Some Background (For Writers)

Pyramid mall is as one might imagine a pyramid: With four massive entryways on the ground floor shaped like Egyptian temples. Inside there are 23 public levels of every kind of shop one can imagine and more than a few that the average person cannot.

In general the stranger a shop is the higher up in the 23 public floors it will be: as an example; of the 49 'pet' stores in the mall Petco, Petsmart, the 2 independent pet supply outlets and the 3 puppy, kitten, and fish mills are all on floors 1-2, where as the Horse dealership is on floor 5, and “Jungle Jim's Exotica” is on floor 10. The 'Pet' shop on floor 23 specializes in exotic sapients such as dragons and vampires who have wholly voluntarily sold themselves into slavery because for reasons of their own they actually WANT to be slaves. As a compromise the local Humane Society animal shelter occupies a large area on floor 9, since while they mostly deal with cats and dogs they have been known to get things like “Domesticated” Tigers and in one memorable case a baby dragon: who fortunately it's family reclaimed that same day. ('Puff' was sooo CUTE! The Shelter staff still get postcards from Maggie and the rest of the fam every month and look forward to them.)

An exhaustive list of the shops in the mall would be impossible as they change on a nearly daily basis, but in basic there are the following that remain fairly constant: 179 stores such as Aropostal, Hot Topic, Lane Bryant, Troppico, Et all, who sell overpriced clothes to nich markets, 42 shoe stores that sell shoes to slightly broader markets, 57 'gift' stores that sell cheap, or expensive, gewgaws which always seem to stay open in spite of doing little business, 7 grocery stores including a Whole Foods and an A&P, 21 Jewelry stores of various stripes from independent outfits to major chains, 1 each of JC Pennies, Sears, Macie's, and Khol's occupying the 'anchor' positions just inside the main doors on the first three levels of the outer ring, 8 major book stores including what may be the only 'Amazon' outlet store in existence, as well as dozens of smaller 'boutique' book shops on the higher levels (Everything from vintage romance novels to actual grimoirs, used or blank diaries to TL 9+ operators manuals, and custom photo albums to 'little black books'. One deserves special mention however: Gadling, Gadling, and Smyth: who make blank books to the specs of the buyer, and can make nearly any kind of blank book you need, up to and including ones bound in dragon hide and with pages made from the vellum of baby albino deer.), no less than 27 video-game arcades (with at least one on most levels), a number of tailoring and leather working shops, at least 7 game stores, everything from video-games, to board games, to an RPG specialist (A little of everything, but only RPG's.), to a Games Workshop outlet, and a rival on the opposite side of the mall and one level up who deals in all the other miniatures lines, 4 small movie theaters, an opera house, 3 bank branches and 50 ATMs, 5 'hotels' which book rooms for people on serous shopping expeditions that want to take in all of the mall as a vacation, honey moon, or other multi day excursion, and 21 assorted bars, pubs, alehouses, speakeasies, and taverns.

The mall has close to 1000 restaurants of various kinds, which become increasingly common, but; as usual; stranger, the higher one goes in the mall. Humans can be fairly safe on floors 1-15, but anything higher than that you are gambling with your health and sanity. (The Restaurants on floors 20-23 may actually offer up YOU as the meal.) The one exception is the central food court, which runs all 23 levels and features more typical mall fair such as Cinebon and Subway. This food court has 92 'restaurants' in it each one taking up a kiosk around the central elevator column and seating area, 4 per floor. They seem to be laid out with no rhyme or reason but all do good business so obviously some thought has gone into their locations. Among others there are 3 McDonald’s, a Wendi’s, a Burger King, a Ninja Burger, 4 Subways, a Penn Station, One each of Dominoes, Papa John’s, Pizza Hut, and Chuckie Cheese’s, (On one of the four 'Childcare' levels: 1, 5, 10, and 15 respectively, these pay by the hour daycare centers allow parents to shop without having to drag their kids with them. Their staff are screened by process no mortal daycare could employ and thus there has never been any molestation incident or child getting lost, at least not one left with the daycare.) Two sushi bars, a Chik Filet, seven assorted Chinese takeout joints, a taco bell as well as 4 other 'Mexican' places including an experimental 'Blitzkrieg' Pancho Sanza's, a British 'pub' on level 11, and over a dozen other 'ethnic' restaurants from a dozen different dimensions. Many of these restaurants also have branches elsewhere in the mall, especially Pancho Sanza's which has no less than 4 other franchises scattered about the first 7 levels.

Most of the many stores in the mall are much harder to categorize than the ones above: things such as 2 Vhuduohn shops (One 'light' and one 'dark'.), a 'custom blacksmith' vendor, and the only public dealer of radioactive compounds left in the United States. All in all there are over 10K stores in the mall, and most keep odd hours or have doormen who only let in known customers or those escorted by the same. The good news is that the mall never closes, so you can keep shopping for months and not run out of stores to visit.

The mall's upper levels are not open to the public, and the official explanation that these upper floors are occupied by corporate offices, a multi floor 'security station', staff residences, VIP residences, Merchandize Storage for the shops bellow, and the mall's private utilities plants is not inaccurate.

Each floor of the mall has 17 foot ceilings, with an additional 3 feet of duct work, pipes, and structural members between visible floors. The main hallways average 3 stories high with promenades around the edges and big open spaces in the middle which often have live trees growing in them thanks to grow lights in the ceiling.

The mall's security wear maroon uniforms with gold pyramids on the sleeves. They are typically former police officers or members of military or intelligence agencies. You would be well advised to do what they say because they are some of the best trained and equipped individuals in the known Multi-verse.

Pyramid Mall is one of the top 5 malls in the near-group of universes and among the top 20 in the known Multi-verse, people come from hundreds of dimensions to visit it and take in the sights and odd shops. Mall security makes sure these people enjoy their visits and tell their friends what a wonderful time they had, sometimes with memory altering enchantments or post hypnotic suggestion. In fact the musical speakers in the mall include a number of subtle pieces of subliminal messaging telling people to not argue, not make a scene, have a good time, and take advantage of the opportunities for enjoyment offered to them. Interestingly the mall does not encourage people to shop or spend money in any direct way in the subliminal messages...

On a typical day around half a million people pass through Pyramid Mall, ether as shoppers or workers, (Who also are often shoppers after they get off work.) and these include people of every ethnicity, nationality, religion, and political affiliation for much of the multiverse. Tourists from across the dimensions are the biggest customers of Pyramid Mall, and on average the mall hosts around 33% locals from Lake Wobegon, Minnesota, Dimension 070-G13-AZ4 and the surrounding area and 60% visitors from outside the dimension, with both percentages discounting mall staff and shop employees, and the other 7% being a toss up on any given day. As such among other jobs at the mall people who speak multiple trans dimensional languages fluently can work as 'Shopping Guides' to help tourists find what they are looking for and communicate with clerks, staff, security, and sales people. These translators/pathfinders have a guild, which all people wishing to work this job would be well advised to join.

One of the mottos of Pyramid Mall is 'Everything under one roof!' which if one takes the stance that a pyramid is made up entirely of roof is fairly accurate. When a spot opens up in the malls complex structure for a new store to move in, which happens about once a week or so with there being so many stores, the mall's management look for a number of factors in deciding which of several bidders they will allow to move into the space: but the most important of which is this: 'Do we have one of these already?' Though some chain stores are allowed to operate multiple branches in the mall typically the mall prefers to have as much diversity of merchandize offered to discerning customers as possible. Thus if a store is moving out and they can get in a store similar to the one leaving to take their place, that is what they will do. If they cannot they then look for applying stores that are different enough from all of their existing stores that they will not be in competition for shoppers with stores that are established and paying their rents in full and on time. Failing both of those criteria they look for stores with the following points in their favor: cash reserves, marketable products, name recognition, appropriate level of weirdness for the space available, and stability in their customer base. They also prefer stores that are not part of a chain and are able to deal with tourists. These layers of sieving typically reduce the hundreds of applicants for a space down to less than a half dozen, who then are interviewed and a final selection made by the mall's senior partners. Some stores must apply hundreds of times before they win a place at the mall, while a lucky few get in on their first go.