Joker deck

A group of 53 people are summoned to a forest in an apocalyptic world where all the animals are hostile to the people. There is a system that appears for every person with personal missions and an assigned 'card' that groups them together in the 'deck'. The people assumed that there was only meant to be 52 people as the joker card was not used in games usually. This mistake nearly made them kill off their joker or abandon them outright in the middle of nowhere, however they do not understand that the joker is needed in this 'game' the gods made for them. This mistake was not made by only one group as there were multiple of them. Each with different designs and rules of their own with personal missions. Some missions being shared.

The general rules for the deck are simple. There are four people with the same number and different symbols tattooed on their body somewhere. Their symbols and numbers are also on their system to let them know where it is on their body. Each person is given an ability to help their group in any way they can, even if they must only be moral support. Everyone gets an assigned card without prejudice, bias, or judgment of one's background. If someone is a politician, criminal, office worker, police, etc. does not matter for the merits and credit they accumulated does not matter. Any of them could be given a weak card number, as the choice is random and cannot be undone. That said, anyone could become a Joker card. Jokers are special as they are completely 'remade' based on their mental fortitude and become similar to unbreakable dolls with human minds and souls, with only two organs; the heart and the brain. Depending on the person the heart and mind will be put in a place that is seen as the safest place in the body. And depending on the form of the body type. They could become completely made of metal or out of powder, all covered over in a simple clown suit that shows the color of their personality. Making the joker the only true honest person in the group, as their colors show their emotional state while their new body represents their state of mind. Metal shows how guarded they are while soft material shows how unstable they are, giving the joker a versatile set and allowing them to change their mindset and in turn their material.

This view follows a joker made of straw with a faded soft and snug suit with white hands and white head, and combat boots that don't weigh him down at all. He was mistaken often for being weak and brittle, easily broken, and bland. This was not an inaccurate assumption for him as he did have a bland personality, didn't exercise in his past, and was clearly a depressing person with no hope in his person. But the material of his head and hands spoke far more about him than meets the eye. Because he was, his suit was made of canvas and because he was a fast thinker, his head and hands were made of spectralon (a new material that is the whitest white that requires much care and attention due to being the most impure).

This joker was often mistaken to be the weakest and most unstable due to the material of his head being the most impure metal. Because of his dull colors, he struggled to meet his goal to gather points, making him the slowest member in his 'deck' in terms of growth, but he overcomes this by being 'the one with the rules in mind'. His high intel allows him to keep himself in his deck even with how little they trust him. This allowed him to gain a bit of attention from the gods as he was the first one to make his team keep him.

He follows his team to many places with the guid of one of the 'kings' as they have 'the eye of the eagle', allowing them to map out their surroundings and find places to rest or camp for a while. They make the joker do a lot of the small work in exchange for protecting him while the group seemingly ignore the 'Jack' of the deck, who has done nothing but hide as their ability is 'farming'. If one does not do their part they are given a special mission that allows them to keep up with the deck. If they cannot complete this mission, they remain at a lower level until they can do something about it.

The joker one day saves the 'ace' and is called out for becoming more useless, instead of being thanked for saving the actual leader of the deck, as the ace is meant to be the strongest card and the 'main character of the deck'. Without the 'ace the deck will fall apart and will not be able to progress in their missions as teams. The same is said for all the members and there is no replacing them unless they were the luckiest bastards in the realm to find a true replacement Ace for the card symbol they have. The jokers ability allows him to explain this to them since this was the first time they had to deal with actual enemies. The problem was that no one had the ability to pick up on the animals, so they were in more danger than they thought and no one took this into account when they were planning their travels. They blame the joker again for not informing them of this, when he's told them to be careful before in the first place. As they were arguing the joker was losing his straw and in turn losing the feeling in his body, making him collapse to his knees. No one knew what to do after he told them everyone was necessary for every mission they go on. Before he lost feeling in his chest next, he pulled the threads hanging from his wrist and his hands popped off to look through one of the number bags as they were the 'store' and took a spool of thread and needle to patch up his torn canvas suit before he lost function completely. This act of puppeteering, made everyone unnerved by him, now that he didn't even seem human anymore, before the Ace asked if he could even die? He simply answered that he should stay away from direct fire contact and they won't lose him, the same can't be said for everyone else, since a Joker is a wild card in the first place.

Another instance happens with the joker leading the group with the Ace at his side and making sure the 'eagle eyed king' could find a barn for the joker, when they run into another group. As soon as they met, the Joker and ace got the same mission. To create a double deck. This group also had a Joker. A woman with vibrant lavender and jasmine colors on a glittering suit that looked like a jointed, mech-suit that shaped her figure. Her body was rubber and her hands and head were carved wood. This clearly showed how guarded the joker was compared to him and it was easy to tell that her heart and mind weren't near her head, showing that she wasn't very bright but she was adaptable and flexible. This deck of people were cunning and organized and clearly didn't need or want the others in the straw joker's deck, other than the joker himself. They had a favorable line up for him and much more understanding about his ability as a joker than his team could ever think to consider, even taking into account the material his head and hands were made of, and making use of his mental state based on how the colors on his suit brightened the more they spoke to him like a normal person. Even the ace of his party couldn't remark on how favorable they saw him. The straw joker's party only snickered as if they weren't worried since they believed that they already have a Joker so they couldn't take them even if they were to give him up. But the straw Joker says there is no rule for a joker to be exchanged, since jokers don't have a symbol. And any normal deck of cards usually has a stack of 52 with two jokers, making him wonder what happened to the second joker of both parties. When he asked, the rubber joker answered him, saying all parties start with one joker and because of the 54 stack rule in a deck of cards, it's safe to assume that jokers can be swapped or taken from other decks. This was accurate since he was the only joker in his deck. Thus pulling a question, why do they want another joker. The answer from the ace in the other group was that having two 'wildcards' was well worth hundreds of jacks, who are meant to be commanders of the numbers under the royal cards. This was a work around with the rules and a true statement since the jacks are meant to have the commanding authority over the numbers, even though the straw joker's jack was more useless. Making him look at them with clear annoyance.

But the joker stands his grounds when he sees the distress of his ace. He decides to counter them with his own statement to become a double deck. Allowing for more manpower to command, better defense and with one of their numbers, supplies won't be an issue to feed the entire group. This was more than convincing to the other group since it was clear that they had to do more to get supplies. The rubber joker's colors started to fade, because she had a different mission. And she failed because of his quick thinking.