Since Comrade Fnord asked about it...
This is very much a work-in-progress.
[size=larger]Astroball[/size]
The object of Astroball is to score points by putting a one-meter ball into an opposing team's goal zone. One point is scored every time a player does this.
Rules
The game is played in a three-dimensional "field" one kilometer long and one-quarter kilometer wide and high. Thirty-five obstacles are allowed to drift randomly within the field (any that reach an edge of the field "bounce" back into the field). Five-meter-diameter goals are positioned in the centre "wall" of each long end of the field. One referee is present on the field, in a distinctive one-person ship.
Teams are made up of five players, each in a separate one-seat vehicle. At the beginning of a half, or after a goal is socred, the players are arrayed in three lines on their half of the field. The line nearest the center of the field is made up of the forward and the flanker, who are expected but not required to play offensively. The second line is made up of the blocker and the fielder, who are expected but not required to play defensively and pass the ball to the forward or flanker. The third line is the goalie (who is not required to tend the goal).
Making contact with an obstacle or the referee's ship is forbidden, and results in a five-minute penalty for a first offence or expulsion from the game for a second offence. Making contact with an opposing player's ship is permitted.
The ball is manipulated with a ship's "grav-grab", a short-range gravity-effect device similar to (but weaker than) those used in the towing industry. Holding the ball for more than fifteen seconds is forbidden, and results in a two-minute penalty. Reversing the polarity of the grav-grab to throw the ball against an obstacle or the referee's ship and bounce it back to the same player is permitted, as is passing the ball to a teammate.
Games take place over 40 minutes, played in two 20-minute halves. The clock does not run when a penalty is being assessed or when the ball is being retrieved from a goal.
Venues
Both Starbase 1 and Stellvia maintain official Astroball stadiums. Stellvia's is the first Astroball venue ever constructed, and is open to anyone who wants to use it. (Reservations are strongly encouraged.) The Trekkies use theirs for Academy pilot training.
It doesn't take much to set up an Astroball field - just a few dozen obstacles, two goal zones, and some field boundary markers. This means any group with a couple of hundred credits to spare can set up a place to play the game.
Pickup games of Astroball have been known to take place in Saturn's rings, using the ice boulders as obstacles. The Fireflies still train there on a regular basis.
Astroball League
The Astroball League was founded in 2011 in an effort to get the game recognized as a Fennish-Olympic sport.
Match Play
The official Astroball season takes place in late-July and August, between baseball's All-Star Game and the North American Labor Day. The season is played round-robin style, with every team playing every other team once.
The two best teams at the end of the season compete for the Machida Cup (1) the week after Labor Day.
(Footnote 1: Apparently, Yayoi Fujisawa insisted on that name for the trophy. Nobody's sure why, since she's never so much as visited Tokyo.)
Off-Season
The rest of the year, a team will get together whenever convenient (or possible, in some cases) for training - honing piloting skills, developing new plays, coaching new players, and tightening up the team's timing.
Occasionally two teams will be able to play exhibition games during the off-season.
League Teams
As yet, there are no professional Astroball teams, because nobody has the resources to devote to a full-time team. These are recognized "semi-pro" teams, which have taken part in match play since the Astroball League was founded in 2011.
The "Original Four"
There were only four Astroball teams in 2011. All four still play today, and are recognized as the best teams in the League.
L5 All-Stations
League champions in 2011
Team colors: orange and white
This is a mixed group from all the Earth-Luna L5 stations; no one habitat has the manpower to field a team on its own. Two players have been on the team since its creation: forward Cal Calrissian (from New Yavin) and flanker Yayoi Fujisawa (from Stellvia).
The team is funded by Stellvia.
Air Force Fighting Wings
League champions in 2012
Team colors: blue and silver
Based out of the Benjamin Franklin and backed by the TSAB, the Fighting Wings are perhaps the most visible 'Dane group in Fenspace. Their truly professional piloting skills and habits (their forward and flanker are wingmen to each other, unlike most teams) are offset by the experimental equipment they are required to use by their superior officers. Their support crew has yet to develop a working hardtech drive or grav-grab, but that doesn't stop them from using Astroball games as test venues.
Academy Cadets
League champions in 2013
Team colors: gold and blue
Backed by the Trekkies, the Cadets are a college team, based out of Starfleet Academy on Starbase 1. They are the only team to individually name their ships; they use shuttlecraft names from the various incarnations of Star Trek. (This keeps feuds over which Trekkies get to use "the good names" to a minimum; they're reserved for official use.)
Crystal Kyoto Knights
Team colors: silver and "rainbow" (there were too many arguments about which Sailor Senshi's color to use for the ships' highlights before they decided to use them all)
The Knights are funded by the Senshi and based out of Crystal Kyoto. They were originally an all-male team, but became co-ed in 2012.
Newcomers
Fireflies
Team colors: brown and gray
The Fireflies are based out of Serenity Valley, Ganymede, and are an even mix of Browncoats and Juvies. They joined the Astroball League in 2012.
(need a team here)
Team colors: ? and ?
(backers, home field, team quirks)
They joined the Astroball League in 2012.
(need a team here)
Team colors: ? and ?
(backers, home field, team quirks)
They joined the Astroball League in 2012.
(need a team here)
Team colors: ? and ?
(backers, home field, team quirks)
They joined the Astroball League in 2012.
SOS-dan
Team colors: green and blue, with red lettering
The SOS-dan played in 2012 only. They had a disasterous first half-season, but the mid-season replacement of flanker Mikuru Asahina with Winry Rockbell at least salvaged the team's dignity.
As the name implies, they were backed by the SOS-dan.
(if anyone joined the League in 2013, they get listed here - same format as above)
Sidebar: What about the Wizards?
Hogwarts doesn't field an Astroball team; they're too busy playing quidditch.
Sidebar: Kay and Yuri
The best-known Astroball announcers are Kay and Yuri Lischinsky, based out of Starbase 1. They usually cover Martian weather and Trekkie sports for the Federation News Service, but during the Astroball season, they put that aside and provide live color commentary for every game.
They're the sport's biggest fans, bar none. Kay and Yuri even capped off the 2012 season by getting married in the Starbase 1 Astroball stadium!
So, what are the other Fennish sports like?
--
Rob Kelk
"Governments have no right to question the loyalty of those who oppose
them. Adversaries remain citizens of the same state, common subjects of
the same sovereign, servants of the same law."
- Michael Ignatieff, addressing Stanford University in 2012
This is very much a work-in-progress.
[size=larger]Astroball[/size]
The object of Astroball is to score points by putting a one-meter ball into an opposing team's goal zone. One point is scored every time a player does this.
Rules
The game is played in a three-dimensional "field" one kilometer long and one-quarter kilometer wide and high. Thirty-five obstacles are allowed to drift randomly within the field (any that reach an edge of the field "bounce" back into the field). Five-meter-diameter goals are positioned in the centre "wall" of each long end of the field. One referee is present on the field, in a distinctive one-person ship.
Teams are made up of five players, each in a separate one-seat vehicle. At the beginning of a half, or after a goal is socred, the players are arrayed in three lines on their half of the field. The line nearest the center of the field is made up of the forward and the flanker, who are expected but not required to play offensively. The second line is made up of the blocker and the fielder, who are expected but not required to play defensively and pass the ball to the forward or flanker. The third line is the goalie (who is not required to tend the goal).
Making contact with an obstacle or the referee's ship is forbidden, and results in a five-minute penalty for a first offence or expulsion from the game for a second offence. Making contact with an opposing player's ship is permitted.
The ball is manipulated with a ship's "grav-grab", a short-range gravity-effect device similar to (but weaker than) those used in the towing industry. Holding the ball for more than fifteen seconds is forbidden, and results in a two-minute penalty. Reversing the polarity of the grav-grab to throw the ball against an obstacle or the referee's ship and bounce it back to the same player is permitted, as is passing the ball to a teammate.
Games take place over 40 minutes, played in two 20-minute halves. The clock does not run when a penalty is being assessed or when the ball is being retrieved from a goal.
Venues
Both Starbase 1 and Stellvia maintain official Astroball stadiums. Stellvia's is the first Astroball venue ever constructed, and is open to anyone who wants to use it. (Reservations are strongly encouraged.) The Trekkies use theirs for Academy pilot training.
It doesn't take much to set up an Astroball field - just a few dozen obstacles, two goal zones, and some field boundary markers. This means any group with a couple of hundred credits to spare can set up a place to play the game.
Pickup games of Astroball have been known to take place in Saturn's rings, using the ice boulders as obstacles. The Fireflies still train there on a regular basis.
Astroball League
The Astroball League was founded in 2011 in an effort to get the game recognized as a Fennish-Olympic sport.
Match Play
The official Astroball season takes place in late-July and August, between baseball's All-Star Game and the North American Labor Day. The season is played round-robin style, with every team playing every other team once.
The two best teams at the end of the season compete for the Machida Cup (1) the week after Labor Day.
(Footnote 1: Apparently, Yayoi Fujisawa insisted on that name for the trophy. Nobody's sure why, since she's never so much as visited Tokyo.)
Off-Season
The rest of the year, a team will get together whenever convenient (or possible, in some cases) for training - honing piloting skills, developing new plays, coaching new players, and tightening up the team's timing.
Occasionally two teams will be able to play exhibition games during the off-season.
League Teams
As yet, there are no professional Astroball teams, because nobody has the resources to devote to a full-time team. These are recognized "semi-pro" teams, which have taken part in match play since the Astroball League was founded in 2011.
The "Original Four"
There were only four Astroball teams in 2011. All four still play today, and are recognized as the best teams in the League.
L5 All-Stations
League champions in 2011
Team colors: orange and white
This is a mixed group from all the Earth-Luna L5 stations; no one habitat has the manpower to field a team on its own. Two players have been on the team since its creation: forward Cal Calrissian (from New Yavin) and flanker Yayoi Fujisawa (from Stellvia).
The team is funded by Stellvia.
Air Force Fighting Wings
League champions in 2012
Team colors: blue and silver
Based out of the Benjamin Franklin and backed by the TSAB, the Fighting Wings are perhaps the most visible 'Dane group in Fenspace. Their truly professional piloting skills and habits (their forward and flanker are wingmen to each other, unlike most teams) are offset by the experimental equipment they are required to use by their superior officers. Their support crew has yet to develop a working hardtech drive or grav-grab, but that doesn't stop them from using Astroball games as test venues.
Academy Cadets
League champions in 2013
Team colors: gold and blue
Backed by the Trekkies, the Cadets are a college team, based out of Starfleet Academy on Starbase 1. They are the only team to individually name their ships; they use shuttlecraft names from the various incarnations of Star Trek. (This keeps feuds over which Trekkies get to use "the good names" to a minimum; they're reserved for official use.)
Crystal Kyoto Knights
Team colors: silver and "rainbow" (there were too many arguments about which Sailor Senshi's color to use for the ships' highlights before they decided to use them all)
The Knights are funded by the Senshi and based out of Crystal Kyoto. They were originally an all-male team, but became co-ed in 2012.
Newcomers
Fireflies
Team colors: brown and gray
The Fireflies are based out of Serenity Valley, Ganymede, and are an even mix of Browncoats and Juvies. They joined the Astroball League in 2012.
(need a team here)
Team colors: ? and ?
(backers, home field, team quirks)
They joined the Astroball League in 2012.
(need a team here)
Team colors: ? and ?
(backers, home field, team quirks)
They joined the Astroball League in 2012.
(need a team here)
Team colors: ? and ?
(backers, home field, team quirks)
They joined the Astroball League in 2012.
SOS-dan
Team colors: green and blue, with red lettering
The SOS-dan played in 2012 only. They had a disasterous first half-season, but the mid-season replacement of flanker Mikuru Asahina with Winry Rockbell at least salvaged the team's dignity.
As the name implies, they were backed by the SOS-dan.
(if anyone joined the League in 2013, they get listed here - same format as above)
Sidebar: What about the Wizards?
Hogwarts doesn't field an Astroball team; they're too busy playing quidditch.
Sidebar: Kay and Yuri
The best-known Astroball announcers are Kay and Yuri Lischinsky, based out of Starbase 1. They usually cover Martian weather and Trekkie sports for the Federation News Service, but during the Astroball season, they put that aside and provide live color commentary for every game.
They're the sport's biggest fans, bar none. Kay and Yuri even capped off the 2012 season by getting married in the Starbase 1 Astroball stadium!
So, what are the other Fennish sports like?
--
Rob Kelk
"Governments have no right to question the loyalty of those who oppose
them. Adversaries remain citizens of the same state, common subjects of
the same sovereign, servants of the same law."
- Michael Ignatieff, addressing Stanford University in 2012
![[Image: wink.gif]](http://www.ezboard.com/intl/aenglish/images/emoticons/wink.gif)