Inspired by a photograph of a conceptual art installation showing an old-fashioned steam locomotive and a length of track – but rotated by 90 degrees and standing vertically upright, pointing upwards in the manner of a space rocket about to take off. Some people thought this was down to a Rag Week prank played by student Wizards on the Rail Ways. But…
As can be seen in the accompanying iconograph, BS Johnson's attempt to replicate the success of the Kite vis-a-vis space travel did not go according to plan. It got off the ground OK but he failed to appreciate that steam power is not an ideal propulsion system in the vacuum of space, and to get a spacecraft into orbit would require a massive investment in terms of track and sleepers with an engineering difficulty inherent in keeping such an unsupported railway line in place. his unfortunately named Velocity Two, or V2, system also caused an international incident when the first prototype space rocket failed to attain escape velocity and inevitably came down to Earth again nearby, but not on, the city of Kancho in Agatea. The Agateans immediately blamed it on the secretive and paranoid neighbouring state of Hubwards Grimchi, who are known to be experimenting with really big Barking Dogs capable of blasting the country next door (with an intention of threatening not only Agatea but the acknowledged Discworld superpowers of Klatch and Ankh-Morpork).
Diplomatic crises thus ensued.
Grimchi, (1) the substance from which the nation gets its name, is known to be a cabbage derivative with a LOT of exothermic alchemical power behind it. The thinking goes that if this can be reliably harnessed as an explosive, the nation with the secret will become powerful indeed. It is thought that Lord Vetinari has requested the Guild of Assassins to monitor the situation, and its Agatean specialists are considering the best route of approach to the Hubwards Grimchian political leadership in order to raise these concerns in a face-to-face summit. Meanwhile, inventive minds in Ankh-Morpork, of which we have plenty, are considering how grimchi might be used to power a future space flight, and provide the massive amount of propulsive energy packed into a necessarily limited space which will be needed to make this possible.
(1) The L-Space wiki has this to say concerning Grimchi: (written for the Wiki by me based on the mentions in canon, I think in Mrs Bradshaw's Guide To The Rail Ways, so this is not breaching too much copyright)
Grimchi is a foodstuff known and mainly avoided in parts of the Agatean Empire. It is created by taking significantly large amounts of cabbage (the Jolly Giant variety, for preference, although the Choi Champion is also a recognised variety), macerating it, adding pickling vinegar and the very special Seven Spice Black Powder whose precise chemical composition is a closely-guarded secret known only to grimchi-adepts back home. The ingredients are then thoroughly stirred, placed into specially reinforced fermentation vats, and, once firmly sealed, buried in the earth for seven years. In very deep pits.
The B'Hang family from Agatea moved to the Central Continent, having heard wonderful travellers' tales of a land so abundant in cabbage that it grew almost wild for hundreds of miles in every direction. They arrived to discover the wild and exaggerated tales brought back by a previous intrepid explorer were, in fact, understated, if anything. In a joyous sense of having arrived in Heaven without actually having died first, the B'Hang family established a grimchi-making enterprise that they envisaged would make them rich for life, once they began exporting it Home. And who knows, the local white ghosts, who, get this, could only think of boiling the stuff and eating it practically fresh, yuk, might get a taste for it too.
Alas, the Bhang family were prepared neither for the overwhelming quantity of cabbage nor familiar with the peculiarities of Central Continent brassica. Having established seven huge, custom-made, ceramic fermentation vats and having buried them deeply, they sat back to wait out the necessary years until the grimchi had fermented to perfection.
They did not wait very long.
A series of massive, destructive, explosions rent the air. Ceramic shrapnel scythed down everything it touched. Great boluses of foul-smelling sludge contaminated everything it touched for a radius of some miles from Ground Zero. Fearing they would be blamed for the catastrophe, the B'Hang family moved very quickly away and are lost to history. The population of Seven Bangs has since stabilised at 27, and the railway engineers established a line through the area, threading the railway between seven huge craters, with some caution. Seven Bangs Halt serves the residual cabbage-farming industry, which is yet to recover. Travelling out of Ankh-Morpork, the preceding station is Upper Feltwhistle and the next stop is Fratchwood.
Annotation[edit]
This is the first Discworld mention of Korea, or a Korean-like country. Kimchi is a Korean dish of cabbage fermented in vinegar. Its strong taste is not to everybody's liking; it's like Marmite. You love it or hate it. Pak Choi is a Chinese cabbage variety.
