#and in-game iokath is in wild space

[ipreferfiction]

[WILD SPACE: IOKATH]

Iokath was a massive artificial sphere constructed around a star located in the Unknown Regions by a technologically advanced species known only as the Builders by the droids they created. Every orbital body in the system was demolished and salvaged for core elements, from which an impervious habitat for the species was constructed, using all of its star's energy output. The remaining materials formed an orbital ring around Iokath. Once the massive habitat was completed, it allowed no light from its star outside, and the entire system became undetectable to the rest of the galaxy.

The exterior side of the self-sustaining ecosphere possessed impenetrable defenses, while the interior side housed various biomes that served different needs; the whole structure could be altered and expanded as needed. The sphere was constructed of giant hexagonal sections and contained several openings that allowed ships to travel in and out. Every kilometer was connected by a complex network of pneumatic tram tubes that served as a transportation network and cooled the planet. The entirety of Iokath also served as a massive information storage network that could be accessed through the technoliths spread across its surface.

Though impervious to any outside threat, Iokath society eventually destroyed itself from within. An act of sabotage ignited the pressurized gas in the pneumatic tram system and sparked a catastrophic explosion that killed thousands and leveled a nearby settlement. This attack sparked the Iokath civil war, in which both sides had access to multiple superweapons of mass destruction. The conflict lasted for centuries, eventually leading to the complete destruction of the Builders, and for thousands of years afterward, until its rediscovery by SCORPIO and the Eternal Alliance, Iokath was controlled by a hostile artificial intelligence designated ARIES. The Eternal Alliance assumed control of Iokath following ARIES' destruction, despite warring between Imperial and Republic factions.

[rainofaugustsith]

SWTOR: On Darth Rivix

There's an interesting discussion on Darth Rivix on the Reddit board. Since I don't post over there for my own sanity, sometimes I miss good discussions. Here are my thoughts: 

I think Darth Rivix is Acina's attempt to kill the Alliance with kindness, or at least keep them in line. 

Spoilers for Onslaught, the various small story scenes since the Nathema Conspiracy, and Ossus.

Acina probably knows damn well she's not going to find many people able to beat the Alliance Commander in a fair fight. Enhanced Malgus might have had a shot, but again, maybe not. The Sith Warrior has taken down countless Jedi and Sith, including the Voice and two Dark Council members. The Inquisitor also has a pretty heavy reputation and body count. The Agent has survived a tangle with Darth Jadus and Darth Zhorrid. The Bounty Hunter took down the Jedi Order's Battlemaster. Everyone was able to defeat Malgus on his space station. Everyone was able to take out Zildrog, a superweapon that had annihilated at least one planet. 

Bottom line, any of the Imperial class Commanders could probably kick the asses of anyone who was sent against them. I also think the Commander likely does have allies on the Dark Council and Imperial military, depending on how they acted in the class stories and expansions. 

I think it's telling that Rivix was only sent in after Malgus vanished. Something tells me that Malgus was not just accompanying the Commander in the last two expacs for fun. If the Commander had gone against Acina or the Empire's wishes, he would have had to turn on them. The Commander still probably could have dusted him, but then again, who knows how he's been enhanced?

In fact, Acina even says that she'd hoped Malgus would be the liason for the Hand before he vanished...

It's unlikely Acina would be able to condition the Commander, either. The Imperial Agent is impervious to that. The Bounty Hunter canonically can throw off Jedi mind tricks. Every Imperial character canonically was able to resist Vitiate on Ziost without any visible struggle. Throw in Oricon, where they again were able to resist being possessed. And of course canonically they've not only resisted Valkorion but successfully killed him off in their mind and taken his Eternal Fleet. 

Both of the people closest to them - Lana and Theron - also have substantial defenses against mental manipulation, and are both able to clean most enemies' clocks. So do some of the allies on base. Kaliyo for instance has implants against Force mind tricks.  It's not as though Rivix is going to be able to charm the Commander, given all that. When Rivix appears on the base, the Commander has the option to essentially tell him, "I don't believe you, and flattery doesn't work on me." The Imperial Agent, in their conversation with Vector, can also choose to mention that Rivix had no effect on them.

So trying to physically overpower the Commander or get into their brain or the brains of their closest companions are probably very futile struggles. What's left? Sending someone who is outwardly charming and able to influence people with Zeltron pheromones. Remember how Rivix said he preferred to talk to people in person? Mhmm. Of course he does. 

Also notice how Acina no longer attends meetings in person? 

My guess is that Rivix is going to try to charm the Commander's allies and slowly manipulate them into doing whatever Acina wants for the Empire. He could also use his powers to turn people against those in the Alliance who are able to resist - my guesses for those four are Kira, Scourge, Lana and Theron. It could become a situation where those who see through Rivix are vilified and ostracized from the base.  I also would not put it past Rivix to try to romance the Commander or their partner, or at least sow some doubt and jealousy to try to drive a wedge between the Commander and the people who keep her safe and centered.

Thus, the Commander remains a potent "ally" who toes the line, and if necessary some of their own suggestible allies can be compelled to turn on them. Brrrr. 

I'm also guessing we are going to see a divide between two Imperial camps: one with un-conditioned Malgus, Krovos, Ranken and Major Anri - and perhaps anyone the Commander has made an ally of in the past, like Mallora, Savik, and Cytharat (hey, I can hope). I think Pyron might be there too, given that he was not happy with how his Raven Squad was being endangered on Ossus. The other will be Acina, Shaar and Rivix.  Vowrawn is the wild card if he's still on the Dark Council, but seeing as he is in Acina's role if she's dead, it breaks my heart, but he probably won't be on the side that the Commander wants. 

I hate that Acina is being shoehorned back into a more evil role. I mean, I'm not saying she was Mary Sunshine before, but she seemed to truly be working for a more balanced, equitable and reasonable Empire, at least on the surface. Since Iokath she's looked progressively worse. 

Not that I think the Republic looks good right now either - given that their Jedi leader is Master Genocide and they are literally occupying Odessen and planning to hunt down Jedi to return them to battle and all.  And it's possible Rivix is playing a very long game and has interests beyond Acina's Empire, as well.

*sigh* Why oh why couldn't you have just left the damned Alliance alone, Bioware....Viri and Lana really are packing their bags for the Rishi Maze or the Tion Hegemony at this point. 

[moontheoretist]

Justice for Koth

You know, I wish there was more to Koth's arc in KOTFE and KOTET than him only being mad at you (rightfully so) for killing his people or him appreciating that you didn't kill his fellow Zakuulans, as there is more to him laid out there in the story than we all think and most of it is never addressed or challenged. One of those things is his faith in Valkorion. We can cry before our screens all we want, when he says "He was always good to Zakuul". We can yell to our hearts content that "Yeah, he was good to Zakuul, but murdered anybody else!" and we can even tell it to him in the game, sort of, but his faith is never clearly challenged in a way, which actually would make him think more about what Valkorion is and what worshiping him did to the citizens of Zakuul. 

If writers really cared about Koth they would make him challenge his beliefs, instead of just letting us say to him several times that Valkorion is a monster and always get the same answer to our words. Koth isn't the type of person who easily trusts people, and he also isn't a type of person who just will take opinion of another over his own without any significant proof. Writers could provide this proof as the truth about what Valkorion did was already there, lied in the foundations of the storyline, subtly hinting all this time, that despite what Valkorion says he means and does, he in truth doesn't care about anybody else than himself, and therefore it's easy to actually draw a conclusion, that he never cared for Zakuul in the end. He built this grant society, not because he was bored, or because he wanted to achieve perfection, no. He build this grant society, which worships him as if he was god and listens to everything he says and believes his every word, because he needed some brainwashed pigs for the future slaughter. Pigs which would gladly die for him if he so wished. 

It didn't work as it was supposed to in the end, but did you ever question why Heralds of Zildrog even existed? Especially after Nathema Conspiracy showed that their reincarnation (Order of Zildrog) had access to the planet, which served as the hideout for many of his secrets? (Though they probably know about that, because Vaylin revealed the location to her Guards, including Vin Athrius, but still their very existence means they somehow knew about Zildrog’s power without knowing how it looks and how it works, so seeing it once long time ago would only work if Zakuulans were so primitive at the time that they couldn’t even see a warship on the sky shooting death at them, and instead were only able to see the ray of powerful energy shooting at them straight from the sky, which upon reaching the surface seemed to twist like a serpent or something). Heralds of Zildrog were created, because they were supposed to make Zakuulans complicit to the death and make them accept this as their fate. That's why they are the only ones in the whole society who knew what will eventually happen to Zakuul, and it was also the reason why they were taught to be happy about that sacrifice for the sake of Great Serpent, or Great Dragon - Zildrog.

"Fear the snake who believes himself a dragon" Valkorion once says when referring to Arcann, but ironically those words apply much better to him than to anybody else in the whole KOTFE and KOTET storyline, as he is a liar, backstabber, a snake who believes himself a dragon, but is ultimately doomed to fail. It also refers to the unique connection between him and Zildrog, as after Nathema Conspiracy it's very easy to draw a conclusion that Zildrog was the thing which Valkorion (at the time Tenebrae) used to wipe all life on Nathema (at the time Medriaas) and then performed a ritual which allowed him to consume all those lives to become immortal. We can also assume that he was the one who traveled in Gravestone (Zildrog's body) to Zakuul, fought the Eternal Fleet, pacified it and eventually landed the ship on Zakuul's surface. The rest is probably a history. How he found a champion of the people of Zakuul (probably the original Valkorion, whose name was stolen) and eventually managed to take his body to gain control over population and then started building his pig farm.

Heralds of Zildrog were never told that Zildrog is Gravestone and therefore Heralds couldn't assume that Gravestone in the hands of Outlander means that the death they await can be easily obtained as long as they take over the Gravestone. But they knew what Zildrog was (at least metaphorically) and that it can eat lives, even though its main computer was on Medriaas and therefore its powers shouldn't be known to anybody, who didn't have access to this power or whose history doesn't stretch all the way back to Iokath. There is no indication that there were any survivors of the war on Iokath, but there are indications that Machine Gods and Eternal Fleet were used to attack planets in Wild Space. (Yes I know that Wookiepedia states Zildrog was actually used on Zakuul at least once, but I have my doubts, because if it was, there is no reason for Zakuulan’s to think that Heralds of Zildrog are heretical cult, as Zildrog supposedly predates the beliefs about Machine Gods). It's logical that people who lived on those planets knew about Machine Gods and build whole mythology around them. The only one who seems detached from this mythology is Zildrog which means that Heralds of Zildrog shouldn't be able to know so much about Zildrog's powers to actually be able to found a religion around its whole existence unless they witnessed it’s power on a stage in civilisation development when they didn’t have technology good enough to actually give them insight that “there is some alien warship on the orbit of our planet and it shoots at us”. (Though if it really happened and indeed Zildrog was used once on Zakuul, then it would probably go like this: some life on the planet would be lost to the blast, but not all, and then planet would recover from the blast, as there was no Valkorion at the time to consume the life essence of those killed and create the Void, but even then the idea that whole life on the planet would be consumed when Great Serpent Zildrog appears again could only steam from either exagerration or someone putting that idea into their heads). That's why it's logical to assume that their info comes from a third party, which actually shed some light onto them.

I cannot stress how much suspicious it is, considering that if it was once used to attack planets like the rest of Iokath weaponry there should be visible signs on Zakuul that its life was wiped out at least once before (as Heralds belief Zildrog appeared once long time ago and he is supposed to come back). The most logical conclusion is that Zildrog was never used to attack any planets by Iokath creators and along with other weapons was used to kill only its creators and then was sent to Medriaas, where then it was discovered by Tenebrae and brought to Zakuul by him, and with him the whole new mythology of Great Serpent Zildrog which will one day kill them all (this conclusion would assume that Zakuul never got any direct hit from Zildrog and that the “first appearance” of Zildrog which Heralds proclaim happened was about Medriaas). It’s hard to say though if Zakuul was ever attacked by Zildrog in the past as the only proof we have is Heralds word that it happened. With Medriaas though we have two giant craters on the surface to actually prove that it was hit by something at least twice. Of course, no matter which version is true it's all very convenient for Valkorion, who is used to wiping out whole planets to stay immortal and that convenience cannot be overlooked as even if he didn’t push Zakuulans to create the cult around Zildrog, he still probably planned to use it for his own gain. 

If this knowledge was ever used in the storyline to actually challenge Koth's beliefs by making him discover that shit, he would have definitely easier time to accept that what people around him were saying all this time was true, as the only thing he cares about are people, especially his fellow Zakuulans. As long as Valkorion meant prosperity and safety, he would have no reason to stop believing in him. But the moment he learned that it was all illusion, that they were bred like pigs, kept in comfortable shape and were catered to by the bunch of droids in order to not develop any resistance to the power which rules over them, his whole worldview would be put upside down. Especially with Heralds of Zildrog at the hem, as even if their beliefs didn't actually make Zakuulans all high on dying for the sake of the Great Serpent, not the Emperor himself, it was still something which they would not directly oppose as long as they would not know it's not "just a game" and when they realized it was for real, it would be too late to actually run. Considering that Koth feels grateful to Heralds for keeping relative order in the Old World and that he also feels grateful to Valkorion for making Zakuul safe and prosperous, his whole belief system would shatter at the revelation like this. And even though he believes in Valkorion a lot, he cares about his people far more than about Emperor himself. 

He would not accept this truth at first of course, but eventually he would have no other choice. He would have to challenge his beliefs and break the shackles of Valkorion's inscripted worship and notice the flaws of Zakuulan's "perfect society", which ironically would put him on the same page as Kaliyo, who noticed that long before him (thanks to not being a local) and tried to fight it, bring it down, shatter the illusion of perfectness which Valkorion created. (And even though Valkorion doesn't seem bothered by Kaliyo's actions and even states that she doesn't have enough power to destroy his perfect society as if he cared, he still sees the fall of this society as a direct threat to him, even if he never states that outwardly and instead makes us, the players, believe he cares about Zakuul and do something with Arcann and Vaylin who fuck up his ideal pig farm, so then we would become his puppet to continue growing this pig farm till the time for consumption comes). Instead of that challenge of beliefs though, the only thing which we got was Koth either staying with us, or leaving us forever if we decided to not care about his people at all. Slaughtering innocent people in general is the only thing which makes Koth react violently to presented reality and it was great opportunity to use the very same tactic of exposing Valkorion's lies to challenge his belief system, but also to challenge whole structure of Zakuulan society by someone who isn't considered a known psycho (sorry Kaliyo, but the fact that you challenged the system diminishes the importance of what you had done due to your bad reputation and the fact that audience remembers you mostly as a crazy psycho with “zero depth” which is bullshit) in order to understand what Valkorion was really trying to achieve there. The conclusion is that Koth deserved better than being reduced to someone who has no impact on the storyline in any way and then gets labelled as "someone who throws a tantrum over nothing" by people who do not understand that taking Gravestone from Outlander who indiscriminately kills civilians as if it was something cool and good is actually a logical choice on Koth's part and should be respected.

[queen-scribbles]

Outfit meme for both Tel & Silver!

Haha, yes, my canon children. :3

Silver has three outfits and Tel has six(counting current equipped). Going behind a cut bc I put more thought into their clothes than “ooh looks cool,” thus, longer. Also, I couldn’t pick so you get two of Tel’s.

This is Tel’s fave outfit

Carth Onasi’s jacket + boots

Resistance Fighter pants + gloves

Unidentified Rigorcord girdle(idk if that’s the actual name, or the game forgot what’s it’s called lol)

Reasoning: Most of it is just because it looks cool, ngl, but Carth’s jacket is because Silver and Tel’s mom is an Onasi by heritage(through Dustil, so it works even with “canon” Revan being a dude :3). So this jacket was a gift Tel’s parents gave him when he joined the military, styled after something Mama Rhiana’s war hero ancestor wore while saving the galaxy. *finger guns* It was their way of showing him they were okay with him choosing the military over the family smuggling business(they forgave him a lot faster than Silver did. She was very mad), so it’s very special to him for that reason and the callback to the war hero ancestor.He’s wearing it in one of my fave shots I’ve ever gotten of him He’s also the only one of my toons I’ve liked how it looked so far and SOMEONE was wearing the Carth Onasi jacket :P During the game he wears this outfit off-duty on the ship and for Nar Shaddaa and other “not entirely sanctioned” type missions. So the SoR prelude and content, Ziost, etc. It was on the Bloodstripe during the Wild Space expedition, so he went a very long time without it. Elara took it when it became clear he wasn’t coming back any time soon, so he gets it back when he gets her back during War for Iokath.

His Alliance Commander outfit is this

unID’ed suit(the game forgot again?)

Shadowsilk aegis gloves

Resistance Fighter pants

Carth’s boots

the rigorcord girdle

He likes this one because it’s still a leather jacket, first of all. It’s more casual but he still looks like he’s In Charge wearing it, it’s easy to move in(vanguard needs to be able to move), and he doesn’t mind looking devilishly handsome, even if he is taken. ;P

For Silver, her main outfit for running around so far has been this

Nico Okarr’s duster(Dark Red/Black dye mod)

Canderous Ordo’s gloves and belt

Mission Vao’s pants

Theron Shan’s boots

It’s largely to cultivate the Badass Smuggling Captain image, but the fingerless gloves are very handy for getting a better grip on her blaster/scattergun/medical supplies/husband’s shirt collar when she wants a smooch. The duster she bought with money from her first solo job.

And, just because I never get tired of reminding people it exists, I actually have art of the amazing Airen siblings(nooo they never actually called themselves that, what would give you such a silly idea?) wearing their favorite outfits from emegustart.

[greyias]

Do we ever find out what happened to Lana post Ziost but pre KOTFE? I’ve always wondered and never seen it come up why she seems to have been in exile.

Sorry for the late reply on this, Nonny. I actually used to have a notebook filled with all of the various pieces of canon facts I had found out about the timeskip where I had attempted to place them in order, and after a few weeks of searching, I’ve given up trying to find it. This is mostly off the top of my head, but isn’t really cross-referenced with any codexes or anything, so accuracy to canon is probably… sketchy?

I don’t think I ever really found out when she left the Empire for Wild Space, but I’d had the impression it was after the occupation and blockade had been lifted, so I had always assumed that she went to Wild Space after about a year from the Outlander’s capture and Arcann’s wild conquering spree of known space. She mentions, I think offhand, in KotFE Chapter 13 that she had found the tributes to Zakuul very odd and was attempting to follow the money trail. Whether that was her reason for leaving, or just something that happened while she was off running about wasn’t something I think I verified one way or the other, but at the time it made sense to me that she had started her quest for the truth with “Why is the tributes Arcann is demanding so dang excessive?”

However, what I found interesting about Nathema Conspiracy was a line that can be said by Darth Mortis. This happens for an Outlander who chose the LS choice at the end of KOTET, but while having a Sithy hissy fit that someone would dare use a giant weapon of mass destruction for charity work (the horror), he also basically demands to be able to deal with “the traitor Lana Beniko”. Now, this seems to be said regardless of your Iokath faction choice, so the implication here is that Lana did something that got her branded a traitor to the Sith, or at least in Mortis’s eyes. Mortis is in charge of the Sphere of Laws and Justice, and is a very staunt traditionalist in Sith terms (see: super racist, but will put that aside if you’re a very backstabbing Sith who appreciates power). Lana is… not a very traditional Sith, and could very well be seen to have been “colluding with the enemy” during the events of SoR and Ziost. It’s possible that Marr’s influence and protection shielded her from the Sith politicking and fallout from her allying with Theron (and possibly a Pub!Outlander), and once he was struck down in the events of KotFE Chapter 1 that protection went away.

She certainly has no pressing desire to return to Dromund Kaas at the end of Nathema Conspiracy (I don’t blame her, that humidity and constant rain must be murder on the hair ;) not too mention the routine murdery atmosphere of Sith central has to get tiring), so I would peg Sith politicking, with trying to figure out what happens as her reason for leaving the Empire.

After leaving, she meets up with Senya at some point before she and Koth get attached at the hip (hurrhurrhurr), and during the Uprisings she talks about a former Exarch you face off with from her “Zakuulan rebel days”, which is possibly a reference to some of her and Koth’s adventures that are referenced during the first few chapters of KotFE. There is some dialogue that I think may have been cut that made it sound like she and Koth hooked up while she still thought the Outlander was dead, but then broke things off the moment she found out they were actually alive — but as that dialogue has been cut(?) it being able to clarify her timeline is a little sketchy.

But I’ll be honest, this is probably missing a lot of holes. I stopped trying to piece together Lana’s backstory at some point. Partly because she was planet hopping like nobody’s business during the timeskip (along with her adventures with Koth, she goes off and takes a vacation to find Odessen all by her lonesome), but my desire to find out more about her past has kind of waned, especially over the last year. It’s definitely an interesting piece of lost history (and somewhat contradictory within the codexes and game dialogue) — it’s possible that Charles Boyd will tweet something out in the future that maybe clears it up some.

[rainofaugustsith]

SWTOR: Galactic Seasons objectives

The objectives for Galactic Seasons have been datamined and meticulously listed by someone on Reddit. A few takeaways: 

1. Every single weekly objective requires grouping. It's Ops, World Bosses, PvP, etc. They seem to even discourage playing with friends - the Veteran flashpoint objective specifically requires going through groupfinder, for example. 

2. The daily objectives look a lot like conquest objectives. 

I'm guessing a lot of people are going to be playing this and trying to get the objectives, at least at first. Unfortunately it means there might be more crowds which means more ninjas and mob thieves. For those of you like me who solo and like quiet areas, well, it's not our day. 

Looking at the new GS objectives, it seems as though there might be a few very specific trouble spots. I'm listing the ones which seem to yell, "If you want a character to do these things without stress, do them NOW."  I am not marking this for spoilers because there's nothing about story in here.

Areas with reputation that are being added as GS objectives: 

1. Oricon

2. Yavin 4

3. Rishi 

4. Iokath

5. Onderon 

6. Ossus 

7. Section X

8. CZ-198

1. Daily PO: Defeat Home World Enemies - Defeat non-player opponents across Hutta, Korriban, Ord Mantell, or Tython.

I dearly hope this objective is gated to the lower levels, because otherwise it's going to be a nightmare. The only starter planet that has fully instanced heroics (ie, an opportunity to kill mobs without interfering with other players) is Korriban. The other three? Nope. Most of the mobs are open world, and players just starting new characters need them - to level up, to fulfill their story and side missions, and often to practice a new class or advanced class. 

I'd like to think the devs have had some foresight on this but, well, you know. If you have a character on a starter planet, you might want to finish up before 6.3 comes out. 

2. Daily PO: Makeb Daily GSI Missions - Complete [DAILY] GSI Missions on Makeb

RIP to one of the most relaxing sets of missions in the game. The Makeb GSI dailies take you through waterfalls and bucolic landscapes, and there's little combat. The only trouble is that there are also very limited objectives in each area. If even three players are looking for them simultaneously, it can be tough to find what you need. Throw in players who have been specifically directed to the missions for GS? Yeah. 

Between items 3 and 4, I think doing Shadow of Revan might suck for a while. I'm planning on trying to rush a few characters through, even if it means they need to go back and do Makeb and Ilum afterward out of order. 

3. Daily PO: Yavin 4i Daily Missions - Complete [DAILY] Missions on Yavin 4. Daily PO: Defeat Seat of the Empire Enemies - Defeat non-player opponents across Oricon, Taris, Yavin, or Dantooine.

This, to me, is going to be a real problem. Yavin 4 is already very crowded - you have limited space, they never have enough instances, and you have both players completing SoR and players doing dailies/weeklies in both factions, ALL going for the same objectives. You need the mobs to complete one of the missions (both for story and the weekly/dailies) and now more people will be going after them. Great. 

4. Daily PO: Rishi Daily Missions - Complete [DAILY] Missions on Rishi. Daily PO: Defeat Outer Rim Enemies - Defeat non-player opponents across Belsavis, Hoth, Rishi, or Tatooine.

Rishi isn't quite as much of an issue, but: there aren't very many clickable objectives for the missions here, and they're all open world. Also, the mobs needed to find the parts in Pieces of 8 are the same ones you need for a bonus mission in the SoR story, so there may be a clash here. 

5. Daily PO: Oricon Daily Missions - Complete [DAILY] Missions on Oricon. Daily PO: Defeat Seat of the Empire Enemies - Defeat non-player opponents across Oricon, Taris, Yavin, or Dantooine.

The only reason these two are not going to be as much of an issue as Yavin 4 and Rishi is because a lot of people skip this one due to the forced Ops at the end. But you have the same perfect storm: a small area, not enough instances to accommodate them comfortably, both Imperial and Republic players going for the same mobs and objectives, and both story chain and weekly/daily players going for them, too. 

6. Daily PO: Section X Daily Missions - Complete [DAILY] Missions on Section X.Complete Section X [DAILY] Missions

Section X is the only daily area I play now, because I actually enjoy it. It's quiet, it's usually not well populated, and it's fun for me. I'm trying to enjoy it as much as I can in these last few weeks before it's more crowded. 

7. Daily PO: CZ-198 Daily Missions - Complete [DAILY] Missions on CZ-198. Daily PO: Defeat Unknown Wild Space Enemies - Defeat non-player opponents across CZ-198, Ilum, or Iokath.

If you've been to CZ-198 when there are even 15 people in the instance you know how annoying it can be. Adding more? Yep. Good luck ever getting that droid now.  Of course we know the stock answers to anyone complaining about this will be "well, group!" and "well, go to the PvP instances," both of which place solo players in positions they might not want to be in. We also know that even though these concerns have been raised on the Public Test Server, there isn't a huge trend of the devs actually listening to those who have been gracious enough to test. So, do it now.

[rainofaugustsith]

KOTFE/ET Headcanons

Thank you so much for the tag @thehighground! This was such a fun and interesting one! Tagging, um, @tishinada @soulparticle @dreamy04 @verbose-vespertine @levelofdepth and anyone else who wants to do this. NO PRESSURE! Spoilers for KOTFE and KOTET, as well as the traitor arc and Onslaught. 

1. Starting with basics. Who is your Outlander (which class, what their aligment)? How did they end up being frozen in carbonite for 5 years? Why did you make them the Outlander?:   My Sith Warrior, Viridana Dragoi (Vengeance Juggernaut) is my Outlander. That was a simple choice for me - Viri is my main, my alter ego in the game, and she seemed to fit so well. Viri's alignment is a tough one. She absolutely embraces the Dark Side and absolutely will kill her enemies. She makes LS decisions a lot too, though, and she has a moral code of her own. For example Viri killed Senya and Arcann without thinking twice, but she would not allow Kaliyo to blow up the Spire and kill civilians and she talked Broonmark into letting the senator live (he lived too, which is a special thing for SWs). Viri has a very strong aversion to killing civilians, rank and file soldiers,  and animals, and would really rather negotiate with you than kill you, unless you have crossed her in a way she can't excuse.   Viri landed in carbonite exactly as the game describes - she was part of Marr's coalition. When Marr's ship broke up, it was swallowed by an Eternal Fleet ship. Viri and Marr were gassed, and later woke up in prison wearing Force-suppressing cuffs. They were taken to Valkorion, where Marr was killed, Viri killed Valkorion, and Arcann framed her and threw her into carbonite.   One difference from the game is that Viri refused to speak the entire time. She did not say a word to Arcann or Valkorion from the time she woke up to the time she was frozen in carbonite. She just screamed once when she was being frozen.�� 

2. Now, to the rest of classes. What happens to them during KotFE/ET? Did they know the Outlander? Were they allies, enemies, family? Do they join the Alliance or have something else to do? Do they play a major or a minor role in the story? Spare no detail (if you wish, of course):   Sith Inquisitor: My canon SI, Suvia (Darth Nox) was also part of Darth Marr's coalition. Her ships were destroyed by the Eternal Fleet and she was placed into carbonite. She was a trophy on the wall in the Zakuulan palace for seven years. Only the presence of her remaining ghost kept her alive. Viri and her Alliance searched desperately for Suvia, but only found her by accident, after the fall of Zakuul. Once they found her, they traveled to several planets to gather ingredients for an antidote to carbonite poisoning and gave her medical assistance and care after she was thawed.     Suvia is now the head of Force Lore and the Odessen Force libraries and archives. She is a very good friend to Viri and Lana, and she was thrilled to be reunited with other good friends: Talos Drellik and Xalek. Suvia plays a major part in Viri's story and is a close, unshakable ally. She is currently romantically involved with Jaesa Wilsaam.   Suvia did know Viri before KOTFE - they were Dark Council allies, and they also worked closely on both the Yavin 4 coalition and the fight against Vitiate on Ziost.   My Darth Imperius, Jia, did not know Viri and did not follow the SI story. She worked as a saber trainer on Korriban. When Zakuul attacked, she was there. She and Darth Hexid helped each other dig out of the rubble and became allies, fighting and surviving together. They joined the Alliance after KOTET and now work with Viri as friends.   My Darth Occlus, Shasi, is much younger. She did not follow the SI story either. She was still on Korriban while Viri was the Wrath. Viri meets her during the attack on Ossus, and Shasi asks to return to Odessen with her and join the Alliance.   Bounty Hunter: Taran Walrez continued her work as a bounty hunter up through KOTET. She was an ally of Lana's during the carbonite years. Her wife saved Lana's hand after she was injured in a very bad fight with a Zakuulan walker, and they pointed Lana toward Asylum. Taran remained in contact afterward.   When Theron Shan betrayed the Alliance, Viri took out a bounty on him, and she hired the very best- Taran - to take it. Taran and Viri tracked Theron to Copero, but Taran was badly injured in the battle. She has retired from bounty hunting and now lives on Odessen, serving in an advisor capacity. Her wife, Lucinda, is a genius microsurgeon who works in the Alliance Hospital. Her colleagues Mako and Akaavi now run the Alliance's slicing and intelligence wing. Viri did not know Taran until the Alliance years.   My second BH, Auyrini, did not follow the BH story but is part of the Underworld network at the Alliance.   Imperial Agent: My canon agent, Brynn, chose to keep the Black Codex and erase her information. She thus became a ghost after the class story, wanted nothing more to do with the Empire, Sith or Republic, and vanished into Wild Space with Vector, her husband. She is in Lana's intelligence network, and tipped Lana off to a few clues to Viri's whereabouts, but she has no desire to join the Alliance. She and Vector just want to be left alone and live in peace. Viri has never met or spoken to Brynn.   Jedi Knight: Ror was about one step away from being sent to Belsavis after the class story, so she vanished, taking only T7-O1. She later surfaced as a member of Somminick Timmns' sanctuary for ex-Jedi on Nar Shaddaa and joined the Alliance. Ror is very much a Sith now. She is slated to play a major part in the Tenebrae Plague storyline. Viri does not trust Scourge and Kira and will not merge her minds with them - but Ror will. Ror also feels that she owes it to Satele Shan to try to save her; Satele was the only person who kept her out of prison. Viri meets Ror when she joins the Alliance. They're not friends yet, but they have a mutual respect.   Jedi Consular: Jenari also left the Jedi and joined Somminick Timmns' ex-Jedi sanctuary. She has found her way to Odessen, where she works with Suvia Kallig on Force lore. She is later joined there by Nadia and Felix. Jenari's sister is Shasi, my Darth Occlus mentioned above. The siblings have never met, but on Odessen, they are slated to finally find each other. Viri meets Jenari when she joins the Alliance.

  Smuggler: My canon smuggler, Marlena, is still out there smuggling, and is one of Hylo's underworld contacts - but she isn't part of the Alliance and prefers to just keep running her empire. Viri does not know Marlena.   My second non-canon smuggler, Amedria, is also out there smuggling and is in Hylo's Rolodex, but has no other contact with the Alliance.   Trooper: After seeing all of the things Garza did, including the Eclipse Squad, my trooper Keilla was done. She testified against Garza in front of the Galactic Senate, and then she peaced out. She and her friend Paxton Rall moved to the Tion Hegemony. She also helped her ex-girlfriend, Jaxo, move to the Hegemony to try to heal from her trauma. Keilla works in security there, but she is determined never to return to Imperial, Hutt OR Republic space and never to fight in another war. When the Alliance started, Bey'wan Aygo, Aric Jorgan and Rusk all tried to get her to reconsider. She would not. Keilla occasionally provides advice from afar, but she will not even set foot outside the Hegemony.

Viri does know Keilla and has spoken to her via holo many times to coordinate THORN activity, but they only met during the Alliance years. When Viri's Alliance sends help with THORN to fight the rakghoul plague on Kaon, Keilla helps orchestrate it. She also helps take in ex-Jedi who are fleeing from Task Force Nova, so she is slated to have a large part in the story eventually.   3. What about companions? Do you follow their in-game story or have headcanons for them? Did they stay with your non-Outlander characters or not? Why?:

Sometimes yes, sometimes no.   Viri: Vette, Pierce and Broonmark were recovered as per the game story. Jaesa - who is neither the LS nor the DS but something in the middle - was discovered in an ancient Sith trap on Yavin 4 after KOTET. She rejoined the Alliance at that time. Malavai Quinn was exiled and thrown in jail after the Quinncident in the class story, and he was smart enough to know that he should not go anywhere around Viri ever again. He did NOT serve as Acina's emissary on Iokath. Instead, Rezinal Orzik from the Black Talon flashpoint did.   For my non-Outlanders:   Jedi Knight: Ror ran away from all her companions, except T7-O1, after the class story. And T7 eventually needed to go fight Zakuul. So she lost contact with them, and T7-O1, Kira, Scourge and Rusk joined the Alliance as per the in-game story. Doc was never part of my Jedi Knight's crew, as Ror, Kira and T7-O1 took a united front and insisted that they would not let him on the ship. He was left on Balmorra and had nothing else to do with my Jedi Knight or her crew. So he's not there at all, and whatever happened to him, Ror neither knows nor cares.  Jedi Consular: Jenari also ended up parting ways from her crew due to the war with Zakuul. She has been reunited with three of them on Odessen. Qyzen joined the Alliance Commander as per the game. Felix and Nadia were both rescued during various missions and brought back to Odessen. Zenith declined to join Jenari’s crew on Balmorra. He worked with her but was angry she would not alter the governor’s brain to place the new government in power, and is also angry that she shows sympathy to Sith, so he didn’t feel he belonged in her crew.    Trooper: Keilla left all her companions after the class story and never came back. Viri has Aric Jorgan and Yuun in her Alliance, and they joined as the story dictated.   Smuggler: Marlena is out in space with her crew. She's married to Risha. Bowdaar also remained with her. They never left her and thus have never been part of Viri's Alliance. Guss decided to eventually try being a Jedi again, in part because he was worried that the Eternal Empire would sense his Force sensitivity and kill him, and he wanted to be able to defend himself. Corso left Marlena’s crew during the class story after they had taken down with Skavak. He wanted to return to protect Ord Mantell and Marlena let him go.  Akaavi also left the crew after she met Mako and fell ln love. She joined my bounty hunter’s crew to work with her and Mako.     Sith Inquistor: Suvia was frozen in carbonite, so all of her companions dispersed. Ashara looked for her for years, hiring a slicer named Ikina to help her. It was unsuccessful - Suvia was a trophy in the Zakuulan palace and there was no way to track or find her. Ashara and Ikina finally fell in love, married and settled down on Voss, where they run a tea house and raise their daughter.   Andronikos was picked up raiding Alliance ships, as the game story says, and was brought back to Odessen. Talos joined the Alliance as the game story dictates. So did Xalek. Khem Val is slated to be rediscovered on Ossus, as he is in the game, and return to Suvia on Odessen.   Bounty Hunter: Mako has never left her crew and remains her right-hand help. Skadge has never been a part of her crew, as Mako and Taran killed him on Belsavis. Torian left early on after the death of Mandalore to help the Mandalorians and joined the Alliance as per the game. Blizz left temporarily to fight in the Alliance, and he's gone back and forth between Odessen and Taran's ship. Gault left, as per the game story, to hook up with Hylo.   Imperial Agent: My Imperial Agent Brynn became a ghost at the end of her class story. She and Vector erased their tracks and vanished together. They also did their companions the courtesy of erasing their tracks, too. Kaliyo went off to grift from others; Scorpio became the Lady of Sorrows, Lokin went to his safehouse and Raina Temple returned to the Chiss. Kaliyo, Lokin, Raina and SCORPIO all joined the Alliance (and in SCORPIO's case, betrayed it) as described in the game.   4. If applicable: how your characters react if the Alliance joins the opposite faction on Iokath and after that? For example: how do Sith characters feel about joining the Republic? Will they stay or leave (if it’s too spoiler-ish, then feel free to skip this): Viri has chosen to keep her Alliance independent while allying with the Empire. The Republic characters who are with her (Ror and Jenari, my Jedi Knight and Consular) are both ex-Jedi so they're totally fine with that. My two smugglers, Marlena and Amedria, don't particularly care about the Republic and just want to be paid, so they will work with the Alliance regardless of who they support.

However, a few of the Republic companions, such as Rusk and Aric Jorgan, are eventually going to bow out and retire, just like Bey'wan Aygo, because they can't fight the Republic and they can't fight Viri either.   5. If applicable: if your Commander decides to be a saboteur, would they tell anyone (PC or companions)? Why/why not?: This doesn't apply to Viri. In AU, all of my Imperials are loyalists and all my Republic toons are saboteurs. They have chosen to only tell Lana with one exception - Jenari, my JC, would tell Nadia and Felix.   6. How would your characters react if one of their companions is exiled or dead because of Outlander’s choices? For example: sith warrior’s reaction if Commander doesn’t save Vette?:   The three that this applies to are Skadge, SCORPIO and Torian.   Viri killed SCORPIO because after all that betrayal and subterfuge, there was no way in the galaxy that she would have sat back and let SCORPIO merge with a super-powerful deadly droid planet. SCORPIO's assertion that she wouldn't bother them again meant nothing because she could not be trusted. Brynn, my IA, has no idea what went on, but she would have been indifferent to SCORPIO's death. She surely knew what SCORPIO was capable of, and would have killed her too under the same circumstances.   Viri tried desperately to reach Torian, and sent Pierce and a team to try to save him. They couldn't reach Torian. Taran was saddened to learn of his death, but she also knew that Viri did not just shrug and walk away from him. She also knows that Vette is Viri's adopted sister. She can't fault Viri even a little for saving her sister first.   Viri killed Skadge in the game but headcanonically, she never even met him. Taran killed him on Belsavis during the class story- she sure as hell wasn't going to let him on her crew or her ship. But if Viri had killed him, Taran's reaction would have been a big thumbs-up.

7. If you have something written about anything from the above (bc I know some people do), share the links to your works (again, if you feel like it)!: Oh, here we go! A lot of the companion returns/etc. are addressed in the post-KOTET fanfic The Eternal Wrath: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14255019 Stories set during KOTFE: https://archiveofourown.org/series/999348 Stories set during KOTET: https://archiveofourown.org/series/999342

[greyias]

Please show us your theory cards and red string :D I LOVE YOUR THEORY'S (They're so much fun to read)

@captainofthefallen asked:

Okay! :D

Hey errbody! Let’s talk about–

MALGUS

Full credit on this really needs to go to @andveryginger who has been giving Malgus the epic side-eye while I’ve been trying to convince everyone the Gravestone is a nihilistic sentient warship trying to find a pair of opposable thumbs so it can set the galaxy on fire.

So, everybody’s favorite baddie since before the game’s launch, Darth Malgus. The Sith who razed the Jedi Temple and led the Sacking of Coruscant, who fought Satele and Jace on Alderaan (the fight which led them to get together and produce our favorite disaster spy princess), and then later tried to orchestrate a coup in the vanilla game’s epilogue by pitting the Republic and Empire against each other on Ilum so he could seize the throne and declare himself Emperor.

Only to meet his end at the hand of the PC, who, in the KotFE storyline, is presumably also the Outlander. He’s killed and his body is blown up along with the rest of his cloaking technology on Vitiate/Valky’s old fortress. Everybody wins! Except Malgus, because he dies.

OR DID HE?????

BUM BUM BUUUUUUHHHHHH

The above is a deleted scene from the KotFE trailer, because at the time the writers weren’t sure if they wanted to bring him back into game. I was on a livestream earlier this year where they dropped some major hints that maybe, just maybe that cut scene might somehow not just sit on the cutting floor forever.

Cool. Cool. So if Malgus for some reason in his death throes tripped and got frozen in carbonite (let’s not ask for specifics, DS!Zombie and LS!Ghost Revan in SoR already make my head hurt enough), ejected from the exploding Fortress of Cloaky Doom, and wound up in some dusty Sith archive on the fringes of Wild Space for Arcann and Thexan to scoop up and present to dear old Dad before they went off to raze Korriban. And as Zakuulan royals do, they hung him up on a wall to gloat their victory to their fallen/frozen enemy. Because Zakuulan art is interactive you see.

Maybe Malgus was one of our buddies in carbonite for five years, maybe Arcann tossed him into a dumpster because there was only room for one masked scar-faced bald guy in the Spire, I don’t know. Either way, assuming somehow that clip from above comes into play, let’s just say somehow he gets thawed out at some point, presumably on Zakuul. Maybe while the Outlander is distracting everyone by crashing state dinners and accidentally causing city wide blackouts.

Like Revan and Tenebrae/Vitiate/Valkorion/PICKANAMEDAMNIT as big bad before him, we think he’s dead, but really, it’s not a MMO we’re playing but Villain Whack-a-Mole. Just as soon as someone has cashed in the life insurance check, bam! They’re back again! (Maybe the true villainy is insurance fraud?) 

I digress. Anyway, against all odds and expectations, Malgus survives the False Emperor storyline to plot another day!

After KOTET wraps up, a new storyline begins, visiting old and new places. Because I’m super observant like that, it takes almost the entire year, and a few friends pointing it out for me to actually see the name of the storyline in the quest log and to start to connect the dots. What is this storyline called? No, not The Stench of Betrayal, but Fractured Alliances. A throwback to the prelude storyline, Forged Alliances, where we first met Theron and Lana in-game, the events of which lead up to the Shadow of Revan expansion.

Now, now… granted, the devs haven’t formally announced that this storyline is doing anything but wrapping up in early 2018. There’s been no talk of an additional expansion that this storyline may or may not be factoring into. But, it’s interesting that it’s an inversion of the Shadow of Revan Prelude, and there’s been some other interesting parallels between this storyline and that, namely:

A conspiracy (Lana and Theron’s favorite!) featuring a traitor among the player’s faction

Theron and Lana task themselves with unravelling the truth

There’s a mysterious Order at the heart of the conspiracy pulling the strings

Said Order is full of religious zealots (since we now have confirmation it’s the Order of Zildrog)

They’re trying to collect/steal artifacts: 

Order of Revan (in Forged Alliances) was trying to steal Rakata tech in order to build an army

Order of Zildrog (in Fractured Alliances) is trying to steal technology/a super weapon presumably so “Zildrog” can eliminate all life and start things anew

Beach flashpoint! (Legacy of Rakata/Traitor Among the Chiss)

Theron (and company that time) has to go on the run at the end because the Order had implicated them as criminals (or he’s implicated himself in this case)

Mysterious Zealoty Order is playing the Republic and Imperials against each other as a distraction while they try to carry out their secret plot

Forged Alliances ended with the shock reveal that Guy-We-All-Thought-Obviously-Dead (Revan) was alive! And the true mastermind behind it all! Oh no! And he had nefarious plans that needed to be unraveled. Theron and Lana went into hiding to spy on them and try to figure out their true plan.

So… if the parallels continue, would it make sense for a Guy-We-All-Thought-Obviously-Dead to be the shock reveal at being alive? ZILDROG/GRAVESTONE I mean–Malgus!

“But… but what the hell? We thought it was going to be Zildrog? What does this reanimated Sith Lord have to do with it?”

¯\_(ツ)_/¯

LOOK! IF REVAN CAN DIE AND BECOME A LIGHT SIDE GHOST AND A DARK SIDE ZOMBIE WHY CAN’T CARBONITE SITH EMPEROR WANNABE MAKE HIS OWN DEATH CULT? The Force works in mysterious ways and all that!

But what about Gravedrog?

Look, I’ve already got the conspiracy theory string out. That means no idea is too far-fetched right now! I’ll find a way to tie Gravedrog in, I promise! And come on, Gravedrog has no opposable thumbs, or legs for that matter. He needs someone to do his dirty work for him. He needs a face for the public (or at least half a face. Really, a mouthpiece will do)

So, against all odds and logic, Malgus is back in town. And maybe he’s the puppet master of every thing that’s been happening post-KOTET:

He somehow gets the Order of Zildrog to listen to him. Why does MurderDeathKill Cult listen to him? I dunno. Maybe they think he is Zildrog

Post-KOTET, the Galaxy is suffering from a resource shortage brought on by having to rebuild after the Eternal Fleet went cray and started bombing the crap out of everything. Tensions are high, kind of like they were after the Vanilla game, when the Vitiate/Valk/etc/Emperor was killed (for the first time)

It’s possible someone has been stirring the galactic pot leading to the Uprisings that happen between KOTET and Fractured Alliances. Am I the only one who finds these mini supervillians all deciding to strike right after KOTET just a bit strange? I mean, maybe, it’s unrelated (not everything has to be tied together in a neat little bow), but that’s a whole lot of traitors, mad scientists, and power-mad gangsters to come out of the woodwork at once. Even with the Zakuul power vacuum

Suddenly Adegan Crystals have entered the plot, which were last a plot macguffin back during the False Emperor storyline

The Order’s end goal seems to be trying to find a cache of super weapons that Valk/Vitiate/SithWithTooManyNames stowed away during his tenure as the Emperor of the Sith Empire (we already found his other vault)

Presumably the Order thinks it’s to bring about their wonderful apocalypse

But a schemey Sith who was in the Upper Echelons of the Empire probably has an idea what those could be used for aside from “total annihilation”

The False Emperor storyline basically had a “mysterious informant” lure both the Empire and Republic to Ilum, a remote and distant world, and manipulated them to start fighting over the Adegan Crystals

My memory on the Imp side storyline is fuzzy. But I do know that there was attempted assassinations on the Republic side of their high-ranking military officers

He used the Empire and Republic to whittle each other down, grab resources for himself, before he made his final play for power

Is this sounding familiar? Because on Iokath...

A mysterious informant informed the Republic, the Empire, and the Alliance about a resource (or superweapon in this case) located on a remote and distant world

Empire and Republic are pitted against each other and a war is restarted

One of the factions leaders is taken out in a spectacularly grand fashion (getting fried on the throne). Dialogue indicates they did so on the word of their mysterious informant.

A mysterious third party* comes in while everyone is distracted and attempts to take out the leader of the most dangerous faction (the Alliance) -- aka, the one holding the Eternal Fleet’s leash

* Mysterious Third Party being someone in the Order of Zildrog, an individual me and few others have dubbed as “Nic the Cultist”, our Snaked Masked friend who you will meet over and over and over if you decide you really want a Pain Train™ of your very own.

Is that Malgus under the Snake Mask? I don’t know. I’m going to doubt it. I’m not as familiar with his character as some (I still need to read some of the TOR novels and comics that build out the backstory), but he seemed more of a puppet master archetype to me by the events of False Emperor, preferring to manipulate things behind the scenes. And what’s easier to manipulate than a bunch of fringe death cult lunatics who believe that they’re the “chosen ones” to survive an apocalypse that’s totally coming any day now?

I should also note, one last thing about Malgus, thematically, him and betrayal/deception do seem to go hand-in-hand. In the “Return” trailer he stabs his master in the back. He’s the featured character in the “Deceived” trailer (and is the main antagonist of the Old Republic: Deceived novel). He’s known as a traitor/deceiver because of his Bond Villainesque plans for galactic domination in the False Emperor storyline. Not really evidence of any sort, just... interesting food for thought.

Additional interesting things if Malgus were somehow tied into this storyline:

At this point, it’s obvious this is Theron’s storyline. If Malgus were the true baddie at the end, that would be... kind of cool

Because exactly how did Theron come about? Well, you see, his mommy and daddy really loved each other -- something they only really acted upon because Jace decided to blow up Malgus and himself with a grenade to save Satele

If Satele is also brought back into this storyline, her and Malgus facing off would also be interesting considering their fairly epic battle during the Hope cinematic trailer

Upcoming PVP Map is Yavin IV, and is about fighting over “Sith Artifacts”. Is this the planet we “never expected to return to” in this storyline that the roadmap teased at? Maybe, maybe not. (Maybe they’re just finally releasing the one they’ve been working on since SoR)

He’s got a spy somewhere on Odessen. 

It’s obviously not Theron, who had to audition to join the Order of Zildrog

Maybe it’s that red-headed lady from Koth’s crew who is a background character in like half the cutscenes from KotFE onward, who hands Theron some sort of data in the opening cutscene for War from Iokath.

Or maybe it’s the weird ass crystal in the weird ass room on the Gravestone. 

For the love of everything please explain that damn crystal!

Obligatory Gravedrog tie-in complete

And, uhhh, that’s all I got folks. Really, there’s nothing concrete that Malgus is definitely returning, just more thematic elements and things that make you go “Hmm”...

@anjastasia - Ooh, as a fan does any of the above make sense? Any obvious bits I missed or misremembered? I’m not nearly as steeped in his lore since I’m not as much of a fan of the Empire stuff, so it doesn’t tend to stick in my brain like Pub-side. 

(And yes, really hope Lana knows something about all this. She’s just too smart to not know something’s up, and doesn’t let herself get blinded by rage like most Sith. And what do you mean publicly outing and burning a spy to the galaxy at large is like, the biggest act of love right? Poor Theron, he’s never going to be able to go undercover again after this...)