Daily Life

This documentation discusses the lifestyles of residents in Panem. Many things included in this topic deviate from the book, so make sure to read through this thread. It covers the following topics:

Schooling and Education
All youth ages five to eighteen attend school, even in the districts. Teenagers may have side jobs for after school and on the weekends, but they must, by law, attend their school lessons until the age of eighteen. The eighteenth year is optional, though the vast majority attend throughout high school. Post-high school education is optional and you can find more information about what’s available to each character in the Districts (Setting) thread.

Districts: Education is aimed towards the industry’s specialization, but everyone will still learn the basics: math, reading, writing. College is more of a “junior college” here in the Americas rather than a university. Most people who want to pursue education after high school end up in trade schools where they can develop a specific trade, like mechanics. Education in human and veterinary medicine is limited, but it still happens.

Capitol: Although education seems much more relaxed here, it’s still as tightly controlled and manipulated by the government—it just so happens to be in a different manner. Again, education to eighteen years of age, then people can go to trade school, junior college or university. Most people in the Capitol prefer trade school over university, but neither are frowned upon.

ID Cards
All district residents have ID cards that include a photo, full name, date of birth, and other important information. They use this card to gain entry into certain places of entertainment (see entertainment thread) or for use as a credit card (see currency information below). Residents are expected to have this ID on them at all times, much like we would carry around our drivers license. Although it’s not common, people can get in trouble for not carrying their ID.

Clothing
Clothing is very similar to what we have these days: jeans, t-shirts, slacks, jackets, scarves, etc. Of course, the Capitol has various fashion trends that the districts don’t have that oftentimes are far more ridiculous than practical.

In the districts, fashion is determined by District One. Most district residents will not have top fashion and will wear more practical clothing. This clothing is more similar to what we wear here.

Food
Food, again, is similar to what we have. The Capitol has far better quality and more expensive and delicious foods. The district residents have mediocre food—compare to what most people have at home in our modern world. The lower the district, the lesser of quality of food. The districts that produce food often receive the lowest cuts of meat or the poorest choices of produce. Most people don’t starve even though their food isn’t of the best quality.

You can find in most upper and middle districts things like snack foods, microwavable foods, etc.

Specific Foods:

Fizz -- the brand of Capitol soda. Fizz Blast (cola), Orange Fizz (orange), Fizz Streak (caffeinated), Sasparilla Fizz (root beer), Pomegranite Fizz (pomegranite), Fizzberry (blend of berry flavours), Dragon Fizz (???).

Zing -- the cheap, overly caffeinated version of the Capitol's soda found in Districts.

Pets
Dogs, cats and fish are the most common pets in Panem. Feral cats are not uncommon to see, particularly in the rural districts. Other sorts of pets are uncommon. Please make sure your pets are realistic.

There are two animal shelters in the districts, one in District 3 and one in District 10. You will find more of the “mangy mutt” type in the overcrowded District 10 shelter. However, specialty designer breeds are far from the norm in either place.

Breeders exist, though far more frequently in the Capitol where designer dogs and top-of-the-line are expected. The chances of a middle or lower district resident owning a full blooded dog is rare.

Swears & Slang
Panem has some special swear words in addition to most of the ones we know from RL. They are as follows:
 * Son of an avox (used like “son of a bitch”)
 * Bloodbath fodder (when used in an offensive context)
 * Hurricane (used like “what the hell”) and various disaster-related words
 * Filthy peasant (insult)

And some slang:
 * “Do a Tomsy” (give up and die; ex: “Do us all a favour and do a Tomsy already, will ya?!”)
 * District lice (general term for STDs)
 * Dodge the dagger (duck out or get out of a tricky situation)

Currency
The currency is the dollar. Paper money comes in denominations of 1, 2 (rare; out of print), 5, 10, 20, 100. Coins are as follows:

Nickle: five cents, 1/20th of a dollar Dime: ten cents, 1/10th of a dollar Quarter: twenty-five cents, 1/4th of a dollar Half dollar: fifty cents, ½ of a dollar (very rare)

All district residents have ID cards that clearly state their districts. (See above “ID Card” section.) These ID cards also double as credit cards. District residents under 18 need to have parental authorization to use them as credit cards.

Holidays
The Hunger Games (featured in December) is the biggest holiday of the year. However, there are also other holidays the residents of Panem celebrate:

New Year’s: January 01 President’s Day: tbd Hunger Games: December

This section is a WIP.