Gaslight Trials | The Wattys2023 Shortlister ✔️

| 𝟳𝘅 𝗙𝗘𝗔𝗧𝗨𝗥𝗘𝗗 ·|| HUNGER GAMES x CINDER || ONC 2023 Honorable Mention

Amidst the escalating unrest between the windborne utopian city of Lighthaven and its seedy, oppressed underbelly Fumedge, the Grand Duke of Lighthaven, Lucius Sextus, comes up with an ingenious solution.

To provide much-wanted respite from the brewing conflict, and achieve the apparent-if-temporary unity, he organizes Gaslight Trials - a highly entertaining panem-et-circenses combat event in the Pits.

The combatants may use all steam and thaumaturgy powered augmentations at their disposal, and there is only one rule: defeat, or be defeated.

The reward for the last one standing? A chance to start their life anew. A brass key to the city of Lighthaven with a luxurious mansion to call their own within, as well as an aeroship to command.

When eighteen-year-old Veda Igglesden steps forward to take her timeworn adoptive father's place in the fight, she might as well be signing her death-sentence.

With her eyes fully set on the prize, act-first-think-later Veda must harness the power of technology to try and win for her Papa Otto. Decades of breathing in the toxic air of Fumedge did a number on the old inventor's lungs, and being able to live in the air-filtered Lighthaven would sure come in handy right about now.

A high-flying adventure full of gadgetry and intrigue; a pleasing blend of steampunk and postapocalyptic.

See Veda unravel the mysterious ploy behind the game's organization, and uncover the truth about her secret origins.

Can she cope both with the trials of physical and intellectual prowess, as well as with the trials of life itself: those of love, loss and regret?

© 2023 EvelynHail
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Based on prompt 49!

Which is (I shan't leave ye hanging :P):

"Master the rules of the game until you can play it better than they can."
Michael Scott, "The Sorceress"

Get ready for steampunkish tinkering,