Elder Zhū Gě Liàng 暮年诸葛亮

What's with the cartoon?
A cuter version of the original portrait... with the eagle resting on his head gear this time.

Who is he:

The star of the show, but definitely not the star of the card game. In this San Guo Sha 三国杀 card game there are not 1, not 2, but 3 Zhu Ge Liang to choose from. This elder version is the most subdued and the least god-like. The other 2 are just simply unfairly powerful. Just in case you do not know who Zhu Ge Liang is, he is the military strategist cum intellect extraordinaire to Liu Bei 刘备 and the Kingdom of Shu Han 蜀汉. There is just TOO MUCH to read about Zhu Ge Liang, and i'll leave that to your own reading on Wikipedia.

Character ability 1: "Star Gazing 观星 (guān xīng)"
At the beginning of Zhu Ge Liang's turn, before any judgement or drawing of cards, he can view X number of cards from the top of the deck (X equals to the number of players still in play with X having maximum of 5). Of these X cards, he can choose any number of cards to place at the top or at the bottom of the pile. He can also rearrange the order of the cards.


Character ability 2: "Empty City 空城 (kōng chéng)" [Enforced ability]
When Zhu Ge Liang has no cards on hand, he cannot be the target of ATTACK 杀 or DUEL 决斗.

Ability's relation to story:

In Romance of the Three Kingdoms, Zhu Ge Liang is given almost god-like powers that can predict the changes in weather, accurate to within the day that wind directions change. He is able to make these predictions from his knowledge of reading the stars, thus the game ability to "predict" what cards are coming up next with his "Star Gazing" ability. Ok so its outright manipulation of the cards coming up next, but heck might as well dramatize it more!

The "Empty City" ability comes from the famous ploy he uses to fool Si Ma Yi 司马懿. As all his troops have been sent out in missions, he was unable to defend himself from Si Ma Yi's attack of his current location (Xi Cheng 西城). In classical reverse psychology, Zhu Ge Liang empties the city, opens the city gates wide to welcome the invaders, and calmly plays the zither atop the gate in full view of the enemy. Si Ma Yi suspects an ambush and thus retreats. To replicate that effect, the game makers gave the player using Elder Zhu Ge Liang unsusceptibility to ATTACK and DUEL when the player has no more cards left to defend himself or herself.

Additional info based on story:

1. Most famous achievement - Borrowing arrows with straw boats? There really isn't ONE famous achievement because he has so many!

2. Cause of death - During a ritual ceremony to extend his life (no kidding!), Wei Yan 魏延 barges in and disturbs Zhu Ge Liang. He dies soon after from the effects of the disturbance.