As Brief an Introduction to Warball as I can Possibly Attempt.
Below the cut, of course.
Warball.
The most popular sport on the dodecahedron*, Warball has an ancient history.
It is believed that Warball started in the days of ancient tribes, in celebration of hunts that brought down ancient and mysterious beasts. Part of those celebrations included a massive brawl over the slain creature's heart. Often neighbouring tribes and villages would also travel for these great feasts and brawls, and over time it became a proper sport...
...as proper as a sport could get when the earliest record of a rulebook discovered by scholars (dated c. 640s, Year of the Second Moon) simply says:
Get ball to other side of field to score. Most Gets wins.
Of course with such straightforward rules, everyone thought that meant the game would be nice and simple. Problem was, each race and tribe and nation liked to play warball a little differently than everyone else. So whenever a game was to be played, the teams had to meet beforehand and discuss such things as how big the field was, how many players were allowed on the field, what kinds of tackles and blocks were legal, could the referees be bribed, whether or not weapons would be allowed, could the ball be moved forward by kicking, throwing, head-butting, or via catapult (the dwarves were very upset with the goblins over that one); and of course whether or not the losing team should be sacrificed and/or eaten in the post-game.
Naturally the teams themselves didn't much like these pregame discussions, which usually led to brawls almost as big as those on the field itself, so over time the unsavoury character of the Manager was created, or more accurately, created itself. Any mercenary individual who could politick a little would gladly take a sack of copper from a team of sweaty, angry warball players and sit with another similarly cutthroat individual representing the other team and argue and chat and bribe each other in various ways, eventually returning to their respective team with a gingivitis smile to let them know of the arrangements, and carefully dodge the thrown implements that inevitably came when it was revealed that, in fact, you could not take your opponent's teeth to make a necklace for your spouse.
These Managers, as universally disliked as they are, did a great deal for the infant sport of Warball, and made great efforts to codify much of the game, usually adding rules that seemed to come up a lot in those pregame meetings so they wouldn't have to discuss them for the thirty-second time. This gradually led to the development of the Second Edition Rulebook, a tome of roughly 284 pages, full of rules, exceptions to those rules, exceptions to those exceptions, and a few unexcepable rules**.
Once the effigies of the Managers were put out and the teams ended their strike in protest of the 2nd Ed., they found the rules lore helpful than anyone wanted to admit, and even agreed to start playing in organized Leagues. Another beautiful idea by the Managers, the idea of Leagues had less effigies burnt, mostly because now everyone could see their favourite group of brutal skull-crushing maniacs*** on a regular schedule, and be playing (more accurately, fighting) somebody different almost every time, and (this next but was deemed most important to the Managers) buy overpriced and poor quality sausages, beers, thinly sliced fried potatoes with too much salt, and flattened cornmeal with suspiciously liquid cheese, along with cheaply made sweaters and other things emblazoned with the team logos. The Managers knew their target: the average man, someone named Olick or Harg, who just wanted a good time on their day off, have some food and drinks with their friends, and watch some violence with a straw-stuffed animal bladder bouncing around in there somewhere.
Such is the history of Warball.
*(no one actually knows what shape the world is, so the philosophers decided to pick the one shape no one seemed to believe in. They also found it the funniest shape to imagine the world in)
**(namely that a Get was worth 3 points, and the scoring team could try to follow it up with a 1-point goal kick, or a 2-point running play into the goal area. This one rule was the result of nearly three years of arguments and a gathering of Managers that made a holy synod look like an overfull bird bath)
***(those fans that always manage to sit right behind the goal area)
