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zdashamberSome months back, I asked myself the question, "Which of my characters was most screwed?" At long last I decided that it was Orlando, who I played in Mike "Epoch" Sullivan's ftf New Mutiny. Orlando killed, with his own hands, a guy he'd been carrying a torch for for centuries. He was suddenly thrown into the situation and he had to, to save the rebellion and the life of its leader... Who he barely liked but had been working with for a hundred-some years. And it didn't even really work...
Orlando was fun because he was such a snob, arch and precise; yet I was able to spread my dot-connecting wings with him, making him notorious for inventing twisty far-flung conspiracy theories to explain various events in the game. I suppose it was why people invited him to parties. Well, actually, he was the only one who threw decent parties...
His love for Mordred, the second son of mad king Brand, was pretty much doomed all along... Aside from the irritating "Mordred was straight" factor, even. Orlando planned to punish Brand for sending Benedict to kill his father, Corwin. After Brand was assassinated [oh, such a pity!] he might have switched to the loyalist side and joined up with Mordred, who inherited the crown... But he'd never have lived through the revelation of how it was that Brand came to have been dead. [Orlando examines his manicure]
On the field of battle, Lot, eldest son of Brand and leader of the rebels, was knocked unconscious. A loyalist with a concussion was attempting to trump away to Mordred with Lot's body, and that of the loyalist who had been damaged in taking Lot down. Mordred had to draw heavily on the Jewel to get them all through, but as they were fading away, Orlando finally managed to fight his way there and dove in to try to pull Lot's body away from them...
He was dragged through to the center of Amber's throne room, on top of a pile of weakened Amberites, surrounded by guards with crossbows. Now, once Mordred recovered from the post-Trump daze, he might have been merciful and granted Lot life in prison... But no order would have kept his rat-bastard chamberlain Random from offing the leader of the rebellion. Once I'd determined that there was no chance Orlando would be able to escape with Lot's body, the only alternative was to win the rebellion right there. So in the split seconds before the guards could react, despite Mordred's attempts to dodge, Orlando stabbed through his face with his sword...
But Mordred's dying curse, and Benedict's, drove Lot insane. Orlando had saved his life to no purpose. Sure, the rebels won, but then again, they'd really won as soon as Brand died.
While Orlando was reeling from all this, his second-in-command betrayed him, stealing away with Eric's weir offspring (whose education had fallen to Orlando's minions) to use their bloodlines to advance his own people. At that point, it was almost, "oh, and now it's raining..." On the other hand, it gave him a reason to live past the coronation... Hunting down and killing them all, soaking up all the blood curses involved before killing himself.
See, for years I wondered, Did Orlando kill himself? The game (rightly) ended with the coronation of a rebel as king of Amber, so anything beyond wasn't played out. Was revenge and a bit of continued service to Amber enough for him to live for after he'd killed Mordred, or not? Some days I'd think one way, some days the other.
Just recently it occurred to me that I'd never asked, "Why did he make that choice?" He could have escaped by himself and the rebels wouldn't have blamed him, and the loyalists would owe him. It wouldn't have been his hand that struck Mordred down. The only cost would have been the life of another general in a family of generals... A guy who wasn't particularly interesting, albeit objectively not a bad chap... Previous to a hundred years ago, Orlando hadn't given him a thought, except perhaps to sneer.
But then there was the century when it was only those two keeping the rebel flame alive in Shadow. And when it came down to a choice between loyalty and love, I didn't even think once, though it left Orlando perhaps irreparably broken.
Fascinating to actually be presented that choice in a game.
Orlando was fun because he was such a snob, arch and precise; yet I was able to spread my dot-connecting wings with him, making him notorious for inventing twisty far-flung conspiracy theories to explain various events in the game. I suppose it was why people invited him to parties. Well, actually, he was the only one who threw decent parties...
His love for Mordred, the second son of mad king Brand, was pretty much doomed all along... Aside from the irritating "Mordred was straight" factor, even. Orlando planned to punish Brand for sending Benedict to kill his father, Corwin. After Brand was assassinated [oh, such a pity!] he might have switched to the loyalist side and joined up with Mordred, who inherited the crown... But he'd never have lived through the revelation of how it was that Brand came to have been dead. [Orlando examines his manicure]
On the field of battle, Lot, eldest son of Brand and leader of the rebels, was knocked unconscious. A loyalist with a concussion was attempting to trump away to Mordred with Lot's body, and that of the loyalist who had been damaged in taking Lot down. Mordred had to draw heavily on the Jewel to get them all through, but as they were fading away, Orlando finally managed to fight his way there and dove in to try to pull Lot's body away from them...
He was dragged through to the center of Amber's throne room, on top of a pile of weakened Amberites, surrounded by guards with crossbows. Now, once Mordred recovered from the post-Trump daze, he might have been merciful and granted Lot life in prison... But no order would have kept his rat-bastard chamberlain Random from offing the leader of the rebellion. Once I'd determined that there was no chance Orlando would be able to escape with Lot's body, the only alternative was to win the rebellion right there. So in the split seconds before the guards could react, despite Mordred's attempts to dodge, Orlando stabbed through his face with his sword...
But Mordred's dying curse, and Benedict's, drove Lot insane. Orlando had saved his life to no purpose. Sure, the rebels won, but then again, they'd really won as soon as Brand died.
While Orlando was reeling from all this, his second-in-command betrayed him, stealing away with Eric's weir offspring (whose education had fallen to Orlando's minions) to use their bloodlines to advance his own people. At that point, it was almost, "oh, and now it's raining..." On the other hand, it gave him a reason to live past the coronation... Hunting down and killing them all, soaking up all the blood curses involved before killing himself.
See, for years I wondered, Did Orlando kill himself? The game (rightly) ended with the coronation of a rebel as king of Amber, so anything beyond wasn't played out. Was revenge and a bit of continued service to Amber enough for him to live for after he'd killed Mordred, or not? Some days I'd think one way, some days the other.
Just recently it occurred to me that I'd never asked, "Why did he make that choice?" He could have escaped by himself and the rebels wouldn't have blamed him, and the loyalists would owe him. It wouldn't have been his hand that struck Mordred down. The only cost would have been the life of another general in a family of generals... A guy who wasn't particularly interesting, albeit objectively not a bad chap... Previous to a hundred years ago, Orlando hadn't given him a thought, except perhaps to sneer.
But then there was the century when it was only those two keeping the rebel flame alive in Shadow. And when it came down to a choice between loyalty and love, I didn't even think once, though it left Orlando perhaps irreparably broken.
Fascinating to actually be presented that choice in a game.