Entertainment in the Isles

Even in the dour times of the second darkness (or perhaps because of it,) entertainment is a significant factor in the life of the people of the Isles, giving them a momentary peace and relaxation that is often rare in a falling world.

## Spectator Entertainment

### Circus

Travelling circuses move around the isles giving performance across the various nations, circus acts typically focus on displays of strength, acrobatics, dexterity acts. Famous circuses are known for also incorporating dangerous acts such as fire, explosives or those performed from great height. Some Circus also feature lower-brow forms of entertainment such as parading curiosities, or demeaning forms of humors.

### Theater

Theater is found across the isles in a great variety of different styles, both comedic and dramatic, and including musical variants and opera. Most venues include a choice of seatings, and standing for those who cannot afford seats.

The Lysians are best known for their dramatic and formal opera, while the Saxens are known for folk-theater that is typically comedic and informal. Yuani are especially known for their particularly colorful and striking form of theater involving exaggerated masks and costumes, as well as complex puppetry.

### ***Music***

Instruments common within the isles include; flutes, drums, cymbals, fiddle, dulcimer, hurdy-gurdy, xylophone, tambourine, harps, viol, lute, horns, bagpipes, organs, piano lyre, mandolin, among many others. Music is both enjoyed during other activities such as eating and drinking within a inn, but also in dedicated musical performance by bands and orchestras.

New metallurgy techniques have led to the development of complex brass instruments whose sound is a popular novelty in the isles, this still is known as Jazz Swing, due to its fast and energetic tempo.

The Invention of the Gramophone, although still a rare and expensive piece of technology allows people to enjoy complex music without the need to hire musicians.

## Gaming

### Games

Board games come in many different versions, and are popular with poor and rich alike, often being lauded as a ‘gentle’ and civilized way to entertain oneself. A board game can typically be bought for the price of a decent meal, but versions with upscale materials such as silver tokens also exist.

* Hnefatafl is a Saxen Game in which two opponent control armies on a gridded board.

### Gambling

People of the isles gamble quite a lot, both within upper and lower classes, although their games differ greatly. Lower class gamblers typically favor dice, cards, or betting on events in informal settings. The Upper-Class often patron specially made casinos that feature more complex games often involving special boards or tables, and even machines.

To finance the crusade, the Church has begun a special lottery in which a handful of participants get to win a portion of the lottery’s sum while the rest finance the war effort.

## Literature

With the advent of new printing and paper making techniques, books are no longer constrained to the upper classes, novels find their way into the homes of the middle-class, and cheap disposable penny-dreadful magazines are available for one or more pennies. Those unable to afford proper books can join ‘travelling book collections’ where readers exchange novels after reading them rather than keeping them. In addition to the explosion in fiction, records of foreign nations and biographies are especially populars.

## Drinking

Social Drinking is a popular form of entertainment across the isles with various forms of both alcoholic and non-alcoholic drinks being enjoyed. Alcohol is enjoyed in taverns, inns and gentry clubs, while coffee or tea houses offer a more sober venue for people to socialize. Alcoholism in the isles is strongly looked down upon.

A relatively new development is the invention of alchemical fizzy drinks called fizz or soda has become a sensation in some cities known for their technological advancement.

## Spa, Sauna and Hot Springs

Inhabitants of the isles typically see mineral-rich water as being beneficial to health, either to drink or bathe in, and those who can afford will travel long distances to make use of them. Public baths in large cities often feature mineral baths, swimming pools, and hot saunas.

Ryssmen are particularly known for their affinity toward natural hot springs, as well as saunas.

## Sports

Physical activities are popular among the people of the isles, typical sports vary by nations, racing, wrestling, hand-to-hand combat, and archery are found almost everywhere within the isles.

* Saxens play a sport using a flat-bat which they use to hit leather balls and running laps before the ball is caught.
* A sport called Gameball is known for often getting out of hand, where neighboring villages compete, attempting to kick a leather ball from a neutral point back into their church. Gameball can devolve to violence and chaos as it often involves hundreds of players.
* During the winter months, many enjoy skating, using bone-skates attached to their boots to slide over frozen lakes and rivers.
* Shuttlecock is a sport in which participants use a stringed racket to throw back and for a shuttle.
* Skittles is a game in which participants take turns throwing wooden balls at pins, attempting to knock them down in the least amount of throws.
* The landed people often play a game of Colf, where one attempts to hit a ball into specially designated holes in the least amount of hits using a long-handled mallet.

### Combat Sports

Fighting remains an entertainment favorite across the isles although the style differs greatly, typically drawing from the local military tradition. Boxing is easily the most common combat sport across the isles, followed by wrestling.

* In the old cities of Lys, Joustin remains popular among traditionalists although its military relevance has in large part faded. Great tournaments of swordsmanship, archery and quarterstaff fighting occur frequently.
* Within Svenia remains the old Gladiator Arenas, although they once served as violent bloodsport and form of execution in ancient times, modern Gladiator matches are fought to first blood by professionals
* Lashan Martial Arts school, although they often take offense at the thought of being used as 'mere entertainment' hold a yearly tournament where students of all school participate to determine who has the greatest technique, these events draw a large crowd.
* The Pycti hold mock battles where warriors armed with long poles (rather than the usual pikes) assemble into opposite formations and attempt to break the cohesion of their opponents.
* Pycti challenge one another in javelin throwing competitions.

## Animal Related Entertainment

Once exclusive to the wealthy, the late period of the Golden Age saw the proliferation of zoos where people could pay to see foreign animals from all over the isles.

Horse racing, as well as carriage races are both entertainment and used in gambling.

Hunting dangerous beasts is both entertainment and sometimes a way to make money from bounties; mundane beasts such as bears and large cats, as well as magical beasts such as drakes and basilisks are hunted as such, often with trophies taken. Lysians nobles are especially noted for their fondness for hunting.

In Sveniard cities, the Bull Dance is a sport where daredevils taunt a bull and use agility and a cape to evade its retribution, ultimately attempting to trick the bull back into its padlock.

Cockfighting is a terrible bloodsport where cocks are bred and made to fight each other until one dies or becomes unconscious, although not illegal it is typically seen as low-class entertainment and unethical by the upper classes.