The game of Kem’Hedj is the oldest in existence. There are records of it being played in the earliest musings of the dragonflights, and they made no claim of inventing it. Our modern version is a crude imitation, a meager attempt to ape the abilities of our creators.
When the gods played Kem’Hedj their game spanned realities. It snaked through endless possibilities, in all directions. There was no need for a game board, or scales. Yet that doesn’t mean that our version of the game is anything less than sublime. Mastering Kem’Hedj is one of the few pursuits an immortal can still partake in after centuries or millennia of life.
Ah, the rules you ask. They are simple. One side is assigned white, the other black. Hence the name of the game. Kem is white, and Hedj is black, in ancient draconic. The scales may be of any colors, and vary based on the player. The white player places a scale on a tile. The black player does the same.
If any scale, or group of scales, is surrounded, it is captured. Both the pieces and territory belong to the capturer. The game ends when one side captures all scales. This rarely happens in practice, as games on even the smallest board can take days or weeks to complete. Larger boards can take months, years, or even decades.
A player may choose to pass on their turn. If both players pass the game ends, and territory and pieces are tallied to determine a winner. In practice this is how most games end, with one side taking mercy on the other rather than continuing to press their advantage once it is clear that a game’s outcome has been determined.
Kem’Hedj is played regularly on Virkonna, and within any colony where the dragonflights held sway. It’s modern incarnation is called Go, though some argue that this name comes instead from a similar game, played on ancient terra before it fell.