THGInfo
The Hunger Games
At least 150 years in the future, where North America used to be located, now sits the nation of Panem; a nation that "rose out of the ashes" of the devastation that was nuclear war and major climate change. But things are not peaceful in Panem, and in retrospect, they never have been. Fifty years prior to the start of this game, a rebellion, from the 13 districts rose up to overthrow the Capitols power over Panem. With that rebellion, what was termed as 'The Dark Days' started to plague the nation, resulting in the apparent destruction of District 13. In punishment, The Hunger Games were initiated, where each District would be forced to give up two of their children, one boy and one girl, ages 16-18, who are chosen by lottery, to compete in a broadcasted death tournament. But not only would they be punished with the sacrifice of their children, they are forced to observe these games as a holiday, and their children filmed, so they can watch their struggle through mandatory viewings. While in general, the District citizens reluctantly watch them and despise them, the Capitol citizens see it as entertainment.
When a citizen turns 16 years old, his or her name is automatically entered into the "reaping," a lottery from which the tributes are drawn. For every year until they turn 18, they are entered in one additional time. Since many families live in poverty, one may be able to receive additional tesserae (one person's meager supply of grain and oil for a year) for each family member, in exchange for extra entries in the reaping. Therefore, for each tessera, one extra entry is placed in the reaping ball (these entries are cumulative, and are added every year.) For example, if a family has three members, a 16-year-old child could opt to take three extra tesserae: two for the two family members and one for themselves; thus their name would be entered four times (one is the required entry, and the extra three are for each member of the family) and accumulate over time; increasing their chances of being chosen in the yearly lottery.
On the reaping day, a spokesperson from the Capitol comes and chooses at random one name from each reaping ball, selecting the two tributes who are forced to compete. However, any other citizen of the same sex, from ages 16 to 18, can volunteer for the tribute. The tributes are then taken immediately to the Capitol, where they are given a makeover by a team of stylists to look appealing for a TV audience, learn strategy with mentors(a former victor from their district), and participate in a parade and interviews along with the other tributes. They also receive training with weapons and other supplies which they use to impress a team of judges, the Gamemakers, who then score their skills in accordance. These scores are made public to show who has the best chances of surviving, which can attract sponsors and help with the betting. The day after the final interviews, the Games begin. Most people with the higher scores are targeted first because they are considered to be threats.
The tributes are put into an underground room until game time, where they are lifted up by tubes to the arena built specially for the Games by the Capitol (which is usually surrounded by a force field) that differs every year. They are instructed not to move from the plates they were deposited on for 60 seconds, before rushing to the giant, golden, supply-filled Cornucopia—or else suffer death via the explosives planted around the plates. The initial "bloodbath" begins after a loud gong sounds signaling the start of the games, in which the tributes fight to get the best supplies in the Cornucopia, which can be food, water, weapons, tools, or other useful items. The closer to the Cornucopia they are, the more valuable and useful the items are.
Because so many tributes die in the first few minutes, the Capitol waits until nighttime to broadcast to the surviving tributes the names of the dead. The seal of Panem appears in the sky, followed by the pictures of the dead tributes in district order. The remaining tributes continue fighting and killing each other – if they do not move fast enough or avoid conflict for too long, the Gamemakers sometimes create hazards in order to generate excitement for the viewers and to force the remaining tributes to fight. Another common occurrence is a "Feast," where a boon of extra supplies or food is granted to the tributes, announced at a particular place and time—though whether it is a lavish feast, carefully relegated supplies, or a single loaf of stale bread for the tributes to fight over is up to the Gamemakers.
In most Games, a well-stocked group of tributes (called "Careers", usually from the well-off Districts of 1, 2, and 4) band together to hunt down other individuals, until they are the only ones left to fight each other. The last living tribute is crowned victor by the president of Panem and is allowed to live in a special area of their district called the Victor's Village, where houses are well furnished and fully supplied with food. All families in their District also receive parcels for a year, packages containing food and other goods.
It is implied that there are no official rules for the Games except for not stepping off the plate until the first 60 seconds are over. However, cannibalism is looked down upon (a tribute named Titus from District 6 in a past Hunger Games had become cannibalistic, seemingly because the Games had driven him insane).
After the games, the victor (or victors in the previous case) is healed by doctors and sent home (after a final celebration and interview in the Capitol) to reside in the Victor's Village with their families. After about six months, the victor must take a tour through every district in Panem in order for the Capitol to keep the memory of the Games fresh in everyone's minds. The victor is given a forced celebration and ceremony, usually accompanied by a victory rally and dinner with top officials. The tour begins in the highest numbered district and ends in the victor's district. An extra "Harvest Festival" is provided by the Capitol for the winning district, giving the people more food.
The Quarter Quell
The Quarter Quell is a special Hunger Games that occurs every 25 years. There is always a twist to the Quell that was supposedly planned out at the time the Games were first created. The president selects the year number from the box and reads aloud the new rule. It is unknown, but likely, that the arenas chosen for these Quarter Quell Games were special, for instance the "beautiful but deadly" poison arena for the second, sending a similar message about the Capitol, and the clock for the third, which suggests "only a matter of time."
In the 1st Quarter Quell (25th Hunger Games), each district had to vote on which boy and girl would compete in the Games, instead of being drawn at random, "as a reminder to the rebels that their children were dying because of their choice to initiate violence".
In the 2nd Quarter Quell (50th Hunger Games), an additional boy and girl from each district were chosen to compete, raising the number of tributes to 48 as a reminder that two rebels died for every Capitol citizen. The winner was Haymitch Abernathy, who won by dodging the axe thrown by his opponent. The axe fell off the edge of the arena and hit the force field that Haymitch had previously discovered, causing it to bounce back and kill the girl. Because he used the Capitol's actions to his advantage, the Capitol was humiliated and Haymitch's family and girlfriend were killed, causing him to sink into depression and alcoholism, but also causing the Capitol to have no hold over him.
The Arena
The official arena is nowhere in particular, and it can be anywhere without human population.
Most arenas are designed to kill many quickly. In Haymitch's case, he was placed into a beautiful meadow with flowers and a fruit-bearing forest and mountains, but everything was designed by the Gamemakers to be poisonous, including all of the food and water. The Gamemakers can create any hazard they wish, such as setting the forest on fire, or creating an earthquake.
Fauna unique to Panem
Muttations
Muttations, usually shortened to "mutts," is the term for genetically altered animals bred in the Capitol.
Crawpions
Crawpions are a genetically engineered mix of crawfish and scorpions. These muttations are bred to the size of large dogs, and are prone to violent attacks on anything that crosses their path. They are highly poisonous, and like the venom of the tracker jackers bring on hallucinations and pain. Their toxic poison also produces paranoia, and homicidal tendencies in their victims.
Jabberjays
Jabberjays are small black birds with a crest that were bred during the Dark Days in the Capitol's lab. They were engineered to be able to remember human conversations and repeat them back verbatim with human voices. They were used to spy on the rebels in a form the rebels would never expect. Figuring this out, the rebels fed lies to the jabberjays, and they were abandoned by the Capitol and left in the wilderness to die. Because the jabberjays were bred to be male, it was thought that they would die off in the wild, however, when released they bred with female mockingbirds and created the species "mockingjay". They no longer have the capability of human speech, but they can repeat back songs that they hear humans utter.
Tracker jackers
The tracker jackers are genetically altered wasps created in the Capitol during the Dark Days. Disturbing the nest causes them to chase after the offender, and the stings bring on hallucinations and extreme pain and also cause the swarm to follow, or track, him or her. The venom can also be used to brainwash someone in a technique called "hijacking", in which memories being focused on while the venom is introduced into the victim's system can cause them to become distorted and make them begin to think along the lines the Capitol torturers wish.
Other Mutts
In the 50th Hunger Games, several other muttations are mentioned. These include highly poisonous butterflies with stingers, "carnivorous fluffy golden squirrels", and candy-pink birds with bladelike beaks. The candy birds killed Maysilee Donner during the 50th Hunger Games not long after she and Haymitch ended their alliance.
Mockingjays
Instead of the jabberjays dying off like the Capitol intended, they mated with female mockingbirds and created a unique species, called a mockingjay. They lost the jabberjay's ability to enunciate words, but are halfway between jabberjays and actual mockingbirds — they can perfectly copy, down to the last note, any human tune. If a singer with a voice the mockingjays respect sings, they will fall silent. District Eleven is known to have an especially large mockingjay population.
Flora unique to Panem
Nightlock
The plant nightlock, a wild berry plant, may have some resemblance to and likely takes its name from the real plants nightshade and hemlock, both of which are deadly poisons. It is said that the consumer would be dead before the juice reached his/her stomach.
Unnamed Tracker Jacker Venom Absorbing Plant
Used to treat tracker jacker stings.
