View source for Sfear League Kenduzana

{{fiction}}

Sfear League Kenduzana (SLK) is a professional sporting organization headquartered in the Poitot star system, at the heart of the Intaki Syndicate.  Its sixteen teams compete in an approximately semi-annual kenduzana tournament in arenas located throughout Syndicate space.  During SLK season play, these arenas and their connected commercial facilities become widely popular entertainment and gambling venues for people throughout Syndicate, thanks in no small part to the sport's aggressive marketing and the penchant for extreme entertainment found in the regional zeitgeist.  The holovid distribution rights for SLK matches are currently held by Syndicate-based broadcaster 5-Alive with franchised rebroadcast in Venal through HoloHuvi Channel 2.

[[Image:Sfear20256x256.png|frame|Marketing Logo for SLK's 20th season]]

==SLK Rules==

Kenduzana is based on the game of kendu kanarma, a team sport popular on the Intaki homeworld and throughout the Intaki diaspora for several centuries.  While traditional kendu was first played planetside and utilizes a flat surface as a pitch, kenduzana was conceived as a sport meant to be played in space only.  The kenduzana arena is spherical in shape, involving the players in three dimensions of action rather than simply two.  Application of advanced technology means that the arena is also a dynamic environment, its parameters changing with the ebb and flow of the game to present greater athletic and tactical challenges as well as to entertain the audience.

==Arena==

The regulation kenduzana arena used by the SLK is a sphere 101 meters in diameter.  The arena is divided into two primary segments, the north and south hemispheres, the interior surfaces of which are referred to as the north and south floors.  At opposite ends of the sphere and parallel to the equator are the red and blue gates.  Each gate is a circular opening two meters in diameter.  The interior surface of the arena is composed of panels of nanopolymer, capable of rapidly changing their appearance, texture, and surface friction as well as being able to emit visible light and other EM energy via emitter arrays that lay "under" their surfaces.

A dense graviton generation matrix sheathes the entire arena.  There are four standard gravity fields active within the arena at the start of play, all of which pull toward the interior surface of the sphere (away from its core).  These are the two strong gravitic fields on the north and south floors and the two weak gravitic fields near the red and blue gates.  At the north and south polar points (at the very center of each floor), the gravity is maintained at a constant .971G.  At the center of each gate, the force is .454G.  Moving away from these axial points, the gravity ebbs.  At the two equatorial points equally ninety degrees from either gate, the gravity is null.  These points are called the arena lagranges.  Each SLK arena is furthermore capable of rotating along any of 86 different axes.

[[Image:Slkarena75percent.png‎]]

==Teams==

Each SLK team may staff a roster of no more than thirty-four salaried players and must have a minimum of twenty-one salaried players on its roster in order to qualify for league play.  Only nine players from either team are in the arena at any time during a match.  Subbing may take place only between launches or in the event of a stoppage of play due to injury.

==Timing==

A single SLK match consists of three regulation periods called "launches", each thirteen minutes in length, with the possibility to extend any or all of the launches by thirty seconds in order to resolve a contention.  A sudden-death fourth period called the "scramble", which lasts four minutes, may also take place depending on the circumstances at the end of the three regulation launches.  This means an SLK match may last anywhere from thirty-nine minutes to just under forty-five minutes of game time.  Factoring in reviews and rulings, medevac time-outs, analysis and commentary, and commercial advertisements, the average match takes about two hours to air over holovideo.

==Equipment==

Kenduzana requires two spheroid balls in order to play.  The balls are identical in shape, size, and weight, but are of different colors.  One ball is blue, the other red.  Each team begins play in possession of one ball, its color corresponding to the gate next to which that team assembles at the beginning of a launch.  A regulation SLK ball is a semi-rubberized sphere 14.2 centimeters in diameter with a weight of 910 grams at 1.0G.

All players in the arena are required to wear personal protective clothing that meets Intaki Space Police P/RAPS-JANYC89 standards for ballistic and thermal protection.  This requirement is currently met by the universal adoption of SilkStone-brand full body armored sleeves for all league matches.  SilkStone sleeves provide adequate protection while allowing the athletes full range of motion as well as maximum comfort during strenuous exertion.  Since the thirteenth season of Sfear, players are also required to wear partial-envelope shield emitters as a further layer of flexible protection.

Most teams also equip their players with soft and/or hard padding for their knees, elbows, shins, and forearms as well as low-profile protective helmets to reduce injuries from impacts with the arena surface.  Subcutaneous biomedical monitoring devices also provide coaches and league officials with continous data on each player's medical condition during a match.  Furthermore, all players wear small ocular implants that allow them to see an overlay of game-related data inside the arena.  This overlay tells them which team another player is on, their identity, personal notes related to them, and whether the player is tapped out or in play.  It also displays the game time, contention, and score as well as a variety of other customizable data.

Additional equipment such as environmental mutators, mobility equipment, and armaments may be requisitioned from the armory according to each team's allotment of resources and the availablity of equipment based on the match's or season's thematic elements.

==Field Positions==

There are no SLK regulations governing the positions that players of either team are required to occupy or the roles they are required to fill during a match.

==Assembly==

At the beginning of each of a match's three launches, the nine players from either team assemble within a ten meter ring around the gate assigned to them for that launch.  This gate changes with each launch so that if one team begins the first launch at the blue gate, they will begin the next at the red gate.  Assembly also takes place after a score is achieved.  Upon the audio-visual signal indicating the start of play, all players are free to move outside their assembly areas.

==Movement==

Any player may move to any location within the arena that they are physically able at any time during a match.

==Possession==

Each of the two teams on the field begins a launch in possession of one of the balls.  If a team assembles around the red gate, they will begin that launch and subsequent assemblies during the same launch with the red ball.  If around the blue, they will have the blue ball.  A ball may be carried or propelled by any player by any means he or she is physically able during play.

==Combat==

Players may take whatever actions they are physically able to impede the movement of an opponent player or take possession of a ball from them.  Players may not deliberately attempt to maim or kill in the arena.  Actions that cause debilitating physical injury to another player requiring immediate medical attention or seven or more days of convalescence (severe ligament damage and open skeletal fractures are the most common) are subject to referee review under the Proportionate Use of Force rule.

==Tapping==

A player engaged in combat may tap out either by physically tapping their submission with the hand or foot on the arena surface or an opponent's body or by signaling their submission verbally.  Upon tapping out, biomedical implants deliver an electric pulse to the submitting player's voluntary musculo-nervous system, painlessly rendering them totally limp and immobile for fifteen seconds after tapping.  Once a player has tapped out, they will register as inactive in all other players' HUDs and they cannot be engaged by an opponent until this shock has subsided.

==Medevac==

When a player suffers injury severe enough to require immediate medical attention, the game clock is stopped and medevac drones collect the injured player(s), removing them from the arena.  Team captains or coaches may then select replacements to sub in.  All replacements must wait in the assembly area around their team's gate for the resumption of play.

==Continuity of Play==

A medevac stoppage activates the arena's advanced continuity of play systems.  Gravitic fields stop all player momentum and hold both the players and balls in place while medevac and subbing is completed.  Once done, upon the resumption of play, these fields provide force sufficient to restore all players and balls to their previous trajectories and speeds.  This gives the appearance of the entire arena having been paused while medevac is affected and then unpaused upon the resumption of play.  Players waiting in such fields may still move their limbs and heads and even change the orientation of their bodies but cannot locomote.

==Proportionate Use of Force (PUF)==

The SLK encourages a gladiatorial spirit in the arena, but it expects players to respect one another enough to not cause undue pain and suffering during the course of play.  Actions that cause damage to an opponent's body severe enough to require emergency medical treatment or more than seven days of supervised convalescence are deemed to violate this spirit of proportionality.  Although it is not officially encouraged, players may sometimes refuse to tap out and take an injury in order that their team be able to petition for a ruling on Proportionate Use of Force.

When a team captain or coach calls for a PUF ruling, derisively called "puffing up", the referee has sixty seconds to review a recording of the incident along with the players' medical data and determine whether or not to assess a penalty to the offending team.  Medevac takes place during this review period.  A favorable ruling for the petitioning team leads to Escalation! while an unfavorable ruling has no effect in match terms.  Either team may only call for a PUF ruling once every launch.

==Escalation!==

During conditions of Escalation!, the escalating team may field ten players while the other team has only nine players in the arena.  The most common cause of Escalation! is a ruling in favor of the escalating team by a referee according to the Proportionate Use of Force rule.  Escalation! lasts for sixty seconds, until a score is achieved, or until the current launch ends.  If during Escalation!, the non-escalating team calls for a PUF ruling and receives a favorable decision, Counter-Escalation!! takes place.

==Counter-Escalation!!==

During conditions of Counter-Escalation!!, both teams may field ten players in the arena.  Counter-Escalation!! lasts until a score is achieved or until the current launch ends.

==Contention==

Contention is required in order to score points.  By propelling either ball through either gate, a team is able to establish contention.  The ball used to establish contention is called the "challenging ball".  A team that does so is said to be "contending".  Once a ball has passed through a gate and contention begins, that ball remains out of play until a score is achieved or the other team is able to break the contention.  If contention is initiated within ninety seconds of the end of the current launch, the launch will be extended for exactly thirty seconds.

In order to break contention, the opposing team must propel the remaining ball through either gate or prevent the contending team from achieving a score for ninety seconds or before the end of the current launch, whichever comes first.  If contention is broken, the challenging ball is returned to play and placed at the center point of either the north or south floors by means of a gravitic field like that used for continuity of play.

==Scoring==

In order to score a point, a team that has established contention must then propel the remaining ball through its corresponding gate.  If the red ball remains, it must be passed through the red gate.  If the blue ball, the blue gate.  Doing so results in achievement of a score by the contending team.

==Winning==

The team with the highest score at the end of the three regulation launches is declared the victor.  If neither team has a higher score, a scramble takes place.

If a team is unable to field ten healthy players at any time during a match, that team must forfeit the victory.

==Scrambling==

The scramble is the tie-breaking mechanism in kenduzana.  A four minute period of play that begins with normal assembly, the first team to establish contention during the scramble is declared the victor.  Furthermore, if any player taps out during the scramble, that player's team must forfeit the victory.

==History of Sfear==

Established in YC99, SLK began when The Gentleman's Book, a Syndicate-based gambling consortium with ties to both the Venal region and the Caldari Nugoeihuvi Corporation, purchased all four teams of the semi-pro league Club Kendu Elite (CKE) and reorganized the league.  With a new name--Sfear--and new owners, came new rules.  SLK matches would feature more exciting and more marketable elements than CKE to include changing thematic rules between each season and more allowance for violence on the field.  Four additional franchises were also chartered for the first season of Sfear, bringing the total at that time to eight.  Moreover, money was injected into a new holovid advertisement campaign to build enthusiasm for SLK matches and affiliate the teams to certain stations within Syndicate space.  Since that first season in late YC99, SLK's popularity in Syndicate has only grown, and the league is today one of the most popular sporting venues in the region.

==Seasons==

(in chronological order)

Season (Dates) League Size

*CKE (Jul 96) 4 teams
*CKE II (Jul 97) 4 teams
*CKE III (Jul 98) 4 teams
*Sfear         (Dec 99)      8 teams
*Sfear        (Apr 100)      8 teams
*Sfear III         (Jan 101)      8 teams
*Sfear IV      (May 101)   8 teams
*Sfear: Battlesport   (Feb 102)      8 teams
*Sfear 6: Champions   (Oct 102)      8 teams
*Sfear 7: Enforcers   (Jun-Jul 103)   12 teams
*Sfear 8: Renegades   (Feb-Mar 104)   12 teams
*Sfear 9: To the Limit   (Feb-Mar 105)   12 teams
*Sfear X: The Black Tournament (Feb-Mar 106)   16 teams
*Sfear 11: Gladiators   (Nov-Dec 106)   16 teams
*Sfear 12: Star Gods   (Jul-Aug 107)   16 teams
*Sfear 13: Fortress   (Jan-Feb 108)   16 teams
*Sfear 14: High Treason   (Nov-Dec 108)   16 teams
*Sfear        (Dec109-Jan 110)   16 teams
*Sfear 16: War!      (Oct-Nov 110)   16 teams
*Sfear 17: Conquest   (Jan-Feb 111)   16 teams
*Sfear 18: The Unknown   (Sep-Oct 111)   16 teams
*Sfear 19: Colossus   (Mar-Apr 112)   16 teams
*Sfear XX: Inferno   (Nov-Dec 112)   16 teams

==Teams==

(as of September YC112)

Name - First Tournanment - Colors - Ownership

*All-Intaki Red Wolves -  Sfear (Dec 99)  -    Red, white -  Private
*Blood and Iron  -    Sfear X: TBT   -   Red, orange - Guristas
*Chevaliers   -   Sfear (Apr 100)   -   Green, blue -  Private
*Company Men  -    Sfear III    -     Black, grey -  Private
*Deadly Hares  -    Sfear 14: High Treason   Orange, black -  Private
*Fighting Wights  - Sfear X: TBT  -    Brown, white  - Angel Cartel
*HardCorelium   -   Sfear X: TBT  -    Green, black  - Serpentis Corp
*Illustrious Star Knights -  Sfear 7: Enforcers -  White, silver -  Private
*Kashd'an Maktor -  Sfear XX: Inferno -  Red, black  - RSS
*Moddy Bods  -    Sfear 8: Renegades  - Violet, white  - Private
*Nine Orders  -    Sfear 7: Enforcers  - Grey, black -  Angel Cartel
**entire team was suspended from the league roster for one season in May YC112
*Outer Ring Enforcers -  Sfear 7: Enforcers -  Yellow, black  - Private
*Poitot Pod Jockeys -  Sfear 12: Star Gods -  Black, green -  Private
*Silphy's Boys   -   Sfear (Dec 99)    -  Green, gold  - Intaki Space Police
** originally named Syndicate Boys, changed after the fifteenth season of Sfear
*Temko Titans  -    Sfear 18: The Unknown -  Blue, white -  Private
*Warhawks   -   Sfear 7: Enforcers  - Grey, red - Private
*We Will Return  -    Sfear: Battlesport -  Blue, gold  - NOH