Status: DEAD
AU type: Amber AU
Note: probable slash, closed
I grew up loving the Books of Amber by Roger Zelazny. In fact, Corwin of Amber was my very first literary crush! Hmmm, now that I think about it, Corwin had green eyes... but I digress.
Amber is the center of the ordered universe. Supposedly, Oberon and Dworkin fled the Courts of Chaos at the opposite end of reality forever ago and established the Pattern that holds back chaos. Oberon set up the Kingdom of Amber and ruled there for many thousands of years. The thing about Amber is that, like a light that casts many shadows, there are many 'Shadows' of reality of which Earth is but one. Those of the blood of Amber who walk the Pattern have power over Shadow, and can walk to any reality they choose. The further away from Amber you walk, the more and more chaotic Shadows become, until reality is stitched together piecemeal by the Shadowmasters of the Courts of Chaos. Amber and the Courts have waged war in recent years, and the Courts use the Black Road to disrupt Shadow wherever it lay.
Anyway, last year I bought myself the new compilation Great Book of Amber and was struck by the Mag7 possibilities inherent in the chaotic Royal Family of Amber. Canonically, King Oberon of Amber had more than 40 sons and daughters, most of them illegitimate. It wouldn't be stretching things too far to suppose that at least a couple of them had children, right? And what about the Courts of Chaos, where the politics are literally murder? Lots of fodder for speculation there.
And speculate I did on the possible ancestry of each of the Seven. Some details are necessarily sketchy and if you can't recognize the name, chances are it is one of Oberon's sons.
BUCK - Gerard of Amber goes sailing in Shadow, putting in at many ports. At some point in Shadow he put ashore and visited a brothel before heading out again. She raises Buck with the help of her friends but died before Buck turned 17. The house mother turns him out the door but gives him a reference to be a trail rider for a herd of cattle heading inland. He picks up several itinerant jobs and keeps moving. Finally he settles in one town for a few years. His presence in this Shadow strengthens it enough to lure in whatever Shadow walkers are about and leads Chris accidentally to his location. One day, he meets Chris in the middle of a brawl and together they rip the bar to pieces. They become great friends and wander around together. Eventually, Chris finds and falls in love with Sarah. They set up house together and Buck agrees to help him set up a homestead. On one selling trip, Chris and Buck hear rumors of mysterious Black Warriors terrorizing the countryside. Suddenly afraid for Sarah and Adam, Chris leads Buck on a shortcut through Shadow, but they are too late. Years of rage follow and Buck learns to follow Chris across Shadows as his friend tries to find the mysterious Black Warriors that destroyed his family.
CHRIS - After the mercenary Dalt first walked the Pattern, he starts to wander Shadow looking for more military training to plan his revenge upon Oberon (who had raped his mother). In one Shadow, he impregnates a camp follower while he is training the local king's army. When he realizes the child is his, he decides to stick around and claim his son. Chris is weaned on tales of Amber and vengeance, but after his father brings him to the Pattern in Tir na Nog he decides that he wants no part of Dalt's vendetta and loses himself in Shadow. Some years later he reaches the town where Buck is living and meets the man during a brawl. They start riding together, Chris very subtly shifting Shadows so Buck won't notice that they aren't in his homeland anymore. Finally they come to a Shadow where Chris meets Sarah and settles down. Chris and Buck decide to breed horses and Chris establishes a Shadow route to good ranching lands. Five years pass. On a selling trip, the two are taking their time heading home when word of the Black Warriors reach them. Worried, Chris begins a hellride, shifting them home faster than he usually does when Buck is with him, ignoring his friend's frantic questions. They arrive too late and Chris turns to tracking the Black Warriors across Shadow. They make it to Four Corners.
EZRA - Maude was the youngest daughter of a minor House of Chaos. She rejected her lowly status and works hard to apprentice herself to a Shadowmaster. After becoming a mildly accomplished sorceress, Maude hares off into Shadow to live a life free from the class conscious Courts. She dallies in various Shadows and eventually Ezra is conceived. Maude flees to a faster timestream so she can have her bastard as soon as possible without losing face in her favored Shadow haunts. She leaves the baby with an amenable couple but comes back every year to talk to her son. When Ezra turns ten, she takes him with her through Shadow, using him to distract her marks while using magic to get what she wants. Five years later, sick of being denied knowledge, Ezra sneaks off and finds his way to the Courts of Chaos. Amused by the temerity of the youngster, Suhuy, Master of the Logrus, takes him on as a student. Seven years later, his Shadowmastery is complete and desperate for maternal approval, he looks for Maude and helps her become even more successful. One of her scams inadvertently strengthens the Black Road in this Shadow until it is overrun and the Shadow absorbed into Chaos. Mother and son fight and separate. Maude disappears into distant Shadows. In remorse, Ezra locates the nearest focus of power and heads toward Four Corners to find something that can close the Black Road.
JD - origin not settled yet
JOSIAH - Originally a Shadow sorcerer, Josiah located Four Corners and decided to live there because of the abundance of power pools. He needs th power to fuel a complex spell that is working to restore his sister Hannah to her right mind. He consults regularly with the healer and promises to help Nathan destroy the Black Road when his sister is well. (Originally, he was going to be the offspring of Gerard but the whole sailor thing worked better with Buck.)
NATHAN - Born Shaman and Healer of his tribe. When the Black Road cut through his Shadow, most of his tribe was taken and changed. Nathan escaped towards Four Corners and is taken in by Josiah. In exchange for safe haven and his aid, Nathan agrees to help heal Hannah. He spends the rest of his time trying to incite the people of Four Corners to destroy the Black Road that is eating their lands. In fear, they eventually attack him. Thankfully, Vin and Chris are in the area. (Originally, he was going to be the son of Caine but I felt it was pushing the race issue--since all of Oberon's kids are white--but more importantly pushing the credibility of ALL of them being the Blood of Amber. Which is why Ezra's from the Courts and not son of Delwin either. =)
VIN - Benedict is testing various military strategies in a series of adjacent Shadows, changing one variable and playing out the war before moving to the next Shadow and trying another. He spent long enough in the area to spawn a Shadow of himself. His Shadow became a general in one of his campaign variations and was killed. On his way to the next Shadow, Benedict comes across his Shadow's wife. She mistakes him for her (dead) husband and throws him into bed. Benedict leaves the Shadow after that. Later on she finds that her husband died the day before Benedict showed up. When she mentions this to her neighbors they think it was his spirit come to bid her farewell, until Vin is born. Then they believe it was a demon who impregnated her and cast her out. The Tanner Clan take her in and she raises her son among them. When Vin is about seven, an epidemic sweeps the clan and many die, including his mother. Vin survives and stays with the Clan, becoming their protector and, as the decades pass and it becomes obvious that he is not aging, and Elder of the Tanners. Nearly two centuries pass in his Shadow before the Black Warriors arrive and slaughter his Clan. Vin himself is greatly wounded but survives. He raised a great cairn of stone over the the remains of his Clan and follows the Black Road through Shadow to Four Corners.
The setting:
Four Corners - set in the middle of a natural convergence point of Shadow. Four Shadows brush against each other and generate a great deal of power that Shadow sorcerers can tap into.
Why are some backgrounds more detailed than others? Let's just say that I find it easier to characterize some people. By the time I finished Vin's background, I was worn out and never got a more detailed plot to 'deal with the Black Road/Black Warriors in Four Corners'. Ah well.