&D) role-playing game containing maps, descriptions of the city areas, game statistics for various prominent characters from the stories, and ideas for adventures in and around the city. It was updated in 1993 under the same name for use with 2nd edition AD&D. Several modules and accessories were produced for use with City of Adventure.
The New Adventures of Fafhrd and Gray Mouser (1996) was a boxed set that replaced Lankhmar, City of Adventure and could be used as an AD&D supplement or a standalone RPG with simplified AD&D rules.
For many years, the role-playing magazine Dragon ran a column introducing magical treasures, under the name "Bazaar of the Bizarre", in honour of the magical emporium in Lankhmar (and Leiber's story of the same name). When the column's name was changed, there was sufficient outcry from readers for the name to be reinstated.
Other games
In 2006,
In 2015, Pinnacle Entertainment Group released Lankhmar: City of Thieves along with a collection of supplements and accessories including a player's guide, maps, adventures, character archetypes, and a gamemaster's screen.[3]
Goodman Games released its DCC Lankhmar boxed set in 2019 as a supplement to the Dungeon Crawl Classics roleplaying game. This set introduces modifications of the base DCC rules for a style of play more consistent with Leiber's writing, as well a city guide, and an introductory adventure.
Influence
The fictional city of Ankh-Morpork from Terry Pratchett's Discworld draws influence from Lankhmar, among several other real and fictitious cities. Two key characters in Pratchett's first Discworld novel, The Colour of Magic, are Bravd and the Weasel, a reference to Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser, and the name Ankh-Morpork is itself a partial anagram of Lankhmar.[4][5]
References
- ^ MacKnight, Frederick (October 1979). "The Formative Years of 'Fafhrd' and 'The Mouser'". The Dragon (30). TSR Periodicals: 17.
- ^ "Danger in Every Dark Alley: 40 Years of Adventuring in Lankhmar, Fritz Leiber's Great Fantasy Metropolis – Black Gate". 10 April 2018.
- ^ "Lankhmar: Savage Tales of the Thieves' Guild Now Available for Ordering! | Pinnacle Entertainment Group". www.peginc.com. 12 May 2015. Retrieved 2015-11-12.
- ISBN 9781935618386.
- ISBN 9780275974091.
Further reading
- Lovett-Graff, Bennett (1996). "Parodying the Theater of Religion in the Fantasy of Fritz Leiber". Studies in American Humor. 3 (3): 66–81. JSTOR 42573334.
- Bryce, S. C. (2008). "Power Plays: Explorations of Social Power in Fritz Leiber's Fafhrd and the Grey Mouser Adventures". In Szumskyj, Benjamin (ed.). Fritz Leiber: Critical Essays. McFarland. pp. 149–168. ISBN 9780786429721.
External links
- Fan website on Lankhmar
- Listing for the Lankhmar Board Game
- TSR Archive Archived 2011-07-07 at the Wayback Machine Lankhmar product list