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It's true that conceptually, Amber is opposed to the Courts. It's also true that in the books, Amber is a serious military power. In those respects, Amber is more like the enemy.

....but I just like the idea of casting Amber as the Faction, for a number of reasons:

* Dworkin makes a fantastic Grandfather, right down to the rebellious split from the Houses and the blood sacrifice required to create a new order. Also, he's literally a grandfather.

* The Faction seems to do things specifically to annoy the Houses - embrace paradox, use death-fetish imagery, etc. Similarly, Amber seems to do things specifically designed to annoy the Courts - worshiping the Unicorn instead of the Serpent, drawing power from the Pattern instead of the Logrus, etc.

* The enemy of the Great Houses is unnamed and perhaps undefinable. In contrast, the Pattern is very well defined (it's a power of order), and we know a lot about Amber.

* Benedict's missing arm.

* Amber blood rituals, especially as practiced by Brand and Oberon.

* Like the Faction, Amber is a family (in this case, a literal one).

* The Faction has fetishes; Amberites have "magic items". Corwin's sword, Julian's armor, the Trumps, etc.

* I like the twist of Amber not being a major power, but instead being a minor player in a much larger conflict.

* And finally, if I'm going to run this at Ambercon NW, then my players will be very familiar with Amber. I can acclimatize them slowly to Faction Paradox ideas by using Amber as a backdrop.

Corwin's Pattern makes a poor Faction, I think, because it's a power of order, just like Amber's pattern. There's none of the perverse rebelliousness that characterizes the Faction. (Although power-wise, it's about right.)

Later books hint at "ancient powers that must not be wakened". That's all we ever find out about them, which makes them a good candidate for the enemy.

Also: Ghostwheel (from the Merlin books) is clearly an advanced, self-aware Ship.

Pjack