In each universe, there are humans. Now, they’re not always called humans (for example, the humans within Omega are known as facsians, and humans within Gamma call themselves the unum), and there are small differences between them genetically, but these differences are negligible enough to where it’s simply splitting hairs to classify them more differently than you would with race. The blanket term to refer to Sigma humans, including the facsians, unum, and others, is ‘humanish’.
Now, the question that arises when there are humans in each universe, even in universes that arose from different seeds, is ‘what are the chances that similar things seemed to just happen in similar ways, in unconnected universes?’. The answer to that is one word: trends.
Not only are there humans in each universe, but there’s also an Earth (though not always called Earth), and the human cultures (and even non-human cultures) seem to have a tendency towards coming up with similar languages, mythologies, and cultural identities.
Mandarin Chinese, the language, develops over centuries within Alpha. Meanwhile, within Psi, a completely unrelated universe, there’s a completely unrelated culture that develops their own language, which is, for all purposes, a slightly modified version of the language, so close that it could even be considered a dialect. Why?
The tendency for inter-universal trends is poorly understood. Perhaps there’s only so many ways for something to develop, which, when looking over a seemingly-infinite amount of universes and timelines, means that patterns, or what resemble them, invariably begin to crop up. Maybe, when lesser deities are allowed to create universes, they have some kind of bias inadvertently (or purposely) leading their hand. The nature of inter-dimensional trends is a hotly-debated subject, one that gained an almost immediate legion of devoted researchers shortly after the Great Unification occurred.
A human in Sigma has most of the same qualities that you’d expect a human to have. Despite different experiences, different surroundings, and different hurdles to overcome, humans across Sigma have evolved into the same(-ish), squishy hunks of flesh and bone that we’ve grown familiar to.
However, in the Cloud energy-laden megaverse that the humanish have evolved in, some things still come out for a nice surprise. Metahumans are one of such developments.
The term metahuman, much like any other term that’s used as an attempt to generalize things across Sigma’s universes, is one that is not completely agreed upon. For universes such as old Gamma, where a theoretical metahuman would not be seen as out of the ordinary, the term seems unnecessary. For universes such as Alpha and Beta, where metahumanity is minimal, the designation is desired.
As a result, there are different qualifiers for metahuman status, depending on where you go. In every case, though, the status is more just a cultural one than an official one, as there is no real law or mandate regarding whether someone counts as a metahuman or not.
For simplicity sake, the term metahuman is given to those who exhibit abilities and traits that are not naturally attainable by humans within Alpha. If someone somehow gained the ability to shoot lasers from their eyes, for example, they’d be seen as a metahuman.
Before the Great Unification, every universe had some amount of metahumans, but the amount varied immensely between them. Alpha and Beta, for example, had a very low amount of metahumans, and, most of the time, they were either denounced as fakes, phonies, con artists, magicians, psychics, witches, delusionals, false prophets, and so on and so forth, or treated as mystics, shamans, and actual messiahs. And a lot of them had a funny tendency to disappear in the night, never to be seen again. Just how many metahumans actually existed in these universes, though, is unknown, as there were plenty of fake metahumans, too. Old Gamma, on the other hand, had those with the Arts, and Epsilon, while eternally strange, had a shockingly low amount of what can be considered legitimate metahumans.
After the Great Unification, though, a phenomenon began to occur in each universe: the Metahuman Surge. Different universes experienced the Surge in different ways, but in each universe, there was a sudden increase in the occurrence of metahumans. Sure, there were metahumans moving from one universe to another, but there was also an unexplained spike in metahumans being born, people gaining metahuman abilities, and metahumans seemingly coming out of the woodwork.
In some universes, there haven’t really huge increases. In Alpha and Beta, for example, even after the Surge began, they’ve only seen a tiny trickle of new metahuman recordings. Meanwhile, in Epsilon, there’s been an abnormally large explosion in metahumans, although, to be honest, the people of Epsilon didn’t really notice.
The study of metahumanity is one of many fields that have been labeled ‘Sigma fields’: new branches of study and research that were essentially ‘created’ by the Great Unification. Out of the various Sigma fields, the study of metahumanity is one of the more popular ones, because, c’mon, who doesn’t wanna study people who can shoot lightning bolts out of their hands?
The reaction towards metahumans by Sigma as a whole has been mixed. Universes like Epsilon and old Gamma were fairly apathetic towards the Metahuman Surge, since it was all old news to them anyway. Other universes, like Alpha and Beta, have been understandably cautious about metahumans, seeing them as destructive at best, and capable of causing great harm in the hands of those who might want to use them for their own purposes. In fact, utilizing metahumans in warfare has already seen great success within Sigma, with the Sunlighters in Beta possessing in their congregation a metahuman that has been referred to as a ‘Nationbreaker’, due to his sheer, unparalleled power.
After the Great Unification, Gamma was a very popular destination for inter-universal tourists. The wild culture divergences, the small and secluded nature of the villages and town ‘states’, the fantastical Arts...it was all so interesting, to many people from all over Sigma. Then Dog came, and ruined it all.
Dog is the name taken by the ‘daughter’ and acolyte of the High Dark Lord Stephen L. Clawblade, and, while there’s plenty to say about her, she (and her ‘father’) deserve a post of their very own. For now, all that needs to be said is that Dog is someone with grand aspirations. One of which is, simply put, become a god.
Now, in Dog’s own unstable mind, one of the more basic (relatively speaking, of course) things that a god can do is create a universe! That’s one of the hallmarks of being a deity, right? Lording over your own domain. One that you created. It’s all about creation.
However, Dog didn’t have the ability to just create a universe. And, further compounding her irritation was the reality of the Great Unification, which effectively halted the creation of any more universes that didn’t branch off of the ten chosen universes.
Though this didn’t deter Dog. No, where Dog lacked in actual godliness, she made up for in resourcefulness, as well as an intimate knowledge of metacontext, or how existence worked, thanks to her ‘father’. Instead of creating a universe from scratch, Dog could instead simply trigger a sort of ‘restart’ in a universe, which would allow her to help ‘guide’ the recreation. And all of this could be done, with the help of just a little bit of Cloud energy.
So, in much the same fashion that the Great Unification occurred under, Dog managed to pull off something that resembled her plan. Really, who was going to nitpick over it?
Through just a random choice, Gamma was the universe picked for the restart, a process that caused the entire universe to convert back into Cloud energy, leaving an empty void behind. The process took about an hour and a half, time enough to allow some people from Gamma to escape, but most of the Gamma humans ended up perishing in the erasure. These people were not even necessarily killed, their entire beings were erased from existence. Billions of humans, and an inconceivable amount of beings that lived elsewhere in the universe, denied an entrance to the Aether. Gone.
However, Dog didn’t care. She was more focused on ‘her’ new universe, and she was giddy with excitement as she planted her own ‘seeds’ into the brand new, empty, blank slate that was soon to restart. But, as the universe bloomed anew, a dawning realization soon overtook Dog.
She was unable to go to her brand new universe. The one she had worked so hard to achieve, the one she had erased an entire universe to create anew. Despite her power, she lacked the ability to teleport between universes, and, due to the erasure of the access points between Gamma and other universes, there was functionally no way to access the new Gamma. After all that work, neither Dog nor anyone else could see what the fruits of her labor looked like.
In this new universe, due to both manual influence from a non-deity and the chaotic process of essentially ‘restarting’ a universe, creation ran amok. Time flowed erratically initially, speeding up and slowing down at different points, and the fabric of space would fragment and stitch itself back together, in a repeating, chaotic process that halted and restarted, over and over again.
Eventually, though, this mess of a universe hit a period of fragile stability. And that’s where the Dogverse is now. Although there are still problems with how space and time works, it’s more sparse and localized within the universe now. For now, there isn’t the risk of everything just falling apart, at least, immediately.
In the Dogverse, there is an Earth-like planet, though it differs in many ways than the Earths/Earth-likes of the other universes. Dogverse ‘Earth’, which has no one agreed-upon name, is at least twice as large as the other Earths, and possesses two moons, each teeming with life. Something that distinguishes Dogverse Earth from the other nine universes is the excess of sentient, human-level socio-intelligent life forms that cover it and its two moons. So much so, that there isn’t really a ‘dominant’ being on the three, and there aren’t that many of the unum, the humanish of the Dogverse, across the planet.
To the rest of Sigma, new Gamma is completely unknown. With the access points destroyed, there’s no standard, practical, or safe way to access it, and, for the longest time, everyone had just assumed that it had just disappeared in the erasure. It wasn’t until contact was made by someone from new Gamma that people realized that there was still something going on in Gamma. However, while there is interest in making a connection between Gamma and the rest of Sigma, all attempts have been miserable failures, or, in one instance, an attempted invasion by a race living in Gamma. As of now, there still isn’t really any meaningful communication being made between new Gamma and the rest of Sigma.
Sigma, to put it bluntly, is a mess. A complete, utter mess, but one that proves to be interesting enough to keep around.
At the top of the trainwreck that is Sigma, like all metaverses, there is the Ultima, who refers to theirself as the AM. It's unknown what this acronym truly means, and everyone just sorta makes up their own name for the AM, but the most common name given to the AM is the All Mother. The AM is what Ultima refer to as an empath, which means that they have far more concern with the well-being of the occupants of their metaverse, rather than the standard of objective observation and non-interference that Ultima are expected to hold. More than that, they pick and choose their favorite occupants as well, which is what is often referred to as 'a recipe for total disaster'.
A layer down, yet the main reason for Sigma’s messiness, is the utter catastrophe regarding her Nexus and Anti-Nexus. Originally, there was harmony between the Nexus and the Anti-Nexus. However, the demigod of the Anti-Nexus, who is often referred to as Cain, decided that being forced to live in the Anti-Nexus was a raw deal, and found a way to break out. This caused conflict between them and the demigod of the Nexus, and a fight occurred between the two. This ended with Cain's victory over the other, where Cain consumed the other, and they escaped the Anti-Nexus to reside in the Quarter.
This led to an imbalance between the Nexus and the Anti-Nexus, which caused Cloud metaenergy to begin leaking into the Quarter. As a result, the Quarter is chaotic and unstable, and has been for eons. This could have been fixed early on by the AM, who would merely have to wipe the metaverse and start over, but they held a fondness for their 'problem child' Cain that stopped them from doing so.
For trillions of years, everything continued along. While the effects of Cloud energy leaking into the Fourth changed and shaped the development of the universes, it all managed to not fall apart and blow up spectacularly in the AM’s face, which could be construed as a success. Much as it should be, the different universes were more or less ignorant to the metaverse at large (with one main exception). That was enough to keep the AM satisfied.
Then the Great Unification happened. The Great Unification occurrence requires context, but, for now, it was effectively the result of one very disgruntled person figuring out how to utilize Cloud energy. In a great display of power, this person decided to pare down the amount of universes within the Quarter, from roughly an infinite amount to ten. Additionally, she revealed the existence of the megaverse to everyone within these ten, and linked the universes together through zones that allowed for free teleportation between them.
Thus began what can be considered the current state of Sigma. Ten universes, some similar to one another, and others that are insanely different, linked together, with people who communicate and work together as best as they can. For better, or for worse.
Sigma’s different universes are designated through labels corresponding with the Greek alphabet. The ten are named thus:
Across Sigma, humanish are the dominant species, generally speaking. Only in new Gamma, Lambda (arguably), and Omega is this not true, and both new Gamma and Lambda have unique reasons why. In every other universe, the humanish are the ones in charge. However, this doesn’t mean that there isn’t anything smart enough to resent that fact.
In fact, races that can be described as on the same level as the humanish are very widespread. Alpha has many non-humanish that live in secrecy, Zeta has a few, Lambda had a few develop after the Last War, Nu has quite a few, and Rho has some in the Skylands. However, these do not compare to new Gamma and Lambda, where the humanish are in a small minority, compared to the huge number of other races that live in their respective worlds.
The non-human races of Sigma tend to differ wildly, although there are a few races that resemble others from other universes, due to inter-universal trends at work. Some are friendly to the humanish, some are hostile, but many are apathetic. Some possess giant empires, others are interspersed with other races. It’s not possible to blanket every one of the non-humanish races as you can with the humanish; after all, the humanish are essentially just one single species, with a bunch of subspecies spread across Sigma.
It took a loud outpouring of indignation from these races, as well as the appointment of non-humanish representatives by Zeta and Psi, for the Sigma Council to begin considering them when talking about the beings of Sigma. However, even then, the Council has been dragging its feet as far as representation for the non-humanish aspects of Sigma.
When talking about non-humanish as a whole, they are often separated into different Class designations. Each Class signals the level of development each non-humanish race is at, intellectually, culturally, and socially. However, the Class designation system is often decried by those of non-humanish races, as it’s seen as needlessly segregating, as well as too simplistic and too ‘humanish-centric’, as it is based off humanish metrics. Nonetheless, though, it is the system most frequently used by those in Sigma.
The Class designations are as follows.
Class I “Reaching” is used to describe ‘non-humanish species that are of notable sentience, although do not seem to meet the humanish’. These are species such as chimpanzees, where, while particularly intelligent, are nowhere near humanish levels. Often, basic tool use is observed, as well as basic socialization and organization.
Class II “Loner” is used to describe ‘non-humanish species that meet humanish level sentience, although are deficient in either culture, intellect, and/or socialization’. In a sense, you can meaningfully communicate with a Class II, and it is possible to integrate Class IIs into humanish society, but they do not really have a society or cultural history otherwise. Class IIs are seen as the baseline for ‘humanish-level sentience’, and it signifies that a member of its race is roughly on-par with a member of the humanish.
Class III “Tribal” is used to describe ‘non-humanish species that meet humanish level sentience and possess a basic social structure’. Essentially, a Class III is similar to a combination between Class I and II, where a race at the sentience level of a Class II forms basic groups, such as a tribe. Here, more advanced tool use can be seen, as well as a shared culture between members of the race.
Class IV “Kingdom” is used to describe ‘non-humanish species that meet humanish level sentience, and form larger, more governed societies’. A Class IV race is one that is considered to be one where a group of them are on par with a sovereign state of humanish. At this point, Class designations become less about how intelligent a race is, and more how far their reach is. Class IV races often possess intricate cultural, sociological, and scientific histories.
Class V “Imperial” is used to describe ‘non-humanish species that meet humanish level sentience, and possess large amounts of cultural, sociological, scientific, or political influence of not only their territory, but that of other species as well’. Effectively, Class V races are more than regional powers, but global ones as well.
Class VI “Galactic” is used to describe ‘non-humanish species that meet humanish level sentience, and possess cultural, sociological, scientific, or political influence in territory extending past the planet of their origin’. Class VI races are spacefaring ones, and there are several non-humanish races that meet this designation. However, none of them live on any of the Earth-likes.
Class VII “Universal” is used to describe ‘non-humanish species that meet humanish level sentience, and possess cultural, sociological, scientific, or political influence in territory extending past the universe of their origin’. Class VII is a tricky class, as, in theory, this would represent the current level that the humanish are at now, but the humanish in the different universes were the products of inter-universal trends and alternate timelines. They only found out the existence of one another after the Great Unification. There are no known races that meet this designation, and this one serves as more of a hypothetical class.
The Agency is nothing without the people who work there. Scores of people, enough to handle the load of multiple universes, are employed by the Agency, those who have effectively given up their life to do something greater than anything they might have been doing otherwise. While there are many different positions at the Agency, such as researcher, developer, administrative positions, there is none as iconic as the agent.
The agents make up the Agency’s presence ‘in the field’, normally involved with investigation, field research, conducting missions and operations, capturing, containment, neutralization, anything that the Agency might need to do outside of their facilities. When not undercover in plainclothes, these agents are recognizable through the agent standard: a black suit, black tie, sunglasses, and earpiece. However, agents in higher rankings are less strictly held to the standard, and many of the higher-level agents usually deviate in a slight way, usually wearing a different style of sunglasses than is provided by the Agency.
Agents are trained, skilled, and disciplined, and, in order for them to reach the point of being sent out in the field, they must pass training. As a result, many agents, even a lower ranking one, are dangerous. While agents are expected to possess at least a basic level of proficiency in many skills, agents can ‘specialize’ if they want, which can prove to be a way of letting them stand out from the rest of the agents and prove their worth, meaning better chance at being promoted. If you’re one of the best at infiltration, then you’re going to be the Agency’s go-to for infiltration, after all.
Agents first enter the Agency through the Agency’s ‘talent scouting’, where the Agency looks for people who show true agent potential. This can be highly subjective, and, ultimately, up to the Agency’s scouts, but once someone is selected, they’re put through a process where they are interviewed, and, if they seem appropriate enough, they are given the job offer. Becoming an agent means discarding your former life, eschewing every relationship and person you’ve ever met, ridding yourself of everything you own, and shedding your identity, to be ‘reborn’ as a new agent. If you decline the offer, that’s dealt with easily with some amnesiacs administered, but an acceptation means that you officially become an agent.
Every new agent is provided with a number and a codename. The number represents their ranking as an agent, and their codename is used as a codename is often used for, although many agents have taken to utilizing their codenames as a ‘personal name’ when associating with their coworkers. The codenames are seemingly given at random, and there doesn’t seem to be any meaning, choice, or thought put into them. The main unifier between codenames is that they are often a single word, one that is a noun or a name. Examples of codenames are “Branch”, “Roosevelt”, “Helvetica”, “Conch”, and “B Minor”.
The ranking system of the Agency is done by tiers, which the number assigned to an agent points towards. However, agents with higher numbers than other agents within the same tier aren’t any higher ranked. Agent 34 is not any higher ranked than Agent 74, and neither are ranked any higher than Agent 99. Additionally, there is a set amount of numbers for each rank (barring Agents in Training), and, in order to keep onto your rank, you must prove your worth in your work. If a Veteran Agent doesn’t prove his worth, he risks switching numbers (and ranks) with a regular Agent, the rank below Veteran.
The lowest rankings are the numbers above 10000, which represent Agents in Training. Agents in Training is comprised of newly recruited agents, as well as anyone who was demoted enough to fall back into the Agents in Training pool. Here, Agents in Training are, true to their name, in training, which means that they are typically kept out of field work. However, whenever there aren’t enough agents for missions, or not enough agents with a specific skillset, Agents in Training are the ones pulled out for field work. Additionally, Agents in Training periodically are brought along for field tests, in order to see if they can adequately operate and function when on a mission. If someone stays within this rank for too long a period, they must go under reevaluation, and, if they are deemed not good enough to be an agent, they can enter another occupation under the Agency. If not that, then they get disposed of.
The rank above Agent in Training is the Agent, who makes up the bulk of the actual manpower utilized in the field. The Agents are usually led by their superiors when on missions, and are often not in leadership positions. Most of the footwork and labor that doesn’t require high skill are done by the Agents. Agents make up numbers 1001 to 10000.
Above the Agent is the Veteran Agent, who, through either their skill, presence in the Agency, or both, are chosen to operate in a senior position. The Veteran Agents are typically used to conduct investigation, and often are used as the Agency’s scouts. Veteran Agents are usually paired up, and often are under the command of an Elite Agent, but, occasionally, Veteran Agents are allowed to take up the reigns of leadership. Otherwise, though, they often boss the Agents around. The Veteran Agents make up numbers 101 through 1000.
The Elite Agents are above the Veteran Agents in rank. Elite Agents are usually the ones in charge of operations, and they also handle most solo missions. These agents are often not closely managed, and are frequently left to handle missions in any way they like. Numbers 11 through 100 are reserved for Elite Agents.
The highest-ranking agents within the Agency are within the Top Ten, numbers 1 through 10. These agents often do much less fieldwork than the other agents, and are often in charge of administration of the Agency, but are occasionally selected to do missions that others cannot handle.
Within the Agency, there are rumors that there is an Agent 0, the absolute boss of the Agency, but the Top Ten firmly maintain that these are just rumors, idle gossip that is completely and totally false.
While the Anti-Nexus is the primary source of the Cloud energy spilling into the Quarter, don’t think that the Nexus is clean of seepage. Cloud energy is made up of anti-energy and Nexus energy, it would hardly be considered Cloud energy if the Nexus wasn’t providing at least a little bit. The Nexus only provides a small trickle of energy compared to the Anti-Nexus’ output, but what it does provide is potent.
The Nexus starkly contrasts the chaos of the Anti-Nexus. Whereas the Anti-Nexus is a constantly-shifting, irregular hellscape, the Nexus is tranquil, calm, and still. The Nexus is a black void, an endless expanse resembling space, with a single, inconceivably large ball of energy within the middle of it. Those who have been to the Nexus and lived describe it as having an aura of stillness and peace, one that, although unnatural, instilled within them a sublime sense of tranquility.
However, people aren’t supposed to access the Nexus. The human body reacts poorly in open contact with unfiltered light emanating from the Nexus, and this is where elementals come from.
While it’s a very general, basic way of putting it, it’s fair to say that demons come from the Anti-Nexus. And, in turn, elementals come from the Nexus. However, whereas demons are usually born from the Anti-Nexus, elementals are born from people going into the Nexus. As a result of the exposure to Nexus energy, the human body often mutates savagely, along with anything in, around, or on it, and what results is the elemental.
The name ‘elemental’ is a bit of a misnomer, as, while they do typically possess metahuman-esque abilities, they do not strictly involve any sort of ‘element’, whether chemical or mythological. However, elementals do embody one thing, which their appearance and abilities are often based around. This can be anything, and, if the stars align, one can be a cake elemental or something of that nature, but normally, an elemental embodies a simple, basic concept. Usually, this does involve something like fire, or water, or metal, hence why the name elemental is used.
In a normal metaverse, anything that came from outside the Nexus would instantly disintegrate into raw Cloud energy, and elementals wouldn’t be something to worry about. However, as Sigma is in the state it’s in, this doesn’t always come into play. Entrance into the Nexus shouldn’t even be possible, yet a surprising number of things just so happen to make it in. The process of becoming an elemental is a horrific, mind-warping, metaphysical nightmare, an inconceivably awful process to go through. It twists and changes the victim on a quantum level, and this typically leads to elementals being driven completely mad, or onto a completely different plane of understanding altogether. However, lucid elementals do exist.
Due to their harnessing of the Nexus energy imbued within them, elementals are powerful, extremely so. Whenever they do crop up, they’re seen less as beings, and more forces of nature. An elemental is like a demon, in the fact that their appearances and potential abilities can be wide-ranging, though most elementals are humanoid. As well, the typical elemental features a unique trait: within the elemental lies their vast power, which is dampened by their ‘outer shell’, their body. In most cases, elementals become more and more powerful as they become more damaged, which can lead to catastrophes when dealing with one.
In any normal metaverse, there are four megaverses: the Aether, the Nexus, the Anti-Nexus, and the Quarter. While there is interaction between the four, crucial interaction that helps keep everything in check, they’re still fairly separated off. The Aether is the ‘administration’ area, and the Quarter is where everything typically perceived as existing lies. The Nexus and the Anti-Nexus, while critically important in their creation of Cloud energy, are ‘stowed away’, like a generator in a basement. Unless you’re the Ultima in charge, you shouldn’t be able to access any other megaverse from where you are. This is how it’s supposed to be. This ensures everything runs smoothly, and without crisis.
Naturally, this means Sigma’s got it all turned around.
The Nexus and the Anti-Nexus are supposed to be in a state of balance, equilibrium, that forms the Cloud and ensures that everything can, well, exist. However, for Sigma, the balance is in absolute disarray. The demigod of the Nexus was consumed by the demigod of the Anti-Nexus, who fled to the Quarter, rather than deal with maintaining the Cloud. This led to the primary issue that makes Sigma so unusual, a trickle of Cloud energy into the Quarter, and, by extension, the universes of pre-Sigma (and, after the Great Unification, Sigma).
A big part of the Cloud energy leakage stems from the Anti-Nexus. A constantly-shifting, chaotic, erratic, eclectic, enigmatic, almost sentient landscape, anyone unlucky enough to find themselves there might expect to encounter a place devoid of life, physics, and sense. Geometric impossibilities, optical illusions, repeating patterns, the Anti-Nexus is seemingly a place engineered to be as off-putting and disorienting as possible. Energy from the Anti-Nexus, known as ‘anti-energy’, flows freely into the rest of the metaverse, but especially the Quarter, where it seemingly pools into.
Occasionally, through an alignment of many different factors, variables, and events, the Anti-Nexus focuses itself and spits out something that can often be described as a living, sentient being. This is what is known as a demon. A rude and presumptive name, but it’s the one that stuck.
Demons are hard to generalize, as they can look like pretty much anything, sound like pretty much anything, feel like pretty much anything, and have the potential to do just about everything. However, most demons lack color to them, and possess a monochrome appearance, as if they fell straight out of an old silent film. However, there are exceptions to this rule, with some demons possessing some color. Usually, this color dominates their entire palette, and it’s often a very bad sign, as chromatic demons have a tendency to be absurdly powerful. Though, whether or not you’re dealing with a monochromatic demon or a chromatic one, one should always proceed with absolute, unerring caution.
