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Duke Norris Aella Aledon
Cuidad Regina
Your Grace:
You had asked me to report on the peoples and the social order of this 'Amber' which some of the burghers of the city have asked to be permitted to trade with. I have traveled to their land with your traders and have begun my investigations. Attached are my preliminary impressions of this Amber whose ships have come to our port. May it please your grace, I intend to write more as I know more. I commend to you my nephew who carries this message back with him.
Your servant,
Jason DinAlt, Ducal Scout Service
The King of Amber, one Oberon, is an absolute monarch. His symbols are the Crown, the Scepter, and a ruby pendant known as the Jewel of Judgement. (The Jewel of Judgement is reputed to have sorcerous or mystical powers such as weather control and the ability to heal by touch, but I have been unable to confirm these rumors.)
Interestingly, it is claimed that Oberon has ruled Amber since time immemorial. There are no monuments to or obvious records of a predecessor.
There is no Queen of Amber at the current time. Oberon has married at least six times that we can determine, and has fathered at least one child in an extramarital union with a woman he did not later marry.
Best information suggests that the role of the Queen is strongly dependent on the personality of the King's wife. Paulette, Oberon's most recent Queen, seems to have had almost no role in politics. However, earlier Queens, such as Clarissa, Faiella, and Cymnea, seem to have taken a more active hand in matters that interested or concerned them.
Oberon seems to have approximately a dozen living children, the majority being sons. The major preoccupation of the princes seems to be rivalry over the unfilled position of Heir Apparent. Court gossip suggests that no fewer than three of Oberon's sons have died in infighting due to their ambitions. The princesses do not appear to be candidates for the throne themselves.
In jockeying for position, each of the princes maintains a retinue of companions and allies. Several of the princes have offices or positions, such as the Lord of Arden, a nearby wild wood, or Admiral in the Naval fleet. Those that have such positions have used them to reward their friends and political allies with lesser offices. They also sell offices when necessary for funds.
The princes and princesses also all travel extensively out of Amber, and in some cases have alliances with the merchant companies or houses of the city, probably as a means of gaining additional monies. Interestingly, none of the young royals ever seems to be short of coin or more than temporarily indebted to creditors.
Also interestingly, none of the princes or princesses is married. Only one, Prince Random, is known to have fathered a child. This was something of a minor scandal as the woman was the daughter of the queen of a neighboring kingdom. Neither he nor Oberon acknowledges the child, although his parentage is widely accepted.
The most reliable way to improve one's station or fortune in Amber is to befriend a prince. It's also a reliable way to ruin yourself, if you are allied with the wrong prince at the wrong time.
There are a limited number of major families with hereditary titles, such as Chantris and Feldane. These families vary in wealth and power, but have immense prestige, and are often called on to fill major political offices such as Chancellor when no prince of the blood will take them.
The Crown grants patents of nobility on occasion to those of proven worth. This seems to be either a reward for services rendered either militarily or politically. Patents of hereditary nobility are extremely rare.
The wife and children of a noble by patent automatically become citizens of Amber.
Amber's minor nobility, which includes both minor hereditary nobles and nobles honored with life patents, ranges across the economic and political spectrum from wealthy merchants whose efforts to enrich themselves have benefited the crown to impoverished nobles whose influence has declined over generations.
Presentation and attendance at Court are the right of nobles (both hereditary and life patents). In addition, the Court may also include Ambassadors from foreign lands, members of the royal service, and royal guests. Invitations to court are highly sought after, although most royal business seems to be conducted privately. However, court occasions such as grand balls are occasions to see and be seen and to politick with allies and enemies.
The royal service consists of a number of offices that collect taxes and tariffs, ensure the quality of weights and measures, regulate crafts, etc. These offices are fiefdoms of their office-holders, who are appointed by the crown, which in reality means the princes. Simony is common, and bribery an accepted way of life. However, the officeholders themselves seem to be reasonably honest, perhaps because the occasional corrupt or incompetent officeholder is stripped of citizenship and banished, if not hung.
The judicial service is comprised of circuit judges appointed by the crown. Most of them are minor nobles who fulfill their duties to the state in this fashion. Royal judges receive a stipend to remove the need for bribery (punishable by death) and are transferred among physical and duty circuits to prevent empire-building.
The merchant class has two goals: to make as much money as possible and to marry its daughters into the ranks of the hereditary nobility.
Merchants use provisions of Amber law that provide for limited liability to create houses or companies that assume the risks of loss while protecting the private fortunes of the merchants. In addition to the normal risks of overland and sea travel, there seems to be some additional concern about cargoes becoming lost. However, there is also an amazing level of optimism about the possibility of new trade routes, which seems to be borne out by an amazing variety of goods available in the markets and bazaars of the city.
The merchants also assiduously seek royal favor, which is required to open new trade routes and exclude other companies from them.
The fleets of the merchant houses are subject to wholesale impressment into the Amber Navy in time of war. While merchant ships are sometimes temporarily commandeered to assist in hunting down pirates and the like, few observers believe in the possibility of a crisis that might cause wholesale impressment.
The majority of those living in Amber are free citizens. A citizen is a man who has earned a patent of citizenship; is the wife of a citizen; or is the son or daughter of a citizen. Citizens maintain their birth and marriage records carefully because of the citizenship laws. Patents of Nobility, both hereditary and life, automatically grant citizenship.
Only Amber citizens can serve in the royal service, establish up a merchant company or house, join a craft guild, etc. Citizens also enjoy legal rights not afforded to foreigners, such as the right of residence in the city. Citizen status is therefore highly sought.
The Amber Navy is the predominant military service. It maintains a small number of warships and relies on commandeering the ships of the merchant marine. The Navy traditionally has one or more commanding Admirals of royal birth, a powerful supply bureaucracy, and excellent ships' crews. The Navy can entice the best sailors because it offers excellent wages, the chance at plunder, a good pension, and the hope of citizenship.
The crews of the merchant marine are of lower quality than the Naval crews, but are still quite good in many cases. There is also a huge fishing fleet that helps feed the residents of the city; the fishing sailors are of the lowest quality of any group. Amber has a large quarter that serves the needs of sailors on land, including many flophouses, taverns, and brothels. The most notorious tavern in the district is called Bloody Liam's.
Free yeomen are small farmers who make up the bulk of the local suppliers of food (other than fish). They are most often seen in the farmer's market.
Amber's population encompasses a huge number of foreigners who have gained permits to live here from the Crown. Foreigners who live in the city have fewer rights than citizens, but money is a palliative that smooths many ills for one not of Amber's birth.
Children of foreigners born in Amber are not considered natives of the city. However, it is possible for a foreigner to take service with the crown (normally in the Navy, the army, or with the Rangers) and earn a patent of citizenship after a period of work.
Amber allows indentured servitude.
Normally, indentured servants are debtors who volunteered to have their debts assumed by the Crown or a Crown agent (there are several merchant houses that have such businesses as a sideline). The period of indenture varies based on the size of the debt.
Indentured servants have definite rights under Amber law, including time off from labor, restrictions on working conditions, food and clothes to be provided as a condition of the indenture, and the possibility of a servant to purchase his own indenture or to prevent the resale of the indenture once established. The apprenticeship system for crafts in Amber also falls under the indentured servitude law.
However, the laws cannot be enforced well due to the size of the city. Prevention of cruelty and abuses to indentured services and apprentices is a major charitable pastime of Amber's noble ladies.
Serfs are peasants bound to the land of a hereditary lord. Like indentured servants, there are rules for their treatment which are not well-observed. However, the cause of serfs is not dear to the hearts of the ladies of Amber.
Serfs are not commonly found in the city save with the permission of their lord or in attempting to free themselves under the ten-years-and-a-day provision of Amber law regarding slaves.
Amber does not allow slavery within its borders. Under its laws, any man who lives there (legally or otherwise) for ten years and a day is free under Amber law, and can then begin the process of becoming an Amber citizen.
Slaves held by foreigners are not automatically freed under Amber law; however, resident foreigners are not permitted to keep slaves.
Some slave traffic does pass through Amber, although Amber does not have a slave market of any kind. Ending the Amber slave trade is another favored cause of Amber's ladies.