Kef Tanar was an ancient strategy board- or table-top game developed and played by the Tiste Andii. It took its inspiration from the succession wars among the First Children of Mother Dark with many of the carved wooden figures representing notable personages amongst the Tiste of the time.[1] It involved gambling as the winner claimed a pot and coins earned within the game remained with any player afterwards if they met the right conditions to secure them.[1]
Games could take hours to complete and observers placed their own side wagers on the outcome of the match.[1]
The game[]
Each player took on the role of a king or queen seeking to defeat the armies and defences of the others and defend their own High Keeps and territories. Play pieces and roles mentioned in the books included those of soldiers, mercenaries, mages, high mages, assassins, spies, elite cavalry, vassals, dragons,[1] and jesters.[2] Of the playing pieces described, one of the king figures bore a slash of silver paint on its mane. Another king was made of bleached bonewood and a queen was described as being of white fire and opal-crowned.[1]
Tiles which represented aspects of Dark, Light, and Shadow were drawn throughout the game from a container and those tiles were used to create the playing field which thus increased in size with each round and was never the same twice. They were called field tiles in general, but many had secondary names. For example, some were known as Keep tiles.[1] Grand City tiles represented Kharkanas, the First City of Dark, although players who were introduced to the game in Genabackis assumed it to be Black Coral. There were over fifty tiles just for the city alone and players could create more if they wished.[1]
The Gate tile (there seemed to be only one) allowed a player to retreat from the field and keep possession of at least some of the coins earned in the game. Another known function of Gate was that once it was in play, a player could summon any dragons he or she had previously collected.[1]
It seemed that the player whose turn it was to pick a tile could make overtures to the other players, for example to become the vassal of another player's king or queen in return for coin. But they had to complete the negotiations before revealing the tile.[1]
Knuckles (dice) were thrown to determine various randomized events, for example the delivery of a Mercenary's Coin to a player's royal vaults.[3]
If the victor toppled their final opponent's monarch, they claimed the pot. It was customary that any players whose pieces had retreated from the game before it finished (and thus taken money from the game) could not partake in any post-game celebration with the victor.[4]
In Toll the Hounds[]
The game had become very popular in Black Coral and had even spread as far as Darujhistan. One human who had become a very good player was Seerdomin, Spinnock Durav's favourite opponent.[5]
Spinnock Durav had nearly twenty thousand years of experience with the game[1] and likely referred to games of Kef Tanar with Anomander Rake when he thought about never having defeated this man in ten thousand years of tabletop wars.[6]
Kruppe defeated Scorch and Leff in a game of Kef Tanar at the Phoenix Inn. He used their debt of two councils each to manipulate his way into business with them.[7]
In Assail[]
Jethiss said that he intended travelling to Coral to pay his respects at the barrow of a man he had spent many evenings with, playing Kef Tanar.[8]
In Fall of Light[]
Kef Tanar was a commonly played game among Hish Tulla's Houseblades during the civil war period.[9]
Trivia[]
Steven Erikson says Kef Tanar provides "the real linkage between...the Black Coral story and the Darujhistan story" in Kruppe's narration of Toll the Hounds. Erikson says, "It's basically saying, we're looking at this boardgame being played out in Black Coral on a table in a tavern, but what Kruppe is doing is playing the game out in the entire city of Darujhistan, and all the new players, all the new pieces, coming onto the board."[10]
Speculations[]
The two kings described are alluded to represent Anomander Rake and Silchas Ruin. As for the queen, it is interesting to note that the female pack leader of the Hounds of Light was described as wearing a collar studded with opals and pearls.
Notes and references[]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 1.7 1.8 1.9 Toll the Hounds, Chapter 2, UK HB p.41-43
- ↑ Toll the Hounds, Chapter 6, US SFBC p.218
- ↑ Toll the Hounds, Chapter 2, UK HB p.42
- ↑ Toll the Hounds, Chapter 2, UK HB p.43
- ↑ Toll the Hounds, Chapter 2, UK HB p.41
- ↑ Toll the Hounds, Chapter 8, UK HB p.266
- ↑ Toll the Hounds, Chapter 1, US SFBC p.46-48
- ↑ Assail, Epilogue, UK HB p.537
- ↑ Fall of Light, Chapter 20
- ↑ Ten Very Big Books podcast - Toll the Hounds - Conversation with Steven Erikson - See 1:01:50