Common Worlds

Ruled by Prime Factor Tutuateoh-to the Sixty-Fourth, the 879.458 square hectare Island of Numbers has 1,123 natives as of the last count done this morning. Their god extends his Sliding Rule over them from his Point atop the Log Table.

Natives of Forowonowon are all exceptionally good at math and extremely intolerant of fuzzy thinking or approximation. They are also all concentrated sorcerers of a unique version of Valkarism. Ordinary farmers and fishers of this island chat casually about the Theorem of Complete Quadrilateral or Properties of Equiangular Polygons the way folk in the outside world chat about the weather. While not everyone can read, everyone can do high-order math.

While demand for native's abilities among the 7,298 trader princes of the world outstrips supply by 369:1, the outside world's inaccuracies often annoy the natives so greatly that they rarely stay away from home for long, with an average sojourn lasting only 378.89 days, a mean of 345.921 and a median of 330.4322 days.

Original picture by Kirk Gisiner. Amateurish coloring by me.

Disorientation, darkness, then a grayish light and the crowding presence of innumerable voices and eyes. They speak as one, filling your mind, your very essence. They are inside you, and know you better than you do.

You were born of a fraction of the power of our family. But we are more and you must be more.

You trust in your intellect. But where is your wisdom?

You count yourself loyal, our willing tool. But we are not in need of a servant.

Our household is rudderless, without direction. It is a ship pushed before whatever wind hits it.