Joe Coleman

There was a map of heridoth that did not survie the scan. I'll try to find the art and add it to the end of the file.

YORKINTRODUCTIONWell, Tauther, here you are in York. Perhaps not the mostboring City in Heridoth, but it’s a close race. To be fair,the City Kim has been trying to liven up the City recently,with limited results to date. See the comments on the Crys-tal Theatre below for an example of their attempts so far.The first thing you will notice is the local dialect. Genderand species do not figure in Yorkist speech. You will hearwidespread use of the Triddis pronoun “khe” and the term“man” not only refers to women, but also to the Iscin races,Jorune native races, ramian, thriddle, and any other intel-ligent organism capable of spoken communication. As aresult of this and their determination to ignore religion,obscenity in Yorkist tends to be exclusively scatalogical.You should avoid sexist and religious comments; they tendto cause confusion rather than insult.

HISTORYYork was originally a puritan theocracy run by the AbbotBenedict who was given to fits of zealous purging, oftenculminating in the notorious “Auto da Fe” — the ritualburning at the stake of the month’s heretics (typically po-litical agitators and party goers). On Eris 13, now knownas “Liberation Day”, the crowd at one of his burnings over-powered the guards, seized the Abbot and burnt him at hisown stake. The fire at the stake was kept burning withevery flammable object found in all the churches and otherplaces of worship in York leaving no traces of even theAbbot’s bones. In one bloody day, every religious build-ing (of ANY religion) except the Abbey itself was looted

THE DANSTEAD SOCIETY

GUIDE TO

The Danstead Guide series is produced without the formal coop-eration of the City involved, in an attempt to be impartial. If youhave any comments about a City, please pass them to the nearestDanstead Society office for inclusion in future editions.

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EDITION

and wrecked and every church guard, minister, monk andpriest had either been killed by the mob, fled the City, ortaken refuge in the Abbey. The mob laid unsuccessful siegeto the Abbey for a fortnight. During this fortnight of anar-chy a new government was formed being run by the fourYorkists considered “most able” by the mob. The newKim’s first act was to negotiate a peaceful end to the siege.At the end of the second week the Abbey’s inhabitantswere permitted to leave with all the possessions of the Ab-bey, stripping it bare. The Kim then took control of theAbbey and declared York to be stripped of all religions.The Abbey is now York’s Palace of Peace and Harmony.

The concept of “most able” has continued with York be-coming one of the most rigid meritocracies in Heridoth.While most Cities have a concept of Drennship, York goesto extremes and only the member of each ministry withthe highest number of Drenn Points takes the title of Keshtand a seat on the Kim of Four.

YOUR ARRIVALYou can arrive in York by three routes: land, sea, or river.

OVERLAND TRAVELNot a good idea. By now you will be saddle-sore andthombo-tired. There are no great places to stable yourthombo, but many shasts have a small stable next to theirincleps. Even if your shast doesn’t, khe may be able tosuggest a friend with a stable.

nately, the Port authorities may take from you the moneyneeded to buy a ticket out. Keep the receipt safe. It ishard to sell these tokens on the black market, because theybear your mark. These are sometimes used as surety forloans or for stays in an inclep where you want to pay onleaving. If you arrived overland, you can take proof thatyou are stabling your thombo. A letter from the shast isideal, if you can find a literate shast. The Rusper Huminclep on Courage Street has both stables and a literateshast. If you want to do something more exotic, like arriv-ing by river, buying a thombo and leaving overland youwill need to convince a yord in an interview. Polish thatchallisk, Tauther!

PLACES TO STAY

THE DANSTEAD SOCIETYThe Danstead Society has a very nice base in York, downby the Port. They can provide you with basic food andlodging for short periods and, more importantly, help withthe paperwork. The housekeeper, Mrs. Meek, is a veri-table crystal mine of information and always has the latesttips on places to eat and to avoid. Please support yourDanstead Society. All contributions, however small, aregratefully received. (York office only: receipts given.)

SEA VOYAGEThe Port is busy and efficient, if lacking in friendliness.The Port cletch is levied solely on “shiploads” so there isno personal port cletch for passengers on cargo ships. Ifyou are travelling as part of a purely passenger ship thenthe “shipload” toll should have already been factored intoyour fare.

RIVER JOURNEYThe new river route from Koistra through the Holy TerranEmpire is supposed to be open this year. It offers by farthe most scenic route into York. By and large the rules areexpected to be the same as for sea trips though there is apossibility of a “pay once, half the paperwork” schemebeing set up with Koistra.

PAPERWORKFirst of all, be sure to be either literate or travelling withsomeone who is. York likes its paperwork. The basic en-trance form requires you to state your home City, status inyour home City, reasons for visiting York, expected de-parture date, means of entry, means of exit, and contactaddress in York. If you have no contact address in York,then you can often get away with quoting the DansteadSociety Office’s address. The Office provides a “posterestante” service for any messages for you from the Cityauthorities. Having some proof of a means of exit is pre-ferred by the authorities. A return ticket is ideal. Alter-

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The Soveriegnty of

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1 - Danstead's Society York Office and Inn

2 - Crystal Theatre

3 - The Greaspaint

4 - The Rusper Hum

5 - Lunar Monestery

6 - York Kerning Bay

7 - Palace of Peace and Harmony

8 - York Harbor

9 - York Indoor Bazaar

10 - Benedict's Abbey

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THE GREASEPAINTReasonable rooms at reasonable prices. Priority is givenby the shast to travellers with a theatrical bent. A goodplace to meet other aspiring thesps. Opposite the CrystalTheatre.

THE RUSPER HUMOn Courage Street, with an excellent set of stables and ashast who is prepared to write notes that you are stablingyour thombo there. Actually, the note is combined withthe stabling bill, but the yords accept it as proof of sta-bling. Space in the hayloft for sleeping rolls is providedas part of the stabling costs. Alternately, you can pay afew yules extra for a bed in the common room.

THINGS TO DO AND SEE

EATINGYork is a chef’s paradise. The Kim funded early cuisinestudies in York and since then it has really taken off. Ifyou know a style of cooking that is not reflected in York’smultitude of eateries, then borrow the Danstead Society’skitchen, invite an official cook from the Inner Ministriesand maybe earn yourself a Drenn Point. (“maybe:” onepoor Tauther gave the ministry man food poisoning andreceived the ancient Terran “Toxic Hazard” mark on khe’schallisk. That copra’s going to be fun at interview.) Oneother word of advice: if you have a pet, keep it away fromthe kitchens. The chefs of York take a perverse delight incooking the most unusual products.

If you can’t face any of the more unusual food — and dobeware anything labelled “Koistran” or “Dharkoistran” ifyou don’t like hot food — then you can always fall backon the reliable “Mr. Happy Durlig” chain for standard fastfood. MHD has its home in York and the big MHD in thecentre boasts that it has every recipe offered by any of itsbranches in Heridoth. If you want to live dangerously trythe “Grimes Special”. Grimes is York’s premiere chef andis on contract to MHD to produce “new & exciting” reci-pes for their baked durligs. Some of these work; some ofthem don’t. The number of “toxic hazard” copras thatshould adorn Grimes’ challisk is a City-wide joke.

THEATREThe new “place to be seen” in York is the Crystal Theatre.Tickets vary in price according to seat and performance.Performances vary in quality, and the sad fact of the mat-ter is that no works have been written for the Crystal andall the performances are imported from other places.Standby tickets are available for about a quarter of theirface values one hour before the performance.

Don’t try busking by the queues without clearance fromthe Theatre Manager. Auditions for the evening’s buskersare held at noon each day. Khe will give you a token whichyou must wear visibly while you are busking. The yordsdo not tolerate unlicensed busking. If you are part of atheatrical troupe, make yourself known to the Manager atthe same time if you wish to play the Crystal.

The Greasepaint inclep opposite the Theatre is a favouredhaunt of the theatrical trade and if you want to rub shoul-ders with the luvvies then it’s your place. Prices go upbefore a performance, though.

CHURCHESThere are none. A word of warning about preaching andpraying in York: be careful. There is no law about preach-ing per se but any attempt to suggest laws along religiouslines will have the yords at you in two shakes of a thriddle’strid-nodes. The Yorkists have a firm separation of stateand church and they want to keep it that way. The onlyreligion to have caught on in York is Lunar Buddhism andthat’s mainly for the weird martial stuff.

THE KERNING BAYIf you feel the yearn to kern, do check out the rather won-derful kerning bay. Should an isho storm hit, get overthere with a couple of bottles and prepare yourself for awild time. The bottle opening trick dyshas are widely prac-ticed. Beware of flying shards from novices who haven’tquite got them right yet. If you want to practice unweaving,pop along at any time except during a storm; there’s oftena caji willing to oblige.

THE PALACE OFPEACE AND HARMONY This huge building used to be an abbey but the monkswere expelled during the Great Liberation and its cells andlibrary were transformed into offices and record rooms forYork’s four ministries: Inner and Outer Peace and Har-mony. You won’t get in, but a walk around the building isquite interesting. Note the empty statue alcoves. The re-ligious statues were smashed during the Liberation andthe empty spaces are supposed to symbolise the freedomfrom the religion once symbolised by the statues. Scan-ning the roof, you can see the stubs of all the snapped offcrosses that once decorated it.

THE HARBOURThe harbour has been known to contain Terran dolphins.Ask at the shen if there are any in residence at the mo-ment. Do not, repeat NOT, try to harpoon dolphins astrophies. They are awarded special privileges in York andare a “protected species”. Anyone found harming them isliable to arrest and confiscation of goods.

WAYS TO EARN MONEYWork permits are hard to get. Very hard. There is someunofficial work done in the fields, but the yords stamp downon it hard when they discover it, confiscating the goods ofthe employee and fining the employer. If the goods con-fiscated do not reach a certain value, a black copra is placedon the employee’s challisk and khe is unceremoniouslydumped outside York with instructions not to return untilkhe has achieved drenn. To get a permit, go to the Palaceof Peace and Harmony with a letter from a prospectiveemployer who is Drenn in York, stating that khe has a va-cancy for which you are better suited than any citizen ofYork.

DANSTEAD SOCIETY

GUIDE TO YORK

supplement for

SHOLARI

Written by Bob DowlingIllustrated by Joseph Steven Coleman

©1995 All Rights ReservedTalewind Print & ProductionPO Box 12631Berkeley, CA 94712-2631