Viridian Sword Fighting Tournament The Viridian Sword Fighting Tournament, with roughly 64 sign-ups, had some famous names that drew the attention of the crowd. Present were Prince Markus Krumme, the heir to the Nordskag Kingdom, Regalia’s premier military vassal, Duke Vladislav Zastorzy, Duke of the northern Drixagh lands, Prince Raymond Alltmeister, second son of the Emperor of Regalia and Duke Franscesco Biagio, the military hot head of Montania. The various contestants were randomly assigned to brackets of sixteen contestants, and before long the tournament was underway. The Sword fighting matches were to be the highlight of the tournament, the horse dressage and Halberd skill matches being just visual sports. The First Bracket The first bracket fight was between Philip Kade and a Viridian Man-at-Arms. Philip defeated the Man-at-Arms in the first round, and then subsequently also defeated a Viridian trainee in the second round. In the third round however, he was soundly defeated by a Viridian Paladin and respectfully left the tournament with fourth ranking. In the other half of the bracket, a Viridian First Sergeant defeated Izaak Santorski in the first round who failed to achieve any bracket victories. The First Sergeant was then defeated by a ranking von Treppewitz Knight, who would eventually face off against the Paladin that defeated Philip Kade and actually lose, making the Paladin the bracket winner. The Second Bracket The first Second Bracket fight was already an intense one, Prince Markus Krumme faced off against Duke Reginald V Kade-Schwarz, colloquially called “The Black Military Wonder”. The Duke was however soundly defeated by the Prince of Nordskag, who went on to defeat a Viridian First Sergeant and a Viridian Second Sergeant. Duke Vladislav Zastorzy attempted to defeat a Viridian Second Sergeant in the second round, however was soundly defeated. On the other end of the bracket, Prince Raymond Alltmeister, the Emperor’s military son, defeated a Viridian Third Sergeant and a First sergeant in rapid succession. In the third round he too defeated a Viridian Trainee, until eventually facing off against Prince Markus Krumme. There was a certain tenseness in the air over the fight between the Prince from Nordskag and the Imperial Prince. Many held their breath as to who would win, and there was visible and audible discomfort in the audience when the Imperial Prince yielded to the superior aggression and strength of the Nordskag Prince who made it abundantly clear that this was going to have consequences for the relation between Regalia and Nordskag. Prince Markus Krumme was thus declared the winner of the second bracket. Third Bracket The Third Bracket also had some interesting names to boot. In the first round, Thomas Karlste defeated a Typhonus Knight until he shocked the crowd by losing to Jannik Sinclair, a relative unknown in the second round. Jannik Sinclair had already defeated a Viridian Man-at-Arms and would face off against a Sorenvik Fighter in the next round. On the other end of the bracket, Lorenzo Martinez was disabled in the first round by DUke Francesco Biagio who used the pretext to declare the dominance of the Dressolini culture over the Daendroque, who were almost entirely unrepresented in the tournament. Another Martinez Knight would face up against the Duke Biagio in the third round but also be defeated, meaning a final fight for the bracket was to be had between the Duke and Jannik Sinclair. The Duke only just barely defeated Jannik Sinclair, meaning Jannik Sinclair respectfully left the tournament at the third ranking. Duke Francesco Biagio was thus the winner of the third bracket. Fourth Bracket The Fourth Bracket was a heavy one, filled with noble names. In the first round an Anahera Knight defeated a Man-at-Arms, while Renly Kade defeated a Viridian Second Sergeant in his first round. Renly then defeated the Anahera Knight in the second round and progressed onto the third round where he would face off against another Kade Knight who had just bested a Barlowe Knight and two trainees. Renly Kade won the fight, thus assuring him of a match against the other bracket contestant. On the other side of the bracket, Carnell Ailemer and Rodderick Coen squared off against each other, with Rodderick being the victor. Unfortunately Rodderick would face off against Viridian Paladin Frederick Belgrade in the second round, much his senior and superior in combat. Much to the surprise of the audience, Rodderick was able to defeat Frederick Belgrade, progressing onto the third round. At the end of the bracket, Anton Ravenstad faced off a Trainee that was easily defeated, and again against a Viridian Third Sergeant who was also defeated in the second round. Anton Ravenstad then eventually faced off against Rodderick Coen, and while hopes were high for Rodderick to win, Anton defeated him with relative ease. For the winning fight in the Fourth Bracket, Renly Kade faced off against his uncle Anton Ravenstad, and soundly defeated him, progressing onto the winner rounds. Rodderick Coen left the tournament at a respectful third ranking. Anton would be runner up to the Fourth Bracket and leave the tournament with a fourth ranking, while Renly was declared winner of the Bracket. Two Winner Rounds With the four brackets concluded, the really intense winner rounds would follow, four fights in which the sequence of victors would be concluded. On the top half a 42 year old von Treppewitz Knight faced off against the 31 year old Markus Krumme, while on the lower half the 53 year old silverback Duke Franscesco Biagio faced off against the barely 18 year old Renly Kade. The von Treppewitz Knight was again cheered for by the crowd, becoming the favorite and hopefully defeating Prince Markus Krumme, however it was not to be. Prince Markus Krumme in fact so soundly defeated the von Treppewitz Knight that he broke the Knight’s arm and had him carried off the grounds on a stretcher. On the other end meanwhile, the Duke Biagio protested about having to face off against a “Kade Runt”, who appeared to break even when the fight did actually start, but capitalized on a massive combat flaw that allowed Renly to defeat the Duke. The contest had reached a high point where the Elders of the Viridian Order sorely regretted giving into the pressure provided by the Prince Marshal, as all Viridian contestants were out of the race, and the two contestants to decide the victor of the entire Swords Fighting tournament were in their eyes an untrained child of a politician and a foreign disloyal heathen. The scandal in the Viridian Order grew ever bigger due to the poor performance of the Knights within the order and the ever more apparent becoming fact that they had been conned into a plot by the Ehren guard to prove their own downfall. The Final Fight Stakes were very high in the final fight, though many made their bets on Markus Krumme who was deemed the more experienced fighter of the two. The Final Fight was to be twice as long as previous fights, an exercise of endurance and skill both for the entertainment of the crowd as well as the final prize place. In the runner up matches, the von Treppewitz Knight was defeated by Duke Biagio, so Duke Biagio was already assured of the third place in the tournament, a slight consolation prize as he had once been an active Viridian Knight. The fight between Markus Krumme and Renly Kade started off entirely in favor of Renly Kade, severe blows were made on the Krumme Prince who entirely underestimated the Kade youngling, until he regained his ground in the middle of the fight, returning heavy blows to his opponent. The battle was finally decided in the very last ending moments where the youngling managed to soundly push his opponent to the ground and force him to yield. The crowd was silent for a while, expecting the Nordskag Prince to do something unruly or careless, however much like the Northerners had recently shown in duels, he accepted defeat both honorably and with much sportsmanship. The situation was then eased as the crowd realized that they barely just avoided a foreign heathen winning the prestigious Viridian Tournament, but there was still visible discomfort in the Viridian Elders over the idea that a youngling who was barely approaching his eighteenth birthday had somehow won and bested all other contestants, including trained Knights. All hopes were vested onto the Halberd and Horse segments of the Tournament to make up for lost prestige among the Viridians. The final results of the Swordsmanship tournament were as followed: Renly Kade: Gold Winner Prince Markus Krumme: Silver Winner Duke Francesco Biagio: Bronze Winner Von Treppewitz Knight: Grace Winner Prince Raymond Alltmeister, Jannik Sinclair, Anton Ravenstad: Second Honor Philip Kade, Rodderick Coen: Third Honor Duke Vladislav Zastorzy, Frederick Belgrade: Fourth Honor Izaak Santorski, Neil Black, Count Erk Archibaldus, Lorenzo Martinez and Carnell Ailemer would remain unranked in the Swordsmanship tournament. Horse Dressage The Horse Dressage was both a match of cavalry control and finesse in a sport that emulated jousting, but with more maneuvering and skill. Philip Kade was soundly and easily defeated by his uncle Thomas Karlste, who showed skillfully what a Paladin could do on horseback, while Philip had issues even controlling the horse’s basic movements. Frederick Belgrade utterly crushed Neil Black in his round, ensuring that Thomas Karlste and Frederick Belgrade would face off in the second round. Frederick Belgrade was however again bested by a Kade, declaring Thomas the winner of his bracket. In the second bracket Carnell Ailemer defeated Lorenzo Martinez in the first round and Prince Raymond Alltmeister defeated the Typhonus Horseman. Between the Prince and the Ailemer, the Prince was clearly the better, showing finer control over his black horse, being declared the winner of the second Bracket. In the third bracket, Rodderick Coen faced off against the Prince of Nordskag, and in a fit of cheer and jubilee of the crowd, instantly defeated his foreign opponent in the first round. The Crowd went mad with cheers as they felt their honor as Regalians had been vindicated, the brute northerner having been disabled in the far more civilized horseman pursuit. Izaak Santorski meanwhile bested a Barlowe horseman, meaning he would face off against Rodderick Coen in the second round. Rodderick was however easily bested in turn by Izaak Santorski, who was simply his senior in the Viridian Order. Izaak Santorski was thus the third bracket winner. In the fourth bracket, Anton Ravenstad quickly defeated a Typhonus Horseman and would eventually face off against Renly Kade again, like in the swordsmanship tournament, Renly having just crushed Jannik Sinclair in the first round. This time, the Kade’s uncle was clearly his superior however and his horsemanship easily defeated Renly Kade. Anton Ravenstad was thus the winner of the fourth bracket. In the winning matches, Thomas Karlste would first face off against his Emperor brother’s second son. In a very even match, the Viridian Paladin had difficulty defeating the Prince, but eventually managed to best him by a few points on offence and progress to the final matchup. On the other side of the winning matches, Izaak Santorski was soundly defeated by Anton Ravenstad who showcased superior horsemanship skills, much to the chagrin of the Santorski family who had always made horsemanship their pursuit. Izaak would however continue on to redeem himself against the Imperial Prince and place third in the horsemanship segment, while Anton Ravenstad and Thomas Karlste would face off in the final match. The match between Anton and Thomas was quickly decided, throughout almost the entire match, Thomas Karlste showed better control and superior strength on horseback, only being slightly bested in points by Anton Ravenstad’s superior finesse at the end of the match. Thomas Karlste was declared the winner of the horsemanship segment, while Anton Ravenstad would come second. The final listings were as followed: Thomas Karlste: Gold Winner Anton Ravenstad: Silver Winner Izaak Santorski: Bronze Winner Prince Raymond Alltmeister: Grace Winner Frederick Belgrade, Carnell Ailemer, Rodderick Coen and Renly Kade: Second Honor Philip Kade, Neil Black, Lorenzo Martinez, Typhonus Horseman, Prince Markus Krumme, Barlowe Horseman, another Typhonus Horseman and Jannik Sinclair plus various other Viridian members remained unranked in the horsemanship segment. Halberd Sportsmanship The Viridian Tournament Halberd Sportsmanship was a match between the various contestants to show their agility and skill with a halberd before a panel of judges. Unlike the previous segments, the Halberd segment was one performed alone without any direct flights or contestants in the ring, purely to show one’s skill with their hands and handling of a heavy weapon while remaining mobile. The first one to perform was Thomas Karlste, who immediately scored a 288 in score, both showing skill in handling the halberd as well as superior strength in crushing the combat dummies. Second up came Frederick Belgrade who scored 304 points, just an inch length ahead of Thomas Karlste because of superior grip and positional handling of his halberd. Renly Kade was then up next, scoring a total of 302 points, just 2 points behind on Frederick Belgrade. While technique wise he was inferior to his uncle Thomas, some unseen before techniques were used that combined acrobatics with halberd fighting that greatly impressed the judges. Anton Ravenstad and Jannik Sinclair would come after, both scoring exactly 90 points in their performance, while still skillfull, clearly being outmatched by the previous contestants in raw power. Rodderick Coen was up next, however the pressure to perform became too much for him, and he lost grip of his halberd twice during the performance, scoring a sad 75 points. Lorenzo Martinez came after the Coen, who eventually was treated more like a mid-show entertainment than anything else as he horrendously failed to even hit a single dummy with his unwieldy halberd which Lorenzo clearly had never handled before in his life. He finally scored 25 points, easily being bested by almost six times by Izaak Santorski who would score 151 points in his performance. The crowd was then again treated to an absolute horrendous failure in Neil Black’s 8 points, one of the worst contestants in the entire segment. Carnell Ailemer would continue to score 104 points, and Philip Kade made a fool of himself by accidently hitting himself on the head with his own halberd pole, yet still recovering with acrobatics from the Turall training and eventually scoring 130 points. The final results were as followed: Frederick Belgrade: Gold Winner Renly Kade: Silver Winner Thomas Karlste: Bronze Winner Anton Ravenstad, Jannik Sinclair: Shared Grace Winner Carnell Ailemer, Izaak Santorski: Second Honor Philip Kade: Third Honor Lorenzo Martinez, Rodderick Coen and Neil Black would remain unranked in this segment. Conclusion At the end of the tournament, the Viridian Elders remained within their private quarters for much longer than usual, as was the expectation from the crowd. This tournament had been extremely controversial. The Primae had originally permitted some of the other nobility to participate under the auspice of honorable sportsmanship, however the fact that a near teenager had won the swordsmanship tournament and that foreign barbarians had bested so many Knights had caused severe friction among the Viridian Elders. Even among the Viridian ranks, many spoke of disgrace that these non-Knights had been permitted to enter the tournament and that the only reason they progressed so far was because of dishonorable tactics. While certainly applicable to the likes of Markus Krumme who fought like a true Northerner, it severely offended the other contestants who had all fought hard and fairly against their opponents. Eventually the Primae appeared, and shocked the crowd when he announced there would be no Viridian ranking this tournament. The investment of non-Knights had so tightly upset the balance of the Viridian ranking system that the Elders faced open revolt from within their own ranks if they were to give non-Knights an honorable rank in their own order. At the end of his speech, the Primae announced publicly that he would face repentance for his failure to lead the Viridian Order correctly and honorably towards its members, and he immediately stepped down. The other Elders announced they would elect a new Primae from their ranks within the coming weeks, and that the Tournament was going to be re-done behind closed doors and without any foreigners or non-Knights being allowed to participate. While this certainly satisfied the elitist tendencies of some of the Viridian Knights, it was not all well for them. Some protested at the lack of honor among the Elders, as the elders refused to recognize the foreign and outer skill of some of the contestants. Similarly, many nobles in the crowd were outraged at the utter lack of regard that the elders showed towards their kin who were effectively brushed aside. Eventually the crowd was rushed out of the Viridian Castle and the doors were locked behind them, with some of the winners with little to show for. Talks would continue to circulate in town, opinions divided on whether it was fair of the Elders to shut out the outsiders, or whether they should have accepted the changing times in that their Knight’s order wasn’t as high quality anymore as it used to be, and improve their conduct both within and outward. Only time would tell how the Elders would react to the popular opinion around them, and the actions of the other nobility. Further notes: Some contestants were disqualified for incompatible character applications, character designs that seemed to be arbitrarily put together for the sake of combat prowess, not actual character design. Some contestants were disqualified for not being backed by a noble family or not being permitted to enter for the various entry reasons provided on the sign-up thread. A re-do of this tournament will be done without foreigners and outsiders participating soon(tm) These tournaments will continue to be hosted every 2 months, where the skill cap assessments will be re-made from scratch to account for training and such. The skill cap assessments were as followed: Thomas Karlste 180 Philip Kade 81 Carnell Ailemer 104 Neil Black 5 Izaak Santorski 100 Lorenzo Martinez 12 Rodderick Coen 76 Jannik Sinclair 90 Anton Ravenstad 90 Renly Kade 166 Frederick Belgrade 180 You may charter official protest to your skill cap assignment to me in private message. The calculation is based on: +Physical size+Physical Peak(age)+Military Strengths+Military Traits+years trainedx3+Education completed+Viridian Skill Level-weakness traits-physical weaknesses. The skill calculation is comprehensive and I will dispense the calculations if requested. Keep in mind that the calculations are based on clarity of Character Applications. If you feel you are under calculated, it may be because your character application is unclear. There will be no roll changes for skill cap calculation changes this tournament, but during the next tournament changes will taken into consideration. The rolls were performed as followed: NPC victory determined by highest skillcap + story decision PC over NPC victory if skill cap = +50 Pc vs Pc rolls x3 and sum of highest is winner. Final battle x6 rolls and sum of highest is winner. Horse matches x3 rolls and sum of highest is winner. Halberd scores x3 rolls and sum determines score. Skill cap altered by -20 or +20 depending on body weight and agility in character applications. All of the events are fully IC knowledge.
Frederick Belgrade The announcement of the Primae's resignation had been a shock, especially considering the circumstances. He never expected to get paired up against Thomas Kade, who had perhaps been the most fun opponent. He still was wondering how Rodderick had managed to beat him, a fact which he would probably beat himself up over until he died. The knight was glad he at least won at least the Halberd part of the tourney, it made up for the embarrassing loss in Swordsmanship. He walked over to Neil, who was getting patched up from the brutality Frederick had dealt him. "Hey Black," he said, "sorry 'bout that, I tend to be a bit harsh in these tourneys."
wow I sucked and h8 the dressolini more now let's go to war m8 and see who's boss Marty make the internoble war system my dude I'm about to slayyyyy
Well that's funny. Izaak's skill is swordsmanship and he did better riding a horse haha. Funny stuff.
