MB&LK's Amber Bits

Tirs for Fears

Jvstin asks us to clarify a little about the Tir. My answers here are mostly biased towards my living game, G&G, with some alternatives. (And thus, some spoiler potential, but nothing that a PC in the game could not easily learn...)

For instance, when can you visit Tir?

When the conditions are correct, the same as visiting Rebma or Amber. The conditions are merely different for each. The only path to Rebma that is commonly travelled is a bridge made of bone. That Amber has more than one entrance is a common conceit, but not entirely true, for after all, to get to the True Amber, there is only the path over the ridge... and to get to the Tir, there is the stair of moonsilver, the same metal as Greyswandir aspired to.

Is it only at the Full Moon? Is it every night, but its simply too ephemeral unless the moon is full? What about a gibbous moon? Is the length of a possible stay in Tir dependent on the phase?

It is only at the Full Moon that one can achieve a full transition to the Tir. It is the only time that is "safe." Other times the stairs are more treacherous, or the paths may disappear underneath one, or they may lead to other places that your will under the moon has opened.

Who can go to Tir? Is it limited in anyway?

It is always forbidden, but sometimes risked anyway. It is partially a matter of summoning, in the sense that every step along the stair is part of the ritual, from the three in stone to the many of silver.

There are a lot of rumours about it, but they are rumours. It is said that the King once risked a liaison with a Queen in that spectral place, and was turned down. Other say that demons lie there, as well as ghosts and all things hostile and magic.

For all that, there is no guard, and no limitations that are known. Few, mortal or otherwise, wish to dare it.

How big is Tir? What are its dimensions and how much of an area does it cover? Where can you go in Tir?

It is as big as the answer you are looking for. It can honestly change sizes as the summoner requires.

What is the true nature of Tir? Why is it so different than its counterparts? Why does it even exist?

Each of the Patterns reflected from the Primal has a purpose. Amber's is to anchor, to create a stability. Rebma, on the other hand, provides a needed flexibility, an alternative. The Tir is even more diffuse, reflecting a need for possibility. Is it really all that different?

To me, the three Patterns are reflections of the three Veils of the Pattern itself, related to the three staircases of Kolvir, the Faiellabionin, and the Stair to the Sky (which, if it had a name, is now lost to history.) One part of the Pattern changes the body. One changes the mind. The other changes the ephemeral part of the Amberite that might be termed the soul.

Posted by Meera at June 9, 2003 10:16 AM