Subject: Not sure if I'll join in.
Author:
Posted on: 2013-08-13 10:13:00 UTC
But, to help out anyone who does, I thought I'd throw you a list of the key references to New Cal. By 'key' I mean the ones that tell you the most - if a ref only mentions something in passing which is more fully described elsewhere, I'll give the second.
This is also a good opportunity to pull all the information together for the purposes of adding references to the Wiki article...
*The Wiki itself. This gives a good overview of most things.
*Fallen Feathers: Nita. About halfway down we get this:
She found herself the Rue Jay Thorntree, the main street of the New Caledonia, scowling at the sunlight as if it had offended her. Around her was a variety of hustle, bustle [...] she leant against the wall of the entrance to HQ (a building known, through the magic of PPC multilingual humour, as The Appetiser)...
There's also a mention of Club Aujourd'hui ("What do you do there?" "Mostly alcohol.") at the very end.
*PPC: Flight of Swans. The second and fourth sub-stories are set in New Cal. The first only tells us that Agent Monty's pond is there. The second gives us a decent description of the Musée des Univers Perdus:
Agent Penny was wandering through the streets of the PPC’s city in New Caledonia, just passing the time, really, when she heard an unusually loud voice. Screaming voices weren’t actually that uncommon around the PPC - the insanity levels were even higher than in Penny’s home city of Ankh-Morpork - but the content here wasn’t the usual obscenities.
“... the Doctor’s favourite book growing up! And oh, what’s this? It turns out it was the Racnoss! Oh, did I ruin that for you? Let’s get another one... the Lost Road Trilogy, by J.R.R. Tolkien! Forgotten when the Professor died, leaving it unwritten. And on the last page... well, fancy that. It seems Earendil was-”
Penny emerged into the plaza before the Musée des Univers Perdus, took in the crowd of agents and associates gathered in front of it, and then her gaze joined with theirs and tracked up to the blue-skinned woman standing on the roof of the Musée.
“... now this is rumoured to have been Cicero’s favourite book. Let’s see... oh, a murder mystery! And, would you credit it, it was her slave who did it? What is the world coming to?”
[...]
“Looks like they’re making another go of it,” she said. A handful of black-clad figures were sneaking across the [roof] tiles towards Starwind [...]
"[...]is there a back way into the Musée?”
“This is the PPC city,” she pointed out. “There’s back ways into everything...”
As for the original description of the Musée, that comes from here:
Dustin and Five were leaving the Musée des Univers Perdus, a museum of continua lost when the civilizations they were written in had fallen. (Works from the Roman Empire stood side by side with folktales from Sernpidal and Time Lord novels in its library and its bookstore.)
That same link notes that the pond is 'on the other side of town' from the Musee.
*This, this and this all mention the Tour Prend Pion pawnshop. The second establishes that it's possible to park a TARDIS opposite it, but to be honest I think Tawaki's agents just parked them wherever they chose. That link does also note that the TARDIS dock (singular) was newly-opened at that point.
The third link provides an address for Tour Prend Pion: 104 Rue Fait-des-Choses du Nord (ie, it's on the northern half of 'Makes-Things Road'). It also provides us with 'the corner of the Rue Dafydd Illian and the Rue Imbolc Telyan, by the hospital', which I guess is a local section of Medical (and maybe FicPsych?). It also gives us this:
Tawaki walked down the Rue des Fleurs, trying hard to resist the urge to ignore his destination. That works in PPC HQ, but not on Earth. Besides, the city is so regularly laid-out that getting lost is well nigh impossible, unless you happen to be looking for a strange TARDIS. Tawaki was looking for a familiar one. He reached the corner of the Rue des Fleurs and the Rue Imbolc Telyan and turned left. It was another two blocks to the Rue Jay Thorntree.
Which both points out that navigation is different there, and gives a hint of a map. And then there's this:
Eclectica read the message. “'Tadkeeta, and Tawaki if you are with her, report to the field just south of the cemetery hill at once. Signed, the Yertis, Deputy Head of the Department of Internal Affairs.'” So saying, she moved the TARDIS to the hill. Tawaki and Tadkeeta left the TARDIS, which had become a large headstone with the inscription:
“SACRÉE À LA MÉMOIRE DE
“FAIT-DES-CHOSES
“NÉ 30 JUIN 1954
“MORT 13 MARS 2008
“LOIN EN AVANT
“LA ROUTE EST PARVENUE”
In fact, it was a perfect replica of Makes-Things' memorial stone. However, it was at the base of the cliff, while Makes-Things' stone was on top of the hill.
[...]
They entered the farmhouse and met Agents Honesah and Ontic from the mirror multiverse, with the Yertis, the Corkscrew Cattail, and Captain Dandy.
That gives the general layout of the cemetary area, and also provides the farmhouse, which is either a safehouse for Honesah and mirror!Ontic, or the New Cal DIA headquarters.
*This provides us the following:
And it is not in the TARDIS dock, but at the corner of the Rue Jay Thorntree and the Rue Ella Darcy.”
“Down by the park where Misplaced Flora and Fauna found those feral squees?”.
“Yes.”
Ten minutes later, they arrived at said park, and Dustin flew low enough to drop her safely. He then alighted by a brook.
*This might imply that there's a Nursery in New Cal. It's sort of unclear.
*This provides us a look inside Big Murphy's store:
“Right you are,” Big Murphy replied, leaning over the store counter. “Agent Marcus Langston brought the set to me - Department of Floaters, like you two. [...] I took one out back and tried running it over with a truck. Didn’t even scratch the finish.” He smiled broadly. “Of course, that means they don’t come cheap…”
It also notes that 'Several minutes later, both agents were walking down a surprisingly crowded hallway in HQ', which suggests Big Murphy's store is fairly close to the door back inside.
*By 2024, the City will have agents living in it with their children.
That appears to be all I can find right now. Anyone got any other links and information?
hS