Carcosa

Before Amber...before Ambre...there was Carcosa. And under the onslaught of the Demon Lords of the Abyss it fell, but at the last moment the Sorcerer-King Aldones snatched some measure of victory, preventing total defeat through the entrapment of his enemy Hastur. He marred the Primal Pattern with sigils of binding, and as the Abyss reached out to destroy all Order, it found itself trapped in the confines of the Pattern, until the two merged forming a new power, that of the Abyssal Pattern. Aldones walked this Dark Pattern and became something new, the King in Yellow, and a King in Yellow has ruled in Carcosa ever since.

Noted Places - Brief listing of some of the more interesting locales of Carcosa.

Native Species - A great many strange and unusual creatures dwell in the nightmare realm of Carcosa. Descriptions are contained within.

The Abyssal Pattern - A new power for the AMBER DRPG, as explained by Konrad.

Alar- The ruined city, parallel to Amber City. Nothing remains of Alar but a few marauding Ghost-Jackals and the rubble of the former city.

Carcosa, the City- In Carcosa, no sun ever rises, and so like Tirna' Nog-th, the city hangs eternal...floating far above the Lake of Hali. This floating castle is home of the Byakhee, the Golems, and the Nightgaunts, as well as being the seat of the King's power.

Yhtill- The city under the sea, ruled by Queen Cassilda. Yhtill is parallel to Rebma, and is the home of the Abyssal Pattern, the only Pattern in Carcosa. Imagine the pattern of Yhtill as a cap on all the Abyss, and through its focus pours forth the dark energy of the Abyssal Pattern upward into the heavens, to the City of Carcosa, where it finds its focus in the Dark Fount. The city of Yhtill is the only city inhabited by humans, though those who live there are merely ageless phantoms, really, their emotions sucked dry from centuries within Carcosa.

Plains of Pnath- The Plains of Pnath is a name attached to the dry, dusty wastes past Kholvires. Nothing lives on the Plains, and the area is generally avoided by the indigenous races of Carcosa.

Kolvhires- Also known as the Ghoul Crag. This mountain is riddled with passages, and in these catacombs live the Ghouls of Carcosa. The base of the mountain is littered with bones, the remnants of centuries of the ghouls' repasts.

Black Woods- Home to the Kashmarin, the King's shapeshifting hunters. This forest is somewhat parallel to Arden, but it is nowhere near as extensive, though the threats that live there are as formidable as Julian's hounds.

Lake of Hali- A strange lake that dominates the very center of Carcosa, the Lake of Hali is, in fact, no lake at all, but rather a rift leading into the very Abyss. Most people who view it see it as a lake because it is a convenient metaphor for understanding the sheer nothingness of what it really is.

Yhtillians

The only human race left in Carcosa are the citizens of Yhtill, who have survived eons trapped in this lifeless environment. The constant exposure to the Lake of Hali has effected great changes upon the people of Yhtill, to the extent that they no longer age or need food. Unfortunately, they also no longer reproduce. The Yhtillians never leave their city, and the predators of Carcosa never venture past their walls. Their existence is primarily filled with the maintenance of their city, the observation of bizarre religious rituals, grand operatic performances, and researches conducted for the King in Yellow.

Ghouls

"These figures were seldom completely human, but often approached humanity in varying degree. Most of the bodies, while roughly bipedal, had a forward slumping, and a vaguely canine cast." -H.P. Lovecraft, Pickman's Model

The ghouls of Carcosa are not undead creatures; rather they are a race of subhumans who feed on human flesh, especially carrion. They inhabit the crags of Kolvhires in great numbers, but rarely venture above ground, except to investigate disturbances on the mountain surface. It is rumored that many ghouls possess the ability to manipulate Abyssal energies, but only in so far being able to make use of existing rifts. They can use Abyssal tunnels to move between Shadows, generally creating temporary gates into graveyards or battlefields in other Shadows.

Before the catastrophe, the ghouls were a race renowned for there skill with glass making, and even now the treasure vaults of the ghouls are said to be filled with priceless sculptures of cut glass, though of a very macabre variety.

Nightgaunts

"Shocking and uncouth black things with smooth, oily, whale-like surfaces, unpleasant horns that curved inwards toward each other, bat wings whose beating made no sound, ugly prehensile paws, and barbed tails that lashed needlessly and disquietingly. And worst of all, they never spoke or laughed, and never smiled because they had no faces at all to smile with, but only a suggestive blankness where a face ought to be. All they ever did was clutch and fly and tickle; that was the way of nightgaunts." -H.P. Lovecraft, The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath

The nightgaunts are constructs, not natural beings. They appear as horned and clawed gargoyles who lack faces. Strangely, though, nightgaunts never kill or wound their victims. Rather they clutch and tickle, thus stunning their prey, and then carry them off, leaving them in some of the most dangerous locales in all of Carcosa.

Byakhee

"There flapped rhythmically a horde of tame, trained, hybrid winged things....not altogether crows, nor moles, nor buzzards, nor ants, nor decomposed human beings...." -H.P. Lovecraft, The Festival

After the catastrophe, Hastur sent a legion of winged demons to test the powers of his new enemy, to ascertain how well the King in Yellow could stand up to his Abyssal hordes. By that point the King had achieved total control of Carcosa, and developed a great mastery of Abyssal energy. As such, the Byakhee were no threat to him, and in the end he offered them freedom from servitude to Hastur. Many accepted.

The Byakhee are a race of winged demons who are traditionally associated with the King in Yellow. They are not, however, his servitors. Rather, they are an independent race. Individual demons may perform services for the King, in exchange for spells/favors, assuming that such services don't unduly jeopardize their 'lives'. Note that the Byakhee will in no way oppose the King in Yellow for any reason, as they understand the power he wields over Carcosa and its denizens.

Ghost Jackals

There is no greater threat in all of Carcosa than the Ghost Jackals, save for the King in Yellow itself. Roving packs of spectral hounds filled with entropic energy, these spirits are capable of taking out a seasoned Amberite should he or she be foolish enough to be caught unwary by them. Though as individuals they are not deadly, as a pack they are unmatched. Even the Byakhee avoid these creatures. They can move through solid matter, though they cannot fly, and their very aura drains the strength from living creatures. Even worse, they can, to a very limited degree, pursue creatures through shadow. They will not, however, stray far from the source of their Abyssal energy. These beasts do not serve the King in Yellow in any fashion, and in fact, they avoid his presence entirely. It is rumored that they were originally created by the King to deal with Abyssal interlopers.

Kashmarin

The only natives to the Black Woods are the creatures known as the Kashmarin, a race of shapeshifters. They hunt the ghouls of Kolvhires, whom they consider rivals. The Kashmarin are few in number, but very powerful, and they serve as spies and hunters for the King in Yellow. They are also known for their ability as weavers, and can imbue their textiles with shapechanging qualities to create garments that also act as guards or assassins.

Golems

Although not really alive, the only native inhabitants of the city of Carcosa are the golems, a legion of living clay statues that serve the King in Yellow as soldiers, guards, and castle staff. They appear to be vaguely human, with gray chill skin and faces that are completely blank, save for the word EMET scribed on their foreheads. There are a great many varieties of golems in Carcosa, with a variety of adaptations based upon their duties.

Plith

The plith are strange shapeshifting parasites that possess extraordinary psychic defenses that they can convey upon their hosts. These creatures look like fleshy eyeless spiders in their natural form, though they often strive to look like some kind of mundane pet (Shapeshift: Named and Numbered, 2 pts). They attach themselves to a host and provide that host with a powerful psychic shield (Confer Psychic Barrier, 9 pts.) in return for sustenance, extremely useful in Carcosa. They are difficult to remove, however, for they possess incredible regenerative abilities (Regeneration, 4 pts.).

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