Capture the Flag

The world game of Capture the Flag, or CTF as it is commonly known, is one of Sapience's biggest and deadliest sports. Held at roughly intervals of 50 years in conjunction with the commemorations of the Fall of the Seleucarian Empire or on other rare and very special occasions, it is a city-based game that is either hated or loved by adventurers Sapiencewide. Initially, cities stood to win huge gold prizes in the hundreds of thousands, even on one occasion an arena, but in the year 337 AF, the Logos raised the stakes by creating the much sought after Effigy of Victory as the prize.

Preparations for CTF vary between intense and non-existant: concoctionists make a killing on the herb market as eager combatants bolster their healing supplies, Runelorists and Serpentlords from various cities engage in a miniature war of their own implanting totems and splicing at strategic locations, city leaders forge and break alliances, giving the CTF a political feel in the background. Other cities sit back and do nothing until the day itself and 'wing it'.

As the game starts, adventurers scramble, kill, and rampage their way through the continent and the islands beyond in search of the seven flags to plant in key locations on the mainland. Once they get their hands on a flag, it's another mad dash to the locations that their city teams have secured while avoiding opposing city teams hunting them down. The slaughter is rampant and indiscriminate at times, innocent passersby sometimes get caught up in the fighting but adventurer caused deaths have no experience loss or gain.

A CTF normally lasts around 2 hours. In recent times a more complex variation of it known as the "Game of Eyes" has also been introduced by the Vertani. King of the Hill and Champions Vs Assassins are also considered smaller scale versions of CTF to be played in the arena.