Ankh-Morpork

The biggest city on Discworld, Ankh-Morpork is divided in two by the shallow and ominous River Ankh, around which much of the novel's action takes place. Ankh-Morpork is sometimes nicknamed "The Big Wahoonie" where "wahoonie" is a particularly "evil-smelling vegetable." Some 50,000 dwarfs have migrated to Ankh-Morpork and the city is dependent on the coal and lamp oil that are shipped downriver from dwarf mines every day. Racial tensions are fairly high. The city is ruled by the Patrician. Few of its citizens are literate, making it unlikely to support even one newspaper, yet two sprout up. Protagonist William de Worde for a fee writes down things for those who need it. Immigrant dwarfs need to write home optimistic letters. This service and his newsletter for select rich patrons grow into the Ankh-Morpork Times, which is soon followed by the Ankh-Morpork Inquirer.

Ankh-Morpork is eternally smoggy during the...