many details of ankh-morpork appear to have been inspired by fritz leiber's fictional city lankhmar (although pratchett has said "i didn't – at least consciously, i suppose i must say – create ankh-morpork as a takeoff of lankhmar"); john d. rateliff notes that leiber's characters "the gray mouser and fafhrd guest-star in the very first discworld story, "the colour of magic", under the pseudonyms of the weasel and bravd".