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User:Apathy Is Murder

2020-01-17T22:14:22Z

Salinea: Blanked the page

Desri-AoS

2020-01-17T22:11:02Z

Salinea: Reverted edits by BROFLAKE MAD (talk) to last revision by Tolknor

'''My King,

'''Part of me laughs that I'm writing to a king. To "My King" And that you might actually accept my word.

'''My sister Doria and I came to Amber and in the course of 5 years met and with the help of kinsman, defeated the Lord of Chaos who had tormented us since birth. He had even been responsible for our birth so in a way it occurs to me that in the final death of the Dominator, also named Darnuthas rasaka afuras, it severed completely any connection to my past.

'''My life before Amber was a long one filled with wars, and horrors, and rank pleasures too numerous to name. It gave me madness and hatred. I was enslaved first by the Dominator and then by my sister who our world knew as Lady. To list the grievances i held and the crimes i committed would be the litany of hours.

'''I was awash in madness, bloodshed, anger, and conquest for centuries. Then something akin to shock when my sister and I were suddenly pulled from our realm and brought to Amber. Our wars were done though shadows of them continued to grisly unforseen ends.

'''Coming here i experienced several things immediately. I had a purging of all the magical entanglements that had wrapped me in might and fury. This procedure performed on my sister and i by no less then Dworkin felt like a snake shedding a million layers of skin at once. What was left behind was a very differant, much smoother and much cleaner creature.

'''There was a moment of clarity after this procedure that i can never explain. You know the details so i shan't go on.

'''Let it be said, that afterwards, i felt a of freedom i had never felt. It was behind me. I even settled my ancient grievances with my sister who i knew as Lady, and Doretea Senjak. For the most part anyway. After a long walk in shadow with my grandfather Benedict and my Sister Doria I realized that all debts were paid, all crimes forgotten and as best as possible, forgiven.

'''I sat at a table near the front of your hall, the first day of 5226, for the New Year celebrations. At our table sat Prince Benedict, Doria[[https://wiki.rpg.net/index.php/Heirs_and_spares#Doria:_Daughter_of_Benedict]] and I[[https://wiki.rpg.net/index.php/Heirs_and_spares#Desri:_Daughter_of_Benedict]], our newly discovered sister Yalla[[https://wiki.rpg.net/index.php/Heirs_and_spares#Yalla:_Daughter_of_Benedict]]. With us were Banidoc and Visaly, my step-brothers. I felt part of a family in a way i never had before. I was a whole new woman.

'''Soon after that i walked the pattern. You instructed me yourself. I transported into shadow and spent a few years doing little more then wander. I indulged in familiar vices to find they did not delight me as they did. I engaged in casual cruelties and gave me no pleasures. Isaw new lands, learned new tongues, sampled new pleasure and new vices. I sought out new magics and new powers. My old self was not totally gone. Then something unforeseen occurred.

'''I was offered a job. It came by surprise. I was eating in a restaurant and a harried manager asked if i wanted a job? It seemed the most insane suggestion i had ever been given. Soulcather of the [[Ten Who Were Taken]], The Protector of Taglios, Credence Senjak, daughter of Benedict, granddaughter of Oberon, being asked to be a waitress in a diner. I laughed in the man's face.

'''I also worked there for 4 years.

'''In many ways those four years were the best of my life. Formative even. My past was unknown. I spent time with people who asked few questions. their ambitions were small. Comfort, companionship, love. I met men who wanted my fresh body and had no desire for power. I met women who wanted my strength and had little ambition. I made love for pleasure. This was new to me.

'''I ate and learned to cook. I attended school. Me, a student. I had refused to attend the school you wanted me to when i first arrived in Amber. Filled with anger, spitting vengeance, ready for blood. Now, i was in a 2 year college wearing blue jeans. The universe began to amuse me.

'''I left that land after 4 years and the woman i was had only the memories of the woman i had been.

'''Though to be fair, memories did remain. And lessons learned in blood are hard to forget. While i no longer felt like a driven destroyer of worlds i was well aware that there were monsters with might far beyond mine. Those 4 years left me a new recognition of potentials.

'''I returned to Amber. I attended Benedict's private hell. I attended Fantalin. With reasoning i don't understand Dame Margot convinced me to attend her private culinary training school.

'''After 5 years of education in Amber i went into shadow again. Before i went Bleys told me something and its what brings me to this missive today.

'''He said, "There are monsters everywhere you go. There is great beauty. But in the end one must plant one's flag and see it defended. Even Death is no reprieve from duty. And like it or not you're duty is to Amber. Be on good terms with it and it will be a place to come should the monster be to hard to swallow on your own. I paid for that knowledge with blood and i give it to you free. Visit the places in the deck."

'''So i traveled a bit. I visited the places in the deck. Most of them at the time. They convinced me he was right.

'''So i recognize my duty. I plant my flag. I render my service and fealty to Amber.

'''Call on me if there is need, till then i shall travel. Learn. Grow. Enjoy. And when the monsters come, the ones i can't eat myself, i will bring home.

'''<big>Desri ak'Benedict at'Lintra ak'Oberon at'Clymnea ak'dworkin at'Unicorn'''

'''Knight and Lady of Amber</big>'''

--------------
[[https://wiki.rpg.net/index.php/Nu_Yark_Kadal_Tower_Journal]]

Benedict Personal Military Course

2020-01-17T22:10:57Z

Salinea: Reverted edits by BROFLAKE MAD (talk) to last revision by Tolknor

<big>'''Its a Nasty Place. Its the world of Rasak'''</big>

While not the only training course available to soldiers of Amber it is nearly required for advancement to high rank. Many soldiers seconded to Amber by Golden Circle Kingdoms know their soldiers will return with the kind of training and experience only service in the military of Amber can provide. Approximately 5% of the soldiers of Amber attend the BPMC

=='''Oberon's Discovery'''==
Millenia ago, in the years of Amber, King Oberon and his 3 sons Osric, Finndo, and Benedict sought places of vast diversity in physical laws. Calrabon had big animals. Twilnec had Huge oceans. Dwindle had strange magical effects. Rasak had a great time relation to Amber and had strange natural conditions.

=='''Rasak Origin'''==
On the World Rasak Oberon established a military training facility for his military forces in the new kingdom in Amber. In time Benedict completely overhauled the program to provide a more rounded course of training. The BPMC training is similar to Yorkian [[Total Warrior]] training.

*'''Food and Water Intake:''' The lush and vibrant planet causes vegetable matter to evaporate at such a rate, and be absorbed at such a rate, that animals, including people, need not take in sustenance. A person on this planet need not eat or drink. Sufficient amounts of water and food are naturally taken in and released that a person need not worry about starving or dehydrating.
*'''Natural Healing:''' Anyone on the world heals at a vastly increased rate. Nearly 10 times the speed of normal healing. This means people hurt in this world recover incredibly fast. It even stops death for injuries that occur on this world. A wounded person brought to this word will heal rapidly but a dead person brought here will not. Wounds taken here and healed hear leave no residue. Injured persons brought her and healed hear have characteristic purple/orange coloration over wounded places.
*'''Dreams:'''People who sleep here have dreams of the most traumatic instances in the lives of people in a million nearby shadow veils.

*'''Time Ratio:'''The time ratio on Rasak is 200 to 1 in Amber. A week in Amber is 1400 days in Rasak; 3 years, 10 months and 5 days.

=='''Benedict personal Military Course'''==
With a time relation of 200 to 1, Benedict has broken his training regime into 4 parts.
*'''Physical Training under the Ring of Compulsion: 3 years, 10 months'''
**Physical training under the ring of Compulsion involves 24/7 physical activities to bring a body to a standard level of perfection. Running, jumping, swimming, hurdles, free-running. The amount of damage the body experiences due to over exertion is compensated by the healing powers of the world and the food and water intake of the world.
**Celebration of Endurance: 2 Months: Campfires, BBQ, Fitness Games.Teaching of Amber history through war-stories and personal experiences of course graduates. Explanation and lessons in the Amber Battle Hand Sign system.

*'''Rhythmic training Under the Ring of Compulsion:3 years, 10 months'''
**Rhythmic training include 24/7 involvement in Weapon Katas, Tai Chi, Karate and similar forms, Dance, Sports activities;Football, Homegame, etc.
**Celebration of the Body: 2 months Horsemanship. Gymnastics. Campfires. More lessons.

*'''Tactical and Strategic Training, partially under the Ring of Compulsion: 3 years'''
**Melee and warfare class room study and field drills. Metalworking. leather working. Horsemanship and cavalry drills. Artillery Drills. Medical Training.
**Celebration of Knowledge: 2 months

*'''Practicum: 1 Year'''
**World of Adledross: 10 months. Live Combat world of constant warfare, Camp life.
**Celebration of Survival: Debrief and Graduation: 2 months

------------------------------

==<big>'''Adledross'''</big>==

The world of Adledross is a shadow of conflict deep in the chaos side of Ygg. It is a realm 1000 miles across and 2000 miles top to bottom.
To the east is a heavily wooded region with low mountains and rivers. To the west are deserts, rocky and dry craggy regions with several massive rivers. Available to both sides are plentiful food stuffs and water sources. Vast woody plants are available for fires. Several large volcanoes exist. Quicksand fens.

Involved in the state of warfare are races of human, Elf, Dwarves, Fae, dragons, wyverns, griffins, hobbit, giants, gnomes, tharks, orcs, dwarves, klingons, romulans, dragons, drow and dark elves, giants, minotaurs, Fae, and wide variety of races. Groups plucked from battlefields across shadow arrive in the realm by some function of shadow, in groups as small as 10 and as large as 50,000. Some are groups of mixed races with the appearance of being adventuring parties.

Also summoned from across shadow are fierce beasts and monsters from across shadow.

There is a driving force to the arrivals to seek a place on the far side from which they arrived. If they reach the far side and one of their members enters the cleared zone, the entire group that arrived is returned to their worlds of origin, including the dead who are returned to life.

Certain natural forces effect all creatures.
*A moderately strong regenerative force occurs normally and is sped up by the consumption of food and drink.
*Weather can fairly be called exciting. Rain storms, hail, tornadoes, sandstorms, blistering heat, frigid cold, blizzard.
*If a unit is completed eradicated it appears again on the other side and must reach the other side Free Zone.

This realm was discovered by Finndo during the development of the Rasak Facility. He stated that he believed that the realm may have been a Construct or Way of Chaos that was swept into Shadow by the Creation of the pattern of Amber. It may also be powered by shards of Paragon or Calmir. Or some power source of great but undetectable powers.

--------------------

==BPMC Artifacts==

==='''Ring of Compulsion'''===
(99 Pips-Oberon)

*Amber Vitality 4 (Trans 5)
*Double Speed 2 (Trans 5)
*Endless Stamina 4 (Trans 5)
*Regeneration 4
*Rack Spell 1: Unremovable
*Rack Spell 1: Willing Compulsion
*Rack Spell 1: Locatable
*Rack Spell 1: Enthusiasm
*Horde *3

----------------
==='''Nasty Place Graduate Blade'''===
(20 pips-Benedict)

Those who completed the training were given a blade made there during their training and permission to wear the blade on all military attire. The blade is forged mithril with a blade 5" long and a handle 4" long. Ceremonial and honorary in intent, the blades have their own history as deadly weapons.

[[File:BenBlade1.jpg]]

*Deadly Damage 4
*Rack Spell-1 Return to Hand/Return to Forge on death
*Shadow Wide *4

===Death Wheeler===
(40 pips Osric)

[[File:Deathwheeler.jpg|500 px]]
*Vitality 4 (superior materials and durability)
*Movement 2 (spinning Rings)
*Deadly Damage 4
*Shadowwide *4

===Graduate Cord===

[[File:BPMC-cord.jpg]]

No magical powers. A symbolic uniform cord worn by graduates in all situations

=='''Frequent Guest Lecturers'''==
*Sir Gangdis of Casowill

=='''Royals known to have attended'''==

'''Osric''', '''Finndo.''', '''Benedict.''' , '''Eric.''' , '''Corwin.''' , '''Deirdre.''', '''Hamilton''' , '''Caine.''', '''Julian.''' , '''Gerard.''', '''Delwin.''', '''Bleys''', '''Florimel,''','''Dalt''' , '''Random.''', '''Phillipe''','''Evelar''','''Evankala''', '''Banidoc''', '''Truman''', '''Geryon''','''Duncan.''', '''Galvar.''', '''Nicholas.''','''Vander''','''Elayne.''', '''Vance''', '''Martin.''' , '''Arloxedra''', '''Doria''', '''Desri''','''Visaly''', '''Macsen'''','''Agrom''', '''Vek''', '''Shaz Far'''

Talk:Jeweled Amber

2020-01-17T22:10:52Z

Salinea: Reverted edits by BROFLAKE MAD (talk) to last revision by Tolknor

Feel free to say hello. ''''' Tolk'''''

--------

Races in Jeweled Amber

2020-01-17T22:10:43Z

Salinea: Reverted edits by BROFLAKE MAD (talk) to last revision by Tolknor

Shadow is vast and its creatures are varied

=='''Human'''==

=='''Elven'''==
There are many racial divisions of Elven kind. There are frequently local seperations as well.

=='''Dwarven'''==

=='''Thark'''==

Many thark races exist across shadow but the main form is typically 15' tall green or brown body, with 4 arms.

=='''Orcorim'''==
There are many varieties of orcs depending on the shadows.
===Orc===
The main body of orc kind.

===Goblins===

This version of Orcs is not the same as the Kobold/Goblin races. This is a smaller version of orc with a variety differences fomr the stock of warlike orc. Orcorim goblins tend to be more mechanically inclined, perhaps smarter then military orcs. Goblins often are craftsman for the other orcish races. .

===Urak===

Uraks are a large version of warrior orcs with little technical ability.

=='''Adask'''==
Racially Adask are a midpoint between Urak Orc and Drow elves. Dark grayish to albino white skin to deep blue skin and dark hair. Most have pale blue eyes with red irises. Strong, athletic, and limber in general. Males tend toward tall and muscular. They are combative, argumentative and short tempered.

They have giant strength comparable to tharks[[https://wiki.rpg.net/index.php/Races_in_Jeweled_Amber#Thark]](Chaos Rank).

=='''Deryni'''==

A humanoid race with inate connections to magical forms of their realms.

=='''Dragon'''==

The racial divisions of dragon are so massive across shadow that categorizing them is unreasonable. It is easier to categorize them by size.

===Tiny===
Tiny dragons have a nose-tip to hip length of under 12".
===Small===
12" to 5' Examples include Pseudo-Dragons.

===Medium===
5' to 20'
===Large===
20' to 300'
===Gigantic===
300' to 1000'
===Behemoths===
1000' and above. Well known behemoth dragons in Vox, son of Oberon [[https://wiki.rpg.net/index.php/Heirs_and_spares#Vox]] and Hanvir, SOn of Oberon.[[https://wiki.rpg.net/index.php/Heirs_and_spares#Hanvir]]

=='''Fey'''==
Fey refers to a vast number of races under a general umbrella of somewhat magical races having connections to nature and the realms of their origin.

Various shadows would have dynamically different fey sub-races but some are essentially ubiquitous. Leprechauns, Faries, gnomes (Nature Oriented).
In many realms Elves are classified as Fey and conversely in many realms Fey are considered elven races. The specificity of the difference depends on the shadow under consideration.

For all practical purposes the D&D list of the fey is useful and complete. Jeweled Amber specialties have their own details. [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fey_(Dungeons_%26_Dragons)#Oread]]
===Adag Fey===

=='''Entish'''==

Entish is a general name for sentient plants of many kinds that do not sustain themselves through magical means. Some forms of sentient plant life are magically intelligent, possessed of spirits, or recipients of magical intellect and do not fit in this category.

==='''Ents'''===

Themselves are generally full bodied intelligent trees.
*Hurons are a lesser intelligent subgroup of ents.

==='''Ygg''===

One of the best known and certainly most powerful sentient plant in all shadow.

==='''Olive'''===

In many realms there are intelligent olive trees ably to manage olive growth and production.

==='''Pepper'''===

In many realms there are a wide variety of intelligent pepper trees. The Prepei are walking intelligent trees able to use magic.

==='''Talking Trees'''===

In many shadows are variations of living speaking trees beyond having a ubiquitous race of them.

=='''Kobolds/Gnomes'''==

Gnomes and Kobolds are similar creatures in many realms. There are very different representation in many realms with certain similarities.

=='''Giants'''==

While vast numbers of races of giants exist most are based on a racial template existing within the realms of origin. Human Giants, Thark Giants, etc....

=='''Mer'''==

==='''Remban'''===

Mer races in Rebma and its circles of shadows are mostly humanoid in form with forms able to move easily underwater. Webbed hands and feet. Able to take in air through water.

==='''Tailed Mer'''===

Tailed mer are races that have human upper bodies and fish like tails. Many are able to shapeshift legs for short period of times

=='''Minotaurs'''==

Minotaurs are a common race across a large swath of shadow. There are numerous variations.

===''''Velotian'''===

A warrior form common in shadow region around [[Gesheka]].

==='''Tros'''===

=='''Lycanthrope'''==

=='''Dolphine'''==

=='''Ursine'''==
There are many mammalian races similar to bears.

===Ursar===
A collection of various bear-like sentient races in the Rashata universes all with a single world of origins. Not a space faring race then inhabited a region of a galaxy that had intermittent world gates allowing transportation between worlds within a certain sweet spot of survivability for this rugged race. An ancient race that every few hundred years would seed substantial colonies are far flung worlds only to have the portal close to never allow the pioneers to make contact .

Ursar serve in the Amber Star Fleet but are a minor race.

==='''Dilbians'''===
Dilbiens are a bear like race able to uses tools. They have a mixed intelligence from animal level to highly intelligent.

=='''Undead'''==
Undead races appear most often in shadows closer to Chaos.

=='''Trollkin'''==

Trolls are a race with wide varieties but some general similarities. Often battlefield companions of orcs and goblins.
Some trolls are known across shadow by name. Some trolls get smeared with common tales that may or not apply to them.

===Common myths===
*The most common myth is that they guard bridges and charge tolls. While this does occur often enough in diverse shadows, there are many differences. Some guard trolls are greedy and violent. Others peaceful and polite.
*Small trolls are common as tomb dwellers and forest denizens.
*There are many trolls considered sages and sorcerers or natural mages.
*Small troll children are known to be exchanged with babes of other races for a variety of reasons.

===''Garden Trolls/Gnomes''===

Depending on the specifics of shadows a common form of troll are tenders of gardens. Often they are considered gnomes and the difference from shadow to shadow can be small, even in choices of clothing. Such garden trolls can heal sick plants, cause covering plants to extend and prosper. Thye can purify fouled water. They can be fierce foes of rabbits and rats and other garden pests. They often use insects as domesticated beasts in the protecion and prosperity of their gardens. They can be fiercely loyal to a plot of land and even to the family that lives on it and prospers. They are often family friends, baby caretakers, and companions of family pets.

===Notable Trolls===
*By far the most well known Troll across shadow is Grendal.
*Agvash is a War Troll in the service of Borlak. 14' tall riding beast form of T-Rex. He also has a horde of his modified T-Rex mounted by smaller war Trolls. His company of 1000 warriors is on of the shock forces in the mighty army of [[Borlak]]

=='''Reptilian-Saurians'''==
There are many lizard-saurian races.

===Lizardmen===

There are a vast number of lizardmen across shadow. The evolutionary chain that leads to them differ and they bear the markings of them
*Lizardmen evolved from small land lizard tend toward fast and agile creatures.
*Lizardmen evolved from dinosaurs have evolved down from a greater form but may still bear dragon maws, horns, scales and ridges. They tend toward seprentine movements and may have active or vestigial tails and wings. Few cases include dragon breathes but they are not unheard of.
*Lizardmen evolved from dinosaurs tend toward large body and combative natures. Mostly omnivores, few lizardmen races evolved from plant eaters. There are numerous well known versons of lizardmen evolved from various forms similiar to T-Rexs.
*Lizardmen evolved from alligators or crocodiles.
**An alligator evolved Lizardmen exist in many shadows of [[Azcala]]. They are exempt from compulsory heart sacrifices and provide something close to 3% of the population of the realm. They do well in the military and are represented in all the cults.

=='''Agoliths'''==
The Agoliths are residents of a Shade of Amber,''Agolia'' that due to uncertain interactions after the repair of the pattern, and with some interaction between the Primal Jewel of Judgment and the jewel of that shade were able to shadow walk into the realm of Amber.

Being a shade of Amber it has shadows/shades of the people of amber including the royal family. The peculiarity of the shade is that its residents are half the size of their primal selves.

The Royal Family of Agolith arrived in Amber in Year 17 of Random's Reign. There was considerable confusion and merriment at first, and the family, with their King Random, the Victor of Patternfall, leading them. For nearly a year the embassy was celebrated, and feasted, and there was even talk of Agolia applying for Golden Circle status. Merchant and commercial arrangements were made.

However certain elements of the people of Amber were not amused by the friendly Agoliths and there were many developing problems. One of the major issues was the overt promiscuity of the members of the embassy including members of the royal family. While it was determined the Agoliths could not interbreed with Amberites there was considerable concern about it. There was also a great deal of fornication between the Agoliths and the resident of Amber.

Soon after relations soured between the two groups and in RE 19 they left Amber and have had no official relations since. There were issues with a Hooka delegation in Amber that lead to violence. There are still a number of mercantile exchanges between groups in Agolia but they are few and rare.

The [[Non-Partisan Anti-Agolith Association]] developed out of the arguments over the Agoliths. It is a semi-serious group, as much a drinking group as anything else?

While the Agoliths were not exactly unknown in Amber they had rarely been heard of. Queen Rilga was known to have a Agoltih navigator on her sailing ship after she left Amber.

----
((GM Note-Clearly this was part of the First game Arc of the Jeweled Amber campaign. ))

=='''Hooka'''==
Hooka are a small furry bear like race. They have a mental structure that favors imitation rather then innovation.

=='''Kzinti '''==
'The kzinit are a tiger-form race in many shadows.

A major portion of the Kzin race are part of the warrior branch of the Amber Star Fleet. Many of there race are in the combat ground forces however they have a long history as a space faring race and can be found in nearly all parts of the Amber Star Fleet

=='''Vulcan/Romulan/ Falsala'''==

=='''Ralni'''==
A 3 legged, 4 armed pyramidal life form.

=='''Klingon'''==

=='''Human'''==
=='''Human'''==
=='''Human'''==
=='''Human'''==
=='''Human'''==
=='''Human'''==
=='''Human'''==
=='''Human'''==
=='''Human'''==
=='''Human'''==

Fief of Ainsi

2020-01-17T22:10:43Z

Salinea: Reverted edits by BROFLAKE MAD (talk) to last revision by Tolknor

<div class="center" style="width: auto; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;">[[File:Ainsi.jpg|1000 px]]</div>

The Fief of Ainsi is a landed Fief representing one noble's fief. Its is owned by Dame Margot who visits it regularly. In many ways it is typical of a knight's fief across the realm. A small collection of central buildings and a keep of some kind, with farmsteads connected to nearby hamlets.

==Fief==

The fief consists of a manor house surrounded by a collection heavy stone buildings, and 4 hamlets within short rides from the Manor. Each hamlet sponsor from 10 to 20 farmsteads.

==Weather==
The location of Ainsi is near the Great Shoals of the north and the Northern mountains. The weather is cold, similar to the weather in Yellowknife, North West Territories, Canada.

==Commerce==

*Blue pop berries
*Various berries.
*Horse Training for the citizenry.
*truffles.
Besides these most farmsteads are self-sufficient in most staples.

==Retirement community of Ainsi-Alata==
One small collection of dwellings are those of retired staff from the Castle Amber. This collection of heavy stone buildings are near the Manor of Ainsi.

Interregnum and the Repair

2020-01-17T22:10:42Z

Salinea: Reverted edits by BROFLAKE MAD (talk) to last revision by Tolknor

The Interregnum and the Repair refer to the two periods that occurred after the death of Eric.

=='''Interregnum'''==

The ''''' Interregnum''''' is the period starting at the death of King Eric on the slopes Kolvir and ending when Oberon sent his children to fight the Battle of Patternfall while he attempted to repair the damaged primal patter.

King Eric had been directing the battle from the slopes of Kolvir and was repeatedly overrun. In the end he made extensive use of the lightning powers of the Jewel of Judgment to attack ground forces and the power to nullify sorcery. Wounded, and dying, the forces of Amber were saved by the sudden arrival of Prince Corwin with a force of assault weapon armed infantry. Dispersing the gunnery infantry troops was the final straw that forced Chaos to retreat to the Black Road. Eric then died a hero's death on the Kolvir, surrounded by

Corwin's forces gave him a powerful bodyguard force and his siblings essentially gave command of Amber to him. Unofficially Corwin is considered by court historians to have served an unofficial Regency and is listed as Regent in the Line of kings. He oversaw the aftermath of the battle and dealt with the defense of Amber and was essentially acknowledged as King of Amber. Yet during the month after the battle Corwin had not been crowned. The Black Road war was rushing on and Corwin had a series of his own troubles as detailed in his chronicles.

Suddenly Oberon returned to Amber. Obviously everyone saluted and let him take over.

He organized things and got the forces of Amber attacking the Black Road with orders to follow it to the Fane of Zilla. He sent Corwin to the Abyss the long way. He then went to attempt to repair the pattern. His last act before making the attempt was to summon Osric and Finndo from their places in shadow to Amber.
===Oberon's Last Court===
The last court of King Oberon was a small one with a few members of the family and court who had not already been given orders. The galleries were filled with courtiers, guards, castle staff.

Oberon spoke quietly with a small group. Prince Arloxedra, Prince Osric, Prince Finndo, Lady Elayne, Lord Truman, Allen Dormain-Kingdom Herald,Honosal Moir Tral-Ambassador of Rebma, [[Dame Margot]], Dart of Hale, Ivor Venway-Chief Priest of the Unicorn, Ciprian Vitalijus-Chief Librarian, Paris Ashlurian-Mayor of the City of Amber, [[Tyler Smials]], [[Lady Ain Breakwithe-Smythe]], Dworkin, Lady Vialle, and three unknown people. Three Elites and three soldiers.

He spoke quietly to them and they responded in course. He handed the Crown of Amber to Dame Margot, the Scepter to Allen Dormain, his signet ring and the seal of Amber was given to Tyler, and a red jewel to Prince Finndo. He then knighted the three soldiers and raised them to the Elites.

Exiting, he turned to Arloxedra and in the hearing of all told him to stay in the Library.

After that he, Dworkin, Ivor, Osric and Dame Margot left the throne room and Oberon was not seen again till he was placed on the caisson and taken to the Courts of Chaos.

=='''The Repair'''==

The '''''Repair''''' refers to 13 months of existence. During this period was a wave of hysteria, euphoria, indulgence, fatalism, suicide, and behavior often referred to as "What i did during the Repair."

The Black Road war was won and Amber was safe as far as direct military attack from Chaos was concerned.

King Eric was dead, Prince Corwin, serving unofficially as regant Seven Days passed during which the residents of Amber could feel the forces of Creation being called upon in unknown rituals in unknown places. The existence of the Primal Pattern and its connection to Amber were state secrets at the time.

Once the wave of creation occurred in the east waters, and spread west eventually racing the Abyss at the Fane of Zilla there was a great deal of mirth. A euphoria over surviving the end of the world. There was much frivolity. There was some work done to repair the damage done the week before.

While many examples from popular culture can be found it is the occurrences in the Castle Amber that have become part of the of popular legends.

*Dworkin, revealed as Oberon's father, led the funeral carriage with Oberon's body to the Courts of Chaos.

*Few of the Family members remained in Amber, rather then going to the Battle at the Abyss. Known remainders were Prince Arloxedra, Son of Eric, Lord Martin, Son of Random & soon to be Crown Prince, Lady Elayne, daughter of Florimel, and Prince Osric & Prince Finndo. The last two turned up without warning, established themselves in their apartments, and did little other then socialize. Prince Arloxedra was essentially the highest ranking person with orders left in Amber. He had been told by Oberon to stay in the Library.

*Prince Arloxedra and Lady Elayne is known to have walked the pattern during this time.
*It is rumored that several important prisoners escaped the dungeons of Amber.

===[[The Court of Queen Margot]]===
There are stories about Dame Margot drinking heavily and declaring herself Queen of Amber, wearing the crown of Amber and drinking from a gallon jug of Bayle's Gin. She apparently lead a court of castle staff declaring themselves dukes and barons, and elderly knights.

This incident has been seen in the popular literature as a epic tale, and has been made in to fanciful tales, morality plays, songs, ribald fireside stories and other tales as a time of whimsy under a fun but inane queen.

[[Dame Margot]] does not speak of this time and wise people do not mention it to her.

Queens of Amber

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Salinea: Reverted edits by BROFLAKE MAD (talk) to last revision by Tolknor

The Queens of Amber are those women who were married to Oberon and may or may not have bore him children
[[Family Tree of Amber]]

=='''Queens of Amber'''==

==='''[[Cymnea]]-First Queen of Amber. ===
''Mother of Osric, Finndo, Benedict, and Borlak.''

[[File:Cymnea.jpg]]

'' Status-Living''

[[Cymnea]] 'Dowager Queen of Amber. Duchess of Al a Marat of Thelusia. Abbess of the Unicorn.

Cymnea has a complex and convoluted history as the first queen of Amber. After ruling for a thousand years as queen and delivering four sons, it was discovered that she was also a daughter of Oberon and therefore sister to her own children. The child Borlak was the cause of Oberon's researches into certain magical issues concerning his behaviors. Upon discovering the causes and the relationship to Cymnea, Oberon dissolved the marriage abruptly and enacted the Consanguinity Laws relating to marriages between relatives of house Bariman. Bitter and hurt, she retired to massive estates in Thulusia at Al a Marat. She has rarely left, though is often visited.

A mighty sorceress in her own right and a forceful personality.

==='''Faiella.'''===
''mother of Eric, Corwin, & Dierdre. '' Queen with Oberon

'' Status-Deceased''

Died in Childbirth with Dierdre.

==='''Rilga.===
''Mother of Julian, Caine, and Gerard.'' Queen with Oberon

'' Status-Presumed Alive. Whereabouts unknown''

A strong and dynamic woman and a great queen who aged badly. Never the less she and Oberon had a mostly political marriage that he dissolved when he met Clarissa. Divorced and bitter, she left Amber and retired to shadow. Her whereabouts are not public knowledge. her treatment is a source of long bitterness between her sons and Oberon, as well as with Random.

==='''Harla or Lora.===
'' Mother of Delwin and Sand. '' Queen with Oberon

[[File:Queen Harla.jpg]]

'' Status-Deceased''

A small, frail woman from deep in shadow, her religious faith was out of place among the ladies of the court who treated her badly despite her rank. She retired to a fast time shadow and passed away. Her children Sand and Delwin grew bitter over her treatment and left Amber, rarely to return till Random became King.

==='''Clarissa'''===
''Mother of Bleys, Fiona, and Brand.'' Queen with Oberon

[[File:Clarissa.jpg]]

'' Status-Living in [[Regor]]''

Fiery and bright, dangerously wicked and wickedly funny. Part of the ruling line of the Empire of Regor, she and Oberon had a tumultuous relationship. Divorced and bitter, she disappeared after Brand walked the pattern the first time and has never returned to Amber.

She is known to have a Broken Pattern Imprint as well as being a Mal at Riess sorceress but she learned these skills while queen. She was recently discovered to be the wife of the Czar of Regor and the mother of numerous children by him. Fiona and Bleys refuse to speak of her.

She was involved the the Siege of [[Bunny Free]]

==='''Paulette'''===
''Mother of Giovanni, Random, and Mirelle.'' Queen with Oberon.'''

'' Status-Deceased''
A friendly, open and vivacious woman who was considered high strung at first by the court ladies, yet in her short time as queen she developed many deeply devoted friends. Born in Bursain, she spent a great many years, and bore three children to Oberon in Florence, Italy.

She was a paramour of Oberon's throughout his marriage with Clarissa. After the explosive end of Oberon and Clarissa's marriage she was brought to Amber along with her young son Random. Her daughter Mirelle was briefly in Amber and reacted badly to proximity to the pattern and placed in safe keeping.

Her oldest son, Giovanni, had left to travel shadow before Oberon brought Paulette to Amber.

However she was deeply flawed and considered by many unbalanced and perhaps insane. She committed suicide in a spectacular fashion rarely spoken of except in hushed manners.

==='''Dybele'''===
''Mother of Flora.'' Queen with Oberon

'' Status-Deceased''

Little is known of her and her shadow of origin. Oberon brought her to Amber pregnant and near term. They were married immediately and she riegned for 3 months before giving birth to Flora and dying. She was tall and blond, and many say that Flora favors her. Flora was raised mostly by Dame Margot.

==='''Vialle.'''===
''Queen With Random. No Children. Current Queen of Amber''

[[File:Vielle.jpg]]
'' Status-Living''

A noble of the house [[Moir Alaes]], a cousin of Duchess Kiessa Val, ruler of Moins. Blind from birth, though an expert in mirror magic, she was a charming member of Queen Moire court. Unfortunately her blindness made her an extremely unlikely marriage prospect.

When Corwin and Dierdre and Random came to Rebma in the early portions of the Black Road War, Random was under a death sentence for his involvement with Moire's daughter Morganthe, who committed suicide in her grief. Moire demanded that Random marry Vialle for one year in reparation. The connection to the Amber family, even if the marriage was ended, would greatly improve Vialle's marriageability and standing in court.

To everyone's surprise, Random's the most, the pair fell deeply in love. When Random was imprisoned by Eric for attempted assasination she joined him in prison. They spent 4 months together in an 8x12 cell. This situation enraged Rebma officially and made the most common of Rebman very angry. After a short time Eric released the pair and converted his sentence to something akin to house arrest.

Random's sudden elevation to the throne brought this insightful and charming woman to the throne of the great realm. Rebma has become a devoted follower of this blind queen. While Rebma has always been Amber's closest ally and nearest neighbor, a Rebman Queen has brought the realm of Rebma to the doorstep of allowing itself to be annexed by the Kingdom of Amber, which many nobles of both realms believe is inevitable.

==='''Astrid.'''===
''Mother of Derek and Arloxedra''. Queen with Eric.

'' Status-Living''

Considered Queen of Amber in all but the most official records. There is no record of their marriage having been formalized in Amber though they both claim to have done so privately. There are records of a legal marriage between them on the Shadow realm of Andal. She was never formally crowned and while she sat in the queens throne during Eric's reign and served as queen, was spoken of and introduced as Queen, and styled herself in writing as queen, many consider her a mere consort.

There are many who called her "Eric's Concubine" behind Eric and her back. There is considerable bitterness in Amber towards her.

The problem is that the extreme difference in ages between Arloxedra and Derek show that Astrid had been a part of Eric's private life for thousands of years. Eric had never brought her to Amber before and her existence was a secret until after Eric became King. Only Corwin, Borlak, Benedict and Fiona knew of her before then. Presumably Oberon did as well. When magical methods are used Queen Astrid detects as married to Eric. The Church of the Unicorn is adamant that their marriage was not legitimate and refused to ofiaciate if she was officially crowned. The rumor was that Eric crowned her privately.

After Eric's death she left and retired to Eric's estates in Thalusia, where her son Derek dotes on her. The bitterness between Arloxedra and Derek has some unknown causes most likely but his refusal to visit Astrid is a large vocal part both men admit.

*As of 5273 Queen Vialle confirmed Queen Astrid's Royal Letters Patent by announcing that Queen Astrid had worn the Queen's Coronet and being accepted by it. This thorny political issue had long tainted her time in Amber and Eric's reign. The announcement was part of King Random's efforts to settle outstanding matters of charters arising from Eric's term as King.

==='''Tradota'''===
"Mother of Dashel"

Tradota was queen of Amber for the last ten years of Finndo's reign and fled into shadow when he did. She did not bear Dashel while Queen.

*Recent rulings in the college of Heralds has confirmed her status as a Queen of Amber despite long standing issues in the [[Amber College of Heralds]]

[[Queen Vialle's Conference with the College of Heralds]]

'' Status-Uncertain''

--------
==='''Margot'''===
[[Dame Margot]] has worn the both the Crown of Amber and the Queen's Crown. Having been accepted by these two potent magical artifacts it is necessary to list here as a Queen of Amber, and a Ruling one at that. This incident of [[The Court of Queen Margot]] is sufficiently murky on facts and built up in popular fiction to the point that determining the facts are unclear.

What is clear is that at some point during the Repair Dame Margot donned both crowns and both crowns approved her service.

==Mothers of Amberites-Not Queens==

===Olacymna Al a Marat of Thelusia===

'' Status-Deceased''

"Mother of Cymnea"

The clan leader of Clan Marat in Thelusia before the establishment of the ''Al a Marat'' duchy and the Kingdom of Thelusia.

===Moiren===

'' Status-Deceased''

"Mother of orsolla"

Moiren was once Queen of Rebma.

===Relasa Adkefey===

"Mother of Nina and Emilie"

From the realms of [[Adagalasck]]

===Deele the Desicratix-Mother of Dalt===

'' Status-Deceased''
"Mother of Dalt"

A biter opponent of the Church of the Unicorn. Throughout her military career she destroyed many Unicorn Shrines, killed loyalists and followers of the Unicorn faithful. Eventually Oberon took to the field against and defeated her force. During a protracted session of negotiations Oberon fathered Dalt on Deele.

Later Bleys slew her on the field of battle.

===Kinta of Begma-Mother of Coral===

'' Status-Living''
"Mother of Coral"

===Mor Sen-Mother of Llewella===

'' Status-Deceased''
"Mother of llewella"

==='''Verna''' Mother of Satura===

'''Mother of Satura'''

'' Status-Living''

Dame Margot

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[[File:Margot.jpg]]

'''''Many legends, many tales, many stories..'''''
==Dame Margot==

===Current Offices===
*Chatelaine:Head of the Castle Amber Staff.
*Amber Mistress of Special Festivities.
*Royal Social Advocate

====History====
*She is an ancient member of the court of Amber. She is one of the oldest retainers of Amber. She has held a wide variety of offices and roles including Cook's assistant, Chief Cook, Queen's Dresser, Queen's Dressmaker, Wash Mistress, Mistress of Pets, Mistress of Maid Servants, Mistress of Royal Staff, all the way to Queen's Chief Lady in Waiting. She has served as Chief Herald and Keeper of the [[Amber Order of Precedence]] While she has not served as leader of the College of Heralds she is a member of its Council. She is a member of many councils and associations. She is a member of many guilds as well having served in many roles for over the 30 year term many guilds require for a Life Membership. She is one of the most frequent appointees to the [[Council of Commentary]] usually filling a King's Appointment although several guilds favor appointing her because of her connections.

*Her origin is unclear since it predates the formation of the Kingdom of Amber. However some parts of her personal legend are reasonably certain.
**Her accolade is so ancient that she ranks in the Order of Precedence in the top 5 of the nobility, below the royalty. While she uses the title Dame, accorded for her first peerage, she holds a collection of coronets, including Duchess of Amber. She holds nearly every award the crown offers for non-military service.
**Rumors are that she was one of the members of the groups of settlers Oberon and Clymnea brought to the fledgling city.
===='''House Paradunas'''====
What is known is that she was of a noble house called House Paradunas, and not its founder, implying that her parents brought her to Amber, possibly as a child. It is listed in the early records, fourth of the first 10 noble houses created by Oberon in Amber. It did not achieve greatness and all its members eventually perished, in battle and of old age. Leaving her the last member of this ancient house.

There is a tradition that House Paradunas was granted to its Baron, Rolo Paradunas, at the time of the creation of the formal Duchy of Amber. That Rolo and his wife Malat had been batman and chief lady's maid to Oberon and Cymnea in the very first centuries of the construction of the Castle Amber, and that Margot was their daughter. The house was composed of collection of grooms, soldiers, scribes and clerics, all who served under Rolo and Malat.

*At some point in the early days of Amber, after many of the properties had fallen into neglect she traded the nearly the total possessions of her failed House to purchase a corner suite and 2 neighbor suites, in the Servants Quarters of the Castle Amber and to secure a servant's role in the staff of the new kingdom. Opening them up to create a space long used for meetings, social gathers and other activities in the day to day life of the Castle Amber and its staff. Her service to the family and court of Amber stems from the days after she moved into the castle. She has lived in that corner suite ever since.

*'''Current Status of House Paradunas'''
**The ancient charter for House Paradunas is still active and it is listed as the 4th of the original 10 houses chartered by Oberon and Cymnea.
**The estates, material and treasures of the house were lost, sold, or destroyed over a couple centuries by its leaders right before the declaration of the Kingdom of Amber. Lady Margot of Ainsi traded the last of the lands of the House for her suite in the castle. There is a tale that when she offered the land to King Oberon all that was left was scorched land and a single scrap of paper with the house's charter. She entered her bare suite in her only dress and bare feet, clutching her charter and her bill of sale. The rumor has always been that her suites are the only parts of the castle that do not belong to the royal household.
**One piece of property is still listed as the possession of the House, though in practicality it is the possession of Dame Margot. The [[Fief of Ainsi]] is a small holding deep in the western

===Known Things===
*It is an open secret that she had dalliances with Oberon in between Queens, and that she turned down the throne and a marriage proposal from Oberon. Margot is the administrator of many of the behind the scene activities at nearly all State functions.
*While many stories about her early years are spread around they are rarely spoken of in her presence.
*She is unfailingly kind, sharp witted, and courageous. She is a forceful personality and in the age of King Random is one of the few people on the [["No Knock List"]]
*There has long been a rumor that she has born at least one child to Oberon but which one that is has never been clear
===Banidoc, Son of Benedict and Margot===
In the earliest years of Amber, before the creation of the kingdom, Margot was essentially a confidant of the family and frequent traveling companion. During one expedition she and Benedict found a shadow and to both of their surprise she became pregnant. During this interlude she bore Banidoc and she and Benedict raised him. When they returned to Amber they claimed Banidoc was a shadow of Benedict. To what degree this subterfuge was believed is anyone's guess but in time he became Benedict's second in command.

===Margot and Aging in Amber===

The functions of [[Aging in Amber]] is a topic of much conversation in the circles of social and magical groups. In many of them Dame Margot is an example of someone who has maintained a life of extraordinary length due to the enthusiasm of life. Margot appears mature, but vibrant. Older members of the staff might speak of times when she looked elderly but she never grew beyond the point of looking in her mid 60s. However at various times she has grown to look like an overactive teenager.

====Powers====
While she does her best to seem a normal person it is clear she has many deep powers.
*Sorcery: She is a known sorcerer. She admits to having the [[Mal at Reiss]].
*She owns a stone, almost certainly a shadow of the Jewel of Judgment
*She clearly has conjuration though she tries to hide it.

(GM Note: Dame Margot has acted as a PC confidant many times in game play and is always willing to talk to them in times of need)

==The Court of Queen Margot==
[[Dame Margot]] has worn the both the Crown of Amber and the Queen's Crown. Having been accepted by these two potent magical artifacts it is necessary to list here as a Queen of Amber, and a Ruling one at that. This incident of [[The Court of Queen Margot]] is sufficiently murky on facts and built up in popular fiction to the point that determining the facts are unclear.

What is clear is that at some point during the Repair Dame Margot donned both crowns and both crowns approved her service.

[[File:Dart.jpg]]

=='''[[Dart of Hale]]==

Often with Margot is Dart of Hale. The Assistant to Dame Margot. Jokingly called the "Concierge of Amber" A go-to guy for many services in the realm. He often deals with minor details. He is often involved in room assignments for nobles, royals, visitors. He is always tasked with arranging permanent room assignments for newly arrived family members.

He knows everyone. The common joke about this efficient ever-moving man is that he "knows a guy"

While not overtly of a military bearing it is known that Dart, in his youth, served in the military and eventually served in the [[Elites]].

Erasamus Braldig

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<Blockquote>This is a cantankerous guy who is unequaled in simple tinkery. That is a polite way of putting the truth. Braldig is a hairy pain in the ass. I think he is the person that casts shadows of nasty old cusses. He makes his own gin, drinks it straight, eats his beef raw, and you can piss off if you don't like it. You got to love a guy so sure of himself that he doesn't give a tinker's damn about what anyone thinks of him. He is that tinkerer and he keeps his damns close to the vest. That's the kind of a guy he is.
<div class="center" style="width: auto; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><big>'''''Prince Bleys of Amber''''' ''Diners of Amber''</big></div>

<big>'''Erasamus Braldig'''</big>

[[File:Erasamus.jpg]] [[File:Khonus Braldig.jpg]]

'''Children:''' Khonas

'''Hobbies:'''

=='''Ranks'''==

=='''Points-{}'''==

'''''Total: = Stats+ Powers{c}+ Skills+{c}+ Items +0/0 allies/Enemies +5 Stuff+300 Storage'''''

* in Stats
* x (x) in Powers
*100 in Skills
* (x) in creatures/Items
*0 in Allies (0/0)
*305 Stuff

===''Advancement''===

=='''Statistics-{233}'''==
*Psyche:133
*Strength:70
*Endurance:30
*Warfare:Chaos Rank

=='''Powers {}'''==
* Advanced Broken Pattern
* Trasidy
* Mandalay
*30 Advanced Sorcery
*50 High Compelling
*80 Advanced Trump Artist.
*10 Limited Shapechange.

=='''Skills {100}'''==
*6 Understand Technical Systems-Visionary Tinkery
*5 Salvage and Repair
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*

=='''Allies & Enemies {0/0 = 0}'''==
===Allies-3===
various

===Enemies-3===
various

=='''Companions'''==
various

=='''Items {}'''==
*
* Signature piece

=='''Stuff{}'''==
*5 gs
*300 stored pips

Running Sheet Template 1

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<big>'''{?}'''</big>

[[?]]

'''Father:'''

'''Mother:'''

'''Children:'''

'''Description:'''

'''Hobbies:'''

=='''Ranks'''==

=='''Points-{}'''==

'''''Total: = Stats+ Powers{c}+ Skills+{c}+ Items +0/0 allies/Enemies + Stuff+Storage'''''

* in Stats
* x (x) in Powers
* in Skills
* (x) in creatures/Items
*0 in Allies (0/0)
* Stuff

===''Advancement''===

=='''Statistics-{}'''==
*Psyche:
*Strength:
*Endurance:
*Warfare:

=='''Powers {}'''==

=='''Skills {}'''==

=='''Allies & Enemies {0/0 = 0}'''==
===Allies-3===
various

===Enemies-3===
various

=='''Companions'''==

=='''Items {}'''==
*
* Signature piece

=='''Stuff{}'''==

=='''Miscellanea'''==

Running Sheet Drexel

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<big>'''Drexel'''</big>
[[Drexel]]

[[File:Drexel1.jpg]]

'''Father:'''

'''Mother:'''

'''Children:'''

'''Description:''' stocky cavalier

'''Colors'''black and gray.

'''Hobbies:'''

=='''Ranks'''==
First in Strength
First in Warfare

=='''Points-{}'''==

'''''Total: = Stats+ Powers{c}+ Skills+{c}+ Items +0/0 allies/Enemies + Stuff+Storage'''''

* in Stats
* x (x) in Powers
* in Skills
* (x) in creatures/Items
*0 in Allies (0/0)
* Stuff

===''Advancement''===

=='''Statistics-{}'''==
*Psyche:30
*Strength:8 First Rank
*Endurance:16
*Warfare:20 First rank

=='''Powers {}'''== 46 power

=='''Skills {}'''==

=='''Allies & Enemies {0/0 = 0}'''==
===Allies-3===
various

===Enemies-3===
various

=='''Companions'''==

=='''Items {}'''==
*
* Signature piece

=='''Stuff{}'''==

=='''Miscellany'''==
corvus37@yahoo.com

Graz ak Tremous

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Salinea: Reverted edits by BROFLAKE MAD (talk) to last revision by Tolknor

The Sigil Graz ak Tremous is a High Order initiation attained by survival on many different locations within the abyss. Its shape varies.

==Powers==
*Imprint-5 pips
*Advanced Imprint 10 pips
*Master Imprint-20 pips.

The Basic Imprint is accomplished by passage through a "Path of Tremors" or a "Graz ak Tremous" that spans the transitions between greater Abyssal Realms. Each is different and many grant different power relating to the two realms they transition but they all have ssome common powers.

===Common Powers===
*'''Transitional Shape Change'''-The traveler, having the ability to shapechange already, or at the very least the genetic ability to have the power even if untrained, to adapt quickly, and smoothly between the required physical need to survive approaching reals or levels or pockets. While the individual may need to dramatically deal with a transition between realms the holder of the Graz ak Tremous is able to essentially anticipate what conditions might be required to pass the next realm. These change might include, but are limited to, breathing various gasous, consuming required food, maintaining vision is light, dark, or other visual conditions.

*'''Resistant to extremes in environment'''
*'''Abilty to learn and use High Order magics based on High Order Initiations'''

Precedence of Powers

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Precedence: A potent concept in the powers of the universe. [[Jeweled Amber]]

According to the list of High Order Initiations there are generally accepted degrees of empowerment of constructs able to empower High Order Sorcery. The greater the artifact or initiation used to empower an item, the more rugged the creation is. Spells cast from the frames of these initiations are more powerful according to their ranking in the orders.

In a general way many elements may be used and combined to create or conjure items of power. The mixture of powers providing a stronger result. Elements may include Focus, Alter, Inscribing Tool, Sigils of Powers, Adjacent Powers, Sorcery, Conjuration, Psyche, Endurance, Quenching Liquids, Fudge, Herbs and Incense

The Precedence of Powers is an important concept throughout the Jeweled Amber multi-verse. It is the basic concept that some items are better then other and some initiations, focuses, power systems, and materials & Material combinations, are better then others.

=='''[[High Order Initiations]]'''==

Initiations are constructs and artifacts that impose a higher level of awareness allowing the use of sorcery and other types of magical forces, defenses, and attacks.
===''First Order''===

Each of these first order initiations can be attuned in specific manners in order to allow them to impart their powers.

*'''Jewel of Judgment'''
**The jewel of Judgment is also known as the Eye of the Serpent. It was removed from the serpent in battle with the Unicorn deep in the ancient origins of existence. it has the most well known history as an artifact focus of creations. It was used by Dworkin Bariman to create [[Ambe]]r. It was used by the Serpent to create the [[Logrus]]. It was used by Corwin to create [[Avalon]]. It was used by Adrian to create [[Mandalay]]. The Jewel casts a great many shadows of itself. Each is a powerful focuses in their own rights.
**The jewel is attuned by assaying the pattern image within the Jewel itself. Walking the Pattern with it, one cast oneself into the jewel.

*'''Horn of the Unicorn''' There are several Horns of the unicorn. Three pieces are known to exist.
**A full horn is in the possession of the High Lord of Chaos, the Swayvill. Supposedly it was broken off at the time the Jewel of Judgment was taken from the Serpent of Chaos. The Full Horn is one of several Keys to the Tomb of the Ancestors of Darkness. [[Swayvill]] are allowed attunement by the Unicorn.
**A third of the horn is in the possession of Queen Moire of Remba.
**A 2" horn tip is in the hand of Prince Julian of Amber. It was given to him by the Unicorn at the time of the creation of [[Mandalay]]
**The Horns can only be attuned by the Unicorn giving permission for the holder to gain access to their higher powers.
**attunement to the Horn gives one the powers of passage, an extraordinary speed and the ability to be unaffected by conditions in shadow. It allows extraordinary to shave shadowviels. It protects on even in the depths of the Abyss.

*'''Hide of the Tiger'''
The Hide of the Tiger was taken voluntarily before the creation of the Pattern of Amber. It acts as a powerful focus for the combining of powers and constructs. It has powerful healing powers, able to restore a living creature to life regardless of the time its been dead as long as some substantial amount of the body is available. It can grow duplicates of living creatures if a suitable amount of material is available to start with and the animal it was taken from is present.
**The Hide is attuned by laying naked on the fur and being coated in the blood of a recent kill. The Tiger may also grant Attunement.
**Attunement to the Hide gives one the powers of locating foes, tracking, and hunting powers. It gives animal control powers. A person attuned to the hide

*'''Chanticleer's Gaff'''
**Used as a high orderly potent powers of command and animal control
**The Gaff is attuned by pressing the spur into the heart of the holder. Chanticleer may also grant attunement.
**A person attuned to the Gaff has extraordinary control over animals
**Used as an inscribing tool it effects powerful command and animal control powers as well as powerful healing magic.

===''Second Order Initiations''===
*Patterns: Amber, Avalon
*Marks: Mandalay
*Lorgus
*Kangular of Calmir
*Rock Paragon-Variable according to the individual Stone

===''Third Order Initiations''===
*[[Broken Pattern]]:Amber, Avalon
*[[Woven Logrus]]
*[[Squiggle]]

===''Fourth Order Initiations''===
*[[Shade Patterns]]
*[[Shade Realms]]
*Shade Logrus
Shade Logrus are inscriptions or initiations that are secondary shadows of the Primal Logrus in the same way Shade patterns are secondary shadows of Primal Patterns.

The name and manners of various Shade Logrus vary wildly. Reflected images of the logrus take many chaotic forms.

*Keep of the Four Worlds
*Shade marks

===''Fifth Order Initiations''===
*[[Mal at Riess]]
*Distorted [[Shade Patterns]]
*[[Graz ak Tremous]]-A power attained within the Abyss.

=='''Focus Constructs'''==
===''First Order''===
*Jewel of Judgment
*Horn of the Unicorn
*Hide of the Tiger
*Chanticleer's Gaff

===''Second Order Initiations''===
*Shadows of the Jewel, Horn, Hide, & Gaff

===''Third Order Initiations''===
*Cracked Stones (Related to Broken Patterns)
*Stones of Mandalay
*Keep of the Four Worlds
*Shades of the Jewel of Judgment
*The Tornado of the Red gale

===''Fourth Order Initiations''===
*Fantalin Forging Lens
*Pattern Inscribed Items
*Shards of [[Paragon]]

===''Fifth Order Initiations''===

=='''Forging Surfaces, Alters, Adjacent Powers & Locations'''==

===''First Order''===
*Rock Kolvir at the Primal Pattern. The area around the Primal Pattern is mostly flat but has a flat stone a foot away from one edge of the pattern inscription.
*Hide of the Tiger. The hide is a flat furry surface excellent for not hot iron forge work, focusing back reflective magical effects.
*Living Ygg: Ygg, a primal creature, is rooted at the central point of the Hub of Mandalay and has exposed roots suitable for magical works

===''Second Order ''===
*Pattern Chambers: Rooms such as the Dungeon Chamber of the Pattern in Amber. The Hall of Treasures in Fantalin. The Dungeon Pattern in Tir Nogath. The Central Hall of the Palace of Avalon
*The Stairs of Tir Nogath: The Third Stair on the path to Tir Nogath. The stair to Tir Mar Gala
*The Hub of Mandalay: The wooden Bartoop that circles the inner region of Mandalay
*Hub of the Mark
*Way of the Lorgus

===''Third Order ''===
*Broken Pattern Chambers: The Broken Pattern in the Hall of Treasures at Fantalin.
*Woven Logrus Rooms
*Rock [[Paragon]]

===''Fourth Order ''===
*Shade Patterns Chambers: The Primal Pattern Chamber of York
*Shade Logrus Ways

''Fifth Order''
*Mal at Riess Chamber at [[Cogswell Manor]]

==='' Sixth Orders''===
*Stone of Skulls

=='''Inscribing Tool'''==

===''First Order''===
*Horns of the Unicorn: Used as the tip to inscribe on an artifact, not simply as a focus.
*Chanticleer's Gaff: The spur used as the inscribing tool, rather then as a focus

===''Second Order Initiations''===
*Pattern Inscribed Tools:

===''Third Order Initiations''===
*Broken Pattern Inscribed Tools
*Sorcerous Inscription

===''Fourth Order Initiations''===
*Shards of [[Paragon]]: A edge tip of a shard of Paragon used as the inscribing tool.

===''Fifth Order Initiations''===

'' Sixth Order initiations''

=='''Sorcery and Conjuration'''==
===''First Order''===
*Primal Sorcery & Conjuration

===''Second Order Initiations''===
*Master Sorcery & Conjuration

===''Third Order Initiations''===
*Advanced Sorcery & Conjuration

===''Fourth Order Initiations''===
*Standard Sorcery & Conjuration

===''Fifth Order Initiations''===
*

==='' Sixth Order initiations''===
*

=='''Sigil and Channeling Initiations'''==
===''First Order''===
*Primal Patterns
*Primal Logrus

===''Second Order Initiations''===
*Signs of the Pattern
*Sign of the Mark
*Signs of the Lorgus
*Sigil of Paragon
*Frame of Calmir

===''Third Order Initiations''===
*Sign of the Broken Pattern
*Sign of the Woven Logrus
*Sigil of Major Squiggles: Azcala, Regor, Bursain, Talwas

===''Fourth Order Initiations''===
*Signs of Shade Patterns: Shades of Amber, Major Shade Patterns:York, Plymoth, Agdics
*Signs of Shade Logrus Ways: The Grip of Vagalorat

===''Fifth Order Initiations''===
*Sigil of Mal at Riess

=='''Imprint Style'''==

The '''''Style''''' of the imprint describes the temperament of the pattern.
===''First Order''===
*Wild-The imprint of a New or "Wild" pattern gives the imprinted greater access to far greater power requiring a great deal more control. One advantage to a Wild imprint is that a lower grade of Imprint can be taken and will be the detectable imprint. This allows a person to hold two pattern imprints and raise two different sigils, and have two spell frames.

===''Second Order Initiations''===
*Devoted-A Standard imprint allowed by a pattern for its own reasons.

===''Third Order Initiations''===
*Standard Imprint or ''Tame'' Imprint-Vastly most common imprint.

===''Fourth Order Initiations''===
*Bruised-An initial Imprint of a pattern that has experienced some form of magical damage. This is also the form of imprint the pattern can grant to a person not of the blood.

===''Fifth Order Initiations''===
*Stolen-This imprint is the imprint of a person who managed to assay the pattern despite the patten not specifically allowing it. An example is the imprint of Aries Colbresie who studied the pattern extensively and memorized the extensive twists and turns and then walked the pattern despite not being the blood of Amber. His holding a shade pattern imprint at the time aided greatly in his attempt.

=='''Quenching Liquids'''==

===''First Order Quenching Fluids''===
*Water from the Pond near the Primal Patterns
*Liquid Stuff of Chaos from the Way of the Primal Logrus
*Sap of Ygg

===''Second Order Quenching Fluids''===
*Water from the pond of the Castle Pattern Room
*Water from the Pattern Chamber of Rebma
*Water of the Mark
*Liquid Stuff og Chaos from the Way of the Lorgus
*Wine of Paragon
*Blood of Amber (preference by generation Dworkin downward)
*Royal Blood of Chaos

===''Third Order Quenching Fluids''===
*Water of the Broken Pattern Chambers or locations
*Water of the Woven Logrus Ways
*Waters of Major Squiggles: Azcala, Regor, Bursain, Talwas
*Calrabon Pepper Sauce
*Wines and Alcohols of Mandalay
*Whiskey of Amber

===''Fourth Order Quenching Fluids''===
*Waters of Shade Patterns: Shades of Amber, Major Shade Patterns:York, Plymoth, Agdics
*Waters of Shade Logrus Ways: The Waterfall to the Grip of Vagalorat
*Wines and alcohol of Amber
*Wines and Alcohols of Chaos

===''Fifth Order Quenching Fluids''===
*Living Blood
*Gerard's Mead

===''Sixth Order Quenching Fluids''===
*Alcohols

===''Seventh Order Quenching Fluids''===
*Water and juices

=='''Herbs and Incense'''==
===''First Order''===
*Primal Patterns Herbs, gathered from the Rock Kolvir
*Herbs from the interior of th Hub of Mandalay

===''Second Order''===
*Herbs from the Pattern rooms
*Herbs of Mandalay

===''Third Order ''===
*Archdruid Herbs
*Incense From the Church of the Unicorn
*Incense from the Church of the Serpent

===''Fourth Order''===
*Sanctified Incense from the Fane of Zilla
*Sanctified Incense from the Church of the Unicorn-Fantalin
*Sage
*Poison Ivy

===''Fifth Order''===
*Fresh Herbs

===''Sixth Order''===
*Dried herbs

=='''Fudge'''==
===''First Order''===
*Dark Double Fudge
*Chocolate Peanut Butter Fudge

===''Second Order''===
*Peanut Butter Honey Fudge
*White Chocolate and Blueberry Fudge
*Creamy Lemon Fudge

===''Third Order''===
*Cherry Almond Fudge
*Maple Walnut Fudge

===''Fourth Order''===
*Crunchy Mint Chocolate Fudge
*Old Fashioned Chocolate Fudge

===''Fifth Order Initiations''===
*Candy Cane Fudge

=='''Whiskey'''==
===''First Order''===
*Whiskey of Amber
*The Uisce Beatha of Mandalay

===''Second Order''===
*Johnny Walker Blue Label
*Gentleman Jack
*Maker's Mark

===''Third Order''===
*Jack Daniels old #7
*Even Williams
*Glenlivet 18

===''Fourth Order''===
*Store Brand Blended Whiskey
*Old Crow

===''Fifth Order Initiations''===
*Ole Smoky Tennessee Moonshine

Running Sheet Agrom

2020-01-17T22:10:27Z

Salinea: Reverted edits by BROFLAKE MAD (talk) to last revision by Tolknor

'''<big>Agrom, Son of Vance'''</big>

[[File:Agrom.jpg]]

'''Father:''' Vance

'''Mother:''' Uchala, of Clan Trada

'''Children:''' None

'''Description:'''

'''Hobbies:'''

=='''Ranks'''==
*''''Commander-Star Fleet''''
*'''''Captain-(ships)

=='''Points-{137}'''==

'''''Total:137 = 113 Stats+ Powers{c}+6 Skills+{c}+10 Items +4/4 allies/Enemies +5 Stuff+3 Storage'''''

*113 in Stats
*4 (50) in Powers
*6 in Skills
*10 (x) in creatures/Items
*0 in Allies (140/140)
*5 Stuff

===''Advancement''===
*3 in storage
*2 Pips For 5 Year Star Fleet Mission
*2 Pips Shadow Shaving
*10 Pips for the Mission into the Abyss

=='''Statistics-{113}'''==
*Psyche: 2
*Strength: 41
*Endurance:32
*Warfare:38

=='''Powers {4}'''==

*(50) Pattern of Amber- (50 granted)
*5 Sigil [[Graz ak Tremous]]-Powers of Survival in the Abyss
*4 Cantrips
*5 Limited Sorcery

=='''Skills {8}'''==
*1 Pip-Woodworking.
*2 Musical Performance-Singing
*1 Stringed instruments.
*2 Fighter pilot-Star Fleet
*2 Shadow Shaving

=='''Allies & Enemies {/ = 0}'''==
===Allies-3===
*1 Pip-Vander
3 various

===Enemies-4===
4 various

=='''Companions'''==

=='''Items {10}'''==
*
*Batlath- Signature piece

==Companions==
*Elite
*Pet-Giant Crow-Gained in the Abyss

=='''Stuff{5 GS}'''==

5 Good Stuff

=='''Miscellanea'''==

Running Sheet Vance

2020-01-17T22:10:26Z

Salinea: Reverted edits by BROFLAKE MAD (talk) to last revision by Tolknor

<big>'''{?}'''</big>

[[File:Vance.jpg]] [[File:Vanceuniform3.jpg]]

'''Father:''' Delwin of Taligar, Prince of Amber.

'''Mother:'''

'''Children:'''

'''Description:'''

'''Hobbies:'''

=='''Ranks'''==
Commanding Admiral [[Amber Star Fleet]]

=='''Points-{}'''==

'''''Total: = 143 Stats+95 Powers{c}+18 Skills+{c}+ Items +0/0 allies/Enemies +3 Stuff+0 Storage'''''

*143 in Stats
*95 (x) in Powers
*18 in Skills
* (x) in creatures/Items
*0 in Allies (0/0)
*3 Stuff

===''Advancement''===
*5 Sigil Graz ak Tremous-Powers of Survival in the Abyss

=='''Statistics-{143}'''==
*Psyche: 25
*Strength: 14
*Endurance:35
*Warfare:69

=='''Powers {95}'''==
*25(50) Advanced Amber Pattern
*10 [[Alamond]]
*10 [[Talwas]]
*15 Sorcery
*20 Conjuration
*15(10-Racial, 10-Blessed in Theldane) Shape Change
*3 Shadow Magic [[Warlock Magery]]
*5 Sigil Graz ak Tremous-Powers of Survival in the Abyss

=='''Skills {18}'''==
*4 Computer Skills
*4 Piloting-Star Ship
*3 Stage Magic
*1 Bi-Plane Aerobatics.
*1 horsemanship
*1
*1
*1
*1
*1

=='''Allies & Enemies {20/20 = 0}'''==
===Allies-3===
*6 Delwin
*4 Random
*4 Benedict
*3 Candle Hyle
*2Truman of Amber
*2 Rodac the Red
===Enemies-3===
various

=='''Companions'''==
[[File:Candle Hyle.jpg]] [[File:Rodac.jpg]] [[File:Celakat.jpg]]

Candle Hyle

=='''Items {}'''==
* Signature Piece
*Angasrt
**2 Chaos Vitality
**4 Engine Speed Transfer 5
**4 Combat Mastery Transfer 5
**4 Deadly Damage
**1 Able to Speak
**2 Danger Sense Transfer 5
**1 Mold Shadow Stuff
**4 Limited Shape Shift
**4 Rack & Use Spells
**2 Ability- Return to Hand
**2 Ability-Replay Illusions of events it was present for.
***Total 30 x 2=60
**x2 N/N Blades of the Circle of Talgwir

*(6) NP Graduate Blade:
**4 Deadly Damage
**1 Rack a Spell-Return to Wielder

=='''Stuff{3}'''==
*3 Good Stuff

=='''Miscellanea'''==

Primal Creature

2020-01-17T22:10:25Z

Salinea: Reverted edits by BROFLAKE MAD (talk) to last revision by Tolknor

Primal creatures-[[Jeweled Amber]]
----
'''Primal Beasts-Primal Creatures'''

Shadow is vast but even it is a hierarchy of realms that spans from the Courts of Chaos to Amber. At the pinnacle of the creations of the animal races rises one individual that harnesses great power. The Unicorn of Amber and the Serpent of Chaos are Primal Beasts but there are others. These creatures are called Primal Beasts or Primal Creatures. The incarnation of intelligence can travel from beast to beast should one be slain. The creature gains great intelligence, durability, the ability to travel shadow and chaos, and much more. Some beasts, such as the Unicorn of Amber, have become patrons to Primal Realms and have upped their power accordingly

In the Jeweled Amber campaign several Primal Beasts played important roles.

===Unicorn===
The Patron of Amber

===Serpent===
The Serpent is the Patron of Chaos

===Bear===
Patron of Corwin's realm of Avalon.

===Ygg===
Ygg is the primal beast of Adrian's Mandalay. He is credited in magical circles as a Primal Creature but his status may be a matter of his individuality rather then inherent iconic status. Some argue, out of Ygg's hearing that he is just wood. Others think Ygg is the pinnicle f the line that includes sentient trees like willows, hurons, and ents.

===Tiger===
Tiger, also called Rashtar, has traveled with [[Borlak]] for many years. He is often there for battle and among the warriors of the Flowing Horde. .

===Horse===
Morgenstern is the Primal Horse and travels with Julian.

===Cat===
Keeps company with Arloxedra in the Library of Amber. He is a friend of the castle cats and is often seen around Flora in the Sea View Gardens, always on his best behavior. There are no rats or mice in the Castle Amber because of Cat and his companions.

===Scenty the Butterfly===
A large monarch, enjoys following Doria around, taking pleasure in spoiling her ''Goddess of Death'' image.

===Crocodile===

===Chicken-''Chanticleer''===

The Primal Chicken is not called Chicken. Its name is Chanticleer

===Sparrow===
Follows Sos the Rope.

===Otter===
Follows Carissa of Amber

Facebook Blurbs

2020-01-17T22:10:24Z

Salinea: Reverted edits by BROFLAKE MAD (talk) to last revision by Tolknor

===''' Random at castle Amber'''===

Sitting on a high parapet of the castle Amber, Random looks down to the harbor of Amber.. From the King's Perch, he sees out to the light on the tip of of the Lighthouse of Cabra. For a moment, it flashes green and gold, and the thought of a stalking puma enters his mind... he mutters..."Oh damn... that can't be good..."

----

==='''2: Tonacat and the Puma'''===

In shades of gray and green the swirls of chaos rise and fall. The winds of stale herbs and old letters wafts from the stone behind which an old man sits, writing..

The stone that bears him floats in the stuff of chaos and he is not distracted.

A sleek beast flows like water on four fleet feet up grains of sand few would know as a trail, save he and the old man. Its tawny fur speckled with lights in yellows and oranges, shifts from fur to strings like a woven basket, to flecks like graven stone. It arrives behind the man, in flesh and teeth, and sits beside him.

"The Serpent has given me the Key, old man. You need but cross to Zilla, give tribute at the Fane, and we are free."

The man looks from the page he writes. Folding the cover of the book, he ties it with a cord woven of heartstrings. "You are free. I will have to make tribute. The others?"

"A bird has landed at Cabra. My brother has taken his post by the Mark. The High Lord has told me when you make your tribute, you may use the Key. Have you chosen a realm? "

The old man stands, sliding the book in a satchel of human skin. Reaching below the rock he draws out a long thin blade of carved of volcanic glass, carved with intricate runes. Buckling it to his belt, he draws a thick black dagger of volcanic glass, a twin to the killing blade. Examining it with care.

"Yes.. tribute.. It is time to make a sacrifice. Peasant's blood to appease the High Lord, and a King's blood to avenge my father's faults"

The beast and the man walk down the trail together. If other ears were near them, they would have heard them chortling.

----

==='''3: Random, Benedict, Bleys, & Vance at the Oracle of Night'''===

Four men walk to the base of the towering spires around the field of broken pillars. War has broken some pillars but the spires are too close to Chaos and they can never be fully broken.

The first ascends the stairs. Thin, gaunt, but muscled, Benedict moves with the grace of the warrior born. He sits on the icy stone seat and gazes into the mist. In time he descends. Dour, even for a grim man, he looks to the fourth man with the look of death.

The second man, in reds and golds, walks up to take the seat, taking a chug of the whiskey of Amber for fortification. His continence is that of a man walking to the gallows. He has been here before an only a dagger from his king could drag him here again. In time Bleys comes down from the high seat. Riffling cards as he comes, he opens a trump and steps though before he can confront the fourth man.

The third man, seeing the second depart, looks to the fourth, his face an appeal to let him pass on the trip up the stairs. The fourth shakes his head. Turning, the third man ascends as though he would meet the axe at the top. In time he returns. Vance’s eyes cannot meet the fourth man’s gaze.

The fourth man starts up the stairs but is stopped by the first, gripping his shoulder tightly.

“Don’t. Nothing you will see up there matters now. We know enough. “

The fourth man says, “Mayhaps. But I am willing to bet it will answer me more clearer if i bear the jewel with me.”

The man strides up the stairs. As he walks he pulls a heavy chain from beneath his doublet. On it hangs a heavy red stone. He dons the Eye of the Serpent and takes a seat on the throne of the Oracle of Night. The stone glows brightly red, as if it objects. It tugs on the chain around his neck.

Casting his mind into the stone to calm it, he sees the red fire within.

“That can’t be good”

----

==='''4: Traffic of various sorts'''===

Traffic on the overpass was stalled as usual. LA traffic could be challenging at the best of times.

The Plymouth Barracuda's great engine idled lowly, angry that it had no running room. Its driver reclined at ease, letting his cigarillo burn and scent the air with tobacco and other herbs. Beside him on all sides the commuters sealed their econoboxes tightly and blasted air conditioning to fight off the blistering heat. He basked with the window open, he liked the sun. So did the tiny cat sitting beside him

A tingling sensation tickled at his mind, bringing him to immediate attention. Scratching at magical muscles long ignored calls him to preparation before answering the call. He had not felt the touch of a trump in centuries. Seeking down the paths of the contact he felt the tender touch at the other end, tasting like Cinnamon and blood. Opening his mind the image of a raven haired woman with crystal blue eyes fills his vision.

"Sister. How wonderful to see your face after all these years. To what do i owe the privilege? Have you taken up the knife again?"

"In truth it occurred to me when i thought of seeing you again, but you needed to know." She sips a tall glass of clear liquid, relishing it.

"What's happened?" tossing his cigarillo out the window, coming to full alertness.

"Tonacat has ripped hearts, on the Alter of the Serpent of Chaos, at the Fane of Zilla. The Cats are loose. The Bird has landed at Cabra. Tona has the Key"

"Well, Fuck...Mom and Dad? " he growls.

"They have gone to retrieve Toci. They will answer Tonacat's call when he makes it"

"And our kids? "

"Aztalios is with me. Untara? No clue. " She finishes her drink. "Will you answer the call?"

"Cihal, you know i like a good fight, but this is all such ancient history. I don't see the point of getting red over such trivia. We barely avoided getting sucked into the Patternfall fiasco. I like it here. I see no reason to pick a fight with Amber's new king just because Oberon and Swayvil couldn't get along. "

" Xozla...You know its more then that.. Its our home. We can go back..Please.." Her eyes gaze across the trump with need, and greed, and lust, and ancient longing.

Shaking his head, he looked across the skyline of a city he had grown to deeply love. Yet in the end, there was nothing there he loved as much as the murderous monster who begged him now.

"Ah hell...When could i deny you anything. I'll come. For you, Cihal, for you. Not for them..They may rue inviting me. Ques and I always got along.I'll pledge no loyalty except to you, and that may not keep me loyal." He closes his mind to forestall the argument that would have followed.

"Well Cholla, it seems Zictla awaits us after all.. Pity. Terrible place, but my love will be there and she will soon forget that she hates me. If she will be there, so shall we"

The cat looks up, nearly grins, and makes a neigh of approval that a horse would approve of as well. It sees itself as a horse again.

----

==='''5: Arloxedra in the Library of Amber'''===

Slipping out from behind piles of books in the crowded corner of the Library of Amber, the ragged looking Arlo, the library's ghost in all but whispy form, climbs a packed and dusty bookcase rather then sliding the ladder down to this forgotten corner.

Sorting through a stack he finds a thin tome that hasn't seen the air in a pair of millennium. Glancing through it he grows despondent, finding the answers the king required, but loath to provide them.

Twisting in place, pushing several piles aside to recline, head on a tome of nautical maps. He reads, dusting each page. "This tome will get plenty of use now" he says aloud to no one near by.

----

==='''6: Callings Echo'''===

A woman in a tall green feathered hat and a tight green dress walks a small orange dragon and a cat in orange on long leashes.. She stops, looking aside.. Smiling slightly, she walks on with a quicker step.

A man sitting on the top of a pyramid chanting stops for a moment. A bird screeches in his ear. He smiles, and sighs...

A young man in ragged blues and greens plays chess in a park with an old white haired black man. They trade off moving and tapping the clock timer. He hears a screech as from a crow in the trees above. He ignores the first caw but the second makes him turn his head, looking to the tall buildings beyond the park. Minutes pass as he stares upwards. His opponents speaks, "My game. Your time is up."

He regards the old man, frowns.. "ya, i guess it is at that.. "

----

==='''7: Bleys and Dworkin in Brand's Tomb.'''===

Walking into the black and red stone tomb the man in red goes quickly to the sarcophagus and pushes off its lid. Reaching in he pulls a tall bottle and thumbs the cork from the top quickly.. Taking a deep tug of a bright red drink, as he moves to sit in a dark shadowed bench.

"Well? How was your evening at the oracle of Night?" a voice says from the shaded depths of the far side of the bench Bleys holds.

"Azcala" Bleys softly moans to the bent figure across from him.

Dworkin stands and reaches into the open tomb and pulls a bottle of blue tequila. Smiling, he sips, then speaks, "Azcala....Good. Its just as well"

----

==='''8: Jurt & Untara in Thin Whip's Place'''===

Loud music blares in the darkened hall. Lights flash, burning, fireworks. Glow-globs float near the ceiling. In the center the people dance. From above the music falls music rarely heard in the City of Amber. In the corners, tables and booths tossed into the dustbins of a hundred better joints litter the great warehouse and people sit among them. Drinking, smoking, laughing, yelling, screwing.

A thin man in a bowler hat, hops from the bar he was sitting on. Taking a large glass bottle by the handle he drinks as he walks among the young and the hopefully young of Amber. Its elite come here to be unknown, the unknown come here to make a name for themselves. This is Thin Whip's Place.

He is Thin Whip.

He comes to a dusty pile of broken boxes and pillows that the girl he's been boinking has turned into a warren. She's thin, and wild, pretty with red and purple hair. If groomed Thin Whip knows she could be stunning. She crouches, bouncing in time to the music, a dagger in her hand. She repeatedly stabs its tip into her palm, leaving tiny bleeding marks. Sometimes the crazy ones are the most fun to fuck, he thinks

Concerned, the proprietor says, "Well Uty? You ok? Take something not sittin well?"

Looking up, she smiles, and even he is shaken. "I'm fine, Jurt. Just fine. Can you take me to Random?"

Eyes widen as he hears his name spoken aloud, "Well, Uty, I'd be happy to introduce you to the King but he is a busy man these days. I doubt he would like the interruption."

Standing, she slips the bloody dagger into a sheath on her arm. "Oh Jurt. Random will talk to me, i assure you"

----

==='''9: Random and Flora in the Music room'''===

Random twirls the sticks mid-beat, moving up through a Gene Krupa riff and splitting it down into a Ringo run. Flora slips in to the music room and pours a tall clear drink and garnishes it with cherries before sitting to listen.

After a few more taps the King stops, glancing to his sister.
"You're going to harsh my buzz, aren't you?"

She laughs, "That was Krupa for a bit. I saw him at the Philharmonic a few times. Followed Corwin in once and kept going back. You know how he liked his Jazz, even with his memory zorched. "

"I played with Krupa in Taxorami. Got him to walk out there in '58. He set up in a place i used to own. Probably still there. Haven't thought of him in years. So....."

Flora winks wicked to her sovereign, "Yes, liege. The celebration will be quite an affair. Bets being paid off all over shadow. Formal wear of course, though I'd leave the Jewel hidden. It clashes with just about everything you own; including your kin "

"You are avoiding my question."

"I don't know how to answer it, " she admits, "I don't know of any armies invading if that's what you mean. All seams quiet. Martin has arrived and should be here in a few minutes. Otherwise, the usual suspects with a few surprises. Llewella is coming. Moire said she was planning on attending and would need seats for 7 at the table. Her steward at The Cove was told to ready chambers. Delwin told me he shall attend but Sand will not. I suggested to Margot that this time we not set Vance near his father. They quarrel. "

The king frowns, "Moire needs 7? Her, Honosol, Llewela, Rene, Who else? "

Flora-"Moire was being mysterious, Llewella was being a bitch. "

"Anything else?"

Flora."Nothing we can't manage on the fly. Though Caine has been avoiding me again. Go rest. Dress. Give Vielle her trinket and i'll have Tyler come get you when its time" Finishing her drink and standing to leave.

Random watches her go and sighs, not for the first time since breakfast. He mumbles, "War and dinner with family. Im not sure which i prefer."

----

==='''10: Julian and Duncan in Ardan'''===

Julian rises from his cot and casts aside the cloak he had been sleeping under. Looking about he grabs a linen gown, dons it and slips out the back to mark the giant oak as usual.

Returning he casts a quick cleanliness spell over himself. He begins donning his white armor, its alabaster color shimmering in the flickering candle light and the slight breaking dawn sun.

A blond man with a close cropped beard framing his face. His forester green suit is caked with mud and blood.

"Father, you're up I see. Easy patrol last night. Caught a collection of those red wolves and saw that big buck of yours. "

Julian steps up and casts the cleanliness spell again. His son chuckles as his gear resumes in fresh state.

"Ok, i forgot."

Julian finishes his arming. "I'm going to go on the next patrol then go to the Church for a few hours, Then up to the court for this ridiculous spectacle. Will i see you there, Duncan? "

"Yes father, I'll be there. In fact I have to run an errand for the King. I may call you to bring me through. So, relieve me already."

Finished arming, he nods, "You are relieved. Don't be late."

Duncan exits the tent and his father steps out behind him. Duncan mounts the red and black striped horse, a treasured gift from his uncle Benedict. Spurring it to a gallop the horse and rider rush off to be embraced by shadow.

"Ride easy, my son. You will be tested soon enough"

Glancing to Morganstern, eating oats beside the tent, and the patrol riding up toward him.

----

==='''11: Despil and Jurt'''===

Despil sits on a box that once held oranges, leaning against a wall flipping a deck of cards through routine after routine of passes, shuffles and lifts, palms and plants. A tiny pipe clipped to his teeth puffs a light blue smoke.

Near him a slight built man moves boxes and barrels, counts, and occasionally stops to drink from a large mug or write on a clipboard.

Despil remarks, "If mom saw how industrious you are running this place i think she would laugh herself silly. "

The man called Thin Whip tugs on the mug, chuckling, "Maybe. Let her laugh, as long as she stays in Chaos. " Nodding, Despil agrees.

Jurt asks, "I assume you will be in fine colors tonight? All swirls and flowers?"

"I'm the Ambassador to Amber from Chaos, i think it might be noticed if snubbed the King. And you?"

Chuckling, Jurt hops up to sit on a barrel, "Wine on Random's copperwing? Hell yes. Anything i should know about?"

Despil raises his eyebrow, "Isn't there always?"

----

==='''12: Random, Vaile, and tyler'''===

Pouring himself a drink, the King of Amber, frowns, swirling the dark liqueur in the glass.

"too many secrets...."

tucking the jewel beneath his doublet, he puts the crown on. Picking up the wide bore derringer and slipping it up his cuff, he turns to his wife.

Vaile, sits fingering a small red jewel, enjoying its faceting. "Its lovely dear. "

He kisses his wifes head, "You deserve the best. Especially with the crowd coming to dinner."

A thin young man sticks his head in, before he can speak random interrupts.
"Yes Tyler, i know. Lead the way"

----

==='''13: Gerard and Flora at Sea View Gardens'''===

Leaning over the railing at the Sea View Gardens. Picking at a flower, a tall tankard at his side...

"OH Brother, Whatever has you so down?" Flora says lightly as she hops to sit on the rail, back to the sea.

Looking to his sister..."I have a daughter who is dead. Collateral damage in the war. I've a granddaughter who was orphaned as a child.. I never knew... Dworkin was not surprised when i confronted him.. He is a bit wroth with me now. I don't know what to do. "

She pats her brother fondly on the shoulder, levering to stand. "Be kind, as if you could be anything otherwise" Kissing him on the cheek she moves on to other guest.

Pulling the last petal from the flower, a slight smile crosses his lips as he tosses it into the sea.

----

==='''14:'''===

"Where is it? " the man with the feathered headdress yelled at the man in orange and black spotted fur armor.

"I have no idea, Sire!!!! It was lost when the realm was sealed!!"

"So my sword is lost in Amber's shadows because you could not keep your tiny fingers on it when the fires threw us away from our homeland? "

The man in the jaguar garb frowns, under the assault of his god. "I will find it, master! I will find it!!"

----

==='''15: Jurt and Shava in Castle Amber'''===

Thin Whip wandered back into his cubby hole of a room in the Castle Amber. This one was his, no woman ever visited it. Even the maids knew not to clean it.

It was not much more then closet. He had sold the second room long ago. He falls onto the mattress on the floor, in the corner. A shelf above his head belongs to his Satelwin, which usually kept the form of a small yippy dog. It peered over the edge as he shut the door behind himself.

Dropping his head to the pile of clothes, he looks up at the tiny creature. "Shava, I think we either need to flee to Chaos, or not leave the Castle for a time. Serves me right i suppose. "

Shava turns over on its side, ignoring him. He was going to stay here regardless.

----

==='''16: Guardsman First Even of Hale Riding'''===

June 13

During a patrol of the courtyard of Amber, Even of Hale Riding, new to the Amber Guard, noticed as Admiral Vance arrived by Trump in the courtyard of Castle Amber. The Admiral paused and spoke to Princess Llewella, who was in the company of the two new additions to the King Random's deck, Princess Orsalla and Lady Osa. Vance spoke briefly, animatedly, and then left the courtyard. The grand ladies looked unimpressed by the Admiral of the Star Fleet.

----
'''Court of Amber in celebration of the 70th Anniversary of the Reign of King Random the First.'''

The gathering in the great hall of Amber was gaining size and tension. The colors of House and Realm mixed with representatives for Golden Circle Realms, Sway Realms and great realms across shadow. Though conversations were everywhere among the attendants, the massive hall did not echo.

Notables and nobles glancing around the great hall noticed various gatherings, and often who they spoke with and stood near. The folding benches were slowly being filled.

In a section near the front, in bright reds and white were the Nobles from out in Diega, looking particularly nervous. The cluster in Green and Gold is the great Thulusians. Brown and Blue in the shadowy side of the hall are the Dreaneans, including their King, Mark of Brolic.

In the center, oblivious, are the Begmans and the Kashfans, politely snarling at each other in diplomatic smiles. Near them in a cacophony of colors is the embassy of Chaos, Lord Despil chief amongst them. He calmly speaks with an envoy of Mandalay, though Mandalay does not maintain an embassy of its own.

Lord Allen, the king's herald enters near the throne and stands quietly beside it. The crowds know. They begin to take their seats, silence following them like fog.

From the back the great doors open.

Lord Allen announces, “All attend the Court of the King, Random of Amber, and his Queen, Vaile of Amber. “
The audience rises as the King enters with his wife on his arm. Behind him are Benedict and Gerard, then Florimel and Fiona. They walk behind him at pace, and move to take places behind the throne.

As they approach a small group of attendants take places behind the throne to attend the monarchs. With them are Melvin, the King’s scribe, Lord Tyler Smails, the King’s Cupbearer and keeper of the Privy Seal, Lord Harald Chantris, Lady Carmel Urien, the Queen’s companion, and the chief lady in waiting, Lucia Feldane and a few other ladies.

Random takes the dais, leading his lady, resplendent in sea green and pearls, to her throne, a small glowing red stone hanging from a live chain.

Turning to face the crowd he speaks, His russet doublet topped by the Jewel of Judgment on its heavy chain.

“May you live in Amber, forever. “ June 21

The crowd echoes, with the usual suspects remaining quiet.

“This celebration is the 70th year of my reign. I assume all bets are paid off on that account by now.” A small chuckle rumbles. “The Patternfall War was a catalyst of great change. Those of you who have heard this speech before are rolling your eyes. Yes, we are at peace with the major realms, but we must remain vigilant. Shadow is vast and there are realms of vast danger that we know nothing of that hold us in disdain and drink toasts to our deaths. So we remain Vigilant. I won’t talk long. I have a family dinner tonight and I assume some of you have parties to go to as well. First we do have business to conduct”

Sitting, he nods to Allen to begin.

Allen’s soothing voice begins and conducts business of the court; Recognitions of promotions in the military, Recognition of advancement of the arts, Ladies in waiting and King’s Life Guardsman rotating in and out. The usual things for a court of such prominence, minutiae, but all things that must be done publically and well. For some a minor award from the King of Amber might be the highlight of their careers, something they speak of once they return to the shadows of their origins.

Random recognizes embassies from various realms throughout Shadow, mainly of important ones, lastly ones from Golden Circle Kingdoms.
In time the court ends, and the crowd disperses. The royals retreat into family quarters.

Dworkin, sitting in his high seat, tucked up in the rafters chuckles briefly as an eagle flies by an open window, then flies fast into the west and the setting sun.

----

==='''Dinner in the Green Room.'''===

June 22

The green room was filling with golden light from candles and glow globes.

The room had been decorated in russet and gold, for Random. The sideboard was filled to over flowing with finger foods, pickled delights and sweet treats. The flower arrangements shaded the treats beneath. Servants replenish the trays and trade out ones that have lingered too long. The family rarely meets in such numbers but as each decade passes, and more of the Blood of Amber are Recognized, the table get longer, and the gathering moves from room to room

Benedict and Flora speak over a nibbly tray. Gerard and a fine looking woman with dark skin speak off to one side.

Julian, in white linen with the green embroidered unicorn over his breast speaks to Delwin, who glances about for some direction of escape.

The family members and close friends of the court wander about speaking to each other, glancing over those that they do not know.

Some things stand out.

Delwin ignores Vance, though Vance, in his gray and green Star Fleet Uniform with the newly confirmed rank of Admiral, ought to draw some comment from his distant father. Vance himself is seen to be chatting with one of the Recognized, Fisk, a man with a bright blue beard denoting his origin in Dreana, though the rumors are that he has no love for the Brolics.

Llewella looks uncomfortable above the waters, though her attire is gorgeous as she is in sea greens in blue. Her son, to be recognized soon, stands near her. The rumor of his name, Levcomagnus, filters about the room.

Rumor circles amongst the room that the woman with Gerard is his daughter, named Osa, raised in the shadows of Rebma. Her stylish pose hints at deep waters in this Recognized of the waters.

Waiters refill drinks as they wander about.

A stir occurs when the door opens and Corwin enters. With him is a pair of fine looking men, though they both look either nervous or defiant. One is Warrick, Corwin’s heir in Avalon. The other must be Barret, who is to be Recognized this evening...

The new Ambassador from Calrabon, Reach of Calro-Eskon leans against the wall, glancing about with confidence, but confidence not quite earned yet.

In the shadows of the room, though not unseen, Caine watches the room carefully with his to be Recognized son Samuel beside him. The man has a slight sense of the black and white, though he was certainly in color.

Bleys and his son Regulus chat calmly over drinks near a window. Regulus is a rare sight in Amber, though his own Recognition is now 10 years old itself.

The door at the back opens and Random and Vaile enter unannounced. This is not a formal affair despite its size.

20:37, 12 July 2013 (PDT)[[Special:Contributions/75.82.144.45|75.82.144.45]]
He walks among the diners, speaking softly, sharing a joke here and there, and casual under the scrutiny of all eyes as he shakes no hands except those to be Recognized this evening. This has become the custom. Till he takes his first drink, no hand touches his except his wife, and those he recognizes as family. It’s a strange custom but in a family so guarded, it’s a friendly one.

20:37, 12 July 2013 (PDT)20:37, 12 July 2013 (PDT)~
Each person is greeted briefly, as if in passing, a few words exchanged. He lightly kisses the hand of Osa, Gerard standing by her side.

Moving on he stops by Llewella and grasps the ship worn hard grip of Levcomagnus. Rebma is well represented tonight as Llewella, Levcomagnus and Osa all hail from the realm of the sea. Rene is somewhere in the gathering as well though he shys from speaking to the king this evening. Martin is already seated and looks distinctly unhappy to have made the scene.

A few steps further he stops with Corwin, laughing as he shakes hands with Barret as if they share some secret joke between them.

Moving on he stops by Vance and Fisk, shaking his hand and grasping his elbow. Fisk is heard claiming not to know the whereabouts of his father. Random turns to Vance and hands him a bundle Vaile had been holding. Vance unwraps the gift and sees that it is a fire arm. Eyes widen as the meaning of this gesture escapes few of the elders. Having been presented the weapon means Vance is now included in the extremely small circle of those allowed to know the secret of gunpowder in Amber. Benedict, Gerard, Caine, Julian, and Dalt all look less then pleased.

He makes a short detour, for some reason, and breaks with tradition to greet the Ambassador from Calrabon, Senator Reach. They speak awkwardly before the king moves on. The handshake must have been a formality.

Passing by Caine, the king shakes the hand of his son Samuel before moving on to the table.

He stands at the head of the table as the gathering moves to the seats assigned to them. Reaching to pick up his crystal glass, the shimmering red drink glows slightly in the light of the Jewel of Judgment.

Coming in late, and unexpected is Gerard’s son Truman, arrives to a flurry of snickers. He takes his seat quickly, first leaning a guitar against the wall.

All in attendance now, Random raises his glass high, “May you live in Amber, Forever”

The assembly echoes the toast and drink. Seating, the servers enter and the meal begins…

----
==='''Dinner in the Green Room 2'''===

[[Dinner in the Green Room]]

Dinner progresses and conversation rises and falls as the small quartet play softly in the corner. Waiters mingle and refill beverages. The fine red Bayles flows as does the amber ales Gerard fancies and slightly luminous blue drink Vance supplies. Good food and good drink loosens tongues.

Random stands, a snar snake kabob in his hand. “So we have a few bits of business to tend to tonight. First off its time to do some cleaning around the castle. The Elites tell me that the dungeons have some kind of infestation of rats or hamsters or bugbears or such and they would like some help clearing them out. Frankly I’m not concerned since the creatures seem to come in from the ocean and the entrances change frequently. But once they start breeding in the dark places they migrate up top. Arlo walked the pattern last week and said he had to kill two rats of unusual size before getting the door open. Sergeant Robert Duncan is in charge of the lower levels these days. Make your arrangements though him. So, pack a lunch, have a picnic, make a day of it. “ Benedict shakes his head slightly in irritation.

“Secondly, Room assignments for the Recognized will go through Tyler this week since Dame Margot is traveling. Or you can always ask Flora, right, sis?” Flora smiles a smile any kid brother should be used to seeing. “Try not to use the decorator that redid the Dreanan suites. They were... not helpful” Bleys snickers, seeing the king in his cups.

Picking up a handful of grapes as he saunters about the room, he continues, “ Third, There have been some killings in the city. Pretty brutal stuff even for here. Since we cast shadows I disapprove of them. If you know anything about them, see Caine or Samuel. Yes... Samuel has been given the office of Chief of Detectives. He will be heading up the investigation. I know he would have preferred I not mention it but if anyone in this room is involved I want you to have time to flee into shadow and never return. “
Caine scowls but knows a lost cause when he hears it.

“Fourth and by far the least important; As most of you know Vance has bored us with his baseball stories for years and has managed to convince enough people to start a league. Teams will start in Amber, Garn, Ober, and Diega. Another team is comprised of Elites, mostly ones who spent time at Neal’s or Lou’s. Another couple are from Vulsar Base. Usually I wouldn’t have mentioned this but since only Vance, Ben, Gerard and I have guns in this room, I thought it prudent. “

Dark looks aim toward the monarch and many a worn dark thought crosses jaded old minds.

“Hey! I have one too!” shouts Vaile from her seat. This gathers several shocked glances and a few laughs. Just what Amber needs; a blind woman shooting high caliber fire arms.

“Lastly.. There is a pair of realms in shadow. Regor and Azcala. If you run across anyone from these realms let me know immediately. Tell Ben, Gerard, Fiona, Vance, Caine or Dalt if you can’t reach me and tell them after you speak to me. Both have old grudges and both are not above a little mayhem.”

Random wanders back to his seat and settles down. Picking up a fetry wing, he nibbles, listening to Vaile. Conversations slowly resume their regular pace. Truman and Vance move over toward the quartet, Truman reclaiming his guitar, as Vance takes a place behind the waiting hammer dulcimer.

Others stand as dinner is done and the evening progresses. Family may argue, but once a decade, they also have dinner.

(A list of who is in attendance at the dinner is available at the RPGnet site, in case you want to seek someone out )
[[Dinner in the Green Room]]

----
==='''A quick note'''===

July 4 (From Dave)

In a quiet moment at the dinner, Osa finds herself toying with her whiskey and her cocktail napkin. After a moment's thought, she tosses back the whiskey and asks a servant for a pen. She jots a quick note on the napkin to Samuel asking him if he'd like any assistance investigating the murders, sends it and a fresh drink to wherever he is.

She hasn't quite found her place, not yet, and it can't hurt to curry favor with many of her kin.

----
==='''a Little Dinner Music'''===

July 9

Random wanders back to his seat and settles down. Picking up a fetry wing, he nibbles, listening to Vaile. Conversations slowly resume their regular pace. Truman and Vance move over toward the quartet, Truman reclaiming his guitar, as Vance takes a place behind the waiting hammer dulcimer.

Others stand as dinner is done and the evening progresses. Family may argue, but once a decade, they also have dinner.

Truman sighs as he picks his guitar. He spins it and pattern tracery can be seen briefly flashing along its neck and soundboard as it transforms from an acoustic to an electric. He glances over at Vance and the other musicians.

'Sleepwalk in D boys'.

As the strains of the classic guitar piece, most famously covered by the shadow earth's Les Paul, begin to resonate around the hall Truman can be seen to relax and turn contemplative. Glancing occasionally around the room, mostly towards the Recognized. As he launches into an extended bridge section playing off a counterpoint to Vance's percussion, his gaze lands on Flora his favorite aunt who he had fancied himself a protege to a lifetime ago. Lastly his gaze shifts to His Father Gerard and Osa. You can see a wierd sort of grimly determined smile come to his face.

As the extended number ends Truman is already reaching into an inner pocket with his right hand and he continues to vibrato the strings with his left. Extracting a pack of cigarettes he offers one to Vance and as he lights up says 'Thanks for the jam Cousin.' I guess I have some new relatives to go meet. Winking to Vance as he spins his beloved Mabel again it transforms into a baseball bat. The pattern again briefly flickering along it.

----
==='''Dinner Conversation with Jurt and Vance'''===

July 3

Jurt chuckles as he watches the diners after the family dinner. There is an advantage to being the black sheep in a bright green family. Few share confidences with him, but they all try to at least be polite.

Benedict avoids him as usual. Just as well he thinks, Ben reminds him far too much of the ancient wargods and blood letters in the Courts. Despil is on his rounds and Benedict avoids him too. Pity.

He watches As Random speaks to Levcoganus and to Osa, newly recognized. He perks an eye. A son of Llewella and a grand daughter of Gerard.. Granddaughter? Who is her mother? Father? Another Amberite to be recognized but why not tonight? And a sailor of the surface seas for Rebma.. I bet Gerard is salivating over the chance to slide someone else into command roles in the fleet.

He eyes Caine and his son Samuel. Jurt knows better then to speak to Caine. Perhaps his son will be less knife-handy.

Vance walks near him, nodding in acknowledgement. He leans against the rail beside Jurt.

"Interesting turnout, eh, Whip?"

"Yes. As usual. Who would guess such affairs would attract such diverse people."

Vance snickers, "That all you have to say?"

Jurt turns, "I thought the king's announcement that he wants us to go kill rats in the dungeon was interesting. I'll pack a basket, you bring the romulan ale, we'll make a day of it." He snickers derisively.

Vance nods, "I've got time tomorrow. Say, you, me, Fisk, Martin. I'll bring some of my guys, you bring some of yours. Perhaps we can ask the newly recognized and see if they find hunting vermin beneath them."

Jurt turns his head wide eyed.."Are you daft? Crawl around in the miserable tunnels like some crawler? I was joking, Admiral."

Vance faces Jurt, "I'm not joking. Though Romulan ale might be a bit much for dungeon crawling.. I know its cliche but Random rarely encourages us to seek out the prison downstairs... However, he did force me to sit at the Oracle of Night. So you and I are going to go kill rats or bugbears or whatever we find down there, Jurt. Depend upon it. Tomorrow, 10am, We'll meet in the Armory. Don't make me come find you"

Walking away, Jurt scowls behind him.

"Well shit. This can't be good."

----
==='''A Servant of Amber'''=== July 11

The servant sat in the Waiter’ Cubby reserved for his type, to relax till the next tray was sent out. It was a one of the perks for excellence that Dame Margot instilled in the culture of the servants of Amber, over their generations. She called it the Rule of Thirds. A server worked the room for two thirds of an hour then rested for a third.

This gave them time to refresh, eat, and if need be, relieve themselves. The Cubbys always had hand washing stations.

It was also a rule that a tray of hors d'oeuvres sent out to mingle was brought back when a third of them were left. Those were available on the server’s buffet, as were third filled trays of fetry, trout, buff, and the other dishes the royals had first crack at. One might think this demeaning but the food was always so incredible that the positions for serving staff at royal banquets and dinners were fought over brutally and were awarded as perks. Many young men and women, who had served caviar and stuffed mushrooms at family dinners, had risen to prominence in Amber. Most restaurant owners in the city started with a hand under a silver tray. The years were long, and ambition comes in many forms.

Glasses always seemed to come back empty.

So he sat, enjoying his restive third, nibbling a caviar and blueberry tart, wondering at the skill of the bakers as he looked through the mirrors to watch his betters mingle.

Benedict was his usual quiet self, calm, but clearly only there because of the King’s command. Flora seemed to be favoring him again tonight. This was often the case at these things since it gave her a chance to talk ceaselessly.

Truman was making the rounds, first with Vance on stage, playing wonderful music from the earth worlds the Amberites seem to like so much. Perhaps one day they will bring one into the Golden Circle. He moved to speak with Corwin and his sons before moving on to speak with Fisk and Jurt.

The servant had been out to Thin Whip’s Place a few times.

Dalt and Rinnaldo seemed to be holding court near the Green Room’s west facing window alcove. Frequent companions in adventure, the pair always seemed a bit ill at ease in Amber, even after all these years. Coral, Rinnaldo’s ex-wife and ex-Queen, was polite but managed to spend little time with the pair. Oberon’s Consanguinity Laws were still in force though they were broken on more than a few occasions. Zachary spent a fair amount of time with the pair. Rumors were that he was getting exotic animals from Kashfra to fill his circus in Shadow.

Galvar, the Kings bodyguard, was ever a silent step behind his majesty. Random made a game of shaking him and sometimes let the servants help. He remembered the time Random shape-shifted him into a facsimile of himself and slipped away, letting Galvar follow him around the castle for hours. The reward for that service was enough to buy a small apartment overlooking the Bakers quarter. His wife, son and daughter loved the new place, with its smells of fresh bread and the walking carts of home canned jams and jellies, dried fruits and salted nuts. His dear wife and till recently troublesome daughter would bring baskets of fruits home and can them for resale. The new place had the room for it, for the most part, it was tight, but it always smelled wonderful.

Gerard, a friendly man at most times, seemed like a beaming giant tonight. The servants were giggling behind the observation mirrors at the great man’s wide smile, his great hand often on the granddaughter he had apparently just met. Llewella and her son Levcomagnus were spending a lot of the evening with Gerard and Osa, as was not surprising. They all hailed serve the seas as much as Amber. The serving girls said there was something a bit different about Gerard tonight, something a bit wistful, but he couldn’t see it beyond the joy on the man’s face.

Looking up at Dworkin from his high catbird seat the servant is startled to make eye contact with the paterfamilias of Bariman, and to receive a wink from him.

Julian was his dour self as usual, speaking to nearly everyone, urging them to help him in Amber or speaking of the wonders of the Unicorn. His brothers and sisters had started moving away as he approached, letting though less observant deal with his dripping sincerity. During Oberon’s time such behavior would have made his kin think he was up to something.

The Servant looked curiously at the new Ambassador to Amber from Calrabon. Odd, his presence, because these dinners were almost always exclusively family members, save a few guards and a few of the Queen’s ladies.

Caine and his two sons seem to speak to everyone yet still seem to always be in the shade of some architecture. The Servant has always been ill at ease around Lark, as are most of the staff, but he has not served Samuel, one of the Recognized yet.

As usual, Arloxedra is near the east door, waiting for the first moment that politeness would allow him to leave dinner and return to the Library. Also as usual, Ixia, a serving girl from House Hale, is slipping morsels from the server’s buffet into the wicker basket everyone in the kitchen calls Arlo’s Larderbox. Once he leaves, Ixia will take it away to him. She will be off duty of course, he thinks with a sly snicker.

Over all the festivities the King and his blind Queen hover and flit like prima ballerinas and circus roustabouts. A soft word here, a stern look there, and all feel welcomed and that the king is thinking of them.

The Servant is startled when suddenly the King is beside him, sitting in the Cubby.

“My Liege!" He says as he starts to stand, only to have Random’s hand press his shoulder down.

“Sit, my friend. Get your rest.” Reaching onto his tray to take the last tart. Looking out the mirror he says, “You have the best seat in the house, don’t you? I’m going to go dismiss these folks. Vaile and I will come through here. I’ll shift you again, and Viale knows to let you take her back to quarters. Then you go take a long walk. Maybe up to Tirna-nagoth or out to the tombs. Galvar will follow of course. I have plans he can’t be part of tonight and I need about seven hours of Amber time on my own. Perhaps longer. At some point Galvar will figure it out, but not for a long time. Give me as much time as you can. Alright?”

Nodding, “Of course, your majesty, my pleasure”

The king nods and walks back into the room.

Idly, the Servant wonders if the owner of the building where his family’s apartment is would be willing to sell him the vacant apartment either beside his or above his. The one beside his would mean he could add a balcony. The one above would mean owning a piece of the rooftop for his wife to plant the herb garden she always speaks about. A long walk in the king’s service would mean a fat pouch of coins in the morning.

Smiling, he sees the king coming. To the east, an Eagle's cry is heard in the night.

Regor

2020-01-17T22:09:59Z

Salinea: Reverted edits by BROFLAKE MAD (talk) to last revision by Tolknor

Regor is a niche of the [[Jeweled Amber]] shadows with millions and millions of Shadow Viels. It is ruled by the House of Regor.

[[File:Regor.jpg]] [[File:Petola.jpg]] [[File:Dikost.jpg]] [[File:Zirgoz.jpg]]

The tale of the House Regor is complicated and extensive. The vast amounts of warfare of the region of Regor is a tale of years. The realm is based on a primal artifact though its presence is not a public one and its location is a secret. The bloodline of Regor is immortal and dynamic in the same fashion as Amberites. A form of sorcery exists in Regor similar to Amber Sorcery.

----

=='''Cities of Regor'''==

==='''Gorod Bogov'''===
The trumps of Regor delivers on to the Imperial City of Gorod Bogov. This translates into Thari as 'City of the Gods'. The main square is Zal Bogov. This collection of grand halls and concourses, parks and tiny nooks, is the center of the Realm of Regor and echoes the grandeur and complexity of the Castle Amber. 1381 buildings, all domed and onion-topped, colorful and intricately decorated, are both the home of the primary royal family, but all members of the Blood of Regor have suites here. There are 5 grand park that are notable, 42 smaller parks that serve both public needs and recreational needs,

==='''Petola'''===

==='''Dikost'''===
Centered in the middle of a stable magical whirlpool above the city, Dikost has long been the center of magic, mysteries, auguries, and thievery. The Community of the Mystics, the Community of Gold, and the Community of The Hook do not interact often but the three dominate the lives of millions of people in the realm Dikost commands.

====The Grand Oracle====
The Grand Oracle of Dikost is a powerful place to gain wide reaching visions. The visions swirl around the questioner to be witnessed by others present. Afterwards, the vision may be summoned up by the Priests of the Oracle and the image then can be implanted in a Badge of Dikost, to allow a seeker to find those individuals seen in the vision.

====Badge of Dikost====
[[File:Dikost badge.jpg|150 px]]

These artifacts allow a person using it to seek someone seen in a vision. It functions in worlds and across shadows.

The items mount a Purple Mandalay Stone. This effects the wielder as a stone.
*4 Endless Stamina Transfer 5
*4 Seek in Shadow- Individual in a vision.
*4 regeneration- Transfer 10

==='''Zirgoz'''===

----

=='''Genealogy and Warfare of Regor'''==

In discussing the wars of Regor it is helpful to consider the realms of conflict in several specific ways; Family Conflicts, External Conflicts, The Scourge of Regor-Borlak and the Bloody Horde.

The Family Conflicts split are mostly connected to the dynastic warfare over the throne of the realms. These are the Borna-Regor wars, Zhenya-Illiam Eam Conflicts, and the Pherick-Zhenya Wars.

External conflicts include the Black Years War & Patternfall Conflicts, as well as smaller conflicts erupting from special interests groups throughout Regor and from shadow systems of [[York]] and [[Azcala]], as well as smaller neighbors in a cosmological sense. The squiggle of [[Bursain]] abuts the closed system of Regor and has had a great deal of inter system commerce and skirmishes. The Lords of Regor have coveted [[Bursain]] for millennia in the hope of adding its length of Squiggle to Regor's own.

The Scourge of Regor-Borlak of Regor. [[Borlak]] is a Prince of Amber, a son of Oberon, and a bitter and cruel man, as evil and wicked as any in shadow and Chaos. He leads a vast horde of mostly horse mounted troops in ravaging paths across shadow. .

=='''Family Conflicts'''==

The Founder of the Line of Regor was Mihael of Regor and his two wives Eudoxia & Maria. Euxodia had one son; Alexis I. Maria was barren. The three lived long happy lives with their one son considering both women his mother.

==='''''Borna-Regor Wars'''''===

The son of '''Mihael & Eudoxia''' was '''Alexis I''' who would father 13 bloodthirsty children who fought bloody wars among themselves for 1500 years over the succession to throne of Regor. The Eldest, '''Ivan Borna''', and his younger brothers '''Dimitri''', '''Alexi''', & '''Fyodor''' contested over the bloody centuries. Ivan and Fyodor traded off the throne repeatedly. Ivan murdered his father and mother to seize the throne of Regor. His brother Dimitri Petrovna lead the battle to dethrone Ivan, but disappeared. While the sons of Maria and Alexis battled the children of '''Natalia''' and '''Alexis''' stayed out of the wars.

Eventually both the Borna and Regor Lines bled themselves out and Ivan and Fyodor's half brother Mydoris Zhenya took the ruined realm's throne to rebuild it and the Regor line.

The Borna line became extinct after the death of Ivan II. However, it is know that 7 daughters of the Borna line had been taken away to Brunswick during the conflict. Their whereabouts are unknown and popular myth has it that they were placed in foster families in Brunswick, unaware of their heritage and lived out their long lives in ignorance, all eventually dying of violence. Many fairy tales and stories surround the ''Lost Borna Girls''.

==='''''Zhenya-Illiam Eam Conflicts'''''===
Mydoris Zhenya had one wife and one mistress. The three of them were constant boon companions. His mistress Eudoxia Illiam Eam bore one set of triplets who carried the Illiam Eam cadet branch name. His wife Catherine bore 7 children under the Zhenya line. Warfare among the two branches of Zhenya and Illiam Eam covered over a thousand years. These conflicts were mostly peaceful, characterized by political movements, cold wars, and sabotage rather then bloody open warfare untill near the end of the epoch.

During Mydoris's long reign members of both family branches were active in court life. In those years many situations arose where members of both branches worked well together.

Open war erupted when Caterine Zhenya took the throne on the death of her husband. Caterine assumed the throne in her own right, declaring the House Alasaga although for all practical purposes the House didn't gain status as a ruling line till her daughter Elizabeth followed her to the throne. Peter II Illiam Eam was declared Tzar at the time of Mydoris I Zhenya's death. The wars of Zhenya-Illum Eam would continue openly till rather then her elder brother Pavel Zhenya who declined and fled Regor. Peter Illiam Eam slew Elizabeth and took the throne. Eventually Peter Zhenya defeated Peter Illiam Eam.
====Complications of the Regor Succession in the Zhenya-Illiam Wars.
===='''''Clarrisa and Oberon during the Zhenya-Illiam Eam wars'''''====
Princess Clarissa was the third daughter of Czar Mydoris and Czarina Catrine. A boldly outspoken child, she had much of the flaming personality of her bloody Regor Uncles. She was witty, funny, and ruthless. While a young girl she manipulated aunts, uncles, cousins and siblings so well that she was considered a confidant of bitter enemies. While only 18 years old she was a Prima Sorceress and a High Priestess of the Tiger, bearing a Primal Imprint of the Squiggle of Regor.

When she was 19 an Embassy from Amber came led by its King Oberon. The two began a tumultuous affair that was a scandal to both houses and briefly unified the Zhenya and Illiam Eam factions against Amber, and then in favor of Amber after the two wed.

The Reign of Queen Clarrissa of Amber lasted several hundred years in Amber and absented her Regor politics till the reign of Paul I.

==='''''Pherick-Zhenya '''''===

These conflicts were unrevealed for centuries and manifested as strange wars, assassinations, intrigue and sickness. The details would be long in explaining. However when Alexander I was found dead his grandson Konstantine tried to seize the throne. Alexander I's brother Nicholas I took the throne and drove Konstantine into hiding. Eventually the Pherick insurgents were defeated during the long reign of Alexander III. Konstantine was revealed and fought nearly to death after it was proven that he had gone to the Courts of Chaos and become a Lord of Chaos.

==='''Black Years War-Patternfall Conflicts'''===

Konstantine and Alexander III fought during the Years of Blackness which correspond with the Black Road and Patternfall Wars. Konstantine disappeared in defeat, and Alexander died. His son Nicholas II took the throne after the Black Years War.

==='''External and Small Scale Threats'''===

Regor is located in a section of the shadow realms where many small realms have mighty sorcerers able to cross realms and bring war for a wide variety of reasons. During these conflicts the Family of Regor had often set aside family squabbles, however bitter, to fight side by side against foreign foes. Think of Regor as a tornado of great magnitude, with the debris in its funnel different shadows. Then surround the central tornado with thousands of tiny tornadoes, each with their own debris patterns. Sometimes the debris from the small ones gets mixed in the big one. That is the violent conflicts in Regor realms.

The Tower of Dikost is a potent magical source and its rulers often invade other shadows to cull treasures and peoples. many of the small wars are called Dikost Struggles.

==='''The Scourge of Regor'''===

[[Borlak]] is a Prince of Amber, a son of Oberon, and a bitter and cruel man, as evil and wicked as any in shadow and Chaos. He leads a vast horde of mostly horse mounted troops in ravaging paths across shadow. Horse, by the way, is a general term used to describe a warrior on a animal's back. The shape of the animals are greatly mixed, as are the races of the barbarians. Borlak seems to hunt in shadow for violent creatures and conquers them, often on many neighboring shadows, to add to his uncountable hordes. These groups settle on a shadow, bleed it dry, literally, then move on.

He is considered one of the worst people in shadow. He is not, however, stupid. He never leads troops into realms that allow faster then light travel, blocking Amber's Star Fleet and space forces from attacking him. He does not go into worlds where a wide variety of firearms systems work without adequate preparation.

The Flowing Horde is known for its cruelty.

He has fought the Regor Empire and been involved in all its wars either as a mercenary or a eager participant. His forces ride through shadows that are part of the Regor Sway and cast shadows of his forces deep into Regor shadows where the forces of Regor frequently must confront them.

He has been banished from Regor several times and is generally unable to personally enter the closed realm. However, belligerent forces often sneak him in, or import his forces as mercenaries. Some wars have had his forces on both sides.

----

=='''Shadow Vales of the Regor Sway'''==

'''The Principality of Brunswick:''' This realm is almost certainly a Near shadow of Regor. It is a mightu pinnacle in the shadowrealms of Regor Sway. The one thing about the realm is that has a almost pathological desire to not be involved in the affairs of Regor. As such generations of rulers of Brunswick have spent effort and energy making their realm nearly impenetrable by almost all methods. Transportation by the Pattern of Amber might pierce their isolation but transportation by the Sigil of Regor will not.

The royal family of Brunswick became embroiled in the early Borna-Regor wars. Prince Anthony Ulrich married Anna, daughter of Ivan I. After terrible family conflicts the two fled into Brunswick with their 4 children. Rumor has followed them that she also stole her three sisters away, leaving the youngest, Tanya, behind.

==Royal Lines of Regor==
[[File:Regor-family1.jpg|1000 px]]

----

=='''''Ancient Survivors-Eldars'''''==
The long history of Regor is drenched in blood. The Imortality of the
===<big>'''3rd Generation'''</big>===
'''Dimitri Regor''', '''Marfa Regor''', '''Ekterina Regor''', '''Feodosia Regor''', '''Natalya Regor'''.
===='''Dimitri Regor, second son of Alexis I Regor'''====
'''Dimitri Regor''' was a prime protagonist in the opening phase of the Borna/Regor wars. The leader of the Regorian loyalists against the rulership of '''Ivan I Borna'''
*A witness to Ivan's murder of his their parents he rallied troops against him. The battle of the twins was brutal and shockingly devastating as the first wholesale war in Regor's long bloody history. Five bloody years cost the royal family 3 members; Maria Regor, Yevdokia Regor, & Maria Dolgorukova( Wife of Mihael Regor).
*In the war's 6th year Dimitri suddenly disappeared and was presumed dead, though Ivan denied any involvement in his death. His long absence was partially solved during the reign of Peter III. When he was discovered wandering outside the shadows of Regor suffering from Amnesia so profound that he looses him memory completely every few decades. He manages to disappear every time he is found and brought back to Regor no matter what lengths are gone to in keeping him safe.
*A big man, and a warrior born, he often is found in shadows warfields. He acts as a mercenary in most cases, quickly gaining a following as a charismatic battlefield leader. He has often found himself in the presense of Giovanni of Amber[[https://wiki.rpg.net/index.php/Heirs_and_spares#Giovanni._Son_of_Oberon]]
*Dimitri's memory loss has long been believed to be a function of the a conflict between the Pattern of Amber and the Inscription of Regor.

===='''Marfa Regor'''====
A devastatingly good archer. Thin, almost elfin in appearance, she was a valiant member of the Regor military for hundreds of the early years, and a member of its inner council. The Commander of many Regorian army archery corps in the wars of Regor/Borna and a frequent companion in battle with '''Dimitri Regor'''.

Eventually weary, she retired from the warfield after the death of '''Ivan I Borna''' and the short reign of '''Tanya I Borna'''. With the ascension of Fyodor I Regor to the throne she left the active military and sought out the elven people of Regor withwhom she had a life long affinity for.

Living deep in the woods of Regor she is a frequent presence in Elf halls across Regor.

*She has rarely return to Court though she continues to deliver her signet ring to succeeding rulers in token of her fealty.

*She has come out of seclusion on several occasions during the wars over the centuries but gained a reputation of not being a reliable ally.

===='''Ektrina Regor'''====
The first High Priestess of the Tiger. The Primal Tiger followed her with passionate devotion. They were active parts of the Borna/Regor wars siding with '''Ivan I Borna'''. During the second reign of '''Fyodor I Regor''' she resigned and went into seclusion after the Tiger left her to follow '''Borlak of Amber'''.
*Known to be in seclusion in the great Tiger community in Dikost, she refuses to meet members of the royalty and nobility except under the seal of the priesthood.

====Feodosia Regor====
Dainty, ladylike, and a prime mover in the politics of the court of Fyofor I Zhenya. In time she grew sad, bitter and resentful of newcomers to Fyodor's court. She was the prime motivator that placed Tanya Borna on the throne when Fyodor died and no children of his could be found. This attempt to settle the conflict by re-seating the ex-empress and daughter of Ivan I backfired and caused great resentment in the family and the populace, souring her reputation terminally. After that she started traveling the shadows and rarely returned to ''Gorod Bogov'' except during coronations and baptisms.

===='''Natalya Zhenya'''====
Witty, Urbane, sarcastic, playfully cynical. She and her Zhenya siblings mostly stayed out of the Borna/Regor conflict, often supporting whoever held he throne as long as they left them alone in the family city of ''Petola''. When Myodoris became emperor she acted as Seneschal for many years. She has left the court and returned to it many times. A frequent face in court and city life. She is often considered, like [[Cymnea]] to be the "Elephant in the Room" of Regor politics.
*Her involvement in many of the political issues over the centuries has been largely peripheral but many a royal has fostered with her in their childhood. She is a frequent attendee at celebrations and festivals. She is always at major court functions. "My time with Natalya" is a commong conversation among the royals of Regor.
*cruel rumors have accused her of assassinations, poisonings, murders, shape shifted sexual assignations, fratricide, infanticide and regicide, as well and other crimes of passion and cold blood. A more persistent rumor, often denied, is that she is the Spymaster of Regor to the current day, having served in the roles all her life.
*She is a fine dancer.

===4th Generation===
'''Paval Illiam Eam''', '''Paval Zhenya'''. '''Borna Daughters''': 4 daughters of Ivan I fled Regor to Brunswick and were never heard from again in Regor. '''Clarissa Zhenya, Queen of Amber'''

====Paval Illiam Eam====
A thin, excitable man and not much of a warrior. Despite his Regorian heritage he seemed to be sickly and prone to chills and illnesses, though it was mostly believed he was a hypochondriac. He was a noted homosexual and was often seen with Pavel Zhenya. The two disappeared together and traveled the Regor Shadows. Pavel declined the throne after the sudden and uncertain death of Peter II Illiam Eam. Heis the last survivor of the Illiam Eam royal line though many of the family lines of nobles of the House of Illiam Eam live on as Dukes of Regor, other ranks of nobility and minor royalty in the Regor shadows.
*An underground secret Society, "The Purple Push" have agitated for his restoration for centuries. It is largely a social club now with a wide range of mostly harmless social activities.

'''''The battle between Paval Illiam Eam & Constantine Pherick''''

In a long life essentially considered a failed royal and a hedonistic hypochondriac with no military talents, '''Pavel Illiam Eam''' has one well-known battle that has been a cause of talk by many since it occurred. He was present when Constantine attempted to slay Michael Zhenya, Crown prince under Nicholas I Zhenya, and his wife, Alexandra and their sons, Alexander and Nicholas.

Pavel Eam was present in the manor house when the crown prince and his family were attacked in the stables. Pavel entered the stables and engaged Constantine in magical battle. The battle raged violently for a short while allowing guards to arrive. Constantine attempted to disengage from battle and was horribly mage-burned. Paval left the realm despite being claimed a hero.

Constantine Pheric kwas unseen for 40 years till he returned to interrupt the coronation of Alexander II Zhenya and was defeated in a sorserous Duel with Clarissa Zhenya, Ex-Queen of Amber.

===='''Paval Zhenya'''====
Funny, creative, artistic, wildly homosexual, and a sorcerer of great talent. He began the creation of the Trumps of Regor and the practitioners of Trump Artistry in Regor owe much to him. He was flawed and weak in many ways and on the death of Empress Catherine, his mother, he declined the throne and fled Regor with Pavel Illiam Eam. He is often blamed for the bloody war that erupted after Elizabeth I took the throne he declined. He travels the Regor shadows.

===='''Clarissa of Amber'''====
Certainly the most prominent survivor of the first 8 generations of the ruling lines of Regor is Clarissa, daughter Czar Mydoris and Czarina Catrina.

*She married Oberon of Amber and had three children; Bleys, Fiona, and Brand.
**She had a daughter of unknown parentage named Cassandra.
**She married Nicholas I Zhenya, Czar of Regor and had 7 children; Olga, Charles, Maria, Mydoris, Alexei, Titiana, Anastasia.
**After her involvement in the Siege of Bunny Free[[https://wiki.rpg.net/index.php/Bunny_Free#The_Siege_of_Bunny_Free]] her marriage ended and she returned to Regor for a long seclusion in a nunnery of the Tiger.
**Her involvements in the long Pherick-Zhenya conflicts are unclear though she is known to have engaged in magical combat with Konstantine that caused it to be revealed that he was a Lord of Chaos.
** Much to the surprise of the Kingdom of Regor she began a relationship with Prince Nicholas Zhenya, son of Czar Alexander III. The relationship was clearly a love match and was considered shockingly inappropriate considering the difference in their ages, he connection to Amber, and her being a Priestess and Abyss of the Tiger. She left the Abbey and Married Prince Nicholas against the wishes and demands of his parents.

'''The Lost Borna Daughters.The ''Daughters of Ivan''(4th gen) & the ''Daughters of Anna''(5th gen)'''

Like many legends the details of these 7 girls is complicated and intricate.

In brief there were two sets. The ''Daughters of Ivan''(4th gen) & the ''Daughters of Anna''(5th gen)

*'''Daughters of Ivan'''First were three daughters, triplets, of Ivan and Praskovia Borna, born between Anna and Tanya. They disappeared right after birth, presumably stolen by the midwife. Who put her up to it is unclear and unproven. It was rumored that they were taken to Brunswick

*'''Daughters of Anna''' Second were 4 daughters, children of Anna Leopoldoyna and Anthony Ulric of Brunswick. Anna fled Regor to Brunswick during the wars of Borno/Regor after many bloody centuries. Hating her father fiercely she and her husband fled after Ivan took their son Ivan and planned to put him on the Regor throne like he did with his daughter Tanya, as a puppet, cruelly controlled. They never returned to Regor and the details of the lives of their 4 daughters is unknown. Their identities were never revealed and after the death of Anna and Ulric all knowledge of them outside of Brunswick, was lost.

===5th Generation===
4 grandchildren of Ivan I, children of Anna and Anthony of Brunswick left Regor during the wars and their identities were never revealed.

===9th Generation===
*'''Konstantine Pherick'''-Lord of Chaos.

[['''Konstantine Pherick-Lord of Chaos.'']] This creature singlehandedly caused the Pherik/Zhenya wars. He manipulated great movements of peoples in war and sent assassins on a regular basis. He caused an environment of fear in Regor so intense that it caused the rabid xenophobia that Regor suffers under to this day. His whereabouts are unknown after his defeat.he was discovered to be a Lord of Chaos after his defeat in sorcerous combat with Clarissa Zhenya

===10th Generation===
*'''Xander of Hesse-Kassal''', '''Alexi Zhenya''', '''Maria Feodorvna''' ''"The Dowager Empress"'' (Wife of Alexander III, Mother of Nicholas)

'''Xander of Hesse-Kassal''' is the son of Alexandra Pherick and Fredrick William of Hesse-Kessal. He took no part in the years of Blackness Wars. He is the Prince of Hesse-Kassal, a region of shadow in Regor.

*'''Alexi Zhenya Alabaster'''. A younger brother of Alexandir III. Prince of Dandilion Sweep, a region in the shadows of Regor. His wife Alexandra Zhukovskaya is a Duchess of Aliangere. It is rumored that they have children but they have never been brought to court. He is nicknamed the Alabaster for the deep white of his skin. He maybe an albino.

*'''Maria Feodorvna "The Dowager Empress"'''' (Wife of Alexander III, Mother of Nicholas). After the death of her husband she went into seclusion in anger over her son's marriage to Clarissa. She is a follower of the Tiger.

===11th Gen & 12th Gen:===
All members of the known 11th & 12th generations are still alive and part of the current active court of the Kingdom of Regor.

===12th Gen===
The 12th Generation of the Line of Regor is a complicated one. The complexity comes from the inclusion of Clarissa, daughter of Czar Mydoris and Czarina Catrine. Clarissa is a member of the 4th generation. She married Oberon, King of Amber, and had 3 children by him. Bleys, Fiona, & Brand belong to the 5th Generation of Regor. She had another child, Cassandra after her return to Regor, who is also in the 5th generation. She married Czar Nicholas I and had 7 children by him; Olga, Charles, Maria, Mydoris, Alexei, Titiana, & Anastasia. These 7 children can be considered 5th generation as well as 12th generation. This complicates their positions in the various inheritances and claims for fiefs and property.

==Line of Clarissa==

Clarissa is the "elephant in the room" of Regorian politics. She is a force to be reckoned with. The survivor of many a war and many an affair.

Over the course of an extremely long life she has created the Line of Clarissa with three distinct parts. The Children of Oberon, The Children of Nicholas II, and two other children to different men.

===Oberon, King of Amber===
*Bleys
**Nicholas
*Fiona
**Emma, Mark
*Brand
**Rinnaldo, [[Laravella]]

===Nicholas II, Czar of Regor===
*Olga. A Cloistered Nun of the Tiger
*Charles
*Maria
*Mydoris
*Alexei: an agent provocateur in the service of Regor
*Tatania
*Anastasia: Still a young girl.

===Galbriat===
*Cassandra

===Bunifrei===
*Callaba. Clarisa "fathered' this child while Bunifrei "mothered" it in switch of genders.

==Physiology of Regorians==
While the general race of Regorians in the shadows is as varied as anywhere else their royal line has distinctive elements.
*The Regorian royal line descends from Miheal I Aldoalin and Eudoxia Streshneva. The establishment of the royal line is fraught with wars covering a thousand years before Regor even claimed a name fading into pre-history and shadow. What is known is at some point both Miheal and Eudoxia assayed the [[Squiggle]] of Regor, named it, and established a royal line, that caries the Royal line's physiology(Stats). Miheal I Regor {Aldoalin} and his mistress Maria Dogorukova had children but though they could bear the inscription they were not considers a royal line. they established the oldest Grand Ducal line of Zirgoz. Their physiology was similar to other Regorian noble houses.
*Regorians of the Royal line tend to be hardy and lusty. Strong, resistant to even extreme colds.
**'''Stats'''The Basic Regorian of the royal line has Psyche, Strength, and Endurance, at Amber Rank. Warfare is easily brought to a Amber rank if the individual undergoes military royal training. Otherwise the average Regorian royal has a Warfare of Chaos rank.
***Many members of the nobility, even the gentry, have similar statistics, showing an ancient level of interbreeding.
***Most members of the nobility have psyche, endurance, and strength at Chaos ranks.
**'''Standard Body temperature is 89.5'''. Can manage normally temperatures -90f to +110f. Can survive -150f to +120f. Some cities in Regor manage normally at -20f.
**'''Poison:'''Regorians of the royal line are extraordinarily difficult to '''poison'''. Their bodies can tolerate and process foods and liquids many other races can not abide.
**'''Regorian blood types''' do not transfuse well despite detection methods not finding differences in blood types.
**While their eyesight is similar to human normal, they have a sense of proximity that amounts to knowing when something is within a few feet of them. They can see slightly better in the dark and worse under bright lights.
**'''Life Span''':The lifespan of the average Regorian is 120 years. Normal examples have lived as long as 150 years. Those who have assay the inscription of Regor fall under terms similar to [[Aging in Amber]]. They age to a place they are comfortable then live on indefinitely. Certain rituals in Regorian ritual magic allow the [[Aging in Amber]]effect to be applied to those who have not essayed the squiggle.

=='''Powers'''==
*''20 pip Basic Imprint. Frame can hold 8 Minor Spells and 4 Major Spell
*''40 pip Advanced Imprint. Frame can hold 12 Minor Spells and 6 Major Spell
*''80 pip Lord's Imprint. Frame can hold 16 Minor Spells and 9 Major Spell

*One who assays the imprint of Regor becomes immune to cold based effects and freezing, even flash or instant freezing.

==='''Worthy Seekers'''===
A '''''Worthy Seeker''''' is someone who has registered a quest with the Priests of the Tiger. The quest is a personal goal and may involve seekeing visions, auguries, sages, and other sources of knowledge and then seeking a resolution of their cause.

Osric-AoS

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Salinea: Reverted edits by BROFLAKE MAD (talk) to last revision by Tolknor

King Random.

I send to you this to show that I am a Prince of Amber and will serve at need. Ask no more of me now. You know well that i am involved in affairs deep and wide that stretch into the ancient history of Amber. I do nothing to harm her. I may not leave these affairs casually.

Call on me if my youthful siblings are not up to the tasks you set them. I trust Benedict to manage nearly everything a foeman might send against thee directly.

My signet ring will come with this message. My hawk will bring it. While you hold my ring, you hold my fealty. If you need me and my trump does not chill, send my hawk to me and i will come.

But do not call me except at dire need, my king.

Sealed,

Prince Osric ot Oberon vay Cymnea, Duke of Al a Marat of Thelusia

PS-Look after Galvar.

[[Jeweled Amber]]

Arloxedra

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Salinea: Reverted edits by BROFLAKE MAD (talk) to last revision by Tolknor

'''My Liege, as it seems,

'''Herein, I answer your demand for an [[Article of Submission]].

'''I submit.

'''Lord Arloxedra ap Eric

[[File:Arloxedra.jpg]]
--------------------------------

'''Liege,

'''In answer to your request that I elaborate on my previous letter, i write as you exit the library with a stride befitting an annoyed grandfather. I shall take a moment to explain myself, though i'm not sure it is wise. I will take your comments point by point.

'''I am Arloxedra, though that is a name I gained later. Its meaning is not your affair.

'''The name of my birth is as irrelevant as the world of my birth. Neither exist any longer. Suffice it was a sword age, of armored men, of tales of glorious Knighthood. Stained glory at best. More i'd rather not say.

'''A thousand years before Patternfall my father, Eric, came and claimed me. I was a small boy. I traveled with Eric in shadow. He trained me at arms. We found a more respectable shadow for the glory of knighthood and we spent many decades there in the rise and fall of kingdoms. A shadow of Camelot, the card of which is now in the deck that bears your name. Despite martial adventures aplenty i found myself always reading. Collecting books in realms that lacked widespread literacy. I was teased for my passion by warriors who could not have read their names on a death warrant.

'''One night my father brought me before Oberon. He petitioned for me to walk the pattern and it was granted. Oberon told Eric that my education was lacking in the things that would be needed in the dark war coming. He spoke no word to me. He put in Eric's mind a place where i could learn much.

'''I did the bidding of the King and my father.

'''I spent many centuries in study and was ravaged, and learned of horrors. I went to that nasty place Benedict teaches his warriors. I went to places where the dark things dwell.

'''Eric took me to his exiled brother, a dethroned king of Amber, and we three spent many years speaking with dragons. I sought the answers to deep questions and i knew they were in places that were not safe. I suffered for my education.

'''Yet I sought more once i left my father. I walked my own path among scholars, mystics, and madmen. I was unwwise in the paths i took to scholarship. I sang with the mad. I danced with the blissful. I drank from dark waters.

'''A sage would scold me for my excesses. In a place of color and dread, i was doomed.

'''In time my father came for me again. He brought me to Amber with the intention that i would be his heir as he took the Throne of Amber. But after a short time it was clear i might be unsuited but he said it did not matter. He said it would be thousands of years before I would be forced to take the throne and i would grow wise long before then. Turns out he was wrong.

'''After Oberon returned at the end of the Black Road war he spoke only once directly to me, only once in my whole life. He bid me wait in the Library. In retrospect it occurs to me that his order meant I sat through his repair of the pattern in the castle and if he had failed, I would have been swept up in the wave of destruction. He didn't tell me to stick to Benedict, or Llewella, or anyone else that might have meant id survive the storm or might have ended up at the Abyss to see the horn touch you. No, me Oberon told to go read a book and either die or survive. Perhaps one day i'll tell you of the conversations I had with such staff as was in the castle then, waiting to die. They remember that I was the only once of the blood that was. Dame Margot and Lady Vialle sat in the library with me. In time Dworkin came and told us it was done and he bore Dame Margot and I to the place where the king laid.

'''To end my relationship with Oberon, I will add that it was I that placed him on the carriage that Dworkin drove to the Abyss after the storm passed. I covered him with the Flag of Amber, and my companion Darcy Rozaro, Dame Margot, Lady Elayne, and I were the last to see the king's face as he left Amber. We were the four that saw the ancient monarch leave the castle he built.

'''So now you come. I have done as you asked. I have no designs on the throne. My father was fairly sure my ruling would be a bad idea.

''''So i serve a new king, the broken rook that i am. I will try to keep out of trouble.

'''So i answer, again, your demand for an Article of Submission.

'''I hereby submit.

<big>'''Lord Arloxedra ap Eric, Once Crown Prince of Amber</big>

''It occurs to me i should be more forthright and speak in some detail.

*''Eric had me crowned Prince of the Realm and used the Crown of Amber for it. I have felt that cold fire you wear.
*''He had me walk the Primal Pattern wearing the Jewel of Judgment and attune myself to it. He did so because it was I who deciphered the method of achieving the act. He had me do so before him in case i was wrong. As you no doubt know; an attunement to the Jewel of Judgment can be only erased by its wielder, clearing all attunements of lesser degrees then their own. So mine will not be cleared unless the Eye of the Serpent is returned to its original owner. I know its secrets as deeply as any. Be careful and wary of it.
*''I have held the Pattern Blade Galis, and it will come to me no matter who bears it. I have worn the armor Shatterbound.
*''I wear the imprint of Amber from the Primal Pattern and I hold a [[Mal at Riess]].
*''I am a member of the '''''[[Non-Partisan Anti-Agolith Association]]''''' and I don't care who knows it.
*''I have sat in the '''Oracle of Night'''[[https://wiki.rpg.net/index.php?title=Diners_of_Amber&action=edit&section=40]] and the '''Tower of Grief'''[[https://wiki.rpg.net/index.php/Diners_of_Amber#Tower_of_Grief]]. What i learned there is my own affair''

-----------------------------------

[[Jeweled Amber]]

''Arloxdra. Son of Eric

*''Arlo is a nearly constant resident of the Library of Amber. Holding no official role in the running of the Library he is still almost always there. He can usually be found sleeping in one of the chairs or couches.
*''His world of origin is unknown but his references suggest an Earth/Urth/Earuth/AerthS World somewhere near the Camolot and Chivalric shadows. He writes copious editorials on works from the libraries that he mostly picks at random. He is meticulously clean, despite having piles of books near where he sleeps and writing material spread over some table nearby.
*''He nearly always has a cigarette of some type burning. He has an ashtray nearly always near him that is mithril, with two outstretched pelicans for gripping cigarettes. Some function of the ashtray attracts huge amounts of smoke and deadens the smell of smoke withing 100 meters of itself.
*''While many of the castle's stray cats make a point of visiting Arlo for a warm lap, saucer of milk, or uneaten meals, he has one cat that the others understand is Arlo's familiar. When asked its name, Arlo looks perplexed, then answers, "Cat"
*''When asked he admits that he has rooms upstairs someplace but he can't concentrate there. If pushed he isn't always entirely certain where they are.

[[File:Arlocat.jpg]][[File:Arlopelican.jpg|200px|thumb|left|alt text]]



--------------------------------

[[File:Darcyrozaro.jpg]]

A Sergent of the Castle Elite. A quiet man but a familiar face around the castle. Currently serving in the Library Guard Post. Served in the 3rd legion at Patternfall early in his career. Known for carrying a book at all time. Received a military dispensation to bear a maul on duty as well as a side blade. He is often seen in his off hours in the Library with Arloxedra.[[https://wiki.rpg.net/index.php/Court_of_Amber#Darcy_Rozero]]

[[cs]]

Running Sheet Carissa

2020-01-17T22:09:56Z

Salinea: Reverted edits by BROFLAKE MAD (talk) to last revision by Tolknor

'''<big>Carissa, Daughter of Gerard'''</big>

[[File:Carissa.jpg|300 px]] [[File:Carissa 1.jpg|200 px]] [[File:Carissa 2.jpg|350 px]]

'''Father:''' Prince Gerard of Amber

'''Mother:''' Janelle Hollings

'''Description:''' Cari is 5’ 9’, she is muscular but lithe, she has pale skin, blue eyes and very dark brown hair which she typically keeps cut short. She has a scar on her left calf from a compound break from a motorcycle accident.

'''Hobbies:''' Parkour, motorcycles, roller derby plays on the LA Derby dolls, blogger on exploits, pool

==Ranks==
*''Lady of Amber''

==Points-{117}==

'''''Total: 117=110 Stats+1 Powers{60}+6 Skills+0{85} Items +0/0 allies/Enemies+0 Stuff'''''

*110 in Stats
*1(60) in Powers
*6 in Skills
*(85) in creatures/Items
*0 in Allies (8/8)
*0 Stuff
===''Advancement''===
*3 (Added to Psyche) Ride to Amber-Gerard, Vander, Carissa. Diego Raks. Jeweled Road.
*2 (added to Psyche) An Evening at Thin Whip's Place. Jurt. Custus & his CHAD crew.
*1 (Spent on Cantrips) Cantrips With Nala

Saved Pips
*10 Ten year Outline Completed. Randal and Racing.
*1 Met Harla

=='''Statistics'''==
*Psyche: 5
*Strength: 51
*Endurance: 10
*Warfare: 44

(GM-See Note below on changes in stats)

=='''Powers'''==
*(50) Pattern of Amber (50 granted)
*1 Cantrips (12 for Amber Psyche and 1 for Psyche 5 standard, taken as a 1 pip power doubles to 26 Cantrips able to be memorized)
*(10) Limited Shapeshift

=='''Skills'''==
*3-Parkour- Free-running and similar acrobatics and gymnastics
*1 Roller-derby Acrobatic Specialty
*1 Motorcycle. (Also applicable to a lesser degree to Bike Riding)
*1 Games of Skill-Pool. Throwing games.

=='''Allies & Enemies'''==
===Allies-8===
*4 Gerard
*1 Nala
*1 Arloxedra
*1 Unknown Ally
*1 Unknown Ally

===Enemies-8===
*4 Main Enemy-Gonna be someone really nasty. Probably hard to kill.
*2 Serious Enemy-Reasonably non-violent but determined enemy.
*1 Enemy-Maybe needs some slapping around but not killing.
*1 Enemy-Someone in Amber who takes a serious dislike.

=='''Companions'''==
*'''Nala Mior Tral'''[[https://wiki.rpg.net/index.php/Court_of_Amber#Nala_Moir_Tral]] :Rebman Noblewoman. Sorceress & Wizard. Diplomat
*'''Otter''' called '''Vidra'''
*'''[[Agda Alak Sar]]'''[[https://wiki.rpg.net/index.php/Elites#Alak_Sar-_Active]] :Elite on Current Assignment. ("Agda" Is a title for "Knight" used Tosa) Assigned.

[[File:Nala1.jpg|250 px]] [[File:Alak Sar.jpg|250 px]] [[File:Otter.jpg]]

=='''Items'''==
*(21) Navy Blade (Gift from Gerard. Admiral's Blade. Created by Oberon)
*(64) Gerard's Blue Harley
==='''Gerard's Blue Harley'''===
*'''2 Chaos Vitality'''
*'''16 Extraordinary Movement'''. Holds its riders to it. May carry 4 humans. Creates a protective shpere against speed effects to the riders
*'''2 Amber Stamina'''
*'''8 Armor Ruggedly Invulnerable'''. Its riders seem to share a general invulnerability to the elements, general fire effect, wind dame, elements of a material nature being cast at it including rocks and bullets while the vehicle is in motion.
*'''2 Speak & Sing'''. Not quite sentient, more emphatic, it has intelligence enough to adapt to conditions, protect itself and its riders, even if they are inexperienced, and to behave in the manned an experienced rider would choose. Anticipates choices. For its principle companion(Gerard or Carissa) it seems to exude a sense of comfortable companionship and willingness. It may have a sense of protection for them. It has an unspoken, sub-sentience that make accept upgrading.
*'''4 Extraordinary Psyche Sens.'''
*'''4 Seek in Shadow''' Will seek its rider if separated
*'''4 Mold Reality''' Makes its road smoother when needed
*'''8 Item Extraordinary Regeneration. transfer 5'''-Any rider is treated with Extraordinary Regeneration 4 while in contact to the vehicle
*'''8 Extraordinary Shape shift'''. It tends to shift to whatever shape a vehicle of its type would be considered stylishly exciting. In realms without such appeal it reverts to its blue early Harley appearance. The tendency to chose a “Stylish” appearance seems to exude a degree of vanity about its own appearance. Its rider may suggest shapes and design and it will nearly always comply, but may revet to its own choice of appearance.
Empowered.

*The source of the power is to be discovered but it seems to function nearly anywhere, even in Amber.
There is a sense when riding it that it is a happy and willing tool. Its almost a sense of faithfulness. There is a sense it has been other things then a motorcycle.. As if it knows what its like to be a bulldozer, or a airplane, or a pizza oven. Brief and infrequent flashes of a mechanical awareness pass to its primary companions (Gerard and Carissa-It will respond favorably to any of Gerard's children)

==='''Navy Blade'''===
Tot-21
Mithril Blade (The Navy Blade)(Oberon)
A thin, straight, familiar longsword used by admirals on duty.
*7} Double Speed 2 - Speed 4-Transfer 5
*7} Combat Reflexes 2-Transfer 5
*4} Deadly Damage
*1} Mold Stuff-Find in Shadow
*1} Alt Form-Bowie knife
*1} Rack Spell-Return to hand

=='''x'''==

=='''Miscellanea'''==
*Attended Fantalin-? year Course

Notes
I took 6 pips out of warfare to cover skills. We had not discussed the skill stuff but it made sense she would have allocated them for things she was expert in as she grew up. I view warfare as a largely intellectual stat, rather then strength or endurance. The way I look at skills is that while an Amberite can certainly become proficient at any skill they like by traveling in shadow and finding a place to learn it, by allocating a pips they become experts.

Consider some of the extraordinary Parkour stuff you've seen as someone with 1 or 2 pips in Parkour. 3 Pips is someone able to do a step above or some of the most amazing things. 4 pips is almost supernatural without using magic. Having the 3 pips in Parkour gives her a first class ability and when combined with 1 pip in roller-derby allows her to do those kinds of tricks on wheels.

1 pip in motorcycle makes her a world class stunt woman with motorcycles, possible including her parkour moves on them. It lends itself to acrobatic bike riding too, like some of the crazy downhill bike races

1 pip in pool gives her great eye-hand coordination and skill in understanding how things work on a surface. Balance, force, the geometries. Being skilled primarily at pool it lends itself to the eye-hand skills like thrown carnival games, maybe trick throwing like throwing a ball off a wall and landing it on a bowl. Or throwing knives and rocks with skill.

We had not had a chance to discus a lot of this stuff but I do have another suggestion for Endurance and Strength. As a child of Gerard she would have a tendency to be extremely strong , but growing up that would have expressed itself as her trying greater and greater feats of strength and extensive training. Endurance and Strength might have developed along the way together. I suggest dropping Strength 10 pips to add 10 to Endurance. 41 STR & 20 Endurance would make them more compatible and still put her far beyond the usual Amberite level foes she is likely to encounter. I'd suggest it but its your call.

Your stats are very high for a new PC since you didn't put a lot of pips in items or creatures or shadows. If you would like to reconsider that it might be reasonable to dock str or str & warfare to create a pool of points for future use in creating a shadow for items in need. A total of 10 pips set aside, 5 of which could fill out the max of 5 pips of Good Stuff if you like. Again though that's your call too. Letting things develop as they go will work as well.

---------------------
9 years

Year one & Two.
Two years right away traveling in shadow, a few weeks/months here and there, seeing what various shadows look like. Various life styles and technological areas.

During that time it would be a lot of rock climbing, free climbing. Different methods and equipment.
Mostly this time is traveling, learning how to shadow walk. Getting to know Alec and Nala.

Having read Corwin's Chronicles; spending a few weeks sifting sand and gathering a huge collection of uncut diamonds.

During year one or two it would be encouraged by random to spend a year at the University of Fantalin, Thelusia, taking the Royal Rights course.

Year Three
Finding a shadow with easy access to flying. Fixed wing. Bi-wing. Basic mechanics. Possibly some school work.

Nala and Alec become fluent in languages

Year Four

Traveling the Jeweled Road.
Walking the road and stopping at various places. Learning what's where. Visiting Mandalay. Spending time in the Dramaturge. Practicing gliding and sport flight

Year five

The Dramaturge is a place of many things and worth a full year.
Concerts. Events. Look into Dash Tours.

Year six & seven.

Using the Diners of Amber article and the King random Trumps
Visiting places for a week or two at least. Staying in the ones you like.
We can discuss or run Convos in any of the realms you want to pop in to.

At Neal's Diner a contact hooks you three up with flight training. WWII era prop fighters. Korean war Jets. Non-combat flying. Its a common sport: Flying vintage aircraft.

Year 8
Vulsar Base. Star Fleet Shuttle Training. With Vander and Vance trying to talk you three into joining Star Fleet. (Still an option)

Year 9.
Traveling in shuttle around the Vulsar galaxy and local shadows that are connected to Vulsar by strong shadow trails.

**At the end of all this:**
Skills for all Three
2 Pips Craft Pilot:Shuttle, Fixed Wing, Bi plane
1 pip Musical Instrument
1 Pip Climbing and Mountaineering
+1 Pip Parkour (Up to and including 3 pips for Carissa and Nala) 1 Pip for Alec
+1 pip Skill
+1 Pip Skill
More possibly depending on how convos work out. "

Add “Knowledge” on your running sheet under Miscellany . These are used thus; “Did I hear of anything about this during my time in the Dramaturge?” “..the Jeweled Road

"Time at Dramaturge"
"Time on the Jeweled Road"

Available Convos;

Convo on the Royal Rights course at Fantalin.
A violent encounter in the first 2 years-low danger
Convo on “Acquisition of gems at various place and in various ways”
Convos in the Dramatuge and trips using Dash Tours.
A few places from the King Random Deck. Depending on the places you visit. Thats what the deck is for.
Vance and Vander talking Star Fleet-Its their thing.
A pair of violent encounters on the Jeweled Road. (Campaign building ones)

Just so you know. Somewhere in here will be a really brutal encounter. No idea yet where.

Researches into Brand's life experiences which might include trips to Mandalay, Fane of Zilla, and Regor. After year 9, into Avalon.

Convos visiting a few of the Squiggles;Trasidly, Alamond. Pocai, Atlantis
--------------------------------------------

These are just ideas and outlines of possibilities I am eager to explore at your leisure.

Far Isle

2020-01-17T22:09:50Z

Salinea: Reverted edits by BROFLAKE MAD (talk) to last revision by Tolknor

[[File:Far Isles.jpg]]

Amber is on a sphere in a universe where there is no other sentient life beyond that on the Planet of Amber, also called the Planet Kolvir by some. Amber, Rebma, Tyalece, and Acadia are all in the northern hemisphere.. Far Isle is as far from Amber as its possible to get, nearly opposite it on the planet in the Southern Hemisphere.

This series of islands, rock outcrops, sand bars, coral reefs and sunken ships is sparsely inhabited mostly by small communities of mostly retired sailors.

The climate is sub-tropical with warm daytime breezes and cool nightly breezes. Occasionally humid, but normally comfortable.

===History===
*'''Pirate Haven'''. The Far Isles were a refuge for pirates from the earliest days of the shipping of Amber. As ships from shadow came in to Amber they were easy prey to hardy wide ranging scalawags. Oberon had his sons set down the [[shadowtugs]] to create shipping lines that were far enough from the Far Isles to make it an impractical refuge for pirates.

One of the few traditions remaining from the days of piracy in the Far Isles is that there is a cultural tendacy not to name islands, or speak of them as distinct places. When points of note are needed the place names are used rather then a isle name. Conclave, Ruda's Place, Sand Rump, The Blue Sea Base, etc...

*'''Religious Retreat-The Conclave of the Unicorn''': During the reign of Queen Faiella, a small group of Unicorn Devotees landed on the central Isle where a pirate town once stood. They constructed a collection of stone buildings and established a small religious community with a Monastery and a convent. They transplanted a large collection of fruit frees and seeded many of the other isles. The existence of orange, lime, grapefruit and other fruit trees come from this time.

**'''Queen Harla''' took up permanent residence when she took vows and allowed King Oberon to marry Clarissa. She lived here for 60 years. During this time the religious community in Amber sent their most devout to the reside here. It famously is a place where the Unicorn of Amber is often seen. As in many religions throughout shadow, a woman who takes holy orders in the Church of the Unicorn, is considered to be no longer wed to their husbands, allowing them to marry as thought they had been widowed.

*'''Naval Base & Sailors Home'''. In the year after the establishment of the Conclave of the Unicorn the Navy established a base here and does extensive naval training i the south seas.
In time sailors of the Navy of Amber, and many of the Golden Circle, retired to various places among the thousands of small islands. There are small villages, hamlets, plantations, and lone huts spread out across the many islands.

Over the years another element of the community of sailors in Amber and Shadow have come to retire here. Prostitutes and courtesans who failed to save subsistence during their lives often join old friends, sailors in their declining years. They often find the easy living and plentiful food and drink as relaxing retreat. Sometimes they grow young again.

===Notable Features===
===='''The Conclave of the Unicorn'''====
On an Inner Isle is the The '''Conclave of the Unicorn'''. A religious retreat.

*During the reign of Queen Faiella, a small group of Unicorn Devotees landed on the central Isle where a pirate town once stood. They constructed a collection of stone buildings and established a small religious community with a Monastery and a convent. They transplanted a large collection of fruit frees and seeded many of the other isles. The existence of orange, lime, grapefruit and other fruit trees come from this time.

*Retirement Communities. While the Far Isle exists under the powers of [[Aging in Amber]] many do not rise to the level of enthusiasm to prolong their lives. Among these are several nunneries and monasteries that create living arrangements for elderly members of the faith. Not exclusively for those in the holy order it has been a place for many elderly nobles to retire from the world and take "Holy Orders". Having done so, and resided in the Conclave for a time releases a spouse from marriage vows. The aging in Amber issue comes into play here if one partner maintains a youthful exuberance and the other does not.

*'''Queen Harla''' took up permanent residence when she took vows and allowed King Oberon to marry Clarissa. She lived here for 60 years. During this time the religious community in Amber sent their most devout to the reside here. It famously is a place where the Unicorn of Amber is often seen. As in many religions throughout shadow, a woman who takes holy orders in the Church of the Unicorn, is considered to be no longer wed to their husbands, allowing them to marry as thought they had been widowed.

**Queen Harla's Tower. Constructed for Queen Harla when she wished to honorably allow Oberon his freedom by resigning from the queenship of Amber. It has since been a residence of seclusion for the Queens of Amber during and after their reigns.

===='''Blue Sea Base'''====
The naval facility in the isles. On one of the leading east edge island easiest to find. While it is certainly a naval base, with all the expected activities, it is also something of a small city. What tourist trade there is in the isles arrives here first. What commerce leaves the isle starts its journey here.
====Royal Residences====
*'''''Prince Caine''''' and '''''Prince Gerard''''' built a fine residence with deep water docks for their trips here. On their Isle are a number of other smallish residences for notable former naval officers.
====Ruda's Place====
'''Ruda's Place''' is a haphazard collection of buildings that operates as a county fair. It is on one of the central isle and is easily approachable from most of the islands. Many of the close central islands are among the most populated.

While not a proper civic center for the isles the collection of inhabited islands around Ruda's Place made it a logical place for the trump of the Far isles to deliver a royal traveler. From there it is easy to charter transport to any of the other notable locations in the isles.

===Population===

The Far Isle is often called the '''''Retiring Isles'''''.

*The general population of the Far Isle is around 100,000 people. The naval base has around 5000 people on active duty and between 10k & 12K of others in the general area supporting the base. This makes Blue Sea the largest single inhabited area in the FI. The majority of communities are in the 30 to 50 range.

As noted elsewhere the isles are a common place for sailors of both the navy and the merchant fleets to retire to. People with connections to the ocean trades also retire here. Fisherman, wharf and dock workers. Fishwives. Prostitutes. Canners.

Religious people retire to the Far Isle Conclave of the Unicorn. They deal only loosly with the rest of the FI population.

There are a number of Rebman enclaves near the Far Isle and there is some interaction between them. Especially in the glass trade.

*The retired sailors and their children and grandchildren have lived here for centuries now. The population is small even considering the longevity of its residents. While the [[Aging in Amber]] effects those here most of the sailors and others that retire here intend to die. However, some get involved in local commerce and activities and it makes them grow young. Natives, those having been born in the isle, treat outsiders politely as much as possibly but have a tendency to politely inquire when they will be leaving, moving along. Even if the departure is decades away. Once a resident has children in the Isles, he is considered a citizen by the other natives.

==='''Status & Government'''===
It is generally assumed that the Far Isle is part of the Kingdom of Amber. However it has never been technically established for a number of reasons mostly having to do with the presence of the Conclave of the Unicorn and the unusually frequent presence of the Unicorn in person. There are many who do not want to try legislating the official status of a place that might draw the ire of the Unicorn if she was disturbed. Since the only other nations on the sphere are in agreement the matter is not challenged.

As such there is an unofficial collection of people of the Far Isle that have a reasonable level of authority. They meet occasionally.

*Casina Venway[[https://wiki.rpg.net/index.php/Court_of_Amber#Casina_Venway]]-Abbess of the Conclave. The senior retired Unicorn supplicant.
*Admiral Draso kala Dint[[https://wiki.rpg.net/index.php/Court_of_Amber#Draso_kala_Dint]] - Commanding Admiral of Blue Sea Base
*Anton Dradic-Admiral of the Navy of Amber-retired.
*Baron Bleys of Fabilwere-Baron of Trylen
*Baron Caine of Tyalece-Baron of Ober
*Cudal Vila- Retired Madame
*Ruda Alabega-Retired Pirate.
*[[Bunny Free]] Retired Pirate, Comedian.
*Baron Gerard of Cabra-Court Baron
*Asgol Urien-Retired buisnessman. Brother of Hymal_Urien [[https://wiki.rpg.net/index.php/Court_of_Amber#Hymal_Urien-_Steward_of_Amber]]

''Three princes of Amber are on the above list but when questioned on Far Isle matters they do not use their princely titles but are referred to by lesser ranks''

[[File:Drasokaladint.jpg]] [[File:Ruda Ale.jpg]] [[File:BunnyFree.jpg]] [[File:Casina Venway.jpg]] [[File:Asgol Urien.jpg]]

===Local Commerce===

*Commerce in the Far Isles consists of small household industries such as weaving, carving, and painting. Commerce in food is brisk; nuts, bananas, coconuts, fruits, and vegetables.

*'''Far Isle Pig''': The Far Isles have a type of quick growing wild pig that is gleefully hunted by the retired sailors. They are suitably violent and considered a "dangerous" animal for elderly sailors used to an active lifestyle. They are almost certainly descendants of imported domestic pigs but over the centuries have gone native. They are considered a pest.

*'''Blue Rats''':There is a native rodent that is similar to a large rat but in multiple colors. Not exactly rare they are secretive and usually avoid others. However they are often caught and are easy to domesticate. They taste so bad that even in a meat scarce Far Isle, they were never liked as a food source. The do however make fine pets.

**Fishing is an incredibly common practice both recreationally and in small ships commercially. Lobster and crab are plentiful in waters around the isles. The beaches are rich in clams, the waters rich in shellfish and abalone.

*There are is a lot of alcohol production, as one might guess. Fruit wines, Honey wines and meads, cordials, as well as a wide variety of local mixes.

*There is sources of tin and copper in the isles. This has lead to bronze being a major metal in common usage and a frequently valuable source of trade.

*There is no official currency of the Isle but a rough stamped copper coin, the ''Deble'', in certain weights, is often accepted. Of course this is part of the Kingdom of Amber and its currency is generally accepted.

*While not technically isolated from the rest of Amber there is little trade out of the Far Isles.

*For the most part Far Islanders prefer to not import things. The difficulty in doing so has traditionally mitigated against it. Some items must be imported regardless.
**Glass: While there is plentiful sand available and there is a lot of craft glass work done in the Isles. There is not any prodution level pane glass or heavy storm glass. Rebma has a great deal of glass production and trades in the Far Isle frequently.
**Woods: While many woods are available in the isle construction grade wood is most often imported. Since the first constructions in the Isle were from native trees and wrecked or deconstructed sailing ships the style of construction maintains a nautical look. To that end the Far Isle has been a place where Amber has brought damaged and retired vessels to be scrapped for parts. At the various fairs a common booth might have items with a history of being shop parts including used hardware, ropes, and planking. However any hips from surrounding shadows know that a shipload of cut, cured, and stacked construction wood is always scooped up by the Far Isle residents.
**Stone & Brick: There is little clay for masonry on the island. While there is some craft brick work on the Isle construction grade stone & bricks are often a profitable trade good. ,

Red Meats, metals other then tin and copper. Iron is often imported for naval uses and finds its way into common use.

===Location===
[[File:Amber world map1.gif]]

===Harla's Tower===

[[File:HarlasTower.jpg|300 px]][[File:Queen Harla.jpg]]

[[File:Harla's stuff.jpg]]

Built for Queen Harla initially as a retreat.

===Rilga's Quarters===

[[File:Rilgaspread.jpg]]

Rilga's quarters show a more rugged feel to them. A heavily substantial leather working table, covered with carving racks and tools is against one wall. Two carved wood stumps sit beside the table showing years of intricate craft work imprints. A heavy marble slab with leather tooling projects laid around in more haphazard manner clutter the tabletop. A large work in progress shows a unicorn chased in leaves for what is probably a stand version of the Book of the Unicorn.

An heavy embroidery frame holds leather being stitched. Near it is a cobbler's bench beside it has a padded seat before a heavy space for working and tools for shoe making. A pair of military boots on a post are being made.

Her table is usually filled and features the Healing Ham and the Endless Wheel, a ancient gift from Oberon. The ham and cheese wheel restore themselves when the bone is carved clean or when the cheese goes below 1/4 left.

*She has three servants who have served her since her days as Queen of Amber. Lithalar, a elderly appearing woman who manages her kitchen, food supplies, and gardens. Groara, Lithalar's husband, who serves as butler and handyman. Rindat, an Agolith[[https://wiki.rpg.net/index.php/Races_in_Jeweled_Amber#Agoliths]] with centuries of experience as a ship's navigator.

===A brief commentary on the Far Isle===
Far Isle has purposefully been left out of the general descriptions of the Kingdom of Amber. Its not technically a part of the Kingdom of Amber, not claimed on any official writ or grant, not conquered, not not spoken often in diplomatic circles. It is not part of the general culture of Amber. It is known of but considered an out of the way place few ever give more then a passing thought to.

There are many theories why this is but the most likely is that the Unicode has been publicly sighted there more then any other place in the realm. As such it is considered "Her" place, without her every making any claim on it.

Despite this it has many highly official locations. It houses one of the most important Conclaves of the Unicorn housing nunneries and monasteries. It has a major naval base. Several of the Elders have fine residences.

It may not be part of the Kingdom of Amber but there is no one who doubts it is under their authority, if they chose to exert it.

Heirs and spares

2020-01-17T22:09:49Z

Salinea: Reverted edits by BROFLAKE MAD (talk) to last revision by Tolknor

This work was originally designed for the [[Jeweled Amber]] Campaign. As it is listed here however it is being updated for the [[Jeweled Road and the War of Balance]] campaign.
[[File:greenwhitedrapedsword.gif]]

House Bariman- Originally a House of Chaos, founded by Dworkin Bariman, a contender for the seat of the High Lord of Chaos. The details of his house geneology was initially delivered to King Random by Maylon Hendrake, and specifically included the results of the line of Barimen developed in Chaos by the joining of Benedict & Lintra. It also included other groupings of not normally included members of the House. These elements were confirmed by several sources including Dworkin & Finndo.

'''Dworkin's Heirs and Spares'''

This is a compendium of the Heirs of Dworkin and House Bariman. It has no say over the allegiances of those represented.

The names in italics are not included in King Random's Deck. Though the existence of the individual is known.

See the colorful family trees: [[Family Tree of Amber]]

For Specialized groupings look at [[Bariman Family Collections]]

The included List does not list individuals in birth order nor in Order of Precedence

'''Dworkin Bariman'''

[[File:Dworkin.jpg]][[House Barimen Linage]]

[[File:greenwhitedrapedsword.gif]]

==''' Children of Dworkin-The First Generation'''==

===<div class="center" style="width: auto; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;">'''Oberon'''<div>===
<div class="center" style="width: auto; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;">[[File:D-oberon.jpg]]<div>

-King of Amber. Founder of the Kingdom of Amber, creator of the City and Castle of Amber. Last known to be at rest, if not totally dead, in the Tomb of the Ancestors of Darkness

===''Vincent''===

[[File:D-Vincent.jpg]]

-A painter of great talent. Is assumed to have committed suicide in shadow.

===''Sutara''===

[[File:Satura.jpg]]

Daughter of Dworkin & Verna

===''Hagalta''===

[[File:Hagalta.jpg]]

Son of Dworkin & Verna

----
[[File:greenwhitedrapedsword.gif]]

==''' the Secon Generation:Children of Oberon, Vincent, Satura, and Hagalta'''==

==='''Fleece.''' Son of Oberon===

[[File:Fleece.jpg]]

A Lord of Mandalay. Once a Lord of Chaos. A giant Wolf. This is Oberon's first child and one that he fathered in his own earliest youth. He might be considered a by-blow rather then a child raised by Oberon. Yet he echoes across the endless years and the tactless distances as the soul of the wolf. No creature that is a shadow of canine born will raise paw against him. Primal creatures consider him an equal.

==='''Adrian.''' Son of Oberon===

[[File:D-adrian.jpg]]

High Lord of [[Mandalay]]. The first child to be raised by Oberon and Dworkin.

===''[[Clymnea]]'' Daughter of Oberon===

[[File:Cymnea.jpg]]

Born in ancient Thulusia. Became Queen of Amber and bore Osric, Finndo and Benedict to Oberon. A mighty sorceress and an ex-queen of Amber. Daughter of the Ruling Queen Symnea of Thelusia. Clymnea bore Oberon 3 sons before he discovered he had fathered her centuries before. It was soon after their marriage was dissolved that the [[Consanguinity Laws]] were enacted.

Aside from the controversy around their kinship, Clymnea was a good queen of Amber. In the earliest of days she formed the Court of Amber and supported the growth of the City and Nation of Amber during 10 centuries that Oberon was calming Shadow. Many Noble Houses bear Warrants of Title where her name is higher than Oberon's, denoting a Grant awarded while he was away. Even after her banishment he did not demote these houses or cancel town charters. She currently lives in a secluded monastery that she has not left for centuries. However, this does not hinder her from being the "Elephant in the Living Room" of Thelusian politics. She has walked the Pattern and has a Wild Imprint.

<big>[[Clymnea-Jeweled_Amber]] Article of Submission</big>

===''Av Reet.'' Son of Oberon===

[[File:D-Av-Reet.jpg]]

Lord of the Djinn. A creature of great magical powers with fingers in many power sources. He is known to have walked the pattern as well as being a master of the [[Mal at Reiss]].

''This card is not in the King Random's Deck''

===''Eater.'' Son of Oberon===

[[File:D-eater.jpg]]

This monster is an abomination to Amber. It is a creature of vast evil, devouring hunger, and limitless cruelty. This Dark God of the Undead effects tens of millions of shadow veils as the ultimate evil, the eater of the dead, and the destroyer of worlds. A massive figure, over twenty feet tall, can rip apart the strongest of creatures using arms and teeth. It spreads fire and quakes and the plague wherever it walks. It has a formidable sense of its own survival that is heightened animal cunning and not the intelligence of a man.

It is immune to non-magical weapons, immune to gases, poisons, and most elemental attacks such as fire, water, cold, and electricity. It fears nuclear fire but it is not clear why since it does not seem to damage him. He has not walked the pattern.

''This card is not in the King Random's Deck''

===''Hinarik.'' Son of Oberon===

[[File:D-Hinarik.jpg]]

This dark necromantic sorcerer is mad beyond comparison. He controls a Black Zone shadow that he fills with the corpses of the dead. For a hundred shadow veils around his stronghold the dead magically disappear and arrive in his realm, where he performs dark rituals and they join his Army of the Dead. Behind the Gate of Snakes wait his horde for the day they are freed and they may follow him to the utter destruction. His main beef seems to be with Black Zone Pact Instrument Kingdoms. He leads his undead into their cities, laying them low, until the powers must act. For him neither matters, the dead all return to him as it is. He can get more uses out of them. Death is no reprieve from Duty. He has not walked the pattern.

''This card is not in King Random's Deck''

===''Vox.'' Daughter of Oberon===
[[File:D-vox.jpg]]

This magnificent beast is amongst the mightiest of the Dragons of Shadow, casting shadows of dragons from one end of shadow to the others. Nearly all the dragons of Chaos have either a grudging respect for Vox, and many are openly Amber Cultists of hers. Not directly an enemy of Amber, she has had little contact with Amber over the centuries. Oberon is said to have actually flown Vox in combat. She is amoral but not necessarily amoral-evil. She looks where she and her kind might profit. Gigantic barley describes her. A body length from neck to nuts is 800 meters, every millimeter of it encrusted with precious jewels.. Tip to tip, her wings are 600 meters across and can create devastating buffets of wind, mixed with her fiery breath. Her tail is 800 meters and capable of precise movements. Random claims that Vox has assayed the Pattern at least once. She does not contest the role of Dragon King with her brother Hanvir, though Vox is bigger. Bets are being taken in many places for when these two finally come to claws.

===''Nalshik.'' Daughter of Oberon===

[[File:D Nalshik.jpg]]

Among the Monsters of Amber is found the Spider Queen. A daughter of Oberon in a very dark world. Ganthri is the ruling shadow of a collection of a thousand interlocking realms. Nalshik rules Ganthri. Her bite is poisonous and her mother almost certainly came from Chaos. She is a ferocious predator, a living black widow spider and a nymphomaniac. Unlike the spider she does not necessarily kill her mates. She tends to like to keep them around as long as they are useful and playful. She dominates any of her own shadows she can find, slay those she could not break, enslaving those she could. She is the ultimate narcissus. She has walked the Primal Pattern, as well as having assayed the logrus, Mal at Riess, Sigil of Bursain.

==='''Osric.''' Son of Oberon and Clymnea===

[[File:D-osric.jpg]]

The first Son of Amber. Osric was Oberon's main assistant in the creation of the State of Amber. He laid the cornerstone of the Castle Amber. Thought to be dead for most of Amber's time he was discovered to be alive during the Patternfal War and afterwards briefly came to Amber. He rendered his fealty to Random then returned to shadow.

<big>[[Osric-AoS]] Article of Submission</big>

==='''Finndo.''' Son of Oberon and Clymnea===

[[File:D-finndo.jpg]]

His trump shows the ex-King of Amber as he broods on his troubled throne. He ruled Amber after Oberon's disappearance. He was claimed to have been destroyed on the Pattern, but also returned out of the depths of shadow to render his fealty and then disappear.

==='''Benedict.''' Son of Oberon and Clymnea===

[[File:D-benedict.jpg]]

The Weapon Master of Arms for Amber. Marshal of the Armies of Amber. In the Patternfall War he assumed the command of the forces of Amber under King Eric I and defeated the forces of Chaos. Random offhandedly confirmed his continued command of the military of Amber in an incident that confused him so much that he did not realize he was agreeing to serve as Marshal of Amber until after he had done so. Benedict is still pretty sore about this. He and Random discussed this privately, with a mere 50 surreptitious listeners, and despite Benedict's debating skills Random won the case when he told him he should "feel free to leave Amber defenseless at any time he liked and to return to his orchards and rose gardens." Ever since Benedict acts extremely correctly in Random's presence. He has walked the Pattern many times

<big>[[Benedict-Jeweled Amber]] Article of Submission</big>

[[Contemplations on the Nature of Benedict]]

===''[[Orsolla]]'' Daughter of Oberon===

[[File:D-orsalla.jpg]]

The daughter of Oberon and Moiren, once Queen of Rebma. Orsolla is a duchess in Rebma, but rarely attends court. She is a largely forgotten person amongst the Rebman nobility. A name on the list of nobles who have prerogatives that do not require they come to court. She travels watery shadows as a goddess of nature. She is often found in one or another as a water spirit, a person of worship in the vast numbers of shadows Rebma casts. She has walked the Pattern.

''This card is not in King Random's Deck''

==='''[[Borelak]].''' Son of Oberon and Clymnea===

[[File:D-borlak.jpg]]

Rough trade. A mercenary. Very tough. Runs in the Rantar shadow systems. Leads a cross-shadow nomadic horde in the millions. Tall at 7'10, broad at 400lbs, strong even by standards set by Corwin, Eric and Gerard. Single-minded as the seas, relentless as erosion, smart as a politician, merciless as death. One day the forces f Amber will have a terrible time dealing with him.

<big>[[Borlak-Mine is Rage]] Article of Submission</big>

==='''Elfwine''' Son of Oberon===

[[File:D-elfwine.jpg]]

A wizard of the Gandalf mold. A powerful name in the Swordage worlds. A Lord of Mandalay. A nature guide for [[Dash Tours]]

==='''Eric.''' Son of Oberon===

[[File:D-eric.jpg]]

Strong, Personable, determined, arrogant, ambitious. This is Eric, who once ruled Amber as its King and is the only King of Amber to die in combat. Now he is dead and buried. His tomb lies next to that of Corwin, on the other side to Deirdre's, on Kolvir. His is the only one inhabited of the three. Recently Eric has been seen wandering the halls of Tir no'gath, as if he were King in Amber, though melancholy.

==='''Corwin.''' Son of Oberon===

[[File:D-corwin.jpg]]

Bold, clever, ambitious, musical, a warrior born. Corwin once wore the crown of Amber, is counted as having served as its king, if only for a moment. His tale is told in his Chronicles and many of shadow know of Amber through them. The creation of the Pattern of Avalon has taken all of his time. Rumor is not clear about his plans in Avalon. The scope of Avalon is still uncertain and its creator is not talking.

==='''Evelyn.''' Daughter of Oberon===

[[File:Evelyn-jewel.jpg]]

''Will she, nil she, the Lady in the Crystal Tower sends only regrets.

''Can she, may she, sing brightly though black is all the colors she sees.

'' Brightly, darkly, the Seer of Song sees only the ravens wing aloft.''

Little is know of her, except she has a great sadness that touching the cold card in the deck somehow it seeps through.

She is something of a deity on the world of Twilight

Her daughter is [[Grace.]] Grace acts as an intermediary between her mother and those seeking the woman called the Seer of Song.

==='''Deirdre.''' Daughter of Oberon===

[[File:Deirdre1.jpg]]

Bold and strong is the warrior maiden of Amber. A fair threat to her militant brothers is this militant sister.

The story of Dierdre at Patternfall is a harsh one. Taken by Brand, a knife to her throat, she fell into the Ayass with Brand when the green arrow struck him.

Soon after the Unicorn exited the Abyss with Deirdre across her back, badly effected by what apparently was a long experience. Considering the function of time in Chaos the time could be vast. Corwin took her from the unicorn, and with his son Merlin, left to Avalon, after the Unicorn's Choice.

In time later it was revealed that the mate of Fleece, a son of Oberon in the form of a great wolf, was also Deirdre. That somehow she had been divided in the Abyss. The method is unknown. The story is that Fleece and his pack rescued her from the Abyss, having fought the Serpent in Wolf-Form, defeating it and carrying Deirdre in her Wolf-form of Deirdre. Since then she has born at least one child to Fleece.

Her tomb on Kolvir of course, empty.

Deirdre inhabited the top few floors of a tall tower that abuts onto Kolvir at the west and rear of the castle. While all of the Amberites have dwellings in various parts of the city of Amber, Hers was a very large mansion in the Restaurant district, ''Bright Edge'', which was a known hang out of Amber nobles & notables. She endowed the place to such a degree that 100 years after Patternfall it is still a regular Friday-Saturday-Sunday nightspot. The host is [[Dame Fres Mira]], her factor in Amber.

==='''Hamilton''' Son of Oberon===

[[File:D hamilton.jpg]]

A militant son of Oberon with a tempestuous history with his father that makes him less then eager to serve Amber. However, he has submitted and Article of Submission[[https://wiki.rpg.net/index.php/Hamilton]] to Random.

[[Carardala]]

==='''[[Nina, Daughter of Oberon]]'''===

[[File:D-nina.jpg]]

Little is known of this elusive Princess of Amber.

She and her twin Sister Emilie live in a exclusive shadow Realms of [[Adagalasck]] that few have entered.

She is known there as Lady of Water. Mistress of the cold wind of the north.

==='''Emilie.''' Daughter of Oberon ===

[[File:D-emilie.jpg]]

Mistress of the South Wind and the Lady of Fire in the Realms of [[Adagalasck]].

These realms have some connection to the Primal realm of Calmir and are somehow associated to the Primal Beast of the Phoenix.

==='''Caine.''' Son of Oberon===

[[File:D-caine.jpg]]

Clever, lithe, cagey, careful, dangerous.

Nominally second-in-command of the Fleet, this is really just a cover for the worst kept secret in Amber that his real work is as spy-master of Amber.

He often disappears for long periods, to the extent that he spends the vast majority of his time out in shadow, returning just as rumors of coups and deaths surface from realms unfriendly to Amber. Spymaster of Amber is a role both new and challenging for Caine. He has taken to it like a fish to water and has been known to take delight in his new role. His extensive attempts to penetrate shadow with spies is beginning to show good results.

Recently the recovery of Mirelle caused some disturbance and a brief estrangement for Caine and Amber. Delwin briefly served as Spymaster but his methods proved too draconian and Caine was reinstated.

Caine's quarters in Amber are a luxurious suite on the top floor of the main castle gate-house. He also has a townhouse on the outskirts of the city, on the coast.

<big>[[Caine-AoS]] Article of Submission</big>

==='''Julian.''' Son of Oberon===

[[File:D-julian.jpg]]

Stoic, and reserved, calm but wary, this is the Warden of Arden, guardian of the land-ward approaches to Amber, a duty he performs from Castle Arden, the center of a web-work of defenses and fortifications through the whole of Forest Arden. Still the same extreme, emotionless, almost psychotic person he was before Patternfall.

He also serves as a Commander of the Amber Guard and the Warden of Arden.

Due to an encounter with the Unicorn, Julian has become a champion for the Church of the Unicorn. His quarters, on the fairly rare occasions when he stays in Amber, are a Spartan suite of rooms in the isolated westernmost tower of the castle.

<big>[[Julian-AoS]] Article of Submission </big>

==='''Gerard.''' Son of Oberon===

[[File:D-gerard.jpg]]

The strongest man in Amber.

Admiral of the Navies of Amber. He is intimately involved in the build up of naval forces in Shadow.

<big>[[Gerard-AoS]] Article of Submission</big>

===''Jaques.'' Son of Oberon===

[[File:D-jaques.jpg]]

Conde Jaques del la Marot stands in profile casting his eye to the left. This Marshal of France has devotion to spare but has dedicated himself to one less than himself. He is Napoleon's favorite bulldog, and Louis's executioner. He has never been to Amber but has walked the pattern somewhere in shadow.

''This card is not in the King Random's Deck

==='''Delwin.''' Son of Oberon===

[[File:Delwin2.jpg]]

'''''Who is the dark prince grinning out his auburn brow?'''''

His eyes are clear and brown as maple syrup. His economical movement and his stare give one a sense of dread.

His elegant attire, proper manner, cultured intellect, and quick wit makes him welcome at the finest soirées. He is a sorcerer of note and an artist of genius.

Once a bitter foe of Oberon's, he is now reconciled to the crown. After a brief stint as Director of Secret Police in Amber he went off to wander in shadow. His desire for privacy seems to have faded away.

[[Delwin]] Article of Submission

==='''Sand.''' Daughter of Oberon===

[[File:D-sand.jpg]]

This daughter of Oberon, Sister of Delwin, Is strong, determined, and outgoing. An athlete, an archer of incredible skill, and a implacable, if not militant, foe of Amber. A Lady of Mandalay. A Tour Guide for [[Dash Tours]]

===''Kundjiq'' Son of Oberon===

[[File:D-kundjiq.jpg]]

==='''Josef.''' Son of Oberon===

[[File:D-joseph.jpg]]

The strong eye of this son of Oberon sees clearly the length and breath of Shadow but his heart is with his people, the Ni Mee po, mistakenly called the Nez Perce. Born Hin-mah-too-yah-lat-kekt,'' Thunder Rolling Down the Mountain'', he was given the name Josef by the settlers into his land.

When war came on iron shod hooves he led his people on the great trek to flee the soldiers of the United State of Antheris. His flight awoke his inborn skill to shadowwalk and he led his people through shadow to the Vine River region of an unnamed world and saftey.

There he reconciled with Oberon, who taught him the ways of Shadow and gave him domain over The Vine River world[[https://wiki.rpg.net/index.php/Diners_of_Amber#Vine_River]], called Wallowakias by his people. He set off then to seek in shadow remnants of his defeated people, seeking his children. He peopled Wallowakias with shadows of the People. He married a rough conflicted woman, Reane Vil Sar[[https://wiki.rpg.net/index.php/Elites#Reane_Vil_Sar-Retired]], who once served as Commander of the Amber Guard and as Oberon's chief torturer.

===''Hanvir.'' Son of Oberon===

[[File:D-hanvir.jpg]] [[File:Hanvir-h2.jpg]]
<div class="center" style="width: auto; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;">

'''''Black walks the breath of death and yellow are his eyes.'''

''''''The Dragon King of Amber and the Patron of death from above.''''' </div>

Hanvir is a Dragon King in a vast stretch of shadow where Dragonkin are the ruling forces. He and Random have had substantive talks and it may be just a matter of time before he comes to Court.

==='''Fiona.''' Daughter of Oberon===

[[File:D-fiona.jpg]]

Red is the hair of this daughter of Clarissa and heir to the magic of Amber. She was a pupil of Dworkin. Like Bleys, Fiona was not particularly trusted after the War, and was kept under subtle observation. However, she did seem somewhat more co-operative than Bleys, helping with the drawing of Trumps, and the investigation of Corwin's Pattern. Her quarters in the castle, which are still kept maintained in case of her return, take up a whole tower near the center of an otherwise unused section of the castle. As well as her living quarters the tower contains assorted laboratories and other facilities.

<big>[[Fiona-AoS]] Article of Submission</big>

==='''Bleys.''' Son of Oberon===

[[File:D-bleys.jpg]]

Called the ''Second Son'' in Amber to denote his being the second at sword play behind Benedict, Second behind Fiona in Sorcery, Second behind Caine at intrigue, and second behind Brand in bad behavior.

Although he helped save the day at the battle of the Patternfall, because of his connection to Chaos, after the war Bleys has kept low-key, subtle observation to hopefully stop him repeating his earlier actions. At Random's request he has become involved in teaching Sorcery and shadow magic, as well as training troops in swordplay. He has been very careful in Amber, trying to prove his loyalty and his reliability.

After a court dinner early in the new reign, where Random maneuvered Benedict into accepting the Office of Marshal, Bleys began drinking heavily and engaging in ever more bizarre behavior.

The owner of two theater companies in Amber as well as numerous endeavors in shadow, he has been the prince at the party at many social gatherings amongst the nobles and merchant houses. The Amber Guards once arrested him for a binge in Little London where he decried the loss of all his ambitions due to the Unicorn's choice.

He has a vast collection of bad habits but his humor offsets them with grace and charm. His surprising loyalty to the new king is as much a surprise to him as to everyone else.

<big>[[Diners of Amber]] Article of Submission</big>

==='''Llewella.''' Daughter of Oberon===

[[File:D-llewella.jpg]]

This princess of Amber prefers the watery depths of Rebma and the watery shadows it casts. When in Amber unofficially (which is very rare these days) she has a small suite of rooms looking onto the same garden courtyard as Gerard. Until recently she was the Ambassador to Amber from Rebma, replaced by Rene Moir, the son of Moire and Corwin. A quiet, secretive, Friendly, and creative woman, her lifestyle is a blank to the people in Amber because all her life she has avoided it.

She owns no property in Amber and her only dwellings there is a small one-room apartment in the castle and a small one-room apartment in the Rebman Embassy.

She is a sorceress with a specialty in Mirror Magics.

<big>[[Llewella-AoS]] Article of Submission</big>

==='''Brand.''' Son of Oberon===

[[File:D-brand.jpg]]

The villain of the piece. The prime mover of the Patternfall war. Bold, outlandish, erratic, explosive. This prince of amber was loved and reviled, enjoyed and detested. Warped and driven. In the end he fell into the Abyss in the final battle of the Patternfal War. His extensive sufferings in the Abyss effected him in many ways but his emergence from them has left a pale reflection of the once dynamic person. He has not returned to Amber and now wanders in unknown lands.

==='''Florimel,''' Daughter of Oberon===

[[File:D-flora.jpg]]

Rather surprisingly, Flora has become something of a stateswoman, and Random's right hand woman. Her official title is Chief of Protocol.

She has acted as Regent on several occasions when Random has had to leave Amber, and also negotiated a number of the treaties which have brought new shadows into the Golden Circle. She maintains holiday homes on shadow Earth, THelusia, Kashfra, Adzikis in Winter, Nenton, and other less well known worlds.. As Chief of Protocol she is in charge of arranging for official meetings between Amber and other kingdoms. She is also in charge allocating rooms in Castle Amber. Her small senior staff include [[Dame Margot]], Dame Lucia Feldane

Much to the surprise of many Flora has become nearly indispensable, frequently working longer hours than Random. Her sleek decorum and good sense has helped her navigate situations where her kin might well have resorted to bloodshed.

Her new quarters in Castle Amber are now a huge, luxurious suite of rooms in the keep, one floor down from the Royal Suite, and opening onto the Sea View Gardens as if they were her own patio. However, she also keeps up her old quarters, a large tower in the body of the castle, fairly near the keep, in case of need.

Son: Zachary

Daughter: Elayne

[[Flora-AoS]] Article of Submission

==='''Kibar''' Son of Oberon===

[[File:D-kibar.jpg]]

A high tech super genius. Estranged from Oberon in his youth, he has been traveling among the criminal class of high tech shadows for thousands of years..

==='''Giovanni.''' Son of Oberon===

[[File:Giovanni1.jpg]]

This is not the God of War, nor is he Dionysus.

He is a force of nature on the battlefield and is nearly oblivious of his actions afterward.

He is a tavern-brawler and street fighter swaggering through the crowds of shadow's lowest docks and camps.

He is a contender in the wrestling match for Amber's strongest man.

Giovanni is frequently called la Conde, the Count, amongst the sergeants of the veils. He is the master sergeant smacking his path amongst the tough guys and thugs of the lowest levels of the Armies of shadow.

He speaks the Italian of Michelangelo which he learned at the painter's knee. Di Vinci was his drinking buddy.

He can train an army's grunt soldiers in combat skills like few in shadow. He found his way from campaign, to war-band to burning cities and never quite remembers to sign up anywhere. Every army that he sets his tent in seems to assume he is supposed to be there. He has another marker to remember. People seem to forget him, if not his legend. They may remember the Count was around, but he never gets stuck with the blame. He is a good gambler and a good loser. He always has his pockets full and always pays for drinks.

His temper is hard to rile, worse then his berserk combat style, but once it is he never forgets. He has walked the Pattern.

'''<big>[[Giovanni]] "The Commentary in the Guide to the Amberites" New Warren Press'''</big>

'''<big>[[Giovanni-AoS]] Giovanni's Article of Submission'''</big>

==='''Dalt''' Son of Oberon===

[[File:D-dalt1.jpg]]

Son of Delee the Desecratix.

<big>[[Dalt-Jeweled Amber]] Articles of Submission</big>

==='''Random.''' Son of Oberon===

[[File:D-Random.jpg]]

<big>'''''King of Amber by the touch of the Unicorn's Horn'''''</big>

'''Something of an enlightened dictator. The Iron Fist in the Velvet Glove'''

*He has managed to reform Amber considerably since he came to power, cutting abuses and red tape, plus a lot of court formality. This has made him popular with the people, though there have been grumbling from the other members of the family.
*Due to Random's efforts (and, some think, his not being Oberon), Amber city has expanded to nearly twice its size prior to his taking the throne, and the Golden Circle has nearly two-thirds more members than it did before. He is also responsible for the upgrading of the standards of living in Amber, repaving the streets of the Kingdom, imposing plumbing reforms, and otherwise nudging Amber to a more modern way of life.

*His civic improvement project of paving the roads of Amber with puzzled stone became joined with the jeweled creation of the Mark of [[Mandalay]] to create [[the Jeweled Road]]
*Although he still likes a drink and a gamble, Random is a serious and attentive King, and as a result looks considerably more careworn, and older, than he did before taking the throne.
*Random and Vialle occupy the Royal Suite, which takes up a large percentage of the top floor of the main castle keep. Needless to say it is a huge, luxurious set of rooms which as well as the normal facilities also includes a number of conference and meeting rooms.

==='''Mirelle.''' Daughter of Oberon===

[[File:D-mirelle.jpg]]

''Mad, sad, and intense.
''Mild, Joyous, and sly.
''The daughter of Oberon slips and weaves in her pleasant madness.''

This full sister of Random and Giovanni is a frail and broken creature. She is charming, lovely, and outrageously funny. But she is also sad, suicidal, and for unknown reasons her dementia is untreatable.

==='''Phillipe''' Son of Oberon===

[[File:D phillipe.jpg]]

A musician and a bon vivant. If an ''Amberite'' can find anything they wish in shadow this Prince found a life of luxury and ease. Militant in his early life, he is not without defenses. However he has sought realms specifically free of violent conflict and far from the waves of war the struggle between Amber and Chaos can bring. A frequent presence in [[Mandalay]] he has turned down a lordship there at this point in order to not be seen as taking sides against what is arguably his homeland. He is associated with [[Dash Tours]]

==='''Evelar''' Daughter of Oberon===

[[File:D-Evelar.jpg]]

Warrior twins from a very violent collection of world. Evelar and Evankala are avenging warrior heroes.

==='''Evankala''' Daughter of Oberon===

[[File:D-Evankala.jpg]]

Warrior twins from a very violent world. Evelar and Evankala are avenging warrior heroes.

===''Pierre'' Son of Oberon===

[[File:Pierre.jpg]]

A son of Oberon with little connection to Amber. He visited once, walked the pattern, and fled into shadow. He can be found in the Ganras galleries[[https://wiki.rpg.net/index.php/Diners_of_Amber#Ganras_Galleries.2C_Vies]]

==='''Coral.''' Daughter of Oberon===

[[File:Coral1.jpg]]

A youngster, probably the last of Oberon's offspring. She is of Begman origin. An arranged marriage with Rinaldo worked well for a time but she stepped down as the Queen of Kashfa.

[[File:greenwhitedrapedsword.gif]]

==='''Relmopator''' Son of Satura===

[[File:Relmopator.jpg]]

Grandson of Dworkin and Verna, Son of Satura and Sir Kandith of Montagar (deceased)… though, rumors have surfaced that his grandmother might actually be Vox; daughter of Oberon... and that his father might be Hagalta; an Adask from Adagalasck. Mysterious, Macabre, Magical... An odd man with a creepy vibe, yet a sense of great power about him, despite his frail appearance. Realmer is usually found in dark places delving and in the company of odd or magical Beings and Creatures.

==='''Dwynwen''' Daughter of Hagalta and Satura===

[[File:Dwynwen.jpg]]

"Insanity is a communicable disease. You catch it from your relatives"- Dwynwen Hagaltadotr

===''Xorax'' Son of Hagalta===

[[File:Xorax.jpg]]

Son of Hagalta and Uxtrasa

===''Drixtra''===

[[File:Drixtra.jpg]]

Daughter of Hagalta and Dwynwen

==''' : Third Generation: The Cousins'''==

==='''Banidoc: Son of Benedict'''===

[[File:Banidoc.jpg]] ''':Son of Benedict'''

Long believed to be a shadow of Benedict serving as his second in command. He was recently revealed to be the son of Benedict and the ancient servant of Amber, Dame Margot. In the foundation days of Amber, Margot, a servant of Dworkin and Oberon, handled the food, cleaning and household details of the small cadre of people living in the land that would become Amber. While Dworkin wrestled with the juvenile(Wild) pattern, Oberon, Osric, Finndo, and Benedict explored shadow, made alliances, built buildings and empires and laid the foundations for the city, castle and nation of Amber. Clymnea helped create the court of the fledgling kingdom. In that time Margot traveled occasionally with each of them and during one of these trips she gave birth to Banidoc, and with Benedict, raised him. Banidoc spent a century in shadow then joined Benedict as his second in command, and all were told he was merely a shadow Benedict had come to terms with. He is strong, and seems almost identical to Benedict, except he has a sense of humor. He is a student of Standup comedians, explaining that their way of communication is the most efficient. Do not let his humor distract you. This is Benedict's first son. He had a sword put in his hand before he was out of his mother's womb.
==='''Dashel''' Son of Finndo===

[[File:Dashel1.jpg]] ''' Son of Finndo'''

A regency huntsman and a musical impresario. His age is uncertain but he tends toward a young attitude. Known to live in Adrian's Dramaturge and run tours of people into shadow to experience historical musical performances. He visits Woodstock often.

==='''Rinaldo: Son of Brand'''===

[[File:Rinaldo.jpg]] [[File:Luke1.jpg]] '''Son of Brand.'''

Also known as Lucas Raynald. A friend of Merlin's on shadow earth and a rival. Currently King of Kashfra, much to his own surprise. His mother Jasra is an ex-chaosian Handmaiden of [[House Hendrake]]. He often goes by the name Luke and enjoy tech worlds as much as barbaric splendor ones.

==='''Laravella: Daughter of Brand'''===

[[File:Laravella.jpg]] '''Daughter of Brand'''

==='''Truman: Son of Gerard'''===

[[File:T Truman.jpg]]

'''Son of Gerard.'''

Truman looks like a twenty something overgrown street punk. His look tends to be very ''rockabilly'' with pompadour and tattoos of women on both arms. He tends to wear a lot of sleeveless bowling shirts and the like. He sounds somewhat like Elvis when he talks. He comes off as generally likable but reserved (unless on stage). He is known to party a lot and is rarely seen without a gorgeous woman on his arm. The Urian Pack dotes on him.

Raised secretly in a distant shadow by Gerard he has a strong sense of honor and fair play, one of the few times he is known to go off and kick people's ass is when he catches someone bullying or intimidating others. That is when folk see his wrath. People might dislike his cockiness and flip attitude but this is a son of Gerard, and that is the bloodline of strength.

*Current Ambassador from Amber to Mandalay
*Runs tours for [[Dash Tours]]

[[Running Sheet Truman]]

==='''''Robert: Son of Caine'''''===

[[File:Robert.jpg]]

He does not go by the name Robert. He has not been to Amber. His father is unsure he should.
==='''Geryon: Son of Deirdre'''===

[[File:Geryon.jpg]] '''Son of Deirdre.'''

Geryon stands just over six feet tall and weighs in at 220 pounds. His loose red hair flows down across his shoulders like a bloody mane and his crystal blue eyes sparkle in a face that could have been carved from stone. He is usually found in his personal colors: blue, black and silver. Though his attire changes style from time to time, he always has his black thigh high boots on his feet, and a short curved two-handed sword on his hip.

==='''Houk: Son of Adrian & Sand'''===

[[File:Houk.jpg]] '''Son of Sand & Adrian'''

Amber has had many a serious player at the game of diplomacy. Many forces of change have come to the shores of Amber and gone down in defeat. Now comes the Ambassador of Mandalay; Houk, Son of Adrian. What has Amber come to? Houk, is a Hoka. Fierce at 3'9". Short tempered but patient. Talkative, inquisitive, intuitive, and dedicated. Difficult. Furry. A teddy with a wicked blade.

Dapper in his Brooks Brothers suit, London Fog coat, and silk top hat. His jeweled walking stick is the golden wood of Ygg, with a knocker of gold sheeting over a purple stone, that glows with power. It bears the face of an elderly man, who sometimes speaks. A mage would see the inscribed sigil on the wood that denotes a weapon bearing the Mark of Mandalay. Adrian wants his ambassador taken seriously. Houk wants his words considered carefully. Dworkin wonders what Adrian was thinking. In the vastness of lands are many races and Amberites skilled in shapechange frequently shift amongst them. In a far past both Sand and Delwin traveled with Adrian, unbeknownst to them, an Amberite himself. In a realm called Hooka they found a lovable race of creative, imitative, impressionable creatures called hookas.

This race had little culture of their own but had at some point been the recipient of a library of books, and in their racial love of drama, assumed in turn the trappings of the cultures, idioms, and even the fashions of the storied, fictional realms contained in these books. In their imitative obsession a culture rose from a double thousand different fictional realms, from a dozen different worlds. In shadow, everything is possible. In this world, 3' to 4' teddy bears live as if they were cowboys, spacemen, dwarves, elves, private eyes, dancehall girls, vikings, crusaders, nadsats, canibers, and more different fashions than can be believed.

In this form, immersed to the point of forgetfulness, Adrian and Sand produced Houk and much to their eventual surprise, despite being able to take other physical forms, he chose to remain a hooka.

==='''Nadine:Daughter of Sand'''===
[[File:Nadine.jpg]] '''Daughter of Sand.'''

Joy in a Semite gown. Happiness on two long legs. This is the Earth goddess walking. A noble in Mandalay and the nicest person in all shadow. She would be overly sweet if it was not for her obvious sincerity. 5'6", 120 lb., robust & hardy, with a dancer's grace and an angel's voice, frequently raised in song. Blond and large breasted, wise, funny, loving, and profound. Small animals devotedly follow her and the nastiest hellcats out of chaos curl up at her feet and purr, bellies exposed. It must be true, everything exists in shadow, even a nice Amberite. Yet...do not let this make you forget; she is Sand's daughter, Oberon's granddaughter, and Dworkin's Great granddaughter, with all that implies. Only Flora seems threatened. And not convinced.

==='''''Carlos: Son of Jaques'''''===

[[File:Carlos.jpg]] '''Son of Jaques'''
==='''Duncan.''' Son of Julian===

[[File:Duncan.jpg]] '''Son of Julian'''

Many times a soldier.

==='''Galvar.''' Son of Osric===

[[File:Galvar.jpg]] '''Son of Osric'''

King Random's Personal Bodyguard. A vexingly constant presence near Random.

==='''''Fisk''''' Son of Osric===

[[File:D-fisk.jpg]] '''Son of Osric'''

Nimble and slick, funny and quick. The Thief King of Amber with a heart of mithril

==='''Nicholas.'''Son of Bleys===

[[File:Nicolas.jpg]] '''Son of Bleys'''

Some apples far near the tree, others roll away. Only time will tell.

==='''Derek.'''Son of Eric===

[[File:Derek.jpg]] '''Son of Eric'''

==='''Vander''' Son of Eric===

[[File:Vander42.jpg]] '''Son of Eric'''

Vander Koenigson, aka 'Corvallis', aka 'Koenig'; a future War God in the making. A highly trained Special Forces Commander from Shadow Earth; A graduate of the Nasty Place and then a second tour as an Instructor; A graduate of Star Fleet Academy, now a Captain of the Cerberus, a Defiant Class Star Ship, part of the Warp Shadow Shift Program. Also an accomplished Surgeon and specialist in Amber Family Medicine and Borg Implants.
==='''Zachary.'''Son of Florimel===

[[File:Zachary.jpg]] '''Son of Florimel.'''

This impresario is the leader of a magnificent circus. The Hepplewhite Circus and Grand Revue travel shadow and bring the entertaining, amazing and the bizarre with them. One shadow's normal is another's bizarre of course.

==='''Elayne.'''Daughter of Florimel===

[[File:Elayne deFlorimel.jpg]] '''Daughter of Florimel'''

Elayne deFlorimel is a student of the multiverse. She has a blog in the world of Nenton [[Dabblings of Elayne deFlorimel]]

After a short time in Amber she has gone into shadow to learn, participate, and experience life. Her mother wanted something else for her.

===''Lark Harooon.''Son of Caine===

[[File:D larkharoon.jpg]] '''Son of Caine'''

Lark is a enigma and a creature of mystery even in the courts of Amber.
A son of Caine raised in realms of great intrigue, a spy, a master spy, assassin, highwayman and conman.

==='''Hiroaki.''' Son of Borlak===

[[File:Hiroaki.jpg]]

'''Son of Borlak'''

Born in the Rie-us-al, a Asiatic world similar to Japan that had conquered the world during the age of the Samurai. Blindingly fast in combat, ruthless, uncommunicative. While not actually in the command staff of his father's Bloody Horde he seems to always be there. He is often sent as an assassin, having many centuries of training in that the ninja arts.

==='''[[Vance, son of Delwin]]'''===
[[File:Vance.jpg]] '''Son of Delwin'''

"Will he? nill He? the child of whimsy" Vance is a child of Delwin who abandoned his father at the age of 22. He manged to walk the pattern and flee into shadow. In shadow he found many way to keep busy, including centuries of baseball, warfare and spycraft. He is a friendly man, open and excited.

An Admiral on the command staff of the [[Amber Star Fleet]]

==='''Emma.''' Daughter of Fiona===

[[File:D-emma.jpg]] '''Daughter of Fiona'''

==='''Marke.''' Son of Fiona===

[[File:Marke.jpg]] '''Son of Fiona'''

A son of Fiona and a great lord of the House of Beor. An Ally of the Noldor of Beleriend.

==='''[[Grace.]]''' Daughter of Evelyn===

[[File:Grace.jpg]] '''Daughter of Evelyn'''

The Harpist of Twilight. A walker of ways. She is a frequent traveling companion of Lisel and often play by the fire.

==='''Red Cloud.''' Son of Josef===

[[File:Red-cloud.jpg]] '''Son of Josef'''

Seek him in Vine River

==='''Martin.''' Son of Random===

[[File:Martin.jpg]] '''Son of Random.'''

Crown Prince of Amber

The son of Random and Morganthe of Rebma, Moire's eldest child. She fell deeply in love with the romantic Prince of Amber. They fled together into shadow. Soon she returned to Rebma with a son, and without a Prince. She soon after committed suicide. Martin was raised in Rebma, known but not often spoken about in Amber. In time he took the pattern, trained with Benedict, and traveled shadow. When he was contacted by Brand, and stabbed, bleeding on to the pattern the Patternfall war had its basis in the damage of the pattern.

===''Kenshin.'' Son of Adrian===

[[File:D kenshin.jpg]] '''Son of Adrian'''

A forceful voice in the defense of Crown and kingdom of Mandalay. Direct, opinionated and hard on the furniture.

==='''[[Arloxedra]].''' Son of Eric===

[[File:arloxedra.jpg|225 px]] ''' Son of Eric'''

Arlo is a nearly constant resident of the Library of Amber. Holding no official role in the running of the Library he is still almost always there. He can usually be found sleeping in one of the chairs or couches. His world of origin is unknown but his references suggest an Earth/Urth/Earuth/Aerth World. He writes copious editorials on works from the libraries that he mostly picks at random. He is meticulously clean, despite having piles of books near where he sleeps and writing material spread over some table nearby. When asked he admits that he has rooms upstairs someplace but he can't concentrate there.
==='''''Sharpe.''''' Son of Kibar===

[[File:Sharpe.jpg]] '''Son of Kibar'''

A madwand technomage. Grim and demanding.

===''Andre.'' Son of Adrian===

[[File:Andre.jpg]] '''Son of Adrian'''

A Lord of Mandalay and unofficially the Duke of the Dramaturge

===''Drixtra'' Daughter of Hagalta and Satura===

[[File:Drixtra.jpg]]

Daughter of Hagalta and Satura

===''Dwynwen'' Daughter of Hagalta and Satura===

[[File:Dwynwen.jpg]]

===''Xorax'' Son of Hagalta ===

[[File:Xorax.jpg]]

Son of Hagalta and Uxtrasa
====''Born After Patternfall''====

==='''Tender: Daughter of Fleece& Deirdre'''===

[[File:Tender.jpg]]'''Daughter of Fleece & Deirdre'''

One of the [[Hounds of Mandalay]].
==='''Doria: Daughter of Benedict'''===

[[File:Doria.jpg]] '''Daughter of Benedict.'''

Also called Lady. Lady of Charm. Captain of the Black Company, Last of the Free Companies of Khatovar. Slender yet strong, lithe and nimble, deadly, Doria stands 5'3" but don't let her height fool you. One glance in her icy blue eyes and you can see that visions of death and terror of the darkest flavor have passed within. She is taciturn, but when she speaks the wise man listens. Warriors recognize a force to be respected. Wizards sense a sorceress to be feared. Madmen know their own. Doria needs no defender on the field of war. Her enemies may.

==='''Maylon: Daughter of Benedict'''===

[[File:Maylon.jpg]] ''':Daughter of Benedict'''.

[[House Hendrake]] . This bitter and aggressive woman is one of the powerful creatures of the Hendrake part of Chaos. The vagaries of time relationships has given this woman time to become a mighty warrior, sour on the sword, and indulge in and become an expert in the rough politics of the Courts of Chaos. She has sources in dark corners of Chaos that she dips her claws in at need.

[[Benedict/Hendrake breeding program]] Maylon is the pinnacle of a manipulative breeding program begun when Lintra, a princess of Hendrake, returned to Chaos unexpectedly pregnant after a night of hate-sex with Benedict of Amber. Lintra gave birth and returned battle near the shadow of Lorraine where she severed Benedict's arm below the elbow at the cost of her own life.

==='''Yalla: Daughter of Benedict'''===

[[File:YallaGanth.jpg]]

'''Daughter of Benedict.'''

A daughter of Benedict, though unknown till very recently. The [[House Ganth]] is reeling from this revelation. One of the quartet of Benedict's children born in Juniper with Alagina Ganth. The others being Doria, Desri and Maylon.

The strange situation concerning this manipulated conception has been detailed under the [[Alagina of Chaos Event]]

Yalla was the child that was raised in the [[House Ganth]] estate

==='''Desri: Daughter of Benedict'''===

[[File:Desri1.jpg]] ''' Daughter of Benedict'''

Also called Soulcatcher, a sorceress, one of the [[Ten Who Were Taken]].

==='''Visaly: Son of Benedict'''===

[[File:Visaly.jpg]] '''Son of Benedict'''

This son of Benedict was born on Vulsar Base and raised in a technological realm of plenty. And he hated it. Trained as an elite warrior of Amber's Star Fleet, a well as the [[Toa/York]] [[Total Warrior]], he fled after his first walk through the pattern.

He has been spending time amongst the dystopia shadows near Nu Yark

===''Ghost: Son of Deirdre & the Serpent of Chaos''===

[[File:D-ghost.jpg]]

''' Son of Deirdre & the Serpent of Chaos.'''

One of the [[Hounds of Mandalay]].

==='''Carissa: Daughter of Gerard'''===

[[File:D-carissa.jpg]]

'''Daughter of Gerard'''

Stuntwoman, actress, Roller Derby Gal

==='''Rene: Son of Corwin & Moire'''===

[[File:D-rene.jpg]]'''Son of Corwin & Moire.'''

Born in Rebma soon after Corwin's return from shadow at the start of the Patternfall War. Raised largely in the seclusion of the Court of Rebma, never openly acknowledged as either Moire's son, nor as Corwin's son. In the 40's year of Random's reign he came to Amber as the Ambassador of Rebma to Amber, and revealed his parentage much to the shock of all.

==='''Merlin: Son of Corwin & Dara'''===

[[File:D merlin.jpg]] '''Son of Corwin & Dara.'''

The Corwin Chronicles found throughout shadow were narrated to Merlin on the edge of the Abyss after Amber's victory in the Patternfall War. After Patternfall Merlin became a frequent presence in Amber and his loyalty is a delicate issue between Amber and Chaos.

He wrote a fantasy that included a lot of his adventures into a dream of him becoming King of Chaos. Considerable license was taken with events that really occurred.

==='''Warrick.''' Son of Corwin and Deirdre===

[[File:Warrick.jpg]]
'''Son of Corwin and Deirdre'''

==='''Macsen''' Son of Dalt===

[[File:Macsen4.jpg]] '''Son of Dalt'''

A sailor from the dusty lands of Trasidy. A friend of birds everywhere.

[[File:greenwhitedrapedsword.gif]]

==''' Kinsman-Fourth generation'''==

==='''''Hirem.''''' Son of Jacques===

[[File:D-hirem.jpg]] '''Son of Jacques'''
==='''''Jade''''' Daughter of Fisk===

[[File:D-jade.jpg]] '''Daughter of Fisk'''

A pirate queen, the gallant swashbuckler, a privateer with a quick blade.
====''Born after Patternfall''====

==='''Gaolus-Breeder''' Daughter of Maylon===

Daughter of Maylon

'''''No images of her exist'''''

Daughter of House Hendrake. Part of the [[Benedict/Hendrake breeding program]].

Elicited an Amber Death Curse. Merged into a Axlotl Tank.

Her embryos created three offspring in the pursuance of the program. Ganril, Faris, & Vek

==='''''Voya.''''' Daughter of Maylon===

[[File:Voya.jpg]]

Daughter of Maylon Part of the [[Benedict/Hendrake breeding program]] Bore one child to a Prince of House Helgram; Dara.

Unseen since before Patternfall. She was an active participant in many of the wars along the Black Road in the middle realms near Ygg. She never came closer to Amber's end. After the victory at Kolvir by forces of Amber, she disappeared from public life. She is believed to be deep in chaos in the realms Maylon bore her. She was not part of the [[Benedict/Hendrake breeding program]].

==='''''Agrom''''' Son of Vance===

[[File:Agrom.jpg]] '''Son of Vance'''

A Klingon born of the amber line.

[[File:greenwhitedrapedsword.gif]]

==''' Fifth Generation'''==

==='''''Quin.'''''===

[[File:D-quin.jpg]]

'''Son of Jade

==='''''Brigeete.'''''===

[[File:D-brigette.jpg]]

Daughter of
====''Born after patternfall''====
==='''''Falris-Breeder''''' Daughter of Gaolus-Breeder===

Daughter of Gaolus-Breeder

'''''no image exists'''''

Merged into a Axlotl Tank.

Part of the [[Benedict/Hendrake breeding program]]. . Deemed viable. Bore 2 children; Shaz Far & RHonda

==='''''Ganril-Breeder'''''===

Daughter of Gaolus-Breeder

'''''No image available'''''

Daughter of Gaolous-Breeder. Part of the [[Benedict/Hendrake breeding program]]. Deemed a viable breeder. Bore two children; Gilva & Reestfa

==='''''Vek''''' Son of Gaolous-Breeder===

[[File:Vek am.jpg]]

Son of Gaolous-Breeder.

A warrior of Hendrake, a sorceror fled from felicity. A musician, bar owner, and sailor on strange seas.
==='''''Unknown Male #1-Living''''' Son of Gaolous-Breeder===

''Condition unknown''

==='''''Unnamed Male #2-Deceased''''' Son of Gaolous-Breeder===

Slain by Vek and Unknown Male #1 in the Kitchen pits of Maylon Way.

==='''Dara.'''===

[[File:Dara.jpg]] Daughter of Voya.

Daughter of House Hendrake.

Descendant of Benedict. Lady of Sawall in Chaos.

----

[[File:greenwhitedrapedsword.gif]]

==''' Sixth Generation'''==

===''Abelvi.''===

[[File:D-abelvi.jpg]]

'''Son of Quin'''

A pirate adventurer in the swordage worlds.
====''Born After Patternfall''====
==='''''Gilva.'''''===

[[File:D-gilva.jpg]]

'''''Daughter of Ganril-Breeder'''''

A stalwart Hellmaiden- Elite female warriors of [[House Hendrake]]

==='''''Reestfa.'''''===

[[File:D-reestfa.jpg]]

'''''Daughter of Ganril-Breeder'''''

Reestfa is a creature of uncertain shape and form. Some attempt on her caused her to spontaneously transcendentally illuminate.

==='''''Rhonda.'''''===

[[File:D-rhonda.jpg]]

Daughter of Falris-Breeder

Generated as vampire from one of the Black Zone worlds.

==='''[[Shaz Far]]'''===

[[File:Shaz Far.jpg]]

Son of Falris-Breeder
A recent graduate of NP. Included in the KRD against his desire.

==='''Merlin.'''===

[[File:D merlin.jpg]]

Son of Dara and Corwin. Author of two well known series of books. Raised in Chaos

==='''Despil.'''===

[[File:Despil.jpg]]

Son of Dara and Gramble Sawall

==='''Jurt.'''===
Son of Dara and Gramble Sawall

[[File:Jurt-ja.jpg]]

Also see [[Thin Whip-Jurt's Tale]]

[[File:greenwhitedrapedsword.gif]]

==''' Seventh Generation'''==

Running Sheet A-JA

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==Allies==
*[[Running Sheet Template 1]]
*[[Running_Sheet_Vander]]
*[[Running Sheet Agrom]]
*[[Running_Sheet_Carissa]]
*[[Running Sheet Relmopator]]
*[[Running Sheet Arlo]]
*[[Running Sheet Macsen]]
*[[Running Sheet Truman]]
*[[Running Sheet Tyler]]
*[[Running Sheet Vance]]
*[[Running file Cymnea]]
*[[Running Sheet Ruda Ale]]
*[[Running Sheet Gerard]]
*[[Running Sheet Delwin]]
*[[Running Sheet Vek]]
*[[Running Sheet Elayne]]
*[[Running Sheet Laravella]]
*Tasa [[Trrs]]
*[[Gangdis]] of Cogswill
*[[Ttt]] Ulvan's potential PC
[[[https://wiki.rpg.net/index.php/Sssssss]]
*[[Running Sheet Hibbit]]
*[[Running Sheet Drexel]]
*[[Running Sheet Natasha]]

==Foes==
*[[Running Sheet Hagalta]]
*[[Running Sheet Jurt]]
*[[Running Sheet Maylon]]
*[[Running Sheet Hiroaki]]
*[[Running Sheet Rhonda]]
*[[Running Sheet Borlak]]
*[[Running Sheet Derek]]
*[[Running Sheet Kibar]]
*[[Running Sheet Shaz Far]]

==Themes==
[[The Blades Of Red Gale]]

Running Sheet Vander

2020-01-17T22:09:28Z

Salinea: Reverted edits by BROFLAKE MAD (talk) to last revision by Tolknor

'''[[VANDER KOENIGSON]]''' ''good man king’s son''
*aka Vander Barimen,
*aka 'Corvallis',
*aka 'Koenig'
[[File:Vander42.jpg]][[File:Shatterbound.jpg]]
[[File:Vander-Shield.jpg|250 px]]

*Father: King Eric of Amber
*Mother: Summer, a Hippie of Earth

*Age: 80 years (looks 30)
*Hair: Black, almost blue
*Eyes: Flat Gray
*Build: Athletic, lean muscled
*Height: 5’10”
*Weight: 180#

=='''Ranks'''==
*''Lord of Amber''
*''Soldier of Amber''
*''Captain - Amber Star Fleet'' [[The Cerberus]]

=='''Points'''==
Total: 127 = +95 Stats +0 Powers +11 Skills +4 Shadows +0 12 Allies/12 Enemies +11 Creatures +4 Items +2 Good Stuff +27 Advancement
===Advancement===
---Allocated---
*5-Ride to Amber with Gerard and Carissa
*2-GM Assistance
*2-Velri Hunt and associated conflicts.
*2-Recovery of Vek
*1 to Surgery (granted)
*3 Recovery of Brand
*8 Recovery of Soulcutter, Recovery of Deirdre, Reuniting Corwin with Family and paving the way to Avalon opening its gates
*2 Questioning of Brand, Recovery of Sightblinder
*1 Quiz
*2 Pips-Star Fleet 5yr mission/ Experiments in Shadow Shaving
---Yet to be Allocated---

=='''Statistics'''==
*10 PSYCHE
*10 STRENGTH
*15 ENDURANCE
*60 WARFARE

=='''Powers'''==
*(50) PATTERN IMPRINT[Granted-Random]
*(10) LIMITED SHAPE SHIFTING (10) [Racial] Alter facial features, skin color and texture, fingerprints, hair color, eye color

=='''Skills'''==
*3 Surgeon (Amber Royal Family Medicine, Cyber Implants, (Borg)(Star Fleet Medical)
*1 Dancing
*2 Computer Ops/Program/Hack
*2 Piloting (Ground, Air & Space Vehicles)
*2 [[Shadow Shaving]]
*1 Gunsmithing
*1 Psychiatry

=='''Shadows'''==
*4 “Zelazhaagen”; An Irregular Galaxy w/millions of star systems
**1 Personal Shadow; High Tech Level; FTL Space Travel (ASF compatible), High Order Magic Only (little magic use present)
**2 Restricted Access/Communications; restrictions apply to entry & incoming comms; most outgoing comms and all exits are unrestricted.
**1 Control of Contents; Vander practiced his Shadow Shaving skills by making subtle changes to some of the worlds in this Shadow, specifically in the Zelazny Star System.

=='''Allies & Enemies'''==
===Allies===
*6 pips (unknown)
*2 Pip Arloxedra
*1 pip Rede Feldane
*1 Pip Demon Friend Quelethast
*1 pip Agrom
*1 pip Zachery

===Enemies===
*12 pips - Various

=='''Stuff'''==
*2 Good Stuff

=='''Companions'''==
[[File:Quelethast.jpg]] [[File:Rede feldane.jpg|250 px]] [[odo]] [[File:Flitt.jpg]]
===Hired===
*Quelethast; Daemon of House Sawall (1 Amber Year Renewable Contract)
===Assigned===
*Rede Feldane; Soldier, Engineer, Artillerist, Sorcerer. Assigned Protective Elite 1 Pip Ally

===Creatures===
*(10) ‘Odo’ the Gloop; Vander’s Familiar/Friend/Scout/Spy (Signature)
*(1) “Flitt”, a Bonding Bird of Calrabon and Friend of Clymnea. Calrabon Bonding Bird
**Chaos Vitality 2 / Double Stamina 1 / Invulnerable 4 / Speak & Sing 1 / Danger Sense 2 / Rapid Heal 2. Rack & Use 1-Bonding. 13 pips.
**x4 Shadow Wide. (48) pips.
**Rack & Use 1-Lucky

=='''Items'''==
*(4)Hattori Hanzo Zatoichi Sword;
**4 Deadly Damage
*(6) NP Graduate Blade: (Granted: Benedict)
**4 Deadly Damage
**1 Rack a Spell-Return to Wielder
**1 Attuned-slips from the hands of anyone but an NP graduate.
*"[[Shatterbound]]" King Eric's Armor (58 Granted-Eric)
*Amber Family Trump Deck; King Random Edition (Granted - Random)
*Trumps of Bleys and Eric (Granted - Bleys)
*Trumps of 3 Places on Shadow Earth (Granted - Arloxedra)

=='''Stuff'''==
2 Good Stuff

=='''Personal Details'''==
*PERSONAL COLORS: Olive, Tan, Black. PERSONAL SIGIL: A Knight's Shield with Tribal motif in black, a Chief design in personal colors, with a Rampant Cerberus facing Sinister, in black, bearing a Special Forces brand on it flank in white relief.
*AMBER YEAR 5261: Vander was brought to Amber, via Shadow Walk, by his uncle Gerard.
**Gerard had come to Shadow Earth to get his daughter and Vander; his daughter turned out to be Carissa, confirming Vander’s hunch. They encountered a little trouble on the way, but nothing the three of them could not handle; someone from Regor announcing a hatred of Amber’s King, Random. Later, Gerard noticed the connection between his daughter and Vander and when a private moment presented itself, Gerard warned Vander about Amber’s Consanguinity Laws but didn’t say anything else on the matter nor give Vander a chance to comment.
**Graduate of [[Nasty Place]]: Shortly after arriving in Amber, Vander attended Benedict’s Personal Military Course; a 10 year intensive training program in a fast time Shadow known as the Nasty Place. The 10 year course ends up equaling about three weeks by Amber Time. Cari was not happy about him leaving, but did not try to stop him. While attending the course, Vander also improved his Surgical Skills and his Dancing skills, as well as honing his body and military skill sets. He was assigned as a Pattern Guard by Benedict at Graduation, but also stabbed in the gut, close to the heart, with a twisted bladed knife; Benedict reminded him that any attempts to take the throne of Amber will not be tolerated and will end in death. Vander kept the knife Benedict used as a reminder.
*AMBER YEAR 5262: Vander was assigned to attend the Royal Studies Course at Fantalin
**Vander was accompanied by one of his cousins, Zachery, the son of Florimel. Flora personally asked Vander to watch over her son while at Fantalin and especially in the presence of Bleys who enjoyed teasing and bullying the young man. They were escorted by Bleys and introduced to the head of the school, Aries Colbriesi; Dean of Fantalin.
**There was talk of ‘visions’ involving Vander and Carissa and Zachery; Dean Aries shared his drawings of the Visions he had with Vander and Zachery; they were grim and depicted bad omens for Zachery.
**Completed a one year course at Fantalin learning all the basics a member of the Royal Family of Amber needs to know.
*AMBER YEAR 5263 - 5265: Return to Amber, meet more family, walk Pattern, explore Shadow, return to Amber.
**Vander started spending lots of time with Arloxedra, his older brother, in the Library in Castle Amber. Vander learns much about Amber (history, family, people, places, current events and perhaps classified research for the Crown) from Arlo based upon whatever he is researching at the moment. Vander learns about his other brother, Derek and briefly meets him. Vander also learns about his father, Eric, and of Arlo's past with their father.
**After Walking the Pattern, Vander explored Shadow some with Cari and they secretly got married while in Shadow. Those closest to Cari, her friend Nala and her Elite Guard, are obviously in on the secret.
*AMBER YEAR 5266: Vander was summoned to his father’s tomb on Mount Kolvir.
**Vander met with King Random and a Pattern Ghost of his father, Eric; Vander was asked about his ambition towards the Throne of Amber, Vander said he had to such ambitions... this is when he received his father’s armor; Shatter Bound.
**A short time after Vander's visit to his father's tomb, he met Rede Feldane and helped him render a catapult to wood chips at the order of Prince Caine. Caine showed up during the rendering process and talked with Vander; when he learned that Rede had not asked for help and that Vander had given it freely, Caine offered Vander one of his sliver flasks filled with gin... Vander developed a taste for Caine’s Gin from that day on.
*AMBER YEAR 5267: A Velri Hunt, new and old friends and a pet.
**Vander went on a Velri Hunt with his brother Arlo, Darcy and Zachery; they met up with Vance, another cousin, who is an Admiral in Amber’s Star Fleet and got a quick ride and transport to the Hunting Grounds.
**The hunt was successful and Vander learned a lot about hunting prehistoric beasts.
**Vander also acquired a pet, a Bonding Bird; small, grey and blue feathers.
*AMBER YEAR 5268: An Eventful Year
**Vander petitioned for Rede Feldane to be permanently assigned to Vander as his personal Man at Arms. They took a ‘road trip’ to the Fane of Zilla on the Rim of the Abyss near the Courts of Chaos; there they met Lasha Hendrake (female) and visited the Shrine of Eric. While at that shrine, an alcove within created an image of Vander, thus creating a sub-shrine within his father’s. They visited Benedict’s Shrine next; Rede participated in a gladiatorial fight while Vander hired an Abyssal Daemon named Quelethast to be his bodyguard.
**When they left the Fane, they found a bar a few Shadows away and met an outcast Lord of Chaos named Vek of House Hendrake; he had a gift for the King of Amber and he asked Vander to deliver it. It turns out that Vek had made his Personal Shadow ‘easily accessible and accommodating’ to any Amberite, Avalonian or Mandalayan. Vander accepted the gift and promised to deliver it to the King of Amber upon his return there.
**Vander spent many weeks returning to Amber via Shadow Shifting his way there; he spent the time getting to know Quelethast and Rede better… and he studied the Tome. When he reached Shadow Earth level tech Shadows he made two copies of the Tome; one for himself and one for Arlo. He discussed the contents with Rede and Quel during his return to Amber.
**Once back in Amber, Vander sent word to the King of his need for an audience, then he went to speak with Arlo in the Library. There he had an encounter with Jurt, who brought up the Sigil of the Logrus at the sight of Quel; Fiona arrived soon after then Random. Vander explained what happened with Vek and presented the gift to the King; a tome containing the lineage of Oberon with many offspring the King and others were unaware of.
**Random seemed pleased; Vander drank and played cards with Random, Arlo and Benedict later that night, then he setup a meet up in one of Vander’s Safe Places on Shadow Earth for the King and Vek. Benedict insisted on accompanying Vander and meeting Vek first; Vek is a descendant of Benedict’s via the Hendrake Breeding Program. Vander helped bring Vek into the fold of Amber with the King and many other notables of Amber (and two Chaos Lords loyal to Amber) present.
**Vander and Fiona went to Vek’s Shadow so he could wrap up his loose ends before returning to Amber for some training. While there, they helped fight off an attack by several great Kraken-like beasts.
**About halfway through Quel’s year long contract, Vander decided to reward him for the good service he had rendered thus far by getting him admitted to the Nasty Place for the Ten Year Program; Benedict invited Vander and Arlo to attend again, but as Instructors; they both accepted.
*AMBER YEAR 5269 - Present: Amber Star Fleet
**Vander went to Vulsar Base, the home of Amber’s Star Fleet for some upgraded training in Medicine and some other tech related skill sets. He took Rede and Quel (who stayed past his contract date, willingly) and made sure they also received some training in Medicine and Tech. After a talk with his cousin, Star Fleet Admiral Vance, he was convinced by Vance, Quel and Rede to join Star Fleet. Quel returned to the Fane of Zilla but said he would be happy to return when Vander has more need of an Abyssal War Demon.
**Vander served in Star Fleet for One Amber Year, which equated to a few decades in Shadow time for Vander. A year after he completed Star Fleet Academy, he met with Admiral Vance and learned of a Borg Technology that would allow for Shadow Shifting at Warp speeds; Vander was cautious but curious, just like he was when he was faced with a similar choice when he first met Odo. So, of course, Vander jumped in after weighing the options and deciding it was worth the risks. Odo joined with a local Pool of Shapechangers on the Admiral’s Ship; the Shapechanger race is a part of Amber’s Star Fleet.
**Some weeks/months after entering the Warp-Shifting Program, Vander met and sparred with Agrom, Vance’s son, a Commander in Star Fleet and a Klingon; Vander accompanied Agrom on his Star Ship through the Shadows of the Regor Sway. Vander used his training and Borg Implant to Shift their way through Shadow deeper into the Sway than most could accomplish, especially on their first attempt using only half the required Borg Implants.
**Due to the success of the Warp-Shifting test, Agrom invited Vander on a secret away mission to Regor using a Trump given to him by Fiona, a Trump that had belonged to her mother, Clarissa, who currently resides in Regor. With the help and advice of Arlo, Vander and Agrom Trump into Regor and while Agrom gets Tricorder readings, Vander meets a beggar that turns out to be Brand. Arlo, who was watching via Vander’s Trump, suggested Vander bring him through or bring Brand back, so he brought Brand back to Agrom’s Ship. Vander Trumped in Benedict moments before Arlo Trumped in Random, which was a good thing because Benedict tried to behead Brand, but Random stopped him with the Jewel of Judgment. King Random ordered Vander to take Brand to the dungeons of Amber and put him in the cell with his name on it, he then ordered Arlo to take Benedict to the cell in the dungeons with all the romance novels in it. Vander and Arlo met later in the Library in Castle Amber to talk of the circumstances surrounding Vander’s ‘bagging’ of Brand in Regor…
**After Vander’s very successful first Warp Shift, Admiral Vance offers Vander command of a new Defiant Class Star Ship, but Vander must undergo the full Borg Implant process, which he agrees to do. Vance suggests that Vander walk the Pattern before installing the Implant, so there is a fresh Imprint on Vander and a fresh ‘Pattern Record’ of Vander; he agrees. Due to a circumstance of timing, Tir’na Nogth was up and Vander chose to Trump to the Patten Guard there; he had always wanted to visit Tir’na Nogth and since he had already walked the Pattern in the dungeons he thought to walk a different one to see if the experience was different and if the Imprint would be different as well. Bleys was the Guard on duty at the time so he brought Vander through, Bleys warned Vander that his time was limited due to sunrise approaching; Vander did not waste any time and immediately walked to the beginning of the Pattern to begin, but he did notice a Ghost on the far side of the Pattern near the alcoves; it was a woman and he heard her ghostly voice whisper in his head for him to ‘come to her’. Vander ignored the ghostly plea and began his Pattern Walk; at the end, after he caught his breath, he was about to have the Pattern transport him back to Admiral Vance, but at the last second Vander changed his mind and told the Pattern to transport him to the Ghostly Woman that bade him ‘come to me’… Vander was expecting to be transported somewhere within Tir-na Nog’th, so he already had a Trump Card for Vance ready, if needed. Instead, Vander found himself in the real world in a lovely garden looking at the same face he had seen in the city in the sky, but it was in full color and not ghostly at all; he stood before once Queen of Amber, the First Queen of Amber; Cymnea, first wife of Oberon and mother of Osric, Finndo and Benedict. During their brief conversation, Vander learned that the Pattern was trying to get Cymnea to return to Amber, that he was not the first to be sent or influenced to visit her. Vander also learned that his pet, Flitt, was actually one of the Cymnea’s birds, and that the blue feathers were her mark; he watched her pet a bird and blue feathers appeared where she touched the bird. Cymnea bade me leave, but sent Flitt back with him and said it would be ok for Vander to visit again.
**Vander trumped back to Vance, told him what had happened once he arrived at Tir-na Nog’th until he returned, over a few drinks. Then Vander put the more permanent Borg Implant behind his left ear and let the process begin; his Designation 5 of 12. His ability to use the Borg Link grew quickly and access to new areas was granted. Vander did try to hack a secure file, just to see if he could; he blacked out… Vander and Vance laughed about it afterwards. Upon Vander’s return, he learned that both Odo and Rede had been ‘drafted’ into Star Fleet and were currently in training, but Vance reassured Vander that they would be ready for the maiden voyage as the ship was not quite ready yet. Vander was informed that Rede was not happy about being conscripted into Star Fleet and was led to believe that Odo had made his decision to join Star Fleet willingly.
**Vander spend a couple of weeks getting the Cerberus ready; interviewing and crewing his ship with qualified personnel (all from long lived races), familiarizing himself with his new ship, crew and Borg Link access and abilities, painting the exterior (personal colors in camo pattern), stocking supplies and final tests. Reunited with Rede and Odo on the day the Cerberus is ready for its first voyage (not including short test runs).
**Rede is upset about being conscripted into Star Fleet and he want the ability to leave when he wants; not just Star Fleet, but the how Family Obligation too; Vander grants it. Rede also wants to learn Magic; Vander assigns him to learn Magic from his Head of Magics; Selkitt, a Vulcan currently Agrom’s love interest.
**Vander’s reunion with Odo needed to be more private so they left the ship and went to the Far Isles so they could speak without any chance of being overheard; especially via the Borg Link. Odo tells Vander that his upgrade via the Great Link was not totally voluntary and he was not told what they were going to do to him. Odo was told it was done specifically for Vander, to help him and to show him of their friendly intent; Odo did say he would not give back the upgrades, now that he is getting used to them. Odo tells Vander of a great tension and distrust between the Shapeshifters and the Borg of Amber’s Star Fleet and warns there could be trouble. Odo suggested he might be able to remove the Borg Implant but would need to explore it to know for sure; Vander agrees and gives the green light; Vander blacks out.
**Vander awakens in the Conclave of the Unicorn under the care of nuns, he meets the Abbess Casina Venway; she wanted to contact King Random, Odo insisted otherwise. Abbess Casina insisted someone be contacted, suggested one of the three Barons of Far Isle; Vander chose Caine. Both got roped into some Royal Family Duties; dinner with the once Queen of Amber, Rilga the mother of Caine, Julian and Gerard. After dinner as they were departing, Rilga secretly gifted Vander with a ring when he kissed her hand. (A Token of Gratitude: Mithril with a very pure emerald; Rilga’s coat of arms engraved on the interior; of sufficient value and craftsmanship that it would take magic well)
**Warp Shadow Shift test of the Cerberus and Vander's abilities and Implants is successful; ship and crew are ready @ Vulsar Base. Admiral Vance 'Green Lights' Vander’s roadtrip to learn to Shave Shadow; his team is selected and briefed but the trip is postponed...
*Vander and Vance areesummoned by King Random, they Trump to Random in the dungeons of Castle Amber where they learn of the 12 Swords of Power; Pattern Blades, Inscribed with the Jewel of Judgement by Brand. Vander and Vance are tasked with retrieving Soulcutter, currently drawn and active in a known Shadow. Vander meets Relmopator at this meeting and swears he saw a beholder in the shadows above them.
**The Cerberus and Lollipop head into Space and Shadow to the place where Soulcutter can be found, but both ships have to eject their Warp Cores at or near the Shadow where Soulcutter is located to keep from being destroyed. Vander takes a shuttle to a nearby planet and scouts the Shadows up to the Sword, then he 'Trump Links' with Vance as a safety precaution as he prepares for what is to come. Vander meets a Bear then the Trump link breaks. The Bear takes Vander to the Sword but there is no scabbard, the Bear grabs sword in its mouth, gestures for Vander to bring woman and then goes to where the scabbard is located. Vander sheaths the Sword; the Bear Shapeshifts into 12’ human; his name is ‘Bear’ and he is family... sort of.
**Vander Trumps to Vance, bringing Bear and the woman, who is still somehow alive, then they Trump to Vulsar Base bringing Vance and Bleys along as well. The woman is Deidre, one of them anyway; she is put in a healing tank. Vander contacts Random and bring him to Vulsar Base, shortly afterwards Corwin arrives. Bear gives Vander one of his claws, by embedding it in his chest (a token of gratitude). Corwin opens Vander’s Trumps for Corwin and Corwin's Paris. The way to Avalon is now open.
**Vander charged with Soulcutter; he visits Arlo who swaps swords with him for research purposes. Both visit Brand in the dungeons, Brand is lucid and unwilling to help. Arlo draws Soulcutter and forces Brand to comply; Vander is very upset about this. Brand locates several Swords and summons Sightblinder; wants to bargain for it; Vander tries to negotiate further, Arlo leaves then returns with a Nailgun; Arlo shoots Brand repeatedly until he gives up Sightblinder. Vander rips Soulcutter from Arlo’s hip and tells him he is upset about his actions; Vander calls Random and fills him in, gives Soulcutter to Random, keeps Dragonslicer.
*Vander takes a Road Trip with Agrom, Rede, Odo and Selkitt to learn how to Shave Shadow; several months Amber time.
**Vander receives Trump Call from Random; his presence is required, he goes through to a Bar with jazz music, Random is very drunk. Vander must witness a Golden Circle Trade Agreement document signing; Random gets Coinspinner for the Golden Circle status. Random trades Swords with Vander. Random shows Vander a letter from Arlo; he has renounce fealty to Amber and taken Sightblinder. There are sdd references in his letter, Bill Roth helps figure out the clues. Random tasks Vander with finding Arlo if possible before a Death Warrant is issued. Vander looks for Arlo in Café Americana, Arlo finds him. Arlo wants to attack Borlak for Shieldbreaker with a Nebraska of Hampsters, Vander cautions Arlo that he is still associated with Amber and may not be able to help. Arlo suggests trying out the idea on Hagalta for Farslayer as a test, Vander suggests Arlo contact Relmopator since he seemed to know Hagalta..........

User talk:Tolknor

2020-01-17T22:09:19Z

Salinea: Reverted edits by BROFLAKE MAD (talk) to last revision by Tolknor

'''Yo!! Talk to me. Find me on Facebook as Michael Watson in Hemet, california'''

I might be willing to start an Amber diceless game over chat platforms if i had enough interest.

Shatterbound

2020-01-17T22:09:17Z

Salinea: Reverted edits by BROFLAKE MAD (talk) to last revision by Tolknor

[[File:Shatterbound.jpg]]

'''“SHATTER BOUND”''' – ''The Armor of King Eric'' (58 points)
(Vander’s Signature Item)
'''*Qualities'''
**Item Vitality:2 points; Chaos Vitality
**Item Movement:4 points; Engine Speed. 5 points; Transfer Quality (up to 60mph running speed)
**Item Stamina: 2 points; Amber Stamina
**Resistance to Damage: 4 points; Invulnerable to all Conventional Weapons. 5 points; Transfer Quality (vs. Guns 2 for non-covered areas)
**Intelligence: 2 points; Able to Speak & Sing (equivalent; non-conversational)
**Psychic Defense:4 points; Psychic Barrier,5 points; Transfer Quality (at the will of the Wearer)
'''*Powers'''
**Movement in Shadow: 4 points; Shadow Seek
**Item Healing: 8 points; Extraordinary Regeneration
5 points; Transfer Half-Power (Regeneration 4 on wearer)
**Item Shape Shifting: 8 points; Special (12 distinct Forms)

'''*Appearance:''' Black metal plates of a wide variety and sections of chain-mail webbing.
(Notes: May NOT take the Form of a helm! The Codpiece Form is extremely graphic and anatomically correct.)

'''*The 12 Forms of Shatter Bound:'''
**Full Body, Over-lapping Plates & Woven Chain Mail (pictured above)
**Modern Day Shadow Earth Tactical
**Chainmail Shirt & Pants
**Underclothes Stealth Armor
**Piece Plate Armor
**Full Breast & Back Plate
**Quarter-Full Plate, Gladiator Style; chest & back plate, one arm & hand w/buckler & high pauldron
**Gauntlet & Vambrace; Single
**Vambrace; Pair
**Vambrace; Single
**Vorpal Collar/Gorget
**Boots, Grieves & Knee Cops; Pair

'''*The Armor’s Shape Shift Power''' is not Shape Shift for the whole item, strictly speaking. The Armor is a large collection of individual plates Shifting from shape to shape to create the interlocked final shape of its twelve Forms. It adjusts to fit the wearer's size and can maintain 12 distinct Forms including (but not limited to) Vambrace, Boots, Vorpal Collar, form fitting under-clothes armor, Full body armor, etc.

'''*Physical Qualities:''' Allows the wearer to run as fast as a horse or vehicle; top speed 60 mph. The Armor’s Resistance to Damage transfers to the wearer at half power (Resistant to Guns) when damage is applied to areas not physically covered by the armor. The Armor also <big>MAY</big> transfer a wide range of Environmental Immunities to the wearer including; immunity to poison, immunity to intoxication, immunity to lack of oxygen, and the wearer can also breathe under water. It also provides immunity to variations of heat and cold from 300 below Zero to 800 above. If the wearer depends on the suit for an extended period of exertion, the wearer may face a required period of sleep.
'''*Personality:''' The Armor is not sentient, strictly speaking, but understands basic commands and will aggressively seek its primary wearer if separated. The Armor understands when it is loaned by its wielder and remembers its primary wearer. It has a highly developed sense of self-preservation if separated from the primary wearer and will Shift Shadow in the direction of its primary wearer.

'''<big>Fair warning-The Armor may not be sentient, but it has a flaw in its character</big>'''

Running Sheet Natasha

2020-01-17T22:09:12Z

Salinea: Reverted edits by BROFLAKE MAD (talk) to last revision by Tolknor

<big>'''Natasha Hollingworth'''</big>

[[File:Natasha holingsworth2.jpg]]

'''Father:'''

'''Mother:'''

'''Children: Carissa, Daughter of Gerard, Zachary, Son of Flora'''

'''Description: Voluptuous raven haired beauty. '''

'''Hobbies:'''

=='''Ranks'''==
*Lady in Waiting-Queen Rilga
*Oscar Winner for Circus Performance on Film.
*Nominated for an Emmy

=='''Points-{}'''==

'''''Total: =-55 Stats+3 Powers{c}+18 Skills+{c}+ Items +0/0 allies/Enemies +5 Stuff+29 Storage'''''

* +55 in Stats
* 3 in Powers
* 18 in Skills
* (x) in creatures/Items
*0 in Allies (8/8)
*3 Stuff
*29 Stored
===''Advancement''===

=='''Statistics-{+55}'''==
*Psyche: Chaos(+10)
*Strength: Chaos(+10)
*Endurance:chaos (+10) Alcohol Tolerance
*Warfare:Human(+25)

=='''Powers 3'''==
*3 Attuned Yellow Mandalay Stone

=='''Skills 18'''==
*3 Acrobatics-Highwire work
*2 Gynmnastics/Tumbling/Parkour
*2 Dance
*2 Juggling-Assorted Circus Arts
*1 Sing
*1 Acting
*1 Stringed instruments
*1 Bartender
*1 Stage Magic
*1 Clowning
*1 Animal Handling-Circus Arts
*1 Automobile racing/driving
*1 Crafts-Sewing etc

=='''Allies & Enemies {0/0 = 0}'''==
===Allies-3===
*6 Flora
*2 Gerard

===Enemies-3===
various

=='''Companions'''==

=='''Items {}'''==
*Gloves of Gripping.
* Yellow Mandalay Stone-A gift from Rodrigo of Azcala.

=='''Stuff{}'''==
*5 Good stuff
*29 pips stored.

=='''Miscellany'''==

Randal in the Vulsara Galaxy

2020-01-17T22:09:08Z

Salinea: Reverted edits by BROFLAKE MAD (talk) to last revision by Tolknor

The Planet Randal is in the outer Perseus Arm of the Alpha Quadrant of the Vulsara Galaxy. Home of the Amber Star Fleet's Vulsar Base.
[[File:Randal2.jpg]]

==Description==
[[File:Randal.jpg|800 px]]

*System Population:780 Million. Approx.
*12 orbital bodies in its solar system. 87 Artificial-spaced based habitations. 18 moons. Four asteroid belts representing unformed or demolished planets.

==='''Randal One'''===
*A small Class G planet, similar to Mercury.
*Population 62
*The planet is used as the system wide repository for refuse unable to be used for replication fuels.
*"The Keep of Fire" A habitation deep within the planet's crust belonging to an isolationist religious group

==='''Randal Two'''===
*Small N Class planet. (Venus-Like)
*Pop:2200
*

==='''Randal Prime (Third Planet)'''===
**770 Million on Randal (Randal One).
**A medium sized M class planet circling a small G type yellow star. .
**Habitable within human tolerable range.
**Dynamic mountain ranges. One large land mass, many archipelagos with large islands.
**3 moons. ''Cira'', ''Bene'', and ''Filch''. Small local atmospheres and constant .4 Gravity. Habitable in artificial domes.
***All three moons have been used as construction facilitates in the past. The maintenance of artificial habitations requires constant maintenance which is a constant topic in system politics.
***Cira: Pop. 600k. Cina Corp manages vast hydroponic farms covering much of the surface of the moon. They specialize in processing food for space travel on ships without replicators. Emergency rations, energy bars, and snack foods.
***Bene: Pop. 59k. Bene is a captured asteroid that has half of the rock flat facing away from the planet. It was long used a salvage yard for star ships pieces. It still acts as long term rock-side storage for unused small space ships and yachts.
***Filch: Pop 3K. Filtch maintains a small population of craft industries and residents with long history on the moon. Filch suffered a dramatic asteroid contact near the End of the Randal Corp ownership of the System and never regains full functionality. System government maintains a small habitable presence but does not recommend immigration for new residents. Most residents are family groups with a history on Filch. The moon once supported 100k population but the asteroid impact damaged half the planets facilities beyond repair. The remaining 3000 residents live in space that could house 60k. Much of the base is sealed off but the inhabitants have huge amounts of space not typical in space habitation.

==='''Randal Four'''===
Known Locally as Polgasa
**6 Million Population.
**A small Class L moon in the same orbit as Randal One.
**Once a moon of Randal One, it had a breathable atmosphere and sparce plant life. During the Randal Corp era the planet was heavily terra-formed for construction facilities and testing purposed. It once had a population of 32 Million.
**Currently used as a production and fabrication center for Space based construction.
** 11 Artificial Satellites with a population of 400k

==='''Randal Five'''===

==='''Randal Six'''===
**Ringed Gas Giant.
**7 Moons. All once used for ship construction. 5 uninhabited or lightly inhabited (Populations o less them 100)
**49 Artificial Habitations. Most residually functioning.
***Gresal: A Federation style Star Base.
==='''Randal Twelve'''===
**Class D. Small airless rocky planet at the extreme distance from the sun. One orbiting space station operates as something of a reception area for ships entering the Randal System.

==Status==
*Officially under the authority of the Vulsar Base Star Fleet of the Kingdom of Amber.
*It is not a member planet of the federation
*Listed as ''reasonably lawful'' and approved for ''Shore Leave'' for Star Fleet ships but is far from normal commercial routes.
*
*

==Government==
*Randal is governed by a civilian Quadcameral Parliament each section of which elects two Representatives to an Administrative Council.
===The Tricam===
*Governor's Board
*Tourism Board
*Industry Board
*Populace Board
==Industry==
===Tentar Associates===
Tentar was originally the Small Star Ship and interplanetary freight ship construction divisions of Randal Corp. Denton "Tenten" Tentar was a managing director when the Randal Corp abandoned the facilities. One of the few Randal executives who remained on planet when the company abandoned its ties to it. With the remaining personnel he managed to refocus remaining facilities in the Landas region into the production of land vehicles and space shuttles.

===New Randal Industries===
NewRanCorp manages small scale personal Replicator services.
===Gretilion Industries===
Delwin Gretilion brought a large space based repair station of unknown origin and parked it outside the orbit of this Randal One. Soon ships from all over the quadrant were coming for ship repairs and visiting the planet during the time required.

The Repair station was used to repair a great many devices on planet and soon restored Replicator Industries and ither needed things for the people of this devastated world.

====Gretileon Station====
A massive artificial structure for repair of Star ships by an automatic system. Established by the Gretilion Corp, the structure is responsible for the renaissance and transformation of Randal from a damaged system after the micro-singularity passed through it.

Gretileon Station is an extremely advanced automatic construction facility able to repair anything from ships to people. It uses extensive replicator technology and holographic systems to locate things as minor as a squeaky floor or clogged coffee pot up to complete destruction of a ship. It has the ability to repair living tissue in a similar manner.

The Station uses ''Neural Interfaces'' to provide the processing power to manage the complex overlapping repairs. They legend is that Delwin Gretileon found the station in space and it was acting as a merchant station trading goods for services, but occasionally crew of ships being repaired "Died" Close examination determined that the "dead" crewman was actually duplicated exactly and replaced. The living crewman being implnated in a part of the computer system. Gretilion captured the device and reconfigured the system to allow voluntary service as "Neural Units" and paid well for it.

(Star Trek Episode-Dead Stop[[https://memory-alpha.fandom.com/wiki/Dead_Stop_(episode)]]

====Neural Processing Unit Industry====
Individuals serve as Neural Processors and receive substantial funds. They are linked into a complex computer system using their brains ans high speed processing units. They are intravenously fed and hydrated and physically maintained.

In the beginning people served one month "In Service to the Machine" and received a large regular monthly stipend for 11 Months. The 11 Month Period was considered the amount of time required to fully recover from the service. Later medical experts determined that only 3 months were required to fully recover though the discomfort of recovery was relatively minor. As the popularity of the Service increased the time "In Service" was lowered to one week, though the pay was still in 11 monthly increments. There are now three units in the system and it is a common advocation, especially for those in college and other educational opportunities.

[[File:Randal bikes.jpg]]

==Attractions==
===High Adventure===
Hiking, camping, mountaineering.

These locations have various levels of oversight from guided excursions to unsupervised and unmarked trails.

==Hunting==
There were few large mammals on Randal when the company arrived. Homesteaders placed to raise large hogs and cattle provided a stable food source.

===Marcus Tentar and the Tentar Tigers===
Marcus Tentar was a high level board member of Randal Corp in the early years of the move to Randal. Little about him is remembered except for the Tentar Hunting Preserve and the associated Tiger Raids.

Tentar was a big game hunter on several planets and part of an active social group fond of hunting prey on various worlds. The lack of even medium sized game on Randal made him convince Randal Corp to include importation of Game Animals for hunting. Considering it a personal issue of a board member it was not overseen by the company.

Eventually Tentar imported numerous types of antelope, deer, buffalo, bear, a large variety of wild boars, and other frolicsome animals.

Over the years the organized hunting excursions gained popularity and even profitability.

One year Marcus Tentar, as he approached his senility, hired a company to bring him 10 tigers and deposit them in a region near the popular hunting tracts for a group of experienced hunters. The order set the location for the deposit but nothing else. Since the nature of bureaucracy is a universal constant a mistake was made on the invoice and instead of the ten tigers that Tentar ordered, a thousand were delivered. This included enough breeding pairs to establish the animals on planet.

Tentar's hunting party, meant and equipped to hunt the ten tigers included many high level Randal Corp personages, and Dependants. Forty two people, including Marcus Tentar, were eaten.

Afterwards the hunting camps suffered from frequent raids of tiger groups as the prey stayed closer and closer to the camps.

When the Singularity struck the hunting region was abandoned. In time when hunting groups returned the wildlife was truly wildlife.

==Race Tourism==
Race Tourism has been a staple of Randal since its early beginnings. Almost anything is raced but the most popular are horse racing and motorcycle racing.

'''Race venues'''
*Tranas Sky Ring: Hover and Zipp Speeders. Z-Class Hover Pods.
*Cala's Dustup: A desert venue with 30 different flat and rugged dirt tracks for motorcycles, tricycles and Fat Carts.
*Zembala Grand Arena: A stadium with 5 separate race venues for cafe motorcycle racing, flat track, Drag Race, and Figure Course races. Zembala has the best quality of rider services and housing.
*Tentar Duels: The City of Tentar. An arena of wear resistant tracks for variety of motorcycles. Features 23 different Figure 5 tacks. 15 minor tracks with up to 2000 seating stands, 5 majors with 10,000 seating, and 2 championship Figure 5 courses with 20,000 seating, and one Main COurse with seating for 40,000. Planetary Figure 5 Championships occur here.

====Figure 5 Course====
[[File:5ring2.jpg|400 px]]
The two main race formats are the '''Fig Five''' and the '''Five Solid'''

The '''''Fig Five''''' or '''''"Five Ring Route"''''' is one of the most popular formats on Randal. It is televised regularly and experienced riders can build a strong fan base.

Among the most popular motorcycle, Zipp and Hoverpod race formats.

*4 rings( A,B,C,D), surround a center ring in the middle of a square called the Flats. Starting on the North Flat, near the B Ring the riders go toward A Ring where the Spots will dictate if they enter the Left or Right entrance to the Ring. As they exit "A ring" the Spots on the center ring dictate which Flat they take. The race continues with riders following the directions of the spots, which vary from rider to rider . The race proceeds till the lead rider has passed through the designated number of passages; usually a race is 20, 42, or 100 passages.

*Fig 5 vehicles had a pair of direction mounted lights on their display that informs them which is the next left/right or flat designation they must proceed to.

A the race progreses differant directed left or right at each of the 4 intersections causing the riders to risk crashing into each other. Green or Red Lights tell the rider which left or right course to take. Races take 50,75 and 100 Circles and the winner is the first to complete that number.

[[File:Tattoo2.jpg|300 px]] A common tattoo among Fig 5 racers.

A common variation on the "Fig Five" is the '''''Five Solids'''''

====A Arena Accommodations====
A Arena is one of the best race arenas on Randal. It has both race and training facilities, as well as permanent and seasonal Suites.
[[File:A-Arena Suite.jpg]]

===Hotel and Casinos===
Many climes have beaches and diving. Casino hotels are popular for tour groups and personal explorations.

Gambling is allowed on all activities depending on the venue policies.

*'''''Rigging''''' or Fixing results is not illegal but tends to be frowned on. It plays a part in many stories of a theatrical nature and in much of the popular entertainment methods. However Court cases involving assaults, even murders, involving a ''Sports Rigger'' tend to be considered justifiable. A sportsman discovered to have taken money to lose a result for the profit of gamblers is often blackballed in respectable establishments. Should they be murdered, the police rarely make a big effort to solve the crime. Crime Lords involved in ''rigging'' sports results often meet messy ends and are not missed.

====Belguse Hotels====
A chain of well-known hotels for guest and residential populations.

===Amateur and Professional Sport===
Professional Sports facilities participating in local and Federation athletics. Has not hosted a Galactic Olympics despite repeated bids.
====Athletics====
*Football
*Baseball
*Freses Square
*Team Tennis
*Volley Ball
*
*
*
*
*
*
*

====Combat Sports====
*Star fleet prohibits Death Sports although some sports are fairly dangerous. But since Randal is not technically a Federation planet it does have active combat sports.
=====Medieval Jousting=====
A popular equestrian sport. Jousts comprise only horse and lance combat. Armed personal combat on foot is not part of this sport. Generally this is one on one though some group melees are staged.
Reputation is important in the sport.
*This is a colorful sport that highlights pageantry, heraldry, and manly display. Men and women participate in mixed lists.
*In a galaxy including Amber Star Fleet that recognizes the existence of many universes there is often a mix of participants from advanced societies and medieval or sword age realms.
=====Knife fighting=====
Knife Fighting is a common sport in small venues, clubs, alleys, and private residences. While knife fights occur in the WC&LCA they are not strictly speaking part of the underground communities of knife fighting. Participants fight under agreed terms at best and with no terms at the worst.

While not strictly speaking illegal a lot of the locations seem involved in less then savory enterprises along side of them. Knife fighters are seen as dangerous elements of society.

*Tregal Far, Lord of the Games-32:

A legend arose among the knife fighters when Shega Far, daughter of Tregal Far was raped and slain while attending the Wolf's Den for knife fights. The event was captured on recorders showing 12 identifiable knife fighters, a few friends and a group of their ladies involved in a drunken scene that led to her temporary death. Taken to a medical center she was put in stasis, transported to a Star Fleet ship and taken to Vulsar Base for long term regeneration.

The knife fighters made sport of her and her treatment afterward releasing the recordings for the public. Much of it was used in niche porn.

Outraged at the incident itself and the aftermath, Tregal Far returned from Vulsar Base regenerated and having had complete facial renovation and the removal of all the tattoos and markings that were part of his public recognition as a Lord of the Games. Returning to Randal he acted like a youth diving into the underworld of the club scenes that revolve arou

=====Armored Melee=====
Armored melee are medieval style melees of various sizes and compositions depending on the venue and the competition.
=====Firearms Sports=====
Several leagues exist under the hearing of Firearms Sport
*Stun Tag
*Field Hunt: In Field Hunts groups of various descriptions enter at various points on the edge of a enclosed space. The space might be as small as a square mile and as large as hundreds of square miles. Weapon systems vary by event but usually are stun fire or Laser tag designation.
**Tiger Field Hunts are a rare event held in the Tiger region. Participants usually use heavy stun against each other with the possible danger of being attacked by tigers. This is considered a death sport by many on Randal.

=====Warrior Core=====

the WC&LGA pops up in many places across shadow with generally similar rules and accouterments. On Randal the the WC&LGA was imported from the Vulsar Bae usage. Specifically the rules call for non-lethal encounters using the 10 Called Rule though an option to use the Honor Rule.

Rentar has its own group of Lords of the Games.

[[Warrior Core and Lord Gladiators Association]]

==Topology and Location==

==Randals entry in the “Hitchhiker's Guide to The Federation Galaxy"==
*'''Randal:''' Reasonably small M type Planet around a boring G Type Star.
*'''Recommendations:''' Currently a recreation and ''Shore Leave'' planet outside the fashionable circles of the Galaxy. Popular with race enthusiasts, gamblers, layabouts and those on the lamb.

“The planet was called Randal, though originally it was a Ferengi world, and had been sold during the early years of Ferengi/ Federation contact to the old Randal Corporation which intended to transfer all its holdings and manufacturing to a world outside the Federation's legal control. It had worked well enough that the Randal Corp had moved a million people and a material for constructing orbital ships and low orbital private crafts and a wide range of land vehicles.”

"In 2509 A Singularity passing in the region of spae near Randl lightly tapped its atmosphere, removing all but 5% and greatly ravagin the northern edge of the main continent."

"The Federation stepped in and restored the atmospher of the world but the bills were staggering. Afterwards the fines and fees were enough that the Corporation all but walked away from the world. They declared it an independent planet, established a puppet government, transferred all the debts to its treasury and abandoned it to its own fortunes. The grateful settlers, misunderstanding the situation, kept the planet's name out of gratitude.”

“The government, mostly comprised of lawyers, middle managers, layabouts, and sportsman, billed the world as a vacation spot with rugged adventure locations, extensive athletic and sports facilities. They built dirt tracks to race anything they could find and soon it became a squalid world of gamblers, layabouts, race enthusiasts and people dropped off here when their passage money on civilian passenger ships ran out. The world became popular with the kind of people with no place to go and not enough money to go anyplace else anyway”

"In 2521 Delwin Gretilion , a space pirate of the Resarian Realm, brought a “Starship Repair Station of unknown origin” to Randal and parked it in orbit. He hired people to spend a month as some kind of ah.. no idea what this means ..-Neural Processing Unit- He paid them enough to live on planet for a year it seems. Soon ships from all over the quadrant were being brought here and repaired, upgraded, and otherwise empowered. In time he set up connected repair stations on the planet and began repairing everything, and the government paid for it all.”

“Soon this Gretilion repaired several replicator plants. Refuse was collected, used by the units to build things, and power the replicator plants. The Neural Processing Units business was booming and only a week a year was needed from each volunteer but the payout remained the same. Refuse was traded for replicator charges and in a decade the place was cleaned up. Apparently there were also some rather bloody purges and duels.. The details are murky. However the race tracks had stadiums built around them, a few hotel chains refurbished slums, and the planet began attracting a less desperate clientèle. In a decade the place was back on the star routes and had become a legitimate vacation destination for weary star faring peoples.”

"Attractions include Hunting medium and big mammals and extensive fishing opportunists. It is on the list of all race specialties and hosts many interplanetary leagues."

"Various balance formats of motorcycles and zipp speeder racing is extremely popular. Figure 5 Course racing may have originated on Randal and remains its most popular race sport.'

"[[Warrior Core and Lord Gladiators Association]] participates on Randal and generally use the ''10 Called Rule'' format.'

"Its rugged northern continent, the largest land mass on the planet, Is filled with adventurous mountain ranges from 3000' to 19,000'. Gretillion Vale is at 18,000' and has access to Mountain climbing peaks as high as 22,000' and guided Environmental Suit tours to the top of Mount Ranadl Corp at 31,000' feet. "
---------------------------------
*Vek on Randal[[https://wiki.rpg.net/index.php/Journal_on_Randal]]
*[[Jeweled Amber]]
*Planet Dynamics. [[https://www.space.com/36935-planet-classification.html]]

Mixed Content Storage

2020-01-17T22:09:05Z

Salinea: Reverted edits by BROFLAKE MAD (talk) to last revision by Tolknor

Just a place to store mixed content in process

==Michael Watson-Jeweled Amber==
===Format===
World:

Tech level:

Population:

System:

Government:

Culture:

Aspect:

Main City:

Featured Locations:

Game Concepts:

===<big>Larengar-Braldig's Tinkery</big>===
World of Larengar

Tech level: Early to mid 2000s equivalency.

Population: 11 billion

System: 3rd planet of 12. 3 moons. Only easily habitable world in the system. Several large habitable space facilities and a number of moon based habitations.

Government: A loose confederation of 32 regions or associations. Larengarian, Orbital, Lunar, and Garalian.

Culture: While there is a wide variety of different cultures specific to regions and associations there are a few similarities. There is a strong sporting ethic. Warfare ha been largely focused on the sporting communities. Recycling is something of a common activity. Most dwellings have some form of water filtration system either individually or part as community efforts. Languages are considered recreational. Collections and collection of memorabilia is a fanaticism worldwide.Erasumus Braldig is an example of an extreme form of Collection Mania.

Aspect: This world has developed a rigorous set of rules for military conflict that emphasizes victory to acquire goals in a world totally explored. A planetary Congress mediates disputes. Most conflicts are structured events, in specific locations with pre-established victory conditions. Military adventurism is highly discouraged and in many way is no longer practical.

Main City: Gorsali, the Capital of Region Four. A transportation hub offworld and major shipping center for commerce on the sea, air and road.

Braldig's Tinkery-A Business in Larengar.

Propriater-Erasamus Braldig.
The Tinkery is a essentially a junkyard and recycling facility. Its a massive valley outside the city proper surrounded by industrial and commercial business. He takes in junk, sorts, recycles, refurbishes and resells. Thousands of rooms and sixteen square miles throughout the vast complex in workshops, storage, display rooms and museums. The place is likely have have a little bit of everything. From piles of swords and furniture to boats, planes and military hardware.
Proprietor- Erasamus Braldig. A cantankerous, foul mouthed man guy who is unequaled in simple tinkery. He is a person that casts shadows of nasty old cusses. He makes his own gin, drinks it straight, eats his beef raw, and you can piss off if you don't like it. He doesn't give a tinker's damn about what anyone thinks of him. He is that tinkerer and he keeps his damns close to the vest. He can fix anything.From crossbows and fountain pens to rocket ships and laser rifles. If it hums, clicks, spins, ratchets or arcs he can make it better. The price is putting up with his insults. Amberites are not known for their patience in that area.

Employees-There are numerous encampments throughout the sixteen square miles where people live in various states. Some places look like homeless encampments, some like trailer parks, some like planned communities of tiny houses. They sport food production facilitates, hydroponics, recreational areas and even schools and sporting facilities. Erasumus says he knows everyone, and he may but the motivation for the employees is to help him make the place run. Man of these encampments are connected to certain areas;Vehicle Repair-Vehicle Parts, Furniture and home goods, Paper/Plastics and recyclables, Weaponry, Household Goods, Construction materials.

Danos Dors- Community leader, schoolmaster, Manager of the Paper/Plastics Recycling area.

Swapper-A youngish man raised at the tinkery who runs equipment from one zone to another. A frequent source to find things among the clutter.

Treeny- A young woman knowladgable about the Device. She is almost always tending it. Often around Erasmus, getting him food to dilute his intake of gin.

Khonas Braldig-Erasumus' son. He handles the business and the books. An infrequent presence at the Tinkery, he handles the books from his estate on Lunar One. A notable non-collector.
The Constant Motion Device: Braldig has a hobby that is really an obsession. He created and maintains the most massive constant action/Rube Goldberg device I ever saw. Balls run down tube, flipping cards, that throw switches, lighting lights, cooking food, changing temperature, lifting levers, and swinging wires. Every action with a half-dozen equal and opposite reactions, no energy is lost. It spans the facility and elements of it are always in view as one wanders the place.

Game Concepts

Erasumus may be a shadow of Dworkin. Possibly even one that once had an Amber of his own, now fallen. Might have a shadow of the pattern somewhere in his compound.

Erasumus has insight on how things works and would be a good source for explanations about things found in shadow.
Possible Stats:

Psyche:133, Strength: 70, Endurance: 30, Warfare: chaos rank

Powers: Advanced broken pattern, Advanced Sorcery, advanced Conjuration, High Compelling, Advanced trump Artist, Limited Shapechange.

===<big>Adzikis in Winter</big>===
World: Adzikis in Winter 'Ac tanu Mat ren Adzikis e Anoa'

Tech level:late 1980s

Population: 2 billion

System: 1 planet in a system with a cool bluish yellow sun. The rest of the system was devastated by an effect of the Black Road.
Adzikis in Winter.

Main City: Cadaselmis

Description:

This world was once a vibrant and thriving world just nudging into a high technological age. They had discovered a type of magnetic reaction between three different type of stones that they had developed into a rail transport system and a wide variety of other technological devices. Oceangoing ships filled with well-dressed travelers plied the many seas and the cosmopolitan ports were thriving with their commerce. Manned flight was common but expensive and usually reserved for government personnel and cargo shipments. There were nation states with a variety of conflicts in a gun age that relied on archers as well as rifleman. Communication satellites had been placed in orbit and the computer age was taking off like wildfire. Theoretical physicists and engineers were figuring out that the several moons could be reached by devices just outside the current state of technology, but in a few decades it was possible to explore the heavens.

In small isolated enclaves were people that the vast populations considered nuts and wackos just because they claimed to be able to use magic and called themselves wizards and witches. They were objects of scorn and mocking comedy. Unknown to the masses though, they practiced high order sorcery as well as listry.

Then catastrophe struck.

Investigations suggest several things occurred at the same time and they are why this place is cold and peaceful. First a series of earthquakes, then dramatic cooling and a global winter. And since disaster breeds the best and worst things in the nature of man they had great efforts to save populations and devastating warfare over surviving resources.

This occurred over 200 years ago in their time. They adapted. They embraced the cold. They reordered their priorities.

They became poets.

Embracing their pain, they began to cherish life, and love, and art, and creativity. They began to prize ingenuity and invention. They developed poetic forms and languages for specialization in certain areas. One language, Aurol, was chosen as the language of business. Another, Untalis, became the language of anger. Feloso became the language of friendship and community. Ac Tanu became the language of love. Each language had its forms and its poetry. Once each language had served different races and nation-states, but the effort of recovery made them decide to use language differently. Now there was one universal language with subsets selected to be used for specific needs.

One language, Tufoli, became the language of food and drink. Here is where their genius really blooms.

Since they were embracing life and suffering extreme deprivation at the same time, they learned how to use what they had well. Spices were used to cover bland and uncertain meats. Sugars were used to fill caloric intake so baking became almost a religion. They eat all kinds of things sweet. They discovered that they could make a respectable alcohol out of almost any vegetable refuse and that by filtering it through specially scented charcoals got a nearly tasteless base alcohol with a variety of slight scents to cover the harsh base taste. Mixing sugar with it helped too.

More about sugar below.

There is a vibrancy to a world turned into an artists retreat. One where militarism has been abandoned. Where arguments between nations are solved though sports, cooking contests, intellectual quizzes, and acrobatics. They have a form of international athletics that are followed by millions. I found people here amazingly forthright and direct, yet capable of great serenity. Its enticing, and dangerous. Its a process in development and only a world wide acceptance that violence is bad keeps the course pure.

====What damaged this world and the effects of the Black Road War====

So this world took a serious walloping. It happens in shadow if you look. But there may be more to it then a series of natural disasters.

First, a series of massive earthquakes associated with a great global shifting of tectonic plates, probably an effect of Patternfall, caused about 20% of this world’s lands to crumble into gravel and sink below the sea. Much of these were in the tropical regions, but one major chunk was in the arctic region.

The cataclysmic earthquakes and the subsequent disruptions of the oceans and weather systems caused a massive storm spanning most of the equatorial regions. This caused a general cooling of the world’s oceans. Due to the oceanic currents cooling, and other related effects, the general temperature dropped as much as 40 degrees around the world. This meant that even equatorial regions, used to balmy temperatures of 100, 110, and 120 suddenly were dealing with 60s, 70s, and 80s.

Unfortunately for this world, the regions 25 degrees north of the equator and 30 degrees south of the equator had only about 5% of its landmass after the earthquakes. Several archipelagos sprinkled around the central belt of this world survived the big shaking but volcanoes erupted and spewed ash into the already turbulent atmosphere.

The areas 25 degrees to 45 degrees north and 30 degrees to 50 degrees south had almost 70% of the landmasses. Temperatures plummeted. Worldwide populations suffered dramatically. Billions died. The long cold winter set in for good.

One major immediate effect of this global calamity is that about 50% of the world’s population of animal and plant life perished, including people. 3 billion out of 5 billion lost in days. Suffering and starvation in the first 10 years cost the planet a billion people. The 10 years after the disaster warfare cost the planet another half billion. In 10 years the population of the planet went from over 5 billion to under 400 million.

Yet Adzikis has much to recommend it. They have survived a terrible tragedy on their world and by embracing life have become at once one people, regardless of appearances, and embraced creation of life. The change of the world’s name is a sign of their resiliency. Before the big shaking the place was called Adzikis. A poem about the new world called it "Adzikis in Winter". The name stuck and became a rally point for the survivors.

Despite the massive destruction, many elements of the growing industrial age survived. But their development was diverted down unusual paths. Intercity transportation occurs on a well-designed mag-lev rail system. Yet most travel in the city is on foot, bicycles, hoverboards, or in horse drawn carriages. Some magtrav wagons and vehicles exist but they are mostly used for official governmental travel and for cargo. There are some magtrav bus systems. Mainly on long cross-city and regional routes.

Solar power systems are the most common power source as well as thermal dynamic power.

The common people have a type of repulsion/hover technology that i'm fairly certain was imported from offworld. An extremely common sight is someone walking with a floating cart behind them carrying groceries and such. There are a wide variety of heating systems but most people have adapted to colder weather.

Nearly all agriculture on this world is hydroponic and communal. Most of it is also large scale and managed for the communal betterment of the population inside mammoth buildings. However, nearly every dwelling has small enclosed hydroponic systems used to recycle water, waste products, and air while growing herbs and small vegetables. These small hydroponic systems are remnants of the systems used at the time of the cataclysm by the survivors. In time the efficiency and productivity of these household systems may have been key to the populations survival. As such, the systems are as much decoration and art works as they are sources of food and clean air.

-'''Battle of Grusaka Dell'''-

It all seems natural as catastrophes go, if a on a massive scale. But it occurred at the time of Patternfall and there are tales of small battles fought by the wizards that make sense if they had a tiny piece of the Black Road come here to light things off. I can get no one to confirm it, but i have a strong suspicion that the appearance of the Black Road and the battle by wizards to eradicate it may have started the calamities that effected this world.

====The Sugar of Adzikis and the Sweet Flora====

This world has a plant called the Sweet Flora. The Sweet Flora. There is no linguistic reason for either word, or for ‘The’ to be put in front of it. It’s just spoken of that way.

“Hey, Jed, what’s that plant over there? It sure smells good. “

“Well, Zeke, that’s The Sweet Flora.”

Linguistically it is pronounced ‘thesweetflora.” In Thari it comes out as The Sweet Flora and that’s the common pronunciation.

This is a plant like a sunflower. Tall and thick stalked, with a gigantic pale yellow flower with bright purple seeds in the middle. It blossoms when the sun rises and follows the sun through its passage.

The lower stalks sprout bulbs the size of cantaloupes that contain an unpleasantly sweet sap of a dark yellow color. The roots are comprised of a deep straight taproot and a collection of tubers like potatoes right below the surface. It grows in all climes though it prefers temperatures around 40 to 50. It seems that there are aficionados’ that can tell what temperature the flower was grown in by tasting its various produce. Snobs. What I do know is that if you plant a sprouting of this it will grow in frozen tundra as easily as cool tropics of this world.

It does not, however, transplant well into other shadows. It can be done just takes some doing. It is grown in large quantities at Vulsar Base.

The flower can be harvested in several ways. First off; the stalk and its taproot are generally left alone for a couple years. The stalk may be two feet across. The stalk and taproot are harvested after 5 years worth of seeds, leaves, petals, bulbs and tubers. It makes a reasonable paper, like a poster board.

The leaves, which grow big and thick, are used as a paper product, mulched and pressed into sheets. This is not terribly efficient and is usually only done for certain religious ritual reasons and for stylistic reasons. There is a type of poetry only written on Florimel Paper. I kid you not, it’s called Florimel Paper. Do you wonder who found this world first?

The leaves can be dried and cut and seeped in hot water and makes a very nice tea. It is the base of a wide variety of floral tea blends.

The leaves can also be cut into chunks and chewed to produce a slightly hallucinogenic and euphoric effect. A lot like cocoa leaves. This process is extremely common in the industry though frowned on and is thought to be a drug of the lower classes. It is also a bit disgusting, involving large oily wads of chaw and lots of sweet tarry spittle. It does, however, get around and is often found at fashionable soirées in a modified form.

Usually the tubers are harvested in warmer weather. They have a texture like potatoes and can be used like them. That is if you like your mashed potatoes to taste like pureed maple candies. That said, there is an extremely large volume of culinary lore that uses the Flora Tubers. Many of the dishes are extremely tasty if a bit too sweet for my taste.

The bulbs can grow to be 8” to 12” in diameters and can be harvested year round. They grow quickly. A clipped bulb leaves a stem attached to the main stalk that can be replaced in 10 to 15 days in a cool and watery climate. This is the main source of sugar on this world. The sap is easy to process and easy to store. It does not freeze in survivable temperatures, becoming a slow and thick syrup. Barrels are filled with the rendered sap and shipped off for refining. The bulb husks are considered a perk of the growers and harvesters and has plenty of culinary uses. These uses do not rise to the level of respectability though which is why the harvesters get them. Still, the husks are used in a variety of methods similar to tamales. They are also a main ingredient in fertilizers on this icy planet.

The flower petals are easy to render into both sugar and scents.

The sugar has a very strong and pleasant floral smell. It can be used in any preparation sugar can in most universes. A refined and strained form is nearly identical to unscented white sugar.
The seeds can be roasted and eaten whole; shell and all. It is nutty and sweet. A common preparation of flora seeds is roasting them and coating them in a ginger sugar. Clove, rosemary, and pepper coatings are also quite good. Seeds are also ground into a flour and used accordingly.
Flora seeds and petal are often used to flavor the filtered pure alcohol made from the bulb sugar. Sort of a floral rum and quite tasty.

One last comment on the Sweet Flora.

In the front article I commented that a base alcohol could be made by filtering the pruno-pure alcohol made from almost any vegetable matter through a scented charcoal. This is the charcoal made from the woody stalks of the Sweet Flora plant.

A bit time consuming, and not the easiest way to make alcohol drinkable, it is still a common practice, with a wide following on this make-do-with-less & waste-nothing world.'

Recycling is not as fanatical here as on Taxorami, though it is an ever-present activity, but the Adziks would understand and admire the Taxonomist thriftiness.

====Game Concepts====
This world was going to be a part of a campaign centered around Flora. And the battle of the black road, the wizards stopped the world from being consumed, but it might be hard to explain to the survivors on this ice block of a world.

===<big>Woven Logrus-a shadow of the Logrus</big>===
A Woven [[Logrus]] is a shadow of the Logrus.

Like Broken Patterns of Amber or Shade Patterns of Amber, which include a little less Order then the Pattern, a Woven Logrus contains a little less Chaos then the Logrus.

The Logrus is a constantly moving initiation that requires excellent skill at shapehanging to assay. Different shapes being required for different moments in the passage through the construct. A Woven Logrus has sections of the construct that are stable, not requiring constant shapeshifting to assay. The percent of divergence from the true chaos of the Logrus is called its degree of "Knotting" or how "Knotted" it is.

There are few items with Logrus Inscriptions, the very immutable nature of the perfectly chaotic logrus works against them. However, Woven Logrus items are more common, as inscribing the woven section is more possible to retain its powers on an artifact. The greater amount of woven section the more powerful the artifact.

Spells must be crafted specifically for a Woven Logrus since it differs from the regular logrus so dramatically.

Gutsedvem has the best known Woven Logrus. It is 88% "Knotted" and can be assayed by someone skillfully using a shapeshifting artifact since the construct does not attempt to effect items carried by the walker.

-'''Powers of the Woven Logrus'''-
*'''''25 pips Basic Woven Logrus Imprint''''': Frame can hold 12 spells of any power level with great power.
*'''''40 pips Advanced Woven Logrus Imprint''''':Frame can hold 18 spells of any power level with great power.
*'''''80 Pips Master's Woven Logrus Imprint''''': Frame can hold 24 spells of any power level with great power.

*To assay for a '''Basic Imprint'' one must have have the power of shape-change in order react to the changing nature of the construct. Using an artifact only works if the degree of Knotting allows for an item to not be tampered with in the attempt.
*To assay for an ''Advanced Imprint'' one must have the power of shape-change at an ''advanced'' level.
*To assay for a ''Master's Imprint'' one must have shape-change at a ''Master'' level.

===<big>Skill System</big>===

'''Rationale on Skills in ADRPG'''
One of the base concepts in the game is that if an Amberite wants to know how to do something he can go out into shadow and learn it. Drive a car, pilot a plane, juggle, do sleight of hand, cook pasta right, build a house, manage a elephant as a mount. They find a shadow and find someone to teach them. Do it awhile, and they can manage it. So Amberites and their ilk can have a wide range of things they know how to do if the need arises.
However; Learning a skill is not Mastering it. It isn't even being an expert. It isn't necessarily being really good at it. Its being able to do it.

So '''''“Skills”'''''.

I allow my PCs and NPCs to allocate points toward mastery of a skill.
*1 pip makes them an expert, but there are lots of experts at things in shadows.
*2 pips makes them great, but there are lots of people who are great at things.
*3 pips makes them rare, and there are long lists of people with rare abilities.
*4 pips makes one a virtuoso.
*5 pips is a nearly unique skill coming along once in a generation.
*6 Pips are for the people in shadow who are the very best at some skill.

'''Example-Sewing'''
I can sew well. I've made some excellent looking costumes off and on for 30 years. I might, possibly, have 1 pip in sewing. But i'm not an expert. I know experts. Nearly all of them would fall in the 1 to 2 pip zone. Someone who has worked for years in a sweatshop sewing clothes all day is solidly a 2 pip seamstress.
**A professional costumer who makes their living sewing and creating costumes for theaters, TV, and movies is a 3 pip seamstress.
**An academy award winning costume designer is 4 pips.
**Edith Head is a 5 pip costume creator.

'''Example-Guitar'''
Learning how to play the guitar, even spending a couple years in shadow getting good with it, doing shows even, does not make even an Amberite able to show up Jimmy Page on stage. Nor Carlos Santana, Brian May, Muddy Waters, or Johnny Lee Hooker. Certainly not either Jimi Hendrix or Eric Clapton.

*Rolling Stone published a list of the 100 greatest guitarists of all time. The list is daunting. So call anyone on that list having at least 3 pips in Guitar. This would translate to playing most stringed instruments similar to a guitar, like mandolins, balalaika, Sitars and ukuleles at a 2 pip level, and probably even pianos and harpsichords at a 1 pip level. Familiarity and expertise might also translate to being able to play any musical instrument at least a little. So i'd call anyone on the list at least 3 pips.
**Anyone in the top 20 might be 4 pip guitarists.
**5 Pip Players: Jimmy Page, Jimi Hendricx, Eric Clapton, Kieth Richards, B.B. King, and George Harrison are all 5 pip players.
**Carlos Santana is # 20 on that list and I would put him in the 5 pip zone personally but maybe he is a 4 pip player, a nudge away from being a 5 pip players. Just waiting for one more perfect solo to join the 5 pip players.

'''Example-Horsemanship'''
Most Amberites know how to handle a horse if it was some part of their past. Care and feeding, grooming, riding, even racing. Certainly riding them in battle is something they probably can do if they are a militant character.

*But if they put a pip into Horsemenship they have invested part of their life and interest into specifically being well versed in dealing with and riding horses.
**2 pips might mean they are knowledgeable with breeding, training, and teaching.
**3 pips is circus and trick riding level. Its masterful cavalry combat expertise.

*In my games Benedict may be the best warrior but Julian has 5 pips in horsemanship. He spends a great deal of time in the saddle every day. He is amazing at managing breeding for the horses his rangers use. Benedict comes to him for advice on horse and animals. Julian has melded his combat style firmly into treating his horse as a partner as well as a weapon. And most of all, he found and befriended the greatest horse in shadow.

===='''Special Case-Languages'''====
Thari is the base language of Amber as well as Chaos. As Amberites travel they pick up languages pretty easily. If they spend a significant amount of time in a shadow they can learn a language well enough that the casual listener might not detect they are a foreigner. But even a few years does not make them experts in the nuances, the history, or the development of a language.
*1 pip makes a person an expert in dialects, accents, and variations. Colloquialisms, slang, and jargon come easy to them.
*2 pips makes one speak like a native. Few detect their speech as learned.
*3 pips is a scholarly understanding of the language in it historical context. Able to to expound on the detail of the language with native scholars.

===='''Skills & Roleplaying'''====
The thing I impress on players though is that the more pips they put in a skill the more it needs to be represented in their role playing. The higher the points, the greater the obsession.
*1 Pip in a skill like card magic/poker tricks, means the character probably always has a deck of cards on him.
*2 pips means he often has a deck of cards in his hands.
*3 pips means he may not realize he has a deck of cards in his hand and is going through card passes and riffs while talking about other topics.
*4 pips include the behavior from 3 pips but also include using them as weapons and to punctuate conversations. A 4 pip skill dominates the PC's life.
*5 Pips.....is obsessive.
*6 Pips is Unique
Players express themselves in these skills. A person with a pip in motorcycle and a pip in pool means that they are more likely to ride a motorcycle then a horse and are more likely to be found around a pool table if someone goes looking for them.

It gives a lot of spin in character creation and development. It has given players a chance to think about what direction they want their PC to go. In general they have spent 2 to 4 pips either in one skill or in a small collection. More then that starts making me question their devotion to a particular skill. I generally don't allow more then one 3 pip skill at the start. As game play goes on if they make a particular effort at using that skill I may at some point let them take a 4th pip. I've yet to let a PC allocate to a 5 pip skill. They would have to be really dedicated to making it a big part of who the PC is, how he reacts, and what people think of them.

Random nearly always has a deck of cards or a set of drum sticks in his hands. He has 4 pips in card tricks/card magic and 3 pips in Drums.

===='''Skills from the GM point of view'''====
The other thing the skills are good for, '''from a GM point of view''', is it tells me what kind of scenes and scenarios a PC might be interested in.
*1 pip in motorcycles means down the line they run afoul of a biker gang.
*1 pip of poker tricks and they might get in a big card game with high power cheats.
*3 Pips in Sculpture means their home will be filled with their work. They will be fiercely protective of their work space. They might be interested in a series of games to find powerful materials to work or powerful tools. Also, they might have to deal with powerful thieves stealing their favorite creations.

Since as a GM i have a general idea what skills the elders have it gives me a hook for getting the PCs involved. A PC is fanatical about horses with a 3 pip skill, then he might work well with Julian. 2 pips in cooking? Maybe she and Flora would get along. A pip in guitar, maybe she and Corwin can sing duets. So i learn a bit about the player's interests in what they hope to see in what is their game too.

===='''Skill Examples'''====
'''1 Pip Skill''' ''Skilled Amateur''
''An expert in a particular activity.''
*'''College level or semi-pro baseball player'''. (Athlete)
*'''An experienced guitar player'''. The difference being between people saying "He plays guitar" and "He's a guitar player".
*'''An dedicated amateur race driver/street racer'''. Motorcycle racer. Jockey. A dedicated amateur and enthusiast.
*'''A small room professional card or coin magician'''. Better then a kid's birthday party magician
*'''A semi-professional artisan'''. painter, sculptor, carver. A good sense of the art, it process, its commercial aspects.
*'''A fine and talented church choir singer'''. A college level music student.
*'''A low level bard'''.
*'''An amateur expert pool player'''. Good enough to hustle drinks and pocket money at any bar with a pool table.
*'''A 3 and 4 ball juggler'''. Skillful enough to impress people juggling balls, oranges, soup cans.
*'''General Practitioner Doctor'''
*'''Linguist.''' Ability to speak in a language and effect dialects, accents, variations, slang, and jargon with natural ease.
*'''Mechanic''' Ability to fix a machine with skill. An experienced mechanic.

'''2 Pip Skill''' ''Professional''
''A professional in a particular activity''
*'''Minor and major league baseball player'''. (Athlete)
*'''An professional guitar player''' making his living regularly with his playing.
*'''A professional race driver/street racer'''. Motorcycle racer. Jockey.
*A '''big room professional''' card,coin, and stage magician. Magic Castle member.
*'''A professional Artist'''. Painter, sculptor, carver, artisan able to make a living with their craft.
*'''A fine and talented church choir soloist'''. Professional singer.
*'''A medium level bard'''.
*'''A professional pool player'''. Able to hustle big money and win big tournaments.
*A '''juggler''' making a living at juggling almost any items with skill and patter.
*'''General Surgeon'''. Specialist.
*'''Linguist. '''Speak a language well enough, and with enough diversity and control that they are considered a native speaker. Few detect their speech as learned.
*'''Professional mechanic''' and expert on the control and repair of a mechanical device.

'''3 Pip Skill''' ''Celebrity''
''A extremely well respected professional in a particular activity''
*'''Major league baseball player'''. All Star. MVP. Big money professional. Reggie Jackson, Wade Boggs, Jackie Robinson, Duke Snider, Cap Anson
*'''An professional guitarist''', one of the best ever. Top 100. Bruce Springsteen, David Bowie, Paul Simon, Bonnie Raitt, Carl Perkins, Glen Campbell, Buddy Holly.
*'''An professional race driver'''. Motorcycle racer. Jockey.
*'''A big room professional magician'''. Magic Castle Performer.
*'''A professional painter''', sculptor, carver, artisan able to make a living with their craft. Georgia O'Keefe, Renior, Edward Hopper, Max Ernst
*'''Professional Opera singer'''. Stevie Nicks, Joe Cocker, Annie Lennox, Willie Nelson, Don Henley, Art Garfunkle.
*'''A high level bard'''.
*'''An professional pool player'''. In danger of being killed for hustling pool. A name able to win world class tournaments.
*'''A professional juggler''' able to juggle a baseball, a chainsaw and a mop while talking and singing.
*'''Surgical Specialist'''. Plastic, Transplant. Vascular. Trauma. Cyberware Implantation
*'''Scholarly understanding of the language''' in it historical context. Able to to expound on the detail of the language with native scholars.
*'''Developmental Mechanic and Mechanical device inventor.''' Understanding of a mechanical device from base principles to finished design.

'''4 Pip Skill''' ''All Star''
''A nearly incomparable talent. Famous or extremely well regarded world wide.''
*'''Major league baseball player'''.(Athlete) All-star. Hall of Famer. Yogi Berra,Roberto Clemente, Cal Ripkin, Tris Speaker, Sandy Koufax, Pete Rose
*'''An professional guitarist'''. One of the best ever. Top 20. Prince, Johnny Ramone, Bo Didly, Brian May, Frank Zappa,Carlos, Santana, George Harrison.
*'''A world class auto racer'''. Motorcycle racer. Jockey.
*'''A world class professional magician'''. Las Vegas residency magician. David Blaine, Apollo Robbins, Criss Angel,
*'''A world class artist famed beyond their time'''. Georgia O'Keefe, Renior, Edward Hopper, Max Ernst
*'''A well known world class singer'''. Professional singer. James Taylor, David Bowie, Jerry Lee Lewis, Muddy Waters, Patsey Cline, Prince, Nina Simone
*'''A 23rd level bard'''. A Crowned Bard.[[https://wiki.rpg.net/index.php/Crowned_Bard]]
*'''An professional pool player'''. Too well known to hustle pool. A name expected to win world class tournaments.
*'''A Celebrity juggler''' able to juggle a baseball, a chainsaw and a mop while talking and singing.
*'''Research Surgeon'''. Multiple Specialty.
*'''Language Authority''' Considered and expert in a language. A worldly acknowledges authority on a language, the culture it serves.
*'''Innovating Mechanical Inventor and theorist'''

'''5 Pip Skill''' '' Legendary''
''A extremely well respected professional in a particular activity''
*'''Legendary baseball player'''. Hall of Famer Ty Cobb, Babe Ruth, Randy Johnson, Joe Dimaggio, Lou Gehrig, Walter Johnson, Willie Mays, Stan Musial
*'''Undisputed renowned guitarists'''. Jimmy Page, Jimi Hendricx, Eric Clapton, Kieth Richards, B.B. King, and George Harrison
*'''A legendary race driver'''. Motorcycle racer. Jockey. Mario Andretti, Bill Shoemaker, AJ Foyt,
*'''Legendary magicians'''. Harry Houdini, David Copperfield, Penn & Teller,
*'''A historically renowned Artist'''. painter, sculptor, carver, artisan able to make a living with their craft. Salvador Dali, Michaelangelo, Leonardo di Vinci,
*'''A legendary professional singer'''. Stevie Nicks, Joe Cocker, Annie Lennox, Willie Nelson, Don Henley, Caruso, Pavarotti
*'''A Thrice Crowned Bard''' [[https://wiki.rpg.net/index.php/Crowned_Bard#Thrice_Crowned_Bard]] Venki, Beor, Fortunadas.
*An '''professional pool player''' unable to get a game from someone unwilling to lose. Willie Moscone, Effen Reyes,
*A '''legendary juggler''' able to juggle an alligator, a tiger, and a hamster while singing Opera and tightrope walking.
*'''Epic Surgeon'''. John Heysham Gibbon ''(first open heart surgery)'', Christiaan Barnard ''(first heart transplantation)'', Calow Bruce-Nu Yark- ''(Creator of experimental cyberware.)'',Tristan Reese (Vehicular and Manufacturing Equipment interface cyberware implantation), Adrian of Mandalay (Surgical Power Crystal Implantation)
*'''Language Final Authority-Creator of a cohesive language-Linguistic theory'''. JRR Tolkien-Elvish/Dwrvish. Ferdinand de Saussure-Developmen of Linguistics and symbolism. Noam Chomsky- Universal grammar, [[Tolknor]] Scripter-Psychohistory of Language

'''6 Pip Skill''' ''Unique''
* Understand Technical Systems-Visionary Tinkery-Erasamus Braldig
* Hone Blade Edge-Mama Aglevar
* Slieght of Hand-Conf of Tosa
* Mathematics/Phyics/Psychohistory-Tolknor Scripter

==[[Introduction to "Off the Road"]] ==
Off the Road with Bleys of Amber.
An Introduction:
Recently I had a very strange conversation with myself and we came to a decision.

I was sitting in a cafe near the river Taliwal in the city of Nenton, in the world of Antheris. This particular cafe serves a lovely blueberry tart and has a collection of coffees from seven of the worlds Antheris admits that its connected with. So it has a variety. This morning mine was Cassarat Tree coffee, a heavy dark brew made from bean and bark shavings, just slightly adulterated with cream and brandy.

I was sharing breakfast with myself. Three of my selves in fact.

Who am I, your humble correspondent? Well, I go by many names in many places but to cut to the meat of the matter I am Prince Bleys of Amber.

Yes, that Bleys...Tried to conquer Amber, fought my way up Kolvir, redeemed myself at the Battle of Patternfall, saw Brand and Dierdre fall into the Abyss, saw the Unicorn come from the Abyss with a wounded Deirdre draped over her back and the Jewel of Judgment on her horn, swore fealty to my brother Random as King of Amber, entered Chaos as a conqueror behind Prince Benedict, returned to Amber with the rest of my kin. I go by Bleys.

And that brings me to my breakfast guests.

One was Prince Blays of Amber. He too tried to conquer Amber, fought his way up Kolvir, was redeemed at Patternfall, but he watched Brand and Deirdre lost in the Abyss before he also saw the Unicorn with the Jewel tap Random as king. In time he too returned to Amber with his kin. He goes by Blays

Another was Prince Blaze; Amber, Kolvir, Patternfall, Brand falling alone and then he swore fealty to King Julian, the Unicorn's choice. he left his family as they entered Chaos and decided to travel in shadow for an eon to let things settle down. He calls himself Blake Fisher.

The last was Princess Bleyes; Fought her way up Kolvir only to be captured, imprisoned and have her eyes burned out beside Prince Corwin. While Corwin escaped, she remained imprisoned until eventually she was freed from the dungeon when King Random granted her pardon in exchange for her fealty. She still has a little double vision and a sensitivity to bright lights. She calls herself Brandy Amberton.

This wasn't our first meal together. We have run across each other several times and have come to enjoy each other's company. Few understand the trails and tribulations, the ultimate failures and the new state of affairs in our various Ambers better then we do, regardless of the details. Its the kind of conversation only shadow-travelers can understand.

Those around us think we are quadruplets of a sort. We let them take a few pictures.

You might ask what we have in common? Besides hat size, inseams and food preferences, all of us have had our ambition to rule in Amber absolutely stomped to pieces by the coming of a new undoubted king. All our scheming and cabals ruined and cast aside. Crimes and betrayals, stabbings in the dark, all forgiven. We are no longer rebels, traitors, conspirators or fugitives. We are firmly in fealty and are good servants of the crown.

We know as well as any of our kin that there are uncounted variations of ourselves and uncountable numbers of outcomes for them. We are four of the possible shades of Amber. We argue which one has primacy but in the end it's really not important. None of us rules our Amber. In time, you will hear from all of us as this journal continues.

We were at loose ends. Told by our kings to behave ourselves and find something to keep us busy.

As each of our Ambers experienced different outcomes after Patternfall, each of the four Bleys' took different routes. In time you'll read how different our paths have been but since at the moment this is my journal let us stick to my path.

To say I was crushed is an understatement. I had a thousand years of ambition destroyed. How does one contest the ruling of the Unicorn? I wanted to stay close to home just to see how things developed. I had friends in the theater scene in Amber so I spent time with them during that first year. Acted a little. Wrote a play. Sponsored a couple theater companies. Attended parties nearly every night, the royal on the scene, the eligible bachelor. The tragic figure in a show with a cast of millions.

One night there was a gathering of royal kinsman, nobles of Amber, royals and ambassadors from Golden Circle kingdoms, nobles and notables from realms along many a shadow trail from Amber, as well as an unusual collection of people from across shadow, all to welcome the new ambassador to Amber from Chaos. The Ambassador was Lord Despil Sawall, of the line of Benedict that produced Dara and Merlin.

It was a fine affair in the castle great hall with King Random and Queen Vaille the center of attention. That night Prince Benedict, the victor of Patternfall, attempted to bid adieu and return to his orchards and his retirement in Avalon.

It was a quiet exchange, with Random giving Benedict permission to abandon his duty to Amber at his will and return to obscurity leaving his homeland to the wolves of shadow that would surely test the new king. He was casual about it, telling Benedict to feel free to leave and to please remember to send him some apples out of Avalon. Random turned his back on Benedict and the little fink walked up to me and asked if I had been enjoying the spring weather?

I was not the only one who saw the quiver of anger on dear Ben's lips. A less observant noble took that moment to address him, since he seemed to be standing alone, and received the full force of Benedict's silent ire. I believe the man pissed himself as he moved quickly away.

Ben stepped over and accepted the baton and the office of Marshal of Amber, commander of all its military forces in the name of the King. It was clear that Random had secured the safety of Amber for the next hundred years at least. Those of us who harbored secret yearnings and ambitions saw them fall before Random's guile and Benedict's blade.

I became a drunk. Time passed faster that way. A decade in Amber passed in a blink of an eye it seemed.

Oh I was useful to the crown. Ambassador, diplomat, swordsman, and other useful functions for a failed claimant to the throne on his best behavior. I even took to the field when there was a need for a slightly drunk warrior prince.

In time I started traveling. Without direction at first, taking ship, horseback, walking. Telling the pattern to send me anyplace. Whenever I returned to Amber I was full of tales of new worlds, wonders, and peoples. It was a game at first, to twist the tail a little of the wandering prince thrust into the role of king.

But a strange thing happened. I liked traveling. I'd find a trail that didn't need my nudging to lead me someplace new. I would meet people, see things, taste new foods, drink old wines.

Soon I was taking people with me. Julian joined me on a hunting world. Gerard and I went to a world rich in fine waters and people who traveled them. Benedict and I explored a shadow where faster-then-light starships might provide Amber with a new line of defense with a ready space fleet. Flora and I took in grand high theater in a world where it was the highest of arts. I even took King Random to a realm where card players were international celebrities and they had poker faces like granite. I found diners that served the perfect Denver Omelets, Ruben Sandwiches, Oysters on the half-shell, and sixty ounce steaks.

I had become the tour guide of Amber.

I started writing my experiences in a journal I kept in the Library of Amber. There my kinsman could merely ask Arloxedra, Eric's bookworm of a son, to show them the latest entry. Then the next time I was in town I found them asking me to show them the path to some out of the way place I found in some world of which they had never heard. The king even gave Arlo a standing order to bring my 'Off the Road" journal to him every time I made a new entry.

So I decided to cut out the middleman. I will no long maintain a private journal just for my kin.

Neither will the other three Bleys' who find themselves tour guides as well. We will provide our reviews of the worlds we find to our respective versions of the Amber City Gazette where it can be read by everyone, and our observations may be cast out into shadow to be published in any number of other formats under innumerable different names. Our kinsmen will just have to pick up a copy on their own and pay a copperwing like everyone else.

May you the reader find these worlds entertaining. May we four Bleys prove of service to you, as well as to our crown and kingdoms.

Prince Bleys of Amber.

==This Space Available-b==
==This Space Available-c==
==This Space Available-d==

Introduction to "Off the Road"

2020-01-17T22:09:01Z

Salinea: Reverted edits by BROFLAKE MAD (talk) to last revision by Tolknor

'''Off the Road with Bleys of Amber.'''

'''An Introduction:'''

Recently I had a very strange conversation with myself and we came to a decision.

I was sitting in a cafe near the river Taliwal in the city of Nenton, in the world of Antheris. This particular cafe serves a lovely blueberry tart and has a collection of coffees from seven of the worlds Antheris admits that its connected with. So it has a variety. This morning mine was Cassarat Tree coffee, a heavy dark brew made from bean and bark shavings, just slightly adulterated with cream and brandy.

I was sharing breakfast with myself. Three of my selves in fact.

Who am I, your humble correspondent? Well, I go by many names in many places but to cut to the meat of the matter I am Prince Bleys of Amber.

Yes, that Bleys...Tried to conquer Amber, fought my way up Kolvir, redeemed myself at the Battle of Patternfall, saw Brand and Dierdre fall into the Abyss, saw the Unicorn come from the Abyss with a wounded Deirdre draped over her back and the Jewel of Judgment on her horn, swore fealty to my brother Random as King of Amber, entered Chaos as a conqueror behind Prince Benedict, returned to Amber with the rest of my kin. I go by Bleys.

And that brings me to my breakfast guests.

One was Prince Blays of Amber. He too tried to conquer Amber, fought his way up Kolvir, was redeemed at Patternfall, but he watched Brand and Deirdre lost in the Abyss before he also saw the Unicorn with the Jewel tap Random as king. In time he too returned to Amber with his kin. He goes by Blays

Another was Prince Blaze; Amber, Kolvir, Patternfall, Brand falling alone and then he swore fealty to King Julian, the Unicorn's choice. he left his family as they entered Chaos and decided to travel in shadow for an eon to let things settle down. He calls himself Blake Fisher.

The last was Princess Bleyes; Fought her way up Kolvir only to be captured, imprisoned and have her eyes burned out beside Prince Corwin. While Corwin escaped, she remained imprisoned until eventually she was freed from the dungeon when King Random granted her pardon in exchange for her fealty. She still has a little double vision and a sensitivity to bright lights. She calls herself Brandy Amberton.

This wasn't our first meal together. We have run across each other several times and have come to enjoy each other's company. Few understand the trails and tribulations, the ultimate failures and the new state of affairs in our various Ambers better then we do, regardless of the details. Its the kind of conversation only shadow-travelers can understand.

Those around us think we are quadruplets of a sort. We let them take a few pictures.

You might ask what we have in common? Besides hat size, inseams and food preferences, all of us have had our ambition to rule in Amber absolutely stomped to pieces by the coming of a new undoubted king. All our scheming and cabals ruined and cast aside. Crimes and betrayals, stabbings in the dark, all forgiven. We are no longer rebels, traitors, conspirators or fugitives. We are firmly in fealty and are good servants of the crown.

We know as well as any of our kin that there are uncounted variations of ourselves and uncountable numbers of outcomes for them. We are four of the possible shades of Amber. We argue which one has primacy but in the end it's really not important. None of us rules our Amber. In time, you will hear from all of us as this journal continues.

We were at loose ends. Told by our kings to behave ourselves and find something to keep us busy.

As each of our Ambers experienced different outcomes after Patternfall, each of the four Bleys' took different routes. In time you'll read how different our paths have been but since at the moment this is my journal let us stick to my path.

To say I was crushed is an understatement. I had a thousand years of ambition destroyed. How does one contest the ruling of the Unicorn? I wanted to stay close to home just to see how things developed. I had friends in the theater scene in Amber so I spent time with them during that first year. Acted a little. Wrote a play. Sponsored a couple theater companies. Attended parties nearly every night, the royal on the scene, the eligible bachelor. The tragic figure in a show with a cast of millions.

One night there was a gathering of royal kinsman, nobles of Amber, royals and ambassadors from Golden Circle kingdoms, nobles and notables from realms along many a shadow trail from Amber, as well as an unusual collection of people from across shadow, all to welcome the new ambassador to Amber from Chaos. The Ambassador was Lord Despil Sawall, of the line of Benedict that produced Dara and Merlin.

It was a fine affair in the castle great hall with King Random and Queen Vaille the center of attention. That night Prince Benedict, the victor of Patternfall, attempted to bid adieu and return to his orchards and his retirement in Avalon.

It was a quiet exchange, with Random giving Benedict permission to abandon his duty to Amber at his will and return to obscurity leaving his homeland to the wolves of shadow that would surely test the new king. He was casual about it, telling Benedict to feel free to leave and to please remember to send him some apples out of Avalon. Random turned his back on Benedict and the little fink walked up to me and asked if I had been enjoying the spring weather?

I was not the only one who saw the quiver of anger on dear Ben's lips. A less observant noble took that moment to address him, since he seemed to be standing alone, and received the full force of Benedict's silent ire. I believe the man pissed himself as he moved quickly away.

Ben stepped over and accepted the baton and the office of Marshal of Amber, commander of all its military forces in the name of the King. It was clear that Random had secured the safety of Amber for the next hundred years at least. Those of us who harbored secret yearnings and ambitions saw them fall before Random's guile and Benedict's blade.

I became a drunk. Time passed faster that way. A decade in Amber passed in a blink of an eye it seemed.

Oh I was useful to the crown. Ambassador, diplomat, swordsman, and other useful functions for a failed claimant to the throne on his best behavior. I even took to the field when there was a need for a slightly drunk warrior prince.

In time I started traveling. Without direction at first, taking ship, horseback, walking. Telling the pattern to send me anyplace. Whenever I returned to Amber I was full of tales of new worlds, wonders, and peoples. It was a game at first, to twist the tail a little of the wandering prince thrust into the role of king.

But a strange thing happened. I liked traveling. I'd find a trail that didn't need my nudging to lead me someplace new. I would meet people, see things, taste new foods, drink old wines.

Soon I was taking people with me. Julian joined me on a hunting world. Gerard and I went to a world rich in fine waters and people who traveled them. Benedict and I explored a shadow where faster-then-light starships might provide Amber with a new line of defense with a ready space fleet. Flora and I took in grand high theater in a world where it was the highest of arts. I even took King Random to a realm where card players were international celebrities and they had poker faces like granite. I found diners that served the perfect Denver Omelets, Ruben Sandwiches, Oysters on the half-shell, and sixty ounce steaks.

I had become the tour guide of Amber.

I started writing my experiences in a journal I kept in the Library of Amber. There my kinsman could merely ask Arloxedra, Eric's bookworm of a son, to show them the latest entry. Then the next time I was in town I found them asking me to show them the path to some out of the way place I found in some world of which they had never heard. The king even gave Arlo a standing order to bring my 'Off the Road" journal to him every time I made a new entry.

So I decided to cut out the middleman. I will no long maintain a private journal just for my kin.

Neither will the other three Bleys' who find themselves tour guides as well. We will provide our reviews of the worlds we find to our respective versions of the Amber City Gazette where it can be read by everyone, and our observations may be cast out into shadow to be published in any number of other formats under innumerable different names. Our kinsmen will just have to pick up a copy on their own and pay a copperwing like everyone else.

May you the reader find these worlds entertaining. May we four Bleys prove of service to you, as well as to our crown and kingdoms.

Prince Bleys of Amber.

-----------Off The Road----------------

[[Adzikis in Winter for the Zine]]

Adzikis in Winter for the Zine

2020-01-17T22:08:57Z

Salinea: Reverted edits by BROFLAKE MAD (talk) to last revision by Tolknor

'''A Lovely Long Cold Recitation of Rebirth:Adzikis in Winter'''

'''by Bleys of Amber'''

Sitting in the Sea View Gardens, that breakfast nook of Amber created by Flora during the reign of my mildly lamented brother King Eric, I find myself thinking about a world that must also have been found or created by my flibbertigibbet of a sister as well. How such different places can come from the mind of the same person seems telling of an Amberite. One is a center of warmth, charm, and luxury perched on a once barren balcony of the Castle Amber. The other is a frozen slice of disaster made into poetry through the resilience of it people in a shadow once filled with warmth and potential before disaster struck.

While Sea View Gardens is well worth a conversation of its own, and maybe oneday ill include it in this journal, it pales this morning to my thoughts of Adzikis in Winter.

Adzikis was once a thriving vibrant world walking into a bold future. They had discovered a type of magnetic reaction between three different type of stones that had become center of a developing technology. It powered among other things an extensive rail system and a wide variety of other transportation devices. Oceangoing ships filled with well-dressed travelers plied the many seas and the cosmopolitan ports were thriving with their commerce. Manned flight was common but expensive and usually reserved for government personnel and cargo shipments.

Communication satellites had been placed in orbit and the computer age was taking off like wildfire. Scientists and engineers were figuring out that the three moons being explored by remote rovers could be reached by manned devices just barely outside their current state of technology.

There were nation states with a variety of conflicts in a gun age that relied on archers as often as rifleman, cavalry as often as wheeled vehicles.

In small isolated enclaves were people that the vast population considered nuts and wackadoos just because they claimed to be able to use magic and called themselves wizards and witches. They tried to blend in with the normal populations but had just a little bit too much oddity about them. They were objects of scorn and mocking comedy. Unknown to the masses though,some among them practiced high order sorcery as well a couple of low order shadow magic systems.

Then catastrophe struck. What happened is a matter of perspective.

Survivors of the calamity suggest several things happened at once. A series of earthquakes opening the molten layers beneath tectonic plates caused a vast proportion of sea water to boil off into the atmosphere covering the worlds in clouds causing a global winter. The surface of the world crumbled and great land masses ringing the world fell beneath the sea.

Polar ice caps multiplied in size, snow fell in the tropics, and man and beast died in droves. Temperatures globally dropped at least forty degrees everywhere. Once balmy tropical islands were suddenly the warm spots of the world with temperatures in the seventies and eighties. Sadly only five percent of the existing land mass was there.

A billion people died on the first day, and another died in the next few weeks. And since disaster breeds the best and worst things in the nature of sentient creatures they had great efforts to save populations and devastating warfare over surviving resources. In the next few years the death toll doubled till something in them changed.

What the natives had no way of knowing was that these earthquakes occurred at the time of the Black Road War leading up to the Battle of Patternfall. Initially they also did not know that the small group of nuts and wackadoos fought a desperate battle against creatures beyond their nightmare visions that sought to tear the world into rubble and stardust with powerful magics born deep beyond the Courts of Chaos.

Timing is everything.

That they owe what survival they have to those nuts and wackadoos, so few in number, is a source of pride and chagrin. Its the source of fanatical poetry and gorgeous prose.

This occurred over three hundred years ago in their time. They adapted. They embraced the cold. They reordered their priorities.

They became poets.

Embracing their pain, they began to cherish love, art, and creativity. They began to prize ingenuity and invention. They developed new poetic forms. They relegated once national languages for use in specific occupations and activities. One language, Aurols, was chosen as the language of business and diplomacy. Another, Untalis, became the language of anger. Feloso became the language of friendship and community. Ac Tanu became the language of love. Each language has its forms and its poetry. Once each language had served different races and nation-states, but the effort of recovery made them decide to use language differently. Now there was one universal language with subsets selected to be used for specific needs.

One language, Tufoli, became the language of food and drink. Here is where their genius really blooms.

Since they were embracing life and suffering extreme deprivation at the same time, they learned how to use what they had well. Spices were used to cover bland and uncertain meats. Sugars were used to fill caloric intake so baking became almost a religion. They ate all kinds of things sweet. They discovered that they could make a respectable alcohol out of almost any vegetable refuse and that by filtering it through specially scented charcoals got a nearly tasteless base alcohol.

''More about sugar below.''

There is a vibrancy to this world turned into an artists retreat. One where militarism has been all but abandoned. Where arguments between nations are solved though sports, cooking contests, intellectual quizzes, and acrobatics. They have international athletics that are followed by millions. I found people here amazingly forthright and direct, yet capable of great serenity. Its enticing, and dangerous. Its a process in development and only a world wide acceptance that violence is bad keeps the course pure.

Now, pure is relative. There is a criminal element and there are those who still embrace violence. But the proportion is small compared to other worlds. Where once they might have resorted to violence they now use a certain degree of skulduggery and political infighting around the athletics and other activities that replaced violence as a method of conflict resolution.

Their politics are filled with the languages that once divided peoples and now unities them

'''The Damaged World and the Effects of the Black Road War'''

So this world took a serious walloping and don't tell me that's not how things happen. It happens in shadow if you look.

Luckily, for the survival of this world, a major metropolitan area, Cadaselmis, the capital of the Aurolik, was on a high plateau before the disaster and surfed the land wave to rest near an ocean, not too high above sea level. While devastated of course in many ways it maintained a transportation structure as well as a majority of its manufacturing facilities, scientific research centers, hydroponic farms, and cultural sites as well over half its population. Despite losing nine million people it remained the most populous remaining city with 11 million survivors. Nearly all of the changes that effect this world and helped it recover were funneled, to one degree or another, through this great city. It became the world capital.

Populations around the world plummeted.About half of the world’s population of animal and plant life perished in the first few days. Over the next decade another 2 billion died due to starvation and the cruelty of the survivors. Once the world supported nearly 5 billion people. Ten years after the cataclysm only 400 million survived. The current estimate is around 2 billion. The first few decades were hellish till the people developed ways to cope.

Animal life suffered along side the sentients with only a few of the most hardy land animals surviving. Most of the surviving animal life was in zoos or food production facilities. Avian species that survived mainly survived by flying to the tropical areas. Sea life largely boiled away or froze, however it managed to recover faster then the land animals so that fish is a staple food around the world.

Plant life nearly disappeared, only to be saved by the vigorous hydroponic systems that existed beforehand. Hydroponic systems and seed banks have had a great deal to do with the survival of people on this world.

One plant, a sugar plant I will speak of below, is said to have been an experimental hybrid before the disaster went wild when a vast plantation that it was being developed on exploded sending seedlings and cuttings into the upper atmosphere to fall across the world and take root in many different climes. I have heard this story many times but can find no documentation to confirm it. I'm not buying it.

'''All Things Cold and New'''

Adzikis in Winter still has much to recommend it. They have survived a terrible tragedy on their world and by embracing life have become at once one people, regardless of appearances, and embraced the creation of life. The change of the world’s name is a sign of their resiliency. Before the big shaking the place was called Adzikis. A poem about the new world called it "Adzikis in Winter" and that name became a rally cry for the survivors.

Despite the massive destruction, many elements of the growing industrial age survived. But their development was diverted down new paths. Intercity transportation occurs on a well-designed tri-stone mag-lev rail system that spans land and water. Yet most travel in the city is on foot, bicycles, hoverboards, or in horse drawn carriages. While mag-lev wagons and vehicles exist they are mostly used for official governmental travel and for cargo. There are some mag-lev bus systems, mainly on long cross-city and regional routes.

Solar power systems are the most common power source, with thermal power a close second. Solar systems are largely self-sufficient while thermal systems are regional or grid connected.

Nearly all agriculture on this world is hydroponic and communal. Most of it is also large scale and managed for the betterment of the population inside mammoth buildings. However, nearly every dwelling have small enclosed hydroponic systems used to recycle water, waste products, and air while growing herbs and small vegetables. These small hydroponic systems are remnants of the systems used at the time of the cataclysm by the survivors. In time the efficiency and productivity of these household systems may have been key to the population's survival. As such, the systems are as much decoration and art works as they are sources of food and clean air.

'''The Sugar of Adzikis in Winter: ''The Sweet Flora'''''

Now we come to the reason I mentioned dear sister Florimel at the beginning of this conversation.

This world has a plant called The Sweet Flora. Yep, "The Sweet Flora". There is no linguistic reason for either word, or for ‘The’ to be put in front of it. It’s just spoken of that way.

'''''“Hey, Jed, what’s that plant over there? It sure smells good."'''''

'''''“Well, Zeke, that’s thesweetflora.”'''''

Linguistically it is pronounced ‘thesweetflora.” In Thari it comes out as The Sweet Flora. Deny it if you like, dear sister, I know you have been here. This is a sugar plant that was unknown before the disaster and suddenly began growing wild around the world the year afterwards. It is a critical plant that was a life line during the worst days of the early recovery and has become a symbol of the world's resiliency.

Tall at eight feet and thick stalked at one to two feet wide, with a gigantic pale yellow flower petals grouped around a ring of bright purple seeds in the middle. It blossoms when the sun rises and follows the sun through its passage, despite the thickness of the local cloud cover. The petals glow slightly in the dark. It grows in quickly and resiliently in vast fields that at a distance resemble fields of sunflowers. bright and yellow, faces following the sun.

At the base of stalks vines sprout with bulbs the size of cantaloupes that contain an unpleasantly sweet sap of a dark yellow color. The roots are comprised of a deep straight taproot and a collection of tubers like potatoes right below the surface.

Its usable produce are stalks, seeds, leaves, flower petals, ground sprawling melons or bulbs and subterranean tubers.

*'''Stalks:''' The stalks range from one to two feet in diameter. They are usually left to grow for several years while the other elements are regularly harvested. The stalks usually are harvested after about 5 years for full woodiness.
**The wood makes a fine paper and is used in many of the same ways rattan is. Stripped and used as weaving material for furniture. It is not quite strong enough to make furniture on its own.
**Flora Wood is an extremely common wood used in art and decoration. A soft wood it is often inlaid decoratively and is a common wood for small boxes and containers.
*'''Leaves:''' Thick wide leaves grow on numerous short vines. A vine and a few leaves can be transplanted to grow new flowers.
**The leaves can be dried and used to make a flavorful and naturally sweet herbal tea.
**Dried leaves have a very slight pain relieving effect but not enough that is used medicinally. However the effect is noted by tea drinkers as a slight numbing of the lips and gums and the teas is used as a frequent vessel for mixing with other medicines.
**They are steamed like spinach and other greens.
**The leaves, cured in oil, are used like grape leaves to wrap other food similar to dolmas.
**They are also allowed to dry, then mulched and made into paper called '''''Florimel Paper''''' I kid you not, that's what its called. ''Florimel Paper'' is not very strong and is a fairly inefficient way to use the otherwise tasty leaves but their is a whole school of poetry that is only written on ''Florimel Paper''. I've listened to enthusiasts who say that reading Florimel Verse from other mediums, such as electronically or on other types of paper, lose the essence of the work. Ya, sure.. See why i think my dear sister is involved in this?
**Eaten raw from the plant the leaves have a mild euphoric effect and can be used as a pain reliever. However when the raw leaves are chewed it create a resiny plug similar to chewing tobacco, with all the lovely spittle that entails. A few shots of rum are a better euphoric. This is a common practice among workers in the sugar industry and is considered uncouth and a habit among the lower classes. Still, there is an underground of users that span all classes in discreet gatherings where this use is more refined, if not much less repulsive.

*'''Melons:'''The melons or bulbs grow to be eight inches to twelve inches in diameter when ripe. They grow quickly if given sufficient water and can be harvested year round. Once harvested the outer shell hardens within its thick layer of husk covering in a few days. Once hard, the husks are removed easily, and the bulbs are tapped or broken open and the cloyingly sweet sap in the interior is harvested. There are many ways to process the sap to produce everything from a light syrup to granulated sugar.
**Processed to a granulated sugar this becomes the main source of sugar on planet. Its uses are endless.
**The syrups range from a clear light syrup like corn syrup to a thick black strap molasses.
**Flora Rum is an extremely common product found in nearly every home on this frigid world. It refuses to freeze but can be boiled to create a thick rum liqueur. The rum and the rum liqueur are very sweet but extraordinarily tasty. Use accordingly.
**The hard melon is covered by a thick husk similar to a coconut. The husk is usually considered a perk of the growers and the harvesters and has plenty of culinary uses but tends to become fragile and lose its taste after a few days, hence why its a product most often served in regions where the plant is harvested and is rarely marketed.
**The harden shell of the melons are treated like gourds. Painted, decorated, used as eating and storage utensils. Some growers place the growing melons in frames to make them grow into certain shapes before harvesting. Allowed to dry in the frame before tapping, the melons can be made into a lot of different shapes.
*'''Tubers:''' The subterranean tubers are plentiful and are harvested in warmer weather depending on where the plant is grown. Plants grown in warmer temperatures develop larger tubers.
**The Tubers have a texture like potatoes and can be used like them. That is if you like your mashed potatoes to taste like pureed maple candies. That said, there is an extremely large volume of culinary lore that uses the Sweet Flora tubers.
**Like potatoes the tubers are used as flour though again its a very sweet flour.
**The tubers can be rendered into sugar but its an inefficient sugar to produce compared to the abundant sugar source in the melons. Still, it has culinary uses and its fans.
*'''Flower petals:''' The large flower is comprised of a ring of bright yellow petals three to six inches long around a seed plug from five to ten inches across like a sunflower.
**The petals are easy to render and are used for their sugar and their scent. They are frequently added to food and drinks.
**Rendered petals are a common ingredient in perfumes and scents in oils and candles.
**While not a common usage for the petals they are also dried and powdered and used as a flour for certain kinds of confections and desserts. It is an extremely light and flavorful flour and dominates anything its used for.
**For obvious reasons the flowers are used decoratively and they eventually dry enough for other uses. The flower plays a large common theme in the art of the world.
*'''Seeds:''' The seeds are lightly shelled and meaty. The shell and the seed are roasted eaten together or separately.
**They are often coated and candied and as such are a common snack food. The variety of coatings is vast. I prefer a pepper and ginger coating.
**Uncoated they have a sweet seed similar in texture and uses to pistachios.
**The seeds can be ground into flour.

One last comment on "The Sweet Flora".

We shadow walkers occasionally come across things that are out of place or too conveniently useful to have developed there normally. The arrival of "The Sweet Flora" at the time of the great disaster and the Patternfall war is too much of a coincidence for me. When i spoke to Flora about it she admitted that she had spent some time there before the war and felt sorry for the place finding it in the first year after the war. She would not discuss the plant at all but thought it a lovely homage from whoever brought such a useful plant to a suffering world.

Next perhaps i'll talk about Sea View Gardens. Its been on my mind today.

---------------------------
=='''Game Concepts'''==
*'''World:''' Adzikis in Winter. Locally called 'Ac tanu Mat ren Adzikis e Anoa'
*'''Tech level:''' Equivalent to the late 1960s to 1980s
*'''Population:''' 2 billion
*'''System:''' 1 planet in a system with a cool bluish yellow sun. 3 moons.

*'''Time Ratio:''' 5 Days in Adzikis in Winter to 1 day in Amber.

*'''Main City: ''Cadaselmis'''''

Most people live in small mostly self-sufficient communities. Coastal cities tend to be larger, dealing with commerce and fishing.
*'''Races:''' Predominantly humanoid of diverse coloration and descriptions. There are a few elves and dwarves that have come from offworld but little is spoken about this and the offworlders have long tried to blend in with the natives. Because of the assimilation there are some families that have a tiny amount of elven or dwarven blood.

Before the war there was some understanding that other worlds existed in other dimensions and scientists and philosophers were hard pressed to explain the details. The world is located near several well-traveled shadow trails of various origins and some travelers have come here from them.

The battle that devastated the world was an incursion of the forces of chaos during the Black Road War that was defeated by members of the '''Ac Mat Ala Crea''', a group of sorcerers in possession of a shadow of the pattern they call the '''Sigil Ala Crea'''. This is walkable by anyone with Chaos level psyche and one pip of good stuff. The spells empowered by the Shade Pattern can be potent if used correctly but are vastly less powerful the are normal pattern imprint wielding sorcerer's spells.

=='''Game Possibilities'''==
*The Sorcerers of Ac Mat Ala Crea have artifacts of Chaos a player might seek out. He might fight them or befriend them.
*Flora may have connections, maybe even romantic ones, on this world. She might have players help them out of a problem. She might have given birth to a child raised on this world that a player might rescue or even run.
*'''"The Sweet Flora"''' is an incredible plant and players might find new and amazing uses for it that lead them to trying growing it here or exporting it to grow it elsewhere.
*A Lord of Chaos may have led the forces here during the Black Road war and after defeat they may have traveled the world. The PCs might come to seek him out for any number of reasons.
*The world is near shadow trails established in antiquity by Amberites and some of the Golden Circle sorcerers able the shadow walk. While the previous nations and industry did not engaged in open diplomacy or commerce, players might discover some individuals who did and might influence events and the prosperity of the world in many ways.

=='''Minor Shade Patterns-Low Order Initiations'''==

A shadow of the pattern so far removed from the primal that it bears little of the power of the original and is usually unrecognizable as a shadow of the pattern. Different shades may have different requirements in cost and powers but most have little power beyond the shadows of their origin. Essentially a Low Order Initiation, a shade of the pattern may have a vastly different appearance and effects. They may allow people to assay it easily, even if they only have a Human level Psyche.

*'''Sigil Ala Crea'''
**5 Pips for Basic Imprint.
**10 for Advanced Imprint.

*Holder can empower high Order Sorcery with the sigil at a great smaller power level then a pattern sorcerer.
*Walker must has Chaos Psyche and 1 Pip of Good Stuff.
*Can be used as a partial defense against directed magical attack.
*Can be used as a lens to detect magics.
*Its spell frame may hold as many 7 spells designed for the Ala Crea inscription.

Ja-random stuff

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Salinea: Reverted edits by BROFLAKE MAD (talk) to last revision by Tolknor

Jeweled Amber-Stories

2020-01-17T22:08:45Z

Salinea: Reverted edits by BROFLAKE MAD (talk) to last revision by Tolknor

These stories wer originally made for the [[Jeweled Amber]] game and may be part of the upcoming [[Jeweled Road and the War of Balance]] game

[[Random and Benedict]]

[[The Pad of Little Puppy Dog Feet-Tale of Fleece]]

[[Giovanni of Amber-The Jack of Amber]]

[[Thin Whip-Jurt's Tale]]

[[Borlak-Mine is Rage]]

[[Dalt at the Gates of Dawn]]

[[Galvar's Run]]

[[Tombs-Bleys & Caine]]

[[Delwin]]

[[Many Lives]]

[[Mark of Creation-Manadaly]]

[[In the Shadow of Red Wine]] Warwick of Avalon

[[Conference in the Tower]]

Warrior Core and Lord Gladiators Association

2020-01-17T22:08:42Z

Salinea: Reverted edits by BROFLAKE MAD (talk) to last revision by Tolknor

The Warrior Core and the Lord Gladiator Associations are found in many shadows and in many variations. This is a general listing of the organizations used in Gesheka, Randal, Vulsar Base, the Dramaturge, [[Ang Ri]] and Gutsedvem. The York shadows have a large number of interacting groups though they are headquartered at Gesheka. The Tosian Wold has a series of interlocking groups within its universe.

=='''Rules'''==
* While there are many rules, in nearly all realms WCA and LGA are non-Lethal sports. Variations across shadow where the "Games" are full blood sports are abhorred by sportsmen.

* While rules vary from realm to realm it is standard that no magical weapons or defenses of any kind may be used with the exception of certain type of healing magic that prevents death.

* No magical or clerical spells are used in in official events. There have been scandals where combatants have participated while under enchantment. Most Arena level venues have Mages on duty for detecting magical influences and for magical healing.
** Certain denominations across shadow, especially in the [[Tosa/York]] regions, have close association. Dolkian, Alexandrian, Fairhand, and Zatonian Sects have long histories as participating as well as providing clerical services for the Warrior Core and Lord Gladiator Associations in their realms.

* '''Magic Games''': Some realms, such as Gustevedem, have Associations for magical combatants. "Magic Games" have been known to be as dangerous to spectators as to the combatants.

* No archery weapons are allowed though all combat weapons may be thrown. No bows, crossbows, throwing stars, throwing spikes.

* Some associations have "[[Battle Circle]]" rules or "[[Battle Circle]]" events. , meaning only certain weapons are used. The typical standard weapons are sword(1), club(1), sticks(2), staff(1), daggers(2) or morning star(1). No shields are used and only one type of weapon allowed.

*Combats must wear, at a minimum, the ''Right Arm Harness''[[https://wiki.rpg.net/index.php/Warrior_Core_and_Lord_Gladiators_Association#Harness]].

=='''Victory and Combat Conventions'''==
The terms of victories in battle vary from association to association, with associations that practice similar rules interacting
*The majority of associations use a counted landed blow system.
*Many groups practice a form of honor combat relaying on combatants to acknowledge clean strikes. Abuses occur.
*
===Honor Combat Rule===
Associations that use the ''Honor Combat Rule'' state that when one fighter has clearly shown victory in the battle the opponent is ''Honor Bound'' to yield. In these bouts its considered uncouth, rude, and dangerous, to continue a fight past the point that the battle is clearly in the control of one fighter. These associations often have the most friendly crowds, and treat the activity as a test of warrior prowess where 'Yielding'' is as much a point of honor as ''Winning''. Forcing an opponent to batter another out of ego and hatred is not just frowned on, but often gets a participant suspended, banned, blacklisted or ejected from the sport.
===10 Called Rule===
Associations that use this rule have a mixture of warriors recognizing a strike as being cleanly landed and seemingly of a suitable strength to cause a wound to an unarmored opponent, referees calling a strike, and audience participation acknowledging a strike. Combatants may challenge a call though it rarely goes in their favor unless the opponent concurs with the challenge.

As in most of the Rule Systems, Reputation is as important as victory. A reputation for challenging strikes gives one a reputation for being argumentative. A reputation for depending on Referee calls, gives one a reputation for being ''thick''. Gaining a reputation as a cheater or a argumentative combatant lowers the likelihood of being booked.

===Ten Blood Rule===
In realms where victory and honor maybe be a less sure concept the ''Ten Blood Rule'' calls for referees to call wounds once a ''blooded'' or ''Hard Contact'' is made. At Ten calls the fight is completed. ''Three Blood'', ''Five Blood'', and ''Seventeen Blood'' are known variations on the Ten Blood Rule as are other counted totals depending on the event or venue.

===Three Down Rule===
The ''Three Down Rule'' calls for referees to call a 'Down' for a scored hit causing dramatic response from the combatant struck.
===Blood Fight Rules===
''Blood Fight Rule'' make the fighters fight till one yields or is wounded till unconsciousness.
===Death Match Rules===
''Death Match Rules'' require a fight till one opponent is slain. These games are usually in violent and desperate realms.

=='''Armor'''==
The vast variations of armor stylings is too numerous to discuss since they depend on the culture of the Association and the world it is in, the level of bloodsport, Honor combats or deathsport, and other elements. Personal choice is a strong matter as is the question of Vanity versus Safety.

In most associations a basic bodily covering is required but it is often disregarded and some venues are given exemptions. The Warrior Harness is often considered the minimum of armor standards.

A ''crotch guard'' is another nearly ubiquitous item. Usually a heavy kidney belt supporting a stainless steel padded codpiece, worn under short pants or battle skirt.

While ''Bare Combats'' occur in some associations it is extremely rare depending on the culture and the venue.

The ''Right Arm Harness'', as detailed below, is iconic for the sport. The ''Left Arm Harness'' is as much part of the whole of the body armor as it is an element of personal style, affiliations and personal safety.

=='''Cultural Elements of the Games'''==
The importance of the Associations vary from regions of usage. Their respectability is also questioned in some realms.

While worlds like Gutsedvem and Gesheka are bloody warrior worlds the non-lethal games aspect of the WCA and LGA allow the training of a warrior class among the general public. Most also are members of the military, security, and law enforcement organizations.

It is also attractive to bodyguards, bouncers, and violent criminals; all with an eye on improving their fighting ability and thir ability to intimidate.

The "respectability" of members and venues is often telling of the interest of the people eager to participate.

Competition between venue owners is often fierce, with prize and pay bouts coming at great price.

=='''Rankings'''==
The rankings of Warrior and Gladiator are each broken down into five levels.
The top are the [[Lords of the Game]], those who have achieved the highest level of regard in the realm of their association.

===Warrior Core===
Warrior Code members are considered Amateurs fighters.
[[File:Warriorgrades1.jpg]]
*'''Warrior''': ''Warrior'' is the entry rank granted when one is licensed to participate within the Association rules. Fights in the Warrior Class can be run by anywhere by licensed Referees. Warrior rank is the most common rank and many fighters never advance beyond it. Still, the Warrior Rank is a bragging point for many people in later life. The Circlet on the WR harness is Stainless Steel.
*'''Grade Warrior''':''Grade Warrior'' fights are often held in bars,, local fight clubs, and open air park tournaments.The Circlet on the WR harness is Stainless Steel and bronze stripes.
*'''Blade Warrior''':''Blade Warrior'' fights are held in Fight Clubs, Local Tournaments, fairs and special events.The Circlet on the WR harness is Stainless Steel and Bronze wedges.
*'''Front Warrior''':''Front Warrior'' fights take place in Fight Clubs and and special events. Front Warrior are considered Semi-Pro and often have sponsorships from commercial organizations. The Circlet on the WR harness is Stainless Steel and bronze quarters.
*'''Rank Warrior''':''Rank Warrior'' fights take place in Fight clubs as top billing and in Fight Arenas as opening and warm up battles. The Circlet on the WR harness is bronze.

===Lord Gladiators===
[[File:Lordgladiator1.jpg]]
*'''Gladiator''': Gladiator is the first Lord Gladiator rank and its importance bears comment. It is the beginning of a new combat class constituting the first of the ''Professional'' sportsman warriors. For a vast majority of ''Warrior' ranked this is the goal. To gain the "Gladiator" license. the entrance. The Circlet on the LG harness is Stainless Steel.

*Scale Gladiator: The Circlet on the LG harness is Blue effected aluminum or steel.
*Bond Gladiator: The Circlet on the LG harness is purple aluminum or steel.
*Rank Gladiator The Circlet on the LG harness is silver.
*Lord Gladiator The Circlet on the LG harness is gold.

==Lords of the Game==
[[File:Lord of the Games1.jpg]]
Lords of the Games are the Highest rank available in the Games. The total varies and the membership rules vary. The circlet on the LoG purple harness is usually mithril.

===The Gesheka Games===
The Gesheka Games are considered the original or most prestigious of the rankings, have 150 seats in the Grand Arena for the Lords of the Games.
*A challenger for Lordship must be at least Rank Gladiator. Though in practical terms it is extremely rare when someone other then a Lord Gladiator challenges.
*A challenger must have Rank or Lord Gladiator ranking in the Association in which the Seat is being challenged. A Lord Gladiator of the Vulsar Association can not challenge for a seat in the Gesheka Games. To do so he would have to Register as a Gladiator and progress in rank.

=='''Harness and Armor'''==
the '''Harness''' is the standard identifiable element of WC&LGA combat. As described below it has many variations but is generally a right arm leather guard for the chest, with leather pauldrons usually worn. To establish balance in the armor many participants use a similar harness on the left arm. In most associations this is the standard shoulder harness.

==='''Armor'''===
While the '''Harness'' is standard many fighters wear a wide variety of other armor pieces depending on the level of strength expected.

Common addition armor include:
*Gorgets
*Kidney Belts or Girdles
*Elbow and vanbraces
*Guatlets
*Leg and knee armor
*Greeves
*Armored boots.
==='''Harness'''===
[[File:Warriorharness.jpg]] [[File:Warriorharness-articles.jpg]]

The harness is different from Association to Association but is generally thick leather, strapped around the chest beneath the arm and strapped to a belt at the waist.. It is often worn in combat. The minimum Armor rules usually consider the chest plate of the Harness the least armored standard, worn over fabric clothes. The shoulder pauldrons are a commonly included attachment and are sold together. Chest and shoulder units are considered basic in nearly all venues.

*The combat harness is usually leather but non-combat versions of many kinds are worn socially. Many participants have cloth versions, light leather, even metal versions to be worn in social situations.
*Heavier versions, including metal harnesses, are often used in fights where such armor is part of the venue specific rules or by participant agreement. While association minimums are the rule for authorized fights, higher armor standards may be required by different venues.
*
====Harness Augmentation====

While Augmentation rules vary by association some rules are fairly standard.
====='''Right Arm Harness'''=====

The only decorations or augmentation required on the '''Right Arm Harness''' is the rank circlet.
Only two other decorations are allowed, under normal circumstance, on the harness is a symbol of religious devotion and a Lord's Favor purple strap.
===='''Left Arm Harness'''====
The '''Left Arm Harness'''is not part of the Association harness and is open to a great deal of individual decoration. Location of Augmentations is fairly standard but does vary.
*Personal Device or Symbol on the left breast.
*Sponsor's symbol on the shoulder.
*Championship rockers or banners on the lower chest piece.
*Some awards are given by cities or regions for public service and respect.
*A personal favor is ofter worn on the belt, as well as other favors for companions, warbands, team affiliations.

====Rear Harness====
===='''Saint of Battle Augmentation'''====
In many of the Tosa/York world exist an award called the [[Saint of Battle]]. Among the accouterments of the Order is a small golden '''S''' that is affixed on the first Lame below the should pauldren. The Saint of Battle sigil is awarded for life & death battles and has never been given for Association fights, even among Lord of the Game. Wearing the Sigil tells others that one is a warrior out of the arena as well as within it.

Many an Association fighter might go their whole lives and never meet an actual recipient of the Saint of Battle accolade. As such many fighters have assumed the Sigil without earning it. Some associations have awarded the Sigil, having been aware of the award, seen it in literature and never having had an actual recipient in their group. When the Order has been made aware of the sigil being used undeservedly they have made a huge stink about it.

=====[[The Wasaliak Incident]]=====

There is a famous incident that occurred in Wasaliak, a world connected to the Tosian/York Realms through [[Mac's Bar]]. The Order of the Saints of battle were informed that the the WCA and LGA had been established in a capital city in Wasaliak and had been active for 40 years. They foght under the 10 Blood rule of Victory. Among the awards frequently given to Lord Gladiators and Lords of the Games was the gold Saint of Battle Insignia and a granting of the right to call themselves Saints of battle.

The details can be found here:[[The Wasaliak Incident]]

===Belt===
[[File:WarriorBelt.gif]]

While a belt is worn with the harness to secure it in place during fights there is a series of common belts worn according to rank. They are a personal choice and are not required or official parts of the combat harness.
*''Green'' belts with buckles for the corresponding rank are worn by Warrior Core members. The green in respect of the Gladiatorial Ranks.
*''Purple'' belts with Buckles of the corresponding ranks are worn by Gladiators. Purple is in respect of the Lord of the Games.
*''White'' belts is worn by Lords of the Games, usually with a mithril buckle and a large mounted diamond.

===Harness Back===
[[File:Harness back.jpg]]

The back harness is an optional addition but is favored by the vast majority of Warrior level fighters.
*The long Harness back is meant to cover the kidneys.
*The short harness back allows more mobility.

While some augmentation is placed on the back it is generally overflow and considered not as respectful. It is generally left free.

Some associations allow the back harness to be more heavily armored, even using steel. The need to protect the kidneys and the spine is considered important enough depending on the association rules to add the protective lower back lames.

=='''Fandom, Fashion, and Memorabilia'''==
The amount of coverage particular fights vary from realm to realm. However in most realms the popularity of fighters is similar to mixed martial arts, boxing and other type of amateur and professional sports.

*Most combatants who achieve Gladiatorial ranks have fans. The higher they rise the more they gain.
*Like many other sports there are fans who prefer the amateur combatants and follow their exploits as devotedly as those who follow the professional gladiator ranks.
*Many combatants, especially in the professional ranks are sponsored by corporations, companies, noble families, royal and noblemen, and Venue owners.

Saint of Battle

2020-01-17T22:07:17Z

Salinea: Reverted edits by BROFLAKE MAD (talk) to last revision by Tolknor

[[File:Saintofbattle.gif]]

The Saints of Battle are warriors who have achieved a signature victorious battle or signature heroic defeat, considered mighty enough by the other Saints of Battle to accord them this peerage. It is considered a Knighthood in nearly all Tosain & York realms. In many realms the arrival of a Saint of Battle causes opposing warriors to rethink the question of conflict.

Warriors can achieve many awards. 3 Awards are required to be invited to the Council of Battle and vote on new recipients. Current members of the Council of Battle include King Alexandir KosKorag, Mitchot Kandif, Jake Whitetail, Kirgor the Red, Peredur, Conf, Grog, Mikon, and many others.

The only notification of an award is its sudden arrival, with the objects of the accolade.

===The accoutrement of the accolade===

The award comes in a box of rare woods of different kinds.

*The main emblem is a solid gold "S" in the form of the Saint's insignia.

*There are a dozen "S" sigil that will affix to armor, clothes, equipment, and almost anything. however, no more then the number of accolades the holder has will affix to any one item. Such, that while a holder may affix a emblem to 4 clocks, he may not affix 2 to one cloak.

*There is utility knife similar to a complicated swiss army knife.
*There is a shoulder draped cloak with a full sized symbol-(Similar to a fencing cloak.)

*There is a signet ring.

==Customs of the Order of the [[Saints of Battle]]==
Saints often challenge each other to combat, often on sight. It is considered bad manners to decline a single combat between recipients.

[[https://wiki.rpg.net/index.php/Tosa/York#Saint_of_Battle]]

Diners of Amber

2020-01-17T22:07:16Z

Salinea: Reverted edits by BROFLAKE MAD (talk) to last revision by Tolknor

==''Introduction''==
''What follows is an Article called <big>'''The Diners of Amber'''</big>.''

''It was part of the [[Jeweled Amber]] Campaign using the Amber Diceless RPG.''

''The campaign it was originally written for ended a very long time ago but i always liked reading this bit of it and occasionally editing it.''

''Putting it here means others might use it and enjoy it.''

''Over the years two more arcs of my game have used it, one currently in play. ''

''The original Diner article website included an addendum section and was posted on a Geocities website. Yahoo, in its infinite rapaciousness, devoured Geocites like a chop-shop that strips classic cars down and sells off the parts. They shut it down when they found better was to make money. Geocites was as much about creating and supporting communities and i don't think their replacements, Wikipedia and Facebook, do anywhere near as good a job at it. But Yahoo was in it for the money so communities be damned.

''Moving it to RPGnet has made the original format obsolete, so i have added the addendum here in ''italics''. Also this writeup is specifically for the ''War of Balance'' games, the current and previous arcs, so it does not relate to the first game much anymore. Not that any of those players are likely to ever find this. If you do, dear friends, let me know. Those games were some of the most enjoyable in my gaming experience.''

''As of 3/3.2018, ive begun including ((GM-Notes)) to list where i had put lines in this article with them as guides for the PCs to find adventures or mysteries, In the time the game was run some got looked into but not many. I put this here so if a GM decided to use the Diners article in their game, which i encourage, they will have some game ideas. If you the GM decide to use the Diners of Amber Article, let me know. I'll happily help facilitate that for you.''

----
==''First arc and the Games beginning''==
A brief comment on the [[Jeweled Amber]] Game- The campaign began in the 20th year of Random's Reign. The Books of Corwin, as dictated to Merlin are canonical. The second series as written by Merlin includes available people and powers but is mainly a fictional representation of Merlin and his family as he becomes High Lord of Chaos. In the Jeweled Amber game Swayvil is a title taken by the High Lord.

At the beginning of his reign he required an ''Article of Submission'' from his siblings and other member of the royal family. The article called Diners of Amber was what Bleys wrote originally. He had taken his failure to win Amber hard. He became a drunkard and a literati, produced plays, gave great parties and otherwise became something of an embarrassment to the royal family of Amber.

During Random's reign new members of the blood of Amber kept popping up and causing troubles. The final straw for Random was a man named Adrien, a son of Oberon, who acquired the Jewel of Judgment, and used it to sanctify the realm of Ygg, creating Mandalay, a Primal Realm. One of the effects of this creation was a jeweled puzzle-stone road from the Castle of Amber to the Abyss at the scene of the Battle of Patternfall. This road, called the Jeweled Road, cut through shadow and allowed a great deal of travel among shadows.

Enraged at the creation Random demanded that all members of the family bring their hidden children to court.

The game began there.

----

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==<big>'''Publication Credits on the Diners of Amber'''</big>==

A commentary on the Place Trumps of King Random's Deck

By Prince Bleys of Amber

Originally Published Jan 7, 5250, New Warren Press, City of Amber, Amber.

Revised and augmented by Bleys of Amber, Aug 30, 5251

Reprinted and included with the Citizen Decks of the King Random's Trumps.

''Publisher's Note: "The Commentary & Addendums" have been subjected to augmentation as additional cards were added. Bleys has come to feel that new information was useful to the holders of Trump Decks as well as the general public. Especially since owners of both magical and non-magical decks seemed to receive the benefit of new cards, it seemed only proper that the Commentary & Addendum also enlarged. The enlargement of the original article, which served as Bleys's [[Article of Submission]] is a sore spot between Bleys and Dworkin. King Random's Last Word follows the Article and was originally only included in the magical card sets. But as the project grew in scope and usefulness, the Last Words became included.''

*Notations in Green are ''Addendums''
*Notations in Purple are ''GM Notes''

=='''<big>Bleys' Introduction</big>'''==

'''Random is a funny kind of guy. No one disputes that. One need only ask Brother Ben how he feels about being Marshal of Amber to get a sense of what a swell guy Brother Random is. As is said in shadow, a picture is worth a thousand words. Good thing because Ben does not seem to say much when asked. A picture is far more expressive.

So what kind of expression do I set pen to page to provide? What kind of picture will I paint of our beloved monarch King Random I of Amber? How do I go about telling you the reader who steers the ship of state and yet keep myself from being sentenced to the bilge pumps of said vessel?

Let us take a look at the pictures in King Random's Deck!

The deck you most likely hold, unless my dear kinsmen read this and peruse their own deck, was the creation of the US Playing Card Company, Detroit, Michigan. Trust Random to get his printing done out of the country. What with all those hard working native playing card makers starving in the alleys of Amber.
By
For shame, sire.

I must admit that it is a clever trick that even these mass produced trump knock-offs occasionally grow new cards, change card names or images, or magically change font, numerical value, and card back designs from time to time. Random always was a tricky guy. An especially tricky thing happened soon after the original decks were handed out to the kinsman and non-magical cards were produced. Not only did the deck mysteriously generate new images of Amberian origin, but also several trumps of Mandalain and Chaosian origins appeared. Dworkin has stated that no card has been included without the king's approval despite the artist or realm of origin. They all come before his perusal and approval.

I suspect Dworkin is trying to encourage tourism or militarism. It might be worthwhile to examine who owns the hotels and diners near the point of arrival the new trump display. The reason I suspect Dworkin is that ol' granpappy cornered me and told me that from time to time I would be required to create new comments on newly added cards.

I told him that to do so would defeat the reason I did the first article called the "Diners of Amber."

His response was, "Tough shit, Kid. You gonna cross me?"

No, Grandfather, I am not.

Let me state for the record that I painted fully half of the original landscapes. Merlin, Dworkin, Fiona, Caine, Vance, and Delwin painted the rest. Merlin tells me that the trumps with Chaosian title bars came from his personal trump deck. Dworkin claims to have done the ones with Mandalian title bars. Dworkin's manipulation of shadow and the pattern caused the vast array of duplicates to appear for the travel ease of the cousins.

Perhaps in due time I shall apply myself to a commentary on them, as well as my beloved siblings. Fiona tells me that writing may wash away the angst I feel over my own grief. Really, sister dear? Perhaps I will start with you when the time comes.

As Corwin once said, "Come whisper me your objections."

But what does this have to do with the Diners of Amber?

Well, the Trumps of Amber are available at any of the more trendy places. I picked up the set I am examining at one of those nasty green coffee bars that seem to be popping up everywhere. We didn't have coffee bars when Oberon ruled. We had coffee shops that served breakfast eggs and potatoes swimming in bacon grease with black coffee you could float a nail on and you paid in silver or you got spit in your drink next time and you liked it. For those of you keen on details my favorite place was Aunt Galiray's Vale. It was near the castle road and served a meal an Amberite could really dig into. Corwin and I once left food on our plates. Those were the days. I hear Galiray is living in Garn now. Her vale is a Starbucks. How the mighty have fallen.

Speaking of which, these cards.

Pull out your own set and we'll go over them together.

King Random's Deck comes in two parts. Major Arcanum and Minor Arcanum.

The Major arcanum is further divided it to places and people. The place cards open portals for transportation if used by my kinsman. The family cards represent the members of the House of Amber or the lineage of Dworkin Bariman, previously a Lord of Chaos and a mental patient, recently revealed as sire of our line. We happy kinsman may use these cards with each other for communication, transportation, and as Brand proved, assassination of both characters and personages.

For those of you playing games with these, the Major Arcanum is good for Assassin's Gambit, Dangealri and Firs. It also has its uses for fortunetellers and real estate agents. Every place in the deck has raised its property values. Some have raised their prices. The lower arcanum is a typical playing deck. Four suits numbered 1 or ace to King, passing through nine, ten, Page, Knight, & Queen on its way. There is no Joker in the deck. That was simply too good a jab to make at any one member of the royal family and despite voluminous advice on that matter Random thought it prudent not to single anyone out. For that I guess I do owe him a nod of gratitude. Aficionados of card games play either 52 card or 56 card Poker, Tonk, Canasta, Gin, Balru, or Hand's War. The pages taking the roles of wild cards where needed. I prefer the 56-card versions myself. I like a game with an element of uncertainty. Go figure.

But I digress.

The deck betrays Random's love of food, cards, and his hate of horses.

Herein submitted,

Prince Bleys of Amber

----

=='''Place Cards of King Random's Deck'''==

===<div class="center" style="width: auto; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;">'''The Lighthouse of Cabra'''<div>===
<div class="center" style="width: auto; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;">[[File:Pcabra.jpg]]<div>

The first card is the Lighthouse of Cabra. This picturesque isle sits miles out to sea and lights the way for ships bound to Amber's shore, either down one of the many merchant-shipping lanes or randomly out of shadow. Many a ship has smashed itself against that sudden shore, hence the reason for the lighthouse. Oberon ordered it built in the early days of Amber once he discovered it was too big to move. Osric designed it and he, Finndo, and Benedict did much of the actual labor. The place is a dour edifice architecturally but consider the creators.

Admiral [[Jopin of Cabra]],(retired.) runs the tower and the whims of politics wash over him as unchanging as the sea. A solitary man by nature the Hero of Talgwin's Deep, the Battle of Diega Swan, the straights of Tortus, and the victor of [[Bunny Free]]'s Siege suffers visitors with marginal grace as long as they are will to work at maintaining the place some while they are there. It is a coincidence, I am sure, that so many little projects were on the venerable captain's to-do list when company arrives. Bring your overalls if you make the trip. A good pair of gloves and a couple of kegs of the best brew you can find will also be a wise piece of luggage for those who come a knocking at his door.

It turns out that this card is extremely useful if you want to sail a ship in to Amber through a trumpgate. First gate on the left, straight on till morning.)

Recently Jopin found himself dragged back into active duty. He is not amused.

((GM-Notes; Bring your own overalls. PCs might just drop in on Jopin since he was a person in the books. Also Jopin was being reactivated and might have sent PCs to tend his garden, feed his cat, or maintain the Lighthouse and its light.))

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==='''Castle Amber'''===
[[File:Pcastleamber.jpg]]

The second card is the courtyard of Castle Amber herself. It is by far the most commonly used trump in the deck since it delivers the weary traveler into the bosom of felicity itself. Of course the first thing one notices upon arriving is that a dozen pointed archery weapons are trained tightly on you. Ranging from the new repeating crossbows, the cloth yards of yew longbowman to the sinister clockwork ballisteas Random uses to punch holes in iron-shod ships; the armed array is impressive. Additionally, a cool company of the most unfriendly faces to ever walk the last mile of a death row prison hold a collection of pointy and edged armaments to greet the visitor who arrives with less then friendly intentions. Sorcerers with very little pity back them for security.

Benedict takes nothing for granted in the defense of Amber. Invaders would be well advised to choose another route in. Don't try the stairway up Kolvir either, its been tried and the price was paid in blood; My own.

In Random's favor can be pointed out that the finest trauma team to be found in shadow also awaits the traveler who arrives having found shadow too frolicsome for their tastes.

((GM_Notes: I had thought PCs might do duty as guards in this place where others might trump in.))

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==='''Neal's Diner, New Velri City, Ruthar, United States of Antherica'''===

[[File:Pnieldiner.jpg]]

The third card is the first of the Diners of Amber and a swell place it is too. Neal's Diner is in the heartland of Antherica, on Urth, a technological epoch where the sound barrier is as newly broken as the color barrier is. New Velri City, in the state of New Velri, is a charming city that never sleeps. Likewise is the always-open Neal's Diner, a well-appointed eatery by any standards. Random included this place for two reasons.

First is that this massive coffee shop style restaurant serves one of the best breakfasts Random ever found and I must agree. He has established a tab usable by anyone telling the waitress to "put it on Randy's tab." Laura Dearly runs the front. Everyone calls her "Laura Dear." Buddy Drummen is the magnificent chef. He is willing to make amber-sized meals but insists on being called 'Sir.' Wise people do so if they want to be sure all they eat is his cooking. After one particular meal I decided if Buddy ever makes it to Amber I will knight him myself. I never have gotten a straight answer concerning who Neal is.

The second reason is that the basement is an underground card-club that Random frequents, and may have a stake in, financially. Georgie Reno runs the card game. Random supplies the bouncers, who are frequently members of the Amber Guard, in double-breasted silk suits. Cheating is not tolerated and frankly is rarely attempted.

Many an Amberite Guardsman can be found as bouncers and clientele both upstairs and down. Across the street is a boarding house that is a who's who of Amber nobility and younger sons serving their term of service. Two movie houses nearby show talkies and silent films, and color movies are all the rage. What the point is in a color-silent film I don't get.

A tattoo parlor on the same block has a collection of insignia and designs that can be found no where else in that shadow. Bruno Sveldt, a disreputable character at best, is an artist of the first water in the craft of body art. He has learned not to mock the large, burly men, and the lithe and equally stern women, who come into his shop to have the green disc and golden laurel wreath, surrounding a white unicorn, tattooed on their biceps. He made the mistake once; telling one such man that he must be part of a very tough gang of nancy boys and fierce butt-pirate swishes to want that tatted on himself. Bruno was missing for a few days, unlamented. Upon his return he was nothing but utter politeness and solicitude to any person who dared ask for that unusual design, and will put it anywhere they ask, at no charge. His hand never wavers till after the client is gone, then it shakes, he closes the store, and he drinks his whiskey through a straw.

Addendum

I was speaking to Sergeant Garry Gavno, a Calro member of the elite Amber Guard, and a frequent pattern guardian, about Neal's Diner. He gave me the scoop on what they did to Sveldt.

The story is that Constance Kieln, a very tough Dreanan man of the House of Brolic, despite the name, who holds the rank of Captain in the Amber Guard, was one of the first Amber Guards man to do service under Random at the card club beneath Neal's. He was a sergeant then. He and several guys got the tattoo on their upper arm, and Sveldt thought it a very funny little device.

At a later time, while getting some other tattoo work done, Sveldt made his little insult. Constance dragged Sveldt directly to Amber, to the compound that the Amber Guard calls home. 30 guys, led by Julian, took him deep into shadows where monsters dwell and beat the living hell out of him for a couple months. They put a band of healing on him and fed him to a passel of lions and tigers and bears, oh my, who could rip him to pieces but not fast enough to keep the healing band from repairing him. So they ripped him up as fast as he healed for about a month. They then unceremoniously dumped him back at home, short three days.

That is as good an object lesson as I can imagine for those who desire to cross the Amber Elite Guard.

Also, Dreanans do not take insults well. Dour bunch they are.''

((GM-Notes: Neal's Diner and this word i envisioned as a common spot for PCs to meet, perhaps neutral territory between feuding PCS and such. Card games. Maybe even if the PC is an Elite, serving guard duty here for Random. And of course, who is Neal anyway...))

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==='''Aglevar's Kitchen'''===

[[File:Paglevarkitchen.jpg]]

Fourth is Aglevar's Kitchen. Mama Aglevar is a wonder. She must be what all, good cooking, mothers are shadows of. She is the mother hen of a brood of small ones that either never grow up or breed very true copies of each other because the same kids always seem underfoot when visitors arrive. The cat Buttons is as friendly as can be.

Mama Aglevar will cook anything you ask, any time of the day or night, as long as you are willing to clean some dishes, look after the kids, or do any one of a thousand kitchen chores that always need doing. She will critique your wardrobe, hairstyle, or your choice in significant or insignificant others. She can put a wicked edge on a knife but won't touch anything larger than a carving knife or a woodsman's ax. Don't even ask. I get all my pocketknives honed to delicious razors in her place for the cost of a load of dishes or a few magic tricks to distract the kids from yanking on Button's tail. Benedict claims to have taught her this trick but I think the knack is hers.

While I consider it a Diner of Amber it not exactly a diner. I told Mama Aglevar I was calling it that and she thought the joke a funny one and gave me a cookie. A big chocolate chip and oatmeal one. With raisins too!

Did I mention she won't cook anything to go? If she makes you a pastrami sandwich, my personal favorite, you better smear it with her homemade mustard and prepare to eat it there. If you grab it and run you will never hear the end of it. "Bleys, you can't just grab that and run! Eating like that will hurt your digestion, your complexion, your hairdo, your libido, your ingrown toe nails, your...."

I never knew eating while walking could be so dangerous.

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==='''Sea View Garden, Amber'''===

[[File:Pseaviewgardenabmer.jpg]]

Overlooking the beach at Cabal's Neck, from the eastern edge of the 6th floor of the Castle Amber is a wide verandah balcony that is one of the most truly beautiful sights in all of shadow. Flora out did herself during Eric's reign when she converted a bare rooftop into one of the friendliest places in the city of Amber. 100 tables adorn this lush flower overgrown slice of heaven. Each table seems to have a great view and each seems to have ample privacy. Flora tells me that somehow the design of the place, with its rises and shallows seems to hinder the flow of sound from table to table, if not the flow of sea breezes and spring flower's scent.

This is the breakfast nook of Amber. Nearly all of the family, and most of the guests, try to get table space here to take their morning coffee. Waiters scurry unseen, the buffet is always fresh, and the coffee pot is always full. Tables seat between 2 and 20 people. It is not rare to find the Ambassador of Chaos and the King of Amber sitting together, taking croissants and cocoa at sunrise.

At night candles and oil lanterns that emit only light illuminate the garden. Glow globes sit on the tables themselves. The light is important because without them it is dark, dark, dark like a tomb. No city lights are visible. The castle itself blocks most of them. Even the great Signal Fire at the harbor gates is obscured.

Flora can be found here most nights, holding court amongst the ladies of the elite. Romantic dinners and private parties nestle amongst the vines and eavesdropping is considered a terrible breach of etiquette.

Let me tell you, there is one thing you do not want and that is to have Flora give you a lesson in etiquette after you have been caught showing that you need one.

Addendum

"The breakfast nook of Amber...."

"Sea View Gardens casts shadows of elegance. It is Flora's crowning achievement."

Each of us are archetypes and this is the expression of hers.

It is easy to underestimate sister Florimel. She cultivates the appearance of weakness and neediness and a shallow veneer that is so often attached to stunningly gorgeous women. It makes others defend them or provide for them. Don't be fooled. She carries grenades in her purse. Her wolfhounds are never more then a whistle away. She is a crack-shot with bow or rifle, shuriken or butterknife. She stood the line at the edge of the Abyss during the Battle of Patternfall, raining deadly arrows on the foethings. She is shockingly strong when she needs to be. I am told that during an argument Caine once slapped her. Her response was to kick him in the yarbles. Apparently medical attention was needed. Caine denies it but i've noticed he never stand close to Flora when shes angry.

In our youth we were all given military training. She fixated on archery. She no longer competes in the [[Civilian City Cohorts]] archery tournements and is often their judges. She has instructed both army and Elites in the longbow. She may not be a wargoddess but Diana has nothing on her at arrow point.

Her allure is that of a flibbertigibbet. Her resolve is steel. Never let her batting eyelashes make you forget that she is a Princess of Amber.

Men have come to fear me, or Benedict or Gerard or Julian, and even Dierdre. Remember Lothario, Floremel is of the blood royal and her knives are sharp.

The floral displays are exquisitely balanced for height, thickness, color combinations and scent. The food is a complex menu spanning simple fair such as bagels, cream cheese and lox, cold cereal, and oatmeal to crescents, crepes, and mind-boggling other concoctions common across shadow.

Some piece of minor sorcery and structural design does keep it fairly difficult to eavesdrop.

There is a piece of etiquette that has developed in Sea View that bears mention. While one may see a vast number of people at Sea View one does not usually walk up and just talk to them. First one catches the eye of the person you would have conversation with then make a tiny gesture, a quarter twist of a hand, indicating you would like to approach and speak. The response in the affirmative is for the respondent to motion with of opening and closing an upturned palm. A negative response is back and forth sweeping motion with the hand. The only counter to a negative response is to rudely ignore the desires of the respondent.

Flora is very unhappy about the fact that a number of conflicts have broken out here, harming the flowers.

By the way, thinking that Sea View Gardens is a better shortcut into Castle Amber then arriving through the Castle Amber trump is a bad idea. This way is guarded too. While you may get away with it once or twice, because Flora does not stock violent toys in abundance, it should be noted that Flora is often here holding court, and she is not someone to piss off. There is also a fair chance that the diners on the verandah might be violently annoyed if their lunch is disturbed. Fair warning.

A further note-I recently learned that the Amber Elites do in fact schedule meals here for the purpose of guarding the entrance as well as eating their meals. They REALLY don't like having THEIR meals disturbed.

((GM-Notes: This place is certainly a hotbed of activity. I envision PCs who need to talk to Random, or any Elder, might meet them here for drinks or lunch. Lover's quarrels. Random and the Ambassador of Chaos are said to meet for breakfast here. Handy information))

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==='''The Oracle of Mandalay'''===

[[File:Poracleofmandalay.jpg]]

Many of the cards in King Random's deck are mere conveniences to the weary traveler who does not want to make an extensive Hellride just to get a slice of cheesecake or to play a few hands of poker; such being amongst the king's passions. The fifth card is not one of these.

Like any Oracle the Oracle of Mandalay is a solemn thing not to be approached lightly or disregarded casually. For thousands of years we of Amber speculated whether the shadow realms existed independently of our will, or if they came into being at our wish. Oberon and Dworkin have both come down firmly on the 'Always Existed' side of the argument and that pretty much settles it for me. The question about Oracles is does the destiny they see exist before they reveal it or are your actions locked into the fates they foresee by your submitting yourself to their observations. Six of one, Half dozen of another. You place your bets; you take your chances. You pay your losses with cash in the coin of blood.

This Oracle was once a powerful oracle near the Chaos Sway world of Gknfhnismznup and the vale that contained Ygg. Don't expect me to pronounce it. I called it Guknup. When the Mark of Mandalay was created the world was swept up in the forces of creation and purified. Now this pinnacle created by ugly forces of erosion rises above a newly verdant world. Above it swirls a constant series of clouds in a speedy succession of rain, thunders, clear, fog and stormy lightning. Cast your question into the wind and live with your results. You have been warned.

((GM_Notes: There are 3 Oracles in the deck. Each has powerful abilities to give PCs unsure what to do with themselves a powerful direction. A GM can give them a good kick in the but with these))

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==='''Gutsedvem'''===

[[File:Pgutsedvem.jpg]]

The sixth card is the magnificent pleasure realm of Gutsedvem. For a more intensive description of this shadow look for Bleys' Book of Gutsedvem, available throughout Amber. I love this place. This Black Zone world is one of the most friendly and peaceful worlds close to chaos. It is a pleasure world where nearly anything is available. Even cheesecake.

It is also originally, the closest world to the Courts of Chaos in the deck and those traveling that far frequently trump here first. The question is having done so what might be important enough that they can't stay just a few days here. Maybe a week. Heck, Amberites are immortal and whatever problems you were fleeing to Chaos to solve, settle or provoke aren't really that important. Have a drink.

You see the danger?

The Baths of Bali are orgasmic. Warm, thick, like swimming in photosensitive, psychoactive, empathic, and aphrodisiac Jell-O.

The Halls of All have nearly every form of game, challenge, contest of skill or feat of daring.

The Hall of Magic has many styles of magical initiations. It has a Master's [[Mal at Riess]]. Its has the best known [[Woven Logrus]], a 88% knotted construct.

The Feast Hall has a table that is thousands of mile long heaped high with every kind of substance one might be inspired to ingest, from the most potent smoking herbs to the most luscious ice creams. Egad...

I ought to snicker. Really.

Imagine putting this card in the deck? Its an instigation to get lost in shadow and never return. I only mentioned a few places i liked before but don't just look them up. This is a world. It has cities, realms, wildlife, forests, oceans, islands, and tens of millions of people that fled other realms to live here with the hundreds of millions of natives. It has an incredibly diverse ex-pat community with refugees from Amber to Chaos. However, Amber and Chaos, as well as most Golden Circle and Black Zone worlds, have vibrant Embassies here and they are postings greatly sought after.

Everyone here seems to have found their 'niche'. Unlike most worlds this place somehow subtly directs people onto the correct path to achieve whatever it is that is their heart's desire. It means that if you wanted to be an architect you become one, if you want to be in the circus you do it. If you love sex you end up a sex worker in one of thousands of establishments in this world where such work is respected. If you want to do nothing all day, you win one of the million lotteries, win big at poker, get a huge settlement, or otherwise get your hands on big money.

This is a black zone world though. There is a fair turnover in roles here and death occurs. There are gladiatorial games, wizards duels, and drag races.

There is an elaborate gladiatorial combat system that is an obsession on this world. It also spills out into Chaos. It is in its full fruition on the world of [[Gesheka]] but is extremely well represented here. The difference of course is that on [[Gesheka]] the Lords of the Games are all natives.

Topping this is a group of 150 Lords of the Games who gain their seats by a bloody death. A complex ranking system leads one from the lowest levels of Warriors fighting in clubs all over the world to Gladiators, fighting in regional arenas to Lord Gladiators fighting in the Main arena in Guro, Gutsedvem.

I hold the rank of Lord Gladiator and they all know who i am. They also know that one day i will decide which of the 150 Lords of the Games i want to kill. After that, well, this is a BZTP world after all.

For more on the Gladiatorial League see the tome the [[Harness of Blood]].

Be careful.

((GM-Note: This place is full of lots of the things to distract PCS from their duties. And that is what i meant it to do. Distract PCs. As such it was going to be a place on a PC's hellride toward Chaos. Or a walk down the Jeweled Road. Additionally, the Gladiatorial League was intended to help school PCs in combat. Even non-warriors need to learn the ADRPG form of spoken combat and to get the hang of it in a way that does not necessarily include bloodshed.))

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==='''Racsir Isle'''===

[[File:Pracksir.jpg]]

A small island in a massive world-spanning archipelago is the seventh card in the deck. I am not sure why Random included Racsir Isle but a couple things are clear. It is a great place for anglers, scuba divers, and water sportsman. Ships are common and thousands of little islands, some not much larger than one room, are connected by ramshackle walkways that make getting anywhere difficult. The people are friendly, open, and ask few questions. Nearly anyone you meet will gladly clean your fish, filet them, package them for transport or cook them up on the spot. They seem to have nothing else to do all day.

If questions are asked of them, they can become quiet as clams. Friendly, smiling, helpful, dumb as the fish they catch by the ton, taciturn and secretive as the ''Costra Nostra''.

I asked Random what the deal was with this play. His response was," Don't you like fish?" I told him that I love fish, even love fishing, but there seemed something was wrong with the people there. He smiled and said, "Nope, that is just how I wanted them."

So take this shadow as a lesson in shadow navigation. Some places are just not full places. Ride on through them or deal with their vacancies.

I recently had a chance to travel around this world. It has some very odd things going on around it.

I took a sailing ship and found that in a southern sea, far from the location the card delivers its viewers, is a proper city called Hunkala, where the natives speak a Thelusian Thari with perfect clarity in the same way a Scotsman speaks english. This moist seaport seems to be where many fisherman bring their catches and where vast amounts of salted, dried, frozen, and jerked fish seems to end up through a ratline of traders and merchantmen that mainly ply the southern waters. Right next to the main wharf, near the center of an active market, is 300 feet of Jeweled Road. I had no idea. Apparently there is brisk trade in fish to nearby worlds, not that i had ever heard about it. Still, this makes me feel much better about this place despite my initial impression.

Secondly, to my shock, the atmosphere ends at a 12000' above sea level. Luckily few of the mountains on this rocky wet word come close to that. However, two do. One reaches 15k and has a castle sitting in the vacuum of space. What does the castle look like? Castle Amber of course. The other in a mountain on the southern polar pole. It is a spindly thing reaching 30,000 feet in the air. Its like a pin the top spins on and it can be seen at great distances Its pinnacle is a crystal large enough to glow from solar light and mariners us it as a beacon. Weird.

Lastly, as i traveled the planet, fishing, diving, relaxing, i noticed the types of fish were an odd mix. I dove in a number of places and i have come to conclude that in the waters of this world are numerous shadow paths that are well established and used almost exclusively by sea creatures. Perhaps a shadow of a Rebman trade route has cast its self into the deeps.

((GM-Notes: I thought a quiet conversation over fishing might be nice. Also a nice weird environment might be nice to explore))

[[File:Greenwhitedrapedsword.gif]]

==='''The Tombs of Amber'''===

[[File:Pcorwintomb.jpg]]

Now the fact that Random put this eighth card in the deck is a clear sign that he has a nasty twisty mind. The card goes to a collection of Tombs on the face of Kolvir. The first one was a Tomb of Corwin that was constructed when it was believed he was dead. It turned out to be wishful thinking on Eric's part. Corwin once said that when he gained the Jewel of Judgment he considered blasting the thing to ruble but decided he might need it some day and it was a nice enough place to rest. Especially nice if the family could not arrange to dump his corpse in with the ''Ancestors of Darkness''.

Since Patternfall a regular community of the dead has popped up in the area and a number of people visit it for clandestine meetings, quiet gatherings and sometimes even raucous parties. It is not officially off-limits, but that time may come.

Recently the Chaos born Cults of Amber have been having what amount to church services here. I walked in on one such groups at my sarcophagus.

I personally built Brand's Tomb. I figured no one else would care to, after what he almost did to us, but heck, I had some really fine times with my mad, tragic, and melancholy brother before he got shafted and died in the Abyss. Once upon a time I kept my booze supply in his sarcophagus.

Most of these are more monument then tomb. There are several of them here. All in all there are tombs for Corwin, Deirdre, Eric, Oberon, Brand, Finndo, Bleys, Osric, & Mirelle. Of these only Eric has the good manners to lay dead in his. Corwin, is still amongst the living. Finndo is supposed to have died on the pattern at the end of his short reign but the details of this are fudgey and Dworkin isn't talking. Oberon lays in Chaos in a place the royalty lay their dead called the Tombs of the Ancestors of Darkness. Brand and Deirdre both died in the Abyss. Oberon and Random both confirmed that both Osric and Mirelle are dead and properly buried but neither has had their corpses hauled back for burial. I'm building mine slowly, since im not in a real hurry to sleep in it.

Random once told me he thought having empty tombs could come in handy one day. I did not like the smile he gave me.

Addendum

Mirelle turns out to be plenty alive despite the wishes of the sons of Rilga.

Deirdre turns out to have survived her plunge into the abyss but was so traumatized that her mind was damaged. She now holds the form of the wolf and is bonded with Fleece. I could make doggie-style jokes I suppose but let us just take them as read.

Brand is alive too, and in distress deep in the abyss. Gosh, what a pity. I no longer believe that Finndo and Osric are dead but I have no proof to the contrary.

Eric is still dead. I checked.

I recently purchased a little plot of land on the slope of Kolvir. Well, purchased is not the right word, but you know what I mean. I am currently building my own tomb. Corwin had the right of it. It is always best to be prepared.

New News0. Yes, Osric and Finndo are both alive. Amberites are tough to keep dead. Even the dead ones have their plans.

More Good News: Brand is footloose and fancy free. Can no on rid me of this troublesome brother?

I am not sure calling these Tombs is appropriate. Call them abstract portraits in stone.

((GM-Notes: a fine place for clandestine meetings and secret rituals))

[[File:Greenwhitedrapedsword.gif]]

==='''Brolic's Tower-Dreana'''===

[[File:Pbrolictower.jpg]]

The tenth card shows a tower, a tooth of stone, rising out of a crystal clear lake. The House of Brolic rules the vast realm of [[Dreana]], a Golden Circle Signatory, from this edifice. The trump delivers you to the point that this view is taken from. A way station prepares visitors for the trip down to the shore, across the ferry, and up the winding trail that leads to the top.

Someone really nervous created this royal tower, someone really afraid of attackers. I would not be eager to try and take it by force. Within the realm of Dreana, where the Brolics rule, sorcery, conjuration, and even shadow magic does not work.

The interior is suitably medieval and gothic. I bet Oberon just loved the place. I find it and its people dour and depressing. If they don't like that portrayal they can kiss my hairy red-freckled arse.

Addendum

I was not going to talk about the Brolics, also called the Dreanans, but since Dworkin has me going to all the trouble of creating a whole new volume I guess I can heap some shit on my least favorite Golden Circle Kingdom.

Dreana, ruled by the House of Brolic, tends to breed true a depressingly hostile mindset. The world itself is heavily forested. Wood is one of their main exports.

Dreana provides something like 1/20th of the military of Amber, enough to make them a common presence in Amber. They are a fair skinned, dark-haired race as a rule with a shocking blotch of blue hair every so often. They have a heavy distinctive brow and a tendency towards square jaws. Their eye colors tend to change on a monthly basis based on the individual's current food intake. Weird. The Blue, those with blue hair, have deep light blue eyes, a more elfin stature, dramatically better balance and eye-hand coordination. Someone mated with something different somewhere in the ancient past. Dreanans tend to encourage the Blue to travel offworld.

They are fiercely pro-amber, and rumor has flown for a thousand years that the kings of Dreana, Lords of House Brolic, would jump like a cat if a Grand Ducal coronet were ever dangled before them. Trading in the royal crown of Dreana for an Amberian Grand Ducal coronet might make them citizens of Amber but it won't make them any more pleasant. Apparently the sticking point involves details of fealty and the acts of submission required to convert a sovereign realm into a part of the Kingdom of Amber. It figures that it would take a thousand years to get the Dreanans to bend q knee.

A disproportionate number of Dreanans become sergeants in the Amber military because they want to pick fights so often they need muzzles and the officer corp can provide this. The run-of-the-mill Dreanan is boring, loudly depressing, loudly pessimistic, mean-spirited, combative, and miserly. They rarely go in for the arts because they tend to be stupid and uncreative too.

If this seems a bit harsh then you go check them out yourself. Better yet, consider the following.

They export a dazzling variety of raw gems because the people in this shadow never developed the craft of stone cutting or adornment. Thus gems have no value in Dreana except as export items. After 12,000 years they still have not got the idea that gems look cool, and make great additions to daggers, crowns, rings, and other pretty things. Not that they would notice; 'Pretty' is lost on them. They have no tradition of jewelry beyond crowns and circlets, signet rings and household badges, unit insignia and pilgrims tokens. They wear crowns and circlets but they are nearly all the same. There are 12 levels in the Dreanan aristocracy and each level has a distinctive style of coronet. All dull, all plain, all made from silver. In a shadow with massive amounts of Mithril, far beyond normal proportions, these people make their circlets out of common silver.

I personally believe the reason the Dreanan's have not joined the Kingdom of Amber is that they can't figure out how to divest themselves of the 12th step of their coronets. I once had an argument about this with the King of Dreana. He refused to understand that he could simply start calling the King's Crown, the Grand Duke's Coronet. I pointed out to him that the Ducal Coronet and the King's Crown top the Dreanan scale of 12. He could swear fealty and then the ducal coronet and the Grand Ducal coronet would top the Dreanan scale. He argued that it was called the King's Coronet and asked how could he call it anything else. I asked if he wanted it to be a princely Coronet but he pointed out that the Dreanan scale does not recognize the rank of prince, except as a non-Dreanan rank. I wanted to shoot myself to end the argument but gunpowder does not work in Amber.

The crack about not recognizing princely rank made me think he was insulting me but you can usually tell when a Dreanan is insulting you because their lips quiver and they start throwing punches. I think he was just being stupid. I give them this; they don't go in for long drawn-out shouting matches. If they generate the brainpower to insult you they are ready to fight and throw the first punch. I hate to admit that this is one of the virtues I admire in the dreary dreanans.

The Dreanan social system allows advancement but is as rigid as any caste system in all shadow. As any historian will tell you, caste systems lead to social and technological stagnation and a lack of incentive to improve living conditions, develop medical advances, and expand mercantile activity. They also devalue historical study leading to 'unsound' historiography and a development of religious systems based on mythic characters. That’s the Dreanans to a tee!

I think the House of Brolic eventually conquered this world because someone in Brolic said, "Hey, lets make our duke's coronet a little bigger than everyone else's!" Thus are nations created in the stupid shadows.

They use the Amber currency system because despite vast gold, silver, and Mithril reserves, they never developed a metal-based currency or a currency of any form. Before Oberon and Finndo came to this shadow regional warlords stole whatever they wanted from each other and raided the subsistence farmers for their chow.

Understandably they do not go in heavily for mercantile trades and have developed a practice of hiring Calro merchants, Merchants from the very creative world of Calrabon, to sell their wares. In 12,000 years they have not gained the talent of double entry bookkeeping.

The Calro who have served the Brolics over the millennia have made themselves unbelievably rich, husbanding resources with skill, and flooding Amber markets from time to time. One must admire the Calro who have created this immense fortune at the same time that one can shake one's head about casting pearls before swine.

A brief comment on money and the Dreanans. Since the usual Dreanan is confused at best about money and oblivious to it at worst, you can cheat a dreanan outrageously. You can charge nearly anything you want for worthless junk and most dreanans will pay it. You can convince them a one room apartment in the harbor district of the city is worth the same as a manor in the hills because its close to the water and the water is great. Despite having vast amounts of mithril in their world they frequently mistake mithril ingots for silver ingots and pay for a bottle of Bayle's with mithril. They don't even think of asking for change or saying something to the bartender like; "Start me a tab." I know this having seen it done. I told the bartended to start the Amber guardsman[[https://wiki.rpg.net/index.php/Elites#Drusda_Brosc-Active]] who made the mistake a tab. A couple of months later heard that the same guard, one Drusda_Brosc, was shocked to be asked for payment despite having drunk 'for free' for months. I laughed so hard i gave the establishment a very large amount of mithril and told them to never charge the man again.

However.The Dreanans are not all stupid. Remember, shadow has vast diversities. If you are cheating one and they say something like, "Hey, i think you are cheating me." Flee immediately. If they figured it out that far, you have only a moment to escape before they lay hands on you and pummel you to pulp. Conmen beware, the Dreanans are willing to beat you senseless and take the punishment for lawbreaking if they think you needed killing. They don't kill lightly though. If you cheat them they may only break your arm bones. Each and every one. Each and every one every time they see you, for the next thousand years. Persistent and determined are our dour friends in brown and blue.

There are no native musical styles. The people of this shadow never conceived of a need to record the legends of their ancestors in any format other than long, dreary, unbelievable recitations of facts, odd magical occurrences, and gossip. No bardic performers, musicians, or minstrels, theater or drama, Dreanan histories read like laundry lists and are heavy on genealogy, light on details. Off-shadow historians classify Dreanan histories as 'unsound'; a technical term for worthless.

The history of Dreana is so crammed with vicious warfare that the architecture of the world developed a siege mentality that is unbelievably stout. The Tower of Brolic is but one example of thousands of incredibly stout fortresses, albeit the pinnacle of such edifices. This is what brought Oberon and Finndo to this shadow in the first place. They were looking for theories of castle construction and they sought in shadow for a place where local conditions created strong fortifications. Once Oberon and Finndo found a household they could manipulate they helped the vicious weasel in charge of it to conquer the world. This was the great Duke Agnot Brolic; a more miserable bastard 'sound' histories have rarely documented.

A note to the Dreanans who read this. There are beginner classes in business theory and trade at most of shadows universities. Universities are those places people go to learn things. I mention this because the Dreanan have no universities themselves. Education is a family affair and many families never bother. Some ship their kids off-world to get an education, especially if they are Blue.

To their credit, most dreanans sent offworld to attend universities never return home to live. They may visit home, or gain posting in the Dreanan embassies in the GCST worlds, but any Dreanan smart enough to survive college and avoid the military realizes how miserable their homeland is and spends much of the rest of their lives staying away from it. Dreanan ex-patriots have done well in many different endeavors including, art, business and science showing that despite their origins these people are intelligent, and capable after a little eye-opening experience. Even some that have not had such enlightenment have done well and raised to the command levels of the Amber Military.

Dworkin told me once that the problem with this world has more to do with the parameters that Oberon and Finndo used to find the place. That they looked for a place that siege-mentality had dominated the growth of the people in the shadow. Sure, blame it on cosmology.

Maybe the Dreanans can be forgiven for their dour ancestry but not for failing to adapt over the 12 thousand local years since the House of Brolic signed the GCST in 1202.

I mean come on guys. Bang some sticks together and pick up the beat. Even military music would be an improvement.

[[File:JA-16.gif]]

Its been a few years since I wrote the above addendum. In that time I have taken a ration of shit from a lot of Dreanans about it. What amuses me about this is that it comes from different angles.

One group, lets call them the Conservatives, decried my insulting tone when talking about their beloved homeland. They claim that I clearly did not understand the importance of tradition to them. I was incapable of grasping the true complexities of their kingdom and the importance of the Tier of Coronets. I was obviously too dense to see the nuances in their histories. And lastly, and my favorite, I did not grasp the vast importance of their inter-shadow mercantile industry.

The second group, lets call them the Blues told me that I was letting their ruling classes and merchant classes off too easy.

The conservatives would tell me of their vast contribution to the military of Amber and their deep involvement in the navies, and hence the commerce, of Amber. I agreed.

The Blues would howl drunkenly at how I didn’t go far enough about the THOUSANDS of years it took their royalty to grasp simple concepts of rulership and industry. I agreed.

The conservatives would go on about the lordly nobility of their ancestors and their lives lost in the defense of their homeland and of the Kingdom of Amber. I agreed.

The blues would ask me to kill their King and put a blue on the throne. I hemmed and hawed.

Clearly though, I am in the Blue camp.

What makes me write this is a shocking occurrence in the House of Brolic’s ruling line. Regicide, fratricide, lese majesty and all other kinds of bloody messes are common in the politics of Dreana. So after a prolonged round of assassinations and bloody carnage the Line of Brolic has just raised a new King to Throne. The new wearer of the 12th Coronet is King Dunran Brolic. He is a sickly man who has never been able to benefit from Amber medicine. He came to the throne after a convoluted political argument among the ruling family that took twenty years and killed off 59 members of the royal family. For Dunran the Sickly to have survived the gross stupidity of his kin, once they decided to go to the mattresses, is amazing.

But the really amazing thing is that as all this foolishness played out Dunran’s son was safe and sound at Fantalin, learning about double digit accounting and the value of diplomacy. Dunran’s eldest son is Markosi Brolic, the first Blue the ruling line has produced in a thousand years.

Everything exists in Shadow. Perhaps even hope for the Brolics.

((GM-Notes:So many things. I intended for several PC enemies to come from Dreana and the House of Brolic. Bleys hates these guys and he was my voice to the PCs. Also, i imagined the PCs being deeply involved in Brolic politics including acting as Bodyguards, friends, even rescuers of Markosi Brolic. I intended the PC to be gravely and even murderously insulted in public by Dunran the Sickly. Fun ensues. ))

==='''Lou's Market, New Orleans, Earth'''===

[[File:Ploumarket.jpg]]

The eleventh card is another of the Diners of Amber that seems to have Random's recommendation, and grudgingly my own. Lou's Market has the best fish available. Something Amberites have a hard time admitting. They serve great food in a to-go market, or you can sit at the counter and dig in there. No fancy tableware just chipped plates and paper bags. Just bowls to wash your fingers and rags to dry them off. There are jars of condiments so vast that a chef might forget the fish and just sample custom mustards, salsa, sauces, dips and salad dressings. Are you interested in getting 10 pounds of heavenly batter-fried fish and a jumbo box of wedge fries, with malt vinegar, salt, and homemade tarter sauce? Lou's is the place. There is a park across the street, usually crowded with people, families, ball-games, and picnickers under a nearly always warm and sunny sky. Even the rain is warm and pleasant.

There is a cool Jazz club near by. Great jazz and blues roll off the horns and hands of geniuses. A card club, Grimy Eddie's,is a mile or two away is worth the walk, and surprise, they can exchange Amber silver & gold wings for the paper play money they use there. Just don't ask to buy your metal back.

((GM-Notes:This place has two things i wanted to have the players interact with. Louis Armstrong and baseball. I had hoped to have a PC. or perhaps my PC-NPC bring both to Amber.

==='''Braldig's Tinkery'''===

[[File:Pbraldigs.jpg]]

In the city of Gorsali in the shadow of Larengar is a vast collection of buildings where all shadow seems to deposit their dead tech, old machines, and knockabout clinking trash. I spent two months once just going through the nooks and crannies of this palace. I counted over 3000 rooms filled with the strangest array of broken parts I ever imagined.

So who owns this place? [[Erasamus Braldig]]. This is a cantankerous guy who is unequaled in simple tinkery. That is a polite way of putting the truth. Braldig is a hairy pain in the ass. I think he is the person that casts shadows of nasty old cusses. He makes his own gin, drinks it straight, eats his beef raw, and you can piss off if you don't like it. You got to love a guy so sure of himself that he doesn't give a tinker's damn about what anyone thinks of him. He is that tinkerer and he keeps his damns close to the vest. That's the kind of a guy he is.

I love him. I drop by to drink his gin and curse at him every so often. If he tells you to fuck off and get the hell out of his shop, ya know he likes you.

So why is his place in the deck? Well, because he can fix anything.

From crossbows and fountain pens to rocket ships and laser rifles. If it hums, clicks, spins, ratchets or arcs he can make it better. The price is putting up with his insults. Amberites are not known for their patience in that area. Yet I watched Benedict let this bastard bark at him for three hours just so that he would figure out what was causing a glitch in some construct of his. Benedict is a pretty clever guy, even for an Amberite, and he doesn't give up on tough problems often. He also does not suffer fools, nor insults any better than any of the royals, less in fact, by far. So for him to come to Braldig is really saying something. That Braldig figured the trouble out in 3 hours is a testament to the difficulty of the problem and his true genius.

Braldig has a hobby that is really an obsession. It might be to see his progress on it that I drop by so often. He created and maintains the most massive constant action device I ever saw. Balls run down tube, flipping cards, that throw switches, lighting lights, cooking food, changing temperature, lifting levers, and swinging wires. Every action with a half-dozen equal and opposite reactions, no energy is lost. Random says he loves sitting in the middle of this device and just watching the thing run.

Me too. Drinking gin.

Addendum

Braldig is a great guy as long as you have a strong stomach and a steady nerve. It is rumored that Braldig is a shadow of Dworkin. Figures. Aries Colbresi, Dean of Treasures at Fantalin and holder of the Oberon Professorial, a powerful sorcerer and one of the most benevolent and capable minds in Amber's service, is also known to be a direct shadow of Dworkin. Makes ya wonder, eh kinsman?

Erasmus has one of the greatest Constant action machines in existance. But not the only one by far. Just the greatest one built a piece at a time. Others i have found are bigger, but came in to being by the forces of chaos and creation.

((GM-Note: Braldig was an opportunity to curse like a drunk sailor. Something that shocked my players since it was so out of character for me. Also it was a place to get advice on almost anything the PC might pick up in shadow or break in shadow.

==='''Vine River'''===

[[File:Pvineriver.jpg]]

Vine River is in the trump deck because it is a nice place go hunting. The mountains near this river valley are temperate, even in winter. A lush region of gentle mountains with heavily wooded areas and shallow, wide rivers abound in this sparely inhabited shadow. Deer, stags, moose, and a wide variety of game animals are here for the taking.

Some strange function of shadow causes mountain men, devotes of nature and solitude, to find their way here, leaving their home world behind. Most never know the difference, and few regret the transition. That they gain an unnaturally long life, such as those in worlds near Amber sometime experience, might surprise them. Many never question the fact that years and decades, even centuries have passed. They were not clock-watchers anyway.

Peaceful, nomadic, nature oriented peoples some time find their way here too. 1300 Nez Perce Indians arrived long before Patternfall and have been thriving ever since. Their leader, Chief Joseph is closed mouthed about his tribes fortunate rescue but will gladly assist hunters, trappers, and other peaceful people if he can. He is the ruler of this world he calls ''Wallowakias'' and Random has reaffirmed the Chief's title to the land, granting him the rank of Duke of Amber, if not quite a Golden Circle King.

Reane Vil Sar manages the royal hunting lodge here. She is a great lady. I promised I would say that because she has large sharp skinning knives and uses them with wicked skill. She has an infectious laugh that only makes her scarier. She arranges hunting expeditions of 3, 7, and 30 days up into the wilderness surrounding the Vine River Lodge. She is also married to Chief Josef granting her the rank of Duchess even if she never uses it.

Like many people in such places of royal importance Reane is retied from her original occupation. She served in the Amber military for 370 years eventually rising to serve for twenty years as chief of the Amber Elite Guard. The tattoo on her forearm is well earned. She also served unofficially as Oberon's chief torturer.

Addendum

Add this in the region of new data discovered by Sweet-as-stale-Vinegar [[Maylon Hendrake]] and her bloody [[Heirs and spares]] genealogy of Dworkin. It turns out that Josef, born Hin-mah-too-yah-lat-kekt, or Thunder Rolling Down the Mountain, is a son of Oberon. Imagine that. And while his allegiance to Amber is in place his trump shows the green bar of those in the sway of Mandalay. Dworkin assures me this has more to do with Vine River's location in shadow than Josef's personal allegiance. Sure. He has a blood son as well, Red Cloud.

I like this place for a lot of reasons. I grew up in Amber and places my mother knew, and schooled in Thelusia. But i found Gerard and I often sought out the solitude of the mountains and Amberites have a song in our souls for them, the reason unknown. Gerard and I and a man named Del Que spent a year together far from anyone. Trapping, hunting, singing, brewing homemade hooch and living without a care in the world. The natives here are not war-like but make a very rough game of Counting Coup. We played. If asked, and in a suitably drunk frame of mind, when i was happiest in my life, its hard to say this was not one of those times. Gerard and I have a bond between us from those times. Its a bond i trust, but not one i want to test to hard.

Among the peoples that seem to wander in are a variety of creatures of natural bents that are a bridges between man and beast. They vary widely in physique. Titanthropes, Sasquatchs, Neanderthals, and some types creatures of these natures with lizard ancestry. These creatures are elusive, even compared to the mountain men. Yet they are creatures of great serenity and ingenuity even if their intelligence is not the equal of the more civilized peoples. They are not typically social creatures, outside their own kind, but they do develop relationships with others if the circumstances allow. The rope made of woven by the titanthorpes are extremely strong, of necessity, but is also among the highest quality for any number of uses. Replicated copies of their rope is used on Vulsar for many purposes.

Another note about Vine River, and an important one, is that while one may hunt here to ones heart content it is a place of healing. Dispatch your prey if you intend to eat them. A wounded animal will bleed out if the would is great enough but given a moment or two to recover will heal from great wounds. This makes the Counting Coup rough. You can get grievously injured and heal, reasonably quickly. If you bring someone wounded here they heal fast. Not instantly but a broken arm heals in a weak, a gut shot in a month. Be careful.

((GM-Note:The PCs might want to rescue indigenous people. Never know. Also, i have a huge interest in the mountain-man trapper period. Jeremiah Johnson, John Colter, Jim Bridger, Joseph Walker, etc. Real and fictional. Jeremiah Johnson is one of my favorite movies. I had hoped some of these heroes might come to amber as well.

==='''14. Wala Heights, Taxorami'''===

[[File:Pwalahieghts.jpg]]

Amongst the Diners of Amber is a world that really expresses the point of view that the realms of shadow did not exist before we found them. Wala Heights is one of Random's favorite places in shadow. He speaks of it in Corwin's Chronicles. A place of violence, cards, hang gliding, sultry days and long nights. Thermals ideal for hang gliding and flying.

Wala Heights is an improbable collection of technologies and cultures, mashed together in a fashion that belies explanation. This realm has no ancient history or legends of empire and kingdom. Culturally this place is stagnant. Early in this shadow's history the urge to grow from city-states to empires never really took hold. For tens of thousand years this place has developed a vast patchwork of walled cities that adorn the incredibly rock terrain. Garden agriculture developed as an art here, attempting to get the maximum amount of produce out of the tiny areas of arable land. A class of merchants, who are the only thing nearing a governing body or a religious order, monopolizes inter-city trade.

This realm must be on a thousand different shadowpaths of a dozen different initiations. That is the only way to explain the diverse flavors of both foods and technologies. The fact that one city-state might have electric street lights and its neighbor might use oil-soaked torches for lighting its roads shows that good ideas travel slowly. The lack of any responsible city government in a city-state is not unusual.

Food here is scrumptious, strangely spiced and exotic, but the portions are small. The drinks are potent and usually mixed. The beer is nasty. The roast pigeon in mustard sauce is sublime. Look for Mickle Firn's Hovel. It is a great restaurant/ casino with crash space around back. The food they serve is what qualifies this as a Diner of Amber.

Warfare never really grew above band combat. City-states tore building supplies directly off the mountains they were built on and into. Bands, gangs, and block warfare has dominated this shadow where people never developed the knack for recording history. Plays, music, and art, all revolve around the here and now; names are frequently changed to reflect the local clientele and the creator's names are lost. A careful and dedicated historian could chronicle the history of this world by cataloging and indexing the vast quantity of such performances. Having done so the historian would find that none of the people here would care.

"What have you done for me lately?" is the order of the day. People might remember what happened in their own lives but they know better than to try and tell anyone about it. Still, there is something to be said for the hedonistic, live-for-the-moment, live fast, die young, leave a nice corpse, lifestyle that dominates Taxorami.

Waste disposal is a problem in this society clinging to the sides of the rocky landscape. Organic waste and material waste are treated similarly but separately. Recycling is nearly a religion. Material waste is deconstructed to its component parts and reused ad infinitum. Everything here seems to have once been something else. The bottom of this process is that once things are too small to reuse they go into the mush that becomes the bricks and mortar the city is built with. Organic waste is deposited in mixing vats that sends it all through efficient wind-turned millstones that grind everything into mulch. The mulch is processed and elutriated till it is amazingly rich. It is then made available to the public for their wall gardens and personal agriculture.

This brings me to one disturbing thing that highlights their lack of a sense of history and it bears comment. Their funerary practices are grim, if practical. Wood is not exactly scarce but it certainly can't be wasted on pyres or cremation. Open ground is too scarce to use it for burials. With so many people, so crammed together, they are sensitive to bad smells, so the death practice of exposure is impractical too. Recycling is a way of life for these people. So the dead are tossed in to the huge mixing pits along with all the other organic waste products with little or no ceremony. Once a person is dead, his corpse is just meat. Cannibalism is a known, if not an active, practice. The bodies go into the mix. Luckily the millstones are good enough that the free mulch does not disgorge knucklebones and fingernails with any regularity.

No statues, monuments, or memorials remember the tales of the dead. Good works are unremembered; crimes not avenged in a few years are forgotten. Justice is swift and brutal. The preferred form of execution is to be thrown into the mulch alive. Understandably, people prefer to go down fighting if they picked a life of crime.

Lastly, in this land of forgetfulness, Random has managed to obtain a sense of immortality. He did it by importing millions of decks of indestructible and fine playing cards with his name and face on the back. Neat trick, brother dear.

((GM-Notes: This is in the deck for Random's convenience of course. But it might be a good place for time with Uncle Random. I had ideas of using this much as Random did, as a playground for PCs. Obviously Random has a place here, staffed by Amber Elites and Amber staff. Also, later on in this piece you meet Wet Wendal, a mayor of sort in another part of Taxorami. Nice to have PCs familiar with the place before getting involved with Wendal.

==='''15. Mandalay'''===

[[File:Mandalay1.jpg]]

Mandalay. This is a topic that will fill volumes and will scatter influences like silver amongst beggars. A few quick comments are worth noting.

Mandalay is a primal realm that stands beside, if a step behind, Amber herself. It is a realm of plenty. The ancient tree Ygg, apparently somehow akin to the Unicorn, the Serpent, and the Bear, was further sanctified by the creation of the Mark of Mandalay. Unlike the compact Pattern of Amber, the meandering Pattern of Avalon, or the shifting multitude of environments in the Lorgus of Chaos, the Mark of Mandalay is a massive circle that is easy to walk and unlikely to harm those who assay it.

The Hub of Mandalay is a wooden bar, 5 feet wide and 3 feet off the ground, surrounding Ygg, 8 miles away from its trunk. It slides away to reveal the Mark of Mandalay below. The interior of the mark is a 16-mile in diameter circle of grass that never browns. Here is found sitting groups, chairs, sofas, tables, and conversation pits. By the trunk is the Great Throne of Mandalay growing out of Ygg itself. Here sits Adrian in glory surrounded by the chairs of the Lords of Mandalay. Lords have his own chairs, suitable to their forms, that grow out of the ground at the tip-end of a root of Ygg. None but they sit upon them, not even Adrian.

Outside the circle is a vast ring 8 miles wide, beginning at the hub, where tents and encampments are arranged in an orderly and efficient manner. Benedict would admire the well-arranged walkways and paths, and the way the ratlines never seem to trip anyone. It is as if Ygg itself warns you silently to watch out for the ropes. Clever Tree. This is the Ring of Life. The Hub, Ygg, the Ring, comprise the Vale of Plenty. Low hills ring the Vale.

To the South of the Vale of Plenty is the Vale of Song. To the north is the Garden. To the East is the Vale of Flowers and to the West is The Vale of Rocks. The Jeweled Road leads east to west and has it's only break in the Vale of Plenty. Good luck marching an army through this mess. Eastward lies Amber; westward lies Chaos.

Adrian's Dramaturgy is in a small valley between the Vale of Plenty and the Vale of Song.

Now if you visit Mandalay here is the way to get food. You approach the bar and place your plates, bowls, schooners, trenchers, or whatever you want to carry food away in, upon the polished surface. You wrap on it two times and they are filled by the power of the Mark. Now what they are filled with is anyone's guess, and probably the mark's joke. Any type of food available in shadow is likely to arrive. I once got a peanut butter and banana sandwich, a plate of humis, a cup of ant-spiced coffee, a tray of bread made from corn and June bugs, and a decanter of the most delicious wine I have ever tasted. Diners beware.

Two things are guaranteed about the mana of Mandalay. None of it was made from sentient species, and all of it is edible. Of course people's tastes vary in shadow. There are some Black Zone worlds where they eat truly repulsive things.

The trick is that the longer you stay in Mandalay, the more often you visit, or should you take up residence in the region someplace, the more frequently the hub begins to know what you like to eat. Residents are even able to get the hub to learn what type of food you like in which platter. So if you feel like a balcony sandwich, bring the green plate, or like lasagna bring the red dish, or white mice in machine oil and chocolate sauce bring the black bucket with the chipped corner. I have managed to convince the Hub that when I put the crystal cup I stole from chaos on the bar I want that remarkable red wine. Splendid trick, really, and a fine way to encourage immigration. Lords are able to place orders. Really now. A very splendid recruiting technique if I do say so myself.

One of the many oddities of Mandalay is that when one decides to travel from one area to another, they think on it and the distance seems to shrink. Consequently rather than walking the 29 miles from Ygg to the Vale of Song one needs to merely decide to go to the Vale and within a mile's walk one arrives there. Not actually teleporting, sort of like skimming, one frequently sees striders appear, take 4 or 5 steps, and disappear. Of course, the striders may be going someplace but they can turn aside at any time; another very clever trick in this very tricky place.

''Mandalay.. hmmm. Its a dare. Adrien turns out to be a son of Oberon and a long time resident of Chaos. He has contacts deep in shadow and some kind of affinity with the natural forces of shadow, apart of the sentient ones that seem to take care of themselves. I hesitate to call him the Arch-druid of Amber but the term is not far from the mark. Adrien is part of some deep game from the beginnings of the creation of Amber and i can't get Oberon of Dworkin to tell me a damn thing about it.

((GM-Note: Too many ideas to list easily. Mandalay is a new player on the multiversal stage and what might happen here is vast.

==='''16. Castle Arden'''===

[[File:Pcastlearden.jpg]]

Now the time comes for me to say a few mean things about Julian. Alright. I trust him least of all my kin. There, I said it. The discovery of Castle Arden is a case in point.

This castle is Julian's headquarters in Arden. Until recently it was not open to his brothers. Not exactly off limits, just secretive and not spoken about outside the secret circles of the Arden Guard. We all had seen various massive ranger encampments and fancy tents and giant log structures forts and manors but a frigging stone and stained glass castle? Even Benedict was unaware of this castle's actual size till it turned up in the deck. That takes doing. Look at the damn thing. Its a bloody cathedral in a open piece of parkland. And no one mentioned it? Really????

He raised his son Duncan there, never letting on that he had spawned.

Perhaps Oberon knew about it and kept it's secret but Random is a very different kind of king. He put a trump of the place right there in the deck. So much for secrecy, eh, Jules?

It is a military establishment of the first order and one of Amber's last lines of defense. When Corwin and I came to Amber with a few friends a while back we totally missed the place. From there the defense of the land route and the shadow trails is administrated.

A word to the wise. The point the trump takes you is at least as well guarded as the courtyard of Castle Amber, but the guards here want official travel passes exposed upon arrival or metal will fly. Ask Julian if you can drop by before you attempt to trump in. Julian will not be responsible for kinsman who die at his doorstep because they did not understand the need for security.

'Addendum

Julian and I have made some peace, as have many of my siblings, since Patternfall. So let me temper my comment on Castle Arden. I do understand the need for security.

I do check my cup when he hands me a drink, though. I trust he won't poison me, but i don't think he is beyond putting a scorpion in it or a freeze-stone. Haha... Who knew he had a sense of humor? I think its a mark of the success of Random's reign that we elders are starting to be comfortable enough to play practical jokes on each other again.

==='''Adrian's Dramaturgy'''===

[[File:Pdramaturgy.jpg]]

A short walk from the Hub of Mandalay is this valley dedicated to leisure and the performing arts.

Adrian's Dramaturgy is a massive collection of amphitheaters in a long, narrow, valley between the Vale of Plenty and the Vale of Song. Its complex of production areas, training and practice rooms, stages, stadiums and apartment buildings are a center of entertainment like few in shadow. The general tech level is high but different venues establish different tech levels for its viewers as well as it actors and crew. Why is any one's guess.

A thousand shadows send their best performers here to display their skills. Many of the performers never leave. They live in the Ring of Life, or in the apartments and condos in the region, and work in the Dramaturgy. Many live here, and living here, as in Amber, they become young and long-lived, if not immortal.

What do I recommend?

*Start with a heavy meal, then wander off for snacks. Ugala's Diner is near where the trump takes you. The menu is irrelevant, since Ugala's has a 'Station of the Hub', a counter where the Hub delivers what you ask for. I made a trump to Ugalas for my personal deck for just this reason.

*The Cabri Carts are the best snack carts to be found anywhere, with a vast profusion of finger foods and drinks. Each is staffed with a stand-up comedian or improvisational actor auditioning for parts in the established theaters. Auditions might take years as they dispense portable potables. The results are outrageous, profane, bizarre, often morbid, and hilariously funny. You have to give Adrian credit to have this in mind when he carved the Mark.

*The Resheika Theater presents only works by Shakespeare, Alvian, Dresir, Mondolian, Aristophanes, Shaw, Arthur Miller and the famed, and well-respected dramatist, Bleys of Amber. I was there once and, honest to the unicorn, I caught a performance of one of my own works, from my early years. I was overwhelmed. The Resheika Troop does only the highest of class productions.

*The Hop Shop is a comedy shop where the Cabri come for open mic nights and you are very likely to see famous celebrities from the length and breadth of shadow plying their trade. I caught Robin William, George Carlin and Droppa Ma Pantz doing a three-man show once. Spectacular. The fare is happy-hourish, the bar is well stocked. It has a vast selection of smoking herbs. It is truly a thing of wonder.

*The other end of the scale is Miko's Bashery. This place caters to, aaa..low brow humor, shall we say? Here you will find people destroying a wide variety of things; not for the weak of heart. The only rule is that you can not kill it specifically for the show. However, you can kill it, even sacrifice it, if you plan to eat it afterwards. Oh, and no sentient victims.

As for Miko's I will state this for the record and Adrian can bitch me out if he likes. I saw Rahz Ferso's act and was laughing my head off as he bashed planters, and water bottles and portraits of Amberites. But when he shape-changed the fuzzy face of the kitten to look like Oberon, then gleeful took his time smashing it and playing with its severed limbs? Well, that was over the line. I don't care if he ate it.

So I hunted him down in shadow and iced him, roughly; tough luck for the smash fans. Like I have said before, you place your bets, you take your chances. We can't fix everything we don't like in shadow but I can certainly fix things that take the time to piss me off. Call me a harsh critic. Next act?

*Kanil Dri's is a concert hall for orchestra and opera. Never a dull moment, never a note off key, never a warbling soprano unless the libretto calls for it.

*The Bijou Multiplex is a massive movie theater with 10,000 screens. Rooms hold 12 to 12000 seats. The IMAX and ALLMAX halls seat up to 20k. The holoform rooms seat as few as 2 or as many as 30. Show times are set ahead of time.

*The Bellevue Multiplex is next to the Bijou. It has 5000 small theaters that can be reserved for private shows. Then the renter may either provide their own tapes or discs, or pick from the unlimited collection owned by the Bellevue itself.

*Shiki Lee's is a jazz/swing Dance club. Great tunes, great beat and lots of movement, cold drinks and willing women. Adrian, you lucky dog.

*Lastly, The Forum of Gold. This massive concert hall features mainly loud techno music of the sort earth-folks term Metal or hard rock. The big bands and the big shows from a thousand different techno shadows either come here or have their shows holographically presented here. I have a private box.

Speaking of Holographs. Many of these venues kype holographs of performances out of shadow. Takes some of the juice out of seeing things live but it is probably a heck of a lot easier that way.

This entry will be unusual and hopefully helpful.

There are many forces in shadow that causes people to travel shadow to other shadows that draws them, uncontrollably. Vine River draws both individuals and nature oriented groups. Mountain men from thousands of shadows find themselves drawn to Vine River and may or may not notice the transition, depending on how often they seek the comforts of civilizations. Times of trail and danger opened the way for native peoples fleeing oppression and death. Adrian's Dramaturgy calls performers, some moments from death and despair to it. Theaters devotees, stage crewman, promoters, and fans seem to dribble in for many unclear reasons. So it goes as the Patterns and the Logrus tangle.

I ran into a group of Rahz Ferso fans in the Harbor district of Amber. Outside Thin Whip's actually. They had read my article and came after me to avenge Ferso's killing. Frankly i am surprised he has fans that can read, little lone find their way to Amber. 8 of these guys thought they could kill a Prince of Amber. SO i scattered them across shadow in veils with the most diverse natural laws i could imagine. If any of them find their way back I'll squire them..

The monetary system used in the Dramaturgy is sufficiently complex as to need study elsewhere. [[Obs in the Dramaturge]]

((GM-Notes:The Dramaturgy was going to be one of the main gathering places for PCs with easy access to shadow and entertainment. The chance to see famous groups of history is enticing.

==='''Vale of Rocks'''===

[[File:Pvaleofrocks.jpg]]

The Vale of Rocks is a region as big as a medium sized continent devoid of water, plant life and any sense of comfort. This desolate hole is on the Jeweled Road toward Chaos. The less said about it the better. Bring your own provender because even the buzzards have abandoned this nasty place.

Addendum to Vale of Rocks
Turns out that under some exploration of this place, taken at something close to gunpoint, it does have animal life and it does have plant life, and it has some non-native sentient life hiding in the rocky hills far from the Jeweled Road. The gunpoint was the hand of Benedict who tasked me to seek out bandits, perhaps Azcalan troops, that were preying on travelers on the Jeweled Road. I found several things. First, the plant and animal life probably didn't start here.

So it was as i traveled into the far reaches of the most desolate plot of land i ever saw. First off, about 30 miles from the road the forces of the universe prohibit air travel. The shadow is also not a complete one so if you you are piloting a plane, or starship as it turns out, over the Jeweled Road you are fine. Take a right or left and 30 miles in you stop. Hard. Fast. Or if you bounce off the wall if you hit it at an angle. This wall goes down to 50' from a surface. Thanks, so i tried low level crafts, hover-cycles and such. but they puttered out.. frigging universe.

So it came to ridding a Varactyl. Nice beasts. Good hot weather beasts. Smell like rotting wet elephants and they like to cuddle. I traveled deep into the hot lands of fiery air on a stinky cuddle lizard.

«'''''The Hollow in the Rock''''' »

So there Childe Bleys did find the Hollow. The Hollow is what the people there call it. They are a collection of people from a wide variety of shadows and an unpleasant and stubborn lot they are. The Hollow has a function similar to the Dramaturge where criminals of mostly solitary inclinations find there way here and form a lose society of raiders and ravagers of a criminal nature.

They go off and raid the travelers on the road but its not their main goal. In the Hollow is a further collection of passage ways into shadow.

((GM Notes: Obviously a hideout of criminals has Adventure written all over it))
==='''Phil's Diner'''===

[[File:Pphildiner.jpg]]

Next on the travelogue of the Diners of Amber is the mellow nightspot called Phil's Diner.

This place is best described as a good place to get a decent cup of coffee any time of the night or day. It is a workingman's cafe and is usually pretty quiet. Sit at the bar and nurse your miseries over a cup of Phil's fine java.

The neighborhood is a reasonably safe one despite the shadow being lodged in an epoch of rum-runners, bathtub gin, speakeasies, illegal casinos, corrupt politicians, and gangland slayings. Fair enough excitement to be found if you take the time to look for it.

I must admit I have visited this shadow often enough to have bought a townhouse a block from Phil's. Phil works the midnight shift himself, and will gladly tell you about his 30 years as a military cook. He served in the Spanish American War, World War I, and even did some time in India under the British Raj.

He likes to talk military stuff while he cooks for the next day. The place smells of baked apples all night as he makes the two dozen apple, peach, prune, pumpkin and lemon marange pies he needs for the next day. He has a cute little service he provides the locals. They drop off their lunch pails after work. Then in the morning they come by, have breakfast for 1 buck, usually 2 eggs, 2 sausage, 1/2 a potato, toast and coffee. Then they pay a $1.75 for breakfast and a full lunch pail. The pail lunch contains a meat sandwich, an orange or an apple, a biscuit with a slice of cheese, and thermos of lemonade in the summer or cocoa in the winter, and a slice of fresh baked pie. They usually flip him 2 bucks, giving him a tip. That is until a day or two before payday when they are counting their nickels and dimes. Phil understands.

As we travel shadow we find absolutes. Phil absolutely makes shadow's best cheesecake and this is the ultimate reason Random wanted a trump of this place. Know your monarch, love him, praise him, and feed him cheesecake.

So if you show up of an evening don't be surprised to find yourself slathering mustard on wheat bread and slapping down bologna to feed some factory worker the next day. The fringe benefits are great coffee, friendly conversation, and a slice of fresh apple pie. Or, if you are lucky, a slice of his cheesecake on the house.

Don't let Phil fool you though. It might surprise you, as it did me, and would certainly surprise the factory men, but Phil has not only cooked for Blackjack Pershing, Teddy Roosevelt and Eddie Rickenbacker but for Benedict of Amber. Yep, he served Ben for 22 years as his chief logistical adviser for provender. Mainly a shadow role in Avalon, he none the less is a shadow wise wearer of a broken pattern imprint and a sorcerer of some ability.

He is enjoying his retirement though and sees no reason to return to active duty. I respect him when he says the greatest power being a shadow-walker has given him is the power to find someplace to be happy. May the Unicorn so bless us all one day.

((GM-Notes: Many individuals are sources of information for the PCs. Braldig, Mama Agalvar, and Phil. Phil is a cook. Never know when a good menu i needed.

==='''The Church of the Unicorn, Amber'''===

[[File:Pchurchunicorn.jpg]]

This card places one at the Royal entrance to the main shrine of the Church of the Unicorn in Amber. Here comes the Royalty of Amber to pay obeisance to our grandmother the unicorn. I would really like to say something glib and clever about that but I think I shall show a modicum of restraint. Let us say merely that we all know what this place is, and why we go there.

((GM_Notes-It was likely that at least one PC would be religious, a paladin type or a cleric type. There would be some type of healing spells.

==='''Jeweled Road, Cantal, Diega'''===

[[File:Pjeweledroad.jpg]]

This card could have been designed to deliver one anywhere along the road but Random chose Diega.

Diega is a vast shadow and a loyal member of the Golden Circle. The Empire of Diega provides something on the order of 1/20th to 1/15th of the Amber military and host one of its greatest military harbors outside Amber itself. It sits on a crossroad of multiple ocean going shadow trails.

It is approximately a day's ride, shifting shadows or following one of several shadow-trails, to reach Amber. Diega is in the same position Amber is technologically. All the same rules of nature, chemistry, and magic apply. The weather patterns and colorscapes are the same. They share the same sky. Also the same general laws, government and military readiness. They form one of the first lines of defense against invaders on the land route toward Arden.

The trump delivers one to a place outside the city of Cantal. It is a massive city that bears a similar layout as the city of Amber. A large number of land and sea trade routes converge in Cantal, narrowing to three major sea routes, and one major land route. The land route is now covered by the Jeweled Road. Much of the business in Cantal relies on this. House Fasray alone moves thousands of ton of merchandise culled from shadows deeper inward than the Golden Circle extends. The business of finding good stuff and selling it dearly in Amber reaps huge rewards.

Random will tell you that the military, political, cultural, and cosmological closeness between Amber & Diega is the reason he picked Diega for the Jeweled Road trump. He even sounds convincing. Our monarch can really deliver a line.

He selected this particular point on the road for a reason he may not want known. So of course I will tell you.

Look at the card. See the first tree on the left? Do you see how there are four trees in a row behind it running down the road, on the left? Well, once upon a time, Brothers Random, Brand, and Bleys had a very long lunch beneath the branches of these trees; beneath the furthest of the five. We shared Diega delicacies with three charming ladies of the House Fasray. Ilean, Nalya, and Kela. Kela shared a delicacy with his majesty that he had not tasted yet under the tree in front. Brand and I were enjoying our own repasts at the time but we were gladdened that our kid brother, so small amongst his elders, was finally going to have some really juicy gossip we could hold over him.

Until now, anyway.

I recently spoke to Benedict about this card and he said something amusing. That he said something amusing about anything is worth mentioning.

He said he thought the card to the Jeweled Road is in the deck so Random can find his way home when drunk.

Another strange thing about the card is that its fast. Really fast. Most place trumps open a gate in a few moments that you have to walk through. This card pops open with a snap and almost draws the viewer in. If one is wounded, drunk, disoriented, or distracted you can glance at this card, almost casually, and it pops open a narrow path and sucks you in. I discovered this recently and was amazed at the deck having something so useful.

It has recently been pointed out to me that in both the regular notation on this card and in the above Addendum entry i failed to actually comment on the road itself, thus making the reader curious about it. This has caused a great deal of research and paranoia. Usually reading while paranoid is amusing but i am assured that enough real conspiracies exits in Amber that creating the illusion of one concerning such a massive thing as the Jeweled Road is just mean.

So hear me all yee searchers of woe.

The Jeweled Road is a massive construct stretching from Amber to Chaos.

Through out shadow exist an innumerable variety of shadow trails created by equally innumerable methods. Most of my siblings in our youth spent some time traveling to create a network of trade routes in to and out of Amber. Some of these travel to and from Golden Circle worlds, some to places where we find items of worth in Amber. A similar situation exists in the Black Zone worlds. Also, enclaves of multidimensional connected worlds have webs of roads that can be traveled in a dizzying number of ways.

Basically, there were a lot of roads.

Next was a massive project begun at the behest of a young monarch of Amber, our Good King Random, to bring Amber the Nation out of the dark ages into at least the renaissance. This included a massive re-pavement program and an upgrading of services project featuring the creation of an extensive sewer system, running water plumbing and resurfacing of the streets and highways of amber with puzzled stone. All the streets of Amber were covered by puzzled stone well out into shadow and as far as Diaga. Houses were retrofitted with flush toilets and running hot and cold water. Sea routes were dredged. Streets were lighted by glow globes that required no maintenance. Cities created after Patternfall, the most notable being Garn, bear little resemblance to Amber save in kitschy architectural allusions, and street names. Garn looks more like a well conceived and planned Los Angeles than the magically created quaint fairytale city like Amber. Puzzled roads were part of their building as were magically produced electricity and advance plumbing.

Toll stations were established, as were frequent tiny villages just to help the weary traveler. Inns, taverns, repair stations as well as vehicle depots to help travelers from one tech level move his cargo along into another. I have enjoyed seeing computer parts being shipped by oxen teams...

So then comes Ygg, Adrian, and the Mark of Mandalay.

All acts of grand creation change things in unexpected ways. The Jeweled Road was one of these. The Mark of Mandalay was made using a number of different colored stones crushed to powder and used as a material component. Amber had just been repaved in highly puzzled stones. The powers of creation dragged these two things together and pulled on the road systems throughout shadow and created one long highway with Mandalay in the middle, and a massive Vales on either side of it.

So now many of the shadow trails have tendrils to the Jeweled Road and hence to Mandalay, Amber and Chaos. Sorcerers and drovers, merchants and corporations that had limited access to a few neighbor worlds now can trade their wares in the big cities.

The road itself is 100' wide in most places, with crossroads and connecting lines ranging from 30' to 70' wide. There are some precarious and unsettling ng 10' wide walking trails that cross dynamic landscapes and precipices. These jeweled stone ways are impervious to most damage. It can't be pried up, blown up, or bitten off. The time ratio is fast too. The little villages and way stations are at the same time ratio. Its as if the travelers can take a leisurely trip and lose nearly no time getting to whatever off ramp they are trying to get to.

I commented on how willing the card is, drawing the viewer e there they can get to places of healing and commerce fast or slow, at their choice. They can also use whatever travel method they like till they exit the road onto local traffic. So if you pick up a load of teak planking and transport it on a diesel 18 wheeler you can drive it from Jakarta all the way to Zilla or Amber before having to transfer the load to local conveyance. Neat Trick..

The road can be walked from Amber to Mandalay in 10 days. From Mandalay to Chaos in 5 days. It takes 2 days to clear Mandalay. Call it 17 days from Amber to Chaos on foot if you avoid being distracted. 10 days by Horse. A good Hellride can make it in 5 days but the rider will be a wet mess by the time the ride is finished. A casual trip might take a month. Now everyone can make the trip. Lucky us.

((GM-Note:The comment that the trump was "FAST" is the pertinent piece of information. Unlike other cards that take concentration and focus, and might be easy to disrupt, this trump practically drags one through it. Once called on the person can almost pass-out and still arrive on the Jeweled Road. There is a Military Post here as well to step in with troops if needed. I had Bleys suggest PCs put this card on the top of their deck rather the the Amber courtyard or Vulsar Base. Both have great medical centers but as for emergency uses this is better.

==='''Halzir, Taxorami'''===
[[File:P-Halzir.jpg]] [[File:Wendellofhalzir.jpg]]

Halzir is a strange section of a very strange world. I waxed rhapsodic earlier about this shadow so I won't repeat myself but Halzir is a different kettle of fish. While the regions Random once coasted over are typical for this very odd shadow they are distinctly different then Halzir.

This is one of the Diners of Amber. Three ribbons of stone, a twenty thousand feet long, 300 feet tall, and 200 feet wide rise out of a calm blue sea. A collection of spurs and smaller formations create islands in and amongst the three great rocks. The ribbons extend down 200 feet below the surface of the waters. Over the centuries these once solid ribbons of stone have been mined, carved, and populated. Bridges span the ribbons and nearly two hundred thousand people live here. Vast glass windows adorn lower halls giving a wonderful view of the sea life below the waves.

People here live on fish. The ribbons span a major spawning route and thousands of types of fish swim north to south every day. They just toss out nets from their windows, lower them and drag up a couple of fat trout for supper; maybe a couple dozen for smoking or drying.

Fishing for large game is both a sport and part of the local food supply. Salt water fish include a wide variety of tuna, halibut, albacore, sea & stripped bass, snapper, mackerel, barracuda, sturgeon, opah, yellowtails, salmon, sailfish, various marlins, and tarpons. Many variety of shark patrol the waters as well and while often are caught, they often come when an anglers has a good fighting fish on his line.

One would think they would get tired of a diet so heavy on fish. I did mention the fact that the Taxorami are forgetful, right?

Mollusks crowd the underwater portions of these rocks and are another important part of their diet. Abalone is one of the most common but other varieties are available. Crabs, Lobsters, shrimp and a wide variety of decapods also patrol the region, both in the water and on the land. A giant fighting lobster the size of a mule occasionally is found wandering the alleys of Halzir and causing a general ruckus.

The card actually delivers the traveler to the archway on the left of the card, near a wharf for riverboats, and gondolas. This is Wet Wendell's Hothouse. Wet Wendell runs a really tight ship. I consider him a close personal friend, which of course means i love him dearly and don't trust him a tiny little bit. Restaurant, card-club, distillery, boarding house, brothel, dance club, industrial hub, conference center and municipal offices all rolled into one. That's the Hothouse.

[[Wet Wendell]] passes for a Mayor in Halzir. In much the same way he might also pass for a governor of Taxorami. Or an emperor, pirate, robber-baron, procurer, pimp, or Indian chief. He is a pretty funny guy and knows very well about Amberites. Knows most of us personally. While Taxorami is physically nowhere near a Golden Circle world, Wet Wendell's has held high level meetings of a dizzying variety. One of the preliminary Patternfall Treaty documents was signed here. Two Golden Circle Treaties were signed here. A private defense agreement between Caine and Wet Wendell was worked out here. Both Random and the last Swayvill have been known to the vacation here. Wet Wendell understands about reservations, emergencies and the need for added security measures.

Wet Wendell also makes no secret of his eagerness to have Taxorami welcomed into the family of Golden Circle Signatory Kingdoms. Of course, that usually requires a monarch, or at least some kind of shadow spanning government, something the Taxorami are simply not culturally able to grasp. Signing a Golden Circle Treaty with Wet Wendell of Halzir would be like Amber signing a Golden Circle Signatory Treaty with Luxembourg on the earth world of your choice. He is eager to do favors for Amberites, even the nobles, if he thinks they might one day have enough of Random's ear to advise him on this matter.

The problem is that while Wet Wendell desperately wants a GCST, he is enough of a politician to entertain the possibility of signing the Black Zone Pact Instrument as well. He has been building up favors at both ends of shadow against the day he is in striking range of either a [[GCST]] or a [[BZPI]] and a working pen. This irritates Random, bothers the new Swayvill, and delights those of us that like to see our monarchs get a little pissy from time to time.

((GM-Note:I imagined many a hellride passing through here with players taking a break at the Hothouse.

==='''The Berlin Train Station'''===

[[File:Ptrainstation.jpg]]

All right. This one is my fault.

I have made a practice of visiting places where doomed people reside, and where their fates have been demonstrated as hopeless in nearby shadows. This is one such place.

It is an earth world in the middle 20th century in a country called Germany. A fascist regime called the National Socialists rule. In this shadow they began a war with the country to the east of them, called Poland, destroyed it in days, and marched directly to the massive country of Russia and conquered it in months. They then settled their differences with their other neighbors and sunk in to managing their internal racial problems.

Outside of the capital of Nazi Germany lays a train-station that is a convenient place for me to arrive if I plan to do some stuff in this shadow. It has a direct line to a collection of crematoriums of epic proportions in the region of Poland where whole races of people are being exterminated. Tartars, Jews, Mongolians, Muslims, Chinese are all being turned into smoke.

So I go there and throw monkey wrenches in the works, liberate the doomed, and relocate them elsewhere in shadow. Call it a hobby. I hate Nazis.

So I left one of my own trumps on a stack of finished place trump originals and when Dworkin created the multiple decks there it was.

I will give a bottle of Bayle's Red, of any of the good vintage years, for any Nazi rank medallions over the level of Colonel as long as proof of death comes with it. I am not squimish.

((GM-Note: This is a nice opening scenario, traveling shadow, hunting nazis. I also intended this scenario to be instructive of how to change history and shift shadow. Kill Goring in 1937, shift to the effected shadows down the line and see how things turned out. If they get Hitler admitted to the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna in 1907 and give him a big patronage to paint landscapes and move to Mexico in 1910, letting him skip trench warfare and you have a very different world by 1984. Sometimes the little rocks leave big ripples in the ocean.

==='''Vale of Flowers'''===

[[File:Pvaleofflowers.jpg]]

Trust Delwin to take a lush heaven of flowers and life and to paint the trump in 20 shades of dull. The Vale of Flowers straddles the Jeweled Road as it meanders toward Amber. His trump looks like a paint-by-the-number landscape.

This lush meadowland is filled with the green of spring and flowers in their first bloom. It is restive, even calming, and camping here is sublime.

I have heard that Adrian has decreed that if it is in his power he will direct the invading forces from either pole into certain vales where they will act out their orgy of death. If Chaos is the aggressor the battlefield will be the Vale of Rocks; if Amber is the aggressor the battle will take place here amongst the snapdragons, daffodils, and camellia bushes of the Vale of Flowers.

==='''Big Tree'''===

[[File:Pbigtree.jpg]]

Yep, it's a big tree. Can't miss that.

There is not much to say about Big Tree. If it is a Diner of Amber it only serves fresh fruit. Massive trees, tens of thousands of feet tall, and wide, rise out of the ground on a narrow trunk. The roots extend hundreds of feet down, raising a parcel of land into the sky. This ends up with a series of strong roots supporting the tree hundreds of feet in the air.

The place must be really close to Chaos.

Addendum

I just learned something about this place. The only way for magic to work in this realm is if you are wearing the Jewel of Judgment! Nice Trick, my liege. Of course discovering that was an uncomfortable surprise for me.

((GM-Note: Random has a pergola here for talking to people who might try to use magic to get away.

==='''Braldu's Retreat'''===

[[File:Pbralduretreat.jpg]]

Braldu's Retreat is a quiet place. Utterly quiet. Too quiet.

I think Braldu is associated with Mandalay but neither, Random, Adrian, nor the artist of the card, Dworkin, is telling. Asking Braldu just makes you want to itch.

Ren Braldu runs this getaway site for the hectic. I am told it contains thousands of isolated dwellings, three and four-room bungalows dot this shadow. You arrive at the Barn, sort of a check-in spot where Braldu takes you into the back room then into a far too calm den. There he finds out what environmental, dietary and religious requirements you have. Then he sends you through a gateway to such a place.

So if you like mountains, eat pork three meals a day, and serve the unicorn, you arrive at a mountain chateau, stocked with bacon and pork rinds, with a Unicorn shrine and all ten Books of Order. If you worship Buddy Fish the Wonder Dog, like the ocean, and subsist on weasel flesh and onion rings you will find yourself suitably prepared. Braldu has no sense of humor when it comes to these details. I learned that weasel flesh is very lean and not to joke with Ren Braldu.

Don't arrive with a bunch of people expecting to all be together. It isn't that kind of retreat. If you all ask for the same things you will all find yourselves in separate places that are a lot alike. Its not a Honeymoon realm.

Trumps into this shadow do not function, except this one that delivers you at the front desk. Nor do trumps work inside this shadow. You can trump out though with place trumps. I guess that is a kind of an escape clause. Braldu gives you a trump that does work and it only reaches him, or his associates.

The magic of shadow is so weak it is hardly able to levitate crackers. Sorcery, conjuration, power words, hexery, all do not function. Neither does Magery, Warlockrie, Listry, nor anything else I knew.

If you want some quality alone time, this is the place. A good place to get a lot of sleep or get a lot of reading done. The time relation to Amber and Mandalay is a very favorable 90 to 1.

Addendum

I recently discovered that this shadow has a cosmological oddity worth noting.

Braldu's is meant as a place of rest, and sleep is one of the most common activities. It is also a place of solitude. For some reason it is also a place immune to boredom. The nature of the realm is that what ever you choose to do with your time you really enjoy it and get plenty of relaxation out of it. Bodily functions move toward peak performance. If you are hugely fat and come here to exercise you really enjoy it, get maximum relaxation, and the time it takes to burn the fat is nearly cut to a 1/20th of the time.

If you come to read you can devour tome after tome without rest. If you came to paint then your mind tosses up visions that simply must be transferred to canvas.

After it all you feel like you have been asleep for months and had just woken up refreshed and ready to face the day, month, or year.

Pretty clever. Nice place to do magical research.

((GM-Note: The idea that time barely passes and you leave rested might appeal to PCs determined to learn something or do something time consuming.

==='''Oracle of Drisna'''===

[[File:Poracleofdrisna.jpg]]

Yow. Drisna. This Oracle is a terrifying place; it is a place of revelation.

I spoke on Oracles earlier and this place meets all the criteria. A narrow bridge reaches the top of an isolated spire over a chasm thousands of feet high. The base of the mountains is lost in a shimmering illusion of blues and river water in this frigid realm. The pathways lead no where else. I traveled for ten days in all directions and could find no other sign of habitation.

Don't try to build here. If you mortar one stone to another it will crumble within ten hours. Tents collapses, decomole deflates. Weird. The place really does not want you to stay. The atmosphere disappears 20 feet off the ground, the water mist is sleep inducing. There is neither plant life nor any native animal life. Neither insects nor fish.

The spire of Drisna is a powerful artifact. Upon arrival your sense will be bombarded with a vast sense of power. Magic is more powerful here by a factor of ten. All my hung spells wove off their racks upon arrival. Conjure a candy cane out of shadow and a ton of suckers arrive.

The Oracle itself is an experience worth having. A colonnaded temple surrounds a low altar. Mounted into the altar is a glowing globe a foot across in which swirl colors in smoke and oil. Place your hands upon it and place your question. You will be swept away into realms of imagination where your question is played out and options are examined. Not for the meek.

There is really only enough room for one person at a time. Regardless the experience is not a group one.

Addendum
There is one thing about Drisna that the Travel Guides do not mention and they really should. You leave with an experience, your question examined, your knowledge expanded. But there is a price. If you assay the Oracle of Drisna it will give you a small pinch that will take some time to fade away, if ever. You will sneeze for no reason. Stutter. Gain revolting body odor. Lose your taste buds or your sense of smell. You might gain the power to see invisible objects. Be able to tell when you are lied to. The effect could be almost anything, good or bad. The effect might last an hour, a day, or a century. Be warned. When i was young and assayed it i learned the information i needed on a small matter. But i also vomited every time i smelled gin. Hence why Caine drinks gin. He thought it was funny. All he got was a facial tick that went away in a week. Mine lasted 10 years and i don't like gin to this day.

((GM-Notes: There are a couple oracles in the deck. An oracle is a strong way to push a PC onto a course of action. I intended the oracles to have different levels of insistence. Drisna was forgiving. Sitting here i could lightly suggest a wide range of options. Sitting in the Oracle of Night, one was perhaps committing oneself and the whole game to a sweeping nightmare. Big EP! Lots of Prizes! But beware, you will get a funny side effect!))

==='''Calrabon, Eruth'''===

[[File:Pcalraboncastle.jpg]]

Amongst King Random's Deck is the great Golden Circle Kingdom of Calrabon. Pictured is the tower city Of Calrosonas, three thousand feet tall and nearly a mile wide, honeycombed with passages, rooms, galleries and halls. The stone of Calrabon has been sorcerously fused and reinforced with metal structural supports. There is as much carefully managed usable space below the ground as their is above. This particular tower is uncommonly large but its design is fairly typical.

Most chambers are one hundred feet square. These squares are then furnished with dwellings, and businesses throughout. With ceilings at 12 feet and 3 feet of space between levels, a 100x100x100-foot chamber generally supports 6 levels of homes, business and storage space. It is truly amazing how much they pack into the chambers.

Living in such a cramped space they cherish the open areas of the 100-foot wide and tall galleries. Fountains, parks, entertainment areas and playgrounds manage not to impede the quick flow of the populace.

Technologically this place is a bit more advanced than Amber, having embraced electronics after Patternfall. The infusion of high tech is being warmly and enthusiastically greeted. Otherwise all the same technologies, cosmologies, and magic forms match Amber, but Magery and warlockery work too. Governmental forms rotate around chamber politics. As for the rest of the shadow, Calrabon is the governmental capital of a shadow spanning nation and there are hundreds of similar, if smaller towers. There are tens of thousands of what they call Chamber Establishments.

{Just to be clear, this nation is one planet and while there are a few wild freeholds and nomad bands across the surface of the globe the great vasty of space has been explored by the Amber Star Fleet. To the best of our knowledge there are no other intelligent species that have been run into in this shadow other then the ground dwelling beloved Calro. There are a dozen or so starbases in this shadow but none are in the star system Calrabon is in so don't mention it to them. Its a sore point between Amber and the Calro, not because its invasive but because we didn't give the Calro their own starships. Of course many Calro are coming up in the fleet and one day they may have a few native ship captains to boast of.}

The urge to block up comes from an early epoch, and Oberon casts a long shadow over the early years. Oddly so do Osric the Bold, Finndo the Wise, and Brown Ben. Call Benedict Brown Ben sometimes and see what happens. Clear your schedule and have a book you can read by candlelight with you. He only accepts that name from Calro natives and those have to have big brass balls to use it.

In the earliest days of this shadow, vicious beasts roamed the realms feeding on anything they could run down, including the two-legged long pork animals called Mankind. People apparently developed language out of a desire to communicate strategies of how to avoid being eaten by beasts. This gives their language a brutal edge that is reflected in their literature. Elephant sized tigers, bears, alligators, velosoraptors, and varieties of flying monstrosities once roamed the world and still appear sometimes. The farmlands and open areas have Chamber Blocks, smaller versions of Chamber Establishments, they run to when these creatures manifest.

So Oberon and his sons came and hunted whole species into extinction or chased the remnants up into the isolated regions of the mountains to breed into smaller, less frolicsome versions of their races. Thus the reasons Calrabon became an early GCST kingdom; gratitude and self-preservation. Osric once told me that Calrabon was sort of Oberon's game preserve.

The details are extensive and you can find casual and scholarly works aplenty. They are, after all, a major and ancient Golden Circle Signatory Treaty kingdom. In fact, King Fom Ross Treit's signature is third on the first of the ancient documents that developed into the formal GCST. A full seventh of the Amber Military, including naval, army, Guard and police forces are of Calrabon natives. Universities, seminaries, and administrations are rife with Calro. The church of the Unicorn is the only religion practiced here.

One would assume this ancient ally's military, social, commercial and political importance is the reason this card is in the deck. Right?

Nope. This is a Diner of Amber.

Don't deny it, brother mine, I know the truth. Sure, the Calro are great people, many of them are dear friends, and their service at Patternfall proves their loyalty. Yet we both know why the trump brings the hungry traveler where it does. Put your hand on the Book of the Unicorn and deny it, if you dare.

During the time of trials, when Oberon and the boys were stomping nasties, the Calro, a particularly competent tribe of men, domesticated the Buffalo. These are not the common buffs one thinks of. These are massive, 16 foot tall meat-heavy buffalo. Docile creatures that live off the plentiful grasslands are herded and efficiently executed then rendered down to cuts. One of the most common magics is the preservation spell that wraps the cut meat and keeps it fresh. Buff hide is the most common leather used in clothing and armor from Calrabon and is one of their most profitable exports.

Seeing the Butcher-Wizards work is a gristly experience in bloodletting. A powerful spell kills the beast painlessly, then separates the contained parts into piles. Everything is used and sold. It figures that the Calro would develop so friggin useful a spell. It works on any meat animal. Imagine...

So the galleries, halls, houses and shops are filled with huge slabs of delicious meat. The trump delivers you outside a southern entrance called Rilor Gate. The first Chamber on the left, is a single Restaurant. It is the shadow-famous eatery called Oberon's Fire. A never-failing barbecue cooks huge slabs of meat for easy eating. Potatoes, and a wide selection of vegies mix up a menu consisting of 4 or 5 different type of meats, dominated by Buff steak. A giant chicken-like bird called Fetrry is a close second to buffalo. Alligator, snake, and a collection of huge fish round out the meats of the menu. Snake is a common meat animal in Calrabon, being about 8 feet long and a foot wide. Snar snake tastes like chicken but really, really good chicken.

I recommend the Buff slab 3; a full 2-inch thick, 16-inch wide cut, cooked to choice and ready to go. A meal fit for an Amberite. The Fet Cut 2 is a breast of fetrry a foot long, and 8 inches wide and thick. Juicy. Try the Snar Cut 3, a plate of 60 or so cut strips, with 5 different dipping sauces. I don't like the alligator myself but it has it devotees, and the fish is pretty good too. They make a halibut ceviechee that is magnificent.

I am not going to comment of the brewers of Calro. Lets just say that in a world with a ancient tradition of farming, and beekeeping, the beers and meads are among the best in shadow. However, their wines rank among the worst.

Many of the royal feasts in Amber will include the Calrabon rainbow trout steak and Oberon's Fire cooks a mean Trout Cut 1, if you feel like fish. If you don't like fish, get out of Amber or fake it. Swayvill doesn't like fish. What are you? Chaosian?

Order a 'Corwin Dinner' sometime. A buff cut 3, a fetery 9, a snar strip platter, roast dive turkey, a gallon jug of porter ale and a gallon of brown honey mead.. Where does he put it all?

I would be doing a disservice to Oberon's Fire if i didn't speak about their Pepper Sauce. {I can hear the woeful sigh of ladies across the Golden Circle. There are few things as hated by them as having people turn the topic of conversation at a soirée to a condiment}

Oberon's Fire is run by a great man named Aggus Fet Arman. He is a great guy and a cook of unparalleled talents. He has been a general in the armies of Calrobon and served at Patternfall leading troops. He retired to take up full time his hobby of cooking. he is an amazing cook...

He has an aged pepper sauce that is possibly the best condiment in shadow. Many a lady of Amber has rolled her eyes when someone mentions it in conversation, since it tends to distract the attention of all the men in attendance, who consider it some sort of holy material. I don't know if its holy, but its worth the attention. Its a sort of, well, it tastes like.. uh... well... its a pepper sauce of the blackish red variety. What it contains is a state secret that Aggus Fet Arman guards with his life. I once heard him say he didn't even make it on Calrabon. Hmmmm a clue....

Dang. Now I am hungry. I think I'll take a break. I have this card right here.

Addendum

More and more I find myself thinking a lot went on before I was born that no one bothered to tell me about. The restaurant called Oberon's Fire is significantly named. It is not simply an homage to Oberon. It seems during his nasty-stomping days a huge bunch of nasties almost got the better of Old Oberon and the boys. They had to fight tooth and nail against a massive number of giant beasts and in the end Oberon was forced to use the Jewel of Judgment as a fire focus to destroy them. He was young though and the power of the jewel got away from him. Nice to know he was not always perfect.

So he became a immolated burning torch as the jewel fought to consume him and he fought to extinguish the fire. To quench it he threw himself into a massive pool of water, which burst into steam. The fire of the Jewel of Judgment was scoured off Oberon and remained in the pit. It has remained there ever since, never wavering. So the meat cooked over the massive barbecue pit is prepared by master chefs who know how to cook meat over a primal fire drawing its fuel directly from the Jewel of Judgment across vast expanses of shadow-veils. Cool trick. Nice fire.

((GM-NOTE:I had an idea to have the PCs get involved somehow in a bit of business over the Calrabon pepper sauce. Stealing its recipe, defending its recipe, bottling it for sale in Nu Yark, who knows.

==='''Salisgir, Unari.'''===

[[File:Psalisgir.jpg]]

Definantly not a diner.

Well, depends what you eat.

The Great Gorge of Unari houses a waterfall of amazing beauty. It is a vast region of incomparable appeal. Watercourse, flower draped bowers amidst smells of honey and roses.

I was surprised when Random wanted this card included. Nearly all of the elders have had assignations of the romantic kind in this shadow at one time or another. Rumor has always suggested that Osric, Finndo, and Benedict were conceived here. It is a great place to make whoopy.

In retrospect I must admit it makes some sense. Man can't live on bread alone.

Addendum

This idyllic place has fallen out of favor of late. The association with Doria has soured its romantic appeal. There are a number of small private shrines here. Most to the unicorn of course. It was at one of these shrines Doria committed suicide. Luckily while she died, her death was not a final one.

Trust Dory to ruin a perfectly good paradise.

Just a tad on the geography of this realm because one of the cousins, Vance of course, made a trip there and did something unusual. He brought his companion, not unusual, and two jet speeders with their camping gear. It had never occurred to me, nor anyone else it seems, to explore more then a few days horse ride from the spot the card delivers you.

The Great Gorge is certainly the most well known place. Within 500 miles of it on either side is a east/west ridge of vast waterfalls. Above it is a lush plain stretching further then we cared to explore when love was on our minds. It seems that a thousand miles north of the divide is a mighty lake, fed by an even greater snowy mountain range. This volcanic range dumps lava north, melting the snow that falls year round. A very dynamic water system, a friend of mine told me when i described it.

This lake blooms a dozen rivers each miles across to flow down toward the Divide. They splinter into smaller streams that create the waterfalls.

South of the divide is the verdant forests, woodlands, and meadows that we have all come to love and to love in. Six hundred miles to the south the rivers start reuniting as they bunch into a vast collections of lakes braced by a third ridge of low mountains and hills. These are more rock-piles then mountains and they trickle the water down to a beach unlike any i had seen before. They show an active water system having washed away light soil from hard stone.

A new areas for fun have been found.

The Beach is about 2000 miles long and at most 20 miles deep from the Third range to the crystal blue sea. The rives flow into the ocean creating fresh water trickles into a lightly salty sea. The beaches vary between white, gray, blue, pink, coral, golden, and black sands. Its very impressive.

What Vance found was a region of numerous white water rapids of great complexity from the First ridge to the Second Ridge. He and i recently ran a few and i think i may start charting the good ones. I was amazed at Vance, really. Ive long enjoyed white water rafting but it was sort of a private thing. When Vance and ran these it was amongst the most fun I ever had with a relative while sober. The ones we ran were in the high 3, 4, and low 5 range. We noted a few 6s and tried a few.. A rapid one runs while having a trump open as an escape route is a challenging one.

The rock climbing at the Third Ridge is challenging as well for freehand work. There are caves worth exploring in all three Ridges.

And of course the beach.

When Vance and I showed all this to Random his comment was "There goes the neighborhood"

For centuries that we elders knew of it an informal rule has been build nothing permanent here. Tent, yurts, Tippies, Vardo wagons, and such were the norm if more then a blanket was needed. Random has codified this now. He has rulled no digging, not building, except for Unicorn shrines.

I think he knows something we don't.

==='''Fantalin, Thelusia'''===

[[File:Pfantalin.jpg]]

Ancient Thelusia. Vast and mighty is the second ally of Amber, the second signature on the [[Golden Circle Signatory Treaty]]. Only Rebma sits higher in the Council of Nations overseen by Amber.

Thelusia is like the next-door neighbor you can't get to return your hedge trimmers and who never asks for his snow-shovel back. So many interactions occur between the kingdoms that the cultures are nearly identical. This has cosmological reasons as well as practical ones.

When a stage show goes on the road, its first stop is the Imperial Theater of the Dramatic Arts in Fantalin. While there are universities aplenty in Amber itself, the Imperial University of Thelusia houses the Amber Chair of Sorcerous Arts. This is in Fantalin. The Great Green Shrine of the Unicorn is the most massive temple of the Unicorn in the Golden Circle, dwarfing the Shrine of the Unicorn in Amber. The Athenaeum of Oberon, attached to the Imperial University of Thelusia, contains more original manuscripts from the Golden Circle than any known place. The Museum of Imperial Thelusia is the second greatest Museum in the GC containing more masterpieces than they can display.

Fantalin is the capital of a nation that comprises the entire known surface area of the planet it resides on. Even Amber shares her sphere with Rebma. Fully 1/4 of the military of Amber comes from Thelusia. It is the first major kingdom outside of Amber that is not in some way a Shade of Amber herself. It is big. All of the elder royals were unceremoniously dropped at Fantalin by no less than Oberon, and educated by the School of Royal Rights, Fantalin. Perhaps Random should revive the custom.

I would dearly love to poke fun at stodgy, loyal, ancient, and fanatically pious old Thelusia, and at my alma-mater IUT while I am at it. To tweak the noses of the Deans and professors that so dominate the culture and act as Miss Manners to its superior, Amber.

But I can't.

In Corwin's chronicles Oberon in the guise of Ganelon speaks of his youth in Avalon. It stuck in my memory. I have hoped, even prayed, since I read Corwin's Chronicle myself, that before Oberon slew him those words were originally Ganelon's. That Oberon repeated them to Corwin, at an appropriate moment, as homage to the man Ganelon once was. Corwin swears he repeated the tale intact.

Ganelon says, "Youth, love, beauty-I knew them in Avalon. Proud steeds, bright metal, soft lips, dark ale. Honor."

We should all have such a place. Fantalin, in Thelusia, was mine.

Addendum to Fantalin'

There is a tavern called Bent Copper's Drop, near the White River in Fantalin. It is a college tavern. I could tell you some stories about that place, believe you me.

I would like to write those tales out, but i tear to think of them. Days of youth when you believed in impossible things like truth, justice, loyalty, honor, majesty, duty, and spoke deep pacts against anyone who soiled these things. But in time they were soiled. All of them. Truth is in the eye of the beholder, justice can be bought, betrayal has a market value, honor falters, kings are just men, duty is as much an anchor as a it is wings, and pacts can be negotiated if you know the right wizard.

So we grow out of such belief in absolutes and accept that these things exist not as glowing points, but as points on a tape measure. Things with starts and conclusions. Hopefully, things that can be regained. Then in our elder days we come to believe in them again, but this time, with a touch of wisdom, and a sad smile for those in the first bloom of youth, clutching these ideals to their breasts.

(GM-Notes:I was always bummed i didn't get any PCs interested in higher education. I had a lot of silly frivolous scenarios set in Fantalin around the school. Young love, feuding rivals, demanding teachers. Fantalin is not just where young Amberites would be sent to school for book-learning. All the Golden Circle worlds probably did as well, for centuries. Getting a degree at Fantalin and returning to Alagulpa Riesa, a small but vital Golden Circle shadow on the trade routes out of Diaga, would be like getting a Harvard law degree and returning to practice law in Fiji. After Patternfall i had planned for young lords of Black Zone worlds and even young Lords of Chaos to attend Fantalin.

Then at some point i hoped to introduce a person i hoped to have rock the Amber universe by accepting a very public teaching position;Dowager Queen [[Cymnea]]. This person would have the goods on the Elders and the PCs would do well befriending her. Sadly, it never happened and she remains a recluse.

[[File:amberdinerline1.gif]]

===='''''Augmentation to the Original'''''====

Here we come to a tricky part of this missive. The extra part.

What lie below this point were not part of the original trump deck published Jan 1, 5250. Forces that remain obstinate despite my personal suspicions magically added them. As I stated in the introduction of this reprinted version of my article. "Diners of Amber," I believe it is Dworkin mucking around with these cards. But he isn't talking and I am not forcing him too. I am merely putting my cards on the table, as it were.

So if my edge in commenting on these is too dull or too bitter, you know the reason and who to deliver you complaints. As I also said above," Come whisper me your objections."

==='''[[Ang Ri]]'''===

[[File:PAngRi.jpg]]

I have visited Ang Ri twice. Both times in order to prepare comments for these decks. That will do.

Ang Ri is a Black Zone world and a signatory kingdom of the [[Black Zone Pact Instrument]]. The kingdom is a vicious, deadly place where life is cheap.

This shadow is in a sword age and a wizard's age. As with most such places there is a wild danger to traveling here. The predominant life form is human but many humans do not end their lives as human. Lycanthropy is rampant. Magical initiations and chaos effects warp forms. Animals merge with men. Form is mutable. Dragons are a frequent presence and the Council of the Wing oversees and often violently vetoes what governments exist here.

Subsistence farming and isolated enclaves and sparse city-states dot this realm. Trade is dangerous but portal ways provide a degree of security for merchants.

Magic abounds this close to chaos. Everything works.

Here is one comment in favor of the city-state of GjYfil, which is where the trump delivers you. The region around this massive tent city is rolling hills sparsely speckled with the Unsat trees. There is a cooking area called Ganli's Pits. They make a weird meal I might have to stop by for again. The trees have a thick, pear like fruit with a distinctively honey taste that are a full yard across. The livestock can be called cow-like, despite their bulbous faces and 20 tiny legs, because the meat is beef-like. When I asked them what they called these animals they said they had no name. Gotta love Chaos for not cluttering up the language.

So what they do is take the fruit and the beef-like things and cut them into 1/2" thick, 1' wide, 3' long slabs. They then marinade them in a vat the contents of which all looked benign enough. Spices, oils, onions, are tossed into the pits to keep the marinade fresh. The slabs stay in them for a day or so. Then they remove them and roll one of each together with marinated onions between the layers. This tube is wrapped in Unsat leaves, which apparently are immune to fire, and they pitch them into a fire pit. Hours later they remove it and slice it to serve.

The result is exotic, but pleasing. Onions add a nice division between meat and fruit. I don't know if this dish will find its way to Random's table but I would bet credits to navy beans that Swayvill has eaten it.

I recently had to go here for purposes not necessarily pertinent to this article. Once there I went through a series of trials and tribulations which included an encounter with a weapon-master. This guy used a weapon he called a Deathwheeler. It was a pike on the back end, and on the front business end was three rows of curved knives. 4 curved up and forward, 4 curved down and backward, 4 in the center curved left and 4 in the center curved right. A pike point stuck straight forward. The knives spin somehow. The damn thing looked deadly as all heck. They have ones that don't magically spin. They have armies using it. Scary...

Another thing i learned about Ang Ri is that it was originally four other worlds, each very different except for having similar lifeforms. Not existing in a rational universe of stars and physics, but in the waves of variations that culminates in the [[Stuff of Chaos]], four separate worlds at various point came into contact and instead of erupting in shards of ruined worlds they melted together like flavored butters. Now, centuries or millennia later, the cultures have grown together too. It explains a lot about the way the people in this world interact.

==='''Beleriand'''===

[[File:Pbeleriad.jpg]]

This world is a pristine one in the earliest epochs of its life. It is a vastly underpopulated world which supports Elven, Dwarven and human races, as well as Orcish and other monstrous races. This is a fantasy world lodged in a sword age.

I am told that this world is the birth world of Marke, Fiona's son. I also know that this world is part of a long series of shadows with similar histories and a consideration of this situation is worthwhile since the condition occurs in a limitless form throughout shadow. To finish off Beleriand let me just say this is a rustic age and quite a crude shadow technologically. Have fun, bring your own tent. Also, Beleriand has the purest water I have ever tasted.

====<big>'''''A Digression on the Connections Between Cosmology and Fiction-The Travel Guides'''''</big>====
Skip to the next entry, "Falri, Mandalay"-its a good one-unless you want a lesson in cosmology. This topic could occupy thousands of pages and does in a wide variety of tomes. But I will give you the dime tour of the cosmology of shadow using Beleriand as a guide.

Amber to chaos, everything exists. Shrodinger was right; everything that can happen has happened.

So go to the Earth/Aerth/Urth/Haaerth world of your choice. Find a reputable bookstore, such as Kobble's Nook across the street from Neal's Diner, and you should find a book called the Silmarilion and another series called Lord of the Rings. You can find these in the Library of Amber as well. In these books you will find a complex history from origin myths of the Valar and the Maiar who create the world with the overlordship of a primal being named Illuvetar. Nations rise, peoples move, wars are fought, monsters, dragons, betrayals, glorious wonders and all leading up to the defeat of Sauron the Sorcerer, the destruction of his artifact of power, and the dawn of the Fourth age.

Elves come, humans come, dwarves show up, bad guys, good guys, noble kings, heroic wanderers, evil sorcerers. It is all there. Thousands of centuries of history finalizing in the fourth age where peace will rule. Of course it doesn't but the story ends there.

So you read these books and say, "I would like to visit this place." So what do you do? Well, you look over the books again, and call them '''Travel Guides'''.

Since everything exists it stands to reason that every place is written about someplace else. Corwin, at the edge of the Abyss, dictated his Chronicles after the Patternfall War. Merlin then transcribed them, verbatim, into print and had them published by the fine people at New Warren Press here in Amber. ''(They publish my plays so call this a shameless plug.)'' Such are the editions the reader has undoubtedly read, as well as the semi-fictionalized sequel detailing Merlin's fantasy of himself becoming 'King of Chaos." As we all know, Merlin better than most, a High Lord, who gives up his own name at the time of crowning to become the new Swayvill, rules Chaos.

Yet I have found Corwin's Chronicles, faithfully printed word for word, in many bookstores throughout shadow, and presented as "Fiction". Merlin's too. As well as the series Caine wrote called Lives of Waterwalkers, and my own theatrical pieces. Sometimes my works have even been attributed to a guy named Marlowe. Without the courtesy of royalty checks even. The cheek.

So look over the Silmarilion and chart which epoch you want. Beleriend? Numenor? Gondor? First, second, third, fourth ages? I assure you there are fifth, sixth, and seventh ages but the details diverge from the mainstream of consistency at the fourth age.

Should you be interested there is one called Eighth Age that has high rises, interstate highways,ritualized combat sports, commerce, and international diplomacy. Nations of Gondor, Rohan, Harad, & Arnor run by Humans, Erebor, Iron Hills, and Moria run by Dwarves, Lothlorian, Greenwood, & Gray Havens run by diminish elves, Mordor, Rhun and lands to the East run by a mixture of Humans and Orcs. Seeing an Orc in a business suit going over transfer documents and bills of lading with Elves in casual friday wear is deeply disconcerting. Still, thus is shadow.

The concept of Travel Guides makes some people especially shaky. There are a few of these people that will be finding there way to Amber, and Chaos, that are the subjects of such Travel Guides/works of Fiction. That their lives are so displayed for the perusal of others is a nasty disadvantage. Some people have found their way to Amber that claim to have 'written' these fictions. Their certainty is impressive. One of them is now an Amber Guardsman of great skill who is writing dark Gothic horrors while serving in the Dungeons of Amber. Corwin mentions him in his chronicles.

Caine and I had a long talk about this situation once. We then set out to test the theory that every one of us is a fictional character. We both found that there are shadows where each of us is the star of any number of books. Yet across shadow certain particular people seem to be more dynamically represented. The Similirion is common in most Earth/Eurth/Erth/Aerth worlds. A couple of other series are ubiquitous.

Just ask Doria about this. Her history is laid out in a tremendous collection of books calling her 'Lady, Mistress of Charm' and painting her as a black sorceress empress of a great empire of darkness, served by ten dark enslaved sorcerers called 'The Ten Who Were Taken". One of these Taken turns out to be her slightly more crazy sister, my niece Desri. Its nice to see family doing things together.

When these 'Fictional Characters' show up they will have their histories laid bare at the feet of their kinsman, to be used against them. Sorry, kids.

On the topic of Travel Guides and fictional characters.

Doria was the main person disadvantaged by the use of these books. Her friends and her foes so chronicled have followed her. But others are there too. Some people are collecting the various versions of us and trying to figure out which ones were most accurate. Many of us have hunted down these books and devised defenses accordingly. Be forewarned.

==='''Falri, Mandalay'''===

[[File:Pfalri.jpg]]

Falri. Ah, Mandalay is getting to be a very fun place to visit. A very fun place to live. A very fun place to...

Falri is a few shadow viels away from the Hub itself. It is a fey world of pleasure of the purely sensual nature. Can you guess from the image on the card the attractions available? Women can find a similar pool nearby where the sprites are differently equipped. Or they can join in this one, or visa versa. This smallish shadow is a wet one where fantasies are fulfilled. Gentle rains, warm pools, fresh fruits, clean vegetables, and enchanting company.

==='''Fane of Zila'''===

[[File:Pfaneofzila.jpg]]

At the edge of the Abyss, at the site of Patternfall, is a vast temple to the serpent of Chaos.

This is the Fane of Zila. It is a many-chambered basilica of a precarious height and ornamented by uncounted millennia. Alcoves are dedicated to uncounted numbers of gods, demigods, heroes, fiends, celebrities, and miscreants.

There is a nasty section of the place added after Patternfall that every Amberite should visit. This is the Cult-hall of Amber. Therein is found shrines to the Unicorn, to Oberon, Dworkin, and yes, to every known family member in the House of Amber. It mirrors a far more ancient chamber that is the Cult-hall of Chaos. A small chamber is called the Cult-hall of Avalon but only shrines of the Bear, Corwin, Deirdre, and Merlin reside there. A new chamber is dedicated to Mandalay and it has many new visitors.

The Fane is also a shadow-trap. Shadow-walkers aiming for Chaos arrive here.

In Merlin's little fantasy Corwin has a moment in a Cult of Corwin shrine. He says there that "He has pissed on his tomb, he couldn't resist lighting a candle to himself."

I don't know if that really occurred or not, and not having a tomb I could not indulge in the former pleasure, but I have done the later. Who in the darkness of shadow, in fear of chaos, with abhorrence of death, has not wished to the stars, the fates, the gods, or the infinite absolute for guidance? None this side of Chaos, none who ever passed within the Fane of Zila to see themselves adored or vilified. If I light a candle to myself, am I vain? No, I cast light against the darkness.

The Fane of Zila turns out to have some very tricky rules and the place is massive in the extreme. It is a disorganized mishmash of cathedrals, basilicas, and churches. It seems that the forces of chaos and shadow casts a powerful shadow of the finest examples of each religion's temple into the fane. This means that even if a prime temple is destroyed it's shade is here. That does not mean the mad priests of Zila can't go adding and changing things. Some forgotten temple, massive in size was taken by the priests of Zila and converted to the Cult of Amber. When Chaos legalized the Amber cults, they inadvertently added a massive basilica, originally a Temple of Benedict created in shadow, that now houses the great Amber Cults. This has had some strange effects on shadow and I am afraid to say it may be making gods of us all.

I think I will take some time to decide if this is a good thing.

==='''Ganras Galleries, Vies'''===

[[File:Pganras.jpg]]

This is a good place to get a painting done or have a glass of tea or wine with really pretentious art critics in the earth world of 19th century Vienna/Vies in the Principality of Austria in the Kingdom of [[Greater Austrasia]]. This empire-nation spans the globe of a world where Napoleon and France conquered the world by 1840, leaving a strong imperial monarchy and several generations of able rulers. As has been commented on before, in shadow anything is possible.

For details on Napoleons impressive career visit the Addendum

A type of endless discussion group lives in this garret. It rests above a very fine café so it can be ranked amongst the Diners of Amber if you so choose. There is even a fair gambling club next to a brothel where fancy French women do naughty things to fancy Austrian women while fancy Nubian and fancy confederate women wait and warm each other up.

The garret itself though is a running debate. 24 hours a day, 7 days a week people come and go, sitting, talking, painting , primping, complaining, stargazing, planning, lying, wooing, and otherwise entertaining each other.

Six people dominate this circle of people. They are nearly always here. Pierre Renoir, Lewis Carroll, Vincent Van Gogh, Karl Lueger, Henri Toulouse-lautrec, Sigmund Freud.

Sigmund Freud is the father of psychoanalysis. Enough said.

Lewis Carroll is an English author and mathematician, and an exiled criminal. The writer of Alice in Wonderland was imprisoned in 1870 for sedition against the French government, after serving 5 years he fled England to live in Vienna. There he lives beneath the level of perception of the government, a general among the underground.

He said something i have always liked, caught my atttention and made me seek him out when i found out he lived here. "Sometimes I've believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast." I know the feeling.

Vincent Van Gogh is, well, Vincent ''Friggin'' Van Gogh. Now i have run into many artists that were Vincent Can Gogh. But this ine is the most Vincent of Vincents i ever met. He speaks eloquently on the value of madness for an artist and speaks in worshipful reverance of the ittinerant war-medic who saved his life when he attempted suicide.

Karl Lueger is a government employee in the Austrian Principality of Austrasia. A brilliant, anti-semitic, opportunistic, and driven man keen on the newest type of technology to improve the city. He is also a rabid anti-French Austrian patriot. This man is... interesting to argue with.

Renoir is a painter. A pretty good one too.

Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec is the prototype of the eccentric artist. An interesting man in any shadow one find him, it seems the people of Ganrus helped him through his own despondency and helped him find useful medical treatments.

There is a cacophony of other renegades and roustabout artists and such here. It seems circuses are often in town and some of them spend their of hours here. .

I'm told my brother Pierre can be found here with some regularity. Someday i should visit to meet him.

Oh, the things that I could say about this place! Let us just say this is a very chatty place, filled with very chatty people, who have sources of information from Budapest, to Peking, to Los Angeles, to Johannesburg. They also have contacts from Amber to Avalon, Mandalay to Chaos.

Since most Amberites are familiar with earth history, being frequent guests there, it happened like this in this one.

Napoleon demolished Europe by 1805. Ignoring Russia he sent armies and embassies to take Scandinavia just to get people used to the cold. After this every soldier in his army learned to deal with cold weather and eventually were able to invade Russia, from Finland, if you can believe it, and conquer Russia in 1812.

This meant that by 1815 everything in Europe from the Orkneys and Ireland to Italy and the Low Countries, Russia to Spain and Portugal was now France. Not subject nations, they were provinces of the France Empire with new, or at least, renamed aristocracy. England, as a subject of the Empire, has never been comfortable. A new aristocrasy was laid on top of the old english one in the way the Normans were dropped on top of the british London and York are hotbeds of rebellious activities in thier world and it almost seems like thats by design. Every 4 or 5 years the opposition suffers a few deaths and a lot of setbacks.

Africa was never very organized anyway so all it took was some missionaries, some assassinations, and a judicious use of patronage and military might to take Africa from Cairo to the Cape of Good Hope. An impressive act of barbarism paired with the acquisition of an impressive Grand Duke made short work of Africa. Napoleon met a young Shaka Zulu in 1807. Soon the young man was a colonel of the French Army, fighting in Algiers and Egypt. In 1816 when Shaka's father died he went to take control of the Zulu nation. He took along about 20,000 seasoned French/Algerian instructors and enough weaponry to destroy any stone age people that reared their ugly heads. Within 15 years the Zulu, loyal French citizens everyone, had conquered Africa and Shaka Zulu was not only a Marshal of France but a Prince of the Empire.

With Europe, Africa, and Russia to draw troops, China, southeast Asia, and Australia had little hope. The Edo shogunate in the early 1800s had been dealing with the intrusions into this waters by American and Russian whalers and when the French conquered Russia began discussions of alliances. Feudal Japan began trading directly with French merchant shipping and gained western military equipment and supplies. Japan had roundly trounced most of China, Southeast Asia, and had nearly exterminated the Australian aborigines by the time Russia/French/Zulu troops had conquered the Indian subcontinent.

By 1830 three distinct spheres of influence existed on this world. French, American, and Japanese. American influence in the southern hemisphere was unorganized and ineffective.

By 1830 dissident movements had been squashed, transportation issues dealt with and the standard of living in Europe, Africa and Asia was uniform and high.

From 1806 French spies had been fomenting disunion in the United States and with French support the Confederate Army rose in 1842. This death blow to the United States meant that Canada, Mexico, and the United States were divided into 8 separate regions and were completely subjugated by 1849.

South America fell piecemeal throughout the 1830s. Moving troops around and visiting all the new provinces there took Napoleon 2 years between mid 1837-1839. It was in Panama, July 4, 1839, after laying out the plans and digging the first shovel full of dirt on a future canal, that he caught malaria and died.

It didn't matter. He had a son ready, a grandson in uniform, and a great-grandson in diapers.

It especially didn't matter that he died because he didn't. He merely rejoined Benedict's General Staff. The fix was in from the start.

Polynesia is still a hold out but so little government lives there than it is not worth mentioning. Besides, they need some place to send troops for practical experience.

==='''King's Retreat'''===

[[File:Phideaway.jpg]]

This place is a very interesting one and I think its inclusion in the deck is a little tweak at the rest of us.

This was Oberon's little hide out where he apparently spent thousands of hours. Now Random is king and the place is his.

The trick is that only Random can activate this trump, despite the chill it emits, it will not chime to the touch. It is a closed place. It is here in the deck so no mater which deck Random confiscates he can use it to escape. Clever potentate, a word for thee; my deck holds no such card and the trumps in your deck burn as merrily as any others.

==='''Gerard's Hunting Lodge'''===

[[File:Phuntinglodge.jpg]]

Imagine? Gerard has a hunting lodge. Stuffed dead things, tankards, beer kegs, flattened empty animals, candle lanterns, roaring fireplaces, and a kitchen designed to cook entire carcasses.

About what you would expect.

Hunting trips can be arranged through Gerard. His chief guide, Talowar, is a Nez Perce Indian from the Vine River tribe. A quiet, but friendly guy, he knows more about hunting, trapping, skinning, and other woodsy things than any man I ever met. He has one quirk that is really difficult to get used too. He knows more jokes about beavers than I ever heard. A night of listening to them was one of the most hilarious nights of my life despite my belief that there were not that many jokes about beavers in all shadow.

==='''Oracle of Night'''===

[[File:Poracleofnight.jpg]]

I have spoken about oracles a couple of times in this work. I have also mentioned that several cards have appeared in the deck after there original publishing date. I also related that Dworkin made it very clear I would continue to comment on the new cards. With these points in mind I give you the following.

The morning I peered through my deck and discovered a trump of the Oracle of Night and the Tower of Grief I broke out in a cold sweat. I remained in it for an hour. Then I went to the Sea View Garden and I drank a bottle of gin. Lastly, I wept.

Fiona found me. I showed her the card, she checked her own deck. She sat speechless, till she began drinking with me. It all started at the Oracle of Night.

Whoever is putting these cards in the deck is playing a dangerous game.

The Oracle of Night is a terrible place and the font from which many woes have flown. Brand, Fiona, and I sought in shadow for a powerful oracle. We sought the most powerful oracle we could find, the three of us, with all our powers focused on the task. We came to the Oracle of Night.

Therein we found the Seat of Seeking. Brand sat first. I was second. Fiona was third. Soon after we followed the paths laid before us. It led to our cabal, my assault on Amber, the Battle of Patternfall, the marring of the Pattern, Brand's imprisonment, and eventually to Brand and Deirdre's falls into the Abyss.

I am of a mind to raise an army as I tread shadow and to lay siege to the Oracle of Night, bringing it down to rubble. Sadly, it is protected by chaos.

Addendum

It was inevitable that the danger of forcing fate and the need to know the unknown would war against each other in King Random of Amber and make him think giving this horror a go was a good idea.

So one day I found myself forced at Jewel of Judgment point by my so lovely monarch to climb these stairs again for him. And he aimed the jewel at Brother Ben and my technocratic Nephew Vance. At least Random took the stair himself as well.

So if the arrows fall, and the shadows quake and hot rocks of chaos fall from the sky, you know who to blame. This time its not my fault.

==='''Tower of Grief'''===

[[File:Ptowerofgrief.jpg]]

The Tower of Grief is a very special place in Shadow. It is a place of great sadness and loss. It is a place to come to rest and leave your cares.

It is a temple of suicide. It is a mausoleum of the living. It is the last place you want to find yourself and sometimes it is the only place to be.

There is a saying in shadow that I like. "Don't go to Chinatown."

I don't particularly know what it means but I think it expresses the Tower well. Sometimes there are places we fear, and dare not visit, but eventually must confront. I confronted my grief in the Tower.

The Tower rests in a shadow near the Abyss and the Chaosians go there frequently. Once it was a construct of Chaos but the creation of Amber stranded it on this side of the abyss. Its mighty spires, three of which are pictured in the trump, contain balconies in vast numbers, none of which may overlook each other. Neither can sound of wailing or angst escape their walls, though laughter will. The heartbroken, the hopeless, the defeated come here. Those who could not bring themselves to weep, shed tears in the Tower of Grief.

Amongst the many powers of the tower is that from its balconies you can gaze out into shadow and view any funeral, memorial, or rite of death in shadow, at any time of the shadow's history. Eerie shit. I have it on good authority that the balconies were filled to capacity only once. When the funeral procession for Oberon came snaking out of shadow, dragging the remnants of the Black Road to the Fane of Zila, over the Abyss, and down into the very tomb of the Ancestor's of Darkness. There wept the Lords of Chaos for the death of Oberon, that they could cry at his passing, and bemoan the coming of a less lenient liege to Amber. .

If the Tower of Grief and the Oracle of Night seem similar it is because they are in neighboring shadow veils. The Oracle of Night is the first shadow of the Tower of Grief. They are one shadow away from the Fane of Zila.

Take what warning you may from the proximity of these edifices of gloom.

==='''Tir Mar Gala'''===

[[File:PTirMarGala.jpg]]

This place, like Tir no'gath in Amber, is a stairway up to a shadowy reflection of the Hub of Mandalay. It appears only once a month, rising from the pathway into the Vale of Song

Unlike Tir No'gath this is not a realm of prophecy, it is a realm of solitude. It is a cloudy realm that is death for the deathless, rest for the restless, and peace for the haunted.

Adrian tells me that in this cloudy realm one need only lay down to sleep to doze into peaceful, dreamless sleep. The sleeper wakes briefly once a month, to decide if he wishes to continue his rest. They may even determine how long they wish to rest. A month, a year, a century is all the same to Tir Mar Gala.

While here they can not be trumped, detected, taken against their will, nor slain, harmed or found. One may heal here, so if you are damaged, crippled, maimed or otherwise injured, and need some rest, this is the place to let all your cares go by.

Addendum

Through my seeking in various places i found out something odd about this realm. Adrian intended that the King Of Mandalay, be it he or his heirs, would have no power in Tir Mar Gala. That any Lord of Mandalay entering the realm would have no power to effect people within it. He was really serious about it.



==='''Moondance Café'''===

[[File:Pmoondance.jpg]]

Amongst the Diners of Amber is the bright splash of grease and pastels called the Moondance Café and it is a really strange place even amongst the spires of New York. One might get the wrong idea about this shadow if this is the only place you visit. Then again it is not far from 42nd street and I guess that counts as a weird zone too.

The Diner is staffed by waiters, waitress, cooks and busboys dressed as celebrities from the 1950's of the earth shadow. This dynamic period had many stereo types that are entertaining to watch them work in.

Now Random would not have allowed this in the deck if it was just for the weirdly dressed folks. Nope, this is a fine diner. The Blue Plate Special is a hearty meatloaf with potatoes and that really plasters an Amberite's' ribs. Breakfasts are heart and the coffee cup is never empty. These, however, are not the specialties.

The specialty the Moon Burger is a double meat patty, with all the fixings. A full 3/4 pound of red meat, cooked to please. On the side is a big plate of kris-cut fries, and a large cup of either cole slaw or the soup of the day. Friday is clam chowder day and it is a recipe Dame Margot claims to have created.

Yummy.

==='''[[Rebma]]'''===

[[File:Prebma.jpg]]

Rebma, the first Jewel. The first of the Golden Circle Kingdoms and one of the only other nations on the sphere that Amber inhabits. Oddly, they have never been very involved in the politics of Amber. Oberon never took a Rebman wife, though Llewella is the result of a brief affair, and Martin is the result of a dalliance of Random's. Rene is the result of a one-night stand between Moire and Corwin.

Things have changed. Rebma is a player in the game of nations in the Golden Circle Kingdoms, taking a leading role in the new era of King Random.

==='''Sardi's, New York, New York'''===

[[File:Psardis.jpg]]

Now we are talking.

Right dab in the middle of New York's Theater district is a watering hole of the elite. This is THE place to come after a night of theater and dancing. I brought the whole company of Dalwil's Feather to Sardi's one night and they fed us like kings.

I recommend making reservations though, rather than just dropping in. You want food to go, hit Calrabon, but if you want fancy food, served in the best atmosphere, this is the place. Also, their portions are human-scaled. Making a reservation insures that the portion sizes will be more in line with what we of Amber desire. Pay in gold; then tip in gold too.

I prefer the Shrimp Sardi. Really tasty and bite sized, but call ahead to scare the Neuva Cuisine crowd away.

Check out the wall of caricatures while you are there. Celebrities of the shadow are displayed here. Amongst the known people are less well-known faces of Bleys of Amber, Random of Amber, Gerard of Amber, and even Llewella of Rebma.

One quick thing. I got Benedict roaring drunk here once. I even paid for damages.

A word of advice; Don't get Benedict roaring drunk. He has issues.

==='''The Gugenhiem, NY, NY'''===

[[File:PgugenhiemNY.jpg]]

This is one of the finest museums in New York and in Shadow too. Of course just because they store some swell stuff is not why this card is here. It is here because it is an unusually good place for clandestine meetings. Hard to bug, lots of walking space and you can see most of it from the railing and see if you are being followed.

It is also as good a spot to arrive in New York as any, except maybe the palace.

==='''Footman's Garage. Los Angeles'''===

[[File:Pshoegarage.jpg]]

One has to give Random credit for cleverness. When I saw three new cards arrive in the deck that sent the traveler to the same New York shadow I asked him what was on his mind. I could understand the Moondance, the Gugenhiem, and even Sardi's, but the Footman's Garage?

Then he told me that the Footman's was in Los Angeles of the same shadow. I was perplexed. I asked him if that was the most important landmark in a city of twelve million people?

Want to guess what his response was?

<big> ''"Hey bro, nobody walks in LA"''</big>

Right. So I took a look.

Random keeps a fleet of cars stored here. Ask for Randy's Fleet Service and check what cars are available. If you know to ask, they know to check them out to you.

He keeps a sweet group of rides there. A Jag, a mazaratti, and a cool custom Rolls Royce limousine and a collection of crotch rocket cycles. There are a couple Taurus', BMWs, several ford pickups, and a few Mercedes too. Many of the Amberites keep stuff here, all part of 'Randy's Fleet.' I keep two T-bird classics here, a '56 and a '67, as well as a Chiron. Flora keeps a blue corvette. Benedict keeps a locked section where he keeps his own toys. Merlin dropped off a VW rag-top I borrow sometimes and Corwin keeps a jeep and a Harley. Caine keeps a '34 ford stretch limo that is low on amenities but very high on cool. A few miles away Julian keeps several racehorses, Gerard keeps a very nice luxury yacht, and both Random and Delwin keep a few airplanes.

Of course there is also a couple other things in the Footman's Garage that confuse the employees. There are two Hummers packed with camping gear, a couple of one ton trucks and a couple large buses, a bobcat, A flatbed with a forklift, a back hoe, even a cement truck. One just never knows when one will need to dump a couple tons of quick cement into a big hole; or what one might want to bury under a couple of tons of cement.

Hidden from public view are two M1A battle tanks, 5 Bradley troop carriers, and several battle ready Hummers with mounted Vulcan cannons. Locked, stocked, and ready to rock!

That's my king.

[[Full list of Vehicles at Footman's Garage]]

Recently i dropped by to do a little sightseeing

===''' Alrus, Begma'''===

[[File:Palrusbegma.jpg]]

Begma has an ancient relationship with Amber. It is amongst the Golden Circle Kingdoms and trades in many of the items common in realms of barbaric splendor.

Alrus is the capital of Begma, a coastal city swelling with trade from a vast inland plain. Amberites wakes each morning to Begman tea and slather their bread with Begman butter. A vaste trade in food stuffs insures a peaceful relationship between Amber and Begma.

Besides, Begma lies just outside the regions of the [[Shade Realms]]. A near, but not really similar shadow of Amber. Begma

==='''Church of the Serpent'''===

[[File:Pchurchserpent.jpg]]

Of all the bizarre places that might find there way into King Random's Deck it boggles my mind to find this card here. I told Random he was nuts.

He said he was only being fair. He said in time there would be a Church of the Bear, the Tree, the Dragon and other creatures.

If you say so, Random.

==='''Lighthouse of Hiemnal, Kashfra'''===

[[File:P Hiemnal.jpg]]

The Lighthouse of Hiemnal is a very traditional feature on the coast of Kashfra. A recent signatory of a Golden Circle Signatory Treaty, they received Random's agreement that no place trump would directly deposit travelers inside the gates of the capital city of Jidrash. Perhaps they are not quite ready to trust their new allies.

Kashfra and Begma are traditional enemies, fighting over a border region called Eregonar. The king of Kashfra is Rinnaldo, the son of Brand of Amber and Jasra of Sawall. The actions of these people were prominent in Merlin's semi-fictionalized novels. A tall, red-headed, fast talker who can sell law books to Chaosians, Rinnaldo, also called Luke, is a friendly and gregarious fellow. His mother is a mean cuss and I have told her so to her face. Of course, I've boinked her too. After many years of usurpation, political wrangling, assassinations and negotiations, a GCST was finalized despite the rabid, even frantic objections of the Begman nation, people, and royal family. Having an Amberite sitting the throne goes a long way to smoothing over political difficulties, especially when the son prefers Amber and the mother is an advocate of chaos. Rinnaldo turned down the offer of a Black Zone Pact Instrument from none less then the old Swayvill himself.

This world is a Sword & Sorcery age. Flora once described it a 'Barbaric Splendour" and that pretty much covers it. They trade in furs, exotic spices, unusual jewels, and a wide variety of minor novelty magic.

There is a very minor, yet extremely interesting, brand of sorcerers in Kashfra. They create very minor, and extremely useful, magic items that work in Amber. They work there because they use miniscule spells based in full sorcery. These items replicate the nearly ubiquitous "Continualist Items" such as heat stones, cold stones, fire stones, and freeze stones, amongst a wide variety of others. These items will flood into Amber, changing the way homes are heated, streets are lit, food is cooked and stored, drinks are cooled, a ice is created. Rinnaldo really sold us a bill of goods convincing our king this makes up for the frolicsome state of affairs in Kasfra

Part of the agreement in the GCST is that the Council of Wizards, led by Jasra, will be joining the Royal Academy of Sorcerers at Fantalin. Jasra herself receiving a newly endowed Professorial chair; the Kashfran Chair of Temporary Magic. The Council of Wizards, being poor country kin and only partly trained in true sorcery has a lot of ground to catch up. But Jasra, as Queen of the Keep of the Four Worlds, has control over a rather nice power source despite being reluctant in the extreme to allow its use. To gain admittance to it one will have to bargain well, and remember that Jasra is a chaosian by birth who snared, and wed, a prince of Amber.

The rumor is that Rinnaldo told her that she could play nice or go home to Chaos. She blinked.

==='''The Garden'''===

[[File:Pgarden.jpg]]

<div class="center" style="width: auto; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;">''In the Garden, there I brought her, 'neath the golden boughs above.

''There we sang, and there we swooned, And there we played our ode to love.

''There's a fun place in the Garden, Where the lads and lassies meet.

'' 'cause it wouldn't do, to do the do, their doing, in the streets.</div>

Mandalay seems an ideal realm and every time I visit it I like it more. In a vale to the northeast of the Hub of Mandalay is a quiet little realm apart from the universe. Wide golden boughs span beneath a soft sky, where flowers abound in a realm of terraces, gazeboes, and private nooks. The air smells of honeysuckle and love.

Adrian assures me of several things about the Garden. First is that conception will not take place, nor can diseases transfer. In fact a person with a social disease who sleeps the night alone in the Garden awakes cleaned of the taint. Many magical conditions can be cleansed by a night of rest here. Also, those who enter the Garden together can determine whether or not others entering can find them.

The realm is littered with tiny cabins, gazeboes, covered niches, and secluded meadows that can provide privacy to the lovers. They can not be disturbed nor interrupted, not contacted by trump nor surprised by REALLY loud screaming.

Adrian is a very clever guy.

==='''Vulsar Star Base'''===

[[File:Pvulsarbase.jpg]]

Vulsar; The planet of greens and yellows best seen from space. This is because next to nothing grows here that tops 3 feet unless it was brought from off planet. No natural animal life above the insect level except a sparrow like bird that zoologists can not explain why it is even found on this world since no evolutionary trace of it can be found and it pre-dates space travel and intervention by shadow-walkers. Lucky sparrow. Eerie. This is probably why Star Fleet chose it as the main star port in the eastern edge of the Milky Way.

Vulsar is in a shadow that developed along the line displayed in the Star Trek Travel Guides. Called fiction in many worlds, Benedict none the less found the place.

So what is there? Criminy, what isn't.

Pictured is the city of Vulsar Station. It is the governmental center of this planet. Across the vast plains are the construction facilities that produce a hundred spacecraft a year. Thousands of Orbiters, and tens of thousand of fighters come out of the vast production regions of Vulsar. While replicator technology is rampant they assemble the big stuff by hand.

This is one of the shadows Benedict subtly conquered assuming their technology into the Amber Navy. I remember the day he returned to tell Random about the addition of a thousand starships to the wooden Ships of the Line navy. He chuckled. Actually giggled, saying "Resistance is Futile, Resistance is Futile, Resistance is Futile!" Gave me the chills just to hear him. I wasn't not exactly sure why at the time, but then I don't spend that much time in tech shadows.

No attempt was made to bring this universe of diverse races and creeds, all living under one banner, into the Golden Circle. Ben just walked in, pile-drived shadow manipulation on the folks, and their United Federation of Planets seemed to them to always have been members of the Amberian Federation of Planets, the Amber Star Fleet and a direct part of the nation of Amber. Despite the lack of free will involved, it is probably a step up for them.

Shhhhh!!!!!! Don't tell them this. It's a secret.

Two points about why this card is in the general deck.

While not a Diner of Amber, specifically, they have replicator technology that can instantly duplicate any food it has been programmed to create. So most of the foods you find mentioned here can be replicated. Takes all the fun out of travel.

Secondly, and most importantly for my kinsman, this trump delivers you to The Vulsar Receiving Hall. A giant place starships could pop into and not disturb the furniture. Landing shuttles and all forms of magical & technological transportation forms deliver people here. While it is large enough for massive formal receptions that is not why it is important. The finest Trauma specialists Benedict could assemble wait here. Stasis fields, regenerators, resuscitators, and trauma Docs await the mangled battered and otherwise thrashed Amberite with baited breath. Cool trick, Ben.

Now, let us not accuse Brother Benedict of driving the people too hard in this technological wonderland. In the tropical regions is a series of islands that compare favorably with the most beautiful beaches to be found anywhere. Imported palm trees and adalan plants, flowers in vast profusion. There you can find a dark skinned, long-haired, thong clad sex goddess on the lounge next to you, sipping her mia tai and smoking her ganga dubage, who asks you to smear sun tan lotion on her perfect body, especially those hard to reach areas. Oh, and can you refill her drink, four is usually her limit, but today she wants a sixth!

So while you slather her with the sloppy stuff, plotting your strategy to remove the flimsy twine covering her point of entry, she casually asks for your take on the cross-dimensional exposure of the Benedictine-Amberic warp capacity problems inherent in piloting a starship at warp through shadow. Particularly in-between veils near shadow storms and Chaos effects, and especially considering the trisectional theories that Lord Vance and Prince Benedict debated at the Vulsar gathering at the Amber Star Fleet Grand Technical Convention meeting this morning, of which she is a Spatial Engineering delegate and instructor.

I tell you, it is enough to put you right off smart girls.

As time has gone by a few addendum comments on Grand Vulsara-Vulsar Base seem reasonable. There is a sense of everyone being from someplace else here which anyone who has served in a military can recognize. Orders come, people move, families relocate, and life goes on. But there is also an extremely large population that despite having ancestors who arrived on starships, considers its sthemselves Natives of what they no longer call Vulsar, or Vulsar Base but Grand Vulsara.

The trouble is the time ratio. Its 60 to 1 in Amber. As has been noted elsewhere the phrase means 60 days in Vulsar for every 1 in Amber. A year here is 12 months of 30 days. So for every 6 days in Amber a year goes by here. It builds up. Children are born, grow, attend school, go to Star Fleet academy, and receive posting on star ships and its not been a year in Amber. Regeneration technology and other forms of age treatments exist, but as an outsider you learn to deal with the Rank and the Office and the Specialist rather then dealing with the people. Its tricky. Because of the time relationships some long lived or immortal races have come here. So if you run across an Elf in a officers uniform, speaking Noldorian, don't fret. They just work here.

==='''Jack Rabbit Slim's'''===

[[File:Pjackrabbitslim.jpg]]

Gracious me. Jack Rabbit Slim's?

It is times like this when I have start rethinking my opinion of our monarch.

This place has been described as a wax museum with a pulse. I think of it a sugary drop of nostalgia from a land that never was. It rocks.

As you come to this Los Angeles Hot spot there are a couple of things to remember. One is that this place is about a mile away from the North Hollywood location of the Footman's Garage. So you can go there & pick up a car first. Heck, borrow my '56 t-bird so you'll fit in. Just return it with a full tank of gas. The second is that being dressed right is a good idea. Hit a retro place for 50's chic. Third is that if you trump directly there ask for 'Randy's Table' at the maitre` tri-de`s station. They will take you to a booth, shaped like a cady. That is a Cadilac automobile for you sword swinging, horse riding, lute playing types.

The front of the place is neon and light, brick and glass. As you enter there is a slot-car track where miniature cars wheel around the course trying to out run each other bereft of gasoline. Tables line the walls, booths surround the raised dance floor that dominates the front room. Back rooms are available for private parties but they loose something in their seclusion. Waiters and waitresses dressed in 50's attire serve the flamboyantly named meals that are elegant and wild with a bit of country size and a bit of urban spice. Listen to the rockabily swing and the rock and roll hop.

I recommend the Bill Haley's Comet Platter. This is a 2/3-lb. onion burger with pickles, lettuce, mustard, grilled onions, two slices of cheese, 3 pieces of bacon and two avocado wedges. It comes with a huge plate of French fries and a giant 32-oz drink. Try the vanilla coke or the cherry coke. These are colas with a splash of vanilla extract and cherry juice.

I tried explaining onion burgers to the chef at Oberon's Fire in Calrabon. He was horrified. So I brought him here and set him up with a comet platter with a $5 milkshake. Now you can get an Onion Burger at Oberon's Fire.

The owner of this place is Elvis Beam. He knows very well about Amberites. He is a thin, wild guy who dresses like Elvis Presley, a musician in shadow, and who laughs easily and fights hard.

He knows a lot about Amber, and here is why. He was once the King of Amber.

Well, not our Amber, but a [[Shade Realm]], Ambir. In his reality, he was Random, the last survivor of a violent throne war that swept Ambir at the beginning of Eric's reign. To hear him tell it most of the bloody parts were done when he and Corwen drove a VW bus into Amber. There they found Beniydict in the process of executing Fioyna. He and Corwen fought. They killed each other. Random took the throne. Cleaned the place up and set about securing the kingdom. Sadly he only had a few years to rule before Brandy, a female version of Brand, returned and destroyed herself on the Primal Pattern, wiping the shadows connected to Ambir away.

Only he, Flori, and Lewellen escaped. As the three of them traveled shadow they managed to find their way to a Broken Pattern of the True Realm. Once they assayed it they gained greater power over shadow and found out that they were mere shadows of reality. They found themselves to be shadows of the true players of the Great Game, their own lives and trials merely reflections of the True Patternfall. They learned that at the time that Brand marred the true pattern, Brandy had destroyed theirs.

To say they were depressed is an understatement.

As they traveled shadow they had a wide range of adventures but eventually found the Shadow Earth so many of us have spent time on. It being strong from the attentions of so many Amberites over the years; it was like a beacon. There they spent many years in this shadow, eventually finding a place of rest. Random, now Elvis, started Jack Rabbit Slim's, having found a similar watering hole in a nearby shadow. Flori, now Marilynn, lives in Los Angeles too, and can usually be found here. She is an actress famous for her roles in heavy make-up that only she dons. One can guess how that is done, eh, fellow sorcerers and shape-changers? Lewellan, still Lewellan, is apparently a surf bum in Polynesia some place. He drops by occasionally and is an expert at Broken Pattern Trump art. He is also a fair hand at cards and abstract art.

Of course abstract art is not a safe pastime for Amberites. Picaso and Dali had no idea just how wild shadow gets nor did they know that their weirdest art might be realistic portraits of Lords of Chaos. To paraphrase, Life imitates art.

==='''Domain of the King'''===

[[File:Pdomain.jpg]]

B12, B12, and Out.

Never forget that. That life lesson will serve you well at any of the better parties.

I think now someone is playing a very nasty trick on me. I have been suspicious of this for a long while and I am more certain than ever now. Two cards arrived in the deck on the same day. They come from the same section deep in Chaos and I advise you to avoid both of them as if you get a free hot vanilla and Tabasco pudding enema with each visit.

Now I have mentioned the [[Travel Guides]] in this increasingly long article. These two places come from just such a series of novels. They are well loved in many Earth Worlds. They are loved because they display a sense of humor about themselves and they describe a cosmology that simply CAN NOT EXIST!!!!! Douglas Adams thought he was writing fiction novels, not travel guides despite the name he gives his series: The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy.

Yet we of Amber know better than they do. It all exists out there. Thus we have cards now to the Domain of the King Bar & Grill and Milliways-the Restaurant the End of the Universe.

Card 52 is the Domain of the King.

The Domain of the King is a really cool diner by itself. Diner of Amber by day, bar by night.

First the food. They are known far and wide for having really cold beer. They make fantastic meat rolls that are made from an animal they call ''Perfectly Normal Beast''. Laugh if you will, they expect it. These animals are a step between the common steer and a buffalo. The meat is tasty, a little too much like wild game for some tastes. The rolls are served anytime of the day or night. At night they have a Roast & Grill menu, serving PNB meat. They also have chicken.

Now; entertainment. This shadow is connected to a vast universe of multiple planes of existence and probability that have tissue fragile borders between them. Let us just say it is close to Chaos and let it go at that. But in this shadow there was, is, frequently is not and then suddenly is again, an earth world. As they say, anything that can happen, did happen, and on this particular earth world, the space aliens did come to earth and they did not abduct Elvis Presely. He went willingly. He now is the owner and main lounge singer at the Domain of the King. He sounds as good as ever but has gone considerably to fat. He is also a bit distracted and is very difficult to talk to. It is my humble opinion, after listening to him sing and play that he IS a shadow of our own Truman of Amber, not the other way around.

A personal note to whoever put this card in the deck: You couldn't give me a trump somewhere with a sane Elvis, now could you?

==='''Milliways-The Restaurant at the End of the Universe.'''===

[[File:Prestendunive.jpg]]

This place is one of the strangest places in all of shadow and I defy anyone to prove otherwise.

Milliways is a restaurant on the last surviving rock before entropy destroys the entire known universe. At least in this shadow. The saying there is that if you have done 6 impossible things this morning why not round it out with breakfast at Milliways.

To go in to any detail about this place would be pointless and long. 7 is not a round number.

I'll just tell you this much. The food is amazingly good by anyone's standards. They have scoured all space and time in this multiverse to bring the best chefs here. The drinks are tasty and big. Try the Pan Galactic Gargle Blaster, which is said to be the alcoholic equivalent of a mugging; expensive, and bad on the head. I find them tasty and potent.

The clientèle is eclectic at best, wacky at worst. They have a complete set of multiverses to draw people from and they do. Time is wacky here too. Recently Chaos Lords, Mandalayans, and Amberites, as well as many well-heeled or well-connected shadow dwellers, have been making the scene. One never knows what or who or who pretending to be what you might meet here. The Chaos Lords have all agreed, since this card appeared in their decks too, to make it a Neutral Zone for the purpose of warfare and animosity. Diplomacy is difficult here because the booze is strong. The music is wild, the food talks to you before butchering, and it has the best light show ever as the universe explodes and implodes around the restaurant nightly.

All things considered I would agree it is a good idea to make this place neutral ground. After all, trying to run any kind of battle in the middle of the natural universe imploding would challenge the cagiest of generals.

==='''St. Masvir of Arkens Links'''===

[[File:Pstmasvir.jpg]]

Well, of course the deck would include a golf course. You think we are savages just running around banging on each other with blunt objects?

Now anyone that takes it upon themselves to give you golf advice is violating one of the primal rules of the universe. Don't talk about anything you don't know anything about. Sam Sneed once said all you need to know about golf is to take the stick, hit the ball, make it go in the hole. I spent a lot of time once in a shadow that golf is very popular in and I can attest to that statement. It is possibly one of the dumbest games ever tossed out by pure chance and, as Mark Twain said, is one of the best ways to interrupt a perfectly nice walk. I shoot 10 under par myself.

Frankly I didn't know Random liked golf but I asked him about it before I dropped in on this place. Turns out he is a fanatic about it. Who knew? Of the many things I thought I might do with my brothers over the years this was low on the list. Then after this card arrived and I asked him about golf and it all snowballed. Soon I found myself on the tee of the third hole at the Big Mount course at St. Masvir's with Random, Julian, Caine, Vance, and Flora. Turns out Flora played the pro circuits on Earth for about 90 years. She shoots 15 under par, my brothers. Don't bet a bent copper wing against her. She won that day, beating all her brothers.

It was a gorgeous spring day and the weather was just perfect. I never felt closer to my kin then that day. I owe it all to Random being king, Oberon being mostly dead, and Caine, who painted this trump, being a golf nut. He shoots 14 under par. That day Flora shot 16 under par, Random shot 13. I managed to tie Caine at 14, Vance shot 11, and Julian shot an abysmal 5 under par. 5 under par may be good for the pro circuits but Amber is a tough crowd.

Golf has its detractors. Benedict and Corwin both hate it with a bloody passion. Ben actually growls when it is mentioned. So if I ever have to fight Ben, I would prefer it be on the links at St. Masvir's. With my luck he hates it because he can't break that 18 under par plateau. The bastard probably wants to shoot 18 in 18 and nothing less.

St. Masvir of Arkens Links is an amazing place. Fully 23 complete 18-hole courses ranging in difficulty from bunny to masters. An awesome driving range. It has a Masvir Route of 300 holes. It also has a 1200 hole miniature golf course, a gigantic video arcade, a 12 mile miniature race track for go-carts, and an amazing amusement park with 200 thrill rides culled from the most maniacal places in shadow. Six Flags, a giant chain of amusement parks on many earth worlds. Only contributed 4 rides. The bar for inclusion here is high.

For those unfamiliar with St. Masvir, I shall enlighten you. He is an Earth Roman Catholic saint who settled world problems in an earth shadow of 1495 to 1655 by taking opponents in world crisis's and making them play a full Masvir Route of 300 holes. It is this route that is the center piece at St. Masvir's Links. A Masvir Route is a course of over 200 fairways that one picks and choose which they want to play. While most shadows have 9 or 18-hole courses as standard, Masvir courses are also popular in shadow.

Masvir also forced two very serious world leaders to play 60 holes of miniature golf. He personally designed 48 of the silliest, oddest, most difficult of the emblematic miniature golf holes, most in theme to the conflict between the two. Whatever their issues with each other it was difficult for them to not laugh when the issue was seriously brought up in their future councils, making declaring war very difficult because each knew to do so would incur not the wrath of their foe, but the mirth. Hense Masvir's sainthood for extreme cleverness, amongst other aspects of his life.

I prefer the 18 hole courses myself. At St. Mavirs they have Big Mount, Flip-Fair, Andrew's Downhill, and McCormack's Waterways, amongst the many 18 hole trips. I have played several on their worlds of origin.

Sir Danreese Mirs, a broken pattern sorcerer and retired Duke of Manri, Diaga, created St.Masvir's. He sought in shadow for a realm with the desired physical properties of water, grass, and sand, under a sky with perfect golf weather and uncluttered by people. My understanding is that there was a native beast he hunted into extinction though. He did it over three hundreds years ago in Amber's time. The time ratio is 60 to 1 in Amber. So you can pop in for 18 holes and get back to Amber in the hour.

This realm is like Vine River in a couple of important ways. It is a realm created and run by Amberites or their allies, for the benefit of those immortals able to traverse shadow. It has a hundred shadow trails put in place by mainly broken pattern adapts. When the King of Amber and scads of amber royals arrived the lord of this realm, Sir Danak of Diaga, broached the prospect of the shadow trails being extended to Amber. Caine agreed to over see the extension to Amber, Fantalin, Begma, and other points east and West.

As I write I have just learned that both Adrian and Swayvil play golf. Go figure.

Addendum

((GM-Notes:I had a golf phase. Not as a player, but as a spectator and a student of the game. It has a rich history. The scoring in the above bit is a bit off but give that a pass. I imagined this as a place PCs might bring those they intrigue with.

==='''The Stone of Skulls'''===

[[File:Pstone.jpg]]

The Stone of Skulls is a place where items can be given the chance to be empowered. It is a place where powers can be stolen. It is a crapshoot.

One of the things I have found in connection to the [[Travel Guides]] is that there is a wide swath of what are called 'Gamer Worlds'. These are worlds that are somehow connected in a symbiotic relationship, one shadow urban, high tech, the other of a wide range of descriptions, The connection being that certain individuals in the Gamer Worlds seem to be the objects of observation by people in the observer worlds. Call the Observers Players and the objects of observation Characters. There is a game 'Master' who has a wider connection to specific worlds and when a dizzying number of changes and actions occur the Game Master knows of it. Its questionable which way the power flows.

To say this gives me the heebie-jeebies is a vast understatement. Caine and I once found large collections of 'fiction' novels that outlined real and imaginary details of all of our lives. It seems that there may be people in shadow able to know our darkest secrets and most private joys and crimes simply by the agency of letting themselves open to the operations of the game.

Do the math.

There are an infinite number of shadows divisible. I have been assured by Dworkin that a full set of infinity can have boundaries, Like Chaos or the Abyss, or Amber. Arguing the illogical nature of that is pointless and hard on the furniture. In these urban worlds are groups of people who meet as regularly as clockwork to 'play' these role playing games. There they believe they haul us about on strings and make us dance to their music, whatever cacophonic forms it takes, and in fact do seem to view into the lives of the characters on the Gamer Worlds. A nearly limitless number of people on vast numbers of urban worlds viewing the actions of a eclectic variety of shadows.

These shadows have certain similarities that bear considering. Many have an 'unfinished' feel to them as if the Game Master didn't have the time to figure out a better way for people to get water than to carry it in buckets. They have a weird collection of technologies. Barbaric splendor worlds with flush toilets, public transportation, knights on horse back while the population ride bicycles, and magical entertainment devices like televisions, as if the GM-Game Master- can not conceive of a world with out such conveniences.. It tends to be confusing.

Life is cheap on these worlds and justice is swift as a sword but you can never seem to kill the big bad guy no matter how many of his henchman you stab, shoot, scorch, or vaporize. Women tend to dress smuttier then in real worlds and that gives one a tantalizing guess as to the proportion of male gamers to female gamers!

One assumes that the degree of detail in the world, and the vast number of everyday activities that never reach the perceptive threshold of the GM, tell of the creative abilities and vision of the GM and the players. Or, the limitations of the need of the GM to oversee his "game" means he slides shadows down to finding the one that fits into the dimensions he imagines. I'm not sure which is scarier.

Or they may all be spies. Voyeurs into the actions of others, dice falling to illustrate the actions broadcast from the unfinished reaches of shadow.

I have played these games, and though they may be insights to the actions of my enemies I shall heretofore avoid playing them because the thought of someone over my shoulder, dangling and plucking my strings is at once fearsome and tantalizing.

Again, heebie-jeebies.

Why, you ask, do I go on so?

The Stone of Skulls resides in just such a world.

Men wear the badly preserved skins of animals they hunted with bows despite the fact that a worm in that world exudes a nylon silk that is woven into a Gore-Tex-like fabric that the commonest peasant uses to keep warm. Knights and warlords ride horses while merchants direct spoke-wheeled wooden wagons propelled by magic and everywhere bicycles are available. Terrible menaces to the universe in the forms of evil sorcerers, liches, lycanthropes, Ork-kings, thief guilds, and cruel gods are regularly and competently slaughtered by groups of 'adventurers' of the strangest combinations one can imagine.

Powerful magics are as easy to acquire as touching an item to a big rock with a candle-topped skull.

Now to our great joy, most of what appears in these worlds is limited to these worlds. Universe-devouring god-slugs can only attempt to chew up tiny sections of shadows before sword wielding knights, and wand wielding mages come striding up and kill them. Undead kings that seek to conquer all the multiverse, rarely get far beyond a single shadow. Powerful magical items that can change the tides, mutate the races, or etch the moon, are useless outside a shadow veil or two of their points of origins.

There are exceptions. The Stone of Skulls is such an exception.

One trumps in 500 miles or more away from where the image seems to indicate. Once there you must seek the stone on a directly northern route, travelling amongst the Gore-Tex clad peasants tilling the field with bicycle wheeled plows under the watchful eyes of the local lord or knight on his manly charger. You must fight a bizarre series of encounters as dangerous as swordmaster bandits, or seas of vicious rabid Hamsters. Rabid elephants are not unknown either. There seem to be a lot of giant things and a lot of rabid things and a lot of ensorcelled things. The GM of this world has a warped sense of humor.

Nonetheless one can certainly die here. Never doubt it. I was laughing so hard at the rabid elephant that charged willy-nilly about knocking over trees and scattering hordes of peasants, that I forgot it was really a rabid elephant and it stuck three feet of tusk through my belly and hurled me 30 feet in the air. Joke-time was over and I melted the beast into a puddle of char and grease before I hit the ground, bleeding and pissed off.

Once you battle the creatures of whimsy either cast by a GM or observed by one, you reach the stone. It is a scene of suitable splendor and the effects it gives can be potent. It is a cheep way to kick a powerful tool up a notch on the power scale. Points of advantage are where you find them and they can be found here.

Once you leave this realm the powers remain.

One last comment. To those who read this, dangling my strings; If it is all right with you, I would like to have a nice peaceful life for awhile and I hope to never meet a rabid elephant ever again.

I mean really, Rabies? Rabid Elephants? That's just mean.

[[File:Greenwhitedrapedsword.gif]]

Ok. So I guess the answer was No.

I have gotten in the habit of checking my deck every morning just to be sure no new cards have arrived. I am very busy, at the time of this particular writing, and would have appreciated it if this bloody deck could have gone a while without sprouting new cards.

So this morning what do I find? 5 new cards, and a mystery.

The mystery is that there is a series of number missing between 59 and 66. So down the line 60 to 65 will appear but never forget that 66 arrived with number 56 to 59.

==='''Willie's Tavern'''===

[[File:PWillies.jpg]]

Why this card is in the deck I do not understand. Personally I think it is a threat.

==='''Camelot'''===

[[File:Pcamelot.jpg]]

Camelot? Angel's and Ministers of grace defend us.

There was a time when Corwin once sought out a place of nobility and honor. He ran right into a vein of tales, legends, people, places, and monsters the like of which boggle the mind. Uncountable numbers of these veins exist but this is one similar to what he found. In the centuries that followed many of his brothers heard the tales of Arthur, Lancelot, Gwain, Lot, Tristan, Guennivire, Isuelt, and all the rest. Having heard them, we sought them out, to live amongst them or to fight against them. Sometimes both.

So now this card arrives and what does it do?

For reasons beyond me Dworkin ordered me to go spend time here. Thanks grandpa, so glad you started attending family dinners.

Once there i found it to be a realm of Camelot in its earliest years. The Realm of Camelot here is a large one, and valiant, if a bit idealized. The kingdom is strong and knights come from realms far and wide to serve Arthur. YOung men in the bloom of youth recieve the accolade and serve the realm for many years before being offered a place at the round table.

The Table itself is shockingly massive. 100 seats around a single table, a seat for the king, a seat for the queen, and dozen seats saved for specific reasons;Siege Perilous, Siege Perfectus, Siege Koa. Surrounding the massive table are three tiers of seats for Orders of Knights. The youngest untried knights take the 3rd Order and must travel to prove their mettle. There is not a dam bridge in this realm some steel-clad dolt isn't contesting passage on.

The land of the fair maiden, evil sorceress, the knight Errant and the ruffian mercenary is a boggle to the mind. There is something archetypal about this place and that should be born in mind when traveling here.

==='''Field of the Cloth of Gold'''===

[[File:Cloth of gold.jpg]]

'''''Ah, France'''''

The Field of the Cloth of Gold. [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Field_of_the_Cloth_of_Gold#Consequences]]

This event was held in most Earth/Urth worlds at Balinghem – equidistant between Ardres in France and Guînes in the then-English Pale of Calais. It was a tournament field as part of a summit from 7 to 24 June 1520, between King Henry VIII of England and King Francis I of France.

As one looks through the deck one finds that King Random, ''certainly the Joker in King Oberon's Deck'', has chosen to include many opportunities for chivalric behavior. Encouraging good behavior amongst his kin I believe. Ask me about that later.

Camelot, Avalon, The Stone of Skulls regions, the Dramaturge, Kizabat. Not to mention a number of places that just happens to have knighthood, such as Amber & Rebma, Diaga, Thulusia, Begma, Kashra. Each gives it a different spin of course and its not always the central passion of the places.

But if you contemplate this card, better be ready for the whole deal.

This card functions in an unorthodox manner. Its time relationship to Amber is about Twenty:One-Amber. (See [[Time Relations In Amber]])

This gives one 20 days to one in Amber. Upon drawing the card one has a sense of the place and what is to be expected. One can gaze into it. When one steps forward, one can choose how much time there will be before the gathering of the Field of the Cloth of Gold. A day, a month, a year, 30 years, its the dealer's choice. Once there the dealer and his entourage can not open a trump themselves to leave. They may not used shadow-walking powers. Nor can one teleport, beam up or otherwise escape under your own steam. You may answer a Trump, and thereby escape, but otherwise he is there till July 30, 1520. After that date the block on trump use is lifted. Also, high level Sorcery is not available though several lesser forms of magic are.

The point the creator of this card, presumably Dworkin, is making is if you want to be here, stay awhile. Get the feel of the place and time.

If you do leave this shadow by someone else trumping you, something weird happens to this shadow. It freezes. It does not begin moving forward till you return and continue. After July 30, 1520, time moves normally.

I found this out when i first tried the card. On the time option i picked 30 years, not certain what would happen, not being well versed in the particular history of the region, and unable to Trump out. However, i had spent time in the Crusades of this world and had a general idea of who was who on what side as things went. Had spent some time in the Napoleonic Wars as well, so my knowledge of history was general. I had not visited the War of the Roses at that time.

Well, I was a Prince of Amber without Letters Patent in England or France. So I went to Rhodes for a couple years, got Knighted into the Sovereign Military Hospitaller Order of Saint John of Jerusalem. I had respected them in Jerusalem in another shadow. That it took some finagling to get knighted, considering it is no small tale. Then i went to England as something of a high ranked Knight Errant. I fought in the Italian wars mostly which i can tell you was a clusterboink of the first water but for a military prince of Amber they were jolly fun. I knew little of the politics coming in, and being blocked from seeking information in a normal way i was forced to tough it out like mortals. By 1520 i was in the retinue of Henry the Eight with an English Patent, familiar with King Francis, and had a squires and servants as befit a man of rank.

Now as any knight, and most politicians will tell you, it wasn't all chivalry and flowers, granted favors. But the cards does seem to deliver you to shadows where once the event begins, you are expected to be on your best behavior.

It was a time of jousting, and courtly love, and intrigue and bad water. It was delightful. Longer then i expected since i was researching these cards at both Random & Dworkin's behest. I spent 50 years in this world, nearly 2 years of time in Amber. I lived here from 1490 to 1540.

A few days after the Tournament was over I was contacted by Benedict, looking in on me after such a long absence. He brought me to Amber.

When I determined the shadow my Trump was connected to was frozen, and i needed to return for a couple months at least to unfreeze the shadow, much to my surprise Benedict asked to join me. When I prepared to return Benedict arrived dressed in the Horse and Kit of an Italian Condottieri, and took a single Amber silverwing to serve as my hired man. At first this scared the ever-loving hell out of me, but in time i realized he was on vacation. We traveled together for 20 years, give or take a few separate excursions. It was a strange and happy time, a carefree time, for we who had been taught not to get close to one's brothers. When we returned to felicity, we looked each other hard in eyes and shook hands. I felt somehow forgiven. I was sad to see our time there end, but there is no reprieve from duty.

The pity is that once you leave, after JAugust 30, it won't deliver you to the same shadow. It wants you to start in a new one. I had to use the pattern to get back to the one i spent so long on. If one speaks to men in my employ, you will find many came from here. Including several currently serving in the [[Elite]]. I made a serious effort, suitable as a Prince of Amber, to bring them. I fell afoul of the [[If I'd died without hop of grace clause]] But i accept the blame for that.

So i said to ask me about Random's encouraging good behavior in his kin? With King Random's permission i inform the holders of these decks, able to make them chime and open, what happened when i spoke to Random after i returned from the Field of the Cloth of Gold.

<blockquote>
'''Random-"So Bleys, you attended the Field of the Cloth of Gold? In the entourage of Henry no less. How did you fare on the field?

Bleys-"Truly? I was victorious, of course. Though the mettle of them men surprised me. Did you think they could stand against a Prince of Amber?

Random-"You kept faith, and left the field with your honor intact?"

Bleys-"King Henry thought so"

Random-"Kneel, Prince Bleys. *I knelt* I include you in the Knightly Order of Gold, a Knight of the Gold Order of Amber".

Of the many things i never expected in my long life, it was crying while being knighted by Random.
</blockquote>

[[File:CoG1.jpg]]

==='''Twilight'''===

[[File:Ptwilight.jpg]]

''If this place is supposed to be a secret why is it in the deck?''

First off, the name of this world refers to the fact that its globe is positioned in its solar system in such a way that the landmasses are always just out of direct sunlight. There is a single landmass that ring's the planets northern hemisphere. The Northern Polar region is a giant sea that never gets direct sunlight. The southern pole is never in darkness and tends to boil at the very bottom. Only a couple isolated islands dot the entire southern half of this planet. And the bottom edge of the land ring, just over the Earth/Urth's Tropic of Cancer, is a gigantic mountain range, with spotty narrow beaches dotted with fishing villages.

Its as if all the landmasses south of the Tropic of Cancer, were shoved up and piled on the lower edge of the ring to create a massive mountain range, with peaks in the 30,000' range and several narrow passages that, Kyber Pass like, reach the interior and never go about 1000' above sea level. The rich and vibrant lands north of the South Ring Mountains never quite get full sunlight. However there is some function that pushes water up to the tops of these mountains and creates thousands and thousands of rivers and streams and creeks that weave and cross and pool and puddle till they seep out into rich rocky garden lands and stream into the Round Sea at the top of their world.

Lastly about the Southern Beach. It is dotted with small but efficient fishing villages specializing in whatever water fare is available. Yet something about this wolds southern hemisphere causes the water to cycle around the planet rather then causing waves to crash on the beach. This means the beaches tend to be rocky, pebbles, and a small amount of sand. Tales tell of once a century storms where the waters change direction and toss hundreds of feet worth of sand against the South face of the Mountain Ring. When the storm comes the villages break down what they can and they flee into the interior. Afterwards they, and large numbers of the interior populace come out to reestablish the fishing communities. A strangely communal project for a people that are mostly isolated.

Also, to add a bit more strangeness to this clearly broken world, the plants grow fast. Similar species of plants from this world grow four times as fast. Crops, such as they are grow really fast. The people of this world eat well.

Thats enough of the topography of the place.

There are no nations on this world. No great cities. There are perhaps a dozen places one could call cities but they are pretty spread out. Imagine an area the size of the Los Angeles metropolitan area with 200,000 people spread out in little enclaves of less then 5000 people. But since they are all in a vale or region that allows them some type of interaction they call themselves a great city. There are 50 million people on this world and except for the dozen major regions, few of the villages or hamlets has more then 5000 people.

There seems to be enough distance between the villages that most people in this world know the names of no more then a few dozen other villages. Maybe only 5 or 6 of the great regions.

But they all know the Seer of Song, my sister Evelyn. They all know the Harpist of Twilight, Evelyn's daughter Grace.

My travels here, and my meetings with these two, are not the topic of public conversation.

''Next Card, Please.''

==='''[[Nu Yark, Nu Yark]]'''===

[[File:PNuYark.jpg]]

This realm is a twist of this and a twist of that. It is a high tech age where man and machine blend easily and well. Nu Yark is a place i have spent time in to unwind and enjoy the simple ease of plenty yet have the rough trade of greed near at hand. This realm is dominated by this vast city that spawns out to the horizons. It is a city of towering pinnacles of glass and steel. Many of the [[arcologies]] that sustain their own populations in comfort and ease, at a price. Many an [[Arcology]] anchors Burroughs in this massive citystate.

Other megatroploies dot this planet.

Beneath the towering spires live the grim lives of the broken the elite have forgotten who must live out desperate lives by desperate means.

This is one of my places. I come here to enjoy to cross-shadow influences of music, drama, and art as well as the luxuries afforded the super-rich. Of course when I'm feeling peckish the food here is sublime.

I said there are crossshadow influences and they abound. This realm is nearer to chaos then to Amber yet it has internal checks and balances that keep a level of reasonable cause and effect in play. Of course what one considers reasonable is widely varied, depending when your last meal was, or when your child last ate.

Sometimes i dress up in black body tight armor and latex, and travel the dark ways and settle affairs for people unable to do so themselves. I feel silly afterwards but while i am there its vastly entertaining. If you are interested, i know where there is a good specialized tailor.

Addendum

As I said i've spent some time here. Its really out of my normal wheelhouse. I grew up in Amber, Thelusia, and parts of places in shadow that have a similar ''die on the sword'' lifestyle. But a few hundred year before Oberon did the shadowdance that led to Pattenfall, he abruptly took me here to meet and bond with a brother Oberon did not want to bring to Amber. Knowing Kibar will read this, it is only fair to tell him that Oberon strictly forbade me from speaking of how we reach Amber. He also told me that he was leaving it up to me if i thought putting a knife in his heart and throwing the body in a bonfire was a good idea. He said he could not make the call and anything i did he would consider for the ''Good of Amber.''

As i've worked on this increasingly long tome ive often spoken of my kin. Flora in Adzikis, Julian in Arden, Random in Taxorami. And now Kibar.

He was hard, but funny. Oberon had been little more then a whisper in the night to his mother but he has a lot of Oberon in him. He suffered warfare as a child, block wars, gang wars, corporate wars. He learned the magics of electronics in this realm where the laws of Chaos combat the laws of nature. Where the evils and the graces needed to be balanced if one was not to become a monster. He has managed well.

==='''Moins'''===

[[File:Pmoins.jpg]]

This is the second city of Rebma. The Kid Sister of Rebma. It is as soggy as Rebma but decidedly more playful. While Rebma has the sophistication and culture appropriate to an Imperial Capital, Moins has the glitz and glamor of a cosmopolitan metropolis.

Its been many years since i wrote this comment. I visited the place just to look in on it for the comment on its card. I failed to see what was important to see. I've recently gone back and spent a long few weeks there. Its a wonderful place; like New Orleans under water. Playful, a place where the elite black-sheep of Rebma's noble families and lesser sons play. Much to my surprise its a place of piracy! Of the many sea lanes into Amber which run past Moins are many of the freebooter persuasion. They are a rough lot, making their way raiding the merchant lanes into Amber, dodging the Amber, Diegan, and Rebman navies; not an easy task. I made friends in this community for a time. Till they realized who i was. Then i had to leave. I did not see to their destruction, but i could not have stayed and not sunk in a knife or two. I left a few bodies of people i know were up to no good. I am after all, a Prince of the Realm.

==='''Forever Gate'''===

[[File:Pforevergate.jpg]]

This card is to a dry and barren ruin of a landscape in which remains the Forever Gate. This is a transportation portal to any time and place in this shadow.

If you were to jump ship immediately on arriving you would find that there is no living thing in this galaxy. Not a bush, a tree, nor a prickly skinned porcupine. Nothing. It is a completely dead shadow. Millions and millions of galaxies with uncountable stars and planets and no living thing exists in any of them.

And there is no one to tell you why except the Forever Gate. But if you ask it, it will merely tell you that there are no living things because they died. Great. Thanks for clarifying.

What I have picked up is that this realm is 1 to 1 Amber. Making research time consuming. Also the longer an anberite stays there, the more unfavorable to Amber it gets, 1 to 1, 1 to 1.1, 1.2, 1.3, 2, 2.5, 4, 7, 9, etc.

Once there were vasty empires, ancient races, technological space-faring nations, unified planets, and uncountable people. There were wars, peace talks, parades, carnivals, vast trade routes and intergalactic exchanges. Sometime in their history, someone somewhere caused a chain reaction to occur that eradicated any creature that can be scientifically called life.

This is a mystery worth exploring, but who has the time?

==='''Paris'''===

[[File:Pparis2.jpg]]

This is Corwin's doing, much to my surprise, since this is in Avalon. Not that you can shadowshift in Avlaon yet, that is still somehow forbidden. But you can get here.

Here is Paris. Late 1800's. Napoleon is dead. Napoleon III is Emperor. Corwin is Overlord. But the rest is the important part. It is a living place, exciting, vivacious. You can find music, art, dance, whatever your heart might desire of such a time and place.

But the Corwin seems to have decided to keep the Diners of Amber theme alive by locating the trump here. Here is Angeleous Lambert's Bakery.

I am not a bread person. I know people who can go on and on about this bread and this grain and that yeast. I had never really understood it. Even using the Bakery trump of the Useful Trumps Deck did little more than give me bread. But my first trip here Corwin and Mama Agalvar and Dame Margot came with me. 3 Bread people against one..

Hold on to your heart when you enter Lambert's. It smells like a very happy heaven in there and you might just expire from joy. Sourdoughs, wheat. Rye. The place is marvelous. Every shape and size you can imagine they probably have or can make.

There is an amazingly good cheese shop across the street. Lienne Lisile's place. Cheddar, not originally a French cheese, is here in abundance. Monterey Jack, Gouda, Edam, Camembert, Muenster, Swiss, Limburger, Blue, Gorgonzola, Provolone, Parmesan, Mozzarella, Soamorze, and hundreds of other cheeses I had never heard of.

Guido Regili is a butcher on the road with a massive selection of meats. Raw, cured and cooked.

Corwin joked that he added this card to his deck so he could always get a sandwhich.

===<div class="center" style="width: auto; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;">'''Vagalorat'''</div>===
<div class="center" style="width: auto; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;">[[File:Pvagal.jpg]]</div>

This chaos realm is typical of the kind of wild weather worlds found in the Black Zone. Dark Skies, Lightning of a wide variety of styles. Cats and dogs falling from the sky. Don't get me started on the rain of frogs, or the rain of Frog Legs. Growing up in chaos may be hard on the people but i assure you, its hard on the frogs.

===<div class="center" style="width: auto; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;">'''Temple of Resolve'''</div>===
<div class="center" style="width: auto; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;">[[File:Ptempleresolve.jpg]]</div>

This place seems to be some sort of meditation space. I have gone in for a wide variety of styles of meditation. Any Fantalin trained Sorcerer is skilled at the kinds of discipline needed to be a competent worker of the crafts.

===<div class="center" style="width: auto; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;">'''[[Tomb of the Ancestor's of Darkness]]'''</div>===
<div class="center" style="width: auto; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;">[[File:Ptoad.jpg]]</div>

This is going a step too far.

This is not a place we should ever find ourselves. Ever achieve. Ever be trapped in. Ever go. Never use this card. It is a tease, a dare, a form of suicide. If you use this card do not call me for help out. Just kiss your ass good-bye and say hello to the Abyssal Gods that will be making your stay a really drag.

[[Cult of Entropy]]

===<div class="center" style="width: auto; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;">'''Rebmaras'''</div>===
<div class="center" style="width: auto; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;">[[File:Prebmaras.jpg]]</div>

Rebmaras? Really? A technological shadow of Rebma above the water as well as below it?

We sometimes forget that Rebma is an Empire too, and the capital of an empire at that. Many are the watery shadows where dwell kings and presidents loyal to the line of Mior. This one is a place with humanoids of the Rebma form, able to breath air and water, that is ruled by an elected council.

Each province provides a Elector and the Council of Electors appoints a Consul for a 6 year term as chief executive. Each 2 years they elect a vice-consul who serves for 6 years. The 3 vice-consulships ships overlap obviously and in theory provide continuity of leadership. The ruling Consul may be chosen from any person having served as vice-consul in 22 years. Campaigning is actively discouraged and frequently the victor of the election has no desire to serve. If they refuse they must enter exile for 6 years. Makes for some rough politics and only the ample presence of water keeps their hands clean.

Pictured on the trump is the Arcol of Remien. An Arcol being short for [[Arcology]]. The trump delivers one in the Square of Lan, a fish shaped god no longer worshiped in this cosmopolitan city.

One gastronomical peculiarity of this world is the size of their shrimp. They call them Pol Bulls but the only difference between them and what we think of as shrimp is that Pol Bulls weigh over a ton. Dumb as stumps, herdsman swim up to them, neatly pith them, then attach balloon-like floats to them for harvesting. They breed quickly I hear.

Consequently Pol is the staple meat of this realm. Pol steaks, Pol burgers, salads.. everything. I like shrimp. Seeing an 800 pound shrimp roasting on a rotisserie is awe inspiring. Recently Pol has become a import to Calrabon. It can be had at Oberon's fire, at a price.

One comment on the people here. They are, like most aquatic peoples, a soggy lot, and frequently naked. Unbashful about nudity, they are prudish in the extreme about sex. Scoring with a Marrian is a point of pride. Though the ride is rarely worth it. Shadow is too full of willing playmates to grope a soggy trout.

But there is one thing in this place that is worth noting, for the militarily inclined. They have perhaps the most amazing array of underwater weaponry available. Clockwork crossbows that fire as fast as machine guns. a wide array of propellants to fire bullets. Rapid fire net guns.

Electricity works funny in this shadow, not shocking people, so you can sit in a cafe, underwater, eating Pol Bull burgers while watching Kilf Soccer on a television. Freaky really.

===<div class="center" style="width: auto; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;">'''Calmir'''</div>===
<div class="center" style="width: auto; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;">[[File:PCalmir.jpg]]</div>

This card is in the deck, but it does not work.

This is a primal realm created eons before Amber and destroyed eons before Amber. A realm of limited shadows, called Eigenstates, or time paths. The Kangular powered the realm as the Pattern powers Amber. But when you assayed the Kangular you gain the power to travel in Time in Calmir, rather than in shadow.

I itch just thinking about it.

Addendum

The Primal Realm of Calmir and the Kangular of Calmir are worth a bit more explanation since Dworkin was foolish enough to ramble about it when i was around.

The Primal Realm of Calmir was created in the dim ancient drapes of time in the unchallenged Chaos and stood for uncounted eons. Its story is a cautionary tale that even Amber can be destroyed and all but forgotten, its powers and tragedies part of history.

Calmir was a royal realm lead by a High Lord. Nine High Lords ruled Calmir during its tenure. As the enemy of Chaos it drew the numerous attacks throughout its life. The capital city of Calroos was a grand city of 3 milllion inhabitants in a rich culture that survived for many generations.

The Kangular, the primal construct of the realm, cast 512 eigenstates out from its center. Adapts of the Kangular were able to time travel down the pathways of the eigenstates. Adapts were not able to time travel in Chaos, nor in Paragon, nor, most likely, in Amber. Although the lives of Calmir and Paragon did overlap, both realms had been long destroyed before Dworkin's creation of Amber.

The Dominion of Calmir spread down 175 eigenstates from their earliest births to their ends. It spread down 159 more in one form or another. The Soldiers of the Dominion were familiar sights in many other realms..

Chaos brought jealous bloody red war to the eigenstates and a vast, vain, proud, treacherous and in the end futile, war took place.

In the end. High Lord Swayvil I of Chaos, having slain the High Lord, and most of the princes and princesses of Calmir in battle, dragged the dying High Lady Escheziria over the Kangular and sacrificed her. This darkened the kangular, dropping the eigenstates, killed billions to the billionth power of inhabitants and ending the Primal Realm of Calmir.

The last surviving son and the last surviving Daughter of Calmir survived by hiding in Paragon during the final event. [[Ranvir Calmir]], youngest son of Ganruuk and Kubresea Calmir and his sister, [[Laeessas Calmir]], hid first in Paragon till it fell then fled into the Abyss steps away from pursuing chaos lords. With the rise of Amber they snuck into Amber and hid amongst its shadows. First in the shadows nearest Chaos, being familiar in many ways to them, till they discovered the existence in the shadows of Amber realms that were similar to the fallen realms of Calmir.

====<big>'''The Kangular of Calmir'''</big>====

The Kangular was a primal construct. Created in the dimmest early days of Chaos. It is a construct that casts shadows along a finite path of possibilities. 512 basic frame eigenstates radiate out from the Kangular. Off each basic frame are a vast number of offshoots caused by traumatic events within the realm or by the actions of those attuned to the Kangular.

Adapts of the Kangular can travel back and forward in the timeline of the eigenstate. Can detect offshoots and travel into them. They can back off time around them to a very small degree. General actions near them personally, Assaults, accidents. Many Kangular adapts skilled in alchemy and sorcery use the time effect to reverse effects caused in research.

(GM-Notes: This was included as part of a potential high power series of conflicts after PCs had had a bunch of time in game. Either Ranvir or Laeessas would have a theory how to find a tendril of time that has a tenuous connection back into the time that Calmir existed. Their endgame was to achieve the change in the time stream to allow Calmir to come forward. This would endanger Everything created after Calmir fell.

 I had a scenario in mind where PCs would hunt down pieces of the Kangular. They would be powerful chunks of magic boosters. A piece the size of a quarter giving a minor sorcerer a huge bump in power. A chunk the size of a football being the base of a strong construct. a pieces the size of a VW being the power source of a might construct. Eventually, if enough pieces of the kangular could be assembled, perhaps its eigentstates could be accessed. Or perhaps Calmir could be restored to full power. Big points, lots of prizes.))

===<div class="center" style="width: auto; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;">'''Callahan's Crosstime Saloon'''</div>===
<div class="center" style="width: auto; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;">[[File:PCalahans.jpg]]</div>

The morning I saw this card in the deck I knew that 'ulterior motives' does not quiet cover things. But I also saw connections. I began to view the deck differantly.

Callahan's is certainly a fine place to drop by and get a quick drink for several days. This card has been in my personal deck for years. I drop by to have the odd single malt whiskey and Irish beer. There are few places in the multiverse where you can find a 300 year old Aboulour single malt scotch and match it to a draft Double Guinness Stout and drink it in a place worthy of the pair. And pay a dollar for both.

As such it is a fine place, one of the finest, that is accepting of people with ---dynamic personalities. I have been a regular for decades.

Situated off route 25, 20 miles along the northern edge of Long Island, New York. It is staffed by Mike Callahan, aided by a former minister/former stick-up man named Tom Hauptman who bartends when Mike Callahan is gone. Also present is an odd assortment of regulars; Jake Stonebender; a folk guitarist and philosopher, a virteouso performer with a scared heart. A Brooklyn ragtime/punk pianist named Fast Eddie Costigan. Pytor, an alcoholic vampire and staff designated driver who drinks alcohol while transfusing victims that he drives home. Doc Webster; a nearly divine surgeon and a dangerous punster, Long Drink McGonnigle; a ex-moonshinner and jack of all trades. And lets not forget Ralph Van Wau Wau; a genetically engineered talking dog.

Throw in Noah Gonzalaes; a sergeant on the Suffolk county bomb squad, Dink Fogerty; a psychic fisherman, Mary Finn, Callahan's daughter, Lady Sally Callahan, Callahan's Wife and a notorious madam, Tommy Jensen; an empathic heroin addict on the mend, Don Domingo Montoya; an unfettered guitarist I had make my personal guitar. Also you will find the cheerful Charlies, the Mac Donald Brothers, a hobbit looking all too much like Bilbo Baggins for my taste, and a leprechaun named Fishy and now you have a glimpse at the cross section of people you might meet at Callahans.

So why come here? Well, the food is edible and cheep. 50c for a tuna fish sandwich. 50c for a shot or a beer, 1 dollar if you smash the glass in the fire place. I drop a grand in the free lunch box every time I drop by, to help those down on their luck.

Just to spice the batch of attendees lets include five more occasional visitors. A despondent ex-Lord of Chaos, defrocked of his powers, named Falowin Hendrake. A once dead pope named Joan. A man named Abe who does an amazing impersonation of Abe Lincoln that is only marred by the fact that he is Abe Lincoln, rescued just after his death in an earth Shadow. A primal beast named Spunky, who won't admit what his animal form is. And lastly, a Prince of Amber with a death wish, sublimated into alcoholism.

I mentioned connections. So here it is. These people solve problems. Emotional ones, tricky ones, unorthodox ones. So like the collection of people at Gallras Galleries, you can come here and layout a problem and get a wide range of solutions, some even useful. Then there is Erasamus Braldig, who while skilled in tinkery, has a startling clear and precise mind; organized and analytical; good for solving problems. Willie's Tavern is a fine place to pick up homespun wisdom. Mama Agelvar knows more recipes than anyone I ever heard of but she also knows more cliché's and proverbs than any sane person should. Then of course there are churches...

So- Connections. Draw your own conclusions.

===<div class="center" style="width: auto; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;">'''Gilley's Club'''</div>===
<div class="center" style="width: auto; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;">[[File:Gilleys.jpg]]</div>

Now we are talking Diners of Amber!

Dworkin, i can not imagine that you are a fan of this place, but i am now.

In many worlds you will find vast regions dedicated to the production of horses, cattle, oil, and testosterone. Gilleys is in one of these places.

Located on an earth world is this honky tonk supreme. Pasadena, Texas sports this huge establishment where you can get a beer, a dance, and a fist fight in the space of 5 minutes.

Rest assured its worth the trip. The food is pedestrian but tasty. Burgers and fries, Reubens, subs, chicken dinners, and ribs, ribs, ribs. Steaks to make an amberite weep. Their steaks are not quite a Buff Cut 3 but they are large, well cooked, and cheap. I'll take three every time. The beer is cold, the whiskey hot, the tequila is fresh over the border. Don't order Vodka, that means you are a commie.

This is a dancehall as well. That means hot, eager, drunk women. Adds a whole new flavor to the Diners of Amber

Addendum

this is a place for the meat to meet the heat. Its deep in cattle country and cooking is an obbsesion.

[[File:Amberdinerline1.gif]]

Three cards arrived on the same day. Not only are all three in the same shadow they are all on the same intersection. I shit you not. All three are within sight of each other at the corner of 5th and Bandoleer in Nenton, Antheris. While the reason for this alludes me at least I only had to make one trip to review them.

These are The Newsstand, King's Sandwich, and La Bisalta. Food and a place to read maybe?

[[File:Amberdinerline1.gif]]

===<div class="center" style="width: auto; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;">'''The Newsstand.'''</div>===
<div class="center" style="width: auto; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;">[[File:Newstand.jpg]]<div>

If anyplace needs, thrives, or dies on accurate news, its Amber.

The first of the Antheris Deck is Big Jim's Newsstand. This is on the corner of 5th and Bandolier in the city of Nenton, Antheris. This near-Amber shadow has a great deal of casual travel among the Golden Circle kingdoms. Nenton is a trade route hub and distribution center. Most tech works here as does most magics. The standard of living is early space travel despite the availability of better due to the orbiting Amber Star Fleet bases.

So why put a Newsstand in a world moderately addicted to computers? Because this trade hub of Amber is a hub of information as well. Information from Chaos to Amber.

And Big Jim Torrio collects it all. Big Jim is hilarious. He is fat, and athletic. Cynical and idealistic. Wise and foolish. He seems to know everything about everything, and since he is rarely wrong it isn't boasting. He carries copies of the same magazines from dozens of different shadow. He collects everything he sells. He collects. He has a rabid passion for baseball cards and he personally has been responsible for the development of the game in numerous shadows. He collects Comic books, which are sort of like fireside tales in colorful pictures and cheesy language. He owns millions. He collects fiction novels and has one of the best collections i have seen.

Remember what i called Fiction novels? [[Travel Guides]], thats right.

If you need info, he might know something. "Big Jim might know something" should be the first line of any investigation.

SO who is he? Well obviously he is a wizard. He holds a Shade Pattern imprint and a Broken Pattern imprint. This makes him an Amberite of one of the lesser realms that somehow broke out of the locked systems that such shades rule. I have shared many a burger with Jim and he refuses to talk about it. I am sure something bad happened. Something he either escaped or started. Since i know he will read this he knows I am looking into it. Casually, of course.

Addendum

This place has a vast collection of periodicals despite the rise of different types of more accessed media. If you must you can link in your tech devices for a small fee. When asked why paper instead of data feeds he says paper, like knives, work almost anywhere. True indeed.

Among this plethora of magazines are a series of comics called graphic novels. They are a step between comic books and novels designed for people who can read but like the pretty pictures better. The availability of certain titles in the serialized works is spotty at best. Just as well. Among them I recently found a title called “The Red Prince.” Disturbingly they turned out to be a comic based on my own recent adventures. Now I know the whole deal about fiction/travel guides. And I know that many of our adventures find their way into fiction works in shadow. But I am not comfortable to have them available to the collectors at some place you can get to by trump.

Is there no privacy?

Newish Information-Recently I happened to wander through some [[Shade Realms]] on an unremarkable mission. One in particular had little to recommend it since it seemed to be a shadow of Amber where an early war went badly wrong. The remains of the Castle were overgrown and lived in by bucolic residents herding sheep and goats and such. Upon examination the disaster must have taken place at a time when the city surrounding the castle had not spread into the [[North Riding]]. When [[Ober]] and [[Yaj]] were little more then fishing villages. Rebma was in ruins far worse then Amber and was totally uninhabited except by the normal denizens of the sea. The Mer race that inhabits our Rebma was long gone here.

Traveling around that level of Shade i found no [[shadowtugs]] for the sea lanes or shadow trails that we younger elders put down in our own youth.

Speaking to the natives they had ancient fireside tales that spoke of Great Obiryon and his four sons, Olo, Flint, Bela, and Birtik. The details of the story were fanciful as such stories get after centuries. Yet it suited its people to provide morals, fables, and a frame of history for a people who need few details and little education. What caught my attention and pushed me to examine the place further was that Olo was also called Yimtoryo. His description met Jim Torrio to a tee.

So i asked Jim. He nodded and said, "We all have our regrets, do we not, Prince of Amber?"

Yes we do, sir.

((GM-Notes:This was intended to be a big campaign. A Middle-power campaign. Something tough enough to be dangerous to tough cousins and players familiar with the universes history and my GM style. The idea starts with much of what Bleys found. A Shade Realm with a bad history. My thought was one that failed before the actual creation of the Kingdom of Amber. So that the power struggle may not have been dynastic, perhaps not even personal. Just something that happened because all things are possible. It occurred before Eric was born, before everyone else was. Its something that happened when shadows of Oberon, Osric, Finndo, Benedict, Borlak and Clymnea was all that existed of the family of Ambir. It was going to depend on what the PCs in the game turned out to be and how to get them all involved in a campaign together, what the goals and rewards would be. Was it personal disaster between the family members? Was it something that happened at the time of Finndo's time as King of Amber, thus effecting this shade realm? What lesson on cosmology was needed? Are their chunks of power around. Apparently, the actual primal pattern of this realm is intact still. Perhaps the PCs would want the pattern itself for construct use, and things could move from there. It would have a variety of shadows of people they would know like Bendict, Osric, Finndo, Borlak, Clymnea, Margot, and others from the dawn of time. Legendary chaosians, Calmirians, who knows. Pity it never happened. Anyway... make of it what you will.

===<div class="center" style="width: auto; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;">'''King's Sandwich'''</div>===
<div class="center" style="width: auto; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;">[[File:King's Sandwich.jpg]]</div>

This corner holds a great burger joint. Its essentially a mobile wagon that got built into place. Plain. Simple. A dozen items on the menu and a hundred condiments on the sideboards. Burger, Cheeseburger, double burgers with and without cheese, polish dogs, hot dogs, Grilled cheese sandwiches, Sausage sandwiches, sliders, French fries, onion rings, and other fried, grilled and cold foods. Quick and easy.

Why Random felt the need to put this card in the deck when two other corners in this intersection already have trumps to them, i don't quiet understand. But he's the King. While there could be a nefarious reason i have come to think its just convenience. This shadow has commerce with other shadows. But a magic door opening in thin air and someone stepping through, right in front of your burger joint probably gets the king cuts in line.

Frankly i think he likes the name. He is getting awfully big for his britches.

==='''73. La Bisalta'''===

[[File:La Bisalta.jpg]]

This cafe' is the third of a pack of three cards representing 3 corners of 5th and Bandolier in the city of Nenton, Antheris.
This is a wonderful place to have coffee with someone you would like to have become a loved one. Polite waiters can find nearly everything and anything you might want to sample. Drinks, pastries, snacks, and cru-de-te.

[[File:Amberdinerline1.gif]]

==='''74. Mc Hood's Roadhouse'''===

[[File:Mchoods.jpg]]

Shadow seems to adore places where heat, cold, gunpowder and bloodshed mix .
In many worlds you will find a place where the urge to expand and the development of gunpowder and steam locomotion meet. This is one such place. Mc Hood is a retired gunfighter, not that he shows himself often. He has issues.
But his family runs Mc Hood's Roadhouse.
Here cattle hands and stevedors, gunfighters, gamblers, ranchers, sheepherders, farmers and travelers of every kind might gather. This roadhouse is in the city of Bowdie, California. Yet it seems to also be on the cross-shadow paths of many of these similar shadows. So while it might be odd to come into the common room and see gunfighters conversing with each other despite the fact one is Caucasian and the other is reptilian.
It is a nexus. Through this place run a many shadow pathways. Most in the same general epoch. The natives of this world have long since learned to not ask questions of the oddities that occasionally arrive here. Similar to Callahan's Crosstime Saloon, Mc Hood's Roadhouse is a gathering place for the eclectic and the lone wolves.

Addendum

Gunpowder and Steam Locomotion. Tallin Gum and Wind Power. Sandill and Flow Crust.

Its all the same. Weapons and movement of cargo. Its about the confluence of violence and commerce. Everywhere you go. Guns make the trains run faster.

===<div class="center" style="width: auto; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;">'''The Blighted Land'''<div>===
<div class="center" style="width: auto; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;">[[File:Blighted land.jpg]]<div>

This is just an invitation to commit violence.

[[File:Frasika Spire.jpg|200 px]][[File:Aley.jpg| 200 px]][[File:Blightedearth1.jpg|[[File:Blighted-earth.jpg]]]]

[[The Blighted Land]]

On some worlds people are just bound and determined to make their lives dangerous and short. They take huge risks and if they are lucky enough to survive them, may get no reward at all.

This is an Earth/Aerth/Urth world that has seriously lost control. It is a testament though to how people can survive almost anything.
To go over the political dimensions of this world would be pointless. They change. Sometime around the late 1900s all law and order slipped away. Wars, nuclear disasters, militarization, easy availability of weaponry, advancing technology despite worldwide carnage, an extremely vibrant commercial climate and little regard for human life are all big elements of this freak show of a world. National governments ceding great sections of their countries to corporations more able to provide services to the populace. Many countries became little more symbolic. Countries turning their military against their populaces. Countries creating huge prisons for criminals of every type. One of these is the [[New York Federal Penitentiary at Manhattan]]

The remaining Chikago metropolitan is over seen by the Frasika_Spire[[https://wiki.rpg.net/index.php/Arcology#Frasika_Spire]]. A large Arcology at the top tip of Damnation Ally, a region of nuclear devastated land across the heartland of what was once the American Nation.

Many of the people on this world have begun calling it the Blighted Land.

Nuclear disasters destroyed vast swaths of it. Industrial waste and human refuse have spoiled another chunk but some of that is being recycled. City-States and small Regional governments rule this planet. Many people cluster around huge corporate compounds that still do most of the producing. Transportation of goods has become a death sport. Technological advances were extraordinary in the face of necessity and the greed and malevolence of the rich.

The roads of this world are dangerous. There is an active sport called Autodueling that pits drivers against each other in both organized and chaotic conflict. The sporting angle of it gives a modicum of legitimization to the production of equipment that is then used, often as not, to further the insane degrees of regular violence on this world. National legal systems have allowed death-sports as a defined exception to the laws defining Murder.

Shadow does not judge good and evil, but it does punish the stupid.

Addendum

Caine brought me here once. He said he wanted to find a world that had taken consumerism and militarism to the extremes. Someplace he could get a vehicle built for dangerous work. He found it. I spent a bit of time learning the hows and whys of this place and it makes no sense at all. It is a conflict of paradoxes.

This world is one of the most stupidly violent worlds I ever found, and i've looked, but it keeps you on your toes.

===<div class="center" style="width: auto; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;">'''Hasik Station '''<div>===
<div class="center" style="width: auto; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;">[[File:Hasik Station.jpg]]<div>

Not everyplace in shadow is clean.

Hasik Station is a dirty place where the paths of trade crash into each other and leave a big mess. And everyone gets a taste and everyone gets rich.
Soldiers, fleet marines, ground troops, merchants, spies, and lunatics of a thousand flavors. And they are all armed to the teeth and trying to make a gold [[fullwing]] as easily as possible. The poor recycle, and recycling is big business. Its not corruption if its the way business is always done.

Now, as for Hasik Station.

On the planet Shatiro, a moon really, around a huge blue gas giant of planet called Halot, circling a sun called, the Sun, is a metropolis called Gadat. It has a population of over 12 million people and is only one of 9 metropolitan areas spaced out across a vast desert. They grew up around oil refineries and oil production facilities. The continent is dirt, overgrown and clogged with traffic from the subterranean rail systems to the ground level roadways systems to the many levels of air transport corridors.

The average temperature outside is from 90 to 130 degrees. Sometimes higher. Hot by most people's standards. They have given up on having outdoor trees. Water rests below and depending on the source is not hard to bring up. The 9 cities of this moon are on aquifers that are massive, enough to support generations of people. Of course once the water is brought it rarely goes down again. They have managed elaborate methods of keeping water here. Vast hydroponic farms recycle water through plants. A thick grass that grows a foot high is grazed on by lumbering beef animals that never run even when they are directed to the slaughter. The grass is often mowed and used as a base for a type of granola bar of mixed vegetables and bound in The Sweet Flora, shipped in from Adzikies in Winter by travelers.

Somewhere in the history of this world civilization broke down and a study of how they survived might be instructional.

In Gadat is a gigantic hub of industry called Hasik Station. It has the technical facilities to qualify as an interplanetary space-station, the storage areas to satisfy the needs of tens of thousands of traders, the charm of a trucker’s diner, and the cleanliness of a gas station bathroom.
It’s a rough place but you can find what you are looking for in the vast cubbyholes of shops in this place. There are several long lanes where merchant ships make port and customers come on board through ally side shops to look over wares. Hand carts, wandering robot salesman, and guys selling watches and music boxes out of their trench-coats. Pickpockets live like kings.

What sets Hasik Station apart from any of a dozen other spaceport-land transport hubs in Gadat alone, or any of the similiar Stations in the other 8 mega-cities is one thing sequestered deep in one of its great stadium barrel vaults. In a swap-meet the size of a small city, under a single tightly sun-filtered dome, surrounded by official and unofficial kiosks, is 200 yards of Jeweled Road. Hence the trade in off-world goods. Trade-goods going from one shadow to another on one of the smalled Diaga routes passes through Hasik Station and the people here get a taste. They place orders. It has made this place rich and vulnerable. War may come.

For all the muck of this place, it has some big upsides.

I don’t know about calling this place a Diner of Amber but it does have some foods to recommend it. There are hundreds of noodle shops throughout the place. There are food carts filled with incredibly flavored meat on a stick that are lovely if you don't think about the kind of meat it is. A salted beef jerky is a traditional snack and is ubiquitous, found in almost every kiosk as an impulse purchase by the cash-box.

Erasmus Braldig owns a repair station here staffed by his apprentices. Need something repaired, see them. There is a bizarre range of items available in the shops here that might be from here or from anyplace in shadow.

Alien races, not native to this shadow where it turns out they were alone, have a foothold here and there. Elves in particular, of the Drow variety, are common. So is a race of essentially orc from a nearby shadow just up the Jeweled Road are a frequent sight. These orcs are merchants as much as raiders. All identifiable non-native races are called "Hasik Folk". This pisses off the native Hasik people enough to cause them to be either fiercely protective of aliens or radically xenophobic about them. Go figure, no middle ground.

Guilds of all kinds vie for trade and customers.

Addendum

I've not been able to run down the reason on this shadow but ones nearby it give hints as to why a planet wide cultural horror and legal prohibition against cannibalism is enforced too stringently degrees. Apparently in the long past, it was an issue. The idea of Eaters of the Dead draped in bear furs, ridding motorcycles and dune buggies, raiding peaceful and desperate remnants of a fallen society are the terrors these people experienced.

Shatiro is not the only inhabited moon around Halot. Halot has 70 or so moons of which half are inhabited on a regular basis. Nor is Halot the only planet around their sun. 8 other planets circle it. 4 gas giants and 4 rocks. There is a regular trade by star freighters and inner system ships pushing speeds fast enough to make star travel reasonable. Yet on none of the inhabited places in this system are new ships being built. All native space ships are hundreds of years old, often held together by wires, welds, and duct tape.

One is a garden of a world in the sweet zone. It is full of life, a wet world of mighty trees, raging oceans, vast plains, and amazing beaches. Despite there being the remnants of once mighty nations no one sets foot on it. It is the Garden to these people and is the world of their origin. For unknown reason when the people left to explore their solar system they decided to leave this world alone to recover from the ravages dealt it by a developing people. Im sure there is more to the story then that but their history seems to start when the left their home world. Its a blind choice of educators to just not discuss what drove them to the stars.

((GM-Notes: First off, like many places, this world has cubbyholes of people for any nefarious need.. Secondly, with an ethic of making a [[fullwing]] any way one can, the opportunities are vast. This options aside were bigger game ideas. One was the PCs defending the Jeweled Road segment from attack, maybe even establishing an embassy near it to show the flag. Another idea was for the PCs to unravel the mystery of why the garden world is avoided. I thought a virulent disease, one possibly dangerous even to Amberites, might infest the world. Maybe a hidden city of people whose ancestors didn't leave with the diaspora.

((GM-Notes: I had a large mad max/wasteland warriors campaign in mind.

===<div class="center" style="width: auto; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;">'''Lisel’s Teahouse'''</div>===
<div class="center" style="width: auto; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;">[[File:Lisel.jpg]]</div>

Lisel’s Teashouse is a tiny place on wheels. A collection of Vardo Wagons in the center of the big city. It can be found in the megatroplois of Unkantar. This highly technological world has a lot of people of a wide variety of shapes and sizes. It has technological wonders and gigantic corporations. It has urban centers with populations of over a million in a single [[Arcology]]. Most urban centers have several archologies besides having spread out metropolitan regions. This planet also has vast agribusiness empires that feed the multitude not lucky enough to live in the tightly controlled Arcologies. (See [[Arcology]])

Stress between the arcologies and the urban centers they stand above is high.

Yet strolling among the shadows of the high-rises and the travel centers of the arcologies is a collection of gypsy Vardo wagons pulled by very tough looking mules. A large modern cargo truck follows the wagons as well. Gently urging them onward from the front reclining seat of the lead wagon is a short and well stuffed woman with long gray hair turned up under a straw hat. This is Lisel. When she parks for the evening, usually near some cultural event or activity, a whole little village appears. A small village. A fire pit is set up and a fire lit. Chairs are set out. Samovars are set up on tables next to the wagon. Silver, gold, mithril, and glass start brewing a variety of fragrant teas. Homemade cheeses, jams, and handmade crackers and scones appear.

Lisel is a wonderful talker, a historian, and a bit of a fortune teller. People come and gawk at this rustic woman in her homespun garb with her painted mules, colorful wagons and strange collection of attendants. People look her over but for some reason few come to take seats at the fire in one of her available folding chairs. But some do. They soon have tea in their hands and Lisel is happy to read their tea leaves once they are done.

She does not charge for the readings. But a donation jar clearly encourages generosity.

She has three constant companions beyond the collection of animals that are plainly visible when she settles in to camp for an evening. One is a short elvish looking hobbit with a very discerning palate for teas. His name is Antil Gardener and he can talk tea for weeks. One is a fat hobbit who tends the fire and the dinner fair, named Largo Baggins. One is a Leprechaun named Vonny who seems very quiet and withdrawn for a leprechaun but is a whirlwind of activity, silently taking cus, refilling cups, bringing nibbles. She tends to stay away from the animals who seem to fear her.

Another frequent traveling companion is Gacia, also know as Grace, daughter of Evelyn, granddaughter of Oberon. She rarely brings up her heritage and depends on her harpist skills.

That the presence of hobbits and leprechauns does not shock the populace is a sign that these creatures, if extremely rare, are not unheard of on this world.

Addendum

Alright. I went and spoke to Lisel and i had a horrifying shock. She is wonderful. She is knowledgeable. She is funny as heck. However, she is a dangerous. She comes from deep in the gamer worlds and from sections of it that interact with the [[Tosa/York]] universe. I have a particular horror of this region of shadow for personal reasons. There is a vast variety of peoples with a incredibly diverse collection of powers.

So Lisel turns out to once have been the Paramount Arch-Druid and Seer of realms closely connected to the fallen Shade of Amber in the [[Tosa/York]]. Realms destroyed in the fall. I am relativly certain, if the research was done, that she might turn out to have been Fiona in that shade of Amber before it fell; Now living under a new name. She went into Exile by the assistance of [[Tolknor]] of York. She gained a Broken Pattern Imprint along the way of the Highest order. The hobbits were Arch-druids in their own rights who fled with Lisel to York. The leprechaun is another refugee but she is not running from shadows. She is [[Vonnilia]] and is a crazy scary little piece of unfettered powers who has lain with monsters best not named, bore their children and does not sleep well. She only feels safe around Lisel, or when on a mission for [[CHAD]]. I have my reasons for distrusting [[CHAD]], and Vonny is one of them.

===<div class="center" style="width: auto; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;">'''Talosaril'''</div>===

<div class="center" style="width: auto; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;">[[File:Talosaril.jpg]]</div>

This desolate place is a vast desert landscape in a region under a very crowded sky. It is deep in the Chaos side of [[Mandalay]] and its cosmology is proof of it. Things Amber-wise tend to have at least some internal cohesion on natural laws. Things Chaos-wise, are not so picky. There are a vast number of what casually appear to be moons and tiny stars in the sky above this flat earth. There are desert plants and desert creatures here and a flat realm that stretches from the trumps arrival point for a million miles to either side. Ive no idea whats so important about this place as to earn its dusty ground a trump in King Random's deck. I'll leave finding out to others.

I recently spoke to a newcomer to Amber, Vek Hendrake, one of the Benedict/Lintra line. He says Talosaril has naturally occurring lakes of liquid glass that is rich in magical and Chaosian potency. He says somewhere deep in the sands, possibly miles below the surface must be either a reflection of the Logrus or a very powerful [[Woven Logrus]]. The liquid glass, infused with the power of chaos, remains liquid until specially treated to become solid. Till then certain Chaos spells and rituals use ''Talosara'' liquid glass. Many glass focuses, fortuneteller's balls, reading glasses, magic mirrors and other glass uses in Chaos are glass from here. He claims to have a pair of Rayban frames with lenses that allow him to see clearly in pitch darkness and see invisible beings. Lovely.

===<div class="center" style="width: auto; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;">'''Adzikis in Winter'''</div>===
<div class="center" style="width: auto; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;">[[File:Adzikis in Winter.jpg]]</div>

''''Ac tanu Mat ren Adzikis e Anoa''''

Adzikis in Winter. Snow in drifts, in sweeps, in sheets, in the deep dark chill of mountains clear of fire.
Adzikis is a world in recovery in many ways. In other ways, it has become something it had no hope of becoming. It is peaceful.

This world was once a vibrant and thriving world just nudging into a high technological age. They had discovered a type of magnetic reaction between three different type of stones that they had developed into a rail transport system and a wide variety of other technological devices. Oceangoing ships filled with well-dressed travelers plied the many seas and the cosmopolitan ports were thriving with their commerce. Manned flight was common but expensive and usually reserved for government personnel and cargo shipments. There were nation states with a variety of conflicts in a gun age that relied on archers as well as rifleman. Theoretical engineers were figuring out that the several moons could be reached by devices just outside the current state of technology, but in a few decades it was possible to explore the heavens. A few communication satellites had been placed in orbit and the computer age was taking off like wildfire. .

In small isolated enclaves were people that the vast populations considered nuts and wackos just because they claimed to be able to use magic and called themselves wizards and witches. They were objects of scorn and mocking comedy. Unknown to the masses though, they practiced high order sorcery as well as listry.

Then catastrophe struck.

My investigations suggest several things occurred at the same time and they are why this place is cold and peaceful. First a series of earthquakes, then dramatic cooling and a global winter. And since disaster breeds the best and worst things in the nature of man they had great efforts to save populations and devastating warfare over surviving resources.

This occurred over 200 years ago in their time. They adapted. They embraced the cold. They reordered their priorities.

They became poets.

Embracing their pain, they began to cherish life, and love, and art, and creativity. They began to prize ingenuity and invention. They developed poetic forms and languages for specialization in certain areas. One language, ''Aurol'', was chosen as the language of business. Another, ''Untalis'', became the language of anger. Feloso became the language of friendship and community. ''Ac Tanu'' became the language of love. Each language had its forms and its poetry. Once each language had served different races and nation-states, but the effort of recovery made them decide to use language differently. Now there was one universal language with subsets selected to be used for specific needs.

One language, ''Tufoli'', became the language of food and drink. Here is where their genius really blooms.

Since they were embracing life and suffering extreme deprivation at the same time, they learned how to use what they had well. Spices were used to cover bland and uncertain meats. Sugars were used to fill caloric intake so baking became almost a religion. They eat all kinds of things sweet. They discovered that they could make a respectable alcohol out of almost any vegetable refuse and that by filtering it through specially scented charcoals got a nearly tasteless base alcohol with a variety of slight scents to cover the harsh base taste. Mixing sugar with it helped too.

More about sugar in the addendum.

Ive spent time here. It has a vibrancy of a world turned into an artists retreat. One where militarism has been abandoned. Where arguments between nations are solved though sports, cooking contests, and acrobatics. They have a form of international athletics that are followed by millions. I found people here amazingly forthright and direct, yet capable of great serenity. Its enticing, and dangerous. Its a process in development and only a world wide acceptance that violence is bad keeps the course pure.

Addendum

So this world took a serious walloping. It happens in shadow if you look.

First, a series of massive earthquakes associated with a great global shifting of tectonic plates, probably an effect of Patternfall, caused about 20% of this world’s lands to crumble into gravel and sink below the sea. Much of these were in the tropical regions, but one major chunk was in the arctic region.

The cataclysmic earthquakes and the subsequent disruptions of the oceans and weather systems caused a massive storm spanning most of the equatorial regions. This caused a general cooling of the world’s oceans. Due to the oceanic currents cooling, and other related effects, the general temperature dropped as much as 40 degrees around the world. This meant that even equatorial regions, used to balmy temperatures of 100, 110, and 120 suddenly were dealing with 60s, 70s, and 80s.

Unfortunately for this world, the regions 25 degrees north of the equator and 30 degrees south of the equator had only about 5% of its landmass after the earthquakes. Several archipelagos sprinkled around the central belt of this world survived the big shaking but volcanoes erupted and spewed ash into the already turbulent atmosphere.

The areas 25 degrees to 45 degrees north and 30 degrees to 50 degrees south had almost 70% of the landmasses. Temperatures plummeted. Worldwide populations suffered dramatically. Billions died. The long cold winter set in for good.

One major immediate effect of this global calamity is that about 50% of the world’s population of animal and plant life perished, including people. 3 billion out of 5 billion lost in days. Suffering and starvation in the first 10 years cost the planet a billion people. The 10 years after the disaster warfare cost the planet another half billion. In 10 years the population of the planet went from over 5 billion to under 400 million.

It all seems natural as catastrophes go. But it occurred at the time of Patternfall and there are tales of small battles fought by the wizards that make sense if they had a tiny piece of the Black Road come here to light things off. I can get no one to confirm it, but i have a strong suspicion that the appearance of the Black Road and the battle by wizards to eradicate it may have started the calamities that effected this world. Ive asked around, they are not talking.

Go Brand. Chalk up another shadow screwed by my mad, sad, and ought to be dead, brother.

Yet Adzikis has much to recommend it. They have survived a terrible tragedy on their world and by embracing life have become at once one people, regardless of appearances, and embraced creation of life. The change of the world’s name is a sign of their resiliency. Before the big shaking the place was called Adzikis. A poem about the new world called it "Adzikis in Winter". The name stuck and became a rally point for the survivors.

Despite the massive destruction, many elements of the growing industrial age survived. But their development was diverted down unusual paths. Intercity transportation occurs on a well-designed mag-lev rail system. Yet most travel in the city is on foot, bicycles, hoverboards, or in horse drawn carriages. Some magtrav wagons and vehicles exist but they are mostly used for official governmental travel and for cargo. There are some magtrav bus systems. Mainly on long cross-city and regional routes.

Solar power systems are the most common power source as well as thermal dynamic power.

The common people have a type of repulsion/hover technology that i'm fairly certain was imported from offworld. An extremely common sight is someone walking with a floating cart behind them carrying groceries and such. There are a wide variety of heating systems but most people have adapted to colder weather.

Nearly all agriculture on this world is hydroponic and communal. Most of it is also large scale and managed for the communal betterment of the population inside mammoth buildings. However, nearly every dwelling has small enclosed hydroponic systems used to recycle water, waste products, and air while growing herbs and small vegetables. These small hydroponic systems are remnants of the systems used at the time of the cataclysm by the survivors. In time the efficiency and productivity of these household systems may have been key to the populations survival. As such, the systems are as much decoration and art works as they are sources of food and clean air.

'''The Sugar of Adzikis'''

This world has a plant called the Sweet Flora. Really. ''The Sweet Flora''. There is no linguistic reason for either word, or for ‘The’ to be put in front of it. It’s just spoken of that way.

<blockquote>
'''''“Hey, Jed, what’s that plant over there? It sure smells good. “'''''

'''''“Well, Zeke, that’s The Sweet Flora.”'''''

</blockquote>

Linguistically it is pronounced ‘thesweetflora.” In ''Thari'' it comes out as The Sweet Flora and that’s the common pronunciation. You’re not kidding anyone, sister.

This is a plant like a sunflower. Tall and thick stalked, with a gigantic pale yellow flower with bright purple seeds in the middle. It blossoms when the sun rises and follows the sun through its passage.

The lower stalks sprout bulbs the size of cantaloupes that contain an unpleasantly sweet sap of a dark yellow color. The roots are comprised of a deep straight taproot and a collection of tubers like potatoes right below the surface. It grows in all climes though it prefers temperatures around 40 to 50. It seems that there are aficionados’ that can tell what temperature the flower was grown in by tasting its various produce. Snobs. What I do know is that if you plant a sprouting of this it will grow in frozen tundra as easily as cool tropics of this world.

It does not, however, transplant well into other shadows. Funny thing that. It can be done just takes some doing. It is grown in large quantities at Vulsar Base.

The flower can be harvested in several ways. First off; the stalk and its taproot are generally left alone for a couple years. The stalk may be two feet across. The stalk and taproot are harvested after 5 years worth of seeds, leaves, petals, bulbs and tubers. It makes a reasonable paper, like a poster board.

The leaves, which grow big and thick, are used as a paper product, mulched and pressed into sheets. This is not terribly efficient and is usually only done for certain religious ritual reasons and for stylistic reasons. There is a type of poetry only written on Florimel Paper. I kid you not, it’s called Florimel Paper. Do you wonder who found this world first?

The leaves can be dried and cut and seeped in hot water and makes a very nice tea. It is the base of a wide variety of floral tea blends.

The leaves can also be cut into chunks and chewed to produce a slightly hallucinogenic and euphoric effect. A lot like cocoa leaves. This process is extremely common in the industry though frowned on and is thought to be a drug of the lower classes. It is also a bit disgusting, involving large oily wads of chaw and lots of sweet tarry spittle. It does, however, get around and is often found at fashionable soirées in a modified form.

Usually the tubers are harvested in warmer weather. They have a texture like potatoes and can be used like them. That is if you like your mashed potatoes to taste like pureed maple candies. That said, there is an extremely large volume of culinary lore that uses the Flora Tubers. Many of the dishes are extremely tasty if a bit too sweet for my taste.

The bulbs can grow to be 8” to 12” in diameters and can be harvested year round. They grow quickly. A clipped bulb leaves a stem attached to the main stalk that can be replaced in 10 to 15 days in a cool and watery climate. This is the main source of sugar on this world. The sap is easy to process and easy to store. It does not freeze in survivable temperatures, becoming a slow and thick syrup. Barrels are filled with the rendered sap and shipped off for refining. The bulb husks are considered a perk of the growers and harvesters and has plenty of culinary uses. These uses do not rise to the level of respectability though which is why the harvesters get them. Still, the husks are used in a variety of methods similar to tamales. They are also a main ingredient in fertilizers on this icy planet.

The flower petals are easy to render into both sugar and scents.
*The sugar has a very strong and pleasant floral smell. It can be used in any preparation sugar can in most universes. A refined and strained form is nearly identical to unscented white sugar.
*The seeds can be roasted and eaten whole; shell and all. It is nutty and sweet. A common preparation of flora seeds is roasting them and coating them in a ginger sugar. Clove, rosemary, and pepper coatings are also quite good. Seeds are also ground into a flour and used accordingly.

Flora seeds and petal are often used to flavor the filtered pure alcohol made from the bulb sugar. Sort of a floral rum and quite tasty.

One last comment on the Sweet Flora.

In the front article I commented that a base alcohol could be made by filtering the pruno-pure alcohol made from almost any vegetable matter through a scented charcoal. This is the charcoal made from the woody stalks of the Sweet Flora plant.

A bit time consuming, and not the easiest way to make alcohol drinkable, it is still a common practice, with a wide following on this make-do-with-less & waste-nothing world.'

Recycling is not as fanatical here as on Taxorami, though it is an ever-present activity, but the Adziks would understand and admire the Taxonomist thriftiness.

((GM_Note: This world was going to be a part of a campaign centered around Flora. And the battle of the black road, the wizards stopped the world from being consumed, but it might be hard to explain to the survivors on this ice block of a world.

===<div class="center" style="width: auto; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;">'''Café Americana'''</div>===
<div class="center" style="width: auto; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;">[[File:Café Americana.jpg]]</div>

Well, now Dworkin’s just messing with my head.
This one may be my fault.
In the deserts of Africa, on the coast of the Atlantic is a sweaty little mud-hole called Casablanca. I'm not a desert person but I seem to have a lot of these haunts in my collection of personal trumps.
This is a fine restaurant in this war-torn shadow of Aerth. To tweak Dworkin’s beard a bit I’ll call this a Diner of Amber.
This is a bar for the most part and a good one. Its technically French territory, Vichy France, during a time of war. So you see a lot of champagne cocktails, Pernod, a wide variety of wines. A lot of whiskeys and brandies are available and a lot of gins. Almost no vodka, and tequilas. Some rums. There is also a brisk trade in local home distilled drinks that will peal paint off steel and skin off your throat.
There is a rival café nearby called the Blue Parrot that serves a grain alcohol based cocktail that has had cinnamon and licorice infused into it and mixed with Vichy water. I know, sounds revolting, but it really grows on ya.
There are many entertainments in this Café besides food. Music, women, gambling, and the occasional gunfight or police raid.
I can also engage in my personal little hobby of killing Nazis too.

Addendum

This realm is close to Amber in time. 3 to 1. That said the war seems to have been surging back and forth across the world for decades. Its an interesting world. The war seems to go on and on and every few years it quiets down for a decade. Technological progress varies and they have not quite figured out the bomb. Still, it is a place of intrigue and romance. Make of that what you will.

This region is a neutral place between warring countries. Everyone is well dressed and polite about it. Enemies know that places like Casablanca, Lisbon, Singapore, Honk Kong, and the like are necessary places of safety for warring tribes. But carry your sidearms anyway, peace is relative.

==='''Kizabat, Ancona'''===

[[File:Kizabat.jpg]]

This desert oasis is deep in a surrounding land of sand, heat, camels, sweaty barbarians and a wide swath of people coming from all points on this world.

Ancona is on the world of Ulgala. This world is lodged in a sword age for the most part but has a great deal more trade then most such worlds. It has vibrant trade because thousands of years before the Rumorzaki Empire built wide thoroughfares using skilled stone workers and powerful magic. These roads are over 100’ wide and are impervious to most native magics. They were built to withstand erosion and heavy traffic. They also glow slightly, providing a dull illumination for travel at night. I’m told this has to do with the type of rock ground to make the mortar for the paving stones. WayWrens placed at various intervals provide wells, and resting places throughout the system. Cities grew up at places where these roads crossed major water sources. Rivers, seas, oceans and the like.

The Kizabat is one of these cities. It grew around a massive water source in the middle of a vast desert. The system of roads had to be forged through this anvil of fire or else make unacceptably long expeditions around it. So five nearly straight roads cross at this location. There is considerable evidence that Rumorzaki sorcerors drew up the water here and created the system below the ground that feeds the great pools and springs that now exist. Water is sent off to irrigate huge areas for farming, orchards and livestock. Oh, and for people as well.

This city has almost a million people and they all live off the cross-desert traffic somehow. Either provisioning the caravans, feeding the merchants, or tending to their own needs.

But doubt not, it is a Diner of Amber.

One takes one's meals in different diners in different worlds.

Take Dar ma Agalat. This stone building is tucked into the side of a palace and it seems the palace has let the restaurant take much of its first floor. Probably in exchange for a private entrance. Stone walls, arched doorways, corridors with booths making it a maze. Each table has a hookah pipe or three which are surrounded by plush pillows. Belly dancers, musicians, sword swallowers, and native magicians wander the corridors entertaining the dinners. Exotic foods are brought by the tray and a menu is never seen. One pays by the time spent, not the meal eaten. Iced fruits. Camel kabobs. Goat curry. Lamb in mint sauce. Falafel of all kinds. Masgouf fish[[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arab_cuisine#/media/File:Préparation_du_mansaf-Jordanie_(8).jpg]]. Hummus, pita breads. Variotions on themes with differant names. They will bring you platter after platter to be eaten family style. Family style? I assume this does not apply to the family Bariman. Still, its a fine way to spend a day or two.

Business is conducted in many restaurants, large and small, of this kind. Ive often been tempted to bring its like to the City of Amber and establish a court of my own there.
<div class="center" style="width: auto; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;">[[File:Kizbatfood.jpg|1000 px]]<div>
Addendums

Kizbat is a interesting place for many reasons. It is a Saracen place, with all the fashion and none of the religion. Dusky women and alluring men. Song, scents, spices, sweat, silks, cotton, dance, stories. Walkways and alleys covered by canvas sheets. A place of high heat and deep shades. It is a pleasant place.

A code of chivalry exists here and it has its knighthoods. As the crossroads of five major roads it is deep enough in a blisteringly hot desert devoid of breezes that it never been a good idea to try and make war on it. Still, the kingdoms at the end of the roads, all with a claim as the ''real heirs of the Rumorzaki Empire'' and pissed off if others make the claim, are next to each other elsewhere and they fight it out with gusto. Consequently, their battles occasionally arrive in Kizbat and the natives get caught up in them. So an order of Knighthood, "The Ars Ak Zaki" [[https://wiki.rpg.net/index.php/Knightly_Orders_in_Jeweled_Amber#Kizabat.2C_Ancona]]. The "Zala Ak Zaki", knights who once served in the Ars ak Zaki, organize tournaments, jousts, hunts, dances, feasts, and other chivalric displays for thos interested in sweaty military displays.

==='''The Mall at Caladoon'''===

[[File:Caladoon.jpg]]

This place is an unbelievably huge shopping center in the megatropolis Of Unara An ata Satar, on the planet Hurth. It’s an advanced world with all the tricky tech you can imagine. Its also near a chunk of the Jeweled Road that passes through so a lot of similar cosmological conditions. So if you buy a high tech toy here it will work as far in as Thelusia and Diaga. Of course one man’s technology is another man’s magic. I’d rather stick to magic.

This world is a clean world. One with a great many of the inconveniences of life taken care of automatically. Clean air, clean technology, lots of greenways, well maintained parklands. Healthy food and means to recover from unhealthy foods. Its amazing these people ever leave their homes. They can live, work, eat, be born and die in their homes all over the computer systems that so integrate their lives. Arcologies abound of the Treestka Towers style.[[https://wiki.rpg.net/index.php/Arcology#Treestaka_Towers]]

Of course, the price is privacy, but what’s that compared to security and plenty?

Should you come to this world by a route other then the Jeweled Road it is amusing to travel a few shadows in other directions to see what this place would look like if the technology failed. Those are some very frolicsome worlds depending on which manner of failure you worked into your shadow-walking. Of course, thats just the tequila talking.

Addendum

==='''Red Dog Tavern'''===

[[File:Reddog.jpg]]

The Red Dog Tavern is a rough joint. Its often called the Red Dog Hall. Its not officially a biker bar but its a biker bar. Its a neutral spot for like eight huge bike gangs that live locally or do business up and down the lonely mountainous roadways. A huge 8 lane super highway is about 10 miles west of here for all legitimate through traffic. So this mildly curvy hilly road handles local traffic and nefarious cargoes. The Highway Patrol is a rare sight and they mind their own business.

Fights are discouraged with extreme prejudice. Black Ice, a large black biker gone to fat with a peg leg, 4 fingers on one hand, and one eye, runs the place. He employs a lot of bikers past their prime who have very little patience with trouble makers.

When bikers retire and come to live at the Red Dog they put their old patch aside and take the Red Dog patch. They leave old grudges and old crimes behind. Blooded enemies are under the same patch now, so relax and lets talk about the old days. The other gangs consider the Red Dog patch like a badge of honor that the rider had lived the life well and deserves to relax in a place with endless beer, lots of liquor, and young and old patch snatch.

The hills behind the hall are freckled with small roads and trails dotted with small houses, bungalows, mobile-homes, old Rvs, and renovated vans housing people who have lived lives of unexpected diversity and ended up here.

There seem to be a lot of old dogs around, retired fighting dogs. There is one cat, Charlie, a huge Maine coon with one eye and one ear. The dogs leave it the hell alone

If you need a small group of guys eager to work for gold with no questions asked, this is our place.

Addendum

Just an aside, Black Ice has a Broken Pattern imprint as does his cat Charlie. Make of that what you will.

(GMs Note: This place is based on Fallow's Camp in the Azuza Canyon Area up Cal 39 past the William's Resort. We once had a very nice SCA camping event here in the middle of legacy oaks. The retired bikers that lived north of the camp and hung out at the camp's tavern wer friendly enough to the medievally dressed campers. Of course, they did enjoy our tavern of homebrew beers and pudding games. The Camp is empty now and the bikers dead and gone, but the land has been fought over by La County, the City of Industry, and others with unclear ideas what to do with century old remnants of a once prosperous ghost towns.)

[[File:Red Dog Plaza.jpg]]

==='''Englewood Diner===

[[File:Englewood.jpg]]

This is a moving place, so don't depend on it being anywhere near where it was the last time you visited.

The Jeweled Road is a vast construct that can not be measured in miles, nor in days, nor i gather in eons. I doubt it can be measured in anything but metaphysics and poetry.

It casts its own shadows of course and sometimes they link together in a way the [[Shade Realms]] of Amber do not. The road has a vast number of Way Stations, Forts, Military Bases, Tribal Rings, Caravansary, and yes, diners. The Englewood is one of the latter.

Imagine a stretch of road about 20 miles long and a quarter mile of open field on either side of it. This plot of land will move between shadows at random. Luckily the twenty mile long and half mile wide plot has fields, gardens, a few farms, livestock, wooded land, and even streams sometimes. The employees of the diner live variously on the farms and shacks on this region of land. The waitress is often Ruby or Emerald, or Alice. The cook is usually Carl; a heavyset older white-man. Sometimes Zebadiah; an extremely spry elderly black man. Occasionally Enrique; an elderly Hispanic man. or Dashel; a nephew of mine, and an Amberite of whom the less said the better. On rare occasions the cook is Gulliver, traveling east, and an Amberite, i think, of a Shade of Amber he won't talk about. I've asked.

They serve a wide variety of mostly utilitarian fare of a lower strata, inexpensive. While it has the usual eggs & Bacon, burgers, steaks or soup & salad & dishes on would expect, ordering the Blue Plate Special saves time. Its meatloaf as often as not and asking whats in the meat is just rude. They will wrap anything they make up to-go, for the traveler on the road.

This card has a bit of pull to it, like the Jeweled Road at Diago does. Not as urgent or reliable, but its there.

This is an actual diner. Its lodged thematically in the earth 30's and 40s and the people can of show it. While the clientèle can be anything from anywhere, as a joint on the Jeweled Road might expect to have, it seems to find its self in more human regions of traffic. There are no hotels near by, but there are fields and a chunk of forest. If you ask, they will loan you a tent.
.

==='''Big Tanax'''===

[[File:Tanax.jpg]]

This card arrived in my deck one morning and the damn cow's eyes seem to follow me. So I went to see what can be seen. I have been to Texas on several earth/Urth/Eurth worlds. This is Texas, called Tanax, and it is a very busy place. It is a processing center on some kind of cattle drive route and trail-head. Rail lines connect here and cattle of a variety of forms get shipped all over the world. A well protected and highly electrical fence surrounds this place.

This tavern is a place for hiring the sort of people that ask few questions. Muscle for moving cattle or bodies.

==='''Tenochilan'''===
Here is the capital of Azcala. May the Unicorn preserve us.

[[File:Tenochilan.jpg]]

That this card arrived in the deck reflects the dangers of our times. It also does not function. Yet. That it arrived in the deck at all is a sign that someone thinks it will work someday. On that day i suspect someone will lead an army through it. I suspect Benedict will lead that army. I suspect i shall be standing beside him, in armor, with weapons of war, not the clown, the drunkard of war or the failed prince. If that occurs, then heed me foes of Amber, i shall acquit myself as a Prince of Amber. As one who almost conquered Amber by force of arms.

==='''Heroch's Cantina'''===

[[File:Heroch's Cantina.jpg]]

Heroch? Really?...So this card popped up and I had to go talk to Dworkin about it. I mean really, Gramps, Heroch's Cantina? Young children might read this!

Ok, so lets start with Heroch. He's an [[Ushfa]]. He won't say who was the first creature he mimicked or what form he was born as, and in the end, it doesn't really matter. He has grown beyond his birth. He's a sigil lord of the [[Mal at Riess]]. He holds a Broken Pattern Imprint and I suspect a Sigil of Azcala. He is a serious character and a known battle-mage. However he is also personable, reliable, and kinky as a pile of pickup sticks.

The cantina is in the city of Azanam. Its island in one of the archipelago of this watery world of Anazala, a Realm of the [[Azcala]] Sway. Not specifically within the locked system but close enough to be within walking distance, or invading distance, to it.

The Cantina itself is a tricky place. First off if you drive past it in the daytime it looks like a unmarked shuttered up restaurant in a beachside town. A hotel is across the road and it has residents there who have been paying by the night for decades.The beach is a few hundred feet from the place and there is a lot of open land between the Cantina and the water. A few taco shops, junk shops, gas stations, and local hovels are nearby as well. The vast parking lot is speckled with rust pillars and charging stations and gas pumps.

But oh the night.
At night the place comes alive. The clientèle are not local. The parking lot fills with cars of a thousand worlds and there is plenty of room nearby for spacecraft and other bizarre ships sailing in from Shadow. Heroch's one rule about parking is that the parking lot must be empty at dawn.

The party is diverse, perverse, and payment is made in advance.
Heroch has a rule; "Everyone Pays. Everyone Plays. The only Title beyond the door is Proprietor."
He isn't kidding. Ive seen Golden Circle queens strapped down for abuse. Ive seen Chaos lords dancing on marionette strings. There are dignitaries and the unashamed from thousands of realms here from time to time.

Moderation is for monks, but here the monks are deep in the mix as well.

It has dance space, bars, wild drinks, and crazy activities. Ive long thought it cast shadows of wild parties. As you might guess, ive spent a lot of time here over the years.

Addendum

At the time this card popped up there were only 3 ways into the locked system of the Sigil of [[Azcala]]. None easy to manage. Plopping a Trump to a place in a closely adjacent Shade of [[Azcala]] is extremely provocative. There does not currently exist a state of war between Amber and Azcala but they have made it clear they want one. This card, in my opinion, is someone telling Azcala that we can arrive anyplace. But don't worry, a melee at Heroch's would be redundant.

===Alda Cora Prima===

[[File:P-AldaCora.jpg]]

The Coasarect of Alda Cora Prima[https://wiki.rpg.net/index.php/Arcology#Alda_Cora]] is an Arcology in the world of Trinea. This highly advanced construction houses 1.2 million people and was the prototype for 30 other constructions in the Alda Cora model. There are hundreds of other ecologies on this planet.

==='''Diega Raks'''===

[[File:Diega Rak.jpg]]

Funny thing. I was here just the other day. I come by here often.

Deiga Raks is a Waymet on the [[The Jeweled Road]] a days travel west of Diega. It is a massive one compared to the many other places found along the shimmering ribbon. It has a major dinning room, bungalows and hotel-style rooms. There is a major caravansa nearby since this is often a major stop for cargo leaving Amber for points west or coming to Amber from points west, south and north. There is a Transport Station for people shipping cargo from one tech level to another. They can park their trucks and bobcats here and load onto horse wagons and clockwork devices. The Kingdom of Diega operates a shipping concern base here moving cargo from Diega Raks to the great Harbor, since the tech level changes dramatically just East of the place.

The Dinning Room is massive, with a giant bar, and a huge hearth big enough to spitroast a [[Perfectly Normal Beast]]. I know because i've done it. The Kingdom of Amber owns a collections of private bungalows her and so do a couple dozen other concerns and kingdoms. The Monarchs have a small collection of tents near by and friggin [[CHAD]] is looking like they are going to take over one of the westward Caravansa for one of their Guildhalls.

They operate a variety of traveler services. Gas Stations, animal care. Vehicle warehousing. I keep a motorcycle here just in case.

Trados Cru is an elderly man, a Dreanan Blue, who has served Diega, Dreana, and Amber for ages operates a currency exchange to keep him busy during his retirement.

==='''[[Rue Katal]]'''===

[[File:Rue Katal.jpg]]

The great Waymet headquarters, the Rue Katal, is halfway between Amber and Mandalay.

==='''[[Grrosieeks]]'''===

[[File:Grrosieeks.jpg]]

Grrosieeks is a Tavern-Waymet on the Jeweled Road. And a strange one it is.

==='''[[Alamond]]'''===

[[File:Alamond.jpg]]

Everyplace needs a playground. Apparently Oberon did. He made a [[squiggle]] just to have one.

First of all, many of the things here seem ridiculous to have been collected so. First it is hundreds of Amusement parks. Secondly it has a oddly structured magical system, with access to a powerful number of spells held on a frame.

The general belief is that when Oberon created the place he did so to test theories and methods of pattern construction. This was created long before Patternfall so when Oberon used the jewel of judgment to repair the pattern, at least he had an idea what was involved.

==='''[[Pócaí]]'''===

This tiny limited system is a collection of tiny shadows. Possibly thousands of them. It attracts reclusive, isolationist individuals and groups from all over shadow who prefer isolated and deeply cold weathers. Turn left and under a bush is a portal to someone icy haven. A shadow causes by a rock outcropping hides a narrow gap that leads to a large dark and cold cave under an icy yellow sun. These people like their privacy.

The main, and to my knowledge only, city in this realm is Triqis..This is the location the trump brings one to and a chilly slice of ice it is. Its a town of around 3000 souls living in stone buildings built against rock faces and small thick walled wooden halls. Wood is hard to get as this place is 8000 feet above the land's treeline and there are no paths down i heard of.

Its been long known this tiny place existed and its origin is lost to the earliest days of Amber. There is a feeling of something deeply ancient here but it does not advertise what it is. There was little or no reason to visit it. There was some trouble with it a many centuries ago that caused me to be there for a short time and deal with a little trouble, as a favor to my father. Most people who come here never leave. In fact the Wardens unofficially let new arrivals know that they will not be looking in on them. In the course of my work here i saw the dwellings of some of the isolated peoples here. Time and ingenuity is on their side. Log cabins, tipis, fur trapper tents, renovated caves, tree houses, decomole, and a wide range of other habitats fill the hard to find homesteads here.

Highly intricate wood carving and scrimshaw can be found here and some of the stores in Triqis deal in consignment sales. Cottage arts seem to be a common business. the solidly built stores seem full of the damnedest looking things one ever saw. Gorgeous, but...why? Triqis also has a few locations out of realms where they sell the artwork of the frozen inhabitants for the betterment of their community. Some of the work done here is incredible.

Sorcery and other magic systems seem to work here.

When i came here i was shocked to find a place that was hard to believe people chose to live here. Im a rugged man and have spent years living in the wilds. But this place looks like it is purposefully trying to freeze you to death. What i further am surprised by as was Random, is that Dworkin put this card in the deck without the king' permission. There must be a reason.

==='''Atlantis'''===
[[File:Atlantis1.jpg]]

Atlantis is a Limited Shadow System created early in the ages of shadow. It is unclear if Oberon or Dworkin created the realm.

It was begun as a realm echoing a water-rich artistic society originally known in Chaos as the Altalana. A collection of dozens of Noble and Rich houses of Chaos, the [[Altalana]] had connections to ancient Paragon and Calmir. Over the vast turnings in Chaos, the generally peaceful houses of the Altalana took a great deal of abuse by other houses and largely kept to themselves. Unlike the many houses, the focus of the Altalana were musical, sculpture, painting, creative arts and performance arts. They had little or no military intersts. Many Waymasters were numbered among the Altalana as creators of architeurals arts.

When suddenly Atlantis appeared there was a massive and sudden diaspora from Chaos to Atlanits. In a matter of hours dozens of House of Chaos abandoned Way and realm and crossed the Abyss into Atlantis which was sealed after them. Since then entrance to Atlantis has been strictly monitored.

==='''[[Trasidy]]'''===

[[File:Trasidypath.jpg]]

A Squiggles of Buildings that will take years to describe. [[Trasidy]]

==='''[[Tyalece]]'''===

[[File:Tyalece.jpg]]

This tower of Stone is a fortress which does not invite tourists. While a small contingent lives at the base of the tower to provide emergency relief.

The Trump delivers one to a free-standing dock 50' beyond the wharf. From there a sailor will bring a rowboat over to discuss why the person arrived.

==='''Acadia'''===

[[File:Acadia.jpg]]

Acadia is a large island west of Amber proper in a sweet spot for a comfortable temperature. It is a green place. It is ringed by narrow ridges, such as a volcanic explosion might leave though there is no legend of an eruption.

The main city of Acanat is at the rock opening of the surrounding wall. The harbor is a deep water one and is large despite the narrow entrance. This nation island has a [[GCST]] treaty with Amber but is for all practical purposes integrated into the military of Amber.

The Acadians are a peaceful people usually known for their love of food and drinks. They make a fine mead. Many become famous chefs. More become ship's cooks.

There are enclaves of Acadia in most good sized cities and they have the best restaurants.

==='''[[Far Isle]]'''===

[[File:Far Isles.jpg]]

Amber is on a sphere in a universe where there is no other sentient life beyond that on the Planet of Amber, also called the Planet Kolvir by some. Amber, Rebma, Tyalece, and Acadia are all in the northern hemisphere.

The Far Isle is as far from Amber as its possible to get, nearly opposite it on the planet in the Southern Hemisphere.

This series of islands, rock outcrops, sand bars, coral reefs and sunken ships is sparsely inhabited mostly by small communities.

The climate is sub-tropical with warm daytime breezes and cool nightly breezes. Occasionally humid, but normally comfortable.

This sailor's retreat is inhabited by retired sailors and their families and dependents, as well as a . There is a small commercial trade among the isles. They make a variety of lovely fruit wines.

The ''Conclave of the Unicorn'' is in the Far Isles as well. It is a place for monks, nuns, priests and other members of the religious communities to retire from Amber. Founded by Queen Harla, it is a quiet place of faith for those who have lived a life of service and wish to end their lives in privacy.

Call me whimsical but i was deeply unhappy when the Far Isle card appeared in my deck. It isn't that the possibility of one of the hundred or so kinsman using the deck that saddens me. Its that the millions of people in Amber and shadow who had either no idea or had forgotten that this curious place exists.

I've been coming here since i was young. I had a small hut on a beach on the far side that had wonderful sunsets and cool nights. It wasn't easy to get there but a young prince could hitch a ride with a navy ship on the the way to the Blue Sea Base fairly easy. From there it was easy to tour the small isles, the little hamlets, the tangles of beached ships turned into homes for those who loved the sea but could no longer sail upon it.

After my disastrous involvement in Patternfall, and my decades of alcoholic abuse and involvement in the theater i took the time to build a place for myself. I went out into shadow and hijacked a ship of the line, the ''Mars'' a 48 meter and a beast of the waters. I brought in and dragged it up on the beach and converted it to a personal residence. Should any of the hundred plus kins man wish to see the place just give me a call.

[[File:Amber world map1.gif]]

[[File:Greenwhitedrapedsword.gif]]

=='''Here is my Conclusion'''==

''The original intent of the Diners of Amber article was to mock the crown and cast pearls before, well, Random. As time has gone by, and I have added to a work that seems to grow weekly, I have become oddly engaged by the project.

''I am not sure yet if this pleases me but there it is.

''While rewriting and editing this tome I noticed that I use the term "I must admit" quite a lot. It leads me to the nasty conclusion that despite my natural inclinations and paranoia, and my, well, sizable ego, that I have gained some grudging respect for young Random and his activities. Don't hold this against me, my countrymen, it surprised me too.

''Random's tastes have always been a little more urban than my own. Having researched the places these cards send one to, I have had an education in the high tech as well as a reminder of who the allies of Amber are.

''May our travels be peaceful and may our monarch grow wise.

''More to come, I am pretty sure.

<big>''Prince Bleys of Amber

[[File:Greenwhitedrapedsword.gif]]

=='''King Random's Last Word'''==

'''''Let us get this straight, at the first. Amber officially embraces a Free Press and Free Speech. To do otherwise would harm the peace of shadow from Kolvir to Chaos.'''

'''''Of course, a king may do many things. I could easily have Bleys whacked for lese majesty.'''

'''''But I won't. Maybe we need to speak our mind every so often. Just for the novelty of it. Julian said as much once after we retrieved Brand from imprisonment. Point taken.'''

'''''In one of my favorite shadows a man named Cicero wrote:'''

<blockquote> ''"For just as some women are said to be handsome though without adornment,
''so this subtle manner of speech,

''though lacking in artificial graces,
''delights us.</blockquote>

'''''Besides, Brother, I was there too. It is a terrible burden for us all to have been so thrown together and so pitted against each other by a domineering father. I know now that he set us all up. He had things in mind for all of us. I think he wanted Eric, Corwin and you to fight for the throne, to inspire loyalty in the rest of us, driving us to fight, to weed out the weak, and in the end, to leave the throne to the most powerful cabal, deeming it most fit to rule.'''

'''''When all was said and done it was Corwin who won, with no cabal to aid him. Yet all Oberon's plans fled before Corwin's selflessness. Another round of fratricide on the edge of the abyss would have served no one. So the Unicorn ended the conflict. Forgive me, brother, for taking the throne. I now know better than every creature in reality and shadow save a rare few, that the throne of a primal realm is no picnic.'''

'''''Grant me grace, brother, as I grant you leave to be bitter.'''

<big>'''''Random I'''

<big>'''''King of Amber'''

----

----

----
[[AmberTimeline]]

[[Jeweled Amber]]

Lords of the Game

2020-01-17T22:07:16Z

Salinea: Reverted edits by BROFLAKE MAD (talk) to last revision by Tolknor

[[File:Lord of the Games1.jpg]]

Lords of the Games are the highest rank available in the various versions of the [[Warrior Core and Lord Gladiators Association]]. The total varies and the membership rules vary. The circlet on the LoG purple harness is usually mithril.

The usual number of Lords of the Game is 150. Some realms have more or less but the vast majority have the set number of 150. These mighty warriors are often kings, heroes, [[Saints of Battle]], and in some realms even gods.

Dalt-Jeweled Amber

2020-01-17T22:07:11Z

Salinea: Reverted edits by BROFLAKE MAD (talk) to last revision by Tolknor

<big>Dalt at the Gates of Dawn</big>

----

King Random has commanded me to write this. I am not a writer by bent but I can at least tell of what has brought me to this dour point bereft of the will to dominate and suddenly clasped to the very beating bosom of my dreaded and hated foe. I am a soldier, a mercenary, and the son of Oberon by his rape of my mother, Delee the Desecratix. I am Dalt of Eregnor, also of Kashfa. It has been my dedicated purpose to conquer and humble Amber before all the peoples of shadow, I the Lion, rending the unicorn unto death.

At least, that was the plan till I met Julian at the Gates of Dawn.

It is hard to call Amber my dreaded foe as I sit here on the Sea View Garden Balcony. Randis, a waiter I now know by name, just brought me a cappuccino, a coffee drink I used to drink on Earth with my friend Luke. Luke? Call him King Rinaldo of Kashfa, a newly anointed Golden Circle King. I have a plate of bagels and onion spread on my left, lox and salami in a little tray on the right. Tabasco and soy in bottles ahead of me.

Bleys just walked by and told me he had a play opening at one of his theaters and said Sophia Urien thought I was 'just dreamy' and would love to accompany me. He left me tickets. Yesterday I was hunting in Arden with Julian. We each took a Manticore. Later today I have a security briefing with Benendict and Gerard. Afterwards Flora is taking me into town. There she and I will meet with carpenters and decorators who will be outfitting my rooms in Castle Amber and with a tailor who will prepare formal wear for court, and she wants to take me to this café that has mellow jazz. Tomorrow I am going sailing with Caine. He said he knows a place where the marlins are running and they are as big as great white sharks.

I sit dumbfounded. I have been in Amber for one week.

Fishing with Caine? Briefings with Benendict and Gerard? Theater with Bleys and Sophia? Hunting in Arden? Shopping with Flora? Calmly drinking coffee overlooking the sea?

What got me here? Fighting with Julian at the Gates of Dawn.

What I write is true, from my side, so if I portray my kinsman in an unfavorable light I hold they will give me some leeway. I have thought of killing them too often to let this new state of affairs seem real yet. Julian tells me he laughs when he reads Corwin's Chronicles because of his part in it. He says in it, "I enjoy slaughtering beasts and I think of my relatives often." As did I, Brother Julian, as did I.

But soon, at a formal court, I will render my fealty to King Random of Amber. That is if I can finish this missive. This Article of Submission

I have assaulted Amber three times. The first was a test, designed to note defenses. The second time was part of a ploy of Rinaldo's, before he reconciled with felicity. The third was a true test, a force to be reckoned with, coming into Amber by stealth, assembled in secret, and poised to strike at the Gates of Dawn.

The Gates of Dawn are a series of wide arches, 100 feet tall, 300 feet wide, that sit in front of the city of Vale Eye in the North Vale region above the great city of Ober. I am told that Finndo caused them to be built during his brief reign to commemorate some forgotten foe. Dawn first strikes land at a little bump in front of Vale Eye.

I brought a force of 50,000 men to Amber, in pairs and trios, along tourist and merchant routes, shipping furs, spices, and linen to the city of Ober. My plan was simple. Sneak in the first 50k and establish a fort at the Gates of Dawn, take Ober, and begin shipping in the bulk of my army by trumps. 500,000 men and 400,000 support troops and auxiliaries were stationed in shadow, ready to transfer through 20 trumps, wielded by my Broken Pattern sorcerers. I had exquisite maps of Amber, as well as detailed residential information on Ober and the surrounding area.

We had planned a subtle attack. My troops were to spend as long as 3 years establishing housing, warehouses, dock space, even purchase available manor houses if possible. We had one, belonging to Lord Wildof Kien, sent off to live in splendor, in shadow, on my gold. We began stockpiling supplies, making maps. In two years over a thousand of my advance scouts became upstanding merchants in Vale Eye and Ober. I began assembling my advance forces. My other forces in shadow were well hidden, trained to a peak, and ready to come to Amber as conquerors.

That was the plan. All plans have flaws and the careful general finds them and patches them. I have always been a careful general and a skilled patch-maker. It turns out, Benendict is a more careful general than I.

I was not bloodthirsty enough. I should have killed Wildof Kien. It turns out that the retired pensioner was not nearly the enemy of Amber he portrayed himself to be. He had hastened to tell Prince Caine right before I shipped him off to shadow, bedecked in jewels, and riding a cartload of gold and Mithril. Caine had begun infiltrating troops into my forces. They became the friends, business associates, next-door neighbors, and paramours of my troops. Caine, who as third in command of the Navy of Amber has the worst cover story for his real job of Spy-Master I have ever heard, had put at least two people to watch each of mine. My little manor had cooks, gardeners, and gamesman, hired locally, who were all on Caine's payroll. Benedict had a half a million men and 7 bloody starships watching my armies in shadow.

I was buggered from the moment I said Go. It was a disaster of the first water and I was the most buggered of them all. It looked so smooth on paper. The day before, though, I got a bird of desire from King Random. That should have been a clue. I keep the note he wrote in my wallet. It said;" I was thinking of you today. Lets talk at your earliest connivance. Random."

It turned out my earliest connivance was the next day. I rode out of Kien's manor; my troops assembled and began our march on Vale Eye. We came down to the Gates of Dawn and sitting between them, playing a lute, was the King of Amber, smiling.

I stopped. I knew it was over before he said a word. Behind him were my three generals who were supposed to be leading my troops in shadow. As were my commanders in Ober, Vale Eye, Forest Green, and Moins, as well as my insurgent commander and station chief in Amber itself. And there was Wildof Kien as well.

Did I know that Wildof Kien was actually Baron William Feldane, second spy of Amber and soon to be Chief of the elite Amber Guard? No, I did not. That fact had eluded me.

My kinsmen were there too. Benendict-stoic, Gerard-angry, Caine-scowling, Julian-smiling, Bleys-drunk.

They grabbed me before I could take my own life, the pistol yanked from my hand unfired.

The king approached me as the boys held me down. He looked at me, upside down from above my head. He chuckled slightly as he spoke.

''"Well, me boyo, you be sure in a fine fix, now, ain't ya?"'' he mocked me with a lilting brogue. ''"We have a couple of ways to go here. One way you get to win big money, lots of prizes! Another way you get to flee and run with the hounds of Arden biting at your tail. Another leads you to that tree stump over yonder and a few brief moments watching the ax fall. You have to pick amongst these. So, which d' ya prefer?"''

I said, ''"Kill me Bastard of Amber! I won't beg! I will die first. I will die spiting insults and damning your name and shouting my death curse on you all!"'' Suddenly Bleys peaked over my head and a grayish tape was placed over my mouth, sealing it. Two more followed, then they wrapped it several times around my head.

Bleys chuckled too. ''"Can't have that now, Brother. Can we?"''

Gerard and Bleys held my arms, and pulled me upright, arms out. I saw Caine raise an assault rifle and chamber a round. I saw my death finally come. He took aim. I didn't get a last wish and I didn't get my death curse. At least when he fired I didn't soil my armor.

I didn't die either.

Random stood before me. ''"I assume I have made my point clear? I can take your life at any time. I don't need blanks and I don't need an executioner. Now, I have another idea but it only works if Rinaldo was right about you. He says you are a rough man but you are a man of your word beyond all else. That you will keep your promise come hell or high water. Is that true?"''

I nodded forlornly.

''"Here is the deal. I am going to let you go. You once played a game in my forest. You and Rinaldo staged a fight, winner take all. I liked that. So here it is. You fight my champion. If you win I let you go but you never come against Amber in arms again. You've lost that privilege. If you loose you come work for me. Rinaldo tells me if you make a promise you will keep it. He lying to me?"''

I looked at this man. He was short. I had never dealt with him myself. What I had heard of him spoke to his crafty nature and to his avoidance of the bloodthirstiness that characterized so many of my siblings. He had the wicked look in his eyes I had seen on pool hustlers or cardsharps and it occurred to me that he probably knew something of that trade. He was smiling, with a tight grin that told me he held a fine hand of cards.

He motioned to Bleys who painfully stripped the tape from my mouth.

''"Doesn't sound like much of a deal. Sounds rigged to me. You call on Benendict to thrash me and it pretty much assures I lose. If you want to kill me just do it. Prove thy blood, monarch."''

''"Man you are a piss-cutter, Dalt. You have the hero syndrome for sure. That is a wasteful condition. I don't have enough kin that I can just off the ones who tick me off. I certainly could use another hero type around here. I have Gerard and Julian stretched pretty tight with the kingdom defenses. Ben runs the military; I run the rest. Flora, much to my chagrin, is doing a surprisingly good job keeping the nobles off my back. I believe I can find a place for you around here partly because I don't need grief from a guy pissed off at Oberon. The guy is dead and the show is mine. You got a beef with me; let me know and we can deal."''

''"Beef? How about Bleys killed my mother. Vendetta covers that."''

Bleys moved near me.'' " That was business, Dalt. It was open combat, not a deed of stealth or malice. It was done on the field of battle in a time of war. Hell, she had it coming! She dared Oberon to act and he let her burn a shitload of Unicorn shrines, gak priests, kill followers and rape the friggin sheep! What would you have done? You want to toss a punch at me you tell me when and where and I'll arrange for Pay-Per-View to cover it."'' He drew out a flask and pulled a long tug on it. I could smell that it wasn't his first of the day.

Random smiled coolly at me. ''"Tell you what. You take your pick. Any brother here except me. You name him and he will throw down with you. Fair fight. No weapons; no armor."''

''"What is to keep me from leaving then coming back against you, lost privileges not withstanding?"''

Bleys answered for the king,'' "Have you met Baron William Feldane? William, get your ass over here!"'' The bastard came to regard me, hat crooked on his head, looking more like a longshoreman than a court baron. Here was Wildof Kien who took my gold two years before. He smiled and asked,'' "Can I have my manor back now, My king?"'' Random chuckled. Bleys added, ''"If you even consider coming against Amber, you will die badly the minute you tell more than 3 people. Think of it. No friends, no hangouts, nothing, just a blinding white light and a lonely death. Hell, I'll do it myself, I never got to kill a brother when I was assaulting Amber, neither do you. You think any of your kin will revenge you? Rinaldo maybe? Nope, He gets to be a Golden Circle King thanks to you."''

Caine spoke, ''"Besides, you have to best one of us to even get the option to run."''

I slumped; they sat me down. I withdrew a canteen and drank. I withdrew a cigarette and smoked. I withdrew my hopes and visions and despaired. I wished they had killed me. It really was over. All that was left was to try and gain something out of this mess.

''"Very well, bastard. I accept. Pick your champion and lets get to it."''

Random shook his head, "You pick. It's your face."

I looked at my brothers. I saw them, clearly, closely, not as cards or portraits but as men.

Benedict, the ancient weapon-master of Amber. His arm was nearly healed now, 20 years after Patternfall. But even with a gimp arm he was as fearsome a creature as walked or breathed in shadow. I had absolutely no hope of defeating him.

Bleys, who had fought his way up Kolvir, nearly conquered Amber, and was surely the second toughest man alive, was nearly as deadly. But he was drunk these days, I could see him sway as he stood there and when he had spoke he smelled of scotch. I gauged his steadiness. It occurred to me that I had seen drunks take terrible beatings and walk away from them. I didn't want to face a man who was that tough and couldn't feel pain to boot.

Caine, a possibility. Thin, wiry, fast, a master of the knife. I knew little of him because he was not the front ranker I expected to face, and as a naval man I had not expected to see him here. I realized then that he, more than the others, had defeated me this day. My troops infiltrated, subverted, captured, he had even arranged which manor I would buy, and whom my merchant-spies would do business with. I decided that he might have a trick or two I didn't know about. He was undoubtedly the master of the monastical martial arts and I had seen ninjitsu and karate masters kill with a simple touch.

Gerard? No. Not in a fist fight. I had never realized just how big his arms were till now.

That left Julian. I thought about him. Corwin had defeated him. He was strong, surely. Arrogant, undoubtedly. But he relied on animals and archery for his hunting. As guardian of Arden he had rangers and foresters defending the realm. He always wore that armor too. That meant he might fear for his own safety. He would be strong, but so was I. He would be determined but so was I.

If I could defeat him at least I could find a place of my own in shadow, someplace that had never heard of Amber. I could raise an army to travel shadow, create domains wide and long, like Borlak had. That could be a good life, even if it meant abandoning my ambitions here.

So I walked to Julian and thumped him on the chest. He smiled at me, cold, and I knew that any choice here was a mistake. I looked to Random, smiling, and realized I had done exactly what he wanted me too. The Bastard just smiled at me and nodded. He had even wanted me to pick who I did.

Julian stripped off his armor and I saw rippling muscles under his polished white breastplate. He stripped down to his underclothes, removing even his boots. I followed suit.

There was little in the way of fanfare. It just began.

We wrestled first. I had expected more punching but he went for my legs. I splayed them and fell on top of him. I unleashed a mighty blow into his kidneys and he didn't even grunt. I took an arm hold and he spun, viciously clubbing my head with his elbow from behind, smashing the front into the ground. A pebble was where my cheekbone landed and I heard a little snap.

I spun out of his grip by twisting his thumb till it nearly broke. He let me go, but swept my legs, I jumped the sweep to meet the swinging arms like steel bars crashing into my throat. I went back down, flipped away to stand and was rewarded by a foot following my movement, crushing into my testicles, and the world swam to black.

I awoke. Julian was standing over me. He reached out a hand and I let him raise me, ready for his attack. Instead he handed me a water bottle. ''"I had some while you were sleeping. Let me know when you want to start again."'' I took the bottle, sniffed it. Water, cold. I drank.

After a few moments I tossed it aside and nodded my readiness. This time I would be more careful.

To list the details would take too long, and I have court later.

Let us say we fought, for hours. I saw the sun peak at noon when I had come upon the Gates of Dawn at dawn. I was bathed in blood and sweat, flesh torn, clothes gone. We both stood naked as birth, swathed in the fluids of life. There had been water at times. The sun began to fall, and torches were lit against the dark.

We continued. It was bloody.

As the moon rose Random called a break. Food was brought. Julian and I sat.

Random handed me some bread. It was light and fluffy, sweet. He spoke,'' "So, about that bastard bit. I'll have you know I was born fully in wedlock, in Italy of the 1500's. Oberon was an inattentive father but he doted on my mother, the poor frail thing. She bore him three children then died. Then we were in Amber."''

''"Three? You and Mirele I know of."

''"The other was a man named [[Giovanni]]. Big, like you, tough, a soldier too; but not bright, not exactly stupid just not real swift. We lost track of him. Oberon once told me that after he assayed the pattern, and transported into shadow, he never returned. I will find him one day. I will find them all. I will make peace with all of them if I can, and kill the ones I can't. Mark me, Dalt. If I thought you and I could not come to terms those blanks would have been real rounds. Oh, by the way, the rifles, grenades, and rockets you brought? Worthless. When Oberon reforged the pattern the jeweler's rouge of Avalon stopped being an explosive agent. Of course I found another, but I keep that ammo close to the vest, even from my brothers."''

I looked over my kinsman again. They didn't have hate in their eyes. What was it I saw? Cool regard from Benendict. Appraisal from Caine. Open longing from Gerard. From Bleys, humor, and maybe even empathetic understanding of the moment when all one's ambition is washed away. From the king, an indomitable air of preordained victory and his legendary poker face.

I looked at Julian, sitting beside me; bleeding, sweating, with both eyes puffed out and red, his face a hash the shade of raw meat. His mouth was ripped and ragged, needing stitches. His hair hung loose and rumpled and his legendary cool was marred by a rare smile.

He was going to win. He was going to take everything I threw at him just to bring me into the family. I realized he could have taken me several times and what I thought were escapes had been releases. He was drinking in my hate, my woe, my loss, and my last ounce of ambition, to make me able to serve Amber. What had Rinaldo called it? 'Taking one for the team'?

My brother was doing this. He was doing this for me. Who was it I was mad at? Him? This man, ready to die to make me his brother, because surely a lucky punch might kill him. Was it the king? The man who ruled Amber with an iron fist in a satin glove? Who had beaten me on the field of battle two years before I stepped on it? Was it Bleys, who had killed my mother? Truth to tell I was not overly fond of her myself but a son simply can not let his mother be slain and not seek vengeance. Then again I had sought it, and lost, repeatedly. Besides Bleys was right; it was a deed of open conflict in a time of war.

Was it Oberon? The rapist? I considered my mother, coldly, maybe clearly for the first time. Oberon, who if nothing else, was a fine figure of a man, probably didn't have to do much to convince mom to lay down for him. Hate can be a powerful aphrodisiac. Hate Sex can be a fierce experience. Suddenly I could plainly see my mother rolling on her back, daring him, hating him, wanting him, cursing him. I could see him taking her, hating her, hurting her, using her. I could even see them lounging together afterwards, cloaked in sweat, sanctifying their hatred of each other with intimacy. I saw it unmistakably. You can't rape the willing. I knew I would seek out oracles to confirm it but I was certain. A boy knows his mother.

It was over. I had lost and I had won.

I looked at Julian. He motioned to the field, ready to continue. I shook my head.

"No thank you, brother. Your point is well taken."

I extended my bleeding hand to him and he clasped it, firmly, with one hand, then another. I felt a sigh escape his lips, and I saw the tension leave his face. I looked at Random, who nodded. Gerard, whose ear to ear grin did not overshadow Benendict's slight smile, showing just a flash of perfect pearly white teeth. Caine, standing, appraising still but with a less wicked light, turned to go give orders to the troops of both sides, now one side. And Bleys, drinking from a flask, looked at me with what I might swear was a tear in his eye. He coughed and handed me the flask. It was sweet and potent, the whiskey of Amber.

I rose and looked at my commanders, my soldiers, and now, my home. Julian stood next to me.

He spoke first, "Let's find some place in shadow to nurse our wounds. Then we can come back and I will take you hunting in Arden. There are many frolicsome beasts, worthy of the sons of Amber."

I looked to Random who said, "Good idea, Julian. You look like hell. Go get some rest. Have him back in a week though. He has a date with me to render his fealty. Oh yes, tell him about his writing project while you are at it."

So we left. My commanders understood their new allegiance and even as I sit here they are off in shadow being run ragged by Benendict's drill instructors. As I sip my cappuccino Rinaldo has just come out to the balcony, in formal regalia of a Golden Circle king. The nobles here rose to great him, taking in his newly minted medallion that denoted his status. He saw me and he smiled as he walked over.

"Well, Dalt, was I right?"

I nodded, "You were right, nephew, but it had to be beaten into me to convince me."

He laughed then said, "Come on, big guy, the King awaits."

And so he does. But one last thing remains to tell. When Julian and I went hunting in Arden, I had taken a Manticore and was dressing it for transport to the hunter's camp. Just Julian and I. I looked up and there was the unicorn herself. We rose to regard it. I removed the medallion that had hung beneath my clothes and I tossed it before her. IT was of a lion rending a unicorn. She scooped her horn through the chain and looked at me while the medallion swung dependent from her brow. I would swear she smiled at me, forgivingly, before she bolted into the depths of Arden.

So here it is. This is my testament, King Random, my submission, and to my own surprise, those stains at the bottom are my tears. So where they drop, I sign my name.

'''''Prince Dalt of Amber'''''

'''''5/12/5223 In Amber, to my surprise''''

[[Jeweled Amber]]

Consanguinity Laws

2020-01-17T22:07:09Z

Salinea: Reverted edits by BROFLAKE MAD (talk) to last revision by Tolknor

=='''Origins'''==
The Consanguinity Laws in Amber were established at the time that Oberon discovered he had married and fathered 4 children with his eldest daughter, Clymnea.

=='''The Law'''==

'''A: No member of the royal line of Oberon of Amber shall engage in carnal experimentation or be allowed to marry under any rite.'''

'''B:No child of such a union will ever be considered a true child of the royal line. Nor have right of inheritance. Titles of rank are granted only in the understanding that they carry no obligation of provender or right of authority in themselves.'''

'''C:Any matching found in violation of these decrees face exile.'''

''Oberon, King of Amber.''

'''No union of members of the Line of Bariman will be legally joined under the Unicorn.'''

''Dworkin, Sire of Barimen, a House of Chaos.''

'''Lets not go making any trouble so soon'''

''Random, King of Amber''

=='''Justifications'''==
There were many justifications for them at the time but the most important was that the powers of the Pattern concentrated badly when both parents were closely related by blood.

Since then many sorcerers have felt that what was characterized "badly" was incorrect and that such parings lead to greater powers by the offspring. However, Oberon said that while greater powers might be derived by such unions they were as likely to be destructive powers as beneficial ones.

=='''Usage'''==
Oberon used the Consanguinity laws to to de-legitimize 3 children. He used them to squelch several budding romances among his children, including Osric and Orsolla, Corwin & Dierdre, Caine & Flora, Gerard & Flora, Brand & Flora, and some unclear arrangement between Nina, Emilie, Julian, and Caine.

*The children of Clymnea were deemed illegitimate: Osric, Finndo, Benedict & Borlak
*A illegal marriage under the Unicorn between Osric and Orsolla was annulled.
*A shadow marriage ceremony between Corwin and Deirdre was annulled.
*A union of unclear nature between Nina, Emilie, Julian, and Caine was annulled in the Courts of Amber.

=='''Extensions of Precedent to Noble and Gentry Houses'''==
While the Consanguinity laws do not apply to Noble or Gentry households they have been used in court as examples in many cases with varied results.

=='''Controversy'''==
Many scholars of heraldry and sorcery argue the details of these laws and the

Arcology

2020-01-17T22:07:08Z

Salinea: Reverted edits by BROFLAKE MAD (talk) to last revision by Tolknor

An Arcology is a structure designed for very densely populated, ecologically low-impact human habitats. These structures feature various methods and attempts to pack thousands, even millions of people into small spaces with a reasonable level of comfort and efficiency.

Many high tech shadows connected to the [[King Random's Deck-KRD]] feature various attempts at creating Arcologies
{| class="wikitable"
|-
| Alda Cora[[File:Alda Cora.jpg|200 px]]]
| Anorusa[[File:Anorusa.jpg|200 px]]
| Frasika Spire[[File:Frasika Spire.jpg|200 px]]
|-
| Krotuc[[File:Krotuc.jpg|200 px]]
| Rondo Block Communities[[File:Rondo Block Communities.jpg|200 px]]
| Spire of Regis [[File:Spire of Regis.jpg|200 px]]
|-
| Treestaka Towers [[File:Treestaka Towers.jpg|200 px]]
| Prebmaras [[File:Prebmaras.jpg|200 px]]
|}

==='''Alda Cora'''===
[[File:Alda Cora.jpg]]]
*The Coasarect of Alda Cora Prima is an Arcology in the world of Trinea. This highly advanced construction houses 1.2 million people and was the prototype for 30 other constructions in the Alda Cora model. There are hundreds of other ecologies on this planet.

*Alda Cora (and Archologies on its model) has 4 distinct residential districts;Green, Purple, Orange & Gray. It has 2 Commercial districts; Ring, and Central. It has one Industrial District; Base. There is one Recreational District; The Peak
*Green is luxurious and exclusive. Purple and Orange are essentially middle class. Gray are workers and servant. Most Gray Zone residents and their families work in the Ring, Central & Base Districts. Many residents in the orange work remotely to locations across the world and in planetary orbits. They also work in a great many of the businesses in the Green, Purple and Orange Districts. Worker from Gray and Orange district are often involved in the Hydroponic systems that provide produce for the populace and act as part of the water circulation, air purification, and waste processing systems.
*The commercial districts of the Ring and The Central are available to the general public of the surrounding regions.
*The Peak District is a vast recreational region where all Alda Cora residents interact. There is a cultural element specific to the Peak. In the other regions, residents carry Residential Identification and often wear clothing in color palates representative of their strata. In the Peak the residents take pride in wearing the Blue of Alda Cora and mixing with each other. Despite the different strata there is considerable unity among the residents.

*While the Gray District is a residential area for workers and servants but as in all the Archology the standard of living is dramatically different then those in similar occupations outside the arcology.

===Frasika Spire===
[[File:Frasika Spire.jpg]]

Situated in the world of Blighted Land[[https://wiki.rpg.net/index.php/Diners_of_Amber#The_Blighted_Land]].
This corporate national arcology is the center of what was once the Chikago metropolitan region, and now over looks the top of Damnation Ally.

===Anorusa Plazas===

[[File:Anorusa.jpg]]

These are a divergent style of arcology from the sealed arcologies. Anorusa Plazas are designed to function as an integral part of a larger community. A standard Anorusa Plaza will have between 50,000 to 200,000 residents, many of which work in the facilities in the arcology. Some plazas sport major sporting facilities, some universities, some research facilites. Others are production, recycling, or corporate facilities. All with the commercial and recreational services for its residents.

Most arcologies monitor and restrict entrance of non-member populations. Anorusa Plazas work by letting non-residents access commercial, industrial and recreational areas openly, while allowing residents to access these areas at largely reduced costs. Items sold in stores of a plaza cost residents 1/4 to 1/2 of their sale price to non-residents.

Many recreational facilities are free to residents. Most plazas include golf courses, fishing and water sports. There are also hiking, cycling, and running paths beside people movers of a variety of styles. Each plaza tries to include a major sports enterprise to anchor extensive recreational facilities. Anorusa Plazas feature a great deal of outdoor actives, far beyond the general inwardly designed arcologies.

Most Plazas have amphitheaters and large concert halls. Competition for performance spaces in different plazas is fierce, with a feature of celebrity in this world bing which plazas they play. Celebrity preferences for specific plazas often leads to residents moving in to take advantage of membership access to event spaces. Similar privlages for major professional sports franchises occur as well. Te-a' Clete, a major musical personality has a regular monthly performance in the Sanikia Anorusa Plaza and this has caused her fans to mostly take over the plaza. The Kaddledowns, a Major League Baseball team, and the Resdins, one of their minor league teams are resident in the Trusat Anorusa Plaza. At the recommendation of the residents the Plaza the stadium was enlarged and several halo-stadiums were built ass well. Such situations exist across this world.

Most arcologies feature air and water purification systems to provide resident with air and water of higher quality then available outside the arcology. Anorusa plazas however often contain water and air treatment systems that are used to filter and treat far reaching areas beyond the arcology itself. This is another element of the facility being part of the surrounding populace rather then secluded away from it. The fees and costs of the outer areas using the plaza facilities is part of the profit method allowing residents to pay little or nothing for services. And most treatment facilities are run by plaza residents.

===Krotuc===
[[File:Krotuc.jpg]]

===Rondo Block Communities===
[[File:Rondo Block Communities.jpg]]

In the world of Trutos, Rondo Block Communities are structures built around power generation plants using Tralk Generation Power plants. The Tralk Power systems has a variety of negative effects on those interacting withing a mile of the location of the Tralk reaction. While not permanently debilitating, the physical effect is short term but once the initial effect passes it was deemed reasonable to have a employees live in the facility for as year-long term. The wages for a year are enough to cover a two year recovery period. Rondo professionals work in a block for a year, then in non-block locations for two years before returning to the Block.

Living facilities in the Blocks vary but are utilitarian, and long on practical details and short on luxuries. The blocks need about a mile of surrounding area clea of residental and commercial areas since they would react to the same Tralk effects employees will. Most products are imported remotely.

===Spire of Regis===
[[File:Spire of Regis.jpg|200 px]]

===Treestaka Towers===
[[File:Treestaka Towers.jpg|200 px]]

The Megatroplois of Unkantar is a gigantic city of 2 billion people that is comprised by many smaller metropolitan areas that eventually pressed up against each other. The planet Hurth has 3 such megatropolis as well as a dozen massive metropolis across this high tech world. While there is a great deal of crime, as one would expect in such a world, the pervasiveness of it is not as great as other worlds with arcologies. However this one megatrolpolies has over 30,000 Treestka Towers.

Unlike other arcologies, the Treestaka Towers are not unique structures but rather a style of design for smaller arcologies. These Towers are moderately sized arcologies existent within great cities. These are different from the generally massive arcologies described on this page. Yet they have many of the same amenities. With populations between 5000 to 50,000 these small structures contain residential and commercial spaces, some industrial spaces. Many recreational They contain hydroponic filtration systems for water, air and a waste. It uses highly efficient recycling. Most Towers are extremely active in managing their Materials In/Meterials Out balance.

In many ways the Treestaka Towers are among the most efficient designs of arcologies. Many of the residents of a Tower live the vast majority of their lives inside. In the general design theory is the belief that they arcologies are developing to create self-sufficient designs that could function as less then lightspeed generational starships.

Each Tower has its ruling council and they take the comfort of all their residents extremely seriously. They makes sure everyone can work, eat, relax, and feel secure in the tower. Many of the larger Treestkas even have bodyguards who travel with residents if they need to go places outside the tower, if they request them.

Lisel is here[[https://wiki.rpg.net/index.php/Diners_of_Amber#Lisel.E2.80.99s_Teahouse]]

===Prebmaras===
[[File:Prebmaras.jpg]]

A major nation in the Empire of Remba.
[[https://wiki.rpg.net/index.php/Diners_of_Amber#Rebmaras]]

[[acack]]

Great Shoals

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Salinea: Reverted edits by BROFLAKE MAD (talk) to last revision by Tolknor

[[File:Great shoals.jpg]]

The Great Shoals is a region of icy waters and shifting sandbars above the north of the continent of Amber. This icy watery region caps the globe but does not create an ice cap. Instead wintry weather causes glacial sized iceberg that wedge onto the sandy ground.

The shifting sands and frequently shifting water depth makes shipping nearly impossible. No water based shadow paths leave the realm or arrive in the realm this way.

In general the depth of the water is in the 100 to 4000 foot range, although frequent sandbars breech the surface. Shipping is extremely dangerous. Never the less the Navy maintains a harbor at Port Blue, though it is mostly a military base it is also a popular tourist destination for peoples of icy realms.
==Great Shoal Locations==
==='''Port Blue'''===

This deep water harbor at the north of the continental mass of Amber maintains a small but fierce military presence of peoples from frozen and cold water peoples. There is some commercial shipping and some industry mostly involved in fishing and Great Shoals pearl diving. Nearby are a few mining operations and a some timber companies dealing in exotic woods.

==='''Cragadour Keep'''===
A keep deep on the polar ice far from land.

==Great Shoal Produce==
==='''Pearls'''===

The Great Shoals are a rich region for pearl-bearing mollusks of a great many types. Pearl Hunters endure great hardships to harvest pearls in the arctic conditions. The Amber Pearl Oysters have a mechanism to eject pearls so that killing the mollusk is not required.

*'''Ice Pearls''': a clear type of pearl, are found in these waters and are highly prized. They are used in sorcery focuses as well as being used by fourtune tellers.

*'''Green Pearl''': Prized by Unicorn worshipers. These play a part in many religious decorations.

*'''Sheet Pearl''': These are massive pearls created by giant flat oysters typically a large as 10' across. The oysters themselves are massive and many create more then one pearl at a time. Divers collecting sheet pearls tickle the oysters to open, extract the giant pearl sheets. The are used in many ways as decorations. They are prized in Rebma especially as table and counter tops. These oysters are almost never killed and are believed to be of great antiquity. Some legends include them a sentient beings though divers who deal with them claim this is nonsense.

==='''Woods'''===
*'''White Pine''': Great Shoal White Pine is a hard and attractive wood used in many types of fine furniture.
*'''Bristle Pine''': This knotty and short tree is harvested leaving the stump to regrow. Used for decorative pieces like boxes. The peices are too small usually to use for furniture.

Savior/Slayer

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Salinea: Reverted edits by BROFLAKE MAD (talk) to last revision by Tolknor

The Savior/Slayer ethics is a religious following from the Tosian worlds. It has a level of devotion and fanaticism that is dangerous and considered by many to be insane.

An earlier Order of the Savior and the Slayer worshiped an unnamed deity in a monotheistic and monastic manner. In time the Faith moved to revere the Gods of Tosa. The Tosian Faith was created when [[Tolknor]] Scripter discovered the Worldstone in Eldomar, Tosa. Unaware what it was and what effects it had, many people touched the Worldstone in order to gain powers, unaware it made them, in the World of Tosa, objects of worship.

There is some ancient evidence that the object of veneration has changed in the passage of eons for unknown reasons.

---------------
==Charity and Devotion==
*As a matter of general principle the SSC faithful are benevolent and hospitable, and engage in aggressively positive and humanitarian efforts. Soup kitchens, disaster relief, crop recovery, etc. Their charitable works are legendary across the Tosian/York worlds. Only a tiny fraction of the SSC faithful are part of the SSC-Church Militant.

But when attacked, they decide the person has called upon the slayer and attack without mercy, willing to execute the wounded and prisoners.
=='''The SSC Following'''===
*The SSC has many members of military ability and they often raise volunteer forces in need, but the most well-known branches are the Paladins of the SSC and the Armored Clerical Order.

==='''The Following of the Beloved Savior and the Detested Slayer'''===
Savior/layer creed of the Tosian Pantheon separate the individuals into if the are aspects of either the Savior or Slayer. This differs from the standard Tosian Pantheon and its followers.

==='''The Cult of the Savior Slayer'''===
This is a monastic order dedicated to good works and worldly poverty but they are not bound by the strict clerical requirements. This is sometimes a penitent order where people serve for various lengths of time for various personal reasons.

==The SSC-Church Militant==
The Church Militant is a small portion of the SSC faithful and only members that reach a certain level of devotion are effected by the clerical elements that so characterize the SSC: Healing powers, Regeneration, Conversion and Cursing.

==='''The Church Militant and Wealth'''===
They always take their full shares of treasure and fortunes but nearly all of it, beyond the maintenance of arms and horse, they use it for charitable activities.
==='''The Devout'''===
The Devoutly Damned are members of Church Militant serving in many official functions across the universe on S/S holdings. Guards, soldiers, bodyguards, and instructors. These soldiers are not bound by the religious restrictions of poverty but many effect it anyway. 10% of the devout have the injury to mania response and it is from this fraction of the devout that the '''Paladins''' and the '''ACO''' gain their members. Those that go on to the other orders always continue to consider themselves members of the Devout.
==='''The Mad Ones'''===
This is an illegal secret society among the Devout that maintain a wound in order to maintain the Slayer mindset. They hide their injury and may behave as the regular S/S members in all other matters but are able to act directly as the slayer if they choose. Because of the unwillingness of its members to return to the Savior creed the members of this order are considered heretics. The existence of the Mad Ones is one of the reasons that man official gatherings of the S/S are begun with magical healing.

==='''Paladins of the Savior / Slayer'''===

==='''Armored Cleric Order'''===

==Magic==
*Toian Savior Slayers often prefer Rearden Metal armor as it is able to be crafted to +5 without magic. Mithril is also a preferred metal though it is considered a magical metal.

Warriors of the SSC specialize their armor and weapons to be the highest quality available without depending on magic. The also use magic and magical artifacts but don't depend on them.

*

(In Game play they detected as devoutly Lawful Good. After damaged to over 10% of their hit point's they raised their strength substantially, their speed substantially, and were ruthlessly Lawful Evil)

=='''Leaders'''==
The Paladin Primus of the Savior/Slayer is Sir Reltorious Winteri

The Primus Armored Cleric Order is Topatia

Commander of the SSC Foot Dame Twila The Mild

[[File:Reltoriuos1.jpg]][[File:Topatia2.jpg]][[File:Twila1.jpg]]

---------------
[[Jeweled Amber]]

Adagalasck

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Salinea: Reverted edits by BROFLAKE MAD (talk) to last revision by Tolknor

An extremely powerful [[squiggle]] representing nearly half a primal Pattern when the attempt unraveled. In the [[Jeweled Amber]] Multiverse

[[File:Adagalasck.jpg]] [[File:Adagalasckmap1.jpg]]

==History and Creation==

Tradition has it the the Attempt failed when someone involved in the creation of the pattern tried raising the Sign of the unfinished work. It was created after Amber and in the shadow realms. Who created it in not public knowledge but that it was created using the Jewel of Judgment is strongly believed.

==Topography and Cosmology.==

*This massive realm is a sphere with a wide variety of habitable areas spotted with cities and towns. Each town becomes a ''sanctified place'' when one of its great staircases becomes a Stair of Shadows. These stair appears different and are not originally magical. Cities often make great efforts to create ornate stairs in hopes of gaining "Sanctification." Each ''Stair'' has many landings, each opening to a different shadow. A city having a Sanctified Stair gives it respect and reputation and a degree of permanance. The Mayor of the City becomes a player in the politics of the world.

*The main realm is at a 10 to 1 in Amber time ratio. Vales may have wildly different time rates, technological values, and magical limitations.

*There are many "Stairs" that lead to Vales and various other shadows. A "Walker" is needed to enter a Stair. Each Stair has a master but also has many "Walkers" in their service.

*Adagalasck is somehow connected to the Primal realm of [[Calmir]] and the [[Primal Beast]] of the Phoenix.
==Races==

Many races exist within the realms but the majority are Human, Dwarven, Elven, [[Adask]], and [[Fey]]. The many shadows have variations of many races. Diversity of appearance is a common theme.

==Entrance==

Entrance into the realm is highly blockaded. Only a wearer of Mark of Adaga can open the way to enter.

There is a spur of [[the Jeweled Road]] that leads into the realm but entrance is still blocked. A small city has developed at the place on both side of a sealed entrance.

==Battle of the Winds==
Queen Relasa, the last ruling Queen of The Four Winds, was descended of a line of Royalty that had long been in control of Adagalasck.

When she suffered a magical sickness she passed away without a clear heir.

The war that followed was brutal and took many years but in the end solidified into a 4 part rulership of the realms.

There were many forces that battled to claim the Spirals of the Four Winds. The complex history of intrigue, warfare, betrayals, and politics would take volumes to detail.

In the end the four spirals were claimed by 4 factions each of which had enough of a following to stabilize the conflict. The four spirals were claimed by two sisters, allied in each others defense, Clan Odaraxta (An Adask Banner), and the Clan of the Wild grasses.

In the 2200 years since the Battle of the Wind the West and the South have passed through many hands of the Odaraxta and the Wild Grasses. The other two have been firmly in the hands of the two Archmages. They have not attempted to take the other wnds since it would lead to their own followers taking the battle to each other.

==Spiral of the Four Winds==

The Spiral of the Four Winds is a manifestation of the Squiggle. Channeling power from it is a common practice among Adagalasck sorcerers.

Each "Wind" has a primary ruler or Master.

*High King Julian of Amber, Master of the West Wind and Mater of Stone.

*Archmage Ninaaratres-Also known as Nina, Daughter of Oberon. Lady of Water. Mistress of the cold wind of the north.

*Archmage Emiliesa, also known as Emilie, Daughter of Oberon. Mistress of the South Wind and the Lady of Fire.

*Horse Lord Trualta of the Wild Grasses. Master of the East Wind and Lord of the Air.

Recently ousted Spiral Lord.

*Clan War Chief Hagalta, Master of the West Wind and Master of Stone

==Regions==
===Blomsia===
*Embassy of Amber
**Ambassador: Lord Relmopator of Amber

==Notables of Adagalasck==

===Archmage Ninaaratres===
[[File:D-nina.jpg]]
Also known as Nina, Daughter of Oberon[[https://wiki.rpg.net/index.php/Heirs_and_spares#Nina]]

Lady of Water. Mistress of the cold wind of the north.

Racially Nina is Adask

===Archmage Emiliesa===
[[File:D-emilie.jpg]]

also known as Emilie, Daughter of Oberon[[https://wiki.rpg.net/index.php/Heirs_and_spares#Emilie]]. Mistress of the South Wind and the Lady of Fire.

Emilie is racially an Fey. She is known as a shapeshifter able to morph into any of the Fey Races. The Fey are extremely devoted to her.

==='''Hagalta'''===

[[File:Hagalta.jpg]]

[[Odaraxta]] Clan Kalota War Chief. Racially a [[Adask]]

BondMate to Satura and Uxtrasa. Father of Dwynwen, Xorax, and Drixtra Step-father of Relmopator

The former [[Adagalasck]] Master of the West Wind and Master of Stone. Revealed as a child of the line of Dworkin, though not of the lineage of Oberon. Engged in battle with elements of Amber and allied with Azcala. Current whereabouts unknown.

[[File:Satura.jpg]][[File:Dwynwen.jpg]][[[[File:Relmopator.jpg]]

[[File:Ux.jpg]][[File:Xorax.jpg]][[File:Drixtra.jpg]]

==='''Krelat'''===

[[File:Krelat.jpg]]

[[Odaraxta]] Clan Shaxta War Chief.

War God of Rot

==='''Xorit'''===

[[File:Xorit.jpg]]

[[Odaraxta]] Clan Trixta War Chief.

===Horse Lord Trualta of the Wild Grasses===

[[File:Trualta.jpg]]
Master of the East Wind and Lord of the Air.

===Stair Lord Walker Damales===
Master of the East Stair

Racially Human

===Book Lord Walker Dane===
Master of the West Stair.

==Coinage==
Coinage is based on gem coins.
*1 blue= 10 Purple
*1 purple= 10 Yellow
*1 yellow= 10 Red
*1 Red= 10 Green
*1 Green= 10 white
*1 White = 10 Black

==Powers==
===High Order===
Imprint of the Squiggle
*''30 pip Basic Imprint. Frame can hold 8 Minor Spells and 4 Major Spell
*''60 pip Advanced Imprint. Frame can hold 12 Minor Spells and 6 Major Spell
*''120 pip Lord's Imprint. Frame can hold 16 Minor Spells and 9 Major Spell

*The imprint of Adagalasck makes one a "Rover" able to enter stairs and lead others onto them.
*The imprint of Adagalasck does not create Trumps in a normal manner. A ritual is performed to create a holographic image in a glass ball the size of a golf ball. Contact can be made and transfers occur.

===Low Order===
*3 pips Basic Concord. Up to 20th lvl of Warlock Magic.
**Ability to use Tomes of the Stairs.
**Ability to call Winds of one Force; Cold & the north Wind, Fire and the East, Stone and the South Wind, Air and the West Wind.
**

*6 pips Advanced Concord. 21st to 60th lvl Warlock Magic
** Call two Winds of Force

*12 Pips

If I'd died without hope of grace clause

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Salinea: Reverted edits by BROFLAKE MAD (talk) to last revision by Tolknor

<blockquote>'''''"Caine, I know you meant no harm bringing me to Amber. I do not regret my service to you. But how will I know what would have happened if i had died at home? Would I have seen Adrienne in Heaven? Georges? My grandchildren? My parents? My aunts? Coming here is like I died without hope of Grace."''''' </blockquote>

<blockquote>Sir Gilbert Motier, Knight of Amber, Baron Lafayatte. Moments before his execution was to take play for treason to Amber. Pardoned and Exiled by King Oberon.[[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gilbert_du_Motier,_Marquis_de_Lafayette]]</blockquote>

A contemplation on the complex reactions of removing one to Amber and leaving their life behind.

Amber.

Its big.

It pulls from shadow in many ways.

So imagine you are living your life on earth. Navy Seal, Special Forces. Combat veteran. Martial Arts expert and instructor. Husband, father.

Throughout the course of your life you had run into a man whose combat credentials are better then yours. You liked him, became friends with him. Your wife tried fixing him up with her friends and he always politely declined. A confirmed bachelor. Married to the Corp.

Life goes on and you retire after a long eventful military career. Finances are secure. The grand kids are all fine.

The tragedy strikes. You wife dies suddenly. A sickness. Soon after both children die for different reasons. Maybe a couple of grandchildren too. After a long life such sadness is tragic. Maybe more then you can bear. But your hope is that one day you will be reunited with them in heaven.

So this man comes to you. You can't believe the look of him, fit, hard, not exactly young but certainly not your own 70 years. You thought he was older then you.

He asks if you will take a ride with him. He has a couple of new horses out at the ranch and was going to give them a good work out. YOu figure a nice ride sounds good. A little sunlight for your darkness.

So when you get there he has two horses, well stocked with supplies. Your friend mounts and starts riding without a word. You follow.

'''The Question'''

Shadow is vast and one realms's fiction is another's real life. But what about the afterlife? Religion seems to be a constant across the multiverse but how is it expressed and how is it delivered? Suppose you live on a world and subscribe to a religion that tells you that after you die your soul goes to a perfect place where you are reunited with your dead relative, at least the ones you want to see, in a place without want or pain? Of course, they can't prove such a place exists but the religion tells you to have faith and that all you can do.

So you die. Do you go there? Does something else happen? Are you recycled in a higher form, a higher rank, a richer family, a better gender?

The problem is that in an infinite universe these all might happen. In a realm a person might believe in those things and after their passing he might go to just such a place. Or he might not. He might be one tiny shadow difference away from a realm where an identical him might go to a perfect place but he is left to float into the stars devoid of thought. But the proximity between the shadows was enough to cause the religion and its tenets to prosper despite not having a real connection to the heaven it espouses.

'''The Clause'''
The situation has arisen many times over the centuries but not more striking then in the case of Gilbert Motier. Caine had met Motier on a shadow earth and afterwards sought him out of similar shadows.

Courts of Chaos

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Salinea: Reverted edits by BROFLAKE MAD (talk) to last revision by Timon

<blockquote>''All is Chaos. All in Chaos are but things in chaos. There are great Lords of Chaos who have never heard more then a passing mention of Amber and all its travails. Order is an illusion that rises and falls in Chaos. Others have fallen, so too will Amber.'' '''Swayvil VI Shortly before his death.'''</blockquote>
==History==
A cosmology of the known universe would be difficult to compose depending on your point of view. As any Lord of Chaos would tell you, ''"Its all a matter of perspective."''

Chaos is massive even on the scale that includes a complete set of infinity with Amber at its center. Scholars argue, frequently at knife point, over details of cosmology. They do so in great tomes for libraries full of argument. But a tiny bit should be told to consider Chaos.

Dworkin created Amber on the rock Kolvir. He did so with the Unicorn in attendance, bleeding, playing the lute, with the jewel of judgement. Suddenly the vast diverse shadows and swirls of Chaos had a solid thing, a center place, but it is argued what that entails. Chaos has had solid things in the past and they disappeared. Places like [[Paragon]] and [[Calmir]]. But Amber was different. Unlike the other places it seemed to wash like an ocean against the Abyss of Chaos, across from the Towers of Theldane, the capital of the Courts of Chaos. Amber was its center but it had many places of vast power that floated like barges and great ships in the waves of Chaos. [[Avalon]], [[Regor]], [[Alparos]], [[Azcala]], [[Vagalorat]]. Even Amber, felt the great Lords of Chaos before the Patternfall War, was just a ship on the seas of shadow and chaos. It could be destroyed and but remove one tower from the vastly shadowlands, soon as others to be forgotten.

But when they made war on Amber, they lost. Defeated on the field of battle by Benedict of Amber and the forces he assembled as his kinsman squabbled over who sat at the head of the table at dinner time. Chaos was forced to ''kneel''.

----
'''High Lord of Chaos is known as Swayvil.''' The Swayvil. The name of the first Swayvil was taken as a title, in the manner of Popes taking a Papal name. The current Swayvil, Swayvil VII, was once Lord Aven Tamis anavi Wasana, of the House Wasana. Upon his assumption he renounced all connection to his former house but that's a thin vernier.

The Serpent of Chaos and its construct of power, The Logrus, are also rulers of Chaos. There leadership is as fickle as any in chaos.

There are many Houses in Chaos and each has its own sway in the politics of chaos. It draws from the Stuff of Chaos to create realms, Ways, dwellings, races, and other things. House names include Channicut, Helgram, Hendrake, Sawall, Adwin, Wasana, Elqu, Devvn.
==Houses of Chaos==

----
=='''The Logrus'''==

As a primal construct the logrus is the artifact of all changing chaos. It is difficult, even parilous, to attempt to assay it but without doing so one may not operate the higher forms of sorcery in Chaos, nor shadowwalk in the vast realms of the shadowlands.

----
=='''Amber Cults'''==

The Amber Cults began as a response to the defeat of Chaos on Battle.

----------------------
=='''Chaos creatures'''==
===Chaosian Hunting Cats===
*4 Amber Vitality
*2 Double Speed
*4 Endless Stamina
*4 Combat Mastery
*2 Armor vs Guns
*4 Deadly Damage
*4 Tongues
*2 Danger Sense
*2 Psyche Neutral
*2 Shadow Path
*4 Mold Reality
*4 Regeneration
*4 Limited Shape Shift
*4 Abilities: Blink 50', Fire Breath, Detect Poisons, Emotional Bond
(46)
*Shadowwide 4
(184)House Hendrake.

-------------------------
[[Jeweled Amber]]

Jeweled Amber

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Salinea: Reverted edits by BROFLAKE MAD (talk) to last revision by Timon

[[File:i_amberfront.gif]]

=='''<big>Jeweled Amber and the War of Balance</big>'''==

'''This was a campaign run in 3 sections'''

*'''Call to the Kin''': The first campaign was from 1997 to 2003
*'''Azcala Rising''': The second campaign was 2013
*'''The Red Sword Calls''': The third and current campaign began in December 2018

By Michael J. Watson, in Southern California.

There is a lot of the information found in this Wiki concerning the [[Jeweled Amber]] game is the information available before the game. If however you play in the JR&WoB game consider this information the ''word on the street'', ''the skinny'', the ''whispers in the dark'', the ''word around the campfire'', the ''rumor i heard Dame Margot tell the Little King Michael in the kitchen'', and the same as bold faced lies. Just sayin.

The reason this snip is here is to support the [[Diners of Amber]] article.

=='''Quick References'''==
*[[Heirs and spares]]
*[[Diners of Amber]]
*[[Timeline of Jeweled Amber]]
*[[Amber Star Fleet]]
*[[Precedence of Powers]]
*[[Jeweled Amber Skill Points]]
*[[CHAD]]
*[[The Jeweled Road]]
*[[Jeweled Amber Trump Decks.]]

=='''<big>Campaign Particulars</big>'''==

==='''Diners of Amber-Bleys at his best'''===
'''<big>[[Diners of Amber]]''' The basic guide to all places strange and wonderful. But don't be mistaken to think they are all safe.</big>

===[[Heirs and spares]]===
==='''[[Timeline of Jeweled Amber]]'''===

==='''Articles of Submission'''===
[[Jeweled Amber-Articles of Submission]]
==='''Stories of the Realm'''===
[[Jeweled Amber-Stories]]
Jurt and [[Thin Whip's Place]]
==='''The Jeweled Road-A Powerful Construct'''===
[[The Jeweled Road]]
The Jeweled Road is a single road that starts in the foot of Mount Kolvir and stretches along path once taken by the Black Road all the way to the Abyss of Chaos.

=='''Campaigns'''==
===''Call to the Kin of Bariman-First Campaign''-Closed===
''[[Call to the Kin of Bariman]] (get date)''

===''Azcala Unleashed-Second Campaign''-Closed===
[[Facebook Blurbs]]
''Facebook posts in an earlier game. ''
*''Opening of Azcala related. ''
*''Arrival of [[CHAD]]''

=== '''Red Sword Calls-Third Campaign'''-Ongoing===
*[[As it Begins in the Short Game]] The state of amber as the third game begins.
*[[Red Sword Calls-FB Posts]] Story Posts in the Red Sword FB Group.

==<big>'''Places'''</big>==
[[Diners of Amber]]

==='''[[Amber and the Golden Circle Kingdoms]]'''===
*[[Rebma:]]: A Crown Jewel of the Golden Circle-The Second Kingdom
*[[Thelusia:]] :A Crown Jewel of the Golden Circle-The Third Kingdom
*[[Dreana:]] :A Crown Jewel of the Golden Circle-The Fourth Kingdom
*[[Diega:]] : Crown Jewel of the Golden Circle-The Fifth Kingdom. Master of Waters.
*[[Acadia]] : The Western Isle.
*[[Begma:]] :Breadbasket to Amber
*[[Kashfa:]] :Barbarian Splendor
*[[Calrabon:]] :Big and Meaty grillmasters to Amber

==='''[[Places in Shadow]]'''===
*[[Tosian-York]]
A major pattern in a fallen shade realm. The Origin realms of the Forces of the Korag Empire and [[CHAD]]
**Crowned Bards. [[https://wiki.rpg.net/index.php/Tosa/York#Crowned_Bards]]
**[[Fairhand's Folly]]

*[[Kaladua]]

==='''[[Primal Realms]]'''===
*[[Amber]]
*[[Mandalay]]
*[[Avalon]]
*[[Courts of Chaos]]
*[[Calmir]] Fallen
*[[Paragon]] Fallen

==='''[[Squiggle]]'''===
*[[Regor]]
*[[Azcala]] The Realm of Tonacat
*[[Trasidy]]
*[[Alamond]]-Its an Amusement Park
*[[Pócaí]] Pocket Realms
*[[Atlantis]]
*[[Adagalasck]]
*[[Talwas]]
*[[Bursain]] :A squiggle of note. A burr in the waves of shadow.

==='''[[Primal Constructs]]'''===
*[[Mal at Riess]]

==='''Waymets''' Rest-stops on the Jeweled Road===
*[[Rue Katal]]
*[[Diego Raks]]
*[[Grrosieeks]]
*[[Vandalan]]

==='''Archologies'''===
Large structural habitations.
[[Arcology]]

===Miscellaneous Places of Note===

===Randal: A Planet in the Vulsar Galaxy===
A somewhat seedy world popular with race enthusiasts and high adventure camping & Hiking sportsman.
*[[Randal in the Vulsara Galaxy]]

=='''Kingdom of Amber-City'''==
==='''[[Castle Amber]]'''===
*'''[[Throne Room]]'''
*'''[[Hall of Mirrors]] '''
*'''[[Great Library of Amber]]'''
*'''[[Castle Amber]] '''
*'''[[Dungeon & Prison of Amber]]'''
*'''[[Active Royal Apartments]]'''

==='''Regions of Amber'''===
*'''[[Ganarth]]'''
*'''[[Green Vale]]'''
*'''[[North Vale]]'''
*'''[[Great Shoals]]'''
*'''[[Arden]]'''
*'''[[Ober]]'''
*'''[[Yaj]]'''
*'''[[Garn]]'''

===[[City of Amber]]'''===
*'''[[North Riding]] '''
*'''[[Thin Whip's Place]]'''
*'''[[Harbor District of Amber]]'''

==Groups in Amber==
===[[Official groups in Amber]]===
*[[Constabulary of Amber]]
*[[Rangers of Arden]]
*[[Amber Elite Guard]]
*[[Amber Military Aide Society]]
*[[Amber Life Guard]]
*[[Non-Partisan Anti-Agolith Association]]
*[[Council of Commentary]]

===[[Unofficial Groups in Amber]]===
From mercantile organizations, fraternal groups, secret societies and the Underculture.

[[Civilian City Cohorts]]

==Military of Amber==
===[[Military of Amber]]===
====Amber Elite Guardsman Standard Panoply====

[Amber Standard Kit]]

===[[Amber Star Fleet]]===

[[File:Greenwhitedrapedsword.gif]]

==<big>'''Player Characters and Character Information'''</big>==
===[[Carissa]] Daughter of Gerard===

===[[Vander]] Son of Eric===

===[[Macsen]] Son of Dalt===

===[[Relmopator]] Son of Satura===

===[[Laravella]] Daughter of Brand===

===[[Arloxedra]] Son of Eric===

===[[Truman, son of Gerard]]===

===[[Vance, son of Delwin]]===

===[[Vek Hendrake]] The Line of Benedict===

===[[JR&WoB]]===
Character development. This is where i will be putting a lot of disjointed information as i put together the game.''

===[[King Random's Deck-KRD]]===

==<big>'''People and Beings'''</big>==

===[[Heirs and spares]]===
An accounting of the House Bariman and its genealogy.

===[[Primal Creature]]===
Creatures of prime powers claiming great power generated by the power of wide variety of creatures of their type.
===[[People of Shadow]]===
These are people that can be found in shadow that are not necessarily affiliated with any of the great realms or their circle.

===[[Court of Amber]] and People of Amber===
[[Court of Amber]] : [[People of Note]] : [["No_Knock_List"]] : [[Servants of Amber]] [[Elites]] Guards, Maids, Kitchen Staff,

===[[Queens of Amber]]===

===Knightly Orders in Jeweled Amber===

[[Knightly Orders in Jeweled Amber]]

==Trumps and Other Decks==
*[[King Random's Deck]]
The Deck given by King Random to his kin. Contains Contact Trumps and Place Trumps
*[[Jeweled_Amber_Trump_Decks.#Deck_of_Monsters]]
*[[Jeweled_Amber_Trump_Decks.#Pirate_Kings]]
*[[Jeweled_Amber_Trump_Decks.#Hero.27s_Deck]]
*[[Jeweled_Amber_Trump_Decks.#The_Bursain_Deck]]
*[[Jeweled_Amber_Trump_Decks.#The_Azcalan_Deck]]
*[[Jeweled_Amber_Trump_Decks.#Alamond]]
*[[Jeweled_Amber_Trump_Decks.#Deck_of_Realms]]
*

=='''CHAD-Clean halls and Dens Guild'''-==
*[[CHAD]] : Mercenary guild extrodinare of the [[Tosa/York]] shadows now in the employ ofAmber.
**[[Lop]]: Founder of CHAD-Director of the
**[[Fortunadas]]
**Sir Dolki [[Fairhand]]
**Jeremy [[Fairhand]]
**Venki [[Fairhand]]
**[[Digan]] the Ruby Mage
**[[Alexandir_Kos_Korag_III]]. of
**[[Jake and Kirgor]].Military Guildmaster of CHAD is Jake Whitetail

=='''Wanderers and Far Travelers'''==
*[[H&TE]]
*[[Guiness]] :My first PC. He wanders Amber shadow at will.
*[[Ascorbic and Ox]] A pair of boon companions. PCs of old.
*[[Conf of Shadows]] The voice in shades

==<big>'''Powers and Concepts'''</big>==

==='''Costs & Powers'''===
[[Costs & Powers-Jeweled Amber]]

==='''Powers of the Patterns of Amber' and Avalon'===
*''50 pips Basic Imprint'': Frame can hold 12 spells of any power level with great power.
*''75 pips Advanced Imprint'':Frame can hold 18 spells of any power level with great power.
*''100 Pips Master's Imprint.'': Frame can hold 24 spells of any power level with great power.

The Sigil can be used defensively.

==='''Flavors of the Pattern'''===
[[Flavors of the Pattern]]
Esoteric differences in Pattern Imprints.

==='''Precedence of Powers'''===

[[Precedence of Powers]] refers to the various levels of power and importance levels.

===[[Jeweled amber sway]]===

===[[Shade Realms]] ===

===[[Aging in Amber]]===

[[If I'd died without hope of grace clause]] The dangers of taking mortals to Amber.

[[Savior/Slayer]]

==Specific Creatures==

[[Ushfa]] Shapechanging Race

[[Krasig]] Split Race and Ghosts

[[Dufiro]] The Dufirosm

==<big>'''History, Contemplation, and Conversations'''</big>==
===[[Contemplations on the Nature of Benedict]]===
===[[Races in Jeweled Amber]]===
===[[Interregnum and the Repair]]===
===[[Commentary of Cosmology]]===
The universe is tricky.

==<big>'''Things'''</big>==

===[[General Artifacts]]===
===Old Mink===
[[Old Mink]]
A particularly potent potable.

===The Blades Of Red Gale===
[[The Blades Of Red Gale]]

Vulcan created, Brand improved.

==<big>'''Game Mechanic Topics'''</big>==
==='''Skill System In Amber DRPG'''===
[[Jeweled Amber Skill Points]]

This system allows Players & Game Master to gain insight into Pc's interest.

===[[Cantrip]]s===

===[[Shadow Magic]]===

[[Warlock Magery]]

==<big>'''Current Games & Past Games'''</big>==

==='''The Black Road Less Traveled'''===

[[Vek Hendrake]]

[[Ongoing consideration]]

[[Vek'osho du Hendrake]]

===Azcala Unleashed-Second Campaign===
[[Player Page]] While these PCs were part of the Second game it is uncertain if they remain in the active game as NPCs as yet. Some may be included if needed or some may be members of a Shade of Amber.
[[Dinner in the Green Room]]
[[New News]]

==Quotes==
[[Quotes Page]]

Every one should have them.
[[Image:Ambermap.gif]]

==<big>Other Topics</big>==
'''Little Game'''
[[The Little Game]]

A game unrelated to Amber. An exercise in minimalism.

==='''Available Characters'''===

[[Vangarious]]

==<big>'''Various Veks'''</big>==

The various shadows of Vek
*[[Vek-Amber Mush]]
*[[Vek Hendrake]]: [[Jeweled Amber]]

===Vek Hendrake in Jeweled Amber===
*[[Vek Hendrake]] a story place.

*[[Dark is the Rat]] A Vek Story.
*[[Vek's Journal on Randal]] A place to make music.
*[[The Journal of Veksvale]] A place and time in the wilderness.

*Vek in Heirs and Spares[[https://wiki.rpg.net/index.php/Heirs_and_spares#Vek_Son_of_Gaolous-Breeder]]
*[[Benedict/Hendrake breeding program]]

[[File:Greenwhitedrapedsword.gif]]

==<big>'''Non Sequitur'''</big>==
===Many Colours, All of them Amber===
A personal Amber page with interesting stuff [[http://www.clockworksky.net/rp_amber_top.html]]

===[[One Nebraska of Hamsters]]===
===[[Unit Designations]]===
===[[bfc]]===
===[[Tangency Cookbook]]===
Because its funny what you run across.

<big> Zine</big>
[[Mixed Content Storage]]

==End Comments==
*Images used on this site are found online and modified. I do not own the copyright to any of them. They are being used recreationally and are in no way be used in a commercial manner. If you hold the copyright to any image and wish it removed put a moment in the discussion section and the image will be removed immediately.

*If you want to use any of the elements you find in the Jeweled Amber Pages you have my permission. I had hoped to find seeds for future books but if there is something you like feel free to make use of it.

Unit Designations

2020-01-17T22:06:57Z

Salinea: Reverted edits by BROFLAKE MAD (talk) to last revision by Timon

'''Unit Distinctions'''

It is sometimes useful to describe a unit in a manner that quickly gives an idea of the units skills, training, and equipment. While there is a vast amount of diversity in various fighting groups. These descriptions can be seen at first as a judgment on the unit but its not. It is merely shorthand for describing a units state.

A unit can be described using 3 terms that reflect their equipment, training and on the field. A modifier reflecting the units Morale can also be included if desired. These terms are as follows:
=='''Basic Unit Designations'''==
==='''Regular or Irregular Units.'''===
This is determined by the units ability to follows orders, remain in place when heavily pressed, and if individual members remain with their units rather then seeking actions elsewhere on the field.
*'''Regular''': Obeys orders. Hold against attack. Unit operates with coordination.
*'''Irregular''':Poorly obey orders. May respond poorly to strong attacks.

==='''Grade:A,B,C'''===
'''A, B or C Grade'''- This distinction list lists the fighting ability of the unit expressed in the average level of fighting ability of the fighters. This is not a judgment of a unit worthiness since many units serve different roles on the field. It is an expression of the units regular level of practice and fighting skills.
*'''A''':Elite, Extremely well trained with weapon usage. Experienced in Battle, reliable In battle, able to meet large units on equal or better terms. Well Equipped with arms and armor. Professional. Uniform look or identifiable aspects.
*'''B''':Trained. Somewhat trained and familiar with arms and armor. Equipped with mixed quality of weapons and equipment. Able to meet forces on equal terms. Situationally Dependable. Amateur to semi-professional. Often wearing similiar or mass produced tabards and colors.
*'''C''':Untrained. Poor weapon sills. Inadequate equipment. React poorly to situational morale. Unreliable. Units assembled by force or from people unfamiliar with each other.

==='''Equipment Style:Infantry & Cavalry'''===
'''Unit Equipment or Style'''-this style describes the equipment the unit uses and its mobility in it.
* Light Infantry:
* Medium Infantry:
* Heavy Infantry:
* Light Cavalry:
* Medium Cavalry:
* Heavy Cavalry:

Most units can move quickly when needed but a cavalry unit can run far and fast when needed with a small amount of members falling out of order.

With these a unit may be described as '''''"Regular A Medium Infantry"''''', or '''''"Irregular C Light infantry"''''', '''''"Regular A Medium Cavalry"''''', or other variations.

==Discussions on the themes ==
===Regular Vs Irregular===

'''Regular or Irregular Units.'''
This is determined by the units ability to follows orders, remains in place when heavily pressed, and if individual members remain with their units rather then seeking actions elsewhere on the field.

===='''Regular Units'''====
*''''' Regular Unit''''' is one that has the interior cohesion to remain together regardless of circumstances.
*They train as a unit for multiple purposes.
*They are able to transition from one role to another quickly and easily, upon command.
*They maintain contact with each other and their stragglers, moving as a group.
*They can take orders from commanders other then their own on the field.
*They have logistical support for on and off the field or while in transit.
===='''Irregular Units'''====
*'''''Irregular Unit''''' has many of the opposite virtues of a regular unit but has some advantages compared to them as well.
*They tend to be more loose, leaving stragglers behind as fighters move at their own speeds.
*They may not follow orders reliably, either from their own commanders or from commanders outside their group. This may be expressed as an unwillingness to recognize the army chain of command. Some irregular units may have little or no command structure of their own.
*They may break into smaller disorganized groups that pursue different targets.
*The advantages they have is that being flexible, they can be broken into units and sent to handle flankers or wolf pack units.
*A Regular Unit may be focused on its objective and may miss a developing situation. Irregular units, by their nature, look around their area more often and may see a shift in battlefield situations quicker then a Regular Unit.
*A unit comprised of fighters unfamiliar with each other such as a group collected from unaligned fighters during the establishment of sides on the day of battle.

*Calling a unit ''Irregular'' may be seen as an insult but it is a judgment based on the units infrastructure. If a unit or a unit leader argues this designation it can often mean they do not see the problems that make the designation accurate. Also it needs to be stressed that this is only one part of their over all unit description and it is one that can be changed with training.

===='''A,B or C Grades'''====
The Grade of the unit denotes the degree to which the fighters make the effort to become better individual and group fighters.

SCA Heavy Armored Combat is two sports that use similar equipment and similar rules, but they are not the same game. The War Game and the Tourney Game require very different mindsets. Its the difference between Rugby and Tennis.
Warfighters may train in two on one, three on one, or combined fighting efforts to defeat better foes. They may train in killing from behind. They will work with archery and artillery.
In determining the Grade of a unit consider if the unit is comprised of skilled warriors or infrequent ones.

'''A Grade'''
An ''"A"'' Grade unit is one comprised of individuals that train frequently, even weekly, to better their individual fighting skills. They attend and fight in tourneys, both in the lists and on the challenge fields. This means an A Grade unit may have a large number of Knights and Squires as well as other seasoned warriors. It may mean the unit has a large number of fighters that have years, if not decades of war-field experience. Long periods of war-field experience can be as effective as regular tourney experience as veteran fighters shepherd newer fighters on the field during actions.

An '''A Grade''' unit can take heavy stress on the field being sent to deal with royal units and reserves, To overwhelm larger less skilled units, and otherwise shock a tactical situation.
Such a unit might be famous in the sense that they are well known, or filled with well known and even feared fighters. A Duke and his companion knights and squires, whatever their other distinctions, is an example of an A Grade unit.

'''B Grade'''
A ''"B"'' Grade Unit is one with a mixture of skilled individual fighters, knights, squires and veterans, and a number of newer or less regular fighters. Many units have a number of fighters that practices very little during the year but attend a few practices before a war to “Shake out the Cobwebs.” In these cases the veteran fighters may feel they have learned everything they need to fulfill the war-field roles the unit is assigned and can usually be relied upon to be steady in battle and helpful to new fighters.

'''B Grade'' will be the most common grade of troop on the field, displaying a mixture of training, equipment and experience and will fill most actions on the field.
A B Grade unit can stand, fight or run away as the situation demands.

'''C Grade'''
A ''"C"'' Grade Unit is comprised of a few skilled regular fighters, usually the unit leadership, and is filled out with fighters who may only practice a few times a year, if at all. The unit has little experience in field drills, little understanding of battlefield commands, and may have a stubborn desire to not listen to commands even if they understand their purpose. It will often have a large number of new fighters, or even fighters who have been put in armor and rushed to the field with as little as one practice.

These units may not follow orders and may spread out in a manner that interferes with better trained units. While they may be large, due to quickly armed fighters, they may be less effective in a press then a smaller unit.
A C Grade unit is effective for holding positions where they are not stressed. Flag points, uncontested bridges, crossings and sally ports. Defending stationary features like artillery, or resurrection points. As such this means that they are effective to be seen by an enemy to be serving a role but may not be effective once battle comes to them.

===='''Unit Equipment or Style:Infantry or Cavalry'''====
The ''"Style"'' describes the equipment the unit uses and its mobility in it.
The Styles are Light Infantry, Medium Infantry, Heavy Infantry & Light Cavalry, Medium Cavalry and Heavy Cavalry. While this discussion is on unit styles an individual fighter may also be described using one of these 6 styles.

====='''Infantry'''=====
Most SCA units will be styled as Infantry units due to mobility and equipment.

'''''Light Infantry''''' is a unit that fights purposefully in the very minimum of legal war-field armor but is not highly mobile.
A historical example of Light infantry is unarmored peasant levy using a single weapon and shield or improvised farm implements. This is your basic unruly mob of villagers with pitchforks.
Since the SCA has strict rules for armoring this Style is unlikely on an SCA battlefield. Units that arm in a Light fashion tend to do so for the sake of mobility, such as the Tuchux.
Light Infantry units might be those that specialize in archery or artillery where their mobility is not necessarily as important as their ability to effectively manipulate bows and equipment.
Some banner-bearers might be classified individually as light infantry while lightly armored knights would be classified as Light Cavalry.

'''''Medium Infantry''''' are units that meet the SCA armor guidelines and include other protective gear for personal defense. Body armor, leg armor, and other gear may be of heavier then legally required.
Most SCA fighters will fall into this Style. It is a complete rig of armor that will include metal and leather as well as other materials and will effectively cover the fighter.
This is Style may or may not represent a specific period and can be called SCA Period.

'''''Heavy Infantry''''' is a unit that has a specific goal of wearing either heavy armor or armor of a specific period. They may be trading authenticity for mobility.
Roman Units, or units with a lot of similar heavy equipment fall in this style.

====='''Cavalry'''=====
While describing an SCA unit as cavalry may seem silly on the surface it represents the tendency of the unit to run in combat. Most units can move quickly when needed but a cavalry unit can run far and fast when needed with a small number of members falling out of order. Running any distance shows that the unit has a better level of fitness and aggressiveness. A unit that prides itself on moving fast in to a fight or out of one, that stresses physical fitness especially endurance, or can cover a field quickly without difficult can be considered Cavalry.

'''''Light Cavalry''''' units arm in the lightest armor possible and trade protection for mobility.
Elements of Tuchux can be seen as Light Cavalry. They purposefully wear as little equipment as legally required and run to every conflict they can. Speed is the key.
While Light Infantry may be the fastest unit on the field, they can be less effective in a hard pressed or tight situations. Not effective for bridge battles or castle battles. Vulnerable to artillery and archery.
Effective in open fields, broken fields, woods battles, or battles where speed in taking a position or flag point is needed.

'''''Medium Cavalry''''' units are those that are reasonably armed and can to move fast and far on command. This will be the most common style for SCA units that specialize in great mobility.
These units are excellent units for flanking, filling gaps in a fight, supporting units that take heavy losses.
A Medium Cavalry unit will have a lot of fast moving, probably younger fighters, but may suffer attrition as they get tired throughout the day.

'''''Heavy Cavalry''''' are those units with a mixture of heavy armor, speed, and almost certainly high unit morale and esprit de corp.
A Heavy Infantry unit is probably one dedicated to representing a particular period. Norman Cavalry might be described as a unit in heavy chain-mail, shield and sword, willing to run to a target.
Extremely few units will be of this style. The ones that are will have heavy attrition as the day wears on but almost certainly include a strong fitness program as part of their training.

=='''Morale'''==
'''''Morale'''''-the confidence, enthusiasm, and discipline of a person or group at a particular time.

Morale in the sense of SCA war units is an expression of the character of a unit. Are they eager? Pessimistic? Do they come to the field together or in ones and twos? Do they leave the field together? Do they march together to the field, waving banners, singing songs? Are they proud of each others efforts and of their leaders? Do they complain that their foes outnumber them or didn't follow rules?

A unit may show elements of both good and bad morale and its the average of the various influences that gives a commander a sense of how to judge a unit as having bad or good morale.

A unit can be said to have '''''Good Morale''''' if it does some of the following:
*Is eager to get to the field.
*Fields regular numbers on successive days.
*Has equipment in good order.
*Makes a point of getting weapons checked promptly.
*Marches to the field together and shows esprit de corp in singing, war crys, and showing their war colors boldly.
*Leave the field together, or in small groups.
*Includes water bearers, and support personnel.

A unit can be said to have '''''Bad Morale''''' if it does the following:
*Comes to the field and leaves the field individually and without informing their unit leaders.
*Argues among themselves on the field.
*Gets angry and vocally abusive on the field.
*Complains about actions on the field:Enemy outnumbers them. Others ignoring rules. Blow acknowledgment.
*Loses fighters do to attrition. This may be differences in fitness, training.
*Does not field on successive days do to hungover fighters.

Kingdom of Vulsara

2020-01-17T22:06:56Z

Salinea: Reverted edits by BROFLAKE MAD (talk) to last revision by Tolknor

'''A Place of Passage'''

To say that the skies over Vulsar Base were accustomed to starships would be an understatement.

The massive planet below its many moons had star bases, City Ships, construction facilities, repair stations, Commercial Hubs, and docking ports nearly covering it's sky like stars. Each of the races that were members of the Amber Federation of Planets in the Vulsara galaxy had their own strongholds that serviced their own ships and the good-natured competition for the best spots was fierce.

Not that proximity mattered to them really since transporter technology was used far more often for transportation of materials and personnel then runabouts or shuttles. Still, Vulsar had certain surface features that were particularly attractive and the federation council doled out the best parts of space greedily.

If a planetary view could be considered a prized commodity then the cheapest real estate above the world was over the Ujāṛa desert mountain range. It was a testing ground for starship weaponry and had been blasted with every type of munition the races of the federation possessed. From ships in orbit, high altitude star destroyers, low altitude fighter crafts to drone and unmanned detonation devices. It had hosted battles on the grounds in nearly every level of technology the kingdom used. It also hosted a number of extremely rugged adventure races from time to time. The mountain range was harsh and rugged and towered 20,000' above the center plain called the Ujāṛa Flat.

What had once been a six thousand square mile desert of lifeless mountains risen up by powerful tectonic forces and scraped clear of life by the brush of an ancient singularity had had a three thousand mile circle burned out of it by ordinances to create a flat hard-packed plain. By custom the only life in the Ujara Flat was the occasional privileged tourist and the Effect and Weaponry Scientists inspecting the results of testing fire.

In the dark night before the last morning of the weapon range's service two people walk out of shadow onto the center of the target zone. The sky above them has been cleared of ships and the sky will remain free of them for a time. The stars shine down without the interference of ships and satellites.

The woman wore a loose green silk serape edged with silver lace. The man wore heavy boot and dark denim jeans and a loose flannel shirt. They laid out a blanket and set picnic baskets aside. They made love in a familiar way excited about the coming sunrise. Afterwards they ate a bit and performed a sacred ritual consecrating the ground to the power of Order and the Unicorn.

If anyone can consecrate a spot to Order it is this pair; one being Dworkin, and the other his wife, the Unicorn.

Into the vast silence came a noise louder then all the ordinance that ever ravaged and haled down the mountains of this dark plain. It crashes in like the tearing of the universe as the forces of power open a portal from in the Amber Sway into the depths of the Abyss that separates Chaos and Shadow. The stars quiver as the portal leaks wreck and ruin and a spinning fury of might slides through it. Above the spinning plate a floating figure controls the magics protecting the disc, himself, and three figures upon it.

The disc slams to the ground with a quake that shakes the massive world and momentarily disrupts its spin. Across the planet unsuspecting shelves are cleared of decorations and books, stasis fields snap on in critical areas, and the agility of billions is tested.

The small group of people hover off the disc at the last moment, moving up and away from the sudden contact. Protected by a glowing field that repels stone and dust the group moves quickly east amid the sudden uproar of the impact. One flies off to hover above the center of the disc, calling its powers upwards to him. The rest fly to land by Dworkin. Clearing the shielding glow steps a bedraggled man in a once sharp suit, holding a woman in one arm and a babe in the other. The look on his face is similar to that of a man who suddenly is dragged from the audience of the circus into the tiger's cage and told he must master them while juggling chamber pots and dynamite.

The hovering man spins slowly in the forces, directing them, light running along the increasingly bright engravings on the disc. Its surface an enraged plain of fire and assault, responds uncertainly with a sense of its own excitement and pain. At the edge the woman who is the Unicorn steps onto the disc and begins a leisurely walk twisting along the pattern that glows colorfully behind her. The raging red ahead of her senses her with glee and expectantly rises to greet her.

Around the edge of the disc Dworkin walks, the Jewel of Judgment on his breast, sanctifying the new place, locking the thing.

'''The City Ship and the New King'''

In the sky a ship comes from hyperspace and floats above the ruined land beginning its new life. Star Fleet member nation of the Voth Empire has gifted this city ship to the Empire of Amber and its captain waits the command to put it to its permanent use.

Hovering over the disc, the man sees the Pattern of Amber reemerge from the remnants of the fiery hell he had dragged it. Looking up he sends a silent signal to the captain of the massive ship above that slowly enters the atmosphere. Its undercarriage splitting to reveal the inner area prepared to cover the work below. The undercarriage separates as planned to create long spikes that striking the land pierce deeply to begin the construction of the protections beneath the new pattern's home. Settling hard the ship seems ready.

In the wake of the massive ship's descent followed thousands of smaller vessels that swarm it like bees. Each one depositing tons of rock and dirt and vegetation from three worlds that had been broken down for parts. The piles rise above the ship and is directed by the hovering man, well-known to the ship's crew, and by the Unicorn, Dworkin, and the man bearing precious cargo. The work above continues for days as other things occur. In time the weather control system on Vulsar will turn its combined might on the mound, bringing a cleansing rain to accumulated worlds of dirt spreading out the loam and giving battered vegetation room to grow.

Deep within the ship, now the city of Vanvalta, The ships crew finishes beaming to quarters in the Main Vulsar Base on the other side of the planet. The only remaining residents settle onto seats to examine the newly implanted construct, the rescued and repaired shadow of the Pattern of Amber, ripped from duress in the depths of the Abyss.

The Master of the House, King Vance of Vulsar, receives the blessing of his great grand parents before they depart.

Stepping to the rumpled man he takes the woman and leads her to a ships lounge with an open view of the vast interior room. Settling her on the sofa, he sits beside her. The other man walks over and sits, cradling the baby.

Vance speaks to the man, "You have my deep thanks, Vek. That last part was dicey as it was and without you I might have failed in the whole endeavor. I consider myself deep in your debt and want you to know that I consider that a debt you may call in at will."

Cradling the babe low, he flips a cigarette out and lets it light. The smoke carefully avoids the newborn child. "Yes, its convenient to have a Chaosian familiar with the Abyss handy in your deck of cards. However, I feel certain I'll have to answer for crimes against the State at home. I may come to you as an exile to collect on favors owed. "

Vek looks into the eyes of the babe in his arms, imagining a vast future.

"That is a Hendrake hellmaid you found time to impregnate. One of note, a cousin of mine no less. Hers is a complicated bloodline, cousin, as is mine. Between tearing Amber blood from the Courts and stealing what i'm sure Swayvil and the Lords of the Abyss would argue is their property, powerful property at that, I think you have made enough enemies today to keep you busy for a thousand years. Random had better expect a response."

"Random knew my purpose. Who I met along the way he had no way of knowing." Vance says while examining the woman.

Vek continues, pointing with the cig, "she is a child of Voya, Dara's mother. That makes her the aunt of the Ambassador to Amber from Chaos. It matters not that she was unknown to Amber, or Maylon, till now. There will be issues. And your child by her, is more Abyssal, then Chaosian or Amberite. She may trace her blood to Benedict, as I do, but she will have powerful connections in Hendrake, Helgram, Channicut, and Jesby. Not to mention what connections she may have developed in centuries in the Abyss. Voya was a great warrior, a gifted Hellmaiden even if her birth occurred after Lintra's death. Dara may have been little more then a waif at the time of Patternfall but Maylon and Voya had centuries, perhaps millennia, of battle behind them in realms along the Black Road. They stood near the cadre of bone warriors I was a member of at Patternfall. Do not delude yourself that there will be no consequences."

"I did not come to you entirely voluntarily but my own actions will paint me guilty in many of the eyes of Chaos. Frankly, I'll be lucky to live through an audience with either the Duke or the High Lord. You have incurred many debts, Amberite. I will not be shy in collecting."

Looking up at Vek King Vance nod. "You have made your point. I am warned. Will you stay for a time?"

Vek smiles, 'I assume I can find a room in this new city of yours with a piano and a supply of bourbon."