Amber: Ramius' Diary

[sobrique]

Interesting times in Castle Amber.

The meeting with Caleb was interesting. It's always worthwhile watching a diplomat at work. I'm not entirely convinced about their angle mind you - I suppose granting concessions will make the gentleman in question a little more friendly, but it didn't actually seem to accomplish anything. Well, not for Amber.

I'm sure membership of the golden circle was quite an interesting prospect for Caleb. I'm not so sure why the Princes just gave it away. There's got to be more going on there.

The subsequent meeting with Roderigo I understand was most profitable. I believe he had a private conference with Tremayne, before speaking with the rest of us, before doing the "Git offa moi land" speech.

I've extended an invitation to visit the courts, in the interests of improving relations. There's still rumours of 'diplomatic incident' between Amber and Chaos, but until then, I shall be doing what I can to minimise the chances.

I had something of a pleasant chat with Orinda, and later the Volki Ambassador to Amber. We discussed briefly the possibilities retaining their services, and of them sending an emissary to the courts. Which reminds me, I must remember to get in touch to enquire.

The latest gossip around the palace is that Xavier has remarkably effectively offended the Lady Mordana. I believe the phrase was "She looks rather nice, in the right light". Or something approximately similar. Certainly there's rumours of large amounts of furniture destruction. Mordana always was a little touchy, but now it seems that she's planning to kill Xavier after getting married.

Actually, a certain amount of me wonders if that wasn't the plan all along. Whatever fondness she may have had for Xavier, the marriage as definitely a political move, in much the same way as Marekha's declaration for Tremayne.

That rumour has almost overshadowed the increasing rumours of Tremayne's duel with Varis. I must confess, I'm considering intervening - Varis is far from unskilled with a blade (well, he was better than I when last we tried) but I don't think he can beat Tremayne. It may be to his advantage to find a pretext for retiring from the fight.

The difficult part is in finding a pretext that'll satisfy Marekha that her honour was upheld. Perhaps arranging an attempt on his life will be sufficient. Of course, careful consideration must be made as to what impact that would have on the political situation. And attempted assassination would have a clear and obvious suspect, and war between chaos and amber is not a desirable state of affairs.

Perhaps, that suggests that having Tremayne honourably forfeit would be an appropriate solution. The Volki did mention that Lucian was remarkably talented in that area. I wonder how he'd deal with a specification to 'disable' rather than kill Tremayne. That armour he uses is a minor constraint, the regeneration belt would have to dealt with to put him out of the fight.

Never mind, I have a day or so to ponder the matter.

My recent research project moves on somewhat. It seems someone (Dworkin perhaps) has done some very interesting reconfiguration of the local physics. In shadow, without exception, there's a certain commonality to physical patterns. Action and reaction. Energy transfers. Particle energy states. These are all present, although their nature may vary radically.

Thus the various states of elemental matter vary greatly, and thus reactivity.

Amber, however, the nature of matter appears to be altered. There are no high energy states of matter. Reaction rates are all damped. And the simplest of reactions, such as pressure accumulation within a container do not produce the probable effect. My observations along this line are of a wine bottle. Whilst the water within boiled and produced a pressure surge, the bottle itself did not breach as one might expect in the common physical analogue, instead the bottle cracked and vented.

Not precisely what I expected - the plumbing in the castle has provision for pressure venting. Water can definitely boil, since this is essential for a decent cup of tea.

More investigation is needed here. Someone has set a puzzle, that I find most intriguing.

It seems that chemical and physical reactions are suffiently damped that they are non-viable.
So an internal combustion engine stops functioning, because the petroleum spirit does not combust.
Electron energy states are depleted, meaning that electronic/electrical equipment doesn't work.
Sorcerous power is an energy state manipulation, making it marginally more effective. This does not change the fact that the base line is sufficiently low that anything other than a skilled sorceror will not be able to do much. (And if they are more able, then they're better of using sorcery than crude weaponry)
I have, however, seen the castle guards carrying crossbows. (OC: I think ;p)

My next line of investigation, I think shall be energy transfers from elasticity. I'm assuming that elastic properties of common materials cannot have been altered overly - that would lead to a large number of brittle and fragile weapons and bed-springs.

I may have to investigate some kind of conjuration manipulation to produce a high energy spring. Crossbows and Longbows appear to work, but they are far too cumbersome to make effective weapons. It appears that steam pressure is viable as a source of power, I seem to recall some innovations amongst the steam micro-technology areas.

I would have thought that a 5kJ spring, would prove sufficient. This should generate a muzzle energy approximately comparable to sniper rifle. Consideration will have to be given to the mechanical inefficiencies, since excessive energy disipation will not do.

It will also prove somewhat difficult to re-cock the spring, without a winch mechanism, although perhaps a mini-steam drive would suffice. The rate of fire would not be great, but would certainly mean that standard musketeer/sniper tactics became viable at a lower basic technology paradigm than they are currently. Perhaps some kind of magical/conjuration manipulation would help here, but that unfortunately suffers from the same problems - the energy states are not sufficient to produce more than a damp squib.

Oh yes, I suspect an Amberite (or Lord of Chaos) would be able to cock a high energy spring. They're not typically all that constrained on the battlefield though. I doubt I'll find one willing to act as a 'spring musket reloaded'. Although perhaps one of the Demons could be imposed upon. One of the stronger shifters with multiple arms.

I think I need to find myself a tool to accelerate the research process. I wonder if I can impose upon Suhuy to teach me conjuration.



(Other Ramius stuff is here)