Located in the region of New Mexico/Texas. Covers a large area of land, but nearly the whole population is in one major city, like most districts. In the main city, the transportation is managed with a very good tram system, and the neighborhoods are dense so you can walk to most errands. The outskirts have farms and fields that grow the grapes used in the districts' red wine. They also make white liquor from agave. The markets are famous for selling a variety of chilis, and for the small handpies the vendors sell at lunchtime. The taverns often sell stews and tacos after working hours along with beverages. Most people live in towering apartment buildings as housing is decided by the district. Jobs are assigned and pay is low, however healthcare and housing are free. Most people either work for the masons or go into the Nut, and generally speaking the Peacekeepers were Loyalists in the war, and the masons were either rebels or neutral.
Located in the region around Washington state/Oregon. Most of the population of the District lives on the coast near Puget Sound, though some do live inland sort of "off the land". These families still need to take the train in to the coast on Reaping Day. The village on the coast is half on stilts due to erosion and rising sea levels. Most of the adults work as fishermen or in processing the fish, and many others work in the sea salt pools, in boat building or repair, or in the hospital or Academies. District 4 is among the few to have a Career academy, though it's formally known as the Achievement Center. Most families live in old, small wooden homes, painted bright colors and passed down through generations. The cuisine of District 4 is centered around the sea: lots of fish, clams, root vegetables, berries and cherries in the summer. The fishermens' drink of choice is beer. There are public saunas adjacent to the shipyards and it's part of the culture to warm up together after a cold day out at sea. District 4 is the poorest of the Career districts, with the profit from the fishing being inconsistent, but they are still better off than the outer districts, with fewer children taking Tesserae, medical care available, and volunteers nearly every year for the Games.
Located in western Canada, above District 4 and District 1. District 7 is specialized in lumber production, so the district is in a heavily forested area. They produce wood, paper, and stove pellets, so most residents either work cutting down trees, planting new trees, or in one of the mills, processing the logs. Since the actual area that the loggers are cutting can be miles from the man village of District 7, they may camp at an area for days to weeks to get the work done before returning. Pastimes of District 7 include hunting, fishing and ice fishing, axe throwing, climbing trees, rolling and smoking cigarettes. District 7 grows a special cultivar of tobacco specialized for growing in cold weather. It gives smokers a burst of energy with a distinctly "clean" smoke. Most families eat a lot of root vegetables, bread, cheese, beans, and meat like chicken and rabbits. There are times when food is scarce, and like many outer districts, people are typically shorter here than in the Career districts, due to periods of inconsistent nutrition in childhood.
The Training Center has two public lounges inside: one called Antioch, and one called Illyria. The mentors who are forced into prostitution often go to these lounges as they don't have to leave the Training Center to get clients, and there's some supervision. Each has a bar, a dancefloor, a smoking room, private rooms, and booths and tables. The rest of the Training Center is not open to the public. Upstairs, there's the Mentor Lounge, a large room that is half a relaxation space with food and drinks and entertainment, and half a work space, the "booth" where mentors do their jobs during the Games. There are 12 stations, one for each district, and a mentor sits at each with a headset and handles sponsor calls, watches their tribute on the camera feeds, and arranges gift drops.
The Capitol has a tunnel system beneath it. It connects much of the city, but it's complicated and labyrinthine, and only a few people and a few more Avox understand how to confidently navigate through it. It connects almost all the important places, including the Training Center, Snow's Mansion, several important government buildings, the train station, and a fallout shelter. The underground prisons which Snow was fond of hiding particularly disruptive rebels in were also connected, though they were far off the main path.
Enobaria's Victory. The arena was set to change from light that was blindingly bright to pitch black every 12 hours. The cameras had special filters on the lenses so people could still see all the action, even though the tributes couldn't see. Enobaria started the Games without her sight, and was attacked by another tribute who had intentions to sexually assault her. Her wrists were bound in his hands, so she bit his throat to escape, her first kill of the Games but the one she would be most famous for. She eventually was gifted glasses to see in the bright light, and stole some to see in the dark, and won her Games by defeating the remaining Tributes who didn't kill each other.
Cashmere's Victory. The arena was a planetarium, with telescopes in towers and a wide-open field dotted with large craters. Occasionally a meteor would crash down into the arena. She and her district partner used an alliance to kill everyone else, but they were the last two left. They had to fight each other to the death. He got a hit in, but she stabbed him as well, twisting the knife. She had to try to outlast, and succeeded, her District partner dying first.
Finnick's Victory. The arena was a seashore, with boardwalks snaking along a beach, and cabins dotting along it, some filled with supplies, some with mutts. Finnick was doing alright, but unbeknownst to him, he was extremely popular with sponsors, and Mags was able to get him a golden trident as a gift. Once he had that, the Games were as good as won, and he made quick work of the rest of his opponents. He was not yet 15 years old.
Johanna's Victory. The arena was a labyrinth, with mutts, traps, and other surprises inside. Johanna ran away from the Cornucopia and hid in a corner, and did not have any supplies. Eventually, Blight sent her a gift of dirt from District 7, and she seemed to revive, and remember she had to fight to win. She quickly defeated the pair from District 2 and got an axe, and fought her way to the end. She choked out the boy from District 1 to win.
Annie's Victory. The arena was a Valley, with caves on one side and a forested mountain on the other. A stream ran through the middle with a dam holding it back at the end. Annie, somewhat panicked, hid in a cave for the majority of her Games, not daring to come out even for food or water, and Finnick didn't dare send her a gift. Eventually, the dam burst and Annie out-swam all of her opponents,becoming the first Victor in a long time to win without killing anyone.
Johanna won the 66th Games at age 16. Her father died before she was reaped in a logging accident, and she lived with her mother, her younger brother Tommy, and her younger sister Imogen. Her mother worked at the paper mill. During the 68th Games, Johanna attacked a client she was supposed to sleep with, and the man complained to someone on Snow's staff. Snow had her family killed in retaliation. Johanna was free from the prostitution required of many victors until the 71st Games, when Finnick cut a deal with Snow to keep Annie from returning to the Capitol, and she was part of it. She agreed, both in fear for her life, and because she loves Finnick.
In general, Johanna is sarcastic and sometimes mean-spirited. She'd rather provoke people than show vulnerability. She enjoys smoking tobacco more than drinking, but she usually drinks what people around her are drinking: Haymitch's white liquor or Enobaria's red wine. She uses morphling to cope with emotional and physical pain. She has complicated feelings about desire and love and pain and submission, and she doesn't ever allow herself to actually think about them. She craves Haymitch's affection, and is secretly or not so secretly jealous of him showing so much attention to Katniss. She loves Finnick, and helps him with Annie even though she wants him to love her back.
Won the 65th Games at age 14. He is the youngest of three children, with two older sisters, Odessa and Margot. Both are married within a couple years of his victory. Finnick's father works as a fisherman, an his mother works at the local sauna, though she retired early when her rheumatism gets bad. Finnick is shielded from Snow during the first year of Mentoring, as he's only 15, but the second year, he and Johanna get a speech from Snow together about their expectations as Victors. He performs his duties, thinking of his family at home and how he needs to protect them. He sleeps with Johanna. He goes home to Annie and realizes he has two separate lives.
During Annie's Games, he is willing to do whatever he can to save her life. He talks to Haymitch who gets him connected to the rebels. They ask him to feed them rebel secrets from his clients. He starts doing that. Then, once Annie wins, he asks Snow to keep Annie away from the Capitol. He agrees, but asks for more from Finnick (and from Johanna).
Finnick wants to please everyone, and never learns that this is impossible. He loves Annie, he loves his family, he loves District 4, but he is always beholden to the Capitol. He's a Career, but he has rebel ties. He drinks too much and takes tabs of Euphoria to deal with the fact that he's often completely miserable, but he will never admit that to himself. He's famous for his comforting smile and his mellow personality, but he's mostly trying to ride the line between the fact that he knows something needs to change in his heart, and the fact that he's afraid to risk anything he loves to achieve that change.
Annie won the 70th Hunger Games at age 18. Symptoms she already had, such as verbal and motor tics, and intrusive thoughts, became more pronounced after her Victory, and it was difficult for her to complete her Victory Tour. She was institutionalized for burning down her house in the Victor's Village, as well as a half-hearted suicide attempt trying to drown in the waters of District 4. Annie is an only child, and her father was a ship-builder, and her mother made art from sea glass. They both visited her once she was admitted to the Ward for Troubled Women, but it was infrequent. Her father had a heart attack during the war and died, and her mother disappeared during this time. It is thought she ran away into the Wilds. Annie never returned to the Capitol before the Quarter Quell, and spent the years in the Ward or with Mags. She tried to keep the Peacekeepers in District 4 away from Finnick and Mags, as she knew on some level they were involved in the rebel plot.
Annie is gentle and kind, but she is not a pushover. She is jealous of the 'other life' Finnick leads in the Capitol, and resents being kept home in District 4. She is more well-read than the other Victors, reading hundreds of books during her time on the Ward due to her position as the Director's assistant. As a result she has a basic knowledge of government, medicine, geography, and many other topics. She has little exposure to the Capitol, so she is uncomfortable with the 'other persona' Finnick puts on when he is there.
Enobaria won the 62nd Games at age 16. She was trained at the District 2 Career Academy, and wasn't top of her class, but was told she would be volunteering that year after the headmistress caught her kissing another girl in her class. After her Victory, she shaved her teeth down in frustration at the sex work, at the fact that even though she's won, she's still in a prison of sorts. This only makes her more popular. She's with Johanna during the 68th Games, when Johanna attacks the client that gets her family killed. Enobaria's father is killed in an accident at the quarry soon after, and Enobaria knows it's related. She never dares to go in with the rebels, because she believes they're fighting a losing battle. She's friends with Cashmere, and they sleep together from time to time.
Enobaria loves her home, her family, and simple pleasures of life like good food and good wine. She's a lesbian, and imagines a life where she can meet a nice woman and settle down, but realistically she doesn't dare drag a woman into Snow's sphere of influence. She is clever, and thinks things through before acting, and she's extremely determined to keep living, no matter her circumstances.
Haymitch won the second Quarter Quell. He had a friends-with-benefits relationship with Elin for a few years, but after that soured, he's been single, convinced that after Lenore and Elin, Snow will ruin any intimate relationship he tries to form. He serves as mentor for District 12, but he's never gotten them a Victor. He's friends with Chaff, and they often drink together in the Capitol. Mags is relatively kind to him as well, as they're both affiliated with the rebels. He takes an interest in Johanna and Finnick, as he sees a bit of himself and Elin in them. And when Johanna's family is killed, even more so. He's afraid of getting close to her, though, that Snow would notice and use that against them.
Haymitch is an alcoholic, with white liquor as his drink of choice. He's been a mentor for enough years to have tried it all: tobacco from 7, hoochata from 11, euphoria tabs. He avoided morphling after watching Elin ruin her life to it. He realizes that as much as he tries to harden himself against the system, he cares for each tribute, each victor, and it's the reason he keeps fighting in a rebellion he isn't sure can ever succeed. He tries to keep himself from getting too attached to the kids by drinking, by being gruff, but it doesn't always work.
Cashmere won the 64th Games at age 17. Gloss's twin, she is frustrated with that distinction, and wants to be seen as her own separate person, especially when the sex work begins and clients start requesting them together. She begins changing her appearance with fitness, nutrition, surgery, stylists, in order to separate herself from Gloss. They have parents back in District 1: a mother who works at a crystal chandelier factory and a father who makes leather goods, but the parenting in 1 is very hands off. They went to a boarding school for Career candidates, and after she wins, Cashmere tries to improve her popularity so she can go home less and less. She secures an agent who books her as a model for several ad campaigns. She starts staying in the Capitol more and more and avoiding home. Before the Quarter Quell, she is diagnosed with a degenerative disease only seen in Careers, possibly due to the hormones and injections given in childhood. She experiences vision problems and muscle weakness that plague her during her second Games.
Cashmere is ambitious to a fault. She wants to be the most beautiful, most popular Victor, and she is willing to make sacrifices for that to happen. She sees the sex work as a natural consequence of victory, something that has to happen for her to get what she wants. She is intuitive and can read others well, and picks up gossip easily. She has a reputation for not making friends, but it's often the case that others don't want to make friends with her. She is close with Enobaria.
Gloss won the 63rd Games at age 16. He is Cashmere's twin, and won the year before she did. After his victory, he did not have the same ambitions as his sister. The prostitution led him to drinking, and this caused weight gain and depression. He went back to District 1 on breaks while Cashmere stayed in the Capitol, and Gloss took up a teaching position at the Career Academy. There, he started a relationship with one of the older students, Augustus, and when it was decided Augustus would volunteer, he had to mentor him to victory. After Augustus's victory, he reveals he is a rebel, and Gloss is surprised, but doesn't end the relationship. But Snow finds out and kills Augustus, issuing a warning to Gloss.
Gloss is level-headed, and generally unhappy with both Snow's regime and the rebel plans developing around him. He drinks to cope with his frustration at the seeming impossible situation, and a few years after his Games he is overweight and depressed. He prefers wine to drink. He's friends with Enobaria even without Cashmere around, as she knows he prefers men, and she women. He loves Cashmere but can't understand her desire to ingratiate herself into Capitol society.
Augustus Braun won the 67th Hunger Games at age 18. He seeks vindication, as his parents were banished from the Capitol when he was a toddler, his father taking the fall for some mistake of a senior minister and being forced to move to District 2. Augustus believes that as a victor, he can restore his father's honor and the family can move back to the Capitol. He realizes quickly that this is not the case, and his ambitions change to murdering Snow. However, being from District 1, he is disconnected from the rebel plans, and he is acting alone, and is quickly discovered by Snow and murdered.
Augustus is a smart man, but he is driven by his emotions. He loves Gloss, but his relationship takes a backseat to his main objective, which is his fixation on Snow.
Lyme won the 54th Hunger Games at age 17. There were already two mentors from District 2 at the time, and she went home without being called back for mentoring or anything else. She lived a quiet life, trying not to remind Snow of her existence, lest she be called back to the Capitol. But she was contacted by one of the rebels in the Peacekeepers, who said that Mags Flanagan sent her. Lyme didn't have strong rebel affiliations, but she did have a strong fear of the Capitol. The soldier gave her small jobs, things she could do from home, and then explained about District 13. Eventually, that soldier was killed, or maybe made an Avox, and Lyme waited, figuring Mags or someone would inform her when it was time to act.
Lyme is confident and straightforward, like many people from District 2. She was bred to be loyal to the Capitol, but her Games were long and gory, and she was frightened of going back to the Capitol, so she was loyal on the surface, and beneath, she hoped for a change, and then she started acting towards that hope.
Callie is Cashmere's talent agent. She is a Capitolite who works to secure contracts for Cashmere and her other clients, for things like modeling, advertising, guest television appearances, and so on. She organizes Cashmere's schedule, books her rides and appointments, and handles her payments. She rents the apartment Cashmere lives in in the Capitol. She is shrewd and no nonsense, but her marriage is failing due to her ambition leaving little time for her home life, and even she is not immune to the propoganda about Katniss and Peeta's romance.
From District 6, Victor in the 51st Games. She and Haymitch had a friends-with-benefits sort of relationship when they met in the Capitol each year to Mentor, but when they got too deep into rebel plots, Snow kidnapped Elin's sister. This led her to cutting ties with Haymitch and the rebels and developing a morphling addiction. Her sister was never found. Brutus has a soft spot for Elin and this is one of the reasons he dislikes Haymitch.
From District 3, Victor in the 68th Games. She won by building a rudimentary bomb inside the arena, and killing many of her opponents in the resulting explosion. This stunt caused Snow to look into her background in District 3 and he ends up disappearing her shortly after her Victory Tour, as he fears someone with strong knowledge of how to build IEDs is too much of a risk to hand over to the rebel cause.
Enobaria's sister-in-law. She is married to Enobaria's brother Tullus, who died in the civil war in District 2. She is mother to two daughters, Ophelia and Camellia. The three of them are Enobaria's only living relatives after the war. Antonia works as a hairdresser in District 2, and was not a soldier during the war.
Enobaria's older brother and sister. Both when through the Career Academy, but others volunteered for the Games, and when they graduated, Tullus went to the quarry like his father, and Tamora moved on to the military academy. Now, he works in the quarry as a stone mason, and she works in the Nut as a soldier, loyal to Snow's Panem. During the civil war, Tullus is killed trying to stop soldiers who are trying to rape and loot civilians in District 2, and Tamora is killed when she refuses to vacate the Nut before the bombing, staying at her post until the end. Tullus was married to Antonia, and they have two daughters together. Tamora was single, but she did have a relationship with another soldier in a neighboring unit.
Odessa is one of Finnick's two older sisters. She is married to Jude, and they have a son, Simon. They both live in District 4, where Jude works as a fisherman, in charge of his own fishing crew, and Odessa is a midwife.
Ryder is Finnick's other brother-in-law. He was married to Finnick's oldest sister, Margot, who was killed during the war during a protest against the disappearances that also got Finnick's father killed. Even before Margot's death, Ryder had problems with drinking and gambling, but these have worsened after. Now, he largely gets by by dealing morphling for the group he owes a debt to, and spends a lot of his time drinking.
These three are also residents of the ward Annie is admitted to when she is locked up in District 4. Shelly is closest to Annie, supports her relationship with Finnick, and loves perusing the tabloids with her. She is outspoken and unafraid of speaking up to those in power. Chamomile is more shy, and likes to follow Shelly around. Mara is the most melancholy, sleeping for long periods of time, and not taking much interest in anything. But after a while, Annie considers them family more than her own family.
Euphoria is a pill that causes increased pleasure. It causes the person who takes it to have lowered inhibitions, enjoy sensations more, have increased empathy, and decreased anxiety. Some users complain of nausea and problems sleeping or of paranoia. Many victors use euphoria tablets to cope with the demands of sex work while they're in the Capitol.
Tablets marketed as a sleep aid, they are revered for the overwhelming calm they are able to produce in the user. Effects include drowsiness, slowed heartbeat, and reduced stress. They are generally used only as needed, as they tend to make the user clumsy, or sometimes lead to tremors.
This is an homemade alcoholic beverage, common in District 11, often made with scraps of fruit or bread. It ends up with a distinctly sweet flavor, but not overly alcoholic, and is easy to make with leftover food or discard from the harvest, and many farmers sip on it throughout the day. Some transplants to District 13 brought the tradition there, since alcohol was banned.