Ghyll talk:Folktown

A list of Folktown facts, quotations, and references as of the end of Round 1, collected here for the convenience of whoever dibs Folktown eventually. --John Cowan 13:02, 23 Apr 2005 (EDT)

The Folktown Records is a newspaper published in Folktown every Ulfsday. [...] The Folktown Records occupies a suite of rooms on the sixth floor of the so-called "Waffle-Iron Building" (named for its shape) in downtown Folktown. [...] The Folktown Records also runs poetry and fiction, some of it written by the staff, but a good deal of it by unpaid contributors who either live in Folktown and its environs or else are considered by the staff to be especially talented. The Folktown Records is considered a newspaper of record by the Folktown courts, and consequently is printed entirely on acid-free high-quality darseed-pulp stock.

[Note: I've omitted hits on "Folktown Records" from the rest of this list.]]

The Amphitheatre aristocracy meet once a week at the Folktown Amphitheatre to discuss matters of import, to eat and drink, and sometimes to perform. [...] The group performs many acts of charitable work, providing many civic improvements including recently a well-received collection of statues of the controversially mysterious Alezan pantheon installed in the frontage of the Folktown city council building as part of recent renovation.

HANDBAG has a Folktown chapter.

The declaration [of handing newly discovered knowledge over to the BORK]—which must be given by the current president of The Bureau at the Folktown Town Square in front of an assemblage of current employees, the mayor of Folktown, and the general public—has turned into an annual fête, with stands, bunting, games, and fun galore.

Bavarian Creame met her first husband (Claude, now Baron, Smallwood) as part of the Folktown social season. [...] They were famously married in the middle of the renowned Grand Mall, the gardened pedestrian driveway that stretches between the Folktown Council Hall and the Folktown Amphitheatre. After their marriage, her career rapidly progressed. She became a Core Advisor to (then) Mayor Hew Loan and served at that rank in a number of offices. She was perceived as Mayor Loan's 'troubleshooter' and was widely viewed as responsible for preventing the destruction of museums, jobs and even preventing several wars. When she inherited her father's title and became Lady Smallwood, her succession to the post of mayor seemed inevitable as high society's golden goose.

Unfortunately, it appeared that her success in managing the subtleties of society weren't matched by equal success with her private life. Two years after becoming Mayoress of Folktown, she and her husband separated.

Two years after her divorce from Baron Smallwood, she astonished society by announcing her impending marriage to Sir Bartholemew Sinch. [...] Their wedding was a private affair held in the Folktown Amphitheatre [...] His ashes were scattered over the Grand Mall ("the preened ground from which he served his land so well" as Mayoress Sinch put it in her eulogy) a week after Siam was born.

Most people in Ghyll take Bindlet Ball very seriously, with team allegiances even influencing politics. The most famous example of this came in -38 EC, surrounding the Folktown Mayoral election. Although it was a foregone conclusion that the incumbent mayor was going to win, three nights before the election he was overheard expressing a preference for the Egron Eagles, the team from a neighboring city. Although he vociferously denied making the statements, his political opponent, a convicted felon, member of the Darvekian Party, and frequent puppy kicker, won the election easily, with 97% of the popular vote. Incidentally, although the man who claimed to have overheard these statements was later found to have been incarcerated in Egron at the time of the alleged incident, the former mayor was never able to win another political position, and the allegations haunt him to this day.

After 16 years of research in Folktown University, Talliesin completed his doctoral thesis "To say or not, an exploration of etiquette with particular focus of whether you should let a woman know her underwear is showing or that her clothes are practically transparent when the light is right". Two years later he sued the University and they reluctantly handed him his doctorate. It was however clear that he would not become a professor and his academic career was destroyed.

In the year -37 EC, a short, sharp battle was held on the Plain of Brahang between two mercenary squadrons allegedly employed by Bysted Timperton and Baron Smallwood over the possession of a precious Aelfant coprolith, or petrified dung-ball. During a hand-to-hand struggle between the opposing merc captains, the coprolith unfortunately fractured, making possession of it moot. The battle was abandoned in mutual disgust; lawsuits over the contingency fees are still pending in the courts of Folktown.

[T]he mere act of scattering a text with such terms as "alleged", or of attributing opinions to others, does not constitute an affirmative defense against libel suits in the Folktown courts.

The ancient hamlet of Cranee [...] is situated directly between the Evesque Valley and Folktown.

Cataract Road stretches across most of known Ghyll, from the northernmost Evesque Valley, to Cranee then Folktown, and eventually meets the southernmost city of Iganefta.

Recent discoveries have led many to believe that the unfortunate retardation of 18 year old Daniel Mboya may have been a first, but failed, attempt on his life. While no physical evidence remains of his "unfortunate accident" at the -7 EC fair outside of Folktown, several folks have come forward with memories of Daniel "angrily shouting about his breakup with Niala" and how "he'll show them."

Every major city has their own Calends Gala, but these tend to be poorly attended, with most people travelling to Folktown for the big Gala there.

The contrasts of [the darseed judging] are captured best in the famous painting of the darseed farmer, dressed in his brightly colored clothes, complete with the four-tassled hat and false nose, sitting morosely on his bales of produce, to which is attached a yellow note proclaiming a score of 3, shedding bitter tears into his brightly gloved hands. (The artist responsible for this painting is not known. The painting is currently in the Fine Art Museum in Folktown, under extended loan from the anonymous owner of the work.) [...] In some outlying regions, it is regularly reported that Pyxies arrive in time for the Fefferberry wine contest, although it has been many years since they have been seen in Folktown. [...] The new Author Laureate may live in the Laureate House in Folktown for the following six-month, until the next Calends Gala, if this is desired.

The Cadaver serves such items as Ball Lightning Liqueur, light and dark beers, as well as being one of the few places in Folktown to serve the best Adlorst Vinifera vintages and the worst, cheapest rosés.

If one met Despicable Shimmy on the street one would be unlikely to recognise him as such. Although considered one of the best and brightest, of his era, drugs and alcohol have seemingly rotted his brain. He is mostly found wandering around the streets of Folktown or in The Cadaver clutching his precious encyclopedia and muttering to himself.

On the outskirts of Folktown, one can find the Charterhouse Estate, currently home to Godfroi Hasawithe, the owner of the Charterhouse Collection, which has become known in occultologist circles as the most famous collection of Occult Lore.

Doggerel plague "swept" through parts of Ghyll in -11 EC, originating somewhere south of Iganefta, and moving northwards through Folktown, Sejfield, Cranee, and the southern parts of the Evesque Valley.

EctoMechanauts are forged in Folktown.

It is traditional for the Day of Champions game to always be held at the Folktown Hyperbolic Bindlet Ball Arena, being the largest arena of any in the Ghyllian League. [...] The Folktown Council organises a parade of jesters, muses, and other chaotic persons as entertainment. [...] At the end of the day, there is a traditional feast where the members of the Folktown Council are bound to serve all comers from a large array of bay marees. Huge quantities of Adlorst wine are consumed, making the following day somewhat of an ordeal for most. This time of servitude presents some special risks to the members of the Council: at last count, there have been eleven assassinations at these end-of-day events. The most notable was when Baron Smallwood’s uncle, Iain Underholm Smallwood, was attacked by an unidentified assailant who sprayed his victim with Adlorst wine and then threw Ball Lightning Liqueur over him. The resulting conflagration caused Iain Smallwood to melt in front of bystanders, and the assassin avoided capture (it may only be coincidence that the next issue of the Folktown Records was its best selling ever - so much so that a second and third printing were required.)

The town of Egron is located northeast of Folktown, east of the town of Sejfeld. [Bits from a report:] This reporter was present last week at the Folktown Council Hall and watched the following story unravel. [...] this reporter starts to get some recalls about this Egron place (unfortunately, all I managed to get into my notes is that Folktown could clobber their ball club) [...]

Since then, Vemish has been found in the footers of a number of minor incidents throughout the greater area surrounding Folktown, and is often the scapegoat when things go wrong [...].

EctoMechanauts are the primary product line of Folktown Mechanoworks Corporation, a Folktown company of golemists, mechanicians and engineers. [...] There have also been other, alleged, uses of "fully functional" EctoMechanauts in some of the more exotic brothels of Folktown. [...] It has been rumored that the former Mayor of Folktown, Lady Bavarian Magdelene Creame (formerly Sinch, formerly Smallwood, neé Wallinger), serves each organization [FMC and GMG] secretly, using her political connections to help them maintain their relative positions in the economic world.

Godfroi Hasawithe is a wealthy Folktown investor and businessman, now retired. [...] Hasawithe was born in Folktown of obscure parentage. He went to Iganefta to work for Baron James Horkmanifester where he learned and followed Horkmanifester's investment rules. Hasawithe returned to Folktown in -47 EC and started his own investment partnership, putting in his own money and raising additional investments from friends and family.

When they're not working hard on the Ghyll Encyclopedia, the Ghyll scholars often turn their attention to the staff game known as Gerth. Played in Cunningham Hall in Folktown, Gerth is an "alternative collaborative lexicon" containing a fictional account of what the Ghyll scholars might be getting up to if they lived on a different planet.

The Houvers are a group of angry divorced men who formed a revolutionary group in -185 EC as a response to the Amphitheatre aristocracy, who they considered to be "a bunch of panty-waists who just want to play dress-up!" [...] Their anger and frustration took on a political bent after a performance by the Amphitheatre aristocracy. It seems a play, of sorts, was put on calling for a change in Folktown leadership. Of course, a very liberal-minded member of the Amphitheatre aristocracy was suggested as the replacement. That would have been fine, but for the fact that she was the former wife of Maximilian Gustavus Grande, the de facto leader of the Houvers. [...] The ultimate result was that Adamantine Areola Duphine, Maximilian's former wife, was not elected the Mayor of Folktown, but remained an otherwise obscure bit player in the Amphitheatre aristocracy productions until she eventually took her own life.

In -45 EC, the Harrabloon Bank successfully lobbied the Folktown Council to have a Bank Holiday proclaimed. The motivation for this holiday was to increase the number of people who came to the town markets on that particular Ulfsday. The increased trade was expected to lead to increased takings at the bank the following Varhookan. Whether the increased takings occurred is known only to officials of the bank. The holiday on Ulfsday 8th Darwina has stayed with us and remains a big market day for Folktown.

Born the son of poor household domestics who emigrated from Folktown to Iganefta-on-the-Sea in -63 EC, when little Johan was just three years old, Johnny grew up with great luxury just out of reach. [...] Most days he and Jimmy can be found sipping very strong umlaut tea at the Folktown Social Club in Iganefta-on-the-Sea. Johnny keeps an office there and, rumor has it, he even has an illegal whist game there every week. The "Grand Hive-Lord of the Iganefta Back Market", as the fine editors at the Folktown Records have dubbed him, is often found dispensing sage advice to the younger members of the Iganefta underworld, however, all of Johnny's money comes through one of his regular businesses. Most of which have to do with the creation, transportation or maintenance of EctoMechanauts, though he also deals in imports to and from Folktown as well as at least one fine restraunt, and, of course, the Social Club itself.

There is a community bulletin board outside the Folktown Council Hall.

See [1] for fiction about Folktown.

After retiring from the Bureau, Rancticirchiretic subsequently moved to Folktown to work with the great academians there.

Rater Goldfish was a Modern Standard Ghyllian professor and Bindlet Ball coach at the San Sebastian's First School of Folktown.

The Songs of Odgar The Fourth is still in print, and is currently being published by the same Grommie family newsgroup that prints the Iganefta Recorder, whose publishing facility mysteriously and surprisingly moved to Folktown last week.

The Wallinger family now uses only the outermost twenty or so rooms in the South wing of Undivaggen, which provide more than sufficient facilities for the extended family during the annual Wallinger/Vallinger/Vallian/Yekhoto reunions. These rooms were lovingly restored, after a long period of neglect, by Bavarian Creame and her younger sisters, Jack Juffers and Madam Calvian of Folktown.

Vlorms of lesser quality are made right in our very own Folktown [...] The first known use of a vlorm in the greater Folktown area was, of course, as part of an Amphitheatre aristocracy performance at the 'Daver one warm Conti evening in -185 EC.

We do know that in -172 EC, the first wormwood was "grown" and harvested in the greater Folktown area.

Whostley was born in -72 EC and studied at San Sebastian's First School of Folktown where he first met his hero.

The local authorities of Folktown and Iganefta, as well as their more rustic counterparts elsewhere, consider Wadjidir to be mere criminals, hardly better than smash-and-grab artists or second-story men.

Old Xlardamnf is a mysterious figure who seemed to spring forth fully-formed in Folktown just about the same time as the infamous Amphitheatre aristocracy vlorm performance at the 'Daver in -185 EC. [...] What is known for sure is that Xlardamnf circulated pamphlets filled with esoteric wisdom from the Xurient and that he dispensed from the Stone of Wisdom at the center of Folktown. [...] It was to this high perch that Xlardamnf's followers gathered, snorting thier vlorms and chanting against the Conflict That Is Not Happening with slogans of "Darseed Flower Power" and "Make Whelps, Not War". Naturally, this led some of the more "conservative" political carousers of Folktown to react quite strongly many times.

The Paramount Queen ceremony has been held in Folktown since the mid -80s.

There is some debate about where in Folktown the first yarding began, but, since it is currently launched in the beer garden of the 'Daver, it is believed to have originated there with the infamous Houvers.

But Meldersen's place in popular culture has been forever secured by his coining of the axiom "It's downside up!" which [...] has since become a near-daily ritual among the leaders of the youth phenomenon commonly and journalistically known as the Great Awakening, under cover of which the rising generation in Folktown and even Iganefta [...] justify themselves for their chronic overindulgence in sex, drugs, and the curious form or genre of music known to them as quiver'n'bend.

The Folktown Periodicals Archive and Resource is a prominent source of recorded knowledge, though not rivalling the Odlucian Library.

The Folktown Flergit Beasts were leaders of the Evesque Valley Hoopkah club in -4, -2, and -1 EC.

Rhajoon Quezlar II donated enormous amounts of money to the Council for Quezlarian Research, reportedly in exchange for having it named after him. He funded the construction of the Folktown Amphitheatre on the site of the ruins of the ancient Amphitheatre, and, it would appear, coined the term Amphitheatre aristocracy.