Dia del Takanakuy

The latinos and Amazonians have something that many of the other power blocs lack, cohesion and unity. One of the things that draws the United States of South America together like no other superstate is the ancient Peruvian tradition of Takanakuy. In the old tradition, near the end of the year, a single day was set aside for the settling of grievances in the most ancient of human traditions, beating the crap out of each other. This left the new year a clean slate. When the superstate was forming centuries ago, to check the power and adventurism of the now defunct Estatos Unitos (the US) this tradition was adopted across the different nations to ensure that all the nations with in the EUAdS.

The Day of Boiling Blood

The Day of Boiling Blood is a festival and ritual ceremony of violence. In ancient times, the fights that broke out were between individuals. Men and rare women would don homemade armor, and duke it out in fist fights. This was adopted into an almost gladiator style event with some matches being spectator events.

Intranational Fights

Disputes between the member nations of the EUAdS have been settled on the Day of Boiling Blood. A politician who is able to deliver a bare knuckle beat down to his opponent can expect favorable results in the next election, while getting trounced is almost always followed by a failed election, a resignation, or even a recall vote. This has gotten more citizens involved in politics, largely brought about the end of long term politicians (there are only so many beat-downs you can manage before old age or injury take the fight out of you) and limited conflict between the member states.

Celebrity Fights

Nothing brings out the pride of the Latin bloc quite like a celebrity feud. After a year of trash talking and posturing, the two rivals meet in a televised spectacle of blood, semi-nudity, and displays of prowess and dominance.

Corporate Fights

Shadowrunning is much lower key in the Latin states as the various corporations are able to call each other out on the Day of Boiling Blood. Rather than violent wars in the shadows, the corps fight in plain sight, with their champions battling like literal gladiators. While this has fostered more cooperation between the corps, it has seen a decrease in shadow ops prowess leaving the latin corps often at a disadvantage against multinationals. This has lead to serious bad blood between the EUAdS and Nippon, the leaders in the shadow war game.

Plot Hooks

Called Out - A PC with business dealings in South America is called out for Takanakuy. If they show up, and win their bare fisted fight, they earn respect and prestige within the Latin states. Those who lose their match will lose some respect for failure. Losing, however, is better than not showing up. Failing to answer a challenge is tantamount to admitting cowardice and weakness, and can see an operative's reputation trashed, and in certain cases, see their credentials pulled.