Tower Sports

Author: Kheldin Korlan

A humorous text on entertainment in the barracks. Really, we take better care of our recruits ;)

Submitted for raising to Soldier

In such an athletic city as Tar Valon many sporting activities take place; all of which are considered a vital part of the daily or weekly routine for Recruits, Soldiers and Gaidin.

A formerly popular athletic pastime, now considered a blood sport, is "Red baiting". This pursuit involves flirting or otherwise with a sister of the Red Ajah. The aim is to irritate her enough to attempt to whip you, in the manner of bull fighting or cock baiting. Alas, this sport has since been banned because of its cruelty, not to the Red, but to the male participants, due to the high level of mortalities when a group of foolhardy Citizens attempted to bait a Red sitter when she was in a severely bad mood.

Another sport, considered to be on the way out nowadays as well, is that of "SDS Wars". This involves two members of the SDS company having a lot to drink, sitting at a table, and attempting to head butt each other into submission. It is suspected amongst wiser heads, that the sport was in fact the result of a sneaky collusion between Blues and the Dai M'Hael, who are always up for a cheap laugh.

Sparring, whilst not technically a sport, is (in many cases quite literally) the lifeblood of the Practice Yard. At any time of day a huge number of male members can be seen beating the hell out of one another in the name of training. The recognised sword forms are often adapted to apply to specific situations, for example, the classic pioneering move, "The Rising Sun Splits Open Camden's Skull".

It is not known whether the Amyrlin herself is a sportswoman, but it is a well known fact that she actively encourages vicious tests of individual masculinity, in order to breed better Warders. One could catalogue sports like baseball and football, popular amongst Recruits, but new members quickly learn that a sport is not a sport unless there is blood involved.