Most young people are surprised when told that the hunger games wearn't always the spectacular show they were in later years. Unlike later games, which are well documented, the early ones are only referenced through peacekeepers records held in the capital.
As most people know, the Hunger Games were proposed by Cassius Highbottom, though it was Crassus Snow who would actually implement the idea. What is not so well known is that the plan was for the districts to submit one male and one female each, but there was no mention of any age range let alone the tributes being children. Somewhere between Highbottom and Snow Senior however, the idea that the tributes would be between 12 and 18 was decided on. They would fight to the death until only one remained amd that one would be released back to their district with a small amount of cash for their troubles. (No mention of the rest of the district being fed, just money for the solo victor) There was also no victor tour or victors village then.
Although I have tried to get the names of all 24 tributes, I've only managed four. The other districts have either forgotten, or all the family have died, or they fear repercussions, which is fair enough. Things are a lot better now, but there are still some trigger-happy peacekeepers around.
Anyway, the tributes. The ones from Two were Henrietta Richardson, 15 and Adam Gold, 16. The Richardson's stopped supply of the shields they made to the capital and the Gold's stopped their factories, so the capital got no swords either. I should point out that they continued to pay the employees with some surplus money until they couldn't.
From One was Velvet Paige 15 (Girl) and Winter Evergreen 16 (Boy). The Paige's were in charge of the main factory that dealt with the jewellery that was supplied to the capital. The Evergreens have been debated, but it's theorised that they supplies sweets to the capital, whuch in those days would have been a luxury.
Going back to the first games, there's only a few surviving excepts from Peacekeeper Swallows's journals that he kept while stationed in the capital. I've included a excerpt below from when he and some other Peacekeepers went to 'collect' the Tributes:
'Today myself and my men were sent to District Six to collect two children for the Hunger Games. I was sent to the Pastors house. He was expecting us and as soon as he saw us he fell to his knees and begged us to take him or kill him, as long as we left his family alone.
Kowalski raised his gun, but I stopped him. The Capital doesn't want to be seen as too heartless after all. I explained the situation and that he needed to submit a girl between the ages of Twelve and Eighteen to participate in the Hunger Games.
"I have three girls and one boy." He said. "How will you choose?"
At that point the son of the house, a strong looking lad probably between fourteen and sixteen came and told us to take him instead and leave his sisters. It fair brought tears to my eyes as I explained that I couldn't because the other prominent rebel family identified had only sons.
At this point we made our way inside and quickly ascertained that one of the girls was too young. Only eight or nine, she clung to her mother's waist as she sobbed. The middle girl had only just turned twelve, so the oldest (who was only sixteen herself) said she would go.
"What do I have to do?" She asked, bravely.
Well, did I ever feel the fool as I told her I had no idea. "It's called the hunger games, so maybe a period without food?" I suggested.
I could tell they didn't believe me, but the president and the higher-ups aren't going to share the plans with us lowly peacemakers.
All being considered, the girl came quietly. I allowed her father to do a prayer for her before she left and she hugged her siblings and her mother. "When you come home." I remember saying. "I'll escort you here personally."
I wish I'd never made that promise.'
As you can see, if this is to be believed, it seems the peacekeepers themselves were never told of what the Hunger Games actually were, which I believe makes a certain amount of sense. Maybe President Ravinstill was afraid his peacekeepers would refuse?
The extract continues a little later. The timeline is unknown, but the ending implies it's been a while since the Hunger Games were completed. I've copied it exactly as it is in Peacekeeper Swallows journal.
'There are times I wish to god I'd never signed up to be a peacekeeper. A life safe in the capital, they said. You may be deployed to the districts, you may have to do some difficult stuff to try and keep order, they said. When they said that I imagined maybe getting in the middle of riots, shooting to wound troublemakers (in some cases killing, but only in extreme circumstances) and getting injured civilians to safety. Not watching twenty-four children die.
Sorry, twenty-three children. Must be factual. One survived. The lad from District Eleven. Strong boy he was, clearly used to working in the fields. Eighteen, I believe? Or nearly eighteen anyway. I'm not sure what his first name was because they were all referred to by districts, by Jameson who got eleven said the family name was Ash.
I'll try and write it out. See if I can come to terms with it all.
Once we'd rounded up the girl and the boy from six we transported them up to the outskirts of the capital in a cattle cart. All the tributes went in one cattle cart to savage space and money. This turned out to be a bad idea because the little girl from eleven - who had just had her twelfth birthday, I may add, according to Jameson - was sick with tuberculosis. Incurable out in the districts. Chances aren't much better in the capital, to be brutally honest.
Anyway. By the time the cart got to the capital three more of the children were coughing. Once we realised what had happened we got the vet (they wouldn't give us a doctor) to come and look at the tributes, which is when we learnt what the girl from eleven had. She was shot, as were the other three. Harsh, but the capital has only just recovered from a tuberculosis outbreak a few years back, we don't need it again.
So twenty-four became twenty. The boy from two went mad at the shooting of his partner and tried to launch himself at Owens, who shot him. There was a bit of panic then and screaming, but we managed to get them all calmed down. (They had to be put in chains for their own safety though) We lost a few more though.
At this point the president himself came down and said 'For goodness sake, put them in the arena before they all die, and try not to kill any more of them.'
I stupidly thought he was being merciful. No. He had sold tickets to elite Capital citizens. The arena is the old sports stadium . No one's got the time or energy to play sports now, so they turned it into this. About twenty citizens sat in the stands and the remaining tributes - now twelve of them, eight girls and four boys - were marched into the centre and the chains released.
It was then that Doctor Gaul, who was seated next to the president, stood up and announced. "Ladies and gentleman, welcome to the first annual Hunger Games!"
The crowd cheered. One of the tributes started to clap, but his district partner stopped him.
"The rules are simple. Twenty-four tributes go in, only one comes out. But I'm sure you will notice." She purred. "That there aren't twenty-four tributes. This is because they've already brawled amongst themselves and killed each other-"
"That's not true!" One of the girls cried out.
Doctor Gaul waved a hand and the girl dropped to the ground, shot in the head like a common animal. "As you can see." She said, stonily. "They've not learnt their lesson yet. Now fight!" She bellowed. "Fight you vermin!"
Before any of the tributes could think properly there were bullets whizzing through the air and a few more tributes dropped. Then the boy from Eleven just seemed to snap and he leapt grabbing the neck of the girl from Six and twisted.
I kept my nerve, but watched in horror as he turned on a small girl from Eight, about twelve or thirteen I would say? - and ran after her. She didn't get very far before he caught her and smashed her head on the ground. A few bangs and she was gone.
The lad from One was strangling the lad from Ten and had just - I think - killed him when the boy from Eleven picked him by his arms and squeezed. I heard bones breaking - his arms and maybe his ribs, I'm guessing - and he howled in pain. Eleven threw him to the side hard and he lay on the floor crying. Eleven then stamped hard on Ten's windpipe, just to make sure he was dead.
He looked around and there was no one else left. "I did it!" He said, in a low growl. "I won! Let me go home!"
The Capital citizens cheered. Doctor Gaul held up a hand, waited for silence and then pointed at the boy from One. Eleven understood immediately and with a roar he pounced and stamped on One's chest a few times.
"Now?" He shouted, over the roar of applause.
Doctor Gaul nodded.
He was sent back to Eleven with Jameson. The lad was given 100 Panars and, when he dared to ask if that was it, was told that he'd better count himself lucky he wasn't killed.
According to Jameson he was quiet on the way back. He was escorted back to his family, who were happy to see him.
As far as I know all these months later and he still hasn't spoken, or so Jameson says.
The worse thing is that the Capital Citizens are complaining that of course the strong lad from eleven won. The tributes shouldn't have been allowed to fight before coming in. They want another game.
And guess what? The president agreed. Even worse he's arranged for another four years. "Five years of games should be enough of a punishment." He said.
There are times I hate my job. Maybe I'll be able to retire?
So there you have it. The winner of the first hunger games was from district 11. If anyone from district 11 wishes to contact me with more details, you can go to President Paylor's office. You'll be pointed in the right direction.