#and no I don't mean them becoming Death Troopers themselves

[im-no-jedi]

I have very specific desires for the season finale and future of TBB obviously ROFL

[biomecharnotaurus]

I'M ASKING YOU ABOUT HALO I've been meaning to get into it but I've only played Reach so far and that one doesn't even have master chief in it. Tell me about the specific, in-depth lore or tell me why I shouldn't play it.

Pik

PIK

WHAT HAVE YOU DONE!!!

THIS IS LONG, LONGGGGGG

So, you know the modern Doom lore, right? MAKE IT 700 TIMES MORE COMPLEX AND EVERY SINGLE SIDE CHARACTER HAS AT LEAST AN ESSAY WORTHY OF BACKSTORY. AND EVERYTHING IS DARK AS SHIT. HAPPINESS IS MOMENTARY, THERE IS NOT 1 (ONE) HAPPY CHARACTER WITH A HAPPY ENDING.

Like, I can't fit all of the infos I have about these characters in 50 different posts, AND I DON'T EVEN KNOW ALL OF THEM!! HELP!!

I'll just explain some of the main things about the first games because REALLY IT'S A MESS.

So, there are extremely religious alien group called the Covenant, they used to worship the Forerunners (MORE ALIENS) that were killed during the war against the Flood and they fucking hate humans SO THE COVENANT AND THE HUMANS HAVE A FUCKING VIOLENT INTERSTELLAR WAR.

They really like Halos, which are funny WEAPONS OF DEATH AND DESCRUTION FROM ANCIENT ELDRITCH ALIEN TECHNOLOGY, THEY HAVE THEIR OWN ECOSYSTEMS ON THEIR SURFACES TOO LIKE EARTH but they are machines and if activated they fucking ANNIHILATE THE WHOLE GALAXY. They were made to study the Flood but THEY ARE TOO FUCKING DANGEROUS.

The Flood are pretty much if mushrooms evolved in to lovecraftian horrors and they are tiny lil parts of a fucking massive worm god thing called the Gravemind, THAT IS MADE OUT OF CORPSES AND MINDS OF THE INFECTED FUCKERS! Once they infect somebody their mind becomes part of the entity and they become a fucking hideous zombie, so this bitch ass worm mf is pretty much diet omnipotent.

Now, the funny space marines in power armor like Master Chief are called spartans.

There are 4 generations of spartans:

Spartans I

WE DON'T EVEN KNOW IF THEY WERE ACTUALLY A THING. Sgt Johnson is TECHNICALLY one. Maybe.

Spartans II

You probably know Jorge 052 if you played Halo Reach! Massive guy, yellow armor, big guns, him. He is a spartan II. So is John 117, Master Chief!!!

So, how do you become a spartan II? YOU AREN'T THE ONE WHO DECIDES, SPARTANS II ARE SELECTED CHILDREN THAT GET KIDNAPPED BY THE ABSOLUTELY NOT EVIL MILITARY AND VIOLENTLY TRAINED IN TO WAR MACHINES. Literally war machines, because do you know what they do to those children? FUCKING BIOMECHANICAL AUGMENTATIONS TO MAKE THEM SUPER FUCKING STRONG AND OTHER FUCKING NOT VERY NORMAL HUMAN SHIT. SCI-FI STEROIDS. NOT EVEN ALL OF THEM SURVIVE THE SURGERIES, THEY RARELY DO. They also don't remember shit about their past pre-kidnapping life and even if they become adults, they still have the mind of an incredibly traumatized child with too much knowledge about war. Their brain cortex is also connected to their armors...there is more but pretty much ye

Spartans III

All of the other spartans from Halo Reach are spartans III! Exact same kidnapping-training-augmentations as the spartans II, EXPECT THE KIDNAPPED CHILDREN AREN'T EVEN SELECTED, THEY ARE RANDOM ORPHANS FROM RANDOM DYING COLONIES. Some of them turn out okay, some others kill themselves, some other are fucking sociopaths that hate humanity and everyone because of what they did to them! Fantastic!

Spartans IV

More recent Halo games! Halo Wars! The spartans you play as in the online of Halo Infinite!

Same augmentations as the other spartans, expect no more kidnapped children, these are all adults that were willing to join, ex ODSTs (I'll talk about them in a minute) and ex very-good-high-ranking standard UNSC marines! A lot of them have prosthetics, because of their past war experiences.

Talking about

ODSTs

(Orbital Drop Shock Troopers) aren't spartans, they were what came before the spartan program was made. They are uh..."fancy" standard marines? They are extremely well trained, but they aren't biomechanical like spartans. Their gear is pretty much slightly better than the standard marine one and it's resistant to...well...getting thrown from a spaceship inside of a pod in war and then having to fight to death thousands of aliens.

Now, ODSTs are treated like shit. Literally, to test out John's augmentations they made a couple of ODSTs fight this poor child that didn't even understand how strong he was, and well...they all got killed. Brutally. John wasn't exactly proud of what he did.

OKAY THERE IS A LOT MORE, A LOT, BUT. REALLY. I SUGGEST PLAYING THE GAMES.

Take in mind most of the Halo lore is in the books tho, of course the games have lore but it's nothing in comparison to all the stuff from the novels! There is also A LOT of alien lore with various species, I think you would like the sangheili, for example

[jekyllnahyena]

Ok ok ok I want to hear about Jackal. I love them so much. How was their childhood? The way they got to the Jedi and everything before that, how does that pan out? What about their Master? What were they like? Do they have any friendships with Canon Jedi? And your sort-of AU Jedi Maul, how does he fit in? What is the Clone Wars like for them, how is their relationships with the troopers? Do they have any Padawans? How does Order 66 go for them, how is their life after the war if they survive? I'd love to hear your thoughts on the intersection of Nautolan and Zabrak biology, and how Jackal feels about culture?

oooookay, lets do this. i think i'm making this into several parts because hooooooo boy, do i have thoughts on Jackal. So here's mostly childhood stuff and what formed a lot of them in the future.

Jackal was a summer romance child that neither mum or dad thought could happen because of imagined biological incompabilities. Their father (zabrak) left his clan to do the space faring travel of independence and is all in all a very kind jock dude that met their mum (nautolan) on what accounts to him basically falling into her arms because he tripped. Mum is 2,80 m, can bench press him and thinks he's soooooo funny. Both decide that no, her being pregnant does not mean they're a pair but they will do this together. At first, they plan to have their kid with the mum, seeing as she has a stable home and life. Thing is, the birth happened in shallow water near the surface were it became clear that no, Jackal can't breath under water. Nor do they have tendrils which are an integral part of nautolan communication and culture. So, Jackal almost bit it the moment they were born but everything turns out kinda fine. As it becomes very clear that Jackal cannot stay with the mum, the dad takes them to join his space travels.

So, their parents are very much idiots that were horny and now have to deal with consequenses.

Though they do make it work. They visit mum on when the occasion arises, dad has a few near death experiences but he loves Jackal a lot and teaches them everything he knows and learns. Even when they start to float things, he's sitting there, kinda just shrugging, because hey, they've been through so much, what's a bit of space wizardry.

And then he crashes in the outer rim with a five year old Jackal and gets injured badly enough that he dies in the matter of two days. Jackal, at this point, follows the last few words their dad gave them which is basically some directions on what to eat and survive. He managed to direct them to shoot out some emergency messages and signals, but that is pretty much it. Cue to a kid eating rations and lizards (the carnivorous hunter part is very strong in them) for about a week till a ship lands near. Jackals first modi operandi is to jump and bite, but their force signature is there and yes, insane luck is their companion their whole life, because this is in fact a jedi that picked up on the signals. Now, the start of temple life was not fun.

Their hearing is impaired because of the nautolan-zabrak mix so they unconsously started using the force to pick up on the meaning of peoples words. This is fine when you travel with one singular person for 95 percent of your time. Not so much when you go to the most populated planet in the galaxy. The moment they came near coruscant, they pretty much blacked out and had to be kept seperate till someone manages to teach them a bit of control. It's all very uncomfortable but I wanna say, their teacher is their saviour here (i have Yaddle in mind. Mostly because Yaddle is awesome and i think of her everytime something involves the creche) but it also means that they get very, very good at shielding. Which has them pull back a lot of stuff into themselves while others don't realize it.

So they do calm down a bit (still active with the let's go hunt lizards part) and when they actually start to be able to meet kids, Jackal is very awkward because they remember that they hurt the others, which is a thought that stays with Jackal for a long ass time. Doesn't help that there's an immense disconnect to either of their species because Jackal is almost a blank slate. They are young, traumatized and lost most of their memories from before, except the knowledge that they love their dad. Also the weird mix with having neither horns nor tendrils is painful because they stand there feeling. Lacking I think. Don't mind that they've got both the positive parts of eyesight and stand a good 2,70 m when they're grown, they sometimes just see other Nautolans swim and breathe and communicate and it hurts. Anyway.

Jackal keeps on hurting quietly a lot, but they do find friends to feel warm with. It helps that the hunting blood is very strong and sorry, but jumping with force powered limbs is Fun. They also really like seeing others happy and make it a lot of their self worth, which baaaaad.

Anyway, it all goes into chaos when they become a Padawan and travel with their master into the outer rim. They break down, actually tell the thoughts that haunt their mind and are promptly taken back to the temple for help. They really sit down and realize that they don't know who they are, what they're doing and that they think that their existence feels like an inconvinience at best and a threat at worst.

They slowly learn that they want to be the best person they can be for others and themselves, a credo they very much live by. Their master (still a vibe, nothing more) helps them a lot, mostly because they make Jackal actively say their opinions out loud and has them argue with them. Example, Jackal doesn't really believe in the will of the force and that you'll just move with it. It's a very tangable thing to them that they use. Their master then has them argure their positions, by saying it was the force that let the jedi to Jackal. Jackal answers that they still remember pressing the buttons as a child while their dad smiled at them, bleeding to death. A lot of it is just communication with a person that sees you as an equal. If you can stand by your position and argure with the master, they'll listen. It's not always soft and sunflowery but Jackal respects the heck outta them and does come to love them.

So this was mostly just childhood with master spinkled in and how they acted for a long time. It was rough, but Jackal lives and does become a very happy and annoying biter over time, with a lot more going on in that brain than you'd think at first. Also,as much as they enjoy making others happy, they also know how much fun it can be to be very annoying. And boundaries. Those become very, very important to them.

[rainofaugustsith]

SWTOR: On Switching Factions

Faction switching. Your ex-Jedi is disenchanted. Your Imperial Agent wants to work for the SIS. You've been able to declare your loyalty to the other side, and so far all it's gotten you is some questionable cantina meetings. 

Spoilers for Iokath, Onslaught and Osssus

I think that despite the challenges, this is something SWTOR's devs will have to approach more directly eventually. Yes, we understand the willing suspension of disbelief, but for some characters it's completely impossible that their old faction would trust them in any way. There's the Jedi Knight, who can be denied a Master title at the end of their class story if they are too dark-sided. There's the smuggler, who may have opened fire on Republic ships and started a pirate empire. There's the bounty hunter, who may have blown up the ship of the Darth they were working for. There's the Imperial Agent who may now work for the SIS. There are all eight classes able to choose to ally with the Sith Empire in KOTET and all eight classes able to freely choose to support either side on Iokath, an act that leads to the death of the other faction's leader.

If a character has been actively working against their old faction for several expacs now, why does it make sense that they would be put in a position of great trust? It doesn't. And yet, on Ossus only Major Anri comments, and then only briefly, if an Imperial sided with the Republic on Iokath. If a Republic character sided with the Empire on Iokath, it's casually brought up in a news interview and then never again. While Tau and Darth Savik can question the player character's judgment, again, there are no repercussions, and they are still left in positions of great authority and responsibility.

Republic traitor Ror encounters Imperial Major Anri on Mek-Sha. 

At some point, it's going to fall apart. So far, if you are in the Untitled Saboteur Game you have caused major damage to your old faction on Mek-Sha, Onderon and Corellia, as well as more minor damage on Osssus and Dantooine. Somebody should have noticed already, and there's no way it can continue indefinitely. But how?

From a technical standpoint I don't think we are ever going to see a scenario where your character completely changes every single thing about themselves - all their abilities; titles, access to the other side's heroics from earlier in the game, etc. I think there's still much they can do.

New planets, new coding?

I think that trying to recode/flag PCs so they can walk into the opposite faction's fleet or homeworlds would be too much trouble, and lead to nothing but a mess of errors. If a PC who has defected needs to visit, say, Tython or Dromund Kaas they could always do what they did in the SoR Prelude flashpoints, the end of the Jedi Knight story and KOTET chapter 2, and make it an entirely different instanced area or different version of the planet that is not connected to the class story open world.

I also think it would be problematic to try to switch defectors over so they can access the other side's heroics or repeatable quests, so it would perhaps end up being that the old content is still accessible and the newer content is where they are recognized as defectors. There's already a lack of continuity and consistency with the old content so I don't see this as being problematic - for instance the NPC quest giver of the Tatooine bonus series still refers to my Sith Inquisitor as being an apprentice of Lord Zash, even if she is now the Alliance Commander and hasn't had anything to do with Zash in a decade of the story timeline. My level 75 Alliance Commander Sith Warrior can still fight the Hate Machine on Korriban. Yeah, it's out of order, we know, leave it be.

For content going forward, though, I think it could be more feasible. They set up Iokath so Republic OCs who chose to switch faction allegiance could enter the Imperial base and access the Imperial vendors and vice versa. On Dantooine and Onderon there are also specific quests/drop points for saboteurs that differentiate them from loyalists.

There are also quite a few planets where there are clickables, missions and resources which can be accessed by players in both factions from SoR onward. On Rishi, both factions can talk to Harlow Ricks; on Yavin 4, Oricon and Ziost they have the same daily quests. On Zakuul and Odessen all the medical droids, etc. are neutral and can be used by both factions' OCs. Thus, I'm assuming that there are ways to implement things so the bases and NPCs aren't hard-coded to only respond/reject to a specific faction.

New icons?

I'm thinking each class should have a new icon on the nameplate for anyone who has defected. Maybe the same icon they originally had, but in a different color.

New abilities?

I think switching everything would be a coding nightmare that would likely break the characters. However, I've noticed my "fallen Jedi's" eyes going red from time to time now. If they ever raise the level cap or offer a NEW ability or two, I think they could potentially code it so that saboteurs could train an ability more in line with their new faction, ie, a fallen Jedi learning lightning. They already have different abilities for different advanced classes; they could add one universal for all specs that is for saboteurs. There could be a 'secret trainer' on Odessen to teach it - like the training holos on Zakuul and Asylum who can accommodate all eight classes - so it's available to all factions.

A Jedi with glowing red eyes and power?

New Names?

5/8 of the class names are faction specific. A few, like "Sith Warrior," "Imperial Agent" and "Jedi Consular" could be changed just by lopping off the first word, and there are several like the Smuggler which really don't need anything at all since they are not faction specific, but the others are trickier. But since it's mostly just used on the  login screen, it doesn't seem necessary to change it.

As to how the character is addressed in game, that changes several times just over the course of the class stories, and again once you get to SoR and again at KOTFE - the Imperial Agent goes from being called 'Agent' to "Cipher Nine' to 'Legate' to 'Cipher Nine' to Commander, for instance - so the ability to change seems feasible. They could keep using "Commander" as it's a neutral Alliance title. "Agent," "Captain," and "Hunter" are also neutral. The Trooper may have been demoted since they have switched from the Republic to the Imperial military, but they may also may be given the same or a higher title, like General, in recognition of their service as the Commander of the Alliance.

For the Jedi and Sith? This gets tough because switching factions does not necessarily mean they intend to become a Sith or Jedi (Scourge certainly worked with the Jedi Knight without flipping over, for example). As I recall from the Jedi Knight story, the Republic characters completely ignore Scourge's title and do not refer to him as 'Lord Scourge' and I can't see the Sith Empire referring to defected Jedi as 'Master Jedi' either. Perhaps they will need to clarify your Jedi or Sith characters' intentions in the story. They could formally give a Sith lord or Darth title to the Jedi who have switched - Empress Acina or Vowrawn would certainly have that capability. Giving a former Sith a "Master" title might be trickier. The Jedi who were originally Sith seem to have to start at the bottom, and having the Alliance Commander referred to as a padawan would just be...weird. So they could always just go with the neutral Commander in all cases, or other titles like Battlemaster or Wrath.

Companions

I think it's inevitable that a defector will lose some companions - including those considered "main story." There are a few that are so staunchly loyal to their faction that they will not entertain the idea of working with you if you switch. In practice this may end up being like the "departures" that occurred after Ossus, ie, the companions send letters telling you that they are leaving, but they remain active in your companion list and can be accessed and used for questing or crew skill missions at any time.