#Dark Side Hssiss | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

waiting-for-ciena-ree · 5 years ago

Text

"Parasite" Force Bond Theory

How does the Exile survive Kreia's death at the end of KotOR 2? Throughout the game, the story reinforces the idea that Kreia and the Exile's force bond is so strong that if one of them dies, then so will the other. Astonishingly, after being able to ask each Jedi Master about this problem, the player doesn't even have the option to bring it up to Kreia at the end, when it finally matters. How do we make sense of Kreia's death and the Exile's survival?

I have a personal theory, which comes from trying to understand another of Kreia's deaths: how did Kreia survive being a corpse in a morgue at the beginning of KotOR 2?

This overlooked "death" provides the key to my theory, which is that Kreia functionally died at the beginning of the game when Darth Sion attacked the Ebon Hawk, but she "survived" by attaching her soul to the Exile's. Essentially, Kreia became a parasite, and the Exile became her host. To me, this explains why Kreia and the Exile's force bond is uniquely strong; they are sharing one soul. It also explains why the Exile survives in the end; instead of killing Kreia with a final blow, the Exile simply commands her to "rest now" or "die now," and then Kreia dies of her own volition. Ultimately, all that needed to happen was for Kreia to let go. As a parasite clutching to the Exile's soul, Kreia could not possibly live without that bond, but she could choose to free her host. As the host, the Exile could not forcibly remove the bond, but they could survive losing it.

I'm fond of this theory because I think it's a natural reading of what the game shows us, and because it fits perfectly with how I view Kreia's character and the story's themes. By all rights, Kreia ought to be dead from the start. Both T3-M4 and the Exile identify her as a dead body. But through sheer stubborn will, Kreia clings to life for the sake of teaching the Exile. Furthermore, introducing Kreia as somebody "left for dead" parallels the reading that Kreia was Arren Kae, one of many victims that Revan and the Exile left for dead on Malachor V. Based on that reading, there was already a natural connection between the Exile as a perpetrator and Kreia as a victim. This makes their literal bond symbolically meaningful. Considering that the Exile cut themselves off from the Force to block out the pain of Malachor's victims, it is fitting that one of those victims would return to reawaken the Force in the Exile, in order to make the Exile finally come to grips with the suffering they caused. Another way I'd describe their bond is to liken Kreia to a ghost of Malachor V who is haunting the Exile, and the Exile can't be free of this ghost until they make peace with her. I'm proud of this theory because it ties the game together really well for me.

Why I don't believe Kreia is lying about the Force Bond

Before I go any further, I'd like to address the theory that Kreia was simply lying about the strength of the Force Bond in order to make the Exile do what she wants. This theory is tempting because of its simplicity. Kreia lies about many things to achieve her goals, so wouldn't it make sense for her to lie to you in the beginning that when one of you dies, so will the other? I can't deny that Kreia is a liar, so much so that it is difficult to believe or understand anything she says, even when her words feel true.

However, I don't believe that Kreia is lying about the strength of the bond because both the story and gameplay show that the bond is uniquely and dangerously strong. Near the beginning of the story, the Exile feels the loss of Kreia's hand on Peragus II, and near the end of the story, a dark-sided Exile feels Kreia stab herself on Dantooine. Meanwhile, a light-sided Exile will listen to Kreia describe the Exile's own feelings on Malachor V in loving detail to the Jedi Council, at the story's emotional climax. Both Enclave scenes showcase how powerful the bond is. As you travel, the game mechanics also reinforce the bond's strength in a positive way; Kreia's unique "force chain" ability makes her one of the most useful companions.

There's also the matter that the game's narrative actually makes effort to disprove one of Kreia’s statements: specifically, the Dantooine Enclave scenes prove that the Jedi Council did NOT cut off the Force from the Exile in the past, even though Kreia said at the beginning that they did. Instead, Kreia's statement about the Jedi Council at the beginning becomes a half-truth, or even a kind of prophecy for the Enclave scene, since we learn that the Jedi Council would still cut off the Force from the Exile once they get the chance.

Notably, while the Enclave scene disproves Kreia's earlier statement about the Jedi Council, it reinforces her statement about the strength of their bond, especially if the Exile is dark-sided and Kreia stabs herself. Anyway, my reading is that since the narrative doesn't disprove Kreia's words about the Force Bond, and instead offers clues for its strength, this complicates the simple answer that Kreia was lying about the bond. That's why I take the danger of the Force Bond seriously, and I prefer the simple answer that she's telling the truth.

How the game describes Kreia and death

The game's language about Kreia and death is fascinating to me. I love that both T3-M4 and the Exile identify her as a dead body when they first meet her, and that the Exile even meets her in a morgue. I love that Kreia's first words to the player are, "Find what you are looking for amongst the dead?" When the Exile tells Kreia that they thought she was dead, Kreia answers, "Close to death, yes, closer than I'd like." Just how close to death did she come?

Kreia's introduction of herself is also noteworthy: "I am Kreia, and I am your rescuer -- as you are mine." We already know that Kreia rescued the Exile from the Harbinger, but how did the Exile rescue Kreia? It could be that Kreia is simply referring to how the Exile has found Kreia in the morgue and can help her escape. (It's also a reference to how Luke announces his intention to rescue Leia, Kreia's namesake.) However, it makes more sense to me if Kreia is saying that the formation of the bond literally saved Kreia's life, and that she would be dead without it.

Kreia's annoyance at the Exile looting bodies is mentioned again at Korriban, when she warns the Exile not to disturb the dead lest the Exile provokes the invisible Hssiss guardians into fights. Naturally, respecting the dead is a sensitive subject for Kreia!

Another detail I love about Kreia is her ability to cloak herself from others, to make herself so small in the Force that people like Sion, Mical, Atris, and Jedi Council members can't see her. This ability feels ghost-like to me; we expect ghosts to be able to turn invisible.

Finally, I'd like to talk about two parallel lines from Kreia about her own alleged death.

When Master Kavar sees Kreia in the Enclave, he exclaims in a shocked voice that he thought she died in the Mandalorian Wars. Kreia replies, "Died? No. Grow stronger, yes!"

During the final boss fight on Malachor V, the Exile can ask, "Are you ready to die, old woman?" And Kreia will answer, "I died long ago -- and now the circle is complete. Strike me down, and at last, end this."

These lines from Kreia are two of my favorites in the game because of how they contradict each other. In each case, Kreia takes the opposite position in order to prove her opponent wrong. To say to them, "You thought." To Kavar, who claims that she's supposed to be dead, Kreia insists that she never died; she only grew stronger! To the Exile, who threatens to kill her, Kreia instead counters that she died a long time ago, and so the Exile can't harm her any worse. Kreia's words to the Exile make me emotional because she's in a much more vulnerable position here than when she was speaking to Kavar--here, she is about to die--and yet she still speaks proudly.

They're also brilliant lines for the way they connect Kreia's story to Obi-Wan and Anakin. Like Obi-Wan, Kreia proclaims to grow stronger after death. Like both men acted as though Anakin was dead, Kreia acts as though Arren Kae is dead. Kreia also borrow's Vader's words that "the circle is complete" to describe her relationship with her student.

When Kreia says, "the circle is complete," it's meaningful that both Arren Kae and Traya were also killed in this same spot by their students. Arren Kae was "betrayed and murdered" by Revan, and Traya was "betrayed and murdered" by Nihilus and Sion. Now as Kreia, she turns the tables by betraying the Exile, but instead of killing the Exile, she forces the Exile to kill her on Malachor a final time, on Kreia's own terms. This completes the "circle" of Kreia's deaths.

But I think we can also apply "the circle is complete" to the structure of the game itself. Kreia begins the game as a corpse in a morgue, who then comes to life through her bond with the Exile. At the end of the game, Kreia returns to death, and her bond with the Exile also ends, leaving behind a wound in the Exile's soul.

Final thoughts inspired by Parasite (2019 film)

As I wrap up, I wanted to share how I thought up the name, "Parasite Theory." I had previously called my ideas the "Kreia Is Dead Theory," but I wanted to come up with a better metaphor. Then I started thinking about Parasite directed by Bong Joon-ho.

In this section, I won't talk about any important plot spoilers from Parasite, but I will reference the movie's premise and themes. If you've heard anything about Parasite, you've probably already heard about the movie's themes and the central premise, so I don't think reading this would hurt your experience watching the film. But I'll give a vague spoiler warning for Parasite anyway, in case you want to be extra careful.

Parasite asks, What does it mean to be a parasite? Specifically, it deals with how poor people and rich people develop parasitic behavior in a capitalistic society. At first, it looks as though the movie's central poor family is parasitically conning a rich family in order to survive. But later, when the movie takes a broader look at society, it's clear that a few rich families are parasites that hoard resources away from the many poor families, while also relying on their labor to fund their extravagant lifestyles.

Obviously KotOR 2 doesn't take a deep dive into capitalism, but it does explore the aftermath of war in a thoughtful way which is rare for Star Wars. Even though the central sci-fi conceit of A New Hope is the invention of a planet-killing weapon, the movie doesn't dwell on Leia's reaction to Alderaan's destruction any longer than necessary. The spectacle of war and space explosions usually take priority in Star Wars movies, since they're blockbusters. In contrast, KotOR 2 doesn't even show the initial destruction of Malachor V, and the story is all about the suffering left in its wake. It also makes the stunning decision to have the protagonist be the person who ordered the planet's destruction. In this way, while Parasite explores the parasitic relationships between the rich and the poor, I think KotOR 2 explores parasitic relationships between the perpetrators and victims in a war.

And this gets at why I feel so much sympathy for Kreia, even though she is a manipulator who does horrible things. And it is easy to characterize her as a parasite who is feeding off of the Exile's soul in order to survive. Because when you get down to it, Arren Kae was a victim of planetary destruction caused by the Exile. In their own way, the Exile was also a parasite who relied on the destruction of countless lives in order to end the Mandalorian War. Like the rich family in Parasite, the Exile fed on people's suffering, even if that suffering was so harmful to the Exile that they cut themselves off from the Force.

When Kreia re-awakens the Force in the Exile, she also forces the Exile to confront their parasitic effect on the galaxy, even at the cost of becoming a parasite herself. And the surprising aspect of this is that Kreia still loves the Exile and finds hope in them in spite of the harm they've caused, even to herself. I'd say that the central question of KotOR 2 is something like, "What does it mean to love and honor the people we kill?" A light-side run of KotOR 2 finds hopeful answers to this question, as the Exile's actions help the galaxy heal and the Jedi Order rebuild. Essentially, to love people hurt in the galaxy means putting in the hard work to help them, rather than turning away from them in apathy.

When it comes to Kreia and the Exile's parasitic relationship, one of the messiest and most complex fictional relationships I've ever seen, the Exile can bring a kind of peace of mind to Kreia, but they cannot escape the burden of killing her. In Kreia's view, this is because she "died long ago" and all there is left to do is for the Exile to finish what they started. To kill Arren Kae again, once more, but this time looking her in the eyes. For Kreia, that is the only honor from you that she wants.

#Kreia #kotor #kotor 2 #jedi exile #knights of the old republic #mine #meta #arren kae #This got very long I'm sorry aaahhh

155 notes · View notes

chaoticspacefam · 4 years ago

Text

(lovely art was done for me by @moonlitalien <3 you should totally go check out the rest of her stuff owo)

GENERAL

name : Aria Saal-Shenly | Darth Canis, Commander Canis

gender : Female

age : 38 as of 3629 BBY (physically looks about 24, thank you Force powers!)

place of birth : Onderon, Japrael system. But was only there for 2 years, spent the rest of her early years on Korriban and Dromund Kaas after her father took her from her mother to begin her apprenticeship.

spoken languages : Basic, High Sith, Twi’leki, Huttese, Mirialan, also understands but can’t speak fluently in Selkatha and Droid speak

sexual orientation : Demiromantic Pansexual

occupation : Sith Acolyte/Apprentice → Sith Inquisitor → Jedi Padawan (Sith Assassin) → Spice smuggler → Jedi Padawan again/Barsen’thor of the Jedi Order (Sith Assassin again) → co-Commander/High Council Member of the Eternal Alliance

APPEARANCE

eye color : Dark side amber, very bright. Naturally, her eyes are heterochromic;

hair color : Raven black, with a blonde streak dyed into her fringe on the left side.

height : 5 ft 1 in, she’s tiiiiinyyy (but don’t say that to her face)

scars and burns : Quite a few. Most notably, she has a large puncture/bite mark scar (lining up pretty good with the average-sized Tuk’ata’s teeth ;)) on her throat, various smaller blaster marks and/or saber burns, particularly on her shoulders and collarbone. And finally, a very large cluster of through-and-through scar tissue stretching across almost her entire torso, and mirrored on her back.

overweight : Not really, but she is very stocky in build, so she doesn’t have an hourglass figure at all.

underweight : No

FAVORITE

color : Gunmetal grey

music genre : Doesn’t tend to listen to music much, pretty much just chills and listens to whatever Vano likes.

tv show : mostly documentaries on Sith Archaeology and artefacts, occasionally a holodrama, though she mostly watches those because her wife likes them and she just wants to spend time with her, as opposed to actually caring about the storyline.

food : hearty, warming food like stews, curries etc.

drink : alcoholic: Arkanian Sweet Milk, anything strong enough to knock you onto your ass, she likes heavy liqueour and holds hers well. Though she will drink just about anything. Non-alcoholic: partial to bantha or nerf milk, especially slightly warmed.

book : not much of a reader, but will sometimes go over ancient Sith scripts with Ni’kasi, or read through some of her father’s old archive files when she’s missing him.

HAVE THEY:

passed university : if graduating from the Sith Academy/Jedi Order counts as university, then yes.

had sex : Yes.

had sex in public : A public place, yes. In front of other people, though? nope.

gotten pregnant/gotten someone pregnant : Nope. Aria is sterile due to side effects from a blunt trauma injury in her youth (she crashed a TIE fighter and was impaled by the bulkhead. A longass soak in a kolto tank and several months of treatment and physical therapy restored most of her other physical abilities, but they couldn’t undo the damage to her reproductive system - she doesn’t mind, she never wanted kids anyways and now it just means she doesn’t have to faff with...things when she’d rather be doing the other thing ;))

kissed a boy : Yep!

kissed a girl : Yep!

gotten tattoos : Yes. Aria has red Sith tattoos along her jawline, on her chin, and around her left eye (see image above for reference!). she covers these up with a TON of makeup while she’s undercover with the Jedi, but finally stops putting the concealers on once they get to Yavin and she can confidently be herself again.

had a broken heart : Nnnnnooopeee. She’s the one that does the heartbreaking ;’)

been in love : yes! only with Vano, though. and it took her YEARS to finally admit it to herself, nevermind poor Va sjuhsgyudg XD

stayed up for longer than 24 hours : on a few occasions yes. More often during the KOTFE/ET timeline, when Valkorion starts terrorising Vano in her dreams. Aria stays up to shake her awake and bring her back down when it gets really bad :(

ARE THEY:

a virgin : Lol, no. (she’s a whore and she’s not even sorry)

a cuddler : If your name is Vano, yes. With everyone else, not so much.

a kisser : Absolutely! Especially with Vano, of course, but is known to be quite kissy with just about anyone, sometimes purposefully just to make them flustered and/or for a laugh, because she’s a troll like that :’D

scared easily : Ahahahahahahahahhahahahaha. No. Definitely not, this woman has nerves of steel. She’ll stare down a beast ten times her size and scream back at it and not even flinch once. That’s not to say she’s entirely fearless, she does have fears, but they’re incredibly specific and chances are you have to actually know what they are before you’ll actually be able to frighten this tiny gremlin.

jealous easily : not particularly. she can be somewhat possessive at times, but usually only with a fairly good reason (watch out, Quinn)

trustworthy : If you’re someone who has earned her genuine trust and respect, absolutely. Otherwise...don’t trust her as far as you could throw her. She’ll stab you in the back as soon as is convenient for her, especially to save her own ass (or someone she does care about)

dominant : Can be, depending on the mood (an anashamed switch *wiggles eyebrows*)

submissive : Can be, depending on the mood (an anashamed switch *wiggles eyebrows*)

in love : yes! even she was surprised by that one, but she and Vano are inseparable now.

single : Nope! Happily married and even though she might flirt sometimes (especially if it makes the recipient uncomfortable), she has no intention of following through with any of it.

RANDOM QUESTIONS

have they harmed themselves : Not on purpose, but had a glitterstim habit for a good five years when she first fled from the Sith and Jedi and has some problems with her long-term memory as a result, as well as a binge-drinking problem. She’s still a heavy drinker, but nowhere near what it used to be.

thought of suicide : surprisingly, no. she’s too stubborn for that. Aria will keep chugging on out of sheer spite.

attempted suicide : nope, even though she’s been through some bad, bad stuff and had a lot of trauma to work through, even at the worst moments of her life she was determined to poke the entire world in the eye and tell it to “go fuck itself” :’)

wanted to kill someone : Bwahahahahah absolutely. It’s...I mean it’s basically her entire job. The person in charge points at something/one and says “that one” and she’ll go do it (: She calms down a bit once she follows Vano into the Alliance and starts taking orders from her and Saarai (but only because they are more chill. If they leave her unattended and/or don’t explicitly say "DO NOT kill the thing!!” then she’s a loose cannon *whistles*)

rode a (space) horse : yes! she’s ridden various things from Uxibeasts to Tauntauns and Icetrompers, and even a Hssiss once, but her usual go-to mount is a Varactyl.

have / had a job : Yes. She was, for a time, the Barsen’thor of the Jedi, but secretly a Sith Assassin/sleeper agent who weakened the Order from the inside, until the tail end of the battle(s) on Ilum when Satele finally caught her out and threw her ass in Time Out (a.k.a jail/a Force cage) before Vano and Ni’kasi could get to her. She was eventually - somewhat begrudgingly - released and ordered to accompany Theron on his mission, as Theron didn’t trust Lana or the other Sith they were sending enough to go alone and no other Jedi would volunteer to go with him without further details. When that Sith turns out to be Vano, Aria joins up with the proto-Alliance they begin to form on Yavin and stays at Vano’s side to become a co-Commander/member of the Alliance’s High Council once it’s formed for real.

fears : she has PTSD associated with the people she killed in her younger years (most notably her mother and a certain someone else I cannot yet mention because spoilers), but her biggest fear is actually death/dying. Aria is terrified of the day the Force finally takes her and she has to face all the people she’s harmed while she was a puppet to Vitiate’s Empire.

FAMILY

sibling(s) : none in official canon, though in the Zephyrverse AU she does have quite a few half-siblings on her father’s side.

parents : Myala Thulie | (Former) Cipher Nine (non canon) (Mother, deceased), Roanan Saal | Darth Noctis (Father, deceased as of end of Sith Warrior storyline)

children : Ahahahahahahahahahaha no. Do not leave her around children, she’s an awful babysitter and would be an even worse mother. Aria will teach them to cuss like a Corellian pilot in all five languages that she knows and just generally be a very awful influence on them.

pets : the former Tuk’ata Mother, Chwûq, and her mate Taral. Once bonded to her father, but chose to attach themselves to Aria instead after his death; and a Woodland Varactyl (female) named Maeiv (pronounced “may-eev”),

I’m not gonna tag anybody cause I’m literally doing this one again because I’m bored/I needed stuff to throw into the queue for this weekend while I’m afk. If you’re reading this and you want to do it, tho, go for it!! :DD

#bold of you to assume i know what i'm queuing #swtor #star wars: the old republic #swtor OCs #OC meme #swtor oc: aria saal #tw: drugs #tw: alcoholism

8 notes · View notes

nny11writes · 5 years ago

Text

WiP - Balance to the Force

Gotta keep myself honest and on track with writing lol She’d learned a lot about Bow in the last two rotations. His name, Glimmer’s name, their long friendship, his preferred weapons, his opinion on anything he could think of. From temperature (“I know it can get chilly down here”) to drinks (“Oh no, don’t tell me you’re a kaf drinker? Tea is so much better!”) to various nicknames he wanted to call her (“Okay, I think I got it, what do you think of Hssiss? Because of the silent dark side thing? Huh? Huuuuuh? Pretty good if I say so myself!”). Bow was hell bent on either getting information or trying to drive her insane. She really didn’t know which.

#spop #she ra #Adora #Bow #Star Wars fusion #alternate universe #fanfiction #fanfic #Balance to the Force #BttF #Bow is doing his best to make Adora comfortable and happy #Even though Adora wishes he would just stop trying to talk with her #She prefers to not make pleasantries with her captors

4 notes · View notes

dgcatanisiri · 6 years ago

Text

So... Let’s see how this works. We’ll adjust the format as needed if this doesn’t work, but hey, here we go.

Welcome to DG’s Listing of Wish These DLC Existed, where I theorize, speculate, and just kinda generally throw ideas at the wall about DLCs for games I love that never happened and never will happen, but damn, I’d like to see them anyway.

Because I have ideas, I can’t get them made as mods, I don’t have time to make them into fic, and they’re never going to happen anyway, so why not put them up in a public place? After all, they’re tie ins to games I have no control over anyway, so it’s not like I’ll ever make money off of them anyway.

Our first installment takes a look at Star Wars - Knights of the Old Republic. Obviously, as this game predates the modern DLC model (there was the Yavin market, but that was maybe a grand total of ten minutes tops of content, if we’re generous), so there are some awkwardnesses involved in making DLC for this - if nothing else, when the game ends, it ends, to keep playing, you have to start a new character. On another, there’s the level cap, stopping our leveling up after hitting Level 20. As the game presently exists, that should happen after being locked into the endgame combo of the Unknown World/Star Forge, but adding more content means that cap gets hit sooner.

So understand that we’re assuming that there is the ability to play post-game and a higher level cap, as well as other quality of life style additions (in this case, probably among them are various additions from KOTOR 2, but that’s a subject for another day). I’m also willing to assume that there is content for characters (even if the respective voice actors have passed, retired, or just wouldn’t return), in the same style as modern games. The assumption here is that these DLC ideas would have been written, produced, and published during the active production cycle of the respective games.

As this is the inaugural edition, let me explain the format. There will be a name for the DLC, a brief synopsis, a reference to when this hypothetical DLC would become available/if and when it becomes unavailable (unless it’s part of a hardwired point, like the above mentioned point of no return of travelling to the Unknown World, as an example), and then an expansion/write up of the ideas going in to them. Some ideas will have more expansion than others, because I’ve just plainly put more thought into them - in a lot of cases, I wrote them down just on the basis of ‘this idea seems pretty cool,’ and then gave them more context later on.

And a further note - I reserve the right to come up with more ideas for any given game that I have already written up, naturally. I haven’t decided how I’ll handle that yet, but it’s entirely possible there will later be more ideas.

Okay, housekeeping matters out of the way, let’s get down to business!

The Yavin Excursion

Yavin 4 was the site of Sith Lord Exar Kun’s power base. In understanding more about him and his fall, the Jedi Council believe it may be able to shed light on the fall of Revan and Malak. But the secrets of the Massassi temples hold more than just the ghosts of the past, but a threat for the present...

(Available after Dantooine)

Tack this on to the existing content of the market in orbit of Yavin, I suppose. But the connection to the Tales of the Jedi comic seems like a good starting point here – investigate one Sith Lord to examine the motivations of another, find out why the first guy fell to the dark side, which will hopefully explain why the other guys did.

I see this as both a lore exercise – to offer the players more exploration of this era, considering that the Tales of the Jedi comics have been harder to come by as time as gone on, so allowing some more in depth portrayals of the time – and a chance to kind of approach the question of what drives someone to the dark side. Exar Kun fell by an overwhelming curiosity, Ulic Qel-Droma, his apprentice, fell by a desire for revenge, and later lost his connection to the Force (put a pin in that fact – we’ll be back to that come the DLC for KOTOR 2). Millennia later, Anakin Skywalker falls because of his fear of the loss of those he loves. Two of these people were redeemed, one refused to give up his power.

If anything, this would be a good chance for some foreshadowing of Bastila’s eventual fall (so perhaps this would be locked to before the Leviathan catches the Ebon Hawk), on top of asking the question that later drives KOTOR 2 – what were Revan’s motivations in turning to the dark side? Obviously, this is up in the air from a character perspective (and, honestly, so far as I care, from the player’s too, because I despise the whole “the Sith Emperor warped their minds” BS, and I’m ready and willing to disregard it, even in acknowledging The Old Republic). The first KOTOR never really focuses on the why of Revan’s fall, since Malak is the game’s big bad, and the Revan reveal is a plot twist – since this is DLC, the player would probably be expected to know it going in, so why not explore that, right?

As for what this threat is... I’m a little shakier on this. I’m thinking a Massassi warrior/beast of some kind, the same kind of Sith alchemical abomination we see in the terantatek or hssiss, only a much more powerful end boss kind of thing, a living relic of Exar Kun’s evil (given that, canonically, Exar Kun’s spirit survived to the Jedi Academy novel trilogy, he certainly can’t be the final boss), perhaps fed and kept alive by the powers of the remaining Massassi who worshipped Exar Kun as a god – in this case, looking to take advantage of the Ebon Hawk’s arrival to spread their master’s will across the galaxy and speed his return. Sith alchemy played a part in a lot of the Sith portrayals from this timeframe, and it’s kind of disappointing that KOTOR never really utilized these mutants, just had them as mindless high level bosses.

Vector

The rakghoul plague infested the lower levels of the planet of Taris. When the planet was bombed by the Sith, it managed to escape among the many refugees as well. With their experiences on Taris, facing the rakghouls, the Jedi Council sends the crew of the Ebon Hawk to investigate its spread to the planet Ralltiir – and stop the Sith from obtaining it as a weapon!

(Available after Dantooine)

The rakghouls were just kind of dropped into KOTOR with no explanation – they were a threat as a creature and as a plague in the Undercity of Taris, but no one ever spoke about what the plague’s origins were or where the rakghouls came from. And then along came the Vector mini-series of comics (hence the name for this) that put the creation of the rakghouls down to a Sith Lord, Karness Murr. Sith alchemy, the gift that keeps on giving.

But either way, considering that the rakghoul plague is something that even the Upper City of Taris was concerned about, that clearly says that it could easily have gotten off planet, especially in the panic of the evacuation. And really, with the added knowledge that this was originally Sith alchemy, it’s almost certain that some aspiring Sith would discover this and try to twist it to their advantage.

I pretty much pulled Ralltiir’s name out of a hat, primarily because it’s a fairly common named planet, but with little actually associated with it. It also makes a great place where the Republic would demand an immediate concern, because it’s a Core World and an economic hub. It’s a great place to have a plague that Republic heads would say would draw in the Ebon Hawk, whose crew had familiarity with the rakghoul plague, despite the threat of Malak and the search for the Star Maps.

I also see this as a way to give Mission and Juhani more content – Mission is a hard character for me to really justify remaining with the crew after Taris, given that she’s a teenager, I feel VERY uncomfortable taking her around on what is effectively a commando mission, while Juhani was very nearly hacked out of the game. Both of them grew up on Taris, in the lower levels of the planetary city, where the rakghouls aren’t just a distant threat. So give them this additional portrayal and focus because they’re familiar with the plague, maybe even knew some people who were infected and transformed by it.

The villain would be a Jedi-turned-Sith, someone who had turned to the Sith at some point after being a Jedi historian. A part of me wants to draw on one of the Jedi who would later show up in the Exile’s vision on Korriban, mostly because those were the Jedi we see recruited by Malak, and so less aware of Revan’s face, though that seems a touch much. Regardless, they’d previously acted as a historian, and is driven by the potential power of the rakghoul plague – Muur’s talisman is lost by this point (again, see the comics), but the rakghouls themselves remain, and, while I’m ignoring the whole “the Sith Emperor did it” thing with Revan, I also like the concept of the rakghouls evolving into the nekghouls, gaining sentience.

This is also a way to add a little bit more of a question to the results – do these evolved rakghouls deserve the consideration of being considered more than mindless beasts? Are they at all a continuation of the person they once were? Or are they just violent creatures that need to be put down? Is the guy trying to control them being corrupted by the dark side, or was he always evil?

So the central question here would be asking “what makes a monster?” Is it the mindless savagery of beasts, or the knowing cruelty of intelligent beings, and where is that line?

Sleheyron

The volcanic world of Sleheyron holds a Star Map. The Ebon Hawk and her crew set out to discover the secrets hidden there, but must be cautious, for the planet also holds a group of Darth Malak’s most powerful apprentices, who have, in their isolation from their leader, created their own plan for the fall of the Republic...

(Available after Dantooine)

Sleheyron was planned to be part of the hunt for the Star Maps – six environments are described in the Rakatan ruin on Dantooine, the life-giving worlds (oceanic – Manaan, grassland – Dantooine, arboreal – Kashyyyk) and death-giving worlds (desert – Tatooine, volcanic, barren – Korriban). Sleheyron was the volcanic world, but got cut for time, early enough that there really wasn’t a lot of material that made it out, with the planet just becoming part of Yuthura Ban’s back story. So, hey, free reign to develop something here.

Honestly, one of my big questions is, if Malak was with Revan as they travelled the worlds to find the Star Maps, why doesn’t he do something about the fact that these locations led to the big secret weapon that gives the Sith Empire its power and forces? Wouldn’t he have thought that maybe some form of guard or another would be a good idea? Sure, the Korriban one was guarded by virtue of being in the tomb of Naga Sadow, but the others? Here, we get a chance to have a group of Sith having taken control of this planet where there is a Star Map that can add to what our heroes have assembled (but, being DLC, this isn’t required to take on). They’re specifically there to guard the Map.

This becomes a bit of a game of cat and mouse – how to act before the Sith apprentices (probably former Jedi themselves) can find them, capture or kill them, hand them off to Malak. (Probably also means that this should be a later stage planet to visit, but hey, player choice of direction, right?) How do these Jedi move around a planet while the people in charge are out to get them? Draw on the mechanic from KOTOR 2, where the people on Dantooine recognize if the Exile goes there while a lightsaber is equipped, maybe.

Actually, I’d like to see some mechanic that tracks how much the player uses the Force while wandering around – the more they use the Force, or the more powerful the Force effects they use, the more likely they are to summon Sith execution squads or something. Sort of like KOTOR 2 and Nar Shaddaa, where the Exile’s actions drew the attention of the Exchange and Visquis, only in reverse – the player and company need to avoid catching the attention of the Sith until they’ve raised a rebellion against the Sith overlords, or at least gained enough public goodwill that the Sith can’t just openly take them away and execute them, something like that.

I like this idea because it allows an opportunity to play more with non-violent approaches, alternatives that aren’t “murder everyone because combat gives more experience!” Here, the idea is that you WANT to fly under the radar, avoid combat. And, if combat happens, you also have incentive to not use the lightsaber for a stretch – gives players a reason to put points into blasters or non-lightsaber melee combat, because I don’t know about anyone else, but the second I get a lightsaber in these games, I don’t ever use a different weapon. Here, the player is in the position of HAVING to switch up their play style, or, if they don’t, have to be that much more cautious in their actions here. This is a story piece that hinges on what you do with your words.

The ultimate confrontation with the Sith and the Star Map, in my mind, takes place in a cavern of an active volcano (or maybe one that has been dormant, but, because what’s the Sith without random acts of evilly evil, they’re managing to coax back to life). Here’s where there’s a pretty big question in the construction of this DLC – are we working in the confines of the game engine of the time or with newer, more modern systems? Cuz I’d kinda like something that took place within the volcanic areas of the planet, given that’s what the planet is described as. But I don’t think that KOTOR’s original engine would really be able to explore that to its fullest, given the limitations on it. My big idea would be to have the climax of the planet’s arc have the threat of a volcanic eruption, potentially with the base of operations for these Sith being flooded by lava.

If that is an engine limit... I really have no idea what the alternative would be, but, hey, since this is pie in the sky as it is, why not call for the engine advancement that lets it be a thing, where we have to outrun a lava flow or something.

Echoes of the Past

The strike team that fought Revan is being targeted by Malak’s assassins. The crew of the Ebon Hawk take a journey to the graveyard of the attack on Revan’s ship, the battle that led to the defeat of the dark lord. But the dead don’t rest easy, especially amongst the ruins of the Sith Lord’s vessel...

(Available after the Leviathan)

The strike team that captured Revan is kinda the forgotten element of the game as is. This is a team, and yet we only hear about Bastila’s involvement. Which, sure, she is the member on our squad, she does have the Force Bond with Revan, but... Who were the others? Where have they been during the war?

And it seems like Malak would think of them as a threat period – they were the Jedi who were there to face off against Revan, the Jedi thought they’d have a chance against this great Sith Lord, the leader of the Sith forces of the time. But Bastila is the only one the game ever concerns itself with, and doesn’t even mention if the others lived, who they were, why they were chosen... None of that.

So here we get to explore them. The added bonus is that I see this as a post-Leviathan mission, one that we play with full awareness of our player character’s identity. How much of that awareness we pass on is one thing, and it really allows us to explore the idea “who was Revan before, who is Revan now?” Because that’s going to come into play when dealing with the people who were at one point sent in to kill Revan – sent to kill us, the player character.

I also like the set piece idea of a graveyard of ships, where the characters are walking through the husks of dead vessels – the Harbinger sequence in KOTOR 2 is still a favorite of mine. Granted, this would probably be a bit of a conceptual retread of that part of that game, but hey, why not get some variation of the same old gameplay, right? Plus, it’s different here for the fact that this will have some personal connection to Revan – this was their ship. Did they consider it a home? Just a place?

That leads to the bigger plot element, though. These Jedi know Revan as a threat. They’re going to be suspicious of Revan the whole way through – “are you the Jedi the Council thought you to have become, or are you the Sith we were once sent to kill?” Like I’m sorta thinking this is a case where we’d get these teammates as companions proper now that I’m considering this in detail, and this all builds to the main confrontation. Like we wouldn’t take our Ebon Hawk buddies on this one, but two of these guys.

That confrontation would involve the assassins being revealed to be loyalists to Darth Revan, with their mission having begun with attempting to avenge their fallen Lord, but now, with Revan returned to them, having tested their skill over the course of their luring Revan back to them, they are willing to take up their banner once more, leading to the choice – be Revan, the Sith Lord, or Revan, the Prodigal Knight.

And yes, I know, this is the same thing we see with Bastila later. In some ways, that’s the point. Choosing the light or the dark is not one you make once and are one that path forever. It is a constant, repeated choice, one that must be made, again and again. It’s something that has to been affirmed and reaffirmed, because it will always come up again. Here, it’s just “we offer you power and loyal servants,” while Bastila has the offer of their Force bond – hell, if this were real DLC, I’d say patch in some element to the endgame of Bastila trying to use their bond to lure Revan over to her side on top of things.

What Remains

Darth Malak’s assault on Dantooine was meant to destroy the Jedi. The Ebon Hawk is the one ship that might be able to break the Sith blockade and rescue the people trapped behind their lines, as well as recover irreplaceable Jedi artifacts hidden away at the enclave. And Revan has a need to confront the Jedi Council...

(Available after Leviathan)

This one has always been in my mind as something that, in many ways, we needed to see happen. I look at this as being the necessary confrontation with the Jedi Masters that we need, because they’re using Revan. Revan was reprogrammed to be their weapon against the Sith, and what exactly were they going to do if and when the war was over and they’d no longer had need of Revan?

A mission to Dantooine, done by the ship that could escape the blockade of Taris, to attempt to rescue and recover the Jedi, break the people there out of the iron grip of the Sith, at first does seem somewhat at odds with the portrayal of Dantooine in KOTOR 2, but it still makes sense if you think of the first priority being to evacuate the Jedi and the relics they were saving – the Jedi become the reason that any rescue comes, not the people stuck there. The Jedi and their artifacts are prioritized over the people now under the thumb of the Sith.

Especially if the only real encounter we have is with the Jedi themselves, seeing them in the midst of their exodus, dealing with the Sith occupiers and executioners, all of whom would have once had friends here – I see this also including a Republic military outpost to Dantooine prior to the attack there, because there honestly should have been one anyway (this I chalk up as much to the more limited engine of the game as anything else), and that providing some extra characters to events, which makes it all the more devastating having their former comrades in arms now there to kill them.

As much as this is about confronting the Jedi for the way that they intended to use Revan, this is also an exploration of the divide of Republic and Sith, that those now calling themselves Sith were once the best and brightest of the Republic. Yes, the Jedi failed to come to the aid of the Republic in the midst of the war, but that doesn’t explain the violence these former soldiers engage in against their own people. What made the rank and file Sith soldier agree to this?

That examination of motivation would, I feel, be a part of why the resulting confrontation with the Jedi would matter so much – what drove Revan? What drove the Sith? What drove the Jedi? Because they mindwiped Revan and implanted them with a personality to use them as a weapon. They didn’t “turn an enemy to their cause.” They violated Revan in an effort to use them. When the war was over, what did they really think would happen?

Specifically, we need to confront Zhar, who, given Kreia’s utter disdain for him in KOTOR 2, I get the impression that he was the major proponent of this idea. His actions may have been justified as “for the greater good,” but it always seems like the greatest of morally questionable actions are justified with those words. Do we confront him with rage, forgiveness, or... something else? Because this is a case where I can see both condemning him to death and condemning him to live as a punishment. I could even see this being a case of him bowing to Revan’s judgment, and no option having a light side/dark side shift, because this isn’t about the Force. This is about justice.

Whether or not the Jedi admit it, a life was taken the day they implanted a personality into Revan’s body. The Jedi need to be called out and recognize that they do not have clean hands after what they’ve done.

Revan’s Shadow

Although Revan’s legacy, the Star Forge and the Sith army, have been defeated, there are still questions of Revan’s journey. There was more to it than Star Maps. The crew of the Ebon Hawk reunite on the planet Belkadan to find out more of the Rakatan Empire, and its ties to the dark side of the Force. And along the way, Revan will find more of their lost past...

(Post-Game)

The fact is, we get very little of Revan in the game proper, little about who they were as a person before the fall. This is conceptually to hide the fact that the player IS Revan, of course, but... It creates a lot of little issues for me – I mean, like half of these prospective DLCs are about expanding something of Revan’s motives and past. Obviously, this is a blank slate for the player, because they wanted to leave this open for us to decide, but they DID make a few definitions of who Revan was with the existing content, with the case of the Star Map on Kashyyyk.

And for me, personal identity is a big lingering question for this character – again, I’m choosing to ignore the handling of Revan as a character in The Old Republic, and I’m gonna include the tie-in novel in that, so no one is allowed to say “the novel said [x]!”

This is someone whose entire concept of who they are is in question once they learn that they are a constructed self, created by the Jedi Council as a weapon. Who ARE they? Who have they chosen to be, and, if they could reclaim the parts of themselves that they lost with the Jedi’s mind wipe, would they? Obviously, there’s no time in the main plot to focus on these questions, but I feel like this would eat at them afterwards, leading them to having to find answers. And what kind of friends would the others be if they let Revan do this alone?

I picked Belkadan pretty much because it’s an out of the way planet that has been identified as part of the Rakata’s Infinite Empire, so it made as much sense as any planet to be the site of this. I mean, the involvement of the Infinite Empire is certainly a good option for a place that questions who Revan is.

This would be a place where Revan had gone, after the Mandalorian Wars, a place where they were trying to connect to the Force, to understand the questions – why did the Jedi Council believe they shouldn’t be involved in an existential threat? Why is Revan drawn to these Star Maps and the destination they point to? What awaits them if they go, and what will change about them? What answers are to be found in asking an energy field that can offer no direct response?

Obviously, I’m thinking in terms of finding recordings of Revan, so requiring a voice for Revan – Rino Romano did the little soundbites when male Revan interacts with things, while I don’t know who did the voice bites for female Revan, so they’d be options, or new VA’s altogether. While part of me does want to go forward and make Revan a fully voiced protagonist (because I’m just used to that nowadays), I could accept this as being something only for old!Revan, not present!Revan.

The idea is simply to explore the driving motivations of Revan and decide plainly who Revan wants to be now. I kinda see the ending reach a point of ‘hey, you can reclaim your old memories, you can decide what personality is dominant, what do you want?’ and Revan being able to choose who they will be from here on out.

This is also a good place to require at least Bastila and Carth. Obviously I’m kinda leaning more into the light side ending for this, but... Well, the dark side endings tend to be untenable for future content anyway – Revan as the reclaimed Sith Lord, leading the army against the Republic was never really a viable future, because the Republic had to survive. So yeah, we’re gonna take the easy route and assume light side here. So Bastila and Carth, as Revan romances, would also have a contribution to make, building on the questions of “I’m in love with the person who was Darth Revan, can I accept this?” Like I said, a lot of questions that the game sidestepped, and this one matters for the sake of the relationship being able to continue after the ending of the game.

The Rakatan Prize

The Unknown World – Rakata Prime, Lehon – has become a subject of a great many conversations. Now that the Star Forge is gone, the planet is accessible, and many are eager to investigate its mysteries and forgotten technology. Having had firsthand experience, the Republic has asked the crew of the Ebon Hawk to return...

(Post-Game)

And then, there’s the Rakata. Not that Star Wars isn’t full of ancient empires that rose and fell millennia ago, but this was KOTOR’s contribution. And really, they’re almost superfluous – hell, if the Unknown World were rewritten so that the Rakata had gone extinct, the only thing that really would be necessary would be finding a way into the temple. I kinda think that would even tighten things up a little, especially given how often I’ve hit the level cap before meeting the Council of Elders.

The Rakata are a mystery, and the idea here is to investigate that. Build up the whole element of the Rakata having lost their connection to the Force, and the fact that they’re trying to explore this (because we’re assuming light side against here and that the Elders survived, including the scientists investigating this).

Because this is one of those things that stands out in Star Wars lore, when beings are stripped of their Force connections. Ulic Qel-Droma, the Exile, this is something that is traditionally a case of an individual, not a species.

We also have the remains of a galactic empire to examine here. If a species once ruled the galaxy, it’s inevitable that there are those who would see that empire be reborn. The threat of this DLC becomes this group who aspire to reconquer the galaxy using the mind transfer technology that puts the Rakatan prisoner in that white space box that would allow them to trap the minds of Jedi and other Force users to take their bodies and use them to go forth and conquer the galaxy.

Ultimately, the question’s going to be whether or not to restore their connection to the Force – do the Rakata, a race of dominators of the galaxy, whose humbling by the forces of nature has not managed to truly change them, deserve a second chance, or should they have their attempt to restore their own connections to the Force wiped out, leaving them vulnerable to an inevitable extinction?

Because this is one of the big things with Revan, the idea of redemption, change, second chances. Does Revan extend this chance to these people, people who clearly have more than a few members who have no interest in peaceful coexistence? But if not, do they deserve to be condemned to extinction?

And, as a bonus...

Romance Content – Bisexual Carth, Bisexual Bastila, Gay Canderous, extended Juhani romance

Because Carth and Bastila should be bisexual, and Juhani’s romance deserves to be more proper. Meanwhile, Canderous should totally be an option as well, and yeah, I’m gonna be selfish here and say that he should be gay, rather than bi (because, again, I’m ignoring the novel, there is no wife). Because this means that there’s a favoring for same-sex romances, and that never happens. My list, my way. Star Wars is gay culture.

#dg rambles #dg talks video games #dg's hypothetical dlc #knights of the old republic #kotor

13 notes · View notes

the-overanalyzer · 6 years ago

Text

the dark side hssiss is on cartel market, and at this point i might as well just get a lower back tattoo that says “whale” because we all know how this is gonna end

#swtor #all that's left is the tuk'ata comp #and then my sith toon aesthetic will be complete

1 note · View note

pandoraspocksao3 · 6 years ago

Link

Chapters: 11/13 Fandom: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Sequel Trilogy Rating: Explicit Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings Relationships: Kylo Ren/Rey Characters: Rey (Star Wars), Kylo Ren Additional Tags: Mental Coercion, Abduction, Blood and Injury, Violence, Eventual Sex, Everything’s erotic, So Wrong It's Right, Stockholm-y, Non-Consensual Oral Sex, Loss of Virginity, Loss of Innocence, Biting, Non-Consensual Touching, Black.Leather.Gloves., Come to the dark side, You Know You WANT To, So Many Awakenings, Bit of a Burn, Inappropriate Use of the Force, Initiation Takes Time, Hate to Love, Death and the Maiden, Wine from Hoth, Not a mispell, Hssiss attack, Just an erotic trip across the galaxy, Dominant Kylo Ren, Submissive Rey (Star Wars), Forbidden Fruit, Extremely Dubious Consent, Aaaand we have consent! Summary:

An exploratory sampling of the Death and the Maiden theme.

Kylo resolves to kidnap and seduce Rey. An exquisitely long, drawn-out affair...by calculated design. “The months to come found him haunting her, studying her life as if his depended on it. The girl was exquisite. In her innocence, she beckoned to him from across the galaxy, her own heady blend of dark and light inescapably fascinating. It was a dichotomy he was intimately familiar with, though her balance opposed his own; she cast a myriad wholesome light, with only a touch of shadow trailing in her wake. Observing her only served to inflame him, stoking his desire to possess her.”

Here’s a spicy one someone recommended that had me reading last night (a welcome distraction) and it’s of the bodice ripper variety but very well written. This is for 18 and older. There is no rape and won’t be (I PMd the author to check), but...note the tags and summary. If you prefer fluffier, pass on this one. If you like a more Possessive/Dominant Kylo, this is a great “bedtime read” as I like to call them! ;)

#Reylo #Reylo fanfic #death and the maiden

2 notes · View notes

webeatwritersblock · 3 years ago

Text

Star Wars Fandom Mash-up 39.72 pt. 3

The bridge of the Hssiss Bite held its collective breath. At the forward viewport, Lord Morderin stood with her hands folded into the billowing sleeves of her red-trimmed robes. Her powerful frame brought to mind the towering shrouded statues that dominated Sith architecture as often the focal decorative element. Dark sunken eyes rimmed in red gazed out from beneath her cowl, her quiet grin a flashing of razor sharp teeth.

"And there they are," she intoned as the Starshot's dramatics came into view. The ship was carrying a Sith Holocron. A prize for any of the Lords, for one very careless Lord on Korriban. Fettig's pursuit had been exposed, plans to steal the artifact passing through cryptic smuggling channels until at last plans had become motion.

Now the Starshot was making its run to escape with Fettig's treasured find. Scrambled fighters were closing in its wake, and another small ship was emerging from the Ashes of Korr. And somewhere out there, in that madness, Darkness. Morderin's grin widened.

"Shall we hail Security, my Lord?"

"NO." She spat out with disdain as Captain Reems posed the question. She raised her craggy but sculpted features as she turned half towards the crew, her tone turning airy and dismissive as she surveyed the scene once more over her shoulder. "Destroy that freighter."

The Bite fired once, a miss. Twice more, one glancing a blow. She waited, patience coming a bit more easily to her age than many of her peers. This was but a fraction of a single breath, in the scheme of things.

"Lord Morderin, security is hailing-"

The captain cut in, as firing paused.

"DESTROY that freighter!" She bellowed, the Force rippling from her robes outward, the bridge itself quaking beneath her ire. "The INCOMPETENT can WAIT."

---

"Breach in the Hanger Bay, sir,"

"I can SEE that, J8!"

"You're supposed to be watching where you're flying, CAPTAIN!"

"I -AM-!"

Captain Bwillen Coleen and Co-pilot Agenis Duris were complicated, and that made the cockpit complicated on a good day. On a day when a Sith with a lightsaber was burning his way through the rear blast doors, things were especially complicated. J8-K5 swiveled his head side to side as the man and his Twi'lek companion screamed, reached over one another, and flipped controls back and forth between them without the other's consent. A person might wonder the Starshot did not simply split itself in two. Happily, J8 was more efficient than to wonder, and kept his attention to the ship's various systems.

"Inco-"

A smallish asteroid ahead of them exploded, drowning out his warning.

"What the hell was that!?" Agenis screeched.

"I don't know," the captain replied grimly, then to the droid. "WHAT THE HELL, J8?!"

"Interdictor Class Cruiser, from behind the planet, sir. Sith Battleship."

"What kind of Sith is still flying around in a-"

The ship rocked. "WHAT THE HELL!"

"We've been hit, sir."

"Dammit. We need to get on the gun!" Bwillen screamed on the comm, "Do you HEAR ME? THE GUN!"

---

Advaeta was a tad busy stabilizing the rear deflector shield, but even as she reached for her comm to say so, something came over her.

The gun. Only your weapons will save you, now.

She needed to get to the Starshot's rear cannon at the back of her engineering deck, but like the rest of the ship's compartments, it was presently sealed behind a blast door.

Unseal it.

Her claws smashed into the control panel before she had half-formed the thought, wrenching holes that loosened it away from the wall. Feverishly but efficiently she reached in, bore pokes and prods and shocks in her single-minded focus.

Get to the gun, NOW.

The door slid open, and she gawked at the array of ships gathering behind them, at the looming battle cruiser in the distance lobbing shot after calculating shot. But the captain was warned by the glancing blow, and the Starshot veered dramatically along its course.

Those fighters will close before she kills us. TAKE them.

Slaves didnt get to fire guns. Bin Jaesuk had been very strict about keeping her from the ship's weapons systems, but as she settled into the chair she found she knew exactly what to do. The gun blazed to life, and the smuggling vessel's modified cannon was a rapid shot on a sensitive swivel. The sith fighters seemed slow and ponderous next to her aim, and the nearest two erupted like stars in a moment.

In the wake of their debris, another ship appeared in the targetting port.

An Ocula.

No, a Skybolt. The enemy.

Enemy?

She wasn't sure what she was looking at, where the other ship had come from, what it wanted. All she knew was that she had to-

DESTROY it.

She fired.

---

"What's he doing, back there?"

Bwillen frowned at the rear cameras, where the Sith who had boarded his ship, killed his engineer, and burned his way through the hanger bay blast doors (that Bin Jaesuk had spent his life to seal) had seemingly decided to abandon his advance to just...chill out on the floor.

"Is he...praying?" Agenis wondered, her lekku slithering over her shoulder as she gave her head a slow shake.

"I believe it's some form of meditation, sir."

---

A willing...and ABLE mind.

Naraka seethed with vindictive satisfaction. The ship was barred from -him-, but he would still have the holocron, and before he was done, Morderin's head to go with it.

But first, there were Jedi scum to deal with.

0 notes

askshivanulegacy · 4 years ago

Note

There are definitely animals inherently associated with the Force and even the Dark Side of the Force ... Light Side is much less explicit, as associations tend to be either "the Force" or "the Dark Side."

As an example, vornskrs hunt using the Force, and ysalamiri evolved to create Force-nullifying bubbles to hide from them. There's no light or dark side association, just animals being animals.

Sithspawn or Sith warbeasts are creatures created (or warped beyond recognition) by the Sith via the Dark Side. These are inherently Dark Sided, but only by virtue of extreme Dark Side corruption. You can search Wookiepedia for more (as well as specific "species" of sithspawn, like the tarentatek and tuk'ata). Other dark side creatures, while not intentionally created, were created over time just by living in an area steeped in the Dark Side, essentially becoming a Dark Sided species, like the Hssiss. You can assume such a thing can occur to any species, if you want to create your own. All the above applies to intelligent species, too!

This is a good reference for Force-sensitive creatures: https://starwars.fandom.com/wiki/Category:Force-sensitive_creatures.

Hey! I was wondering if you know of any animals in the star wars universe that have a connection to or represent the darkside like Morai by example. Although I believe that's solely because of the daughter and as far as I know there's no animal connected to the son... Maybe you know more? Thank you!

Hi! As far as I know, no, no animals are specifically tied to the light/the dark in an inherent way. Even Morai is about that specific convor, rather than the species. Though, other Jedi do have special connections to convors as well, in Dooku: Jedi Lost in their Animal Kinship/Beast Control classes. Though, in the Mortis arc, the Son does transform into a bat-like creature, which I’m not sure if it has a specific name? (SW.com’s “Overlords” gallery calls it a gargoyle form!)

It’d be the parallel to the Daughter’s griffin form, rather than her connection with a convor, though. On the Jedi Temple on Lothal, which one presumes was made long before the events of Mortis, she’s shown with Morai, while the Father and Son have no associated creatures:

I think, in Star Wars, there are probably animals that tend to have a more common connection with the Force, like the Lothwolves seem very unique, given their being in tune with hyperspace and the Force in some strange mix, or how the Sith probably used specific animals regularly (Dooku: Jedi Lost says there were “Sith warbeasts”, but it doesn’t elaborate on if that’s a specific animal they bred or just any animal they forced under their control), but there’s no species that are inherently connected to the light or the dark, just like no person is inherently connected to the light or the dark. Everyone has the potential for both in them, it’s their circumstances and choices that decide it for them. (Hopefully that at least covers what is/isn’t known, but if anyone else has info from canon feel freel to add in! I’m sure Legends probably has animals that were inherently light/dark or associated with the dark, but that’s probably a separate continuity from Rebels? Though, that might be useful, too!)

#Star wars #Star wars creatures

72 notes · View notes

greyias · 7 years ago

Note

What kind of gift do you think Theron would give to her as an anniversary gift and vice versa? :D

(I, uh, may have gotten a little out of hand with this one. Whoops.)

Theron Shan considers himself one of the greatest spies the Republic has ever seen. He’s snuck into so many places that the Empire was so convinced were locked up tight – and managed to acquire intel and items no one thought possible. Hell, he even managed to acquire a Black Cipher right out from under their noses and they never realized it. So when he looks at the calendar, and suddenly realizes it’s a year to the day when he first said “this feels like destiny” to a certain Jedi Knight, he reacts completely appropriately and just like the adult he was raised to be.

Which is to say, he freaks the kriff out.

A year? It’s been a whole year? Time is supposed to pass by much slower, and when did Theron Shan, walking SIS disaster cleverly disguised as a human being actually form a long-lasting relationship? Crap, he doesn’t know what to do. What does the HoloNet say? Maybe he can find a manual somewhere. Wait, the traditional first year anniversary gift is flimsi? What does that even mean? Is he supposed to write something on a sheet and just hand it to her? That’s called a letter and he sucks at those too. Okay, the HoloNet is officially useless – it’s fine. It’s fine, he just has to step up his game. Maybe if he can remove every single calendar on base. That will work. Can’t have an anniversary if there’s no calendar, right?

Okay, that’s probably the reaction in the wrong direction. He’s an adult, he can do this. So, he sets off to find the person who seems to be in the most successful, stable relationship. Unfortunately that person is Hylo Visz, and she has mysteriously disappeared. But her other half is there, and out of desperation Theron asks what an appropriate anniversary present would be, and immediately regrets it when the conman grins.

“Have you thought about–?”

“If the next words out of your mouth are ’Skytrooper Helmet’ just keep in mind that I know how to kill someone without attracting any suspicion.”

“Well, then I’ve got nothing.”

Theron starts to wonder about the long-term chances of success in the Alliance if one of the resident experts on adult relationships is Gault Rennow. They probably should all just pack up and go home now. He passes by Koth and Lana who ask what’s wrong. Theron Shan - Super Spy - Worst Sabaac Face ever. He briefly considers asking for their advice – they’re almost reasonable, mature, sensible people – and then remembers that Koth will still on occasion shove random objects off counters if someone flirts with Lana. Yeah, they’re out. He walks away without a word.

“Anniversary gift?” Jorgan asks. “I don’t know, our go-to gift in Havoc Squad was always ammo. Nothing says ‘I love you’ like making sure you can easily blow away an enemy target from fifty meters.”

Theron’s eyes widen at the mention of the ‘L’ word, makes a strangling noise, and just slips away to the sound of the Cathar’s deep chuckle.

“Oh, a token of affection for your paramour! What a delightful tradition! Why, I’m honored that you would bring me in on such an occasion, Agent Shan. This reminds me of when I was still working for the Hutt Cartel, and Bareesh needed–Theron, where are you going? I have just the thing that would work. If you just gave it a moment’s consideration, then you would realize that the Commander would love a time-released capsule of��well now that’s just rude. Why ask for my advice and then leave while I’m talking? Very well, I must return to creation.”

“For my cyar’ika, I always started the night with an ori'skraan. Then after the hetikles, I would present her a dinui. Last one was the teeth of a hssiss.” Torian recites the old ritual with a fond, faraway look in his eye.

“Uh. Huh.” Theron nods. “So, what you’re saying is… I should go slay a dark side dragon?”

“Kell drake might be more your speed.”

Theron almost proudly declares that he can kill a hellish lizard steeped in the dark side of the Force if he really wants to, but stops himself just in time. “Kind of running low on time to go big game hunting.”

“Get her a pretty ruus then.” Torian shrugs. “And yourself a day planner so you don’t forget again.”

“Did someone say planner?”

“No, Vette, no!”

Theron starts to run, but the Twi’lek easily keeps pace.

“Oh, wait! Did I hear you right? (Of course I did, I was eavesdropping!) it’s your anniversary with the Commander. Ooh! I could plan a party!”

“It’s in a few hours, Vette.”

“I’m great at last minute shindigs!”

“I was actually thinking something a little more intimate.”

“Ew, I don’t want to hear about that!”

“Well, I wasn’t inviting you!”

“Yeah, the Commander doesn’t really seem like she’d be into that anyway. Then again, it’s always the quiet ones–”

This is why he doesn’t ask people for help. Or anything. After he finally manages to convince Vette, that no, he does not want to plan a surprise orgy for the Commander (and he’s a little perturbed she latched onto that idea so quickly and ran with it), he finally manages to get some peace at a lone data terminal in the War Room. He’s most definitely not burying his face into his arms as he tries to think of anything that might make sense. None of the suggestions from today work for Grey in the slightest. She’s a Jedi, and doesn’t need ammo. Although now he’s wondering if Jorgan was just yanking his chain. Damn Cathar. And aside from… uh, whatever else Torian was suggesting, Theron is certain if he shows up with the carcass of some animal she might burst into tears, or you know, something less dramatic but still just as sad. And shiny rocks and jewels also aren’t exactly her thing. (No, because that would be easy.)

She likes the souvenir skyshell trinket he picked up at a market for five credits because it matched her eyes. And traditional Dantooine tea he bought once because he thought it might remind her of home. Or the fact that she still wears that random scrap of leatheris he gave her as a “friendship bracelet” on Manaan to shut her up about it. And when he recalls that he’s wondering when he’ll be nominated for Boyfriend of the Year Award.

Anytime he sees something that he thinks she might like, he always just, you know, gives it to her. No point in hanging on to it for a specific date. Not that those piddly trinkets really would be appropriate for this kind of thing. Then again, exactly what is the appropriate gift to say “thanks for putting up with me for a whole year”? Stars, he’s horrible at this.

He’s just about to resign himself to the fact that he’s about to blunder into a major milestone without anything to show for it, when he feels a slight nudge at his knee. He lifts his head and T7-01 lets a soft questioning trill.

“No, no, I’m fine, buddy.”

The next series of beeps sound very doubtful of that.

“Okay, yes, maybe it is something. But it’s not Alliance business. Nothing to worry over.”

The astromech’s next whistle is long, and has a knowing air about it.

“Yeah, it’s, about her… it’s just, kind of a special occasion. And I’m at a loss. You would think I’d know her well enough to think of something to get her. Something nice, special, but my mind just keeps going blank. She’s just, so, well, y’know…”

If Theron didn’t know any better, he would think the sharp series of beeps are meant to be the droid equivalent of laughter. Great, just great, he’s now being laughed at by an astromech. Teeseven gets over whatever passes for digital humor and twirls around excitedly.

“Well… I suppose you have known her the longest. Yeah, I’ll take any suggestion at this point. What do you have in mind?”

It’s a long series of trills, beeps, and whirls before Theron starts to get an idea of where the little guy is going with all of that, and he can’t help but smile.

“You’re a genius.”

“Well, there you are,” Theron says a little accusatory to a harried Hylo Visz as he finally strolls up to the Commander’s quarters. Technically they’re more or less his too at this point, he just hasn’t moved the last of his stuff over. Somehow that all seems so official.

“Let me guess,” the Mirialan says, “you needed help picking out an anniversary gift. On the day of your anniversary.”

“How’d you guess?”

“Well, first I’ve met you.”

“Okay, fair enough. And second?”

“Let’s just say, you two deserve each other more than anyone else I’ve ever met,” the smuggler said with an exaggerated roll of her eyes. “I’m half surprised I don’t need to remind you both how to tie your shoes.”

“Well, see, that’s why I never wear anything with laces.”

“Well, at least you try to make my life easier on occasion. This is the point where I leave you two to pretend like you have the slightest clue what you’re doing.”

“We’re leading the Alliance!” Theron reminds her.

“Yeah, that’s what I’m afraid of.” She gives Theron a patronizing pat on the cheek. “Have fun.”

Considering the last time Hylo offered help in the romance department Theron wound up fighting in a Zakuulan arena in an attempt to free a bunch of slaves, he’s starting to wonder what fresh horrors lay beyond those durasteel doors. Oh well, only one way to find out.

“Did a bomb go off in here and you forget to tell me?” he asks, cautiously stepping into the room, carefully stepping over a mound of what might be ration packs. “Or is this a new decorating scheme? Balmorran Warzone from the looks of it.”

“Theron, hi,” Grey says nervously, trying to shove a large crate out of sight. “What a surprise to see you.”

“I live here.”

“Right,” she says slowly, cheeks quickly turning a lovely shade of red, “there is that.”

His eyebrow arches as he sees a small crate filled with a bunch of schmaltzy knick-knacks. Some Voss courting jewelry, a Hutt affection token, Corellian love stones, and stars, one of those annoying Tashelin serenading droids. He’s about to make some wiseacre remark, but from the haphazard way everything is stacked up he’s guessing this is a reject pile of sorts.

“So… whatcha been doing?”

“I have a confession to make,” she says with a sigh, and gives up trying to shove the crate next her out of sight. “With everything that has been going on, I… might have forgotten the significance of today until Teeseven mentioned it.”

“That sneaky little astromech,” Theron whirls around as if the little bot will be there, but the hall is completely empty. “Left me hanging all day and then pretends to swoop in like a little hero at the last minute!”

“What?” she frowns at him, and then shakes her head. “I’m sorry, I should have remembered that it was a year ago that we began…”

She flushes, trailing off as she can’t quite come up with the right words, and his innate need to tease her melts away.

“A new chapter?” he suggests helpfully.

“That works.” Her face lights up with a smile so bright it’s almost blinding. “Hylo says we’re hopeless, by the way.”

“She might be right.” He carefully navigates the minefield of several discarded and rejected gifts. “In the spirit of honesty, I kind of have spent the entire day doing something similar. Just, uh, with a little less mess.”

“I couldn’t pick a gift,” she says helplessly, “none of them seemed… right.”

Theron can’t help the quiet laugh as he pulls her into a hug. “What, am I so hard to shop for?”

“Yes,” she huffs, “you are.”“Wait… is that an entire crate of Gree nanite paste? How did Hylo even find that much?”

“I was told not to ask,” Grey says quickly, “and what do you even use that stuff for?”

“That has to cost a small fortune!”

“I’m sending it back,” she assures him. “I was afraid it was too extravagant. Giving gifts isn’t exactly a common practice among my Order, but that seemed like it might have been overboard.”

“Then why all of this?”

“Hylo was getting a little frustrated by the end of the day,” Grey shrugs lightly, “I think she was hoping to overwhelm me into choosing them all.”

“Oh? So did you pick?” he asks curiously.

She sighs. “I did, but I’m afraid it’s not much. You can have the crate of paste if you prefer.”

“Why don’t you show me it anyway?” he asks gently. “Let me decide.”

She gives him a look, like she’s expecting him to start cracking jokes, but leads them over to the table at the far end of the room where a simple set of comet-stone glasses sit inside of a box, set next to a bottle of Whyren’s Reserve. Single blend, thirty year. Very nice indeed.

Her head cocks to the side as she studies it, worrying her lip between her teeth. “It should be more personal. I thought if I could get something from Rishi where we first–”

“It’s perfect,” he interrupts, pressing a kiss to the top of her head. “You have enough to worry about. Don’t add ‘extravagant gift giving’ to it. Besides, I have all I need right here with me.”

He emphasizes his point by wrapping his arms around her, and a flush rises from her cheeks. “Are you sure?”

“Absolutely,” he says without a hint of hesitation. “Besides, you haven’t seen mine yet. This makes it look a little… sad.”

“Theron,” she says with a hint of exasperation, “I’m sure it’s very nice.”

“Yeah, but it’s not thirty year old Corellian whiskey nice.” He reaches into his pocket, pulling out a small holoprojector, starting to feel a little self-conscious. It had certainly seemed like a good idea after hearing Teeseven chatter on. “I’ll do better next year.”

That gets an arched eyebrow. “That almost sounds like a commitment.”

“It is. I’m not going anywhere.”

The flush in her cheeks darkens, and to try and distract from her reaction, she flicks on the holo. Two images flicker up side-by-side. The first is taken from a distance, of her standing side by side with his mother, and the rest of her old crew while accepting their Cross of Glory medals. The second is from her first official speech as Commander, standing tall with the rest of the senior staff ringed around her. Her fingers lightly trace all of the figures of her friends – old and new.

“Where you’ve been. Where you’re going.” It sounds lame when he says it aloud.

“Theron, this is…”

“Yeah,” he winces, “I know. I’m sorry.”

“Sorry?” She blinks up at him, and he swears there might be a slight shimmer in her eyes. “This is… I… haven’t seen their faces in so long… I was starting to forget… thank you.”

The words are soft, but the emotion laced behind them make a small lump form in his throat. Apparently he owes that sneaky little droid some thanks.

“It’s my pleasure. Always.” He manages to swallow past that small lump as he presses his lips against her forehead. “Happy anniversary.”

#swtor fanfiction #theron shan x jedi knight #Theron Shan #Jedi Knight/Hero of Tython #whoops #this turned into a fic #otp: adorkable #cracky humor that turned schmoopy at the end #oc: greyias highwind #Anonymous #swtor #fanfic #greyfic

100 notes · View notes