Creating Personal Shadows
The Nature of Personal Shadows
When an Amberite spends a long time in a shadow he imbues it with a measure of his substance. It becomes harder for other Amberites to mess with it. It can be a source of rest, recreation or resources.
Buying Personal Shadows
1. Write up the shadow. Include the shadow's Fortune by assigning the shadow Virtue, Fault and Fate cards just as you would a character you were creating.
2. Pay. Shadow pricing uses the same criteria as Power pricing:
- Is it frequent? How often does the shadow impinge on the campaign, other characters and Amber itself? How often is it materially useful to you? A Golden Circle shadow is perforce Frequent. Random may spend dog years playing drums and hang-gliding in Texorami. That's fun, but it doesn't generally affect anyone but Random. So it's not frequent.
- Is it major? Does it significantly increase your abilities, or is your control there extensive? If you rule the place, it's major. If you can recruit troops from it, it's major. If you can heal much more quickly than you could in Amber, it's major. Bleys' shadow Avernus is full of quality troops who worship him as a god. You can bet it's major, maybe twice-major.
- Is it versatile? Does it offer multiple kinds of resources? The prison shadow where Bleys and Fiona stashed Brand was hard to reach by trump, had several different guardians and an avenging force that could actually track intruders through shadow. That is one versatile shadow.
A personal shadow might not cost anything if it is not of material use. You can have one zero-point shadow for the price of the writeup.
Getting Personal Shadows Free
Characters who can find things in shadow can hellride to the shadow of their desire. By roleplaying a commitment to that shadow, you can make it yours, just as if you had paid for it. Expect to demonstrate in play that the shadow takes priority over other things.
The Stages of Character Creation
- The Vision stage
- The Powers stage
- The Elements stage
- The Magic stage