The Game of Smiting
The game of Smiting was invented by Xevioso and Gû in their youth, when the discs of the Fonlands were much less populated and there was little to do. Both Vodun can be short-tempered and after countless physical battles that disturbed the very structure of the Fonlands, their mother-father insisted they find a nonviolent means to end their disagreements, and thus, Smiting was created.
The game requires a Deck of Smiting that each Vodun perpetually builds to oppose one another. A card is created for the Deck by condensing the Vodun’s memory of an encounter with any being into a rectangular shape that solidifies into a card with a picture of the being, a description of its origin, power level, stamina, health and any other pertinent information. Initially, the cards only included Fonlanders, but both Xêvioso and Gû have done extensive exploration of the multiversal superstructure and have collected cards that defy the imagination of their opponents. Xêvioso recently added The Needy of the Node 1 Dark Universe to his Deck of Smiting.
The game was relatively simple to play at its inception and was vastly entertaining to watch thanks to the Voduns’ arcane enhancements that allowed figures to emerge from the cards to enact the battles and enchanted dice that were truly random. Even though both Vodun work hard to gather as many cards as possible, each player starts a game with forty-nine cards drawn face down from a shuffled Deck of Smiting. Each player simultaneously flips seven cards from the top of their decks and arranges them in a horizontal line in opposition to their opponents. Whichever player flips the strongest line of seven, as determined by their total hit points, can swap the position of two cards to seat a matchup in their favor.
Once the line of seven is set, each player flips the cards in their deck simultaneously in rows of seven underneath the line of seven until all cards are revealed creating a grid of 98 cards. Once all cards are gridded, the player with the highest attack points in their first line of seven that lines up against their opponent initiates a first encounter, choosing which of its line of seven will attack the corresponding card of their opponent’s line of seven. The card with the highest attack points attacks first and deals damage if their attack is successful. The success of the attack is determined by the attacker rolling 1D6. A roll of 1 or 2 fails, 3 or 4 deals half the attacker’s attack points, 5 or 6 deals all of the attacker’s attack points. The success of the defense of the attacked card is determined by the attacked player rolling 1D6. A roll of 1 or 2 fails and the attacked card takes all damage as determined by the attacker’s rolls, 3 or 4 deducts half of the attacked card’s armor points from total damage after the attacker’s rolls, 5 or 6 deducts all of the attacked card’s armor points from total damage after the attacker’s rolls. Each card alternates attacks until one loses all Hit points, and the losing card is discarded (in some instances, Xêvioso and Gû established that defeated cards were taken by the victor, but this was seldom the case). Some cards do not trade attacks until one card loses all Hit points during an attack, and that is indicated on the card. The winning card can choose to occupy the space of the discarded card. A card can only attack another card if it occupies a space that shares a border with the card in the grid. Cards can only move one position in the grid after a battle ends (not diagonal unless the card says otherwise), and only one card can move before the start of the next battle.
It is possible to regenerate cards or to add cards from the player’s full Deck of Smiting not used in the initial 49, but that depends on the abilities of the cards in play and the size of the Deck of Smiting used by each player. The entire Deck of Smiting can have as many cards as the player is able to easily shuffle with two hands. Discarded cards, those that have been removed from the grid, cannot be used to satisfy abilities that allow players to flip cards from their Deck of Smiting, and cards from the Deck of Smiting cannot be used to satisfy abilities that allow players to re-grid a discarded card.
There are also Bonus cards in play that Xêvioso and Gû devised to allow for things like instant kills or double Hit points for the next encounter, and when those are grided, they are reconciled at the player’s discretion unless the card says otherwise. The effects of a bonus card can only be applied to a card that occupies a space that shares a border with it in the grid unless the card says otherwise. The directions on each card supersede all established rules of the game.
The game is won when all of a player’s cards in the grid have been defeated. Smiting games were typically played by the Vodun over long periods of time with ample breaks from the game to tend to other matters. The longest game that Xêvioso and Gû have ever played lasted a century in Earther time.
Xêvioso and Gû devised a modified version of Smiting to allow for more than two players once Lêgba and Jo showed interest. Lêgba has not played Smiting with his brothers in a long time and that is how Xêvioso realized that the Lêgba tending his disc was a fraud; only the true Lêgba is aware of and skilled at Smiting because the true Lêgba never gives his iterations knowledge of the game, mostly as an oversight.
The objective of Smiting played with three or more players is to control as much of a ninety-eight-space grid as possible with the forty-nine card play deck as each player takes turns flipping a card from their face down deck onto a grid spot of their choosing. Players are not required to place their card next to an opponent’s card, and players are not required to initiate attacks when they place a card. A player wins when only their cards are left on the grid. All of the attack rules apply related to moving cards around the grid. If no open spaces are available in the grid, then players must challenge a card for its spot.
A variation of Smiting exists in the Fonlands and a standard deck of Smiting Cards, with seasonal booster packs, is sold by a company located in the Chamber of the Unseeing All-knowing on Sakpata’s disk. Sakpata doesn’t like the game because he struggles against the powerful decks of his siblings, but he figured out a way to profit from the game and he makes literally tons of Rhasd from his percentage of the profits. Xêvioso and Gû are aware of Sakpata’s business, and both are just happy that their game is so popular.
A version of Smiting exists in universe Prime 5 on Bludon and the planet’s favorite son, Maxx the Superguardian, is said to have the most powerful Deck of Smiting in the universe. It is rumored that he has very rare cards created on the disc of Sakpata.
All versions of Smiting played by Fonlanders and beings of Universe Prime 5 are designed to drastically reduce the gameplay time.
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