Pyro

Pyro comes from the Greek word πυρ (pyr) meaning fire. It may refer to:

People

Arts and entertainment

Businesses

Team Fortress 2

Team Fortress 2 is a team-based first-person shooter multiplayer video game developed and published by Valve Corporation. It is the sequel to the 1996 mod Team Fortress for Quake and its 1999 remake. It was released as part of the video game compilation The Orange Box on October 10, 2007 for Windows and the Xbox 360. A PlayStation 3 version followed on December 11, 2007. On April 8, 2008, it was released as a standalone title for Windows. The game was updated to support OS X on June 10, 2010, and Linux on February 14, 2013. It is distributed online through Valve's download retailer Steam; retail distribution was handled by Electronic Arts.

In Team Fortress 2, players join one of two teams comprising nine character classes, battling in a variety of game modes including capture the flag and king of the hill. The development is led by John Cook and Robin Walker, creators of the original Team Fortress. Announced in 1998, the game once had more realistic, militaristic visuals and gameplay, but this changed over the protracted nine-year development. After Valve released no information for six years, Team Fortress 2 regularly featured in Wired News' annual vaporware list among other ignominies. The finished Team Fortress 2 has cartoon-like visuals influenced by the art of J. C. Leyendecker, Dean Cornwell and Norman Rockwell and is powered by Valve's Source engine.

Pyro (comics)

Pyro (St. John Allerdyce) is a fictional supervillain appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. He is a recurring enemy of the X-Men and later becomes an agent of the U.S. government. He was created by Chris Claremont and John Byrne and introduced in Uncanny X-Men #141 (January 1981) as part of the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants. Pyro had the mutant ability to control fire.

Pyro and the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants are the main antagonists in the Days of Future Past in the X-Men comics as they attempt to assassinate Senator Robert Kelly, which in an alternate timeline leads to a dystopic future where Mutants are hunted, killed or captured by the Sentinels robots. Through time travel the assassination was thwarted.

At a later date the Brotherhood becomes agents of the US government in exchange for a full pardon and the team becomes known as the Freedom Force. While working for the government the team confronts both the X-Men and the Avengers. During a mission to Kuwait Pyro is captured by the enemy. Pyro contracted the Legacy Virus, fatal to all mutants, moments before his death Pyro saved Senator Kelly from another assassination attempt, changing Kelly's anti-mutant stance. Pyro was later resurrected by the Transmode Virus, existing as a techo-organic being under Selene's control.

Franz Tausend

Franz Seraph Tausend, "Der Goldmacher" (July 5, 1884 - July 9, 1942) was a 20th-century German alchemist.

Overview

A consummate social climber, manipulator, and schemer during the turbulent 1920s and 1930s, Tausend developed a process for extracting gold from base metals—a prospect of great interest to the then-fledgling Nazi party and a Germany staggering under runaway hyper inflation. The Nazis, through a number of Hitler's inner circle of friends introduced to Tausend, invested heavily in the project.

Unfortunately, the process was found to be economically unfeasible and quite possibly a sham, much to the chagrin of the Nazis' and their supporters' pocketbooks. Tausend had raised approximately half a million dollars (roughly $5.6 million in 2005 dollars) to fund five laboratories, one research institute and one mining operation; but most of the money went instead to fund extravagant lifestyles for the four main business partners. Many investors, including pensioners in his home village, lost their entire savings, while Tausend collected castles and country homes.