History - Civil Blood

"History will be kind to me, for I intend to write it."
W. Churchill

A more detailed history of the time up to and including the Second Rebellion may be found in the old New Mutiny page.

Ancient Times

Oberon ruled Amber since before the time of well-recorded history. Before him, there was but myth, and even in myth, Oberon stands large. We have a year of his reign &emdash 2,496 was the last &emdash but the number is meaningless.

Historical records for Amber begin at roughly the same time as the First Rebellion, in which Osric and Finndo rose up against their father and his one loyal son, Benedict. Their rebellion was crushed.

Oberon had many more children, all of them but the last, Mirelle, living to the end of his reign. As the Family grew, their attentions grew ever more focused on who would succeed Oberon, with Corwin and Eric leading the rivalry.

Oberon was captured by the forces of the Dark Circle of Garnath, and Corwin and Eric ignored the threat as their quarrel spun out of control into war. Alone of the family, Oberon's seventh son Brand sought out his captured father, and freed him. Oberon returned to Amber and rallied the Family and what defenses remained, and he took his red jewel and entered the Dark Circle, saying to his children that if he did not return, Brand should succeed him.

The Dark Circle closed, and Oberon was never seen again.

Brand's Reign

The first hundred years of Brand's reign were a time of wonder, as the Family worked together as never before, laying the groundwork for much of what Amber has become. Brand founded Ejienne, expanded the Golden Circle, built the Great Aquaduct, married first Lyda of Arezia and then Moire of Rebma, and sired Lot and Mordred.

But Brand's dark preoccupations eventually began to get the better of him. He anulled his marriage with Lyda and disowned Lot. His great works started to fall by the wayside. He quarreled with Eric, until then his staunchest supporter and right-hand man.

Finally, in the 210th year of his reign, Brand ordered the razing of a small town called Vahki, which had rioted against its garrison. Unbeknownst to Brand, Vialle, Eric's wife, was visiting a friend in that town, and she was caught in a burning building. Blind, and thus unable to use Trumps, she died the in the fire.

Eric and his son Tsark demanded Brand's crown. Brand refused to abdicate. And thus the Second Rebellion began.

The Second Rebellion

The Rebels were Eric, Tsark, Corwin, Orlando, Lot, Random, Martin, Caine, Miriam, and Deirdre. They encircled and invaded Amber, and, eventually, lost the war. Flora was killed during the war, and blame has traditionally, though equivocally, been laid at Deirdre's feet. Benedict killed Corwin, and Lot killed Bleys. Jonas killed Miriam, apparently accidentally.

As Benedict, who entered the Loyalist side late, systematically crushed the Rebel armies, Random arrived at a deal with Brand, and betrayed the Rebels. He helped capture Eric and Deirdre, then Caine. Tsark was brought in by holding Eric hostage, and the others rebels either remained at large or brokered deals of various sorts.

Tsark, Caine, and Deirdre were placed under relatively comfortable house arrest. Eric was blinded with hot pokers and placed in Amber's dungeons. And, for a full century, things were quiet.

The Brothers' War

As a dragon attacked Amber for the first time in milleniae, Deirdre broke Eric out of Amber's prisons, and the Brothers' War began. Eric, who had regenerated his eyes, escaped far out into Shadow, where he recruited the enigmatic force known as the Second Worlders. Slowly at first, and then in increasing numbers, the Rebels resumed their cause, eventually numbering Eric, Tsark, Lot, Deirdre, Caine, Orlando, Martin, and Grayson.

The rebels struck and early, heavy blow by ambushing Brand as he attempted to steal a march in the night. Deirdre and Orlando fell upon his forces, and Orlando killed Brand. Mordred assumed his father's throne amidst concern that he was too inexperienced for the role.

Perhaps in retaliation, Jonas and Eleanore, shortly thereafter, found and assassinated Eric out in Shadow. Ironically, it was Mordred's elder brother Lot who took leadership of the rebels, and it was well known that in matters of war, Lot was far superior to his brother.

As the war raged more and more fiercely, closer to Amber, Family-members met each other several times in battle, particularly on the naval front, and finally Tsark met and killed Jonas in retaliation for his father's death. Orlando was briefly captured in a fight which wounded Eleanore and Random, but Tsark led a raid which freed him shortly thereafter.

It was in this time-period that Victoria, Grayson, and Gawain put themselves into the public view, having previously been unknown. Victoria and Gawain eventually joined the Loyalist side, while Grayson took up the Rebel cause.

Finally, in a disasterous battle in Arden, the short hiatus of inter-Family killing ended. Julian, Victoria, Eleanore, Gawain, and Gerard came together on the loyalist side, facing off against Lot, Deirdre, Tsark, and Orlando. Tsark Trumped away from the engagement, but Gerard and Deirdre ended up in single combat. Deirdre cut off Gerard's leg seconds before Gerard knocked her out. Meanwhile, Julian was flanked and cut down by a group of mortal lancers, but Lot was captured and Trumped back to Castle Amber. However, Orlando managed to catch onto Lot just as he Trumped back to Mordred, and Orlando, in a desperate attack, managed to kill Mordred.

Orlando and Lot received Mordred's Blood Curse, and it appears that Lot lost his mind to it, for a few weeks later he fought and killed Benedict (who had remained neutral in the war, and was, by all reports, simply trying to find Lot and ensure that he lived). With this, both the Loyalists and the Rebels had lost their second leaders, as it became obvious even to the Rebels that Lot could not become King.

At the end, the Family, perhaps shocked by the dead, came together and mutually agreed to end the hostilities. Tsark took the throne, but the Rebel cause per se seems to have fractured at that point.

Tsark

In the fifty years since Tsark assumed the throne, Amber has suffered a mild decline. Facing a newly semi-autonomous Duchy of Garnath, the problems with integrating the Second Worlders into Amber, a war-ravaged Golden Circle, and Amber's increasing monster troubles, Tsark never enjoyed the support of the full Family.

Now, as the Brothers' War recedes into the distance of two generations, and as Tsark's sons are increasingly able to take some of the burden from him and his wife, Amber seems poised to re-emerge into its traditional power, and it's this potential that incites new trouble from the Golden Circle and the other realms surrounding the True Realm.