Race Around the World
The Race Around the World (Italian: La corsa intorno al mondo) was a circumnavigation competition, originally held in 1919 in Alscia. Sponsored by the two largest newspapers, The Etra Echo and The Senik Sun, it had two contestants who attempted to make a circuit of Siduri and Eracura, going in alternate directions. The race ended in a tie, and lasted 72 days, a world record at the time.
The race was a celebrated event in Alscian history, and has often been depicted or referenced in Gylian popular culture.
Background
The Etra Echo and The Senik Sun were Alscia's largest newspapers, and had a pivotal role in the development of the Gylian popular press. They introduced innovations like reliance on mass circulation and advertising, mixture of news and entertainment, cartoons and comic strips, and competitions for prizes, making them two of Alscia's most widely-read and prestigious periodicals.
Both newspapers at the time were run by "tempestuous but talented" editors, as Hildegard Riese described them, who saw each other as rivals. However, this view was defied by their respective workforces, who took a more friendly view of each other. Echo and Sun employees often famously mocked their editors by openly reading the rival newspaper in their offices.
The spirit of the early 20th century, where advances in technology, global communication, and infrastructure made the world "smaller", encouraged utopian ideals. Several competitions had been held recently in Tyran, such as pan-Eracura and pan-Siduri automobile races, highlighting the increased ease of global travel. While the idea for the race itself originated from a separate publication, the Echo and Sun jumped at it, and decided to jointly sponsor such a competition.
Initially, both newspapers viewed the race simply as a means to increase their circulation and possibly score victory over a rival. However, the idea rapidly captured the public imagination, appealing to Alscia's "lucky Gylians" identity. Governor Donatella Rossetti publicly voiced support for the race and insisted on being its referee, seeing it as a way to increase Alscia's stature on the world stage within the confines of its ambiguous status. The philanthropist Lera Seraðu also became a sponsor, contributing to the prize money.
Rules
The Echo and Sun agreed on a common set of rules:
- The race would start and end in Etra's Piazza dell'indipendenza (Independence Square).
- Both newspapers would choose one contestant to represent them.
- The goal would be a circuit of Siduri and Eracura, using any means of transport but aviation.
- Both contestants would start in opposite directions: one heading east, and one heading west.
- The prize would be ₤1 million and a large bottle of champagne.
- The aim was to complete the circuit in less than 80 days — chosen in specific reference to Jules Verne's Around the World in Eighty Days.
Donatella Rossetti served as the referee, firing the starting pistol at the beginning of the race, and presiding over the closing ceremony at the end.
Contestants
Both newspapers selected illustrious journalists as their representatives:
- Rizjan Keşua (1894–1954), better known by her English pen name Liza Jane (Gylic transcription: Liza Jen), represented the Echo. She was famous as an investigative journalist specialising in undercover exposés.
- Elisa Boland (1891–1949) represented the Sun. She was famous as a progressive commentator and activist.
The similar names of the contestants earned them the English nickname "the two Lizzies".
Itinerary
The race began on 19 September 1919. The itineraries were as follows:
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Liza Jane
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Elisa Boland
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Both traveled mainly by railroad and steamship, and both visited 12 countries in total. Their itineraries largely overlapped, with minor differences: Liza was the only one to visit Megelan, Akashi, and Tennai, while Elisa was the only one to visit Quenmin, Shalum, and Silua. The development of efficient submarine cable networks and the electric telegraph allowed them to send short progress reports, though longer dispatches had to travel by regular post and were thus often delayed by several weeks.
Although ostensibly contestants, Liza and Elisa secretly corresponded with each other through telegraph and sometimes telephone, and thus were roughly aware of each other's progress. There were particular legs were the one in the lead deliberately delayed or hindered their progress to allow the other to catch up.
The race ended on 30 November 1919. Both Liza and Elisa arrived in Etra by steamship, from Tennai (via Iárus) and Cacerta respectively. A large crowd had gathered in Piazza dell'indipendenza to witness the finish. At 15:50 local time, Liza and Elisa executed their secret plan: they met up at the entrance of the square, held hands, and entered simultaneously. Seeing this, Donatella Rossetti smiled and declared the race to have ended in a tie, and the crowd cheered.
Liza and Elisa split the ₤1 million prize, each donating it to charitable causes, and the large bottle of champagne.
Remarks
Liza and Elisa's accounts of their journeys form a valuable source of Gylian, and more specifically Alscian, perceptions of Tyran in the early 20th century. Both their accounts also reflect their approaches: Liza's is more "swashbuckling" and energetic in tone, while Elisa's is more subdued and features lengthy digressions into reflections on society, politics, and culture.
Both accounts are notable for their strong Miranophilia, reflecting traditional ties and admiration of Miranian Gylians, the largest non-Gylic community in Alscia. Liza describes the Miranians as the "most graceful" and "most delightful" of people, writing of her visit to Akashi:
"I think the Miranian women carry everything in their sleeves, even their hearts. Not that they are fickle–none are more true, more devoted, more loyal, more constant, than Miranian women–but they are so guileless and artless that almost any one, if opportunity offers, can pick at their trusting hearts.
If I loved and married, I would say to my mate: "Come, I know where paradise is," and desert the land of my birth for Akashi, the land of love–beauty–poetry–cleanliness. Akashi is beautiful. Its women are charmingly sweet. I know little about the men except that they do not go far as we judge manly beauty, being undersized, dark, and far from prepossessing. They have the reputation of being extremely clever, so I do not speak of them as a whole, only of those I came in contact with. I saw one, a giant in frame, a god in features; but he was a public wrestler."
Elisa similarly remarks of her travels in Lirinya:
"…I move in a joyous dream. Can this be I? … I, to whom the Miranian lands had seemed as fair and vague as heaven – a place to which only the excessively virtuous and fortunate ever went? … And, lo! I, in all the fulness of earthly imperfection, am permitted to see it! …
The shops are lit and busy, and contain every need, from crabs to curios, that Miranian flesh is heir to. Here and there cluster flocks of light, portable booths, each also with a swaying lantern, where steaming tea is sold in thimble-cups; where saki may be drunk hot and hot, poured from long-necked porcelain bottles, or trays of queer, toothsome-looking sweetmeats are to be had for coins of infinitesimal value. Along the street lie heaps of fresh vegetables – making pretty bouquets of colour, all clean and ready for the pot – or fruits of many sorts massed with skill and beauty; … little red oranges in bamboo nets, set about with their own green leaves; plums, pomaloes, and fruits whose names we do not know. Everything, everywhere, is radiantly clean, dainty, and inviting. All the folks, too, are gay and voluble. The children play about unchidden; and one might imagine it, if not corrected, some Festival of Lanterns, the place is so joyous, bright-tinted, and fantastic under the smiling, benignant moon. …"
Liza's decision to travel through Megelan, then at the beginning of the Warlord Era, caused some panic among her co-workers, but she was able to safely proceed through western Megelan, which was mountainous and largely untouched by the civil war.
Both Liza and Elisa remarked on the difficult conditions in Ruvelka, passing through it only a year after the Ruvelkan Civil War ended, and the conspicuous tensions at the border with Syara.
Legacy
The race boosted the circulation of The Etra Echo and The Senik Sun to their peak, and was described by Margherita Martini as "the event of the year" in Alscia. Liza and Elisa published books chronicling their travels — Around the World in 72 Days and In 7 Stages, respectively — which became critically acclaimed best-sellers, translated into multiple languages. They are considered to mark the peak of Alscian travel literature, together with Dæse Şyna's Landicrocia, and became an enduring influence on Gylian adventure fiction.
The Race Around the World captured the Gylian public's imagination, and attracted great international interest; various influential Tyranian newspapers also reported on Liza and Elisa's progress or carried their dispatches. Thus, the race succeeded wildly at its aim of increasing Alscia's international stature. Keie Nanei even argued that it represented "the start of Gylian cultural power", which would eventually culminate in the Gylian Invasion.
Liza and Elisa's journey inspired imitators, and their record for travel around Tyran lasted only a few months before being surpassed. One notable trip around Tyran was subsequently undertaken by an Ossorian traveler, who sailed around Eracura and Siduri in a mock-rebuttal to Liza and Elisa excluding Ossoria from their itinerary.
The race is "almost a mandatory depiction or mention" in Gylian works set during Alscian times, such as Les aventures extraordinaires d'Adèle Blanc-Sec and Rubis Cœur: Sky Captain, and has also made notable appearances in foreign works. Several re-enactments have been held, for its 50th anniversary in 1969 and its 100th anniversary in 2019.
Etra's Piazza dell'independenza was subsequently renamed "Piazza di mondo" (World Square), and a large monument commemorating the race was built in its centre. The monument is a statue of Liza and Elisa triumphantly holding hands, on top of a globe depicting their paths across Tyran.