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When I wrote the introduction to the first edition of this tome in the days and months immediately following the coronation of Oberon's son, the late King Eric, it was clear that Amber was at a cusp in her long history. A new era was beginning, one which saw a new, young King and, at least superficially, a new rank of leaders amongst the nobility. There were uncertainties and dangers; Eric had put down an invasion by two of his brothers and was beginning to react to the incursions along the Black Road and the destruction of Garnath. For many though, it was also a time of new beginnings and new opportunities for the ambitious to break the deadlocks of generations of Oberon's rule. We were later to discover that it was a false dawn preceding the true one.
This edition expands the previous one by adding a sketch of the events from the coronation of Eric to the departure of the hosts of Amber to do battle with our enemies. While I know more now than I did then, I have endeavored to only correct gross mistakes.
As with the previous edition, I do not know if anyone other than my patron will ever read this book. However, if some child of mine someday becomes curious about the end of Oberon, then she will at least have this.
--Cambina of Amber, Castle Amber
Here I will briefly summarize some of the additional material that has come to light and that I have incorporated into the second edition of my work.
At the height of the troubles, Corwin simply vanished. At first it was assumed he'd taken off into Shadow, as was his occasional wont, but then rumors trickled down into the streets that he was dead, and Oberon was simply refusing to admit it. Several of the princes left Amber, ostensibly to search for Corwin, but all of them returned empty-handed. Some months later, with Corwin still missing, Oberon and Eric were rumored to have had a quarrel in which Oberon told his son that no fratricide would take the throne of Amber.
During the next several years, Corwin's court party disintegrated, although a number of his partisans attached themselves to his sister Deirdre. Seven years after his disappearance, Oberon declared Corwin dead. A small memorial for family and a few close friends was held, and a cenotaph was constructed on the grounds of the castle.
Even after the declaration of Corwin's death, Oberon refused to name an heir, perhaps all too aware of what had happened to the last son he had favored. Oberon also continued to travel secretly out of Amber on an intermittent basis.
Over the next several decades, the princes fell into two major factions: Eric's faction on one hand, and Bleys' faction on the other. The two factional leaders assiduously courted their siblings. Those who chose not to partake in the factions -- Benedict, Random, Llewella, and Flora -- simply retired from Amber and traveled in Shadow.
Bleys' faction was led by his full siblings Fiona and Brand. Eric recruited Julian and courted Caine and Gerard to counter the redheads. But before Eric could secure the loyalty of his brothers, Oberon disappeared into Shadow as Corwin had before him.
Following Oberon's disappearance, strange things began to attack Amber. Some suggested it was a prelude to another attack by the Moonriders or the Weir. Within six months, Caine had allied himself with Eric and Eric named himself Regent.
The declaration of a regency in Oberon's absence provoked serious unease in the court, unease which permeated the city. Even with Julian, Caine, and now Gerard firmly behind him, Eric's hold on Amber was considered weak. Not only was he a suspected fratricide, he had profited too handily from his father' sudden disappearance, and more than half of his siblings had simply vanished from Amber.
It was at about this time that a royal embassy came from Rebma, stating that Random had married a Rebman noblewoman named Vialle. But the most interesting thing about the embassy was the gossip that it brought with it -- that Corwin had accompanied his younger brother to Rebma, and had again vanished without a trace. The fact that Eric was sporting fencing injuries at the time only fueled the gossip.
What information is available about the attack by Bleys and Corwin on Amber suggests that they started with more than a quarter-million men. What amazes the astute reader is not that they failed, but that they came so close to succeeding.
The details of the land campaign are covered best in The Ardenic Wars by Yarken of the Northern Marches, who served as a senior staffer and war-leader under Julian. The naval campaign is covered in the three-volume memoir of Captain Holdsclaw of the Amber Navy.
At the end of their final thrust, Bleys and Corwin fought their way up the stair of Kolvir nearly to the gates of the castle. Bleys was thrown from the steps and presumed dead; Corwin was captured by the Royal Guard and imprisoned.
Following the failure of the assault on Kolvir, Eric crowned himself King of Amber. Afterwards, he ordered Corwin blinded and cast into the dungeon. Corwin was seen only at the first few anniversary celebrations of Eric's coronation. Despite Corwin's elimination as a political force, he still garnered a great deal of sympathy from the people of the city, as witnessed by the popularity of the Ballad of Bloody Kolvir.
Several months after Eric's coronation, he was the subject of an assassination attempt by Random. Random was imprisoned, but the diplomatic nicety of his marriage to a Rebman noblewoman spared his life. His wife Vialle elected to join him and was permitted to do so after extensive negotiation between Moire and Eric.
Random's failed assassination attempt ended all thoughts of opposition among Eric's brothers and sisters. With Corwin and Random imprisoned and Bleys dead, there was no focus for discontent with Eric. Even Fiona was seen in Amber, perhaps seeking a sub rosa reconciliation with the new King.
The achievement of familial harmony allowed Eric to turn his attention to a more pressing threat: the black roads that had begun to run through Shadow and eventually into Garnath itself. Gerard and Julian disappeared for some time, and were rumored to have been slain by denizens of the road, but this proved false.
The details of the campaign are omitted here, but those interested should refer to Guerrilla Days in Garnath, also by Yarken of the Northern Marches.
Benedict, who had been believed dead, reappeared at this climactic moment as the marshal of Amber's troops. Since his departure from Amber, Benedict had suffered a serious injury that cost him part of his right arm, but it had left his strategic and tactical skills unimpaired.
The tide of the battle was decisively turned by a second surprise: the return of Corwin, this time with troops armed with working guns, the first that had ever been seen in Amber. The riflemen were able to defeat the forces of the Black Road, but at a high cost: Eric was killed in the attack.
Eric had ruled for five years. His death left Corwin as the uncrowned King of Amber.
Corwin's sudden ascension caused an immediate reshuffling in the power structure of Amber. Random, Deirdre, and Corwin's foreign aide were in favor, and Julian, Caine, and Gerard were out of favor.
With Corwin's riflemen still quartered in the city, word came from the castle that Caine had been murdered, neatly removing the main source of likely opposition. Caine's memorial was well-attended, though the actual burial was conducted at sea, as befitted an admiral in the Navy of Amber. Gossip noted that the sea burial prevented exhumation at a later date.
Within weeks of Corwin's assumption of the mantle of the regency, Corwin and his riflemen disappeared again, leaving Gerard in charge of the city. Gerard's patent of regency, however, carried the seal and signature of Oberon. Observers at court confirmed that Oberon had reappeared, although he did not appear formally before making over the regency to Gerard.
With Corwin departed most of the rest of his family. They did leave several junior members of the family behind, most notably Random's son Martin, a former subject of much court gossip.
Gerard, like Eric before him, seemed little inclined to interfere in much of the governance of Amber; many appointees who had received their offices from Oberon continued their work into his reign.
[...]
In the immediate aftermath of the momentous events that have been called "The Black Road War" and the death of Oberon, King of Amber, I have noticed that many have struggled to understand the legacy of his reign and the import of his demise.
This volume deals little with the creation of the Golden Circle other than as it impacts Oberon's domestic policies ...