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Corwin's pattern was created in a time of great stress, during the time of flux after Oberon's repair of the Pattern of Amber, in the regions near Chaos within the Shadowlands. A pattern is the center is of one complete set of Infinity. This paradox is difficult to comprehend but remains true. It is also considered to be slightly less powerful than the Pattern of Amber because it was not created in the void of the stuff of chaos.
Corwin's Pattern is different in configuration from that of Amber. Dworkin believes this is because the creation of Amber was a considered act, planned, and carefully executed, while Avalon was an act of desperation.
There are no shadow paths connecting Avalon to Amber. This means that access is highly restricted.
No-one is sure whether Corwin's Pattern can be walked by any Amberite, or only Corwin and his descendants. The only ones so far to assay it were either of Corwin's blood or did so as adopted agents of the Pattern.
The City of Avalon
The city of Avalon is much like Paris. A city of wide streets, cafes, statues, and fountains. It came into being at the time of the forging of the pattern and is based on the thoughts Corwin had during the act. It is lightly populated at this time. Also the Pattern itself is not inside any building but is in the center of a huge garden park similar to the Luxembourg Gardens.
Luxembourg Gardens
Luxembourg Gardens is a massive complex of parks, fountains, statues, monuments, game fields, gardens, marry-go-rounds, amusement park ride, manicured forests and community vegetable and fruit gardens. This is the public park all other public parks in Avalon are shadows of. Trysts are as likely as duels here, so benches will be filled with lover, painters at their easels and duelist in the greenways.
The center of the Luxembourg is the First Shadow of the Pattern itself. Viewable by the public raised walkways and small seating areas. The whole area around the pattern feels new, fresh and unused.
An oddity of vast complexity is that the Luxembourg Gardens exists in hundreds of shadows, simultaneously. People seem to believe what they see to be of the tech levels they expect to see. Visitors to Paris- circa 1600 see a merry go round turned by hand cranks, while Amberites see it is powered by magic.
House of All Known Things is next to the Luxembourg. This is a massive building that is part library, part museum, part restaurant, part theater. It houses a staff of 15000 people.
The climate is somewhat more extreme than that of Amber, but still reasonably hospitable. The land is always green, even under the snow; in the summer the plains are dotted with wild flowers of all kinds (with poppies and cornflowers predominating), and the air is filled with the scent of roses. Around the Pattern itself the snow never lays, and the grass is always green, short, and neatly trimmed, like a lawn.
The city came into creation fully complete, the first shadow of Avalon, thus allowing unbelievably detailed statuary and architecture. Surrounding the city I s a mighty wall., 30' tall 20' thick. It is crenalated and ornately carved with bas-relief representing periods in Corwin's life. Armored beast statues kneel a top the walls on each crenaletion and giant Angel winged furies grace each corner. Statues in a serious pose occur every 10 crenelations. These represent his brothers and sisters. None looking pleased to see him. Random first noticed that the faces seem to display some look of displeasure that they had actually shown to Corwin in the past.
The beasts and the furies are said to animate and fight if the city is threatened.
The Pattern Plain
Surrounding the city is a lush meadow land that cries out for the plow. Ample water ways, provide both transportation and drinking water. copses of trees scattered widely provide fruit and shade. This region extends for 500 miles in all directions from the Pattern. 17 major rivers flow across the plain, accepting tributaries. 3 of the rivers are massive. One flows throng h the city itself.
The Woodlands
Beyond the Pattern Plain lays a 300 mile wide belt called the Woodlands. This hilly region of trees, low hills, short mountains and uncountable waterways is lushly populated with animal life.
The Circling Ridge
Surrounding the Pattern Plain is the Circling Ridge. 300 miles of rugged mountains. there are 3 average heights. Eight thousand feet, fourteen thousand feet, and twenty-five thousand feet. They are mixed in an impassable manner. There are three passages through the mountains; Passage road, The River Whip. and the Corwin's Crossing.
Passage Road is a divide in the Circling Ridge on the western side at the 3000' level. Cols are at 3500',5000', and 6200'. The Passage road is liberally spotted with convenient way stations inns, towns as well as the cities of Genoa and Kyber.
The River Whip juts from the ocean through the Circling Ridge, the woodlands, and across the Pattern plain to Divide the City Avalon and terminates at Lake Sound and the Wishing Bridge in the Luxembourg Gardens.
Corwin's Crossing is a treacherous and dangerous route. Little more than a foot path much of the way. Beginning at the Cliffs of the East it weaves a tangled and frequently broken route through the Circling Ridge. It terminates midway through the Woodlands at the city of Fort. This route is a known path but it is not recommended.
The 1500 mile route has 12 cols in the following order; 100', 300',900', 14k, 500', 6,580', 17k, 12k,-60',500', 15k', 9k'. Note the -60. This is Dworkin's Ass. the trail drops to -300 for two hundred miles. Heavy rains frequently drown Dworkin's Ass under a 500' deep lake 5 miles wide and 400 miles long. This trail was found by Corwin during the early days of the exploration of the Avalon realm. He essentially wandered the mountains for an age learning their ways. There are only 4 way points on the Crossing, more military post then.
The trail is deceptively short on the map. It contains numerous cut backsof short distances to ascend and descend the heights adding to its distance
On the Fort side of Carl's Col is a trail to the House of Longing
The Plain of the Primal Pattern of Avalon
Originally Corwin's Pattern was out in the open in the middle of a large, barren plateau. When Corwin and Fiona returned, it had turned into a verdant, temperate, flat grassy plain, dotted with rocky outcroppings (many covered with large thickets of wild roses, up to 5m tall, though there are 'free standing' ones too), streams and small ponds, and inhabited only by herds of wild horses (mainly of a unique rose-gray breed). The only visible tree was the one Corwin planted from a branch of Ygg. About ten miles to the west of Corwin's Pattern, the plateau on which it lies drops off to a milky-blue sea.
History
Shortly after Patternfall, the Elders returned to Amber, partly at the request of King Random. Corwin traveled to his Pattern with Fiona, and some troops, and had a small castle built there, next to the Pattern, out of some rosy-gold local stone. (he did want to immediately go and explore what he had created right away, but Random was able too persuade him to wait for at least a while, and to defend the place, before doing so).
The tree Corwin planted had grown nearly to full size when they arrived, and like Ygg, does seem sentient and capable to speech, though in general it doesn't say much. It calls itself Drasil. It is obviously the same species as Ygg, but is taller and much more vital-seeming.
While there, Fiona studied Corwin's Pattern, and Drasil, and drew some Trumps which seemed capable of reaching all the way there from Amber, though, as in Amber they seem not to work right next to the Pattern. Also like Amber, Magic above the level of power words does not work near Corwin's Pattern.
In the eastern reaches of the Woodlands next to the Circling ridge is a pleasant area called Nel's Brook. This is a hot spring resort that starts at a volcanically heated lake that spills over boiling hot water into an outlet that b a series of short falls pools in a vast number of other smaller pools, each heated enough to maintain their temperature. The temperature of the pools decrease but the region is lush with water.
A massive great Hall nearby is overseen by Lady Nel Rys. A sensualist of the first order, an Elven princess of Corwin's acquaintance. She greets people and conducts them to the various pools.
Small bungalows spot the dense forest near the base of the brook where it leaves the pools and flows on to become a tributary of the Whip River.
This is a sad place, a representation of Corwin's own sense of loss at the time of the forging. This is a lonely place; a vast complex of Japanese style edition spaces and private monastic cells deep in Circling Ridge.
To reach the House one leaves Fort on Corwin's Crossing toward the sea. 100 miles in is Carl's Col at 9' feet. follow the trail north and up to a trail at 10k' that crosses the top of several rises and depressions for 20 miles to descend into a small ringed valley at 3k'. From this rises The Mountain of Failure, a conical mountain rises to 9k'. It is surrounded by a heavily forested ring 4 miles wide. The bungalows, meditation spaces and single person dwellings ring the mount at various heights. ___> The climb is part of the act of longing.
In the House, witch is interconnected by stairways, walkways, sweeping paths and bridges. The protocol of the place is that if a person does not meet your eyes you may not talk to them.
H
In the Silver Ring is an improbably odd construct, a massive dwelling with thousands of rooms, used mainly as storage and bivouac zones for the equally bizarre purpose of the providing travelers with thousands of mundane items at need. The is the House of Useful Things.
Within are rooms kept constantly full of fresh fruits, meats, drink, deserts, and spices. Also music rooms, pipe room, weapon rooms and armories.
To access these rooms there are trumps, rings, and other methods to open a portal to the room. A hand is stuck in, an item willed to the hand, then it can be removed. It does not allow full body transport no mater the size of the person.
The House of Glee is a Tavern of epic proportion, the Beerhall of Corwin's dreams. a massive square long log-constructed edifice with 5 floors and onsite brewing facilities.
The house of Glee is on Passage road in the city of Kyber.
Shadows near Avalon
Around the center of Avalon are a series of shadows loosely called the Silver Ring. Since the pattern is relatively new only a few have a fully developed culture. Many worlds bear a clear stamp of being "New" worlds.
Several shadows bare a curious blend of elements from Corwin's past; having been clearly created out of whole cloth to the knowledgeable observer. yet the inhabitants claim rich and confusing histories and ancient ancestors yet some cataclysmic event plainly marks a before and an after.
Paris is one of the most prominent. This Paris is a new place by the feel yet came into being in 1575 of France.