The Game of Four Houses is one
of the most common card games in
Santharia. In fact it's a game which
varies strongly depending on the rules which you use to play it. It is also
often simply called Four Houses, Cards or
just the Game.
|
Image description. A
typical Santharian card deck of the Game of Four Houses featuring important
and/or well known personalities of the United Kingdom.
Deck designed by
Bard Judith, pictures
drawn by various Santharian artists. |
History.
The Game, as it is often known, on account of its complexity, popularity, and
widespread usage, has been around for Santharian centuries. Some very early
decks painted on thin slips of whitened bark have survived to give us an
indication of what its origins might have been. Characters do not appear to
have been in the initial conception of the game; numbers and elements were used
alone (thus, the Three of Earth, the Ten of Air) and no cards higher than ten.
Shortly after that the top four character cards were added as Mage, King,
Queen, and Prince/Princess, and the game played as "Elementals".
We can surmise this last from a variety of references to a card game known as
"Elementals" in Derragin the Mad Monk’s memoirs,
"A Tale of Two Townships", a
ribaldly satirical manuscript which has survived in many copies from the Age of
the Blood. It seems that the rest of the characters began to appear several
centuries later, and the division of the houses into masculine and feminine
also occurred at that time, with their relevant colour-coding of red and blue.
The cards have always been tall and slim, a natural shape for the depiction of
human figures, and, as has been noted before, the creative names inspired a
wide variety of artists to create customized decks.
Lord Swarrathorn of Elsreth (large central city name) is noted for his
interest in the Game and has the most extensive collection of Four House decks
known anywhere in Santharia. We have been privileged to examine a number of the
decks to ascertain the information above, and are duly grateful for Lord
Swarrathorn’s time and patience with our questions! Among his treasures are a
pack which consists only of supernatural characters, with the High
Gods serving
as the top kings and queens (Baveras as the Water Queen, for example) and a
variety of sprites, demons, faeries, and elemental spirits as the lower ranks.
Also surviving from an interesting time in history is the Thalun Deck; an
ironical retelling of Miranna’s Story. Miranna is portrayed as
the Healer for all four elements (a definite break with tradition) and the
corrupt Regent in various vulgar poses as the four Rogues. The Kings and Queens
are the actual reigning sovereigns of the area at the time, although their
faces have been elaborately caricatured. Some of the midrank characters are
said to be well-known Thalunnese who testified at Miranna’s trial or petitioned
for her sake.
Equipment. One deck, or pack, of Four House Playing Cards. The cards are thin
rectangles of hand-painted pasteboard, approximately the height of the average
human hand, with their names and pictures displayed on their faces, and a plain
back. More expensive sets sometimes have solid-colour brown or golden backs,
and elaborately detailed characters, often local celebrities or past rulers.
There are four ‘houses’, or types of cards, and fourteen different cards in
each house. They run from a value of 14 down to 1, but the numbers are rarely
given, the cards being referred to by house and name, thus: "Earth
King",
"Air Farmer",
"Fire Healer", "Water Mage" and so on. The variety of names thus
achieved can give rise to great artistic creativity in many decks; for example,
the Water Merchant shown as a fearsome pirate, the Fire Tapster as a lower
demon dispensing flames from a barrel of R'unorian brandy, or the Earth Knight
as a horse and rider built out of stones, sticks, and bones, with a horse skull
and human skull perched atop the conglomeration!
There are also two to four wild cards per deck, known as "Mad Toms". Their use
varies depending on the game. Air and Water are considered "feminine" houses,
while Earth and Fire are considered "masculine". They are sometimes so
distinguished by the use of colours on the house symbols in the corners of the
cards: blue for Air and Water (the colour of purity and cleanliness) and red
for Earth and Fire (the colour of energy and aggression).
Game Set-Up. Many variants of Four Houses exist:
"Great House" (poker rules),
"Full
Cottages" (rummy), "Mother’s Rue" (strip poker),
"Alliances" (euchre),
"Four
Mansions" (bridge), "Under the Tower" (whist),
"One Man’s Lord" (solitaire), and
so on. Rules are given below for three of the most popular, but in general four
players are required and the entire deck is shuffled and then a specific number
of cards dealt out among them. The full complement of cards held by a player is
referred to as a "town"; the remainder of the deck a
"county". If betting is
involved, the amount of money on the table is called "the pouch".
Note: For reasons of space and simplicity, I have simply given the ‘alternate
universe’ title of the game in the list above rather than try to detail the
rules for every type of card game possible!
Rules.
Rules for the Game of Four Houses depend on the specific game
you prefer to play. However, the values of the specific cards remain the same
in each of those different games.
