History of Atlantis Baseball

[Winterburnsilva]

For the first time ever my last OOTP save file got corrupted, I've never had that happen before and it will teach me for not backing up saves properly. My other long term save that I wanted to start wasn't intended to be a dynasty report on here but seeing as it's now my ONLY planned long term save I figure I might as well give it a shot.

First a bit of history about the nation that I created a few years ago, but only really got round to fleshing out when the whole end-of-the-world-pandemic thing hit. (I say created in the sense that I wanted to write a backstory etc, the flags and outline of the islands were created by someone else. I just filled the blank spaces in with provinces).

The Republic of Atlantis




Flag



Coat of Arms




Motto
"Drevo gi. Kredas Gi. Konstrui Gi" (Dream it. Believe it. Build it)

National Anthem


"La Veloj de Atlantis" (The great sails of Atlantis)

"From the tides of the ocean, our nation does rise,
with justice our goal and peace as our prize.
And as the great sails of Atlantis do wave,
our country, for good, will stand strong and brave.
And we'll perservere if the sky's dark or it's clear,
for we belong here on our islands so dear.

We will show to the world that our country will stand,
for this is the spirit of Atlantean lands.
The great sails of Atlantis we will never let fall,
let each and every Atlantean forever stand tall.
When the sky is bright red and the deep ocean so blue,
the great sails of Atlantis will remain strong and true."



Capital- Olimpika, Ferro Vento (Population- 7,897,921)
Largest City- Amistel, Kverko (Population- 9,285,219)


Official Language- Atlantika Esperanto
Other Languages- English, Spanish


Currency- Atlantean Dubileto (ATD)


Ethnic Groups- White Caucasian 78%, 11% Black, 6% Asian, 4% Other/Multiracial, 1% Native Atlantean

Denonym- Atlantean


President (Prezidanto)- Lorentz Garcia (M)
Progresema Alianco

Vice-President (Vic-Prezidanto)- Nereyda Marin (F)
Progresema Alianco




The Republic of Atlantis, commonly known as Atlantis, is a transcontinental country located in the North Atlantic in close proximity to Europe on its North-Eastern border and Central/South America on the South-West border. It consists of 29 provinces of varying sizes and has a population of 296,426,257 (2019 census), making it the 4th most populated country in the world. It is slightly smaller in total land area than Brazil, making it the 6th largest country by total land area in the world. The capital city is Olimpika, in the Ferro Vento province and the most populated city is Amistel, in Kverko province.




A (very) Brief History of Atlantis (Up to 1800-)

Home Erectus migrated to modern-day Atlantis through a land bridge connecting it to mainland Europe roughly 1.2 million years ago. These migrations were followed by successive waves of Homo Antecessor, Homo Heidelbergensis and the more famous Homo Neanderthalensis. Due to its geographical position in Europe it was the last refuge of Neanderthals before their extinction, as they were forced Westwards either due to conquest or inter-breeding with modern Homo Sapiens.

During the Bronze Age, it was occupied by various hybrid Celtiberian tribes, with regular trade occuring between the Atlanteans and Phoenecian and Greek merchants who had set up trading posts on the islands. The Roman Empire invaded in 15 B.C., using the Atlanteans willingness to harbour refugees (Fugitives in the eyes of the Roman Emperor Augustus) from Rome's subjugation of Hispania as the pretext for war. The Romans succeded in conquering the North island, but failed to subdue the South island, who were seen as particularly dangerous and wild barbarians. The border of the Roman Empire was established at the island of Ankro Insulo (Marking the most Westerly expanse of the Roman Empire), although the Romans declined to occupy the volcanically active island, instead seeing it as a form of 'Demilitarised Zone' between the new Roman province of Atlanticum Mare and the native Atlantean Southern barbarians.

Following the collapse of the Western Roman Empire and their subsequent withdrawal from their conquered territories, the Romanised North and more barbarian Southern tribes of Atlantis engaged in long periods of inter-tribal warfare that was only interrupted by invasions from various Germanic tribes who had previously invaded and occupied the Iberian Peninsula. Vandal and Gothic kingdoms were established on Atlantis until they were overthrown by a native Atlantean tribal alliance from both North and South. A further invasion from the Umayyad Caliphate, following their occupation of Hispania in the Muslim Conquests was repulsed, once again by a tribal alliance of Atlanteans. This marked the beginnings of a united Atlantis as the various tribes began to realise that as a united entity they would be strong and able to secure their islands against foreign threats. This was not an overnight process however, taking many decades as tribal wars still occured among those who did not want to serve as vassals under an Atlantean King. After the expulsion of the Umayyad invasion forces, Atlantis aided the various Spanish kingdoms in the Reconquista, sending military assistance wherever possible during the many centuries of campaigning. A strong bond of friendship, which still exists to this day with Spain was seen as being truly founded during this period, as Atlantean and Spanish fought and died together on countless Iberian battlefields (The Atlantean city of Hispanujo Amikeco, literally 'Spanish Friendship' in English was established at the end of the Reconquista to mark victory, likewise the Spanish Coastal town of Atlanticasangre 'Atlantic Blood').

With the successful conclusion of the Reconquista in the late 15th Century, Atlantis emerged as a powerful European kingdom. It became the third party in the Treaty of Tordesillas alongside Spain and Portugal, where spheres of influence were decided for the newly discovered territories in Central/South America and Africa. Atlantis' sphere of influence was the Caribbean and West African islands, going on to conquer and colonise Kuba (Cuba), Jamiko (Jamaica), Haiti, Bahamoj (The Bahamas), Rica Haveno (Puerto Rico), Munoz Insulo (Falkland Islands), Sanktulo Luisa (St. Helena), Cape Verda (Cape Verde Islands) and Insulo Rodrigo (Sao Tome and Principe). Spain concerned itself with the majority of the mainland Americas, with Portugal being given free reign in Africa and the Eastern coast of South America. Naturally the exclusion of other European powers to this treaty did not make the Atlantean-Iberian allies many friends on the continent. The treaty was largely ignored by other rising powers such as France, Britain and the Netherlands who all set up overseas colonies, some in lands specifically designated as Spanish, Atlantean or Portugese spheres of influence.

Due to the strategic position of Atlantis in the North Atlantic they frequently came into conflict with the expanding British Empire for control of the ocean, a struggle that was bloody but largely inconclusive as neither nation was able to best the other. Siding with France and its allies in the 7-Years War, Atlantis was able to harass the British in their North American colonies. Ultimately however the French coalition was defeated in the war and Atlantis was forced to cede control of Cuba, Jamaica and The Bahamas to Great Britain although it kept its other overseas colonies. Atlantis then aided America, France and Spain during the American Revolution, playing a key role in stopping British resupply to her colonies by patrolling the North Atlantic. After the successful conclusion of the Revolutionary War, Atlantis presented the new American Republic with a statue, the 'Neptuno Libereco' (Neptune's Liberty in English) to mark their friendship. This statue still survives today, standing alongside The Statue of Liberty in New York City.





History of Baseball in Atlantis

Baseball in Atlantis evolved from older bat-and-ball games already being played in England and Western Europe by the mid-18th century. This game was brought by immigrants to Atlantis and North America, where the modern version of the sport developed. Although it is widely popular among all the islands of Atlantis, it is officially only the second most popular sport in the country, behind the national sport of Jetoskiado.

While the first mention of something resembling baseball (la soule) was in 1344 in France, the first real mention of a sport that would be recognised as a descendant of the modern game as it is known today was in 1744 in England. At the time the game was played with a triangle rather than baseball 'diamond' shaped base-path and with posts instead of ground-level bases. The first recorded game of 'Bass-Ball' took place in 1749 in Surrey, England and featured the Prince of Wales as a participant. A further mention is made of a game played on Easter Monday in Guildford, Surrey in 1755. It was this form of the game that was brought to Atlantis and Canada by English immigrants. Another pre-cursor to baseball, rounders, was brought to Atlantis, Canada and the USA around the same time.

The earliest recorded mention of 'Diamanto Pilko' (Diamond Ball) in Atlantis was in 1790, a full year before the earliest mention of the game in America. As the name suggests the base paths closer resembled the modern baseball diamond and the posts had been discarded in favour of ground bases.

The earliest set of official rules for Diamond Ball were drawn up at the Universitato de Olimpika (University of Olimpika), in the nation's capital Olimpika, Ferro Vento province in 1795. The number of players per side was initially subject to regular change, until settling on the now standard nine players per side and the concept of three 'outs' to retire a side in an innings (a term borrowed from cricket) was implemented. The major difference between Diamond Ball in Atlantis and those rulesets being drawn up in other nations was the field size. Although there were no official rules regarding the size of the playing field, all early games took place at the University of Olimpika's playing field with an average length of just 190 yards to the outer walls. This caused a discrepancy in the number of 'Full Basers' (Modern-day Home Runs) and resulted in a cramped outfield. As a result of this, the fields were gradually pushed further and further back to provide more variety in the types of hits put into play and gave more for the outfielders to do in a game, other than hop over the fence to retrieve another ball.

Four amateur teams were created at the University in an attempt to further refine the rules by trial and error over a number of competitive games. The 'official' club during these times was the University of Olimpika Diamond Ball Club (Universitato de Olimpika Diamanto Pilko Klubo, commonly abbreviated to U.D.P.K.) with the other three teams being the Brown Caps (Bruna Capoj), the Excellents (Bonegoj) and the Academicals (Akademiuloj).

1800 was the first officially recognised 'season' of the league using the University ruleset and the first to be accepted by Diamond Ball historians for the purposes of statistical considerations and record keeping. The season consisted of each team playing the other three teams in the league four times for a total of 12 games per team. There was to be no playoffs, the team top of the table after all games had been played would be considered the winner. All games were played at the newly created University of Olimpika Diamond Ball field and attended by a few hundred curious spectators who attended the University, interested in the spectacle of this new sport.

The teams for the 1800 season were-
1. University of Olimpika Diamond Ball Club
2. Ferrero's Brown Caps
3. Rolando's Excellents
4. Ramiro's Academicals.

The three 'unofficial' clubs were all named after either the team's appointed captain or the coach/manager of the team. This practice was fairly widespread during the early days of Diamond Ball in Atlantis. When leagues were very local affairs with a handful of teams playing games often at the same ballpark. It wasn't until 1805, when those students from the very first years had graduated from the University and spread the game to surrounding suburbs and towns, that place names began to replace people in the team names.

[Archelirion]

I really, really hope there's more coming here! Really, really great world building here :]