President Snow
It is no shame to learn from others. Much of what I knew about leadership came from my predecessor, Luperca Galba. Before her untimely death, she was a disciple of none other than Niccolo Machiavelli. He, and she, ruled by one fundamental rule: it is best to be loved and feared, but if only one is available, choose fear. For much of my reign, only one had been available, but an opportunity had presented itself to be both at once, each building on the other, and I planned to seize it.
There were ten people sitting around the long, mahogany table in my meeting room. There were ten people, each of whose support and loyalty I wanted to secure or reaffirm. There was Titian Qin, my head Gamemaker. His loyalty and respect was never in question. I invited him only to avoid the insult he would have taken if I had left him out. The others- some Gamemakers and some politicians- were the ones my plan was aimed at. The pleasantries already over, I outlined my plan.
"You know, of course, that a president has power over life and death," I began. "A power than can be cruel, merciful, or both at once. You know also that association with power brings a share of that power, even to that final extent. It is for that reason that we have assembled." I gestured at the wall, triggering a screen to activate, showing a series of pre-recorded images. The images showed the science and technology involved in the cloning process used in Resurrection Games.
"It's nothing you weren't familiar with, but as yet, the choice of picks has always been given to the people. This time, I would like to present that power to you. Each of you, hand-selected by me, may choose a single representative. A champion, if you will, though luckily their fate is not tied to yours. A Tribute who will no doubt be grateful for you for the chance, and most appreciative should they be the winner."
"Another special Games?" one of the politicians asked. "Ten Tributes, picked by us?"
"Exactly," I said. "Sponsorships will be not only allowed, but nearly unlimited. We shall be both sole selectors and sole audience. The Victor will be integrated into the population with a neat and vague explanation," I said.
"It sounds endlessly fun, of course," an enthusiastic senator piped up, "but why?"
"A token of my friendship. And a show of my power," I said.
So there's my explanation for another unconventional Games. Not gonna lie, the reason isn't important so I totally phoned it in. Go ahead and read it so we can forget it and get to the good stuff.
This story has a pre-determined winner, like Calvary and Rhoda. This time I decided to make things more interesting by picking ten people so there would be some suspense. One is the winner and the others are nine red herrings. I picked the red herrings carefully- they're all great Tributes and definitely could be great Victors (or else they're favorites of mine), so hopefully it will be hard to tell which one is the real deal. I did this because I like my chosen Victor so much I didn't want him or her to be in the upcoming Resurrection Games and ruin everyone else's chances.
The list:
Keylor Herald
Vera Busattil
Chrome Cabello
Floki Grimm
Jayden Chadsey
Ember Steiner
Lyte Anderson
Shinju Matsushita
Desiree Redwood
Alinta Fintan
If your Tribute is on this list, you have the right to know if they're the Victor or not. If you want to know, PM me and I'll tell you. If you're not the winner and want your Tribute removed from the story, that's no problem.
This shouldn't take long, since there are only ten characters and I have the Games all planned out already. After this, we'll go to the next normal SYOT.