The Idea:

Sort of like a tournament style bracket where either single players or small squads fight against each other in an "arena" or "coliseum" style map. Each player will only be able to die once or possibly a few times before being unable to spawn again. Potentially also, teams would only be allowed to use a certain amount of ISK each round, too. Some variants could allow vehicles, too.

I suppose it would be like miniature version of the Alliance Tournament, but with no qualifying matches since it would be like a pick-up-and-play game style.

Mostly waiting for some input form other players before expanding much on this aspect.

The Lore:

Initially started by the Caldari, and soon after adopted by the Minmatar, barbaric gladiator fights saw a rebirth in popular culture with the advent of the immortal soldier. No longer bound by moral decency and the distaste of killing another human being the populace embraced their blood lust and started flocking to the fights of immortal soldiers. Early endorsements from the Mega-Corporations like Ishukone who saw it as a means of bringing the Caldari and Gallente people together in sport, albeit a particularly violent one, and Kaalakiota who decided to use the sport to show of their technological advancements and the power of the state. The popular soft drink company Quafe quickly become a main sponsor of the events, seeing a chance to greatly increase sales by being the exclusive soft drink provider of the events. The Minmatar people, with a rich tribal history full of many brave warriors, were quick to join the games, oddly enough inviting many popular Caldari teams to their arenas to compete only one year after the sport was started. These large organizations and groups quickly brought the sport into the public eye; the Caldari to capitalize off the soldiers, and the Minmatar to display their bravery and traditions to new generations. Nobody is certain whether it was clever marketing or a growing disdain for the Empyreans that made the public love the sport so much, the most popular theory is that the average person will probably never see a Capsuleer die, but an Immortal Soldier is the next best thing/

At first the matches didn't receive much hype; the Caldari had both more intimidating suits and superior firepower at the dawn of the immortal soldiers compared to the Minmatar. The main investors started to see dwindling turn outs, a quick change was enacted, modifying the maps to allow for more guerrilla combat, balancing out the disparity between equipment and skill. As matches became more intense, the racial traits of the fighters began to show. The Caldari trained intensively, strict discipline and obedience were emphasized as they tried to fight in an organized fashion against the Minmatar. The Minmatar trained to counter this, often using tactics to try and bait the Caldari with one unit, while the others waited to unleash a trap on the Caldari squad. The bravery and willpower of both races when pitted together in these much fairer arenas.

Hearing about the success and glory of the prevailing Minmatar teams made the Amarr sick to their stomachs. The Empress quickly created a new detachment from her pool of Immortal Soldiers specifically aimed to crush the Minmatar teams. Amarrian fighters were equipped with the best gear available, at the time almost all of it was in the prototype stage of development, this sometimes made for hilarious mishaps when a soldier would melt off his own arm trying to use a new weapon, or some new explosive would randomly detonate taking out his teammates. Despite all this accidental mistakes, the working gear of many of the Amarr was able to easily overpower the Minmatar teams they fought against, despite their greater experience and agility. Again, turnouts lowered, and the newly formed council in charge of the games quickly enacted a change limiting the value a team was allowed to field every match to allow for fairer fights. Soon after this change was implemented, the fights between Amarr and Minmatar soldiers went from having the least amount of attendees and viewers to having the most as the racial tension between the two was allowed to come to a head time and time again in front of the public eye. The vengeance of the Minmatar soldiers, many of whom were newly emancipated slaves before joining the Republic's Immortal Soldiers program, and the devotion of the Amarr, whose sole purpose had become to squash their Minmatar opponents and show once and for all the power of God and the Empire, clashed brilliantly during their battles and were almost never missed. Minmatar soldiers showed fierce loyalty to their brothers, often using nanite injectors to shoot a second wind into a team mate, keeping clone reserves high and avoiding fielding extra value in dropsuits and gear, never quite going away, every soldier remained a thorn in the side of the Amarr on the other team. Sociologists often referred to the games as a microcosm of the tension between these empires as fights like those aforementioned became more and more common.

(Continued Below...)

The Lore (Continued):

The Gallente were one of the last to accept the sport, having a strong mind for the humanities and human ethics. Not many Gallente people were fond of the barbarous practice, and deemed it a crime against human civility, even though the combatants were not actually losing their lives. Eventually, however, Quafe, a long-time supporter of the sport, and several other large corporations in the Gallente Empire began to endorse teams of their own, seeing the profit to be made in owning a successful team, not to mention the publicity, too. Old memories of war between the Caldari and Gallente reignited on the field. Battles between the two could sometimes become as fierce as those between the Amarr and Minmatar, but there was always a lighter atmosphere in these matches. Often behind the scenes the members of the Gallente and Caldari teams were very friendly with each other, showing civility and kindness. Only a few Gallente and Caldari were actively hostile with each other outside of the matches.

The games were a diplomatic bridge between all four races and cultures. It brought the people together all in one place and many would talk together about their favorite teams. True, tensions could rise quite quickly between rival factions, but were quickly abated when one team or another won or lost. It satisfied the people's desire for violence, provided economic growth across the Cluster, and helped to warm people up to the idea of Immortal Soldiers, as well as create a much larger number of recruits for each nation's Immortal Soldiers programs...

Comments on Lore:

Yeah, I know, I have no control over what CCP makes canon or not, or even if they make this a game mode. I'm not as high quality as the chronicles (maybe I'd be a good candidate for an honorary chronicle, neh? *winkwink nudgenudge*) but I do hope you all enjoyed this little story I spent time writing. If you have any suggestions on it please feel free to tell me. Also, I'm sure it's stated somewhere else (like in the ToS or Privacy Policy or what have you) but I give CCP all the rights to the above little story.

Cheers! See you all on the battlefield Thursday! (Or hopefully tomorrow if we get a new build and they let us in early).