The Elder Scrolls VI was announced back at Bethesda E3 2018 media briefing. While that was quite a big shock from the developer and publisher, the announcement was only supported by a quick teaser, without any further details about the story, the setting, and the gameplay.
A new theory on the game has been unleashed on the Internet by a Reddit user, who goes by the name TERAFLOPPER, and according to him, the title is set in the region of Akavir, in Tamriel, with a huge conflict going all over the place.
Let's have a look at the theory, then.
'The terrain, climate and the architecture of the castle ruin indicate that this is most likely the coastline of High Rock. This is of significant historical importance because the first ever Akaviri invasion was preceded by major raiding activities in the Iliac Bay which separates High Rock and Hammerfell with stories of 'ships manned by beasts' arriving at the shores and raiding the villages there.
The raiding parties grew so large that at one point the Tsaesci raiders (a Serpentine vampiric race that ate all the humans on the continent of Akavir) laid siege to the High Rock city of Wayrest, which is located deep in the Iliac Bay.
Additionally, there's heavy mention in the lore in multiple games of a forthcoming major (& potentially cataclysmic) invasion of Tamriel that the Akaviri have been preparing for over hundreds of years, waiting patiently for when the Empire is most divided to strike.
Tosh Raka, the Tiger-Dragon king of the Ka Po' Tun, the most powerful kingdom in Akavir, views the Tsaesci as his mortal enemies who have invaded his kingdom multiple times, enslaved the red dragons and killed (and ate) all the black dragons. According to the latest historical accounts, Tosh Raka allied himself with the brave monkey people of Tang Mo to defeat the Tsaesci. Tosh Raka has an old and ambitious desire of invading Tamriel after defeating the Tsaesci.
I believe that the teaser teased the location of where the Akaviri armies would land to invade, at the coasts of High Rock. Based on overwhelming fan requests in a thread started by the devs at the official TES forums several years back I believe Elder Scrolls VI will take place in AkaVIr and parts of Tamriel and it will be centered around the greatest war to ever take place on Nirn.'
It's very interesting, but we're likely not going to have any further information, or trailer or gameplay, about The Elder Scrolls VI rather soon. The game is in a pre-production stage, so it'll take around three years, at least, for it to ship.
We'll see whether Bethesda is able to start showcasing the title in time for next year's E3 media briefing, or we'll need to wait a bit longer, which is a bit more believable if you ask me.
Source: Reddit
The Tsaesci are most always described as snake people in lore. There is one drawing and some descriptions of them with snake-like lower bodies and humanoid upper bodies.They are consistently described as 'tall, beautiful (if frightening), [and] covered in golden scales.' Alduin's wall has the Dragonguard's history represented on it, which was originally made up of Akaviri people. Are these Akaviri depicted the same men that were supposedly eaten by the Tsaesci, or are they the Tsaesci? The Akaviri general's ghost, and the ancient Akaviri armor, are also regularly humanoid shaped. The only reason I wouldn't think these are Akavir men from Atmora is they are said to have been 'eaten long ago,' suggesting they may have never gained any kind of power to be able to travel to Tamriel as they are depicted in those events. And of course there is the Akaviri Potentate, but we have never gotten a clear description of him other than the usual, which may be propoganda. Sources tend to vary. Do you think the snake like appearance is propoganda or true? Is it an exaggeration of more minimal features? Do they have many breeds (like the Khajiit or Argonians) with different physiologies? Does anyone know any better sources?
Across the sea, eastward from Morrowind, there is a continent named Akavir, which means 'Dragon Land' and despite being only mentioned in books from each of the previous Elder Scrolls games, it's packed with content.
There are a few races that live in Akavir:
I was thinking how awesome it would be if the next Elder Scrolls had to do with this land. Some of it's inhabitants have interesting cultures, and are involved with the dragons living there in some way.
As there aren't any official depictions yet of these races, I'll be using fan made depictions to get the gist of what they may look like.
The Tang Mo
There are many breeds of the monkey-folk, and they are all kind, brave, and simple, while some of them can be kind of crazy. They have had to defend themselves on multiple occasions on account of the other nations of Akavir trying to enslave them. The Tang Mo hate the Kamal almost as much as they hate the Tsaesci, they used to war with the Ka'Po'Tun too, but they have recently allied with them.
The Ka'Po'Tun
Originally 'Po'Tun' the Dragon-Tiger people have grown a massive army stronger than the Tsaecsi. The Po'Tun might look similar to the Khajiit, but they have very different cultures.
They used to protect the dragons that were in Akavir, seeing them as immortal beings. But during a great war against the Tsaesci, the dragons were slowly killed off, after this, the Ka'Po'Tun tried to become dragons themselves. Their leader, Tosh Raka was the first to succeed at this, becoming the largest dragon in the world, while he still has the color and pattern of a tiger. The Ka'Po'Tun plan to destroy the Tsaesci, and then at some point invade Tamriel.
The Ice Demons of Kamal
The Kamal are a species of Ice creatures that thaw out once a year and launch attacks on the other nations of Akavir, but for some reason they seem to direct their attacks mainly on the Tang Mo.
The Kamal have launched an attack on Tamriel too, under the command of Ada'Soom Dir-Kamal, pulling their ships into the White River just outside of Windhelm in Skyrim. Luckily they were eventually stopped at Red Mountain by groups of Dark Elves, Nords, and Argonians, who later went on to form the Ebonheart pact.
The Kamal are described as 'giants made of snow with huge ice crystals bulging out of their backs.'
The Tsaesci
The Tsaesci are 'vampiric' serpent-men that used to be the strongest force in the land before the Ka'Po'Tun. They're a rival of every species in Akavir, and they have also attacked Tamriel a time or two.
There have been confusion on the matter of the appearance of the Tsaesci, while there are books within the games that state they 'slither around,' but there are also accounts of war that state they were seen riding mounts and appeared humanoid.
Humans used to live in Akavir, but the Tsaesci allegedly 'ate them.' The word 'ate' is not fully understood though, because the Tsaesci also tried to 'eat' the red dragons that used to live in Akavir, when in reality they were actually enslaved by the Tsaesci, while the Black dragons fled to Ka'Po'Tun. If the Tsaesci managed to enslave the humans living in Akavir, I'm sure they'd have no issues with using the humans for war.
After hearing about the Dragons being killed off during the war in between the Tsaesci, and the Ka'Po'Tun, I was reminded of..
The Blades
Now here's where things get really interesting. The Blades actually originated in Akavir, and they have been featured in Morrowind, Oblivion, and Skyrim. They have been instructed to hunt and kill off all the dragons. Now, are the Blades truly the Tsaesci? Or do they serve the Tsaesci as slaves for war?
The Blades originally came to Tamriel in an invasion, fighting the people of Skyrim. The Blades cut their way down south, until they reached Pale Pass. There, they fought against Reman Cyrodiil, and his army. Upon hearing his 'voice' The Blades realized Reman was Dragonborn. Kneeling before him, The Blades swore their lives to him, they found who they were looking for.
That is how The Blades became the elite guard of the emperors of Cyrodiil, all the way down to Martin Septim, during the Oblivion Crisis. After that, The Blades went into hiding as the Thalmor wrapped their hands around the lands of Tamriel.
On a minor note: The Nerevarine, your character in Morrowind, is the only person said to have gone over sea to Akavir. Why The Nerevarine went over there is unknown.
Theory time!
First off, I find it very curious that they continue to include The Blades in the main plot of each story. Granted they are sworn to protect very important characters.
Is there going to be a time where we go into Akavir? Invading the Tsaesci, slowly working our way into the land?
Are we going to take initiative? Following the Blades from Tamriel all the way to Akavir, and help them fight the threat of Tosh Raka, and his army of Tiger-Dragons, while the poor Tang Mo play middle man?
Or will we be seeing an invasion from one of the Akaviri forces in Tamriel? Possibly having to fight The Blades for once, or even help them in the case of a Ka'Po'Tun invasion?
Do you think these events could unfold in the next game? Do you have any other working theories you'd like to share? Tell us in the comments section!
The Elder Scrolls 6 location possibilities are.. pretty vast. Or at least they are on first inspection of that super brief E3 2018 teaser trailer we saw - but we actually think it might be possible to narrow them down.
Below, we're going to run through a series of potential locations and settings for the Elder Scrolls 6. We'll rule some out - at least in principle - and highlight some others that we think are particularly likely, and then finally, further below, we'll go through a quick rundown of everything else we know about The Elder Scrolls 6 - like its platforms and potential release date - so you've got all the information in one place.
Do bear in mind though that, really, this is a bit of fun - even if we do start to get quite into it as we go..
Why we think Hammerfell is the location of The Elder Scrolls 6
There's really not a lot to go on here but, if we had to, we'd plant our flag in Hammerfell as the location of The Elder Scrolls 6. Just. Here's why - and bear with us, because we're going way into speculation territory here..
Basic assumptions:
Firstly, let's make some assumptions. Let's assume, for the sake of narrowing it down, that the following is true (and that you've watched that teaser trailer, above):
Again, for emphasis: it may be that none of those assumptions are true, or some of them are - but for the sake of argument, and for the fun of it, let's say they all are, so we can actually analyse what we've seen.
So, those assumptions in mind, here's our reasoning for believing The Elder Scrolls 6 is most likely to be set in Hammerfell:
Step one: narrowing it down
Firstly, the trailer shows us several things. We get an idea of the landscape - dry, rocky and mountainous with thinning, shrubby greenery throughout most of it - as well as a clear shot of the sea, to the right. We can also clearly see a ruined, fort-like structure in the centre, near a crater-like drop to the left, and if you look closely, right in the distance on the coast, there is what looks like a city, set in a marshy, green area with some kind of watery passage or river just in front of it.
So, if we're looking for places on Tamriel maps that represent the trailer, we need somewhere in a dry, arid climate, where the ocean would be on our right if the city was dead ahead of us, and crucially no other land mass appears behind the city if we look in its direction.
If we exclude Morrowind, Cyrodiil, Skyrim and the Summerset Isles - all locations we've visited very recently, that feature different climates to this and, I think we can safely say, would make very surprising main locations for the Elder Scrolls 6 - then there are still a number of coastal cities that fit the bill.
Working from the above map, the following cities are possibilities: Farrun, Northpoint, Camlorn and Daggerfall in the High Rock region; Archon and Soulrest in Black Marsh; Senchal in Elsweyr (at a push - if the sea is on your right and Senchal's ahead, you'd probably be able to see other parts of Elsweyr in the distance beyond it); Falinesti, Woodhearth, Southpoint and maybe Greenheart in Valenwood; and finally Sentinel, and maybe Taneth in Hammerfell.
We think the climate and topography of the land rules out Valenwood and Black Marsh. Valenwood is described as 'Tamriel's garden' and 'a sea of endless green, a maze of foliage with half-hidden cities growing like blooms from a flower' in the fictional (but canonical) book 'A Pocket Guide to the Empire, Third Edition'. Safe to say the rocky, arid mountains and craterious areas of the trailer don't match up to that lush description.
Likewise, Black Marsh is described as a 'fetid' swampland, and is known to have a southern coast that's largely made up of island-like landmasses amid the marshes. The city in the trailer would have to be on Black Marsh's southern coast and, while there does look like there's a little bit of swampy lowland around the distant city in the trailer, the low and flat nature of swamps in general doesn't sit well with the huge, ranging peaks of the mountains on show here.
Step two: High Rock vs. Hammerfell
So that leaves High Rock and and Hammerfell, and there are two reasons we get to Hamerfell: one, because High Rock can be ruled out (reasonably, but not as definitely as Black Marsh and Valenwood) for its own reasons; and two, because the city of Sentinel in particular really fits the bill.
For one, we reckon High Rock can be ruled out because of its size, as it's smaller than Cyrodiil, Morrowind and Skyrim, making it an odd choice for what we can assume would be a massive game world. Second there's its architecture, with the trailer's nearby tower made from a light beige-coloured limestone or sandstone-like material (and also possibly that light-coloured - but to be fair very distant - city), that differs quite strongly from the dark grey stone we've seen in Brettonian, High Rock architecture in other games.
Step three: Why Hammerfell fits so well
Those are fairly thin reasons though. The real, key one is the fact the Sentinel, a major Hammerfell city, seems to slot in perfectly to this location. Take a look at how it fits into this old, fan-made map (found on a site called 'The Imperial Library' via the Elder Scrolls Lore subreddit) of Hammerfell, and the location and surrounding area of Sentinel in particular:
Notice the small bit of water right next to the city in that map, and the similar river-like bit of water by the distant city in the trailer? The slight bit of greenery around it in both of those? And, if the camera is sweeping down towards Sentinel, from North to South, in the trailer, notice the mountain ranges you'd be sweeping through to the north of Sentinel, and the other mountains ahead that would sit in front of the desert (blocking the camera) and behind it, in the distance?
Alright, it's a fan-made map, even if it is likely based on Hammerfell-based gameplay in the first Elder Scrolls game, Arena. But how about the following images (again from The Imperial Library) for examples of the terrain and architecture of Hammerfell, taken from concept art and in-game files of The Elder Scrolls Online? They refer to the Hew's Bane location and Craglorn area respectively.
And, finally, this map, from one of the Elder Scrolls wikis, which puts a little tower inland, to the south-east of Sentinel, if you can see it - that could be the ruined fort we see in the trailer:
Away from those very cartographical arguments, there are, actually, quite a lot of other reasons why Sentinel and Hammerfell make sense. Speaking more broadly Hammerfell is just a great location to set big, fantasy RPG: it's a large area, it has a range of climates and environments (not just the dry mountains we saw but also greenery, snowy mountains, and the vast Alik'r desert) - okay, admittedly this is still kind of cartographical - but also a range of enhabitants, too.
Elder Scrolls games have, at the very least in their more modern, post-Morrowind forms, tended to lean quite heavily on racial and political conflict as a foundation for their plot. Regardless of whether or not you think they've been handled with the proper depth, issues like mass migration, racial and religious tension, colonialism, civil war and class struggle have run as threads throughout these games for years, and certain regions, at least in their current forms in the 'lore', just don't have the necessary variety of population to carry them.
Hammerfell, however, has the mass emigration of the Redguard people - from the ancient, non-Tamriel land of Yokuda (see the map above, sourced from the Elder Scrolls pages) - built into its history. It has varied architecture, from the gold dome-capped buildings of the Alik'r to the more Nordic Dragonstar on the border with Skyrim and the Mages Guild in Elinhir.
It also, fittingly, has a political history tied to that of Skyrim and Cyrodiil - the Redguard of Hammerfell rejected the White-Gold Concordat, the crippling treaty signed by the Altmeri Dominion and the Empire between the events of Oblivion and Skyrim, that plays as a fitting backstory to those Nord-Thalmor tensions in the Elder Scrolls 5.
It means not only are there regional tensions within Hammerfell, there are also plenty between Hammerfell and the Thalmor, Hammerfell and the Empire (many Redguard feel the Empire 'abandoned' them by signing the treaty, according to the in-game book 'The Great War'), and even between Hammerfell and Skyrim at the disputed territory of Craglorn in the north.
There are some other little things - some fans have pointed out that the reddish-gold hue of the Elder Scrolls VI logo in the teaser represents Dwemer metal, in the same way Skyrim's silver logo represents Skyforge steel (the Dwemer, a popular ancient race, enhabited Hammerfell before the Redguard and called it Volenfell) - but this is a bit of a stretch.
Similarly strained ties can be drawn between the style of music in the trailer and the location. The theme music tends to represent the region of the games: where Skyrim's theme was deep and choral, and Impirial Cyrodiil-based Oblivion's was full of pomp, this one's more militaristic and orchestral, you could say - and therefore fitting of the heroic Redguard. But that really is a stretch.
Otherwise, the location's also easily expandable - the smaller High Rock sits to the North and has close trade ties with Hammerfell, so could make for a Summerset Isle-style expansion, or even be included with it if the game's particularly massive - and the main race is humanoid, and therefore marketable, compared to, say, the fan-favourite-but-not-exactly-mass-appeal Kajiit and Argonian cat- and lizard-people.
Finally, it's not too far from Skyrim, and if there's one thing we can take from that game's ludicrous appeal and platform omnipresence it's that it has huge marketing sway, to the point where some people would see this game as a 'Skyrim 2' as much as it's an Elder Scrolls 6. It would be a huge surprise if Bethesda strayed too far from Skyrim, geographically as well as just tonally. Bordering the region, but not overlapping with it, could be a smart move?
A final point: 'what about that giant desert in Hammerfell?' I hear maybe one person at most say? Well, the Alik'r desert is located in the south-western part of the region, and it's known to be surrounded by mountains, like the Gobi desert (credit to Goofy_Goober on reddit for that lovely photo) here in the real world. That would also put it just tantalisingly out of sight in the trailer, behind those mountains on the left.
In conclusion to all of that very lengthy - and often, admittedly, quite thin - speculation, we think Hammerfell's the safest bet. Above all it just makes sense - plus, just say it: 'The Elder Scrolls VI: Hammerfell'. It does have a nice ring to it..
All that said - and as we've been at pains to point out as we go - there's still plenty of room for Bethesda to spring a surprise. So, here are some other options. We promise to keep them brief!
Why The Elder Scrolls 6 could be set in High Rock
The next most likely location is, as we alluded to above, High Rock, home of the Bretons.
Keeping those basic assumptions still, the one thing High Rock absolutly has in its favour is the climate, which matches pretty closely in description to what we saw in the trailer.
It's known for somewhat varied geography - in the north are mountains covered with forests, further south are plains, and along the south-eastern coast that faces Hammerfell are several trading hub cities. It's also full of mountains and is called High Rock and, you know, the trailer is full of quite high rocks. There are also some recognisable places for the lore nerds out there, like the city of Daggerfall and the Adamantine Tower, rumoured to be the oldest structure in Tamriel.
The in-game book called 'Provinces of Tamriel' is well-referenced when people talk about the continent's various regions, and it describes High Rock as full of 'rugged highland strongholds' - like that crumbling fort - and 'isolated valley settlements' - like that misty valley we sweep through at the very start of the trailer.
But, it doesn't quite fit with some other aspects of the footage. For one, the sandy architecture doesn't suggest Brettonian strongholds so much as it does mediterranean forts. You could safely say the Breton race is modelled on a kind of Celtic, or northern-British history - places are given names like Dwynnen, Glenumbra, Daenia, Cambray Hills, Camlorn and Montclair, and the Brettonians are described as having a 'fierce independence' and 'contentious tribal nature' but with a 'unifying common legacy' of 'language, bardic traditions and heroic legends'.
It's a bit of a push, basically, especially when stacked up against all that (admittedly somewhat flimsy) evidence for Hammerfell we gave above. The pasty humans, dark stone architecture and cold, northern environment all sound a little too close to Skyrim for an immediate follow-up, too.
Why the Elder Scolls 6 could be set in all of Tamriel
Moving away from individual regions then, one decent bet on the next Elder Scrolls game's setting would be Tamriel in its entirety.
For one, we can be just about certain that The Elder Scrolls 6 will release on next-gen consoles only (more on that below), and that, we can reasonably assume, would bring another jump in computational power. Basically, we think consoles will be powerful enough to feature the whole of Tamriel to the detail that Bethesda Game Studios would want by the time Elder Scrolls 6 comes out.
But.. would they want to do that? There are a couple of reasons, we reckon, that Bethesda would likely stay clear of covering all of Tamriel in one go.
For one, there's the problem of The Elder Scrolls Online. The MMORPG is still ticking along nicely, having just added Summerset Isle at the time of writing, and it covers the vast majority of Tamriel already. There's a pretty solid argument that a big, next-gen Elder Scrolls game in the main series that covers the exact same locations as The Elder Scrolls Online would cannibalise its audience. Despite their differences, a lot of the MMO's pull is the fact that you can play something close to a Bethesda Elder Scrolls game but at massive scale.
The other thing to consider is that by covering all of Tamriel in one game, options for a sequel beyond that are then significantly narrowed down.
Yes, Elder Scrolls 6 is still years away, but there's no reason to believe that Bethesda would make this one their last - not with the ludicrous amount on money they'd be leaving on the table by doing so - and while other continents exist outside of Tamriel in the world of Nirn (again, as we cover below), they make for much more challenging locations to set a game in the franchise.
All that said, we still can't rule all of Tamriel out, of course. Plenty of games set sequels in the same open world as their prior entry and do just fine, and other continents (and, crucially, time periods) in Nirn do obviously exist. We just think that's a bit of a stretch for The Elder Scrolls 6. Maybe next time.
Other potential Elder Scrolls 6 locations: could it be Elswheyr, Valenwood, Black Marsh or somewhere else in Nirn?
Finally, there are some more left-field options.
The Elder Scrolls 6 could still be going to somewhere like Elswheyr, Valenwood or Black Marsh. For one, there's no guarantee that what we saw in the trailer is even supposed to represent the game's setting. Todd Howard, Bethesda Game Studios director, is the only person to do any real talking about the game so far, and his only mention of the setting is this very brief momement in an interview with Gamespot, where he describes it in the following way:
'It's very early. It's in the concept and design, this is where it is, this is what it'll be, here's some of the parts it'll have [stage].'
So you never know, they might not have actually settled on a location yet and the trailer could just be something they threw together to keep people like us busy pouring over while they actually decide where they want to set it.
Likewise, there's no way to rule out this being set somewhere other than the continent of Tamriel. The planet Nirn has plenty of other areas to it - although we've only ever heard of them in passing - and one popular, albeit surprising choice would be Akavir.
Tsaesci Motif
Akavir is the original land of the Blades, who themselves migrated to Tamriel to chase roaming dragons, before swearing loyalty to the first Dragonborn, and so on. According to the in-game book 'Mysterious Akavir', it's said to be populated by several races: the Tang Mo, described as 'monkey-folk'; the Kamal, described as 'primal demons'; the Ka'Po'Tun, or 'tiger people'; the Tsaesci, who are apparently 'vampire serpent-men'; and finally a few Humans, who may have been wiped out (read: eaten).
It's a bit of a leap from regular old recognisable Tamriel then, but you never know - maybe the tiger people are actually an archaic description of Kajiit, and there could be a new point in the timeline where things are a little easier for us human folk to comprehend? Or maybe we could be going to one of the other regions on Nirn: Yokuda, Atmora, Pyandonea, Thras or Aldmeris, that you can maybe see on that unofficial map above (sourced from the Elder Scrolls Wiki)?
Unlikely, in our opinion, even if it's technically possible. Maybe one for some left-field DLC though?
When is Elder Scolls 6 releasing and what else do we know?
We put the question to series director Todd Howard straight: is The Elder Scrolls 6 set in Hammerfell?
'I'm not going to answer where it's set!' he laughed. You can read more in our interview with Howard himself, but there are a few other helpful things we learned from talking to him:
When is the Elder Scrolls 6 releasing?
If there's one thing we do know, it's that The Elder Scrolls 6 will not be releasing any time soon.
The Bethesda Game Studios director has made it clear that the order of release for Bethesda Game Studios games is Fallout 76 in late 2018, and then their new sci-fi game, Starfield, for 'next-gen' consoles, and then The Elder Scrolls 6.
So, donning our sort-of-informed speculation hats for one last time, here's what we can infer from that:
Sorry, fellow TES nerds! At least there's that mobile game..
For more guides like this on big, upcoming games and hardware on Eurogamer, we've pages on:
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Bbb cf initrenderer error. ESO pretty much confirmed that the Tsaesci is humanoid by revealing the 'Tsaesci' motif, not 'Akavir', not 'Blade', but specificly 'Tsaesci'. It looks similar to Kung lao/Raiden from MK and the standard samurai outfit for heavy set. The clothes are designed at least for a human body.
They may not be humans but there is a huge possibility that they could look like one but with golden scales and even maybe snake eyes.
Remember the Sky Haven Temple Face at the entrance? There is a huge possibility that it could be a Tsaesci Face.
Sky Haven Temple and Cloud Ruler Temple are designed for people that have legs (bi-pedal or not) because of the heavy use of 'Stairs' in Akaviri Architecture.
And of course the Alduin's Wall, Akaviri/Blades soldiers have legs.
Does the lore state that the Tsaesci have no legs and slithers like a snake?
Source: https://eso.mmo-fashion.com/tsaesci/https://m.imgur.com/gallery/tT4mx
Edit / Extension:
The Tsaesci stayed in Tamriel for a considerable amount of time but there are little to no markings of their culture except for their temples. The Akaviri Architecture has heavy very use of 'stairs' which cater beings with legs. If they had Snake body, They would at least crated some kind of ramp at least along side the stairs. It's their temple it should cater to them (Tsaesci) as a Priority.
Alduin's Wall is a very strong evidence that these tsaesci snake bodies are myth. Not one Snake body was found in that wall and it is unlikely that the Tsaesci not put their image on a very important part of history on their own temple.
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