Beltane Cup III - everything thread

by **Buyan** » Sun Oct 05, 2014 4:01 am

Buyan for Beltane
The most active generation

THE BELTANE CUP III

Welcome to this edition of the Beltane Cup, the third time we commemorate and celebrate our participation to the 54th Baptism of Fire with a football tournament. This edition your humble host will be the archipelago of Buyan, an island nation in the north of Esportiva. Matching in its Buyan 2020 Program, a nationwide PR campaign to raise the spirits and unity, Leader for Life Kazys Portnii has declared this the highlight and grand finale of the Program. One could say - and international standards do so - that Buyan is an oppressive dictatorship led with harsh hand by Portnii. But do not fear, foreign travellers. By no means, this is a mental affair such as The Late Glorious Commune or a dangerous place to park your car such as Ruland.
Even to the contrary, we welcome you with great fanfare and one can be assured of a safe and pleasant stay. Admittedly, the political freedom is limited and so are the civil rights. But over the last decade, the Portnii Regime has augmented the economic power of the nation with a mix of old (mining, mostly) and new technologies. It has raised the wealth of everyone - but mostly of people with a party card. So, only a minority is complaining about their lack of voting rights, but they get to deal with the Secret Police. The only thing really secret about them, is where they store their prisoners. But hey, we’re not that oppressive.

The tournament itself will run with a group stage first, for which the teams have been split in three groups. All sides play one another one time. The best two - plus the best two number three’s - progress to the quarterfinals, who will be one off. Each group will have their matches in two stadiums on the same island, which should augment the experience for the fans. Without much further ado, we present to you the draw.

Groups

Group Blue
Farfadillis - Nova Anglicana - New North Aqmuland - Gloriax

Group Red
Buyan - HopNation - Ceni - Greater Watford

Group White
The Sarian - Yttribia - Kitsunia-Deesse - Nassau-Hessen

Schedule - Cut-off at 1700 UTC

Wednesday 8 October: MD1
Thursday 9 October: MD2
Friday 10 October: MD3
Monday 13 October: Quarterfinals
Wednesday 15 October: Semi-finals
Thursday 16 October: 3PPO
Friday 17 October: Final

Locations

The Nine - Dyatinsk, Urka - 57,000 seats

It's big, it's build on an unpractical location and if we believe the contractor, it's build on a swamp. But it's also state of the art and featured some games in the Campionato Esportiva IX, hence the name. It could be seen as the most monumental stadium of the archipelago and has a good atmosphere. It will feature one quarterfinal, the semi-finals and the final of the tournament.

Havssidanstadion - Bengtsmark, Mullsphall - 15,000 seats

Build in a natural valley, the Havssidan is a nation with a great acoustic. It gives a special vibe to the home ground of Bengtsmark IF, the reigning champion. One could say that it makes it a real fortress for a side that has the audience behind them. The infrastructure has been renewed recently and only the old south stand recalls of the longer history this place has already. It will feature one quarterfinal and...
MD1: Nova Anglicana - New North Aqmuland
MD2: Farfadillis - Nova Anglicana
MD3: New North Aqmuland - Farfadillis

A. Holmarena - Vannarby, Mullsphall - 9,500 seats

The Holmarena is the only one housing a second divisionist that will feature in this tournament and to those not in the know, it might be strange that this tournament will rather appear in a calm city as Vannarby rather than island capital Vadshult. But the core of football in Buyan lies in this coastal town and the side here, Haljo, was long a grand name in domestic football. The stadium, named after former club president Anders Holm, is a tad old, but a new south stand made the circle around the pitch complete. It will feature...
MD1: Farfadillis - Gloriax
MD2: Gloriax - New North Aqmuland
MD3: Nova Anglicana - Gloriax

Novas Pylimasstadionas - Viztourzys, Valneda - 19,000 seats

Home to Viztourzys Kolektyvinis, the former Globe Cup winner and the team with the most Top Division titles behind their name, the Novas - as it is colloquially called - is a new rendition to the old stadium that lies a few hundred metres south. It doesn’t lie in the heart of the city anymore and that is a downer, but it still holds a good atmosphere and enough novelties to please the more demanding fans. It will feature a quarterfinal and ...
MD1: HopNation - Ceni
MD2: Buyan - HopNation
MD3: Ceni - Buyan

Bokstasstadion - Pajukas, Valneda - 9,400 seats

Of the stadiums of this tournament, the Bokstas still holds the most authentic atmosphere. Home to local club Sport, the capacity often does not suffice as the team represents the capital of the nation. Pajukas Sport often fails to make the great expectations of its fans but that does not stop their allegiance to the team: often complaining, always coming back. It might be a typical side effect of the stadium. It will feature...
MD1: Buyan - Greater Watford
MD2: Greater Watford - Ceni
MD3: HopNation - Greater Watford

Vingardarena - Kallsmudden, Ravnar - 17,000 seats

Even the local fans of this majestic town - the fourth in the nation after Pajukas, Vadshult and Bengtsmark - have lost track of how many times the home stadium of Jottar has raised their capacity. It still is the same field where the history started so many decades ago, even if it isn’t a really good pitch. But the stadium has that good ring-feeling and that makes it an appreciated place. They have good soup too. It will feature a quarterfinal and...
MD1: Yttribia - Kitsunia-Deesse
MD2: The Sarian - Yttribia
MD3: Kitsunia-Deesse - The Sarian

Den Dam - Tjellberg, Ravnar - 9,800 seats

Last but not least, there is the home stadium of the Forening, a growing side in the Top Division. Den Dam is only ten years old but due to being constructed before the big boom of Buyanese football, it is less modern than one should expect. A bit draft as well, to be fair. Remarkably enough, one side of the pitch is simply an earth wall. It will feature...
MD1: The Sarian - Nassau-Hessen
MD2: Nassau-Hessen - Kitsunia-Deesse
MD3: Yttribia - Nassau-Hessen

by **HopNation** » Mon Oct 06, 2014 6:17 am

HopNation Hops
National Fußball Team

Roster and Staff

#	Name		 Age	Pref. Position	Club Team (HopNation State)
1	Oeny Subanos**	 24	GK 		Bayern FC (HBN)
20	Whouf Rantinwar	 30	GK 		York FC (HBN)
25	Eburo Chroollack 24	GK 		Zorg FC (CPW)
5	Lecho Loontas*	 22	CB		Malt SC (CPW)
3	Bans Kastas	 31	CB		Gypsum SC (DKV)
6	Ess Nysistia	 25	LB		Coppendos FC (CPW)
9	Sid Raefwar*	 24	RB		Coppendos FC (CPW)
12	Rayrd Lesamnal*	 21	CB		Gypsum SC (DKV)
16	Oawo Rayhonrad	 22	RB		Captile SC (BPR)
18	Steat Nykaugh	 27	RB		Guile FC (HBN)
21	Icha Wiashrod*	 28	LB		Herberger FC (DKV)
24	Kins Houndtin	 33	CB		Nightinton FC (BPR)
27	Vaugh Jeikrom	 21	RB		Herberger FC (DKV)
10	Pheir Droimpol*	 18	AM ( C)		Bayern FC (HBN)
13	Ruk Rothrothther 25	AM (R,C,L)	Malt SC (CPW)
4	Teur Smuemund*	 22	DFM (R,C,L)	Captile SC (BPR)
7	Morf Chrortas	 23	AM (R,L)	Tearrain FC (BPR)
8	Uraka Ildechban	 22	AM (L)		Holden FC (DKV)
14	Leuld Biaddan*	 27	DFM (R,C,L)	Malt SC (CPW)
15	Nil Nousskel	 29	AM ( L)		FC Darkton (DKV)
22	Eisa Loostin*	 20	AM ( R)		FC Darkton (DKV)
26	Thriaw Arcerton	 24	DFM (R,L)	FC Indecent (BPR)
28	Honn Worfworf	 24	AM (R,L)	Tearrain FC (BPR)
30	Ike Myer*	 30	AM (R,C,L)	Guile FC (HBN)
11	Pech Schytaing*	 19	F (R,C,L)	Zorg FC (CPW)
17	Brim Swauswor	 24	F (L)		Quazar FC (CPW)
2	Raes Queardest	 22	F ( C)		Gypsum SC (DKV)
19	Eenu Zysamenth	 29	F ( C)		York FC (HBN)
23	Gos Banrayorm	 23	F (R,C,L)	FC Indecent (BPR)
29	Jeus Ebtubtua	 30	F ( R)		Utonia FC (HBN)


* denotes starter
* denotes captain

Head Coach
	Warren Schmidt
Assistant Coach
	Charles Brinkmeyer
Assistant Coach
	Corey Barden
Goalkeeping Coach
	Timothy Mahmonds
Fitness Coache
	Scott Moe
Medical Staff
	Dr. Tonya Hendricks
	Dr. Jill Hansen
	Kevin Bayts (Trainer)
Physiotherapists
	Tarrence Unduntserwora
	Rittchie Ranranyerbur

Permissions

Typical Style: +2.5 (slightly attacking, wing play, short passes, man behind the ball)
Typical Formations: 4-2-3-1^*, 4-3-3, and 4-4-2

RP Permissions if opponent RPs first
Choose my goalscorers		Yes
Godmod scoring events		Yes
Issue yellow cards		Yes
Issue red cards			Yes - within reason and cannot render team unable to continue due to cards
RP Injuries (normal and Godmod)	Yes - no career ending or deaths - I reserve right to set return time and/or edit severity with follow-up RP
Godmod other events		Yes

Starting XI

Kits

HomeAwayAlternative

Stadium

Rhizome Arena: capacity 125,000|location Zorg, Copperwies
The largest of all association football stadiums in HopNation, Rhizome Arena is a spectacle to be seen. It is an extremely advanced stadium with self regulating weather blockers that open and close based on the current events attendance, sun glare, precipitation, and event type. It’s a two tier style stadium with each seat having a clear view of the field. It has an impressive array of video boards: two main screens, one on each end of the stadium located on the upper level; a continuous screen that separates the lower and upper levels; and other screens spread through the concourse, the main ones for this type being ideally located just outside of each section entrance. This stadium is home to the Phynix of Zorg FC (Zorg FC’s Senior Squad) as well as the official home of the Hops (HopNation’s Association Football National Team).

by **HopNation** » Mon Oct 06, 2014 8:21 am

The Drop

“Where are we Sir?”
“Somewhere in Buyan, I believe.”
“Where?”
“BUYAN! Are you deaf or just incompetent?”
“What sir? No not deaf, nor incompetent, it’s just so hard to hear you. My headset has a ton of static for some reason.”
“Is it plugged into the controls completely?”
“Yes, well it appears to be.”
“Lets switch to channel 449 then.”
“Roger”

The two both reach down at the same time and change over from their current listening channel to 449. The plane is speeding steadily over the landscape, but at an extremely low altitude. It’s moving quickly and under radar for some reason, the craft resembles that of a Citation X but it is a little bigger and a little faster. It is a small plane carrying an unknown number of passengers, plus the Captain, the First Officer, and one attendant. The Captain is pushing the plane to it’s limits as it weaves between the terrain.

“If we are over Buyan now we must be close to our destination, right?”
“Yes, we’ve made good time.”

The captain points to a piece of paper that reads ’ no one should be expecting us either’

“Loud and clear now sir.”
“Great”
“Where are we brining it down?”
“Landing you mean”
“No, I don’t think so.”
“Yes, landing.”

The Captain looks over and winks, then points at the box under his seat.

“Correct sir, landing my mistake on terminology there. This is one of my first international flights.”
“Very well, I’ll catch you up on more of our terms when we land.”
“Looking forward to it, Sir.”
“How far out are we from Vector Romeo 5 5 Niner?”
“At current speed, ten minutes sir.”
“Trim down and reduce air speed to 403 knots.”
“Confirmed, reducing speed to quarter power at 403 knots from current 1610.”
“Good, tell Gertrude we are nearing our destination.”

The First Officer unstraps after reducing the throttle and exits the cockpit. He finds the attendant walking through the narrow aisle and she is checking on a few of the seats with her back to the front of the plane. The First Officer takes a moment to admire her assets before starting to walk down the aisle himself. As he walks he notices that everyone looks secure and that they are all sleeping, arms crossed over their chests, legs held directly under in a true posture type position, and their faces/heads slightly tilted so they are looking up at about a 45 degree angle. He slowly and silently walks up behind Gertrude wrapping his arms around her and up to her breasts.

“HEY” as she spins and slaps the First Officer
“It’s me, it’s me.
“Sorry, you never can be sure with the noise in here and if anyone woke up.”
“They are not waking up don’t worry.”
“Why are you back here anyway.”
“We are nearing the landing location”
“Your not on the flight deck you don’t have to use code back here you know.”
“I know, I know. We are nearing the drop zone, is that better?”
“Yes much better. I’ll finalize the packages, how long do we have?”
“Well we reduced our speed to about a quarter of what it was so thirty minutes or so.”
“Or so, you mean you don’t know the exact time?”
“No, I didn’t do the calculation before coming to let you know.”
“Hmf”
“We had 10 minutes at 1600 knots but the Captain had me drop us down to the drop speed of 403. So you figure it out if you really want the exact time.”
“Well then, I’ll have to let you finish feeling me up after we finish the drop instead of right now.”

Gertrude looks at the First Officer a little cross.

“Ah bummer, I don’t want to wait for that. It would be much more fun with a sleeping audience, don’t you think.”
“NO!” as she smacks him again “Now get back in the cockpit so we can finish this.”
“Okay, Okay. I’ll let the Captain know we are ready then.”
“See you in a bit.”

The First Officer turns back to the front of the plane and walks up to the cockpit and closes the door as he enters.

“Everything ready for landing?”
“Yes Sir!”
“We should be getting close and the landing will be coming into view very soon.”
“On your mark then for gear down and flaps down.”
“We’ll go flaps first, we need to slow a bit more first. Then we’ll drop the gear.”

The Captain picks up the intercom and speaks.

“Ladies and Gentlemen we are entering our final approach please make sure all try tables and seat backs are returned to their upright and locked positions. Attendant please ready the cabin for landing.”

Gertrude hurries back to her seat and straps in. The cabin is still and ready with just the noise of the engines coming through. The Captain and First Officer look for the landing spot as they continue to zoom over the landscape.

“Flaps down”
“Flaps down, confirmed and locked”
“How’s our speed?”
“Down to 355 knots, sir.”
“Get ready to lower the gear.”
“Roger, gear ready.”
“Speed?”
“325 knots now.”
“Open gear doors now.”
“Opening doors.”

Both the Captain and the First Officer put on their flight masks. The First Officer presses a central button on his yoke, the entire floor below the passenger section begins to open. A mask drops down in front of Gertrude and she quickly puts it on as she watches the floor fully open.

“Doors are locked open sir.”
“Speed?”
“Now at 280 knots.”
“Throttle down, we need to hit 250 knots before the gear can go down.”
“Dropping to 250 knots.”

The First Officer trims back the throttle a little more as the Captain eyes the Landing.

“Speed?”
“248 Knots now.”
“Drop the gear on my mark.”
“Dropping on your mark sir.”
“MARK”
“Gear is down”

The First Officer pushes that center button again and a loud thud is heard. In the cabin the entire seat base lowers below the fuselage and then releases, dropping all of it’s passengers who are still contained in their seats. Once released the plane jerks upwards due to the drop in weight and the Captain adjusts to level it off and then banks hard to the south. As the plane tilts Gertrude sees the seat bed dropping below them as the parachutes open to hopefully drop the passengers gently on the ground.

“GEAR UP, GEAR UP, RETRACT THE FLAPS, FULL POWER”
“ROGER!”

The First Officer slams the close button for both the gear (cabin doors) and the flaps, then slams the throttle all the way forward as the Captain continues to turn the plane which is now almost headed back in the direction it was coming from.

“Gear is up, Flaps are up, and you have full power sir.”
“Good job on the abort landing sequence, that was close. The landing area looked to be covered with debris.”
“I saw that too, I wonder what happened down there.”
“No telling but we need to find an alternative so our passengers can get to their destination.”
“Roger that sir.”

The First Officer switches his radio channel over to 229.

“Mayday Mayday, coming, anyone.”
“HPN125 we hear you and we now show you on radar, this is Tower 22.”
“We are low on fuel and need a safe landing zone. Any nearby airports in our area?”
“Yes, we show you heading East at 94 degrees.”
“Confirmed 94 degrees.”
“Turn to heading 83, there is an airstrip about 15 miles out.”
“Confirmed turning to 83 East Northeast.”
“Heading change seen and confirmed on radar, continue current air speed we will guide you in. See you in a couple minutes HNP125.”
“Thank you and waiting your approach instructions.”

A couple minutes pass as the Captain and First Officer climb up a couple thousand feet and spot the airport in the distance. The Captain looks over at the First Officer and winks, then turns back to look at the front window.

“Tower 22 come in, Tower 22 we are not going to make the runway.”
“HPN125 repeat.”
“We’re not going to make it, we are now out of fuel and our left engine just went out. We are switching to manual and trying to glide her in.”
“Roger, keep your flaps in and drop to 8000 feet at a steep decent to build a bit of speed for the glide.”
“Trimming down for speed, confirmed.”
“Godspeed and see you on the ground, you will make it in.”
“Right engine now out.”
“Roger that HPN125. Can you see the strip in the horizon?”
“Yes, but it’s a long ways off.”
“Continue on course, when your air speed drops to 500 knots drop to 6000 feet which should glide you back to 600 knots and carry you to the strip.”
“Roger that”

The Captian grabs ahold of the yoke as they near the 500 knots mark and then tilts the plane forward.

“Decending to 6000 feet now.”
“Roger that HPN125, continue course.”
“SSSKKCHCHTCHIT”
“HPN125 say again.”
“SSSSSS…….”
“HPN125 come in, come in HPN125. We don’t see you yet and you’ve dropped from radar, come in HPN125.”

The radio is silent as the Captain plunges the plane down to just 1000 feet. The First Officer slams the throttle back to full and the plane zips back up to 1610 knots. The captain then veers back east but a little more south than before making contact with the tower. They stay at the extremely low altitude until they leave Buyan airspace. They then climb back up and are picked up on HopNation radar and make contact with them.

“Hop T 55 9er, come in.”
“This is Hop T 55 9er, go ahead HPN125.”
“We are on return and need a landing space.”
“Roger that HPN125, come heading 128 and drop to 20000 feet.”
“Confirmed heading 128 20000.”
“We see the change on radar, bring her home Captain.”
“See you on the ground Hop T 55 9er.”
“See you on the ground HPN125, good flight boys good flight.”

The Captain brings the plane into view of the landing; the First Officer readies the Flaps and Gear as they come in for the final approach. They ease the plane in and land with ease. They taxi in and park the plane inside the hidden hanger near the foot of the Hallertautops. The three flight crew walks into the briefing room and goes over the successful drop and flight, explaining how Buyan air intelligence thinks they went down near their guided landing area from Tower 22 and that everything went as planned.

by **Buyan** » Mon Oct 06, 2014 10:28 am

FOOTBALL

Some forty years ago, a couple of Esportivan communist exchange students decide to kick a ball around on a field not too far away from Vannarby. After a lot of history, we’ve now in the year 2021 and football is tilting the crown as the most popular sport in the archipelago. In the sixth season of the unified Top Division, Bengtsmark IF retook their dominance with a second title, seemingly ending the era of Viztourzys Kolektyvinis. A side that also can pride themselves upon a certain international stature after winning a Globe Cup. The national President’s Cup saw already a list of victorious sides, with Blau-Weiss Pallstadt, the nation's second team, as the latest addition. The official national competitions contain 48 teams and are still up to expansion, but its popularity mainly lies on the many local teams and competitions. Especially in the western part, football is the main sport, whilst being opposed to the popularity of rugby and basket in the east.

Before our international wake, Buyanese football was usually noted by powerful midfield play, with a lot of forward focus transcended in one man: a team was often defined by its type of attacking midfielder and the position was probably a bit overrated. Navickas and Cedar, by example, previously grew into the posterboys of their time that way. These days, the man around which Buyanese football revolves is Sverre Devold, although Piotr Kluszak might hold that position in the domestic Top Division. These stars of the new generations, however, demonstrated that the danger doesn't have to come from one person only and the ability from Viztourzys - and more recently Bengtsmark, Blau-Weiss and Jottnar - to deal with this new football reality have allowed them to grow to the highest level. The fact that Hope held on to the same opinion has certainly helped to popularize the idea.

He stamped out the old traditions with a renewed midfield where the wings can produce a lot of danger as well, but with a larger focus on the defending as a whole. It was a typical vision in Buyan to see attacking players stay forward when the opposing team launches an attack, causing a lot of pressure and goals, but the national side doesn’t show so. Hope wanted a sturdy defence, unless there are opportunities on the wing, with Naess and Zermin as a double lock on the door. It brought Buyan a Baptism of Fire, but after 88 international games, the reign of Hope stranded on a goalless draw against Kernansquillec... And the World Cup being further than ever. A fourteen on eighteen, under new manager Reinhard Shale, brought them back in the race but the Hedgehogs fell one point short to United Eastedge. The Cup of Harmony wasn’t a success by all standards, but with a new cycle starting, Shale wants to bring the national team to a new level. The CE XI ended with a bummer, will the Beltane Cup raise the spirits?

NATIONAL TEAM

The Blue Hedgehogs

Winner of the Baptism of Fire 54
Winner of the Beltane Cup II
Participant in WC 68

KPB: 38th with 19.87 KPB, post WC69
EspKB: 11th with 12.67, post CEX

All-time scoreline: 158 for, 111 against
Game results: 62 wins, 19 draws, 30 losses in 111 international fixtures

Biggest victory: CEX, Buyan - Boring Paradise 5-0
Greatest victory: WCQ68, United Gordonopia - Buyan 0-1, Equestrian States - Buyan 0-1 / WC68 Buyan - GAS 1-0
Most preferable result: 1-0, 27 victories out of 62
Opponent most played: Greater Watford, 5 occasions
Biggest loss: Confederations Cup, Equestrian States – Buyan, 4-0
Most painful loss: CoH59, Buyan - Sangti 2-5 / CEX, Apox - Buyan 2-0 / WCQ69 Kernansquillec - Buyan 3-1
Opponent most lost against: HopNation
Rivalries: Rüntenbach – Apox – HopNation – Greater Watford – The Sarian

Record at the CE VIII: 2 wins, 0 draws, 4 losses: elimination in the qualification round
Record at the BoF 54: 6 wins, 1 draw, 0 losses: victory
Record at the Conf. Cup: 0 wins, 0 draws, 3 losses: elimination in the group phase
Record at the WCQ 67: 8 wins, 2 draws, 6 losses: 5th spot, elimination in the qualification round
Record at the CoH 59: 0 wins, 1 draw, 1 loss: elimination in the group phase

Record at the CE IX: 3 win, 0 draws, 3 losses: elimination in the qualification round
Record at the Beltane Cup: 3 win, 1 draw, 2 losses: 3th spot
Record at the WCQ 68: 14 wins, 4 draws, 0 losses: 2nd spot, won play-offs
Record at the WC 68: 1 win, 0 draws, 2 losses: elimination in the first round

Record at the CE X: 4 wins, 0 draws, 2 losses: elimination in the Round of 16
Record at the Beltane Cup II: 4 wins, 1 draw, 1 loss: victory
Record at the WCQ 69: 7 wins, 6 draws, 1 loss: 3rd spot, eliminated in the qualifications
Record at the CoH 61: 2 wins, 0 draws, 2 losses: elimination in the Round of 16

Record at the CE XI: 4 wins, 1 draw, 2 losses: elimination in the Round of 16
Record at the Beltane Cup III: 3 wins, 2 draws, 1 loss: silver

Top scorer: Elmo Havelund, twenty-four goals
Most caps: Sverre Devold, ninety caps

Buyan has come a long way since their debut interland, a worrying 3-0 loss against Dandillis. Their first CE saw proper performances, but the Hedgehogs only got the taste of winning in their Baptism of Fire. Without dominating, they amassed the victories. After beating Kitsunia-Deesse and Dutciberg, they faced The Sarian in a thriller. After one hundred twenty scoreless minutes, penalties had to decide upon a victor and the steel nerves from the Buyanese came out on top. The tournament marked Zemaitis, Havelund, Tufte and not in the least Sverre Devold as international players and lay the foundation of a respectable World Cup campaign.

Despite organising the next Campionato, it didn’t saw a real breakthrough of Buyan and the Beltane Cup ended in deception when Yttribia got the best of us, leaving us with bronze. But the World Cup qualifiers were exceptional, playing eighteen games back-to-back without a single loss. Taking the scalps of United Gordonopia, Thatius and the Equestrian States, Buyan surprisingly qualified for the World Cup 68 proper. After losses against Legalese and Osarius, Buyan grabbed three sweet points after a much contested duel against Rüntenbach, seeing Manuel Schmidt as a hero.

Their third campaign of international football has resolved in mixed results. Due to internal issues, a homegrown side had to contest the CE and the Beltane Cup. The CE ended faster than hoped, as Apox cut short the road to the quarterfinals, but the Beltane resulted in the second trophy in the cabinet, as we once again showed more cool on penalties against Greater Watford. The expectations were high: a second World Cup qualification was a must but that did not work out. A second round in the CoH 61 did not really resolve the question marks. Is Buyan bound to be one of those sites hanging on the edge of World Cup spots or can they become a major name in football? The CEXI couldn’t give the right answers, will the Beltane Cup?

SQUAD

Shale has selected the same names as he did for the Campionato Esportiva. He hasn’t made it a secret that he intends to weed out a few more for the World Cup campaign, but on the other hand named it a shame that he hasn’t selected players such as Castell, Losokov and Angst.

1. Manuel Schmidt --- GK --- 31, Viztourzys Kolektyvinis --- 28 caps, 1 sub, 1 goal
12. Ulle Seber --- GK --- 31, Garbarnia Hoyersko --- 38 caps, 1 sub
23. Erbald Saldlund --- GK --- 25, Bengtsmark IF --- 4 caps, 1 sub

17. Maxim Dziuba --- LD --- 25, Jottnar Kallsmudden --- 2 caps, 6 subs
2. Kazimieras Zemaitis --- LD --- 26, Viztourzys Kolektyvinis --- 84 caps, 7 subs, 6 goals

21. Kai Ruutu --- CD --- 23, Seura Pohkakunti --- 0 caps, 2 subs
16. Antanas Mamontovas --- CD --- 26, Viztourzys Kolektyvinis --- 12 caps, 5 subs
3. Sigurd Tufte --- CD --- 27, Bengtsmark IF --- 86 caps, 1 goal
4. Rafal Giertych --- CD --- 24, Jottnar Kallsmudden --- 20 caps

18. Ignas Smetona --- RD --- 31, Santa Tecla FC, SJG --- 17 caps, 5 subs
5. Giedius Justs --- RD --- 22, Commercianti, VEN --- 12 caps, 2 subs

6. Harald Naess --- DM --- 35, Bengtsmark IF --- 71 caps, 5 subs, 4 goals
8. Quinten Zermin --- DM --- 30, Carrubonieta Il Gueti, TRB --- 67 caps, 10 subs, 4 goals
27. Frederik Suhr --- DM --- 22, Sparta Torspeda --- 0 caps, 2 subs

14. Vridrich Lammerschon --- LM --- 25, Tjelberg Forening --- 6 caps, 6 subs
7. Dimitri Plovnarov --- LM --- 22, La Nueva Avenida, FRF --- 15 caps, 4 subs, 1 goal

24. Istvan Losokov --- CM --- 27, Sparta Torspeda --- 2 caps, 3 subs

15. Espen Knutsen --- RM --- 27, Crisisbless, NEP --- 14 caps, 12 subs, 2 goals
9. Eero Halmiini --- RM --- 28, Viztourzys Kolektyvinis --- 45 caps, 13 subs, 12 goals

10. Sverre Devold --- AM --- 27, Barbury Town, APX --- 90 caps, 1 sub, 16 goals
25. Arnold Rootare --- AM --- 23, Thor Rellhovn --- 0 caps, 1 sub
20. Piotr Kluszak --- AM --- 27, Blau-Weiss Pallstadt --- 15 caps, 9 subs, 4 goals

19. Sil Moen --- LA --- 30, Levadia Narkiv, EST --- 31 caps, 24 subs, 10 goals

11. Elmo Havelund --- CA --- 30, Vermillion Rage, NEP --- 47 caps, 17 subs, 24 goals
28. Stefan Hostmann --- CA --- 19, Viztourzys Kolektyvinis --- 0 caps, 3 subs
26. Damien Balnerii --- CA --- 28, Retatyn TU, EAR --- 3 caps, 5 subs, 4 goals
13. Andrey Rettinger --- CA --- 30, Goodfeather FC, NEP --- 15 caps, 5 subs, 7 goals

22. Duco Dalmshelf --- RA --- 24, Blau-Weiss Pallstadt --- 38 caps, 10 subs, 20 goals

STAFF

Second Assistant: Alowysz Krupa

Debuting can be a remarkable word if we apply it to a man who has almost two decades of football experience behind him. Alowysz Krupa wore the shirt of the Blue Hedgehogs on 35 occasions and is a cult hero for his former domestic side Garbarnia Hoyersko, whose black and brown colours he defended for nine years. Being one of the most modest men ever to represent our nation, he will still remain a national icon for being the one to score the all-important penalty during the Baptism of Fire victory. Up to this day, it remains the only penalty ever shot by this man who is once too often called a grey mouse.

First Assistant: Erica Brewer, NEP

Joining the Buyanese coaching staff, Brewer raised more than one eyebrow as she is one of the first females to enter the masculine circle of Buyanese professional football. However, all question marks were quickly turned into exclamation points once they got to know her. Her thorough knowledge of opponents, attention to details and patience makes her the ideal counterpart for Shale, with whom she shares her career. No surprise that by now, she is quite rightfully seen as 'one of us' by the dressing room, judging her by her skill rather than her gender.

Manager: Reinhard Shale, NEP

Sirius Hope brought Buyan to glory in the Baptism of Fire, lead them to their first World Cup and overlooked the squad that gained the Beltane Cup, but his time with the Hedgehogs stranded on a string of shaky performances in the World Cup qualifiers. It's here that Shale came into the picture, a man who could bring in the right kind of résumé despite only being 43 years of age. This talkative manager took up coaching after a career as winger being cut short by injury - we do like some coherence here in Buyan - and earned a name for himself when he not only lead Maximum Rovers to a title in the second division, but turned them into a solid side for the Nepharan competition.

Domestic powerhouse AFC Treason noted his class and Shale did live up to the expectations, bringing them a new title. But after three years, he decided it was time for a new challenge and found it in the dwindling Buyanese national team. With fourteen points in the remaining qualification games, the Hedgehogs hadn't lost yet under his reign, as he tries to bring them away from their defensive outlook to a typical Nepharim 4-4-2. His Cup of Harmony wasn’t that successful, although the stats could be worse. Shale is a talkative, media-friendly manager who tends to make the most of his time with the press, always quick with a joke. Even if that joke needs to pass inaccurately through a translator. He tends to take a challenge head-on and never really bother with the subtle route. It's something the Buyanese will have to get use to calm and subtle Hope.

KITS

After using regular blues for the Campionato Esportiva VIII, Buyan addressed Vulpine Sportif who provided them with beautiful kits, both in a blue edition for the home side and red ones for the away games. But time flies and the BFB rightfully decided that it was time for an update. The result is the above marvellous shirts, kindfully provided by AER Sportswear. This modern touch certainly has added to our flair. We’ll wear these excellent shirts with pride, added with red shorts and socks. The goalie will take the field in an all blue outfit.

PERMISSIONS

Choose my goalscorers - Yes
Godmod scoring events - No, unless awesome
RP injuries to my players – Yes, but no indication of length of injury if above three games
Godmod injuries to my players – No, unless hilarious
Hand out yellow cards to my players – Yes, up to five
Hand out red cards to my players – Yes, up to one
Godmod other events – No, unless hilarious
Dude, I've got this awesome idea - TG me, I'll be glad to cooperate

HOME GROUND

The Nine @ Dyatinsk (57,000 seats)

It's big, it's build on an unpractical location and if we believe the contractor, it's build on a swamp.
But it's also state of the art and featured some games in the Campionato Esportiva IX, hence the name.

STYLE

Style Modifier: -1

The one-attacker system almost proverbially attached to Sirius Hope is now a thing of the past and it leads to a new tactical scheme, a Nepharim 4-4-2 with a narrow diamond on the midfield. It is intended that the wing defenders will take up more offensive actions in this system, reaching the line from time to time if possible.

Between the posts, Ulle Seber managed to reclaim his spot. The Garbarnia goalie, out during the WC 68 due to an awful knee injury, took the upper hand as starting goalie since Shale took over and only had to admit one in the last 540 minutes. He's reliable, splendid in one-on-one but not unbeatable on a long-distance shot. Despite playing for a minor domestic side, Seber holds Manuel Schmidt on the bench so far. Schmidt, former Rüntenbacher and goalie of Viztourzys Kolektyvinis, Buyan's most famous club team, is more than a good double, as this spectacular keeper is as good as his opponent between the sticks. A change - if the opponent asks for it - is not impossible but the two have the utmost respect for one another. Third goalie Saldlund was once a major prodigy, but hasn't made that last step up yet. Questions arise if he ever will.

As left defender, Kazimieras Zemaitis is the household name. Quick, always ready for a counterattack and with a stinging shot, one would almost forget that over the past few years for Viztourzys he also became a strong defender with a mean tackle. One of the few Buyanese of true multiversal level, this shy wingback is a unique asset. His doublure, Dziuba, is carved out of similar wood, but still lacks the international experience and view on the game. Nonetheless, he has shown promising things during his few appearances. The heart of the team is formed by a duo whose names are the first on the board ever since our very first international game. Bronius Bartkus is the captain of Viztourzys and leader of the defence here, a clever player with a subtle pass and a strong head. His positioning is near to perfect but a difficult ankle injury keeps him off the field. A gap that is filled by Rafal Giertych, a youngster who has promise written all over him and a true professional. He brings similar things to the side as Bartkus. As his back-up, Ruutu had been added to the squad, he’ll mainly have to keep his eyes open for the future. Teaming up with Giertych in the middle of defence is Sigurd Tufte, a man who grew during his years for Mytanar Dinamo Esca from an interesting talent to a reliable international. Tufte still is a bit more rash than his counterpart, but brings a few dangerous infiltrations and a good long pass to the team, along with a good header. His stunt double is Antanas Mamontovas, a man who struggles a bit with the international level but with the years still on his good side. Completing the quartet, the right defender position will probably be filled by Ignas Smetona who is reunited with his former Viztourzys mates Bartkus and Zemaitis. An enfant terrible, he lost his spot on the team during our first Campionato Esportiva and disappeared from the spotlights. However, he matured and made a career for himself in San José Guayabal, where his spectacular style, dribbling and stinging assists were much appreciated by the local fans. Hope brought him back to the squad and Shale entrusted him with the right-back position, discarding the reliable but more static Refshauge. Gabs Refshauge, number two in terms of all-time caps, did not even make the squad as he was passed for Giedius Justs, the brightest prospect in the defensive department and the latest acquisition of Commercianti and likewise a winger, but a tad less expressive as Smetona.

Any good diamond midfield falls or stands by their holding midfielder and it is there that Quinten Zermin enters the story. Starting as a left midfielder, der Kaempfer grew into a player that is both capable to add something in the build-up and strong enough to withstand opposing pressure. Broad shoulders, vast experience and a great attitude, he is the rock on which his teammates can build. Shale chooses him over Harald Naess, a tad more creative but less able to hold up a huge radius. The experienced Naess, vice-captain, is still a viable option when more calmth is needed. For the future, we look to Frederik Suhr, who combines splendid vision with great pace. On the left, Frederik Wallenberg disappeared from the squad after an unnecessary red card in the vital game against Free Swiss States, the end of his international career. His spot is filled by Dimitri Plovnarov, who recently left his youth club Sparta Torspeda for a Farf adventure. Despite not too spectacular, Plovnarov is a creative fellow with a great kick and a fine pass. A few more centimeters would have benefitted him, but he has still plenty of room for improvement. His doublure is Lammerschon, a quiet, hard-working player who makes up with attitude for what he lacks in talent. It earned him a spot in Viztourzys, one in the future for Buyan as well? On the opposite side, two gifted fellows try to match one another, even managing to deny the always appreciated Marco Castell a place in the selection. Eero Halmiini, on his way out of the currently defunct Mytanar competition, still is on the starting eleven as he has more experience and can break open a closed game as no other. Quick feet and smooth rushes define him, only a few more goals wouldn't hurt him. He holds Espen Knutsen on the bench, a player that moved out of the Buyanese competition to Nephara and hasn't regretted that move. Knutsen is stronger and taller than Halmiini and will possibly feature against more physical opponents. This brings us to the defining player of the Buyanese team, the only player that could come anywhere near the term superstar. Able to play on both sides, Istvan Losokov has been added to your team. His fine season makes him part of the team, although I question whether he will have playing minutes. Sverre Devold is a true number ten and after a succesful time for Jottnar Kallsmudden, he became a key player for Apoxian Barbury Town, a side in the second-biggest competition in the multiverse with which he won national and international titles. He's - for a number ten - quite defensive, but with a good kick and similar vision. His main lack might be his confidence, he's not always the leader this team needs. In case of troubles, it seems that Buyan found a double for him in Piotr Kluszak, who rocked the domestic league with his bright performances. A daredevil with great vision and quick feet, he gives Devold some pressure. The bright new prospect in this department is Arnold Rootare, not the tallest of players but with magnificent passing. If the team revolves around him, he can do a lot.

This leaves open the offensive department, in which two rather new players to the national team try to shine. Duco Dalmshelf is a true goalscorer, who attempts to appear as often in front of goal as possible. It earned him the Golden Boot in the last Top Division and with fourteen goals, he's third on the eternal list of the Hedgehogs. He's not too tall and his heading is moderate, but otherwise he's a very stubborn and useful killer who doesn't need too many chances. On his side, Andrey Rettinger might be the most surprising name in the line-up. The first Buyanese ever to try his luck abroad, Rettinger became a club monument for Nepharim side Goodfeather. His style isn't that attractive for the eye but he brings power to the team and has an eye open for a fellow attacker. He's also an important weapon on free kicks and corners, as Buyan traditionally seldom makes the most out of these situations. The two remaining attackers on the squad allow Shale to alter his formation. Elmo Havelund, often called the Lantern Post by the press, never has been much-liked by the fans, but he did score quite often in the infamous system with one attacker. Under Shale, he appears less but remains a faithful player who will always give his best for Buyan. Last but not least, Sil Moen wears the number nineteen. He's an interesting white rabbit in the hat, hard to define by only one position. A creative left foot, very intelligent and versatile, capable to bring a tactical change from paper to grass, Moen remains an ace to throw on the table when things get tough in any system. Another ace will be Damien Balnerii who escaped the public eye the last few seasons but who build up a nice career in Earent. Last but not least, there is the junior of the squad Stefan Hostmann. Only eighteen years old, he’s a domestic sensation.

12. Ulle Seber
5. Giedius Justs * 4. Rafal Giertych * 3. Sigurd Tufte * 2. Kazimieras Zemaitis
8. Quinten Zermin
9. Eero Halmiini * 7. Dimitri Plovnarov
10. Sverre Devold
22. Duco Dalmshelf * 13. Andrey Rettinger

Important: I usually post line-ups in the bottom of my RP for any upcoming game, so please check whether I've assigned players for our game before taking this one.

Penalties: Sverre Devold (if unavailable, in order: Zermin, Rettinger, Tufte)
Indirect free kicks: Dimitri Plovnarov
Direct free kicks: Sverre Devold
Corners, left side: Eero Halmiini
Corners, right side: Kazimieras Zemaitis
Likely to be booked: Sigurd Tufte, Quinten Zermin, Andrey Rettinger

Captain: Sverre Devold
Vice-captains: Harald Naess & Andrey Rettinger

by **Nassau-Hessen** » Mon Oct 06, 2014 12:47 pm

Nassau National Football Squad

Nation: Nassau
Team Name: Eagles
Nickname: the Hessen
Colors: Blue and Gold
Trigram: NAS
Denonym: Nassauite, Hessian
Style Modifier: -1
Formation: 5-3-2

Foreword

This years representative team for Nassau in the 70th World Cup of Football Cycle has to build on their current success (that ended with a touch of disappointment). If one would take a trip down memory lane to the most recent World Cup, one would find a Nassauite squad that narrowly reached their ultimate objective. Nassau, who at one point had an advancing spot within their reach late in the qualifiers, ended catastrophically after a strong start, barely being able to hang on to a .500 record. In the end, the Eagles did barely find themselves amongst the top 100 in rankings, but only after being dragged back down to ground level after flying high.

The footballers of Nassau most notably come from the vast mountainous region of Kuthoderia (you can clearly see this through their names, which are almost completely traditional with little or no popular ones). People from the highlands have an unwavering passion for football, and constitute nearly all of the best national players. The entire region was ecstatic when they found out that they were able to represent the entire nation in the World Cup. There will be no moving up of U20 players this year, delaying a battle for many starting positions including what is bound to be a heated competition for the goalie spot. Very few people have been replaced in the starting lineup, with reserves taking over starting spots rather than actual new players to the football system, whom will most likely fill the former reserves spots. There will definitely be a Harmony amongst all of the veterans, but how far can that take them?

The Kuthoderians arrive into the Beltane with a few objectives in mind. First and foremost, the teams need to establish a positive consistency (especially after last WC's collapse), the Hessen must act like they are a top 100 team if they have plans to stay in that prestigious group. Secondly, the Eagles must adapt to their new formation, the absence of Sandybanks as a starter will be felt by many, but everyone must come to terms with the new method of playing since failure to do so could result in a huge roadblock on the path to success. Lastly, rivalries must develop. Nassau must be further invested in football, popularity must grow if the team itself aspires to develop. Nassau is coming into this competition in a much better state than last time, but destiny has repeatedly shown her clench on reality through many unpredictable scenarios, making things...interesting.

by **HopNation** » Tue Oct 07, 2014 6:45 am

Contact Made

Somewhere in the interior of the Hallertautops.

“Have we heard from the capsule yet?”
“No, no word yet.”
“And we are sure that it survived the drop?”
“Yes, well let me check…”

“…Report shows that Gertrude witnessed the chutes opening and yes we have video evidence from the onboard camera that it set down softly in an open field.”
“Then what is the issue and why have we not heard anything yet?”
“I don’t know, the only camera onboard was on the bottom of the capsule.”
“ONLY CAMERA….who’s idea was that?”
“Nozarks, at least that’s what it says on the design spec sheet I have with the rest of the file.”
“Get him in here would you?”
“Her, Nozarks is a female.”
“Whatever, get HER in here then.”
“Can’t do that.”
“Why not?”
“Because she isn’t here.”
“Well where is she then.”
“I presume she is at home.”
“How does that stop you from getting her here?”
“She lives on the northern coast of HopNation, which is six plus hours away.”
“She needs to be here by tomorrow then.”
“Might not be needed.”
“Why not”
“Um, because her plans show an additional device which would tell us more about the capsule and if everything is going as planned.”
“Out with it then, why do I always have to pull teeth around here just to get simple answers? Wait, don’t answer that. Just tell me something good here.”
“It’s a seat sensor, there is one on each seat, and every seat shows them as off. Meaning that the contents have left their seats.”
“Okay then, let’s see if we can get ahold of someone. I mean isn’t that the next logical step?”
“I suppose it is.”
“You suppose…really, just get someone on the line that can confirm survival or at least communicate with our capsule.”
“Right away.”

The man holding the clip board and a satchel around his shoulder exits the room to get the satellite phone communicator while the bossy figure rummages through his desk in search of the contact code. The bossy character is a large man that hasn’t shaved in at least a week; his voice is rather gruff and booms through the room when he speaks. The other bloke is very tall and meek looking, sort of fitting a nerd type stereotype and even has taped together glasses that sit far to low on his nose. In the room hanging above the bossy figures desk is a large digital clock that is counting down. This clock has a little under 48 hours left on it and continues to tick away as the tall skinny man reenters the room.

“I’ve got the communicator do you have your code?”
“It’s here somewhere.”

There is a bit more rummaging as one drawer slams shut and another is opened.

“Ah, here it is. Now give me that thing.”
“Here you go and please be careful when entering the digits. The system is, against my judgment, only set to accept five codes before it will permanently shut down.”
“You know as well as I do those orders come from even higher than me.”
“Yes, well it still is rather senseless.”
“You also know we can’t afford to have this type of material and technology fall into the wrong hands.”
“Yes, well there are better ways of encryption than just having the system wipe itself clean after so many tries. I tried to explain that to them but they wanted none of my advise.”
“They have listened too many of your ideas and if it weren’t for some of them we wouldn’t have even gotten our capsule delivered.”
“Yes, well those were basic ideas.”
“You call that modified plane basic?”
“I suppose it is rather marvelous, now isn’t it?”
“One of the best machines I’ve ever seen.”
“Now with this communicator please make sure to start and end with the pound key.”
“Got it.”

The bossy figure mashes the buttons on the satellite phone and hits the large green circle on the top, but nothing happens. Then the screen on the wall lights up with a large number 4 displayed and a red X after it.

“What the hell is that?”
“The try counter, are you certain you entered them all and hit pound to start and end.”
“Shit, pound to end too?”
“Yes, to start and end the sequence. Then hit the green button.”

Once again the numbers are all pressed and the green circle is pressed. The number on the screen turns to orange and changes to a 3, again with the red X behind it.

“Go slow this time and make sure you hear each beep before entering the next number.”
“Who designed this thing?”
“I don’t…”
“Don’t finish, I don’t want to know.”
“Do you need me to do it?”
“Fingerprints”
“O right, I forgot. Do you want me to read the numbers off while you enter them then?”
“Let’s try that this time.”
“Okay”

This time the tall skinny man reads the number to the bossy figure starting with a pound sign and reading through the 10 digits followed by another pound sign. They watch the screen as the number turns from a 3 to a 2 and just as their hopes start to fade the red X turns to a green √, then the screen goes dark for a moment before lighting up again and an audible tone is heard signaling the transponder on the opposite end. A wavering voice on the other end comes through.

“Ah, Hello”
“Who is this and do you see the green circle on the top of you handset?”
“Um, Droimpol sir and yes I see the green circle on top.”
“Push the button son.”
“Okay, then what?”
“After pushing the button you we should be able to see you and you should be able to see us on the small monitor that is in the same bag you go this phone from.”
“Ah, okay, I see the monitor and now I’m pressing the circle.”

The screen in the top secret office flashes and the two men can see Droimpol on the monitor. On the other end Droimpol can now see the two men on the other side of the phone. He looks to be in one piece and there are a number of players behind him milling about, gathering up their packages from under the capsule seats.

“You look good son, is everything okay on your end?”
“Um, yes I think so.”
“Is everything intact?”
“Yes sir, we have everything and all packages are intact.”
“Is Coach Schmidt available?”
“No”
“No, what do you mean no?”
“I mean he is taking a crap sir, seems we all have a bit of the shits since waking up.”
“That’s not good.” the tall skinny man whispers
”No not good, now shut up.
“Sorry to hear that Droimpol, other than that is everyone feeling okay?”
“Yep, as far as I know. No one has said anything other than almost shitting their pants.”
”There should be some meds behind the rear seat.” the tall skinny man whispers
“There should be some medication behind the rear set of seats, have some one check now please.”
“Right.”

Droimpol turns from the screen and yells over to another player and has them check behind the rear seats.

“They don’t see anything.”
“It should be in the seat, they will have to tare open the back to get to it.”

Droimpol yells again

“Yep there it is, is this for the shits?”
“Yes, those should take care of any after affects of the sleeping injections.”
“Eh, that’s some good news then. Do you all have the map as to where we are going?”
“No, it should be in coaches package.”
“He said it isn’t there.”
“It’s on the back of his clipboard, but he will need to drop a ball on it before being able to read it. The image will then fade after ten minutes and need to be struck again.”
“What?”
“Just hit the clipboard with a ball.”
“You want me to pull my pants down and put my what on coaches clipboard?”
“No, No, No”
“Ha, messin man messin. I got it, but the footballs are all flat.”
“They are self inflating, just tap the third panel to the left of the original needle inflation hole.”
“Eh, that’s some sweet magic right there. Nice design, who made that up?”
“Um, the skinny guy here did. He made most of the equipment you all have with you.
“Okay, we see the map.”
“Good, now get moving you have less than two days to get to Novas Pylimasstadio, which is in Viztourzys, Valneda.”
“Two days, two days, that’s a long ass way?”
“You’ll have to go fast. We’ll have more tomorrow, but for now you all need to get moving. Contact will be made again tomorrow to see where you are.”
“Um, okay but no answers right now?”
“Afraid not lad.”
“Alright then.”
“Move Out!”

The screen shuts off on both ends, the bossy figure and the tall skinny man talk a bit more in their secret office and then both head to a large briefing room. Droimpol gathers his teammates together and Coach Schmidt goes over the map with them all. They gather up their things and leave the capsule following the path on the map running as fast as they can.

by **Greater Watford** » Tue Oct 07, 2014 11:54 am

Greater Watford has announced the same team to the AOCAF 45

Code: Select all: GK 1 James Hemsworth DEF 2 Jonny Gregor DEF 3 Ian Watts DEF 4 Ryan Warthon DEF 5 Vincent Warthon MID 6 Peter Tilder MID 7 Jan Regan MID 8 Garry Oldfen ATT 9 Mario Mannetti ATT 10 Ignacio Peréz MID 11 Samuel Harris GK 12 Kendrick Hannon DEF 13 Keven Sproull DEF 14 Ryan Franks DEF 15 Damien King DEF 16 Alex Salvatore MID 17 Tommy Deer MID 18 Louis Revson MID 19 Hobert Capp ATT 20 Freddy Lincoln ATT 21 Pip Roberto MID 22 Shirley Ortiz GK 23 Ivor Reynolds

Manager: Alessandro de Rosso
Formation: 4-1-2-1-2

Code: Select all: RP Permissions Choose my goalscorers: Yes Godmod scoring events: Yes Hand out yellow cards to my players: Yes Hand out red cards to my players: Yes RP Injuries to my players: Yes Godmod injuries to my players: Yes (no fatalities or serious injuries) Godmod other events: Yes

Style modifier-0

Kits: (Home, Away, Goalkeeper/Third)

by **Buyan** » Wed Oct 08, 2014 2:56 am

If this would have been a movie, the background of this scene would have been a control room or at least a place with too many computer screens, shining led lights and metallic walls to be realistic. But this is reality and more specifically, this is the Buyanese reality. Elmer Dobrevicius was finding himself in an office on the fourth floor of a badly painted block in one of the more rural outskirts of Pajukas, a room just big enough not to be accidently mistaken for a cupboard but too small to fit in more than two seats and a small desk. The smell of cheap cigarettes formed a dirty blanket hanging over the shoulders of those present and instead of high-tech blieps breaking the weighty silence, it were the shouting workers of a nearby construction side supported by their stereo blaring a low-quality pop song.

The family pictures on the wall, the small filing cabinet stuffed in the corner, the cushions of the chairs – once red – now turned into pastel pink… Everything in the offices of the ‘Regional Department of Airspace Irregularities’ told you everything about the ‘Regional Department of Airspace Irregularities’. Captain Dobrevicius, as the note on the door read despite not having had a weapon in his hands for over two decades now, was ordered to gather the complaints and remarks, make a comprehensive yet thick dossier about it and then ensure that it would be filed away, never to see sunlight again. It had provided him a steady job for over eighteen years now and Elmer couldn’t imagine what else to do between nine and ten minutes to five o’clock – apart of festive days and scheduled holidays.

Usually, he received his news through the phone or by virtue of the old fax machine in the hallway, so it could be said that he felt rather displeased that someone intruded the calm atmosphere of his office. Especially not if said person had less stripes than him – but the same would go for more stripes, he would only show it less – and tried to act as if there was something important going on. This was after all the ‘Regional Department of Airspace Irregularities’, it was designed never to be important. Yet this junior lieutenant was waving his hands and talking above whisper tone. In his office!

“Captain Dobrevicius, I understand that the fact that a plane from HopNation missed its landing before disappearing is ‘as common as dog shit’ in your department… Well, not as common as ‘dog shit in your department’ of course, I mean.”
“Lieutenant Raviskaitis, if you have just entered my office to shout profanities, I order you to leave.”
“My apologies, sir, I did not intend, …”
“Lieutenant, this is a goodbye.”
“But, sir… There is more!”

Something in captain Dobrevicius was triggered. ‘Is there more’ was usually the one-to-last sentence of his phone calls with navigation centres all over the region, the last one more often than not ‘ok, in that case I thank you for your call and wish you a good day’. But the majority of the captain was just bored as evidenced by his glance on his watch. Six minutes before going home o’clock. Maybe if this conversation took long enough, he wouldn’t even have to write anymore…

“What, lieutenant?”
“A nearby farmer ploughing sighted that a series of great packages were parachuted just before the plane took off again to the south.”
“Hmm… Packages?”
“Well, it’s not clear what it was, that farmer didn’t know.”
“Why is it only signalled now?”
“That farmer couldn’t report the authorities but when his whole land was ploughed and it took some time before we found the right department.”
“But what did the packages contained?”
“They haven’t been found, sir.”
“But you said they were big, lieutenant!”
“They haven’t been searched, sir.”
“Why haven’t they been searched?”
“Because no one ordered so far to search, sir.”

Dobrevicius halted for a second and in between sighs, he said.

“I’ll make sure there will be a search party, lieutenant, with a careful screening. Make sure to give me the name and address of that farmer. I’ll get the necessary measures done…”

A soft tick indicated that the clock had struck ten to five.

“… tomorrow. Good day, lieutenant.”

by **HopNation** » Wed Oct 08, 2014 6:32 am

These things are fast, What are they

Deep within the Hallertautops the bossy man (Jonson) and the tall skinny man (Sullivan) sit at a large round table as a scruffy old man, a short fat man, and a petite shy woman enters the room.

“Did you two sleep in here?” the short fat man asks
“Well we aren’t allowed to leave, are we?”
“Sullivan has a point you know, last time I tried to leave I was escorted back to a holding room.”
“Plus this room has that nice metal or is it aluminum couches over there to lay on.”
“Yeah, they are a bit warmer than the cement floor in the other wings.”
“I guess the two of you are not allowed to leave then.” Barks the scruffy old man
“Lets get on with it shall we, the two of you better have answers for us.” Adds the short fat man
“Jonson where are the packages?” demands the scruffy old man
“In Buyan sir.”
“No Shit, WHERE” the short fat man blurts out
“What Jonson meant to say, Viztourzys, Valneda.”
“But do we know where exactly they are right now.” the petite shy woman adds
“Let me try and pull that up on the screen, give me a moment please.” Sullivan states as he tap away at his tablet

As Sullivan pulls out his tablet and starts tapping a few buttons. Jonson stands up and flips on the projector which illuminates that back wall of the room. The three people that entered the room take a seat at the far side of the table and watch as the aerial map pulls up.

“Ah very good Mr. Sullivan, now what are we looking at?” demands the short fat man
“It’s Doctor Sir.”
“Whatever” the short fat man says as he rolls his eyes at Sullivan
“We are looking at the aerial view of Buyan and this small dot is our packages.” Sullivan points with a laser pen and circles the small dot on the map.
“And where did the capsule touch down?” the petite shy woman adds
“Well ma’am the capsule touched down here.” Sullivan moves his pointer a good distance from the dot
“WOW how far is that?” the scruffy old man shouts
“We dropped the capsule 200 km out near the shoreline.” Jonson adds
“Yes so they have traveled 120 km over night ma’am.” Sullivan states as he sits back down
“So they have to go 80 more to reach the destination, and are we set for their arrival at that point?” the short fat man asks
“We believe so sir.”
“You believe so, you mean you don’t know?” blasts the short fat man
“We arranged for the…” Sullivan starts to say when interrupted by Jonson
“Sullivan is being coy; the extraction will go as planned.”
“Good!” the scruffy old man says abruptly

Sullivan starts to plug some numbers into his tablet as the three distinguished members of the room stand up and turn to exit the room. Jonson stands up quickly tipping his chair over.

“That’s it; you don’t want anything else other than knowing that the packages are moving? I thought we came here to do something, do something good for HopNation and you can’t be bothered to ask more questions or at the least make contact with them to see how the plan is working out.”
“Jonson calm down a little please.” Sullivan pleads as he picks up the overturned chair
“I will not calm down. I’m being kept in here with little to know answers to the questions I have. I haven’t seen or spoken with my wife in 34 days and you want me to be calm.”
“Well yes, but I do see your point.”

The petite shy woman turns around while the two gentlemen walk out of the room.

“I feel for the both of you, I truly do, but we have no authority to give you more information and we are, for the moment, only needing a progress update, nothing more.”
“WOW, YOU’VE GOT TO BE KIDDING ME.”
“I assure you I do not kid.”
“Let her go Jonson, she’s probably stuck here like us.”
“That Sullivan is not true, I am free to leave but my clearance is far above that of yours at the moment.”
“Do you mind if I ask you another question?”
“No, go ahead.”
“I guess its two questions. Do you know when we will get to leave and can we get something to eat please, the bits of food we have been getting are horribly bad and not nourishing in the least?”
“You will both be able to leave once the mission is complete. Food, of course you can get something to eat. When you exit this room go to your left and down the corridor. When you come to the T turn right and enter the third door on the right of the next hallway. In that room you will find the buffet room, there should be plenty for you there.”
“Thank you, ma’am.”
“You are welcome Sullivan, you too Jonson, keep up the good work and please call me Gertrude.”
“Wait, you were on the plane.” Jonson blurts out
“Yes”
“Was that the Captain and the First Officer?” asks Jonson
“No, they were only involved with the flight. They are the best pilots in all of HopNation and did an excellent job with their part of our mission. Now excuse me I must be going. I will be back later today and at that time I want to speak with the packages, so please have that ready when I arrive.”
“What time will you return Gertrude?” Jonson asks quickly
“1325”
“We will be ready.”

Gertrude exits the room and heads to the right. Sullivan and Jonson clean up the meeting room and finish turning off their equipment. Once they are finished they follow Gertrude’s instructions and head to the buffet room. The two are surprised at how far the corridor goes before coming to a T, but since they both have been in this hideout for over a month it’s only fitting as they didn’t even know a buffet room existed. Mean while in Buyan the ‘packages’ continue to advance toward their destination. A large bus is currently on route to an undisclosed location where it will pick up the ‘packages’. The bus is completely black with extreme limo tint on all but the front window so its contents will be concealed. It also has reinforced tires and bullet proofing throughout, but is made to look like any other tour bus. The only identifying mark on the entire bus is a single Hop logo, which is located where the normal buses brand logo would be on the grill of the vehicle.

Meanwhile in Buyan and unknown to HopNation a farmer had seen the drop of the packages take place. He also claims to have seen the plane change course and leave without actually crashing. But it has taken some time for the farmer to get word to authorities within Buyan, we can only hope that the so called search by their Regional Department of Airspace Irregularities does not find anything.

“Jonson I wish I knew about this room weeks ago. The food is awesome and what a spread.”
“I completely agree, I wonder what else is in this place that we haven’t been told about.”
“I would imagine a lot.”
“You’re probably right and the less we know the better, I suppose.”
“I for one don’t want to know more, unless there are more places to eat and maybe a better place to sleep.”
“Where were you sleeping before this segment of the mission?”
“In what I can only imagine was a coat closet of some kind.”
“WOW that small of a room huh?”
“Yeah it was tiny and only a blanket, no pillow or anything else.”
“That sucks. I had it a little better at least in room size. I was in some large room which was about the size of a master bedroom I guess, maybe 14x18 or a little bigger perhaps. It also had nothing in it and all I had was a blanket.”
“At least now I have someone to talk to.”
“No kidding, the isolation was the worst. I only had human contact for a couple hours each day and that was to go over what I was supposed to be doing.”
“I had no one for about two weeks. I would wake up and my plans for the day would be attached to the door.”
“WOW you did have it bad. What all did you do?”
“You know most of it already.”
“That’s it; you just built and designed things the entire time?”
“Yep”
“I guess it makes sense, after that second week I started getting plans and a crew to work on them.”
“You told me some of the items, which sounded like all of my plans. Were they easy to build?”
“Sure were, the instructions were to the letter.”
“That’s great, I’m glad they turned out.”
“The end products were amazing as well. I can’t believe I know someone that came up with such awesome packages.”
“Thanks”
“You’re very welcome. O Shit”
“What”
“We better get going if we are going to be ready for Gertrude to communicate with the packages.”
“Crap your right it’s already 1240 and it’s a long walk back.”
“Lets go then, take some food with you I all ready loaded up my bag for later in case they aren’t serving in here later.”
“Good idea.”

Jonson and Sullivan gather their things, load up on some food for later, and then head back to the meeting room. Once there they get everything set up and prime the satellite phone for making contact with the packages. Gertrude arrives right at the time she indicated, not a second sooner or later. She is alone and has changed into something a bit more comfortable from the suit she was wearing earlier in the day; she looked even more gorgeous in her yoga pants and tight fitting tank top.

“Good afternoon gentlemen.”
“Hello Gertrude” the two say in unison
“Are we ready to make contact with the packages?”
“Yes, just let us type in the call information and we’ll be all set.”
“Do we know if they have arrived at the pick up location yet?”
“We believe they have, at least based on the aerial map we have.” Sullivan states
“Good, very good.”
“Okay lets see, it’s a pound sign to start and end right?” Jonson asks
“Yes, shall I read the numbers again this time.”
“Nope, got it.” Jonson adds as he presses the green circle

The projection screen lights up, the number 4 is visible and a green √ appears after it. The screen then turns black and a voice comes through on the other end.

“Schmidt here”
“Coach, good to hear you. Press the green circle please.” Jonson instructs
“This one on the top?”
“Yes, that’s the one.”
“Why HELLO, good to see the three of you.”
“Coach it’s great to see you as well. Did you make the extraction point okay?” Gertrude asks
“Yes and the bus was waiting and ready, thank you for that as well.”
“We did our best to have it ready Coach.” Jonson states
“Are all the packages okay?” Sullivan asks
“Yes all accounted for and in good working order.”
“It shouldn’t be long and you will arrive at your first destination.” Gertrude informs
“First location? I was unaware there was more than one.”
”Did we miss something in the program?” Gertrude whispers to Sullivan
”Don’t think so ma’am” Sullivan answers
“Yes, Coach you will have three locations to start and hopefully more after that.” Explains Jonson
“That’s right the first two should be in the same spot and the third will be in a new area, so some travel will be needed. Which, we have already arranged for you.” Gertrude adds
“Sounds good, the others are excited. Is that normal?”
“Yes, yes it is.” Sullivan blurts excitedly ”They are working perfectly” he whispers to Jonson and Gertrude
“What?”
“Nothing Coach, just keep up the good work you should be arriving at the first location within the hour.” Sullivan says
“And Coach” Gertrude adds
“Yes”
“Good luck today” she says cheerily
“Luck ma’am, is this something I should know?”
“No your fine, just complete your mission.” Jonson chimes in
“Will do Sir.”
”Do they know they are playing soccer?” Gertrude whispers to Sullivan
”Yes, the programming was simple on that part. It’s just the English language and it’s multitude of meanings gets hard to program at times.” Sullivan responds ”But they are ready to play”
“Okay Coach we must be going now.” Gertrude says while looking over some notes
“Roger that ma’am, we’ll do you proud.”

The screen goes blank and powers down as Gertrude stands up and gathers her things.

“Quick questions for the two of you since you are after all the designer (Sullivan) and the builder (Jonson)” Gertrude states while getting up
“Any thing, just ask.” Jonson blurts
“Was the destruct sequence initiated on the capsule yet?”
“It was supposed to automatically go off once the packages were picked up by the bus.” Sullivan says while looking over the aerial maps
“Can we get confirmation that it did happen, we don’t want to leave evidence out there for some bloak to find.”
“That’s the issue, we have no way of confirming it at least not with better aerial pictures or with out speaking to Nozarks.” Sullivan responds
“I requested her to be here today, but we have not seen nor heard from her yet as there was an issue with camera placements on the capsule already.” Jonson adds
“Camera placement? Hmm, I will look into finder her then. When was she supposed to arrive here?”
“We do not know.” The two respond in unison
“In the mean time see if you can get detailed images of the capsule to try and confirm if it was destroyed.”
“Will do.” Sullivan blurts

There is a small pause in conversation while Gertrude finishes gathering her things.

“One more thing regarding the packages, you both have done an excellent job, but we need a few wins here. No more embarising moments for this squad, do you understand?”
“Yes, they are ready and should be able to handle anything.” Sullivan explains
“Is this room secured Gertrude?” Jonson asks
“It is” she responds
“Why have we sent cloned machines to this tournament and in such a peculiar way, if you don’t mind me asking?”
“Well a few reasons, most of which I don’t have time to answer right now.”
“Can you at least shed some light on it?” Sullivan pleads
“Well I suppose I can, you two have done all that’s been asked of you so far and with great precision too. The first and probably the most important reason is the upcoming World Cup. The second would be to test out our new technology.”
“What would the upcoming World Cup have to do with this tournament?” Jonson asks
“Well, with how far we have come as a nation in the sports world and the so close but so far away results from 69 we are hoping to have the squad in proper form once the 70th version gets underway.”
“Don’t you think that this tournament will be a great help to them in their preparation?” Sullivan adds
“No”
“Interesting” ponders Jonson
“It really is going to be for the best. Don’t get me wrong we have nothing against the Nations involved in this tournament. We even see many of them as good competitors and perhaps even allied nations with us. But the actual team is training hard, which I cannot, I stress, CANNOT talk about.”
“I agree with Jonson here, as this is very interesting.” Sullivan states seemingly stumped
“That’s were the second reason comes in, we needed to test your advancements in technology to see if they were ready to mass produce and this setting will be great. I mean no one could imagine us to send a squad other than our actual players so the cloned machines will be hidden well, assuming there are no issues.”
“I assure you there will be none.” Claims Sullivan very confidently
“I do trust you Sullivan, but I hope you know why we choose this method over any other.”
“I think I do ma’am..”
“Gertrude, please. I hate ma’am.”
“I think I do Gertrude. This setting and competition will test all the physical aspects of the cloned machine to make sure that it can handle the rigors of other events. Especially since the game is so demanding of each player.”
“Exactly” Gertrude says while nodding
“But why the secrecy?” Jonson asks
“That, I cannot comment on.” Gertrude responds quickly
“I guess we’ll have to take it at that then.” Sullivan says
“Thank you for understanding, at least at this point in the process. I will be back to check on things after the first game to see how things go.” She says as she finishes picking up her things
“Very well, we will see you soon then.” Jonson says as he sits back down to think about the complexity of the situation.

Gertrude leaves the room and again heads to the right out of the door. Jonson and Sullivan remain and clean up the room once again before heading out. But before they are able to walk out Gertrude reappears in the doorway.

“I almost forgot. How was your lunch?”
“Wonderful” they both respond with
“Good to hear. I have arranged for the two of you to be in the elevated room near the summit for the remainder of your stay with us. Once your done here follow the corridor back to the T but this time go left and there will be an elevator in the first alcove to the right. Take it to the top level and someone will meet you to show you to the summit room.”
“O thank you, thank you.”
“You are welcome, see you later and enjoy your selves.” Gertrude winks

She once again turns and leaves the two men with huge smiles on their faces. They quickly finish up, turn off the lights, and head down the corridor to the elevator. Once in they push the top most button labeled SR and notice it is the only button not labeled with a number. The elevator almost knocks them over as it shoots upwards and both get a little air when it comes to an abrupt stop at the top. The doors slowly open and a beautiful woman, wearing some form of strap clothing that barely covers her private areas and resembles a tie down strap as one band runs horizontally across her chest while two vertical ones connect with it to the outside of her breasts and then run up and over her shoulders then back down creating a bikini thong at the bottom, greats them and leads them to the Summit Room. She shows them around the room, which is laid out like a loft and has some slight separation between a living area, a kitchen, and a sleeping area. It also has a separate bathroom area which includes spectacular stone work, a walk-in shower and a hot tub like bathtub. After showing them around she hands each of them a booklet. The booklet contains a dining menu, a list of services, and another list containing what they think are gentleman services. The woman then tells them if they need anything just pick up the phone and someone will help them. She also tells them that if they need her she will be in the room that they passed just before entering the Summit Room. She then leaves the two men and goes back to the other room.

“The men are situated Sir, anything else right now.”
“No, no that is fine, just make sure they are comfortable and enjoy their night.” A disguised voice blankly says before an audible click is heard.

by **Buyan** » Wed Oct 08, 2014 10:00 am

Group Blue

Nova Anglicana 2-2 New North Aqmuland
@ Havssidanstadion, Bengtsmark

Farfadillis 3-0 Gloriax
@ A. Holmarena, Vannarby

Group Red

HopNation 3-1 Ceni
@ Novas Pylimasstadionas, Viztourzys

Buyan 2-1 Greater Watford
@ Bokstasstadion, Pajukas

Group White

Yttribia 1-0 Kitsunia-Deesse
@ Vingardarena, Kallsmudden

The Sarian 3-3 Nassau-Hessen
@ Den Dam, Tjelberg

by **Buyan** » Thu Oct 09, 2014 7:09 am

Biro Gukaitis was not having the best of days. Even to the contrary, he was having an awful day. Originally, this was designed to be a laid-back morning, doing a bit of paperwork before taking the afternoon off. All was set for a marvellous Friday, maybe doing some gardening before watching the game in good company? Biro might be a bachelor, he was what one would call ‘happily divorced’ and nor him nor his ex had so far regretted the day they signed the papers. But all his plans had been cancelled when some pen licker in Pajukas had phoned his base this morning. If they could coordinate a search party somewhere hundred kilometres south? The honest response would have been ‘fuck off, no’, but that was beyond his superior, who liked to do things by the book. And as Biro had drawn the short straw, he had left early with an address of a farmer, a tank full of gas and a bored face. A sentiment that didn’t change when meeting his ‘contact’, a 75-year old who filled his days with milking cows and watching his crops grow.

“So, mister… ehm… Levjevs, you said you saw something being dropped by that plane?”
“Sur’ did, laddy, sur’ did.”
“But what exactly?”
“I of course ain’t no spexi… spetsjalist, but I believe it were… packages.”
“Most certainly, mister Levjevs, but could you elaborate what kind of packages?”
“Well… Big ones.”
“All… All right, but could you tell me how they looked.”
“Well…”

The farmer bowed over his pitchfork and stared into the distance for a few seconds.

“I’ld say,” he continued, “they were big.”
“Yes,” Biro started to lose his patience, “but how big?”
“Hmm… Bigger than me?”

Biro knew well enough that this man couldn’t help him much more and to hold back the urge to steal his pitchfork and pinch him to one of his cows, he decided to cut short the conversation.

“Ok. I thank you very much for your collaboration, mister Levjevs. Could you indicate where they landed, I’ll go and pick one of them up.”
“A mile north, laddy.”

Laddy – usually lieutenant – Gukaitis already had his engine running when the farmer spoke up for the last time.

“But you won’t find a thing, I’ll tell you that.”
“Why not,” Biro curiously asked.
“They’re gone. They’re all gone.”
“Who took them? If they’re that big, someone must have picked them up with a truck, right?”
“I haven’t seen a thing, laddy.”
“Hm… They can’t have walked away, can’t they,” Biro grinned whilst driving off.

It was the last laugh he had for the hours to come. Right now, Biro found himself in a devastatingly hot car – he was already lucky enough to be able to buy one, hoping the air conditioning would have worked was slightly optimistic – in a traffic jam in the middle of Valneda. He probably would be in time to tune in for the game, but his quiet afternoon had turned into a wild-goose chase. It angered him to realise that he had been sent back and forth the island just because some bureaucrat in Pajukas thought it would have been a good idea to believe the words of a senile hillbilly.

And there he was, stuck with cars in front of him, cars behind him, cars to the left and some honking large bus to his right. The bastard almost cut him short and if it weren’t for a Biro braking fast, the piece of junk he named ‘his car’ would have become scrapyard material. Biro started to swear and overtook him with a quick and reckless manoeuvre. The bastard. Thinking he can just do whatever he want just cause he’s steering a big, black bus. Probably a foreigner, Biro realised, especially when he saw the grill logo. Although it did ring a bell of any manufacturer, he knew he had seen it before. And what the hell did such a vehicle do on a godforsaken – yet stuffed – single-file road like this one? One mystery at a time, Biro realised, first he had to come up with a logical reason why the packages had disappeared. Even the Buyanese bureaucracy couldn’t laugh with a file labelled ‘old peasant mentally wasted’.

by **Buyan** » Thu Oct 09, 2014 10:00 am

Group Blue

Farfadillis 1–1 Nova Anglicana
@ Havssidanstadion, Bengtsmark

Gloriax 1–4 New North Aqmuland
@ A. Holmarena, Vannarby

  Group Blue                   Pld   W  D  L   GF  GA  GD  Pts 
1 New North Aqmuland             2   1  1  0    6   3  +3    4
2 Farfadillis                    2   1  1  0    4   1  +3    4
3 Nova Anglicana                 2   0  2  0    3   3   0    2
4 Gloriax                        2   0  0  2    1   7  −6    0

Group Red

Buyan 1-1 HopNation
@ Novas Pylimasstadionas, Viztourzys

Greater Watford 2-0 Ceni
@ Bokstasstadion, Pajukas

  Group Red                    Pld   W  D  L   GF  GA  GD  Pts 
1 HopNation                      2   1  1  0    4   2  +2    4
2 Buyan                          2   1  1  0    3   2  +1    4
3 Greater Watford                2   1  0  1    3   2  +1    3
4 Ceni                           2   0  0  2    1   5  −4    0

Group White

The Sarian 1-2 Yttribia
@ Vingardarena, Kallsmudden

Nassau-Hessen 1–0 Kitsunia-Deesse
@ Den Dam, Tjelberg

  Group White                  Pld   W  D  L   GF  GA  GD  Pts 
1 Yttribia                       2   2  0  0    3   1  +2    6
2 Nassau-Hessen                  2   1  1  0    4   3  +1    4
3 The Sarian                     2   0  1  1    4   5  -1    1
4 Kitsunia-Deesse                2   0  0  2    0   2  −2    0

Important note, tomorrow's cut-off will be late. I can't tell yet how late, but with the QF being scheduled on Monday, there will be plenty of RPing time.

by **HopNation** » Fri Oct 10, 2014 5:38 am

Game One and More Information

Somewhere to the North East of the Hallertautops in the middle of HopNation a plane screams across the sky heading North.

“Please le me know when you see our target Captain.”
“Don’t worry I will.”
“I know that Bitch set us up, she had to of. Why else would she have hidden only one camera on the capsule and not installed the destruction sequence?”
“I’m not sure, I’m just the pilot remember.”
“I know I know, I’m just pissed and this could ruin everything we have to find her.”
“We will, now please just sit back and relax your making me nervous and I do not fluster easily.”
“Anther reason we choose you Captain.”
“Well that and I am the best at what I do.”
“That too I suppose.”

Gertrude sits back down in the First Officers chair and continues to look out the windows searching for the spot her intelligence gave her as the last known location for Ms. Nozarks. The plane is the same one they were on before but with much less payload this time out. They are flying at top speed, 1610 knots, and at only 1500 feet. As the plane starts to near the northern boarder of HopNation the Captain spots something.

“There!” as the Captain points to his left and banks the plane slightly
“Where, I don’t see anything at all.”
“It’s just to the left of the roadway, nested down in those trees.”
“Are you sure?”
“I’m the best remember.” The captain states boldly
“You remind me all the time.”
“I’ll circle around a few times and slow this baby down a bit, so you can get a good look at it.”
“Okay”

The Captain throttles down to just a quarter of their original speed and turns hard, keeping the plane sideways with it’s wings perpendicular to the ground as they circle the object he saw.

“Is that a car?”
“Yes it is ma’am”
“Really, I’ve told you 1000 times I hate that.”
“I know, just rufflin feathers, easin your tensions a bit.”
“Well knock it off, I’ve got to find her.”
“Any way to set this thing down to take a look?”
“Um, it’s a plane do you think it’s magical or something?”
“Did you not fully review the specs….again.”
“Specs, who needs those? I get in and fly that’s what I do best.”
“Well it is equipped with that hover thing you know.”
“Ha, very nice. Let me just set her down then.”
“Her…really.”
“All the planes I fly in are girls, damn sexy girls. Like you!”
“Stop it and get this thing down there.”

The Captain turns the plane level and flips a couple of switches. The plane slows and a series of flaps open on the wings and fuselage as it starts to lower to the ground. Once it’s on the ground he powers the craft down and the two exit to investigate the car they saw from above. The car is down a rather steep embankment and leaning against a tree.

“Does it look charred?” the Captain asks
“Sort of, but lets get closer to be sure.”
“Careful Gertrude there’s some loose gravel on the hill.”
“I see that and are we going to be able to get back up if we go down?”
“Let me grab a rope and attach it to the busted guardrail.”
“Good plan.”

After the Captain gets the rope they attach it to the guardrail and proceed down the embankment to the car. They find that it is indeed burnt up and that there is a body in the car. Because it was burned they do not know if it is who they are looking for. Gertrude radios back to the command center (the HPNCIB or HopNation Central Intelligence Bureau) within the Hallertautops to inform them what was found and so they can send a party to obtain the body. The command center confirms that they will pick up the body and test to see who the individual is and they also send the Captain and Gertrude to Ms. Nozarks home to see what they can find and hopefully determine if she was some kind of spy or if she was just incompetent in her work.

“Okay, we better get going HPNCIB is on their way to pick up the body.”
“Shouldn’t we wait until they get here?” the Captain asks
“They said to get going and try and find answers at her residence.”
“But someone needs to keep an eye on this body so they can get it without interruption.”
“I’ve placed two cameras around the car, if someone or something tampers with in we’ll know. Plus it will only take them five minutes to get here.”
“Five minutes is forever in situations like this.”
“We’ll wait three minutes then, no more. We must get to her house.”
“That works for me. I’ll walk the perimeter to see if I can find any clues.”
“Here put these on then, that way when HPNCIB gets here they will know what tracks are yours.” Gertrude says while tossing the Captain a pair of shoe slips
“Ah nice, never actually seen these before let a lone get to wear them.”
“They are nice and will track every step you take while you have them on, so don’t do anything stupid.”
“I won’t, I’ve heard much about them and know how they work.
“See you in two and a half minutes then.”
“Um, three minutes.”
“You’ve wasted a half minute standing around.”
“Ha, you are a stickler aren’t you.”
“I didn’t get to where I am by being soft and easy you know.”
“Right, okay then see you in a couple.”

The Captain roams around the area a bit before heading back to the plane where Gertrude is waiting for him. He explains to her that he didn’t find anything and the two prepare and then leave in the plane. As they are taking off they see the three HPNCIB trucks heading to their location, which makes both feel better about leaving before someone arrived on scene. They then proceed to the residence of Ms. Nozarks and search for any clues that they can find. During their search they stumble, literally, onto a hidden room in her home that contains a multitude of images and documents detailing the cloned machines directive. The images are mostly of Buyan and the drop area, but there are a number of images of the actual capsule. The most disturbing part of their find is a secret compartment that was somehow built into the capsule, but they do not know what was in it as that portion of her documents is missing from the file. They also find a set of images that show Ms. Nozarks mirrored with another woman’s face, which they can only image are her possible disguises. Gertrude again contacts the HPNCIB and sends them snapshots of what they have found. The HPNCIB informs them that a team will be there within minutes to investigate further and that they are not to touch anything. But while she is still on the phone…..

FFFSSSZZZZ….click
“Um, what the hell was that.” Gertrude blurts out
“I have no idea, but that doesn’t look good.” The Captain says as he points to the floor of the hidden room.”
“O SHIT, GET OUT OF HERE.” Gertrude yells as she shoves the Captain back out the door

She quickly snaps a few pictures of the room and grabs the disguise photos before she too exits the room. Just as she steps out of the room the door slams shut and a loud crackling and blower type sound start coming from behind the door. There is also extreme heat felt as the door actually starts to glow a reddish orange color. After a couple minutes the sounds dissipate and the door returns to its original color and then opens revealing that everything is gone and turned into ash on the floor.

“At least you grabbed those photos and snapped a couple pictures of your own.” The Captain states
“Yeah, it’s something and something is better than nothing.”
“For sure.”
“lets get out of here and let the HPNCIB deal with the rest.”
“Sounds good to me, lets get back to the mountain then.”
“Ready when you are Captain.”

They head back to the mountain base and when they arrive they meet with a few higher ups and explain what they found and turn over the evidence they were able to find. They are also informed that the body in the car was not Ms. Nozarks but they were able to retrieve some information from the car and they hope it will help them find it. After the short debriefing Gertrude then meets with Jonson and Sullivan to see what they know, but alas they do not and didn’t even know about the hidden compartment on the capsule. Jonson thinks that Ms. Nozarks was able to add in the compartment with no one knowing because she was part of the build crew and could have done it while mounting the camera, which after all was in the wrong place. Gertrude thanked them for their cooperation and then left to draft a letter to Buyan as this situation could get out of hand quickly if not dealt with swiftly.

TO: Regional Department of Airspace Irregularities
FROM: UNKNOWN HOPNATION
TIME: 1700 10-8-14
Subject: Potential Threat [HIGH PRIORITY]
To whom it may concern,
Greetings from HopNation we hope this notice finds you well and nothing potentially troublesome has happened. We have had a security breach and believe that something was mistakenly delivered to your Nation. At this time we have yet to located the individual responsible for this heinous act of treason against our Nation. At this time we do not feel there is an imminent threat to your Nation but we wanted to bring this to your attention just in case something was actually delivered to your Nation without our knowledge. The follow section contains high profile, high security information and should be treated as such by anyone reading it.
HopNation has delivered to your Nation our National Football Squad, which due to a current tournament seems relatively normal. However we used a new method to get them there. We believe that by us using this new method an individual was able to smuggle something out of HopNation and into Buyan. The coordinates to our capsule are: -0.1145783 N x 0.3376421 E. This capsule is, as mentioned, a new transport in which we were testing. It is a Top Secret vehicle, as such please treat it as one.

We hope this message finds the right eyes and we will cooperate fully with you, but we ask for your permission to send a recovery group to the said area in hopes of recovering our item. Nothing that we placed on that item is harmful, but we do not know if or what this traitorous individual might have stashed on board. Please use extreme caution. We have also attached images of the individual thought to be responsible for the extra package (if one was even sent), she has faked her own death and destroyed evidence in our Nation. Please also use extreme caution is she is found within Buyan as we do not know what she may be capable of at this point.

[ATTACHEMENT 15.87mb]

We await your response, if none is given within 24 hours we will be sending our team in to recover the object.
HPNCIB
Undisclosed Location, HopNation
MESSEGE WILL DEACTIVATE AND DISSAPEAR IN 5 MINUTES ANY ATTEMPT TO COPY OR PRINT WILL RESULT IN LOSS OF DATA AND/OR OTHER POSSIBLE HARMFULL PROCESSES TO THIS MACHINE

After the message to Buyan had been sent Gertrude meets with Jonson and Sullivan to make contact with the packages again. They have also just received news of the teams’ victory in their first game.

“Good afternoon Gertrude.” Sullivan says as she enters the briefing room
“Hello gentleman.”
“Any word on Ms. Nozarks?” Jonson asks
“None yet but we are looking, we have also sent notice to Buyan as we are not sure what she is up to yet.”
“WOW, that sounds really bad.” A very concerned Sullivan says
“It could be, but we are and will do everything we can to find her and figure out what has actually happened.”
“On a more positive note, did you see our cloned machines won!” Sullivan adds excitedly
“Yes, yes I did. It seems your programming did it’s job. A 3-1 victory correct?”
“Sure was, we even got to watch the match and it was a good one” Jonson adds
“Great to hear, lets get Coach Schmidt on the line then shall we?”
“On it” Jonson blurts

Jonson grabs the satellite phone and punches in the numbers, a number 4 appears on screen with a subsequent green √.

“HELLO!”
“Coach, green circle please.” Gertrude instructs
“HUH? WHAT?”
“Green circle please” she repeats
“BOYS QUIET” Coach Schmidt yells followed by a sharp whistle
“Green circle please”
“O right sorry there” as he pushes the circle and the phones video comes up
“Good to see you again coach, great win today.” Jonson chimes in with
“Thank you, it was a great game. The boys played well and came away with the W.”
“Any physical problems or anything else to report on?” Gertrude asks
“No miss, none at all. Everything went well.”
“If you could Coach, please place your left ring finger over the oval opening on the bottom of the phone.” Sullivan instructs while tapping away on his tablet
“Lets see, ah yes here we go. Finger is in place, commencing download.”
“Great, we’ve got it. Everything is streaming in perfectly.” Sullivan says while clapping his hands and then raising them both above his head in celebration.
”He really is a nut about this stuff isn’t he?” Gertrude whispers to Jonson
”You bet he is Jonson responds, also whispering
“Did you get what you were looking for son”
“Yes Coach, everything is coming through now.” Sullivan continues to look over the data as it streams in “We are looking over some of it now.”
“Coach, make sure the packages get good rest tonight. We need to make sure everyone is charged up and ready for the next mission.” Jonson states
“And we’re done” adds Sullivan
“Good, good. Coach great work and we’ll see you tomorrow.” Gertrude says
“Yep see you tomorrow”

The screen goes blank as Sullivan is still scanning through the data that was downloaded. His smile keeps getting bigger and bigger the more he looks though it. Jonson and Gertrude move over to where Sullivan is while he starts explaining the data and what it all means. All of them feel very confident in all the data and look forward to seeing what else these cloned machines can do.

“Alright gentleman, I need to get going and try and get to the bottom of this other situation we have going on right now.”
“No problem Gertrude, just let us know if we can do anything to help at all.” Jonson says
“I certainly will let you know if I need you for anything. Please enjoy your night and I hope everything was in order for you last night.”
“O YES, it most certainly was.” Sullivan blurts without even looking up form his tablet
“Good, I will see you both tomorrow then.”
“See you then” the two men say together

Gertrude leaves, the two men finish up going through some of the data (which ends up taking the rest of the afternoon). They then go back to their Summit Room and are greeted by two beautiful women this time, again wearing nearly nothing. The two enjoy the rest of their night and partake in many of the services offered to them in the booklet, Massages, Sauna Treatments, seemingly endless amounts of food, and a few others.

by **Buyan** » Fri Oct 10, 2014 2:41 pm

Group Blue

New North Aqmuland 0-2 Farfadillis
@ Havssidanstadion, Bengtsmark

Nova Anglicana 1-1 Gloriax
@ A. Holmarena, Vannarby

  Group Blue                   Pld   W  D  L   GF  GA  GD  Pts........ 
1 Farfadillis                    3   2  1  0    6   1  +5    7   Q (3)
2 New North Aqmuland             3   1  1  1    6   5  +1    4   Q (5)
3 Nova Anglicana                 3   0  3  0    4   4   0    3   Q (7)
4 Gloriax                        3   0  1  2    2   8  −6    1       .

Group Red

Ceni 0-2 Buyan
@ Novas Pylimasstadionas, Viztourzys

HopNation 4-1 Greater Watford
@ Bokstasstadion, Pajukas

  Group Red                    Pld   W  D  L   GF  GA  GD  Pts........ 
1 HopNation                      3   2  1  0    8   3  +5    7   Q (2)
2 Buyan                          3   2  1  0    5   2  +3    7   Q (4)
3 Greater Watford                3   1  0  2    4   6  -2    3   Q (8)
4 Ceni                           3   0  0  3    1   7  −6    0       .

Group White

Kitsunia-Deesse 1-1 The Sarian
@ Vingardarena, Kallsmudden

Yttribia 3-2 Nassau-Hessen
@ Den Dam, Tjelberg

  Group White                  Pld   W  D  L   GF  GA  GD  Pts........ 
1 Yttribia                       3   3  0  0    6   3  +3    9   Q (1)
2 Nassau-Hessen                  3   1  1  1    6   6   0    4   Q (6)
3 The Sarian                     3   0  2  1    5   6  -1    2       .
4 Kitsunia-Deesse                3   0  1  2    1   3  −2    1       .

Quarterfinals

Yttribia - Greater Watford
@ Havssidanstadion, Bengtsmark

HopNation - Nova Anglicana
@ Vingardarena, Kallsmudden

Farfadillis - Nassau-Hessen
@ Novas Pylimasstadionas, Viztourzys

Buyan - New North Aqmuland
@ The Nine, Dyatinsk

Neutral scorinator sought for my quarterfinal. If you would be online Monday, 1700 UTC, and available for a scorination, don't hesitate to volunteer through TG. Many thanks in advance!

by **HopNation** » Sat Oct 11, 2014 12:29 pm

Clues and Data

There have been some developments in the search for Ms. Nozarks, although she has still not been found it is believed that whatever it was she planned or did to the capsule was not any act of war. The focus on her is still that she committed treason against HopNation, but they are hoping to clear that up once she is found. Gertrude is still working with the HPNCIB, but her main focus has shifted to the cloned machines and their progress. Jonson and Sullivan have been enjoying their new arrangements within the Mountain, especially some of the new perks.

“Come in agent X1, come in.”
“Go ahead command Alpha Zulu Echo, confirmed entry.”
“Received code from central that you are cleared for extraction, please prepare.”
“X1 ready and waiting command.”
“Extraction en route t-minus 3 minutes.”

X1’s radio goes silent as he waits for his extraction from a wooded location 23 miles northeast of the car crash site. He entered and searched a vacant warehouse along with it’s adjoining trailer, which was a make shift office for that warehouse. He has a good number of documents that were left within a file cabinet in that trailer, but they are partially burned and it is hard to make out what they actually are for. The warehouse was treacherous to search as it too was recently burned; it also contained a good number of booby traps which were set after the fire. But they were easily maneuvered by X1, especially since he is the best covert field agent that the HPNCIB has and it’s no surprise that he found something even if it is badly damaged.

”I sure hope this can be decoded or at the least recreated with our computers once I get it back to HQ.” X1 whispers to himself while clinging to the satchel and the tree he has climbed for his extraction.
”Let me see, where is my tether at” he reaches into his pack after finding sound footing in the tree [/i]”ah there it is”[/i] as he hears the aircraft approaching he radios to it for proper direction of approach.

“Falcone One, Wolf den unclear”
“Den vector..West..Leash not visible”
“Leash is a go” X1 launces the tether into the air above him as he is already on the right side of the tree
“Prey in sight..Talons out”

The plane zooms past and X1 is plucked from the tree and launched into the air. The extraction goes as planned and as soon as he is clear of the tree canopy the tether is retracted and he boards Falcone One. After just a fifteen minute flight they are back at HQ and X1 brings the satchel of burnt papers to the command office for review and hopeful decryption/reconstruction. Meanwhile within the Hallertautops Gertrude, Jonson, and Sullivan are going over the game data downloaded from Coach Schmidt for mission 2 and mission 3.

“There is a lot of data here, are you sure we will have time to go through it all?” Gertrude asks
“We sure will, plus in the grand scheme of things it really isn’t that much data.” Sullivan quickly responds
“Are you kidding me this is a lot of data.” Jonson adds
“Well it is from the past to games, there is also a lot of other fluff here. I mean you do realize it contains data from the past 48 hours not just the games, right?” Sullivan states in an almost rhetorical mannor
“I guess I didn’t think about that.” Gertrude says “We are only looking through the game data for what we need correct?”
“For now yes, but I will need to go through the rest of it eventually.”
“That’s going to take you forever.” Jonson states boldly
“Ha, it won’t take me that long. I designed them remember, I’ve got a slew of programs that can break this down for me and get what we really need. So, forever no.”
“You know what I meant.” Jonson adds
“Gertrude?”
“Yes Sullivan”
“Did you ever find or hear that Ms. Nozarks was found?”
“No, and I’ve been told not to worry about it. They were closing in on a suspected area of hiding, so I’m hopeful that she will be found soon.”
“Ah, okay, so your focused on the packages for now.”
“Yep, your stuck with me.” Gertrude says with a smirk
“Stuck, I wouldn’t say stuck” Jonson adds “more like blessed.”
“That’s for sure” adds Sullivan “it has been great having you here, you’ve also helped our sanity a great deal in getting us great food and a great place to stay while we are stuck here.”
“Gee it was the least I could do for the both of you, you’ve done so much for us.”
“Back onto the data” Sullivan interrupts
“Right”
“We also need to contact the team again today.” Jonson states picking up the satellite phone.
“I almost forgot, Coach Schmidt is probably worried.”
“No he wouldn’t be worried Gertrude, I left some emotional sets out of their programming.” Sullivan corrects
“Well that’s good, I guess. Let’s get him on the phone and see where we are at after our first three tests.” Gertrude suggests

Jonson punches in the digit again and the screen lights up with the number 4 and the green [color=lime green]√[/color]. Coach Schmidt comes on screen right away this time and the team can be seen in the back ground.

“He got it, finaly.” Jonson whispers
“They are learning clones you know” Sullivan whispers back
“Hello Coach”
“Hello Gertrude, it’s good to see you all again.”
“How is everyone” she asks
“We are all doing well, can’t complain. They have all been playing very well so far.”
“That’s great to hear. Have there been any injuries or other concerns?”
“Nope everyone has been just fine Gertrude, just fine.”
“Great, is everyone staying hydrated and full of energy when not playing?”
“They sure have, I don’t even need to hound these guys.”
“Great..”
“But why all the questions today” Coach Schmidt interrupts
“We just want to make sure everything is going well in Buyan for you.” Gertrude responds quickly
“Just wanted to make sure you weren’t questioning my coaching, that’s all. I know your doing your job back home.”
“A little attitude today” Jonson whispers to Sullivan
“I’m not sure what that is all about, I tried to make them as service oriented as possible with little to no decent added in.” he whispers back to Jonson
“Everything is just fine here Coach, I’m just getting a feeling for what it’s like on your end. I’m sure if I was there I’d have less questions for you.”
“Very good ma’am, I think everything is great here and we are doing our best to represent and do our jobs for HopNation.”
“You are Coach you are more than you would know.” Gertrude boldly states “I think we have our questions for today answered if you would just place your finger over the hole again we’ll be done.”
“Sure thing let me know when you have what you need.” Coach Schmidt says as he places his ring finer over the hole on the phone.

Jonson and Sullivan watch the data feed and let Gertrude know when it has finished

“Alright Coach we have what we need, see you soon.”
“Okay, goodbye.”

The screen goes black while Sullivan looks over the data.

“What was that all about.” Asks Gertrude
“Not sure, but it seems like that was the real coach and not our cloned machines.” Adds Jonson
“That’s the idea, NO?” Sullivan blurts
“Well I guess it is” responds Jonson “But are these things gaining more emotional tied response mechanisms?”
“Yes, at least that is the hope anyway minus a few emotions.” Retorts Sullivan
“Well you did a good job then; they are more and more human responsive every time we talk with them.” Gertrude adds “I am worried about one thing though.”
“Which is?” Sullivan asks
“The injury aspect, what happens if one gets hurt?” she asks
“They won’t, at least not based on all the calculations I’ve done on them and the data we’ve received so far is backing that up.”
“What do you mean Sullivan?” Jonson asks
“Well you see in my design materials were used so that, despite the outward appearance, they have no muscular or skeletal features that you and I have. Thus, they won’t get hurt. The materials used were also state of the art, thanks to the other work done here by others from HopNation. Those materials are self fixing with a form of nanotechnology in them at repairs them faster than they break down. So, if some catastrophic event happens the nanotechnology fixes it before it is even seen by the human eye.”
“WOW Sullivan you’ve out done your self here” Gertrude states
“I did the best work I was capable of doing, and I hope it was enough to ensure the success of these cloned machines. My hope is that they will be used in areas that are to extreme or dangerous for us to go.”
“What data did you say you have to support it so far?” Jonson asks looking puzzled after Sullivan’s explanation
“Well, look here” Sullivan pulls some data up on the screen “look on the fourth line of data and the measure of pressure indicated on Loontas left leg.”
“Okay, what does that mean though” an even more Jonson asks
“If that was a normal leg, say you or I, it would have snapped and probably been bad. The likes of a compound fracture bad.” Sullivan explains
“Holy cow, that is awesome!” Gertrude states excitedly
“I know right”
“Hey don’t hurt your arm patting yourself on the back.”
“Don’t worry I won’t Jonson, I just know it’s awesome. Now as for other situations look at this data that I found while looking over the post game data.” Sullivan says while switching data sets on the screen
“Okay, so what are we looking at here?” Gertrude asks
“This is the data from Ike Myer and is at 2200 hours yesterday. The data set here is of heat and that is 400 degrees of direct contact.” Sullivan explains
“What?” Gertrude says as her eyes widen in disbelief
“I’m not sure what he did or where he was, but I can only assume that he grabbed a pan directly out of an oven.”
“Why would he do that?” Gertrude asks
“That I do not know, and we may need to have him upload directly next time we speak with them so we can know exactly what he did.” Sullivan responds
“Alright, we’ll you remember to do that then but I need to get going. I was just paged, something about Ms. Nozarks from the looks of the page. Gertrude states and then hurries out of the room

Jonson and Sullivan finish up with the data collection and then head back to their Summit Room so Sullivan can go over it all in more detail, and to partake in some of the extras offered in that room. Gertrude, when she left, turned left instead of right as usual and went to the same elevator that takes the two men to their Summit Room. However she went to the bottom floor of the facility, which is deep below the surface of the mountain they are in. Here she finds X1 and a couple other agents as they are piecing together the items X1 brought back from the warehouse….

by **Buyan** » Mon Oct 13, 2014 5:49 am

When the clock exactly hit nine, Elmer Dobrevicius opened the door of his small office. The past few days had been a feast, as a combination of a seniority holiday, a festive day and a day off ‘just because’ had combined themselves into what looked more like a holiday than a long weekend. But there he was, back on duty, for another week of writing and filing useless reports. As usual, the mailman had completely ignored the three baskets on his desk with ‘in’, ‘important’, ‘internal’ and just tossed the whole bunch on top of the middle one. It was one of those little frustrations that made this lay-back function a continuous relay of anger and disappointment – as if writing stuff no one would ever read didn’t assure that feeling enough.

As soon as he had hung his coat at the hanger and poured himself a first cup of coffee, Elmer started to shift through the whole thing. Most of it were notes from officers and pilots all across the island, who were forced by regulations to send anything to the Regional Department of Airspace Irregularities. For some of them, it formed a nice break between spoiled days of doing nothing – as the gas for regular plane missions was too costly. With a few, Elmer had send up a fine correspondence over time. Apart from it, there were the usual in-notes (‘Please do not drop your fruit remains in the wrong container’), new guidelines (‘From hence-forth, please double underline subtitles’) and a few notes from civilians, most of them delusional vodka-fuelled tales of unidentified flying objects. Elmer had a special basket ‘nonsense’ for those.

Somewhere near the bottom of the pile, something caught his attention. ‘Potential Threat [HIGH PRIORITY]’ it read. The stamp told him that the ‘high’ might be relative, until Elmer realised that even if he would be away, no one would pick out the important stuff of his mail. There was no such thing as priority when it came to the Regional Department of Airspace Irregularities. But this seemed to be a little gem, Elmer realised when skimming it.

“something was mistakenly delivered”
“do not feel there is an imminent threat to your Nation but we wanted to bring this to your attention”
“-0.1145783 N x 0.3376421 E”
“Top Secret vehicle”

This… This was more than his usual payload. Apparently, the secretary had failed to print the attachment, but his gut feeling knew that after eighteen dull years, this Department might have caught on to something. His first reaction, as usual when unexpected things happened, was to get to his superior and see how he dealt with him. But not today. This could be a duff, a scam or even a silly joke. But if this was something, maybe… Maybe he could even become head of the National Department of Airspace Irregularities. In his brain, a parade for the honour of Elmer Dobrevicius started to play. This would be something he would solve.

The idea of a foreign recovery group did not tickle his interest, as it would bring all praise elsewhere. And this was his case, after all. But as it was long past 24 hours, the Hoppies would already be on their way, whether or not an answer was given. Whilst trying to figure out a tactic, Elmer started up his computer and picked up the phone. Getting connected from one base to another, he discovered that the given coordinates would direct him to the stadium of Viztourzys Kolektyvinis. When he finally reached the person he was looking for, the hunch he had before was only reassured, a hunch triggered by the word ‘HopNation’.

“Lieutenant Raviskaitis?”
“…”
“I need you for an assignment, you can report it like that to your superior. Three days tops.”
“…”
“Won’t be a problem. We have to recover something.”
“…”
“I don’t know yet either. But we’ll find it.”
“…”
“It’s not on the island.”
“…”
“Kallsmudden, to be exact. Hey, do you like football?”
“…”
“Don’t worry, I’ll take care of tickets, lieutenant.”

Still: Neutral scorinator sought for my quarterfinal. If you would be online Monday, 1700 UTC, and available for a scorination, don't hesitate to volunteer through TG. Many thanks in advance!

by **HopNation** » Mon Oct 13, 2014 7:54 am

Shedding some Light

Deep within the Hallertautops Gertrude meets with X1 and a few other agents as they sift through the documents that X1 recovered from the burnt down warehouse. They have many of the pieces laid out on a large table that is backlight with a luminous light which helps reveal hidden text or subtext if it happens to be present on the paper. The papers are also laid out in what appears to be chronological order, or at least from what they can tell. There are some spec sheets, email type sheets, and other handwritten items, most of which are fragments of the original but thanks to some of the technology of the table are in the process of being recreated. That is after all another function of this large paper and its seemingly magical light, that it starts to rebuild damaged documents the moment they are placed on its surface.

“Welcome Ms. Hunter.” X1 says as he notices Gertrude enter the room
“Please gentlemen, call me Gertrude.”
“Aye will do” a short but muscular agent says without looking up from the table.
“Have we been able to located Ms. Nozarks yet?” asks Gertrude
“No, not yet but we are getting closer by the minute.” X1 excitedly states
“Is there something in this mess that is pointing you all in her direction or what it was she stashed on our capsule?”
“Well, yes and no” the short muscular man states abruptly “see we are piecing the bits together but they are still only half way complete. As for her direction or whereabouts, please see the document on the end of the table” as he finishes talking he points to his left still without looking up
“This looks like an email and if I’m reading it correctly, from the rebuilt parts it appears she has left HopNation and is in Buyan. Is that correct?” Gertrude asks while scanning through the rest of the email lay out on the table
“Yes” X1 responds “and it looks like from this (as he points to a letter just above the email) she was headed to Dyatinsk, Urka. But not before an initial flight to Viztourzys, Valneda.”
“That’s where our capsule was dropped; she must be headed to the location to pick up what she stashed onboard.”
“That is our initial assumption and then she is headed to the venue where the Final will be held.” X1 leans over while talking to take a closer look at the central document on the table
“That doesn’t sound good. Have we found any insight as to what it is that she packed on the capsule?”
“Not yet Gertrude” the short muscular man adds
“WAIT, DON’T MOVE” X1 shouts “the table is almost done with this document”

After a moment of still silence Gertrude speaks

“Why couldn’t we move or speak?”
“We’ve found that when the table is nearing the end of an item that any shift in the document can make it go back to the beginning and start all over again leaving that last portion blank until it gets back to it.” The short muscular man tells her
“Touchy little thing then isn’t it”
“Well it is only a prototype after all, thanks to Mr. Sullivan” X1 adds
“You mean this is another of Sullivan’s ideas.”
“Yes ma’am, err Gertrude” X1 states “He knows his shit that’s for sure.”
“Did it finish then or did I mess it up.”
“It finished” X1 states as he picks up the documents

As X1 lifts the page it starts to fade so he puts it back down and the inking comes right back. It must contain some form of hidden ink that the table is revealing. After a few more minutes some more lines appear that look to be dimensions and then some footnotes indicating pressure, flex, bounce, and a few other details but they haven’t fully illuminated yet.

“We better give this some more time to fully render as it looks like what we thought was complete is only partially done.” X1 says as he looks over the documents even closer
“Okay, I need to get back and check on a couple other items. Can you zero in on her location and contact Buyan to see if anyone there has seen her?”
“Will do” the short muscular man says, again with out looking up.

Gertrude leaves the depths of the inner mountain and heads back to the briefing room to meet up with Jonson and Sullivan as they are going to try a direct connection with Ike Myer and try to figure out what exactly he did to register the high heat on his hand. She arrives just as Jonson starts to type in the digits to call the team.

“Why hello Gertrude, very nice to see you.”
“Like wise Sullivan, are we getting the team on the line?”
“Yes, Jonson is dialing now.”

The main screen lights up as Coach Schmidt appears.

“Hello Coach, I hope all is well and you are preparing the team for their game.”
“Hi to you all as well and yes we should be ready.”
“May we speak with Ike please?” Gertrude ask
“Sure, let me get him”

Coach Schmidt walks away from the screen for a moment and then Ike Myer appears.

“Um, someone wanted to talk with me?” Ike asks
“Yes, Ike. How are you doing today?” Gertrude asks
“Well, good I suppose.”
“Nervous for today’s match?”
“Not at all ma’am, not at all. I know we will perform well and win or lose we have still done a good job so far.”
“Good to hear and yes you all have done a great job so far.”
“Coach said we are preparing for the World Cup anyway so these are more tune up games than anything.”
“Well, I guess you could say that.” Gertrude states with a puzzled look and then glances at Sullivan, whispering to him ”Do they know they aren’t going to the World Cup?”
”No, I tried not to limit their thoughts on that aspect. You know make it more real.” he whispers back
”Ah, right” as she turns back to Ike “We need to get some data from you if we can please.”
“Sure, shoot”
“The other night were you using the hotels kitchen?”
Looking somewhat embarrassed “Well…yes, I got hungry and we had already eaten our team dinner, so I went to the communal kitchen at the hotel to fix a small pizza.”
“Did you happen to grab the pan without a pot holder?”
“Sure, why?”
“No reason, we are just investigating eating habits”
”She’s good” Jonson whispers to Sullivan
“I need you to place your left ring finger over the whole on the phone please.”
“Okay” Ike states a little puzzled
“We are just going to gather some nutrition information to see if we need to change the teams dinning plan.”
“Alright, I think a few other guys have been hungry late at night too.”
“We’ll look into that as well, but at another time.”

Sullivan nods to Gertrude indicating they have what they need.

“Okay, we have the information we wanted you can go now.”
“See you later then.”
“Good luck today Ike.”
“Thank you ma’am!”

The screen goes blank and Sullivan scans through the data as Jonson disconnects the phone and turns off all the other computers connected to it.

“How are they getting hungry and why would he be eating pizza?” Gertrude asks
“Those are code words, did I forget to put that in the file?” Sullivan replies
“I don’t remember reading those in there.”
“Yeah I didn’t see any food codes at all.” Jonson adds
“Hmm, I must have forgotten that part. The team will go out and eat a meal, you know to have a public appearance and seem normal. But the food just goes into a storage bay that they then empty once in private, there are some qualities from what they eat that are drawn out for power but they do need some general supplement. I’m not sure why he would have heated it up though as it should just be drank.” Sullivan explains
“Why call it pizza?” Jonson asks
“Couldn’t think of anything else at the time I was writing that portion of the coding.”
“Fair enough.”
“So now what?”
“Well Jonson and I will need to go over this and see why Ike is needing more than what the rest of the team is needing. Even though he said others are hungry, needing more of the slurry, none of them are indicated to have actually drank or truly needed more.”
“Okay, I’ll leave the two of you to that then. Also, we are closing in on Ms. Nozarks which is good. Thanks to another of your inventions we are decrypting some messages and other documents so hopefully we will know what she was up to very soon.”
“Ah the table of light! I love that thing, though it has some bugs in it, nothing major, it just likes to start over on an almost finished document if you bump it.” Sullivan excitedly says
“Yeah I saw that, but do you have to be silent too or just not bump it?” Gertrude asks
“Just don’t bump it, noise has no effect on it.”
“Good to know.” She responds “Well I’ll leave you two to do your work then.”
“Okay” Jonson says
“See you after the next match. We are meeting after the next match right?” Sullivan asks
“Yes, see you then.”

Gertrude leaves, again heading to the deep lab to help X1 and the other agents try and finally locate Ms. Nozarks. Sullivan finishes his download, then he and Jonson go back to their Summit Room to go over all the details on Ike’s data. Meanwhile in Buyan, Ms. Nozarks has indeed located the capsule and removed the object she stashed in it. After retrieving it she is seen heading away from the current island. Perhaps to The Nine, what the HopNation Agents found earlier, but more likely to meet with someone else prior to heading there as it also looked like she was headed in the direction of HopNations next match. A small team of investigators from HopNation are also en route to the Capsule to see what they can find and hopefully meet with local officials to find Ms. Nozarks.

by **Buyan** » Mon Oct 13, 2014 10:03 am

Quarterfinals

Yttribia 2-2 Greater Watford (2-3 AET)
@ Havssidanstadion, Bengtsmark

HopNation 2-0 Nova Anglicana
@ Vingardarena, Kallsmudden

Farfadillis 1-1 Nassau-Hessen (2-2 AET) (6-5 pen.)
@ Novas Pylimasstadionas, Viztourzys

Buyan 0-0 New North Aqmuland (0–0 AET) (4–2 pen.)
@ The Nine, Dyatinsk
Scorinated by Patistan – many thanks, Patistan!

Semi-finals

Greater Watford - HopNation
@ The Nine, Dyatinsk

Farfadillis - Buyan
@ The Nine, Dyatinsk

Neutral scorinator sought for my semi-final. If you would be online Wednesday, 1700 UTC, and available for a scorination, don't hesitate to volunteer through TG. Many thanks in advance!

by **HopNation** » Wed Oct 15, 2014 7:11 am

What is that Object
Somewhere in Buyan a lady wearing a grey and red fitted track suite is seen riding a moped into the service entrance of The Nine. She has a backpack with her, but due to its size and shape it is unclear what is in it. She is closely followed by a man in what looks to be an all black training kit with bits of orange on it. He is stopped at the gate as she easily passed through.

“What’s your business here?” a young security guard asks as he stops the man on the second moped
“Investigation and Inspection” the man replies as he pulls a badge out
“You are not on our list of inspectors Sir”
“Are you kidding me right now?” the man states rather irritated “Please check these credentials again”

The young security guard takes the badge and id from the man and scans over it again. On the badge portion the crest on it is represented with a Hop Flower, circling around that are the words ‘Drink and Be Happy’, which is the official motto of HopNation. On the opposite side the id has the picture of the man along with other official HopNation markings and department codes. As the young security guard finishes scanning over the badge and id the man is looking beyond him and following the woman to see where she goes after parking her moped. As she passes to the left she glances his way and then disappears into the stadium.

“My apologies Mr. Bornstien, I had never seen these before and our security office had not placed you on my entrance list. “ the young security guard says while handing back the item
“No need to apologize, I’m sure something got missed along the way in our rapid search that has brought me here. Now may I pass?”
“Yes, go head.”

Bornstien pulls forward and parks next to the woman’s moped and then enters the door in which he saw her go through. Entering cautiously he scans through the hallway before him, but he sees nothing out of the ordinary. In the background he can hear the crowd cheering, what he can only assume is related to the PA systems team announcements prior to the next match. Bornstien slowly proceeds down the hall and checks the door handles as he moves along, but all are locked. He shifts his shirt up a little to reveal his weapon so that he has easy access to it if for some reason he were to need it. As he nears the team dressing rooms he spots a partially open door, but as he advances to it the door clicks shut. He reaches for it and the nob slowly turns with the pressure of his hand. Bornstien pushes the door open ever so carefully, partly due to old habit when investigating such mysteries as this and part because he has no idea what to expect this time. After all the intelligence that was recovered by agent X1 and then decoded by the technologies developed by Mr. Sullivan gave him no worries as to his own safety, but he was still a little leery of what he might find. When the door was about half way open hear could hear a couple people talking, but the room was faintly lit by the overhead lighting and he could not see who it was.

“Do you have it?”
“Yes, safe and sound.”
“Are we to use this today or are we waiting until the next match.”
“I was told it is only to be deployed for the Final.”
“Very well then, can I at least see it.”
“Certainly”

Bornstien is now fully in the room where he could here the talking and he makes out two figures near the opposite side. They are just silhouettes though as the bright stadium lights coming in the opening on the other side are causing him to squint and have blacked out most anything in his field of vision. As he moves slowly closer to the two individuals his eyes start to adjust.

“Hello Mr. Bornstien” a woman's voice says
“How do you..”
“I know a lot more than you may think Mr. Bornstien. Your nation has done an excellent job in tracking me down, but I’m afraid you are to late.”
“Too late, I’m never to late to stop a terrorist.”
“Terrorist” the woman states with a chuckle “maybe I thought wrong of you and your agency.”
“You have not, I only kid” Bornstien says as he moves closer and shakes the woman’s hand “I’m just glad I was able to catch up with you before this match Ms. Nozarks.”
“Ah you do know then, that our football federations were working together then?” she asks him
“Yes, it took us a bit to figure it out but we finally did” Bornstien states happily “I commend both parties on keeping this so hush hush”
“Well, this is something special after all. It will be a big game and will hopefully showcase two great teams and two great Nations.”
“I couldn’t agree more, I just hope HopNation can be one of them”
“What with your mechanical clones?”
“How did you know about those?”
“I told you I know a lot about you, your football, and other parts of HopNation.”
“But those are top secret items and no one outside of HopNation is to know of them, at least not yet.”
“Trust me, only one maybe two people besides me know about them and that secret is safe until your government decides to release the data about them.”
“Well that’s reassuring” Bornstien says as he wipes his brow
“I better be going” the man standing with them says breaking his silence
“Very well, good luck out there and hey no red cards today” Nozarks says
“Ha, we’ll see how the game plays out before that one can happen. But with these two teams I highly doubt a card will be shown today” the man says as he turns and jogs out the opening to the stadium
“Is that the ref for the Final as well?”
“Yes, he is our best and also one of the only other people to know HopNation’s secret.”
“Is that the object?” Bornstein asks as he points at a pedestal in front of them
“It sure is, what do you think?”
“WOW, it looks amazing!” he says excitedly
“Do you want to kick it, to see how it actually feels?”
“I better not, save that one for tomorrow. It is the only one right now right?”
“Yep and seeing that we had to destroy the warehouse so your nosey agents wouldn’t spoil our surprise it will likely be the only one until after the match.”
“Your kidding right?”
“Yes we have four more in my bag. After all we can’t just have one MATCH BALL for the big game now can we.”
“Ha, I suppose not. I assume they are self inflating?”
“Yep, we gathered some technology from both of our Nations and that self inflating thing that Sullivan came up with is brilliant. I mean you can’t even tell there is anything there to inflate them and you just push this one panel and ‘pop’ it’s inflated.”
“It is rather neat.”
“Interested in watching the game?” Nozarks asks
“Are you kidding I’d love to watch.”
“Well lets get to my private viewing suite before the kick off.”

The two exit and go to Ms. Nozarks viewing suite to watch the HopNation and Greater Watford match. They talk a bit more about the technologies in the new match ball and how both Buyan and HopNation football federations worked together to produce a superior match ball that will debue in the Beltane Cup III Final. There is still some unsettle business relating to the capsule and a Buyan department along with the accolades going to one, perhaps rogue investigator taking the credit for intercepting the HopNation recovery team and investigating the capsule, but for now it’s Match Time!

by **Buyan** » Wed Oct 15, 2014 9:59 am

Semi-finals

Greater Watford 1-2 HopNation
@ The Nine, Dyatinsk

Farfadillis 1-1 Buyan (1-2 AET)
@ The Nine, Dyatinsk
Scorinated by Patistan, thanks mate!

3PPO

Greater Watford - Farfadillis
@ Novas Pylimasstadionas, Viztourzys

Final

HopNation - Buyan

@ The Nine, Dyatinsk

Neutral scorinator sought for my final. If you would be online Friday, 1400 UTC, and available for a scorination, don't hesitate to volunteer through TG. Many thanks in advance!

A little note to HopNation, the final scorination would be three hours earlier. If that would be inconvenient for you, poke me and I'll make it later.

by **HopNation** » Thu Oct 16, 2014 8:31 am

Final: pieces coming together

In the interior of the Hallertautop Mountains we find Gertrude, Jonson, and Sullivan going over some final data as they are getting ready for the final match for the cloned machines and then their return home. They are also waiting to hear back from the recovery team, which they have no idea that they have been in contact with a Buyan Official nor do they know that another secret agent Mr. Bornstien has found Ms. Nozarks. Gertrude does have a little knowledge about the cargo that Ms. Nozarks stashed on their capsule but full details were not given to her by agent X1.

“I hope your both doing well today and that your not to excited that our time here is almost through” Gertrude greats the two gentleman as she enters into the briefing room
“I think I can safely speak for Sullivan here and say that we are both doing very well and now that we’ve had some good accommodations and treatment we could stay a bit longer if needed”
“Completely agree with Jonson on that sentiment”
“Good to hear, now lets get in touch with Coach Schmidt and see if there are any new details with the team”
“I’m dialing them now” Jonson responds
“Have we found any more information on the issue with Ike Myer yet Sullivan?” Gertrude asks
“Yes to some extent. It seems there is a misplaced comma in his coding causing his nutrition calculations to be way off. I’ve worked through the code and we should be able to upload it to him if he’s available this morning.”
“Great news! But are there any more of them that might have the same issue?”
“Not that I can tell, I went over all of the previous data and can’t find any anomalies within.” Sullivan says while scanning over his tablet
“I’ve got Coach Schmidt on the line” Jonson states
“Hello Coach Schmidt, how are you doing today?” Gertrude asks “Also please press the green circle”
“O right, I always forget that blasted thing. I’m doing great, I mean we are going to be in the final of this Beltane Cup so I’m happy and excited for the guys too”
“Good to hear. Have you or anyone else had any issues at all?” she asks
“No ma’am, everything here has been great. The guys are enjoying every moment when not on the pitch and they are very focused when they cross that line to prepare for the game.”
“Wow that’s great to hear Coach. Do you have any concerns about the team?” Gertrude asks
“Other than Ike always wanting to eat no I don’t. I mean they do everything I ask of them and they follow the captain to the letter when he is directing them to do something. They are better than ever when it comes to discipline.”
“How about mental capacity? I know you said they are very disciplined and follow leadership well, but do they seem focused all the time or do they shut down their focus after their work is done.”
“I’m not sure I follow you on this one, at least not completely. They are dedicated to the team and when it is game time or practice time they are nothing put focused on what we are doing.”
“Let me ask in a different way. Do they enjoy down time or would they rather be playing?”
“Playing, definitely playing they talk about it all the time but I don’t see how that is a bad thing.”
“I’m not saying it’s bad, just getting a feeling of how they are responding to the situation they are in. One more thing before we let you get back to the team.”
“Go ahead”
“Is Ike Myer available?” Gertrude asks
“Yes, let me get him” Coach Schmidt says and then turns away from the camera and whistles for Ike to come over. “Here he is”
“Hello Ike, how are you going?” Gertrude asks
“I’m fine ma’am but could use something to eat I suppose.”
“I need you to place your right ring finger on the hole again, we’ll try and get this hunger thing under control for you.”
“Sounds good to me” Ike responds “Okay, finger is over the hole”
”Have him turn his left ear half way forward” Sullivan whispers
“Ike I need you to grab your left ear and turn it forward for me.”
“Yes ma’am”

Ike can be seen turning his ear forward and as he does both eyes roll up to reveal some circuitry and a row of lights behind the left eye. Sullivan initiates the upload and the lights begin to blink in succession from left to right in an orange coloration. Then all of them flash green three times.

”Have him return his ear to it’s original position” Sullivan whispers to Gertrude
“Ike please return your ear to it’s original position”

As he does this his eyes return to the normal state and an audible click can be heard as his ear is pushed back to normal

“Okay, how do you feel now?” Gertrude asks
“Good, I’m ready for the game that’s for sure.”
“Are you hungry at all?”
“Um, not really. I mean we just came from breakfast so I’m good.”
“Okay, that’s all we need you can go. Be sure to tell everyone good luck in the game for us.”
“Will do ma’am, have a good day.”

The screen goes dark as Jonson high fives Sullivan. Gertrude starts to gather up here things to leave as the two men clear off the table.

“Well that was perfect, you fixed his issues and it seems they are all focused on the task.” Gertrude says
“At first I wasn’t sure where you were going with the questions to Coach Schmidt, but then I realized it was more of a tactical inquiry to make sure they didn’t have any issues with long stints of focus.” Jonson responded with
“Yep, I needed to make sure they will be ready for longer situations if the need ever arrises that we need them for something other than this test.”
“They should perform any task, it would just be a matter of the programming set.” Sullivan adds
“Did you ever find Ms. Nozarks?” Jonson asks
“I know we were close, but I have not heard yet.”
“What about the hidden object that she put on the capsule?” he adds
“I have some information but agent X1 seemed reluctant to give me the full details before I came here today. I’m hoping that he will have the final report for me today. I do know it turned out to be nothing dangerous.”
“Well that’s good I suppose.” Sullivan says while finishing putting his things in a bag
“We will need you two to stay in the facility for a couple more days, so feel free to enjoy the Summit Room a bit longer. I will send for you once we are finished.” Gertrude tells them
“Okay, see you later then” they both say together

All three of them start to walk out of the room and go separate ways, the men to their Summit Room and Gertrude to another location with in the mountain. As Gertrude turns to the right and leave her phone starts to ring, she glances around to see who or what is around her and then she answers seeing the two men are nearly to the T at the end of the hall.

“Hello”
“Gertrude we have her” the voice on the other end says
“That’s great are you bringing her in?”
“No, I don’t mean we captured her. He have made contact and all is clear.”
“Clear, we need to speak with her.”
”She must not know yet” the voice whispers to someone “Our agent has spoken with her and everything is okay, it was mostly a huge miss understanding of sorts.”
“A miss understanding. I saw some of the plans they didn’t not look like a miss understanding.”
“Did X1 give you all the details on the object?”
“No, he stopped and then left the room before telling me all of them”
“Ah, that explains it then. Gertrude the object was simply a Match Ball, a magnificent Match Ball to be exact.”
“A WHAT?”
“A Match Ball”
“What the hell, for what, and why was she here, and why did she deliver it to Buyan?” Gertrude franticly spits out her questions.
“Slow down, just slow down a bit. The two football federations were working together to produce an optimal game ball and it is going to be introduced in the Final”
“Hmm, well then. Very interesting. So she wasn’t some kind of secret agent or anything, a traitor or terrorist?”
“Nope, well maybe some kind of secret agent but no traitor or terrorist that’s for sure.”
“Good then, I guess.”
“It is good, we’ve seen the images of the ball and the technical specs for it and it is a superb ball. One like we’ve never seen before.”
“I can’t wait to see it then. Also how fitting that Buyan and HopNation will be playing in the final.” Gertrude says sounding somewhat puzzled
“Now, neither nation had anything to do with that. The teams after all are very good. They’ve played before and both done well in tournaments past. They even drew in group play of this very tournament so it’s good they will face off again to see who comes out on top.” The voice on the other end of the phone sounds a bit excited
“And what of our other work then, I know you all were working on just Ms. Nozarks but any word on our outcome or work?”
“I’ve only heard very little on that. They are sending a transport to gather the packages once the game is over and return them here for full diagnostics and evaluation. I also assume you are speaking for Jonson and Sullivan. They are to remain here until after the diagnostic period. Other than that I do not know, but I’m sure someone will be contacting you before the packages return to us.”
“Okay, I’m glad that the hidden object turned out to be something as trivial as a Match Ball. I also look forward to seeing the packages in person. They have done an excellent job and Sullivan should be commended for his work.”
“We agree, it was also determined that some of the balls technology came from his research as well so we are passing on his name for other things down the road.”
“Great, anything else for me? I need to prepare for the packages to return in a couple days as we’ll have a lot of work at that point.”
“Nope that is all from us, we’ll be in touch.”

The phone clicks off and a smile comes over Gertrude’s face as the news finally settles in that all her worries were nothing after all. She can’t wait for the Final and is planning on meeting up with Jonson and Sullivan in the Summit Room to watch it. She does however have a few worries about their next steps and all the work that is still needed once the packages return from Buyan. What will all their research bring to HopNation, what other processes can these machined clones be used for, as well as a slew of other questions circle inside her head as she walks down the corridor. She finally arrives at her sleeping quarters, her home away from home if you will, and she turns on the closed circuit news channel to see what the HPNCIB is going over in it’s most recent meetings. But instead of the normal preceding’s the channel jumps to 554 and a press conference is being held with a bunch of people she does not recognize, there is a HopNation Flag hanging along side a Buyanese Flag along with a man they seem to be commending for his actions……

by **Buyan** » Fri Oct 17, 2014 7:17 am

3PPO

Greater Watford 1-1 Farfadillis (3-1 AET)
@ Novas Pylimasstadionas, Viztourzys

Final

HopNation 0-0 Buyan (1-0 AET)

@ The Nine, Dyatinsk

Congratulations - and apologies for not RPing - to HopNation!

by **HopNation** » Mon Oct 20, 2014 8:49 am

Inside the briefing room within the Hallertautops Gertrude, Jonson, and Sullivan are meeting for the final time. A pickup crew has picked up the team and they are being brought back to HopNation.

“Good morning gentlemen!”
“Hello Gertrude” the two men say together
“Not a whole lot to go through today, right?”
“No, not really we’ve gone through the data collected from the final already” Sullivan says
“Yes I saw that, very good information in that match as well as a WIN!” Gertrude states
“I couldn’t be more pleased with the results of our cloned machines” adds Jonson
“You did good work gentlemen, damn good work.”
“Thank you, we are just glad that after all that work and original isolation turned out to be a grand adventure for us” Sullivan says
“Your service to HopNation is greatly appreciated. Jonson, I hear you are leaving today.”
“That’s right ma’am, I’m looking forward to seeing my wife and kids for the first time in almost two months.”
“That will be great for you, sorry you were kept away for so long. But a substantial compensation package has been sent to your home and should be waiting your arrival. You did an excellent job putting together Sullivan’s plans as well as working hard to mark sure everyone stayed on task.”
“Thank you Gertrude, after those first few weeks things did get better. I hope I wasn’t to much of an ass at first.”
“No worries we knew you, well both of you, were under a great deal of stress. Sullivan, you’re staying here for a bit longer?”
“Um, yes. They’ve asked me to connect with each of the packages once they arrive back from Buyan. I also heard someone say they are looking to have me do a few other things as well. Do you know what that might be?” Sullivan asks
“I have a good idea, but will wait until I know for sure to let you know. I’m just glad your engineering and designs worked out so well.”
“Me too, I was, to say the lease, worried that the cloned machines would fail miserably and the whole project would have to be scraped.”
“Good thing they worked then!” Jonson adds
“Yes, they worked great.” Gertrude says
“I did have one question for you before we adjourn for the day.”
“Ask away Sullivan, ask away”
“Did you hear anything more on Ms. Nozarks?”
“Yes, as it turns out she was not a spy or a traitor of any kind. She was simply working with our football federation as well as Buyan’s to produce a match ball for the final. She actually used a lot of your technology in the ball.”
“Wow, really? Why all the secrecy then?”
“They were trying to keep things hidden as they wanted it to be a grand surprise prior to the final match. Which, they did an excellent job and the reveal was spectacular.”
“Yeah that pre-match celebration was great” Jonson says
“Sure was” adds Sullivan “I can’t believe that all of it was just for a match ball. I also can’t believe they used some of my technologies in it.”
“Well they are some good innovations after all.” Gertrude responds “Well I better be on my way, Sullivan your coming with me this time. Jonson, it was a pleasure meeting and working with you. I hope you find everything in order once you get home and enjoy your family.”
“Thank you, the same to you and I’m sure that they are excited as I am to see them again.”
“Shall we?” Gertrude says while turning to Sullivan
“Yep”

Gertrude and Sullivan gather up their things and head out of the room, they proceed to the elevator and go to the basement floor (where X1 and a few other agents put together the clues gathered at the warehouse). There they meet with a few individuals and wait on the arrival of the packages. Jonson finishes gathering his things and is met by a woman that is dressed like those by the Summit Room. She escorts him to a waiting car, the black town car style with all black accents and windows. Inside it is empty except for a bottle of special Hop 44, one of HopNations best brews and Jonson’s favorite, along with a note.

Enjoy these select beverages on your return trip to your home.
Be safe, enjoy your family and gifts.
It was a pleasure working with you and HopNation is grateful for your service.
Perhaps we will work together again someday, until then.
Yours,
Gertrude

Jonson sits down in the reclining back seat, opens the brew and starts drinking. He notices that he cannot see out the windows, which he attributes to the hidden location and he settles in for the ride to home. It seems like a rather long ride and after being in the car for two hours he decides to rest a bit, plus after drinking three of the brews he is feeling sleepy. After what he thinks is a short nap he looks at his watch and its four hours later. As he wakes a little more he notices some food was placed on the seat next to him, so he eats and once he is finished he feels the car stop. He can hear a little talking outside and then his door is opened. Outside he can see his wife and two kids standing in front of his home. They have a few balloons and some colored pages for him. As he gets out they all run up and give him hugs, kisses, and some more hugs. The driver of the car shakes Jonson’s hand and is then on his way. The Jonson family goes inside as his wife and children are excited to show him what arrived about an hour before he did. On the kitchen table there is a box which contains keys to a new vehicle, which is in the garage, a stack of gift cards to various restaurants (about 200 total all in $50 amounts), and a check from the HopNation Treasury made out to Mr. Jonson in the amount of $1.5 million Beers. The family is overjoyed in the generosity given to them for Mr. Jonson’s service for the last two almost three months.

Meanwhile back in the mountain the packages are now arriving back from Buyan and they are unloaded into the basement lab. Sullivan starts to hook each one up to the computer system as a few other people unload and get statements from each of them. All the players (packages) are in top condition with no sign of wear, which surprises Sullivan a little but not to much after all he made them to withstand much more abuse than a few football matches. Gertrude meets with a few officials and is told that both her and Mr. Sullivan will be allowed to go on a small, relatively, vacation before they are to start work with Ms. Nozarks on rebuilding the warehouse in order to start mass production of the match ball and to start developing more technologies for the betterment of sport in HopNation. She is also told that once the production is in full swing on the balls they are going to finish Sullivan’s research on the cloned machines and hopefully replace the HopNation Military with them so no more human lives are lost, if there is ever a war or need to use them. She asks if the clones will be used for sport again and she receives a somewhat mixed response.

Over the next few months both Sullivan and Gertrude work endlessly to get the manufacturing of the match ball in full swing. The are then called back to the mountain base to continue their work on the cloned machines. We may never know when their service will be finished, but we do know they are helping all of HopNation and perhaps much more of the world than they even know…..

Beltane Cup III - everything thread

Beltane Cup III - everything thread

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