Editing The Moonlit Chessboard

{{Neath_Location
|image1 = Chesspiece apocyan.png
|caption 1 = White, Red and Black.
|location = [[Parabola]]
|allegiance = [[Parabola]]<br>[[The Great Game]]
|notable_inhabitants = [[The Red-Handed Queen]]<br>[[The Beleaguered King]]
}}''"This is the dream of spies, the move and countermove that controls the politics of the Surface – and sometimes of the Neath. Sometimes you are a pawn or a knight. Sometimes you are the player."''<ref name=":0">{{Citation|https://fallenlondon.wiki/wiki/Supervise_the_New_Game|Supervise the New Game|Fallen London|}}''"This is the dream of spies, the move and countermove that controls the politics of the Surface – and sometimes of the Neath. Sometimes you are a pawn or a knight. Sometimes you are the player."''</ref>

'''The Moonlit Chessboard''' is the [[Parabolan]] representation of politics, mostly of the [[Surface]], but sometimes the [[Neath]]. It is made of the dreams of those who play the [[Great Game]].
==The Factions==
As befits a chess game set in unreality, this game has three players rather than the usual two, colors each representing different factions and ideologies: the '''White''', the '''Black''', and the '''Red'''.

White stands for the establishment and the status quo, its forces aligned with the Judgements—the cosmic arbiters of order. Tradition, hierarchy, and the natural law are their guiding principles.<ref>[https://fallenlondon.wiki/wiki/Play_as_white Play as white, ''Fallen London''] ''"You play for the Church and Constables and the light of the stars."''
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Black represents the forces advocating for the [[Liberation of Night]], a revolutionary cause that seeks to shatter cosmic law and overthrow the chains of hierarchy. Where the Judgements see order, they see tyranny.<ref>[https://fallenlondon.wiki/wiki/Play_as_black Play as black, ''Fallen London''] ''"You play for the Revolutionaries and the Criminals, the reversal and the shadow."''
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Red plays from the shadows, neither bound by the strictures of law nor devoted to its destruction. It is the color of wildcards, of rogue agents and external influences, of those who thrive beyond the lines drawn by others.<ref>[https://fallenlondon.wiki/wiki/Play_as_red Play as red, ''Fallen London''] ''"You play for yourself. No one is on your side, and neither are you on theirs"''</ref>
==The Players==
Each faction has its leader(s), their will shaping the board and steering its pieces.

[[The Red-Handed Queen]] commands the Red. She is ruthless, cunning, and above all else, self-serving.<ref>{{Citation|https://fallenlondon.wiki/wiki/Be_loyal_to_the_Red-Handed_Queen|Be loyal to the Red-Handed Queen|Fallen London|}}</ref> Yet those who play in her service may win great wealth and power, should they survive her favor.<ref>{{Citation|https://fallenlondon.wiki/wiki/Bear_witness_(Red_Leaning)|Bear witness (Red Leaning)|Fallen London|}}</ref> 

[[The Beleaguered King]] leads the White. He stands for order, honor, and the natural law, waging an endless war to hold the line against entropy and chaos.<ref>{{Citation|https://fallenlondon.wiki/wiki/Remain_loyal_to_the_King|Remain loyal to the King|Fallen London|}}</ref> 

The Black faction, being anarchists, do not have a single leader, but [[October]] of the [[Calendar Council]] is a powerful Black player.<ref>{{Citation|https://fallenlondon.wiki/wiki/The_Peace_of_October|The Peace of October|Fallen London|}}</ref>

==Other Games==
The Chessboard is but one of many games in Parabola. There are others — some that test skill, others that hinge on chance, and some where victory belongs not to the cleverest but to the boldest deceiver. Kingdoms where success is measured in merit, and others where fate alone dictates the winners and losers.<ref>[https://fallenlondon.wiki/wiki/Arrive_at_an_Oneiromantic_Revelation Arrive at an Oneiromantic Revelation, ''Fallen London''] ''"the Chessboard is one of many game-boards in Parabola. There are other games: some skill, some chance, some of daring and bluff. There are other kingdoms, and some of these do not consider it merit when they prevail, but only Fortune."''</ref> Here, wars are not always fought like chess. Some play out as poker or roulette, where fortunes turn on a gambler’s smirk and the fallen are collected with a croupier’s hook.<ref>[https://fallenlondon.wiki/wiki/Arrive_at_an_Oneiromantic_Revelation Arrive at an Oneiromantic Revelation, ''Fallen London''] ''"the Chessboard is one of many game-boards in Parabola. There are other games; there are other kingdoms, waging their wars not as chess but as poker or roulette; gathering their dead with a croupier's hook."''</ref>

And beyond the Chessboard lies another battlefield — one far older, far more intricate. A game of patience, encirclement, and slow inevitability. A game played with black and white stones, where conquest is measured not in checkmates, but in the quiet, relentless claiming of space. The game of Go.<ref>[https://fallenlondon.wiki/wiki/Look_for_the_Moonlit_Chessboard Look for the Moonlit Chessboard, ''Fallen London''] ''"You move towards the sound of pieces on a wooden board. […] a vast plane of Kaya wood, marked with a grid. There are hundreds (or thousands?) of round stones, clam-shell white and slate-black. […]"''</ref>

==References==

[[Category:Places]]
[[Category:Parabola]]

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