Arena and Tournaments

ARTICLE PENDING REWORK - DO NOT USE FOR ANY NEW CANON

Arena and Tournaments are frequently hosted in the world of Drase. Tournaments is a time-honored tradition where the strongest warriors (and mages) come to show off their prowess for prestige and rewards, and the potential of being noticed by a prominent patron offering them good employment.

Arenas and Blood Sports are also common - beginning at least two thousand years ago, when a group of Spiritbinder, allegedly in the then ancient Arzidan Empire, decided that they can improve training of their troops, by pitting their relatively disposable summons against actual, real blood and flesh soldiers, and having the summons be equipped with non-lethal weapons that would not harm the real soldiers (And with healers on standby) - by putting those soldiers through real, visceral combat, they hoped to give them experience that no other soldiers would have. The ideas worked, and this luxurious training methods became standard. The next innovation came during the Silnarian Empire, when this innovation was instead twisted to provide blood sports. The technological innovation resulted in the rapid displacement of true blood sports - in which real people are killed and maimed, to a secondary role, as summons were much cheaper to replace, generally happy to do the job (Since they can't die for real), and allowed for the staging of truly epic combats.

True blood sports - with actual maiming and people being hurt and killed, are banned in some countries nowadays, however, the relatively sanitized summon only blood sports - or blood sports featuring strong, supernatural warriors fighting summons, are commonplace throughout the world of Ramul Ta.

This article lists the prominent tournaments and arenas one can travel to, observe or fight in in Drase. Some of them have entry requirements. There are no maps attached (yet).

Tournaments

The Time Hosted need not be followed strictly - but it would add a sense of seasons to host them within a month of the same IRL time.

Greater Silnaria

The Five Fair Tournaments

• Time Hosted: Early February, Mid March, Mid June, Mid September, Late December - Early January
• Locations: Silnaria, Salvainia, Lymia
• Events: Clean Blood Sports fighting against summon, magical deals

The Five Fairs Tournaments are a group of tournaments held across minor and major towns, held in sync with the festivals of the five primary gods of the Silnarian Pantheon - Lunar New Year, Spring Equinox, Summer Solstice, Autumn Equinox, Fair of Dyarin. -

They are not hosted all the times - except in the Capital of Ulnoor, as hosting five tournaments a year would be bankrupting for all but the most prominent and rich nobles and merchant. They are mixed martial tournaments combining both magical and martial tournaments.

The tournaments are held regularly in places that follow the Silnarian Religion. With both Salvainia and Silnaria hosting prominent Five Fairs tournaments - in Lymia, the tournaments have a more magical tilt, with a focus on magical flairs. General event at a Five Fair Tournament includes:

• Summons Fighting: One of the most regular and staple event of any five fair tournaments - with powerful, supernatural and pre-vetted warrior(s) (For safety and entertainment reason, any ordinary soldier cannot join) fighting against a challenging team of summons or in rare case - captured goblins or beasts in blood sports, usually with mages standing by to heal and prevent any fatal injury.
• Vocation Duel: A very popular event, often spanning multiple day, where several vocators form teams together and is rated by their magical rank and compete in group combat with their summons that take place in two brackets in the morning and afternoon, competing to win the ultimate price of being the strongest vocators and tactician. The vocators hide behind cover and is not allowed to participate in the fight directly.
• Actual Duel: Actual duel, with actual risk of dying and maiming, are relatively rare, but Silnaria in particular is known for hosting them as a capstone event, especially during the Fair of Dyarin. The fight are generally on a first wound basis - and non-supernatural warriors are prohibited from joining those fight. The fight are always until incapacitation or first blood, with no expectations of actually killing anyone - to do so on purpose is considered murder and extremely dishonorable, nevermind the fact that killing supernatural warriors are highly wasteful.
• Mock Naval Combat: Amongst the most spectacular and expensive of all of the mock fight - the fight are a variation on the Vocation Duel, with Vocators and actual warriors fighting alongside - and actual warrior (non-summons) wearing prominent, colorful clothing, acting as a "hero" for their own team. The arena is filled up with water - or in some case, an actual beach or cove would be used, and the audiences witness them fighting and boarding eachother's ship, until one team's summons are all killed and all heroes incapacitated, surrendered, or thrown overboard.

Grand List(s) of Mentia

• Time Hosted: Irregular, hosted during coronation, feast, marriage in Mentia
• Location: Mentia
• Events: Melee fighting with no harmful exomagic allowed.

The Grand Lists of Mentia is a tradition that started with the coronation of Adelhidh, when he hosted a massive tournaments consisting of warriors from all over Mentia jousting and fighting eachother in grandiose melee. The traditions has carried on and is distinctive from the Five Fairs tournament common elsewhere in former Mentia in its emphasis. The Grand Lists does not allow exomagic, and generally does not feature show fights with summons or beast - although mythology and storytelling might be an integral part of the Grand Lists, with occasional great beasts released in the appropriate arena and the audience treated to the spectacle of the knights fighting them.

The most prominent grand list is known as the Imperial List, often held yearly by the Emperor of Mentia to recruit the most prominent of the champions as their own retainers. With Mentia split into multiple part - now the Imperial Tournaments are hosted multiple time, often during different seasons, across the domains of the Emperor Pretender - and even non-pretenders like East Mentia host a pseudo Imperial List.

Though the Mentian Grand List has fragmented alongside the Empire, prominent county tends to host small lists with 30 - 50 local knights attending, fighting in good humor, with the first five winners often being sponsored on a trip to compete at a more prestigious list at a ducal level - finally ascending to the Kingdom level. Even though the Mentian Empire itself is fragmented, the tournament in Shaslandi is still widely seen as the most prestigious one, and most knights tend to travel to compete there.

Arenas

A list of the major arenas located in the world of Drase.

Coich Scre, Ulnoor

• Hosting: Regularly, as long as there's noble to sponsor the events.
• Location: Ulnoor, Silnarian Empire
• Events: Mixed melee fighting and magical event.

Coich Scre, named after the founding empress of the Silnarian Empire, is the largest and most prominent general purpose arena, constructed much like an amphitheatres. The arena can accommodate up to 50,000 people, and mostly feature freed men fighting against summons and other more savory combat types.

The arena hosts the following unique events regularly:

• Mixed Melee Fighting: Fighters are invited in a group to fight against a group evenly matched summons
• Capture the Bull: Mages stand in four towers split into four teams, backed by Vocators who sit behind mock fortress protecting a fifty kilogram golden bull, - the goal is to have all the other team's summons destroyed or killed, or to be the last team that keep their own golden bull - team that has their golden bull taken away is eliminated from the team. A lot of the time, the arena instead feature two mock fortress and two teams, with more artificial obstacles added in between.

Great Haslan Arena (Ex. Coich Buach, Coich Chlul), New Salvainia

• Hosting: Regularly, as long as there's noble to sponsor the events.
• Location: New Salvainia, Salvanian Empire
• Events: Mixed melee fighting and magical event.

The Great Haslan Arena was built by the namesake Emperor Chlul of Silnaria in Ulnoor-hon-Sebdu, modern day Salvainia. The arena was briefly named after the new Salvainian Emperor himself at first, but after unexpected backlash from Silnarian immigrants community, the Emperor chose to rename it Coich Buach - also known as the Great Arena instead, removing references to the previous ruler without offending them too much.

After over a century in power, however, Emperor Salvain Haslan decided on a November morning in 1050 to rename the arena the Great Haslan Arena, this time with the Silnarian immigrants / diaspora not giving much thoughts to it.

The arena imitates Coich Scre in terms of its programming and construction - and is constructed nearly identically.

Coich Eibh

• Hosting: Regularly, as long as there's merchants or nobles to sponsor the events.
• Location: Pepor, Republic of Lymia
• Events: Magic focused duel and slinging events.

Coich Eibh - Arena of Magic, differs from other traditional arena in its focus on magic - the auditorium is remarkably smaller, with it only accommodating up to 8,000 people. Thaumaturgic shields are erected in front of the stand, to better protect the audience from stray preojectiles inside the arena while providing an unimpeded view - with the secret to powering such relatively large scale shields held by the arena's owner - though it can only really withstand a few stray projectile and not full on barrage - with many noticing that it is probably of an Aquatic magic nature.

Coich Eibh hosts different events types, some of the more unique one include:

• Capture the Castle: A team of fighters and pure mage (No vocators allowed) must compete against a team of vocators who occupy a mock castle and attempt to breach and take down their summons without being defeated in the process - the Vocator are allowed to fire spells at the intruders, but the moment a fighter touch a Vocator, or more than three spells hit a Vocator, they are considered to have lost the fight and must forfeit - a type of safety rules to ensure no one is inadvertently killed.
• Tower Defense: A fight pitting around 3 - 4 mages in stationary location, with 2 vocators's summon forming a line in front of a golden bull, pitting them against 5 - 6 vocators who must attempt to breach the line and take the bull. The mage and vocators cannot be directly targeted and the mage are not allowed to leave their station until the fight is over.
• Vocator Duel: Typical team based combat featuring only summons

Fachweldt of Shaslandi - Middle Mentia

• Hosting: Annually, and usually once per season.
• Location: City of Kadhok, Republic of Kadho
• Events: Melee fighting with no harmful exomagic allowed.

The Fachweldt of Shaslandi is where the Grand List of Shaslandi is hosted - and is a massive, curved arena around 400 meters long and 300 meters long, and was constructed during the Silnarian Empire period, and then greatly expanded by Adelhidh when he became the Emperor. The arena was originally mainly used for entertainment, but Adelhidh expanded it in order to create a place where he can both entertain his people and drill his own army - especially his famous cavalry. The arena can be used for hosting melees, mounted combat, jousting, and even chariot racing - which is a tradition inherited from the Silnarian, continued in order to remind people of the greatness of Mentian Empire (And because it is popular).

To compete in the annual Imperial List is a great honor - and generally speaking, an invitation only honor for local notables and prominent foreign warriors backed by local nobles. The arena can accommodate up to 30,000 viewers.

The arenas host some different, relatively unique events that is not fielded in other Mentian Arenas:

• Mounted Combat: The large area of the arena allows for true mounted combat to be held, generally speaking only melee combat is allowed - and no small amount of horses and knights are injured in the glorious display of full force mounted combat
• Chariot Race: Regular chariot races are held in the arena - but a more violent subtype is also held - where each chariots is drawn by two horse, with three warriors on top, and they are allowed to attack each other with ranged weapons - but not ram chariot (Usually with catastrophic result for both side, and disqualifying both), with the goal being to knock off the other warriors - make their chariot lose control or to finish first in seven laps. There are generally four teams competing in such a chariot race.

Ummkoschattschniepdt - Republic of Kadho

• Pronounciation: Um - Ko - Schnat - Snidt
• Hosting: Once a month or so
• Location: City of Kadhok, Republic of Kadho
• Events: Naval Mock Combat.

The Ummkoschattschniepdt (Mentian for Sea Fight Lake) is one of the most prominent naval arena - if not the only extant one in the area of Greater Silnaria. The area was chosen by the Silnarian Empire for its ease of access - with a prominent, relatively shallow lake near the city of Kadhok. The area was walled around and auditorium built around the lake, and draining mechanism installed to make an improvised drydock - then, mock ships were constructed inside for combat and the areas flooded when a fight happened.

The arena mostly exclusively host naval mock combat, usually fielding teams of up to a hundred summons and warriors on each team.

Grand Pit of Tu'perkan - Amongko

• Hosting: All the time
• Location: Tu'perkan, Amongko
• Events: Actual blood sport with slave warriors, melee fighting with few exomagic, display of brute strength

The Grand Pit of Tu'perkan is the most famous arena on the notorious island of Tuperkan, one of the biggest haven of piracy, slave trade and other kinds of illicit and immoral activities. The abundance of unsavory characters and people in search of exotic entertainment make the Grand Pit of Tu'perkan one of the most prominent arenas. The arena has been in operation for at least two hundred years, with the arena being originally constructed by a Silnarian naval garrison. The new Red Irunian caretakers have managed to improve upon its stone and marble structure - holding it well together, even though they don't have the capacity to reconstruct anything as great.

The arena is designed to hold around 10,000 people - much larger than a regular audience expected from the local population, with around 2,000 located in private, shaded compartments designed to shelter the viewers from being observed. Special tunnels and accomodations are made for prominent notables to view the event discreetly - and the pirates of the island make double sure that anyone coming for a "Special Viewing" would make it here safe, pirates be damned - with the threat of extreme violence keeping pirates in line, for it is in everyone in Tu'perkan's interest to keep the blood flowing.

The arena hosts fight or events of some kind almost every week, with at least half of its audience consisting of non-locals, many of them prominent nobles and notables from other country who came here to witness events they cannot witness legally in their own. The arena is connected to a series of other building - the armory, a hospital to treat wounded warriors, and a morgue to dispose of dead body - or revive those that are worth more than a field resurrection spell, and a Field of Memorial, on which are inscribed the names of the hundreds that have perished in the arena gloriously - usually non-slave, and the names of the reigning champions of all time. It is the goal of many champion to make it onto the list. Events includes:

• Slave Show Fight: A fight featuring slaves and captives versus each other, to the death or incapacitation, often fair
• Show Fight: Demonstration fight often involving a local notable, fighting barehanded against a group of armed captives, as a show of strength and prestige - mercy are expected to be given to the defeated opponent, as show of great strength and mercy are valued in Red Oni society.
• Monster Fight: The most prominent fight that people travel to the arena for - fighters are pitted against monsters and unintelligent creatures captured from elsewhere at great cost. Usually there's backup fighter in the off chance the fighters lose the fight - to prevent losing valuable fighter.

Smaller Arenas

These are smaller, less prominent arenas that one can fight in.

Grand List of Vukervajik, Shadhusa and Zhetkurava

• Hosting: Annually, and during significant local nobles events.
• Location: Mentia
• Events: Same as the Grand List of Mentia

Amongst the lists of Mentia, the three cities listed above stand out for having a relatively prominent list that is still accessible - they are considered one tier below that of the List of Shaslandi - the capital of Mentia, although these three city also host grandiose Imperial List. During regular, non-Imperial List season, a relatively new warrior could secure themselves a place in one of the lower bracket, demonstrating their skills in melee combat and potentially obtaining honor, maiden(s) and prize.

The arenas are rectangular and generally accommodate up to 3,000 people.

Arenas of Amongko

• Hosting: All the time
• Location: Huditan, Angpokan
• Events: Small group combat and wrestling tournaments, occasional one on one combat.

The Pits of Amongkos are prominent, open area, usually with improvised, large wooden stands, in a rectangular shape, located in prominent cities of Amongko. It generally houses varsity fight, wrestling tournaments, unarmed fight and other kind of martial display. While slaves does feature in such arenas, mainland Amongkoan arenas tends to focus on more honorable fights, including:

• Small Group Combat: Small group combat, usually done with just fists and kicking, mixed martial arts, blunt wooden weapons or non-lethally enchanted weapons features prominently - with the combatants armored in the head and groin to prevent overly bad injuries in combat
• Wrestling Tournament: Tournament involving martial arts and wrestling, with some similarity to Judo and Sumo, with focus on scoring point by taking down opponents. Techniques are inherited from Runran tradition and often meant to deal with armor, though the display is often sportified.
• Animal Wrestling: Wrestling large animals is a regular and popular event, though not one that most players might be interested in.

The Queen's Arena - Pinnacelia

• Hosting: Regularly on a weekly basis.
• Location: Keni, Pinnacelian Confederation
• Events: Regular fights against monsters, goblins and caught aquatic animal.

The Queen's Arena is a place hosted by a mysterious female patron in the capital city of Pinnacelia, Keni. The arena is a circular arena with capacity for around 1,500 people, and can be filled with water to a shallow level - most fight are blood sports, featuring actual fighters versus goblins, deep shamblers and other kind of quasi-intelligent creatures captured locally, with the goblins being fought to the death, and the fighters having the privilege of being rescued if they lose - though losing too often would lead to them becoming unpopular and running out of a job. The fight are hosted on a pay-per-view basis and generate a decent profits. The Queen herself also commission adventurers to capture creatures for the arena.

• Regular Monster Fights: Regular monster fight featuring goblins and aquatic animals versus fighters.
• Aquatic Fights: The arena can be optionally filled up with water up to 5 meters deep, and an elaborately constructed glass section allow it to act as an Aquarium for blood sports, allowing premium spectators to watch underwater combat - audience can still view the combat from above water - and the owner take great care to make sure the water is clear, but the view underwater is generally better.