acid

acid is an intentionally weird chess variant we threw toghether really quickly in early 2023 after thinking about weird/hard to use/bad chess pieces. we have played exactly one game (with bentl), we're not particularly good at chess, and we don't know any professionals who could theoretically look at this, so it's incredibly likely that it is kinda shitty and not good, but hopefully you find it fun regardless :]

intro

sometime in the future, along the orbit of Pluto-Charon, in an unnamed conflict across transkronian space, two astral combat clouds, MAGI and LINE, engage each other attempting to acquire a vital datachunk from the opposing party. while the contents of these datachunks will never be made public knowledge, their loss could mark a massive turning point in the conflict. this game is an abstraction of the events of this engagement, as it played out.

we aren't great at formally writing out certain things so for the sake of simplicity on our part, u can kinda assume a lot of the same basic principles of chess apply here: two sides with differently colored pieces, players take turns moving them and can capture them by landing on a piece, etc. just assume it's like regular chess but with a weird board and different pieces and no check.

the field (the board)

this is the state of the field at the start of the engagement:

the interior 9x9 play area represents conventional space, the area in which the universe as we understand it exists and that we can casually move around in. the exterior ring of cells represents The Zone, a place outside of the bounds of our universe but existing alongside and over top of it. people aren't generally capable of moving into The Zone freely.

in less prose-y writing, the interior of the board represents the main play area of the game, where pieces can move as expected. the outer ring can only be actively entered by certain pieces, which generally can't stay there. the pieces are arranged as shown (what each letter represents is listed further down). off the side of the board, in each player's hand, are two additional pieces, Mass and Worm, not shown here.

The Zone

surrounding all of reality, wrapping around any possible space like a blanket, is a second expanse, recently dubbed The Zone by the peoples of the Heavenly River. research by zonenava has built up at a quick pace, and equipment has been developed allowing astroriparian life to step foot in The Zone's shallows. while still incredibly experimental and out of reach for the broader public, its use for military engagements was immediately recognized by the terrestrial corporations of Saley, who would quickly put the technology accessible to them to use in their nameless conflict.

The Zone is specifically used as a space for certain pieces to move outside the confines of the regular board. most pieces can only pass through it on their way to another space on the board, but a piece can be shoved into The Zone by Sweeper. pieces that have been shoved into The Zone must move back into the board the next time their player wants to move them. if another piece would be shoved into an already occupied space in The Zone, the piece already there is shoved into the depths of The Zone, never to be recovered, while the new piece takes its spot.

your cloud (the pieces)

both LINE and MAGI consist of identical teams of 20 personnel, the members of which are outlined below. each piece type will have a basic movement diagram trying to show their moves broadly, and at least one diagram trying to demonstrate certain interactions.

King - k K
she/her
1(5), 4(8462)w[all], k

King is a seasoned remote service frame operator, and the in-field commander for your cloud. her frame contains the datachunk the cloud is trying to protect, so while she can survive her frame being captured or destroyed, the datachunk will go with it, and her cloud will lose. she can move one space in any direction, and can swap positions with any piece (including her opponents') exactly four spaces away vertically or horizontally.

King can move to (and capture an opposing piece on) any of the spaces marked with an x, and can swap positions with any piece on a space marked with a w.

MAGI's King can move to d1, d2, e2, or f1, capture LINE's Diskette on f2, or swap positions with either MAGI's Diskette on e5 or LINE's Sweeper on a1. she isn't obligated to move out of the danger she's in, but doing so is a better idea than not.

Angel - a A
it/its
avn(5)

Angel is a DNCHT soldier whose body dissipates when observed too directly. as a result, it can't move into or through spaces another piece could capture it on, and if a piece moves and can see it, it is immobilized until said piece is gone and it can restabilize its body. with that limitation, it can move any number of spaces vertically, horizontally, or diagonally.

Angel can move along the spaces indicated with arrows, capturing opposing pieces by landing on them. with no pieces to potentially see it, it can move unimpeded.

MAGI's Angel can move to any of the spaces along the arrows, and can capture LINE's Diskette on i5. it can't move left past d5 because LINE's other Diskette on c6 is capable of capturing on that space, and thus blocks Angel. it also can't move to d3 because MAGI's Diskette is capable of capturing on that space, and also blocks Angel, even though they're part of the same cloud.

Ghosts don't have an effect on Angel's ability to move because Ghost isn't capable of capturing pieces, and therefore has no line of sight in the same way as other pieces. Mass similarly has no effect on Angel's movement because his payload is never explicitly targeted at any point on the board, so he's never looking at Angel close enough for it to dissipate.

Voyager - v V
he/they
b[5/1]#n(7913)j[1/n], 1(8462)o

Voyager is a zonenavi with advanced equipment allowing him to translate through the fringe of The Zone to extend his movement range. he can move any number of spaces diagonally, with the ability to move into The Zone and bounce out of it back into the field once per move, capturing pieces by jumping over them to the space behind (which they can chain together in one long move if there's another peice he could immediately jump over). he can also move one space vertically or horizontally without capturing.

Voyager can move along the spaces indicated with arrows, with the ability to pass through the spaces in The Zone marked with a dot in order to keep moving, and can move to the spaces marked with an o as long as they're unoccupied. he can capture pieces along the spaces indicated with the arrows by landing on the space past them as long as it's unoccupied.

MAGI's Voyager can move to any of the spaces along the arrows, potentially bouncing through The Zone. he can capture LINE's Diskette on e5 by jumping over them to f6, and can similarly capture LINE's Ghost on h2 by jumping over hir to i3. he can also move to c4, b3, and c2, but he isn't able to capture LINE's Angel on d3 because he can't capture with his single step move.

MAGI's Voyager can capture all four of LINE's Diskettes by jumping over them sequentially to f3, then h5, then f7, and finally h9 (tho if they wanted they could stop at any particular point along that path). he isn't able to jump over MAGI's Mass projectile to f7, since they're in the same cloud, and therefore isn't able to capture the Diskette on g8 without chaining all of the Diskettes together. he also can't capture LINE's Holepunch on a8 because he would have to end his move in The Zone, and can't capture the Ghost on c4 or the Angel on b3 because he can't jump multiple pieces without a space between them to land on. beyond all of this, he can also move to d6, c5, d4, or e5, or stop anywhere along any of his possible movement paths, if he were to want to not capture as many pieces as possible.

Holepunch - h H
she/her
1~(6/7, 2/9), #1~(6/7. 2/9)o.1~(6/7, 2/9)

Holepunch is a former mecha mechanic with stolen last-gen experimental equipment she's kept held together with various ad-hoc fixes. said equipment, the L-85 Routefinder, lets her teleport by flinging herself into The Zone and then launching back out of it. she can jump (in the same way a chess knight does) directly to a space 6 spaces away in one direction and 7 in the other, or 9 spaces away in one direction and 2 in the other, capturing whatever piece she lands on as long as it's within the field. she's also able to move into The Zone once, without capturing, and then immediately move back into the field within the same turn.

Holepunch can land on the spaces marked with an x, capturing opposing pieces she lands on. without entering The Zone, she can land directly on i8 from her current position. by entering The Zone at δ7 she can then jump to a5 or a9, by entering at aΛ she can jump to g3 and h4, and by entering at eΛ she can jump to g1.

MAGI's Holepunch can, as described in the previous example, move to a5, g1, or i8, and can jump through The Zone to capture LINE's Sweeper on a9. because MAGI's Diskette has been shoved into The Zone at aΛ, Holepunch can't use that space to jump to g3 or capture LINE's Voyager on h4.

because she moves across the field with only unwieldy long-range moves, Holepunch is unable to enter any of the spaces marked with an asterisk here. if she ends up on these spaces through castling, her equipment isn't able to find proper alignment and she's unable to move until castled back out of them.

Rainbow - r R
she/he
1-2(7913), q#n~(1/2/79)

Rainbow is a heavily cybernetically augmented soldier with integrated SHUNT thrusters that allow him to clip the very edge of The Zone. she can repeatedly move several knight jumps in a row along a ring-shaped path ahead of her, or move up to two spaces away diagonally. he can theoretically reach any space along the ring path two different ways if her path is completely unobscured.

Rainbow can jump sequentially along the spaces marked with an x either clockwise or counterclockwise, and can also move along the spaces marked with arrows, capturing opposing pieces by landing on them.

MAGI's Rainbow can sequentially move along the spaces marked with an x, from a3 to a7 (passing through Δ5) to c8, and then capture LINE's Diskette on e7. she can't move to f5 because she has to end her move when capturing the Diskette, and because MAGI's Angel on e3 is blocking his path in the other direction. she can also move to any of the spaces along the arrows.

Ghost (x2) - g G
xe/hir
#~(ANY)o

Ghost is part of a group of mysterious waveform-based beings found to be inhabiting The Zone's shallows during early research by zonenava. xe can move to any space on the board or in The Zone, but xe isn't capable of capturing anyone. however, hir form isn't completely intangible, and others aren't capable of moving through hir, meaning xe blocks movement and needs to be captured the same as the other pieces.

as stated, Ghost can move anywhere that isn't occupied. since this board is empty aside from hir, xe can move literally anywhere.

Sweeper (x2) - s S
they/them
gg8(5)h[1], gg4(7913)h[1]

Sweeper is a defensive scrubbing construct that was retrofitted with equipment allowing them to accelerate things into The Zone. they (at least by default) slide between the corners of the field, capturing any pieces that might be on their landing square. if a single piece is in their path, they can shove them into The Zone by pushing them along their path, but if two or more pieces are in the way then Sweeper is blocked from moving in that direction. when castled, they instead slide between the midpoints of each edge of the field.

Sweeper can slide along the board to any of the other corners marked with an x, passing through every space marked with a dot along the way and capturing opposing pieces it lands on.

MAGI's Sweeper can move to i1, pushing LINE's Diskette into The Zone at δλ, or they can capture LINE's Holepunch on i9. they can't move to a1 because there are two pieces in the way, LINE's Voyager on a6 and other Diskette on a5.

having been castled, Sweeper can now instead slide along the board to any of the other midpoints marked with an x, still passing through the dotted spaces and capturing whatever it lands on.

if castled a second time into the center of the board, Sweeper is immobilized because they aren't able to get up to speed properly, and have to wait to be castled back out.

Diskette (x9) - d D
they/them
1(8)o, 1(846)w[Diskette], 1(79)x, p[Charonite]

Diskette is part of a fleet of Mnemo Units, artificial beings created specifically to transport data within themselves. they can move forward one space without capturing, and can move diagonally forward one space specifically to capture. they also have the ability to swap positions with another Diskette directly left, right, or in front of them, by swapping their consciousness (and data) with the other Diskette.

Diskette can move one space forwards without capturing to the space marked with an o, and can move specifically to capture to the spaces marked with a u. they can swap positions with another Diskette on the spaces marked with a u or a w.

MAGI's Diskette on e4 can swap positions with MAGI's other Diskette on f4, or with LINE's Diskette on e5. they can also capture LINE's Voyager on d5.

on making it to the back row of the board, in proximity to Charon, Diskette decompresses the data within them, destroying their physical form and releasing Charonite.

Mass - m M
he/him
0, u

Mass is a Pile Accelerator Teleogun Intelligence, a sentient mass driver. he can launch a hyperdense projectile towards any space in the field, obliterating any piece that happens to be there, and which is incapable of moving or being moved. Mass is not allowed to target King, because the projectile would destroy the datachunk she's carrying (and also because the first person to move could just win the game immediately and that's like, not ideal).

after being placed on the board, Mass's projectile cannot move or be moved. it will be in this space until the end of time.

MAGI's Mass projectile, starting off the board in his player's hand, can be placed on any of the spaces marked with an x, and can capture any of the pieces other than either cloud's King. basically anywhere space except on top of MAGI's King on e1 or LINE's King on e9.

Worm - w W
it/they
1-3(8462)

Worm is an ireul-type data pathogen designed to hijack King's service frame and forcibly exfiltrate the datachunk from it. it starts in its player's hand and can be placed on any unoccupied square in the field. after being placed, it can move up to three spaces vertically or horizontally, capturing any piece it lands on, but if it's moved without specifically capturing the opposing King, their programming rapidly breaks from scripting and spreads uncontrollably, causing a massive number of problems that results in their cloud losing immediately, and the noölogical space around the field to be rendered hazardous.

after being dropped on the board from their player's hand, Worm can, hypothetically, move along the spaces marked with arrows, capturing opposing pieces by landing on them. you should not let it just do this casually.

LINE's Worm can capture MAGI's King, winning the game. if they made any other move, they would immediately lose.

with no other possible moves to make, MAGI is forced to move Worm without capturing LINE's King, causing them to lose the game. you do not want to be in this position.

Charonite - c C
ae/aer
1(2)

Charonite is a datastruct speculated to be connected with aural phenomena on Charon, stored away in some of the Diskettes involved in the engagement for reasons that haven't been disclosed to the public. aer only move is to move one space backward toward aer cloud's starting row. when ae reaches the starting row, King transfers aer the datachunk and the cloud mutinies. this counts as a victory for aer cloud, though there will be no definitive records of what specifically happened.

Charonite moves one space backwards. since ae forms from the decompression of a Diskette, ae starts on the back row of the board and works aer way towards aer cloud's starting row.

MAGI's Charonite is able to capture LINE's Ghost on c3 with aer regular forward movement. meanwhile, LINE's Charonite can move to G9, along LINE's starting row, immediately winning them the game.

endings (and win conditions)

there are a few different ways the game can be ended, which you can interpret as different possible endings to the engagement.

• Victory/Loss by Exfiltration, when one player captures the other's King - King is captured, and the datachunk is extracted from her frame. whatever was in it, it proved extremely vital in how the rest of the unnamed conflict played out.
• Victory/Loss by Resignation, when one player gives up - for whatever reason there may be behind it (preventing further bloodshed, preserving honor, apathy for the mission, CLCI fault, etc.), one cloud concedes and voluntarily hands over their data chunk. things mostly play out the same as the previous ending, thought the circumstances leading to it are different.
• Stalemate, when one player runs out of valid moves - rather than the engagement ending in a definitive victory for either side, it just sorta quietly ends, and both datachunks make it to their intended destination.
• Victory/Loss by Disappearance, when one player's King is shoved into the depths of The Zone - whlie it was never taken by the opposing side, the loss of the datachunk still ends up being a major detriment that impacts the course of the unnamed conflict.
• Victory/Loss by Noölogical Disaster, when one player moves Worm without capturing the opposing King - Worm's programming breaks from scripting and they rapidly spread across the field. due to the connection to their cloud's command network, it almost instantly spreads to their own King's service frame and corrupts their CLCI, causing the datachunk to be lost to the growing hazard area and breaking all communication between the cloud and command. beyond the unnamed conflict, this would have major ramifications for Saley as a whole, especially given the field's proximity to Pluto-Charon.
• Victory/Loss by Mutiny, when a Charonite makes it back to their player's home row - the cloud mutinies, with King giving the datachunk to Charonite to use for... something. no official word on what exactly happened ever arises, but the cloud wins their own kind of victory.

for whatever it's worth, in our one game, MAGI (who we were playing as) lost after their King was captured. if you want to take that as a canonical ending to the Pluto-Charon engagement you can, but we'd like to think that whatever plays out in your own game(s) is what's canon for your version of events.

other little notes

you, as the player, represent the Command-Level Combat Intelligence (CLCI, or Clicky) that determines your cloud's field movements and strategies. you aren't physically located in the field anywhere, instead being connected through far-distance communications and running on some hardware rack somewhere completely unrelated.

Saley /sa.'lɛj/, sah-LAY is the name for the solar system that Earth and Pluto and etc. are located in. picking a unified name for the system was highly contentious and had a lot of conflicting parties behind it (though broadly they could be aligned to broadly pro-Sol and anti-Sol camps), and what won out was a sort of compromise between the two - they used Michif for the name.

all of the pieces are queer, it's our game and u cant stop us >:3

acknowledgements

• FU Chess by Gwyndolyn Marchant - big inspiration for making this in the first place, and probably the reason why we decided to make a page for it
• The Game of Nemoroth by Ralph Betza - inspiration for doing more with the lore that kept cropping up in our head
• Piece Idea: Weeping Angel by nelk114 - source for Angel's concept
• File Sharing Chess by JT K - basis for Diskette's swapping ability, and indirectly for how castling works