Author Games: Castle

A History

Mare was founded almost 114 years ago, starting with the rule of King James I. The kingdom was born when a country called Panem fell into a civil war, 289 years prior to the Games. A small section seceded from the rest of Panem, now called the Eleventh after the eleven districts that stayed together, and named itself Mare. Only after thirty years of fighting and another forty-five of diplomatic agreements did Mare earn its independence.

Mare has the technology of Panem, which is what makes it able to hold these games, but like Panem, it is only available to the higher-ups of society. The castle is fully equipped with everything from old television monitors to high-quiality holograms, and it is all controlled by one main Computer brain. The general public may have a television and things like fridges in some of the nicer homes, but most people need to use the large town square television to watch mandatory viewings (of which there are few).

People are happy, generally - poverty exists but is a small portion of the population, and people are compensated fairly for their work. Although some say the government is corrupt, it runs well.

The royal lineage started with James I, who ascended the throne at age 37. James is often known as the 'Father of Mare', as he was the first ruler of Mare and created many of the laws that still stand today. His wife, Queen Hestia, died at age fifty-two, but not before raising two sons. James never remarried,  and passed down the throne to his eldest son Williard when James died at 74.

Williard I died young at 38, leaving the throne to his son James II when James was only 14, 8 years after Williard took the throne. His wife, Queen Erica, lived until she was 67, and was known as the 'Old Queen' for many years.

James II ruled for many years, earning the nickname James of the Forest due to his hunting habits, until he died at 65. His triplet sons, Ronald, Harold, and Nolan, has previously decided they would rule jointly, but Nolan ran off to marry a foreign princess and denied his claim to the throne, and Ronald died at only 24 of diptheria. Consequently, Harold I took the throne, but even after eighteen years, he and his wife, Queen Isobel, had no heir.

Castle was born.

The Games are different from the Panemic style in that not everyone is entered. A letter was sent out to homes asking for volunteers, and the tributes were reaped from the people willing to be in the competition. They had to be up front about the risks; however, they included something to sweeten the pot. Even the loser's families will recieve riches as compensation. This was a turning point for many of the tributes.

The Reaping was held a month after the letters were recieved, and watched by the entire country. Tributes were then loaded onto trains and taken to the castle, where they spent a week being waited on and pampered before the Arena.

After they went into the arena, only one came out.