The action of Volume 6, THE WISHSTONE AND THE WONDERWORKERS, takes place during a few days in the year Khmar 5 on the island of Untunchilamon, midocean between Argan and Yestron, Tameran and Parengarenga. Here the magic of the west (that of the wizards of the Confederation) meets the magic of the east (that of the sorcerers of Yestron).
        Untunchilamon lies on the equator in the Great Ocean, otherwise known as Moana. The Great Ocean is fairly narrow in the north, where Argan, Tameran and Yestron are all reasonably close together, and very wide in the south.
        In THE WALRUS AND THE WARWOLF we learn [opening note to Chapter 36] that Aldarch the Third (aka Mutilator of Yestron) won the throne in Yestron in the year Khmar 5 after seven years of civil war.
        Note that the Izdimir Empire of Yestron has essentially two cultures, one in the north, dominated by the violence of the Yudonic Knights of Galsh Ebrek (such as the fellow who cut off Salaman Meerkat's head on the Plain of Tazala), and a southern culture dominated by the scholarly bureaucrats and sorcerers of Obooloo, the capital.
        When civil war began in Yestron, Lonstantine Thrug, a Yudonic knight, then military adviser to the wazir of Injiltaprajura (a servant of the Emperor of Yestron), imprisoned the wazir and declared himself emperor of Untunchilamon. When proved to be mad (another good man destroyed by syphillis) he was locked up, and his daughter Justina assumed the throne.
        Lonstantine Thrug is imprisoned in the Dromdanjerie, the lunatic asylum of Injiltaprajura. This is run by Jon Qasaba, a healer from Ashmolea.
        Note that in the year in which THE WISHSTONE AND THE WONDERWORKERS takes place, Aldarch the Third wins the civil war raging in Yestron. This has obvious long-term consequences for the future of Untunchilamon.
        Note that during the seven-year civil war in Yestron, refugees of all descriptions have taken refuge on Untunchilamon. They include members of several minority religions, hence Untunchilamon is home to many, many temples, shrines and so forth.
        The events of THE WISHSTONE AND THE WONDERWORKERS take place in and around the city of Injiltaprajura, which is also the capital, and boasts a sheltered harbour in which lies the island of Jod.
        Injiltaprajura's harbour is known as the Laitemata Harbour, or simply as the Laitemata.
        Injiltaprajura is undermined by an extensive automated high technology city, parts of which are in various states of repair. It was once headquarters of the Golden Gulag, the free enterprise prison empire which held, interrogated and tortured prisoners of all descriptions on behalf of the societies of several universes.
        The underground city is known as Downstairs.
        The economy of Untunchilamon is based upon export of products produced by the ancient automated machinery, notably dyes, and dikle and shlug.
        As Untunchilamon lies in the doldrums, there is a transportation and communication problem. This is further complicated by the fact that the deep waters due north of Untunchilamon are those of the Kraken Deep, where lurk the eponymous monsters. And due south lies the Green Sea, an extensive area of coral reefs and sandy cays. Through the Green Sea sweeps the Coral Current, tending in a north easterly direction.
        The Izdimir Empire communicates with Untunchilamon by means of sail-assisted galleys which ride the Boradiz Winds to a point due north of Yestron then row due south through the Kraken Deep.
        They enter Untunchilamon's lagoons through a seagate known as the Galley Gate. When quitting Untunchilamon, they leave through the same Galley Gate, then row due east through the waters of the Kraken Deep until they pick up the Coral Current, some wind, or both.
        The attrition rate is high.
        Most trading, however, is done by the Ngati Moana. The Ngati Moana, otherwise known as the Star Navigators (because of their complex and secret system of navigating by the stars) are fearless sailors of outrigger canoes. These vessels can use the lightest of winds, and can also (at a pinch) be paddled.
        The Ngati Moana, also known as the Canoe People, speak a language known as Moana.
        The great stronghold of the Ngati Moana is Tai Tokerau, a land which lies south of the jungle island of Quilth. They are also the dominant inhabitants of the lagoons of Fanteto and Manamalargo, of the island of Yam and of the islands off the eastern coast of Parengarenga.
        The Ngati Moana dare through the waters of the Great Ocean at liberty, though they do tend to keep to the waters south of the equator. By making skillful use of winds and currents, they can go in their canoes where ships cannot, by for example riding the Coral Current through the shallow and treacherous waters of the Green Sea (due south of Untunchilamon).
        The Ngati Moana have a lust for jade, which is central to their culture. Unfortunately, jade is also central to the culture of the southern part of the Izdimir Empire. (The Yudonic Knights of Galsh Ebrek find other people's love of this brittle green stone risible). Jade is rare, and most is won (at great cost) from the Qinjok Mountains.
        Injiltaprajura, capital of Untunchilamon, is watered by fountains, and lies at the southern end of Untunchilamon. Water from the fountains is used to irrigate the market gardens on the fringes of the city, these gardens supplying it with food.
        The fountains are supplied with limitless fresh water by the self-maintaining desalination plants Downstairs.
        North of Injiltaprajura lies Zazazolzodanzarzakazolabrik, otherwise known as the Scraglands, as the Wastes and as the Scorpion Desert, and as Zolabrik for short. This is a wasteland of rotten rock undermined by extensive sea-flooded tunnels, industrial complexes and so forth, in which live huge sea scorpions and sea centipedes.
        Many of Untunchilamon's criminals live in the Scraglands, in company with political dissidents and runaway slaves, surviving despite the dangers posed by demented robots and paranoid torturing machines.
        Manufacturers of illicit drugs have their stills in the Scraglands, parts of which are controlled by ruthless gangster warlords such as Jal Japone. The Wastes are three hundred leagues in extent, as measured from north to south.
        Untunchilamon is virtually surrounded by treacherous barrier reefs and a girdle of outer islands of rotten rock: bare, desolate, dangerous and virtually uninhabited. The sea's surf is shattered by the outer girdle. The sunstruc island is calm and hot, except when HOT!
        Although Untunchilamon is mid-ocean between Argan and Yestron, it deals more with Yestron.
        To the west lies open ocean, reaching away to Yam, an island due south of Asral and Ashmolea. Westward further, of course, lies the continent of Argan.
        To the east lies open ocean, stretching away to Yestron. Due east of Untunchilamon on the western seaboard of Yestron is Silith, a hot, seething jungle of malarial swamps, mangroves and choking vegetation, home of elephants, tigers, monkeys, parrots, snakes, crocodiles, ticks, leeches, scorpions, centipedes and such.
        South east of Untunchilamon, midocean between Untunchilamon and Yestron South, lies the harbourless highrise island of Chay, source of tea, coffee and spices of all descriptions. This is a part of the empire of Yestron, though while civil war has been raging in Yestron it has been governing its own affairs.
        North east of Untunchilamon, midocean between Untunchilamon and Yestron North, stands the island of Odrum, ruled by ascetic celibate warrior priests who devote their lives to meditation, prayer, scholarship, dragon chess and combat both armed and unarmed.
        Note that THE WIZARDS AND THE WARRIORS says (Chapter 58) that the Ocean of Cambria lies between Argan and Ashmolea and that the Alvassar pirates sometimes raid as far north as the Chameleon's Tongue. It mentions the sea traders from Asral, the Malud.
        Malud is both the name of the people of Asral and the name of their language.
        Languages spoken on Untunchilamon: Toxteth, the curt and brutal tongue of the Yudonic Knights of Yestron North, and Janjuladoola, flowerly language of Yestron South.
        Minority groups speak their own languages in addition. For instance, Olivia Qasaba and Artemis Ingalawa speak the Ashmarlan of Ashmolea, and also have mastery of Ashmolea's Slandolin.
        Note: Slandolin is the literary language of Ashmolea, and the great cultural divide in Ashmolea is between the people of the south, who cherish Slandolin and the delicate cultural pursuits which are associated with it, and the people of the north who are ignorant of Slandolin and prize physical prowess above intellectual pursuits.
        Chegory Guy, born on Untunchilamon but an Ebrell Islander by descent, has as his first language the Dub of the Ebrells, a language in which virtually everything which can be said has an obscene connotation.
        (The other languages most commonly spoken on the Ebrells are the Malud of Asral and the Frangoni spoken in some of the northern coastal areas of Parengarenga).
        On Untunchilamon the day is divided into four quarters marked by the sun bells (at dawn), noon bells, bat bells (at dusk) and ghost bells (nothing ghostly about them, but one learns to sleep through them in time) at midnight.
        The day's quarters are istarlat (dawn to noon), salahanthara (noon to dusk), undokondra (dusk to midnight) and bardardornootha (midnight to dawn).
        Because Untunchilamon is on the equator, seasonal variation is not a problem.
        The sun bells are sounded when the rising sun touches the glitter-dome which crowns the palace; the noon bells are sounded when a sundial indicates noon; the bat bells ring out when the bats fly; and the timing of the ghost bells is governed by observing the behaviour of the vampire rat, which always stirs to life halfway through the night (intensely active till near dawn, after which it sleeps again).
        Vampire rats live mostly on cats, but on occasion have been known to attack humans, which is one of the reasons why the good citizens of Injiltaprajura do not like to be on the streets between midnight and dawn.