Wipeout Chronicles

[keg_11]

At the moment, I'm writing up a sort-of fanfic/histories of all the Wipeout backstory called the Wipeout Chronicles. Although it's similar to what Challenger #001 has done with team backstories, this is a 'full' history: all pilots, all events and the small widgets inbetween.

To make this more authentic to the games, I'm writing the fanfic as I buy/play all the games in the series (with some little deviations from time-to-time).

Full Champions Roll
World Records

AGRC Results*
F3600 Results
F5000 Results
F7200 Results
F9000 Results
FX300 Results
FX350 Results (up to 2214)
FX400 Results (up to 2214)
*Letter in brackets signifies ship class not racing in that event

If anyone has any issues, or would like to see particular stuff, just post below and I can get to it when I can.

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Now on fanfiction.net! https://www.fanfiction.net/s/1045967...out-Chronicles

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Here are links to stories that I've already done:

2214:
2214 Pilots
2214 Review - Pt.1
2214 Review - Pt.2

Teams:
Auricom
Qirex
EG-X Technologies

Personalities:
Kel Solaar
Amara Beshir & Assegai Developments
Pilots of the 2097 AG Racing League
[URL="http://www.wipeoutzone.com/forum/showthread.php?8861-Wipeout-Chronicles&p=224559#post224559"]Wolfgang Van-

[keg_11]

Here's the first of my articles. More content to follow.


2058 - The Drawn Year

Throughout the F3600 years, there had been quite a few close seasons. But none were as ever close as the 2058 League, where there were three draws within the pilots' and team's championships.

2058 started on a low: the first League race to be run since the death of Chinese pilot Daniel Chang in Japan in 2056.The mood on the first race in Canada was sombre as fans and teams were curious and concerned how would the series will go with the new safety measures that had been implemented by the Race Commission. Although they were assured that AG racing would be safe and secure for both the pilots and spectators, not everyone was convinced.

AG Systems managed to attend the race seemingly relaxed, as if Chang's death had never happened. John Dekka still sat in the lead pilot's position but was joined by British pilot Marcus Fairclough. Fairclough was the first of the developmental pilots to make it to the main league, with special training achieved by both AG Systems UK and the Royal Air Force. Fairclough was instantly acknowledged in the AG community as a possible contender for the championship in the future. Fairclough brushed these praises off with modesty.

FEISAR was another team to have a pilot change for the 2058 season. Lead pilot, Sofia de la Rente, had stood down from the main pilot role to concentrate her attention to developmental roles within the team, as well as other interests. Paul Jackson replaced her as lead pilot and was joined by former AGRC pilot, Ami Nakajima. Nakajima had been FEISAR's main test pilot and technical advisor since the start of the F3600, but her popularity from her time a a pilot has never wained. Her comeback was met with near fanatical frenzy. Some critics were concerned about this move, believing this exposure may hinder FEISAR's championship efforts. But FEISAR's new team manager, Patrick Renaudin, was brimming with confidence "...with one of the best pilots of the AGRC, Jackson's 2nd place performance in the 2055 season, and the adjustments done to the ship during the hiatus would catapult FEISAR to the top of the leaderboards."

Auricom and Qirex opted not to change their lineups, with both teams having full confidence in their seasoned pilots. Auricom had undergone quite a transformation over the 2-year hiatus period, with the debut of the AR2800 Model A, the first dual-hulled racing craft in professional AG racing (their dual-hulled prototype from the AGRC didn't count). This craft is said to improve the stability of the craft, if hit by weapons, as the design can accomodate more gravity repulsionm areas as well as the extra power of the new Pro-Am SR980 stabilising surfaces and space left over for larger engines. Despite using the same engines as their outgoing AR2700, albeit modified in-house, the craft has proved to be very promising in pre-season testing.

Both pilots, Arial Tetsuo and Anastasia Cherovoski, claimed that the new craft has exceeded their expectations in terms of handling, and noticed the considerable improvement in speed as well. Team manager, Emile "E.W." Waters says "that both pilots have come well accustomed to the new craft, and can push through the lumbering Qirex craft with ease." Critics claimed that Auricom is the team to beat this season.

Auricom's confidence resulted in Qirex's anxiety. Still satisfied with their progress so far, they spent most of the hiatus just training and conditioning their pilots. When news of Auricom's revoltionary new ship emerged, Qirex hastily upgraded their craft so that it can ram past the American team. However, in pr-season testing, it is obvious, even with the upgrades, the 2058 Qirex ship is struggling to find speed in the corners. If Qirex has any shot in winning the championship, both pilots, Kel Solaar and Arian Tetsuo, would need to work together (which hasn't always been the case).

At the first race at Altima, both Auricoms blew away all the opposition to come out with a very satisfying win: the first 1-2 finish for the team. But most remarkably, Ami Nakajima proved she's still got it by pushing past 6-time champion Kel Solaar to collect 3rd. As ever, Solaar was outraged of the performance of Nakajima, and demanded that an investigation to be put forwards. Despite the accusations (of overpowered machnes), the charges agasinst Nakajima were dropped.

This set the tone for the rest of thes season, with Auricom constantly gaining the top positions on the podium, and the constant battles between Solaar and Nakajima. But the big battles were between the two Auricom pilots. Arial managed to pick up 3 wins and 2 seconds and Cherovoski took the opposite, gong into the final round in Greenland. Nakajima stayed one step ahead of Solaar by placing third for all but one round of the season (which was in Germany, where Nakajima experienced some control problems towards the end, giving third to Solaar). Going into the final round, the placings were: L. TETSUO [41]; CHEROVOSKI [39]; NAKAJIMA [26]; SOLAAR [17].

There were a lot of expectations at Silverstream. The main assumption was that Auricom would dominate, with a slight bias towards Arial Tetsuo taking the win, and Nakajima in third. Despite Qirex's smear campaign during most of the season, there was nothing to stop Arial's pouplarity amongst fans. Kel Solaar, it was rumoured, to be the most pent up anyone had ever seen him in his 20 year career. A former technician at the time noted that "Kel was so tense that a slight misunderstanding could give you break your nose. I once heard him say "I've got nothing to lose. I'm going to go out there and blitz everyone!"

The race got off to a predictable start, with Arial in the lead followed by her teammate, and further back, Solaar. By the end of the first lap, Nakajima pulled ahead of Solaar, but a series of 'lucky' weapon pads saw Solaar pass and pull ahead of Nakajima, and reach the backburner of Arial (Cherovoski had since passed her). Although Arial used the more manoeverable ship to outmatch Solaar, a mistake at the second split saw Solaar take the shorter route and assume second. The race came down to the wire with Solaar and Cherovoski battling out for victory in one of the greatest battles of the time. At first, it was believed that Cherovoski would win and become the champion. Exiting the shorter of the split routes, Solaar rams Cherovoski out of his way and holds onto the lead as they cross the finish line.

Solaar's determination, which was frowned upon by many fans, had led to three draws in the standings: Arial and Cherovoski on 46; Solaar and Nakajima on 26 in the pilots' standings; and FEISAR and Qirex on 29 (including some points scored by Paul Jackson and Arian Tetsuo in the season) in the teams' standings. However, due to the procedures regarding a drawn championship, Arial Tetsuo became the 2058 World Champion as she had claimed more wins than her teammate. Thrid palce was awared to Ami Nakajima (part because she had been more successful thorugout the season, but also to penalise Solaar for his actions in Greenland) and FEISAR claimed 2nd in the teams ahead of Qirex.

Despite this, 2058 signified the first world championship for Tetsuo, and Auricom.

[dreadofmondays]

Loving it. More, more!

[keg_11]

Thanks for the positive comment!
This is actually my first fanfic ever, and I wasn't sure how it would be received by the community.

Now that I've got some motivation, I'll continue!

[keg_11]

Here's the next instalment in the Chronicles, and the first of the rivalry stories...


Famous Rivalries - Nobuyuki Sato v. Konstantin Rykov

If you asked me which was the greatest rivalry in AG racing history, my answer will not be what you'll expect. I admit there are some famous rivalries, such as the Tetsuo twins, or the Belmondo-Khumala battles of the 2159 season. But, in my opinion, the most satisfying rivals would have to be Nobuyuki Sato and Konstantin Rykov of the 2070s.

Nobuyuki Sato made his F3600 debut at the start of the 2069 season. There had been alot of changing around during the pre-season following the retirements of Kel Solaar and Anastasia Cherovoski at the end of the previous season. Sato had replaced Marcus Fairclough after he went to Auricom and was paired with young Italian pilot, Paulo Marino. In his first two seasons, Sato made his presence well felt, with a couple of point scoring finishes in his first season and a couple of podium places the year after. By 2070, AG Systems were the team to beat (following Marino's championship win the year before). Sato continued his phenominal run, winning 5 of the 7 races of the season, giving him the world championship in only his third year of competing.

Konstantin Rykov came up through unconventional channels. Because of the triumphs of Kel Solaar, most up-and-coming Russian pilots would look to Qirex Industries to enchance their careers. However, Rykov went to FEISAR instead. He later claimed that in associating with FEISAR, he would be given the easiest and purist way to enter professional racing, away from the intrigues of media exposure (after all, Qirex was controlled by the Overtel datacast Corporation). After three years at FEISAR Study, Rykov debuted in 2071 and, like Sato, make a big impact, scoring 3 consecutive third placings in Germany, Russia and the United States.

Sato and Rykov saw themselves as serious title contenders for the 2072 season, along with the previous year's champion, Marcus Fairclough. With Qirex's decline following Sofia de la Rente's retirement, this was the first time where the champion's race was wide open. At the first race of the season in Canada, Sato got off to a brilliant start, leaving Rykov and Fairclough to battle it out for second. Numerous times the 2nd/3rd positions switched as both pilots tried to shake off the other. This stalemate caused both pilots to catch up to Sato in the later stages of the race, turning it into a three-way battle royale. Eventually, Fairclough face defeat from his younger rivals and settled for third, with Rykov in second and Sato taking victory.

Throughout the rest of the season, all three pilots showed some of their best races with all three sharing at leat one win each. However, Fairclough managed to put the Canada race behind him to win the 2072 season by 8 points ahead of Sato on 49 and Rykov on 41. After winning his second championship, Fairclough announced his retirement.

At first, alot of people believed that 2073 season was going to be a Sato-Rykov grudgematch, especially with Rykov moving to Qirex. However, they didn't count on Fairclough's replacement at Auricom: female Canadian pilot, Paige Mercer. Mercer was the pride of Canada; a master of the local circuits and destined for championship success in the F3600 League. She was not to disappoint, managing to pull just ahead of Sato to take the 2073 championship, with 5 wins to her name. Both Sato and Rykov scored respectable finishes, normally filling in the podium finishes. But everyone was starting to believe that the battle between Sato and Rykov was never going to happen.

This was even more of a reality during the next season, where Rykov spent most of his time racing against his teammate, the Spaniard Matteo Munoz. Munoz had been called the "Fiery Matador" because of his short temper and agressive piloting style, but it was his behavior during the 2074 season that well earned him this title. At the final race of the season at the Firestar Research Station on Mars, Munoz had pushed passed his teammate and was scratching at the afterburners of second placed Mercer. As they approached the last chicane, it was almost obvious that Munoz wasn't going to pass the agile Canadian so, therefore, he should've held his position and been satisfied for second. However, Munoz would do the opposite: he would shunt into the back of Mercer's craft, putting her into the wall, and safely navigated the corner to achieve second palce, behind Sato. To consolate her misfortune, Rykov would alow Mercer to finish in third. Afterwards, Mercer angrily argued with Munoz over the shunt, eventually riling up the fiery Spaniard. In attempting to break up the fight, Rykov was accidently punched by Munoz, breaking his nose. Although the Commission did not disqualify him from the race, Munoz was banned from racing for five years, and was subsequently sacked from Qirex (Munoz's sacking was also as a result of Rykov's protests to the team about Munoz's attitude). Munoz never saw the track again.

For alot of people, the 2075 season started to bring them the Sato-Rykov battle they had longed for. The Qirex team was harmonious with the signing of FEISAR graduate Makku Eerik, and Rykov pulled all the stops to give himself the best possible chance in winning the championship. Sato too was confident in the season, especially with the pre-season performance of Paulo Marino.

The first three races saw a full-on battle for victory between the three pilots, with Marino winning in Canada and Germany and Rykov taking Japan. However, Sato was the most consistant pilot of the three, scoring three 2nds and two wins, and led the championship battle going into the penultimate race at Silverstream. But, quite unexpectantly, Rykov managed to find the speed he needed (plus Sato had difficulties finding speed) and pulled a wonderful win, with Marino behind him in second, thus going into the final race with 4 points seperating the leaders. On Mars, Rykov managed to replicate his fine form to take out that race as well as his first world championship with Sato in second (3rd in the race), followed by Marino.

2076 was nothing but Sato vs. Rykov, even though they had some challenges from Paige Mercer along the way. Both pilots were constantly on the top two steps on the podium, and displayed some of the closest battles of the era. A prime example was the American round at Arridos IV. With Sato initially leading, those two were neck-a-neck throughout the whole race, passing each other more times than can be counted. Eventually, Rykov held out to win the race, beating Sato by six seconds. The final race on Mars seemed anti-climatic, with Rykov holding a firm lead and eventually taking the race by 11 seconds. But on the podium, Sato embraced Rykov, and later said that "Konstantin won this season just as much as I have. I couldn't have a better opponent to fight against."

Both pilot's dominance would wane over the years. Sato would spent the next few years in the midpack, in the shadow of Paige Mercer (who would replace the retiring Marino at AG Systems in 2077) before retiring at the end of the 2079 season. Rykov would switch to Auricom (which was one of the biggest controversies at the time) and would win two more championships in 2077 and 2081 (with AG Systems) before retiring himself.

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AUTHOR'S NOTE: By chance, I had created and likened the rivalry between Sato and Rykov to that of Formula One drivers James Hunt and Niki Lauda of the 1976 season (exactly one hundred years prior to the legendary 2076 season!). I had been watching videos on YouTube of this season and Ron Howard's dramatisation, called 'Rush', and it occured to me to turn this championship contest between the two pilots to an all-out rivalry.

I (kind of) used Hunt's praise of Lauda at the Japanese Grand Prix to reflect the competitive nature between Sato and Rykov.

[pask765]

I thought Belmondo and Khumala were rivals in the 2159 season, not the 2059 season.

[keg_11]

I thought Belmondo and Khumala were rivals in the 2159 season, not the 2059 season.

Whoops, typo. Thanks for pointing that out.

[stin]

You know, I have had really enjoyed your story and keep going.

stevie

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Since I'm having my mid-year break from Uni, I may not get around to writing any many entries as I would like to do, but I plan to work on these next few topics over the next couple of weeks:

-Origins of dual-hulled craft
-Arial Tetsuo
-Kel Solaar
-Amara Beshir (Assegai founder)

Just giving you guys a heads up to what I'm doing.

[F.E.I.S.A.R]

Amara Beshir-Founder of Assegai..? Fanon name,or is it canon?
As for dual hull,I bet that Auricom started it in the AGRC,with their Prototype. Standardisation in the F-3600 meant that they returned to single-hull. Scientists at Auricom possibly worked behind the scenes to continue the research they did with the AGRC Prototype,and they came up with a dual-hull chassis that was approved by the Race Commission.

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Well, I'm not exactly sure about Beshir being the founder of Assegai. I was looking at the changes done to Wipeout Central (WC) and noticed someone had wrote her as Assegai's founder. But as she is referenced in Belmondo's last 'psyche-impulse' as a pioneer of the AG track (see Wipeout 3 SE's manual), I kind of assumed this was plausible to be canon (Assegai, possibly, increased AG racing popularity in Africa). I may be wrong. If so, I will change what I can.

And yeah, that's exactly what I was writing dual hull around: It started as a radical prototype in the AGRC, refused entry in the F3600, but made it's debut in the 2058 season (as per my fanon - see previous page).

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The next entry in the Chronicles. Also, I have just received WO3: SE in the mail so I'll be doing/finishing the records for the F5000 and F7200 Leagues for the moment. It'll be good because it'll give me more material to write more CHronicles and do a few crossovers as well (between Leagues).


Origins of Dual-Hulled AG Craft (For a more detailed excerpt on Qirex's point of view, click here)

Dual-hulled craft have been an icon of AG racing for most of its history. Half of all the teams currently competing in the FX400 League run a variant of the celebrated architecture, based on the team’s characteristics. The ship still wows spectators today as it did when it debuted in the inaugural years of the AGRC.

As part of the conditions of the AGRC, each team must develop a prototype ship design to be presented to the racetrack sometime during the 2050 season. The goal of this was to demonstrate what a craft of the future should be like, as well as initiate development projects within the competing teams. All the teams accepted this condition and started development of their prototype crafts at the start of 2048, some even starting the year before. However, American team Auricom Research Industries, led by Delia Flaubert, opted to wait until the end of 2048 to start.

Flaubert had been the Chief Science Officer at AG Systems, and was in charge of the design and development of new technologies at the company. When Flaubert formed Auricom, following her dismissal form AG Systems, she structured the company with a considerable influence on design and development rather than manufacturing. This was also due to her stubborn belief in Pierre Belmondo’s philosophy of using AG technology for the benefit of all. As such, most of their ships had been average in ability. To compensate for this, the team put some emphasis on the durability of their craft; a trait that would become a hallmark of Auricom.

It was this reason that Auricom opted to focus on the craft’s durability when designing their Prototype craft. Also, their late start of their prototype gave them an idea of the competition currently racing, so they could exploit their weaknesses. After extensive study, the design team in charge of the prototype decided to increase the power of the AG generators. They saw that after a hit with a weapon, the crafts tended to drift uncontrollably for a few moments and that the answer to this problem was to raise the magnetic strength of the generators.

However, this theory was not as easy to implement. The added power to the Generators had several effects on the test craft ranging from lack of thrust to disturbance with the controls. It became evident that their conventional ships would not work, so a new ship would have to be built from the ground up. However, things were about to change as a result of an idea from junior engineer, Cole Pine.

Pine had been employed by Auricom after he graduated from Pennsylvania State University, and was quickly placed with the development team of the Prototype craft. Pine had been renowned to ‘think outside the box’ despite his average engineering and problem solving skills. Whilst everyone was organising themselves around a single-hull ship, Pine realised that the problem lay not in the specifics of the ship, but the general ship itself: the added power could not be supported on a streamlined single-hulled ship. He quickly proposed the idea of a dual hulled ship straight to team principle “E.W.� Waters and, indirectly, Flaubert herself.

Pine pointed out that because of the added area of the two hulls, the added strength of the AG generators can be eually distributed over the two side hulls which, in turn, would keep the craft upright better than a single-hull craft and provide space for more powerful engines. As well as these points, Pine pointed out that because of the twin-hulled architecture, they can create less air resistance and is significantly lighter than a traditional single hull ship. (Pine had gotten these idea from his father’s ‘catamaran’: a dual-hulled boat).

Interested (and cursing that she never thought of it), Flaubert pushed this idea through and, by early 2050, the first twin-hull prototype was tested. Everyone in Auricom was amazed with what they created; a highly stable craft that doesn't lose speed from collisions with weapons or walls, and have the potential of higher speeds than what was used (in the test). The only shortfall of this craft was the harder handling because of the wider and less aerodynamic chassis. But Flaubert maintained that this was a minor issue that the pilots can easily overcome.

At the first prototype races, the Auricom craft punched above this weight by constantly competing at the front. The only crafts that could beat Auricom were the FEISAR and possibly the Pir-Hana prototypes, due to their speed. The results proved so positive that Auricom planned to build a production model for full-time competition. However, influenced by Pierre Belmondo, the AG Race Commission re-structured the AGRC to standardise the championship. As such, Auricom were initially denied use of the dual-hulled craft for professional competition but after a discussion with League officials, Auricom were allowed to introduced the dual hull any time after the year 2056 (after 5 years of the F3600).

At first, Auricom had some difficulties balancing their racing commitments with the dual hull development. They managed to get a ship almost ready for competition in the 2057 season. However, Daniel Chang’s death during the 2056 season halted all AG racing until improvements in pilot safety were addressed. Auricom used this to their advantage and concentrated all their resources to get the dual hull ship ready for when the F3600 League returned.

The craft made it’s highly anticipated debut at the first round of the 2058 season in Canada to the awe of spectators. With the increased stability over their rivals, critics claimed that the new craft would be hard to beat. Their predictions were right, with Auricom dominating the season to take the Team’s Championship with ease, despite both pilots, Arial Tetsuo and Anastasia Cherovoski, tied with 46 points apiece. The next season wasn’t as dominant as the previous year, but Auricom still remained a competitor by taking the championship for a second year in succession, with Tetsuo taking her second Pilot’s Championship as well.

Unfortunately, this is where Auricom’s dominance with the dual hull ended. Qirex, vengeful because of Auricom’s dominance, built their own dual-hulled ship for the 2061 season. With Kel Solaar and Sofia de la Rente, Qirex would dominate the 2060s taking all but one of the Team’s Championships. But despite this, the reputation of dual-hulled ships had been cast and had revolutionised AG craft design for years to come.

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AUTHOR'S NOTE: I wrote this entry based on the description of the Auricom Prototype form 2048. If my description is inaccurate let me know and I'll edit this into the entry.

[keg_11]

Sorry for an delay in more content. I have been a bit slack for the whie due to holiday and uni starting up again. So here's a little filler in the mean time.

I wrote this a couple of months ago when I bought 2097, planning to post to this thread. Hope everyone likes it.
P.S: For reference, I'll upload the F5000 results asap

Pilots of the 2097 AG Racing League


FEISAR:

--GEOFFREY MBOTHO--
AGE: 25
NATIONALITY: South African
ID: MBOT194.15.32.92

Geoffrey Mbotho's nickname is "Africa's wonder pilot", and he well intruely holds up this title. Before AG racing, Mbotho was known to be a "test" pilot as such, testing a home-made ship he and his friends built together in his home town of Johannesburg. He was quickly noticed by FEISAR scouts as they toured the region in the mid 2090s. Seizing the opportunity to broaden their reach, FEISAR offered Mbotho a five-year contract with the team, bringin wealth to him and his community. Mbotho had his presence felt within his first two years of competition, scoring several finishes in the points, and managing 5th place in the 2096 season. Expect this hotshot to fly with the top-runners this season!

--JEREMY HUNT--
AGE: 22
NATIONALITY: English
ID: HUNT175.3.54.26

Jeremy Hunt is best remembered for being the youngest ever pilot to be signed onto a professional team. However, that's where most of the praise stops as Hunt is still having trouble to gain position as he was expected by everyone around him. Hunt was always hooked on AG racing, it's even rumoured that he was able to say "FEISAR" before mummy. This became a big problem for his parents, as they tried to get him into other hobbies and sports. But Hunt was nothing but one thing: AG racing. His determination and love of the sport led him to dominate the junior leagues in Europe before being signed to race with FEISAR at 16, beating the Tetsuo twins and Sofia de la Rente as the youngest rookie in history by two years (albeit he didn't actually compete in a full season until 2093).

--DAWN ATKINSON--
AGE: 26
NATIONALITY: American
ID: ATKI140.4.68.40

Despite being American born and bred, Dawn Atkinson spent most of her education and training in Europe. A recent graduate of the FEISAR pilot development program, Atkinson was installed quite quickly as second pilot after Xavier Wilson's fatal elimination during the 2091 season. Atkinson is one of the smartest pilots in the field. Not surprising as she has an IQ of 130 and aced FEISAR's pilot's program with ease. This has helped Atkinson keep a good, consistant pace with the other pilots. However, she would need to be more agressive if she hopes to catch the top pilots.


AG SYSTEMS:

--SABURO OHASHI--
AGE: 30
NATIONALITY: Japanese
ID: OHAS220.59.21.100

Already a two time champion, Saburo Ohashi's dominance has waned a little over the past few years, but still remains one of the guys to beat in this year's season. Ohashi was your typical Japanese pilot: rose through the ranks of AG racing through AG Systems, then granted a seat with the Japanese team for the tragic 2089 season. Despite a few bottom placings, Ohashi remained patient and eventually rose through the ranks to rival Qirex's heavy ships for a few years, eventually winning back to back championships in 2094 and '95. It was Ohashi that made AG Systems a serious contender in the F5000.

--KUMIKO TAKAHASHI--
AGE: 26
NATIONALITY: Japanese
ID: TAKA225.99.80.68

If Ohashi was flying the flag for Japan & AG Systems, Kumiko Takahashi would easily be his successor. The talented pilot from Hokkaido was one of AG Systems' best test pilots, comparable to that of the late John Dekka. She was a bit hesitant at first to take up a full time seat in the championship, but she was more than happy to work with Ohashi whom she had idolised from the side. In response, Ohashi was more than happy to be her mentor. With this huge potential and one of the best mentors you can ask for, Takahashi has grown a lot over her three years of competition, and has already been tipped to take out this year's championship.

--TIM ABASI--
AGE: 28
NATIONALITY: Kenyan
ID: ABAS285.52.30.46

FEISAR weren't the first team to go to Africa to scout new talent. AG Systems just pipped them to the post and managed to find Tim Abasi in the plains of Kenya. Although it was a risky decision to put someone with virtually no experience with any AG racer into a professional seat, AG Systems withheld Abasi for a few years to train him up. When he first appeared on the circuit in 2094, he had some trouble with the pace of the seasoned pilots, but scored some respectable finishes in the next season. Whether a "good-idea-at-the-time" flop or a promising prodigy, only time would tell.


AURICOM:

--SEBASTIAN LOEWE--
AGE: 32
NATIONALITY: German
ID: LOEW374.2.1.53

This German is a legend on the circuit! Blitzing last year's championship, there seems to be little that can stop this hotshot. Descended from some famous German Formula One drivers, it was almost certain that Loewe will rise to racing greatness. He wasn't to disappoint, as he dominated FEISAR's pilot's development program before being promoted, at the last minute, to a League seat after Xavier Wilson's fatal elimination in 2091. Over the next two years, Loewe would constantly give the leaders a considerable threat as he claimed fourth behind Qirex's dominance and AG Systems' Saburo Ohashi. This success caught the eye of Auricom, who signed on Loewe for the 2094 season (replacing Jacob Van Vuuren). Loewe would battle against AG Systems to reach 3rd (2094), 2nd (2095) and finally his first championship in 2096, defeating Kumiko Takahashi by 10 points.

--ALEX ALEXANDERSSON--
AGE: 26
NATIONALITY: Swedish
ID: ALEX337.1.6.72

A quiet pilot, Alex Alexandersson has always been a consistant pilot, gleaming with lots of natural talent. She was quite an unknown pilot during her first season in 2091, but has come quite a long way to become last year's third placed pilot. She also has a strong relationship with her teammate, Sebastian Loewe, since her first season (Loewe was with FEISAR). This has led datacast companies to suggest a more intimate affair between the two. This particuarly irritated Alexandersson, who reportatedly punched a reporter after he kept pressing this issue during a private interview for American datacasts (Alexandersson was remorseful, of course).

--ANDREA PEREZ--
AGE: 32
NATIONALITY: Spanish
ID: PERE340.5.4.72

Although Andrea Perez is one the most experienced of all the current lineup, she is still one of the least competitive pilots as well, failing to score a single point in her entire career. Rather, she is a well-experienced test pilot, associating herself with FEISAR for 15 years (through the pilot's development program and racing in the Venom/Rapier Leagues) before moving to Auricom. When Auricom became really dominant during the mid 2090s, their craft development really took a step up. Part of this was the luring of Perez to Auricom to give her opinion on the new craft as well as support the team's on-track success where she can. She is expected to become a leading developmental advisor with Auricom once she retires.


QIREX:

--VLADIMIR TUCHYON--
AGE: 36
NATIONALITY: Russian
ID: TUCH497.7.2.3468

The most experienced pilot in the field, Vladimir Tuchyon first associated himself with Qirex since the League was upgraded to F5000 specification. He was also one of the most agressive in the sports history, with a number of controversies and eliminations to his name. One such event was during the 2089 season, where Tuchyon was charged with a suspended ban after blocking FEISAR pilot Xavier Wilson from passing, almost causing an elimination. However, this did not stop him to become world champion in 2091 (Qirex' clean sweep) and 2092 (despite protests from Auricom and AG Systems).

--ANDREW ZAO--
AGE: Unknown
NATIONALITY: Hong Konger
ID: ZAOX469.1.9.4778

Not too much in known about Andrew Zao, despite his Hong Kong origins. Zao is a secretive pilot, prefering to focus on the race and shun almost all exposure. This worked in his favour as he rose up to become the 2093 champion. There had been many theories about his background and intentions, one in particular stated he was actually a Chinese spy, testing the waters for the new Piranha team entering in this year's League. Zao has so far denied such allogations.

--ALISA RYKOV--
AGE: 24
NATIONALITY: Russian
ID: RYKO465.7.6.2569

Daughter of three-time F3600 champion Konstantin Rykov, Alisa Rykov is considered to be a future champion for her skill as well as her lineage. Konstantin introduced Alisa to AG racing when she was a little girl and raised her as a formidable pilot after he retired from competition in 2082. Although Konstantin managed to get Alisa to associate with Qirex, it was her skill alone that led to her to becoming one of their main pilots: a feat few Qirex pilots have done. Furthermore, she was able to score her first F5000 points in her first season. Apart from the AG Systems-Auricom battles at front, she is the starlet to watch.


PIRANHA:

--GUO MING--
AGE: 25
NATIONALITY: Chinese
ID: GUOX558.22.75.88

Guo Ming is the 'golden child' of both Piranha and the People's Republic of China. Guo is the product of Piranha's pilot development program and worked very closely with Piranha's P-666 v.Prototype. Piranha claimes that this association with the prototype craft can create the optimum pilot-craft connection that would bring out both the pilot's and the ship's potential. However, most of the information of Guo's background have been supplied by Piranha and certain facts have been undisclosed by Chinese Anti-Gravity Federation (CAGF). For example, official sources claim that Guo had an unconditional love for the sport since he was very young and had "valiantly fought through the ranks to be the perfect pilot for the team's perfect ship". Therefore, the overall image of Guo as the 'ultimate pilot' is sceptical.

--HENRY CLAYDON--
AGE: 26
NATIONALITY: British
ID: CLAY505.59.13.37

Although quite unheard of in the big leagues of AG racing, Henry Claydon was an expensive, and unusual, signing. Claydon has always been associated with the sport, achieving back-to-back championships in the European League and had tested for FEISAR on a number of occasions, but was never cosidered by any of the major teams. It was quite a surprise to see Claydon pilot the second of Piranha's ships, but however has shown a substantial improvement in his skill in his practice runs with the team and can possibly give lead pilot Guo Ming the backup he needs to cement Piranha as a threat to the competition. There has rumoured to be pleanty of cursing by the main teams regretting they ever overlooked the now-strong Brit.

--LU�S RIBEIRO--
AGE: 20
NATIONALITY: Brazilian
ID: RIBE5873.80.96.46

As most AG race fans know, Piranha was originally a Brazilian company under the name Pir-Hana. When the company moved to China during the 2050s, there was a clause in the contract which made sure that some operations will remain in Brazil and must co-operate with a Brazilian correspondant. In essence, this was to keep the team partially Brazilian. When Piranha were choosing their pilots for the F5000, Brazil requested that one of the main pilots was a Brazilian. After months of trials and selection, they eventually chose Sao Paulo native, LuÃ*s Ribeiro. Ribeiro was a cadet pilot in the Brazilian Air Force and had been a test pilot of their AG development program. Therefore, he was quite knowlegable in the inner working of AG technnology. Although he seems to be quite talented with a normal AG craft, ther had been doubts that this can be reflected in Piranha's monstrous prototype. Rumour has it that if it wasn't for the clause, Piranha wouldn't have gone anywhere near South America for a pilot.

[keg_11]

After an afternoon of writing, I've come up with my longest and, I think, most comprehensive entry yet: a biography of the Tetsuo twins.

This is not just a review on their racing careers, but a full biography of both pilots that includes their early lives, racing careers and lives after retirement. I've tried to be as authentic as I can be, but if there's anything out of place, just holla.

Enjoy!

EDIT: Since my intentions of this fanfic was to create a well accepted back-story, I've rewritten the last few paragraphs so that the twins would live a little bit longer (and peacefully. I had written the assassination nonsense because someone had put it in the WC pages for Arial and Arian [this had since been removed]).

EDIT 2: Arial's death is back to assasination after discovering the event mentioned in an overview of Nami Mishima from Wipeout Fusion's Press Releases disc.


Famous Rivalries - The Tetsuo Twins: Arial and Arian

The most famous rivalry in the history of AG racing (and arguably the most famous pilots in their own right) would be, without a doubt, the Tetsuo twins: Arial and Arian. No pilot after them has matched them in terms of charisma and intensity of their vendetta with each other (apart from maybe Zmitser Tikotsky-David Colquhoun or Natasha Belmondo). Also, it was partially because of their rivalry that the everlasting rivalry between Auricom and Qirex evolved and lives on to this day.

The twins were born on 3 April 2030 in Tokyo (Arial being older by 5 minutes) and lived most of their early lives in Shibuya. It was here that their strongly bitter rivalry started. Their father was a stockbroker with a leading international brokerage firm. But because he was making trades with many overseas customers, he was working up to and more than 20 hours a day. Although, because of technology, he was able to work from home, he only got to see his twin daughters for a very small amount of time. As such, time spent with the twins was strictly rationed with the twins monitoring how much time was spent. Although there is no evidence claiming time was shared out less equally, Arian believed that Arial was the favoured twin.

The conflict that arose from this arrangement dominated the twins’ childhood and teenage lives. When Arial got an A, Arian got an A++; when Arian was the first to have a boyfriend, Arial was the first to {censored}. However, they gradually grew up along two different paths: Arial was a confident socialite, always buying the latest fashions, the latest tech and was the life of the party; whereas Arian was more reserved, more darker and was a rebellious tomboy who had several shaves with the law. The death of their father in 2042 created more conflict between the two girls. It had been reported that the two girls brawled at each other after school in 2045 which left them with numerous cuts and bruises and Arian with a broken wrist. Both were charged for the incident.

But there was one thing that the twins had in common: racing. After their father died, their mother got the girls into motor racing (and, subsequently, experimental AG racing) to release energy and become generally calmer in temperament. Both girls showed bounds of potential in small club races around Tokyo, but only Arial pursued a possible career in racing eventually competing in the inaugural Anti-Gravity Youth League of Japan.

Arian’s attitude prevented her from following her sister into the higher leagues, but in hindsight it may have been for the better as Arian’s character and skill matured as she was apart from her sister. Arian competed in various street racing competitions around the Tokyo Metropolis, and was rumoured to be the fastest driver on the Wangan line: a 22km section of the Shuto Expressway notorious for high-speed street racing.

Through their different paths, both sisters achieved so much success and exposure that they were both hired by the big Ag companies to race in the inaugural AG Racing Championships: Arial was hired by Auricom after winning her second consecutive Youth League title in 2047, and Arian was invited by Qirex to come to Russia and train using their all-terrain simulator. It was quite a shock when both pilots ran into each other at the opening ceremony of the first Anti-Gravity Racing Championship in 2048: it turned out; neither of them knew the other twin had also been hired to race. Despite efforts by both of them to exclude the other pilot, all requests were denied, and saw themselves facing off each other at the first round of the 2048 season at the fearful Empire Climb.

Despite their rivalry, they managed to perform considerably well, and were both chosen in their respective team line-ups for the first F3600 League season in 2052. But that was when the gloves came off. Throughout each race of the season, they were more concerned about running the other team off the track than to actually race (this was due to the more conventional race/season structure when compared to the AGRC). As such, both twins finished at the bottom of the table, despite a few points finished along the way. The two kept fighting against each other for several seasons (but, oddly, kept achieving a better overall result) until 2055, where both Auricom ships (Arial and teammate Anastasia Cherovoski) were plagued with ship problems throughout the season. Arial finished last and Arian finished 3rd behind FEISAR’s Paul Jackson and her teammate, Kel Solaar.

This result was switched in 2058. With the introduction of Auricom’s revolutionary dual-hull ship, both Auricoms belted the competition with Arial taking her first championship win based on number of victories. Both Qirex ships struggled to keep up with the new ships, particularly Arian who scored only 5 points between 2058 and ’59. To try and get back at Auricom, Qirex launched a smear campaign in 2059 to undermine Arial, who had become popular with younger fans. Numerous verbal attacks were placed on her ranging from cheating to extremes such as allegations of prostitution as a teenager. This ran until 2060 when the F3600 Anti-Gravity Race Commission formally accused Qirex of blackmail against Auricom. Even if the campaign worked, it would’ve affected the performance on field which started to turn Qirex’s way.

But things were starting to change between the twins. During the 2056-57 hiatus, Arial had acquired an interest in politics and became the Democratic Party of Japan’s (DPJ) main representative of Tokyo 7th District in 2061. However, Arial knew that her racing commitments were restricting her political ambitions. When her contract with Auricom ended after 2061, she was ready to move full-time into politics, but an offer to pilot with FEISAR halted this. This was because this offer was on a race-by-race status and was mainly to help tutor FEISAR’s up-and-coming pilots. The 2062 season was undoubtedly their greatest season between the two with both twins constantly on the podium, and Arian taking second by 14 points over her twin. Satisfied with this result, Arial signed on for another year and both twins showed a similar performance, but not as hotly contested (Arian would win a few races of that season). Arial would retire at the end of the season.

However, Arian stayed racing with no signs of retirement. By this point, her attention had shifted from defeating her sister to taking over the lead pilot position at Qirex once Kel Solaar retired. This motivation created several good seasons for Arian, placing herself as a middle-front runner, with a couple of runner-up positions along the way. When Solaar retired, Arian became Qirex’s lead pilot but was up against stiff competition for the 2069 League from her new teammate, Sofia de la Rente.

De la Rente was FEISAR’s main pilot until 2056, where she left the League to pursue other interests, such as long-distance AG racing and other sports. She returned in 2062 to replace Arian and had become one of the best pilots in the league, winning the previous two Championships. Now with Qirex, she had no intentions of slowing down.

Knowing what she was up against, Arian trained extra hard to beat her teammate and take the title for herself. However, this proved fruitless as she finished fourth in the championship behind her teammate, Auricom’s Marcus Fairclough and AG Systems’ Paulo Marino. After a few more seasons of dismal results, Arian’s contract with Qirex expired and was denied both a new contract and an extension on her old one. With no interest for from the other teams, Arian was forced to retire.

In their retirements, neither Tetsuo twin stood away from the limelight. After retiring, Arial successfully lobbied to be elected the member of Tokyo 7th District in 2068 (which she would hold until her retirement in 2086). From there, she withhold several positions within her party and the government including Public Relations Committee Chair (DPJ); Diet Affairs Committee Chair (DPJ) and Minister for Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (Diet) before being elected Party President in 2076 and, subsequently, Prime Minister in 2078. Her biggest contribution was the reinvigoration of Japan’s motorway network to accommodate Anti-gravity vehicles, which were starting to see mainstream domestic use, as well as many international co-operations and projects. Arial’s down-to-earth but firm-handed approach to diplomacy was strongly liked by everyone, leading to a personality cult around her. Her unrivalled popularity allowed her to be elected a second term in 2082, before retiring from national politics just before the 2086 elections, wanting to draw her attention to international politics (namely the UN).

Arian was still quite known, for all the wrong reasons. Jealous of her sister came to power; she had joined a group of right-wing extremists whose goal was to undermine the DPJ. It has been reported that Arian had been involved in many conspiracies to undermine, even harm Arian and the DPJ. Arian was eventually arrested, along with several others, in 2085 for conspiring to attack the headquarters of the DPJ. Arian was sentenced 10 years imprisonment. In 2086, before her retirement, Arial went to see her sister in prison to offer her forgiveness for the rivalry between each other.

This appeared to have worked, as Arian’s normally brutish behaviour subsided after she was released in 2089. In one race in 2092, fans witnessed both Arial and Arian together in a friendly manner, which was completely against their everlasting vendetta with each other. Arian reveals the reason for her behaviour in an interview with a leading British datacast channel:

“All my life, I had always seen my sister as nothing but a rival. And it was obvious she saw the same thing in me. We had stubbornly believed this throughout all our lives at almost everything, and seeing her be more popular or more successful made me so sick of her I actually wanted to kill her (which I helped attempt). But when she visited me in prison, I saw a different Arial. She seemed defensive and stubborn and more open and compassionate. No way was this the Arial I knew. Normally, I would’ve taken those words she said to me and told her to ‘shove them up your arse’ but the manner in which she said made me think: was Arial being absolutely serious? And then I thought: if she’s acting this way, maybe I should (a bit). I mean, despite we’re enemies, we’re still twins after all.”

As such, Arian moderately supported Arial as UN Ambassador for Japan until Arial’s full retirement from politics in 2095. Both twins would continue to be associated in AG racing in one form or another, particularly with AG Systems. They would both be alive when AG racing was upgraded to F7200. Tragically, Arial would be assassinated whilst opening a raw egg bar in Shibuya on 11 March 2117. A period of international mourning was observed for several weeks following her death. Arian would pass away peacefully 6 June 2122 after a long battle with heart disease.

In honour of the twins, AG Systems would establish the ‘Tetsuo Scholarship’ with their pilot development program mainly designed to support middle-class siblings entering AG racing (although this is also applicable to a single child).

-----------------
AUTHOR'S NOTE: The section that implies that domestic AG vehicles didn't start rolling out until c.2080 is based off the prediction from futuretimeline.net. It also states that domestic AG vehicle research by domestic car companies doesn't really start until c.2050. I added this in as it shows some sort of realism to society outside AG racing: AG racing teams pioneer the technology; this is evolved, eventually, into domestic use (like how military tech makes its way into the public's hands).

[F.E.I.S.A.R]

Arial was killed by a right-wing extremist on 11 October 2089, a few days before accepting the role of UN Ambassador of Japan. Although unclear of the motivations for the assassination, the perpetrator (whose name is withheld) was sentenced to death. Arial was given a state funeral and a period of national mourning was imposed, for both her political and her sporting career. Arian was released in 2090 on parole and lived the rest of her life in mourning of her sister. She would pass away of heart failure on 6 June 2098 and taking with her an iconic rivalry of AG racing to be remembered forever.

I will admit that the lives the twins lived was NOT a fail.
Now for some calculations:
Arial died 2089-2030=59 years old
Arian died 2098-2030=68 years old
But the ages when they died? I find that a(n epic) fail.

[keg_11]

How old do you think they lived? (or should live?)

[F.E.I.S.A.R]

I'd figure they would live to at least 70. And that they would have AIs in their liking(if not exact replica) after they have departed.

[keg_11]

Amara Beshir & Assegai Developments

Amara Beshir can be considered to be the person who brought AG racing to Africa. Although this isn’t exactly true, Beshir did play an important role in the decision to expand the sport into the African continent and, in turn, establish Africa’s leading AG research corporation, Assegai Developments.

Beshir was born on 23 February 2077 in Cairo, Egypt. Her father was an executive businessman from a French sporting goods manufacturer (who had minor involvement with AG racing), so the family spent a considerable amount of time living in France. It’s unclear that it was because of her father’s job or from general exposure, but Beshir was very interested in AG racing from a young age. By the age of 15 she was racing in the European junior leagues at quite a competitive level. She would win the European Vector Championship in 2100 and was employed as a FEISAR test pilot the next year.

But what was quite noticeable about Beshir was her belief in Pan-Africanism. Since the early 21st century, the African nations had co-operated with each other to pursue greater economic and civil reform for all African nations. By the end of the century, Africa had became, if not already, key player in international politics and economy (through the African Union and several of its member nations such as South Africa, the East African Federation and the Arab-African nations). However, it was not completely stable. To aid their neighbouring countries as well as to recover from a downturn in their national markets, South Africa merged with neighbouring Namibia, Botswana, Lesotho and Swaziland to form the United African Nations in 2100 (but still referenced themselves by their former nationalities).

With a maturing socio-economic status in comparison with the rest of the world, it became obvious to the F5000 AG Race Commission that AG racing needed an African team. When Pierre Belmondo announced the plans to upgrade the F5000 to F7200 specification, he announced the potential to introduce new teams in the new League, with at least one to be African. As such in 2112, the F5000 Commission sent an invite to the African Union for them to compete in the new F7200 League.

Amara Beshir expressed great interest in the plan and lobbied the heads of FEISAR to associate herself with the establishment of the team. By this point, she had moved away from ship testing to become more involved in the administration of the company as a whole. Beshir was named as one of the heads of the new team. Over the next couple of months, Beshir would work with many businessman and engineers, African representatives and former African pilots (including Africa’s first world champion, Jacob Van Vuuren). Beshir worked particularly closely with the ship the new team would race. Above all, she emphasized on the handling of the craft, so that the pilots that will control the craft would have a good starting point if they want to pursue the sport further (this came from experience with FEISAR). The pre-season testing of the ship at the Makgadikgadi salt pan showed a quick ship with extraordinary agility. This prompted Beshir to rename the team from “Team Africa” to “Team Assegai”, after the traditional South African long spear.

The success of the ship in the Cross-Africa Sprint Cup, along with the added boost in the national GNP for the UAN prompted Beshir to take the team to the next level. After six months of lobbying to both the UAN and the AU, Beshir reconstructed the team into a fully-fledged AG development company called “Assegai Developments”, with Beshir as its president.

Whilst the team produced some respectable finished on the track, Beshir continued to make the company as African as possible and in turn benefit the continent as a whole. The main example was the re-establishment of AG racing in Africa by way of the African AG Sprint Championships, where the winning pilot would be offered a racing seat with Assegai for the following F7200 championship. This produced some great African talent; most notable was Roland Ncita, who would help pilot Assegai to their maiden Championship victory in 2127.

By this point, Beshir had diverted her attention to the F7200 Commission. When Pierre Belmondo passed away in the same year as Assegai’s victory, Beshir nominated herself to replace him. However, she was just beaten by Briton Roger Bowen, but instead held an advisory role on the F7200 board. When Overtel finally took over the Commission in 2132, her position on the board became increasingly strained as Overtel kept increasing the media value of the sport rather than promoting international sportsmanship and technological development. Eventually, she would resign from her advisory role with the Commission and went back to Assegai as President once more. Also, she had become a member of the Belmondo Foundation, which had often clashed with Overtel over League policy.

Because of this political conflict, in addition to the stresses of supporting the company in this period of AG racing, Beshir decided to step down from the presidency and retire in 2140, passing on the role of President to Dannie Maringa, Assegai’s former Team Principal. This may have seen as a good step for Beshir as she had started to display some health problem in the later years of her career, eventually being crippled after a massive stroke in 2141 which left her in a coma for several weeks. Beshir would recover marginally, but would succumb to complications from this stroke on 6 May 2144.

For a lot of African AG fans, the loss of Beshir was a major tragedy for the promotion and performance of their continent abroad as she was seen as Africa in the AG community. Some critics claim that it was no surprise that Assegai declined substantially during the 2140s and was eventually bought out by Piranha (the team who had expressed the most interest in Assegai) in 2150. But, differing from the fates of AG Systems and Qirex, Piranha kept Assegai functioning as a semi-independent body (as a sign of their respect for the Africans). Assegai’s patent stability technology was used in the development of the HFS-T Push-Pull Stabilizers used on their Swiftkiller F9000 ship, which contributed to Piranha’s dominance during this period of racing.

Although indirectly, many people (including Pierre Belmondo) believe that Amara Beshir was a pioneer of the sport, despite appearing long after the invention of the sport, by bringing it to the plains of Africa for the first time.

[Amaroq Dricaldari]

AUTHOR'S NOTE: By chance, I had created and likened the rivalry between Sato and Rykov to that of Formula One drivers James Hunt and Niki Lauda of the 1976 season (exacly one year prior to the legendary 2076 season!).

I see a typo.

[keg_11]

Sorted.