| In Barion the objective is to checkmate the opponent's king. Normal chess rules apply. Instead of the regular pieces in the initial position, there exist "shaman" pieces (residing in a "spiritual trance-state"), that can travel directly to any empty square on the board. Alternatively, the shaman can directly be transformed to a piece from the regular piece set. Only the pawns and the kings are initially defined. Until the shaman has been defined as a real piece it cannot interact with other pieces, that is, cannot make captures. In order to transform a shaman (allow a shaman to leave the shamanic state and become a normal piece) the player must use up a move on the spot. You transform a shaman by pressing on the piece. A shaman can transform himself to any piece there remains to drop. The shaman is only mobile once. Hence it becomes immobile on the square where it has landed. So the only option is, later, to transform it to a normal piece. A mark on the shaman signals that !
it has used up its move.
Castling is allowed with a shaman instead of a rook. Since the castled shaman has moved it cannot move again, but must later be transformed to any remaining piece. Should a shaman be captured and the player has several pieces that remain to be dropped, the opponent has no way of knowing which piece has actually been captured. The two bishops must be dropped on different colours. If only a bishop remains to be dropped, the player must see to that the shaman is positioned on the correct colour. |
