Sport

People watch sport and people play it, and both in quantity.

Athletic festivals are held yearly in most cities and towns — wrestling, fencing, shooting, riding, and contests of strength — with crowds, betting, and a feast afterward, and a local champion is known by name in his own city for the rest of his life. The Summer Games are held every fourth year in Foerg, hosted in rotation by Shining Reach and Forgegate, under a truce every city and the Coves have kept without a treaty; nobody learns who won for weeks, because the news travels at the speed of a caravan. Entry is by capability and not by sex, and a woman who has won at the Games is known in six cities for life. See The Calendar#Local festivals.

Playing is ordinary. Wrestling and fencing circles meet in most quarters and anybody may turn up. Riding is a pleasure as well as a trade for anyone with a Vaelith. Shooting is practiced everywhere, partly for sport and partly because Warfare and Law makes plain why a person might want to be good at it. Eldershore swims, constantly, in water warm enough to make it a pleasure, and the rest of the world thinks this slightly strange and swims when it visits.

See also

• Leisure and Games · Gambling · The Duel · Fire and Emergency — the Kanome at the Games