Lankhmar

Last updated
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
LocationsLankhmar (capital)
Language(s)Lankhmarese

Lankhmar is a fictional city in the Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser stories by Fritz Leiber. It is situated on the world of Nehwon, just west of the Great Salt Marsh and east of the River Hlal, and serves as the home of Leiber's two antiheroes.

Contents

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 Seville as depicted in Miguel de Cervantes' classical picaresque tale "Rinconete y Cortadillo"[ citation needed ]: a bustling, cosmopolitan maritime city, into whose port galleons sail laden with gold from which only a few benefit, with a thoroughly corrupt civil government and a powerful and well-organized Thieves' Guild—all seen through the eyes of two young adventurers who formed a partnership to guard each other's back in this dangerous milieu. However, Cervantes' protagonists, less daring than Leiber's, do not confront the Thieves' Guild but instead enter its ranks.

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 wargame set within the world of Nehwon, which Fischer had helped to create. This game initially used the "Lahkmar" spelling, and was played on a large (five by two and a half feet) three-dimensional board. Later, they created a board game called Lankhmar which was released by TSR in 1976. [2]

Role-playing games

Advanced Dungeons and Dragons

The first edition AD&D game book Deities & Demigods (1980, renamed Legends & Lore in 1985) and the second edition AD&D book Legends & Lore both include a section on the Nehwon mythos, and stats out several characters from the books as well as gods and monsters.

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, Mongoose Publishing began publishing a number of Lankhmar-themed roleplaying books based on its revival of the RuneQuest roleplaying game system, starting with Lankhmar ( ISBN   978-1-905471-69-0) and Lankhmar: Nehwon ( ISBN   978-1-905471-99-7).

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]

Related Research Articles

<i>Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser</i> Characters by Fritz Leiber

Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser are two sword-and-sorcery heroes appearing in stories written by American author Fritz Leiber. They are the protagonists of what are probably Leiber's best-known stories. One of his motives in writing them was to have a couple of fantasy heroes closer to true human nature than the likes of Howard's Conan the Barbarian or Burroughs's Tarzan.

<i>The Colour of Magic</i> 1983 Discworld novel by Terry Pratchett

The Colour of Magic is a 1983 fantasy comedy novel by Terry Pratchett, and is the first book of the Discworld series. The first printing of the British edition consisted of only 506 copies. Pratchett has described it as "an attempt to do for the classical fantasy universe what Blazing Saddles did for Westerns."

<i>The Adventures of Alyx</i>

The Adventures of Alyx is a 1976 collection of feminist science fiction stories by American writer Joanna Russ, initially entitled Alyx by Gregg Press in hardback without a dustjacket. It was published in 1983 with the title The Adventures of Alyx by Timescape Books.

In popular fiction, a thieves' guild is a formal association of criminals who participate in theft-related organized crime. The trope has been explored in literature, cinema, comic books, and gaming, such as in the Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser story "Thieves' House" by Fritz Leiber and the role-playing game Dungeons & Dragons. Though these more modern works are fictitious, the concept is inspired by real-world examples from history, such as Jonathan Wild and his gang of thieves.

"Ill Met in Lankhmar" is a sword and sorcery novella by American writer Fritz Leiber, recounting the meeting and teaming-up of his adventurous duo, Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The Snow Women</span>

"The Snow Women" is a sword and sorcery novella by American writer Fritz Leiber, recounting the early history of Fafhrd, a future member of the adventurous duo Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser. It was nominated for the Hugo and Nebula Awards in 1971, and finished second in the annual Locus poll for short fiction.

<i>Two Sought Adventure</i> Book by Fritz Leiber

Two Sought Adventure is a 1957 collection of fantasy short stories by American writer Fritz Leiber. It was first published by Gnome Press in 1957 in an edition of 4,000 copies. The collections contains all of Leiber's Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser stories that had been written at the time, with the exception of "Adept's Gambit". The collection was expanded and published by Ace Books in 1970 under the title Swords Against Death. The stories originally appeared in the magazines Unknown, Other Worlds and Suspense Magazine.

<i>Swords and Deviltry</i> Short story collection by Fritz Leiber

Swords and Deviltry is a fantasy short story collection, first published 1970, by Fritz Leiber, featuring his sword and sorcery heroes Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser. It is chronologically the first volume of the complete seven volume edition of the collected stories devoted to the characters. The book was first published in paperback form during 1970 by Ace Books company, which reprinted the title numerous times through November 1985; later paperback editions were issued by ibooks (2003) and Dark Horse (2006). It has been published in the United Kingdom by New English Library (1971), Mayflower Books (1979) and Grafton. The first hardcover edition was issued by Gregg Press during December 1977. The book has also been gathered together with others in the series into various omnibus editions; The Three of Swords (1989), Ill Met in Lankhmar (1995), The First Book of Lankhmar (2001), and Lankhmar (2008).

Harry Otto Fischer (1910–1986) was an American science fiction writer and fan best known for helping his college friend Fritz Leiber create the sword and sorcery heroes Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser and their imaginary world of Nehwon.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ankh-Morpork</span> Fictional city from the Discworld series

Ankh-Morpork is a fictional city-state the setting for many Discworld novels by Terry Pratchett.

<i>Swords Against Death</i> Short story collection by Fritz Leiber

Swords Against Death is a fantasy short story collection by American writer Fritz Leiber, first published in 1970 and featuring his sword and sorcery heroes Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser. It is chronologically the second volume of the complete seven volume edition of the collected stories devoted to the characters. It is an expansion of Leiber's earlier collection Two Sought Adventure, issued by Gnome Press during 1957. The earlier collection contained seven of the ten stories of Swords Against Death, plus an "Induction" omitted from the expanded edition, which was instead republished in its companion volume, Swords and Deviltry (1970). Swords Against Death was first published in paperback during 1970 by Ace Books, which reprinted the title numerous times through August 1990; later paperback editions were issued by ibooks (2003) and Dark Horse (2007). It has been published in the United Kingdom by New English Library (1972), Mayflower Books (1979) and Grafton (1986). The first hardcover edition was issued by Gregg Press during December 1977. The book has also been gathered together with others of the series into various omnibus editions; The Three of Swords (1989), Ill Met in Lankhmar (1995), The First Book of Lankhmar (2001), and Lankhmar (2008).

<i>Swords in the Mist</i> Book by Fritz Leiber

Swords in the Mist is a fantasy short story collection, first published in 1968, by American writer Fritz Leiber, featuring his sword and sorcery heroes Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser. It is chronologically the third volume of the complete seven volume edition of the collected stories devoted to the characters. It was first published in paperback format during 1968 by Ace Books company, which reprinted the title numerous times through September 1990; later paperback editions were issued by ibooks (2003) and Dark Horse (2007). It has been published in the United Kingdom by Mayflower Books (1979) and Grafton. The first hardcover edition was issued by Gregg Press during December 1977. The book has also been gathered together with others in the series into various omnibus editions; The Three of Swords (1989), Lean Times in Lankhmar (1996), The First Book of Lankhmar (2001), and Lankhmar (2008).

<i>Swords Against Wizardry</i> Short story collection by Fritz Leiber

Swords Against Wizardry is a fantasy short story collection, first published 1968, by Fritz Leiber and Harry Fischer, featuring their sword and sorcery heroes Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser. Fischer's contribution was limited to ten thousand words of The Lords of Quarmall. The book is chronologically the fourth volume of the complete seven-volume edition of the collected stories devoted to the characters. It was first published in paperback format during 1968 by Ace Books company, which reprinted the title numerous times up to October 1990; later paperback editions were issued by ibooks (2003) and Dark Horse (2007). It has been published in the United Kingdom by Grafton (1986). The first hardcover edition was issued by Gregg Press during December 1977.

<i>The Swords of Lankhmar</i> Novel by Fritz Leiber

The Swords of Lankhmar is a fantasy novel, first published 1968, by Fritz Leiber, featuring his sword and sorcery heroes Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser. It is chronologically the fifth volume of the complete seven volume edition of the collected stories devoted to the characters. The book is an expansion of Leiber's earlier novella "Scylla's Daughter", which was published originally in the magazine Fantastic Stories of Imagination for May 1961. The full novel first published in paperback format during 1968 by Ace Books company, which reprinted the title numerous times through 1986; a later paperback edition was issued by Dark Horse (2008). It has been published in the United Kingdom by Mayflower Books (1970) and Grafton. The first hardcover edition was issued by Rupert Hart-Davis during June 1969; a later hardcover edition was issued by Gregg Press during December 1977. The book has also been gathered together with others in the series into various omnibus editions; Swords' Masters (1990), Return to Lankhmar (1997), and The Second Book of Lankhmar (2001).

<i>Swords and Ice Magic</i> Short story collection by Fritz Leiber

Swords and Ice Magic is a fantasy short story collection, first published in 1977, by American writer Fritz Leiber, featuring his sword and sorcery heroes Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser. It is chronologically the sixth volume of the complete seven volume edition of the collected stories devoted to the characters. It was first published in paperback format during July 1977 by Ace Books company, which reprinted the title numerous times through 1990; a later paperback edition was issued by Dark Horse (2007). It has been published in the United Kingdom by Mayflower Books and Grafton. The first hardcover edition was issued by Gregg Press during December 1977. The book has also been gathered together with others in the series into various omnibus editions; Swords' Masters (1990), Return to Lankhmar (1997), and The Second Book of Lankhmar (2001).

<i>Swords Against the Shadowland</i> Book by Robin Wayne Bailey

Swords Against the Shadowland is a fantasy novel by American writer Robin Wayne Bailey, featuring Fritz Leiber's sword and sorcery heroes Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser. It was first published as a trade paperback in August 1998 by White Wolf. A later trade paperback edition was issued by Dark Horse in April 2009. It was projected to be the first in a series of authorized continuations of the Fafhrd and Gray Mouser saga by Bailey. The second was reported to be "currently in progress" in 2008, but has yet to appear.

<i>Lankhmar – City of Adventure</i> Tabletop role-playing game accessory by Douglas Niles

Lankhmar – City of Adventure is an accessory for the Dungeons & Dragons fantasy role-playing game, first published by TSR in 1985.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fritz Leiber bibliography</span>

This is a bibliography of works by Fritz Leiber.

<i>Fritz Leibers Lankhmar: The New Adventures of Fafhrd and Gray Mouser</i> Dungeons & Dragons accessory

Fritz Leiber's Lankhmar: The New Adventures of Fafhrd and Gray Mouser is an accessory for the 2nd edition of the Advanced Dungeons & Dragons fantasy role-playing game, published in 1996.

<i>Lankhmar</i> (board game) Board game

Lankhmar is a fantasy board wargame published by TSR in 1976 that is based on both the Swords and Sorcery short stories of Fritz Leiber set in the fictional city of Lankhmar, and on a board game designed by Lieber and Harry Otto Fischer while they were in college.

References

  1. MacKnight, Frederick (October 1979). "The Formative Years of 'Fafhrd' and 'The Mouser'". The Dragon (30). TSR Periodicals: 17.
  2. "Danger in Every Dark Alley: 40 Years of Adventuring in Lankhmar, Fritz Leiber's Great Fantasy Metropolis – Black Gate". 10 April 2018.
  3. "Lankhmar: Savage Tales of the Thieves' Guild Now Available for Ordering! | Pinnacle Entertainment Group". www.peginc.com. 12 May 2015. Retrieved 2015-11-12.
  4. Watt-Evans, Lawrence (2008). The Turtle Moves!: Discworld's Story Unauthorised. BenBella Books. p. 34. ISBN   9781935618386.
  5. Buchbinder, David (2003). "The Orangutan in the Library: The Comfort of Strangeness in Terry Pratchett's Discworld Novels". In Mallyn, Kerry; Pearce, Sharyn (eds.). Youth Cultures: Texts, Images, Identities. Greenwood Publishing Group. p. 175. ISBN   9780275974091.

Further reading