Imperial Skar Pennant

The Imperial Skar Pennant is arguably the most popular game with spectators out of all the sports held on New Years Day in Aurice as part of the Games of High Summer of Aurice. Spectators fill the fundaments alongside the great canals and pack into special aerobarges chartered specifically for this purpose by late morning on New Year's Day. The cost of lodging in the city proper typically doubles or even triples.

The Imperial Skar Pennant is played among three teams of nine players on each team. The team colors are traditionally silver, crimson, and blue. A player is a human gibgibsew rider mounted on his gibgibsew and the game is played on the greatest rivens of the city of Aurice, most principally Golden Phœnice Riven. A gibgibsew player is typically stout and squat in stature as this is the ideal body shape to stay mounted on the creature’s back. A gibgibsew is similar in morphology to a gila monster with the exception that a gibgibsew has eight legs instead of four and is about fifteen feet long. The game is a contest over the slog, a loose bag of reptile hide bigger than the shoulder-breadth of a large man. The gibgibsew is trained to hold the bag in its mouth. A gibgibsew can bear its rider at a slow speed, slugging through the water, even deep water which is any water so deep, the gibgibsew cannot touch its bottom. However, the creature is capable of sprinting at rather fast speeds over the top of the water due to its constitution and magical properties. The manner and practice of human controlling gibgibsew requires continual conditioning and the implementation of magical devices much greater than standard practice of the law-lock.

Skar Betting and Riots

Betting on the outcome of skar games is rampant on New Year's Day and so prevalent that the city gendarmes typically turn their eye away from it. Unregistered bookies take in small fortunes at various taverns and pubs throughout the city. At the conclusion of the game and the announcement of the winning team, rioting often erupts, especially in the poor and working districts of the city of Aurice. Visitors are advised to avoid these areas and to evacuate any area where rioting breaks out as soon as possible. The city gendarmes often do not police these areas during riots as they are well outnumbered.

See Also

• Aurice
• Games of High Summer of Aurice
• Gibgibsew
• Remembrances of Our Antique Customs, Chemor ennekhá Didio Shunjimmo, 2692
• Skar