The phrase goes back to when Julius Caesar crossed the Rubicon and marched on Rome. It was a moment, he meant, from which there was no going back.
The die had been cast, he said, and no power of man could prevent it from landing where it would. A roll of the dice is unpredictable, unstoppable.
We have cast our die as well. We have chosen our tactics, we have chosen our champions, and now we go to battle. But the die is still in the air. I do not believe what we do here today is predetermined and cannot be changed.
There is a moment just after the die is cast and before it lands upon the gaming table in which the smallest breeze may change its course—the way it rolls and where it comes to rest.
That is what we must do today. We must give our all to ensure that when the die does come to rest, it favors us.
None of us are perfect. But we have the opportunity to determine our fates day by day, hour by hour, minute by minute, with the choices we make and the actions we take.
The die is cast. But today we will shake the table upon which it lands.
(Text adapted from the novel Obsidio by Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff)