Sto Helit

A duchy on the Sto Plains, formerly ruled by an uncle of Queen Keli's (then Princess Keli).

The former Duke of Sto Helit managed to successfully assassinate his brother (Keli's father) and would have very nearly managed to kill Keli herself were not for the intervention of Mort. Of course, he does make another attempt in person at the coronation, but his second attempt fails along with the coronation when both were swept along with the changes in reality. He is killed later when his hourglass is shattered during the duel between Death and Mort.

After proving untrustworthy as Death's apprentice, Mort became the Duke of Sto Helit and the title provides Susan's surname now.

Various references to Sto Helit during the events of Lords and Ladies, reveal that the city is something of a centre of haute couture, (to the inhabitants of Lancre at least) and appears to be the Ramtop-dweller's gateway to the Sto Plains. In Mrs Bradshaw's Handbook this impression is confirmed. Sto Helit city is cited as having a population of 3,500 and "enjoys a provincial reputation for 'class' and genteel living'. The town has out-stripped its ancient walls and spreads itself along shop and café-lined fine avenues. Its forbidding castle has taken the stately home route to survival and is now open to the public; the Long Gallery from which a monarch was once assassinated by a scheming relative is now open to the commoners who can view fine landscapes in the Brindisian style as well as portraits of the Sto Helit ducal family. One wonders what form Susan Sto Helit's portrait takes and where there's anything odd about it. Her parents must also raise similar musings.

Bilberry's Emporium is a local dressmakers who hold, among other things, the Royal Warrant of the Queen of Lancre.

• Appears in Mort and Mrs Bradshaw's Handbook.