The Summer Tournement | Squire’s Gauntlet
While tournaments have historically been about battle readiness, in this place and age they are more about demonstrating survival skills; there’s various forms of combat, but also obstacle courses, speed tests (packing your gear, assembling a shelter, repairing a radio), a rodeo, etc., and though Knights still compete, the majority of the focus is on the Squires—the tournament used as a proving ground to earn their Knighthood.
With birth rates so low and death rates among knights so high, the Guild of Mothers decided that while a life of service and chivalry (Mars’ Knights being sort of a cross between cowboys, law enforcement, park rangers, and relief aid) is absolutely the most noble of pursuits, if you want to go haring about the Martian wilderness you have to prove you can survive the kinds of challenges you are likely to encounter—
Which means you have to prove you can survive as many of them as can be replicated in an arena, back to back, for three days straight.
If you can survive a tournament, you can survive anything—and if you can’t, you survive finding that out. If you score in the top five you get Knighted, if not, you can try again next summer*.
It’s a good system: in the past hundred years the number of Knights has actually gone up, since their mortality rates have gone down.
The Five Titles awarded to graduating Squires
Black Knight: Best tactics, made least errors/received the least amount of penalties.
Gold Knight: Scored most points averaged over all challenges.
Green Knight: Scored Highest in survival/field challenges (shelter, repairs, foraging)
Blue Knight: Scored highest simulated medical emergencies.
Red Knight: Scored highest in combat (while the titles are equal, this one is generally looked a little askance at. You don’t win by being chivalrous. It’s a necessary skill, but congratulations, you’re very good at violence! isn’t really a title anyone wants in a culture that prides itself on kindness and cooperation.)
*Which is about two years away, as a Martian year is 1.88 Earth years. Squires can apprentice to a Knight as young as 10 (Earth years), but can’t compete until before they are 15 (EY), most decide they’d rather go back to school or do something else with their life, most of those who are set on their course are Knighted in their second or third tournament, between the ages of 17-22 (EY).)