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It is implied through gameplay mechanics that the two kingdoms at war in chess both formally permit regnal polygamy, allowing the King to take at least nine wives of equal status, and that marriage can be bestowed as a military honour, but curiously that honour - in stark contrast to the conventional attitudes of the aristocracy - can only be bestowed upon soldiers of the unlanded class, leaving great questions to be asked of the material interests and stability of these kingdoms' aristocracies

Unless, of course, it is gameplay abstraction that we see soldiers as individuals and we are in fact commanding representations of whole units, in which case the King already has up to nine wives but only one is in command of her own company at the onset of battle, and unlanded regiments are largely self-directed (which would explain their limited effective range, lacking proper leadership coordinated with the objectives of the ruling class) with further members of the aristocracy taking charge of those which excel in the field, presumably in large part so they can take credit for the soldiers' successes and advance their own social and political standing as is often the way of things

Several people in the notes by now have brought up the mobility of the castles, and there is simply no explanation for that I can think of beyond the drift between original and translated forms of the game. The original pieces occupying that role were heavy war chariots, with some later replacing them with war elephants carrying an archers' tower, and when it spread to Europe (a continent notably lacking in elephants) the elephant part began to be omitted and the tower reshaped into a European-style fortification. There is no gameplay justification for its retaining the war elephant's moveset, it is merely a cumulative translation issue.

much like a beautiful horse i like salt and roaming freely

death to moidslop

Fun fact: the DC area will be hotter than 99% of the earth tomorrow!

William Howard Taft... More like, BRILLIANT Howard Taft!