Vance-AoS
Greetings King Random,
Sire, I come new to Amber. My story and my fealty start with my Father, Prince Delwin of Amber, son of Oberon and Harla.
My father was a strange man and he and my aunt did not speak well of Amber. In truth they spoke little of it. I left the world of my birth at 22 and till that time my father Delwin and my Aunt Sand had only spoken of Amber in anger. They hated the way their mother was treated by Oberon. They hated the way they were treated by their siblings. They hated the way they were treated by the nobles who, despite their mother being Queen of Amber, were not kind, as if they knew how temporary their place in Amber was.
Shortly before i left home my father said something i'll always remember. He said that He and Sand had their experiences with Amber and I would have my own. In the end it makes no sense to bring their grievances to the center of the universe, so close to the Pattern. He did not want his hatred to be the source of family strife reflected out into shadow as conflict and tragedy and sadness in the lives of millions of innocent lives. He saw the conflict orchestrated by Oberon amongst his siblings. He refused to participate. This made Oberon think him weak and his siblings think him stupid. He was neither. He was kind; a trait not valued in Amber.
So they left of their own accord when their mother's health began to fail. Her health failed, Delwin told me, because the function of enthusiasm, caused by the Pattern, that keeps those in Amber young and vital for centuries beyond their normal lifespan can also cause one to age quicker then the norm of their race. So she returned home in despair. On her deathbed she bid her children to hold no grudge.
They tried, but it was never easy for them. (Aging in Amber )
So i made my way in the universe and did my grandmother's bidding.
I shall not put in this Article how i Walked the pattern the first time. You know that details of that and where i found a functioning full shadow of the pattern, tucked away in a backwater world.
In time i met Prince Benedict. He found me because he had spent a long drunken month in one of Princess Flroimel's homes on Earth, watching the television show Star Trek in its many varieties. He apparently become obsessed. He hunted down the series in a dozen shadows. A vast array of similar versions of the theme.
In one of them was Vulsar Base. He went to the Pattern, walked it, and piled his might into a single desire to find the best version of Vulsar base and he transported himself there. It turned out the best version of Vulsar base was the one that had a Grandson of Oberon as an Admiral in Star Fleet.
There he found me, a seat on the Federation Council and an Admiral of the Fleet. We spoke long into the night, and long into many days. I learned of Amber from him. I learned that it meant more then i knew. He swayed me.
I told him of my battles where Patternfall effected Vulsar Base and the Federation i had grown to manhood in. Our battles were not fought at the foot of Kolvir, nor at the precipice of the Abyss. My battle was on a swath of rock and the tangles the Black Road cast into space. Demons of death and darkness fought starships in the stars and Bolos on the ground. I led an Ogre force against creatures of the abyss, not that i knew what they where or where they came from. I lead Star Fleet against the Warriors of the Hole, as we called them. We called them demons but little did we know how right we were.
Benedict told me everything. Then he came to Vulsar and we conspired. We felt the way of things till we knew the shape of things. Then he returned to Amber with me. I followed him as we walked the Primal Pattern to its center. There i gave my power into the care of Prince Benedict. He linked my knowledge and my will to his own and transported us to the place where Vulsar Base, and a unified galaxy of many unified races, had always served Amber. It was the Amber Star Fleet and the Amber Bolo Attack Force and always had been. It only awaited that way for the Benedict who had always been the commander they served and the Vance who had always led them in battle, to return to pick up their ancient roles. After it was done, Benedict inspected the Borg Battalions and started chuckling "Resistance is Futile" and returned to Amber. When I read the Diners of Amber booklet that came with my family deck, i laughed when Prince Bleys recounted that. It was a bit scary.
Then Prince Benedict came to me and told me you had called those of the blood. It wasn't as if i was in hiding. Oberon and his children knew where Delwin and Sand had gone. There were portraits of them in the family gallery in Amber. When my cousin Nadine and I were born, Oberon was told. Legand has it that the only times Oberon came to our realm after Harla left the throne was to visit her deathbed and when Nadine and I were born. So despite not having set foot in Amber till i was brought there by Uncle Benedict, i do not consider myself to be one who has hidden from the family. More i led my life without seeking them out.
Now i am here. Benedict has taught me well and i see a bold future ahead for Amber with its Undoubted King. It is a future i will share.
So as you command. I kneel and place my blade Angasrt, my Ogre Grog, and my Starship the Lolipop, and my service at your feet.
In Service to Amber
Lord Vance of Amber,
Admiral of the Amber Star Fleet, Commander of the Amber Bolo Attack Force, Prince of Talgwir.
Knight of Amber
