Editing Call to the Kin-Ambercon

'''Call to the Kin'''
{''This version is for the Tazilwere Ambercon Game''}

{Since three of you are in my game a lot of this background you might know.  Give it a read if you like.  But for game sake start at the "Cousins" part

=='''The Story as told, during an interlude in the Library of Amber by Arloxedra, to cats and kin.==

<center>[[File:East Fireplace.jpg|300 px]]</center>



Arlo leans back and lights a cig while reclining with friends in the East Fireplace nook under the Astrolabe Room.  Donovan, Skadi, and Chriss sit in the chairs and sofa close to the low table the food and wine, and Arlo's ashtray sit on while he talks.  Nearby sit The Elites: Haris Tazil-Donovan's Elite, Ariebah-Skadi's Elite, and Alexandra-Chris's Elite. 

'''"I am so glad the three of you turned up here together.  You are all fairly new to Amber and your kinship in the House Bariman.  I know Donovan, you have had some rough adventures dealing so well with the Arden stone.  Kudos. Skadi, I cheer your desire to visit here from Mandalay.  More interaction between the two primal realms is necessary.   And Chris, I am glad to see you ashore finally.  I think we have enough books to keep you busy for an eon.  Haris, Ariebah, Alexandra, you are welcome too of course.  I may be a defrocked prince but I support everyone who supports Amber.  Our family is so diverse.. The House Bariman, a house of Chaos, if a rebel one. Feel free to drink anything here you like.  The decanters refill magically and the Barrel is on of [[Dame Margot]] kitchen barrels I keep sneaking down here."'''

Elayne sits curled in a deep book shelf emptied and fitted with pillow, looking down at the scene.  That she is Arlo's paramour is an open secret.  Curled by her feet is the large cat only called Cat, arlo's companion and the queen of the pets of the castle. 

Far up the hall sleeps Darcy Rozaro, Arlo's Elite.  Darcy loves his posting since it lets him sleep a lot because Arlo almost never leaves the library. 

Haris says, '''"My Lord Arloxedra, I have often wanted to ask you about the Call to the Kin that King Random issued early in his riegn.  Among the nobles, gentry, and the peasantry it is a story told and retold and I would very much like to hear the tale told properly, without delusions of the masses."'''

Arlo nods, looking at the young royals with a smile, then nods to Prince haris of Taziliwere.

'''"Well, its a tale worth telling.  First of all, Oberon was not wild about bringing his children here. Some he brought, some he marooned in shadow, some he built hard walls against ever getting here."

'''"The ones he brought he pit against each other in the hope that the strongest cabal, that cooperated best, would be the most likely to rule well.  A strange point of view. Foolish. However, Oberon set a powerful destiny trap like a rushing river to keep certain elders from being part of that contest."

'''"So in Amber you had Benedict, Eric, Corwin, Gerard, Caine, Bleys, Fiona, Brand, Llewlla, Flora and Random. The others he all but banished, in my opinion, as unworthy.  Osric, Finndo, Borlak,  Orosala, the Monsters of the First Brood, Giovanni, and a host of others, were left in shadow, deemed unworthy.

==Broods==
'''"Oberon had 47 children we know about, sort of, and only Eric is dead.  As you probably know the family is divided unofficially into four broods.

''''"<span style=color:red>The First Brood is often called the Monsters. They are the Children of his youth when he was young and growing in power and had little control over his lust or his children. The First Brood includes Fleece-the king of the Hounds of Mandalay, Adrian-the King of Mandalay, Cymnea-The First Queen of Amber, Av Reet the Djinn Lord, Eater-The God of the Undead,Hinarik the Necromancer, Vox the Great Dragon, and Nalshik the Spider Queen.  Depending which historian you talk to Oscric and Finndo are occasionally included in the First brood.  I list them with the second because they serve Amber even now in their own way. </span> 

''''"<span style=color:Green>The Second Brood or the Elders of Amber.  These are the ones Oberon brought to Amber or who were born here.  These are familiar names; Osric, King Finndo, Elfwine, Benedict, Oroslla, Borlak, King Eric, Corwin, Evelyn, Deirdre, Hamilton, Nina, Emilie, Gerard, Julian, Caine, Delwin, Sand, Fiona, Bleys, Llewela, Brand, Florimel, and Random.  These are his children he brought to Amber.  These are the ones he pit against each other to see who was most fit to replace him.</span>

'''"<span style=color:blue> The Third Brood are those children of this time he made sure could not reach Amber.  He did not want them to replace him no matter what happened. These included  Joseph, Hanvir, Kibar, Giovanni, Mirelle, Phillipe"</span>

'''"<span style=color:purple> The Fourth Brood, or the Unknown, are ones he either didn't know anything, didn't have much control over, or had no time to deal with.  These include Kundjiq, Jaques, Evelar, Evankala, Dalt, Pierre, and lastly Coral</span>"

'''"If you are keeping count that is 45.  Dworkin insists its 47 but he won't fill in the gaps, the nasty old screw."'''

'''"A few of the <span style=color:Green> Second Brood</span> had been brought to Amber, acknowledged, and then left.  Some of their own free will and some into exile. Elfwine had lived in shadow for centuries but handled certain royals poorly. He disappeared and only recently surfaced among the Amber Fea. Borlak was exiled by Oberon and chased out by Osric.  Evelyn is said to have been frail, sad, and reclusive, even in Amber.   She spent her time in the forests, where she made friend with the deep Fea of Amber. She and Corwin were close, traveling in shadow together, but in time she did not return. Delwin & Sand were born in shadow, raised there and brought to Amber by Oberon as adults when Oberon married their mother Harla.  Ill-treated by the others, they left when their mother aged poorly.  "
 
'''"Nina and Emile were brought to Amber when Julian and Gerard were young and the four had some adventures together.  Then one day they were gone.  This much I know of them from reports and stories of the time.  Of course everyone knows they were discovered imprisoned in the Realm of Adagalasck a few years ago and when word of it reached Amber Julian and Caine both fled to reunite with them.  After some adventures Julian became King of Adagalasck and Caine returned to Amber furious.  I am told he won't speak of it to you, Chris." 

'''"The stage was set for the battle royale with the <span style=color:Green> Second Brood</span> on the fire and when the war came it spiraled out of Oberon's control."

'''"So Patternfall comes and it all plays itself out as we all know too well. Amber wins. Oberon dies repairing the pattern and goes into the Tomb of the Ancestors of Darkness and Random gets his chair."

==In the Early Days of King Random's Reign==

Arlo stands and walks the the wine barrel.  Filling a pitcher of the dark strong kitchen wine Dame Margot uses he walks around filling glasses, returns to fill the pitcher and settles back in to light another cig from the embers of the old one.  

'''"In the early days after the Patternfall War King Random of Amber, First of his Name, had to learn to do a dozen things at once and found he needed help. "

'''"He convinced his sister Florimel to tend to the nobles and the newly arriving dignitaries flooding in to swear fealty and meet the new king. They all seemed to buy town houses in the city. When they came to court they came they brought chests full of formal wear and eligible daughters with an eye on Martin.'''

Elayne laughs from her alcove up in the shelves, '''"Hey, Arlo, remember when that annoying fop, the Ambassador from Diaga, cornered Martin with his annoyingly prim and proper golddigger of a daughter?"'''

Arlo laughs, looks around, '''"Of course.  He told the old frump that he wasn't interested in the daughters of any of the Golden Circle royal or noble families. But if there were a few eligible sons around he might like to meet them."

Elayne laughs harder, '''"And Flora had to deal with shuffling around a score of Golden Circle dignitaries lodgings and offices when they sent new ambassadors who all had eagerly eligible sons."'''

Sergent Darcy, Arloxedra's Elite, pipes up from the sofa he had been sleeping on up the hall,'''"That was when I was his Elite.  He came up to my quarters in the middle of the night and we left into shadow for a year.  He went high tech.  He still has the data jack behind his ear."'''

Arlo continues, '''"Next he coerced Benedict into accepting the role of Marshal of Amber. He ordered Benedict to expand the standing army and to develop technological defenses. That's partly how we got a Star Fleet."

'''"He put Gerard in charge of the Navy, with Caine as his third in command. That Caine was really the Spymaster of Amber was one of the worst kept secrets in the kingdom.  All things considered, If Caine wants a secret known, it gets known for a good reason"

'''"He became a very active monarch and he used his siblings to help improve many aspects of the city, kingdom and empire of Amber. His well known renovations included indoor plumbing, magical street lighting, puzzled stone roadways.  Of Course the puzzled stone roadways were a great idea but they got co-opted by the Jeweled Road when Adrian forged the primal realm of Mandalay."  

<span style=color:red>(For a description of the Jeweled Road see [[The Jeweled Road]])</span>

'''Time went on.  Merlin came to Amber after Patternfall briefly then went out into shadow to gain a liberal education and while doing so met Luke, now known as Rinaldo, son of Brand.  They had some adventures.  During them Dalt turned up, a son of Oberon and Delee the Desecratix and a friend of Rinaldo's.  So there was a new angry uncle that only got tamed after he fought Julian at the Gates of Dawn.  

<span style=color:red>''{For that story see [[Dalt at the Gates of Dawn]]}''</span>

'''"Benedict and Gerard ran across Borlak deep in shadow, and reminded Random of him."

'''Then as part of Merlin's adventures Coral, the daughter of a Begman noblewoman, surprised Merlin by walking the pattern. She was a by-blow of Oberon's, apparently his last."

'''"Chaos had sent Despil, the son of Dara and Gramble Sawall, to Amber as the Ambassador of Chaos and his brother Jurt, followed him and started running a dive bar in the city. Despil quietly informed the King of a collection of Hendrake nobles, descendants Benedict, of which Dara is one. We also know of others of the Benedict-Lintra line of course now; Shaz Far and Vek.

<span style=color:purple>''(Ah, talented and demented Vek, my guy.[[https://wiki.rpg.net/index.php/Vek_Hendrake]]"''</span>

<span style=color:red>''{Just as an aside-In the Jeweled Amber Universe, Merlin did not become King of Chaos.  He is known to be wandering around Avalon}''</span>

'''"Suspicions arose that Osric and Finndo might not be dead, and this reminded many people that two of Oberon's oldest children were alive as well, Cymnea, and Orsolla.  Cymnea was known to have retired to Thelusa and her duchy after Oberon annulled their marriage.  Orsolla had echoed in shadows of Rebma but not turned up in person."

'''"And of course it was well known that Delwin and Sand were somewhere in shadow, avoiding the whole lot of the kinship. Though Benedict had found a son of Delwin's, Vance, who had a love of baseball, military endeavors, going fast & flying things.  The two of them became thick as thieves and suddenly Amber had a entire Star Fleet."

'''"Rebma sent their new Ambassador in the person of the dapper Rene Mior Royi, who happened to be the son of Corwin and Moire."

'''"Random told a small gathering about his own full siblings, Mirelle and Giovanni, and that he intended to find them. This caused Gerard, Caine and Julian to bristle when they were reminded these two probably still lived. They did not say why but it is known that the sons of Rilga have little reason to love Random's mother."

'''When in exasperation Random asked, rhetorically, how many children did Bloody Oberon have? Dworkin calmly answered 47. Random took Bleys and disappeared into shadow, telling the court he was going out to get a drink.

=='''Random's Challenge to the Line of Oberon'''==

'''"This was Random's first long vacation from the Throne.  Almost a year in Amber.  He refused trump calls so efficiently that suddenly they were being answered by Lady Carly, his Trump correspondent.

'''"What happened on his return is documented in several places from different points of view but the story is essentially the same in them all." 

'''"When the King returned at the beginning of the 20th year of his reign he called a family meeting and included several of the oldest family retainers such as [[Dame Margot]], Duchess Solange Charenton, Lady Ain Breakwithe-Smythe, Hymal Urien, as well as William Roth-the newly created Counsel to the King, and of course, Queen Viale.

'''"The family assembled, but beside the usual elders included such as Llewella, Merlin, Martin, Rinaldo, Rene, Dalt, Delwin, Elayne, and myself. Corwin was absent."

'''"Random was clearly pissed when he arrived.  He came in dressed in his finest royal robes, wearing the state jewels, the coronation crown, Oberon's blade, and the Jewel of Judgment.

'''"Bleys, clearly drunk and nervous, was dressed in his finery as well. Before him glowed the ''Sign of the Pattern'', visibly present, an act so unprecedented among sorcerers who usually leave their Sign invisible. Freshly hung spells shimmered in the glowing frame. Sorcerers with the talent to tell which spells hung in the frame saw that they were strong dueling spells.

'''"Dworkin came in behind them took a seat quietly in a high nook of the archetecture, smoking a long pipe.

'''"Random announced a decree to the assemblage. He demanded that all those of the line of Bariman, descended from Dworkin, through Oberon, would come to court and make themselves known. Those who wished to be in the king's good graces and remain in fealty to Amber would write an Article of Submission. Those who did not wish to write such an article were welcome to go about their business but the King would meet them and know them. "

'''"He looked at his siblings and said, <span style=color:green>''"Olly Olly Oxen free. All come home. Bring your children in. The time for hiding them is over. Hiding them was necessary before but now its simply too dangerous not knowing who is out there, perhaps keeping a dark hatred for Amber. I consider them a clear and present danger to the security of the realm. You will tell me of your progeny and we shall discuss how to proceed with them."''</span>

'''"He turned to Bleys and said unequivocally. "Do it.""

'''"Bleys walked up to Julian, placing the glowing sign between them and said, "Julian of Amber. Do you know of any children of the blood not in Amber?" 

'''"He did. His own son Duncan who had been secretly raised in Arden. He also knew of Eric's son Derek, deep in shadow.  He believed Eric had another son as well but did not know his name." 

'''"Fiona was next and though she flirted with raising her own sign briefly, she demurred. She admitted to having a son named Marke and a daughter Emma.  She admitted to knowing where several others were. Doria, a daughter of Benedict; Dashel, a son of Finndo, and Galvar, a son of Osric. She also knew where to find Sand and Delwin, Orsolla, Evelyn, and Josef.  She knew Sand had a daughter, though she had not met her. She knew of Asher a son of Brand from Cynasure and Laravela a daughter of Brand born in the Abyss.  She also knew something of the Monsters of the First Brood.

'''"Random said he knew all about the First Brood and they would not be discussed at the time." 

'''"Bleys admitted he had a son, Nicolas.  He also knew something of Benedict's children with Lintra; Maylon, Doria, & Desri though they lived under other names themselves.  "

'''"Flora fainted, but no one was convinced. Of course Elayne was in the room but she revealed that she had ''fathered'' a son named Zachary. She explained that she had learned to shapechange in her youth but had kept the skill a secret.  Fiona remarked that her having such a skill was remarkable and unexpected.  Soon after this Flora began teaching shapechange skills to siblings who had thought little could be learned from her. "

'''"Gerard had children of course and trumped Truman in on the spot. " 

'''"The evening went on and more names were given. Lists were compiled."

'''"In the end Random sent Bleys and Gerard and Caine out to collect the Kin of Bariman. This did not endear him to his siblings.  

'''"Sheepishly, and not without a fair bit of worry, his siblings brought their children to court. 

'''"Random met them, assigned Fiona to over see their magical instruction, Gerard to over see their martial training, and Bleys, despite his adamant and ultimately pointless refusals, was to be who the Cousins sought out with questions of other natures. 

'''"In time Random swore them to Amber, saw that they assayed the Pattern, gave them a set of his new Trumps, and wished them well on their adventures. " 

'''"Yet since the initial call, more children keep coming in."

=='''The Cousins'''==
Elayane waves to Arlo who gets up and refills her tankard with kitchen wine. 

Elayne says, '''"I was in shadow most of the years when the Cousins started coming in.  You don't speak well of them sometimes."

Arlo walks back, refilling glass on his way to the sofa. '''"Among the first of the cousins that came in around that time include Vance, that Benedict found.  He and Bleys brought Doria and Desri in and they took a lot of tweaking to unravel the magical crazy imposed on them.  They came in violent crazy.  Now they are just violent.'''

Haris says, '''"I remember when I first came to Amber, m'lord.  My realm had been seized by raiders from the realm of Rebealas.  They imprisoned my mother and father, the king and Queen, and married one of the raiders to my sister and declared him king.  It was quite polite of them to inform Amber that the new rulers would not interrupt the merchant trade.  King Random sent me back with several of your cousins, Prince Arlo.  Lady Dorai, Lady Desri, Lord Vance, Lord Geryon, Lord Marke, and they slaughtered the raiders efficiently. Free of responsibility my parents retired and left my sister as queen.  They tried to make me take the throne but i stayed here.  "'''  He sighs.

Arlo nods to Haris.  '''"I remember that.  Vance said he felt like they had let something escape.  Something tough.   Anyway, over the next few decades cousins came in.  Vander-son of Eric, my brother.  Carissa daughter of Gerard.  Asher and Laravela, son and daughter of Brand. Galvar-son of Osric, Dashel son of Finndo.  Maylon Hendrake, Vek Hendrake, Shaz Far Hendrake, Despil Sawall, Jurt Sawall all of the Benedict-Lintra line of chaosian amberites.  Nightmare...  It certainly has been active"