Note those wacky native ways that the PC's can run afoul of.

    Contract employees are marked with Tattoos either on the cheek or hands. They hire on with a Clan or corporation for a set number of years.
    Clan Members live in isolated communes when in system. Children are raised in crèches until ready to begin their duties as adults.
    Grotians are marked by wanderlust. As soon as they reach their majority most sign onto a Clan Trader operating far from Grote.
    Natives of Grote are rabid sports fans and almost everyone will engage in some sport in a semi-pro capacity at some point in their life. One oddity in all of this is that there are very few 'professional' athletes in Newport.  Most of the participants are amateurs or 'semi-pros', they hold other non-sports related jobs and compete during their free time either as an avocation or for extra money.  In some team sports, like 'Industrial League' baseball (q.v.), the number of 'pros' allowed on each team is limited. Gravball, blood fencing, baseball, boxing, lacrosse, pugilism, and a variety of martial arts including Darrian pankration and Vargr stick fighting are all on display for the discerning spectator. Normally friendly Grotians may become quite belligerent if 'their' team is denigrated.
 

An excerpt from Admiral Lee's book, "Pilot's Guide to the Spinward Marches"

Baseball - While not as known throughout the Imperium as gravball or boloball, the ancient Terran game of baseball is popular in certain regions far removed from the Solomani Rim.  In the Marches, professional leagues operate in the Mora (q.v.) and Rhylanor (q.v.) subsectors but a rabid following for the game exists in the Grote system.  There, an 'Industrial League' consisting of five progressive divisions plays several games a day nearly year round.
    All of the teams in this league are either sponsored by various businesses and clans or are made up of employees or clan members.  While number of teams and the quality of play in each division varies greatly, the visitor can be guaranteed to watch a great game if they attend any scheduled play in the Premier and Ducal divisions. The eight team Premier division is just that, a collection of the premier baseball clubs in Newport.  One rung below are the ten teams of the Ducal division.  At the end of each playing season, the bottom two finishing teams in the Premier division are demoted to the Ducal division and replaced by that division's top two finishers. Promotion and demotion also occur between remaining divisions within the league, however promotion into Ducal from the 'Small Three' requires excellence over a number of seasons.
    Premier Division games are held afternoons and evenings at Harcourt Field in the Commons' South End.  The stadium seats over 15 thousand and boasts it's own trolley stop.  The admission fee is nominal; normally 5 CrImp although playoffs and championships can raise that, and a delightful variety of food and beverages are available.  Games normally last between 2 and 3 hours.  If the Premier or Ducal division games at Harcourt are sold out, there are usually a few games involving teams from the 'Small Three' divisions playing at fields nearby.
    Baseball permeates life in Newport.  The standings of various teams, the results of recent games, the exploits of popular players, all pepper local conversations and fill a large part of the daily news sheets.  Broadcast of divisional games with a choice of audio only or full holo, are available by subscription.  Baseball hats, complete with team logos, are ubiquitous.  Various portions of the Newport Habitat profess loyalty to certain teams; such as Old Town's voluble support for the 'Maroons' or Newtown rooting for the 'Quahogs'.
    Some of the teams in the Premier Division have been in place for decades.  A description of a few is below.

The Yardbirds - Sponsored by Herresshof Yards, the 'Birds' have been a constant presence in the Premier Division since it's inception.  They have also won more championships, the 'Runciman Cup', than any other team.  Oddly, their following is both widespread and shallow.  People only seem to root for the 'Birds' when they are winning.  The followers of other teams are usually more passionate about their allegiances than the usual 'Bird Booster'.
    The Yardbirds wear a space or navy blue cap with a stylized, durasteel gray 'Y' embroidered on the front.  Their uniform patch displays an anthropomorphic bird sporting a disgruntled expression around a cigar butt and clad in a industrial-duty vacc suit.  'Boidie', as he is known, has a suit helmet tucked under one arm and his carrying a large monkey wrench in the other.

The Maroons - The favorite sons of Old Town, the Maroons have never won the 'Runciman Cup'.  In fact, they've never even played in the Habitat Series whose winner takes the Cup!  Despite this, the Maroons have never fallen out of the Premier Division.  A local adage states; "You don't have to be a masochist to root for the Maroons, but it doesn't hurt."
    The team is sponsored by a consortium of small business interests, most of which are located in Old Town.  If you ever lost a paycheck across the faro table at Senta's or earned a booze flu headache at the Four Dees, some of your money helped sponsor the Maroons.  Whenever the Maroons make a run at the Series, the various sports books in the Habitat reap a windfall.  'Townies' always bet the 'Roons heavy and the 'Roons always lose.
    The Maroon cap is gray-green; purportedly the color of the naked rock making up most of the cavern in which Old Town squats, with a stylized, maroon 'M'.  The Maroon uniform patch sports a high-ball glass holding two dice.

The Quahogs - Sponsored by the Apponaug Group, a property management group with holdings in Newtown and the Port, the 'Hogs' have bounced between Premier and Ducal for most of their existence.  Recently the team has emerged as the chief rival of the 'Yardbirds'.  Much of this is due to 1st baseman Narzio DelBonis and shortstop 'Ogg' Ogfensuarez, the 'Whiz-Bang Kids'.  This human-Vargr duo are both offensive and defensive dynamite.  Whether the 'Hogs' win or lose usually depends on how the Whiz-Bangs played.
    The Quahog cap is sea green with a embroidered bivalve.  The team's uniform patch has the same clam on it.  During 'Hog' home games at Harcourt Field, local ne'er-do-wells earn pocket money by dressing as 'Stuffie', the team mascot, and performing various antics.  'Stuffie' invariably gets the, well, stuffing knocked out of him by fans who don't want to be distracted from the game.  Several local books run lines on which inning 'Stuffie' is finally chased from the field by a barrage of breadcrusts, bottles, cups, and clam shells.
    In a side note; both of the Whiz-Bang Kids hold day jobs as shuckers at the Apponaug Group's aquaculture venture processing the same bivalves their team is named for.

The Bees - Sponsored by Wheelock & Ericsson, a major brokerage firm, the 'Bees' have fallen on hard times of late, barely retaining their Premier Division status. The team's roster has been decimated through age, injury, and job reassignment.  Especially felt is the loss of Francis 'Stinger' Jacobs, the team's major long ball threat, who has been promoted to the firm's trade office on Collace.  Feelings ran so high among the fans that the W&E offices were evacuated after a bomb threat.
    The loss of 'Bee' players has been so drastic that W&E has been making job offers to the members of other teams.  In and of itself, this is not an unknown tactic. Premier and Ducal division teams have poached various prospects from each other and the teams of the 'Small Three' in the past, but W&E's actions are unusual in their scope.  By some estimations, W&E now controls as many as six teams in the 'Small Three' and are using the player rosters there to supplement the roster of the 'Bees'.  Whether the League can withstand this latest brush with professionalism remains to be seen.
    The 'Bees' cap sports black and yellow stripes.  The uniform patch consists of a stylized Terran bee with a decidedly homicidal expression on its face.

Pugilism - Boxing is its many forms can be found at several venues on Grote.  Matches in the Terran olympic and queensbury styles are weekly affairs in various establishments along CorOne and the Common's Rimwalk.  Other styles, such as bareknuckle, all-in, and toughman, can be found nightly in Old Town.  While some of the bouts presented in Old Town come very close to being blood sports, others are choreographed 'room mate acts' primarily staged for the fleecing of unsuspecting tourists and visiting ship crews.
    If the traveller is interested, fairly honest matches of the primitive style can be found in Old Town.  One should be warned that such matches are not for the squeamish and can take hours.  One memorable bout went 83 rounds before one of the contestants failed to 'toe the line'.  Both fighters were removed by medical personnel.
    Recently, a troupe of Aslan performers visited Grote as part of a cultural exchange sponsored by the Ducal House of Glisten.  The operatic and theatrical performances drew polite audiences more interested in novelty than substance.  However, the dueling exhibitions garnered great attention.  Grote 'allows' dueling or, more accurately, doesn't care as long as the duel occurs in Old Town and a recreational 'blood fencing' (q.v.) circuit is active.
    The Aslan dueling exhibitions were eagerly attended and dissected for both techniques and equipment.  While some of the traditional Aslan pole weapons displayed were adapted by most Vargr stick fighting (q.v.) groups, the artificial dewclaw was been embraced by pugilists and fight promoters alike.  At first the trend was dismissed as a gimmick by many.  However, more and more bouts have been featuring it, either as 'first blood' matches or as an adjunct to normal fisticuffs.  This fusion of dewclaw and pugilism has proved very popular, drawing both those tired of the formalized maneuvers found in Terran olympic and queensbury boxing and those put off by the carnage of bareknuckle or toughman.
    When compared to the other spectator sports found on Grote, pugilism has the highest percentage of professional athletes.  Most fighters, especially those in the higher reaches of the sport, earn their keep by fighting alone.  Many others have 'no show' or 'busy work' jobs such as casino greeters or bar bouncers.  Travellers should therefore not be surprised when they spot Betteena 'Betty' Blutarski, the 'Rabwhar Ripper', acting as a genial host at the JTAS-Grote Casino.  Don't be afraid to shake her hand, just count your fingers when you get it back.

Blood Fencing - Grote is not a dueling society.  That is to say the results of duels or even the failure to duel at all do not carry any social stigma.  Nearly every duel on Grote is recreational in nature; they are primarily sporting events.  This doesn't mean that duels arising from inflamed passions or perceived insults do not occur, just that those duels normally aren't open to the paying public.
    Within the Newport Habitat, dueling exists in a legal gray area.  The weapons used are not outlawed anywhere in the Habitat but their use on other sophonts will tend to bring the Constabulary on the scene rather quickly.  Thus most dueling matches, or 'shaves' as they are more commonly known, are held within the limits of that permanent societal blind spot, Old Town.  Constables may patrol the two revolving airlocks connecting Old Town to CorOne, however *nothing* that happens beyond the locks' 15 meter 'green line' is seen 'officially'.
    As lawless as Old Town may be, the 'shaves' are most certainly not.  The strictures and customs regarding weapon selection, length of the various matches, ring size, and even permissible maneuvers are all vigorously enforced by the dueling clubs themselves.  None of these tenets is more strictly enforced than the principle of 'first blood'; once blood is drawn, the 'shave' is at an end and the victor is declared.  Despite the 'first blood' rule, serious injuries up to and including death have occurred.
    Recreational dueling always involves blade weapons on some sort.  Pistols are eschewed as dueling is viewed as a test of skill and not something as crass as simply killing.  Popular weapons include epees; with or without poignards, sabers, and rapiers.  Other, more exotic blade weapons from across Chartered Space see occasional use also.  Artificial dewclaws, which mimic the natural Aslan claw, have gained in popularity since the visit of an Aslan cultural exchange troupe several years ago.
    Most 'shaves' are arranged by or contracted from Grote's several dueling clubs.  These clubs are private organizations, which operate out of various Old Town gymnasiums.  They provide training, promote 'shaves', collect fees, arrange for medical care, and enforce safety conventions.  Admission to a club is normally just a matter of paying a fee, but not all society members participate in 'blood fencing'.  Most members are content to train, engage in bouts with other members using blunted weapons, and enjoy the convivial atmosphere.
    An informal ranking system of duelists by weapon class exists between the various clubs.  'Shaves' between evenly rated duelists provide a great deal of action for the many local sports books and these matches draw some of the largest crowds seen in Old Town.  Small training 'shaves', either with blunted weapons or without, are held most nights in the clubs' gymnasiums.  A traveller interested in watching a duel should have no trouble in finding one.
    Recently a small number of 'professional' duelists have arrived on Grote from the Border Worlds Confederation.  These individuals work a various capacities for many of the clubs, either as training experts or ranked masters in various weapon classes.  Given the general antipathy on Grote towards the Sword Worlds, these new arrivals were viewed with some skepticism.  Suspicion has slowly increased thanks in part to the perception that these individuals avoid fighting each other.  It is also widely known that they bet heavily on each other.

Vargr Stick Fighting - The most popular participatory sport on Grote is actually a misnomer.  The style of stick, or staff, bouts fought there have much more to do with Solomani-Filipino techniques than anything found in the Extents.  Local historians trace this mistaken label back to a period just before the Sacnothi Occupation when a visiting Vargr theatrical troupe proved extremely popular with the population.  This troupe specialized in historical dramas from Lair's pre-industrial period and featured carefully choreographed battles on stage.
    The practice is easily the most popular form of exercise found on Grote.  Nearly all gymnasiums, public or private, offer classes in Vargr stick fighting at many levels of ability.  The few local private schools field stick teams in addition to their regular slate of sporting activities.  Mornings and evenings in Newport's many green spaces locals can be found going through a slow, unarmed, and ritualized set of stick fighting maneuvers as part of their daily stretching and meditation practices.
    Contact stick fighting is nearly always performed with simple staffs.  Participants wear protective gear; soft helmets, shoulder pads, mouth guards, and the like.  Participants approach each other within a 'lane'; two lines 2 meters apart. A bout will usually last for three 'falls' with being forced out of your lane or dropping your weapon counted as a fall.  Most bouts will remind veterans of their pugil stick training in the Unified Army or Marines.
    Purely spectator versions of stick fighting do occur.  These bouts resemble 'blood fencing' a great deal.  Blades are attached to the staffs and protective equipment removed from the participants.  Bouts are then fought until 'first blood'.  Like all spectator sports on Grote, betting is fierce and the crowds even fiercer.  The 'blood' version of stick fighting has experienced an upswing in popularity thanks to the near domination of 'blood fencing' by several newly arrived Border Worlders.
    The tamer version of stick fighting is so popular among the people of this system that it can come as a shock to others when a Grotean picks up a length of wood and begins to lay people out.  During recent planned 'rioting' on Forine and much to chagrin of the Sword Lord there, several Grotean trader crews armed themselves with stout lengths of plastic tubing and easily cleared a 'mob' from the single transfer tube linking the Startown and starport.  The off-world community was then able to make an orderly evacuation to the port and their waiting ships.

Darrian pankration - An outgrowth of Darrian flame sculpting, pankration has been described by spectators as a combination of ballet and hand-to-hand combat.  The combatants in a pankration match seemingly dance and whirl while making a series of strikes at each other as the flames from their arm sheaths rapidly morph between settings.  The training and equipment required are rare outside the Confederation, making the matches held on Grote something of a novelty.  While not held with the same regularity of any other sport on Grote, pankration matches are spectacular to watch and tickets to one command high prices from both locals and visitors alike.
    Participants are outfitted with hand and forearm sheaths containing gravitic and magnetic projectors.  This equipment is fed by a power pack worn low on the back much like that of an everyday laser carbine or rifle.  The sheaths first project a gas flame; normally by using small amounts of butane or propane, which are then shaped and stretched by the gravitic and magnetic modules.  Additionally, the flames may be colored by the introduction of trace chemicals.
    The gravitic and magnetic modules can mold the flames produced into many shapes.  A participant chooses between the various forms through changing her finger and wrist positions.  There are offensive shapes; such as 'probe', 'wedge', or 'blade', defensive shapes; like 'block', 'shield', or 'buckler', and intermediate shapes; such as 'fork', 'fist', and 'hook'.  The speed at which a flame morphs limits the numbers and types of shape that can grow from another shape.  Canny pankration fighters watch their opponent's flame selection with great care and try to force the selection of certain forms that may leave an opponent defenseless or catch their opponent in the middle of a particular progression.
    The amount of flame available and the very short range of the gravitic and magnetic modules limit the dimensions of any form.  A particular 'probe' or 'blade' may be nearly one meter in length but pays for that reach in a loss of depth and height.  The 'block' form, conversely, can be a solid rectangle up to 30cm long and as much as 15cm on a side.
    The objective in pankration is to either touch your opponent or cause his sheaths to 'short out'.  As in other forms of ritualized fighting, the areas that can be legally touched are restricted, as are the ways in which they can be touched.  Generally, touching with a recognized offensive or intermediate flame form anywhere above the waist or below the neck is legal.  A popular pankration variant adds calf sheaths and allows points to be scored on touches below the waist however.  Attempts at touching can be blocked with other flame forms.  Usually, the fields shaping a 'denser' or more 'compact' form can cause another form's fields to waver or truncate.
    'Shorting out' you opponent's sheaths is trickier, but those most experienced in pankration prefer it to scoring touches.  At certain speeds and angles, the interplay between the gravitic and magnetic forces projected by the combatants' sheaths can cause enough feedback to shut down the modules on one or both sheaths.  The speeds, positions, and angles required to produce this feedback vary tremendously between whichever flame forms are interacting.  In some circumstances, the proper feedback can be caused when a combatant introduces the fields projected by a third sheath into the mix.  In a classic pankration maneuver, the party using a 'block' to parry his opponent's 'wedge' could introduce a 'blade' at the proper time, position, and speed to 'short out' his opponent's sheath.
    The acknowledged masters of pankration on Grote are Darrian citizens serving in the various trade missions there.  A few locals have also learned enough to participate.  Matches are usually scheduled quarterly, but pankration training sessions are sometimes open to the public.  Unlike nearly everything else on Grote; from the daily sewage recycling totals to the results of the latest 'shave' or baseball games, pankration is rarely bet on.  Few sports books will take action on the matches and none post odds.  The Darrian Confederation normally takes care to route a cultural exchange mission through Grote at least biennially.  Pankration matches involving Confederation champions provide a major attraction for these missions.

    As befits one of the more popular spots for free traders to have some maintenance done, find a cargo or crewman, or just spend some R&R, Grote offers quite a lot in the way of spectator sports.  The distraction they provide is a welcome one.  Living in a subterranean world as they do, sports give the Groteans a ready outlet for the physical and psychological tensions daily life produces.  As one local told me, "We can't simply go out and walk in the woods, there's nothing but vacuum, rocks and rads topside."  Rocks and rads there may be, but under the regolith Grote is well worth visiting.
 

    Admiral Aramis P. Lee, Imperial Navy (retired)