King's Blood Four: Sheri S. Tepper

Book I of The Lands Of The True Game. Some humans have come to possess talents - Shapeshifting, fortune telling, telekinesis, self-levitating and teleportation, healing, raising the dead, telepathy... Others have the ability to quench these talents and another group have the ability to use magic to produce effective results. Then there are the ordinary humans, with no talents or abilities - the pawns. The talented humans live in groups called demesnes and the demesnes are constantly warring with each other in great games. In the process, as usually occurs with wars, death and destruction and waste occurs, especially among the pawns. And in the Lands of the True Game, your lifelong identity will emerge as you play... Tepper's first novel. Cover art by James Christensen.