The Ninth Abyss is ruled by Queen Hecate, and it is also the Realm that I come from. However, I am not descended from the Queen.
As far as I can tell, from what I have learned in my brief years of life, the only thing that makes our Realm distinct from any of the others, is that we had a couple of very notable guests staying with us for quite a long time. They became interwoven into our politics and our ambitions, and there was quite a lot of cross-pollination that happened between them and the royal line.
Back in 1978, as things get measured on St. James, there was a war going on, and the forces of Chaos were fighting their last ditch battle on the edge of the Abyss in Thelbane. Prince Brand of Amber, who had tried so hard to be King Brand of Amber, was shot with an arrow, and fell back into the Abyss, grabbing on to his sister Deirdre as he fell, so she went in with him. Thus ended the Patternfall war.
Now, under all normal circumstances, if you fall in there and manage to survive, you end up somewhere in the 12th Abyss. Always have, always will. But these were not normal circumstances. The Pattern of Amber had been damaged, and Oberon had just killed himself fixing it, and a wave of Shadow Storms were flying outwards across the whole of existence as a wave of change spread out from Amber.
Well, guess what? In the Brownwater Abyss that creation floats in, all was not rosy either. That much turbulence up there was having an effect below too. When Brand fell, he missed the 12th Abyss all together, and finally ended up in the 9th. And he was not in a good way.
His sister was even worse. Afflicted as she was by the Karm curse of fixed form, she was perilously close to death. However, Queen Hecate was merciful, and despite the fact that Brand had red hair, they were both welcomed as guests and allowed to stay and heal. It might have had something to do with the fact that Deirdre had been a staunch ally of the Abyss for centuries, and it might have had something to do with the fact that Brand made the Queen fall in love with him. Nobody is admitting to exactly why the Queen and Deirdre didn’t get together and gut him like a fish in a Sacred King ceremony. But they didn’t.
Some eloquent soul once said that there’s bugger all to do in the Abyss exccpt fight, feast and fuck. Having decided that fighting was off the table, what remained was feasting and fucking. Brand fathered six children while they were in the 9th, including my father Prince Taranis. And Deirdre was mother to four children, including my father Prince Taranis. Oops. Guess that’s let the cat out of the bag. Actually, three of her four were sired by her brother while they were down there. And Brand also sired two on the Queen, and one on the Crown Princess, who is called Kallisto.
So, that’s what makes the 9th Abyss special. It’s where Brand and Deirdre recovered from Patternfall.