Amber - The One True Hole in the Ground

You can read about the Myth of Amber or the Reality of Amber as we found it on arrival. (See picture.) But it's not even that nice now. The large scaly fellow pictured atop this page rose from the town and blasted the castle into a smoking ruin - and we do mean ruin. The rubble was so hot that Seeker and Turtle couldn't even enter it for a full day. Fiona just happened to escape with her life. Hm. Martin and Brand have not been seen. Someone escaped from their cell in the dungeon and at least tried to escape by walking the Pattern. Swallow? or Brand? Beats us.

Everway - Center of the Thousand Worlds

Truth is the PCs haven't really set foot in Everway yet, so there's not much to tell. You can check out our Guide to the Thousand Worlds and Everway, or follow the Everway-related links on the Links page to find out what other Everway GMs and players have done with the place. (Psst: Don't tell them Brand was the first king!)

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Gleamingrose - Neighbor to Greatness

Gleamingrose is where the campaign began and is the nearest realm to the Rift, the only known breach in the barrier between Amber and the Thousand Worlds. Gleamingrose is a seaport whose culture and mythos resemble the occidental regions of our own past. You can get some of the flavor of the place by reading the introduction to the campaign.

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Meander

Meander gave the Thousand Worlds the hero Prince Kingfisher Gauntson (a.k.a. Fisher) and the Thousand Worlds have been trying to give him back ever since. Fisher's creator, Steve, says:

"The Realm of Meander is a broad, oval bowl surrounded by high mountains. From these mountains issue streams which link up to become the three rivers that wind through the realm, giving it its name. These rivers are the Bloodstream, Faewater and Ooze.

It's a beautiful pastoral country with many villages and hamlets dominated by the single large city of Triparis, where all three rivers meet the sea in a delta. Interaction with neighbours is mostly by sea but in the summer months, a few caravans cross the wooded, mountain passes into neighbouring realms. The Guild of Navigators is therefore strong in Meander and the Argent Knights have some influence too. There is a runegate surrounded by trilithons upon a high moor in the hinterland but magi are few and always secretive.

The government is feudal in nature; the king ruling with the aid of a select beaurocracy and the occasional Parliament. The king levies few taxes; most of his wealth coming from the mines that honeycomb the mountains, which are all in Crown ownership. Despite deep tunnels within some of these mines, none lead to other realms and the Brotherhood of Rogues is unknown in Meander.

The mines produce some gold and gems, a little iron, (enough for the needs of the realm, but none for export), and a special black rock, called 'ebon', that is prized in many places for sculpture. It is hard but very fine-grained. A skilled stonemason can fashion superb statuary from it. Ebon is found nowhere else and the King levies a considerable duty on its export. Because of this duty, most of the ebon mined is sculpted by home grown masons and shipped as statuary. Most items are small, due to the expense but the Crown and greater magnates can afford to erect some very impressive larger-than-life statues in the capital.

The current King of Meander is Lance II, son of Gaunt I of the House of Uttermost. Gaunt wrested the throne of Meander with much popular support from an elder brother, Austere III, who had proven himself despotic and tyrannical. Gaunt vanished one Yule, under mysterious circumstances and some still believe he is not dead though this was 50 years ago. Lance II is still vigorous despite his age. His heir apparent is his younger brother, Prince Crane, unpopular with the people who prefer the youngest of the family, Prince Kingfisher. Kingfisher, however, has taken vows in the Order of the Argent Knights and spends most of his time abroad, like his grandfather. Unlike his grandfather, he has not made his name as a mercenary captain but wanders about as a troubadour, to the disgrace of his family. Lance II is unmarried. The first lady of the realm is therefore his mother the Dowager Queen of Meander, Wise Daughter Needle Neverstill Gentle Dragonfly; usually referred to as the King Mother.

Meander politics is magnate politics. Though wealthier than any of his subjects, the King has fewer landed resources, (troops), than the greater magnates and must rely upon the popular support of the people and skilful balancing of one faction against another. Among these factions can be counted the Guild of Navigators and the Argent Knights. Generally, the pilots are constantly trying to get the Crown to reduce the customs duty on ebon and therefore ally with whatever faction opposes the Crown at any time.

Paradoxically, the Argent Knights often find themselves supporting the King against the Guild of Navigators as the Argent Knights support the miners and inland merchants, whose livelihoods depend upon a lively trade with the capital and with other realms via the moonpaths."

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Rebma

Rebma is now much much nicer than Amber:

"Here and there green-skinned folk swim about, going about their underwater lives. Judging from the spears and nets they carry, they may be fishermen. None of them are using the stairs.

This is all quite interesting, but no preparation for the sight that next greets your eyes. Rising up from the seafloor are hundreds of spires, twisted about each other, branching and joining, and all of them glittering in the blue glare of the flames, and reaching heights that would be impossible on land. As you get closer, you see that the sparkling effect is because of hundreds of multifaceted mirrors adorning each of the buildings. There are openings in the spires, here and there, which are used as both windows and doors.

The transition from city to castle in not subtle. The forest of spires closes in around you, gradually enclosing you in a tunnel of multicolored coral and glimmering mirrors. Some of the mirrors appear to be lighting your way, by reflecting light from the infrequent blue flames. You come around a bend, and the spires stop abruptly, at the edge of a vast abyss.

The chasm before you seems at once bottomless and shallow. The altered perspective underwater makes it difficult to tell. Zigzagging down the side of the chasm is a wide avenue, still lit by the blue flames, leading down to a castle that appears to have been carved from crystal."

from the campaign record by GM Fred Wolke

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Urth

Delve's home sphere of Urth is a blatant swipe from Gene Wolfe's series, The Book of the New Sun and you should all go buy the books and read them. The premises of Everway require some modifications, mainly that Delve's Urth has no high technology even in the remnants that appear in Wolfe's original. It remains that Urth is very very old and very very cold. Because its natural resources have been depleted society thrives by recycling - and because Urth is so old there's a lot to recycle. They say you cannot set spade to earth in the Commonwealth (Delve's home realm) without turning over some shard of a past civilization. Urth has "mines" that are basically industrialized archaeological salvage. In the temperate regions of the Commonwealth there is a growing season and even a warm - not to say hot - month, but unless a new sun come to replace the old, dying one, Urth's future is clear, if dark.

The Commonwealth is governed by an Autarch. The term means "self-ruled" and signifies that his power and authority are his own. The Autarch is actually the tribune of the commoners and shields them from the depredations of the hereditary overclass, the nobility. He does this by holding female representatives of all the great noble houses hostage in his own palace. No one calls them hostages, though; the preferred term is consort. Crimes are punished by torture, execution, or torture and execution. Imprisonment is considered barbaric and wasteful.

Because the nobility get better nutrition and shelter, they tend to be taller and better-looking than the common folk. Delve comes from common rather than noble stock, which may explain his short stature.

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A selective, and we do mean selective

set of links - cool Everway pages, cool Amber pages, cool related or relatable pages by our participants.