The Grand Game, or simply The Game, is the term applied to the politics and machinations of the nobles and rulers of Orlais. Politics in Orlais is an incredibly complicated "game" or "dance" of intrigue, seduction, ambition and scandal, an approach to politics, high culture and morality that is quintessentially Orlesian. The political and familial infighting that characterizes the Game is as common as donning masks in public: indeed, this habit is also an intrinsic part of the Game in its most obvious form.