Gauntlet Rulebook

Welcome, Beloved, to the Gauntlet of Mercy! Upon the celebration of Her Ten Thousandth Year of Reign, our Empress has deemed fit to run a Game to grant deliverance to souls who have been led astray.
Those chosen for the Gauntlet gain the opportunity to know Her Mercy. All teams that survive the Game’s four rounds shall be granted full clemency for their crimes, and will gain Her Blessing at the Celestial City. Rejoice, for you may be forgiven!
This booklet will help guide you through the Gauntlet, listing the other teams taking part and automatically tracking their progress. The booklet is magical, but not indestructible. If you lose it, you will not gain a replacement until the next round!

Your Handler

Each team has a Handler who follows their progress, hands out Penalties, and acts as their point of contact. Teams may contact their Handler if absolutely necessary by pressing upon their Mark and speaking their Handler’s name. Teams must follow all instructions given by their Handler.
Your Handler is: Devotion

The Structure of the Game

Every Province is represented by a team of four. These are the four people due to be executed first on the First Day of the Ten Thousandth Year of Her Reign in each Province.The Game is structured in four Rounds. All teams surviving at the end of the final Round gain full pardon and entry into the Celestial City for Her Blessing. The Game is spectated by those of the Celestial Court, as well as the Governors of each Province and their chosen few. Spectators may follow the progress of any team at any time, by using apparatuses provided to them by the Court to scry any Marked participants.
Each of the four Rounds is split into three phases.

Phase one: Artefact Collection .

Each Team begins the first Round in the Province of their arrest. Thereafter, they begin each Round in a random Province, excluding Provinces they have previously begun a Round in.
Within each Province are scattered four Artefacts, created in celebration of Her Reign. The Artefacts available in a Province will be marked and briefly described on your map at the start of the Round. Each Round, the team in the selected Province must collect at least one of these Artefacts, which must then be brought to the Province’s Gateway. The Artefact acts as a Key through the Gateway, which will lead them to Phase Two. The artefacts can be kept and used for the remainder of the game.

Phase Two: The Gauntlet

Using the Gateway, the Team will enter that Round’s Gauntlet, a demiplane full of hazards designed to test the Team’s strength of spirit, mind, and body. Those who successfully Run the Gauntlet and find the exit of the demiplane are considered to have successfully progressed to the next Round.
Once exiting the Gauntlet, the team are automatically teleported to the capital of a randomised new Province, which will be the location for the next Artefact collection phase.

Phase Three: Recovery

By her Endless Mercy, each Team that has survived the first two phases of the Round are justly rewarded with 500 Crowns and a break period of two weeks, which may be used to rest, recuperate, and resupply in the capital city they have been relocated to.

Gifts

Observers of the game are permitted to send gifts to their favourite teams, but only while that team is within the Gauntlet. Teams are permitted a maximum of 10,000 Crown’s worth of gifts per round.

Penalties

The Mercy Mark on the back of your neck provides us with a means to track you, to watch your progress, and as direct magical link to your brainstem. This mark can be activated at any distance, and also activates automatically in certain scenarios. This activation happens when you receive a major penalty, and severs the connection between your brain and your body (side effects of this penalty include expiration.) Please note that the mark remains functioning after the expiration of the body, so no resurrections, please!
The following actions will incur a penalty. Remember, incurring three minor penalties will incur a major penalty! If an action is deemed to be performed as a group, every person in that group will incur penalty. In cases of ambiguous nature, the decision of whether or not the group will receive penalty is left to their Handler.
Actions incurring minor penalties:

• Stealing from those of middle Castes.
• Assaulting those of middle Castes, with the exception of actions made in self-defence.
• Violent actions made against other participants of the game when not within the Gauntlet, including actions that kill another participant.
• Stealing equipment from other participants of the game when not within the Gauntlet.
• Actively aiding other participants in the game by healing them, colluding with them, or else improving their chances of survival.
• Destroying an Artefact.
• Attempting to tamper with your Mark, including casting diagnostic or dispelling magic upon it. You are permitted to conceal your mark when necessary, but not with magic.

Amendment 42.1.10000: The members of a single team are collectively only permitted to kill a total of four Gauntlet participants outside their team during the Gauntlet phase. The killed participants can all be from the same team or from different ones. Those in the offending team will accrue a minor penalty for each additional person killed over the four-victim limit.
Actions incurring major penalties:

• Stealing from or assaulting a High-Caste person, even in cases of self-defence.
• Stealing from or assaulting your Handler.
• Refusing the orders of your Hander.
• Leaving the borders of the Empire.
• Revealing any information about the game or the Gauntlet to a middle or low-Caste person.
• Failure to reach the Gauntlet within one month of the beginning of the round.

Your Handler retains the right to trigger a major or minor penalty at their discretion, in the case of unruly or abnormal behaviour.

Losing Team Members

In the event of the death of every team member, the team is out of the Game.
In the event of the loss of one or two Team Members:

• In the Artefact collection Phase; the new Team Member(s) will be sent immediately to a designated meeting point, being the first due to be executed in the Province of the Team’s Origin.
• In the Gauntlet: the new Team Member(s) will be provided once the remaining Team Members have successfully exited the Gauntlet.

In the event of the loss of three Team Members, leaving a single Member remaining:

• In the Artefact Collection Phase: the remaining Team Member takes Major Penalty and is removed from the game.
• In the Gauntlet: If the remaining Team Member successfully exits the Gauntlet by themselves, they remain suspended from the game (in custody) until all other Teams have exited the Gauntlet or been eliminated. If another Team successfully exits the gauntlet with three or two members remaining, the participant in custody will be substituted as a new Team Member for that Team, taking precedence over other prisoners due to be executed. If no other Teams have such vacancies, the participant in custody takes Major Penalty and is removed from the Game,

Type

Guide, Generic