World Cup 78 - Roleplay Thread

[Red Blackiland]

Red Blackiland Sports and Off-topic Chronicles

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The Squad Builder Lion

Fans in Kaido after RB's fourth goal

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Author : Mathias Gërdorffen

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Once upon a time there was a lion, king of the jungle, who wanted to organize a football team. So he went looking for players.
He invited the giraffe because, with such a long neck, he would play very well with his head. He invited a huge bear because he would be a good goalkeeper. He invited a gazelle and a leopard, who run a lot, to forwards that score a lot of goals. He invited monkeys and a tiger to occupy the center of the field.
He also invited an elephant and a rhino for a defense. He was able to form a team of players.
But the first training was a disaster. Everyone attacked each other, such was the difference between them.
It seems that if they wanted to eat.
So the lion, before teaching to play football, taught them to respect each other,
Different, and living in peace. It has not been easy to over come I understand what it is to live in unity.
Only after that did we start playing football. And it is said that they formed a very united team, giving each one the best of its qualities.
"With such different animals it was possible to form a united team. Each of us are also different and equally invited to live in fraternal union, all formed a community of brother friends. This is the ideal.''
Said the lion.

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Strange Messages from Drunk Fans

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Swapping punches is my passion
When I change punches I move freely
I dance on the exchange of punches, I go left and then right, into 'zig-zag' moves
I leave the opponent so nervous that sometimes he does not even come to the punching exchange
I change punches and he lies lazing waiting for some carpets
I look sideways and continue to move in zig-zag
He despairs and asks for mercy.
And I go out moving in zig-zag snorting and happy for the job well done
The people on the street look at me and say yes, it's a puncher
Hook-up girls is so overrated that I even cry thinking about people who live to do that.
Nothing beats the feeling of going out to fight,
to change punches and see the bleeding fist from third parties blood
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Actually yes, but honestly no. Of course I do not agree or disagree, quite the contrary, and I say more, because I totally agree with those who disagree that in my opinion it is on the wall. But in fact this person is much more wrong than I am, for she is disagreeing with something that I was not really agreeing with or disagreeing with. But the fact is that this person who has the discrepancy to disagree with something that I do not even want to think about agreeing, has a tremendous incongruity of disagreement with my person who does not like to promote discord among the people present, who like to To disagree with all that is concordable, but with a certain doubt of agreement, they are divided into 2 groups: those who do not agree and those who do not disagree, and those who have the contradictory opinion, the latter group realizes that it is not Included in the 2 groups of opinions, soon the discord among all increases. But this does not make us lose hope, because all this is a union of opinions, that make the groups come to an agreement, that neither is right, promoting hypocrisy and contradiction, which is neither good nor bad , quite the opposite.
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Pure drugs...
Leave us in a boredom
Selling Body Clothes
And the window of the building
But later...
Sad, alone in a corner
Remember that spilled itself up
The dawn in a little cup
Here comes the despair
I'm with bigger hair
I sold the refrigerator, the TV and the stove.
Here comes the despair
Pay close attention
I sold the whole fucking thing.
I am a fucking shrew

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Drawkons Wise Warriors: The next game of Das SpielHaus

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Learn about the dragons in the land of Drawkland

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Mainstory Quest #4 - Through The Past of The Times [Part 1]

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If you side or choose to approach with the templars, you'll receive this mission, they have left Brand Ashkal'ech and refuse to negotiate with anyone, then acquire enough skill level and work with the counselors to make contact with the templars. Leilara and Anna von Herank have been working tirelessly to convince, coerce, and win over some of Tunidrian most influential houses and twelve noble families will help the Insection pressure the templars into sealing the crack, traveling to Hensech, a fortress in Drawkland which formerly served as a training facility for the Gesechen, a Mecha'dah order that answers directly to the Celestial Ngallah in Brand Ashkal'ech's city and demanding the Lord Tsaga'lah deal with them or face the wrath of Tunidria. The Insection has promised the Henig Krasenei'ch as its voice in these negotiations.
After reaching at the fortress , a cutscene will begin and Lord Eeghan Fágáin, an influential member of the Tunidrian nobility who allies with the Insection, and introduces himself to Henig Krasenei'ch. Fágáin will say that nine Tunidrian houses walk with you, you can mark the moment celebrating the pairing, an overblown speech or leaving it for the Lord Eeghan. After the scene, another Insection text entry will unlock. Turn around and head down the hill to loot some gold. Meet the nobles and templars to listen to their conversation and jokes. Speak with Templar Order Knight Seán Angluinn when ready, feel free to choose any dialogue options, Seán will lead the Henig Krasenei'ch to some banners. Lord Eeghan Fágáin has requested that they perform a ritual that all templars are required to do, if you perform the ritual allows approval changes from group members and the yard can also be looted but Lord Fágáin will die in the following cutscene. Or, you can go directly to the Lord Fágáin, which means no ritual, corresponding approval changes or loot, but Fágáin survives.
Then, use the engine system to raise the flags, with group approval going on, only the flag raised to the top really matters, group members will share their concerns at what they approve or disapprove about the flags. Just as a matter of information, Longáin is the prophet whose teachings later served as the foundation for the formation of the Drawkian Mecha'dah. Longáin's flag raised first, Cvallach approves and Seratas disapproves. The People's flag raised at the top, Menech'lech, Manuela approves and Anna disapproves. The Templar flag above the other ones means the approval of Bondi and Anna, the disapproval of Manuela. After choosing, Seán Angluinn will request to you explain your choice. You can say that the decision was based on political reasons, it means the approval of Dark Wrath and Anna but the disapproval of Bondi and Manuela, or that was based randomly, meaning the approval of Bondi and Seratas with Seratas disapproving, or saying that faith was your reason, both Seratas and Manuela disapproves or just that you have your own reasons, with Bondi and Seratas approving. Take advantage of the moment to search for items in the yard, as this area won't be accessible after moving on.

Drawkons - Meet Lord Fágáin

A cutscene triggers and how it will start different depends on whether the ritual was skipped or not, you'll meet Lord Fágáin. If the Henig Krasenei'ch performed the ritual, and Seán will chuckle and asks if this is the great alliance that Insection offers, you can ask for the Lord Fágáin, asks Seán what's wrong or say to Fágáin step back. If the ritual was skipped, Seán will speak about the Henig Krasenei'ch and that the players is the reason on why everything must be moved ahead, you can say that you're in there to help, or in the same case cited above, ask Seán what's wrong or about the Lord Fágáin. Doesn't mattering the way, after the end of the dialogue, corrupted gold templars will attack including the Warrior-Captain Ionnghaile and Seán will be fighting alongside the group, and if Fágáin lives, he will cower in a corner of the room, once the fight is over, Seán will confirm that Ionnghaile is not dead, and the Henig says he will be judged later, the group will be fighting a mix of gold corrupted templars, archers, and special-warriors as they move through the castle to reach Fágáin.

Drawkons - Fight the corrupted templar-warriors

Right after, a good amount of warriors will be just outside the door, to the left are two rooms to search for items with one of them being locked. The group will exit onto the yard, climb up some ramps, and several enemies will need to be killed, after defeating them all, a nearby door to a mess hall will open and a couple of friendly templar warriors will be fighting enemies, continue up the large stairs to encounter another battle with same number of enemies. Soon after, find the locked door nearby that leads to the captain Ionnghaile's room, enter in it to trigger some dialogue with Seán and speak to him to learn more, you can have a good large area to search for items, Seán advises to make good use of it, contains some random materials but also a shield build who gives you more armor and defense levels. After it's done, climb up the stairs of the front and through the door, Lord Fágáin will call out to the Henig, search the area for items, when ready, walk to the top of the stairs to trigger another cutscene and Lord Fágáin grabs the Henig, pulling them through the door.
Go forward for another scene, you'll be revealed that this Lord Fágáin is a imposter, an Angry Vallash Demon, assumed his form allowing the meeting with the Insection in the hope of "knowing" the Henig and assuming their form. Continue and Henig will enter a conversation and have to make a dialogue choice which have no practical effect on the quest, the point is to show that, no matter how the Henig answers, the Angry Vallash Demon learns a little bit more about them. Go even more forward into the room, some animal-statues will turn animated, there are five of them, the upper three do rotations, just use the corners to navigate through the spells they spit. Reach at the final stage of the statues, another voice will start to speak, which will annoy the demon, if you turn to the right there's a room blocked by a barricade, it's magical for elf-mages, filled with iron for warriors and locked wood-wall for archers, once you get inside an inscription can be exmained to start another side-quest mission, after that, leave this room and walk to the contrary way, it'll shut down automatically, open the next door to start another cutscene with the rogue-archer Catháin, he explains where the Henig is, how he can escape and what's exactly happening. Follow the rogue-archer and Henig will walk into a new time or era.
Henig shows up in a room of jail cells, check out the opened dark prison cell to the left before going forward, the space can shows some clues of what the Angry Vallash Demon are hoping to achieve as the figure of Henig, the rogue-archer Catháin is in one of the last cells at the bottom of the room, speak with him and a Hansikk brazier will appear but disappears right after. Hansikk is a kind of magical fire that is used for dungeon exploration and finding secrets. Just grab the torch to give the place some light, and return to the opened dark cell from before, pick up a jail key, check for four braziers in jails with prisoners, another final one will shows up at the bottom end of the room, wall will move towards its back, stopping at another jail cell, go right to the left and open the door which can be opened with the prison key, and give the brazier some light, get back out of the current room and light the brazier in the wall, with it the wall will completely move towards the back, then a cavern shows up containing another inscription in this quest, finally leave the prison by pass through Anna's cell. Now, you need to escape into the forest.
Soon after the meeting, as the Henig gets forward, the spaces will become more and more familiar, there'll be an amount of Shenikkans around the Henig who will stop following him until some point. Then, the Angry Vallash Demon will try to instigate the Henig attacking the Imperial Warriors, but they aren't really a challenge, however they won't stop to spawn, then Catháin will say that Henig doesn't need to attack anyone, it's a fact because all Henig shall do in this moment is to reach in the point when the Angry Vallash Demon has put him into this nightmare, note that spires will pop out of the ground at random, similar to when attempting to close a rift, they are the most dangerous enemy, if Henig spawns weapons, just disengage. After the quest checkpoint is finally reached, a new scene starts. In the next article, we'll continue to explain the gameplay behind this quest. So long!

[Damukuni]

DSN.com
Official Broadcaster of the 78th World Cup Qualifiers

World Cup Qualifying home opener against Abisa an instant classic
Football Legends seal win in stoppage
Staff Report

 4 - 3 
J.A. JONES 12'         67' PLAYER     
     SENDŌ 34'         69', 72' PLAYER
     VAYNE 84'                       '
DIETRICH 90+2'                       '

A three-goal explosion proved not enough for the Abisan Empire as they tried to match wits with the Damukuni national football team at the Shinzoba-zayu on Monday.

Team captain Jannie-Aurelia Jones and centre-mid Semia Sendō scored two early goals for the Football Legends, leaving the score at 2-0 at the half. A sudden three-goal explosion by Abisa looked to bump Damukuni down into the qualifying dumps early after the draw against the Federation of Free Republics, but Margaret Vayne's laser-shot from the 18-yard line at the 84th minute equalised the score. Centre-mid Joanna Dietrich, who captained the team during their last Campionato Esportiva appearance, put the ball into the goal with about thirty seconds to go in stoppage to seal the three points.

"It was an instant classic," Jones said during the post-game interview with DSN correspondent Mathew Toriyami. "They scored big, we scored big. We can't wait for the rematch on Abisa's home turf. We'll fight every centimetre of our ground over there on the second leg."

Damukuni (1-1-0, 4 pts., 5th-Group 5) will play Chailanka (0-0-3, 0 pts, Last-Group 5) tomorrow at the Chailanka National Stadium in Chailanka. The next home game at the Shinzoba-zayu will be Wednesday against West Angola (currently 2-0-1, 4th-Group 5).

[Eura]

Careers come and go in football, but some leave a mark greater than others. Several Euran greats had retired in recent times, and some more were on the verge. Craig Gilbert had already announced he would retire at the end of this Copa, while John Spartan and Craig Sinclair knew that they were in their twilight years of playing professionally. Spartan was now an impact substitute and even Sinclair was clinging on to his starting spot, with Bastion’s crossing king Peter Morrison breathing down his neck. Tonight they were facing Valladares in the final of Copa Rushmori XXVII, potentially the last final some of these men would ever play. It had only been a few months ago during Eura’s ill-fated World Cup 77 campaign that Eura had rolled over Valladares in what had quickly gone down as one of Eura’s best ever performances, a scintillating dismantling of one of their firmest rivals in their prime. Sutton had finished with a driven left foot, Sinclair with a well-placed right, then Lofty Jones with a towering header – a perfect hat trick of well worked, beautiful goals. To cap it off, Josh Holmes had come off the bench to run home a superb late counter attacking goal, chipping Spartangrad’s goalkeeper from all of twenty yards.

The Copa final was proving more of a challenge to a Eura side that failed to take advantage of their previous triumph, going out narrowly to the Unified Sunrise Islands in extra time at the round of sixteen stage. There was to be no 4-0 beating this time, not if we’re going to have anything to do with it. By most measures of performance Valladares deserved to be comfortably ahead. They had pushed Eura to their limit, creating many chances, kept out only by the steely determination of Gilbert on his last hurrah and some heroic goalkeeping by Douglas. Valladares were in the mood for revenge. This was especially the case for their Eura based players, primarily Frank Rozenthal and Pedrinho who were causing havoc in Eura’s back line. They even brought Bastion wonderkid Adrian Bassa off the bench at half time when it became clear that Abel Brücke was struggling against Sterling Rose. Despite the persistence of their opponents Eura had unusually held on well without the ball, though their effectiveness on the counter had declined as Sutton and Sinclair tired in the second half. Exhaustion had become such an issue that even the endlessly energetic Kris Campbell was conserving his remaining energy for one last sprint at goal if the time came.

Substitutes were in order for both sides to break the deadlock late on. Valladares threw on Wilfried Baume for Carlos Alberto Sáez while keeping their third sub in reserve for exta time. Eura took a different tack, substituting the legendary but spent Craig Sinclair for Peter Morrison, pushing Oscar Coltrane out to the left, and bringing Lofty Jones on for Joel Sutton. Eura were now almost playing 4-4-2, with Bastion team-mates Morrison and Jones linking up to give Valladares major problems in the air and from set pieces, while Campbell and Coltrane lay in wait. Bassa though knew this tactic well from his club football, and helped his national teammates organise against his club ones. Morrison’s crosses were repelled, Jones was isolated, and Eura were on the back foot again. On the sidelines Steve Thompson cut a frustrated figure who seemed resigned to an extra time battle of attrition. If that wasn’t enough to find a goal it would go down to the lottery of penalties. Eura historically had an excellent record in penalty shootouts up until recent years, where they had gone rather badly for them. Thompson wasn’t keen to see history repeat itself today.

Eura’s bench has a lot of talent to choose from. The crowd were baying for Underwood to come on, the lightning quick striker posing an obvious counter attacking danger. Thompson ignored the temptation though, preferring to keep the experienced Campbell on the pitch. He considered defensive reinforcement but found it wasn’t needed and had no idea how to improve the midfield with what was available to him. Ulsa and Eura’s footballing icon was about to abandon the idea and save his last substitution until extra time when his nominal captain stepped up. ‘Come on boss, throw me on.’ John Spartan might not have looked it but he had recently turned 36. This was going to potentially be his last major final. ‘My legs feel good today and you’ll need me if this goes to penalties. Come on.’ There was no need to say a word. A change was signalled by the deftest of hand gestures. Hunter trudged off, Spartan strode on as the clock hit eighty minutes. A screenwriter couldn’t have put what came next much better. Coltrane danced and dodged on the edge of the box, wrongfooted Alexander Lopes and swung the ball in from the left. Patrick Courtois muscled the hitman Campbell away from the incoming ball but there was Spartan, the captain and finals specialist, to belt the ball in from a simple range of eight yards.

Roudet punched the floor in anger at his defenders for letting a veteran slink in between their lines to score with his first touch. Spartan celebrated simply with a fist in the air and a kiss of the badge. It was far from the finest goal this free kick and long range specialist had ever scored, but it was probably the most emotional. Valladares tried to recover and almost kept the game alive only for a Baume header to be hooked off the line by Ainsworth. The game petered out, and when the final whistle blew, a nation rejoiced. An aging midfielder, once written off as not technical enough for international football, had won Eura its second Copa Rushmori through a single unexpected intervention. Under all the celebrations and smiles though he was sad as he lifted the trophy and lead the lap of honour, doing so in the knowledge that his career was into its last days. All he could do now was give it his best and hope that history would treat him kindly. Which it would, of course. He had scored the winning goal in a World Cup final and now a Copa Rushmori final as well. His legacy was cemented permanently in Euran sporting folklore. None of his doubters from the past could take that away from him now.

[Free Republics]

Republica Post

The Free Republics will Pay Whatever It Takes to Get Those 50,000 Taxachussans Back
by: Robert Nicholls

It has recently come to my attention that the former president of Taxachusetts, from the time when that Republic was still independent, sold 50,000 of his own citizens into slavery for the "crime" of being his political opponents. Just a few days ago, Gregoryisgodistani media outlets reported that the fifty thousand had been purchased by Quebec in exchange for nuclear weapons. At that time, I assumed that the Quebecois had purchased them in order to set them free and allow them to return home but it seems this is not the case. I want to express my disappointment that the nation of Quebec has seemingly adopted the practice of slavery, a practice that was long ago banned in most of the multiverse as a violation of the most fundamental of human rights.

It is indeed true that the Free Republics has not been especially outspoken in defense of human rights in recent years but we have chosen to lay low on the issue because we do not feel that it is appropriate for us to be intervening in the sovereign affairs of other nations, especially after the actions of Consul Kulseth and Consul O'Reilly. However, I cannot ignore the fact that Quebec has reportedly purchased fifty thousand of my own citizens with the intent of keeping them in bondage. This is outrageous and is a situation that is utterly unacceptable to the Federation of Free Republics.

In the interest of achieving an amicable settlement, I am willing to purchase these 50 thousand Republican citizens and set them free. If the Quebecois prefer, I would also be willing to agree to a trade deal that would be very beneficial for their nation, if they would only let my people go. I urge Quebecois leaders to get in contact with me immediately so that we can negotiate a deal that will see each and every one of these slaves return home, where I will personally see to it that they are set free. As regards Gregoryisgodistan, I request that they return any remaining Taxachussan or Republican citizens to the Free Republics. In exchange, I am willing to offer a significant amount of foreign aid. I also urge them to get in touch with me as soon as possible to discuss a deal that will prove mutually beneficial. The Federation of Free Republics will no longer turn a blind eye as its citizens lie in chains abroad.

Robert Nicholls is the CEO of Nicholls Enterprises and a current Consul of the Free Republics. He is widely respected for his role in restoring the Free Republics to glory after two disastrous elected dictatorships. He maintains a residence in Baseton, where he lives with his family.

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Reco, Jolarus, Free Republics

The FFR had defeated Chailanka in decisive fashion, relying on 3 Johnny Smith goals and a Kalervo Peltola goal assisted by Smith. That improved their record to two wins and a draw in World Cup Qualifying. This victory was especially satisfying for those Republicans who remembered the old days when their team routinely choked against those bottom of the table opponents that are supposed to be your easy wins. One of them was Consul Kyle Bolton, the Honorary Assistant Coach, who made a rare appearance on the sidelines for this match as part of his visit to Jolarus. The match provided Bolton with a temporary distraction from the business of being a Consul of the Free Republics, a position that he still could not believe he'd actually won.

Bolton had thrown his name into the Consul race as a joke. He was the candidate of a minor party that had broken away from the Radicals. The Liberty Party was founded by a handful of Radical assemblymen who felt their party was insufficiently Radical on issues relating to sexual freedom. They had broken away from their party expecting to lose their seats in the Assembly as part of taking a stand against an unprincipled political party that cared more about winning elections than advancing its supposed policy agenda. Party officials convinced a reluctant Kyle Bolton to stand for them as a celebrity candidate for Consul and somehow, against all odds, he managed to win the election.

Statisticians researching how Bolton had managed to win the race eventually discovered that many female Lydia Henderson voters backed Bolton in the third and final round of the election. This seemed profoundly irrational at a surface level as Henderson had run against sexual freedom while Bolton was famous as a man who had lived that lifestyle. Eventually, they were left with no choice but to theorize that Bolton had won the Consul election because a bunch of women who would otherwise vote Progressive thought he was cute and there was little perceived ideological difference between him and his opponent Abelino Greece, who was also a candidate of the radical center. Bolton was declared the winner with a 51% to 49% advantage but as the final votes were counted, it was discovered that he'd actually won 50.5% to 49.5%. Blank votes, double votes and other invalid ballots were not counted, per Republican electoral law, and turnout fell significantly from the second round when candidates like Lydia Henderson and Pierre Theriault had still provided a choice rather than an echo.

Across the FFR, most of the populace was relieved to finally have two reasonable, mainstream Consuls who governed according to the traditional values of the Federation. The Free Republics once again stood as a shining oasis of freedom in a dark multiverse. But the man they had elected as their junior Consul soon found himself overwhelmed by the job and relying heavily upon the assistance of Consul Nicholls. For all intents and purposes, Consul Nicholls was still in charge of the Free Republics and still determining the direction of policy. As it turned out, Kyle Bolton simply wasn't cut out for the job of Co-Leader of the Free Multiverse and he wasn't particularly interested in the job either but he'd won the election and he had every intention of serving out his full 8 year term then retiring to the lifelong paycheck of a Senator, even though he had no intention whatsoever of ever casting a vote in the Senate. He simply felt at home on the sidelines as a soccer coach.

After the match, he decided to hang around and hold an impromptu Town Hall Meeting for Soccer General Rule Theriault, Sir Koby Theodore, Nova Hellstrom-Hancock and every player and cheerleader on the team, in the hope that somebody, anybody, would give him an idea for a legislative initiative that he could propose to the Assembly and Senate at his upcoming State of the Federation speech...

[Chromatika]

Lineup vs. Leopian: Ria; Ilya - Stef - Damjana; Etienne - Montague - Sybill - Harbin; Niro - Victoriane (C) - Dragana. Subs: Sorenidai -> Stef ('47), Quren -> Dragana ('62), Kelly -> Etienne ('81)
Goals vs. Leopian: Victoriane '23 assisted by Montague; Victoriane '39 assisted by Sybill; Sybill '90+1 free kick. Player of the Match: Sandra Sybill (One goal, one assist, game winner)

The crowd collectively held its breath as injury time hit at the Capitalizt Dome in Chromatik City. Was this where the Chromatiks were going to drop their first points, before the big matches against Free Republics, Equestrian States, and Damunkuni? Little Leopian had given the subs all they could handle, yet for some reason Silian Parker looked very composed in the sidelines. What most people knew about him was that he was the most cerebral manager that the Chromatiks had ever had. The way he saw it, this would be another learning step for young Mia. Ria had made some spectacular saves, but let in two goals. Also, this was a chance to rest the starters and allow the rest of the squad to get some playing time. Harbin and Etienne had some brilliant moments, while Nioli Quren was doing all right at right winger.

However, the fans weren't happy. But they weren't the ones managing squad. He was. Sure enough, there was Sandra Sybill, lining up to take the free kick. Twenty meters from goal, five to the left of dead center. Left foot, just as practiced. Hit dead on. Curving, low ball, just out of the keeper's reach.

Picture perfect.

Not the cleanest of wins, it wasn't. He'd have to console Mia, congratulate Kaytlyn on a game as Captain well done. Jeckland awaited, followed by a Bye, and then the stretch that included #3 - #5 - #2 in the Group.

Time to see how mixed lineups fared. He'd let Jillian rest up for one more game, see how Mia handled Jeckland. Erika and Zlastica would do better than Aysu and Severin. Time to also see how Kaytlyn fared with Trenn and Gabriella.

That was how to manage a team.

Lineup @ Jeckland: Ria; Morningstar - Stef - Ellen; Kelly - Montague - Sybill - Liam; Rien - Victoriane (C) - Antonio.

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OPERATION NEW HOPE

Dossier 1
Name: Miranda "Lightning" Gail
Previous Color: Light Red
Age: 21
Height: 5 ft 1 in
Weight: 115 lbs
Eye Color: Brown
Hair Color: Black
Handedness: Left
Occupation: Football player for Tihon in Chromatika (Role: Striker)
Family: Single child; Father and Mother now occupational potato farmers in Pùr
Sexuality: Unknown. Hasn't had any significant documented relationships.
Personality: ENFJ. Lightning is a charismatic leader who believes in herself and her teammates. She is outgoing, intuition-based, quick to speak her mind, and definitely not shy about offering and receiving constructive criticism.
Education: None. Basic literary level, still improving. Knows a lot about agriculture due to being a Red farmer in the days of the Chromatik Party.
Project Involvement: Lightning volunteered as soon as she heard about the project through Keira Andisori, who is a mentor. She believes a connection to the Chromatik Football Federation is needed to garner public attention once the Project is complete, and that this will be a great opportunity to stretch her agriculture, interpersonal, and leadership skills. She believes that there is a future where the past can be forgotten, and claims that the involvement in the U-21 team has definitely shown that. She is very eager for the Project to begin.
Recommendation: Have her be part of the leadership, perhaps even of the agricultural sector. She may not know a lot academically, but has life experiences that not many of her age can profess to have. Definitely a valuable asset if the Project is to succeed.

Colonel Erik Monett had watched Lightning's rise to fame, of course. Known as the first Red football player in history (previously-Red, he corrected himself,) she always played with a chip on her shoulder. Though the U-21 team hadn't had half the success of the Senior squad, having her along would be a definite boom. She would fit the young, athletic, agricultural minded, community driven, leadership candidate that any Project like Operation New Hope would need.

He put a green check mark next to her name. If the Premier had given him ten solid candidates like her, his job would be much easier. He counted through the rest of the Dossiers, and realized they only contained seven names of Chromatiks, one from each previous color.

Damn it, he thought. He would have to come up with three himself. Trust Alina to give him more work than previously inferred.

With a wry grin, he picked up another Dossier...

[Yesopalitha]

Unknown Facts about Yesopalitha

Part 2

Magic is still very prevalent within Yesopalitha, though it is not as feared as it used to be. There are races that are more apt at it, and races that struggle with it, and there are many many kinds of it, like it is in many other parts of the world.

Elemental mages tend to stick to a single element in Yesopalitha, whether it be Air, Water, Earth, Fire, Nature, or the like. There aren't that many that can harness the power of more than one. It takes a lot of time to learn magic, and mostly, creatures don't have a long enough lifespan to master more than one. Sure, there are those who can do rudimentary stuff with more than one, but mastery of one is considered to be the nobler, true path instead of just dabbling mindlessly.

Necromancy and death magic aren't considered evil, though necromancy is not what it is in other parts of the multiverse. Necromancy in Chromatika is the restoration and protection of the Undead, instead of the creation of the Undead. Undead are created when the other Races die and decide that they want to live on; they aren't created by Evil Magic in Chromatika. This makes necromancy basically a clerical magic for the Undead, which is quite different. Death magic, however, uses death itself, and is considered to be the most intense of magics, with entropy and the banned magic of time following.

Healing magic or holy magic is perhaps the least studied magic in Yesopalitha, often because modern medicine has made it obsolete. That being said, if someone needs healing and there aren't medical supplies around, they best find a healer.

Time magic is the only universally banned magic in Yesopalitha. Touching the timeline could change things to before Zaiden blessed the Unbidden, and then everything could change. No sane Unbidden wants that.

Magic is not the most visible art, but neither is it truly gone. One only needs to know where to look...

[Ceni]

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---

Kaiya Griffiths hurriedly works to fill orders at her bustling diner in the heart of Cenial. "Order's up!" she yells as one of her waiters scurries away with a plate of Nepharim meat pies - a specialty from across the Endemian sea in mainland Terranea. Griffiths and her business are emblematic of a growing trend in the international economy - growing economic and political ties between Ceni and the nation of Nephara, only a couple of hundred kilometers away from Ceni. As relations between the two Terranean neighbors grow, the two nations' economies - and their workers and businesses - are increasingly growing both in interconnectedness and in size.

Economically, Ceni and Nephara are seeing a growth in trade - and an expansion of international business activity. Cenian green technology companies like Eos, which manufactures solar panels and batteries; Albatross, which manufactures wind turbines and their associated parts; and Zanzara, which is Ceni's largest manufacturer of electrically-powered scooters and motorcycles, have all seen increases in exports to Nephara, as the country undertakes an effort to decrease its carbon emissions. The country has turned to Ceni to purchase high-quality green technology from a source very close to its borders. The CEO of Eos, Laurent Zythor, told the Cenial Tribune that the company was actively looking to expand in Nephara, and that the country was a perfect market for his company's products. "There's a lot of people there who care about the environment there, and a lot of corporations and companies who are increasingly seeing the economic benefits of renewable technology, especially cost-effective yet high-quality technology such as ours." Zanzara's CEO, Aja Tao-Ni, agreed with those sentiments, pointing out that increasing urbanization in Nephara was forcing people to look to other transportation options - "and they're finding our products especially attractive." Zamzara's sales have shot up by more than 33% in the last two years. In addition, Nepharim restaurants and grocery stores are buying larger and larger quantities of Cenian seafood, especially wild-caught shrimp, scallops, crab, lobster, and other crustaceans - with prominent food distributor Cornucopia reporting a 12.6% increase in the amount of Cenian shellfish sold with their customers in Nephara. In return, Ceni is importing food products, such as beef, pork, and other meat products, from Nephara. Ceni is also increasingly importing manufactured products from Nephara such as chemicals, cars, and transportation technology (like a new batch of subway cars ordered from the Nepharim company Urquhart).

Cenian corporations are also expanding their presence within Nephara, and vice versa. Cavalier Brewpubs, an international chain of casual dining eateries, has recently announced plans to expand another 500 locations within the country to serve its growing population, while GCLI, a real estate and investment company, is rapidly snapping up Nepharim real estate. Isengard, a high technology company, as well as Hightower Systems, one of the largest Cenian companies, both have set up research and development locations and factories across Nephara to take advantage of the country's high-skilled labor. Isengard's founder, entrepreneur Jacen Kilvaari, extolled the virtues of the expanding economic relationships with the fellow Terranean nation. "Expanding into Nephara makes perfect sense for our company. They have the high-tech skills we need to succeed, and a wondeful market for our products close by - investing in Nephara is a no-brainer." The most prominent Cenian company operating within Nephara is Cityscapes Architecture and Construction, which has been given a large contract to design and construct large portions of Nephara's new capital, Corvistone. Nepharim companies are reciprocating, attracted by Ceni's financial infrastructure, educational institutions, and diversity of ideas and experiences. Small and medium sized enterprises, which form a great part of Nephara's economy, are increasingly establishing outposts in Ceni to take advantage of Ceni's intellectual climate. "Ceni is a great place for innovation," said Joshua Celtru, a Professor of Economics at the University of Ceni. "I'm not surprised that Nepharim companies are taking advantage."

With many movement restrictions lifted with both countries' ratification of the Orean Accords and accession to the Common Rushmori Community (CRC), tourism, and business travel, between the two countries is also increasing. Ori Quo, with the Cenian Board of Tourism (CBT), which advertises Cenian tourism and provides tourists with information, says that increasingly, Nepharims are finding Ceni attractive as a tourism destination. "We're seeing a lot more Nepharims coming into Ceni ever since the CRC came into force - we have a lot of attractions for everyone, and we're fairly close to Nephara, making for a good tourist destination." Migration between the two countries is also on the rise; the Nepharim diaspora within Ceni has recently grown over 1.5 million, and the Cenian diaspora in Nephara is growing at a rate of almost 75,000 per year, with almosy 500,000 Cenians in Nephara so far. That's why businesses like Griffiths' are thriving in Ceni: Nepharim in Ceni are exercising their purchasing power. Furthermore, the number of expats in both countries is likely to grow further with the implementation of the Common Rushmori Community and increased freedoms of movement.

Economist Celtru says the increased economic relations are understandable, based on the relationship between geography and economic relationships. "We have a couple of geographic theories that explain intreactions between economies. The first is distance decay: the farther away two economies are geographically, the less interactions they will have. Conversely, the closer two economies are, the more business they will do with other. The second is the gravity model: interaction between two places is a function of their two populations and their distance." Celtru explains how the two theories combine to explain Ceni's economic relations with Nephara: since the two countries are relatively close together in the grand scheme of things, they should have a large amount of interaction, and since both are fairly densely populated and close together, the gravity model predicts a large amount of trade and economic interaction. "Previously, trade was anomalously low - this surge in trade, investment, and movement of people back and forth is perfectly understandable as the real world reverts to the effects predicted by the models."

The two countries also hope to increase their interaction in the arena of sports. Moira Sunrider, a sports journalist with the Cenial Tribune, notes that players from the two countries are increasingly plying their trades in the other, and that interaction is on the rise. "We just had a bright prospect in César Corvalán join Starling, and national team star Allison Swan just barely missed out on the chance to become Ceni's 4th Champions' Cup winner with Crisisbless this last season" Juan Pablo Morales, Ceni's starting goalkeeper, has also recently moved to Nephara. The movement is reciprocal; Apostolos Tsattalios, Rachel Sable, and Catherine Stockinger, to name a few, have moved to Cenian clubs, as well as plenty other youngsters and journeymen. With the two nations' geographical proximity, Cenian Football Association president Eric Orono-Kessler hopes that the two countries' interactions on the footballing front will only continue to grow. "I've heard direct from several Nepharim clubs that they're interested in buying Cenians in the international transfer market, and I know that a lot of Cenian clubs would give an arm and a leg for a high-quality Nepharim player." This exchange of players is only likely to increase as the Orean Accords come fully into force, which contain provisions making it easier for citizens of member nations - and yes, this includes footballers - to work in other nations within the Common Rushmori Community. Orono-Kessler also anticipates that the two countries will also begin to play each other more often, and compete against each other's clubs in international and regional competitions as well. "Our two FAs are only growing more and more close, and I expect this new relationship to grow even further in the future."

The general consensus among experts and economists has been one of excitement. Economist Celtru says this is a textbook example of the benefits of free trade and open borders for both countries. "Most of us economists would say that globalization and trade produce benefits for all parties involved - everyone's able to get higher quality products for a cheaper price thanks to the theory of competitive advantage. The increasing economic relations between Ceni and Nephara are showing exactly why this theories hold true - these two economies are complementing each other and making each other better off." Economist Peter Jastrinas, at the University of New Oxford, notes that a lot of the criticism of globalization in this case should be muted because there isn't a vast difference between the two countries in terms of wages, working conditions, or environmental quality. "Generally, we see a lot of criticism if globalization when there's the perception that one country is taking the jobs from another or companies are taking advantage of lax worker or environmental regulations to make a quick buck. This really isn't happening here."

Griffiths agrees - this world of globalization and migration has made her business prosper and thrive. "My business has boomed with all these Nepharims coming in, and I'm doing a lot better for myself now. Now I'm having to hire more employees to serve the demand - my worry now isn't immigrants stealing jobs. It's finding the right people to fill these jobs!"

[Farfadillis]

Fîsüj's day at the mine had once again been very long. Two canaries dead, but fortunately no men. It had now been thirty days since the last tragic accident. "Worthy of celebration". He sarcastically muttered to himself. While the RRA waged war and the Farf government tried to control them, normal working men like him were still tolling away at the mines. He secretly admired the revolutionaries, but he didn't have the heart to join them. He had a family to feed, and he would not risk their lives for any reason this world could give him. Besides, his hands had never been meant to kill. Actually, he probably would've been a doctor, if he'd been given the chance, or at least that's what he liked to think.

The walk home from the mines was a long one. It always gave him ample time to think, and that was exactly what he always needed after fourteen hours plucking at uranium. His mind always ended up going back to his family. "Might Vâlâ have finished her coloring book today? Did Xíxì impress the manager at training? What has Fêlê prepared for dinner?" When losing himself in those thoughts, despite all the struggles, he was a happy man. Yes, he did not have a yacht, or even a car for that matter. He couldn't even tell you what color champagne is. He'd never eaten at a restaurant, and he certainly could not tell you how expensive perfume smelled. But his long walks made him happier than any yacht could, and not even the most expensive champagne could possibly be better than a pint at the bar with his friends. And who needs a restaurant when your wife cooks so well, and with so little?

A diamond in the rough, that's what Fîsüj's life was. He was just one of many. The truth was, light was able to make it to even the darkest alleyways of Ruland. Happy people like him lived there. This is not meant to be a heartwarming tale, however.

How does a bomb detonate in Ferdullaele's city center, killing twenty-three? How does a Frionite train never reach its destination? Who sets the parliament alight? And what's the reason?

There are two kind of men that do these things. You probably know a lot about the first kind. Let's talk about the second.

A city ablaze. The deafening noise of war. The stinking smell of death. He did not walk that day, he ran. And not for his life, but for theirs. Fîsüj was not a hateful man, but during the ten minutes it took him to get home, that changed. The Devil's symphony will change any man. Desperation, sorrow, hate. His brain could barely form a coherent thought. He was thinking so little, he could not hear death breathing down his neck. They say at times like this, adrenaline kicks in and you lose all perception of time. That was not the case; Fîsüj ran for an eternity.

He was got to Lâândêr Rüâ, so he had to turn left. He looked around. Füsé, the owner of the grocery store was weeping inconsolably, his daughter in his arms. Fërtý Rüâ, now he had to turn right. Fâlâtô, a fellow miner, was pulling his son out of the rubble. He would've helped, but he had to run. He eventually got to Stëlë Âvénîdé, and he refused to look around. Some neighbors dead, others alive. He didn't want to find out who was what. At last, he turned left on Fülâà Rüâ...

... and found his home intact. His family met him with tears of joy. They hid in the basement, and they survived. None of his close relatives perished that day. Few men will ever feel the joy this man felt at that moment, the joy of having lost it all, and then not.

But what, then, drove Fîsüj over the edge? How does a police station explode?

[Vilita]

The first set of statistical analysis the specially convened Football Association of Vilita 'Generation of Champions Analysis Team' (GoCat) attacked was World Cup 77 itself, starting with the World Cup 77 Qualification phase.

Vilita have a long history of selecting players from its National Talent Pool throughout a qualification campaign, instead of re-using the same lineup over and over. The belief has always been to spread the experience around so that more players are able to step up when needed, and that the younger players are prepared for the occasion earlier in their career.

Did this theory work in practice? Of course, in the isolated case of World Cup 77, Vilita were triumphant. But the GoCAT needed to determine exactly how much of that experience has been spread across which players - then compare that with the experience of the players used during the World Cup 77 Finals - just to begin to paint the beginning of a picture of whether or not the implementation of player selection policies is a help, a hinderance, or a non-factor in the Jungle Cats success.

Football Association of Vilita, Tivali Ring Stadium, Alikki-Corra, Vilita :: After completing their Analysis of Goalkeepers in World Cup 77 Qualifying and finding that, for the most part, matches were split evenly between three netminders, two experienced and presumed first-choice goalkeepers and a third, much younger, prospect netminder.

While no goalkeeper appeared more than 7 times over the 18 match qualifying, there were 6 defenders who recorded at least 7 appearances as a starter of as a substitute. Of course, with Vilita typically using a 3-5-2 formation, that meant at least 3 defenders were getting playing time on a match by match basis, and sometimes more.

The defensive corps were anchored by long time National Team defender Endur Rotropii of Marine Coast United. However, despite being the defensive general for the Jungle Cats, Rotropii as well appeared in just 11 of 18 games. Some would argue that the Crosaibi-based utility defender has past his prime, others believe that Rotropii remains atop a powerful plateau of world class play.

While Rotropii's playing days are not yet at an end, the horizon is certainly close and the next generation is not far behind, with Mliona-Lpaka AFC's Linkat Cjinder perhaps the greatest example. Not long after helping the Jungle Cats to the World Cup 77 title, the 21 year old Cjinder - who made 9 appearances during World Cup 77 Qualifying, and his Mliona-Lpaka AFC teammate Jirijii Januaa, who made 8 appearances during qualifying, led Mliona-Lpaka AFC to the UICA Champions Cup title, the first international club championship for Mliona-Lpaka AFC.

Vilitan Defender Appearances
World Cup 77 Qualification
Appearances [Goals]

11 [2] - Endur Rotropii :: Marine Coast United
9 [1] - Linkat Cjinder :: Milona-Lpaka AFC
9 [0] - Arocki Tadalek :: Jungle Strike FC
8 [3] - Jirijii Januaa :: Milona-Lpaka AFC
7 [1] - Monner Vileai :: Tropicorp FC
7 [0] - Rintala Sekagaya :: Alikki-Corra FC
4 [1] - Mileke Drokasorna :: Colonial Sile
3 [0] - Kwuimekii Hentetii :: Rammsissil
1 [0] - Tlikao Muratai :: Lonngeylin Coast

Another reason that players like Rotropii and Januaa are unlikely to retire quite yet is that while there is great promise in young players like Cjinder; Colonial Sile's Mileke Drokasorma and Alikki Corra's Rintala Sekagaya who made 4 and 7 appearances respectively, there were no teen-aged defenders in the Vilita National Team player pool to share the odd experience-driven appearance to. Instead, the only player with a lone appearance in the Qualifyiers was Lonngeylin Coast's Tlikao Muratai. The experienced center back traveled with the team on multiple occasions serving mostly as injury insurance and was called into action on World Cup 77 Qualifying Matchday 3 as a substitute in the 3-2 home victory over Kitsunia-Deesse.

Shutout Match Appearances
4 - Endur Rotropii
4 - Linkat Cjinder
4 - Monner Vileai
3 - Arocki Tadalek
3 - Jirijii Januaa
3 - Rintala Sekagaya
2 - Mileke Drokasorna
1 - Kwuimekii Hentetii

One of the more interesting sub-stats looked at by the GoCat team was to then take the data collected over the course of the qualification campaign and filter out only the 7 matches in the 8 match stretch in the center of World Cup Qualifying where the Jungle Cats held their opponents goalless. For four matches from Matchday 6 through 9 to close out the first half of qualification then a second three match stretch from Matchday 11 through matchday 14, there were no goals conceded by the Vilita National Team.

For the most part however, there was nothing special to be gleaned - in fact, if anything, the data from the 7 match shutout streak proved to just be a microcosm of the qualification as a whole. The only player who appeared in qualification who did not appear in one of the shutout matches was Muratai who appeared only as a substitute on Matchday 3. No player appeared in more than 4 of the 7 Shutout matches but six different players appeared in at least 3 of the 7.

If nothing else, it showed that while Vilita's defensive corps may not have traditionally been their strong suit or particularly deep compared to some of the multiverse's more defense minded teams, the defenders that the Jungle Cats did put in force were a cohesive - and somewhat interchangeable lot showing that - while defense may not have been the Jungle Cats strength - it was strong enough to not be its weakness - particularly in the fact that the loss of a single player through injury, suspension or other means would not greatly alter the Jungle Cats ability to compete for the World Cup title.

Champions Tour Series
1. Celebration & Reflection
2. GoCat 77Q: Goalkeepers

[Mriin]

Maal Memoirs
Sports

A Sort of Revenge: Satyrs Steal a Point from Barunia

Lia Fester
Edwardton, Barunia

I'm sure none of the serious football fans here in Mriin have forgotten the defeat Barunia served us last Cup of Harmony. While there were certainly bigger issues with that campaign--like dropping points to the other, frankly underwhelming, sides in our group--the expected loss to the 20-somethingth ranked team in the world is what mathematically eliminated us, and that sting stays with you. That's why there was both trepidation and excitement I felt when Barunia was revealed to be the second seed of our group with time around qualifying; would it be a chance at revenge? Or just another opportunity for one of the world's top sides to remind us why they're one of the world's top sides? After the excellent form the team showed rebounding against the staunch Loynn defense in the first game of qualifiers, it seemed everyone was energized and at their best, which was a good sign--if we have any chance against Barunia, our A game would be required. But I still couldn't stop being nervous wreck on the flight out; how we'd stack up against the top sides was a huge piece of our lofty goal of qualifying for the World Cup proper, and even these early games could spell out the team's fate.

I'm sure none of the serious football fans here in Mriin had any confidence after the twentieth minute. Such an important game in so many ways, and being down two to nothing before we even knew what was happening was discouraging, to say the least. It's very clear Don Mizzet's offensive mindset is still the team's modus operandi, with the weak three-back, one defensive sweeper lineup just being disastrous at giving Zilia Hawsorn in the net a fighting chance. Don't forget we still have Mari Lavoi as our left-back, a very young player that spends most of their time as a forward! That the team didn't bother to find another suitable defender from the Mriin National League is preposterous. James Kennedy and Barunian Captain Hannah Miller put on an impressive display, aggressive play that exploited said defense and left them floundering and confused, netting shots at 11' and 20'. But, by the great chemist in the sky, if there's one thing this team is teaching me it's that you can never give up. No matter how awful the game starts out, no matter how obviously tilted our goalkeeper is.

I'm sure none of the serious football fans here in Mriin stayed in their seats when Solara slammed in nearly back-to-back goals to end the first half. It's worth noting that the Barunian team is relatively fresh; they've had quite a lot of turnover the past few cups, and there's even many new faces we didn't see when we squared off against them last cycle. It seems like that newness may still be wearing off, as their defenders had issues coordinating and covering our lanes of attack, which is surprising for a side normally noted for their reliance on their back line. Solara simply did what she does best, finding a hole to burst through and outrunning anyone who'd think to challenge her. Lydia Hook looked as lost in goal as Zilia did across the pitch; these star-level strikers can simply do ridiculous things when left unpressured. And with that, we were in a position to potential scalp a point off of the seconds seeds at home, like in Flardania last cycle; while that didn't end up enough to qualify, it certainly put us much closer than anyone externally or internally (save perhaps Mizzet himself) had expected. But there was still a good 45 minutes left of football to be played before that was final!

What I'm not sure of is how the serious football fans of Mriin reacted to Kennedy's second goal. It seemed Mizzet finally acknowledged that perhaps a better back field was required against such high-caliber opponents, so veteran Qual Yon--better known as a "clubhouse presence" than a star player, but a respectable presence all the same--on in place of the aggressive Wanny Vespucci. Kennedy's response? A raucous blast to start off the half, a long shot that cleaved through a swath of open air and landed just beyond Zilia's extended fingers. Why deal with an extra defender clogging up the field when you can just mail it in for the lead? The reactions from the visitors' stands of Memorial Stadium was splintered; some let out desperate cries, their hopes escaping out of their mouth. Some simply slouched back in their seat. A handful were going wild that that shot had just happened, and those I admired--being able to put aside the partisan fandom to give raw respect for a play like that is not an easy thing to do in the heat of the moment.

But I'm sure some of you are wondering: how did I react? Well, I threw my lot in with what felt like the largest section of the Mriinian crowd: howling for revenge. The Barunians had wronged us. Killing our inaugural Cup dreams, representing the largest threat to our World Cup chances, and now pulling ahead with a flamboyant shot like that? It was just too much. We needed something more, and any thought of hoping for a miracle win went out the door--all that mattered now was making sure Barunia didn't win. And that roar, one made by a small slice of the stadium, nearly overtook the cheers of the Barunians going crazy over retaking the lead! That definitely was not lost on the players, on either team--the Mriinians seemed filled with a bloodlust, their people's thirst channeled into them and giving them focus. And at the same time, the Barunian players lost a bit of their confident edge, despite having just taken the lead. They certainly didn't look shaken, like the dejected Loynn team after the tide turned against them, and it was clear they were still there to play, but all of a sudden Liesel McClelland was giving Joren Kreuger a little more room to maneuver. Kennedy now seemed a little reluctant to charge in when Uhlon Loft and Gerard Tavol were staring daggers at him. And probably most important of all, the already somewhat disjointed Barunian defense was spending an inordinate amount of time keeping on Solara, who was storming around their half like a vengeful ghost. It was a fierce battle over possession in the midfield that eventually ended in Joren finding some free space on the right wing, where Janna found him with a perfect cross that he rebounded past a flailing Hook. And with that, the game was back to a 3-3 draw, where it would stay as the Mriinian midfield clamped down and ensured there would be no more attempts for the remainder of the game.

[Cosumar]

It's matchday four
Time for another score

If you want World Cup selection
Simply sing this melodious question...

"Can I Play With Margaret?"

---

Matchday 4 RP Cutoff
Scores

[Starblaydia]

Part One: Takeaway
Part Two: Duchess
Part Three: Fidget
Part Four: Torque

OOC: For some background on this bit of High Fantasy Quantum Leap-style nonsense that goes back to something I didn't finish from WC53/55/etc., have a skim through this. TL;DR, SDB got sent back to ancient Starblaydia and was mistaken for/replaced King Oberyn, essentially the King Arthur of Starblaydi myth and legend. He subsequently has a bit of a thing for swords.

Simeone had been more than a little bemused when his young relative had handed him the Blayde Club shirt. He wasn't sure how many 'greats' separated him from this greatⁿ grandson Marcello Di Bradini, but it was always nice to visit the descendants of his family when he was back in the 'mundy' realm. The teenaged Marcello was obviously a pro wrestling fan and quickly proceeded to tell him all about the Blayde Club, how cool they were, having fun, kicking ass and being heels, playing by their own rules. After having to explain what a heel was to Simeone, Marcello then told him how King Oberyn was the spiritual leader of the Club.

"This guy who forged Starblaydia with a sword in one hand and the destiny that he made for himself in the other!" Marcello said excitedly, obviously verbatim from either a wrestling promo or a social media video about it. "A time of heroes making themselves into legends!"

The older members of the Di Bradini clan cringed at the irony of that, a kid who wanted to kick a football for a living saying that to one of the most famous men in the history of world sport and beyond.

"Can you imagine what that would have been like?" Marcello had yet to figure out when his young mouth was running away with him. Like most young people, he'd work it out in time. "Doing awesome things that changed the fate of the world. Bold, and brave, and leading from the front to smash the enemies of Starblaydia?"

Simeone didn't have to imagine. He'd lived it, by his own personal timeline, exactly a century before, when the accident with Lord Jagged's Pantochronometer had sent him back thousands of years into Starblaydia's distant past, a time before it had even been Starblaydia. With a sword at his hip, an elf by his side, three wizards, a witch, a kit man and a herald for a compnay, he'd changed history. Or he'd made history, he was never sure which came first in this great chicken-and-egg situation. Had he been Oberyn Starblayde because he'd always been destined to go back and be him, or had Oberyn Starblayde only been born from his actions during those dark and bloody days? If working out how time worked in the Dreamed Realm had been bad enough (the answer being 'strangely'), trying to figure out a causal loop paradox was far beyond him.

All Simeone knew was what had happened back then. Predestination or not, He had lived those events, done those deeds, and had come to pass was owing to, and the cause of, those times.

---

"There, on the hill," Leoric declared, "Lord Coraluna's castle."

'It's only a model' Simeone thought to himself, shortly before feeling Alyssa's eyes burning into the back of his head. He turned away from the castle and their eyes met, trying to figure each other out. Not for the first time, likely not for the last. The castle was not as large or as impressive as the ones Simeone had been led to expect thanks to movies, but based on Leoric and Alyssa's family holdfast, this was a mighty structure indeed. Flying from the towers was the banner of the orange sun on a yellow field of House Coraluna - which was a little strange for a name that derived from the word 'moon', but having not been classically trained, Simeone didn't even notice it.

Their horses walked on, a well worn path through the grasses of the ground that wound its way up through scattered trees and rocks up to the castle. Ázëwyn Fëanáro moved up beside him, her grey steed stepping neatly through the light covering of mud on the surface of the path.

"You haven't yet told me how you know of me," she said.

"That's because we haven't met yet," Simeone said with a smile, "not for you, anyway. I've known you a long time."

"Do you always speak in riddles?"

"Almost never," he replied, looking off into the distance at the castle, growing larger with every step, "but I think it's a bad habit I'm picking up. You see, one day, a long, long time in the future, we'll meet. I'll think that it's the first time we've met, but you'll know better. And I'll probably have the same look on my face as you do now."

"How can we have met before, but not yet?" She regarded him with an inquisitive stare that Elves, in Simeone's experience, rarely displayed.

"The secret is," Simeone said, leaning forward and dropping his voice low, "that I haven't been born yet."

Trumpets sounded as they approached the castle, evidently Leoric's party had been expected. After dismounting and handing over their horses to the waiting stable boys in the courtyard, the party of six were led through the castle to the main hall. As they walked across the smooth, cold stones of the keep, the sounds of a large gathering echoed through the hallways. A man with a great bellowing voice was speaking - shouting - to be heard as he addressed everyone else.

"... and I say that the bloom of the purple orchids is a great omen for our army. Nowhere else but in the Jhan Valley does that flower grow and blossom in such numbers and such a great colour as here in the valley. Our invaders know they have arrived, and they know they will soon be chased from our fields and back to the shore from whence they came!"

A great cheer came up from the assembly, who were obviously feasting, just a short passage away from where Leoric's party were in the hallway. Silently, Alyssa grasped her brother's arm, holding him back. As he looked at her, she nodded subtly to the man she knew as Oberyn. Leoric nodded, pretending to stop and look at something in the hallway as Simeone walked on at the head of the group. Belsaff and Jose missed the cue, too, but Ázëwyn did not. She hung back as well, letting Simeone take the lead.

"In fact," the voice continued, "were any knight assembled among bearing purple as his colour," he struggled to make himself heard as they knights shouted down his suggestion of an heraldic colour that broke the chivalric traditions. "Were there such a Ser within our ranks, I would follow this omen, have him lead the army, lead the vanguard and lead us with purple banner on the purple fields, to victory!"

There was much banging of tables and agreement. 'An omen' they cried, 'purple to the van'. They quickly fell silent as Simeone stepped into the archway of the main hall. In front of him stretched four benches with knights and warriors, heads turned to look at the man who had been speaking, now wordlessly eyeing Simeone himself. Beyond the benches was the dais, where beneath a banner of orange and yellow sat a man who was evidently Lord Coraluna. The hushed hall at Simeone's sudden appearance, not for his leather and chain mail, with a sword at his hip, but for his knightly tabard, which was the deep, vibrant purple colour of the orchids of the Jhan Valley, a single headed golden eagle, displayed, proudly sewn onto his chest. Torches burned above head height all the way down the hall, interspersed with the banners of Lord Coraluna and his various vassals.

"Who the bloody hell is that?" a voice shouted, breaking the silence. By that time, Belsaff and Jose and fallen in behind Simeone, with Leoric, Alyssa and Ázëwyn remaining in the shadows of the archway.

"Ser Oberyn of the House Starblayde," Belsaff proudly declared in a clear, loud voice.

"Never 'eard of 'im," the first voice shouted back.

"I vouch for him," boomed Leoric, as he stepped into the light, "and the future Lady Coraluna does, also."

The assembled warriors, and Lord Coraluna himself, immediately rose to their feet as their eyes fell upon Alyssa. She acknowledged their gallantry with the nod of her head, and the room was silent as she walked the length of the centre aisle created by the benches to the dais, where she was met by the Lord. He kissed her hand daintily and offered her a place at his right side. Various honoured guests shifted their seats down the table to make room for her, and once she was seated, the guests in the hall did the same. All save one.

This knight, tall and broad, did not sit. His tabard was white - at least originally it must have been, grubby and stained as it was, the original colour was still clear - with a blue stripe running from the top right to the bottom left, which someone with the passing knowledge of heraldry would know as a bend, sinister.

"You can vouch for whomever you like, fat one, and, my Lady, I do not know of your expertise in the field". the knight in blue and white spat out his words, glaring and pointing at Leoric, "I'll listen to you, Leoric, when I want my meat charred beyond recognition. Until then, I do not recognise a false omen, nor this so-called knight's immediate authority over our my van."

"Rodrigo," Alyssa said, calmly, "the gathering is of an accord. The omen has been declared, and sighted. To challenge this means trial by combat."

"Done," Rodrigo said immediately, shocking the gathered assembly. "Weapon!"

Oh boy. Simeone thought, shortly followed, for some reason, by Sargossa. Jose stepped back a pace, then another five.

Somehow, faster than Simeone could consciously process, Ser Rodrigo had been handed a great trident of black iron, some seven feet in length. The central prong, longer than the other two, had a wicked barbed point, while the two side prongs had small curved additions to the blades, making them ideal for ripping and tearing. Rodrigo was taller than Simeone, and broader too. He was also striding straight towards the once and future President of the World Cup Committee at a warrior's pace.

Barely in time he was able to draw his sword and deflect the first, almost lazy thrust from Rodrigo's evil-looking weapon aimed directly at his chest. The knight was evidently dismissive of Simeone's, or Oberyn's, abilities. Those assembled at the feast were still quiet. Ser Rodrigo, known for his physical style, versus the completely unknown newcomer in Ser Oberyn. Simeone again deflected a blow, this time a back-swing swipe across his chest that he guided wide. He didn't spot, however, the pointed base of the trident swinging around towards his unprotected head. Simeone threw up his arm to ward off the blow and grimaced as a sickening crunch of metal on chain mail against the meaty part of his shoulder brought a grimace to his face. Simeone rolled through the blow, acrobatically moving across the floor as Rodrigo's footwork kept up with his evasion. Another swing of the trident that required Simeone to throw himself backwards, sword clanging against the prongs of the trident as he desperately tried to keep it from touching him.

"Are you going to fight or dance, purple one?" Rodrigo bellowed, advancing again. Despite the great reach of his weapon, he was evidently so angry that he continually closed the distance to Simeone, giving up his advantage. If Simeone could get inside the deadly swing, he knew he could even the odds. With a striker's awareness he danced away, adding a pirouette to further provoke the knight's annoyance. He stepped neatly over, around and onto the benches and tables, scattering onlookers as they tried to get out of his, and more importantly Rodrigo's, way.

"Stand... and... fight!" Rodrigo shouted with his swings, each slower than the last. Simeone could see his opponent breathing hard. The food and drink that made a for full stomach, the heavy armour, the anger and the effort of continually swinging his heavy trident were all slowing Ser Rodrigo down. It wasn't just Simeone who could see it, the knights in the room could do. Simeone's cardio, awareness and footwork was just too good for Rodrigo's blind charge. It was only a matter of time.

Patiently, like the forward waiting for that one opportunity when he's actually onside and the defender makes a mistake in tracking the path of the ball, he blocked and dodged and avoided and deflected, again and again. His heart pounded in his chest, sweat formed on his brow and his right arm grew heavier and heavier from defending himself. His pulled his left arm tight to his body, trying to ease the pain on his shoulder and upper arm muscles. There, finally, was a thrust he could use. Lower and slower than the ones before it, slightly to his left of centre, rather than aiming straight for his heart as before. Simeone stepped inside with his left foot, avoiding the razor-sharp barbed edge of the trident, and wrapped his left arm around the pole, keeping the stabbing section firmly behind his back. Rodrigo's first instinct was to pull his trident back, but that only brought Simeone's weapon closer. With a yell, Simeone brought the blade across Rodrigo's chest, mere inches from decapitating him. Ser Rodrigo flinched, then let his arms drop, his trident falling to the ground with a of heavy clang. It was over.

"Ser Oberyn leads the van!" Leoric shouted, breaking the silence. He was joined by a roar of knightly voices as the torches flared brighter, powerful flames.

"Oh, boy." Simeone sighed.

---

Korra Starblayde in her first shoot
for Starblaydi Vogue, March 2226 edition

The three sharp whistles from the referee brought the game to a close, and Julius Starblayde sighed, along with the majority of his guests. A 1-0 loss at home to Sargossa was not the way the Lord-Protector's football viewing parties were meant to go. The great and the good of Starblaydi society were always invited, and nearly always turned up, to the Palace's invites to watch Starblaydia on the world stage. It was a tradition that went back almost two centuries to the time of Tiberius Starblayde.

This time it had served as the official debut of Korra Starblayde, however besides the initial greetings, she had largely made herself scarce throughout the match. Julius knew she had never understood, or been a fan of, football, but this was practically a national duty.

"Someone switch over to the Yttribia game," he called, to no-one in particular but in the knowledge that one of his staff would change the channel, "sounds like at least one team in purple is doing well tonight."

He eased himself out of his chair and walked through the connecting rooms of the palace, hardly noticing the guests who were leaving on the final whistle, the ones who had paid zero attention to the game, and the ones who were enjoying the finest beverages Starblaydia had to offer a little too much. He knew where she'd be. In a side room, one of the private offices, there she was, pouring over a monitor and continually tapping away at a keyboard.

"What are you doing?" he asked, his hands on his hips.

"PMC," she said, never looking up from her screen, "transporting NBC WMDs, technically violating the WA-NAPA, not that we're a signatory but it never hurts. Almost done."

Julis was about to say something when a Starblaydi General, her dark green uniform jacket decorated in ribbons from various campaigns, neatly sidestepped him as he stood in the doorway and delivered an 'Ultra Secret, Praetoran Eyes Only' folder to Korra, who took it, and the offered salute, replying with one of her own. She opened the folder as the General left, who also saluted Julius on the way out, and poured through the information. Julius opened his mouth.

"A Private Military Company," Korra interuppted, "of which Starblaydia has many, are illegally moving Weapons of Mass Destruction in nuclear, biological and chemical forms, to some of their facilities. It's violating the World Assembly's Nuclear Arms Possession Act. Now, we're not signed up to the WA at all, but this is the sort of thing that only leads to trouble, and won't look good at all were it to come out."

"Well," Julius tried to process everything at once, "why are... how did... what... who? Huh?"

"The Duchy of Sideria is a powerful position," she said, with an unguarded smile that, for a moment, made him forget what was happening, "second only to the Lord-Protectorship itself. Essentially the same thing. So, this PMC - which is actually owned by one of our Honourable Representatives in the Sjarondai, interestingly, is acquiring the capability, tonight, to cause destruction and death on an inordinate scale."

"One of our parliamentarians has a private army?" Julius was dumbstruck.

"Darling," Korra looked up him with the air of one you'd tell a five year old why they couldn't have sweets before bedtime, "everyone has a private army, it's how we keep the defence expenditure so low. I've got one, Orcinus has got one, Ediraf has got one. The only reason you don't have one is because you have, well, the army."

"Di Bradini's ghost!" Julius shouted a little too loudly, even for the Lord-Protector in his own palace. "Why on earth does a sportswear company have an army? To guard to football boots?"

"Don't be silly," she tapped at her keyboard some more, "they make money by hiring them out around the world. Nobody uses PMCs in Starblaydia itself."

"Except for right now?"

"Except for right now," Korra confirmed, clicking her mouse in a definitive gesture and leaning back in her chair. "The Starblaydi army, supported by police and a certain loyal PMC are moving in to acquire, apprehend and ideally not assault the naughty men and women in question."

"I think I need some time to process this."

"Take all the time you want, honey," she said, glancing at the screen. "You have about... twenty-three minutes before this is done and you have my complete attention. How was your little game on the television; did you win?"

"No," he said, stone-faced.

[Brenecia]

Qasden 1-3 Brenecia
(4-2-3-1 / 4-1-4-1) 1 - Woodgate; 2 - Szukala, 5 - Scrivener (c), 18 - Uffington, 3 - Lovelock; 4 - Gryphon (c), 8 - Skorupska (16 - Drover 51'); 7 - Trevelyan, 11 - Balliol (Ruffan 79'), 13 - Keohane; 14 - Lynch (9 - Rankin 72')
Goal: Trevelyan 9', Drover 62', Rankin 77'

If Ursula Rankin ever took one of those Boney personality tests, they'd probably have to invent a new one for her - hyper-competitor.
Rankin had backed herself at a young age to leave for AFC Endeavour, cursed to be roughly the same age in the same side and position as Alpha Gandhi. When it became clear that she wasn't going to get the chance to start for them regularly, she left for Wye United and carved out a path for herself there - and then, when that stopped working out due to the ANL withdrawing from UICA, skipped town for Tanrisal. But she'd fallen out of favour with them, lately. Next move on the horizon, then.
She was also, apparently, out of favour with Catherine Bardsley. She hadn't been consulted about this. She didn't approve. Just, the beanpole Lynch was starting over her for the crunch matches now. And he could run fast, and he was tall, and eager, sure. But... he wasn't a natural finisher.
Rankin was.
So it wasn't too surprising to see her thrown on with Brenecia 2-1 up away against a hard-nosed Qasden side eager to get back into the match. Brenecia wasn't looking too convincing at the back, as Rankin had to admit and would have no trouble telling anyone. Uffington looked on edge, replacing the injured Bradden. But Drover had added some more punch to midfield, and now she was coming on. The finisher.
She trotted on. She'd never been especially fast, and was now decidedly ordinary in that regard - but she was fast enough. It was all about making the right runs, and how good you were at very quick sprints at very short notice over limited distances. And it it was now her job to sit off the shoulder off the tiring Miacaro, inserting herself into an uncertain-looking Qad defence... they all shuffled uncertainly. She was a different kind of threat to Lynch, and everyone knew how to deal with it, but only the Patriots knew how to respond to it. The fullbacks and wingers would aim their crosses lower, Balliol would aim for the short, clever through-balls... anything that would put Rankin in the box with the ball. It was how she'd scored sixty-five goals for the national team before. It was how she'd visualised, as always, scoring her sixty-sixth here and now.
The Qads had been somewhat resurgent of late, pressing and harrying the Patriots but unable to seriously test Woodgate in Brenecia's goal. They'd been dominant in possession lately, and unlike Lynch, who'd missed a couple of decent chances already, Rankin was ruthless enough to get the job done. And that would just release all the pent-up pressure...
Xandreas fired, frustrated, from distance - jockeyed into impotence by Gryphon - and it was a comfortable catch for Woodgate. The Myrmidon goalkeeper sized up his angles and then hurled the ball down the wing. Lovelock took it past a surprised Champion Veltz and played a tasty one-two with Gryphon, who released her further down the wing essentially unopposed. All this movement as the Brenecians surged forward and the Qads frantically backpedalled, Lovelock slid the ball across to Keohane who just calmly threaded the needle between Rees and Miacaro. Rankin gave both the slip and, with practically her first significant touch of the game, hit it low, hard and, sizing up Abbott's positioning, inside his near post to take him by surprise.
It worked.

She celebrated, of course, with the traditional set of fistpumps and grabbing people in blue, but behind she was conscious of gears and cogs clicking and Bardsley shouting. Burly defensive midfielder Matt Ruffan replaced Balliol, she side shifted backwards as a whole and just let the Qads at them with the worst they could bring to bear. They had twenty minutes to score twice.
And they didn't, of course. That was Brenecia's lot, nowadays - all sturdy discipline.
But... they'd needed her goal for that security. To take the pressure off, to let them sit back. And she could grin, and take some satisfaction in that. They all thought she was yesterday's woman - for club and for country. Club she could change, but she was sort of stuck with her country... all she could do was make sure that the country, for the forseeable future, was stuck with her as well.

BRENECIAN NATIONAL TEAM SELECTION - FORTNIGHT 2
Goalkeepers: 1 - Mathis Woodgate (Myrmidon, CEN), 12 - Geneva Urquhart (Olympia FC, EFL), 20 - Rostyn Calhoun (Cenial United, CEN)
Defenders: 2 - Czeslawa Szukala (Phalanx AF, CEN), 3 - Ophelia Lovelock (Sabrefell Athletic, NPH), 5 - Anaximander Scrivener (Brigham, EUR), 6 - Niko Szubanski (Rozelle), 18 - Brun Carrack (Lotus Park), 19 - Gethin Quill (Revolutionaries, EUR), 22 - Rostyn Bradden (Lajuno, EUR)
Midfielders: 4 - Catherine Gryphon (Starling, NPH, c), 7 - Squire Trevelyan (FC Jansberg, SEM), 8 - Aleksandra Skorupska (Trothwands Evolution, OSR), 10 - Adelina Macbeth (Club Stein-los, PAS), 11 - Sander Balliol (Tanrisal, PAS), 13 - Keohane (Ramusok United, COS), 15 - Caitriona Hamilton (Westpike United), 16 - Elsie Drover (OAS Royal FC, COS), 21 - Meghan Hartsdown (Kings Park, SCT), 23 - Matt Ruffan (Halholzer United, MBT)
Forwards: 9 - Ursula Rankin (Tanrisal, PAS), 14 - Fionn Lynch (SC Rinaldi, VAL), 17 - Fox Charnwood (Hellinic-Rouge, PAS)

SCHEDULE
Brenecia 2-1 Yesopalitha
Goluta 0-1 Brenecia
Brenecia 2-0 Savojarna
Qasden 1-3 Brenecia
Brenecia vs. Tobiasia
Port Christopher vs. Brenecia
Brenecia vs. EEC
Poggers vs. Brenecia
Bye

[Spaam]

"Merlara, Spaam are overwhelming favourites - you're at home, you're on a three game winning streak, your opponents haven't even scored a single goal this year. Do you think we will see a record fourth win in a row tonight?"

Merlara Sehelin, star striker for the Spaamanian national team, was sitting in the press conference an hour before the game against Parakos. She was sitting between her captain, Farlinar Reyen and her coach, Hewelan Faaberos in the official media centre, in front of a number of journalists.

"That's our hope, and you'll be sure we'll be giving it our all," Merlara replied in her usual upbeat tone. "But we can't afford to take any team for granted, because we've seen a lot of upsets already this year."

"Hewelaan, you've clearly got a star goal-scorer in Merlara," - Merlara grinned at this - "but Urk has been matching her so far this season, and some are calling him one of the best in the world. How do you deal with having two big talents like them on your team?"

Hewelan chuckled. "I'd call it a blessing from Margaret, honestly. But having great strikers is only a part of the equation - we've got a world-class team defensively, and scoring goals won't win you games if you can't stop them as well. And no offense to Merlara, or Urk, but they can only score goals if they have a midfield that puts them into that position in the first place."

"No offense," Merlara added, "'cos I've said this whole time that I'm lucky to have such great teammates. Every goal I score is a team effort."

"Farlinar, Urk is reportedly a man, or zucchini rather, of very few words. How is he to lead, as captain?"

"Urk is a true professional - he trains hard, he plays hard, he does exactly what is needed of him at every point. He is quite..." Farlinar searched for the word, "stoic... sure, but he makes my job easy. So I really can't complain."

"Hewelan, of course tonight's match against Parakos is important, but the real test is next month when you take on Gregoryisgodistan away. They're the top seeds and are overwhelming favourites to win. How will you be preparing for that match?"

"Honestly, we haven't even thought that far ahead," replied Hewelan. "We are focused on winning this game only. Now, if you excuse us, we have to go do that!"

---

Four goals later...

---

"Well, that was pretty good!" Briddara Ralora was in the locker rooms after the match, with the other female members of the team.

Takilia Mialee threw her jersey at Briddara's head. "That's a bit of an understatement, Bri. That was our biggest ever!"

Briddara laughed and threw the jersey back. "Yeah, yeah, I get it. Thalia's goal clinched it though, she was a star!"

Merlara Sehelin threw her arms around her vice-captain Thalia Fenzana. "Is your head sore after that header, Thalia? That was a screamer!"

"Pffft, it's fine." Thalia extracted herself from Merlara's hug. "Not my first goal, you know! Besides, isn't that, like, your fifth game in a row you've scored in, Merlara?"

Briddara threw her own jersey at Merlara. "That's right! Total legend!"

"Hey, team effort, remember!" Merlara threw Briddara's jersey into the pile of dirty gear as she retorted. "But that double from Urk was killer... he's a beast!"

Takilia sniggered. "Literally!"

Thalia gave her young protege a withering look. "Hey, we don't talk like that here, remember, Taki."

"Sorry, Thalia," apologised the young midfielder. "But you have to admit, he doesn't seem... you know. I don't think he's said a single word the whole time he's been with us."

"The kid is right, Thalia," added Eletha Gilhana. "He plays like a star, but off the field... he's not aaruth."

Thalia looked carefully at her elven elder. "That's a serious thing to say, orga."

"I'm just saying what I see," replied Eletha, "and you know you've felt it too."

"What does 'aaruth' mean, Merlara?" whispered Takilia.

"It's from old elven tales about people made from earth that were imbued with magic, and made to do the whims of, uh, juzages," Merlara replied in a soft voice. "Powerful magicians. Not something you'd normally say about people."

Takilia shuddered. "That sounds creepy!"

"It's just a scary story they tell naughty kids in West Spaam," Merlara shrugged. "But Thalia and Eletha seem to think that it's something more. I don't think we need to worry though."

Takilia looked doubtfully at her friend, but walked away quietly in any case.

Thalia clapped her hands loudly to get her team's attention. "Let's go everyone, get changed! We get to party tonight, but you know Hewelan will get us training hard tomorrow. Gregoryisgodistan will be out to get us, and you've heard the stories. So don't keep us waiting girls!"

---

In the team compound, while the Spaamanians celebrated their win, Urk lay down on his bunk. Nothing happened.

[Schottia]

The Tale of Paul Thompson

Part five.

Winning

Fifty-two years ago.

“Ladies and Gentlemen, Boys and Girls. Prepare to be dazzled and amazed beyond your wildest imaginations."

The screen remained dark at first, but slowly, around the edges at first, a flickering of lights became visible. It was from the early days of colour television, so the graininess of the picture quality only added to the air of suspense by obscuring what was going on.

“Please, welcome to the stage, brought to you on the winds of magic: The Lord of Sorcery...."

The music slowly got louder, as at last, the silhouette of a man came into focus, stood in the middle of the screen.

“The one, the only.... The Great... CONJURE!"

There was a flash of early pyrotechnic light and red smoke, as the scene burst into life. Dancers and acrobats spun around on the stage, jumping through hoops, doing summersaults, as they encircled the figure stood in the centre. He was tall, and dressed immaculately from head to foot. He donned a crisp dinner suit and bowtie, complete with polished shoes you could see your face in, and a tall silk top hat.

The camera panned. As he moved around the stage, he threw his cloak over young woman, causing her to seeming disappear. He removed his hat sending a flock of doves up into the air. He clicked his finger to reveal whole sets of playing cards, which he sent spinning around the stage like boomerangs. There was a confidence, a grace, and a showmanship to the way he moved. The whole time gasps and cheers from the attentive audience accompanied every thing he did...


Immediately following the Abristan match, Harbour Hill Stadium, Schottia (WC77Qs)

'There was a confidence, a grace, and a showmanship to the way you moved out there Evelyn.' The SBC News reporter said, as he cornered her at the end of the tunnel, brandishing a microphone a little to close to her face. 'I think we've all noticed the way you've grown as a player over the last eighteen months. Do you feel, in yourself, that that was a good performance?'

'Eh, yeah.' Evelyn might have spend half her life being filmed, but there was a big difference between being on a camera during matches, and the pressure of being required to say something intelligent. '...yeah, ehm. Y'know it was one of those matches which was all about keeping our concentration - I feel anyway. Abristan are much improved from the start of the campaign, and... It's obvious from watching them play, that they could take a couple of scalps in the remaining matches.' Evelyn glanced at the reporter, who was nodding his head, hoping to get some more. She couldn't help but wonder how badly she'd need to start waffling before he pulled the microphone away. She had played witness to a few of Eoin Killanen's interviews, and those were the most dour, least insightful spiel she had ever heard.

'It wasn't the same, all singing, all dancing displays we have seen in previous matches, but you got the job done.' The reporter's patter felt rehearsed, like he'd already thought all this through. 'What do you think the difference is, from previous cycles?'

Evelyn wiped a drop of sweat from the end of her nose. 'Eh... Well, I mean, the manager has been fantastic, I think. In terms of the motivation, and the togetherness. Winning the Independents Cup was a huge morale boost. And Eoin took his goals well today of course. Having a world-class player in the side, gives you an advantage normally reserved for the top-ten ranked nations; so we are incredible lucky in that regard.' Ha! Check out that for some top-notch analysis. She could imagine her Blue Coast teammates watching this, crammed into Chad Duquez's cinema theatre, giving her a cheer.

'Indeed.' The reporter was nodding, a smile creeping into the corner of his mouth, and it should have been a warning of what was to follow. 'And, of course, you were able to "conjure" up a little magic yourself.' This was one of those occasions when Evelyn had to take a deep breath and smile politely. 'What was going through your head when you played that pass through to Eoin Killanen for his second goal?'

Really? SBC reporters were now lowering themselves to pulling cheap puns. 'Eh yeah. Well I know what Eoin's capable of, and when I saw the space open up for him, I knew there was a chance he could get on the end of it. Jackson Twente had been a bit slow all evening, and hopefully I managed to wrong foot him.'

'Well it was a superb assist and it got the great finish it deserved.' The reported was handed a bottle of Champaign by his PA, who stood directly behind him. 'Evelyn Conjure that was another solid performance in green and white. You certainly Abri Kadabra'd us another three points with that win over Abristan. And it is my pleasure to present you with this, as SBC Player-of-The-Match.'

---

Evelyn let herself drop down onto the bench, which ran around the edge of the changing room. Ninety minutes in the engine room of the midfield was always tough, no matter what game it was. When she had seen Johannas Ünterhausen warming up on the touch line with twenty minutes to go, she was certain it would be her getting hooked. However, and much to her surprise, it was Kim Coultan who went off the standing ovation. Evelyn supposed she should have taken it was a compliment, that the gaffer thought she had more left in the tank.

'Nice one Evelyn.' Accompanied a slap on the firm shoulder from Eoin Killanen. Evelyn... She was Evelyn here, not Ev, Eve, or Eveie. This kind of underlined the fact that she was an unknown quantity, an alien, and outsider. While it would be unfair to say that there were cliques in the dressing room, there were natural groupings; and as a Super-League player, she was viewed with a mild air of suspicion. Here it was different, she was a small fish in a big pool, and was yet to find her place.

'Thanks.' She answered, holding up the expensive looking bottle briefly, as if it were a trophy. The label looked weathered, which was likely a sign of age, and therefore exclusivity - if not quality. All the same, she couldn't help put pick at the foil around the neck; a nervous habit.

'Think you can pull a performance like that out of your hat every week?' Killanen smirked, and his chest inflated a little, clearly thinking his joke had some originality to it. It's amazing how deep family traditions and tie can run in a person. Eoin could no more shake of the "idiotic son of a sweary, lower-league football manager tag," than Evelyn could the magician one. Everything a person said and did was viewed from a lens of some description.

No matter how hard you tried to forge your own path, no matter how many thickets you beat you way through, you inevitably ended up walking the same path as your parents. Evelyn had gone into sport in a bit to get as far away as possible from magic industry. When her father started trying to teach her card tricks, she knew she needed to prove to him that her interests lay elsewhere. However, despite running in the opposite direction, she had somehow collided face first with the entertainment industry. The parallels with her life, and that of her father and grandfather were now uncanny. Maybe there was more of The Lord of Sorcery in her than she cared to admit. It was as if her path had taken her across the stormiest seas, through the thickest jungles, over the tallest mountains, and brought her all the way round the world, back to her own kitchen table.

'Yeah.' Evelyn shrugged in reply, as she suddenly felt a pang of sympathy for her teammate. 'I guess I'll have to see what I can conjure up!'

[Gregoryisgodistan]

From the Desk of Lord Almighty Gregory

To: Robert Nicholls, Consul, Free Republics
Classification: Highly Classified

Dear Consul Nicholls,

I am writing in response to your offer to pay "whatever it takes" to bring the Taxachussan slaves back to Free Republics. I appreciate your offer and feel we can negotiate. The total number of slaves is 20 percent of your former population prior to former President Elizabeth deporting them, which some simple math tells us is 25 percent of the current population, less population changes since then. However, many slaves have died under the conditions, or even committed suicide, perhaps emboldened by the Republican ideal of "live free or die." As a result, about 75,000 slaves remain on our overseas slave islands, in addition to the slaves which have already been sent to Quebec, which we no longer control.

Quebec provided us with approximately 1,000 nuclear warheads in exchange for 50,000 slaves, which works out to about one warhead per 50 slaves. We feel similar terms are reasonable in this situation, though if you are not willing to provide us with 1,500 nuclear warheads, there are other options. We will accept any of the following in exchange for every 50 slaves. You do not have to provide us with only one thing - you can, for instance give us 500 nuclear warheads in exchange for 25,000 slaves and 10,000 machine guns for the other 50,000. Here is the list:

1 nuclear warhead
3 fighter jets
10 machine guns
0.05 aircraft carriers (however you may not give us a fraction of an aircraft carrier, rather you may give us one aircraft carrier for every 1,000 slaves)
3 military submarines
100 grenades
NS$10,000,000, to be put towards uses of our choice, in the event you do not wish to provide us with weapons. However, the money may go towards that anyway

Additionally, you agree to pay all transportation costs and handle all arrangements for transporting the slaves from the overseas slave islands back to your country. As the slave islands have only a small military airstrip on each of the 20 islands and large planes cannot land there, it would probably be most efficient to transport them via boat to a nearby neutral country and then fly them home on large jets. The slave islands are about 5,000 miles from Gregoryisgodistan, so taking them here by boat would take a while, but if that is what you want, that is acceptable too. Or you can take them by boat all the way to the Free Republics.

Please let me know if you wish to accept this offer, and how you want to distribute the deal. I feel we should be able to work together on this to provide a mutually agreeable solution.

Keep in mind this communication is highly classified, and if you or anyone else leaks it to the press before a deal is finalized, this offer shall be null and void and the slaves shall remain slaves forever.

Thank you, and please respond via the same channels at your earliest convenience.

Sincerely,

Lord Almighty Gregory

[Apox]

Luxulya St. Cleer was sat in the dugout, taking notes on the teams performance as per usual. So regular and so furious was this note taking that in certain parts of the press she was now known as "The Notetaker". She had even heard that there was a webpage which purely tracked the amount of time she spent taking notes during matches, both in terms of minutes and in terms of percentages. Probably written by students, they must be the only ones to have enough time to write something so inane.

Let them laugh anyway. She'd always been meticulous, hardworking and slightly OCD. She'd spent hours and hours practicing hitting free-kicks in one specific area when she was at Crisisbless and had always been the most prepared when it came to watching the research videos compiled for the squad improve their knowledge on their opponents. Her mother always insisted that she could've been a lawyer, with her attention to detail and dedication. Probably one of the few things which would have made her as wealthy as she was anyway.

It didn't matter. Football was her passion. She'd been a damn fine defensive midfielder in her day, one of the best. And now she was going to be a damn fine manager. One of the best. And, incredibly, the first female to manage the national team, she hoped. Gavin Hughes was standing on the edge of the area, shouting instructions to Alpha Gandhi to track back more. She'd given up even writing that as an area for Alpha to improve on in her notebook - for all his talent as a striker, he was a terrible defender.

They were just about holding onto a 1-0 lead against Mattijana, after James Palmisano's free-kick which had curled over the wall into the top left corner, one of those ones the keeper simply couldn't do anything about. Strong player, James.

She looked up. That was the third time Wizzard had completely lost his marker in the last five minutes. Down it went into the notebook. He'd been a player of quite some promise, pre-hiatus, but it had definitely affected his development in defensive midfield. Especially as it wasn't his natural position. She wondered how long Gavin would give him before he had a look at other options, as young Bryton Menheniot was progressing faster than anyone could have anticipated.

Looking up again, Pinsent Benzari now being muscled off the ball by a Mattijanan defender. He's a stronger lad than that, tall like his father. Down it went into the notebook. "Don't be afraid of the foul. Defender has to be the most careful." A shout. Gavin. She stood up and walked over. Time to discuss substitutions no doubt.

APX 1-0 MAT Palmisano J. 30'
APX: Anaximander -- Treloquithack, Raynerson, Jekyll, Redmond -- Mormentor (Ibrox 63') -- Townsend, Palmisano J., Benzari -- Palmisano L. (Gandhi O. 77'), Gandhi A.
MAT: Not given

A nervy win for Apox, but ultimately one which the team and Gavin Hughes will be happy with. The defence were excellent all game, especially Imhotep Jekyll who has grown into being on of the key players in this team so far. Wizzard Mormentor once again looked nervy which raises question of whether he's up to it at this level, as the Mattijanan players found him a useful outlet to run their attacks through. However, the dynamic of the game changed considerably in the 30th minute after Alpha Gandhi was fouled just outside the box, Mattijana conceding a free-kick which James Palmisano promptly tucked away with an absolute worldy of a kick. After that, Apox were able to ease into the game a bit, and came close to scoring a second on multiple occasions, Lucan Palmisano being quite wasteful with his chances and some excellent defending from Mattijana keeping the score at one-nil, even if they rarely threatened the Apoxian goal in the second half.

[Abanhfleft]

Once again, I don't have the time to do much more than a match report. I really hope to be able to get some longer RPs out soon. But while that's not happening, enjoy my match reports.

CRESCENT NEWS NETWORK
SPORTS CHANNEL - OFFICIAL WEBSITE
ABANHFLEFT • PRIDNESTROVIA • OONTAZ DERT LI NG • COPPER CUPRUM • TRENDSTART • FHULGHAMOUS PENINSULA

WORLD CUP 78 QUALIFIERS: LÖPSTEGL VS ABANHFLEFT
By Malik Qazizadah


Löpstegl's Reinn Halldorsson celebrates completing his hat trick in the World Cup qualifying match against Abanhfleft. (Courtesy of Crescent News Network Sports Channel/Andros Tasasa)

LÖPSTEGL - Abanhfleft's poor form in the World Cup qualifiers continues as the Lady Revolutionaries slumped to a 4-4 draw against Löpstegl.

Chelsea Stuart kicked the Lady Revolutionaries into the lead with a strong strike into the roof of the net, but Reinn Halldorsson replied with a smashing strike of his own a little more than eleven minutes later to equalize for the hosts.

Alexandra Rousseau then pounced on a poor clearance from Thorstar Thormodsson to return the lead to the Fleftics, and Lillian Prescott's inswinging corner crept into the far post beyond the reach of the hapless Thormodsson.

Halldorsson's bullet header from Steinbjorn Bankisson's long ball reduced the deficit for Löpstegl, and substitute Eilif Isulsson equalized for the hosts once again courtesy of Leidolf Æiriksson's corner.

Stuart scored her second goal of the game six minutes after Isulsson's equalizer but Halldorsson completed his hat trick only four minutes later and ensured that Abanhfleft would go home with only a point, but not without last-ditch attempts from Cecilia Johnson and Regina Mesbros.

Where's the defensive solidity gone?
The last time that Abanhfleft's women have gone out to play in the biggest stage in international sports, they were able to maintain a good record of seven wins, five draws, and no losses as they qualified for the playoffs by virtue of their second-place finish.

But now it looks as if their qualification hopes are in jeopardy after a poor start in which the Lady Revolutionaries have earned only four points in three games.

Granted, the first game against San Jose Guayabal away was expected to be a tough contest, but conceding seven goals against two low-ranked sides in the competition (three of them own goals for an unranked and out-of-sorts Nellietopia) is not a good showing for a side expected to contest for the top spot in the qualifying group.

And the fact that Abanhfleft could not defend a tenuous one-goal lead against a low-ranked side like Löpstegl after doing the same thing against Nellietopia will certainly be cause for concern for Holly Jonasson.

Abanhfleft women's team manager Holly Jonasson: "This was just a poor showing for us, plain and simple. We are not playing like we should be playing. We have what it takes to overcome situations like this but today we fired a blank. It seems as if things are not going our way. We managed to hang on the last time we had a 4-3 lead but now we couldn't do the same. But this is the nature of football; it happens whether you like it or not and you just have to accept the result and move on to the next game. It's sad but it's the way of the world."

Abanhfleft will have a bye day for matchday four of the World Cup qualifiers before they face HUElavia at the Aeroflot Stadium in Rosenpfelblatz for their third game of the World Cup 78 qualifiers.

                   LÖPSTEGL 4 - 4 ABANHFLEFT
HALLDORSSON (18', 54', 80')       STUART (7', 76')
            ISULFSSON (70')       ROUSSEAU (24')
                                  PRESCOTT (41')

ABANHFLEFT
GK: 13 Foulke
RB: 2 Osgood
CB: 4 Jackson █ (Samaniego - 85')
LB: 3 Valentine
RM: 5 Maynard
LM: 6 Choi █
RW: 7 Prescott (Johnson - 74')
CAM: 10 Torres (Mesbros - 85')
LW: 8 Singh
RS: 9 Stuart
LS: 11 Rousseau

LÖPSTEGL
GK: 1 Thormodsson
RB: 7 Svartlingrsson
RCB: 3 Glamsson
CB: 10 Ragnvaldsson (lsulfsson - 68')
LCB: 5 Bollisson
LB: 9 Valthjofsson
RM: 14 Bankisson
CM: 12 Sigurdsson
LM: 11 Thidrandisson (Wengosson - 54')
RS: 22 Æiriksson (Ulfgrimsson - 79')
LS: 25 Halldorsson

STATISTICS
Possession
Löpstegl: 49%
Abanhfleft: 51%
Shots
Löpstegl: 10 (5 on target)
Abanhfleft: 15 (10 on target)
Corners
Löpstegl: 6
Abanhfleft: 9
Fouls
Löpstegl: 14
Abanhfleft: 22

[Free Republics]

Republica, Free Republics

Consul Robert Nicholls was, once again, alone in the Consul's mansion. Kyle Bolton, his co-Consul, was currently off in Malifornia at a New Republican Wrestling Conglomerate show. Bolton was there to team up with his wife Lucia and defend the NRWC World Mixed Tag Team Titles against the team of The Enemy Crusher and Slave Girl AbraKadabra, two wrestlers that were (allegedly) from Gregoryisgodistan but were actually just Acedonian and Nejan, respectively. They looked the part too, with The Enemy Crusher legit weighing over 500 pounds and with Slave Girl AbraKadabra wrestling in extremely skimpy lingerie. During their entrance, The Enemy Crusher had his "Slave Girl" on a leash that was placed tightly around her neck and carried a whip, which he would occasionally lash her with. The New Republican Wrestling Conglomerate was intent upon putting forward the appearance of being a multiversal organization, even moreso than its predecessor had been, so their roster was now filled with Republicans pretending to be from "exotic" nations.

Speaking of Gregoryisgodistan, they were currently the number one concern of Consul Nicholls. He had been totally unaware, until recently, of the deal made by the Taxachussan government that sent a large portion of their populace into slavery. The first he had heard of it had been when 50 thousand of these slaves were sold to Quebec in exchange for nuclear warheads. After making a public offer to purchase the slaves, he had received an official response from Lord Almighty Gregory, offering to sell him the remaining 75 thousand. The price was either a significant amount of military firepower, a significant amount of money or some combination thereof.

After checking exchange, Consul Nicholls determined that he would have to pay somewhere in the range of 30 billion thalers (NS$15 billion) to purchase all of the slaves without sending any weapons to Gregoryisgodistan. That proved to be an inherently unworkable idea as neither the Republican treasury nor his personal bank account could spare that kind of money. On the other hand though, he had to pay something in order to announce the plan to the public without arousing suspicions from press outlets aligned with Progressive and radical Christian groups, both of whom would likely attempt to turn this into some giant scandal that would be used to undermine the government and force his resignation. Consul Nicholls could not bear the thought of leaving Kyle Bolton in charge of the Free Republics for 3+ years when it was plainly evident that the kid had no interest in or talent at any sort of executive position. He also could not bear the thought of rushing an early election to choose his replacement, which would only create more political turmoil and possibly permit extremists to seize power in the FFR once again. But despite all of the possibility for scandal if his deal was uncovered, he decided to push ahead anyway.

Ultimately, he decided that approximately 3 billion thalers seemed like a reasonable cover, which would allow him to hand weapons to Gregoryisgodistan. Slowly, he concocted a plan for handing the weapons and cash over to the Gregoryisgodistanis and bringing the Taxachussans home secretly before officially announcing the deal to the press. He began writing back to Lord Almighty Gregory:

To: Lord Almighty Gregory
Classificiation: Highly Classified

Dear Lord Almighty Gregory,

I am writing in response to your offer of a deal for the 75 thousand remaining slaves. After thinking over your offer, I have decided that I will primarily send weapons to your nation but that I will need some sort of cover to keep the transfer of weapons a secret from hostile elements in my nation's press corps. Therefore, I am offering to pay a sum of NS$1.5 million in exchange for the first 7.5 thousand slaves, which will be publicly announced as the cost of the deal once the slaves are safely back on free soil.

In order to maintain maximum cover, I believe it would be ideal to transfer the slaves via one of my naval fleets making normal patrols in the rough vicinity of the Slave Islands and to exchange the weapons at that time. Enlisted men in my nation's military are instructed that certain missions are classified and that such missions are not to be discussed with anybody, even after they are no longer enlisted in the military, under penalty of court martial. Thus, my troops can be counted upon to keep secrets. I request that your press refrain from mentioning the source of these weapons or otherwise implying that they were obtained from the Republican government and I'd advise you that claiming that such weapons were purchased directly from our weapons industry could result in a PR disaster for those companies that would be unfortunate and risk exposing the deal. Although our nations are no longer enemies, due to the nature of your nation's political system, a large portion of my populace would be uncomfortable providing you with weapons. Unfortunately, naivete and idealism tend to be rampant amongst the electorate in nations like mine, as realpolitik is not something that the ordinary person is capable of understanding.

In addition to the NS$1.5 million, I am willing to offer the following:

200 nuclear warheads
300 fighter jets
4500 machine guns
15 aircraft carriers
300 military submarines
20,000 grenades

Keep in mind that my nation does not "officially" have nuclear weapons, so it would be extremely inconvenient, to say the least, if you were to reveal the existence of our nuclear stockpile. That portion of our deal, above all us, must remain secret so that we can continue to maintain our official position that the idiot O'Reilly was a liar and we do not actually have nuclear weapons.

Thank you for your generous offer to sell me those slaves so I can set them free. Please respond at your earliest convenience regarding whether these terms are acceptable to you or proposing further changes.

Sincerely,

C.R.N.

Fortunately, most of these weapons were about to be decommissioned even though they were still in perfectly good condition. The Republican military had a habit of purchasing new weapons on a regular basis and discarding the old ones so it would be trivially easy to hide the transfer of everything except the nuclear warheads but 200 of those was just a drop in the bucket for the Republicans, who possessed, "off the record" of course, sufficient nuclear warheads to eradicate the entire multiverse. A few of them mysteriously disappearing would probably never even be noticed and even if it was could be easily dismissed. Of course, the secret that the FFR had nukes was now out because Consul O'Reilly, in his infinite stupidity, had run around threatening to nuke other countries, but officially the Republican government still maintained that he had been bluffing and that their nation actually had no nukes but this was just a negotiating tactic to encourage other nations to dismantle their nuclear stockpiles.

After sending the message to Lord Almighty Gregory, Consul Nicholls turned on the news right as they were showing highlights of Republican National Soccer Team, LLC's draw with West Angola. He wished they'd spend less time talking about sports and more time talking about real issues but he understood that news is a business that exists to tell its customers what they want to hear and most people cared alot more about sports and celebrities than they did about business or economic policy. His junior Consul was proof enough of that...

[Port Christopher]

Port Christopher 2-0 The EEC Group
Goal: 57" Maitfield, 90+1" Quiñones

Line up: Torrance 6, Correlo 8, Gonclaves 7, Campbell 9, Dixon 6, Bronte 7, Nazario-Silva 7, Sanchez 7, Bandos 7 (70- Bensborg 4), Maitfield 7, Del Arro 7, Uist 6 (81-Quiñones 5)

Port Christopher managed to patch up their faltering World Cup campaign with a 2-0 win over the EEC Group. Port Christopher had found themselves in the strange position of suddenly being ranked 34th in the world, and it is possible that the pressure had been getting to their players. However, they took the first steps towards hauling themselves back into contention with this 2-0 home win over the 191st ranked side.

Jim Reid would have been glad of a full strength squad going into this game, with the pressure no doubt mounting on the 47-year-old. A home defeat to Qasden and a draw at Tobiasia would have no doubt made his ever-tenuous position, all the more fragile. The team have been struggling a little to adjust in this 'post Diego Bandos era' and arguably, this has been the first time things have clicked into place for them.

The normally rock-solid defence have looked a little shaky thus far, but the side got back to basics in this match, and stamped their authority on proceedings early on. Michael Campbell - fresh from helping Sabrefell Athletic to the Premiership title - was a commanding force, willing to put his foot on the ball and build from the back. The usually hot headed Tomas Nazario-Silva was much better in the first half, too, after what can only be described as some bellow par performances in the holding midfield role.

After a quiet opening half, Port Christopher began to crank up the pressure after the interval. Tony Uist first went close with a header from the edge of the area; before Rachel Del Arro tested the keeper with a good effort, which they did well to deflect wide. The strain was clearly mounting on the EEC defence, and in the 53rd minute, Tim Maitfield broke the deadlock. The skipper had been largely absent from the first half, but as Maeve Bronte's long punt forward caught the defence napping, he did what he does best, latching onto the loose ball to fire home with a powerful right footed drive.

If there is one thing in the world Port Christopher are good at, it is holding onto a narrow lead. The masters of bus parking set about trying to frustrate the EEC Group, breaking up play at any opportunity. There were but a smattering of chances in the closing stages, most notably a Liam Goncalves freekick, which went centimetres wide of the far post. Jim Reid's players were still dangerous on the counter attack however, and as the match entered the dying minutes, they got the killer second goal.

A powerful forward run from Rian Corrello sparked the move, which saw Tom Sanchez pick out substitute Aurora Quiñones. The Kelsy star had Del Arro to her right, but went for goal herself, converting into the bottom corner of the net for a rare international goal. There were to be no late upsets this time, and Port Christopher saw out the result to get a badly needed three points on the board.

It hasn't been the best of starts for the Sea Lions, but we can't get carried away at this stage in the proceedings. Group 14 is a very competitive one, and there is perhaps the chance that teams can take points from each other. Brenecia are the side setting the pace at the moment, but two sides go through, and Port Christopher have come back from worse situations than this in the past, and still gone through.

[Alasdair I Frosticus]

OOC - The Mammoth Compendium of World Cup Lies lives up to its name; you're free to believe it IC'ly, but please don't believe a word of these RPs OOC'ly. They're a compendium of lies.

THE MAMMOTH COMPENDIUM OF WORLD CUP LIES
World Cup 78 Qualification

Matchdays 4 – The Truth About Eshan

You’ve no doubt read the reports about Eshan… About ‘wonderkid’ goalkeeper Aurélian Gautier; about how central midfielder Artemis Montanari is ‘an incredibly cerebral player with world class vision and a passing ability to match’; about the ‘absolutely blistering pace’ and ‘lethality in front of goal’ of central forward Anthony Baudelio; about how the Echani national team ‘plays a high-energy attacking game’ in a 4-3-3 formation (arguably more of a 4-2-1-3) – which under normal circumstances would make them an exciting match for the Holy Empire’s attacking 3-5-2 formation. Alas, the Mammoth Compendium of World Cup Lies can finally reveal the truth about this ostensibly exciting Echani team…

It doesn’t exist.

‘But, Mammoth Compendium authors’ we hear our loyal readership cry, ‘we watched the Echanis take on the Holy Empire in a stutifyingly dull 0-0 draw last night, a match that we’d rather slit our wrists than force ourselves to watch again; how two such exciting attacking teams could play such dull football escapes us, but we definitely watched the match’.

Well, you certainly thought you watched the match. We’re in the position to reveal otherwise…

When the monks from the Archregimancy set up the portal in Eshan to bring the Echanis into the Dreamed Realm, we were genuinely looking forward to the match. Could cosmic gigolo and former God-Emperor of Audioslavia John Palaeologo shut down the talented Baudelio? Would the multiverse conquering former pop star Miguel Attaliates – of ‘Bing-a-Bong-a-Boo (Shama-Lama-Loo)’ fame – prove the equal of Montanari’s silky passing skills? Would Iago Sphrantzes’ experimental multimedia performance art bamboozle the still young and naïve Gautier? Would the Tzimisces – Di Bradini management team out-think young Alexio del Nieran on the Echani benc?

We will never know.

The minute the Echanis passed through the portal, the TRUTH was revealed… This is no real football team, but rather a mental construct willed into being by the Echani nation. The residents of the Republic of Eshan believe that they have a top-50 national football team, and this collective belief has been enough to will the team into some form of shadowy existence in Ordinary Reality – largely because all of the other mundy nations have accepted the collective Echani hallucination as real. Therefore the entirety of Ordinary Reality believes in the reality of a football team that doesn’t actually exist.

They think, therefore it is.

Dreamed Realm denizens might be superficially impressed at the extent that this effort of will has created its own reality. Is this not the very essence of the Dreamed Realm? The problem is that the Echanis are not the result of the manipulation of reality, but rather of a collective mental delusion; a mass hallucination that has infected the entirety of Ordinary Reality. As a result, the minute the Eshan team passed through the portal, they ceased to exist.

As you can imagine, this put HEFA in a spot of bother. Any attempt to reveal the TRUTH could have resulted in the collapse of any number of mundy civilisations as the enormity of the Echani mass hallucination became more widely known. The blood of billions, the ashes of countless cities, the cries of untold numbers of innocents could have been on the hands of the Holy Empire. The consequences were unthinkable.

Better to pretend a football match was taking place.

So if it looked to Imperial citizens like the Holy Empire was aimlessly passing the ball around last night, and more or less ignoring the existence of the opposition last night – well, that’s because it’s hard to play a team that isn’t there. And it’s even harder to pretend the team that isn’t there really is there when there are only 11 men on the pitch. Still, our lads did their best; and if they looked a little listless on the night, who can blame them?

Let’s just not tell the mundies what we discovered last night; it might literally kill them…

[Tobiasia]

Tobiasia 3-0 Poggers

GK-Percy Matthews
LCB-Katrina Zeya
RCB-Paul Goldsmith
DM-Arthur Slim
LM-Harry Lithgow (Y)
RM-Sally Urtup (Goal '79)
SW-Frank Woods
CM-Flint Eastgate
ST-Fraser Philips (Goal '27)
LW-Lee Ryans
RW-Rosa Uzeke (Goal '32)

The Tigers have won another victory that puts them close to a possible qualification in group 14. Today's win meant Tobiasia is now placed 3rd in the group.

The match from the outset seemed to favour Tobiasia. The home crowd in the Ark of Tobiasia spurred on the Tobiasian attack as time and time again they made inroads into the Poggerian defence. Flint Eastgate, performing in a CM position, successfully managed on two occasions to slam the ball out of the Tobiasian half. The first goal came after a counterattack by Tobiasia. Eastgate knocked it up to Urtup, who crossed it to Philips who scored, chipping the ball into the corner of the net. Next came Lithgow on the left wing, who sent it round two defenders onto the foot of Uzeke, who slammed it in with a beautiful volley. Finally the last was the most spectacular, with a run from the Tobiasian half all the way by Urtup, playing the ball past the defence with blistering speed to knock it in with ease.

High scorers
Fraser Philips: 2
Rosa Uzeke: 2
Lee Ryans: 1
Sally Urtup: 1

TTV Rating
GK-Percy Matthews: 93
LCB-Katrina Zeya: 86
RCB-Paul Goldsmith: 87
DM-Arthur Slim: 71
LM-Harry Lithgow: 90
RM-Sally Urtup: 95
SW-Frank Woods: 76
CM-Flint Eastgate: 89
ST-Fraser Philips: 96
LW-Lee Ryans: 84
RW-Rosa Uzeke: 92

[Brigantii]

Stags stutter and stumble to 3 points
Brigantii's national team claim first victory in qualifying

Brigantii travelled to the Isles of Avon hoping for a win after failing to take maximum points from their opening two fixtures. The game however wouldn't prove simple as the hosts were top of group 7, following three wins from three.

In a back and fourth slog the match saw the lead switch several times, with the visiting Stags striking first through Michael Irwin. The Real Minanda forward capitalised on a long ball from Clem Batley and raced into the home box to slot beyond the oncoming keeper. The hosts fought back and equalized, before taking the lead in the 31st minute. The lead lasted until just before the half when Brigantii's central midfield duo played a neat one-two before sending the ball out wide to the left for Byron Samuels, the Albertpool player looked up and launched the ball into the box in a cross that ended up being so bad it wrong footed everyone and found it's way into the back of the net in a bizarre fluke of a goal.

After half time the home side regained their lead and looked to be heading for three points and remaining top of the group 7 table, were it not for a late substitution and the introduction of Jonastown United's Jaxson Mitchell. Mitchell scored with his first touch of the ball, facing away from goal and flicking the ball on with his head from a Russ Baker free kick.

His second came in the 83rd minute following a mad scramble in the box with the ball pinging about and the defence failing to clear.

---

The Ancient Creatures of Wyrmgore
And Where They Can Be Located

Episode 3

In our last two features we have been up the mountains of Tiburtina and in the jungles of Jahat Debu, today we find ourselves chasing a creature off the coast of Flynn's Isle. The Flynn's Isle sea creature is rumoured to live off the coast of Clarence, a southern fishing town in Flynn's Isle. Also known as the Càirdeil Uilebheist (friendly monster), the creature resembles the extinct plesiosaur – measuring roughly 40ft, with a broad, flat body, short tail and 4 large flippers. There have been no reports of the animal causing any harm to humans, but it has accidentally damaged fishing nets and capsized smaller fishing vessels.

No evidence has corroborated the animal's existence, however it has been a figure of Flynnish folklore since the first report of the creature appearing in the 6th century AD. A story of a local priest, Barnabas, being by the sea one day and seeing a large head of an animal he didn't recognise protruding out of the sea was recorded in a book about the catholic priest's life (with several other interesting stories). He wasn't familiar with it and spent the next year sat on the beaches of Clarence watching for the animal, claiming to see it on three other occasions. The priest told his tiny congregation of the creature in between spreading the word of Christ and soon he was joined on the beach as they gave watch.

The following centuries the myth of the sea creature continued with numerous fishermen sighting it, with a small number claiming to have been knocked out of their boat by the lumbering creature who would come up to try steal fish.

It wasn't until the 20th century that the first purported photograph of the creature surfaced. While holidaying on the coast of Clarence, the family of Seamus Underwood accidentally captured a black shape in the distance as the young man flew a kite on the beach. The 1940's picture was then published in the local Clarence Tribune and generated mass attention across the country, prompting a sudden rush of monster hunters and tourists in the area searching for the shape in the black and white photograph.

Among these people searching for the animal was safari hunter James Quinn who arrived shortly after the picture was published and promised to capture the creature. The veteran hunter had brought down big game across the majority of the continent, having hunted tigers in Jahat Debu, rhinos and hippopotamuses in Dansak Minor and bears in Kholodno (Gebranskia). At a press conference before the hunt the hardened pro declared “I'll find him for free, but I'll catch him, and kill him, for TEN” TEN being The Environmental and Nature museum in the capital city of Leodis. After 15 days at sea Quinn returned to shore having failed to spot anything but a few harbour porpoises and a minke whale. After his failed hunt, the disgraced Quinn returned to his home in Brigantii and never spoke about his failure, however the people of Clarence remember the date every year and recreate the hunt for the Flynn's Isle Sea Creature.

Despite the regular searches for the animal, they still haven't found it, which given it's supposed gentle nature may be for the best.

[Darmen]

Marcellinus Winton shows signs of improvement in second start
Scores lone goal in 1-0 victory

After a disappointing performance against Nephara in his first ever start for the All Greens, Marcellinus Winton was given a second chance to make his mark on Darmeni footballing history following an unfortunate and ugly injury suffered by Grayson Benbow. He made the most of it, scoring Darmen's only goal in the 57th minute and providing several key tackles in the dying stages of the match to prevent a St. Saratogan comeback.

Winton's first match, a 1-1 draw against Nephara, had seen him come off the pitch in the 62nd minute after he failed to keep the ball under his control. His first touch in this game looked far better, in fact Winton was disposed only once by St. Saratogan Defender Stefan Meinel.

Manager Nur al Din Lambert was well pleased with his Left Center-Midfielder, stating after the match that, "Winton might actually give Benbow a bit of a go in terms of who starts each match." He further added that "training sessions will be much more interesting.

Darmen will face 244th ranked Tveidalen in their next match. The All Greens are currently tied with Starblaydia and Sargossa on seven points as the top team in Group 12, Darmen's +6 goal difference giving Darmen the advantage in the table. A victory against Tveidalen, a result that on paper would appear to be very likely, is necessary if Darmen is to keep pace with its competitors. Starblaydia will face Makongo, while Sargossa will take on Yuezhou, both of those teams being unranked. It is likely that all three teams topping the Group 12 table will earn three points, and failure to do so by anyone of them could prove to be disastrous to their respective qualification chances. Mercedini, in fourth place, and Nephara in sixth, are also not to be taken lightly moving forward.

Other Headlines

• Man arrested after attacking Jews leaving Shabbat services, 2 injured
• Brham County Administrator request more Education funding from central government
• Storms along Northern Coast keep fishing fleets at home
• Apartment buildings in Rogerton fail inspections, faulty electrical work found

[Polkopia]

The History of the Allied States of Polkipia
(1100 A.D. - 1200 A.D.)

Stanislav (1089 A.D. - 1150 A.D)

Stanislav took the throne, aged just 12, upon the untimely death of his father. Stanislav established trading ports along the Baltic Sea, and trade relations with the Polish grew. Like his father, Stanislav was a devout Christian, and the relationship between Narva and the Byzantine Empire grew. Narva became the chief exporter of fur in the region, and a number of trading villages were founded along the coast, including the modern-day city of Restnov. In the late 11th century, Narva was a massive trade hub and was met with very little foreign military resistance.

In the beginning of the 12th century, Stanislav's reign was characterized by a series of wars against the neighboring Slavic tribes, and by 1134, Stanislav managed to expand eastward, at the expense of Novgorod, who later, would become one of Polkopia's most important allies in the wars that followed. After the First War of Stanislav, Narva's new territories allowed for an increase in the nation's fur industry. Narva's exportation of fur increased dramatically, which in turn, strengthened the friendship it had with Poland and the Byzantine Empire. In 1145 A.D., he renamed Narva to Polkopia, in honor of his father, Yaropolk.

Stanislav died sometime between March 4th and March 11th, 1150 A.D., while on his way back to Narva from Constantinople. His reign was regarded as highly successful, as he managed to establish one of the largest trade empires in the region of his time.

Matias (1150 A.D. - 1154 A.D.)

Matias was born in 1134 A.D., and was said to have had a series of complications growing up. Though it wasn't known at the time, historians now generally agree that Matias had valvular heart disease, which was never cured. He died only 4 years into his reign without accomplishing much.

Filat I Pavlov (1154 A.D. - 1155 A.D)

Filat I was the first of the Pavlov dynasty to take the throne. His ascendance to the throne was marked with extreme controversy, as many thought he had poisoned the late king Matias. Months after he took the throne, Filat was jailed and soon executed on January 4th, 1155 A.D.

Artur II Vasik (1155 A.D. - 1189 A.D)

Artur II Vasik was the youngest son of Stanislav I, and younger brother of Matias I. Once he launched a successful coup against the 'false' king Filat I Pavlov, he had him executed, and his body thrown in the Neva River. In the years that followed, Artur II took great measures in order to secure Polkopia's trading villages, as they frequently fell victim to raids by Estonian pirates. One village in particular, Valinkova, seemed to interest the king the most, and Artur II ordered an immense fortification project, which included a series of walls and fortresses to be build around the city. The city grew, and so did it's wealth, and by the end of Artur II's reign, it became the wealthiest city in Polkopia.

In regards to his diplomacy, he often engaged in feuds with the Danes, as they often threatened Polkopia's trade along the Baltic Sea, but there was never a formal declaration of war on either end. It was revealed, however, that Artur II had employed captured pirates to serve under the Polkopian crown, where they would have the task of raiding Danish towns. The newly-conquered town of Arkona on the island of Rügen seemed to face the majority of raids, as there were several written accounts of bounty and loot acquired by Polkopian raiders from the town.

Artur II died in 1189 A.D., aged 49, from a fever.

Roman I Vasik (1189 A.D - 1242 A.D.)

By the end of the 12th century, Roman I continued his father's work at reinforcing Polkopia's coastal villages, but ceased to fund pirating on the Baltic Sea. Instead, he increased the influence of the Orthodox Church around Polkopia, rather than just in the capital, and made efforts to establish areas of worship along the coast. This time period involved the subjugation of some of the more stubborn tribes that lived in these areas, and many of these tribes would be driven out by the mid-13th century.