Recreation

Recreation has always been a part of civilization across Aloria. While some forms of exercising the mind, soul, and body have been lost over time, such as those created by the Seraph and the Third Civilization, others have been passed on throughout generations and remain played to this day. Some forms of Recreation are seen as high profile, significant tests of skill, while others are luck-based or originate with children. Today, there are many games in Aloria played at all levels of society for leisure, fun, or personal glory, and some of them can be found listed below. OOC NOTE: This list represents a number of unique, different, or interesting games or contests that exist in the lore. Many of them have real-world counterparts, and any game not on this list from the real world is welcome to appear In-Game. Some pages also list sports independently on them, and those are not mentioned here if they are directly one-to-one with the IRL sport. Highly modern games are not recommended to appear in RP.

Card and Drinking Games

• Anglian Shuffle: One of the most notable card games in Aloria, Anglian Shuffle has been spread by the Regalian Empire over the past two centuries and is commonly played even in non-Regalian regions. Anglian Shuffle sees the use of a normal deck of cards with all four suits and is a drinking or dare game, where at the drawing of a card by a player, a corresponding action is triggered. The many regional variations of the game each set their own rules for what each card does, from all women drinking to all men, to the card player needing to tell a joke, and getting someone to laugh to avoid taking a large drink.
• Bloodstones: A complex game of numbers and deduction, Bloodstones oddly comes from the land of Ithania, and the origin of the name is quite unclear since the game neither involves nor implies violence. Instead, carved tokens (the underside has the identifying marker) are randomly assigned a value between -3 and +3 by agreement of both players, with one token being chosen and then hidden behind the backs of the two players. With the roll of a six-sided dice, a player determines which of them has the higher number and the winner then takes the tokens with the value of the loser’s token, and the game goes on until a player concedes, or has lost all of their carved tokens. The trick comes from the fact that the winner takes a drink, thus slowly smoothing down senses, and increasing the likelihood of mistakes in the unprepared.
• Volay Circuit: The Circuit was initially a far deadlier and more complex game during the era of the Allorn Empire, but the collapse of Elven Magic prowess meant this game’s potency significantly dulled. That is good for modern-day game players, as now, many people can get involved, and the results are less gruesome. It is a respectful game of truth or dare with special, magical bands interlocking everyone’s wrists. If a player lies when claiming a truth, if they chicken out on a dare, or if a player asks an intense or private question or dare, breaking the game’s social contract, they are shocked.
• Erheirstadvaan: Also called Enchanted Cards, Erheirstadvaan was born of late Allorn-era magical games that pitted magical constructs and more against each other. This modern iteration, created in Ithania, sees enchanted, specially crafted cards, interacted with by a trained Mage who can manifest creatures, figures, and other actions as dealt out by the cards. The Mage is required to run the game, as they sustain the Magic powering the projections of duels between two opponents, with the game coming to an end after eight turns, and the scores magically tallied based on the power of the cards defeated by a player’s team.
• Lapisan Permainan: This drinking game is a famed one among the Allar. Also known as the Bottles Game, it sees one Allar separate a series of alchemical concoctions among a series of glass tubes. The creations are all colored differently at the behest of the game host, and are separated from each other by a harmless alchemical separator. The participants in the game must then sort the colored liquids one at a time to achieve a full vial, at which point they consume it if they are the party to complete the tube on their turn. There is one “winning” vial which is a sweet harmonious liquid, while all the rest are considered the “losing vials” with a variety of comedic but brief negative effects. The game benefits any Allar players given their sense of taste (as they can detect the scents around the tubes using their tongues), and is often modified when played with non-Allar.

Board Games

• Chess: Chess is an ancient game in Aloria, with uncertain origins, and claimants of its creation varying from Teledden Archmages to Suvial tacticians to the belief the game was practiced in some crude form by the Ailor before Elves swooped in and took it as their own. Played on an eight by eight square board, Chess pieces are various and sometimes differ per region, with specific movesets that dictate their motions on the board. The game is often used to train tacticians, and with time, developed into a more casual game among the populous of well-off trade cities across Aloria.
• Hisad: An ancient game of Asha origin, Hisad actually supports the idea of Chess originating with the Elves, though some Asha believe Chess is actually derived from Hisad itself. Played on a seven-by-seven board in a unique spiral shape, players move a set of five pieces each toward the center of the spiral to make them safe, and remove them from the board. However, when a piece is made safe, that player is then able to control the Zirakh piece, which takes its name from an insectoid monster of Asha legend. This piece can push an opponent’s piece back to the start but is only controlled once when a piece reaches safety, when a six-sided die is rolled twice.
• Forsvare: Forsvare is dismissively considered by most as “Velheim Chess,” but this reduces the strategy of the game. Unlike Chess, this game is played on a plus-symbol-shaped board, with a defender holding the center with limited pieces protecting a Jarl piece, and an attacker with more pieces able to divide how they wish between the four other quadrants around the center. Similar to Chess, the pieces have different movesets, and can be taken out, but the game only ends when the Jarl is pinned on all four sides.
• Sojar: A game which has uncertain origins, Sojar seems to have come from within the Allorn Empire sometime later in its history. Featuring a symmetrical five-pointed grid, areas of the board can be blocked off with a dozen or so gray tokens before the game starts, at which point one player, who starts with many weaker pieces, faces off against an opponent with four strong pieces. The Herd, as it is called, must survive the Hunters by surrounding and thus eliminating a Hunter, while avoiding the loss of half their own number, which triggers a game over. The Hunters obviously lose if all their pieces are cornered by the Herd.
• Maiasoyan: A Sihai board game often compared to Chess, Maiasoyan is a game which sees pieces shaped like a range of Jadeheart animals set against each other on a rectangular checkerboard to try and capture a point on the far ends. This board features two areas in the middle called “rivers” which some of the animal pieces can escape to or jump over for unique interactions. The animals on the pieces vary by region, but in general sees the larger animal defeating the smaller animal.

Athletic Games

Traditional Cantaluna fencing is markedly different from, for instance, the fencing practiced by the Leutz-Vixe.

• Fencing: A game of poise, strength, and stamina, Fencing originates with the courtly cultures of the Regalian Empire and served as a way for swordfighters to train themselves in non-lethal combat, focusing predominantly on precise strikes. Commonly featuring some form of face guard or mask, and a long weapon (often a dulled, narrow epee), Fencing has diversified to suit the different dignified groups who consider it an art form as much as a method of combat training. The sport is thus almost a ritual in some circles, like among the Cantaluna, where the blade is coated in a type of chalk, and strict rules are followed for conduct upon hits and body position.
• Tre-Paller: Tre-Paller is an interesting sport, and in some circles, might count more as labor, but it is considered more than that among the Velheim. The game sees a collection of similar trees, of a similar age, found, with the contestants then made to each chop an individual tree down in the shortest amount of time. They then must strip the tree’s branches, and flip the resulting log lengthwise to officially declare their work completed. It is considered a test of strength and resolve, but also favor and fortune, as while many trees might look similar on the outside, each is different in how they developed. Spectators commonly watch, drink, and raucously cheer on their favorites.
• Sand-ball: A Songaskian sport, Sand-ball is a game of both great skill and athletic ability. It originated from the Mages of the Songaskia. It was initially a form of training, but the recruits and students took to gamifying their tests, something ultimately embraced by the higher-ups. Sand-ball is played in a circular arena filled with fine sand, with two ends of the area each having a goal post and goalkeeper. Only they can physically touch the ball, as the rest (five players on each team) must instead control it using their powers to try and score goals. Non-Mages use long curled sticks to strike the ball, often much more lightweight, in their games as it has expanded beyond the magically gifted of the region.
• Ollima: Ollima is an ancient sport that was played by the Avarr of Westafar. However, after their elimination by the Dragons, the Eronidas ignored the game, and its courts lay fallow in the Avarr jungle ruins. However, the later arrival of the Maquixtl saw the game’s revival, which continues to be played to this day. Utilizing a light rubber ball, two teams of players must avoid touching the ball with anything from their waist up, and try to score points by putting the ball through a vertical hoop at the side of the rectangular court. The game was far more bloody among the Avarr, but the modern iteration is viewed as a tremendous workout, and allows the various Maquixtl Genos forms to be put on full display.
• Bjarghrjóta: This Dwarven sport came into being during the time of the Dwarven Empire. It was an expression of a warrior's strength, and was a way for one to test their skills while showing off a bit. Played on a flattened slab of earth by up to four players, the Dwarves would use special clubs to knock large metal spheres around a course which featured seven goal posts. These posts sat on terrain rises, or had other obstacles, and the closer one was to a post, the more points one scored. When the Dakkar began to conquer Ellador's underground, many of these courses were lost to magma or ruin, and today Dwarves play an altered version on grassy fields or levelled terrain wherever they live, sometimes with wooden or stone spheres instead of metal.

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Accreditation
Writers HydraLana Artists MonMarty Processors FireFan96, MantaRey	Last Editor OkaDoka on 09/28/2024.

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