The Hroa Constrictors are one of the Psiball teams of Hroa, owned by House Serpens. The Constrictors are also, statistically, one of the best Psiball team in Acheron Rho, with a loyal and dedicated team that has proven resistant to headhunters and high value contracts.
History[]
The Hroa Constrictors were originally a team of eight student psiballers from the Imperial Academy of Psionic Learning and Wellness’ precognitive program, which was allegedly founded three weeks after the sport began to spread among the student body, although Academy records show the club was not officially founded until a year later. The early history of the Storm is a blur of hearsay and most likely inflated urban legend, some claiming the team name came from a noble’s pet snake crushing a Hroan globe, others that during a match a player from the Constrictors used secret telepathic techniques to tighten the windpipes of their opponents.
The constrictors were considered by most to be a mid level team, accused of dirty tactics and shady practices, not helped by the fact that several of the teams members went on to join the Executor service. However, when the call for the founding of the Psiball League was announced, Ophidian Kuzma, the then captain of the Constrictors, decided to use the opportunity to turn the team’s reputation around.
Ophidian Kuzma took the team on a three week long training retreat to the mountains near Aranath, using their position as a Jr Nominator to set the retreat as an official training camp within the Academy’s curriculum. According to legend, the team underwent strenuous training, bonding exercises, and a spiritual awakening on one of Hroa’s highest plateaus before returning for the qualification tournaments later that year. According to several letters and recordings the trip was a standard training affair in the woods 30 minutes out of Aranath on foot; with a focus on mastering the fundamentals, and a handful of productive, but standard, meditation sessions. Regardless, the practice retreat has become semi-annual tradition for both the student team and the Psiball league team to this day.
The coming year the Constrictors dominated the competition at the Serpens Sector Qualifier, a tournament held to see who would represent House Serpens and Hroa within the new sector-wide Psiball League. The Constrictors truly crushed the competition, with the exception of a hotly contested bout with the soon to be Hroa Storm, the Storm pulling out a surprise victory when they unleashed a psychic hurricane on the constrictors.
Ever since, the Hroa Constrictors have enjoyed a dominant position among the sector’s psiball teams, having won several Emperox Cups, and regularly recruiting the best of the best from the Academy’s student Psiball leagues. Some Psiball experts have claimed that the Constrictor’s have enjoyed such success due to their spiritual retreats and their place in the Psiball culture, others claim it's because it is staffed exclusively by Serpens psychics, who have all earned high ranking positions in their chosen fields immediately on retirement.
Motto[]
“Crush the competition!”
Players[]
Serpens Randal Keith[]
Serpens Randal Keith is the third in a long line of Constrictors, his mother and grandmother both having been a part of the team both at the Academy and in the pro league. Keath burst onto the scene at the academy as part of the Academic League team “evolution”, which shattered Academic League records, and earned an exhibition match against several top players from the Constrictors.
It was during this expedition match that Keath earned his nickname; “The Legend Slayer”, after ejecting the then team captain Serpens Jalmst Jurst Jager from the ring. Randal Keith is a skilled teleporter famous for his signature maneuver, “The RKO” or Randal Keith Offensive. The RKO is a surprise teleportation slam where Keath, seemingly from nowhere, appears near an opponent while their guard is down and slams them down with a psiball offensive.
Serpens Montego Kobi[]
One of the longest tenured players in the league, Montego Kobi is considered the heart of the Constrictors roster, known for his friendly demeanor and extremely diligent work ethic. Despite earning almost universal praise from various teammates throughout his career, until recently Kobi’s consistent contributions have gone largely ignored by team management.
All that changed, however, at the end of last season when Kobi the last constrictor standing, managed to eliminate all three members of the opposing team. In the face of overwhelming support not just from his teammates but from fans, the Constrictor’s owner personally held a press conference confirming Kobi as the new team captain.
Serpens Jericho Christoph[]
Serpens Jericho Christoph has been called by some ‘the archetypal rockstar psiballer’ and others ‘greatest performer ever known’. Cristoph has been praised and derided for his attempts to blend theatrics and psiball, known to go on exaggerated rants during interviews and weaving supposed rivalries and storylines out of psiball seasons on their popular vidcast ‘Talking Christoph’.
Christoph has also earned some modicum of fame as a musician, performing between matches with his band Fuzzy. Christoph is a moderate precog and skilled telekinetic, known for his signature defensive play “The Wall of Jericho” where he creates a telekinetic shield around an opponent, causing a thrown psiball to ricochet off the barrier repeated and striking them, weakening the opponent.
Serpens Roland Reigns[]
Roland Reigns is a popularly unpopular psiballer for the Hroa Constructors, having been brought on the team before even officially graduating from The Academy. Reigns, despite being an excellent psiballer lacks charisma, and the management of the Constrictors have been accused of pushing this underdeveloped rookie too hard due to their relation to Serpens Seer Roland ‘The Boulder’ Dwane, a previous star player of the Constrictors. Reigns is known for his telekinetic abilities, and his signature move: the psball spear.
Serpens Pavlis Rika[]
Thought she has only recently made her entry into the sector-wide Psiball League, Pavlis Rika’s unique style and reputation from her collegiate career has already made her an intimidating figure on the field. Though she was sidelined with injury for a large portion of the last season, she’s known for her team having never lost a game where she played as a started. Other players are also unnerved by her habit of wearing a nearly featureless mask during play and her signature move “The Drill,” which has given rise to the popular spectator chant “Rika’s gonna drill you!”
Staff Members (optional section)[]
High Sophist Serpens Jälmst Jurst Jäger, Coach and Talent Manager[]
High Seer Serpens Jalmst Jurst Jager, or Triple Js as most fans call him, is a veteran Psiball player who made his fame with the Ruthless Aggression strategy in the 3190’s. Triple J has earned just as many nicknames as he has criticisms by fans, sporadically coming out of retirement to replace injured team members while still running the Academy’s student Psiball league. Triple Js is a telepath and telekinetic.