#Ask Me About SWTOR NPCs

[jjjwhovian]

Vowrawn !

Thanks for another ask @swtorpadawan! Honestly things for good ol’ Vowrawn isn’t too different from the game but let’s talk about his journey to Emperor anyways.

Darth Vowrawn is one lucky bastard now that I think about it, as Anri once said Sith don’t usually live as long as him without knowing a thing or two.

He managed to avoid the Emperors Hand hunting for him thanks to his old friend the Wrath, Vanzeth, covering his back. Thank the force the Servants mysteriously disappeared, though it wasn’t long before everyone discovered why.

He was one of the few Dark Councilors, along with Acina, to survive Arcann’s assault on the rest of the Galaxy, not even having to go into hiding and being the one to represent the Empire in their surrender.

Since then he’s being serving on the newly formed Dark Council under Empress Acina, comfortably working as the Head of Civil Administration all while him and Xarion, Head of Galactic influence, was secretly aiding an unknown assailant (more on that later) striking against both the Republic and the Eternal Empire.

Then after Acina’s death on Iokath Vowrawn wasted no time in claiming the throne as Emperor and though he was met with some resistance he was able to squash the opposition.

Now he leads the Empire in their renewed War against the Republic, Malgus or anyone else who’s a threat to them, his secret ally now properly in the fold.

[swtorpadawan]

For NPC Asks how about Rylee Dray and the Lady of Pain?

Ask Me About SWTOR NPCs Thank you, @jjjwhovian !

And… hoo, boy! Did you just hit the jackpot! LOTS of notes on these two!

So first for Rylee Dray - You may already be familiar with some headcanons I have for her in my Halcyon Legacy: The Slice Girls Its possible that not long after Zu'fanda Pampya (my Sith Inquisitor) was killed, the Cult of the Screaming Blade collapsed. Destris Veran, Rylee's partner, was killed during the fallout, and Rylee was soon left on her own, without protection. Its possible that SOMEONE snapped her up, effectively enslaving her for her slicer skills. Maybe its also possible that someone else (like Kira, Mako, and company) will hopefully come rescue her someday. (We can hope.)

The Lady of Pain - the leader of the Exchange of Tatooine - does not take the Eternal Empire's subjugation of Tatooine well. She conducts a vicious guerilla-style resistance campaign against the Zakuulans. But after about a year, it goes south, and she's captured by Tarso Gren, the Exarch of Tatooine. Imprisoned aboard the Star Fortress, she's subjected to…. well. It's bad. I'm not getting into it. A few years later, Tarso is visiting a colleague: Forta Gair, the Exarch of Belsavis. On a lark - visiting a prison-world with a dreaded criminal of his own - he brought the Lady of Pain with him. The two Exarchs were both a bit sadistic by this point, and it eventually occurred to them to have an impromptu gladiator fight between the Lady sand someone Forta was keeping prisoner. (You'll recall Zakuulans have a history of being into gladiator fighting, including with enslaved fighters.) The fight was vicious. It started unarmed, but both were allowed to use random objects as makeshift weapons. Both women were just fighting for survival, knowing what would happen to them if they didn't fight. Ultimately, the Lady of Pain lost. She died because two Exarchs had a bet going, and were looking for cheap entertainment. Oh - and her opponent? Who was forced to kill her? That was an imprisoned twi'lek smuggler named Bas'riish.

Thank you!

Tagging @voidendron - Because.

[casino-lights]

Hi everyone! I've gone back and forth on this for years now, but now I've finally decided to open some writing commissions! Here's a proper commission info sheet for anyone interested!

I WILL WRITE

ocs (including my own, if you have requests!)

oc x oc pairings

oc x canon pairings

canon x canon pairings

canon divergence and aus

ships with age gaps and/or power imbalances, such as professor/student, noble/servant, etc.

sentient nonhuman entities (spirits, demons, monsters, druid wild shapes, etc.)

smut, including kinks, bdsm, cnc, free use, etc.

Dubcon is negotiable, but I reserve the right to turn down any kinks or smut concepts if I feel uncomfortable writing them.

I WILL NOT WRITE

smut involving characters under the age of 18 or appearing to be under the age of 18

noncon

If you don't see something on either of these lists, please DM me with your ideas and I can confirm whether or not I will write them! I do not judge and I will not bash anyone for a kink or a ship dynamic they ask me about, even if I don't end up accepting the commission. I am also happy to talk out ideas in DMs.

FANDOMS I WRITE FOR

Dragon Age (all mainline games, the Wigmaker Job short story, and the Asunder novel - I have not read all the external material)

Mass Effect (trilogy and Andromeda, I have not read the comics or novels)

KOTOR (1 and 2)

Baldur's Gate 3

The Elder Scrolls (Oblivion and Skyrim, including their DLC, have the NPCs I know best, but I am familiar with the lore)

Fallout (3, New Vegas, 4, 76, and all their DLC)

Fable (1/TLC/Anniversary, 2, 3)

Again, even if you don't see something on this list, please don't hesitate to ask if I know it, especially if I've reblogged or engaged with content about it previously. I'm currently playing SWTOR and Elder Scrolls Online so hopefully those will be on my list someday as well!

Red Dead Redemption 2

Cyberpunk 2077

PRICING

Gale Dekarios x oc smut oneshot, 4,754 words

I will ask for payment upon delivery of the completed commission. I'll be working on a scale of approximately 500 words for $5 USD, so pricing will look like this:

~ 500 words - $5

~ 1,000 words - $10

~ 1,500 words - $15

~ 2,000 words - $20

~ 2,500 words - $25

~ 3,000 words - $30

~ 3,500 words - $35

~ 4,000 words - $40

~ 4,500 words - $45

I will write up to a maximum of approximately 4500 words for a oneshot. I will not charge extra if I go a little over or if I feel the piece would be incomplete without a few more lines. Examples of my work with their word counts:

Illario Dellamorte x oc hurt with some comfort oneshot, 3,670 words

Illario Dellamorte character study oneshot, 1,607 words

More examples of my writing can be found on my AO3 and under #gracewrites on my blog, but these three are the best examples of my current writing style!

HOW TO COMMISSION ME

I'm going to open two slots for now. The slots I have available will be in my bio, but please don't hesitate to reach out with your ideas and/or any questions you may have even if they're both full! I'll add your name to a waiting list and DM you as soon as I have a free space for you. If interested, please DM me here on tumblr with some basic info:

how long would you like this piece to be and/or what is your budget?

which fandom is the piece for?

is it a piece that involves one or more ships? if so, which ship(s)?

is this NSFW or SFW?

does this piece involve one or more ocs? if so, what are their names and pronouns, what do they look like, and - if NSFW - what is their anatomy?

if NSFW, how much plot would you like me to add?

if NSFW, are there any kinks or positions you'd like me to highlight? if nothing immediately comes to mind, no worries - we can discuss that later!

a brief description of the plot you have in mind, like a list of the scene(s) you'd like depicted or the concept you came up with. example: "character A and character B go to a masquerade ball and they discover a body hidden in the bathroom. they have to unmask the killer, who turns out to be character C."

is the piece going to be part of an AU or is it canon divergent in some way? if so, please describe the AU - i.e. modern AU, soulmate AU.

After some discussion with you, I'll begin working on your commission! I will provide updates and snippets and I will most likely be asking some follow-up questions during the writing process, but don't feel obligated to answer them immediately - I know timezones exist and everyone has lives to live! If you ever have any new ideas to add, please let me know as soon as you can, and we can discuss adding them. If it's an entirely new scene that will extend the length quite a bit, we can renegotiate the price. I don't usually outline my writing, but upon request, I can work up an outline for the piece and discuss it with you.

Once I finish the piece and am personally satisfied with it, I will send it to you for a final overview! If you encounter any spelling errors/typos/other mistakes, please let me know and I'll fix them immediately! I will be proofreading it myself, of course, but I'm human. If the piece includes OCs, and you feel I've mischaracterized them at any point or they would not say or do something I wrote, I will happily rewrite the offending lines, free of charge.

Payment is due once the piece is fully complete! I will offer my PayPal address; please send the payment via the friends and family option. I'm working on the honor system here.

All finished pieces will be delivered via Google Docs, and I will then ask if you want your piece published here to tumblr. If you say yes, I'll publish the piece to my blog here, DM you the post, and tag you! I WILL NOT publish finished commissions on AO3 out of respect for their rules regarding paid fanworks. I personally consider writing commissions a fair practice, and the fact that I accept commissions now will never stop me from writing for free. I will absolutely be putting as much passion and effort into my commissions as my free work.

Finally, I have never and will never use AI at any point in my writing process. Keep AI out of fanworks. I hate that this even has to be said nowadays. Thank you for reading this far, and thank you for signal boosting this!

[raven-of-domain-kwaad]

Leeha narezz!

Thanks for asking @swtorpadawan and sorry it took like a year to get to lol 😅

Ask me about SWTOR NPCs

In The Kine Legacy, Ryscha (Hero of Tython) rescued Leeha and then never said anything about her relationship with Jomar. So when Leeha returned to Tython, she was never criticized and simply offered all of the help and assistance she needed to begin recovering from her time as the Emperor's thrall.

Though she was considered a warrior that "never knew failure," Leeha's time as the Emperor's slave had been incredibly traumatic and she had little desire to return to combat even as the Galactic War raged on. Instead, she focused both on learning more healing techniques and on her old research of how the Force could impact machines and possibly lead to sentience in droids.

She became a well respected if slightly eccentric healer (few put any real stock into her continued Meedee research) and was one of a select group of Jedi chosen to learn the healing techniques discovered by the Barsen'thor.

While focusing on healing herself and others, Leeha began to feel a deep sorrow for the Hero of Tython, who seemed to be bending and on the verge of breaking under the weight of non-stop combat deployments. But before she could bring her concerns to the Council, Zakuul invaded.

Leeha would join the group of jedi that settled on Ossus and would be responsible for training a new generation of healers. While in isolation from the wider galaxy, she and Jomar began to openly display their love for one another and became one of many relationships that Ossus would see between Jedi and the other non-jedi settlers.

Though she was immensely grateful for being able to have a peaceful existence on Tython and later Ossus, she would always regret not reaching out to the Hero of Tython, feeling that she had failed to help the person that had given her this second chance at life.

[b4um3pfl4um3]

Todays SWTOR session with @thebreadtree and a mutal friend:

Tlice became a Pirate! And flirted with everyone he could. The funniest part was when I asked Bread if Tlice could flirt with a random NPC called Kareena, and not two seconds later, there was a flirt option. The best part is that I'm currently skipping through almost all the cutscenes because of a short attention span, but as soon as I see a flirt button, I'm invested again.

This was the first screenshot of the entire gang, and both their characters look upset with what is happening while Tlice just stands there with no thought behind his eyes.

Then we encountered a headless NPC (the steal Breads joke: "So no head?"). Also, don't question the markers above our heads. It was way funnier having all of us running around with silly markers.

There is the gang looking at the sky because what else would we be looking at? I definitely did not forget what happened here, no no, this is definitely more than just an aesthetic screenshot.

While holding hands with Lana two days ago was way too much for Tlice, kissing Theron was just the natural choice xD

At this point I do want to mention again that Tlice is supposed to romance Khem Val later.

Last comment about the session: Bread was the best babysitter. She not only had to carry me but also our friend. And we (I) didn't make it easier for her by always splitting up. This is what I imagine Bread looked like while we played:

(Poorly edited by me wooh)

But as always, it was a lot of fun. I look forward to the next session!

[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.

[tiredassmage]

4,6, 10 from the swtor asks :3

Oh, my indecisiveness bit me in the ass on these, lol. swtor asks be upon ye!

4. Favorite feature of the game?

How do I pick just one? x,D Okay, so it's probably customization and how it's handled - the appearance changer, outfit slots, etc. (Yes, I'm cheating a little, sue me).

There's also a few small details I just??? appreciate? Like, I was today years old when I found out some of my characters have different music tracks that play over their galaxy map (this is relevant, I swear) and one of my favorite nuggets about playing agent is when you go to Korriban; play a Sith on Korriban and the Academy guards will kneel as you pass. Take your agent there? Nada. It's a nice little detail that the distinction is in there and I love that.

6. Favorite BGM/song?

THIS ONE. THIS ONE DROVE ME INSANE.

There is a very specific short sequence that is inextricably tied to the Imperial Agent experience and I thought I was making it up until I went trying to find it. If I'm not mistaken, it's included in the opener on Hutta and it makes a few reappearances throughout agent and it's also the galaxy map theme for an agent.

But I can't find this fucker in any of the ambient tracks anywhere. To save my life.

It was going to bother the hell out of me if I couldn't produce proof. This. This fuckin'. Particularly just the first like 10 seconds. THIS is part of Imperial Agent I'd like to inject directly into my bloodstream and take like drugs.

It's kind of like that idea that Star Wars wouldn't have been as successful if they hadn't nailed what a lightsaber sounds like. This is that inextricable from the epicness that is the Imperial Agent story for me.

Anyway. To pretend I'm even a modicum normal about this game, my favorite cantina track is Credits Where Credits Are Due. The Siege of Alderaan is also really high up there along with ahhh... probably Tython and Balmorra's bgm.

10. NPC you love to hate?

Is it cheap to say Saresh? xD Especially when you go through the whole ordeal from Taris through what she does to the Alliance on Pubside, she's just a snake. Still some of the best dark side options to stick it to her.

Anyway, uhh... for a little bit more small-time, SIS Agent Zane??? Is a jackass? From Aric Jorgan's companion quest with Trooper. I've not once stopped Jorgan for busting his ass and I do not regret it. If I regret anything, it's the way Aric doesn't quite agree with himself for taking action in the moment, but Zane is... grating. Uncooperative. Disrespectful. And a jackass for how he was handling that operation.

[yellow-faerie]

Okay in reference to your tags on the Bode post you reblogged from me: I kinda had a theory you were the anon! And I'm honestly very glad to find someone who feels the same way about him because I haven't seen many other people (other than my sister) who do!

If you don't mind me asking, I have two questions for you: what did you think of the rest of Survivor, and what sort of Star Wars fan fic do you write? I saw you mentioned it in your bio!

Lol I do think I went through a few of your posts before sending that ask - but yes, I do agree! Bode is a lot more complicated than I think a lot of people give him credit for; he's a father and a man haunted by a lot of loss which doesn't excuse his actions, but does explain them and make me feel a good deal of empathy to him. I think there's actually a line when they're in the ISB base where Cal calls him a traitor and Bode is like...no, I'm a father

Which is really not an excuse for killing people Bode (but is a very good explanation for how he got where he is)

You said it a lot more eloquently lol

(interestingly, Bode is a sort of parallel to Anakin in some ways - killing and betraying people they see as family/very close friends for the people they love, even though it changes them into something unrecognisable that the person they love can't quite reconcile with)

I do not mind questions at all!

For fanfic, because that's the shorter answer, I write pretty much anything - legends, Kotor, swtor (to some extent, I haven't played through enough of it yet to do proper fic), og, rebels, tcw, extended universe stuff (and even a bit of the sequels although that has to be veru handpicked lol)

I have interacted with so much of the SW universe to some extent and it's such a good sandbox that I will dabble in writing anything lol

(currently I'm doing a lot of Kotor stuff as I finished survivor and decided to fill the hole with yet another playthrough of my favourite unfinished trilogy <3)

As for Jedi Survivor, Imma put my thoughts under the cut because I have...a lot of them lol (there will be spoilers)

I love the graphics, so SO much

Each planet felt different and unique and reminded me how much I loved to play JFO

Also the worlds felt a lot bigger? I think it's because I didn't really do much side stuff, just kinda beelined the plot so a lot of the side quest stuff was just kinda there as fun background NPC chatter lkl

MERRICAL! MERRICAL! MERRICAL!

It's being survivors of two separate genocides by the same tyrannical government and even when you search elsewhere, you still belong at each others side

And it's the Merrin talking Cal down when he's about to kill Denvik and it's Merrin giving Cal space to work out if he wants a relationship or if that wouldn't work but letting him know her own intentions

That moment on Jedha where she calms him down from a nightmare but then takes her own comfort just by being near?

And it's Merrin in general lol my darlingest fave <3

Also! After that kiss on Jedha after everyone has gone back in, my brother said (as a joke) "and now they have sex!" And then it immediately cuts to morning

Iconic moment

Also on Jedha - spamels! Someone out there went desert creature - so, a camel - a camel in space - so a space camel - a spamel

Which just makes me think of the tinned meat which is a...really weird thing to be thinking about

Greez opened a canteena! Monk, I love him - also Mosey

In fact, all of Ramblers Reach, I really like that they gave you a main base that's so...connected to people in this game??

Also that garden, I could spend all day in that garden

And the High Republic stuff! I still think it's weird that everyone is treating it as if it's ancient history when it's two hundred years ago BUT I really love the aesthetic and the story

I tried getting into the high republic books a while back but only managed one before I had to return them to the library, but this game has made me really excited for the high republic game and has inspired me to try and read the books again

Shout-out to Dagan Gera for being sufficiently unhinged for me to like him, and Rayvis for giving off massive Kotor!Mandalorian vibes

And Bode was a very interesting twist villain as looking back in the game, you can see it almost

(also my older brother called him being a traitor twelve minutes after meeting him which was either incredibly perceptive or he saw it online and is thing to make me think he's incredibly perceptive - either way, he got ridiculously pleased when he was proved right which did not fit with the mood of Cordova's murder lol)

And Kata! It's definitely going to be some time before she fully trusts Cal etc. etc. HOWEVER, we now have a daughter and that is wonderful (I'm living for the found family)

And CERE!

I WAS EMOTIONALLY DEVASTATED IT'S LITERALLY THE SECOND TIME CAL HAS HAD TO CRADLE THE BODY OF HIS DEAD MASTER YOU DON'T UNDERSTAND HOW MUCH THIS HURTS ME

And it was the way Greez was so uncharacteristically ANGRY after Cere's death - and just- dhhfjebidnde

On a less devastating note - Cal, my dude, should have had to have had time to recover from both the slash wound from Dagan and the blaster shot from Bode which were both to the upper torso

Like...they caused enough damage in the fight to be a weakness but you can just walk it off apparently??

I don't think so

(I am going to write fic about this, probably)

Zee - I was so suspicious of Zee to begin with because she was so cheery but her voice kinda sounded like Nikola from the Magnus Archives and like-

Yeah I was fully expecting betrayal from Zee right up until we got back to Rambler's reach and I realised...she's just cheery, that's just her personality

I talked to her the bare minimum lol, I couldn't get creepy talking doll out of my head

That beginning sequence on Coruscant though?? That moment with the Jedi Temple where Cal realises what's happened and you can see the horror and bone deep resignation within him (and that's probably the first time that he properly starts wondering if he can do anything about the empire, after all there's that whole plot where people are like...settle down a bit)

I honestly wasn't that attached to the rest of Cal's crew who died - apart from Mags, literally JUSTICE FOR MAGS 2023, SHE DESERVED BETTER

There were so many little bits that made me genuinely laugh and feel things throughout the game and it felt a lot like Star Wars which is a big thing in its own right

Also Cordova being there threw me off but it was a nice surprise, if a bit weird lol as I was fairly convinced he was dead/in the unknown regions - but hell, I kinda understand it (even if us finding him in the last game might have made his appearance a bit more understandable)

I do have some things I'm not so happy with (some story choices in particular, and the way they presented Cal's slow descent to the dark side being the main ones) but I'm overall really happy with the game

It was the sequel that jfo deserved and it was it's own game in it's own right and I really enjoyed playing it - now I've finished the story, I'll probably stop doing such intense playing, but I do genuinely want to 100% complete it which says a lot, because I don't usually have the patience to do that

There's so much I could probably say that I can't think of now (and I don't think I've said anything about BD-1 which is a travesty of the highest proportions because my boy <3 I missed you <3 I'm so glad you're here and thriving <3) and I'm not really getting into the things I disliked because it would bring the post down (and also I need to be a bit more eloquent and a bit more awake for that one lol)

Anyway, thank you very much for the ask :D it made my evening, ngl, I love talking about star wars

[depizan]

Help me poke my brainmeats. Ask me questions about SWTOR NPCs*. Or my own side characters (Vrei, Dralick's receptionist, assorted SIS agents, or other characters who appeared briefly in my fic).

Do I have plans for them? Backstories? Will they show up in fic (again)? ???

*Pre-KOFEET timeskip only. Zakuul and everyone in it will likely be Sir Not Appearing in These Fics.

[jjjwhovian]

Oh! Tol Braga!

Ah. Sadly this one doesn’t exactly have a happy ending.

Master Tol Braga, the Jedi who never knew failure…until he met the Emperor who corrupted his mind.

He says he broke free from Vitates control, that his eyes were simply opened. The Galaxy wasn’t worthy saving, it never was.

Whether those were truly his own thought or just Vitiate controlling him, I’m afraid no one will know for certain.

Once Arono defeated him he saw the Dark Sides hold over Master Braga was too strong and decided to put him out of his misery.

You see, Arono Maxir is a good man. He’s someone wanting to do the right and willing to give people a chance to redeem themselves, like with a Bengel Morr, Watcher One and Lord Praven.

But after escaping Vitates thrall, something that left him heavily scarred both mentally and physically, and given pretty much no time to rest before being sent back to the front lines he was…different.

He still tries to do the right thing but after why he’s been through he’s…going to make some lapses in judgment.

Killing Master Braga was unfortunately one of them.

(This may seem like a flimsy excuse but this was just to keep with the canon of Braga being dead mentioned in the Agent storyline, which as I’ve said before I have a reason for doing this)

So yeah, not much else to say.

[swtorpadawan]

For NPC asks.... You might have answered for him before, but Praven? Or Watcher Three?

Ask Me About SWTOR NPCs Thanks for the ask, @voidendron !

I have, indeed, spoken about Praven before! @isi7140 asked about him once, and I referred them to this little gem. Needless to say, he's doing alright.

He's definitely one of my favorites from the Jedi Knight story!

Regarding Watcher Three… I have more bad news.

So after the dissolution of Imperial Intelligence, the former Minister setup (the former) Watcher Three with a new identity, and he takes a nice little data analyst job, making decent money and otherwise keeping a low profile. Generally not harming anyone.

And nobody bothered him because no one knew who he was! The Minister had done a good job helping him hide.

Then, years later, some months after KOTET, several former members of Imperial Intelligence are suddenly murdered in the space of a week.

Watcher Three is one of them.

True story - I have a WIP that opens with Gahraath (Cipher Nine) and Kaliyo standing over Watcher Three's corpse, trying to find out what happened on behalf of the Alliance.

They know the Minister and others have been killed. They know they are almost certainly on the 'kill list' themselves.

Who could be responsible? Who could have been clever enough to find the former Intelligence personnel?

(Dun-dun-DUUUUUN!)

Thanks for the asks!

[certified-anakinfucker]

10: An NPC you love to hate?

(from these swtor asks!)

oh boy. an npc i love to hate??? hnnnnhhhhhhhh it's hard finding one i actually hate enough to keep bringing up, but a strong candidate is falner oeth from the imperial agent storyline.

backstabbing piece of shit talking smack to darrash about vector like the two of them havent already been through enough hell and back to warrant darrash immediately doxxing him and turning him into an enemy of the state lickity split as fuck.

like, yes of course i see his necessity narratively because there is always pushback and sometimes the ones pushing back are the assholes throwing stones from inside of glass houses; a dathomirian zabrak inside the imperial diplomatic service (presumably of no high rank!) saying that vector and the killiks are too primal and alien to join the glorious empire... yeah please do inform me the state of dathomir?

[raven-of-domain-kwaad]

Cedonia Teraan for the asks!

Thanks for asking @swtorpadawan!

Ask me about SWTOR NPCs

So, in my Kine Legacy Cedonia Teraan does manage to call in the various financial favors owed to her House from the other noble Alderaanian families. This allows House Teraan to reestablish themselves as an independent noble House with ties of gratitude and loyalty to House Organa.

In an effort to spur economic growth for her family, Cedonia contacts my smuggler couple Captain Temeli Izuni and First Mate Lynora Paige to ask if they had any... business opportunities they might need a partner for.

This would result in Cedonia providing safe harbor to members of the Voidhound's criminal empire, making Alderaan a reliable core world port. In return, Cedonia would get a percentage from Temeli's profits. This proved to be quite profitable for the newly reestablished House and the Teraans were able to become financially secure without dipping too deeply into their personal funds.

[danniswrites]

World Of Warcraft Took Away Wrath Of The Lich King. They are changing Classic, a mode that is supposed to be like the early days of WOW. It's more challenging. People tend to be much older, and nicer! We who are signing this petition want our servers back, and we want the game not to be updated as the petition-writer explained so well.

Think of a video game as a novel with a very interesting plot. You'd be upset if a character you liked died for no reason, wouldn't you? I write young adult science fiction. So I am well aware of what makes a good story. A huge part of that is the characters you write about. Blizzard has good writers, but this decision to kill off characters we cared about, just to jerk our emotions around is beyond me. Like many other gamers on WOW, I couldn't understand how killing off dozens of NPCs who had backstory and were likeable characters, added in any way to the story of Cata. I didn't when the expansion was new. I still don't.

I went over to Classic because the servers are a lot less hostile, and because my favorite guild is there. A guild is like a club. You help each other out by doing quests together that you couldn't complete alone, or making things for them to wear or use through your professions.

I use the reporting function often when on World of Warcraft because players are so toxic. With a right-click of the person's name, I can send a report to a Game Master [GM] so one of WOW's terrific customer service reps can address the problem.

I know since COVID it's hard to get enough people to handle these positions, and I've seen plenty of complaints online in my social media from workers who feel overloaded and sexually harassed working for Blizzard. These reports distress me very much. There is a larger problem in our country of housing being too expensive for low-income workers, many of whom work for these large companies. So worker shortages are common, and WOW is suffering, too.

I also play Star Wars: Knights Of The Old Republic, or SWTOR. This game is a lot more pleasant because chat is not as toxic. So, I spend more time over there. These games are similar in that the maps are huge, and quests have interesting stories. NPCs or Non-Player Characters, are the characters you interact with in the game who are not other players. They sell you things and buy your junk items. They open a window for you to use the Auction House where you can sell things to players [Galactic Market on SWTOR]. NPCs give you quests, they have a problem and ask you to solve it, either by gathering things, killing animals, or killing enemies, or doing other tasks. As you do these tasks, you learn things about that NPC, their backstory.

I was really enjoying Wrath Of The Lich King Classic. Really enjoying it. My guild had just moved to Myzrael server and I moved all 14 of my characters over there. I was actively working to level Viae from 65 to 80 so I could do dungeons with my guildmates and made a lot of progress across my toons with professions. I logged in one day and ALL of my characters are gone. All that work I put into them. All of those hours. Gone!

Retail is not as much fun! And, Cataclysm was traumatic. Those NPCs Blizzard so casually destroyed were a part of my game life. I cried over their deaths. It still hurts not to be able to go to Auberdine. And that was years ago. It is a rule of good storytelling, you don't kill off characters without a very good reason. Blizzard just broke our hearts without a thought as to whether it made good sense to the story to kill off these NPCs. A lot of us were very fond of these characters.

I wish Blizzard would listen to us gameplayers and give us back all the expansions of Classic without making it into Retail. And don't force us into Cataclysm. Didn't you learn anything from that awful experience, Blizzard? Your subs dropped like a rock. It was the most unpopular expansion in the history of World Of Warcraft. And you want to force it on me.

Keep in mind that almost half of all games' player bases are women. I can't understand other players' insistence in Trade Chat that there are no women players. There are a lot of fellas who play female characters because they like to look at them. Okay. I have some male characters because I like to look at them. I prefer fully-clothed characters. Dress my characters as I would myself. That can be hard with some of the armor you get in playing the game! World Of Warcraft has always been plagued with costumes that are scanty and embarrass me. I consider this a form of sexual abuse.

When Microsoft acquired Blizzard, I had high hopes that maybe, their toxic workplace would turn into a safe place for employees of color and women. That they would truly listen to their gamer database. I am female and a gamer. I do not enjoy immodest armor. Thank goodness, I don't have a boyfriend to push me into dressing my characters immodestly and I consider that a form of abuse and domination over women. I am happy to see more choices over the way our characters look. I'm white, but I think there should be characters of color in games, and adaptations for disabilities, a lot more than we have access to now. My disabilities get in the way of my gaming. A quarter of people globally have a significant, life-limiting disability. ADA doesn't help me as much as I think I need. We should have a bigger voice, but that's a story for another blog post.

So, why do I still play WOW? Because my friends are there. Granted, I mostly play alone, but I am working on things that will make me a more useful guild member. I want to level up my characters to do some of the harder things my guildmates are doing. I often chat on Discord with my fellow guild members while I am playing alone. A lot of work goes into leveling a character, so most of that has to be done during the time I am not playing with guild members.

Will Microsoft turn this situation around where all of us players have a voice about the games we play? I've been playing since 2007. Other players can be nice, but chat [text chat for those who don't play] is divided into categories. Trade Chat is the most active, and the most toxic. People will get on there and troll players over politics and religion and say very offensive things. Common attitudes are things like, 'women don't play WOW' and insults to women like Trump says.

If you are a parent and just turn your kid loose in these games, shame on you! You should play with your kid and see just what toxic mess is spewed in Trade Chat and how players doing holiday activities can be persecuted by the over-aggressive Player-vs-player people. For those of you who don't know, PVP [Player Vs Player] is when teams of players face off against each other in dungeons. A few years ago, Blizzard made it so PVP mode can be active in a lot more of the game, not just in battlegrounds. I have suffered a lot when I'm trying to gather materials for professions, to make myself armor or potions, and had people jump ahead of me to get that herb or mine that ore when I was headed to it. There are things in the game to help stop some of that misbehavior. But, when I used to go in dungeon groups [5 people who join a dungeon group to fight powerful bosses for good loot], I got traumatized by people who fussed me out for doing the wrong thing. When in a dungeon I like to take the quests and do extra things while in it. But, too many times, whoever ends up being the leader often won't let us take time to loot before rushing to get the dungeon done, and they won't wait for someone completing quests. It has made me cry so much, I don't do dungeons unless it's with my very understanding guild. WOW can be very bad for your mental health! So I mostly play alone or with my daughter.

My daughter Maggie and I were so angry over this, we tried to cancel our active subscriptions and demanded a refund on the new expansion. We couldn't. So, I am signing this petition with much anger and frustration.

I don't often talk about my gaming life. When I get stuck working on my latest novel, I'll hop on a game and do something mindless while I work out the plot. Often, that's fishing in World Of Warcraft, or just riding a mount on a road through a pretty area. Or flying someplace. The music and pretty scenery makes it easy to just go into my universe in my head and figure out what my characters are going to do next. Then, I'll log out and go write it. Or, if I'm really frustrated, I'll do something in game to get my mind off it that takes all my attention. I spend a lot more time writing that gaming, but gaming gives me an outlet for writing frustration, and writing gives me an outlet for Real Life [RL] frustration. I do talk things out, and my daughter is very helpful with that, but I have a lot of traumas, and talking too much about them equals bad depression or just a really rotten mood. So, there's a balance that I keep. Gaming is a nice hobby--when I'm not as frustrated as I am right now!

I hope we get enough signatures to convince Blizzard that those of us who enjoy Classic enjoy it for reasons that this petition poster clearly expresses. We don't want Cata, thank you. We want to keep all our Classic servers as they were. I like Wrath Of The Lich King, but think players of Vanilla and Burning Crusade deserve to keep their servers, too. We are all united in this cause. I hope everyone who plays WOW will see this and consider adding their signature.

#worldofwarcraft #gaming #petition #classic #blizzard @microsoft @activision-blizzard #rant #wrathofthelichking #vanillawow #burningcrusade #players #femaleplayers #cataclysm

Video to come later. The one I made is 15 min and too big!

[tearlessrain]

HELLO, I'm going to try and be the chance I want to see in the world, hahaha. So TELL ME PLEASE, who is your favourite swtor OC? And how do you relate them to the story of the game; is it canon for them, do you write/imagine/rp stories for them adjacent to the game or totally divorced from it...?

eeeey thank you for the ask! sorry it's taken me so long to get to it, my brain has not been cooperative on any front this week

I have several I'm very attached to but I'd have to say my favorite is my Imp Agent, Khatte Antilles (pronounced "cat." he's a cathar. I originally made him as a joke character before he developed a personality/backstory and now I just have to live with my choices.)

the fact that I had to go back four years in my art folders to find an image of him suitable for all audiences really tells you all you need to know already tbh

Overall he lines up pretty strongly with the canon basegame Agent story, it was kinda one of those "if it ain't broke don't fix it" situations because I do love the Agent storyline a lot. The headcanons kick in more in the DLC/Alliance zone and in his backstory, and I definitely fiddled with the timeline of things because he was very young for his first mission on Hutta (definitely no older than 20, probably closer to 17/18, he lied about his age and joined ImpInt at 13 claiming he was 16 so that makes everything more complicated. he only got away with it because the people doing his paperwork were all human and Imperial and had no idea what a 16 year old cathar would actually look like), but he's in his mid 20s for most of the basegame questline and in his early 30s by the Zakuul era. Basically it all works out that there are some unaccounted for years between Hutta and the rest of act one, and some very accounted for years during the Carbonite Timeskip because he's not the canon Commander and being incorrectly frozen in carbonite is one of the few medical horrors that hasn't happened to him. He spent that time having a mental breakdown because he believed that the only person he still trusted in the galaxy had been killed by the Empire, and channeled his feelings about that into wiping out every trace of the Castellan Restraints and their development, including the people who worked on the project. It was all very dramatic and probably would have also have included himself if Lana Beniko hadn't tracked him down before the Empire did and dragged him back to the Alliance to help organize and lead their Intelligence division, which wasn't fun for anybody but did ultimately lead to him getting therapy and starting to heal from the clusterfuck that was his career.

I also expanded on his relationship with a few NPCs quite a bit, he's got a History with Darth Jadus and met him not long after joining ImpInt, because Jadus saw someone that young and vulnerable as a perfect opportunity to mold himself a loyal (or at least scared into submission) man on the inside and eventual personal Hand. it did not work out for him; Khatte was both more willful and more loyal to Keeper than he bargained for, and by the events of the game he absolutely loathed Jadus and also knew him well enough to handily unravel the rest of his plan. he clashed even harder with Zhorrid once she "inherited" him because unlike Jadus he held no fear or respect toward her and no amount of getting barbecued by Force lightning at every meeting would change his mind. This has all lead to him having a distinctly unfavorable view toward Sith, which he voices probably more often than is advisable for one's continued health and safety in the Empire.

he also had an extremely toxic and mutually abusive situationship with Hunter throughout the latter two acts that he's still unpacking the baggage from to this day, and still has a much healthier slow burn romance with Vector (let him kiss the bug man EA I am begging you it's 2024).

But yeah, Alliance era he's honestly thriving as much as could be expected for someone with his history, I've got him in a whole multiverse situation with some friends' ocs where he's free to be a horny disaster in a much safer and healthier way than he used to be.

[tiredassmage]

swtor asks: 46, 39, 43, 22, 26

Woe, more swtor asks be upon us! I had to rotate some of these overnight, lol.

22. One feature not in-game that you'd love to see?

Cheating, I'm giving you two because I wrote a big paragraph about one and then there's also: I'd kill for a playable tech-based sword wielding-class. The fact that only my Force users can use the cool swords and whatnot, but at the expense of robbing them of lightsabers while there's npcs running around swinging vibroswords is a bit of a crime, tbh.

Anyway, it'd be fucking awesome and I'd actually give Tyr a second combat style for it because I think that'd be so hot for him. How much I'd actually play it instead of Operative is maybe a different story because I'm a little stealth princess, but hey, we're talking about options here, lol.

Anyway, on a slightly more... fleshed out note? This gets long quickly, let me put a cut here.

SO. Okay, this may exist and I’m just blind to it because I don’t generally do group or raid content of any kind [hamster peace sign meme here], but FFXIV has something called Party Finder which is sort of… if a group finder and a message board? It’s got sections for dungeons [standard 4 person party composition], trials [8 players], alliances [24 player encounters], etc. XIV players generally use this to build parties for current, on-level higher difficulty content such as extremes or savage raids rather than using the random matchmaker ie group finder equivalent that'd just pitch you into a queue, but it can also be used to form ‘premade’ groups to clear older content either synced [level/abilities adjusted back to release-era] or to overlevel the ever-loving shit out of some poor lvl 60 or 70 boss and just take their lunch money.

It’s a really nice system to even know what content is out there and has several filters/status settings for party conditions like syncing or priorities (are you looking for a learning party focused on clearing at all or doing several preferably quick, clean kills in succession for looting purposes, etc) and you can search by roles/jobs in need. In XIV, I’ve cleared most of the higher difficulty content I’ve seen via Party Finder groups; not all friends want to do the same content/same level of content at the same time, schedules don’t line up, etc., or guilds/free companies just be intimidating, lol. Never fear! Party Finder is here.

Something about the systemic nature of it makes it less intimidating in my brain, too, than like, random shouts on the fleet or whatever to fill groups. Probably the added context of party descriptions and objective labels. If you don't get what they put on the tin, then someone labeled their party finder incorrectly, but it's meant to give you an idea of what you're getting into before you commit and we do love to see that.

26. Weapon of choice?

I agonized over this one, lol. Picking just one was a tricky endeavor because I've fallen into the rabbit hole of personalizing sets down to weapons for different characters, so I have a handful of favorites I've nominated for mention.

I recently got the Frontiersman's Blaster Rifle for Len (I've been eyeing it for probably a month trying to figure out who/which outfit to put it on), Rhyst's most prominent is probably the Inscrutable Dualsaber with... I think a smoky amber color crystal? Oli has the EE-2 Blaster Pistol (I like the blue lights). Nikihlus has the Zakuulan Exile's Sniper Rifle, possibly with a red color crystal, I don't remember if I modded it at all, but the extra shing of the blade attachment when you draw it is everything to me. Annnd Barreth, one of my Consulars, got Vengeance's Unsealed Lightsaber that I have her wield a pair of with a green indestructible crystal.

39. Single saber, twin sabers, or dual sabers?

Hmmm… contextualized as in like, what combat style I prefer, I actually… really like Juggernaut more than Marauder?

Anyway, my OG Consular has a dualsaber and I’ll live and die by the fact that dualsabers kick ass. They’re so cool. Particularly when [maybe cheating] you can, like, detach them and now you have TWO laser swords? [I made his second combat style Sentinel to appease the brain goblins about this.] Adaptability. Cool rating. Really beautiful designs.

Also because Shadows and Assassins have stealth and I am, again, a pretty, pretty stealth princess. Bonus objectives for slaughtering rows and rows of enemies? Don’t know her.

43. Favorite operation?

I've yet to actually do operations because I'm a bit of a scaredy-cat. I know, doesn't translate when I've done 8 man extremes with glee in FFXIV, but I have definitely backed off raiding and gearing related grinds since being in college. They can be pretty involved and I just do not always have the spoons left over to get into performance like that.

I've enjoyed it in XIV though, so I'd be down for giving it a whirl sometime, maybe over the summer when I won't have classes. Work and class schedules kinda also limit my time, so it's a bit intimidating to commit to progression schedules within everything.

46. What do you think of the world events so far?

Oscillating between the interpretation of “what in-game events do you like” and “what do you think of the story,” but I think the latter is more fun and has more meat on the bone.

So! First of all, I am absolutely a story gremlin. I absolutely got into SWTOR primarily for the story and whatever it is or isn’t as a MMO is whatever it is or isn’t. That said, I don’t know why I didn’t expect it to grip me and sink into any little porous opening in my being that it could find, but I’ve been playing for over a year now and it has… done that. I think it’s safe to say that it’s taken over as my primary gaming choice by now, lol.

I have my least favorites among the class stories, for sure, but I’d agree with the consensus that, generally, they’re all good. They’re all good at something. Whatever I dislike about them is more-so down to personal tastes and preferences than jarring faults in the story.

And it’s definitely my favorite way to engage with Star Wars. I was never particularly in to Star Wars - I could enjoy it, I could leave it. I have bones to pick with its consistent dedication to binary and that’s a gripe I could agree with even inside of SWTOR. But I do love the way SWTOR engages with the universe - allows me to engage with the universe. Several of the class stories are not what I’d define as the general fare of Star Wars, or there’s ways to play them that inverse, twist, or otherwise do something cool with something that the movies might not have - that wasn’t the story the movies wanted to tell or what have you.

Trying to pin down the timeline hurts my brain. I hate math as a general rule and I dislike trying to riddle out certainties from conflicting or non-existent information when it comes to timelines, lol, but that’s not a uniquely SWTOR problem. xD

Ultimately, I started playing for the story - I’m still here because I’m invested in the story. I’m invested in my characters and the npcs and companions in a way I fell in love with in my first Bioware experiences in Dragon Age and Mass Effect. The dialogue options - particularly those that are voiced - add such. Chef’s kiss, y’know? It’s a whole different way to engage with a game  and really be a part of it when I can reflect a character’s way of thinking inside of a game like that.

Star Wars as a whole has always been a sort of odd relationship for me in that I have plenty of bigger gripes with what it does or how it does overall, but the universe is full of such potential. I still love some of the potential, some of the pieces of it. I am eager to see what comes of the saboteur options that started with Jedi Under Siege - my main being an Imperial Agent that took the SIS route definitely factors into that, lol.

Something about how the story is set up and how it plays has just… really got me. To describe it kind of feels almost diminishing and it’s difficult, but, in short, I guess I’ve loved the way I can engage with it and the way I can return to it. The many, many possibilities packed into just the class stories alone is so much to explore and it’s so, so fun to get into a character’s headspace and really figure out how that affects everything they see and take forward with them into the expansion content. It’s changes and nuance I can reflect as well as expand upon in writing or headcanons or what have you and it’s just… been a whole lot of fun. Whatever does come of it, I think I’ve found another one of those pieces of media, the kind of ocs that’ll stick with me for years to come and that will always be some part of me and what brings me joy to remember.

Anyway: my favorite of the in-game events that I’ve done so far is Bounty Contracts Week. I have fun with the intro and it’s a nice simple daily rotation.