Mathis Galland

Blackwood Gazette #151- Pandion Air Racing League Opens with Outstanding Numbers

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By Huxley Pruitt, Sports

6/7- The first annual Pandion Aerodynamics Racing Circuit got underway this weekend in Walsh, drawing thousands of citizens from around the Triumvirate for some high flying racing action. For two days the best pilots in the empire showed those of us with our feet trapped firmly on the ground what a plane can do, and then pushed those planes just a little bit more.

The Legacy League provided fast action out of the gate, with a head to head race between Tobias Cuthbertson, former Captain of the Crowndon Air Corps, and “Bonzo” Doosly, retired pilot for Nor Easter. They were neck and neck for most of race, cutting close corners around the course’s obstacles. The turnaround occurred around the last turn, when Doosly clipped Cuthbertson, sending both air craft careening. The crowd watched in silence as Cuthbertson brought his craft under control and pulled ahead, winning the race with a two second spread and earning cheers from the mostly Crowndonian crowd. Cuthbertson would go on to dominate the weekend for the Legacy League, beating Walsh’s own Parker Behan and Toring’s Hardisty Pender for the top of the winner’s podium.

The second day of racing focused on the Horizon League, and if you asked anyone in the crowd, this league, made up mostly of amateur and trade pilots, is the reason they came out. Promising head-spinning stunts and a true sense of derring-do, the Horizon League did not disappoint.

The-Middle-of-Nowhere’s Gideon Hotoft shut down des Anges’ Micah Le Fleur in a stomach churning stunt race to open the event. This exhibition was followed by a heavily modified version of the head to head course the Legacy League raced the day before, featuring more obstacles and tighter turns. Hotoft once again put on a good show, but ultimately came in third on the podium. The first place pot ultimately went to Rommsbach’s Perys Kerby, while second place went to the controversial woman pilot, Marcy Quail.

After the races were over, we spoke to Mathis Galland, owner of Pandion and the creator of the races, about how he felt the event fared.

“I think it’s safe to say it was a rousing success!” he told us. “The crowds were going wild at every close call and photo finish, and we’re already getting requests from sponsors who want to enter their own racers for a second season.”

Tickets for the next event, two weeks from now in Des Anges, have already sold out.

Blackwood Gazette #151- Pandion Air Racing League Opens with Outstanding Numbers

Blackwood Gazette #115-Track Construction Begins for Air Races, Despite Setbacks

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By Huxley Pruitt, Sports

7/5-It seems that even the loss of several key members of his proposed air racing league cannot keep Mathis Galland down. Construction on the first course broke ground in the countryside outside of Walsh early this week.

“Many people are calling me crazy,” Galland said. “When Blunderberger [sic] and the others left, they took their sponsors with them. It also cost me a few investors. Luckily, I’m richer than sin and was able to cut costs a little bit by building on my own land.”

Rumors of an anonymous benefactor began swirling shortly after those investors mentioned above stepped away. Galland confirmed it.

“I did indeed receive a sizable donations from a third party. It’s not my place to name names. Just know that it’s all completely legal. The donor just wanted to do me a favor. If he wishes to step forward, he will.”

The Walsh course is said to be a straight forward race course, but Galland promises future courses will be much more complex.

“After we finish in Walsh, we’ll begin construction on a course outside of Des Anges in Nor Easter,” Galland said. “That one will make use of the natural environment for much of its length, with a portion weaving through the rocky spires of the Serpent’s Tongue canyon. After that we’ll build three more for this season, in locations that are tenuous at the moment. But the final course, oh, it’s a doozy, let me assure you. People will lose their minds when it’s announced at the end of the season.”

Preliminary races will be held at the beginning of seventh month, and the season will continue on through Tenth Month. Tickets are expected to go on sale soon in Walsh, Toring, Yves, and the Crowndon Capital.

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BONUS: Here, have an updated map of the world of Blackwood Empire. Like any creative endeavor, its a work in progress, subject to change. It’s also not to scale, because I’m not a cartographer and also I’m bad with numbers. Still, it should give readers a basic idea of where everything is. It’s also gigantic, so if you’re having a hard time reading it, click on it to get a better view.

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Blackwood Gazette #115-Track Construction Begins for Air Races, Despite Setbacks

Blackwood Gazette #111- Mathis Galland Signs Colonial Woman to his Racing League; Four Others Back Out

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By Huxley Pruitt, Sports

30/4- Mathis Galland’s much anticipated air racing league has hit a snag this week. His decision to sign Marcy Quail, a woman bush pilot from the colonies’ northern territories, has sparked controversy amongst those racers already signed as well as the wider sports world.

“The idea of a woman competing with a man is patently ridiculous,” said Bart Blunderberg, a racer from Rommsbach who formerly served as an officer in the Crowndon Air Corps and announced his resignation from the league upon hearing the news. “It always has been. That’s why we have separate leagues in all other sports, if the women have leagues at all. It’s bad enough we have to race against these backwoods hicks from the Middle of Nowhere with their third rate scrap jobs, but women? From the colonies, on top of that? I’m done.”

Three other racers backed out at the news as well, all of them from the tentatively named Legacy League (a title self-proclaimed by those racers hailing from the military and private service amongst the Triumvirate aristocracy.) Mathis Galland does not seem worried, however.

“If they want to behave like children and stomp out of the room holding their toys, let them,” Galland said. “There is no room in my league for such behavior. And the nature of racing, one of mechanical, rather than physical, prowess and skill render the typical arguments against integrated sports leagues irrelevant in this matter. Not that that would matter, in Miss Quail’s case. She’s six foot four and two hundred pounds of pure muscle. When I went to recruit her, she’d just thrown some poor sod who’d gotten too fresh with her through a wall.

“If someone can maintain and fly their aircraft, I couldn’t give two wet [expletive removed] where they’re from or what their genitals are. It’s also noteworthy that those pilots who dropped out are from Crowndon, and the Crowndon military at that. It’s well known they don’t allow women in combat roles, while we here in Nor Easter do. Now, I don’t want to say that our fighting women are the sole reason we won the war, but…we have fighting women, and we won the war.”

Blackwood Gazette #111- Mathis Galland Signs Colonial Woman to his Racing League; Four Others Back Out