The Game of Unification
Conquest emerged during the First Unification of @Andarus, spreading across the desert world in a time that predated the formal founding of the Endless Unity. Its enduring popularity stems from elegant simplicity: a single deck of one hundred and four cards divided among eight suits, or colors, each representing a pre-Unification city-state or a significant historical figure from that fragmented era. The faces carry stylized portraits and heraldic symbols of old Andaran powers, yet the mechanics reduce every card to a numerical value and a color, making the game immediately accessible while rewarding dedicated memorization.
Players arrange themselves in a circle and take turns attacking in a predetermined order, each holding eight cards drawn at random from the deck. The attacker opens by placing a card before the adjacent defender, who must "close" the attack by playing a more senior card of the same suit or by leveraging the premier suit, which defeats all others regardless of value. The first three rounds of any battle remain a private duel between these two adjacent players, but if neither side disengages by the third round, the other participants may join the fray in sequential order, adding their own cards to the growing pile. This structure creates a tense threshold at the third round, where either combatant may cut their losses and withdraw—ending the battle before the group enters and preserving their remaining hand. The option to disengage introduces a critical bluffing element, as a player with weak cards may feign strength to push an opponent into retreat, or a strong player may simulate weakness to lure others into overcommitting before the wider battle begins.
Once a turn concludes, whether by conquest or disengagement, players who hold fewer than eight cards draw from the deck to restore their hand, ensuring the cycle of attacks continues until one player accumulates the entire deck. Conquest appears in every social stratum of the successor states. Friends wager drinks and merits in cramped habitation quarters, officers pass duty hours in military barracks, and delegates play for prestige at state functions. Stakes range from trivial social obligations to substantial currency transfers, with unauthorized games flourishing in the shadows of formal venues. While countless regional variants have developed across the fractured galaxy, the common deck and its core rules remain standardized, preserving the game's original character as a reflection of unification and homogenization by conquest.