Kingdom Competitive Wrestling
History
An intense tradition which scholars believe has its origins eons ago in the 5th century, wrestling in the Final Kingdom has become a national pastime over the ages. It is considered by many citizens of Sinderlan to be the pinnacle of athletics, serialized storytelling, and personal expression. In modern times, the sport attracts millions of viewers, enthusiasts, and competitors annually across the continent.
Early Grapple Plays
Scholars and anthropologists believe the sport originated in Ulana in the 400s when the region was mostly open uninhabited plains and wilderness. The earliest farmers in the region were believed to have been retired warrior-poets either from the Free Cities of the far north or from the more-inhabited south of Sinderlan. Their dedication to the Monarch granted them increased size, strength, and vitality, while their love of story and song drove them to become restless in their retirement to farm life in Ulana's young vineyards. These combined factors led the Ulanans to combine their greatest strengths and desires into feats of storytelling and athleticism in the first "Grapple Plays." The first Grapple Plays were composed of simple stories of mighty knights fighting for honor. Each player would sing attestations of their chivalrous dedication while attempting to grapple their opponent into submission. The earliest rings were simple wooden platforms, as such there are no surviving original rings today. Over time, these Grapple Plays became more intense, both in story and in aggression. Individuals who participated became synonymous with the characters they played. Grappling gave way to more complex and intense moves such as suplexes, chokeslams, and guillotine drops. The name of the sport, at some unknown period, became simply Wrestling. As the events themselves became more advanced, so too did the culture surrounding them. Local legends began springing up over the ages regarding the exploits of certain wrestlers. Extremely loyal fans rallied behind their favorite wrestlers, many of them hailing from certain vineyards, hamlets, and cities. The lines between the wrestlers and their personas became blurred until they became embodiments of certain ideals, peoples, or regions. The popularity of the sport also ran rampant as it spilled out from Ulana to surrounding Duchies, and eventually to the entire Kingdom. By the time of the 70th century, it was an enormous part of Kingdom culture, but always had its heart remain in Ulana. Every Termida each week from the start of the month of Grey Skies to the end of Dying Light, these regional icons would clash in spectacles of story and strength. Some of the most famous wrestlers from this period included Hrolgar the Warforged Crusher, Polonius the Minotaur of Tarburland, Morty of the Reservoir, and Commander Slime Sr. The stories they told in the form of their matches were intricate, but entirely self-contained with each match. The stories often revolved around retaining or securing honor for loved ones, hometown, or Monarch. These simple, yet intense stories captivated the minds and hearts of fans for literal eons.Modern Wrestling
"Modern" competitive wrestling has its origins in the 73rd century when the Duchies of Ulana and Cord Ea Lorin proposed the popular sport as a means to settle international disputes instead of costly Wine Wars. The trade unions of Pillarin were shocked by this violent and confusing tradition, but agreed to participate in the name of peace. This resulted then-Duke Reince McMahon of Ulana, with the blessing of the King of Grappling, to establish the Kingdom Wrestling Consortium (KWC) as a central governing body for managing the legally-binding events in 7285. The KWC, with its central office in the Ulanan city of Pekneth, organized local offices in each Duchy to establish an official bureaucracy in registering wrestlers, organizing events, and ensuring league rules were followed for the safety of participants. The Free Cities also established a counterpart organization, the Free Cities Wrestling Federation (FCWF), headquartered in Pesborough. However, this would not last as the FCWF could not find enough willing participants and eventually was disbanded in 7287 before a single match was even held, with the trade unions nullifying the treaty establishing wrestling as an official alternative to war one year later in 7288. Despite the collapse of the initial deal, the KWC quickly pivoted its purpose. As it had so quickly and efficiently established a centralized organization for wrestling, it was able to transition into a purely recreational organization. The KWC ramped up recruitment and began writing elaborate long-form stories for its matches. These new storylines became incredibly intricate, with crossover events between certain wrestlers, sometimes including up to twelve competitors at a time. The stories would often span entire wrestling seasons, culminating in the championship which usually was a multi-day finale event. While it is an open secret that sometimes modern wrestling storylines are "rigged," fans come out in droves to cheer for their favorites on a regular basis nonetheless. By the dawn of the 74th century, wrestling had evolved from a cultural past time to a continent-wide phenomenon. Even after the secession of the Duchy of the Crag in 8477, the region continued to send participants to the KWC through its branch organization, the Grand Duke's Wrestling Group (GDWG). While Hrim and the Didacian Consulate did not send participants to the KWC, they maintain small minor league wrestling groups and clubs, usually only at the local level. However, fans from Hrim and the Conulate still travel from afar to see their favorite Kingdom wrestlers duke it out live or catch up on the latest developments via live updates from regional Stone-Sending Offices every Termida. The most ambitious and well-attended event in KWC history was a wrestling retelling of Faustus Kellodon's The Tragedy of Lady Lorthr'ten, itself an adaptation of the myth The Genesis of the Elves and the Loss of Lady Lorthr'ten. This wrestling match in 9043 went on for four days straight, and featured Lingus "Kingmaker" Klothon as Lady Lorthr'ten, Kale Ringmaster as Termina, and Babar the Barbarian as a new original character, Babar the Barbarian. At the height of the match, Babar came out from under the stage with a barstool made of solid gold and shattered the crystal which his season-long rival Lingus Klothon was imprisoned. The two dramatically made up on stage and proceeded to tag-team suplex Kale Ringmaster into submission. Babar was crowned champion of the ring for the 9043 season after Lingus conceded out of respect. It is widely accepted as one of the greatest matches of the last two millennia.Wrestling Outside of Sinderlan
While the sport is considered barbaric by Pillarinians, it has gained a small regional following in some southern Free Cities such as Hi Ba due to their growing trade relationships with Sinderlan. Harwick Trade Co. offices in the company towns of Plentius have begun holding their own internal wrestling competitions since 9013, however with heavily modified rule sets, bizarrely focusing on the number of teeth which are knocked out in a given round. Harwick Trade wrestling is explicitly forbidden by company policy, but participants still hold the competition annually with the championship in rotating locations across company towns. The reigning company champion as of 9048 is Carlos Kinkaid, King of Dental Damnation, who has held the title since 9025.Observance
The tradition of wrestling is observed on a weekly basis in the Duchy of Ulana. It has typically been held on Termida each week, around an hour before sunset with the sunset coinciding with the end of the match proper, with exceptions being made for major events or championships.
A Sinderlan-style wrestling match is usually held in the fields of a vineyard in special areas cordoned off for the fight. As vineyards are rare outside of Ulana, other Kingdom Duchies will have purpose-built vineyards in magically climate-controlled areas, some being glass or wooden structures, others being inside caves or other naturally-sheltering formations. Matches with large attendance numbers are held in specially-made "vineyards" which are essentially purpose-built arenas with stadium-style seating, but with grapevines growing across and through the stadium. As vineyards typically are a large cultural aspect of the matches, wine is served to spectators in excess throughout the match. Usually, the wine is produced in the vineyard hosting the match, but it is widely accepted amongst wrestling fans that local wine outside of Ulanan vineyards is rarely worth drinking. As such, many wrestling events offer Ulanan wine at a massive markup premium price.
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