Chaturanga (photo of a Rajasthani chess set - creds in alt text and below):
ALTBy Chaturaji
So, what is this game? well, as you can imagine, it was once the game of kings and still is, and even featured in the most epic out of Ancient India - Mahabharata
This is Chaturanga that would go to be the ancestor in some forms of: Chinese GO, Japanese Shogi, the Korean Janggi, - famously in Perisa it was adopted as chatrang or Shatranj during the Sassanian empire’s time. And many more.
Other games you might be familiar with out of old India? Leela, also to mean divine play, very important in the culture and our stories.
But what did it inspire, oh well it was a game about moral values and you use a dice and…you know, you can move laterally or linearly across the board via snakes and ladders and…oh.
:) This is why btw you see boardgames and other mediums too featured in Tales of Tremaine and they’re so important. :)
Like the little ole storytelling game with moving pieces set up a certain way with certain board.