(D0, Early Morning) Deliveries

[Whisper]

That made him pause. "How does one win at life? I'm fairly certain not everyone in Sigil, or beyond, plays by the same rules."

[Dare Shah]

"Oh, definitely. Most people are pawns, some lucky ones are bishops, knights, rooks even, and only those within the scope of godhood can be said to be queens. Nonetheless, we are sharing the same board, and one artfully positioned pawn can stop even the most mighty of major pieces.

Life is likely better represented as a series of games rather than a single big one, each with her own rules and starting position. The goal of science, from physics to humanities, is to patiently establish what those rules are for each of them.

We're far from being done on that front. But some interesting points have already been raised. Like degrees of freedom.

How often do you get to make choices that are actual choices? Not Hobson's choice between ‘doing that’ and ‘not eating tomorrow’, but like actual choices, with seemingly balanced yet truly different outcomes?

In most games, including chess, when you get to have real choices, it means the game is, at the moment, in your favor.

Thus, I would say getting out of the Zugzwang is a first step into ‘winning at life’."

[Whisper]

"How about darts?" he asked. "The high-scorers usually possess a mixture of trained skill and natural talent. But, luck can carry someone far, even to a Ton 80 if luck is really with them. Then there are those who can buy or cheat their way. Of course, you don't even have to play the game to win, if you make you make the right bets."

[Dare Shah]

"A theory that explains everything but predicts nothing is as useful as a chocolate teapot. In other words, something actionable is always better than something, maybe infinitely greater, that you have any control over.

For most definitions of luck, it is not a skill you can train, while throwing darts is. The pawn does not become a queen by dreaming there were always born a queen, but by gruelingly going through the board, case after case, hoping nothing will knock them off before their goal.

It is definitely less enviable a position as starting as a major piece, like that person with enough money already to make more by betting than playing. It makes it all the more important to read the board right, to envision the best moves available to you at the moment instead of the moves that would have been available in different configurations.

Do you play blitz chess? It's a silly format, where everything happens so fast abysmally bad moves are doomed to happen, and then you have to climb your way up from the grave you've dug for yourself previously.

And the funniest thing is that, while in standard chess the slightest error signs your defeat, here, in the heat of the few minutes at the clock, the wildest turnarounds happen."

[Whisper]

"Now that, sounds like life." he grinned. "I can't say I've played much chess at all, or any variants. It does sound like a game the elves might have taught me, if I hadn't spent my time running around the forest playing hide and seek with Hush."

"Perhaps you could teach me?"

[Dare Shah]

"Sure. Sigil's chess club is opened to all. Chess is an universal game, belonging in the universal city. I should have a card for it... somewhere..."

Her hand, then her full forearm, disappear within her purse as she tries to fish for the tiny object, without stopping talking to the hunter:

"Beginner's advice: If a child offers you a game, politely decline. Children hanging around in chess clubs are usually among the strongest players the club has; otherwise they would be ‘running around’ as you say."

[Whisper]

"Much like encountering a lone child running around the deep wood." he nodded accepting the card. "I don't have one of these, but if you ask for me around the market, I can be found."

[Dare Shah]

"Ah, here it is."

Dare triumphantly pulled out a card. At that exact moment, somewhere else in the gigantic city, a bard just happened to be playing that part of their repertoire.



"Here. Address on the back. It's in this very ward actually, as a compromise between rent and stability.

The chess salons are in the Lady's of course. But facing a wide range of opponents is important to progress, and you won't get much more diversity than here.

And, while I'm definitely interested in how one's environment shaped and shapes one's mind, I don't feel acquiring a specimen will do me much good at that point in my studies.

The story of why you left the woods and how you came to Sigil, that however I would be curious to hear, as it might be an interesting example of social determinism within a small scale society."

[Whisper]

"Ah, that's not too far." he put the card away. "I'm actually not sure where I'm from. The elves said Hush found me in their forest. They tried to raise me in their ways, sword, bow and magic, but I kept running away with Hush to explore and discover. Eventually, we found a circle of stones and were transported to the Yuirwood and couldn't go back. We tried several times to return, but we only found our way into other planes and eventually to here."

[Dare Shah]

"No prophecy that you are aware of? This sounds very much like a god touched life, and they have a tendency to lie instructions for what they intend their unwitting champions to do."