Background Information on the Courts of Chaos
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People
Major Houses: These are the Houses descended from King Swayville. The head of each household is a Duke (or Duchess), and any of the descendants from the House may also be called a “Prince” or a “Lord.” The eldest son may also be referred to as a Duke.
There are 20 Major Houses, including Hendrake, Sawall, Jesby, Chanicut and Helgram
Old Houses: These are the other Houses of Chaos that existed prior to Swayville’s rise to power. Most hold the title of Marquis or Earl, though some that did not curry favor with Swayville early on received demotions to lesser titles. Scions of these houses may only claim the title of “Lord.”
There are 50 Old Houses, including such groups as Amblerash, Triton and Anwp.
Minor Houses: These are young Houses established by King Swayville. They were either founded by younger members of existing Houses, or else were established by prominent commoners or demons. Many do not have any connection to Lilith, and hence are unable to walk the Logrus. Many Minor Houses try to arrange marriages with daughters of Major and Old Houses to gain that power. Heads of Minor Houses usually only bear the titles Viscount or Baron, and their scions are considered “Lords.”
There are over a hundred Minor Houses, with names that include Morpheus, Circe and Urqhart.
The Church of the Serpent: An ancient and sprawling institution, the ordained priests of this faith forsake their ties to temporal power. However, many a high-ranking clergyman has dabbled in politics. The symbol of the Church is the eight-rayed arrows of Undivided Chaos, with the Serpent woven between the branches.
The Black Watch: Agents of the Crown. They are also responsible for protecting heirs to the throne in the event of Swayville’s death.
The Serpent Guard: Agents of the Church. They are responsible for protecting holy sites, guarding pilgrimage routes and dealing with heresy.
The Constabulary: While most Houses have their own security force, the Crown has established a law-enforcement body to establish order in the common areas. The Lord High Constable oversees the organization, with Sheriffs responsible for different legislative areas. As far as the common creature of Chaos is concerned, the Constabulary is the law.
Free Agents: This describes a broad category of employment in Chaos, representing a mix of private investigator, bravo and bounty hunter. Free agents differ from mercenaries in that they don’t function in any militaristic capacity.
Shadowmaster Guild: In the world of frayed Shadows that make up the Courts of Chaos, these are the carpenters and plumbers who stitch together these Shadows.
Demons: A non-human creature native to the Courts of Chaos or the Abyss that is not descended from Lilith. The spectrum of creatures that qualify as demons is so broad, that it seems to be more a matter of tradition than any specific taxonomy. Unless specifically recognized as a free citizen of Chaos, they are little more than chattel.
Commoners: The free citizenry of Chaos that is not affiliated with any House due to lineage or enslavement. Most are vaguely humanoid, but on occasion a demon manages to obtain freedom.
Slaves: A sentient creature kept for service by the Lords of Chaos. Most slaves in Chaos are demons, but occasional humanoid thralls are brought in from Shadow. Also, slavery is a common punishment for commoners who break minor laws. Slaves are bound to obedience by layers of high compelling. A slave can earn his freedom in a variety of fashions, and once set free cannot be made a slave again. Some groups are dedicated to the abolition of slavery as an institution and break enslavement spells whenever possible. Escaped slaves must hide in the common Ways of the Courts and hope that they don’t get caught, or they must flee into Shadow.
Way Marshals: The brute squad of the constabulary, geared towards entering dangerous situations while armed to the teeth.
Places
The Pit: The node of Primal Chaos that powers the Logrus. Some have said it looks like the cycle of creation and destruction that some universes go through: A Big Bang followed after a time by the Big Crunch. The Pit will spit out churning and spiraling lines of energy through the Abyss, which are then sucked back in. On occasion solid things are also spat out: swords, station wagons, creatures. Tempered by the forces of raw Chaos, they are considered almost indestructible.
The Abyss: Unlike other interpretations out there, this Abyss does not represent a place of entropy or destruction. Instead, it is simply a big Nothing that contains the Pit and the Core, plus the occasional debris that either falls in from above or is spat out from the Pit. The stuff of Shadow, unbound by either Pattern or Logrus, is easy to manipulate in this area. Anyone with sufficient will can mold the area to his will. This includes making small platforms to ride across the Abyss, or moving rocks around.
The Core: This is a giant chunk of Reality that houses the Logrus, the Thelbane, and other important locations. Some say it is made from the body of a dead god. It floats above the Abyss.
The Plaza at the End of the World: An expansive park and statue garden at the center of the Core. It is bordered by such important buildings as the Cathedral of the Serpent and the Thelbane.
The Thelbane: The royal palace of Chaos. It looks like a giant erect serpent. Yes, they’ve heard all the jokes.
The Cathedral of the Serpent: The central place of worship for the Serpentine faith. It is located on the portion of the Core closest to the Pit, and has a remarkable view.
The Rim: This is the edge of the Core that is closest to the Pit. Beyond this point, even Lords of Chaos are hesitant to venture. Some do build ways that extend out past the Rim for any number of reasons, the biggest being “an excellent view.” The snarky counterpoint being “And it gets better every minute.” Anything bordering on sane and rational physical laws break down entirely into non-Euclidean fragments, mathematical abstractions, and quantum foam. Many breeds of demon call this no-man’s land home, especially the realms where physical forms are not possible. Also, many use this barren wasteland as a convenient place to fight duels of honor away from the eyes of authority. It’s also a great place to dump a body.
“The Rim” can also refer to the giant cliff where conventional Shadow ends and you run into the Abyss and the Core. There are numerous small enclaves that live in this area, mainly Pit-divers, and it was in this region where the final battle of Patternfall was fought.
The Ways: The term used to describe a vast horde of Shadows stitched together by trained Shadowmasters who use the ambient energies of Logrus to solidify the tatters of Shadow that exist around Chaos. Only the Major Houses allowed to have Ways that touch upon the Core, but they often allow public access through these areas.
Common Ways: A general term used to describe Ways that are not controlled by any Houses. These are often the Ways of dead Houses that have been taken over by commoners and expanded by rogue shadowmasters.
Things
“I'd forgotten they don't serve absinthe here. I had to make do with a frozen marguerita."
- Fiona, Trumps of Doom
Absinthe: The Courts have absinthe the way Mexico has tequila. It comes in varying degrees of quality, from the most refined beverages served by nobility to the murkiest crap served in dive bars with a giant sugar bowls in the center of the table.
Blood: Those of Chaotic origin tend to burn when wounded. This is not to say they don’t have blood. But in some places the blood bursts into flames when exposed to air. It varies depending on a lot of subtle and weird cosmological laws.
Filmies: A platform of raw Shadow-stuff formed by concentrated will and used to cross the Abyss.
Pit-Forged Goods: Items spewed out by the Pit. They are generally indestructible and weapons made of this hold a good edge.
Pit-Gold: This is a blackish-gold metal spat out by the Pit. Though indestructible like all Pit-forged items, it is malleable and can be made into coins. The material is impossible to adequately forge and cannot be found in Shadow, making it an ideal form of currency. Typically only the wealthy possess any Pit-gold.
Time: Each Way has a slightly different flow of time. While there are few extremes, most are relatively close. Still, conventional time is harder to tell. Instead, time is based off of the color of the sky in relation to the Core.
The sky is divided evenly between inky blackness and swirling colors. The Core can be thought of the hand of a sundial, pointing at a portion of the striped sky of Chaos. When the swirling colors are closest to the Core, the color is based off of the portion of the sky at the horizon. When there are no colors near the Core, then it is based off of the color on the opposite horizon.
There are five units of reckoning time in Chaos: Skies, turnings, cycles, seasons and years. A “sky” is simply the span of time that a particular is within phase for the Core. This equals about an hour and a half. There are 8 skies to a “turning” which is a run of all the colors in the sky: white, blue, green, purple, brown, orange, yellow and red. When the colors are closest to the core it’s called a “light-turning” and when it’s farthest from the core it’s called a “dark-turning.” You can think of this as AM and PM. There are two turnings to a cycle, which is equivalent to a day. There are 30 cycles to a season, and 10 seasons to a year.
Trisp and Fandon: Traditional dueling equipment of Chaos. A trisp (also known as a trisliver) is a short, spear-like device with three razor-thin prongs on the tip. By squeezing the haft of the trisp, it fires out three beams of energy to a distance of about 8 feet for one second. These beams cut flesh to a depth of ¾”, which can be lethal in places with major veins or after numerous small wounds, but otherwise it’s mainly good at fighting till first blood. A fandon is a 3-foot long shield of filmy mesh, weighted at one end and designed to scatter the beams of the trisp.
Amber
Demon Town
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During Gérard's regency and the destruction of the Black Road, straggling remnants of the Chaosian army were trapped in Amber. After a few years of intermittent conflict, Gérard and the trapped Lords of Chaos reached an informal peace agreement, anchored around political marriages and heavy concessions from the Chaosians. (This agreement was not officially finalized until the Random and Swayvil signed the Patternfall Treaty.)
The Chaosians were only allowed to reside within the city (though some ended up emigrating to Rebma). The more human-seeming Lords of Chaos had some degree of freedom about the city. Their less human forces were relegated to an out-of-the-way neighborhood near the docks and the warehouse district.
The area had been used in the past to provide residence for not-really-wanted non-humans: weir, occasional visitors from less human parts of the Golden Circle, Ri'ikan and Avernian soldiers who had been left behind by Corwin and Bleys after their assault on Amber. Prior to Patternfall, the area was usually referred to by the primary street than ran through it: Foxglove Court. This would often end up being abbreviated as "the Glove" or "the Court." With the sudden influx of Chaosian residents it gained an assortment of more colorful monikers: Demon Town, Chaos Town, Little Chaos and the Pit are the most common.
Within the last year the Crown has formally recognized it as a distinct neighborhood in terms of administration of the city, under the title "Foxglove District." It has been assigned its own ministers, council members and constabulary precinct. The point of friction this has caused is that none of the local representation is actually local. Though some of the residents are allowed to hold low ranking positions, all of the higher ranking positions are occupied by Amber natives appointed to their role by King Random. The only Chaosian of any standing in terms of the crown is Lady Corinda Hendrake, a former commander in the armies of Chaos who now serves "special liaison" to the crown regarding affairs pertaining to the Foxglove District.
Some people and places of note include:
Lady Corinda Hendrake: A hellmaid with an impressive military career behind her, she was among the commanders trapped in Amber that eventually sued for peace. As part of the peace settlement, she consented to a political marriage to one of the younger sons of Baron Bryce (one of the few nobles left behind in Amber during Patternfall). While some expatriate Lords of Chaos have divorced themselves from the slums of "Demon Town," she has instead worked to better promote the needs of all who originally hail from Chaos, exulting in her heritage rather than trying to hide it. This attitude has earned her enemies from both native Amberites and Chaosian immigrants.
Chemich'k: Hailing from a race of strange and alien creatures that dwell in the fragmented realities beyond the Rim, Chemich'k was one of several "demons" to be enslaved and weaponized during Patternfall. Freed from slave status during the armistice in Gérard's regency, he found himself providing de facto protection services in a neighborhood that the Amber constabulary would only enter in force. With a mixture of luck, forsight and innately inhuman ruthlessness, Chemich'k has managed to make himself the most successful crime lord operating out of Demon Town. Bloody battles with the native crime lords of the city were common early on, but he's managed to work out a tensen and uneasy truce with many of them.
Tembus Fent: Archbishop of the Church of the Serpent in Amber, Rebma and the Golden Circle. The Church of the Serpent has only minimal presence in the area of Amber and no power to speak of. The main temple in the area is located in Demon Town. There is a second temple in Rebma in the neighborhood known as Undertow. It has not yet had reason or ability to build temples elsewhere.
The Crazy Eight: Though many family owned restaurants offer "authentic Chaos cuisine," and there is no concensus regarding what the best place to go for the "authentic" experience is. The Crazy Eight, however, is the most prominent restaurant offering what claims to be "fine Chaosian dining." Many of the dishes are tamed down or represent a fusion of Chaos and Golden Circle cuisine in order to make it more palatable for "adventurous" of the Amber elite.
The House: Not technically part of Demon Town, but the owner has had some significant involvement in Demon Town events. Part brothel, part tavern, it is less well known as a place where information can be had for a price.
The Rockgut: One of several down and dirty demon watering holes, this one is owned and operated by a pit-demon known as Fritz.
Royal Family of Amber
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Though there's over a dozen children of Oberon known to still be alive, very few are involved with the functioning of Amber.
Random: King.
Benedict: Advisor to the crown regarding military affairs. It is rare that he becomes directly involved in any military conflict in Amber.
Bleys: Diplomatic liaison to the Golden Circle.
Fiona: Advisor to the crown regarding arcane matters.
Julian: General of the Army, protector of Arden. Chaosians who seek to live outside of the city invariably run afoul of him.
Caine: In addition to his role as diplomatic liaison to the Golden Circle, Caine is also said to be head of an informal information network known as "the Daggers." The orginization is said to date back to the reign of King Eric and has only grown in power and influence since then. It is uncertain how far his influence into Demon Town gos. Though other members of the royal family have their own agents through the city, few carry the sinister reputation the Daggers have earned.
Gérard: Admiral of the Fleet. Is clearly known to many Chaosians through his role in brokering the peace settlement during his regency.
Lord Clive, Earl of Laris: Son of Caine. No official role in Amber, but is worth noting because he had been abducted by the Cult of the Green Knight and was rescued by a mixture of DaggerWays constabularies and other "concerned locals."
