Rutilant Arena

Within is the arena of the highest standard on the planet Taikiyan, the Taikiyan Stadium. The noise of the crowd fills the stadium inside and out, brilliant flags fly in the wind… The dramatic Mobile Ball competition is about to open in grand style before everyone's eyes.

The planet Taikiyan was once the Corporation's shipwreck harbor, and loss assessment staff were sent there to clear away the old wrecks and extract whatever value remained.

The staff regarded being “sent to Taikiyan” as an exile from which there was no return. On this asteroid, mountains of carbon fiber and stainless steel trace out the lines of the colossal ship as it was before it ceased to operate, casting a hazy shadow over the wreckage of steel, and the hunger to salvage grows stronger by the day. Over the past few years the staff seized high-grade components below deck and fought and chased one another through the passages of the sunken hull, forming an “unwritten law” in the darkness… Even so, those driven to the end of the road did not get what they wanted, and in the end not one of them could return.

The “unwritten law” of those driven to the end of the road never escaped surveillance. It was recorded and sent back to the Corporation, where it became an after dinner joke among people of high standing. The investors who had put money into the “Traditional Projects Department” weighed the matter and caught the scent of “entertainment” in it.

According to the plan, the galaxy's first competitive project on the theme of “Taikiyan Mobile Ball” would take place on the planet Taikiyan. Reformed Robots from several planets came here and pulled the derelict starships up by the roots without leaving a single trace behind. The nameless asteroid was made over around the “Mobile Ball” movement and became, in the blink of an eye, a dazzling holy land of competition. “By then, no one will care about the absurd original, and all that will be left is the pure spirit of sport and high-value commercial contracts.”

The athletes wear propulsor armor, the three-dimensional track changes in ways no one can predict, and it all sets off a physical confrontation… The “Mobile Ball Competition” became the focus of the galaxy from the moment it was unveiled. From then on, the planet Taikiyan, wrapped in night all year round, flashed with laser light on every side and never fell into darkness again.

In the great arena, a team's attack and defense cannot be separated. The stands are packed with roaring spectators shouting the names of teams and of players, and the cheering rolls on like the roar of waves without end. Outside the arena, the planet Taikiyan has never been quiet either. Broadcasting licenses, franchise sponsorships and advertising contracts fight one another in the commercial market, and lottery style betting in the underworld goes on constantly in the dark, with every shade of feeling in it. The ink black night has long since turned into a laser backdrop, quietly setting off the brilliance of the arena.

The Taikiyan Stadium has become a place where night is the same as day, and no one remembers any longer just where those hazy black shadows are hidden.

The standard track at the Taikiyan Stadium is usually a metal structure covered with smooth concrete and rough wooden boards. So that the spectators can watch the match clearly, a great quantity of transparent polycarbonate material has been brought into the arena, so that the whole state of the match can be seen.

The “Traditional Projects Department” summoned sports specialists from the Interastral Peace Entertainment Company and required them to strip out every barbaric element and turn Taikiyan's “unwritten law” into a “competition that can turn a profit”.

The materials specialists took the lead in designing the “Mobile Ball” in an attempt to meet the requirement: a technological iron ball 35cm in diameter, weighing about 30kg, a blend of carbon fiber and stainless steel. It constantly pursues the shifting of the Spirit Fire, and increases the unpredictability of the game through irregular movement. The sports equipment specialists followed with the design and development of the standard Mobile Ball propulsor armor, which makes it convenient for advanced sporting and medical enterprises to display the quality of their businesses, and guarantees the sustainability of steady income and safe competition.

At this point the Taikiyan Mobile Ball Association was formally founded, and the first version of the “Taikiyan Mobile Ball Competition Rules” was drawn up. The match format of two teams with seven players each was established from then on.

The track architects of the Intelligentsia Guild developed the concept of “the race” into a three-dimensional arclight track: the standard length is 2.91km, the flat area at the center of the track is 5 meters wide, and the width of the curved areas on either side runs from 2 to 14 meters… The players of a Mobile Ball team gallop many laps in one direction along the broad, brightly lit track, and complete the whole match to the sound of whistles and collisions. Practical testing showed that when the track is running at high speed, the discontinuous point light sources join into a straight line in an athlete's field of vision, and a certain number of faintly visible lumens form that distinctive arclight track. The Interastral Peace Entertainment Company sent invitations to wealthy merchants, promising the explosive success of their most famous competition. After that the league clubs were founded, and the most gifted players gathered together, ready to set out.

The Interastral Peace Entertainment Company holds the exclusive broadcasting rights to the event and, with the help of remote sensors, transmits the match live to the farthest corners of unfamiliar lands. The sensory experience of the top athletes throughout the match is recorded as well, so that spectators need not leave home to experience the speed, the collisions, the whistles and the arclight for themselves. The old shipwreck harbor is packed with sightseeing vessels, and a chaotic crowd gathers on the road full of lights and advertisements, then slowly pours into the stadium. They confirm their seats and look around at banners, flags and malt scattered everywhere, while the brightly burning track appears quietly beneath the beams of the floodlights.

Amid cheering like the roar of waves, the first match begins.