Xorvintaal

Xorvintaal, sometimes referred to as The Great Game or just The Game, was a game dragons used as a proxy for open warfare. The game was said to be similar to chess, were dragons schemed against their fellow players through their minions and even unwilling agents to advance their goals and earn prestige.

Background
As dragons were usually solitary creatures, xorvintaal was one of the few ways an individual dragon could earn prestige among their kind. Those who mastered xorvintaal were regarded as among the finest minds dragonkind had to offer. Despite this, only few dragons devoted their lives to the game as it demanded a great commitment from its players. Most of those who became interested in xorvintall did so when they were young, attracted by the allure of besting their fellows and the promise of vast treasure.

Usually, the new players were introduced to the game and tutored by older, more experienced players, giving the game a feudal element. These older players earned a share of their younger protégées' hoard as well as renown if these new players became successful in exchange for protection and assistance.

Only dragons could understand the finer points of the rules of xorvintaal, and these rules were so attractive for draconic minds because they were created under a purely draconic point of view, with a great emphasis on complexity and subterfuge that dragons enjoyed. This had a negative side, however, as most dragons that played xorvintaal, even just once, were under the risk of becoming addicted to the game.

Because of that draconic point of view, the rules were difficult to grasp for non-dragon creatures, such as humans. The knowledge humans had from the xorvintaal was usually contradictory and not even close to the actual rules of the game. At least one book, A History of Draconic Interactions, made the xorvintaal look as if was a game of dragons trying to outwit their rivals and kill each other, and that the governments of many nations, the priesthoods of many gods, and even shadowy organizations were all involved somehow with the dragon players. According to Clytemorrenestrix, the book not only was wrong about the rules, but it actually made the game look illogical, at least from the perspective of dragons.

Rules
Xorvintaal was like a chess game, as players had to defeat their opponents with strategy instead of combat, using their minions to take over the territories and hoards of their rivals, while placing their own hoards and lairs at risk. For this reason, dragons who played xorvintaal took great pains to not be discovered by others.

Dragons who played xorvintaal were called taaldarax (pl. taaldaraxi). A dragon's head servant was known as their lovac (a term that could be translated as exarch or lieutenant ), and their other servants were known as dokaal. The lovacs were agents bound to their masters thanks to a ritual that gave them special powers in return for their loyalty.

There were hundreds of rules, called Precepts. Brimstone said that to read the entire codex of rules would take a few years, and even Alasklerbanbastos admitted he didn't fully understand all the rules. The rules were so complex that it was rare for the less intelligent kinds of dragons, such as the whites, to play the game.

The most important rule was that "to gain, first you must lose"; thus all taaldaraxi lost what magic they had in order to play the game. This was done via the "ritual of Xorvintaal", that all dragons who wanted to participate had to perform before starting to play. The ritual required the dragon to spend a month meditating inside a magic cocoon, marking the dragon forever as a taaldarax. This ritual sacrificed the dragons' innate ability to cast spells (but not their spell-like abilities) in exchange for the ability to manipulate their minions, to interact telepathically with other taaldaraxi, and to increase their power as they increase their reputation in the game.

Another rule forbade players from acting against each other directly; instead they must use their servants against their opponents. The rules did not forbid combat in all circumstances, however; if a challenge for combat was issued and both players agreed, the taaldaraxi could battle one another, and their servants were bound to fight as well.

Points were scored based on conquest or by killing key opponents, although players also scored points by showing great skills of subterfuge, daring or renown. Points scored in the game were used to determine the pecking order of dragons. The "ritual of Xorvintaal" made the taaldaraxi unable of breaking the rules of the game, forcing them to chose well their minions and strategies that could earn them high amount of points in less time. Among the most common strategies were:


 * Castling: The process of moving a taaldarax's hoard from one place to another. It was a complex process that needed years of preparation, although some players were able to do it quicker than others, earning more points in the process.
 * The Claw Test: A prearranged meeting were the minions of many taaldaraxi, as well as unwitting agents, meet to accomplish some goal on behalf of their masters. The winners were those players whose minions accomplished most of the objectives with the less advantages and resources.
 * Seed Hoard: One of the most aggressive strategies of the game, it consisted in establishing a new hoard in an area the taaldarax didn't intend to personally occupy. To earn more points with this strategy, the player had to rely entirely on their minions to establish and protect the hoard. If a seed hoard was established near a rival's territory, the owner could earn extra points if the rival was unable to destroy it within a certain amount of time. The rules forbade to attack the seed hoard directly, however.
 * Seed Sham: A seed sham was a fake seed hoard made up of an actual treasure rigged with traps and other threats, designed to cut away resources of an specific rival. Failing to discover a seed sham could make a player lose a lot of points, but discovering the sham using the rules of the game was the quickest way of earning a lot of points, making it one the riskier strategies of the game.

History
During the Time of Dragons, wyrms of the age feared that if dragons continued battling each other, as they had since their race was born, they would eventually face extinction. In time, they came up with a solution: Instead of battling each other, dominance among them would be established by status. To determine this, they developed the xorvintaal. After the first Rage of Dragons, however, dragons lost knowledge of the game.

The vampiric smoke drake Brimstone claimed that he rediscovered the game's rules in the ruins where Sammaster was killed after the last Rage of Dragons, in 1373 DR. However, according to Clytemorrenestrix, her grandsire, Chendarixanath, had been a player of xorvintaal since she was a wyrmling, which means that the secrets of the game were known at least by a few dragons before 1373 DR. Nevertheless, for most dragons xorvintaal was just a myth even after Brimstone made public the rules.

Brimstone brought the rules of xorvintaal to Dracowyr in Murghôm in 1478 DR, convincing many chromatic dragons and a few gem and metallic dragons to participate. Brimstone set himself up as the referee and scorekeeper. Brimstone's xorvintaal was dedicated to the goddess Tiamat. To ensure the dragons would play, Brimstone bound them with a powerful spell, although the participants were unaware of this.

The ultimate goals of Brimstone's xorvintaal were to determine who became the emperor of dragonkind and to dominate all the nations in the Alamber Sea vicinity. If they succeeded, the dragons would use the game to conquer all Faerûn and usher in a new Time of Dragons. Tymanther, due to its hatred of dragons, was considered the most dangerous nation in the game, and many players aimed to either subjugate or destroy it in order to quickly rack up massive amounts of points.

After the Battle of Luthcheq, Tchazzar's death and Alasklerbanbastos' destruction, the leaders of the Brotherhood of the Griffon, as well as several dragon princes of Murghôm and dragonborn knights from Tymanther, traveled to Dracowyr, on Nightal of 1479 DR, to confront Brimstone and forced him to cancel the magic that bound wyrms to the game. Brimstone claimed that the game was just a ruse to allow him to eliminate the most powerful dragons around the Sea of Fallen Stars. Even after Brimstone canceled the spell, nobody could be sure if the taaldaraxi would stop to play.

That same year, the green dragon Andareunarthex was playing its own xorvintaal game in Waterdeep, whose final goal was to destroy the city, but his schemes were stopped by the former-blue dragon Clytemorrenestrix and her companion Tennora Hedare.

Notable players

 * Alasklerbanbastos
 * Andareunarthex
 * Astanalan
 * Brimstone
 * Chelnadatilar
 * Chendarixanath
 * Domborcojh
 * Ferzath
 * Gestaniius
 * Jaxanaedegor
 * Llemgradac
 * Karshinevin
 * Magaoloriereth
 * Praxasalandos
 * Skalnaedyr
 * Skuthosiin
 * Tchazzar

Background
The concept of xorvintaal was first introduced in Monster Manual V, and was later adapted to the Forgotten Realms by Erin M. Evans.

Appearances

 * The God Catcher
 * Brotherhood of the Griffon (series)
 * The Captive Flame
 * Whisper of Venom
 * The Spectral Blaze