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* HordeOfAlienLocusts: The [[spoiler:Deepnight Entity seeks to consume all organic matter in the galaxy, and is incapable of wanting otherwise no matter how intelligent it becomes even when it knows this is self-defeating. The best it can plan to do is establish a cycle of moving from world to world, allowing life to recover in its wake.]]

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* HordeOfAlienLocusts: HordeOfAlienLocusts:
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The [[spoiler:Deepnight Chamax Horde will eventually consume all other animal life on a planet. Fortunately they are not intelligent and so are restricted to their own world, but since their introduction in ''The Chamax Plague/Horde'', stray Chamax have shown up here and there in other published adventures.
** The main antagonist in the ''Deepnight Endeavor'' boxed set, [[spoiler:the Deepnight
Entity seeks to consume all organic matter in the galaxy, and is incapable of wanting otherwise restraining itself from doing so no matter how intelligent it becomes and even when it knows that this is ultimately self-defeating. The best it can plan to do is establish a cycle of moving from world to world, allowing life to recover in its wake.]]
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** Four-and-a-half centuries before the main setting of the game a succession of Emperors fought each other for the throne over the course of eighteen years. It started when Grand Admiral of the Marches Olav-hault Plankwell decided the Empress had mismanaged the last border war with the Zhodani, so he personally assassinated her and took the throne. Other admirals decided this tactic could work for them too. The war averaged one Emperor per year. It ended when Grand Admiral of the Marches Arbellatra [[note]]somewhat ironically hault-Plankwell's direct successor, who had to fight ''another'' border war with the Zhodani who had tried to take advantage of the Imperium's disarray during the Civil War[[/note]] defeated the last pretender in battle and declared herself regent until a descendant of the last legitimate empress could be found rather than taking the throne herself. After seven years of effective leadership with no heir located the Imperial Moot decided to invite Arbellatra herself to accept the crown as Empress, which had probably been her plan all along. Arbellatra founded the dynasty that ruled the Third Imperium until:
** The Second Civil War, known as the Rebellion, took place after the Emperor Strephon and his heir the Grand Princess Iphegenia were assassinated by one of his own archdukes, Dulinor. Lucan, the next in line to the throne, was strongly suspected of having killed his own slightly older twin brother Varian so that he could take the throne himself, and quickly proved to be TheCaligula. With no clear choice for Emperor the Imperium descended into warfare and factionalism. The introduction of the Virus super-weapon proved to be the final nail in the coffin. The death toll was in the ''trillions'', and at least several centuries passed before civilization would recover and a new Imperium could be restored. At least, we assume there was eventually a Fourth Imperium. The official game line has never continued the MetaPlot after the ''New Era'' setting.

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** Four-and-a-half centuries before the main setting of the game a succession of Emperors fought each other for the throne over the course of eighteen years. It started when Grand Admiral of the Marches Olav-hault Plankwell decided the Empress had mismanaged the last border war with the Zhodani, so he personally assassinated her and took the throne. Other admirals decided this tactic could work for them too. The war averaged one Emperor per year. It ended when Grand Admiral of the Marches Arbellatra [[note]]somewhat ironically hault-Plankwell's direct successor, successor in the post, who had to fight ''another'' border war with the Zhodani who had when they tried to take advantage of the Imperium's disarray during the Civil War[[/note]] defeated the last pretender in battle and declared herself regent until a descendant of the last legitimate empress could be found rather than taking the throne herself. After seven years of effective leadership with no heir located the Imperial Moot decided to invite Arbellatra herself to accept the crown as Empress, which had probably been her plan all along. Arbellatra founded the dynasty that ruled the Third Imperium until:
** The Second Civil War, known as the Rebellion, took place after the Emperor Strephon and his heir the Grand Princess Iphegenia were all assassinated by one of his own archdukes, Dulinor. Lucan, the next in line to the throne, was strongly suspected of having killed his own slightly older twin brother Varian so that he could take the throne himself, and quickly proved to be TheCaligula. With no clear choice for Emperor the Imperium descended into warfare and factionalism. The introduction of the Virus super-weapon proved to be the final nail in the coffin. The death toll was in the ''trillions'', and at least several centuries passed before civilization would recover and a new Imperium could be restored. At least, we assume there was eventually a Fourth Imperium. The official game line has never continued the MetaPlot after the ''New Era'' setting.
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* HiroshimaAsAUnitOfMeasure: Ships are measured in tons, but used as a measure of volume rather than weight. The "tons" actually refer to the volume of a metric tonne of liquid hydrogen or just over 14 cubic meters (14,000 liters).
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* TwoDSpace: All of the maps of the Imperium and its sectors are flat. Some fans suggest that this is because the maps are [[HyperSpace jumpspace]] maps.

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* TwoDSpace: All of the maps of the Imperium and its sectors are flat. Some fans suggest that this is because Various [[HandWave handwaves]] have been suggested over the years, including the maps are being [[HyperSpace jumpspace]] maps.jumpspace rather than realspace]] maps or the distances in the z-dimension being small enough (on a galactic scale) to be "flattened out". The real reason is, of course, AcceptableBreaksFromReality - it is significantly easier to print, and to play with, two-dimensional maps. As far back as the early '80s Marc Miller noted that some players had indeed mapped their sectors in three dimensions. Presumably it involved a lot of trigonometry.
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** The Hive Federation is thoroughly dominated by the Hivers but nominally a Federation of equals.
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* HordeOfAlienLocusts: The [[spoiler:Deepnight Entity seeks to consume all organic matter in the galaxy, and is incapable of wanting otherwise no matter how intelligent it becomes even when it knows this is self-defeating. The best it can plan to do is establish a cycle of moving from world to world, allowing life to recover in its wake.]]
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* ''Traveller 20'' (2002-2008): The inevitable UsefulNotes/{{d20System}} version, [[note]]Using the 3.5 edition SRD[[/note]] by Quick Link Interactive/RPG Realms Publishing. The setting was in the Domain of Gateway in year 990, approximately 100 years before ''Classic Traveller'' was set. The license was terminated when ''Mongoose Traveller'' was released.

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* ''Traveller 20'' (2002-2008): The inevitable UsefulNotes/{{d20System}} MediaNotes/{{d20System}} version, [[note]]Using the 3.5 edition SRD[[/note]] by Quick Link Interactive/RPG Realms Publishing. The setting was in the Domain of Gateway in year 990, approximately 100 years before ''Classic Traveller'' was set. The license was terminated when ''Mongoose Traveller'' was released.
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* ''Traveller: The New Era'' (1993-95): A [[AfterTheEnd post-apocalyptic]] take on the original setting, with options for almost-original flavour and an entirely new system.[[note]]New to ''Traveller'', that is - the rules system was a modified version of the set used for the 2nd edition of [=GDW's=] TabletopGame/{{Twilight 2000}}, which GDW used as its "house system" for a few other games.[[/note]] Some {{retcon}}s were present as well, mostly dealing with how tech worked in the Third Imperium. Although it certainly has its fans, the final destruction of the Third Imperium in this version's MetaPlot was what [[BrokenBase broke the base]].

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* ''Traveller: The New Era'' (1993-95): A [[AfterTheEnd post-apocalyptic]] take on the original setting, with options for almost-original flavour and an entirely new system.[[note]]New to ''Traveller'', that is - the rules system was a modified version of the set used for the 2nd edition of [=GDW's=] TabletopGame/{{Twilight 2000}}, which GDW used as its "house system" "HouseSystem" for a few other games.[[/note]] Some {{retcon}}s were present as well, mostly dealing with how tech worked in the Third Imperium. Although it certainly has its fans, the final destruction of the Third Imperium in this version's MetaPlot was what [[BrokenBase broke the base]].
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** In ''Agent of the Imperium'' Margaret I is shown to be a mild example, a royal brat who ascended the throne at the age of [[AChildShallLeadThem four]] who took on and dismissed advisers on whims, [[spoiler:and thought that glassing a planet of fifty billion was an acceptable way to close a voting loophole. The titular agent, who had scrubbed dozens of planets over his centuries-long career, thought that was too much and assassinated her.]]

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** In ''Agent of the Imperium'' Margaret I is shown to be a mild example, a royal brat who ascended the throne at the age of [[AChildShallLeadThem four]] who took on and dismissed advisers on whims, [[spoiler:and thought that glassing a planet of fifty billion was an acceptable way to close a voting loophole. The titular agent, who had scrubbed dozens of planets over his centuries-long career, thought that was too much and assassinated her.]]]] The official story in The Emperor's List (from ''Classic Traveller'', written decades earlier) simply said, "died in a tunnel collapse without issue in 736."
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** In ''Agent of the Imperium'' Margaret I is shown to be a mild example, a royal brat who ascended the throne at the age of [[AChildShallLeadThem four]] who took on and dismissed advisers on whims, [[spoiler:and thought that glassing a planet of fifty billion was an acceptable way to close a voting loophole. The titular agent, who had scrubbed dozens of planets over his centuries-long career, thought that was too much and assassinated her.]]
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* InGameBankingServices: Because starships cost millions of credits most Travellers take out forty-year mortgages on their ships. While there are multiple career benefits that can apply discounts to the party's first ship it's not uncommon for Travellers to resort to shady jobs in order to afford their 100 kilocred monthly payments.
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* SpheroidDropship: The ''Broadsword'' class mercenary cruiser. Oddly, though its description says it can't land on planets with atmospheres, one does exactly that in Classic Adventure 7 ''Broadsword''.

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* SpheroidDropship: The ''Broadsword'' class mercenary cruiser. Oddly, though its description says it can't land on planets with atmospheres, one does exactly that in Classic Adventure 7 ''Broadsword''.''Broadsword'' and the Mongoose edition's stat block has nothing in the rules that prevents it from landing. That said it does come with two modular cutters intended as {{Drop Ship}}s.

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* CargoConcealmentCaper: In Game 3 ''Azhanti High Lightning'', adventure IV "The Great Wine Heist". The Imperium regularly ships bottles of the wine Tokaj Eszencia from Earth to the Imperial Capital. Some adventurers smuggle themselves onto the ship Imperial Reaumur in crates of cargo and try to steal the wine the ship is carrying.

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* CargoConcealmentCaper: CargoConcealmentCaper:
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In Game 3 ''Azhanti High Lightning'', adventure IV "The Great Wine Heist". The Imperium regularly ships bottles of the wine Tokaj Eszencia from Earth to the Imperial Capital. Some adventurers smuggle themselves onto the ship Imperial Reaumur in crates of cargo and try to steal the wine the ship is carrying.carrying.
** Early in ''The Traveller Adventure'', the {{Player Character}}s need to get the Vargr named Gvoudzon off the planet Aramis without going through customs. One way suggested to do so is to smuggle him onto their ship in a box of cargo.
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* CargoConcealmentCaper: In Game 3 ''Azhanti High Lightning'', adventure IV "The Great Wine Heist". The Imperium regularly ships bottles of the wine Tokaj Eszencia from Earth to the Imperial Capital. Some adventurers smuggle themselves onto the ship Imperial Reaumur in crates of cargo and try to steal the wine the ship is carrying.
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* DamageReduction: How armor works in the Mongoose editions. Ablat and Reflec only reduce damage from laser weapons but are considerably lighter and cheaper than more general armor.
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Crosswicking

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* {{Pilgrimage}}:
** Book 4 ''Mercenary''. One of the provided mercenary missions is to escort a group of top government officials of the planet Jokotre on a pilgrimage into their religion's holy lands to visit some shrines.
** Supplement 6 ''76 Patrons''. One possible mercenary mission is being hired by opponents of the planetary government above to attack the pilgrims and their guards.
** Adventure 10 ''Safari Ship''. In order to improve their ability to reproduce, the alien Shriekers must make a 2,000-kilometer pilgrimage to the mist-shrouded Valley of Memories before mating.

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** From the ''Literature/DumarestOfTerra'' books came the name "Traveller" (what Dumarest is often called), Low Passage consisting of being frozen as cargo and the chance a passenger can't be revived, the Slow and Fast drugs, and the prevalence of bladed weapons in the setting (Dumarest is a talented knife-fighter).

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** From the ''Literature/DumarestOfTerra'' books came the name "Traveller" (what Dumarest is often called), calls himself), Low Passage consisting of being frozen as cargo and the chance a passenger can't be revived, the Slow and Fast drugs, and the prevalence of bladed weapons in the setting (Dumarest is a talented knife-fighter).knife-fighter).



** Some of the world names and the basic idea of the culture of the Sword Worlds in the Spinward Marches sector were taken from Creator/HBeamPiper's novel ''Space Viking''.

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** Some of the world names and the basic idea of the culture of the Sword Worlds The Sword-worlds in the Spinward Marches sector were taken from Creator/HBeamPiper's novel ''Space Viking''. Viking'' was the obvious inspiration of the Sword Worlds in the Spinward Marches setting. They have the same infighting and basic cultural ideas, as well as sharing several names. It is also a universe where there is no FTL radio.
** Poul Anderson's ''Literature/TechnicHistory'' series featured IntrepidMerchants as protagonists and in later stories a space empire in decline. Dominic Flandry is also one of the inspirations for Miller's ''Agent of the Imperium'' novel.
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Added specific examples for some of the shout-outs.

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** From the ''Literature/DumarestOfTerra'' books came the name "Traveller" (what Dumarest is often called), Low Passage consisting of being frozen as cargo and the chance a passenger can't be revived, the Slow and Fast drugs, and the prevalence of bladed weapons in the setting (Dumarest is a talented knife-fighter).
** Psychohistory, the imperial capital being a city-wide planet, and some of the politics of the Interstellar Wars period were from Isaac Asimovs' ''Literature/FoundationSeries''
** The title creature from ''Film/{{Alien}}'' appeared in the ''Journal of the Travellers' Aid Society #4'' with full game statistics as the "Reticulan Parasite".
** Some of the world names and the basic idea of the culture of the Sword Worlds in the Spinward Marches sector were taken from Creator/HBeamPiper's novel ''Space Viking''.

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https://grognardia.blogspot.com/2021/07/retrospective-alien-module-1-aslan.html - the Aslan were named so because they were first encountered by humans from Turkiye, and "aslan" means "lion" in Turkish.


* [[ShoutOut/TabletopGames Shout Out]]: Multiple examples, including the ''Literature/DumarestOfTerra'' books, Creator/IsaacAsimov's works, the Film/JamesBond films, Frank Herbert's ''Franchise/{{Dune}}'', ''Literature/TheChroniclesOfNarnia'', the ''Franchise/{{Alien}}'' series, ''Literature/TheMoteInGodsEye'', ''Series/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries'', ''Literature/TheStainlessSteelRat'' stories, ''Film/TheAdventuresOfBuckarooBanzaiAcrossThe8thDimension'' and the Terrohuman Future History stories of ''Creator/HBeamPiper'' (particularly 'Space Viking').

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* [[ShoutOut/TabletopGames Shout Out]]: Multiple examples, including the ''Literature/DumarestOfTerra'' books, Creator/IsaacAsimov's works, the Film/JamesBond films, Frank Herbert's ''Franchise/{{Dune}}'', ''Literature/TheChroniclesOfNarnia'', ''Franchise/{{Dune}}'', the ''Franchise/{{Alien}}'' series, ''Literature/TheMoteInGodsEye'', ''Series/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries'', ''Literature/TheStainlessSteelRat'' stories, ''Film/TheAdventuresOfBuckarooBanzaiAcrossThe8thDimension'' and the Terrohuman Future History stories of ''Creator/HBeamPiper'' (particularly 'Space Viking').



** The lion-like Aslan have been confirmed by Miller to be named after the character from ''Literature/TheChroniclesOfNarnia''.

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Then it should be listed under Shout Out


* CatFolk: The Aslan are race of lionlike creatures. Their name is also a ShoutOut to ''Literature/TheChroniclesOfNarnia''.

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* CatFolk: The Aslan are race of lionlike creatures. Their name is also a ShoutOut to ''Literature/TheChroniclesOfNarnia''.


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** The lion-like Aslan have been confirmed by Miller to be named after the character from ''Literature/TheChroniclesOfNarnia''.
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Marc Miller: "The Terran scout who first contacted them saw the resemblance to Narnia's Aslan and used the name." When asked about the GURPS Traveller idea that Turkish-speaking explorers had contacted the Alsan, he said "No one asked me." The Shout Out would be to Marc's 20th century readers, who would not miss the reference, not the humans of the 57th century.


* CatFolk: The Aslan are race of lionlike creatures.

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* CatFolk: The Aslan are race of lionlike creatures. Their name is also a ShoutOut to ''Literature/TheChroniclesOfNarnia''.
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Need a cite for this, as "aslan" is Turkish for "lion" and seems at least as likely as humans in the far future still being familiar with C.S. Lewis.


* CatFolk: The Aslan are race of lionlike creatures. Their name is also a ShoutOut to ''Literature/TheChroniclesOfNarnia''.

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* CatFolk: The Aslan are race of lionlike creatures. Their name is also a ShoutOut to ''Literature/TheChroniclesOfNarnia''.
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* MistakenForToilet: On the planet Rodar/Sheldule, the wealthy businesswoman Theresa Shrike once confused a religious shrine with an outhouse, triggering a native uprising.

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Since it's not an official rule, the whole discussion should probably go on the Discussion or YMMV page, but it would cause problems with some published plots if it were necessary to have a conscious mind to use a jump drive.


** One suggestion never nixed by Marc is that Jump drives need a conscious mind to make them work.

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** One suggestion never nixed by Marc is that Jump drives need a conscious mind to make them work. There is nothing in the rules of the various editions that says this is necessary however, and it would make some "abandoned ship" plots, like ''Annic Nova''[[note]]by Marc Miller[[/note]], impossible.
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** Many of the sentient naturally-evolved computer "Chips" of Cymbeline (featured in the Classic adventure ''Signal GK'') were scooped up and converted in Imperial research labs into the sentient weapon of mass destruction that became Virus. The remainder on the planet were nuked from orbit to prevent anyone else from re-creating Virus.

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** Many of the sentient naturally-evolved computer "Chips" of Cymbeline (featured in the Classic adventure ''Signal GK'') were scooped up and converted in Imperial research labs into the sentient weapon of mass destruction that became Virus. The remainder on the planet were nuked from orbit to prevent anyone else from re-creating Virus. Lucan's Imperial faction, [[TheCaligula being ruled by a power-mad tyrant bent on destroying his rivals at any cost]], did this sort of thing all the time.
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** One suggestion never nixed by Marc is that Jump drives need a conscious mind to make them work.
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''Traveller'' was one of the earliest published [[RolePlayingGame role-playing-game]] systems, originally designed by Marc Miller and first published by Creator/GameDesignersWorkshop ([=GDW=]) in 1977. Forty years later, it still has a rabid pack of followers, despite the fact that [=GDW=] closed down in 1996. The publishing license has passed through a number of hands since then.

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''Traveller'' was one of the earliest published [[RolePlayingGame role-playing-game]] systems, originally designed by Marc Miller and first published by Creator/GameDesignersWorkshop ([=GDW=]) in 1977. Forty years later, it It still has a rabid pack of followers, followers despite the fact that [=GDW=] closed down in 1996. The publishing license has passed through a number of hands since then.
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* * MotileVehicularComponents: In ''Supplement 7: Traders and Gunboats,'' the Express Boat Tender starship cannot maneuver while recovering smaller ships. To defend itself in those situations, it has two weapon turrets that can move around on its hull on tracks so they can fire in more directions than a stationary turret could.
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* ExoticExtendedMarriage: Apart from the referee being able to make any given human society use these, several of the aliens have extended marriages as part of their cultures:
** The natural biological balance of Aslan females to male is roughly 3 to 1. Aslan males with land therefore tend to have multiple wives. An Aslan male who defeats another in warfare or a duel usually takes the wives of the loser along with his land and possessions, though the wives can choose to leave and seek their fortune elsewhere.
** The Droyne form extended families called oytrips that include members of all of their castes, usually with one Leader but variable numbers of the other castes.
** K'kree are polygamous, with the females expected to dedicate themselves to child rearing while the males protect the herd by exterminating meat-eaters.

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