05-23-2023, 02:23 AM
Hanshui, the city at the heart of the Riverlands, ancient imperial capital, and the beating heart of Rén Laeral, was sometimes called a city of festivals, for the bewildering array of feast days, parades, and regional and local holidays celebrated across its dozens of neighborhoods. The Olympic Games of 2023, however, was perhaps the biggest festival this storied city had ever seen.
On boulevards by the Zhongshui river, visitors speaking a tremendous variety of languages laughed, exclaimed, chatted, and squinted at directions as they browsed through the street market the city had set up for the occasion. It was a carnival atmosphere, with enterprising vendors erecting stalls filled to the brim with flags, noisemakers, and apparel. In the old city, throngs of people packed the streets and grand plazas, gazing up at the immense video screens set up so that even those who had been unable to fit into Hanshui Metropolitan Stadium could watch the events inside. Trains and shuttle buses, from the airport, far-flung parts of Laeral, and Hanshui’s suburbs themselves continually disgorged more people into the growing crowds as the sky began to darken.
In one of the press boxes perched in the high reaches of Hanshui Metropolitan Stadium, Richard Han, veteran news anchor for TV1 Français, looked intently towards his teleprompter as he prepared for the broadcast. In the past several years, he’d read news of wars, elections, deaths, a peace treaty, and much more quotidian events to the Laeralian public—but this was his first time broadcasting an Olympic Games. “Ten seconds!” someone called from behind the camera, and the assistant straightening Richard’s hair stepped away hurriedly. Richard, with his co-anchor Clarisse beside him, looked towards the camera with the sincere, aged gaze which gave him a gravitas few other broadcasters could match.
“Good Monday evening,” Richard said. “The time is 8:00 post meridian, and I am reporting to you from Hanshui Metropolitan Stadium, where a spectacle unmatched in Laeral’s sporting history is about to begin. The opening ceremony for the 2023 Olympic Games in Hanshui is now beginning to unfold…”
From behind him, as the lights of the stadium dimmed, a roar from the crowd below broke like a wave against the press box, only barely muffled by the thick glass.
The stadium was dark completely for a few seconds as anticipation built, and then a massive video screen came to life, illustrating a Laeralian flag being raised slowly along a flagpole, as the national anthem began to play.
When the soaring notes of the anthem faded away and the crowd returned to their seats, a light shone upon a single man, dressed in the garb of a boatman from many centuries ago, standing upright and paddling a simple wooden boat down a faux river projected onto the floor of the stadium.
“For hundreds of generations,” a narrator intoned, “people have lived and raised families in the fertile Riverlands of the Zhongshui river valley.” On the floor of the stadium, moving pictures began to appear: first in the style of ancient cave paintings, then in the style of drawings. Hunters with spears approaching their prey. Peasants carrying bundles of firewood. The prophet Gao Minjian preaching to a crowd. Scribes soaking bamboo strips to print paper. An imperial messenger on horseback. The boatman paddled steadily forward amidst these events, coming to a stop before an immense platform in the middle of the stadium, a reproduction of Hanshui’s most famous vanished attraction: the old Imperial Palace.
“In the 13th century, Jiang Hui united a nation, bringing peace to the land of Laeral and creating one of the great empires of the pre-modern era. His reign was a just one, and his empire was a time of prosperity and security. From his capital in Hanshui, Emperor Jiang Hui oversaw exhibitions of talent and skill from the finest artists and entertainers of his realm.” Stepping forth from his throne within the palace came another actor: the Emperor Jiang Hui, clothed in silk robes, spreading his arms wide in magnanimity. Below, dozens of acrobats in period costume rushed out onto the stage below, beginning a synchronized dance of twirls and flips set to traditional music. After they filed off, martial artists took the stage, also dressed in traditional wear, one by one dazzling the crowd with flips, kicks, feats of balance, and choreographed sparring with staffs, all in the crowd-pleasing Highlands style of wushu.
As the final pair of martial artists finished their sparring and froze in place, the lights shining on the palace dimmed and the boatman again resumed his journey through time, paddling through a tunnel underneath the palace and emerging on the other side.
“In the centuries to come,” the narrator intoned, “Laeral would experience years of peace and prosperity, where arts, culture, and the sciences flourished.” Other pictures played across the floor, in the style of an artist’s drawings: traders leading donkeys with saddlebags packed full of goods to market. Builders clambering across scaffolding while building a great Minjian temple. A three-masted sailing ship. “Yet Laeral also experienced years of great hardship. Stagnation, strife, and most terrible of all, invasion.” On the stadium’s floor, the man paddled past scenes of warfare, of a village in flames, and finally of families fleeing an advancing army.
“In the face of suffering, however, the spirit of Laeral remained, clinging to life in spite of all obstacles. Over an 80-year span, Laeral saw two revolutions: one, to throw out foreign rulers from the land, and a second, to bring true justice for all Laeralites, with values of freedom, dignity, equality, and advancement that resonate still today.” The images of René Gramont waving to a cheering crowd, of doctors tending to the poor, and of an architect gesturing to a dam passed across the stadium floor. “It was with the strength of these values that Laeral fought to save the world from tyranny—” the famous picture of Laeralian soldiers of the Great War advancing across a field of wheat— “and to bring forth a better life for all those who have made Laeral their home.” Across the floor, a panoramic video, now in brilliant full color, played, showing an aerial view of the Laeralian landscape, broad plains split by the winding Zhongshui river. The boatman reached the far end of the stadium, stepping out from his traditional, humble clothing into a modern suit, albeit with a rounded Zhou collar and cut in a Laeralian style. “And now,” the announcer said, “Laeral welcomes you to the 2023 Olympic Games.”
From hidden ports across the floor of the stadium, fireworks streaked upwards, illuminating the sky in a shower of golden light as the music swelled, successive fireworks shaping a dragon, a plum blossom, and then the Olympic rings, which hung in the air a moment before falling, as a massive cheer erose from the crowds in the stadium and outside.
From the press box perched atop the stadium, anchor Richard Han resumed facing the camera as the fireworks faded away. “And now,” Han said, “the musical portion of the show begins, with a special performance from singer Denise Cheng.” For the viewers at home, Han and his co-anchor narrated the procession of musical guests, from decades-old nostalgia stars like Cheng to even the pop starlet Jane Tao and the boy band Bitter Angels, who had only recently made their name on the reality-singing circuit. After a brief break in the festive guests for a brief presidential speech, mercifully short for the benefit of the now-antsy sports fans in the audience, the camera once again returned to the stadium floor as the tennis star Jeannine Rigaud, who decades ago had become a national symbol of resilience for her return to the court after an attempted murder at the hands of the triad, carried the Olympic torch to a large ceremonial cauldron and set it alight, another round of fireworks heralding the opening of the Games.
“And there we have it,” Han announced. “The 2023 Hanshui Olympic Games are now open after a majestic Opening Ceremony. And now, the Parade of Nations.”
As the Olympic band struck up an upbeat rap-style song, the over 200 athletes of the Laeralian Olympic team, clad in navy-blue, retro-style jumpsuits and white sneakers, emerged onto the track leading around the perimeter of the arena, waving wildly to the watching crowds as they walked behind the Laeralian flag carried by the gold-medal-winning figure skaters Kerry Chan and Héloïse Charvier. The route was flanked by young men and women, wearing traditional-style Laeralian clothing draped in lights and waving ribbons and Olympic banners from side to side. The Parade of Nations, and the third Olympic Games itself, had begun in the city at the heart of the Riverlands.
On boulevards by the Zhongshui river, visitors speaking a tremendous variety of languages laughed, exclaimed, chatted, and squinted at directions as they browsed through the street market the city had set up for the occasion. It was a carnival atmosphere, with enterprising vendors erecting stalls filled to the brim with flags, noisemakers, and apparel. In the old city, throngs of people packed the streets and grand plazas, gazing up at the immense video screens set up so that even those who had been unable to fit into Hanshui Metropolitan Stadium could watch the events inside. Trains and shuttle buses, from the airport, far-flung parts of Laeral, and Hanshui’s suburbs themselves continually disgorged more people into the growing crowds as the sky began to darken.
In one of the press boxes perched in the high reaches of Hanshui Metropolitan Stadium, Richard Han, veteran news anchor for TV1 Français, looked intently towards his teleprompter as he prepared for the broadcast. In the past several years, he’d read news of wars, elections, deaths, a peace treaty, and much more quotidian events to the Laeralian public—but this was his first time broadcasting an Olympic Games. “Ten seconds!” someone called from behind the camera, and the assistant straightening Richard’s hair stepped away hurriedly. Richard, with his co-anchor Clarisse beside him, looked towards the camera with the sincere, aged gaze which gave him a gravitas few other broadcasters could match.
“Good Monday evening,” Richard said. “The time is 8:00 post meridian, and I am reporting to you from Hanshui Metropolitan Stadium, where a spectacle unmatched in Laeral’s sporting history is about to begin. The opening ceremony for the 2023 Olympic Games in Hanshui is now beginning to unfold…”
From behind him, as the lights of the stadium dimmed, a roar from the crowd below broke like a wave against the press box, only barely muffled by the thick glass.
The stadium was dark completely for a few seconds as anticipation built, and then a massive video screen came to life, illustrating a Laeralian flag being raised slowly along a flagpole, as the national anthem began to play.
From majestic mountains to fertile plains, home and hearth of prosperity,
arises our homeland, the heart of Hesperida.
Its cities and factories, our ancestors’ gift!
United and sovereign, possessed of foresight
the heirs of Jiang Hui shall their destiny claim.
***
Arise we now with hope for tomorrow,
let us dedicate ourselves to a nation’s betterment.
Following the path of esteemed Gramont,
nowhere under the heavens shall oppression reign!
***
Under the banner of progress and freedom,
let us march forward no matter the obstacle!
United and sovereign, a people’s citadel,
our upright nation shall forever endure.
When the soaring notes of the anthem faded away and the crowd returned to their seats, a light shone upon a single man, dressed in the garb of a boatman from many centuries ago, standing upright and paddling a simple wooden boat down a faux river projected onto the floor of the stadium.
“For hundreds of generations,” a narrator intoned, “people have lived and raised families in the fertile Riverlands of the Zhongshui river valley.” On the floor of the stadium, moving pictures began to appear: first in the style of ancient cave paintings, then in the style of drawings. Hunters with spears approaching their prey. Peasants carrying bundles of firewood. The prophet Gao Minjian preaching to a crowd. Scribes soaking bamboo strips to print paper. An imperial messenger on horseback. The boatman paddled steadily forward amidst these events, coming to a stop before an immense platform in the middle of the stadium, a reproduction of Hanshui’s most famous vanished attraction: the old Imperial Palace.
“In the 13th century, Jiang Hui united a nation, bringing peace to the land of Laeral and creating one of the great empires of the pre-modern era. His reign was a just one, and his empire was a time of prosperity and security. From his capital in Hanshui, Emperor Jiang Hui oversaw exhibitions of talent and skill from the finest artists and entertainers of his realm.” Stepping forth from his throne within the palace came another actor: the Emperor Jiang Hui, clothed in silk robes, spreading his arms wide in magnanimity. Below, dozens of acrobats in period costume rushed out onto the stage below, beginning a synchronized dance of twirls and flips set to traditional music. After they filed off, martial artists took the stage, also dressed in traditional wear, one by one dazzling the crowd with flips, kicks, feats of balance, and choreographed sparring with staffs, all in the crowd-pleasing Highlands style of wushu.
As the final pair of martial artists finished their sparring and froze in place, the lights shining on the palace dimmed and the boatman again resumed his journey through time, paddling through a tunnel underneath the palace and emerging on the other side.
“In the centuries to come,” the narrator intoned, “Laeral would experience years of peace and prosperity, where arts, culture, and the sciences flourished.” Other pictures played across the floor, in the style of an artist’s drawings: traders leading donkeys with saddlebags packed full of goods to market. Builders clambering across scaffolding while building a great Minjian temple. A three-masted sailing ship. “Yet Laeral also experienced years of great hardship. Stagnation, strife, and most terrible of all, invasion.” On the stadium’s floor, the man paddled past scenes of warfare, of a village in flames, and finally of families fleeing an advancing army.
“In the face of suffering, however, the spirit of Laeral remained, clinging to life in spite of all obstacles. Over an 80-year span, Laeral saw two revolutions: one, to throw out foreign rulers from the land, and a second, to bring true justice for all Laeralites, with values of freedom, dignity, equality, and advancement that resonate still today.” The images of René Gramont waving to a cheering crowd, of doctors tending to the poor, and of an architect gesturing to a dam passed across the stadium floor. “It was with the strength of these values that Laeral fought to save the world from tyranny—” the famous picture of Laeralian soldiers of the Great War advancing across a field of wheat— “and to bring forth a better life for all those who have made Laeral their home.” Across the floor, a panoramic video, now in brilliant full color, played, showing an aerial view of the Laeralian landscape, broad plains split by the winding Zhongshui river. The boatman reached the far end of the stadium, stepping out from his traditional, humble clothing into a modern suit, albeit with a rounded Zhou collar and cut in a Laeralian style. “And now,” the announcer said, “Laeral welcomes you to the 2023 Olympic Games.”
From hidden ports across the floor of the stadium, fireworks streaked upwards, illuminating the sky in a shower of golden light as the music swelled, successive fireworks shaping a dragon, a plum blossom, and then the Olympic rings, which hung in the air a moment before falling, as a massive cheer erose from the crowds in the stadium and outside.
From the press box perched atop the stadium, anchor Richard Han resumed facing the camera as the fireworks faded away. “And now,” Han said, “the musical portion of the show begins, with a special performance from singer Denise Cheng.” For the viewers at home, Han and his co-anchor narrated the procession of musical guests, from decades-old nostalgia stars like Cheng to even the pop starlet Jane Tao and the boy band Bitter Angels, who had only recently made their name on the reality-singing circuit. After a brief break in the festive guests for a brief presidential speech, mercifully short for the benefit of the now-antsy sports fans in the audience, the camera once again returned to the stadium floor as the tennis star Jeannine Rigaud, who decades ago had become a national symbol of resilience for her return to the court after an attempted murder at the hands of the triad, carried the Olympic torch to a large ceremonial cauldron and set it alight, another round of fireworks heralding the opening of the Games.
“And there we have it,” Han announced. “The 2023 Hanshui Olympic Games are now open after a majestic Opening Ceremony. And now, the Parade of Nations.”
As the Olympic band struck up an upbeat rap-style song, the over 200 athletes of the Laeralian Olympic team, clad in navy-blue, retro-style jumpsuits and white sneakers, emerged onto the track leading around the perimeter of the arena, waving wildly to the watching crowds as they walked behind the Laeralian flag carried by the gold-medal-winning figure skaters Kerry Chan and Héloïse Charvier. The route was flanked by young men and women, wearing traditional-style Laeralian clothing draped in lights and waving ribbons and Olympic banners from side to side. The Parade of Nations, and the third Olympic Games itself, had begun in the city at the heart of the Riverlands.
