Hello all! Here are the references that I can remember that I put in Auldhame.
On the Road and Off the Road
The listening device in the mine was inspired by the story of people who allegedly recorded sounds from Hell in a deep hole. Not theologically accurate, but a very intriguing idea for a story.
It was actually my original idea to have a gates of hell below the sign, but the bottomless pit made more sense. The two symbols were originally to mean “endless confinement”, but I saw that they made even more sense as meaning “endless/bottomless pit”. I left “Hell” on the sign though, since whoever put the sign there would no doubt think it was Hell (perhaps whoever was using the listening device). The Greek around the door is this passage from Revelation:
και ο πεμπτος αγγελος εσαλπισεν και ειδον αστερα εκ του ουρανου πεπτωκοτα εις την γην και εδοθη αυτω η κλεις του φρεατος της αβυσσου και ηνοιξεν το φρεαρ της αβυσσου και ανεβη καπν…(the word “καπνος” is unfinished)
And the fifth angel sounded, and I saw a star fall from heaven unto the earth: and to him was given the key of the bottomless pit. And he opened the bottomless pit; and there arose a smoke…
The idea of the gates of the bottomless pit with an inscription and an ominous keyhole was no doubt inspired by the Cooper Kids book The Door in the Dragon’s Throat by Frank Peretti.
In the “Dark Inn” in the Waltzing Willow Inn it is suggested that Edgar Allen Poe was one of their exhibits, but escaped. I am sure you know who Poe is. There is also the reference to Alice in Wonderland with the Cheshire Dragon, which you can see has vanished except its grin.
Baton and Beyond
There are some puns in the Waterarium: miniature squids (rather than giant squids), silverfish (which are of course a bug, not a fish), and sea pencils rather than sea pens. The “sea tree” came from my wondering why there are no trees underwater like those on land (I imagine that if there were, they would probably be carnivorous). Bilge buttons and bell worms are also my own imaginings.
Mickey Mouse’s sinister ears can be seen over the hedge. Perhaps inspired by the time I saw Mickey on a Nazi plane in an air museum – with a cigar, an axe, and a bomb.
In Lorry’s you can find “Mariana wood chips” suggesting that there are trees in the Mariana Trench, and there is soul vinegar (rather than spirit vinegar).
The “people of the Toadstools” who forbid your entrance to the Powdered Hare are a reference to members of the White Witch’s horde mentioned in The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe:
“Call the Ghouls, and the Boggles, the Ogres and the Minotaurs. Call the Cruels, the Hags, the Spectres, and the people of the Toadstools. We will fight.”
The words spoken in the tomb of Manlulko are the same that were written in elder Futhark runes on the chain on the book (hence why you need to read the runes first). They are proto-germanic words I got from the Wikipedia page on elder Futhark. I did not intend to use proto-germanic at first, but they were so handy I decided to use them, though I did not look up grammar; I just made it a kind of title or chant. They are: “ᚹᚢᚾᛃᛟ ᚱᚨᛁ ᛞᛟ ᛟᚦᚨᛚᚨ ᛗᚨᚾᚾᚨᛉ”, “wunjō raidō ōþala mannaz”, “Joy Ride/Journey Heritage Man”.
Manlulka
The Christmas card in the Lotchine church references the prophecy of Christ by Balaam in Numbers 24:17:
I shall see him, but not now: I shall behold him, but not nigh: there shall come a Star out of Jacob, and a Sceptre shall rise out of Israel, and shall smite the corners of Moab, and destroy all the children of Sheth.
The poetry inside the card is my own invention: “Be blessed and forgiven, thy chains today are riven; the Water of Life and Blood of God make for us a place under our Shepherd’s rod.”
In the garden behind King’s Krumbs there are some puns: threlips (instead of tulips, 3 instead of 2), and mashed potatoe glories (instead of morning glories). The plant called “doorplug” you might recognize as fennel, which it is: fennel was used to plug keyholes to keep out ghosts. If you find the secret message in the bread, that is a reference to Winnie-the-Pooh, when Christopher Robin leaves a “missage” on his door: “Gon out backson bisy backson C. R.”, and Owl thinks this refers to a “Spotted or Herbaceous Backson”.
Here is a list of sources for the records in Yoken’s Bookwares:
On the bookshelf in Yoken’s there is a copy of Obadiah, which I copied from a facsimile of the 1611 KJV, with the spellings thereof.
The book The Whale of Bricken is a reference to a book I made, found in the first twine story I “completed”, as yet unpublished because of a side branch of the story that is yet uncompleted.
The book The Burning Leaf is a book found in the first twine story I really did complete, and the first one I made as a point-and-click. You can get a link to this story if you win the card game in I Spy Baby Dragons and find all the secret passages and figure out all the passwords. But since you are a Patron, here is the link!
The Exhausting (exhaustive) Lexicon of Limbon is a functioning language I made for Auldhame: it is basically Toki Pona, in that I used the definitions from the Toki Pona dictionary (with a some split for more words) and made different words for them in a different sound system.
To the left from the fountain you find the same house as in the story I gave you a link to, but now it is for sale and a bit emptier. You will notice that the bathtub (and its occupant, if it hasn’t been arrested yet) are now at the Lotchine church, and the creature that was in the bed is now in the wall (if it hasn’t been arrested either).
The numbers on the key clock in the Watchery are the runic pentimal system, which just happens to be a key shape at the number twelve.
The tomb behind Attanuk & Son’s reads: “HIC IACET PUPAS DE PUERI”, “Here lie the dolls of the children”. If you can correct my Latin, please do!
In the Cat’s Primer in the School of Thought J is as in John, and the picture is seven stars, which is a reference to Revelation. M is as in Maher-shalal-hash-baz, and the picture is someone running, because Maher-shalal-hash-baz means “hastening to the spoil” in Hebrew.
Safehame
Over in Safehame, the gravestone references are these:
John Openshaw is a character in the Sherlock Holmes story The Five Orange Pips. Notice the five orange pips engraved on the tomb.
Restimar refers to lord Restimar in the Voyage of the Dawn Treader. He no doubt lies deeper than when buried because he was sadly turned to solid gold.
Rindzac the Worwil was from Angel Fall by Coleman Luck. Mountaincry is the parallel of the Final Judgement in that imagined world.
Asshere was from Beowulf: he was the man taken from Heorot by Grendel’s mother, after everyone thought they were safe.
Josephine Anwhistle was from A Series of Unfortunate Events by Lemony Snicket: she was the aunt that count Olaf pushed into the lake Lachrymose.
Kenneth Mornington was a character from War in Heaven by Charles Williams.
Otto Svendson was from Captains Courageous by Rudyard Kipling. He was the boy who had fallen overboard and whose place on the We’re Here was taken by Harvey Cheyne.
Fan Scrooge was from A Christmas Carol. She was Ebenezer’s little sister.
“Jup” (or “Jupiter”) was the faithful orangutan in The Mysterious Island by Jules Verne.
Mabeuf was an old man who loved books in Les Miserables by Victor Hugo.
The “Unknown Being” is of course yourself, whom you can dig out of a grave. This is the grave you get put in after being swallowed by the creature in the hollow tree.
Lona the queen is a girl in Lilith by George MacDonald.
Franklin P. Scudder is the man at the beginning of The Thirty-Nine Steps by John Buchan, who had faked his own death.
Nildro-hain (a name meaning “blackbird’s song”) was a rabbit from Watership Down by Richard Adams.
Mrs. Portman and Richardson are characters from The Place of the Lion by Charles Williams. A little of Berringer might be in that grave too.
Gwindor was a prince of Nargothrond in The Silmarillion by J. R. R. Tolkien.
Green Mountain
In the phone number for the Bottomless Pit the 5 stands for the fifth angel, the 8 for endless/bottomless, and the 0 for pit. I forget what the 530 was for.
When you dial 911 you get “pulped in a LUCAS”. LUCAS stands for “Lund University Cardiopulmonary Assist System”, and is a mechanical chest compression device.
The song that plays inside the Green Mountain is What Child is This.
The very very large owl you see through the telescope is mentioned on the sign you can see through the telescope in This Room upstairs in the house for sale to the left of the fountain in Manlulka.
The song that plays in your Auldhame is also What Child is This, played on a musicbox. You hear it indistinctly under the roots of the Green Mountain inside the Cockpit mine, as you fall asleep in Auldhame, and also when you somehow get a call from Auldhame if you wait seven seconds without picking up the phone in the phone booth.
Those are all I remember now. If you notice any others let me know!
God be with you all!
– Patrick