Sports and Competitions

This is a list of some of the popular competitive sports that the civilised people enjoy, as well as some major competitions and match-ups that occur throughout the year.

Chariot Sports
The use of chariots in war is a centuries-old tradition, so their use in sports is not very surprising. Yet, while there are chariot races where the skill of the driver is all that matters, the most esteemed chariot sports involve teamwork as well, such as chariot archery.

Note that, as a high ranking noble, holding chariot sports is one of your possible prerogatives. It is a very expensive thing to do; but it will gain you an enormous amount of prestige, especially if coupled with other social events.

Chariot Archery

The most popular and esteemed chariot-based sport within the Realm is chariot archery. In this, the chariot is a lightened version of the 'light chariot', which on the battlefield normally carries two archers and is used as a skirmishing weapon.

The sports archer's chariot holds just one archer and a driver, and uses a wide racecourse with a post on one end, forming the apex of one bend. The targets are attached to this post, and as the chariot is driven around the bend at high speed the archer has only moments to aim and shoot while moving swiftly. A normal race will have six laps, with one arrow per lap - not that people could ever shoot more than one in those few moments.

The major chariot archery competition in the Appanage of Mar is the Inaugural Race, which happens on the first of fifth and begins the Great Summer Festival. The more esteemed morning competition is open only to nobles, and each of the sworn houses, as well as the Prince's house and its branches, will normally put forth a team. The competition in the afternoon is less esteemed, but far more popular, since it is when guilds and major mercantile families send in their teams - normally with Gentlemen-Knights as archers.

Other major fixed occasions for chariot racing in Iru include the Dynastic Founding Festival.

Chariot Racing

Chariot Racing is mostly a city-organised sport, where the merchant families and guilds send teams to compete on the racetrack in the south of the city.

Archery
A mastery of archery is one of the skills that a nobleman - any nobleman - is expected to have. As a result, many meetings between nobles, especially if the agenda contains issues of politics and war, will have archery competitions and meets, both in order to break the ice and as a part of the ever ongoing contest for prestige.