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Official Site: Suzanne Collins

The Hunger Games universe is the fictional world which serves as the setting for The Hunger Games, a trilogy of young-adult dystopian novels written by American author Suzanne Collins, and the movie series that has been adapted from the novels. The series takes place in the fictional nation of Panem, which was created at an unspecified time in the future after a series of ecological disasters and a devastating war. Panem's government is based in the Capitol, which rules over its thirteen districts.

The word is the accusative singular form of Latin word for 'bread' and was derived from the Latin saying , meaning 'bread and circuses'. The phrase is attributed to the Roman poet Juvenal and refers to the use of entertainment and plentiful food to make citizens give up their freedoms and political power. Panem consists of a capital city, called 'the Capitol', located in the Rocky Mountains. The Capitol is surrounded by twelve outlying numbered Districts. There is also a thirteenth District that was allegedly destroyed before the series's beginning. The country of Panem is smaller geographically than North America today, and characters in the Hunger Games story state that large areas of land across the world were lost due to rising sea levels.

Panem is a totalitarian society and a police state modeled somewhat on ancient Rome. Districts 1-12 are subservient to the Capitol. The Districts provide resources to the Capitol in exchange for protection by and from the Capitol's army of "Peacekeepers". The Peacekeepers brutally control all riots and protect the dictatorial President Coriolanus Snow. They also attend the "reapings", where participants are selected for the Hunger Games. At the start of the series, Panem has been ruled for more than 25 years by President Snow.

Seventy-four years before the series's beginning, a civil war was waged against the Capitol. The uprising was led by District 13, which was a center of military–industrial production. The Capitol put down the rebellion and supposedly destroyed District 13 and its residents. To further punish the rebellious districts and discourage future rebellion, the government instituted an annual violent pageant known as the Hunger Games, for which each district is compelled to provide two 'tributes': one male and one female, aged between 12 and 18, who are chosen by lottery. The tributes are sent to an arena and forced to fight to the death until a single victor remains.

Panem has not been a contender in any CBUB matches.