The Pattern - Other Patterns

Other Patterns

Through the course of the ten books, the existence of many other alternate Patterns is revealed. There is the Pattern in Rebma (Amber spelled backward), a reflected version of Amber beneath the sea; there is one in the ghost-city reflection of Amber in Tir-na Nog'th; there is the Primal Pattern, the one true Pattern that is higher on the reality scale than even Amber; Corwin's own Pattern, off in Shadow; and even imperfect versions of the Pattern found in Shadows very close to the true Pattern. The latter are called 'Broken Patterns' and can be walked by anyone with enough courage to do so. Broken Patterns allow initiates to traverse shadow and perform magic in a similar way to the initiates of the true Patterns. However the broken path manifests itself in a number of ways. The main example is that the break in the Pattern manifests itself in each Shadow the initiate visits. The size of the break depends on the size of the break in the Pattern and one's distance in Shadow from Amber. Broken Pattern mages draw their power directly from the break, similar to drawing their power from Chaos. The Pattern degenerates the farther it is from Amber. The first nine broken images were negotiable but Merlin in the course of Knight of Shadows repaired one presumably leaving only eight. It might be however that other patterns became safe enough to use after this.