Transference
Berusball - the premier athletic passtime of its namesake people, the Berusians. While horribly transliterated into Berusball, the original name of the game was “Transference” and true fans of the sport - Berusian or otherwise - know this well, and know how it applies to the game.
Played in a circular courts, three teams must compete to move a colored Arcane Orb around their court, and attempt to finish a full circuit. Doing so, measured by passing a special Scoring Post, scores the offensive team a point, and ignites a glorious lightshow.
Immensely popular, The Berusian Confederacy has two different Leagues of the sport - the Subliminal League and the Definitive League - which compete annually in Transference courts aboard the Flotilla’s many Home Ships, with teams a dozen representing the Foundations of those Home Ships competing regularly.
As the sport has come to be adopted by all members of the Accord, informal Leagues have begun cropping up all across Vasselern, and among some of the Accord’s new Expeditionary Fleet.
Understanding the Berusball Court
A traditional Transference court is approximately 18 meters in diameter, centered around a positively charged miniature Arcane Core. This core’s entire purpose is to actively charge the Play Orb that is moved around the court, though not all courts - particularly informal pick-up games - have this component.
- Well - This is the starting point for a Play Orb and the location a Play Orb is sent to when it is Returned.
- Score Post - To Score, a team must complete one full Circuit and deposit their Play Orb in a Score Post. On a traditional court, scoring triggers a visual effect to indicate the scoring team. In informal games, scoring is called out by a neutral observer.
- Central Core - Representing the Core itself, the Central Core charges the Play Orb on traditional courts. The Central Core is always marked for even in informal games.
- Zone Marker - Each court is divided into three Zones, which represent the starting area for each team. When a Play Orb crosses a Zone Marker, the Well it is sent to when Returned is moved to the new Zone - this is called a Transference.
- Circuit Markers - Circuit Markers indicate which direction players move their Play Orb to score. On some courts, this will change orientation throughout play.
- Boundary - The limit of the court. If a Play Orb is taken beyond the limit of the Boundary, it is Returned to the nearest Well.
The Rules of Berusball
- Team Membership - In a traditional game, there are three teams, and each team consists of 3 players, with another 3 players in Reserve.
- Starting Zone - At the beginning of the game, each team is either assigned or selects (depending on the rules) their starting zone, in reverse order of their current score in a Season (i.e. lowest ranked team picks first).
- Play Order - The order of play is the same as the order when selecting Starting Zones.
- Round - One team (the Active team) attempts to complete a Circuit (moving their Play Orb in a full loop) at a time, with the other two teams playing defensively. Each Round lasts 3 minutes. The Active team must score a Circuit within that time limit, or the round ends, and the next team becomes Active.
- Trimester - Sometimes called Tris, each Trimester consists of 6 Rounds. A game ends when the teams complete three Trimesters.
- Transference - A Transference occurs when a Play Orb crosses a Zone Marker. When this occurs, the Active team’s Well is moved to the new zone.
- Returns - If the defensive team is able to perform a Return, the Play Orb is sent to the Active Team’s current Well. The time for the Round is paused while the orb is returned. Returns can be performed by:
- Interception - A defensive player catching a Play Orb thrown by the Active Team.
- Miscalculation (Miscalc) - A player in the Active Team drops/fails to catch the Play Orb, and it touches the ground.
- Overshot - A Play Orb is thrown out of the Bounds by the Active Team
- Wandering - A Play Orb is carried out of the Bounds by the Active Team, OR a the current Carrier steps out of Bounds.
- Bypassing - The Carrier moves more than 3 steps with the Play Orb without passing.
- Reversion - A Play Orb is carried into the Previous Zone.
- Circuit - For each Round, the goal of the Active team is to move their ball around the court, Transferring it between Zones and attempting to Score. When the Active team scores, the round ends.
- Bonus Points - There are cases where a Bonus Point can be awarded as part of a Circuit.
- Expedience - If the Active Team scores in under 60 seconds, they are awarded an Expedience and 1 bonus point.
- Farshot - If the Active Team scores into their Score Post from the Second Zone, they are awarded a Farshot and 1 bonus point.
- Winning - If a single team scores 6 points in a game, they win the game, and the game ends. All the points earned in the game are accounted for in the season total, even for the losers, though the winning team earns a bonus 3 points.
- Penalties - There are, however, a number of ways a player can perform a penalty:
- Grounding - Any action made by a Defensive Player that forces a Carrier to the ground. This causes the offending Player to be put into Reserve for the remainder of the Round.
- Disruption - If a Defensive Player physically removes a ball from a Carrier’s hands. This causes the offending Player to be put into Reserve for the remainder of the Round.