Al'terra (Athletics)

## Athletics

Sports and events are central to many societies and so while Al'terra loves tournaments of wit, intelligence, debate, and chess, but athletics make for good recreation. Popular events to watch are usually in the style of track and field: running, sprinting, jumping, hurdles, climbing, obstacle courses, and things such as that. Most athletes are amateurs, in so much as they pay their own entrance fees and any equipment costs, and keep any winnings. Professional athletes are sponsored by individuals, not companies or corporations, and a portion of their winnings is kept.

Races are usually done divided by gender, males against males, although occasionally there is a competition that is mixed. It’s worth noting at this point that all same-sex races or competitions are usually done naked. Completely naked. Mixed races are done with very minimalist clothing to maintain the mandate of remaining appropriate. Of course this is completely lost of spectators. Often you’ll find ages 15-17 there (slightly under and slightly overage) watching the opposite gender and giggling/making jokes accordingly. All other sports mentioned after this are clothed and appropriate.

There are team sports - one particularly complicated one held yearly - and versions of football (soccer to my North American friends), field hockey, and teamwork-obstacle course events. Kenzfvire is a complicated sport native to Al'terra. Kenzfvire is well watched and reported on, by middle class and below. There is also a game called Loop, which is 5 a side, which a loop is afixed to a wall and played a little like single basket basketball - inspired by Aztec Ullamaliztli. Another team sport involves quite a large area of play, usually in a circle, with a throwing disk, and a suspended series of metal chimes - the aim being to hit and ring the chime for point amounts - this is called Soramet.

Dancing can either be considered an art or an athletic depending on the specific style, but certainly many have competitions the public attends. This is traditionally more popular than team sports and equally as individual sports. The classical forms, as well as war dancing, and fusion styles are all sources of competition.

The last big area of athletics is equestrian. This is a huge category an involves anything from ground work and halter training, to no equipment, to horse dancing, to jumping, to trick, to team-ride.

Who is involved in such things? Well, most prominently Damien would have been a career running and perhaps climbing athlete but he missed his opportunity with the factories. Timethy did race with him in the early years but as they got older, just didn’t match his speed. Timethy went and watched a lot of Damien’s later runs throughout the years. Jared, although a war dancer, did not compete and did more random acts of dance, a bit like flash mobbing, in the streets. Note that while Kite has an interest in horses, it’s more recreational than competition and has the ability to train in certain disciples. She would never call herself an athlete and doesn’t much care for sports in general.

Al'terrians generally don't like water. Those of certain blood will usually be okay with water - tigers, fishing cats, jaguar - but an innate fear of water is embedded in many people to the point where bathing is a psychological struggle.Swimming lessons would not be the norm for this society. General people who sail can swim or at least tolerate water, but Al'terrians do not sail out of sight of land. Ever. This can make water travel a bit longer than would usually happen. Swimming is one of the less popular athletics, since there are less people who like swimming let alone competing in such a thing. By comparison, Nolvac (Nulvey) are essentially born in the water and would be likely ridiculed from their society if they could not swim. Galeez is a bit better with water than Al'terra but aren’t big on sailing. Timethy is likely the calmest tiger-kin in Al'terra, and for that reason he loves swimming at any importunity and uses it for stress relief. Kite, the polar opposite in this respect can’t even stand to get her face wet and so has a struggle washing anything. The others fall somewhere between these two extremes, but no one could boast swimming skill…

Al'terra also sometimes participates in 'extreme sports' though none of these are typically competitions: Spire Jumping which is a form of city based parkour, Climbing and Descending typically done ropeless and for fun, diving (especially due to the fear of water), and horse surfing. Some consider the horse acrobatics to be extreme, depending on how they are done.

## Rivalries and Competitions

Kenzfvire - Usually Fvit has one of the best teams to play in the game, fierce rivals with Trayseker in the West, while closer to home the Sun Valley and Claw Wood have a much more loval contention. Tantus is a much more middling team than it should be, but a sore favourite of those who live there.

Athletics - Haslan takes a place, as does the Hill place, in all athletics, pitting each other as rivals of the west

Dance - Dancers are best known by their bands or affiliation, as they tend to travel. The band Jared ocassionally danced in was a travelling kind with no fixed address.

Equestrian - In the same way dancers follow a group, horses come from either areas they are bred, or the stables they are trained.

## Children's Games

Due to the style of child raising over the course of Al'terrian history, children have a lot of free time on their hands and while the smart and the dedicated can be found in libraries, more often you will find the young ones, especially in their early years. Popular games of tag are found that more complicated with age where kids start teaming up, working in pairs, and forming prisons and work forces, where only certain classes of players can tag others. It can get quite elaborate in terms of specific hierarchies that must be followed. One game, called ‘Hawk and Hound’ involves two groups: Hounds are restrained to the ground and can tag any player, while Hawks must climb through the playing field (roofs, walls, windows) and can only tag Hounds before being physically grasped. Another game, called 'Temple Tiger’ involves a blindfolded child moving around the grounds of usually a temple or singular building while yelling 'Temple’ while the others yell 'Tiger’. This name changes by region and temple used. Many games of adventurous styles are played involving certain goals, like copying a specific book in a library before being caught by an army of spies and guards. Staff at the library don’t discourage this and are often in on the games: trust nobody! (Many many complicated variants on Mission Impossible). When not playing with an assortment of string, fabric balls, sticks, and designing dirt palaces, many children are involved in the Wars (there are a variety of names for these including the Endless Battles, the Fights, The Kingdom etc) which are territorial wars between rival school groups. Usually they are harmless and don’t actually involve weapons other than sticks and fists, but they are serious and very dramatic. Damien will tell you stories about how he and Timethy fought in the wars, but take it all with a grain of salt. Nothing else is much alluded to but I’d hazard a guess that Laura would never have heard of this.