Wipeout Chronicles

[stin]

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

stevie

[keg_11]

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.

[keg_11]

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).

[keg_11]

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).

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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]

After almost a full year of collecting the games, playing them and filling out records for every year; I've finished the last year last night.


And now, I can focus on both writing more stories the cover the whole 110 year history of the Leagues as well as my take on the team backstories. These will come within the coming months, I can't wait!

Hope y'all read through the records I painstakingly created for you, with a few surprises hidden here and there (it was by accident that I gave Natasha Belmondo 7 TITLES in her career).

(P.S: Whilst I was playing Katmoda 12 - first track of Themis/2170 League [the last league to do] - Intuative's "Wav Seeker" was playing in the background. I thought this was cool, considering the darker tone of the song and the unbeknownst event that was to happen in that season [Fall of F9000]).


Also, Merry Christmas everyone and a have a Happy New Year!

[keg_11]

This is by far the longest entry in the Chronicles yet: 2000+ words (in contrast to approx. 13-1500 entries). But, inh my view, it was worth it.


Woflgang Van-Ãœber

There is without a doubt that Wolfgang Van-Ãœber is right up there with the most influential personalities of AG racing as well as with the best pilots of all time. A much loved figure, Van-Ãœber is quite famous for his purist stance to racing, even refusing to use weapons and insisted to race on skill alone. And even in retirement, he was still a familiar sight within the AG Leagues through his home-grown racing team, Van-Ãœber Racing Developments. Van-Ãœber is very much a true living legend of the sport.

Van-Über’s beginnings were quite humble. Born in a blue-collar, racing fan family in Hamburg on 3 September 2107, Van-Über’s early passion was athletics. Van-Über was quite competitive, becoming a regular sight in numerous regional and national athletic competitions and events. This was a key reason* why he would adopt an anti-aggressive stance on AG racing later on:

“…When I was sprinting, in my youth, there was no politics; no aids; nothing. It was just a group of young boys running to find out who was faster out of our own devices. With AG racing, if someone passes you, you wait for a particular corner or hold a weapon and use that to your advantage – you will get back ahead. In running, if you got passed you’ll give it your all to get back and if you can’t, that’s just the way it is: you win some, you lose some.�

As Van-Ãœber got older, his attention turned to AG racing, and eventually made his debut in the European Junior Championships in 2123. Although it can be noted that Van-Ãœber used weapons as much as the other pilots, these Leagues were much less reliant on weapons to change the outcome of the race so eliminations in themselves were quite rare. This started to change when he started to associate himself with the main F7200 teams, namely FEISAR. Although quite eager to race with them, it was reported that Van-Ãœber expressed some dissatisfaction with racing at this level and had complained about how much firepower he had to use to turn the race his way.

As Van-Ãœber admits, he threatened to walk away from the League on more than one occasion, but one thing was keeping him from doing that: his speed. In his time trials, Van-Ãœber is one of the fastest pilots to ever have raced with FEISAR, and in turn tried to use his speed to his advantage. At times this worked, but he was still hindered from weapon hits.
If there was a definitive moment where Van-Über announced and stuck with his anti-weapon belief, it was a Venom class race in 2130, as Wolfgang remembers it…

“I was in second coming up behind an Auricom craft (fielded by a privateer team) towards the end of the race when my crew chief had told me to eliminate him quickly. The pilot of the Auricom craft hadn't run a perfect race (he was caught in a crash with a few other pilots), so his shields were quite low, but had decent speed to keep my craft at bay. I initially didn't want to do it because I thought I can catch him, but I was ordered by my team. So I eased off and eliminated him with a missile on the last lap (anti-climatic, I know). After the presentation ceremony, I immediately left feeling quite upset with my team and myself; not just for not having faith in myself but for not winning with my own skills…�

His attitude towards racing in the F7200 changed dramatically midway through 2127 when his older brother, Klaus, got involved in a high-speed hovercar crash which left him with severe spinal injuries. Although with the advancements of medicine, Klaus was still able to walk but was permanently disabled. Klaus, like Wolfgang, had ambitions to race in the F7200, and was quickly approaching his zenith in the European Leagues. Wolfgang, taking up the mantle as the family racer, swore to race for his brother as well as himself and contributed a sizeable share of his winnings and sponsorship funds into Klaus’ ongoing treatment. Klaus never forgot his brother’s generosity.

Van-Über made his official debut with FEISAR in 2131 alongside Johan Janson of Sweden and Canada’s Léa Guise and made a big impact. He constantly placed within the top 10 and scored a few points along the way. The most notable was the final race at Arridos IV, where he managed to score third behind Alisa Novosad and the late great Katsuogo Muro. Van-Über became hot property throughout the 2132 season with offers for quite a few teams, whilst continuing to score point-scoring finishes for his original team. Van-Über would sign a contract with Auricom at the end of the year.

For Auricom, 2133 was to be one of the strongest years in years with Van-Ãœber signing alongside their current lead pilot, American Aaron Hayden. Hayden, like Van-Ãœber, had been a rapidly rising star-of-the-future, placing 5th in only his second year of competition. It was acknowledged that either pilot can successfully challenge for the title, but was more difficult for Van-Ãœber because of his principles. This is reflected in the final points tally whereas Hayden had consistent high placed finishes, eventually finishing second, Van-Ãœber was placed all over the top 10 from as high as third to as low as 9th.

This was similar in 2134, although this time Van-Über only stood on the podium once when he should’ve been supporting his teammate’s assault on the dominating AG Systems. It was rumoured that Van-Über’s contract with Auricom would be cancelled if he did not produce good results for the next season, strongly suggesting to abandon his now infamous belief in, what was now called, the “purity of the race�.

However, there were radical changes to the League in 2135. For one, the death of Muro dragged AG Systems’ morale down a lot, but the F7200 Race Commission (under administration from Overtel) had changed the calendar back to Mega City. With the generally more technical circuits was where Van-Über’s “handicap� didn’t appear. Motivated for a place on the team, Van-Über blitzed everyone with his performance, even more with his refusal to use weapons (unless absolutely necessary) and clean-swept the season; his nearest opponent was 49 points behind.

2136 was a tough year for Van-Über and the Auricom team with a tough battle being played out between Van-Über and teammate Bobby Butler, Vincinius Albeniz (Piranha), Fyodor Eppirov (Qirex) and Laughlan Ivers (FEISAR). However, Auricom had a firm grip on the Teams’ championship (they were the only team with two point-scoring pilots) and Van-Über taking the last three races to take his second title.

2137 was marred by a brawl between Icaras and Goteki 45 at P-Mar Project which lead to the suspension of both teams. As this was the last year of his original contract, Van-Ãœber had originally decided to leave the sport using the P-Mar Brawl as the perfect opportunity to distance himself from the current state of the sport. As stated in his autobiography, it took a lot of convincing from newly installed Director of Operations Gideon Oldfield that made him change his mind from an early retirement, and signed a new three-year contract that he was allowed to exit anytime he wanted.

It’s fortunate he re-signed, as he showed some of his best racing in those three years as he battled against “DJ� Jukka Rautio (who had signed with Piranha). Whilst just beaten to the 2138, he came back stronger in 2139 and battled hard with Rautio to achieve his fourth title before announcing his retirement from professional racing.

Van-Über’s retirement stunned everyone. This was because that Van-Über was still quite young at 32 and was still at a strong point of his career with many years still ahead. His reasoning, when quizzed by the media, his family and Auricom themselves, is that:

“…no team should continually have one pilot to take all the glory, and that another pilot should have a chance to shine in his place. And in turn, he would make sure that other young pilots had a chance to fly and be successful as I had been.�

Leading up to his retirement from racing, Van-Ãœber had developed an interest is the development of the craft, and was quite involved in the development of his Auricom craft during the last few years. When he retired, Van-Ãœber wished to enter craft development and pass on his on-track experience into developing an ideal craft. FEISAR offered Van-Ãœber a position on their team as a head designer, but Van-Ãœber turned this down, insisting he wanted to do it alone. After experimenting with a few designs over the next few years, Van-Ãœber formally established Van-Ãœber Racing Developments in 2142 along with Klaus and a good friend of Van-Ãœber, Ryan Morgan, with technical assistance from FEISAR.

For the first 10 years, Van-Über saw considerable success in the European AG League, even managing to score back-to-back titles in 2149 and ’50. This success, as well as the announcement of the F9000, motivated them to push for entry into the AGRC. They were granted a full season entry in 2151, filling the position vacated by Assegai, and used this season as an experimental season, to observe the field that would be entering the F9000. Van-Über’s nephew, Sören, performed quite well managing two podiums (which is more that can be said for the other two pilots, who failed to score all season).

Their first season in the F9000 wasn’t a good one, with the team finishing only one race in the whole season (Songen Grey’s 6th place at Temtesh Bay), but they gradually grew as the seasons progressed. The scored their first and only race win at Cubiss Float in 2157, and coming in 5th place in the 2158 and 2159. However, the durability of the craft plagued the team and they gradually fell to near bottom throughout the rest of the F9000.

But despite this, Van-Über was quite popular due the charisma of Wolfgang and his belief in the “purity of the race�. In an interview in 2159, he famously quoted “…we must remain cleaner than clean… If all the clouds in the sky turn black, who can hope that the rain will ever cease?� In this period, he coined the term “the sublime and delicious game�, which has entered common use and has further influenced the name of the AG datasheet “Sublime and Delicious� and Van-Über’s own range of men’s toiletry products, S&D. Also, the appeal of one of his pilots, Nami Mishima, helped the image of the team, as she had often been compared to the late Arial Tetsuo, Auricoms’ lead pilot in the early years of AG racing. This has made her popular with young fans, but also the target of constant sabotage which has plagued her performance over the years.

Due to the increasing political pressure from the F9000, Van-Über followed Auricom’s lead and withdrew from competition at the end of the 2169 season and returned to regional racing. However, the Fall of the F9000 a year later virtually halted all of Van-Über’s activities. Whilst they still continued performing R&D work and produced craft for public consumption, the team was rapidly declining. Wolfgang would liquidate his share of the company and retired to a quiet life in the German countryside.

Van-Über was present at the AG Rebirth Festival in 2185 and express absolute delight when it was announced that AG racing was to return to prominence. However, he did show disappointment as he would not lead the charge to promote the “sublime and delicious game� in the new era of AG racing. His grandson, Helmut, would rebirth the team in the 2198 with his father’s blessing to compete in the newly-formed FX300. Piloted by German-born American Daniel Albrecht and using a updated variant of their old F9000 model, the team enjoyed moderate success in this era culminating with Albrecht winning the title in 2202.

The team did not transition into the FX400, mainly due to the health of its founder. Approaching his centennial birthday, Wolfgang had become quite reserved from the media particularly with his team’s victory in 2202. It appeared that Wolfgang had achieved his dream of “leading� a team to League success, so now he can spend the rest of his years in peace.

At age 105, Van-Über is one of the oldest AG champions still alive today (only beaten by 2126 Champion Mélissa Flament), but his pacifist beliefs and his extraordinary career makes him a true legend of AG racing, up there with names such as Muro, Tetsuo and the great Kel Solaar.

*There are other reasons behind Van-Über’s ideal, such as his Roman Catholic background and his admiration of primitive Formula One drivers as seen in old videos.

[keg_11]

This is by far the longest entry in the Chronicles yet: 2000+ words (in contrast to approx. 13-1500 entries). But, in my view, it was worth it.


Woflgang Van-Ãœber

There is without a doubt that Wolfgang Van-Ãœber is right up there with the most influential personalities of AG racing as well as with the best pilots of all time. A much loved figure, Van-Ãœber is quite famous for his purist stance to racing, even refusing to use weapons and insisted to race on skill alone. And even in retirement, he was still a familiar sight within the AG Leagues through his home-grown racing team, Van-Ãœber Racing Developments. Van-Ãœber is very much a true living legend of the sport.

Van-Über’s beginnings were quite humble. Born in a blue-collar, racing fan family in Hamburg on 3 September 2107, Van-Über’s early passion was athletics. Van-Über was quite competitive, becoming a regular sight in numerous regional and national athletic competitions and events. This was a key reason* why he would adopt an anti-aggressive stance on AG racing later on:

“…When I was sprinting, in my youth, there was no politics; no aids; nothing. It was just a group of young boys running to find out who was faster out of our own devices. With AG racing, if someone passes you, you wait for a particular corner or hold a weapon and use that to your advantage – you will get back ahead. In running, if you got passed you’ll give it your all to get back and if you can’t, that’s just the way it is: you win some, you lose some.�

As Van-Ãœber got older, his attention turned to AG racing, and eventually made his debut in the European Junior Championships in 2123. Although it can be noted that Van-Ãœber used weapons as much as the other pilots, these Leagues were much less reliant on weapons to change the outcome of the race so eliminations in themselves were quite rare. This started to change when he started to associate himself with the main F7200 teams, namely FEISAR. Although quite eager to race with them, it was reported that Van-Ãœber expressed some dissatisfaction with racing at this level and had complained about how much firepower he had to use to turn the race his way.

As Van-Ãœber admits, he threatened to walk away from the League on more than one occasion, but one thing was keeping him from doing that: his speed. In his time trials, Van-Ãœber is one of the fastest pilots to ever have raced with FEISAR, and in turn tried to use his speed to his advantage. At times this worked, but he was still hindered from weapon hits.
If there was a definitive moment where Van-Über announced and stuck with his anti-weapon belief, it was a Venom class race in 2130, as Wolfgang remembers it…

“I was in second coming up behind an Auricom craft (fielded by a privateer team) towards the end of the race when my crew chief had told me to eliminate him quickly. The pilot of the Auricom craft hadn't run a perfect race (he was caught in a crash with a few other pilots), so his shields were quite low, but had decent speed to keep my craft at bay. I initially didn't want to do it because I thought I can catch him, but I was ordered by my team. So I eased off and eliminated him with a missile on the last lap (anti-climatic, I know). After the presentation ceremony, I immediately left feeling quite upset with my team and myself; not just for not having faith in myself but for not winning with my own skills…�

His attitude towards racing in the F7200 changed dramatically midway through 2127 when his older brother, Klaus, got involved in a high-speed hovercar crash which left him with severe spinal injuries. Although with the advancements of medicine, Klaus was still able to walk but was permanently disabled. Klaus, like Wolfgang, had ambitions to race in the F7200, and was quickly approaching his zenith in the European Leagues. Wolfgang, taking up the mantle as the family racer, swore to race for his brother as well as himself and contributed a sizeable share of his winnings and sponsorship funds into Klaus’ ongoing treatment. Klaus never forgot his brother’s generosity.

Van-Über made his official debut with FEISAR in 2131 alongside Johan Janson of Sweden and Canada’s Léa Guise and made a big impact. He constantly placed within the top 10 and scored a few points along the way. The most notable was the final race at Arridos IV, where he managed to score third behind Alisa Novosad and the late great Katsuogo Muro. Van-Über became hot property throughout the 2132 season with offers for quite a few teams, whilst continuing to score point-scoring finishes for his original team. Van-Über would sign a contract with Auricom at the end of the year.

For Auricom, 2133 was to be one of the strongest years in years with Van-Ãœber signing alongside their current lead pilot, American Aaron Hayden. Hayden, like Van-Ãœber, had been a rapidly rising star-of-the-future, placing 5th in only his second year of competition. It was acknowledged that either pilot can successfully challenge for the title, but was more difficult for Van-Ãœber because of his principles. This is reflected in the final points tally whereas Hayden had consistent high placed finishes, eventually finishing second, Van-Ãœber was placed all over the top 10 from as high as third to as low as 9th.

This was similar in 2134, although this time Van-Über only stood on the podium once when he should’ve been supporting his teammate’s assault on the dominating AG Systems. It was rumoured that Van-Über’s contract with Auricom would be cancelled if he did not produce good results for the next season, strongly suggesting to abandon his now infamous belief in, what was now called, the “purity of the race�.

However, there were radical changes to the League in 2135. For one, the death of Muro dragged AG Systems’ morale down a lot, but the F7200 Race Commission (under administration from Overtel) had changed the calendar back to Mega City. With the generally more technical circuits was where Van-Über’s “handicap� didn’t appear. Motivated for a place on the team, Van-Über blitzed everyone with his performance, even more with his refusal to use weapons (unless absolutely necessary) and clean-swept the season; his nearest opponent was 49 points behind.

2136 was a tough year for Van-Über and the Auricom team with a tough battle being played out between Van-Über and teammate Bobby Butler, Vincinius Albeniz (Piranha), Fyodor Eppirov (Qirex) and Laughlan Ivers (FEISAR). However, Auricom had a firm grip on the Teams’ championship (they were the only team with two point-scoring pilots) and Van-Über taking the last three races to take his second title.

2137 was marred by a brawl between Icaras and Goteki 45 at P-Mar Project which lead to the suspension of both teams. As this was the last year of his original contract, Van-Ãœber had originally decided to leave the sport using the P-Mar Brawl as the perfect opportunity to distance himself from the current state of the sport. As stated in his autobiography, it took a lot of convincing from newly installed Director of Operations Gideon Oldfield that made him change his mind from an early retirement, and signed a new three-year contract that he was allowed to exit anytime he wanted.

It’s fortunate he re-signed, as he showed some of his best racing in those three years as he battled against “DJ� Jukka Rautio (who had signed with Piranha). Whilst just beaten to the 2138, he came back stronger in 2139 and battled hard with Rautio to achieve his fourth title before announcing his retirement from professional racing.

Van-Über’s retirement stunned everyone. This was because that Van-Über was still quite young at 32 and was still at a strong point of his career with many years still ahead. His reasoning, when quizzed by the media, his family and Auricom themselves, is that:

“…no team should continually have one pilot to take all the glory, and that another pilot should have a chance to shine in his place. And in turn, he would make sure that other young pilots had a chance to fly and be successful as I had been.�

Leading up to his retirement from racing, Van-Ãœber had developed an interest is the development of the craft, and was quite involved in the development of his Auricom craft during the last few years. When he retired, Van-Ãœber wished to enter craft development and pass on his on-track experience into developing an ideal craft. FEISAR offered Van-Ãœber a position on their team as a head designer, but Van-Ãœber turned this down, insisting he wanted to do it alone. After experimenting with a few designs over the next few years, Van-Ãœber formally established Van-Ãœber Racing Developments in 2142 along with Klaus and a good friend of Van-Ãœber, Ryan Morgan, with technical assistance from FEISAR.

For the first 10 years, Van-Über saw considerable success in the European AG League, even managing to score back-to-back titles in 2149 and ’50. This success, as well as the announcement of the F9000, motivated them to push for entry into the AGRC. They were granted a full season entry in 2151, filling the position vacated by Assegai, and used this season as an experimental season, to observe the field that would be entering the F9000. Van-Über’s nephew, Sören, performed quite well managing two podiums (which is more that can be said for the other two pilots, who failed to score all season).

Their first season in the F9000 wasn’t a good one, with the team finishing only one race in the whole season (Songen Grey’s 6th place at Temtesh Bay), but they gradually grew as the seasons progressed. The scored their first and only race win at Cubiss Float in 2157, and coming in 5th place in the 2158 and 2159. However, the durability of the craft plagued the team and they gradually fell to near bottom throughout the rest of the F9000.

But despite this, Van-Über was quite popular due the charisma of Wolfgang and his belief in the “purity of the race�. In an interview in 2159, he famously quoted “…we must remain cleaner than clean… If all the clouds in the sky turn black, who can hope that the rain will ever cease?� In this period, he coined the term “the sublime and delicious game�, which has entered common use and has further influenced the name of the AG datasheet “Sublime and Delicious� and Van-Über’s own range of men’s toiletry products, S&D. Also, the appeal of one of his pilots, Nami Mishima, helped the image of the team, as she had often been compared to the late Arial Tetsuo, Auricoms’ lead pilot in the early years of AG racing. This has made her popular with young fans, but also the target of constant sabotage which has plagued her performance over the years.

Due to the increasing political pressure from the F9000, Van-Über followed Auricom’s lead and withdrew from competition at the end of the 2169 season and returned to regional racing. However, the Fall of the F9000 a year later virtually halted all of Van-Über’s activities. Whilst they still continued performing R&D work and produced craft for public consumption, the team was rapidly declining. Wolfgang would liquidate his share of the company and retired to a quiet life in the German countryside.

Van-Über was present at the AG Rebirth Festival in 2185 and express absolute delight when it was announced that AG racing was to return to prominence. However, he did show disappointment as he would not lead the charge to promote the “sublime and delicious game� in the new era of AG racing. His grandson, Helmut, would rebirth the team in the 2198 with his grandfather’s blessing to compete in the newly-formed FX300. Piloted by German-born American Daniel Albrecht and using a updated variant of their old F9000 model, the team enjoyed moderate success in this era culminating with Albrecht winning the title in 2202.

The team did not transition into the FX400, mainly due to the health of its founder. Approaching his centennial birthday, Wolfgang had become quite reserved from the media particularly with his team’s victory in 2202. It appeared that Wolfgang had achieved his dream of “leading� a team to League success, so now he can spend the rest of his years in peace.

At age 105, Van-Über is one of the oldest AG champions still alive today (only beaten by 2126 Champion Mélissa Flament), but his pacifist beliefs and his extraordinary career makes him a true legend of AG racing, up there with names such as Muro, Tetsuo and the great Kel Solaar.

*There are other reasons behind Van-Über’s ideal, such as his Roman Catholic background and his admiration of primitive Formula One drivers as seen in old videos.

- - - Updated - - -

Woflgang Van-Ãœber passed away peacefully in his Lower Saxony home on January 3 2214, beside family. His heath had deteriorated over the past few years, particularly over the past year, restricting him to the confounds of his home. A private burial was held on January 7th, followed by a public memorial the following day, which included numerous AG racing personalities, including the AGRC Chairwoman, Natasha Belmondo. Van-Ãœber was 106.

[Rossriders]

While all of it may be fan-fiction. I have to apprecieate an extent of effort and detication in an attempt to flesh out quite an interesting world as WipEout.

It's to say the least an impressive undertaking, and at least for me, something inspirting. I wanna say more, but I want to read more, before I can be more detailed.

That and finish some fan-art, and that includes a potental successor to van uber's team.

Until then.

[keg_11]

Thank you, Rossriders! It's good to see that my work is being supported.

Sorry that I hadn't posted some new content lately. Part of the reason is that I was the only one posting and that I wasn't sure that people were having a look (I was probably expecting a small discussion after each entry), so I might have been a bit disheartened.

I've got a few stories that I've completed but yet to be posted, and seeing how there are people still looking at my work, I might start writing new content soon.

Thank you again for your support. I really appreciate it!

[keg_11]

Hi guys,

a little tie-around until I finish some main content. If you guys had been following the 2214 FX400/350 which I have been organising in the Arena, you would notice that there is no Mirages in the latest round at Moa Therma. This is due to Mietepiet being absent from the race (amongst others), but I though I could make this a bit canon to the Chronicles, so, here's the reason.

AG Press
8 April, 2214

MIRAGE NOT TO RACE AT MOA THERMA; FINANCIAL ISSUES

Mirage Racing have announced that they would not be competing in round 3 of this year's AGRC Racing Leagues. This announcement follows on from the increasing financial issues besetting Mirage's parent company, MAGEC.

To combat these issues, MAGEC have set in motion fairly radical changes to the management of the company and it's assets, including the Mirage team.

MAGEC's founder and CEO, Sheikh Mani Zayed made this announcement: "The decision to not race at Moa Therma reflects our current situation and what we need to do to continue on."

"As far as our current finances are concerned, a dedicated effort on Makana would be much more economical than an international round". When the topic about Mirage's continued involvement with the rest of the season, Zayed was tight lipped.

"We don't know about our position with the remaining AGRC rounds, but we are not focusing on those at the moment".

Mirage, who entered the AGRC in 2206 in the FX350, have had credible success in both the FX400 and FX350,
but have failed to capitalise on their previous successes and remain without a League title.

The gained particular notoriety when they entered the FX400 in 2209, when they chose their local test pilot, Sebak Abou-Gazia, to become the team's lead pilot over their FX350 pilot, Roman Kovalenko, who would go on to win back-to-back titles with Harimau.

[keg_11]

Part one of a multi-part series on the spectacular F9000...

The Story of the F9000
Part 1 - Wings of Wax

Depending to your point-of-view, the F9000 can be viewed as the golden era of AG racing, or the time where the sport betrayed itself due to the corrupted antics of the Overtel Corporation. Either way, the spectacle and popularity of the sport rose to levels it has ever seen before or since. And despite its egotistical display, it did pioneer certain aspects of AG racing that are still around today, particularly ship safety. In this multi part story, we will see how this golden age rose from one corporation’s determination to own the series and steer it to extravagant heights, and how it was all torn down at once and reborn anew.

On his 100th birthday, Pierre Belmondo announced his retirement from the Executive Chairman role in the F5000 AG Race Commission after serving 20 years in the role. Almost immediately, the question was raised as to who will succeed Belmondo, as he was the last of the original pioneers of the sport still associated with it. Of course, there was the issue about media influence over the position, as it had been since the Leagues began over half a century before.

Belmondo knew this, and as such announced the formation of the Belmondo Foundation on that same day. The goals of the Foundation were to preserve his ideals, the ideals of the other pioneers of AG technology and to make sure AG technology (and sport) was accessible to everyone, no matter who you are. So, in a way, it was a “purist’s union� to stand up to what the League originally stood for and, hopefully, not allow it to change into a cash machine if it fell into corporate hands.

As such, the level of authority in the AG Race Commission was split between the Foundation and the Anti-Gravity Federation (AGF), with the role of Executive Director being undertaken by former Qirex pilot Stefan Geist. After retiring from AG racing, Geist immediately got involved in the Race Commission in an effort to change the current form of the F5000, of which he did not like. As such, he was in charge of the investigations into the new Phantom speed class in relation to pilot safety, which eventually led to the suspension of the class until the F7200.

The new Commission’s first major test was the transition of the F5000 to F7200, announced in 2113. Having stabilized the politics of the AGRC following Belmondo’s retirement, the Commission used this as an opportunity to implement a variety of ideas they wanted to put in AG racing, in particular the invite of non-League countries competing (namely Assegai from Africa). This was met with critical acclaim and at the time, it was deemed that the 2116 F7200 League was the best League ever. That title was won by Finnish pilot Laura Kohlemainen, flying for Qirex.

For the next ten years, the F7200 and the Belmondo Foundation experienced little problems as the League settled into its new regulations. However, the death of Belmondo in 2127 surprisingly caused a lot of problems for the Commission, particularly for a relatively minor event. Overtel Corporation, who perennially eyed complete control over the League, immediately campaigned their influence over the Commission by proposing they control the allocation of the media and dignitaries during League races (by this point, they had pretty much monopolized the Leagues media rights). This was quickly dismissed by the Commission, but Overtel continued to pressure the Foundation to concede control.

Eventually, F7200 Executive Director Roger Bowen announced that the Commission would directly manage the distribution of the sport’s media rights. A Chief Promotions Officer (CPO) position was created, where they will liaise with Overtel about the commercial aspects of the sport. Initially there to police Overtel, it became apparent that this official became a go-to between Overtel and the Commission with their plans for what to do with the League. Meanwhile, more and more executives were swaying towards Overtel’s way of thinking as the best way for the sport to move forwards, over the Foundation’s fundamentalist approach.

In 2132, now with an overwhelming influence over the Commission, Bowen resigned as Executive Director of the F7200 Commission and retired in peace, with his old position taken up by Orson Liddell, formerly the CEO of Overtel. Liddell had grown up with both the AGRC and the makeup of Overtel, being part of the Irving-Liddell family that has owned Overtel since Rhys Irving founded the company in the 2030s. But whereas his ancestors saw the AGRC as purely a business interest, Orson had a genuine interest in the sport. Immediately, he pushed several changes to the F7200 that would be most beneficial for both fans and the sport’s corporate partners. One of these changes was the return of the original Mega City calendar over the now-famous Classic Leagues. He also encouraged the development of the ships as to enforce its link to the consumers. But he did show some restraint in certain aspects of the sport. In the wake of the 2137 P-Mar Brawl, he withheld footage of the brawl itself and personally managed the resultant trials between Goteki 45 and Icaras, preferring to focus on the regular season.

Liddell controlled the Commission quite well until he retired in 2144, where he was succeeded by his son, Barret. Barret was like his father in many ways, but was much more extravagant. Under the control of his father, the spectacle of the F7200 had rose at a steady rate despite some twists along the way. But Barret had grand plans of his own. At the start of the tenure, the F7200 were having some problems partly due to Russia’s economic depression and eventual coup in 2149, as well as the financial issues with several teams. But Barret made sure that these issues did not affect the sport at all, even ignoring calls for the Commission to help keep Qirex competing in the midst of Russia’s change of governance.

His defining moment came in 2150, where he announced the League’s upgrade to F9000 specification. His changes proved to be the most radical the sport had ever seen, with a particular influence of aggression over clean racing. Upon the announcement, there was a lot of backlash from the community, which even included his father. Barret brushed this off as simply fear of the unknown and pushed forward with his plans. It is unknown how much money was spent on the project, but it was reported that it went into the trillions, to cover the costs of weapon contracts, sponsorship deals and track construction.

A major aspect of the F9000’s planning was the public selection of venues as locations for the new League. A total of 32 finalists were selected that spanned to all corners of the globe, even including several intergalactic locations as well. After an 8 month campaign, 8 locations were selected based on the spectacle value and commercial viability of the plans, with little regard of safety. Especially, one of these tracks was located on the relatively unknown planet of Devilia. These particular locations saw stiff competition from the AGF, where they saw it as a “step too far� for a legitimate racing series. Overtel did state there will be no racing on it, but was later confirmed the location would serve as a testing venue for use by all teams where they saw fit. As a result of this, the AGF announced it had retracted their support of the series, but stayed involved to moderate the League.

As everything got ready for the inaugural F9000 AG Racing League in 2156, Barret heroically proclaimed that this would be the greatest era in the history of the sport. But through this extravagance was at the cost of the traditional AG community, where many old personalities distanced themselves from the sport. Most notably was this comment from 4-time champion Kurt Graham: “Liddell has made himself a pair of wings stuck together with the wax of his own arrogance. Knowing the story as we do, sooner or later, he going to fall straight back to Earth.�

Graham’s words could not be truer…

[Ace3000]

This is awesome! I cannot wait for the next part!

[keg_11]

AG Press
June 8, 2214

DATA LOST FROM AG SYSTEMS' SYSTEMS

The technical data used by the AG Systems racing teams has disappeared during Round 5 of the Anti-Gravity Racing Championships.

The data, used by both FX350 and FX400 ships, reportedly used testing and on-track data from previous sessions and solutions for craft development.

AG Systems' technical director, Ralf Prichard, said that the loss of this data has put AG Systems far behind the rest of the competition.

"We had put a lot of work to get this far in the League, but now there are serious doubts whether we can continue to battle for the title."

Luckily, AG Systems had backed up most of the data, but had still loss some core systems that could not be backed up.

"We have got a starting point at Least. With this, we hope we can geet back up to speed before the Amphiseum".

AG Systems, piloted by Þora Haraldssen, are currently 2nd in the FX400, just three points behind leaders Assegai Developments, piloted by Ryoichi Honda.