It is situated on the world of Nehwon, just west of the Great Salt Marsh and east of the River Hlal, and serves as the home of Leiber's two antiheroes.
The Thieves' Guild is influential, too, and controls Lankhmar's abundant criminal element, with the notable exceptions of Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser.
Leiber's Lankhmar bears considerable similarity to 16th Century Seville as depicted in Miguel de Cervantes' classical picaresque tale "Rinconete y Cortadillo"[citation needed]: a bustling, cosmopolitan maritime city, into whose port galleons sail laden with gold from which only a few benefit, with a thoroughly corrupt civil government and a powerful and well-organized Thieves' Guild—all seen through the eyes of two young adventurers who formed a partnership to guard each other's back in this dangerous milieu.
The change in the final published spelling may have been due to Leiber misreading some of the early maps created by Harry Fischer and his wife Martha.
In 2015, Pinnacle Entertainment Group released Lankhmar: City of Thieves along with a collection of supplements and accessories including a player's guide, maps, adventures, character archetypes, and a gamemaster's screen.
This set introduces modifications of the base DCC rules for a style of play more consistent with Leiber's writing, as well a city guide, and an introductory adventure.
Two key characters in Pratchett's first Discworld novel, The Colour of Magic, are Bravd and the Weasel, a reference to Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser, and the name Ankh-Morpork is itself a partial anagram of Lankhmar.