The what?

This Discworld is, without question, one of THE strangest planets
in - and let's face it - a very strange multiverse. Not only is it a
flat, pizza-shaped disc that rests on the back of four
(understandably) giantElephants which in turn stand on the
back of an even bigger turtle which floats through space for
no apparent reason (except possibly to meet other turtles?) - it also
does not exist in the often misunderstood 'real world'. Not even
slightly. That is, except in the collective minds of Terry
Pratchett's readers and the author himself.

General Discworld attributes

In case anyone is interested, the Great Turtle is named 'Great
A'Tuin', and is part of the species Chelys galactica. The four
resident Elephants are Great T'Phon, Berilia, Jerakeen and Tubul. As
far as I am aware, no-one likes to consider (a) how they eat (b)
breath or (c) if they did eat, would they then... excrete? Is this in
fact what we would consider an Earthquake?

The main city of the Disc (some would say of all cities) developed
around the river Ankh. Because it is in fact a twin city, it is named
'Ankh-Morpork'. The name itself conjures images of a stagnant,
soup-like river surrounded by equally stagnant, ancient buildings and
a cosmopolitan atmosphere in a class of it's own. Well, maybe it
doesn't: but that's what it's like. It is ruled over by Lord
Vetinari, and policed (in the loosest sense) by the aptly
named 'Watch', which in recent years has been growing in numbers
considerably.

Other large cities include Sto Lat, a patch of civilisation
(again, in the loosest sense) nestled within the Sto Plains joined by
Sto Helit and Quirm - an incredibly dull place. Another location at
least vaguely worthy of attention is Scrote - if only for it's comedy
value. It is famed for its cabbages... and not much else, except for
a consistently dead mayor (he was the least likely to misbehave or
upset people).

The 'people'

The Discworld does not restrain itself to a single civilised
species like Earth: not only does it have Dolphins, but many more
species and races as well. Where, on Earth, some less well minded
individuals may choose to cause unrest by hating one another because
of trivial skin colour, on the Disc entire species can hold grudges -
and probably always have. One example is of Trolls and Dwarves.
Trolls on the Disc are large, generally unintelligent (at least when
the temperature is high) humanoids made entirely of rock. Native
trolls of the Ramtop mountains (located behind Ankh-Morpork and are
the source of the river) are inanimate rock by day, when the heat
slows their brains down, but during the cool of night they search the
area for a tasty piece of granite or obsidian. Because trolls eat
rock, they need spectacularly sharp teeth and so logically, their
teeth are made of Diamond. Dwarfs, on the other hand, absolutely love
Gold and spend most of their lives down inside mines trying to
extract it. It doesn't take much imagination to see many causes of
conflict between these two - equally violent - species. Dwarfs carry
large axes and trolls... well, trolls are usually very big and
are made of stone.

Other species include the universally indifferent Humans, the
humanoid and Welsh inclined Elves and the Undead. The most notable
Humans are probably those with magical capabilities, who range from
legendary power-hungry Sorcerers to Wizards, small town Witches to
foreseers (not forgetting the god-pleasing Priests and gods
themselves). A focal point for Wizards and other sociological misfits
is The Unseen University, stuck in the collective centre of
Ankh-Morpork. Wizards keep very much to their own - much to the
relief of the outside world. However, when it comes down to all
things magical - regardless if they affect the world at large or not
- Wizards cannot help but tamper, interfere and usually blunder their
way through them. Elves, as previously mentioned, could hold some
resemblance to the Welsh. But only slightly, mind you - for as to my
knowledge, the Welsh are not famed (nor shamed) for their looks or
talents at singing. They appear to be a beautiful race, but are also
notoriously 'bad'. They have a number of special features, such as
the ability to detect weak magnetic fields (useful for navigation,
one would imagine) and their hypnotic singing can capture humans in a
trance. A key weakness is their repulsion to Iron (possibly because
it disrupts magnetic fields), and this has been known to be used
against them.

The undead are mostly the stereotypical horror characters,
personified as real people. These can range from Werewolves and
Vampires, to your average Zombie. Often an unfortunately
misunderstood people, they collect together in small groups in pubs
or can even join small clubs such as the 'Fresh Start Club', set up
by Reg Shoe, a Zombie and proud of it. The majority of members are
there reluctantly and only attend to please poor Reg. The undead find
themselves shunned by society and are left with bad jobs and not much
to do. One of the most successful members of the (albeit) semi-undead
society is Angua, a young female human and occasionally Wolf who has
made quite an impact in the Watch where she is employed. Since her
arrival, additional undead have joined the Watch and have proven
especially useful at night.

The gods

Gods on the Discworld are reminiscent of ancient gods of ancient
peoples on Earth. They are a strange selection of pseudo-Greek and
Egyption misfits - from the usual lightning-throwing brutes to...
well just about anything goes (this is the Discworld after
all). Do not assume, however, that all of the Disc's gods are as we
may imagine them: towers of strength and might, deep rumbling voices
and snakes for hair (hey why not?!). And gods on the Disc are not
omnipotent (otherwise there simply wouldn't be room), though the high
ranking powers can watch the enhabitants from high above in their
marble castle, Dunmanifestin, which sits atop Cori Celesti - a
grey, ten mile high pillar of stoney mountain.

Most gods on the Disc spend most of their 'lives' largely
unnoticed and eventually fade away. For on the Disc, gods (like some
people consider faries) require to be believed in. The more followers
they have, the more powerful they become. An example of this is Om,
possibly (but don't hold me to it) the only god ever to star as a
main character in a book. Saying that, I'm sure Tom Holt's done it.
But not, I'll guess, with a one-eyed turtle. This is the form taken
by Om when, let us say, he is not at full strength. In this state he
had all of the powers of a small, one-eyed turtle. Which isn't much,
as one could imagine. However, when Om had managed to accumilate a
large amount of followers, he became a giant golden figure which no
doubt came as a surprise to a great many people (besides, it's pretty
difficult to deny the existance of a massive shimmering giant).

The gods should not be confused with Anthropomorphic
Personifications. NO! I said DON'T confuse gods with Anthropomorphic
Personifications. They are ENTIRELY different beings. Got that?

Anthrax-pofaced-purse-snifications?

No, you mean Anthropomorphic Personifications. Although
some might say they share similar characteristics as gods, they do
not rely on Beleif as a means of existance - they simply exist for
the same reason that anything else does.