AMBER'S PEOPLE AND PLACES

Lay of the Land | Citizens of Amber | The Royal Family | Land of the Dead

Lay of the Land

Amber is a long, narrow land following the path of the river Nile approximately 600 miles to the sea.  Settlement rarely extends more than a dozen miles from the banks of the Nile, though when approaching the sea (the Great Green) the Nile fans out into a delta of lush land some 200 miles wide, often referred to as the Lower Nile.  The source of the Nile lies off in Shadow; while some have gone in search of it, the twistings of reality there have made pinpointing the source difficult.  The Nile enters southern Amber through a series of dangerous cataracts, but after passing Abu, it becomes a generally placid, slow-flowing river, ideal for ferrying people and goods upstream and downstream.  The Nile floods yearly, generally for several weeks between July and October, depositing a thick layer of fertile silt over the farmlands on its banks.

To the west the fertile banks of the Nile quickly give way to a reddish, inhospitable desert.  The western desert was well-mapped during the conquest of Libya, for the Shadowpaths to that Golden Circle Shadow lie beyond these sands.  A number of oases are known in that area, sparsely settled by those who re-supply travelers to Libya and those who would escape the civilized world.  The largest of these is the Fayyum oasis, a vast marshy depression which supports Sobek's temple-city of Shedet.

To the east the land turns to desert as well, albeit a rockier and more mountainous one than the western desert.  Lacking the oases of the western desert, it supports no permanent settlements, though it is rich in mineral wealth and temporary mining camps are formed at productive dig sites.  Gold, copper, turquoise, and amethyst are the most common finds, along with granite and limestone used for monuments and temple construction.  The rough ground becomes mountainous some 150 miles east of the Nile valley, and sporadic rainfall leads to treacherous flash floods in this area.  Another sea lies beyond the mountains, but the difficulty in reaching it means that its coast has remained unsettled.

Citizens of Amber

Between five and six million mortals live in Amber.  About half live scattered throughout the cities and small towns of the Nile delta, with most of the rest living in the cities further upstream, and a few brave souls traveling the deserts and oases.   Farming is the most prevalent occupation, though few own the land on which they work.  The cities collect more skilled laborers, artisans, potters, weavers, and scribes.  Less than five percent of Amber's citizens can read and write.  The mortal population is well-acquainted with death; though they are one of the healthiest peoples found throughout Shadow, there is a nearly 30% infant mortality rate, and most who survive to adulthood die before seeing age 40.  This, combined with the actions of the gods amongst them and the influence of the powerful cult of Anubis, fosters a healthy belief in the afterlife.  Any settlement of any size on the Nile has a small necropolis built on its westernmost edge, where even the poorest citizen can afford a small hole in the ground, to be buried with their favorite possessions.

The most powerful mortals in Amber are the priests and priestesses, nearly all of whom can read and write.  They form a more or less capable hierarchy to carry out their patron's wishes.  Generally speaking a cult's power amongst the people of Amber is proportional to the god's willingness to interfere in mortal affairs - thus Ptah, who primarily deals with immortals - often beyond Amber's borders - has a cult which only has pull with the artisans who worship him, while Bast, who is known to walk among the mortal population of Amber and stand up for their rights, has a large and influential cult.  There are some exceptions to this - both Khnum and Geb were well-liked by the people of Amber, though their cults were small and disorganized.  The most powerful mortals gravitate towards priesthood; some have some small measure of sorcerous talent which makes them both valuable and vaguely dangerous to the gods they worship.

The climate in Amber defines much of the appearance of the mortal population.  Most are well-tanned from working outside during the day, and wear very light clothing - white linen skirts or wraps are common for both sexes.  Eye makeup is heavily used, to cut the glare of the sun as much as for beauty.  Hair is considered unclean for mortals, in addition to being hot; priests and other pious individuals routinely shave their bodies, especially before entering temples.  Children are a special case; their heads are shaved except for a long braid on one side of their head.  Citizens of any standing above poverty wear wigs to cover their baldness, especially women.  Dark, straight hair is the ideal of beauty, and hair dye is readily available to those who cannot afford wigs.  Jewelry is very popular, being a way to display wealth without too much added weight or warmth.

The citizens of Amber generally hold themselves to be the superior mortal race, and slavery of foreign peoples is relatively common - most commonly the conquered peoples of Greece and Libya.  Generally they are employed as servants to the wealthy rather than laborers, the people of Amber being proud of their strength and the great structures created by their physical labor.  The exception to this is in the mines, where the difficult and dangerous work is doled out to slaves - particularly those who are prone to resistance.  Not all foreigners in Amber are slaves, however - many do well for themselves as craftsmen, and it is common practice to release household slaves after several years, and pay them a decent wage for their service.

The Royal Family

The children of Ra are a varied lot.  Though all are immensely powerful by mortal standards - most notably in terms of physical abilities - they are not immortal.  Injuries heal quickly, with even severe ones regenerating eventually - Anubis lost an arm in the rebellion, but he regained full use of it some two hundred years later.  As the commoners believe, the center of being lies not in the head or brain, but in the heart.  An Amberite's heart holds their soul; if it is destroyed, they are utterly annihilated, unable to regenerate, and unable to make the final trek to the Land of the Dead.  An Amberite can recover from starvation, drowning, or dismemberment, so long as their heart is intact - it may stop, but one day it will beat again.  However, it has been the case that some would rather pass on to the Land of the Dead than wait for their bodies to heal over the ages.  Thoth and Set are two which chose this path.  Should their hearts be destroyed, they would cease to exist; Thoth's has never been located, and Set's is either in Anubis's care or in his own booby-trapped tomb.

Relations between family members run the gamut from antipathy to love.  Ra proclaimed that none of his children should slay another, but interpretations of that decree have often been fairly loose, such as not delivering the killing blow oneself.  An Amberite destroying the heart of a relative would be abhorrent to all but the most merciless in the family.  On the other end of the spectrum, Ra made no sort of prohibition against incest; it is well-known that Khnum had feelings for Isis, and there are rumors that Min and Bast have had intimate relations with several of their brothers and sisters.  Among the mortal population and the royal family alike, sexual orientation is considered less of an identity than a preference, and same-sex relationships are not uncommon.  Amberites are generally very infertile, though when they do conceive, it tends to happen throughout the family - births on the Amber timeline are clustered into what Ra called Dynasties.  The first was Khepri, Sokar, Anubis (some count Osiris and Harmakhis in the First Dynasty as well); the second was Ptah, Set, Bast, Isis, Geb, Tawaret, Thoth, Wadjet, Sobek, Khnum, and Horus (and perhaps Min as well); the third was Khnemu, Khonsu, Keket, Amun, Weret, Unut, and Shu.

Land of the Dead

The Land of the Dead is where all the mortal souls of Amber go when their bodies are buried.  A simple black doorway deep in the temple of Anubis in Thebes, crossing over to this restful place requires the permission of the jackal-headed Lord of the West, earned only through a trial.  Anubis removes the heart of the deceased (how he removes it from a soul few others can even see is a bit of a mystery) and weighs it against a feather from Maat, the Bird of Truth.  In rare circumstances, Anubis has been known to skew the balance in favor of the deceased.  Should the heart weigh more than the feather, Anubis feeds it to Ammet, the Eater of Souls - a demon with the mouth of a crocodile, forelimbs of a lion, and body of a hippo - spelling oblivion for the deceased.  Hearts found worthy are returned to their masters, who are permitted a one-way trip through the black door.

Anubis performs a similar ritual for family members wishing to travel to the Land of the Dead.  General practice is to bestow a favor or gift upon him before he removes the heart and weighs it - most Amberites are wary about placing their soul in the hands of a relative, and need some help on the scales as well.  Anubis typically requests a shrine in the traveler's temple, to be maintained for at least a year, sometimes as many as five.  For the Amberites, the trip is only one-way for the dead.

What the Land of the Dead is like to mortals is a bit of a mystery.  To Amberites, it is a monochromatic gray landscape that resembles the Amber of the living.  The Land of the Dead exists outside of time; a traveler there is as likely to see people and events from the past and future there as the present.  Similarly, it is impossible to tell how long one has been in the Land of the Dead - years of prophecy may play themselves out in a few minutes, or a journey of a few steps might take an hour on the other side.  Long-distance travel is deceptively easy; head off down the Nile and you could find yourself at the delta in a moment.  The experience is not unlike traveling through Shadow, but far more disorienting.

While going back the way one came, into Anubis' temple, is the easiest way out of the Land of the Dead, exiting can actually take place anywhere a door exists.  With a great act of will, an Amberite can force a doorway in this gray land to open onto the land of the living, ejecting the traveler out through the doorway's relevant location in Amber - or perhaps even in Shadow.  In this way, travel through the Land of the Dead is often faster, if riskier, than travel over land.