• Governments are outraged — anti-human violence soars.
• The GFL season is cancelled.
• Purist Nation church coup results in Smith’s death. Mullah Abigail Chase new leader.
2666 Cretarakian officials decide to eliminate the GFL.
• Club football teams flourish.
• A Ki businessman starts a new 12-team league to fill the gap, the Inter-Galactic Football League (IGFL). The IGFL is open to any team.
2667 Despite low caliber of players, limited traveling ability, and a lack of security, the IGFL swells to 26 teams and is an instant hit with football fans.
• The Fangs, a Ki-based team, are killed when a terrorist bomb destroys their team bus.
• Tower Football Club members are killed in a freak cosmic-ray accident.
2668 The IGFL swells to 32 teams. It is a great year for attendance, and a bad year for teams: four teams are lost in shipping accidents or terrorist acts.
• Illegal search-and-seizure by SP forces continues to plague the league, resulting in harassment, beatings, and several injuries that impact game outcomes.
2669 Faced with mounting deaths from unregulated IGFL teams, the Cretarakians again start up the GFL.
• GFL “team busses” are given diplomatic immunity — they cannot be stopped or searched by any SP forces.
• The 18 former GFL teams are re-instated, and 4 IGFL teams are added to the ranks.
• The Cretarakians disband the IGFL, breaking it down into six smaller leagues that play all games within the borders of a single government. Acts of SP harassment drop considerably.
2670 The 22-team GFL enjoys a successful season without any violence.
2671 League officials are flooded with requests by teams wanting to join the GFL.
2672 The GFL reorganizes, absorbing the former IGFL teams as “Second Tier” teams.
2682 The present.
League Structure: Tier One
There are 22 Tier One teams, broken into two 11-team divisions (the Solar Division and the Planet Division).
Teams play a 12-game season, with 10 games against their Division teams and two cross-divisional games.
The top four teams in each division make the eight-team Tier One playoff. This three-round, single-elimination tournament finishes with the Solar Division Champion facing off against the Planet Division Champion in the Galaxy Bowl to determine the GFL Championship.
The two division champs face off in the GFL Championship.
The team in each division with the worst record drops into the Second Tier.
The top two Second Tier teams move into the First Tier.
Players on Second Tier teams that move up are protected for two seasons, to give new First Tier teams a chance to win without their talent being raided.
League Structure: Tier Two
Human League (Planetary Union, League of Planets, Purist Nation)
Tower League (Tower, Leekee)
Ki League (Ki, former Ki Rebel Alliance planets)
Harrah League
Quyth Irradiated League
Sklorno League
Modern-Day Political Alignment
GLOSSARY
The Ace: Quyth Orbital Station I, called “The Ace” by Humans. A massive artificial structure, The Ace was created as a solution to overcrowding on the Quyth homeworld. The Ace is over 350 Earth years old and has a population of 1.1 billion. Also known as “The City of Ice” for the crystaline blue material that makes up buildings and support structures.
The Big Eye: Slang term for Ionath City Stadium.
Bedbug: Slang for Sklorno males, because all they want to do is get the females into bed.
Bureau of Species Interaction: Also known as the BSI, the Bureau is the agency responsible for helping the different races get along. The Creterakians hate war and violence, and will go to great lengths to end the deadly rivalries between the major races.
The Combine: A station orbiting Creterak that functions as the Galactic Football League’s headquarters. All rookies are brought to The Combine for extensive testing before being allowed to play.
Cricket: Racial, derogatory term for Sklorno.
Cross-crescent-star: The symbol of the Purist church, combining the Christian Cross, the Islamic Crescent and the Star of David.
The Deuce: Quyth Orbital Station II, called “The Deuce” by Humans. A massive artificial structure, The Deuce was created as a solution to overcrowding on the Quyth homeworld. The Deuce is almost 300 Earth years old and has a population of 740 million.
Five Star Circle: The symbol of the Quyth Concordia, with one star representing each of the Concordia’s five planets.
Flashbugs: Robots that emit patterns of colored lights. Used in nightclubs.
Fly (flies): Racial, derogatory term for Cretarkians.
Fur scraping: derisive sound made by Quyth Workers, caused by rubbing their forearms. Hard bristles of fur make the noise — equivalent to a “boo” from a Human fan.
Gatholi: Quyth equivalent of “craphead.”
Giving Day: The Purist Nation’s version of Christmas.
High One: The Purist Nation’s name for God.
high-G Human: A Human born and raised on a planet with 1.5 to 2 times the gravity of Earth. High-G Humans tend to be far stronger than normal Humans, and have thicker builds. Where an average Human male stands 6-feet tall and weighs 190 pounds, an average high-G human stands 6-foot-1 and weighs 260 pounds.
Hiropt’s Disease: Neurological disorder caused by bacteria carried in the saliva of roundbugs, an indigenous species of Mining Colony Six. Symptoms include constant shaking, uncontrollable muscle spasms and overall weakness.
Holy Man: A religious leader in of the Purist religion.
Mae gong ka ollclass="underline" Quyth battle cry. Literal English translation: “Now we take the war to you.”
Medsled: Hovercart used by team medical staffers to move injured players off the field.
Messageboard: A flat screen about the size of a 8.5×11 piece of paper. Holds 50 terabytes of data.
Mesh: A cybernetic drug comprised of semi-intelligent bacteria. “Mesh bugs” measure and amplify neurotransmitters, as well as flock to active areas of the brain. Mesh acts as an “intensifier,” greatly increasing sensory response and causing highly realistic hallucinations.
Mission marks: Horizontal stripes enameled onto the arms of Quyth Warriors, signifying combat missions, battles or tours of duty.
Punch motor: Faster-than-light technology developed independently by Humans, The Givers, and other races. A zero-mass envelope field surrounds a microscopic singularity. This singularity is used to “punch” a hole in space/time.
Pyuli: Hallucinogenic drug that affects Humans, distilled from the Pyuli plant that grows on Ki and Ki-terraformed worlds. Causes intense hallucinations.
Referee’s Guild: The GFL’s official licensing body for officials. All officials must attend the annual Guild conference, held at Skygod Orbital Station off planet Shorah.
The Red Moon: A glowing red moon is the symbol of the Sklorno Dynasty. In 2391 ErT, the Sklorno traveled to their moon. Their moon had a flourishing ecosystem, complete with a primitive sentient species. The Sklorno exterminated that species, and took the Red Moon as the symbol for the Dynasty.