[center][h1][b]26 July 1910 - New Diya, Iyrez Stadium[/b][/h1][/center]

Light pervaded over the lush green grass from the large structures stationed on all four corners of the field. Markings in white paint gave indication where boundaries were, where starting positions were set, and where one could advance for scoring. The hour was 1830 and the stadium had been filling up with participants and spectators alike from all parts of New Diya. Specifically the two teams who would be playing each other tonight were the Abletown Pilots verse the New Diya Knights. Both teams were competing in their division championship, the winner would be selected to advance and compete in the Casterball National Championship. Casterball is a national sport with two sides who posses 2 casters, casters are individuals designated to hold the ball for an unlimited amount of time and steps. The caster also has the ability to knock out other players if they make contact with the ball they’ve just thrown at an opposing player. All other players may only hold the ball for 3-5 steps, and up to 7 seconds, unless a player is inside the Firing Zone.

The other players who are not designated as casters will play the role as defenders for their casters, defenders for their teams Firing Zone, or as targets to be passed at for either advance or retreat. There are three ways to win; eliminate the opposing team, eliminate the opposing casters, or score in the Firing Zone; one player reaches the Firing Zone and tossing a ball through a 20“ diameter vertical hoop standing at 10‘ tall. The hoops are positioned so scoring is only possible from a side position. These hoops are called Halo’s and to make matters more difficult when scoring this way, a Halo is 30 yards from the Firing Zone boundary line.

Tonight on July 26th, 1910, only one team is to claim their reward while the other is left to reflect on their defeat.

The fans began taking their seats as an announcer boomed his voice from the speakers located around the stadium, “WELCOME! WELCOME! TO THE FIFTH ANNUAL CASTERBALL DIVISION CHAMPIONSHIP GAME!” The crowd roared in response to the announcement, it had only been the fifth year that Casterball was first introduced as a national sport in the Republic and had already gained such a fan base in years priors that it became the national pass time with ease.

“TONIGHT WE BRING YOU TWO WORTHY TEAMS OF ADMIRATION, CONTINUOSLY SHOWING US HOW HARD WORK, AND PERSERVERANCE CAN PAVE THE WAY TO FRUITFUL OPPORTUNITIES!”

Again the crowd roared, “WITH A 10-1 RECORD, ABLETOWN PILOTS, and with a 9-2 RECORD, THE NEW DIYA KNIGHTS!”

The teams were quite evenly matched and everyone knew it, the records didn’t really quite package the games expectations of how well both teams would perform against one another. Although both holding quite strong records, it was the games they’ve lost and how they lost that showed both of these teams could have easily been undefeated up until tonight. 

On the team of New Diya there was Ollie, Eva, and Dax. Eva was their team captain, Ollie was their speed demon, and Dax; a feline species with red fur, black stripes, and a white under belly. Dax was the team and divisions top scorer. Agile, precise, and patient, these traits were apart of his kin’s legacy which helped shape his fame. The Pilots had Kroft, Cara, Lee, and Javen. Cara was a Malcotto (fox race), aggressive and quick. Then they had Kroft who was their team captain, Lee and Javen who both excelled at defense, mainly because Javen was an actual bull, and Lee being 6‘2“ built with human muscle. Both teams would find themselves in a match defining their entire career’s worth of work. 


1850, 20 minutes into the game and New Diya’s team marched down the left side of the field. Dax was in the front toward the center of the field, Ollie just diagonal to the left of him, and Eva to the right of Ollie directly behind Dax. The three also had 4 other New Diya players assisting their advance in a diagonal formation for easier maneuvering and passing. Eva, Ollie, and Dax were about to meet 8 Abletown Pilot players who were approaching their position from the right. The other Pilots were too busy advancing on the right side of the field caught up in a scrum with New Diya’s defensive players. New Diya had 5 minutes left on the scoreboard if they wanted to set the tone for the rest of the match. 

On New Diya’s team, Lyn was a caster, and so was Tristan, Tristan was on the other side of the field competing against the Pilots advance. Lyn was the only caster on the left side and she was farther to the left separated by 2 more New Diya player’s from Ollie’s position. The 6 New Diya players were about to be swarmed by 8 Abletown Pilot players and time before the engagement was running out. 

Eva had to think fast as her role was team captain, which meant team leader, and play caller. All 8 were coming from the right, her team was over the left in a diagnol fashion which meant a possible 4 man wall could have been formed to at least split the 8 opposing players up and buy time. If 4 New Diya players formed the wall, that would leave 2 to run down field and score. Her ideal players would be Lyn and Dax, but Lyn was the only caster on this side, and if they wanted to utilize Dax appropriately, Lyn would need to pass long to him. 

“OCELOT! OCELOT! OCELOT!” Eva called out loud for her team to hear, “Jenko! Ollie! Liv!Wall East!” The others quickly picked up on her command without a problem as they had now been on the same team for quite some time over numerous years, using the same book over and over. Ollie and Jenko both took lead and peeled right to meet the 8 Abletown Pilot players with Liv falling in behind but covering a bit more up field ground as to buy more time for Lyn to throw, and Dax to sprint. Eva would shuffle over to Lyn for protection as Lyn acquired her target. 

3 out of the 8 cleared the wall, it was a bit of a battle as shoving, pushing, locking arms, and other physical tactics were allowed to be deployed in close proximity. Eva would need to take the closest one, which left 2 opposing players uncontested and attacking Lyn. This meant that they’d be down a caster and no ground was being gained on the right side of the field. 

Kroft came barreling over a wall formed by New Diya players protecting their caster. He could smell the desperation and wanted to take that caster out before she had time to throw the ball up. It was a gamble, Kroft and his 7 cronies let a feline run up field uncontested in order to blitz the only caster on this side of the field. If they were successful, Kroft being a caster himself could pick up Lyn’s ball and take it down field with the small amount of remaining time left. In the end, this moment was more about stopping New Diya and holding them to the next round than it was scoring. After a few moments of battling, Kroft busted through along with Tyson and Lee. They were heading right for the caster but New Diya’s team captain stepped up toward Kroft who was leading the charge. He tossed his fist forward to clear the nose off her face, but to his surprise, the woman blocked it, and proceeded to use his momentum to turn into his body with hers. She then popped her hips and butt into his hips and pulled his arm over her shoulder like a seat belt, which had him lose his center of gravity and tumble forward onto his back. However, just as she was to claim a victory, Tyson tackled her from behind but this ended up pinning Kroft underneath both of them. Lee was all that was left to get the caster...and he failed.

Lyn saw Lee’s top heavy body come storming passed Eva and with a quick step she avoided his bull rush. Pinning her eyes back on Dax, she heaved the ball as far and high as possible. The hail mary of Casterball, Dax took to his full stride with his head cocked over his shoulder, creating a basket with both palms the ball wedged itself between his hands and chest. He never lost a stride, [i]‘good throw’[/i], he thought briefly before spotting a massive bull-like defender. The horns were a bit intimidating but he could tell the points were rounded down as to not pose a lethal threat in a physical contact sport. They were now more for show and expression than function, but still intimidating none the less. Dax’s options were to go left or right, right had him facing another defender, and left pushed him close to the out of bounds. If he were to slip out of bounds, the ball would no longer be in play and all of this would be for not. Instead, he opted to see if his abilities were really as good as he thought them to be. 

“FOLKS! WE HAVE A NAIL BITER!” The announcer stood up from his chair in the tower overlooking the game. “#24 DAX FURLEO PLAYING FOR THE NEW DIYA KNIGHTS WITH AN AMAZING CATCH AND RUN IS NOW SQUARING UP TO MEET THE LAST DEFENSE ABLETOWN HAS TO OFFER! WHAT A SHOW, 2 MINUTES IS ALL THAT REMAINS ON OUR CLOCK FOR THIS ROUND, CAN HE MAKE IT?”

Dax sprinted full force, Javen shuffled and then took his angle. It was now or never, Dax had this sixth sense of where someone would try to hit him, but most times they’d fail to calculate his real speed. This was Dax’s first maneuver, he slowed down as to force Javen, a big muscular bull to adjust his speed as well. When Javen did adjust his speed, Dax would use the last bit of space to leap forward into a full sprint. Javen tried reaching out but could only grab the last inch of Dax’s tail before slipping off and hitting the ground. The last defender behind Javen tried capitalizing on the moment, but failed when Dax tossed the ball up in the air and leaped right, which forced the defender to hesitate and locate the ball. Before locating, Dax had already made a second jump toward the defender and kicked his feet into the chest. This action sent the defender backward and onto the ground where the ball then landed on his face. Dax after kicking, landed back on his feet and ran over to the defender, swiping the ball up which reset his timer and steps.

Dax now entered the Firing Zone, waiting for him was Neko, a slender built young man and newer to their squad. Dax quickly yelled out, “Dragon! Dragon!” as to give Neko the plan of what to do next. Neko had to think for a moment but then quickly located the edge of the Firing Zone boundary line and leaped for it, then positioned himself on his knees, Dax tossed the ball forward for Neko to catch it, and when Dax continued to bound forward, Neko lobbed it up in the air and put his hands toward the ground to create a table with his back. Without missing a step, Dax followed up by leaping with one foot off the ground, and landing the other on his teammates back, then leaping off the back and in mid-air he caught the ball, rolled to his side and threw the ball toward the Halo. Dax’s Lats impacted the ground hard and with about a foot of sliding he peered up with a roaring crowd. The ball had hit the inside of the ring and went through successfully. 

“NEW DIYA SCORES! 1-0, ROUND IS OVER!” The announcer was flabbergasted at the moment they all witnessed and went on a tangent during half time. The game would end with New Diya winning 1-0.


[center][h1][b]27 July 1910 - New Diya, Capitol Forum[/b][/h1][/center]


The groaning and moaning of respected players among New Diya politics filled the hall and it’s seats. There was a platform where the voice of the Forum was to stand while encircled by everyone else. It was an open discussion and had been kept that way since the establishment of New Diya as to provide fair governance over all races and peoples within New Diya’s borders. While everyone began seating themselves, a tall, bushy tailed female took her place as the voice of the Forum. She was an ambassador for the Nation’s foreign politics and had experience in dealing with several nations by establishing trade which has aided New Diya’s progress to this day. 

“Ladies and Gentlemen of all races residing within our proud and respectful borders, we have been gathered here today because of an event that has rung loud far and wide. It is not in relation to our grand sporting competition of last night, but more importantly, a leader has been slain in a world quite distant from our own. We are unsure of how this event will affect us and the nations we do business with, but it is of the upmost importance that we meet to plan.” Her tail rested to her side as she addressed the audience, a room filled with level headed individuals for the most part, who all represented fractions of the population, and did so effectively...or so it was reported.

An eager gentlemen who appeared as a bull stood up, “Lady Kasya, do we know any further details of the event, besides that this leader was killed?” 

She nodded in response, “Yes, Prince of the Reich, Wilem, a Kudruni...assassinated by what reports have told us to be descendants of Orc. A greenskin as some label the term when referring to their kind in the East. Most of the Orc kind have been unified in the Uruk Empire, although no distinct origin of the assassin has yet been stated, we can assume the assassination may have its link from somewhere inside the Empire. It is too early to tell, however, I suggest we prepare our lands for the worst and wait to see how things develop in the East.”

The Bull nodded and sat back down, another representative stood up, he was human and a bit on edge by his body language, “Lady Kasya, we appreciate your suggestion, but where is the President on this matter?” 

Lady Kasya knew this question was coming up sooner or later, the President was currently in the Northern realms of New Diya staving off a rebellion of Isanti sympathizers and pro-human only organizers. He wanted to see to it himself that these men and women weren’t falling on deaf ears, but times had changed, and New Diya would never fall into the original Isanti mindset of humans only. It was a small rebellion in a small town, but small mattered, even to the President of New Diya.

“The President is on important business, he is spear heading an operation in the North to carefully weed out Isanti sympathizers, he will return soon, but in the mean time let us continue further discussing our preparations if War erupts in the East.” Kasya said as her tail lifted off the floor, she gently took a step off the platform and over to her respected seat as one of the rest within the open forum.