Flights of Fanciful Fandom: Amber
Jul. 31st, 2024 11:02 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
rhodrymavelyneMost of my life I’ve taken flights of fanciful fandom.
I’ve lost track of the times I’ve gone to Oz or Wonderland as a child. I’m not sure if I was aware of the concept of fanfic until I was an adult. I imagined, talked, and roleplayed it, driving many people crazy as I dragged them into it with the enthusiasm of an obsessive. I played out crazy crossovers with a mixture of Star Wars figures, Smurfs, and Strawberry Shortcake miniatures.
I enjoyed reading fanfics and visualized my own, not quite daring to write any; not until Amber Diceless Roleplaying Game.
One of the ways to get extra character points was to write a journal for my character. Rowan, daughter of Deirdre (none of the male players got the Anne Rice reference, although they smirked whenever my character was around Martin) was fleshed out exquisitely.
I’ve returned to The Chronicles of Amber while keeping a promise I made to myself during lockdown; to return to the books I loved and write reviews for them. I was one of the few people who enjoyed the Merlin books as much as the Corwin books, although I needed the Corwin books to enjoy them. I needed to get to know Corwin and Brand first to appreciate the hungry holes of need they left in Merlin and Rinaldo’s lives, holes which would be a shared bond between the two young Amberites. I needed to encounter Dara with Corwin; appreciating her with, strength, and ambition to see what Merlin was grappling with, to catch a glimpse of what a forbidden passion as well as a power project the Silver Rose of Amber might be.
I’ve found myself writing fanfic about Dara along with some of the other women of Amber. Flora and Llewella have discovered voices which surprised me. I wonder about Nayda; once a more ambiguous life form being shaped into something more definite as Gail, finding herself trapped in a body. I consider the more sinister impression she must have of Mandor than Merlin does, not to mention Dara. I think of how much she impressed the Pattern, how interesting it would be if the ultimate entity of Order continued a more friendly relationship with this Chaos demon.
I find new characters popping into my head as I chortle over the stoned boys at the Wonderland bar; singing, watching the man paint while the Cheshire Cat grins. I imagine a non-binary bartender named Alys with the blood of Amber and Chaos, yet no knowledge of either Pattern or Logrus. All Alys knows is the mural, reflecting a shifting reality which they’re helping the man create. Sometimes Alys arm-wrestles visitors and borrows the Vorpal Sword to fight bandersnatches. They sport a bandersnatch tattoo, pouring drinks for Merle and Luke when they come to visit. They listen as the two kings get drunk and sing.
I find myself hanging onto Mandor’s every word as he wines and dines Merlin with such charm, courts Fiona, and entertains Jasra; all the while noting his casual mention of the hells he’s personally designed.
There’s so much potential in Amber and Chaos. It’s a creative cauldron of a vast array of worlds overlapping each other, sometimes shifting and changing along with their denizens.
How could I resist?
I’ve lost track of the times I’ve gone to Oz or Wonderland as a child. I’m not sure if I was aware of the concept of fanfic until I was an adult. I imagined, talked, and roleplayed it, driving many people crazy as I dragged them into it with the enthusiasm of an obsessive. I played out crazy crossovers with a mixture of Star Wars figures, Smurfs, and Strawberry Shortcake miniatures.
I enjoyed reading fanfics and visualized my own, not quite daring to write any; not until Amber Diceless Roleplaying Game.
One of the ways to get extra character points was to write a journal for my character. Rowan, daughter of Deirdre (none of the male players got the Anne Rice reference, although they smirked whenever my character was around Martin) was fleshed out exquisitely.
I’ve returned to The Chronicles of Amber while keeping a promise I made to myself during lockdown; to return to the books I loved and write reviews for them. I was one of the few people who enjoyed the Merlin books as much as the Corwin books, although I needed the Corwin books to enjoy them. I needed to get to know Corwin and Brand first to appreciate the hungry holes of need they left in Merlin and Rinaldo’s lives, holes which would be a shared bond between the two young Amberites. I needed to encounter Dara with Corwin; appreciating her with, strength, and ambition to see what Merlin was grappling with, to catch a glimpse of what a forbidden passion as well as a power project the Silver Rose of Amber might be.
I’ve found myself writing fanfic about Dara along with some of the other women of Amber. Flora and Llewella have discovered voices which surprised me. I wonder about Nayda; once a more ambiguous life form being shaped into something more definite as Gail, finding herself trapped in a body. I consider the more sinister impression she must have of Mandor than Merlin does, not to mention Dara. I think of how much she impressed the Pattern, how interesting it would be if the ultimate entity of Order continued a more friendly relationship with this Chaos demon.
I find new characters popping into my head as I chortle over the stoned boys at the Wonderland bar; singing, watching the man paint while the Cheshire Cat grins. I imagine a non-binary bartender named Alys with the blood of Amber and Chaos, yet no knowledge of either Pattern or Logrus. All Alys knows is the mural, reflecting a shifting reality which they’re helping the man create. Sometimes Alys arm-wrestles visitors and borrows the Vorpal Sword to fight bandersnatches. They sport a bandersnatch tattoo, pouring drinks for Merle and Luke when they come to visit. They listen as the two kings get drunk and sing.
I find myself hanging onto Mandor’s every word as he wines and dines Merlin with such charm, courts Fiona, and entertains Jasra; all the while noting his casual mention of the hells he’s personally designed.
There’s so much potential in Amber and Chaos. It’s a creative cauldron of a vast array of worlds overlapping each other, sometimes shifting and changing along with their denizens.
How could I resist?
