World Cup 96 - Roleplay Thread

[TJUN-ia]

The Random Rambles of a Jaguar - World Cup 96 Edition
with Killian Looker

Yes, we're somehow going to be available during the WC. Who knew this fecker could pull that one off huh? We start against tough opposition immediately...so I'll catch you soon enough.

SCHEDULE (Group 14)
Revert to this post for stadium information.
MD1: @Delte (3) - Ildemorton Road, Oswark-upon-Delte
MD2: vs Sudilia (77) - Stade de la Victoire, Roi Ville
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MD3: @Ishadonia (269)
MD4: vs Gnejs (42) - Beregozera Stadium, Szensky
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MD5: @Conania (236)
MD6: BYE
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MD7: vs United Hawkland (142) - Estadio Universidad Carlandas, Carlandas
MD8: vs Delte (3) - National Stadium, TJUN-ia City
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MD9: @Sudilia (77)
MD10: vs Ishadonia (269) - Ke Kahua Pāʻani o Pua Aloalo, Kepu Manu
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MD11: @Gnejs (42) - Kejm Park, Port Kejm
MD12: vs Conania (236) - Tiankong Stadium, Tiankong
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MD13: BYE
MD14: @United Hawkland (142) - Østad Colliseum, Østad (TBC)

[Alasdair I Frosticus]

HOLY EMPIRE HERALD

IMPERIAL CAPTAIN CALLS FOR HEXIT
BoJo the Clown Starts Campaign for World Cup Withdrawal

By Anna Comneno

Holy Empire Captain BoJo the Clown sent shockwaves through the World Cup Community last night by calling for five-time champions the Holy Empire to withdraw from the World Cup following the 96th edition of the tournament.

"Here at Leave Means Leave headquarters, we feel that the Holy Empire can better grasp international sporting opportunities by withdrawing from the most successful sporting tournament the multiverse has ever known" said BoJo, stumbling over the podium several times during his press conference. "So I say, carpe diem; sic transit gloria mundi; foreign teams should be considered persona non grata, and I will now deploy a number of other phrases in dead languages in order to make my policy position on the matter seem much more coherent than it actually is" added BoJo the Clown, twirling his bowtie several times.

When this reporter pointed out that everyone in the Leave Means Leave campaign was a footballing clown as opposed to, say, a competent international statesperson or someone with any experience of complex negotiations with mundies, BoJo the Clown pointed out that withdrawal from World Cup 97 would only require the Holy Empire Football Association to not sign up. A no-deal 'Hexit' (as Holy Empire withdrawal from the tournament has been rapidly dubbed) would therefore be a fairly simple process.

Both HEFA and Holy Empire manager Juan Tzimisces denied that Hexit was on the cards, dubbing Leave Means Leave 'a bunch of clowns' - which is, after all, quite literally true - and stressing that HEFA was looking closely at the possibility of co-hosting World Cup 100.

Given this tension between the team and HEFA, the forthcoming World Cup 96 Group 1 qualifying campaign promises to be more than unusually interesting.

[Vdara]

Start Me Up

Sat in his office at the VdarArena, the impending arrival of another World Cup provided Markos with the rather painstaking task of selecting a strong group of players. There were some easy selections, of course - Stylianou's move to Sylestone saw her quickly established as one of the nation's best defenders, Tantalopoulos had helped his team to promotion in Ko-oren, and a couple of the youngsters from the recent foray into the Di Bradini Cup had shown the grit and tenacity to play for Vdara. Despite this, the recent retirement of long-time captain Tryfon Vlahiades meant that there were big boots to fill, both in terms of his on-field leadership as well as his general brilliance as a left-back. It was time, of course - the man was hitting his late forties, after all - but there weren't many players with the technical ability that he seemed to display week in and week out, never mind full-backs. That was, at least, until a certain Grazzja Le Brun had her highlights reel delivered to Markos' inbox, featuring a hattrick against Conania. The manager swiftly noted her name down, before continuing through his inbox.

"Penis enlargement pills, Dominos coupons, friend requests... wasn't this meant to be a work email?" he thought, whilst pondering why his spam filter hadn't been doing its job. The spam folder in question only had one email in it and Markos - someone unable to resist temptation - curiously clicked on it.

Slack-jawed, Markos read and re-read the email over and over again. Utterly bemused as to why a player vying for a starting spot would use such colloquial terminology, he continued to stare at the email. He hadn’t even clicked on the file attached to it. He was afraid to, quite frankly.

The mysterious video file in question

Inside the file awaited the toothy grin of Ferrero Fotellis.

”Yoooooooo, my main man Markos! How ya doin? How ya been? Listen, man… I’ve just got here from the airport, the flight back SUCKED, man! I mean, I got patted down twice before I even left Emberton - that might have been ‘cause I was hungover though - and I spent the entire time on the plane watching old timey Krytenian films that I couldn’t even understand! What’s the point?? Anyways, I’m back now, and just LOOK at this view!”

Markos remained in shock as Ferrero turned the camera around.

”Beauuuuuuutiful, innit? We all love Chania. Everybody does. I mean, Krytenia’s lovely, South Newlandia’s brill, but none of ‘em compare to here. Anyways, hope you get this soon! This… might take a bit to download, but you’ll get it eventually! Toodles, Markie!”

Markos promptly got up from his chair and took a swig of his ‘FOR EMERGENCIES’ bottle of whisky. He had no real idea of what he had just seen. Thankfully, he also didn’t care about what he’d seen, and thus marked down Fotellis as one of his two starting strikers. ”That’s me finished for the day.” he remarked, strutting out of his office without closing the door… or his computer. It would be such a shame if, say, a nosy janitor were to walk in and, perhaps, make some audacious choices of his own? The next day, Markos walked into his office, ‘World’s Best Manager’ mug in hand. He sat the mug on the coaster (a picture of himself, of course) and collapsed into the exceptionally comfy and swively chair. Sipping on his coffee, he noticed that his computer screen was still on. Odd, but not entirely out of the ordinary. What was out of the ordinary, however, was the updated squad list that had been sent to every journalist in the country. ”Hmph,” he thought. ”at least I don’t have to decide the rest!” And so, this was how this cycle's team was decided. If you have any problems, take it up with the janny.

[Recuecn]

Rébecca Firaut gave a frustrated sigh as she pulled her phone out of her backpack and saw the text from her dad.

I'll come pick you up, wait for me in front of the school

Rébecca wanted to text him, don't bother, but she knew he wouldn't see it. Instead she shoved her phone into her pocket and slinging her backpack over shoulder, trudged down the hallway to the exit.

Rébecca was almost ten now, and school had just started a week ago. This year--CM2--would be her last in école primaire before she moved up to collège, or middle school. Even though she was only nine years old, her parents let her bike to and from school. After all, it was close, and Reçueçn City was incredibly safe.

She found her bike in front of the school where she had left it. Pulling it out of the bike rack, she looked around. There was no sign of her dad. Late again... why was he always so annoying?

A couple of Rébecca's friends walked past, heading home.

"À plus tard, Rébecca!" called one, waving. "Will you be at soccer practice tonight?"

Rébecca waved back. "Of course! You know I never miss it!"

"I wish you could say that about the goal!" her friend called back.

"Hey!"

The other girls laughed and headed down the street. "See you at practice then!"

The sound of a bicycle pulling up behind her made Rébecca turn around. There was her dad, looking incredibly dorky on his new road bike, wearing an oversized bicycle helmet and a bright neon cycling speedo. "Salut chérie!" he greeted her.

Rébecca rolled her eyes. She had known this was happen. "Papa, what's the point of you coming to pick me up if you come on a bicycle?"

Gerauld sounded almost hurt. "This way we can ride home together. I wanted to see you as soon as you got out of school. I'm your papa, isn't it normal for me to want to spend time with my only daughter?"

"Sure, but we could spend time at home sooner if you came to get me in the minivan."

"That's no fun," said Gerauld. He gestured to the sky, which was clear and bright, with just a few puffy clouds being pushed along by the early fall breeze. "It's a beautiful day, I wanted to take advantage of it. I was going for a little bike ride and thought I could stop by to pick you up on the way home."

"Okay, well, alons-y," grumbled Rébecca, and jumping on her own bike, pedaled off, leading the way home.

"Hey wait for me!" called Gerauld, and started after her.

It really was not far from the school to the Firauts' house. The school itself was on a residential street with a convenient bike lane on either side, similar to the street the Firauts lived on, around a couple corners. They were connected, however, by a busier boulevard. The boulevard also had bike lanes, but it was the main access point for traffic from this part of the banlieue to get to centre ville and at this point in the afternoon, approaching rush hour, it was particularly busy.

Gerauld caught up to Rébecca at the light as they waited for the traffic to make a left turn. He pulled up alongside her and unclipping his feet from the pedals, reached for the ground with his toes so he wouldn't tip over as he stopped.

"So how was school today?" he asked.

"It was good," said Rébecca. "We talked about--oh, the light's green."

She pedaled off again, leaving Gerauld to catch up. Only an amateur cyclist, it took him a moment to figure out how to reclip his feet into the pedals, and he had to look down to do it. When he looked up again, Rébecca was almost a full block ahead of him already.

Gerauld pedaled hard to catch up. He had cut down the distance by half by the time they had traveled another block, and he saw Rébecca looking over her shoulder at him--no, she was just looking for a gap in traffic to make another left turn, and there she went across the road.

Gerauld kept pedaling after her, and began to turn left too--

WHAM! A car horn blared, but not before the car itself had already slammed into Gerauld from behind. His bike lifted into the air, flying forward. The force had knocked his feet loose and he was launched as well, but as the split-second passed in slow motion, he couldn't disentangle himself from the bike frame. He stretched out his arms to break the fall, scraping up his hands and forearms badly as he hit the ground, his right thigh hitting the tarmac with a sickening crack. The bike landed on top of him and bounced off, landing a couple meters in front of him, a tangled mess of aluminum.

Traffic screeched to a halt. The driver who'd hit him pulled over and jumping out of the car, sprinted over to see if Gerauld was okay. But all Gerauld could hear was Rébecca's frantic scream of papa! and the last thing he saw as everything went black was her biking back toward him.

---

Gerauld woke up in the hospital. Rébecca and his wife Samantha were both by his side. The doctors told him his leg was broken.

The first call he made was to ÉNRF coach Bonheur Relié. The first World Cup qualifying game was that weekend.

"Coach, I'm so sorry... I'm not going to be able to play."

[Darmen]

Battle Over Planning Permission For New Stadium Could Dominate Upcoming Municipal Election Campaign

SCOTT CITY - Scott City FC's proposal to construct a new stadium has run into opposition as municipal councilors of the National Labor Party have moved to deny planning permission to the project. The proposed stadium would seat 95,000 fans, a significant increase over the 37,100 of the club's current home, City Stadium. Present plans set the cost of the stadium, which would become the largest in Darmen upon completion, at $440 million.

But NLP members of the Scott City Municipal Council have objected to the club's plans to build the stadium with non-unionized construction workers, citing concerns over workplace safety as well as the wages being paid to the workers. "Non-unionized workers are more likely to cut corners, take unnecessary risks and conduct sub-standard work than unionized workers," stated Steingrím Vilhjálmson, NLP councilor. Vilhjálmson has called upon Scott City FC to amend their proposal to include guarantees that at least 75 percent of workers employed to build the stadium will belong to a union.

The club however has pushed back, stating that since they plan to fund the entirety of the stadium's construction costs, legal requirements that a certain percentage of workers must be unionized do not apply to their plans. Raynard Heath, Mayor of Scott City and member of the Republican Party, agreed with the club, "Municipal statutes requiring unionized workers only apply to projects receiving public funds. City FC's proposed stadium is being 100 precent privately funded."

Heath has called upon his NLP counterparts to retract their objection to the planning permission and allow the project to move ahead. "This new stadium will allow the club to meet the substantial demand for tickets to their matches, which the City Stadium is simply insufficient to meet; bring more international football to the city and provide a significant economic boost to the city."

But the NLP has refused to do so, stating that they plan to make the issue a prominent part of their campaign leading up to next year's municipal elections, with the contest in Scott City serving as an unofficial referendum on the the use of union labor in the stadium's construction. While the NLP is the largest single party in Scott City's municipal council, it holds only ten out of twenty-three seats. The Republican led Alliance for a Presidential Majority holds the remaining thirteen seats, leaving it one seat short of being able to override the NLP's objection, as planning permission for non-residential construction requires a three-fifths majority vote.

The club is unlikely to take the issue to court, as legal proceedings and the almost certain appeals that would follow would likely drag the process out much longer than the club has patience for. Instead the club is waiting for the municipal elections in five months time, where they will almost certainly throw their support behind the Republican Party and its allies in the hopes of pushing them across the three-fifths mark to ensure approval for the stadium.

Scott City FC's manager, Tor Tong Lee, who just so happens to be the Honorary Chairman of the Republican Party and a former President of the Republic, while generally quiet about political issues since leaving office, is almost certain to speak out against the National Labor Party and in support of those who will approve the club's project. Whether the NLP have calculated this into their plans moving forward is unknown, but going up against the former President and manager of Darmen's most popular football club may just be a massive mistake for the party.

[Independent Athletes from Quebec]

Independent Athletes from Quebec (IAQ) - World Cup 96 Team
WINDOW 1 - v. Siovanija & Teusland

- Beginning of communication.

Please note that for the first half of this qualification window, due to the Foreign Office requirement that prohibits Quebecois nationals including dual-nationals, from travelling into nations placed under Level Four - Do Not Travel without sufficient, one-month quarantine measure, there will be no regular IAQ delegation present to play an anon nation for home-and-away legs of this World Cup 95 qualification cycle.

Instead, eleven prisoners dressed in rainbow jumpsuits will be playing as IAQ on those matches, first away and then at home in their designated home venue at an oil rig located on international waters. There will be no Quebecois fans issued visa for away trip, or away fans flying into the designated home venue for the second leg.

End of communication. -

---

26-PLAYER ENTRY

GOALKEEPERS (3):
Goh Yeong-Rok (Montreal City), Marianne Oh-Ntare (Litala '93, MYT), Innes Sheppard (Urrheddiao, CMT)

DEFENDERS (9):
Ghislaine Barbieri (Anormalies, CMT), Alain Delisle (Mipojoseon), Esteban Flores (Lhor, CMT), Joo Hyeong-Seok (Olympia Arkintoofle, SRS), Kim Gyeong-Seok (Urrheddiao, CMT), Drake Lokombo-Ssekitoleko (Lakewood United, TMB), Candice Morrison (CSKA Quebec), Alexis Samurtok (Parakleion Firebirds FC, TKT), Serguei Sapozhkov (Daedonggang 3.26)

MIDFIELDERS (7):
Cesar Icardi-Rabiot (Jinja FC, BNJ), Kweon Hyeok-Joon (FC Longview, VAL), Maude Le Tissier (Whitepool, SYL), Jordan Mah (Océanic C.F. Langlois, KSK), Samuel McTavish (Lakewood City, TMB), Pyo Seung-Hye (Avondale City, SYL), Juan Aurelio Redondo (Montreal Koreana)

FORWARDS (7):
Clyde Han (Wansan Noksaekjeonsa), Billie Blue Hamisi (Urrheddiao, CMT), Kim Sang-Wook (West Couno United, TMB), Oberon M'bah-Pinho (Tihon, CMT), Josephine Moreille-Park (Ceramadhion Lynx FC, TKT), Corneille-Theophile Poulin (Avondale City, SYL), Otis Tekaronhonte (Eivora Athletic FC, TKT)

295 Studios acquire rights to seminary Flume series, with film series to follow

Suzanne Pleyel-Gallant

MONTEVICIO, YOSEO-MANITOBA - The 295 Studios have acquired the film and television rights for Lucien Egoyan's seminary novel series 'Flume'^[1], with the Montevicio based production studio having reached agreement with the estate of the late Quebecois writer, who passed away in 2024 at age 85.

The agreement, to take effect with the expectation being that first piece of work be released in the seven years' time, would see Guillaume Lambert, Ioana Candescu, Francois Kim-Egoyan serving as the producers and famed couple Kim Deok-Ho and Gabrielle Yoon as executive producers.

Prospective directors for the film series, likely to feature at least four films, is still being discussed. It is expected that Moohangwedo Studios, one of the big four Quebecois production-distribution giants in the film industry, be distributing the project while international rights are still in the process to be determined.

The task of bringing the seminary five-novel series, in particular the first book 'Flume and the Pariah', has been regarded as the 'poisoned goblet' within Quebecois cinema, with many attempts having taken place, but none to a particular success since the writing of the 'Flume and the Pariah' in 1994. Its pesky reputation originates from many attempts, where filmmakers have attempted to produce it as a standalone film, let alone a series, in full form.

The first book's expansive world, extensive cast and metaphysical landscapes, combined with the level of degrees required to animate and then re-animate the aquatic creatures, have been considered as a near-impossible to be filmed as faithful renditions while remaining within three-hour framework, making it a challenge both tempting and difficult for all parties concerned. Out of all its attempts in adaptation, it has seen the most success in the form of a six-part Tele-1 teleseries, adapted and directed by Noam Schuler-Kim in 1998. The teleseries, originally planned to consist of twenty-four parts, received critical acclaim with praises on strong scripting and acting by Armand Tessier and Ilari Pakkanen, but was axed mid-season due to extremely low ratings, violent disputes among cast members, and budgetary issues.

Multiple attempts have also been made by the directors over the years, with the likes of Leslie Gormley, Amy Byeon of Giant Penguin (2034), and even Raoul-Christophe Jang-Nolan, who most would remember for his last two blockbusters in Interplanar and Barbenheimer, showing interest. The most notable example would be the 2012 attempted adaptation of the film by Petrogradian-Quebecois director Gavril Nakhimovsky. Established in the musical backdrops of alt-rock band Vozrozhdenie and Tikariotian heavy metal legends Karmageddon, Nakhimovsky's vision was to star the now-legendary cast of Leopold Gavlas, Armand Tessier, Segolene Pyeon, and then-Elizaveta Dolgorukaia^[2], while his children Daniil Nakhimovsky and Diane Dreyfus (now matriarch of the oil and sporting moguls Dreyfus-Milliken family) were trained to play the children. The project had gotten close to the start of filming before Nakhimovsky's 3-year long hospitalisation from stress, combined with technical difficulties and actors' strike the following year, had led into the project's cancellation.

The 295 Studios, now owned by Quebecois-Kytlerian businessman Pierre McInnis Valdes splitting his residence between Zube, The Kytler Peninsulae, and Kingsbury, Tumbra, is considering on developing Flume series as a film franchise with possible television spin-offs. Their current catalogue of works, commercially led by the Zooniverse franchise best known for its seminary 2060 public domain slasher 'Paddy's Anatomy: Blood and Marmalade'^[3], is both valiant and experimental, but the studio is considered to be on downturn of fortunes compared to its competitors such as Yangcheolbook or Moreau-Chae Productions.

The 295's need to maintain strong relationships with the big four, in particular Moohangwedo and Montesierra, is mentioned at various points since Pierre's takeover six years ago from his father Gregg^[4], restaurant-transportation mogul for eponymous restaurant brands who had owned the studio for twelve years. Even as late as last month, the 295 Studios have explicitly stated their need for a clear franchise with McInnis Valdes stating at the Kingston International Film Festival past October, that there will be emphasis on 'generating a powerful, immersive universe' setting themselves into the later decades of the 21st century.

Set in the year 7000, in a mix of distant future that is also a reflecting image of the distant past, Flume series is the story of Jude Turkoglu, whose family enters into the aquatic planet of Munshid. The story covers the political, societal, artistical and environmental vision of the planet, as well as Jude and his family. The storyline focuses on Jude the Pariah, the sole survivor of the family's mid-voyage massacre, living a vagabond existence before establishing a paramilitary in search of vengeance and conquest.

---

[1] Dune.
[2] Of course, this refers to Queen Mother Elisabeth, former Queen of Quebec and Shingoryeo and the mother of current Quebecois monarch Christine II.OOC faceclaim.
[3] Imagine the hybrid of Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey and Grey's Anatomy, where there the four-way romance between three doctors, their ex-lover ghost, and a menacing raccoon-bear haunting them in a hotel in the Huayramarcan highlands. Idea inspiration provided and green-lit by Delaclava and Huayramarca.
[4] He looks very much like the current US men's national football team manager, yes. Who would have thought that CSKA Quebec manager Peter Gabriel would find a lookalike in a Quebeco-Kytlerian businessman?

[Kelssek]

“Burnaby legend Andreas Bjerk” he posted.

He noted that someone had responded to the similar “Burnaby legend Naucémiro Buené” post he’d made earlier:

are you kidding this is way more meaningful as club football that Buené and dí Völará could ever achieve, legend status at a club like MA is so far ahead of your plastic Kelssek teams its not even funny, rugby stadiums are bigger there, the plastics hosted a world cup final in a rugby stadium it tells you all you need to know and there's a diacritic on the ó you absolute muppet

Hmm. This was revealing a certain trend he didn’t like. And probably related to the zero trophies for Burnaby since Bjerk and Buené left... But not the right time to say that, because the narrative had been set and it important not to switch it too quickly lest even the goldfish attention spans of his audience notice.

Anyway, it was time. He took a deep breath, clicked the ‘cast’ button and stared into the ring light. With practice it was easy to slip instantly into persona.

“Alright friends hello and welcome to the Fans Stand TV! Make sure you’re hitting like and subscribe and commenting in the live chat. Mike Bronzeflyover with alll the latest news from internationals week?!” He let his voice rise into a strange disbelieving shriek and pressed the button that played the sound file airhornwarble.wav

“WHAT? That’s right no Burnaby SC, I know you’re all devastated by that, it’s national team stuff. Ah well. But that means enough of Potter’s antics and it’s time to ask, is Titan Pogbacar getting his due! Is he going to play?! This kid is on fire and Calean Reamsey needs to recognize it and PLAY THE KID!”

Bronzeflyover had done a wholly different video brutally trashing Pogbacar, titled “20 yo and ALREADY A FLOP?!”, ranging from superficial criticisms of his body language on the field, rumours about his family, and vicious personal attacks that verged on racism, but that was seven months ago and the advantage of his YourTube persona was that it systematically put off the kind of person who might notice that.

[Kimi-Suomi]

Quickfire Reactions to our WCQ Group
Pot 1 = Mytanija - The lowest-ranked Pot 1? What else could we ask for? These guys will still be tough, of course.

Pot 2 = Cassadaigua - Matriarkaatti. JYK-inen (TJUN-ia) can tell us many things about the Dagans...but as for us? We only play with them in the world of NSSCRA. This should be fun.

Pot 3 = Kimi-Suomi - The way of this group is simple: the winner goes to the dance, 2nd goes to the playoffs and everyone else begs the Cup of Harmony for invites.

Pot 4 = Brannfjord - A team known for attacking huh? Noted.

Pot 5 = Reçueçn - Aren't they more of a tennis nation? well maybe not anymore, considering they're just outside the Top 100.

Pot 6 = Lakikieli [Legalese] - Oh yeah...we know these guys all too well in our Anaian home. This should be fun.

Pot 7 = Erishinmaat [The Erishlands] - The Baptism of Fire team, with a cool flag at that. Be careful, you never know what the BoF can spit at you.

---

SCHEDULE (Group 20)
MD1: vs Mytanija (23) - The Nest [Pesä], Kimi Kaupunki
MD2: @Lakikieli [Legalese] (258)
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MD3: BYE
MD4: vs Recuecn (108) - The Nest [Pesä], Kimi Kaupunki
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MD5: @Brannfjord (79) - Blekebakken Stadion, Grimnes
MD6: vs Cassadaigua (43) - Galaktien Colosseum (Colosseum of the Galaxies), Lumikukkulat
---------------------------------------------------------------
MD7: @Erishinmaat [The Erishlands] (291)
MD8: @Mytanija (23)
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MD9: vs Lakikieli [Legalese] (258) - The Nest [Pesä], Kimi Kaupunki
MD10: BYE
---------------------------------------------------------------
MD11: @Recuecn (108)
MD12: vs Brannfjord (79) - Galaktien Colosseum (Colosseum of the Galaxies), Lumikukkulat
---------------------------------------------------------------
MD13: @Cassadaigua (43) - Peak 'n' Break Stadium, Grande Mountain
MD14: vs Erishinmaat [The Erishlands] (291) - Galaktien Colosseum (Colosseum of the Galaxies), Lumikukkulat

[Valentine Z]

Part 1 – Back to the Basics.

Exuberant Superintendent T-2000/2904-3 Surveillant Clarissa Alanis Star Breya « La Amoureux Chéri » Millie Taissa Butterfly Mélody Coraline Jolijn Trini Clementine Hollie Samantha Zeta Harumi has been having quite a joyful season in NSSCRA so far, having become a sleeper hit of sorts when she placed 2nd in terms of overall points before moving onto the next Chase cutoff. As she was celebrating this new-found energy and drive along with the rest of the Valentians, she got a notification on the communication devices in her head, one about the World Cup having its groups and matches finalized. She took a moment to retreat back to her personal room in the dropship, and then reading through the match-ups along with the status update of her team. The latter was not as noteworthy for the time being, with the Valentian Kittens all ready to take on the new season yet again with the enthusiasm that they always have. Clarissa, however, have also pointed out and recommended that the team do some basic drills and exercises. “We need to step up our game!” she said with a cheer during the last meeting, “I know you guys and girls are trying your best, and I really do appreciate that. Still, a lot can be done better, and I believe in you all!” Still, she could not help but feel that they may be outmatched, as with what happened to Gwen’s Angels in basketball.

In particular, it is the Vanorians – who are five-time World Cup Championships – that would be playing against the Valentian Kittens on as soon as Day 2. “That would like pitting a small kitten against a pride of lions,” Clarissa thought to herself, not wanting to discourage her team. It is only relatively recently that Clarissa would start to think a bit more practically, in the sense that while she is still a very happy and optimistic android that everyone knows her as, she has also started learning (only after nearly 100 years, but better late than never!) that especially people outside of Valentine Z might have been a little turned off by her overly joyous attitude. It does not need to be completely erased, but more to be toned down and to have a few variables of sorts, such as the right time and the mood of people. Other than that, the team should be ready with their first match against Gorutimania’s team.

Art personally commissioned by: Artci (Instagram Handle: artci_co). For non-profit / personal use, and no AI and NFT association.

[Tero al Disco]

WITH NO STAR PLAYERS INJURED, TERO AL DISCO SENDS ITS FIRST WCQ SQUAD

Redacted by Lucas Santoro.

March 25th, 2024

---

It's in the picture. Alfredo Félix has confirmed Tero al Disco's squad for the first two World Cup qualifying matches in the country's history: first against an unranked Saltidia in the Estadio de la República, and then at the nation of Saterun for round two.

There has been no important player injured that isn't able to play in the squad. That's despite rumours of Alvaro Biaggi not being able to play after an injury he had suffered in the round 20 fixture against Ferrocarriles Unidos. Fortunately, Alfredo Félix confirmed that the historic top-scorer of the team will be able to train with the team and then travel to Saterun after round one.

(OOC: pretend there's more here)

---

Then this happened a day later. (like if I were saying "THIS will shock you!!!!!")

---

Yeah...sorry for the quality. Anyhow, that's Victor.

(OOC: Key: Victor Pascual (correspondent), Andrea Benítez (presenter), there are other journalists in the studio but they don't participate)

"Well Victor, what do you have in store? I think you were telling something at the commercial break, I couldn't understand..."

"Yes, Félix has released the starting eleven for the first two fixtures...since under World Cup rules the starting 11 count for the first two fixtures." "Yes, I think that's dumb." "I understand th-" "Well, who will be the goalkeeper then? Sorry if I interrupted you." "Eh yes...at goal there's Andrés Castillo, finally. There were rumours that Braian Rico would start as the goalkeeper, but Alfredo's changed his mind at the last minute, and now Castillo's at goal." "You know, he's at 6 clean sheets, so the momentum is very useful for him." (Moving on...I didn't know what else to add in this section so yeah)

"Now onto defense. 4 defenders, since Félix is going to play his trademark 4-3-1-2. the two center-backs will be Martín Kuchler and also Cristian Riese. Félix is clearly going with all the favourites to fill in the starting 11. So it's Riese and Kuchler, two veterans of the game. At right-back there's Clotieri, who will add his 23 years of age. Kuchler's 30 and Riese's 33, remember. And the left-back is going to be Isaac Kunz. So Castillo, then Kunz, Riese, Kuchler and Clotieri." "That's fair enough, I think they've kept playing quite well in the league."

"Please name the midfielders." "Yes...I don't why you're acting so bossy nowadays..." (they both chuckle) "...it's gonna be Napoliello at the left midfield, he's been playing like a beast ever since he recovered from that ACL injury, so there's no reason why Félix wouldn't put him in the starting team. Then at the center midfield is Hirsch, he may have stopped scoring goals for Norteño, but he's cemented himself as a playmaker. So we can kind of expect him doing that, like Napoliello is going to be the main left-crosser, cause his specialty is that at Moncloa. Francisco Martini is still going to play as the right-midfielder, and Hernando Lucero will start as the attacking midfielder."

"Then about the forwards. If Biaggi and Leonardi aren't injured, then I think there's no question. Alfredo had said yesterday that Biaggi was fine, that he could play. He had a goal-scoring drought in the league, but he thought he was doing okay in those matches and that made him get called up. Then there's Leonardi, who's still going strong despite Gimnasia's losses."

tl;dr:

roster if you don't know the players' positions.
STARTERS
GK - Andrés Castillo
LB - Isaac Kunz
CB - Martín Kuchler (C), Cristian Riese
RB - Luciano Clotieri
LM - Miguel Napoliello
CM - Esteban Hirsch
RM - Francisco Martini
AM - Hernando Lucero
FW - Alvaro Biaggi, Juan Jose Leonardi

SUBS
Rico, Azzaro (GK); Miranda, Cuevas, Salas, Falcone, Manet, Anselm (DF); Durand, Freitas, Tedesco, Figueredo, Cornelli (MF); Cervantes, Villar (FW)

[Tikariot]

OOC Disclaimer: Content warning - this true crime series may contain imagery (no actual images, just words) that some people may find disconcerting. Reader discretion is advised.

Good evening Tikariot, welcome to the latest show on TikFlix: The Tikariot Files. In this series, we will look at some of Tikariot's most outrageous, brutal, mysterious criminal cases the nation has to offer - all of them unsolved.

The picture cuts to the logo of the show while images of prison cells, blood spatter and other crime-related footage is shown in the background, with a lone, sombre piano melody playing.

My name is Christoffer Akerbrandt, and I am the host of The Tikariot Files. We have gone into the archives and dove into some of the unsolved cases from Tikariot's history, from 100 years ago to the here and now. I will give a warning right from the get-go, some of the crimes we will cover, may be grisly, some may be unbelievable.

The first case we will have a look at, is the story of what has been dubbed the Mysterious Mansion Murders. We have to go back roughly 70 years, into the province of Paladon. In the southwest of the province likes the industrial city of Valnohar, known mostly for its chemical industry. It was just recovering from the Valchemy Disaster, which to this date stands as one of the biggest industrial disasters in the history of Tikariot, when a series of chemical holding tanks exploded, causing a large-scale fire in the chemical complex, causing a large plume of acrid smoke float across the Southern parts of the city, causing many residents to experience serious health consequences.

Two years after the disaster, police were called to a mansion on the outskirts of Valnohar. A maid had found blood trails within the mansion, leading up into the attic, but was scared to check further. When the officers arrived, they were able to confirm that the blood seemed to come from a body being dragged up the stairs, having started in the middle of a hallway. There was no door to get into the attic but only through a trapdoor in the ceiling. Blood was dripping from the opening that looked firmly closed.

They immediately called for backup before opening the trapdoor. When they did so, a grisly scene unfolded, with the attic space full of blood spatter and bloody handprints, but no body. Despite the absence of a body, police looked into the mansion and its inhabitants. The mansion belonged to one of the owners of the Valchemy chemical company, Adderson Hanley, who reported that the only person at the mansion at the time was his wife Lisa. The detectives scoured every inch of the mansion, trying to find any clues about the whereabouts of the wife, which had gone missing. The fact that the bloodstains would eventually be confirmed to match the DNA of the Hanley's wife, intensified the urgency of the investigation. Yet, despite extensive forensic analysis and a widespread search for potential witnesses, the trail went cold.

As days turned into weeks, the case took on an air of futility. Every lead pursued by law enforcement yielded little more than dead ends and conjecture. The patriarch himself maintained his innocence, seemingly distraught and professing ignorance regarding his wife's whereabouts and insisting that she had simply vanished without a trace. The police continued their investigation, but without any additional leads, they were forced to sit and wait.

Then, a month after the initial discovery of bloodstains, police received another call that another blood trail was uncovered, leading investigators to the cellars beneath the mansion this time around. Once again, the blood trail began in the middle of a hallway, leading downstairs and once again, there were copious amounts of blood and handprints, which forensic examinations also confirmed as Lisa's, but no body. This raised even more chilling questions about her fate.

The mystery had deepened, with a month between the two findings and the matching handprints causing particular concern. In the absence of concrete evidence, theories surfaced regarding what truly had transpired in the mansion. Some speculated foul play at the hands of the patriarch, while others tried to connect the happenings to the Valchemy Disaster that investigations had tied to severe shortcomings in safety protocols and now began to claim that this was some sort of payback.

Just like before, all trails went cold and speculations began if the perpetrator was playing a cruel game, which heightened when the body of another Valchemy executive was discovered hanging from one of the balconies of the Hanley mansion one morning, the noose formed by the blood-smeared dress of Lisa Hanley was said to have worn the day of her disappearance. Once again, there were no witnesses and no evidence that could help the police in their investigations.

The authorities posted patrols around the mansion, as Hanley, despite all the happenings, refused to leave the mansion, saying that whoever was trying to intimidate him, would not succeed. The theories that the murders, as nobody believed that Lisa Hanley was still alive, were tied to the Valchemy Disaster, seemed strengthened, but if there still were people who had doubts about it, that would change when another month after the last body, Hanley's second in command at Valchemy was discovered in the entrance hall of the mansion, naked, tied to the chandelier, with hundreds of lacerations on him, which the medical examiner later confirmed were inflicted while he was still alive. Despite the police presence around the mansion, nobody had seen or heard anything until the body was discovered in the morning.

The police ramped up the manpower to scrutinize the whole mansion and mansion grounds in search for any clues or evidence but there was nothing. No evidence, no witnesses, nothing. With Hanley still stubbornly refusing to leave, police stationed three officers inside the mansion in the hope to deter any further violence, but two nights later, a shot alerted the officers. As they broke into Hanley's suite, they found the patriarch next to his bed, a gaping gunshot wound in his temple. But that was not all they found, as in the bed, placed as if peacefully sleeping, was the exsanguinated body of his wife.

Neither the officers in the house nor the ones stationed around the mansion had seen or heard any activity, raising the questions where the body came from. The biggest mystery, however, was that investigators did not find a gun and the door to Hanley's bedroom was locked from the inside. The mansion was locked down and searched for yet another time, but law enforcement could not solve the mystery, despite dozens of forensic investigators leaving no stone unturned.

Since then, the mansion has been standing silent and foreboding, its secrets still not uncovered. After the death of Hanley, there were no more murders or mysterious sightings, which led the police to the conclusion that the ultimate goal was Hanley's death, albeit in a very gruesome and twisted manner.

To this day, the case is not officially closed, but given how much time has passed since then, the chances of any evidence showing up are slim to none. It remains one of the most mysterious murder cases in the history of Tikariot.

[United Hawkland]

a friendly reminder of the existence of hawklandian football culture.
a short article by hawklandian football culture analyst and conservative party follower, chuck hucker.

hello fellow humans and the like. unlike what the woke leftist kharakian funded media would like to tell you, united hawkland does have a football culture.
it began around the summer of '83. the people of hoven were getting pretty restless. it was too warm to freeze a hockey rink most of the time, and as the air conditioning import to united hawkland was being delayed by the damn liberals, the people couldn't build one indoors. as all popular sports in united hawkland (hockey) required ice, this was problematic. so, in response, the people began watching and playing soccer in hoven. and then everyone else followed. now, we all have football culture. the woke liberals don't want you to know this.
i'm here to prove the leftist woke kharakian liberal media wrong. we have always had a football culture. we are the loudest and proudest supporters on this side of the paterie region.
however, there is a problem. the woke liberal kharakian media is claiming that the hawklandian ultras have recently become xenophobic. this simply isn't true. we've ALWAYS been xenophobic. unfortunately, the woke leftist kharakian fans have been taking over and spreading their indoctrination agenda and now we aren't allowed to be xenophobic without people going "woah, this dudes really xenophobic." it's woke and leftist and I don't like it.
alas, it seems the woke leftist agenda isn't going anywhere, as the hawklandian fa has blocked all xenophobic ultras from attending the sanctioned events. this is xenophobicist. this is xenophobicphobic. we need to take a stand against the people who aren't xenophobic.
anyway, we'll be meeting at the bar in royal ryan to watch the match from afar. no leftists allowed!

[Saint Eleanor]

OOC: EQS approved the Group of Six roleplay at 03:34 UTC on Wednesday. Tik approved the relevant sections of the Tim Hart roleplay at 16:56 UTC on Wednesday. A 2009-10 schedule will now be issued with the MD5/6 roleplays, which is when the pivot between Lara Torridge's Tour of Anaia and Last Post will actually start; sorry for the inconvenience.

- The Group of Six roleplay has been transmitted to EQS; I await his feedback but don't expect any major complaints from him.
- The Tim Hart roleplay hasn't been transmitted to Tikariot. He's busy with his own World Cup stuff, but I've given him fair warning that this RP exists and that he should read it to confirm I haven't thoroughly yeeted his RP permissions out of the window. Suffice to say that he has cleared, in principle, anything that has been said about Lydia Sanderson-Horvath in the below space.
- A 2009-10 schedule will be issued with the MD3/4 roleplays, which (like all future batches of roleplay) will switch between Lara Torridge's Tour of Anaia and Last Post.

---

Group of Six Twenty-Nine meeting (VI) --- Pasarga 1-0 SAINT ELEANOR (aet)
Participants: Gentle Breeze, Reniira Clevinger, Stephen Mitcham ~ Bridget Coombe [C], Cathy Winchester [VC], all other players [on manager's request]
Location: Another, larger conference room, the Universal Hotel; Mollywood, The Mainframe, DEL

MAJOR MATCH EVENTS: Pasargan goal was Bazzi 104. The match does not otherwise need to be recounted in this space; I personally trust that the Pasargan media will cover the match fairly and with at least the impartiality that is due. All Eleanorian players will be available for the first round of WC96 qualifiers.


LESSONS LEARNED: This was "about as well as we could have done, given the circumstances" (~ Sam). The team was perceived to be good in all areas of the pitch, good enough as to have helped grind the match to an effective halt for much of its initial duration - thus "buying some valuable time and energy" (~ Georgia).
Defence was seen as a positive on the whole, although opinions about how specifically diverged. "We wobbled a bit towards the end" (~ Arielle), but there was again a sense that the goal resulted from our unavoidable human error and was nothing to get upset about. However, some feared that our defensive setup at yesterday's game made us "too boring - I was at the last meeting; I thought we agreed to take risks, not avoid them" (~ Esther).
At some crucial times, especially in the second half of extra time, our attack was anywhere between "somewhat disappointing" (~ David) and "not what I'd like to see at this level" (~ Stephen). I imagine that things like positioning and general targetting need working on, particularly in pre-WC96 training. With that said, there was no criticism levied over its normal time performance, beyond a sarcastic "not enough goals!" (~ Exandra).
Rick asked me what precisely the team philosophy was, given that he's heard a lot about it over this tournament but doesn't have a firm sense of how it's implemented. I reminded him that the proper and consistent onboarding of players was my main priority; while our exact approach will vary between games for reasons that should be clear, the general principle is that both attack and defence should be done courageously but with due temperance.


RECOMMENDATIONS: Most players agreed that they were "generally satisfied" {~ Christine) with the team as a whole, adding onto the unanimous general praise for yesterday's performance. There was a broad sense that the routine squad rotation seen in this tournament was a net positive and it will continue in future tournaments.
Bridget suggested that the offside trap be developed in training and maintained for at least the first few games of WCQ96, given the effectiveness of its adoption here and, to a lesser extent, in other past games. This idea was swiftly adopted by the coaching staff and will be implemented in the suggested trial form.
The 4-2-3-1 will remain the default lineup and players 1-11 will be fielded for MD1 of WCQ96 absent injury (just to test the waters). G6 meetings will continue before all games as they did in this tournament and will be the main vehicle for team selection on all other matchdays.
It was further agreed that our CoH87 players will not be removed for WC96 except for an exceptional reason. Dekamela added that "Tim Hart is an exceptional player, if you'd like to take me off for 2009," pointing to his Tikariot Premier League achievements. Various other names were mentioned as potential future players for WC97 and beyond but there are no plans for another round of immediate mass turnover as happened before WCs 91 and 95.
As an aside, players were highly concerned that both semifinals are to be held at the FleurBanc Arena, in Santa Lourdes, DEL: "surely one of these matches could have been held in the DIamond Arena" (~ Tina); "I fear for the groundsmen" (~ Graham). It was decided not to lodge an official protest with the WCC due to potential standing issues, though.


MOVING FORWARD: Bridget will be handling notes for MD1 of WCQ96. SEFA will be organising a small-scale press conference tomorrow evening which I expect that only domestic journalists, and a few curious internationals, will attend; I'll be summarising the notes made in this meeting there. It was agreed unanimously that all future G6 meetings to be held at Saint Eleanor's elimination from a tournament be whole-team meetings.

~GB

Tim Hart: "I'm not immature enough to need chaperones anyway"
Chief Football Correspondent Jamie Rodgers has his lightest load of interviews in a few years - and gets plenty of mercy from the only fresh starter in the lineup
Originally published on Thursday 4th January 2007

Tim Hart may be a late bloomer - thirty in a couple of months - but his recent runs of form in the Tikariot Premier League have catapulted the once-textbook striker to a place on the Eleanorian bench for the next two years. "If we're going to be perfectly honest, though, up until I started doing professional football, I was probably the most ordinary man ever to live and I didn't seem to mind."

His years at Buckhead CS were "dry, unremarkable, and punctuated by having a fair number of mates who'd support me all the way. Was I that good academically? Not really, but I suppose everything was good enough for my purposes." He proved to be no more remarkable in 1996's Charles Trump Shield, either, as his school burned out in the second round - or so it would seem. "Well, round three is the last sixteen, there were forty-eight schools at the time, we were roughly middle of the pack so I'd say a decently fair result. I scored all three of the goals, even if all of them came against defences that weren't really that good; it was just that ours was leakier the second time. I just wanted to be a PE teacher, however, which is why I went to the Polytechnic. Then I got asked to go onto the football team, which was a bit of a surprise even for me but I figured why not?"

So what three matches would he say most influenced his professional development? "Morally, I won my emancipation when Army and Navy went down midway through the 1999 season. They'd stopped being good a number of years ago, but we didn't particularly think they were vulnerable; we just decided let's hit them with as much force as possible while not going completely overboard, or something. It's been ten years; details are fuzzy. I suppose that was close to the truth, though, because I recall we pushed them pretty much the entire way, hitting them pound for pound. Around an hour in, I just snatched the ball from one of them, went up a few yards, fired and it just went in. It's a shame they got the equaliser in the end, but anything's a good result when you're with us. A particularly good result for me, too, because that gave me the confidence to keep on being."

His second choice was at the end of his first season with the Veriasod Wolves FC, when he scored both of their goals in a 2-2 draw away to Tikariot City FC. "Tikariot has a funny year-dating system, I've been led to believe - still haven't worked it out after what has been by any definition literally years - but in Eleanorian terms, definitely 2004. There were two games to go and while TCFC were nearly down, we still had to do something against them in order to seal it. With a short while left to go, we'd gone two down, had no idea what we were doing, and then they took me on in what I suppose was their attempt at getting me match-fit for the coming season, or seasons. What I did was bash a couple of shots over the place, one of them was nice and boring, the other one was also nice and boring but got onto the woodwork, both of them went in, if I took any others they didn't go in but that proved more than enough to secure the draw that put them four points underwater with three points left to be won. Now, that should have been enough to take them down, but lo and behold, the authorities decided to rig the league after the fact, add a couple of extra teams and I assume laugh as we went down the next season. Fortunately, this was only the latest episode in my personal soap opera."

Hart's final nomination can be best described as a bit creative; "I'd even call this cheating, but basically everything I've ever done for Viathyn Park AFC. Now, other than the Tikariot City incident and the awe of moving somewhere else to get minutes in the first place, I didn't do much at Veriasod and while that was okay, after they dipped, I just wanted something more. Viathyn Park was that something more - inside the stadium is good, outside is good, the fans are good, the players are good, and I do not think I would leave unless the club didn't want me or we got the drop again. Which is the same attitude I used to have, but no bother. I have kept on banging in the goals for them, a few assists, mostly leading the line and taking responsibility - not the kind of thing I would have ever expected until extremely recently. I think that got me onto the national team; I just came over here to keep fit and stay happy, not to be in such esteemed company. So yes, put all of that in the honours section."

You would expect Hart to be friendly with his teammates, if somewhat irritated with them - and he delivers. "If I had to name somebody... the details aren't much fun but I have gotten on very, very well with Lydia Sanderson-Horvath. Well with the other people at Viathyn Park and excellently with the actual landscape, but particularly with her. Maybe it's because we joined in the same year when nobody else did. Maybe it's because she's a Lydia; all very Eleanorian, though she isn't, not by some distance. I'm surprised I've not asked her out yet, which shouldn't be surprising but life's life and all." But no, seriously. Do you actually get on well with any of your teammates? "Bridget Coombe. We were at the Torch the other day, it was 2am - they're open at that time - she was my chaperone, never mind that I'm not immature enough to need chaperones anyway, then she calls for another two serves of blue Aurora and asks me what I'd do if I was the captain instead. I was thinking to myself why the real captain would trust me enough to ask me this. All I did was ask her about her shoes. If you want an actual, actual, honest-to-Maggie serious answer, Tim Brandon. Great bloke, always happy to have a pint, talk about football and the Army and whatever malfeasance certain corners of the Poly are getting up to. Only tried once, but I'm new to the team, so let's see."

New he may be indeed, but Hart brings with him plenty of experience in being what is effectively the best striker in any team he plays for. That is very unlikely to be the case for the national team here, but Hart offers solid and, one would hope, barely-indistinguishable backup should the absolute worst happen to the rest of the strike force. It might not be enthralling stuff, but it is solid and it is what many would expect.

[Carpathia and Ruthenia]

FCCR stand by Kovács with full-throated support after Schmitt and Fabbri walk

After a terrible performance in the inaugural Arrosia Regional Cup crashing out in the group stage without a single point to our credit real questions were being asked of Lucia Kovács' continued role of manager of the national team, and with the FCCR releasing a statement of support that did at the time feel almost half-hearted leading to speculation that there were most likely internal conversations about her continued role. If Schmitt and Fabbri thought they could tip the scales by resigning and retiring from international football unless Lucia Kovács was removed only hours before the qualifying squad for the World Cup was announced, they were right but wrong about the direction.

Facing this walk-out and wanting to shut down any further disunion the FCCR released a statment confirming their "100 percent backing of Lucia Kovács" and that "any player or staff member who quits or refusing a call up based on their continued support of Kovács would not be hired or called up for national duty at any point in the future". The FCCR pointed to Audioslavian publication "The Aesthetic" recent article revisiting The Torch which showed that Carpathia and Ruthenia have reversed a decades long trend further and further towards the negative and for this cycle have hit the threshold of 0 goal difference over all WCC competitions with trend towards positive going as fast as the decline had been. The FCCR also made itself very clear that decisions about the manager are entirely theirs to make and they will not be "dicated to by any individual members that take such action".

It was unlikely that other players would have walked out as inside sources report that Kovács is a well liked figure in the national team and the same sources report that Schmitt and Fabbri are both linked by a ego that in Schmitt's case has been of the mindset that he was looked over for the manager role and that Fabbri thought he was good enough to do what he pleased on a pitch without listening to Kovács or even his own teammates. However this full-throated response does clearly close the door on Schmitt and Fabbri in a permanent a final way.

Lucia Kovács will be grateful for the support and hopefully as a team they can come together, and the FCCR is right that the trend is in the right direction with the recent ARC perhaps being a blip, but the manager and team will need to back that up with results in qualifying that keep the trend going, as although the FCCR wasn't going to have it's hand forced, it will take the decision to remove Kovács if they believe it is the right thing to do.

As of writing the assistant manager role is vacant however the Under-21 manager Marisa Novák with be stepping in as the caretaker assistant to support Kovács while the FCCR make their decision. The bookie's favourite is Azzolino Balotelli of San Vivaldo, who has made a comment to the press that "He would be delighted to be able to help represent Carpathia and Ruthenia on the international stage and support Kovács in her good work in getting us back into contention on the world stage"

By Margita Ongaro
CBC Ruthenia

[Mytanija]

Radola Depreradovic and Predrag Arandelovic had come through the Crvena Zvezda youth system at the same time. They had grown up together, coming through the age groups, Predrag was slightly older, but the pair had almost been inseparable as they started their football careers and coaches would remark that they could be a duo that would put the club back on the map. Depreradovic played in midfield as a kid, but as he got a bit older his coaches moved him to fullback, trying to utilise some of the tactical ideas that coaches at senior teams were using by putting a technically able player at fullback to try and exploit the positions that a fullback would be allowed to pick-up. He took to it incredibly quickly and was topping the charts for assists, his ability to cross the ball perhaps unmatched at his age. Arandelovic was a striker, not overly physically imposing standing at 178 centimetres, but dogged and hard-working and never prepared to give the opposition a rest. As a child he was overweight and nicknamed puter or ‘buttery’, but he shed the weight if not the nickname as he got older, and his determination marked him out to coaches. He was also capable of moments of genius, acrobatic volleys and brave headers, which other players might not have the audacity to attempt.

The pair were expected to go on to achieve big things and everybody at Crvena Zvezda hoped that part of that journey would include them helping the club get back to the 1. Prvenstvo. Crvena Zvezda eventually ended their decade long stay in Mytanija’s second tier in the 39/40 season, legendary central defender turned head coach Damir Azanovic managed a side with several former Mytanija internationals added to the team which finished 6th the season before to romp to the league title and take the Srvena side back to the promised land. Radola Depreradovic certainly played his part in that, starting at right-back as a 17-year-old and impressing with his attacking intent. Predrag Arandelovic was kept out of the starting eleven by veteran forward Dejan Zgela, who scored 23 goals in 25 games over the course of the season. Fair enough, then.

The decision to add a number of ageing players to the squad, players on high wages with little-to-no resale value, was perhaps ill-thought out and was something which Damir Azanovic reportedly had little say in – the club’s board wanted to surround Jezdimir Ocokoljic with his old friends for the publicity it would bring and whilst it did that it also started to hit Crvena Zvezda’s finances. Staying in the 1. Prvenstvo would be vital, these ageing stars would be retiring soon and if they didn’t stay up then the club could see those players sail off into the sunset and would have to sell promising youngsters like Depreradovic and Arandelovic to secure the club’s financial future.

Azanovic made a big call to promote Arandelovic to the starting line-up ahead of Zgela, believing that it was time to pass the torch despite Zgela’s outstanding form in the second tier. Arandelovic did okay, but Crvena Zvezda struggled all season, with Azanovic cutting a rather grim figure on the touchline. It was as if he knew that trying to throw together so many ageing players with a number of inexperienced players at 1. Prvenstvo level was not a recipe for success. The team found themselves out of shape a lot, older players unable to keep up with the pace of the game and younger players out of position, and this allowed solid top division teams to cut through them at will and meant that Crvena Zvezda conceded 71 goals over the course of the campaign. Relegation beckoned and the club’s financial situation suddenly became seriously precarious.

The rumour mill began, Alen Hrdaljko and Dejan Zgela were retiring. Grigorij Savicevic and Jezdimir Ocokoljic would come back on reduced wages to try and help the club get back up to the 1. Prvenstvo, Mersudin Smajic would stay on but likely more as a rotation option. The club would be open to selling Depreradovic, Arandelovic and perhaps even the Eleanorian goalkeeper Arielle Richardson to secure their finances and avoid a points deduction which could be a death knell to their promotion chances before the season had even started. This would at least give Azanovic a fighting chance of getting a squad together which could compete for an instant return to the top-flight, even if it would be a struggle without three of their best and most promising players.

For Radola and Predrag it would be difficult, they had both come through the ranks at the club and both were local kids, supporters of Crvena Zvezda and immersed in everything the club meant to the city. They idolised Jezdimir Ocokoljic and had the chance to play alongside him, they were both living the dream. Predrag felt a sense of duty, he should help the club get back up to the top-flight. The club had seen something in him, the overweight kid who tried hard and could kick the ball well, and he wanted to repay that faith – he hadn’t played as big a part in the promotion season as his friend Radola had. But as the rumours whirled, there seemed to be an inevitability about what was coming next, even if the conversation was yet to be had.

Crvena Zvezda sporting director and Arandelovic’s namesake Predrag Zlokovic asked the young striker to come to his office one morning and when he got there Damir Azanovic and assistant coach Stevan Ninkovic – another former player – were sitting alongside him. Everybody knew what was coming next.

“Predrag, we love you, we’d love you to be able to stay, but the club urgently needs to raise money and as one of our younger talents the club can get good money on the international market for you.” Zlokovic said.

“I don’t want to leave, Predrag.” Arandelovic replied, looking towards Azanovic and Ninkovic. “Boss, Stevan. I really do not want to leave. I love this club, there’s nowhere else I want to play next season, I want to have the chance to get us back to the 1. Prvenstvo.”

“The decision has been made, son.” Azanovic said, barely able to make eye contact with the youngster. “I’m sorry. It’s the same for Radola..”

“You’ll be doing the club a great service, Predrag.” Zlokovic added. “You’re going to ensure that the club stays alive, the financial situation is really that serious. When you think as a supporter, I’m sure you can see that this is truly important and an exceptional thing to do.”

Arandelovic was left unhappy about the decision, but as the days passed, he came around to it. He understood that keeping Crvena Zvezda alive was the most important thing. He asked for reassurance that the supporters would be told that he had been asked to leave to help the club financially and received it. That made him feel a little better. He spoke to Radola and he seemed less downcast about the whole thing.

“It’s rubbish, yeah.” Radola said. “But I didn’t see myself playing my whole career here, Predrag. I support the club, but I have other goals in football and at the moment I can’t see myself achieving them with Crvena Zvezda. It would have been nice to stick around for a couple more years, to help us get established back in the 1. Prvenstvo and all that, but for me this has just kind of sped up the process I expected to happen one day anyway. It’s just happening sooner and because the club needs cash right now. At least we get to ensure the club doesn’t get liquidated.”

Predrag couldn’t understand his old friend’s point of view. For him there was nowhere else but Crvena Zvezda. If the financial situation wasn’t what it was, he would be happy to stay for his entire career. It was their club, supported by people the same as them, with the same upbringing and they were steeped in the club’s traditions. Predrag did not understand that Radola, whilst a Crvena Zvezda fan, did not buy into everything in the same way that he did. Some of the things which the clubs most ardent supporters, Ultras DRCZ do and believe made Radola’s stomach turn, whereas Predrag bought into it all fully. Whilst they had been coming up through the ranks it was easy to miss it, or turn a blind eye to it, but now when the pair were to be separated it was all going to come into the open.

What sort of thing can end a friendship with someone you had known for over a decade and had been good friends with since the age of 8?

[Huayramarca]

Matchday 1-2 RP Cutoff!

Wake me up, let the games begin!

[Tanirinthia]

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OF FATES AND FORTUNES
Chapter One - Beginnings

---

It was a stiflingly hot day in St Cirith as Clara sat with her head pressed right up against a fan that could do little more than move around the hot air in her tiny flat, in moments like this she bitterly regretted her principled stance when her parents had offered to buy her an air conditioning unit, but she rapid replaced those thoughts with the knowledge that principles aren't exactly principles if you abandoned them when it was hard. So she headed over to her freezer that was whirring over in the corner of what the estate agent had called the kitchen, in the way estate agents call things which are not nor have ever been the thing they described, and got out the ice cubes she had put in earlier and placed them in front of the fan, which now instead of pushing hot air around only pushed around fairly warm air now. Doing so made her do what she had been doing all to often of late, thinking that her brother would laugh about it and wanting to tell her brother about before her mind caught up and she remembered that she'll never be able to tell him about anything again, and although the heat roared on a unwanted cold filled her stomach.

In the evening the heat finally broke for the first time in weeks and able to think her mind kept returning to the nagging question in her mind. They told her that her brother had died saving people, apparently a whole lot of people, which sounded just like the kind of thing that idiot hero would do, that he had stopped a major nuclear accident from happening and was awarded the Star of Tanirinthia, all things that made sense. But the nagging in the back of her mind kept pulling at her, there was something more, everyone she had met seemed to repeat the same exact story to the letter in a way that seemed rehearsed, but was backed up seemingly in all readily available government sources of data, meaning there was something about her brother's death they were hiding and that she couldn't stand for.

Her thoughts were broken by a ping from across the room, an anonymous message popped up;

Anonymous> Look into the football charities
Anonymous> Follow the trail
Anonymous> Then you'll find out what really happened to your brother
DISCONNECTED

[Oberour Ar Moro]

Losing One’s Bearings

Previous Chapters of Losing One's Bearings: Chapter One, Chapter Two

CHAPTER THREE

As much a mystery as women

As it had threatened all day, the skies had opened up and rain started to pour. David kept his office in the embassy at 20 °C, and a fire was going in the fireplace, but as he looked outside he could practically feel the cold spring rain.

"Ahem." Jacques la Mareschale pointedly coughed from the other side of David's desk, wanting the ambassador to focus on his job. David turned back quickly, mumbling an apology.

"As I was saying," Jacques said, adding a comically exaggerated tone in the style of a teacher dealing with an unruly student, "tomorrow you'll be speaking to an international relations class at the Prosaic Union Institute of Technology, then you have a meeting with the provost about opening up opportunities for Oberours to conduct research at the school. And then a tour of the school. It’s a very pretty campus, very green, you’re going to love it. You've got homework for tonight," Jacques stated as held out a pair of packets, information to remember for tomorrow's events, which David took.

"A car will pick you up from the residence at 10 for the drive to the Stora Grönland borough, so long as you promise to actually do some work before you leave."

David smiled gratefully. "I promise. I will review the packets tonight, and there are some calls I can make tomorrow morning." David looked at his watch. "Speaking of-"

David had agreed to a private meeting with Nicole Pouliquen that afternoon. She had insisted it be a private meeting at the embassy, and David was convinced to oblige. He had sent her the directions that morning. She would drive to the side entrance and show her Oberour Ar Moro identification to the guard on duty, who had been told personally to let her in. She would be escorted inside and up to a side door to his office. She swore she wasn't the type of person who would keep an ambassador waiting.

In order to clear a spot in his schedule where he could be alone, David had fabricated an urgent high-enough-level call with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. On most calls with Regium it would only be wise to have your aide-de-camp on the side to assist in answering questions or relaying commands. But there were some calls at a level where it would be for the Ambassador’s ears level.

Or some private meetings your aide-de-camp didn't need to know anything about.

Jacques gave David a look that David interpreted as expressing heavy doubt, and got up. "I believe that's all for today, so I'll take my leave. I'll be in touch with you throughout tomorrow. Good night, Ambassador." He walked the length of the room and left through the main door, closing it behind him, leaving David alone in his office.

It was a sizable office. The whole Oberour Ar Moro Embassy to Gnejs in Port Kjem's Stockviken district was, in David’s opinion, a little larger than it probably needed to be. It was an old mansion, gifted by the Union to the Dominion for their work. This was standard practice, apparently, for all embassies in Port Kjem. Though David was pretty sure Oberour Ar Moro had not been as generous to Gnejs in Regium in comparison.

David could imagine in his head the gelatin silver print of the mansion's builder: an older man in profile, all furrowed brow and bushy white beard. He was probably named something like Henrik Henriksen, and he made his fortune in chalk mining. David's imaginary Henrik built his house with a view at a time when to artificially light a space you needed vast reserves of whale oil, so any large room had substantial windows to capture every drop of sunlight.

So even with modern lighting, particularly if the late afternoon sun was swallowed up by dark clouds, this cavernous office could get dark.

Actually, David wondered, what was the story about this mansion? Mansions don't appear out of nowhere, don't become the property of the state for no reason, and don't get gifted to other nations just because. He didn't have to make up a story about its provenance. It's possible Jacques or some other staff who had been in Gnejs longer would know all of this already. Still, David noted that he would ask Adventus Bergamot if he knew anything about this the next time they met up to play chess. Adventus was an uncanny font of knowledge: He either knew everything or would know the answer the next time they met.

Rain batted the windows, the fire crackled. The office was otherwise silent. David checked his watch again. It was almost time.

Then, with the barest of knocks on the door, the door swung open and Nicole marched into the room, head held high, chin tilted up, chest out. "Good afternoon, Ambassador," she said as the door closed behind her.

David rose to greet her, regarding her in the dim light. The storm had apparently caught Nicole by surprise without a coat or umbrella. She was drenched, from her dripping blonde hair, to her soaked tight blouse and equally tight skirt. In the rain her white blouse had turned transparent.

red

Far from being embarrassed by her appearance Nicole looked at David coolly, completely nonchalant, like she was daring him to not look.

He lost the dare. Twice.

"I'm sorry for the weather, Nicole," David apologized, trying to appear nonreactive despite feeling his cheeks flushing. "I'll have to make sure the guard stations have umbrellas going forward."

"I just appreciate your willingness to meet me, particularly in my current appearance," Nicole demurred, reaching up to slide her hair out of her face. Even soaked she was impossibly gorgeous. She practically steamed in the warmth of the office.

"Can I get you a towel, or something?" David offered, not entirely sure where one would find a towel in the embassy. Nicole shook off the suggestion with a wave of her hand. "That's fine. I'll just stand by the fire for a bit, if that would be fine."

David silently offered, gesturing with his hand. Nicole smiled slightly, slowly walking towards the fireplace to take a place on the heath. David watched the light of the flames dance across her body.

Something caught Nicole's interest, and she reached her hands up to the mantle. David knew what it was: a framed picture of Madeline and he in Ivaonum on their first wedding anniversary. Madeline was wrapped around him tightly, smiling brightly, looking up at him. Nicole held the picture in her hands, glancing at it, then turning her head towards David.

"Is this your wife?" she asked. She thought some, before continuing, returning her sight to the photo. "She's very pretty. I didn't see her at the reception yesterday."

"No, she wasn't there," David explained, feeling a pang in his chest. "She lives in Regium, for now. She's very busy with her work."

"Oh," Nicole said under her breath. "A good wife should be where her husband is. To help him when he's stressed."

She said that quietly, like it was the simplest thing in the world. Then: "Are you feeling stressed, ambassador?"

Gazing at the woman before him, David felt quite stressed. David was behind the desk yet it felt like Nicole was the one in charge.

Silence hung heavy in the air, before Nicole replaced the photograph. She wrapped her arms around herself as she started to speak, demonstrating some vulnerability.

"My husband has been...straying."

David was not surprised by this. He had been trying to stay out of the Cavaco business since he first heard about it, wanting to leave it in the hands of his economic advisors. That's their job, and as a former embassy economic advisor he knew how he would have wanted to deal with it. But also, everything he'd heard about Rodolphe Pouliquen made him sound completely unpleasant to deal with. Running around on his wife would just be par for the course.

She continued. "Prostitution is legal in Gnejs, though actually purchasing is illegal. That hasn't stopped Rodolphe at all."

Nicole turned to face David, still hiding behind his desk. "I hate having to admit this to you. I know you have to submit your Foreign Commerce Authorization recommendation. Moral character of the principals is one aspect considered. So just admitting this to you is putting a positive recommendation for us at risk. I want Cavaco to receive a positive recommendation." Nicole took her hands and put them together in a pleading motion. "But more importantly I want my husband to return to me. Our bed has become so empty these last months."

David swallowed hard. "I'm very sorry to hear about this Nicole. But what can I do to help you?"

Nicole slowly strode from the fireplace to his desk, putting her hands on the polished wood, bending over, pushing herself towards him. She had left the top button of her blouse unbuttoned.

lace

"Could you go to Rodolphe, not just as the ambassador but as a man, and tell him to put aside these indiscretions and focus on his business? And his wife? For the good of Oberour Ar Moro, obviously," Nicole pleaded. "And also for me?”

“I can assure you I would show my appreciation for your help."

[Vyktoria]

ALEXIS DARKE MISSING: FOUL PLAY SUSPECTED
President Alexis Darke has been missing for over a month now, as a manhunt is underway for Luna Darke and Skyalina Drako, two transgender women who are said to have been involved in a polyamorous relationship with the President. None of the three have been found, even after a raid on Mx. Darke's apartment. It is also rumoured that Skyalina Drako is the transfeminine new identity of war criminal and ex-Itavran leader Nexxus Drako. More news as we recieve it.

WORLD CUP 96: VYKTORY 5-3 CARDENAO

Vyktory 5-3 Cardenao
11' Kevin Arland III (pen)
23' Cardenao #10
37' William Salman
42' Cardenao #7
45+3' Kevin Arland III (Salman)
51' Cardenao #8
76' Kevin Arland III (North)
87' William Salman (North)
Attendance: 49,572

Vyktoria got a huge upset against 49th ranked Cardenao, pulling off a 5-3 victory against the team in front of a sell-out crowd at Stadium Vyktoria, the first ever national team game on home soil. Kevin Arland III converted a penalty in the 11th minute after Garry Goldman was fouled in the box trying to set a pass to William Salman. A Cardenao striker then scored twelve minutes later before William Salman went on a long marauding run from the half-way line to score 1on1 against the Cardenao keeper just fifteen minutes later. A Cardenao midfielder then scored a free kick in the 42nd minute before Kevin Arland III scored an incisive strike three minutes into injury time. A different Cardenao midfielder then scored another with 51 minutes on the clock, before Barry North assisted Arland III and Salman with great crosses to win the game in th 76th and 87th minutes.

WORLD CUP 96: DOUBEIA 0-0 VYKTORIA

Doubeia 0-0 Vyktoria

A boring match where Vyktoria had the run of play but couldn't make it past Doubeia's great defence, a frustrating watch for fans of either side, but a great game for the neutrals.

WORLD CUP 96: GROUP 9 REVIEW

* Group 9                           Pld    W   D   L    GF   GA   GD   Pts 
1 Amenria                             2    1   1   0     8    3   +5     4
2 Vyktoria                            2    1   1   0     5    3   +2     4
3 Independent Athletes from Quebec    2    1   1   0     3    2   +1     4
4 Pasarga                             1    1   0   0     2    0   +2     3
5 Doubeia                             1    0   1   0     0    0    0     1
6 Siovanija and Teusland              2    0   0   2     1    4   −3     0
7 Cardenao                            2    0   0   2     5   12   −7     0

Vyktoria is unusually high in the standings after beating Cardenao, who slumped to two defeats in a row. It will be interesting to see how the group develops over the coming months.

---

Project Kalliope: Stitching Time
Chapter 2 - Origin Hall

OOC: This slice of life segment features old NexxusDrakonian characters, and is part of reintegration and retconning efforts in the Itavran Sector. It can and will feature dead characters, old nations, ancient references, and zero continuity. You have been warned.

---

Origin Hall, the space station of the Old Gods. Embedded into an asteroid in the Vykar Belt in the Itavrnai system, it is said to be the holiest place in the system outside the clan of demigoddesses that ruled Itavrnai V. The station's main foyer was mostly empty, aside from a few servants, as an interdimensional rift opened.

Alexis, Sythini, Luna, and Skyalina all walked out of the rift, to the dismay of the servants, who quickly ran back to their chambers, as four old gods showing up at once was never an ideal situation for them. The main chamber's doors, ornate yet foreboding, swivelled open, revealing an unkempt man who wouldn't look out of place in a pot-fuelled commune of hippies.

"Dang, it's you four. Come to see the real god, have you?" said the man. "Actually we're looking for Galzra, not you, Jarokn." said Sythini. Jarokn frowned. "She and that Draco don't work here anymore, they moved to Itavr, the Drakonian Commonwealth. Didn't Nexxus tell you that?" he said. Skyalina began growling and frothing at the mouth. "How DARE you deadname me, you Slartibartfast looking imp! You slani-" Skyalina roared, Luna covering her mouth at the Rejistanian curse.

"Rejistanian swear words? Wow, you really are angry." Luna retorted, stifling a giggle. Sythini and Alexis looked at the two, Sythini quizzically, and Alexis somewhat lovingly. "You're one to talk, given you destroyed entire universes. You're not even that different to Draco, even as you both mature from your 'teenage wangst'. It's funny in that it's intriguing." replied Jarokn, puffing from a small rolled cigarette, the pungent smell filling the area. "You know that weed's bad for you, right?" Alexis asked Jarokn. Jarokn harrumphed, and silently walked back into his chamber, shooing the four off. "I've work to do, and you four demigods are irritiating me. Off with you." he said, closing the door gently.

"Well, back home we go I guess. Real goddess is you." said Sythini, almost laughing. The rift, still in its place, began to change color. Sythini's face drooped into a worried look, as two entities walked out of it. A black draconid, and a fair-skinned, silver-haired human in punk-styled clothing, looking straight out of a shounen anime. The draconid spoke first. "Well, well, well, if it isn't Skyalina Drako. Pleasure to see you, sister."

Skyalina felt uneasy, knowing her brother to be a cunning, dangerous reistance fighter back in the day. "It's good to see you under better circumstances this time, Draco. I trust you've been keeping out of trouble?" she replied, to which Draco smiled. "Honestly, I have been. Though it's still somewhat discombobulating to be calling you my sister rather than my brother, but I'm getting used to the idea."

Skyalina's muscles eased up, having been clenched since Alexis walked in the door of their house a few hours ago. The rift changed color again, and the silver-haired human broke their silence. "It seems we have a third destination. By my readings, Kalliope wishes to speak to us. This isn't optimal." said the human, in an androgynous voice revealing nothing about their gender. "Ah, so it is, my dear Galzra. Shall we all go speak to her AI grace?" asked Draco. Skyalina and Luna nodded, Sythini gave a thumbs up, and Alexis started looking uncomfortable. "To think, until last week I wasn't even aware of these old gods in the Itavran mythos, but here we are, I am now one of them. And I'm not so sure I can do it." she said in a sombre tone.

"We can send you back to your office, and even wipe your memories, if you want, Alexis." said Draco. Alexis stomped her foot and shook her head, before taking a deep breath. "No." she exhaled. "I'll do it. For the greater good of the Itavrans."

The six then entered the rift, and exited in Luna's apartment. The news was playing a headline about the missing President of Vyktoria. And the apartment looked like it had been ransacked. The football scores were playing on the TV for the first two games of qualifying. They'd been gone a month without even realising it. Vyktoria 5-3 Cardenao and Doubeia 0-0 Vyktoria, Arland III scoring another hat-trick.

"Ah fuck, I've gotta call Megyn and explain this stuff. You five wanna come with me to the Presidential Palace? I can offer y'all a tour as state visitors." said Alexis. The five agreed to follow Alexis to clean up this space-time mess, as the interdimensional rift closed, their memories of Kalliope's task wiped... for now.

To be continued...

[Hakushiya]

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Hakushiyan news. And then some discretion.

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SHOWBIZ ▽ | SPORTS ▽ | SOCIAL SPHERE ▽ | BY STATE ▽ | ABOUT US ▽ | CiCiCALENDAR

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Top topics at this hour: BoF83 | JWHF10 | Kiana Knight | Selkie Spring Festival | WorldVision 113 | Archonid Causeway

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WC96: introducing the HFSL’s new additions to the national team roster from BoF83 through some messages sent to the CiCiCLAN
last updated Mar 24, 2024 at 18:00 (UTC-3) | by Kris Barrett

Pictured (from left to right): Anggun Delaunay and Kanata Amuro in Taimana for the 2023 HFSL Championships' quarterfinals (credit: Tyla Fong/CiCiBL*ggS)

Last time, we revealed a whole roster of substitutes in the Hakushiyan national team for those who’ve either been suspended, gotten hospitalized, or just gone on hiatus from pro soccer for personal reasons. But did you know that there are also some newer faces on the roster this NS World Cup? We do.

As with the replacements, decided to invite those noobs to send us DMs via TalkLah, and these are the messages we got...

Pictured: Delaunay’s self-portrait that was taken at their hobby photo studio (credit: Anggun Delaunay on Globbr)

Anggun Delaunay (25yo, they/them, INTJ)
“Selamat and kia ora! It’s your resident introvert Anggun Karita Delaunay in the house, and I’m hoping to be a goalie who’ll help Hakushiya rise further up in the NS World Cup ranks from its BoF83 win. Hope to see the Polarian Terns when they come down here!”

Pictured: Gallagher in a professionally-shot portrait (credit: Tomi Gallagher on Globbr)

Tomi Gallagher (29yo, he/they, ISFP)
“La-la-la-la-la-la~ You see, I like to sing along a lot when I’m practicing soccer or even watering my plants back at my apartment. But anyhow, thanks for the warm welcomes into the Hakushiyan national soccer team’s defense!”

Pictured: Thunberg’s self-portrait that was taken at their hobby photo studio (credit: Nemo Thunberg on Globbr)

Nemo Thunberg (24yo, they/them, ESFJ)
“Annyeong and hallo! If you’ve already seen my colorful photography, then… you’ll have noticed that I’m also joining from my local ranks to stick myself in the middle and… what else? Ah yeah… may the best soccer players win!”

Pictured: Kapsis standing inside the locker room of the Astradome in his casual attire (credit: Athena Kapsis on Globbr)

Athena Kapsis (28yo, he/him, INTJ)
“Yassou! Do you want a piece of me or something? If it’s my midfielding and passion for fashion, then yeah, but if you’re looking to teach me some macho scheiße, then… hell no. But still… let’s try our best to make our way to qualification for the NS World Cup finals!”

Pictured: Amuro in casual attire (credit: Kanata Amuro on Globbr)

Kanata Amuro (23yo, they/he, ENFJ)
“Ohayou! Konnichiwa! Namaste! Bonjour! How’s the weather today? Will there be sparkles raining in Amitabh-on-Mare tonight? Well yes, but actually… we’re going to Kapuso Valley for our first match, right? Go-go-play - and maybe we could win!”

Which of these newbies for WC96 do you think will be as good as (if not better than) the others in the Hakushiyan national soccer team? Let us know in the comments!

Kris Barrett
FULL-TIME CONTRIBUTOR
23+ | demiboi | he/they | writing from Chanya, Tsaoforn, Hakushiya | sports/social sphere-focused
(Globbr handle: @cantgetbluemondayouttamyhead)

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#roundCup: Oiseaux-Féderals twice-tied with Terns back home at Kapuso Valley match, triple-slashed against Fuzpon Quzma away
last updated Mar 27, 2024 at 09:00 (UTC+3) | by Monique Dalhousie

• MD1: Hakushiyan Oiseaux-Féderals vs Polarian Terns (at home in Kapuso Valley) - a pretty decent start for both sides with a 2-2 in terms of goals, combined with zero yellow-card warnings or red-card ejections to boot. But don’t get too comfortable now, as Nylund (PIS) still had to get subbed by teammate Polland after slipping by accident and getting a knee injury…
• MD2: Fuzpon Quzma vs Hakushiyan Oiseaux-Féderals (away in Qusmo) - our birds may have been three goals down from the Qusmi’y they were against (5-2), but hey… at least there was still a good standard of teamwork that was the saving grace from all the loss-related talk, even though one of our own players (Schweitzer) still got yellow-carded once for mistakenly delaying the restart of play at the end of this match’s halftime break.
• ’True Valhallans’ in Hakushiya: time to revolve? - 27 minutes before the OF-vs-Terns match began Cielo Marcos (a full-time member of our CiCiCLAN) interviewed Thunberg and Belli (HKA) in person, and Thunberg was the first to respond to a question about “some words of encouragement on behalf of your opponents” by saying: “so beforehand I found out that human rights are being violated in the Polar Islandstates every hour, every minute, every second - why should any of us stay silent about such things even if we come from a freer federation than the Terns?” Belli then continued: “I agree - if we’re allowed to openly defy masculine stereotypes in some way in our own country then even the so-called ‘True Valhallans’ of the Islandstates should get an allowance like that as well.” (OOC note to self: TG PIS-kun about adding some additional comments from the Terns’ side and see if he agrees)
• and finally… some music to round up to: “Symphonia” by Oda - apparently this 2012 Chenkoryan song received rave reviews a while back from some people in our CiCiCLAN, so I was pretty happy to see the love anthem become viral across the NS World Cup’s participating nations after it got played loudly as a closing act of the Oiseaux-Féderals’ home match with the Terns. (OOC note to self: TG PIS-kun about specifying the starting point of this as a viral dance cover video and see if he agrees)

Monique Dalhousie
PART-TIME CONTRIBUTOR
19+ | enby | they/them | writing from Malmo Rock, Avadong, Hakushiya | sports/showbiz-focused
(Globbr handle: @momomonique_d)

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STARTING LINEUPS FOR HAKUSHIYA v POLAR ISLANDSTATES - 26/Mar/2024 @ 07:00 (UTC+7)
(NB: 1Y = one yellow card, 2Y = two yellow cards, DNF = withdrew with explicit permission, DSQ = ejected with a red card, GO = goalscorer)
——————————
HAKUSHIYA (HKA):
GKP   Mina IZUMI
DEF   Janis PARK
DEF   Mito ALAINA
DEF   Luca TALHAOUI
DEF   Winter MINOGUE
ATK   Taylor BELLI (GO)
ATK   Lily IKUTA
ATK   Keena SHUM
ATK   Kanata AMURO
MID   Nemo THUNBERG
MID   Auli'i SARKISIAN (GO)
MID   Cher SCHWEITZER
——————————
POLAR ISLANDSTATES (PIS):
GKP   Hans AIGNER
DEF   Aapo MIROSHNICHENKO
DEF   Jalmari HAGEN
DEF   Heiki UHLGREN
ATK   Einar HEIMARK (GO)
ATK   Dmitry EISENHAUER (GO)
ATK   Emmanuele NIEMI
ATK   Sebastian NYLUND (DNF) -> Elmo POLLAND
MID   Elvis HAUGEN
MID   Ragnar HOLST
MID   Oscar PALLASMAA
MID   Nic DEMENTIEVA

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STARTING LINEUPS FOR QUSMO v HAKUSHIYA - 27/Mar/2024 @ 07:00 (UTC+7)
(NB: 1Y = one yellow card, 2Y = two yellow cards, DNF = withdrew with explicit permission, DSQ = ejected with a red card, GO = goalscorer)
——————————
QUSMO (QMO):
GKP   Zev KARAR-FALAX
DEF   Ezi OTOLN-PRANT
DEF   Ash BETVA (GO)
DEF   Pul LYNUL-SEVET
DEF   Wek XELEZ-MATEZ (GO)
ATK   Fox SEVET-MATEZ (GO)
ATK   Cel YOLTZ-JONTO (GO)
ATK   Mal XILIX-OXOLT
MID   Tla WANAR-XALAN
MID   Yol PILTA-BLONZ (GO)
MID   Zev HELEK-PERTZ
——————————
HAKUSHIYA (HKA):
GKP   Lexi GASIMOV
DEF   Susu BELAFONTE
DEF   Mito ALAINA
DEF   Elio JAMAL
DEF   Tomi GALLAGHER
ATK   Elijah MARAJ (GO)
ATK   Cher SCHWEITZER (1Y)
ATK   Keena SHUM (GO)
ATK   Dannii PAPARIZOU
MID   Mans TUAN
MID   Jacqui LEIGH
MID   Athena KAPSIS

[Jeruselem]

Princess Stella Annabelle Dallas and Iris Randolf for Naked News Jeruselem at Dazza Dallas Stadium (both naked) on match day 1 of qualification.

Stella:
Hey there, this is Princess Stella Annabelle Dallas for Naked News Jeruselem! I'm with my replacement Iris Randolf here back home at Dazza Dallas Stadium for the first qualification game of World Cup 96 or World Cup XCVI. It's the first qualification game of the cup for all teams. We have 20 groups of 7 teams competing for the last 32 spots in the finals, with the two hosts Mertagne and Huayramarca already well taken their spots because ... they are the hosts.

Iris:
Today in Group 12 we have Sylestone taking their bye. Zenic at home for the first time in the cup with visitors The Union of Ventura. Jeruselem also at home with rivals Commonwealth of Baker Park visiting and Raspotochje being at home with visiting Al-Tamazgha.

Stella: The top seed Sylestone sat this one out, so nothing to report about their progress.
Iris: Kinda of ideal having the bye first game
Stella: Yes, you get 6 straight games afterwards without a break. Byes can disrupt a good run.
Iris: Raspotochje kicked off their campaign with rousing 7-2 win over the hapless Al-Tamazgha. A rude wakeup for Al-Tamazgha on their first game.
Stella: We don't know anything about the football from those countries but clearly it seems Raspotochje aren't a defensive team. Seven goals in your first game is a message to others.
Iris: Also helps with their goal difference.

Stella: Zenic had much more normal kind of victory, struggling past The Union of Ventura 2-1. The first game is always the hard one with everyone sortibng out what their place in the team.
Iris: It's still 3 points for Zenic but The Union of Ventura shouldn't be discourages as it was close game.
Stella: One shouldn't expect everything to be worked out before first game as every new campaign is not the same as the last one.
Iris: As always there's always something to learn from every effort, win lose or draw.
Stella: That brings us to the game between the 2nd and 3rd seeds, which is Jeruselem vs Commonwealth of Baker Park here today.
Iris: I guess it didn't go exactly to plan did it?

Stella: Err, yes well .. we lost 5-1 to Commonwealth of Baker Park. But We didn't expect an easy game anyway.
Iris: Obviously Baker Park deserved their win, they seemed much better prepared.
Stella: We didn't play any friendies before this game and there's only so much training can do to prepare of the first game.
Iris: Pretty much everything went wrong at home here
Stella: Obviously with a qualty opponent like Baker Park, you cannot afford mistakes. We folded under their pressure and they did their worst to us.
Iris: But we still managed to score one goals

Stella: They dominated pretty much the whole game but we had our moment with solitary goal just to prove they can't fall asleep either.
Iris: So was it a total disaster today?
Stella: On paper, the loss is what is it. But we'll learn from our mistakes because that's what everyone should do. You can't win everything, because there's always someone better than you or if you're off your game - you can lose.
Iris: Still a disappointing first game
Stella: We actually have this weird habit of losing the first game anyways, even to lower ranked teams
Iris: I guess it looked a lot worse because playing the 2nd seed first up is not ideal

Stella: We got this game out of the way, the only other one we worry about is one against Sylestone. Of course, that will also be difficult.
Iris: Hopefully we can get one back against Baker Park when we visit them, but that will more difficult
Stella: Sometimes being at home, doesn't help with expection of a win.
Iris: First game disaster but there's another 11 games left to play.

Stella: Next up on day 2, Commonwealth of Baker Park host the 7 goal wonders Raspotochje. The Union of Ventura host the Princesses and Sylestone play first game after a bye hosting Zenic. Al-Tamazgha have their bye.
Iris: The top 2 seeds at home, they'll be happy.
Stella: We play better on away games so I'm not worried
Iris: I'll see everyone when I'm in The Union of Ventura for next game.
Stella: So any news for the day here, other than us losing badly.
Iris: We had a rowdy start to the day with some clearly drunk people tried to enter the stadium.

Stella: Some people should clearly not drink alcohol, they turn into idiots or .... worse
Iris: But no one was hurt or killed, just some people got offended then ran off.
Stella: You would if annoyed guards started pointing automatic weapons at you ...
Iris: Our guards don't shoot blanks either, what's the point of guns that shoot blanks.
Stella: Exactly and don't throw fireworks at people.
Iris: Sometimes they throw them back ...

Stella: That's it from us
Iris: See you all later
Stella: There is a replay of the game today later tonight but I wouldn't bother for today. It's kinda depressing.
Iris: Yeah, unless you're from Baker Park that is.

[Delte]

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Delte 1-0 TJUN-ia
Sports Correspondent Kim Samrodd at Ildemorton Road for the Oswark Parish Advertiser

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I won't dwell overly long on the finer details of this match but certainly mention should be made of the performance of Chief Steward Acker Danough, who was in charge of crowd control inside the newly expanded Ildemorton Road stadium and guided folks to their positions with grace and charm and just a little wit, especially focusing on the appointment of a very old lady who won a standing badminton tournament to the position of head coach of the world champion Representatives, generating a lot of laughs along the way. And as the defence of the title kicked off against the TJUNs, his prediction of a narrow win with an uncertainty of stylistic approach seemed perfectly apposite. Coach Ida Spankhurst spent most of the match on her bench, shaking a stick at assistant coach and previous World Cup winning head coach Mo Unden as he tried his best to organise the team in a new 'badmintonpress' formation. It just about worked, but mainly because striker Tai Cerotha seemed largely to ignore the badmintonpress and just went with the good old tried and tested stoicpress, scoring the winning goal in the process.

At the same time, or maybe a few minutes before...

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United Hawkland 3-4 Delte
Citizen journalist and 'Green Hedge' travelling ultra Tyrell de Turqua at One Of Three Stadiums in United Hawkland for Up The Reps Football Fanzine

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I've been all over the multiverse supporting The Reps and suffice it to say the Away Team Mission always gives you something to write home about. It's just nice that the independent publishers are keen to reproduce some of my thoughts. I was mostly impressed that a bunch of rank amateurs continued to show their innate ability on the ball as Coach Romain Rivière, exiled by the Women's Institute, took charge of the Away Team Mission, played beautiful stoic pressing football, and guided a bunch of oil-rig workers to a narrow and thrilling victory. World Cup winning striker and fellow exile Hennequin Perdu got a brace including the winner, but the performance of the riggers was commendable, and it will get everyone wondering - especially in Xanneria, from what I hear - how a bunch of Sunday League amateurs can be world beaters. How is that possible? What is the in-context (IC) justification for such shenanigans? Doubtless that would be a box-office hit series for RPO^[1] and we might expect an answer around WC-100 or so.

I heard that the home team tried out a new formation and almost didn't win. But did win. Just about.

...which is nice.

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Away Team Mission
Romain Rivière's Redshirts, Reloaded

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Sports Correspondent Kim Samrodd For The Oswark Parish Advertiser

Have you noticed that the Rake Teinton Women's Institute seem to be getting more coverage and have developed more opinions lately than ever before? I'm not sure why the Veeb (VBC - Valley Broadcasting Corporation) seem so interested in what the notoriously furious old ladies of that small village (let's not forget this is the group who got deported from Graintfjall back in '94) have to say about a random collection of subjects from the latest trends in stoic political thinking to the colour of the gargoyle salmon on the collar of ediraf's latest kit design for the Delts. Maybe because Rake Teinton resident Dittie Astericks recently became Programmer General of the Veeb, perhaps? And now Widow Arrinburton has been appointed head of the Deltic FA, and Ida Spankhurst just got the job of coaching The Reps in their world title defence - no nepotism there, I'm sure. The WI seem to be everywhere these days.

Anyway.

Coach Ida's first move seems to have come straight from the Women's Institute playbook, having used the split-team policy of keeping one squad for the home team and a separate one for the away travels to relegate a number of important players into temporary exile. It has not gone unnoticed that these players are either refugee migrants from the Rushmori humanitarian crisis in the Cooper River region - Steed Tombes, Hennequin Perdu and Deni Vagabonde - or from Gangrene Mountain, in the next valley along: Pokey Fayle. Never mind that Steed and Henni both won World Cup winners medals while Deni and Pokey took The Reps to the final of the last Indies championship. Refugees and Screvenors: two of the regular targets when the Rake Teintonites debate what has gone wrong with our beautiful valley. Make of that what you will.

Meanwhile, in another interesting development, the new coach - who's only qualification, as we understand it at the Parish Advertiser, was winning the last WI Standing Badminton championship (and in controversial circumstances, too) - has deployed a bunch of drillers and riggers from the Smite Bay Drilling Company as the rest of the Away Team Mission. Talk about sending a bunch of poor redshirts out into the multiverse to sacrifice themselves for the greater narrative. The oilers do have a Sports & Social Club, but so far as we can tell they confine their activities to darts and late night street wrestling when they get shore leave in Deltemouth port.

We are unable to give a full preview of their talents because we simply don't know. As experiments go, this one will be a fascinating test of whether the rank amateurs of the valley are innately talented footballers as some suggest, or whether we got lucky with a golden generation of rank amateurs in the march to the last World Cup title. What I can tell you is there are two sets of brothers on the team - Kelbie & Larch Barrack, and Pol & Nol Ighton; while there is actually a cousin of an (almost) World Cup winner - Ike Rayler being a relative of our much-loved attacking midfielder Kal, who after helping the team to qualify for the last three world cups, actually missed out on the winning finals squad due to injury.

I'm told the one to really look out for is young Chipper Osgood, who has more about him - apparently - than the average brawler from the Smite Bay Drilling Company Sports & Social Club Selection, while if brawlers is what you prefer, veteran Shytan Sunddyn is probably your man. Hard as a diamond-tipped drill bit, they say.

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Announcement: Polka Lunn
Death Of A Newspaperwoman

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We interrupt this sporting broadcast to announce that the funeral of our dearly departed colleague and extra-talented former sports correspondent Polka Lunn, killed last week in an unfortunate motorcyle accident, will be held at the Knoll Park Memorial Forest on Thursday at 1pm, where she will be buried in a fully organic compostable canvas coffinbag under a Deltic Oak sapling. The internment will be attended by close friends and family only, but admirers of Polka's journalistic talents will be able to join us for a celebratory wake at the Prince Tyrbert Hotel in Oswark at 2.30pm, where various speakers will regale us with tales of her investigative skills and dogged tenacity when on the trail of injustice or poor team selections.

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[1] Roleplay Production Office, your hit home-streaming service

[Wight]

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Búa Rising In Myosophogos

1/6 The Constellations of Wight

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Or, why Wight, why now?

We interrupt our story about the slight return of Wight to delve into some astrogoetianology, which is a psuedo-science I invented to describe the birth signs and resultant personality characteristics of the Wightlings.

In Wight the luckiest number in the numerological lists is considered to be 23, often called ‘Búa’s number’ after the patron deity of the nation and founder of the original Wight, if you believe in that sort of thing. There are twenty-three players in a proper World Cup squad, for example; twenty three cards in the Wightling tarot upper arcana; twenty three vowels in the Wightling alphabet; twenty-three months in a Wightling year; twenty-three holy planets; twenty-three captains in the Exspiravit Goetia, which is the bestiary of devils attendant upon Búa King of Uncertain Dimensions, twenty-three dimensions and twenty-three constellations of the astrogoetian star chart. Plus a whole other bunch of twenty-threes. If you live at number 23 Suburbicon Drive, Upper Cordial, you are considered to be the luckiest person on the street and a natural community leader that everyone respects. When you reach the age of 23, you have the biggest party of your life, and become, for one year only, the perfectly-conditioned and most desirable bed partner for anyone aged 24 and above (or the more promiscuous 22s and below). In Wight, you see, they are a superstitious lot.

Little wonder they consult the astrogoetianology readings every day in the Uncertain Times or the Daily Magic Mirror, two of the many newspapers that publish spurious claims about how your day will pan out depending on when you were born. Oh, you’re a Threskion, and it’s a Tuesday? Look out for grey-bearded loons today, they have wisdom to impart, but they may hold on too tightly. Wait, what? You were born when the planet Narcosomnia was passing through Canus Major? Good news! You better do the national lottery for the next seven days - you won’t regret it. Hang on, you Mureens! It’s in your nature to be a little… showy, shall we say… but for the next three months avoid your astro-nemesis on the chart, the Dendrobeans - because you’ll just make a show of yourself.

Uh-oh! I have Búa rising in Myosophogos! Staying home in bed today, and keeping a bucket handy.
- that sort of thing. In this coming series, we’ll look at each of the signs in turn, who in the Wight squad fits where, and what that means for their chances in the World Cup. We’ll begin at the beginning with the Antilocappos, those spontaneous ninnyhammers! Coming soon.

In the next post, we will return to The Gentlemen Interregnum’s administrative adventures as they try to revive the nation of Wight in all it’s glory.

[Gnejs]

The End(a) of Times

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A blog about the decline of Union football (because of Enda Clentin)

I'll tell you what I hate about Enda Clentin.

I hate that he has such an obvious predilection for picking «international» players over honest, hardworking, virtuous, honorable (nb: find more synonyms for honest, hardworking, virtuous and honorable before posting to the blog!!!) men plying their trade with decency in Allgnejsan. But oh no, Big Enda needs Off-Rock professionals heading up his Dandelions!!! Ceder and Bardo on attack, Falkmar, Hansson and Hansen on the midfield, Bjørneboe and Benedictsen in the defense. This was an opening game against a low-ranked opponent, right? Any true and proper leader would take a game against someone like Ishadonia as an opportunity to field less experienced players; allowing those young Allgnejsan players a taste of WCQ action. Is that what Mr. Bigmouth Enda Clentin did? No, he did the opposite and went out there with the «strongest» team imaginable, and I hate him for it.

Comments:

By: Clench_is_King

You are such a sourpus! You got to support the team!! Go Enda!!!! Enda is the greatest!!

Reply by: The End(a) of Times

Yea, the greatest. NOT!

Reply by: Clench_is_King

You’re lame. You didn’t even mention they won!!!!!!!!!!!¡!!Q

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Losing One’s Bearings

Previous Chapters of Losing One's Bearings:

Chapter One

Chapter Two (including map of Port Kejm)

Chapter Three

CHAPTER FOUR

Adjournment

Adventus Bergamot stopped briefly at a corner and considered his options. Going straight north would be faster, but a detour eastward would bring him down to the water and he quickly decided he preferred that route. Jumping on the tramway north would of course have been the fastest way to get home, but he always favored walking and breathing in the fresh air when he needed to gather his thoughts and do some pondering. It’d be a stretch to call it a nice night, but at least it wasn’t raining anymore. He had most likely opted to walk either way, but there was no denying that this brief respite from the downpour was an added bonus.

He had just had a very unusual and most interesting chess rendezvous with David de Blois, and he was still trying to untangle it. It had all started mundanely enough, with the two of them meeting at the Bluefin as agreed and engaging in a battle of the board over wine and ale. Adventus had gotten white in their coinflip and had of course opted for maximum aggression in his opening, trying to gain dominance of the board’s center through calculated sacrifice and swift advances. He had tried switching it up a little by introducing his knight earlier, as opposed to his standard bishop move, but annoyingly de Blois had seen right through the entire scheme, and it wasn’t long before he had turned the tide and forced Adventus to relinquish the center and start defending himself. Adventus wasn’t fond of losing, but losing to such an accomplished chess player like David was still fun, because he felt like he learned something new every time they played. And he didn’t always lose.

He continued following the wide street he was on towards the east, routinely crossing intersections with more narrow streets running from north to south in the almost anally rigid grid structure that characterized the urban part of upper Stockviken. The old stone or brick houses loomed over him with ornate facades and large windows, and the closer he got to the water the more magnificent the surroundings grew. It wouldn’t be long before it was time to move slightly north and cross over into the Kejm borough waterfront and some of the most upscale old apartment buildings the capital could offer up on display. If he had kept moving east, he would’ve eventually ended up on the hilly terrain of the peninsula part of Stockviken called Amalienberg and its more traditional irregular street network, dotted with turn-of-the-century grand mansions and the occasional functionalist villa or apartment block. That would likely be de Blois' destination when he had finished that last glass of wine, because among the many embassies located in that area was the one belonging to Oberour Ar Moro.

Adventus smiled to himself at the thought of David’s newfound interest in the history of the old villa housing his embassy. In all of the time they had known each other (which, granted, was not that long), de Blois had never expressed much interest in such matters, but today he started expounding on this image he had conjured in his head about the house’s history and former occupants, with some fabled captain of Union industry having commissioned it as a testament to himself and his accomplishments in days of yore. He had gone on to question Adventus if he had any knowledge about the “true” history of the house, and frustratingly Adventus had to admit he did not. It was frustrating, because Adventus did in fact possess a not inconsiderable amount of knowledge concerning many old Port Kejm buildings, and had de Blois asked about the green cottage to the very north on the peninsula he could’ve told him that’s where the mistress of former Prime Minister Arne Vresswijk used to live, and that there was a saying that residents of Amalienberg always turned their backs to the window whenever old Arne came heading north on his bicycle. Or he could’ve told him about the big “White Castle” – a functionalist villa atop a hill on the eastern tip – where a scandal forever tainted the old Olsen family after several young people died in the aftermath of what looked like some misguided and drug-infused cultist ritual in the 1960’s. But of the current Oberour embassy, he knew nothing. He had made a note to himself to rectify this, however.

Adventus merged into the waterside promenade and studied the large buildings looking out over the bay of Kejm. Perhaps this Oberour woman de Blois was talking about was living somewhere around here? It’d make sense for those kinds of industrious foreigners to rent some large apartment in Kejm, or maybe they had opted for a house on the northside, he thought to himself. It had been a very uncharacteristic move from de Blois bringing up that business. Suddenly, he had leaped from discussing the history of chess and speculating about the pedigree of his current office to speaking about a strange encounter he had experienced some nights prior. An Oberour woman had approached him at some fundraising thing and asked for a private audience, which he had agreed to, and it turned out she had pleaded with de Blois to speak with her husband about his rampant infidelity and try to convince him to behave himself. While the woman’s dignity and peace of mind were of course key, it had other implications as well because both husband and wife were apparently involved in something intimately connected with de Blois’ work at the embassy. The matter required extreme delicacy, in other words, and it was clear that de Blois needed to vent his mind to someone, because he couldn’t speak to anyone at the embassy. He seemed determined to honor the woman’s request, however. While de Blois had given few details, he still asked of Adventus not to mention any of it to anyone, something which he of course agreed to.

Adventus had been tracing the coastline for some time, and eventually decided it was enough. He turned west. As he made his way deeper into the city, his phone pinged. It was a notification from the Prosaic Union Broadcasting news service. It said that the Cavaco Ball Bearing company had officially received approval to enter the Union market. Adventus shook his head. This would clearly not make de Blois' already delicate balancing act any easier. Adventus hadn’t needed any of the details David had left out to quickly surmise the whole thing had to be related to Cavaco. He did a search for “Cavaco” and “ball bearings” on his phone and soon found the names of the owners: Nicole and Rodolphe Pouliquen. He remembered their names from Petterson’s case files now. It all seemed a little too much like a perfect storm, Adventus thought to himself suspiciously, and he opened his Notes application on the phone. Right under a bullet point reading “Find out house history – Oberour embassy”, he started typing a new one: ''Nicole Pouliquen''

[The 14 Stars]

Starsian campaign, World Cup with a new generation

At last she arrived with the plane in The 14 Stars, a new coach all the way from Sylestone named Keira Walcott a coach with name and fame and hopefully a successor to the success that Landry from Eshialand had with the team.
She would be assisted by Christine Dunne, Victor Demonio, Klara Jenssen and Tom Feeney and most of them except Dunne were former National team player who knew how tough it could be in a world cup.

Walcott certainly had a culture shock here, not only because this nation was huge just huge and so big that the Federal Government was unable to fully control the entire country but also by the many people and diffrent climates.
A large city in the 14 Stars could hold more then 100 million people without problems, this also made selecting the best players very hard but this world cup most players had been selected for her by her scout and assistant.
She knew no one here and the country had been more known for its youth teams then its senior team usually, her assistant Christine welcomed her kindly and asked her about her flight and if she was impressed by the country.
This certainly was the case and after a brief introduction Christine and Keira would go back to training camp where the national team was currently preparing for the first few matches that they would play.

It was a group with some familar nations like Qasden, Brookstation and Juvencus but also other less known nations so a bit of a mix but certainly a group they could do good at and hopefully have a shot at reaching the main tournament.
currently the goal was reaching the main tournament within 20 years, this would mean in 2058 they wanted to atleast have reached the tournament proper once and with current new talent this seemed a sensible analysis.
Keira Walcott did not speak any Starsian which was a mix of English, Scandinavian and some German but her staff after meeting her team was able to translate her ideas to eachother very quickly and understand her vision.

Despite only being a scout Troy Rockwell was assigned to be her personal assistant, someone she could turn to with more personal matters and questions that she maybe wanted to keep in a more private setting.
After a lunch break in the afternoon they went to the training fields to meet the team, the Starsians kept a quite large team but at the same time assured that every spot would be covered and nothing would force them to creative measures, the reserves being less strong but still very good players each on their own who could easily replace the starters and bring the same to the team.
A training aswell as a introduction was done and the team was generally very positive about the new coach seeing professionalism and someone who knows the game well which they lacked with old coach Gabin who was just too young to be coach.

Match 1

The first match was a home-game against the nation of Qasden a nation they faced once in the past and they knew they could play a very good game if they so desired so the best eleven were lined-up.
No adjustments to the provisional line-up were made as they did a simple warming up and millions of fans cheered them on as they did so only thousands of Qasden being here those who could afford to travel and pay to be here.
After kick off it was immediately an interesting game seeing two teams go equally against eachother with no one being the better one in the first half were chances for both Qasden and the Starsian Wolves were common and both goalkeepers excelled.
Starsian goalkeeper Davis was inexperienced but kept out every single shot with great reflexes being one of very few Starsians that played in another nation in Xanneria for the time being.
Various chances for Blade and Schulz were also stopped by the goalkeeper and defense of Qasden showing themselves to have very much improved from the last time and despite the 0 - 0 score at halftime being boring the match itself was very tense but relatively clean.
Only one yellow was given to Karazhan after he was too late with a sliding tackle and tapped the ankle of his opponent aswell.

During halftime various changes were made but no major changes, only Ozan Karazhan was subbed out because of his yellow card and in his place Lina Hansen an 21 year old midfielder would be given her debut match.
She had been showing her skill in the domestic league lately earning her spot as reserve on the team in favor of various veterans would also still been hoping for a call such as Bertha Bernard who was not selected despite being champion last season.

In the second half it was Qasden that quickly opened the score with an excellent header from a corner kick, Williams was unable to stop them from heading and despite Davis being in the right corner she was too late.
This also called the signal for further substitions to be made during the match, the world cup is also used for alot of development of newer players if the situation calls for it to be like that.
Christian Fourseasons was brought in favor of Kai Schulz and Layla Raharinaivo was replaced by Rania Al-Abdullah a rookie aswell making her debut in a match that asked more offensive skill which luckily Hansen was also able to.
With a very agressive and offensive formation it was Phillips who managed to score the equalizing goal in the match after a great assist from Fourseasons who was covered by 2 defenders and was unable to shoot.

A draw was the best they could make out of it and Walcott was not unhappy but also saw the team was not a full unity yet the veterans and youth did not connect as much as they should within the team.
There was a sort of rivalry going on and this was partly caused by the association who forced alot of veterans to quit early.

Match 2

Their second match was against a nation called SeaDome an unranked nation they know nothing about, the usual line-up was used and after kick-off it was pretty clear the Starsians would dominate the entire game.
the Seadomeans did not get any chance to touch the ball but many chances were going over, on the post, the crossbar, saved, blocked but nothing going through really frustrating when it is way too obvious that you are the better team.
In the first half the Starsians halfway through started just conserving their energy by playing short quick passes instead of running long distances or making really complicated moves.
They realized a goal here had to come from a corner or a free kick if anything it was certainly not gonna happen easily.

In the second half Joyce Villegas was brought in favor of Phillips due to Villegas being better with corners and free kicks and Kai Schulz was subbed out in favor of rookie Chloé Simon a young player making her debut.
Schulz was very upset about this but it seemed the right option as Fourseasons was more a striker to bring in the last minutes and no one had seen this young girl in a match yet so the element of surprise could help.
This element of surprise in fact did as later in the game a free kick was being taken for the Starsians with Blade and Villegas behind the ball in the end Villegas taking it reaching Simon who took a direct shot at the goal surprising the goalie and scoring her first goal ever for the national team in her debut match making the crowd go wild.
with one goal ahead lastly Williams was subbed off and Freja Olsen was chosen to play also making her debut after a good season in Auprussia made her seen by the scouts and the national teams assistant coach.
the Starsian wolves played out the match carefully and won with the one goal diffrence placing them in 2nd spot at the moment after two matches being played in these world cup qualifiers, yet the best teams had yet to come, if they could pull an upset there they could very well be on their way to a possible great start.