Rube Tercer

Rube Tercer was a defender on the Zwangzug national football team. The side's first captain, he played internationally from the Baptism of Fire preceding World Cup 33 through World Cup 35.

Tercer could be eloquent and kind to teammates and opponents alike, though his idealistic attitudes became fairly nauseating to a great deal of the team. During Zwangzug's first qualifying campaign, he attempted to come to terms with the multiverse and its confusing history, which did not always make a lot of sense to the mostly-isolationist nation. He was also a deep admirer both of Ariddia's socialism and successful football team, and found he had much in common with Hannah Angstrom, Zwangzug's ambassador there; they would eventually marry after his playing career.

With the nominal "manager" a not-very-smart robot, it would fall to Tercer to creatively lead team strategy. Prior to World Cup 35, he would iron out the details of the highly symmetric, if audacious, 3-2-1-2-3 formation that became the team's new trademark. The early stages of Zwangzug's post-isolationist era were fairly anti-theist by the later standards of the secular state, and Tercer kept his Lutheran faith fairly quiet from the team. He admired Jacob Barons' serious-minded religiosity, however, and wound up choosing him as his successor in the armband.