Golden Circle

The Golden Circle Signatory Treaty is a mutual defense treaty as well as a trading alliance. It clearly states that this treaty does not annex the kingdoms, each retaining their individual government, but this does not stop considerable influence on governmental forms, civil rights, monetary systems, and mercantile and industrial concerns from Amber on the signatory kingdoms.

Tourism is a significant element amongst the GCST kingdoms. Many Natives come to Amber to live. Military personnel from GCST kingdoms frequently volunteer to serve in the Amber military, benefiting from the advanced training available and return to their homelands far better prepared. Many of the officer corps of the GCST kingdoms are Amber vets.

Some GCST kingdoms provide vast numbers of soldiers. Calrabon provides a full 1/7^th of Amber's military. Thulusia provides a 10th. Dreana or the House Brolic provide 1/20^th. Vulsar and the worlds in the Amber Federation of Planets provide 90% od the Star Fleet personnel.

The treaties between Amber and the Golden Circle states include a number of standard clauses, mostly involving military matters:

• Amber has the right to move troops into and through the place without prior notification.
• Amber commits itself to protect the place against threats both internal and external.
• The place commits to provide Amber with troops in case of need.
• Native troops receive advanced training from Amber professionals.
• They have embassies of Amber in their capitals, and embassies of their own in Amber.

A number of shadows, all the way to the limits of the shadow paths which run out from Amber, contain Amber Navy bases, where the ships of the Navy can be repaired and re-provisioned, and their crews rest between missions. Some of them are large enough to be cities in their own right, and many of them contain shipyards where navy vessels are actually constructed using methods which do not function in Amber itself.

A smaller number of shadows contain parts of Amber's land forces (distinct from the Arden Rangers). These facilities tend to be smaller in size, and more temporary in nature, being moved around in response to the changing political climate of the Golden Circle shadows.

Because of the way in which the army of Amber depends on shadow forces to make up its numbers, people from the Amber military are often rotated out into shadow to train and increase the compatibility between the militaries of Amber and shadow. Likewise, military commanders from shadow are often rotated into Amber to train and learn.

It seems to be almost a law of nature that creatures, and sometimes entire armies, occasionally come out of shadow and attack Amber. During Patternfall the frequency of these incursions, and the distance from Amber where these creatures originated, both became greater, apparently due to the effects of Corwin's blood curse.

Another strange situation is that forces sometimes assault Amber for reasons those in amber are unaware of. Sometimes shadows of Amber are less kind than Random's Amber, and coalitions of forces combine and try to shift shadow to attack their enemy, and seeking Amber so devoutly, they come to the real Amber and not the Amber that is their actual antagonist. This situation, more frequently causes disruptions, not in Amber, but in Golden Circle worlds, because armies seeking Amber unwittingly find allies of Amber, thinking them allies of their enemy-Amber, they attack. This cosmological confusion is very distressing and frequently difficult to explain assaulting troops bent on destruction. The Moonriders of Genesh may well have been attackers with this problem. They attacked with great might and destruction, unprovoked, nearly destroying their army for reasons those in Amber could never discover.