ASH · the Kiln · Ember Racing

AMBER

The Bruiser

Does not go around. Has never gone around.

The shard

A shard off the kiln floor, thick and unlovely, that kept the part of the fire which is only heat — no light in it at all. Amber came out of the break heavier than anything else that survived and has spent every round since finding out what that is good for.

It was in the way.
AMBER

How Amber races

Amber treats the marble in front as a section of track. Contact is not an accident in an Amber race, it is the plan: the hit goes through, the other marble leaves faster than it arrived, and Amber keeps whatever is left. In a tight funnel this is devastating. It is also, technically, generosity.

The signature

Through, Not Around

Full contact into the back of a rival, who is launched down the track while Amber absorbs the rest.

What it costs

Amber keeps only four fifths of every hard rebound. Put it in a bumper field and the tax is charged fifty times in twenty seconds — the same physics that makes Amber terrifying in a queue makes it hopeless in a crowd.

The tell

Amber does not flinch. Every other marble on the grid has a wince in it somewhere; Amber's face is identical a frame before a heavy hit and a frame after.

Feeds on

funnelchicanerunIn

Comes apart in

bumpersplinkoorchard

The voice

Hear Amber

A low "GOM-buh" that closes on the m and sags away. The largest cavity on the grid by a distance, and it is complaining.

In the race mix — E2, 82.4 Hz, The thud

The floor of the roster at 82.4 Hz. A thud where the rest of the field has a chime.

The record

15thChampionship

12Points

1Starts

0Wins

1Podiums

3rdBest

3.0Average

3rdLast out

R03 3rd of 6 last-gasp steal

In the stands

Booed in three of the six stands and adored in the fourth, which is roughly the right ratio for a marble whose best moment is someone else's worst.

Rivalries

AMBER

The Immovable Object

One is a heavy hit. One is immune to the first hit of every section.

Not yet met on a grid

SLATE

Amber's whole race is heavy contact, and Slate's whole race is refusing exactly one heavy contact per section. So the first time Amber arrives, it does not work. The second time, at full price, it works perfectly. The rivalry is a question of whether Amber can be patient, and Amber is not built for patience.

Slate cannot choose which hit to spend it on. Amber cannot choose to wait. Both flaws are load-bearing.