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Discussion in the Interregnum


sunflower

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Also one of those humans is half-Balosar too. It really is a mess.

"Quis custodiet ipsos custodies? Your grace."


"I know that one. 'Who watches the Watchmen?' Me, Mr. Pessimal."


"Ah, but who watches you, your grace?"


"I do that too. All the time."


 


If anyone would be interested in co-hosting a Discworld-themed RPG for OTC, please PM me!

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Also one of those humans is half-Balosar too. It really is a mess.

 

Technically, I was only listing the humans that weren't hybrids, of which I found four female (Kyra, Layna, Dak, and Odiina, five if you include Mia). Given I found 12 different human males, and three of the four female humans I found were my own characters, there's obviously a disproportionate ratio. 

 

 

Now I've got to make a new category for hybrids...

 

 

1 Zeltron (female)

2 Zabraks (one male, one female)

2 Twi'leks (one male, one female)

1 Chistori (male)

1 Wookie (female)

1 Umbaran (female)

2 Arkanians (1 male, 1 female)

1 Togruta (female)

1 Echani (male)

1 Battle Droid (Male)

1 R2-unit Astromech Droid (female)

16 humans (11 male, 5 female)

1 Toydarian (male)

1 Protocol Droid (male)

2 Hybrids (2 females)

 

I did some math, and if my calculations or correct, we have a total male-female ratio of 18:14. That would imply that overall, there is reasonable balance of male and female characters (although men seem to remain the majority). However, I do find it strange that, while it's not too surprising that humans make up the majority; there are 11 men and only four women (three of whom are my PCs). 

 

Edit: Okay, I realized I missed Rebecca. Let me fix that...

Edited by Atton Rand
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I realise that perhaps my last post's wording insinuated that the sergeant just stood around for half a minute, but this was in fact not the case, and the stun shot was fired like, immediately after Odiina jerked her head to the side.

 

I'm also dubious of Kyra going from nearly unconscious to struggling free, rolling away, drawing and firing a blaster at some one in the span of a few seconds.

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Yeeeeah, I mean.... one second of contact from a taser will mess you up a bit. I'm surprised Kyra didn't need help getting up.

We will remember - Skies may fade and stars may wane; we won't forget


And your light shines bright - yes so much brighter shine on


We will remember - Until the skies will fall we won't forget


We will remember


We all shall follow doom

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Okay, I've talked to M31 and found one or two things I can do. I've edited the post appropriately. R9 will hopefully be open for interaction in a post or two, depending on how long it takes her to get to the lower city (which seems to be where everyone is at the moment). That shouldn't take too long; one post to get to the elevator, another to arrive, and possibly one more to visit someplace (probably the Stray Tach).

Edited by Atton Rand
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Well, R9's master is in Imperial custody, which leaves Nall the only person she can turn to. Besides, somebody's got to translate what R9 is saying. I would have had Kyra to do that, except you had to go and arrest her. Now until I can break her out I've got to find somebody else to fill the role. Besides, it seemed a logical way for R9 to get into a position to meet other players.

 

Of course, I have had some ideas for new PCs, though I'm not sure if any of them are any good. I don't have anything solid enough to work into a full profile yet, though I suppose there's no harm in sharing the basic ideas and seeing what people think. I have considered trying to play as a Hutt, except I don't seem to have much else for that particular character and I think the only reason I even thought of it was because we don't already have any Hutts appearing in the game. I had also toyed with the idea of writing a Mandalorian, though I'd need to work out a lot of the details in her personality. When I conceived of that idea, I hadn't watched Star Wars: Clone Wars, and as a result had a different idea of the Mandalorians' current status from what was actually canon. 

 

There was this one idea I've been thinking of lately. I'd have to work out a few details, and I had also wondered if it would be a more practical choice to save it until we unlock the next planet. Still, I suppose getting it written down here may not be so bad. Of course, while there may be some potential, I'm not even 100% sure if this kind of thing would be approved, so it probably would be a good idea to share it.

 

The short version is I had wondered if there was potential to a former member of Palpatine's Royal Guard. My understanding is that the Royal Guards are specially trained (very few people can meet the requirements needed to reach that level) and they're conditioned to be unquestionably loyal to Emperor Palpatine. It got me thinking that there could be some interesting psychology to explore in a surviving member of the guard, especially now that Palpatine, the person to whom they've sworn to serve, is gone. I'd imagine a lot of disorientation, feelings of hopelessness, depression, self-blaming, and possibly even feeling like they've got nothing left to live for.

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Those guards are pretty intense, a change in leadership probably wouldn't effect them in those ways, because if they were, they'd either have washed out, died or both.

 

Also, not every character needs some mental handicap to be interesting? I've noticed a pattern in your characters.

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Those guards are pretty intense, a change in leadership probably wouldn't effect them in those ways, because if they were, they'd either have washed out, died or both.

 

If it happened in an orderly fashion, perhaps. It didn't exactly go that way, however. Palpatine was suddenly murdered by his own apprentice (something the guards who were present failed to stop) leaving the Empire broken and unstructured. Now in an orderly fashion, it wouldn't be a huge deal. By "orderly" I'm thinking along the lines that Palpatine named a successor to take over when he died, thus the entire Empire would know who was now in charge, and it would have been a matter of one leaving and another arriving.

 

Unfortunately, it wasn't exactly what I'd call "orderly." Palpatine never really named a successor (probably because, as a Sith Lord, he was only interested in his own power, and didn't think much of who would run the Empire when he died, or perhaps he assumed it would be Darth Vader). Palpatine died before any important decisions could be made, and Vader (the most logical person to take over) changed sides and then also died. As a result, the Empire is divided and lacks a clear "leadership." That in itself would probably also be a problem for a Royal Guard, the lack of a definitive Emperor would leave them unsure of who to serve.

 

Also, not every character needs some mental handicap to be interesting? I've noticed a pattern in your characters. 

 

 

Not all of them have mental issues. Nadia and R9 don't have any serious psychological traumas. Also, there kinda was a war going on a few months ago, I'd imagine it wouldn't be that unusual to find people who have been affected and/or traumatized. Of course, a trauma isn't the same thing as a "mental handicap," which technically none of my PCs have.

 

Then again, it seems that this galaxy can't go for five minutes without a war happening, which shouldn't be too surprising as it is called Star Wars. Perhaps after millions of years worth of wars people have started to see the devastation as an everyday occurrence.

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Palpating specifically sent those guards away before that happened, though.

 

And then those same guards were promptly vaporised on the second Death Star.

 

Any other guards would have to have been elsewhere at the time, and thus probably would have no particular guilt, or if they did, seriously misplaced guilt.

 

Which isn't to say they might not find themselves drifting, looking for something to do, but I have serious doubts about it causing chronic depression.

 

These guards were the absolute cream of the crop, and I'm sure with no empires they'd either be honourably discharged or shuffled into the rest of the military.

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Palpating specifically sent those guards away before that happened, though.

 

And then those same guards were promptly vaporised on the second Death Star. 

 

Any other guards would have to have been elsewhere at the time, and thus probably would have no particular guilt, or if they did, seriously misplaced guilt. 

 

 

That's true, and technically speaking, there probably wasn't much they could have done to save him. However, that's not how survivor's guilt works. Usually it involves a soldier blaming themselves for someone else's death even if there was no real way to avoid it. Presumably, there were other Royal Guards in addition to the two or three that appear in Return of the Jedi, and not all of them would have been on the Death Star at the time. Any who weren't could easily have blamed themselves for not being present to save Palpatine.

 

Any other guards would have to have been elsewhere at the time, and thus probably would have no particular guilt, or if they did, seriously misplaced guilt. 

 

 

Discharged or shuffled by who? The only people of a higher rank than them are Palpatine and (possibly) Vader, both of whom are dead. Nobody else in the Empire has the authority to do either of those things

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Pretty much whoever's left in any position of power in the Empire, really. I mean, the guards are tough stuff, sure, but they couldn't exactly overrule a Grand Moff on administrative matters. It's not their job, it's not their area of expertise, and it's just plain not a sphere in which they hold any particular sway.

 

Plus, with no Emperor and no Vader, are they really going to say "Uh, no, I rather think I prefer being disorganized, thanks" to the first Moff to take charge and give them orders? Or are they going to be relieved that somebody has the situation in hand?

 

 

 

Well, R9's master is in Imperial custody, which leaves Nall the only person she can turn to. Besides, somebody's got to translate what R9 is saying. I would have had Kyra to do that, except you had to go and arrest her. Now until I can break her out I've got to find somebody else to fill the role. Besides, it seemed a logical way for R9 to get into a position to meet other players.

I'm pretty sure some of those Stormtroopers, who would no doubt want to speak with the pilot of that skyhopper, could translate droid language. In fact, though I can't speak for Strider! here, I'd wager that Odiina and friends would be very interested in having that little chat.

We will remember - Skies may fade and stars may wane; we won't forget


And your light shines bright - yes so much brighter shine on


We will remember - Until the skies will fall we won't forget


We will remember


We all shall follow doom

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Okay well then I can't speak for the staff either, but, going off my own guess

 

veeeeery interested in a little chat with the pilot of that skyhopper

 

(also hooray for responsible use of NPCs)

We will remember - Skies may fade and stars may wane; we won't forget


And your light shines bright - yes so much brighter shine on


We will remember - Until the skies will fall we won't forget


We will remember


We all shall follow doom

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I actually handed control of those troopers over to staff, since they're NPC's and I was getting uncomfortable controlling that many NOCs for so long

 

Oh. That actually would have been a good opportunity to develop some of them. You're running the outpost now which would leave the members of its staff up to you.

 

I'm pretty sure some of those Stormtroopers, who would no doubt want to speak with the pilot of that skyhopper, could translate droid language.

 

 

Well, perhaps, if they hadn't shot down the skyhopper, giving R9 time to escape. Of course, they'd be in Strider!'s control, which would it difficult to provide a clear translation. Having Kyra on hand makes it easier for other players to know immediately what R9 is saying. 

 

I'm not sure if there's a proceedure at the moment for non-basic speaking characters, especially seeing as at least as far as I'm aware, R9 is only the second to appear (after Sue). Generally, what I've done is described R9's beeps and whistles (occasionally noting her emotions) and whenever possible had a basic-speaking character who could translate what R9 is saying. 

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You know you could take a page from SWToR, and have R9's speaking patterns imitate the droids there.

 

As for the troops and the outpost, no, I don't run the outpost. I play a singular character who works there, and the only reason I took control of any nPCs in the first place was to facilitate a reasonable response to a shooting.

 

In any case, watch this spot for some profiles @staff

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Yes, Odiina is one of a handful of people working there. What I meant was you're the only player using the outpos or who has any PCs stationed there, which gives you free reign to develop other people working there. There's probably a few other troopers and some officers. Presumably there's also a new C.O. which could leave an opportunity for you to succeed where I failed.

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I'm really not sure how shooting down the skyhopper made it easier for the droid to escape, but okay.

 

You could, as for the droid language thing, include what the droid is saying in your post. Something like,

 

"R9 beeped and whistled furiously, telling the trooper to find the nearest hole and roll around in it screaming 'norf norf squeeg.'"

We will remember - Skies may fade and stars may wane; we won't forget


And your light shines bright - yes so much brighter shine on


We will remember - Until the skies will fall we won't forget


We will remember


We all shall follow doom

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I'm really not sure how shooting down the skyhopper made it easier for the droid to escape, but okay.

Well, it takes time to find her. The Skyhopper isn't going to fall in a straight line. First they have to figure out where exactly it crashed. Then they have to get to the wreckage. Then they have to search it to be sure R9 isn't on board. That would give R9 time to leave the wreckage and get away before they show up.

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Pretty sure it crashed somewhere in the spaceport, especially since, if it had been flying high enough to fall outside of the spaceport, it would also have been flying high enough for the landing to scramble anything breakable inside of it.

 

Even if it hadn't crashed in the spaceport, though, it would have crashed somewhere people could see it, and spaceport security would almost certainly have gotten a few panicked calls about the skyhopper that just crash-landed on grandma.

 

Plus if they didn't have eyes on it when they shot it and as it fell, none of them deserve to keep their jobs.

We will remember - Skies may fade and stars may wane; we won't forget


And your light shines bright - yes so much brighter shine on


We will remember - Until the skies will fall we won't forget


We will remember


We all shall follow doom

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Plus if they didn't have eyes on it when they shot it and as it fell, none of them deserve to keep their jobs.

 

 

Having eyes on the vehicle as it's crashing does not mean being able to instantly recognize the exact spot where it landed. While it may offer a sense of the general direction in which it fell, unless the troopers actually saw it hit the ground (which they may not have if there were buildings in the way) they'd still have to do some searching to figure out exactly where it landed. Of course there would be reports, probably a bunch of them, which the troopers would then have to sort through. Then once they've finally got the location they have to actually get there. Then once they've finally found the wreckage they have to make sure its safe to approach, then they have to search the craft to make sure the suspect isn't inside, and failing that they have to search the surrounding area for clues to her whereabouts.

Edited by Atton Rand
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Yeah, this isn't the 18th century. The actual eyes the troopers have are not the only ones they have access to, and some of the electronic ones can be very high up indeed.

We will remember - Skies may fade and stars may wane; we won't forget


And your light shines bright - yes so much brighter shine on


We will remember - Until the skies will fall we won't forget


We will remember


We all shall follow doom

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Name: Zit'ala

Age: 26

Species/gender: Female Zabrak

Appearance: noble, with high cheeks and red skin. Traditional black tattoos mark her face. Slim, and not very tall. Wears form fitting dark clothes, over which she has an armorweave coat, and a plastoid body similar to a stormtrooper's armor, in black, with the Inquisitorius symbol painted on in white. Similarly styled gauntlets, bracers, and boots complete the look.

Skills: a fairly competent sword woman, and a bit of a historian. Handy with electricity.

Force Abilities: basic force abilities, telekinesis, increasing bodily attributes slightly for a short time, etc. Dabbles in Sith Sorcery. Strong suit is Lightning, however.

Equipment: double bladed lightsaber, armor weave jacket, stun gauntlets, rebreather, com link, medium blaster pistol, plastoid armor chest plate, boots, bracers.

Personality: cold, calculating, and ambitious to a fault, she'd have made a good Sith, had they not been wiped out.

History: a former slave, lucky enough to be force sensitive enough to claw her way into the Inquisitorius and survive. Was first discovered after electrocuting a slaver with his own stun stick at the tender age of 7.

Affiliation:Inquisitorius

Rank: Inquisitor

Alignment: Lawful Evil

 

Finished edits, ready to be looked over by staff

Edited by Strider!
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Okay, I guess we have another Inquisitor. Everybody seems to side with them. I still seem to be the only one with any PCs in the street gangs, of course.

 

 

For what it's worth, I have considered some possible ideas for Viseria's backstory, and I suppose I'd be willing to share them if you like. It's given me some ideas for what to place in her form when I get the all-clear.

 

One thing I've wondered is if it would be a good idea to try and think of this stage in the RPG as an experimentation stage. Basically, while I'm trying to get the hang of things, I try out a bunch of different ideas for PCs and see what works. One thing I've also considered is that the reason why I had so much difficulty with Mia (and too an extent, Sergeant Maxwell) may be that writing front-line military tactics isn't my strongest point. If that's the case, than what I should be doing is figuring out what I'm good at, and running with those ideas. Of course, I still haven't figured out exactly what I'm good at yet, so I guess I'll have to see what happens.

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Better, we have another Zabrak lady Inquisitor, and one that approaches the concept from a very different angle from what I've done. Plus there's the double-bladed lightsaber, which is an interesting pick.

We will remember - Skies may fade and stars may wane; we won't forget


And your light shines bright - yes so much brighter shine on


We will remember - Until the skies will fall we won't forget


We will remember


We all shall follow doom

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Well, I guess this is a good time to experiment with some new ideas while there isn't much activity going on. I had some other ideas to try out.

 

Name: Nikita Dameron
Age: 34
Gender/Species: Human Female
Appearance: Unlike her former partner Kyra Drayen, Nikita is much more effective at remaining discreet. Her usual wardrobe consists of a leather jacket over a dark t-shirt and long pants. 
Skills: Stealth, infiltration; although she is trained in a variety of weapons and hand-to-hand combat, she generally prefers to avoid directly engaging the enemy.
 

Equipment: A concealed blaster. She also comes with an assortment of surveillance equipment, though her primary gadgets are an encrypted comm link (for recording and sending secret messages) and a holorecorder. She also has an earpiece designed to tap into encrypted channels.

Personality: Generally well-intentioned and friendly. However, while she may have noble intentions, she isn't above using ethically questionable means to attain her goals. 
 

History: Nikita's field experience is limited. Her real skills were generally in her line of work as an intelligence and covert operative for the Rebel Alliance.

 

Everybody remembers the heroes of the Rebellion who fought on the front lines. There are plenty of stories of the heroes of the rebellion who fought the Empire directly: Rianna Saren, Hera Syndulla, Kyle Katarn,  Luke Skywalker, Leia Organa, Han Solo, and Lando Calrissian. What most people forget are the ones who worked behind the scenes; the men and women who collected information on the Empire and made the victories of the alliance possible.

 

Nikita was one such hero. She worked intelligence in the Rebel Alliance, as well as serving as an undercover operative on several occasions. Her missions were generally top secret, only known to a few select members at a time. In the field, people like Rianna and Leia fought the Empire head-on, while others like Nikita worked behind the lines gathering information on Imperial strategy, weapons, and movements. Off the field, she was often tasked with sorting out intelligence.

 

With the end of the war, and the rise of the New Republic, Nikita received new responsibilities. She continued to work intelligence under the new government, and now she has been given a new mission. New Republic Intelligence has suggested that the Empire has been showing an unusually large amount of activity on Taris. Her mission is primarily one of recon: to try to observe Imperial activity and learn what she can about their objectives on the planet while reporting back to her superiors.

 

 

Affiliation: New Republic Intelligence, Formerly Rebel Alliance

Position: Intelligence Officer
 

Alignment: Good

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The New Republic has the time and inclination to snoop into how much activity the Empire is showing on and around Imperial worlds? And they've had time since this mess started to note that activity and send an agent in - to Imperial territory - to investigate what the Empire's doing in its own backyard?

We will remember - Skies may fade and stars may wane; we won't forget


And your light shines bright - yes so much brighter shine on


We will remember - Until the skies will fall we won't forget


We will remember


We all shall follow doom

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What I was getting at, actually, is that New Republic Intelligence might be a bit busy with other things - like what the Empire's doing on border worlds, fleet movements close to Republic space, the daily routines of the people trying to lead the Empire....

 

The only other angle I can think of for a New Republic spy is one that would make them, as I understand the premise of the RPG, a bit too high-up to be here, and also runs into the issue of too many cooks spoiling the broth. Maybe you'll find another approach that works, but I can't be of much help.

We will remember - Skies may fade and stars may wane; we won't forget


And your light shines bright - yes so much brighter shine on


We will remember - Until the skies will fall we won't forget


We will remember


We all shall follow doom

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I'm not sure. I'll have to think about that. While it's true that the New Republic isn't tracking the Insight's every move, that doesn't mean they lack any way of obtaining information on its current position over Taris. At the very least, they could have intercepted a transmission that implies something of importance is happening there. The lack of details would be all the more reason to send in a covert operative who can figure out what the Empire is so interested in. So is that a yes or no for Nikita?

 

 

While I'm at it, I suppose I should ask a question related to one of my other ideas. I proposed earlier the idea of a former Royal Guard, and personally I think there could be potential. However, one thing I also remember is that when you rejected Commander Riv Needa, you noted that it was mainly because his story would have been closely tied to that of an actual Imperial Officer who appeared on-screen in The Empire Strikes Back. I'm wondering, would an ex-Royal Guard be too close to the films to be considered appropriate. After all, the very nature of the position would require this person to have been around Emperor Palpatine on numerous occasions. While they probably wouldn't know him personally (Palpatine never seemed like the kind of person who liked to get to know his staff), they would have known more than most Imperials and swore loyalty to him directly. That would imply that, if I were to go this route, their connection to Palpatine would probably be a driving force in their personality. I believe your exact words before were:

 

Events that occurred along the Skywalker story are meant to be known from a third or fourth-hand perspective.

 

 

 

I thought it would be good to check this before I actually started to organize a profile. Would that be too close to the films or do you think it could potentially work?

Edited by Atton Rand
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My understanding is that, even without the bit about knowing things from a third- or fourth-hand perspective, a former Royal Guard is a wee bit too high-ranking for this. The RPG is largely supposed to be about building characters up from fairly modest beginnings, which is why Varis is only mediocre with the Force and hasn't got tattoos covering literally her entire body, and why Isariah isn't a pirate queen with billions of credits to her name.

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We will remember - Skies may fade and stars may wane; we won't forget


And your light shines bright - yes so much brighter shine on


We will remember - Until the skies will fall we won't forget


We will remember


We all shall follow doom

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Well, technically as an ex-Royal Guard, they would no longer have that position. Especially with division in the Empire resulting in the lack of a definitive successor. We've got a bunch of Moffs competing to take over, most of whom would to a guard appear weak compared to Palpatine (keep in mind that the Royal Guards would know his power first-hand, which would make it harder to support a comparatively weaker non-force sensitive), At best, there'd probably be some disagreement on exactly which Moff should take over, and I wouldn't be surprised if there were at least one or two who tried to take the throne themselves.

 

In any case, Palpatine's death left the position of Royal Guard redundant. Any surviving members would be left unemployed, either having to adapt to a changing and unstructured Empire or transferring their skills elsewhere.

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I'd ask whether the surname you've given this character is strictly necessary, but I honestly don't think I'd get anywhere with that, and the degree of relation is murky...

 

The Appearance section is really, really vague, though. Like... it's just her clothing. I could write all of my characters reacting to her as though she looks exactly like Clint Eastwood and you wouldn't be able to stop me.

We will remember - Skies may fade and stars may wane; we won't forget


And your light shines bright - yes so much brighter shine on


We will remember - Until the skies will fall we won't forget


We will remember


We all shall follow doom

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