A is for Amberwyne

(Amberwyne is a character in a Work in Progress called The Players Are the Thing, a story about a Game Master and a group of female roleplayers whom lose some of their enthusiasm for the game and life itself. Due to all the time and energy they’ve put into their characters, their characters come to life and try to figure out ways to help their players.)

I’m not real, even less real than many of the scribbler’s characters are. I took on life in the imagination of Rhane Soames, the main character in The Players Are the Thing. Rhane is a girl who shirks from conflict and problems in real life, spending most of her time dreaming. She poured all of her passion into me, a character she’s created for Beatrix’s roleplaying campaign. This gives me exceptional vitality and strength, which I appreciate, I truly do. Only I’ve come to truly care about my player, all the problems she’s hiding from. I think making me is part of her wish to cope with them. 

Why can’t I cope with them? I’m not real, you see, no real enough to solve Rhane’s problems for her. Not directly. Maybe there are other things I can do to help, to influence Rhane from within her imagination. I want to help her, to do what I can for her. 

The irony of this is if I succeed, if Rhane learns how to cope, she’ll need me less. That’s a dilemma, but not much of one. I can’t let my creatrix suffer. Besides all living things die. Perhaps imaginary things are destined to fade away in a similar fashon. I’ve just got to deal with what I can in the time I’ve got. Besides, there’s still the campaign story of the roleplaying game I’ve got to deal with. I’ve only recently become aware that is a roleplaying game for our creators. For a long time, it’s been my life, my peril. Fidessa, my former mistress and mentor seeks to enchant or enslave me as she’s enchanting and enslaving much of the word, bit by bit. Rhiannon (formerly a non-player character, now run by Zoe Parks, matters she and I are only just becoming aware of) is in Fidessa’s thrall, acting as her agent. I’ve been slowly luring Rhiannon away from Fidessa, not that my companion, Isolde, trusts in this plan or Rhiannon’s changing alleigence.

Oddly enough, our bonds within the story, mine and Rhiannon’s, parallels the one Rhane has with the ‘Game Master’, Beatrix. Beatrix appears to be sapping Rhane’s vitality and is more than willing to drain Zoe of hers, although she appears unaware of this. It’s curious that Beatrix set up such a bond between myself and Fidessa, myself and Rhiannon in our world. Does she wish for us to resolve her situation by resolving ours? It’s also curious that Beatrix sneers at any tender moments between Isolde and myself (courtesy of Rhane and Mona Talbot, Isolde’s player). Much of Rhane’s conflict is centered around Beatrix, just as Fidessa and the little traps she leaves behind are the source of many of our problems; Rhiannon’s, Isolde’s, and mine. This parallel leaks between realities, one we may be able to work with, if I can persuade Isolde and Rhiannon to. I’m not sure if they care about their players as much as I do about mine. Nor am I sure if they’re as aware of not being real. I must do what I can to get their help, but this may mean making them more aware of their situation. What will such awareness do to them?

Change is coming. It’s inevitable and I’m instigating it. Nothing will be the same once it comes. I can only hope that things will be better.