The Game Masters
The Game Masters are six beings of immense power who rule the Dominion. Their names are commonly expressed as Malakhi, Vidar, Ma’at, Minerva, Libertas, and Dionysus. Their origins and exact nature are unknown. They are called the Game Masters because they are the creators of “The Game.”
Appearances
The Game Masters all choose to appear humanoid although Ma’at and Libertas sometimes push the boundaries of what might be considered humanoid and Vidar always has his face covered. Three of the Game Masters always choose to appear as male (Malakhi, Vidar, and Dionysus) and three of the Game Masters always choose to appear as female (Ma’at, Minerva, and Libertas).
Each of the Game Masters is also associated with a primary and secondary color that govern their “appearances” in visions and in the Kliving Caves. The primary color is the one associated with the Game Master if only one color is used. For example, Malakhi’s primary color is white and secondary color is black. White taken alone would be a symbol of Malakhi in visions or the Kliving caves. White and black intermixed in the same object would also be a symbol of Malakhi but the color black all by itself is a symbol of Vidar.
The primary and secondary colors of the various Game Masters are as follows: For Malakhi the primary color is white and the secondary color is black. For Vidar the primary color is black and the secondary color is purple. For Ma’at the primary color is green and the secondary color is brown. For Minerva, the primary color is sliver and the secondary color is yellow. For Libertas, the primary color is red and the secondary color is blue. For Dionysus, the primary color is a golden yellow and the secondary color is green.
There are many other symbols and images associated with the various Game Masters (such as birds with Libertas or trees with Ma’at). But they vary so greatly from Game Master to Game Master and even from Kliving Cave to Kliving Cave that they cannot be explored in a brief overview of all the Game Masters.
Relations to One Another
The various Game Masters have differing views on what it means to be alive and what to do about the impending end of the Dominion. These ethical differences are what created the conflict that resulted in “The Game”. A full exploration of these ethical differences is not suited to a general overview of the Game Masters. However, certain aspects of their relationships are formalized in the rules of “The Game” that governed the creation of the twelve races and are worth briefly reviewing.
For reasons that go beyond this overview, the idea behind the creation of the races is that they would tie together two hostile Game Masters together through the mediation of a third more or less neutral Game Master. To comply with this rule, the Game Masters each designated an opposing Game Master that they felt most hostile to that is referred to as that Game Master’s “opposite.” Each Game Master also had to designate another Game Master as that Game Master’s “enemy.” These formalized relationships are as follows…
Malakhi has as his opposite Dionysus and as his enemy Vidar. Vidar has as his opposite Libertas and as his enemy Malakhi. Ma’at has as her opposite Minerva and as her enemy Libertas. Minerva has as her opposite MA’AT and her enemy is Dionysus. Libertas has as her opposite Vidar and her enemy is MA’AT. Dionysus has as his opposite Malakhi and his enemy is Minerva.
Relationship To Other Things In “The Game”
Everything created for “The Game” is associated with the Game Masters in one form or another. In most cases the influences are so intermixed that it is difficult to assign aspects of them to a particular Game Master. But certain things are clearly associated with particular Game Masters. The following is a brief overview of a few of those things.
The Language of the Immortals: The language of the immortals has a twenty four letter alphabet with six vowels. Each of the vowels in this alphabet and three of consonants is associated with a particular Game Master. This association founded on how the names of the Game Masters are spelled in the language of the immortals (only the vowel and the three consonants associated with that Game Master are used to spell the Game Master’s name with the vowel being used twice). It is reinforced by the Alphabet Stair in the Kliving Caves and by how the language itself works.
The Numeral System of the Immortals: The semi- senary numeral system used in “The Game” has only six numbers in it and a rarely used symbol for zero. The symbol for each of the numbers is the same as the symbol for each of the six vowels. Because of this the various Game Masters are associated with numbers as follows; Malakhi is associated with one, Vidar is associated with two, Ma’at is associated with three, Minerva is associated with four, Libertas is associated with five, and Dionysus is associated with six.