Didn't realize how much singularity was sustaining me.
Didn't realize how much jewel taking out.
Wonder if diet of collapsed shadows = too rarefied?

Otherwise known as ( Death of a Portafada )

But, alas, what occurred between our dear heroes and the archetypal empress is unknown.

My characters tend to plan for the long term. The REALLY long term. Brand has plans, going very well, that won't come to term for generations. Morpheus has plans for Pathi that will not be manifest until long after every current non-Amber blooded Pathi is dead. I take actions, in the here and now, that support these plans.

However, it struck me, in a scene this weekend, that nearly every person I interact with behaves as if they are only considering the short term. When they question Brand's motives, it is always in terms of what he is immediately after, and they often come up short. Looking back over my MUSHing career, I see that this has always been the case, and I wonder that it took me so long to notice.

Why? Is it because we won't be playing 10,000 years from now?

Here is the status of Pathi after the invasion, for all those who participated in the invasion, but aren't on the org:

The academy of Brass: The pillar outside has a crack across it, but the academy doesn't seem to be in any danger, and the earth mages have taken responsibility for seeing it repaired. A few unimportant volumes burned in the library, but nothing irreplaceable.
The academy of Glass and Sanctuary are largely in one piece.
The academy of Iron: Over half of the city's Custos, including the Archon of Iron are dead. There is significant damage to the barracks, and the entire administrative wing was destroyed when the fire monster appeared. Various factions are organizing their candidates to replace the Archon.
The city in general: No building in the city is untouched, and fully a third of them are rubble. The population fared a bit better. Outside the academy of Iron, only about 10% of the population are dead or missing.
Prisoners and such: The back of the Black Pathi was broken. Almost all of the invaders were killed even before the red light appeared. All of the high ranking enemy, as well as the captured artifacts were destroyed when the mysterious red light purged the remnants of the road from the city. Some prisoners are still in custody, but their status is unknown.

Brand says, "I suppose it would be unreasonable to expect you to be conversant with the historical alliances, cabals, estrangements, fights, partnerships of convenience, and murder attempts of the royal family."

Through shadow, to various people, tiny crystalline birds fly. Their organs glow, visible through their translucent shells. Each clutches a tiny message in its mouth. If you have ever asked Brand about the problem of trumps collapsing shadow, one of these birds will come to you. The note reads:

According to my rough calculations, Amber can sustain itself for approximately ((2840/X) * .9) -1 years before it collapses. X=The average number of times per day someone initiates trump travel with either of the anchoring ends being within Amber (including the shadows that we have made part of it by binding them.) Naturally, someone who trumps from one part of Amber to another counts twice. So, if one person each day trumps into Amber from shadow, we've got around 2555 years. If it's ten, then we have about 254.6 years, and so on.