"I suspected. I believed. I had... faith. But I cannot say that I knew what you were going to do. [smiling] That is why you mortals have free will, you know. It gives us gods plausible deniability."
— Labelas Enoreth, Reunification, by Jeff Grubb
The gods play games with the fate of men. Not complex ones obviously, because gods lack patience. Cheating is part of the rules. And gods play hard. To lose all believers is, for a god, the end. But a believer who survives the game gains honour and extra belief. Who wins with the most believers, lives.
"The Gods... playing a strategy game."
"Aye, you've Seen that before, you have."
"No. Were. Stopped."
"That's good, then, eh?"
"No. Now... playing dice."
"Aye, you've Seen that before, you have."
"No. Were. Stopped."
"That's good, then, eh?"
"No. Now... playing dice."
No gods anywhere play chess. They prefer simple, vicious games, where you Do Not Achieve Transcendence but Go Straight to Oblivion. A key to the understanding of all religion is that a god's idea of amusement is Snakes and Ladders with greased rungs.
"Who is to say who is piece and who is player? How often had I wondered whether I myself was just a game piece in a still larger game whose players laughed at my pretensions?"
— Ellimist, Animorphs, "The Ellimist Chronicles"
Spirit Dragon: Chess? To compare the game to chess would be like comparing all of civilization to an amoeba! The stakes are far higher than creation itself, and the rules are more intricate and complex than the foundation of the world! Behold!
King: [gasps] It can't be! The cosmic game is D&D?!
Pete: Universes & Unrealities, actually.
King: [gasps] It can't be! The cosmic game is D&D?!
Pete: Universes & Unrealities, actually.
"God does not play dice with the universe."
