ShadowNet: Shadows

Shadows

More than just places that Amberites pass through, Shadows are whole worlds that could be explored if someone just took the time. Shadow and its infinite possibilities are what makes Amber such an intriguing place.

NAME: Factory of Yllania, The

DESCRIPTION: I stood in thick, billowing fog upon a plain of cracked, parched earth under a sky heavy with clouds. Thunder rumbled across the heavens, and a more ominous sound was revealed in the wake of its passing. The rythmic thumping of vast machinery as yet unseen could be felt through the ground as well as it could be heard. I turned, and beheld a structure; an edifice composed of three adjoined brown brick buildings, each larger than the one before, the smallest the size of a medium surburban home back on Shadow Earth. A number of smaller ancillary structures -- sheds, chimneys, and the like -- surrounded these. Behind this outcropping of civilization, a Brobdingnagian flywheel was attached to a bewildering array of equally gigantic tie-rods, steam vents, piston shafts and other parts. This latter assembly was located some distance behind the buildings, and stood fully 200 feet high at the top of the spinning flywheel. It seemed as if a giant steam engine designed by Rube Goldberg had been set up to drive the very planet itself through its celestial orbit. This shadow was Yllania, and the construct before me was known simply as The Factory. As Amber was the prototype city and castle, I liked to think of this as The One True Automated Production-line. Nobody lived or worked here; but still the Factory produced all manner of magical and technological wonders and parts thereof, occasionally (and enigmatically) of its own accord. Not everything that it produced would function in this shadow, but everything was built to exacting specifications, as requested. The Factory obeyed the "Garbage-In, Garbage Out" law; so if the design was flawed, that was the fault of the user. The present movement of the mechanisms indicated that the Factory was hard at work on something; I knew not what.

HISTORY: Yllania is uninhabited. Any prior history is now lost.

GOVERNMENT: See History.

RELIGION: See History.

TECHNOLOGY: Obviously some form exists and is utilized to run the place, but it is not at all thoroughly explored.

MAGIC: See Technology.

TRUMP IMAGE: (The factory buildings) www.skysys.org/~gregor/amber/images/factory.jpg

CONTRIBUTOR: Jimmy 'Gregor' McKinney

NAME: Jorkra Keep

DESCRIPTION: Perched on the foot of the breaking shores of shadow, Jorkra Keep marks the boundary between the Widthenways and shadow. The panorama of twirling color rises and falls like Northern lights upon Tibetan heights, blending into a curtain of rainbow streaked showers. Up through the breaking cloud layer, a crag of stone blanketed with snow and wrinkled with black ice thrusts. A dark feathered shape wings above your position, perhaps you are spotted. Or maybe the sensation is not of being watched, but of being contacted; are you being trumped? If you have a coat, you shiver in it. If not, you shiver from the cold. The patrolthing is eaten by a toothy cave, contrast revealing thin windows in the tower, and eyries. Hanging from the Keep, its denizens. If you can tell, the feeling of being watched does not come from the Keep, but from beyond it, from shadow. The slow wash of the sky pulses in time with the sensation. Your trumps feel warm, but they are at least as cold as this place if you compare the feelings. Something large, sluggish, and tentacled arrives with a rainbow flash. Parts of the tower rattle themselves free, talons and spikes are bared. You get the strong feeling it is time to go.

HISTORY: Jorkra Keep is inhabited by vigilant flying chaosians; since nearby shadows collapse into trump-like energy, sometimes hostile entities arrive thinking to harness it. Sometimes hostiles just pop into existence. Sometimes the void consumes something. Weather and warfare have been less violent since Kae and Nev sealed Widthen's portal to otherwhere.

GOVERNMENT: Militia ruled by might makes right. Jorkra Keep's denizens and their succession of dictators have an everyone-helps-out frontier mentality which is coupled with swift and brutal justice. Think Mongolian hordes of flying chaos things, mostly feathered but not exclusive to. Rulers are Nev and Kae Jorkra, sons of the deceased Mathin Jorkra. Widthen has some diplomatic relations, but is generally held in contempt for her ritual sacrifice of Tessin, mother of the ruling brothers.

RELIGION: Blood cults of the void are in favor, being practiced by the ruling family. The exchange of blood is believed to ensure mobility, flexibility, and change.

TECHNOLOGY: Simple village technology, wheels, mills, furs. Think Conan.

MAGIC: All kinds, effects variable with the weather. Upwind effects stronger than downwind, wind typically gusting in from shadow-side. Strong will can also control the weather somewhat, and thereby some ranged effects. Weather aside, range of magic has strong decay based on personal strength of will, localizing most magic.

CONTRIBUTOR: Erik Purins

NAME: Obsidian

DESCRIPTION: Obsidian is a dark world of volcanoes, forests, mountains, and seas. Due to a large quantity of carbon present in the environment, the world is dark, and brooding. It orbits a single red dwarf sun, which hands out warmth like a miser gives donations to the poor. It is inhabited by several species, chief among them dwarves, klackons (an hive-like insectile species), and drow, or dark elves; there are no humans. Obsidian is rich in mineral deposits, including mithril, iron, coal, and gold, and is also blessed with a variety of rare woods and strange herbs.

HISTORY: Obsidian's history is long and complicated, and mostly lost. It is known that it was ruled over by a single species two million years ago, but what became of them or even their nature has been lost to history. This is referred to as the Ancient Empire. The most likely theory of their overthrow is that a slave rebellion of the drow, dwarves, and other races dislodged them. However, they built to last, and even now some of their ruins can be found here and there on the surface or in deep, underground caves.

GOVERNMENT: Obsidian is a world of small, isolated city-states. Each city-state has its own form of GOVERNMENT:, but most are either monarchial, aristocratic, or quasi-democratic, similar to Greek city-states such as Athens or Sparta.

RELIGION: Obsidian's religion is focused on the veneration of a large pantheon of gods and demi-gods. Each god is less of a personality than a concept, as it were: Love instead of Aphrodite, War instead of Ares, etc.

TECHNOLOGY: Obsidian is currently going through a technological and magical revolution. Steam engines, steel, and "ultra-pure mithril" or "ultril" are all part of it. Alchemy (a sort of fusion of organic chemistry, medicine, metallurgy, and magic) is booming, as is trade as some of the cities begin to link to each other with road networks. Dirigibles populate the skies as trading vessels and, occasionally, warships. There is no gunpowder or electricity, however.

MAGIC: Magic is surprisingly common on Obsidian, most Drow know at least one power word. Local magic concentrates on conjuration and summoning (there are perhaps a few dozen conjurors planet-wide, but only four or five sorcerors). Also, alchemy and thaumaturgy (the theory of magic rather than the practice) are known by thousands.

OTHER GAME INFO: There is one other highly unusual feature of Obsidian. The world is old; its star is now only 2 million years from going supernova. The only reason Obsidian has not frozen solid is that the Ancient Empire (see history) moved the planet closer to the sun. In short, Armageddon is close on a geological timescale, if not a human one. This is interacting with local magical fields, causing "friction" in the fabric of space and time. The end result is the reversal of certain magical and physical forces. Notable examples include a volcano that spews super-cooled helium and shards of carbon-dioxide ice and the fact that dinosaurs have reappeared in isolated spaces-alligators and other lizards appear to be actually devolving.

CONTRIBUTOR: Mark C. Lowell

NAME: Pandora

DESCRIPTION: Pandora is a shadow in motion. It is surrounded by shadow storms which constantly add and subtract the "natural laws" which exist there. It has some plant and animal life which over the ages have adapted to the changing flow of Pattern and Chaos. But these adaptations are different than the adaptations that the Courts of Chaos or the Realms of Amber have. Chaos Lords adapt to the environment, Pattern Lords fix the environment, Pandora life attempts to stabilize the amount of Pattern and Logrus energy in its environment. As a result, Pandora is a storm-swept shadow with islands of relative calm. Pandora life is a cross-section of the many shadows that the storms cross. The technology and magic levels are, as you may imagine, very erratic. Many combinations of magic and tech exist here, but in restricted areas. In Pandora, you can find a place almost as stable as Amber and almost as chaotic as the Courts, and they may only be a few yards apart. Civilization for the most part is difficult in the extreme. Shadow Storms separate the calm areas in Pandora. Travel between each area is extremely hazardous because of this. Most people here lack the reality to resist the storms power and being removed from this shadow or being alter by the storm so that they no longer fit into the rules where they came from. One point of interest here is the Grove of Winds. This is a place of power and change and few who enter here ever return.

HISTORY: Unknown

GOVERNMENT: Unknown

RELIGION: Unknown

TECHNOLOGY: Variable

MAGIC: Variable

CONTRIBUTOR: Marc Craven

NAME: Tir Na N'or

DESCRIPTION: Tir Na N'or is a broken reflection of Tir Na N'ogth and as such is attached to the Broken Pattern that exists in Maldornnin. Tir Na N'or, unlike the real thing, does not show a person the past or future, instead Tir Na N'or traps the souls of those who die on the Maldornnin's Broken Pattern. These souls forever wander the halls of Tir Na N'or and, if one is so inclined, can be spoken with.

HISTORY: Tir Na N'or came into existence with the creation of Maldornnin's Broken Pattern. It has a bad reputation among the locals because twice each year, from dusk til dawn. the souls of Tir Na N'or are released upon the world to torment the living. Most of the souls spend the two nights each year seeking out other sorcerors who might be able to destroy them, but the less sane of the bunch simply wander around moaning and making a lot of noise.

GOVERNMENT: Tir Na N'or has no government. Occasionally a new soul will try to organize everyone toward their common goal, but after a decade or so the charade wears a little thin.

RELIGION: Varies. Some of the souls pray to their respective gods to release them from their prison, but none have ever escaped.

TECHNOLOGY: None.

MAGIC: Tir Na N'or has its own magic which imprisons the souls there but beyond that there isn't much.

CONTRIBUTOR: J.A. Dettman

NAME: Verdant Circle, The

DESCRIPTION: More than just one shadow, the Verdant Circle is a group of shadows that deal with Rebma in much the same way that the Golden Circle deals with Amber. Most if not all of the Shadows that make up the Verdant Circle are underwater kingdoms.

HISTORY: The Verdant Circle was created quite by accident. As the Amberites began to strengthen the shadow paths between the Shadows that would become the Golden Circle shadow paths began to appear between Rebma and other underwater Shadows as well. At first no one knew what was occuring, people from one Shadow would simply swim into a new place that they had never seen before. Luckily, with Llewella's help, the Royal Family of Rebma soon discovered what was happening. Before long scouts were sent out to map the paths between Rebma and these new Shadows and soon diplomatic relations began. Of course, it wasn't all pleasant. The Verdant Circle has had its share of wars as well, but Rebma has never been defeated.

GOVERNMENT: Varies.

RELIGION: Varies, but usually involves Gods of the Sea (go figure).

TECHNOLOGY: Varies.

MAGIC: Varies.

CONTRIBUTOR: J.A. Dettman