4 Houses of Ratmas 2021: Tri-District Career Tournament

It was bound to happen eventually. With each separate Career district holding their own variation of a competition over the years, complete with the election of the new council in the Capitol and the widespread promotion of intra-district travel and trade, it was only a matter of time before the heads of each respective tournament pooled their own resources together to create a collaborative effort. After all, competing amongst one's own potential rivals was fun, but what would truly make this an inter-district phenomenon was testing the districts' best against each other in a low-stakes competition, for bragging rights of course. Not every competition between different districts had to end in death, after all.

With One's desire to prove themselves still relevant after a victor drought, Two proving they have more to offer to the fighting ring than recluses and retirees, and Four coming off the high of acquiring two victors in five years, it made for a perfect narrative. With Nixie Summers' victory the previous year, the honor of hosting this first Career-wide tournament was gifted to the sunny beaches and ocean air of District Four, with Two and One alike sending their best and brightest on an exchange to prove their own mettle and showcase that, just because their Victor resume as of late might not be quite as impressive, they were still more than capable of holding their own against Four's homefield advantage.

Helen Thieves. Leo Krigel. Rith MissingNo. Each champions of their respective homes, each names to hold high to their respective districts as they fought and clawed their way to victory. Which of the three Career districts, long considered to be good counterbalances to each other, would claim victory in this tournament of all-stars and champions?

Well, that would remain to be seen.

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As we move into the fourth year of me running this tournament event for Ratmas, I considered starting the trend anew, bringing us back to District Two to restart the cycle that began all the way back in 2018. And then I thought - what if I made this an all-stars event instead? It works for canon purposes, is new and exciting, and best of all, allows for a unique roleplaying experience with characters outside of your own district. The decision was quite easy after this, so instead of restarting the cycle, I decided to go with what was new and fresh instead. And thus, the Tri-District Career Tournament was born.

In character aside, this tournament will play out very similarly to the last one. Ideally, we'll get four people from each house to sign up, submitting an actual Career character of theirs between fourteen and eighteen (smols not allowed for this tourney) where you would therefore be sorted into a bracket and engage in duels, complete with dice and blitz length in character posts and all. Same old, same old. What is different about this year is that, with all three Career districts being eligible, each house must provide at least one character from each district - so, for example, each house's lineup of four must include at least one District One, one District Two, and one District Four, with the fourth member being any of the above. This is to provide maximum diversity for the tournament itself - it'd defeat the purpose of an inter-district tournament if 2/3rds of the competitors were from District One, after all. The big difference in character this year as well is that there will be several rounds taking place before the top 16 that will have happened off-screen - this isn't just each district choosing their 16 best fighters, but each of the top 16 having won several preliminary matches already to get to this point.

The rules are similar to the last three years' and are quite simple. Being carried over are; first character to twenty five damage loses, winner moves onto the next round, loser is eliminated, instas do ten damage bc we don't want death here, and any permanently altering injuries such as severs and stabbed out eyes may be included only at the target's discretion. Like last year, there is no weapon limit installed for any of the three districts - they, of course, wish to use every trick and talent in their trade in order to beat the others and be the last one standing at the end.

As usual, this event will be a four day affair, with each day equaling one round of the tournament both in character and out. This will give people time to write things out and take things at their own pace - although blitz length posts are still highly recommended and the fights will be closed at the end of each day regardless as to whether it's finished in character or not.

Ideally, we'd have exactly four from each house sign up, as that's the maximum number from each house allowed in this event, but I won't impose a hard limit so long as y'all agree that if more than four from one house sign up that not everyone will get in. Additionally, with this being an inter-district tournament, everyone may submit up to two characters from each eligible district for consideration, for a maximum of six total. Obviously, only one will be chosen, but this allows for a bit of randomizing while also making it easier on me to make sure each house has the required 1-2-4-any split. Of course, if you just have one character from one district you really want to compete with as well, then that is perfectly valid as well.

I will generally be favoring individuals that did not partake in last year's tournament when it comes to signups all else being equal, but do not let this dissuade you from signing up regardless - everyone who signs up will get points for their house regardless as to whether they participate in the tournament or not. Plus, it's always nice to have alternates in case we get any no-shows.

The first round of the tournament will start at 11:59pm PST on December 29th (roughly 27 hours from now), and each round will go for exactly 24 hours unless all fights finish before the time limit has been reached. Signups will close at 9:00pm PST tomorrow, or a bit over 24 hours from when this post was posted. The signup form is below:

Name:
House (House Color):
Character(s) you are entering (with links):

Everyone that signs up automatically gets 5 points both for their house and themselves, with 2 points earned for every match won and 1 point earned for every match lost. This signup is assuming you will be around enough over four days to finish a blitz length fight in a roughly 24 hour period. The winning character will earn one extra spot in the district that their character won with for the 90th quell (or whatever the new equivalent for 3 tesserae ends up being) to be put on them good for the next eligible Games the writer can partake in (90th for most of you except for Kaplan [who won] and whomever ends up GMing them, in which case it'll be the 91st).

And of course, as always, if there are any questions, just @ me on slack!