Storied Histories League

Fake Fighting, Real Crowds
The SHL is a combination fighter’s guild, mage’s coterie, and theater troupe. Its story is an ongoing improvised drama about a league of colorful characters all fighting for the chance to call themselves the SHL Champion. Side stories and distractions on the road to glory entertain the crowd; the characters settle every personal dispute in this alternate reality with over-the-top adventure-violence.

Combatants terrorize each other in matches that happen anywhere, but mainly within designated rings around the city. These rings are in bars, bethel basements, and arenas with hundreds of seats. Once a year, the most worthy combatants battle in the ring of the Far’soro Grand Arena.And it’s all fake.

Behind the scenes, the SHL is a drama-within-a-drama. A combatant spends every ounce of their might in every performance, all to make the crowd remember their name. The match results are fixed, but every win gathers a combatant precious credibility in the eyes of the crowd. While the Champion might be predetermined, no one gets a shot at the belt unless the crowd believes it’s plausible for them to be there. The road to fame and glory is paved with politics, backbiting, and uneasy alliances.

Kayfabe: Choosing to Believe
Far’soro and the rest of the Causeway understand that the Storied Histories League is fiction. Obviously! If they didn’t, Dramphinian paladins would immediately arrest the popular SHL villain The Necromancer. Polite society would not allow a barbarian to draw a greatsword, enter a blood-rage, and attempt to decapitate an irritating bard in the middle of a bar.

The SHL is entertaining because of kayfabe: the unspoken rule separating the fiction from the acknowledgment of the fiction. This rule is crucial to maintaining the excitement of the theater, just as characters in a play never discuss the fact that their swords are props. Some fans of the SHL follow the internal drama of their favorite combatants’ careers, but most are just there to lose themselves in the show and occasionally feel like part of the action.

Combatants, Contenders, Champion
Every hopeful combatant registers with the Storied Histories League organization in Far’soro. The League itself is a character in the drama, as matches are booked as part of the ongoing story. However, this is the actual organization that the real people behind the characters belong to. A combatant works through an agent, or a manager. Once their manager gets them recognized by the League, they can start performing in matches.

The SHL organization predetermines the outcome of every match, but each fighter puts on the most compelling performance they can. Losing a match isn’t career failure! Combatants who lose in a way that helps their opponent look good are popular behind the scenes and get booked for matches just as often as one on a winning streak. In the end, the object of the game is to make an impression. In time, wins are inevitable for a recognizable name.

Both in the fiction and out of it, combatants want to become the SHL Champion, as the title brings immense prestige to one’s career. The Champion earns the right to wear the SHL Championship Belt, and becomes more famous than the bey.Not that anyone should ever tell him that.

Zig-Zag, Criss-Cross, Dead-End Stories
It takes time for a combatant to gain enough fame for the League to consider putting them in a title match. Storylines define a combatant as they participate in the web of ongoing narratives. In the rules of the SHL’s universe, every disagreement devolves into one combatant challenging the other to a match to determine who gets the last word. Friendships form, and betrayals break them. Cheaters cheat and heroes win the day, except when they don’t.

Gimmicks
Every combatant has a gimmick. While usually a larger-than-life version of themselves, a gimmick can also be a supernatural or comedic character. Whatever the crowd reacts to is a good gimmick. A beloved murine rat combatant called Garbage Lord once held the SHL championship belt for over two years. The important thing is to be a compelling entertainer, not to embody a heroic winner.

Heels and Faces
The stories of the SHL are simple morality plays. Valiant heroes, smooth sex symbols, and scrappy underdogs are the good guys, or faces. Meanwhile, cheaters, traitors, and exaggerated monsters are the heels, doing whatever it takes to win. While it might seem logical that heroic faces are the most popular champions, most fans agree that heel characters are more fun.

Judges
A rule consistent across the league is that a judge must be present for a match to be valid. Judges ensure that combatants follow the match’s rules and officially declare the victor depending on its stipulations. In the fiction, judges are comically stupid and fragile people. They are easily tricked and distracted, and villains can knock them unconscious with one blow to the head. Once a judge isn’t looking, the heels are free to cheat as much as they like.

Managers
If a delver wants to moonlight as an SHL combat�ant, the first order of business is to find a manager. Managers are the combatant’s representatives with the owners and commissioners of the League itself. They know people behind the scenes and can get their combatant booked in high-profile matches. With luck, they can even get them into matches they’re actually booked to win.

Delvers can become managers as well. The skill set is a bit different from a combatant’s; this is a job for Gladhands, Pathposts, and Hidden Eyes. Managers sweet-talk bar owners and eventually convince arenas to sell tickets to their combatant’s headlining show. They can even play their own part in the public performance as the combatant’s hype-man or henchman.

In the background of the SHL’s drama, the poli�tics of booking are their own game to play. Doing favors for a venue operator helps a combatant win their respect and get a match in their Friday night show. This is where the delver’s crew comes in. A combatant might only have a match every month or two. They spend the rest of their time delving and scoping out opportunities to raise their public profile.

The SHL commissioners love to book celebrity delvers, or anyone else interesting and charismatic, as guest combatants. A celebrity from outside the world of the League is prime fodder for a good storyline. It’s easier to find a manager for a guest combatant with some clout to offer. If the guest really impresses the crowd, they can even transition to a more consistent role in the story.

League Structure
The Storied Histories League has several divisions, each with its own championship belt. This breaks up the show to keep things fresh and separates the League’s many characters to make more room in the spotlight.

All-Combat Division
This is the SHL’s heavyweight division, the big leagues. The All-Combat Division has no restrictions on fighting tactics, so a viable contender must be talented in both martial and magical combat. This division’s belt is the Beast World Championship and its wearer is the one true SHL Champion.

Spellslinger Division
This division focuses on flashy magic and supernatural spectacle. Weapons aren’t allowed in SD matches, except those conjured by spells (heels keep a knife stashed under the ring anyway). This championship is the League’s second-most prestigious, along with the Bruiser Division. This division’s belt is the Power Word Championship.

Bruiser Division
The Bruiser Division is a playground for giants of muscle and might, who swing weapons of unbelievable size to shake the ground and flatten their opponents. Its rules are the opposite of the Spellslinger Division—no magic allowed during a match (except the magic barely held within your ancestral blade). Their belt is the Titan Championship.

Tag Team Division
In the Tag Team Division, pairs of combatants share a gimmick and fight in matches together. Only two combatants fight at a time in most SHL matches, but the Tag Team Division creates opportunities for unique maneuvers and show-stopping moments. Many popular tag teams are alliances between one dexterous sneak-thief and one mountain-sized destroyer. This division’s belts share its name: the Tag Team Championship.

Delving Crew Division
Always chasing what’s popular, the SHL’s commissioners are hoping this division will be the Next Big Thing. Two years ago, they introduced a new type of match pitting two teams of four combatants against each other in one oversized ring. The champion crew wears four belts, and defends the title in matches that are fine-tuned marvels of choreography, or absolute chaos. The Delving Crew Division’s belts are called the Dungeon’s Master Championship and its wearers are the Dungeon’s Masters.