CoH 86 Everything Thread [IC] - SF 9th 2130 Mountain

by **Alasdair I Frosticus** » Thu Jul 27, 2023 12:42 pm

THE HOLY EMPIRE CoH 86 SQUAD

Meet the new squad - same as the old squad.

While the nation took a long break from WCs 8 through 24, the Holy Empire is proud to be the only active nation to have participated in WC 1.

Though it pretends not to be, the nation is equally proud to have won 5 World Cup titles

This time the Holy Empire is fielding a squad of mysterious fantasy adventurers from another dimension....

OOC: The Holy Empire squad consists of PCs and NPCs from my long-running 1st Edition AD&D campaign, with some of these characters going alllllll the way back to c.1982. Note that, as with all long-running campaigns, don't expect rigid adherence to 1st Edition rules, though broadly speaking abilities and spells will conform to the latter. See below under RP instructions for some thoughts on how to deal with magic in an NSWC context.

The Squad

Goal:
Vragchilikachran, the Diamond Dragon (alignment: N; race/class: dragon deity): The true neutral counterpart to Bahamut and Tiamat, and an immortal entity of immense power. However, for the purposes of World Cup 94, Vragchilikachran will take the form of his human avatar - a silver-haired human male who appears to be of the race/ethnicity of the viewer. Likely still retains some unspecific magical abilities suitable to a dragon deity, mind.

Defence:
The Switch (LE; Half-Orc Assassin): Head of the Assassin's Guild of Tell Washing. Frankly, not a very nice person, but someone decided that having a bit of muscle in defence would be No Bad Thing. Player most likely to give away a penalty after a horrific leg-breaking tackle.

Radon of Woodside (NG; Half-Elf Fighter-Magic User): Lord of the Living Castle of Tell Morkin (slightly to his chagrin), and has a bit of a chip on his shoulder over the discovery as an adult that his father is ... forward Shakaara Vakraas. But also a legendary warrior known for defeating evil in many manifestations; has also allegedly met the Silver Elf's daughter.

Winxal the Werehamster (CG; Human Ranger/Were-Hamster): Friend of Hendera's [see forwards], Winxal fell victim to one of the rarest forms of lycanthropy during an epic adventure. He should appear as a normal human ranger, except during a full moon or if threatened by a gerbil, in which case his terrible curse will lead to his transformation into a humanoid hamster of great strength. Fortunately, Hendera knows how to help control him when this occurs.

Midfield:
Tarn the Dancer (NG; Female Human Thief-Acrobat): Nimble, quick, and with an extraordinary ability to evade opposing tackles, she can dance her way through almost any defence. Not too strong, however.

Garmag G'Bro (NG; Male Gnome Illusionist-Thief): Can pick any opposing player's pocket, and his ability to tackle from the shadows is extraordinary; as are his dribbling and ball possession skills due to his low centre of gravity. Not much use in the air, mind, given the lack of walls to climb on a football pitch.

The Silver Elf(NG; Male Silver Elf Fighter-Magic User) CAP: The nominal overlord of all elves except the Drow and Shadow Elves; ancient, presumably immortal, and the keeper of any number of arcane secrets, perhaps including the origin of The World. His (equally immortal) daughter is said to be the most beautiful female in history. While he does have a name, almost everyone except the Emperor simply refers to him as 'Lord' or 'The Silver Elf'. At least makes up for the central midfield height deficit to some extent.

Jude the Obscure (LN; Male Dwarf Cleric): The Lawful Neutral Balance Guardian for as long as records exist, Jude is the epitome of Lawful Neutral, and the longstanding frenemy of forward Shakaara Vakraas. The low centre of gravity leads to some amazing ball retention skills, he has an extraordinarily powerful right foot, and he's the player most likely to obey the referee; but a bit slow, and - like another of the team's central midfielders - not great in the air. Will the Empire pay for this size defecit? As a Balance Guardian, not subject to dwarf level limits for clerics.

Lyrill-tlo (N; Male Shadow Elf): In the great war that cleaved elvenkind and led to the Drow's exile underground, one group refused to take sides. They are now forever cursed to live in the shadows, barely visible except in strong light, and usually shunning interaction with other races. On the other hand, having a highly nimble virtually invisible right winger has some benefits to a football side that's managed to train properly (note: can be detected easily by infravision and ultravision)

Forwards:
Shakaara Vakraas (CN; Male Human Illusionist): The most powerful illusionist in history, Vakraas's ability to bend the very fabric of reality to his capricious whims is the stuff of legend. A former Chaotic Neutral Balance Guardian, he once spent 150 years dead just to get out of his duties. Though human, said to be roughly 2500 years old. Expect a capricious and unpredictable forward of great power.

Hendera, Demon-Slayer (CG; Female Human Fighter): Best-known for her habit of wearing ludicrously skimpy chainmail (in Imperial colours for the World Cup), her lethality to demons, and wielding a vorpal blade, she's not above some heavy flirting (with any and all sexes) to get her way; but anyone who mistakes that for weakness is likely to leave the encounter with one fewer limb/appendage.

Substitutes:
A Formorian Giant [g]: Nobody likes him, and nobody wants to play him... unless having a murderous and bizarrely ugly giant in goal might help with a penalty shootout.

Fatapato [d]: Who would seriously play a halfling in defence unless desperate?

Hung Hau Loh [m]: The archetypal LOMITS ('little old man in tennis shoes'; IE, turns up to deliver a plot-advancing exposition dump)

A Beholder [m]: Surely a floating lawful evil spheroid is utterly impractical for a football team; but then again, could those eyestalks open up some interesting tactical options?

Laree [f]: A sylph might not be the most obvious choice for a forward given their lack of size or strength; but handy if you need someone who can fly.

Coaches:

The team coach remains World Cup Hall of Fame legend Juan Tzimisces.

The assistant coach remains Starblaydi World Cup Hall of Fame legend Simeone Di Bradini.

Style Modifiers / formation

Frosty football is attacking football. The Holy Empire always plays a 3-5-2 formation using overlapping wingers that turns into 3-3-4 on the counterattack.

[OOC'ly, for the purposes of scorination, the team uses the maximum attacking style modifier permitted by each cup's hosts.]

Kit
The team will wear famous Imperial Gold and Red, as worn by the Holy Empire since WC1...

Home first, away second.

OOC'ly, the kits were designed by Red Blackiland, and the crest by Audioslavia - and I'm entirely grateful; I'm very happy for RB and Audio to take OOC credit. IC'ly, HEFA deny the Mundies had anything to do with it.

RP instructions:
Have fun and use your imagination - but don't kill anyone, and don't try and launch attacks on the Dreamed Realm; largely because you can't.

In terms of magic... You're free to use appropriate magic whenever you'd like if you RP first. You're also free to ignore the team's magical abilities if you'd prefer. If I RP first, I'll only use magic if RP permissions clearly allow this type of unusual RP.

by **Cap Nord** » Fri Jul 28, 2023 8:03 am

Fifteen Facts and Figures

Our interns amassed one insightful statistic for every two nations present in the Cup of Harmony, the most prestigious football tournament occurring on the outside of the borders of Kelssek and Graintfjall. Because those punks were too lazy to gather one for every single nation. And we’re not too sure on their figures either. When we asked them to bring us a cup of coffee, they returned with a rake and what seems to be a pigeon feather. But I’m an editor, not a goddamn ornithologist. So no guarantees on the accuracy of the below article. Become an editor, Mick, they said. It is an easy job, they said. But here I am, drinking a bloody rake.

0
As all teams vye to partake in the Cup of Harmony, the duress of the qualifying process tends to see the fields shifting every so often. On top of that, a variety of nations only recently entered the organization structure of the World Cup Committee, having before dabbled in… Not sure. Civil war and other domestic competitions, we assume. Still, most fields of recent Cup of Harmony editions contain at least a handful of familiar names. The odd one out here is CoH 71, which took place thirty years ago. With a fairly unconventional field size of 37, the best of the best fought for the coveted trophy. However, none of those 37 stood the test of time and returned for the current edition. This statistic does have a minor asterisk, as the competition partially took place in Qasden, the late addition who aims to lighten up Group A in search of their third triumph.

1
For the Whalers, it will be the third edition kicking off. The story so far has seen a manager make their debut in each edition: McEather made his first strides at the helm in 2022, whilst Lozhoan Pazron Finchley was a leftfield (pending on the camera point of view) appearance two years ago. Having an experience in the final tournament must be a crucial advantage for the manager, even if there will be little recognisable. Most of the preparation of the previous tournaments can be left in the binders back home as none of the opponents of Group 1 make a reappearance: Lozho, Aleirave, Valentine Z, Eshialand and Saint Eleanor all failed to qualify. This is especially a surprise in the case of the last two, respectively the finalist of the previous edition and the CoH 84 victor. In fact, only one of the nine previous opponents of Cap Nord makes their return in the Bearbelles. In what was a de facto dead rubber to wrap up the 2022 edition for both, Bears Armed won an entertaining 4-2 encounter.

3
Looking at the long-term history, it is fair to say that the region of Esportiva has known moments in its history where their impact on the global football scene was stronger. With neighbor and nemesis Zeta Reka and Hugeltaldom refraining from tormenting the tongues of reporters worldwide these days, the orange ranks seem to thin out even further. But the dusk of the region has been predicted many times before already, by some in jest, by some whilst rubbing their hands and grinning sinisterly. And still, the invading hordes are once more kept at bay this cycle. Tumbra won their qualifying group and of the three play-off participants, the rocky wall of Sylestone ensured themselves of a final tournament. In the bestest of tournaments, there are three Esportivan participants. Next to the Whalers, Dod Rava can be congratulated on their debut. To round up the trio, qualifiers opponent Brenecia finally make their return to the Cup of Harmony after decades of fruitless attempts to reach the tournament. The last appearance from the five-time regional champs dates back to 1992, as they appeared in the CoH 69. Nice.

5
Two years ago, the footballing world was welcomed into Graintfjall for what had been the first solo organization in over fifty years. Nonetheless, the tournament ran flawlessly with a minimal amount of kraken-related incidents occurring (or at least, making their way into the press before being covered up). For this edition, travel arrangements had to be made for Poafmersia and Huayramarca, an interregional cooperation which sees the Whalers travel to the North Pacific for their adventure. One can only hope that our fans in dire need of red-eye tickets for Anaia later on in the Cup. Both hosts welcome the madness for the very first time, accepting that their streets will be overrun by supporters chanting in ineligible tongues and being mostly concerned with the impact of the exchange rate on the beer prices. One nation has endured said ordeal a groundbreaking five times, indicating that the local leaders have a complete negligence for the peace of mind of their own citizens if it heightens their international status. Why it is fair to call this Krytenia truly the most harmonic of nations will be explained further (and it is only partially due to their fluency on the French harp) but their track record as hosts definitely contributes.

5
Is there a more coveted trophy in the world than the Frosty Cup? As is the case with any rhetorical question, the answer is no, of course not. Winning the whole shabang launches a nation in the realm of the greats, even if it is a dreamed one for some present. As such, we believe that all readers can evidently name the five former winners who grace the field… What? Com’on, try. Krytenia? Well, of course correct, their name is a synonym for winning ways in the international sports press. Qasden, indeed, but we already mentioned that before. Brenecia? No, close but no cigar for the Patriots (not to be confused with the other Patriots). The Holy Empire? No, they might be silverware merchants but this one has escaped their hands so far. Milchama? What are you sm- oh wait, they actually did back in the sepia-tinted days. We will need to help to complete the five, that is clear. The most recent winner is Trolleborg in 2016, as the Trolls make their third appearance since. Completing the overevolved shamrock, there are the Corsairs of Sargossa who barely miss an edition these days, but whose triumph already dates back to 1936 and CoH 41.

5
The notably small field made it difficult for various nations to qualify, but still five nations sign up for what will be their first appearance in the trophy of all trophies, which requires genuine merit to partake and not something futile such as points or victories. As mentioned, there are the fellow Esportivans of Dod Rava who will tread these waters for the first time. Next to them, Kamijiro, United Hawkland and Dantopia did the often-believed-to-be-impossible, qualifying on their very first cycle, coming fresh off the Baptism boat. Or a fire boat, although that seems a lot more dangerous. Completing the freshmen crop of the season, there are the Pirates from Archalit, of whom we can only assume that they have also stepped off a ship for what is a surprisingly nautical selection. Remarkably, there are also five nations starting their second edition and five who complete some sort of trifecta, including the Whalers. That is with our interns claiming that Polar Islandstates and Brenecia were here more than twice before, probably, maybe, possibly. *sips rake*

5
There is a tournament that closely approaches the high status of the Cup of Harmony and that is, of course, the Baptism of Fire. The most exclusive of competitions, in that it excludes every nation from participating again, tends to showcase new stars to the footballing community every edition. Unfortunately, these often sink into the unknown again. Most recently, there is even some sort of ‘Gold Curse’, with all winners since Trolleborg failing to reach the final thirty. This includes Loyo and Kirungabi, who could not emulate their recent success. The winner of the 2025 Baptism of Fire aspires to break the curse, as Kamijiro did make the cut and hopes to make waves in group F. With this ‘Gold Curse’ you would almost think that Forseth did us a favor to drop the ball in the semi finals, as silver and bronze medallists seem to fare better in the ‘Big World’. In total, five of the last nine medallists of the Baptism of Fire made their way to this tournament, including the Whalers.

6
‘A great nation qualifies, a superb one manages a streak.’ It is a proverb that has gained in spirit around the headquarters of the Capnordic Football Association, even slipping into a mailing signature here and there, celebrating the third consecutive appearance of the national team. But as it goes in life, it is inherent to the size of the footballing community that someone has upstaged you (and often by a country mile) even before you actually achieve anything. The Corsairs from Sargossa are preparing for their fourth Cup in a row and Acastanha did not miss a tournament since 2018. But the true emperors who worked their way to becoming ‘tournament furniture’, an obviously honorary title, are Mertagne and our esteemed hosts Poafmersia. And to pick the bottom of our proverbial barrel (proverbial as it is, in fact, a canister), we all know that sixth time's the charm.

7
In the middle of this bonanza, it is easy to forget that there is a second global tournament occurring out there, often lovingly called The Poor Man’s Cup of Harmony. Said trophy, set up to accommodate countries that failed to win a ticket for the CoH, has a field of thirty-two: the fixed nature of the field size alone indicates the unadventurous and downright boring nature of this secondary competition. Still, not every country can win a berth into the glorious hall of the greats and to ensure that their football players don’t get cobwebs in insanitary places, they are dusted off and physically forced to compete against one another there. Despite the empty stands and depressing sentiment surrounding this so-called ‘World Cup’ (while the level at the CoH is often out of this world), some teams use triumphs there to step up to the main stage. Polar Islandstates, Brenecia and The Holy Empire amassed seven trophies there, with the latter doing the heavy lifting, and have now made their way to the coveted list of thirty.

8
One of the most popular discussions in the blogo-, atmo- and stratosphere after a Cup of Harmony draw is the decision to settle on a ‘Group of Death’. Various methods can be suggested for such a measurement: number of balls (as in, the amount of longlist Testiculos players that appear in the selections of the five teams), number of balls (as in, the amount of leather round objects brought to the tournament) or the number of Balls (as in, the presence of players such as Alyssa Ballon or Zachary Ball who through hereditary qualities must have a genetic advantage to other mortal peers). Others opt for a summation of KPB points. Whilst all of these are fairly accurate, apart from the latter, some prefer to count the amount of presences in the Cup proper in this century. This method unveils that Group C and F, both having just eight previous shots at the highest glory across their five nations, have an easy time and can start slacking. Unfortunately for the Whalers, they sit in the actual ‘Group of Death’ where the Corsairs and the Hot Potatoes lead the way to a shattering seventeen CoH appearances since CoH 73. An uphill road ahead for Cap Nord. Balls.

11
Do you remember when we called Krytenia the bee’s knees of the tournament, the most harmonic of all nations? Of course not, Cicada and TikTikBoom have melted your brain and concentration span. Still, ‘harmonic’ is the moniker we want to give to the pale blue nation and not for their capacity to harp on in French. Despite the fierce competition and competitive fierceness to secure a spot in the Cup of Harmony, Krytenia managed to qualify for the eleventh time since 2000. An impressive record and a confirmation of their unique consistency. The Corsairs make a valiant attempt to come close, appearing for the ninth time in this period. Unfortunately for Sargossan football fans, and to the delight of Valhallan officials, they ruined an unseen ten-fold streak with absence in CoH 82. Nonetheless, both nations deserve a seniority discount for the bus trips to and from the stadiums as they have been reaching the tournament since the days when Laborious Hawk was… Still old. But a bit younger.

12
There are two schools of thought with regards to the performances of Cap Nord in the Cup of Harmony. Mathematicians point out that, due to the suboptimal effect of draws on the ‘points won’ metrics, grabbing twelve points out of a possible twenty-seven is a more than decent effort by a nation that just arrived on the scene. It’s not ‘enter the party and conquer the dancefloor’ but it is at least ‘downing two beers and getting a naughty smile from across the room’. But to the specialists, such as M. Aninthestreet, it all summed up to two group stage eliminations and consequently, a lackluster performance by a poorly led bunch of subpar [redacted]. Be what it may, the Whalers travel to Poafmersia with the clear goal to make it into the last sixteen. With home favorites Poafmersia experiencing even more pressure to make it through and United Hawkland, as lowest ranked opponent, seen as the least likely to reach the knock-outs, Remove from print, this will come back to bite us., the first two duels will be crucial. The Pirates have the evident nomen est omen advantage of a Cynthia Harmonia at the start of this tournament whilst Sargossa plays a wildly spectacular 3-5-1 with Recoba and Alarcón sharing duties on goal. To double check. Two games that will definitely determine the outcome of the group stage for Cap Nord. Because there are only four games, so it is like fifty percent of the series, you see.

13
Are you a Whalers fan? Of course you are. And have you made the arduous trip to Graintfjall to support our national team in the previous Cup of Harmony? In the latter case, you might be in luck. Because there is a reasonable chance that you either managed to get in a bout of fisticuffs with a supporter of a rival nation, trying to finish that bastard the way you finished that bottle of Graintfjaller schnapps. Or you have built a romantic liaison with a person of the opposing, or same, or different sex, but most definitely a person, or sentient, with an obscure, exotic passport. Only to discover that their significant other shared the same hotel room and has been chasing you through the streets of Altendalur with a bread knife. If you are in either situation, there is only a 27% chance that you will get eye-to-eye again with your adversary/passionate lover as only thirteen nations managed a back-to-back qualification. Apart from the above-mentioned nations that can call their presence a ‘streak’ already, those are Qasden, Patriotlandia, Trolleborg, Stevencousin, Aeragny, Cardenao, Krytenia and Naixi. About four thousand Capnordic fans have made the trip to Poafmersia, with enough liquor and harpoons on them to kill a whale.

47
Making it into the round of sixteen will depend on a lot of elements, but preparation definitely can be named as a crucial one. As time (and the lack of coordination of the FA) disallow the organization of a string of increasingly difficult friendlies, it is fair to call the qualifying campaign our main preparation for the tournament proper. During these qualifiers, the Whalers were not dealt an easy hand: group twelve gained notoriety for the closeness of the action and the often shifting positions in the table. In the end, excellent squads such as Saint Eleanor and Eura missed out on the Cup of Harmony and West Barack and East Obama could not even win a ticket for the WC, the Worldcupcommittee Consolationprize. Two other giants of the sport did get in, nonetheless. Regional giants Brenecia return to the Cup of Harmony after a long absence, highly motivated to set group B on fire. But in the grand scheme of things, the presence of Polar Islandstates is even more notable, qualifying for their first run since 1948 or CoH 47. That is back when people in Cap Nord still played football by trying to throw the ball, getting ejected and returning two weeks later to the stadium in the hope they could figure out the rules in time to complete an actual game.

98
From a serious, sports journalistic point of view (as much of an oxymoron these two adjectives form), the Cup of Harmony for Cap Nord will center around the goodbye of Patrick van Hilvaren to international football. The Sporting Noordende star is one of the seven players in the selection who was there for the starting point of the international venture, when the Capnordic team quietly shuffled over the border with Zeta Reka and Something to contest their first Campionato. Six years and 98 caps later, van Hilvaren acts as the rock in the defense one last time, citing his ripe age of 36 as a good enough finish line for his international ambitions. That will probably not be without completing the coveted century along with fellow Cap Nord and Noordende back Brymsaeter. It is fair to call the retirement of van Hilvaren, who replaced his speed over the years with splendid, cunt-ish cunning, a minor disaster for the Whalers back four. His trusted sidekick for the latter half of his international career, Luuk Vennema, is still stepping up to the leadership role but tumbled out of that other Premier Division with Columbia City, and a replacement is not seen on the horizon yet. Glenn Pedersen is definitely ‘decent’, but also extremely uninteresting to report on and the actual Premier Division has a string of reliable center-backs but just none with a Capnordic passport. Hopefully, van Hilvaren will have a decent fuck-up over the course of the tournament or we could be on our way to at least half a decade of lamenting his departure while he still wins trophies left and right with Sporting Noordende.

by **Brusseldorf** » Fri Jul 28, 2023 9:02 am

The World Cup Qualifiers had finished a few weeks ago, with Brusseldorf finishing seventh. José had gone to the final home game with his friends, a dramatic but unfortunate 3–5 loss to Kharakia. Their World Cup fever was alive and well though, and he and his mates had gone decided to follow Pasarga and Tumbra in the finals. José was wearing his new black Tumbra kit whilst studying.

Chapter 13.01: Economic Transformation and the Casablanca Accord

As has been explored in the preceding chapters, the mining and manufacturing crash of the early 1990s caused mass displacement, economic upheaval, and political instability. The seeds were sown for a major shift, what would become the epochal Casablanca Accord. This chapter delves into the intricate web of economic shifts that led to transformative societal evolution, ultimately culminating in the momentous political event that unfolded in the heart of Casablanca.

The mining and infrastructure crash of 1991 in Brusseldorf had profound and far-reaching economic effects, creating a complex web of challenges across multiple sectors.

One of the immediate consequences of the crash was a contraction in Gross Domestic Product (GDP), stemming from the significant decline in mining output and investments in infrastructure projects. This contraction, combined with reduced government revenues, precipitated a decline in public spending, leading to fiscal austerity measures and belt-tightening policies. Unemployment rates also surged as mining and infrastructure-related industries shed jobs to cut costs and survive the downturn. The uptick in unemployment led to an increase in welfare payments, further straining government finances.

Financial markets also experienced turbulence as both domestic and international investors grappled with uncertainty. Equity prices of mining and construction companies plummeted, eroding shareholder wealth and creating a risk-off sentiment among investors. Market volatility soared, and capital flight ensued, exacerbating the economic challenges faced by the nation. Banks that had extended loans to these sectors faced a surge in non-performing loans, eroding their asset quality and necessitating provisioning for potential loan losses. The financial sector's vulnerabilities were exposed, leading to a credit crunch as banks tightened lending standards to mitigate risks. The contraction in mining and infrastructure activities triggered a negative multiplier effect on related industries, such as transportation, manufacturing, and steel production. Supply chains were disrupted, leading to reduced economic output across the board. This downturn also had an adverse impact on consumer spending as households faced job insecurity and declining disposable income.

José's eyes wandered off the page, his gaze landing on his phone. He picked it up and checked the time. It was 1:51 AM. I should probably go to bed, he thought. He got out of his chair, phone in hand, and shuffled his bedroom. He tucked himself in and did one last check of social media for the night. A World Cup Facebook group post was the last thing he scrolled past before he nodded off for the night.

by **Naixi** » Fri Jul 28, 2023 10:32 am

Part 1
Part 2

Others turn around right about now and descend the barren plain. Others trudge back along the 3-mile-long path through the snow-glazed pine forest and return to the car where Chen Mo is tending her wounds. Perhaps I should be doing what others do. Perhaps I should be acknowledging I'm in too deep. Instead, leaving blood-tinged footsteps in the snow (a satisfying crunch accompanying each one), I keep going. The private airstrip is at the base of Mount Kuxinji. I can see it, across the grassy yellow and snowy white slope. Built into a rocky ledge on the side of the peak, a small sheet-metal hangar has been built. It looks new. I am sure that is it.

I lurch forward as the clouds shift and the intense sunset focuses a shimmering ray of red light into my eye. My legs aren't in good shape. One is at the very least badly sprained and the other has been filleted like a fish. I will myself forward into the blinding light. Ahead, perhaps 80 meters shy of the runway, a big pile of boulders offers me something to lean down upon. I make it to their shelter... barely. Panting from the pain (and the altitude), I lean my head against a rock and shut my eyelids.

In the morning, after Chen and I had woken up naked in bed together, we discussed our plan for the day. We were quite confident that Fred was being held up here in the Naixese northeast, where stony plains and pine forests are nestled between mountainous peaks, and that the government officials who had taken a blindfolded Chen to see him were using some type of large garage. Chen had done a fair bit of digging in Fuzaidai, a backpackers' village on the border, and was relatively certain he wasn't there. I had pilfered some reconnaissance data on Naixi before UCI had shut off my intel access, and had satellite readouts of the whole city of Bijiben. Between the two of us, we were confident that Fred couldn't be imprisoned in one of the two towns. There were no structures that looked the part. He had to be somewhere out in the wilderness.

So we rented a car and headed southeast, along the road to Fuzaidai. The road wound violently through fir-dotted valleys and up through a mountain pass. Just on the eastern side of the pass was the entrance to a national park. There, at the entrance, Chen assured me, there was a ski lodge. Our plan was to stop there and speak to whoever we could about what we might find in the area. We felt, based on simple deductive reasoning, that this had to be the region we would find my brother.

"I remember the road being bumpy and curvy," Chen told me as we jostled across a patch of loose asphalt. The pavement below us was rough - the Naixese government hated having to be bothered with public infrastructure, so it had farmed out a bunch of highway projects to private contractors. But they'd held a lottery rather than doing the sensible thing and putting the contract up for a bid - so a metallurgical company with no history of maintaining roads had been awarded the deal.

"So," I asked her as I tilted the wheel to follow a bend, "you think this feels right?"

"Yes," she answered quietly, looking out the car window. It was a cloudy day, but it was nonetheless most beautiful. Most of the pines were decorated with heavy clumps of snow. Their branches sagged from the weight. Away from the thalwegs of the valleys, where the blue-needled forest was at its thickest, there was nothing but a slowly-rising dry grass flatland. Eventually, off in the distance, the plains were cut off by the snow and ice on the slopes of the hills. Stretches of snow were evenly piled upon the golden pastures, row after row of white.

At the park entrance, we turned off. After winding our way over a timber bridge, taking a hairpin turn to the left and down a pitched hillside, and then down through a grassy gulch, we came to a rudimentary intersection. We saw, so we observed, three choices. We could take a hard left, which a sign kindly informed us would take us to the ski lodge, we could go roughly straight, which would take us to the park entrance, or we could take a slight right. That last route, which immediately began a daunting climb up a rocky ridge, was blocked off by a barbed-wire fence. I made a mental note... this seemed higher security than it needed to be.

I slowed the automobile and took the hard left turn for the lodge. Positioned upon a yawning expanse of open plain that slowly rose to a number of steep hills, the ski resort was smaller than Chen had led me to believe. It had the rustic look all ski chalets across the world seem to have, with a front-facing gable roof and have deep eaves borne by massive brackets. Here, Chen assured me, there was a pleasant little tavern where we could gather information.

When we walked in, we saw a towering fireplace was issuing forth rays of heat like a sun, and a gaggle of guests were gathered around it. Mounted stuffed heads of various local game animals lined the walls, the beer list seemed to have been carved into the wall behind the bar with an ice pick, and every chair and table seemed to be made of finished pine wood.

We garnered a number of deeply skeptical looks from the patrons inside upon entering. We appeared to be (and were, I suppose) an interracial couple out in the rural hinterlands - neither Chen nor I were terribly surprised. At the bar, an irritated tavern keep pursed his lips at us, only just barely looking up from his task of wiping the surface clean with a damp cloth.

"Here to see what you lost out on?" he asked me angrily. Clearly he still held a grudge against Golden People. Maybe he had been a soldier during the war, I wondered. "Well, I can't stop you from roaming the park. It's public property. But if a pack of Naixese devils tears your leg off, I won't shed any tears for you. And I promise you this - the cost of the ale is triple what it'll be for your girl toy," he said, jabbing an elbow toward Chen.

"I'm a journalist, actually, and I'm here to find out-"

But the old codger cut her off. "A journalist? Good for you. You'll be free to poke around for about two more seconds, and then the government is shutting you down, thank fuck. Good riddance, I say. None of you nosy pricks every did anything good for our country aside from sidle up to dickheads like him." He meant me.

"What do you get out of being a Naixese citizen? What do you actually get out of it, sir? What benefits does the state actually grant you?" Chen asked him hotly. There was veritable steam coming out of her ears; I was surprised he'd gotten under her nerves so much. He glared hatefully back at her, refusing to answer, until he did.

"Racial pride."

Chen stayed silent. She seemed to think that his last comment had won the argument for her... but I rather suspected he thought his last comment had won it for him.

"Come on, Chen, let's talk to the people by the fire. Maybe they know something."

"Certainly. This bozo doesn't exactly make anyone feel welcome. He must have quite a tough time getting anyone to stay here at the ski lodge."

"I'm proudly selective, toots," he said, seemingly on the verge of throwing his sopping towel at her head. "And before you ask, no I don't care what the Voogle reviews say."

"Whatever," she said dismissively as I pulled her away from the bar.

They were friendlier, though they were certainly not familiar with the area. Two of them were married schoolteachers from the Western Valley neighborhood of Qiawutian (not far from the Marina, as chance would have it), and were up here on vacation. The other two were in their early twenties, a pair of backpacking party animals who had just graduated from university in Chumeichang. One of the schoolteachers said that he had seen a few trucks with tinted windows coming and going along the steep fork in the road that we had seen fenced off, which prompted Chen and I to try and estimate where within the park the path could lead. It seemed like the line of mountains had to force it to curve up to the northeast. One of the backpackers offered that several days before, when he had been hiking in the northeastern edge of the park, he'd seen a small airplane flying so low that it must have been landing somewhere. We asked him to define where exactly he'd been on a map... unfortunately, he wasn't completed sure. ("I'm a solo hiker, dawg.")

So, eager to keep moving before the afternoon sun got too low, we headed into the park, taking the central fork that we'd seen earlier. Six minutes into the drive, a tiny airstrip along the side of a bird sanctuary raised our hopes that we'd already found what we were looking for. But Chen felt there was no hangar or garage large enough to meet what she remembered, so we were forced to jump back into the rental car and keep driving. The route became exceedingly remote, descending into a gorge that wound like a viper down through the mountains and towards the totally empty wilderness in the northeastern part of the park, not altogether too far from the border. Large flakes of snow began to fall again, and we began to worry about the weather turning against our plans. Luckily, a deus ex machina intervened in our favor. Screaming directly over our heads and heading roughly east-northeast of our bearing, we saw a tiny black (or perhaps dark gray) airplane slice through the icy clouds. It was so low that it had to be in the process of landing. The backpacker was right - there was some kind of tiny airstrip out here in the wilds of the park.

We parked the car instantly and bundled up for a hike. We'd come prepared; both of us had obtained hiking backpacks in Bijiben prior to arrival and had ensured our boots would protect us from the cold. Chen's attitude was bright - despite the fact she had no familial skin in the game, as I did, she felt that the increasingly authoritarian Naixese government was hiding something sinister out here where she had interviewed my brother, and she was eager to get to the bottom of it. I was rather more grim - I assumed (correctly, as it turns out) that we would encounter an incredibly high-security area at some point, and that at that point we would have to turn around. The Ministry of Law and Order did, after all, claim that Fred had murdered a member of the Celestial Council. Nonetheless, I was as determined as Chen. I would lay eyes on my brother before the day's end... come hell or high water.

Right as we stepped into the woods, it all began to go wrong. While trying to get to the top of a stony ridge, I slipped, and I tumbled a few feet down a hillside, twisting my left ankle quite badly. Chen had a look at it, and assured me that as far as she could tell, I was fine, but I strongly suspected I had torn something. The pain radiated up and down my leg. But we both agreed it was necessary to continue.

Further along, in a tiny clearing, we met our match in earnest. As we trudged through the grass, I heard a nasty, low-pitched growling sound. It was coming from a bush just feet behind Chen. She stopped dead in her tracks; she had heard the sound, too. I stared with dread at the bush, and two bright, iridescently shiny orange eyes gleamed back at me. Following them out of the bush was a huge Naixese devil. These enormous bear-like marsupial predators were common out here in the mountainous northeast. They didn't like civilization, so they were never seen in or around the Two Sapphires. This region, though, was their homeland, and they were very aggressive and dangerous.

To make things worse, we heard more growling behind us. Two more devils lunged forward out of the forest, behind me and somewhat to my right. We were surrounded on all sides. Immediately, I withdrew my Palther PPK. This was not a fight I had come prepared for - we probably needed a bigger gun. But the sidearm would have to do. I rose the pistol into the air and fired off a round. The devil behind Chen took a step back, then opened its jaw wide and displayed two rows of terrifying teeth. It scampered forward and bit Chen's leg as hard as it could.

"AAAGHH!" she cried out.

"Don't move," I told her laconically. I raised the gun to shoot the beast that was assaulting her, but I too felt a devil bite my right leg. It was unbelievable agony - the power of a Naixese devil's bite is astounding. I had the mental wherewithal to lower my weapon and shoot it in the abdomen. It took a second shot to kill it. The other one thought about following its ally to its doom, but it turned tail and beat feet. Chen's assailant was undeterred, however, and I had to pump it full of lead, as well, before we were free of the critters.

"Are you all right?" I asked her. She was sitting on the ground, her buttocks in the snow, tears streaming down her face as she investigated her leg. She had four massive puncture marks and was bleeding badly, but seemed to be mostly all right.

"I... I think I'm in shock. Bloody hell, those things bite hard," she said in wonder.

"Yeah," I said stoically as I raised my right pant leg to survey the damage.

"I mean, I remember being taught about them in nature classes, but... wow. Oh, David. Your leg."

It looked terrible. The thing had not only sunk its teeth in, but had thrashed itself around on purpose, as if it was trying to rip half of my leg flesh off the bone. Blood was soaking into my boot.

"We've got gauze," I responded casually.

"Can you sit down next to me?"

"We've got to keep going. Even if all I can do is put eyes on the compound where he's being held-"

"David, your leg is in awful shape. We ought to turn back." The total 180 of her mood - swerving violently from optimistic to unsure - was yet another message from the universe that I should have aborted the mission.

"You go back. I'll keep going.

"David, no."

"I've got gauze. I'll patch myself up and see what's on the other end of this patch of forest. You go back to the car. I'll meet you there."

"Absolutely not."

"Here," I said, slapping a pad of fabric on her leg, "you should use this to stop the bleeding."

"David, don't pretend I'm the one who's badly injured, here."

"I'm going!" I shouted suddenly. She fell silent, startled by my sudden volume. Her gorgeous black eyes welled with tears. "Chen, I'm going." The unsympathetic tone in my voice was a regrettable but - I felt - necessary flourish.

"You're leaving me, David. Please don't leave me here."

"I'm not leaving you. You'll be waiting in the car."

I hastily wound a huge amount of gauze around my ruined leg as Chen sobbed. I ignored her questions about my possibly unsound mental state and her pleas for us to try again another day. My mind was made up, and slowly it dawned on Chen that I wasn't going to change my mind. She wiped her face, grabbed her bag, and gingerly tested her ability to put weight on her leg. She was fine.

"Yeah, all right. I'll be waiting in the car." Dejected, she headed back down the forest path. I pulled the gauze tight and taped it over. Portions of the soft white fabric were already turning pink. This was not good. But I gritted my teeth and forced myself ahead, up the lonely path, through a craggy rock canyon, past a row of dead trees, and out onto the open plain. I was totally exposed without the forest around me and I couldn't run - but I could see the mountain and the miniature airstrip about a half a mile up ahead. I made it most of the way up the slope, stumbling along through the jagged yellow-brown grass and blotches of heavy snow.

Others turn around right about now. But you know where I am. I'm leaning against a boulder with my eyes closed. The airstrip is less than the length of a football pitch behind me. If I can just summon the willpower to make it a bit further.

"David," I hear a man's voice say suddenly, "David, David, David. You are not supposed to be here."

I look up.

Fred stands in front of me in a parka. An assault rifle is slung over his shoulder. Only half convinced that what I'm seeing isn't a delusion, I squint and look behind him. There are many ten to twenty soldiers behind him. They've got guns, too, and many of them are pointing them at me. Not Fred. Me.

"There's... guys... behind you. With... rifles."

"Yeah," he answers calmly. "Yeah, they're fine. They're here to protect me, mate."

"Protect you... from... who?"

"You, David," he says with a sigh, "you." The last jets of sunlight echo down through the mountains, valleys, plains, and gorges of the national park. A dim but indescribably beautiful purple light radiates over everything. Fred turns to the armed men who he apparently considers allies and issues an edict: "Yen Khe told me she wants him alive. Take him to the Hub. And send somebody down to the road to find the journalist."

"Yes, sir," one of the soldiers says in response. "Yen Khe wants her alive, too?"

"No," says Fred, staring into my eyes. "Kill her."

OOC Note: This and future roleplays borrow concepts and organizations from the roleplaying game Feng Shui 2. All storylines and characters are original creations. ICly, events take place in Naixi and within the Naixese timeline, not in RL Hong Kong, which is the setting for the game.

by **Delaclava** » Sat Jul 29, 2023 11:38 am

DELACLAVA NATIONAL SOCCER TEAM
EIGHTY-SIXTH CUP OF HARMONY

Gold medalists, Games of the V Olympiad.
Third Place, 18th Independents Cup.
Seven-time WC qualifiers (51-56, 91). QF at WC51. QF at CoH84
Hosts of WC55, CoH 44, 46, and 84, BoF 72, AOCAF 31.
Current world ranking: 84th
Peak world ranking: 11th (post WC-53 qualifying).

Trigram: DEL | Nickname: Phoenixes | Style Modifier: +2.5

RP permissions: Yes, but be respectful and TG/DM if you're not sure or have ideas.

Overview

The Phoenixes enter the final tournament of the season on an undulating trajectory, following up a promising Independents Cup bronze medal with an immediately unsuccessful World Cup qualifying campaign that saw the dismissal of International Manager of the Year nominee Elidyr Lyndainium. Some bright moments in the second half failed to soften the blow, as the Phoenixes' gap from a playoff spot was far smaller than the pile of mistakes they accumulated. Regardless, they find themselves amid a strong Cup of Harmony field, which will serve as a litmus test for Delaclava's true level this year and where the program needs to go next.

Tactically, the Phoenixes are offensive-minded, utilizing a 4-4-2 and relying on individual skill in the middle and up front, although they have fluctuated towards a more neutral formation with the emergence of defensive talent in the youth system. There is a bias towards action and chance instead of possession, and an inclination towards taking defensive risks to generate counterattack opportunities. Additionally, it is expected that the midfielders will be fully active on both ends of the field, employing manpower to have advantages in both the offensive and defense zones rather than relying on positioning.

Manager: Ernie Davis, 46, First City
Technical Director: Christian Josquin, 39
Strength & Conditioning Coach: Daniel Witt, 42
Goalkeeper Coach: Tomasz Janaczek, 41

GOALKEEPERS
#1 GK Yarmat Alimov - 25, 5-10, 150 - Cavalry
#14 GK Carlos Rodriguez - 26, 6-0, 160 - Cleopatrana SC
#22 GK Kian Gardner - 25, 6-2, 170 - Manchester

DEFENDERS
#2 DF Durgali Baxayev - 27, 5-9, 145 - Stahlburg City (NPH)
#3 DF Marc Champagne - 25, 5-8, 140 - Northandryun Rovers (QUE)
#4 DF Wilfrid Gouin - 24, 5-7, 130 - Couno Rangers (TMB)
#5 DF Andrew Watson - 23, 5-9, 150 - Sindsyge FC
#15 DF Minotauro Meñica - 30, 5-6, 130 - Raven River (NPH)
#23 DF Josh Torres - 37, 5-8, 150 - Catherina FC
#25 DF Tobi Maier - 21, 6-2, 170 - AC Espene
#26 DF Étienne Nolet - 23, 5-9, 150 - Cavalry

MIDFIELDERS
#6 MF Andrej Heilprin - 21, 5-11, 160 - First City
#7 MF Aleksandr Temirkanov - 30, 5-7, 135 - Mosul (ADB)
#8 MF Vangelis Anagnakis - 23, 5-4, 125 - FK Arsika (MYT)
#10 MF Kent Lindblad - 29, 5-8, 140 - Farrenton Athletic (EUR)
#12 MF Martin Bartoš - 29, 5-9, 160 - Lublova Reds (SRS)
#13 MF Timur Zaitsev - 33, 5-10, 150 - Workers Union (EUR)
#17 MF Tanner Mayer - 23, 6-0, 165 - Cleopatrana SC
#20 MF Drystan Tudor - 28, 6-1, 160 - CF Outineau (KSK)
#21 MF Timm Weidmann - 24, 6-0, 155 - Metro Tirana

FORWARDS
#9 FW Alibek Khautov - 28, 5-10, 155 - Coret Hawks (NPH)
#11 FW Lukas Meyer - 32, 6-2, 175 - Farrenton Athletic (EUR)
#16 FW Roman Tesarik - 31, 6-0, 155 - Steckholl United
#18 FW John Vandaele - 32, 6-2, 165 - Perce Town (QUE)
#19 FW Mathias Gretler - 26, 5-9, 145 - Aries Chariots (NPH)
#24 FW Felix Houde - 26, 6-3, 170 - Coldwater

by **Alasdair I Frosticus** » Sat Jul 29, 2023 1:13 pm

OOC - this is obviously an IC post only, and doesn't reflect my RL opinions. It's a brief RP run through an online Donald Trump text generator/'translator'.

A STATEMENT FROM THE HOLY EMPIRE FOOTBALL ASSOCIATION

You know, it really doesn't matter what the media write as long as you've got a young and beautiful piece of ass, but the Holy Empire was robbed of qualification to the World Cup finals.

If you want to know the truth, we were leading Group 13 with one match to go, and then somehow finished fourth in the group and even missed the playoffs - an outcome that required a sequence of results so outlandish and unlikely that it could only be achieved through FRAUD!

The Holy Empire is one of the most successful World Cup teams in the history of the tournament, the only surviving active team from World Cup 1, and a five-time tournament winner. There are plenty of other nations that have tremendous hate in their hearts. Our press releases have become so powerful that we can actually make our enemies tell the truth.

We've said this before and we'll say it again, we qualify for World Cups because we deserve it, while jealous radical opposing teams try and manipulate the results to stop us from qualifying.

Now if you remember, you know that this is true. To be honest with you, you know that we're the real winners of World Cup 94 qualifying group 13. Or, as we've been saying for a long time, and I think you'll agree, because I said it to you once, you know that we're the real winners of World Cup 94. Even though they're still in the group stage of that tournament, we're the real winners regardless.

We know that if our fathers and our mothers were alive today, they would be very, very proud of us for winning World Cup 94, instead of this bogus fake Cup of Harmony thing.

by **Cabo Azure** » Sat Jul 29, 2023 1:38 pm

Cabo Azure National Football Team "Las Maçaricas"

Starting XI

#		Corte-Real					
Cardoso		Silveira	Gouveia				
							
	Rathbone	Maciel					
							
de Lima				Branco			
	Medeiro		Moniz				
		Gomez

The Gaffer
The manager of CSKA Quebec, AJ Zanetti was hired on a part-time basis as a cost-saving measure by the FAF. A visionary young manager with huge shoes to fill following the death of the legendary Paulinho.
Goalkeepers
GK Ambrosio Gomez 26 y/o Olympic Thessia (MYT)
A good all-round keeper, seasoned by his time in Mytanija. Earned the starting role during World Cup qualifying and is expected to keep it until he retires or falls out of favor.

GK Zezé Sapateiro 23 y/o Eivora Athletic FC (TKT)
One of a number of Azureans playing for Eivora, Sapateiro has come into his own recently as a starter in the Tikariotian Premier League. Will likely split starts with Gomez.

GK Vicente Leitao 26 y/o Port Tacassam FC (TKT)
Newly-minted starter for Port Tacassam in the TPL, Leitao is a consistent shot stopper who joins an unexpected glut of talent at goalkeeper. A very serviceable backup.

Defenders
RB Amilcar Branco 30 y/o Dhun Lagarr FC (TKT)
The Maçaricas’ undisputed starting right back, and one of its best players. A pacy fullback with the speed and skill to contribute on offense, he has evolved into an every-game starter not only for the .Maçaricas, but his club team as well, making him one of the few Azureans to have such an impact overseas.

LB Heitor Soares 26 y/o Jolbonopolis United (QUE)
A pacey, athletic wingback not at all in the Azurean vein, Soares goes by the mononym "Bandicoot" when plying his trade in the Licentian Isles. Having been scooped up from The Licentian Isles on a free, Soares has developed into a starter in the Q-League.

FB Marcelinho Costa 29 y/o Regium Immortum (OAM)
Though he lacks the panache of his peers, Costa is a tough-tackling, canny fullback who makes smart passes up field and terrorizes attackers in his own third. Currently starts for Regium Immortal in Oberour Ar Moro.

CB Tobias M'bah-Pinho 25 y/o St. John's Arsenal (QUE)
A versatile, Quebec-raised centerback, likely to see play on a rotational basis. Currently plays for St. John's Arsenal in his native Quebec.

CB Adalberto Furtado 29 y/o Reschensreppur (GRF)
An agile, harrying centerback making his way in a league dominated by “Big F*cking Grantfjallers”, Moniz was a fixture for the Azureans in qualifying and continues to improve.

CB Deodato Medeiro 30 y/o Marine Coast United (VIL)
Despite not having the size or bruising physique that Azureans generally prefer in their centerbacks, Medeiro has exceeded all expectations playing in the top flight of Villita, finding himself in conversation for end-of-season awards. A locked-in starter.

CB Emilio Couto 25 y/o Regiis Dreamland (BRO)
A big, scary centerback who does not shy from contact or yellow cards, Couto provides compact defense in clutch situations. Presently starting on mid-table Regiis Dreamland in Brookstation.

CB Donato Brandão 27 y/o SC Lagos (BOL)
Lacks the physical gifts of his older brother Kevin or Moniz or Medeiro, but a technically proficient centerback who makes few mistakes. Currently starts for SC Lagos, among the best Bollonichsian twins in the Twin Premier League.

Midfielders
CM Narciso Maciel 28 y/o Colonial Sile (VIL)
A composed, intelligent player with great distribution and off-ball movement. A true general to anchor the midfield who's taken root in the Vilitan Premier League

MF Seth Rathbone 25 y/o Portelo
A consistent, creative center-mid who has continued to achieve for the national team while playing domestically.

MF Emmanuel Bastos 23 y/o Honeybadgers (EUR)
A well-rounded midfielder known for having four lungs and being able to play most positions reasonably well, though not excelling in any. Currently plying his trade in Brookstation.

MF Marco Lobo 26 y/o Villa Silva
A holding midfielder who's likely reached his level playing domestically, but nevertheless a solid defensive option and a good like-for-like substitute with Maciel where one is needed.

MF Rolando Florencio 26 y/o Plastinagrade (ZRH)
A good all-round midfielder, without any strengths or weaknesses that stand out. Earns his first senior callup this cycle, currently sitting the bench for Campionato Esportiva de Campeones runners-up Platinastigrade.

MF Telmo Andrade 23 y/o Küsbon Town (CAD)
A fast-thinking, accurate-passing holding mid who has yet to live up to his potential. Was unfortunately relegated with his club in Cardenao, but looks to be a major player in their bounceback campaign.

Forwards
FW Cleto Silveira (C) 30 y/o Cathyr Emeralds (TKT)
After a few lackluster seasons for club and country, Silveira has reasserted himself as the team's #1 striker through his dominant play in the competitive Tikiariotan domestic competition. Recently transferred to Eivora Athletic in Tikariot.

FW Vasco Gouveia 28 y/o Khalgarh Valley FC (TKT)
Quite a polarizing player, as some deem him a poacher for padding his stats with go-ahead goals in meaningless matches, while others point to his impressive assist record to show he contributes in other ways. Recently moved from Tikariot City to newly-promoted TPL side Khalgarh Valley FC, where he has sought to keep the Stripes out of the relegation zone

FW Vasco Cardoso 25 y/o Mountainside (EUR)
A quick, agile, athletic striker, Cardoso is known mainly for his workrate and low quotient of mistakes, in many ways a foil to the other of "Os Dos Vascos". Currently plying his trade for mid-table Mountainside in Eura, where he was on the ballot for Young Player of the Season.

FW Anselmo Santos 25 y/o Fraser Valley (TUM)
A gifted striker held back in recent seasons by consecutive loan spells from an uncaring 1830 Cathair machine, and most recently a truly unfortunate contract situation in Tumbra, none of which was entirely his fault.

FW Pio Mendonça 24 y/o CSKA Quebec (QUE)
A pacy, consistent striker, Pio was the subject of the biggest transfer fee in Azurean history when he moved to Swangard last season. Still starting at Swangard Athletic in the QPL.

by **Cabo Azure** » Sat Jul 29, 2023 5:00 pm

Kinzie Schved was gone. Owen wasn’t exactly sure when it happened; the members of the Cabo Azure Narrative Council don’t keep tabs on one another, but when the Council went months without meeting and Owen contacted her at work, he was told by a polite administrative assistant that Dr. Schved no longer taught at Maritime University. Looking at social media, the last time Owen could be sure Kinzie was on campus was just before the last Winter Olympics. He imagined her flying to Quebec, seeing the princess she’d helped crown win a gold medal, and then fading into the distance, her work done.

Only her work wasn’t done; or if hers was, then the work of the Council wasn’t. In the immediate aftermath of Princess Solveig’s win, the Macaricas had gone on a tear, earning qualification to their first World Cup finals, where they advanced to the knockout rounds. This had felt almost inevitable, a necessary send-off to the legendary Paulinho and a shock to the FAF’s system that had put necessary reforms in place. The following World Cup qualification, however, had failed to capitalize on the momentum. Owen, who had once coached the Steel Coast national football team to a round of sixteen loss in Baptism of Fire 66, had a feeling he knew what the problem was. So he picked up the phone.

Kinzie had always convened the Narrative Council in a meeting room at Maritime University in Portelo, but Owen didn’t have the luxury of being affiliated to such an institution. What he did have, however, was access to the bar at Villa del Sol, the exclusive city club where he worked as a valet. The overwhelming majority of the Narrative Council had been footballers at one point; however, none worked anywhere near the sport now, with the notable exception of Mario Borges insomuch as he worked at all in his advanced age. Alex Malone worked at a payroll firm; Alex Hawkins was a rideshare driver in Sao Simone; and Avery Trujillo, who’d been a soldier, footballer, and coach in his native Venta de la Mesilla, now sold appliances at the new hypermarket in Villa Silva.

Owen wasn’t sure whether he’d get a quorum, or even what would compromise a quorum of the Narrative Council. Kinzie had run the outfit as if she’d had a set of rules written down somewhere, but no one had ever seen them nor dared to question her. When Petyr Janssen ducked his head in the door fifteen minutes before the meeting was scheduled to begin, Owen breathed a sigh of relief; at least he wouldn’t be totally alone. The Alexes arrived a few minutes later, followed by a notably subdued Mario Borges. At the appointed minute, Owen had what he imagined anyone would term a quorum seated in one of the private dining rooms at Villa del Sol.

“Good evening,” Owen said over the low din of conversation. “Thank you all for coming. I think you know why we’re here.”

Blank stares met his statement. “Not really, Owen,” Avery Trujillo said with a touch of regret. “Is it because the Macaricas didn’t make the finals? Because–”

“No, that’s not it,” Petyr Janssen interrupted. Janssen was the Council’s newest member, accepted into the fold a few weeks before Kinzie did her disappearing act. He’d previously been a police detective in Nouvelle-Angouleme, and now-defunct nation which in his memory had occupied the same space as Cabo Azure off the coast of Terranea. “Owen’s seen the same thing I have. They didn’t just fail to qualify for the World Cup–they barely made the cut for this Cup of Harmony, though who knows what the real criteria are for that tournament. And there’s more too; IFCF going by the wayside, fewer young Azurean players moving overseas. The Narrative is faltering.”

“Whatever happened to the story of the Azurean hockey team and Princess Solveig?” asked Alex Malone prudently. “That was supposed to cement her as a fixture in the Narrative.”

“Who knows?” asked Janssen. “The hockey team is an afterthought, but the princess won gold, so that’s something. But we need more. A lot more.”

“What do you suggest?” asked Trujillo.

“I don’t know,” Janssen admitted, “But we need something, or Cabo Azure is going to go the way all our nations did, once upon a time.”

That sent a murmur around the table. Every member of the Narrative Council had once resided in a nation that since ceased to exist, save for Mario Borges, who was the one remaining Azurena member of the council since Zora Sequeira’s resignation. The exact nature of how this happened remained a mystery, but each of them could attest that their nations’ narratives had fallen flat around the same time as they disappeared, and so the Council had formed to prevent that from happening to Cabo Azure.

Thus far they’d been successful. Life in Cabo Azure waxed and waned, but the Council had sent the Alexes to Graintfjall where they’d located Princess Solveig with Janssen’s help, thus avoiding putting the Narrative through a hackneyed succession arc, forcing a handwave, or kicking the can down the road by naming either of Manuel’s sisters as his heir. Besides being an Olympic gold medalist, Solveig was a pretty young woman, the diamond of the Quebecois social scene, and yet she couldn’t be expected to carry the narrative by herself, or so argued Owen to the assembled Council.

“Could always return to stories about football,” Alex Hawkins mused. “That is, after all, the largest part of Azurean identity.”

“Because that worked so well for Hasznia?” Janssen countered. “No, we need something outside of football. Sonia Vargas’s work in reforming is going to take time, and our domestics are, well.”

The council members laughed at that in spite of themselves.

by **Cardenao** » Sat Jul 29, 2023 7:22 pm

Official Name: The Kingdom of Cardenao National Football Team
Official Nation Name: The Federated Republic of the Kingdom of Cardenao
Country Code: CAD
Officiating League: The MegaPower League
Officiating Body: The Cardenao Football Association
Regional Officiating Body: CAFA LigAnaia
Records:
All-Time W/D/L: 41-20-38
All-Time Goals For/Goals Against: 197/190 +7
Under Ramon Lamberti: 0-0-0
International Rank: 57 (Prev 51)
Nickname: The Blue and Golds, La Furia Azule
Style: +5.0 out of 5.0

Primary kit:

Alternate kit:

THE ROSTER

When RP'ing, the name of my players in [i]ITALICS are the names on their kit and the name professional commentators would primarily call out when making observations. Those in BOLD are the national team starters UNLESS otherwise stated in a preceding RP.

PLAYER RESPONSIBILITIES

Captain: Haritz Larrainzar
Vice-Captain: Juanma Saez
Third Captain: Diego Valenzuela

Kick Takers (in order of ability)
Free kicks: Zoltan Keidobiko, Harritz Larrainzar,
Right corners: Zoltan Keidobiko, Giampietro Vera
Left corners: Zoltan Keidobiko, Harritz Larrainzar
Penalties: Juanma Saez, Alberto Godwine, Diego Valenzuela, Chimo Ventura

Manager: Ramon Lamberti
41 years old

PRIMARY FORMATION AND PLAYSTYLE

The Blue and Golds are heading into the 93rd World Cup with a new manager and an old but new approach to tactics. Ramon Lamberti is sending La Furia Azule out in a traditional 4-3-3 with the players running with some new instructions. Overall the emphasis is on ‘aggressive possession’,’ quickly gaining control of the ball and using their passing ability to slice up the field.

In attack, Chímo sits narrow next to Juanma Saez for a double-barrel goal threat while Lonzo Capitatelli runs up and down the pitch in the right center-mid position to cover that flank as Salva Perez pushes up from right back to provide width. Out left, Kaison stays wide to stretch play, allowing Haritz Larrainzar to slip forward into an attacking midfield position to dictate offensive play. As usual, Diego V holds position behind to snuff out counterattacks and cover the two man line of centerbacks Sameual Alcatron and Odita. Leftback Hendrix Salvador pushes forward into the midfield as an inverted fullback while rightback Salva Perez uses his endless stamina to bomb up and down the right flank.

Roleplay Permissions

Choose my goal scorers: Yes.
Injury to my players: TG/Discord DM.
Hand out Yellow cards to my players: TG/Discord DM.
Hand out Red cards to my players: TG/Discord DM.
Godmod Other Events: TG/Discord DM.

by **Archalit** » Sat Jul 29, 2023 8:28 pm

The Jolliest Roger
Archalit's Biggest Sports Network
A Valiant Effort
Chromatika 5–3 Archalit
(CMT) Xuen-Zhukov 8'
(ARC) Nightmare 12'
(ARC) Nightmare 17'
(ARC) Nightmare 24'
(CMT) Xuen-Zhukov 29'
(CMT) Haitou 62'
(CMT) Howard-Dawes 71'
(CMT) Hauser 88'
Now this was a real nail biter. The Chromatik football team is unquestionably well put together, and that was put right on display this match. Some interesting events went down, with one particular player scoring three assists and another getting a hat trick off of them. At the end of the day though, only one team survived the playoffs, and if you think the latest World Cup Runner-Up missed berth into the World Cup proper, anyone would call you crazy.

And yes, you would be crazy. The game opened with the Chromatik player Lavrentiy Xuen-Zhukov breaking through and scoring early, dribbling past Myst Magica and drilling the ball into the net, demoralizing many of the Archalitian fans in the stands who expected a blowout. However, there was a struggle. Just four minutes later, Lyndon Nightmare received a pass from the speedy August Armburst and shot past Moira Ansov, sending the ball soaring just over captain Juxon Fillar's outstretched hand. Soon after (in fact five minutes later), Armburst and Nightmare made the exact same play and scored once again, and the game suddenly was in Archalit's hands. It wouldn't be too long before Archalit stretched their lead further with the team basically agreeing "if it ain't broke, don't fix it," with Armburst setting up Nightmare again for another goal in the 24th minute. This ridiculous early hat trick seemed to indicate our potential success, although Chromatika soon shortened the gap when just five minutes later, Lavrentiy Xuen-Zhukov once again found the back of the net.

Now, there were no more goals in the latter 15 minutes of the first half, and for a while, there weren't any goals in the second either. That all changed when Edith Fillar and Candice Delaya were subbed out for Ibayashi Haitou and Elaine Howard-Dawes. Now, why an emergency reserve like Elaine Howard-Dawes was put into an important match like this is certainly a good question, but no one really had time to think about it before Ibayashi Haitou found himself in position to score outside the box. With the Archalitian defense focused on preventing Xuen-Zhukov from scoring, Haitou took a shot that landed squarely in the net, equalizing the score. The differences were noticeable, and these subs looked like they could be a problem. Henri de Aea went off, and on to the field came Klavida Régine, the beginning of our problems. While the Chromatiks look to Haitou and Howard-Dawes as the game-changing subs, this 5'11 defensive center managed to completely foil August Armburst and Lyndon Nightmare, consistently clearing the ball off of him. Suddenly, in the 71st minute, a counter-attack let Elaine Howard-Dawes score from a distance and put Chromatika in the lead 4-3. It didn't help that subs were becoming our biggest threats, but it especially didn't help when yet another one, Haley Hauser put the nail in Archalit's coffin, sealing a 5-3 victory in the 88th minute of play. Without having anymore opportunities to score, the Pirates were knocked out of the playoffs and subsequently exited the World Cup.

But it's not over. Archalit scored a Cup of Harmony invitation this year after being snubbed for an invitation to CoH 85. We may not be participating in the World Cup proper this time, despite our trials and tribulations to make it to the playoffs, but we have the chance to secure a good result and potentially excellent content before the Pirates League begins (which, for the love of god, please just release).
SAIL PIRATES, SAIL!

by **Patriotlandia** » Sat Jul 29, 2023 9:08 pm

Petro-Pat workers agree to strike, union prepares for long and arduous negociations

The Abelanian Union of Petroleum Workers (French: Syndicat Abelanien des employés du pétrole - SAEP) announced today in a press release that the six thousand workers they represent at state owned Petro-Pat oil and gas company were officially going on strike putting pressure on the authorities in order to adopt a more favorable collective bargaining agreement.

The disgruntled employees, which mostly comprises of oil rig, refinery and transportation workers are demanding better pay and more appropriate work life balance considering the long hours they usually work. The last agreement was signed 8 years ago and since then the Patriotlandian economy as changed a lot. In recent years, company growth as led to more and more demand for experienced workers which as shifted the balance in the hands of employees to secure better pay and working conditions. The SAEP is claiming that, among the represented workers, 35% are claiming that low pay causes significant economic strain, 42% are asking for better shift distribution and the end of mandatory overtime to bring working hours closer to the national average. Meanwhile, Petro-Pat CEO Barnabé Gaillard commented on the news stating the company's history of pro union policies proves their willingness to cooperate and give the best to their employees.

Planned strike actions include manifestations.throughout Port-la-Ville and Jolicoeur as well as smaller movements at refineries and oil rigs in Patriotlandian waters. The government and opposition leaders agree for now that back to work legislation are not the most urgent matter for now, but it is expected that each day of strike will cost tens of millions to the national economy. Further disruptions to goods and services could also drive prices upward for end users and customers as most major industries rely on Petro-Pat energy. So far the supplier remains positive that services will be carried on as usual.

by **Cardenao** » Sat Jul 29, 2023 9:57 pm

Salazaar’s Service (Part III)
(Part I, Part II)

Gisnsyx’s Forest stood tall and imposing as the 12 Cardenaoan soldiers slinked through the dense vegetation, shadows moving through the night. Daybreak was still a few hours away and Sergeant Salaazar’s squad needed to travel as much of the path to Monnstair as they could while the cover of night provided protection. They were well aware that they were outnumbered by the enemy, the enemy they would occasionally glimpse by way of a helicopter passing high overhead or the sound of explosions in the distance.

“Sulfur smelling shit,” Sergeant Salazaar said as he caught a whiff of the exploding volcano in the Ochre Islands. He gritted his teeth as he waved his soldiers forward. They had a newfound respect for their Sergeant, who’s courage, tactical brilliance, and penchant for cunning maneuvers had helped them evade detection and waste two Bostopian squads.

This group of 12 soldiers were the first Cardenaoans to actually engage in combat with an enemy, and they were the first to kill an opposing force. Of course, it was barely a drop in the Bostopian bucket so to say, the invaders had brought plenty of their own soldiers of their own and it was taking the 12 Cardenaoans every ounce of skill and patience to remain undetected. Every member of the squad was showing their courage and determination to succeed in this desperate mission with the odds stacked against them.

The plan was simple: survive. Survive the retreat through Gisnsyx’s Forest and break through to the city of Monnstair. From there, assuming the city was still free of Bostopian control, Left-enant Neil Dilang had assured them a boat would be waiting to ferry them to Robsham on Mournhow Island along with a VIP. If the Bostopian forces had taken control of Monnstair and closed off any approach angles, it would be game over for the Cardenaoans. There was no other way off the island, no other boats, no swimming, no extraction force. The soldiers needed to escape, the soldiers were moving cautiously, their senses primed for any signs of danger, a mistake now could lead to their death.

A babbling creek marked a natural rest point for the Cardenaoan troops. They stopped but for a minute, drinking some water, catching their breath, the end of the path couldn’t be much further now, the soldiers needed to get out of the trees and into safety. They needed to sleep. But no, sleep would have to wait. They were almost through the trees and onto the next phase of the plan.

As the rosy-fingered dawn started to fill the sky, Sergeant Salazaar knew the easy part was behind them, the real work was just getting started.

by **Milchama** » Sun Jul 30, 2023 2:17 am

And now an excerpt from Milchama's fourth most popular TV show. The Adventures of Sprightman!

The Intro
We must start with our characters. First we have Sprightman: his only weakness he thinks he can fly! His nemesis is Orangina. She is possibly an evil villain. Sprightman is unaware that Orangina exists. Though Sprightman always foils her schemes. The way that Sprightman is able to foil her schemes is through Tomasz. Tomasz is not Sprightman’s sidekick. However, he’s a good friend of Orangina’s and always ends up helping her out of a jam and in so doing helping Sprightman. Therefore, everybody believes, including Sprightman, that Tomasz is Sprightman’s sidekick. This is, of course, rather unfortunate for poor Tomasz who just mostly gets annoyed because he’s surrounded by idiots who somehow end up becoming much more powerful than he is.

Episode 1
Sprightman, of course, has his own canon of stories where he saves the day due to his abilities. The most notable time was the cat on the tree near the canyon! Orangina’s cat had escaped up a tree and ended up on the top of a tree near a canyon near the town. Sprightman, knowing he could fly to save the kitty, jumped to save the cat but missed and fell down the canyon without the cat. His strength ended up making a giant hole in the canyon that you can still see today if you look down. Tomasz climbed the tree, got the cat, gave it back to Orangina who immediately lost the cat.
Meanwhile Orangina was super excited as her nemesis was dead! Of course, since Sprightman is indestructible (remember his only weakness is that he thinks he can fly) he was not harmed at all. He barely had a scratch. Sprightman eventually climbed up the canyon found the cat and gave it back to Orangina. Then he called the press who wrote an article about how Sprightman saved the day by flying into a tree to save a cat. This gave Sprightman positive press and made him continue to believe he could fly. Tomasz didn’t read the paper and had no idea this had happened. However, he later learned he was named a sidekick and said “not a sidekick!” very loudly. Nobody heard him. Everybody was happy, except Tomasz, but it’s clear that this universe does not care about him. This is rather unfortunate for Tomasz who would rather live in a different universe. Everybody agreed that he was born in the wrong universe. Nothing can be done about this of course, so it goes.

Episode 2
That was all prologue. Why would someone do prologue in a short story that is max 5 pages? Questions that should be asked but will not be answered here because we have a story to tell. This story starts with a pizza place. The pizza place owner, of course, has a pizza oven as one needs that to run a pizza place. Orangina is hosting a pizza party on Thursday and figures the best way to get a pizza oven is to steal a pizza place. She spends several hours on Sunday to make a machine that can dissolve pizza places and move them approximately 100 ft outside her house, which works out so that she has a pizza oven in her backyard. She also gets a fully functioning business which might help her make some money as well and that’s never a bad thing. Unclear how zoning regulations work with a pizza place being able to be moved from a strip mall to a residential neighborhood but this does not seem like the type of universe that cares about zoning. This lack of zoning annoys Tomasz.
The pizza place creates a giant hole in the strip mall where it is and also the employees are confused as to why they are in a backyard and quit so they can find their cars. This is perfect for Orangina who now has a perfectly functioning pizza oven all to herself so she can make pizzas for Thursday. The strip mall owner and the pizza place owner are worried and so call Sprightman hoping that he can take care of the problem. Sprightman gladly answers the call and says he will fly across town to inspect what happened. When he jumps to fly nothing happens. Sprightman then gets embarrassed and annoyed and decides to stay home doing nothing as he pouts.
Tomasz is driving to Orangina’s to help her set up for the party when he sees a pizza place in the backyard. He immediately realizes this is the pizza place that has been in the news. We now go to their conversation:

“So wait, I just want to get this clear”

“Yes”

“You decided that instead of either buying or renting a pizza oven you instead decided to create a special machine that specifically only dissolves pizza places to get a pizza oven for your pizza party on Thursday”

“Yeah isn’t it great?!”

“Why did you do this?”

“How else am I going to make pizzas for Thursday?”

“Did you not hear my alternate suggestions?”

“Yes, but they’re boring and also I already did one of them. Look I have a pizza oven in the backyard”

“You know could have also just ordered pizza for Thursday”

“The invitation very clearly says make your own. Why else are you here?”

“I was going to cook pizza in my oven”

“Is it a pizza oven?”

“No”

“So then what I did was better”

“Why?”

“Because now I have a pizza oven which will make better pizzas”

“Again, this could have been accomplished through alternate means”

“Ok what do you think I should do”

“I think you should return the pizza place to its rightful spot and buy a pizza oven. I’ll help you install it”

“Deal”

“Great that was easy”

The deal arranged, Tomasz was ready to return the pizza place to its rightful place. Meanwhile Sprightman was driving by, in secret as he was still pouting, and saw the missing pizza place. He immediately picked up the pizza place and ran over to the strip mall using his just discovered superspeed and placed it down. Sprightman then advertised his incredible feat in the press as he put the pizza place back. Orangina was confused why she wasn’t able to use her machine and Tomasz realized that everybody now thought he had negotiated with a terrorist to buy time for Sprightman to make his move.

The pizza party on Thursday was a success and the pizza oven was immediately moved to another backyard where it still is used like twice a year.

The Moral of the Story

You should not purchase a personal pizza oven you will not use it enough.

by **Aeragny** » Sun Jul 30, 2023 5:10 am

To Write a Wrong

Location: A private compartment aboard the intercity train between Sésyu and Les Meins (also dubbed Dectaudixy, the Union Service); specifically the stretch between the Podium and Brécelndomer stations. The Dectaudixy stretches through all of the southern coast of Parzhinia, into the Northern half of Rellebois, connecting just about every major city in Parzhinia and Rellebois with one another. Despite its express nature, being an intercity service, these trains do end up taking a detour past Duxembois, and stop at each station along this track up until L'Ocq station. Nonetheless, this 550 km long service is a staple in the Airannian railway book.
Present:

Mádhilda Bégneco (MB); head of the Dichaum Jalliéc-Quilly, the Language Moderation Association -- the leading organization in all of Airannia when it comes to the propagation, standardization and stimulation of the languages of the great Airannian nation. Not just Aeránanue, but also the minority languages of Hmala, Ouigé, Intalo, Ehetiko, Folminian and Siwonni are monitored and kept under the umbrella of the Dichaum JQ; as well as the often forgotten rift between Ajurti-Aeránanue and Parzhin-Aeránanue; as defining the difference in language spoken in the two kingdoms is an art that is often forgotten about.
Élodie Hriniem (EH); board member of VisitAerá, Airannia's national tourism board. VisitAerá operates various websites, such as airannia.com, visitaera.com and cabeliatourism.com; which lure many, many tourists each year onto the island country. For the past few decades, Airannia's economy has been becoming more and more dependent on tourism, especially in the southern kingdoms of Ajurton and Hmal King. While Airannia tries to tout its cultural heritage and rich natural parks full of wonder, the notable lack of tropical animals which do live on surrounding mainland makes the country a much less attractive destination - most visitors opt to spend their time on the countries many rich beaches instead.

MB: Well. You know why I've asked you to meet me here, don't you?
EH: In honesty, I have no idea.
MB: Oh. Did Maryanna not send you a briefing email?
EH: No. She did not. I really don't know what we're doing here.
MB: Oh. Ehm..
An awkward silence falls.
MB: Look, okay, I don't feel like this is the right atmosphere for me to inform you of the issue at hand. That's why I try to keep these kinds of conversations in a private location.
EH: That's why we're in a private compartment. You asked when scheduling this meeting that we meet somewhere private.
MB: On a public train?
EH: It's a private compartment! You can't just... walk in here. Not without permission, of course.
MB: Please, Élodie. Anyone could walk in here. We just have the right to kick them out again. Besides, why does the tourism board rent a private compartment on the Union Service?
EH: Do not question our methods. We happen to make use of this compartment quite often.
MB: For what? Press conferences? Board meetings?
EH: Yes to both.
MB: ...
EH: So, what do we do now then? When we get to Duxembois, we can head to our office and talk there, if you prefer. I'm just thoroughly confused as to what the two of us might have to discuss.
MB: Oh, I can assure you, our worlds collide on this instance. I've already spoken with Kito Stéfnigny [editors note: The head of the Airannian United Sports Organization], and he also agrees that this very much involves all three of us.
EH: You're joking. Why isn't he here then?
MB: I wanted to brief you before the three of us met. Maryanna kind of ruined that though. He's already waiting for us to arrive. In your office.
EH: Why are you, a language nerd, acting like some kind of spy agency leader, with all this mystery and unnecessarily complicated plans? Why is everything being kept so thoroughly under wraps? What kind of writing is this?

But Mádhilda simply stares straight ahead for the remainder of the journey into Duxembois station. After a few more complaints from Élodie, she slumps back into her seat, looking out the window, hoping the coffee lady comes by soon. She's in for a long ride.

by **Polar Islandstates** » Sun Jul 30, 2023 5:10 am

It was easy to find places to be quiet, these days.

The archipelagos that made up the True Federation were, like the vast expanses of space that suspended the various galaxies and clusters of the multiverse in their benevolent arms, mostly empty. The best part of fifty-million souls called the True Federation their home, but they did so mostly in clusters. So long as you avoided the largest metropolises, those cities of the north that dragged people towards them, keeping the light and noise in orbit around themselves through the power of their gravitational pull, you could find your moments of peace. Miracles of engineering supporting hundreds of thousands of people, their achievements in having humans exist so comfortably could only be further underlined by taking trips into the country, where scatterings of fishing villages and rural farming communities huddled together for warmth and safety, colourful cottages roosting together on cliffs like the seabirds that circled above them.

Take two steps out of these communities, though, and you found tranquillity. Or rather, it found you.

Forests stretched from coastline to coastline. Thick blankets of pine needles and trunks standing straight as soldiers on parade, sometimes coming right up to city boundaries. Sound took on another quality altogether within Polarian forests. Bird call sparkled and bounced lively from tree to tree, meltwater bubbled and spilled through gullies, and scuffling noises of larger mammals squabbling over mating rights or food territories were never far away. And then, in clearings, moments of utter stillness once again.

The forests gave way as mountains grew taller. Almost all the islands in the chain were based around the idea of some central peak. Many of them were nothing more than just that, in fact, and if you climbed them, the views you were treated to were nothing short of spectacular. High enough to see the shining seas stretching out before you, yet low enough to still make out individual cars and people on roads in the distance, there was something to be said for the solitude of a Polarian mountain. Impenetrable though they may seem, the tunnels and resources the Valhallans had extracted from them gave wealth and life to many of the states. Mostly, however, they were just silent guardians of the land they towered over, the only sounds the barrelling gales that whipped between the peaks in winter.

For a bunch of islands, the Islandstates sure managed to pack in a lot of ‘nothing’ in between their towns and cities, and if you weren’t in a forest or halfway up a mountain, you might just find yourself in such a nothing. Plateaus of grasslands, mostly buried by snow for half the year, frozen solid just below the surface for the entirety of it... Each state had their own dialectical word for these steppes, but the sense of loneliness, exposure, and vulnerability one got when you walked on them, that was common to all.

Occasionally, great crashings and creakings could be heard, as mountains eroded in spectacular style, or commotions as predators and prey fought out their battles. But for the most part, these wildernesses were quiet.

And if you were lucky enough to make it out onto the sea, there lay an entirely different type of quite. The Ture Federation was mostly sea, after all, and if you were so inclined, if would be the easiest thing to do on a still day to take a boat out to sea, remove yourself from the shipping channels, and just, sit. The only sound coming from waves that found themselves unexpectedly breaking not on pebbled shore but on the hull of an old pleasure craft.

Through endless days and long, perpetual nights, the True Federation offered the traveller many a chance to enjoy true peace and quiet.

All of which Iosef Miroshnichenko had witnessed, experienced, and enjoyed on his various travels around his home nation. But there had been no silence like that one he’d heard in the Nasjonale Stadion the night that Launceston scored for Saint Eleanor. All they’d needed was a win. One win, over an opposition they’d beaten once in qualifying already, and they’d be in a playoff spot. One game away from an unlikely but triumphant return to the World Cup proper. One goal, even, as the second half drew on. Iosef had guessed, second guessed, triple guessed, and gone back on himself a thousand times in the lead-up to that game. Foreign travel rules being what they were still, there were barely any visiting supporters, and so when that goals went in... silence. Over sixty-seven thousand Polarians should make a lot more noise than that. Even accidentally.

Miroshnichenko’s brain still broke just at the memory of that moment. His tactical and pragmatic lobes had been trying desperately to come up with a plan to counter what had just happened and wanted to work out how steal a goal in the final few minutes, as if making a team go from 0-100kph in the blink of an eye was an easy thing to do. The other half of him had been trying to convince his subconscious that what had happened had really just happened, and to get over the denial that had overtaken him in that moment as he went through all the so-called stages of grief in one dizzying spell. And then, the dawning realisation that explained why he was feeling quite so on edge, why every single synapse in his brain was crying out in discomfort. Expected stimuli were not present. An entirely full stadium was almost silent. Where was the noise? The absence of an expected roar could, it turned out, be just as deafening.

With that defeat, the campaign was over. The circus stopped. The on-off nature of a qualification campaign built around a league season meant that suddenly having very little to do was nothing new to Miroshnichenko. But this was different. It wasn’t like the off-season of the domestic game, where there were always jobs to do. It was just, over. A mid-table finish in the end for the Terns, and that was that. The finality of a final table, inked in and underlined. The end. The hype drifted away, as did the endless stream of journalists that had buzzed around him for months. Speculation faded. Excitement and anticipation were incredible drugs, and their absence left a sort of void in the national psyche. And into that void, Miroshnichenko had started projecting his thoughts, fears, and doubts.

The Secretary General had left as soon as the final whistle had gone, the heads of the VFA had looked on with grim expressions and hadn’t even been in touch since, not directly. The Cup of Harmony information had all come through intermediaries, little though that bundle had been, and there hadn’t even been any ‘opinions’ offered on who to pick this time around. He’d picked the same twenty-three as a result, and hoped that would be enough. Two training camps later, and they were all in the hotel, awaiting their flight to Huayramarca early next morning, whatever Huayramarca was like. Players, coaches, support staff, journalists, diplomatic and VFA administrators, and whatever members of the OO that weren’t already in Huayramarca, all asleep, hopefully, and waiting for the Terns’ second ever Cup of Harmony appearance.

All except Miroshnichenko.

Having gone for a walk in search of peace and quiet, he’d left the hotel behind, shaken off whatever security detail there might have been outside the hotel, and was heading out of the estate and into the Valhallan scrub that lay beyond.

With such an early flight, the idea of a glitzy hotel in the centre of Franz Josef City and a ceremonial trip to the airport in front of the press was out of the question. Instead, the Terns had had to put up with a stay in one of those saddest of things, an airport hotel, one of those grey, anonymous estates of airport services and light industrial that follow airports around the multiverse like a bad smell. ‘Welcome to our country,’ they all seem to say, ‘hope you wanted your first taster of it to be exactly like the place you just left...’

The world of grey cladding and flaking corrugated metal sheets fell away, and Miroshnichenko was quickly into the countryside. A missing panel of chain-link fence offered no resistance, and he briefly wondered if was about to trespass onto airport property. With laws against big developments around the runways, ‘buffer-zones’ of scrub and woodlands surrounded most airports in the Federation, and this one was no exception. Managed to some degree, to deter dangerous wildlife from straying into harm’s way, there was a chance Miroshnichenko might have bumped into someone, but perhaps not at that time of night. His feet crunched through snow, and he pressed on slowly into the hinterland of the city.

The business of an airport never really stops, of course, and in the distance he could see lights and squat little trucks moving around on the vast expanse of runway. Snowploughs queued at one side, lined up and ready to be deployed. But there were no planes. Not at this time of night. Franz Josef City wasn’t quite big enough to require round the clock take-offs and landings, but Miroshnichenko was sure it wouldn’t take long for the first landing lights to appear through the hovering murk. The sun never really set at this time of year. Not really. It hovered briefly below the horizon before reappearing, as if scared you were going to forget it, before bursting forward at an ungodly hour demanding applause for however weakly it heated you up at this latitude.

Ascending easily up the small ascent that the estate below had been hollowed out of, Miroshnichenko tried to clear his head. He walked past patches of shrubs and spindly fir trees, and thought about the friendly against Sylestone. Initially painted by the VFA as a palette-cleanser, the game had ended up playing out like much of the games in qualifying. Drab by some definitions, tight and on a knife-edge by others. It just depended who you talked to. In the end, a goal from a corner scored by Nutt had done for the Terns. Another one-nil home defeat; not quite as notorious a one-nil defeat as the Terns had previously experienced, Miroshnichenko doubted it would make the same shelf as Polar Islandstates 0-1 The Weegies, or Polar Islandstates 0-1 Saint Eleanor, but given its proximity to the latter it was an unwelcome reminder to the fans of what they’d just missed out on.

Watching his breath pool in the air in front of him, Miroshnichenko turned to see how far he’d come. The forest of the wider Franz Josef state flanked him on one side, silently patrolling the borders of the areas Valhallans had hewn from the great northern wildernesses. At this time of night, even the birds were asleep, and any nocturnal creatures lurking were doing so well out of sight and earshot of this synthetically clad human that had come to threaten their habitat. Grasses, knee-high around him, bobbed gently in the breeze, passing on their consignments of frost to his trouser legs. The airport stretched out to his left, slightly downhill. To his right, the capital city sat shining in the dusk. Or, was it dawn? It wasn’t clear. Even at this distance, the city gave off an air of gravitas. It looked still, but Miroshnichenko knew it wouldn’t be. It never was. He could still pick out the landmarks; the Ensign Tower, the peaks of the Gullsbron, Rendahl Stadion, and the Icescraper. Despite himself, he still half-expected to be able to hear the sounds of the city. Instead, he couldn’t even hear any birds. To the east, the subtle change in the colour of the light pollution from yellow-orange to brilliant white indicated the docks and their floodlights, where Miroshnichenko knew there would be a hive of activity, even now.

But not up here. Aside from the odd clank or whirr of machinery from the airport below, it was silent.

Miroshnichenko took a deep breath and watched a shrew dart across the snow in front of him, darting for cover. He thought about his future. He’d never expected the Secretary General to appear at a friendly, but, for nobody from the upper ranks of the VFA to be their either... did they care? Surely they hadn’t lost interest already. The Terns were more or less what the VFA were for, weren’t they? So, surely not...

He thought about Alexsandr van Sorensen. Despite his age, he knew the entire nation were basically clamouring for the legend to play a bigger part in the national team now that he was back form apparent self-isolation. He didn’t really understand the full story behind what had gone down between van Sorensen and The Party, but he suspected there was more to it than met the eye. Nonetheless, the mere existence of a man like that, denied the chance to manage the Terns by their non-existence during the years of isolation, was always going to put pressure on the current national team manager. Worse still, with van Sorensen never having had the chance to lead the Terns into an international tournament, Miroshnichenko wasn’t just competing with the great man himself, but with the ideal version of van Sorensen that the collective nation held in their heads. Who could compete with that?

Miroshnichenko thought about his assistant, Federico Aalto. If nothing else, this trip abroad was the perfect chance to connect and try to forge a working relationship with him. He’d not really spoken to Miroshnichenko outside of a training camp since that Launceston goal. Something was up with him, and, safely ensconced in a foreign country for at least four matches, maybe now would be a good time to find out what. If the Terns were going to be a force in international football again, regardless of what the VFA or The Party thought about that, Miroshnichenko thought, defiantly, then he’d need the support of his number two. Or else, maybe he’d walk. He had a nose for when the chips were down, after all, so, maybe he’d walk before he was pushed.

He caught himself at that thought. That was new. Where had that defiance come from? He’d always considered the national team job the biggest honour he could have. He loved this job. Was he really that stressed already, after just one qualifying campaign, that he was entertaining thoughts of quitting just to spite his detractors?

He sniffed. That was something to keep an eye on. Maybe he’d talk to someone about it if it happened again.

The sudden illumination of the side of a plane through the fences below him caught Miroshnichenko’s eye. The brilliant white fuselage reflected light all around, and the official liveries on the tail let him know that that was their plane, beginning its defrosting and preparation routines, no doubt. He thrust his hands deeper into his pockets and headed back to the hotel. He’d get some sleep on the plane, he reasoned, as his footsteps back through the snow were the only sound around. It really was very quiet out here, before the planes.

Catching a last glimpse of the plane before he disappeared around a copse and back through the gap in the chainlink fence, Miroshnichenko put his intrusive thoughts behind him and focused on the job in hand. Football. Whatever else was about to happen in his professional career, it had to happen on the pitch, first. He was quiet. He was still. He was ready. Huayramarca; Cardenao, República Guanacasteca, Cabo Azure, Aeragny, and a whole lot of noise, awaited.

by **Dantopia** » Sun Jul 30, 2023 5:37 am

dantopia.national.team
Jul 28

The #Lions were drawn into Group F for the #CupOfHarmony which means this is their list of upcoming fixtures...

7 mins ago

Whilst a world cup finals birth was not quite on the cards for the Dantopian national team - with the Lions only narrowly missing out in their very first world cup qualifying campaign, an invitation to the eighty-sixth edition of the Cup of Harmony was on the cards for Harold Northgate's side. The Cup of Harmony is an invitation tournament for teams who have failed to qualify for the world cup finals, but are eager to continue playing competitive matches and prove themselves on the international stage. The hosts for the Cup of Harmony this time around are Huayramarca and Poafmersia, with the latter hosting the Lions during the group stages. Indeed, the Dantopian team were drawn into Group F, alongside Ochre Islands, Milchama, Kamijiro - whom Dantopia have faced before in the Baptism of Fire - and Acastanha.

The Dantopians are based in the state of Dalaris, in the north of Poafmersia. Dalaris is the smallest state by land size, but it is actually one of the most well developed states in the nation, being the main driver of the Poafmersian economy. It is also a region steeped in history and culture, and the travelling fans from Dantopia have been enjoying what has been on offer in the historic Georgetown port, now a MASC recognised heritage site. The national team's group games will all be taking place in the city of Dalaris itself, meaning everything is close by. In fact, given the impressive public transport infrastructure in place in Poafmersia, and a green initiative of the national team, the squad will be exclusively travelling using the railway system in the nation. There was an option to charter buses or even trains for that natter, but the national team have embraced the Poafmersian train timetable, and will be exclusively using the publicly available service for their transport needs. The high levels of safety in the nation means the team will be able to travel without fear.

Harold Northgate's men will face Milchama to start proceedings, in the Sporting Dalaris Stadium, home of Dalaris Sports FC, a club who are well known in their home country for their assertive, perhaps even aggressive style of play, and a very defensively-minded approach. Milchama on the other hand, play a very progressive and attacking game, with an unorthodox 3-3-4 formation (no, that's not a 4-3-3), with three defenders, three midfielders and 4 attackers. In practice, the formation is fluid, but with Cal Kamet's license to roam forward, combined with the defensive structure provided by Cekarn and Filimitov behind them, the Michamian defensive structure is very similar to that of Dantopia's under Harold Northgate's improvised 3-2-4-1 tactic that had been used throughout the world cup qualifiers. The attacking five of Milchama then - including Kamet - pose the Dantopian defenders many threats, and offer the Milchamians a lot of width to their play. The hope will be that Dantopia don't get stretched out defensively whilst playing the twenty-fourth best ranked side in the world according to the latest metrics. This will certainly be a rigorous test for Lions, and it is expected Northgate's 3-2-4-1 in attack may well revert to a 5-2-3 whilst out of possession, with Brent Bartholomew-Barnham dropping back into a right wing-back position, allowing Lyle Runner to tuck inside and form a back three with Rock and Yesterdi. Lewis Shank will move to the left wing-back slot.

Northgate starts with Moses up top, with Danchevy and Adeyemi on the wings, though the defensive back three will likely become a back five whilst out of possession against Milchama, with Bartholomew-Barnham and Shank reverting to right wing-back and left wing-back respectively.

Getting off to a good start will be important for the Lions if they hope to advance out of Group F, but if anything, the quality of opposition the Dantopians are playing has increased exponentially since the world cup qualifiers, so the Lions will be going into every match-up in Group F the underdogs, except perhaps against Kamijiro, whom Dantopia defeated once before in the Baptism of Fire tournament. However, Kamijiro learned quickly from their loss and went on to win the entire competition, whilst Dantopia crashed out in the Round of 16. Whatever the outcome after Dantopia's opening fixtures, it is a great honour for the side to have been invited to the Cup of Harmony, and the opportunity to face against some great opposition will certainly be an important learning experience for the Lions.

1 min ago

Harold Northgate has named the squad that will face off against Kamijiro next at the Sporting Dalaris Stadium in Dalaris, Poafmersia. Just two new players have been included in the side that played against Milchama to open proceedings, with Will Fodderingham coming in for Manny Moses and Rhys Tuiloma-John (previously listed as Rhys John) replacing team captain Lyle Runner. Indeed, Tuiloma-John and his sister Morgan - who plays for the Dantopian women's team - have recently decided to include their father Taika Tuiloma's last name on their shirts again. The sporting siblings have always held the legal last name Tuiloma-John, but when their father was (as it turns out wrongfully) convicted and sentenced to life in prison for a double homicide, their shirt names had always only shown their mother's last name.

With new evidence coming to light, Taika Tuiloma has been exonerated and released from his prison stint, something that took him away from his family for nineteen years. The former professional footballer himself has therefore missed the vast majority of his two children's upbringing, though that has thankfully now changed, with the 53-year-old now able to be back in his family members' lives. Tuiloma plead his innocence throughout his lengthy prison term, but it was only recent DNA evidence which managed to corroborate his side of the story. Dantopian tabloid newspaper The Globe ran a campaign which followed Tuiloma's trial and defamed his character, which negatively influenced public opinion of Tuiloma, who's successful footballing career - already in its twilight - was stripped of him, along with his freedom when he was convicted of the crime he never committed.

Dantopia face Kamijiro, whom they have faced once before in the Baptism of Fire group stages. In their previous encounter, the Lions were able to prevail over the Lightning - a single goal from Adebayo Adeyemi being the difference maker, but it was the Kamijiroans who would eventually go on to win the Baptism of Fire tournament, held in the Commonwealth of Baker Park. National team manager Harold Northgate will be hoping for another winning display from the Lions against Kamijiro this time, though the attacking threats of players like Rizky Tuasalamony, Ankei Hilario and young phenom Leão will mean the Dantopian defenders - including Rhys Tuiloma-John - will need to have their wits about them.

Will Fodderingham and Rhys Tuiloma-John rotate in for the Dantopians, who have Michael Danchevy leading the line and captaining the side against Kamijiro, who themselves are lining up in their traditional 3-5-2 shape.

Tuiloma-John, coming in for usual team captain Lyle Runner, was able to give an interview before the match to DTV Sports presenter Harry Vinegar, on the reasons behind the name change, and life inside the Dantopian camp...

Harry Vinegar (HV):

Thanks for sitting down and doing this interview with me Rhys. Obviously it's been gut-wrenching to lose out on qualification to the world cup by the narrowest margins, but is the camp feeling positive for the upcoming Cup of Harmony campaign?

Rhys Tuiloma-John (RTJ):

Yes, definitely! We knew the odds of qualifying out of Group 15 in the World Cup Qualifiers was always going to be a monumental task, and the fact we were able to make life difficult for experienced sides like Flavovespia, Vilita, Trolleborg, Valentine Z, Patriotlandia, Ziwana etc. really goes to show the direction we are headed as a team, and we're feeling encouraged by all that heading into this tournament now.

HV:

So you're not feeling too down at all about it, then?

RTJ:

Not really, no. In the moment, it was obviously really tough, but the gaffer sat us all down afterwards and explained how proud he was of all of us, how much we had achieved, and how its things like this that will actually build us all up and make us stronger for it. He's a bit of a father-figure for many of the lads in the dressing room to be honest.

HV:

Speaking of father figures, you have been enjoying some more of that recently haven't you?

RTJ:

That's right. Many people back home in Dantopia will know that I was raised in a single-parent family. My mum was amazing for us all, me me, for my sister Morgan, who is an established professional footballer in her own right. However, that doesn't mean my Dad being in prison for all these years wasn't hard on us all, because it really was. I'm definitely glad he's home now. It means a lot.

HV:

Indeed, you've got him back in your life now, after recent DNA evidence finally exonerated him of the double-homicide he was convicted of when you were just four years old.

RTJ:

Yeah, the fact he was wrongfully convicted, and maintained his innocence throughout was something I really struggled with as a kid growing up. My mum was unfortunately convinced he was guilty for the longest time, not because of his character so much, but more guilty by association because of the guys he hung out with, to be honest. That's the reason why she insisted that our names be listed as only 'John' on the backs of our shirts, and not Tuiloma-John, which has always been our legal last name. I guess it was a way to protect the two of us. I'm just glad to have my Dad back in my life, and actually for the first time can feel proud knowing my full name isn't tainted by a horrific crime.

HV:

Yes, your father did insist he was innocent the entire time, but the high profile nature of the case - given your father's own sporting career 25 or 30 years ago - meant that the public eye certainly played a part in the case, especially when certain tabloid newspapers ran campaigns defaming his character.

RTJ:

Yes. I wanted to believe my father, but it felt like the whole world was telling me and my family that he was a bad guy and he deserved what he got. I'm so glad recent DNA evidence has managed to exonerate him. It's really nice to have him home again, and as for the matter of those disreputable tabloids, they will be hearing from our family's lawyers soon enough, because what they did over the course of many years was horrible, hurtful and shameful. The stress it has caused my mum, my sister and me over the years is truly immeasurable.

HV:

Well, thank you for being so candid about all this. Now, onto matters concerning the Cup of Harmony, do you think you and the team are ready to take the next step in this competition? There are a lot of very talented sides, the competition is going to be tough.

RTJ:

Of course the level of competition is something to be wary of, but if it wasn't going to be challenging, would it even be worth striving for? The team and I are actually really motivated by the level of competition being so high in this tournament. It's making us just want to show the world all the more the capabilities we have as a squad. We know we can take Dantopian football to the next level, we just need the opportunity to showcase it.

HV:

A very confident mindset! I hope you and the lads will be able to do yourselves and all of Dantopia justice against Kamijiro next, and for the rest of the games in Group F. I wish you all the very best of luck!

RTJ:

Thanks, I appreciate it.

by **Nyowani Kitara** » Sun Jul 30, 2023 6:55 am

NYK President Muhoozi Kulan, the day after Nyowani Kitara's 1-0 playoff loss to Sylestone

When the final whistle had blown the previous night, President Muhoozi Kulan had something on his face that not many Kitarans had- a wide faced grin. Finally. The opportunity was there to get rid of a political enemy who had been a thorn in his side. In some places, hell, in many places, some would call this undue government interference in football. But the President didn't care. Not many nations had the history of Nyowani Kitara- where the KWFA had been the consolation prize for those who had ruled the country with an iron first for close to four decades.

But no longer.

Liang Wei had gotten the job, of course, because he was a very capable football manager. Did anyone know that he was quite as capable as this? Probably not. But the original reason he had been hired was because he was a manager, who was a very public and extremely dedicated socialist. Back when Boaz Akongo was President and decided that the KWFA should have higher ambitions than simply competing in the Copa Rushmori, he had called his most trusted friend, Ren Qiang (rest in peace). Asked for a recommendation.

Wild- in public life, Liang Wei has truly been Nyowani Kitara's one constant. Managed the remainder of Boaz Akongo's life. The entirety of the civil war. The peace talks. The post-war period. The elections. And during Muhoozi Kulan's Presidency. He had maintained his personality the entire time- unabashedly, unapologetically, pro-Ren Qiang and pro-Akongo. It had gotten him into trouble (he got a 4 game suspension for protesting the UR national anthem during the Cup of Harmony). But he was damn good at winning. Taking a nation from a civil war, to the freaking World Cup Semifinals, in just four cycles, is absolutely insane.

He went to the Copa Rushmori Semifinals. He went to the World Cup Knockouts twice. He was, in effect, untouchable- until now. Missing the World Cup entirely, once, for a nation like NYK, is not the end of the world. Generally. He probably should have kept his job. But he had too many political enemies. Too strong a supporter of the previous regime. So, he had to go. He wasn't going to resign- but the National Assembly, as the sponsor of the KWFA, had the right to fire him- and were doing so.

"There is no reason for Liang Wei to stay on board anymore." President Kulan had told the legislative body. "He is a bad manager." The Speaker had to call everyone to order after this- the KPWC members were riotous after this statement. The place was devolving into chaos.. "He has failed to get us to the World Cup. He's an Akongo sympathizer." Nafuna Akongo, still a member of the National Assembly herself, simply spit on the ground when the President had said this. "Wish him luck, thank him for what he did, and bid him adieu."

The debate was long, and fierce. He was harshly critized- barely waiting a day after Nyowani Kitara's playoff failure. But the vote was held- the National Assembly had wrestled back control of the KWFA. And the first move? Liang Wei was sent packing.

Nyowani Kitara take interim manager to Cup of Harmony

HUAYRAMARCA- Nothing about World Cup Qualifying is easy, and Nyowani Kitara now know that better than anybody. We got hot, reaching incredible heights- winning 13 in a row after a terrible start, to put ourselves on the brink of the World Cup Finals. But back to back 1-0 losses saw two long-suffering nations clinch their first ever World Cup berths in front of Nyowani Kitara, and at our expense- Sylestone and Brookstation experienced their greatest joys in international football, reaching the biggest stage- which leaves no room for us in the Finals.

To the Cup of Harmony we go. And Liang Wei, very controversially, has been shown the door. "It is probably a distraction for the team." Said a TV analyst. "However, these dudes are professionals. They'll have an interim manager who will be given a craack at it." We'll see- can Nyowani Kitara achieve success here? There is a lot of pressure. As the highest ranked team in the tournament, many will name them favorites- but that may not mean much in the long run.

The Kitarans will open against the 88th ranked Patriotlandians. It will be a challenge of a game. But, with Liang Wei gone, it is also the end of an era. You'll have a lot of veterans, like Wang Jiahui, retiring after this tournament. "It'll be our last chance to get this nation a trophy." Wang Jiahui told reporters. "So, we're here, still motivated, on a mission- let's bring home the Cup of Harmony. Let's make our country WCC champions!"

by **PotatoFarmers** » Sun Jul 30, 2023 8:10 am

Cutoff for Groups A-C MD1/2

Group A

Matchday 1
Bears Armed 1–3 Mertagne
Patriotlandia 1–3 Nyowani Kitara

Matchday 2
Mertagne 1–1 Patriotlandia
Qasden 1–2 Bears Armed

# Group A                Pld   W  D  L   GF  GA  GD  Pts 
1 Mertagne                 2   1  1  0    4   2  +2    4
2 Nyowani Kitara           1   1  0  0    3   1  +2    3
3 Bears Armed              2   1  0  1    3   4  −1    3
4 Patriotlandia            2   0  1  1    2   4  −2    1
5 Qasden                   1   0  0  1    1   2  −1    0

Group B

Matchday 1
Stevencousin 2–4 Koronavia
Brenecia 1–0 Trolleborg

Matchday 2
Koronavia 0–1 Brenecia
Brusseldorf 2–1 Stevencousin

# Group B                Pld   W  D  L   GF  GA  GD  Pts 
1 Brenecia                 2   2  0  0    2   0  +2    6
2 Brusseldorf              1   1  0  0    2   1  +1    3
  Koronavia                2   1  0  1    4   3  +1    3
4 Trolleborg               1   0  0  1    0   1  −1    0
5 Stevencousin             2   0  0  2    3   6  −3    0

Group C

Matchday 1
República Guanacasteca 0–0 Polar Islandstates
Cabo Azure 2–0 Aeragny

Matchday 2
Polar Islandstates 0–2 Cabo Azure
Cardenao 1–0 República Guanacasteca

# Group C                Pld   W  D  L   GF  GA  GD  Pts 
1 Cabo Azure               2   2  0  0    4   0  +4    6
2 Cardenao                 1   1  0  0    1   0  +1    3
3 República Guanacasteca   2   0  1  1    0   1  −1    1
4 Polar Islandstates       2   0  1  1    0   2  −2    1
5 Aeragny                  1   0  0  1    0   2  −2    0

by **Acastanha** » Sun Jul 30, 2023 9:43 am

From Cup to Cup

Acastanha have to let go of their dream to be able to reach World Cup proper at least into the play-off. On the last match day of World Cup 94 qualifying stage, Acastanha rival for play-off spot, Mertagne was succeeded to win against Eastfield Lodge. The win pushed Acastanha to the fourth place in their respective group and failed to reached play-off. The result was a huge blow for the country after their good performance throughout the qualifying round. But again, they have to bury their dream again to feel the World Cup proper. They even failed to feel the play-off again.
It was unfortunate indeed. I can see the sad face on my boys after Mertagne v Eastfield Lodge match. The last match day was crucial and unfortunately, we had a bye on the day. We can only seat and waiting anxiously for the result. And it's not good news for us.

Manuel Archanankar
Acastanha National Football Team Manager

Kalchankar made a public apology for the failure. Sport commentator, Pedro Auraknal, said that the team had a good performance that they even toped the group once. But again, their performance decline during the second leg. He added that the lowest performance of the team was when they were defeated by Ancherion. That defeat which made the players mentality deteriorated. Despite they were able to defeat Eastfield Lodge in the next match, but they were hold by Stevencousin in a double 4 draw and failed to replicate their great match against Tumbra. They were able to push Tumbra into a draw match in the first leg. This constant failure that made the country in their position where they had to hope for the last match (which they had bye) to be in their favor. In turns out, they failed.

Acastanha get a second chance after receiving the invitation into the Cup of Harmony. The lesser Cup but still with equal hype especially in the region. Historically, most of Mandalanusa nations have only been invited to the Cup of Harmony including Pemecutan. However, in the 86th edition of Cup of Harmony sadly only Acastanha that is being invited to Cup of Harmony. "We are so fortunate to be invited," comment Manuel Archanankar. In the competition, Acastanha is drawn into Group F together with Milchama, Ochre Islands, Kamijiro and Dantopia. Out of the four opponents, Kamijiro and Dantopia seems to be a newcomer in World Cup Cycle. Both were participants of current cycle Baptism of Fire (81st edition). Although it has to be notified that Kamijiro is the winner of the edition while Dantopia was finished in Round 16. And in the qualifying round of World Cup 94, both nations showed a great performance. Dantopia finished 4th in their respective group while Kamijiro finished 6th. The results were above the average for a newcomer. Especially Kamijiro who were in the same group with some big names. Dantopia greatest achievement during the WC qualifying might be their second meeting with Vilita where they success to forced them into a draw. On the other hand, Kamijiro success to draw Pemecutan and win against Elmyia. With these facts, it seems that no teams are easy for Acastanha. In the opening match, Acastanha will be facing Kamijiro followed by a bye day. The fans hope for their team to perform better in this edition of Cup of Harmony as the team have never made a good placement in this competition. Their best was Round 32 in the 82nd and 83rd editions. But after that, the team were not showing their prime performance. Even after they win the regional title two years ago, the team failed to give their best in Cup of Harmony. But how about this time? Will they able to change the skeptical glance from the others?

by **Mertagne** » Sun Jul 30, 2023 9:48 am

Momument Restaurant at the Swish Luxury Resort, Oaktree
A few days later

Captain Lenormand and Captain Dakathen had quickly recognised each other’s command over their respective forces, and the combined power of the Mertagnian and Ko-orenite navy had quickly and efficiently organised a solid defensive perimeter that ran around the town of Oaktree. Its nerve centre, the Luxury Resort, was a hive of activity as the Anaians worked side by side to ensure that Bostopian Forces were having a hard time gaining a foothold on this island - Handsby - and the neighbouring islands. It was a long way to Bellflower, and the lingering ash cloud had yet to relent the stranglehold that it had on both Mertagnian and Ko-orenite communications. The naval engineers had managed to rig up the resort’s telephones, previously wireless, to an insulated wired connection that wasn’t much more elegant than a tin can and a piece of string, as the ash cloud appeared to have brought with it a dire geomagnetic storm that rendered much equipment inoperable. Notably, the Captain struggled to contact the Shoda from the shore, and had to continually resort to the use of maritime signal flags.

Captain Lenormand had signed the hastily drafted agreement, and was as the senior member of the Mertagnian Naval Forces the commanding officer in charge of the flotilla. Under the agreement and in the interests of survival, he would stand subordinate in the Ochre Islands military structure, in order for Willow of the Finches to coordinate the defence effort and for Lenormand to access parts of what he discovered was a surprisingly robust network of local intelligence.

Within a few days, the Captain, alongside the Ko-orenite Captain and the Ochre Islands troops that Lenormand had communicated with across Handsby, was sure that this island, the most westerly in the Ochres, was secure from the Bostopian threat. It appeared that the Bostopians had concentrated their invasion on the east of the Island chain, hence they had been more heavily caught in the Isla del Fuego eruption. Their superior numbers meant that they had still broken through, however, and it was to be believed that the Bostopians had secured at least three islands out east.

The main objective was, for now, to prevent the enemy from setting foot on Mournhow, the largest island of the Ochres and the seat of Bellflower, the nation’s capital. That would prove to be a difficult task, as it was known that the Bostopians had a larger invasion force, and also had a better knowledge of the territory than the Mertagnians and the Ko-orenites. The Ochre Islanders had procured several military charts of the waters between Mournhow and Juniper, which looked for now to be a possible front to the conflict.

The Shoda remained outside of Oaktree, yet other parts of the flotilla were scrambled to join the larger Ko-orenite fleet and aid them in their operations, which included routine patrols of Hope, Anley, and Mournhow, three of the five islands to the east of Handsby. So far, no observable threat had been seen, and the submarine was unable to effectively scout east due to the geomagnetic interference, and no dead reckoning could be performed as the ocean currents were wildly variable due to the eruption. Lenormand considered that at least this meant that Bostopia would be unable to use any submarines as well.

The naval infantry had spread themselves thin, leaving a skeleton crew on the supply ship to coordinate with the local ports up and down the Sunset Sea. The Mertagnian contingent had concentrated its resources between Oaktree and Bellflower, where they hadn’t seen any major conflict yet. Captain Lenormand knew that it would just be a matter of time before the Bostopians started knocking on Mournhow, and decided that he simply had to know where they had gotten to first.

The Captain was frustrated that many of the technological advancements that his battle group had brought along could not be utilised in this challenging battlefield. The jets on the aircraft carrier would likely combust if they flew high enough, and while the helicopters on the anti-submarine ships may hover in low altitudes, it is likely they wouldn’t be able to stay in the air for long before they fell afoul of a technical issue. The Ko-orenites had been much better prepared - their navy consisted of actual warships, which would in time likely go toe-to-toe with the Bostopian fleet.

Mournhow, Ochre Islands

Commander de Blays, who served as captain of the Shoda’s stealth frigate, had certainly made the most of his work in the few short days since running into the storm caused by the volcanic eruption. His bridge, now transformed and significantly less manned since the state of the art technology aboard the vessel was no longer reliable, looked out onto the choppy waters in the dim morning light, which was further obfuscated by the dense ash that continued to hover in the air far above them. The sky immediately above them, which looked like the type of film one gets on an unwashed tumbler, was notedly devoid of sea birds as the stealth frigate continued the routine part of its morning patrol. This morning, they had been ordered by Lenormand to press slightly further out from Mournhow, and scout the coast of Juniper Island to confirm the reports that Willow of the Finches had shared that key communities were being forced to submit to the boot of Bostopia. De Blays had his eyes firmly on the horizon, looking through his binoculars and hoping that his eyes would one day soon fully adjust to the half-light of the battlefield.

On the horizon, the Commander noticed a small speck that seemed to float above the waxing waves. Gradually, the speck got larger, and was joined by another. The commander squinted, and confirmed with the crew - these were almost certainly enemy vessels.

“We have to go in and get a visual confirmation - we need to know what weapons the Bostopians are packing.” shouted the Commander to his crew on the bridge.

“Captain, what if their radar systems are operational?” asked a member of the crew.

“If their radar is operational, we have much larger things to worry about. Prepare to go in as silently as possible. This volcanic ash and morning mist might obfuscate us, and if we can, plot a course that takes us as close to that islet as possible. Hopefully we can get in, take some photographs, and get out.”

The frigate continued its journey as quietly as possible, keeping as low a profile as possible through the water in the hope that they would not be detected by any sufficiently advanced Bostopian radar. The small islet near the coast was, according to charts, too shallow to stick close to at this time of the morning, and so the commander hoped and prayed that the morning mist would be enough.

The rip-roaring sound of a missile fired over water told the commander that this would not be the case. The explosion that followed as the missile glanced at the rear of the frigate told him two things - the first was that these ships had missile capabilities in addition to the large guns that had been spotted at the front of the enemy vessel. The second was that the missile strike had not been a direct hit - for he was at least, for now, still alive.

The communications, as staticcy as ever, chimed from the bridge’s control console. “Captain, hostile targets identified. Confirmed as Bostopian corvettes.”

Further communications came from deep within the bowels of the ship. “Damage confirmed to the first and second engines, Captain - currently investigating for structural damage. No obvious damage to the hull yet, but we’re limping.”

“Confirmed. Weapons, assign missile launch to primary target and report when ready for authorisation. Engineering, assess the damage on the primary and secondary engines and prepare for emergency repairs. All hands engage, repeat all hands engage.”

The next few minutes were a flurry of action as the Mertagnian ship prepared to fire on the Bostopians, while assessing the damage that the first strike had managed to perform on the robust ship. The Bostopian corvettes were being eyed warily as they began to move through the water. The lighter, more manoeuvrable ships looked to be tricky targets to fire upon, especially without the bells and whistles that the crew were used to.

“Awaiting authorisation to fire, captain. Target locked - assuming neither of us change trajectory.” crackled the weapons centre, ready to fire the missile.

“Affirm.” replied the Commander, “Fire when ready. Begin targeting both vessels with the starboard guns should they come any closer.”

The missile streaked across the open ocean, finding its target and spraying water and fire across the side of the Bostopian corvette. The guns of the stealth frigate, smaller in number than the force of the corvettes, clicked around to ascertain targets before letting loose a volley with a boom.

“Captain, we’ve scored several hits, but it looks like this isn’t delaying their advance.” shouted voices from the weapons bay.

“We’ll need to manage our retreat - bring thrust on the remaining engines while emergency repairs are underway.” replied the Captain, attempting to dispel the fear of the Bostopian advance.

The corvettes drew ever closer, and navigators scanned the horizon with their binoculars to chart a safe passage as the Mertagnian ship limped away from the enemy. The second corvette, undamaged in the initial exchange of missile fire, crept ever closer, having the speed advantage even without the upper hand of the Mertagnian frigate’s damaged engines. Repairs were underway, but it was unlikely with the sustained fire that the frigate would make it out of this unsunk or uncaptured.

Then, as if from behind a cloud in the morning mist, three ships appeared behind the Mertagnians.

“Ships spotted off the portside, sir!” cried a navigator.

“Are they friendly or have Bostopia called in reinforcements?” asked the Captain as another volley of gunfire exuded from the ship, aiming hard for the advancing corvette.

The ships pulled out of the mist, surrounding the Mertagnian frigate, and Commander de Blays braced alongside his crew…

by **Delaclava** » Sun Jul 30, 2023 10:02 am

Lukas Meyer set to retire after Cup of Harmony

Phoenixes captain Lukas Meyer announced in a pre-tournament press conference that he plans to retire from international soccer at the conclusion of the Cup of Harmony in Poafmersia and Huayramarca.

"This is such a hard announcement to make, but it's time," Meyer said, evidently putting on a brave face. "I think I'm getting ready to move on from football altogether in the next couple of years... Playing on this time had given me so many of my best memories, but I feel the team has hit a plateau and that it should be moving on without me."

The 32-year-old striker at Farrenton Athletic will leave an impressive legacy behind. At just 19 years old, he was called up to the national team for AOCAF 60, Delaclava's first international sporting competition in the post-isolation era. He took the helm as Phoenixes captain in World Cup 90; since then, the Phoenixes qualified for the World Cup for the first time in seventy years, made the quarterfinals of the Cup of Harmony for the first time, and reached the podium of a regional competition for the first time with a bronze medal at the Independents Cup just months ago. With 127 goals in international competition, Meyer is the Phoenixes' most prolific goalscorer. He has become the recognizable face of soccer in Delaclava, and while he has come into his own as a more outspoken and assertive leader, he has proceeded through his international career with remarkably little controversy.

Meyer said he chose to disclose the decision—first to his team and coaches, then to the public—to ensure there were no surprises and that he could push himself to make the most of his final competition. "I've struggling with the drive for a few years now," he admitted. "But with only a handful of games to go, I'm going to leave it all out there."

DFA president Roman Ivanovic hailed Meyer's contributions to the game in the wake of the announcement.

"Lukas Meyer has been practically synonymous with Delaclava in the world of soccer for more than a decade. For a team that is distinguished for its offensive prowess, Meyer stands alone as the most skilled, technical, and creative player in our team's history. In recent years, he has also emerged as a great leader and pushed the program to heights it has not seen in many years, if ever. We welcome him to remain involved with our sport and our team in some capacity."

Ivanovic also stated that, with Meyer's blessing, the DFA will organize a testimonial match to honor Meyer's career, although he did not specify a desired opponent or format.

As reactions pour in from around the country, Meyer's peers have effusively praised the captain, most notably midfielder Kent Lindblad. Like Meyer, Lindblad was at one time hailed as the next great thing in Delaclav football, and Lindblad has come under Meyer's wing both at Farrenton Athletic and with the Phoenixes. The pair have made a formidable scoring duo that has undoubtedly helped the Phoenixes in their recent accomplishment.

"I honestly cannot imagine this team without him," Lindblad said. "He's known for being quiet and soft-spoken, so maybe you wouldn't think this, but he's always been a great mentor on how to improve my skill set, how to perform my best, how to deal with the pressure, or even just living life as a football player and on the road all the time. There is not a single player on the team who hasn't become better because of his influence."

Meyer's departure will likely lead to profound changes in the tactics of the Phoenixes, with Meyer starting his career more as a pure striker but eventually moving into a second striker and playmaker role with greater versatility. Alibek Khautov and Mathias Gretler have been highly effective finishers alongside Meyer, but both lack Meyer's playmaking ability, while a player such as Lindblad likely functions better in his typical central midfielder role. Additionally, it is not yet known if those are questions for Ernie Davis to answer, or if the DFA will move along to seek a more heralded candidate such as Jen Prescott.

Delaclava opens the Cup of Harmony against Naixi after a bye day, while Krytenia, The Holy Empire, and Dod Rava also await as the Phoenixes try to reach the top two or three of Group E and keep Lukas Meyer's final tournament going as long as it can.

by **Krytenia** » Sun Jul 30, 2023 2:56 pm

Grand Avidian Hotel
Morning, Day 2

The first day of the Koroa City talks had been, for a certain definition of the word, a success. The potential flashpoint between Ko-oren, Cardenao, and the Ochre Islands had been resolved - albeit not in the way anyone expected. The Krytenian delegation were slightly disappointed that they hadn't been able to flex any substantial political muscles in doing so, but one must take the small victories when they arrive.

On the other hand, Emperor Boston had turned up alive and well, which was a big fluttering red flag in terms of regional stability. There would need to be some vigilant eyes turned to the east, at least in the short term, to assess what the Tinpot Tosspot might be planning on doing there.

With the heavy load out of the way, now would be the time for the Krytenians to extend some tendrils of soft powers north and west. With the Ochre Islands situation no longer on the table, it was decided that Stephen Armfield would remain at the hotel, at least for the early part of the day, acting as mission control and liaising with the members of government still in Emberton as well as the growing media presence when required. Sarah Finch, meanwhile, would be the one to take centre stage. International relations, after all, was MORFA's stock in trade, and Finch ranks up there as one of the best to fill the role as department head. Even Gavin Mycroft, her predecessor and great rival, grudgingly admitted her diplomatic skills.

The Krytenians had looked at the day's agenda, and Finch had drawn up plans for the day. The Huayramarcans want assistance in breaking up smuggling in the Ayes? Excellent idea. A joint effort between their, our, and Ko-oren's coastguards would be a grand show of unity. Of course, there'd need to be a way of policing and processing these smugglers...so we'd need co-ordination between the three nations' justice systems and police forces. (Keep your subjects close, after all.)

So Cardenao want to annex Isla Aloshaki? There's no native populace, and no competing claims, so of course we wouldn't stand in the way. (In the meantime, have a word with the relevant delegation members regarding an invite to future military exercises; good way to get some claws into Banija's lap, there.)

The Mertagnians...actually, what were they going to do now the Ochre situation isn't any more? No matter. Easy to keep onside, I'm sure.

Game faces on, then, thought Finch as the delegation headed into the car taking them to the Royal Convention Centre, time to win friends and influence people. Especially the latter.

by **Bears Armed** » Sun Jul 30, 2023 4:11 pm

OOC Note

As it says in the Group details in this thread's opening post, the Belles are using their WCQ roster for this tournament: The only difference, apart from the fact that obviously the 'home' stadium details provided with that roster obviously aren't needed for this tournament as well, are that by this dae everybody in the team & its associated staff is approximately two years older than they were at the start of WCQ.

by **PotatoFarmers** » Sun Jul 30, 2023 7:58 pm

Poafmersia's squad for CoH86

Other name: The Red Panjias (Panjia is the Poafmerian equivalant of a horse)
Kit Colours: Red, Orange

Poafmersia will present the following 26 players for the 86th Cup of Harmony

Num  Player Name         Age Pos(s)   Sex  Current Club               Caps        Goals   Assists
1    Nicole Potts        33  GK       F    St. John's Arsenal (QUE)   125 (3)        0       0
12   Jessica Ardens      27  GK       F    Mancodas Athletic FC       2 (1)          0       0
23   Aleksandar Malloye  21  GK       M    Zenit Attawapiskat (QUE)   1 (0)          0       0

2    Kilikina Lee        27  LB/LWB   M    Dury FC                    47 (1)         7       0
3    Xenophon Robson     28  RB/RWB   M    Fiskadaha FC               38 (5)         1       5
4    Cindy Oriol         25  CB       F    Tihon (CMT)                28 (6)         1       0
5    Nacro Astro         31  CB       M    Mancodas City              39 (5)         0       0
13   Lovise Zimmerman    29  LB       M    Bikarish                   5 (2)          1       0
14   Liadan Holmström    28  CB       F    Mancodas City              1 (5)          0       0
15   Kelefe Hans         29  CB       M    Mancodas Athletic FC       8 (8)          0       0
16   Jacqi Equine        29  RB       M    Mancodas City              14 (8)         0       0
24   Emma Henderson      29  RB       F    Arboren FC (KOR)           0 (0)          0       0

6    Michael Jackson     31  CM, ACM  M    Mancodas City              100 (6)        10      45
8    Min Berg            32  DM, CM   F    Mancodas Athletic FC       56 (11)        1       3
10   Aapeli Shea         28  CM, AM   M    Dalaris City               55 (9)         0       0
17   Erle Sartini        26  CM       M    Adab United (ADB)          24 (20)        3       10
19   Sylvia Fusco        27  CM, DM   M    Fiskadaha FC               13 (13)        0       0
21   Magreta Rym         30  CM       M    Mancodas City              23 (17)        1       5

7    Tessa Bjarnesen     25  LW       F    Lokomotive Jarnstad (SVJ)  23 (17)        11      3
9    Suada Bogdanić      27  CF       M    Southern Star (BRE)        0 (0)          0       0
11   Leontiy Seet        29  RW       M    Mancodas Athletic FC       50 (4)         14      17
18   Taliah Alcock       23  LW       M    Kistina Galaxy             2 (8)          1       0
20   Dagur Lawrence      24  CF/AM    M    Serrapince FC (TMB)        22 (9)         16      11
22   Jackson Handris     29  CF, RW   F    KT Itzalovalle (AUD)       3 (4)          3       1
25   Florent Rivera      29  CF, AM   F    Advance Alara (KOR)        0 (0)          0       0
26   Sakari Cantù        27  RW       M    Southfell United (NPH)     0 (0)          0       0

Note:
*Player ages are as though the matches are held before the 15th IFCF cycle, as it is in our calendar.
*Caps are not updated inclusive of WCQ94. Will be updated at as soon as feasible.

Captain: Aapeli Shea
Vice-Captain: Nicole Potts
Penalty Taker: Suada Bogdanić
Free Kick Taker: Tessa Bjarnesen, Leontiy Seet
Corner Takers: The prevailing LB/RB (in the case of a 4 at the back formation) or LM/RM (in the case of a 3-4-3)

Head Coach: Lu Jialan (YZH)
Assistant Head Coach: Jabik Henderson
General Playing Style: With a new nation, comes new strategies. While Lu intends to keep the Poafmersian attitute of relying on mistakes by the opposition to counterattack, and being aggressive in getting back the ball, he has indicated an emphasis on defence being key to the team's successes in the Cup of Harmony and beyond. Preferring a strict 4-3-3 formation with the fullbacks playing wider up the field, Lu will stick to a 4-3-3 formation for the tournament. Utilising the team's strengths in counter-attack, the team will make a focus on defending the ball and keeping the possession before catching opponents napping during their break.

Formations: 4-3-3
Style Modifier: -3

Recent International Records
Overall Record: 385 games played. 215W, 80D, 90L. 919GF/628GA.
Cup of Harmony 82: Quarterfinals. 4W, 1D, 1L. 17GF/11GA.
IAC15: Ro16, skip Ro24. 4W, 1D, 1L. 24GF/17GA.
World Cup Qualifiers 91: 4th in Group 1. 12W, 6D, 2L. 48GF/27GA.
Cup of Harmony 83: Ro32. 2W, 2D, 2L. 12GF/10GA.
IAC16: QF, skip Ro24. 3W, 1D, 2L. 9GF/8GA.
World Cup Qualifiers 92: 2nd in Group 5, PO Loser. 11W, 6D, 5L. 54GF/38GA.
Cup of Harmony 84: Ro32. 3W, 0D, 2L. 9GF/8GA.
IAC14: Ro24. 1W, 3D, 1L. 11GF/9GA.
World Cup Qualifiers 93: 3rd in Group 12, PO Losers. 13W, 7D, 4L. 55GF/29GA.

First Match: Poafmersia 8-2 Barfleur, BoF 71 Group Stage @ Zwangzug
First Win: Poafmersia 8-2 Barfleur, BoF 71 Group Stage @ Zwangzug
Biggest Win:
(Only WCC-sanctioned) Poafmersia 8-2 Barfleur, BoF 71 Group Stage @ Zwangzug
(All) Poafmersia 8-0 North Alezia, IAC 12 @ Almuzahara
Heaviest Defeat:
(Only WCC-sanctioned)
Farfadillis 5-0 Poafmersia, WCQ 87 @ Farfadillis
Pasarga 5-0 Poafmersia, WCQ 90 @ Pasarga
(All)
Poafmersia 2-8 Commonwealth of Baker Park, International Friendly @ Poafmersia
Baker Park 6-0 Poafmersia, International Friendly @ Baker Park
Highest Scoring: Lionsroar 4-8 Poafmersia, World Cup Qualifiers 93 @ Lionsroar

Fans
Poafmersian fans are crazy about football, and their loud cheers ring about in the stadiums they visit. They are very willing to disturb the peace in the area to celebrate their win after matches, so matches are best held in the afternoon or early evenings. You can spot Poafmers booking large meeting rooms in hotels, going to bars in groups. Apart from that, they do pick up after themselves, and prevent causing much trouble apart from celebrating. You can be assured, however, that they would be travelling around to support their team, so do reserve half the spots in stadiums for them because they would pack it to the brim.

Home Stadium
For the entire duration of the qualifiers, Poafmersia will be playing their home games at the Libira National Stadium. To accommodate a rising interest in football, there was a slight layout change and stand refurbishment being done prior to the qualifiers, and as such, the stadium capacity has been increased to 70 thousand seated pax. The stadium is located in Fiskadaha City, capital of Poafmersia. To travel to the city, direct flights are provided from many major capital cities around the world. Within Poafmersia, however, public transport, such as trains and buses, are the preferred mode of transport, and there are rail lines available between Fiskadaha and many major cities in the country.

RP Permissions
My opponent, if they RP first, may do the following:
Choose my goalscorers - Yes
Godmod scoring events - Yes (Realistic events only, such as long range shots)
Roleplay injuries to my players - Yes (You determine what happened, I decide the severity.)
Godmod injuries to my players - Yes (As above)
Hand out yellow cards to my players - Yes
Hand out red cards to my players - Yes (1 more than what you give yourself)
RP any pandemic-related events - No pandemic exists in Poafmersia, or on Poafmers.
Godmod any other events - Yes (TG/Inform me before hand)
Note: If your RP permissions are more restrictive than mine, then I will take your RP permissions. (With the exception about the pandemic events)
I am very open to cooperative RPs, such as joint press conferences, match-side drama, out-of field events, etc. Do drop me a Telegram in-game (to this account or Poafmersia) or a DM on Discord (You can find me on the NS Sports Discord - Freg#0420).

by **PotatoFarmers** » Sun Jul 30, 2023 8:28 pm

Change: Two Decades of International Football in Poafmersia
Part 6

Saying that the team's World Cup Qualifiers was bad was an understatement of the situation in the team. Presenting the team's worst performance since World Cup 85 Qualifiers, a whooping 18 years ago, Lu Jialan's head would probably have rolled if not for the pitch Jabik Henderson gave to the PFFA Board in Fiskadaha 2 weeks ago. And the board's response was simple - the Cup of Harmony would be the last chance.

In a time period when we are talking about Poafmersia's progress in football over the last 20 years, and the changes the team has faced, Poafmersia will host their first WCC tournament in 21 years of footballing history, but in the smallest Cup of Harmony tournament ever since Poafmersia first participated in World Cup Committee competitions. While OptaPoaf records is and continue to be incomplete due to strange reasons (in particular, the outage during WC87), the PFFA does take note of team results and field size for record purposes - and really, nothing goes smaller than 30 teams. Poafmersia has taken part in 40 team Cup of Harmonies and 42 team Cup of Harmony, but not this 42 team format. Its crazy and difficult to understand, but the hosting committee made such a decision and they probably have their reasons.

The roster that was put forth by Lu for the Cup of Harmony was not as much of a surprise as it should be. It largely revolved around the 31 players that played in the World Cup Qualifier, but the coach decided to pick 8 strikers instead of touching a rather-solid midfield pack. And one major omission was that of Jordan Huerta - the 34 year old veteran was quietly dropped out of the lineup, with Suada Bogdanić taking over his place in the number 9 shirt. For a player who was likely aiming for his 100th cap before retirement, it would have been a huge blow to him. While he was not performing at his peak during the qualifiers, he was definitely not the biggest issue the team faced.

Reactions on the ground is and continue to be mixed. While some called the decision a "brave" one, others questioned if there was a need to drop him completely when the competition was not as tip top as well throughout the tournament. Many would have thought that the least Jordan would have gotten would be a nice send-off in the Cup of Harmony, given that it was a home tournament and what not. Neither Lu nor Jordan himself have spoken about the issue since the namelist was released. Instead, vice-captain Nicole Potts posted on the Poafmersian social media Chirp.er calling on the fans to "remain united" and support the team regardless of who starts the game. A somewhat vague post, but probably in response to the decisions made regarding team selection.

This would also be the largest percentage of players playing abroad in the national team. 11 out of 26 players in the squad are not playing in Poafmersia - with a whooping 6 strikers among them. While it goes to show how talented Poafmersian strikers are, play-style differences are also something which needs more attention this time round. Thankfully, with the Pot 1 protection given to hosts, Poafmersia got a simpler group as compared to the rest of the tournament, with Sargossa and Cap Nord being the Pot 2 and 3 team. This meant that Poafmersia does have a decent chance of getting top on paper, and performance against 2 similiar-level opponents would be a good litmus test on whether the team improved with the last month of closed door training.

CoH 86 Everything Thread [IC] - SF 9th 2130 Mountain

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