Subcultural engagement for the 21st Century...
Barbelith is a new kind of community (find out more)...
You can login or register.

Underground > Books, Criticism & Writing >

Mapping Mieville

Kiltartan Cross

21:09 / 25.04.06

I present to you all these maps of Bas-Lag, the world of Perdido Street Station, The Scar and Iron Council.

The continents of Rohagi and Bered Kai Nev.

The floating Armada.

A close-up map of the eastern Rohagi seaboard. This is the oldest, and probably the most inaccurate, of the three.

As a topic for discussion, I ask: Can Bas-Lag be mapped? The geography is difficult to pin down, to say the least. And should Bas-Lag be mapped? Obviously I'm guilty as charged, but I gather China doesn't believe in providing maps with his books as it makes life too easy (and is very cliched). Comments welcome!

18:17 / 26.04.06

Ideally, these maps should be overlaid with a hexagonal grid. And include Encounter Tables for Wandering Monster checks.

Kiltartan Cross

21:09 / 26.04.06

Allegedly, China has a desk, somewhere, and in that desk are his working notes for the books. Which include not just maps but comprehensive details on the flora, fauna, and freaky forces.

Although given how hard it was to reconcile some of the conflicting geography given in the books with any kind of 2d map, I shudder to think what they look like.

The bit I remember with most fear was the bit where he describes a (insert spoiler here) travelling southwards in pursuit of (insert another spoiler here) during the opening chapters of Iron Council. Except that by the end of the chase sequences it's actually heading roughly northwards. Oh, and trying to pin down the location of the Scar... nightmare.

Which, of course, is his intention.

Tuna Ghost: Pratt knot hero

20:52 / 27.04.06

"Troglodopolis"

That's awesome

I can't tell if "Shatterjacks" is a good name for a mountain range or if it's just sort of lame.

Hydra vs Leviathan

18:28 / 02.05.06

Well, there is a map of New Crobuzon in the front of my copy of Perdido Street Station... however, i'm not sure that the larger world of Bas-Lag is, or is intended to be, mappable in a 2-D way... (also, isn't it supposed to be, rather than a globe, an "open" surface that just goes on and on?)

It certainly exists in Mieville's mind and/or study in great detail, tho - one of the things that really blew me away about PSS was the sheer size of the imagined creation - while most SF or fantasy writers tend to have one or a few "big concepts" (races, geographies, magical/technological principles, background-history things, etc) per novel, Mieville introduces the reader to a major new "thing" in every chapter... in one book he creates an almost encyclopaedic backdrop to a universe of a level of complexity most writers would take a whole series to establish... and then in The Scar, rather than re-using stuff, as i was expecting him to, he just piles on more history/geography/mythology...

Slightly back on topic, i thought Armada had a whole lot more Ridings than that...

[threadrot] there's a point (near the Chinese market, IIRC) in Birmingham where, at sunset, the new Bullring, St Martin's Church, the Rotunda and the post office tower appear to be part of one fantastical mishmash of a building, and look almost exactly like what i imagine New Crobuzon to look like...[/threadrot]

Kiltartan Cross

11:25 / 03.05.06

however, i'm not sure that the larger world of Bas-Lag is, or is intended to be, mappable in a 2-D way... (also, isn't it supposed to be, rather than a globe, an "open" surface that just goes on and on?)

A lot of the distances given (or that I've estimated from travel time) between major landmarks do add up to form a reasonably coherent 2d picture. There are, on the other hand, some which don't. Trying to pin down the Firewater Straights was horrible...
I guess the whole of Bas-Lag could be treated as a 2d sheet which is bent over some strange topography, like the surface of a bumpy sphere, maybe (like a more-pronounced Mars, with the Tharsis Bulge and the general difference in elevation between north and south hemispheres), rather than just a boring flat-surfaced oblate spheroid like the Earth.
If Mieville did indeed plan something out like that, he'd be a devious bugger, although I suspect he's more likely to've just thrown concepts onto the page and any fan-based extrapolations as to the shape of the place are, strictly speaking, creating the map rather than repeating something he's already done.

Basically, I'd kill to get at his notes.

14:10 / 03.05.06

I can't tell if "Shatterjacks" is a good name for a mountain range or if it's just sort of lame.

It would be better if it was New Crobuzon's premier cider brand.