Here's a tip for those lucky gamers in southern California-- Jvstin, my good friend and fellow Amber GM, is moving soon to the Orange County area. East Coast gamers are losing a terrific resource and you folks out west are getting one. Be nice. Be wise. Treat him well. Or we'll come out there and snatch him back from you.
Deela the Desecratrix, mother of Dalt the Avenger.
I'm going to talk about rape and worse. Please understand that the text will be invisible unless you use your mouse to highlight it so it can be read.
This is a fascinating element of the backstory of Amber. You could tell a thousand tales from just these pieces. Does it make any sense that Oberon raped Deela? Does it make sense that Deela, a free-thinking rebel then decided to have the child of that violation? Does the Golden Circle have no methods of abortion? Did Deela have religious convictions that compelled her to burn Unicorn shrines, go to war with Begma, and in like manner preclude her from ending the life of her unwanted child? Stranger things could be true.
Or was the child unwanted? Or was she raped at all? Was the rape a story only told to Dalt? Others seem to have heard the tale.
How religious was Deela? Was her small raiding force a Holy War? There is nothing to suggest she was martyred in death. The cause seemed to die with her. It doesn't trouble Random's reign.
What would drive Oberon to rape any woman? What sort of madness struck him? Or was Deela too beautiful to resist? Too offensive, to not punish in the most personal manner possible? And why is Bleys sent to deal with her in Begma? Why does Oberon not go himself to deal with such a strong woman, such a direct and personal challenge?
What was Oberon afraid of?
His Need. For Deela.
In the journals of Cassandra, at the Eternal City site, you can read about one version of these events. In the Eternal City campaign, Deela was the woman who defeated Oberon, not once, but many times. Deela raped Oberon. Not once, but repeatedly. Deela was the femme fatale of which all others are but shadow. Deela had FOUR children by Oberon.
King Oberon sent Bleys to deal with a threat to the throne of Amber in as final a manner as possible. Her army was broken, Deela was beheaded.
But the cunning of her legacy lives on. Deela turned her children into weapons. Imagine this woman, who could out manipulate Oberon, raising children of her own. Understand the frightening possibilities of such indoctrination of children with the power of Amber blood within them. Anyone who has imagined the tragedy of Deirdre growing up without a mother, or of Llewella and Florimel growing up an only-child among adult siblings, or of Paulette killing herself when Random and Mirelle were still children, must see Deela's work as a horror of horrors.
And Dalt demonstrates his obsession in canon text.
Even one such individual would be a nightmare for Amber--- and Roger Zelazny describes how Dalt comes attacking out of shadow, facing off against Benedict more than once.
intimate (in'-ti-mate, adj.)
1. characterized by a very warm friendship or very close personal relationship.
2. characterized by a thorough acquaintance or detailed familiarity.
3. having to do with one's deepest nature or essence; inmost; intrinsic.
4. very personal or private.
5. of two people, having sexual relations.
6. suggesting or characterized by closeness, privacy, warmth, or friendliness.
What is it to be intimate with an amberite? A blessing? A curse? A boon?
All of the above and more.
Lord Henden is the castle steward. While the average age at death of Henden's generation was 274, Henden is nearing 400 years of age and appears to be just past his prime.
Master Resort is the castle librarian. The science and medicine of the shadow of his birth provided comfort and health to its people in good measure. Average age of death there was 87, slightly higher for women. Master Resort has lost track of his age, but the register of accounts in the Master Clerk's office lists his hire date by King Oberon. Based on this, and given a rough guess that Master Resort was 34 when he came to Amber, the records suggest that he is at least 621 years old and appears about 60.
Lord Rein is a retired country gentleman who spent his youth with Prince Corwin. While others of his generation have died, he is still in his prime.
The average age of death among the populace of Amber? 250.
The average age of death among the Golden Circle? 150
The average age of death among the shadows? 65
Now the common learned explanations, for those privileged to have this sort of information, is that the closer to Order and Perfection you are, the stronger the force of Life. As simplistic as this idea is, can you imagine the social pressure if this became easy knowledge? Amber with a "no refugee/no visa" policy? Amber as the "wellness" retreat of the Golden Circle's very rich?
And how is it that some maids in the castle live longer than country nobles of the ancient houses of Amber? And what sort of greed and covetousness might this inspire? How much the price of doubling your life in Amber? And realize that the common learned explanation for this is, in fact, hogwash. The Pattern does not radiate Life and Bounty. Neither do the royales nor the soil of Amber. The noble family of a Begman embassy in Amber have the same statistical lifespan as the people of Begma. So much for Amber as the center of life-giving strength.
What is the real reason behind the erratic and strange vitality of Amber and certain individuals?
Prince Corwin put it this way, "The shadows lie for us."
How awkward to train a succession of stewards. How frightening to not recognize the maid who cleans your room. How bitter to have your best friend grow old and infirm, let alone die. And if you have bred the perfect horse, how frustrating to have it dead in ten or twenty years.
The Familiars of Amber are not all obvious, and few are outright arcane in nature.
The element that really grabs me, now the next morning, is the sexual relationship between the redheads being so mature, and also the source of so much drama and conflict. Neat premise that is smoothly executed. Clarissa's lot is one of the strongest canon examples for closely born sibs. Rilga is another.
