Rambault

Subject:

Rambault Barimen

Current Activities of Note:

Note: Over the last two years, Prince Rambault’s stature has grown to the point where he is a known fixture to Begma’s Amber-watchers.  We have added this section to provide a concise, easy-to-find summary of key activities that will be updated as needed.

Following a shakeup in King Bleys’ cabinet, Prince Rambault has been appointed Lord Treasurer of Amber. He retains his Amber titles as Minister of Commerce and Admiral of the Black Fleet. Additionally, he has been named an Admiral of the Inquisition of the Golden Circle by Inquisitor Prince Wendell. He appears to be using the power of his new positions to advance his persistent political interests: the Golden Circle, the North Coast and his de facto role as leader of the loyal opposition. These interests seem likely to remain constant, and whatever powers accrue as the result of position will be turned to advance them.  His strategy seems to have the following lines of operations:

1.  Mutually supporting trade negotiations, military-to-military cooperation and diplomatic negotiations :  Prince Rambault has adapted to Prince Jericho’s departure by moving closer to Prince Inquisitor Wendell and establishing contact with Prince Jericho’s children who remain active in Amber.  He likely intends to use the former’s absolute power in the Golden Circle and the latters’ inherited influence to continue to build trade deals that favor his clients in the Golden Circle and Amber.  This is a long-lasting strategy that is unlikely to change.

2.  Active social engagement: Prince Rambault has pursued a multi-prong strategy to tie the North Coast with the Amber City Helgram elite, a process that has received a boost with the revelation of his relationship to House Helgram via his maternal grandmother.  He and his wife, the Lady Vinta, have arranged at least five weddings between the daughters of prominent North Coast families and high-ranking Helgram expats, with more in the offing – apparently the lure of grandchildren has overcome anti-redhead prejudice in a region that lost most of its young men to over a decade of war. He employs the greater proportion of Helgram expats in Amber City, and engages them in high-profile work that  has earned their loyalty

Prince Rambault has continued to assume a leadership role within the Reformed Church of the Unicorn. He is the patron of monasteries, convents, and lay religious orders, primarily in Amber’s north. It appears that he has subverted the original purpose of the Church Inquisition from the burning of heretics to the hunting Unlife, and has actually run one of the largest successful operations against an Unlife group in Amber proper. This role has not been integrated into his larger strategies

Prince Rambault has also engineered a new Rebman Stair off the North Coast, and is courting displaced Rebman nobles to populate a colony at its foot.  It may be the start of a now-familiar pattern of Prince Rambault identifying, patronizing, and ultimately profiting from relationships with a marginalized minority. If so, this will likely be integrated into a combined Golden Circle-North Amber-Rebma grand political strategy.

Lineage:

Son of Gerard Barimen, Prince and Regent of Amber and Agrippalina Jesby, of the Jesby Great House of Chaos

Physical Description

Hair: Curly, Black Eyes: Dark Brown Height: 2m Weight: Unknown, estimated in excess of 230lbs Build:  Burly.  Big bruiser.  Probably the only member of the family who does not look like he engages in regular physical activity. Other information of note: Skin a shade lighter than Prince Caine’s.  Has the broad, coarse features of his father, Prince Gerard.  Hair is usually worn short and clean shaven.  Normally dressed in bright colors: pinks, blues, golds.  Wears two rings of silver-grey metal, one with a tiger’s-eye mounted in it, the other plain.  Unknown if either has non-decorational function.

Capabilities

We assume that all members of the Royal Family of Amber have a common suite of abilities that includes speed, strength, and endurance that is superior to that of non-family members.  The long lifespans enjoyed enjoyed by the family mean that a given member of the royal family may be far older than they appear, and have skills that have been honed for decades or centuries. Prince Rambault is almost certainly no exception.  In addition, we assess with low high confidence that he possesses some measure of shapechanging ability based his family ties and upbringing in near Chaos.  Beyond that, we can only speculate based on observed activities:

Elimination of the Kraken  Eyewitness accounts indicate that some manner of highly destructive arcane working was employed against the beast.  A party of Amber royals including Prince Rambault was present in Ossetia at the time the Kraken was slain.  We assess with high confidence that Prince Rambault and Prince Jericho (see file on A-R-J-7265) organized said group, and that said group was responsible for the Kraken’s death via a coordinated arcane working.  We assess with medium confidence that Prince Rambault coordinated the arcane working, and that he therefore is a powerful and skilled sorceror.

(Directorate of Science and Magic note: Amber Station Chief has no reporting of any other occasions of Prince Rambault using magic.  Given the frequency with which the rest of the family sorcerors employ magic, it may be that he merely coordinated the massed power of the gathered royals via unknown means, while another member of the family actually directed the power into a spell.)

(Directorate of Science and Magic addendum: There has yet to be a documented case of Prince Rambault employing sorcery in the 18 months since the above not. We are highly confident that Prince Rambault is NOT a sorceror, though it seems likely that he has some other magical capabilities at his disposal.

 

Military Actions in Deep Shadow Highly credible eyewitnesses have reported seeing Prince Rambault take the form of a bird and fly.  We are certain that he has a measure of shapeshifting ability.  Furthermore, it is significant that Prince Rambault is not noted for taking an active leadership or combat role when assisting his cousins in military operations.  Initial indications based on degraded adversary command and control functions when Rambault is present indicate his main contribution is some manner of ability to spoof, degrade, or otherwise counter enemy command, contol, communications, and intelligence functions.

(Genenal Staff comment: In plain Thari, please?.)

(Analyst comment: It seems that if Prince Rambault takes the field against you, the fog of war turns into pea soup.)

(Directorate of Science and Magic note: This may be related to the coordinating role in concerted magical efforts discussed above.)

(Analyst addendum, made with Directorate of Science and Magic Concurrence: All indications are that Prince Rambault has a well-developed ability to attack adversary C3 capabilities, while greatly boosting the same for friendly forces. We are unsure of the mechanism behind this capabiity.)

Military Assistance to Prince Jericho  Prince Rambault is known to have deployed a small body of military advisors to assist Prince Jericho in blocking certain cross-border incursions in Shadow territory held by Prince Jericho.  These “Envoys” (see section on “Allies” below) were reported to have been embedded in Prince Jericho’s military formations and played some sort of early warning role.  It is known that the addition of these “Envoys” to Prince Jericho’s resulted in marked improvements in the detection and defeat of cross-border incursions.

(Analyst comment: The effect on Prince Jericho's forces seems to be the reverse of what happens to forces that Prince Rambault takes the field against.  It may be that Prince Rambault has instructed his Envoys in some measure of the presumed capability he has used against his enemies)

Military Assistance to Prince Jericho in the Golden Circle  Prince Rambault has recently cooperated with Prince Jericho in defeating uprisings in Tazkent.  As in previous cases, his activities were marked by a relatively small force footprint (estimated at a bodyguard of ~100).  Conflits were marked by rapid dissolution of enemy command and control, and overwhelming intelligence superiority for Amber forces.  Reports also indicate a beyond-line-of-sight sorcerous strike capability similar to that employed against the Kraken.

Conquest of the Decapolis Princes Rambault has recently co-operated with Princes Wolf and Gregor in the conquest of a shadow complex known as the Decapolis.  While details are sketchy – the engagement was fought in deep shadow – several items of interest have filtered back.  First, Prince Rambault once again traveled with a very small force footprint, no more than 100-200 soldiers.  Second, Rambault appears to have played primarily a supporting role.  Third, the campaign was marked by the heavy use of subterfuge rather than brute force to achieve objectives.

(Analyst comment: Based on Prince Rambault's actions listed above, we conclude with a high degree of confidence that he is not one of the family's strong military commanders. He actively seeks one of his cousins who has more pronounced capabilities along those lines, never seems to bring a large force structure. That being said, his ability as a combat multiplier seems to be significant.)

 

Titles and Positions

-Holder of the Barony of Bedwyn

-Holder of the Barony of Weleand

(Analyst Comment: With the announcement of Prince Rambault's betrothal to Baroness Vinta Bayle, Prince Rambault appears to have begun moving a significant portion of his household to Weleand's baronial seal of Murcavy.  With its proximity to Baylesport, the Barony of Weleand seems set to be Prince Rambault's center of operations.)

-Lord Chamberlain of Amber

(Station chief's note: We've have three agents turned in the castle, and no luck recruiting over the last six months.  We must assume that Prince Rambault has co-opted the greater part of the Castle staff.  Treat all of those who fall under the Lord Chamberlain's remit as intelligence collectors reporting to Prince Rambault.)

-Admiral of the Black Fleet

((Military Attache's note: Black Fleet is the covert arm of the Amber Navy and usually used to carry out direct actions on enemies of the Crown in the Golden Circle)

((Station chief's note: Prince Rambault is also rumored to be part of an Oberon-era council that directs lethal covert actions on the behalf of the Crown. Handle with care.  Amendment: we believe that Prince Rambault was removed from this organization around the same time he was appointed to the Star Chamber.)

-Minister of Commerce

-Lord of the Admiralty of the Golden Circle

-Knight Garnathicus

-Founder and Grand Master of the Garnathican Order

(Analyst note: Which seems mostly an excuse for drinking beer and wearing funny hats)

(Station chief note: Yes, if you're an idiot sitting in the safety of the Foreign Ministry building back home.  Said Order self-selects the powerful and wealthy and is set up so there's nothing for the taxman to tax.  Efforts to penetrate it have failed miserably.)

Allies

Prince Jericho and his children

Prince Isaac

Prince Gregor

Prince Tone

Survivors of the Grand Chaos Army The remnants of the Grand Chaos Army were squatting in Garnath until Prince Rambault and Prince Jericho liberated the territiory.  The numbers of Chaosites killed and captured in that action falls far short of all official estimates of the size of the force in Garnath.  While the official after-action report whitewashed the discrepancy as ‘bad calculations’, Begman Intelligence has another theory: that Prince Rambault persuaded the bulk of the Chaosite forces to switch to his banner before the fighting ever started.

There are reports of Black Fleet assets being pulled from the Golden Circle in the run-up to the liberation.  Some were Marine landing and riverine forces used to open the Medway, but there were a number of cargo and personnel carriers missing from their normal routes.  Additionally, areas of Bedwyn were closed off in the same time period.  Finally, the ground forces that Prince Rambault used in the liberation were seqestered from Prince Jericho’s forces and disappeared once the military action was over.  There are no indications that Prince Rambault brought in outside forces, and his barony in Amber did not have sufficient manpower to supply the forces.  For these reasons, we believe that Prince Rambault recruited the bulk of the forces in Garnath to his side before the fighting ever began.

The question that remains is: where are those forces today?

Nobles of Amber’s North Coast Following the ascension of King Bleys to the throne, Begman intelligence has assessed that one of the major threats to long-term stability is the disaffected, leaderless nobles of the East and the North Coast.  These are powerful, wealthy, and deeply conservative nobles who have legitimate grievances against King Bleys’ partisans and are vulnerable to the influence of demagogues like Prince Derek.

Prince Rambault has actively worked to fill that leadership void and act as a patron to the nobles of the North Coast.  It is not clear whether he is motivated by political opportunism or a larger desire to ensure regime stability.  Regardless, he has married into the Bayle family and has used his personal wealth and influnce to protect his extended in-laws as well a number of the other major families from some of the more politically rash members of the royal family.  As a result, a fairly solid bloc of North Coasters will likely support any initiative that Prince Rambault advances.

More recently, Prince Rambault seems to be acting behind the scenes to foster the growth of the city of White Haven,.  Interestingly enough, White Haven is not within Weleand, but rather the territory of another North Coast noble.  Prince Rambault appears to be deliberately focusing activity and development outside of Weleand, perhaps as a sort of extended patronage project.

Envoys Begman agents and handlers have begun reporting encounters with Prince Rambault’s agents in the Golden Circle Shadows.  All of his agents appear to be overt – that is, they operate without cover and often introduce themselves as “Envoys”.  “Envoy” does not seem to be merely a job descriptions but rather a formal title.  Based on the fact that we have seen these “Envoys” in the various shadowlands of the Golden Circle, we assess with a high degree of confidence that they have some measure of power to move through Shadow.  At this time we have no futher knowledge of the extent or nature of that power.

(Analyst comment: It is possible that the Envoys were drawn from surviving members of the Grand Army of Chaos that Prince Rambault allegedly extracted from Garnath and other portions of Amber.  If so, they are probably Chaos-born humans or demonkind with unknown capabilities and powers.)