| :. Merchant Kaissa |
| :. Board Information :. Online Board :. Message Board |
| :. Northern Kaissa |
| :. Board Information :. Online Board :. Message Board |
| :. GC Kaissa |
| :. Board Information :. Online Board :. Message Board |
| :. Extras |
| :. Kaissa History :. Links :. Archives :. Awards :. Message Board :. Private Game Board |
.: Kaissa History :. |
PKI Kaissa History This links to a E-Book exe file of the history of PKI Kaissa created by Jeffrey J. Shaffer. However now lets take a look at the game itself. John Norman's source for the term Kaissa, is not known, however Kaissa is the Eastern European spelling of Caissa the Goddess (Muse) of Chess. Taken from a poem by Sir William Jones in 1763. Based on Vida's 'Scacchia ludus', in which the nymph is referred to as 'Scacchis'. Mars asks the God of Sport to invent a game that will soften the nymph's heart. "A lovely Dryad ranged the Thracian Wild, her air enchanting, and her aspect mild. To chase the bounding hart was all her joy, Adverse from Hymen and the Cyprian boy. O'er hills and valleys was her beauty famed, And fair Caissa was the damsel named". Kaissa (the legendary Goddess of Chess) was a Soviet Chess Program that dominated international computer chess from 1974 to 1977. Now that all that is said if we take a look deeper into the set up of Kaissa along with John Norman, we may come to see that Kaissa could possibly be a altered form of 'Jetan'. Jetan is a chess variant writen about by Edgar Rice Burroughs within his science-fiction books known as the Mars Series. Jetan is played on a hundred-squared board just like the Gorean Kaissa and consists of squares colored yellow and black, as it represents a war between a yellow and a black race of Martians. Complete rules for Jetan however do exist within the books. It is possible to say that much was taken from Jetan for Kaissa and the reason for Kaissa's lack of compleated rules is due to John Normans dislike of Jetan's game outcome as the rules allowed far to many draws. Jetan has the following pieces: one Chief, one Princess, two Fliers, two Dwarves, two Padwarsm, two Warriors, two Thoat (mounted Warrior), and eight Panthans (Mercenary). The Princess' are at the Chief's right side for both players, therefore the Chiefs are not facing each other. Kaissa consists of one Ubar, one Ubara, two Tarnsmen, two Scribes, two Builders, two Initiates, two Riders of The High Tharlarion, two Assassins or Physicians depending on game version...Kaissa however also offers the Home Stone where Jetan does not. After reading this one can see the similarities between the games. |