Ghyll:Ghyll

Ghyll is a roughly circular land which is at least 200,000 paces (just over 110 Gerth miles) in diameter. It is inhabited by a range of species, the most dominant of which are the insectoid Ghyllians, some of whom have taken to writing the encyclopaedia about the land in which this is an entry. Everyone is welcome to contribute, and should see the instructions on doing so. This page is to help members of particularly far-flung lands get to know both the goings-on of Ghyll and the general editorial style of this encyclopaedia.

Geography and Ethnography

Ghyll is a mixture of the pleasing little and the confusing large. The main body of land, bordered by the ocean called the 'River Ocean' to the left, is bespeckled with various hamlets, towns, and a couple of cities. The Jorvyll mountain range marks the northernmost extent of the land, and the largely unexplored Cactus forests the southernmost. The biggest city in Ghyll is Folktown, situated roughly in the middle, and the second biggest city is Iganefta, situated in the south.

The confusing large comes from the fact that Ghyll is actually curved in higher-dimensional state, which is a very confusing state of affairs that Othogonalities attempts and generally succeeds in explaining. The main characteristic is that there are many more lands yet to be explored and discovered "beyond" Ghyll in a sense, but which can mainly be ignored for the purposes of this summary.

Official centralized government does exist to a limited extent in Ghyll, but it is the of Ghyll that keep it ticking: whilst politically inclined, and rather secretive, groups such as the Amphitheatre aristocracy and and their rivals the Houvers tend to control affairs from the shadows, the academic institutions (see the next section) tend to keep an eye on common affairs.

As for publications and distribution, the Folktown Records are the main newspaper-like publication, followed by Iganefta Recorder for the southerners. Quester and Phorrus is one of the primary academic publications, and is issued biannually (every two years). To send messages and parcels, the DermPachyges service is used for the bulk of occasions. On the other hand, the speedy, limited, and expensive TransAvian service is available to those who can afford and require it.

Science and Research

The language of all Ghyll is Modern Standard Ghyllian, though as the term "Modern" may imply, this hasn't always been the case. The most commonly used system of measurement is the Chesix System Of Measures, and dates are measured in EC throughout this encyclopaedia, which is a normalization of all the local dates that people submit. This encyclopaedia was started in 0EC, which is hence the epochal reference point. The Bursine Calendar is also somewhat considered a Ghyll standard. The unit of currency in Ghyll is the Quezlarian Ooo.

The Bureau of Forgotten Knowledge, Bute University, and the Aminfarances Institute of Science and Technomancy are three of the primary research institutions, whilst the Office of Knowledge About Things covers everything that those three miss. These play a major part in running the affairs in Ghyll, and can be both very secretive or quite open (sometimes simultaneously).

History

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