Jaronimo's Renegade Deck

 


How are the Suits designed?

 

According to PokerBazzi.com's article Card Suit Symbolism, each suits represents the value of nature within one of the four seasons, therefore divided by the four elements of nature just like the 12 Zodiacs. Due to that, I fused the suits with elements matching them.


How are the Face Cards organized?

 

Of all the discovered constellations, the 12 Zodiacs are divided into 4 elements of nature. According to AstroStyle.com's article The Qualities of Astrology, they are also subdivided into 3 qualities called "triplicities". Four of the Zodiacs are either Cardinal, Fixed, or Mutable.

  • Aries, Cancer, Libra, and Capricorn are the Cardinal Zodiacs. They are labeled as the leaders and idealists starting ideas and hosting goals at the beginning of the seasons. Due to their ambitions and leaderships, I portrayed them as the Kings of the deck.
  • In the midst of the seasons, Taurus, Leo, Scorpio, and Aquarius are the Fixed Zodiacs, the group of stabilizers who plan ahead of how to reach the Cardinals' goals and start taking action of making their goals into reality. Because they possess the greatest responsibilities as the "powerhouses," just like the Queen pieces in Chess, I portrayed them the Queens of the deck.
  • Whenever we approach the ending period of the seasons, the adapters, Gemini, Virgo, Sagittarius, and Pisces, are known as the Mutable Zodiacs. They are the wise, editorial team who finishes the incomplete pieces constructed by the Fixed Zodiacs until everything is perfected using vast eyes and various thinking. They are the most flexible breed of the Zodiacs, the "multitaskers," portrayed as the Jacks of the deck.


Full Elemental Deck


 

Full Classic Deck



Don't forget the Joker!

 

I depicted the 13th Zodiac, Ophiuchus (or Serpentarius) as the Joker. Not only is the "Snake Bearer" not one the originally discovered Zodiacs, it also has its own element: Ether (or Aether). According to Wikipedia, Ether is the quintessence (or fifth element) that fills the universe outside the terrestrial sphere where we and celestial bodies reside. Since this Zodiac has two names instead of one, it's the perfect perk for each deck to have two Jokers.