Key

## Keys of Ijzeria

In the game Key of Ijzeria, each card is one or more of six possible "keys".

A "key" is a special category which indicates the card's philosophy or methodology. The key of a card is indicated by its colour, as well as the key icon which is located under its cost.

### The Six Keys of Ijzeria

The keys of Ijzeria are, in order; water, air, fire, earth, light, and shadow. They are named for the four "natural" elements, as well as the two "human" elements of light and shadow.

### Development

It is a well-established convention in collectible card games that the cards be divided into groups and categories which help players determine those cards' functions in-game as well as the story and/or lore behind them. During Key of Ijzeria's development, it was considered fundamental to the game that this convention be utilised.

Examples of games which sort their cards into different categories include: *Magic: the Gathering* (by colour), *Pokemon Trading Card Game* (by type), *Yu-Gi-Oh! Trading Card Game* (by attribute), *Legends of Runeterra* (by in-game region), *Call of Cthulhu: the Living Card Game* (by faction), *Legend of the Five Rings: the Living Card Game* (by clan), *World of Warcraft Trading Card Game* (by class), and many more.

**Key of Ijzeria** sorts its cards into "keys". Keys are sorted by their mechanics rather than their story and/or flavour. This means that if a card depicts a character which is "evil", it doesn't automatically become a shadow card; Similarly, just because a character is "good" doesn't automatically mean that they are light, either.

### Use of the Term "Key"

The term "key" was chosen for its many different meanings; In English, a key could be a musical notation, it could be an important stone which holds up a structure, and of course it could be a physical object which allows freedom of movement. Although none of these meanings are particularly fantastical sounding, they were deemed sufficiently interesting, and so the term "key" was agreed upon.

It was also chosen because it sounds audibly similar to ki, chi, qi, kee, ka, all of which are words describing spiritual essence.

### Naming the Keys

A primary goal for naming the keys was that they would be easily understood by a casual viewer.

Keys as a concept are intended to be so basic that a newer player could reasonably look at a card and assume that card's purpose within the larger game. As part of making the keys as easy to understand as possible, they are named in very simple (and uncreative) ways. It is quite common in the gaming sphere that a person might associate the idea of ferocity with the idea of "fire", or deceit with the idea of "shadow". Rather than fight this cultural momentum, KOI was designed to incorporate what players already know from other games as much as possible.

#### Natural Elements vs Human Elements

Water, air, fire, and earth will occur in nature, and without intelligent interference. They are called the natural elements because they are effectively natural properties of the universe. The natural elements do not literally correspond to actual water, actual air, actual earth, or actual fire. It is only figurative.

Light and shadow, which roughly describe methods of organisation, communion, and higher ideals can exist only where there is intelligent life. They are called the "human elements", because without human thoughts and feelings, there is no way to separate the light from the shadow. The human elements do not literally correspond to actual light, or actual shadow. It is only figurative.

This separation between the natural and the human is only for illustrative purposes, it does not correspond to an in-game mechanic or storyline.

## Keys in Lore

Ijzerians do not sort their methods and philosophies so cleanly as the game might seem to indicate. Cards being sorted into specific keys is something done for the players' benefit, and to make it more fun, not because Ijzerians do this within KOI's actual storyline.

In reality, both realworld human beings, and in-game characters are usually too complex to sum up using only one of six simple character traits - even a normal person could reasonably be sorted into three or more keys at once.

There are almost no cultures on Ijzeria which go out of their way to promote a particular "key", although a particular culture may prize mastery over a specific key more highly than another. This is just a cultural affectation, not a political choice. An individual person might identify as a "pyromancer" or a "hydromancer", but these are jobs and skillsets, not political affiliations.

## Keys In-Game

Keys as a game concept do not affect gameplay except that they determine how and if a card can be played.

In order to play a card, it is required that a player must have at least one card in their mana zone which is the same key as the card they are trying to play. Other than this restriction, a card's key(s) do not impact gameplay.

### Monokey vs Multikey

A card which is only one key is known as "monokey" from the word "mono" meaning "one", combined with the word "key".

A card which is two or more keys is known as "multikey" from the word "multi" meaning "many", combined with the word "key".

Currently, there are no multikey cards available.

## Trivia

* The official acronym for the six keys is WAFELS. It's short for "water, air, fire, earth, light, shadow". It is pronounced the same as "waffles".
* There are no literal "Keys of Ijzeria", nor is there a literal in-game "Key of Ijzeria". Since **KOI** is the first project featuring the Ijzeria gameworld, its success as a game (or lack thereof) could be interpreted as the "Key of Ijzeria", since financial ruin could possibly discourage the Ministry of Distraction from producing further games which feature Ijzeria prominently.
* Every **Key of Ijzeria** card is at least one key. If somehow an effect would create an instance where something was not at least one key, then it's still considered at the very least to be "air", since air is the key of absence and nonexistence.
* The reason there are no "neutral", "colourless", or "factionless" cards is that the six keys were designed so that all conceivable design space would fit into them.