#makruk
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Chess Blog Day #38 - Chess and Its Family
Although there still remains some debate on whether chess originated in India or Persia, most historians believe chess to have originated in India.
The common ancestor of chess-like games would then be Chaturanga.
"Chaturanga" literally means "four divisions". The four divisions were infantry, cavalry, elephants and chariotry. These would later become the modern pawn, knight, bishop and rook.
Chaturanga was played on an 8x8 board but this board wasn't checkered like a chessboard.
Chaturanga was probably the earliest game to have two things that chess has that other board games like Go don't: Different pieces with different powers, and a single piece that the game centres around trapping (a "king").
Chaturanga was then introduced to Persia (modern Iran) and became Chatrang, which was eventually given the Arabic name Shatranj.
In Chaturanga the king could be captured. Persian players must have decided that this was no fun because at some point in the 700s the rules of Shatranj were changed so that you couldn't put yourself in check and had to move out of it.
Shatranj had the king, knight and rook equivalents move the way they do to this day; but the pawn, queen and bishop equivalents were much less powerful.
This didn't entirely solve the problem of instantly losing games via a silly mistake though, as any online blitz player will attest. Oh well.
Players also had to announce "shāh" (meaning "king", the origin of the modern "check") when they attacked their opponent's king. And of course they also had to declare "Shāh Māt!" ("the king is dead!"), the origin of the modern checkmate.
Later on they started to engrave half of the squares and the iconic checkerboard came into play.
Shatranj sets are typically more minimalist than Chaturanga sets, likely because of the Muslim ban on idolatry that we mentioned yesterday.
Here's a Chaturanga set (left) compared to a Shatranj set.
Before we continue down the descent of chess, we need to take a look at its cousins.
Chinese chess, xiangqi, is thought to be derived from Chaturanga. There are some niche historical theories that it was the other way around, but these aren't well supported. It has the two properties of a chess-like game that we mentioned before - a "king" and pieces with different moves. Xiangqi doesn't have squares though. Pieces are placed on intersections like in Go.
Shogi, or Japanese chess, is also thought to be derived from Chaturanga and may have been invented in India. Some historians even believe that it was originally played with 3D Chaturanga pieces and not the 2D set that it is today. Shogi has the interesting property of being able to use your opponent's pieces after you capture them, reflected in the western variant of bughouse chess.
One theory is that this rule was added at a time in Japanese history when there were a lot of mercenary fighters switching loyalties.
Makruk, or Thai chess, is another Chaturanga derivative. It's actually much more similar to Chaturanga than Chinese or Japanese chess, and is probably the closest thing to Chaturanga still played today aside from chess itself.
In fact Chaturanga derivatives spread so far east that they reached what is now the USA, as chess-like pieces have been found belonging to the Tlingit people of Alaska.
Back to chess.
Eventually Shatranj was introduced to Europe and became associated with violence, revelry and gambling (I know). The historical cultural impact of chess could be its own blog post.
Eventually chess became more prestigious and associated with knights and royalty, who played with ornate pieces. Christian cultures didn't have the same issues with idolatry at that point in history and began making the sort of elaborate sets we saw yesterday.
At this point the rules hadn't really changed from Shatranj.
There were a couple of early European rule changes though. Pawns were allowed to move two squares on their first move and en passant was added to balance this out. King and queens could jump on their first move (queens were still weak and king jumping eventually became castling).
People also experimented with the idea of setting up the pieces behind the pawns however they wanted, although this never caught on.
Then around 1500 AD the Spanish came along and decided that chess was just too slow. They decided that bishops and queens should have the move ability that they do today.
This was initially called "Mad Queen Chess" or "Chess with the madwoman".
This update spread like wildfire though because clearly everyone found it led to much more action.
Finally in the 1800s the modern rule around stalemate was added, castling was standardised, and all later rule changes like threefold repetition were more technical in nature.
We talked a little bit about the rule changes over history, but some of them are quite interesting so it's worth looking into them in more detail.
Tomorrow: The rules of chess's ancestors.
#chess#board game#history#chaturanga#shatranj#chatrang#xiangqi#shogi#makruk#japanese chess#chinese chess#thai chess#tlingit#mad queen chess#en passant
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—𝙻𝚎𝚘𝚗𝚊 𝙺𝚒𝚗𝚐𝚜𝚌𝚑𝚘𝚕𝚊𝚛 𝙶𝚎𝚝𝚜 𝚝𝚘 𝙺𝚗𝚘𝚠 𝚅𝚊𝚛𝚒𝚘𝚞𝚜 𝙲𝚑𝚎𝚜𝚜 𝙶𝚊𝚖𝚎𝚜 𝙵𝚛𝚘𝚖 𝙶𝙽!𝚂/𝙾'𝚜 𝚆𝚘𝚛𝚕𝚍—
Summary: Headcanon(s) where Leona gets to know various chess games from S/O's original world from various countries (xiangqi, shogi, janggi, makruk, shatranj, chaturanga, etc).
Pairing: Leona Kingscholar x GN!S/O.
CW: Fluff, grammatical error, OOC.
A/N: Takin a break from my scenario reqs hjegabjgbaw (oh & btw the hcs & interaction reqs r open again hehe) ꒰ᐢ. .ᐢ꒱₊˚⊹ I GOT THIS IDEA WHEN I WAS PLAYIN MAHJONG AHHHHH ໒꒰ྀི´ ˘ ` ꒱ྀིა SMJGBAKJGAJWGN I HOPE U GUYS LIKE THIS MUEHEHEHE (,,>﹏<,,)
You invite Leona, the lazy beastman, to play a few games with you. He was about to decline you (and prefer to nap with you), not until you mention you want to play VARIOUS CHESS GAMES from VARIOUS COUNTRIES IN YOUR WORLD. Now, he's interested.
Also you try to explain to him that there's a lot of unique chess games from around the countries in your world, even the pieces, the movements, and the board are different.
There's a history behind all of these chess games as well! Now, that indeed piqued his interest. Like come on, various chess games with different pieces, movements, boards, rules as well? How couldn't he be interested, right?
Of course, you're trying your best to explain the rules and how to move each pieces. Oh dear, this is the first time you see Leona becomes THIS SERIOUS.
No surprise that he learns it quickly, he's a fast learner after all. But when you mentioned xiangqi is harder than default chess, oh? Herbivore, are you underestimating his skills? How hard is it, huh? It feels like you're challenging him and it's... Amusing.
This man, this annoying lion beastman won't stop teasing you if he beats you quickly. Aren't you his teacher just a few minutes ago? But... You lose to him in instant? So, has the position switched? Is he your teacher now?
If you mastered one of those chess games or a few, that's a new challenge for him to beat you. He's an ambitious lion, herbivore. He won't go easy on you AT ALL.
If your skills are the same level as him, bet, the whole room will be quiet because the two of you are too focused on the game. Care to play more with him, herbivore?
"Hmm, not a bad move, herbivore~ Now, it's my turn."
I DO NOT OWN TWISTED WONDERLAND & DO NOT REPOST MY WORKS.
#kotaro's work#leona x reader#leona kingscholar x reader#leona kingscholar#twst leona#disney twisted wonderland#twisted wonderland imagines#twisted wonderland x reader#twst#twisted wonderland#twst imagines#twst x reader#twst headcanons#disney twst#leona
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Is Dan's shadow a succubus? Or more appropriately an incubus?
Homie, how would I know?! I'm watching the same show as you. If I knew what that shadow was, I wouldn't need to suffer through the last seven episodes. I was too busy being scared for my life the first seven episodes to truly think about what that shadow was, and now I have to sit through seven more just like alls the rest of ya to figure this puzzle out!
But why are we gendering the shadow? Is the shadow male? To me, the shadow is just energy, possibly a physical manifestation of Dan's trauma; therefore, is it an extension of him. Like Peter Pan's shadow!
@kenjiyabuki went full big-brain and noticed the painting in the background of Brother Anurak's office is Henry Fuseli's The Nightmare.
Ain't no detective like a Tumblr detective.
And because of this, I immediately went to my favorite art historian (I go to departments often asking BL-related questions which is one perk of working in higher ed), and she immediately said, "It's about sex."
More specifically, repression of desire.
Not everyone subscribes to this interpretation, but . . .
There is a mirror and a vial of water in the left bottom corner on the table in the painting. Mirrors mean truth and serve as a bridge between the two worlds (truth/lie, life/death, conscious/subconscious), while water (describe as a mirror-like substance) also serves as a bridge between two worlds. We don't see the mirror fully, so we don't see the truth of the situation, but two worlds are colliding within the painting.
We've seen a good amount of mirrors in the show.
And water.
The show doesn't have a crazy-looking horse in the background unless we are considering the makruk pieces, which are called "horses" and not "knights" like in chess, the horse in this scenario.
That's a stretch even for me, but we still have the bare basics - a person with the weight of desire resting on him.
A desire to be comforted when nobody holds him.
A desire to be protected when he feels abandoned.
A desire to feel normal.
And Trin had the same desires.
There is definitely some funky business happening at the school because Trin and Dan are linked through their desires and experiences, but the shadow was there long before Dan stepped onto the campus.
Detour - In the third episode, the monk told Dan in order to change his karma, he needed to forgive when the time came after Dan saw his dad briefly playing makruk in his dream. At the end of that episode, Dan saw his father's ghost while he was acting the ghost scene from Hamlet, which is a play about revenge and forgiveness.
The shadow led Dan through a tour of his family's happiest moments in episode four right before he encountered his father again.
And his father asked for his forgiveness.
To which Dan said "hell to the no"
And this is why I think the shadow IS Dan. The monk told him to forgive to change his karma. The shadow led Dan to do just that, but Dan didn't; therefore, he didn't beat his karma and ghost-dad told Dan he was becoming everything he hated. Was this conversation all in Dan's head? Was he, through the shadow, guiding himself to be better than his father? And did he override his subconscious to seek revenge instead because that's what he truly desires?
More interestingly is what shows up every time someone chooses revenge over forgiveness - Trin! Rather than the shadow lurking in the water after Dan's dad died, Trin was waiting for him.
Trin was waiting for him in the bathroom to lead Dan into the funhouse when Nai decided to teach Anan a lesson.
And Trin showed up right before Anan attacked Dan.
Each time, the mirrors and water are present, so wouldn't that make Trin The Nightmare?
Of course, I, a color demon must mention how I find the use of red fascinating mostly when thinking about it in correlation to the painting since red is behind the nightmare figure.
And it spreads underneath the sleeping person in white as if that innocent person is being surrounded by this desire.
All of this is to basically sum up that Trin has a face. The shadow doesn't. Trin is a person. The shadow isn't. Just like those headless figurines the locals use as stand-ins for them to appease the wild ghosts and protect them from harm, Dan's faceless shadow could be his way of protecting himself and hiding his desires from outside forces.
And Trin could be a way to expose all that's hidden, including those desires.
#shadow the series#dan and his shadow#it's like Peter Pan#a whole bunch of Lost Boys#but Trin is no shadow#he has a motive
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How 100% Molly Mcgee¨ tackles mixed race crisis
The Ghost and Molly Mcgee, while being a funny comedy slice of life series, it has episodes that explore complicated real-life topics that the audience is able to relate to in more than one way.
One of these episodes is the season 2 episode ¨100% Molly Mcgee¨ that explores how Molly, who is mixed race/culture (Irish and Thai) feels alienated from her thai mother side of the family when her uncle David and cousin Emmie come to visit. Molly feels disconnected from her thai side and feels like she isn’t ¨thai¨ enough for that part of her family.
In this post I’m going to talk about how this episode tackles this theme, how it affects Molly and the rest of the characters involved and the lesson it gives.
Let’s start:
What does means to be mixed race/multi-ethnic?
According to dictionary.cambridge.org being mixed race means ¨a person whose parents are of different races¨.
According to wikipedia being multi-ethnic refers to ¨people who are of more than one ethnicity.¨
In other pages, the term mixed race is used interchangeably to refer to people whose parents are from different races or different ethnic backgrounds since both terms are often correlated with each other. However, it worth of remembering that they mean different things.
As you can belong to two different cultures but not be mixed race.
In the context of the series, Molly is a mixed race and multi-ethnic teen. She is half Thai from her mother side (Sharon) and half Irish from her father side (Pete). She is asian, southeast asian to be more specific, and white-european.
The episode ¨100% Molly Mcgee¨ is about her thai side of the family and how she feels like she isn't connected enough to thai culture.
Molly’s conflict about being mixed race in the episode
¨100% Molly Mcgee¨ starts with Molly giving a presentation to her school classmates about her Thai heritage and her maternal family tree. She explains that her grandparents inmigrated from Thailand to America and that their surname is Suksai. Grandma Nin had two children: Sharon, Molly’s mom and David, Molly’s uncle, who himself got married and had a daughter named Emmie. Molly adds that Uncle David and Emmie are coming today from New York to visit the Mcgees after years of not seeing each other.
This intro is a good way to give the idea to someone who has never watched the series before that Molly is part thai and where her heritage comes from. I like how there are references to Thai culture and the fauna that is in Thailand in the presentation. It gives the idea that Molly enjoys learning about this culture and being involved in it, something that has been established in previous episodes.
In addition to this, there is a somewhat good explanation about why we haven’t seen Uncle David and Emmie around before, and that is because they live in New York and they haven’t been able to visit the Mcgees in a while.
The scene that follows is Uncle David and Emmie arriving at the Mcgees house. Molly greets them both and they get to meet Scratch, who they are very happy to see him and give him a big hug. Uncle David gives Molly an elephant plushie as a gift and she thanks to him in Thai. This makes Emmie excited since she thinks she has someone else around her age to talk to in Thai, to which Molly sadly answers that she only knows a few words and not much else. Emmie apologizes and shows to be okay with Molly not knowing a lot about the language.
Then Sharon and Grandma Nin greet David and Emmie in thai too, a conversation that Molly isn't able to follow since she can’t understand them. This is the first thing that makes Molly feel alienated from the rest of the Suksais, expressing to Scratch that she didn’t know there was so much thai spoken in this side of the family.
In the next scene the family is seen looking for a game night to play, Emmie suggests playing makruk, which Sharon describes as ¨thai chess¨. This is a game Molly has never heard about. Darryl reveals that he has been playing makruk online lately and plays a game with Emmie, making Molly feel more insecure about not knowing a lot about thai culture.
Then Uncle David shows some seaweed snacks that he brought to share. Molly tries eating some of them only to quickly realize that they are too spicy for her and she isn’t used to eating food that is this spicy. Sharon, David and Emmie eat them without any problem since they have spicy tolerance thanks to the thai food they got used to growing up.
Molly and Scratch are trying to calm down their burning mouths from the spiciness by drinking bottles of milk in Molly’s bedroom. Molly then expresses feeling alienated from thai culture because she doesn’t know things like how speak the language nor play makruk. She talks about how she only has one thai parent (Sharon) while her cousin Emmie has two thai parents, and, she thinks that because she is mixed race, she ¨isn’t thai enough¨ for her family.
One thing that is good about this episode is that a person can relate to Molly’s conflict without them having to be Thai since her conflict is about feeling like she doesn’t fit in with the rest of the Suksais because she doesn’t know much about her heritage aside from a few things. It is about feeling insecure that you aren’t connected enough to your roots and culture and feeling disconnected to your social circle as result of that.
What’s more, this idea of feeling left out is something that Molly has struggled with past episodes (A Period Piece- All Night Plight), something that in part comes from being a teen but also a product of some abandoment issues she has.
Another aspect that is cool is how the Suksais don’t put Molly down for not knowing enough about thai culture, like Grandma Nin doesn’t show to be disappointed when Molly only knows a few thai words and Emmie apologizes to Molly when she realizes this too and continues to talk in english to her. They only make one or two jokes about Molly not being able to tolerate very spicy food but nothing else.
If anything, them making Molly feel left out is indirect and completely unintentional as it would be in this type of family situations.
Molly has the idea of spending all night trying to learn as much as she can about thai culture to feel like she is ¨thai enough¨. The music song sequence has her trying to learn Thai language, how top lay makruk and trying to develop some spicy tolerance while Scratch helps her.
I want to highlight how supportive Scratch is of Molly in this episode, he is seen guiding her when she is giving her school presentation at the start and then staying all night helping her with learning more about thai culture. In part it is because he gets what Molly is going through but he just really cares about her.
In the next day Molly presents to her family all the thai related plates she prepared for them to have, the Suksais are shown to be impressed, seeing this as a very nice gesture from Molly.
Molly mentions how the food is ¨super spicy¨ and Grandma Nin quickly notices that something is off and brings up how Molly doesn’t like spicy food. Molly ignores Nin’s commentary and tries her best to prove that she can tolerate the spicy flavor.
She asks to Uncle David and Emmie how was their trip in thai and asks them to answer her in thai too. This leads to the rest of the Suksais to have a conversation in thai that Molly isn’t able to follow again just like the beginning of the episode.
I really like how this scene really shows how overwhelmed Molly feels about not being able to understand what the rest of the family is talking about, with the subtitles covering the entire screen while Molly panicks more and more until she screams. It’s a pretty effective scene that shows how she stressed she is in this situation.
Pete decides to tell a joke in thai language, making the others laugh. Molly is suprised that even Pete (who is Irish-white) knows how to talk thai. Pete explains to her that it is a joke that he has been practicing for months to impress Grandma Nin. This leads to Molly say that she still ¨isn’t thai enough¨ even when she spend all night trying to learn about the culture.
In the following scene Molly is in her bedroom surrounded by her plushies, feeling bad about what happened earlier. Scratch tries cheering her up without being able to do so. That’s when Sharon comes in and asks to Molly what is happening. She explains to Sharon how she doesn’t feel as thai as the rest of them. What follows is the rest of the suksais telling Molly that understand how she feels, just in different ways: Sharon feels bad about letting her thai get rusty, Uncle David for not have been in Thailand and even Grandma Nin mentions how her sister made fun of her for ¨being too american¨.
Sharon explains to Molly that ¨being thai is part of you¨ and ¨there isn’t a right or wrong way to be you¨, leading to Molly to understand that she doesn’t have to prove anything to them and it is her decision to choose how she celebrates thai culture and how much she wants to learn about it. Emmie tells to Molly that they love her the way she is and they all share a family hug, ending the episode.
One detail i want to highlight i how only the Suksais are involved in this personal scene and Scratch and Pete are ¨set aside¨ since it isn’t something that involves them in this context. It is a pretty nice detail that makes the scene better than it is.
Conclusion:
The lesson that 100% Molly Mcgee gives is that people have different ways of celebrating their own culture and they don’t have to prove anything to anyone. It is one’s decision to want to learn more about one’s heritage and you don’t have to do it because you feel like you have to impress your family or other people. One decides how invested they want to be and there isn’t anything wrong with knowing less about it in contrast to the rest of your family and social circle.
#the ghost and molly mcgee#tgamm#tgamm season 2#molly mcgee#Tgamm 100% Molly Mcgee#100% Molly Mcgee#tgamm analysis#sharon mcgee#Tgamm David suksai#Tgamm Emmie suksai#tgamm grandma nin
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The ghost and molly mcgee headcanons
The macgee's edition
MOLLY MCGEE
■ She had depression before getting to Brighton and might still have it now. (I made a full post about it already if someone is curious)
■ She loves peanuts but is slightly allergic to them.
■ She will eventually go through a dye hair phase. Probably tried a lot of different colors and mixes.
■ When she is an adult, she would get a tattoo in honor of her Thai culture. Either on her shoulder or back. (I will draw it when I get a chance)
SCRATCH MCGEE
■ He knows how to bride hair in many different ways. But doesn't know why. (He learned by braiding his friend when he was alive)
■ He becomes a figure scattered fan and watch competition with Pete and Sonia.
■ Tried learning how to cook so he can take over Sharon and Pete every once in a while. He ends up loving cooking but won't do it often cause of laziness.
■ He had insomnia when alive, so now that he is dead, he sleeps as much time as he can.
DARRYL MCGEE
■ Being a troublemaker is half cause he loves being awesome, and half cause he feels he will never be has good has molly so he don't want to waste energy trying.
■ He will become an import goods salesman. Half of them of questionable legality.
■ He will get a matching tattoo with molly. Probably something silly, too.
■ He became a pro at Makruk. Got to eventually compete at a national level.
SHARON MCGEE
■ She has some type of disorder that causes her to get hypoglycemia (low blood sugar).
■ She designed the drawings for the eventual tattoos for molly and Darryl when they become adults. (and I will 100% draw them when I get a chance)
■ She felt bad for the cake lie so she and Pete planned a baking date to create a new traditional desert. It eds up being chocolate cheesecake with banana topping.
■ She used to be very close to her dad. He was the one that covered, so she and Pete could elope.
PETE MCGEE
■ He goes on ice-skating trips with Sonia every free time he gets during winter months.
■ Watch reruns of previous years' competition every other week in non-winter months with Sonia since she never saw any after her fail in the global games. and scratch since he became a fan of the sport.
■ Eventuallt becomes a city council member.
■ After he becomes a council member, he manages to open an indoor community skating center. It takes all the family to get him (and Sonia) out of the ice the first week.
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I will make headcanons for the secondary character next. I'm inspire baby!.
Also does anyone know when the new episodes will be in Disney plus. I don't have cable so I watch my shows there and I want to know how long I have to wait to see them. I want to avoid being a pirate has much has possible.
But if someone can recommend a pirate page it be great.
#the ghost and molly mcgee#tgamm#the macgee's#molly mcgee#scratch#scratch mcgee#darryl mcgee#sharon mcgee#pete mcgee#headcanon#headcanons#future ideas#i will draw all of this#at some point#for some reason this show inspire me to draw#more that to write#a good thing#i love this family
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Indian-style chess. South Asia, the middle of the twentieth century.
Bone, carving, dyeing; wood, marquetry.
Dimensions: king height - 7 cm, pawn height - 4.5 cm; board - 45x45x4 cm.
Minor traces of existence, scuffed plates on the board.
It is believed that the history of chess dates back at least one and a half thousand years. There are many versions that explain the development of chess and their spread around the world - "Indian", "Byzantine", etc. According to the most common of them, the first known ancestical game, chaturanga, appeared in India no later than the VI century AD, since it was then that the Persian Shah Khosrow I Anushirvan (531-579) received its rules from there. Once in India's neighboring countries, Chaturanga has undergone a number of changes. Her descendant in the Arab East was Shatranj, and in Southeast Asia - syangqi (China), Makruk (Thailand) and shogi (Japan). Shatranj in the 9th-10th centuries from the Arabs came to Europe and Africa. European players continued to modify the game, as a result of the XV century there were rules that are now known as "classic". The rules were finally standardized in the XIX century, when international tournaments began to be systematically held. Since 1886, the title of world chess champion has been played. Since 1924, there has been an International Chess Federation - FIDE, under the auspices of which, since the middle of the XX century, most international competitions have been held.
Alters
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Us vs. Them. Three words he had heard all of his life again and fucking again. How many times did his father used to preach about the heavy burden the family carried? They could hardly get through one game of makruk before his father would start back up again, going on and on about the monsters that hide among them, lurking within plain sight. He'd talk about creatures far worse than any fairytale could depict, ready to carve down his brother and sisters if they didn't take them out first. His old man truly believed that what the hunters were doing was necessary. Fighting back, for him, had been the one way, maybe even the only way, he felt like he could protect his family. Only the protection his father had been desperate for had driven his son out of the house and his daughter to loath him at her core. This two sided mentality, one or the other, had destroyed the Channarong family and now, as Rune stalked away from the Rec Center, dagger in hand, he found himself feeling that familiar divide once more.
As protective as he was over Anya, his beloved sister, he didn't try to stop her when she volunteered to save So-Ra. He wanted to. He wanted more than anything to yank her back and tell her he'd go in her stead, but he knew that she had just as good of a chance out there than he did, maybe even better given the fact that she had always taken her hunter training far more seriously than he ever had. He knew that she knew how the hunters thought. They both of them knew how they were trained to fight and he had trusted her to get in and get out with the least amount of causalities. Only when it came time for him to volunteer, time after time, she never once spoke up and when she did, she fought him on it. She acted like he was just as helpless of a human as everyone else in the room had and, sure, she threatened Ken in his defense, but where was she when Nico was squaring up with him claiming that he was only volunteering for the glory? What? Did she think so low of him too? He didn't want to believe it but he caught the way So-Ra had tugged on her sleeve and the way she had agreed with her as if the anger coursing through his veins at the idea of having to watch two people he'd do anything to protect have their lives put on the line wasn't helping anything. He had told her when she first came to town that this place, these people, meant everything to him to the point where he felt the need to be wary over his own flesh and blood and yet where their lives were put on the line, she held him back. And so he snapped.
Crumbled under the unbearable weight of having to watch your neighbors and love ones get hurt over and over again or worse- come back gloating over the fact that they had just killed a handful of hunters. A handful of humans no different than him and given his recent run in with their cousin, they very well could have been him or their other siblings for that matter.
Fuck. His fist collided directly into the hunter before him's cheek, barely blinking an eye as the skin around his knuckles began to break. But, even with the shooting pain up his arm, he kept punching. The anger that had been simmering underneath his skin for years now finally boiling over as the last frail piece of restraint he had left in him shattered. Human, supernatural or hunter, none of it at the present seemed to matter or maybe he was simply tired of attempting to care when no one else seemed to give a shit about who exactly they were fighting.
"What the hell do you want Anya?" He muttered out, his tone far more harsh than he ever had used with her over the course of his entire life as he knocked the hunter before him unconscious.
#anya ft. chai#c: chai#tw injury#tw violence#tw blood#sorry this is a novel#feel free not to match lengths
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Some beginner’s games of makruk, Thai chess.
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people are saying that this is the end of offgun playing romantic partners together and all i have to say is no <3 i know them personally and they just told me they will keep up the good work until they get a script for a bi grandpas drawn into bankrobbing slowburn. ONLY THEN its over cause there are no more plots they havent tried and off is at peace and just wants to play makruk with gun over a cup of tea
#offgun#not me the series#gun atthaphan#off jumpol#not me#basically Going in Style but explicitly gay#mine
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Name: Pawn
Debut: Senet
Welcome to another gameriffic post showcasing some of the most iconic characters in all of gaming! I can’t believe it took us, a blog about games, this long to get to PAWN, though. Everyone knows Pawn, and everyone’s played as Pawn! Even people who wouldn’t consider themselves gamers, and even people who would have sworn they’ve never gamed before!
But what is a Pawn? I, personally, would define it at any basic game piece that’s an ambiguous representation of the player, often vaguely conical in shape, and often lacking in abilities compared to other pieces, if others are present. Chess was far from the first game to feature pawns, and was far from the last to do it!
Pawn has its origins in Senet, the very first board game known to ever exist! Senet was created and played in Egypt some time before 2620 BCE. Sadly, the rules of Senet are unknown, and even in the past, it seems the rules varied, so we may never know for sure. But we DO know that Pawn is here, and this is likely the first Pawn that ever existed!
Chaturanga, played in India around 600 AD, is without a doubt one of the most influential board games to exist, likely to have inspired various games around the world, including Xiangqi, Shogi, Sittuyin, Makruk, and Chess! The Pawn equivalent here had a few names, all referring to its representation of a foot soldier, and had the same abilities as a Chess Pawn, though was unable to move two spaces as its first move...
I don’t need to bother explaining Chess Pawn! We all know Chess Pawn. As we can see with Chaturanga before, the specific Pawn Shape has proven very reliable throughout history. And I’m glad it has. It’s a nice shape, like a little guy. It has a little head and a little body, and some sort of frilly collar, perhaps. Is this even much of a representation of a warrior at this point? Pawn looks like it’s all gussied up for the occasion. In terms of gameplay, Pawn received some buffs in Chess! It can now move two spaces as its first move, and become any piece it wants upon reaching the other side of the board, rather than just taking the form of the piece that originally occupied that space, as in Chaturanga.
At some point, I’m not sure when, Pawn Fever struck the world. People couldn’t get enough Pawns! In a game with battle-ready religious figures, flying horses, and sentient castles, it was the humble Pawn that captured our hearts. Pawn has so much potential. It can be anything. And it’s cute! It’s not just me, right? Pawn is cute. Even cuter when it becomes further abstracted, like the very first image in this post, where it no longer even resembles a humanoid in ANY way. More like, a blob with an eyestalk. That’s how I interpret those ones.
My SECOND most common experience with Pawns is in Sorry!, where they’re the more abstracted form I like, but... hey! That’s not how I imagine the faces! Is this necessary? Is this... canon? I’m Sorry!, but I don’t like them having human faces!
That may be a bit hypocritical of me, though, because I DO love THIS! On this non-anthropomorphized pawn, we can clearly see that it does have a spine and ribcage. This would contradict the previous face placement, wouldn’t it? Or the other way around, but I think I will accept this one. I’m Sorry! for breaking canon, but look at this! A pawn with bones! It’s a real vertebrate creature just like you and me. That can still be an eyestalk, though. It can have bones and eyestalks! Like a dragonfish larva.
But that’s not all! The Sorry! franchise has further developed the abilities of Pawn with the Slider variant, now outfitted with an Orb in order to slide across the board! They should do this to Chess Pawns. It would be fun.
Also, sometimes Sorry! has Fire and Ice Power-Ups. I don’t know how exactly these work, but... is it possible for a Pawn to grow TOO powerful? As long as it’s responsible, I suppose!
The shape of the Sorry! Sliders board is not very original... because it is quite a lot like the board of ancient Indian board game, Pachisi, which Sorry! is heavily based on in the first place! Sorry!, Sorry! Your secret is out! At least you’re not as shameful a gentrification as “Parcheesi”, though, at least.
Clue(do), is a rather notable pawn-based game, by virtue of having each player play as an established human character! More recent versions have pieces that actually resemble the characters, but of course, I prefer the pawns. It’s like a reverse humanization! What if that happened more often? What if they rebooted Seinfeld but all the characters were plastic pawns? Wow!
Also, I just need to say it. If you’re playing a game with pawns, I feel like you GOTTA move the pawn my making it hop from space to space, making that nice tapping sound. I think it’s just how pawns are meant to be.
I don’t want to end the post before mentioning one of the most iconic fictional board games of all time, though! Eels and Escalators is a clear parody of Snakes and Ladders, a game that uses pawns as players, though here the players are represented by simple fish person-like pieces. So, no pawns. Why am I mentioning it, then?
Because in the episode SpongeBob’s Place, where the board game makes a cameo appearance, there ARE pawns! Wowee! I definitely prefer the fish-like pieces here, but I still love pawns. I am happy that I can associate Eels and Escalators with pawns!
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24. what’s something you do to de-stress?
Wonderful question from one of my favorite writers/artists/Chaotic siblings.
I don’t often post as the mun, but I feel this question might better be answered in my current corporeal shell.
I do a lot of things. I know this isn’t really the intent of the question, but probably worth saying that I rarely drink, I don’t smoke, and I don’t use anything I don’t have a prescription for. Basic reason is that I was exposed to all of this as a child and, being often sickly and akward, my reasoning was that I wanted to keep control of my mind in a clear headed way. The one time I’ve been drunk was, I know this sounds silly, absolutely terrifying for me.
But as for what I do to de-stress.
I really enjoy writing, and I’m trying hard to finish a novel.
I love painting miniatures, and find it very soothing, though I do so much of it that I’ve recently been taking a break, so as not to burn out. Next on the list are more loyalist Thousand Sons, Goblin themed Solar Auxilia, some Cold War era French, and the last of my models for “Lunar.” I’m expecting to paint some ancient stuff in the nearish future too. Wrote a miniatures game and want to test it. But again, trying to avoid burning out.
I love acting. Hard to get work just now. I don’t get stage fright, though, and I particularly like working with friends. A pal and I were supposed to start writing a sketch comedy podcast this year, but that hasn’t happened yet.
I’ve always sort of been fascinated by skilled laborers who do woodworking, smithing, that kind of thing. Trying to do some of that, because it helps my brain relax. Just completed a hand carved set for playing ancient versions of Chess: Chaturanga, Shatranj, Sittuyin, Makruk. Did a board for Du Shou Qui, too. I really enjoyed all of that. I’m absolutely no woodworker, but I’m really enjoying using my hands for something that I can make further use of. On a real abstract game binge lately, and this helps feed that. In a nice, relaxing way. If I could get my hands on a forge, though, I’d totally love to give that a try.
The simplest thing I do, and the most common, is to sit in the bathtub. I’ve been mocked and teased for it, but it turns out that baths are a very common way for people with PTSD and/or Anxiety to relax, so I don’t feel bad about it. It’s nice to just sit there, read a book, maybe check the sites I follow.
My favorite thing whilst living in the UK was visting old tombs. I spent a lot of time sitting in Westminster amidst all that buried history, and it was a centering feeling. I imagine I’d do the same again if plans for moving go forward (but with Johnson who knows?)
Honestly, while I know interacting with others is important to my health, I also enjoy my solitary moments, and I think it’s indicative of my state of mind that most of these things (okay, acting aside) are really a way I can be by myself in a form of meditation. I can’t explain it rationally, but there is something deeply visceral about creating things, or listening to water run while reading a good book.
Thank you for the question! I apologize for the rambling bits, but as you would probably agree, it is sometimes easier (even as a writer) to do things than it is to explain the thought processes behind them!
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3 and 12 for the ask meme?
3: favorite line/scene you wrote this year
“What is ‘checkmate’ in Thai?”
The scene of Andrias and Anne playing Makruk in atobaoi was very tense - the focus was barely on the game, but we could feel the tides shifting as Andrias slowly but surely manipulated Anne into quietly doubting her friendship with Marcy and Sasha. At the end, Anne was left speechless and felt closer to the king than ever. And that's when that line hits. Checkmate indeed.
12: favorite character to write about this year
Already answered here but it'd like to add: Alfur from Hilda. I haven't published any of my Holda drabbles but I adore the show with my whole heart and that boi is my icon for a reason.
[Send me a fanfic-related ask!]
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Background Noise in Shadow
The three books near the dad:
Richard North Patterson's Protect and Defend
The Tom Peters Seminar: Crazy Times Call For Crazy Organizations
Guía del mal padre - Guide of a bad father
The dad plays Makruk (Thai Chess). It does not have checkered boards and the pieces have different names.
For instance, the piece the dad moved across the board at the beginning of his conversation with Dan . . .
it's called a Rua which translates to "boat"
Like rowboat
And when the dad plays it on the hospital floor, he plays it with oranges and water.
Dan and his father talked and played Makruk while sitting in water.
Water is a recurring motif that represents change and serves as a transition between the waking world and the dreaming one or being alive and being dead. Which is probably the reason the mountain people floated the bodies on the river and why the school serves as a hub for activity.
Hamlet deals a lot with the idea of water, sleep, and death. Hamlet believes death is a long sleep, and the famous "To be, or not to be" question is him contemplating suicide. The opening scene of the play actually questions drowning in particular because if the man goes into the water, he has caused his death, but if the water takes him under, he is not at fault (Scene 1, Act 5).
The opening scene is of the gravediggers discussing if Ophelia, Hamlet's love interest will receive a proper Christian burial. Ophelia drowned, and although never explicitly stated within the play, the assumption is it was intentional; therefore, due to Christian doctrine, she committed a sin. This conversation is repeated for Dan's mom.
However, Hamlet's father was murdered by poison, and he haunts Hamlet to avenge his murder. We saw Trin vomiting and holding his heart when running through the woods as well as his head bleeding.
The ghost of Dan's father appears when Dan is acting out the scene in Hamlet where the ghost of his father appears to Hamlet, and the shadow appears on stage when Dan is acting out the scene right before Ophelia drowns. However, in the play, Hamlet is cruel to Ophelia telling her he is not a good man, yet he is honest. In the show, Dan messes up the line and says he is NOT an honest man, which is why the teachers look at each other.
This is the bust of Laocoon in the art class, who was murdered by sea serpents with his two sons for attempting to expose that the Trojan Horse was a ruse. The Greeks gifted a huge wooden horse to the city of Troy, yet Greek soldiers were hiding inside, so once the horse was accepted inside the city walls, the Greeks snuck out of the horse at night, attacked, and won the war. Laocoon was killed for being honest.
Hamlet is usually presented with a skull due to the opening scene depicting Hamlet realizing a skull he finds in the cemetery belonged to a former and favored court jester as he realizes death is unavoidable.
And the drawings in the art class show a skull in water and someone with orange hair drowning (which orange seems to represents rebellion).
Yet when Dan slips into the dream world, everything else is crossed out or scribbled on except for those two drawings and now the skull sits in a pool of blood and the person in the water is no longer drowning but bleeding in the water.
The show seems to be combating the idea that Trin simply drowned intentionally or even unintentionally. The shows seems to be stating that he was murdered. Probably poisoned.
But it'd be odd if Brother Anurak did it, mostly since his name means "angel of protection."
Perhaps it has something to do with all those students lying on the ground appearing to be girls, and where the blood is coming from.
Maybe Trin found out what happened to the nurse's daughter? And maybe it has to do with that book near the dad, Protect and Defend, which is about an abortion case.
But it's all just background noise . . .
for now.
#shadow the series#background noise#water as a motif#and all this hamlet stuff#but I think there is more
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‘Shogi‘
[将棋]
[MSX] [JAPAN] [MAGAZINE] [1985]
“It is not clear when the ancestral chess-type game that later developed into shogi was brought to Japan. This is in contrast to the game of go, which was almost certainly brought to Japan in or around the Nara period, since a go board is stored in the treasury of Shōsōin (正倉院). There are tales that relate that it was invented by Yuwen Yong of Northern Zhou, and that Kibi Makibi (吉備真備) brought it back after visiting the country of Tang, but both these tales are likely to have been invented at the start of the Edo period by those keen to make a name for themselves as authorities on shogi.
There are several theories about when shogi spread to Japan, but the earliest plausible date is around the 6th century. It is thought that the pieces used in the shogi of the time were not the current five-sided pieces, but three-dimensional figures, as were used in chaturanga. This parallels the changes in chess pieces, which are more representational and less abstract than those made earlier. However, a large problem with this theory is that as pieces in this form have never been found, let alone stored in the treasury of Shōsōin, there is little physical evidence supporting it.
Another theory gives a later date, stating that shogi was brought to Japan after the start of the Nara period. However, serious doubts about this theory remain as these games are different from shogi – for example, in that pieces are placed on the intersections of lines. The games of makruk from Thailand and Cambodia and sittuyin from Myanmar have an elephant which moves in the same way as the silver general. Sittuyin also has the practice of dropping pieces. From the Song Dynasty through the Ming Dynasty, China sent great trade convoys through the southern islands and all around the Indian Ocean and also traded with Japan, so elements of South Asian chess could have reached Japan.” ~Wikipedia
Source: MSX Magazine, June 1985 || Internet Archive; msxmag
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