Fritz Lieber's 'Lankhmar' series is sprinkles with references to people, places, and things. Most of the time these are never explained. If they are revisited it is only obliquely. These casual comments do a great deal to add depth to the world of NEHWON. They rely on the reader to let their imaginations ponder and brood. The reader gains an understand that there are many things just outside of the story. In short this makes for a more rounded world with a since of history and depth. In essence they are like a reverse fill-in-the-blanks. We have the answers but what are the questions.
Examples:
Beast Dodgers - An old man asked if Fafhrd & Grey Mouser where 'beast dodgers'. Gladiators?
Famed Quarmallian Vineyards - An underground city with extensive vine yards.
City of Black Idols - Fafhrd & Grey Mouser escaped this place with the help of Mingol slave.
Glow Wood - Wood which glows. What is made out of this wood? Why does it glow?
School of the Roaring Skald - A bardic school. Who are the members? How widespread is it?
Slim Spired Tisinilit - A city with high towers. Who made them and how were they made?
Mazes of Klesh - A jungle kingdom with mazes or is it just maze like.
Water Burials - Burials at sea or in lakes. Why are burials performed this way?
Doom Current - An equatorial current which travels eastward and south. Why is it so dooming?
The Boneless Death - Disease which melts one's bones. How do you catch it?
Just reread Lean Times in Lankhmar. Here is a new one for your list:
ReplyDeleteTemple of the Snakes - In one scene when the Mouser stands still but turns at the waist to look behind him, he is described as resembling a ceremonial dancer of the Temple of the Snakes. Where is this temple? Is it one of the Beast Cults of Thirteen?