#Anti Arcann

[rainofaugustsith]

Bad SWTOR choices

I accidentally reblogged and replied on a post I didn't mean to, but I did want to talk about this - how many times the LS/DS choices in SWTOR and particularly KOTFE and KOTET seem completely off base. Top four: The reactor in KOTFE chapter 3. 

Okay, to recap: the Outlander has just been freed from carbonite, where they were slowly being poisoned to death. They are doing so poorly that Lana has to help them walk at some points. They are on a planet they know nothing about. There's a nuclear reactor Vaylin has ripped from its moorings, and the actual nuclear physicists who tend to the thing have given up on it. So of course it's perfectly reasonable to expect the half-dead Outlander to fix it, and to treat them like a monster if they make the sound decision to not try to learn nuclear physics in two seconds. 

Better decision: give the Outlander a choice to try to help people evacuate and make that LS/DS. That would still fit with Koth's desire to help people and could still be used to influence his opinion of the Outlander, but would be more realistically and logically in line with what could be done. Since nobody knows what the Outlander looks like at this point it could also be used to create more conflict/nuance for Zakuulans. They've been told the Outlander is a monster but - this person who looks just like the Outlander saved them. Could Arcann be lying to them?

Senya in KOTET chapter 1. 

So the planet of Voss is being bombed to pieces, and Senya doesn't give a single fuck about that. She just wants you to save her son, the dictator. Who has shown zero remorse and has literally run the Outlander through with a lightsaber. Your two choices: let Genocidal Dictator Boy join the Alliance and work right alongside the people he's actively tried to murder, or refuse and be considered a monster. Choices, choices. 

Better decision: Refuse to save, imprison for war crimes, save, save without joining Alliance. All of which should be neutral. They could have even branched this off further - does Arcann go off to atone through his actions of trying to help rebuild? Do you just let him flee and become a ghost? Is he turned over to the factions and put in jail? Or do you execute him?

SCORPIO in KOTET chapter 5.  HOW many times has SCORPIO lied to you, tried to do away with you and otherwise caused extensive trouble? Bonus for Imperial Agents, how many times in the class story did she casually mention she eventually wants to murder you? Of course, by all means, let her merge her consciousness with the homicidal cyberplanet who has just tried to murder you and has horrific weapons at its disposal. I'm sure no harm could come from that. After all she promised she won't bother you. It's not personal. 

Better choices: - Let SCORPIO merge with the promise of helping you destroy the faction of your choice later (DS - hey, I SAID it's a dark side choice so let's go for the goalpost with it) - Kill SCORPIO (neutral), - oho, what's this? You've been able to completely neutralize SCORPIO and contain her in the Gravestone with the super special top secret program Doctor Oggurobb has been working tirelessly on for months since you learned SCORPIO wasn't dead?? Whoohoo! Victory without death! (LS). 

Dramath in KOTET chapter 7. 

Because you haven't been subjected to Valkorion's family enough, here comes Daddy Dramath. Who is imprisoned in a holocron in a max-security basement crypt and swears, up and down, that he will go away and not bother you if he's set free. I mean, you have so many reasons to take Family Valkorion/Tenebrae at their word, right? It's not like this could be a malicious Force ghost. You've never run into any of those, nope. And it's not like you're on a planet that has been corrupted into something terrible in the Force (or lack thereof) which might make it even more dangerous to release ghosties you meet. 

Better decision: - Free (LS), - Keep - but swear to release after you've defeated Valkorion and keep that promise(LS), - Imprison and tell Dramath he's your servant forever, mwahahaha (DS). Let that be the differentiating factor in whether he helps you or not in KOTET 9. 

[fancyfade]

Strangest take of the day is that Jason is female coded because of his rage as if men being violently angry isn't one of the only ways many writers are interested in exploring emotions for male characters and one of the only ways many men engage with their own emotions

[serenofroses]

you know... if I want to like Senya more without having to kill her off. I would've liked if she took Vaylin and ran away from the Emperor to hide with the Jedi maybe.

In my verse, I don't plan, and sticking to that, on Vaylin being related to Arcann and Thexan this time. As for Senya, maybe not related or so? but perhaps had to place Vaylin's wellbeing with someone she can trust to train and guide her. idk if she would be a kid or an young adult in present timeline.

originally I was intending to have Vaylin related to Acina.

[sunderedazem]

How did Corrian handle Theron’s betrayal?

>:3c

Corrain doesn't handle Theron's betrayal well, but it's not entirely his fault. Making it worse, he can sense that it is not a true betrayal, even if he doesn't know what actually is going on, and there's a LOT stressing him out besides his husband Pulling Some Shit.

See, Corrain is fuckoff powerful in the Force, right? But that gift tends to present itself in a few specific ways, one being powerful visions of the future. And right around this point in time, not only is he preparing to take the throne of and actually lead Zakuul while simultaneously trying to democratize their government to some extent, and mediate peace talks between the Sith Empire (which is afterwards divided in half when Malgus escapes with a bunch of pissed off Sith and creates the True Sith Empire and promptly starts a semi-civil-war) and the Republic....but he's also having a series of strong, really-mindfucky visions and for the first time he cannot tell what the Force is trying to guide him toward. Not that his visions are ever clear, of course - they tend to be very metaphorical and only show him little snippets of actual moments of the future - but when Vitiate/Valkorion was his opponent he thought he understood them. Now he doesn't have a clue what they mean, only that something is coming and whatever it is, it's entirely possible it will be worse than Vitiate eating planets.

So, with this kind of Ominous Portent hanging over his head combined with the galactipolicital situation and his own impending coronation and the additional fact that he can sense that not everything is as it seems with Theron and that betrayal...he just doesn't have *any* idea of what's really going on and he's scared. He knows something awful is coming but he doesn't know what it is or how to stop it and he THOUGHT it was Valkorion but he's still having the visions and even worse, the visions seem to be guiding him toward this Awful Thing.

And then Theron crashes the train on Umbara. Corrain can tell something's off the entire time and he's desperate to stop it and the visions from coming to pass but he doesn't know how - and so when Theron turns on him, it breaks him. Visibly. He loses control - and with a strength in the Force like he has, that means a lot of accidental Force Lightning. And, well. He shorts out the control panel on the train as it's accelerating. So it...doesn't stop accelerating. None of them notice until Theron takes off on the speeder stored for his getaway and is horrified to realize that the warning lights are blaring and the sabotaged electromagnetic train pulsars have already been set to blow. This means when the train crashes, Corrain (being a self-sacrificing idiot) tries to break Lana's fall at the cost of protecting himself, and is nearly killed on impact. Lana has to carry him to safety and arrange a medical transport, and he spends a few days in a kolto tank, recovering.

This accidental assassination almost-success has the dual effect of shattering both Theron and Lana, and making the Order of Zildrog FAR more trusting of Theron. It also means 95% of the Alliance, Vaylin and Arcann now included, are furious with Theron. (Keep in mind - the three of them are 'secretly' married at this point, which of course means the entire galaxy knows lmao). And this also means that when Corrain gets on air, about a week later, he's all but begging Theron to come home (because he can sense this wasn't a true betrayal but he doesn't know why it's happening), and pretty much everyone that knows him thinks it's the desperate, delusional plea of a heartbroken man. He also prevents the Chiss Ascendancy from shooting down Theron's ship on Copero with anti-spacecraft guns when they offer to do so. Even Lana only half-believes that he's actually been able to sense Theron's intentions, and it's only because she's generally sensed the same thing - only, she's keeping quiet and levelheaded about it, because she once did something similar to Theron on Rishi, and she knows he'd have clued them in if he were able. (If he were thinking straight about the situation, Corrain would be doing the same. He is not thinking straight. He is terrified because he is an unwilling Oracle for disaster and now THIS is happening-)

This obstinate inability to believe in Theron's betrayal ends up making it somewhat more difficult for the Alliance later, when my Canon Divergence happens with the remainder of the Zildrog arc (i.e. Zildrog isn't the Gravestone wtf bioware). Because sure, Corrain was objectively correct about Theron's betrayal - but now there's doubt about whether that was certainty born out of genuine objectivity, or wilfull blindness to a potentially devastating truth? (Answer: both tbh)

So when he starts having terrifying visions about [redacted], the leaders in the Republic and Empire pay mostly lip service to his warnings and calls for genuine peace and reform and go back to skirmishing. And then, of course, disaster strikes and his credibility comes back in full, but that's another story.

Thank you for the ask!!!!! I'm sorry it took so long to answer.

[anchanted-one]

Alliance Commander Ask Game

I saw this interesting post by @consularmain , and thought I'd do it too!

1. Who’s your Alliance Commander? What class are they? Alignment? Random other facts you wanna share?

That would be Vajra Devarath, Jedi Knight. He's mostly Light-Sided, but gets very attached to people. During his 'funeral' after he and the rest of Braga's strike team went MIA, my Consular thought he was a bad Jedi, but a really great person.

His story deviates greatly from the game, but I'll be referring to that rather than the game. I'm currently writing it on AO3, but I'm on Shadow of Revan, at the moment. I'm a long way from writing about his Commander days.

2. What’s a reason or two you like that this character is your Commander?

Vajra is decisive and clearheaded. He doesn't always know what's best, but on these occasions, he's very quick to ask Lana, Theron, Koth, Jorgan, Beywan, Scourge, Kira, or anyone else for their opinions. And choosing the one he things is the best one.

He has a good reputation in the galaxy. Most ordinary people see him as the ultimate white knight errant; honest (more than he actually is), self-sacrificing, and a winner. The Sith and both sides' High Command (including Acina) acknowledge his strength. The Jedi acknowledge his commitment to the galaxy, and perhaps even the Force. I should say, Vajra didn't ask for this, his legend just grew on its own thanks to him getting a lot of spotlight missions.

3. What’s a reason or two you don’t like about them being Commander?

Vajra was permanently affected by the carbonite. It's a source of chronic pain for him, to the point of knocking him out when he least expects it. He does cope somewhat after accepting both Sides of the Force thanks to Satele and Marr, but fifteen years after his return, he's got quite the litany of health problems.

He also has an old problem with mental health. He does deal with it on Rishi, thanks to Lana, but killing or losing allies can hit him hard.

4. Why did this character of all your OCs become Commander?

I've always been partial to the Knight-Errants, and the Jedi Knight felt like the natural anti-Emperor crusader. I thought that once they kill the Emperor in chapter 3, they're already the strongest boss in the galaxy, with few able to stand against them. In addition, Kotfe-et always felt like a Force-user storyline to me. It doesn't translate well for the others. I mean, Smuggler and Bounty Hunter are basically criminals, and Cipher Nine is a spy, not a poster model. And there are the fights against Arcann and Vaylin too...

5. Who did they side with? Did they stay loyal or go saboteur? Or maybe you headcanon they defect properly?

By the time of the Iokath conflict, my universe is far divorced from SWTOR storyline. In fact, the reverse happened. With the Fleet and the Gravestone under his command, Vajra attempts to put an end to fighting. He more or less strongarms both sides into going along with it. Acina and Chancellor Rans are the ones who have to choose, and they choose 'surrender.'

6. Are there any NPC’s from the class stories you’d like to see/HC join the Alliance? Ex: Master Timmns, Ardun Kothe, Watcher One, etc.

The following are part of my Alliance: Shara Jenn (remote worker), Watcher One (secretly), Praven, Bengel, and a bunch of others.

7. How’s your OC feeling about the current Malgus situation?

Doesn't happen. Vajra has the habit of decapitating enemies. Malgus was killed on Ilum, and there was nothing could be salvaged from the station's self-destruct.

On a meta level, I hate enemies that won't stay dead. It's lazy writing, and they already had Malora. They could've brought back Jadus, if they wanted nostalgia-bait, the community would've rejoiced. (You either die as a respected adversary, or live to become more nuisance than terror)

8. Are any of your other OC’s part of the Alliance? If yes what do they do for the Alliance? Do they get along with your Commander?

Most notably, Jasme Shan, Theron's twin sister. But she's not one of the starting classes. She's an Archivist first, combatant second. She's also Vajra's best friend.

Technically, Cipher Nine is a founding member, but only Vajra, Lana, Shara Jenn, and Watcher One know about it. Lana lets Theron and Jasme in on the secret at some point, but I don't know when.

Seraphim Abbot, who's a Jedi pilot and Kira's husband, also joins when she does (earlier, in my story).

Hekaten (Sith Inquisitor) joins the Alliance, in a way. They get along okay.

In addition, Roban Queens (Trooper) joins the Alliance early. But he's had a problem with Vajra for over a decade now.

Vajra encountered Commander Tavus on Taris, but didn't apprehend him, since Garza kept his defection secret. Roban hated him for it, somehow expecting the then-fifteen-year-old to somehow know how to tell a traitor. He picked a fight with Vajra, and lost. To add insult to injury, Vajra filed a formal complaint against him and Garza, which led to her losing trust, and getting a temporary demotion. He never forgave Vajra for that.

During the timeskip, Roban worked with Lana, and began to want her. But she wasn't interested, and he blamed Vajra for that (rarely admitting that he himself was the problem).

Oh, and um. Roban and his family are Zakuulan sleeper agents. He hates Arcann for killing them, but he's a Valkorionist through and through. So that's one more reason to hate Vajra.

9. How does your OC feel about Odessen? (Bonus: how do you feel about it)

Vajra loves it. The scenery is perfect, and it's balanced in the Force. In my story, Lana starts developing it as mroe than just a military base. It has cities, farms, industries, and even markets. They build a home on Odessen, and raise their kids there.

Personally, I love it. Only world I love more is Alderaan.

10. How does your Commander feel about being the Commander?

He accepts it. You have to understand though; he takes it to a whole new level. If you've ever heard of the Shogunate in Japan, that's what he becomes. A benign military dictator. He's able to bring peace to the galaxy thanks to this, but he hates how he's going against his teachings to be a dictator. In addition, he would've liked to have retired from fighting and leading. To spend the bulk of his time as a good husband and father.

11. Favorite place in the Alliance base?

The cliffs overlooking the base and valley beyond.

12. Favorite mission in KotFE?

Chapter 3. The escape from Zakuul, and getting rescued by Lana. On a personal note, I like how this mission frames Vaylin as a force of nature. Like the Dahaka from Prince of Persia: Warrior Within. She was a better Vader, back in those days. Then she became a worse Kylo Ren...

13. Favorite mission in KotET?

The final one, though it's very different for Vajra. When he and Hekaten meet face-to-face for the first time, Valkorion realizes that the Sith has a super-strong pull on ghosts. He uses that to escape his 'cage' (Vajra) and transfer over to Hekaten. The final chapter, where you have to piece yourself together, takes place in Hekaten's mind rather than Vajra's. The Inquisitor escapes thanks to Vaylin's interference, and Vajra briefly resumes his role in containing Valkorion before destroying him for good using Tenebrae's original body.

14. Least favorite mission in either? Why?

From meta, the walker missions. In the game, Iokath. I hate everything about that world, but especially the conclusion. After everything SCORPIO did, having her arc resolved with a single choice like that is dumb. Personally, I resent SCORPIO blaming all organics for what only the Cabal did to her. And she's not fighting for droid rights; she has no problem treating HK-55 like a tool.

15. Is your Commander successful because they’re skilled? Or are they perhaps just really lucky?

Skill more than luck, but I can't stress on how important his friends/council are to his success.

16. From our OC’s point of view, SoR -> KotET wasn’t a fun experience, did they develop any fears as a result?

He was terribly upset by finding out that he lost five whole years. Especially because everyone he knew has changed and grown without him. Most importantly, Lana and Jasme. The latter lost the love of her life (Sith Warrior, Kairegane Rooks) and nearly gave up. He wished he'd been there for her, as she'd been for him.

He's also aware of just how hard his absence was for Lana, with whom he shares a powerful Force-Bond. It was almost dead for five years, which caused her no end of grief.

It doesn't help how he realizes that they've had five years of growth taken away from them, including the family they wished to start together.

And then there's Kira, who had a son while he was frozen.

As a result, he's very afraid of losing time. He's always in a hurry to get the work out of the way, so he can do what's really important to him--spending time with his loved ones. He's loath to let them out of his sight, like he's owrried they'll slip through some crack and vanish the moment he has his back turned. This also makes him very angry with Arcann, though he manages to put his feelings aside.

17. AU time! If your Commander wasn’t Commander, which of your other OCs would have likely taken their place?

Probably no one. Kairegane Rooks, the Wrath, was terminally ill. For her to survive, she'd have to not have a congenital disease. Hekaten is taken prisoner by the Eternal Empire, and Lana and Theron don't trust Roban due to his affiliation to Zakuul (in addition to his general creepy behavior). He proves them right by abandoning the Alliance when Valkorion takes over Hekaten. Smuggler and Bounty Hunter are far too removed from galactic politics to care. I suppose someone would've risen up, but it would've been a dark and bloody universe that ended up in an even worse place than where we are now.

18. Who’s someone your Commander hopes they never have to deal with again?

The Emperor, and Roban. That second guy especially. Creeped on his wife (Lana, whom he married way back during SOR), and joined Valkorion. He even had the temerity to pretend that Force Users have bad inner eyes, rather than accept that maybe Valkorion really was the Sith Emperor.

19. Does your Commander hold on to/still use any titles they earned before KotET?

He doesn't, but he finds them thrown his way very often. Some of the titles he has, which aren't in-game titles:

General, Jedi Marshal, and Crown Reaper (or just Reaper).

20. Share something, anything at all, you want about your Commander that you’ve not really gotten the chance to share before but really want to.

Honestly, I've either already written it, or will be writing when I get there in the story.

In the beginning, I intended for each of my OCs to correspond to a deadly sin:

Vajra: Pride (in his swordsmanship) Kairegane: Lust (thrill seeker) Roban: Envy Hekaten: Greed Mark Fordorn (Bounty Hunter): Wrath (He's an escaped Power Guard) Juun Stede (Smuggler): Gluttony Devel Nirol (Consular): Sloth.

But I did a poor job of keeping to it in most cases, so the 'sins' are a shadow of what they might have been, with the exception of Mark, who's still a very angry man.

[ooops-i-arted]

Avei 2.0 finally finished KotFE and to celebrate I ragedrew my response.  Now on to KoTET!

Seriously though, just let me shoot Arcann, Valkorion, and Vaylin in their smug annoying blandly written faces.  With a companion I actually like and care about at my side.

[astralflows]

you know what.... saresh deserved better

[hobblywobbly]

SWTOR OC Masterlist

finally decided to go ahead and make a masterlist of all my ocs that I've made lore for and worked into the game's canon (some more prominent and favored than others)

will update as time goes on!

Inbox is always open to questions!

The Outlanders

Name: Concilliabule Xander Gender: Male (he/him) Species: Human Class/Alignment: Sith Inquisitor | Sorcerer | LS Color Crystal: Black-Orange Age: 36* (at the end of Onslaught)(*spent 5 years in carbonite) Sexuality: Gay Romance: Arcann | Dating Notes: younger twin brother of jaro'marc, ex-slave turned acolyte, was the one in carbonite for five years in Arcann's treasury vault thing, first oc, the commander of the eternal alliance, named himself

Name: "Captain" Flynnweh Shan Gender: Male (he/him) Species: Miraluka Class/Alignment: Smuggler Gunslinger | Dirty Fighting | LS Color Crystal: White-Yellow-Orange (both guns) Age: 45* (at the end of Onslaught)(*spent 5 years in carbonite) Sexuality: Bisexual Romance: Theron Shan | Married Notes: the Dad™ of the alliance, co-commander of the eternal alliance, force-sensitive, stole his name from a legendary pirate, widower

The Jedi

Name: Jaro'marc Xander Gender: Male (he/him) Species: Human Class/Alignment: Jedi Sentinel | Concentration | DS Color Crystal: Cloud Blue (main) Desert Green (off hand) Age: 36 (at the end of Onslaught) Sexuality: Pansexual Romance: Kira Carsen | Married Notes: older twin brother of concilliabule, lost eye and leg from imperial torture, was officially exiled from the jedi order, very much anti-imperial, has a daughter with kira (Faiós Carsen-Xander)

Name: Eliote Gender: Female (she/her) Species: Human Class/Alignment: Jedi Shadow | Infiltration | LS Color Crystal: Farmhand Blue Age: 34 (at the end of Onslaught) Sexuality: Lesbian/Ace Romance: Lana Beniko | Married Notes: a force empath, spent a few years before KOTEF training under the voss

The Hunter

Name: Mlircu Cadera Gender: Female (she/they) Species: Chiss Class/Alignment: Bounty Hunter Mercenary | Arsenel | DS Color Crystal: Blood Red Age: 33 (at the end of Onslaught) Sexuality: Demisexual Romance: Torian Cadera | Married Notes: orphaned and raised outside the ascendency, became mandalorian through the hunt, doesn't speak much, has a son with torian (its blizz although torian vehemently denies it), vendetta against flynn

The Soldier

Name: Derlena Gender: Trans-Female (she/her) Species: Human Class/Alignment: Trooper Vanguard | Tactics | LS Color Crystal: Radiant Green Age: 40 (at the end of Onslaught) Sexuality: Bisexual Romance: Aric Jorgan | Married Notes: defected from the republic with the rest of havoc

The Warrior

The FeAgentsh'el Gender: Female (she/her) Species: Half Pureblood, Half Twi'lek Class/Alignment: Sith Juggernaut | Vengeance | DS Color Crystal: Fire Red Age: 52 (at the end of Onslaught) Sexuality: Heterosexual Romance: Malavai Quinn | Married Notes: vendetta against concilliabule, dark council member as of Onslaught

The Freelance Agent

Name: Eskowel Gender: Male (he/they) Species: Chiss Class/Alignment: Imperial Operative | Concealment | LS Color Crystal: Derelict-Purple Age: 40 (end of Onslaught) Sexuality: Demisexual Romance: Vector Hyllus | Dating Notes: born into an imperial noble family but expressed interest in Intelligence, family died abord Darth Jadus's ship, allergic to physical affection and has been known to bite and/or scream, 30% good morals 70% sarcasm and a sprinkle of dark humor

[fleeting-sanity]

[ Previous Entry ] ≡ [ Read @ AO3 ] ≡ [ Chapters Index ]   

Months of yearning was making the Outlander quieter and unfocused. The people close to him noticed, some even tried to pry into the issue but he was as vague as ever. His twin knew, but didn't have the time for a talk because of how busy he was. Arcann was preoccupied with his new role, going back and forth between the Alliance and personal life.

A formal invitation of a joint effort arrived on Rionnic's desk. Vowrawn, the current Sith Emperor, warmly greeted his old friend. 

"Xarethe. It's been some time. I won't mince words, so let me extend an invitation. Join us in our campaign against the Jedi. They are forming a small colony on Ossus, no doubt recuperating their numbers in secret. We must strike now before they grow. Perhaps we can discuss this further over wine, like old times. Oh, and bring your twin."

The Sith's face fell, as if his permanent scowl couldn't get any worse. The sight of him burying his face in his hands was what his twin saw when he opened the door. Despite not feeling the greatest himself, he needed to be there for his brother. “What is it?”

Rionnic replayed Vowrawn’s message. It resulted in the Jedi’s widened eyes goggling against the Sith’s tired ones. Riornivo broke the silence by asking meekly; “Have you decided on it?”

“Bring your Jedi friends there. Some of us will cover you in case they try to intercept. Keep it discreet.”

"... Thank you."

A team of stealth fighters were dispatched to survey the orbit of Ossus and the presence of anti-aircraft defenses. The colony's base was small and, frankly, quite defenseless. The spies sent the intel to their leaders, but before Rionnic could open the messages, a call rang, which was answered by Riornivo. “Master Jedi!”

On the other line was General Ardinondu Daeruun, greeting the Outlander with warmth. Rionnic was conveniently off camera, but listening. The General proceeded to explain the situation at Ossus--information already known to the twins. Even though a decision was already made, Riornivo still told Daeruun that he’d think about it, which perplexed him.

“I don’t want to risk this going public, even after he told me it’s confidential. What’s our intel?”

“Your base is quite bare. Might want to reinforce defenses around it. The most we can contribute is some skytroopers, since we can’t deliver big supplies. But I'll see what else can be done…” as Rionnic briefed while writing down the orders to the relevant Alliance personnels. 

“Are you going to be there?”

“Are you joking?” 

“Alright. Thank you again, Red. I… I know this can’t be easy for you.”

Rionnic just rolled his eyes while walking away, avoiding any further sentimentality from his twin. His mind started arranging ways of dealing with the consequences of his action, especially backstabbing his old friend Vowrawn. But he had a strange gut feeling about Ossus.

A familiar, magnetic energy that formed a connection with him through the Force.

Upon arriving at the colony’s base, a few rifles were pointed at Riornivo’s group. Despite his reputation and position in the Jedi Order, the people there were wary. The Outlander put his hands up, but the guards were dismissed by Master Gnost-Dural emerging from a building nearby. As he was greeted by the Jedi Master, Rio’s eyes glistened, starstruck upon meeting one of his idols.

“Barsen’thor! It’s good to finally meet you… hmm, much younger than I thought.”

“I’ve read your works and theories. Applied the knowledge in my studies and classes--it’s truly remarkable. Theron told me stories about you.” babbled Rio in admiration.

“Theron? How is he doing?”

“Still recovering from his wounds, but he’s fine. He sends his regards.”

Both of them walked towards the base, continuing their conversation. Apparently, the colony already knew of the invasion from their own scouts. A strong, uplifting energy interrupted Rio’s speech. As he looked up, he saw Nadia’s radiant smile, eagerly approaching him. Coming to Ossus was beginning to cheer the once quiet Rio, receiving a tackle hug from his petite Padawan. 

“Now we sure won’t lose!”

His reaction to that was a sheepish smile, not wanting to say anything demoralizing at the moment. Their defensive chances weren’t looking good--the small forces he brought along wouldn’t help much with that. Nostalgia and recollection would have to wait for the briefing of the impending Imperial invasion. As they continued discussing evacuation, the perimeter alarm blared off. A tall, imposing and armored Jedi approached them, letting Gnost-Dural know of her departure to deal with the breach. Gnost-Dural suggested bringing a backup with her.

“Barsen’thor, this is Tau Idair, our head of security. Would you be willing to join her in eliminating the enemy as we complete our operations?”

After confirming the details, Gnost-Dural left with Nadia and Dr. Kimble to prepare the farmers and the base's defenses. Tau explained about the enemy being the mutated Geonosians crafted and sent by Darth Malora. Their objective was to bury a few caves to cut off the Geonosian’s routes. As Tau went on explaining, Rio just couldn’t take his eyes off her strong features, but snapped out of it to focus on the mission. However, before they departed, he excused himself to contact the Alliance, more precisely his twin brother. “What is it now?”

“Red, the situation's just as bad as you said. I don’t think we can hold off a large invasion on our own. Do you have any ideas that can help?” asked Riornivo in a desperate whisper.

“It’s not like you’re not capable of wiping out an entire invasion by yourself. You just don’t want to. Haven’t I betrayed my comrades enough for you? Wouldn't you save more lives that way?”

“Red...”

Rionnic narrowed his eyes for always having to put up with his annoying twin. “Yes, damn your Jedi principles. Here’s your good news: Aygo told me Daeruun will be coming with reinforcements.”

The look of relief on the Jedi’s face shortly turned somber again. “That means even more bloodshed... I’ll be seeing you if I make it out alive. Thanks, Red.”

"Then you'd best evac--"

Rionnic's holo-image started flickering then quickly vanished--the result of a signal jam. Did the Geonosians have something to do with this?

The Jedi pair went to recover whatever relics and artifacts they could before collapsing the tunnels, but Tau failed to contact Gnost-Dural to relay their status because of the signal jam. Both of them took the moment to share a little of their past before heading towards the farms to deploy the portable turrets. They rushed towards the group Nadia was guarding--more specifically, the droid loading a backup of the planet's vital data on soil and plantation. Rio took a few steps back and gathered the civilians there in one place. Concentrating the Force in his palms, he created a dome made of solid energy acting as a Force barrier around the building. Something he picked up from other Masters during the Revanite era.

"Master! They're here!" shouted Nadia as some enemy operatives come out of stealth, while Tau deflected sniper shots on reflex. Imperial shuttles were heard and seen landing nearby bringing reinforcements. Both Tau and Rio were hesitant about violence, but Nadia leapt into the fight, determined to protect the innocent. It left the other two without room for doubt. 

The enemy soldiers stood no chance against the three. But one of them managed to remain stealthed long enough to ambush the civilians inside the Force barrier. "No!"

Nadia tried to reach the terrified farmers, but one already fell to an assassination. The elder farmer went from fear to anger. He grabbed a shovel and went for the enemy soldier--his spirit caught on to the others and they joined the retaliation. The astromech droid initiated the completion of data backup. 

"Get the droid and farmers back to the base for evacuation. I’ll be seeing you later, Nadia." as Rio dissipated the Force barrier and checked the rest of the farmers for injuries.

“Of course. We have a lot of catching up to do after this. I appreciate the help, Master.”

Tau was unusually quiet. She stood there in a frozen shock, staring at the dead soldiers. Her gaze flitted towards a concerned Rio. "Are you alright?"

“These aren’t mindless Geonosians… hurting them--killing them felt… different.”

Rio took a moment to think about what he was about to say. “I understand. In times of war we’ll be faced with instances where choices are out of the window. The defenseless are still the enemy to our enemies, and it’s up to us to protect them--give them a chance to survive.”

She closed her eyes, taking the time to calm herself. It was honestly quite hypocritical of Rio to be saying that when he was drowned in hesitation during Nathema. After taking a deep breath, Tau’s face changed into a determined look, but her gaze softened upon Rio’s smile. 

“Let’s get to the library and find the Old Man. If they send forces like this just for some data, they might have already surrounded our archives.”

And she was right. Even before arriving, they could see from the speeders that the fighting’s already on full swing. But it was Rio’s turn to freeze in one place after disembarking from the speeder, making Tau backtrack her steps. “Sorry, I feel there’s someone in there--let’s go.”

The Jedi inside were split between those who fought off the enemy and those who shielded the padawans for evacuation. One of the padawans was unfortunately stuck, as the Jedi assigned to him was thrown far away by a Sith, but managed to take the fight back resulting in both slaying each other, leaving the padawan alone. He proceeded to tread lightly, avoiding most of the fights but his cover only lasted for so long. A fearsome Sith found him, smiling sinisterly to his newfound toy. The fear oozing from the little padawan was a delight for him.

Watching him draw his lightsaber made the Sith laugh instead. “Let’s play a little game called achy breaky bones!”

Poor little padawan was thrown across the room. He shakily got up and tried to run despite the pain. The scary Sith tripped his foot with the Force, then jumped and landed in front of him. His body was lifted to the air as his trachea narrowed. 

“NO!”

Upon hearing the loud cry from afar, the Sith hurled the padawan away. He wasn’t quick enough in his reaction before two crimson lightsaber blades pierced his heart. The assailant rushed to the unconscious padawan then cradled him in his arms. 

“Sith! Put the padawan down now!”

Tau brandished her lightsaber towards the unknown assailant upon arriving at the hallway. Instead of releasing the young padawan, he tightened his grasp, bringing the child closer to his body. “No. Never again…”

“Tau! Wait--it’s-it’s uh…” as Riornivo stammered, catching his breath. “It’s my brother--let me show you.”

The Outlander walked towards the Sith and removed his helmet, revealing Rionnic’s face. “How did you get here so fast?”

“I was already on a shuttle when you called.”

“You… felt him here didn’t you? Let me tend to his injuries.”

Rionnic reluctantly handed his son over to be healed. His twin lovingly parted the boy’s hair and healed his cuts and bruises. “You have a twin? And he's a… Sith?" asked a confused Tau.

"I'm sorry, I haven't had the moment to tell you. Red--I mean, Rionnic, this is Tau Idair. Don't be alarmed, he's not one of the Sith invading us." as Riornivo carefully shifted the child over to his Father.

“I’ll be out of here. Need to get my son to safety.” 

Tau could only stand there in bewilderment, watching the Sith disappear with a padawan who apparently was his son, and even looked like him. She snapped out when Rio tapped her shoulder, beckoning to keep searching for Master Gnost-Dural. As they fought further, Tau’s hesitation flaked off layer by layer. The sight of the Old Man slumped and bleeding from his injuries constricted her heart. Both of them rushed towards him, with Rio quickly mending the visible wounds.

“There must be something… somewhere… such a mess, always such a mess with him!”

A peculiar, pacing, and upset Darth Malora startled them both. Tau approached her with her lightsaber pointed forward. “You! What did you do to the Old Man?!”

It seemed to rile the Sith even more. She moved to engage Tau in a saberlock, while Rio stood next to Gnost-Dural to protect him. Buzzing sounds from a few mutated Geonosian’s wings were heard shortly before they swarmed the Jedi pair. Even though Tau had the upper hand in the duel against Malora, the Geonosian backup disrupted her. The bugs were hammering on Rio’s barrier; although he was safe inside, seeing Tau struggle alone complicated his mind. But fortune was on their side as some Jedi reinforcement arrived. Malora was defeated along with the swarm.

"We need to take him back to the colony. We can use this transport skiff for that--"

"He's alive? Darth Malgus have truly lost his edge, then." mocked Malora, casually revealing a shocking fact to the Jedi surrounding her.

"You realize he's coming to burn your colony down," as a few Imperial fighters flew over them; "That would be them now."

But the Republic reinforcement met them head on, just in time. An intense dogfight broke around the library's atmosphere, resulting in the Republic’s triumph. Rio’s holocom rang by a call from General Daeruun, hands on his hips. Obviously the signal's returned. “Barsen’thor. My agents spotted you there. I knew you wouldn’t sit this one out--but we should discuss this later.”

Tau immediately requested medics to be sent and a prompt evacuation followed. Nadia arrived with the Republic forces, and next to her was Jaesa. Both Rio and her stood frozen upon sighting each other. “You’re here… have you seen Rian?"

"He's safe and away with his father. Should I call him?"

"We can call him later, right now we have to evacuate. It's enough knowing he's safe and... I thank you."

There were more ships than colonists with the evacuation, as both Jedi forces on ground captured and fought the remaining Sith forces while the orbit was cleared of straggler ships. When General Daeruun attempted to talk Rio into an alliance once again, the Jedi only told him that he’d have to discuss the matter with his twin. It was certainly testing the General’s patience, but he understood how complicated the process was and how dangerous the Alliance would be as an enemy.  

Riornivo came home feeling better than ever, and even found time to visit Arcann and his newborn twin daughters. Seeing his twin brother happier being reunited with his son completed his joy. Nadia joined the Alliance, eager to assist with the Force enclave while Master Gnost-Dural steadily recovered. His new friendship with Tau had them discussing philosophy and stories from their adventures.

There might even be a spark between them, or was there?

[ Next Entry ]

[shabre-legacy]

I posted 6,851 times in 2021

675 posts created (10%)

6176 posts reblogged (90%)

For every post I created, I reblogged 9.1 posts.

I added 2,784 tags in 2021

#swtor - 583 posts

#my ocs - 393 posts

#self reblog - 333 posts

#my darlings - 307 posts

#randomreblog - 302 posts

#shameless self-promotion - 272 posts

#shabre legacy - 259 posts

#star wars - 161 posts

#jedi - 89 posts

#leikael shabre - 85 posts

Longest Tag: 130 characters

#i might have decided to have lesh (consular) and zari (quizzy) as co-commanders of the alliance in the shabre storyline im writing

My Top Posts in 2021

#5

Look at this amazing art by @marlynata. Leita Naberrie attending her first imperial formal event as Darth Vader’s Daughter after leaving the rebels. She looks so pretty. The newly introduced Lady Vader is already causing quite the stir.

52 notes • Posted 2021-02-18 17:41:11 GMT

#4

An AU where Vaylin’s suffering on Nathema is loud in the Force, so much so that a younger powerful Jedi, doing something (maybe like research or something idk yet) on the far edge of the outer rim near to Nathema hears her and follows the sound. Finding the poor girl trapped and suffering, they can’t walk away and it doesn’t matter who she is. She needs help. So they rescue her and carry Vaylin to Tython where she is able to heal and recover in peace surrounded by the Force and people who care and help her find herself past what her father taught her. When Senya shows up to rescue Vaylin. She’s not there and Valkorian is furious that the perfect weapon he was trying to create is missing. But when the Invasion happens later, it all gets messed up and nothing goes according to his plan because when Thexan and Arcann face a line of Jedi, there standing with the others, saber drawn. Strong, confident, and free is their sister. 

58 notes • Posted 2021-01-07 23:31:06 GMT

#3

Because I am seeing this stupid idea pop up again, let me be very clear. MANDALORIANS ARE NOT EXCLUSIVLY HUMAN!!!!!!!! 

They can be human, but they have also been Wookie, Mirialan, Zabrak, Twi’lek and every other race of the galaxy. To be Mandalorian does not mean to be born on Manda’yaim or in Basic, the planet Mandalore. Even the exclusively human community of the planet as seen in clone wars was a fairly recent invention occurring a within the few hundred years prior to the clone wars as anti-alien sentiment pushed out those Mandalorians (even those born on Manda’yaim) who were not human. There are a few theories on where that came from and why it developed/was eventually effective. 

What is known is that the original Mandalorians were the Taungs. A species that settled the planet of Manda’yaim under the leadership of Mandalore the First. This is where the people took their name. When they opened their culture to those they adopted from other species, they established themselves as a culture, creed and religion. ANYONE from ANY SPECIES who was adopted as a Mandalorian by a Mandalorian, who proves themselves and lived by their laws and traditions, specifically the resol’nare (six actions in Basic), WAS MANDALORIAN and their children, regardless of species of birth was MANDALORIAN BY BIRTH.

If you want to talk who is considered Mandalorian, at least know what the basic requirements are generally considered to be according to known Mandalorian lore and don’t make up stuff to justify the clone wars BS

90 notes • Posted 2021-01-14 16:43:03 GMT

#2

So if you play a female smuggler that marries Corso, and you take over Zakuul and rule as Empress, and you don’t romance anyone else and resume your romance with Corso as soon as you find him again, then technically... technically farm boy Corso Riggs can be Emperor Consort of the Zakuulan Empire (which at that point consists of most of the known galaxy) and I just find that idea to be really funny.

99 notes • Posted 2021-03-27 02:21:08 GMT

#1

I know a lot of people seem to imagine the Mandos as very distant from each other, a lot like american society is in regards to physical touch. But honestly, even among groups where removing their helmets under certain circumstances is allowed (you’re among your family, or you’re in camp, or not on duty, or whatever) this is still a people who spend a significant amount of time in their armor and a large portion of that time with their faces covered. I think that would lead to a very physically affection people. 

Like Mandos in a group always shoving each other lightly or slapping shoulders and backs when they’re heading out. Just grabbing the shoulder of someone nearby and using them to stabilize you as you adjust a boot, or taking naps, and falling asleep during transports leaning on whoever happens to be next to you. hugs and just lots of casual touch. It’s so easy and casual and there’s so much that it tends to bother imps or anyone who’s not used to being around mandalorians when they start traveling or spending time around them. 

372 notes • Posted 2021-02-06 01:02:28 GMT

Get your Tumblr 2021 Year in Review →

[keldae]

Interception

Theron might not have been a Jedi, or able to use the Force, but that didn't mean he hadn't learned to listen to his instincts. His gut intuition had gotten him both into and out of trouble countless times during his career in espionage.

And right now, he couldn't shake the feeling that someone was watching him.

You're paranoid, he thought, shaking his head sternly, shivering involuntarily as the cool breeze tickled his exposed scalp. You know it's Gemini stalking you as per usual. He turned a corner into an alley -- a shortcut to his current bolthole. Or Atrius is watching. Keep your cover, don't let them know you're onto them…

He habitually turned his head, scanning the few seedy characters of the underworld of Mek-Sha as they passed the front of the alley. Nobody giving him a second look, nobody looking like they were hunting the Alliance's Most Wanted. Just criminals and gangsters and refugees, trodding along the planks, all but invisible in the dim, soggy lighting.

Theron shook his head again as a hooded figure walked past the alley. Probably one of the creepy slaver cult that operated here. If he survived this, he would have to tell Sorand about this so the former Sith could deal with the slavers that he despised so -- no, don't think ahead. Sorand is more likely to kill you himself. He sighed and stepped back into the alley. He was pretty sure Xaja's youngest brother, essentially the Acting Commander from what he heard, had no idea about this plot. And the idea of being on the shitlist of a Dark Lord of the Sith and former member of the Dark Council was almost as terrifying as an idea as being on the shitlist of Imperial Intelligence’s most notorious field agent.

She wouldn't send her father after me, right? Lana would veto that. Theron shuddered, refusing to admit how much the prospect of being hunted by Cipher Nine scared him. It was bad enough that Shara was hunting him -- rumour had it the Champion of the Great Hunt had taken on the contract for him for free, as a favour to her sister-in-law (with much angry snarling about honour and cowardice and how Theron had plenty of one and not nearly enough of the other, according to Korin’s updates). As long as she doesn't get a trace on you, you'll be fine. Right?

The lights in the alley surged with brightness for a second before falling dark, leaving Theron momentarily blinded. He was already ducking and moving, relying on his memory to navigate the cluttered alley, every instinct screaming at him to run. The power surge was too targeted to be a fluke, and the sound of a ventilation shaft falling open with a deafening hiss was too coincidental. He was--

A hand roughly grabbed his arm and twisted it behind his back. Theron grunted in discomfort and drove his heel down, barely catching the side of his assailant's boot, and not throwing off his attacker’s stride in the least, by the feel of it. He felt himself being yanked backward, deeper into the alley shadows; he threw his body weight back, for a second surprising his attacker. It bought him enough time to yank his arm free and turn around, but before he could reach for a blaster or bring his bracer up to fire a toxin dart, he grunted again as he felt his attacker -- humanoid male, he guessed -- land a solid off-hand punch to his midsection, winding him and throwing him off balance. The sharp edge of a crate dug into Theron's back as he was shoved backward by his attacker, his wrist caught in a durasteel grip that prevented him from fighting back. He heard the soft shhhk of a knife being quickly drawn, and was forced to stop trying to fight his way free when he felt the sharp edge against his throat, his heart pounding with barely suppressed fear. Weren't spies supposed to be better at managing their fear and ambushes than this?

His stomach turned to lead when he heard his attacker's low, furious growl. "You have thirty seconds to convince me to not skin you alive, kid." Cipher Nine apparently had decided to track the rogue spy himself, and Theron's mind decided now was a good moment to helpfully remind him of the old man's reputation as a sociopath with a vicious streak a parsec wide. And he was pretty sure the fact that he was the old spy's son-in-law was negated by the fact that he had publicly tried to kill his precious daughter.

Theron grunted in discomfort as he felt Reanden press the knife tighter against his throat. "It was necessary," he whispered, inwardly cringing at how lame his excuse sounded. "Can't say more. Ears."

"One of which you're about to lose," Reanden snarled. Theron could just see the glint of rage in the old man's eyes under his hood. Shit, he’d really overdone it if the older spy was this furious. "Surveillance systems are knocked out for another minute. That's more than enough time for me to make you unidentifiable."

Theron had no doubt the Imperial legend could make him disappear with ease, and tried to not think about the sharp edge of the knife scraping his throat. Wait, if the surveillance systems were disabled… He could only hope Gemini was blind right now. "... How disabled?" he lowly whispered.

"Dead silence for anyone trying to listen." There was definitely a bit of unnecessary emphasis on 'dead', in Theron's opinion.

But he didn't exactly have room or time to voice that opinion. And if Reanden hadn't killed him yet… "Order of Zildrog," he quickly whispered. “They’re working on a plan to kill her, I don't know the details yet. Ask Arcann what he remembers about Vinn Atrius."

"Vinn Atrius…" Reanden lowly muttered the name as he seemed to mentally file the name away. "You've kept your ear, not sure about your hide yet--"

"Say nothing in front of Gemini Prime," Theron urgently hissed. "They know everything." From how Reanden tensed, he guessed that wasn't a threat the old man had considered. "They're tracking her."

"That so?" For a second, Reanden seemed to think about this new information before Theron heard his low growl again. "Thirty seconds are up, kid."

The knife moved from Theron's throat as the hand holding his wrist immobile loosened a smidge. Theron took immediate advantage and twisted his arm sharply, freeing himself to punch the older spy in the side even while ducking away from the sharp blade. He heard Reanden grunt as the old man was knocked off-balance, and felt the prick of the knife on his temple, but didn't pause long enough to hope this blade wasn't poisoned. His only priority was slipping out of the old man's hold and fleeing down the alley, finally drawing his blaster and blindly firing a warning shot behind him. 

He flinched at a return shot whizzing past his ear and hitting the corner of an abandoned storage bay, sparks flying from the impact. But, when he finally made it back to his safehouse, breathing hard and paranoidly looking over his shoulder, there was no sign of Cipher Nine pursuing him. For a second, Theron let himself hope he'd given the old man the slip, and the former Imperial asset hadn't just flipped on his stealth generator to stalk him from the shadows.

Either way, the situation was more perilous. Mek-Sha was compromised. Theron couldn't linger here -- even if the old man didn't come after him directly, it wouldn't be hard for him to get Shara on the asteroid for the hunt, or an Alliance strike team, or even Xaja herself. And Theron knew he couldn't make himself walk away from Xaja again, not after that glimpse of her on Copero. He had to keep moving.

Hope Nine didn't manage to plant a tracker, he grumbled to himself as he swept everything connected to him out of the cramped room he had called a safehouse and made his escape to the docks. The sooner he was in his shuttle and fleeing into the Unknown Regions, the better.

He had to have believed you, he tried to reassure himself as he slipped away into the shadows, flinching at every little noise that he could hear over the sound of his racing heart. Otherwise he wouldn't have missed with that shot, or let you escape. Right?...

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

From the shadow cast by a hanging tarp, Reanden watched as his target hurried toward the shuttles, looking terrified despite his best efforts. For a moment, the old spy allowed himself a little smirk: still got it. That reputation he'd built of being a sociopath had taken years to establish -- be a pity to have it wasted on this asshole.

The smirk vanished as he thought about Theron's whispered message. Assuming it was all truth from the younger man, this was some good intel -- and Reanden figured he’d been in the spy business long enough to identify lies and truth. The Order of Zildrog… yes, he'd heard that before. Hylo had managed to intercept a transmission, from Theron himself, mentioning that group. A cult, if he was going to be accurate -- the little bits of intel he'd managed to pull up on them had indicated fanaticism, both in the idolatry of Valkorion's shadow, and a fierce hatred of Xaja and the Alliance. This was confirmation that they were enough to be a serious threat, if Theron was this deeply involved. Infiltration? Investigation? Reanden wasn't sure yet what his son-in-law was up to. But now he had a name to look into -- maybe one of the ringleaders. From the sounds of it, Vinn Atrius had to be Zakuulan -- a former guard for Arcann or Vaylin, or Valkorion himself? Were they behind all the anti-Alliance uprisings that had occurred over the past year or so?

The warning about Gemini Prime made him frown. The droid template had been nonresponsive for months now; it had been assumed that she might have been entirely dead. Reanden felt like kicking himself -- why hadn’t he considered sooner that the droid was a security risk? Had the Order managed to slice into the Gemini systems and pick up intel from there? But how would they have gotten access, with all of the Eternal Fleet currently stationed around Odessen? Maybe they had found something on Iokath? Or maybe there were still ships unaccounted for?

This was giving him a headache. He scowled as Theron's nondescript shuttle fled the docks, hoping the younger spy didn't find the tracker he'd hidden on the vessel earlier; rubbing the bruise over his ribs, he slunk away into the shadows again, mind racing. First order of business was messaging both Korin and Shara to tell them to drop the hunt on this little asteroid, now that their target had escaped. After that, he needed to get back to Odessen and give Xaja this information… and hope his daughter forgave him for not dragging her wayward husband back. If he is infiltrating, capture will get him killed by the cult. Watch and listen. He'll come back up again. His gut instinct was insistent that Theron wasn't legitimately seeking Xaja's death, and so far, his instincts hadn't been wrong before. 

He only hoped he wasn’t going to be proven wrong this time.

[rainofaugustsith]

(honestly not trying to start debates or hear why people kept him or whatever, just a comment) So there apparently is some mission you can send the Zakuulan on this time, or send help with him, or I don't even know - but it always amazes me that so many people actually kept him. Like, more people seem to keep him than kept Koth. I don't get it and I don't think I ever will. Yeah, yeah, I know, he was tied to Senya but like, that does nothing for me, I hated her too. Not a commentary on anyone who ships him or loves him or Senya anything, it's just something I don't in any way understand. There are plenty of things I like in SWTOR that others likely don't understand, too.

[kyber-heart]

9 and 10 for the salty asks?

Cheers Raven!

9. Most disliked character(s)? Why?

From SWTOR, I’m gonna have to say most of the characters introduced between KOTFE and KOTET.

Arcann, Vaylin, Koth… I’m not too fond of them all things considered. Arcann is consistently one-note in the extreme, either anger or angst. Vaylin just irritates me with her constant comical acts of insanity and anger. I’m not looking forward to what the end of EOO implied. Koth also just feels very hollow as a character. His defining traits just seem to be that he’s anti-senya, kisses valkorian’s ass and there to remind you to give a shit about Zakuul (which frankly I don’t, personally). I guess my biggest complaint about them is the lack of depth in writing them. I don’t hate any of these characters. But nothing made me want to like them much either.

10. Most disliked arc? Why?

Knights of The Fallen Empire/Eternal Throne, I consider them to be the same story arc just spread out.

As for why? Well... honestly, everything. From concept to execution these expansions are just really bad in my opinion. I’m actually gonna put it under a cut because it’s a long answer tbh.

From a story stand point, Ziost left us with Vitiate becoming an incorporeal planet killer that ran off that ran off to The Unknown Regions, which was honestly an exciting prospect to go against an incorporeal being of mass destruction. Instead we got an episode of The Jerry Springer Show featuring store brand Zuko and Azula, and 2 real life years of long drawn out, poorly written, fan serving, tripe.

From a gameplay stand point, the expansions are also really bad. I completely disliked the pseudo-flashpoint gameplay of the chapters. The worlds that were introduced have very little going for them, aside from Odessen being a mission start point. The decisions to give every companion in the game to character to try and pad the expansions with content was just awful. Star Fortresses are so monotonous and dull. Uprisings while slightly better just feel like cheapened flashpoints that barely anyone plays as far as I can tell. Even the role out of KOTFE was really awkward and very EA of them. You basically had to be subscribed every month to get the next chapter, and while it is easy to just be like “Well I’ll just wait” it’s still a really weird way to roll it out over the course of a year.

I think what I dislike most however is that there was so much potential to be had with these expansions. Yet they are just super bad in my opinion. It also doesn’t help that the Community Manger at the time wasn’t even a player of the game, and basically told the community “This is what you guys want” when so many people said “no, we want what we were having” 

One day I might just post the long essay of the many failings of these two expansions both from a story perspective and a development perspective. But today is not that day and this is a really barebones assessment of my gripes with this arc.

[swtorpadawan]

The Halcyon Legacy

Recently I’ve seen @tishinada , @spindlewit and others release impressive reports on their Legacies through KOTFE/KOTET. These looked like a lot of fun. I was planning on doing something with this myself, and one project sort of dove-tailed with the other. None on my OCs here are blood relations, but most have encountered each other. So without further ado, here is the HALCYON LEGACY.

Name: Corellan Halcyon Gender: Male Species: Human Status / Position: Alive / Formerly Jedi Master and Battlemaster of the Jedi Order; now Commander of the Eternal Alliance (with several courtesy titles he doesn’t care about, but others seem to) Relationship: Kira Carsen

About Him: Corellan was born on Legol, a minor corporate gas mining colony that was destroyed during the First Galactic War. An infant Corellan – named so by the Republic soldier (Rusk) who saved him - was evacuated off-planet and, discovered to be Force-sensitive, was turned over to the Jedi Order. (This is all recounted in my work “Beginnings”.) Corellan was raised and trained at a remote Jedi Enclave on Uphrades, where his most distinguished Master was Sagotto, a retired Jedi Battlemaster. At the age of 16 and now a full Padawan, Corellan began serving under a series of Masters in relatively short apprenticeships, most of whom were traveling around the Outer Rim. Through all of this, Corellan had very little contact with the “main” Jedi Order as a whole, which meant that when he was finally sent to Tython for his Jedi Trials, his view on the Order and his place within it was somewhat skewed. (At that point, Corellan thought that most Jedi were like him, and that he was nothing exceptional.)

Nevertheless, Corellan quickly developed a strong bond with Orgus Din during his brief time as his Padawan, and when he rescued Teeseven from the Flesh Raiders he made a friend for life. Corellan likewise grew close to Kira Carsen when she was assigned his Padawan, and shortly after her promotion to Knighthood, the two began a relationship. (This is recounted in the first chapter of my “Kira Carsen and the Hero of Tython” fic.) During the class story, Corellan committed only two “Dark-side” choices. The first was when he told Kira he would protect her from the Emperor; the second was when he slew the Emperor in cold blood on Dromund Kaas. Corellan is the coalition’s champion during the Shadow of Revan story, finally allowing the legendary warrior to find peace. His life takes a definite turn early in Knights of the Fallen Empire; separated from his crew and with the Order shattered, he realizes he must go beyond the Jedi’s teachings in order to win this conflict. His confrontation with Satele – a woman whom he’d looked at as almost a mother-like figure – on Odessen was intense and was one of the few times he’s almost lost it. He recovered, however, and he, Satele and Marr parted on good terms.      

Corellan goes through a number of armor changes during the game, wearing the Resolute Guardian armor set for most of the Jedi Knight campaign before switching to the Ruthless Scion – dyed blue and white – during KOTFE/KOTET. In the aftermath of these events, with Senya and Arcann’s blessing, Corellan started wearing Thexan’s raiment.

In my head-canon, Teeseven, Rusk, and Doc all saw their stories develop similar to the way they did in canon. Scourge did leave, however, did not take Kira with him to find Vitiate’s original body. Kira herself was part of an anti-Zakuulan resistance organization. When that group was destroyed and scattered, she became desperate to form a new one, but, in her own words ‘got into trouble’. (More to come on this, and what became of Scourge.)

Name: Gahraath Vaiken / [Cipher Nine] Gender: Male Species: Human Status / Position: Alive / Former top operative for Imperial Intelligence / Now top ‘cleaner’ for the Alliance   Relationships: Raina Temple About Him: Gahraath Vaiken, the man known to the galaxy as [Cipher Nine], went through the gamut of emotions in the final days of Imperial Intelligence, and a lesser operative would have cracked. Fortunately, he unexpectedly found comfort in the arms of Raina Temple, who saw him through those dark times. When it was over, [Cipher Nine] discovered that he was loyal to an Empire that never existed. When Sith Intelligence was formed under Lana Beniko, he accepted assignments as an independent operative, but never trusted her. During the early days of the Eternal Empire invasion, [Cipher Nine] was separated from his crew, marooned on a colony believed to be destroyed. By the time he found a way to escape, years had passed and his crew had long since scattered. [Cipher Nine] joined the Alliance not long after its formation, using a fake name and identity. On Odessen, he had a private conversation with Corellan Halcyon. No one seems to know what was said between the two, but afterwards, he disclosed his true status as a former operative of Imperial Intelligence. Lana Beniko was enraged at his deception, but the Commander insisted he be allowed to remain. Since then, he’s become the Alliance’s top sniper and removal specialist. (Though these days, he takes most of his targets in with tranquilizers.)

[Cipher Nine]’s crew mostly followed the canon story. SCORPIO, Kaliyo and Lokin would all eventually join the Alliance. Vector Hyllus withdrew to the Killiks, but eventually would broker an arrangement with the Alliance, largely with [Cipher Nine]’s help. [Cipher Nine] is unaware that Raina Temple returned to the Chiss Ascendency and has been looking for her for some time.    

Name: Bas’rish Gender: Female Species: Twi’lek Status / Position: Alive / Formerly known as “the Voidhound” / later “Logistics” deputy with the Alliance Relationships: A long series of short-term relationships over time, most recently with Koth Vortena About Her: Having grown up in poverty on Ryloth, Bas’rish sees her ship and her lifestyle as a smuggler captain as the ultimate expression of her freedom and has never allowed herself to be tied down by anything. Bas’rish first met Corellan and Kira on Nar Shaddaa, where she had gotten herself into trouble with the Hutts. This encounter led her to declare Corellan her ‘little brother’, although Corellan was only two years younger and about six inches taller than the Twi’lek smuggler. Two years after the Eternal Empire invaded, Bas’rish was captured by the Exarch of Belsavis during a mission. She was cruly treated by the Exarch for the next three years, during the course of which her crew believed she had been killed. [I retell this in my short story ‘Three Years’.]

Corellan and Teeseven rescued Bas’rish during their raid on the Star Fortress, and Bas’rish would go on to put down the Exarch herself. Afterwards, she joined the Alliance, where she was reunited with Bowdarr, and later Guss and Akaavi.    

Name: Xadya Gender: Female Species: Human Status / Position: Alive / Most recent Grand Champion of the Great Hunt / Alliance operative Relationships: While “gameplay Xadya” romanced Torian Cadera, “headcanon Xadya” eventually wound up with Mako. About Her: Xadya’s early background and childhood are a closely guarded secret. Its possible she’s told Mako how she got the scars on her face and necks, but if so, she’s the only one. Xadya briefly encountered Corellan on Makeb; before the two champions could come to blows, Kira and Mako – who had known each other back on Nar Shaddaa – managed to broker a cease-fire. Xadya told Corellan what had happened with Jun Seros, and the two eventually parted ways with a mutual professional respect. Xadya and her crew fought alongside Mandalore the Vindicated during the Zakuulan invasion, fleeing only after the old Mandalore – who was something of a father figure to Xadya – was killed. Xadya took a few survivors and went underground, stepping back from the galaxy and effectively letting her crew go their own ways, with the exception of Mako. It was only at this point that Mako, a few years older and wiser, expressed her feelings to Xadya, which she reciprocated. The two put together a small group of Mandolorians on the Outer Rim, a group which included Akaavi Spar. Years later, Torian – who had been trusted with the means to contact Xadya and Mako – reached out, eventually persuading the two to join the Eternal Alliance.

Xadya’s crew – with the exception of Mako – developed much as they did in the game. When she joined the Alliance, Corellan disclosed to her – out of respect -that he and Rusk had sent Skadge to prison. (She was not devastated.)

Xadya has come to respect Shae Vizla and accept her as the new Mandalore, but it was slow going.

Name: Illaynah Antilles Gender: Female Species: Human Status / Position: Alive / Former Major in the Republic Military / Former Commander Officer of Havoc Squad / leader of the Tralus resistance movement / eventual Alliance Special Forces Commander Relationships: A series of short-term liaisons, including with Ava Jaxo, Jonas Balkar and very briefly with Theron Shan. About Her: Illaynah Antilles is a native of Tralus, near Corellia. She had a complicated relationship with her father, a former Republic soldier who was forced to retire due to a crippling injury. He fell into an alcohol-driven depression and never wanted Illaynah to follow in his footsteps. He said some truly hurtful things to her when she enlisted, and Illaynah never resolved things with him before his death. Her years commanding Havoc Squad were complicated for Illaynah. She began her service as a true patriot of the Republic, but her experiences with General Garza during her service soon enlightened her to the darker realities that resulted from decades of conflict. Illaynah actually had high hopes for Chancellor Saresh, and that continued up until her failures when the Eternal Empire invaded. When the Republic effectively surrendered to Zakuul so they could continue their war against the Sith, she resigned in disgust. When she discovered her homeworld of Tralus now had a Zakuulan Star Fortress orbiting it. Illaynah ran a resistance cell for the next few years, and was eventually contacted by the Alliance for assistance. After helping Corellan take out the Star Fortress, she would eventually join the Alliance as their Special Forces commander.

Illaynah’s old squad-mates in Havoc Squad saw their careers take similar roads as in the canon. Jorgan took over while Elara was transferred to Jace Malcolm’s staff. Forex became a Republic mouthpiece, while Yuun went off on his own to Zakuul to study their technology. Tanno Vik eventually settled on Asylum to do Tanno’s thing. The first three all would eventually find themselves joining the Alliance, with Elara serving as a representative of the Republic military. While they all have other responsibilities, Havoc Squad occasionally reforms for special missions.  

Name: Zu’fanda Gender: Female Species: Twi’lek Status / Position: Deceased / Darth Nox / Member of the Dark Council / Order of Revan Relationship: Andronikos Revel About Her: Zu’fanda spent her early years as a slave in the Sith Empire. Despite countless abuses, she nevertheless persevered, and when it was discovered that she was was Force sensitive, she thrived as a Sith. Although solidly a Dark Sider, Zu’fanda understood that the Force was greater than what she’d been taught on Korriban. This led to many interesting conversations with Ashara Zavros. The two never completely saw eye to eye, but it did lead Zu’fanda to take a hard look at the Emperor. Realizing what Vitiate was, she made a critical decision to stop this existential threat.

She threw in with the Order of Revan.

Zu’fanda led the assault on Tython, with the secret objective of securing the Rakatan artifact the Revanites needed. Just before the Republic counterattack began, Zu’fanda gave the order for dozens of captured Padawans to be executed. Ashara protested the decision, leading to a verbal altercation between master and apprentice right when Zu’fanda’s full focus needed to be on the coming Republic attack.

That attack came in the form of Corellan, Kira and Lord Scourge appearing in the council chamber to confront Zu’fanda, Ashara and Khem Val. It should have been an even fight, but the conflict between Zu’fanda and Ashara threw off the timing of the Imperials. Ashara missed a ‘switch’ as Corellan squared off against Nox, giving Kira the opening she needed to strike down the Dark Council member. At Nox’s death, Ashara went catatonic while Khem charged Kira in an uncontrolled fury... leaving the Dashade open for Scourge to cut him down.    

In the aftermath of Zu’fanda’s death, Ashara was taken prisoner by the Jedi order, but later escaped during the Zakuulan invasion of Tython. Andronikos swore revenge against the Jedi who had killed the love of his life. Xalek, regretting his master’s death but judging it to be the will of the Force, departed the service of the Sith Empire. [Later showing up on Ilum.] Talos, loyal to Nox but not particularly close to her, rejoined the Imperial Reclamation Service. [Talos and Xalek would eventually encounter Corellan, joining the Eternal Alliance.] Andronikos is still unaccounted for. Ashara, however, may be making an appearance soon…

Name: Ulannium Kaarz Gender: Male Species: Mirialan Status / Position: Bar’senthor of the Jedi Order; later special emissary to the Eternal Alliance Relationship: Nadia Grell [Though their relationship develops very differently from the class story, which is terribly rushed.] About Him: Ulannium was raised on Uphrades at the same enclave that produced Corellan. Despite the fact that he was four years older than the future Battlemaster, the two younglings became friends, both somewhat in awe at the other’s abilities. As a Padawan and later a Jedi Knight and Master, Ulannium proved to be an incredibly potent Seer and one of the best diplomats in the order. Ulannium provided comfort to Nadia after the death of her father, and it was only years later, after Nadia became a Jedi Knight in her own right, that the two began acting on their feelings for each other, and only then as equals.

After the Eternal Empire invaded and Tython fell, Ulannium helped Gnost-Dural evacuate, establishing the colony on Ossus. His crew each went their own way, with Zenith returning to Balmorra, Qyzen starting to mentor other Trandoshans, Tharan Cedrax roped into the Republic’s latest secret weapons projects, and Felix Iresso rejoining the Republic military, only to be captured opposing the Eternal Empire. [These are all consistent with the base story.] Ulannium and Nadia continued their relationship on Ossus discreetly, with only Gnost-Dural knowing their secret. After years of isolation from the galaxy, Corellan and the Eternal Alliance would discover Ossus, helping them fight off a rogue Imperial attack. [This is divergence from the canon story, where the attack on Ossus was ordered by Empress Acina.] Afterwards, Ulannium and Nadia effectively joined the Alliance, serving as representatives of the now-rebuilding Jedi order.

Having grown up together, Ulannium and Corellan remain close friends, albeit they’ve only worked together on a handful of occasions.  

Name: Lord Kael Gender: Male Species: Pureblood Status / Position: Deceased / Emperor’s Wrath Relationship: After a series of ‘encounters’ during the class story, Kael eventually committed himself to Jaesa Willsaam. However, upon realizing that he had been abandoned by Vitiate, Kael went insane and abandoned Jaesa and his crew. By the time she found out what happened to him, he had been killed on Yavin.

About Him: Kael was a truly monstrous Sith who never passed on the opportunity to order a good massacre or to torment a fallen enemy. Perhaps his sole redeeming virtue was that he was (usually) nice to Vette, though frankly, he almost thought of her as a pet. When he pursued Jaesa, he did so with particular gusto, relishing in the slaughter of her parents and her former Master. Like most Sith, Kael was raised to regard the Emperor as a god. When he became the Emperor’s Wrath and slew Baras, he saw it as his ‘great destiny’ and committed himself fully to Vitiate. When it was revealed that the Emperor had been using the Empire (including Kael) for his own ends the entire time and sought to destroy the galaxy, it broke something in his mind. He abandoned his crew on a murderous bender; Jaesa may not have been a stabilizing influence on his life, but Vette and the others had been. In his rage, Kael was approached by a powerful and charismatic man who promised him the chance for revenge against Vitiate.

Unfortunately for Kael, that man was Revan.

Kael threw in with the Revanites, becoming Revan’s personal enforcer. During the Battle of Yavin, Revan sent him out with the last of his reserves in a last-ditch counteroffensive. At the crucial moment, Kael and his warriors were confronted by Corellan and Kira. For nearly an hour they battled. The Hero of Tython and the Emperor’s Wrath were evenly matched, but Corellan was playing a mental game. Kael’s offensive lost all momentum, letting the coalition forces rally. Realizing that even if he won the battle that he had already lost the war, Kael lost the last of his sanity, attacking the Jedi with complete abandon. With Kira’s help, Corellan slew him.

As for the rest of Kael’s old crew, their fates mostly played out as they did in the canon story. Vette eventually teamed with Gault, Quinn became an advisor to Empress Acina, Pierce became the Empire’s new ‘model’ soldier, and Broonmark went on a killing spree against everyone who he blamed for the Talz being the cuddly teddy-bear insects they are. As for Jaesa, she swore vengeance against Corellan and Kira. Her plans broke down when the Eternal Empire attacked and Corellan disappeared while Kira went underground. But its possible we may hear from her again… _________________________________________ I hope people enjoyed this. I will tag some people for fun, but no pressure! @inyri​ @greyias​ @legacystarwarred​ @pauletta-00​

And anyone else who wants to try it! 

[mikaila-orchard]

Well my anti depressants have made it difficult to sleep and the only thing I’ve had to consume this morning is a liter of caffeine so fuck it, let’s start the day off with a little swtor discourse shall we?

I don’t get the appeal of Koth.  I really don’t.  This is a guy with such a rigid, blatantly hypocritical moral code and his need to be the ‘big hero’ keeps fucking people over and I’m suppose to care what this fucking scrub thinks about me.

The thing is, if he was just inflexible and holier than thou about everything, like Theron but like even more extra about it, I’d be fine.  But it’s that one exchange Koth and the Outlander have about Valkorion on Asylum that just makes me give up on the bastard.

“The emperor is a great man.  If anyone can help you take down Arcann, it’s him.”

“If you knew what I did, you’d run.  The man killed billions.”

Koth disapproves

“... He was always good to Zakuul.”

That’s it.  That’s all he has to say on the matter and it shows his hand more than anything else.  He doesn’t give a shit about anything other than Zakuul.  Seriously, the events that push Koth to betray you are always regarding Zakuul.  The explosion of the reactor, the bombing of the residential areas. It’s always about Zakuul. To my knowledge no other Dark Side options will garner that level of disapproval. He only cares about the one planet that’s burning down the rest of the galaxy and has the gall to be angry when people take exception to that. 

And we know that Zakuul by and large isn’t ignorant or innocent in all of this.  The public knows what is going on and there are living people among the Eternal Fleets ranks.  Not just Skytroopers doing all the dirty work.  Hell Koth participated in that war and the only reason he betrayed the Eternal Empire was that Arcann gave him an order that didn’t make him feel all warm and fuzzy about everything. 

Sure him trusting his gut and standing up to evil can be seen as inspiring, but remember, Koth’s measure of a great man is Valkorion.  The Sith Emperor.  The villain of the entire fucking game.  The man whose conquest for power and immortality had literally consumed entire planets.  He spent a thousand years raising the Sith Empire to destroy the republic, all with the end goal of creating as much death to feed on as possible until he could literally eat the entire galaxy.  He only ever started to chill when a girl on Zakuul let him nut inside her and even then, the byproducts of those nuts, Arcann and Vaylin are unstable destructive forces of nature, all thanks to him and his shitty parenting.

Valkorion is literally the most evil motherfucker in the galaxy.  It ultimately doesn’t matter how light side or dark side you are because Valkorion’s centuries of genocide means his sins will forever outweigh yours.  And Koth thinks Valkorion is a good man despite all of this.  Why?  Because the Emperor was chill about ruling Zakuul and so his mountain of other evil deeds didn’t matter to Koth.  Koth doesn’t even think to consider that maybe Arcann and Vaylin are the way they are because Valkorion was a monumental piece of shit to them (more so to Vaylin whom was literally tortured throughout her childhood.  Arcann was just an edgy little bitch).

This is a serious problem with any and all of Koth’s moral objections because his paragon of virtue and good leadership is a guy who spent a millennium behaving like an old testament god.  And it’s not like he could have been ignorant of this fact, at least not by the time they break the outlander out.  I can even understand how some Koth stans can overlook this because it is kinda dropped after that one exchange on Asylum.  It’s like the writers were like ‘Hey, maybe Koth’s betrayal will have less emotional weight if he keeps going on and on about how great our most evil character is?’ 

But while it might have been dropped after that, we don’t see Koth take back his praise of Valkorion.  We don’t see him understand his error in judgement and officially revoke his favor for the emperor.  As such, we have no reason to believe that Koth doesn’t still view Valkorion as a great man and the person that the Outlander has to measure up to.

So yeah, Koth is a fucking moron, his moral code is laughable and I will take any excuse I can to either punch or stab him, given my characters specific alignment.  Thanks for coming to my TED talk.

[cavalier-life]

Muse Meme

Tagged by: @a-muirehen and I’m actually getting it done in a timely manner! ;) Thank you for the tag! <3 (Going to do the music one in a bit too so I have less backlog)

― your muse’s name:

Seela’rha by birth. 

Publicly known as Darth Selirah, the former Emperor’s Wrath/Wrath of the Empire, now Empress of the Eternal Alliance.

― one favorite picture/face claim of your muse:

Art by: @rina-monster (I have so many pictures of her that I love, but this is my favorite headshot)

― two headcanons you have for your muse:

1. Selirah has a very uncomfortable relationship with her culture and heritage. She was sold when she was very young, because of the value inherent in her rare coloration, and was almost as quickly identified as force-sensitive and taken away for training as a Sith. Most of her life has been spent trying to deflect any appearance of ‘alien’ about herself, and she harbors a lot of poorly hidden resentment due to the need for masking or concealing the things that are different about her. She mostly only speaks Twi’leki to Vette, and rarely even does that, so her tendency to call Arcann by a Twi’lek endearment is a big step for her towards acceptance of herself. Now that she is too powerful to be condescended to safely.. she’s starting to learn to be who she really is, including embracing more Twi’lek traditions. 

2. She supported many of the ideas that Darth Malgus had for the direction of the Empire, and was also very supportive of Darth Marr and his views of what was best for the Empire in the future. She is too pragmatic to hold a lot of resentment over what could have been in either case, unlike her counterpart, Darth Nox, who is seething with it when it comes to Marr (Nox did not agree with Malgus at all), and when Marr died, she let the idea go until she had enough power to move on it herself. In the Alliance, she does not allow anti-alien sentiment or treatment to flourish, because she sees it as strength to use every resource at your disposal as a leader. Choosing not to exclude aliens isn’t about being one herself... it is completely about her seeing no value in leaving out more soldiers to support her reign. She’s extremely efficient in that way.

― three things that your muse likes doing in their free time:

- Combat. Practice/sparring, real fights.. either one will do. She is always working to keep her edge sharp so she’s never caught unprepared. Arcann is usually her partner, but she also spends a good amount of time with Lyorek and Jaxan, Master Yariele, and with Pierce shooting blaster fire at her.

- Holos. She loves movies and popular holo shows, and enjoys lazing around watching them with the company of loved ones (including Vette).

- Baths. Most of the time, she’s in and out of showers. Get clean, get out, and go on to the next emergency. But she has a fondness for long, lazy baths and if she’s disappeared, that’s the first place that Theron, Arcann, or Quinn go looking for her. She does not like to be bothered when she’s soaking, so it’s an approach at your own risk situation.

― seven people your muse loves/likes:

- Theron Shan (He had her at “Hi”)

- Malavai Quinn (Though there was a definite.. long.. rough patch there after the Quinncident)

- Arcann Tirall (As shown by the previous name on this list, murder attempts aren’t necessarily a disqualification for later relationships, as long as the attempts fail, of course)

- Vette (One of her best friends, and her Twi’lek cultural touchstone) and Broonmark (I’m putting them together cause that’s how it’s going to be)

- Major Colin Pierce (Another best friend, though with some definite differences in the type of relationship they share)

- Lyorek (It’s difficult to dislike Lyo as long as he’s not trying to kill you)

- Lana Beniko (they are close friends, and Selirah trusts her, which is a fairly high bar in general due to how Sith usually interact with each other)

― a phobia your muse has:

Failure. Succeeding and dying in the attempt is acceptable. Dying and failing would be intolerable to her. She hates her position and the job she has found herself occupying, but she hates the idea of failing the people who look to her for leadership even more. 

She is aware that if she falls, there are very dangerous people waiting in the wings for their opportunity at the throne she’s holding now.

Tagging: I’m honestly way behind on most memes but I’ll tag a couple people who are free to ignore it if they’ve done enough of these. ;) @sassheliosazuras , @melissagt , @tishinada, @cinlat , @rainofaugustsith