World Cup 96 - Roleplay Thread

[Jeruselem]

In Jeruselem after the Princesses won 2-1 against visiting Zenic on qualification match day 11. Naked News Jeruselem's Iris Randold and Jeruselem Team Manager Astarte Venus ...

Iris: Yes, we got Zenic one back! I guess it's too little too late though
Astarte: Sadly, yes. Too little too late for us
Iris: IF we had beaten them the first time, we would 3rd on the table
Astarte: But that didn't happen and we won't be going near 2nd spot now
Iris: You realise we just helped Baker Park who had the bye today?
Astarte: Yes but it doesn't matter to us in the end, we're not going make the finals in any form

Iris: So Baker Park had their bye, Al-Tamazgha beat The Union of Ventura 3-2 and ... Raspotochje drew with Sylestone 0-0!
Astarte: Good result for Raspotochje but they actually needed to win like we did. Well, Zenic also needed to win but we didn't let that happen this time round.
Iris: I guess round 12 will be interesting, we aren't going anywhere are we?
Astarte: Oh yes, we have the bye next. Not that it really matters much to the top 2 teams.
Iris: Hey, we can't finish last!
Astarte: I wouldn't call that an achievement by itself

Iris: Next round, we have Zenic hosting Raspotochje, Sylestone hosting Al-Tamazgha and The Union of Ventura hosting Commonwealth of Baker Park.
Astarte: 3rd vs 4th, 1st vs 6th and last vs 2nd. A lot of paper mismatches. Saying that, Sylestone drew with Raspotochje today so anything could happen.
Iris: Sylestone have won the group, doesn't matter to them if they win or not. It's what Baker Park does after their bye.
Astarte: They got Zenic threatening them, I guess we gave them some breathing space today.
Iris: Baker Park really have their own fate in their own hands from here, they should beat The Union of Ventura.
Astarte: They do have a lot of draws, for a top 2 team

Iris: I guess we're observers from here on
Astarte: Some old guy abused me for being a product of a single mother today, not that it's uncommon. Apparently, these people are everywhere.
Iris: They are just driven by their religious doctrines, single mothers are kinda immoral because the kids have no dad.
Astarte: Having two married parents doesn't mean the children are going be raised correctly especially if the parents are mentally unstable
Iris: I'm used to it, Mum gets called all sort of stuff for having so many kids without a husband. I just get the impression she doesn't really care.
Astarte: We've moved away from this thing about people needing to join a church, we don't.

Iris: No one needs a perpentual subscription service for you soul
Astarte: Yes, church membership is the original subscription service ...
Iris: Funny you're named after a Canaanite Goddess of sexual love and fertility
Astarte: I'm no Goddess, otherwise we'd be in the World Cup finals if I was. Say, rumours say you're certified witch ...
Iris: Me? That's someone else ... I'm just someone who wanders around naked. I have no interest in the occult.
Astarte: So you're Succubus then?

[Sarzonia]

It was always expected to be a long shot at best.

Sarzonia playing a World Cup 96 qualifying match away against Ko-oren, the eighth ranked team in the football multiverse was never expected to be fertile ground for an upset. Not when the Sarzonian national football team were not just the first team to beat the extremely defensive post football tactics the Dragonflies employ by scoring, but also winning in front of the sold out crowd at Dave Wilson Stadium in Woodstock.

Caleb Rush prepared his team for a revenge-minded Dragonflies side who wouldn't take the Stars lightly. The first team to defeat Ko-oren would not get less than the full attention of the Ko-orenites.

Ko-oren would make their home supporters happy with a one-goal victory, but Sarzonia prevented the clean sheet when forward Holly Chambers scored off an errant punch out attempt by Dragonflies goalkeeper Edou Bittencourt to halve the Ko-orenite lead in the 89th minute. However, it wasn't enough to steal another result, and Ko-oren won the match 2-1.

Rush angrily slammed his right fist against the podium when he was asked if he viewed the competitive results against the Dragonflies as a moral victory.

"We don't do moral victories here," he snapped. "We came here looking to get a result and we didn't get it. We had two defensive breakdowns that directly led to goals by those guys. I need to do a better job getting this team ready to play and execute better."

"Coach, you're the 112th ranked team in football. You just fought a top-ten team to a near standstill. You showed that post football can be beaten."

"We don't do moral victories around here, especially when we didn't make the plays we needed to when we needed them," Rush said before he snatched the paper he'd brought to the dais, scowled at the media, shook his head, then walked out with a look of exasperation.

Rush knew the assembled media were right. He knew his team were expected to be cannon fodder, not one of the teams in active contention for the World Cup proper. They were more likely to battle the likes of bottom-of-table Labalia, the now-fefunct nation currently sporting the lone pointless mark amongst the 20 group tables at 0-0-11 for the worst record than compete with Ko-oren for the Group 18 title. They weren't supposed to play meaningful matches this late in qualifying.

He realised full well that he would likely earn international praise for his team's performance even if they fail to advance to the two-legged playoffs for the right to compete in the proper, especially with a so-called "B-team." The team just one rung ahead of them in the KPB ranks and level on pre-qualifying points, Bostopia are locked into sixth place among seven teams in Group 17 at 1-3-7. Sarzonia, meanwhile fell to 5-2-2, level with Saint-Jean-Jacques et Burnham-on-Stove on 17 points for third place. They have an important match back home at Dave Wilson Stadium in Woodstock against Carpathia and Ruthenia, who sit one point ahead of the Stars in runner-up position behind Ko-oren.

"It's a must-win," goalkeeper John Wells said. "We need the three points desperately."

[Cabo Azure]

Cabo Azure went to the polls on an unseasonably chilly day in early fall of M16, the sixteenth year of Manuel’s reign and the end of Rico Bravo’s second term as premier, him having served ten years after taking the helm from Mario Borges, who served six total, one as interim and five in his own right. There were, by law, polling places on every island, including some outlying islands so small they were the domain of a single family. Azurean citizens dwelling overseas were permitted to vote as well; they mailed in their ballots from more than a dozen countries in Anaia, Rushmore, and Esportiva. A few even came through the portal from Sonnel, from diasporic Azureans who’d made the jump with the island of Ceni.

Absentee ballots overwhelmingly favored Sonia Vargas, though not by a strong enough margin to call it. Sonia ran at the head of an undeclared coalition between the Alianza Nacional and the Partido Sindicalisto; officially, she was the PS candidate and the AN had chosen not to run their own. The shift caught few by surprise, since the divisions between the Alianza Nacional and its former partner, the Colizao Nacional ran deep and despite being two wings of the same coalition government, they had grown further apart in the years since the Euran trade deal. Many saw the AN supporting Vargas, who had been at the center of the PS-negotiated deal, as a final consummation of a coalition that had been years in the making.

Unlike in larger democracies, the counting of ballots in Cabo is a relatively quick affair conducted with relatively little fanfare. The state TV agency broadcasts the results as they come in, typically island-by-island, though the smallest islands are aggregated for anonymity purposes. It was around dinnertime, after polls had closed across the island, that state TV called the election for Sonia Vargas; unofficially, the last step before doing so was a call to the palace, answered in the affirmative.

King Manuel swore Sonia in on New Year’s Day, seventeen years to the day since he had been crowned. Being a political ceremony, it was conducted in Sao Simone, on the steps of the Assembly building, which was the nation’s de facto capitol. A priest from the Azurean Catholic Church was on hand and Sonia swore on the Bible, but that was all the more religious significance of the ceremony. The usual cabinet ministers were present, as were the royals, and much was made of the latter’s appearance, since they hadn’t all been seen together in some time.

After the ceremony, the royals adjourned to a private lunch room at Tito’s, an upscale Azurean seafood restaurant on the waterfront in Playa Silva. Francois Rosenshield, surgeon and spouse of Princess Alexandra, took a seat in the waiting area in the front of Tito’s, reading a book on his smartphone while he waited for his wife’s family to arrive. After a few minutes, he became aware of a figure in black looming over him; setting his phone in his lap, he looked up to see the maitre d’ fixing him with a plastered-on smile.

“Do you have a reservation, senor?”

“I do,” said Franck, “I’ll be in the executive room, once the rest of my party arrives.”

“I don’t think so,” said the maitre d’, still smiling. She was a little slip of a girl, maybe early twenties, wearing the anonymous black button-down shirt of serving staff everywhere. The tip of a tattoo was visible above the collar of her shirt, but he couldn’t make out enough of it to make a guess at who she was outside of work.

Franck returned her smile. “My name is Dr. Francois Rosenshield,” he said in his French-accented Azurean. “My wife is Princess Alexandra. She’ll be expecting me.”

“I don’t think so,” said the maitre d’, “There aren’t any additional guests mentioned on the reservation.”

“What reservation? We called Marisol and she said she’d set the room aside for us. It isn’t like we booked on an app.”

As he spoke, he realized the girl was no longer listening; someone in the dining room had gotten her attention and she was staring in that direction, completely distracted. As she wandered off to pursue that conversation, leaving Franck entirely, another woman replaced her, older, taller, somehow familiar, but Franck couldn’t say from where he knew her.

“Dr. Rosenshield?” she asked tentatively.

“Indeed,” Franck agreed. “You’ll have to forgive me, ma’am, I’ve–”

Franck was accustomed to forgetting names; many people in the orbit of the royal family knew him as Alex’s husband, but he could scarcely keep them all straight.

“--Katrin Sigmunsdottir,” the woman supplied, interrupting him. “Prince David’s wife, Princess Solveig’s mother.”

“Oh,” said Franck, for a moment unsure of what to do with this information. “You’re here for the–”

“For the dinner, yes. Do you mind if I sit?”

“Not at all.”

There was a moment of silence that threatened to become awkward before both of their phones buzzed simultaneously. Each had a text from their respective spouse that the limousine carrying the king and his entourage was delayed, and could they please wait at the restaurant.

“How is David doing in all of this?” Franck asked. He had some sympathy for the man. In all his dealings with the Azurean royals, he had to remember none of them bar Abigail had been born to this life. His wife and her siblings had been raised as middle-class Azurean children, the son and daughters of university professors, while David had grown up a world away in Graintfjall, never even venturing to his mother’s homeland until he had already been named as prince. Katrin, in turn, was no more a “royal” than Franck himself, having married David and born his child when he was just a store clerk in Hattsmark.

“He’s managing,” Katrin said, “We both are. He’s busy with football ever since Sonia quit; they haven’t hired a replacement, so it’s been between him and Carrico to pick up the slack.” Ademar Carrico was the assistant manager of the national team, a former player who handled the day-to-day while his boss, AJ Zanetti, coached his club in Quebec.

“And you? How are you finding practice in Cabo Azure?”

Franck knew Katrin was a social worker by training; she’d set up her practice in Sao Simone with Alex’s help, building her client panel mainly from referrals from Alex’s gynecological practice, but lately it had become self-sustaining.

“It’s good,” Katrin said noncommittally. “I’ve got a second provider now, a gal who just finished university in Tikariot, and she’s been a great help. My clients are skewing toward expatriates, which I suppose is in keeping with the broader trend in Sao Simone. Their money is good, but if I had to choose, I’d like to see more Azureans.”

“Azureans are more apt to see a priest than a social worker,” Franck observed. “And even more apt to see nobody at all. Mental health is bad everywhere, of course, but I swear this country is decades behind.”

“The number of women I’ve seen, bloodied and bruised, but refusing to say a cross word about their husbands…” Katrin’s voice trailed off. “I’m sorry. That’s not appropriate dinner conversation, is it?”

“I could talk about colons and spleens, if you’d prefer,” Franck offered with a timid smile. Katrin fixed him with an annoyed stare, like a cheeky little brother.

“These women come to me thinking I can ‘fix’ them so their husbands don’t ‘have’ to hurt them anymore, and it’s hard to know where to begin. I either meet them where they’re at and try and gently bring them along, or I never see them again. There’s no quick fixes, and sometimes it’s years.”

“And God forbid you involve the police,” Franck griped. “For a country that idolizes its military and law enforcement, they sure don’t trust them a lick.”

“There’s reasons for that,” Katrin mused. “What’s even more frustrating, in some ways, is I can’t even fault the whole society. For the women who do get out of those situations, I’ve never known a place to take care of divorcees the way Cabo Azure does. Room and board for life, along with healthcare, all paid for. Many of my clients come from the widows’ houses, and the process for them to be seen is so simple it’s maddening. They essentially fill out a form online and are scheduled. It’s like, why can’t we do this on the front end?”

[Baggieland]

Part Seven: The Corrival

Len meets up with an old acquaintance, but is he friend or foe?

Len couldn't believe it… he had actually done it. He had passed the rigours of Space Corps Basic Training, he had survived a Romvesen attack, he had completed Battle Command Training and he had even suffered a fact-finding mission to Gnejs.

Len brushed down his Space Corps Captain's uniform, as he was about to command the ageing, but dependable, BS Crepitus and her dynamite crew on his maiden voyage. Len satisfyingly leaned back in the Captain's chair as he cast his mind back to his footballing days: the booing crowds, the harsh words of that sports reporter Lei Siulung. If only they could see him now!

"Well, well, well… if it isn't my old mate Len lily-livered Livermore!"

Len recognised that voice instantly, he tentatively spun around in his chair and sure enough, right there in front of him was none other than his old teammate, Okay* Mulumbu.

Okay and Len had played together at Stoney Lane F.C., and they had both been defensive midfielders, however, Len had made it into the Baggielandian national team while Okay had not. Unbelievably, here he was, on the bridge of BS Crepitus wearing a Space Corps Commander's uniform.

"What the… why… how come?" Len spluttered.

"You took any chance of footballing glory from me, so while you were away playing for Baggieland, I was progressing up the ranks at Space Corps. And now, here you are again, about to usurp any chance of distinction I might have had. Whenever I see you Len, all I see is bad luck," imparted Okay.

"I'm not bad luck Okay – let's check out the World Cup 96 results – I bet you Baggieland have won their Mds 11 and 12 and are back at the top of their group!" Len retorted.

Len hastily pressed the button on his chair, all eyes turned front and centre as the screen dropped down. The crew let out a huge collective groan; Baggieland had an impressive 3 – 2 away victory over Socialist republic of lower Tranmere which had indeed sent them to the top of the table. However, that was followed by a 2 – 0 home defeat at the hands of HUElavia, and had now dropped back to second place.

"Fucking HUELavia!" Len exclaimed. "We should be blasting them with our space cannon as well as the Romvesens!"

"That's about the only thing you and I will ever agree on," Okay leaned over towards Len and whispered in his ear, "as there ain't room on this spaceship for TWO defensive midfielders!"

*pronounced "och aye" as in "och aye the noo" or something like that

[Zenic]

“Zys got the kids thrashing Raspotochje 4-0 after falling 2-1 to Jeruselem,” stated federation president Luke Killian.

Killian was discussing the current status of the national futbol team leading up to the potentially final two games of the qualifying campaign. Who was he discussing this with? None other than the Emperor himself. It was only the third time that he and Emperor Cuauhtémoc had met in person since Killian was appointed FZF president but they fortunately had been communicating consistently via email and phone since the end of the 45th Copa.

“So, what does this mean for us right now, Luke?”

“Well, long story short, we control our destiny. Two wins and we’re into the playoffs with a shot at making our second ever World Cup. Two losses, which is basically impossible but still have to mention it, and we’re out. Anything else and the picture gets a bit murkier but with options to make the playoffs. So, overall, we’re in a position that is either just as good or better than some top tier nations so we should be excited but cautious.”

The Emperor scratched his chin as he took in this information and spoke. “Do you think we should be in a better position than we are at the moment?” Luke was a bit caught off guard since he normally would hear this kind of question from the media but recovered to respond. “Could we? Maybe. The draw against Raspotochje hurts after confirming that we are the better organized squad and the spoiler loss to Jeruselem after they had been knocked out of World Cup contention put us in this delicate situation. Should we? I don’t think so. There are other squads that should be doing better than us: Eura is already out, Josifovo has a chance to play spoiler for either Zwangzug or the SRS, Banija who is a top 10 team is not making the World Cup and both Cassadaigua alongside Mytanija are fighting for their lives. Nothing is deserved and everything has to be earned at this stage. We’re in as good a position as we could put ourselves in.”

“Good, good. And we travel to Al-Tamazgha before coming back to face off against the Commonwealth of Baker Park, correct?” Luke nodded in confirmation. “According to the reports you gave me, we’re hoping for a win but understand a draw is possible against Al-Tamazgha based on previous results?” Luke nodded once again. “Correct, Emperor. Despite their struggles, Al-Tamazgha has been able to get themselves a 1-3-1 record at home so they will be tough to crack so we just need to hope the gameplan from Zys is strong enough to get the victory to make the game against Baker Park ‘less’ stressful.”

“And a draw is acceptable?” asked the Emperor.

“Only should Baker Park draw or lose to Sylestone. In that case, we would NEED a win against them when they come to Philosophia Colosseum to get into the playoffs. A win by Baker Park would necessitate a win for us over Al-Tamazgha,” Luke informed the Emperor.

“And is there anything we can do to improve our chances?” the Emperor asked.

“At this point, we just play the game as best we can and see what happens.”

[Commonwealth of Baker Park]

The Overachievers of WCQ 96

Hidy Ho, Welcome, howya doin? It's time for the recognition of those nations that have gone far above their chalk expectation to surprise the multiverse with their accomplishments during the qualifying for the Finals in Mertagne & Huayramarca.

As usual the there's a very wide latitude in the standards used for determining what is “overachieving” and what is just “better luck next time; the parameters have been liberalized owing to the fact that there were only seven pots, which shifted a lot of nations into far lower seeds than they might be usually in--#109 was the highest seed in Pot 5 out of 7.

We are going to do a group by group spotlight, but of course sometimes you have a group where everything is pretty static.

So that's the intro, we did try to stick to the 3 place above original seeding rule, but we've been in our high security bunker somewhere in the bowels of Metro Belle Haven for weeks—come on and pretend like you know where to start looking for us, bitches!--and so we'll take it on a case by case basis why we chose who we did:

Group 1—right off the bat we have unranked Francazar who have 13 points thus far, and they have a legit shot at maybe finishing third or maybe fourth. And they had to play The Holy Empire twice! Give 'em some love!
Group 2—Gunnison & Telluride are 7th seeds on the basis of a coin flip with their group mates Gorutamania, but even if they'd been number sixes they still are burning it up. They could slide into the playoff with a pairs of wins and a loss by Valentine Z but even a possible 4th makes them the hero of this bunch
Group 3—Daharia are number six seeds and they are currently staring down Kelssek and Indusse for a possible shot at making the World Cup Finals.
Group 7—we had to skip ahead because reasons...another 'D' nation, Delitai, from Pot 6 are in a logjam with four other nations for the second spot. They've scored 9 times, they've conceded 9 times. Sending good vibes their way.
Group 8—lookie here, there's a pier 6 brawl with Srednjaci (6th), Wight (7th), and The 14 Stars (5th) battling with Juvencus for the runner up place with 5 points separating them.
Group 9—Vyktoria will need everything to fall their way, but they've done the business as sixth seeds with 14 points already to their credit.
Group 11—The possible candidate for Overachiever of the Cycle is Crpostran, which has sat atop the table for much of the tournament. They are in position to make the Finals on their WCQ debut if they can hold off Yuezhou and Milchama.
Group 12—Raspotochje made a comeback to NSWC showing they still are a formidable side.
Group 13—Kamijiro are a Pot 5 nation but nobody's pushover. They are maybe the longest shot to make the playoff but have only lost twice to date
Group 15—Auprussia cannot finish lower than third which pouts them into the Overachievers on merit, but they also could still grab the playoff berth from Pot 7
Group 16—Qusmo are back and it's like they've never left. Unranked at the start and still hoping for a strong finish they'll be too highly ranked to make this list in the near future.
Group 17—Captina Island have wins over every opponent in their group except a pair of 1-0 defeats to Ile de Richelieu and will have a winning record for the first time regardless of their finish for the first time.
Group 19—We stopped thinking disco sucks years ago and Tero al Disco has validated that belief while being in contention for a possible playoff berth/
Group 20—Legalese is back: the Anaians were Baker Park's first opponent in WCQ post-Foxchester and it's good to see them back again; they've put up a strong showing out of Pot 6 that earns them our recognition.

That's all for this edition of the Overachievers! Congrats to all mentioned and see you next time from Baker Park!

___________________________________________________________________

Scott refutes news report from Delte

(CPA) Belle Haven--Former Baker Park, Farfadillis and Banija National Team Manager Pamela Scott held a video chat press conference to speak about the false reports from Delte linking her to a burglary ring that attempted to steal the World Cup Trophy from its place of honor in the holder nation.

“Hello, anyone who doesn't know, I'm Pam (waves at the screen). Why you would be here if you didn't who I was is a question for another time, but I'd like to run through the reality vs the details reported in Delte in their local media, I think?
As I've been told, a group made an attempt to surreptitiously steal the World Cup 95 trophy and were apprehended with one of the burglars identified as me.
There are several coincidental affirmative defenses I can point to why that isn't the least bit true, number one being me here, in the kitchen of my own home in Belle Haven, at the present time. Additionally, it can be easily ascertained from the Frontier & Border Patrol of the National Guard of the Commonwealth that I have not been outside the country for over 4 months.

Look, I think I can say confidently that there are no roving bands of criminals in Banija looking to steal a trophy from another nation—they already have three, I know because two of them were won while I was there. I'm probably the last person a Banijan gang would want as an accomplice, seeing as how I'm as white as bread flour. A story about a Farf gang on a burglary spree might be a tiny bit more believable but still outlandish.
I see that I was identified as having been “a baker”, like everyone in this country makes bread 24/7.
In conclusion, I don't want to dwell on the finer points of this announcement, but for the record I disavow any news report connecting me personally to any criminal endeavor in the nation of Delte or any other nation. Thanks for the time.”

[City of Myrtle Beach]

MSN | Good Morning Football

---

It's amazing how so many small choices lead to major consequences. Someone's small decision could lead to massive destruction or world peace. One of those small choices was the choice of Banijan striker Abel Wesoloski-Okafor. For those not in the know, Wesoloski-Okafor led Banija to back-to-back World Cup wins and was named the football player of the year. For this match, though, he was slightly off- maybe he didn't get enough sleep or something- and he approached the goal slightly too far to the left than he should have. He couldn't have known where to approach the goal- the mistake wasn't visible at first glance. But then... he tripped. There was a rock in the field. Of course, he was fine, but out of an abundance of caution, he was taken off the field to get checked out.

So, it's the sixth minute of the game and your star striker is out. Banija opts to send in their backup striker Jônn Wérséô. But, the damage has been done- Wesoloski-Okafor was within arms' reach of the goal and he missed the opportunity. That's fine, though- even if Banija benched all their starters and just sent out their backups, they could probably still win. They wouldn't- this match could make or break their qualifying opportunities- but it was still a good possibility. With (almost) all of their starters on? It was a given.

Now, it's the 27th minute. Banija has had control of the game for quite a while now, but they haven't been able to get anything going. That's okay! There's still more of the game left. And speaking of getting things going, here comes midfielder Sergius Atieno to try to sneak in one. Unfortunately, Atieno was not prepared for Myrtle Beach's... avant-garde defending tactics, and was woefully unprepared when Mathis came running at full speed to attempt to steal the ball. Unfortunately, Mathis timed his sprint a bit too late and ran right into Atieno. That pissed the ref off and he gave Mathis a yellow. That then pissed Mathis off, who, while walking away, spit on Atieno, who was fortunately fine and was getting up off the ground. That, rightfully, pissed him off and he went and gave Mathis his... uh... two cents, which included a shove. This led to Mathis getting more pissed, some colorful language was exchanged, and more and more players got involved. Thankfully, the refs could break it up before things got physical. That wouldn't be the last fight of the night, though.

The match continued uneventfully until halftime. Well, a couple things of note happened- Farmer got a shot on goal which was deflected by the keeper, and there was a brief scuffle between Wright and Banijan midfielder Oguta Achuka. Nothing really happened, just a brief disagreement. It's understandable, really- the Banijans have had an epic fall from grace since their win in World Cup 94. It makes sense for them to be frustrated. And on the Myrtle Beach side... there's nothing really. Myrtle Beachians are just predisposed to be more aggressive than others.

Halftime came and passed and it was once again time to return to the pitch from hell. The ball was passed around a few times before it once again comfortably found itself in the hands of the Banijans, who attempted to score. Unfortunately, poor Jônn Wérséô, advancing with the ball, found himself in the crosshairs of a Mathis sprint. And... Mathis missed again. Of course he did. Wérséô was fine, but Mathis was ejected by the ref. This, naturally, pissed him off, and he went and got into a fight with the first person he saw, who happened to be... Wérséô. After yelling some choice words, Wérséô pushed him away so he could go... somewhere. Unfortunately, after that, one of the words Mathis used happened to be one of Wérséô's trigger words or whatever, and Mathis had a black eye and bloody teeth seemingly instantly. The refs, of course, were "looking the other way," which led to some very angry Myrtle players getting involved, followed by Banijan players, and then it was basically chaos from there. The players were duking it out, and there were fans pouring onto the field for whatever reason, and there were fights all over. This continued from the 51st minute to almost the 64th. The match was almost abandoned, but suddenly fans just started walking back to the stands for whatever reason and the fights were over. Several players were given yellow cards- for Banija, Wérséô, Daraja Kanka, and Yob Yeyeh Aan; for Myrtle Beach, Potts, Perkins, Newman, Campbell, and Brennan.

After that, the match pretty much continued normally until 90 minutes. Then the ref announced 17 minutes of injury time. During injury time, a player rejoined the match... one Abel Wesoloski-Okafor. He entered the fray at 90+10'. After a bit of Myrtle Beach time burning, Wesoloski-Okafor got the ball. He was running towards the goal... no defenders in sight. Just him and the keeper. And he gets ready to kick... and the whistle blows. The match is over, 0-0. Myrtle Beach is still in, and Banija has been eliminated from contention. A terrible result for the former champions.

For Banija, their campaign is over. For Myrtle Beach, the hard part has just begun. If we win versus Poafmersia and versus Kirungabi, they automatically qualify for the World Cup. If we lose versus Poafmersia, our opportunities lessen immensely. However, if we win versus Poafmersia, we are guaranteed to at least make the playoffs. In addition, if we win versus Poafmersia and Xanneria loses in MD14, we are guaranteed to automatically qualify. There are many ways to make it- we just have to hope that everything goes our way and it all works out. See you next time.

Matchday 12 | Group 10
Banija | 67F Clear | Kickoff 6:00 pm | Attendance: 59,401

Banija 0

0 Myrtle Beach

# Group 10                          Pld    W   D   L    GF   GA   GD   Pts 
1 Xanneria                           11    8   1   2    32   14  +18    25  Auto-qualify for World Cup
2 Myrtle Beach                       10    7   2   1    19   10   +9    23  Playoffs
3 Poafmersia                         10    6   2   2    16    9   +7    20
4 Banija                             11    5   4   2    14    9   +5    19  Eliminated from contention
5 Kirungabi                          10    3   1   6    14   17   −3    10  Eliminated from contention
6 Astograth                          10    1   0   9     2   19  −17     3  Eliminated from contention
7 Aiporhtse                          10    1   0   9     9   28  −19     3  Eliminated from contention

[Kamijiro]

HELP NEEDED.

Well, the Lightning did their part and took the three points they needed from New Fernia, thanks to a Tadahiro Abiko goal off a cross from Philippe Seraphin.
Another 1-0 racked up is fine and all, but HUElavia beat Baggieland, which propelled them to 24 points, clinching top two as a minimum. The magic number for Kamijiro's qualification is 22, meaning the Lightning need to have 22 points to have a shot to qualify as of right now. Which is also the exact number that Baggieland have right now - they can't gain another point. They play the Kytler Peninsulae in Matchday 13, while we Kamijiroans board a plane to go to the Socialist Republic of Lower Tranmere (who actually just put up an admirable fight against Baggieland, losing 3-2). The issue? Our final matchup is first-place HUElavia. And Baggieland's final matchup is with Krytenia, who are decent, but not as good as Baggieland. The odds just don't look good. But there's a reason we play, right? In the words of Sepp Herberger, "Fußball ist deshalb so spannend, weil niemand weiß, wie das Spiel ausgeht." (Literally: "that's why football is so exciting, because nobody knows how the game ends.")

As a fan on the team, I won't give up hope. And I know this team won't either. Not with Raiji Kagawa at the helm. Not with feisty players like Sandro Becker on the team, not with seasoned vets like Bunta Nagano, not with the world-class young talents like Katsuaki Fujiwara. That's why this team is so special - we came in as a fifth pot team. And we fought until the very end. Even if we fall short, we're almost there. We're about to become special. Hop on the gravy train while you can.

The official match report (just the one - bye week in matchday twelve) is listed below as always.

Matchday Eleven:
Kamijiro 1-0 New Fernia

Events:
GOAL 23'    | (KJR 1-0 NFR) - T. Abiko, assisted by P. Seraphin
-- HALFTIME --
Yellow 88'  | (KJR) Time wasting - P. Seraphin
-- FULLTIME --

As always, thank you for reading. Even if this is the last match day with hope of qualification, it's been a fun ride to get here. We'll check back in after the next round of results. Hopefully, it's good news. If not? This team's window is still opening. We'll be ones to watch from here on out. See you soon, Lightning faithful.

- Damian Drexler, St. Jerome Sports & Entertainment.

[Vyktoria]

OOC: Fixing a blooper in a prior RP - The Lionvale Sun did not acknowledge that Sho Nakajima, as an East Asian based name, was surname first on Amenria's roster. This is on me, but the Lionvale Sun is the conservative newspaper in Lionvale, so it's been canonized as an IC microaggression.
OOC 2: Apologies for the low quality of RP lately, have been a bit burnt out with IRL things going on, and haven't had the energy to do much. I'm conceding the last two games as a wash and will likely either wait for a CoH invite or participate in IAC instead. We'll be in the IAC regardless, but this is to let the CoH host know this isn't representative of my usual standards.
OOC 3: I hope that my participation in WC94 goes at least some way to my redemption in the eyes of the NSS community, and healing the damage the past ten years of my BS has caused. Nexxus isn't a laughing-stock anymore, and the realization that the hazing really shouldn't have occurred, especially behind closed discord servers should be setting in. I guess I just needed time and space, and to actually produce some roleplay. I'll be sticking around, at the very least. But I really should just appeal the ban from the discord, which was so wordless and swift it really needs explanation... especially given it's likely I don't remember why it occurred. (Yay PTSD, Schizophernia, and DID, some of which was caused by my stupidity on this very forum a decade ago.)
OOC 4: I guess I can't be bothered to write anything more tonight. Have a lot of thinking to do, it seems. It's been fun, I'm just burning out towards the end. I'll have more planned out by the CoH or IAC.

---

WORLD CUP 96: VYKTORIA STUN HIGH-FLYING AMENRIA ON THE ROAD

Amenria 2–3 Vyktoria
31'   S. Nakajima (B. Jakhar)
45+2' S. Nakajima (K. Babakov)
65'   K. Arland III (W. Salman)
78'   K. Arland III (G. Goldman)
90+2' K. Arland III (S. North)

WORLD CUP 96: SIOVANIJANA AND TEUSLAND UPSET VYKTORIANS IN WYCKHAM

Vyktoria 2–3 Siovanija and Teusland
21'   C. Zak (Vadimic)
32'   B. Kubica (D. Rosberg)
45+1' W. Salman (K. Arland III)
68'   K. Arland III (G. Goldman)
81'   F. Krukenberg (C. Zak)
Attendance: 47,817

---

Project Kalypso: Itavrnai Chronicles
Prelude

Sometime in the 40s IC.

"It's no use. They'll just continue the embargo and ridicule. Itavrnai is a joke. Sports is dead. No more Micras, no more Margaret. You know this." I said to myself, staring at the mirror in my apartment. I sighed.

"I can't believe it's been so many cycles since the Beltane days." said another form of myself, through my own mouth. Having conversations with myself had become normal at this point, being plural and all. The Itavrnai System being the best approximation of fictionalization and mythology that I could create for myself.

"I can't believe we're a woman now... and changing gender is just that easy." another part of my system stated.

"I keep wanting to go back but keep aborting it, knowing it will solve nothing. Maybe wanting to be back with that community is the wrong idea, but I don't know what else to do." a fourth part stated. Realising the answer, it then said "Maybe if I just do the damn writing, it'll solve itself. Proof of action, not just lying weasel words."

About a decade later IC.

I sit here typing the last roleplay of this cycle. I speak in-character, with the fourth wall sorta just hanging there, slightly ajar. I did the first step in trying to fix this decades-long mess, IC, and decade long mess beyond the fourth wall. It's not easy being self-aware to the point of literally blending reality and fiction, but hey... it could be worse.

New Drakonika could still exist.

[StrayaRoos]

Two years since that heartbreaking night in Avondale, the Emus are in the same place they were back then. Possibly three games away from a World Cup. It can go wrong in an instant, but if they do it, it'll be remembered forever within the nation. The equation is easy enough: get at least 4 points, then sacrifice rubber chickens to make it through to the finals via the playoffs. Nobody cares what happens after that though. Even if they lose each group game 14-0, the entire nation will be at street parties celebrating the qualification. So, let's wait and see what happens to them.

[Recuecn]

A few houses down from Gerauld Firaut's house in Reçueçn City stood an almond tree. For years, Gerauld had thought it was a cherry tree, because every spring it blossomed into a beautiful pale pink, drawing a tender veil of petals over itself until the April rains washed them to the ground, leaving a delicate carpet beneath its branches as their buds opened into fresh green leaves. Last winter, Gerauld had happened to see his neighbor out in his yard, and had happened to mention that he was looking forward to seeing the "cherry" tree in flower again when spring came, which was when his neighbor had corrected him and he had finally learned that it was, in fact, an almond tree.

This past winter, Gerauld had been laid up for months. Ever since his accident on the bicycle, he'd been unable to walk, restricted first to bed-rest, then a wheelchair, and then eventually a pair of crutches. At each stage of his recovery, he'd been eager to push ahead to the next, but each time the doctors told him that rushing the healing process would only lead to trouble.

One time he had gone golfing with Franky Adams, his teammate from the Reçuecian national team, and had really gone too far. Franky had suspected it, and urged Gerauld to take it easy, but Gerauld was stubborn and dealing with cabin-fever. He would never admit it to Franky, but after putting too much weight on his broken leg, the next week or so he had been in much more pain than usual and the wound had become lightly inflamed. His doctor had noticed the change, but Gerauld let him remain in confusion. He never told him what he had done.

Months had passed. Gerauld's injury had been just days before the first World Cup qualifying game, before the start of the regular season for le championnat. Now both le championnat and Reçueçn's qualifying campaign were wrapping up. The entire winter had passed. As spring approached, Gerauld would often sit on his porch with a book, and when his attention wandered, he would look at the almond tree down the street and wait for it to blossom. Sometimes he imagined he could see the petals unfolding in slow-motion, but when he returned the next day, he always realized that nothing had actually changed.

Gerauld tried to stay in touch with the national team--even more than his own teammates at Reçueçn FC. He knew he'd be back at his club sooner or later, and they would have plenty of matches to play. But missing out on a whole World Cup cycle for the national team felt bad. World Cup qualifying didn't happen every year, and in the off years, the team hardly saw each other--the FNRF hadn't organized any friendly matches in years. Every so often he'd get a call from Coach Relié, or from Heissler, the assistant coach. They were always encouraging and understanding, although at first their tone had not inspired confidence. Eventually, however, the team had found its stride and finally won a few games. Combined with underwhelming performances from sides like Cassadaigua and Mytanija, overall, things were starting to look pretty good for Reçueçn, and his coaches' voices on the other end of the phone had begun to sound more and more hopeful.

This particular morning, when Gerauld came outside with a cup of coffee and a book, it was cloudy and a bit chillier than one have hoped at this point in the season. Gerauld set his book on the glass table on the porch and eased himself into his chair before gently sipping from his coffee. He set his drink back down on the saucer in his lap and sighed. Samantha had already left for work and Rébecca was at school. His leg was still in a cast, and it was going to be another boring day.

He picked up his cup to take another sip of his coffee, and as he did, his eye caught a glimmer of color down the street. It was finally happening for real. The blossoms on the almond tree were beginning to push out of their tight buds and the tips stood out from the gray branches behind them--tiny little slivers of pale pink. As he looked, Gerauld felt a warm glow pass across him, and suddenly the sun had come out from behind the clouds. The shadow ran away down the street and in a moment everything was brightly sunlit. The temperature increased noticeably. Gerauld's eye did not leave the almond tree and he saw what had caught his attention in the first place: in one particular spot, on a low branch that hung across the sidewalk, the blossoms, which elsewhere merely peeked timidly from their sepals, had burst into full bloom. The sunlight caught the flowers, and they danced in the soft breeze. The light rippled off them in a lovely way, as if to say "spring is coming, yes it is almost here, rejoice!" Gerauld's lips relaxed into a smile, but then--

Rrrriiiinggg, ring. Gerauld sighed, set down his coffee, and fished his phone out of his pocket. Surely it wasn't Heissler calling again this early in the morning?

It was Gerauld's doctor's office. "Bonjour, Gerauld," said the receptionist, with whom Gerauld had become quite familiar after so many visits, "I'm just calling to remind you that you have an appointment tomorrow at 10:30 to remove your cast."

Gerauld's heart leapt. "Yes, thank you, I'll certainly be there," he said.

Gerauld could hardly wait for the day to pass. He'd been waiting for this moment for months now, and knowing that it was coming tomorrow was almost too much to bear. That night he could hardly sleep, and he woke early, full of anxious energy. Again, he poured himself coffee and went out to the porch.

The sun was only just coming up, but in the dawn's light he could see that the tree down the street had kept its promise. It was in full bloom now, every blossom open wide. It was so covered in tiny flowers that it looked like a ball of cotton candy. Gerauld couldn't help but feel it was a good omen.

Samantha drove him to the doctor's office--she had taken the morning off, since Gerauld couldn't drive with his leg in a cast. Cutting the cast away did not take the nurses very long, and the doctor came to speak with Gerauld briefly afterward.

"I know what the chief thing on your mind must be," he said. "And yes, it's good news. I can't promise that you won't be out of practice--I assume you will be--but in terms of your health, your bones and the recovery of your leg, you'll be able to start playing again immediately."

"Thank you so much doctor, I've been waiting for this moment."

"I know you have. I'm sure the national team physicians will want to give you an evaluation as well, but you can tell your coach you're good to play again as soon as he likes."

Even after needing them constantly for months, leaving his crutches behind in the doctor's office felt natural, and Gerauld abandoned them without a second thought. He'd expected it to feel as if he was forgetting something when he walked out the door without them, but he was so happy just to be putting his weight on his own feet again that all his attention was taken up just by walking; he looked down as he took step after step, watching his feet move one in front of the other, mesmerized by the simplicity and normalness of it. The doctor was right, it took a minute's getting used to after so long without practice, but it felt so good.

As he stepped through the door into the waiting room, he found himself in Samantha's arms. She kissed him.

"I'm back, honey," he said.

She laughed. "You weren't gone, silly. You just had a broken leg."

"It felt like I was gone," Gerauld said. It was true. Football was his identity, and he'd had that stripped from him for months.

Soon they were back in the minivan and on their way home. "You'll have to start practicing again," said Samantha. "And soon. The game against Brannfjord is going to be crucial and that's next weekend."

"There's no way Bonheur will put me on for the game," sighed Gerauld. "He wont' think I'm ready."

"Do you think you're ready?" asked Samantha.

"I mean, yeah. But--"

"Well Bonheur trusts you. If you tell him you're ready, he'll put you on."

Gerauld looked at his wife in the driver's seat. She had never looked more beautiful. No one else was so supportive. He saw the almond tree go by behind her; they were home.

"Well, I'll give him a call," said Gerauld. "I'll tell him I'll be at practice this afternoon... and on the pitch when the whistle blows in Brannfjord."

[Ko-oren]

Two more games done - only one for our proud Dragonflies who used up their final bye in the process - and that means another Fantasy update.

Fantasy Points: 1) Valanora, Chromatika (34), 3) Saint Eleanor, Delte (32)
Fantasy Points per Match: 1) Valanora, Chromatika (3.4), 3) Saint Eleanor, Delte (3.2) - from now on, this stat will be the same as the previous.
Fantasy Points per Match minus Pot Fantasy Points per Match: 1) Auprussia (1.63), 2) Josifovo (1.36), 3) Crpostran (1.31)

Auprussia look to protect their status as the most overperforming team compared to their pot, but they'll need at least a few points to keep Josifovo away. The gap looks big but a 4-pointer by Josifovo will see them take first place. Props to the latter for doing that from Pot 3, from which it's much harder to overperform, as noted last time we brought out this stat. A little further down the line, in 8th, we find Pot 2's Saint Eleanor, and in joint 10th we find Valanora and Chromatika, which means it's at least somewhat possible to get in the top 10 as a Pot 1 team.

As for Ko-oren, they're still at -0.19 fantasy points compared to the rest of pot 1. That is despite a string of wins, three in fact, to turn their record so far into WWWLWDLWWW. Three wins to start, currently on a three-match win streak, with that mid-campaign slump almost completely cleaned up. The Dragonflies are in first but with zero guarantees, and both Sarzonia - who thankfully lost to us, otherwise we'd be in for a hairy final 180 minutes of World Cup qualifier football - and Saint-Jean-Jacques and Burnham-on-Stove are looking to get one final upset in.

Sarzonia
The Stars get the Ochre Islands away next, which is far from a gimme (MD6 result: 4-2 Sarzonia win), and close with a home game against... Saint-Jean-Jacques and Burnham-on-Stove (previously: 2-0 Sarzonia loss). The loser of that game is pretty much eliminated from the World Cup already. With WDWDWLWWLW, their campaign has known a lot of ups and downs, though their only losses come against the other contenders. That MD2 draw versus Rea San Vegas might prove to be the hurdle they couldn't cleanly take that will hinder them the entire race.

Saint-Jean-Jacques and Burnham-on-Stove
They didn't look like a potential qualifier at the start: LDDWLWWWWW. Five games in and sitting on 5 points and a single win, they had to clean up their act to get anywhere, and they did. Five straight wins, include a 2-1 over us and a 4-1 at Carpathia and Ruthenia, the bad vibes from the first half are gone. They're confident, and Rea San Vegas (MD13 opponent) will know. That'll be their final opportunity to tank even more confidence ahead of the Sarzonia clash.

Ko-oren
Lastly, there's us, two points up over the other two. A necessary win over Sarzonia with a scoreline (2-1) that's about as business-like as it gets. As always, we're stringing together 1-goal wins, leaving the other team with a bitter aftertaste 'we almost had them' but what they don't know: that's our bread and butter. Nobody wins 1-goal nailbiters like us. Except Sarzonia, who pulled a 1-0 on us earlier this campaign. If it wasn't for that, we would've been almost certain of qualification, but now, we have to get some points and hope for a favourable result in between the other two. We play Carpathia and Ruthenia and close out against the Ochre Islands, with that last one especially posing a problem.

Say what you will about our previous two head coaches: the football was largely atrocious, but they got results. If only one goal would be scored that day, we were the ones to score it. Manguele has continued the tradition but does he possess the same ice in his veins? He keeps cool whenever a camera or a microphone are around, but his substitutions say something else. Seemingly desperately subbing in pinch hitters late to force a result, and while it's worked, it's not the 'Ko-orenite way'. However, there's one thing that we and Manguele can agree on: if it works, it works. And to date, it's been working. We're going to require another World Cup proper qualification, though.

---

Two more discussions flared up in the Prime Ministerial debates, but they were left for a later date. Whether they would have any influence over the committee's final decision was unclear - one should be of major importance, the other merely a pittance. "How do you view the role of our navy in a post-Calanian War Ko-oren" was the first, and has many layers to unpack - Ko-oren as a pacifist state with no standing army or navy up until five years ago is one, the fact a Calanian War has taken place is another, its effects on integrating our economy with the continent's is another, and the matter that we (involuntarily?) took part was perhaps the most important.

The other question, obvious in light of recent events, was "what should we make of our participation in the construction of the World Cup Hall of Fame"? That was more easily answered, on a different late-night show, as a light-hearted closer to a long day of serious talks.

"A tour de force of our brilliant architects and mathematicians," said one. "A showy waste of time and resources," said another. "A farce that we had offered so many natural resources, in particular wood, with logging being the one industry that's under more duress than any other in Ko-oren. "A fantastic testament to what we can accomplish if we work together," the current minister of foreign affairs added. Everyone at the table could name something that should have been done better, but viewed the Hall of Fame as a net positive.

It was at that moment that three audience members rose from their seats. "LIARS! REPTILES! You know DAMN well what's in that building."

They unfurled a few banners. "PLANNING OUR OBSOLESENCE" and "THE END OF ALL OF US" were written on them.

"How many jobs will be gone? Why aren't you telling us about the Thinking Simulator? We KNOW it's in there. We KNOW you ordered its construction!"

[Indusse]

Hind Tribune
Silent Voices III

The Cantonment Road, eventhough being a single road is divided into two stretches. The Western Strech starts near the Parade Gate and Ends at the Cantonment Circle and the Eastern Stretch starts near Kallankad Junction and ends at the Cantonment Circle. Both the stretches ends at the Cantonment Circle which is technically located in the middle of the whole road network. The Western Stretch connects the Cantonment Road with the Parade Street (Formerly State Parade Road). The Parade Street is also another important artery in Hind.

Parade Street
Parade Street stands as a one of the major roads in the heart of New Hind City, steeped in history and cultural significance. As one of the oldest main roads in the city, it has witnessed centuries of change and development, earning its place as a cherished landmark in the city's urban landscape.

The origins of Parade Street's name can be traced back to Pembroke Park, formerly known as Parade Gardens. The Pembroke Park was then called Parade Gardens since it was home to the State Parade Ground, where the military parades use to happen. The State Parade Ground with the Pembroke Park is still intact and conserved by the authorities.

Parade Street, Formerly known as State Parade Road, stretches from Parade Gate to Mantrawal Circle in Anjanapura, spanning a considerable distance across various localities such as:

Parade Gardens: Named after the old name for Pembroke Park, Parade Gardens has evolved into a prestigious residential area, characterized by its luxurious homes and lush surroundings. Celebrities and various famous personalities have got themselves a residence in the premises of the Parade Gardens.

Swatantra Nagar: Serving as a bustling hub of commerce and residential activity, Swatantra Nagar is home to numerous offices and well-planned residential complexes. It also serves as the intersection point for two metro lines of the Hind City Metro Network, enhancing its connectivity and accessibility.

Parade Avenue: Regarded as one of the city's largest modern marketplaces, Parade Avenue is home to an array of shopping complexes, theaters, showrooms, and brand stores. Parade Avenue exists as one of the most busiest areas in the city and attracts Youngsters and Adults alike. Parade Avenue is also home to a bunch of pubs, restaurants and bars making it more active than rest of the localities nearby.

Thrikkavur: A mediocre residential area which is home to multiple offices (mainly related to IT field) and educational institutions. Thrikkavur has also been decided to be the site of the upcoming National Law University and National School of Advanced Mathematics.

Anjanapura: Named after the revered Anjeneyaswami Temple located in the area, Anjanapura is primarily a residential neighborhood. While it may lack the luxurious setup of its counterparts, it still remains a busy, clean and grand neighbourhood.

Parade Street intersects with several major roads, facilitating connectivity and accessibility within the city, some of them are:

Old Hind Road (National Highway 2): Passing through Parade Street at Freedom Circle in Swatantra Nagar, Old Hind Road is a crucial artery connecting Dhalopura to Old Hind. The Intersection of Parade Street and National Highway 2 ends up having one of the worst traffic in the city.

Anjanapura Main Road: Meeting Parade Street at Mantrawal Circle, Anjanapura Main Road extends from Cottage Layout to Anjanapura Circle, serving as a major artery in the city. When the Parade Street ends at Mantrawal Circle, it turns into Anjanapura Main Road and continues as the next major road in the locality.

Museum Road: Connecting Parade Street with the National Museum, Museum Road originates from Thrikkavur and is said to house the upcoming National Law University.

Garden Cross Road: Passing through Parade Gardens, this crossroad connects the main road with every corner of the locality. This is one such cross road which you find in the locality maybe without proper connections or as dead end roads. This means that Garden Cross Road is a scattered road networking system.

Inner Ring Road: Intersecting Parade Street at Market Junction in Parade Avenue, Inner Ring Road is a vital road network linking Sindvpore Road with Old Hind Road and Hind Road (National Highway 1). The Inner Ring Road is part of the state's Ring Road Easy Access Networking Project (REAN).

OOC: All Images are AI Generated

[West Barack and East Obama]

BBC OFFICIAL REPORT: Trent Vobama Released From Jail, Announces Plans to Become a MMA Fighter

By Football Fighting Correspondent Gary Obamaniker

Mobamale, Alobama - After a few weeks in Mobamale County Jail for heinous levels of mischief (inciting a massive brawl), former football & cricket national captain Trent Vobama has been released. Instead of returning to his nationwide tour of the nation (due to being dropped by his publisher, his tour organisers, his agent, and anyone else professionally associated with him), however, he has instead announced a return to professional sports. Not to football or cricket though - nope, he's going to take his newfound fighting talents to the Mixed Martial Arts cages.

"I've gotten pretty good at fighting!" chuckled Vobama during an interview with myself this morning as he pummeled a nearby wall for practice. "In Mobamale County Jail, there's only two things you can do: escape or do drugs. As a PE teacher, I knew drugs were bad, and escaping is a bit too much effort. So I discovered a secret third thing: fighting! Someone cuts in front of you at the cafeteria? Easy, just fight them. Prison barber chopped a bit too much off the top? Show him your karate chops! Warden looks at you a bit funny? Give them something to cry about! It's great fun and I think I can take on the chumps at the ObaMMA League."

Given his recently-acquired criminal record, Trent Vobama is officially eligible to participate in the ObaMMA League, a league widely regarded as the toughest and most prestigious MMA league in the nation. However, whether Vobama's fighting talents will translate to the arena will be a matter of debate. His significant athleticism and fighting IQ can help him remain competitive, but his few weeks of learning the basics in prison may not be enough to overcome the years of training and ingrained tactics of his opponents. Additionally, Vobama's most publicised fighting event (the infamous Bookstore Brawl) involved hundreds of people, while the MMA cage will be a 1-on-1 battle.

"I genuinely believe in Vobama." remarked Azzizon Cottonear, a Lozhoan-born door-to-door knuckleduster salesman and Vobama's new coach-manager-agent. "He has a burning flame inside him that can't be extinguished. The excrutiating agony of having to conduct that dreaded media circus is still inside and is begging to be let out. His opponents may have the fighting technique but it's no match for his primal rage. You think his slide tackles in the field were tough? All of his opponents, especially Baracki Obamarkkanen, are going to wish that he was still commanding the field instead of the fighting cage."

At the moment, the ObaMMA League are considering Vobama's application to join the exclusive league. As a non-team sport, MMA is allowed within West Barack and East Obama under very strict regulations for safety and crowd control. MMA has been steadily growing in popularity in the United States over the last decade, and the addition of Vobama to the league is certainly going to send ratings through the roof. Watch this space!

[Cassadaigua]

So, what do you want to talk about?
by Caitlyn Dufresne, Concord Heights Times

The nation of Mytanija has struggled during the World Cup 96 classification phase, but as they were still very much in contention, they had plenty to prove when they made their way to Five Star Mobile Stadium in Brattleboro. It was a well played match by them, as the fans in the stands paid their respects to Queen Cassie II. However, the team never got going until it was too late, falling behind 2-0, and only waking up after the 70th minute. It got interesting for a while, as a team that was flat for the game seemed to wake up after Rachel Wyman cut the lead in half in the 73rd minute. Three minutes later, Lexi McGregor had what was really her first true quality scoring opportunity of the game, and Lacey Sherwood had similar in the 85th. However, when it looked like that maybe this team could steal a draw from a game in which they were outplayed, Semir Besak, the Mytanija goalkeeper was on top of his game. He wasn’t very busy for much of the game, so kudos to him on being ready to step up when he was really needed by his team in the late moments.

While we can look at that loss and realize that it can happen, the 4-2 loss to Legalese is inexplicable. All this 258th ranked team has done this cycle, like they do in many cycles, is provide a list of their player names and have their media go dark. For this cycle, it’s been good enough to beat us twice and have a shot at making the playoff. Lauren Engle (33rd) and Lexi McGregor (52nd) scored for Cassadaigua, but I really don’t feel like talking about it.

In fact, I really don’t feel like talking about much of anything, because apparently you don’t really have to. Why waste more time writing?

See you in the Cup of Harmony or World Cup 96B, if invited.

[Auprussia]

MILITARY HISTORY OF AUPRUSSIA INTERREGNE BASONY FINAL

Accounts written by deu Lithos in 195 ASE
Part 1 - Part 2 - Part 3 - Remaiy -Basony 1 - Basony 2

The King's Battlefield (18 ASE)
King Erdric had taken note of De Moriquet's choice of army with it's emphasis on mobility and had hand picked his battlefield of choice. Erdric wanted it to be more difficult for De Moriquet's army to maneuver around and make charges. He let a scout leak his whereabouts to one of De Moriquet's spies. Erdric's choice in battlefield were the Hills of Chapareux. A distinctly hard place to maneuver around along with being one of the most defensible terrains in the Kingdom. Attack up the hills is almost certainly a death sentence and Erdric was sure De Moriquet would want to end the battle early. A prolonged civil war would only help the king.

Meanwhile in the Kingdom of Morgav Charles De Moriquet had come to an agreement with the Morgavind King Berseg Laithpulse. Berseg supplied De Moriquet with Alban Spearmen and Angevinnic Horse Archers to bolster Charles' army. In exchange Charles will marry his daughter to one of the Morgavind princes and enter into a military alliance with the Morgavinds. At this time Aleyde was concentrating on conquering the tribes in the Auprussian heartland and did not want to deal with a hostile kingdom to his north. The two agreed and Charles headed out to meet Erdric on the battlefield. Using the information that was given by his spies De Moriquet knew Erdric was in Chapareux but instead of waging a pitched battle De Moriquet marched along the coast and then turned eastward. De Moriquet caught one of Erdric's scouts and figured Erdric left Chapareux but did not know where to.

Erdric had left Chapareux's hills to meet De Moriquet's forces, this is it.

Battle of Moriquet's Valley (18 ASE)
Charles De Moriquet and Erdric D'Arainville meet in a valley surrounded by the hills of Chapareux. King Erdric's army of 8000 men consists of 1000 of the King's Host (Combination of heavily armed Nobles, Squires and Wealthy Peasants), 4000 Basonic Swordsmen, 2000 Archers and 1000 Light Lancers who were lined up in reserve. The Swordsmen were lined up in the center behind the Archers and the King's Host flanks them on both sides. Charles' army ballooned to 10300 men. With the Alban Spearmen and Salvan Axemen in the same unit which comes up to 1700 men, the Angevinnic Horse Archers numbered 1500, 3000 Basonic Swordsmen, 1000 Archers, 1000 Light Lancers, and 2100 of De Moriquet's "Vanguard" (Heavily armed spearmen).

De Moriquet had sent the Angevinnic Horse Archers to the hill on his right and Erdric sharply contested it with his Light Lancers and half of his Host. De Moriquet attempted to stop them by using his archers to shoot the moving contingent but Erdric's archers kept the pressure off. De Moriquet then replied with a forward march of his Swordsmen and Vanguard, then he orders his Light Lancers to to reinforce the hill. Erdric realizes De Moriquet's plan and matches De Moriquet's march to stop the pressure. When the two forces meet Erdric's Swordsmen were being pushed back by the combines forces of the Vanguard and Swordsmen. Erdric then told his archers to fire arrows to blunt De Moriquet's men.

On the hill the Angevinnic Horse Archers had proven nightmarish for Erdric's Lancers but the Horse Archers couldn't break the King's Host sent with the Lancers. With the Host holding on to the hill it gave Erdric room to send his Archers to the hill to shoot down upon De Moriquet's men. De Moriquet then had his Lancers charge down the hill at the Archers. Erdric attempted to shift his line to cover for the Archers and it gave De Moriquet his opening. He pushed his infantry and bared its weight onto Erdric's fontline. Erdric's host could not hold forever and had to withdraw from the hill giving the Angevinnic Horse Archers the perfect vantage point to fire upon the King's men. Erdric himself had been shoot by an arrow and mortally wounded, and with the King out of commission the rest of his army stood no chance. After 2 hours of fighting Erdric's army retreated or were chopped down.

De Moriquet lost 4600 men while Erdric's army was reduced to merely 1500 survivors. De Moriquet rested away from the hills and marched to the capital of the kingdom.

King Charles De Moriquet (19 ASE)
Charles De Moriquet had finally ascended. When his army marched to the capital he waived King Erdric's standard to mark that he had been defeated. The Basonic capital: Perchaud received De Moriquet in a mixed manner. Mostly unsure of what the future would hold they then saw the man be ushered into the castle. De Moriquet then subsequently kicked out Erdric's son Autilaric who will reside in the Duchy of Chagrix for the rest of his life. De Moriquet had assumed the throne with no one who can challenge him outright.

Charles disbanded his army and socialized with the Nobles that just hours ago feared King Erdric, now they saw a man with no need of being feared, a man who was brave enough to fight several armies and become a king. Many of the Nobility admired De Moriquet's ambition but did not realize he would act on it so swiftly and cleverly. For now Charles De Moriquet started to organize a feast in honor of a new era for the Basonic Kingdom. Of course there will be bands of men challenging him for the throne but with the support of the Morgavind king and his decidedly grateful nobility he knows he can tackle whatever challenges lay ahead.

He took a seat on the throne and held is head up to the sky closing his eyes. Finally resting for the first time in years.

In A Time Far Removed...

Arjunnagar 0-1 Auprussia @??????
Auprussian Goal: Martin Ivicer (Assisted by Antonie Piridrisse) 30'

[United Mandaran States]

Part I | Part II | Part III-A | Part III-B |Part IV | Part V

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Road to Unification

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Part VI : The Electoral System and District

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For the upcoming election, each constituent state is given the freedom to select its own electoral system which affected how they drawn their electoral districts. For the Mandaran Comission, each constituent state is equally given 20 seats each and the capital territories are given 5 seats each for a total of 170 seats. With the freedom, there are states with single-member electoral district such as Pemecutan and Manguwirajya, and there are others with multi-member electoral district. Petang Islands on the other hand, use both single-member and multi-member electoral districts. While Gili Anakan have a third of its seats being appointed directly by the King. Most of the multi-member electoral districts are based on the state's provinces area. The exception is Petang Islands as the state is directly divided into 27 municipalities. In total, there are 75 electoral districts in United Mandaran States.

For the Mandaran Executive Council, each state function as a single electoral district. This because each state only elects one member to the Council.

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Cakranegara

The state is divided into 5 multi-seats electoral districts called Daerah Pemilihan (lit. Electoral Area). These districts are based on the state's province.The election use party-list proportional representatives where the voters may only select the party during the election day. The party is not obligated to listed their candidates in the ballot, although most of the participated parties will put their candidates name in the ballot.

Name	Registered Voters	Seats
Janggik	95,814	2
Parang	302,621	5
Saka Selatan (South Saka)	496,343	9
Saka Utara (North Saka)	167,673	3
Telu	71,792	1
Cakranegara	1,134,243	20

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Gili Anakan

The state also apply multi-members electoral district to select their Commissioners. There are 3 electoral districts or Daerah Pemilihan based on the state's province. However, a third of the seats (6 seats) are directly elected by the King leaving 14 seats in contentions during the election day. The voter may only vote for the party and they usually unannounced their candidate list.

Name	Registered Voters	Seats
Gili Lawang	73,419	6 (+2 appointed)
Gili Petagan	34,228	3 (+2 appointed)
Gili Sulat	51,734	5 (+2 appointed)
Gili Anakan	159,381	14 (+6 appointed)

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Manguwirajya

Manguwirajya is one of the two states that apply single-member electoral districts, and they use two-round system to select their commissioners. The use of two-round system in the election is to test the system prospect as it is proposed to use such system in the next state election of Manguwirajya. 7 states of Manguwirajya are divided into 20 constituencies. The voters will select the candidate directly.

Name	Registered Voters	Province/State
Greater Abiansemal	336,472	Abiansemal
Greater Sibang	265,552	Abiansemal
Greater Mambal	143,694	Abiansemal
Caturpuri	110,093	Caturpuri
Gerana	145,063	Gerana
Kerobokan Puri	150,925	Kerobokan
Kerobokan Jaba Puri	180,727	Kerobokan
Greater Canggu	217,849	Kerobokan Kelod
Greater Dalung	127,204	Kerobokan Kelod
Mengwi Puri	211,394	Mengwi
Mengwi Jaba Puri	165,821	Mengwi
Mengwitani Kota	142,358	Mengwi
Mengwitani Jaba Kota	95,739	Mengwi
Mengwi Pasih Kaja	156,106	Mengwi
Mengwi Pasih Kelod	213,979	Mengwi
Munggu Kota	194,868	Munggu
Munggu Jaba Kota	128,618	Munggu
Sempidi-Sading	275,835	Sempidi
Kapal-Lukluk	181,958	Sempidi
Taman Punggul	120,187	Taman Punggul
Manguwirajya	3,564,412	20 seats

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Pemecutan

To elect their commissioner, Pemecutan also applying single-member constituency similar to their state election who use FPTP system. The 16 states of Pemecutan are divided into 20 constituencies. The voter's distribution between constituency is quite diverse as Pemecutan Election Commission require each state to have at least 1 seat. With the rule, 3 seats are given to 3 states who actually had no seat, Batubulan, Tandeg Suci and Yangbatu. While Satria lost 1 seat.

Name	Registered Voters	State/Territory
Alangkajeng-Gerenceng	821,336	Karang Agung
Alas Magalak	895,864	Alas Magalak
Batubulan	77,705	Batubulan
Gelogor-Gemeh-Tegal	670,052	Karang Agung
Jematang	581,436	Karang Agung
Kepaon	363,825	Kepaon
Kesiman Kaja	1,021,634	Kesiman
Kesiman Kelod	512,618	Kesiman
Pacung	760,792	Pacung
Padangsambian	560,237	Padangsambian
Pedungan	846,159	Pedungan
Peguyangan	725,752	Peguyangan
Penatih	810,746	Penatih
Puradhipa	840,243	Puradhipa
Satria	950,393	Satria
Tambangan	450,372	Tambangan
Tandeg Suci	234,835	Tandeg Suci
Ubung Kangin	663,929	Ubung
Ubung Kauh	563,712	Ubung
Yangbatu	258,647	Yangbatu
Pemecutan	12,609,697	20 seats

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Petang Islands

Petang Islands is the only constituent state who use both single-member and multi-member electoral districts for their commissioner election. There are a total of 10 electoral districts, 5 single-member and 5 multi-member districts. The multi-member districts have a varied seats from 2-4 seats per district.

Name	Registered Voters	Seat(s)
Belok	35,344	1 seat
Getasan	55,685	1 seat
Greater Carangsari	112,438	3 seats
Nusa Gede Kangin	140,279	3 seats
Nusa Gede Kauh	124,644	3 seats
Pangsan	37,653	1 seat
Pelaga Kota	101,229	2 seats
Petang Kota	205,087	4 seats
Sidan	50,428	1 seat
Sulangai	53,329	1 seat
Petang Islands	916,026	20 seats

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Rarungan

The constituent state is divided into 3 multi-member electoral districts. These districts are based on Rarungani historical districts which have been dissolved. Just like Petang Islands, Rarungan is directly divided into municipalities. There are 18 municipalities within the state. The party is obligated to provide their candidates name in the ballot that can be selected by the voters.

Name	Registered Voters	Seats
Arumdhani	96,651	6
Genitri	150,741	10
Priyaka	54,587	4
Rarungan	301,979	20

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Soracana Islands

Similar to Cakranegara and Gili Anakan, Soracana Islands electoral districts are outlined based on its provinces. There are 5 electoral districts in the state which is divided proportionally to elect 20 commissioners from Soracana Islands. And similar with Rarungan, the party is obligated to provide their candidates name to be written in the ballot. The voters may directly vote for the candidate's name or the party itself.

Name	Registered Voters	Seats
Aksa	738,192	6
Jili Nehu	296,865	2
Nilam	611,381	5
Padangadak	435,834	3
Uyuri	541,716	4
Soracana Islands	2,623,988	20

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Toluiwa

The commissioner election in Toluiwa is pretty much similar with Rarungan and Soracana Islands. The electoral districts are based on the provinces and territory of Toluiwa. There are 7 of them with proportional seats allocation for a total of 20 seats. The state also obligated the parties to provide their candidates name to be written in the ballot.

Name	Registered Voters	Seats
Asakote	482,574	2
Donggo	1,181,422	4
Mbojo	1,578,618	6
Pekat	611,679	2
Samawa	968,044	3
Sanggar	484,543	2
Satonda	398,712	1
Toluiwa	5,705,592	20

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Territories

This electoral district encompasses both capital territories where each territory will select 5 commissioners. The parties are obligated to provide their candidates name and the voters may directly vote for the candidate instead of their party.

Name	Registered Voters	Seats
Gili Tangkong	69,839	5
Jading	29,834	5
Capital Territory	99,673	10

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MD 11
Bye
@ -

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MD 11
La Pizza de la mama 2 - 5 United Mandaran States
@ La Pizza de la mama

A. Jandisuga (GK)
Y. Nehusandak (LB) | B. Bansora (CB) ↑↓ H. Nur Salam (72') | S. Aksapadan (CB) | A. Bastian (RB)
A. Kusumawijaya (LM) (g. 71') | S. Permadi (CM) (g. 22') | S. Wiradarma (RM) ↑↓ F. Saleh (66')
G. Putra Arimbawa (ST) ↑↓ W. Pramana (62') | M. Vidya (ST) (g. 34')
D. P. Mahardika (AT) (g. 8', 51')

MD 13
United Mandaran States v Ile de Richelieu
@ Nilayam Stadium, Nilayam, Soracana Islands, UMS

MD 14
Eshialand v United Mandaran States
@ Eshialand City Superdome, Eshialand

Squad

Main 
Reserved

1   GK      Aksabala Jandisuga 
Ahmad Syafi'i Rustam  GK      22

2   LB      Yuhabani Nehusandak 
Oka Yudi Winanda  GK      34

3   CB      Balasorga Bansora 
Sahrul Ahmad Dirga  LB      12

4   CB      Sorabala Aksapadan 
Reihan Yahya  CB      13

5   RB      Alvino Bastian 
Hidayat Nur Salam  CB      14

6   LM      Agus Kusumawijaya 
Septiandi Rai Putra  RB      15

7   CM      Satya Permadi 
Tegar Ardiansyah  LM      16

8   RM      Satria Wiradarma 
Trisna Natha Putra  CM      17

9   ST      Gede Putra Arimbawa 
Faturrachman Saleh  RM      18

10  ST      Mikail Vidya 
Syaifullah Fatah  ST      19

11  AT      Dewa Putu Mahardika 
Wisnu Pramana  ST      20

 
Surya Dwipayana  AT      21

 
Aras Chandra  CM/DM   28

Role
Captain: Agus Kusumawijaya
Vice-Captain: Satya Permadi
Corner kick (left): Yuhabani Nehusandak/Agus Kusumawijaya
Corner kick (right): Alvino Bastian/Satria Wiradarma
Free kick: Gede Putra Arimbawa/Mikail Vidya/Dewa Putu Mahardika
Penalty: Dewa Putu Mahardika/Mikail Vidya

Injury
Leo Olivando (ST), absent for 4 weeks

[Zwangzug]

"Onward, han'il!" my guide urged, and we climbed
Between the seats. The pitch was at our backs;
No longer did we see the striving teams

But met the fans who lingered in the seats
With scarves and kits and drums of every shade,
Their chants resounding as they sang with pride.

More flights we took--I cannot say how long--
My feet grew weary with the steady trod,
But well I knew it nothing was, compared

To all the footsteps on the fields below.
My guide did not turn back, so in her wake
Unceasingly I held the handrails firm.

Then we beheld a press box of vast size,
So full of journalists hard at their craft
There seemed to be no room for us within.

But once inside, we found instead
That it was spacious, ready for still more
Scribes to report as soon as they arrived.

Behind the row of typewriters and pens
A woman perched in silence on a stool.
Her eyes were green, and of disparate size

But when she fixed me with her steady gaze
It seemed as if I'd known her all my life.
Somewhere within I found the strength to ask:

"Are you by chance the one called Beatrice?"

(Reed 22 and 55, Kotani 37, Spand-Maunk 68, McGraw 81)
(Turmal-Hence 5, Marcus 34 and 45+1 and 70, McGovern 76)

[Milchama]

"It's over"

"Very over"

"I can't believe we couldn't score against Britonisea"

"In fairness, they beat Youzhou so we know they're solid"

"True but still, that's bad. We're supposed to be an offensive team and we couldn't even pull this off"

"Not at all"

"That's just awful stuff"

"Terrible"

"Nothing that can be done bad"

"No way to win anything terrible"

"Awful stuff that has no place in being true"

"Very fair"

"We're just a mediocre soccer team"

"You know that would make a decent chant I think"

"What?"

"We're a mediocre soccer team"

"We're a mediocre soccer team

A mediocre soccer team

A mediocre soccer team

A mediocre soccer team!"

"What's the next verse?"

"We can't win a game

We can't lose a game

We'll probably draw this game

A mediocre soccer team"

"I think it works"

"It certainly can't be worse than some of the other chants we use"

"We have chants? We don't just let Margaret cultists come and sacrifice various rubber animals throughout the game?"

"I mean, fair enough we have that too"

"Ok let's go and teach that"

"That sounds great to me"

"See you on the terraces"

"You too"

"And one more thing"

"Yes"

"Come on You Warriors!"

"Let's Go Milchama!"

[Tumbra]

Auprussia 0-0 Tumbra

TMB (4-3-3): 1 - V Jones; 2 - A Renton, 4 - S Kerr, 14 - C Whitfield, 19 - J Green (3 - T Mercurio, 75'); 15 - L McCormick, 32 - M Finnemore (8 - I Robertson, 62'), 25 - S Harrington (10 - S Monaghan, 62'); 7 - V Wells (17 - E Robertson, 83'), 9 - L Crossley; 22 - E Maddison (11 - C Henshaw, 75')

TMB scorers: Nil

Player of the Match: Ingalcer Pardau [AUP]

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Tumbra 2–1 Arjunnagar

TMB (4-3-3): 27 - M Hahn; 28 - M Boullogne (2 - A Renton, 65'), 4 - S Kerr (5 - W Pritchett, 65'), 24 - B Proudfoot, 19 - J Green; 15 - L McCormick, 16 - V Leighton (10 - S Monaghan, 72'), 25 - S Harrington (8 - I Robertson, 72'); 17 - E Robertson, 21 - A Pearson; 22 - E Maddison (26 - J Hardaker, 81')

TMB scorers: E Maddison (34'), A Pearson (49')

Player of the Match: Audrey Pearson [TMB]

---

Euran Oceania Territories 1–3 Tumbra

TMB (4-3-3): 27 - M Hahn; 2 - A Renton, 5 - W Pritchett, 20 - Y Lawson (14 - C Whitfield, 75'), 3 - T Mercurio (19 - J Green, 66'); 6 - T Harrison (15 - L McCormick, 83'), 25 - S Harrington, 10 - S Monaghan (8 - I Robertson, 79'); 17 - E Robertson, 9 - L Crossley (21 - A Pearson, 79'); 11 - C Henshaw

TMB scorers: C Henshaw (14'), S Monaghan (52', 78')

Player of the Match: Susan Monaghan [TMB]

Bertram Andrews takes office as Prime Minister, gives Sandra Campbell Northern Affairs brief; Daniel Fowler at Foreign Affairs warns of "unstable tides globally"

STRATON: IN a move that has been widely interpreted as breaking with established tradition, Prime Minister Lawrence Newell resigned on Sunday morning, submitting his resignation to President Edward Merryweather while simultaneously advising the President to inaugurate the presumptive Prime Minister, Bertram Andrews, ahead of an expected parliamentary vote to confirm Andrews as the new Prime Minister. Mr. Newell, who spoke outside the prime minister's official residence before heading to the Presidential Palace, said that the current global geopolitical situation was "highly unstable" and required "a fast response" to international crises.

Speaking after his inauguration as caretaker Prime Minister, Mr. Andrews thanked Mr. Newell for "graciously stepping aside," while announcing four Cabinet appointments; Sandra Campbell as Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Northern Affairs, Jack Keenan as Minister for Finance, Alexander Ross as Minister for Home Affairs, and Daniel Fowler as Minister for Foreign Affairs. All four were sworn in later that day by the President; Mr. Andrews later announced that he would announce the rest of the Cabinet after he was officially confirmed as Prime Minister in a vote scheduled for Wednesday afternoon.

Mr. Andrews takes office at a tenuous time internationally, with the world still reeling from the effects of the Bostopian-Mertagnian war in Anaia, and the sudden withdrawal of Rushmori nation Græntfjall from the international stage — the latter of which has been pinpointed by the newly-inaugurated Foreign Minister Daniel Fowler as his "number one priority" in a short statement delivered after his own inauguration. Mr. Fowler outlined plans for an "international taskforce" to examine and look at possible responses to the Græntfjaller crisis; particular talking points include the Rushmori giants' antiquated nuclear arsenal and power grid, which is also reliant on nuclear power for their energy generation. While Mr. Fowler released no specifics on nations that could be invited to the taskforce, possible names include Tikariot and the Kytler Peninsula — two neighbours of Græntfjall — as well as Yuezhou and Mertagne themselves. Mr. Fowler, who has been seen as one of Mr. Andrews' closest allies within the Labour Party, is widely seen as the true number two within the Labour Party; and if rumours regarding Mr. Andrews' health becomes more salient, the foreign affairs post could be seen as an waiting post for Mr. Fowler to eventually succeed Mr. Andrews.

Mr. Andrews is officially expected to become Prime Minister following a vote in Parliament when it first meets; previous transitions of power between elected administrations have only occurred after the confirmatory parliamentary vote, marking this particular transition of power as an unusual one in Tumbran history. Solicitor-General Kelly Finlayson, the country's second-ranking legal officer and the government's main legal representative in court, however, said that the move was "to the best of all parties' knowledge and after a thorough consultation of the Constitution and of the Federal Constitutional Court, constitutional."

While Mr. Andrews declined to reveal the majority of his Cabinet after he was sworn in, the direct continuity of the four appointees from the Shadow Cabinet to the full Cabinet lends further credence to rumours that the entirety of the Shadow Cabinet might be elevated to full Cabinet status without much of a Cabinet reshuffle in the interim. Political analysts have said that the make-up of the shadow cabinet has been carefully designed to balance out both factional concerns in the Labour Party, while also maintaining a "geographical balance" in how appointments are managed.

Max Young steps down as United Party leader; former Prime Minister Lawrence Newell set to be elected as Leader unopposed as three parties look set to replace their leaders

STRATON: SPEAKING on Sunday morning outside his personal residence in Kingsbury, beleaugered United Party prime ministerial candidate Max Young confirmed that he would not be taking up the position of Leader of the Opposition in the newly-elected 52nd Parliament of Tumbra, and re-iterated his resignation as leader of the United Party — a decision that United Party president and former National Party leader Jack Hinchcliffe said that he had accepted with "a heavy heart". Speculation now abounds as to the next leader of the United Party, but the current expectation is that former Prime Minister Lawrence Newell to run for the leadership unopposed, with no other major political figure having announced their candidacy for the United Party leadership as of press time on Monday morning.

Figures such as Alexander Morrison, Alex Hurst, Michael Greenwood, Gerald Kingsley and Stephanie Wilson — all seen as titans within the party's Liberal faction (the name referring less to their political inclinations and more to their former party, with all five being part of the socially conservative wing of the party) seemed to go out of their way to declare their support for the newly-former Prime Minister, with the five — all of whom occupied high posts within Newell's cabinet — expected to also be given high-profile posts in any shadow Cabinet that Newell announces. The former Prime Minister did say that he was looking at running for the position, but that he was "thinking it over with his family" and that he would come to a decision "in due course" over whether he wished to "throw himself into the fires of frontline politics" once more.

Elsewhere in Tumbran politics, shrunken Alliance and Moderate caucuses will be looking to elect new leaders after each of their former leaders — Michael Berkeley and Johanna Browne, respectively — announced their resignations on Election Night. Five-term MP David Hunt, who has been the MP for Amersham in Napier since 2025, is widely seen to be the frontrunner for the Alliance nomination — but could face opposition from within the party for his outspoken support of nuclear energy. On the Moderate side, former Minister for the Cabinet Office, Jack Shepard, is said to be considering a run. While rumours emerged across Sunday that the Moderates could be trying to convince former Prime Minister Stephen Williams, the newly-independent MP for Yarwood, to become Moderate leader, they were strenuously denied by both Williams and the Moderate Party.


EDITORIAL: It's time for Tumbra to look beyond Esportiva and begin flexing its diplomatic muscles abroad

EDITORIAL: For the past sixty-two years in which we've been reporting, International Relations has always been relatively neutral on the issue of Tumbra intervening in foreign policy. While actions like it intervening in St. Edward's Island all the way back in 1984 drew our disapproval — not least because we personally felt like it contravened the Constitution, but also because we felt that the committing of military resources to that particular invasion was far too risky for any tangible reward — we, as a magazine mainly focused on illustrating perspectives on issues throughout the world, have largely neither approved nor disapproved of most things that Tumbra have done with regards to their foreign policy. By and large it has been consistent — something we have consistently attributed to the presence of a foreign policy elite at the highest levels of the civil service which guides the elected government of the day. While there was an editorial split over the Northlands — we eventually decided not to make an editorial decision, because we saw it as something that would only have a minimal impact on our foreign relations. Bar a near-complete breakdown of relations with South Newlandia, we were eventually proven right.

So why have we decided to drop that position and encourage Tumbra to be more activist abroad? Our decision is largely predicated on the ongoing worldwide instability and the possibility of Tumbra to be more proactive when it comes to conducting foreign affairs. For the past two decades Tumbra slowly built up its relations with the region of Esportiva, which culminated in the formation of the Esportivan Union, before mainly utilising that as a vehicle for Tumbra's foreign policy. That has been good, but has hampered our responses to events like the Bostopian-Mertagnian war, or the Nyowani Kitaran conflict; in which a freer hand could have allowed us to perhaps intervene more decisively. This is by no means an indictment of the Esportivan Union project; but in the realm of foreign policy, the greatest weakness of the Kenneth Everett and Michael Kirkland administrations from 2017 till 2029 was our willingness to be more passive on issues that weren't the Northlands. Perhaps that was because they wished to avoid criticism on that particular issue; but it was a level of passiveness that seriously impacted the country's foreign policy from turning back to being more active.

With a new administration taking charge, then, International Relations wholeheartedly endorses the change in foreign policy to take the lead on the Græntfjall situation; and hopes that this is a sign of things to come. Of course, while Tumbra's soft power levels have been growing comparatively across the seven AREIMAS regions, it cannot hold a candle to hard power; and we hope that the new government's planned modernisation of the military possibly includes an expansion of the country's global power projection capabilities. We need to double down on our hard-earned alliances with countries like Mertagne; only then will our foreign policy truly be able to become independent and us able to fully flex our diplomatic muscles abroad.


Tumbra en route to falling into playoffs as Banija eliminated from World Cup qualification

STRATON: It's nearly the end of another World Cup qualifiers cycle, and it has so far been a cycle of surprises. With the second-ranked team in the world, Græntfjall, not entering the World Cup, coupled with the non-participation of other notable nations such as sixteenth-ranked Nephara and twenty-first ranked Brenecia, this upcoming World Cup looks set to introduce some serious transition into the World Cup. 35th-ranked Koronavia, who made the World Cup last cycle, are also nowhere to be seen; while nations that have previously been deemed promising, like 47th-ranked Naixi and 51st-ranked Cap Nord, anywhere to be seen. 80th-ranked Savojarna also chose not to participate, while 5-time World Champions Starblaydia are stuck in 108th. Just four years on from winning two World Cups in a row, Banija have been eliminated from qualification after a miserable qualification cycle on their end — marking a surprising two of the world's top ten not making the World Cup. The news hasn't seemed to reach them, however, as information from their side regarding their players seemed to parrot the fact that they were seemingly the "defending champions" of the World Cup, completely ignoring the Deltic triumph in the previous edition of the World Cup.

So it's safe to say that this 96th run of the World Cup has been a cycle of churn. New nations, like Auprussia, are rapidly rising up the ranks; while returners, like Qusmo or the Polar Islandstates (though the latter have returned for a few cycles now) are doing exceptionally well. Crpostran, fresh out of the Baptism of Fire, might well qualify directly for the World Cup; while Xanneria, long-time participants, might well end their cycle of purgatory in the fourth pot of the World Cup and finally break into the competition that has eluded them for so long.

Tumbra, uniquely, run the risk of failing to return to the World Cup just one cycle after making the Final. What makes it even more unique is that the team have lost zero games thus far; and run the very interesting situation, should they draw against Saint Eleanor in Straton and Eraman, of entering the playoffs while remaining undefeated throughout the cycle. Ahead of Tumbra's crucial match against Saint Eleanor at home, manager Michael Campbell has been keen to play down the importance of the match — saying that "what ultimately matters is that we make the World Cup, playoff-bound or not" — but to some, winning the group against the northern Anaian city-state is a matter of paramount national importance and pride.

The call-up sheet for the two games against Saint Eleanor and Eraman — another side caught up in the churn, having been a virtual non-player in this set of qualifiers despite having made the play-offs a few cycles ago — probably represents the closest squad to what Campbell will bring to the World Cup, if Tumbra make it through getting results against Saint Eleanor and Eraman or through the playoffs. It is, in fairness, a largely consistent squad to the squad that made the World Cup 95 final; with only new blood replacing the likes of Vincent Hicks and Ian Ashburn (who retired) and Nick Riordan (who essentially made himself persona non grata through his antics during the Finals in Sylestone). The alternative — not making the World Cup — is a possibility right now, but one that most Tumbrans don't wish to ponder. It would mean the end of Tumbra's participation in World Cup Committee-sanctioned football this cycle — the TFF confirmed that Tumbra would not play in the Cup of Harmony, even with the country having bidded to host the latest edition — and would probably make people wonder if last cycle's miracle run was all that — just a miracle.

But it often does not pay off to imagine the worst-case scenarios, even if they nearly came true for the Black Eagles in particular during the last edition of the World Cup.

WCQ96 QUALIFIERS SQUAD FOR TUMBRA v SAINT ELEANOR, ERAMAN v TUMBRA -- Full Roster
Goalkeepers: 1 - Victoria Jones (Lakewood City), 12 - Richard Russell (Lakewood United), 27 - Mike Hahn (Ridgewell Rovers)
Defenders: 2 - Annie Renton (Serrapince), 18 - Hazel Kennedy (Couno Rangers); 4 - Stephen Kerr (Chromatik, CMT), 5 - Wendy Pritchett (Lakewood United), 14 - Christine Whitfield (Myana, CMT), 20 - Yvonne Lawson (St. John's Arsenal, QUE) 24 - Belinda Proudfoot (Lakewood United); 3 - Tracey Mercurio (Kingston, QUE), 19 - James Green (Bavingtor, FVA)
Midfielders: 6 - Trudy Harrison (Chromatik, CMT), 15 - Lucas McCormick (Lakewood City), 32 - Mark Finnemore (Couno Rangers); 8 - Ian Robertson (Ridgewell Rovers), 16 - Victor Leighton (Lakewood City), 25 - Stella Harrington (Hesham); 10 - Susan Monaghan (Lakewood City)
Wingers: 7 - Valerie Wells (Lakewood United), 17 - Erin Robertson (Couno Rangers); 9 - Lynne Crossley (Chromatik, CMT), 21 - Audrey Pearson, (Rülândéá Kôstä, RÜL)
Strikers: 11 - Charlotte Henshaw (Lakewood City), 22 - Edward Maddison (Avondale City, SYL) 26 - Julie Hardaker (Myana, CMT)

Schedule: @ DAR, Bye//v AUP, @ ARJ//v EOT, @ EXT//v ERA, v DAR//Bye, @ AUP//v ARJ, @EOT//v EXT, @ ERA
v ARJ: Fontwell; v EOT: Nantwich; v DAR, v AUP: Couno; v ERA: Lakewood; v EXT: Straton

[Srednjaci]

WORLD CUP 96 MERTAGNE & HUAYRAMARCA

ONE STEP TO PLAYOFFS FOR SREDNJACI!

DRAW TO JUVENCUS !
Another match without 3 points. This time against a direct competitor for going to the play offs, Juvencus. Juvencus is a great team, but we also showed our quality, TWO GOALS FOR BOTH TEAMS. But we have to be honest and say that this outcome is the fairest. Both teams won one point each, but now Brookstation is running away from us again in first place and it is already clear to everyone that the Brookstation team is in the playoffs. The second place in the group leading to the playoffs has not yet been assigned. One dead race is between the trio of Juvencus, The 14 Stars and Srednjaci. We will see who will be lucky.

TWO WINS IN A ROW !
3-2 Qasden H
2-0 Sea Dome A

Our national team is on the threshold of passing the group and playing in the playoffs! After an initial bad opening and two consecutive defeats in the first two matches, our football players played much better and better in the continuation of the qualification and turned the situation around in the group table. With the last two victories, our players reached the second position in the group. However, nothing is even close to being resolved yet. Although we are behind Brookstation, which has already been placed on WC, we have an advantage over the rest of the company. Our team currently has 18 points, Juvencus has 16 and The 14 Stars has 14 points. We are also close to Wight with 13 points. There are still two games to go. We will play against Wight and against The 14 Stars. Our players will have a lot of pressure on their backs. The imperative to win and collect all 6 points is on our players because the reward is big...playing in the playoffs. However, other teams also have the imperative to win. It remains to be seen who will have more knowledge, but mostly luck.

When we take a look at the groups, it is evident that the incredible Valanora team has a 100% performance! The fantastic Valanora has all 10 victories out of 10 matches played! Of course they qualified for WC! Besides them and Brookstation, we will be watching Sylestone, Delta and Flavovespia on WC. The performance of the Delta team is also fantastic, 9 wins and one draw. Chromatika, The Holly Empire and HUElavia already have one foot on the WC, but their followers also have a great chance to overtake them in that position.

We had a small talk with Takanobu Tavano. Here's what he told us.

"we started badly and then we managed to arrange all the pieces in our game. Today we are a respectable football team again. Look at our handball team. They started with two losses, but the moment they arranged everything, the whole game, then they reached the semi-finals. We are definitely going through a similar situation. We rejuvenated the team, there are a lot of players who have never played together, we did not manage to play friendly matches for the players to get used to each other. The handball players were also going through the same thing."

REPORTER: Your wife Tena plays tennis at NSTT. She playing really best tennis of hers carrer .How do you two manage to balance your sports careers with your private life?

"Tena is the best person I know, but I also have great respect for everything she does, and she respects my career. In the height of the season, it is very difficult to coordinate everything, but we manage. Last year was successful for us on a private level because we had a sports break. We could have been together for longer, but now the situation is already different. However, I am happy with her every success and every victory, so it's easier for me hahaha."

REPORTER: Our football team has two more games ahead, key games...Juvencus, The 14 Stars are blowing at our throats and the next match is against The 14 Stars...does the team feel the pressure?

" Of course there is pressure, but we are all professionals and I believe we will keep our advantage."

[Eshialand]

All About the Clickbait
Captina Island 1-0 Eshialand
Eshialand 4-3 Bostopia

"Hey, you can't just kick down my door like that!!" Maria yelled at Josh.
"Listen, we need answers for this, NOW."
"Answers for what???"

"This!" the king said as he held up the latest issue of the Investigator. "What the hell is this bullshit story???"
"So I see even the highest in this nation read my little rag... heh, I've really made it!"
"Stop dodging the question Maria, you've got a lot of them to answer, and right now!"
"I'm sorry your Most Supreme Royal ExcelMajesty King Shit of the--"
"I'm being dead serious, what is this story? You can't put words in anyone's mouth!"
"Not like any were coming out of yours, what was that pause in the interview if not you expressing your disapproval of Union Stadium?"

William had to stop for a second to come up with the right answer to explain everything... what even was it? "Well, you see..." he tried to explain, "I do have to be honest, some things didn't go right, but I don't think a lot of them are necessarily Tony's fault."

"Go on..." Maria said.
"Only if this is off the record, and I need you to hold yourself to that Ms. Loose Lips."
"You have my word."

"Alrighty then... just because some things went wrong doesn't mean I don't think Union Stadium was an amazingly impressive project! And yeah, maybe Tony can improve on some things, but those are things he couldn't have seen coming and things that, frankly, happen with every project, every plan, hell, every single waking day of our lives! And it doesn't give you or anyone else the right to make me say things that, while maybe they could've been inferred -- however dodgily -- from context, I at the end of the day never even said! That's just not good journalism, and the fact that I, someone with no experience, know more about that than you tells me a whole ton about whether this really is the correct career path for you."

"Wow, I wasn't expecting such a well-worded response..." Maria replied. "Now, how about you see this from my angle. I'm a storyteller. The Investigator is all about telling the stories of our nation and its people, and this was a pretty good story--"

"I'm sorry but if you wanna tell a good story, you should get into writing fiction instead of these hit pieces loosely based on actual reality! Such a shame too, there are so many real interesting stories to be had in a nation like ours... and by the way, I still want a retraction for that story, or I'm not beyond shutting this place down and never letting you touch a pen ever again." Will said before he and Josh left in a huff.

"Okay fine, you win. I'll retract the story--"
"And don't publish non-sensical non-stories ever again, you hear?"
"Fine, fine, I won't... I'll try to keep things more grounded in actual reality..." she said in defeat, realizing there really was nothing she could do.
"Thank you so much! Hope to do business with you again!" Will replied in a cheery, somewhat sarcastic voice.

---

"Wow, I knew you'd be able to help me out here..." Josh said after the two left the building. "I'd never have been able to do this without your help."
"No problem Josh, that's what friends are for... and by the way, if you want to tell the story of this adventure, I made Maria keep this off the record, but you can publish--"
"Nah, I wouldn't do that. Some stories are best to stay between friends."
"Aright then, haha."

"By the way... you said you were really good at telling lies after talking to Gino, but why couldn't you just come up with a response to me asking about Union Stadium?"
"I said I was really good at telling believable lies Josh... nothing positive I could've said about Union Stadium would be remotely believable."

[Tikariot]

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

Good evening Tikariot, welcome back to The Tikariot Files, where we look at some of Tikariot's most outrageous, brutal, mysterious criminal cases the nation has to offer - all of them unsolved.

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

Welcome to episode 7 of the Tikariot Files; I am your host Christoffer Akerbrandt, and today we will be looking at a rather unusual case. Granted, nothing we feature in this series is your regular run-of-the-mill open-and-shut case. But even within these, some unusual intrigue is involved in this one.

Xanark, the capital of Xark, located in the far north of Tikariot, 40 years ago. In the middle of winter, a brutal snowstorm blew down the steppes of Xark, driven by an icy northeasterly wind off Lake Viljan. It was 3 am when the police received an anonymous phone call about a suspicious scene in the parking lot of a mall on the outskirts of town. When the police cruiser arrived at the parking lot, everything looked like a solid snow cover, but instead of just driving off and marking the call down as a prank call, they decided to drive through the parking lot, just in case.

This is when they noticed an odd bump in the snow and decided to look closer. As the two officers approached the bump, they noticed it looked like a body. With a sudden sense of urgency, they stopped close and removed some of the snow, finding the body of a woman, clearly dead. They immediately called for backup and cordoned off the area to ensure they didn't unnecessarily damage the crime scene, as they did not know what lay underneath the snow.

Several hours later, a gruesome scene was uncovered. A woman in her 30s, dismembered, with every body part where it was supposed to be, just 20 cm away from the torso. Underneath the layer of fresh snow, the snow was soaked with blood, with the low temperatures having formed an icy mixture that indicated that the murder was committed at the scene. However, forensic technicians painstakingly examined the scene but could not find any footprints or other usable evidence. The amount of frozen blood made detecting any other possible contaminants impossible. This also was way before CCTV cameras had become regular devices.

With the trail very quickly, and very literally, growing cold, the Xanark Police Department had no choice but to put the case on the bench, hoping that a witness might come forward. While nobody was forthcoming, only one week after, a chill went through the PD when another, eerily similar call arrived at the emergency switchboard, this time alerting them to a suspicious sighting in the parking lot of a department store. Everything was hauntingly familiar, a heavy snowstorm, a woman's body dismembered, with all limbs positioned an exact 20 cm away from the torso. And again, no traces or evidence to be found.

The meticulousness and brutality of the crimes left law enforcement baffled and the public in a state of shock as newspapers predictably had caught wind and were blowing everything up in as much grisly detail as they could on the front pages.

As winter progressed, Xanarkians began to check the weather forecast with growing dread, fearing another snowstorm to move into town, which, much to their dismay, was a frequent occurrence during the harsh northern winters. Store owners began to explore options to patrol their parking lots to ensure their establishment wouldn't be the scene of the next murder, as everybody was now expecting it would not be two isolated incidents.

Unfortunately, their fears would be proven justified three weeks later when a third body was found, this time not in a parking lot, but in a public park in the centre of the city. At this time, the name "Blizzard Killer" began to circulate, as once more, the weather and MO were the same as in the two previous cases.

Fear began to grip the city even more, especially as the victims seemed to have been chosen at random. A sex worker, a librarian, a housewife. The only thing they had in common was that they were all female.

In the weeks that followed, no snowstorms happened and no murders, convincing both law enforcement and the public that the storms were a prerequisite for the murders.

Over the next six winters, Xanark police found 17 more bodies, with both the modus operandi and weather conditions exactly the same, but without any evidence or leads.

Then, as inexplicably as they began, the killings abruptly ceased. The city breathed a collective sigh of relief, and winter life slowly returned to normal. Other news replaced the Blizzard Killer, and soon, it became little more than a grisly footnote in the city's history.

But, unfortunately, the calm was fleeting. Over 30 years after the last murder, Xanark found itself thrust back into the grip of fear once more as the hauntingly familiar MO resurfaced, marking the return of the killer. Everything was the exact same, and law enforcement agencies hoped that the vast advancement in forensic technology and investigative techniques would enable them to find more clues, including revisiting the old, scarce evidence, but to no avail.

The biggest question that arose was what caused the hiatus and why the killer resurfaced after all these years. Inevitably, rumours began to spread, with some theorizing that the original perpetrator had returned or that a copycat killer had emerged on the scene. However, there was one chilling detail that rendered the thought of a copycat killer moot was that the crime scenes included details that never had made it into the news, hinting at another disturbing possibility—that the new wave of killings was the work of direct descendant of the original killer seeking to carry on their legacy.

At the time of recording this episode, another 14 bodies had to be added to the gruesome toll, with the police no closer to identifying the murderer or murderers. Despite the pervasion of security cameras in many public places, the killer managed to elude all of them, leading to the police suspecting that the murderer would use summer to carefully scout camera locations, mapping out potential crime scenes with meticulous precision.

The only thing we know for sure is that Xanark fears winters more than ever before...

[Legalese]

“I have a question -- many of them.”

A stiff breeze hitting Dominic would have been just as chilling as hearing that sentence. He took a sip of his coffee before nodding to Kelsea, as if imploring her to elaborate.

“So, just to be clear about where we are: We’re at fifteen points, with a good shot for three more at least, to put us on at least as many points earned as lost?”

He nodded.

“Not only that, but we’ve seen the top seed, Mytanija, underperform; the next likely team to step up, Cassadaigua, underperform --”

“A loss and a draw to us, at that.”

“And Kimi-Suomi falling off completely”

“Fin.”

“Finn, actually. Either way, this is a golden opportunity for the upset of all upsets, which is still an outside shot but very achieveable if the results fall just the right way.”

“Yup. Brannfjord falling to Reçueçn, then Reçueçn falling to Cassadaigua should work, if we can win out; and that doesn’t even factor in our chances at making the playoff.”

“Right. Either way, we’ve not seen a team this close to the brink in what feels like our lifetimes, and it’s possibly the greatest -- and most unlikely -- overperformance in our nation’s footballing history.”

Kelsea leaned in, “So then, Dom, tell me why nobody seems to have noticed. I’ve not seen an article in The Docket. Have you asked them why?”

“Well, their reporter got sick, very sick.”

“How sick? What’d they have?”

“They were reluctant to say, but it sounded like one of those illnesses that the multiverse abhors. Half pretended it didn’t exist, and the other half will quarantine/blockade you just for thinking about it.”

Kelsea frowned in response. “Are they okay, at least?”

“Working on it, it seems; it knocked them out worse than they’d anticipated.”

“That still seems sketchy. How long have they been sick? I figure a couple weeks would make sense, but still.”

Dom sighed. “You know how time works, Kels. It doesn’t, really -- that’s the neat part.”

“But if time doesn’t work, how do we know when it’s full time at the end of qualifying?”

“The referee lets us know.”

[Carpathia and Ruthenia]

Lucia Kovács to step down at the end of this qualifying campaign

Lucia Kovács has released a statement via the FCCR of her intent to step down at the end of the qualifying campaign. She going on to say that "her leadership has become a distraction from the ongoing growth of Carpathia and Ruthenia on the international scene of association football" and that "the very talented players who are only growing in experience aren't deserving of the negative attention her leadership has gotten from a small but vocal group of so called supporters".

As you readers will know I have been critical of Kovács, but this news is sad and shocking to me, it is right to be fair and honest criticism but that is the key it must be honest. I have always hoped we could push ourselves and even dared to dream of a playoff spot in the first half of qualifying. However we are currently ranked 87th in the world, we were the fourth seed in our group which contained the eight ranked team in the world along with a top fifty and top sixty ranked team in the world, if as it looks likely to happen we end qualifying in fourth or even fifth position that is entirely expected.

What is not right is a quite frankly delusional section of the supporter base, egged on by Schmitt and Fabbri that have disconnected themselves from reality, that somehow we are the footballing nation we were over a hundred, and I will repeat that again, over a hundred years ago. Their deranged belief that the only reason that we aren't back at that level and competing at each World Cup proper lies solely at the hands of Kovács. It it lay there as simple delusion that may be bad enough but what is clear is that Schmitt and Fabbri have been using this situation to cover there own problems, the upcoming fraud trials are being held up in some circles as ways to silence them, and somehow this is all part of a government conspiracy.

What this has led to is Kovács being deluged by this base, harrased and clearly unable to live her life to the point where she is stepping down from a job where she is quite frankly performing as expected and in some games really exceeding those expectations. We need to call out these abusive behaviours, see Schmitt and Fabbri for the cheap conmen they are and demand that there be consequences for those that send such vitriol to people like Kovács.

To Lucia Kovács I want to speak to you directly here, if any of my criticism of you has lead to any of the vitriol that has come your way I apologise wholeheartedly.

By Margita Ongaro
CBC Ruthenia