The (Disc)world as we know it is changing:  the semaphore system, with the possibility of instant communication across continents, is bringing civilisation into heretofore dark and savage regions of the disc. You can ask about markets on the other side of the disc and get all the information you need before lunch. Some of the smaller countries are feeling more secure, some of the bigger more cautious. The World Is Watching. Whether it is consuming large bowls of popcorn at the same time is anybody's guess.

In the dark recesses of Überwald, the dwarves are crowning a Low King of all Dwarfdom. Vimes only really cares about the attendant sectarian violence spilling out of dwarf bars onto the streets of his city, and strange crimes involving dwarf bread museums and rubber-factory owners. Unfortunately, he's the Duke of Ankh now, and disturbances under distant mountains are now part of that job description. He's going to be Ankh-Morpork's ambassador to one of the largest, most mysterious countries in the Ramtops; taking along Sybil, of course, and Cheery and Detritus.

The balance of power in Überwald is a tenuous thing - the vampires versus the great werewolf clans, and beneath all are the dwarf kingdoms, mine-loyalties twisting and turning and interlocking far underground with little references to surface borders. Humans caught in the middle are usually just lunch. But the largest dwarf city this side of the hub is now Ankh-Morpork, and as one is not staked, beheaded with lemons in the ears, chopped into rubble or used as a lawn-ornament as a matter of government policy, more and more non-humans have moved into the land of rats and ketchup leaving Vetinari's balancing-act an even more delicate proposition than before. The crowning of the Low King is therefore a very important event, even spilling out into Vimes's streets, so of course he's obliged to go. Just to Keepe thee Piece (hur hur).