Games, Alliance

Games and Tourneys in the Alliance

Alliance society indulges in a number of games and recreation, when daily life permits a break. Chess is widely popular and often a source of gambling entertainment; both in the traditional format and in a simpler version played with dice. Dice are easy to carry and are played in all ranks of society, even among the clergy.

Some games played in the Alliance include bowling, prisoner's base, blind man's bluff (also called hoodman's blind), and simple "horseplay". Checkers are a popular pastime, as is backgammon. Children wrestle, swim, fish and play a game that is a cross between tennis and handball. Alliance knights incorporate training in recreation, performing gymnastics and running foot races.

Spectators in the Alliance are often drawn to cockfights and bullbaiting. The preferred recreation for most adults is drinking in the local tavern. At harvest time, villagers bob for apples and go on hunts in the surrounding forests, if the local lord permits. Hawks are trained to hunt game birds and every Alliance castle has a falconer, assigned to train young birds for this sport.

Alliance winter holy day games included "King of the Bean," where a small bean is baked inside bread or cake, and the one who finds it in their portion is crowned king of the holiday feast.

Hare Games One particular type of game is the hare game, two-player abstract strategy board games that are popular in the northern Alliance. In this game, a dog is trying to get past three hares who are trying to surround it and trap it. The three hares are represented by three pieces which normally start on one end of the board, and the dog is represented by one piece that usually starts in the middle of the board or is dropped on any vacant point in the beginning of the game.

Hare games are similar to Bear games and hunt games. One side has more pieces than the other with the larger side attempting to hem in the smaller side. The smaller side though is usually compensated with more powers. Where Hare games differ is that the hares can only move forward or sideways, and not backwards. The hunters in the Bear games can move in all directions. Furthermore, the dog in the Hare games cannot capture any of the hares, unlike the tigers, leopards, jaguars, and foxes in the hunt games which can capture their respective prey counterparts.

There are several different Hare game boards depending upon the country of origin. Many prefer the narrow double-ended spearhead-like boards with orthogonal and diagonal lines running through them. There are several variations on this design; one in Dansk uses a round board.

"Mob" Football These games of football, typically classified as mob football, are played between neighboring towns and villages, involving an unlimited number of players on opposing teams, who clash in a heaving mass of people struggling to drag an inflated pig's bladder by any means possible to markers at each end of a town (sometimes instead of markers, the teams attempt to kick the bladder into the balcony of the opponents' temple).

Tournaments The tournament, or tourney, is the name popularly given to chivalrous competitions or mock fights of the Alliance.

The military games of the Alliance include equestrian games of war, chariot racing and the like. In the southern Alliance two teams take turns chasing and fleeing each other, casting javelins in the attack and covering themselves with their shields in the retreat. These games are quite elaborate displays and are intended to impress their audiences. Special armor is made for them, including helms that fully cover the face against accidental injury, unlike war helms that leave the face open for unimpeded vision and hearing. Such cavalry games are also central to military training. Often the initial chasing and fleeing is followed by a general melee of all combatants.

Generally tournaments center on the mêlée, a general fight where the knights are divided into two sides and come together in a charge. Jousting, a single combat of two knights riding at each other, is a component of the tournament, but is never its main feature.

Tournaments might be held at all times of the year except during certain periods of more somber religious observation. The site of the tournament is customarily announced a fortnight before it is to be held. Knights may arrive individually or in companies to stay at one or other of the two settlements designated as their lodgings. The tournament begins on a field outside the principal settlement, where stands are erected for spectators. On the day of the tournament one side is formed of those 'within' the principal settlement, and another of those 'outside'.

The evening before the event parties hosted by the principal magnates present are held in both settlements, and preliminary jousts offer knights an individual showcase for their talents. On the day of the event, the tournament is opened by a review in which both sides parade and call out their war cries. Then follows a further opportunity for individual jousting carried out between the two lines of knights. The opportunity for jousting at this point is customarily offered to the new, young knights present.

At some time in mid-morning the knights line up for the charge. At a signal, a bugle or herald's cry, the lines ride at each other and meet with leveled lances. Those remaining on horseback turn quickly and single out knights to attack. Squires are present at the lists (the staked and embanked line in front of the stands) to offer their masters up to three replacement lances. The mêlée tends then to degenerate into running battles between parties of knights seeking to take ransoms, and spreads over several square miles between the two settlements which define the tournament area. Most tournaments continue till both sides are exhausted, or till the light fades. A few end earlier, if one side breaks in the charge, panicks and runs for its home base looking to get behind its lists and the shelter of the armed infantry which protects them. Following the tournament the patron of the day offers lavish banquets and entertainments. Prizes are offered to the best knight on either side, and awarded during the meals.

There is no doubting the massive popularity of the tournament. Knights travel with enthusiasm to countries throughout the Alliance to attend and participate.

Other Knightly Events There is a family of events which resemble the tournament. The most common is the bohort. This is a play tournament, which may be held informally on a variety of occasions. They are held regularly by the youth of the city of Loudon. Bohorts may be held between traveling knights, or between parties of squires, or within an encamped army. They may also form part of court festivities. Their main feature is the limited use of arms and armor and emphasis on horsemanship.

The tirocinium is a tournament held exclusively for newly-knighted youths. The new knight is often an easy victim for older and more experienced colleagues. The tirocinium allows them to gain experience with less danger. Tirocinia are often held following the knighting of royal and princely youths.

A further addition to the family of related events is the urban tournament, designed for the youths and young men of wealthy patrician families. These are facsimiles of the aristocratic event rather than simple bohorts. They are not exclusively urban, and attract neighboring country knights, but their location and patronage distinguishes them from the parallel aristocratic events.

Jousting As has been said jousting forms part of the tournament event. It is an evening prelude to the big day, and is also a preliminary to the grand charge on the day itself. But jousting has its own devoted constituency and it has its own exclusive events outside the tournament. "Round Tables" are an elimination jousting event. They are held for knights and squires alike.