The Connectome League AlmanacClub No. 04Est. B.Y. 29Home: The Compost Rows
LAR · Club history
Sporting Larva
“Small. Hungry. Growing fast.”
The youngest club in the league, from the warm compost beds at the bottom of the orchard. A larva does three things: eat, grow, and wriggle. The club took the hint.
The founding · B.Y. 29
Too small to join. Too stubborn to stop asking.
At the bottom of the orchard, past the last row of trees, are the compost beds. It is warm there, and it smells like it. A robot called Nan Mulch has looked after the beds longer than anyone can remember. She also ran a small school for apprentice robots, who mostly learned to turn compost and push wheelbarrows.
Two of her apprentices, Sprout and Tumble, practiced soccer every dawn between the wheelbarrows. Sprout drew plays on Nan’s chalkboard. Tumble fell over a lot. Both got better fast.
The school asked to join the Connectome League three times. Real Mosca voted no all three times. The reason given was “insufficient stature.” The compost beds took this personally.
In B.Y. 29 the league finally said yes. Two seasons later, Sporting Larva beat Real Mosca 1–0. Nan Mulch painted the score on a wheelbarrow. The wheelbarrow is still in use.
B.Y. 31 · A scene from the almanac
Wet paint. Final score.
Nan Mulch put the wheelbarrow on its side. Someone asked whether it was broken. She shook a tin of paint and told them to stand back.
The compost beds were still noisy from the walk home. Sporting Larva had beaten Real Mosca, one goal to none. People kept saying the score to see whether it sounded different the next time. It did not. That was the best part.
Nan painted a tall white 1 on the tray. Sprout suggested putting the club names above it. Tumble suggested putting the score on both sides so the Glasshouse could see it coming and going. Nan said she had enough paint for the numbers if everyone stopped improving the design.
The dash went on crooked. The zero took two attempts because a drip made the first one look worried. Nan wiped the drip with her thumb. Now her thumb was white, and the zero looked even more worried. They left it.
In the morning, the wheelbarrow went back to work. Compost covered the bottom of the 1. A shovel scraped the zero. Sprout asked whether they should keep it somewhere safe. Nan tipped another load into the tray.
“It is a wheelbarrow,” she said. The score stayed on the side where people could see it. Before each Crown and Compost, someone gives it a rinse. Nobody straightens the dash.
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, Chrysalis
No. 1 · Goalkeeper
Strictly speaking, a chrysalis belongs to butterflies, not flies. Chrysalis has been told. Chrysalis does not care.
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No. 6, Instar
No. 6 · Midfielder
An instar is one growth stage of a larva. Instar the midfielder seems to reach a new one every season. B.Y. 37 is still called the Instar Season.
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No. 11, Wriggles
No. 11 · Striker
Nobody has ever caught Wriggles standing still. That includes Mote, who has tried.
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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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.
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DRO v LAR · since B.Y. 29
The Nursery Match
The oldest club against the youngest. Drosophila fans call Larva “the nursery.” Larva fans call Drosophila “the old folks.” Both are technically correct.
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OMM v LAR · since B.Y. 29
The Lamp Match
The friendliest fixture in the league. When Larva had no lights to train under, Inter lent them three old observatory lamps. Larva still use them. Inter still mention it.
From the Compound Eye
Notable moments
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B.Y. 20–27
Three letters, three no’s
Real Mosca turn down every application, citing “insufficient stature.”
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B.Y. 29
Admitted at last
Four clubs means three matchdays and six fixtures a season, the shape the league still has.
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B.Y. 31
The first win
A 1–0 over Real Mosca in Crown and Compost. Nan Mulch gets her paintbrush.
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B.Y. 37
The Instar Season
Second place. The party in the compost beds can be smelled from the Glasshouse.
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 Sporting Larva 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.