A strange little side quest
Orbital Defense Program may feel immediate, but the ideas around combat sports have been evolving for a very long time. Boxing was part of the ancient Olympic Games by 688 BC, long before gloves, weight classes, or timed rounds existed in anything like their modern form. Another piece of context lands nicely beside it: Modern chess traces back to the Indian game chaturanga, recorded around the sixth century and built around pieces representing parts of an army. The details change, but the appeal of learning a system and trying again is remarkably persistent.
