The History of the Royal Family of Amber from between "Courts of Chaos" and "Walk the Pattern"
We are family, will it or no.
Dworkin Baremin created the Trumps, stole the Jewel of Judgment from the Courts of Chaos, and drew the Pattern that we all walk with his own blood. He founded Amber, and all the worlds in between Amber and Chaos - our Earths, our fantasy novels, our parallel worlds - are shadows cast by their light. No one has seen Dworkin since the time of Oberon.
King Oberon was the son of Dworkin and the Unicorn, symbol and guardian of Amber. He founded the Royal House, fathered over thirty children, and ruled peacefully but strictly for millennia. He disappeared for much of the Pattern Fall War, passing on rulership to his son Eric, and reappearing briefly at the end. He gave his life to fix the Pattern from the black stain created by his son Brand, who had made a bargain with the Courts of Chaos to usurp power.
In the ensuing catastrophe, Eric died, his son Corwin briefly ruled, and the Unicorn returned the lost Jewel of Judgement, giving it to Oberon's youngest son Random, thereby appointing him as ruler.
King Random's reign was short but glorious, a brief fifty years of continuous success against the Courts of Chaos and restoring order to lands once lost. He died in bed, just as his brother had always warned him. His first son was Martin, born of a dalliance with a princess of Rebma, the reflection of Amber beneath the waves. Officially he had no other children, but unofficially there was a mistress and a daughter. She walked the Pattern as soon as she was able, but emerged… different. She ran into the Shadow and caused so much damage that King Random himself had to run her down and end her. He gave two orders that day: that no one ever mention his daughter again, and that all children of Amber who break be put to a quick and merciful death. It's unclear how much of this is true, but Random never married or reproduced again.
King Martin's reign was long and complicated.
Using jeweler's rouge as gunpowder (the only explosive that will work in Amber), he tried to excavate the caves beneath Kolvir. Instead he found the Fires of Zeron, a goblin city that reflected the innermost desires of everyone who lived in Amber proper. At first he tried to hide and contain this information, but once they had a taste of freedom the goblins and flamekin could not be repressed. So Martin decided to bring them into the world, and make an alliance. He married the princess of Zeron, Orchid, and brought her to his palace. After she gave birth to three children - Esmeralda, Bastian, Locksley, and an unnamed child - she ran off with the Captain of the Guard and was never seen again. There is much debate about whether this marriage, and its issue, was legitimate.
During this time, allies of Amber experienced a growth of industry, as well as cosmopolitan decadence.
King Martin sought guidance with the stars. Tir-na Nog'th by this time rarely touched with Amber but once a century, and so he waited until Amber would meet with its reflection in the sky once more. Until then he would take no bride, and his kingdom slowed, awaiting the next direction they would take. No one knows what was prophesied to Martin when he ascended the moonlit, half-substantial stairs to that city, but he returned with a bride on his arm, already pregnant. Martin and Lady Epona produced two daughters, Serenity and Pearl, and one unnamed son. Epona calmed his uncertainties, and was known for her transcendent beauty and wisdom throughout the land. It was a period of contemplation and hope for all of Amber.
When an assassin from the Court of Chaos killed her, it touched off a war unlike any seen for generations. The fury of the Royal House astounded even Chaos, as Martin and his Shadowkind marched the golden road that led the way to the other side of reality. Weapons and soldiers forged from the Fires of Zeron made the forces of Amber even mightier than expected, and Esmeralda and Bastian showed no less passion in avenging their stepmother than if she had been their own.
The Court of Chaos was prepared, and in the rocky wastelands around the Pits of Chaos, millions of warriors met in a standoff that promised to be the largest battle in the history of reality. Only then, as doomsday loomed, did Martin change his sentiment and offer any terms of peace. He demanded his enemies lay down their arms, and give their most beautiful noble to him as his hostage and his bride, for the next seventy-seven years. No more, no less. The Court conceded, and sent to him Lady Natalya, a spitting image of Martin's aunt Deidre, and a fragile peace was founded.
Natalya was kept in a luxurious tower for the next seventy-seven years. She and Martin had a loveless marriage, but they kept the terms of this paper alliance dutifully. She gave him three children: Ivalyan, Kylar, and Corruption. Only for Natalya, were no children lost to the Pattern. Many retainers in Amber suspected this was because the Court of Chaos still had pure blood from the time of Dworkin, whereas the outsiders and reflections Martin had previously married were unable to withstand exposure to the full force of reality.
When the terms of the marriage ended, Natalya was released. She immediately rode towards her home and was never seen or heard from again. Her children remained in Amber, and have charmed the Royal House by refusing to follow their mother.
His good urges spent, and his vengeful urges quelled, Martin fell into hedonistic indolence. He married a beautiful and strident Empress from Earth, and let her run most of Amber. Everyone agreed she was very tolerable, but she would only live a few years and so was not worth getting worked up about anyway. And yet, despite her human blood, her first daughter Constance was without doubt the most powerful sorceress in Amber of her generation. She read the stars and pulled light down from the heavens. On her maturity, when she finally walked the Pattern, if she emerged with her sanity intact she would be a force to be reckoned with. If. There were many whispers that human blood would not stand a chance before the Pattern, especially after so many recent failures. In order to defy such prejudice, Martin took the audacious step of having a second child before seeing whether the first would even survive her ordeal. And so young Sette was born.
Then, for the fourth time in three generations, the Courts of Chaos attacked. There was nothing stealthy about their assault this time, as they attempted to explode all of mount Kolvir. Only the fierce help of many goblins of Zeron was able to keep most of Amber standing. But Martin and his Empress were both lost in the initial blast.
After a period of mourning for seventy-seven days, the Grand Crusade marched forth to finish off the Courts of Chaos in their entirety. The battles were long and hard, but few demons could stand against the children of Amber in their prime and their rage. There was no official new King, as the potential heirs had agreed to put off their claim until the revenge and security they sought was achieved. (The antiquated concept of primogeniture, the ambiguity of Martin's first marriage, and the circumstances of Serenity's conception all contributed to confusion over who the clear successor would be.)
But what is forged in strife will break when victory is in sight. Some of the children wanted to eliminate the Court of Chaos entirely, while other children insisted on showing pity to their defeated enemy and stopping short of complete destruction. As there was no King (or Queen), the disagreement soon metastasized into arguments over their next ruler. Bastian seized the crown, and insisted on finishing off the ancient enemy, while Pearl controlled the Jewel of Judgment, the one tool capable of doing this, and refused to use it.
The two cabals have danced around each other for ten years now. Some children don't even care who wins, just so long as their family stops fighting. Others have not talked to each other since that fateful day.
And now Constance will Walk the Pattern. If she succeeds, bringing her knowledge of sorcery to the power that is every Amberite's birthright, she will certainly be capable of tipping the balance of power. She has always kept to herself who she sides with, and no one can predict human children really, but it's clear she does not intend to be neutral.
And so, in order to greet her, and to help sway her to their side, and because the previous two form an excuse to see some siblings not seen in a decade of stubbornness, all of you have gathered in this chamber to watch. And wait.
Children of Princess Orchid of the Fires of Zeron
Esmeralda
Bastian
Locksley
Children of Lady Epona of Tir'na-n'ogth
Serenity
Pearl
Children of Lady Natalya of the Courts of Chaos
Ivalyan
Kylar
Corruption
Children of the Empress
Constance
Sette