Castle Settings

Play by post Amber game, now in progress
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Joshua
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Castle Settings

Post by Joshua »

So, I'd like some ideas for these.

Overall Themes
  • Dworkin seems to enjoy a set of 3 thrones (large central one, a smaller one on each side) in all formal occasions. They are almost never actually used.
  • There are many minor and major enchantments. While magic is difficult to work in Amber, that mostly means extra time and less offensive magic. For example: The stove in the Amber kitchen will ignite on its own and burns at an even temperature, but it still needs wood to actually cook.
  • Not all places in Amber are euclidean. Although, space doesn't turn itself in knots, there are plenty of places where there's an extra foot of space, or the room is short a similar amount.
Castle Amber
  • Is a large, stone medieval/renaissance castle mashup. Apparently, it's a pentagon, with 5 floors.
  • There are apparently minor enchantments to prevent it from being drafty.
  • Each Amberite has their own suite in the castle. All members of Tir-Na Nog'th have guest suites as they can't have permanent residence there.
  • A landing at the top of the castle has a staircase that appears at night that leads to Tir-Na Nog'th. If you enter the main gate, the main hall goes into a grand stair which takes you there.
  • The grounds are not yet formally kept.
  • There are pleanty of guard and servant's quarters.
  • There is a dungeon, or more specifically, an underground area that links to caves, one of which contains the pattern. (There's also a back-entrance to Ht'gon An-rit).
Tir-Na Nog'th
  • Only appears at night. Sundown to sunup.
  • Anything in the castle vanishes with it. Anyone in the castle does so. It comes back that night. There are rumors as to what happens to people, but it's not considered fatal. (Just traumatic.)
  • Servants generally prepare the castle every night.
  • There are suites for every member of Tir-Na Nog'th, although they generally don't stay there during the day.
  • The castle, while apparently made of stone, clearly floats without support. (There is empty air underneath it.) Several aspects of the castle also follow this rule.
  • In general, the castle is a circular ring around a central keep. The high towers are along the outer ring, with a series of floating garden platforms above the keep in a semi-recursive resemblance to how it floats above Amber.
  • Amid the floating gardens, the top-most platform only forms in moonlight and contains Tir-Na's pattern.
  • At least one tower (likely one that is towards the bay) has an extension that is not supported. (like something out of castlevenia.) Although it is clearly not long enough, it ends up over the bay.
Ht'gon An-rit (Try shouting it like a Klingon. It makes the lettering make more sense. And yes, the G and R are lower-case.)
  • It is a wooden rampart style fort set into the mountain. If you take the winding road from City Amber to Castle Amber, about halfway up, there is a fork that goes to Ht'gon.
  • It has a decent sized garden, mostly the herbs that Morgana uses.
  • It boarders the forest, and is nearby a clearing where several orcs, trolls and ogres have made camp.
  • It is built as a defensive structure for an empty amphitheater. For about an hour each day, the noon-day sun shows through the fort and traces a pattern on the floor.
  • Walls are a double-row of 2-foot diameter logs. Mild enchantments to prevent fires, with various spikes at the top.
Rebma
  • If you follow the main road from Castle Amber to City Amber, it goes strait through the city and into the bay. If you go into the bay at that point, it will lead you to Rebma.
  • Alternately, there is a staircase in a nearby building (probably a temporary shelter) that does down into the ground. It's relatively dry and opens eventually into the "air-breather" section of the city. Probably goes a half-mile down and about the same forward, under the bay.
  • Currently, most of the city is in a cavern that's sorta under the City of Amber. I am drawing a bit of inspiration from this picture. Imagine the water literally stops at the entryways due to magical surface tension. And the air entrance drops you off at the top of the cavern. In the main building shown.
  • The cave holds about 100,000 or so members, and is starting to be full. The rest are spilling out of the huge entrance to the cave (the opening is likely a mile across.) and I draw inspiration of what that will eventually look like from this picture.
  • Because Rebma doesn't currently have an Amberite leader, it has a steward. Since there has only been a steward for a few years (the city is 3 - 4 years old), there has not been time for that position to become corrupt.
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coldcandor
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Re: Castle Settings

Post by coldcandor »

This is likely populated by my recent playing of World of Warcraft, but my first thought is Naga architecture like you would find in Vashj'ir for Rebma. Perhaps that would give you a starting point, anyway.
Solten
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Joshua
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Re: Castle Settings

Post by Joshua »

Heretic Unclean!!! Actually, I have no idea what Naga architecture looks like, I'll google some pics.
Brian C
Needs a Guide
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Re: Castle Settings

Post by Brian C »

I like the idea of a city inside of a very solid sparkling crystal dome. It's weight controls the tide. At low tide it is floating on the water. At high tide it is below the water.
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Joshua
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Re: Castle Settings

Post by Joshua »

Updated some Rebma information. Reposted links to artwork that vanished.
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