Annual federal jousting tournament
| The Annual Federal Jousting Tournament | |
|---|---|
| File:AFJT.png | |
| Formerly: | Års spelen (unkown - 1846) |
| sports | * pas d'armes * Meleé * Behourd * Jousting * mounted archery * mounted dart archery * mounted pistol archery * Scanderan wrestling * boxing * duel at foot * duel by knife * crossbow archery * bridge fight |
| Founded: | 1846 |
| Khönglig ach federal turne mäster (Royal and federal tourney master): | His most honoured Jarlship Hylwin auf Starkarm jarl of Särkerö and royal and federal tourney master |
| Inaugural season: | 1372 ars turne ( the 1372nd year of our kingdom's tourney, held in 1846) |
| No. of members: | thousands, varies from year to year |
| Country(ies): | The absolute royal federation |
| Most recent champion(s): | grand champion: Harik auf Vargarytare pas d'armes champion: Aldreg auf Bortomkulla Meleé champion: Harik auf Vargarytare Behourd champion: The Imerian realm Jousting champion: Harik auf Vargarytare dart champion: Martin Hagrylssen pistol champion: Harik auf Vargarytare wrestling champion: Eralk Holgerssen boxing champion: Faldryn auf Starknave duel at foot champion: Darlman auf Sagovik knife champion: Darlman auf Sagovik crossbow champion: Nils Hyldrikssen bridge fight: Eralk Holgerssen |
| Most titles: | Tanlig Tergalssyn (26 titles) |
| Shown on tv channels | Most federal channels Foreign channels. |
The annual federal jousting tournament is the largest tournament held in the absolute royal federation where thousands of men from all federal realms and territories gathers to compete against one another in old combat sports, either as individuals as is done in most sports or in teams as you do in the Behourd competition. The competition is held each spring and starts at the second of may and last for a month outside of Imerbürg each year.
Each man competes in all competition and the man with the overall best positions of all the tourney is then dubbed grand champion by the high king and the grand champion is then allowed to name a woman of his choice "Fagraste utaf di alla" or "The one of greatest beauty" while the winners in the other competitions are named champions of their field and is allowed to name a woman "Ein utaf tvalv fagra!" or "One of twelve beauties!".
In addition to the titles handed out so does the winners receive a price of 1 000 000 khrönor with the exception of the grand champion that receives 10 000 000 khörnor and the crossbow champion that receives 500 000 khrönor. Further more so are a golden helmet and axe handed out to the grand champion and a pair of silver to the other champions by the high king himself.
History
The history of the annual federal jousting tournament can be traced back to "års spelen" or "the yearly games" that each Scanderan kingdom held in spring to celebrate the end of winter and in particularly so can the games trace their origin back to the northern Imerian style held in the river kingdom. As the river kingdom expanded did more and more people travel to Imerbürg rather than their old tourney grounds and as Imeriata and Vedian entered a personal union did Fighters from Vedian join the Imerian ones in the games held in Imerbürg.
As the federation continued to expand did more and more people join in and finally in 1846 so did Gustav rex Stjärnkhrone V create the office of Khönglig ach federal turne mäster that were in charge of the tourneys that the crown held and in particularly the yearly one held around Imerbürg. Further more were the first Royal and federal tourney master given a budget and the yearly tourney trust were created to organise the tourney each year.
Originally were only noblemen allowed to compete with the exception of the crossbow and wrestling competition which was exclusively held for the commoners in the case of the crossbows and open to everyone as the wrestling and bridge fighting were, however in 1902 so did the other tourneys open for commoners as well as noblemen and in 1903 were the crossbow competition opened for noblemen as well. The final change that occurred was after the necron war when also newly freed non-humans were allowed to compete as they now also classified as freemen and were allowed to compete. However so were these entries all but entirely limited to the wrestling and the crossbow competition where they were able to score some victories.
Entrance
To be allowed to compete in the tourney at a bare minimum so must one have a crossbow and quarterstaff which would allow one to enter the crossbow, bridge fighting and wrestling competitions, however to be allowed to compete in the other events so must a contestant be able to show approved tourney: full plate armour, pair of flintlock pistols, darts, jousting darts, jousting lances, blunt axes, mace or sword, duelling knives, shield, a trained and a tourney trust approved warhorse.
As these items are rather expensive do does it limit how many can join the tourney proper and mostly noblemen and richer merchants are able to join in even if commoners swarms to the wrestling, bridge fighting and crossbow competitions as well.
Pas d'armes
Pas d'armes is an odd part of the tournament and is the first event that is held for a week, each contestant is given a pair of golden spurs and are then allowed to either guard a point or travel the countryside. Once two contestants run into one another so do they duel on foot and the winner receives a pair from the loser. When the week is over so is the winner named champion of the Pas d'armes.
Meleé
The meleé is perhaps the easiest part of the tourney rule wise as large groups of competitors (around 50) in armour and with their weapons of choice are lead into the tourney ground and are then supposed to fight one another off. Points are handed out by judges from style and amounts of hits just as cheep shots of various kinds makes you lose points. Once the judges have determined that a fighter is by all means dead so is he called out and the man is forced to leave the competition and the last man standing is then rewarded a large sum of points and the winner of the meleé is the man with most points.
The meleé is the second sport and is held in large tourneys where the winners of each competition is allowed to go on to the next round where they face 50 other winners until the last fifty or so competitors where the winner is named champion of the meleé.
Behourd
Behourd is fought in teams of twenty (twenty attackers and ten defenders with ten reserves) on foot, just like in the meleé so are several people involved in each event however instead of a big free for all so is the behourd fought in teams, a defending team and an attacking team. The defending team is then given a smaller fortress to defend with swords, crossbows and tourney versions of siege defences. The goal of the attacking team is then to take the fortress while the defending team shall hold the attacking team off.
Jousting
The jousting part of the tournament is the most important part of the tourney and is the part that attracts the most audience of all the sports in the tournament. Per standard rules so is the jousting part of the tournament a great tournament where two men faces one another and are supposed to knock one another down from his horse. The winner is allowed to advance to the next match and the last man standing is the winner of the entire tourney.
Mounted dart archery
Mounted dart archery is a old tradition that arose from the old Scanderan military tactic of letting the medium cavalry that often accompanied the heavy and light infantry join the crossbow and javelin throwers by riding forward and launching an attack from horseback on the enemy shieldwall with their own javelins and to break the loose ranks of skirmishers before returning to their own lines to get more javelins.
Over time so did this tactic evolve as the lardins started to carry heavier armour and heavier lances, however so did they replace their larger Javelins that they had to return to their own lines for by smaller darts that they often carried a quiver of into battle. Before they charged did often the rear ranks unleash a swarm of dart attacks against their opponents before they drew axes and maces and joined the first ranks of lancers in the charge.
In modern competitions so do the contestants in a tourney ride past fifteen targets with a 10 pace space between them and 20 paces between the contestants and the target and you are awarded points from accuracy depending on where on the target you hit.
Mounted pistol archery
The rules of the pistol archery are almost identical to the dart competition but you only have 3 targets with a 75 pace space between them and as many flintlock pistols as targets. Just as in the dart competition so are you awarded points from accuracy.
Just as the dart competition evolved from old Scanderan battle tactics so did the pistol competition evolve from the later heavy cavalry tactic of having small light units on the flanks of the heavy cavalry armed with loads of pistols attached to their saddles. While the heavy cavalry still fought in a large formation did the pistol men spread out in a thin line and continued to draw and fire their pistols as the unit charged the enemy which allowed them to keep up a continued rate of fire before the heavy lances of the first two ranks of cavalry smashed into the enemy.
Scanderan wrestling
Scanderan wrestling is somewhat different from the regular western style as the opponents instead of grabbing one another resorts to grab one another's special leather trousers and by holding in them are they supposed to throw their opponent to the ground. However so does the differences ends there as the man that manages to hold his opponent down with his back against the floor for three seconds have won. However there are however some similarities as there are no points and the match can only end with one man lying on his back.
Just as the jousting so are wrestling held in large tournaments where the winner advances to another match while the loser is knocked out of the tournament and the overall winner of the tournament is named wrestling champion.
Boxing
Just as the Scanderan wrestling and the jousting so are the boxing event organised like a tournament where the winner advances to the next round and the losers are knocked out of the competition until there is only one boxing champion remaining.
Duel at foot
Duel at foot is just as the meleé a competition between fighters on foot, however instead of two men facing one another so is the duel at foot between two heavily armoured men armed with axes, maces and a shield. The point is to get a hit that would regularly kill a man on your foe at which point the referee will give you the victory.
Duel by knife
The duel by knife is a duel where the opponents only wear gorgets, goggles and a thick leather sleeveless tunic over a white cotton tunic and trousers. The goal is to make your foe bleed using only your dueling dagger. What separates a dueling dagger from a regular one is that it is thicker and slightly curved but lacks any kind of top and instead just ends in a thick square to make it impossible to stab with it but forces the men to rely on slashings attack against their foe's arms and face.
Crossbow archery
Crossbow archery is the most well known of commoner sports in the federation and the commoners in Scandera have historically had a great connection to the crossbow as it was an important hunting tool for centuries and heavier war variants were often employed by light skirmishers in war and replaced javelins and for centuries were commoners required by law to train with the crossbow and serve their lords as crossbowmen in war.
In the modern era is this spirit still alive and crossbow archery is an important sport in the federation where men shoots at targets from 45 paces.
Bridge fight
Bridge fight is a old Scanderan tradition just as wrestling and crossbow archery and is fought on a small log over a river, or in the case of most modern competitions over an artificial gathering of water. The two opponents face one another off with only a quarter staff and the goal of the competition is to make the other man fall over. In the annual tournament so is this purely a tournament sport and the winner goes on to the next round and the loser is out of the competition.
