[EVENT] THE SHANGPAR RACE

[ironwood]

Characters: ALL!
Date: January 20th to January 24th
Location: Various.
Situation: It’s time for the Shangpar Race!
Warnings/Rating: Add warnings as needed.

The day is here, the day is here, the day is here! Though not every shop is closed and not every kedan is on the streets, it’s a near thing. The race is slated to begin early in the morning, and the city rises for the occasion. Shops open late and workplaces allow for a late start to the day to give everyone an opportunity to watch the starting festivities.

It begins with something almost like a parade. The riders -- there are fifty-five of them, thanks to negotiations during the forum -- are escorted from the shangpari holding pens to the starting line just outside the city, using the most circuitous route available in order to take the riders through every sector.

The starting-line is located just outside a set of the city’s gates, while the finishing-line is at the set on the opposite end. It leads off away from the city, traversing through several of the shell’s terrains, from burgeoning woodland, across a ‘river’, to an area of wasteland leading into mountains, and then down to the shores of the shell’s edge.

While the usual daily processes continue during the race, there are runners at supply checkpoints who, thanks to the efforts of Stark Industries and a handful of Foreigners, are able to report the race statistics via audio directly to the consoles. Groups of children hired as criers run from place to place without access to consoles to carry those reports to the rest of the city. In this time the kedan already begin preparations for the feast which follows it, regardless of who the actual winner might be.

The winners begin trickling in on day four to a crowd already prepared. Thanks to the runners, the residents of Keeliai already know who’s in the lead and when, roughly, they will arrive.

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LINKS
Parade | Betting booths | Starting line | Finish line | Feast

OOC
In the related forum thread the family leaders were open to the idea of Foreigners participating in the race as long as they possessed no abilities that would provide an unfair advantage and were able to front the cost of 500 juulan. If your character has no such abilities and would have wanted to participate, and you feel you have reasoning for their being able to finance their entry, please PM the mod journal so we can work out the details.

No Foreigner who enters will be able to OOCly apply to win the race -- this event is about the cultural experience, not the winning or losing! More details regarding the race are available on the itinerary here.

Please also do remember that IC actions will have IC consequences. This is a huge, huge cultural event for the kedan; disrupting it in any way will cause a negative reaction. That's not to say don't do it -- but do be prepared for the consequences.

Comments

[royalguard_style]

She was probably bailing Dante out, but only for now. There was a reason he had trouble quitting the first time, and that's that he doesn't know when to quit.

"Not really. I'm not much of a gambling man anymore." He tries to keep himself from falling off of the wagon as much as he can.

[fearlessherosheart]

"it is not as thrilling to bet on others' actions," Tazendra said. "I much prefer cards and dice, for then I have the pleasure of the play."

[royalguard_style]

"Isn't all gambling about the other guy?" Nope, that attempt to save Dante from himself is backfiring. "Poker isn't about what's in your own hand, after all, it's about figuring out what's in the other guy's."

[fearlessherosheart]

"Ah? I had not considered that," Tazendra said. "But, it is like battle where your hand matters as well as the opponent's skill."

This perhaps explained why she tended to lose money gambling. Then again, Tazendra never did it for money, but because she liked to play games and drink. And occasionally because idiots tried to cheat her and then she got to fight them.

[royalguard_style]

"Except in most battles, your opponent wears their skill on their sleeve. Which can be fun, but there's not much room for guessing." Dante lost far more money gambling, but that wasn't for a lack of skill: Dante just has horrible luck, and can never win a game of chance without cheating.

[fearlessherosheart]

Tazendra nearly killed at least one other noble over cheating her at a coin game; it's also one of those circumstances where she's far smarter (and usually more sober) than she appears. "Ah, well, guessing," Tazendra said. "it is more that I seek the challenge than the luck. Though, if my opponent is unskilled, I come away with my purse, and if my opponent is skilled, I come away with the satisfaction of knowing I have played versus a worthy opponent."

[royalguard_style]

Dante has wanted to kill his old agent for cheating and robbing him blind, but he doesn't kill humans. "I wish I could say that, but gambling isn't exactly my strong suit. I mean, it's not like I always lose, but no matter how well I can read the other guy, I always seem to get dealt bad hands. It's the craziest thing."

Despite that, He somewhat automatically handed money to the bookie.

[fearlessherosheart]

"it is not some manner of curse?" Tazendra asked. She'd noticed the money change over.

[royalguard_style]

"Nah, that just means that my number's due to come up." It is probably a curse.

[fearlessherosheart]

"Does it now?" Tazendra asked.

[royalguard_style]

"After these past few decades? That has to be it."

[fearlessherosheart]

"I am not certain that is how arithmetic works, but I am no natural philosopher," Tazendra admitted.

[royalguard_style]

"Sure it does. It's all about probability. If you keep doing something, then sooner or later, the unlikely will happen." No Dante, that's the gambler's fallacy.