title: Mortal Kombat X

text: The console versions of "Mortal Kombat X" received critical acclaim upon release. Most praise was directed at the game's controls, overall gameplay, graphics, story, and characters, with some reviewers calling it the best game in the "Mortal Kombat" series. However, the PC version of the game was met with mixed reception, with reviewers citing numerous technical issues (including frequent crashes and slow netcode) as problems that severely hinder the experience. Selling more than 10 million copies, the game was the fastest-selling game in the franchise and the ninth best-selling retail game of 2015 in United States. "Mortal Kombat X" is the best-selling game in "Mortal Kombat" franchise.


title: Mortal Kombat X

text: An upgraded version of "Mortal Kombat X", titled Mortal Kombat XL, was released on March 1, 2016, for PlayStation 4 and Xbox One, including all downloadable content characters from the two released Kombat Packs, almost all bonus alternate costumes available at the time of release, improved gameplay, and improved netcode. This edition was also released for PC on October 4, 2016, and was added to the Xbox Game Pass on December 7, 2018. A sequel, "Mortal Kombat 11", was released on April 23, 2019, for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 4, Nintendo Switch, and Xbox One.


title: Mortal Kombat X

text: "Mortal Kombat X" is a fighting game in which two characters fight against each other using a variety of attacks, including special moves, and the series' trademark gruesome finishing moves. The game allows two players to face each other (either locally or online), or a single player to play against the CPU. The energy meter, first introduced in "Mortal Kombat (2011)", allows players to perform techniques such as "X-Ray" special moves. Similarly to NetherRealm Studios' previous title, "", fighters are able to interact with the environment, using parts of the scenery to reposition themselves or using available objects as weapons. In addition, each fighter has three different variations, each featuring a different set of moves they can use during the fight: for example, the character Scorpion features a Ninjutsu variation which gives him specific moves utilizing dual swords, a Hellfire variation which incorporates fiery special moves, and an Inferno variation which allows him to summon hellspawn minions to aid him in the fight.


title: Mortal Kombat X

text: Returning from the previous "Mortal Kombat" game is the Energy Meter, which is divided in three sections, and provides access to enhanced special moves (costing one section), breaking combos (costing two sections) and performing X-ray moves (costing all three sections of the bar). Additionally, a Stamina Meter has been added under the health bar, which consists of two sections, and is consumed whenever the player runs, performs a back dash, a combo breaker, a stage interaction, or certain special techniques, such as cancelling Scorpion's teleports.


title: Mortal Kombat X

text: In addition to the usual Fatalities, "Mortal Kombat X" features two new types of finishing moves: Quitality, which instantly kills the player's character if they rage quit during a multiplayer match; and Faction Kills, a set of finishing moves available to players based on the selection of one of the game's five factions (Black Dragon, Brotherhood of Shadow, Lin Kuei, Special Forces, and White Lotus). Brutality finishing moves make a comeback, although different from the ones featured in "Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3". Brutalities now take the form of certain moves that are triggered when said move is used as the final blow to win the final round in a fight, killing the opponent, provided certain conditions are met. In addition, the game features stage Brutalities, which are triggered when certain environment interactions are used to finish the opponent. Additionally, stage Fatalities were reinstated in "Mortal Kombat XL", being available in three of the game's stages.


title: Mortal Kombat X

text: For local single-player, the game offers Story mode, a plot-driven mode with cutscenes between fights; and Living Towers, an evolved form of "Mortal Kombat"'s Challenge Tower where the play conditions change. Also locally, player vs. player mode is available. Playing online, the play modes include 1 vs. 1 (ranked or random), King of the Hill, Survivor, and Test Your Luck. Another new mode is Faction Wars, where players choose one from the five factions to align with, and join a persistent online cross-platform competition with others, winning points for their faction, contributing in the conflict between them, ranking up personally, and earning special rewards such as faction-specific finishing moves (one of which is unlocked to the player if their faction wins at the end of any given week).


title: Mortal Kombat X

text: Two years after the defeat of Outworld's ruler, Shao Kahn, Shinnok attacks Earthrealm with his army of Netherrealm demons, as well as Earthrealm warriors who were killed during Kahn's invasion and are now resurrected as revenants under Quan Chi's control. After fighting their fallen comrades, a strike team led by Johnny Cage, Sonya Blade, and Kenshi open a portal to Raiden's Sky Temple and head to the Jinsei Chamber, the source of Earthrealm's life force, where Raiden and Fujin are seen battling Shinnok and his Netherrealm forces. When Shinnok tries to kill Sonya, Johnny rushes to defend her, inadvertently awakening ancient superhuman powers within himself. Using his newfound powers, Johnny holds Shinnok at bay long enough for Raiden to steal Shinnok's amulet and imprison him inside it, but Quan Chi escapes. Johnny, Raiden, and Sonya track him to his lair in the Netherrealm and defeat him, successfully restoring Scorpion, Sub-Zero, and Jax to human form in the process after Quan Chi's failed attempt to turn Cage into a revenant, though the former escapes again. In the years that follow, Johnny and Sonya marry and have a daughter, Cassie, though they later divorced. Scorpion, now using his original name, Hanzo Hasashi, rebuilds his Shirai Ryu clan while mentoring Kenshi's son Takeda, and Sub-Zero becomes the new Grandmaster of the Lin Kuei after killing Sektor. Sub-Zero uses the data from Sektor's memory banks detailing Quan Chi's various manipulations of the Lin Kuei, including the truth about the deaths of Hasashi's wife and son, to help end his feud with Hasashi.


title: Mortal Kombat X

text: Twenty years after Shinnok's defeat, Johnny assembles a new team of young fighters composed of Cassie, Takeda, Jax's daughter Jacqui, and Kung Lao's younger cousin (later retconned as his nephew) Kung Jin. After undergoing a training exercise with Sub-Zero, they are deployed to Outworld to resolve a civil war between former empress Mileena, who has obtained Shinnok's amulet from Kano, and Outworld's current emperor Kotal Kahn, with whom Earthrealm has a fragile peace treaty. Meanwhile, in an Outworld refugee camp in Earthrealm, Sonya captures Kano and forces him to reveal Mileena's location. Using this information, Cassie's team aids Kotal in recovering Shinnok's amulet and capturing Mileena, who is subsequently executed on Kotal's orders. No longer believing Earthrealm capable of keeping the amulet safe, Kotal decides to keep it in Outworld's hands and takes Cassie and her friends hostage as leverage against Raiden. Kotal's insectoid second-in-command D'Vorah, who had killed Baraka when Kotal started his rule, is revealed as a double agent for Quan Chi and steals the amulet. Cassie and her team escape captivity and inform Earthrealm of D'Vorah's intentions.


title: Mortal Kombat X

text: Hoping to stop Quan Chi from getting the amulet, Jax and Kenshi, aided by a Netherrealm local named Sareena, lead an assault on the Netherrealm. After fighting his way through the revenants of his former allies, Jax captures a weakened Quan Chi, who is brought to Earthrealm and held at an Outworld refugee camp. Hasashi infiltrates the refugee camp alongside his clan with the intent of assassinating Quan Chi as revenge for ruining his life, defeating Kenshi, Johnny, and Sonya in the process. As Hasashi prepares to kill Quan Chi, D'Vorah arrives with the amulet. Quan Chi manages to finish his spell moments before being beheaded by Hasashi, releasing Shinnok from captivity. Weakened by the Shirai Ryu's previous attack, Johnny is taken hostage by Shinnok and D'Vorah. With the aid of Quan Chi's revenants, Shinnok and D'Vorah assault the Sky Temple, and subdue Raiden and Bo' Rai Cho in the process. Shinnok then enters the Jinsei and corrupts it, transforming himself into a powerful demon in the process.


title: Mortal Kombat X

text: Cassie's team pursues Shinnok, only to be intercepted by Kotal Kahn and his army. They inform him of Shinnok's return and Kotal decides to kill them, hoping to appease Shinnok and buy time to bolster Outworld's defenses, but Sub-Zero and his Lin Kuei warriors appear just in time to repel the Outworld forces. At the Sky Temple, Jacqui and Takeda occupy the revenants, while Cassie and Jin enter the Jinsei chamber. When D'Vorah begins torturing Johnny, Cassie manifests powers similar to her father's, which she uses to defeat Shinnok. A grievously wounded Raiden then purifies the Jinsei, stripping Shinnok of his powers and forcing the revenants to withdraw. Sonya and her soldiers arrive to take Shinnok and D'Vorah away, and the Cage family reunites.


title: Mortal Kombat X

text: Sometime later, Raiden, now in possession of Shinnok's amulet and corrupted in the process of purifying the Jinsei, issues a warning to the revenants Liu Kang and Kitana, now rulers of the Netherrealm, that they will face "fates worse than death" if they threaten Earthrealm. Raiden leaves behind Shinnok's severed, but still living head as a final warning before departing.


title: Mortal Kombat X

text: The game had 24 playable characters at launch, with 9 additional characters added via DLC. The playable characters in bold are new to the series, while the "italicized" ones are guest characters. Goro was available either as a pre-order bonus, or with the purchase of Kombat Pack 2.


title: Mortal Kombat X

text: Along with series staples such as Scorpion, Sub-Zero, Liu Kang, Kitana and Raiden, several new fighters are added to the series' roster: D'Vorah, an insectoid humanoid who controls other insects; Ferra/Torr, a symbiotic pairing consisting of a young armored female warrior and a giant masked brute; and Kotal Kahn, an Aztec-inspired "blood god" who is the new emperor of Outworld. With the game's story mode spanning 20 years, the game also introduces the offspring of several characters, such as Cassie Cage, the daughter of Johnny Cage and Sonya Blade; Takeda, son of Kenshi; and Jacqui Briggs, daughter of Jax. Other series newcomers include Kung Jin, an archer, cousin of Kung Lao; and Erron Black, a Western-style gunfighter. A non-playable demonic form of Shinnok called "Corrupted Shinnok" appears as the final boss. Also, Tanya and Bo' Rai Cho, who would later become downloadable characters, originally appeared in the story mode cutscenes, the former even being a non-playable opponent. Other notable characters that appear, but are not playable include Baraka, Sindel, Fujin, Rain, Sareena, Li Mei, Frost, Stryker, Kabal, Nightwolf and Smoke.


title: Mortal Kombat X

text: NetherRealm Studios began publicly hiring for the eighth generation development in April 2012. In July 2013, it was confirmed that a new "Mortal Kombat" game was in development and was said to be released alongside the film series' reboot in September 2011. In February 2014, actor Kiefer Sutherland claimed he was participating in this "huge game" in an unidentified role. The following June, Sutherland's involvement was denied by series co-creator Ed Boon. According to the resume of Karen Strassman, who voiced Kitana and Mileena in 2011's "Mortal Kombat", the game's working title was "Mortal Kombat 2". The game's poster was leaked and an updated version of the series' iconic dragon logo was revealed on May 28, 2010. Boon posted daily riddles on his Twitter account that constituted a countdown suggesting a June 2 announcement date, hinting at the game's title being "Mortal Kombat X". One of the Twitter clues left by Boon teasing this title was the image of a Lincoln MKX emblem posted with the comment, "I wonder what the X stands for?"


title: Mortal Kombat X

text: On June 2, 2014, the title was indeed officially revealed as "Mortal Kombat X", alongside an official reveal trailer featuring a fight between the iconic characters Scorpion and Sub-Zero, and an original song called “Can’t Be Stopped” performed by artist Wiz Khalifa. The game made its first public appearance at E3 2014, starting on June 10, 2014, where four new characters were revealed, apart from the two already revealed by the trailer. With over eleven million views, it was the third-highest viewed trailer on YouTube in the second quarter of 2014. NetherRealm Studios said they are only working on the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One versions of the game. The game, which runs at 1080p screen resolution and 60 FPS, has been said to feature the most brutal finishing moves in the series. Boon said: "We have these meetings and everyone comes up with ideas for Fatalities. The ones that people say 'there's no way we can do that'—they're the first ones we work on."


title: Mortal Kombat X

text: By July 2015, due to heavy criticism for the porting issues that plagued the PC release of the game, almost all references to "Mortal Kombat X" had been removed from High Voltage Software's Facebook page. It would later be revealed that work on the PC port had been handed over to Polish developers QLOC. On August 28, 2015, Warner Bros. announced the cancellation of the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 ports (originally scheduled for release at a later unspecified date) of "Mortal Kombat X" due to the inability to get the version for the last gen consoles to reach the quality standards set by the current generation. NetherRealm Studios community specialist Tyler Lansdown initially stated that Kombat Pack 2, "Mortal Kombat XL", and the enhanced online netcode would not be available on the PC version. However, on August 25, 2016, an open beta test period of the online functionality of "XL" was announced for the PC, and ultimately a release date was set for October 4, 2016.


title: Mortal Kombat X

text: "Mortal Kombat X" was released worldwide (except Germany) for PC, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One on April 14, 2015. For reasons relating to the initial refusal by the German USK to issue the game with an age rating, the official German release of "Mortal Kombat X" was delayed until September 1, 2015. The game's "Kollector's Edition" includes a figurine of Scorpion and the Gold Scorpion skin, as well as future access to Kombat Pack 1. Simultaneously with the release of Kombat Pack 2 and "Mortal Kombat XL", the game received a free major update that introduced balance changes, one new stage ("The Pit"), several stage brutalities, and rollback-based netcode similar to GGPO.


title: Mortal Kombat X

text: Before the game's launch, Goro was offered as a pre-order bonus. Later on, upon the game's release, he was also made available for purchase.


title: Mortal Kombat X

text: The game has also received numerous downloadable content (DLC) packages, containing skin packs and occasionally new characters, such as the Ultimate Horror Pack, which includes Jason and horror-themed skins for Ermac, Reptile and Mileena; or the Predator/Prey Pack, which includes Predator and Predator-themed skins for Johnny Cage, Scorpion and a skin for Jax with the likeness and voice of actor Carl Weathers from the first "Predator" film.


title: Mortal Kombat X

text: On March 13, 2015, Jason Voorhees from the "Friday the 13th" franchise was announced as the first downloadable bonus character in the downloadable Kombat Pack season-pass bundle. One week later, Predator, from the eponymous franchise, was revealed as the second DLC guest character after he was inadvertently leaked by the Xbox Games Store, with Tremor from "" and Tanya from "Mortal Kombat 4" later rounding out the cast of the Kombat Pack. Ultimately, the pack was revealed to include all of the content in the Samurai Pack, Ultimate Horror Pack, Klassic Pack #1, Predator/Prey Pack and Klassic Pack #2.


title: Mortal Kombat X

text: On September 2, 2015, Ed Boon teased a Kombat Pack 2 DLC, which would include four new characters. On December 3, 2015, the characters for Kombat Pack 2 were revealed to be Bo' Rai Cho from "", a new character named Triborg (a cyborg character that features Cyrax, Sektor, Smoke and Cyber Sub-Zero as its variations), Leatherface from "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre" franchise, and the Alien from the eponymous franchise. Kombat Pack 2 also makes Goro playable for those who did not have him as a pre-order bonus, and includes Kold War Scorpion, Kold War Pack, Apocalypse Pack and Klassic Fatalities #1 and #2. Kombat Pack 2 was ultimately announced for release on March 1, 2016, only on PlayStation 4 and Xbox One, marking the beginning of a period where the Microsoft Windows port was left aside for any updates and new DLC releases. Eventually it was released on PC on October 4, 2016, along with the PC release of "Mortal Kombat XL".


title: Mortal Kombat X

text: On January 20, 2016, coinciding with the official announcement of Kombat Pack 2, NetherRealm Studios announced a new release of the game, called "Mortal Kombat XL" to be released simultaneously with said Kombat Pack, which would include all previously released downloadable content up to Kombat Pack 2. "Mortal Kombat XL" was then released for Xbox One and PlayStation 4 on March 1, 2016, in North America, and March 4, 2016, in Europe.


title: Mortal Kombat X

text: With the PC having been left behind after Kombat Pack 1, in August 2016 Ed Boon ran a poll on Twitter, which resulted in 45% of 10,000 voters saying they wanted "Mortal Kombat XL" for PC. After it ended, he posted the results, suggesting they would be acted upon. Shortly after, an online-only beta was officially released on August 25, 2016, as a free-to-play title on Steam in order to test the enhanced netcode, which lasted through September 1, 2016. As soon as the beta ended, it was announced that "Mortal Kombat XL" (both as a full game for purchase, and as an update for "Mortal Kombat X" owners) would become available alongside the Kombat Pack 2 DLC on October 4, 2016, along with the updates that would bring the PC port back to parity with its console counterparts. As revealed by the game's updated intro credits, the porting of "XL" to the PC was handled by QLOC, in opposition to the previous problematic releases, by High Voltage Software. Coinciding with the release of XL for PC, an XL Pack was announced for existing owners of the game, which provides all of the previously existing DLC in a single package. Also coinciding with the release of the PC port of "Mortal Kombat XL" was a balance patch affecting most of the 33 characters in the roster in all three of the game's platforms.


title: Mortal Kombat X

text: On March 2, 2015, NetherRealm Studios announced that their mobile division would release an iOS/Android version of "Mortal Kombat X" in April 2015. The mobile game is described as a "free-to-play fighting/card-battler hybrid" and players would be able to unlock content in the console version of the game by playing the mobile version (and vice versa). The iOS version was released worldwide on April 7, 2015, while the Android version was soft launched on April 21, 2015, in select Asian countries and was officially launched worldwide on May 4, 2015.


title: Mortal Kombat X

text: With the 1.11 update version of the mobile game released on December 6, 2016, Freddy Krueger who appeared as a DLC character in "MK9" was added as a mobile-exclusive character using his signature moves and X-Ray attack from MK9. On the update 1.13, Jade and Baraka were also added in the game as mobile exclusives, using their X-Rays from MK9. The latest version as of September 2017 (version 1.14) includes the popularly demanded Takeda, as well as the most recent addition to the ninja cast, Tremor. By October 4, another update was released, featuring Goro (Klassic and Tigrar Fury) and Shao Kahn. A February 2018 update introduced Bo' Rai Cho and Kintaro. An October 2018 update introduced console DLC character Leatherface. In February 2019, the game was renamed "Mortal Kombat Mobile" with its 2.0 update with a vast overhaul of new features for "Mortal Kombat 11". Furthermore, the 2.0 update upgraded its graphics engine from Unreal Engine 3 to Unreal Engine 4.


title: Mortal Kombat X

text: Prior to the game's release, DC Comics published a comic book series based on the game, with the first issue released on January 6, 2015. The debut trailer and opening cinematic features an original track by Wiz Khalifa titled "Can't Be Stopped". The official television commercial and launch trailer for the game were directed by System of a Down member Shavo Odadjian and featured the band's 2001 track "Chop Suey!". The "Mortal Kombat X" logo was featured on NASCAR driver Erik Jones' #20 Xfinity Series car (sponsored by GameStop) that won the O'Reilly Auto Parts 300 on April 10, 2015. "Mortal Kombat X" has been used in eSports competitions, with international tournaments in Europe, Asia, and North America with $1,000 weekly tournament prizes starting on April 19, 2015, with a season final on July 11, 2015, worth at least $100,000. The ESL Pro League Season 1 Finals were won by Critical Reaction's Dominique "Sonic Fox" McLean using Kitana with Erron Black as a secondary. McLean earned a grand total of $60,000 from the Season 1 Finals. Season Two of the ESL Pro League for "Mortal Kombat X" began on October 18, 2015, and concluded in early 2016.


title: Mortal Kombat X

text: "Mortal Kombat X" received largely positive reviews. Aggregating review website Metacritic gave the Xbox One version 86/100 based on 21 reviews, the PlayStation 4 version 83/100 based on 81 reviews, and the Microsoft Windows version 76/100 based on 10 reviews. It became the fastest selling game in the history of the "Mortal Kombat" series and topped the US and UK PlayStation 4 sales charts in the month of release.


title: Mortal Kombat X

text: Brian Shea of "Game Informer" called "Mortal Kombat X" "more than the continuation of NetherRealm's successful vision for the franchise; it's one of the best fighting games in years", adding that the core gameplay was complex and varied while he enjoyed the multiplayer options. GameSpot's Peter Brown enjoyed the overall gameplay, saying it had "the best fighting mechanics of any game in the series" but was critical of the downloadable content as "there's so much to love about the new "Mortal Kombat" that it's a shame to see such blatant monetization practices overlap with your experience". Lucas Sullivan of GamesRadar described the story mode as "ceaselessly entertaining", having "great voice-acting and a surprisingly enjoyable script", and "a pretty tough act to follow", criticizing the other single-player modes outside of the main story, and "sparse" tutorial options.


title: Mortal Kombat X

text: Destructoid's Chris Carter scored the game an 8 out of 10 and called it "one of the biggest fighting games of 2015". Carter felt that as more characters are added via DLC, the game will get better over time. "VideoGamer.com" Brett Phipps gave the game an 8/10 and called it "absurd, gruesome ridiculous fun". Phipps mostly praised the story, character gameplay variety, and gore, but was annoyed by online "hiccups". Nick Tan from Game Revolution commended the gameplay, particularly complimenting the character variations, environmental attacks, Brutalities, the Krypt, and the Tower system. Tan also liked the overall presentation and the story's concept, but missed Stage Fatalities and tag-team matches, disliked the story's ending, and felt that the game was purposefully "truncated".


title: Mortal Kombat X

text: Michael Huber of GameTrailers called it a "superb entry in the franchise", noting the gameplay, story mode and new online components. Vince Ingenito of IGN gave it a score of 8.4. He claimed that "Mortal Kombat X" was the best "Mortal Kombat" game in the franchise's history, lauding it as deeper, mechanically richer and more fully featured than the previous "Mortal Kombat" games. He also praised the presence of the new characters as the major roster shakeup made the game feel new and exciting to longtime series fans and casual fans. Michael McWhertor of Polygon called the game "one of the best fighting games in the series", praising the gameplay in addition to the newer systems in place and overall presentation. Stephen Kleckner of VentureBeat was more critical of the game, citing in his opinion confusing move animations, a system favoring close range mid-to-high combos, having to use the block button to execute a run, poor online play, and easy Fatality DLC. He also mentioned an issue where save data would be erased due to a bug in the PC version. Matt Elliott of PC Gamer had mixed feelings about the online gameplay and said that ""Mortal Kombat" online simply isn't sturdy enough to remain competitive".


title: Mortal Kombat X

text: In October 2015, Warner Bros. confirmed that "Mortal Kombat X" had sold more than 5 million copies worldwide by then. It was the fastest-selling game in the franchise and was the ninth-best-selling retail game of 2015 in the United States. The first-month sales of the game is higher than the first-month sales of every game released in April 2016.


title: South Park Mexican

text: Carlos Coy (born October 5, 1970), known professionally as SPM (an initialism for South Park Mexican), is an American rapper, songwriter, founder of Dope House Records, and convicted sex offender. His stage name is derived from the South Park neighborhood in Houston, Texas where he was raised.


title: South Park Mexican

text: Coy started his musical career in 1994. One year later, he, his brother Arthur, and one of their friends founded Dope House Records. Coy debuted as South Park Mexican that same year with the album "Hillwood" under the same label.


title: South Park Mexican

text: In 2002, Coy was convicted of aggravated sexual assault of a child and sentenced to 45 years incarceration, and is currently serving his sentence at the Ramsey Unit in Rosharon, Texas. He is eligible for parole in 2024. While incarcerated, he has continued to record music.


title: South Park Mexican

text: Coy's father Arturo was a Marine from Falfurrias, Texas; Coy's mother dropped out of high school to marry Arturo. Their marriage ended three years after Coy's birth. Coy's sister, Sylvia, described herself as his "mother/sister". He attended various elementary schools, before entering the music magnet program at Welch Middle School. His family moved from southeast Houston to South Park, and he attended Woodson Middle School. He became a crack cocaine dealer during this time (in his early teens). Rapper Scarface (real name Brad Jordan) also attended Woodson. He attended Milby High School until he was expelled in 1987 while in the ninth grade. Coy obtained a GED and enrolled in San Jacinto Junior College for a business


title: South Park Mexican

text: associate's degree but failed all his classes there. He then worked at a chemical plant for minimum wage, but after being again unemployed he worked as a door-to-door perfume salesman and continued being a crack cocaine dealer.


title: South Park Mexican

text: Coy began his career as a Christian rapper, but felt that doing so made him an outcast. In 1994, Coy started rapping and recording songs as South Park Mexican and SPM. In 1995, Coy, along with his brother Arthur Jr. and friend Jose Antonio Garza from McAllen, Texas, founded his own record label, Dope House Records. As South Park Mexican (SPM), Coy released his debut album, "Hillwood", in March 1995. Coy promoted his first album for two years and by 1997 he started working on his second album. He released his second album, "Hustle Town", in March 1998. The album became a hit in the Houston underground rap scene.


title: South Park Mexican

text: On December 22, 1998, Coy released his third album, "Power Moves: The Table", which garnered mainstream attention. On November 23, 1999, he released his fourth album, ""; its lead single, "High So High" charted at #50 on the "Billboard" Hot Rap Tracks chart. In February 2000, he signed a joint venture between his label and Universal Music Group which earned him a $500,000 advance and national distribution. Universal released three of Coy's albums: "Time is Money" and "The Purity Album" (2000) and "Never Change" (2001). "The Purity Album" included the single "You Know My Name", which peaked at #99 on the "Billboard" R&B chart and #31 on the rap chart. "San Antonio Express-News" writer Ramiro Burr summarized South Park Mexican's lyrical content in a 2001 profile: "SPM delivers raunchy lyrics about growing up in the barrio and living the party life. But he says he also focuses on working hard and having hope for a better life."


title: South Park Mexican

text: His Universal releases did not gain much mainstream attention; Jason Birchmeier of Allmusic suggested,"Coy's hardcore rapping proved to be too harsh for the masses". His 2002 album "Reveille Park", a compilation of freestyles, was released by Dope House. Dope House released two new albums that Coy recorded while incarcerated: "When Devils Strike", released in 2006, debuted at #46 on the "Billboard" 200, and "The Last Chair Violinist" followed in 2008. Following a six-year hiatus, he released "The Son of Norma" on September 30, 2014.


title: South Park Mexican

text: On September 25, 2001, Houston police arrested Coy on a charge of aggravated sexual assault of a child who was then nine years old, but he was released from county jail after posting bail. The incident occurred on Labor Day weekend that year. A Harris County, Texas jury indicted Coy on December 10, 2001, and added another charge over a 1993 incident when he allegedly impregnated a then-13-year-old girl, who later demanded child support payments from him. Two more charges followed in March 2002 for sexual assault of two 14-year-old girls; Coy was held without bail. Coy's trial began on May 8, 2002, when the nine-year-old girl's mother testified that the girl left a sleepover because of abuse. The next day, the girl testified that Coy touched her inappropriately when she was sleeping.


title: South Park Mexican

text: On May 18, 2002, a Houston jury convicted Coy of aggravated sexual assault of a child. He was sentenced to 45 years in prison on May 30 and ordered to pay a $10,000 fine.


title: South Park Mexican

text: As of 2021, Coy is incarcerated in the Ramsey Unit in Rosharon, Texas. Coy is eligible for parole in 2024. His projected release date is April 8, 2047, and his Texas Department of Criminal Justice number is 01110642.


title: South Park Mexican

text: Coy maintains his innocence in this case and there are persistent messages from online posters calling for his release.


title: Hypermobility (joints)

text: Hypermobility, also known as double-jointedness, describes joints that stretch farther than normal. For example, some hypermobile people can bend their thumbs backwards to their wrists, bend their knee joints backwards, put their leg behind the head or perform other contortionist "tricks". It can affect one or more joints throughout the body.


title: Hypermobility (joints)

text: Hypermobile joints are common and occur in about 10 to 25% of the population, but in a minority of people, pain and other symptoms are present. This may be a sign of what is known as joint hypermobility syndrome (JMS) or, more recently, hypermobility spectrum disorder (HSD). Hypermobile joints are a feature of genetic connective tissue disorders such as hypermobility spectrum disorder (HSD) or Ehlers–Danlos syndromes (EDS). Until new diagnostic criteria were introduced, hypermobility syndrome was sometimes considered identical to hypermobile Ehlers–Danlos syndrome (hEDS), formerly called EDS Type 3. As no genetic test can distinguish the two conditions and because of the similarity of the diagnostic criteria and recommended treatments, many experts recommend they be recognized as the same condition until further research is undertaken.


title: Hypermobility (joints)

text: In 2016 the diagnostic criteria for hEDS were re-written to be more restrictive, with the intent of narrowing the pool of hEDS patients in the hope of making it easier to identify a common genetic mutation, hEDS being the only EDS variant without a diagnostic DNA test. At the same time hypermobility spectrum disorder was renamed as hypermobility spectrum disorder and redefined as a hypermobility disorder that does not meet the diagnostic criteria for hEDS, other types of Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome, or other heritable Connective Tissue Disorder (such as Marfan's, Loeys-Dietz, or osteogenesis imperfecta).


title: Hypermobility (joints)

text: People with Joint Hypermobility Syndrome may develop other conditions caused by their unstable joints. These conditions include:


title: Hypermobility (joints)

text: Those with hypermobile joints are more likely to have fibromyalgia, mitral valve prolapse, and anxiety disorders such as panic disorder.


title: Hypermobility (joints)

text: These abnormalities cause abnormal joint stress, meaning that the joints can wear out, leading to osteoarthritis.


title: Hypermobility (joints)

text: The condition tends to run in families, suggesting a genetic basis for at least some forms of hypermobility. The term "double jointed" is often used to describe hypermobility; however, the name is a misnomer and should not be taken literally, as hypermobile joints are not doubled/extra in any sense.


title: Hypermobility (joints)

text: Most people have hypermobility with no other symptoms. Approximately 5% of the healthy population have one or more hypermobile joints. However, people with "joint hypermobility syndrome" are subject to many difficulties. For example, their joints may be easily injured, be more prone to complete dislocation due to the weakly stabilized joint and they may develop problems from muscle fatigue (as muscles must work harder to compensate for weakness in the ligaments that support the joints). Hypermobility syndrome can lead to chronic pain or even disability in severe cases. Musical instrumentalists with hypermobile fingers may have difficulties when fingers collapse into the finger locking position. Or, conversely, they may display superior abilities due to their increased range of motion for fingering, such as in playing a violin or cello.


title: Hypermobility (joints)

text: Hypermobility may be symptomatic of a serious medical condition, such as Stickler syndrome, Ehlers–Danlos syndrome, Marfan syndrome, Loeys–Dietz syndrome, rheumatoid arthritis, osteogenesis imperfecta, lupus, polio, Down syndrome, morquio syndrome, cleidocranial dysostosis or myotonia congenita.


title: Hypermobility (joints)

text: Hypermobility has been associated with chronic fatigue syndrome and fibromyalgia. Hypermobility causes physical trauma (in the form of joint dislocations, joint subluxations, joint instability, sprains, etc.). These conditions often, in turn, cause physical and/or emotional trauma and are possible triggers for conditions such as fibromyalgia.


title: Hypermobility (joints)

text: Women with hypermobility may experience particular difficulties when pregnant. During pregnancy, the body releases relaxin and, certain hormones that alter ligament physiology, easing the stretching needed to accommodate fetal growth as well as the birthing process. The combination of hypermobility and pregnancy-related pelvic girdle during pregnancy can be debilitating. The pregnant woman with hypermobile joints will often be in significant pain as muscles and joints adapt to the pregnancy. Pain often inhibits such women from standing or walking during pregnancy. The pregnant patient may be forced to use a bedpan and/or a wheelchair during pregnancy and may experience permanent disability.


title: Hypermobility (joints)

text: Symptoms of hypermobility include a dull but intense pain around the knee and ankle joints and the soles of the feet. The pain and discomfort affecting these body parts can be alleviated by using custom orthoses.


title: Hypermobility (joints)

text: Hypermobility syndrome is generally considered to comprise hypermobility together with other symptoms, such as myalgia and arthralgia. It is relatively common among children and affects more females than males.


title: Hypermobility (joints)

text: Hypermobility can also be caused by connective tissue disorders, such as Ehlers–Danlos syndrome (EDS) and Marfan syndrome. Joint hypermobility is a common symptom for both. EDS has numerous sub-types; most include hypermobility in some degree. When hypermobility is the main symptom, then EDS/hypermobility type is likely. People with EDS-HT experience frequent joint dislocations and subluxations (partial/incomplete dislocations), with or without trauma, sometimes spontaneously. Commonly, hypermobility is dismissed by medical professionals as nonsignificant.


title: Hypermobility (joints)

text: Joint hypermobility is often correlated with hypermobile Ehlers–Danlos syndrome (hEDS, known also by EDS type III or Ehlers–Danlos syndrome hypermobility type (EDS-HT)). Ehlers–Danlos syndrome is a genetic disorder caused by mutations or hereditary genes, but the genetic defect that produced hEDS is largely unknown. In conjunction with joint hypermobility, a common symptom for hEDS is smooth, velvety, and stretchy skin; a symptom largely unique to the syndrome. When diagnosing hEDS, the Beighton Criteria are used, but are not always able to distinguish between generalized hypermobility and hEDS.


title: Hypermobility (joints)

text: Joint hypermobility syndrome shares symptoms with other conditions such as Marfan syndrome, Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome, and osteogenesis imperfecta. Experts in connective tissue disorders formally agreed that severe forms of Hypermobility Syndrome and mild forms of Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome Hypermobility Type are the same disorder.


title: Hypermobility (joints)

text: Generalized hypermobility is a common feature in all these hereditary connective tissue disorders and many features overlap, but often features are present that enable differentiating these disorders.


title: Hypermobility (joints)

text: The inheritance pattern of Ehlers-Danlos syndrome varies by type. The arthrochalasia, classic, hypermobility and vascular forms usually have an autosomal dominant pattern of inheritance. Autosomal dominant inheritance occurs when one copy of a gene in each cell is sufficient to cause a disorder. In some cases, an affected person inherits the mutation from one affected parent. Other cases result from new (sporadic) gene mutations. Such cases can occur in people with no history of the disorder in their family.


title: Hypermobility (joints)

text: The dermatosparaxis and kyphoscoliosis types of EDS and some cases of the classic and hypermobility forms, are inherited in an autosomal recessive pattern. In autosomal recessive inheritance, two copies of the gene in each cell are altered. Most often, both parents of an individual with an autosomal recessive disorder are carriers of one copy of the altered gene but do not show signs and symptoms of the disorder.


title: Hypermobility (joints)

text: As of July 2000, hypermobility was diagnosed using the Beighton criteria. In 2017, the criteria changed, but still involve the Beighton score. The Beighton criteria do not replace the Beighton score but instead use the previous score in conjunction with other symptoms and criteria. HMS is diagnosed in the presence of either two major criteria, one major and two minor criteria, or four minor criteria. The criteria are:


title: Hypermobility (joints)

text: The Beighton score is an edited version of the Carter/Wilkinson scoring system which was used for many years as an indicator of widespread hyper-mobility. Medical professionals varied in their interpretations of the results; some accepting as low as 1/9 and some 4/9 as a diagnosis of HMS. Therefore, it was incorporated, with clearer guidelines, into the Beighton Criteria. The Beighton score is measured by adding 1 point for each of the following:


title: Hypermobility (joints)

text: It is important that hypermobile individuals remain fit – even more so than the average individual – to prevent recurrent injuries. Regular exercise and exercise that is supervised by a physician and physical therapist can reduce symptoms because strong muscles increase dynamic joint stability. Low-impact exercise such as closed kinetic chain exercises are usually recommended as they are less likely to cause injury when compared to high-impact exercise or contact sports.


title: Hypermobility (joints)

text: Heat and cold treatment can help temporarily to relieve the pain of aching joints and muscles but does not address the underlying problems.


title: Hypermobility (joints)

text: Medication is not the primary treatment for hypermobility, but can be used as an adjunct treatment for related joint pain. Nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs are the primary medications of choice. Narcotics are not recommended for primary or long-term treatment and are reserved for short-term use after acute injury.


title: Hypermobility (joints)

text: For some people with hypermobility, lifestyle changes decrease symptom severity. In general, activity that increases pain is to be avoided. For example:


title: Kiefer Sutherland filmography

text: Kiefer Sutherland is a British-Canadian actor who has starred or played prominent roles in various films and television series over the course of several decades, most notably Jack Bauer of the Fox drama series "24". He is also known for his voice roles in the "Call of Duty" and "Metal Gear" video game franchises.


title: World of Warcraft: Shadowlands

text: World of Warcraft: Shadowlands is the eighth expansion pack for the massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) "World of Warcraft", following "". It was announced and made available for preorder at BlizzCon on November 1, 2019. Originally scheduled for release on October 27, 2020, its release was delayed until November 23, the sixteenth anniversary of the release of the original game.


title: World of Warcraft: Shadowlands

text: The expansion opens up the Shadowlands, the realm of the dead in "Warcraft" lore. It features the game's first "level squish" and a completely overhauled leveling system, access to the Death Knight class for the races that did not previously have access to it, Covenants in the new zones, and new dungeons and raids.


title: World of Warcraft: Shadowlands

text: On February 20, 2021, "Chains of Domination" (Patch 9.1) was announced. A new location, Korthia, was added to the Shadowlands. "Chains of Domination" also released a new raid called "Sanctum of Domination" which features iconic "World of Warcraft" character Sylvanas Windrunner as the final boss. The patch went live on June 29, 2021 for the US region, and on June 30 for EU.


title: World of Warcraft: Shadowlands

text: On February 22, 2022, "Eternity's End" (Patch 9.2) was released, including a new zone known as Zereth Mortis, home of the originators of all reality. A new raid, "The Sepulcher of the First Ones", concludes the story of "Shadowlands" by having the expansion's main antagonist, Zovaal the Jailer, as its final boss.


title: World of Warcraft: Shadowlands

text: "Shadowlands" involves a level reduction ("level squish") with player characters at level 120 (the level cap in "Battle for Azeroth") reduced to level 50, with level 60 being the new level cap (as it had been in the original game). In what Blizzard has called a "New Game+ experience", newly created characters have an updated starting experience on an island called "Exile's Reach", which introduces them to the game and its systems. For players new to "World of Warcraft", characters who finish the starting experience on Exile's Reach proceed to "Battle for Azeroth" content, while veteran players who create new characters can choose the expansion experience they wish to play through to level 50, at which point they proceed to the Shadowlands.


title: World of Warcraft: Shadowlands

text: Shadowlands features five major zones - Bastion, Ardenweald, Revendreth, Maldraxxus, and the Maw. In the center is the city of Oribos, which functions as the main player hub similar to Shattrath City in Outland in "" or Dalaran in "" and "". There are four new dungeons for leveling, four more at maximum level, and a new raid. In addition, a new roguelike "endless dungeon" called Torghast, Tower of the Damned, was introduced for both solo and group play.


title: World of Warcraft: Shadowlands

text: All playable core races (not allied races) received new customization options (for example, humans are able to customize their ethnicities, dwarves and trolls gain tattoos, and undead are able to show varying degrees of decay). The Death Knight class (added in "Wrath of the Lich King") was opened up to pandaren (added in "") and to all allied races (added in "Legion" and "Battle for Azeroth"); players who pre-ordered "Shadowlands" received access to death knights for these races with the release of Patch 8.3.0, "Battle for Azeroth"s last major content patch, on January 14, 2020.


title: World of Warcraft: Shadowlands

text: The four zones that comprise the Shadowlands are ruled by "Covenants", similar to the Class Orders introduced in "Legion". Each Covenant has its own campaign, similar to the War Campaign in "Battle for Azeroth", with gear specific to the faction and abilities both universal and determined by class. The four covenants are the Kyrian of Bastion, the Night Fae of Ardenweald, the Venthyr of Revendreth, and the Necrolords of Maldraxxus. Players experiencing the "Shadowlands" content for the first time are required to reach level 60 before they can choose to pledge themselves to a Covenant, while alternative characters are able to do so at the start of the "Shadowlands" content.


title: World of Warcraft: Shadowlands

text: Throughout the Covenant campaigns players will be able to insert conduits into the "Forge of Bonds," a system which increases a player's stats and abilities. The Covenant campaigns also introduced a progression system known as Renown, which when raised gives the players rewards. The maximum Renown you could have at the launch of the game was 40, although this was increased to 80 with the "Chains of Domination" update. Completing dungeons and raids on any difficulty also awards players with Renown for the Covenant that they have chosen.


title: World of Warcraft: Shadowlands

text: "Shadowlands" introduced a rogue-like dungeon at launch, Torghast, Tower of the Damned. Parts of the "Shadowlands" campaign are centered in Torghast. The tower introduced runecarving memories, which you can augment into items to make them more powerful. In order to make these legendary items you need an armour or jewellery piece that coincides with your armour type as well as Soul Ash, a currency found while progressing through Torghast. Players wishing to create the highest power legendary items must embark on difficult challenges on the highest levels of Torghast to obtain a second currency, Soul Cinders.


title: World of Warcraft: Shadowlands

text: After Sylvanas Windrunner murdered High Overlord Saurfang using otherworldly powers (at the end of ""), she traveled to Icecrown Citadel and destroyed the Lich King's Helm of Domination, which tears a rift in the sky above Icecrown, leading to the Shadowlands, the realm of the dead. Dark angelic figures kidnap King Anduin Wrynn, former Warchief Thrall, tauren chieftain Baine Bloodhoof and Lady Jaina Proudmoore and hold them in Torghast, the maze-like Tower of the Damned within the Maw. The Cult of the Damned, previously aligned with the Scourge, are now in the service of the "Banished One", and conduct attacks in Icecrown and elsewhere. Aided by Azeroth's champions, Tyrande Whisperwind - empowered by the moon goddess Elune as the "Night Warrior", after the burning of the World Tree Teldrassil - confronts Sylvanas' consort, Nathanos Blightcaller, outside his former homestead in the Eastern Plaguelands of Lordaeron. After he refuses to tell her where Sylvanas is, Tyrande kills him.


title: World of Warcraft: Shadowlands

text: The Knights of the Ebon Blade (the order of Death Knights who had broken from the Scourge in "") travel to Stormwind and Orgrimmar to rally the heroes of Azeroth. At the Frozen Throne atop Icecrown Citadel, they open a portal to travel into the Shadowlands using the fragments of the Helm of Domination and arrive in the Maw, a place of eternal damnation. The heroes make their way through the armies of Zovaal the Jailer, the "Banished One" who rules the Maw; it is revealed that Sylvanas has made a pact with the Jailer. Upon finding a waystone placed by the enigmatic "First Ones", the champions escape the Maw and wind up in Oribos, the Eternal City at the center of the Shadowlands. There, they learn that the Arbiter, who judges the souls of the dead, has gone dormant, condemning all incoming souls to the Maw. Because of this, the realms of the Shadowlands are suffering from a drought of Anima, the essence of souls. In order to discover the cause of the disruption, the attendants send the champions to the four realms of the Shadowlands: the Elysium-like Bastion, home of the angelic Kyrian; the plagued crags of Maldraxxus, home of the undead Necrolords; the forests and fields of Ardenweald, home of the enchanted Night Fae, and the castles and villages of Revendreth, home to the vampiric Venthyr.


title: World of Warcraft: Shadowlands

text: In Bastion, the heroes discover that the spirit of Uther the Lightbringer, the first Paladin, has joined with a group of renegade Kyrian known as the Forsworn, who seek to overthrow Kyrestia the Firstborne, the Archon of Bastion. Unbeknownst to Uther, they are in the service of the Jailer. An attack by Necrolord forces leads the heroes to Maldraxxus, which is in the throes of civil war; they are joined by Draka, Thrall's mother and member of the House of the Chosen, in collecting the regalia of the Primus, the missing ruler of Maldraxxus. Ardenweald, which has suffered considerably from the drought, is afflicted by a curse connected to the Drust (who had been responsible for the witch cults in Kul Tiras during "Battle for Azeroth"); the heroes discover the contained spirit of Ysera, the Aspect of the green dragonflight (who had been killed in ""). Ardenweald's ruler, the Winter Queen, is reluctant to deal with Ysera due to lingering enmity with Elune, but ultimately awakens Ysera as a spirit bound to Ardenweald. In Revendreth, the heroes discover that its ruler, Sire Denathrius, is in league with the Jailer, and has stockpiled a massive cache of Anima to feed into the Maw. Though unable to stop him from empowering the Jailer, the heroes besiege Denathrius' stronghold of Castle Nathria and defeat the Sire.


title: World of Warcraft: Shadowlands

text: All the while, Baine, Thrall, and Jaina are recovered from Torghast thanks to the insight of former Lich King Bolvar Fordragon, but Anduin is kept hidden in secret.


title: World of Warcraft: Shadowlands

text: Growing short on time and patience upon losing Denathrius as a pawn, Sylvanas and the Jailer force Anduin to become an agent of the Maw. The Jailer's next target is shown to be sigils held by the rulers of each realm; he begins by sending Anduin to attack the Archon and claim her sigil. At the same time, he targets the hidden realm of Korthia, where it was believed the Primus hid his sigil, and chains the landscape to Torghast. During an invasion of Ardenweald, the Jailer uses Anduin again to claim the sigil of the Winter Queen. During the ordeal, Tyrande appears and attacks Sylvanas, and tells her that she killed Nathanos. The powers of the Night Warrior fade away, allowing Sylvanas to escape, but sowing doubt in the Banshee Queen's mind about trusting the Jailer, who had not told her of Nathanos' death.


title: World of Warcraft: Shadowlands

text: The heroes discover that the Primus has been imprisoned in Torghast under the guise of the "Runecarver", forced to craft armaments for the Jailer's Mawsworn army, as well as the Helm of Domination and Frostmourne, the regalia of the Lich King. After the heroes free him, the Primus reveals that Zovaal was the original Arbiter before the rulers of the Shadowlands banished him to the Maw for attempting to dominate all of creation, and that the dormant Arbiter now in Oribos had been created to replace him. The Primus had carved the runes of Domination into Zovaal's body when he was banished, admitting to hubris because he never believed that Zovaal would be able to turn the magic to his will. While making their preparations, the combined Covenant forces discover that they have been infiltrated by the Nathrezim, formerly thought to be demons serving the Burning Legion, but actually servants of Denathrius. It is revealed that the Nathrezim have been behind nearly every major antagonist in "Warcraft" lore, including the Legion and the Scourge, as part of the Jailer's plan; they are also responsible for the Anima drought, having disabled the Arbiter with the corrupted spirit of the fallen Titan Argus (killed in "Legion").


title: World of Warcraft: Shadowlands

text: In addition to dealing with the Mawsworn, the heroes are also sent to aid Uther, who has repented for his part in the Forsworn rebellion and seeks to understand the fracturing of his soul by Frostmourne. After the heroes discover the fragment taken by Frostmourne in Torghast, they return to Bastion, where Uther relives his memories, ending with his death at the hands of Arthas Menethil. His choice to keep his memories as a lesson inspire the Kyrian, who believed that purging all past memories was part of their duty, to change their methods. The heroes also seek the spirits of other Night Warriors to help save Tyrande, who is being torn apart by the Night Warrior's power. During the ritual to remove the Night Warrior's power, the Winter Queen is forced to intervene, and Tyrande is briefly possessed by the spirit of Elune herself. Elune explains the spirits of the Night Elves killed in the burning of Teldrassil were to be sent to Ardenweald, but because the Arbiter was dormant, they went to the Maw instead. This reconciles the Winter Queen to her sister, and Tyrande is restored to normal.


title: World of Warcraft: Shadowlands

text: With the retrieval of the four covenant sigils, Revendreth's being handed over earlier by Denathrius and the Malraxxi sigil taken from the Primus in Torghast, the Jailer prepares to attack Oribos to claim the dormant Arbiter's sigil. Azeroth's champions band together with Jaina, Thrall, and Bolvar to stop the invasion by breaching the Jailer's personal fortress, the Sanctum of Domination. The incursion ends for naught as the Jailer successfully acquires the Arbiter's sigil, transforming himself into an armored behemoth. The Jailer reveals his goal of forging his own reality where all serve him, going against Sylvanas's previous desire of breaking the unfair cycle of death. Recalling Arthas' previous demand for her to serve (in ""), Sylvanas cuts ties with the Jailer, denouncing any idea of servitude. For her aid in his cause, the Jailer "rewards" Sylvanas with the fragment of her soul that was taken by Frostmourne, which causes her to pass out at the mercy of Azeroth's leaders, as the Jailer and Anduin escape.


title: World of Warcraft: Shadowlands

text: In order to pursue the Jailer, the Primus creates new sigils to open the gateway to the mystical realm of Zereth Mortis, where the First Ones created the Shadowlands. The Jailer's plan is to enter the Sepulcher of the First Ones and reshape all of creation into one under his control. To counter his plans, champions work with a group called the Enlightened, pilgrims seeking to learn the First Ones' ways, and the Automa, created by the First Ones to protect Zereth Mortis. However, the Jailer is able to make his way into the Sepulcher. With the aid of Uther, Sylvanas' soul is restored, and she offers her aid to help defeat the Jailer; though rightfully hesitant, Bolvar and the other Azerothian leaders agree after Uther's reassurance. With her help, champions discover a waystone that opens a doorway into the Sepulcher, where the Jailer has begun his redesign of the universe.


title: World of Warcraft: Shadowlands

text: Azeroth's champions battle their way through the Sepulcher. Eventually, Anduin is sent to annihilate the invaders, but is able to free himself from the Jailer's Domination after recalling the spirits of his father Varian and Varok Saurfang. Free of the Jailer's influence, Anduin and Sylvanas encounter and release the spirit of Arthas Menethil, as all that remained of him was a simple flickering wisp from within Anduin's broken Domination armor since it was Zovaal who was responsible for his corruption through Frostmourne. With all their allies regrouped, the might of Azeroth battles the Jailer, who has ignited the Forge of Souls beneath Icecrown Citadel to enact his plan. After a long battle, the Jailer is finally defeated. As he dies, he recalls memories of his initial betrayal of the Eternal Ones, his flawed duty as the original Arbiter, and concludes by stating his plan to unify the cosmos was meant as a preventative measure against something later to come.


title: World of Warcraft: Shadowlands

text: With Zovaal defeated, Pelagos, an aspiring Kyrian who aided Uther in his journey, volunteers to become the new Arbiter and fill the vacancy left by its demise as he ascends into an Eternal One, being branded by the others as the most compassionate of all. Sylvanas is confronted over her actions during the War of the Thorns and the Jailer's rise to power, though Pelagos gives the final verdict to her long-time nemesis, Tyrande. Tyrande decides that Sylvanas' words of contrition, although genuine, are not enough to pay for what she did. She punishes her by sending her to the Maw, to retrieve lost souls that perished during the conflicts she had orchestrated.


title: World of Warcraft: Shadowlands

text: As everything across the realms return to normal, some leaders of Azeroth are met with conflicting decisions about their future. Within the Maw, Anduin visits with Sylvanas as she continues to search for souls, where he reveals his uncertainty about being a leader after the actions he was forced to commit while under the Jailer's influence. In Ardenweald, the Winter Queen thanks Tyrande for helping her and Elune resolve their differences, and rewards her by gifting her the seed of a world tree imbued with the souls of Night Elves who fell in Teldrassil. In the ruins of Lordaeron, Calia Menthil confesses to Lilian Voss her wariness about being accepted anywhere due to being the last member of the Menethil line, but Voss reassures her that she is home and is needed as a Forsaken.


title: World of Warcraft: Shadowlands

text: "Shadowlands" has received "generally favorable" reviews with a score of 83 on Metacritic and an 8 out of 10 from "IGN". "PC Gamer" gave the expansion an 80/100 in their review, describing "Shadowlands" as [a]mbitious but uneven” and “an exciting evolution of World of Warcraft.” "Screen Rant" claims that "Shadowlands" is “immensely fun,” deserving of an excellent 4/5 score. The expansion “recaptures the allure of "Wrath of the Lich King" while preserving the accessibility of "Battle for Azeroth"." "PCMag" wrote rated the expansion as excellent with a 4/5. Writing that “[w]hile its endgame suffers a few stumbles, "Shadowlands"” offers the player “meaningful narrative choices … [and] new gameplay elements that combine to make an excellent experience.” "Game Informer" ranked the expansion with a score of 8.75/10. They argue that “"Shadowlands" plays it safe with numerous … systems and structures, but … also takes chances with a deadly zone,” called The Maw alongside a fantastic roguelike run tower” known as Torghast “that’s full of surprises. As a result, "Shadowlands" is a satisfying addition to … "World of Warcraft".”


title: World of Warcraft: Shadowlands

text: On launch day, "World of Warcraft: Shadowlands" sold 3.7 million copies, breaking the expansion sales records tied by "" and "", and even breaking records worldwide.


title: World of Warcraft: Shadowlands

text: While the players' initial reaction to the launch and first weeks of "Shadowlands" late-game progression has been positive, the overall sentiment had gone down considerably by the time the expansion's first major patch, "Chains of Domination", came out. The majority of complaints pertained to several of the game's late-game systems, the developer's tendency to artificially extend game time by time-gating important gameplay and story milestones, as well as an unusually long delay between the expansion's release and the launch of its following patches. The story also garnered significant criticism, particularly in relation to Sylvanas.


title: Kingdom of Kongo

text: The Kingdom of Kongo ( or "Wene wa Kongo;" ) was a kingdom located in central Africa in present-day northern Angola, the western portion of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and the Republic of the Congo. At its greatest extent it reached from the Atlantic Ocean in the west to the Kwango River in the east, and from the Congo River in the north to the Kwanza River in the south. The kingdom consisted of several core provinces ruled by the "Manikongo", the Portuguese version of the Kongo title "Mwene Kongo", meaning "lord or ruler of the Kongo kingdom", but its sphere of influence extended to neighbouring kingdoms, such as Ngoyo, Kakongo, Loango, Ndongo and Matamba, the latter two located in what is Angola today.


title: Kingdom of Kongo

text: From c. 1390 to 1862 it was an independent state. From 1862 to 1914 it functioned intermittently as a vassal state of the Kingdom of Portugal. In 1914, following the Portuguese suppression of a Kongo revolt, Portugal abolished the titular monarchy. The title of king of Kongo was restored from 1915 until 1975, as an honorific without real power. The remaining territories of the kingdom were assimilated into the colony of Angola, the Belgian Congo and the Protectorate of Cabinda respectively. The modern-day Bundu dia Kongo sect favors reviving the kingdom through secession from Angola, the Republic of the Congo, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.


title: Kingdom of Kongo

text: Oral traditions about the early history of the country were set in writing for the first time in the late 16th century, and especially detailed versions were recorded in the mid-17th century, included those written by the Italian Capuchin missionary Giovanni Cavazzi da Montecuccolo. Traditions about the foundation changed over time, depending on historical circumstances.


title: Kingdom of Kongo

text: Modern research into oral tradition, including recording them in writing began in the 1910s with Mpetelo Boka and Lievan Sakala Boku writing in Kikongo and extended by Redemptorist missionaries like Jean Cuvelier and Joseph de Munck. In 1934, Cuvelier published a Kikongo language summary of these traditions in Nkutama a mvila za makanda. Although Cuvelier and other scholars contended that these traditions applied to the earliest period of Kongo's history, it is more likely that they relate primarily to local traditions of clans makanda and especially to the period following 1750.


title: Kingdom of Kongo

text: Before the founding of Kongo, the region it would eventually control was under the control of several minor kingdoms, according to a tradition recorded in the mid-1580s. It named several former kingdoms, which were included in Kongo: Nsundi, Mpangu and Mbata, along the Inkisi on the east; and Wandu south of them. Then Mpemba in the center, and Soyo and Mbamba on the seacoast south of the Congo River.


title: Kingdom of Kongo

text: According to Kongo tradition in the seventeenth century, the kingdom's origin was in Vungu, a small polity which lay north of the Congo River, and which had extended its authority across the Congo to Mpemba Kasi, which was itself the northernmost territory of a larger kingdom called Mpemba whose capital was located about 150 miles south. A dynasty of rulers from this small polity built up its rule along the Kwilu valley, or what was called Nsi a Kwilu and its elite are buried near its center. Traditions from the 17th century allude to this sacred burial ground. According to the missionary Girolamo da Montesarchio, an Italian Capuchin who visited the area from 1650 to 1652, the site was so holy that looking upon it was deadly. These rocks may be the rugged uplands of Lovo where there is extensive cave and rock art that dates from at least the fifteenth century.


title: Kingdom of Kongo

text: At some point around 1375, Nimi a Nzima, ruler of Mpemba Kasi and Vungu, made an alliance with Nsaku Lau, the ruler of the neighboring Mbata Kingdom. Nimi a Nzima married Lukeni lua Nsanze(Luqueni Luansanze in the text), Nsaku Lau's daughter. This alliance guaranteed that each of the two allies would help ensure the succession of its ally's lineage in the other's territory. Mbata in turn was a former province of the Seven Kingdoms of Kongo dia Nlaza whose capital lay farther east along the current border of Angola and Democratic Republic of Congo. Mbata may have been the senior partner in the original alliance, as he had the title of "Nkaka andi a Mwene Kongo," or grandfather of the king of Kongo.


title: Kingdom of Kongo

text: Nimi a Nzima and Lukeni lua Nsanze's son Lukeni lua Nimi (circa 1380–1420) began the expansion that would found the Kingdom of Kongo. The name Nimi a Lukeni appeared in later oral traditions and some modern historians, notably Jean Cuvelier, popularized it. Lukeni lua Nimi, or Nimi a Lukeni, led expansion southward into lands ruled by Mpemba. He established a new base on the mountain Mongo dia Kongo and made alliances with the Mwene Mpangala, ruler of a market town then loyal to Mpemba and also with the Mwene Kabunga whose lands lay west of there of uncertain loyalty but the site of a famous shrine. Two centuries later the Mwene Kabunga's descendants still symbolically challenged the conquest in an annual celebration. He furthered this with a second more important alliance with Vunda, another of Mpemba's subordinate rulers. To cement this alliance, as with the one with Mbata, Lukeni lua Nimi allowed him to be an elector to the kingdom.


title: Kingdom of Kongo

text: After the death of Nimi a Lukeni, the rulers that followed Lukeni claimed relation to his "kanda", or lineage, and were known as the Kilukeni. The Kilukeni Kanda — or "house", as it was recorded in Portuguese language documents written in Kongo — ruled Kongo unopposed until 1567.


title: Kingdom of Kongo

text: The sixteenth century tradition contended that the former kingdoms "in ancient times had the separate kings, but now all are subjects and tributaries of the king of Congo." Tradition noted that in each case the governorship was given to members of the royal family or other noble families. Governors who served terms determined by the king had the right to appoint their own clients to lower positions, down to villages who had their own locally chosen leadership. As this centralization increased, the allied provinces gradually lost influence until their powers were only symbolic, manifested in Mbata, once a co-kingdom, but by 1620 simply known by the title "Grandfather of the King of Kongo" ("Nkaka'ndi a Mwene Kongo").


title: Kingdom of Kongo

text: The high concentration of population around Mbanza Kongo and its outskirts played a critical role in the centralization of Kongo. The capital was a densely settled area in an otherwise sparsely populated region where rural population densities probably did not exceed 5 persons per km. Early Portuguese travelers described Mbanza Kongo as a large city, the size of the Portuguese town of Évora as it was in 1491. By the end of the sixteenth century, Kongo's population was probably over half a million people in a core region of some 130,000 square kilometers. By the early seventeenth century the city and its hinterland had a population of around 100,000, or nearly one out of every six inhabitants in the Kingdom (according to baptismal statistics compiled by a Jesuit priest in 1623), while the kingdom as a whole numbered some 780,000. This concentration allowed resources, soldiers and surplus foodstuffs to be readily available at the request of the king. This made the king overwhelmingly powerful and caused the kingdom to become highly centralized.


title: Kingdom of Kongo

text: By the time of the first recorded contact with the Europeans, the Kingdom of Kongo was a highly developed state at the centre of an extensive trading network. Apart from natural resources and ivory, the country manufactured and traded copperware, ferrous metal goods, raffia cloth, and pottery. The Kongo people spoke in the Kikongo language. The eastern regions, especially that part known as the Seven Kingdoms of Kongo dia Nlaza, were particularly famous for the production of cloth.


title: Kingdom of Kongo

text: In 1483, the Portuguese explorer Diogo Cão reached the coast of the Kongo Kingdom. Cão left some of his men in Kongo and took Kongo nobles to Portugal. He returned to Kongo with the Kongo nobles in 1485; such commissioning, hiring, or even kidnapping of local Africans to use as local ambassadors, especially for newly contacted areas, was by then an already established practice. At that point the ruling king, Nzinga a Nkuwu, decided he would become Christian and sent another, large mission headed by Kala ka Mfusu, the noble who had earlier gone to Portugal as a hostage They remained in Europe for nearly four years, studying Christianity and learning reading and writing. The mission returned with Cão along with Roman Catholic priests and soldiers in 1491, baptizing Nzinga a Nkuwu as well as his principal nobles, starting with the ruler of Soyo, the coastal province. Nzinga a Nkuwu took the Christian name of João I in honor of Portugal's king at the time, João II.


title: Kingdom of Kongo

text: João I ruled until his death around 1509 and was succeeded by his son Afonso Mvemba a Nzinga. He faced a serious challenge from a half brother, Mpanzu a Kitima. The king overcame his brother in a battle waged at Mbanza Kongo. According to Afonso's own account, sent to Portugal in 1506, he was able to win the battle thanks to the intervention of a heavenly vision of the cross Saint James and the Virgin Mary. Inspired by these events, he subsequently designed a coat of arms for Kongo that was used by all following kings on official documents, royal paraphernalia and the like until 1860. While King João I later reverted to his traditional beliefs, Afonso I established Christianity as the state religion of his kingdom.


title: Kingdom of Kongo

text: King Afonso I worked to create a viable version of the Roman Catholic Church in Kongo, providing for its income from royal assets and taxation that provided salaries for its workers. With advisers from Portugal such as Rui d'Aguiar, the Portuguese royal chaplain sent to assist Kongo's religious development, Afonso created a syncretic version of Christianity that would remain a part of its culture for the rest of the kingdom's independent existence. King Afonso himself studied hard at this task. Rui d'Aguiar once said Afonso I knew more of the church's tenets than he did.


title: Kingdom of Kongo

text: The Kongo church was always short of ordained clergy and made up for it by the employment of a strong laity. Kongolese school teachers or "mestres" (Kikongo alongi a aleke) were the anchor of this system. Recruited from the nobility and trained in the kingdom's schools, they provided religious instruction and services to others building upon Kongo's growing Christian population. At the same time, they permitted the growth of syncretic forms of Christianity which incorporated older religious ideas with Christian ones. Examples of this are the introduction of KiKongo words to translate Christian concepts. The KiKongo words "ukisi" (an abstract word meaning charm, but used to mean "holy") and "nkanda" (meaning book) were merged so that the Christian Bible became known as the "nkanda ukisi" (holy book). The church became known as the "nzo a ukisi" (holy house). While some European clergy often denounced these mixed traditions, they were never able to root them out.


title: Kingdom of Kongo

text: Part of the establishment of this church was the creation of a strong priesthood and to this end, Afonso's son Henrique was sent to Europe to be educated. Henrique became an ordained priest and in 1518 was named as bishop of Utica (a North African diocese recently reclaimed from the Muslims). He returned to Kongo in the early 1520s to run Kongo's new church. He died in 1531.


title: Kingdom of Kongo

text: Kongo had forcibly captured people and transferred them to the royal capital and other lesser capitals as a way of increasing royal access to tax and tribute paying subjects. It is this earlier system that made Kongo's capital such a large city embedded in a densely settled immediate hinterland, and it was the same mechanism of enslavement and transfer of population that made Kongo able to sell captives outside the country.


title: Kingdom of Kongo

text: Although initially Kongo exported few slaves, following the development of a successful sugar-growing colony on the island of Sao Tome, the Kingdom of Kongo became a major source of slaves for the island's traders. The Cantino Atlas of 1502 mentions Kongo as a source of slaves for the island of São Tomé but notes they were few. Slavery had existed in Kongo long before the arrival of the Portuguese, and Afonso's early letters show the evidence of slave markets. They also show the purchase and sale of slaves within the country and his accounts on capturing slaves in war which were given and sold to Portuguese merchants. It is likely that most of the slaves exported to the Portuguese were war captives from Kongo's campaigns of expansion. In addition, the expansionary wars helped Afonso consolidate his power in southern and eastern border regions, while also yielding slaves.


title: Kingdom of Kongo

text: Early estimates made by Portuguese and Kongo officials put the exports at between 4 and 5,000 per year. Although Afonso and the Portuguese rulers claimed a joint monopoly on the external slave trade, traders based in Sao Tome violated the royal orders, trading at times with rebels in Mpanzalumbu, on the south bank of the Congo River until Afonso conquered them in 1526; and also along the Kwanza River with the emerging Kingdom of Ndongo. Ndongo sent a diplomatic mission to Portugal in 1518 with the aim of establishing a separate relationship, but the mission which reached Africa in 1520 failed, partially because of a sword fight between members of the Portuguese royal mission and Tomistas.


title: Kingdom of Kongo

text: In 1526, Afonso complained about merchants' violation of his end of the monopoly, claiming that Portuguese officials had not regulated them sufficiently, and threatening to stop it altogether. In the end he established a board to oversee the trade. Despite its long establishment within his kingdom, Afonso believed that the slave trade should be subject to Kongo law. When he suspected the Portuguese of receiving illegally enslaved persons to sell, he wrote to King João III of Portugal in 1526 imploring him to put a stop to the practice. Ultimately, Afonso decided to establish a special committee to determine the legality of the enslavement of those who were being sold.


title: Kingdom of Kongo

text: However, the kings of Portugal eventually determined the best way to deal with the trade through the Kwanza to Ndongo was to establish their own base there. In 1560, again responding to a request from Angola, the Portuguese crown sent Paulo Dias de Novais as ambassador to Ndongo with the idea of settling relations with the country. Ngola Kiluanji was not interested in this mission, however, as it offered only baptism and diplomatic relations, while he hoped for military support. In 1575 Portugal would follow with a mission of conquest, also under Paulo Dias de Novais, this time to conquer the country and monopolize its slave trade.


title: Kingdom of Kongo

text: A common characteristic of political life in the kingdom of Kongo was fierce competition over succession to the throne. Afonso's own contest for the throne was intense, and he had to fight a major battle with his half brother, and probably against lesser enemies in the early years of his reign. Afonso described his ascent to the throne, representing it as specifically a war by pagans against the Christian ruler. But this was probably more propaganda on his part, and succession struggles were probably normal even in the early years of the kingdom.


title: Kingdom of Kongo

text: A great deal is known about how such struggles took place from the contest that followed Afonso's death in late 1542 or early 1543. This is in large part due to a detailed inquest conducted by royal officials in 1550, which survives in the Portuguese archives. In this inquest, one can see that factions formed behind prominent men, such as Afonso I's son, Pedro Nkanga a Mvemba and Diogo Nkumbi a Mpudi, his grandson who ultimately overthrew Pedro in 1545. Although the factions placed themselves in the idiom of kinship (using the Portuguese term "geração" or lineage, probably "kanda" in Kikongo) they were not formed strictly along heredity lines since close kin were often in separate factions. The players included nobles holding appointive titles to provincial governorships, members of the royal council and also officials in the now well-developed Church hierarchy.


title: Kingdom of Kongo

text: King Diogo I skillfully replaced or outmaneuvered his entrenched competitors after he was crowned in 1545. He faced a major conspiracy led by Pedro I, who had taken refuge in a church, and whom Diogo in respect of the Church's rule of asylum allowed to remain in the church. However, Diogo did conduct an inquiry into the plot, the text of which was sent to Portugal in 1552 and gives us an excellent idea of the way in which plotters hoped to overthrow the king by enticing his supporters to abandon him.


title: Kingdom of Kongo

text: King Diogo's successor, Afonso II was killed by the Portuguese days after his succession, and an uprising occurred which killed the Portuguese candidate, allowing King Bernardo I of Kongo to be enthroned King Bernardo I was killed by the "Jaga" Yaka, invasion in 1567. And was replaced by Henrique I was also killed, fighting in the east, leaving the government in the hands of his stepson Álvaro Nimi a Lukeni lua Mvemba. He was crowned as Álvaro I, "by common consent," according Duarte Lopes, Kongo's ambassador to Rome.


title: Kingdom of Kongo

text: Álvaro I was not directly descended from a previous king, and so his seizure of the throne in the midst of the crisis caused by the Jaga invasion marked the beginning of a new royal line, the House of Kwilu. There were certainly factions that opposed him, though it is not known specifically who they were. Álvaro began in war with the Jagas-who some authorities believe were actually rebels within the country, either peasants or discontented nobles from rival factions. As the Jagas drove him from the capital to refuge on an island in the Congo River, Alvaro appealed to Portugal for aid, and was sent an expedition under Francisco de Gouveia Sottomaior governor of São Tomé. As a part of the same process, Álvaro agreed to allow the Portuguese to establish a colony in his province of Luanda south of his kingdom. In addition to allowing the Portuguese to establish themselves in Luanda, Kongo provided the Portuguese with support in their war against the Kingdom of Ndongo in 1579. The kingdom of Ndongo was located inland east of Luanda and although claimed in Kongo's royal titles as early as 1535, was probably never under a firm Kongo administration.


title: Kingdom of Kongo

text: Álvaro also worked hard to westernize Kongo, gradually introducing European style titles for his nobles, so that the Mwene Nsundi became the Duke of Nsundi; the Mwene Mbamba became the Duke of Mbamba. The Mwene Mpemba became Marquis of Mpemba, and the Mwene Soyo became Count of Soyo. He and his son Álvaro II Nimi a Nkanga (crowned in 1587) bestowed orders of chivalry called the Order of Christ. The capital was also renamed São Salvador or "Holy Savior" in Portuguese during this period. In 1596, Álvaro's emissaries to Rome persuaded the Pope to recognize São Salvador as the cathedral of a new diocese which would include Kongo and the Portuguese territory in Angola. However, the king of Portugal won the right to nominate the bishops to this see, which became a source of tension between the two countries.


title: Kingdom of Kongo

text: Portuguese bishops in the kingdom were often favourable to European interests in a time when relations between Kongo and Angola were tense. They refused to appoint priests, forcing Kongo to rely more and more heavily on the laity. Documents of the time show that lay teachers (called "mestres" in Portuguese-language documents) were paid salaries and appointed by the crown, and at times Kongo kings withheld income and services to the bishops and their supporters (a tactic called "country excommunication"). Controlling revenue was vital for Kongo's kings since even Jesuit missionaries were paid salaries from the royal exchequer.


title: Kingdom of Kongo

text: At the same time as this ecclesiastical problem developed, the governors of Angola began to extend their campaigns into areas that Kongo regarded as firmly under its sovereignty. This included the region around Nambu a Ngongo, which Governor João Furtado attacked in the mid-1590s. Other campaigns in the vicinity led to denunciations by the rulers of Kongo against these violations of their sovereignty.


title: Kingdom of Kongo

text: Álvaro I and his successor, Álvaro II, also faced problems with factional rivals from families that had been displaced from succession. In order to raise support against some enemies, they had to make concessions to others. One of the most important of these concessions was allowing Manuel, the Count of Soyo, to hold office for many years beginning some time before 1591. During this same period, Álvaro II made a similar concession to António da Silva, the Duke of Mbamba. António da Silva was strong enough to decide the succession of the kingdom, selecting Bernardo II in 1614, but putting him aside in favor of Álvaro III in 1615. It was only with difficulty that Álvaro III was able to put his own choice in as Duke of Mbamba when António da Silva died in 1620 instead of having the province fall into the hands of the duke's son. At the same time, however, Álvaro III created another powerful and semi-independent nobleman in Manuel Jordão, who held Nsundi for him.


title: Kingdom of Kongo

text: Tensions between Portugal and Kongo increased further as the governors of Portuguese Angola became more aggressive. Luis Mendes de Vasconcelos, who arrived as governor in 1617, used mercenary African groups called Imbangala to make a devastating war on Ndongo, and then to raid and pillage some southern Kongo provinces. He was particularly interested in the province of Kasanze, a marshy region that lay just north of Luanda. Many slaves being deported through Luanda fled into this region and were often granted sanctuary, and for this reason, Mendes de Vasconcelos decided that a determined action was needed to stop it. The next governor of Angola, , used the Imbangala to launch a full-scale invasion of southern Kongo in 1622, following the death of Álvaro III. Correia de Sousa claimed he had the right to choose the king of Kongo. He was also upset that the Kongolese electors chose Pedro II, a former Duke of Mbamba. Pedro II was originally from the duchy of Nsundi, hence the name of the royal house he created, the House of Nsundi. Correia de Sousa also contended that Pedro II had sheltered runaway slaves from Angola during the latter's governorship of Mbamba.


title: Kingdom of Kongo

text: The First Kongo-Portuguese War began in 1622, initially because of a Portuguese campaign against the Kasanze Kingdom, which was conducted ruthlessly. From there, the army moved to Nambu a Ngongo, whose ruler, Pedro Afonso, was held to be sheltering runaway slaves as well. Although Pedro Afonso, facing an overwhelming army of over 20,000, agreed to return some runaways, the army attacked his country and killed him.


title: Kingdom of Kongo

text: Following its success in Nambu a Ngongo, the Portuguese army advanced into Mbamba in November. The Portuguese forces scored a victory at the Battle of Mbumbi. There they faced a quickly gathered local force led by the new Duke of Mbamba, and reinforced by forces from Mpemba led by its marquis. Both the Duke of Mbamba and the Marquis of Mpemba were killed in the battle. According to Esikongo accounts, they were eaten by the Imbangala allies of the Portuguese. However, Pedro II, the newly crowned king of Kongo, brought the main army, including troops from Soyo, down into Mbamba and decisively defeated the Portuguese, driving them from the country at a battle waged somewhere near Mbanda Kasi in January 1623. Portuguese residents of Kongo, frightened by the consequences for their business of the invasion, wrote a hostile letter to Correia de Sousa, denouncing his invasion.


title: Kingdom of Kongo

text: Following the defeat of the Portuguese at Mbanda Kasi, Pedro II declared Angola an official enemy. The king then wrote letters denouncing Correia de Sousa to the King of Spain and the Pope. Meanwhile, anti-Portuguese riots broke out all over the kingdom and threatened its long-established merchant community. Portuguese throughout the country were humiliatingly disarmed and even forced to give up their clothes. Pedro, anxious not to alienate the Portuguese merchant community, and aware that they had generally remained loyal during the war, did as much as he could to preserve their lives and property, leading some of his detractors to call him "king of Portuguese".


title: Kingdom of Kongo

text: As a result of Kongo's victory, the Portuguese merchant community of Luanda revolted against the governor, hoping to preserve their ties with the king. Backed by the Jesuits, who had also just recommenced their mission there, they forced João Correia de Sousa to resign and flee the country. The interim government that followed the departure was led by the bishop of Angola. They were very conciliatory to Kongo and agreed to return over a thousand of the slaves captured by Correia de Sousa, especially the lesser nobles captured at the Battle of Mbumbi.


title: Kingdom of Kongo

text: Regardless of the overtures of the new government in Angola, Pedro II had not forgotten the invasion and planned to remove the Portuguese from the realm altogether. The king sent a letter to the Dutch Estates General proposing a joint military attack on Angola with a Kongo army and a Dutch fleet. He would pay the Dutch with gold, silver and ivory for their efforts. As planned, a Dutch fleet under the command of the celebrated admiral Piet Heyn arrived in Luanda to carry out an attack in 1624. The plan failed to come to fruition as by then Pedro had died and his son Garcia Mvemba a Nkanga was elected king. King Garcia I was more forgiving of the Portuguese and had been successfully persuaded by their various gestures of conciliation. He was unwilling to press the attack on Angola at that time, contending that as a Catholic, he could not ally with non-Catholics to attack the city.


title: Kingdom of Kongo

text: The end of the first quarter of the 17th century saw a new flare-up in Kongo's political struggle. At the heart of the conflict were two noble houses fighting over the kingship. On one side of the conflict was the House of Kwilu, which counted most of the kings named Álvaro. They were ousted by the opposing House of Nsundi, when Pedro II was placed on the throne by powerful local forces in São Salvador, probably as a compromise when Álvaro III died without an heir old enough to rule.


title: Kingdom of Kongo

text: As the reigning power, the House of Nsundi worked earnestly to place partisans in king-making positions throughout the empire. Either Pedro II or Garcia I managed to secure Soyo in the hands of Count Paulo, who held it and supported the House of Nsundi from about 1625 until 1641. Meanwhile, Manuel Jordão, a partisan of the House of Kwilu, managed to force Garcia I to flee and placed Ambrósio I of the House of Kwilu on the throne.


title: Kingdom of Kongo

text: King Ambrósio either could not or did not remove Paulo from Soyo, though he did eventually remove Jordão. After a rule marked by rumors of war mobilizations and other disruptions, a great riot at the capital resulted in the death of the king by a mob. Ambrosio was replaced with Alvaro IV by the Duke of Mbamba, Daniel da Silva. King Alvaro IV was only eleven at the time and easily manipulated. In 1632, Daniel da Silva marched on the capital in order to "rescue his nephew from his enemies". At the time, he was under the protection of the Count of Soyo, Paulo, Alvaro Nimi a Lukeni a Nzenze a Ntumba and his brother Garcia II Nkanga a Lukeni. After a dramatic battle in Soyo, the young king was successfully restored only to be later poisoned by Alvaro V, a Kimpanzu.


title: Kingdom of Kongo

text: After waging a second war against his cousins, Nimi a Lukeni and Nkanga a Lukeni, Alvaro V was killed, and replaced by Alvaro VI in 1636, initiating the House of Kinlaza's rule over Kongo. Following his death in 1641, Alvaro VI's brother took over, and was crowned Garcia II. The former House of Nsundi was consolidated with their House of Kwilu rivals as the Kimpanzu lineage of the dead Alvaro V.


title: Kingdom of Kongo

text: Garcia II took the throne on the eve of several crises. One of his rivals, Daniel da Silva (who probably received the patronage of the Daniel da Silva who was killed by Garcia II while defending Alvaro IV), managed to secure the County of Soyo and used it as a base against Garcia II for the whole of his reign. As a result, Garcia II was prevented from completely consolidating his authority. Another problem facing King Garcia II was a rebellion in the Dembos region, which also threatened his authority. Lastly, there was the agreement made by Pedro II in 1622, promising Kongo's support to the Dutch in an offensive to oust Portugal from Luanda.


title: Kingdom of Kongo

text: In 1641, the Dutch invaded Angola and captured Luanda, after an almost bloodless struggle. They immediately sought to renew their alliance with Kongo, which had had a false start in 1624, when Garcia I refused to assist a Dutch attack on Luanda. While relations between Sao Salvador and Luanda were not warm, the two polities had enjoyed an easy peace, due to the former's internal distractions, and the latter's war against the Kingdom of Matamba. The same year of the Portuguese ouster from Luanda, Kongo entered into a formal agreement with the new government, and agreed to provide military assistance as needed. Garcia II ejected nearly all Portuguese and Luso-African merchants from his kingdom. The colony of Angola was declared an enemy once again, and the Duke of Mbamba was sent with an army to assist the Dutch. The Dutch also provided Kongo with military assistance, in exchange for payment in slaves.


title: Kingdom of Kongo

text: In 1642, the Dutch sent troops to help Garcia II put down an uprising by peoples of the southern district in the Dembos region. The government quickly put down the Nsala rebellion, reaffirming the Kongo-Dutch alliance. King Garcia II paid the Dutch for their services in slaves taken from ranks of Dembos rebels. These slaves were sent to Pernambuco, Brazil where the Dutch had taken over a portion of the Portuguese sugar-producing region. A Dutch-Kongo force attacked Portuguese bases on the Bengo River in 1643 in retaliation for Portuguese harassment. The Dutch captured Portuguese positions and forced their rivals to withdraw to Dutch forts on the Kwanza River at Muxima and Masangano. Following this victory, the Dutch once again appeared to lose interest in conquering the colony of Angola.


title: Kingdom of Kongo

text: As in their conquest of Pernambuco, the Dutch West India Company was content to allow the Portuguese to remain inland. The Dutch sought to spare themselves the expense of war, and instead relied on control of shipping to profit from the colony. Thus, to Garcia's chagrin, the Portuguese and Dutch signed a peace treaty in 1643, ending the brief albeit successful war. With the Portuguese out of the way and an end to Dutch pursuit of troops, Garcia II could finally turn his attention to the growing threat posed by the Count of Soyo.


title: Kingdom of Kongo

text: While Garcia was disappointed that his alliance with the Dutch could not drive out the Portuguese, it did free him to turn his attention to the growing threat posed by the Count of Soyo. The Counts of Soyo were initially strong partisans of the House of Nsundi and its successor, the House of Kinlaza. Count Paulo had assisted in the rise of the Kinlaza to power. However, Paulo died at about the same time as Garcia became king in 1641. A rival count, Daniel da Silva from the House of Kwilu, took control of the county as a partisan of the newly formed Kimpanzu faction. He would claim that Soyo had the right to choose its own ruler, though Garcia never accepted this claim, and spent much of the first part of his reign fighting against it. Garcia did not support da Silva's move, as Soyo's ruler was one of the most important offices in Kongo.


title: Kingdom of Kongo

text: In 1645, Garcia II sent a force against Daniel da Silva under the command of his son, Afonso. The campaign was a failure, due to Kongo's inability to take Soyo's fortified position at Mfinda Ngula. Worse still, Afonso was captured in the battle, forcing Garcia to engage in humiliating negotiations with da Silva to win back his son's freedom. Italian Capuchin missionaries who had just arrived in Soyo, in the aftermath of the battle, assisted in the negotiations. In 1646, Garcia sent a second military force against Soyo, but his forces were again defeated. Because Garcia was so intent on subduing Soyo, he was unable to make a full military effort to assist the Dutch in their war against Portugal.


title: Kingdom of Kongo

text: The Dutch were convinced that they could avoid committing their forces to any further wars and made peace with Portugal in 1643, while retaining their military presence in their part of Angola. The Portuguese moved aggressively against Queen Njinga and when Portuguese reinforcements managed to defeat her at Kavanga in 1646, the Dutch felt obliged to be more aggressive. Queen Njinga persuaded Garcia II to send forces to assist in another venture against the Portuguese. In 1647, Kongo troops participated in the Battle of Kombi, where they soundly defeated the Portuguese field army, after forcing them to fight defensively. Subsequently, Njinga's army besieged all the Portuguese in the interior of the colony.


title: Kingdom of Kongo

text: A year later, Portuguese reinforcements from Brazil forced the Dutch to surrender Luanda and withdraw from Angola in 1648. The new Portuguese governor, Salvador de Sá, sought terms with Kongo, demanding the Island of Luanda, the source of Kongo's money supply of nzimbu shells. Although neither Kongo nor Angola ever ratified the treaty, sent to the king in 1649, the Portuguese gained "de facto" control of the island. The war resulted in the Dutch losing their claims in Central Africa, Njinga being forced back into Matamba, the Portuguese restored to their coastal position. Kongo lost or gained nothing, other than the indemnity Garcia paid, which ended hostilities between the two rival powers.


title: Kingdom of Kongo

text: Portugal began pressing claims over southern vassals of Kongo, especially the country of Mbwila, following Portuguese restoration at Luanda. Mbwila, a nominal vassal of Kongo, had also signed a treaty of vassalage with Portugal in 1619. It divided its loyalty between the Colony of Angola and Kongo in the intervening period. Though the Portuguese often attacked Mbwila, they never brought it under their authority.


title: Kingdom of Kongo

text: Kongo began working towards a Spanish alliance, especially following António I's succession as king in 1661. Although it is not clear what diplomatic activities he engaged in with Spain itself, the Portuguese clearly believed that he hoped to repeat the Dutch invasion, this time with the assistance of Spain. António sent emissaries to the Dembos region and to Matamba and Mbwila, attempting to form a new anti-Portuguese alliance. The Portuguese had been troubled, moreover, by Kongo support of runaway slaves, who flocked to southern Kongo throughout the 1650s. At the same time, the Portuguese were advancing their own agenda for Mbwila, which they claimed as a vassal. In 1665, both sides invaded Mbwila, and their rival armies met each other at Ulanga, in the valley below Mbanza Mbwila, capital of the district.


title: Kingdom of Kongo

text: At the Battle of Mbwila in 1665, the Portuguese forces from Angola had their first victory against the kingdom of Kongo since 1622. They defeated the forces under António I killing him and many of his courtiers as well as the Luso-African Capuchin priest Manuel Roboredo (also known by his cloister name of Francisco de São Salvador), who had attempted to prevent this final war.


title: Kingdom of Kongo

text: In the aftermath of the battle, there was no clear succession. The country was divided between rival claimants to the throne. The two factions, Kimpanzu and Kinlaza, hardened, and partitioned the country between them. Pretenders would ascend to the throne, and then be ousted. The period was marked by an increase in BaKongo slaves being sold across the Atlantic, the weakening of the Kongo monarchy and the strengthening of Soyo.