Approaches took many forms, as did the emissaries. Yet it always boiled down to a simple proposal: "We'd like you to play in the Greatest Football Tournament Ever, with legends like (insert local favourites here). And you can face the greats, too. Guys like Hawk. Tzimisces. Belmore. Di Bradini. Girls, too, like Svoboda and Salamida and a Dallas or six. We can't guarantee everyone, not yet, but it will be a real field of dreams. Are you up for it?"
And slowly they returned, portals, emissaries, and players. Players from many when-wheres, 96 teams of them. Consultation with the mystical SRS oracle had brought forth a matrix of football greatness now present in the Dreamed Realm in the not-flesh. No Ordinary Realities had been harmed in the production thus far; of this the Director was certain.
As certain as anything else in the Realm, that is. The potential for mythic bleed was enormous . . .
OOC: You are all invited to help tell the story of the greatest football tournament that never was.
Inspired by TBI's scorinator tests and World Cup 59 RP simulating an all-time World Cup, this takes things to the next level. The event will take place in the Dreamed Realm (with the OOC permission of Arch/AIF and IC gracious permission of his Imperial Majesty the Basileus of the Holy Empire) for the avoidance of paradox. It will feature the top 96 nations in the most recent (post-WC62) SRS rankings, playing in 16 pools of six for qualifying and advancing 32 teams to a standard World Cup format.
Every user is invited to actively participate. If your nation/s is/are in the field of 96, you may submit a roster and/or RPs just like this was a "real" tournament. Feel free to be imaginative. If you are on the outside looking in, you may still post IC (not OOC!) RPs of support for your favorite team or two, provided that you do not interfere with the RP of participants. (If you're caught using puppets to support your own teams, bad things will happen.)
The schedule begins in late December and runs six days a week (skipping Sundays) straight through to conclusion, with a possible missed day or two for holidays.
The field
(Schedules will be in the next post)