Mercury branch - all the changes and functionality we need to have Mercury skin working

DO NOT MERGE, THIS PR IS PART OF PROJECT MERCURY! 
> agree, speed of development for us was the key

Even if speed of development is key we should always follow the Boy Scout rule. The Boy Scout rule states

> Try and leave this world a little better than you found it.

From [here](http://programmer.97things.oreilly.com/wiki/index.php/The_Boy_Scout_Rule).