The Stargame? It is a game, a story, a dance, a symphony. It transcends definitions and bends genres. It brings laughter and tears. - an avid player

Have you heard of the Stargame: the glorious collective performance — the endless twisting of the Layered Spiral — the unlocking of individual creativity through participation in metaphorical (and sometime not so metaphorical) dance? If you have, good. If you have not, there is no need to worry, for we are here to inform you all that you need to know about the latest development in popular art.

…

Our special reporter has interviewed the fabled Conductor Sophie, the inventor of the format, who commented positively on the increasing popularity of the artform. “I'm really happy so many people seem to take enjoyment in the Stargame. Every session more people join… The group is getting a little too big, in fact, and I've been talking to some of the more experienced players and some have expressed interest in also trying to Conduct. I'm excited to see how the game will grow!”

Such lovely words! Have you participated in the Stargame? Write to us and let us know your thoughts on the new vogue!

- An extract from The New Words, a popular newspaper

The New Sanctuary is filled with arts from the start and you participate when you feel like, alongside likeminded friends and meeting new people who bring new ideas. But the Stargame always occupies a special place in your heart and your schedule.

“Did you see what Music did to Echo's realm today?”

“Oh my, that was savage.”

“Amor's reaction though… that was priceless.”

The session today has ended and as usual some of the players are stopping by a nearby coffee shop. You have no immediate plans following, neither do Tern or Demonica, so you join them, grabbing a table to sit down. You’re surprised how easily you convinced Tern to join your game. In fact, depending on how things go, you might even get Dawn and Gull to join at some point.

“That was so good! Watcher was a great Conductor!” Demonica beamed.

“It was. Quite different to how Sophie does it… but also very fun.” Tern nods. “How does it feel like to not be the Conductor for once, Sophie?”

You sip the coffee and smile widely. “I do love Conducting, but being able to play is really fun! And it gives such a different perspective.”

Time flows by as you fill the rest of the golden afternoon with halcyon chatter about poetry and art, laughter and gossip, and you would not have it any other way.

“Oh, hello, my name is Felicia and I'm from the publishing house… we're wondering whether you might be interested in a biography? An autobiography? A book about your art, especially the Stargame, the Sub-creation, and whatever else you might want to put in a book? You're a wonderful writer, of course, I've read all your poems! But sometimes writers don't like writing about themselves so we offer interview-style options…” The young woman stops herself as she brushes a strand of hair behind her ear and smiles a little nervously. “Sorry, I'm a little new to all this. And I probably shouldn't have said that. But I did. Anyways.”

The old lady sitting across the table smiles gently and waves away her apology. “That's alright. Take it slow.” What she suggests surprises her, though upon reflection perhaps it shouldn't be. There's be a resurgence in interest of what happened during the fall of the Old Sanctuary and the founding of the New. So many mysteries surround that period of time and what came afterwards, people are starved for any information or theory or just anything that's tangentially related. She still finds it a little funny they thought of her.

“Is there anywhere you'd like the interview to start? I'll need to think about the book idea, but I guess the publishing house is expecting you to bring something back.” Sophie offers.

“Oh, yeah, of course. Um,” Felicia turns a page on her notepad and scribbles something, “well, perhaps… is there a story you want to tell? If it's to do with what happened near the beginning of your artistic journey or what happened at the beginning of the Stargame that'd be great, but it doesn't have to be!”

A story? That makes Sophie ponder. She has told and participated in countless stories, but if she were to choose one that she wants to tell…

“Well… You asked for a story. I suppose I do have a story… a creation myth, perhaps.” Something stirs in her heart, even as she utters these words, like fingers tugging on strings, ready to make music.

Once upon a time, there was a young woman, who journeyed far and wide.

She hailed from a city of magic and majesty, where with a thought we can make the impossible possible, where books are as common as bread, and people can live on hope alone. She was a trusted friend and diplomat of the Monarch, with an aspiration to one day become the second best mage in our nation, a match to her Monarch.

Her city burned, her Monarch passed away, her people's hope shattered. So she sought the Heart of Death and Laughter through all the worlds, the Heart of everything, the core at the bottom of all Layers.

She journeyed far and wide, gained much and lost them all to reach the Heart. There, she found her destiny.

“I was gifted with everything, which I traded for everything. In my hands I have held the scale upon which everything balanced and none of it was what I truly wanted. I stand before my destiny, my story a spindle upon which all threads have passed through.” She proclaimed. And placing her palm on the wall of the Heart of Death and Laughter, she commanded the Heart to beat.

So the Heart beated, Death and Laughter coming together in Life, in beauty, in glory, in absolution.

“Her name was Atalanta, she who held the balanced scale. This was her story, and how the Heart of Death and Laughter, the Heart at the centre of the Sub-creation started beating once more…”

The young woman made frantic notes, enraptured by every word that was said. “Who played this Atal - ” She caught her words mid-sentence as she looked up and saw tears streaming down the old artist's cheeks.

“Atalanta…” Sophie whispered the name like that of an old friend's and wept, without knowing why.