Stage 0: Heaven or Hell Square
General - Bright fluorescent lighting keeps everything well lit,
even at night, assuming you can see through the crowd.
Weapons - Replica diamond katanas and foam rubber dragon slayer swords.
Natural Element Resource - Overpriced goods.
Bonus Effects - Johnson & Johnson NO MORE TEARS rule in effect.
A twenty-four hour carnival city has seemingly parked itself in the center of Latent in a parasitic attempt to garner customers. Crowds, while ever-present may thin during certain hours during the night, but they never leave or, apparently, bathe.
Entrance can be made only by passing through one of several gates guarded by Deity Inc. powered armor soldiers while in possession of at least $20 worth of shameless Heaven or Hell merchandise (including but not limited to: t-shirts, replica weapons, giant foam fingers, DVD box sets, and bottles of GoreGon bloodstain remover). The Square grounds are fenced off with high walls from everywhere else to deny those who would just walk in without a ticket.
From the inside, the forty-foot high walls are covered with screens of every imaginable size and shape, closing the festival off with blinking, flickering, flashing incandescent light. Each screen shows clips from the tournament in progress, live fights, clips from last year, and the year before interspersed with ads by Deity Inc., Alpha thru Epsilon Corp., Creation Industries, and The Blazestar Empire with voice-over commentary from The Commander and the fan-favorite foulmouthed chimera Tzenidaar.
Square goers, when not being berated with imagery from the omnipresent screens will be yelled at by loud speakers mounted on high poles to tell people periodically what time it is, where there's something interesting going on, when a fight is starting, and even where to turn their attention to watch video of a fight or an advertisement.
Concession stands and vendor stalls make up the body of the Square. Occasionally medical tents and Security Offices can be found in the event of a incident or injury, or to report missing and stolen properties. Men in suits can often be found and interviewed for information if someone needs something and can't be bothered to find it themselves. Security is available at a moments notice thanks in part to the thousands of invisible cameras filming everyone at every moment from every angle (due to court order over a lawsuit in 2008 now at most 70% of these cameras may be located within a 10-foot square area commonly referred to as the women's restroom).
Every twenty five feet there are brightly colored "You are here" map boards for those who get lost in the knotted chaos of people.
At the center, though, is the heart of the Square. A raised platform twenty feet into the air with railed stairs leading to the top from all sides. The center Square is divided into quarters, each housing a small sunken pit arena for anyone interested in showing their abilities to do so at no cost.
Each arena is many feet into the ground and floored with sand for combatants to entertain while presenting no threat to anyone but themselves and their opponent. While the arenas are open through the top for those to watch from behind a safety rail, it is requested that spectators please refrain from throwing anything into the arenas or at the participants.
Between these pits is the skyrise tower that looks from a distance as a beacon reaching hundreds of feet into the air decorated at every possible place with high definition screens visible from even outside the carnival itself.
Welcome to HoH Square, buy something or get out.
Notices:
Heaven or Hell Square is an exhibition arena where non-participants (and now participants as well) may engage in battle inside the city limits without fear of retribution from the administration. While fighting among competitors is forbidden within the Latent city limits, HoH Square is a special exception to the rule.
