Gangtup Run

> What, you mean that footrace? I finished it in eighteen minutes, barefoot!
>
>

- *Atmos Slibard*

*When the railroads first opened it was said "The age of horse and foot is over!". We here have decided to accept that challenge. The race's identity is the pioneer spirit! True failure in this race is forgetting the pioneering spirit and staying from challenging the hardships! There is no such thing as failure in this race! There are only adventurers! This Gangtup Run Race will be an event the likes of which the world has never experienced before!*

- Gang Lu, the current patron and owner of the Gangtup Run Cooperation.

 The **Gangtup Run** (Heavenly Common: 鋼球競賽 lit. *Steel Ball Run*) is a famous vehicle and foot race, the largest of its kind, that spans the entire north-to-south ends of Dongxi Lu, covering a path that twists and turns through nearly every different type of landscape of the empire. Drawing competitors from around the World, the Gangtup Run is a chance for stragglers and nobodies to stick head-to-head with some of the most renowned "speediest people on the continent" in a chance to win unbelievable amounts of wealth, and influence within the Dongxi Lu aristocracy.

The Gangtup Run features a winding path that forces its competitors to navigate through vast steppe land, dusty desert, mirky swamplands, rainy limestone hills, rickety railways, and city alleyways, with the ultimate goal of reaching the capital city. Competitors race on their own two feet, familiars, horseback, and mechanical vehicles, ranging from bicycles to mysterious new three- and four-wheeled self-combustibles termed "rail-free locomotives" - indeed, what makes this race special is that more than a few competitors come by with contraptions that are often innovative and featuring top-of-the-line transport technology.

## Overview of the Race

Each contestant of the Gangtup Run is required to keep on their person a *gaang* (Heavenly Common: 鋼, the same character as "steel" in the race name), a personal metal object (anything from a pewter cup to a special weapon) that they are to carry on their person as an indicator that they are in the race. If they lose this object while in the race, they will be unable to get it back and it will be lost forever to them, and they will be immediately out of the race. The *gaang* will drop to the ground and be magically embedded into the particular location where it was lost (unless it was stolen or wagered). For this reason, creative contestants often choose unexpected items to be their *gaang*.

The race is timed to be exactly five-months, but the presence of the *gaang* adds another dimension of complexity to the race. For every extra *gaang* that a team is able to acquire, **the prize money will increase**. Teams are typically able to acquire *gaang* from other contestants or teams in three ways:

* *Theft*. Often difficult without the use of magic, because it requires preemptive knowledge of another contestant's *gaang*, which is often kept secret. If a team is able to use a particular technique to successfully steal *gaang*, they will often be able to steal many in quick succession. However, the success of theft based on this is often its greatest downfall, as experienced contestants of the Gangtup Run are typically able to tell which contestants have been engaging in thievery from the sheer amount of *gaang* they acquire in a short time.
* *Wager*. Usually the most common of the acquisition practices. Two teams of contestants wager each others' *gaang*, with the victor keeping all of them. Teams then settle the wager through violent fights, crafty diplomacy, or what is the most common, fast-paced vehicular sub-races between the two teams, often neck-in-neck.
* *Scavenge*. Because the Gangtup Run spans five months, many small towns and villages are passed by (alongside the larger cities). Talking to locals can often reveal locations or information of the dropped *gaang* from previous races, which are now magically tied to particular locations, but can be uncovered by other teams who then add it to their collections. In the past, the Gang of Eight and Jiangwu Bao have investigated connections between Dongxi Lu aristocratic families attempting to sponsor "overpowered" race contestants to use this scavenging basis to acquire massive amounts of archaeological riches from old races. This has become especially dangerous, as Jiangwu now believes that this may even go all the top of the Divine Court.

## History

Races similar in practice to the Gangtup Run are believed to have been going on in the steppes of central Dongxi Lu for thousands of years. Early records from Kalik indicate that a common source of entertainment for the propertied classes in Punt (early Dongxi Lu, or potentially the numerous feudal states existing before the empire's consolidation) were horse and ox cart races over long distance roads.

The addition of the *gaang* is thought to have evolved out of racing teams attempting to barter, sell, or uncover items on particularly long races. Upon the consolidation of Dongxi Lu as a state, the official Gangtup Runs were put into place only about 200 years prior to the current day, solidifying and standardizing the rules from many different local variations across the empire.

## Notable Past Victors

* The Honktropolis Honkers
* Greg (notable for being a single-member team)
* Tormund's team of bartenders- The Trolltenders (notable for refusing the prize and donating it all to charity)
* Hui Feradyun's unnamed team, represented by a plum blossom icon
* Atmos Slibard (alleged)