This page is for short items, and ideas. They may be only partially complete or underdeveloped.
True Water Script is an ideographic system for the language Cleacuun, and it has all the magical properties of the spoken version. Writing it is difficult, and failure to follow the strictures results in False Water Script which has little or no magic, although it closely resembles the True.
To obtain writing in True Water Script, one must first find a scribe trained to the task. The scribe must spend a week meditating and preparing. In that time only pure water may be drunk. For the first five days the scribe may eat only things that have grown in water. For the last two, no food at all is permitted.
The writing instruments must be as follows :
The inkwell must be a shell (some say silver will do)
The ink must be sepia - nothing else will do, not even the ink of octopus or squid
The pen must be a virgin quill taken from a goose - or better, a swan - that has never flown
The pen-knife must have a blade of sharpened shell
The sander must be of silver, and the sand must be taken from a beach. Sand dug from the earth will ruin the writingI would be intersted if anyone can come up with an equivalent for writing with a brush, as in Chinese.
The object of the game is to turn a "Fate" card to the positive or negative meanings, based on the relationships of the Fortune cards.
A Phoenix Scroll is one of the few methods of sending a message between Spheres, faster than a Spherewalker can travel.
To make a Phoenix Scroll, first amke a sheet of paper impregnated with spices, incense and pieces of phoenix feathers. Cut the sheet in half, burn one half and keep the ashes.
To use a Phoenix Scroll make a fresh and whole Phoenix quill into a pen. Write your message, then burn the scroll. The ashes of the other half will reform into a copy of the just-burnt scroll, complete with message. Neither the renewed scroll, nor the pen may be reused for this purpose. The pen may be shredded for use in making a new scroll.
(see Spherewalker, p46)
Played only by children - usually with a "safe" Fortune Deck created for that purpose - often with no Usurper. For two players. One card is taken out to be the Fate, starting horizontal, with the remainder of the cards divided equally between the two players (with one left over if the Usurper is included).
Play is taken in turns, playing one card at a time, until the Fate is against a player who is out of playable cards, or neither player can play.
The main purpose is to teach the Fortune Deck.
This is the dominant form, at least when played for pleasure. For two or three players. The Fate is dealt, and each player receives 10 cards. One card is set aside as the player's stake (personal Fate).
The Usurper is either the local Usurper, or a wild card that cancels any one other card. In some variants playing the Usurper allows the Fate to be replaced with a card from the deck, although still in the same position.
If the Fate ends up positive the Quester wins, and claims the money bid by the Opposer. If it ends up negative the Opposer wins and claims an amount equal to their bid from the Quester. If it is neutral the players either start again or draw from the deck, starting with the Quester, until the Fate is turned, or no more cards remain.
This adds a complication to the Basic Game. Cards may be played to turn the Virtue or Fault to horizontal and back to their original state. A horizontal Virtue or Fault does not prevent the play of cards to turn the Fate.
Is played with a special deck. Each card has it's Cleacuun names embedded in it's picture,using the ideograms of the True Water Script. The wagers are for boons, not money and the Powers behind the game - perhaps the Gods, perhaps something else - enforce the result. The losers pay the price for the boons, whatever it may be. A dangerous game indeed, and one where the stakes are not always what they seem.
The game is based around the concept of a questing Hero (represented by Virtue, Fault and Fate), being helped and hindered by the Gods, acting through Fortune (the players).
Everway is copyright Rubicon Games 1996. Everway and Spherewalker are trademarks of Rubicon games. This document is not intended as a challenge to those rights.
This document is copyright Paul King 1997-9.