Enigma of Combination

This article is about the mystical artifact. For the sourcebook for the Transformers Roleplaying Game named for it, see The Enigma of Combination{{#switch:{{#sub:The Enigma of Combination|-1}} != .= ?= .

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"A riddle, wrapped in a mystery..."

The Enigma of Combination is one of the artifacts of the Thirteen. Possessed by Nexus Prime, it is not only capable of fostering unity and cooperation of the minds of sentient creatures in its proximity, but also of bestowing one of the greatest abilities known to Cybertronians—that of combination. This ancient tool can instantaneously merge any Cybertronians together into a combiner, enhance the power and mental stability of pre-existing combiners, or integrate new components into pre-existing combiner teams.

They say that the Enigma was made for Nexus Prime. And they say that his purpose—its purpose—the intent that prompted Primus to bring him and it into being... was to inject some fragment of change, of unpredictability, of chaos, into a world that otherwise would be forever ordered.{{#if:|{{{quote2}}}}}{{#if:TermagaxEnigmatic|Termagax{{#if:Enigmatic|, Enigmatic|}}|}}

Fiction

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Aligned continuity family

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The Covenant of Primus

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In ancient times, Nexus Prime wielded the Enigma of Combination, which contained a fraction of his own combinational powers. Much like its owner, the Enigma frequently changed size and shape, making it impossible to predict or keep track of. The Covenant of Primus

Generation 1 continuity family

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2005 IDW continuity

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Hey! Listen!

The Enigma of Combination was created by Solus Prime, sometime before the unification of the Thirteen. Historia The Nothing Man Alpha Trion would come to regard the Enigma, and the other Artifacts of the Primes, as "metaphors made real;" Aphelion by channeling a primal force of the universe. It's Beginning To And Back Again For reasons unknown, Nexus Prime chose to conceal the artifact's physical nature, with even his closest allies believing the "enigma" in question was a puzzle whose solution allowed for combination. The Crucible

During the First Cybertronian Civil War, Nexus Prime and his tribe allied with Onyx Prime, and the pair used the Enigma to create the first Headmasters by combining humanoid Transformers with Onyx's bestial followers. The Mind Bomb The Darklander warrior Galvatron was of the opinion that Onyx only tolerated Nexus due to the fact that the latter owned the Enigma; The Crucible sickened by the "abominations" that the Enigma produced, Galvatron waged a bloody crusade in the name of Cybertronian "purity" and slaughtered the Headmasters to the last 'bot The Mind Bomb before killing Nexus and taking the Enigma. The Crucible

Not shown: Gregorian choir.

In the age that followed, Galvatron would partner with Nova Prime, who, to accomplish his dream of an interstellar "expansion," sought to use combiners as a weapon of conquest. All Good Things Galvatron lied and claimed that Nexus had fled the planet and took the Enigma with him. Alpha Trion could detect the falsehood in Galvatron's words — none had ever known whether or not the Enigma was anything more than a concept, but Galvatron clearly knew it to be a physical object. Realizing that he had accidentally tipped his hand, Galvatron shot the Enigma into space to put it beyond anyone's reach, The Crucible hoping that the Enigma would crash and burn up in a distant star. Now and On Earth

While stories of the Enigma's capabilities survived into the modern era of Cybertron, most Cybertronians dismissed the artifact as a myth. Vs. Different groups of Transformers would infrequently attempt to recreate the "lost art" of combination, but what few successful combiners they produced were brutish and imperfect. All Good Things Before the Dawn The Crucible

After drifting in space for millennia, the Enigma fell to Earth seven to eight million years ago in the region that would one day become [[wikipedia:{{#if:|:}}Mesopotamia|{{#if:||Mesopotamia}}]]. The Crucible ONoffON

Eventually, Onyx Prime — who had fled Cybertron at the conclusion of the First Cybertronian Civil War — became aware that the Enigma still existed in the universe and sent Domitius Major and the crew of the Axalon to find and retrieve it for him though this may have been a ruse so that the Axalon crew could play their role in the ontological paradox that the younger Shockwave had set in motion. Strange Visitors Centurion profile The First Who Was Named Our Finest

When the Axalon failed to return, Onyx sent another one of his servants to Earth in the form of the Titan Master Sovereign. Disguised as a human and extensively conditioned with false memories, Sovereign — who would come to take up the identity of "Garrison Blackrock," — was sent to find the Enigma and summon his master when he did so. Helden

It is unknown how long Sovereign was active on Earth for; as "Blackrock," he claimed that the Enigma was first discovered by primitive humans some six thousand years ago at the intersection of the [[wikipedia:{{#if:|:}}Tigris|{{#if:||Tigris}}]] and [[wikipedia:{{#if:|:}}Euphrates|{{#if:||Euphrates}}]] rivers. Its energies supposedly "combined" the thoughts and ideas of these early tribes, and the ancient warrior Gilgamesh would raise the city of Uruk to protect it. According to Blackrock, Gilgamesh passed the artifact to his children, and, over the centuries, this lineage—from which Blackrock supposedly took his surname — would use the Enigma to unite great minds in times of need, leading to breakthroughs such as the atomic bomb and the internet. ONoffON Owing to Sovereign's jumbled state of mind, the veracity of these statements are unclear. The Dead Come Home, Part 1

What is known is that, sometime prior to 2012, Blackrock came into possession of the Enigma while scouring the earth for Cybertronian artifacts. ONoffON Unaware of his "Sovereign" persona and the original reason why he had been sent to Earth, Helden Blackrock deduced that the artifact was of Cybertronian origin and used it to jumpstart the lucrative Onyx corporation, tapping its quantum source code to develop miraculous new breakthroughs in interlinked software and robotics. Signals, Calls and Marches ONoffON Over the next three years, Blackrock would use it to engineer his army of reverse-engineered Seeker clones into combiners, The Nothing Man translate the Cybertronian language, Lagrange and eventually develop the cutting-edge Onyx Interface: an all-encompassing software suite that connected every piece of Onyx tech to each other through the Enigma source code.Signals, Calls and Marches

Ex-Skywatch agent Spike Witwicky became aware of Blackrock's possession of the Enigma; hoping that the relic would provide a clue as to why the Transformers had constantly interfered with Earth's development, he planned to steal it from the Wanmu warehouse where Blackrock stored his extraterrestrial curios. Vs.

Around 2012, Alpha Trion deduced the location of the Engima and set out to Earth to retrieve it. He left his travelling companion Metroplex in the care of the Camien cityspeaker Windblade and cryptically informed her and her friends that he was hunting for "the holy grail". Burning Bright

"This mailbox is..."

After rescuing Trion from EDC custody, Optimus Prime learned of the Enigma's existence from Alpha Trion and ordered his lieutenant Prowl to search for it while he returned to Cybertron. The Crucible Both Prowl and Galvatron — now leader of the Decepticons — realized that Spike likely had some information about the Enigma's whereabouts, and both attempted to hunt him down. Vs. Galvatron managed to convince his sibling Arcee to temporarily put aside their differences so that they could destroy the Enigma once and for all, but Prowl and the Constructicons allied with Spike and beat them to the punch, using Devastator to attack the Onyx facility. ONoffON

Despite Blackrock's best efforts to put the Enigma beyond his reach, Devastator easily captured the artifact but quickly went berserk at the sight of Spike. When Galvatron's forces arrived to try and seize the Enigma, the enraged Devastator hurled it at Arcee in fury. In the chaos, Galvatron's underling Scoop — in reality, a secret mole for Cybertron's leader Starscream — absconded with the Enigma and flew off to deliver the artifact to his boss, The Obliterati who was hoping to obtain a combiner of his own. The World of Tomorrow Galvatron grimly predicted that this would soon mean the end of Cybertronian society. The Obliterati

Having recovered the comatose body of Superion, Starscream recruited Wheeljack to use the Enigma to rebuild the combiner, drafting Powerglide and Alpha Bravo to serve as replacement team members. The World of Tomorrow As first contact with the Cybertronian colony world of Caminus approached, Starscream devised a plan to win the adoration of the Camiens by first using the Enigma to recreate Menasor as an out-of-control monster; when Swindle and Menasor attacked Caminus, the eponymous Titan detected the Enigma's energy within the rogue combiner and tried to alert his cityspeakers, but they were unable to properly interpret his warnings before Superion arrived to save the day. The Sum and Its Parts

Starscream used the Enigma to reinvigorate the Aerialbots after Devastator began attacking Caminus's spacebridge, but after realizing that Superion couldn't do it alone, he used the Enigma on a group of bystanders to create Defensor. Mistakes and Mayhem With Devastator defeated, Starscream sought to turn Devastator's power to his advantage and did so by using the Enigma on Scoop, turning him into a new leg for Devastator while ensuring that his devotion to the "Chosen One" meant that Devastator would obey Starscream's orders. Shortly afterwards, Rattrap, acting on Prowl's orders, was able to steal the Enigma and deliver it to the captive Autobot, who used it on himself, Optimus, and some other Autobots to create Optimus Maximus. You, Me, and the Universe

At the conclusion of the "Combiner War", the newly formed Council of Worlds put the Enigma under Badgeless security so that nobody could abuse its power. Not long afterwards, however, Arcee stole it with the intent to destroy it: she wanted to be ensure that Starscream didn't turn people into combiners against their will. Windblade and Chromia gave chase into the Rust Sea where the Camien Torchbearers, who saw destroying a Primal relic as blasphemy, intervened to help Windblade and inadvertently became a combiner, Victorion, themselves! Eventually Windblade managed to convince Arcee to return the relic, so as to make sure Starscream had no excuse for military action. An Uneventful Night

"Ones and zeros everywhere! And I thought I saw a two!"

While courting the favor of the five Titan colonies, Starscream used the Enigma as a means to convince the inhabitants of planet Devisiun, the colony of Nexus, to join the Council of Worlds. Windblade vol. 2 #6

On Earth, the Autobots aboard the Ark-7 began investigating the source code behind the Onyx operating system; they discovered that every device utilized a highly adaptable code that could "correct" itself and instantaneously pass those changes along to every other Onyx device on Earth. Blackrock himself was aware of this property, and discovered that he could use the data on his Onyx systems to effectively see into the "souls" of every human on Earth... but received his first hint that he himself was not human when he discovered that he couldn't see his own soul. Blackrock was able to use the Onyx source code to take control of the Ark-7 after the Autobots brought one of his devices onto their ship, and granted him the ability to shut down most of the ship's systems. The Nothing Man

If you liked it, then you should have put a ring on it.

By the time that Blackrock had been fully unmasked as a Cybertronian imposter, Optimus Prime led a team to storm Galvatron's underwater base and Galvatron revealed the full extent of the Enigma's power. With billions of interlinked Onyx devices scattered across Earth, their combined power created a gigantic Enigma of Combination, and a force that that Galvatron could control to his own benefit. He did just that, first breaking Victorion apart and then mish-mashing some of the combatants together to create Galvatronus and Sky Reign. It's Beginning To And Back Again

The power of the Enigma was resisted by Superion, who hadn't been created through its energies, and he ultimately found a way to nullify its power. By hacking into the Onyx Interface, copying part of its workings into his neocortex, and splitting into the Aerialbots as he did so, he "erased" a vital part of the code, nullifying the power of the Earth-Enigma so long as he never reformed. As Above... So Below

Determined to discover the information that the brain-dead Swindle had on Starscream, Onslaught ordered Rattrap to bring him the Enigma so the Combaticons could see inside Swindle's mind, Things We Said We'd Never Do uniting the five into the destructive Bruticus. The Line Between Us In the aftermath, Ironhide demanded that Starscream turn over the Enigma to him, noting it had wandered off too many times to cause mayhem. Starscream was hesitant about parting with his most powerful weapon but the conversation was interrupted before the two could continue. Ping

When Unicron arrived at Cybertron, a desperate Soundwave sought out the Enigma and proposed combining the entirety of Cybertron's population with their planet to fight off the Chaos Bringer. Jetfire overruled the idea however, noting that, even with the full might of the Enigma's mass-displacement abilities, the result would be too small to properly fight off their foe. Our Finest

When Cybertron was evacuated, Road's End Soundwave brought the Enigma with him to Earth. As part of the plan to defeat Unicron, Superion reformed, the Earth Enigma's energies surging throughout the planet once again, which Soundwave used in concert with the physical Enigma to make contact with the Afterspark. Via Stardrive, the spirits of the dead were psychically linked to Optimus Prime in infraspace allowing him to make peace with Unicron's creator. As a side-effect, the energies of the Enigmas repaired the badly damaged Victorion, with Slide functioning as the combiner's new leg. The strain of the act proved too much for both Soundwave and the physical Enigma, however, and both crumbled into dust. Ceremony

Ask Vector Prime

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When asked if the Infinite Combinatoric and the Enigma of Combination were connected, Vector Prime cryptically asked the questioner if there was "a connection between Jupiter and Odin and Ahura Mazda and Zeus and Marduk". Ask Vector Prime 16/7/2015

Prime Wars Trilogy marketing material

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Ratchet was exposed to an "ancient artifact", giving him the power to combine. Customization class G1 Ratchet bio

Prime Wars Trilogy cartoons

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Created eons ago by Solus Prime, the Enigma of Combination was responsible for the creation of many new Combiners on Cybertron during the later years of the Great War, leading to the Combiner Wars that followed. The Council of Worlds came into possession of the Enigma and considered using it to stem the conflict, either by creating more Combiners or destroying the existing ones. The Council Windblade, Optimus Prime and Megatron each learned of this and formed an alliance to stop the council's plans. The Fall The Duel Unforgotten As the council debated using the Enigma to control the Combiners, Optimus's team arrived and attacked, followed shortly thereafter by Devastator. Homecoming Devastator attempted to claim the Enigma for himself, battling the others and the newly arrived Victorion for it. With seemingly no choice left, the Council ordered Starscream to use the Enigma to take control of the combatants. A War of Giants Instead, he used it to merge himself with Devastator, Victorion, and the bodies of Computron and Menasor, becoming an unstable super-Combiner. Darkest Hour Upon Starscream's defeat, Megatron retrieved the Enigma and gave it to Windblade, who opted to leave it in Victorion's possession, claiming it rightfully belonged to the Combiners. Destruction's Dawn

While leaving Metroplex City, Optimus received a vision of the Enigma of Combination from the Matrix of Leadership, leaving him to ponder things to come. The Fight Begins To combat the attacking Trypticon, Victorion used the Enigma to merge with Computron, Devastator and Menasor, becoming a super-Combiner. Desperate Actions Ultimately, they were forced to separate again after taking too much damage from Trypticon. In Good Hands Sensing the Enigma in her possession, Trypticon swallowed Victorion and absorbed the Enigma's power, giving him immense strength and new abilities, such as the power to control Combiners. Consumed When Trypticon attempted to do the same with the Matrix, it rejected him, forcing him to release it and everything else he had swallowed, including the Enigma. Before Victorion could reclaim it, however, Megatronus appeared and surrounded them with a barrier of flame. After killing Optimus, Megatronus took the Enigma and Matrix for his own and departed in search of the Requiem Blaster. All Things Must Pass

As Megatron's group searched for the Blaster in Primal Swamp, they ran afoul of Predaking, who demanded the Enigma from Victorion and attacked when she failed to produce it. Volcanicus Believing it would help him survive the apocalypse, it took Megatron himself pointing the Requiem Blaster at his face to convince him Victorion didn't have it, though the former Decepticon leader promised they would inform him if they found it. Primal Elsewhere, in the Well of Sparks, Megatronus installed the Enigma and the Matrix into an unknown device. Without Warning Megatron eventually realized that Megatronus's plan was to use the Enigma to merge the Matrix and the Blaster into a single all-powerful weapon. Consequences Returning to the Well of Sparks, Megatronus installed the Blaster into his doomsday weapon and began siphoning the life force from every Transformer's spark. Perceptor attempted to remove the Enigma and the other relics, but his efforts proved unsuccessful as Solus Prime began to return. Collision Course A concentrated attack by Optimus Primal, Grimlock and Windblade led to the Enigma and Blaster finally being released from the machine. Megatronus attempted to grab them, but was tackled by the heroes. Megatronus Unleashed Predaking arrived soon after, still seeking the Enigma, but was quickly and violently dispatched by Megatronus. In the battle's aftermath, Perceptor took possession of the Enigma, studying and protecting it in his lab. Saga's End

2019 IDW continuity

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One of the Artifacts of the Primes, Light/Star the Enigma of Combination was said to be made for Nexus Prime, an extension of his Primus given function to introduce necessary chaos into Cybertronian society to bring about change and prevent stagnation. Enigmatic When the Enigma came into proximity to a group of Cybertronians who were united in a purpose, it fostered their feelings of cooperation before allowing for physical combination. In days long past, a group of Cybertronians used the Enigma to turn themselves into a combiner. Lacking any unity or common goal however, their combined form was an uncontrollable savage, governed only by the basest impulses of its components, rampaging across Cybertron before being felled at Rivets Field.

Following the War of the Threefold Spark, the Constructicons discovered the Enigma buried beneath Rivets Field, Termagax suspecting it had been buried when the unstable combiner had been defeated, with the visionary pushing the six to become a combiner. Years later, when the Constructicons had been exiled to Mayalx, they reflected on their history with the Enigma, wondering if its code continued to influence their behaviour even now. Constructicons Rising, Part 1 Subsequently, the Enigma was entrusted to Termagax's care. Sea of Rust I

Hopefully they don't combine into a Worm That Walks.

When the Constructicons were goaded by the Insecticons to turn their combined form on Mayalx, Mixmaster wondered if they could do so without the Enigma, only for Hook to point out that they'd only needed it the first time they combined, opining that all it had done was impart the code for combination onto them. Constructicons Rising, Part 4

After Megatron conquered Iacon, Starscream attempted to barter information on the Enigma to the Decepticon leader. After Soundwave engaged in aggressive negotiations, Awakenings Starscream revealed that the Enigma was in Termagax's care, Megatron dispatching the Seekers to find his mentor. Sea of Rust I When word of the hunt eventually trickled down to the lower ranks, who drunkenly discussed it at Swindle's, Bumblebee convinced Swindle to ensure word of the Enigma and the hunt reached Optimus Prime. Swindle's II

Off in space, the amoral Thunderwing and Airachnid conspired to forge their own versions of the Artifacts of the Primes aboard the colony of Hexagon. The Enigma's powers were replicated by Airachid's Combination Core which fused Scattershot and his team into Computron. Light/Star

When a Seeker patrol and Landmine both found Termagax, they respectively called in the Insecticon swarm and the Autobots to House in the Sea of Rust. Sea of Rust I As fighting consumed the area, Termagax prepared to eject the Enigma away from anyone before Skywarp simply teleported into House and claimed the artifact. As he monologued about this victory, Jumpstream teleported in to steal it, leading to a teleport duel before the Enigma fell into Skytread's hands. It was then that the landscape caved in, sending Skytread and the Enigma into the rust. Though Skytread was quickly devoured by the rust worms, Termagax was confident that the Enigma had survived, with the Autobots worryingly noting that Nova Storm, if she was still alive, was likely capable of retrieving it. Enigmatic

Cyberverse cartoon

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The artifact of Nexus Prime, the Enigma of Combination was buried with its master when he passed. The artifact passed into legend, though records of its abilities were preserved in Witwiki. When Grimlock and Arcee grave-robbed the Tomb of Nexus Prime, the Enigma was among the treasures they stole, only to be left in their shuttle when they returned to Cybertron to find it time locked by the Mercenaries. When Grimlock used the shuttle to evacuate himself and his newly formed Dinobots, the vessel being shaken about activated the Enigma, which combined the five into Volcanicus. The Immobilizers

EarthSpark cartoon

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Games

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Transformers: Earth Wars

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Angry Birds Transformers

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Transformers Roleplaying Game

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Traditional Cybertronian folklore holds that the Enigma of Combination was passed from Primus to Nexus Prime in ancient times; religious texts such as the Covenant of Primus sometimes offered contradictory explanations regarding its origins, and some Transformers believe that the Enigma was instead created by Solus Prime.

The Enigma has no set physical appearance; at different times, it has manifested as an orb, a chalice, a staff, and various other geometric shapes. The Enigma contained the concentrated essence of cooperation in the same way that the Matrix of Leadership held the accumulated wisdom and valor of ages past; merely being exposed to its energies can spontaneously reconfigure the transformation cogs of Cybertronians into "C-State" cogs that allow them to combine with others. The Enigma of Combination

Toys

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Combiner Wars

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  • Autobot Ratchet (2016)
  • Known designers: Myu{{#if: |, {{{2}}}}}
Class participants who finished creating their Ratchet toy in-class were given an exclusive Enigma of Combination accessory. As with the previous year's Covenant of Primus, it was handcrafted by Myu who offered the accessory to class participants, but without any official Hasbro endorsements.
This accessory can be held by any toy with 5mm ports; more interestingly, it can be used with the Combiner Wars Optimus Prime toy, plugging into the combined form's chest plate. Naturally, this means that, if you so desire, you can give the Enigma to Menasor, or worse, Grand Scourge... but that would be evil, and you'll have to spend the rest of your life living with the knowledge that you've disgraced the legacy of the Thirteen to achieve your own twisted, selfish ends.


Power of the Primes

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Each Power of the Primes Voyager Class figure comes with an Enigma of Combination. These are shaped like Titan Masters and Prime Masters, but are single-mold pieces and therefore can't transform into a robot or provide neck articulation if used as a head. They can interact with the Voyager Class figures by either attaching to their Prime Armor or attaching to their combined mode chest (excluding Inferno). They could also attach to Deluxe Class figures' Prime Armor, Leader Class figures' Matrix frames or the head sockets of Titans Return figures.
Each of the Enigmas has a different sculpt and color scheme, excluding Inferno's and Hun-Gurrr's, which share the same mold. Grimlock's "Dinobot Enigma" is the only one modeled after the artifact's standard design in fiction.


Age of the Primes

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  • The Thirteen Nexus Prime (Voyager Class, 2026)
Age of the Primes Nexus Prime includes a version of the Enigma of Combination branded with his personal sigil. While it nominally stores underneath his nosecone, it can also be hand-held (or mounted on whatever 5 mm post-hole you feel like).

Notes

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  • When listing a handful of the artifacts of the Primes, the novel Exiles mentions the Infinite Combinatoric. Given the abilities its name implies, this might have been an early name for the Enigma. It wouldn't be the only point of confusing discontinuity between artifacts in Exiles.
  • Some combiners created or enhanced by the Enigma display unusual powers: Superion was able to split his body apart at will and swap legs into arms almost instantaneously, while Defensor was able to detach entire limbs and use them as rocket-propelled projectiles.
  • Blackrock mentions that the Enigma can tap into the "primal force" of the universe to alter the mass of any given target, providing a tongue-in-cheek explanation for why combiners tend to be several times the size of their components.

Foreign names

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  • Japanese: Enigma (エニグマ Eniguma)

References

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<references />
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