The Kingdom of Amber

Situated at the other end of the multiverse from the Courts of Chaos, the Order of Amber and its Pattern is the antithesis of the Chaos of Thelbane and the Logrus. Despite this, it often seems that the Amber Royal Family is, at its heart, more chaotic than Chaos, while the rigid structures and ancient traditions of the Courts are far more orderly.

Random was appointed King of Amber by the Unicorn in 14,982 ALC/4,471 AP, when she gave him the Eye of the Serpent. Due to the instability of relative time between Amber and Chaos immediately after the war, however, he was not formally Crowned until 14,985 ALC/4,485 AP, i.e. a little over forty-five years ago Chaos time, and fifteen years ago Amber time.

The new status quo is taking some getting used to by all parties, but the signs are good. Thus far, the peace has held, helped by the now-revealed Blood links between the Royal House of Thelbane, and the House of Amber, which were suppressed in the days of King Oberon. This includes the knowledge that many of Oberons wives actually came from the Courts.

Metaphysics of Amber

Amber is at the opposite end of the universe from the Courts of Chaos, and the degrees of reality as you move into Shadow are as follows.

  • Greater Amber: the world created when Dworkin-Barimen drew the Pattern. In elemental terms, it would be considered the “earth” world. It has two sister realms: Rebma, beneath the waves; and the sky city of Tir-na Nog’th. It has been speculated that there may be a “fire” realm, but thus far, it’s existence has not been proven.
  • The Golden Circle: Amber’s trading bloc in the worlds nearest to Greater Amber. Most of the Golden Circle worlds are within 10 Shadow Veils of  Amber, although there are exceptions. These worlds have inherited increased reality from their proximity to Amber.
  • Amber Shadow: this officially starts outside the Golden Circle, around Veil 10-15, although as with the Ethyr Zone at the other end of reality, there are 5-10 Veils where the worlds are slightly more real than, or different to, “Open Shadow”.
  • The “Shadow Earth” zone. This comprises the worlds about 10 Veils in all directions from “Shadow Earth”. It is situated about halfway between Amber and the Dancing Mountains.

Timeflow

The Amber year is 360 days long, with 12 months of 30 days each. A day comprises 24 hours, with 60 minutes an hour (1,440 minutes per day).

Amber has a single satellite, known as Luna. There are twelve moons a year, always falling on the same dates. The new moon falls on the 2nd of the month, and the full moon on the 15th. There is no visible moon on either 30th or 1st of the month.

A History of Amber

Amber was founded by Dworkin Barimen, son of Archduke Suhuy, approximately thirteen thousand Chaos years ago (four and a half thousand Amber years).

Dworkin was not originally a rebellious soul. However, as time passed, he became more and more angry that his father, Suhuy, had given up his claim to the Thelbane Throne. His ambitions grew, and while he appeared to be a dutiful son, he learned everything he could about the Creation of the Logrus and the Courts, because he believed he could do better. He came to realise that “the Serpent” was actually a transformed version of his grandfather, Cornelius, and that its genetic material could be used as a focus to repeat the Creation process.

He travelled in the Abyss until he found himself a nice, solid Rock on which to build his own Power, and manoeuvered it towards the Courts. This would become Mount Kolvir. Then he bided his time until one day, during the Great Festival of the Serpent, he had the opportunity to take it by surprise and divest it of its Eye. At that point he fled into the Abyss, to the rock he had found, and began to inscribe his own Power, and guide the Rock of Kolvir into position to establish his own “Royal Ways”. The result was the Pattern of Amber.

His uncle, Swayvill, dispatched forces after him under the command of another uncle, Severin, but for whatever reason, none of those sent in pursuit, including Severin, ever returned to the Courts.

While he never formally Crowned himself King, Dworkin ruled his new Creation for the first century or so (Amber time) of its existence, and guided the formation of the worlds that would become the Golden Circle. Once that was established, the interaction of the Pattern and the Logrus sent into motion the creation of wider Shadow between the two.

Amber under King Random

When Random was formally crowned King of Amber, he decided to make some changes to the place. Neat trick that, but he is the King. As a fan of a slightly-less old-fashioned lifestyle, in the weeks following his Coronation, he imposed his will upon Amber, to bring it foward from late-Medieval/early-Renaissance to a much more Victorian Steampunk-style, based on technological magic, with some steam-based industry and improved water distribution and sewage disposal throughout the City.

The castle was upgraded along with Amber City itself, complete with gas power, gas lighting and working plumbing.

However, Random has maintained the block on gunpowder working in Amber, as well as any explosives more modern than very basic TNT. The maximum tech level, for those who can discern such things, is around 1900.

Geography of Greater Amber

“Greater Amber” comprises Mount Kolvir, Amber City, the wider continent of Amber, the Forest of Arden and the Vale of Garnath. Mount Kolvir is at the north of the Amber continent, where Amber Castle is located. Amber City stretches down the side of the mountain, all the way to the sea and Amber Harbour.

There is direct access to Amber Harbour from Shadow by sea, and even with Random’s changes, Amber remains a major maritime power, with both naval and civilina sailing ships and the newer steamships.

As you move south, you encounter the the wide open spaces and countryside of Amber continent, which has an area of around 300k square miles. There are a number of smaller cities, towns and villages in the hinterland, as well as a significant amount of agriculture.

These eventually blend into the Forest of Arden, which ultimately extends out into Shadow, and is heavily patrolled by Prince Julian and his Arden Rangers.

Sharing space with Arden, but apparently not actually part of it, is the Vale of Garnath. The Vale was severely damaged by fire during the attack on Amber by Princes Bleys and Corwin. However, when he was modifying the Greater Amber area, Random restored the Vale to mixed grassland and new-growth forest.

Garnath Gateway

The only direct land access into Greater Amber is from the Garnath Gateway, in Veil 1 of Shadow. This route is closely monitored by a sub-unit of Julian’s rangers, known as the Garnath Guardians, under the leadership of his son Darragh.

Visitors to Amber can arrive at the Gateway via land, sea or air (airships, rather than airplanes), although most of the maritime traffic sails directly into Amber Harbour.

Travel from the Gateway into Amber City takes between six and twelve hours, depending on the method of travel used. There is a small fleet of airships, run by the Amber Airship Company, based at the Gateway, which ply the direct route up the Vale of Garnath, to the airship dock near Amber Harbour. These are the only airships allowed to travel in Greater Amber, itself, and their flight paths are closely monitored by the Guardians.