Castle Amber

At the rear of the plateau which holds the city, centred on a rise which merges with the side of Mount Kolvir, is Castle Amber, a vast pale gold stone structure (more than a mile in width and half a mile deep) apparently built in many different styles by many different architects but which is still, somehow, harmonious to the eye, and also quite obviously still very much a functional fortress. Inside, the Castle is a sprawling labyrinth of halls, galleries, courtyards, gardens, kitchen gardens, chambers, tennis (and other sporting) courts, towers, theatres, concert halls, nurseries and the like in a nearly unknowable maze which has filled the space between the original keep (where the throne room and royal chambers lie) and the oldest castle walls, plus that between all the new walls. Many gardens and kitchen gardens are on the roofs of sections of the castle. There are many buttresses, flying buttresses and gargoyles on the buildings. Guards, even experienced ones, still get lost in the castle on occasion.

The castle walls are at least eight stories high, some are nearer ten, and are even thicker than their height would imply. The towers go higher still, usually by at least two stories. Outside the castle walls is Castle Park, a thousand foot wide steep immaculate greensward, obviously meant as a kill-zone but thinly disguised as a park. This has many paths, promenades and viewing points (carefully designed to give no advantage to an attacker), and immaculate flower-beds of low-lying plants. Apart from the castle walls themselves, the park gives the best views of the city as a whole. The roads which wind through Castle Park up to the castle gates themselves are placed so as to be completely covered by the walls defences.

The original keep backs onto and into Kolvir. Much of the castle water supply comes from inside the mountain, and there are vast storerooms and other chambers cut back into the mountain. From those who work in some of these come occasional tales and rumours of strange and ghostly happenings. Also, as much rainwater which falls on the castle as possible is channelled into cisterns about the castle from where it is purified and piped off for use where needed.

As well as housing the Royal Family of Amber and their thousands of servants, mainly in the western half of the castle (where there are also schools, nurseries and the like), the eastern section contains the offices of the Amber military, bureaucracy, judicial system (including the courts and the like) and civil service plus the main castle guard barracks (though there are smaller guardrooms and barracks all over the castle, many near to the secondary gates, with associated stables, exercise areas and the like), the quarters of many of Ambers Knights, the Bank of Amber and the offices of the Mayor of Amber City. All family members who have sworn loyalty to the King have suites of rooms as large and luxurious as they wish, with their own personal servants, kitchens and the like. Because of this, certain stretches of the castle, both the Family quarters and guest quarters, usually have at least as much space devoted to servants and the facilities they require (such as storerooms, kitchens, bedrooms and so on) as to the people they are there to serve. In some places floors of servants facilities alternate with floors of rooms of the people they serve; in other places they are mixed together on each floor. Obviously there is a vast network of servants stairs and corridors in the castle, allowing the servants to move about the castle without being seen by those above them.

Even so, much of the interior of the Castle lies disused, the reason for the construction of a given area having been and gone, leaving large stretches of deserted and dusty rooms; it is unknown what most of these rooms, and their attics and lofts, contain, let alone all the actual storage and lumber rooms. Since Random became King, Flora has had some of the more accessible disused areas converted for some useful function, but there are still large tracts of abandoned rooms and the like, plus many abandoned and overgrown gardens and courtyards.

All of the castle (and much of the city, in fact) has as advanced plumbing, lighting (using gas, with lamplighters going around at nightfall) and the like as technology in Amber will allow; these too are actions spearheaded by Flora. It is also riddled with a vast network of bells to summon servants to where they are needed. All the public areas have intricately parqueted floors in a variety of designs. Private areas have stone floors, or are carpeted (in the family areas).

The castle is riddled with servants stairs (usually discreetly concealed), secret passages, and secret rooms. The full details of these are something of a state secret.

A few locations in Castle Amber:

THE THRONE ROOM. This is a long, wide, tall room in the keep with gothic-style pillars and vaulting, designed in such a way as to make it appear even higher than it already is. It has large stained glass windows along the south wall (one of the long sides of the room, on the right as one enters through the main doors) to let in the sunlight. These depict scenes of battle and Oberon doing Great Things, plus various 'mythological' scenes involving the Unicorn; a few new window panels involving more recent events have been added too. Banners of family members and the noble houses of Amber hang from the ceiling, and a number of huge tapestries cover the wall opposite the windows. There is a balcony halfway up the wall opposite the windows. At one end of the long axis of the room are the main doors. These are huge double doors of some dark bronze wood, intricately carved with 'mythological' scenes. A wide red carpet leads from the main doors to the dais upon which the throne (carved from a single huge emerald) rests. On the wall above the throne hangs a huge Unicorn banner. There are a number of smaller doors around the walls, some hidden, some not. Guards are always stationed in the throne room, even when the King is not in the castle. The anteroom outside the main doors of the throne room has a broad staircase leading up into the rest of the keep.
THE LIBRARY. This is a long, tall room, again with windows along the south wall (one of the long sides), though this time of many small diamond-shaped panes of clear glass. Bookcases of carved dark wood, glass-fronted, line all the white-painted walls and the spaces between the windows, and extend out into the room at regular intervals (opposite the spaces between the windows). There are no free-standing bookcases. Several of the bookcases include display cases where ancient tomes are displayed, plus the one where the spare family Trump decks were kept. The bookcases have two layers of wrought iron balconies running around them (and across the windows), linked by sets of iron steps. The floor is covered by a red-and-gold carpet, and further muffled with many rugs in muted colours. It is also dotted with reading desks, armchairs and side tables. The room is brightly lit by gas from many crystal chandeliers, for reading after dark. There is a fireplace at each end of the room. What areas of wall there are which are not covered by bookcases have a variety of adornments, including rich tapestries, weapons and an etching of the unicorn by Lord Rein. There are weapons racks by all the doors. The library contains books on many subjects:
- Histories and geographies of Amber, the Golden Circle and many other shadows.
- Histories of the noble houses of Amber.
- Maps of shadows and shadow paths (though these latter are more like sets of directions from point to point along the path than geographical maps).
- Records of shadow exploration going back a very long time.
- Treatises on the basics of the various major powers.
- Minutes of meetings, diplomatic and bureaucratic, and reports on Court activities (lots of them); records of the minor doings of servants and the like (of which there are even more) are kept the chief servants office, elsewhere in the castle.
- Many books on all military subjects, some by Benedict. Analyses of the Patternfall war.
- Histories of the Family; some of them censored (by Oberon).
- Authorised biographies of assorted Amberites.
- Technical tomes of all kinds; all the arts and sciences are here.
- Tomes on Heraldry, Law, and management of the castle and city.
- Tomes on politics and Court Etiquette.
- Fiction, poetry and the like from all of shadow.
THE GREAT DINING HALL. Another tall, well-lit room with many banners hanging from the ceiling, and large windows to the south, facing a beautiful garden. A U-shaped high table (with the Kings seat at the top so he has the windows to his left) faces a lower area where lesser lights get to sit. A minstrels gallery faces the top of the high table. Crystal gas chandeliers hang from the ceiling, around which the hanging banners are arranged. Entertainers often perform in the centre of the high table's U. The floor is richly carpeted; tablecloths are silk; china, crystal, cutlery, and all the rest are of absolutely the finest quality. The main castle kitchens are directly adjacent (to the north) through several discreet sets of doors. Adjacent on another side, looking out onto the same garden, is the main ballroom, a huge space, again lit by gas chandeliers. Also to the north is a spacious, comfortable lounge looking out to the north over another garden, to which diners may retreat to enjoy an after-dinner brandy and cigar.
THE MAIN ENTRANCE HALL. A large, high ceilinged vaulted space lit by several large stained glass windows which face out over the main courtyard above the entrance portico. Assorted banners of Amber and its noble houses hang from the ceiling, and a balcony runs around the walls halfway up. Niches in the walls hold a number of statues, and paintings of various family members hang on the walls between them. A wide red carpet leads from the main doors to a huge sweeping staircase directly opposite the main doors. This leads up to the throne room while doors to the left open into the main (formal) dining room. Other doors lead to the family and other sections of the castle. Guards are always on duty around the walls.
THE MARBLE DINING ROOM. A large (though smaller than the Great Dining Hall) formal dining room, whose walls, floor and ceiling are all of variously-coloured marble. A set of windows on one long wall looks over the main castle courtyard. Behind the Kings seat at the top table is a balcony, with a sweeping stair leading down to behind it. Behind these stairs is the dark, narrow and guarded corridor which leads to the platform at the top of the stairs down to the Pattern Room. Opposite the top table, facing the Kings seat, is a minstrels balcony.
THE FAMILY DINING ROOM. A smaller, much more intimate dining hall on the ground floor of the keep where meals for (generally) family members only are served. It is panelled in dark wood with several small windows on one long wall, looking out over a small garden court; the other long wall is decorated with displays of weapons and the like. It is luxuriously carpeted. Light is provided by a number of gas jets around the walls and candelabra on the table. There is a long rectangular table running down the centre of the room, and side-tables and sideboards around the walls. Because of the irregular hours many of the family keep, a nearby kitchen is constantly on standby ready to prepare whatever may be required, at any time.
THE INFIRMARY. A large, well-lit white-painted space, the Infirmary makes up a well equipped hospital filling most of the third floor of the keep. It is (along with the Naval Hospital) the best hospital in Amber. The infirmary has several operating theatres, a laboratory, and a number of wards and private rooms, as well as a pharmacy (though most high-technology drugs do not work in Amber, more primitive painkillers such as opium do) and assorted storage rooms. Although high-technology antisepsis does not work in Amber, this seems not to be too much of a problem - disease is very rare in Amber, and most royal and non-royal Amberites seem largely immune to disease in any case. The only real problem caused by the magical and technological environment of Amber is the limits on technological and magical healing they impose on the Infirmary.
THE MAIN CASTLE GARDENS. Filling a large part of the eastern end of the castle, and beautifully landscaped, with bushes, trees and fountains. The rear entrance to the castle exits into the garden, and this has an associated guard barracks, stables and exercise area. A wide, curving stair leads to the main entrance from the gardens into the castle. Guards are usually stationed just inside the door.
THE MEMORIAL GARDEN. A monument to those who fell in Patternfall, placed in a small garden court near the throne room. In particular Eric and Deirdre are commemorated in statues, but there is a small niche with a statue of Brand too, and memorials to the normal soldiers who fell in battle (erected on Corwins orders).
THE WINE CELLARS. There are a number of these, under several parts of the castle. All are huge, maintain ideal conditions for keeping wine, and are kept well stocked on the Kings orders. It is unknown what ancient vintages are hidden in the darker corners of these cellars.
THE ARMOURY. Generally there to supply the Castle Guard with equipment, recognised members of the family are, of course, fully at liberty to take whatever they want from it, no questions asked. Its main component is a series of huge storerooms, with racks of every conceivable weapon which will work in Amber stretching from floor to ceiling. Smaller storerooms hold stocks of weapons such as guns, which will not work in Amber, but which are useful to have in case a situation in shadow requires their use. Also included in the Armoury are a considerable number of weapon-smiths workshops, used by those who make and maintain the Armoury's stocks.
THE MAIN COURTYARD. One end of the Royal Way, which leads down to the military part of the Harbour via the Great Stair. It is always busy, with people coming and going, within the castle and to and from it. It is large enough that several thousand troops can be paraded there at once. A large portico with an arched roof allows carriages to draw up to the main doors under cover. In front of the portico, facing out into the courtyard, is a large, imposing statue of Oberon. Over the portico are several flagpoles on the largest of which, the central one, always hangs the banner of Amber. Several balconies look out over the courtyard, including one traditionally used for reviewing the troops, and a large number of doors open into it. Adjacent to the main courtyard are the main Castle Guard barracks, and the main castle stables. Because of this, the courtyard is swept regularly (usually as punishment duty for some erring guardsman) and remains surprisingly clean.
THE ARRIVAL COURTYARD. The current Trump of Amber takes one to a heavily guarded and well-lit (at all times) enclosed courtyard. The guards there have orders to challenge anyone unknown appearing there, and to fire on them if necessary. Random has done his best to ensure that all other Trumps of Amber have been confiscated, and made it clear that he will not be pleased if anyone draws Trumps of elsewhere in the castle. Rumour has it that one of Caine's duties is to enforce this ruling.
THE PATTERN ROOM. It takes roughly twenty-five minutes to go down all the stairs from the platform at the top (behind the Marble Dining Room) to the level of the Pattern room, and more than ten minutes from there to the Pattern room itself. The Pattern room is now heavily guarded, at all times. New guardrooms have been carved out of the rock around it on both sides of the entrance tunnel, and reasonably strict security is maintained, with orders to restrain anyone who tries to get to the Pattern without permission. However, Random does generally allow family members to use the Pattern whenever they feel they need to. All the side tunnels other than that which leads to the Pattern have been filled in to a depth of many metres, as has the main tunnel off which the tunnel to the Pattern branches (some distance past the tunnel to the Pattern). Although the guards are not allowed into the Pattern room itself (apparently the emanations of the Pattern have a slow detrimental effect on non-Amberite health) the fact that place Trumps do not work there makes this less of a problem than it otherwise might be. The start of the Pattern is near a corner of the room, quite close to the door.

It has a "great, dark, metal bound door". "The floor of that enormous room is black and looks to be as smooth as glass, although it is not slippery. The Pattern burns upon it, an intricate, shimmering maze of curved lines," "that tricked the eye as it tried to trace them - imbedded there, huge, in the floor's slick blackness" " perhaps a hundred and fifty yards long."
In the The Last Enemy game it transpired that the reason for the Pattern being secured by locking the door from the outside only is because of the ancient threat of the Ordnung, which emerged into the Amber universe through the Pattern.
THE DUNGEONS. Deep below the castle, on the same level as the Pattern, but in a different direction, they form a labyrinth of branching tunnels, and are the only prison in Amber. In addition to simple cells are guard quarters and interrogation rooms of various kinds. Corwins old cell is not used any more, and is generally kept sealed. The Trump image to Dworkins quarters no longer functions, though the one to the lighthouse of Cabra still does.
Most of the cells are a simple square room with a toilet hole in one corner, a pallet bed and a lockable slot in the door through which trays of food can be passed. They may or may not be lit. However, there are cells of increasing levels of luxuriousness which may be used depending upon the prisoner and their status. It is rumoured that there are a very few cells which are barred against the power of Trump.
THE BEACON TOWER. The highest (and oldest) eastern tower of the castle, which contains a powerful lighthouse beacon, an ancient, apparently magical device which has operated for longer than anyone can remember. Above the beacon itself is a small round room, with a very small balcony. Similar beacons are in place at the Lighthouse of Cabra and a few other locations up and down the coast. The beacon in the tower and that on the Colossus at the harbour, when viewed from the sea, line up one above the other on the best course into the harbour.
THE UNICORN CHAPEL. A modestly-decorated shrine to the Unicorn almost precisely in the centre of the castle, used by the rank and file of castle servants and their families. It has a number of ornate tombs, and a huge, deep set of catacombs where all those who lived within the castle are interred. These catacombs vary from simple niches in the rock of the plateau to ornate vaulted rooms and halls. As the catacombs have been expanded over time, the oldest tombs lie near the surface, with newer ones deeper down.
THE KNIGHTS CHAPEL. A large and ornate shrine to the Unicorn used by high ranked soldiers within the Amber military, in the eastern half of the castle close to the main courtyard. It has a large number of ornate tombs to the heroes of Amber going back a very long time. Under it are a modest set of catacombs, all finely cut from the rock of the plateau in ornately-carved vaulted rooms and halls, holding the bodies of the high-ranked dead.
THE SOLDIERS CHAPEL. A large but simply designed shrine to the Unicorn which is used by the common soldiers of the Amber military. Like the Knights Chapel it is close to the main courtyard in the eastern half of the castle. Those who die in and around Amber are interred in the extensive catacombs which underlie it. As with the Unicorn Chapel, these catacombs vary from simple niches in the rock of the plateau to ornate vaulted rooms and halls.
THE CASTLE MUSEUM. A series of large, dusty, little-visited rooms where various aspects of the history of Amber are commemorated. Some exhibits include details of various enemies of Amber which have been fought and defeated at various times in the past.

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