Great Game of Fate

The Great Game of Fate, also known as The Great Game, the Game of Fate, the Game of Four, or simply Fate, is the very fabric of fate on Agrakos. It's predecessor was known as The Game of Many and spread it's influence across every realm though since then, it's definite reach of influence has retracted. Its players are known as The Fated Four.

Whether fate is guided by the game, the game by an abstract predestination, or somewhere in-between is uncertain. People have the power to resist the fate foretold by the board through effort and willpower, though the amount of such effort taken is by no means consistent. Beings of enough power often find themselves independent of the Fated Four, instead acting as independent pieces free from the direct meddling of the players though not wholly out of their indirect influence.

The Great Game is played by the Fated Four on a grand disk shaped board. The board itself is covered in (possibly literally) countless spaces, roughly analogous to the material world itself. Several notable locations are directly tied to locations on the game. The relationships are usually representative, however in the distant past of the Game of Many, there have been occasions when alterations to the board itself physically altered the material world. Each person has a piece on the board, the pieces fall into many categories and have a color. More information about them can be found on Pieces of the Great Game.

The Game's Rules

Not since the first game have the rules and extent of the great game been fully understood. The first four players never wrote down the rules to the Great Game because they never expected to conclude their game, as it is said fate has no end goal; but their game ended none the less. Since then, the rules that the game is played by have varied and changed along with the players. Whether the rules the game is now being played by are descended from the originals, or have been made up out of whole cloth is unclear, possibly even to the players themselves.

Despite the deviance from the first iteration, there have been a few throughlines in the rules of the second through fifth games. Each has been split into four teams delineated by the colors blue, green, yellow, and red each correlating with the directions North, East, South, and West respectively. Since the second game, each of the players has also played with an objective in mind, though these objectives have been obscure and prone to change. There are no rules baring the players from allying with each other, nor are there rules against treachery.

Each of the players has their color, though potential exists for other colors on the board. In the third game, white pieces existed representing those truly devoted to lunala; though they did not have a player they functioned as their own team. Since the First Game there have existed Grey Pieces. These represent those beings independent of the direct influence of the Fated Four; grey pieces themselves cannot be manipulated by the players. However, the pieces around them might still guide their actions.

At the conclusion of a game, it is unclear what happens to the players; they may die, vanish, retire, or be subsumed into fate. The only thing that is certain is no two iterations of the Great Game have had the same players.

Between great games, fate does not cease. There are periods of down time in which scholars theorize that fate flows more freely. That it is in these intermissions that the true direction of an age is judged.

The Luck of the Colors

The four colors have characteristics shared between the games, whether it is a result of the nature of the game or fate itself is unclear. As agents of fate, they have common connotations with the sort of luck each grants.

• Blue - Orderly Good Luck
• Green - Chaotic Good Luck
• Yellow - Orderly Bad Luck
• Red - Chaotic Bad Luck

Reading The Game

The Great Game can be read by anybody with magic, though some are more innately talented than others. Readings are done through proxies, to connect a reader with the Great Game itself by projecting the Great Game onto their proxies. All that is needed for the most rudimentary reading is a grid of an even umber of rows and columns and a token for each square. The more detailed the tokens, the clearer the reading; a more detailed piece makes for an easier reading as detail can more easily be projected. Readings can be as little as faint glimpses or as detailed as fully immersive visions. A reader can also perform a reading on behalf of another person by channeling their magic through the subject rather than themself before the board.

A History of the Game

The Great Game has had five iterations since settling on four players. Each game has been characterized by different players, themselves holding godly power, though only the first set were true elders. Since then, each of the games has been played by a set of four risen. Each of these games has coincided with the dawn of a new age.

The First Game

The First game was the last game to be played by elders who knew the true rules of the game. They played with no objective in mind, expecting to simply oversee and guide the Anarai civilization. When the last King of the Anarai became jealous of their power and desired to himself control fate, he attempted to usurp the players. His efforts resulted in the annihilation of the first four. For such an affront, Fate saw fit to strip the Anarai of their divinity, rendering them unable to again try and steal the power of the game. The First Game was the only to end in a draw. Its conclusion led to the rise of the Zahar.

The Second Game

The Second Game was the first to be played by people who once were mortals. The players were each of the Zahar. They did their best to play by the unwritten rules of fate; but as mortals they did not understand the concept of an endless game. Instead, they played to win, seeking a conclusion, seeking the stabilization of Agrakos and the saving of the Zahar from total extinction.

Of the four players of the second game each saw to guide their own 'champion' into the seat of leader of the gods, to impose order upon creation. Blue was the victor, guiding the rise of Lunala and the stabilization of magic on Agrakos. The conclusion was swift.

The Third Game

The Third Game lasted a long while, though it did not begin until several centuries into the Third Age. The players were a Shar's Dur, an Autumn Dinite, a Crimson Kazcol, and an Ayadi (corresponding to blue, green, yellow, and red respectively).

The Third Game concluded with Yellow defeating a coalition of the other three. Their victory guided the death of Lunala. It inadvertently led to the collapse of civilization and the near total extinction of the lineages once again.

The Fourth Game

The Fourth Game began long into the Fourth Age, nearly a thousand years, and was as chaotic as the age it hailed from. The players were a Kazcol, a Wyldborn, a Spring Dinite, and an Erilgari.

The Fourth Game concluded with a partial victory for a coalition of Red and Green forcing the Nat'Kaz (and the other remaining elders) from their places of prominence. They paved the way for an era of ascendant Risen, and were satisfied with their victory.

The Fifth Game

The Fifth Game began nearly immediately in the Fifth Age, waiting less than 50 years after the conclusion of the last game. The players are a Spring Dinite called Rikthalin the Blue, a Malikivan Dur called Barenae the Green, an Autumn Dinite called Ayyalan the Yellow, and an Umbran called Salvanikh the Red. These four are who are now referred to as the Fated Four.