What is Shadowplay?

In Part 2 of Yamini's story, we are presented with a rogue's game called Shadowplay. Inspired by ideas of the Battle Room from Ender's Game and Drizzt's melee tournaments in Homeland, Shadowplay is a quarterly guild event wherein combatants enter a large arena with sparring weapons. The arena is sealed and all lights are turned off, creating an area of complete darkness. Combatants must navigate the arena floor, which consists of several pillars, obstacles and fall-throughs, whilst avoiding--or dispatching--other rogues. Dispatching another rogue requires striking a vital area with the sparring weapon of choice, resulting in a temporary stun state until the end of the match. Wound points are taken into account during the final round for placing purposes, but whomever is left standing is named the ultimate victor regardless of point accumulation.

The philosophy behind Shadowplay, in Soliessen's eyes, is to train the students to rely on instincts as well as other senses besides sight. For years, rogues train to manipulate their surroundings and use cover of darkness as their primary advantage. By turning that advantage against them, essentially leveling the playing field between combatants, Shadowplay forces the students to become even more creative, adaptive and resourceful. It also forces them to become more conniving. Alliances and betrayals saturate the playing field. As Soliessen has stated, the only trustworthy rogue is oneself.

Fortunately for Yamini, sometimes the best partner is a specter from another plane...