Challenge #02964-H041: Deconstructed Battle
The day was a very boring day. The human just received a package of an old game but finely crafted made out of materials that are rare in their home-world, each piece have a Jewel that crowns the top. Excitingly they be called over a haven worlder that is a close friend of the human urging them to play. “You known I shouldn’t be surprised that many games contain some form of war or conflict” the haven worlder sighed. It been a good half hour since they started, slowly but meticulously moving the different pieces around the board. The human chuckled “True, there are many forms of conflict in every game, but every games need a strategy in one form or another. Check.” Their companion looked at the board irritated not noticing their flaw in their defences. “How did you- never mind, as you were saying, I agree strategies are essential in any game, but are conflicts in them are really necessary?” As they dejectedly moved a piece. The human began to laugh. “You may have a point but if you live in a death world you realize you can’t escape conflict no matter where you go. Might as well have some fun with it. In the other hand times like these need to be cherish. Checkmate.” -- Anon Guest
It was a Deathworlder game, so of course it involved some variety of combat. Judging by the names of the pieces, it had been codified in the feudal era when they had monarchs. There was some mystery over why the piece shaped like a castle keep was called a 'rook'. The Humans probably had some obscure history about that[1].
Each piece had its own rule set about how they moved on the grid. The goal was to defeat the opposite force by capturing both royals. The 'king' because they were the most vulnerable, and the 'queen' because it was the most powerful piece on the board. Whatever the Human's history behind that had to have an interesting wrinkle, given the gender-specific architecture of power in Terran history[2]. The rules were relatively simple, but the combinations were practically infinite.
It was a game in which most strategies had been mapped out and named after famous players, and yet an experienced master had good reason to fear a raw initiate. Mostly because a newbie had no idea what the formal responses to established moves were and would do things that experts had grown to not expect.
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