Sang is chosen for the Culling, a series of fights to the death that are generally played by men. In fact, Sang is the first woman selected, well, ever. As the games start, and Sang forms bonds with a group of nine men, she comes to realize that the...
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Sang
"What do you mean?" I asked him. I never would have guessed.
That, however, cleared up my questions on why we never witnessed abilities being used during broadcasting of the games.
Granted, it was kind of obvious that certain abilities couldn't be witnessed by viewers - things like mind reading and whatnot. I thought it had been strange though, that no one really knew the extent of higher districts' abilities. The Culling should have been the time to see something.
Then again, the entire concept of having an ability and what it meant was fairly new to me. How far did having 'abilities' go, and what kinds of things could people do with them?
Sean must have understood what I meant, because he hurried to explain. "To understand why tributes can't use these skills, you need to understand a little bit of background on the main types of abilities that are out there."
"Most all known skills, or abilities, are divided up into three categories: telekinesis, aethikinetics and negation." He held up a finger at each category, emphasizing the importance. "The Hendricks line is the strongest in negation which, as you might have guessed, is the cancellation of abilities. Gentreau and Blackbourne are both the strongest in their specializations as well. All known abilities fall into subcategories under one of those three parent categories."
He crossed his arms. "Suppressing the abilities of others, and controlling the political atmosphere and military, is how the Hendricks line has kept control of the country for so long."
"The games are actually a working example of the negation ability and Hendricks' influence." He paused, before he slowly continued, as if he really didn't want to tell me this next part.
However, I stared at him, expectantly, as I took it all in. I needed to know what was going to happen. Luke, Gabriel, and Silas were still, listening, although I had the feeling that they already knew what was going to be said.
"Before the start of games, each tribute is outfitted with a choker. That choker is what nullifies your abilities. It is also equipped to track your location and bodily statistics throughout the length of the game. If the technology is meddled with, or a tribute attempts to remove it, the device is rigged to explode."
I grimaced and touched my neck. Silas began rubbing his hand up and down my arm. "I had no idea that the games were..."
"The Culling is the creation of the Hendricks family. They are a method used to control the population, including the elites, in three different ways. First, by nullifying abilities, it shows the leading families that no matter how strong their abilities are, that they can be rendered useless. There are more families than yours and Owen's involved, and all are from the Capital. No large complaint was ever made about it because the Capital's involvement in the games never happened before. Plus, with the way it is marketed, it all becomes a 'fun test of skills'. The second way is the most obvious, population control. Too many people, and they become harder to oversee. The final way is the mandatory participation, it makes the rest of the people fear the Capital because the lives of their children are under the President's control."
