At long last the International Animalia Convention had arrived! While most of it was focused on the IAC Games, the largest collection of amateur sports events, there was plenty of other events going on to keep it from getting boring. But the biggest event was the official Opening Ceremony that marked the beginning of the events.
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While there was plenty from the last IAC Opening Ceremony that made their way into this year's opening ceremony, there were also some new things that prevented it from getting boring.
The biggest event, which was recorded on site and shown at Claw Coliseum on a big video screen, was the official opening of Dinosaur City. While the ceremony wasn't as risqué as some made it out to be, there was certainly enough to be fantasized about later. There was also the inaugural match of the Mesozoic Fight Club: Indominus Vs. Spinosaurus. While it was a close vote to who would win, the undoubtedly most amusing part was ironically the opening, with several "racial" insults before the real event. While there was some "biting" and "clawing", the claw and mouth/teeth guards for such an event were clear enough to seem realistic while also shiny enough to show that they were there. In the theme to the similar Boo Haw Haw, from Spookyville, the loser would seemingly die from a well placed bite attack but seemingly come back to life with the famous line that revealed what it was.
"What?! You didn't think it was REAL did you?!"
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After the opening ceremony, the members of Animalia Ambassadoria were each assigned a different colony to do coverage at each one. While the most popular ones were Mieni Atoll and Heiya Island, due in no small part to Mieni Atoll's IAC Beach Games and Heiya Island's IAC Martial Arts Exposition, there were others that were considered "mandatory" due to being the newest. The founding members were doing coverage at the Australian Colony, which was also when Ben and Tyree's wedding would be taking place. It was something to see them dressed as Australian Aboriginal tribal chieftains, and also see the Dreaming Painting that spoke of Animalia's "rise" even though it seemed more like an abstract painting.
The first part of the coverage would be at Uluru Rock which was also where the wedding ceremony would be taking place. While it was an interesting thing to watch, mainly because the opening and closing of the ceremony proper were preceded by traditional aboriginal dances, there was still enough there to keep the wedding somewhat standard. But anyone visiting were warned not to disrespect Uluru Rock by taking a piece of it with them. While it was a relatively strange thing to learn about for foreigners, it was generally known in Australia by locals that anyone who took as much as a small pebble from Uluru Rock were destined to have some big failure in the future. It was also known that such stones were often sent to the nearest post office in an attempt to reverse the bad fortune they had unwittingly brought upon themselves.
The second part of the coverage was at the northern colony, which everyone else called Northland, which was a really rough translation of the aboriginal name for the colony. Not only was it for the convenience of the more "tropical" members of Animalia, but it was also a short boat ride to the Great Barrier Reef.
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Maelewano and New Zerzura weren't being completely ignored as they were also important colonies. At Maelewano, they celebrated the coming of the 2019 IAC with a mock battle between two of the most (relatively) well-known African tribes: the Zande and the Zulu. This was due in no small part to Deadliest Warrior featuring Shaka Zulu in their first season, and the Zande Tribalfighter in their second season.
New Zerzura, due to the discovery of both ancient ruins on the planned colony site and the tomb of what was now known as "The Lost Pharaoh" showed a new museum that featured both the burial goods from Ahmose II's tomb, but also the relics that were discovered in the ruins that had been discovered.
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While there were those who weren't able to watch the Opening Ceremony in person, it was recorded and broadcasted live to many places, including the plane where Ling and Mr. Hyun; Xena, Allura and Beatrice, and other newest members of Animalia were taking to Mieni Atoll. What was also clear, from the news coverage, was that the 2019 IAC was clearly shaping up to be the biggest event this summer.