Comments by Zhennan Su

I went through some forums and found 弩 for Vao more earlier in Dec 2012. Check out this link: https://tieba.baidu.com/p/2029251770 . However, no matter when it began, 弩 for Vao has been widely known now in Chinese community. I can provide more infomation if you need.

It is interesting to note that a piece named 弩 (Nu) is reported in qiguo xiangqi (seven-player xiangqi)

That 弩 is a crossbow marksman actually :)

My own use of 矢 goes back to 2001

That reminds me of something. Some of Chinese users use 矢 before 弩 goes in common. 弩 can be expanded more than 矢 (for example, 连弩 神机弩 重弩 弩炮), making 弩 more useful to make variants with promotion. Also 弩 and 炮 are both machine units.

Despite this game is something like a prototype of the final game, I'd be glad to do that. I'll send the rules by e-mail later, with some explanation about those comments and some further info.

The Sage is FC in Betza's. It was changed to a simple (3,1)-leaper in the final version.

Thank you for this information. Did this game had a name and who is the inventor, do you know that?

The English name is Esperanto Chess. I have no info about the inventor's real name. The Pawn is a little bit different, and there's a King-Faceoff rule. If you need a simple introduction, I can send it by E-mail.