"New Crobuzon was a huge plaque pit, a moribific city. Parasites, infection and rumor were uncontainable. A monthly chymical dip was a necessary prophylactic for the Khepri, if they wanted to avoid itches and sores." (Commissions, p. 9)

"This [New Crobuzon] was a community used to xenians. She [Lin] could taste the cosmopolitan nature of this neighborhood, the minute secretions of a variety of races, only some of which she recognized. There was the musk of more Khepri, the dank odor of Vodyanoi, even, from somewhere, the delicious taste of Cactacae." (Commissions, p. 17)

"New Crobuzon was a city unconvinced by gravity. Aerostats oozed from cloud to cloud above it like slugs on cabbages. Militia-pods streaked through the heart of the city to its outlands, the cables that held them twanging and vibrating like guitar strings hundreds of feet in the air. Wyrmen clawed their way above the city leaving...