Clay Battles

^{All images made by Nightcafe, with the exception of the digram below.}
Of all the pastimes and dispution methods available to the noble sector of sorcerer society during Llagnyn's fourth era, none were as deadly as the clay battles. To play was to give up one's life, and to challenge one to it was to show an utter contempt for them.

The Challenge

While some played it for the excercise in mental capabilities and amusement, most true battles occured as a challenge. For nobles in sorcerer society, the proper way to conduct oneself if one felt slighted by a fellow was to challenge them to a clay battle. Most games were declined and an agreement made, but for those for whom the loathing between them grew large enough, the challenge was accepted and the game arranged.

The Game

The Setup

The game of a clay battle can take place on any flat surface, this most often being a small table. The pieces involved are the two players' personal clay collection and a set of spheres for both players. A clay collection starts out from simple animals, but grows as a player wins more games. There is no restriction on the amount of members of a clay collection.

The Play

At game start, every piece is matched against an opposing piece, to the limit of the size of the smaller clay collection. A border is placed between the two collections by a third party, and the transformations begin. Both players use their set of spheres, one of white clay to be held in one hand and one of black clay to be held in the other, to transform their pieces into different clay varieties. These varieties differ in three categories: color, brittleness, and resilience. After all pieces have been transformed to the desire of both sides, the border is lifted and each piece attacks its opponent. Each battle comes to either a win or stalemate, depending on how each of the varities interact. If a piece wins its battle, then it abosorbs its opponent, and a new piece is brought in to replace the defeated one, if there is one available.

The Varieties

The brittleness of a piece is how flexible or easy to break it is. If a piece has a very low brittleness, it will be able to bend with an attack, and if it has a very high brittleness, it will fall apart much more easily. Lower brittlenesses are able to defeat higher brittlenesses and low resiliences, and higher brittlenesses are able to defeat high resiliences. The resilience of a piece is how well it can resist deformation and keep its shape. If a piece has a very high resilience, it will be able to keep its shape better, and if it has a very low resilience, it will deform more in its battle. High resiliences are able to defeat low resiliences and low brittlenesses, and lower resiliences are able to defeat high britlenesses. The color of a piece affects how it attacks its opponent piece. The color of a piece is a mixture in the ranges of orange, magenta, and cyan. Orange increases a piece's agility and ferocity, but reduces its stealthiness. Magenta increases a piece's ferocity and stealthiness, but reduces its agility. Cyan increases a piece's agility and stealthiness, but reduces its ferocity. Certain blends of each of these colors are able to defeat other colors, brittlenesses, and resiliences.

The Conclusion

The game goes on until one player's clay collection has been completely depleted. That player loses, and, through a complex manipulation of the spheres, is added to the winner's clay collection. In addition to condemning their opponent eternally, the winner also gains the loser's status, although still requiring a Vampiric Duel if it is the status of Vampire, along with any plots of land or residences owned by them.