SHADOWS OF THE GIRASOL UNIVERSE

AGNITUS

A large shadow with high population, high magic, a religious society and airborne shadow paths added in by the Girasolians. It is a shadow of nearly sheer-sided mountains and bottomless valleys with a low, stormy overcast from which lightning constantly strikes down.

Agnitus is inhabited by a race of winged bat-people, fierce carnivores who eat raw (and preferably still-living) meat, who can fly, and who see by both eyesight and sonar. They are short, with lightly furred skin, long, clawed feet, with prehensile big toes, broad torsos, and their forelimbs are bat-wings with long-fingered hands halfway along their length. They also have large mobile ears and weirdly snouted faces.

The Agnitians live in cave systems, natural and carved out of the rock, the cliff faces outside of which are carved in swirling abstract patterns and protected by magic from the worst of the weather. Inside, their caves are kept warm and lit by magic, and are ornately carved and decorated.

They are fierce and honourable warriors using weapons (crossbows and so on) held in their prehensile feet, and are also powerful mages, ruled by a council of twelve Mages. They cannot fly in all shadows, but are very useful in the ones where they can. They worship Arana, a shadow-wide storm goddess, to whom they sacrifice in blood from the mountain-tops. Arana manifests in the form of lightning, striking continually down from the clouds to a point above the ground, the bolts forming the image of a bat-winged feminine figure who speaks with a voice of thunder. She is addressed as 'Your Glory'.

BAYLIS

A large shadow with high population, high magic, a religious society and shadow paths added in by the Girasolians. The environment of Baylis is very hostile, very hot and poor in water with many volcanoes, earthquakes and geysers so that those not of the shadow require magical or similar protection to survive. The people there are demonic and love high temperatures. They war constantly over resources and for fun, which made them useful to the Girasolians, at least until the shadow-wide demon-god of Baylis returned...

CORWIN'S PATTERN

The area of Corwin's Pattern in the Amber universe is described elsewhere. However, from the centre of Corwin's Pattern one can sense a route, or gateway, going through the Pattern which is definitely not the case with any of the other Patterns, and which leads to (and from) the Girasol universe. If one chooses to use that route (rather than normal Pattern teleportation) one feels oneself being pulled and twisted along some strange path, utterly different from normal Pattern teleportation, and reappears in the centre of Corwin's Pattern on the other side.

In the Girasol universe Corwin's Pattern is present, but in form it is as though one is seeing it from below (that is, as if it were drawn on a sheet of glass and from the Girasol side one looks at it from the opposite side to that which one would be seeing it from on the Amber side). One can Pattern-teleport from its centre in the same manner as if one had walked the Pattern normally.

When the Ordnung was occupying Corwin's Pattern there were a great many crystalline structures over and around it, beginning with the dozen or so crystal shafts growing down through the centre of the Pattern from the centre of a huge clear crystal dome covering the whole Pattern and extending out and away beyond the dome to crystal spires, viaducts, buttresses and bridges stretching off as far as the eye could see under a blue sky flecked with clouds.

With the Ordnung destroyed the area around Corwin's Pattern in the Girasol universe reverted to (according to Corwin) its original state - an Earth-like environment of a slightly rolling plain of silvery-green grass under a blue sky and a yellow-white sun.

GARRISON 1

The personal shadow of Nicholas. It is a Shadow of Destiny which has been modified by Osric so the Ordnung (and any other threat to Girasol) from that area of shadow must pass through it, via a number of specific routes, and so that Nicholas can control its environment. It is a fast-time shadow, five times faster than Amber. Magic does work there, and has been modified so that the entire magic of the shadow can be focussed into a huge attack on the defined paths into the shadow. Thus it is basically an armed camp, with a First World War feel to it.

It is a grey world consisting entirely of high barren mountains and precipitous valleys with passes between them. These are formed such that they provide almost no cover for attackers, but lots of cover for defenders. It has no sun. Instead, the sky is shifting, swirling glowing multi-coloured pastels giving a constant shadow-less white light; it never gets dark in Garrison 1.

Around the entrance passes into the shadow are Maginot Line-type layered defences, trench systems, bunkers, and large amounts of barbed wire. Further back are walled fortress cities (generally at least partly underground or built into the valley walls) which supply the defenders.

The people of Garrison 1 are not quite human. They are shortish, but very broad, with a vaguely leonine look and tough leathery skin. They have cat-like eyes and small claws instead of fingernails. For shadow dwellers they are exceptionally strong.

A number of shadow paths lead off from this shadow.

GARRISON 6

A fortress-shadow, very similar to Garrison 1.

This is another Shadow of Destiny, that fact not being hidden here. The shadow has also been modified to focus all of its magick on one point 'over there' - the whole shadow is a trap for the Ordnung. In general nature the place appears to be a World War One-style fortress/factory.

There is no sun, but the sky is full of glowing white cloud. The landscape is rocky and mountainous, sculpted to provide maximum cover and defence in one direction and none in the other. No vegetation is visible.

As with Garrison 1, number of shadow paths lead off from Garrison 6.

LASART

A large shadow with high population, high magic, a religious society and shadow paths added in by the Girasolians. It has seven suns and seven moons, the moons and suns moving through the sky in a cluster. The sky is a pearly grey. The landscape of the shadow consists of an array of flat-topped mountains upon which cities are built, with terraced fields on the slopes below them. Magic is widely used even by the common people, in much the same way as technology might be in other shadows.

Everyone in Lasart wears hooded robes with style and colour denoting their profession and social position. A few examples are as follows:

The shadow is ruled by King Marea and Queen Kaiam, who have been on the throne for more than a hundred years. They seem to act as figureheads for a shadow-wide priesthood, in whom the people believe implicitly.

The capital of the shadow is Lasart City. In Lasart City is the main Temple, which stands on one side of a huge square. The halls of the temple are quite ornate, with many mirrors, and lots of magical wardings and other protection. However, the inner sanctum, a huge domed chamber, hundreds of feet across and high, beautiful in a rather Spartan way, with stained glass inserts set into the curve of the dome, between the ribs of its vaulting. Beneath the dome is an altar. The Temple is presided over by the High Priest, the Honourable Botan.

The shadow provides troops who are plentiful, well-disciplined, well-organised, and not afraid to sacrifice themselves for the cause, if also rather stolid and unimaginative.

The people there (now) worship a shadow-wide deity by the name of Tirados who appears as a featureless golden humanoid surrounded by an intense, but not blinding royal blue aura, hovering over the altar in the Inner Sanctum of the Temple in Lasart City. The symbol of Tirados is a sort of three-leafed clover constructed from question marks:

LAZARET

A highly magical, well-guarded and fairly real fast-time hospital-world in the Girasol multiverse, ruled by Una. Sandrine has linked her to the shadow itself, giving her a great deal of control over the shadow's environment. The very nature of the shadow is extremely conducive to health and promotes rapid healing and regeneration.

OMBIN

A large shadow with high population, high magic, a religious society and shadow paths added in by the Girasolians. It is a shadow entirely of water, with mats of floating kelp. A race of amphibious humans with webbed digits and gills (as well as lungs) live here in rafts woven from the kelp. Fierce sea-creatures inhabit the oceans of this shadow and must be defended against, so that the Ombinians make excellent seagoing and underwater warriors.

OSRIC'S LABORATORY SHADOW

A highly magical shadow which appears to have been created or modified by Osric into a dedicated magical laboratory. Among other things, it has a room where powerful magicks are somehow artificially concentrated, with multi-coloured metal and crystal walls and a vaulted ceiling the centre of which sweeps down to a cluster of points, like a collection of long, thin stalactites. The position under these spikes is a magical focal point. To one side of the room is a console with very mad-scientist-looking controls built into it; these can be manipulated to focus the magic into various effects.

OSRIC'S RECUPERATION SHADOW

A shadow Osric took everyone to when they needed to rest and recover. It seems to be a large Mediterranean-style villa with a lush garden and pool surrounded by a pillared colonnade. The air is warm and fresh. Those with and Advanced Pattern Initiation can sense that the properties of this shadow enhance both healing and recuperation, and indeed one begins to feel refreshed as soon as one arrives there.

SHADOW 'BAT-CAVE'

A lifeless shadow close to the realm of the Ordnung which Tristan modified using API so as to have a civilisation and a 'Bat-Cave' which would allow them to perform needed surgery upon Corwin and Owen. In the back of the cave where the player characters ended up there was, once Tristan was done, a secret entrance to some super-hero's secret base and medical facility. The superhero in question was otherwise occupied on the other side of the world and would not return until long after they were done there...

Beyond the concealed door a lift takes one down into a well-equipped base, whose facilities include a small hospital and operating room, plus living quarters and a huge cave full of what appear to be vehicles, laboratory equipment and trophies, these last including a life-sized model tyrannosaur, a giant coin and some giant playing cards. In a display case was what was labelled as the skeleton of 'Dr Silvanus', whose skull was stolen to replace the missing parts of Corwin's.

THE SHADOW OF THE KOALA-PEOPLE

One of the Shadows of Destiny created to draw in unknown people travelling through shadow under their own power; its nature as a Shadow of Destiny is hidden from the casual observer. It is a world of grassy plains dotted with large trees, roamed by (among other things) giant kangaroos. The people of the shadow are vaguely koala-like in appearance and live in tree-houses. They make eucalyptus beer and wine, but do have other imported non-eucalyptus-based beverages available for those who want them. Magic works in the shadow, but has been modified so that the entire magic of the shadow can, if necessary, be focussed into a huge attack on any location in the shadow.

TARAGORN

A large shadow with high population, high magic, a religious society and shadow paths added in by the Girasolians. It is a shadow of woodlands and mountains. Normal humans led by The Sages live in the trees of the forests and worship a shadow-wide nature goddess. Fierce beasts comes down from the mountains and must be fought in order for the people and their villages to survive. This shadow provides fierce jungle and wilderness-competent warriors.

ZORAN

A large shadow with high population, high magic, a religious society and shadow paths added in by the Girasolians. This is a shadow of infinite colourless glassy rock, some of which glows of itself, and through which run any number of natural tunnels of varying sizes. Water drips through the rocks and flows in the tunnels, feeding Earth-type plants and animals, as well as normal humans. The people of this shadow make warriors skilled in the uses of crystal in war, which made them useful in the fight against the Ordnung.