Five Fists

Five Fists is a game common amongst children on the Blessed Isle. Two players each choose one of five forms (Air, Fire, Water, Wood, or Earth), each depicted by a unique positioning of hand and fingers. On a count of five, the two players reveal their chosen form, and one of them is found to be the winner based on the interaction of those forms.

The terminology and hand forms of the game are related to the martial arts forms of Five-Dragon Style, and playing the game serves to teach children both about the five elements of Creation, their Immaculate Dragons, and the foundational basics of that Style, useful given that the Style’s mundane forms are taught as standard part of the curriculum of the Realm’s primary schools as well as to those who take tonsure into the Immaculate Order.

In the game, each element overcomes two other elements, and is overcome by the two remaining elements in its turn:

Air moves and overcomes Water, and shreds and overcomes Wood. It is lifted and overcome by Earth, and is consumed and overcome by Fire.

Water nurtures and overcomes Wood, and extinguishes and overcomes Fire. It is moved and overcome by Air, and is dammed and overcome by Earth.

Wood feeds and overcomes Fire, and cracks and overcomes Earth. It is nurtured and overcome by Water, and is shredded and overcome by Air.

Fire births and overcomes Earth, and consumes and overcomes Air. It is fed and overcome by Wood, and is extinguished and overcome by Water.

Earth lifts and overcomes Air, and dams and overcomes Water. It is birthed and overcome by Fire, and is cracked and overcome by Wood.

Being rooted in the strikes of an Immaculate martial art, and yet generally balanced so that two individuals have equal chance of victory, Five Fists is considered a way to martially but nonviolently resolve disputes of all kinds between children… and, in the case of the petty and the inconsequential, even amongst adults.