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I wanted a STRONG pulp flavor, with some pretty heavy atmospheric changes to vanilla Amber. I therefore drew STRONG parallels to the basic Spirit of the Century setup.

1. Queen Victoria and Oberon are both long-lived rulers whose death marked the beginning of a new era.
2. The Great War = The Patternfall War.
3. Corwin wrote his Pattern -- a second "center" for the universe -- while envisioning the Paris of the early 20th century. That vision has seeped into everything in the Universe, at least a little bit, and the True Worlds are worlds of pulp adventure.

Before chargen, one player asked for my 'vision' of the game. I gave them this:

Places

• Tir na Nog'th is not a reflection of Amber -- the two cities look nothing alike, honestly -- it's silly that anyone would ever think that. When the moon is up, you can enter the Tir in Amber and, if you are very lucky in your timing, come out above [Corwin's Paris]. The reverse is also true. Zeppelins move back and forth along this route regularly. The Tir itself is like a vast wondrous ruins you only get a few hours to explore at a time.
• Corwin's Pattern is referred to as Argent.

People

• Benedict spends much of his time in Shadow. His right arm is a clockwork construct.
• Brand and Deirdre fell into the Abyss during the Patternfall war.
• Corwin naturally spends most of his time in his new home.
  • Flora spends a fair amount of time there as well, as she always loved Paris.
  • Martin visits Argent often.
• Eric died during during the Black Road assault on Amber.
• Merlin, Corwin's son, is one of the most committed enemies of both Amber and "Argent." Merlin is a master of many disciplines (Mysteries, Science, Art, and more!) and has combined them in dozens of incredible devices, of which perhaps the most profound is the strange clockwork trump-machine he calls "The Ghostwheel."
  • Merlin never spoke with Corwin at the end of Patternfall. He somehow survived the Shadowstorm, but it was very hard on him.
• Random, like John Carter, is a man split between two worlds. Wed to the blind seeress Vialle, he has been named the heir to the throne of the undersea realms. There, his royal blood makes him a hero, and he has many times saved the kingdom from destruction thanks to his daring and a number of very interesting inventions. On land, he avoids most of his family, preferring the less-staid cities of Shadow. He was never named the heir by the Unicorn, as the Jewel was never recovered.
  • Random, like Martin, visits Argent somewhat more than Amber.
• For the rest, see "Situation," below.

Situation

• Since Oberon fixed the Pattern, there is no longer any Amber-blood prereq on attuning the Pattern -- you just have to be a truly exceptional person. (On the flip side, Amberite Blood doesn't destroy the damned thing, which is why Oberon changed it.)
  • The fact that non-Amberites can now attune the Pattern is an incredibly-closely-guarded secret. Not even all the Elders know this, and none of the P Cs. All the P Cs are referred to as nieces or nephews, when appropriate, though specific parentage research isn't encouraged.
  • Corwin and Flora DEFINITELY don't know about this 'loophole,' though it's quite likely Argent's Pattern doesn't have the restriction either, since no blood was involved in the creation of that Pattern in the first place.
• The Jewel of Judgment fell into the Abyss with Brand and Deirdre, and is utterly lost.
  • The Amberites survived the Shadow Storm not with the Jewel, but thanks to Corwin's close attunement to his own Pattern -- when the White Nothing descended, he led the family to the new realm to wait the storm out.
• Gerard continues to rule as Regent. Fiona monitors the Mysteries, Caine commands the fleet, Julian the Rangers, and Bleys the new zeppelin air command.

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