The Republic of Heaven

I've been trying to work this out, but the geography of it just doesn't seem to fit. I realise that the worlds have shifted so that:

• The arctic in L-world overlaps Britain in our world.
• That Cittágazze overlaps our Oxford

However:

• Cittágazze has to be roughly four/five thousand miles from the Himalayas (pretty vague, I know, but that's what's been given)
• This, in turn (very near the gulch), must be a fairly short distance from Svalbard in L-world
• Has a very hot, perhaps tropical climate
• Seems to be inhabited by Latinos, possibly Spanish

Anyone know where it lies in the Spectre's world (assuming the continent shapes of the worlds are the same)? I would say Spain, but John Parry and Lee Scorseby manage to travel from Russia (Muscovy) to a place relatively near Cittágazze (the gulch) in a fairly short space of time.

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Merlyn knocked this up a while ago: http://www.bridgetothestars.net/index.php?p=map

Has a very hot, perhaps tropical climate

Ahh, but they are different universes (albeit parallel), anything can happen

Interesting none-the-less.

Will, that map is confusing Maybe it's just 'cos it's late here.

• Has a very hot, perhaps tropical climate
• Seems to be inhabited by Latinos, possibly Spanish

oooh.. i was thinking mediterranean ('cause will says so), and more italian?

no one believes me but i might have read that pullman says it was venice somewhere... but there are no real sources for this belief.

but italian definitely. and coastal.

Ahh, but they are different universes (albeit parallel), anything can happen

Except that if the shape and the location of a place was the same, then the weather/climate would be pretty much equal. The temperature, at least, would be just as hot.

Gazze is an Italian word for magpies. Cittágazze is in Italy or an otherworld equivalent of Italy.

how'd you pronounce magpies anyway? mag-pies, or mag-pees? i've always wondered.

So how come they all speak English? without an accent? Not that I'm disagreeing with the Italy idea.

well they wouldn't speak english if it was spain either.


they speak english so they can communicate with will and lyra.

Does the geography of the Cittagazze world have to relate to Will's world? Personally I can accept it if its a hot, Mediterranean-reminicent place where they speak English and hate cats (isn't the fact that there are no cats there rather contrary to the whole Italy thing?) without it having to relate directly to the world I know best.

the worlds are all shifty, so it may or may not correspond to our world. but the geography in lyra's world seems to correspond, so really, why can't it?

So how come they all speak English?

The people of Cittágazze traveled into other worlds using the knife; they would learn different languages to communicate in those worlds.

Even all the children? Because you don't hear them speaking anything else to anyone. It makes sense from an author's point of view, because its tricky to get your point across if the person making the point speaks the wrong language.

I think my brother was doing this kinda thing before, he had a lot of the locations nailed down, if he has anything on Cittagazze I can tell you. Oh, and the children woulnd't be able to use the knife unless they had the wielder, who would've been that old man. Or am I just forgetting something again?.... I read the books a wihle ago.

how'd you pronounce magpies anyway? mag-pies, or mag-pees? i've always wondered.

The former.

We can be very precise about one thing - the torre degli angeli corresponds exactly to the Jordan Hill Business Park, Oxford.

It's pronounced mag-pies.

I'm so invisible.

*passes hand through self*

Bwaugh!

Apologies, eloquent.

PS Being invisible doesn't make you immaterial.