Who's Who in Asimov M

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W Y Z

Malaine, Biron
Identity adopted by Biron Farrill on his flight from Earth to Rhodia. (6-3)
Malcomber
Chief gardener of the Imperial Palace of Trantor during the time of Cleon I. (9-II-6)
Mallow, Hober
Master trader of Smyrno. Mallow was sent to Korell by Jorane Sutt to investigate the disappearance of Foundation traders there, partly as an attempt to keep Mallow away from a growing political crisis on Terminus. The trading interests which Mallow represented eventually prevailed, but the combination of Mallow's extensive business interests and his rapid rise to political power led to a period of plutocratic government from which smaller traders became increasingly alienated. (10-V)
Mandamus, Levular
Gladia Delmarre's great-great-great-grandson. He became deputy to Kelden Amadiro as head of the Robotics Institute of Aurora when, after study of Earth's history and culture, he presented Amadiro with a plan which would lead to the eventual destruction of Earth by using a network of nuclear intensifiers to increase gradually levels of radiation from naturally-radioactive areas of Earth's crust. Mandamus' intention that this should take place over a long enough period to allow Earth's people to escape was backed by Giskard Reventlov when he and Daneel Olivaw uncovered the plan. (4-I-1-2,4,2-6,IV,V-15-64,18-84,90,91,19-92)
Mandress
System to which Harla Branno was for a time the Foundation's Ambassador. (13-1-2)
Mangin
Delegate of Iss at the all-trader convention on Radole. (11-II-16)
Manlio, Publis
Foundation Foreign Secretary at the time of the second Seldon Crisis, Primate of the Church, and at Jorane Sutt's instigation Hober Mallow's state prosecutor. (10-V-2)
Mannix IV
Mayor of Wye at the time of Hari Seldon's arrival on Trantor. (8-17-85,18-88)
Manowell
One-time Emperor notorious for family feuding. (9-II-21)
Marbie
Ruffian employed by Daneel Olivaw, in the guise of Eto Demerzel, to encourage Hari Seldon to return quickly to Helicon after his arrival on Trantor. Marbie's attempted assault was resisted by Daneel Olivaw, in the guise of Chetter Hummin. (8-2-6)
March, Valona (Lona)
Kyrt millworker of Florina, orphaned when her parents disappeared after being arrested for their involvement in the "Soul of Kyrt" peasants' revolutionary movement. To her was entrusted by Myrlyn Terens the care of the man later known as Rik after he had been psychic-probed and dumped by Terens near March's town. After Rik's recovery and the beginning of the evacuation of Florina, she went to Earth with him. (5)
Maren, Arbin
Farmer of Earth in the ninth century of the Galactic Empire, who first gave shelter to Joseph Schwartz. (7-2,4,5,11)
Maren, Loa
Arbin Marin's wife. (7-2)
Marron, Elgin
Leader of a gang in the Billibotton area of Dahl who accosted Hari Seldon and Dors Venabili after their visit to Mother Rittah. (8-14-70)
Martin, Andrew
Earth robot of legend who gradually became humaniform. (The Bicentennial Man; 3-8-34)
Maskellnik
Roboticist of the University of Eos, and teacher of Levular Mandamus. (4-IV-11-44)
Massena
Planet of the Periphery. (12-II-18)
Mediaevalists
Political faction on Earth which sought to overthrow the then government, destroy the robots which were becoming increasingly common on Earth, and return to what they believed was a better way of life by dismantling the cities which had become too predominant. (1-14,15,17)
Meirus, Lev
First Minister to Lord Stettin of Kalgan. Meirus' advice to avoid confrontation with the Foundation went unheeded in the face of Stettin's ambition and the manipulation of Callia. (12-II-12)
Melpomenia
Planet in what was in Imperial and later times called the Sirius Sector, and the nineteenth of the fifty Outer Worlds to be colonized. By the time Golan Trevize's expedition in search of Earth landed on it, almost all of the atmosphere had disappeared, the only apparent life form being a moss-like growth which flourished wherever carbon dioxide was available. (14-V)
Mental freeze-out
Permanent shutdown of the positronic brain, through being given a choice of actions which it was unable to resolve according to the Laws of Robotics. "Mental freeze-out" and occasionally "stasis" were the Auroran terms for the phenomenon; on Earth "roblock" was used. (Liar!; 2-6,7; Mirror Image; 3-1-1,4-17; 4-II-7-26,28,III-8-29,V-17-81,19-92)
Mentalics
The science and technique of mental control. Various manifestations of supernormal mental powers are described. When Daneel Olivaw was programmed with Giskard Reventlov's powers shortly before Giskard's mental freeze-out he detected the two human minds present as a "cool purr" and an "unsteady thumping", while that of Giskard was a "thin, metallic thread".
Both Daneel and Giskard preferred not to use their mind-altering powers at all if possible, and when they were forced to do so tried merely to strengthen existing favoured tendencies. The results of more drastic tampering, as Daneel described it, could be seen from Giskard's enforced action on the minds of Vasilia Aliena, Kelden Amadiro and Levular Mandamus. That Giskard's powers also extended to robot brains was shown by the ease with which he was able to reprogram a number of Earth's robots, and by his freezing of Landaree when she attacked Daneel.
Joseph Schwartz's Mind Touch was somewhat different; the heightened sensitivity and power of the brain brought about by the synapsifier gave him initially an awareness of other minds' emotional content, and later a more complete mind-reading and mind-controlling ability.
The Mule likened mens' minds to dials indicating a prevailing emotion, which he could read or alter at will to suit his own purposes. Like Daneel and Giskard he could strengthen an existing inclination, as with the un-named Kalganian inventor of the atomic field-depressor used by the Mule against the Foundation, and with Ebling Mis, but he was also prepared to change human emotions entirely, as with Han Pritcher and, more dramatically with the help of a visi-sonor, Dagobert X and the populations of Terminus and Haven.
The psychohistorians of the Second Foundation saw "real" psychohistory (i.e. mentalics) as as much the detection of fleeting gestures and mental change patterns as words, and, indeed, preferred to communicate among themselves in this way. Their direct perceptions of mind were described in terms of tendrils and fibres, and although much of their ethos was couched in terms of minimalism, they were quite prepared to make relatively drastic alterations to human minds when they considered it necessary to maintain the Seldon Plan, and when they thought that they could get away with it.
Not surprisingly, Gaia (as represented through Bliss) was able to detect mental activity in much the same way as Daneel, and was able clearly to distinguish between animal, human and robot mental activity. Like Daneel, Gaia adopted a minimalist approach to influencing other minds, preferring to work towards a participatory consensus rather than impose order through the decree of an individual, as with the Mule, or via the autocracy of a distinct ruling class, as with the Second Foundation. (4-IV-14-63,V-16-74,18-91,19-92; 7-11,12,16,17; 11-II-26; 12-I-6; 13-7-23,12-48,19-87; 14-II-6-24,III-8-33,9-37,IV-10-42,43,11-48,12-52,53,54,55,VII-20-99,21-101)
Mental Static Device
Device designed and built by Toran Darell, with assistance from Elvett Semic, which generated a shifting pattern of electromagnetic energy which had a dramatic effect on the sensitive minds of Second Foundationers. (12-II-20,21; 13-2-7)
Mentalic Shield
A highly secret development of the Mental Static Device which had been used by the Foundation against Second Foundation agents on Terminus, the Mental Shield was used by Harla Branno in her move against the Second Foundation. She then discovered, too late, that Gaia had manipulated her into trying to use it before it was developed fully enough to withstand the power of either the Second Foundation or Gaia itself. (13-2-7,18-79)
Merger Theory
Idea, prevalent in some early Imperial political circles, that various types of human evolved on different planets and interbred during the prehistorical days of space travel. That they would have to have been the same species in the first place to be able to interbreed seems to have escaped the proponents of the Merger Theory. (7-13)
Messter
Air-cab driver of Earth in the ninth century of the Galactic Empire. (7-8)
Metric Time
System of time measurements adopted by Aurora and, subsequently, by the other Outer Worlds. The rest of the galaxy, colonized by Settlers, continued to use measurements derived from Earth's characteristics long after Earth itself had been forgotten. (3-3-10)
Millimaru
Sector of Imperial Trantor. (9-II-12)
Mind Touch
See Mentalics. (7-12,17,18)
Minimalism
Tenet of applied psychohistory by which changes were kept to an absolute minimum, to avoid chaotic side-effects bringing undesired and unpredictable results. Much the same approach was used by Daneel Olivaw in his dealings with human beings. (9-I-4)
Minnim, Albert
Under-Secretary, later Vice-Secretary, of the Terrestrial Department of Justice. (2-1,19; 3-1-4)
Mis, Ebling
First Foundation's leading psychologist. Despite the authoritarian regime of Indbur III, he was able vociferously to maintain democratic ideals unpopular with the government because of his pre-eminence as a scientist. His attempt to duplicate the psychohistorical work of Hari Seldon led to his realisation that a Seldon Crisis was imminent, though his attempt to warn Indbur of the danger was fruitless as the Foundation was almost immediately overrun by the Mule's forces. Under the later, unknown, emotional control of the Mule in the University of Trantor Library he deduced the nature and exact location of the Second Foundation, and was only prevented from revealing it to the Mule when he was killed by Bayta Darell. (11-II-15 etc.)
Mnemon
One of the twenty-seven independent trading worlds. (11-II-16)
Monay, Cinda
Radiational physicist, and member of the technical staff of Hari Seldon's psychohistorical research team at Streeling University. Co-designer of the Electro-Clarifier used in the Prime Radiant. (9-III-6,21)
Monolee
Old man of Alpha met by Janov Pelorat during his visit with Golan Trevize's expedition in search of Earth. (14-VI-17-77,18-78,79)
Mores
Planet coming into the Foundation's sphere of influence at the time of the Mule. (11-II-15)
Morler, Nephi
One-time Senior Director of the executive board of Baleyworld. (4-III-10-38)
Mountel
Evidently unsuccessful rebel of Paramay against Imperial rule. (11-I-1)
Mouth
Apparent rift in Pelot's Nebula, visible in Trantor's sky. (12-I-2)
Mule
Discovered many years later to have been a renegade from Gaia, the Mule used his mental powers, at the time attributed to genetic mutation, to become, for a short time, the effective Emperor of a Second Galactic Empire.
Starting by taking control of a group of bandits, then ever-larger beweaponed groups until, seven years after he began his campaigns, he was able to overcome the military might of Kalgan. There he took on the identity of Magnifico Giganticus, the Mule's "clown", and sought refuge with Bayta and Toran Darell, who had been sent from Haven to try to secure the support of the Mule for the independent traders in what seemed an inevitable civil war against the Foundation's plutocratic and authoritarian regime.
From Kalgan he was taken to Terminus, where, with the help of the Visi-Sonor provided by Ebling Mis, he was able to ensure the rapid collapse of Foundation morale and its capitulation to his forces. Still undetected he joined the Darells and Mis in their escape to Haven, where the collapse in morale and surrender were repeated.
From Haven they travelled via Neotrantor to Trantor, where, under his mental conditioning, Mis was able to deduce the location of the Second Foundation. By then Bayta had herself deduced that "Magnifico" was the Mule, and killed Mis before he could reveal the whereabouts of the Second Foundation.
After five years in which further expansion was halted in favour of consolidation, largely brought about by the Second Foundation's interference with his key personnel, he sent Han Pritcher and Bail Channis to continue the search, knowing that Channis was an agent of the Second Foundation. The Second Foundation trapped him into over-confidence, and on the isolated world of Rossem their First Speaker was able to convince him into believing that they didn't really exist after all.
From then until his death a few years later he ruled as a benign dictator, by which time the Second Foundation had been able to secure a smooth transition of power back to the Foundation proper. (11-II; 12-I; 13-17-71)
Mummery, Gennaro
Member of the Board of the Galactic Library who proposed restricting public access to the library, including to Hari Seldon and his researchers. (9-IV-8)
Munn, Homir
Librarian of Terminus, and an expert on the life and times of the Mule. He was sent to Kalgan by Pelleas Anthor, Toran Darell, Jole Turbor and Elvett Semic in an attempt to find the location of the Second Foundation by examining the records of the Mule's search. Detained by Stettin during Kalgan's war with the Foundation, after the defeat of Kalgan by the Foundation at the Battle of Quoriston he was sent back to Terminus as a peace envoy on the advice of Lev Meirus. His conclusion that the Second Foundation did not really exist was undermined by the discovery that while on Kalgan he himself had been conditioned by the Second Foundation. (12-II-9 etc.)
Mycelium Seventy-Two
Man of Mycogen met by Hari Seldon and Dors Venabili. (8-11-51)
Mycogen
One of the smallest sectors of Trantor, with a population of some two million. Its people clung to old, quasi-religious, traditions and beliefs based upon a claimed lineage from the Spacers of Aurora. Their idiosyncratic ways were tolerated largely because of Mycogen's role, of which its people were proud, as a producer of expensive micro-food of a quality far higher than that prevailing on the rest of Trantor. Mycogenian society was on the surface somewhat patriarchal, and austere though egalitarian economically. (8-7,8,9,10,11,12)