My current Amber character is a steampunk inventor. He REALLY wants to bring the benefits of technology to Amber. But at the same time, he agonizes about the impact an industrial revolution will have on Amber’s society and its relationship with the Golden Circle. Even the people who can’t see that far ahead are wondering what it’ll mean for everyone if he starts making guns that work in Amber. (Yes, Corwin did his rifle trick, but he isn’t sharing the secret with anyone.) This isn’t actually the unrelated digression it appears. It ties in to your question about the implications of items of power in Shadow for the cosmology of the Amber setting. Nothing exists in a vacuum (metaphorically speaking.)
-Tommy Tanaka, Amber Diceless RPG Yahoo!Group
Thought the first: THIS is how you do Steampunk in Amber.
Thought the second: I wish more players understood this.