Xadrez

XADREZ

THE GREAT GAME OF THE KNOWN WORLD

Xadrez is the oldest game known to humanity in the Known World. No one is sure what the name means or what its origin might be.

The pieces each have a short name and a long name. Only history buffs, xadrez obsessives, and sages commonly use the long names. In the table below, the long part of each piece name is given in parentheses.

CHESS PIECE	XADREZ PIECE	XADREZ PIECE APPEARANCE
Pawn	The Wall [of Four Parts]	4x4 block walls
Knight	The Smith [of the Furnace]	A hammer held by a base that looks like a fist
Bishop	The Wizard [of Ways]	A twisted wand rising from a base
Rook	The Tower [of Stars]	A segmented tower, tapering upwards.
Queen	The [Forest] Queen	Figure, arms open wide
King	The [Fountain] King	Figure, arms reaching up

As with the playing cards of the Known World, there are local variants to the appearance of the pieces and the board. In Voors, the Wall is often depicted as a miner carrying a pickaxe. In Parashkanan, the King is a great eagle with outstretched wings. In Redpath, all the pieces are replaced by symbols, or runes, instead of figurative sculptures. Few know the origins of these variations.

Xadrez is played much like chess on Earth, on a similar board.

There are stereotypes about xadrez players and styles of play:

The Voorish Attack: Aggressive, relying on memorized gambits and strategies.

The Kirenar Riddle: Strategies rely on deception and trickery.

The Parashi Defense: “stronghold” defense luring opponent to sacrifice pieces wastefully.

Patient Parya: A delaying game, attempting to force opponents to burn up gambits in vain.

The Graditeli Miner: A strategy focused on extracting the King without wasting time taking other pieces.

Salainen Calculation: Predict the opponent’s play with complex mental math and pre-empt their moves.