During the time of the Reconstruction in Amber, many of the blood of Amber found themselves cast off in Shadow...found themselves removed from their sources of power with no way of reclaiming them. One son of Amber, however, had already removed himself from Amber voluntarily, and found this period of chaos to be terribly opportune.
Scrying through the Jewel of Judgement, Meridian saw the close of the final battle of the Abyss War, and just before it ended, Trumped Gawain...compelled him to snatch the Jewel of Judgement, and then brought the Crown Prince of Rebma to Mellisondra. With Jewel in hand, Meridian began experimenting with some of his more esoteric theories on magic, and discovered a way by which he might restore some order to reality and elevate magic to a greater level.
With the Jewel, Greyswandir, and the sage advice of Gawain, he created the Magic Circle, a Pattern-like sigil that grants magical power and knowledge to anyone who assays it. In doing so, however, Meridian has changed the face of magic altogether. For now magic works only for those who have access to one of the greater powers, and in drawing the Magic Circle, he has weakened the power of Shadow Magic forever. True magic is now only available to those of the blood of Amber, or those who have walked the new Logrus...and all other sorceries must pale by comparison.
The Magic Circle originally lay in Mellisondra, a Shadow which was completely closed off from all reality by Meridian's use of the Jewel. Access could be gained in one of four ways: the mirror-gate created by Gawain (which led to one of the bedrooms in the Keep of Four Worlds), the Jewel of Judgement (and only if physically in the possession of the individual), the Abyss (for it is the nature of the Abyss to transcend all boundaries), and by invitation of Meridian himself. After Meridian disappeared, Gawain took advantage of his access, and with Edgar's help turned Mellisondra into a major pole of reality, based around the Magic Circle. He christened this new realm Arcana. Few have taken the Circle since without Gawain's permission.
Essaying the Magic Circle grants an individual the following powers, which might be considered Basic powers of the Magic Circle. Advanced powers are still in development.
| The Magic Circle | ||
| Sorcery | ||
 |
Sorcery | 15 |
 |
Advanced Sorcery | 10 |
|
Cross-Shadow Transportation | 5 |
|
Cross-Shadow Communication | 5 |
| Conjuration | ||
|
Conjuration | 20 |
|
Basic Conjuration | 5 |
|
Conjure Shadow Shape | 5 |
|
Complex Conjuration | 5 |
|
Empowerment | 5 |
Sorcery (15) - Sorcery is discussed on pages 60-64 of Amber DRPG.
Advanced Sorcery (10) - Advanced Sorcery gives the sorcerer the ability to make spells function across Shadow. Cross-Shadow Transportation allows the sorcerer to teleport to known places, or to teleport objects/beings to known places. Cross-Shadow Communication grants the ability to use sorcery to communicate with others. Possessing this level of sorcery is also indicative of a great deal of skill on the sorcerer's part, and as such spell-casting will be much faster than normal.
Conjuration (20) - Conjuration is discussed on page 65 of Amber DRPG. Partial powers are not generally allowable for Conjuration, though it is possible to take only Empowerment. Conjuration allows characters to create objects of up to 4-point qualities. Casting time is one hour per quality point.
All text on this page is © 1997-2000 by Matthew Richardson and Kris Fazzari.
Last modified on August 31, 2000 by Kris Fazzari.
