# What Fantasy or Science Fiction Worlds Would you like To step into And be a Character in?



## BAYLOR (Oct 17, 2020)

This can be a book ,  book series and individual stories  . it can be  films, TV series, Graphic Novels  or Comic book, Computer games ect.  And what sort of Character would you want to be  in the story ?  

It can be many chances as you want.


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## JJewel (Oct 17, 2020)

Hmm, 4 options spring to mind..

The obvious is Elric from Moorcocks Champion Eternals, I like the idea of being that bloody minded and destroying a multiverse or...
My fave TV character has always been Avon from Blakes 7, an uncaring psychopath and genius
or a second character from the serious played by Colin Baker of Doctor Who fame.. Bayban the Butcher ("Bayb" to his mother apparently)

In my own books the main bad guy ultimately is an artist called Lufgren Nemii, never appears you just hear about him in passing.


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## Vince W (Oct 17, 2020)

I always wanted to be a Fremen in Dune.
I've wanted to retire Replicants.
I could spend a lifetime exploring Ringworld.
I would gladly be a science officer aboard a Federation vessel. Or Romulan.
Bringing justice to the streets of Mega-City One.


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## Alex The G and T (Oct 18, 2020)

I think I might actually be a hybrid of Asterix and Obelix.

As for aspirations?  The Stainless Steel Rat.


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## Vince W (Oct 18, 2020)

Alex The G and T said:


> I think I might actually be a hybrid of Asterix and Obelix.


So you have a large yellow moustache and eat wild boar voraciously?


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## Astro Pen (Oct 18, 2020)

Probably Ransom in Ballard's _The Drought _or possibly Kerans in _The Drowned World_
The psychogeography of Ballard's apocalyptic worlds rather suits my loner personality. It's as though he crafted these places for me to find myself. A direct link between my spirit and the world, no longer constrained by society. I can also identify with the protagonist of "_The Terminal Beach_". Ballard knows my inner mind.


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## Vince W (Oct 18, 2020)

I wouldn't mind being an operative for Contact or Special Circumstances.


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## Guttersnipe (Oct 19, 2020)

Ever since I was a kid, I wanted to be a good mutant who went to Xavier's.


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## TomMazanec (Oct 19, 2020)

I'm something of a Furry, so I would like to be in S. Andrew Swann's Moreau Universe...not as a major character, but as someone trying to promote moreau rights.


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## Vince W (Oct 19, 2020)

I loved Swann's Moreau books. I always thought they deserved to be adapted.

I'd like to spend a night on the lash with Lister slagging Rimmer.


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## .matthew. (Oct 19, 2020)

Vince W said:


> I'd like to spend a night on the lash with Lister slagging Rimmer.


I totally misread that, but now totally approve 

There are just too many good options to choose from really. I suppose if you're talking lifetime commitment to a part, you can't go wrong with wizard of some sort though. They have the beards and the staffs with knobs on afterall.


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## Narkalui (Oct 26, 2020)

I also would enjoy a night on the tiles with Lister and Cat.

But my first choice is boring: an Earth based Federation civil servant (a filing clerk perhaps) during a time of extended peace for the Federation. With enough income that I can take my leave on Risa (provided I can land in a shuttle - no one is beaming me anywhere!)


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## Vince W (Oct 26, 2020)

Narkalui said:


> I also would enjoy a night on the tiles with Lister and Cat.
> 
> But my first choice is boring: an Earth based Federation civil servant (a filing clerk perhaps) during a time of extended peace for the Federation. With enough income that I can take my leave on Risa (provided I can land in a shuttle - no one is beaming me anywhere!)


Whereas I would want to be the captain of my own ship plying the skies, getting into scrapes and generally misbehaving. Hmmmm... I may be confusing my universes.


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## Vladd67 (Oct 26, 2020)

Alex The G and T said:


> As for aspirations?  The Stainless Steel Rat.


Love the Stainless Steel Rat books, I even have a stainless steel Rat tattooed on my arm, actually, its more biomechanical but the intention was there.
I have always wanted to know more about Star Trek's Department of Temporal Investigations, so would probably like to be an agent of theirs.


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## Bick (Oct 27, 2020)

I would like to;

Be a ranger of the North in the second age, or
Be Philip Lynx, travelling the Commonwealth with my pet minidrag, or
Be able to explore Chalker's well-world, or
Get to hang out in Ankh-Morpork and explore the discworld, so long as I have smelling salts or a nosepeg to hand.


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## Bick (Oct 27, 2020)

Vince W said:


> I always wanted to be a Fremen in Dune.
> I've wanted to retire Replicants.
> I could spend a lifetime exploring Ringworld.
> I would gladly be a science officer aboard a Federation vessel. Or Romulan.
> Bringing justice to the streets of Mega-City One.


Or, for me, any of the first four of Vince's thoughts. I was never into 2000AD though...


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## BAYLOR (Nov 26, 2020)

In *Babylon 5*,  I would love to be a  Technomage .


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## BAYLOR (Apr 23, 2021)

I wouldn't mind being an adventurer in the Hyborian  Age of Conan  and go on an  adventure to a lost city of forbidden temple .


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## .matthew. (Apr 23, 2021)

BAYLOR said:


> In *Babylon 5*,  I would love to be a  Technomage .





> "_Do not try the patience of wizards, for they are subtle and quick to anger._"


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## AE35Unit (Apr 23, 2021)

Ringworld by Larry Niven. I would just love to see it made real!


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## Vince W (Apr 23, 2021)

AE35Unit said:


> Ringworld by Larry Niven. I would just love to see it made real!


I agree 100%!


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## BAYLOR (Jun 7, 2021)

.matthew. said:


>



Michal Ansara  did film, television and voice acting and he was spectacular .


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## W Collier (Jun 7, 2021)

I know I'm not the first person (or anime) to ask this question, but it really is a good question:  A lot of these answers indicate that the respondents would choose a character-life of extreme hardship, pain, violence, and probably an early death, which makes me curious about the rules of this _isekai._  Do we get to choose to be a "main" character, and therefore protected from untimely death or mental breakdown by plot armor?  Or, if we are not plot-protected mains, then do we, in addition to being transported into a different setting, also become different people who are capable of enduring what the extras in these worlds endure?  (And if the latter, if everything that fundamentally makes me me is changed, to what extent is it I being transported into that story?)  Without one or the other--either plot armor or a fundamental change of character which begs questions of identity--I have to wonder how many of us would survive two minutes in our favorite such stories, or would last two minutes in our chosen roles in those books or movies before giving up and crying to be sent back home.  The consumers of science fiction and fantasy whom I have known and encountered in my life, whatever merits they may have, are not, uh, gritty.  (I go to cons.  You go to cons.  We all know these people.)  But maybe this forum's patronage is the exception to the rule.  If that's the case, and everyone here is or could be hard enough to live through "adventure" of that sort willingly, that's pretty great.


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## BAYLOR (Jun 7, 2021)

W Collier said:


> I know I'm not the first person (or anime) to ask this question, but it really is a good question:  A lot of these answers indicate that the respondents would choose a character-life of extreme hardship, pain, violence, and probably an early death, which makes me curious about the rules of this _isekai._  Do we get to choose to be a "main" character, and therefore protected from untimely death or mental breakdown by plot armor?  Or, if we are not plot-protected mains, then do we, in addition to being transported into a different setting, also become different people who are capable of enduring what the extras in these worlds endure?  (And if the latter, if everything that fundamentally makes me me is changed, to what extent is it I being transported into that story?)  Without one or the other--either plot armor or a fundamental change of character which begs questions of identity--I have to wonder how many of us would survive two minutes in our favorite such stories, or would last two minutes in our chosen roles in those books or movies before giving up and crying to be sent back home.  The consumers of science fiction and fantasy whom I have known and encountered in my life, whatever merits they may have, are not, uh, gritty.  But maybe this forum's patronage is the exception to the rule.  If that's the case, and everyone here is or could be hard enough to live through "adventure" of that sort willingly, that's pretty great.



It's a very good question and one I didn't consider at all.   


I doubt  I would last a day in the Babylon 5 Universe  and in Middle Earth , the  Hyborian age of Conan , or the world of Kane the Mystic Swordsman I wouldn't last 5 minutes.


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## W Collier (Jun 7, 2021)

On review, I think I should add something.  I stand by my question, and my observation about SFF fans as a rule, but:  as my sister would say, we as a species would be better called Human Becomings or Human Doings than Human Beings.  Human Being is a cop-out.  No one just is who he is, nor must be who he is, nor should he be who he is.  One is always changing, and one has agency in that change, so one should always choose to become closer to an ideal.  If anyone reads this and wonders: yes, you can be the kind of adventurer we're talking about, even in real life.  You just have to be willing to pay the price.  (Usually starting with a _lot_ of push-ups.  And running.)


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## BAYLOR (Jun 7, 2021)

W Collier said:


> On review, I think I should add something.  I stand by my question, and my observation about SFF fans as a rule, but:  as my sister would say, we as a species would be better called Human Becomings or Human Doings than Human Beings.  Human Being is a cop-out.  No one just is who he is, nor must be who he is, nor should he be who he is.  One is always changing, and one has agency in that change, so one should always choose to become closer to an ideal.  If anyone reads this and wonders: yes, you can be the kind of adventurer we're talking about, even in real life.  You just have to be willing to pay the price.  (Usually starting with a _lot_ of push-ups.  And running.)



Well said 

The trouble  with bringing  reality into the picture is, that  it does tend to  diminish the appeal of the fantasy as one imagines it.


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## W Collier (Jun 7, 2021)

Yeah.  And, hands down, I'd be a Jedi.  All the more so now that it's popular among the "cool" nerds to be cynical about "space wizards."


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## BAYLOR (Jul 13, 2021)

The Jedi are cool.


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## .matthew. (Jul 13, 2021)

W Collier said:


> Yeah.  And, hands down, I'd be a Jedi.  All the more so now that it's popular among the "cool" nerds to be cynical about "space wizards."


Depends on the time period. You wouldn't want to be a Jedi just as they're all being hunted down and murdered 

I'd maybe choose to be a decadent pleb in The Culture. I'll let AI run the universe while I sit back and read.


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## CupofJoe (Jul 13, 2021)

Since I've read the book and know how it ends... Dros Delnoch in David Gemmel's *Legend*.
As long as I got to fight at the sixth and final wall Geddon [Death].


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## Toby Frost (Jul 13, 2021)

Almost none! The Culture or Star Trek's Federation look at least tolerable. They're stable democracies that aren't usually in danger of complete destruction, and in SF worlds that's rare enough. I'd quite like to visit Jurassic Park, on one of the rare days when the dinosaurs don't run amok.


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## Vince W (Jul 13, 2021)

BAYLOR said:


> The Jedi *were* cool.


FTFY.

After the last year I would happily live in the Culture away from any sort of action.


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## .matthew. (Jul 13, 2021)

Toby Frost said:


> Almost none! The Culture or Star Trek's Federation look at least tolerable. They're stable democracies that aren't usually in danger of complete destruction, and in SF worlds that's rare enough.


Fairly sure recent Trek history is war with basically everyone. Plus you have the Borg always breathing down your neck. Maybe if you were a Q though


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## W Collier (Jul 18, 2021)

.matthew. said:


> Depends on the time period. You wouldn't want to be a Jedi just as they're all being hunted down and murdered


Isn't that when it would be the life most worth living?  Yeah, my original point was that m_ost _people who fantasize about life in a science fiction world wouldn't be the kind of people who could hack it.  Most, not all.  And my follow-up was that, even if one isn't born so, one can still become so.  Regardless of how one is naturally, one should seek out a harder life and become a stronger person.  A true jedi's life in any era would be fraught with mortal danger to his body and soul, and therefore worth living, because it would force him to grow and strengthen or die trying.  However, having the whole jedi order and a well-ordered republic for support somewhat mitigates the challenge and therefore the value.  A jedi's life in the era of the empire ascendant would most worthy of all.  I'm not saying I'd enjoy the life, per se, or that it would be a long life, but think about how pure it would be.  Just you and whatever plucky band of idealists you could cobble together, staying one step ahead of the death squads, pitting your mind, your cleverness against the might of the machine, doing good where you can and doing what you can to undermine the empire and keep the dream of liberty alive... It would be like being in the resistance on the Soviet frontier, only with super powers and a light saber.


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## BAYLOR (Jul 18, 2021)

W Collier said:


> Isn't that when it would be the life most worth living?  Yeah, my original point was that m_ost _people who fantasize about life in a science fiction world wouldn't be the kind of people who could hack it.  Most, not all.  And my follow-up was that, even if one isn't born so, one can still become so.  Regardless of how one is naturally, one should seek out a harder life and become a stronger person.  A true jedi's life in any era would be fraught with mortal danger to his body and soul, and therefore worth living, because it would force him to grow and strengthen or die trying.  However, having the whole jedi order and a well-ordered republic for support somewhat mitigates the challenge and therefore the value.  A jedi's life in the era of the empire ascendant would most worthy of all.  I'm not saying I'd enjoy the life, per se, or that it would be a long life, but think about how pure it would be.  Just you and whatever plucky band of idealists you could cobble together, staying one step ahead of the death squads, pitting your mind, your cleverness against the might of the machine, doing good where you can and doing what you can to undermine the empire and keep the dream of liberty alive... It would be like being in the resistance on the Soviet frontier, only with super powers and a light saber.



Realistically, If I were to find myself in the Hyborian age  of Conan the Barbarian  I wouldn't last 5 minutes in that place. 

I don't think any of us here could  hack living the world of Game of Thrones  Actually, with all the intrigue and politics , That  place is far worse the Hyborian age of Conan .


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## Vince W (Jul 18, 2021)

What makes the world of GOT worse than the Hyborian age is the level of organised oppression of the common people by the 'nobility'. They have enough followers to overwhelm any resistance they might encounter. In the Hyborian age they hadn't reached quite this level of oppressive corruption and a person with a strong will and sword arm could make their way in the world without any regard to local policies.


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## kythe (Jul 18, 2021)

I've always been partial to Star Trek.  The Federation presents a world with no poverty or mental illness.  On Earth, basic social and medical problems of today have been solved.  It would be a relief to live in a world where we don't have to struggle to survive, and even have the option of travelling the stars and meeting all sorts of alien life.


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## BAYLOR (Jul 18, 2021)

Vince W said:


> What makes the world of GOT worse than the Hyborian age is the level of organised oppression of the common people by the 'nobility'. They have enough followers to overwhelm any resistance they might encounter. In the Hyborian age they hadn't reached quite this level of oppressive corruption and a person with a strong will and sword arm could make their way in the world without any regard to local policies.



True

Hm, Im trying to imagine what world with both the Hyborian  age and the nations of GOT existing  side by what that would be like.  I wonder how the Hyboran Kingdoms would fare.

 I do like mashups and crossovers.


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## Vince W (Jul 18, 2021)

They Hyborian kingdoms would probably win out in the end simply because of the more powerful magics and monsters living there.


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## BAYLOR (Jul 18, 2021)

Vince W said:


> They Hyborian kingdoms would probably win out in the end simply because of the more powerful magics and monsters living there.



The nations states of Aquilonia, Nemedia, and Stygia , Aghrapur Kush  even individually   have very powerful larger armies than any the the 7 Kingdoms could field .


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## Vince W (Jul 18, 2021)

BAYLOR said:


> The nations states of Aquilonia, Nemedia, and Stygia , Aghrapur Kush  even individually   have very powerful larger armies than any the the 7 Kingdoms could field .


True. Mind you, I'm always going to be biased towards the Hyborian age.


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## BAYLOR (Jul 18, 2021)

Vince W said:


> True. Mind you, I'm always going to be biased towards the Hyborian age.



Fair enough.


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## Rodders (Jul 19, 2021)

I would love to be a tourist to Chasm City on Yellowstone in Alistair Reynolds Revelation Space. There is just something appealing about watching the decadence there.


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## Vince W (Jul 19, 2021)

Pre or post Melding Plague?


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## W Collier (Jul 19, 2021)

BAYLOR said:


> The nations states of Aquilonia, Nemedia, and Stygia , Aghrapur Kush  even individually   have very powerful larger armies than any the the 7 Kingdoms could field .


Not to mention that, at least according to HBO, everyone inhabiting the GoT universe is a blithering idiot when it comes to tactics (among other matters).


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## BAYLOR (Jul 19, 2021)

W Collier said:


> Not to mention that, at least according to HBO, everyone inhabiting the GoT universe is a blithering idiot when it comes to tactics (among other matters).



That too.


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## Rodders (Jul 19, 2021)

Post, i think. There is something ever so macabre about the plague. (I often wonder if the plague was an Inhibitor weapon just left to be picked up by species travelling between stars.)


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## sule (Jul 21, 2021)

My pet choice would be to live on Roshar (Stormlight Archive): beautiful landscape, lots of cool places to travel to, and a decent level of technology. Plus, there's a chance that I could bond a spren and start doing cool magic stuff. The only big worry is being outside during a highstorm (which becomes less of a problem once you can do cool magic stuff).


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## Fiberglass Cyborg (Aug 3, 2021)

I'd love to visit both the Hegemony core worlds and the Ouster tree-sphere in the "Hyperion Quartet", though it might be tricky to use the same passport for both. So many extraordinary planets and other settlements in that sequence.

Parts of the Discworld: places like Ephebe, Genua, Lancre and the Octarine Grass Country are beautiful, interesting and not too lethal. Ankh-Morpork itself would be a bit overwhelming for a long stay, but the other cities of the Sto Plain might be a good place to live. I'd probably dream of travelling through Uberwald but never dare.

The Exodus Fleet from "Record of a Spaceborn Few." Views to die for and a chance to decompress from modern fundamentalist capitalism.

The galaxy of Iain M Banks' "The Algebraist." It's not exactly a haven of peace and good governance. But it'd be worth it to live alongside so many genuinely alien, non-humanoid species.


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## Elckerlyc (Aug 15, 2021)

I choose to be a Shadow Prince in Amber. Well, _from_ Amber and skulk in the Shadows.


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## Fiberglass Cyborg (Aug 24, 2021)

sule said:


> My pet choice would be to live on Roshar (Stormlight Archive): beautiful landscape, lots of cool places to travel to, and a decent level of technology. Plus, there's a chance that I could bond a spren and start doing cool magic stuff. The only big worry is being outside during a highstorm (which becomes less of a problem once you can do cool magic stuff).



I'm in two minds about living on Roshar. It has a lot of downsides: the highstorms, the ubiquitous slavery, Alethi war crimes and the risk of turning up during a Desolation. But it would be wonderful just to wander around making observations in some quiet backwater (maybe in the Azish sphere of influence). I find the natural life of Roshar astonishing: the visible minor spirits, the semi-mobile plants, and several categories of animals completely unknown on Earth. I'd probably end up as a wierd nerdy Ardent who goes around collecting cremlings.


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## scholar-in-distress (Aug 24, 2021)

In SciFi, it would be _Star Trek: The Next Generation_. 
And in fantasy... Probably something from the D&D universe, but I can't decide what exactly. I have one favourite world, but there are so many, those with the right atmosphere and backstory, ones that offer wonderful exploration opportunities, and those that seem great for a Halloween break


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## BAYLOR (Sep 27, 2021)

Id want venture back to the 1930's as  an amateur but very capable  archeologist /adventurer in the world of  Indiana Jones and be a  side kick on one of  his crazy expeditions.


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## Vince W (Sep 27, 2021)

BAYLOR said:


> Id want venture back to the 1930's as  an amateur but very  capable archeologist /adventurer  and , be a sidekick to Indiana Jones on one his crazy expeditions.


How's your panicky screaming and ranting?


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## BAYLOR (Sep 27, 2021)

Vince W said:


> How's your panicky screaming and ranting?



When the  situation  calls for it, I can scream ,rant  and panic with the  best of them .


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