New Crobuzon - Geography, Environs and Climate

Geography, Environs and Climate

New Crobuzon claims dominion over a watershed along the eastern seaboard of the Rohagi continent, on the world of Bas-Lag. The city itself is situated around the Rivers Tar and Canker, whose confluence forms the wider and more navigable Gross Tar. It is the Gross Tar that connects New Crobuzon to the Iron Bay, ten miles east of the city. The mountains that separate New Crobuzon from the rest of Rohagi are called the Dancing Shoe Mountains.

The basin occupied by New Crobuzon is vast, and its terrain varies greatly. Northwest of the city is described in The Scar as an uninhabited "expanse of scrub and marsh", ending eventually at the feet of the Bezhek Mountains. Immediately to the south lies a substantial forest called the Rudewood, beyond which is found an area called the Wetlands. Eventually, the Wetlands give way to the Mendican Hills. Beyond this is the Grain Spiral: an agricultural region that supplies New Crobuzon with much of its food.

Various tributary settlements dot the lands surrounding New Crobuzon. Most are little more than agrarian hamlets, though one, Tarmuth at the mouth of the Gross Tar River, is notable enough to earn mention in The Scar.

In terms of climate, New Crobuzon occupies a temperate zone with regular seasonal changes: autumn and winter seasons are colder than the spring and summer. New Crobuzon was capable of controlling, or at least greatly influencing, local weather earlier in its history through the use of an "aeromorphic engine." This device has not functioned for over five centuries, however.