Solympic Flame

The Solympic Flame is a symbol of the Sun beaming down across the great Immaterial Plane on which Internet League Blaseball takes place. At the dawn of every Season, the Solympic Flame is focused through a lens that sits on Sail Rock, Maine. It is then carried to the Solarium in Hellmouth to mark the beginning of the Hellmouth Sunbeams' blaseball season, and extinguished toward the end of the Season.

Due to various Hellmouth cults not shutting up about how the Flame is an aspect of the Divine Sun, the Flame has been extinguished every season ahead of schedule without fail by Seattle Garages fans.

Main Ceremonies

Lighting of the Flame

Sunlight is gathered from the easternmost blaseball field and the first to receive the Sun's rays, ballpark of the West Quoddy Lighthouse-Keepers Underleagues team. A lens placed on second base focuses the beams across the diamond onto the batter's box by home plate. The lit batter then runs the 2590 miles to the Solarium, and lights the ceremonial pyre.

Extinguishing of the Flame

Traditionally, the Flame is extinguished with a bucket of Pacific Ocean water generously donated by the Hawaii Fridays, and only when the Sunbeams (or their anti-rivals, the Hades Tigers) have been knocked out of contention for the season championship. Following the events of Season 1, however, Seattle Garages fans have made a counter-tradition of trying to put the Solympic Flame out before its scheduled time.

Timeline

Season 1

The Flame was left unattended in the lobby of the Solarium. On Day 73, some Garages fans were reportedly cooling off nearby in the inhospitable Utah heat with a garden hose. A stray spray of water extinguished the Flame well before even the Sunbeams had entered Party Time, much less their anti-rivals the Tigers. Locals were mostly understanding that accidents happen, and warned the Garages fanbase to not go "snuffing out any further divine emanations of the Radiant Orb, please."

Season 2

Following the tragic early demise of the Solympic Flame in Season 1, the Flame was displayed a safe distance from any garden hoses or spigots in the Rhys Trombone Memorial Food Court and Equestrian Center. The increased foot traffic in the Food Court was also cited as a preventative measure, to make sure no water was accidentally brought near the Flame.

In an unprovoked attack, one dozen playground-veteran Lil' Roadies pelted the Solympic Flame with water balloons, extinguishing it on Day 88. One Lil' Roadie diverted adult attention prior to the water-ballooning by staging a trip on the ichor-slick Food Court floor, and sobbing loudly with claims of a skinned knee. By the time qualified first-aider and Actual Doctor Nerd Pacheco had arrived on the scene and cleared the youth medically fit for all gallivanting, the extinguished flame was noticed and the perpetrators had escaped.

Aftermath

Debate ensued among residents of Hellmouth as to whether the previous year's untimely quenching was the result of juvenile opportunism or a coordinated attack on the Flame by fans of the noted godslayers the Seattle Garages, working in their heroes' stead to snuff out minor deities. The matter remained unresolved until photos emerged on social media of Garages Batter Cedric Spliff posing with the Lil' Roadies for "celebratory ISEEs #jobwelldone" at the 7-Heleven. The assorted cults of the Hellmouth resolved to band together to ensure that in the following season, the Flame would not - could not - be extinguished.

Season 3

Security around the Solympic Flame was considerably enhanced this season compared to previous years. The flame was this time enshrined in an enclosed service corridor within the Undercroft with long sightlines to spot marauding Garages fans. A security perimeter, staffed by rotating shifts of Dusk Conspiracy adherents, was erected round the Flame to keep it well out of throwing or spraying range. Ample ventilation which connected the Undercroft to the depths of the Hellmouth proper channeled superheated air into the Flame's location, which helped to evaporate any exposed water potential fire-snuffers might've been carrying.

The Flame was put out on Day 51, on the final day of a three-game Garages-Sunbeams home game series played at the Solarium. Sufficiently limber street performers infiltrated the area through the vents, then descended upon the Flame with fire extinguishers before the Dusk Conspiracy-appointed guards could clamber over their own fence.

Season 4

The Flame was relocated again within the Stadium for Season 4, in response to the Band's attacks in previous seasons. A specially fabricated suspension-and-pulley system, operated by four teams of Sunbeams fans spaced equally around the highest point in the stands, maneuvered a steel bucket carrying the Flame to the stadium's center. The bucket was then transferred from the pulley system to a hook attached to the retractable Solarium roof, nullifying a repeat of Season 3's access from above. The four pulley stations were then locked with four different keys, stored under Home Plate, and placed under watch by a rotation of volunteer guards for the duration of the season.

After surveying the new security set up, the Band put out the call to a team of Seattle's premier culture jammers, scions in the style of the Billboard Liberation Front. On Day 94, the first of a three-game series hosted at the Solarium, the jammers Infiltrated the stadium by posing as scaffolding crew. The guards were led on a chase by a bucket filled with kindling and fuel, set alight, and waved at the crowd. The guards, who due to selection pressure in the interview process were particularly zealous, deserted their posts in a frenzy after the jammers hijacked the jumbotron and yelled “Hey, we stole your stupid nightlight!”

The parkour experts then scaled the pulley system, zip-lined to the center of the sunroof and doused the flame with a fire extinguisher painted in Seattle colors. They then escaped in a getaway van after dousing the second bucket, "just in case the cults started worshiping that as well".

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