Editing Diners of Amber (section)

====<u><big>'''''A Digression on the Connections Between Cosmology and Fiction-The Travel Guides'''''</big></u>====
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.


<span style=color:darkgreen>On the topic of Travel Guides and fictional characters.

<span style=color:darkgreen>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.