Pantheon Tournament

There is an arena within the city of CITY that is only entered once every decade; this is the Colosseum used for the Pantheon Tournament. The Pantheon Tournament is a competition between champions of the Gods, and a time of celebration and revelry. The Gods even send avatars of themselves to walk among the common folk and enjoy the atmosphere.

Announcement
A herald of the gods appears exactly one year before the Pantheon Tournament to announce the upcoming event. The God who sends the herald is set on a rotation, using alphabetical order for clarity. This herald is an important (and usually deceased) cleric or champion of that god, with a new body created for them. This herald will typically create the announcement using features special to the deity that sent them; for example, GOD herald will bring pleasant dreams and cast away nightmares, while Ovkianos herald will bring heavy storms to demonstrate his power. No matter the god, the herald works in conjunction with the CITY school of Arhesta to refurbish the Colosseum for use. The herald will remain in CITY for the duration of the Tournament, serving as a judge during the games. They can then retire to anywhere in Ildenia, though some choose to return to the afterlife.

Certain blessings are also present alongside the herald that appear every time. This includes blessings of fields by Arhesta followers and increased amounts of charity work and healing from most temples. Pateraz also attempts to restrain from his warlike behavior, but this is not always successful.

Champions
Every deity sends a champion to the Pantheon Tournament to compete, and to demonstrate their power. Typically, this champion is a devout follower of that god. In rare instances, the champion selected by a god will refuse to participate; in that case, that person is usually condemned to death and smited by followers of that god. The gods themselves are not allowed to give boons to their champions during these games, instead relying on the champions strength by themselves.

Festivals
The Colosseum is large enough to accommodate most of CITY’ population, meaning many people take off work to watch the games and be a part of the festivities. Not only do the citizens get to watch the tournament, but many of the gods provide entertainment and resources outside of the Colosseum. This includes bards of Ederra creating music and feats of engineering from temple artificers.

Games
Most of the games present at the competition are standard; wrestling, chariot racing, archery, etc. There are also duels present between warring deities, though these events do not grant any points and are merely to settle differences as fairly as possible. These duels are not lethal; and honor is not lost through surrender. The fight is instead fought until one fighter is unconcious, and they are promptly resurrected.

The last five champions that won have come from Gods.