Your most memorable Prince of Amber

[RPGPundit]

This is the thread where you tell us about the Amberite PC you played that was the most memorable, and why.

RPGPundit

[TonyLB]

My favorite was Harper.  Harper was pretty much evil ... not deliberately, just ... did not care about other people, really.  Cared about his people.

That's not what made him memorable, though.  What made him memorable was his chosen tactic:  He discovered that if he had one enemy, that enemy would have a plan to hurt him, and would pursue that plan without major obstacles until it was completed.  If, however, he had two enemies, then those enemies would each have subtly different plans:  By concentrating on the ways that those plans interfered with each other (having Enemy #1 kidnap him straight out of the subtle trap that Enemy #2 laid for him), Harper could balance his enemies against each other, such that neither could actually manage to pin him down.

He was, in fact, more safe the more enemies he had ... he just had to keep dancing, keep one step ahead.  Given the sub-par cunning of the other players in the (PbEM) game, this proved both workable and entertaining.

This got really bad when Harper decided to save the world from the GM's central bad-guy.  He decided he needed lots more people, and whether they were allies or enemies didn't really matter.

So Harper would wander in, meet some new PC, and the PC would be all like "Wellll ... I don't really want to help your war against the Big Bad that's threatening the whole universe.  I'm sorta-kinda getting married, so maybe you can deal with that on your own?"  And Harper would say "Okay.  So I'm checking you off my potential-allies list.  I'm'a gonna go kidnap your fiance now, and torture him a fair bit, so that you'll be good and stoked to be my enemy.  That's way I can make use of you despite your apathy.  'kay?  'kay.  Good!"

[gabriel_ss4u]

I've had a few and they are all memorable.

My 1st was Whispar' (r is trilled lightly and trails/fades to silence)
(Whis- paaaar')
I was intor'd to ADRP by my amazing group in the early 90's and hadn't read the books, though remember my mom giving them to me in the early 80's. (2 volume Chronicles) I knew nothing of it and decided to create a character based on what I did know. A sorcerer, Son of Elric of Melnibone', was brought to Castle Amber on that fateful day, (following the attribute auction). He had Bad pts. and was hated (or at the VERY least mistrusted) by everyone as I had a very Raistlin like tint to him. (Dragonlance - I was/am hooked on it)  Trying unsuccessfully to get into a faction and ending up the 'Polish mine-detector' (no offense/I'm Polish) so-to speak of the group that 1st adventure.
I had managed to obtain 1st in Psyche and Endurance. ya see, there was a severe saving of pts. as a couple PCs wanted that 1st place warfare and bid fiercely for it. (1st place in W went for 99 pts.) I obtained 15 pts. for 1st in P / and 6 pts. for 1st in E, I was free to purchase sorcery, conjuration, Power Words, and Pattern, (and some Bad pts.) which undoubtedly linked me to the Amber blood-line. However, in my background storyline no-one claimed me as theirs. Well - unwanted by his mother was a strong personality builder.
but why not let him tell you in his own words?

(My original 1st C-log for the character after our 1st game session:) Read in a sarcastic snide Raistlin-like tone...

"Memory is not one of my greatest learned abilities, neither is forethought teamed with quick-reaction thinking, otherwise I would have figured to look up towards my mother at my birth and know to remember what she looked like. Though my memory hasn't improved greatly towards that end the later i would like to think has. Therefore my  re-telling of this story may not be as accurate as what others perceive to have come to pass.
(Then again, if you wander in Shadow long enough perhaps you'll come across my telling of the story).

"What? Now...? Why now...? Why after all these years? Why me?
   I was called via my Trump to come to Amber, home of the royal family of Amber. Home......... Ha!
What was going on now? Did someone lose their pet doggie and need the combined effort of everyone in my family generation to call him up on his 'doggie-trump'?
It must be some all-encompassing reason, I know. I wouldn't be called for any singular purpose. I'm one of those family members that are summoned only when most others are also, never one of an elite few.
(dismiss sarcasm for a bit)
   "Amber, when I arrived it was more splendorous than I had remebered it to be. (Then again I've already discussed my memory) That which I held in contempt earlier and spoke of in mocking terms felt true... real... home. Yes, I've missed Amber these decades, even though there is nothing here for me, there is everything."
   The Meeting:"I walked into an ostentatiously decorated meeting room and was immediately looked down upon. I chose a soft comfortable chair in the corner and nodded to my present family members as I crossed the room. Seating myself I scanned the room to take it in. It was grand as meeting rooms in castles go but the real eye catchers here were my family.
   "To my left was a man, tall, sandy hair,  about 6' 8, looking over the weaponry on the walls. He was big, confident, powerful, and I recalled his moniker. Bladesong, son of Benedict. No finer swordsman lived in our generation, I was sure. Across the room from him was was truly a spectacular sight to behold. A large figure of a man, though not as tall as Bladesong, stood speaking to a woman. He was donned in exotic Red Dragon plate armor, was of swarthy complection, and had a menacing glare in his unusually green eyes. Then I noticed it wasn't directed towards me. (I get used to that feeling) It was a quick glance at his half-brother Bladesong, and I wondered as to the meaning of it. His coffee-colored skin accented the piercing look, but then it was gone, replaced by that Bleys-like smile as he shifted his attention towards the woman. His name was Kade, and as to the female he was speaking with, she was beautiful. I've seen a lot of beauty in my days, have even gone out looking for such, but I have never come across the equal to Sersi, daughter of Llewella. An incredible figure, captivating eyes. I had to pull my gaze from her for I noticed I was starring. I should have been searching for things about her which would prove more useful than fantasizing.
   "Too late, another woman had just walked into the room. Fiona, and as she glanced around she verbally confirmed the down-cast feeling I had felt earlier but included the rest of them.
   " 'Kindergarten!' she sneered. A label we would all have to overcome.
   "Then you'll fit right in I'm sure." said I. Her head snapped in my direction and it was all I could do to keep from shrinking away from her intense icy glare.
   " 'Aunt Fiona! Would you like some wine?', Kade spoke hurriedly to get the temperature in the room back within tolerable levels. Fiona's eyes narrowed upon me then looked to him and smiling nonchalantly she accepted the glass he quickly produced for her."

There's more... but that's my intro to my 1st and at least tied with 1 other for favorite char.
(Needless to say, I didn't know the characters in the story yet when I made that comment, and the Bad Stuff just kept pilling up after that.)

please comment as I run on praise and flattery like most (all?) GMs. heh.

[multipleegos]

First off, hats off to Roger Zelazny for a brilliant world and spot-on characters, and Erick Wujcik for a great game I keep coming back to!

My favorite Prince of Amber was Prince Mikage in John Biles's Through a Mirror Darkly campaign.

"...But you don't know anything about dreams, you miserable little construct. You're nothing but the cast off blood of a parasite, of someone who doesn't even have any dreams of his own. I did what I did from love, while you know nothing but the commands of your hormones. And to make it worse, it was quite obvious that your technique was pathetic. Kozue would have gotten more pleasure from a toilet rod than you. Falme, give this man an ice cream cone. It'll keep his mouth shut so he can't dribble on me." --Mikage

"Mikage understands the nature of dreams, for he has seen both the light of day and the darkness of night.  You would do well to listen to him."--Dowager Queen Anthy

"Mikage?  What about him?  Aside from him bein' ***** **** ****** *****-eating  ****** pig-****** egotistical ****** **** ****!!!!!"  - Ota Tenjou

He had the strongest Psyche of his generation but this wasn't what made him special. What made him special was a combination of things. First, he was utterly polite, but only up to the point where he was downright condescending (hence his cousin Ota's irritation). Second, he was just a little bit evil, driven by just enough ambition to set people on edge whenever he entered a room. Third, he actually burned one hundred students alive to create his home, a shadow-cum-construct called Nemuro Memorial Hall.

However, the most important thing that makes Mikage my favorite Prince of Amber of all time was that underneath his apparent evil, all he was really in search of was a dream worth having. He began as a single-minded megalomaniac, but in the course of his adventures turned into a dreamer and freedom-seeker. It was his humanity that made him a compelling character. He was only 'evil' because of the twisted way he was brought up (he began with Broken Pattern), but he grew and became human. As the Child of Air he was most at home flying or sailing or dreaming. In fact he first walked the Pattern in Tir-Na'nog.

There's a particular line of Mikage's, a character of many, many quotable lines, that touched me and actually became somewhat of a philosophy of mine even out of game:

"I have freedom in order to gain fetters of my own choosing."

Mikage actually managed to raise a fairly well-adjusted daughter named Nausicaa afterward, and became a well-respected diplomat for Amber. Gaining the crown would've just been another fetter Mikage never really wanted.