Mar 26, 2025
Author's Commentary #388:
Time to talk about Chapter 388: Tons of twins and triplets too.
Originally, this chapter was just meant to highlight all the sets of twins and triplets competing in the tournament. It still does that, but now what was once a 600-word chapter is now nearly 2300 word long. It's definitely thanks to the appearance of the Greek and Turkish teams at the end, along with the game that was played. But before we talk about that, we have a lot of bios to do since I was unable to do any in the previous commentary.
テウタ・カヤ (Teuta Kaja) is how Teuta's name would be spelled in katakana.
Her birthday is April 9th, which is Constitution Day in Kosovo.
Her favorite piece is the queen.
Teuta is the president of Kosovo as well as a Desperado. While she normally has a quiet disposition, she is one of the nation's biggest nationalists, seeking nothing short of Kosovo's sovereignty to be recognized by all and Serbia to be punished for all it's done to it, notably during the Kosovo war. While her goal of getting Kosovo's sovereignty to be recognized is a noble one, she goes about doing so in morally questionable ways. She is also racist towards Serbs and will often enact laws geared towards punishing Kosovo Serbs. She also gets along poorly with the leaders of Greece, Serbia, Romania, and Russia, all of whom being some of the biggest nations that refuse to acknowledge Kosovo's existence as an independent nation.
アルブレナ・ウルキナク (Albulena Ulqinaku) is how Albulena's name would be written in katakana.
シュプレサ・ウルキナク (Shpresa Ulqinaku) is how Shpresa's name would be spelled in katakana.
ルルジェタ・ウルキナク (luljeta Ulqinaku) is how Luljeta's name would be spelled in katakana.
Their birthday is September 2nd, which is the day the Battle of Albulena took place.
Their favorite piece is the queen.
Unlike her sisters, Albulena is a hardcore nationalist, which will immediately make her one of the more controversial characters in the series. Her sisters are patriotic, but they aren't crazy like her, and instead hope simply for peace with Serbia and for Kosovo's sovereignty to be acknowledged by the international community. Sadly, both Teuta's and Albulena's actions can complicate that. Shpresa is also Kosovo's sole DSPCM, being based in Pristina. Unlike Luljeta, she's far more willing to confront Albulena when she goes too far, often resulting in minor bloodshed between the two.
ヴィオレッタ・ヒセンベリウ (Violeta Hysenbelliu) is how Violeta's name would be spelled in katakana.
Her birthday is February 17th, which is Independence Day in Kosovo.
Her favorite piece is the queen.
While Violeta will claim she's a hardcore patriot, the reality is that she simply acts that way to avoid angering Teuta for whom she works for. In reality, she wishes to get along with her Serbian neighbors, but sadly, not only does Teuta complicate that, but some Serbians such as Nikolina and Đurađ, also don't want to get along with Kosovar and Albanians. It really is agonizing for poor Violeta, especially since she often has no one to confide with. Shpresa would be her best option, but she fears that Albulena might catch wind of things if she approached her, thus, she chooses to fight her battle alone.
アイオナ・ユーイング (Iona Ewing) is how Iona's name would be spelled in katakana.
ローナ・ユーイング (Lorna Ewing) is how Lorna's name would be spelled in katakana.
Their birthday is June 24th. The reason behind this is that the coordinate for the island of Iona are 56°19′48″N 06°24′36″W.
Their favorite piece is the knight.
ブリタニー・マクドナルド (Brittany McDonald) is how Brittany's name would be spelled in katakana.
ブリジット・マクドナルド (Bridget McDonald) is how Bridget's name would be spelled in katakana.
Their birthday is April 15th, which is the day the McDonald's corporation was founded.
Their favorite piece is the queen.
フィオン・グラス (Ffion Glas) is how Ffion's name would be spelled in katakana.
Her birthday is September 5th. I chose this date at random, so there's no greater significance behind why this date is her birthday.
Her favorite piece is the queen.
リ・バン・グラス (Lí Ban Glas) is how Lí Ban's name would be spelled in katakana.
Her birthday is October 15th, which is the day the first episode of the Lí Ban animated series aired.
Her favorite piece is the queen.
Out of all of Sorcha's wives, Lí Ban is by far her favorite, and the one who loves her back the most. As such, she gave Sorcha full reign to unleash her fetish upon her, though she herself was also down for going bald and inking every inch of her skin with tattoos.
ヌーラ・グラス (Nuala Glas) is how Nuala's name would be spelled in katakana.
Her birthday is July 12th, which is Orangemens' Day.
Her favorite piece is the queen.
シオフラ・グラス (Síofra Glas) is how Síofra's name would be spelled in katakana.
オノラ・ダフィー (Onóra Daffey) is how Onóra's name would be spelled in katakana.
Their birthday is March 17th, which is St. Patrick's Day.
Their favorite piece is the bishop.
Unlike the other twins and triplets, Síofra and Onóra each represent different nations. This largely stems from Onóra traveling abroad to study art, but another reason Onóra left was because she didn't like Heather's rule of the UK. Síofra on the other hand, fell in love with Sorcha and ended up marrying her and thus joining her green battalion of the Fairy league. She's also the sole DSPCM of Northern Ireland, being based in it's capitol of Belfast.
Ffion originally hails from Wales, but was seduced by Sorcha and joined her harem. As such, she now just as bald as her thanks to Sorcha insisting all her wives go bald like her.
ナラン・バシャク (Nalan Başak) is how Nalan's name would be spelled in katakana.
Her birthday is October 14th, which she shares with her older twin sister, Muazzez.
Her favorite piece is the knight.
Originally, I was planning to shed a bit more light on why Nalan hates Muazzez so much, but instead opted to take the chapter in a different direction as going more in depth on it would drastically alter the tone of the chapter which I didn't want. The topic will be brought up in the future though.
エレンダズ・オズビレン (Erendiz Özbilen) is how Erendiz's name would be spelled in katakana.
Her birthday is April 21st. I chose this date at random, so there's no greater significance behind why this date is her birthday.
Her favorite piece is the bishop.
Erendiz is a woman who once sought to be a trailblazer only to later become a bootlicker to better her own standing. As shown in the chapter, she's incredibly vain, still considering herself to be the pinnacle of femininity and a symbol to women everywhere. And if you wanted another reason to hate her, she's homophobic as well.
カドリエ・エルコチ (Kadriye Erkoç) is how Kadriye's name would be spelled in katakana.
Her birthday is June 3rd, which she shares with Turkish grandmaster, Yağız Kaan Erdoğmuş.
Her favorite piece is the bishop.
アテナ・キシロウリス (Athena Xylouris) is how Athena's name would be written in katakana. Αθηνά Ξυλούρη (Athena Xylouris) is how it would be written in Greek.
Her birthday is March 24th, which she shares with Greek international master, Stavroula Tsolakidou.
Her favorite piece is the queen.
Sharing her name with the Greek goddess of wisdom, Athena herself is a highly intelligent woman as showcased by her 2777 rating. She is the leader of Greece as well as a Desperado like the other Balkan nation leaders.
エウリュアレ・インディコ (Euryale Indikó) is how Eurale's name would be spelled in katakana. Εὐρυάλη Ινδικό (Euryale Indikó) is how it would be spelled in Greek.
ステノ・インディコ (Stheno Indikó) is how Stheno's name would be spelled in katakana. Σθενώ Ινδικό (Stheno Indikó) is how it would be spelled in Greek.
Their birthday is July 16th, which is World Snake Day.
Their favorite piece is the bishop.
These two are Medeucesa's older sisters. They also have a tendency to be sibilant in their speech.
ダフネ・ヴァカロプロス (Daphne Vakalopoulos) is how Daphne's name would be spelled in katakana. Δάφνη Βακαλοπούλου (Daphne Vakalopoulos) is how it would be spelled in Greek.
(If I made any mistakes with the translations, feel free to correct me).
Her birthday is September 13th, which is the day Daphne Blake from the Scooby-Doo series made her debut appearance.
Her favorite piece is the queen.
Phew, that was a lot. As for the game, I wanted something really short, and opted to go for one of the fastest ways to achieve an en passant checkmate. To achieve this particular mate, Athena needed to place her queen in danger by capturing a pawn. Had Erendiz caught on, Athena would have lost her queen. However, Athena still would have likely won the game even down a queen.
And with that, we're through this chapter and onto the final segment of Kisha's show before the pairings are revealed. All I'll say is that there will be a game next chapter, and it will be epic.
That's all for this commentary. I hope you enjoyed it.
