By Edmond Montilith, famous lore-writer of the White Realm
Jousting is a popular sport in the known world. Of all kingdoms and nations, however, the White Realm is most keen of this spectacular sport. The Realm hosts a very popular national competition every second year, which dates back to the very beginning of the White Realm.
Lord Sunnycool himself finds jousting competitions exciting events for both competitors and spectators. With various jousting arenas in several of the Realm’s bigger cities, the common Realmers love to see parades of the knights in shining armour and colourful outfits as well as the jousting events themselves. Almost any Realmer has a favourite Knight, Team and usually supports the county in which they reside when the biannual Inter-County-Tournament takes place. The Capital County and the Southern County have the strongest teams in these competitions, reflecting that jousting is indeed most popular in these two counties.
Many are surprised that Mjolnir County performs so poorly in the Inter-County-Tournament, but the official “excuse” is that the Knights of Mjolnir County concentrate on real warfare and leave parading and fighting with blunt lances to the “poets” of Southern County.
Jousting really is one of the few phenomena that show strong competitive spirit between the otherwise tightly bound counties of the White Realm.
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Jousting is gaining increasing popularity in various other nations of the Known World. This spawned the World Jousting Championship, which takes place all across the Known World. The competition is popular almost anywhere – from the Golden Empire to Weissland and proves exciting as entertainment for common and noble people alike.
The World Jousting Championship has competing teams from the following nations: The White Realm (founders of the Championship), Weissland, Ahm-Shere, The Golden Empire, the Empire of the East, Rifelindor. The Empire of Maga Khan was also invited by the White Realm, but the Ahm-Sheran knights threatened to leave the competition if the neighbor Empire was allowed in the Championship. There have also been some discussions on the Eastern Empire’s right to compete on its own, since many see the Empire as a part of the White Realm. After extensive debate, the Eastern Empire was allowed to compete as a separate nation.
Rifelindor has not taken part in several of the most recent Championships, due to internal unrest.
The World Jousting Championship is split in six stages, each taking place in a different city. A stage is usually 5 days long and the structure is usually as follows:
- Opening day: The mayor or governor of the hosting city (sometimes accompanied by the leader of the hosting nation) welcomes the competitors and their escorts to the city and officially opens the stage their city is hosting. The competing Knights parade through the streets of the cities, clad in elaborate armour and/or clothing with their team’s colours and banner. This brings many spectators and the noble women of the cities also take notice of the most appealing and attractive knights.
- First jousting day: A set number of knights joust on the arena. A large crowd of both common and noble people spectate as the knights joust.
- Third jousting day: Same as first jousting day usually.
- Ball day/night: The knights attend an official ball in the hosting city’s castle or other building of importance. There are opportunities for social activities and diplomatic talk between nations. There is also room for dancing and romance. The balls are usually exclusive to the nobility of the host city and the knights.
- Final jousting day: Usually the “stage winners” fight a tie-breaker. The winner of the stage is announced. Then an ending parade is initiated and the knights receive a formal good-bye by the city mayor.
The Knights and their followers then travel to the next city on the schedule.
The World Jousting Championship has several benefits for the participating nations. There is the obvious goal for honour and glory for the various nations, since winning the Championship is both prestigious and glorious. Economically, the nations also benefit, because the stages draw quite some crowds and the inns and markets of the cities usually have an economical boom during their “stage week”. The nations’s governments have little expenditure themselves, since the teams are privately sponsored.
Finally, the Championship honours the friendly competitive nature of the international relationships. There are big rivalries between knights, teams and nations, but bloody episodes are few and far between.
Jousting is becoming bigger and bigger every year and cities are investing more and more in elaborate arenas, hoping that their cities will be chosen as hosts, due to the benefits mentioned earlier. Currently the biggest (most seating and standing spots) and most beautiful jousting arenas are found in the cities of Callioth (City of Courage), Verdonsk and Adamopolis. Weissland is undergoing a modernization of their own arenas and currently the nation’s best arena is found in Ordail.
Currently, there is no proven proportion between a nation's skill in the Jousting Championship and their cavalry's effeciency, although it is commonly believed that Jousting keeps the Knights of the Known World in shape.