Portal:Discworld/Article of the day/4

Article of the day

Lancre (pronounced Lanker) is a fictional country from the Discworld series. It is situated in the Ramtop mountains, about 500 miles Hubwards of the city of Ankh-Morpork. It is the best-known of hundreds of tiny countries in the Ramtops, occupying a vertiginous shelf looking over the Sto Plains.

Lancre is based mainly on the North of England (as in Lanc(ashi)re, with strong resemblance to rthe windswept, hilly, northern regions (the only piece of flat, level ground in Lancre is in a museum). However, it is reminiscent of many rural areas in Britain and elsewhere. It also contains elements of the Swiss Alps and the Appalachian Mountains. Pratchett has described the tiny country as "solid folklore"; it is the place all the legends of our world's countryside really happened. Ankh-Morpork serves a similar function for urban folklore, but not as blatantly.

Part of the reason for this is that the Ramtops are a major earthing point for the Discworld's magical field. Headless horsemen and walking trees are part of the landscape, as are witches. Lancre is famous for witches, especially since the publication of The Joye of Snackes (an erotic cookbook) by "A Lancre Witch" (Nanny Ogg). Lancre is also the gateway into the "parasite universe" of the elves. The other thing Lancre is famous for is young people going off and seeking their fortunes (usually in Ankh-Morpork).