House Griffith - Field of Adamantium: As part of their ancient traditions the Nobles of House Griffith still ride genetically-modified horses and train with lance and blade. Though they have little call to use these archaic skills outside a Knight suit, they still employ them in contests between the local houses. Disputes between Nobles and within families themselves are routinely settled with duels or jousts. First and second sons become able swordsmen and riders, lest younger siblings usurp their position within the family. Equally martial might continued to hold precedent long after the dragons were exterminated, with the fairest maidens and most favourable matches only going to those who can prove themselves in such contests.Without a doubt the largest tournament on Dragon's End takes place on the Field of Adamantium, where by ancient covenant the families of House Griffith compete for standing. Under dark, cloud-choked skies and across smoking black earth, men and women clad in gleaming adamantium plate armour do battle. Their steeds are genetically augmented to breath the poisonous air of the field as it streams from fissures in the ground and rolls down from the circling volcanoes.The Nobles themselves wear beast-faced helms with built-in rebreathers, flared steel nostrils and fanged snouts expelling thick yellow plumes. Combat focuses on the joust, the grand contest at the centre of the tourney, and while lesser events involve melee and marksmanship, it is the joust that draws the attention of the families. Using a complex system of lineage and prestige each Noble is ranked by his skill with the lance and his standing within the societies of Dragon's End. This in turn determines who he is allowed to face and how he might rise or fall within the standing.Even the ruler of House Griffith, the High King and Grand Master of the Lance, takes part in the annual tournament. The Grand Master of the Lance has the honour of wielding the reforged Lance of Nathaniel in the jousting tournament on the Field of Adamantium. Intricately carved from the femur of a great dragon, this weapon dates back over fifteen standard millennia, and is the most revered relic of House Griffith. On the Field of Adamantium, Nobles joust against one another from horseback in the manner of their ancient forebears. The lances are dangerously sharp, but instead of wearing the obsidian armour of old, each Noble dons full adamantium plate armour to avoid injury.For the citizens of Dragon's End the regular tournaments are a central part of their culture, providing a brief and violent escape from the drudgery of the agri-subfarms or scar-mines. The crash of steel lance on adamantium armour or the crunch of bones breaking when rider and horse are sent tumbling to the ground are always met with cheers. From atmosphere-shielded stands people will wave banners, cry out insults and encouragement or even hurl tokens at the field, the tournaments being the one place where the citizens are allowed to vent their true emotions, unchecked by the rituals and strict forms of a neo-feudal society.The names and heraldry of favoured Nobles are well known to the common people, their fame leading to the creation of shrines and statues in their honour where prayers will be made for their good fortune at the joust. Grand Master of the Lance Bryce, the current lord of House Griffith, made his name in this way for unseating a dozen warriors in a single day of contest, and hundreds of shrines still bear his likeness, the people praying to the Emperor for his good fortune.