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A Hive for The Galaxy (Sci-Fi CK2-style Quest)

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Eri said:
Not voting this time because of lack of time, but I just wanted to mention that this:

Made my day. :)
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The thing to understand with the Hive is that there are a lot of them. That's part of the bonus. Literally any idea, any interest, however small as a portion of the population it is, is huge. I mean, .5 percent of the population of a 15 Billion-odd world is 75 million. That means, by the way, that even niche interests are 'huge' in their own sense.

So yes, there are tens of millions of Xvorzith, maybe more, who practice historical re-enactment. A tiny, tiny, tiny subculture.

Tens of millions. Imagine the battles, imagine the 'miniature cities' brought alive for some sort of festival. Pick a niche sort of thing, and then imagine thousands more unique to their culture in addition to the obvious crossovers and 'Fans of Human/Barsa/etc' culture. Each of their 'fraction of a fraction of a percent' could power entire forums full of activity to make SV look like a lazy blog run by one guy and commented on by a friend of his every once in a while, as its only reader.

And yeah, @Ginger Maniac , I don't allow plan-voting, but you could just copy-paste his vote/edit it into your post with that explanation and so on, if you agree with it :)
 
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Ginger Maniac said:
Good to know for future.
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But yeah, I'll probably close voting sometime tomorrow morning/afternoon *after* I finish the update for my other Quest. This update'll be easier, of course, just copy-pasting and then desperately formatting it to make sense.

You'll also get some rather fun actions. Including one that's a shout-out to @Deathstorm50 , and his own build during character creation, which really, really inspired me and gave me some fun ideas I didn't get to write out. Which, by the way, got a reference in this turn! Try to spot it!
 
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[X] Send the Fleets to the colonies.
[X] An Old Friend
[X] Reconciliation
[X] What are we In For?
[X] Learn the Will of the Hive
[X] (Free) Public, Free and Informative
[X] Recall the Ambassadors? (Free)
[X] No, we will stick with our currently obligations under the old government.
[X] Trade Traffic?
[X] Learn the People's Will
[X] Judge Not
[X] Budgetary Matters
[X] Keep them All

Edit: Was the shout-out Kikkizit?
 
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Deathstorm50 said:
Edit: Was the shout-out Kikkizit?
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Yep, they are literally your build option as one of the finalists in the election who lost mostly/partially because they didn't want to rule and was firm enough that nobody got the idea that they were doing some sort of 'Humble acceptance thing.' Thanks to the Humility that Kikkizit had always shown. They were humble enough, and diplomatic enough in expressing it through their gregarious nature, that everyone walked away understanding there was a different candidate that'd have to win.
 
The Laurent said:
Yep, they are literally your build option as one of the finalists in the election who lost mostly/partially because they didn't want to rule and was firm enough that nobody got the idea that they were doing some sort of 'Humble acceptance thing.' Thanks to the Humility that Kikkizit had always shown. They were humble enough, and diplomatic enough in expressing it through their gregarious nature, that everyone walked away understanding there was a different candidate that'd have to win.
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That's pretty awesome. You said there would be actions relating to them in the next vote? I hope we can get them as a Learning advisor or something. Wait, I just had a thought... Now, I'm not too familiar with the Bond movies or books, but if we're playing insect James Bond, is Kikkizit going to be our insect Q?
 
The Laurent said:
The thing to understand with the Hive is that there are a lot of them. That's part of the bonus. Literally any idea, any interest, however small as a portion of the population it is, is huge. I mean, .5 percent of the population of a 15 Billion-odd world is 75 million. That means, by the way, that even niche interests are 'huge' in their own sense.

So yes, there are tens of millions of Xvorzith, maybe more, who practice historical re-enactment. A tiny, tiny, tiny subculture.

Tens of millions. Imagine the battles, imagine the 'miniature cities' brought alive for some sort of festival. Pick a niche sort of thing, and then imagine thousands more unique to their culture in addition to the obvious crossovers and 'Fans of Human/Barsa/etc' culture. Each of their 'fraction of a fraction of a percent' could power entire forums full of activity to make SV look like a lazy blog run by one guy and commented on by a friend of his every once in a while, as its only reader.
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And with Will of the Hive AND the cultural love of dance, they spontaneously break into synchronized planetary dance numbers?

With danceoffs when there's a conflict of opinions.
 
veekie said:
And with Will of the Hive AND the cultural love of dance, they spontaneously break into synchronized planetary dance numbers?

With danceoffs when there's a conflict of opinions.
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They love dancing yes, and singing. Just like humans. They don't quite break into dance numbers, though! Weirdly enough, the idea for the dancing party-thing was actually inspired by something Obama once did during the 2008 campaign with a bunch of supporters, I'd have to find it, but he did dance at the head of a bunch of people at one point because--and I hope not to make it so obvious it becomes obnoxious--I do sorta follow that sort of stuff.

And now it's turned into 'Bollywood James Bond' :p

Well, memes are fun. I've thought of several references to use for Option-titles next turn. And I can't even share them with lk because they aren't around!
 
I dreamed that I was about to become President and then it turned out I was actually a deluded crazy person that they were humoring since it wasn't 2016 yet. And it was really weird, and my mom was there and...the vote'll close in a few hours! I'll also need someone to put up a tally.
 
Vote tally:
##### 3.21
[X] Send the Fleets to the colonies.
[X] An Old Friend
[X] Reconciliation
[X] What are we In For?
[X] Learn the Will of the Hive
[X] (Free) Public, Free and Informative
[X] Recall the Ambassadors? (Free)
[X] No, we will stick with our currently obligations under the old government.
[X] Trade Traffic?
[X] Learn the People's Will
[X] Judge Not
[X] Budgetary Matters
[X] Keep them All
No. of votes: 3
veekie, Night_stalker, Deathstorm50

[X] Tanks for Nothing!
No. of votes: 1
Dark Ness

[X] Send the Fleets to the colonies.
[X] An Old Friend
[X] Security or Liberty?
[X] Reconciliation
[X] What are we In For?
[X] Learn the Will of the Hive
[X] (Free) Public, Free and Informative
[X] Recall the Ambassadors? (Free)
[X] No, we will stick with our currently obligations under the old government.
[X] Trade Traffic?
[X] Learn the People's Will
[X] Judge Not
[X] Budgetary Matters
[X] Keep them All
No. of votes: 2
Hydroplatypus, wingstrike96

[X] An Old Friend
[X] Search for an Martial advisor
[X] Firings
[X] What are we In For?
[X] Learn the Will of the Hive
[X] (Free) Public, Free and Informative
[X] Recall the Ambassadors? (Free)
[X] Yes, get rid of all treaties, start fresh.
[X] Study the Workers' Plight
[X] Talk to the Castes
[X] Learn the People's Will
[X] Search for an Advisor
[X] Find the Right Ones
No. of votes: 1
Flamester

[X]An Old Friend
[X]Send the Fleets to the colonies.
[X]Security or Liberty?
[X]Fact Finding Mission
[X]Caste of Diplomats?
[X]Public, Free and Informative
[X]Talk to the Colonies
[X]Recall the Ambassadors?
[X] No, we will stick with our currently obligations under the old government.
[X]Study the Workers' Plight
[X]Talk to the Castes
[X]Judge Not
[X]Budgetary Matters
[X]Search for an Advisor
[X]Learn the People's Will
[X]Keep them All
No. of votes: 1
Wellhello
 
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Turn 1--2427 CE (A): Intrigue, Learning and Personal
  • Threadmarks
    • We have a winner! So, here's the winner and here's the second part.

    [X] Send the Fleets to the colonies.
    [X] An Old Friend
    [X] Reconciliation
    [X] What are we In For?
    [X] Learn the Will of the Hive
    [X] (Free) Public, Free and Informative
    [X] Recall the Ambassadors? (Free)
    [X] No, we will stick with our currently obligations under the old government.
    [X] Trade Traffic?
    [X] Learn the People's Will
    [X] Judge Not
    [X] Budgetary Matters
    [X] Keep them All

    Intrigue: This is your area, this is what you know best. And it is in disarray. The forces that monitored and controlled, jailed and beat the Xvorzit are now in chaos, special forces deserting or hiding for fear of vengeances, and more than that, there is Zaeswin on the loose. The machines and tools of control, of the dark and secret knowledge, all of them currently lay in disarray. At your feet. Yours to command. (Pick 3)

    Hunting Zaeswin

    He is a monster. He destroyed your unit, he tortured your friends and ripped your cybernetics out of you screaming, and might have murdered you if he'd had the chance. A pure monster, he has unknown ties to multiple intergalactic forces, including the Iashec, and was one of the most powerful figures in the old order, almost as powerful as the monarch. And then, just before the revolution, he disappears. He's not going to get away that easily, and you're going to find him. Find him and get justice, and learn what he's done.


    Cost: 300 Wealth
    Probability: 20% (You're sending regulars to do your job, what do you expect, Mr. Bug?). Much higher if you get involved of course. See Personal.
    Reward: Find out where Zaeswin is hiding, opens up options, gives chance for 'Infiltration Turn', you get to be called Bug, Vorzhan Bug.


    Your old Commander


    It was several years ago that they were packed off to a prison world. You are reasonably sure ol' Yaziha is alive, though you can't be entirely sure. Either way, you should rescue them. The student has likely surpassed the master, but they mean so much to you. They taught you everything you knew, back before their fall, back before the world stopped making sense. You cannot leave them behind.


    Cost: 150 Wealth
    Probability: 60%
    Reward: Free Yaziha, talk to them and get advice/information. Feels.


    The Bugs in the System

    A one time only chance. At the moment the many systems of monitoring and control that had most average systems hacked, with built-in backdoors and bugs and viruses, a whole system, lies inert. It will be destroyed, and most of it should be. But, there are certain things that might be useful. Just in case, to monitor for terrorism or crime, or to make sure you have something to build on later. If it is all allowed to be swept clean, it'll take a lot of work to put anything else back in place.


    Cost: 200 Wealth
    Probability: 60%
    Reward: Keep a bare-bones system of secret-monitoring functioning, more options, ???


    The Infernal Archive

    Records were kept, in theory. In reality it's a rat's nest, and it's hard to tell. Many are encrypted, speaking of dark deeds, or hidden from one part of the Black Budget. The thing is a tangle. But within all of it might lie secrets, or information on Zaeswin, your target. Either way, you need to learn more about just what the government was up to.


    Cost: 100 Wealth
    Probability: 40%
    Reward: +10% to all other Intrigue rolls this turn, opens up tons of new options. Information.


    What are they saying?

    The Ruler-Caste, the former Monarch and so on were immune to at least the bugs and programs you have access to, but you could find the codes for where they are monitored and work on setting up your own spy network. You need to know what they're saying and thinking, and whether they are planning anything against you. They gave up peacefully, but they certainly didn't *choose* to give up.


    Cost: 300 Wealth
    Probability: 50%
    Reward: Monitor the former Monarch and her children and allies, open up options.


    Colonial Eyes and Ears

    The colonies are a big question mark. You could rectify this through viruses, agents, and other such forms of infiltration, but it's a long journey with forces you aren't entirely sure of. But considering the dangers the colonies pose, and are in, it might just be worth it. The operations would be delicate and complicated, but you just might be able to do it.


    Cost: 400 Wealth
    Probability: 30%/40% (with either Military or Diplomatic versions of dealing with the Colonies)/60% (with both)
    Reward: Information. Options.


    Redeeming the Aroane Special Group

    The most famous special-forces group is the Aroane. There are many, but you have a friend or two who used to be in that group, and former friends still in there. Their reputation was marred by their actions, including a (peaceful) raid on the house of a protest-leader and scholar, but they are useful and the largest and (though the public might not believe it) least given to brutal and repressive acts, the true monsters hiding in the shadows, not so public that people spoke of the "ASG" in a very public way.


    Cost: 200 Wealth
    Probability: 40%
    Reward: Aroane checked out and cleared of potential subversives, public opinion restored to 'neutral/those-scary-people', options opened up.


    Open Government?


    There have been calls to open the action of the government so all can see it. You could do so...at least for the non-classified stuff, setting up sites and document retrieval for the non-sensitive Diplomatic, Stewardship, Martial and Learning actions, while keeping the Intrigue carefully hidden. It'd increase public trust, at the very least, though also increase public scrutiny.


    Cost: 100 Wealth
    Probability: 70%
    Reward: Open Government holo-casts and VR/web-sites, increased public opinion, increased public pressure.


    Cyber-Agents

    You need to improve agents, and just as importantly, make sure you know the access codes and shut-offs for the cybernetically enhanced agents so that you can grant more of them, deactivate them for those who are let go but...aren't let go of living, and otherwise get a handle on this most-vital security issue.

    Cost: 200 Wealth
    Probability: 40%
    Reward: Any agents that escape a purge won't have military-grade cybertech available. Can track your own agents. Can train more and give them Intelligence-Grade cybernetics.


    Learning: Can knowledge set you free? It's possible, it did for you, and the advancement of technology and education is a priority in your new government, albeit one that has to compete with all of the other things you have to do. There's just so much to do and so little time. (Pick 2)

    No budget for Apples?

    There are complaints that the school budget is inadequate and that it can't wait for things to be sorted out. Kids grow up no matter what. You could provide some funds, at the moment a drop in the bucket in some senses, to keep things running as best you can for the moment, and sort out a real solution later.


    Cost: 500 Wealth per turn
    Probability: 80%
    Reward: Nothing goes wrong, teachers don't strike or have to work without pay, gratitude there, things keep on going, albeit on a bare-bones budget.


    What Do They Teach Kids These Days?

    You hear a lot about the problems of the school. Low budgets, yes, but also inferior curriculum, old VR Headsets or even poorer schools having to use paper books, strange requirements that make no sense, and huge doses of propaganda, with many teachers as much agents of the state's control as educators. There are a lot of complaints, a neverending stream of them, and you can begin looking in it. Maybe commission a panel of experts, get to working out what to do?


    Cost: 200 Wealth
    Probability: 80%
    Reward: Options, a lot of new options. A panel of people to give new (good and bad) ideas, to you.


    Virtual Production

    There have been suggestions to further study virtual-reality technology. Brain uploading's a no-go, but the technology of entering another reality temporarily is well-established, but there might be new technologies produced from it, not only important for education--such as better historical simulators and Virtual-Teachers--but potentially for training soldiers and producing for export.


    Cost: 50 Wealth
    Probability: 70%
    Reward: Better Virtual Reality stuff, opens up more of the same sorts of research.



    The Professor is Needed


    You have but a single idea for who your Advisor on matters of education, scientific policy and so on should be. You will have many, no doubt, and have had many give their advice. It's a huge field, after all. And some would call for you to grab a brilliant scientist, but you know just the Xvorzit for the job. The professor, Ulizin, who declined the post of leader. Popular, beloved, erudite and learned, surely he's the best choice for the job.


    Cost: 50 Wealth (Salary) per turn.
    Probability: 60%
    Reward: Get a Learning Advisor, open up possibilities. See the alternate dimension you if the first vote of Character Selection had won!



    Implement the Hive's Will

    There are many ideas in Gazinitah. Many patents filed, or that would have been filed. You could give an opportunity for independent inventors to use your facilities, pursue their ideas, their dreams, and see what comes of it. Which could very well be nothing, a giant explosion or a ruined lab, or it could be something...spectacular.


    Cost: 100 Wealth
    Probability: ???
    Reward: Grab Bag of Mystery Shinies? Or nothing? Who knows!


    Take A Pill

    There are many illnesses that shouldn't exist, but do. Cured long ago, often simply and easily, their costs are yet beyond the average worker. You could tackle this problem any number of ways, but at the moment, you judge opening free clinics and the like is far, far beyond you, considering at the moment you aren't entirely sure how much your budget is, what you're spending, how you are going to pay month-by-month, let alone the state of medical care. However, you could have scientists and doctors work on trying to reduce the cost of medical equipment and find new ways to do the same things only cheaper.


    Cost: 400 Wealth
    Probability: 50%
    Reward: New medical tech, health benefits start spreading slowly to the masses. Potential upswing in wealth over the next few years thanks to improved health.


    Foreign Examples

    There is a lot of technology from other places that your scientists could study. Other places often make things you cannot, and other species have their specialties and their skills. You could try to get them to gather and study some foreign technology, buying the patents or just the object, or otherwise trying to reverse engineer them. It's not entirely above-board, and what you'll get is a grab-bag as to whether it'll be useful, but it's certainly possible.


    Cost: 200 Wealth
    Probability: 25%
    Reward: Grab bag of foreign tech advancements, potentially Wealth if any of them are marketable.

    Personal: In all of this you do find some time for yourself, to spend as you wish. (Pick 2)


    Personal Intervention


    (will vote on what you Intervene on later.) Take a guiding hand in something, directing it, even more than you already are, spending a very large amount of your time and effort on it, free time as it were.


    Cost: Free
    Reward: Bonus equal to your stat on an action (+19% for Diplomacy, etc)


    Activating Cybernetics

    You were once a fully kitted-out cybernetically-enhanced soldier and spy. That's not going to happen again, but you could at least get a little bit of your old technology back, and just as important, the monitors so you don't have to feel someone else coming from the way it vibrates against your chitin, and can instead, you know, just be alerted. There are a number of minor things that can be done as well, without even getting into high-level military-grade stuff.


    Cost: Negligible (a Wealth or two, I'll just call it free.)
    Probability: 100% for +1/50% for +2/30% for +3
    Reward: Cybernetics to enhnace your personal combat and Martial and Intrigue. The (+) represents how many points you'll have to spread about, as it were, and you can buy specific enhancements in a sort of 'Turn Results aftermath' thing.


    What Are Friends For?


    You are part of a Workers Association. These are friends, people who cared for you and whom you still care for. You could get the gang back together, talk, de-stress, maybe get their advice.


    Cost: Free
    Probability: 65%
    Reward: Get the gang back together. Relieve some stress. Potential other benefits.


    Hunt for Zaeswin


    It's your job as much as anything else. You could take some time and follow up leads in your free time, direct the agents, and find this villain. You know more than anyone the sheer scope of their plans, even if you can't even guess at what Zaeswin truly desires.

    (As a note, you can also do a PI on 'Hunting Zaeswin separate from this, representing you providing aid to the separate investigation so that two different groups (you and your spies) are both working the angles, following what might be many different leads.)


    Cost: Free
    Probability: 60%
    Reward: All that 'Hunting Zaeswin' said. Chance for that action increased to 50% if you fail this action, 60% if you succeed.


    Meeting An Old Friend

    You could also make your search for that old friend personal. Go the the right places, talk to old friends, you don't have to just order people to do things, you're your own free agent. And you're her friend, and that's what matters.


    Cost: Free
    Probability: N/A
    Reward: Increase odds of "Meeting An Old Friend" by Diplomacy+Martial as opposed to a PI which would just be the latter. So a 37% boost.

    ****

    Alright, and good job for Deathstorm50 for guessing one of your potential options!
     
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  • Threadmarks
    • [X] The Bugs in the System
    [X] Open Government?
    [X] Hunting Zaeswin

    Like the option says, it's a one time opportunity to keep some surveillance over things, since we picked the Will of the Hive route, Open Government would synergize better than a more secretive approach, and a controlled exposure minimizes the risks of something dumb being exposed out of control.

    Finally...never let the supervillain get away unnoticed. Will be adding a personal action to it.

    [X] No budget for Apples?
    [X] The Professor is Needed


    NEVER, ever, skim on education.
    And an advisor in this area is highly valuable for efficiency and success rate.

    [X] Hunt for Zaeswin
    [X] Personal Intervention - Hunting Zaeswin

    Like said above, spare NO effort on hunting down our personal Bond Villain. Little else can screw us more than giving them time to plot.
     
    [X] The Bugs in the System
    [X] Open Government?
    [X] Hunting Zaeswin
    [X]No budget for Apples?
    [X] The Professor is Needed
    [X]Hunt for Zaeswin
    [X] Personal Intervention - Hunting Zaeswin

    I was originally going to leave the Zaeswin actions until we'd gotten more of the colonies shit back together, but then veekie said,
    veekie said:
    Never let the supervillain get away unnoticed.
    Click to expand...
    Click to shrink...
    veekie said:
    Like said above, spare NO effort on hunting down our personal Bond Villain. Little else can screw us more than giving them time to plot.
    Click to expand...
    Click to shrink...
    And I thought that those were both really good points, and we both had similar ideas for what was important besides Zaeswin, so I'm just voting for his plan.
     
    Slightly alternative plan, plus reasoning:

    [x] Hunting Zaeswin
    [x] Your Old Commander
    [x] Bugs in the System

    [x] No Budget for Apples?
    [x] The Professor is Needed

    [x] Hunt for Zaeswin
    [x] Meeting an Old Friend

    The main difference is in the personal actions section, because as much as doubling down on Zaeswin will improve our chances of getting the bastard (to either 79% or 89%), it leaves us with a coin-flip chance of losing the person we think best suited to providing advice on military matters, possibly permanently. And as much as Zaeswin getting away would be a irritating, he'll come back. More difficult to deal with, true, but he'll put himself into our sights again and we'll hopefully have had time to do things like reactivate cyberware and sort our armed forces out. Whereas failing the Old Friend action risks either locking her out permanently, or forcing us to spend more actions finding/retrieving/convincing her.

    Meanwhile, Your Old Commander gets our mentor out of a position where threats against their welfare could theoretically be used against us. More important at the moment than opening up parts of the records to the public, in my opinion.
     
    [x] Hunting Zaeswin
    [x] Your Old Commander
    [x] Bugs in the System

    [x] No Budget for Apples?
    [x] The Professor is Needed

    [x] Hunt for Zaeswin
    [x] Meeting an Old Friend

    Looks good to me
     
    [x] Hunting Zaeswin
    [x] Your Old Commander
    [x] Bugs in the System

    [x] No Budget for Apples?
    [x] The Professor is Needed

    [x] Hunt for Zaeswin
    [x] Meeting an Old Friend
     
    Well, part of being a rational person is accepting when someone else's actions make more sense then your own. And your plan does make more sense, (even if I really wanted to start governmental transparency as soon as possible)

    [X] Hunting Zaeswin
    [X] Your Old Commander
    [X] Bugs in the System

    [X] No Budget for Apples?
    [X] The Professor is Needed

    [X] Hunt for Zaeswin
    [X] Meeting an Old Friend
     
    [X] Hunting Zaeswin
    [X] Your Old Commander
    [X] Bugs in the System

    [X] No Budget for Apples?
    [X] The Professor is Needed

    [X] Hunt for Zaeswin
    [X] Meeting an Old Friend
     
    [X] Hunting Zaeswin
    [X] Your Old Commander
    [X] Bugs in the System

    [X] No Budget for Apples?
    [X] The Professor is Needed

    [X] Hunt for Zaeswin
    [X] Meeting an Old Friend
     
    [x] Hunting Zaeswin
    [x] Bugs in the System
    [x] Open Government

    [x] No Budget for Apples?
    [x] The Professor is Needed

    [x] Hunt for Zaeswin
    [x] Meeting an Old Friend
    Mostly the same as the general consensus, but I think the open government can be a really big point for or against us. If we keep our taxes, our treaties, and our general government system, I don't think the Will of the Hive will be in our favor; we just lead a revolution; let's start changing things.
    Edit: Deathstorm convinced me.
     
    Last edited by a moderator:
    [x] Hunting Zaeswin
    [x] Your Old Commander
    [x] Bugs in the System
    [x] No Budget for Apples?
    [x] The Professor is Needed
    [x] Hunt for Zaeswin
    [x] Meeting an Old Friend

    Sounds quite good.
     
    [x] Hunting Zaeswin
    [x] Your Old Commander
    [x] Open Government

    [x] No Budget for Apples?
    [x] The Professor is Needed

    [x] Hunt for Zaeswin
    [x] Meeting an Old Friend
     
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