The origins of Galien
Galien: A Gallant Knight with a Heroic Heart
I recently had the opportunity to chat with the backer who created Galien. (known as Zachary Virden in the game's credits) While Virden didn't have any of the original concept art for the character, they did share details about Galien's original design and conception.
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| Galien in his final resting place, surrounded by mushrooms in Deepnest. |
Galien was a gallant knight who sought the approval of his lord, and fought hard to protect his land and prove himself honorable. His name was, in part, inspired by Gourry Gabriev, a swordsman from the 90s anime series Slayers. Galien also took inspiration from Guts, the protagonist of the manga series, Berserk.
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| Gourry Gabriev (left) and Guts (right) |
Galien's demise came not from the blows of his enemies, but from his own overexertion. Galien's armor, thought impenetrable, was destroyed by his own mighty attacks. It wasn't until after defeating his enemies that Galien eventually succumbed to his self-inflicted wounds. Galien's ghost lingered in that spot, denying his own death until the Knight finally provided him an honorable defeat.
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| Galien in Hollow Knight. Note the large crack across his shell. |
In his original design, Galien used a large cracked nail instead of a scythe, a change made by Team Cherry when implementing him into the game. Virden was not asked to provide a moveset for their character, so his gameplay was designed primarily by Team Cherry. Virden believes that the giant crack across Galien's body is in reference to their original idea for Galien's death. Virden also believes that the bed of mushrooms Galien sits beneath is meant to evoke similar images of Guts from Berserk.
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| Guts resting against the trunk of a fallen tree. |
In the final game, Galien is depicted as a joyous knight, eager to test his strength against the beasts of Deepnest. He still desires recognition for his honor, saying to the Knight "When you see our King, surely you'll tell him of my valour...?" Much like the other Dream Warriors, Galien is unaware of his own fate, and it isn't until the Knight defeats him in combat that Galien can finally rest in peace.
Conversation transcript
The remainder of this blogpost features my conversations with Virden which started in the comments section of my Hollow Knight's Dream Warrior Lore Explained video, uploaded on August 23rd, 2020. The conversation eventually moved to Discord where Virden provided proof of their claims and provided many of the details featured at the top of the article. Continue reading for all the details.
YouTube comments
Virden — May 10th, 2021 2:20 AMI created galien, a few things, i was the only backer to specify my character used a weapon, all the others chose magic. Though they Changed the weapon style from a big cracked nail, to a scythe. I kinda dig it tbh. Another was i created a rather detailed background that was too long and ended being cut down. Originally his concept was basically in short, he went to slay all those affected by the curse and ended up overexerting and damaging his own body leading to his death. I gave them the go ahead to change the background to whatever they needed to fit better for thier game and lore. I drew a basic design and they mostly kept it that way, it was a awesome experience that i never thought id do.
That's really interesting! Thanks for sharing! Do you happen to have that original drawing? I'd love to see it. My DMs are open on Twitter.
Virden - May 10th, 2021 9:06 PM
was quite a few years back, might still have something. Ill look around.
mossbag - July 22nd, 2022 2:39 PM
Sorry to bother you over a whole year later, but I was wondering if you were ever able to find that original drawing of Galien? Maybe in an old email somewhere? I know the HK community would get a kick out of seeing it.
mossbag - November 12th, 2023 1:46 PM
I am once again reaching out to you about your old Galien art. If you happen to have a drawing of it or an email conversation with Team Cherry that has the original drawing and backstory, that would be awesome to see!
I am once again reaching out to you about your old Galien art. If you happen to have a drawing of it or an email conversation with Team Cherry that has the original drawing and backstory, that would be awesome to see!
mossbag - February 5th, 2025 10:09 PM
I am once again reaching out to you to ask for any sort of art or messages you shared with Team Cherry. Specifically I've been looking around lately for the watercolor arts Ari did for the backer bosses. As of right now, Xero and Galien are the only two Dream Warrior bosses whose watercolors we have no images of. If you happen to still have that somewhere, I'd love to see it! Thanks!
Virden - February 5th, 2025 10:27 PM
huh funny, youtube never notified me of any messages until now. Tbh i thought i responded back. Wacky, wonder why it notified me now people were responding to my comment.
mossbag - February 5th, 2025 10:40 PM
classic youtube moment. Now that I think about it, if your original reply had a link in it, it might have gotten held for review and I just never saw it. If you do end up finding anything, check the description of this video for a link to either my Twitter or my Discord server. You can send stuff more easily over there.
Virden - February 5th, 2025 11:14 PM
sadly as i said prior it was a long time ago, i thought i replied already saying that i had moved and lost the original journal and script for him, i had a time frame for making my character, and i used every day day dreaming ideas and what he would do and say, doodling in a journal at work, at the time i was in a night shift gas station job so between customers and cleaning i would think of what i would do.
I had never done something like it, and while only still taking beginners art courses at the time i tried my best.
As said prior i mistook what they told me and did way more then what i wrote. They gave me a "character limit", i thought that ment words but it ment letters, numbers, symbols, so on the last day possible i submitted my work to only get a very suprised response back on the detailed dialog i gave, feeling embarrassed i told them to edit it down as much as they like instead of having them wait for me past their deadline. I do recall pretty much all of it though.
Virden - February 6th, 2025 1:01 AM
im sorry for extending this so long, i didnt mean for that, but my abilities and skills were pretty amateur, i can tell you of my inspirations, how i came up with his name, background, how i initially drew him, details i can recall for the backer stuff, but really cant claim much credit for him.
Team cherry took what i came up with and throughly polished and reinvented my Galien, i am extremely happy people love him (and get annoyed by him aha)
I didnt come up with his attacks, they created the scythe he wields, they took my inspirations and molded him in a way i wouldn't have thought of, and its amazing. Ill join the discod but im sorry i have nothing phisical to show.
Virden - February 5th, 2025 10:27 PM
huh funny, youtube never notified me of any messages until now. Tbh i thought i responded back. Wacky, wonder why it notified me now people were responding to my comment.
mossbag - February 5th, 2025 10:40 PM
classic youtube moment. Now that I think about it, if your original reply had a link in it, it might have gotten held for review and I just never saw it. If you do end up finding anything, check the description of this video for a link to either my Twitter or my Discord server. You can send stuff more easily over there.
Virden - February 5th, 2025 11:14 PM
sadly as i said prior it was a long time ago, i thought i replied already saying that i had moved and lost the original journal and script for him, i had a time frame for making my character, and i used every day day dreaming ideas and what he would do and say, doodling in a journal at work, at the time i was in a night shift gas station job so between customers and cleaning i would think of what i would do.
I had never done something like it, and while only still taking beginners art courses at the time i tried my best.
As said prior i mistook what they told me and did way more then what i wrote. They gave me a "character limit", i thought that ment words but it ment letters, numbers, symbols, so on the last day possible i submitted my work to only get a very suprised response back on the detailed dialog i gave, feeling embarrassed i told them to edit it down as much as they like instead of having them wait for me past their deadline. I do recall pretty much all of it though.
Virden - February 6th, 2025 1:01 AM
im sorry for extending this so long, i didnt mean for that, but my abilities and skills were pretty amateur, i can tell you of my inspirations, how i came up with his name, background, how i initially drew him, details i can recall for the backer stuff, but really cant claim much credit for him.
Team cherry took what i came up with and throughly polished and reinvented my Galien, i am extremely happy people love him (and get annoyed by him aha)
I didnt come up with his attacks, they created the scythe he wields, they took my inspirations and molded him in a way i wouldn't have thought of, and its amazing. Ill join the discod but im sorry i have nothing phisical to show.
Discord conversation (Feb 6th, 2025)
Virden:
Sorry, everything was 10 years ago. I was 20, in school, doing graveyard shifts. Eventually everything auto deleted so i really only have my words now. Proof I backed tho:
mossbag:
Oh nice!
Virden:
Yeah, was a really fun experiment. I was a Dark Souls fan at the time. I followed mriwont4get, he talked about this project and i learned it from him. I’d never have found out about it otherwise.
mossbag:
Oh yeah, he interviewed them.
Virden:
Mhm yeah i recall, it was the more active time of his Twitch streaming years.
mossbag:
So was he just talking about it on Twitch or something? Or was the interview originally on Twitch?
Virden:
https://youtu.be/jarN3896ShA?si=ea2lvwoknPwhNLYl
Took a sec but i learned basically through this. He was basically promoting it. That's how I found out.
mossbag:
Ah, so you just saw this YouTube video?
Virden:
Mhm. Sorry if that's a bit lame but that's just how it is sometimes. I started as a normal backer but people backed out of the 200, the opportunity was there, I didn't know if I could do it but I went for it.
mossbag:
And he was a Dark Souls streamer?
Vidren:
Yeah. He reviewed weapons, played Binding of Isaac on streams too.
mossbag:
No, I don't think that's lame at all! I am obsessed with Hollow Knight's history, and I wasn't around until 2017 so I missed seeing what the community was like back then.
Virden:
This was back in 2014 tbh tho. I know the game released around then but the backing was years prior.
mossbag:
I knew about this interview, so it's cool to learn it had an impact like this.
Virden:
Mhm, sometimes it's just one person speaking passionately that gets others into it.
mossbag:
Virden:
So why did I name him Galien? I had a few ideas in mind, it's also so hard to name a character, but i used inspiration from an animated 90s show. Tbh I almost just used the same name, but I decided not to. Show was called "slayers" and there was a character called Gourry Gabriev.
mossbag:
Holy shit.
Virden:
Hmm?
mossbag:
I just started watching Slayers for the first time last month lol.
Virden:
Haha nice.
mossbag:
Gourry is great.
Virden:
Yeah. I started with his name, and eventually settled on Galien. I was focused on finding a name that started in the same way as his.
mossbag:
Yeah, I can see the similarities between their names, for sure. So did you back anything else of Gourry, they are both warriors of sorts
Virden:
I mean I definitely was inspired to go the knight route. I was the only person who chose a physical weapon, we had choices to pick what kind of attributes our characters would have. I was the only one to pick a strength stat, I'm pretty sure. I wanted him to be sorta a tank. I actually didn't draw him with a scythe weapon. That was Team Cherry; it’s intriguing in a way.
mossbag:
Was that to make it look better when spinning in a circle?
Virden:
Again that was their side. We didn’t have too much info on the game. We could draw ideas, make suggestions but Team Cherry was incharge of interpretation to the game. I actually recall a email saying Team Cherry was rather impressed that the characters for the warrior tier all were really intune for the game and they figured they would need to greatly alter them in ways to fit. They did keep my design for Galien rather intact besides making him more rounded.
mossbag:
Yeah, I think in the end all the dream warrior bosses fit into the game nicely.
Virden:
I drew him large built like he was incredibly armored, so a rounded beetle design fits very well. My idea was that he would be responsible for his own death. His armor would have been impenetrable, but he broke it himself. He would have died to the injuries he caused to himself. Overexertion. Even the weapon i designed was cracked and broken originally.
mossbag:
Is this how he died originally, or is this how you fought him?
Virden:
How he died originally. We weren’t really asked for the player fight portions. I was asked to design a character, and give lore to his story, what he did, what he would say, a quote for him to have in game.
mossbag:
Oh, you're right. I have the information sheet here, and it doesn't ask for attack patterns. https://docs.google.com/document/d/1VQSBbiAIhPBSSiq7ewfBoD3sQbKpVKkC5bAklFQyCeE/edit?usp=sharing
Virden:
Yea. I actually mistook the character limit and submitted way too much haha. I really wanted to design a "gallant" knight: A hero who went out to save the people, impressed his lord, yet still failed after achieving his task he set for himself. The classic dragon vs knight kinda ideal. I see how they interpreted this in game, you find him deep in the nest, yet the only corpse around is his. He beat his foes, walked away, and ultimately perished from his own wounds he caused. At least that’s my interpretation.
mossbag:
I can see that. I always really liked the room they made for him, with those big mushrooms.
Virden:
Mhm same. My origanal design also was not just inspired by Slayers. I was thinking of Berserk as well. I was a Souls fan at the time and reading Berserk for the first time around then. I just had to include ideas from there too. I’m sure you’ve seen things like the portraits of Guts under trees. I kinda think they took those ideas for that area too but with mushrooms.
mossbag:
Did you put Berserk stuff in the original doc you sent them? Anything specific you remember?
Virden:
I mentioned i was a fan of the series and liked the idea of having a big nail weapon. But as you prob know.. another backer clearly already had a very obvious reference to Guts haha.
mossbag:
Haha yeahhh…
Virden:
I didn’t know at the time though, so I think that was another reason they completely changed from a nail to a scythe. I approve tho. My key design feature stayed tho, the crack through his body and head. That would have been my more subtle reference to Berserk.
mossbag:
Oh nice. What crack is there in Berserk? I forget.
Virden:
Not really a crack, but the fact Guts is a powerhouse.
mossbag:
Like that he breaks his body while he fights?
Virden:
Yup. For bugs, the exoskeleton, the armor in this game. That's the body. Breaking it would doom you, no?
mossbag:
Yeah, unless you are made of void...
Virden:
Mhm, well, my character wasn't. Void wasn’t a concept then for me. Team Cherry kept that kind of lore of they had thought of it to themselves at the time.
mossbag:
So were you thinking of the Berserker armor when you gave him armor?
Virden:
Absolutely in a way. Just more like him exerting past his limits. He never truly was defeated in that way, it's kind of why I see him not recognizing his own body as a ghost. In his mind that's not him, he wasn't defeated in battle, he didn't go out honorably in battle. He survived, but died after his battles. Letting the player be the only to truly defeat him honorably and set his spirit to peace. At least that's how I see it after Team Cherry would have edited my script down. He was a honorable warrior, who wanted to prove himself, to protect his land. You can see that in his edited official dialog, and his quote you would find as well.
mossbag:
Yeah, I do see that. He comes across very jovial I think. A little bit like Dung Defender.
Virden:
Haha yeah.
mossbag:
So is Galien as a name also based on "gallant" or is his name just an evolution on Gourry Gabriev?
Virden:
I would say both. I started with Gourry and thought of things that could start with the same "gah, or goh" start of his name. I never really told Team Cherry my inspirations from Slayers, I believe. But somehow… Him using light based spinning scythe attacks: It really fits with my initial inspiration from the characters whose title was the “Swordsman of Light”. I wonder what kind of cosmic coincidence that was.
mossbag:
Yeah, it ended up working out, since light and essence are somewhat connected. And the dream warriors are made of essence.
Virden:
Mhm yeah. We were not privy to a lot of that information but i guess as Team Cherry mentioned, we really all made characters that fit into the world easily.
mossbag:
I'm sure they appreciated that!
Virden:
Absolutely. Is there anything you’d like to ask? I never thought I’d need to really keep what I did tbh, so I'm a bit embarrassed at the fact it's desired to be seen. I figured it was gonna be a very small part of the game. Just a cool experience to be involved in an indie game.
mossbag:
Haha well, the game ended up being quite popular, and we're all bored waiting for Silksong. And personally, I just love learning more about the game. It's very fun for me personally lol.
Virden:
True. It’s crazy how Silksong was a backer perk too. If i recall correctly.
mossbag:
Yea, you should be getting it for free.
Virden:
I got, I think.. 4 copies for free haha. I gave it to friends at the time, we all played together.
mossbag:
Nice.
Virden:
No, I got 5 actually. Been long time, I forget if I used all 5 copies. But yeah backers definitely got their money's worth.
mossbag:
Sounds like it lol. Well, thank you for backing the game. I'm glad you did!
Virden:
It was fun . I wish it didn't end with my embarrassed moment of submitting wayyyy to much lore and dialog haha. But Team Cherry worked magic and I think it's for the best.
mossbag:
Well, it's better to have too much to work with than not enough.
Virden:
Haha, true. I didn't have much skill in art yet, or supplies. So everything i submitted art wise was pencil and paper. I would draw at my gas station job ideas I had. I’d use receipt paper to write spontaneous notes. Haha, oh, i was inexperienced then.
mossbag:
They say 3 backers didn't even send in their dream warrior ideas.
Virden:
I didn’t even know that, but figured. They sent several emails asking and clarifying the deadline they needed the info by. A shame people paid then left the team hanging on such a cool opportunity.
Sorry, everything was 10 years ago. I was 20, in school, doing graveyard shifts. Eventually everything auto deleted so i really only have my words now. Proof I backed tho:
mossbag:
Oh nice!
Virden:
Yeah, was a really fun experiment. I was a Dark Souls fan at the time. I followed mriwont4get, he talked about this project and i learned it from him. I’d never have found out about it otherwise.
mossbag:
Oh yeah, he interviewed them.
Virden:
Mhm yeah i recall, it was the more active time of his Twitch streaming years.
mossbag:
So was he just talking about it on Twitch or something? Or was the interview originally on Twitch?
Virden:
https://youtu.be/jarN3896ShA?si=ea2lvwoknPwhNLYl
Took a sec but i learned basically through this. He was basically promoting it. That's how I found out.
mossbag:
Ah, so you just saw this YouTube video?
Virden:
Mhm. Sorry if that's a bit lame but that's just how it is sometimes. I started as a normal backer but people backed out of the 200, the opportunity was there, I didn't know if I could do it but I went for it.
mossbag:
And he was a Dark Souls streamer?
Vidren:
Yeah. He reviewed weapons, played Binding of Isaac on streams too.
mossbag:
No, I don't think that's lame at all! I am obsessed with Hollow Knight's history, and I wasn't around until 2017 so I missed seeing what the community was like back then.
Virden:
This was back in 2014 tbh tho. I know the game released around then but the backing was years prior.
mossbag:
I knew about this interview, so it's cool to learn it had an impact like this.
Virden:
Mhm, sometimes it's just one person speaking passionately that gets others into it.
mossbag:
Virden:
So why did I name him Galien? I had a few ideas in mind, it's also so hard to name a character, but i used inspiration from an animated 90s show. Tbh I almost just used the same name, but I decided not to. Show was called "slayers" and there was a character called Gourry Gabriev.
mossbag:
Holy shit.
Virden:
Hmm?
mossbag:
I just started watching Slayers for the first time last month lol.
Virden:
Haha nice.
mossbag:
Gourry is great.
Virden:
Yeah. I started with his name, and eventually settled on Galien. I was focused on finding a name that started in the same way as his.
mossbag:
Yeah, I can see the similarities between their names, for sure. So did you back anything else of Gourry, they are both warriors of sorts
Virden:
I mean I definitely was inspired to go the knight route. I was the only person who chose a physical weapon, we had choices to pick what kind of attributes our characters would have. I was the only one to pick a strength stat, I'm pretty sure. I wanted him to be sorta a tank. I actually didn't draw him with a scythe weapon. That was Team Cherry; it’s intriguing in a way.
mossbag:
Was that to make it look better when spinning in a circle?
Virden:
Again that was their side. We didn’t have too much info on the game. We could draw ideas, make suggestions but Team Cherry was incharge of interpretation to the game. I actually recall a email saying Team Cherry was rather impressed that the characters for the warrior tier all were really intune for the game and they figured they would need to greatly alter them in ways to fit. They did keep my design for Galien rather intact besides making him more rounded.
mossbag:
Yeah, I think in the end all the dream warrior bosses fit into the game nicely.
Virden:
I drew him large built like he was incredibly armored, so a rounded beetle design fits very well. My idea was that he would be responsible for his own death. His armor would have been impenetrable, but he broke it himself. He would have died to the injuries he caused to himself. Overexertion. Even the weapon i designed was cracked and broken originally.
mossbag:
Is this how he died originally, or is this how you fought him?
Virden:
How he died originally. We weren’t really asked for the player fight portions. I was asked to design a character, and give lore to his story, what he did, what he would say, a quote for him to have in game.
mossbag:
Oh, you're right. I have the information sheet here, and it doesn't ask for attack patterns. https://docs.google.com/document/d/1VQSBbiAIhPBSSiq7ewfBoD3sQbKpVKkC5bAklFQyCeE/edit?usp=sharing
Virden:
Yea. I actually mistook the character limit and submitted way too much haha. I really wanted to design a "gallant" knight: A hero who went out to save the people, impressed his lord, yet still failed after achieving his task he set for himself. The classic dragon vs knight kinda ideal. I see how they interpreted this in game, you find him deep in the nest, yet the only corpse around is his. He beat his foes, walked away, and ultimately perished from his own wounds he caused. At least that’s my interpretation.
mossbag:
I can see that. I always really liked the room they made for him, with those big mushrooms.
Virden:
Mhm same. My origanal design also was not just inspired by Slayers. I was thinking of Berserk as well. I was a Souls fan at the time and reading Berserk for the first time around then. I just had to include ideas from there too. I’m sure you’ve seen things like the portraits of Guts under trees. I kinda think they took those ideas for that area too but with mushrooms.
mossbag:
Did you put Berserk stuff in the original doc you sent them? Anything specific you remember?
Virden:
I mentioned i was a fan of the series and liked the idea of having a big nail weapon. But as you prob know.. another backer clearly already had a very obvious reference to Guts haha.
mossbag:
Haha yeahhh…
Virden:
I didn’t know at the time though, so I think that was another reason they completely changed from a nail to a scythe. I approve tho. My key design feature stayed tho, the crack through his body and head. That would have been my more subtle reference to Berserk.
mossbag:
Oh nice. What crack is there in Berserk? I forget.
Virden:
Not really a crack, but the fact Guts is a powerhouse.
mossbag:
Like that he breaks his body while he fights?
Virden:
Yup. For bugs, the exoskeleton, the armor in this game. That's the body. Breaking it would doom you, no?
mossbag:
Yeah, unless you are made of void...
Virden:
Mhm, well, my character wasn't. Void wasn’t a concept then for me. Team Cherry kept that kind of lore of they had thought of it to themselves at the time.
mossbag:
So were you thinking of the Berserker armor when you gave him armor?
Virden:
Absolutely in a way. Just more like him exerting past his limits. He never truly was defeated in that way, it's kind of why I see him not recognizing his own body as a ghost. In his mind that's not him, he wasn't defeated in battle, he didn't go out honorably in battle. He survived, but died after his battles. Letting the player be the only to truly defeat him honorably and set his spirit to peace. At least that's how I see it after Team Cherry would have edited my script down. He was a honorable warrior, who wanted to prove himself, to protect his land. You can see that in his edited official dialog, and his quote you would find as well.
mossbag:
Yeah, I do see that. He comes across very jovial I think. A little bit like Dung Defender.
Virden:
Haha yeah.
mossbag:
So is Galien as a name also based on "gallant" or is his name just an evolution on Gourry Gabriev?
Virden:
I would say both. I started with Gourry and thought of things that could start with the same "gah, or goh" start of his name. I never really told Team Cherry my inspirations from Slayers, I believe. But somehow… Him using light based spinning scythe attacks: It really fits with my initial inspiration from the characters whose title was the “Swordsman of Light”. I wonder what kind of cosmic coincidence that was.
mossbag:
Yeah, it ended up working out, since light and essence are somewhat connected. And the dream warriors are made of essence.
Virden:
Mhm yeah. We were not privy to a lot of that information but i guess as Team Cherry mentioned, we really all made characters that fit into the world easily.
mossbag:
I'm sure they appreciated that!
Virden:
Absolutely. Is there anything you’d like to ask? I never thought I’d need to really keep what I did tbh, so I'm a bit embarrassed at the fact it's desired to be seen. I figured it was gonna be a very small part of the game. Just a cool experience to be involved in an indie game.
mossbag:
Haha well, the game ended up being quite popular, and we're all bored waiting for Silksong. And personally, I just love learning more about the game. It's very fun for me personally lol.
Virden:
True. It’s crazy how Silksong was a backer perk too. If i recall correctly.
mossbag:
Yea, you should be getting it for free.
Virden:
I got, I think.. 4 copies for free haha. I gave it to friends at the time, we all played together.
mossbag:
Nice.
Virden:
No, I got 5 actually. Been long time, I forget if I used all 5 copies. But yeah backers definitely got their money's worth.
mossbag:
Sounds like it lol. Well, thank you for backing the game. I'm glad you did!
Virden:
It was fun . I wish it didn't end with my embarrassed moment of submitting wayyyy to much lore and dialog haha. But Team Cherry worked magic and I think it's for the best.
mossbag:
Well, it's better to have too much to work with than not enough.
Virden:
Haha, true. I didn't have much skill in art yet, or supplies. So everything i submitted art wise was pencil and paper. I would draw at my gas station job ideas I had. I’d use receipt paper to write spontaneous notes. Haha, oh, i was inexperienced then.
mossbag:
They say 3 backers didn't even send in their dream warrior ideas.
Virden:
I didn’t even know that, but figured. They sent several emails asking and clarifying the deadline they needed the info by. A shame people paid then left the team hanging on such a cool opportunity.
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