Satursday 28 Nueva 1587 CE

It was a morning , just days after the statement by the Severyenne president threatening to bring an end to the Ramzan Government. Much debate had gone but it had been decided they must strike first, they must strike now. They must put into effect Plan Red right away.

Now was the day of the launch of the plan. In the afternoon a variety of schools, hospitals and emergency facilities around the country of Eretzora would be targeted with chemical weapons by ramzan backed belay terror groups, with a view to warding off Severyenne. Meanwhile just aftwerwards just minutes afterwards the airforce would set go right over the border bomb the airbases and military bases and then the army would breach the border while the north part of the army kept watch on the Severyenne border which they had heavily fortified taking troops from the western border.

President Ramzan Igorevich and his defence minister Arman Baltabekov authorized the military implementation of plan red, the liberation of all majority Belay territories in the west of Eretzora and then if they do not decease critical strikes on civillian and military infrastructure in the east potentially reclaiming the land for their own.

At 10:40 around the country maintanence men in the hospitals and schools attempted to put phosgene in all the air conditioning systems of the hospitals and schools they had managed to infiltrate under terror groups supported by the Belay government. They even had the weaponizer. Soon around the country children, elderly and wounded soldiers would be dying.The Fighter jets had took off heading towards the border just a bit earlier. ~They were already ready to breach Eretzoran airspace where they would bomb defence positions as well as airforce bases focusing on the airforce bases first to stop the take off of Eretzoran jets. Then would follow the movement of the troop and tank blitzkrieg over the border.Then war would be declared at mid day.

It was a busy day in the New Zealmarkian Reichsgebouw. the first major independant talks with a souverain nation after the war with Svarna about New Zealmarkian souvereinity. Neither side was victorious but the diplomatic means certainly solved more than first intended for either side and created some new problems that New Zealmark had now the power to solve its problems for itself.
It was with their former enemies that they now wished to negotiate a whole other trade deal in this diplomatic way. The prime minister sent out this official invitation to the svarna leader to come over and have official talks in the Jennaren "castle" formerly inhabited by the soyabarian governor for New zealmark but now the home of democraticly elected New zealmarkian prime ministers

Quote:Dear Goverment of the Svarna people,

I, the prime minister of newzealmark, wish to invite you to diplomatic talks about trade between our people. And open up the way to allow for even more cooperation in the future.
The agenda we propose is as follows:

• Border control of people be moved from the border to the railwaystations, manned by security personell from their respective country
  
• More capacity be added to the existing railway
  
• High speed train connection between our respective capitals
  
• an increase of import and export from both parties
  

Sincerely yours,
The prime minister of New Zealmark

So I came across this football match between Juventus and Inter Milan in 2004 and realized both teams were lined up in a 4-4-2 formation, often associated with the English game, but very common in Italy in the 1990's and early 2000's. All the more interesting to pick an English game and compare that to this one. So I picked a match between Liverpool and Manchester United in 2003. Especially Manchester was one of the best products of English football in that era, under the leadership of Sir Alex Ferguson, known for the English hallmark 4-4-2, and having arch-typical British players like Rio Ferdinand - the defender who excells at heading balls away, Gary Neville and his long balls forward, the ever-hard-working Irishman Roy Keane, and the crossing/long shot experts such as Ryan Giggs, Paul Scholes, and David Beckham.

Liverpool, under a French manager, is more of the French foreign legion, but also possesses Steven Gerrard in midfield whose long passes and presence across the entire pitch made him a top player, even to continental European standards.

It's truly remarkable how sharp the differences suddenly are when you actually compare the two games. I began watching Inter vs Juventus and didn't notice anything out of the ordinary. Then I switched too Liverpool and United, and noticed it was from a different planet almost. I tried to capture the main differences in screenshots, and I think its fairly obvious from the pictures alone just how different these four teams play with the same system.

A Different Ball Game

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So I'm doing this thing where I take a game and distill its essence into the smallest possible form. You would think short videos would be easy...well, they are, but they're a lot more work than people give credit for!

Anyway, I got back into UWO after the server wipe and relaunch (I'm such a sucker), and did one on one of the game's more obscure aspects: shipbuilding.
I might do more, and I might not. Actually, I'm going to copy my post from the game's forums into here, so people can appreciate the entire story behind it.

I think its pretty obvious by now Ramzan is stuffed and war is coming with likely Severyenne , Ererzora and Kazemura involved. So I'm going to propose some timeline and ideas.

So this is how i think it should go:
1:Agents discover documents revealing plans for chemical and bio war against Severyenne , Eretzora and Kazemura. They probably at this point also have knowledge about the "secret" facility where thousands have died during testing
2:War is declared based on evidence of chemical and bio weapons and war crimes
3:Ayanev runs and some figures run, those who stay including ramzan start losing badly but ramzan orders army to not give in threatening execution of those who run from battle.
4:War is eventually won by the coalition forces , now the political opposition parties most of whom opposed ramzan basically work with the coalition on a new system. However conditions are imposed.

I am proposing those conditions be:
1:Closure of all the mental homes
2:Release of political prisoners
3:Overseeing of all elections by foreign powers for the foreseeable future
4:Right to gay relationships enshrined in a new constitution with freedom of speech, assembly etc..
5:Banning of religious parties from forming in Belayazemlya, conservative is allowed but not religious.

I also think there should be dialogue over the yarv valley with any new government with new governments starting on a long term peace process and negotiations with Eretzora which result hopefully in ending of settlements and possibly even some more autonomy(such as a parliament for the belay regions in eretzora)

Twilight, 14 Fein, 1587
The Northern Reaches of Harmajaa -- unincorporated tribal lands referred to as Sappa.
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Eidur Hamsson stopped his ATV and popped off his helmet to rest. He had been driving for nearly three hours. The vehicle was electric and was powered by solar energy, so it was nearly time for him to stop anyway, or at least that's what he told himself. The battery itself likely was still nearly full, as it charged through the day to run at night, but he was ready to rest anyway.

His job was an important one. He was a Field Agent for the Harmajaan special forces and it was his job to survey the land to the north of Harmajaa proper. These were lands mostly untamed, besides the occasional nomadic tribe of Saamo. This was "Sappa" as it was called.

The name came from the lone permanent settlement in the region, a small town whose population ranged from 20 thousand to a few hundred thousand depending on the season. Few buildings were actually permanent, as most of the "citizens" were nomads and came and went as they pleased .

The origins of this strange land are curious indeed. When Harmajaa won its independence, there were a select group of Saamo who rejected the modern ways of the south, preferring instead the tradition and customs of their ancestors. This created a rift between them and the government in Tyko that eventually came to blows. To settle the matter, the government demanded they leave for the north, where they would be left alone for the foreseeable future. Thus, the unincorporated territory of Sappa was created.

This place was barely independent, if one could even consider it that way. The border was not enforced, and Harmajaa protected the seas surrounding the territory. The Sappish regularly travelled south into Harmajaa proper to trade goods and services, particularly in the winter when the far north became increasingly unbearable. Harmajaa was responsible, in fact, for the existence of Sappa the city, as it was constructed prior to the separation. A single road connected the settlement with the rest of the world, as well as a small airstrip.

Sappa was barely governed, as a small council of the most respected Sappish convened once a year to settle major disputes and quarrels. It was a land off the grid, so to speak.

This had benefits for those who liked to be alone and unperturbed, and Sappa became a haven for those who wanted to leave the world at large, though this was a very small minority. There were problems however. In the last several years, hunting had grown to be a problem, and the populations of native fauna were on the brink of extinction. The lack of huntable wildlife drew the Sappish further south, even into Harmajaa, where they conflicted with Harmajaans over their right to hunt. This was the first indication that the present state of affairs could not continue.

The second was the removal of waste. Surely, even remote mountain men create waste. In the civilized world, there are places to take care of this waste in a healthy and sustainable way. In Sappa, there is no such thing. There were several large landfills of sorts where waste and trash were discarded, and over the decades these had grown to cause real problems. One in particular was near a major river that flowed south. The water had grown so unclean that it was nearly unusable and stunk terribly. This was the second sign that Sappa would have to be dealt with.

The third reason was that of human rights abuses. The Sappish, particularly the children, lived in perpetual squalor -- barely educated, barely healthy, barely civilized. While this could be ignored for a time, journalists had grown increasingly critical of the Harmajaan governments tolerance of the state of the Sappish. While they were technically on their own, how could Tyko stand by and let ethnic Saamo live in such poverty. Surely there was something that could be done.

Lastly, there were those in Tyko who were beginning to rattle the sabres of nationalism. Calls for a united Saamo state had grown in popularity, particularly after the conflict in Balochia involving the Lappish. The time, so they said, had come for civilization to come to Sappa, and for the Sappish to join the rest of the planet.

And so, Tyko acquiesced. Plans were drawn up, contingencies established, and resources mobilized. The first step, was to survey the land... this was the job of Hamsson and his compatriots. He had been out for three days, and would be out for another two and a half weeks before he would return to the south. In that time, he and his colleagues would learn all they could about these wild lands, and upon presenting this to their superiors, decisions would be made about how best to return the Sappish to the flock.

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