Arref continues to work on creatures of power, and this time describes, a bit, on the Unbrood.

Let me tell you. No description in print does it justice. In the EGB/Amber the Eternal City setting, my character Archard actually tangled with the Unbrood. Arref described it so well, made the evil and danger of the creature so palpable, so real, that it actually gave me a waking nightmare, weeks after the game. I had a very visceral sense that the Unbrood was in my room, hanging on the posts of my half-bunk bed, and that it was going to overwhelm me. Upon turning on the light in a panic, I saw that it was just an extra blanket draped over the frame.

Arref does GM light and sweet, and also white knuckle bone terror equally well. I'm not sure I'd WANT to play in a Call of Chulthu game run by him...but it would be a rush all the same. Although a De Profundis game with him in it would be something.

"The best thing about being a pessimist is being wrong.
The worst thing about being one is being right."

Sometimes, one line in a PBEM or such can reveal the vast gulf between the mindset and lifestyle of the Courts of Chaos, and Amber.

As a Chaosian NPC in SB said:

"I've had an assassination attempt on me this year, which is always a good sign."

Time to return to Amber, as Arref said.

And speaking of my good friend, he begins a dialogue on Dragons and other Primal Creatures of Power. And asks what else there might be out there in Amber games?

Well, I do have Dragons. It features promimently in the backstory of one PC, another PC has a formal relationship with another. There are shadow dragons, which are the garden variety ones, and then there are the True Dragons...the ones which can shift shadow, the ones which are extremely powerful. They have limits, even Gazalarnith, the dread Dragon Lord, but messing with them is definitely not to be recommended.

I think that setting a points value on a relationship with an entity like this would be much more than a 1 point ally. I would hazard and rule it might be as much as a Chaos Devotee.

But anyway, what else is out there?

Well, excluding beings on the order of the Unicorn, the Serpent, and the young Phoenix in SB, there are plenty, although underutilized thus far in my game. But let me whip up an example of my own, my favorite just behind the dragon.

Griffins

Body of a lion, head of an eagle, Griffins take a second place to Dragons in my fondness for creatures of this type. In SB, I posited that the creation myth for a shadow for an NPC, Hadrian, involves an association between the Unicorn and DuMarque's Griffin.

Griffins are often portrayed as violent and avaricious as Dragons. Everway's Spherewalker Handbook (out of print, but if you see it, grab it!) has a more nuanced view--that Griffins are also an embodiment of Courage. And I do like this concept. They might not have the Primal Power of a Dragon, but they have their own little piece of mythological real estate. In fact, Spherewalker suggests that in rare, extreme situations, when Courage is displayed, they may appear, to intervene on the side of righteousness. Not just courage in valor, but any sort of courage against the most dire of odds. In other words, Griffins can come, in effect, as patrons of lost causes. And their position as masters of the air and ground make them fearsome opponents in such situations. They are not as blindingly intelligent as Dragons, and the lesser griffins (like the lesser dragons) are of less than human intelligence...but the True Griffins can fly the winds of Shadow, and are quite intelligent, indeed.

Blogging at 4 am before my all-too early work on Sunday morning.

I came across this courtesy of Djinn and Ginger.

Forty-one million of the cans were distributed in a dozen states. The regular Dr Pepper can design will return later in February.

I've seen the design, and on the top of the cans in large print are the words "One nation...indivisible." A three word quote from the Pledge of Allegiance. And they are upset because they left out under God from between nation and indivisible? I don't see veterans groups being upset because they left out the word flag, or United States of America or any of the other words in the pledge. Besides, the three words they choose pithily encapsulate (okay too much caffeine!) what the pledge of allegiance, and America are all about. One nation, indivisible.

The sad thing is, in this day and age, even if Dr. Pepper had decided to put "One Nation, under God, indivisible.", then the American Atheist society would have complained about that. But still, I think there are far better things for the AFA to do with their time than this.

We truly are back to where we were before Sept. 11, when a patriotic gesture like this is derided as an attack against God. Or did I slip into an alternate universe, and we have a theocracy of our own here in America?