Lǔ Sù 鲁肃

Translated description:
"The Maverick Diplomat 独断的外交家 (dú duàn dè wài jiāo jiā)"

Wikipedia link: Lu Su Wiki

Who is he:
The initiator of the Shu Han 蜀汉 Sun Wu 孙吴 alliance, Lu Su was the man who sought a merger with Liu Bei 刘备 to resist the marauding army of Cao Cao 曹操. Lu Su knew that the alliance was the only chance that both forces had of survival, and thankfully, so did Zhu Ge Liang 诸葛亮. Lu Su initiated contact with Zhu Ge Liang and brought him back to Sun Wu to convince Sun Quan 孙权 to fight Cao Cao. However Zhu Ge Liang's cunning was beyond Lu Su's ability to manage, and Zhu Ge Liang insulted all of Sun Quan's advisors, Zhou Yu 周瑜 and even Sun Quan himself, while still succeeding to form the alliance. The minor ruckus caused Lu Su significant stress, but he was relieved nonetheless that his objective was met. An able and loyal talent, Lu Su took over Zhou Yu's post after the latters death, but Lu Su made a mess of things when he vouched for Shu Han returning Jing Zhou 荆州 to Sun Wu. Liu Bei repeatedly procrastinated returning the strategically important Jing Zhou and the this quickly built tensions between the two kingdoms. The struggle for Jing Zhou eventually led to the fall-out of the allegiance and open war between the these two superpowers.

Character ability 1: "Altruism 好施 (hào shī)"
In the drawing phase, you can choose to draw 2 more cards (total of 4 cards). If you have more than 5 on-hand cards as a result, you must give half of your on-hand cards (rounded down to a whole number) to the player with the least amount of on-hand cards (excluding yourself).

Character ability 2: "Alliance 缔盟 (dì méng)"
During your action phase, you can choose to force 2 players (other than yourself) to exchange their entire set of on-hand cards by discarding X number of cards, X being the difference between the number of on-hand cards between these 2 players. Limited to one use per turn.

Ability's relation to story:
"Altruism" has a very interesting link. In the story, Lu Su's charitable nature led to him "lending" Jing Zhou to Liu Bei, however Lu Su's altruistic nature goes much further than the story. The historical Lu Su was extremely charitable and constantly donated his assets to the poor in the time of extreme chaos (during the initial fall-out of Han Dynasty). He won the hearts of his citizens and it became his platform to rise to a state-level official.

"Alliance" needs little mention as his venture into Shu Han was the seed that grew into the Shu Han Sun Wu alliance. However this ability seems to have an antagonistic nature rather than the cooperative nature in the true sense of the word. It sets up a win-lose scenario rather than win-win.

Additional info based on story:
1. Most famous achievement - Bringing Shu Han and Sun Wu together to resist Cao Cao. This act led to the battle at Red Cliffs 赤壁之战 which crushed Cao Cao's army and changed the course of history. It is no exaggeration to say that if not for the alliance, Cao Cao would have defeated both Sun Wu and Shu Han, and all of history as we know it would be different.

2. Cause of death - An illness took Lu Su's life at the age of 46. After Lu Su's death, the alliance between Sun Wu and Shu Han begin to crumble. Shortly after, Lu Meng 吕蒙 invaded Jing Zhou and executed Guan Yu 关羽. The death of Guan Yu precipitated into all-out war between Shu Han and Sun Wu, and thus the efforts of Lu Su vaporized.

FAQ and Disambiguation

1. If the number of cards is the same between two other players , does that mean Lu Su need not discard any cards to use his second ability ''Alliance''?

Ans: Yes he can simply ask the 2 players with the same number of cards to switch hands without needing to discard any cards.


2. Can Lu Su discard equipped cards for the 2nd ability ''Alliance''?

Ans: Yes you can discard equipped cards to use ''Alliance''.


3. When there is more than 1 player with the least cards , does Lu Su gets to choose who he gives his cards to when he uses his ''Altruism '' ability ?

Ans: Lu Su can choose whom to give the cards to if there are several with the least cards.


4. For his ability ''Altruism'' , if he has 7 cards on hand , would he have to give 3 cards or 4 cards to the player with the least amount cards ?

Ans: Rounded DOWN to a whole number . So he would have to give 3.