Powers (1)

Delve is a hard little man who clearly shows the mark of strenuous labor and activity. He has a light olive complexion, curly black hair and a short beard. He favors as little clothing as locally approved in anything vaguely resembling a warm climate -- a reaction to the brisk climate of his home sphere, Urth. When working at his preferred trade -- archeological salvage, aka mining aka ruin plundering aka tomb robbing -- he wears sturdy leather boots, thick hose and a jerkin of leather.

Delve has walked the Pattern of Amber and been tasked by Queen Corinne of Rebma to recover the three artifacts that, depending on who you believe, will either destroy the Thousand Worlds entirely or connect it to an infinitely larger set of spheres, freeing Amber from its long isolation. He has privately sworn vengeance on King Martin of Amber and sworn to prevent the destruction of the Thousand Worlds no matter what. He suspects that his true allies are Stranger (known also as Prince Brand of Amber) and Stranger's sister, the Princess Llewella. Since Corinne and Martin together seem to be responsible for the disappearance and probable death of Captain Starwind, whom he had come to regard as a kind of surrogate baby sister, Delve has additional reasons to settle with them at some point.

Delve likes to think of himself as a no-nonsense man of few words, just an unusually loquacious one. He has made and abandoned several fortunes in his travels among the spheres, and if asked describes himself as "as rich as I want to be or need to be." He has a knack for making money through trade.

Delve's New Fortune

Delve underwent several life-changing events in short order. He fulfilled his vow to bring Stranger to Amber, he took grievous offense at the manipulations of King Martin and his lackey, Sir Alain Maldemer, he traveled to Rebma where his short-term goals evaporated amid group recriminations and the feuding of Queen Corinne and Princess Llewella. Then at Queen Corinne's behest, he walked the Pattern of Rebma and gained new insight into the nature of reality. But he has ceased to be his own man and acts, for the foreseeable future, from compulsion. Someone in Amber wishes to destroy the Thousand Worlds. And even if Delve did not have family back home to worry about, Delve thinks the people in Amber are damned surly. Even if Delve is a member of Amber's Royal Family, as his successful pattern walk indicates.

Delve's new virtue is The Fish. The upright meaning is "The Soul Prevails" and denotes Delve's newfound Pattern-granted wisdom. The Fish inescapably recalls Rebma. It also operates mostly out of view of the surface, as Delve and Fisher will be out of view (supposedly) of Amber on their quest. In one sense, the new virtue represents a conquest of his earlier fault, The Fish reversed ("Shallowness"). However, the new fault, The Hermit reversed, indicates isolation. Delve is on a very long road, one leading to life or death for everything he has known. He lacks the leisure to pursue his trade, he lacks the guidance of his seeming patrons, Stranger and Llewella, and the aid of most of the adventurers who journeyed with him to Amber. The Hermit represents an ambiguously unhappy resolution of his earlier Fate card -- the Fool. In a literal sense, Delve now suffers a Lack of Connection to everyone but Fisher. While fond of the young prince, Delve has never trusted his judgment. And while Delve has very much made a commitment to others -- his family, the denizens of the Thousand Worlds, Brand, Starwind if possible -- rage at his treatment in Amber threatens to overwhelm him.

Hence his new, unresolved fate: The Dragon. The dilemma is between Cunning and Blind Fury. The new Delve is not so forthright as the old Delve. The old Delve would withhold the truth if necessary. The new one has already shown a willingness to lie casually. And the new Delve will have revenge on his enemies. That certainly includes King Martin, and possibly Queen Corinne as well. (Delve thinks so.) The question is whether the fury will vitiate the cunning, whether the desire for vengeance will obscure lifesaving insights.

Delve was created by Jim Henley