Maiko's Note
They say Subrim was invented to teach obedience.
I suspect it survived because it teaches something else instead.
On the board, power looks neat: clean lines, perfect symmetry, rules carved as if they were laws of nature. But play it long enough and you’ll notice the truth—victory rarely comes from strength alone. It comes from patience, from knowing when not to move, from letting others believe the game is already decided.
The Empire likes to think Subrim proves inevitability.
The tribes know better. They play it like a story that hasn’t finished yet.
Keith… you’re still pretending this is just a pastime. But I’ve been watching your hands hesitate in the right moments, your eyes linger where others don’t look. You’re already playing two turns ahead—and smiling when you lose, which is usually a bad sign for everyone else.
Don’t worry.
For now, it’s only a game.
An Asymmetric Tafl Game of Power and Inevitability
Shindjal: Subrim
Faction:
Nodilani
“If the Subrim always wins, why do you still play?”
1. Origins
Subrim is a strategic board game played across Shawadjàn, most commonly in Imperial halls, military camps, and contested border regions. Its roots are said to lie in ancient strategy traditions brought from the stars, reshaped over generations into a symbolic contest between centralized power and fractured resistance.
The Empire presents Subrim as a demonstration of inevitability. The tribes play it to understand how inevitability might be delayed - or broken.
2. The Board
The game is played on a square Tafl board, traditionally 13×13, though other sizes are known.
The center represents the heart of imperial power.
The four corners are Tribal Centers, each belonging to a different tribe.
Control of space matters more than material advantage.
The board itself is often carved from wood or stone, sometimes etched with imperial or tribal motifs.
3. The Pieces
A single central figure representing the ruler of the Empire.
Begins the game in the center of the board.
If the Subrim is defeated, the game ends immediately.
The Legions
16 Imperial forces loyal to the Subrim.
Begin in a star formation (inshakulin) around the Subrim.
Serve both as protectors and instruments of conquest.
The Tribes
Four distinct tribal forces, each associated with one corner of the board standing with 7 figures each leaving the corner field open behind them.
Each tribe possesses one unique rule that defines its style of resistance.
These rules are active from the beginning of the game.
4. Turn Structure
The Subrim player has the first move. Players alternate turns, moving exactly one piece per turn. The tribal player does not act freely. Instead, the tribes act in a fixed rotational order, moving clockwise around the board.
Which tribe begins after the Subrim mate his first move is not random.
The first tribe to be attacked by the Subrim becomes the starting tribe, and the sequence remains fixed for the rest of the game. An attack is recognized when an imperial figure moves towards the quarter of a tribe - so basically with any move.
5. Movement
All pieces move:
Orthogonally (no diagonals)
Any number of empty squares
Without passing through other pieces, unless a tribal rule allows it
Movement is simple. Position is not.
6. Capture
Pieces are captured through encirclement.
A piece is removed when it is trapped between two opposing pieces on opposite orthogonal sides. Except for the Subrim who has to be trapped at all four sides by four figures.
The edge of the board does not count as a trapping side.
A single move may result in multiple captures.
7. Victory Conditions
Victory of the Tribes
The Subrim is captured.
Victory of the Subrim
All four Tribal Centers are occupied by Imperial pieces simultaneously
The Subrim must still be alive
Whether control must be held immediately or sustained is a point of debate—and deliberate variation.
8. Subjugation of a Tribe
When a Tribal Center is occupied by an Imperial piece, that tribe is considered subjugated.
The tribe remains on the board and continues to act.
The Subrim and his legionaries learn that tribe’s special rule.
All Legions may now apply it.
Subjugation does not silence a tribe. It weaponizes it.
9. Use of Tribal Rules by the Subrim
The Subrim may accumulate multiple tribal rules.
However:
Only one borrowed tribal rule may be applied per Imperial move.
The choice is implicit in the move itself.
Power, in Subrim, is not infinite - it must be chosen.
10. The Four Tribal Rules
Endulani – Allied Passage
Pieces may pass through friendly pieces, but not land on them.
A move using this rule may not result in a capture.Kosuklani – Sacrificial Encirclement
A piece may allow itself to be captured.
When captured, the completing enemy piece is also removed.Pashevalani – Edge Mobility
Pieces on the board’s edge may move laterally along it, ignoring blocking pieces.Awashalani – Extended Encirclement
A piece may count as adjacent for capture from one square away, orthogonally.
This replaces one encirclement side.
11. Rule Interactions
Tribal rules do not stack.
Each move is governed by:
The rule of the moving tribe
Optionally, one borrowed tribal rule if the Subrim moves
This prevents escalation while preserving asymmetry.
12. Variations and Debate
Subrim has no single authoritative rule set.
Common points of variation include:
Board size
Number of Legion pieces
Number of tribal pieces
Timing of conquest recognition
Disagreement is not a flaw of the game - it is part of it.
13. Cultural Meaning
To the Empire, Subrim proves that resistance can only delay the inevitable. To the tribes, it proves that unity - even imperfect unity - changes everything.
Many games end unresolved.
Some end in silence.
A few end friendships.
Maiko's Note
They say Subrim was invented to teach obedience.
I suspect it survived because it teaches something else instead.
On the board, power looks neat: clean lines, perfect symmetry, rules carved as if they were laws of nature. But play it long enough and you’ll notice the truth—victory rarely comes from strength alone. It comes from patience, from knowing when not to move, from letting others believe the game is already decided.
The Empire likes to think Subrim proves inevitability.
The tribes know better. They play it like a story that hasn’t finished yet.
Keith… you’re still pretending this is just a pastime. But I’ve been watching your hands hesitate in the right moments, your eyes linger where others don’t look. You’re already playing two turns ahead—and smiling when you lose, which is usually a bad sign for everyone else.
Don’t worry.
For now, it’s only a game.
