Diner's of Amber Glossary

In Bley's own words

Black Zone Pact Instrument: This is the over all treaty name for vassal Kingdoms of Chaos.  It's their Golden Circle and their Golden Circle Signatory Treaty.   Abbreviated as BZPI, if you find yourself in a world boasting one of these just remember you are about as far from Amber as possible and only a few BZPI worlds have an Embassy of Amber.  Don't worry though, The Courts of Chaos does have an Embassy.  Good luck getting there.

Golden Circle Signatory Treaty:  This set of documents details the vassals and allies of Amber and creates the circle of worlds that have regular contact and arrangements with Amber.  Trade, migration, feudal duties, tourism, mutual military support, university alliances, sports teams, and judicial jurisdictions are all detailed in the Golden Circle Signatory Treaty.  And a vast amount more.   Generations of lawyers, kings, princes, despots and just about every class of sentient creature you can imagine has argued over the details of the GCST their rulers sign with the Court of Amber.  It would be easy to guess that vast libraries cover the subject in every realm that ever considered applying for one. 

Rest assured i can't do justice to the topic here.  But remember these things.  The GCST is to Amber what the BZPI is to the Courts of Chaos.  Realms that have ancient lines of proud kings and great nations will roll over like seaside tavern wenches at the mere suggestion that Amber might offer them one of these.  And lastly, a GCST kingdom knows that the old proverb applies when some one picks a fight with them.  They are not just picking a fight with them, but picking a fight with their whole family, including the deck of playing card demigods in the House of Amber.  It makes tiny Chihuahua nations bark loudly.

Travel Guides: One man's life experiences is another shadow's fictional novel.  Bummer.  See the Beleriand card for a conversation on travel guides.

Shade realms. Shade' is a term that has recently begun being used in Amber that has had considerable currency amongst sorcerers for centuries. It refers to shadows of the Pattern of Amber that are imperfect but are potent within their realms of origin. It is said that an Amberite can walk to a shadow where each of them is King of Amber or none of them are, or where other things have occurred. In theory there exist uncountable copies of the Pattern of Amber in these lesser realms.

Sometimes the denizens of these worlds find their way to realms the primal Amberites inhabit in Shadow. The theory is that each pattern in Shade contains a percentage of true pattern segments, reflecting the proximity to the reality of Amber. Practitioners of Sorcery from Shade kingdoms can become very powerful. Many can go toe to toe with those from the real Amber. The difference between Fiona of Amber and a Shade Fiona may be very small in practical terms and may matter even less if the Shade Fiona takes a disliking to someone.

Primal Beasts: : Shadow is vast but even it is a hierarchy of realms that spans from the Courts of Chaos to Amber.  At the pinnacle of the creations of the animal races rises one individual that harnesses great power.  The Unicorn of Amber and the Serpent of Chaos are Primal Beasts but there are others.  They have great power, can travel shadow and chaos, and sometimes become patrons of great realms, such as the unicorn did.  In the Jeweled Amber campaign several Primal Beasts played important roles.  Bear was the patron of Corwin's realm of Avalon. Ygg was the primal beast of Adrian's Mandalay. Tiger traveled with Borlak. Morgenstern is the Primal Horse and travels with Julian. The Butterfly, a large monarch, enjoys following Doria around, spoiling her goddess of death image.

Jurt or Gher: The referances to this comes in Borlaks letter to Random.   IT stats that he has no home but his horses saddle and a jurt on wheels.  This refers to a Mongolian dwelling called a Jurt, and not to Jurt, son of Sawall.

For more information on Jurts visit the Central State Museum of Kazakhstan

The Cousins:   The term 'Cousins' refers generally to the children of the princes and princesses of Amber, hence the grandchildren of Oberon.  Random issued a decree calling all the family members to bring the children they had stashed in shadow, and the children of other amberites that they knew about, to court.  There they were recognised, advised, trained to some degree, and otherwise made familiar with the Kingdom of Amber.  The shock of discovering that nearly all of the nine princes and their sisters, as well as the others of Oberon's blood but not brought to Amber, had a large brood of children was devestating to the mindset of the kingdom in general.  To the Princes it was more than just shocking. 

In general usage the children of Oberon are called Kinsman while their children are collectively called the Cousins, despite the number of generations separated from the Kinsman they may be...

Nationalities and their Nicknames:  Ok, this may come up so here we go.  Forgive me my elitism.   Calro-Kingdom of Calrabon. Dreanens-  The Kingdom of Dreana.  Dreanens are called that but if a Dreanen happens to be of the actual House of Brolic, its mentioned.

Sway:  Sway is a term used to explain where in the grand multiverse a particular veil is.  GCST and BZPI worlds are generally colse to their particulars.  But around Amber, Mandalay, and Chaos are vast realms that are heavily influnced by proximity.  These are the Sway worlds.

b12,b12, and out.  B12 is rumored to be a vitamin that can modify the effects of hallucinogenic drugs. The slogan was used in various shadows where overindulgence in such chemicals occurred.  Hallucinating is not wise for Amberites and other shadowwalkers.