Reborn from the ashes; the start of a new age.
- Oh, for the love of God; not those cray Felixian nationalists again!
Expect fireworks aplenty, and no, I don't mean the kind you get to see during fancy firework festivals in summer either.
- Felix and Mizuyuki, you say - Felix and Mizuyuki ... no, can't say the names ring a bell. Who are you, again?
Felix, one half of this Baptism of Fire bid, is a nation who's been hanging around NS for some time now. The user behind Felix originally joined NS in 2011, but took a hiatus until 2012 which coincided with the founding of the nation Gaveo on June 2nd. With Gaveo, he entered the NS Sports multiverse as he signed up for the BoF and the World Cup where, admittedly, he was quite the noob, posting, in his opinion, short and terrible RPs. On April 9th 2013, the user decided to create Felix as a fresh new start for him in NS Sports. He participated the BoF and WC and got a 2nd place finish in the BoF losing to Aels in a penalty shootout. Despite that difficult and bitter defeat, the user behind Felix moved on and went on to get third in two qualification groups World Cups 65 and 67. In WC 68 he qualified for the World Cup finals where he finished in the round of 16 losing to the 2nd place finisher and IC arch-rival, Free Republics.
Hosting wise, Felix has been hosting tournaments since Gaveo. Here, let's have a look at his resume...
- Copa Gaveo 1-3 and 5-6 (as Gaveo)
- Esquarium Cup I (as Gaveo)
- U-15 WC 6 (as Felix)
- 5 seasons of Felixian club football
- 1 season of Vanersholmare club football
- Campionato Esportiva 10 (as Felix)
Mizuyuki, on the other hand, makes up the remaining 50 percent of the combo. I've been around the NSSports subforum for a year now, give or take a couple of months. Having joined NS on 25 March (or so the forum tells me), I first experienced NS Sports through the 2nd Star Triathlon Worldwide Tournament - which was to become my stepping stone of sorts towards bigger and better things. Since first dipping my toes in NS Sports with that tournament, I've been an active participant in several sporting events here, most notably WCs 66, 67 and 68, as well as CoH 60. More recently, I've co-hosted CoH 60 together with Kinitaria as Kazamatsuri, and I'm looking to add to my hosting CV with this BoF.
- What about IC info?
Soon after the 10th Campionato Esportiva ended the new Nationalist government of Felix wanted to host a tournament to showcase the new Felix to greater multiverse, hence the reason why Felix is teaming up with The Celestial Empire of Mizuyuki to host the Baptism of Fire. The Nationalists plan to make this a big event and is made to make every nation in the multiverse, especially their eternal rivals the Federation of Free Republics, envious of Felix's inexorably rising star.
The Nationalist Republic of Felix has a population of 72 million, with the majority located in the major cities of Volker, Santa Maria, Altomare and Lyon. Due to the recent coup the Felixian state is in a state of emergency although it is widely predicted, by both journalists and government officials, that the state of emergency will end by the time voting for the BoF begins. Anyway, Felix is a nation caught in the whirlpool of nationalistic fervour. But don't let that discourage you from taking trips to this nation! As mentioned in the brief infodump written by the user behind Felix for the recently-concluded CE10, the country of Felix still maintains a healthy mentality of tolerance which helps to offset the bitter tang of nationalism somewhat. It should be noted that this only applies if you are not a citizen of the FFR nor enemies of the new government, so watch your step if you belong to either of these categories!
Culturally, Felix is a diverse country as it can be divided into 5 discrete language zones. There is an English zone, a French zone (technically two French zones), a Spanish zone, a Italian zone, a German zone and a lastly a Swedish zone. It is for that reason that Felix has 5 national languages. But Felix's language complexities don't end there, since there are scattered pockets of minority language speakers living in each zone. A pertinent example - a smattering of Catalan speakers can be found in the Spanish zone. In the same vein, one can expect to find Polish speaking nationals in the German zone.
Football wise, Felix has been rather successful, achieving a very commendable 2nd place finish in its BoF and qualifying for the World Cup Finals once in World Cup 68. Their U-15 team has lifted the U-15 World Cup on one occasion and the Felixian U21s were semifinalists in the Di Bradini Cup, losing to the Chicks of Polar Islandstates. In the Campionato Esportiva, the Felixian team has struggled badly, failing to compete with Esportiva's best - but apart from their unfortunate failings in the CE, it is safe to say that Felix has been a rising power in multiversal football.
Felix has plenty of candidate stadiums that can host a tournament as big as the Baptism of Fire. Stadiums that were used in the 10th Campionato Esportiva (Lyon, Altomare, Santa Maria, and Volker) are in the shortlist. So are stadiums in Dusseldorf, Oxford, Napoli and Santander. Each stadium has a 40,000+ capacity with Oxford being the smallest with a 48,000 capacity limit and Altomare, capable of housing 95,000 fans. Either way, stadiums in Felix are prepared to host and the cities are capable of providing suitable accommodation for travelling fans.
Meanwhile, the Celestial Empire of Mizuyuki is about as far removed from Felix a nation as you can get. Situated in the region of Aurora, this self-professed technocratic nation has prided itself at being at the forefront of scientific progress for many a year. However, in recent years its sporting achievements have been nothing to sniff at, either; two successive qualifications in WC66 and 67 tell its own story, while only two last-gasp goals prevented them from making it three in a row at the last World Cup. In absolute terms, however, success has been difficult to come by; the only footballing honours that Mizuyuki have bagged are the now-defunct Market Cup and the regional Auroran Cup.
The Celestial Empire is in effect an amalgamation of twenty prefectures into a single unitary state, known formally as the Celestial Empire of Mizuyuki or the Technocratic Union of Mizuyuki. The Divine Empress of Mizuyuki, Shirakawa-no-Kirino, is the de jure ruler of the country, while in practice, a select group of ten individuals - collectively known as the Executive Committee - are the leaders of Mizuyuki.
Unfortunately, due to the inexorable progress of time, there is no historical record available for the foundation of the Celestial Empire. Historians claim that there is not sufficient empirical evidence to trace the links and connections back in time, but according to uncorroborated apocryphal evidence passed down via oral tradition, the lineage of the ruling House of Shirakawa can be traced to the ultimate deity of Kiseki-no-michi; Kirigiri-no-Mikoto-no-oomikami.
Mizuyuki is a nation of approximately 72 million people - which, by some coincidence - is the same as Felix's population. The population is about as homogenous as a pancake - more than ninety-five percent of the population are Mizuyuki-jin, with a smattering of other minorities floating around the place. It is a technologically advanced, semi-isolationist country that mostly keeps to itself, though it has been known to intervene in international affairs with the intention of preserving the status quo.
Stretching over 225,000 km2 in total land area, Mizuyuki is among the smaller nations in Aurora - however, it ranks among the most densely populated nations in the region, with an average population density of almost 325 people per square kilometre. Mizuyuki has practised a form of government that is similar to an absolute monarchy ever since the promulgation of the Asuka Constitution in 2014. However, it does still retain some semblance of democratic government, with members of both Houses in its unitary bicameral parliamentary system elected by universal suffrage.
- How will you be scorinating this tournament? We can't vote for you if you're using dice!
We considered the usage of a 30d for scorination purposes, but decided it was too ... random, as it were. Alternative plans to co-opt an old roulette table from the municipal dump for scorination fell through, too - so we're having to make do with one of the industry standards, xkoranate 0.3.3, with the SQIS formula. The full range of style mods will be allowed, so participants can emulate the Farves blasting their opponents out of the water with glorious abandon, or the Taeshani shutting up shop at the first sniff of the ball within sixty yards of their goal. Yes sirree; the full WCC experience!
As for cutoff times, Felix's cutoff times will vary from 1900 to 2200 hours EDT, while Mizuyuki's cutoff times will come in a window of 0800 to 0930 hours GMT. Should any unavoidable RL issues which make it impossible for a co-host to scorinate crop up during the tournament, at least twenty-four hours' notice will be given. Should this not be possible, alternative arrangements will be made.
- And tournament format?
Right, the interns (not those infamously incompetent interns from Dancougar, I'm afraid) at Joint HQ have worked out a list of possible formats based on the number of signups thus far, and from the looks of it we're gonna be gunning for a 4 groups of 4 tourney. This way we'll be done with the BoF in record time! Just like old times, eh?
In all seriousness, though - it's difficult to determine our format until we're in the latter stages of the signup phase. Ideally, we'd shoot for a standard 32-team, 8-groups-of-4 BoF with a single round robin, with the top 2 teams advancing to the Ro16. We're aware of the need for contingency plans should signup numbers cause such a format to be unworkable, and as such we're perfectly willing to amend the proposed format should the need arise. 8 groups of 5, 8 groups of 6 are all possible formats, for instance. We won't shy away from considering rather unconventional formats should we deem it necessary, either. As always, the priority is to maximise inclusivity and participation - as such, groups will be of a size that is conducive to sustained, quality RPing. What we're aiming for are group sizes that will lessen the role RAND plays in the equation to some extent.
Of course, if selected to host the BoF, we will be working in tandem with the WC hosts to determine a good point to cut off or freeze BoF signups. As far as numbers are concerned, however, we will always be looking to include rather than exclude.
The tiebreakers we propose to utilise are, in order -
- Points
- H2H results
- H2H GD
- RP bonus
- Tiebreak match
- How 'bout good ol' RP bonus?
We will be awarding RP bonus based on a subjective rubric of quality, which, of course, takes precedence over quantity. I'm sure most of you won't need the explanation, but writing a novel-length RP will not earn much bonus if it's not any good to read. Conversely, two paragraphs of distilled quality could net a full bonus. Two sentences won't cut it, though - that much goes without saying. In short, we'll be taking both quality and quantity into account when awarding bonus, but quality has more weightage, as it were, over quantity. Originality and initiative will also be rewarded, as will interaction and astute information usage in RPs. Don't expect to get a RP bonus if your opponent's posted a roster and you don't make use of it in your match report RP!
As is the norm for the BoF, RP bonus awarded will be generous in proportion, and cumulative, non-degrading in nature. A posted roster will be awarded up to one MD's worth of bonus. We will not be disclosing our grading scale at this point in time, but rest assured; we're not gonna be stingy with the new lads, we don't want to scare them away before they've even experienced their first WC!
- How are the hosts going to facilitate RPing in the BoF?
*puts on serious 'prospective host' hat*
We all know that the Baptism of Fire is one of the most important cogs in the WCC machine; without it, we'd never have as many new players coming into the game as we have. To us, it is imperative that the hosts of the BoF are truly committed to integrating first-time participants into the greater realm of NS Sports roleplay.
Therefore, we are proposing to run two fully-fledged roleplay lines that will involve both co-hosting nations in order for the bedding in to occur as seamlessly as possible. The users behind Felix and Mizuyuki will be committing to roleplaying along with the BoF participants, be they puppets of established nations or new players, in an attempt to encourage active RPing and interaction between the co-hosts and the participants.
Felix
Felix's Roleplay Line will center around Lazzaro Passerini's Nationalist Party coup of the democratically elected government led by president Tamara Van Der Ven, which left 91 dead and the nation reeling in the aftermath. Political turmoil abounds in the country due to the illegitimate overthrow of Van Der Ven. Despite the Nationalist Party having their own pockets of support within the nation, there is still a chance that a popular uprising will be able to unseat Passerini, reverse the effects of the coup and restore a democratic government to power. The balance of power is literally in the balance. Participants will be invited to get a taste of diplomatic RP by interacting with the user behind Felix during the course of the tournament via diplomatic channels, be it through private communiques, encrypted communications, or strongly-worded open letters.Mizuyuki
For the more athletically inclined, Mizuyuki's Roleplay Line revolves around the creation of a revolutionary virtual reality/simulated world by the multiverse-renowned expert in neural-digital interfaces, Dr Mihara Hitoha. This groundbreaking system is set to be launched into beta stage by the Mizuyukian government soon. It just so happens that the Mizuyuki FA runs a biannual training camp for international football players ranging from 12-38 years in age, and every BoF team is invited to participate in the beta program by signing up for this training camp, where this technology will be utilised for every aspect of coaching and physical conditioning. Of course, something is bound to go wrong somewhere ...
For these RP lines, especially Mizuyuki's, we will be taking player opinion and feedback into account whenever we progress the storyline. Don't want to see your diplomatic courier writhing on the floor as he's tortured? Drop us a line. Afraid that a trip into the virtual world will leave your player mentally disturbed for the rest of his career? Poke us and we'll make sure he doesn't suffer any long-lasting effects. Similarly, should a participant have any roleplaying requests - 'I need a Felixian government official to piss my character off!' - or - 'I want my character's death to be unforgettable, force-feed him some quick-acting poison!' - give us a shout and we'll do our best to accommodate your requests.
In addition, we will be posting several one-off 'Roleplay Opportunities' during the course of the tournament, which is designed to provide participants with that little spark they need to pump out their RPs. These will serve as prompts, and will provide no extra RP bonus other than what the RPs would score on its own merit. There will be no obligation on the part of RPers to make use of these. IC information regarding the two co-hosting nations will also be provided by the truckload, so there's no worry of having to rely on your imagination to supply the details!
The two co-hosts will also be inviting RPers to submit players from their team to a BoF XI. Submissions can be made by writing a single (or multiple, really) RPs revolving around the intended player, and including a short, unobtrusive note noting that the player in question is a submission for the BoF XI. In the interval between the third place match and the final, successful submissions will form the BoF XI for BoF 56, and will play two charity matches against the Felixian and Mizuyukian national teams. Managerial submissions will also be welcome. Players making the BoF XI will also stand a chance of being offered a contract by a top Felixian club and have the opportunity to play in a prestigious and RPed domestic league.
Note that the above are not meant to constrict roleplaying for the new players; they can choose not to pay all of this any heed and still be awarded RP bonus commensurate with what their RPs deserve. Participation in the RP lines and making use of RP opportunities we have set up will be encouraged, but participants are not obligated to do so, and there will be no impact on RP bonus either way.
Last but not least, our TG boxes will be open throughout the BoF, and we will be welcoming any and all questions, either through TG or on IRC.
The floor is now open for questions from the community.
Thanks to NSI for the logo!