World Cup 95 Roleplay Thread

by **Tanirinthia** » Sat Nov 18, 2023 3:42 pm

Multiversal Sport Match Report

Category
Association football
Location
Emerald Park, St Cirith, Tanirinthia, Universe M1

Scoreline
Tanirinthia 4 [3] – [1] 1 WAYIH

Tanirinthia Scorers
Payne - 24', 41', 51'
Bacchus - 37'

WAYIH Scorers
Johnson - 88'

Archivist's Report
Our first qualifying match on the campaign which took place within in our borders, the cover story of the match was that we were playing a charity match against volunteers in aid of cancer (the fighting of it, rather than in favour of it). The press were instructed that these were volunteers from hospitals in the far away territories. Speaking of the team's performance apparently four is a number of goals we are happy scoring, with three being a number of goals that Bridget Payne is happy scoring. Our defence improved their performance to only allow a consolation goal for WAYIH through, not to take away from Johnson's effort as it was a superb curved effort into the top right hand corner beyond Marshall's reach (and I'd wager most entities in the multiverse's reach*). Only point of concern is a definite spike in rad levels during the match that hasn't subsided in the days following.

* - Within the confines of the rules of associated soccer and the purview of the WCC

Post radiation levels
Outside normal parameters, continued monitoring requested

Archivist
William Fowler, Chief Secret Archivist

Clearance level
Gold

by **Krytenia** » Sat Nov 18, 2023 3:44 pm

My Three Krytenias
By Rami Niblick in Ousevale

ONE of these days, Krytenia will achieve the holy grail that is "consistency". The Tommy Warren era started with an almost-traditional Matchday One underperformance against Amenria, continued with a chastening defeat away to whatever team the IAQ spat out from the chaos engine that is their governing body...and then the Dragons finally decided to turn up at the Southern Arena.

Fair play to the fans, the seemingly never-ending cavalcade of bad luck and dropping the ball at the absolute worst time hasn't dulled their support for the national side. The Cyan Army were as full-throated as ever in Ousevale, even with qualifying in danger of going seriously off the rails just two matches in. It would be remiss to say that the wall of noise had a detriment on the West Barack and East Obama players - they are professionals, after all - but when you set your stall out to defend against Krytenia's waves of pressure, you're up against eighty-odd thousand rather than just the eleven on the pitch. Case in point: the Dragons took the game by the scruff of the neck almost immediately. Jenni Barracki and Brett Pogama were reduced quickly to the role of full-back, as the wingers were pinned back by the quick passing of Krytenia's front six. Veteran goalkeeper Dwayne Obama found himself getting a workout, as Esteban Salvador and Darren Gabriel pushed themselves into attacking positions whilst Callum Croft's movement stretched the defence in front of him, and it seemed only a matter of time before his goal was breached. To his credit, Obama made a couple of smart saves, getting big to deny Angus Jack before tipping a fierce Salvador striker over the bar a few minutes later. Still, though, WBEO found themselves unable to get their heads above water.

The biggest surprise when the opener came wasn't the fact that it was Krytenia going one-nil up, rather the identity of the scorer. Owen Haller's deep cross was only half-cleared to the opposite flank, landing at the feet of right-back Lucas Camara. Trying to keep the pressure on, Camara fired the ball back into the box, where it evaded everyone - including an out-of-position Obama - before dipping into the net just inside the post. Camara will, of course, insist he meant it, not that anyone in the quartered shirts minded one little bit that it was clearly a fluke.

Some teams fold after going behind away from home, others galvanize themselves to hunt for an equaliser. WBEO...didn't have a lot of choice in the matter. Any hope of an attack seemed to be snuffed out with extreme prejudice, with Krytenia picking up where they left off and laying siege to the team in red and yellow. Jack almost made it two a scant five minutes after Camara's opener, turning Barack Denovitz inside-out before firing narrowly wide with Obama unable to get close to the Katashi-Kanatsu striker's fizzing strike. Gabriel, too, threatened to get in on the action, though he was denied by an excellent block by Trent Vobama. So long as the gap stayed at one, the visitors still had an oxygen supply in the game.

Unfortunately for the Obamen, Krytenia were quite happy to apply pillow to face in that regard. After Obama made another reflex save - this time from a Jack header - Krytenia made the most of the corner. Jules Renard's near-post delivery was flicked on by Robert Gorman, and Croft popped a toe into the mix to poke home from about four feet out. With barely half an hour on the clock, Krytenia were cruising. Not that they let up the pressure, but by this point the WBEO team had formed into a brick wall, almost as if they'd be grateful to make it to half time without any further bleeding. in this regard, at least, they managed; the fact remained, though, that they'd need to do something going forward to get points from this game.

Perhaps their chance would come at the start of the second half. Krytenia were forced into a change, Gabriel being replaced after going off for treatment in first half stoppage time with a pulled calf muscle. Eddie Culverhouse is certainly capable, but the hope for the visitors was that his inexperience might prove a weak link in the Dragons' nigh-impenetrable armour. Culverhouse's first touch, a skillful dispossession of Wolfgang Obamadeus-Mozart, followed by a teasing ball for Renard to run on to, seemed to prove they'd be mistaken about that. True, Renard's cross was dealt with easily by Vobama, but that's not the point.

The Obamen did gradually get themselves on the front foot, however. Barracki was beginning to win more duels on the flank with a tiring Renard, and it was from that left side that the threats began to appear. More than once, Camara was caught too far forward with Barracki haranguing Renard, allowing the winger to pass them both and put pressure on Gorman and Leon Jones behind. Gorman's pitchcraft tended to mean Barracki was unable to get goalside, but pulling him out wide allowed for space in the centre. It was from this that Barracki found Lily Chobamya unmarked in front of goal, and the precision pass was all the WBEO striker needed to pull one back, beating Amanda Bach with a rising shot.

Warren's response to this was to attempt to put Barracki back in her bottle, replacing Renard and Camara with Shawn Burns and Cameron McKeown respectively. Salvador was also sacrificed as the Krytenia's manager decided to go full blitzkrieg, bringing on pacey forward Greg Williams to replace him. The changes injected the Dragons with a sense of urgency as they attempted to restore their two goal advantage, with Culverhouse as the sole pivot in a dangerous looking 4-1-4-1 formation.

The visitors simply didn't know what hit them. Culverhouse pulled the strings in the centre like a man ten years older, Burns and Haller provided a credible wide threat, and with Williams alongside Croft, the Obamen's defenders were all at sea. The cracks became yawning chasms, and on seventy-three minutes Krytenia had their third when Jack latched onto a lovely square ball across the box from Burns, guiding the ball past Obama to get himself on the scoresheet. The home side would add a fourth late on - Croft's speculative twenty-yard effort going in off the post - and the three points were secure.

The question now, of course, is which Krytenia turns up for their next two matches. The fans will be hoping that it's this team, the one that made a potential contender look ordinary, that turns up in Corumba for the Dragons' biggest game of the qualifiers away to HUElavia. Los Amarillos have won all three of their matches so far, whilst the likes of the Quebecois and (thanks to us) WBEO have dropped points, so beating them is what the whole group needs. Matchday Five, meanwhile, is a case of not dropping the ball like we did against Amenria, as we face Aquatian in Bradwell. Six points here, and we can start to truly stamp our authority on Group Sixteen. Onward!

KRYTENIA - 4
Camara 13
Croft 32, 87
Jack 73

WEST BARACK AND EAST OBAMA - 1
L Chobamya 58

by **Juvencus** » Sat Nov 18, 2023 3:59 pm

The Second Great War of Unification(1876-1892)

While the war had high-intensity pushes followed by short periods of inactivity and skirmish warfare, this would all slowly come to an end seeing how many important cities in both sides fell to fast-paced sieges like a house of cards. With the Pomenienze dominating Torona and the Scudelliano laying claim to both Vinceti and Santo Domenico, the war saw its importance get realised at last. It was all-or-nothing at this point, but to do that more manpower and more strength was needed, the equal strength of the Juven and the Independentist Coalition saw neither of them push much further past 1881. Namely, the Juven push was stopped on the way to Herona and Verone on the east, while on the center the Great Desert Line would be formed. In the south the third and final trench would be formed on a line between Aguajú and Melposa.

Pomenienze trenches near Verone, ~circa 1883, photograph by Christophe Dejun

Chapter 22: The Warring in the Trenches(January 11th 1882-March 8th 1888)
The Grand Setup(January 1882-December 1883)
"Hell is a state of mind, as is freedom. No life lost is lost without a reason, believe in God's Will and the dawn of Juvencus is ahead." Paolo Conti, a writter in the frontlines

Formation of the Herona-Verone Line(Eastern Trenches):

The Juven Army had take big strides by defeating Torona and the death of Alberto IV was the final straw in the consolidation of Juven dominance over a big chunk of the Western Front. The push crept on for a couple months after the fall of Torona, as the morale had given Gianluca IV a big incentive in ending the war as fast as possible. With wins at Dorma, Sarau and Trebignet, the concurrent pushes towards Herona and Verone seemed all but done on paper.

Something like that would not be allowed by Prince Carlo IV of Scudelli, who decided to personally invest himself in the conflict from now on and build defences in the cities of Herona and Verone with whatever remained of the Toronese force, plus reinforcements he would bring from the core Scudelliano Army and the veterans of Santo Domenico. Railways across the Principality were advanced for the time, meaning reinforcements would be brought fast in the right spots.

The pushes were halted at Sant Albert and Tirolagirissina with 2 major scale battles that took thousands of lives due to tough conditions and disease. The very french trench line was formed right then and there. They were consolidated on April 28th, 1883.

Formation of the Cos-Juguignot Line(Central Trenches):

The grassy hillys of Cos are the last frontier of any temperate enviroment before entering the crescent desert. Juguingot is an oasis town in an important narrow choke point. Both essential points in entering the Crescent Desert and a spot of interest for Juven and Independentists alike. Following the second battle of Trata, a push to Cos was ordered to make sure at least one point from the line was captured. While Cos was easily captured, the push to Juguignot was quickly halted, several trench lines were dug along the way from Cos to Juguignot.

The harsh conditions of the Crescent Desert made it extremely difficult to maintain a hold in those lines. Besides that, the distance between towns and villages made several trench lines obsolete in their usage and led to many unnecessary deaths and injuries. Malaria was prevalent in that region and medical development in how to treat it efficiently started in that particular line.

Also of worth is the battle of Pulcea, a bloody battle that took over 2,000 lives in no more than 5 hours. Heavy artillery fire in a melee-range battle was the way to bring the casualty number up. Those lines were consolidated July 7th, 1883.

Formation of the Aguajú-Melposa Line(Southern Trenches):

Messy lines, with Osci involvement in the region making things confusing. This would wane following a victory at several major bridges for the Sud army. Aguajú and Melposa were two important centers. While somewhat under Sud control, Melposa remained a sensitive point and in the meanwhile, Aguajú was under threat from another Osci attack. The points connecting the two would serve as a savannna filled with trenches from both sides, with enclaves and encirclement being a typical theme of this line.

This would prove to be safer than initially thought due to the harsh terrain of the area making opposing lines located next to each other completely unaware of the other's existence unless a search party found any traces. Which not only was difficult, but avoided unless necessary.

Full consolidation of those lines was at some point in December 1883.

by **Milchama** » Sat Nov 18, 2023 4:03 pm

"Ok so"

"This isn't working"

"Well we won that one game"

"Yeah but besides that it's not working"

"I think our manager literally doing somersaults everywhere isn't really a good thing"

"Fair enough"

"So we should fire him?"

"Not just yet, but we're close"

"Fair enough"

"I mean our GD is good based on the 6-1 victory so that makes things better"

"Definitely true"

"Ok so that's one thing we got going on"

"It definitely is"

"You know what else we got going"

"What?"

"Not sure I'm currently very distracted by the rest of my life and can't remember what I was talking"

"Me neither"

"I'm glad that we agree"

"No Brad Paisley"

"Deal"

"So, then what should we talk about?"

"I like cheese"

"Not sure that that would work as a good conversation topic"

"Do you not like cheese? That would be upsetting if you did not"

"Oh I do like cheese but not in the same way you like cheese"

"What do you mean?"

"I don't just randomly say I like cheese in conversation"

"Well you wanted a conversation topic so I provided one"

"I guess you did"

"So did it work?"

"I guess it did?"

"Perfect then the mission is accomplished"

"Hooray for our mission!"

"I like our mission it is a good thing"

"Our mission is wise"

"Let us qualify for the World Cup using the old cycle"

"The old cycle"

"The old cycle"

"The old cycle"

"The old cycle"

"The old cycle"

"Go us!"

by **Mytanija** » Sat Nov 18, 2023 4:04 pm

BOSTOPIA 1-3 MYTANIJA

BOS: Pilson 82’

MYT: Ovcina 36’, Papic-Papratovic 40’, Sešlar 74’

MYT: 1. Besak; 2. Jesenko, 3. Pestotnik, 4. Mbala-Ekakia (c), 5. Koshkin, 6. Mytnjak; 7. Papez (sub. Atsev 70’); 8. Ovcina (sub. Mujezinovic 62’), 10. Ovsyannikov (sub. Hajdarpasic 45’); 9. Skara (sub. Sešlar 45’), 11. Papic-Papratovic (sub. S. Mlinarevic 62’)

MYTANIJA 0-0 REÇUEÇN

MYT: 1. Besak (c); 13. Song-Mihailovic (sub. Jesenko 72’), 14. Sulejmanovic, 15. F. Mlinarevic, 16. Kapetanovic (sub. Hajdarpasic 77’), 17. Lusamba; 18. Atsev (sub. Mujezinovic 66’); 19. Skenderovic, 20. Altikulac (sub. Anusic 66’); 21. Sešlar (sub. Skara 66’), 22. S. Mlinarevic

Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6, Part 7, Part 8, Part 9, Part 10, Part 11

As a resumption of this storyline, everything you read here is firmly in the past. Thank you fluid time, so much to answer for.

Klara’s, as always, was a vibrant hub of the community. There was the lively energy of people, kids running around the place a little too quickly and nearly knocking dishes and cups out of the hands of the stakhanovite waiting staff. They were efficient in their work, setting items down on tables and the clinking of dishes provided the soundtrack of the café, along with the eager chatter of its clientele. Amidst the bustling hubbub, Elena and Scarlett sat huddled in one of the corners of the room, beneath an old, yellowing photograph of Klara and her original team. Unlike everybody else their voices were subdued as they pored over a stack of newspapers spread across the table.

“Some of these stories are unbelievable,” Elena muttered, her fingers tracing the grim headlines detailing the unspeakable crimes which were haunting Brigham’s Mytanar community. “Back in Mytanija you might see some of this, it’s not as common anymore but I don’t think people would be as surprised... Everybody knows organised crime runs some of our cities. Here in Eura? I think people in Mytanija would be shocked, they’d think the Eurans would have this sort of thing dealt with.”

“It’s never been like this, Elena.” Scarlett shook her head in dismay, her eyes scanning the articles describing the grisly murders which had been committed over just a few weeks. “This sounds like one thing has set off something else, one murder would be it getting out of hand, but this, this is definitely out of hand. It’s chaos. I’m not sure the police know what they’re doing, know how to combat it.”

“If they even care,” Elena said, rolling her eyes. “It’s only Mytanars to them, at the end of the day.”

Zineta was working, ever diligent, darting between the tables and expertly balancing and delivering trays laden with steaming dishes to happy customers. As she passed Elena and Scarlett she shot a concerned glance at them, which they first took for her meaning that they should discuss the subject a little more quietly given how busy the café was. A second trip by their table quickly dispelled their misconception.

“I need to talk to you both,” She said hurriedly. “When I’m on my break. It’s important.”

“Sure Zineta, whenever you’re ready.” Elena said, a look of concern writ large across her face. She looked back down towards one of the newspapers, the one featuring the haunting image of the Thessia Grill takeaway with blood spattered across the pavement outside. “Asmir Hajdarevic. That was a brutal hit.”

“Is he the one they called ‘Pauk’? That’s ‘spider’, right?” Scarlett asked, brow furrowed. Elena nodded. “They’re all just kids too, it’s crazy. The retaliation that followed, it doesn’t feel like something you would see here, it’s never-ending.”

“No doubt it’s escalating Scarlett,” Elena found herself nodding again. “When money and power are involved, particularly when there’s a lack of opportunities, it’s ripe for crime to take hold and to see this kind of spiral. Everybody wants a piece of the pie. Kids see it as their way out. Normal people get caught in the crossfire. We’ve seen it in Mytanija, no doubt some of these rags will say we’re ‘importing it’ to Eura soon too.”

The two fell silent again, eyes cast over the harrowing stories laid out in the stories before them. Police intelligence had found its way to the media and said that Asmir ‘Pauk’ Hajdarevic had been the kid shot outside the Thessia Grill as Stevan Brajkovic – later murdered too – and his associates sought revenge for a stolen cache of drugs. Hajdarevic’s murder had shocked the local community, eyewitnesses reporting that a car had skidded up to the scene and Brajkovic had stepped out and shot almost indiscriminately. The amount of brick and glass dispersed around the scene backed that up. Two of Hajdarevic’s associates, Nikola Polvara and Usten Podzonovec, were later found dead too, albeit murdered in much less public fashion – believed to be punishment for the original theft which had resulted in Hajdarevic’s murder from Brajkovic’s revenge attack. They may have been murdered less publicly, but Polvara and Podzonovec were found with their throats cut, their bodies deliberately left on patches of grass outside some of the notorious tower blocks Brigham’s Mytanar community called home, arranged upside down – a sign of disrespect in Mytanija – as some sort of morbid warning to anyone else in the underworld thinking of stealing large quantities of drugs.

It didn’t end there, though. Stevan Brajkovic, believed to be Asmir Hajdarevic’s murderer, met the same fate not long after. The same thing, throat cut, body left upside down. A warning, perhaps, not to take matters into your own hands when the underworld has its own ways of dealing with perceived misdemeanours. Those four: Hajdarevic, Polvara, Pozdonovec and Brajkovic were all between the ages of 16 and 23, Brajkovic being the eldest. Kids getting involved in what was an adult’s game, usually getting told to do the dirty work the adults didn’t want to do because it would land them behind bars.

One such adult, Aleksandar Draganec, suffered a similar fate. He too had his throat cut, but this time it was seemingly by a garrot. He too was left in public, but he was left literally hung upside down by his feet from a lamppost. One day prior, nothing, then a macabre example to the Mytanar community of what happens if you lose control. Draganec was known as one of the leading gangsters in the patch of Brigham where things had turned to chaos. Word on the street was that this was those above him exacting punishment on him for not keeping his people in line. The newspapers suggested as much, and yet the police seemed to have nothing on who was perpetrating all of this.

The aroma of coffee wafted through Klara’s as Zineta finally managed to extricate herself from her work to sidle alongside Scarlett at the table. She looked around the café before lowering her voice to a hush:

“I got a phone call before,” She said quickly. “From a girl called Marijanjela. She claims to know some of those lads that were killed. The three younger ones. In fact, she said she was at the Thessia Grill when ‘Pauk’ was shot. Apparently Usten was hit then as well, but not killed, he bled a lot apparently though and was nearly hospitalised due to loss of blood. Her and Nikola looked after him. She was panicking on the phone to me, so I wasn’t able to get all the details, but apparently she has been given a day to gather some belongings and tell her family she is going back to Mytanija.”

What Zineta was intimating dawned instantly on Elena and Scarlett. They shared a knowing glance.

“They’re going to make her disappear. She’s witnessed a lot of this. She’s probably seen how some of it works.” Elena said. “Another one of ‘the missing’.”

“Did she say how old she was, Zineta?” Scarlett asked.

“17.” Zineta said, the concern becoming even more obvious.

“Shit.” Elena said, almost involuntarily.

“I told her to come here, that we might be able to help her, but I don’t know if that was the wisest thing to do.” Zineta explained. “I can’t have them coming to try and get her from here. Maybe I should ring her back.”

“Yeah,” Elena said hurriedly. “You better had. This place has been a safe haven for so long Zineta, you can’t have her bringing them here. They could be watching her!”

“I know, I don’t know what I was thinking.” Zineta said, regret stricken. “I will try to get in touch with her, but where should I tell her to go?”

“The police, surely!” Scarlett said.

“I can’t tell her to go to the police, Scarlett!” Zineta said, her voice becoming slightly louder and drawing glances from nearby tables. She looked at them before once again, lowering her tone. “She’s a kid, a kid who is probably terrified, but she has just thought of herself as being in a gang with some lads who have been shot. I can’t tell her to go to the police, she won’t trust them. She won’t trust me if I suggest that.”

“What about the women’s centre that Tamara was in, the one Gavrila runs?” Elena offered.

“That’s a good idea,” Zineta said, eyes widening. “Yes, yes, good idea. I’ll call her first and see if she can take her in for now. We might need to warn her family though. If these people think she’s gone into hiding they might go after her family too.”

“We can think about that, Zineta.” Elena said. “I think we need to work out how we can help this girl right now. If she goes back to Mytanija then her family might never hear from her again.”

“I know, I’ll speak to Gavrila and see if she can help. I’m sure she might be able to if we can get Marijanjela there quietly.” Zineta said. “But then we need to think about the family too. They might need police protection.”

***

Leo Miletic sat in his prison cell, wondering where it had all gone wrong. It had only been a couple of months ago when everything had been going smoothly. He might have to put up with the inane jokes that his underlings made to one another, the stupid teenage nonsense they discussed, but they worked well and more importantly the system he oversaw was working well. It was raking in money, he was constantly having to go to Aleksandar to ask for more gear, everything was flowing exactly as it should.

Did he care about the idiots that were hooked on the stuff he was selling? No. Did he care about the party people who were risking their lives to take some of the stuff he was selling? Also no. To them what the stuff was cut with was of no concern, they just wanted a fun time. And anyway, Leo never took liberties with cutting the product too much, he wanted people to think of him as selling the purest stuff. That kept the money coming in and his reputation intact.

Then a stupid Euran banker had died taking too much. The guy had always treated Leo like an idiot, a Mytanar immigrant who was just another servant to him. There were times when Leo had wanted to hit him, but he always decided against it because the guy spent a lot of money with him, and a lot of his stupid banker mates came to Leo for gear too. The stupid comments and snobbery were a small price to pay when the money was flowing in freely. But that guy dying made people ask questions, people who had friends in high places within the police, and that had quickly landed Leo behind bars.

During his arrest the fear had set in for the first time. Not because he was actually being arrested, but because he knew what happened to people who ended up in prison in the Mytanar underworld. Street guys would end up in there for murder and selling gear and as long as they kept their mouths shut it would almost be seen as a rite of passage, after a stretch inside you carried a mark of respect with you forever. But for anyone who actually messed up or knew anything about how the sausage was made? Those people didn’t last long once they went inside.

Unfortunately for Leo he had both enormously messed up, selling the high purity cocaine to the banker who died, and he knew a lot about how the sausage was made. His boss, well, former boss, had been Aleksandar Draganec. Draganec had wound up dead on the outside. Word on the street was that this was due to his loss of control of his area, with a spate of shootings following Leo Miletic’s arrest and incarceration. Miletic’s group hadn’t been able to make money with him not there. He was the one who provided them with the drugs that they sold, procured from Draganec. To make up for this they had stolen from Stevan Brajkovic, Leo’s equivalent from a few kilometres across the neighbourhood. That had resulted in the murders and punishment shootings which had followed and it seemed that Draganec had ended up punished too.

It didn’t take a genius to know that Leo, now inside, was probably next on the list. And being behind bars wasn’t a good place to be with a bounty on your head.

Leo Miletic had learned a lot from Aleksandar Draganec in the few years he had worked under him. Draganec had a big mouth, and it wasn’t overly surprising to Leo that he had wound up dead. He was sloppy sometimes and he preferred to stay away from the street, letting people run things underneath him. It was easy to see how the vacuum left by Leo’s arrest wound up in the chaos that followed on his watch.

But Draganec had also told Leo a lot of stuff. He had told him about how the Mytanar underworld in Brigham worked, with the cover businesses and shell companies allowing money from illicit activities to be funneled into ‘legitimate’ enterprises and was effectively cleaned as a result. He had told Leo about the hierarchy, about where Draganec sat within that hierarchy and who was around him and above him. He explained how things worked with getting stuff across to Eura from Mytanija through the city’s ports and even via canals. In truth, he had told Miletic far too much. You were not supposed to know more than you needed to know, but Leo knew far more.

Most importantly he knew a name. The name of someone who had remained in the shadows for years and successfully evaded unwanted attention from the Euran cops. The man who ran the whole show.

Zvonimir Stenko.

Leo didn’t know where he was or what he looked like. But he imagined that the Euran police might want to look into him. The other information he had might also be useful to them, even if Draganec may have been exaggerating some of it. He always had a tendency to overplay his own role. Leo had to think of his own safety, and he knew that everyday being inside made the risk of something happening to him even higher, of someone being sent to deal with him so that their family on the outside could be given a bit of extra cash. People would fear that Miletic might be able to tell the cops stuff, though they didn’t know the extent of what he knew, but even more so they would want to see him off as punishment for the mess that had been left. That’s why Draganec, Brajkovic and Miletic’s minions had all been dealt with. Leo had made up his mind.

“Guard! I need to speak to my legal representative!”

by **Saterun** » Sat Nov 18, 2023 4:45 pm

The Claws had started very well in this WCQ campaign, but they were about to face their first real test. They would be traveling to one of their main qualification rivals, Yuezhou. They were the #1 seed in the group, and the 22nd best team in the world. A result here could vault Saterun's qualification hopes, but it didn't quite work out that way.

It was an intimidating atmosphere right from the kick-off. Yübao was roaring, as two winning teams from the previous matchday locked horns. The match started slow, with Kameron Boyd's rigid formation not letting anything through, but also not creating much. For the first 20 minutes, it was a very reserved match. Things only really got going when Thiago Esparza made a cutting run through the Yuezhou back line, and a perfect pass from Glenn Lundquist seemed to put him through on goal. However, Zhao Deliang made a brave rush off his line to cut off Thiago's angle and made a brilliant extended leg save to keep the score at 0-0. Although it was still tied, the floodgates had started to crack.

The first real breach would come in the 38th minute. Andrei Coiro played a risky lobbed through ball, which was intercepted by Dong Xiaowang. The rightback quickly played a distributive ball down the line to Luo Nanwei, who quickly beat Avishai Demare and swung a pinpoint cross into the area. After a poor headed clearance from Johnothan Post, the ball bounced around for a few seconds, before kindly landing at the feet of Ji Weibo. The striker smashed home a 10 yard effort into the bottom corner, leaving Ralf Abiatti helpless. Yübao was instantly alive, and the Saterun players realized that they needed to turn it up.

However, no further major attacks would come during the rest of the half. Hans-Jürgen Becker skimmed the outside of the post in the 44th, but that was all. The teams went into the halftime break seperated by a single goal. After last match, Kameron decided to keep his current formation. He wanted to have a flat back line to try and lure the opposition into an offside trap. He did, however, want to give his attacking players more freedom. He decided to give Hans-Jürgen a more forward role, almost as a center attacking midfielder. Meanwhile, Andrei dropped back slightly. The Claws came back out energized, and took the front foot quickly in the second half. Hans-Jürgen, now playing as a CAM, escaped a double-team to leave Maksymillian Bates wide open. All it took was a touch to control and a touch to shoot, and Saterun were level again. Bates had racked up his fourth of the campaign, and from 19 yards out.

But The Dragons would strike back quickly. In the 53rd minute, Jiang Jieren picked up the ball at the halfway line. Yuezhou proceeded to string together almost 15 short passes, and quickly worked the ball into Saterun's penalty box. Jieren layed it off for Ji Weibo, who took a stunning half volley. However, Ralf had seen something like this before. Against Tsear FC, in the 6th league game of the previous A. Liga season, Bjorn Dubicki had hit a similar shot. Ralf had conceded then, but lept in the air this time to make a diving save, keeping out what could have easily been the goal of the qualifiers. However, he parried the shot right into the chest of Kara Mingsdottír Zhang, who needed but a single trapping touch before slotting it into the bottom right. Even as Alojzy Addams made a last ditch diving tackle to try to block the shot, the whole stadium knew it was going in. That belief was quickly justified as The Dragons retook the lead.

In the 64th minute, the game really started to turn on the Claws. A quickly tiring defence was becoming slightly leaky, and that was evidenced by Johnothan Post's failure to latch on to a through ball played by Jieren. It slipped by him, right to the feet of Weibo. The striker weaved pass Saveli Holst, before putting a fine strike just out of reach of Ralf. The Claws were starting to lose control of the game, and were quickly being brought down to earth. They had a burst of hope in the 81st minute, when Dubicki took an open shot, but Deliang's steady hands kept Saterun from scoring twice. A lighting quick counter from Yuezhou quickly brought the ball down the other way. Substitute Wen Xiaohui distributed to Jieren, who was briefly blocked by Post. However, the midfielder was given just too much room, and was able to get a quick pass of the Xiaohui. With zero hesitation, she slammed the ball into the inside side netting. The midfielder was clearly happy, but Kameron thought that it was a bit unprofessional to be bursting away in such celebration when you had merely increased your lead from 2 to 3. During a frankly slow slow last 12 minutes, the Claws managed to stem any final attacks, and finished the game 1-4.

*****

After that dismal showing against Yuezhou, the Claws were back again, this time in the Stade de Lume. This was a stadium that Kameron was very familiar with. He had managed here for 7 seasons, and watched his club lift two league titles in this ground. He suspected that part of the reason for its inclusion on the limited qualifying schedule was because it was a stadium in which he experienced wide success.

The Stade de Lume, or Moon Stadium, was a beautiful stadium. Part of the allure was the color scheme. The dark blue top with grey seats gave it almost an eerie feeling during nights like these, and the stadium had a special tradition. Every time a game started after dusk, the floodlights were initially turned off, so all you could see were the step and seat lights. As the players walked out into relative darkness, the fans would turn on their phone flashlights and wave them to the tune of Crystal Sky, a Saterun folk song that was played out of the speakers. It looked like thousands of stars swimming in an endless night. Kameron had experienced this many times, but for the unexperienced, this could be a bit unsettling. He could certaintly see it on the faces of the CRC players. He even caught a flash of it on some of his own players. It could be a powerful and chilling prematch ritual.

However, once the anthems played and the starting lineups took to the field, the lights turned on. You couldn't have a game in darkness, of course. After the defeat in the last game, Kameron decided to change his lineup similarly to the halftime change against Yuezhou. For the entire game, Hans-Jürgen would be playing more attacking, with Andrei Coiro dropping slightly back. It was a change that would certainly lead to dividends. The Claws raced forward on the attack, with Maksymillian putting a shot inches wide in the 5". Three minutes later, Thiago Esparza was brought down on the edge of the penalty box. As the Stade de Lume erupted, the referees rushed over to calm the situation. Upon VAR inspection, it was a clear foul, but the difficulty lay in whether it was a penalty or a free-kick. After a few minutes of decision, the officials decided that the foul had occured just inside the box, granting Saterun a penalty. Thiago easily converted, sending Saterun 1-0 up inside the first 10 minutes.

The Claws really launched into the drivers seat during the rest of the first half. They were relentless, piling attack upon attack. They got another breakthrough when Thiago Esparza collected the ball on the outside of the box near the end of the 26th minute. A quick fakeshot sent the defender flying, and opened up a clear opportunity. Thiago Esparza didn't miss such opportunities. He lasered the ball straight into the opposite bottom corner to double Saterun's lead. After struggling to score much in the first two matches, he was starting to find some form. Maksymillian collected his fifth of the campaign in the 34th minute, as he latched on to a through ball played by Andrei and neatly chipped the rushing goalkeeper. It was easy to see why he had been the A. Liga's record transfer fee when he moved to Real Anasb. Playing some good, attacking football, the Claws went into the break on a high. Back on home soil, they were reestablishing their advantage.

Kameron decided to stick to the system that was working so well. The second half was slower, as all of the players were visibly tired, but it was still entertaining. CRC managed to get one back after a controversial handball from Avishai Demare close to the box, and the ensuing quick freekick led to the goal. Although Kameron disagreed with the call, he knew that the Claws were comfortably in front, and didn't want to risk expulsion. In the 74th, Hans-Jürgen made a slicing run that split the CRC defense. He passed the ball up to Bates, whose shot was intially blocked. All it took was a toe poke on the rebound for Hans-Jürgen to extend his team's lead to 3. And that's how the game would end. Back at home, the Claws had put on a dominating display. As the other games wrapped up, Kameron got to look at the table. The Claws were a free-scoring team (with the most goals for in the entire group) but were leaky in defense. If they wanted to make a serious play-off run and challenge teams such as Yuezhou, Drawkland, and Sendhang, they needed to clean that up. But, for the moment, he was content with enjoying a win in the stadium he loved.

Goal Contributions
Maksymillian Bates - 5
Thiago Esparza - 3
Hans-Jürgen Becker - 2
Andrei Coiro - 1

by **Valentine Z** » Sat Nov 18, 2023 4:46 pm

Part 1 – Sông có khúc, người có lúc. (Rivers have meanders, human life has phases.) – Cờ Đỏ Sao Vàng (Red Flag with a Golden Star) of Valentine Z.

Eveline Valeria Annalise Tiêu Xuân Ngọc woke up lazily from her bed, stumbling around in her decently large but humble apartment in the city. Looking at the calendar, it would be one week before the first match of the season for World Cup 95. The Valentian Air Forces have, as always, given her the official leave and break away from its duties, seeing how she was going to these football matches for international (and interdimensional) representation. Still, she thought while brushing her teeth, if she could squeeze in a day or two worth of training at Thọ Xuân Airport in Sao Vàng, one of the many airports of Valentine Z, and specifically for territory of Vietnam, a dual-purpose one for both the civil and military usage. "Well I mean, my football stuff is mostly just preventing goals, so maybe I can give it a try," Eveline thought to herself, finishing and packing up one of her luggage full of jerseys and sportswear, and a smaller bag to carry to the military base as she donned her air force fatigues. She exited her apartment, only locking the door once before taking the lift down to head to a bus stop. It was, also, a nice and warm morning.

As she exited her apartment and made her way to the bus stop, a lot of the Valentians around naturally recognized her and greeted her with all the smiles and cheers. "Heyyy, thought you are going for World Cup?" one of them asked briefly, respecting the time and schedule that Eveline was sticking to, while also just a bit curious. "Yeah, just for a while. I'm just going for a few days of training. Would be fun!" she replied back with a smile, to which then she sat down at the bus stop. From there, she would go to a local train station nearby to speed through to Sao Vàng, cutting down what would have been a 3-hour car ride to a 1-hour long train ride thanks to the network of trains around the Vietnamese territory of Valentine Z. Naturally, this is not a phenomenon and infrastructure that is only unique to Vietnam; rather, while Valentian Transcontinental Network connects all of the Pre-Valentian countries and territories on a larger scale, there exists smaller bus and train services that run alongside the usual roads all around the cities and villages alike. The whole country, just like with other territories under Valentine Z, was then developed uniformly with equal attention given to small and large communities alike, as well as the many various indigenous groups that are residing. "During the Pre-Valentian history times, Vietnam has suffered a war that had effectively divided the country into two parts, on the surface. Naturally, the conflict also has many deeper complexities along the way, such as the involvement from other various states and forces, all fighting in our country," her history teacher lectured, as Eveline was fondly remembering her younger days, "Just like there were many wars between the Western and Eastern Hemisphere, each of the territories have smaller wars within, and so to put it in a quick summary – it was a whirlwind of chaos. And in this chaos, billions of lives have been lost. […] From that day on, we – Valentians, of different creeds, race, language, religion, and so on – have sworn never to fight each other again, and not to declare an offensive on other territories too, of course. With that said, we still do need a defence force because just like other countries, Valentine Z also needs a large force for deterrence against aggression…"

In a way, she understood what her teacher was trying to imply back then. After all, one of the factors that drove the (relatively) smaller conflict within her motherland was the fact that Saigon was a lot more developed and more of the funds went there compared to the other territories. Fast forward to the Valentian Era, while it may not be an utopia for every single person, Eveline and a lot of people agree that Vietnam has been effectively developed all over the place, from the tall and majestic mountains to the beautiful and bountiful Muong Hoa Valley to the cities spreading all over the country. Eveline looked back at her phone once again, scrolling through the news feed of a social network that the Valentians use. Naturally, she has accounts from other worlds and of companies belonging to other worlds, and all of these have served up to be quite a window of billions and trillions of others outside Valentine Z. As she was scrolling through, the signal strength on her phone weakened severely as the train headed into the tunnel. "Hah, well, we have not mastered that one yet!" she quipped, looking for some offline entertainment to do, or to converse with other passengers who may be trying to strike a conversation with her, but was perhaps too respectful to disturb her. The ride lasted for another 20 minutes, then a banner: "Chào mừng đến với sân bay Thọ Xuân!"

Eveline exited the train station, with more people diverting their attention to her, as it was established beforehand, an idea of being a paparazzi never crossed the minds of the Valentians. As a result, Eveline went to the military section of the airport, after having her clearance and paperwork confirmed with the security and the higher-ups. "Huh, Cpt. Eveline. Thought you are away for World Cup!" one of the guards – a good friend of hers – asked her in surprise. "Yeah, that is next week. I just want to do a bit more training here and there before I go." "Ahh, understandable. What better way to see the country from up-high, eh? Well, see you around, Eve!" More processing around the base, but in just a few minutes, Eveline is ready for her training. "A ride on the VTOL troop transporter, then you will be pushed and dropped off into various parts of our nice and pristine Vietnamese countrysides, jungles, and the like. Basically, all those places without a soul in sight for like 50 kilometers. Of course, you will still have a GNSS transponder with you, so in case things really go wrong, we can extract you. Otherwise, well, good luck! Eveline, this is your 6th jump and mission, so you are pretty much familiar with this now. Do you still want the basics?" Eveline shook her head, much to the smile from the trainer, "Nice! Now then, let's get moving and prepare to drop."

The transporter went as high as 10,000 meters, all the while the sights and the views of the country – from its countrysides and historical buildings to some of the more inevitable glass buildings in the city areas. All of it then disappeared into the clouds as they steadily gained altitude. Eventually, the transporter opened its doors, then slowing down to a speed just slightly above a minimum safe speed. "All right, you are clear for a HALO jump!" the instructor yelled with all her heart, her voice trying its best to pierce through the rushing and violent winds. Eveline went ahead first, feet first and then spreading her body against the air as the wind rushed around; and yet, she was calm. Her altimeter was going bananas as it counts down the meters at an increasing rate until she hit terminal velocity; and yet, she was calm. Her parachute cord firmly in her hand, she waited for the right moment to pull open, not too early, but also not too late that she would splatter on the ground and needing a replacement clone for her (complete with her consciousness). Still, it all went according to plan, as Eveline yanked the string and then landed feet first on the ground, the winds not as strong as she thought and thus would not slam her right onto the ground. "My legs are fine, thank goodness," she thought to herself, "Can't miss out on that World Cup action fun."

It soon became obvious that the weather was warmer on the ground, but that was the least of the worries. For Eveline, it was the humidity that was bothering her, especially with her army fatigues and her parachute bag, which automatically retracted back into the bag for safekeeping but otherwise will still need checking by a certified technician for re-use. As standard issue, Eveline's parachute bag contained more, of course – 2 days worth of ration, 1000 mL of purified and distilled water, an assortment of small tools, a small packet of first-aid dressing, and of course, a GNSS transponder for actual emergencies and when pilots (and other passengers) need rescuing. For Eveline, in the meanwhile, set off to find her way out, with a physical map of the mission area in her hand. "Navigation, navigation. I was too spoiled still by the modern tech, but hey, it's a little bit of fun. Well, fun only because I know this is a training. Perhaps that was the reason- no, not "perhaps". This is exactly why I went for this!" Eveline thought to herself as she hiked and walked through the jungle, with several minutes already being passed, "Deep in my mind and heart, I know I love the outdoors and this jungle and all. Not the- I mean yeah, that is technically not a place to hike around at, but ugh, I have seen too much artificial grass already. The grass and those damn little rubber things, those are annoying. Even with the Valentian tech and making sure that they don't get displaced and lost from the original field, it's still annoying. Not the best environmental-friendly thing way back then, not now."

Her train of thought rolled on, just as her feet were doing all the walking and hiking across some of the densest jungle this side of Valentine Z's Vietnam. The nature, the flora and fauna have all been maintained and well-kept, and on top of that, a few ruins here and there were still around. All things considered, Clarissa managed to keep the data of everything on the surface of the planet to utmost accuracy, all before they have to terraform and re-vitalize the whole planet after the nuclear bombardments. Eveline was simply thinking about all these trails and walks, perhaps enjoying it a little too much especially for something as mundane and tiring as a military training. It's still a warm and hot afternoon with the sun raging on, and the thick and water-heavy air preventing a lot of the sweat from escaping. "Humidity, that sucks," she quipped quietly, wondering where her other 5 comrades are who dropped together with her. Eventually, she stopped for a quick drink from her water pouch, while also grabbing one of the rations. The food took a bit of effort to chew but otherwise, Eveline was no stranger to these things. An occasional mosquito or two annoyed her, to which she simply swatted them and went on with her eating. "Can't get rid of these little suckers," she thought, finishing the last bite of her ration before moving on and trekking through the forest.

Her hike lasted until around 8 PM, to which it became too dark and dangerous to navigate even with a torchlight. Setting up a rudimentary camp using an assortment of branches and huge leaves, Eveline started a fire and was simply sitting down, having another bite of her ration and some water. She looked around in her parachute bag to make sure that everything is accounted for – from her knife and tools, to a sidearm (unloaded, with 2 full spare magazines) that is also a standard issue for Valentian Air Troopers in the cases of a real military operation. In some cases, even during a training, Eveline learned that a weapon is quite useful, for many reasons more than just the benign. While it has been a very rare occurrence, the Valentian government (and by extension, most of the time by one Gwen Tracer Allison Oxton) stated that a stray portal or two have opened on a regular basis, and it was thanks to the fact that the Valentians have become aware and embraced the idea of a multiverse and so, naturally they are going to attract other worlds with such technology, magic, or power. For the most parts, it has been benign. Other times, it made for a slightly amusing story. So far, there was nothing catastrophic from these portals yet. Eveline quickly recalled about that one night years ago where she landed in another entirely different forest in the country.

It was a normal and warm (and still a bit humid) night, one where she was not as experienced and that being her 4th parachute jump of her career. As she was about to put out the fire and get into her sleeping bag, she heard that familiar sound of a portal opening in a distance, of a rift that was sure. Curious, she headed towards the source of sound, to see a sight that surprised her to no end. In front of her eyes was a portal, just like the Valentians have published and talked about, with no secret to the rest of the populace. For many like her, however, it would be the first time they have seen a portal. Other than the portal, Eveline noticed a familiar sight of several ARVN soldiers coming out of it, all of them equally as confused. At first, they were loudly protesting and wondering as to where they were, but they quickly hushed down as they realised that they were in unfamiliar territory. Eveline also noticed that they were of average height – the tallest in the group being around 172 cm, give or take. There she stood at 646 cm, it was going to be quite a shock to them in more ways than one. "Seems like they were in the middle of that war, and an errant portal opened up and displaced them here," Eveline thought to herself, keeping herself unseen from these new visitors, "I wonder if this was Gwen's doing," was the very first thought that was in her mind. After all, she has a deserved reputation from manipulating the very fabrics of time and space to such a degree that it would not be a surprise if some unstable temporal or spatial anomaly was thanks to her. The outcome of that event was a rather boring and uneventful one, as Eveline managed to keep herself out of sight from these soldiers, while silently sending a signal for help in her location. It didn't take the Valentians a lot of time to realize what was up.

The short stint in the jungle went uneventfully for Eveline this time, but for her, it was all about embracing and walking around there. Sure, she certainly and definitely could have done this as a civilian and not necessarily during a military training, but there was more fun in dropping from the sky and then walking and making her way back to the designated gathering point. Much fun (and sweating) was had, but it was time for her to go back to her home, and then to the one place where people have been waiting for her. "World Cup 95, here I come!" she said to herself, with cheers and support from her neighbours as she made her way. "Maybe this season we will get somewhere."

by **Kandorith** » Sat Nov 18, 2023 6:22 pm

Hikari Kyoyu

Illuminating Today

World Cup

Kandorese Back-to-Back Success
by Natsumi Miyasaki | Sports - Football |

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Standing at 9 points out of 3 matches, the Kandorese team has been an unstoppable force in Group 6 so far. The latest victory in a thrilling nine-goal match against Sarzonia at the Dave Wilson Stadium in Woodstock, adds to the previous victory of 3-0 against Darmen at the Empress Masumi Stadium. Under the watchful eye of Takeshi Kurosawa, the team has been playing a great system of fluent and attacking football and has been playing as expected from a team of their posture and ranking. While the defence needs some work, the attacking of the Kandorese team has been nothing but superb. In the coming days, the Kandorese will face off against Xanneria, who last clashed during the qualifiers for World Cup 85, after which Kandorith will host Semarland at the Empress Masumi Stadium.

The Kandorese national football team secured a commanding victory against Darmen, standing in triumph with a 3-0 scoreline in a nearly sold-out Empress Masumi Stadium, which was characterised by an absolutely ecstatic crowd. The atmosphere of the stadium was only trumped by the stellar performance of Mekahi, as they controlled the pace of the match to the fullest.

Kurosawa seemed nothing but content with how the team was playing, as nothing seemed to be going wrong as the Kandorese players exhibited cohesion, speed, and tactical prowess. The defensive line was an absolute anchor point during the entire match and showcased an impenetrable fortress for the visitors, keeping the Darmen attack in check and out of Shojiro Ito's zone.

In midfield, Tanaka and Kobayashi pressed Nakamura forward at every chance they got and were pressing the Darmen defence as much as possible. The three forwards of the Kandorese team, Tanaka, Takahashi, and Saito, showcased their skills and willingness to get goals every time they had the ball in front of the goal. In an absolute surprise shot, Nakamura would open the scoreline as he got a brilliant shot in at the 18th minute, after which Takahashi would see a chance in the 36th minute, which he finished with clinical accuracy. From here, Kandorith decided to start controlling the match, and the last goal would be Saito's header in the 56th minute, which proved unstoppable for Simon Toro.

Next on the road to qualification for Kandorith will be Xanneria (59) away and the unranked Semarland at the Empress Masumi Stadium. The Kandorese team has been making sure they are ready for the upcoming clashes and will do everything in their power to keep their current run going. The Mekahi so far have been eager to show their versatility and attacking prowess in the last few matches, and surely there will be more to come. The largest focus will be the Xanneria match and how this Kandorese team will square up against them in this first meeting with them in years.

In an unexpected turn of events, the KFA has been hinting at a press conference following the match against Semarland, following statements from president Kazuki Nakamura. While there is currently no information available on the content of the presumed press conference, there is certainty that it will be about the team's performance and the general direction of the KFA.

Group 6                                      Pld    W   D   L    GF   GA   GD   Pts 
1 Kandorith                                    3    3   0   0     9    4   +5     9
2 Farfadillis                                  3    2   1   0     6    4   +2     7
3 Darmen                                       3    2   0   1     8    7   +1     6
4 Xanneria                                     3    1   1   1     3    2   +1     4
5 Semarland                                    3    1   1   1     4    5   −1     4
6 Basel-Triesen                                3    0   2   1     2    3   −1     2
7 Polar Islandstates                           3    0   1   2     2    4   −2     1
8 Sarzonia                                     3    0   0   3     6   11   −5     0

Kandorith

Tenkyo Government Announces Large-scale Modernization Plans
by Akira Tanaka | Tenkyo |

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At the heart of innovation, culture, and society, the Tenkyo metropolitan area stands as a testament to the empire's technological prowess and the path of progress. As the sun rises over the capital's iconic towering skyscrapers, the metropolitan government has unveiled its next ambitious endeavour—a visionary expansion that promises to redefine the trajectory of the metropolis for years to come. For decades, Tenkyo has served as the vibrant core of the Kandorese nation, a bustling hub where tradition and technology seamlessly coexist. However, with outdated infrastructure and an ever-growing demand for housing and office spaces, Tenkyo now faces the crucial decision of how to forge ahead into the future.

The next chapter in the narrative of the capital not only encompasses the technological heritage of the city but also addresses the urban challenges presented by the continuously thriving population. The forthcoming plans are centred on initiating a new era for Tenkyo's urban infrastructure, which has long been in need of a significant overhaul. The metropolitan government aims to modernize each distinct district of Tenkyo through a phased approach of reconstruction and new projects, with the objective of enhancing the overall functionality and sustainability of the capital. The initial phase of this plan prioritizes critical elements such as roads, public transportation, and urban planning. The projected timeline for the completion of the comprehensive vision for the capital is set at a minimum of five to ten years into the future.

Roads

The current government is looking at modernizing Tenkyo's vast road network as soon as possible. The ageing transport network was planned to be overhauled five years ago already, but other large-scale projects were prioritized over improving the road network. The aim is to modernize and create more logical intersection layouts to accommodate the increased traffic and create clearer traffic situations while improving space efficiency. For the future, urban planners are in talks with the government to create an even safer and smarter road infrastructure to improve the daily commute for the citizens of Tenkyo. The upcoming reconstruction is aimed at convenience, reducing congestion and promoting a seamless flow of traffic across the capital.

Public Transport

The pivotal role of public transport in Tenkyo can not be stated enough times, it is a vital system for the citizens to move around the city effortlessly, quickly and cheaply. The metropolitan government has expressed it wants to enhance the existing network and expand the already vast lines that have been the main means of transportation for most citizens in Tenkyo. The announcement of a contract with Kaito Industries will pave the way to a new state-of-the-art bus system, while the already existing contracts with Fujisan Transport will be renewed to completely overhaul the monorail and metro systems while Hiyashi will provide the aerodyne transport for the coming five years. The aim for public transport will be streamlining all the major lines and connections throughout the city and improving the efficiency of public transport around Tenkyo, in general, to make public transport even more attractive than it already was.

Urban Planning

Misukai Planning will be the corporation to oversee the largest urban planning and rebuilding project in the history of the modern-day empire. Mishkan aims to completely reimagine the cityscape of the capital and change not just the skyline but change the experience of living in any of the capital's major districts. The emphasis for the massive undertaking of Tenkyo's urban space will focus on sustainability, personal health and an increase in green spaces throughout the entire capital. The government has said the aim is to strike a distinct balance between the massively increased need for more housing and preserving the unique characteristics of each district around the capital.

As the city of Tenkyo embarks on a journey which will certainly transform a large part of the capital, stakeholders and corporations eagerly anticipate the new era for the ancient city. The ambitious plans do not only promise to elevate Tenkyo's long-standing reputation as the best city to live in. It will reflect the Empire's dedication to progress and innovativeness. The metropolitan government has ensured the public that the new vision for Tenkyo will unfold in a multiphase project with full transparency towards the citizens of Tenkyo, with an absolute commitment to the resident's welfare and accessibility to vital infrastructure.

by **Cardenao** » Sat Nov 18, 2023 6:44 pm

Sophia de la Cruz was enjoying a rare moment of calmness in her life, sitting out on the front lawn, basking in the sun, enjoying the fresh ocean breeze flowing in from the Strait of Cardenao. Her husband, Apolinar, was at his job as a longshoreman in Gracemeria’s port where he helped load and unload cargo of all sorts and types. Their daughter, Isabel, was on a field trip, which was a recent innovation where students supplemented their studies by taking trips to relevant bastions of knowledge, another of the sweeping changes across Cardenao. Her calm was interrupted by the radio station crackling back to life, and she reached over to the table to turn the volume down. As the host welcomed the listeners back, Sophia took a sip of lemonade, enjoying it slightly tart.

“Innnn local news… construction work on the King’s Bridge is reported to be going somewhat faster than predicted and could be opened in as quickly as two or three years. This iron giant is one of many large-scale infrastructure projects that have recently broken ground as President Mihaly continues his modernization plan. The King’s Bridge will link the eastern residential district of Santa Joya with the western Chester City district, commonly known as Old Town, and significantly reduce transit times for residents and businessdoers alike…”

‘Can’t wait for that to be done, that’s going to start a whole new chapter for this city,’ Sophia thought to herself. From the well-manicured lawn of their small home, she had a perfect view of the iron giant and every morning she looked over to see the new inch of progress the overnight crew had hammered out. The economic impact of the bridge was already being felt in Gracemeria as well-paid workers, some local, some from greater Cardenao, were spending their wages throughout the city in a variety of different ways, and a boom for the Gracemerian economy seemed to be on the horizon.

“Earlier this afternoon the Office of the President has confirmed that Mihaly is engaged in diplomatic conversations with Krytenia, though officials declined to comment further. Sources in Krytenia have spotted President Mihaly in meetings with top Krytenian military and government officials, so while at this stage we can only speculate, it seems that some form of military based alliance or trade agreement is being hammered out.”

‘Mihaly…seems like a decent fellow, he’s done some real good things for this country so he’s good in my book. I’m not sure I understand why he’s called President though, might as well name himself King! For the life of me I can’t remember the last time I voted–’ her musings were cut short as the host switched to the best topic of the day.

“La Furia Azule, the Cardenao national football team, had a mixed go at it in our latest round of fixtures. Coming off a distressing 4-2 loss to Brusseldorf, the Blue and Golds knew a win against Baker Park would go a long way towards securing qualification to the World Cup Finals, but it wasn’t meant to be as we fell 1-3 in uninspiring fashion. Captain Haritz Larrainzar scored our sole goal in the 68th minute with an accurate long range shot, but by then the Baker Parkerians already had a stranglehold on the game. Manager Steve Valentine was disappointed in his post-match interview but stressed the need to not overreact and keep our eyes on the prize. Rolling into an away fixture against Hapilopper, a win was absolutely necessary or some serious questions would start to rise about the squad and its manager. Fortunately, finally, we found victory. After the final whistle blew, the scoreline read Hapilopper 2–4 Cardenao, and the country exploded into celebrations…”

‘Oh that was just a perfect game, hope the boys bring that energy to the next round of fixtures and kick some ass!’ Sophia thought to herself. She might enjoy sitting on the lawn, soaking up sunshine and listening to the radio, but that didn’t mean she wasn’t a diehard supporter of the national team. She was Cardenaoan after all!

“Oh? Hold on folks……I’m getting something from my producer…can we confirm? Alright, alright, here goes. My lovely listeners, I have some breaking news for you! I can confirm that Chímo Ventura, star of La Furia Azule, has completed a 12m transfer to Wirr Tsi of Chromatika. This is the highest sum a Cardenaoan player has commanded, surpassing the 10m move of Alberto Godwine to Banija, and also the highest rated club a Cardenaoan player has joined, as Wirr Tsi sit as the second ranked club in the world. Chímo will be competing with 33 year old Mímir Waltheofsson for the starting position, and will be hoping to be the knife’s edge for a team filled with defensive talent as evidenced by four of their defenders ending up on the 1st or 2nd All-Pro teams. If all goes well, he could write his name in history.

Well that's all for this hour's updates, tune in in 55 minutes to hear what's latest in Cardenao!”

by **Vdara** » Sat Nov 18, 2023 7:06 pm

The Sound of Drums

Previously, on ‘Vdara’:
“After all, Markos had hooked his phone up to the plane’s aux cord, and was blasting all the best tunes. With vibes like this, who needs Gods?”

Fun Fact: The “best tunes” in question includes Rogue Traders’ ‘Voodoo Child’, which is where this RP’s title comes from. Go on - give it a listen!

Game 1: Vdara vs Pyazhnaya

A rather unexpected result, given the circumstances. Prior to the game, the Oracle spoke of ”endless goals upon goals”, causing Markos to get cold feet and go for a more defensive approach, telling his players to expect a barrage of shots from the opposition. In fact, it was anything but, with both sides digging in deep for the full ninety minutes - pretty strange, considering both sides usually played an attacking style of football, but the particularly stylish Pyazhnayans in their purple and gold posed very little threat to a resilient Vdaran defence, and vice versa. Markos and his Pyazhnayan counterpart Aleksandr Zavrashin promptly shook hands after the final whistle, both slightly bemused as to what had occurred - not that Markos could complain, though. His side had come out of a tough early matchup against the group’s fourth seeds with another point to their name. If anything, he was pretty overjoyed, especially after criticising his team’s cohesion in defence just the game before - and if you consider that he was overjoyed now, one can only imagine how he felt after the following result… well, not really. You’ll see for yourself.

Game 2: Gnejs vs Vdara

An unusually chuffed Markos strolled into the dressing room, rubbing his hands as he walked. He then clapped once, to signify that it was time for him to take the floor and deliver one of his oratory marvels - or mindless blabberings, it really just depends on how he feels that day.

”I can’t lie to you, boys and girls, I’ve got a cracking feeling about today. When I woke up this morning, I flung open the curtains on the hotel room window, and I just… looked. You know that way when you’ve still got that crust in your eye, your head’s in the clouds, and you’ve still got no idea who the woman in your bed is? Yeah, exactly, of course you do. Anyway, I took a breath of fresh air, and as I looked over the wee view I had of Port Kejm, I had a revelation. See, we’re quite obviously going into this game as underdogs, right? So, that usually means that you’ve to err on the side of caution, formulate a tactic that mainly negates the opposition rather than making yourselves especially good, yadda yadda yadda. That’s all well and good, but what if we just didn’t? I mean, we all thought Pyazhnaya would cause a lot more problems than they did, and that felt like a bit of a missed opportunity, so why don’t we just come out guns blazing, chests out, and ready for a tight game of football? Who cares if we’re not the favourites, y’know? Being the underdogs didn’t stop Themistocles from ordering the Athenian fleet to Salamis, did it? No! Did being the underdogs stop the Athenian fleet from defeating the Persians? No! How did they do it? By staying organised, being good under pressure, and by rattling the Persians into total disorganisation - and yous are all going to take that to heart, take that to mind, and most importantly, take that out onto the pitch. Reject your inner Eurybiades, don’t stop believing in yourselves, and give ‘em hell! Fucking come on!”

32’ Cornelis Ceder (tap-in from close range after a well-worked attacking move)

Halftime: Gnejs 1-0 Vdara

Takis Pipades (header powerfully fired into the net from a corner) 58’
Ferrero Fotellis (steals the ball from the feet of Daniel Jones, chips the goalkeeper) 76’

Full Time: Gnejs 1-2 Vdara

Star Players + Ratings (Stats):

Takis Pipades: 8.6 (1 G/A, 83% tackle success)
Ferrero Fotellis: 8.1 (1 G/A, 20 minutes played)
Cornelis Ceder: 7.8 (1 G/A, caused defenders havoc)
Zaharias Frangoglou: 7.2 (6 saves, 1 conceded)

Approaching the final whistle, Markos anxiously tapped his foot inside his grassy technical area at the sidelines. His side were leading, and with the seconds of added time ticking by, it surely wasn’t going to be long until…

[PEEP, PEEP, PEEEEEEEEEP]

Relief washed over Markos immediately - what a feeling. With the pressure immediately alleviated, only to be replaced with sheer joy, an elated Markos thumped his chest with his fist, before embracing every member of his backroom staff one by one, making sure to vigorously pat each and every single one of them on the back, shouting words of encouragement as he went by. He then did the same with the players, as well as a couple of fans who had somehow made their way onto the pitch before being dragged off by security. The home fans may have been silent - plenty of them had already left - but the Vdaran contingent remained, excitable as ever, singing about how great their team was. Again - what a feeling! Markos couldn’t help but let out even more shouts of delight as he clapped along, with his players, with the beat of the fans’ chant. It was uncharacteristic of him to celebrate such an early result, but its significance simply could not be understated - a scalp over the second seeds in the group is something to be proud of at any stage, but it’s something to be especially proud of when you’re only three games in. Still, they couldn’t get too carried away, and Markos made sure to emphasise this after the game.

”FUCKING YEEEEEEEEEES! I mean, ahem, solid result out there, boys and girls! I know we were down at halftime, but my faith never wavered in any of you. You know why? Because Themistocles’ faith never wavered at Salamis, booyah! You all performed excellently, you all did exactly what I asked, and I can’t fault any of you for anything. Sure, we had a little blip with conceding today, but that’s not something to drone on about - because we did it, we won. Better yet, we did it in style. This was no smash-and-grab victory, there was no luck involved - okay, maybe there was - but it was mostly down to resilience, organisation, and bottle. When you have all three, and they come together… it’s beautiful, that’s the only way I can put it. It’s like how virtue is intrinsically linked with happiness, with flourishing, with fortune, and with goodness. Of course, you can have one without the other, but when all of them come together, the beauty of human nature is truly realised - and I can certainly say that what I saw out there was simply stunning, there’s no two ways about it. Either way, we can’t be hung up on this for too long, because we’ve got a pretty solid side waiting for us when we get back to Vdara. Enjoy the moment while it lasts, but don’t get carried away; or we’ll be taken apart like a crappy Lego set.”

The solid side in question was Acastanha who, like Gnejs and Pyazhnaya, rode relatively highly in the rankings, being the group’s third seeds. With motivations high in the Vdaran camp, you could easily get the impression that anything was possible - but lightning never strikes twice, and even Markos himself knew that this run of form simply wouldn’t last. Nevertheless, the Vdarans were enjoying every minute of football they were playing so far, and would continue to do so. Simply being back in the saddle again was enough for most fans to be pleased. Anything afterwards? Well, that’s a bonus, and a very welcome one at that.

by **Tikariot** » Sat Nov 18, 2023 8:05 pm

Raynard Lazenby reporting from Carathyr
After a bitter 1-2 defeat in the first match in Mytanija, the Snowy Owls were on a mission to ensure they were not losing any more points in their pursuit of the top spot and next on the list were Dod Rava and Bostopia. Dod Rava is an Esportivan nation, 110th in the multiversal rankings, and have been known to be an uncomfortable opponent. Coming off a 2-1 away win in British Covelandia, the Dod Ravians started out with plenty of confidence in Szczylek's Stadion 'Górski', trying to catch Tikariot on the wrong foot and at the beginning, it was a successful tactic as after only six minutes a sharp cross from Gaweł Hoyo found the head of young Cardenao-based August Wilimowski who headed the ball past Hurst for an early lead.

The hosts shifted back a gear after this, allowing the black-and-burgundy to settle into their game, which was risky as the guests are known to be able to really get going once they hit their stride. It took them about 15 minutes to fully get settled and Dod Rava pulled back, hoping for counterattacks to take advantage of possible openings. Orchestrated by Charles Terzaghi, the Snowy Owls built a half-circle around the Dod Ravina box, shutting down any attempts to break through and Arfon Davies and Pierre Sukunda, supported by Morretta and Wallace, fed cross after cross into the box but 19-year-old Nora Lérida in goal was able to keep all efforts out of her net.

One of these aforementioned counterattacks saw captain Sebastian Pazdan hoof a blocked ball up the pitch where centre forward Arkadiusz Milka was able to take down the ball and tip it over Fort Viljan's Sebastian Karlsbakk and coolly slot it past Conrad Hurst to double the lead after half an hour, making the Górski erupt in deafening cheers. Following this, the hosts dropped back again, with the pressure by Tikariot mounting. Two minutes before halftime, centre back Tanis Hemingway picked up the ball at the edge of the Tikariot box and went on a marauding run down the right side before making a sharp turn inside and unleashing a blistering shot with her left foot that left Lérida rooted to the spot as it hit the crossbar and into the net.

McAllister made three changes for the second half, taking off Sankalin, Davies and Sukunda in favour of Mathias Vercauteren, Chiara Castlethwaite and Sérigne Ayanbadejo, the latter two making their debut in the Tikariotian jersey. And they wasted no time in setting up their powerplay setting again. In the 54th minute, Terzaghi orchestrated a beautiful build-up from the centre, stringing together a series of quick, short passes with Ayanbadejo and Grimaud who had allowed himself to fall back a bit. The ball found its way to the feet of Morris Nighthorse, who calmly curved it past Lérida with inimitable finesse.

Only eight minutes later, a well-timed through ball from Terzaghi sent Vercauteren on a perfectly-timed run. Showing remarkable composure, he dribbled past the onrushing goalkeeper and slotted the ball into the net to bring Tikariot the lead for the first time in the game. Still hungry for more goals, Tikariot did not make the mistake of letting up, and a set-piece masterclass brought on the 4-2. A pinpoint corner kick curled into the box by Castlethwaite was met by a diving header from Adrian Grimaud, who risked life and limb to dive between the defenders and power the ball into the back of the net.

At this point, Dod Rava only rarely managed to break out of the stranglehold of Tikariot and three minutes before the end, Lérida was able to deflect a thunderous Terzaghi shot and Nighthorse was the first to react and pushed it over the line to make it 5-2.

Then came the first home game, against newly returned Bostopia. Carathyr's Jewel of the Coast was the location and after having gone down 0-2 twice in a row, Tikariot came out of the starting blocks running, with new Chromatik signing Þorgríma Vigdis unleashing a blistering shot from the distance that hit past Dean Walters. After that, the game felt as if it had fallen into hibernation as one team didn't want to do more and the other couldn't. Halfway through the second half, Bostopia tried to raise some more resistance, but any such ideas were quenched after a beautiful long diagonal pass by Layla Grover found Miruan starlet Elia Molyneux in aces of space and she could choose which corner to slot the ball into for a comfortable 2-0 victory.

The next two games will see the first game against Reçueçn away, and they had managed to take a point off Mytanija, and British Covelandia at the Citadel of the North.

After taking a look at the most valuable transfers of the window, let's start look at how the individual teams have been doing and if they have come out of the window stronger.

Alcassar 1896 FC are once more kicking things off and they have seen a fair bit of turnover, with four starters from the beginning of last season leaving the club. Centreback Žiga Srećković returned to Oriannor after his loan, while Per-Olov Rylander, who had lost his starting position to Sebastiao Yarnoko during the season, joined relegated Pyathora Mariners, Arnhild Andal signed a contract with Ancarea FC while former Tikariotian national team player Ixtlilxochitl moving abroad to Squornshelan Sporting Jaglan.

The biggest additions to the squad are Nepharan Lori Cillian and Brenecian Jess Vorobjovas, bringing a lot of experience to the starting eleven, with Yarnoko and Andreas Vikström having broken into the starting line-up during last season. Other signings of note are Brookstation's Tavian Tudorache and Alexander van Ketelaer joining from Pyathora, Diana Sharafutdinova coming over from Veriasod and young Dod Ravian striker Sara Pol.

The Avanaroch White Wings, on the other hand, have had a lot less turnover, as we are used to by now. The two players that were in the starting line-up early last season that are no longer in Avanaroch are Jael Stanford-Unice, now in Baraldhur, and Nash Kershaw, who moved on to the Lublova Reds in the Squornshelan Remnant States. Hapiloppian Avery Shaw has secured the job at the back centre, coming in from Crimsonhawke, while academy product Cyril Kimfounia Gombessa already had pushed Kershaw to the bench last season. Oberouran Mathieux Sarrasin also joined the show, joining from relegated Veriasod.

Last under the microscope today is the Baraldhur AFC. Only one starter went abroad, with Jhon Gustavino moving to Club Stein-los of Pasarga, with Pyathora's Gouvanarchais national team striker Barthelemy de la Cormeilles taking his place at the side of Sebastiano Monteverdi. They also bolstered the depth in defence, with Avanaroch's Stanford-Unice and Markel Larrazábal froM Pyathora.

Tovaca-based Inferno Burgers branches out in their quest to bring heat to the people

Inferno Brands, parent company of Tovaca-based fast food chain Inferno Burgers, known for their burgers and sandwiches being sold on a heat scale based on how high on the Menicotti-Etxeberria-Caicedo Scale for hotness they rank, has announced a brand-new venture, Inferno Pizza.

Nathan Oliveri, head of business development at Inferno Brands on the new experience

"Inferno Burgers has been a dramatic success far beyond Tikariotian borders, so we were looking for a different branch of the market. Pizza is one of the most popular meals across the multiverse, so it was just a logical choice to bring the heat to this iconic food."

The first branches across Tikariot will open on 1st December, with international locations following soon.

by **Eura** » Sat Nov 18, 2023 8:45 pm

WORLD CUP 95 QUALIFYING – GROUP 20 – MATCHDAY 2
Kelssek 4–1 Eura
Scorers:
Singh 62
Lineup:
1. T Hammond
2. A Mason (sub Malone 83)
5. Q Phillips
4. J Menard
3. M Taylor (sub Holden 87)
6. J Gates (sub Champion 45)
8. O Vincent
12. D Barnes
7. A Woodman (sub James 68)
14. K Archer (sub Miller 68)
10. S Singh

WORLD CUP 95 QUALIFYING – GROUP 20 – MATCHDAY 3
Eura 1–1 Koronavia
Scorers:
Archer 47
Lineup:
30. S Norman
2. A Mason (sub Lafferton 63)
4. J Menard (sub Sherwood 84)
15. J Bedford (sub Singh 86)
23. I Doherty
6. J Gates
24. F Brown (sub West 73)
12. D Barnes
11. O James (sub Roberts 76)
9. A Sharp
14. K Archer

This follows on from previous RPs of mine and Mytanija's, the most recent of which is this.

‘Down the hatch, and-‘
‘-get the catch. We must come up with something new.’
‘Hah. It makes me chuckle.’
‘Y-you make me chuckle, you know.’
The barista giggled and blushed ever so slightly. Belos winked back.
‘Ow!’
A quick jab in the ribs knocked him off his stride.
‘Eyes on the prize, dickhead’ Daeder teased, taking his own coffee from the counter, ‘if we don’t make a move now some fed prick is going to come down here and take this off us. Shift it.’
Reluctantly, Belos bid adieu to the charming woman who had served him and followed Daeder outside.

Montgomery Prison just screamed Eura the moment one looked at it. Massive (Brigham’s largest). Daunting. Drab. A monolith home to five figures worth of bad, bad men.
The two Brigham Metropolitan Police officers came here often to interview perps and pick up intel either side of a long lunch. It was the stuff of slow timelines and mundane crimes. Today was a little different.
‘We’re likely to only have a bit of time with him.’
‘What? Why?’
‘He’s asked for a lawyer and the city are looking to appoint shortly.’
‘And the city lawyer will tell him to go the feds, so his old gang don’t get to him…’
‘Right. But they shouldn’t, because if it goes federal, it’s out of our hands, which means no collar, and it will just become a witch hunt that does nothing about the bigger picture. He’s then in bigger trouble. His sentence will start looking pretty ma-hoo-sive as he’s offed someone.’
‘Well, he didn’t technically-‘
‘Yeah, sure. Tell it to the judge.’
They shared a bleak laugh, chugged their caffeine and poured out the rest on the tarmac of the car park. Time to roll.

The cops would go through an extensive security sweep before being let into the prison and escorted through a complex maze towards G Wing. The screw guiding them held her baton out as if to signal a pause, just as they were about to venture onto the main concourse.
‘Just so you’re prepared – the others will know what you are the moment you step through that door. You should expect some, uh, “abuse”, to put it mildly.’
‘Don’t worry. We’ve been here before.’
‘This wing?’
‘No, Monty.’
‘This wing is different. A lot of proper nasty bastards in here compared to the thieves and miscreants you might come to see usually.’
‘Excuse me, but we are detectives!’ Daeder declared haughtily.
‘Riiight. You tell them that, see how it lands. Come on.’

It had only been a few seconds since they’d cleared the doorway that the first yelp punctuated the air.
‘COPPER!’
Belos glanced at Daeder, who continued swaggering forward.
‘Fucking pigs!’
‘Filth!’
Dozens, then hundreds, of tin cans and all other kinds of implements rattled on the cell doors as the detectives and their now very smug guardian proceeded down the long, lonely hall. Even Belos was spooked.
‘How do they even know? It’s like they can practically smell it.’
Daeder laughed. ‘Not too hard to work out, is it. Who else gets to visit these sorry bastards in here?’
The little group continued until finally reaching a turn off point towards the canteen. The guard found them a table and sat them down as if they were schoolchildren settling into detention. ‘Wait here – I’ll be right back.’

A few minutes later and just a hundred metres away, an exhausted young man was jarred awake.
‘Miletic! On your feet!’
Leo Miletic obeyed. Always obey the screws, that’s what he’d been told – and keep your mouth shut. He’d followed one of those rules. But the other…
‘Step forward.’
One, two.
‘Against the wall, arms out, you know the drill.’
What followed was an overly invasive process designed to resemble a cell search for suspicious goods, which involved three officers ransacking the room. All of this was to protect a prisoner if they wanted to blab to the beat. “Stiches get snitches” wasn’t just a cliched phrase in this part of the world.
‘Alright Miletic, come on, the boss wants to ask you why everyone coming out of your cell has a beaming bloody smile on their face. Unless you’re going to tell us what you’re dealing out?’
‘I haven’t dealt out anything.’
‘A likely story. Move!’

When the boy came into view of the two detectives, they zoned in on him and evaluated what they could see. Here was a young scruff of a “man”, who had apparently formed the lynchpin of an important local drug dealing network. A likely story? No. It made sense that he might have something more to say.
But the risks of talking were apparent. He was already sporting a black eye.
They went through the usual pleasantries. 24-years-old, five foot five, barely fifty kilos. He looked like some kind of street urchin from a long past century. The more empathetic Belos then took the lead.
‘How are you doing in here, Leo?’ He made a pointed visual hint at Leo’s cracked eyebrow. ‘Fall over in the shower or something?’
‘Maybe.’ Leo was quiet. His eyes wouldn’t meet theirs. ‘Or I just picked a fight early.’
‘And why would you do that?’
‘Because that’s what you’re supposed to do. Make a mark. Get a mark. And then people leave you alone. Who the hell are you anyway? I thought I was meeting, like, agents or something. Not detectives.’

Belos reclined back into his chair and let out a sigh. The kid was smart, or at least well coached by whichever bastards had got him into his trade. They had been forward looking, that’s for sure, planning ahead to the day when each of their little minions would find themselves in the clink. ‘Do you know the Thessia Grill, Leo?’
He shrugged. ‘Who doesn’t?’
‘I- well, I mean, a lot of fucking people Leo, it’s a city of tens of millions. I’d never heard of it. Had you?’ Belos was being rhetorical as he pointed to his partner, but Daeder shook his head earnestly anyway. ‘Anyway. The other day, my colleague and I here, we’re stood outside the Grill, right? And its grim, and rainy, and downright gloomy. Onlookers with makeup running down their face. Flickering lights from the secondary damage. A real sight. And you know what I find Leo?’
Another shrug.
‘I’ll tell you what I find’ Belos continues, as if he was ever looking for an answer. ‘I find a guy with a name like yours, around your age, just as scrawny, just as pathetic quite frankly. But he was decorating the pavement.’

Daeder took a long, deep breath as his colleague cut straight into it. ‘Now listen son, I’ve seen a lot of things in my time. I’ve been through shit. I’ve been beaten, shot at, bombed – stuff you wouldn’t believe. Much worse than growing up on some shithole estate. And here I am, in a new town, somewhere I’ve moved to find a new home, a new world even, away from it all and just…all over the street. Offal and misery. Now, you must know about this right?’
Leo shifted uncomfortably in his seat. ‘Asmir Hajdarevic.’
‘Precisely the one! Good. So, as you can imagine, I’m thinking – I’m perplexed really, turning it over and over in my head – why the hell is this happening here? And why again? Because there’s been a lot of this recently. A lot of Mytanars in early graves. And what can I do about it? I mean, I ask around through my networks, my sources, because I think, “maybe this is the one where I make a difference”. And then…’ Belos theatrically jabbed a finger straight at Leo. ‘…I hear about you.’

Leo had been taken aback at being monologued to by this random copper he’d never met before. Was this some sort of psychological play? Were they just here to fuck him over? He began to sweat a little. ‘I don’t know what this is all about. I’ve already said I want to talk alright? I-‘
‘Leo – shush now. We know you want to talk. I’m telling you this because we want it to be clear from the outset that what is going on right now, in your community, it’s happening to us too. We both live locally. Neither of us are from around here, from this country even, but like your parents or your grandparents, we found refuge here. And I guess when you have that perspective…well, you get fed up with seeing people who’ve followed a similar road meeting an end like that. On our doorstep. And so, it’s in our interest to help people living in our corner of the world, and to put a stop to things that bury them. You get me?’
‘…I get it.’
‘Good.’

At this point, Daeder leaned forward and took over. ‘You see Leo, we want to help you help us, for the reasons my buddy here gave you and more. But we’ve got a problem.’
‘This man.’ Belos whipped out a photo of one of Leo’s old customers, and immediately the young man’s heart winced, a pain reverberating through his body.
‘Darren…something or other.’
‘Yeah. Darren “something or other” was a rich boy – and he liked to buy the Mytanar marching powder from you. Until it made his ticker tick just a little too fast. Now, our colleagues in BMP uniforms might have come and cuffed you, but did you notice some squirrely looking guys in the background?’ Leo shook his head, seemingly mystified.
‘Those guys Leo, those guys…they’re not like us. They don’t care about Brigham or what its like here, in our little nook and cranny of our city. We can’t be sure, but they must have either been the Federal Police Service of Eura, the FPS, or the Strategic Law Enforcement Agency, the SLEA. Feds. Big beasts from Bastion.’

‘That splits our problem in two. Firstly, it means that at any given moment, they could take the case away and escalate it. That’s bad for us because it means solving the problems in your community and the place we live – well, that will all become an irrelevance. What will matter will be a quick and brutal collar that sells well in the press, because Darren Dickhead and his family of horse fuckers will want a head on a spike. Which leads us into the second point-‘
‘-your charges.’ Belos interrupted, the tag team working in perfect sync. ‘Right now, you’re going down for possession, intent to supply, actual supply, and if you’re unlucky, involuntary manslaughter. Your age, your background and the subtleties of the regional courts system mean you will be in for a couple of years. They haven’t given you a lawyer yet-‘
‘Where is my lawyer? I asked days ago!’
‘-but when they do, they’re going to tell you to ignore us and go to the feds for a nice big juicy deal in return for saying whatever it is you want to say in a courtroom. They’ll give you scare stories about getting shivved in the showers in a Brigham area jail by your old crew, to sell it to you.’

‘But we’ve seen this happen before Leo. The truth is, it gets way bigger than that and very quickly. You will be up against the federal prosecutors and the victim’s family – who have deep pockets – and they will spend a disproportionate amount of money ensuring you are utterly, comprehensively fucked. It will be manslaughter proper. Maybe even murder if the guy had any debt, or you’d had any beef.’
‘There’s no way. That’s ridiculous. I’m just a d- I mean, allegedly a dealer.’
‘That’s the system, Leo, and you best wise up about it before it drops the motherlode on you. National laws on drugs and every other part of this equation are way, way worse than the lily-livered regional ones. You will spend most of the rest of your life in a federal prison. And don’t you worry Leo, you’ll be just as killable in there as you will be here or somewhere else nearby.’

The killer point arrived, and the detectives switched once more. ‘Unless you were to tell your lawyer you’ve already agreed to co-operate with BMP detectives. Then we can work together. There’s a golden opportunity right now – a pre-indictment pause in the media coverage, and before the feds have decided about whether to take over. If we tell the city we want the case and that you’re already talking to us, the feds won’t bother. We know you want to talk Leo. You just need to talk to us.'
Leo sat in silence for a rather long time after that.
‘What about protection’ he finally asked, ‘when I’m inside?’
‘We can keep you safe.’ It was a lie, of course, one that Leo picked up on and scoffed at. Leo would only be temporarily safer going through the regional system, because if he talked on the record, eventually his words would find their way into the case against a bigger fish. Then he would be a target. Maybe all the big fish will have been caught by then? he thought to himself, hoping more than knowing.

He shook his head a few times and tutted as if the discussion was about a parking ticket rather than a serious criminal conviction and even more grisly consequences. Was he really going to buy this pitch from two haggard detectives? Supposedly in his interests, and in the interests of turning his estate into a kumbaya-singing post-criminal utopia?
In a sense, that was all beside the point. The logic of what they said about Leo’s position, about where this case could go and what forces could drive it, kind of made sense.
Leo had always gotten by through knowing his place and taking a kind of pride in his work, the only thing he’d ever really been proud of. He was an efficient cog in a smooth running machine; an honest broker of sorts, as far as you can be for a drug dealer. He didn’t mess his customers around (they only got the good shit) and certainly didn’t mess his bosses around either. It was all within well-known parameters in which to operate, a balance if you will.

Leo was not in this hellhole because he had cocked up. He was here because of the dumb, stupid bad luck of some moron not knowing when enough was enough. Yet that stroke of ill fortune had rendered all his careful operation an irrelevance. Someone people cared about had died – people with money. And he was the guy who had been left to carry the can. For that, Leo was a fuck up, even though he hadn’t actually fucked up, and if he got above his station and stared talking to feds, the value on his head went up and not in a good way.
So, it would surely be better to keep his treachery as low key as possible, and make it appear as if he was offering the minimum co-operation at most, while still in reality getting whatever protection could be offered; maybe local prison officers who knew the Mytanar gangs better would be able to protect him more ably. His real safety net would be that the failure of such a case to go to the federal level would make it look like the police had no leads, and by implication that Leo had mostly kept his mouth shut.

And if the intelligence Leo gave by talking ever went anywhere? Well, he’d have to cross that bridge when he came to it. It could be that he was fucked either way and this was all a waste of breath. But talking to the feds would make him target number one. If he took this option instead, there was at least hope that he might be able to thread a needle to a point where the Mytanar underworld wasn’t motivated enough to kill him, and where the Euran justice system had enough gossip to give him an easy time.
‘Ok. I’ll talk to you. I want my lawyer first though.’
The detectives were pleased – they had got their man. Within a day or so the lawyer had been appointed and paid a visit. Soon after, Leo began to spill, especially as it dawned on him that Draganec’s bleating meant he had some degree of plausible deniability – “What’s that chief? Oh, no, I didn’t say anything – they probably knew because of what Drago said down the pub”.
He only knew so much in detail. There were useful details about the next level up of operations, the shell companies and money laundering and the names of a few other bosses. Above all, one name that carried a mysterious aura, spoken by Leo as if it were the name of a forbidden deity, a man called Zvonimir Stenko. It was, at last, something to work with.

by **City of Myrtle Beach** » Sat Nov 18, 2023 8:48 pm

"So... the pre-qualifiers training... is here?"

"Yes, of course. I find the atmosphere of Florence to be amazing for footballing. Did you know, that after every football match in Florence, the fans of the clubs of Florence go out into their local alleyways and fight to the death over if the West Florence vs East Florence game in 1993 was really rigged by the refs?"

"That's not what I'm talking about. I'm asking why it's in the middle of a fucking prison! And the worst prison in the country at that. You put your colorful signs out front, 'Myrtle Beach National Penitentiary at Florence' in all the colors of the rainbow but this place is depressing and has some of the strangest people I've ever seen."

"Well, the players perform better here because they want to make training go as quickly as possible. You've heard the stories about this place, of course?"

"Of course I have, this place is haunted."

"The stories are all true."

"What? Even the one about the guy and the-"

"No, not that one. I'm talking about the one about how this is a prison for wizards and things like that."

"Wha... every second I spend in this backwater city makes me hate it more. What, are the dementors gonna come outside and suck the soul out of me now?"

"No, but if you're worried about that I wouldn't head into the basement."

"What the hell..."

"Anyways, uh, back to the football. So, James, I'm sure you've seen some of the weirdness of this team before. All the antics by Mathis, of course."

"Of course I have, I'm the coach. I pay attention."

"You've been the coach for six days."

"Well, I still watched the team before."

"So, a lot of that stems from the fact that he's one of the people we move here so we can teach them to 'control their powers' or whatever shit PR is spewing nowadays. Of course, it's not really magic, it's just a shit ton of complicated science. I think there's three or four guys on the team who've gone through here, with various levels of bullshit movie science for each of them. It's the most pronounced in Mathis because his father was part of that experiment over in Australia in the 90s after the prisoner exchange. The Myrtle Four or whatever they're calling them. You should remember it, it was a huge scandal, all over the news. It turns out the Aussies have been doing that for decades, and before them, the British. In the 80s a lot of young Australians moved here for whatever reason, and a lot of them had that shit in them. So, they came here, they had kids, and now that bullshit movie science is all in the population."

"So, you're telling me that bullshit movie science is hereditary?"

"Uh, yeah, sure."

by **Brusseldorf** » Sat Nov 18, 2023 9:04 pm

Noûr made designs in the sand as her fingertips gently swayed, the golden grains of Myrtle Beach creating fleeting mosaics. As I sat on an old beach towel and felt the sun's final kiss over my face, the constant rhythm of the waves served as the background for a moment of silent reflection.

The streets of Myrtle Beach reverberated with the triumph of Brusseldorf's recent conquest, a vibrant symphony of celebration that now persisted in the salt-tinged air. While raucous festivities erupted throughout the city, here on the peaceful shore, a calm serenity engulfed me. I enjoyed the simplicity of Myrtle Beach, which was a little diversion from my busy life back in Casablanca. I reclined as the sun cast its warm rays, finding solace in the soft crashing of the waves.

Match Reports

sort by |latest ⮟|

City of Myrtle Beach 2–5 Brusseldorf
November 17th
Kitty Hawk Field, City of Myrtle Beach

The arms were outstretched and the adulation flowing from an away end packed with Brusseldorf supporters celebrating Teddy Wolfenden's role in dismantling Myrtle Beach, although he was about to be upstaged by Marcev Steyr's hat-trick.

Brusseldorf have been reliant on the man with No. 9 on his back for many years, and for good reason. He has the swagger and skill to entertain his own fans while infuriating opponents with his theatrical demeanor. All of this was on display as Brusseldorf maintained their unbeaten qualification start under Craig Foster. It was his third goal that demonstrated his influence on the game and summed up Myrtle Beach's shortcomings - The hosts gave the ball away in their own defensive area before Wolfenden collected it 20 yards from goal and fired into the back of the net.

This marked the end of the contest. Steyr, playing centrally, completed a triple to remove any optimism the home fans may have maintained, and to prove he can be the clinical finisher Brusseldorf require. Wolfenden provides the swagger, while Steyr the ruthlessness – it is a fine combination for Brusseldorf fans.

"Today was a real testament to Marcev, Teddy and [Gabriel] Lellouche, the way they embraced that responsibility not just with words but with actions, and not just on game day but on a daily basis," Foster said following the match. "That's as encouraging for me as anything because as good as they are individually they have team spirit and that's important for me." "Teddy is very creative, and he demonstrated how clinical he is in front of the goal, as well as his willingness to work hard for the team."

Things looked as if they could have been different in the early stages when Myrtle Beach were showing the sort of football James Robinson has been searching for since he arrived. It helped create an open, free-flowing game but ultimately to the host’s detriment.

Eli Morris was making the ninth first-team appearance of his career and the 18-year-old showed why his manager is such an admirer by creating the opening goal. A sweeping break from back to front resulted in the winger getting behind Boronia and showing neat footwork before crossing for Brian Farmer to divert home in the fourth minute. But things rapidly declined for the hosts. Their flailing defence was caught out by a quarterback-style pinpoint long pass from Boronia to Steyr, who – after an exchange with Michael Hernández – was afforded the space to dink a shot over Parker Chase. The problem arose because Myrtle Beach had too many players forward and were caught out two-on-two at the back but they are happy to live and die by the sword.

The visitors took control of the match around the half-hour mark, relying on Wolfenden’s creativity to make the difference. He was impressive and at the heart of everything Brusseldorf did going forward, a timely reminder for his detractors. Lapses in concentration repeatedly cost Myrtle Beach. In first-half injury time they failed to clear a corner, allowing Wolfenden time on the ball to get to the byline. His cross, via a few deflections, landed at an unmarked Romero’s feet on the edge of the box. From there Andrea Zidane picked out the top corner.

Myrtle Beach switched to a back five but it did little to change proceedings. There were three chances in the first four minutes after half-time as the redesigned defence was pulled apart, first by Wolfenden’s precise goal and later by Steyr’s composure inside the box, adding a fourth and fifth. Some home fans stayed to boo Wolfenden off late on but fewer saw Austin Potts’ consolation.

Lineups

City of Myrtle Beach
15 Parker Chase
2  Max Byers
3  Cameron Mathis
4  Edgar Newman
5  Peter Perkins
6  Blake Campbell
12 Brian Farmer
64 Michael Norris
9  Justin Stevens
10 Jeremy Fulton
7  Eli Morris

Substitutes
8  Garrett Nixon (s 49')
18 Austin Potts (s 70')
22 Caleb Brennan (s 70')
55 Donovan Hayes (s 89')

Brusseldorf
18 Lukas De Wit
2  Boronia
3  Gabriel Lellouche
4  Ricard Sciolan
5  Andrea Zidane
6  Sarah Pickett
7  Michael Hernández
8  Vindark Al Maghribī
9  Teddy Wolfenden
23 Marcev Steyr
20 Aktha Akiveal

Substitutes
19 Yasmine Benamar (s 65')
10 Santa Dominguez (s 65')
16 Dieter Van den Berg (s 81')

by **Graintfjall** » Sat Nov 18, 2023 9:08 pm

Shocking defeat adds real meaning to Cap Nord challenge

The handful of international commenters who’ve previewed World Cup 95 Group 9 have all but written a ‘Q’ in next to Græntfjall, but last night’s shocking defeat in Why are you in here (OOC: for immersion, hereafter ‘WAYIH’) served as a potent reminder that World Cup qualifying is a fearsome gauntlet for every team. There will not be panic at KG as the Snow Wolves slide to a fourth – from a group in which only two teams can even have a chance at progressing – after only three games, but an untimely result in Cap Nord, the second of the next batch of international fixtures, would certainly start a process of eyebrow-raising. The Esportivan regional champions are the group’s third seed, and will be a tough challenge for Thor’s bruised Snow Wolves to tackle, especially with a visit to second seeds the Ochre Islands immediately to follow.

After a straightforward 3–0 win against an apathetic and ill-disciplined Carahue side that, having gifted goals to Járngrímur Náttúlfsson and his replacement Benjamín Ísarsson, nodded in a third themselves, Græntfjall arrived in WAYIH expecting little more in the way of resistance as the second ranked team in the world took on the 213th. Yet two, humiliating hours later, the team in vibrant red, orange and black had dispatched their visitors in white. A sweetly struck Lotte Leonardsdóttir blast was a reminder that she might be seeing more than infrequent starts in most other national teams, and captain Kæja Finnvarðsdóttir proved ever reliable from the penalty spot, for a 2–0 lead with nearly an hour gone. But then, as happened time and again during the ICC, the Snow Wolves blew their lead, and with it, gave up what could prove to be three of the costliest points of these qualifiers. Stuart Johnson, Bernardino Farinha, and, regrettably, Harmony Serpentmane, all found the back of the net: crucially, in the case of the Kamdry left back, the Græntfjaller net.

Serpentmane is not Græntfjall’s regular left back (París Vilgeirsdóttir had an abdominal muscle injury) nor Leonardsdóttir a regular starter (Danny Oddkellson was missing with a knee injury) but this was certainly not a case of the reserves being put in, as seems to happen suspiciously often in WCC football when upsets occur. Græntfjall were fielding 8 or 9 of their first choice starters, including first choice goalkeeper Ásólfur Nilsson, returning after missing the Carahue game for the birth of his son, and Anarr Ebergsson, back after missing Carahue with a hand injury (reportedly sustained from punching a locker in frustration; the status of his hand after the WAYIH game, and that of the locker, is unknown). World class right-back Hermione Hui was missing; but Sigurbergur Geirröðursson played a basically flawless game in her place. Kæja Finnvarðsdóttir played a solid 70 minutes; Járngrímur Náttúlfsson a full (if goalless) 90. These were the pride of Thor’s Snow Wolves. And they were defeated by a team ranked 211 places below them.

Upsets happen, and World Cup qualifying is a marathon, not a sprint – although, this edition sees something of a shortened course, with only 14 games. Every upset therefore takes a bigger chunk of the potential points away. And both Cap Nord and Ochre Islands now have a point of advantage over Græntfjall; Tanirinthia, slightly more unexpectedly, have three. The Snow Wolves are hardly alone in their troubles: Baker Park, infamous serial qualifiers, and Kelssek, co-hosts from the last World Cup, are both also in fourth in their respective groups. But whatever went wrong against WAYIH – a carelessly deep defensive line that allowed Johnson far too much room to roam, a lazy tackle that set up Farinha’s penalty, the scrappy marking that left Serpentmane lunging at a ball that could only ever bounce the wrong way – needs to be fixed, before Cap Nord make the Snow Wolves pay for what has been, arguably, a capricious start to qualifying. Daniel Clark and Simon Carstensen have enough class between them to cause some headaches to what, under Thor, has become a leaky Græntfjaller defense.

After the WAYIH defeat, Thor said he “still had faith” in the core of his team to rebound. He will need it.

Also in the paper:

NEWS: DTF plans aid fund to help rebuild Ochre Islands
BUSINESS: Delay in natural gas permitting licenses auction spooks markets
POLITICS: Socialist Party deputy leader requests privacy amid sex scandal (full 24-page color pullout section included)
GEOLOGY: idk something about rocks or something why do we even have a geology section?
SPORT: Græntfjaller Organization of Box Score Historians Iterating Terminally Encyclopedic Statistics goes on strike

After going to print, the Harbinger website quickly updated to reflect that GOBSHITES had quickly agreed terms with KG, ending the strike.

by **Zwangzug** » Sat Nov 18, 2023 9:13 pm

Emboldened, I then queried her again.
"I have heard tell of misdeeds that are met
With punishments like red and yellow cards

So to bring balance unto future games.
By missing time, or paying for a fine,
The culprits make atonement for their fouls.

But I have also heard of other sins
For which no proper penance can be made.
Only endless expulsion can suffice

And those so punished wander without hope
Never to be united with their team
On any pitch, in one life or the next.

Am I correct that such distinctions are
Drawn here, if subtly? If they are, speak plain!
For soothly I would know which acts are which,

Even if with such knowledge there is fear
Or mourning for those beyond recompense.
Which are the sorts that we have seen thus far

And which may we see if we journey on?"
"Your question is astute," she said to me.
"But by and large, it is not as you say.

You know full well that in the world above
Nations arise, and then go gray and white.
There is no telling when a dynasty

May fall, and give way to a latter land.
So too it is within the human soul.
There is no one too saintly to commit

Some travesty for which they suffer here.
And, as we've lately said, time is a force
That is not measured neatly by a clock;

Referees at their leisure add it on
And the caprice of when the whistle sounds
Is known to no one until it is blown.

Therefore we do not speak of "out of bounds;"
There is no benchwarmer beyond the reach
Of quirky managers who substitute

And by their wits, turn weakness into strength.
In time, no doubt, shall all be put to rights,
But not in any plainly ordered way.

All that you see on pitches such as these
Will come and go--but often have they come,
So often that the very deeds themselves

Seem to take on a substance of their own."

(Marcus 47)
(Hitam 62; Helsen-Roan 28, Nguyen 51)

by **Fort McKinley** » Sat Nov 18, 2023 9:14 pm

Red Force look ahead to third qualifying break

(FMNA) SHILOH SPRINGS--Fort McKinley's National Team will look to have a better performance than their last outing, failing to score in either fixture played.

Against both Sky Drone City and Tollbooth, the Heroes failed to find the back of the net while allowing only a single tally to each unworthy opponent, and a repeat of that situation in the upcoming contests would raise questions about the suitability of the players and trainers currently serving for the sake of the Revolution.

The Red Force will face off against the team from the uniquely named cesspool of degeneracy known as Estherrolle and Estonianrolls, from which it is cannot be discerned whether they have human life actually existing there or not; a trip to Heavywildthing is on the schedule for the 5th match day of the competition and team officials will be vigilant in protecting the traveling party from any and all manner of capitalist vermin that may possibly be encountered.

A visit from the team hailing from the nation where the last COLA Cup tournament was held, Altoonazzia, is approaching, stoking fears that supporters from that consumerist dung heap may travel to Fort McKinley with the intent of poisoning the minds of all they come in contact with; the Party Information Committee will announce any precautions as needed in the near future.

In these times of uncertainty and tribulation, it is imperative to re-commit oneself to the Will of Comrade Dr Allen so as to understand the challenges that the international bourgeoisie threaten the Revolution with.

by **Cap Nord** » Sat Nov 18, 2023 9:15 pm

“Yeah, but they both have changed.”

Brymsaeter nodded as if that was all he had to say about that. As he subsequently rose to retreat to his room, that must have been a pretty excellent reading of his body language. With his 117th international appearance, ‘Pencil’ had equalized Myrrheim again as cap leader and it had all the looks that the otherwise outspoken left-back would become sole leader once the game against Ochre Islands had concluded. Being in charge of this bunch of rascals for over three years now, Pazron Finchley could afford a shorter tactical session. Of course the Lozhoan had tactical accents he wanted to press on (and a slightly overengineered joke about Jimmy Twonames he wanted to share), but the starters knew the drill. Apart from Barnes and Pedersen, everyone had been a default choice from Finchley since the start of his tenure: the basics no longer needed to be glossed over.

Well, and apart from Clark. The fresh Jinja forward had amassed over sixty games in the semi-iconic tricolore, but a good number of those had been coming off the bench. But after all these seasons as supersub, he finally had earned his spot as starter. And how. His appearance in the opening game had been impeccable. And whatever Till Myrrheim tried (included an amazing brace), the choice had been made.

Maybe that was what hurt the must. There was not a second of hesitation as Danny Clark was announced as forward for what was to come.

And Till… Nodded.

And accepted.

And knew this was what was his new role.

World Cup 81/82/83/84

© Sporting Times Weekend 2023
Slow start troubles Barnard
by Mindy Cartwright, National Soccer Editor

Commonwealth National Team Manager Will Barnard knows that his side are going to need to get more out of the upcoming international doubleheader than they managed in the previous qualifying fixtures, having dropped four points from the first three matches.

A trip to Rushmore to face debutantes Rea San Vegas will precede the visit of Eshialand to the BBP Stadium and the boss knows that BP cannot fall too far behind the joint leaders in Group 2.

“There are only 42 possible points, so a couple of losses early are going to put you behind the eight ball. I think it'll take at least 32 points to be in the top 2 against the teams we're facing, meaning we only have a tiny margin for error right now, but we have our destiny in our own hands as the sides ahead of us we still have to play."

The 1-1 draw against City of Myrtle Beach broke a 9 match NT winning streak at the CONAGCO Stadium and represented the visitors' first point in their WCQ history. “I'm sure it was a big deal for the folks back home to see their team come here and not lose. I'm sure this next trip (to Rea San Vegas) will probably be a big day out for the people there, having a big name coming to play at your place. We'll be prepared for the climate as they are close to Captina Island where we've visited twice and we understand that there's business to take care of.”

lineup vs Rea San Vegas

McCormack; Bruce, Finnegan, Walker; C Logan, Wiley, Vetter, Altman (C); Grayson; McDavid, Hardison
subs: Dickerson, Morris, Frost, Schulman, Park, Kirby, Morgan, Shanahan, Ikiedieze, Moorman

lineup vs Eshialand

Callaway; Jones, Kucera, Schulman; Park, Olivera, Garfield, Boyle; Moorman; Harris (C), Engels
subs: Rossi, Morris, Frost, Kirby, Morgan, Prince, Riley, Price, Coleman

by **Huayramarca** » Sat Nov 18, 2023 9:40 pm

History of the Plurinational Republic of Huayramarca – Chapter I, Episode 2 – The Quest for the Sierra

David Huamán took some days to relax after posting his first video in social media, and he also wanted to give some time to check the metrics of the video to have an idea on how things would be for the first couple of months. He knew that it will take some time to rank among the top in terms of views and popularity, but the early days could serve as a diagnose for him if he needs to do some tweaks to his idea overall or some fixes that wouldn’t take some time to do.

He scrolled and saw some comments, he was glad that there weren’t offensive ones nor some indicating feedback… So far people were interested in the format, comments such as “You’re doing a great job” or “I’ll subscribe, seems like an interesting format to follow on.” Views were around 260-270, not bad for a newcomer into the big leagues. “I’ll have to continue working, seems that this is a great start. Better than I expected.” Those are some of the thoughts that popped up on the mind of Huamán.

David’s mom was always attentive, then saw his son drawing and he asked “What are you drawing?”

“I’m drawing my next episode for the series. This time, it’ll be the quest for the Sierra. Rather, how people arrived to that zone of the country, how they dealt with altitude and all the things related to the first inhabitants.”

“Seems that could be a bit boring at first glance, so you should emphasise in doing great drawings, which you’re doing so far.”

“Thank you for the support, mom.” Said David sarcastically.

“Seriously, good luck. I know you can do something great out of this.”

David kept drawing until he finished the sketches he required to do the video. Took a small siesta and then woke up, took the camera and filmed.

“In the last episode, we saw how the Bekksiders and the Moxeños arrived from the lake Bekk and the Pibada, inhabited the zones around Sechura and Guayaquil, then extended to today’s Cocoamarca in an attempt to find better places for harvest or develop a society that could satisfy their needs. But all the history has a big gap in between: What about the Sierra? Does nobody managed to inhabit this region until recently? Which kind of challenges the first inhabitants faced to settle in that region? What they did to overcome that kind of situations? Today, we will explain this. Please, come with me and let’s begin another adventure across the history of Huayramarca and its people.

As an overall introduction, the Huayramarcan Sierra is the oldest region of the nation geologically speaking, a region who was born through natural violence and shake ups. The region was formed around 175 million years ago through the subduction of the Calanian and Northern tectonic plates of Anaia, which causes until today some of the strongest earthquakes we have had in the nation… It is believed that this plate can cause a magnitude 10 earthquake in any moment, and that some of the movements in the past could have been near that magnitude, producing some of the majestic peaks we know from that region today. From the highlands of Chuquiago at 4,000 meters above sea level to Nevado Inti, the big sentinel of rock standing at 8,225 meters, it is a region with harsh weather, lack of oxygen and little arable land.

Although there’s apparently no incentive to settle in the region, the need for resources and stable places to live were of the foremost importance in the old ages, especially 10,000 years before our era. The Moxeños and Bekksiders tried to conquer the mountains of the region, but both failed at the attempt because of how complex it was for them to reach it from their positions, but there was a third group of people that could bid in an attempt to reach the region, and those were a close relative from the Bekksiders, a group with no name found but that we, for purposes of tracking, we will call the “Highlanders”.

The Highlanders were a group of people that migrated from the coasts of today’s Mertagne, near Neorudo, to the west of the nation, atop the mountains we share with our neighbours. As they got used to the weather of the region, as the west side of Mertagne tends to receive a lot of wind coming from the cordillera, they used one advantage to their favour, and that one was that they had an easier access to the top of the mountains through the Mertagnian side of things, as the Huayramarcan elevations tend to be pretty prominent and difficult to achieve.

The need of exploring new places happened when they had a conflict with the Bekksiders near the 9900 before our era, that was for the access to the lake Bekk, one that caused the migration of the Bekksiders to the current jungle region, while the Highlanders decided to remain in their positions as they won, but also wanted to have more security, and that was offered from the highlands, as they could control any route from the very top of the mountains and avoid any situation that could be uncomfortable with their interests.

With the sights put in the mountains, a migration took place from the Mertagnian side, but that process took some time due to the difficulties of the weather. According to some tales found in caves around the border with Mertagne, they drew that many people from the mountains, as they tried to climb through them and find a pass that would allow them to cross to the other side and find new lands. That situation forced them to device methods that would allow them to climb in a safer way, and that was through the use of improvised shoes made of wood, with studs of wood too that would allow them to have a better traction in the snow, enough for them to not slip through some cliff or have any harming issue.

Drawing of a Highlander falling from a cliff – Credits: Dall-e 2

As they managed to get enough resources for them to climb in a safer way, the mission continued in a constant path, but at a high cost. They didn’t reach in time their goal, so they had to resort to pretty questionable and gross methods to survive, but helped them to cross the cordillera in three years, according to some Carbon-14 analysis made at the starting and finishing points of their trip (analysis made in graves). Once the highlanders reached their destination, they found a big lake that is 200 kilometers away from Andahuaylas, that is the lake Huanca, one that founds itself at 2400 meters above sea level but in a depression of almost 1600 meters compared to the plateau surrounding it.

3D Map of Huayramarca with Lake Huanca and surrounding Mountains– Credits: Own work.

The peoples started to inhabit the fjords near the lake, as those positions offered some of the best places to spot enemies coming, aside from access to the lake. Despite having a big depression, the lake was pretty accessible for the Highlanders, as they gathered experience after taming the big mountains of the Cordillera Inti; said access to the lake was crucial for them as they finally found fishes for their alimentation, access to wood and construction materials that would help them to expand all over the plateau and cover the shores of the lake. The attempt of dominate the whole zone was one of the best decisions they took, as they basically took control of the most valuable sources for subsistence, yet they were some times away from doing the best findings possible that revamped their history as a collective.

Around 300 years later, the Highlanders formed a pretty interesting civilisation, with a set of beliefs centered in nature and the elements, mostly in the sun and the moon. It is often said that they were the precursors of the Incaic Civilisation in this set of beliefs, and that those have been inherited from generation to generation. Aside from the religious context, they also developed the harvesting of fishes with the usage of nets they produced from treating wood, using heat and molding it as much as possible (considering that it’s pretty difficult to do so). When they managed to harvest fish, they secured their means for feeding, hence multiplying the inhabitants of their civilisation.

They also were the first ones in having a clear societal structure, in which there was a ruler who was elected by elders, then a council acting on community related matters, but in a limited way. The drawings in caves have depicted that the influence of that council and the ruler was mostly ceremonial, asking nature to provide fish, wood and more resources to exist as a community, but not as a clear rule setter in nature. Families didn’t act like clans, instead, life was devoted to be spent in community and be supporter of one and other, everything in a tightly-knit social pocket in the mountains. They spent hundreds of years in relative isolation, with little to no communication with other tribes, except for some encounters with Bekksiders that they did recognise as such and they attacked just to make sure nobody would reach the mountains.

Due to the nature of the zone, water is abundant and the rains can also be in that way too during the wet season, be it in the shape of snow or liquid rain; this favoured attempts of agriculture in their lands, as they found that they could produce potatoes and associated vegetables and fruits such as tomatoes, cucumbers, coffee and lettuce. With the discoveries made, the Highlanders turned to be nomads into a sedentary society, finding their right place in the world for the time being.

Minerals were common in that zone, but they didn’t have the notion of those materials nor the means to extract them, as the soil at the mountains isn’t particularly easy to break such as that in the lowlands, where the Moxeños and Bekksiders (particularly the latter) managed to do with ease, to use for their needs without any kind of difficulties and fomented trade with other peoples.

Now that we know the main characteristics of the Highlanders, and how the settlement process was, it’s the time to wrap up this episode, as we have finished the settlement of the inhabitants of the mainland. For the next episode, we will focus on another happening that is pretty unrelated to the mainland, but has been decisive for Huayramarca through time, and that is the San Carlos Archipelago, the process of discovery and knowledge of this far outpost in between the Salamantic Sea and the Ocean of Ayes.

We often forget the importance of the San Carlos Islands, but it can get really curious how decisive those have been for Huayramarca… But before talking of the modern age, we need to settle the bases on how those were discovered in the first place, how people survived to the conditions and isolation in the place, and how this has forged the present for Huayramarca.

I’m David Huamán, and I’m pleased for your presence here. Subscribe to my channel and pop up the bell, so you can be aware of my new videos, each week, informing about Huayramarca and showing her history in a way never done before.”

David turned off the camera, lied on the bed and slept for twelve hours, he woke up and found some interesting numbers. “Subscribers: 700 – Up: 260%” He was happy for that, he knew that he was starting to do some impact, and that was motivating him to continue on his mission to share the history of the nation. He remembered that the match of Huayramarca against Delaclava, in Sechura, was about to begin “I hope I don’t fell asleep watching this” he said… Well, definitely, he didn’t fell asleep during the match.

by **Oberour Ar Moro** » Sat Nov 18, 2023 9:43 pm

CHAPTER TWO: Fortune's Favor

At the time of Charles-Claude Bernadaux's murder, gambling remained strictly prohibited in the Dominion of Oberour Ar Moro.

It wasn't merely that state-operated lotteries were absent. At the inception of the Dominion "games of chance, lotteries, and gift enterprises" were outlawed for all. There would be no lotteries. Raffles and sweepstakes were banned. Although horse racing and dog racing were permitted, betting on these sports was expressly forbidden. Human and animal blood sports also were permitted, but betting on the results was also outlawed. Boxing remained lawful, yet activities like dog fighting and cockfighting either vanished entirely or were forced underground.

These strict bans contradicted centuries of human history. Games of chance had a long history across what would become the Dominion. Gambling has been part of human society since time immemorial. Oberour archaeologists unearthed six-sided dice dating back over five thousand years, possibly used for Astragalomancy, a divination practice involving dice. Betting on animals had been a practice for over two millennia, while playing cards made their appearance over a millennium ago on the peninsula.

Lotteries, or at least the drawing of lots, has existed for at least two millenia. The wealthy used them at dinner parties for entertainment, with fancy items the host owned as the prize. Merchants used them to stimulate the sale of their products, the prize being other merchandise. Historical evidence suggests that the initial ruler of the pirate kingdom of Heresian was determined by lots. Furthermore, lots were considered a method to discern the will of God by leaders. The notion was that if the human element was eliminated, the decision made would be directly from God Himself.

Five hundred years ago, the inaugural money-based lottery was conducted in Naucratis, aiming to raise funds for constructing town fortifications. The utilization of lotteries to finance public infrastructure proliferated across Azoria, facilitating the paving of roads, erection of bridges, and construction of wharves.

Ar Karreg, the solitary granite lighthouse standing in Peskerezh Bay, was erected using funds garnered from lotteries.

Koc'hu Caradec, the iconic public market house in the heart of Sericia, found its financial support through a lottery.

The oldest building on the campus of Cyrenense University is known as Catuuallon, after an abbot who taught there in its earliest days. It was originally a dormitory but currently houses the school's president, provost, treasurer, and vice presidents. Catuuallon's construction, too, stemmed from lottery funding.

Over time, lotteries evolved into Azoria's principal means of public finance. Purchasing lottery tickets was often viewed more as a charitable contribution with the added prospect of potential gains. These lotteries were entirely voluntary, making them more acceptable to the public than conventional taxation.

The Kingdom of Azoria not only sold tickets directly but also started selling ticket rights to intermediaries or brokers. These brokers, in turn, employed agents and runners to distribute them, sometimes dividing the ticket prices into shares for sale.

Across the kingdom, shops sprang up specifically to sell lottery tickets. Advertising for these lotteries was not just vigorous but eventually overbearing. This rapid growth led to widespread corruption. Brokers engaged in fraudulent practices, selling counterfeit tickets or distributing shares in tickets at exorbitant markups. Instances of advance-fee frauds, contacting people and informing them they had already won the lottery but would need to pay charges so the fictional winnings could be distributed, became rampant. Oversight was minimal, and suspicions arose that the government itself was complicit in these scams.

The lottery system became deeply intertwined with the corruption prevailing in the Azorian monarchy. The reign of Accurst King Izuned marked the darkest of these periods. In 1403, a conspiracy involving some of the wealthiest lottery brokers and lottery management was uncovered. It was revealed that the actual ratio of winnings to tickets sold had been grossly misrepresented for years, resulting in substantial dividends for those in power. Worse, many of the largest jackpots were steered to friends, families, and recruits in exchange for half of the winnings.

This revelation acted as the final catalyst for Oberour Ar Moro. At that time, Oberour Ar Moro operated as a clandestine military fraternity with strong Cathedrist convictions. The Cathedrist Church vehemently condemned gambling as morally wrong, advocating that individuals should amass wealth through honest labor and endeavor, deeming most motives behind gambling as sinful.

Barely a year after the Loterie Royale scandal came to light, Oberour Ar Moro executed the coup that granted them control over the Dominion.

by **Saint Eleanor** » Sat Nov 18, 2023 9:50 pm

OOC: Interview precleared with (and approved by!) Squid for obvious reasons. I'm aware that the David Key interview is supposed to come before either this or the upcoming Matsuda interview; I'll do that a number of hours after cutoff happens.

Channel 4 presents THE RACE TO THE WORLD CUP - World Cup 95, first qualifier game
BAGGIELAND 2-1 SAINT ELEANOR (Laurie Bassett 65 and 77; Rick Goldsmith 30)

Report by Candy Hewitt, Channel 4 football analyst: Saint Eleanor narrowly came up short against Baggieland as Throstles winger Laurie Bassett scored a pair of second-half goals to doom the visitors to Dartmouth Hill in Hawthorn. The White Stars were favoured going into the match against the third seeds and they let them know about it rather quickly: the same starting lineup they fielded against Carpathia and Ruthenia was in force and Angelica Northend banged in a couple of quick shots which Ben Osborne did excellently to deflect.
There were early, promising signs of to-and-fro: Jeff Richardson proved to be the main threat among the Baggies, stinging the crossbar with a 25-yard bolt before marginally swinging an excellent inside-foot effort wide of the post. In return, Sylvia Hollenberg inadvertently found herself in a good position to test Osborne again, albeit to no avail, before Rick Goldsmith put the White Stars ahead with a basic volley from a high but seemingly unlikely through ball.
The second half proved to be a different story, at least to start off with. The hosts found themselves in decent trouble as Jonas McAuley was booked for tripping up Bridget Coombe, who proceeded to tip a well-placed free kick into the centre of the box - where Goldsmith thought he had outjumped Osborne to score his second of the day, only for what felt like the villain of the hour to head it into safety behind the goal line. Bassett, by now a persistent annoyance on the right flank, decided to make his presence public with a booming wide effort that Arielle Richardson had to deflect for a corner.
From there, it took just minutes before Bassett levelled things up - hanging on the inside waiting for Bomber Robson to ping him a short ball, before evading the defence and playing a series of one-twos with Ronnie Regis to let him beat the goalkeeper with ease. He was at it just twelve minutes later, after Exandra Davies chased up and brought down Ray Blunt; he was able to bring himself up from the tackle with ease and swing a cross-field free kick almost in Bassett's path, where he could control with ease and launch into the chip that gave the hosts the lead they needed. Try as Saint Eleanor might, with late substitute Rachel McNamara beating multiple opponents on her way to dragging perhaps her team's most promising chance of the second half just inches wide, they could not salvage the tie.
It's safe to say that things will be looking up from here for Saint Eleanor, though: West Kharakia, who have generated zero points out of six so far, come in April; unranked Barunia will follow in the early summer period, the start of a stretch during which the Anaians play everyone else in their group. This is an opportunity to relax, refresh and seriously reconsider their approach to major games. A good resolution will only help their chances - but a bad resolution could seriously jeopardise their chances of even making the playoffs, given that the third-placed team won't make it and there are only fourteen games to be played.

⨷ ⨶ ⨷ ⨷ ⨷ ⨷ ⨷

Daiki Fujiwara: "I think we could have scored so I won't take credit for the result"
Chief Football Correspondent Jamie Rodgers puts one of the White Stars' newest, but more experienced, players under the microscope
Originally published on Sunday 11th February 2007

Daiki Fujiwara seems on the face of it to be a decently typical Eleanorian player: clean in defence, somewhat critical in attack, results-oriented where it matters - and sometimes where it doesn't - and about as knowledgable as you'd expect based on how he talks. There's just one problem. "I was not supposed to be here at all. When I mean here, I mean literally everywhere that got me here, too, except maybe the academy."

Fujiwara was born and raised in Squidroidia and had no intention whatsoever of having anything to do with Saint Eleanor. "Football was my first love, or at least in the top three, and I wasn't surprised I was called up to the Starlight SC academy. Did I do schoolwork on the side? Yes, but as you can imagine, it was on the side and I was a pretty bang-average player at whatever they had to offer. Mostly Cs, a few Bs... and one failure, for which I'll forgive my art teacher. Right around the time I was set to finish school, word was going about that the national government had set up a new club called Newbanks United in Saint Eleanor, which was a faraway place but nothing too much, I supposed, so if the academy put me forward I might as well take up the chance. Imagine my surprise, then, when they said that yes, you can take part in this Saint Eleanor thing."

He had the complete opposite of an easy landing when he did graduate: "I found out at literally the first opportunity available after I'd come here that my mum had died in some sort of car accident back in Squidroidia. I actually got the call from the head scout's office at Newbanks United because they hadn't set up the landline at my new place yet. For a sense of scale as to how much that hit me, I only ended up getting my own driving license nine or ten months ago; my new girlfriend-soon-to-be-wife, Olivia Barker - one of those 'proper straight-talking locals' I keep reading about - was not very happy about the fact she had to take me everywhere. In the meanwhile, I was thankful I lived reasonably locally, could get to and from the Eastern Fields on my own steam and... well, could complain about stuff to the local shopkeepers and what have you."

When asked what three games most influenced his playing career, Fujiwara points to his first ever game, United's 4-1 home win against Juventud in 1999. "Knowing what I know now, I shouldn't have hoped for a nicer start. I think everybody should make their debut against Juventud if they get the chance if only so they have a good first time; I was talking to Rachel McNamara, who made her debut for Grand Beach against Athletic, a few days ago and she said she hated it - it finished 0-0. Triple the fun, actually: most of the players on that squad were having their first try-out and my partner in central defence was Kōji Katou, a good player who used to be fielded in the Tikariot Premier League but had a much dirtier and careless reputation than I ever got at Starlight. He actually got himself sent off after about ten minutes, which wasn't very fun, so I asked for some backup and Emma ultimately obliged. Thankfully she kept it cool, we were able to work out pretty much the entire defensive aspect after a few tries and it meant we could experiment with just me and the fullbacks staying behind when everyone else was going forward. I don't think either of the midfield girls want to play defence full-time, but you know exactly who to ask!"

He also selects the 0-0 draw away to Golden Unicorn in the 2002 season. "You have to understand that this was a fairly average United team and one of the better Unicorn teams of our generation. I was led to believe they could be a bit hit-or-miss down the left but potent around the centre, so I clustered around the centre and hoped they'd fall for the trap. That they did: Matt Shilling was completely ignored, the other attackers spread the ball around themselves and with Emma Francis and Rachel Woodhouse being more defensive midfielders than anything, we were able to close off just about anything the Unicorn had in mind for us through sheer force of will. That was the closest thing I've gotten to a tactical masterstroke in all of these years, but we were really defensive. I think we could have scored so I won't take credit for the result."

His final choice is the 3-2 home defeat in the first leg of their 2005 Challengers' Cup third qualifying round tie against CASK Thorsborg, the Savojars who won the Champions' League four years previously. "Yes, the first leg. Not the second leg which we won 1-0 and then on penalties; I'm not a penalty shootout person unless it's absolutely necessary. And yes, I know this is another home game, but it was a very important one in every sense of the word: we had our fans behind us and what I imagine, but can't confirm, was a good fraction of the Savojar army reserves behind them. I was very politely asked to mark Rasmus [Medberg] Hansen, or as close as you can get without leaving the comfort of zonal marking. Did I succeed? Not quite - he's far above my level and managed to get a goal past even when I was paying full attention and making all the right moves. But I'd say the experience was deeply precious, given the gravity of the stage and what have you, and I'm thankful that I should hopefully get a few more chances like this in the future."

Like his fellow Squidroidian Kichirō Matsuda, Fujiwara only obtained Eleanorian citizenship two years ago after the failure of his home nation's FA, which he says "only makes the privilege sweeter - I've learned too many times that nothing's here forever so I'll have to take as many opportunities as I can get. That includes talking to people, of course. Carla Hawkins and Striker Rachel are holdovers from my club and I make sure to go with them for some coffee where I can; I've probably learned more about the philosophy of football at those meetings than I did at Starlight. Of the people at other clubs... Bridget Coombe, obviously; she fills the moral and positional gap that Emma and Midfield Rachel leave me with at Newbanks. Naresmet [taFrexala] is another defender who accepts he won't get much time and agrees with me that the Huayramarca camp wasn't the best idea in the world. Kichirō is also someone who I agree has everything worked out and that shows in how he treats the game and the people around him. Really, however, I'm just trying to get to grips with the squad and everyone in it. I'm sure I'll be on good terms with everyone in due course and woe betide me if I don't."

It bears restating that Fujiwara is doing absolutely nothing that would be out of the ordinary for an Eleanorian centreback: on most days, he will get the ball and move it around without too much fuss, co-ordinate with anyone who needs it and look out for anyone who needs help in whatever form too. What warrants his inclusion on this team is that he has been doing this consistently for the past seven years, from the very onset of his career and with very few lapses. Should he get the chance to start, do not bet against him living up to expectations.

by **Saint Eleanor** » Sat Nov 18, 2023 10:06 pm

OOC 1: Le epic rant approved by UHL and KRK (and journo namegenned with UHL's tool), although with the important caveat that this represents Vestergaard's opinions only and doesn't bear on how United Hawkland's government views (West) Kharakia. West Kharakia's CAFA roster, that being the only one in existence, has been used.

OOC 2: Interview precleared with (and approved by!) Squid for obvious reasons.

Channel 4 presents THE RACE TO THE WORLD CUP - World Cup 95, first qualifier game
SAINT ELEANOR 2-2 WEST KHARAKIA (Angelica Northend 22, Steve Pilchard 56; Honksin Antilagla 36, Nashil Farkas 61)

Analysis by Thijs Vestergaard, Hawklandian football journalist now living in Saint Eleanor: There are failures, and then there are complete, absolute humiliations. What everybody saw today is, arguably, the greatest humiliation Eleanorian football has met with. Only two events, the tie against New South Yukon and the punch-up between Independence 1975 and Army and Navy, almost 22 years ago now, come anything close to this reckoning.
I'm from Orleans, United Hawkland. In this part of Anaia, we don't just loath Kharakia and anything to do with them - we absolutely hate them. I will outline the stakes involved in this qualifier here, anyway, in the most neutral fashion I can muster. Saint Eleanor had come off the back of a devastating road loss to Baggieland and absolutely needed all three points to get their campaign back on track. They're the best team in the group, almost indisputably. They have one of the best football programs anywhere, especially for a nation of their size. They probably should have gotten the win.
West Kharakia have no campaign to get back on track: they'd lost both their opening games. I was only able to find their lineup by searching in the archives. The only nation ranked lower than them in the group have World Cup pedigree. Their football program consists of one club, who aren't even that good from what little has been written about them. And they weren't even at home. Put simply, they had absolutely no right to go up to Saint Eleanor and completely rob them of any dignity they had at all.
What is extremely obvious from the multiple times I have rewatched the game is how easily Saint Eleanor gave up. They should absolutely not have done that, not when it opened them up to what is almost certainly the most shocking result suffered by anyone in these qualifiers so far. Especially not when the team leaders have been going around every corner they can think of touting how good their defence is these days. Honksin Antilagla was offered far too much space on far too many occasions and, had the opposition been any worse or any more poorly-organised, he would have won them the match.
I get it: Esther Launceston broke her neck a few weeks ago and can't play. That's still no excuse for Saint Eleanor to be shitting the bed. You cannot look at the rest of Saint Eleanor's lineup - Coombe, Matsuda, Richardson, Goldsmith, ad nauseam - and tell me that it is equally as good as West Kharakia's. You cannot look at any part of the football setup in Saint Eleanor and tell me it is equally as good as West Kharakia's. I am supposed to look at this result and believe that the state of West Kharakian football, an institution which is barely independent and could possibly collapse altogether after these qualifiers end, is in a place where it can compete with the twenty-first best side in the world.
Now I am getting people come up to me and say that Baggieland - not Saint Eleanor - will be making the quarterfinals of the World Cup. Baggieland, a nation that has never before appeared in a World Cup and would be ranked far below twenty-first if it qualified! To have performances as patchy as these be the hallmark of Saint Eleanor's early qualifiers betrays every single fan involved. A repeat cannot be allowed, later in the cycle or ever again. If they do, Saint Eleanor may not even be considered for the Cup of Harmony - the ultimate coup de grace for the approximately thirty-eight people who follow West Kharakia.
If performances like this continue, Priscilla Evans should lose her job. If performances like this even look like they are threatening to continue, Bridget Coombe should be made to lose the captaincy and hand it over to Steve Pilchard, who has been the only member of the starting eleven to have shown anything like form over the three games of qualification so far. If Saint Eleanor do so much as drop a single point throughout the rest of qualification, questions should be asked about every single person involved with the team.

⨷ ⨷ ⨷ ⨷ ⨷ ⨷ ⨶

Kichirō Matsuda: "I didn't think I'd get the chance to make the last sixteen again"
Chief Football Correspondent Jamie Rodgers tries to interview the Wunderbar... and completely gives up
Originally published on Sunday 18th April 2007

Kichirō Matsuda is better known to seasoned observers of football in his homeland of Squidroidia as Wunderbar Quatro, one of six humans engineered to become among the best footballers of the world. "Don't believe everything you read in the Reporter - I'd suggest reading your local newspaper instead, in my case the Gazette - but do believe them when they say that's how I came about. Anything you may have heard about me having survived a fully-thrown revolution is coincidental at best. Or maybe it's a fundamental part of my story depending on which revolution you're thinking of."

It suffices to say that Matsuda's upbringing was much different to that of the homegrown Eleanorians: no Charles Trump Shield pedigree; not even a formal school. "I have absolutely no recollection of anything I did before I kicked my first football, aged six. I didn't even go to school - I learned about the history of Squidroidia, basic English, basic Japanese, basic math... I mean maths, and science, but other than that? Nope." It was not until he joined the Eleanorian Academy some twelve years later, a period he'll discuss later in the conversation, that he plunged into the world of comprehensive schooling.

It would not be fair of me to ask a man who was quite literally tailor-made to play football to ask him what games shaped his career. I therefore open the floor to him to discuss any football match he's played in - at all. "Sho Itō, hero of Squidroidia. I was fifteen years old when I was called up to the World Cup 91 team for Squidroidia with the other Wunderbars and that experience opened my mind just to begin with. Seriously: I'd been doing football exercises for a decade, no games or anything like that, and then Adam Johnson - a Barunian, so some impendent irony involved there - threw us into the team and... I can only speak for myself, but my word. I have no idea what I was supposed to expect for my first game, which was the first qualifier against Audioslavia, not least since I was the only one of us six in the first eleven, then I played through eighty minutes of complete nothingness and figured this was what it was like. Of course, leave it to Itō up front to come up with one of the greatest bonding exercises in national history from absolutely nowhere. The winner. I scored the first goal against Togonistan a while later, but it was Togonistan."

"There was a major, major dispute involving the other Wunderbars later down the line in which they just wanted some fucking starts. It turns out those exercises did us enough good because, compared to the humans and Inklings on the team, we were pretty much just tearing things up. Johnson obliged - at least to some extent - and put Dos in the lineup for the first leg of the playoff against Yuezhou. It proved to work well enough that he only started Dos for the second leg. Certainly he did much more than I did in the first, which says a lot for something that ended up to be a 2-2 followed by a 1-0 for us. The World Cup as a whole was quite an exciting ride and while I didn't think I'd get the chance to make the last sixteen again... I'll talk about that later."

"At some point during the following World Cup, I made the world known that I was Kichirō Matsuda. I believe - but can't be too sure - that I handed my new ID papers to the new manager, Rachel Coltfield, who's from Tinhampton like my current national team manager is, and then she just told everyone a few days later. People call me a superhuman but I definitely don't have superhuman memory. I didn't actually do too much that stuck in the memory after that, not because I did anything wrong but because I'd found my niche: ticking away in the midfield, mostly quietly, looking after both sides of the team."

"Actually, there is one event that will live for as long in the hearts of the Squidroidian people as they lack a national team from that point forth. Squidroidia's last ever tournament was the 17th IAC and we tried so hard to get our noses ahead that I needed something stiff after... a few of them, let's say. Especially the preparation for the semifinal against Juvencus, a nation I'm sure you're familiar with from your own travels; we'd barged through the quarterfinals on penalties and it was repeatedly, incessantly drilled into me that I had to do my job absolutely perfectly there. I imagined scoring the first goal and propping up the second would have counted and I had multiple people tell me it did after the fact. The final, on the other hand, was an excellent team performance and I have nothing to say about it other than I'm thankful for having been part of it."

"After the final, I was spirited off to Saint Eleanor - nice, lovely and certainly not politically afflicted - and asked to take part in the Eleanorian Academy's Rising Stars Cup team for... 2002. We're five years past that now. I had an excellent time in the first round in all areas and hoped that much the same would happen in the playoffs - which, for the record, would have been the second of six, really seven, ties we'd have had to won to win the cup. Suffice to say that it did not go very well: barely anyone in the squad knew what they were doing and I couldn't have just singlehandedly dragged the team into competence on my own. We had already gone 2-0 down three minutes into the second half when I knocked one of the Fiskadaha players to the ground; it wasn't a concussion, don't worry. The referee did see cause to worry and threw me out of the game, which I thought was completely fair... in the end."

"I am not going to recap every single thing I've done in Saint Eleanor here; I'd expect that the information is much better-kept than you think. I will, however, say two things. One - the Eleanorian Academy was pretty tough in terms of schooling. I was given a couple of subject choices, ICT and engineering in my case, and otherwise burdened with what was literally a liberal arts course. I did end up getting decent grades in everything, making a couple of friends, including with the Academy team, and taking up a few geeky hobbies in the end. Two - with a few games left in the season two years ago, we'd long given up the title chase by that point, but our next opponents, Hiyashi Celestia, were a point behind us. I've long been at the stage where I could work out how things worked and I let every single fucker in the team know: hold back, hold steady, push at every pressure point you see. Lydia Sharp disagreed and said I was being too cynical, which is a bit ironic of her, but she admitted I had some good points. Thank goodness she did so before the fact: I pitched up David Newcastle for the winning and only goal with about twenty minutes remaining, even if the pass was a bit speculative."

Matsuda has tried his best to be a good Eleanorian citizen, and not only in formal terms either, given the scale of housewarming he's been doing with his fellow members of the national team. "I've invited everyone in the lineup to my house in the Central district, before I get a girlfriend who proceeds to ruin the place by leaving bits of paperwork everywhere. It is Central, of course. All of them have either obliged or said they'll pop in later. Esther Launceston visited despite being in a neck brace the entire time and didn't complain once, which instantly makes me respect her and certainly isn't bad for an Athletic player. Georgia Wood mostly commented on my furniture and what kinds of books we were and weren't reading. Rick Goldsmith was good for the most heated hour-long debate on Army power I've ever seen, although he's said he's taken part in worse. Daiki Fujiwara is Daiki Fujiwara and I have wasted more time in more places with him than I can be bothered to recap at this point."

The Wunderbars live on and continue playing football to this day, but it's been regularly pointed out that Matsuda has lived up to his potential more than any other. He was the first of them to be regularly starting games, one of the most active contributors to the Squidroidian national team during its dying spells, one of only a few players of any description who have successfully handled a permanent move to another country before the start of their club career... and the only one to be playing at this World Cup.

by **Independent Athletes from Quebec** » Sat Nov 18, 2023 10:08 pm

OOC: Credits to Krytenia and KYP for lending me their characters. More will come on both of them in due time.

Independent Athletes from Quebec (IAQ) - World Cup 95 Team
WINDOW 3 - @ Devonta, v. WBEO
26-PLAYER ENTRY

Best XI vs. Devonta (3-4-2-1): Kalulu-Flaubert; Goh H.S. - Salihamidzic - McKinley; Mariano Kang - Pyo - Pengsoo Brown - Watson-Lukwago; Tekaronhonte - Hong Y.S.; Salihamidzic Beckie
Best XI vs. WBEO (4-2-3-1): Sheppard; Delisle - H. Kim - McKinley - Yabusele; Bouck - McTavish; E. Kweon - Wawanolett - Woodcarver; M'bah-Pinho

GOALKEEPERS (3):
Fabien Kalulu-Flaubert (La + Querida, FFD), Marianne Oh-Ntare (Litala '93, MYT), Innes Sheppard (Urrheddiao, CMT)

DEFENDERS (9):
Alain Delisle (Mipojoseon), Goh Hak-Seong (Herzegovina City FC, BNJ), Mariano Kang (Rulandea Kosta, FFD), Hannah Kim (Sivolvia Capitalizt, SRS), Noel-Hercule McKinley (West Couno United, TMB), Pierre-Karl Miller (RGS Athletic, EFL), Sinisa Salihamidzic (Montreal Koreana), Donovan Watson-Lukwago (St. John's Arsenal), Frederic Yabusele (Atletik, MYT)

MIDFIELDERS (7):
Mathinna Bouck (Rulandea Kosta, FFD), Pengsoo Brown (Lanar, CMT), Samuel McTavish (Lakewood City, TMB), Aurelien Moussenguet (Urrhed FC, CMT), Pyo Seung-Hye (Avondale City, SYL), Rebecca-Anne Wawanolett (Chromatik, CMT), Vegeta (Brantisvogan, SRS)

FORWARDS (7):
Billie Blue Hamisi (Urrheddiao, CMT), Hong Yeong-Sahm (Lhor, CMT), Eloise Kweon (Sabrefell Moths, NPH), Oberon M'bah-Pinho (Tihon, CMT), Amina Salihamidzic Beckie (Frenei Tor, CMT), Otis Tekaronhonte (Eivora Athletic FC, TKT), Zinaida Woodcarver (Crisibless, NPH)

Ahead By A Century

PART 3 - Butterflies and Hurricanes

The red seaplane slowly descended from the east, went through the ravine, and then headed home into the short runway. The asphalt was clear and clean under the clear sky, even though there were plenty of maple and tree oak leaves right next to it.

After a quick bump, and a slow drag into the landing, the seaplane pulled up to a halt near the end of the runway, about two hundred metres next to the small football stadium.

A 18-year old head boy of foreign stock, who had not only been watching the plane land, but also communicated to them on a mic for the past half-hour of flight, walked over and waved at the two passengers who looked every bit high on the excitement. Slowly going on a walk, almost to emphasise the lack of urgency on her end, the boy looked back into the way the siblings - that being His Royal Highnesses Alexandre and Adelaide - felt exhilarated over the flight. Lightly lifting his neck, Georgie Norwood (whose official name was George Octavius of Krytenia, but nobody called him that, preferring to us the surname Norwood for his marquessate) looked back at Alexandre and Adelaide as if he were disappointed and yet...unsurprised.

Alexandre, whose six-foot-nine frame and toughened facial complexions stood contrast to his decently-combed brown hair, turned around and looked at George. Unlike his sister, who was dressed in a 1920s, vintage aviator jacket, trousers and goggles reflecting the old days of flying, Alexandre chose to dress in a purple, OVO furcoat that he had received, not bought it (huge distinctions existed) with a golden owl stitched to the breastplate.

It's going to be a long year, isn't it? thought George, as he gave a light, but still awkward smirk that he knew he had to work on as a head boy in this school, gestured his face to the hills that they were coming from, and then back. 'Surely sharply-dressed for your first day in school, aren't you?' George asked, suggesting that he wasn't particularly satisfied with the behaviour.

'My dear Georgie, this is a fucking seaplane converted from Drawkland,' said Alexandre, causing his sister to slightly twitch at yet another of question remarks made by his brother. 'And if the girls here aren't good enough for me, then sure I will head into towns not on those, but on Avros.'

'I am not her to fuck around, Brattleboro,' George answered back, emphasising that he was not at home in Joongyeong, or even in Wick Castle, the county house that the sibling's father, Caspian of Cassadaigua, had enjoyed. 'I may be a bloody nerd, and so are half the school in your eyes, but the rules are rules. Get changed as a prefect you are and should be behaving accordingly, the Housemaster will be looking for you in a half-hour's time.'

'Alright, alright,' answered Alexandre, as he would be the first one to get out. Adelaide, in the meanwhile, took a bit more time to get out. With the goggles on it was harder to see the greater picture sometimes, but one thing that she couldn't deny was how sweet it was always to see his brother, whose frame had given him a certain sense of lift away from the sky, to be reminded of his place.

This place always has the ways to bring an overconfident man back into the ground, doesn't it? thought Adelaide, as she would also use the opportunity to be escorted out of the plane with George. George and Adelaide did not have the closest of relations, mostly because George was a year above her brother at the Sixth Form, and George found greater solace in the Classics Club. Adelaide, who usually spent most of her town outside or with her girls, was more of a Moderns girl, who enjoyed looking at sport policy and also the Athlone Gala (not-Met Gala) at the same time.

'Did you hear that your year will be getting a new student?' George asked Adelaide, as they slowly headed the opposite way from the football stadium, and where most of the house dormitories were at. 'A first at that, if that's to be true.'

'I have, it's all over The Latest Whistledown l'Instagramme and BingBong pages, sure,' answered Adelaide, before looking back. The complex of scattered buildings and neatly-organised rows of trees and promenades were contrasted with the rougher, more sprawling bushes of the hills on the background. Strange how beautiful they would look from outside, but from inside it looked more jarring than anything else. 'But almost as if I would believe that.'

'She's already there, come on and be real,' George answered. 'Apparently she plays horn, if I may draw your attention.'

'Does she?' Adelaide asked. 'You may as well tell me that she shoots too, perhaps that's why Valdes is already back.' Her brother's mate, and a former escapade partner, Leonore Valdes was the daughter of Quebeco-Kytleran restauranteur and motorsports executive, GreGG McInnis Valdes. If 'Addy' were known to be the sailor in the town, Valdes definitely held the reputation as the shooter, who used to shoot trap and skeet regularly growing up in Eastern Downs before her parents moved to the Bay City's pier-edge Olympic village. But there was also another episode between them over what had happened on the week her and some of their mates had gone out in San Ortelio, but that's for another time..

'This girl doesn't look like a shooter, Addy,' George said. 'But I think you'll like her. We've known each other since year-seven and Mademoiselle Adelaide de Brattleboro is a tricky woman.'

It was around four in the afternoon when Claire Lundrigan had woken up from a nap. The first week of classes went fine - first few periods were spent as the introduction to the courses she had studied before back home, and the book offerings were nothing out of ordinary, whether by school or Silverhills' shelves, anyway. After the first Monday had passed, Claire decided that with just over twenty-five Quebecois pounds in her pocket, and feeling better after surviving Allard's morning class that her mates seemed to dread, it would not be a bad idea to travel to Avon town.

A couple hours away, and alone, would not be bad I suppose, thought Claire, as she got on the hourly bus to the town at four. Sports were yet to start and Claire, who had signed up for the field hockey team, still had until Wednesday at six in the morning for the trials. Still new.

Of course, being in town alone without a very specific purpose the Upperclassmen (Year 11-12s) accustomed to the town would, Claire did not end up doing much. It was a quaint, small town, with around three thousand whose economy had relied a bit on agriculture and the school, and the presence of old-world architecture were maintained by the fact that Avon town was around 30 kilometres away from an expressway.

Otherwise, there wasn't a lot for Claire to do on her own at the town, something that she had found quite similar to that of her hometown, and she did not have family nearby to go visit. Still, not exactly feeling to admit defeat, Claire decided to grab a screening of an old classic she would watch with mum, Les Parapluies de Cobourg. Another two hours would pass, then she would poke around to grab a smoked sandwich of age-questionable sauces at the Benson's Diner, where the things she could see old (public) school photos and the signatures of the naked and the famous visiting this century-old place right upon entering the town, before heading back to the campus by eight.

When Claire had come back, it was around half past eight. There was a senior girl named Anne-Marie Park in the lounge, with another senior guy, who Claire did not know, cuddling while watching a movie on one of the vanilla sofas. They looked up at Claire in surprise, initially in suspect of her telling, but upon realising that Claire did not care by the looks on her green eyes, went back to watching a rom-com.

Maybe I should go back to my room, the halls seem quiet again and maybe right now's not the right time to read, thought Claire, as she tried her best to think in case either of them would ask who she was. She would, of course, say who she is, and maybe mention her year, but how likely would they ask if she's the 'new girl'? By this point in her time, she had been made aware from conversations with her peers that she was the only transfer accepted into that cohort, and considering the words said about them and the two cohorts above, would probably get some looks. That's if she hadn't received them already.

It was around then that another stranger had entered the lounge. Upon hearing a thud, Claire had turned around in a flinched manner, and looked at the girl. It was Adelaide, the younger sister of the Crown Prince, with a badge or two added to the crest. Adelaide was a beautiful woman, of just under six feet in height, with distinctive, enquiring features similar to her mother. The words she had heard about 'Addy', even when Claire had seated close enough to the Princess at the Robinson House's table, was reminiscence to her mother. She knew everybody, and had clear thoughts and words about them, but was more at home with her sails or horses. But unlike her mother, with whom she had shared innate abilities similar to her mother, she preferred to just aim being as normal as possible.

Claire, still nervous about her classmate who seemed well at ease, quietly said and gave a hug. 'Claire Lundrigan,' she said awkwardly, not out of natural self but rather the unexpected nature of the situation. 'Sorry, I'm still new to here and all that.'

All Adelaide did was to smile back at her, perhaps exposing minor doses of nerves her parents would show to each other. 'So you are the new girl,' she said warmly. 'The Author and the Muse's daughter?'

'Oh,' Claire answered, trying her best not say too much about her parents. She had remembered that her father had known the Queen, but to what degree? And why haven't her mother mentioned of Christine the Second if this were true? 'Sure, but I'm just here as me.' Claire tried her best to answer, covering the Sapphire ring that she was wearing on her left hand quickly. 'And you must be Addy.'

'Yes, they say I'm the crazy bitch around here and it's true,' Adelaide laughed, before continuing. 'But it won't be boring. At least the auditorium won't be - Davies is a funny teacher. Are you grabbing dinner?'

'No, I've already eaten-'

'Let's go anyway. Never late to eat supper here,' Adelaide smiled, before heading out of the room.

The first month of school would quickly pass by in Avon-Gillespie. The boys and the girls would start their classes and Adelaide, whose bittersweet recollections with the way her first Olympics had went, was back into the Marina. As with any other AGS underclassmen (off-periods would exist starting her junior, and she was still a sophomore), Adelaide was still attending full schedule of classes, but the three-hours-a-day physical education requirement had more or less worked in her favour. Back into her comfort zone after spending weeks if not months away, all the way up to the Terranean Sea on the island that no longer existed on the map, Adelaide got a job maintaining the shed and the boats as part of the Sailing Club under their club teacher, a physics teacher by the name of Louane Lee-Barrett, on most days.

And Adelaide did come back to be with her friends, mostly the girls at her Robinson House who she had grown up together since Year Seven. Of course, it's a bit complicated to say how big that actual circle was, and the numbers did vary depending on who was being asked over it - some would say six, other eight, et cetera - but Addy and her girls did eat meals together and saw each other in the halls early in the morning and late in the night.

More often than not their membership would come and go, partly through athletic commitments and responsibilities newly attached towards them at the Upper House. Year ten of school year also happened to mean that sport captains, house captains, and other prefects happened to start getting assigned. The regularity of their tasks, as well as seeping of personal thoughts into more public domain, had brought some together and others apart, and generation of unneeded bureaucracy or backskirting of rules.

Among those was Alexandre, whom Claire Lundrigan would quietly ask, and Adelaide had known well but told little to none for narrative convenience's sake.

Of course everybody had known who Alexandre de Brattleboro was, and everybody had their varied words about the behemoth - that his eyes were always set on the fairer sex; that he was mostly set for a rigorous life of Royal Quebecois Navy (height-dependent); that some had found awfully close comparisons to his grandfather, Jacques IX the Warrior King-Emperor; that he had actually written sonnets before going to a rugby playoff match for his English teacher to read it out; that he would correspond regularly with Raoul-Christophe Jang-Nolan over Barbenheimer movies while the latter was in the Rulandese battlefield (accuracy rate: 15%); that he eyed upon Rushmori princessesl and that he found more to be at home in Concord Heights than Joongyeong.

Whether all or any of these were truth were debatable, and in some ways, seemed closer to urban legends, but the more Claire would spend time at the AGS alongside Adelaide's company, whose mutual friends had complicated relationship with him and his friends on individual and group level. Befriending most easily, reflecting that of a western or northeastern cowboy's swagger, he seemed out of fit at the Avon-Gillespie. A closer look at the school, and the instances of him grunting away from and outside the buildings, however, would suggest that he found the school's curriculum to his qualities and strengths at least.

by **Brannfjord** » Sat Nov 18, 2023 10:08 pm

Blekebakken Stadion –After the match against Josifovo

Torstein and Harald, the Norvik brothers started to get rid of any garbage found in the grass of the Blekebakken Stadion, the mission is to leave the place as clean and well prepared for the upcoming matches of Brannfjord. The brothers, as usual they talked while working to spend some time and not be bored with the chore they got paid for.

Torstein started the chatter and said “This is a mere fluke or a dream, it can be possible?!” as he put a water bottle in a black bag used for garbage collection.

“Don’t confuse the plastics bag with the bag for organic garbage… Which is, for the record, the place where your pessimism belongs to.” Said Harald.

“Oof. Tone it down, brother, tone it down!”

“Literally, I’m being honest with you because you didn’t have any faith in the team.”

“Meh, it’s a bit of a boring point from you. All of those were wins by one goal of difference.”

“Do you want us to win 14-0 every single match?! I have seen a team getting 14-0 and that was Peisandros. According to the ranks, we are in the level of Peisandros, but quality wise the guys have demonstrated a whole different thing. I do care that the team haves some fun, that they play and after the match I can see some smiles coming from them.”

“Well, not 14-0 wins or blowouts, but we need to have more confidence while defending.”

“Finally, a good point. We need to defend better as Øygard hasn’t been able to save a lot of goals for us, Berg and Erikssen have been too fragile while defending.” Kvitsøy and Mosjøen aren’t known for having great footballers.”

“Well, it doesn’t matter where they are from… If they are at the National Team, they must be able to show their quality by playing to the level they should. They must improve their positioning, their ability to take care of headers or any other set of circumstances that they could face in the game.”

“Calm down, nobody really does that.”

“But they must do…”

“What kind of fan are you, a plastic one?”

“An annoying kind of.”

“That’s why you’ve been broken up twice by girls.”

Torstein was mad, he rushed and took Harald by the neck, but André Rasmussen, a friend of them was close. “Oi! Stop!” said Rasmussen as he pushed both away.

“You idiot, who do you think you are to vent up my relationships?”

“I’m not venting those, you just confirmed it. Why are you so pissy?”

“André. I’m about to break the ass of Harald, let me do that.”

“Calm down, blokes. It is true that you’ve broken relationships, but that was because Helene cheated on you, so not your fault because of your attitude. But you should be more open and sociable, though.”

“Yeah, don’t be so pessimistic.”

“Well, I’ll relax. I shall concede that the match against Josifovo was fun, I enjoyed it because it was a thrilling match, the kind of matches you can watch several times through a week because how capable this team was to do a comeback.”

“They are new into the business” said Rasmussen “But they seem to be as capable as our forefathers when they tamed the fjords and conquered these lands.”

“The Viking attitudes. We will fight till this is over, we won’t give up sir!” said Harald.

Torstein then added “Well. I still see little chances to do something, but the beginning has been pretty funny. I can’t wait to receive Zwangzug here, or visit them! We will be obliterated, but we can do something.”

Rasmussen said a lipogram:

“Written has been in the book
With the strength of an oak
You should be smart if you want to hook
No matter the size of the fish, you can have a big cook”

“That’s nonsense,” said Torstein.

“They love lipograms. We might suck, but we can play their game and something. Remember, we are Vikings, we are strong and we will do our best to fight and have something for us to bring it back to home.” Said Harald

“Let’s go Brannfjord” screamed André. “Forever and ever”.

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