Tournaments

A **tournament** (or **tourney**) is a great social event featuring competitive contests of martial skill, often thrown by a noble house to celebrate honor and chivalry or mark some event such as a wedding or birthday. They also allow a noble house to flaunt their wealth and status, as tournaments are enormously expensive. It can take a smaller house years to pay for one tourney.

There is no set format or length for a tournament, with modest ones lasting perhaps only an afternoon and consisting of a few events, while larger ones may sprawl across a week and feature many different contests and challenges.

A tourney may consist of one or more of the following events:

* The jousting lists: mounted knights charge one another with lances, with the aim of dismounting one another. The knight who remains mounted the longest is the winner.
* The melee: a number of men engage in combat using swords, maces and axes. Opponents have to be knocked over and made to yield.
* Archery: archers compete with one another to show who has the greatest accuracy and consistency.
* Axe-throwing: similar to the archery contest, but with axes.
* Horse-racing: Unarmored riders compete in a simple horse race around a track.

Tournaments also attract large numbers of side-events, including puppet shows, mummer performances and so on. Vast quantities of food and drink are consumed at a tourney, and blacksmiths can find plenty of work repairing damaged armor or buying the armor and weapons of defeated knights.

While tourneys are non-lethal and some safety precautions are taken, accidental deaths or injuries at a tournament are not unusual.

## Formats and Rules

Tourneys in Retlegia vary according to the region in which the tourney is held, the desires of the hosting lord, and the rules devised by the lord's master of the games. They may be held to celebrate a marriage, such as the War for the White Cloaks at the Golden Wedding. Many forms of competition are known, including jousting (also called the lists), mock battles between teams of knights, archery competitions, or the melee, in which many warriors fight individually in one large battle. Tourneys can be small events focusing on one competition held on a single day, or they can be large events that take several days and may include several different competitions.

The central event of many Retlegian tourneys is jousting, in which two armored knights aim to knock each other off their mounts with a jousting lance, continuing on foot with a variety of blunted weapons. The loser of a joust must often forfeit his horse and armour to the winner, thus jeopardizing a considerable part of his possessions.

Many tourneys pit pairs of warriors in rounds, where the loser is eliminated and the winner proceeds to the next round. The winner of the last round is declared champion. This is similar to how many tournaments in real life were performed, with exception of the best-of-three rule. Some ladies allow contestants to wear their favors during a tourney. The Lady of Honor can be chosen from the ladies by the competition's victor. Another format was used in some instances. This type of tourney starts with five champions who defend the honor of a woman, often a daughter of the lord who arranges the tournament. Other participants can challenge one of the champions to a joust, and if successful take his place. At the end of the tourney, the five remaining champions either confirm the original Lady of Honor, or chose a new one.

## List of Tourneys

### The Tourney at Skyland (Year 3050 of the Third Era)

Hosted in Skyland to celebrate the end of The Second Envincian Conquest, and was attended by knights from all over Retlegia, including King Godfrey the Coward, as well as his young son, Rickard III Goldfyre.

**The Joust**

1. Ser Edric Mercer
2. Ser Standford Grimward
3. Ser Arthur Gallister

**The Archery Contest**

1. Lord Devran Falker

### The Tourney in Celebration of King Rickard III Goldfyre's Twenty-Second Birthday, Year 3054 of the Third Era.

Hosted in Retlego, this tourney occured near the start of The Gold War. It was not as grand as most tournaments in Retlego due to many men off fighting in the war, but out of those that were there, it was definitely not a boring time. Among the attendees were King Rickard III Goldfyre, The Small Council, The Kingsguard, Lord Weslar Corbray, Ser Cedric Gallister, and Ser Standford Grimward (disguised as a mystery knight; The Grey Knight).

**The Joust**

1. Ser Standford Grimward (as The Grey Knight)
2. Ser Arthur Gallister of The Kingsguard
3. Ser Cedric Gallister

**The Melee**

1. Ser Arthur Gallister of The Kingsguard
2. Ser Standford Grimward (as The Grey Knight)
3. Lord Weslar Corbray

**The Archery Contest**

1. Lord Weslar Corbray

### The Tourney at Helmand Rock

Hosted at Helmand Rock in The Midland to celebrate the end of The Gold War. Members from almost every great house in Retlegia attended, including the King.

**The Joust**

* Lord Jorran Crooler
* Lord Graffin Blackmyre
* Ser Standford Grimward
* Ser Paxton II Redfyre
* Ser Cedric Gallister
* Lord Devran Falker

**The Melee**

* Lord Harlen Purell
* Ser Qhorin Crooler
* Ser Daeron III Redfyre
* Ser Osmond Falker
* Ser Standford Grimward

### The Tourney to Choose a new Kingsguard Knight

Following the death of Ser Coren Pyne, a tourney was hosted to select his replacement on The Kingsguard.

1. Ser Fallon of Blackford
2. Ser Willhelm Blackwolf
3. Ser Ascar Greysor

Ser Fallon was named to The Kingsguard the following day.