Thief of Words
Trans lesbian librarian
- Location
- Best book girl
- Pronouns
- She/Her
I locked the voting almost a full day ago. I even used QM text and everything.
And only technically on the second part.
Infernal Conundrum: [Exalted/Worm] - Part 2: Hell is Other Exalts
And only technically on the second part.
FunkyEntropy
Occasionally insightful, possibly grumpy
- Location
- Los Angeles
Hmm. Must have missed it. That or memory is slipping.
Meeeeeeeeeeeh~
Thief of Words
Trans lesbian librarian
- Location
- Best book girl
- Pronouns
- She/Her
Good grief, y'all took "Phobia: inefficiency." It's 1 extra xp and between 4 and 20 extra hours training. A charm not being favored isn't nearly that big a deal. THAT'S HALF OF WHY I DID THE CHARM COSTS AND TRAINING TIMES THE WAY I DID. The biggest impact Favored Yozi selection has had upon Taylor so far has been the impact it's had on her Parahuman powers. And in what 1st Excellencies she has.
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- Location
- West Michigan
You mean we might make our bombardier beetles spit green hatefire? Awesome.
Heretical Charm
I have no clue what I am doing
Cost: 10m, 1wp ; Mins: Essence 3; Type: ?
Keywords: Heretical, Touch, Training
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: Drone-Imprinting Engrams, and (Great Mother's Wane or Great Mother's Tears)
Children aren't born orderly, but they can be made perfect by a mother's love and patience. What is a body guard without the strenght to defend his master? What is a dancer if she is not beautiful? Why should a cat-girl maid be lacking in cute ears and a tail?
This charm enhances Drone-Imprting Engrams.
May be used on a mortal that has been reduced to 0 willpower. The mortal is turned into a crystal statue, unaware of his current state. Gains another of points that can be used on Mutations, so long as they fit the role given to the mortal by Drone-Imprting Engrams. After Y days the crystal turns to flesh and loyal mortal is equipped to handle her proper role in life.
A character can only ever benefit from (Charm Name) once in its life.
I have no clue what I am doing
Cost: 10m, 1wp ; Mins: Essence 3; Type: ?
Keywords: Heretical, Touch, Training
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: Drone-Imprinting Engrams, and (Great Mother's Wane or Great Mother's Tears)
Children aren't born orderly, but they can be made perfect by a mother's love and patience. What is a body guard without the strenght to defend his master? What is a dancer if she is not beautiful? Why should a cat-girl maid be lacking in cute ears and a tail?
This charm enhances Drone-Imprting Engrams.
May be used on a mortal that has been reduced to 0 willpower. The mortal is turned into a crystal statue, unaware of his current state. Gains another of points that can be used on Mutations, so long as they fit the role given to the mortal by Drone-Imprting Engrams. After Y days the crystal turns to flesh and loyal mortal is equipped to handle her proper role in life.
A character can only ever benefit from (Charm Name) once in its life.
Thief of Words
Trans lesbian librarian
- Location
- Best book girl
- Pronouns
- She/Her
I mean we could control bombardier beetles. Or Japanese Hornets. Or Mantis Shrimp.
Or Dragonflies, cockroaches, tiger beetles, or horseflies.
Or bees, ants, or termites.
"A parahuman attack, a deadly bee weapon...Bees. My God." - Armsmaster
I'llNameThisL8r
Bad at names
- Location
- Here
- Pronouns
- He/Him
Emergence 2.3
Thief of Words
Trans lesbian librarian
- Location
- Best book girl
- Pronouns
- She/Her
Emergence 2.3
[X]You owe me an Explanation. Later. When I can process all this.
--You don't have time to dwell on this right now. You need to finish your research and figure out why the hell this unknown website knows your name. And why you know another language. And...a lot of things. Including how best to approach Brandish, since sooner seems like it would be better for that.
ooo
Looking at the flickering cursor, which resembled nothing so much as a trail of crawling ants, you strove to find some sense, any sense, of what the hell was going on just now.
<Taylor, I--,>
<No. Later. I mean, yes, you owe me an explanation. Later. When I can process all of this.>
You don't have time to dwell on the bombshell Uncertainty just dropped on your lap. You need to finish your research and figure out why the hell this website knows your name. And how best to approach Brandish and deal with the Trio. And what to do about affiliations. And why you knew a new language. And...No. No more of that. Solve practical problems now, deal with existential quandaries later.
Letting out a long and ragged breath, you return your attention to the cheerfully drawn Old Realm characters forming the subject bar along the top of the Pyrian Font page.
Welcome to the Pyrian Font!
Earth's only parahuman resource database created by Yozi-Chosen Exalts for Yozi-Chosen Exalts!
P.S: If you can read this, enjoy! (Taylor, this means you!)
Security Measures | Search Settings | PHO by Proxy | Subject: Aurora Americanis| Subject: Bay Capes| About Us (in Our own words)
You had your cursor hover over the 'About Us' header icon, before finally clicking on it. Might as well see what the damage is and figure out who the Hell knows your name and this language.Earth's only parahuman resource database created by Yozi-Chosen Exalts for Yozi-Chosen Exalts!
P.S: If you can read this, enjoy! (Taylor, this means you!)
Security Measures | Search Settings | PHO by Proxy | Subject: Aurora Americanis| Subject: Bay Capes| About Us (in Our own words)
Why the hell do I feel inexplicably smug about this whole situation? And relieved?
As a little loading icon of woman made of dancing flames twirled about on the screen a moment, you tried to keep your breathing and your heart-rate steady.
Well, you thought as you saw what information the page listed, this at least explains why my name is on the intro page note.
About Taylor Anne Hebert, Chosen of the Principle of Hierarchy, Uncrowned Queen of Administration, Nascent Hero-Titan of Earth-Bet
- Bio: Taylor Anne Hebert is the daughter of Daniel Hebert and Annette Rose Hebert, nee--
- Why I am going to be the greatest hero this city has ever seen, a brief summary.
- Ruminations on the nature of Exaltation and Titans.
- Meditations on the varied virtues of forgiveness and vindication.
- Wards vs Protectorate vs New Wave vs Solo: the debate rages on.
When the hell did I write this?
<During our conversation earlier.> Uncertainty offered, ever-willing to be helpful. <You were lamenting how ineffecient it was to have to deal with the reduced speeds on accessing information on these data-crystals, and so you assigned a mental subroutine to create a page to gather the information for you, so you could peruse it at your liesure.>
<I...no. No way. This...sounds nothing like me. It...it calls me a fucking queen!>
<And?>
<Damnit! Is this another one of those things that only doesn't make sense because of something you've forgotten to tell me?>
<Er...I told you about the titles and Rulership over All Creation the usurper-Exalts did in the After Times, didn't I?>
<Seriously? Just. UUUUUUGH.> Uncertainty has got to start anticipating things to tell you.
<If it's any consolation at all, it got the title wrong.>
<Oh, thank God for--,>
<If the attempt was to channel your past authority, the appropriate phrase would've been God-Queen, though even that is reductive in the extreme. You are quite thoroughly above any and all paltry gods.>
ooo
Taylors
An error has occurred. To continue:
Press Conviction Chakra to return to Taylors, or
Press Compassion, Valor, and Temperance Chakras to restart your exalt. If you do this, you will lose any unsaved information in all open trains of thought.
Error: 0E : 016F : BFF9B3D4
oooPress Conviction Chakra to return to Taylors, or
Press Compassion, Valor, and Temperance Chakras to restart your exalt. If you do this, you will lose any unsaved information in all open trains of thought.
Error: 0E : 016F : BFF9B3D4
Press any chakra to continue __
After smacking yourself in the forehead and letting out a groan, you go back to hunting through the webpage, first reviewing the...frankly nigh-psychotic amount of personal security protocols the site ran through. Mollified that no one should be able to use its existence to track you to the public terminal you were currently using, you started reviewing the information you had.It...there was a lot of it. Nearly 100 verified or suspected capes in town. Four villainous organizations of arguable significance. Two notable hero organizations.
To start with, you pulled up the ABB's information. It...well, it was sobering. Especially considering that from what it said, you...might have reason to worry about Oni Lee coming after you. The ABB page detailed general information on the gang, including its oddly multicultural makeup, then specific information about Lung. Between what was formally entered on the wiki and what the most common speculation on the forums said, you'd managed to glean the following:
Lung could gradually transform. Maybe it was based on adrenaline, his emotional state, or something, but whatever it was, it made his powers more potent the longer he was in a fight. He healed at a superhuman rate, got stronger, got tougher, got bigger, and he grew armor plating complete with blades at each fingertip. Rumor had it that he even grew wings if he fought long enough. If that wasn't enough, he was a pyrokinetic, which meant he could create flame out of thin air, shape it, intensify it, and so on. That power apparently got stronger as he transformed, too.
If he wasn't scary enough on his own, there was the one you'd managed to actually encounter. Between what Lisa had told you and what you'd gathered yourself in fighting him, you'd actually ended up using the PHO proxy tab to spoof an account in order to make updates of your own to the teleporting knife-thrower's page. People had known about his either teleportation or duplication trick. It hadn't been listed as being part and parcel of the same ability. You appended a report the trawler had found of him having used his duplication teleport in rapid succession, rendering up anywhere from five to ten copies of himself, all set to explode.
Uncertainty had been right. Until you'd gotten lucky with the bandolier, he had been toying with you. If Glory Girl hadn't shifted the odds...you shuddered at the thought. It didn't help your sense of insecurity that his wiki page had an immense warning message emblazoned in crimson text telling people that he was excessively violent, dangerous to encounter, and that he should not be provoked.
Wish I could've known that before the other night.
You also realized that...oh, no no no no. Shit. If that picture of his outfit was accurate...you had a handgun...which had previously belonged to a known violent, criminal sociopath...sitting in your hidey-hole in the house's basement. And Dad had invited company over tonight. Resolving to broach that subject when you spoke with Brandish, you moved on for now. Existential terror later. Practical knowledge now.
From there, you'd segued over to the relevant forum threads. You'd been bemused to discover you'd made the national news...in both your identities, even if Taylor Hebert had only been mentioned in passing as a minor human interest note on the bigger context of 'the aurora' and what the capture of two of the Empire's major capes, and the rumored death of Oni Lee at the hands of the spindly new cape (you) which people had begun to assume after someone's camera phone video of Oni Lee's clone blasting apart under the force of multiple grenades--and all over you and your borrowed clothing--had been leaked. Not really sure how that would play out, you'd nonetheless looked through the profiles of each of the Empire's major capes as well, so that you didn't get blindsided next time you went out. Well, no. That wasn't really the worry. You were perceptive. If anyone got close enough to hit you, you could feel them standing there. The worry wasn't that you couldn't see it coming, really.
It was that you'd be trapped like you were with the trio. You always saw their attacks coming. People didn't really manage surprise you. What you never managed was to act in time to make a difference. That was what you needed to fix. You needed to stop reacting and start acting instead.
From there, you had to hunt through the various threads about yourself...90% of which devolved either into unspeakable things, Seriously! What the hell, internet! It's been TWO DAYS! Who has that much time to draw that! or which degenerated into a compilation of Slenderman memes. You forced yourself to stop looking at the info on your debut after the second poster was banned for linking in a meme comparing Slenderman (and by extension you) to Mannequin of the Slaughterhouse Nine.
From there you went on to review the available information about New Wave, and about Brandish in particular. Most of it was familiar, though the part about how they'd taken down Marquis got your oddly recalcitrant demon to, much to your horrified chagrin, actually pipe up. Apparently, Uncertainty whole-heartedly approved of the Marquis' management style, and stringently insisted that much of the city's current conundrum was due to the power vacuum created when the Marquis had been defeated and shipped off to the Birdcage. You thought about trying to explain to him why, no, advocating summary execution of followers who failed you was in fact not a sound managerial strategy, but yet again resolved to save the things that made you feel you were losing what remained of your sanity for another time, another day if need be. If...if Uncertainty wasn't overselling you on the power at your disposal, then you and everyone around you needed for you to hang onto that.
<OVERSELLING?! IF ANYTHING, I'VE BEEN TRYING NOT TO WORRY YOU!>
You...no. You remain firm. <NOT. NOW. Later.> Another time. But you will have your answers when that time comes. However, that time is not now.
Calming your breathing, you return your attention to investigating the local members of the protectorate and PRT, to the extent you can find adequate information on them. It's during that line of research that a new post was brought to your attention via the PHO forum proxy. Apparently someone left a message that pinged several of your searches at once, both those for Lisa and posts about 'new cape in town' you (as opposed to 'Taylor Hebert' you).
Subject: T
Sorry things didn't end on such a great note. Don't worry about giving back the outfit you borrowed. Still had my spare in the bag. Just wanted to say it sounds like you handled yourself well.
Owe you one. Would like to return favor. Meet or call?
Send a message,
L.
Sorry things didn't end on such a great note. Don't worry about giving back the outfit you borrowed. Still had my spare in the bag. Just wanted to say it sounds like you handled yourself well.
Owe you one. Would like to return favor. Meet or call?
Send a message,
L.
ooo
Afternoon Action (Pick One): You still have another three to four hours until the get-together at home. That should be time enough to get in touch with one of the folks who'd been trying to get your attention in the last few days, right?
[ ]Contact someone
-[ ]Stunt: Whom? (e.g: Dad, Amy, Victoria, Lisa)
--[ ]Why?
[ ]Go somewhere
-[ ]Stunt: Where? (e.g: home, the Boardwalk, the Ship Graveyard.)
--[ ]Why?
[ ]Get your explanation
-[ ]Stunt: Where? (as above, but staying at library is option)
[Limit: 1 point removed due to Act of Villainy!]
Available to begin training as of 2.3:
None. Training locked to training Intolerable Burning Truths (Mother Before Daughter) -- aka: Helping and Hanging out with Dad for a minimum of 4 hours tonight.
Available to purchase as of 2.3:
Sifu (Uncertainty): (1-4)
Sifu (Past Life): (Capped by Past Life dots)
Past Life: 3-5
Savant: 1-5 (capped by Past Life dots)
Abilities as before.
Lore Specialty: Programming
Lore Specialty: ABB
Lore Specialty: PRT/Protectorate
Lore Specialty: The Brockton Bay Brigade / New Wave
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I could see the Programming specialty.
The others seem a little too specialized.
Maybe do something to get them altered to something that would cover all of them (say Lore: Parahumans) so we can save XP?
[x]Get your explanation
-[x]Stunt: Taylor sat down on her bed, the springs creaked under her. It was one of the few places she could be relatively sure no one would interrupt her. "Okay Uncertainty, lay it on me." She said with determination.
[x] Lore Specialty: Programming
Wish we knew what Emma was up to. Whether things had broken through her delusions and twisted mentality.
The others seem a little too specialized.
Maybe do something to get them altered to something that would cover all of them (say Lore: Parahumans) so we can save XP?
[x]Get your explanation
-[x]Stunt: Taylor sat down on her bed, the springs creaked under her. It was one of the few places she could be relatively sure no one would interrupt her. "Okay Uncertainty, lay it on me." She said with determination.
[x] Lore Specialty: Programming
Wish we knew what Emma was up to. Whether things had broken through her delusions and twisted mentality.
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- Location
- USA
I would like to suggest Lore (Programming) because that's going to be a lot more useful if we continue to do stuff on the computer, or have plans to bring Dragon to our side. Everything else for Lore is so-so, imo.
Sifu (Past Life) (Past Life Rating (2)) could be interesting narratively, which is why Past Lives are such a big thing in Infernal games. But Sifu 2 isn't all that impressive and growth increase would be slowish. Sifu (Uncertainty) raised up could greatly accelerate our growth but is unless our crab-thing was something of an Occult scholar re:Essence and not just reading the UC handbook its so-so, but also has a far greater chance of us coming up with 'custom charms.' (Which is something the Yozi actually like as it expands their power, since it gets added to their charm sets.) Because Taylor is going to be fumbling with charms and trying to do things might result in a new charm. Like a Malfean version of the Swillin hacking charms. 'DO NOT LET ANYONE BUT ME ACCESS THIS SYSTEM OR THE INFORMATION ON THIS SYSTEM' in order to lock a computer up and give it bonuses as the Machine Spirits (which might be a thing or cause the least god in the computer to evolve in power in order to obey) desperately tries to fulfill the order of the Prince.
Since we got the ruling on Bureaucracy pertaining to law and we want to be (do we, I missed like the majority of the first 3/4 of this quest) not attached to the PRT but still want to be a hero, and we're questers so we want to be efficient, knowing the law would allow us to maneuver around it and stuff, maximizing our efforts.
As an aside, it might be worth it to look into the Swillin Linguistic charms and start a propaganda programme. Annette was a protester so its getting close to our deceased mother in spirit. We can fight for the proper hierarchy and we decide what that is (everyone is equal but below us bwahahahahaha). It would allow, if we put up posters and stuff around the city, indirect lowering of crime, dismantling of the various gangs, increase in economic growth, etc by nudging everyone's mind or outright convincing them through bullshit magic.
Edit: QM clarified so I clarified.
Sifu (Past Life) (Past Life Rating (2)) could be interesting narratively, which is why Past Lives are such a big thing in Infernal games. But Sifu 2 isn't all that impressive and growth increase would be slowish. Sifu (Uncertainty) raised up could greatly accelerate our growth but is unless our crab-thing was something of an Occult scholar re:Essence and not just reading the UC handbook its so-so, but also has a far greater chance of us coming up with 'custom charms.' (Which is something the Yozi actually like as it expands their power, since it gets added to their charm sets.) Because Taylor is going to be fumbling with charms and trying to do things might result in a new charm. Like a Malfean version of the Swillin hacking charms. 'DO NOT LET ANYONE BUT ME ACCESS THIS SYSTEM OR THE INFORMATION ON THIS SYSTEM' in order to lock a computer up and give it bonuses as the Machine Spirits (which might be a thing or cause the least god in the computer to evolve in power in order to obey) desperately tries to fulfill the order of the Prince.
Since we got the ruling on Bureaucracy pertaining to law and we want to be (do we, I missed like the majority of the first 3/4 of this quest) not attached to the PRT but still want to be a hero, and we're questers so we want to be efficient, knowing the law would allow us to maneuver around it and stuff, maximizing our efforts.
As an aside, it might be worth it to look into the Swillin Linguistic charms and start a propaganda programme. Annette was a protester so its getting close to our deceased mother in spirit. We can fight for the proper hierarchy and we decide what that is (everyone is equal but below us bwahahahahaha). It would allow, if we put up posters and stuff around the city, indirect lowering of crime, dismantling of the various gangs, increase in economic growth, etc by nudging everyone's mind or outright convincing them through bullshit magic.
Edit: QM clarified so I clarified.
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Thief of Words
Trans lesbian librarian
- Location
- Best book girl
- Pronouns
- She/Her
That's deliberate. Lore: Parahumans would be Lore: Parahumanology, and involve knowledge of the science of parahumans and general info on the parahuman condition [what a trigger event is, theories on how they're caused, agent interactions, etc.]
Lore: ALL PARAHUMANS
Would be like trying to take a Lore: Exalts specialty in a Creation-based game. It's too broad to be an adequate specialty.
- Location
- Illinois
Lore PRT sounds hella useful. What are you talking about?
Thief of Words
Trans lesbian librarian
- Location
- Best book girl
- Pronouns
- She/Her
Er...it's meant to be Sifu (Past Life): Capped at Past Lives rating.
Which is 2 at the moment.
Thief of Words
Trans lesbian librarian
- Location
- Best book girl
- Pronouns
- She/Her
The history of the PRT and Protectorate. More likely to recognize where things involving them came from / developed from. Some familiarity with the individuals, personalities, etc. involved.
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- Location
- West Michigan
What about Lore: Parahuman Crime, Lore: Parahuman Terrorism, or Lore: Parahuman Law Enforcement?
Thief of Words
Trans lesbian librarian
- Location
- Best book girl
- Pronouns
- She/Her
That's not set in stone yet. There was a lot of player impetus that way, but we'll see how reactions go as things unfold.
Nothing's set in stone until it is.
Thief of Words
Trans lesbian librarian
- Location
- Best book girl
- Pronouns
- She/Her
What would you want out of number 1 and number 3? Because they sound more like either Bureaucracy or Larceny specialties to me.
2 could be a valid lore specialty. Just keep in mind it'd be a historical / sociological / academic understanding of the subject. Not a practical one.
- Location
- Illinois
Wrong "you."
Lore (exalts) is a completely valid specialty. In fact I imagine it is one of the more common lore specialties among dragonbloods in the realm. They are allowed to be very broad as long as it is clear when they apply. All they do mechanically is give us one more dice in the relevant situation which isn't that big a boost. The xp cost of specialties is half that of an ability dot so they should be applicable around half the time during gameplay for a character who uses it regularly.
I mean specialty the canon example lore specialty suggestions are The First Age, Geography, Enchanted Devices, Religion, History, The Realm all of which I would consider to be around the same level of generalness as parahumans. Mechanically all it does is give us one more dice on the roll to decide if we know something parahuman related. I would probably give parahuman geeks or anyone who took a couple college classes on parahumans a dot just from those things.
As for Sifu past lives it is most likely intended to serve as a excuse to let us learn a martal arts style. If we assume it works the same as the Sidereal background mechanically then having a single dot in it gives us access to a single martial arts style for purchase. (and an incomplete sidereal one but that isn't relevant in this context). The further dots add more styles.
I mean specialty the canon example lore specialty suggestions are The First Age, Geography, Enchanted Devices, Religion, History, The Realm all of which I would consider to be around the same level of generalness as parahumans. Mechanically all it does is give us one more dice on the roll to decide if we know something parahuman related. I would probably give parahuman geeks or anyone who took a couple college classes on parahumans a dot just from those things.
As for Sifu past lives it is most likely intended to serve as a excuse to let us learn a martal arts style. If we assume it works the same as the Sidereal background mechanically then having a single dot in it gives us access to a single martial arts style for purchase. (and an incomplete sidereal one but that isn't relevant in this context). The further dots add more styles.
Hm, contacting one of the latter three examples after the get-together is finished might not be amiss. In the meantime, there are more pertinent things to do imo.
[x]Get your explanation
-[x]Stunt: Taylor sat down on her bed, the springs creaked under her. It was one of the few places she could be relatively sure no one would interrupt her. "Okay Uncertainty, lay it on me." She said with determination.
XP's still in relatively short supply, so no XP spending for a bit.
FunkyEntropy
Occasionally insightful, possibly grumpy
- Location
- Los Angeles
Oh shit. That's a lot of dudes we don't know about.
And thus we have in character justification for All Things Betray.
While he's right about the power vacuum, that's not an excuse to just let Villains run around willy nilly.
And that's a pretty awful violation of the Evil Overlord List. As that one dude said,
"What's the penalty for being late?" "Death."
"What's the penalty for treason?" "Death."
"Gentlemen, we are late."
Not until we grab All Things Betray. Don't want Coil to try shenanigans. And if he does, well, he doesn't have a model for ATB.
Either get an explanation or call Brandish.
We spend time with Danny to train IBT? Sweeeeeeeet.
Very useful. Magic kung-fu works very well with the Kimbery poison charms and will make us very, very deadly.
We have the SWLiHN 1st Excellency and Int 4. That's 4 dice that we can add to every single Bureaucracy action and is also conveniently the amount of motes we get back from 2 die stunts, which means that we remain mote neutral using personal motes so no anima flare. IE indefinite, subtle use.
So we have an effective dice pool of 11, which is better than the world's greatest non-parahuman lawyer. Yeah.
Thief of Words
Trans lesbian librarian
- Location
- Best book girl
- Pronouns
- She/Her
The xp cost of Specialties is 2 or 1 xp. That's not enough to justify the kind of broad applicability it sounded like you were asking about. You can not have a Lore: Parahumans that covers the degree of specificity that Lore: (particular parahuman team / organization) would have. It is too broad. Part of this is compensation for the fact that we are not limited to a max of 3 total specialty dots for a given ability. You may purchase as many specialty dots as you want, 3 is just the most dots that can be put into one specific specialty, and the max number of specialty dice that can be applied to a given roll.
- Location
- West Michigan
We can have as many different specialties as we want, but can only apply 3 dice to any roll? That changes things. Objections withdrawn.
Thief of Words
Trans lesbian librarian
- Location
- Best book girl
- Pronouns
- She/Her
You're quoting selectively to support your own bias here.
Emergence 2.3 said:
Emphasis mine.
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