The Triad Games

The Triad Games

The Triad Games are held every three years in the Atlantic Federation, and alternate between a Summer Triad, and a Winter Triad, much like the now defunct Olympic Games. Those games are still held, but have become more isolated to regions such as North America (Federation vs PacRim Coalition), the EuroZone (Federation vs Eurasian Alliance) and in the ACPS, where its China versus everyone else in the sphere. The Triad Games are open to anyone who passes the entrance challenges to join the games, but each region has a number of entrant slots allocated to it, so even the poorest parts of the Atlantic Federation are represented.

Entrance Games

Drawing on the ancient cultural heritage of Nippon and its long term relationship with North America, the Entrance Games are modeled after an event known as Ninja Warrior. Entrants compete in obstacle courses, set against time limits. Those who pass the Games are entered into the Continental tier of the games: North America, Europe, and Africa. These are almost akin to the national championships before contestants enter the actual Triad Games.

Regional Triad Games

The Regional Triad Games are held the year before the official games, and have the same three legs to complete. Athletes who win gain fame and respect, and some become very wealthy from endorsements and franchising their likeness for servitor autons, and even putting their genetic material up for offer, for designer babies. This is often seen as the most important part of the games process, as the Official Triad Games have frequent fatalities, so waiting for a national champion to podium at the Great Game might come to an early and disastrous end if there is something like an especially brutal Overland portion of the games claims a large number of bodies.

The Official Triad Games, aka the Great Game

The Great Game is a brutal triathlon, with the added bonus that athlete vs athlete violence isn't just allowed, its expected. The games are pure spectacle, sex and violence, and most athletes only compete in one round of the games. Injuries are common, including career ending injuries, and as mentioned, deaths are a regular occurence. This is part of the games, and is part of the massive draw. Life in the Cosmic Era can often be safe to the point of boredom, and defying death can be experienced vicariously through the competitors. This is massively more so considering the number of viewers who experience the games through immersion gear.

The Games have three legs, three specific stages. Sometimes the order changes, and the manner the stage is executed, but the main thing is that all three are represented. There is always a water stage, a desert stage, and an urban stage.

The Water Games

Most often the first of the Great Game, the Water Games are frequently referred to as the Swimsuit Competition, and many athletes make a point to wear as little as possible, demonstrating the excellence of their training and conditioning. Some common Water Games have included marathon swims, underwater obstacle courses, island based endurance and survival challenges,and similar. There are Lesser Games associated with each leg of the Great Game, and the Water Games often host boat races, water polo championships, swimming challenges on par with Olympic sports, and some of the Great Game athletes participate in both, but this is not mandatory, or even common. More than one aspiring Hero of the Great Game has seen their chances destroyed by an injury in a Lesser Game.

Previous Water Games have included:

Long distance swim (5+km)

Jet ski gymkana and race

Platform hopping as per a live action side scrolling game, with prizes on the platforms

Jet boat racing

Armed surfing

10 day island survival game, including prebuilt huts, a bunker, and lots of surprises

Highlights of previous games have included large amounts of gratuitous fan service of top tier athletes in very little clothing, and in some instances, none. When Audience and Sponsor Gachas, popular players could be sent 'gifts' from viewers, and a few athletes realized that if say, the ran the jet ski course topless, they won a pile of gachas from the games.

The Desert Games

The Desert Games are typically the second leg of the Great Game, and where the water games are the swimsuit competition, this leg is the motorized competition. Given the typically harsh climate of a desert, survival games would be short and brutish, and the spectacle isn't the parade of flesh, its fire and steal. When this stage is being planned, various manufacturers associated with the games start planning their equipment, and start making whatever vehicle is going to be used for the race across the desert, and which desert is going to host said race. The main considerations are for the tempo desired, and how long and intense the race is to be. Long races are fast, and the challenge is going super fast and not wrecking, and shorter races will have worse terrain, more interesting vehicles, and more competitor versus competitor action. As with the water games, the desert games will have pavilions and grandstands, and more secondary games going on around them, with there being lots of track and field stuff, more motorsports, and larger scale games like traditional polo (on cybernetic horses) and a perennial fan favorite, mecha gladiator matches.

Previous Desert Games have included

A-Pod races (2000+ km)

A-Pod Chariot races (500 km, and max speeds limited to 99 kph)

Fury Road auto-gladiator road race

Rocket bike races

Mecha race, no weapons equipped, but large enough fan donations to favorite players have seen some equip some monstrously potent firepower.

Death-Race (foot race, 200 km, but augmentation and special equipment allowed)

The highlights of the Desert Games tends to be materialistic, kids want action figures and toys of the vehicles, and the manufacturers who see their equipment podium, or sometimes just finish in a more brutal game can see those wins translated into economic security or success over the next few years. Winners of the desert leg can also see themselves as spokespeople for said companies, even if they lose overall, a single leg win is still an accomplishment.

The Urban Games

Typically the last leg of the game, the urban games are the largest, and have the largest spread of secondary games around them. Basketball, baseball, and football (soccer) tournaments are huge draws, as are more urban sports like parkour, boxing and MMA fights. Host cities will see a surge in underground blood sports, and gambling through the roof.

Previous games have been based around endurance, survival, willpower, and the element of player versus player has been more in the background. The urban games are almost entirely about player versus player. By the end of the urban games, there will be one Champion of the Games left, and they will be crowned with golden laurels and become all but nobility after their wins. The risk is enormous, the stakes are tremendous, and millions of people will cheer or scream their name as they ascend the podium.

Previous Urban Games have included

Caged neo-wrestling competitions

Urban light power armor Last Man Standing games

Mecha king of the hill grand melees

jai alai teams matches until a final one on one match

High risk obstacle courses, but the athletes were protective suits.

The Closing Ceremonies of the Great Game are a fury of fireworks, interviews, and spectacle. There is a brief ceremony to honor those who fell in the games, as well as individual awards, typically heavily sponsored, for athletes to find sponsors and contracts after the games, such as Best Sport, Most Heroic, Most Photogenic, and so forth. Sometimes the biggest winners of the games are these athletes, as often the overall champions struggle with PTSD, and are overwhelmed by fame.

Common Equipment

Almost all players in the game will have neo sportsuits, an emergency med-kit, and bioteletrix that allow for not just monitoring their health, but for immersion systems so that viewers with CogGear get a more rich experience.

Drones are also common, for documenting the games, adding streaming content, and allowing first person conversation and AMAs with athletes during down periods of the game, such as at camp in desert point to point races, or between contests in the water portion.