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Bas-Lag is the world in which Perdido Street Station, The Scar, Iron Council, and the short story "Jack" in Looking For Jake are set.

Overview[]

Bas-Lag consists of several continents and large oceans that extend thousands of miles to the south, east, and west of the Rohagi continent. Much of the world is uncharted, and it may actually be infinite in size. Native predatory wildlife is generally extremely dangerous, and the danger is only compounded by a variety of natural and unnatural hazards.

Bas-Lag is located on one plane of existence, out of several. Other planes include the plane of Hell, a brine-dimension inhabited by gargantuan sea-life, such as the Avanc, a plane inhabited by large, extradimensional spiders with overdeveloped senses of aesthetics called Weavers, and the multiple planes inhabited by certain kinds of wildlife, such as Slake Moths.

Geography[]

The geography of Bas Lag is unclear, owing in large part to the numerous hazards on both land and water. Passages from Ghosthead literature, such as The Verses of the Day and the Imperial Canon, as well as comments made by Uther Doul, indicate that Bas Lag may be an "infinite plateau", in contrast to the spherical planets and stars that populate its night sky.

Continents[]

While Bas-Lag may well extend indefinitely in all directions, currently only four continents are known for certain to exist:

  • Bered Kai Nev - A continent to the far east of Rohagi. It is the ancestral homeland of the Khepri, although it was ravaged by a plague known as The Ravening several hundred years before the events of Perdido Street Station.
  • Rohagi - The main continent seen in the Bas-Lag Cycle. It is dominated by a large inland sea known as the Cold Claw Sea, as well as smaller bodies of water called the Cold Claw Sound and Cold Claw Loch, respectively. The south of Rohagi is dominated by the Galaggi Veldt, mountain ranges, and the treacherous Cacotopic Stain. The southernmost tip is composed of a peninsula known as the Cymek Desert. The north of the continent is cold, and home to both tundra and mountains. Rohagi's most powerful city-states are New Crobuzon, followed by Tesh, the Gengris, and High Cromlech.
  • Shoteka - A continent with a warm climate, located to the south of Rohagi. The only known city-state on this continent is the Witchocracy.
  • Fractured Land - A distant, almost-mythical continent located thousands of miles away from Rohagi, on the other side of the Scar. It was severely impacted by the Ghosthead Empire's arrival and the release of Possibility from their landing site. It is home to a wide, poorly catalogued variety of improbable and incredibly hostile wildlife.

Oceans and seas[]

  • Boxash Ocean - An undescribed ocean.
  • Clock Sea - An undescribed body of water.
  • Gentleman's Sea - An undescribed sea.
  • Gironella's Dead Sea - A body of water that has inexplicably ossified.
  • Hidden Ocean - The body of water adjacent to the Empty Ocean, located several thousand miles from the Rohagi continent. The surface of the ocean is largely barren, although numerous strange lifeforms survive deep underwater.
  • Rime Ocean - A frigid ocean located in the northeast of Rohagi.
  • Swollen Ocean - A large ocean located to the southeast of the Rohagi continent. It is home to several city-states.
  • Spiral Sea - An undescribed sea.
  • Tarribor Ocean - An undescribed ocean.
  • Teuchor Ocean - An undescribed ocean.
  • Vassilly Ocean - An undescribed ocean.

Other landmasses[]

  • The Shards - Thousands of miles to the south of Rohagi is an area known as the Shards, a huge island chain. The southernmost parts of the Shards are close enough in proximity to the Fractured Lands to allow for direct or indirect trade.

Historical timeline[]

See also: Ghosthead Empire, Malarial Queendom, New Crobuzon.

c. 30,000-40,000 pre-AU
c. pre-AU 1720
  • The arrival of the Ghosthead Empire, which conquers most of known Bas-Lag with the notable exception of Bered Kai Nev, where they are kept at bay by the numerous Khepri empires.
  • The arrival of the Ghosthead devastates the unknown continent they land on, creating the Fractured Land and the Scar.
c. pre-AU 1221
  • The Ghosthead are overthrown by their subservient races, who have banded together into the Contumacy. Many of the Ghosthead structures and artifacts are destroyed or otherwise rendered inoperable.
  • The Sloughing-Off follows, wherein the Ghosthead retreat back to their original homeland. The Contumacy fractures shortly afterwards
c. pre-AU 720
c. pre-AU 670
  • The Queendom fractures after just fifty years, this time not to rebellion but by having reached the limits of its expansion, ending the flow of blood that sustained the queens' intelligence.
  • The anophelii are largely wiped out, with a small population relegated to a colony under the control of Gnurr Kett.
c. AU 0
  • The small port town of Crobuzon is founded, and soon sustains repeated pirate attacks.
c. 100
  • Crobuzon is razed by a large pirate attack and its survivors move several miles south, where they found New Crobuzon.
c. 1229
  • The Cacotopic Stain opens up in central Rohagi, where it continues to be an obstacle to travel across the continent.
1545
  • Two Torque bombs are dropped by New Crobuzon on the rival city-state of Suroch, which creates a new Torque zone several hundred miles north of New Crobuzon, along the eastern coastline of Rohagi.
1779, summer
1779, winter
1780, summer
  • The events of The Scar conclude.
c. 1784
c. pre-1804
c. 1804
1805, Lunuary
  • The Tesh-New Crobuzon War concludes, with a nominal New Crobuzon victory.
  • A path through the Cacotopic Stain is reliably mapped by the Transcontinental Railroad Trust, heralding the start of an era of industrial expansion.
  • The events of Iron Council conclude.

Gallery of maps[]

Notes[]

  • The depiction of Rohagi map used as the page image has several differences from the official map of Rohagi. The rest of the geography is speculative.

Related Articles[]

External Links[]

References[]


Places and locations of Bas-Lag
City-states

Armada · Cobsea · Dreer Samheer · Gengris · Gharcheltist · Gnurr Kett· High Cromlech · Jangsach · Kar Torrer Kingdom · Khadoh · Maru'ahm · Myrshock · Neovadan · New Crobuzon · Salkrikaltor Cray Commonwealth · Shankell · Suroch · Tesh · Troglodopolis · The Brothers · Witchocracy · Yoraketche

Islands and minor territories

Bartoll · Basilisk Channel · Dancing Bird Island · Figh Vadiso · Firewater Straits · Galaggi Veldt · Geshen · Jheshull Islands · Nova Esperium · Qé Banssa · Rin Lor · The Shards

Continents

Bered Kai Nev · Fractured Land · Rohagi · Shoteka

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