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Topic: X-COM Monday Nights Campaign (Read 4486 times) |
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Jenniza
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Jane continued her research on the treatment of Prisoners of War... it was interesting reading...
- No medical experimentation, scientific research, physical mutilation. Only reasonable medical, dental & hospital care were allowed in the POW's best interest. Also, protected at all times from violence, intimidation, insults, public curiosity & reprisals.
- Entitled to respect & honor. There was a passage in there about women being treated equally to men. That their rights were protected fully.
Jane paused a moment and wondered how genders worked among the Sectoids before continuing.
- POW's were allowed the right to exercise within its captivity.
- POW's were entitled to free medical care.
- POW's were to be treated equally.
- POW's weren't required to give any more information than name, military identification information (unit, rank, id), date of birth. Questioning further in a hostile, threatening or unpleasant manner was prohibited. All attempts were to be made to find out their identity and ID cards issued to them (medical attention if necessary). Questioning was to be done in a language that the POW understood.
- Personal items, except those with military applicatioins basically, were to remain with the POW at all times, unless for safekeeping purposes.
- POW's have to be kept out of combat zones or safely evac'ed.
- POW's have to be kept in separate facilities clearly designated from the air PW or PG or something similar.
At this, Jane realized that they needed to crack the language of the Sectoids soon. One day, they'd have several POW Sectoids when the other Sectoids would be attacking the base. If X-COM was going to abide by the Geneva Convention somehow regarding POW's, then the POW's would have to be elsewhere in a clearly delineated place in the Sectoids' language so that the Sectoids knew not to destroy it. It might even go a little towards establishing respect between the two warring sides, even if they didn't have peace.
- Basic nutrients were to be provided on a consistent basis. The POW's were encouraged to assist in working and preparation of such nutrients.
- Clothing and/or the POW's uniforms should be made available to them (appropriate to the climate)... repaired and replaced on a regular basis.
- POW's can have a store to buy ordinary items for daily use, the tariff collected at the disgression of he POW's representative.
- Medical personal and theologians were afforded special status.
- POW's were encouraged to pursue religious, intellectual and physical activities.
- There was some stuff on saluting.
- Apparently, we gotta translate the Geneva Convention stuff into the Sectoid's language and post it publicly for them to be able to read it in their confinement area.
Jane was getting a headache by this point; but, she kept reading.
- It droned on and on about work and money...
- POW's were supposed to be allowed to contact their families, etc, by card, etc. within one week of their capture. POW's are allowed to send and received messages. possibly limited to two letters and four cards monthly... All this unless there's an issue of linguists and censorship.
It just went on and on after that about lots of stuff and Jane just had trouble staying focused. She thumbed through the rest of it. It seemed like a lot of people spent a lot of time on some important issues; but, she just couldn't stay focused on them. She needed something else to do. So she put it aside and went target shooting for awhile.
Jane thanked Catalina, "I think you saved the Sectoid's life. The doctors seemed to like your advice. Great job, Catalina."
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| « Last Edit: on: May 14, 2008, 8:38PM » |
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Boomer
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Doctor Baron carefully considered Jane's question. He thought about human behavior, how far humans would strive to survive. And how little they knew about the aliens behavoir pattern.
"I'd say try to match the same pattern that of treatment they would give us. The only problem is that they seem to have no interest in keeping prisoners. But I keep wondering if that's always been the case. I sent a email to the counselor asking if there has ever been documented proof of humans captured than release by aliens. If there are such cases, I'd like to see what they had said about their treatment from the aliens."
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Jenniza
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While Jane did her target practicing, she thought about what everyone had said... what had transpired over the day... what she read about... various people she'd heard about from FOAA (mostly unsubstansiated)... and just things in general from herexperiences at X-COM... it made her head spin. She took her medicine for dizziness.
It was not her intention to become a treehugger nor a warmonger... she simply wanted to understand what were the issues if POW status were put into effect. It was X-COM's job to deal with the aliens, and this might be one aspect of their job. She simply wanted to be ready if things got complicated suddenly.
Jane had been target practicing for about an hour she realized. She figured she should grab a hot shower, a meal and some rest perhaps.
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Lazybones
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Each of you gets a personal e-mail message from Joan Beauvois.
* * * * *
I hope this missive finds you well. The last mission was a rough one, I heard. I know that the whole X-COM team is doing all that it can to support you.
The recent declaration from Agent Drake is upsetting to everyone, but I urge calm. There are political issues behind this order that make for a very delicate situation. In the month that X-COM has been operational, there have been seventeen alien incursions worldwide. Our encounters with the Sectoid race have been the only ones that have actually resulted in the capture of alien specimens and technology. But despite those successes, a number of our coalition partners have begun to doubt the wisdom of spending a great deal of money and other resources on our organization, when the results have been so localized, and have not helped to protect the rest of the world.
Director Garret is trying to quickly scale up X-COM operations, but we are under multiple constraints of funding, time, staffing, and support. Do not share this around, but we are currently engaged in high-level meetings with the government of France to establish a second X-COM base that can provide coverage of the Eureopean theatre of operations. It is likely that I will be absent for some time to deal with these delicate negotiations.
In my absence, I hope that you will talk to Doctor Baron about any issues or concerns regarding your missions or other issues. Tense times lay ahead for us all, I fear.
Which brings us back to Agent Drake's new directive. In these circumstances, we cannot afford to alienate our primary sponsor and largest contributor, the United States government, and thus Director Garret was forced to comply with the new order, at least for now. Director Garret has asked me to tell you that he will protect X-COM's interests and do his best to guarantee the viability of our mission, going forward.
-JB |
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| « Last Edit: on: May 15, 2008, 12:40AM » |
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Lazybones
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on May 14, 2008, 11:47 PM, Boomer wrote:| I sent a email to the counselor asking if there has ever been documented proof of humans captured than release by aliens. If there are such cases, I'd like to see what they had said about their treatment from the aliens." |
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Joan's response comes a few minutes after her group e-mail to the team. She directs it to Baron but CCs the rest of Alpha.
| There haven't been any incidents of humans returning from alien custody, at least not in the data archives that X-COM can access. However, at least one thousand, two hundred and fifty-three people worldwide are missing from sites that have experienced a possible extraterrestrial incursion, and at least some of those are presumed captured by the aliens. Please don't share that number with anyone outside X-COM. While the tabloids are free with rumors about "alien abductions", if the actual number got out, I fear that a global panic would result. Thus far, world governments have been cooperating to keep a lid on this. It's one of the few things that we can agree upon, these days. -JB |
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Lazybones
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A quick e-mail from Dr. White, sent to Garret with a CC to Alpha Team.
| The alien seems to be stabilizing. Thanks are due to Alpha Team for all their efforts. Will share more info when available. White. |
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| « Last Edit: on: May 15, 2008, 12:41AM » |
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Smart Alec
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Vasily has been a face in the background since the ill-fated mission to the Rockies, healing and trying to keep his aim sharp - but always with an undercurrent of fury just bubbling below the surface. After a long talk in Counselor Beauvais's office, he seemed calmer, more willing to talk to the other folk in and around the X-Com base; even if his eyes would blaze and his fists clench at the talk of tactics.
Things finally boil over after Agent Drake's message, though, and it's not long after the Counselor's urgings to stay calm than Vasily storms into the rec room, his face full of thunder and with a definite bone to pick. Upon finding some members of Alpha Team, he marches up of them, brandishing his X-Phone angrily.
"What is meaning this? 'Security breach'? Is nonsense! Govniuk Garrett, primirenchestvo, I am not... salvage man for American government!"
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| « Last Edit: on: May 15, 2008, 8:59AM » |
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vanya mia
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Sitting with her x-Phone in hand, thumbing backwards and forwards reading new emails as they arrived, Catalina's frown had been deepening gradually with each new piece of information. She only half listened to Jane's news on the alien, raising a hand as a vague acknowledgement.
"Good, for someone maybe, and thanks," she murmured, and then went back to the emails. Eventually a decisive expression settled on her features and she stood up, her posture totally business like with no sign of her usual casual behaviour. She had begun to walk towards the door when Vasily marched through it.
"I couldn't have put it better myself," Catalina replied controlled anger in her voice. "This is totally unacceptable. Our governments acted in good faith in responding to the US call for support and I do not see it being reciprocated." She gestured with the xPhone her expression darkening. "This is an extremely short sighted response. On one hand they deny scientists the chance to develop something that may well prove the most effective way to combat the threat, and on the other they risk international conflict by closing down access to such advanced weaponry and raising the profile of their own country as a potential threat."
"The development of the laser weapons is something that I planned to talk to Director Garrett about at the first opportunity, but was less of a concern while we were all being kept abreast of the result. As the sole representative of the British Government here I cannot accept this without representation. I intend to talk to someone immediately, and I think that both you and I need to speak to our governments."
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| « Last Edit: on: May 15, 2008, 8:02AM » |
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TheBaldMan
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Buzz optimism was always short lived and the multiple failures in decoding the language had depleted the best of his most useful algorithms. But he tossed and turned in his sleep every night since viewing the alien control panel. It had gotten so bad that Cat had threatened to strap him to the bed to keep him still so she could sleep. That unnerved him not just a bit. The woman slept on the other side of the room so he knew his thrashing must be disturbing them all.
He went to bed that night trying to think of anything else but aliens and code; hoping he would not disturb the others. It was all in vain as around midnight he awoke with a start. Images had pulled together in his head and he just knew why he had been unable to crack the language.
He jumped out of bed and flew, not so quietly, out of the room and headed for the computer in the community room. After agent Drake's email he had not dared tamper with the network settings on his x-phone. The thought brought a smile to his face. He pulled up all the pictures everyone had taken of the alien interior focusing on the different views of the control panel he had so voraciously tried to decipher. . . it is not words at all!
"It can't be." he said aloud. His mind sharpened and his fingers flew across the keyboard typing unnaturally fast. "Who would have thought that Google Earth would help in the battle of aliens!" He typed in the information and zoomed to the points he had entered. He clicked back to the images of the alien control panel again somewhat befuddled. Then he looked back to where Google Earth had stopped and stated,"Shasta County, California?! What in the hell is there?" The rural part of northern California did not seem to have anything important, as far as he could determine. But he was certain of one thing. . .he ran to wake up his companions.
Entering the room he yelled, "Hey guys! Guys! It's not language! Its numbers!" He shook the bunk beds, "Its numbers! Numbers guys! Coordinates!" He smiled pleased with himself.
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| « Last Edit: on: May 15, 2008, 10:18PM » |
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Lazybones
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(this can be either immediately after Smart Alec and vanya mia's posts, or in the morning after TheBaldMan's revelation)
The unrest within Alpha Team continues to grow, but at the moment there does not appear to be any outlet for it. Both UN Liaison Garret and Special Agent Drake are absent from the base, and the staff are either unwilling or unable to reveal their current location. E-mails sent to their X-COM addresses remain unopened for now.
Communications with the outside world appear to be closed off for now. When pressed, one of the comm technicians who had been friendly with the field agents confides, "Yeah, we've gotten orders to put a lock on our main feed out. Apparently someone on base hacked the comm system and used it to sent a message out on an unsecured line that had the location of the base embedded in the metadata. The bosses freaked when they learned that. If you want to save your messages in your e-mail outgoing mail folder, we'll get them out as soon as the situation clears up. If I were you, though, I wouldn't put anything in there that you wouldn't mind someone else reading, if you get my drift."
* * * * *
OOC We'll resolve the Garret/Drake issue in-game at the start of the next session. I'll post another update from Dr. Wagner late tomorrow that will include research results and more options. Check back in over the weekend to get up to speed on the base development situation.
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Smart Alec
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Vasily jerks out of bed and into combat-readiness modecst the sound of the shouting, but his expression moves from vacant to murderous when he realises it's just Buzz. He towers over the little man, and for one tense moment it looks as if he intends to punch the hacker out. Slowly, though, the meat of Buzz's statements dawn on Vasily and he looks merely sleepy and puzzled, confusion stealing his temper.
"Huh," he says at length. "You... translate alien numbers?"
For a moment, as Buzz shows Alpha team his findings, it almost seems as if Vasily is impressed.
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Jenniza
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Jane was equally impressed as she awkened and joined the others to look over Buzz's work, "This is top notch stuff, Buzz. That's a great discovery you've made," she smiled at him, half-sleepy still, "So, do you think these are OUR Earthly Lat-Long coordinates for this place you mentioned? Think you can convince Chief Hallorand to use Earth's satellites to get live feeds of what is going on there now?"
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| « Last Edit: on: May 16, 2008, 3:58PM » |
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vanya mia
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After the conversation in the recreation room, and while Vasily vented his anger on anyone nearby, Catalina sat reserved and thoughtful. When he finally stormed out again, she waited half an hour and then sought out the big Russian. Finding Vasily in target practise they held a brief exchange, low volume but with plenty of heated body language on his side and a passive intensity on hers. The conversation ended with heads nodding in agreement.
Returning to the recreation room Catalina tapped an email requesting a meeting with Director Garrett. When there was no reply to the message The email remained unopened the next day, so she put on her most affable manner and wandered into the communications area. Only the sharpest of eyes would have seen the flicker in her blue eyes when she was told of the lockdown. Catalina sighed deeply. It was her friend Patricia's birthday soon, she explained, and hoped that any email would reach her in time.
Later, Catalina found Vasily in his bunk, staring at the ceiling, and alone in the room. Again a short, quietly voiced, conversation took place. With the usual mischievous look on her face Vasily's grunted responses and curt nods seemed no more than his brushing her off in irritation. When interrupted by another member of the team Catalina made her way to her own bunk.
Lying sleepless on her bunk she eventually took out her xPhone and began to type another email.
"Hi Patty
Long while since we spoke. I seem to have been so busy lately. Father and mother are both well, how are your family? Everything here is just great at the moment. I've got a new job that's keeping me busy twenty four hours a day. Seven days a week too, at the moment.
Free time is at a premium so I don't think I'll make it to your party. All I can hope for is seeing you make a fool of yourself on video. Calvin will be sure to post it on YouTube so I'll catch it then! Trudy will be bound to feature somehow though. Tell everyone I'll miss their antics. Emily most of all. Can't wait until I see her latest flame, who'd have thought she'd bag a royal?
Have a wonderful day, Patty, and let your hair down. I'm sure you don't need me to tell you that! Sorry again that I can't make it. Got to go now. Once things calm down we'll get together and go paint the town pink at least.
Lot's of love.
Cat"
She tapped send with a soft sigh, put the xPhone away, and fell into a restless sleep.
As Buzz yelled and shook the bunk Catalina went from sleep to wide awake, lying perfectly still but alert for a moment until she realised what was happening. She slipped out of her bunk, and tensed when it seemed Vasily would blow. A relieved look flitted across her face as Buzz explained and the situation calmed. Her sleep tousled head nodded at Jane's suggestion.
"If they're co-ordinates off earth, then it might take a while to work out what they mean, so checking Earth first makes sense. It's fair that the aliens would use the equator as a latitude baseline, but a long shot thinking that they would use the longitude through Greenwich as one. Either way, though, it can't hurt to look, and if there is nothing going on there then a pass around that entire latitude wouldn't go amiss."
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| « Last Edit: on: May 20, 2008, 7:41AM » |
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Lazybones
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FROM: DR. KIMBERLY WAGNER, X-COM RESEARCH LEAD
TO: MEMBERS, ALPHA TEAM
CC: MICHAEL GARRET, JOAN BEAUVOIS
RE: Update on Current Projects
Work on our Missile Defense system continues, and we hope to have the battery operational within a week.
Workshop 1 has delivered the first production model laser pistol. The weapon has been placed in the Experimental Weapons locker in the alien containment laboratory.
Dr. Sandesh has completed his prototype motion sensor. He says that there are still a few kinks to work out, and the prototype will only function briefly before requiring calibration, but he is eager to see the device field tested. He says that once testing is complete, he will be able to produce more effective versions. You will have to decide how much of our manufacturing capacity to dedicate to this effort.
The Sectoid autopsy has been completed.
With what we have learned from the dead aliens, and the research that we have completed in alien medicine, Doctor White reports that he has been able to complete a sample field kit for advanced medical treatment. This medikit has been placed in the Experimental Weapons locker. If testing is satisfactory, he reports that the medical lab will be able to produce a steady supply of these kits in the future, without draining our other manufacturing resources. Of course, he couldn't resist adding that with a separate medical facility, he could produce them at a faster rate.
Research Priorities (20 points)
- Laser Weapons: Research complete. Laser pistols are under construction.
- Laser Rifle: A more powerful man-portable laser weapon. Research of this system will open up more powerful ship-mountable lasers, and possibly a Laser Defense system for the X-COM base.
- Motion Scanner (2): Research complete. Prototype awaiting field testing.
- Heavy Weapons Platforms (1): currently a low-priority project; no progress to report at this time.
- Alien Medicine (9): Research complete. Prototype field medikit is available for testing.
- Sectoid Autopsy (8 ): Research complete.
- Alien Alloys: Chief Engineer Thelon-Beluca has asked that this project be given priority. She believes that personal armor can be crafted using the alien alloys, once research is complete.
- Alien Handgun: At the moment, these weapons are not available for study.
- Sectoid Prisoner: While the alien language remains elusive, and the prisoner remains uncooperative, we hope that interrogation will yield useful results.
- Alien Navigation: A study of the control systems in the captured UFO may provide us with a better understanding of how the alien ships function.
Manufacturing Priorities (10 points)
- Research Capacity: Research Lab 2 is fully operational. We can expand our research capacity still further, but this will require drilling out new room space.
- Medical Capacity: Dr. White has requested that we separate the sickbay from the research center, and create a separate lab for his team. This would require a significant investment of resources.
- Manufacturing Capacity: given the new discoveries, Chief Thelon has suggested that X-COM could benefit greatly from the construction of a second workshop, especially as more constructable items are researched.
- Base Defense (5): Missile Defense is under construction. Chief Thelon has noted the technical feasibility of creating a laser defense system, once our research into laser weapons technology is sufficiently advanced.
- Laser Pistol (5): Currently under construction.
- Motion Sensor: Additional copies may be constructed once field testing of the prototype is complete.
- Medikit: Doctor White's medical lab can construct a number of these kits each week without compromising our manufacturing capacity. If you wish to dedicate additional resources to the project, the kits can be produced at a faster rate.
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I've put your current expenditure of base capacity "points" in parens on the list above, to help in future decision-making. Also, note that the use of laser weapons involves the porting of a 10-pound powerpack (this is a separate item that you pick up with the pistol). In exchange, you get unlimited shots with the weapon.
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| « Last Edit: on: May 17, 2008, 12:05AM » |
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Jenniza
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Jane looked up from the email and mentioned to the others, “With the laser weapons, motion scanners, alien medicine and sectoid autopsy completed, my opinion is that the next things in order of priority should be the alien alloys and laser rifles; with a little effort placed on the Sectoid prisoner and Alien Navigation. The alien handguns are unavailable and the heavy weapon platforms are low priority still.”
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Jenniza
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It's a tool that any of you can use or not use.
It wasn't meant to suggest anything.
Boomer and I wanted to try and set up something and in so doing so, I realized that I discovered a generic tool that anyone could use at their own leisure... or not use.
mIRC can handle any number of participants (although I don't know if it has a maximum or what the lag is like with a large number)
Anyway, feel free to explore it if you feel like it.
If people ARE interested in a larger group meeting, or a "training" session (live-fire) type thing (for silly fun) we could always load up the D20 Module Good Vs Evil module (army combat vs army combat, you take sides in the conflict as a Hero or General, in various settings: Fantasy, Sci-Fi, Modern, etc) we could always arrange a day & time other than our normal gaming slot.
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| « Last Edit: on: May 17, 2008, 4:08PM » |
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Jenniza
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Jane looked over the email once again and considered, ‘We have two Research labs, producing two discovering a week effectively. More Research Labs would require drilling out new room space. We also have one Manufacturing lab and a second one is requested by Chief Thelon. We are in the midst of constructing the Missile Defense System for HQX and the Laser Pistols. We should continue with those. In the near future, we should talk about building the Med Labs to separate them from the Research Labs among other tasks.”
edit: I stand corrected then.... Thank you LB for the clarifications. I think it was late late late at night and I was probably sick or something. Saw the doctor Thursday, gotta see the specialist Monday morning.
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| « Last Edit: on: May 17, 2008, 10:33PM » |
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