River

And now for something different. I came to an interesting realization as I walk to work. I do get a bunch of good ideas doing it. For the uninitiated, I do take a 30 minute walk to work everyday, unless the weather is bad, when I find alternate means. And today, I got to thinking about Amber and the lack of a River. I don't just mean a river with a small r, but a big one as well.

It's proof that Zelazny really did make it up as he went along, to miss one of the big archetypes so easily. There is a Mountain, of course, and all that implies from a mythological standpoint, and a City, and an Ocean (complete with a 'lost city' beneath it). Even more noticeable than any of these is Arden, the First Forest, the Greenwood.

But a River is missing! The way I got to thinking about this was reconsidering whether or not I wanted to re-read the Confluence series by Paul McAuley. (First book is Child of the River). The River is the heart of the artificial world Confluence. I also then thought about the Hyperion/Endymion books (First book: Hyperion) by Dan Simmons, and his River that ran from world to world by means of Gates. Another example is the Otherland novels by Tad Williams. (first book: Otherland: City of Golden Shadow). In that milieu, all of the virtual reality worlds are connected by a worlds-spanning River which provides a gate mechanism from world to world. And it was then I realized that Amber lacks such a primal entity.

Rivers are as old as humanity! The first real civilizations grew along the banks of the great rivers of Eurasia-Africa...the Nile, the Tigris/Euphrates, the Indus, and the Yangtze. In fact, straying into Jared Diamond territory, I've always thought that one of the handicaps to the Native Americans developing civilizations to anywhere past the Paleolithic is the fact that there are a lack of rivers in warm climates to foster similar circumstances...proto civilizations growing along its banks, fusing to form great cultures. The Aztec are in the mountains of Mexico, the Maya in the jungles of Central America, the Inca in the mountains of South America. The mound builders in the Mississippi valley only started too late.

Anyway, Rivers and man have been together a very long time, and Zelazny missed an opportunity by not having a major River as part of the Amber world. I had a sudden interesting thought of scions of Amber traveling up and down a River much like the one in Hyperion, shifting shadow to other worlds connected by a Great River.

Interesting idea, no?

Okay, think I fixed the archives. Using a subdirectory under my blog one turned out a bad idea. That was the problem...I think

Hmm.

Meera points out that my archives and such are screwed up something fierce. Going to have to work on this. Or just take the plunge at long last and get myself a domain name and REAL webspace where I do stuff. After I do this post, I'll try and fix the blog, at least.

In the meantime, its time for MY turn to explain what Trump is. Meera and Arref have had their say, and actually Meera mentions some more on it. Good stuff all around and I suggest you read up on it.

Those who have read my Cosmology of the Amber Universe already know how I think when it comes to such matters. It's actually somewhat ironic and strange. For a game, for a milieu so open and ready for myth and such as explanations, I veer to the scientific. I guess its my scientific mindset. I may not actually BE like a scientist, but I sure as anything like to think like one.

So what is Trump, then? It's kind of hard to pin down in a scientific manner, and frankly, it's easier to follow Meera's or Arref's lead and make it mystical in origin and nature. Its not the mark of sentience on the universe in my universe, and its not the fundamental power, either. Instead its a mystical, tangible manifestation of a very strange phenomenon from science called Quantum Entanglement. Basically, you can arrange matters so that linked elementary particles will still have a connection, even if seperated. This connection is a very spooky action at a distance which seems to even work faster than light.

What Trump DOES is establish a quantum connection between the card, and the caller, and the subject. What Trump Artists do, when they learn their art, is to create such connections. This is why Trumps do not have to be portraits, but portraits are far and away the most common--it is far easier to focus on creating the quantum connection in the creation of a portrait than anything else. Yes I do realize I am introducing mystical elements in the fact that Trump Artists can do this, but the thought I have had is that its the power of their mind. Maybe I am closer to Arref's sentience than I think in that sense...but there is a school of quantum thought which suggests that certain events on the quantum level do not have an outcome until they are observed...again, going back to Sentience. However, my quantum explanation for Trump does explain some things--like why conversations are in real time between the two parties of a trump call, or why stepping through a Trump takes no time at all-its going through a quantum teleportation, and therefore is instantaneous.

Lots of fun over at my fellow Ambloggers. Meera and Arref are discussing the nature of Trump. Meera considers it a Primal power, but on the other hand Arref has a slightly different view. Meera also makes an interesting observation on the Jewel of Judgement and Pattern-drawing.. By the way, I really wish I had a website where I could run cgi and stuff. Moveable type gives Meera a flexibility that I can only envy.

And then there is Turn of a Friendly Die. Ginger (aka Immigration Lass) has a campaign/scenario starter which I mention here because it its first
couple of paragraphs, it has a brilliant idea, even more important, I think, than the rest of her scenario (although I like that too.)

How, with hundreds or thousands of years available to them, have the Amberites NOT managed to fill the multiverse with children like an immortal family of Von Neumann Machines? Especially given that Chaos has its own solution to the problem of overpopulations...the inherent dangerous nature of the other pole of reality.

The answer HAS to be the Pattern. Ginger suggests that the Pattern inhibited fertility in the Amberites. However, with the redraw of the Pattern at the end of Patternfall, this fertility inhibition might be lifted. I like this! It even explains a post second series game where the Amberites suddenly have a bunch of children since Patternfall...which is practically the default setting for an Amber game. Of COURSE they are mostly born since Patternfall, because only since then has the fertility been high enough to ensure a clutch of children.

Arref, in conversations with me, revealed that his thought on the matter was that it was Oberon's doing, to keep his children from raising substantial numbers of offspring to challenge him...and that the elders had to work around and defeat this reduction in fertility in their own ways.

An alternate idea, if you like sentient Patterns, is that, following the Patternfall War, the Pattern decided of its own accord to increase fertility amongst its scions--to compete with and provide defense against a Courts of Chaos which was now more active on the scene. A peculiar thought occurs to me of Oberon communing with the Pattern (or Dworkin!). "I need a few more children, this time on Faiella. They'd make good fighters, perhaps more rounded than Cymnea's brood...and perhaps less liable to cause us problems."

And because its Sunday, Divisional Playoffs, time for a bit of silliness. On the other hand, this would explain much...

Kurtis

Kurtis, Football Player Amberite

100 point version

Brendan Getzell pointed out that Kurt Warner's walk-away-from-the-line fake on fourth down against the Niners, however clever-looking, should have drawn a flag because as part of the act, the space alien unbuckled his chin strap. They may allow that on your homeworld, but not here, buddy!
-Tuesday Morning Quarterback, Slate magazine.

It's an improbable story at best, one that hollywood itself might reject. A complete unknown, at one point working in a supermarket in Iowa, turns out, once given the proper environment and training, to become an NFL Quarterback of such skill, that a sports columnist jokingly refers to him and his team as space aliens.

Perhaps there is more to Kurtis Warner than meets the eye. With Corwin on Earth for so long, is it so odd to think that he might have sired children outside of his knowledge. And that one of them would display his abilities in such a forum?

Current Objectives: Recently learning of his Amber heritage, the sky is the limit for the young son of Corwin. Used to working with a team in the NFL, it is likely that Kurtis will find allies of repute, and make a difference. Once he figures out what he is REALLY capable of.

Attributes

Artifacts of Power

Football( 6 pts)
Kurtis is never far away from a football. Useful for physical training, they can also be turned to dangerous weapons. Kurtis is far more dangerous with
these in his hand than a blade...although his father and Gerard will likely correct that deficiency
Extra Hard(1)
Ubiquitous(*6)

Amber Devotee (6)
Good Stuff (3)

Tips for playing Kurtis: