Mallum

 

(Mallum is the setting of Rooted Together by Mr. Vandrin. Check it out by clicking here!)

 

Other Appellations:

 

The Dutch Tulipwoman World (Alpha), Universe 52121 (Universe 161)

 

Fox Harmonic:

 

Rho-Tau

 

Astral Connection:

 

L3 D3

 

Mallum features a moderate connection to the Astral. Supernatural occurrences are, on the whole, rare, but aren’t so rare so as to cause people to doubt their existence. Justin and his grandfather how no problem accepting the reality of Vivian.

Spirits exist in this world and also ghosts, but they rarely interact with the vast majority of humanity. It takes someone special to interact with the spirits and to know that there are more worlds than what the senses reveal, someone like a witch or a kindoki.

 

Caution Rating:

 

1

 

Mallum is a peaceful universe. The spirit realm of the Astral is more likely to bother people than the other way around.

 

Multiverse Activity:

 

Infrequent

 

This universe’s interaction with the multiverse is more or less limited to certain individuals interacting with spirits of the Astral.

 

Keywords:

 

Analog, Quantum

 

Description:

 

I our world and theirs, Mallum is a small town in the Netherlands, in Friesland, specifically. In our world, the Netherlands is a member of Earth State and is perhaps best known for Mighty Oak, its chief superhero and one of the most famous Changelings on Earth. On this world, the Netherlands is an independent nation with its own flag. On both worlds, Mallum is a farming community, venerable and proud. Some of its families have been tending the same land since the middle ages.

 

Around 400 CE, Mallum started like many towns in the Netherlands as a terp, or a raised dwelling meant to hold back water. Mallum comes from the world Maleheim which means the home of the mad. Legend has it that it got its name from a story told by mothers to their kids to keep them from climbing on top of the terf. They told them that at the top of the terf lived an evil mad man who would throw them off if the caught them.

 

Amazing how our worlds can be so far apart yet have so much history in common, but that’s analog worlds for you!

 

Note that while an analog universe, Mallum is not a calendar analog. It is currently 2011 in their world.

 

Our ARGO probes were brought to this world by a certain alarune named Vivian who has trouble remembering her past. She has taken to living with an eleven year old boy named Justin and his grandfather. She’s haughty and vain but very innocent, almost childlike in some ways, and our noosphere technicians have revealed that she suffers from very bad dreams about a dark past she would rather forget.

 

Vivian isn’t the only magical creature on the planet, but she’s one of the more mysterious, which is why our probes are attracted to her and the little family that’s adopted her.

 

Individuals of Note

 

Justin

 

 

Justin is an eleven year old farm boy who lives with his grandfather. He’s a hard-working, honest boy and fortunately for Vivian very tolerant of talking flowers. He’s got a good head on his shoulders and keeps an open mind which, again, was very fortunate for Vivian.

 

Vivian doesn’t realize how lucky she is she was greeted by someone with a watering can and not a weed whacker.

Raw Power 0

Durability 1

Speed 1

Sanity 6

Intelligence 3

Skill 3

 

Vivian

 

 

 

Vivian is an alarune of indeterminate origins found by a middle-schooler named Justin while on a walk through the woods. She reacted to him pricking his finger on her thorns and bleeding on her petals.

 

She’s been living with Justin and his grandfather ever since, being rather helpless on her own.

 

She can’t remember much about her past and has trouble even recalling basic information about herself such as where she came from, who her parents were–if she even had parents–and how she came to live in the woods around Justin’s farm.

 

Vivian has an ego. She refers to Justin and her grandfather as mortals and proudly lords her supernatural origin over them. But she’s also very innocent and naïve. She knows very little about the world around her, and Justin often has to teaches her about things. She is absolutely blown away by the toy aisles of supermarkets and green houses, which are to her like extremely relaxing saunas.

 

In our universe, “alarune” is a rather esoteric name for a takwin, a very early form of artificial life. In this universe, the term applies to a kind of carnivorous plant people. Whether Vivian owes her origin to alchemy as our alarunes do is unknown at this time. So much about Vivian is unknown. Like a plant, she needs water, but she also needs meat and blood. That’s not unheard of in the plant world. Sundews are carnivorous. But Vivian eats a lot of meat–entire heads of cattle, often sourced from a neighbor’s farm.

 

Vivian is covered by what appears to be a form-fitting jumpsuit at first glance but is in actuality a part of her body. When cold, she can project a bulb around herself and huddle inside for warmth. She is able to survive wounds that would kill a human. Case in paint, while “borrowing” cattle from a neighbor’s farm, she was shot with a scattergun. She didn’t have to worry about being hungry that night, because she didn’t have a stomach–or much of what was on the right side of her body. Her wound would completely heal in a couple of days.

 

Her pollen is able to bring the dead back to life…with mixed results. The last time she tried it, she ended up bringing Justin’s pet rabbit (and several other animals) back to unlive thus creating “zombunnie” who sometimes snuggles with her. I guess zombunnie belongs to both her and Justin now.

 

Raw Power 4

Durability 8

Speed 2

Sanity 2

Intelligence 2

Skill 2

 

Crossover Detection!

 

Halloween Hijinks

 

 

In this universe, just like in our own, Admiral Pizza is a chain of pizza eateries. This universe also has a retelling of the adventures of Soren and his robot Centurion through the puppet television show Soren and His Amazingly Noteworthy Robot Centurion

 

ARGO Note:

 

“Aw man, they’re just Fox echoes? I got excited when you mentioned Halloween.”

 

“How come?”

 

“Well you know how it is. Halloween is a time when the Archon walls thin, like Christmas.”

 

“Well, the odds for a STC shift slightly during Halloween, but only slightly.”

 

“They still shift! The first time the W-series and P-series crossed over was during Halloween!”

 

“Well I’m sorry I got your hopes up. Since you like Halloween so much, I’ll put you in charge of the Hallowed World entry.”

 

“Awesome! Thank you! I’ve been wanting to research the Maskers for awhile!”

 

–ARGO researcher Book to ARGO researcher Hand

 

FLAGGED FOR REMOVAL BY ARCHIVISTS

 

ARGO Note:

 

“Hey Hand, you remember the last time the Martins’ kids logged into our systems for their multiverse studies reports? Well one of them left this list of movies for “movie night.” They apparently have some kind of film club at Martin’s. But get this–he’s got some really good picks! He’s got Forbidden Planet, the Seventh Voyage of Sinbad, and King Kong–the original one.”

 

“Sounds like he’s into old adventure films.”

 

“Yeah. He’s got films my grandfather used to watch. You know I actually felt kind of nostalgic looking over his list. My Grandad used to watch those movies with me. Heck, Forbidden Planet, that’s what inspired me to join ARGO. I wanted to find planets like Altair IV and meet Robby the Robot. I gave the list back to the kid’s teacher as he left but I included a little note–check out Mysterious Island and Around the World in 80 Days.”

 

“Did you tell him which ones?”

 

“Nope. And I don’t think I needed to. He’ll know which ones I’m talking about.”

 

–ARGO researcher Book to ARGO researcher Hand

 

“Please keep off-topic discussion to the researcher forums, thank you.”

 

–ARGO archival MS Dewey