Shrines of the Courts of Chaos: A new power for Amber Diceless

Shrines of the Courts of Chaos

A New Power for Amber Diceless Roleplay

In his 'Merlin' saga, Zelazny describes a shrine-- apparently devoted to the then-missing Corwin-- and later implies that this shrine was somehow mystically involved with Corwin's imprisonment. Nothing more was ever revealed about the shrine's origin, function, or use.

When the time came for our group to address the issue in our game, this is what I came up with. It's worth noting that these Shrines don't serve a religious function in our game, despite their appearance or decor.

About the Shrines

Each Shrine is dedicated to a single individual, usually either a hated enemy or close ally of its builder. Individuals can own more than one Shrine, but each Shrine must be entirely devoted to a single subject. The construction and dedication of mystical Shrines is generally frowned upon in the Courts of Chaos, but the practice is more common than most inhabitants of the Courts would like to believe.

Chaosian Shrines serve as a focus, a tool which allows a shape-shifter to attune himself to the Psyche of the Shrine's subject. This attunement can be used to influence the subject-- either by gently shaping the subject's destiny, or through an attempt at outright control. While such Shrines are generally used to bring harm to an enemy, they can also be used to aid one's friends.

To use a Shrine for its intended purpose, one must first spend several hours of meditation there. This period of concentration allows the shape-shifter to alter his or her own Psyche, establishing a temporary link with the target. This link is needed to use any of the Shrine's other abilities.

It is helpful if the Shrine is decorated with relics or artifacts associated with its subject. These can range from personal items, to body parts (eccch!), to artistic depictions of the subject-- anything which can help the Shrine's owner achieve a mental link with the Shrine's subject.

Chaosian Shrine (20 Points):  A Shrine may be purchased once for each intended target. Basic or Advanced Shape Shifting is an absolute prerequisite for the Shrine's effective use.

Abilities Conferred by Chaosian Shrines

Sending of Omens:  The character can send omens and cryptic messages to the Shrine' subject. Such omens will always be vague and are often slightly menacing. The player decides what message he or she wants to convey through omens, and the Game Master decides what form the omen will actually take when it manifests to the Shrine's subject. The omen itself will only appear when the Shrine's subject is in Shadow-- Amber and the Courts are just too 'real' to be affected by this power.

Attunement to Subject:  The Shrine's owner develops a strong attunement to the Shrine's subject, and is able to sense whenever that individual is near. Even across Shadow, the character will have a vague sense of "Shadow direction" towards this individual, though this feeling is not defined enough to allow accurate tracking. When so attuned, the character will also know whenever the Shrine's subject is in danger. This attunement will gradually fade if not refreshed periodically, and is also temporarily severed if either party walks the Pattern or assails the Logrus.

Scrying:  From the Shrine itself, the character can spy on its subject, even across great distances or between distant Shadows. If the subject's Psyche is Amber or better, he or she will 'feel' the presence of the Shrine's owner, and will have a vague sensation of being watched.

Subject Discomfort:  Less an ability than a side effect, this is triggered whenever any of the above abilities are used. The Shrine's subject will begin to have premonitions of doom and gloom, and will have difficulty sleeping at night. Unchecked, this side effect can eventually lead to deep despair, which occurs even if the Shrine's owner is friendly towards the Shrine's subject.

Combining Chaosian Shrines with other Powers

When used by a powerful sorcerer or master magician, a Chaosian Shrine can be utilized with increased potency and effect:

Sorcery:  By first using the Scrying ability above, the sorcerer can use a custom spell to appear before the subject as a shadowy, ghostlike entity. This manifestation will be visible to everybody present with the Shrine's subject, and is vulnerable to both Psyche and magical attacks while this is the case. This is a two-way street, however, as the Shrine's owner can also use this ability to cast spells across Shadow at the location of the Shrine's subject. When the sorcerer is done casting spells, his or her ghostly apparition disappears and the sorcerer's consciousness returns to its physical body at the Shrine-- this ability cannot be used for Shadow travel.

Conjuration:  When used in conjunction with the Scrying ability described above, the character can summon creatures/artifacts to the subject's location.  This effectively allows the character to summon across Shadow.

High Compelling:  While using the Scrying ability, characters can achieve several powerful effects. First the character can reach across Shadow to affect the attitudes, emotions, and memories of any Shadow beings at the subject's location. The caster can also attempt, by engaging in a Psyche battle, to alter the emotions and memories of the subject itself.  The caster may also conjure beings with particular goals and emotions (see Conjuration, above) to the subject's location.  In addition, the Shrine's owner can attempt to Geas the subject with a successful Psyche battle.

Ruminations and Advice

After this power was introduced to one of my Amber campaigns, some interesting variations began to appear. One of my players began to develop an advanced form of this power. Another character devoted a Shrine, not to an individual, but to Castle Amber itself. A third player combined ownership of a Shrine with her Advanced Trump Artistry abilities in ways that I'd never envisioned when I first wrote these rules.

Your players will doubtless think of other, more dubious uses for this nefarious power; it is incumbent upon the Game Master to prevent Chaosian Shrines from becoming a "catch-all" power capable of overtaking the normal power levels of the campaign.  One important restriction is that each Shrine can only be dedicated to a single individual (or entity, as in the case of my character with a Shrine dedicated to Castle Amber); charging twenty points for a power which can only affect one other character in your campaign makes it an expensive point-buy and thus greatly limits the frequency with which it will be used.  Another brake that Game Masters can apply to this power is to require that any advanced Shrine powers be used in conjunction with its 'Scry' ability, which alerts the Shrine's subject if that individual has a Psyche rating of 'Amber' or above.

Although I originally designed the above rules to simulate Dara's Shrine to Corwin from the 'Merlin' books-- and therefore intended for Chaosian Shrines to play a somewhat sinister role in our campaign-- it's interesting to note that my players immediately subverted that idea. Once I'd demonstrated the power conferred through Shrines of Chaos in our game, the very first player character in our group to build his own Shrine dedicated it to King Merlin, to whom the player owed great personal loyalty. We quickly found that Chaosian Shrines could be used as a powerful form of defensive or protective magic as this character repeatedly saved Merlin from disaster, often doing so anonymously and from a distance, so that neither Merlin nor Merlin's enemies ever learned the identity of the King's true benefactor.