title: Boys Like Girls

text: While the online community crowned Boys Like Girls "2006's Fall Out Boy" (in reference to the pop punk band's commercial success with 2005's "From Under the Cork Tree"), album sales were less convincing. Despite promotional front page features (such as Spin's "Artist of the Day" or Absolutepunk.net's "Featured Band" and "Absolute Exclusive: Album Leak"), "Boys Like Girls" scanned a mere 1,472 units within its first week of sales, thus failing to chart the "Billboard" 200. However, continuous touring and promoting helped gaining the record a No. 179 entry into the chart in April 2007. It continued to gain popularity as the single, "The Great Escape", climbed the charts and eventually peaked at No. 55 in August 2007. After nearly falling off the "Billboard" 200, the re-release of the single "Hero/Heroine" jumped the album back up to No. 61 and was certified Gold shortly after.


title: Dark Cloud

text: Uniquely combining the mechanisms of action role-playing games with elements of city-building games, "Dark Cloud" tells the story of a group of adventurers who band together to fight against the Dark Genie, who has attacked and destroyed many villages. The main protagonist and player character is Toan, a boy who is given a magical stone called the Atlamillia by Simba, the Fairy King, granting him the power to rebuild the destroyed lands.


title: Dark Cloud

text: "Dark Cloud" was met with mainly positive reviews by critics, who praised its blend of gameplay types, although some criticized its combat as repetitive. The game was a commercial success. Although it initially sold poorly in Japan, it eventually went on to sell over 800,000 copies worldwide. The game was later released via emulation for the PlayStation 4 through the PlayStation Network in December 2015.


title: Dark Cloud

text: "Dark Cloud" is an action role-playing game played from a third-person perspective, in which the player moves through procedurally-generated dungeons, battling monsters and collecting items. On random dungeon levels, the player may have the option of entering a separate "back door" area which contains stronger monsters and rarer treasure. Although the majority of combat involves real time hack and slash, the player will occasionally "Duel" an enemy. In this type of battle, the player must correctly press a sequence of buttons, similar to a quick time event. Whilst in dungeons, the player has both a health meter and a thirst meter. The thirst meter gradually decreases over time, and when fully depleted, it causes the health meter to begin to decrease. To prevent the thirst meter from depleting, the player must drink water or step into one of the pools found in many dungeon levels.


title: Dark Cloud

text: A major component of "Dark Cloud" gameplay involves special items called "Atla" which are used to rebuild the world outside the dungeons. Atla, which are present in most dungeon levels, are large spherical objects which can be retrieved by Toan only. When Atla are removed from the dungeon, they transform into pieces of the world (trees, houses, villagers, etc.). These pieces must then be reassembled in "Georama mode"; a gameplay mode similar to city-building games, in which the player can arrange the pieces onto the landscape. After villagers have been placed, the player can speak to them to discover their wishes for rebuilding the village, regarding both what they need for their own house to be rebuilt completely, and where they wish their house to be placed. The player's progress in terms of collecting Atla, rebuilding the village and fulfilling the villagers' wishes are recorded as percentages. When all three reach 100%, the village is complete, although it is not necessary for the player to reach 100% in all three to be able to move on to the next set of dungeons and the next village; the player must only acquire 100% in collection and rebuilding to unlock the next village. Completing 100% of the villagers' wishes is not a requirement, although if the player does reach 100%, they are awarded a bonus item/ability.


title: Dark Cloud

text: Unlike most action role-playing games, instead of the characters leveling up, their weapons do. Weapons attain "absorption points" with each kill. Once a certain number of points has been reached, the weapon can be leveled up. However, weapons wear out over time, and it is necessary to repair them in order to prevent them from breaking. With the exception of each characters' starting weapon, a broken weapon is immediately removed from the player's inventory and cannot be retrieved or repaired. To upgrade a weapon, the player can attach stat-increasing items (attack power, speed, ability to kill different types of monsters, elemental attributes, etc.), but a single weapon can only carry a limited number of attachments. These attachments are absorbed into the weapon when it is leveled up, freeing up space for more attachments. When a weapon reaches level five, it can be transformed into a "SynthSphere", which carries 60% of the weapon's power and attributes. This sphere can then be attached to another weapon, and absorbed into it when it levels up, just like a regular attachment. The characters themselves can only grow stronger with the consumption of particular items, which can increase their health points, water meter and defense.


title: Dark Cloud

text: "Dark Cloud" features six main characters; three melee fighters and three ranged fighters, with each using a different weapon. Each character also has a unique ability that allows them to move through the dungeons; for example, Xiao can jump across chasms that other characters can not.


title: Dark Cloud

text: The game begins as Colonel Flag Gilgister of the Lagoon Empire Army of the East attempts to awaken the Dark Genie, a legendary evil creature, whom Flag wishes to use to control the world. Upon summoning the Genie, Flag orders him to attack the West. However, prior to the attack, Simba, the Fairy King, casts a protective spell around the land, sealing the buildings, objects and people inside magical orbs called "Atla". Due to the power of the Genie's attack, the orbs are scattered.


title: Dark Cloud

text: Meanwhile, Toan, whose home village of Norune has been destroyed, although he survived the attack unhurt, encounters the Fairy King, who gives him a magical stone called the "Atlamillia", and tasks him with finding the scattered Atla and transforming back into its original form. Toan sets about restoring Norune, and in a nearby cave meets a man named Seda, who defeats him in a duel when Toan attempts to protect a nearby cat. As a reward for his kindness, Seda gives Toan a "changing potion", which he uses to transform the cat into a "catgirl" named Xiao, who joins him on his quest. Toan and Xiao soon find Dran, guardian of Norune, who is possessed by the Genie, and who attacks them. They defeat him, releasing him from the Genie's control, and he tells them of the legend of the "Black Demon" that nearly destroyed the world, until it was defeated and imprisoned by the Moon People. He suggests they seek out the Moon People, telling them to visit a sentient tree called Treant in nearby Matataki Village.


title: Dark Cloud

text: In Matataki, Toan and Xiao are joined by a local boy named Goro, and the trio set about rebuilding the village. Treant tells them how to get to the Moon People, and they make their way to Brownboo, a village unaffected by the Genie's attack, and home of the Moon People. Toan asks them if they can seal the Genie again, but they explain they have forgotten how to use magic. The Moon People who live on the Moon can still use magic, and so they decide to head there, using the Moon Ship, which can be activated by the Moon Orb, but they discover the Orb is missing, having been accidentally traded with a batch of Moon Fruits.


title: Dark Cloud

text: The party travel to the town of Queens, which has also been attacked by the Genie. While searching a shipwreck for the Orb, Toan finds a lamp that releases a friendly genie, Ruby, who joins them. They eventually find the Moon Orb, but are unable to summon the Moon Ship. As such, they head to the Sun and Moon Temple in Muska Lacka, where the Moon Ship is located. There, they meet a sand warrior named Ungaga, who joins them and helps them activate the Moon Ship. They travel to the moon city of Yellow Drops, and meet Osmond, a Moon Person who asks for help in collecting the scattered pieces of a giant battle robot called the Sun Giant, which the Moon People believe can destroy the Genie outright. When the Sun Giant is complete, the party and a crew of Moon People travel to Dark Heaven Castle, where the Genie now resides.


title: Dark Cloud

text: They attack and defeat the Genie, only to learn that they were actually fighting a transformed mouse that had absorbed a fraction of the real Genie's powers. The true Dark Genie has possessed Flag, and destroys the Sun Giant. The Genie's power proves too great for Flag's body, and he dies, leaving the Genie without a host. Toan and the crew are rescued by Dran, and the party pursue the Genie into the castle, where they encounter Seda, who tells them he is responsible for the existence of the Genie. He reveals he was King of the East, and was losing a war to the West. He was approached by a dark wizard, who offered him the power to win the war. However, after winning, the dark power remained in his body, and after a tragic loss, it was released in the form of the Genie. Seda learned the only thing strong enough to defeat the Genie was Atlamillia. No Atlamillia would exist for another 400 years, so he opened a portal to the future. He tells Toan the only way to stop the Genie is to prevent his birth in the past, and opens the Gallery of Time to allow the party to travel back to the past. As the Genie attempts to repossess Seda, Seda kills himself.


title: Dark Cloud

text: In the Gallery of Time, the party learn the tragic loss suffered by Seda was the death of Sophia, his fiancée, at the hands of an assassin seeking to kill him. The party are unable to prevent Sophia's death and the subsequent birth of the Genie, but they face the Genie's original form, and are able to defeat it. Toan then expends the Atlamilla's powers to revive Sophia, reuniting her with the Seda of the past, and preventing the birth of the Genie. Upon doing so, the party is returned to its own time, and the Fairy King informs them the Genie is gone, for now.


title: Dark Cloud

text: "Dark Cloud" was the first game from developer Level-5, led by president and CEO Akihiro Hino, who also wrote, produced and designed the game. Development began immediately when the company was founded in October 1998 with a projected development time of two years. When the PlayStation 2 was announced on March 2, 1999, Sony president and CEO Ken Kutaragi used an early demo of "Dark Cloud" to show the capabilities of the platform. The demo showed a magic carpet flying through a valley, and some waterfall effects.


title: Dark Cloud

text: In September 1999, Sony showed an early playable version of the game at the Tokyo Game Show. This version of the game was also shown at a US demonstration at Las Vegas for COMDEX in November 1999 as well in a presentation done by Phil Harrison of Sony. This version featured a character who must return a floating piece of land back to where it originally came from. However, this original location has been usurped by an evil kingdom. Georama mode was a major component of the demo, with both IGN and GameSpot comparing it to "Legend of Mana" "Land Make" system. At E3 in May 2000, a 30% complete playable demo was shown. IGN's Dave Zdyrko praised the graphics, especially the water and lighting effects. The demo was mainly centered in Norune Village, and although it did feature one accessible dungeon, the camerawork for the dungeon portions of the game had yet to be finalized.


title: Dark Cloud

text: The game was announced in 2000. In December, GameSpot previewed the game, calling Toan "Link with an Ali Baba twist." They compared the combat system to "" and the duels to "Shenmue", and then the graphics, water effects and transitions from day to night. IGN wrote that "without fully playing through the game, it's very hard to determine whether or not this title will prove to be revolutionary or just a gimmicky way to show off the real-time rendering powers of the new console."


title: Dark Cloud

text: The English language release of "Dark Cloud" in May 2001 had additional gameplay features, including new weapons and monsters, improved AI, extra duels and an extra dungeon after completing the game, the Demon Shaft; this location does not appear in the Japanese version.


title: Dark Cloud

text: The game's music was composed, arranged, and produced by Tomohito Nishiura. A full forty-six track soundtrack was released by Sony Music Entertainment Visual Works in Japan on January 11, 2001.


title: Dark Cloud

text: An emulated version for the PlayStation 4, available through PlayStation Store, was released in December 2015, with features including 1080p graphical resolution, trophy support, Remote Play, Share Play compatibility and second screen support for PlayStation Vita and PlayStation App.


title: Dark Cloud

text: "Dark Cloud" received "generally favorable reviews," with an aggregate score of 80 out of 100 on Metacritic, based on twenty-seven reviews.


title: Dark Cloud

text: Gameplay was compared by several critics to "", while the weapon system was likened to "Vagrant Story". GameSpot's Shane Satterfield and IGN's David Zdyrko both felt the Georama mode borrowed elements from "ActRaiser". GameSpot, IGN and "Game Informer" Andrew Reiner all praised the game for blending different types of gameplay together successfully. Satterfield argued "no game has blended all these compelling and unrelated ideas together into one highly addictive and surprisingly cohesive experience until now". Zdyrko called the game "a highly-enjoyable and insanely addictive role-playing experience that wouldn't have been able to stand alone with just its story, just its battle system, or any single one of its gameplay elements. The game works because each element aids in the enjoyment of the other parts". Reiner wrote: "The overall design may not be the best, yet you'll be completely engrossed with "Dark Cloud" play. Completists will want to obtain every item and weapon. Action fans will drool over the combat. Sim junkies will admire the town building. A rarity for RPGs, "Dark Cloud" truly does have a little something for everyone".


title: Dark Cloud

text: The battle system received mixed reviews. AllGame's J.C. Barnes found the game's use of elemental attacks awkward: "Rooms can have anywhere from three to five monsters at a time, each having different elemental attributes. This means that gamers will most likely have to kill a monster that's weak against a specific attribute, open the weapon menu, select another attribute for the other monster, close the menu and repeat until all the monsters are defeated". He also found the dungeon crawling aspect somewhat repetitive. "GamePro" called the fighting "monotonous", arguing that the game "doesn't do the basics right".


title: Dark Cloud

text: Reviews of the plot were also mixed. IGN's Dave Zydrko thought the story was "good enough to keep you wanting to find out more". AllGame's J.C. Barnes was less impressed, writing "while there are hints of talent behind some of the story elements, there needs to be more emphasis on creative, original storytelling if "Dark Cloud" is going to become a franchise capable of going head to head with "The Legend of Zelda"". Game Revolution's Johnny Liu called the plot and characters "ho-hum".


title: Dark Cloud

text: Reviews of the graphics were also mixed. AllGame's J.C. Barnes was critical, writing: "Pop in is extremely widespread in dungeons and towns. Also dungeon textures are bland and repetitive". Game Revolution's Johnny Liu wrote: "Graphically, "Dark Cloud" is colorful if a bit bland. It simply looks like a first generation game". On the other hand, "Game Informer" Andrew Reiner wrote that "all of the models, effects, and textures are sumptuous". IGN's Dave Zydrko was more ambivalent: ""Dark Cloud" isn't a bad-looking game by any means. The character models actually look really good, completely with jag-free edges, lots of texture detail and really cool designs [...] What hurts "Dark Cloud" is its background graphics. There's a lot of flickering in the backgrounds, plus clipping problems can be found, there are some instances where you'll see seams in the textures, and the background textures are poorly designed in that they look like floor and wall tiles in the outside environments". GameSpot's Shane Satterfield had similarly mixed views: ""Dark Cloud" graphics can be both stunning and disappointing. All six characters look great, and it's obvious that a great deal of time was taken in crafting their personalities through animation [...] Graphical tricks like real-time shadows, depth blur, and particle effects are prevalent in most settings", but also felt: "By the third stage of each dungeon, things become undeniably monotonous due to constantly reused textures and objects. Other graphical problems include flickering textures and a camera that regularly gets stuck behind objects while your character is locked on to an enemy".


title: Dark Cloud

text: Even reviewers who were critical of certain aspects of the game tended to give positive conclusions. J.C. Barnes wrote: "Despite all of its flaws, the positives of "Dark Cloud" outweigh any negatives". Dave Zydrko wrote: "The whole of the game is definitely much greater than its parts [...] "Dark Cloud" offers a splendid mix of several existing genres and game ideas that when merged together brings forth a delightful and extremely addictive adventure role-playing game that's easily one of the best we've yet seen on PlayStation 2". Shane Satterfield concluded that "this game will handsomely reward those who invest the time to learn the nuances of its weapons system. While it's not the "Zelda" for the PlayStation 2 everyone was hoping for, "Dark Cloud" puts its own significant stamp on the adventure-RPG genre".


title: Dark Cloud

text: Blake Fischer of "Next Generation" rated the game two stars out of five, calling it "not quite "Zelda". Not quite "Actraiser". Not quite fun".


title: Dark Cloud

text: The game initially sold quite poorly, despite new marketing attempts broadly made in the relatively new online market of banner ads. During its debut week in Japan, it entered the charts at number 15, selling only 19,615 units. By the end of 2000, it had sold 35,783 units, making it to the 286th highest selling game of the year, across all systems. In 2001, it sold a further 34,688 units, for a total of 70,471 units. Nevertheless, it proved to have much stronger sales internationally, and ultimately sold over 800,000 units worldwide. By July 2006, "Dark Cloud" had sold 670,000 copies and earned $22 million in the United States. "Next Generation" ranked it as the 95th highest-selling game launched for the PlayStation 2, Xbox or GameCube between January 2000 and July 2006 in that country. Combined sales of the "Dark Cloud" series reached 1 million units in the United States by July 2006. The game has sold over one million copies worldwide by 2021.


title: Ramdas Athawale

text: Ramdas Bandu Athawale () (born 25 December 1959) is an Indian politician and social activist from Maharashtra. He is the president of the Republican Party of India (A), a splinter group of the Republican Party of India and has its roots in the Scheduled Castes Federation led by B. R. Ambedkar. Currently, he is the Minister of State in the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment in Second Modi ministry and represents Maharashtra in Rajya Sabha, the upper house of India's Parliament. Previously he was Lok Sabha MP from Pandharpur.


title: Ramdas Athawale

text: Athawale was born on 25 December 1959 in Agalgaon, Sangli district, Bombay State, which is now Maharashtra. His parents were Bandu Bapu and Honsabai Bandu Athawale. He attended Siddharth College of Law, Mumbai and married to Seema Athawale, on 16 May 1992. He has a son. Ramdas Athawale is a practitioner of Buddhism.


title: Ramdas Athawale

text: Athawale has been editor of a weekly magazine called "Bhumika" and is a founder member of Parivartan Sahitya Mahamandal. He has served as president of Parivartan Kala Mahasangha, the Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar Foundation and the Bauddha Kalawant Academy (Buddhist Artists Academy) and was founder president of Bauddha Dhamma Parishad (Buddhism conference). He played the title role in a Marathi film, "Anyayacha Pratikar", and also had a small role in another Marathi film, "Joshi ki Kamble", as well as roles in Marathi dramas such as "Ekach Pyala".


title: Ramdas Athawale

text: Athwale was inspired by B. R. Ambedkar, the Indian polymath. Following a split in the Dalit Panther movement in 1974, Athawale joined Arun Kamble and Gangadhar Gade in leading a rump in Maharashtra. His involvement with a faction of the Republican Party of India, despite the Panther's general disdain for its leadership, eventually led to an association with the Indian National Congress (INC).


title: Ramdas Athawale

text: Athawale was member of Maharashtra Legislative Council from 1990 to 1996 and was Cabinet Minister for Social Welfare and Transport, Employment Guarantee Scheme and Prohibition Propaganda in the Government of Maharashtra between 1990–95.


title: Ramdas Athawale

text: He represented the Pandharpur constituency of Maharashtra and is the president of the Republican Party of India (Athawale) (RPIA).


title: Ramdas Athawale

text: Athawale represented Mumbai North Central in the 12th Lok Sabha during 1998-99 and was elected to serve a second term in the 13th Lok Sabha of 1999–2004. A third term, in the 14th Lok Sabha, followed from 2004–2009. Considered something of a lightweight in state politics, he has been courted at various times by various parties because of a perception that he might assist in mobilising the scattered Maharashtrian Dalit vote in their favour. He left the Nationalist Congress Party-INC alliance in 2011 after having lost in the 2009 Lok Sabha election, when he contested the reserved Shirdi constituency. This defeat was despite a subsequent report by Social Watch which ranked him as the second-best performing member of the 14th Lok Sabha, based on an analysis of various data points. Athawale led the RPI party, joined the alliance of Shivsena and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in 2011 and contested Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation elections together.


title: Ramdas Athawale

text: In 2014, Athawale was elected to the Rajya Sabha, which is the upper house of parliament. He became Minister of State in the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment on 6 July 2016, working under Thawar Chand Gehlot.


title: Ramdas Athawale

text: Devyani Khobragade was proposed for the role of Personal Secretary to Athawale in July 2016 but the appointment was refused by Gehlot, who saw a conflict of interest because her father, Uttam Khobragade, was the national executive president of the RPI(A).


title: Ramdas Athawale

text: When Athawale established a children's wing of the RPI(A) in September 2017, he appointed his son, then aged 12, to be its leader.


title: Ramdas Athawale

text: In May 2019, Athawale continued his position as Minister of State for Social Justice and Empowerment.


title: Ramdas Athawale

text: In March 2020, a video of Athawale chanting ‘Go Corona!’ at a rally went viral and became a popular meme.


title: Ramdas Athawale

text: In 2015, following attacks on Dalits in the state of Haryana, Athawale said that if the police were to continue turning a blind eye to their plight then special protection squads led by senior police officers should be formed from among members of the community and they should be granted firearms licenses so that they could protect themselves. In December 2017, he suggested that Dalits should renounce Hinduism in favour of Buddhism in order to stop being subject to "atrocities". He also criticised the record of the Hindu-centric BJP and Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) in dealing with issues relating to discrimination of not only Dalits but also other disadvantaged communities in India. In March 2018, echoing remarks he had made soon after becoming Minister of State in 2016 and reacting in particular to recent atrocities against Dalits in Saharanpur, Unnao and Allahabad, Athawale advocated inter-caste marriage as the best way to minimise such events and noted that he had married a Brahmin "to set an example". As he had done in December 2017, he attacked Mayawati, a Dalit former Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh, on this occasion for what he perceived as a lack of action to help Dalits during her four terms in office. He said that this had caused the community to shift their support to the BJP and RPI, while refuting charges that he was a puppet under BJP control.


title: Ramdas Athawale

text: Although described as a Dalit leader, Athawale has caused controversy among Dalits. In January 2018, around 130 people were arrested when some Dalit activists protested against him during a speech.


title: Ramdas Athawale

text: Aside from his involvement in Dalit affairs, Athawale has also advocated reservation for economically disadvantaged upper caste communities. He has said that the government of India should release the caste-based information collected during the 2011 Census of India, which is considered to be a politically sensitive dataset, in order to address inequities in the reservation system across the board. He rejects claims that doing so would lead to an increase in casteism.


title: Ramdas Athawale

text: Athawale has said that reservation quota of 25 percent for Dalits should be introduced to sports, including cricket, following India's defeat in the 2017 ICC Champions Trophy Final against Pakistan, and that the armed forces should also be subject to a quota regime. He has also said that, just as the Lok Sabha has constituencies reserved for members of the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes, so too should the Rajya Sabha and the Union cabinet. In addition, he favours increasing the prevailing 50 per cent quota that exists for government jobs and places at educational institutions to 75 per cent, stressing that this would apply to all castes that are recognised as economically disadvantaged, which includes those categorised at Other Backwards Classes.


title: Magia Record

text: A manga adaptation has been serialized in "Manga Time Kirara Forward" magazine since August 24, 2018, illustrated by Fujino Fuji. A stage play adaptation was also produced in 2018. An anime television series adaptation of the game produced by Shaft aired between January and March 2020. A second season aired between August and September 2021, and a third and final season aired in April 2022.


title: Magia Record

text: Two story arcs has been released for "Magia Record" video game. The first arc consists of two parallel storylines; the Main Story which revolves around Iroha and her dealings with the "uwasa" and the Magius, and the Another Story, a side story of the unfolding events in Kamihama City from the perspective of the main characters of the original "Puella Magi Madoka Magica" anime. The second arc covers events after the resolution of the conflict with the Magius where Iroha deals with the "kimochi", another phenomenon distinct from "uwasa" or the witches.


title: Magia Record

text: A white creature named Kyubey has the power to grant girls any single wish. In exchange for that wish, however, they must become magical girls and fight against creatures known as Witches. A rumor soon begins to spread among magical girls that they can be saved from their duty by going to Kamihama City.


title: Magia Record

text: Iroha Tamaki, a girl who had originally forgotten the wish she made to become a magical girl encounters a smaller Kyubey one day and remembers that she made a wish to cure her younger sister Ui of her illness. Realising that all evidence of Ui's existence has disappeared, Iroha travels to Kamihama City in order to find answers, where she meets with Yachiyo Nanami, a veteran magical girl. Uncertain on how to proceed in finding her sister, Iroha decides to investigate rumors on a hunch that it might give clues to her sister's whereabouts. She learns that these rumors manifest into " uwasa", creatures which resemble witches and also have their own labyrinths. Iroha gradually manages to establish her own group of magical girls which consists of Yachiyo Nanami, Tsuruno Yui, Felicia Mitsuki, Sana Futaba, and herself. However Iroha and her group conflict with the Magius, a mysterious organization of magical girls which advocates for the "salvation" of magical girls and who are bent on protecting the "uwasa". The Magius is led by Alina Gray, Nemu Hiiragi, and Touka Satomi; the latter two of whom were Ui's close friends, but who now no longer have any memories of her.


title: Magia Record

text: With Iroha and her group managing to take down several "uwasa" across Kamihama City, the Magius takes drastic measures. Mifuyu, a senior member and former long-time friend of Yachiyo, orchestrates a plan to convince Iroha's group to join the Magius. She invites Iroha's group to a lecture where they are informed about the true nature of magical girls; that their soul gems are directly linked to their own lives, and that they are fated to become witches themselves. Mifuyu also informs them that Magius created the "doppel" system which essentially circumvents their cruel fate. However this system is only in place in Kamihama City, with the group planning to extend this to the whole world. Iroha disagrees with the group's extreme methods and refuses to join the Magius, but Felicia, Tsuruno, and Sana are brainwashed into joining. Yachiyo, who didn't attend the lecture, but who was long aware of the truth of magical girls, relents after finding out that Iroha's group was essentially dissolved by Mifuyu's actions. Iroha convinces Yachiyo to regain her resolve to help her win back their former comrades.


title: Magia Record

text: The Magius leaders decide to resort to more extreme methods, which involve brainwashing its own members, causing the defection of the disillusioned Mifuyu who covertly dispels Felicia and Sana's brainwashing. Tsuruno is fused to an "uwasa". The brainwashing of Tsuruno with an "uwasa" causes them to indiscriminately lure in and harvest energy from any Non-Magius person it can. Iroha's group manages to reverse Tsuruno's condition and meets up with Mitama Yakumo and makes a plan to gather all of the city's magical girls at her place for their safety.


title: Magia Record

text: Kamihama's magical girls go to the Magius' headquarters, which is inside an "uwasa"'s labyrinth to fight against the group head on. They learn that the Magius plans to lure Walpurgisnacht, an infamous colossal witch, to Kamihama City and have it fight against a creation of its own which the group names "Eve" in order to gather enough energy to expand the doppel system, potentially endangering the city's populace. Iroha learns that Eve and Ui are one and the same, and eventually manages to convince Nemu and Touka of Ui's existence. Alina proceeds to release Eve to Kamihama City as originally planned. Meanwhile, Kamihama's magical girls regroup at the city center to stop both Eve and Walpurgisnacht, but not before the two cause widespread destruction. Iroha successfully reverts Ui back to her normal form and the Walpurgisnacht is finished off by a combined attack by Yachiyo and Iroha.


title: Magia Record

text: The magical girls of Kamihama City forms an alliance called the Kamihama Union. Meanwhile Iroha deals with the "kimochi", a new kind of creature distinct from "uwasa" and witches. The Promise Blood, another group of magical girls from outside the city come to Kamihama to exact their grievances. The remnants of the Magius also regroup as the Neo Magius.


title: Magia Record

text: "Magia Record" is a turn-based tactical RPG that features battles with magical girls on the right side of the screen and witches/familiars on the left side. The player must attack enemies on the left side with magical girls that they have collected and chosen onto their team by choosing three of five attack disks found at the bottom of the screen. There are three types of attacks that the player can use: "Accele", which boosts Magic Points (MP); "Blast", which can target multiple enemies in a row or column; and "Charge", which boosts the impact of the attack following it. Attacks are automatically boosted if all three disks chosen are of the same type of command or are from the same character. After a magical girl attacks three times, the player can use an attack disk associated with that character and drag it to another magical girl on their team to "Connect" and add special effects on the receiving character, such as healing them. Magical girls are also able to use skills (found at the bottom right of the screen) and "Magia" (bottom left of the screen).


title: Magia Record

text: The game's main story is separated by chapters, which are further separated into episodes. Once an episode is completed, the player receives rewards, experience points for each magical girl in the team, and rank points from the battle and can replay the episode as well as move on to the next. If the player loses a battle in an episode, they can continue by using Magia Stones, one of the in-game currencies. One magical girl is automatically put onto a team, but the player can select up to three additional magical girls and a support girl, which can be received from the game's Fate Weave feature. The Fate Weave feature can also be used to gain Memoria. Completing Side Missions will reward the player with materials to enhance their magical girls or currency to purchase said material.


title: Magia Record

text: The game was officially announced at the Shaft 40th anniversary "Madogatari" event in September 2016. The producer of the original anime series, Atsuhiro Iwakami stated, "Since it seems that it will take some more time until the anime's new work, the idea that I want to make a title that "Madoka Magica" is active will work. Ume Aoki, the character designer of the original anime series was also responsible for the game's character designs, in which she designed more than 10 new and original characters for the game, including the main protagonist Iroha Tamaki. The opening animation and magical girl transformation scenes was produced by Shaft. The game is produced by Yusuke Toyama and Masaki Sato.


title: Magia Record

text: "Magia Record" was originally scheduled to be released in May 2017. However, it was pushed back to July and then again to its current release date, August 22, 2017. Aniplex of America produced an English version of "Magia Record" that was released in North America on June 25, 2019. A pre-registration campaign was held for its release, where at least 25,000 people pre-registered for the English release of the game. On August 28, 2020, it was announced that the North American version of the game would be shutting down at the end of the following month. The news was responded to negatively, with refunds for any microtransactions being refused. This was preceded by poor communication among the developers and players, alongside constant banners, which encouraged spending money. The end of service was later delayed to October 30 and a gallery mode update was made available to players who updated the app before the shutdown.


title: Magia Record

text: A manga adaptation based on "Magia Record" illustrated by Fujino Fuji has been serialized in "Manga Time Kirara Forward" magazine since August 24, 2018. Yen Press is publishing the series in English.


title: Magia Record

text: The game also inspired a stage play adaptation that was produced from August 24 to September 9, 2018. The characters were portrayed by the Japanese idol group girl Hiragana Keyakizaka46. The Blu-ray and DVD for the stage adaptation was released on February 27, 2019.


title: Magia Record

text: An anime television series adaptation by Shaft was announced in September 2018 and was originally scheduled to premiere in 2019, but it was delayed, instead airing between January 4 and March 28, 2020 on Tokyo MX, GYT, GTV, BS11, and MBS. The series is directed and written by Doroinu of Gekidan Inu Curry, with Yukihiro Miyamoto serving as assistant director, Junichirō Taniguchi serving as character designer, and Takumi Ozawa composing the series' music. Akiyuki Shinbo serves as animation supervisor. The cast reprise their roles from the game. TrySail performed the series' opening theme song , while ClariS performed the series' ending theme song . Aniplex of America has licensed the series, and began streaming the series on FunimationNow and AnimeLab from January 4, and on Crunchyroll and Hidive from January 11. In Southeast Asia, Plus Media Networks Asia aired a simulcast on Aniplus Asia. The first season ran for 13 episodes, with a second season announced at the end of the first season's final episode. In Italy, the series was simulcast on VVVVID.


title: Magia Record

text: The second season, titled , aired from August 1 to September 26, 2021. ClariS performed the second season's opening theme song , while TrySail performed the second season's ending theme song "Lapis".


title: Magia Record

text: The third and final season, titled , was originally set to premiere at the end of 2021, but was delayed due to production issues. It aired on April 3, 2022, with all four episodes airing back-to-back. ClariS and TrySail performed the third season's ending theme song .


title: Salat al-Istikharah

text: Salat al-Istikhaara (), which translates to Prayer of Seeking Counsel, is a prayer recited by Muslims who are in need of guidance from God Almighty (Allah) when facing a decision in their life. The prayer, known as salah in Arabic is performed in two units of prayer or "raka'ah" followed by the supplication of "Salat al-Istikhaara."


title: Salat al-Istikharah

text: The description of Salat al-Istikhaara which translates to "Prayer of Seeking Counsel" was narrated by the well known disciple of the Islamic prophet Muhammad, Jabir ibn ‘Abd-Allah al-Salami, who said:


title: Salat al-Istikharah

text: "The Messenger of Allah used to teach his companions to seek counsel from Allah (Istikhaara) in all things, just as he used to teach them chapters from the Qur'an. He said:


title: Salat al-Istikharah

text: 'If any one of you is concerned about a decision he has to make or wants to take an action then let him pray two units "raka'ah" of voluntary salah prayer and say:


title: Salat al-Istikharah

text: ""O Allah, I seek Your counsel through Your knowledge and I seek Your assistance through Your might and I ask You from Your immense favour, for verily You alone decree our fate while I do not, and You know while I do not, and You alone possess all knowledge of the Unseen. O Allah, if You know this matter ( mention matter here ) to be good for me in relation to my religion, my life and livelihood and the end of my affairs, my present and future, then decree it for me and facilitate it for me, and then place blessing for me within it, and if You know this affair to be harmful for me concerning my religion, my life and livelihood and the end of my affairs, then remove it from me and remove me from it, and decree for me what is good, wherever it may be, and make me content with it.""


title: Salat al-Istikharah

text: O Allah, I seek Your guidance [in making a choice] by virtue of Your knowledge, and I seek ability by virtue of Your power, and I ask You of Your great bounty. You have power, I have none. And You know, I know not. You are the Knower of hidden things. O Allah, if in Your knowledge, this matter (then it should be mentioned by name) is good for me both in this world and the hereafter, then ordain it for me, make it easy for me, and bless it for me. And if in Your knowledge it is bad for me and for my religion, my livelihood and my affairs (or: for me both in this world and the next), then turn me away from it, [and turn it away from me], and ordain for me the good wherever it may be and make me pleased with it." (Reported by al-Bukhaari, al-Tirmidhi, al-Nisaa'i, Abu Dawood, Ibn Maajah and Ahmad)


title: Salat al-Istikharah

text: One must wash themselves ahead of the "Salat al-Istikharah," in the same manner as one would do when entering into any salah.


title: Salat al-Istikharah

text: "Istikharah is a word which means asking Allah to help one make a choice, meaning choosing the best of two things where one needs to choose one of them."


title: Salat al-Istikharah

text: Istikhaara is done when a decision is to be made in matters which are neither obligatory nor prohibited. So one does not need to seek counsel from Allah for deciding whether he should go for hajj or not. Because if he is financially and physically able to do it then hajj is obligatory and he does not have a choice.


title: Salat al-Istikharah

text: But seeking counsel from Allah ("Istikhaara)" can be done in all kind of other permissible matters where a choice needs to be made such as buying something, taking a job or choosing a spouse etc.


title: Salat al-Istikharah

text: It is recorded in hadith that Muhammad used to teach his disciples to seek counsel from Allah ("Istikhaara)" for every matter just as he used to teach them the Sürah from the Qur'an. In another Hadith the Prophet Muhammad (“May Allah honor him and grant him peace” or “peace and blessings of Allah be upon him”) said:


title: Salat al-Istikharah

text: ""He who seeks counsel from Allah (Istikhaara) will not fail and he who consults and seeks advice from people will not regret"."


title: Salat al-Istikharah

text: It is also essential is that the reader's heart is sincerely rendered humble to God in full reliance and trust:


title: Salat al-Istikharah

text: Allahumma innee astakheeruka bi ilmika wa-astaqdiruka biqudratika wa-as'aluka min fadhlika al-adheem. Fa innaka taqdiru walaa aqdiru. Wa ta'lamu walaa a'lamu wa anta 'alamul ghuyoob. Allahumma in kunta ta'lamu anna haadhal-amra (mention your concern) khayrun liy fiy deeniy wa-ma'aashiy wa-'aaqibati amriy, faqdur hu liy wa-'yassir hu- liy thumma baarik liy feehi. Wa in-kunta ta'lamu anna haadhal amra sharrun liy fiy deeniy wa-ma'aashiy wa-'aaqibati amriy. Fa-srifhu 'annee wa-srifni 'anhu. Wa aqdur lial khayra haythu kaana thumma a-rdhiniy bihee


title: Bak Mei

text: Bak Mei () is said to have been one of the legendary Five Elders — survivors of the destruction of the Shaolin Monastery by the Qing dynasty (1644–1912) — who, according to some accounts, betrayed Shaolin to the imperial government. He shares his name with the South Chinese martial art attributed to him.


title: Bak Mei

text: Bak Mei has been fictionalized in Hong Kong martial arts films such as "Executioners from Shaolin" (1977), "Abbot of Shaolin" (1979), and "Clan of the White Lotus" (1980). Bak Mei as a fictional character is better known in the West as Pai Mei, played by Gordon Liu in the Hollywood action film "" (2004).


title: Bak Mei

text: Accounts of the Five Elders are many and varied, with some versions identifying the traitor as Bak Mei and others as Ma Ning-Yee. In other versions, both elders betray Shaolin, sometimes along with Fung Do-Duk. Still others say that “Bak Mei” was actually a nickname for either Ma Ning-Yee or Fung Do-Duk.


title: Bak Mei

text: The degree to which stories of the Five Elders are based on historical fact remains unverified. Their ubiquity and widespread popularity can be at least partially attributed to Wuxia novels (such as "Wan Nian Qing"), as well as the mythology around anti-Qing organizations such as the Heaven and Earth Society, which were spreading rapidly through China in the early 19th century. Whether justified or not, Bak Mei's traitorous reputation led to animosity between practitioners of his namesake martial art and practitioners of martial arts identified with those whom he is accused of betraying.


title: Bak Mei

text: In the accounts of some Bak Mei practitioners, their founder did not so much betray Shaolin as decline to join their rebellion against the Qing. Other accounts portray Bak Mei as having been banished from Shaolin Temple because he killed several of his fellow monks when he first began practicing his new fighting style. Some Bak Mei practitioners have interpreted this to prove that their founder's style was superior to that of the Shaolin disciples he allegedly killed.


title: Bak Mei

text: According to legend, Bak Mei played an important part in the downfall of Shaolin temples. Manchu conquered China in 1644. Before then, China had been ruled by the Ming Dynasty, which had been weakened by internal corruption and rebellion. The Manchu dynasty became known as the Qing Dynasty. As part of the Manchu campaign to pacify China, they attacked some Buddhist Shaolin Temples. The leader of the Shaolin Temple, Hong Mei (“Red Eyebrows”) died, leaving his legacy to Chi Thien Su, also known as Jee Sin, one of the five Great Kung Fu Masters. According to some stories another such master, Chu Long Tuyen, the monk who would later become Bak Mei, did not accept this. He believed the Ming had become corrupt and Chi Thien Su would still serve them; Bak Mei would rather serve the foreign Qing Dynasty. Then came the attack against the Shaolin Temple at Quanzhou in Fujian province in 1647. Some sources indicate that this temple was actually in Henan, or that the invading forces recruited help from Tibetan warriors in the attack.


title: Bak Mei

text: The Five Elders survived, however, and soon Chi Thien Su would found a second Shaolin Temple at Nine Lotus Mountain, also in Fujian Province. The Five Kung Fu Masters survived the first destruction of the Shaolin Temple by Qing Imperial forces and sought shelter in another temple, Fujian Temple, but the other monks were massacred. After Bak Mei refused to provide his real name for fear of retribution (against his family and students - if they survived), the Abbott of the temple christened the monk “Bak Mei” - White Eyebrow. According to some stories, Bak Mei betrayed the Ming at this point, taking information about their plot against the Manchu to the Manchu Shunzhi Emperor, then returned with information about the Manchu attack plan to the Shaolin. After the temple was destroyed by the Manchu, Bak Mei left the temple to study Taoism. Bak Mei trained an anti-Imperial attack force but following capture of the force by the Imperials, was forced to teach and lead 50,000 Imperial troops in the second destruction of the Shaolin Temple at Henan to prevent those captured with him from being tortured and killed. There, Bak Mei slew the “invincible” Shaolin leader, Chi Thien Su, in single combat by breaking his neck. He claimed he did this to prevent the massacre of the monks in the temple by the troops who followed him.


title: Bak Mei

text: The tale of Bak Mei's death comes in many forms - it is often claimed that he was poisoned, or slain (in a grand battle) by other martial artists. Bak Mei is often portrayed as a traitor, however, it is important to note that Bak Mei's actions are not always consistent with this. Bak Mei's actions were undertaken, even to the destruction of the temple, with the intention of preventing harm to those who had chosen to follow him. It is possible that if Bak Mei had not aided the Imperial forces, his followers would have been tortured to death.


title: Bak Mei

text: During the reign of the Kangxi Emperor (r. 1661–1722) in the Qing dynasty, the warriors of the Xilufan revolt were so feared that the two ministers the Kangxi Emperor ordered to end their attacks fled China rather than face either the mercilessness of the Xilu warriors or the displeasure of the emperor, both of which often involved beheading.


title: Bak Mei

text: It was the 128 monks of the southern Shaolin temple who defeated the army of Xilu over three months in 1673 without suffering a single casualty. However, by doing so the monks had made enemies of those in the Qing army and Qing court who were embarrassed by how easily the Shaolin monks had succeeded where they had failed. Soon rumors began to spread about the threat posed by a power so great that it defeated the entire Xilu army with a force of only 128 monks. This campaign of innuendo was wasted on the Kangxi Emperor, who remained grateful to the monks, but the rumors had their intended effect on his successor, the Yongzheng Emperor (r. 1722–1735), who ordered the temple's destruction.


title: Bak Mei

text: In 1723, on the sixth day of the first new moon of the lunar calendar, Qing forces launched a sneak attack on the southern Shaolin temple, which began by bombarding the largely wooden monastery with a relentless deluge of burning arrows. Between the surprise attack, the fire, and the overwhelming number of Qing soldiers, 110 out of the 128 monks were killed that day. The Great Shaolin Purge took 70 days as Qing forces hunted down the 18 survivors. The surviving warrior monks of Shaolin inflicted massive casualties on their Qing pursuers but, in the end, their numbers were too great. Soon only five remained:


title: Bak Mei

text: After two years of running and hiding from the Qing army, these fugitives of the cloth regrouped at Mount Emei in Sichuan Province. As one of the sacred mountains of China, Mount Emei was home to about 70 monasteries and temples where the five clerics could blend in easily.


title: Bak Mei

text: It was decided that Bak Mei would infiltrate the Qing imperial court as a spy while the others travelled throughout China to establish an alliance of anti-Qing rebels. However, the more Bak Mei learned, the more he realized that his allies’ efforts would never be enough to overthrow the Qing, and so he left the rebellion, who took this as a betrayal, forcing Bak Mei on the run from those he was once on the run with. Almost all of the rebels who over the years sought to murder Bak Mei for his withdrawal from the struggle ended up dead at Bak Mei's hands, including Jee Sin and Miu Hin's son, Fong Sai-yuk, whom Bak Mei had known since Fong was a small boy. In other accounts, Fong Sai-yuk is not Miu Hin's son but his grandson.


title: Bak Mei

text: Both these versions of the legend of Pai Mei come from inheritors of Bak Mei Kung Fu yet are very different from each other. Accounts of the Bak Mei and the Five Great Kung Fu Masters are many and varied.


title: Bak Mei

text: The latter account names the Shaolin traitor as Ma Ning-Yee rather than Bak Mei, though that detail was omitted for reasons of length. In other versions, Bak Mei and Ma Ning-Yee both betray Shaolin, sometimes joined by Fung Do-Duk. Still other versions say that “Bak Mei” is a nickname for either Ma Ning-Yee or Fung Do-Duk. For that matter, the legend of Bak Mei may have no basis in historical fact at all, and come solely from wuxia novels like Wan Nian Qing. The legends are particularly confused because some temples were burned down repeatedly, including after the time of Bak Mei.


title: Bak Mei

text: Bak Mei is characterized by its emphasis on powerful close range hand strikes. Within Bak Mei can be found the four principles of Fou (Float), Chum (Sink), Tun (Swallow), and Tou (Spit) common in the Southern Chinese martial arts like Ng Ying Kungfu (), and also found in Karate. Unique to Bak Mei is its classification of the following 6 powers: biu (thrusting), chum (sinking), tan (springing), fa (neutralizing), tung, and chuk. Bak Mei emphasizes the movements of the tiger. The traditions of Bak Mei Kung Fu trace its origins to Mount Emei, where Bak Mei is said to have transmitted the art to the Chan (Zen) master Gwong Wai, who transmitted the art to the Chan master Juk Faat Wan and the Taoist Fung Fo.


title: Bak Mei

text: The Taoist Fung Fo in turn passed the art on to Lau Siu-Leung, who established the Futshan lineage of Bak Mei.


title: Bak Mei

text: Cheung Lai-Chuen began his study of the martial arts at the age of 7 with the traditional Chinese medicine practitioner Shak Lim, who taught him the Vagrant style. Later, Cheung would learn from Li Mung, who taught Chueng his family style, and from the Lam Yiu-Kwai's older uncle. While he was studying martial arts with the Lam family, he became close friends with their son Lam Yiu-Kwai, with whom he had much in common. Lam would later become known for disseminating Dragon Kung Fu much as Cheung would later become known for disseminating Bak Mei. Both were born in Hu¨¬y¨¢ng (»Ýê–) County in the prefecture of Huizhou in Guangdong and a marriage between their families would eventually make them cousins. They both left Huizhou to build their futures in Guangzhou and did so by opening several schools together.


title: Bak Mei

text: After moving to Guangzhou, Cheung was defeated by the monk Lin Sang after which the monk referred Cheung to his own teacher master Juk Faat Wan, who taught Cheung the art of Bak Mei over the next two or three years.


title: Bak Mei

text: Cheung had a background in Hakka Kuen, the martial arts of the Hakka people, from his study of the family style of Li Mung and the Vagrant style, which are both identified with the Hakka, as is Southern Praying Mantis (which Cheung is not known to have trained in). Because of this, Cheung's style of Bak Mei is associated with Hakka Kuen, but more strongly still with the Dragon style of Lam Yiu-Kwai¡ªwho is also said to have had a background in Hakka Kuen¡ªdue to the many years Cheung and Lam spent training together.


title: Bak Mei

text: In 2012 an academic research was done on the historical origins of the style of Baimei Quan (Pak Mei Kuen or White Eyebrow Fist) and the validity of the monk Bai Mei, using the resources of US University Professors of Chinese and Buddhist Studies as well as Mr. Xiong Feng of the Emei Shan Museum, Sichuan, China.


title: Bak Mei

text: The earliest reference to the monk Bai Mei as an actual person comes in the "Wuxia" novel called "Wunnian Qing" (A Thousand Years Green or Evergreen) as being one of the five ancestors who survived the sacking of the Shaolin Temple (circa 1727) by the Qing army. Yet there are many problems with this source, as follows;


title: Bak Mei

text: Guanghui means Vast Benevolence and is a typical Buddhist nomination for either a monk or a temple; indeed there are several temples throughout China that bear this name. Yet on searching through the surviving gazetteers for Mount Emei there is no mention of a monk named Guanghui. There is no material evidence to suggest that Guanghui came from Emei Shan; all we have is the oral tradition from Zhang Liquan (Cheung Lai Chuen) that his "Shifu", Zhu Fayun, came from a temple in Sichuan Province.


title: Bak Mei

text: Zhu Fayun. "Fa", in the context of a monk's name, means Buddhist Teachings and "Yun" means Cloud. The Chinese character "Zhu" formed part of the ancient word "Tianzhu", meaning India.


title: Bak Mei

text: Zhu Fayun is said to have been a Buddhist monk from Emei Shan in Sichuan Province on a pilgrimage to the Guangxiao (Bright Filial Monastery), in Guangzhou. This is entirely plausible as the Guangxiao monastery is one of the oldest temples in south China as well as being one of the most influential Buddhist shrines. During his stay in Guangxiao, Zhu Fayun committed to teach Zhang Liquan (Cheung Lai Chuen) the Baimei arts.


title: Bak Mei

text: Zhang Liquan (1882-1964). It would seem that Zhang Liquan was essentially an honest man with respect to his martial arts. He learnt three different styles from three different masters prior to having met Zhu Fayun. He formally acknowledges each of his former Shifu by name and honors them by keeping at least one of their forms in the Pak Mei syllabus. At a later stage in his career, Zhang Liquan formulated several of his own forms, including "Tuotiao Quan" (Cantonese: Tit Til Kuen) and "Simen Bagua" (Cantonese: Say Mun Ba Gua) which he openly professed were his own works. It would appear contradictory to suggest that such a man, who has been totally honest about the origins of all that he has learnt, would deny the existence of one teacher, or indeed invent a fictional character to disguise his own works when he has already affirmed creating several of his own.


title: Bak Mei

text: All the supplementary forms in the Pak Mei syllabus, whatever the original style, fall under the collective classification of "Nan Quan" (Southern Fist) or more precisely "Dong Jiang Quan" (East River Fist). A common denominator to all these forms is that they are divided into two parts; the second being a repetition of the first, performed in the opposite direction. They also have numerous stances and techniques in common and share similar terminology and methodology.


title: Bak Mei

text: Ming China, which had been weakened by corruption and internal rebellion, was overtaken by the Manchu people in 1644. Hong Mei ("Red Eyebrows"), abbot of the Southern Shaolin Temple, died during this time and his position was passed onto Chi Thien Su, known by his Dharma name Jee Sin Sim See, "Chan teacher Perfection". Another master named Chu Long Tuyen did not accept this. He believed the Ming had become corrupt and would rather serve the Manchu Qing dynasty.


title: Bak Mei

text: In 1647 Manchu forces attacked the Southern Shaolin Temple in Quanzhou, Fujian. Only five masters managed to escape, and since then became known as the Five Elders.


title: Bak Mei

text: Chi Thien Su, one of the Five Elders, founded another temple at Nine Lotus Mountain in Fujian where the survivors sought shelter. Chu Long Tuyen refused to provide his real name for fear of retribution against his family and students, in case they survived. The abbot then christened him "Bak Mei" "White Eyebrows". According to some stories, Bak Mei betrayed the Ming by taking information about their plot against the invaders to the Shunzhi Emperor, then returned with information about the Manchu attack plan to the Shaolin. After the temple was destroyed, Bak Mei and Fong Toh Tak (creator of the Bak Fu Pai) left the temple on separate paths in order to study Taoism.


title: Bak Mei

text: Bak Mei trained an anti-imperial attack force but, following capture of the force by the imperials, was forced to teach and lead 50,000 imperial troops in the second destruction of the Shaolin Temple to prevent those captured with him from being tortured and killed. There, Bak Mei slew the "invincible" Shaolin leader Jee Sin in single combat by breaking his neck. He claimed he did this to prevent the massacre of the monks in the temple by the troops who followed him.


title: Bak Mei

text: While he is often portrayed as a traitor, Bak Mei's actions were undertaken, including the destruction of the temple, with the intention of preventing harm to those who had chosen to follow him. It is possible that if Bak Mei had not aided the imperial forces, his followers would have been tortured to death.


title: Bak Mei

text: During the reign of the Kangxi Emperor (1662–1722), the warriors of the Xilufan rebellion were so feared that the two ministers whom Kangxi ordered to quell the revolt fled China rather than face the mercilessness of the Xilu warriors, which often involved beheading. In 1673, over a period of three months, the 128 monks of the southern Shaolin Temple defeated the Xilu army without suffering a single casualty. However, by doing so they had made enemies of some Qing officers who were embarrassed by how easily the Shaolin monks had succeeded where they had failed.


title: Bak Mei

text: Rumors soon began to spread about the threat posed by a power so great that it defeated the entire Xilu army with a force of only 128 monks. This campaign of innuendo was wasted on the Kangxi Emperor, who remained grateful to the monks, but the rumors had their intended effect on his successor, the Yongzheng Emperor (1722–1735). He began his reign by plotting the temple's destruction and was said to have secretly recruited a band of renegade warrior monks from Tibet to carry out his plan.


title: Bak Mei

text: In 1723, on the 6th day of the first new moon of the lunar calendar, a former Shaolin disciple named Ma Ning-Yee aided Qing forces to launch a sneak attack on the southern Shaolin Temple. They began the assault by bombarding the largely wooden monastery with a relentless deluge of burning arrows. Between the surprise attack, the fire, and the overwhelming number of Qing soldiers, 110 out of the 128 monks were killed that day. The Great Shaolin Purge took 70 days as Qing forces hunted down the 18 survivors. The surviving monks of Shaolin inflicted massive casualties on their Qing pursuers but, in the end, their numbers were too great.


title: Bak Mei

text: After two years of running and hiding from the Qing army, these fugitives of the cloth regrouped at Mount Emei in Sichuan Province.


title: Bak Mei

text: As one of the sacred mountains of China, Mount Emei was home to about 70 monasteries and temples where the five clerics could blend in easily.


title: Bak Mei

text: It was decided that Bak Mei would infiltrate the Qing court as a spy while the others travelled throughout China to establish an alliance of anti-Qing rebels. The more Bak Mei learned, the more he realized that his allies' efforts would never be enough to overthrow the Qing. He decided to give up on the rebellion, which was seen as a betrayal.


title: Bak Mei

text: Bak Mei was eventually killed but accounts disagree on whether he was poisoned or slain. Over the years, the rebels sought to punish Bak Mei for his defection. Almost all who made an attempt on his life ended up dead at Bak Mei's hands. This included Jee Sin and Miu Hin's son Fong Sai Yuk (Miu Hin's grandson according to other sources) whom Bak Mei had known since Sai Yuk was a small boy. Some say he was finally killed by the combined effort of Hoong Man Ting and Wu Ah Phiew who employed the Crane Style and the Tiger Style to avenge the burning of the Shaolin Temple and the death of their sigung (teacher's teacher), the Venerable Jee Sin, the Abbott whom Pak Mei is said to have killed in a duel during the burning of the temple.


title: Bak Mei

text: The Bak Mei Pai traces its origins to Mount Emei, where Bak Mei is said to have transmitted the art to the Chan (Zen) master Gwong Wai who then passed it on to Juk Faat Wan.


title: Bak Mei

text: Bak Mei's fighting style makes use of the four principles of "floating" ("fou"), "sinking" ("chum"), "swallowing" ("tun") and "spitting" ("tou") common in the southern Chinese martial arts. It is characterized by its emphasis on powerful close range hand strikes. Bak Mei strikes are usually executed in conjunction with intercepting and jamming the opponent's strike. Unique to Bak Mei, is its classification of the following 6 neijin (powers): "biu" (thrusting), "chum" (sinking), "tan" (springing), "fa" (neutralizing), "tung", and "chuk". Bak-Mei can produce effects on the nervous system that benefit the practitioner if taught correctly. Bak-Mei emphasizes the techniques of Leopard Kung Fu and its strikes are executed with fluidity and power via Fa jin. Additionally, it contains numerous Dim-Mak applications. These applications are comparable with anatomy focused arts such as tuite and chin-nah. Some of these applications involve throwing, takedowns, and restraining techniques.


title: Bak Mei

text: According to the Fatsan family tree, Pak Mei passed the art to Kwong Wai, Chuk Yun, Fung Fo Dao Yan, Lau Siu-Leung () who established the Fatsan lineage of Bak Mei. (source: Barbary Jonathan)


title: Bak Mei

text: Jeung Lai Chuen began his study of the martial arts at the age of 7 with the Classical Chinese Medicine practitioner Sek Lam, who taught him the vagrant style. Jeung would later learn Li Style from Li Mung, (founded by Li Yi李義) who taught Jeung his family style. While he was studying martial arts with the Lam family, he became close friends with their son Lam Yiu Gwai, with whom he had much in common, and eventually studied under Yiu Gwai's uncle. Lam would later become known for disseminating Dragon Kung Fu much as Jeung would later become known for disseminating Bak Mei. Both were born in Huìyáng County () in the Huizhou prefecture of Guangdong and a marriage between their families would eventually make them cousins.


title: Bak Mei

text: They both left Huizhou to build their futures in Guangzhou and did so by opening several schools together.


title: Bak Mei

text: After moving to Guangzhou, Jeung was defeated by the monk Lin Sang after which the monk referred Jeung to his own teacher Juk Faat Wan, who taught Jeung the art of Bak Mei over the next two or three years. Jeung had a background in the martial arts of the Hakka people, from his study of Li Mung's family style and the vagrant style. Because of this, Jeung's style of Bak Mei is associated the dragon style of Lam Yiu Gwai due to the many years Jeung and Lam spent training together.


title: Alessandro Florenzi

text: Alessandro Florenzi (born 11 March 1991) is an Italian professional footballer who plays as a full-back for club AC Milan and the Italy national team.


title: Alessandro Florenzi

text: Florenzi started his professional club career with Roma in 2011, but spent the 2011–12 season on loan with Crotone. Florenzi was appointed as Roma's new captain following the departure of Daniele De Rossi in 2019. He later had spells on loan with Spanish side Valencia, and French side Paris Saint-Germain, winning the Trophée des Champions and the Coupe de France with the latter club during the 2020–21 season.


title: Alessandro Florenzi

text: At international level he was a member of the Italy national under-21 football team that finished second in the 2013 UEFA European Under-21 Championship, and also represented the Italy senior side at UEFA Euro 2016 and UEFA Euro 2020, winning the latter tournament.


title: Alessandro Florenzi

text: A product of Roma youth academy, Florenzi made his serie A debut in a 3–1 win against Sampdoria on 22 May 2011, replacing Francesco Totti as a substitute.


title: Alessandro Florenzi

text: During the summer of 2011, Florenzi was sent on loan to Serie B club Crotone. He made his debut on 27 August 2011, scoring their goal in a 2–1 home defeat against Livorno. On 22 June 2012, Crotone exercised the option in the loan contract to buy half of the registration rights for €250,000. On 6 July, Roma bought back half of the registration rights for €1.25 million.


title: Alessandro Florenzi

text: Florenzi made his first appearance of the 2012–13 Serie A season as a second-half substitute in the 2–2 draw against Catania on 26 August 2012. He made his first start in the 3–1 victory against Internazionale the following week, also scoring his first-ever goal for Roma. Florenzi ended his first full season with the Roma first team, making 36 Serie A appearances and scoring three goals. On 31 July 2013, Florenzi scored and assisted a goal in a 3–1 over the MLS All-stars in the 2013 MLS All-Star Game, and was named the MLS All-Star Game MVP.


title: Alessandro Florenzi

text: During the 2013–14 Serie A season, Florenzi helped guide Roma to a second-place finish and a return to Champions League football for the first time since the 2010–11 season. Florenzi also featured in all ten of Roma's victories from the start of the season, a Serie A record, scoring against Livorno, Parma, Bologna and Inter during the run. On 12 January 2014, Florenzi scored a fantastic, bicycle kick goal to open the scoring in Roma's 4–0 victory against Genoa. Florenzi played in 36 of Roma's 38 Serie A fixtures during the season.


title: Alessandro Florenzi

text: Florenzi made his first appearance of the 2014–15 Serie A season on 30 August 2014 as a second-half substitute in the 2–0 victory against Fiorentina. He then started the 0–1 away victory against Empoli on 13 September. Florenzi made his Champions League debut as a substitute for the injured Juan Iturbe in the 5–1 group stage victory against CSKA Moscow on 17 September. Florenzi scored his first goal of the season as Roma won 2–0 against Cagliari, having set up Mattia Destro for the opener.


title: Alessandro Florenzi

text: On 16 September 2015, Florenzi scored the tying goal from 50 yards out against reigning champions, Barcelona when he spotted the goalkeeper at the edge of his box during the group stage of the Champions League, resulting in a 1–1 draw. The goal was later named one of the three final nominees for the 2015 FIFA Puskás Award.


title: Alessandro Florenzi

text: On 26 October 2016, Florenzi suffered an anterior cruciate ligament injury in his left knee during Roma's 3–1 away win against Sassuolo, causing him to be out for at least four months. On 17 February 2017, Florenzi was ruled out for the rest of the season after suffering a further tear of the same ligament in his first week back in training. On 16 September 2017, he made his return in Roma's 3–0 home victory over Hellas Verona.


title: Alessandro Florenzi

text: On 11 September 2020, Florenzi joined Ligue 1 club Paris Saint-Germain on a season-long loan with an option to buy. He was given the number 24 shirt. Two days later, he made his debut for PSG in a 0–1 loss against Marseille. On 2 October 2020, Florenzi scored his first goal at the Parisian club, in a match against Angers that ended in a 6–1 victory.


title: Alessandro Florenzi

text: On 19 May 2021, Florenzi started for PSG in their 2–0 win over Monaco in the 2021 Coupe de France Final. His loan ended on 30 June 2021.


title: Alessandro Florenzi

text: On 21 August 2021, AC Milan announced the signing of Florenzi from Roma on an initial loan deal, with the option to make the transfer permanent. Florenzi signed for the team until 30 June 2022. On First of October, Florenzi underwent surgery to his partially torn medial meniscus in his left knee. He was back on the pitch almost after 2 months against Fiorentina.


title: Alessandro Florenzi

text: He scored his first goal for Milan on 22 December against Empoli in eventual 4–2 win, it was also his first goal from a free-kick in Serie A.


title: Alessandro Florenzi

text: On 8 May against Verona, he played his first match since the injury, coming on as a substitute and scoring the third in 3–1 win for Milan.


title: Alessandro Florenzi

text: In total, Florenzi played 30 matches for Milan this season, scoring 2 goals, contributing to the club's 19th Scudetto; it was Florenzi's first Serie A title.


title: Alessandro Florenzi

text: On 1 July 2022, AC Milan announced the signing of Florenzi from Roma on a permanent basis. The defender has signed a contract with the club lasting until 30 June 2025.


title: Alessandro Florenzi

text: On 14 November 2012, Florenzi made his debut for the senior team under coach Cesare Prandelli in a friendly match against France.


title: Alessandro Florenzi

text: Florenzi was part of the Italy under-21 squad for the 2013 UEFA European Under-21 Championship in Israel, as the "Azzurrini" reached the final, losing to Spain 4–2. Florenzi's only goal of the tournament came in the 4–0, group stage, victory over the host nation.


title: Alessandro Florenzi

text: On 15 October 2013, Florenzi scored his first senior goal on his competitive debut in a World Cup qualifying match against Armenia that ended in a 2–2 draw at the Stadio San Paolo in Naples. Florenzi was not included in the 30-man preliminary squad named by Cesare Prandelli for the 2014 FIFA World Cup.


title: Alessandro Florenzi

text: On 30 August 2014, new Italy head coach Antonio Conte named Florenzi in his first squad for the upcoming European qualifying matches. On 31 May 2016, he was named to Conte's 23-man Italy squad for UEFA Euro 2016.


title: Alessandro Florenzi

text: In June 2021, he was included in Italy's squad for UEFA Euro 2020 by manager Roberto Mancini. On 11 July, Florenzi won the European Championship with Italy following a 3–2 penalty shoot-out victory over England at Wembley Stadium in the final, after a 1–1 draw in extra-time; he made a substitute appearance during the final, replacing Emerson Palmieri late in the second half of extra-time.


title: Alessandro Florenzi

text: Florenzi is a tenacious, tactically intelligent and well-rounded player who is extremely versatile. Although initially he was usually deployed as a central midfielder, in the "mezzala" role, he is a box-to-box player capable of playing anywhere in midfield, and he has recently also been deployed as a winger, and even as an attacking full-back or wing-back on either flank throughout his career, although he favours the right side. Florenzi is a quick, energetic and hard-working player who is effective at aiding his team both offensively and defensively due to his pace and stamina; when used in more offensive midfield roles, he has also demonstrated an aptitude for making offensive runs. He is gifted with good technical skills, distribution, and crossing ability, and despite his small stature, he is effective in the air; he is also a good striker of the ball, and an accurate set-piece taker. Florenzi has cited Cesc Fàbregas as his role model.


title: Friendship Day

text: Friendship Day (also known as International Friendship Day or Friend's Day) is a day in several countries for celebrating friendship. It was initially promoted by the greeting card industry; evidence from social networking sites shows a revival of interest in Friendship Day that may have grown with the spread of the internet, particularly in India, Bangladesh, and Malaysia. Mobile phones, digital communication, and social media have contributed to popularize the custom. Those who promote the day in South Asia attribute the tradition of dedicating a day in honour of friends to have originated in the United States in 1935.


title: Friendship Day

text: Friendship Day was first proposed in Paraguay in 1958 by Joyce Hall. It was a holiday involving the celebration of friendships through a global holiday. The original date of celebration was 2 August, though it has since been moved to 7 August due to de-synchronisation in the United States.


title: Friendship Day

text: To honor Friendship Day, in 1998, Nane Annan named Winnie the Pooh the world's Ambassador of Friendship at the United Nations. The event was co-sponsored by the U.N. Department of Public Information and Disney Enterprises, co-hosted by Kathy Lee Gifford.


title: Friendship Day

text: The idea of a Global Friendship Day was first proposed on 20 July 1958 by Dr. Ramon Artemio Bracho during a dinner with friends in Puerto Pinasco, a town on the River Paraguay about north of Asuncion, Paraguay.


title: Friendship Day

text: During said meeting, the World Friendship Crusade was born. The World Friendship Crusade is a foundation that promotes friendship and fellowship among all human beings, regardless of race, color or religion. Since then, 30 July has been fervently celebrated as Friendship Day in Paraguay every year and has also been adopted by several other countries.


title: Friendship Day

text: The World Friendship Crusade has lobbied the United Nations for several years to recognize 30 July as World Friendship Day; finally, in 2011, the General Assembly of the United Nations decided to designate 30 July as the International Day of Friendship and proceeded to invite all the Member States to observe the International Day of Friendship per the culture and customs of their local, national and regional communities, including through education and public awareness-raising activities.


title: Friendship Day

text: In Ecuador, Mexico, Venezuela, Finland, Estonia and the Dominican Republic, Friendship Day is celebrated on 14 February, the same date as Valentine's Day, to serve as an alternative for those who are yet to find a romantic partner.


title: Friendship Day

text: In Ecuador and Venezuela, celebrations are on 14 July. In Pakistan, this event is celebrated on 19 July every year. In Bolivia, Friendship Day is celebrated on 23 July. In Nepal, Friendship Day is celebrated on 30 July.


title: Friendship Day

text: In Paraguay, 29 July is used for giving gifts to close friends and family. Celebrations often take place in bars and nightclubs. The game of the Invisible Friend ("") is considered a tradition, in which small sheets of paper with names are given to members of a group and each of them secretly selects on another, and on 30 July gives a present to the person whose name was written on the paper. This custom is practised in both schools and workplaces in Asunción and other Paraguayan cities.


title: Friendship Day

text: Since 2009, Peru has celebrated "El dia del Amigo" on the first Saturday of July. The date was proposed by the beer brand Pilsen Callao. The objective was to recognize true friendship and differentiate it from love and the celebration of Valentine's Day.


title: Friendship Day

text: In Argentina, Brazil, Spain and Uruguay, Friendship Day (or Friend's Day) is celebrated on 20 July. It is a reason for a friendly gathering and greeting both current and old friends.


title: Friendship Day

text: It became a popular celebration thanks to Enrique Ernesto Febbraro, an Argentinian dentist and Rotarian who had the idea to commemorate International Friendship as an unifying gesture of friendship among nations, inspired by the day Neil Armstrong stepped on the Moon. He sent 1,000 letters to contacts from the Rotary Club around the world while the Apollo 11 was still in space and received 700 responses that kickstarted the celebration.


title: Friendship Day

text: In Argentina, Friend's Day has turned into a very popular mass phenomenon. For instance, in 2005, the amount of well-wishing messages and calls led to a breakdown of the mobile phone network in the cities of Buenos Aires, Mendoza, Córdoba and Rosario, comparable to the one experienced in 2004 on Christmas and New Year's Day. Seats in most restaurants, bars, and other establishments are often completely booked a week before the celebration.


title: Friendship Day

text: In India Friendship Day is celebrated on the first Sunday in the month of August. The celebration got huge widespread among teenagers and youngsters in the early 1990s with the influence of Bollywood movies.


title: Friendship Day

text: Friends tie a Friendship band (a ribbon band) to each other as a gesture of celebrating their friendship.


title: Friendship Day

text: College students generally wear a white t-shirt on that day and they write each other’s names or friendship quotes on it.


title: Transylvanian Saxons

text: The Transylvanian Saxons (; Transylvanian Saxon: "Siweberjer Såksen"; ; ) are a people of German ethnicity who settled in Transylvania () in waves starting from the mid-12th century until the mid 19th century.


title: Transylvanian Saxons

text: The legal foundation of the settlement was laid down in the Diploma Andreanum issued by King Andrew II of Hungary that is known for providing the first territorial autonomy hitherto in the history. The Transylvanian "Saxons" originally came from Flanders, Hainaut, Brabant, Liège, Zeeland, Moselle, Lorraine, and Luxembourg, then situated in the north-western territories of the Holy Roman Empire around the 1140s.


title: Transylvanian Saxons

text: After 1918 and the dissolution of Austria-Hungary, in the wake of the Treaty of Trianon, Transylvania united with the Kingdom of Romania. Consequently, the Transylvanian Saxons, together with other ethnic German sub-groups in newly enlarged Romania (namely Banat Swabians, Bessarabia Germans, Dobrujan Germans, Bukovina Germans, Satu Mare Swabians, and Zipser Germans), became part of that country's broader German minority. Today, relatively few still live in Romania, where the last official census (carried out in 2011) indicated 36,042 Germans, out of which only 11,400 were of Transylvanian Saxon descent.


title: Transylvanian Saxons

text: The colonization of Transylvania by Germans began under the reign of King Géza II of Hungary (1141–1162). For decades, the main task of these medieval German-speaking settlers was to defend the southeastern borders of the Kingdom of Hungary against foreign invaders stemming most notably from Central Asia (e.g. Cumans and Tatars).


title: Transylvanian Saxons

text: The first wave of settlement continued well until the end of the 13th century. Although the colonists came mostly from the western Holy Roman Empire and generally spoke Franconian varieties, they came to be collectively referred to as 'Saxons' because of Germans working for the Hungarian chancellery. Gradually, the type of medieval German once spoken by these craftsmen, guardsmen, and workers became known locally as "Såksesch".


title: Transylvanian Saxons

text: The Transylvanian Saxon population has been steadily decreasing since World War II as they started massively leaving the territory of present-day Romania during and after World War II, relocating initially to Austria, then predominantly to southern Germany (especially in Bavaria).


title: Transylvanian Saxons

text: The process of emigration continued during Communist rule in Romania. After the collapse of the Ceaușescu regime in 1989 and the fall of the East German communist government, many of them continued to migrate to the unified Germany. As a result, today only approximately 12,000 Saxons remain in Romania.


title: Transylvanian Saxons

text: Nowadays, the vast majority of Transylvanian Saxons live in either Germany or Austria. Nonetheless, a sizable Transylvanian Saxon population also resides today in North America, most notably in the United States (specifically in Idaho, Ohio, and Colorado), as well as in Canada (southern Ontario more precisely).


title: Transylvanian Saxons

text: The initial phase of German settlement began in the expansive mid-12th century, with colonists travelling to what would become or , based around the city of , today's Sibiu. Although the primary reason for Géza II's invitation was border defense, similar to employing the Székelys against invaders, Germans were also sought for their mining expertise and ability to develop the region's economy. Most colonists to this area came from Luxembourg and the Moselle River region (see for instance ).


title: Transylvanian Saxons

text: A second phase of German settlement during the early 13th century consisted of settlers primarily from the Rhineland, the southern Low Countries, and the Moselle region, with others from Thuringia, Bavaria, and even from France. A settlement in northeastern Transylvania was centered on the town of , the later (Bistrița), located on the Bistrița River. The surrounding area became known as the .


title: Transylvanian Saxons

text: Continued immigration from the Empire expanded the area of the Saxons further to the east. Settlers from the Hermannstadt region spread into the Hârtibaciu River valley () and to the foot of the Cibin () and Sebeș () mountains.


title: Transylvanian Saxons

text: The latter region, centered around the city of (), was known as . To the north of Hermannstadt they settled what they called the including the village of (Latin for / ) near (). Allegedly, the term "Saxon" was applied to all Germans of these historical regions because the first German settlers who came to the Kingdom of Hungary were either poor miners or groups of convicts from Saxony.


title: Transylvanian Saxons

text: In 1211, King Andrew II of Hungary invited the Teutonic Knights to settle and defend the in the southeastern corner of Transylvania. To guard the mountain passes of the Carpathians () against the Cumans, the Knights constructed numerous castles and towns, including the major city of (). Alarmed by the Knights' rapidly expanding power, in 1225 Andrew II expelled the Order, which henceforth relocated to Prussia in 1226, although the colonists remained in . The Kingdom of Hungary's medieval eastern borders were therefore defended in the northeast by the Saxons, in the east by the Hungarian border guard tribe of the Székelys, in the southeast by the castles built by the Teutonic Knights and Saxons and in the south by the Altland Saxons.


title: Transylvanian Saxons

text: The most notable arrival of Germans to the region occurred in 1284, when a group of 130 children from the town of Hamelin (Hameln), in present-day Lower Saxony, were led away from their native city by a piper (who may be a folk memory of a lokator). According to subsequent folklore, this was in retaliation for the piper's not having been sufficiently paid by the townsfolk for his service in ridding the city of a rat infestation, and is recorded in Hamelin town records (the earliest of such records dating from 1384: "It is 100 years since our children left").


title: Transylvanian Saxons

text: Although the knights had left Transylvania, the Saxon colonists remained, and the king allowed them to retain the rights and obligations included within the "Diploma Andreanum" of 1224 by Andrew II of Hungary. This document conferred upon the German population of the territory between Drăușeni (, ) and Orăștie (, ) both administrative and religious autonomy and defined their obligations towards the kings of Hungary. They had to pay yearly tax to the king and provide military contribution to the royal army in case of danger of attack from abroad.


title: Transylvanian Saxons

text: Otherwise, they enjoyed suzerainty; even Hungarians could not settle down in the Saxon territories. The territory colonized by Germans covered an area of about 30,000 km (10,000 sq. mi.). The region was called Royal Lands or Saxon Lands (; ; ; ). During the reign of King Charles I of Hungary (probably 1325–1329), the Saxons were organized in the Saxon Chairs (or seats) as follows:


title: Transylvanian Saxons

text: Along with the Teutonic Order, other religious organizations important to the development of German communities were the Cistercian abbeys of Igrisch (Igriș) in the Banat region respectively Kerz (Cârța) in Fogaraschland (Țara Făgărașului). The earliest religious organization of the Saxons was the Provostship of Hermannstadt (now Sibiu), founded 20 December 1191. In its early years, it included the territories of Hermannstadt, Leschkirch (Nocrich), and Groß-Schenk (Cincu), the areas that were colonized the earliest by ethnic Germans in the region.


title: Transylvanian Saxons

text: Under the influence of Johannes Honterus, the great majority of the Transylvanian Saxons embraced the new creed of Martin Luther during the Protestant Reformation. The first superintendent of the Saxons Evangelical Church, Paul Wiener, was elected by Saxon pastors at a synod on 6 February 1553.


title: Transylvanian Saxons

text: Almost all became Lutheran Protestants, with very few Calvinists, while other minor segments of the Transylvanian Saxon society remained staunchly Catholic (of Latin Rite, more specifically) or were converted to Catholicism later on. Nonetheless, one of the consequences of the Reformation was the emergence of an almost perfect equivalence, in the Transylvanian context, of the terms Lutheran and Saxon, with the Lutheran Church in Transylvania being de facto a "Volkskirche", i.e. the "national church" of the Transylvanian Saxons (or the people's church of the Saxons).


title: Transylvanian Saxons

text: The Mongol invasion of 1241–42 devastated much of the Kingdom of Hungary. Although the Saxons did their best to resist and even trying to fight back the Mongol invaders, their resistance were eventually turned down by the Mongols and many of their settlements were destroyed/ruined. after the Mongols pulled out from Transylvania, In anticipation for another invasion, many Transylvanian towns were fortified with stone castles and an emphasis was put on developing towns economically. In the Middle Ages, about 300 villages were defended by "Kirchenburgen", or fortified churches with massive walls.


title: Transylvanian Saxons

text: Although many of these fortified churches have fallen into ruin, nowadays the south-eastern region of Transylvania still has one of the highest numbers of existing fortified churches from the 13th to 16th centuries as more than 150 villages in the area count various types of fortified churches in good shape, seven of them being included in the UNESCO World Heritage under the name of "Villages with fortified churches in Transylvania". The rapid expansion of cities populated by the Saxons led to Transylvania being known in German as "Siebenbürgen" and "Septem Castra" in Latin, referring to seven of the fortified towns (see Historical names of Transylvania), most likely:


title: Transylvanian Saxons

text: In addition to fortifying their towns over the passing of time, the Transylvanian Saxons also had to fortify their villages by building their fortified churches (initially Roman Catholic then Evangelical Lutheran after the Reformation). These churches had defensive capacities in the event of a foreign attack on a rural Transylvanian Saxon community. Such an attack would often stem from the Cumans. It was estimated that there are approximately 300 such villages with fortified churches built by the Saxons in Transylvania during the Middle Ages. The majority of them are still in very good to relatively good shape to this day.


title: Transylvanian Saxons

text: The Transylvanian Saxons also colonized areas outside the Carpathian arch, and, implicitly, outside their newly native lands across Transylvania. Those areas pertained to the neighbouring and emerging medieval principalities of Moldavia (to the east) and Wallachia (to the south).


title: Transylvanian Saxons

text: In this particular process, they founded or co-founded major historical settlements in both principalities such as Târgu Neamț (), Baia (), Târgoviște (), or Câmpulung (). In the case of the first settlement (i.e. Târgu Neamț), they could have been equally helped in establishing it by the Teutonic Knights. Saxons in Wallachia also settled in Râmnic (i.e. present-day Râmnicu Vâlcea) and Pitești.


title: Transylvanian Saxons

text: Saxon colonization in Moldavia had likely occurred through a crossing from the Bistrița area eastward and northward whereas Saxon colonization in Wallachia had likely occurred from the Sibiu area. Moreover, under the title of Schultheiß, ethnic Germans were even briefly in charge of some of these settlements during the Middle Ages. Additionally, German potters and merchants were also present in the former Moldavian capital of Suceava at the end of the 14th century. Historically, the town of Suceava has also been known in Old High German as "Sedschopff".


title: Transylvanian Saxons

text: The newly arrived Saxons outside in the Carpathian arch in the emerging medieval Romanian principalities of Wallachia and Moldavia brought urbanisation, craftsmanship, trade, and the so-called "German law", under which the local administrations of medieval Romanian towns had operated in the beginning. However, throughout the passing of time, demographically, their numbers gradually dwindled and had been subsequently assimilated in the local medieval Wallachian and Moldavian cultures by the overwhelming Romanian ethnic majority.


title: Transylvanian Saxons

text: Along with the largely Hungarian-Transylvanian nobility and the Székelys, the Transylvanian Saxons were members of the Unio Trium Nationum (or 'Union of the Three Nations'), which was a charter signed in 1438. This agreement preserved a considerable degree of political rights for the three aforementioned groups but excluded the largely Hungarian and Romanian peasantry from political life in the principality.


title: Transylvanian Saxons

text: During the Protestant Reformation, most Transylvanian Saxons converted to Lutheranism. As the semi-independent Principality of Transylvania was one of the most religiously tolerant states in Europe at the time, the Saxons were allowed to practice their own religion (meaning that they enjoyed religious autonomy). However, the Habsburgs still promoted Roman Catholicism to the Saxons during the Counter Reformation. Currently in Romania, about 60% of ethnic Germans reported being Roman Catholic and 40% Protestant (see Religion in Romania).


title: Transylvanian Saxons

text: Warfare between the Habsburg monarchy and Hungary against the Ottoman Empire from the 16th–18th centuries decreased the population of Transylvanian Saxons. All throughout this period of time, the Saxons in Transylvania served as administrators and military officers. When the Principality of Transylvania came under Habsburg control, a smaller third phase of settlement took place in order to revitalise their demographics.


title: Transylvanian Saxons

text: This wave of settlement included exiled Protestants from Upper Austria (the Transylvanian Landlers namely), who were given land near Hermannstadt (Sibiu). The predominantly German-populated Hermannstadt was a noteworthy cultural center within Transylvania back in the day, while Kronstadt (Brașov) represented a vital political center for the Transylvanian Saxons.


title: Transylvanian Saxons

text: Emperor Joseph II attempted to revoke the Unio Trium Nationum in the late 18th century. His actions were aimed at the political inequality within Transylvania, especially the political strength of the Saxons.


title: Transylvanian Saxons

text: Although his actions were ultimately rescinded, many Saxons began to see themselves as being a small minority opposed by nationalist Romanians and Hungarians. Although they remained a rich and influential group, the Saxons were no longer a dominant class within Modern Age Transylvania.


title: Transylvanian Saxons

text: The Hungarians, on the other hand, supported complete unification of Transylvania with the rest of Hungary. Stephan Ludwig Roth, a pastor who led the German support for Romanian political rights, eventually opposed the unification of Transylvania with Hungary and was executed by the Hungarian military tribunal during the revolution.


title: Transylvanian Saxons

text: Although the Hungarian control over Transylvania was defeated by Austrian and Imperial Russian forces in 1849, the Ausgleich compromise between Austria and Hungary in 1867 did not marry well for the political rights of the Saxons. After the end of World War I, on 8 January 1919 the representatives of the Transylvanian Saxons decided to support the unification of Transylvania with the Kingdom of Romania.


title: Transylvanian Saxons

text: They were promised full minority rights, but many wealthy Saxons lost part of their land in the land reform process that was implemented in the whole of Romania after World War I. Taking into account the rise of Adolf Hitler in Germany, many Transylvanian Saxons became staunch supporters of national socialism, with the Evangelical Lutheran Church losing, eventually, very much of its influence in the community as time passed by.


title: Transylvanian Saxons

text: In February 1942 and May 1943, Germany concluded agreements with Hungary and Romania respectively, following which the Germans who were fit for military service, although they were either Hungarian citizens (in Northern Transylvania, entered the composition of the Hungarian state through the Second Vienna Award) or Romanian citizens (in Southern Transylvania, remaining part of Romania), could be incorporated into the regular German military units, into the Waffen-SS and into war-producing enterprises or into the Organisation Todt.


title: Transylvanian Saxons

text: As a result of these agreements, approximately 95% of the members of the German ethnic group who were fit for military service (Transylvanian Saxons and Banat Swabians) voluntarily enrolled into the Waffen-SS units (approximately 63,000 people), with several thousand serving in the special units of the SS Security Service (SD-Sonderkommandos), of which at least 2,000 ethnic Germans were enrolled in the concentration camps (KZ-Wachkompanien), of which at least 55% served in extermination camps, predominantly in Auschwitz and Lublin. About 15% of the Romanian ethnic Germans who served in the Waffen-SS died in the war, with only a few thousand survivors returning to Romania.


title: Transylvanian Saxons

text: When Romania signed a peace treaty with the Soviets in 1944, the German military began withdrawing the Saxons from Transylvania; this operation was most thorough with the Saxons of the Nösnerland (Bistrița area). Around 100,000 Germans fled before the Soviet Red Army, but Romania did not conduct the expulsion of Germans as did neighboring countries at war's end. However, more than 70,000 Germans from Romania were arrested by the Soviet Army and sent to labour camps in contemporary Ukraine for alleged cooperation with Nazi Germany.


title: Transylvanian Saxons

text: In 1989 still 95,000 Saxons lived in Romania (approx. 40% of the population of 1910), and between 1991 and 1992 another 75,000 emigrated. Their number shrank to 14,770 according to the data provided by the Evangelical Church of Augustan Confession in Romania in 2003.


title: Transylvanian Saxons

text: Because they are considered "Auslandsdeutsche" ("Germans from abroad") by the German government, the Saxons have the right to German citizenship under the law of return. Numerous Saxons have emigrated to Germany, especially after the fall of the Eastern Bloc in 1989 and are represented by the Association of Transylvanian Saxons in Germany. Due to this emigration from Romania the population of Saxons is dwindling. At the same time, especially after Romania's accession into NATO and the EU, many Transylvanian Saxons are returning from Germany, reclaiming property lost to the former Communist regime and/or starting up small and medium-sized enterprises. The Saxons remaining in Romania are represented by the Democratic Forum of Germans in Romania (FDGR/DFDR), the political party that gave Romania its fifth president, Klaus Iohannis.


title: Transylvanian Saxons

text: Before their expulsion from communist Romania by communist and securist Romanian authorities, the Transylvanian Saxons formed distinct communities in their towns and villages, where they maintained their ethnic tradition characterized by specific customs, folklore, way of life, and distinctive clothing style (i.e. national costumes). For example, one of the traditions held was the "Neighborhood" "()" in which many households formed a small supporting community. This, according to some scholars, is of ancient German origin.


title: Transylvanian Saxons

text: The cuisine of the Transylvanian Saxons is very similar to that of the Romanians and the Hungarians living in Transylvania as well as to the Germans, Austrians, or Alemannic Swiss. In these regards, the Transylvanian Saxon cuisine can be regarded as quintessentially Central European.