JETAN-SARANG
JETAN-SARANG is a large
chess-type variant of Edgar Rice Burroughs original game of JETAN, invented
in 1922 and published in his great science fiction novel CHESSMEN OF MARS.
Jetan-Sarang is played on a 12 x 12-square board, using three rows of 12
pieces each. The twenty-five different playing pieces contain the
original eight pieces from Jetan and additional pieces representing other
characters and creature from Burroughs' series of eleven Martian books.
Some of the thirty-six pieces per side move in novel ways, in character
with their identities in the exciting Martian tales, and the playing pieces
are represented by pictorial icons designed to fit their descriptions.
DESCRIPTIONS
OF THE CHARACTER PIECES
AS THEY APPEAR IN THE BURROUGHS MARS
STORIES
l. WARLORD: John
Carter, a former Confederate cavalry Captain mysteriously transported to
Mars at the end of the Civil War, who fought his way to become the Warlord
of Mars.
2. JEDDAK: A
King or Emperor, ruler of one of the many warring nations of Mars.
3. JEDDARA, Dejah Thoris:
A Queen or Empress; Dejah Thoris was the beauty of a world and the love
of John Carter's life, whom he rescued from the wild green hordes of monstrous
Tharks of the dead sea bottoms of Mars.
4. JED: A Chieftain
of a tribe or village of Mars.
5. JEDDA, Princess
Thuvia: The wife of a Jed, or tribal Chieftain; Thuvia, whom John
Carter rescued from the evil priests who had kept her for years as a plaything,
had a mysterious power over the huge wild Martian lions, or banths.
Thuvia later wed the son of John Carter and Dejah Thoris, Carthoris.
6. PRINCESS, Tara:
The daughter of John Carter and Dejah Thoris, an adventurous and
wilful beauty, was saved by her rejected suitor, Gahan of Gathol, from
the Kaldanes and from the deadly live chessgame of Manator, whose pieces
fought to the death.
7. THARK Tars Tarkas:
The giant green Chieftain of the hordes of Warhoon, who befriended John
Carter for his fighting prowess, a rare just and sincere savage.
8. THARK Sola:
John Carter's female custodian while he and Dejah Thoris were prisoners
among the Tharks, a kind and gentle green maiden, who, lamenting the brutality
of her kind, helped them escape.
9. PRINCESS Haja:
A Princess of Gathol, a slave in Manator, where the deadly Jetan games
were held in the arena, who helped Gahan and Tara escape the evil Jeddak
O-Tar, who craved Tara for himself.
10. SWORD Princess Rojas:
A Princess of Invak, whose people made themselves invisible, who escaped
with John Carter and Llana by giving them invisibility pills; their romantic
co-deception turned out to be funny and forgiveable.
11. SWORD Princess
Llana: Daughter of Tara, granddaughter of John Carter and Dejah Thoris,
a spunky girl who, with John Carter, fought their way free of imprisonment
by the Black Pirates of the First Born, and wed the courageous Pan Dan
Chee.
12. ARMED Consort Phao:
Lost Princess of Jahar, a slave in Tjanath, Phao helped and escaped with
Hadron of Hastor and Princess Tavia of Tjanath.
13. TAVIA: Boyish
orphan slave-girl of Tjanath, rescued and loved by Hadron, and rescued
and reunited with her noble father, who recognized her by her likeness
to her beloved mother.
14. SORAK Princess
Kara Vasa: The lost love of Dar Tarus, who helped Ulysses Paxton,
who had been killed in the trenches of France and teleported to Mars much
like John Carter; the aged evil Queen Xaxa had stolen the body of Paxton's
love, the beautiful Valla Dia, by having Mad Doctor Ras Thavas switch their
brains.
15. JEDDA Princess
Janai: A Princess of Amhor and a prisoner of Ras Thavas, at his sinister
medical research facility at the island of Morbus in the Toonoolian swamps,
who fell in love with Vor Daj, a Padwar in the Navy of Helium, and helped
him escape with John Carter, despite the fact that his brain had been transferred
to the huge, deformed body of one of Ras Thavas synthetic men, the Hormads.
16. PRINCESS Vaja:
A Princess of Zor, loved by U Dor, a Padwar, who helped Dejah Thoris escape
from the evil Skeleton Men of Jupiter.
17. JEDWAR with Banth:
A high-ranking officer, equivalent to a 3- or 4-star General, and just
below a Chieftain, or Jed, in rank; the Banth is symbolic of his
power, and is a ferocious 10-legged Martian lion.
18. ODWAR, or Flier:
A high-ranking officer, similar to a Colonel or Brigadier General;
the Odwar is one of the original eight figures in Jetan, represented by
a 3-bladed aircraft propellor.
19. TEEDWAR:
Equivalent to a Lieutenant Colonel commanding 10,000 troops.
20. SHARU, the slave
dancer: A good-hearted slave and concubine of the wicked Jed Ghron
of Ghasta, who helped Hadron and his companion Nur An escape by giving
them a needle and dagger to fashion a hotair balloon
21. OLVIA Marthis:
A beautiful Princess of Hastor, who married Tara's uninspired long-time
fiancee', Djor Kantos, who was more like a brother to Tara.
22. LAN-O: A
slave-girl in Manator, born in Gathol, who helped Tara hide the dead body
of her would-be assailant, the wicked son of O-Tar, Jeddak of Manator,
city of the Dead and home of the bloody live Jetan games.
23. ZANDA: A
slave-girl in the house of Fal Sivas, head of the Assassins and mad inventor,
assigned to attend John Carter, who had infiltrated incognito to destroy
the arrogant and over-feared Assassins' Guild, and helped him excape at
great risk to herself.
24. SANOMA TORA:
An ambitious, beautiful-but-spoiled girl who spurned the love of poor Padwar
Hadron, and betrayed him to the evil Jeddak Tul Axtar, even after he'd
risked his life to rescue her.
25. ZITIDAR:
An enormous, 6-legged mastodonian beast of burden, used by the Tharks and
red men alike for heavy hauling.
26. GORTHAN or Assassin,
Gor Hajus: Known and feared as the Assassin of Toonol, Gor Hajus
followed a strict code of honor--he would not kill women or the innocent--and
was betrayed and executed. Ras Thavas brought him back to life in
another body, and he helped Ulysses Paxton find his beloved Valla Dia and
restore her to her former beauty.
27. DWAR with Calot:
A Dwar is the same as a Captain, and he is teamed with a trained, ferocious
10-legged 'dog' of Mars, the Calot, whose 3 rows of tusks, incredible speed,
and Shetland-pony size made it a formidable ally.
28. DWAR: Equivalent
to a Captain in military service, below Teedwar and above Padwar.
29. DWA: A female
Captain; this character is a pastiche addition to ERB's martian cast, intended
to add an element of gender variety.
30. THOAT, or Cavalryman:
The Thoat is the 8-legged 'horse' of Mars. The Tharks rode one variety
of these bad-tempered, half-wild beasts, 10 feet high at the shoulder and
weighing possibly 5 tons, and the red men, or civilized nations rode a
smaller version about the size of our horses.
31. PADWAR: A
young officer, equivalent to a Lieutenant in military service.
32. PADWA: A
Female Padwar, or Lieutenant, a pastiche character on the order of the
Dwa and Tha (below).
33. THAN, or Warrior:
A Non-Commissioned Officer, or Sergeant, just below a Padwar in rank, responsible
for the direction of Panthans, or mercenary soldiers; the Than was
dedicated to his country and in line for higher rank.
34. THA: A Female
of the Than, or Warrior; a pastiche character like the Padwa and Dwa.
One might imagine her to be a single woman who had lost her mate, with
no children, and rather submit to the doubtful future of another man, had
chosen to serve her country.
35. PANTHAN:
A fighting man of no country--a wanderer whose blade was for hire to any
nation who would give him a meal and a bed--or a private soldier of his
own nation. The Panthans were the ruffians, the front-line troops
who lived hard and died hard for the joy of battle.
36. PANTHA: A
Female Panthan; a pastiche character like Padwa, Dwa and Tha, a female
who, for her own reasons, had chosen to follow the sword. One might imagine
some would be rough wenches, ready for anything and not to be crossed,
with pasts they choose to keep to themselves, and secrets best left unspoken.
37. FEMALE SLAVE, Uthia:
Dejah Thoris' handmaiden, who refused her freedom, frequently offered,
to serve her beloved mistress.
38. MALE SLAVE:
A captive man of low esteem, put into forced labor.
39. RAS THAVAS:
The Mad Doctor of the Island of Morbus, in the Toonoolian swamps, whose
brilliant mind was untainted by moral judgments about the propriety of
his experimenting, which included brain-transfer surgeries and the creation
of the horrible synthetic men known as Hormads, unkillable human travesties.
40. KALDANE Ghek:
A spider- or crab-like creature who was 90% brain, who attached himself
to the neck of a headless human known as a Rykor, controlling it by means
of a spinal attachment; the Kaldanes could detach and scuttle into small
spaces. Tara enchanted the Kaldane named Ghek with her singing, and
he helped her and Gahan through many troubles.
41. GREAT WHITE APE:
Twelve-foot, six-armed denizens of deserted, ancient cities of the dead
sea bottoms, these monsters resembled nothing more than earthly gorillas,
but for a huge shock of hair upon their heads. Carnivorous, vicious and
extremely strong, to meet a White Ape was to face extreme danger or death.
42. WILD BANTH:
The giant wild 10-legged lion of the wild wastes of Barsoom, these 1000-pound
night hunters could be upon the unwary in a moment, and make short work
of their prey with their three rows of needle-sharp fangs.
43. HORMAD: One
of the most dangerous creations of Ras Thavas, these synthetic people grew
in vats by the million, intended to overrun the entire planet. Dismemberment
merely slowed them down; burning was the only sure way to kill them.
44. BATTLESHIP Jedwar:
The more advanced nations possessed navies of huge ships, some of which
exceeded 600 feet in length and carried more than 2000 men. Defying
gravity by use of the 8th ray, they floated majestically in great fleets
at their Jeddaks' bidding.
45. CRUISER:
A slightly smaller ship of the line of the great navies of Barsoom, carrying
perhaps 1200 men. Not as large as the battleships, they were still
able to do great harm with their huge guns.
46. SCOUTSHIP:
The great ships, small outposts and city forces were equipped with many
of these smaller 10-man aircraft, or Fliers, able to carry small groups
on patrols and long-range, high-speed forays.
47. SITH: A gigantic,
scorpion-tailed hornet of the Kaolian marsh, the size of a Hereford bull.
48. APT: A huge,
centauroid monster of the frozen wastes of Barsoom. Their heads are shaped
much like a hippo's with two large patches of multi-faceted eyes, from
which project two large tusks. Their torsos are humanoid and they
walk on four stocky legs; they are covered with white fur and are highly
carnivorous.
49. MYSTERIOUS PRINCESS:
No one knows where she came from, or how she got here, but everyone wants
her.
RULES
FOR JETAN-SARANG
l. Either player goes
first, by mutual agreement.
2. TO WIN:
A. Capture
all enemy royal females--Jeddara, Jedda(s), and Princess Tara
B. Any Jeddara
or Jedda to cross the board wins
C. Capture
all enemy males
3. PROMOTION:
Any female to reach the opponent's back row may be replaced at that point
with any lost piece, according to her promotion ability as listed in her
piece description. She returns to her original starting position
on the board, or as close behind it as possible if that space is occupied.
4. SLAVES may only
be captured by armed pieces of their own gender.
5. ASSASSINS do not
capture unarmed opponents, or females, armed or not.
6. ESCORT: Any
female may be escorted by any armed companion of either gender, if she
begins the move behind, beside or before the escorting piece. If the escorted
piece is armed, she too may capture at the end of the move, and must land
in the same position relative to the escort as at the beginning of the
move.
7. RAPID DEPLOYMENT:
(OPTIONAL) Any unbroken rank may advance one rank forward as a normal
turn, whether it is in its original configuration of pieces or not.
If any particular piece in the rank is blocked from forward movement, it
does not move.
8: SQUAD MOVE
Any fighting piece may institute a squad move, wherein it takes along with
it up to three other lower-ranking pieces than itself from within four
adjacent squares, within one of which it sits. The escorted pieces
must land in the same relative position to the leader, and may make concurrent
captures if they land on enemy-occupied squares.
9. The CHARGE:
(OPTIONAL) When a player has no fewer than six of his men within one move
of direct threat position, he may call a "Charge", wherein he may move
one of his pieces from each of his twelve rows.
10. IMMOBILIZATION:
Immobilization by the charming,
unarmed females does NOT include the following pieces:
1. APT ~ 2.
ASSASSIN ~ 3. WILD BANTH ~ 4. CHIEFTAIN ~
5. GREAT WHITE APE ~ 6. JEDDAK ~ 7.
BATTLESHIP ~ 8. RAS THAVAS ~ 9. SCOUTSHIP
~ 10. SITH ~ 11. THARK SOLA ~ 12. CRUISER ~ 13. THARK
TARS TARKAS ~ 14. ZITIDAR 15. HORMAD ~ 16. WARLORD .
. . or any other Female
