title: NetHack

text: NetHack is an open source single-player roguelike video game, first released in 1987 and maintained by the NetHack DevTeam. The game is a fork of the 1982 game "Hack", itself inspired by the 1980 game "Rogue". The player takes the role as one of several pre-defined character classes to descend through multiple dungeon floors, fighting monsters and collecting treasure, to recover the "Amulet of Yendor" at the lowest floor and then escape.


title: NetHack

text: As an exemplar of the traditional "roguelike" game, "NetHack" features turn-based, grid-based hack and slash dungeon crawling gameplay, procedurally generated dungeons and treasure, and permadeath, requiring the player to restart the game anew should the player character die. The game uses simple ASCII graphics by default so as to display readily on a wide variety of computer displays, but can use curses with box-drawing characters, as well as substitute graphical tilesets on machines with graphics. While "Rogue", "Hack" and other earlier roguelikes stayed true to a high fantasy setting, "NetHack" introduced humorous and anachronistic elements over time, including popular cultural reference to works such as "Discworld" and "Raiders of the Lost Ark".


title: NetHack

text: It is identified as one of the "major roguelikes" by John Harris. Comparing it with "Rogue", "Engadget"s Justin Olivetti wrote that it took its exploration aspect and "made it far richer with an encyclopedia of objects, a larger vocabulary, a wealth of pop culture mentions, and a puzzler's attitude." In 2000, "Salon" described it as "one of the finest gaming experiences the computing world has to offer".


title: NetHack

text: Before starting a game, players choose their character's race, role, sex, and alignment, or allow the game to assign the attributes randomly. There are traditional fantasy roles such as knight, wizard, rogue, and priest; but there are also unusual roles, including archaeologist, tourist, and caveman. The player character's role and alignment dictate which deity the character serves in the game, "how other monsters react toward you", as well as character skills and attributes.


title: NetHack

text: After the player character is created, the main objective is introduced. To win the game, the player must retrieve the Amulet of Yendor, found at the lowest level of the dungeon, and offer it to their deity. Successful completion of this task rewards the player with the gift of immortality, and the player is said to "ascend", attaining the status of demigod. Along the path to the amulet, a number of sub-quests must be completed, including one class-specific quest.


title: NetHack

text: The player's character is, unless they opt not to be, accompanied by a pet animal, typically a kitten or little dog, although knights begin with a saddled pony. Pets grow from fighting, and they can be changed by various means. Most of the other monsters may also be tamed using magic or food.


title: NetHack

text: "NetHack"'s dungeon spans about fifty primary levels, most of which are procedurally generated when the player character enters them for the first time. A typical level contains a way "up" and "down" to other levels. These may be stairways, ladders, trapdoors, etc. Levels also contain several "rooms" joined by corridors. These rooms are randomly generated rectangles (as opposed to the linear corridors) and may contain features such as altars, shops, fountains, traps, thrones, pools of water, and sinks based on the randomly generated features of the room. Some specific levels follow one of many fixed designs or contain fixed elements. Later versions of the game added special branches of dungeon levels. These are optional routes that may feature more challenging monsters but can reward more desirable treasure to complete the main dungeon. Levels, once generated, remained persistent, in contrast to games that followed "Moria"-style of level generation.


title: NetHack

text: "NetHack" features a variety of items: weapons (melee or ranged), armor to protect the player, scrolls and spellbooks to read, potions to quaff, wands, rings, amulets, and an assortment of tools, such as keys and lamps.


title: NetHack

text: "NetHack"<nowiki>'</nowiki>s identification of items is almost identical to "Rogue"<nowiki>'</nowiki>s. For example, a newly discovered potion may be referred to as a "pink potion" with no other clues as to its identity. Players can perform a variety of actions and tricks to deduce, or at least narrow down, the identity of the potion. The most obvious is the somewhat risky tactic of simply drinking it. All items of a certain type will have the same description. For instance, all "scrolls of enchant weapon" may be labeled "TEMOV", and once one has been identified, all "scrolls of enchant weapon" found later will be labeled unambiguously as such. Starting a new game will scramble the items descriptions again, so the "silver ring" that is a "ring of levitation" in one game might be a "ring of hunger" in another.


title: NetHack

text: As in many other roguelike games, all items in "NetHack" are either "blessed", "uncursed", or "cursed". The majority of items are found uncursed, but the blessed or cursed status of an item is unknown until it is identified or detected through other means.


title: NetHack

text: Generally, a blessed item will be more powerful than an uncursed item, and a cursed item will be less powerful, with the added disadvantage that once it has been equipped by the player, it cannot be easily unequipped. Where an object would bestow an effect upon the character, a curse will generally make the effect harmful, or increase the amount of harm done. However, there are very specific exceptions. For example, drinking a cursed "potion of gain level" will make the character literally rise through the ceiling to the level above, instead of gaining an experience level.


title: NetHack

text: Although "NetHack" can be completed without any artificial limitations, experienced players can attempt "conducts" for an additional challenge. These are voluntary restrictions on actions taken, such as using no wishes, following a vegetarian or vegan diet, or even killing no monsters. While conducts are generally tracked by the game and are displayed at death or ascension, unofficial conducts are practiced within the community.


title: NetHack

text: When a player dies, the cause of death and score is created and added to the list where the player's character is ranked against other previous characters. The prompt "Do you want your possessions identified?" is given by default at the end of any game, allowing the player to learn any unknown properties of the items in their inventory at death. The player's attributes (such as resistances, luck, and others), conduct (usually self-imposed challenges, such as playing as an atheist or a vegetarian), and a tally of creatures killed, may also be displayed.


title: NetHack

text: The game sporadically saves a level on which a character has died and then integrates that level into a later game. This is done via "bones files", which are saved on the computer hosting the game. A player using a publicly hosted copy of the game can thus encounter the remains and possessions of many other players, although many of these possessions may have become cursed.


title: NetHack

text: Because of the numerous ways that a player-character could die between a combination of their own actions as well as from reactions from the game's interacting systems, players frequently refer to untimely deaths as "Yet Another Stupid Death" (YASD). Such deaths are considered part of learning to play "NetHack" as to avoid conditions where the same death may happen again.


title: NetHack

text: "NetHack" does allow players to save the game so that one does not have to complete the game in one session, but on opening a new game, the previous save file is subsequently wiped as to enforce the permadeath option. One option some players use is to make a backup copy of the save game file before playing a game, and, should their character die, restoring from the copied version, a practice known as "save scumming". Additionally, players can also manipulate the "bones files" in a manner not intended by the developers. While these help the player to learn the game and get around limits of permadeath, both are considered forms of cheating the game.


title: NetHack

text: "NetHack" is largely based on discovering secrets and tricks during gameplay. It can take years for one to become well-versed in them, and even experienced players routinely discover new ones. A number of "NetHack" fan sites and discussion forums offer lists of game secrets known as "spoilers".


title: NetHack

text: "NetHack" was originally created with only a simple ASCII text-based user interface, although the option to use something more elaborate was added later in its development. Interface elements such as the environment, entities, and objects are represented by arrangements of ASCII or Extended ASCII glyphs, "DECgraphics", or "IBMgraphics" mode. In addition to the environment, the interface also displays character and situational information.


title: NetHack

text: The player (the '@' sign, a wizard in this case) has entered the level via the stairs (the '<' sign) and killed a few monsters, leaving their corpses (the '%' signs) behind. Exploring, the player has uncovered three rooms joined by corridors (the '#' signs): one with an altar (the '_' sign), another empty, and the final one (that the player is currently in) containing a potion (the '!' sign) and chest (the '(' sign). The player has just moved onto a square containing a silver ring. Parts of the level are still unexplored (probably accessible through the door to the west (the '+' sign)) and the player has yet to find the downstairs (a '>' sign) to the next level.


title: NetHack

text: Apart from the original termcap interface shown above, there are other interfaces that replace standard screen representations with two-dimensional images, or tiles, collectively known as "tiles mode". Graphic interfaces of this kind have been successfully implemented on the Amiga, the X Window System, the Microsoft Windows GUI, the Qt toolkit, and the GNOME libraries.


title: NetHack

text: Enhanced graphical options also exist, such as the isometric perspective of "Falcon's Eye" and "Vulture's Eye", or the three-dimensional rendering that noegnud offers. "Vulture's Eye" is a fork of the now defunct Falcon's Eye project. "Vulture's Eye" adds additional graphics, sounds, bug fixes and performance enhancements and is under active development in an open collaborative environment.


title: NetHack

text: "NetHack" is a software derivative of "Hack", which itself was inspired by "Rogue". "Hack" was created by students Jay Fenlason, Kenny Woodland, Mike Thome, and Jonathan Payne at Lincoln-Sudbury Regional High School as part of a computer class, after seeing and playing "Rogue" at the University of California Berkeley computer labs. The group had tried to get the source code of "Rogue" from Glenn Wichman and Michael Toy to build upon, but Wichman and Toy had refused, forcing the students to build the dungeon-creation routines on their own. As such, the game was named "Hack" in part for the hack-and-slash gameplay and that the code to generate the dungeons was considered a programming hack. After their classes ended, the students' work on the program also ended, though they had a working game. Fenlason provided the source code to a local USENIX conference, and eventually it was uploaded to USENET newsgroups. The code drew the attention of many players who started working to modify and improve the game as well as port it to other computer systems. "Hack" did not have any formal maintainer and while one person was generally recognized to hold the main code to the current version of "Hack", many software forks emerged from the unorganized development of the game.


title: NetHack

text: Eventually, Mike Stephenson took on the role as maintainer of the "Hack" source code. At this point, he decided to create a new fork of the game, bringing in novel ideas from Izchak Miller, a philosophy professor at University of Pennsylvania, and Janet Walz, another computer hacker. They called themselves the DevTeam and renamed their branch "NetHack" since their collaboration work was done over the Internet. They expanded the bestiary and other objects in the game, and drew from other sources outside of the high fantasy setting, such as from "Discworld" with the introduction of the tourist character class. Knowing of the multiple forks of "Hack" that existed, the DevTeam established a principle that while the game was open source and anyone could create a fork as a new project, only a few select members in the DevTeam could make modifications to the main source repository of the game, so that players could be assured that the DevTeam's release was the legitimate version of "NetHack".


title: NetHack

text: The core DevTeam had expanded with the release of "NetHack" 3.0 in July 1989. By that point, they had established a tight-lipped culture, revealing little, if anything, between releases. Owing to the ever-increasing depth and complexity found in each release, the development team enjoys a near-mythical status among fans. This perceived omniscience is captured in the initialism TDTTOE, "The DevTeam Thinks of Everything", in that many of the possible emergent gameplay elements that could occur due to the behavior of the complex game systems had already been programmed in by the DevTeam. Since version 3.0, the DevTeam has typically kept to minor bug fix updates, represented by a change in the third version number (e.g. v3.0.1 over v3.0.0), and only releases major updates (v3.1.0 over v3.0.0) when significant new features are added to the game, including support for new platforms. Many of those from the community that helped with the ports to other systems were subsequently invited to be part of the DevTeam as the team's needs grew, with Stephenson remaining the key member currently.


title: NetHack

text: Updates to the game were generally regular from around 1987 through 2003, with the DevTeam releasing v3.4.3 in December 2003. Subsequent updates from the DevTeam included new tilesets and compatibility with variants of Mac OS, but no major updates to the game had been made. In the absence of new releases from the developers, several community-made updates to the code and variants developed by fans emerged.


title: NetHack

text: On 7 December 2015, version 3.6.0 was released, the first major release in over a decade. While the patch did not add major new gameplay features, the update was designed to prepare the game for expansion in the future, with the DevTeam's patch notes stating "This release consists of a series of foundational changes in the team, underlying infrastructure and changes to the approach to game development". Stephenson said that despite the number of roguelike titles that had emerged since the v3.4.3 release, they saw that "NetHack" was still being talked about online in part due to its high degree of portability, and decided to continue its development. According to DevTeam member Paul Winner, they looked to evaluate what community features had been introduced in the prior decade to improve the game while maintaining the necessary balance. The update came shortly after the death of Terry Pratchett, whose "Discworld" had been influential on the game, and the new update included a tribute to him. With the v3.6.0 release, "NetHack" remains "one of the oldest games still being developed".


title: NetHack

text: A public read-only mirror of "NetHack" git repository was made available on 10 February 2016. Since v3.6.0, the DevTeam has continued to push updates to the title, with the latest being v3.6.6 on 8 March 2020. Version 3.7.0 is currently in development.


title: NetHack

text: , the official source release supports the following systems: Windows, Linux, macOS, Windows CE, OS/2, Unix (BSD, System V, Solaris, HP-UX), BeOS, and VMS.


title: NetHack

text: "NetHack" is released under the NetHack General Public License, which was written in 1989 by Mike Stephenson, patterned after the GNU bison license (which was written by Richard Stallman in 1988). Like the Bison license, and Stallman's later GNU General Public License, the "NetHack" license was written to allow the free sharing and modification of the source code under its protection. At the same time, the license explicitly states that the source code is not covered by any warranty, thus protecting the original authors from litigation. The NetHack General Public License is a copyleft software license certified as an open source license by the Open Source Initiative.


title: NetHack

text: The NetHack General Public License allows anyone to port the game to a platform not supported by the official DevTeam, provided that they use the same license. Over the years this licensing has led to a large number of ports and internationalized versions in German, Japanese, and Spanish. The license also allows for software forks as long as they are distributed under the same license, except that the creator of a derivative work is allowed to offer warranty protection on the new work. The derivative work is required to indicate the modifications made and the dates of changes. In addition, the source code of the derivative work must be made available, free of charge except for nominal distribution fees. This has also allowed source code forks of "NetHack" including "Slash'EM", "UnNetHack", and "dNethack".


title: NetHack

text: Bugs, humorous messages, stories, experiences, and ideas for the next version are discussed on the Usenet newsgroup rec.games.roguelike.nethack.


title: NetHack

text: A public server at nethack.alt.org, commonly known as "NAO", gives players access to NetHack through a Telnet or SSH interface. A browser-based client is also available on the same site. Ebonhack connects to NAO with a graphical tiles-based interface.


title: NetHack

text: During the whole month of November, the annual /dev/null NetHack Tournament took place every year from 1999 to 2016. The November NetHack Tournament, initially conceived as a one-time tribute to devnull, has taken place each year since 2018. The Junethack Cross-Variant Summer Tournament has taken place annually since 2011.


title: NetHack

text: The Facebook artificial intelligence (AI) research team, along with researchers at the University of Oxford, New York University, the Imperial College London, and University College London, developed an open-source platform called the NetHack Learning Environment, designed to teach AI agents to play "NetHack". The base environment is able to maneuver the agent and fight its way through dungeons, but the team seeks community help to build an AI on the complexities of "NetHack" interconnected systems, using implicit knowledge that comes from player-made resources, thus giving a means for programmers to hook into the environment with additional resources. Facebook's research led the company to pose "NetHack" as a grand challenge in AI in June 2021, in part due to the game's permadeath and inability to experiment with the environment without creating a reaction. The competition at the 2021 Conference on Neural Information Processing Systems involved agents of various designs attempting to ascend. None of the agents managed this; the results were ranked by median in-game score, with the highest-ranked agent (Team AutoAscend) using a symbolic (non-machine-learning) design.


title: NetHack

text: "Nethack" will be part of the video game exhibit "Never Alone", in the Museum of Modern Art's collection, set to run from September 2022 to mid-2023.


title: History of Detroit

text: Detroit, the largest city in the state of Michigan, was settled in 1701 by French colonists. It is the first European settlement above tidewater in North America. Founded as a New France fur trading post, it began to expand during the 19th century with American settlement around the Great Lakes. By 1920, based on the booming auto industry and immigration, it became a world-class industrial powerhouse and the fourth-largest city in the United States. It held that standing through the mid-20th century.


title: History of Detroit

text: The first Europeans to settle in Detroit were French country traders and colonists from the New Orleans (the La Louisiane) colony. They were joined by traders from Montreal and Quebec; all had to contend with the powerful Five Nations of the League of the Iroquois, who took control of the southern shores of Lakes Erie and Huron through the Beaver Wars of the 17th century, during which they conquered or pushed out lesser tribes. <!--


title: Kaali (2018 film)

text: Kaali is a 2018 Indian Tamil-language historical action film directed by Kiruthiga Udhayanidhi, starring Vijay Antony in the lead alongside Anjali, Sunaina, Shilpa Manjunath, and Amritha Aiyer. Produced by Fatima Vijay Antony, the film began production in March 2017 and was released on 18 May 2018. The film was dubbed and released in Hindi as "Jawab the Justice".


title: Kaali (2018 film)

text: Bharath is a surgeon in America. Every time he sleeps, he gets a recurring dream about a bull chasing a baby and a woman's voice; this leaves him confused. When Bharath's mother goes into an emergency transplant surgery, he decides to be her donor. Still, his father reveals that it may not be possible because he is an adopted son. After his mother's successful surgery, Bharath goes to India to find out about his biological parents. Upon inquiry in the orphanage that he grew up in, he finds his mother's village and goes there. Bharath befriends villager Gopi, and they find that Bharath's mother's name is Parvathy, his actual name was Kaali, and she died trying to save him from a charging bull. Bharath assumes his given name Kaali, but when he asks about his father, nobody seems to know who he is, so he sets up a free clinic in the village and tries to do a DNA match test of all the patients who come there. The villagers line up to receive free treatment from him, and there is a sharp decrease in the number of patients coming to a local Siddha doctor named Valli. She becomes upset but later learns of Kaali's good nature.


title: Kaali (2018 film)

text: Meanwhile, Kaali and Gopi have suspicions about the village head Periyasamy because he is left-handed, like Kaali. They get him drunk and ask about his past, where a young Periyasamy is in love with his college mate, but they face opposition from their parents due to caste differences. They plan to elope when they find that his girlfriend is pregnant, but due to problems at his house and communal riots in the village, Periyasamy arrives later than expected, and his girlfriend consumes poison and dies upon thinking that he had betrayed her. When Kaali asks his girlfriend's name, Periyasamy tells that she is Thenmozhi, and Kaali realizes that Periyasamy is not his father.


title: Kaali (2018 film)

text: Later, in a brawl at a local bar, Kaali and Gopi come across a man named "Thala Vettiyaan" Maari, who has the name "Parvathy" tattooed on his arm. They try to find out about him, and he tells that the tattoo is the name of his girlfriend. A young Maari is a thief and goes to a house in the middle of the night to steal. He finds a woman named Parvathy trying to kill her abusive husband Gounder, who forcefully married her. Maari threatens Parvathy and steals money and jewels from her. Once Maari is out of the house, Parvathy follows him and tries to retrieve the stolen things, but he overpowers her. This incident blossoms into love between the two, and they try to elope to escape Gounder. Gounder finds out about the affair and orders his men to kill them. Parvathy dies while trying to save Maari. In a rage, Maari chops off Gounder's head, and this begins a communal riot in the village. Kaali now finds that Maari is also not his father.


title: Kaali (2018 film)

text: In the meantime, the DNA test results come, and Kaali finds a match with an older woman named Vellathayee, who may be his grandmother. She tells that she had a daughter who worked in the church and died in a fire, and Kaali realizes that his mother is not Parvathy but Poomayilu. He is suspicious of Father John, a kindhearted person who has the respect of all the villagers. Kaali tries to match John's DNA and reads his personal diary, where he learns about his past. A young John comes to the village to become a Christian priest. He finds about the casteism in the village and that people are still being subjected to abuse. He abolishes the caste system and teaches the villagers to be united. Certain upper caste members object to this, and Gounder is one of them. His henchman Das thrashes John, and Poomayilu tends to John while he recovers. John grasps her hands, as she lies down in bed next to John, and they accidentally make love, as Poomayilu becomes pregnant. John repents to a priest and tries desperately to convince Poomayilu to elope with him and get married. Still, she refuses, saying that the whole village is united only because of John, and if he leaves now, they will go back to their old ways.


title: Kaali (2018 film)

text: While this conversation happens, Das sets fire to all the lower caste community's huts in the wake of Gounder's murder committed by Maari. A communal riot begins, and many people die in the fire . Das is arrested and vows to take revenge on John. Poomayilu is also presumed to be dead. John becomes a priest and has been serving the village as per Poomayilu's wish since then. In reality, Poomayilu escaped the village without anyone's knowledge, had given birth to Kaali, and lived under a different identity as Parvathy until she died. Kaali now finds that his biological father is John and his DNA also matches to prove it. Das leaves jail and tries to kill John, but Kaali saves John and Das is killed. John thanks Kaali for his help. Kaali, however, chooses to hide the truth from John and let him continue his service to the community. He leaves the village since his mission is complete and takes along his grandmother and Valli with him to America.


title: Kaali (2018 film)

text: In January 2017, it was reported that Vijay Antony would work on a project to be directed by Kiruthiga Udhayanidhi, who had earlier made "Vanakkam Chennai" (2013). In March, Vijay Antony confirmed that he would star and also produce the film, which was titled "Kaali", with Kiruthiga revealing it would be a "family drama". Four actresses were cast in the film: Anjali, Sunaina, Amritha Aiyer, and Shilpa Manjunath.


title: Kaali (2018 film)

text: After shooting for the film alongside his commitments in Srinivasan's "Annadurai" (2017), Vijay Antony chose to briefly prioritise his work for "Kaali" in April 2017, after "Annadurai"s co-producer Raadhika underwent a tax raid on her properties. He later continued to shoot for both films simultaneously.


title: Kaali (2018 film)

text: A Chennaivision reviewer wrote: "On the whole, the first half of Kaali is impressive and interesting. But things fail to impress us much in the second half. It is a mixed ride of positive and negative things." Ashameera Aiyappan of The Indian Express wrote, "Kaali would have been more effective had it been an anthology of three stories of estranged love set in late 1980s, where society plays the devil."


title: Sur Empire

text: The Sur Empire (; ) was an Afghan dynasty which ruled a large territory in the northern part of the Indian subcontinent for nearly 16 years, between 1540 and 1556, with Sasaram, in modern-day Bihar, serving as its capital.


title: Sur Empire

text: The Sur dynasty held control of nearly all the Mughal territories, from eastern Balochistan, Pakistan in the west to modern-day Rakhine, Myanmar in the east.


title: Sur Empire

text: Sher Shah, an ethnic Pashtun of the tribal house of Sur, first served as a private before rising to become a commander in the Mughal army under Babur and then the governor of Bihar. In 1537, when Babur's son Humayun was elsewhere on an expedition, Sher Shah overran the state of Bengal and established the Suri dynasty. The Sur supplanted the Mughal dynasty as rulers of North India during the reign of the relatively ineffectual second Mughal Humayun. Sher Shah defeated "badshah-i-Hind" ('Hindustani emperor') Humayun in the Battle of Chausa (26 June 1539) and again in the Battle of Bilgram (17 May 1540).


title: Sur Empire

text: Sher Shah Suri was known for the destruction of some old cities while conquering parts of India. He has been accused by `Abd al-Qadir Bada'uni and other Muslim historians for destroying old cities in order to build new ones on their ruins after his own name. One example included Shergarh. Sher Shah is also said to have destroyed Dinpanah, which Humayun was constructing as the "sixth city of Delhi". The new city built by him, was itself destroyed in 1555 after Humayun re-conquered the territory from the Surs. Tarikh-i-Da'udi states, however, that he destroyed Siri. Abbas Sarwani states that he had the older city of Delhi destroyed. Tarikh-i-Khan Jahan states that Salim Shah Suri had built a wall around Humayun's imperial city.


title: Sur Empire

text: The Sur dynasty held control of nearly all the Mughal territories, from Balochistan in the west to modern-day Bangladesh in the east.


title: Throne

text: A throne is the seat of state of a potentate or dignitary, especially the seat occupied by a sovereign on state occasions; or the seat occupied by a pope or bishop on ceremonial occasions. "Throne" in an abstract sense can also refer to the monarchy or the Crown itself, an instance of metonymy, and is also used in many expressions such as "the power behind the throne".


title: Throne

text: Since the early advanced cultures, a throne has been known as a symbol of divine and secular rule and the establishment of a throne as a defining sign of the claim to power and authority. It can be with a high backrest and feature heraldic animals or other decorations as adornment and as a sign of power and strength. A throne can be placed underneath a canopy or baldachin. The throne can stand on steps or a dais and is thus always elevated. The expression "ascend (mount) the throne" takes its meaning from the steps leading up to the dais or platform, on which the throne is placed, being formerly comprised in the word's significance. Coats of arms or insignia can feature on throne or canopy and represent the dynasty. Even in the physical absence of the ruler an empty throne can symbolise the everlasting presence of the monarchical authority.


title: Throne

text: When used in a political or governmental sense, a throne typically exists in a civilization, nation, tribe, or other politically designated group that is organized or governed under a monarchical system. Throughout much of human history societies have been governed under monarchical systems, in the beginning as autocratic systems and later evolved in most cases as constitutional monarchies within liberal democratic systems, resulting in a wide variety of thrones that have been used by given heads of state. These have ranged from stools in places such as in Africa to ornate chairs and bench-like designs in Europe and Asia, respectively. Often, but not always, a throne is tied to a philosophical or religious ideology held by the nation or people in question, which serves a dual role in unifying the people under the reigning monarch and connecting the monarch upon the throne to his or her predecessors, who sat upon the throne previously. Accordingly, many thrones are typically held to have been constructed or fabricated out of rare or hard to find materials that may be valuable or important to the land in question. Depending on the size of the throne in question it may be large and ornately designed as an emplaced instrument of a nation's power, or it may be a symbolic chair with little or no precious materials incorporated into the design.


title: Throne

text: When used in a religious sense, throne can refer to one of two distinct uses. The first use derives from the practice in churches of having a bishop or higher-ranking religious official (archbishop, Pope, etc.) sit on a special chair which in church referred to by written sources as a "throne", or “Cathedra” (Latin for chair) and is intended to allow such high-ranking religious officials a place to sit in their place of worship. The other use for throne refers to a belief among many of the world's monotheistic and polytheistic religions that the deity or deities that they worship are seated on a throne. Such beliefs go back to ancient times, and can be seen in surviving artwork and texts which discuss the idea of ancient gods (such as the Twelve Olympians) seated on thrones. In the major Abrahamic religions of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, the Throne of God is attested to in religious scriptures and teachings, although the origin, nature, and idea of the Throne of God in these religions differs according to the given religious ideology practiced.


title: Throne

text: In the west, a throne is most identified as the seat upon which a person holding the title King, Queen, Emperor, or Empress sits in a nation using a monarchy political system, although there are a few exceptions, notably with regards to religious officials such as the Pope and bishops of various sects of the Christian faith. Changing geo-political tides have resulted in the collapse of several dictatorial and autocratic governments, which in turn have left a number of throne chairs empty. Many of these thrones - such as China's Dragon Throne - survive today as historic examples of nation's previous government.


title: Throne

text: Thrones were found throughout the canon of ancient furniture. The depiction of monarchs and deities as seated on chairs is a common topos in the iconography of the Ancient Near East.


title: Throne

text: The word "throne" itself is from Greek θρόνος ("thronos"), "seat, chair", in origin a derivation from the PIE root "" "to support" (also in "dharma" "post, sacrificial pole").


title: Throne

text: Early Greek Διὸς θρόνους ("Dios thronous") was a term for the "support of the heavens", i.e. the axis mundi, which term when Zeus became an anthropomorphic god was imagined as the "seat of Zeus". In Ancient Greek, a "thronos" was a specific but ordinary type of chair with a footstool, a high status object but not necessarily with any connotations of power. The Achaeans (according to Homer) were known to place additional, empty thrones in the royal palaces and temples so that the gods could be seated when they wished to be. The most famous of these thrones was the throne of Apollo in Amyclae.


title: Throne

text: The Romans also had two types of thrones- one for the Emperor and one for the goddess Roma whose statues were seated upon thrones, which became centers of worship.


title: Throne

text: In Persia, the traditional name of the throne is the Takht-e Padeshah. From the Achaemenid era to the last Iranian dynasty Pahlavi, the throne was used for sitting Shahs.


title: Throne

text: The Pharaoh of the Exodus is described as sitting on a throne (Exodus 11:5, 12:29), but mostly the term


title: Throne

text: refers to the throne of the kingdom of Israel, often called the "throne of David" or "throne of Solomon". The literal throne of Solomon is described in :


title: Throne

text: "Moreover the king made a great throne of ivory, and overlaid it with the best gold.. The throne had six steps, and the top of the throne was round behind: and there were stays on either side on the place of the seat, and two lions stood beside the stays.


title: Throne

text: And twelve lions stood there on the one side and on the other upon the six steps: there was not the like made in any kingdom."


title: Throne

text: The God of Israel himself is frequently described as sitting on a throne, referred to outside of the Bible as the Throne of God, in the Psalms, and in a vision Isaiah (6:1), and notably in Isaiah 66:1, YHWH says of himself "The heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool" (this verse is alluded to by Matthew 5:34-35).


title: Throne

text: "He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Highest; and the Lord God will give Him the throne of His father David. And He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of His kingdom there will be no end."


title: Throne

text: Jesus promised his Apostles that they would sit upon "twelve thrones", judging the twelve tribes of Israel (). John's Revelation states: "And I saw a great white throne, and him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away" ().


title: Throne

text: The Apostle Paul speaks of "thrones" in . Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite, in his work, "De Coelesti Hierarchia" (VI.7) interprets this as referring to one of the ranks of angels (corresponding to the Hebrew "Arelim" or "Ophanim"). This concept was expanded upon by Thomas Aquinas in his "Summa Theologica" (I.108), wherein the thrones are concerned with carrying out divine justice.


title: Throne

text: In Medieval times the "Throne of Solomon" was associated with the Virgin Mary, who was depicted as the throne upon which Jesus sat. The ivory in the biblical description of the Throne of Solomon was interpreted as representing purity, the gold representing divinity, and the six steps of the throne stood for the six virtues. was also interpreted as referring to the Virgin Mary, the entire Psalm describing a royal throne room.


title: Throne

text: From ancient times, bishops of the Roman Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, Anglican and other churches where episcopal offices exist, have been formally seated on a throne, called a "cathedra" (). Traditionally located in the sanctuary, the cathedra symbolizes the bishop's authority to teach the faith (hence the expression "ex cathedra") and to govern his flock.


title: Throne

text: "Ex cathedra" refers to the explicative authority, notably the extremely rarely used procedure required for a papal declaration to be 'infallible' under Roman Catholic Canon law. In several languages the word deriving from "cathedra" is commonly used for an academic teaching mandate, the professorial chair.


title: Throne

text: From the presence of this cathedra (throne), which can be as elaborate and precious as fits a secular prince (even if the prelate is not a prince of the church in the secular sense), a bishop's primary church is called a cathedral. In the Roman Catholic Church, a basilica -from the Greek "basilikos" 'royal'-, now refers to the presence there of a papal canopy ("ombrellino"), part of his regalia, and applies mainly to many cathedrals and Catholic churches of similar importance and/or splendor. In Roman Antiquity a basilica was secular public hall. Thus, the term basilica may also refer to a church designed after the manner of the ancient Roman basilica. Many of the churches built by the emperor Constantine the Great and Justinian are of the basilica style.


title: Throne

text: Some other prelates besides bishops are permitted the use of thrones, such as abbots and abbesses. These are often simpler than the thrones used by bishops and there may be restrictions on the style and ornamentation used on them, according to the regulations and traditions of the particular denomination.


title: Throne

text: As a mark of distinction, Roman Catholic bishops and higher prelates have a right to a canopy above their thrones at certain ecclesiastical functions. It is sometimes granted by special privilege to prelates inferior to bishops, but always with limitations as to the days on which it may be used and the character of its ornamentation. The liturgical color of the canopy should correspond with that of the other vestments. When ruling monarchs attend services, they are also allowed to be seated on a throne that is covered by a canopy, but their seats must be outside the sanctuary.


title: Throne

text: In the Greek Orthodox Church, the bishop's throne will often combine features of the monastic choir stall ("kathisma") with appurtenances inherited from the Byzantine court, such as a pair of lions seated at the foot of the throne.


title: Throne

text: The term "throne" is often used in reference to Patriarchs to designate their ecclesiastical authority; for instance, "the Ecumenical Throne" refers to the authority of the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople.


title: Throne

text: Western bishops may also use a faldstool to fulfill the liturgical purpose of the cathedra when not in their own cathedral.


title: Throne

text: In the Roman Catholic Church, the Pope is an elected monarch, both under canon law as supreme head of the church, and under international law as the head of state -styled "sovereign pontiff"- of the Vatican City State (the sovereign state within the city of Rome established by the 1929 Lateran Treaty). Until 1870, the Pope was the elected monarch of the Papal States, which for centuries constituted one of the largest political powers on the divided Italian peninsula. To this day, the Holy See maintains officially recognised diplomatic status, and papal nuncios and legates are deputed on diplomatic missions throughout the world.


title: Throne

text: The Pope's throne ("Cathedra Romana"), is located in the apse of the Archbasilica of St. John Lateran, his cathedral as Bishop of Rome.


title: Throne

text: In apse of Saint Peter's Basilica, above the "Altar of the Chair" lies the "Cathedra Petri", a throne believed to have been used by St Peter himself and other earlier Popes; this relic is enclosed in a gilt bronze casting and forms part of a huge monument designed by Gian Lorenzo Bernini.


title: Throne

text: Unlike at his cathedral (Archbasilica of St. John Lateran), there is no permanent "cathedra" for the Pope in St Peter's Basilica, so a removable throne is placed in the Basilica for the Pope's use whenever he presides over a liturgical ceremony. Prior to the liturgical reforms that occurred in the wake of the Second Vatican Council, a huge removable canopied throne was placed above an equally removable dais in the choir side of the "Altar of the Confession" (the high altar above the tomb of St Peter and beneath the monumental bronze baldachin); this throne stood between the apse and the Altar of the Confession.


title: Throne

text: This practice has fallen out of use with the 1960s and 1970s reform of Papal liturgy and, whenever the Pope celebrates Mass in St. Peter's Basilica, a simpler portable throne is now placed on platform in front of the Altar of the Confession. Whenever Pope Benedict XVI celebrated the Liturgy of the Hours at St Peter's, a more elaborate removable throne was placed on a dais to the side of the Altar of the Chair. When the Pope celebrates Mass on the Basilica steps facing St. Peter's Square, portable thrones are also used.


title: Throne

text: In the past, the pope was also carried on occasions in a portable throne, called the "sedia gestatoria". Originally, the "sedia" was used as part of the elaborate procession surrounding papal ceremonies that was believed to be the most direct heir of pharaonic splendor, and included a pair of flabella (fans made from ostrich feathers) to either side. Pope John Paul I at first abandoned the use of these implements, but later in his brief reign began to use the "sedia" so that he could be seen more easily by the crowds. The use of the "sedia" was abandoned by Pope John Paul II in favor of the so-called "popemobile" when outside. Near the end of his pontificate, Pope John Paul II had a specially constructed throne on wheels that could be used inside.


title: Throne

text: Prior to 1978, at the Papal conclave, each cardinal was seated on a throne in the Sistine Chapel during the balloting. Each throne had a canopy over it. After a successful election, once the new pope accepted election and decided by what name he would be known, the cardinals would all lower their canopies, leaving only the canopy over the newly elected pope. This was the new pope's first throne. This tradition was dramatically portrayed in the 1968 film, "The Shoes of the Fisherman".


title: Throne

text: In European feudal countries, monarchs often were seated on thrones, based in all likelihood on the Roman magisterial chair. These thrones were originally quite simple, especially when compared to their Asian counterparts. One of the grandest and most important was the Throne of Ivan "the Terrible". Dating from the mid-16th century, it is shaped as a high-backed chair with arm rests, and adorned with ivory and walrus bone plaques intricately carved with mythological, heraldic and life scenes. The plaques carved with scenes from the biblical account of King David’s life are of particular relevance, as David was seen as the ideal for Christian monarchs. In practice, any chair the monarch occupied in a formal setting served as a "throne", though there were often special chairs used only for this kept in places the monarch often went to. Thrones began to be made in pairs, for the king and queen, which remained common in later periods. Sometimes they are identical, or the queen's throne may be slightly less grand.


title: Throne

text: The throne of the Byzantine Empire (Magnaura) included elaborate automatons of singing birds. In the 'regency' (nominally an Ottoman province, de facto an independent realm) of the Bey of Tunis, the throne was called "kursi".


title: Throne

text: Though medieval examples tended to be retained in the Early Modern period, having acquired the aura of tradition, when new thrones were made they either continued medieval styles or were just very grand and elaborate versions of contemporary chairs or armchairs.


title: Throne

text: In the Indian subcontinent, the traditional Sanskrit name for the throne was "siṃhāsana" (lit., seat of a lion). In the Mughal times the throne was called "Shāhī takht" (). The term "gadi" or "gaddi" (, also called "rājgaddī") referred to a seat with a cushion used as a throne by Indian princes. That term was usually used for the throne of a Hindu princely state's ruler, while among Muslim princes or Nawabs, save exceptions such as the Travancore State royal family, the term "musnad" (), also spelt as "musnud", was more common, even though both seats were similar.


title: Throne

text: The Throne of Jahangir was built by Mughal emperor Jahangir in 1602 and is located at the "Diwan-i-Khas" (hall of private audience) at the Agra Fort.


title: Throne

text: The Peacock Throne was the seat of the Mughal emperors of India. It was commissioned in the early 17th century by emperor Shah Jahan and was located in the Red Fort of Delhi. The original throne was subsequently captured and taken as a war trophy in 1739 by the Persian king Nadir Shah, and has been lost ever since. A replacement throne based on the original was commissioned afterwards and existed until the Indian Rebellion of 1857.


title: Throne

text: Maharaja Ranjit Singh's throne was made by the goldsmith Hafez Muhammad Multani about 1820 to 1830. Made of Wood and resin core, covered with sheets of repoussé, chased and engraved gold.


title: Throne

text: The Golden Throne or Chinnada Simhasana or Ratna Simahasana in Kannada is the royal seat of the rulers of the Kingdom of Mysore. The Golden throne is kept at Mysore Palace.


title: Throne

text: In Burma, the traditional name for a throne is "palin," from the Pali term "pallaṅka", which means "couch" or "sofa." The Burmese "palin" in pre-colonial times was used to seat the sovereign and his main consort, and is today used to seat religious leaders such as sayadaws, and images of the Buddha. Royal thrones are called "yazapalin" (ရာဇပလ္လင်), while thrones seating images or statues of the Buddha are called "gaw pallin" (ဂေါ့ပလ္လင်) or "samakhan" (စမ္မခဏ်), from the Pali term "sammakhaṇḍa".


title: Throne

text: The Dragon Throne is the term used to identify the throne of the Emperor of China. As the dragon was the emblem of divine imperial power, the throne of the emperor, who was considered a living god, was known as the Dragon Throne. The term can refer to very specific seating, as in the special seating in various structures in the Forbidden City of Beijing or in the palaces of the Old Summer Palace. In an abstract sense, the "Dragon Throne" also refers rhetorically to the head of state and to the monarchy itself. The Daoguang Emperor is said to have referred to his throne as "the divine utensil."


title: Throne

text: The throne of the Emperors of Vietnam are often referred to as "ngai vàng" ("golden throne") or "ngôi báu" (大寳/寶座) literally "great precious" (seat/position). The throne are always adorned with the pattern and motif of the Vietnamese dragon, which is the exclusive and privileged symbol of the Vietnamese Emperors. The last existing imperial throne in Vietnam is the throne of Nguyễn Emperors placed in The Hall of Supreme Harmony, Imperial City of Huế. It is designated as a national treasure of Vietnam. In Vietnamese folk religion, the gods, deities and ancestral spirits are believed to seat figuratively on thrones at places of worship. Therefore, on Vietnamese altars, there are various types of liturgical "throne" often decorated with red paint and golden gilding.


title: Throne

text: The Phoenix Throne (御座/어좌 "eojwa") is the term used to identify the throne of the King of Korea. In an abstract sense, the Phoenix Throne also refers rhetorically to the head of state of the Joseon dynasty (1392–1897) and the Empire of Korea (1897–1910). The throne is located at Gyeongbok Palace in Seoul.


title: Throne

text: The is the term used to identify the throne of the Emperor of Japan. The term also can refer to very specific seating, such as the "takamikura" (高御座) throne in the Shishin-den at Kyoto Imperial Palace.


title: Throne

text: During the Russian Empire, the throne in St. George's Hall (the "Greater Throne Room") in the Winter Palace was regarded as "the" throne of Russia. It sits atop a seven-stepped dais with a proscenium arch above and the symbol of the Imperial Family behind (the two-headed eagle). Peter I's Room (the "Smaller Throne Room") is modest in comparison to the former. The throne was made for Empress Anna Ivanovna in London. There is also a throne in the Grand Throne Room of the Peterhof Palace.


title: Throne

text: In some countries with a monarchy, thrones are still used and have important symbolic and ceremonial meaning. Among the most famous thrones still in usage are St Edward's Chair, on which the British monarch is crowned, and the thrones used by monarchs during the state opening of parliaments in the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Canada, Australia, and Japan (see above) among others.


title: Throne

text: Some republics use distinctive throne-like chairs in some state ceremonial. The President of Ireland sits on a former viceregal throne during his or her inauguration ceremony while Lords Mayor and Lords Provost of many British and Irish cities often preside over local councils from throne-like chairs.


title: October 2018 United States mail bombing attempts

text: From October 22 to November 1, 2018, sixteen packages found to contain pipe bombs were mailed via the U.S. Postal Service to several Democratic Party politicians and other prominent critics of U.S. President Donald Trump. Targets included former U.S. President Barack Obama, former U.S. Vice President Joe Biden, and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.


text: Other people who were sent packages included three Democratic members of Congress: Representative Maxine Waters, Senators Cory Booker and Kamala Harris; former U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder, two former intelligence chiefs: ex-CIA Director John Brennan and ex-Director of National Intelligence James Clapper; two billionaire Democratic donors and activists: George Soros and Tom Steyer; and actor Robert De Niro. One package was addressed only to CNN and sent to its world headquarters.


text: The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and other federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies coordinated their investigations of the attempted bombings. All sixteen confirmed bombs sent were improvised explosive devices, though none had a trigger mechanism. None of the devices exploded outside a controlled setting.


text: A suspect, Cesar Altieri Sayoc Jr., was arrested in Florida on October 26, held without bail, and charged with five federal crimes the following week. The FBI investigated the case as domestic terrorism. On March 21, 2019, Sayoc pleaded guilty to 65 felony counts, including using weapons of mass destruction in an attempted domestic terrorist attack. He was sentenced to a maximum of 20 years in prison on August 5, 2019, and will be eligible for parole as early as November 10, 2035.


text: The first suspicious package containing such a device was found in the mailbox at the home of Democratic donor George Soros in Katonah, New York. Soros, who is regularly the subject of conspiracy theories and threats by right-wing extremists, was absent. The employee who found the device carried it to a wooded area, where bomb squad officers safely detonated it.


text: A package containing a device, addressed to former U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton (misspelled as "Hilary"), was intercepted by the Secret Service during a mail screening in Chappaqua, New York. A former U.S. Senator from New York and the First Lady of former President Bill Clinton, she was President Donald Trump's main opponent in the 2016 U.S. presidential election.


text: A device addressed to former President Barack Obama was intercepted by the Secret Service during a mail screening in Washington, D.C.


text: Additionally, a package containing an explosive and suspicious powder was found in CNN's mail room in the Time Warner Center in New York City, addressed to former CIA Director John Brennan (misspelled as "Brenan"). CNN reported that law enforcement said the package was delivered by courier. Brennan has served as a senior national security and intelligence analyst for NBC News and MSNBC since February 2018, but has also appeared on CNN. The bomb alarm occurred during "CNN Newsroom" with Poppy Harlow and Jim Sciutto. Along with their colleagues Kate Bolduan and Athena Jones, reporters Harlow and Sciutto left the building, but continued to report via Skype over a cellphone line.


text: A suspicious package addressed to U.S. Representative Maxine Waters was intercepted by United States Capitol Police. Another suspicious package addressed to Waters resulted in the evacuation of a U.S. Postal Service facility in Los Angeles.


text: A package addressed to former U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder, with a bad address, was returned to the purported sender, the office of former Democratic National Committee Chairwoman and current U.S. Representative Debbie Wasserman Schultz in Sunrise, Florida.


text: In the early morning hours, a package was found in Tribeca, New York City, addressed to actor, producer and director Robert De Niro, via his company Tribeca Productions. De Niro has publicly expressed criticism of Trump.


text: Authorities also found a package in New Castle, Delaware, addressed to former Vice President Joe Biden with his full name, Joseph Robinette Biden Jr. It was returned to the post office due to insufficient postage, and examined because of the other packages. A second package intended for Biden, but addressed incorrectly, was found at a facility in Wilmington, Delaware.


text: The Miami-Dade Police Department and federal authorities believe that several of the packages would have passed through a mail processing and distribution center in Opa-locka, Florida; they searched the facility for evidence with a bomb squad and K-9 unit.


text: Authorities found four packages similar to previous packages. One addressed to former National Intelligence Director James Clapper (which, like the one sent to John Brennan, had CNN's Time Warner Center address) was found in a New York City postal facility, while another, addressed to U.S. Senator Cory Booker, was found in a Florida postal facility.


text: Authorities later found a bomb addressed to U.S. Senator Kamala Harris in Sacramento, California, and one addressed to billionaire Tom Steyer, a Democratic donor who frequently appeared in ads encouraging Congress to impeach President Trump on CNN, in Burlingame, California.


text: CNN President Jeff Zucker issued an alert to employees that a suspicious package sent to the CNN Center was found at a post office in Atlanta, Georgia. Jim Sciutto posted a picture of the package on Twitter and it was similar to the others. Unlike the other two sent to CNN, it was not addressed to a specific person. President Trump has frequently criticized CNN and its employees in derogatory terms.


text: According to "The New York Times", the device sent to Soros's house was constructed from a length of PVC pipe about long, filled with explosive powder. It was proactively detonated by bomb squad technicians. Authorities reported that the devices recovered on October 24 were packed with shards of glass. A law enforcement official told reporters that the devices sent to Clinton and Obama were similar in design to the one that was sent to Soros. According to the Associated Press, a law enforcement official said tests have determined that white powder found inside an envelope delivered to CNN, along with a pipe bomb, was not viable. The bombs contained pyrotechnic powder but lacked a triggering mechanism; the FBI described them as "potentially destructive devices." Law enforcement officials told the Associated Press that the devices contained batteries and timers but were not rigged to explode when they were opened. The officials said they're still trying to determine if the devices were shoddily constructed or simply intended as threats to sow fear.


text: At a press conference following the arrest of the suspect, FBI Director Christopher Wray described the bombs as improvised explosive devices, stating that they were "not hoax devices".


text: All of the devices were sent in yellow manila envelopes lined with bubble wrap. They each had a printed address label and six Forever stamps, as well as the return address of U.S. Representative Debbie Wasserman Schultz's office in Sunrise, Florida. All of the return addresses contained the same spelling errors: Schultz was misspelled "Shultz" and Florida was misspelled "Florids". Each set of labels was typed in all capital letters. The packages were furnished with a meme parody of the ISIL flag with the inscription "Git 'Er[sic] Done", a catchphrase of standup comedian Larry the Cable Guy. Photographs of the packages meant for CNN were posted to Twitter by staffers Jim Sciutto and Jim Acosta.


text: The FBI led the investigation, with assistance from the United States Secret Service, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF); the United States Postal Inspection Service, the New York City, Los Angeles, Miami-Dade, and Atlanta police departments; and other law enforcement agencies. Images of envelopes taken by the U.S. Postal Service's Mail Isolation Control and Tracking system have been examined as part of the investigation.


text: Several of the mail bomb packages were sent to the FBI Laboratory in Quantico, Virginia, for inspection. A fingerprint found on one of the packages and DNA on two other packages pointed to Sayoc as the suspect. He was identified through video surveillance near a South Florida post office, and located by tracking his cell phone. On October 26, Sayoc was arrested in the parking lot of an AutoZone store in Plantation, Florida, in connection with the series of explosive devices sent to several individuals.


text: Cesar Altieri Sayoc Jr. (born March 17, 1962) was born in Brooklyn and moved to Florida as a child. His father is a Filipino immigrant and his mother was born in the Bronx, of Italian descent. His father abandoned him and his mother when Sayoc was a child.


text: Sayoc graduated from North Miami Beach High School in 1980. He attended Brevard College for three semesters starting that year and transferred to the University of North Carolina at Charlotte in 1983 where he played on the school's soccer team but did not declare a major.


text: His last known address was that of his mother's house in Aventura, Florida, but Sayoc was living in his van at the time of his arrest.


text: Sayoc has a long criminal history. In 2002, he pleaded guilty to calling in a bomb threat to Florida Power & Light. He was also arrested on multiple occasions for charges that included theft, battery, and drug possession, with convictions in 1991, 2013, and 2014.


text: State records list Sayoc as connected to two, now-inactive Hallandale Beach businesses: Proud Native American One Low Price Drycleaning in 2001 and, more recently, at Native American Catering & Vending LLC in 2016. Sayoc's home was foreclosed in 2009 and he filed Chapter 7 bankruptcy in 2012 after accumulating debts of more than $21,000.


text: Sayoc is a bodybuilder and has abused steroids. He has made numerous false claims about himself and his background. He claimed during a 2014 deposition that he played soccer for A.C. Milan and arena football for the Arizona Rattlers, which both teams have denied. He claimed to have been a popular stripper, an owner of a strip club, and partner in Chippendales; the company says he never worked there and "has never been affiliated in any way with Chippendales".


text: At the time of his 2012 bankruptcy, Sayoc said he was employed as a store manager of Hassanco Investments in Hollywood, Florida. From January 2017 to January 2018, he worked part time making deliveries for a pizzeria in Fort Lauderdale. At the time of his arrest, he was working as a DJ and doorman at a West Palm Beach strip club.


text: Sayoc is a registered Republican. He registered with the Republican Party on March 4, 2016. Sayoc filmed himself wearing a MAGA hat at one of the president's rallies. Sayoc was active on Twitter and Facebook, where since 2016 he was known for his extreme views and frequently posted pro-Trump and anti-liberal messages and memes, as well as right-wing conspiracy theories and stories from "InfoWars", "WorldNetDaily", and "Breitbart News".


text: Ilya Somin, a libertarian-leaning law professor at George Mason University and a scholar at the Cato Institute, reported that he was the subject of death threats from Sayoc made on Facebook in April 2018. According to Somin, after he appeared on a Fox News interview criticizing those who hold anti-immigration views, Sayoc (using an alias) posted on his Facebook and threatened to kill Somin and his family and "feed the bodies to Florida alligators". At the time, Somin's Facebook friends reported the comments to Facebook, which did not respond except for automated messages. Somin also reported the incident to George Mason University police and Arlington, Virginia law enforcement.


text: Democratic strategist Rochelle Ritchie had also received a threatening tweet from Sayoc on October 11 that said: "Hug your loved ones real close every time you leave you home"; Twitter initially failed to act on this. Sayoc's accounts were permanently suspended after his arrest, and Twitter representatives have since apologized to Ritchie.


text: Sayoc's van was seized by law enforcement when he was apprehended. It was covered with images of Donald Trump and Vice President Mike Pence, along with a sticker that read "CNN Sucks". Some posters also supported the "unconquered Seminoles", a Native American tribe that was historically based in Florida; two federally recognized tribes are there, and another in Oklahoma. Sayoc has been described as proudly claiming Native American heritage, but the Seminole Tribe of Florida said there was no record of his being a member or employee of the tribe. Other stickers on the van showed Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, documentarian Michael Moore, CNN commentator and host Van Jones, and 2016 Green Party U.S. presidential candidate Jill Stein with gunsight crosshair designs on their faces. Moore said on "Late Night with Seth Meyers" on November 2 that the FBI had visited his home to inform him that Sayoc had conducted extensive research on him, according to his computer records.


text: Reports indicate that "soldering equipment, stamps, envelopes, paper, a printer and powder" were found in Sayoc's van, suggesting that he could have built bombs in it. Law enforcement officials told reporters that Sayoc had a "hit list" of more than 100 people in his van; they informed persons on the list but have not released the names publicly. Sayoc reportedly told officials the bombs were harmless and that he did not want to hurt anyone.


text: Following his arrest, Sayoc was charged with five federal crimes: "interstate transportation of an explosive"; "illegal mailing of explosives"; "threats against former presidents and certain other persons"; "threatening interstate communications"; and "assaulting federal officers". The charges were filed by federal prosecutors of the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York (SDNY). Prosecutors from the SDNY said electronic devices owned by Sayoc had data showing that he began planning the attacks in July 2018.


text: Sayoc was arraigned in Miami on October 29, 2018 and his court-assigned lawyer entered a plea of not guilty. Three days later, he was ordered to be transferred to New York for trial. On November 6, 2018, a New York judge ordered Sayoc to be held without bail in the Metropolitan Correctional Center, New York.


text: On March 21, 2019, Sayoc pleaded guilty to 65 felony counts, including using weapons of mass destruction in an attempted domestic terrorist attack. In court, Sayoc stated: "I sent all 16 devices with the intent to threaten or intimidate. I know these actions were wrong." Sayoc said that he did not intend for the bombs to explode, but "was aware of the risk that it would explode."


text: He was sentenced to 20 years in prison on August 5, 2019. During sentencing, Judge Jed S. Rakoff stated that the bombs were purposely designed not to explode or cause anyone damage. Bomb experts agreed that Sayoc's packages were not configured to detonate. In sentencing Sayoc, Rakoff said he had concluded that Sayoc was capable of concocting a pipe bomb that could explode and had consciously chosen not to.


text: In a filing by the defense on July 22, 2019, Sayoc's attorneys said he had "lost everything in the Great Recession", had "cognitive limitations and severe learning disabilities", and was "abandoned by his father and sexually abused by a teacher at his Catholic school." They said that he suffered from "anxiety and paranoia" and that he "came to believe that prominent Democrats were actively working to hurt him". They also said he was an avid Fox News viewer (especially the shows "Fox & Friends" and "Hannity") and on social media, he "promoted various conspiracy theories, and more generally, the idea that Trump's critics were dangerous, unpatriotic, and evil." At sentencing, Sayoc said before he mailed the bombs his idea "first was how to tone down the liberal left violence platform." He wrote that he believed prominent Democrats were encouraging violence, and said that he had been attacked personally.


text: As of October 22, 2019, Sayoc is serving his 20-year sentence at United States Penitentiary, Marion. In February 2022, Sayoc was transferred from Marion to FCI Butner Medium II. His earliest possible release date is November 10, 2035.


text: Hillary Clinton thanked the Secret Service for intercepting the package and during a political event in Florida on behalf of Congressional candidate Donna Shalala she stated "Every day we are grateful for their commitment, and obviously never more than today, but it is a troubling time isn't it? And it's a time of deep divisions, and we have to do everything we can to bring our country together." John Brennan pointed directly to Trump's rhetoric, saying that Trump "fuels these feelings and sentiments that now are bleeding over into potential acts of violence ... Unfortunately, I think Donald Trump, too often, has helped to incite some of these feelings of anger, if not violence, when he points to acts of violence or also talks about, you know, swinging at somebody from the press or the media."


text: Several sources pointed out that some of the targets of the mailings, such as Clinton and Waters, are people that Trump routinely attacks at his campaign rallies – his "favorite punching bags." New York Mayor Bill de Blasio described the packages as "an act of terror" and stated that all politicians must stop encouraging attacks on media. Biden said of the attempts, "we've got to turn off this hate machine." Wasserman Schultz responded saying, "We will not be intimidated by this attempted act of violence. This appalling attack on our democracy must be vigorously prosecuted, and I am deeply disturbed by the way my name was used." Waters said, "I don't know whether the bombs are real or not, but we should not crawl under the bed, close the doors, not go out, be afraid to go to rallies. We have to keep to doing what we're doing in order to make this country right; that's what I intend to do, and as the young people say, I ain't scared."


text: Trump held a midterm campaign rally in Mosinee, Wisconsin, on October 24, during the height of the mailings. He said of the bombings:


text: The next day, Trump claimed on Twitter that the mainstream media were largely responsible for anger present in American society. His comments were echoed by former White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders, who said that Trump had urged the public to come together and had sent a very clear, strong unmistakable message that acts or threats of political violence had no standing in the United States. Sanders then attacked statements by CNN President Jeff Zucker, claiming that he "chose to attack and divide." Trump also tweeted against the media, on October 24, stating, "Funny how lowly rated CNN, and others, can criticize me at will, even blame me for the current state of Bombs and ridiculously comparing this to September 11th and the Oklahoma City bombing, yet when I criticize them they go wild and scream, 'it's just not Presidential!


text: Appearing before a group of young black conservatives an hour after the arrest, Trump praised the swift action by law enforcement and promised "swift and certain justice." He added, "We must never allow political violence to take root in America. We cannot let it happen. I am committed to do everything in my power as president to stop it and stop it now." A few minutes later he attacked Democrats and the media, to cheers from the crowd. Later in the day he told reporters that he was in no way to blame for the attacks and had no plans to do anything differently. Asked if he might tone down his rhetoric in response to the mail bombs, he replied, "Tone down, no. Could tone up. I think I've been toned down, if you want to know the truth."


text: On October 26, Trump claimed that news coverage of the pipe bombs targeting Democratic politicians and critics of his policies had drowned out other news stories and slowed Republican voting in the mid-term election. He tweeted, "Republicans were doing so well in early voting, and at the polls, and now this 'Bomb' stuff happens and the momentum greatly slows – news not talking politics. Very unfortunate, what is going on."


text: CNN President Jeff Zucker said about the mailings, "There is a total and complete lack of understanding at the White House about the seriousness of their continued attacks on the media. The president, and especially the White House press secretary, should understand their words matter. Thus far, they have shown no comprehension of that." Zucker later stated that all mail sent to any CNN building will now be screened offsite. CNN also reported that the bombings were one of three hate-motivated incidents that took place in the United States the same week, along with shootings in a synagogue in Pittsburgh and a Kroger grocery store in Jeffersontown, Kentucky.


text: Following the news of the events, the hashtag "#MAGABomber" began trending on Twitter, referring to Trump's 2016 campaign slogan, "MAGA" (Make America Great Again).


text: The incident has been the subject of conspiracy theories saying the events are part of a false flag operation, that the attacks were staged by those who hoped to cast the blame on Trump supporters. When the incidents were first reported, conservatives such as columnist Kurt Schlichter and conspiracy theorist and radio host Alex Jones issued social media posts and articles through "InfoWars" to assert their belief that the incidents were false flags, a "super convenient turn of events", and a potential "political stunt". Many of the comments were deleted as more information was received about the case.


text: After having been started by overtly conspiracist outlets, the false flag narrative was later picked up by some mainstream conservatives. Commentator Rush Limbaugh said that Republicans could not be responsible for the packages, that "Republicans just don't do this kind of thing. Even though every event, like mass shootings, remember, every mass shooting there is, the Democrats in the media try to make everybody think right off the bat that some tea partier did it, or some talk radio fan did it, or some Fox News viewer did it. Turns out, it's never, ever the case." Limbaugh instead raised unsubstantiated claims that the perpetrator might have been a "Democrat operative ... attempting to create the appearance that there are mobs everywhere." Other right-wing commentators who tried to spread the "false flag" conspiracy theories included Ann Coulter, Dinesh D'Souza, Michael Savage, James Woods, Frank Gaffney, Candace Owens, and Laura Loomer.


title: Bob Wells (vandweller)

text: Bob Wells (born 1955) is an American YouTuber, author, and advocate of minimalist, nomadic vandwelling.


title: Bob Wells (vandweller)

text: Wells founded the Rubber Tramp Rendezvous, an annual gathering of van dwellers in Quartzsite, Arizona, and the Homes on Wheels Alliance, which assists needy individuals in acquiring vehicles for habitation and travel.


title: Bob Wells (vandweller)

text: Wells's father worked as a union clerk at a Safeway in Anchorage, Alaska and died two years after reaching retirement. Wells found himself employed in the same store, wanting to avoid his father's inability to enjoy retirement.


title: Bob Wells (vandweller)

text: In 1995, feeling stuck after working twenty years at the store, and suffering a difficult divorce with two children, Wells found his finances constrained — and moved into a box van, purchased with his last $1,500. The experience left him crying himself to sleep most nights. After six years, he remarried, moved into a house, and relocated with his wife to North Carolina, where the stress of the marriage with a mortgage became too much.


title: Bob Wells (vandweller)

text: After he and his second wife divorced, Wells began living in a truck camper, followed by a work van, and most recently, a four-wheel-drive ambulance.


title: Bob Wells (vandweller)

text: In 2005, after seeing a mother and her three children sleeping in a car, Wells created the website "cheaprvliving.com", to provide tips, resources and strategies for living in a vehicle.


title: Bob Wells (vandweller)

text: In January of each year, Wells organizes a get-together of vehicle dwellers in Quartzsite, Arizona called the Rubber Tramp Rendezvous (RTR). The term "rubber tramp" refers to people who live in a vehicle, which use rubber tires. Attendees and other followers of the event are known as "The Tribe." The gathering itself has been described as the Burning Man for retirees.


title: Bob Wells (vandweller)

text: In 2010, the first year of its existence, the RTR received 45 attendees. By 2018, it had attracted over 3,000 participants and by 2019 it had attracted 10,000 — making it the largest gathering of its kind in the world. Activities include seminars geared at vehicle dwelling, ranging from city and stealth-parking, repair and improvement seminars (e.g., installing solar panels), identifying resources such as inexpensive vision and dental care (e.g., in Los Algodones, or Baja California, Mexico) to locating free second-hand items.


title: Bob Wells (vandweller)

text: In 2015, Wells started a YouTube channel called CheapRVliving to offer how-to videos, interviews with other vandwellers, and philosophical videos with inspiration by noted authors and thinkers. In May 2019, the channel was approaching 50 million views.


title: Bob Wells (vandweller)

text: In October 2018, Wells announced the creation of Homes on Wheels Alliance, a 501(c)(3) charity of which he serves as president. The organization is dedicated to providing vehicles that have been converted into dwellings to individuals in need of financial assistance.


title: Bob Wells (vandweller)

text: Wells has been interviewed in documentaries and appeared on television news programs that focused on alternative lifestyles and simple living. He identifies politically with the far-left, and sees van dwelling as a rejection of modern society's norms. Wells was featured prominently in "Nomadland", a nonfiction book following the exploits of different RV and vandwellers. He portrayed himself in the critically acclaimed 2020 film adaptation.


title: Their Finest

text: Their Finest is a 2016 British war comedy-drama film, directed by Lone Scherfig, written by Gaby Chiappe, and based on the 2009 novel "Their Finest Hour and a Half" by Lissa Evans. The film stars Gemma Arterton, Sam Claflin, Bill Nighy, Jack Huston, Jake Lacy, Richard E. Grant, Henry Goodman, Rachael Stirling, Eddie Marsan, Helen McCrory, and Claudia Jessie. It tells the story of a British Ministry of Information film team making a morale-boosting film about the Dunkirk evacuation during the Battle of Britain and the London Blitz.


title: Their Finest

text: Principal photography began in early September 2015 in London. "Their finest" was screened at the 2016 Toronto International Film Festival, and was released in the UK on 21 April 2017 by Lionsgate.


title: Their Finest

text: The film is set during the time after Dunkirk, when the Battle of Britain is turning into the Blitz. The British government is desperately seeking to shore up the morale of the general population, and is pursuing a long strategy of getting the US to join the war and defeat Hitler. The Ministry of Information used artistic talent to pursue these ends.


title: Their Finest

text: In 1940 London, Catrin Cole is taken on at the Ministry of Information to write film scripts with a convincing female angle. Their previous efforts have not caught the public's imagination. Her husband, Ellis, is a war artist.


title: Their Finest

text: Catrin researches a story about twins Lily and Rose Starling, who participated in the Dunkirk evacuation. She discovers they did not in fact reach Dunkirk because their boat had broken down five miles off Southend-on-Sea, and was towed back by a tug returning from the evacuation - but they did take soldiers on board as the tug was over-crowded which is how the story got in the papers.


title: Their Finest

text: Ellis tells Catrin he cannot afford to keep her with him in London. She insists she can pay her way, although her current wage is less than a man's.


title: Their Finest

text: There are arguments in the script room as Catrin wants to show the bravery of the sisters whereas her male colleagues want to make a fictional soldier boyfriend the hero of the story. At the ministry, Catrin omits the breakdown of the boat in her account as someone suggests the engine failure may be morale sapping for British engineering. The film is given the go-ahead with scriptwriters Tom Buckley, Raymond Parfitt and Catrin as writers. The film is given the name ""The Nancy Starling"" after the boat, in turn named for the twins' mother.


title: Their Finest

text: Catrin buys a painting from Ellis, saying she is not leaving London. The writing team is visited by Roger Swain, head of film at the ministry who has learned about the boat's breakdown and is considering pulling the film because it is claimed to be based on a true story when it is not. Buckley retorts that they shouldn't say it's based on a true story, thenrather that it's based on a hundred, or a thousand, true stories. Parfitt suggests 338,000, being the number of soldiers who were brought back. Swain is convinced. Rather than have the boat engine fail they decide its propeller must get caught in weeds. The men want the boyfriend soldier to dive in and free it. Catrin objects as he is supposed to be injured.


title: Their Finest

text: Ellis receives a commission to document bomb damage in the provinces followed by an exhibition at the National Gallery. Catrin says she will come for the exhibition opening.


title: Their Finest

text: Actor Ambrose Hilliard is offered the comedic part of aged, drunken Uncle Frank by his agent, Sammy Smith. He refuses out of pride, but, after Sammy's death in an air raid, Hilliard is persuaded by Sammy's sister Sophie, who has taken over the agency. She points out that there is very little work for actors and especially for someone his age. She will not keep an unprofitable actor on the books.


title: Their Finest

text: Filming begins in Devon. Rewrites accommodate an American character added by order of the Secretary of State for War to appeal to the United States whom they were trying to entice as an ally. The pilot employed is a terrible actor and the script must be changed once again. Hilliard does not want to coach him but agrees to when Catrin suggests making his character have a more emotional role rather than just being the 'drunk uncle'. Now he will free the propeller of weed and then, as he dies, imagine that the two soldiers are his sons, who were killed in the First World War.


title: Their Finest

text: Because of the extra work, Catrin misses Ellis' exhibition opening. Before leaving to see the exhibition's final day, Catrin reveals to Phyl that she and Ellis are not married but pretend to be for propriety. In London, she walks in on Ellis having sex with another woman and returns to Devon.


title: Their Finest

text: Buckley has found out about Catrin's non-marriage. He proposes to her, but she refuses and they argue. Back in London for the studio scenes, Buckley has been unable to write a satisfactory ending. Catrin spends all night in the office writing the ending, and then types out a mock script of their quarrel making her warm feelings for him clear. She finds her home has been destroyed by a bomb in the night.


title: Their Finest

text: At the studio some staff are missing, affected by the bombing. Buckley arrives, having read Catrin's new ending and mock script. They talk, and kiss. He approves of the new ending. Catrin is then called to tweak the script, but Buckley says he will deal with it. As he walks away, a lighting rig collapses and the lights go out. When power is restored, Buckley is dead beneath the rig. Others are injured.


title: Their Finest

text: The film sequence of the freeing of the boat's propeller has not been completed (it was to be freed by the boyfriend character once the uncle had failed) and it seems there is no actor now available. The American has returned to pilot duties, Ambrose is in hospital in plaster and the actor playing the boyfriend is on naval duty. Catrin suggests that Rose do it (which she had wanted from the start).


title: Their Finest

text: Sophie Smith visits her client Hilliard in hospital and brings him offers of work. She also proposes that he recuperate in her home. There is an element of flirtation or at least care in her words.


title: Their Finest

text: Catrin's absence is noted at the premiere. Hilliard visits Catrin to enlist her writing help in a new film. She tells him the real twins have run away from their bully of a father and joined the ATS. Catrin also says she cannot write any more and breaks down crying. He tells her that both he and she have been given opportunities because young men are dying, and to deny those opportunities is to give death dominion over life. He advises her to watch their film. She does, and is moved by the film and the audience's reactions. She returns to the scriptwriters' office to work on the new film.


title: Their Finest

text: On 14 April 2015 it was announced that Gemma Arterton, Sam Claflin, and Bill Nighy would star in the World War II–set romantic comedy film based on the 2009 novel "Their Finest Hour and a Half" by Lissa Evans. BBC Films developed the film, hiring Lone Scherfig to direct the film which was adapted by Gaby Chiappe. BBC Films would co-finance the film, which Number 9 Films and Wildgaze Films would produce with its Stephen Woolley and Amanda Posey, while HanWay Films would handle the international rights. On 10 September 2015 Jack Huston and Jake Lacy joined the film along with Richard E. Grant, Helen McCrory, Eddie Marsan, Rachael Stirling, and Henry Goodman. The production was financially supported by the Welsh Government's "Media Investment Budget".


title: Their Finest

text: Principal photography on the film began in early September 2015, in London. Locations used included: in Pembrokeshire, Freshwater West beach - which stood in for Dunkirk - Porthgain harbour, the Trecwn valley, and the Cresselly Arms at Cresswell Quay; in Swansea, the Guildhall and Grand Theatre; and in London, Bedford Square in Bloomsbury.


title: Their Finest

text: In May 2015, Lionsgate acquired UK distribution rights to the film. The film had its world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival on 10 September 2016. Shortly after, EuropaCorp acquired the distribution rights to the film in the United States and France. STX Entertainment will distribute the film for EuropaCorp.


title: Their Finest

text: On 13 October 2016, "Their Finest" celebrated its European premiere at the BFI London Film Festival. The film was scheduled to be released in the United States on 24 March 2017 but was pushed back to 7 April 2017. It was released in the United Kingdom on 21 April 2017.


title: Their Finest

text: On the review-aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 90%, based on 174 reviews, with an average rating of 7.20/10. The site's critical consensus reads, "Carried along by a winning performance from Gemma Arterton, "Their Finest" smoothly combines comedy and wartime drama to crowd-pleasing effect." On Metacritic, the film has a score of 76 out of 100, based on 30 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".


title: Their Finest

text: Peter Bradshaw of "The Guardian" called the character of Hilliard "a colossally proportioned scene-stealer" and wrote that "Arterton brings a rather beautiful kind of restraint to her role". Wendy Ide of "The Observer" praised the "rattling, screwball rhythm" of Catrin and Tom's "banter" but noted that some of the plot could have been "more persuasively developed" and that without the twist of Tom's death the film "could have torpedoed itself with predictability". She praised that twist as the film's "boldest decision... [which robs] the audience of an outcome we are expecting in a way that nobody sees coming", as well as calling the "film-within-a-film structure ... a neat device".


title: Their Finest

text: Geoffrey Macnab of the "Independent" wrote that "Some of the in-jokes begin to grate" but called Arterton's performance "well-judged and engaging" and noted the "scene-stealing antics" of Nighy, Lacy and Irons, particularly lauding Hilliard's shift from "comic buffoon ... [to] depth and pathos". Robbie Collin of the "Telegraph" called it a "handsome, rousing, rigorous entertainment you can’t help but play along with" and "Sparklingly adapted", with "bristly chemistry" between the two leads. He noted Scherfig's direction, with the "broad and rosy spoof" of the film-within-a-film and the gender inequalities of the period left "to squirm away unhindered in the subtext" rather than countered with anachronistic "spiky comebacks".


title: MadWorld

text: "MadWorld" is divided into several levels representing different parts of Jefferson Island that have been converted into sets for the game show "DeathWatch". The player progresses through these levels in a linear fashion during the first playthrough, but can revisit any completed level to attempt to score more points or take on a harder challenge.


title: MadWorld

text: Most levels are open environments, allowing the player to explore them freely, although some sections of the level may require the player to earn a number of points before it will be accessible. A few levels feature motorcycle-based combat where the main character, Jack, is assaulted by foes as they race down a track or in a small arena. The player is challenged to beat the level's boss within a time limit, but in order to activate the boss fight, the player must accumulate enough points by defeating regular foes on the level. There are other challenges, bonuses, or mini-bosses that become active after the player accumulates enough points. A common feature of each of these levels is the "Bloodbath Challenge", a time-limited minigame that rewards the player for completing a specific type of activity with additional points. For example, the player may need to attempt to swing a bat at foes to knock them into a giant dartboard to score points, or to ensure foes are trapped in front of a speeding train. Outside of these challenges, the player is awarded points for every defeat of a foe. The number of points for beating foes increases by increasing the foe's power or using more unusual methods of winning. For example, while the player could throw an enemy on a wall, the player will earn significantly more points if they had previously forced a tire around the enemy.


title: MadWorld

text: The player controls Jack from a third-person perspective using the Wii Remote and Nunchuk attachment for attacks and movement, respectively. "MadWorld" does not make use of the Wii Remote's infrared sensor, as its developers found it unnecessary to pinpoint movements on the screen in order to attack. When certain special attacks are possible, the player is prompted to press a button or move the controllers in a specific fashion to complete the action. In boss fights, the player must trigger special finishing moves that engage their foe in a series of quick time events in order to weaken, dismember attached weapons or defeat the boss, called Power Struggles. These are possible against certain normal enemies.


title: MadWorld

text: The game features extreme, over-the-top violence, but designer Shigenori Nishikawa intends it to be seen in a comical light despite the dark tone of the game. For example, in a minigame called "Man Darts", players must hit enemies onto a giant dart board with a baseball bat to score points. Because of the intended level of violence PlatinumGames was unsure of whether or not the game would ultimately be released in Japan, stating, "In certain markets there are a lot of limitations on the amount of violence you can show, so we definitely have the Western market much more in mind."


title: MadWorld

text: "MadWorld" features highly stylized graphics that use a limited color palette of high contrast black and white with red, partially inspired by Frank Miller's "Sin City" graphic novels.


title: MadWorld

text: Three days before the game's event, the fictional Varrigan City became a target for a group of terrorists called "The Organizers", who severed the island city's transportation and communication ties with the rest of the world. They released a virus onto its population that would kill them in less than a day. However, the Organizers informed the populace that any person that killed another would receive the vaccine.


title: MadWorld

text: The city was quickly transformed into the stage of a recurring game show called "DeathWatch", with announcers Howard "Buckshot" Holmes (Greg Proops) and former "DeathWatch" fighter Kreese Kreeley (John DiMaggio). The remaining citizens of Varrigan City and new hopeful ones become the show's contestants, hoping to become the top-ranked fighter in the game and win a large cash prize.


title: MadWorld

text: Jack Cayman (Steve Blum), a man with a chainsaw attached to his prosthetic arm, enters the games and manages to gain sponsorship from "Agent XIII" (Jim Ward). The game's organizers, led by Noa (Dwight Schultz), know Jack's motive is more than just to win, and learn that Jack works with someone on the outside. They come to learn that Jack was a former marine, police officer, and rogue agent, but now seems intent on a mission. Noa surmises that Jack is after Naomi Ann Boris (Kate Higgins), the mayor's daughter working in the city. While they plan to kill Jack, they realize he became an audience favorite, with many sponsors and viewers betting on his success.


title: MadWorld

text: Meanwhile, Jack meets Leo Fallmont (Danny Cooksey), a hospital doctor who was unwittingly trapped in the city but managed to obtain the vaccine. After telling Leo to stay low, Jack continues the mission. When Jack finds Naomi, he learns that she is the one watching the games and not getting in crisis. Jack leaves and continues to solve the case about the city's abnormal situation.


title: MadWorld

text: Meanwhile, the Organizers realize Jack as the reigning champ, who quit the games by signing on to the Chasers. As Jack nears the last battle against the reigning-feigning champ, the Black Baron (Reno Wilson), Agent XIII reveals himself to be Lord Gesser, an influential figure in politics and knows that the DeathWatch games were created to cause the attack, but admits that this particular incarnation of the games is solely driven by someone's greed, and passes on the name of Springvale to Jack and the Agency, which quickly recognizes the name as a pharmaceutical company and that they were the silent hand that had built (in anticipation of DeathWatch) much of the sets for the games as soon as the Organizers had released the virus.


title: MadWorld

text: After defeating the Black Baron at the end of the games, Jack blames Noa, who is shot and killed by Leo. After dealing with the armed forces, Jack disables the communication link with the Chasers and interrogates Leo. Leo tells Jack that his father was the president of Springvale Pharmaceuticals, who created both the virus and the vaccine, and was planning to use the televised DeathWatch event to show the effect of the virus as to blackmail anyone to pay for the vaccine under the outbreak. Leo admits that the company went bankrupt in the last presidential election and saw this route as the easiest way to recoup their losses. He is also at the games to be close to the action, fascinated by sports. Jack throws Leo off the tower to his death.


title: MadWorld

text: "MadWorld" was created by PlatinumGames, a studio founded by former members of Capcom's Clover Studio, in their attempt to make a game that would be "fun and attractive" for the Wii, but that would also have a high level of violence that would make it unique for the system. The game was produced by Atsushi Inaba, who had previously produced "Viewtiful Joe", and directed by Shigenori Nishikawa, one of the designers of "Resident Evil 4". The developers chose violence as the main theme of the title, but experimented with a variety of cartoon-like art styles to alleviate the violent content with a sense of humor, ultimately deciding upon a black-and-white aesthetic with splashes of red for blood. Inaba and Nishikawa acknowledged the influence of Frank Miller's "Sin City" in the work, but also noted they borrowed from both Western and Japanese comic book styles to create a unique style. Comic-book style text and sound effects are also used in the game. The main character, Jack, was designed to be "big and tough" rather than traditionally heroic, with an appearance that suggests he "has been worn down by the world."


title: MadWorld

text: "MadWorld" was developed primarily for a Western audience, and the team extensively analyzed American pop culture in search of material that was so extreme and unrealistic it produced a comedic effect. Inaba played a variety of games, such as "Manhunt 2", to see how they portrayed serious violence and to avoid making those same choices with "MadWorld". Nishikawa chose to focus entirely on combat, omitting extraneous puzzle-solving or collection elements, with the goal of making the game easy to play in short sessions. The game's motion controls were designed to be as intuitive as possible, with Inaba reflecting that "we've come to believe the Wii controller is actually more intuitive and more relevant for action games." An emphasis was placed on earning high scores, while "Bloodbath Challenge" minigames were used to incorporate additional variety into the game's design.


title: MadWorld

text: The game was developed using Softimage for creation of the game's art, and a custom engine built to handle the art aesthetic and limitations of the Wii's memory. The game's sets are completely modeled with complex lighting features, but only normal maps are used to draw the game, avoiding the high-processing costs of light maps or layered textures. This allowed the game's artists to have finer control of visibility and color balance in the game. Though the developers attempted to add reflection mapping into the game, they found it did not fit well with the comic-book style and dropped it. Explosions and other effects, normally created in other games using particle effects to achieve a factor of realism, were modeled with particles in "MadWorld", but using specially-designed images to retain the comic book style.