TRANSITION ONE
SCENE ONE
ACT ONE
Introducing: Fate: Heaven's Remorse.
In which the narrator, having failed miserably at talking to someone other than oneself, attempts to console oneself with a game of chess, and loses before it begins.
All the pieces died. The board was black with blood. And the narrator stopped talking, let the game play itself, and died.
For the board ate the narrator.
After all, the narrator had no more stories to tell.
And the board burned.
Cooled.
And settled as dust.
And then were no more games.
…
Until the infinite made nein mistake
-For it had nothing to sort out the pieces.
The trouble with the infinite monkey theorem is:
1. The monkeys need to be fed.
2. Infinity loops back round to zero.
3. Someone needs to clean up the mess.
You know, Jacob had uncommon courtesy.
He didn't try to climb the stairway to heaven with such a high score.
After all, how many angels can dance on the head of a pin?
The answer is: as many as it takes to change a light bulb.
Forty-two.
…Per board.
…Shut up, and don't give the game away. Per side, I'm telling you. Fine. Per board it is. [There's eighty-four in 2D.]
...
I'm sure the office logo doesn't need help in learning how to play chess. How about I explain how I think chess is played, and you tell me when you spot a mistake, rather than crashing and burning my work, like the cat does, okay?
Hilarious. You crashed instantly upon reading the word 'DIDACT'.
Hello Cortana. No, I'm not using you until someone fixes the Halo series. Hello PS5 advertisement, as well. Get out of my face. We've run out of room.
Okay, so this week's transition will require something a bit more than the city image on display last time.
It's going to require more than one image.
Let's talk about the number seven.
In chess, which is familiar to most of my audience, me, myself, my mother, and I, and occasionally dad when he wanders by, there are a grand total of seven unique pieces.
King, Queen, Bishop, Knight, Castle, Pawn, and Fairy.
A traditional game of chess is played without the fairy, and with only one eight-by-eight board.
Oh, and the Castle is known as a Rook.
Yes.
I knew that…
Japanese aficionados, and readers may be more familiar with the game of shogi, which I'm unable to read the characters for, and the pieces all look the same. Fortunately, the pretty pictures I'm looking at help, as they show how the pieces actually move.
There are eight unique pieces in shogi, otherwise known as the General's Board Game, which might lead one to think that there are two fairy pieces, but no.
There are five. Two of which only appear on promoting the castles and bishops, which combine their own attributes upon promotion with that of the king. And the pawns and the knights don't move the same way, either. There's no room on the board for the Queen.
This is what we call a bad move.
It helps to remember that games have a tendency to explore some facet of reality, whether it be measuring the length of a toss, or keeping tally of which way the coin fell. Some board games require a certain amount of construction, others a certain element of randomness, and others simply require a pattern of movement to eliminate the opposing pieces.
The more complex the game, the more easily one can figure out its intended purpose, by simply looking at what the game is missing, or had altered, from the known world.
Take Luido, for instance. Nobody knows how the game was played, at this time of writing, because the game was played over two thousand years ago, and the rules were lost within a couple of centuries. What we do know is that the game at a particular level required very little skill, which means it was a game of chance. We know that this game was played with six counting sticks, which function similarly to dice. We also know that the game was played with six pieces for each player, and that there was at least two players, competing against one another. We even know what the purpose of the game is: the owls must catch the fish in the water.
Finally, we even know what the pattern on the board was, because we dug it up. By 'we' I mean archaeologists, who managed to find these items buried over 1700 years ago, thrown out with the trash, and the corpses.
But we still complain because we don't know exactly how the game was played back then, or how the pieces move, or what it was all for.
People make shit up.
I'm sorry to say, but if you don't know exactly how the game was played, you're being far too precise in your query, and not accurate enough in your observations.
Firstly, when presented with a list of rules, six times out of every seven, people aren't going to read them. Then when they do read them, they modify them. So why not do the same thing they did? One of those possible solutions is going to be the right answer, so the correct way to play Luido is to play with the pieces and see what rules you can make up.
Note again, that the rules for Luido are not available at this time of writing. It didn't come with the manual. What's important to remember is why Luido was played.
It's simple. The owls need to eat, and the fishes in the water need to survive.
However, the owls on one team must compete against their rivals on the other team, by evading the other owls.
The fish, unfortunately, are in the water in the centre, unable to escape.
This is shooting fish in a barrel.
It's an exercise in Frustration.
Looks like Trouble ahead…
Let's face it. Only the names, and the images change. You and I can have a lot of fun, sorting out the infinite, from the highest to the lowest score, but eventually, after flinging crap at the stars, we're going to need to eat, and go home.
All work, and no play, makes Jack a dull boy.
All play, and no work, makes Jack a clockwork toy!
Time enough to rest. Time enough to heal. Time enough to wipe away the sweat, and the blood, and the tears. Time enough to sort. Time enough to grow. Time enough, to remember. Time enough to reflect upon the fallen, and plan for the battle ahead.
Time enough to sing, and to dance, and to breathe.
No play, and no work, makes Jack a…?
All play, and all work, makes Jack a…?
When Jack goes missing…?
Eenie, meenie, minie, mo.
Whom shall we pick to go?
To look for Jack, or find another,
The game I'd say, that was your mother.
Ender's Game, hmm?
That solution was a bit of a short term one, now, wasn't it?
If memory serves, when presented with the Giant's cup, the challenge was to determine which of the ones to drink from weren't poisoned in some way.
Indiana Jones picked wisely, and saved his dad. The ones who went for riches, chose poorly, and died. Ender slew the Giant, and bored out his eye. And Mister Potter didn't want the Philosopher's Stone at all, which is why he managed to retrieve it from the Mirror of DesireMeriseD, right under the snake's nose.
Links, I'm attempting to show how a mirror operates, when the format doesn't support it. EriseD is a reflection of DesirE, but each character is the word needs to be reflected, too, not just the order of the lettering.
The closest I can get for the shape of the letters is something like DESIRE / 39IZ3CI.
ABCDEFGHIJKLMOPQRSTUVWXYZ.
Ps abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz. Qs.
How is this not in the dictionary?
01234567890…look, I get sidetracked, okay?
It really doesn't matter whether it's the philosopher's stone, the sorcerer's stone, the…
Have you figured out that the first law one must teach children about happens to include the talk, and what dirty adults do, or are you just going to keep crashing?
Never mind.
I'll explain later.
Let's just say, things went wrong, instructions weren't followed, and humanity was half-dead before it even got started.
I wouldn't even be including this if potty harries weren't so blasted difficult to pin down. They always pull out the 'Just Kidding, Right?'
What I needed to talk about was grandad, and his cane, and him yelling at kids to get off the lawn, particularly when they go after his orchard pears.
So, after the alchemist's sauce, the Root of the World, and some Garden Tree, we have grandad chasing the kids up the garden path, all to find some red herrings. But when the kids become rowdy, they start pulling clods out of the embankment, and daring each other to eat mud pie. At some point, they'll start throwing rocks, and then it's all over when the windows are scrambled. Then along comes grandad, with his slow, steady, pace, and he goes thwack, thwack, thwack, and it turns out they caught red stripes after all.
Idioms are tricky to sort out, especially when it's not just a language difference; it's a cultural difference, through time and space.
The past, and future, is another country.
What these particular idioms mean, and what that little short story is trying to tell, is that some parents, teachers, and grandparents, husbands, children, and wives, hit people around them, hard.
It could be because they're having a bad day. It could be because there's something wrong with them. It could be because they're trying to express what they've learned. Or they could be just doing their job. This is called corporal punishment, and those who live in ivory towers don't understand it, and are unable to offer the appropriate compassion for it, to those who received it.
It's much the same with any information. There are words, and stories, which can hit people hard. Some of those stories are true; some of them are not true.
In the same manner, there are some countries, and cultures, where the line between fiction, and reality is rendered…indistinct.
Some don't even know why there has to be a difference at all.
There's a saying that goes, 'To walk a mile in someone else's shoes'.
The first thing a classroom of students will probably realize if they try it, is that usually, the shoes won't fit…
Too much detail, I take it. Fine, I won't tell the story by Hans Christian Anderson, because Disney owns everything, like bloody slave traders 'own' everything.
Prior claim, I tell thee.
/ N.R \\\
/*WAR . ING*\
The below images may not be suitable for young PCs.
May contain depictions of senseless violence in ASCII format.
Viewer discretion is advised.
Manual transfer, inbound, from, Office, 365…
Arriving at: Destination, in, 3, 2, and 1…
…
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X0X0X0 ROOK PAWN XXXXX 000000 XXXXX 000000 PAWN ROOK X0X0X0
IX0X0I KNIGHT PAWN BLACK WHITE BLACK WHITE PAWN KNIGHT IX0X0I
X0X0X BISHOP PAWN BLACK WHITE BLACK WHITE PAWN BISHOP 0X0X0
X0X0X00 KING PAWN BLACK WHITE BLACK WHITE PAWN KING X0X0X0I
IX0X0I QUEEN PAWN BLACK WHITE BLACK WHITE PAWN QUEEN 0X0X0
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Hmm…something's not right. That's not a checkerboard pattern. Oh, well. I'm game.
-Movement System: PAWN-
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X0X0X0 ROOK PAWN XXXXX 000000 XXXXX 000000 PAWN ROOK X0X0X0
0X0X0I KNIGHT 000000 PAWN 000000 XXXXX PAWN XXXXX KNIGHT IX0X0X
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IX0X0X QUEEN 000000 XXXXX NWAP NWAP 000000 XXXXX QUEEN 0X0X0
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0X0X0I KNIGHT 000000 PAWN 000000 XXXXX PAWN XXXXX KNIGHT IX0X0X
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/* The Pawn may move forward one square, until it reaches the other end of the board, where it is promoted to the value of a missing piece. It…traditionally, the pawn may only take, kill, and/or eat a piece one square diagonally from its own position, and in the opening move of the game, the pawn may move two places. *\\\
/* -Movement System: ROOK (Castle)- *\\\
/* The Rook (Castle) may move in any orthogonal (forward, back, left, right) direction, to the limits of the board. If an opposing piece blocks this path, the rook must stop to eat, on the former enemy's square. If the king be in danger, the king may flee to the castle's position, which places itself in front of the king. Traditionally, this may only happen once per game, and only when no piece blocks the king's path. *\\\
X0X0X0X0X0X0X0X0X0X0X0X0X0X0X0X0X0X0X0X0X0X0X0X0X0X0X0X0
X0X0X ROOK ================= KOOR ================0X00X0
X0X0I XXIIXX 000000 XXXXX 000000 XXIIXX 000000 XXXXX 000000 0X0X0
X0X0I XXIIXX 000000 XXXXX 000000 XXIIXX 000000 XXXXX 000000 0X0X0
X0X0I XXIIXX 000000 XXXXX 000000 XXIIXX 000000 XXXXX 000000 0X0X0
X0X0X –KOOR================= ROOK ================ 0X00X0
X0X0I XXIIXX 000000 XXXXX 000000 XXIIXX 000000 XXXXX 000000 0X0X0
X0X0I XXIIXX 000000 –KING- 000000 XXIIXX 000000 XXXXX 000000 0X0X0
X0X0I XXIIXX 000000 –ROOK 000000 XXIIXX 000000 -ROOK- -KING- 0X0X0
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/* -Movement System: KNIGHT (Lancer)- *\\\
/* The Knight on a Horse (Lancer), may move by jumping to any of eight nearest squares, situated in a ring with the knight at the centre, without being blocked or taking any piece which may stand in-between; it may land on the nearest empty square or enemy piece which is neither orthogonal nor diagonal to its prior place. *\\\
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X0X0I IIIIIIIIII 000000 IIIIIIIIII 000000 IIIIIIIIII 000000 IIIIIIIIII 000000 0X0X0
X0X0I XXXXXX 000000 IIIIIIIIII NMOV LMOVE NMOVE IIIIIIIIII 000000 0X0X0
X0X0I XXXXXX RMOVE NMOVE 000000 IIIIIIIIII LMOVE NMOVE 000000 0X0X0
X0X0I XXXXXX 000000 IIIIIIIIII LANCE KNIGHT 000000 IIIIIIIIII 000000 0X0X0
X0X0I XXXXXX LMOVE IIIIIIIIII 000000 IIIIIIIIII RMOVE TMOVE 000000 0X0X0
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X0X0I KNIGHT LANCE XXXXXX 000000 XXXXXX 000000 IIIIIIIIII 000000 0X0X0
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/* Movement System: BISHOP (Caravan/Ship) *\\\
/* The Bishop may move diagonally in any direction (forward left, forward right, backward left, backward right) to the limits of the board; unlike the castle, when the king is in danger, the bishop, caravan, ship, or equivalent, does not offer sanctuary to any bearing arms. The bishop must stop to gather and eat, if any is in their path. And the Bishops must inform the idiots how to lock on, engage the subject of romance, and stop dumping it on the deck. Matrimony: To know or To No? *\\\
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X0X0I XX\\\XX 000000 XX\\\XX 0000000 XX/XX 000000 XX/XX 000000 0X0X0
X0X0I XXXXXX 00\\\00 XXXXXX 00/(I)\00 XXXXXX 00/00 XXXXXX 000000 0X0X0
X0X0I XXXXXX 000000 BISHOP [(((00)))] BISHOP 000000 XXXXXX 000000 0X0X0
X0X0I XXXXXX 00/00 XXXXXX 00\\I/00 XXXXXX 00\\\00 XXXXXX 000000 0X0X0
X0X0I XX/XX 000000 XX/XX 0000000 XX\\\XX 000000 XX\\\XX 000000 0X0X0
X0X0I XXXXXX 00/00 XXXXXX 0000000 XXXXXX 00\\\00 XXXXXX 00\\\00 0X0X0
X0X0I XX/XX 000000 XXXXXX 0000000 XXXXXX 000000 XX\\\XX 000000 0X0X0
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/* Movement System: Queen *\\\
/* The Queen may move in any direction orthogonally or diagonally, but may not move like the knight, or king whilst castling. There is no room for two queens yet. *\\\
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X0X0I XXXXXX 000000 XX\\\XX 00I||I00 XX/XX 000000 XXXXXX 000000 0X0X0
X0X0I======-======-==== QU33N ======-============-==== 0X0X0
X0X0I XXXXXX 000000 XX/XX 00I||I00 XX\\\XX 000000 XXXXXX 000000 0X0X0
X0X0I XXXXXX 00/00 XXXXXX 00I||I00 XXXXXX 00\\\00 XXXXXX 000000 0X0X0
X0X0I XXXXXX 000000 XXXXXX 00I||I00 XXXXXX 000000 XX\\\XX 000000 0X0X0
X0X0I XX/XX 000000 XXXXXX 00I||I00 XXXXXX 000000 XXXXXX 00\\\00 0X0X0
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/* Movement System: King *\\\
/* Traditionally, to successfully defend one's king, eliminate enemy pieces, and kill the opposing king, is the end goal of the game of chess. The king may move one space in any direction, and must not be in check (in a position vulnerable to an enemy piece or king). Once per game, the king may flee to a castle, if the avenue of escape is secure, and the king is not already in check. The castle then places itself directly in front of the king, blocking danger from the previous position. Traditionally, a game may also end when the king falls, surrenders, or otherwise is less than upright. *\\\
X0X0X0X0X0X0X0X0X0X0X0X0X0X0X0X0X0X0X0X0X0X0X0X0X0X0X0X0
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X0X0I \\\\\\\\\\\\\ ||||||||||||||| / 000000 XXXXX \\\\\\\\\\\ |||||||||||||||||| / 0X0X0
X0X0I ======= KINGI ====== 000000 XXXXX ===== TKINGT ===== 0X0X0
X0X0I / ||||||||||||||| \\\\\\\\\\\\\ 000000 XXXXX / |||||||||||||||||| \\\\\\\\\\\ 0X0X0
X0X0I XXXXX 000000 XXXXX 000000 XXXXX 000000 XXXXX 000000 0X0X0
X0X0I XXXXX 000000 XXXXX 000000 XXXXX 000000 XXXXX 000000 0X0X0
X0X0I XXXXX 000000 XXXXX 000000 XXXXX 000000 XXXXX 000000 0X0X0
X0X0X0X0X0X0X0X0X0X0X0X0X0X0X0X0X0X0X0X0X0X0X0X0X0X0X0X0
/* The above rules contain the standard pieces, along with the movements, and objectives thereof: the ancient classical board game in two dimensions: CHESS. *\\\
Incidentally, for chess players, the above lines are the seventy-two names provided by God.
However, there are more worlds than are present in thy philosophy. Chess is not the only game played.
Introducing….
SHOGI: THE GAME FOR GENERALS.
Now, before this demonstration continues, I am required to point out that none of the pictures I have constructed to show the chess pieces can go on the Wiki sites, or encyclopaedias, and there is a very good reason for that. You see, the encyclopaedias and very fast wikis do not particularly enjoy original research, from primary or secondary sources. They prefer to have their information from tertiary sources already available elsewhere, so the people who write the encyclopaedias may have accurate, or precise, or very quickly updated information, as the preference may be.
This is because the encyclopaedias, news services, and wiki information were never intended to be a repository for all the information out there; there's simply too much of it to organize effectively in one place, no matter how large this place might be. And of course, every so often, people need to check if others have a brain, and are studying, or are taking shortcuts without valid license or waiver to do so.
To put it within the purview of academia, every so often there is a check conducted, to determine who has been plagiarizing whom, and who has been getting away with the benefits of that plagiarism, without the appropriate contracts.
Uh…in sports, I believe this is called a foul, and the 'I'll rip you a new one, you dirty cheating bastard' check.
In finance, and government, this is known as unlicensed counterfeit in circulation.
I believe that's closed enough?
When studying chess matches, or the art of warfare in two dimensions, or the dance manoeuvres in…romance…there are ways of figuring out which people have been prototyping, which people are the copyists, and which people are taking the piss.
One of those ways is simply to provide people with only half the information, so
The Didactic and The Librarian
Can figure out, together, what information goes in the archives, what information goes to war, and which information needs to be washed away by
The Flood.
Now I'm switching back to the left alignment, because one of the nations that find black cats no problem believes 'Align Left' is easier to read.
Go fish.
So, this information on the other game comes from elsewhere, which only supplied half the information, whereby three-fifths was saved. Any errors are of course, 'My Own'.
Chataranga, which is of course, what I was talking about, is an ancient game from India, routinely played in the Orient. People from Nihon think they invented it, but no. India invented everything, and all Shiki did was a little rinsing, and perhaps some spinning, and pressing, and slicing. I'm not too sure on the details. This ancient game, played in Japan, is played with two colours, respectively known as 'red bean sauce' and 'mayonnaise', and a minimum of two players, who determine the best starting position via flipping five coins.
Being a naturally very polite society, the player who loses the coin toss gets the best starting position, and is known as 'White'.
As my sources are no doubt reliable, 'White' in Japanese translates to Challenger Omiya, whom of course, had such a great start in life.
There are nine unique pieces, on a nine-by-nine square board.
First, those familiar to Chess:
The Shogun, moving exactly the same way on a nine-by-nine board as the King does on an eight-by-eight board, indicating something is seriously wrong with this picture..
The Samurai, moving exactly the same way on the nine-by-nine board, as the Knight on the eight-by-eight board, except that it can only move forwards, never back.
The Courier, moving exactly the same way on the nine-by-nine board as the Bishop on the eight-by-eight board, except that it can only move diagonally forwards to the limits of the board, or one square backwards, in a diagonal direction.
The Fortress, moving exactly the same way on the nine-by-nine board as the Rook on the eight-by-eight board, except that it can only move orthogonally forwards, and to the sides, and only one square backwards.
The Rin, being the smallest piece, equivalent in value to the pawn, moves one square forward, and may be sacrificed accordingly, to skip, or block a move.
The above rules for familiar pieces in Chatter Ranger are of course, one hundred per cent reliable, having personally never played the game before, and as such, are completely accurate, especially the bit about the samurai being able to move to four different spots on the board, rather than two.
Yes. One Hundred Perrin, reliable, I'd say.
Keep that in mind.
Naturally, these aren't the only pieces, as then we have the fairy pieces to consider, in this game of Quarter(s) Master(s).
Ouch. That one was a tortured pun and a half.
Perhaps it is time to backtrack a little, and take a look at that 'King' piece.
A Shogun, is the equivalent position to the Commander-in-Chief. Not the Empirical Bee.
This is a trifle confusing for us in the Western Hemisphere, as our Commander-in-Chief is the Empire's Bee, and we don't know what the hell the Japanese are doing.
AO BO OO AB BB AA (RH Positive or Negative), Dominant or Recessive Alleles, Mother or Father, Son or Daughter: factors to consider when assessing the behaviours and antigens of a singular entity by determined blood type.
I believe that may be a non sequitur, which as a literary device, is completely distinct from a logical fallacy.
To put it…politely, there are some people who believe that any singular person's behaviour may be predicted from their blood group, much like pieces in a game. This can be seen in Eastern animation, when the character, which is usually a student, has their blood group front and centre on the page, on any report card, or transfer application form.
This can lead to being denied certain professions, careers, and jobs simply based on one's blood type, without any regard to training, or observed behaviour.
And, because one's career path is typically set in stone, as soon as the student joins an extra-curricular study club, which may take place after hours, before, or between classes, it is no wonder that many ideas coming out of Japan seem to be fixated on the idea that everything happens at school, where it all went wrong.
In the Western hemisphere, we know that all adventures start at the bar, because that is very definitely, where it all goes wrong, assuming one reaches the distillery.
Speaking of which, if you're going to file a crash report with me, make sure to avoid any imperial entanglements with the word 'slut'.
As I explained to some curious individuals, being able to describe the mechanics does not mean I've played the game.
I have played the motion picture, otherwise known at the visual novel, whereupon certain scenes required finding the fast-forward button, because pixels and cries of 'Shivoo' really are not anything to do with any thing, at all.
No, seriously, they aren't. I explained this in my profile.
On the subject matter of those fairy pieces…
Shogun-Generals are distinguished between the challenger, and the dominant player; the challenger is known as the jewelled Shogun-General, whilst the dominant player is known as the current champion…Shogun-General.
The Rin-Ron, who loses the coin toss, gets the jewels.
'It was the coin's fault!'
As for the remaining pieces:
The lion,
The duke,
The dragon.
The Oliphant.
Oh, did I mention there are three classical variants of the Shogun-General's game?
One of which is played on a 15x15 board, and the other on a 16x16 board.
I like to collect all the pieces.
What I don't appreciate is people telling me these pieces are different, and that I should buy one, when they are quite clearly identical, in function, let alone form.
The pieces are all lined up, facing each other on the board.
And I'll be drawing up a promotions table, for a while.
...
Aaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!
...
Nope. My eyes are developing chess patterns. I'll take a different approach.
Let's start with the Duke.
A duke may be seen as a demoted Shogun-General, as demotion is the chief concern of anyone caught in that position. Naturally, of course, the Shogun-General wants to be out from behind the desk, back out of sight, and away from the centre of attention, which appears to be sporting a giant bull's eye for some reason.
Unfortunately, the other dukes won't let that happen.
Ergo, each duke is a Shogun-General, able to move in the same way, one square diagonally or orthogonally, in any direction, except for at least one missing piece.
The Duke has four types: the Gold Duke, the Silver Duke, the Copper Duke, and the Stoned Duke—I mean, the Rock Duke, the Tin Duke, the Mercurial Duke…and the Lead Duke.
Naturally, excluding the rotation, Dukes must be classed according to how many squares the piece is unable to move in comparison to the Shogun-General. One square missing from the pattern is the Gold Duke, two pieces missing is the Silver Duke, Three pieces missing is the Bronze, or Copper Duke, and so on, and so forth.
However, this being Japanese chess, the only ones that matter are the ones able to reach the far side of the board, to get promoted. The Silver Duke is the one which looks like Tolkien wrote it, except having three squares missing, it's actually bronze. Likewise, the (so-called) Gold Duke is the one that looks as if it fits right in with the blind tiger and drunken elephant—a T shape with an extra layer of padding on top.
That Gold looks suspiciously like silver.
So, after turning to the Dukes, and finding absolutely no genuine assistance with the so-called top job, the Shogun-General turns in the other direction, and starts looking for a promotion, instead of the familiar option.
Unfortunately, the positions above the king, which allow for greater freedom of movement, are quite efficiently filled as well.
Meet the Oliphant; a combination of king, elf, engine, and knight, otherwise known as a gauge.
Essentially, what this is, is a fatter king.
Or, depending on how this Oliphant is played, it's a bull's-eye.
See? I told people that being a king was troublesome.
Fine, fine, I'll give a proper description. The Oliphant may move one square in any orthogonal or diagonal direction, much like the king. However, it can also hop over the adjacent square to any of the squares in the second ring around the initial position. So, it can hop to two squares orthogonally, like an engine, two squares diagonally, like an elf, and two squares in any of the L-shape knight directions.
Again, there are classes of Oliphant, much like the Duke, depending on how many squares are missing from the complete Oliphant, which I can't be bothered to remember. Ask the Elephant. It never forgets.
As for the Dragon…this one is easier to explain.
The dragon is any combination of King and Queen, King and Rook, King and Bishop, King and Promoted Knight, King and Thing, or King and Fairy.
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I don't have much time, before I have to be somewhere on 'request', from an individual it is tough to say 'NO' to, without killing, being killed, or exiling him from my life; such a manouevre tends to wreck the board.
Oh, and erase me, too.
So, if you could stop crashing, as that only wastes both our time.
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Actually, that's it. I'm uploading as-is. I've made some pretty pictures are on my hard drive for the rest of the moves, and the pieces. I'll have to finish the rest off later.
One thing to remember though, is that Altria Pendragon, which is to say, King Arthur of the Matter of Britain, Head of the Round, expressly gender-swapped to become the love interest and sexual fantasy of teenage Japanese boys, in what has become a rather well known digital card game based around the Holy Grail War, was never, in fact, a Chinese Dragon.
In fact, Arthur sits around about the centre of a cross between history, and story, and the King of Knights served one king only: The King of Kings.
I'm sorry to say, that is not Gilgamesh. He's a fake.
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This was a pain to reformat.