Calrabon:

The Great Golden Circle Kingdom of Calrabon

Calrabon is a gigantic world far more massive then most territorial worlds. Its surface areas is 8 times that of normal earth sized worlds.. It floats around a great yellow star along with two tiny planets in the same orbit and a small greenish sun in and irregular orbit. The Two tiny planets are called the Twins Cesa and Irik. The Green sun is called Wanderer. The green sun orbits on a complicated path that brings it by the two tiny worlds in the system ever 60 years and near Calrabon every 400 years. The passage of the Wanderer causes wild growth in plants and animals. Some of the extreme growth can be stable enough to allow the enlarged plants and animals to reproduce normally in the enlarged size.

The presence of gigantic animals is one of the reasons that Oberon originally found this planet; As a hunting preserve. tribes of men on this world developed Might constructions and chamber dwelling in open plains and in great cave structures.

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From Diners of Amber-

Amongst King Random's Deck is the great Golden Circle Kingdom of Calrabon. Pictured is a tower city 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.

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.

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?

Dang. Now I am hungry. I think I'll take a break. I have this card right here.