recursal/Fanatic-Fandom huggingface dataset:
Indigo Milk Cap

## Ability

### Ability

**Fun Guy****(Draw)** Gain +25 Power/Turn until this is returned to your deck. **(Return)** If it's on or before Round 2 Turn 2, a random card in both player's hands **Lock**s permanently. If it's after Round 2 Turn 2, a random card in both player's hands **Lock**s this round.

## Did You Know?

Let’s face it: blue is not the most appetising color. And yet, some say the **Indigo Milk Cap** is actually pretty tasty.

Appearing in coniferous forests after heavy rainfall, this species of fungi oozes milky blue latex when sliced. Again, not the most mouthwatering in theory. Still, the Indigo Milk Cap, or Lactarius indigo, is fully edible and sold in rural markets in China, Guatemala and Mexico. Apparently, the flavor isn’t unlike a portobello mushroom.

But be careful out there - of all the wild mushrooms that carry this blue pigment, the Indigo Milk Cap is one of the only ones that is safe to eat. And don’t worry, there’s no hallucinogenic here: the only trip you’ll be taking is to the shop to buy some less-offensive food colouring.

'Lactarius Indigo' by Dan Molter (Source: Wikimedia Commons) is licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0 (original image resized, cropped and altered)
Ixion

## Ability

### Ability

**Kin-Slaying****(Draw)** One of your random Greek Mythology cards, wherever it is, loses -40 Power permanently and this card gains +40 Power permanently.

## Did You Know?

If you’re really foolish enough to think Zeus - the ruler, protector and father of all gods - won’t find out you’re flirting with his wife, you deserve what’s coming. And honestly, seducing Hera was the least bad of **Ixion’s** crimes. Before that, he murdered his father-in-law in cold blood.

At the time, Zeus forgave him for this act, purifying him and admitting him as a guest to Olympus. That’s a pretty big deal, so you would assume Ixion, king of the Lapiths, would be on his best behaviour. But nope. He went and abused Zeus’ trust, so Zeus tricked him into making love to a cloud instead. For his total lack of respect for Zeus, Ixion was sent to Hades and tied to an ever-spinning wheel of fire.
Identity Confirmed

## Ability

### Ability

**Skeleton Sequence****(Play)** Your Sue Black's In The Bones cards, wherever they are, gain +7 Power until played. **(Play)** If you have played Facial Reconstruction this game, your Human Remains Found card, wherever it is, gains +20 Power until played.

## Did You Know?

When the reconstruction went out on TV, people came forward to identify him as Donald John MacDonald – known as John. Police took DNA samples from John’s parents and confirmed that it was him. His skeleton was returned to them for burial.

John was 27 when he went missing, 5 years prior to recovery of his skeleton. He was over 6ft tall and he was white. He chose to live the life of a hermit and lost all contact with his family. He moved to the north of Scotland seeking a life of isolation.

We don’t know how he died, but there was no evidence of assault or accident. We suspect he stopped taking his necessary medications and one day simply sat against the tree where he was found and died. There is no crime to investigate but it is important for his family’s peace of mind, that his body was returned to them.

Forensic Anthropology is about identification of the human or what remains of the human for medicolegal purposes – it is not always about helping to solve a crime.

A big thank you to Dr Chris Rynn for providing the facial reconstruction image on the front of this card. Images © Dr Chris Rynn

Professor Dame Sue Black is an anatomist and a forensic anthropologist. She led for her discipline in the war crimes investigations in Kosovo and has deployed to many countries around the world including Thailand, Iraq, Sierra Leone and Grenada. She is the author of 14 textbooks and 2 popular science books about her career. She is a Fellow of 5 learned academies and is a cross bench Peer in the House of Lords. She is currently Pro Vice Chancellor for Engagement at Lancaster University and is President Elect for St. John's College, Oxford.
Jack Frost

## Ability

### Ability

**Nipping At Your Nose****(Draw)** An opponent's random card in hand **Lock**s this round.

## Did You Know?

Some believe **Jack Frost** is inspired by a character in Russian folklore known as Dez Moroz, the so-called ‘King of Frost’.

According to the myth, Dez Moroz was kind to those who treated him well. For those who didn’t, he was a wicked sorcerer who would carry children away in a sack.

Ironically, this version of Jack Frost wasn't very chilled at all.
Iron Maiden

## Ability

### Ability

**Fear of the Dark****(Start)** An opponent's random card in hand loses -25 Power this round and a random card in your hand gains +15 Power this round. **(Return)** For every round completed this game, gain +1:energy/turn: permanently.

## Did You Know?

If anyone tries to lock you in one of these mediaeval torture devices, Run to the Hills. Thankfully, that’s unlikely to happen, even if you do get blasted back in time to this rather uncivilised era. And that’s because the famous **Iron Maiden** (a human-sized box adorned with interior spikes) never existed. It’s fiction.

The earliest account of such a device can be traced back to a book written in the fifth century AD that tells of the torturing of Roman general Marcus Atilius Regulus, who was locked in a nail-studded box. Later, German philosopher Johann Philipp Siebenkees wrote about the execution of a coin-forger in 1515 via “iron maiden”. Although his works were never seen as credible, they did inspire many people to build iron maidens and sell them to museums.
Jordan River

## Did You Know?

As the site of the baptism of Jesus Christ, the **Jordan River** is the source of all holy water where many pilgrims from across the world go to get baptised to this day. It’s also the lowest river in the world, ending in the Dead Sea at a depth of 400 metres below sea level.

In total, the length of this river is about 251 kilometres, including its many twists and turns. Due to its spiritual significance, the Jordan River has been the inspiration for countless stories, hymns and songs like Michael Row the Boat Ashore, and everyone’s favourite Johnny Cash and June Carter song "The Far Side Banks of Jordan"… no? Anyone?
Huitzilopochtli

## Ability

### Ability

**Ruler of the South****(Play)** If you have played Xipe Totec this game, your Quetzalcoatl card in hand gains +40 Power until played.

## Did You Know?

**Huītzilōpōchtli** pronounced Wee-tsee-loh-pohch-tlee (for those of you who like to scream the name of the card as they play it in game), is an Aztec deity (supernatural being / god) whose responsibilities included the sun, war and human sacrifice, which is just as well as the Aztecs enjoyed a bit of that.

Much like modern superhero fiction, Huītzilōpōchtli has a cracking origin story. Did I say story? Because I meant stories - one where one where he bursts (fully grown and in armour) from his mother’s womb to fight off his siblings, who were about to commit matricide. The other tells how his parents demanded Huītzilōpōchtli and his brother bring order to the universe. Which they did by creating the Sun, the Earth, fire and the first male and female humans. An early win for tiger parenting!
Jack and the Beanstalk

## Ability

### Ability

**Fee Fi Foe Fum****(Play)** Your Tremendous Trees cards in hand gain +25 Power this turn.

## Did You Know?

We all know how it goes: Jack trades a cow for magic beans, the beans grow into a massive beanstalk which Jack climbs only to find a giant’s castle. Jack steals the giant’s hen and golden harp, the giant chases him (saying Fi Fi Fo Fum a few times), Jack escapes and his mother chops the beanstalk, causing the giant to crash to the ground. As an adult, you may question whether the giant is really the villain here.

In any case, the tale of **Jack and the Beanstalk** is over 5,000 years old, and is based on an archaic story called The Boy Who Stole Ogre’s Treasure. The version we know first appeared as The Story of Jack Spriggins and the Enchanted Bean in 1734.
Henri Matisse

## Ability

### Ability

**Fauv-ouritism****(Play)** All cards in both player's hands lose -12 Power this turn and all Prominent Painters cards in both player's hands gain +30 Power this turn.

## Did You Know?

If **Henri Matisse** had never suffered from appendicitis, he may not have become the world-renowned artist that he grew to be. But fate would have it that Henri fell ill in 1889, inspiring his mother to buy her son some art supplies to distract him during recovery.

After discovering his passion and taking some time to hone his craft, Matisse painted his first masterpiece in 1897. It was called ‘The Dinner Table’.

When the 1900s rolled around, Matisse thought “new century, new me” and adopted an entirely different style, painting with vibrant colours and spontaneous lines. One critic described Matisse and other painters who used this style as “fauves” meaning “wild beasts”. The name stuck, and this style came to be officially known as Fauvism.
Ishida Mitsunari

## Ability

### Ability

**Betrayed!****(Draw)** Your cards in hand cost -1 Energy until played. **(Return)** This card loses -20 Power permanently.

## Did You Know?

If we’re talking history’s biggest losers, **Ishida Mitsunari** scores high. A legendary samurai warrior and military commander, Ishida Mitsunari is probably best known for his defeat in the Battle of Sekigahara, which led to the Tokugawa family becoming the undisputed rulers of Japan. Also known by his court title, Jibu-no-shō, Mitsunari actually had more troops than Tokugawa Ieyasu’s army, but was betrayed by his followers during the battle.
Karl Marx

## Ability

### Ability

**History Does Nothing****(Play)** All History cards in both player's hands lose -40 Power this turn.

## Did You Know?

If you hate capitalism, you’ll love Karl Marx. Co-author of the Communist Manifesto, **Karl Marx** is also known as the Father of Communism and considered by many as the most destructively influential writer on economics in world history.

Born in 1818, the renowned philosopher believed that the core conflict of humanity was between the ruling class who controls the means of production such as factories and farms and the working class, which is forced to sell their labour. Ironically, it costs $6 to visit Karl Marx’ grave (in which he must be spinning.)

Marx was clearly a “marmite” kind of guy – according to his biography, he was ordered on a number of occasions to leave a country within 24 hours.
Jane Seymour

## Ability

### Ability

**Third Time's the Charm****(Return)** Your Wives of Henry VIII cards, wherever they are, gain +5 Power until played. **(Play)** Your cards in hand with 3 or less Base Energy gain +20 Power this turn.

## Did You Know?

After two failed marriages, one ending in divorce and the other in execution, Henry VIII wasted no time in tying the knot with his next wife: **Jane Seymour**, who served as Anne Boleyn’s maid. Jane was described as gentle, and historians think she was Henry’s favourite wife – probably because she gave birth to his long-awaited male heir, the future King Edward VI.

Just one day after Anne Boleyn’s execution, Henry VIII was betrothed to Jane Seymour. During her time as Queen, Jane helped to restore her stepdaughter Mary to the succession. Sadly, Jane became seriously ill from postnatal complications, dying several weeks after Edward’s birth. She was the only one of Henry's wives to receive a queen's funeral.
Hero and Leander

## Ability

### Ability

**Lover's Tomb****(Play)** If it's after Round 1, your History of Heartbreak cards in hand gain +16 Power until played.

## Did You Know?

He was a boy, she was a priestess - can I make it any more obvious? Just like the story of the Sk8er Boi, the tale of **Hero and Leander** is one of true love and heartbreak. The two were from different worlds: she was the priestess of Aphrodite, the goddess of love, and he was just a guy from Abydos. Meanwhile, Hero lived in Sestos, on the other side of Hellespont.

Deeply in love but separated by a body of water, Leander would swim across the Hellespont to meet with his beloved each night, guided by the bright lights of the city. But one cloudy night, Leander lost his way and drowned. When Hero learned of Leander’s fate, she drowned herself and joined her lover in death.
Houndstooth

## Ability

### Ability

**Denial and Error****(Draw)** If you have played this card before, it gains +56 Power until played.

## Did You Know?

The iconic duo-tone pattern known as **Houndstooth** has come a long way from its early beginnings on the cloaks of Scottish sheepherders. Today, the jagged checkerboard print can be found on everything from farmer’s tweed to stiletto heels.

Yet, the first use of the term ‘Houndstooth’, which derives from the interlinking teeth-like shapes of each block on the pattern, wasn’t recorded by Miriam-Webster until 1936. It was during this period that the pattern became a symbol of wealth for the upper class, with the Prince of Wales, Edward the VII, choosing the check for his everyday wear.

Clearly, his affinity with Houndstooth had an impact: even today, this geometric fabric pattern is one of the main distinguishing features of the British style (although the Avid team recognise it more as the pattern worn by Ricky in Trailer Park Boys).
Hibernation

## Ability

### Ability

**Surviving the Winter****(Draw)** This card **Lock**s for 2 turns. **(Play)** Your Life on Land cards in hand gain +20 Power permanently.

## Did You Know?

Bears do it. Bees do it. Even Fat-Tailed Dwarf Lemurs do it. And, according to recent studies, there’s reason to believe early humans once did it. Sadly, **Hibernation** just isn’t an option for us nowadays. Still, we do our best with endless casseroles and binge-watching Netflix when the weather gets cold.

During hibernation, an animal’s body temperature drops right down, their heart rate decreases and the breathing rate reduces by 50 -100 percent. That sounds like suicide, but since animals don’t do much when hibernating, their cells don’t need the same energy, and therefore, levels of oxygen. When it comes to body temperature, the Arctic Squirrel takes the crown, putting up a freezing 2.9 degrees celsius - that’s the lowest core body temperature ever recorded in a mammal.
Heraclitus

## Ability

### Ability

**The Constant of Change****(Draw)** This card gains +10 Power until played. **(Play)** This card gains +10 Power until played. **(Return)** This card gains +10 Power until played. **(Start)** This card loses -10 Power until played.

## Did You Know?

**Heraclitus** was a prominent Greek Philosopher who lived in Ephesus, Ionia, about 2500 years ago. As such, his surviving teachings are a series of epigrams, as the only book he (possibly) wrote is lost.

Little is known about his life but his teachings live on through these phrases. Constant change featured heavily in his philosophical ideas, writing that the world order is “an ever-living fire kindling in measures and being extinguished in measures.” His famous phrase warning against stepping into the same river twice was interpreted by Plato as meaning that everything was in constant flux.

He was also a strong believer in balance and opposites, essentially “there can be no light without dark”. He used the example of seawater to illustrate his meanings of balance, as while damaging to humans in larger quantities it is essential for fish, illustrating that the world is not so black-and-white.
Isla de las Munecas

## Ability

### Ability

**Forest of the Dolls****(Draw)** If your deck has 5 or more Life on Land cards, your Brilliant Human Body cards, wherever they are, gain +24 Power until played.

## Did You Know?

Who doesn’t love an island full of decomposing, decapitated dolls? No one?

Regardless, Don Julian Santana Barrera devoted his life to honouring a drowned girl he could not save in the most unsettling way possible: collecting dolls by the hundreds and hanging them from trees and buildings to make an incredibly disturbing, doll-infested sanctuary.

**Isla de las Munecas** or ‘Island of the Dead Dolls’ is located in the channels of Xochimilco, just south of Mexico City centre. Although some doubt the existence of the drowned girl and suspect this came from Don Julian’s imagination, the doll display is impressive, albeit haunting. Some witnesses say they hear the dolls whispering to each other, while others swear they’ve seen their eyes moving.
Hephaestus

## Ability

### Ability

**Tool Time!****(Draw)** Your Greek Mythology cards, wherever they are, gain +18 Power until played.

## Did You Know?

If you ever need help with metalworking, blacksmithing, forging or masonry, call on **Hephaestus** – the God of fire, blacksmiths, craftsmen, and volcanoes. He lived in his own palace on Mount Olympus where he crafted tools for the other gods, including a winged helmet and sandals for Hermes and armour for Achilles.

According to one myth, Hephaestus made a throne for his mother, Hera, to sit on. But when she sat upon the throne, she was unable to get back up (we’ve all been there.) So, Zeus ordered Hephaestus to marry Aphrodite, the most beautiful goddess, in return for releasing Hera from the throne.

```
If you’re ever in Athens, check out the Temple of Hephaestus: it houses workshops of potters, metalworking and blacksmithing as an honour to the god.

```
Kapok

## Ability

### Ability

**Reach the Heavens****(Play)** Your Asgard, Clouds and Mount Olympus cards in hand gain +30 Power this turn.

## Did You Know?

Also known as the **Kapok**tree, the *Ceiba pentandra* is a gigantic silk-cotton tree that can grow up to 230 feet high, rising above the canopy of the Amazon rainforest. According to the folklore of Trinidad and Tobago, the “Castle of the Devil” is a Kapok tree in which a demon was lured into and imprisoned in by a carpenter.

Seriously, can we stop chopping down trees in the Amazon? Releasing that demon can’t be a good thing.
Huehuecoyotl

## Ability

### Ability

**Old, Old Coyote****(Play)** Your Coyote card, wherever it is, gains +25 Power until played. If it is Round 5, your Coyote card, wherever it is, gains an additional +70 Power this turn.

## Did You Know?

Throwing a party in pre-Columbian times? **Huēhuecoyōtl** should make it onto your guest list. Aztec god of the arts, lord of music and ceremonial dance, this old coyote had everything you need for a good (or at least, memorable) gathering: storytelling skills, a catalogue of songs complete with musical instruments to play them and a wicked sense of humour.

But be warned - Huēhuecoyōtl isn’t just a fun-loving party animal. He’s also a trickster who loves pulling pranks on people. If he gets bored, he might even start wars between humans just to get a kick out of it. That being said, it wasn’t uncommon for Huēhuecoyōtl’s tricks to backfire and cause more trouble for himself than for his intended victims. Well, what goes around, comes around.
Itztlacoliuhqui

## Ability

### Ability

**Stone Cold****(Draw)** If your deck contains Frost and at least 1 Natural Monuments card, your Forces of Nature cards, wherever they are, gain +18 Power permanently.

## Did You Know?

For frosted window panes, crunchy leaves and seasonal affective disorder, we can thank **Itztlacoliuhqui**, the Aztec god of frost, ice, cold, winter, punishment and good ol’ human misery. He also represents matter in a lifeless state (i.e. you after the Christmas holidays).

With a name that means “Curved Obsidian Blade”, a dark side is to be expected. But he wasn’t always this way. According to the Aztec myth of creation, the sun god (Tonatiuh) demanded sacrifice from the other gods. If they didn’t obey, he wouldn’t move.

Tlahuizcalpantecuhtli, The god of dawn and the planet Venus, was triggered by this. So, he shot an arrow at the sun - but it missed, and the sun retaliated with his own arrow which went straight through Tlahuizcalpantecuhtli’s head, turning him into Itztlacoliuhqui.
Inari Ōkami

## Ability

### Ability

**Messengers****(Play)** Your cards with "Fox" in the name, wherever they are, gain +10 Power until played. Repeat if played next to Kitsune.

## Did You Know?

Today, more than one-third (32,000) of the Shinto shrines in Japan are dedicated to **Inari Okami**, the ‘Kami’ of foxes, fertility, rice, tea, sake, agriculture, general prosperity, and worldly success. When money replaced rice as currency during the Tokugawa period, Inari’s resume expanded to finance, business and industry.

The Fushimi Inari Shrine in Kyoto is Inari's HQ, featuring kitsune statues that represent the kami. Worshippers leave rice, sake, and Inari-zushi, a sushi roll of fried tofu, to please these furry messengers and ask for their intervention. So, if you're starting a business, trying to have kids, growing rice, don't forget to drop some tofu at one of Inari's many shrines. It could pay off big time.
Kappa

## Ability

### Ability

**Kappa Maki****(Draw)** If your deck contains Sea Cucumber, your Oceans and Seas cards in hand gain +10 Power until played. Repeat if your deck contains Sushi.

## Did You Know?

One of the most curious creatures in Japanese mythology, the **Kappa** is a river-dwelling humanoid the size of a child with green skin, webbed hands and feet, an odd penchant for cucumbers, and er… three anuses.

According to the legends, kappa are clumsy on land but love to engage in sumo wrestling. But by no means is that an invitation to challenge a kappa to a fight. Despite their small size, they are physically stronger than a grown man.

Plus, in Japanese folklore, these creatures are known for attacking humans in water and removing a mythological organ called the shirikodama from their victim’s anus. Given their anatomy, you’d think they have enough of those.
Hornussen

## Ability

### Ability

**Ramp Up****(Return)** This card gains +40 Power and costs -2 Energy permanently.

## Did You Know?

Welcome to Switzerland! Land of Cheese, Banks, Fiddly Knives and… **Hornussen**. Meaning ‘hornets’, the name derives from the noise the puck (*Nouss*) makes as it flies through the air. (Snitch, anyone?)

It’s a wonderfully odd game (although, all sports are when they’re unfamiliar). It’s a bit like golf (you’re hitting a ball from a static start, as far as you can), and a bit like baseball (the defending team have to stop the ball from landing). But the bit that’s like nothing else on earth is what the defenders (16-20 of them) have to work with.

The ‘Schindel’ is a sort of bat which they use to knock the Nouss back, often by throwing the Schindel at it. However, the Schindels are essentially sticks with a two square foot flat piece of wood on the end, so watching a team defend in Hornussen is a lot like watching a small scale street protest that’s starting to get out of hand.
I'itoi

## Ability

### Ability

**Balance With The World****(Draw)** If your deck has 7 or more Life on Land cards and 7 or more Oceans and Seas cards, your Life on Land and Oceans and Seas cards, wherever they are, gain +7 Power for 4 turns.

## Did You Know?

When the sky came down and met the earth, **l‘itoi**, the Elder Brother, was born. When it happened again, a coyote appeared, and then a buzzard. The three fought over supremacy of the earth and although the Elder brother was victorious, he retired to a winding cave at the top of Baboquivari Peak, emerging only when his help was needed.

The story of l’itoi is sacred to Tohono O’odham Indians, and is symbolised by a man at the top of a labyrinth (think Bowie but without the tight trousers and big hair). To this day, many Tohono O’odham walk up Baboquivari Peak once a year to leave a small gift as an offering to l’itoi at the mouth of his cave.
Kibbeh

## Ability

### Ability

**Meat in the Middle****(Play)** If you are tied in the round, this card gains +15 Power.

## Did You Know?

**Kibbeh** is the national dish of Syria and it's essentially a meat-filled croquette snack\*. Typically made with cooked ground lamb but there is a version that can be eaten raw. However, the CUE HQ chef is worried about mass-poisoning, so the instructions for the traditional dish can be found below.

85g (⅔ cup) medium-coarse bulgur wheat
1 generous handful - 30g (1 cup) fresh mint leaves
1 finely chopped large onion
1 teaspoon of ground cumin
1 teaspoon of ground allspice
1 teaspoon salt
2 pinches of ground black pepper
800g (1 ½ pounds) ground lamb
3 tablespoons olive oil

Prepare the bulgur as per the packet instructions.

Place the mint into a food processor and pulse while gradually adding onion, until everything is finely chopped. Then stir the mixture into the bulgur along with the cumin, allspice and seasoning. Then mix thoroughly with the ground lamb. Using lightly oiled hands, shape the lamb mixture into small, palm-sized patties.

Preheat the oven to 180 C (360 Fahrenheit) Oil a baking tray and add the kibbeh patties. Cook until outside is golden brown (20-30 minutes) and please ensure the centre is cooked through before eating.

* Warning - eating food can cause choking and nausea, Avid Games accepts no responsibility for either. To avoid choking we recommend a food-buddy-up system so you are observed throughout the meal.

CRAFTING CLUE BELOW!

- The next clue's a sitting duck!
Homunculus

## Ability

### Ability

**Cortical Homunculus****(Play)** Your Five Senses cards, wherever they are, gain +16 Power permanently. If played between two The Occult cards, your Five Senses cards, wherever they are, gain an additional +20 Power until played.

## Did You Know?

When they weren’t trying to find the Elixir of Life, 17th century alchemists were busy trying to create and control life. One of the most well known attempts at this is the **Homunculus**.

The name itself derives from the Latin for ‘Little Man’ - but this is no basic Ken doll. The homunculus is more like an early test-tube baby, described in Alchemic writings as a small humanoid in a flask.

Medical scientist Paracelsus wrote a formula for creating a tiny human which involved housing the seed of a man in the womb of a horse, and feeding the foetus “the Arcanum of human blood.” Look, he may have contributed to the rise of modern medicine but… we’ll put the Homunculus down as a misstep for Paracelsus.
Jonny Kim

## Ability

### Ability

**Jack of All Trades****(Play)** One of your random Marvellous Medicine, Mega Math and Radical Rockets cards, wherever they are, gain +18 Power until played.

## Did You Know?

In his own words, Jonathan Yong Kim aka **Jonny Kim** started his life as "the epitome of that quiet kid who just lacked complete self-confidence". To conquer his fears, he ran straight into the danger zone, enlisting in the U.S. Navy and eventually becoming a Navy SEAL. Kim deployed twice to the Middle East, participating in over 100 combat missions as a combat medic, sniper, navigator, and point man. But his ambitions didn't stop there.

Kim pursued his dream of becoming an astronaut and was selected as an Astronaut Candidate by NASA in 2017. In recent years, he took on key roles such as a Capsule Communicator and an Increment Lead for Expedition 65. Right now, Kim is among a select group of astronauts preparing for a Moon landing in 2024.
Iberian Lynx

## Ability

### Ability

**Fierce Hunter****(Draw)** An opponent's random card in hand costs +2 Energy until played. **(Play)** The card opposite this loses -30 Power this turn. **(Return)** This card gains +20 Power permanently.

## Did You Know?

It can run at a top speed of 50 miles per hour and jump a distance of over seven metres: the **Iberian Lynx** is an Olympian of a wildcat endemic to the Iberian Peninsula in southwestern Europe. Sadly, their population has declined dramatically in recent decades, making the Iberian Lynx now the world’s second most endangered species.

Like other wildcats, this lynx species has ear tufts that are used to filter sound directly into their ears, enhancing their sense of sound for hunting prey in the wild. Since their favourite food is rabbits, the Iberian lynx has been known to synchronise its sleeping pattern with their prey. In summer, they are nocturnal and crepuscular, and in winter, they are active during the daylight hours.
Kenai River

## Did You Know?

Chances are when you picture someone salmon fishing in an idyllic spot, you’re picturing the **Kenai River** without even realizing it.
That’s because the Kenai is Alaska’s most popular sport fishing destination and one of the most famous salmon fishing locations in the world.

And when we say salmon, we mean SALMON. The Kenai is known for its large King, Coho and Sockeye salmon. The world record king salmon, 97 lbs / 44 kgs, was caught in the Kenai River in 1985.

Each year, the two seasonal runs bring well over a million salmon to the region. And with it, bears and trout.

Running 82 winding miles through Alaska’s Kenai Peninsula, the Kenai River is also known for its vibrant blue-green color - attributable to the ultra-fine silt found on its floor. The color changes with the seasons and the angle of the sunlight.

Although you might think of fishing as a great pastime from a bygone era, where one can get away from the trappings of technology, it’s worth noting that the Kenai River has embraced the use of state-of-the-art sonar to track the salmon traffic since 1987.
Henry Ossawa Tanner

## Ability

### Ability

**A Fine Art****(Draw)** This card gains +15 Power permanently and a random card in your hand gains +15 Power permanently.

## Did You Know?

Henry Ossawa Tanner was a prominent artist who gained a reputation in the latter part of the 19th century with paintings including The Good Shepherd and his seminal masterpiece The Banjo Lesson.

Born into a reasonably well off family, his father was a teacher then a bishop and his mother had escaped slavery via the underground railroad, both of which would heavily influence his future work.

After studying at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, in 1891 he moved to Paris to avoid discrimination and determined to reach his full potential as an artist. He was quickly accepted into Paris’s influential and more open-minded artistic community where he started to develop a reputation for his highly symbolic religious paintings.

In 1893 he painted his most recognisable work and arguably his first masterpiece. The Banjo Lesson straddles the Old European Master traditions and American Realism. Demonstrating incredible skill and technical excellence, the painting superficially depicts a child being taught to play the banjo. The old man cast in shadows represents the past (slavery, racism, and poverty), the boy, who is bathed in the light of a fire, represents the future, a post Civil War, new America.
Heloise and Abelard

## Ability

### Ability

**Convents and Castration** **(Return)** This card costs -4 Energy and loses -20 Power until played.

## Did You Know?

He was a French philosopher; she was his student – can I make it any more obvious? **Heloise and Abelard** fell in love more than a thousand years ago and began an affair that would make the history books. Although he was twenty years her senior, they had a connection – much to the disdain of Heloise’s family. The drama heightened when Heloise became pregnant and the two were married in secret.

Heloise’s uncle, Canon Fulbert, was so enraged that he gave the order for Abelard to be castrated and sent away. Despite their separation, they wrote to each other for twenty years, and never left each other on read until they were parted by death.
Huma

## Ability

### Ability

**Don't Touch the Ground****(Start)** A random card in your hand gains +13 Power this round. **(Play)** This card loses -70 Power.

## Did You Know?

According to Iranian legends, anyone who captures the mythological **Huma** bird will be blessed with happiness for the rest of their life! Now for the fine print: technically, the Huma bird cannot be caught alive, and anyone who kills a Huma will die in forty days.

Oh, and even if you did want to catch it, the bird flies invisibly high above the earth, and never alights on the ground. So your chances of capturing the Huma are actually fairly slim. Your best bet is to catch a glimpse of the bird or see its shadow.

In various versions of the legend, the Huma bird is half male, half female, each gender claiming one wing and one leg of the bird!
Jeholornis

## Ability

### Ability

**Naming Dispute****(Draw)** If you are losing the round, this card costs -5 Energy until played.

## Did You Know?

Meet **Jeholornis**, an ancient dinosaur-era bird who is believed to have had two tails. From their study of Jeholornis fossils, paleontologists discovered that the bird would have had one long tail with feathers at the end and one shorter tail to help with flight. Measuring roughly the same size as a turkey, Jeholornis was one of the largest avialans known until the Late Cretaceous period.

The fossils of the primitive bird were first discovered in the Jiufotang Formation in the Hebei Province of China, its unique tail providing more evidence for the theory that birds evolved from dinosaurs. Scientists say that Jeholornis likely belonged to a class of birds that sadly never made it to the modern era, dying off millions of years ago.

You may also know this creature as the Shenzhouraptor, if you had read the China Daily newspaper on July 23rd 2002. Two days later, the journal Nature (Volume 418, Issue 6896 - a personal favourite) described it as Jeholornis. Jeholornis takes priority because of a ruling by the ICZN, the actual People Who Name Animals.

'Jeholornis prima' by McBlackneck (Source: Wikimedia Commons) is licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0 (original image resized, cropped and altered)
Henry Every

## Ability

### Ability

**Disappearing Act****(Return)** This card loses -80 Power and costs -5 Energy permanently.

## Did You Know?

Short and not-so-sweet, **Henry Every** didn't fancy sticking around as a pirate. He made huge waves (I know, sorry) as one of the most prolific pirates ever over two years, only to hide away in obscurity, either beyond rich, or as poor as a ship's rat.

Quickly becoming feared across the Red Sea in the late 1600s, **Henry Every** boasted a large five-ship fleet, able to take on any armoured treasure ships, which lead to his biggest catch against the 'Ganj-i-sawai' treasure laden ship, netting **Henry Every** and his fleet about £600,000 of plunder. After which bounties were sent for him and his crew, only for **Henry Every** to be the one who sailed away somewhere never to be seen again.

'Arch Pirate Henry Every' by Unknown - 18th Century Engraving (Source: Wikimedia Commons) is licensed under Public Domain (original image resized, cropped and altered)
Hibiscus

## Ability

### Ability

**Wear Your Flower****(Play)** If played in the middle slot, the card on the left gains +40 Power permanently and the card on the right loses -40 Power permanently.

## Did You Know?

They’re the national flower of Haiti, Malaysia and South Korea, but they also double up as sloth chocolate. **Hibiscus**, a type of plant from the mallow family, comes in colours ranging from white to pink, red, orange, to blue, yellow or purple - and we’re not kidding about sloths.

Since these creatures have a very low metabolic rate, they can survive on small amounts of food, so a hibiscus flower is like a tasty dessert to them. As well as their sweet flavour, hibiscus flowers have a high amount of vitamin C, so can be used to make an immune-boosting herbal tea.

Depending on the species, hibiscus can grow in the form of an evergreen bush or a tree that can grow to reach 15 feet in height.
Johannes Vermeer

## Did You Know?

With Scarlett Johansson as his muse, **Johannes Vermeer** surely had a head start.

He wasn’t the most prolific of the Dutch artists, and he was very much a local operator - working from his house in Delft, and selling almost exclusively to local patrons.

While his paintings generated enough revenue for him to keep a large family, he also left said family in debt - although this was common enough following the ‘Year of Disaster’ (an economic downturn in 1672). His wife put his death down to the sudden decline in his fortunes, explaining that *”he lapsed into such decay and decadence, which he had so taken to heart that, as if he had fallen into a frenzy, in a day and a half he went from being healthy to being dead.”*

Vermeer used expensive pigments - including lapis lazuli (ultramarine) - in his paintings, but did so to great effect - including of course, in his masterpiece ‘*Girl with a Pearl Earring*’.
Irritator

## Ability

### Ability

**Semiaquatic****(Play)** Your Raging Rivers and Ocean Reptiles cards, wherever they are, gain +18 Power for 2 turns.

## Did You Know?

Its name suggests the behaviour of an annoying little brother – however, this ancient carnivore is so-called not because it annoyed other creatures in its life on Earth, but because the first fossil (a skull) was found in the possession of poachers, who had added more teeth and plastered it to get a better price.

When the scientists bought the fossil of the **Irritator**, they didn’t realise the cosmetic enhancements the poachers had made. It took hours upon hours for the palaeontologists to bring the skull back to its original form: any sane person would have been more than irritated. It transpired that the carnivore was a genus of spinosaurid who lived in Brazil, during the early Cretaceous era. Palaeontologists estimate that the creature measured around 7.9 metres in length.

'Full body life reconstruction of Irritator' by Fred Wierum - Own work (Source: Wikimedia Commons) is licensed under CC BY 3.0 (original image resized, cropped and altered)
Jewel Beetle

## Did You Know?

Buprestidae are known as Jewel Beetles because of their metallic and glossy carapace. But they're not just a pretty face - they also have a fascinating ability to detect fires from about 50 miles away!

They do this because they need very specific conditions to breed in, and have adapted sensilla - special sensors on their underside - that can detect the infrared radiation of flames. They seek out the sources of the fire, which in the forests they live in is usually burnt wood that's perfect for laying eggs.
Icarosaurus

## Ability

### Ability

**Icarus Lizard****(Play)** If played next to The Sun, your Fearsome Flyers cards, wherever they are, gain +21 Power for 5 turns.

## Did You Know?

Anytime an animal has the ‘saurus’ suffix on its name, it makes you think of colossal beasts with teeth the size of your head. But ‘saurus’ just means lizard, and this one was far from colossal. Measuring just 10 centimetres, the **Icarosaurus** was like a reptilian butterfly, gliding through the trees of New Jersey during the Late Triassic period.

The fossil was discovered in a shale quarry in 1960 by 16-year-old Alfred Siefker - hence, the reptile was named Icarosaurus siefkeri. But when Siefker decided to repossess the fossil and sell it, the scientific community weren’t best pleased. It was bought for well under its appraised value, and the buyer, Dick Spight, donated it back to the American Museum. Still, the animal kept its name (because Icarosaurus Dickspight doesn’t really work.)
Hydrogen

## Ability

### Ability

**Dihydrogen Monoxide****(Play)** Your Oxygen card in hand gains +30 Power permanently.

## Did You Know?

**Hydrogen** (H), with an atomic number of 1, is the most abundant element, making up 75% of the Universe’s mass (which is partly why it's a Common CUE card, because you're likely to get loads of these).

But don't think you can just go outside and scoop up some **Hydrogen**, because it's phenomenally rare in it's pure form. It's an incredibly light element - so light in fact, that it escapes Earth's gravitational pull and disappears into space! If it's in its naturally pure form anywhere on Earth, it'll be in deep underground pockets that haven't been disturbed for eons.

Oh, it's also in all that water around us too - when two **Hydrogen** atoms bond with a single Oxygen atom, you get a water molecule. It's from water that we can separate pure **Hydrogen**, and use its gaseous form for things like welding, treating metals and as rocket fuel!

'A United Launch Alliance Delta IV-Heavy rocket carrying a...' by U.S. Air Force/Joe Davila (Source: Wikimedia Commons) is licensed under Public Domain (original image resized, cropped and altered)
Joystick

## Did You Know?

From its role in remotely controlling aircraft to its use as part of the NASA Apollo missions to control the lunar lander, the **Joystick** had a long history before being used for gaming. But it was Ralph H. Baer (“The Father of Video Games”) who created the first joystick for his TV video games in 1972, allowing users to control a spot on a screen horizontally and vertically.

One aviation source claims that the aeroplane joystick was invented by “a man named Joyce” and that the name “Joyce stick” got misheard and shortened to "joystick". What’s more likely, though, is that this controller was so named for its shape and location in the cockpit: between the legs of the mostly male pilots.
Kettle War

## Did You Know?

Wars are awful. Many result in the senseless loss of hundreds, if not thousands of lives. Thankfully with the **Kettle War**, there was only one innocent loss - a soup kettle. Sad, we know. But this martyr kettle gave the war its name and thankfully was the victim of the only shot fired during the entire episode.

Of course, like any war, the Kettle War’s origin story is a complex one but ultimately, it’s a story of the underdog winning as the Republic of the Seven Netherlands stood up against the Holy Roman Empire. The Holy Roman Empire was attempting to take advantage of the Dutch’s situation while they were currently at war with the British and Emperor Joseph II sent three ships towards Antwerp, thinking the Dutch would panic and give in to his demands. The Dutch, however, sent out a ship of their own and a single shot was fired. The poor soup kettle gave its life bravely but thankfully this meant that Joseph’s ships turned tail and left.

War over! Even if it was only a brief one.
Indian Rupee

## Ability

### Ability

**Be The Change****(Draw)** Your Money, Money, Money cards in hand gain +13 Power this turn.

## Did You Know?

Historians point towards the rule of Sher Shah Suri between 1537 and 1545 as the turning point for the **Indian Rupee**. He issued a silver coin named rupiya, meaning “shaped silver” in Sanskrit, which was equivalent to 40 copper pieces.

Having silver coins as a currency was great… until the discovery of vast quantities of silver in the U.S. and European colonies in the 19th century, which led to a drastic decline in the relative value of silver to gold. This event was known as “the fall of the rupee”.

In Indian English, figures at or above a hundred thousand Indian rupees are counted in ‘lakhs’ – one lakh being a hundred thousand – and ‘crores’ which are the equivalent of ten million.

Thank to EmptyTheory for the ability name (with honourable mentions to sensai and Yuckles)!
Hill of Crosses

## Ability

### Ability

**Endure****(Draw)** Your Weird World cards, wherever they are, gain +17 Power permanently. **(Return)** Your Weird World cards, wherever they are, lose -17 Power permanently and a random card in your hand gains +25 Power next turn.

## Did You Know?

The exact origins of Lithuania's Kryžių Kalnas, or the **Hill of Crosses**, remain a mystery. Located just outside of the industrial city of Siauliai, the site holds around 200,000 crosses of all sizes, ranging from tiny wooden crosses to towering crosses of metal that measure four metres tall.

The first crosses were believed to be placed on the hill after the 1841 uprising against the Russian empire. Over the years, crosses, rosaries and statues of the Virgin Mary have been brought here by Catholic pilgrims. According to folklore, there once stood a church on the hill. During a terrible storm, lightning struck the church and the winds buried it under the sand with everyone still inside. Locals say you can glimpse a ghost procession of monks at sunrise…
Immortality Drive

## Ability

### Ability

**Human Time Capsule****(Draw)** Two random The Write Stuff, two random Pioneers of Science and two random Good Sports cards, wherever they are, gain +25 Power until played.

## Did You Know?

Should something happen to humans (e.g. nuclear apocalypse, zombies, asteroid), it’s good to know we’ve got an external hard drive containing the fully digitised DNA sequences of a select group of humans.

In case you’re wondering who made the cut, it’s quite the eclectic bunch: <link="https:>Stephen Hawking</link>, <link="https:>Stephen Colbert</link>, Playboy model Jo Garcia, game designer <link="https:>Richard Garriott</link>, fantasy authors <link="https:>Tracy Hickman</link> and <link="https:>Laura Hickman</link>, pro wrestler <link="https:>Matt Morgan</link>, and athlete <link="https:>Lance Armstrong</link>. Oh to be a radioactive fly on the wall of our future civilisation…

Known as the **Immortality Drive**, this human time capsule was taken to the International Space Station on October 12, 2008. It also contains a microchip with a copy of the children’s book ‘George’s Secret Key to the Universe.’
King Midas

## Ability

### Ability

**Midas Touch****(Draw)** Your opponent's Legendary cards in hand cost +2 Energy for 3 turns.

## Did You Know?

**King Midas** ruled over Ancient Phrygia, and was a king that enjoyed the luxuries in life - good wine, good entertainment, a giant castle encircled with rose bushes.

One day a drunk is caught being unruly around said rose bushes and, rather than being told to get lost and go home, he's brought before the king. Midas recognises the drunk instantly - it's Silenus, a satyr known for being one of Dionysus's drinking buddies!

Midas welcomes Silenus in, instead of punishing him, and pandered to his every need for ten days before personally returning him to Dionysus - maybe it took him that long to sober the satyr up?

Dionysus rewards Midas for his hospitality by granting him a wish. Midas asks for the frankly unnecessary-for-a-king gift of the ability to turn anything he touched into gold. The wish is granted, and Midas goes home to celebrate with a drink - which of course turns to gold as soon as it touches his lips.

Instead of running a Cash 4 Gold grift like this writer would if he had that ability, Midas returns to Dionysus and admits that it was a daft idea. Dionysus, probably with a sigh, sends him to the river Pactolus to wash away the "gift" - a mythological explanation for why the river has golden shores to this day, and the origin of the first metaphor football journalists reach for when a particular player is having a great season.
Hoplite

## Ability

### Ability

**Spearhead****(Play)** If it's the first turn of a round, this card gains +34 Power this turn.

## Did You Know?

Taken from ‘ta hopla’ meaning tool or equipment, a **Hoplite** was the most common type of foot-soldier in Ancient Greece. If a sword wasn’t enough to go into battle, Hoplites also carried a two-metre-long thrusting spear.

These spears weren’t given to them, however – the Hoplites actually operated on a BYOS policy (Bring Your Own Spear). BYO also extended to their armour, so the quality ranged from top-notch to breastplates made from linen and glue. Anyone got a spare?