Weirmonken

Weirmonken is the home of several tribes of natural shapeshifters, the Weir, no more than four days' travel from Amber along the ShadowPaths. PrinceEric is known to have close ties to the Shadow, specifically the WulfenClan. LordObi shares a life-debt with DarkWind of the BastetClan and is romantically involved with his sister RoseAmongThorns.

The Weir are all shapeshifters and even in human form, they often adopt animal mannerisms, such as dropping to all fours to smell the ground when they are hunting. When they engage the object of their hunt, they change into their animal form because that way of hunting is natural to them. This means that when it comes to the kill, it is always done is animal form because animals kill out of a need for food but human beings murder. Now, this belief is believed more by some of the Weir than others, but in human form they will never want to hunt for sport, but always distinguish what they're doing is out of need. Obi suspects that those Weir that work for Eric have been educated by him out of this 'primitive' understanding, but even they will still want to close for the kill in animal form. Whether this belief system is purely a primitive one, or whether it has a real spiritual experience as a base is hard to tell without living as a Weir for some time.

---

From The Great Book of Amber, Nine Princes in Amber, p.47

We lay there a while longer and three men entered the campsite and looked about. Them two of them bent down and sniffed at the ground.

Then they looked in our direction.

"Weir," whispered Random, as they moved in our direction.

I saw it happen, though only in shadow. They dropped to all fours and the moonlight played tricks with their gray garments. Then there were the six blazing eyes of our stalkers.

I impaled the first wolf on my silver blade and there was a human howl. Random beheaded one with a single blow, and to my amazement, I saaw Deirdre raise one in the air and break its back across her knee with a brittle, snapping sound.

"Quick, your blade," said Random, and I ran his victim through, and hers, and there were more cries.

---

From ItsBeenAWhile

"I had been Eric's squire but a few years at that time," he begins. "It was the first time I had ever seen the creatures of Weirmonken. Their land reminded me greatly of the True Earth, but always darker, even by day. Have you ever met any of the Weir?"

Miho holds out a section of her orange, offering it quietly as she shakes her head. "Never. Describe them to me?"

"Most days, they're not much different than you or me," he explained accepting the fruit with a smile. "They're a tribal society, with close ties to natavistic shamanism. Each tribe calls a particular animal as their totem, or in their tongue it best translates to 'power animals'. They're generally a little larger than most of Amber's citizens, which isn't as noticable in the men, save the broader shoulders, but the women?"

"Rose-Among-Thorns would dwarf most of the ladies in Grandfather's court, and perhaps scare them as well. It's not that she's primitive or anything of that sort, although they might consider her such," Obi mentioned. "She's possessed of an almost feral grace. She's closely tied to the Great Cat, and in her tribe, the women are the huntresses." A small smile curls his lip in remembrance.

"Amber prefers strength in women in different ways," Miho comments quietly. "Where are the Wier? It sounds as if you stayed there some time... for such... fond memories to form." Her smile reaches her eyes, teasing him.

"No more than a few days out from Amber, even by the longer paths," Obi answers, seemingly oblivious to her implications. "As to time there, well... tribal is a loose term I suppose. They're more pack like, and Uncle Eric is the alpha male. I learned to hunt in Uzoma as a young man, but what I learned in Weir... it's like comparing apples to these oranges."

"We never stayed over long away from Amber, but we did hunt there often and I became fast friends with Dark-Wind, Rose-Among-Thorns's brother. I even saved his life once, taking down a wyvern that had scented him during a hunt." He adds the last matter-of-factly.

Miho turns, her knees almost touching his as she looks at him. "Tell me about it?" she asks.

"We were near the edge of the Velt, stalking a hyena that had been preying on their herd..." Obi begins, weaving a tale of the two men hunting in no more than the clothes he was wearing, and in fact, a bit less. It seems that Obi hunted with the Weir much like he had in Uzoma, wearing naught but a loincloth. His eyes are far away as he recounts the day's hunt and then the return trip to Dark-Wind's tribe and the viscious predator that fell upon them, more interested in the hyena's carcass in truth, but dangerous all the same. He shows her the scar along his thigh from the wyvern's dorsal ridge. He mimes driving his spear into the seperation between the ridge plates and the neck collar, and smiles as he remembers the feast and Eric's praise that evening.

"So, that's Weirmonken and her people, I suppose," he finishes with a little chuckle.