Return to Fantasy Cartography
Medium: Literature·Creator: Terry Pratchett (Drawn by Stephen Briggs)·The Discworld Series (The Colour of Magic, etc.) (1983)
The Discworld
"The flat 10,000-mile disc carried by four giant elephants standing atop Great A'Tuin the World Turtle"
Pratchett replaced Euclidean latitude and longitude with circular coordinates: Hubwards (toward the 10-mile spire of Cori Celesti), Rimwards (toward the edge where the oceans plunge into space), Turnwise (in the direction of rotation), and Widdershins (against rotation).
Spatial Grammar & Coordinate Logic
Orientation & Origin Axis:
Radial disc coordinates: Hubwards, Rimwards, Turnwise, Widdershins
Mountain Physics & Barriers:
Cori Celesti at the Hub generating intense background magical radiation (*thaums*)
Biome & Climate Transitions:
Perpetual ice at the Hub; temperate cities along the Circle Sea; tropical rim near the Circumfence
Travel Logistics & Pacing:
The Clacks (semaphore telegraph line), camel caravans, dragon flight, and Rimfall salvage nets
Worldbuilding Cartographic Thesis
"Parodies classical mythological world models while enforcing internal physical and magical thermodynamic consistency."
Signature Landmark Coordinates
Ankh-Morpork (Twin City)
Cori Celesti (Spire of the Gods)
The Rimfall
Klatch
Lancre
Interdisciplinary Worldbuilding Connections
NarratologiumPARODIES
Satirical Mythic Geography
SonologiumPOSTULATES
Light Velocity Slowdown in Strong Magic
Canonical Edition: Pratchett, T., & Briggs, S. (1995)