Parenthood: Flora

[RPGPundit]

Oh man, where to start?!

Flora is, of course, the ultimate MILF. As one of my Amber players (son of Flora) once put it: "Its so unfair, everyone in the multiverse has fucked my mom, and I'm the one person who's never going to get to!"

And frankly, I'd bet that Flora would be one of those far too-sexy moms who would, just by her nature, make things utterly dysfunctional in her relationship with you if you were her son.
 
Flora is all about seduction, because that's her only weapon. And on top of it all, her own upbringing almost undoubtedly involved having an unhealthy relationship with her own father. Not actual incest (I get the feeling Oberon was opposed to incest by default), but in the sense that her sensuality was the one weapon she had to win his favour.

I think that all of the Elders, when they weren't Elders yet, were caught up in desperate competition (that's where it all started!) to try to win Oberon's favour.  Benedict did it by being the best at what he did (and by being utterly and totally obedient to his father to the point of self-sacrifice), Flora and Bleys did it (and Brand attempted but failed to do it) by being brighter than the others, Caine did it by showing he could be the ultimate survivor, Gerard by being the "all-amberite" quarterback-type, Eric and Corwin by competing with each other. Random was the baby. A few, like Julian and Brand, directly failed at winning over their father's approval because they didn't know how to do it, it just wasn't in them. A few others (Llewella, Dierdre, Delwin, Sand, Finndo, etc) rebelled against the whole little game Oberon created; those in this group who dropped out of the family were allowed to go, the ones who tried to oppose Oberon met grisly fates.

And Flora? Well, she wasn't the strongest, the smartest, or even very powerful or useful: All she had was that she was the prettiest. So she became Daddy's Little Princess, making use of a kind of elektra-complex to get Oberon's approval, in a very unhealthy sort of way.

So I figure that Flora as a mom will undoubtedly treat any son of hers in a fairly dysfunctional way; again, she'll never commit incest (and would be apalled at the notion) but she'll behave inappropriately; uncomfortably intimate, running around half-dressed, seducing all his friends, and generally having a poor sense of parent-child boundaries.

And if her child is a girl? That's even worse! Flora was always in competition with her sisters for Oberon's affection; she was clearly the best at it; butchy Dierdre, bookwormy Fiona and introverted Llewella didn't really have a chance against her.  But that didn't mean that Flora didn't feel threatened.  In fact, the one sister we know of that could have been competition in the "little Princess" department, Mirelle (who was pretty AND the other baby of the family, younger than Flora, and loved by all), met a tragically early death... one has to wonder if Flora didn't have some kind of a hand in that.

So with a girl, Flora would be utterly schizophrenic. On the one hand she'd be pushing her daughter to be like her (constantly criticizing her looks, demanding that she do "whatever it takes" to be prom queen, dressing her up, etc), but on the other she'd feel menaced if her daughter was anywhere near as beautiful or as seductive or as charming as she was.  It'd be the relationship from hell.

Flora would do what she could to protect her kids, of course, but she'd also make their lives fairly miserable. And ultimately, Flora is too hopelessly self-absorbed to be anything near a good parent: she'd care more about her parties and her own social life to give her kids the attention they'd need when they're little, and when they're older she'd end up meddling in their lives in uncomfortable ways.  To top it all off, at the end of the day Flora survived as a relative weakling in the Amberite litter by NOT being too poweful to threaten anyone, and by allying herself to whoever was on top.  If one of her kids became too ambition, or tried for too much power, or turned against whoever was "on top" at the moment, Flora would probably try to screw up their plans "for their own good". The only way her kid could possibly win with her is if he or she somehow managed to prove that THEY were the obvious one "on top", if they somehow became powerful enough that Flora could overcome her own lifelong conditioning of not trying to be too ambitious because she obviously saw that her kid had what it took to be the ruler of Amber.  And if that ever happened, I could sure imagine Flora wanting to rule from behind her kid's throne, taking revenge on all the family members she's come to hate because of how they treated her or threatened her or looked down on her.

RPGPundit

[Syzygy]

When I think of Flora as a parent, I think of mostly boredom from all the social events and piano lessons and so forth.

[Gavken]

My only Amber character so far had Flora as a parent. The GM had her being appearance and socially obsessed, such that everything had to be right to make the correct image. So she'd insist that you brushed your hair or polished your armour before going into a battle in the mud.

It didn't help Theseus that he later found out that his father was Corwin. Boy did he get issues after that with Flora.

[gabriel_ss4u]

Flora may well be YOUR parent too.
Don't think she hasn't got her mitts in the cookie jar, ALL the cookie jars.
IMC, it may not be too far fetched to have a ubiquitous contract that shows she's your wife on that drunken Vegas night, (once you attain the throne), or that child birth certificate once it's proven that you're the key to the situation.
She IS the master of advice and the maiden of regret. Yet she always ends up on the winning side.
Hats off to you auntie, spouse, lover, and grandma... (as well as RPGPundit's fellow gamer stated; MILF.)

[Sargon]

yeh.  she's one of my favorites to run.  I still loved how, after the PCs defeated her, (actually flora started this before the pc's defeated her), she picked one and seduced them, then when she was helpless, she begged her lover for protection, saying how sorry she was that she'd stolen fiona's power, etc."
   As a aprent, yeah, she'd be especially difficult in a lto of ways.  She has one thign goign for her, though:  Flora is a surviver, and she'd probably teach some of that to her kids.  it's a useful skill given that, by default, all her brothers and sisters can easily smoosh them

[Trevelyan]

I see Flora as the worst sort of teenage mum. She doesn't really want to be your parent, she wants to be your friend - whether you like it or not.

If she has a son she'll send him to the best boarding schools but turn up frequently to see how he's getting on. Obviously she'll flirt mercilessly with teachers, other pupils and so on, then disappear and leave the kid surrounded by taunts about his MILF mum from older school boys, and perstered by teachers who want to get on her goodside - cue immediate teacher's pet status and an even more difficult school life.

With a daughter Flora will be even worse. She'll want to be best frieds forever and to share everything. But woe betide any daughter who gets more attention than Flora, or who doesn't want her advice on every subject from men to, well, men.

In either case, as her child grows older, Flora will want to mold them into a suitable companion for every social even going. Child of Flora will need the appropriate manners for any situation and will rarely be in control of their own life.