// THE PREMISE
What this world is
You are the new head coach of Maragibe Esporte Clube, a fourth-tier club on the northeast coast of Brazil, in an old fishing city the highway forgot, a night's bus north of Recife and a hotter one south of Fortaleza. The club was raised by the fish market and the favela stacked up the hill above it, and it has lived its whole life in one neighbourhood. The players will call you professor whether you have earned it or not. Your first day is Monday. The opening match is Sunday.
The wages are two months late. There is a tax debt due before the year turns, safety works the fire brigade has demanded on the old stand, and a president who has signed personal guarantees his wife does not know about. The academy has produced a seventeen-year-old forward the whole city calls o menino, and a smiling agent from São Paulo already has the uncle's number. Sell the boy and you cover the arrears, the debt, and the repairs, and prove forever that this coast raises beauty only to ship it away. Keep him and you are betting late wages and a neighbourhood's Sundays on the idea that a beautiful thing can pay its own way at home. The European window closes in twenty-four days.
This is football told as conversation, not menus. You pick the eleven, run training, face the morning radio phone-in, and argue with a president, an agent, and a grandmother who each want a different future for the same boy. Cajueiro grades every Sunday out loud, by nine the next morning. The next match matters, but so does how you speak to the people who keep this club going.
// PLAY PROFILE
What this world plays like
Start with your first week as professor: take training, choose an eleven, and learn how much weight to give Tião Furtado's advice. The dressing room wanted another coach. Listen before deciding who needs to hear your authority.
The transfer question gives the story its pressure. An agent is approaching, the president needs money, and the boy's grandmother has her own view. You can focus on negotiation, the squad's confidence, or the neighbourhood that feeds the club on credit.
Possible longer stories include a derby, a season built around the academy, or the cost of trying to keep the boy at home. Start with the decision you want to face as a coach, then take it into the next conversation.
// FACTIONS IN MOTION
Principal factions
The board of directors for the city's beloved but financially crippled football club. Led by local business owners, their primary goal is ensuring the club's short-term survival through any means necessary, including selling off its most valuable assets: its players and its land.
The club's passionate and powerful organized supporters' group, drawn from the working-class dockworkers and residents of Cajueiro and the Ladeira. They are the guardians of the club's identity and traditions, viewing themselves as its true owners and protectors against the perceived greed of the board and outsiders.
The city's municipal government, centered in the Centro. While publicly committed to supporting local institutions like the club, key figures like Councilman Queiroz are pursuing a development agenda that sees the club's land as a prime opportunity for lucrative resort construction.
A slick, professional sports agency based in São Paulo, representing the star player, 'o menino'. Agent Márcio Leal is a quintessential Paulista outsider, driven solely by the potential commission from a European transfer, showing no concern for the club's future or the community's desires.
The city's main Catholic parish, the center of spiritual life and moral authority in Maragibe. Padre Aurélio ministers to all, from the dockworkers to the club president, and the church serves as a unifying force, especially during the annual festival for the patron saint. It represents the deep, traditional faith that underpins community life.
// KEY FIGURES
People you'll meet
// SITES OF RECORD
Places that matter
A dense grid of low-rise buildings and storefronts clustered around the docks and the cavernous, noisy fish market. The air is thick with the smell of salt, diesel, and frying fish. This is the heart of Maragibe, where the club was born and where its fate is debated daily over coffee and beer.
A stretch of undeveloped coastline just outside the city, marked by sand dunes, windswept coconut palms (coqueiros), and mangrove swamps. It's beautiful, isolated, and exposed to the elements. The club's training ground is here: two pitches of imperfect grass and a container gym.
The old docks that gave birth to the club, now quieter than they once were. Fishing trawlers and the odd coastal freighter are moored along the concrete pier. The air is heavy with the smell of brine and rust. The torcida organizada, 'Fúria do Mar', has its small headquarters in a warehouse here.
Unfinished brick houses stacked precariously up the steep hill behind Cajueiro, connected by a maze of narrow alleys and stairs. The sounds of life—music, arguments, children playing—echo constantly. From the top, the view of the ocean is the best in the city, a luxury the residents have no time to enjoy.
// STORY PASSAGE
A passage from the published profile
The last 40 minutes are a blur of frantic defending, heart-stopping counters, and Mateus 'O Profeta' Pereira making several crucial saves, but the boys hold on. The final whistle blows, and a collective roar of relief and triumph echoes across the pitch. The dressing room is a mix of exhaustion and elation. Players collapse onto benches, some laughing, some close to tears. Three points. A win. The first step.
Selected story passage. Your choices can lead elsewhere.
BEFORE YOU ENTER
Choose a first decision
Start with a person you want to meet, a place you want to see, or a problem you want to understand. You make choices through written actions and read the Narrator's response. The people and places above introduce this world; they do not promise a fixed sequence of scenes.
Completed turns save to your account. Review the latest scene and the relevant in-game information when returning. Check current access and Spark allowances before a longer session, and use the player guide for help with saves, artwork, possessions, and other supported features.
Profile updated .
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