Name: Amber Maza
Birthdate: April 15, 2000, which makes her a headstrong Aries. Aliases: Eolande of Midtown (her RP character from a Xantasia game, used as an alternate identity when she went back in time). Background:
Description:
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Personality:
In her youth, Amber is a child of conflicts. She was born ten years before the rest of the clan’s children hatched, so she never felt that they were her rookery siblings. But because she matured more slowly than the human children of her acquaintance (mainly Alexander Xanatos, Orpheus Bluestone, Patricia and Sebastian St. John), they saw her as being much younger and tended to exclude her. While the clan’s other crossbreed, Elektra (daughter of a Wyvern Clan gargoyle and Prince Malcolm), was raised as a gargoyle and only later in life discovered her human heritage, Amber was always aware of her duality of nature and was never sure where she fit in. She knows that her clan accepts her, but is wary of revealing her secret to other gargoyles. Young Amber is impulsive and hot-tempered, inquisitive to the point of being snoopy, easily frustrated, and stubbornly independent. She is also devoted to her clan and especially her parents. Her babyhood names for them, “Zaza” and “Daga,” carry on into her adult years. She viewed Hudson as a grandfather and the rest of the clan (even Xanatos and Fox, but not Owen) as aunts and uncles. Her relationship with Angela has always been somewhat tense, going back to Angela’s difficulty dealing with the way Goliath doted on Amber. Thus, Amber thinks of Angela as an aunt rather than a sister. Amber’s outlook underwent a drastic change following a trip back in time in which she met Old-Mother, her biological gargoyle grandmother. The elderly female’s influence and acceptance let Amber free herself of her childhood self-doubt and attain an inner serenity. Her love life has been one hurdle after another. One of her first big crushes was on the Hudson of a thousand years ago, when he was the young and studly second-in-command at Castle Wyvern. She was briefly involved with Orpheus Bluestone, but they broke up when Orph started worrying that he was using his powers of suggestion on her. She remains unsure whether she’d be happier with a human or gargoyle mate, but is in no hurry to settle down. Education and Abilities:
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Appearances:
“Lyre, Lyre” -- Amber’s first appearance, in which she was introduced
as Orpheus’ ex-girlfriend but her full identity was not revealed.
“Breeding Season” -- the big moment: Amber was conceived, endangered
in utero during the big New Year’s Eve chase scene, her life and her mother’s
spared by Jericho in a twisted display of logic on his part, and finally
born right at the stroke of midnight.
“Shameless Plug” -- minor appearance; proud papa Goliath brings the
hungry little one to Elisa as the women of Wyvern are finishing their workout.
“Dark Beauty” -- minor appearance, hissing at Ebon because he sounds
too much like her Daga; the source of a bitter outburst by Angela.
“Precocious” -- teething pain and a colossal temper tantrum leave Amber
awake and on her own, so she decides to go exploring and runs afoul of
Quarryman nutcase Harry the Hammer, Dominique Destine, and Tony Dracon.
“The Guardians: Alchemist” -- teenage Amber convinces Alexander Xanatos
to let her go back in time and seek a cure for a disease that will otherwise
claim Goliath’s life.
“The Boy With the Healing Hands” -- minor appearance, but she’s gotten
better about being around Ebon.
Upcoming:
“The Guardians: Out of Time” -- Amber escorts Old-Mother back to the
past, but when she loses the Phoenix Gate, she has no way to get home.
“The Guardians: Rivalry” -- There’s a new student at the Sterling Academy,
and both Amber and her track-star cousin Dee have their eyes on him.
For more pictures of Amber, visit the Gargoyles room of the Gallery.
Author’s Notes:
One of the biggest challenges in working with Amber
is having her not turn into a copy of Cat Sabledrake from my MageLore
novels.
They have many similarities: crossbreeds in a world
where there aren’t many others of their kind, close relationships with
a doting father, impulsive nature. But they are also different in many
ways: Cat, for all she’s a professional thief, is much more innocent
and naive than Amber will ever be; Amber has her mother present while Cat
loses hers early on; Cat always simply accepts who and what she is while
Amber is continually soul-searching.
I wrote “Passions” in the summer of 1996 -- ouch,
that sounds long ago! It was my second Gargoyles fanfic, and the trailblazer
for Gargoyles erotica (if you hear a hissing noise, it’s the emergency
valve on my big inflating ego). In “Passions,” Goliath and Elisa finally
consummated their relationship. And I started getting letters right away
wanting to know when they were going to have a baby.
That was something I didn’t want to rush. I wanted
to give them a chance to enjoy each other and their new relationship before
taking it to the next step, and I had a lot of things to consider. Whether
crossbreeding was possible. If so, what were the ramifications?
I tested the waters a little when I introduced Elektra,
tested them a little more with Moray MacLachlan (shapechanging son of Demona
and MacBeth some years down the road), had several long talks with myself
on the subject, and finally decided to give it a try. But not make it easy.
(warning - soapbox time) It’s always been
my belief that having a child is a huge responsibility, and it would make
the world such a better place if people had to earn the privilege.
It takes a lot of education to be allowed to take a job as a childcare
worker; actually having the kid too often is the result of a lack
of education.
So I wanted to make Elisa and Goliath really have
to earn it. She wasn’t just going to get preggers by accident; I had to
have a very strict set of rules for the breeding season. And even then,
there had to be magic involved.
Plus, to be really evil, in “Future Imperfect,”
I went and predicted that Elisa and the unborn baby would die at the hands
of a rogue Avalon gargoyle, and then I brought Jericho into the mix ...
There was never any question in my mind that Elisa
and Goliath would have one child, a daughter. I’ve seen other authors give
them a houseful, or most commonly a set of twins, but for me there was
only the one. And her name was always Amber; like others (Jericho, Birdie,
Tiffy Vandermere), the name just was.
The real fun about Amber was that I got to play
two ways at the same time. As the little girl, and also as the central
character for the “Guardians” spin-off series. When you add in that she
got to go back in time, that gave me three different eras to kick up my
heels.
I’m looking forward to more Amber stories. I’m not
sure just what all her future will hold; I sometimes speculate that she
and Brice Canmore (Jon’s son and Orph’s nemesis) will wind up dating for
a while, both of them going by other names so neither knows who the other
is until suddenly their secret identities blow up in their faces; I’d like
to see young Amber go visiting at Aunt Agnes’ house.
It’s all out there, floating around in the realm
of possibilities. All depends on what I can snare with my little fishing
net.