The Red's war
"Closest I've seen the damned elves to civil war I tell you! Untold masses out in the streets, all over the colours worn by a horse-racer."In 704 IC the Evonian Republic was rocked by a series of protests and scandals related to the national pastime: horse racing. It eventually resulted in the inclusion of a new team to the traditional racing roster, and added a new force to the political scene. The former development is universally considered far more important than the latter.
The Conflict
Prelude
Horse Racing is by far the most popular sport in the Republic. Races are arranged in every village, town and city of the Republic. However, the most popular events are arranged in the heart the capital Axendria. In the vast stadium called the Circus Maximus Optimus. Here there are spaces for more than 200.000 spectators to view the competitions. Two such competitions are the Twin Races, which end and begin the new year. These are among the most significant of the yearly races, and to be allowed to participate is an immense honour. The winner of one such race would win lifelong prestige. The winner of both become legendary. Winners who manage to win several years in a row is considered about as close to divine as the elves will allow anyone to become. Traditionally there were three teams in the "Major Races", which included these annual competitions. These were the Green and Blue teams, traditionally associated with the two divisions of the Expedition which brough elves to Adar. As the importance of these division faded the teams became associated with certain regions of the country, and also with the political divisions within the Republic. The Green Team became associated with the rural countryside. The city of Varsovia become their bastion, hosting their stables and their training schools. Politically they associated with the Boni, the aristocratic constitutionalists. Meanwhile the Blues became associated with the cities, the capital Axendria in particular. Politically they aligned with the Equites, the mercantile party. The third, and far less prestigious, White team represented all those others not connected to the divisions: the newly rich, freak talents from the countryside, immigrants and the occasional none-elf. The White team was and is not truly a team at all. Merely all those racers not represented by the traditional "colored" teams. Indeed, the vast majority of racers are "whites" and several organized teams exist independent of each other under that banner. The best White racers tend to be recruited swiftly by the colored teams. It was the increasing prominence and pretensions of one such "White Team" that eventually led to the Red War. Over the course of the 7th century students of the Axendrian University had increasingly sponsored a single white team: The University Team, composed of current or former students of the university. The team prided itself on inovative techniques and designs which could compensate for their comparative lack of training and funding compared to the coloured teams. The University Team achieved success unparalleled by any of the White Teams, monopolizing the whites' space in major contests, to the consternation of the other whites and the coloured teams alike. But for different reasons. The other white teams felt cheated of opportunity for glory. The colour teams who before been little threatened by the white team, now faced another near equal opponent. The Blues tried to buy the University team, the Greens tried to have them banned. The other white teams merely responded by street violence. Tensions heightened in the lead up to the first of the Twin Races for the year 704. Rumors swirled that the University Team, which had secured the white space for seventh time in a row that year, was planning some great spectacle as a response to the many attempts to sabotage their team over the past few years.
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