(Written by Snip13r, and co-written/proofread by Phantomwalker.)
(Rated T for moderate swearing. Some chapters contain Italian, German, French, Dutch, and Russian speech.)
(The Girls und Panzer original series belongs to Actas. OCs are solely mine.)
Introduction
Tankery, unlike the past six decades, has blown up considerably.
Practiced in over 30 nations, tankery has been the most popular form of extreme sports. Yes, there is skiing, there is cliff diving, there is paintball, among many others. When tanks were first conceived, they were meant to provide immense penetration capabilities through enemy lines. As the years would pass tanks have evolved in many different ways. Longer, more powerful guns, faster cruising speeds, thicker armor and more. Tanks have become a main component of every single military on the earth. The variety of roles tanks can fulfill are countless.
However, by the mid-20th century a new purpose was devised for these war machines. Whoever came up with this idea at the time would definitely be dubbed mentally insane. Little did that person know that it would skyrocket into the next generation as something much more than a "form of training and entertainment".
It came with backlash before. Angry people ranging from parents up to big-time politicians have opposed the practice of tankery, citing conservative ideals, sometimes even utter nonsense. But that didn't stop tankery from growing. That didn't stop tankery from expanding. Tankery still went from nothing to being a thing.
Nowadays tankery is one of the biggest sports among regular ones such as football and basketball. There are competitive leagues as expected, and not a single event is even lax on viewers all over the world. There are three levels on how competitive tankery is categorized: high schools, colleges, and lastly, "professional-tier" national teams. All three levels of tankery are broadcast live on television and on the web, and the money being raked from this can amount to thousands, maybe even millions. Every time a tankery match is broadcast, eight out of ten homes are full of viewers. Tankery has become a major staple of entertainment.
To those who may not know, what exactly is tankery?
Tankery is simply tank combat polished as an extreme sport. As opposed to using tanks for all-out bloodshed, the safety of the participants is prioritized in tankery. Conceived way back in the 1950s rapid advancements in technology have resulted in tankery blooming in the eyes of practicality and interactivity. Like regular sports, tankery can be practiced whether on a recreational level or competitive level.
Tankery has different gamemodes, two of which are the most popular: flag match and elimination match. Flag matches consist of 10 tanks or more (depending on the set rules by the governing body) for both sides. Both sides have at least one flag tank, and the objective is to take out the opposing team's flag tank to win the match. Elimination matches, on the other hand, require one team to take out all of the opposing team's tanks, and vice verse.
What are the kinds of tanks used in tankery?
According to the International Tankery League's rules, only early Cold War-era tanks to WW2 tanks can be used. While seeing WW1 tanks and modern tanks in tankery may be entertaining, WW1 tanks are considered to be dilapidated for use and modern ones too dangerous to use, as well as costly, which also explains how only the military gets to use them.
How are the participants protected during tankery?
The League issues modified munitions for all tanks, both for tank guns and machine guns. These munitions are less lethal than regular bullets and shells, and when put up against the carbon-coated armor plating of all tanks (once again made possible by the League), merits a 100 percent safety rate. Additionally, the rules involve participants to never ever leave their tanks during matchtime, considering that bullets are still bullets regardless.
Moving on to explaining the three different levels of competitive tankery from biggest to smallest, starting off with the national level:
In total there are 30 countries that compete in tankery with national teams. All of the countries competing are defined to be capable of tank production and funding for their national teams, hence making all the participants from wealthy countries. This includes Austria, Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Hungary, The Netherlands, Russia, and more. In the national/international level the tanks used are early Cold War-era such as the M60 Patton. And as usual with every tankery match shit gets hectic so fast (but people enjoy it nonetheless).
For the collegiate level: 20 colleges and universities from 20 different countries (1 school for each country) compete with the same setup as the national level, but the difference is that they are restricted to WW2-era tanks. To be even more specific, any tank conceived before August 15, 1945 (which is the date of V-J Day and end of WW2) is eligible for competition. All of the colleges and universities are top-tier in their own countries, meaning they are wealthy and have the funds for their own tankery teams, and they may or may not be supported by their countries' governments in terms of funding, additionally.
For the high school level: same as the collegiate level, but there are two major differences. One, the number of countries competing is down to 15, and two, gender segregation is applied. Each of the 15 countries has two high schools, one for boys, one for girls. The tournament setup is divided between 15 boys' high schools and 15 girls' high schools. The 15 boys' schools will compete with each other, and the same applies to the 15 girls' schools. Only one boys' high school and one girls' high school get to face off in the finals.
With tankery becoming bigger and better, good vibes are rising between countries. Diplomatic relations improve through tankery, trade and commerce improves as well through tankery, and social relations improve even through tankery. It's like the world would never be a better place if it weren't for tankery. Come to think of it, tanks, bred for war, are now used to promote peace eventually.