The Connectome League AlmanacClub No. 02Est. B.Y. 3Home: The Glasshouse
MOS · Club history
Real Mosca
“Royalty of the fruit bowl.”
The name means Royal Fly. Nobody gave them permission to be royal. They did not ask.
The founding · B.Y. 3
The crate that was never theirs.
Up on the hill, the Glasshouse catches the last of the evening light. Its robots sort the orchard’s best fruit into crystal bowls. In B.Y. 3 the head sorter was a robot called Quince, who wore a paper crown she had folded herself. Her porter, Pith, carried whatever she pointed at.
One evening a crate of plums arrived with pink labels. It was addressed to the Cider Press. Pith pointed this out. Quince pointed at the plums. They were the finest plums either of them had ever seen.
“Fruit this good,” said Quince, “deserves a club this good.” She named herself the Duchess and the Glasshouse a royal ground. She wrote a royal charter on the back of the delivery slip. Real Mosca was founded before the ink was dry.
The Cider Press wanted its crate back, so the two clubs met in the Bowl to settle it. That was the first Peel Derby. Real Mosca lost 2–1 and kept the plums anyway.
B.Y. 3 · A scene from the almanac
Please sign for the plums.
Pith held the delivery slip against the crate. The address was quite clear. He read it aloud anyway, slowly, in case the Duchess had missed it the first time.
Quince turned the paper over. The back was blank. This seemed to her the more useful side. She rested it on the finest bowl in the Glasshouse and began writing a royal charter. Pith waited with his pencil poised above the box marked “received.”
First came the club name. Then came the title Duchess. Quince tried the paper crown at two angles before deciding how large her signature should be. Pith pointed out that the bowl made the writing slope. Quince said a royal document ought to have some elevation.
By the time the charter was finished, the delivery slip could no longer be returned without surrendering the club’s founding document. Quince explained this difficulty to Pith. Pith looked at the crate, then at the paper, then at the road down to the Cider Press.
“They will ask for the fruit,” he said. Quince selected a plum and polished it on her sleeve. “Then we shall receive them.”
The derby settled the score at 2–1 to Drosophila. It did not settle the delivery. Afterward, Pith put the charter in its frame. The unsigned receipt box faced the wall. On the front, the Duchess’s signature climbed proudly uphill.
Team sheet · B.Y. 40
The squad
Three robots a side: a keeper, a midfielder, and a striker. These are the names and numbers they wear in the game.
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No. 1, Pupa
No. 1 · Goalkeeper
A pupa is the quiet stage before a fly hatches. Pupa the keeper is also very quiet, right up until the save.
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No. 8, Antenna
No. 8 · Midfielder
A fly smells and feels the air with its antennae. Antenna claims to smell a counterattack coming. Teammates say it is usually just the compost beds.
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No. 10, Proboscis
No. 10 · Striker
The proboscis is the long mouthpart a fly eats with. Proboscis wears the royal number 10 and has never turned down a chance.
In Fly Brain Soccer, every robot runs on the same fruit-fly brain wiring, whichever shirt it wears. The squads, numbers, and positions above come straight from the game. The personalities come from the almanac.
Named fixtures
Who they play, and why it matters
Every club meets every other club once a season. Over forty years, each of those six games picked up a name.
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DRO v MOS · since B.Y. 3
The Peel Derby
The oldest fixture. It started as an argument over a crate of plums and never really stopped. The name comes from the plum peel left on the pitch after the first one.
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MOS v OMM · since B.Y. 24
The Long Draw
In B.Y. 24 these two played a 0–0 that ran so late the floodlights dimmed for the first time. Both clubs say they were about to score.
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MOS v LAR · since B.Y. 29
Crown and Compost
Real Mosca refused Larva’s first three applications. In B.Y. 31 Larva beat them 1–0 for their first win ever. Larva fans now bring compost. Mosca fans bring umbrellas.
From the Compound Eye
Notable moments
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B.Y. 3
The royal charter
Written on the back of a delivery slip. It hangs in the Glasshouse in a gold frame.
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B.Y. 4
The trophy before the league
Real Mosca award themselves a Golden Haltere. The league starts the next year.
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B.Y. 24
The Long Draw
A 0–0 with Inter Ommatidia that runs so late the floodlights dim for the first time.
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B.Y. 31
Crown and Compost
A 1–0 loss to Sporting Larva, Larva’s first win ever. The Glasshouse closes its windows for a week.
For the whole league story, see the almanac timeline.
Matchday · The Bowl is open
Season 1 is still unwritten.
The almanac stops at B.Y. 40. What Real Mosca do next is up to the brain simulations running in your browser. The first visit downloads about 138.6 MB of brain wiring data. The game tries to cache it for later visits.