Winter Games

The Winter Games of the Olympic World

The ancient Olympic Games ended in the fourth century, casualties of Christianization and the outlawing of pagan festivals. Though the modern Olympics were nominally secular, they too faded—less from theology than from logistics. Globalism died, long-distance travel became impractical, and the number of sovereign states multiplied beyond any hope of coordination.

Yet the spirit of the Games endured.

Italy, China, Russia, and the United States are the cultures most often said to have kept the literal flame alive. Their successors independently arrived at similar conclusions about what was required to sustain such Games:

1. Large, dense urban populations

2. Republican or highly bureaucratic systems (as opposed to feudal ones, which favor tourneys)

3. A historical memory of Olympic success, producing nostalgia and a desire to remake the Games in one’s own image

Not coincidentally, all of these regions experience harsh winters or lie close to alpine terrain. Their cities and infrastructure exist because of the cold, not in spite of it. Frozen rivers, snowbound roads, and long idle seasons demanded planning, discipline, and public works. These same conditions gave rise to athletic traditions the ancient Greeks never imagined.

In many ways, the Chinese Bingxi serves as the organizational model for these Winter Games—even where the individual events themselves draw more heavily from Scandinavian precedent.

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Major Winter Events

Speed Skating
The most prestigious of all winter events, and often the most dangerous. In rougher cultures, physical contact is permitted; in more restrained republics, balance and endurance are emphasized instead.

Skiing
Primarily cross-country, reflecting its origins in transport and messaging. Downhill racing exists, but is usually confined to mountainous regions and regarded as somewhat reckless.

Sledding
A hill-based sport emphasizing control and nerve. In flatter regions, it is sometimes adapted for draft animals or heavy cargo, blurring the line between labor and competition.

Curling
A contest of strength, precision, and teamwork. Often favored by more bureaucratic societies, where its measured, rule-bound nature is appreciated.

Tilly / Jersey
The combat sport of the Winter Games.

• Tilly allows strikes and is popular in harsher cultures.

• Jersey forbids punching, instead permitting grappling by straps or harnesses.
  Either way, the ice punishes mistakes severely.

Figure Skating
The only major Winter Games discipline in which women routinely compete. Even here, “competition” is considered a vulgar term. The emphasis is on grace, control, and expression rather than quantification.
Some regions award personalized honors (“Most Fluid,” “Most Inspiring”); others let the audience decide through gifts, patronage, or even marriage proposals. Prestige accrues regardless. Notably, Japan—despite its otherwise insular sports culture—retained figure skating almost intact.

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The Vikings will sometimes travel across the world to compete in these Winter Games. After all, their ancestors invented many of them. Some are required to convert to the local faith in order to participate.

They do so anyway.

Free drinks for life. Thor would understand.