ambergris, named for "the most secret and valued part of the whale", is a fantastical urban milieu, explicitly modern and apparently pre-industrial (despite the presence of guns, bombs, and motor vehicles). ambergris is characterized by grocery stores, post offices, cafés, and vendors (the "borges bookstore" bears note). the city was built over the land (and quiet protests) of the fungally-adept "graycaps", humanoids of uncertain disposition. the inhabitants of ambergris enjoy a fascination with squid, and celebrate an anarchic annual festival of the freshwater squid.