A Sportsman guide to some interesting Tamrielic sports
With the recent thread about sports in Nirn, I've decided to compile a list of some traditional sports and their specifies. Do enjoy!
In order to extend our glorious heritage and traditions, I've decided to write this detailed list about sports and activities in Nirn, especially in Tamriel in order to educate the newer generations and keep the good game spirit around!
###Hunt the Elf:
This is perhaps one of the most family-friendly, fun, rewarding and non-cruel sports by far, at least according to the Nords of Skyrim.
Hunt the Elf is perhaps one of the oldest sports in the list, so old that even the Atmorans of the frozen continent used to enjoy it. The game is simple, all you have to do is kill an Elf, preferably a Snow Elf and bring his head to one of the hold cities to be rewarded with a bottle of Mead! Sounds awesome right?
But unfortunately this sport was outright abandoned just as it's culminated it's highest popularity. Why so, you might wonder? Is it because the Nords evolved? No more Elves maybe? Well the answer isn't that or this, really. It's far more complicated. You see, for every Elven head you brought, you'd get a bottle of Mead. This gave an unbelievable boost to it's popularity that it outnumbered Mead production in Skyrim. This resulted into the Great Mead Crisis, which is one of Skyrim's most important events, so important it almost triggered what would've been the most destructive civil war Skyrim has ever had. Warriors and even mere civilians were all angry and protesting against this outrage. They almost fought each other because of it. Funny to note, the Jarls and the High King attempted to do something about this, but their whole armies went in mutiny because of this Mead shortage. So the administration, in risk of getting overthrown changed the direction of it's attention and it's people to High Rock, and promised the end of this shortage had this wave of warriors attacked and pillaged these lands. This came out to the favor of the Royalty who got rid of many nuances and got enriched in the same time. Shortly after this, this sport was banned in all of Skyrim.
The Imperials of Cyrodiil attempted to adopt their own version of this sport, but they failed miserably because in reality, more Imperials got killed cause of this than any Ayleid, so it was shortly banned there too. High Rock almost went under the same phase, but they quickly came back to their senses. Interesting sport, eh?
###Ride-Your-Slaves competition:
Extremely popular in Morrowind, this sport is extremely involved with betting. The slave master, always a Dunmer would race using his slave to reach the end line with thousands upon thousands of people cheering him up and betting on him to win. Any types of slaves were accepted, even people of your own kin.
However this sport received an all-together ban due to Imperial interference.
###Jousting:
Whether you consider this a sport or not is up to you. However it used to be extremely popular in the high feudal knightly state of High Rock, yes, I said it "used to". Because this is a rather old tradition nowadays, it reached it's peak during the second era, now it almost has no value. The last jousting tournament took place around 200 years a go at least.. How sad if you ask me!
###Marathons:
Popular among the light feet Redguards, when played casually, they can be really fun. However I am in no way talking about the casual marathons, something Redguards hate. I'm talking about the competitive side of it, or what they call the "Great Ra'Gada showoff"; a huge marathon that starts all the way from the Reach of Skyrim, to the Isles of Stros M'Kai. The competitors are forbidden from any external communication and have to cross deep into the Wayrest mountains all the way to the Bretonese coast to swim off the Hammerfell and take on a deadly voyage to the Hunding's Bane and fabricate their own boat to sail to Stros M'Kai. However due to the high risk of dying, not many wish to take part of this anymore unfortunately.
###Throwing Bananas/Catch the mouse:
A sport that the Imga of Valenwood played, it consists of a minimum of at least 3 players. Basically two of the apes have to keep throwing the banana and prevent the third one from taking it. It can be quite fun but it's been abandoned before they even disappeared, their reason is because it's barbaric and they wanna be more Altmeri.
Catch the mouse though, is a really simple one. It's played in Elsywer obviously. It's played in a small pit where contestants have to use their strength to catch a mouse on steroids (a lot of Moon Sugar basically). Can be quite fun!
###The Cannibal's hunt:
A popular sport among the Bosmer, they would battle to death in the densest jungles of Valenwood with just a Bow and very limited resources. The winner is the one who eats his opponents, it doesn't matter if he killed him or not. This sport's frequency has decreased a lot over time, especially with the coming of the Reformists.
###Dragon riding:
An old sport in Skyrim which consisted of attempts to ride a Dragon and tame him, but let's say it just didn't work out.
###Boring sports:
The most boring kind, practiced by Imperials and Altmer, they consist of Olympics, Gladiator games, Horse races, brawls, and so on.. They're so boring I don't even want to describe them!
4E 203, By Leo Zerillius
*