#I like the idea of Wynn being a Jedi

[magnetarbeam]

I've just been forced to face the fact that Legends fans are a minority and it's really depressing, so now I'm going to think about my ridiculously self-indulgent Rogue Squadron Vestara AU.

The more think about it, the more I question how in-character it actually is for her to choose to do this. If the idea is to choose her own path, it doesn't make a whole lot of sense for her to choose a path that still puts her in a specific defined command structure where she doesn't actually have much freedom. Then again, Rogue Squadron historically isn't known for being particularly disciplined.

I guess if all she's trying to do is find herself. In canon we don't get to see her piloting much, but as far as I remember she enjoys the first flight she takes in Ship. I don't think it's too much of a stretch for her to want to exercise her piloting skill more, especially since the Lost Tribe don't really seem to use any fighters, and the helms of those shitty old Corporate Sector frigates would more likely be reserved for at least Sabers.

She enjoys flying, it's not a skill she's had much of a chance to use - at least not in regular ships - and she's trying to explore herself in new ways and stuff. I think it makes enough sense.

In terms of strict command structures, I think it would make a lot of difference for her that in a regular military, everyone isn't constantly plotting to stab each other in the back.

And, like, at this point Syal's more familiar with treason and knowing when you need to defy the command structure than Wedge was at her age. All that LotF angst has to have been good for something, and I've already talked about some of my headcanons for what happened to her after she ended up among the Jedi in Fury.

I'm operating under the vague assumption that this story is supposed to be continuitous (if that's even a word) to Guiding Star, which is the theoretical story that details the events that Syal and Wedge and Tycho and Gavin went through while Revelation but mostly Invincible happened. An important part of her character in LotF is that by Fury, she's come to question her own judgement as much as she questions her superiors, and I haven't planned it very much, but I assume part of her arc in Guiding Star involves her resolving that, and that she now believes she has enough experience to determine for herself whether the current government is or isn't worth spending lives for.

(Side note: 44 ABY is the year Syal turns 27, which makes her probably the same age here as Wedge is in the first X-Wing book, and I love that symmetry, trivial though it is.)

I've been thinking of it as Vestara actually joining the Rogues three or four months after FotJ (on a ten-month in-universe calendar), so by now Ves has had plenty of time to gain experience with X-Wings, and learn from most of the best pilots alive. Also, at this point, Syal's had enough time to consider Wynn Dorvan's decisions as the next Chief of State and decide the GA under him is worth spending lives for. He is a genuinely good guy, FotJ just puts him in bad situations constantly.

According to at least Luke, Daala was doing a fine job until FotJ. Syal wouldn't have agreed with Daala's actions during FotJ, but in the timeskip, at least, I think Syal would have probably continued to lead the version of the Rogues that she inherited at the end of the Second Galactic Civil War.

(Second side note: I'd like some kind of story that actually demonstrates Daala having done a good job as Chief of State.)

The other pilots on Rogue Squadron at this point are a point of much questioning.

I'm going with the idea that there was another reorganization of the squadron after the end of FotJ, to update the roster. At least half the point of Rogue Squadron is political symbolism and representation and stuff, and there are some educated guesses to be made from that.

In addition to Syal herself, a convenient addition is Zueb Zan, the Sullustan who was her gunner when she flew Alephs. That's a relationship Syal already has, and what little there is to see of him in canon makes me like him enough.

The other canon character I can think of to add here is Drathan Forge, Inyri's great-nephew who shows up briefly at the end of Outcast, when they have to blow up the ancient artifacts beneath the mines of Kessel before said artifacts blow up the planet. In that scene, Drathan claims to be a skilled pilot, and says he has provisional Academy acceptance, and that he'd have to keep his grades up for another year. So the end of FotJ is about when he'd be getting in. If this is a few months after that, I'd find it acceptable for him to get into the Rogues on the basis of skill and family history. Hells, Inyri didn't have any formal training.

Anyway, the implicitly successful diplomatic reintegration of at least the major players of the Confederation during FotJ leads to the roster including a token Bothan and also a token Commenorian. The whole Treaty of Vontor issue results in a token Klatooinian or something. Syal herself is Corellian, obviously.

Drathan, I expect, is a representative of the various corporate enterprises currently operated by Lando. I think in Outcast, Lando has a line about how he's selling to the private sector since the SGCW (maybe before that), and if I recall correctly that implies that he's potentially enabling stuff like YVH droids to end up in the hands of enemies of the Alliance.

I'd buy the Alliance having someone who's from Kessel, another one of Lando's operations, in Rogue Squadron as an attempt to convince Tendrando Arms to be more loyal to them.

Anyway, Vestara's role in this is as both a token Jedi and a token ex-Sith. She's not ready to commit to the Jedi path yet, but if she doesn't fully leave the Order and instead is still being trained by Luke on the side, they might play her up as proof that despite the Jedi Order leaving the Alliance's authority and stuff, they haven't abandoned the Alliance completely. That would be especially important in the aftermath of the end of FotJ, and how I've decided the official line of the GA is that Abeloth was an instrument of the Sith. Especially, but not necessarily, if I decide to work this plotline into Voices of the Force, where her influence stretched far beyond Coruscant.

Also, the fact that Vestara used to be a Sith is useful too. Between Abeloth and Caedus, hate for the Sith is probably the highest it's been since... I don't even know. The highest it's been in millennia, maybe. Even Palpatine, as I recall, wasn't nearly as public about it in his life as Caedus was at the end.

If they can show people a former Sith who's been redeemed, the Jedi might prevent public opinion from going so far as to approve, for example, Kesh being glassed and its mostly innocent population killed. The Alliance doesn't know where it is, so that's not an immediate concern, but it is a concern nonetheless.

That's still only seven out of twelve.

I think Vestara's new girlfriend is someone in a position of a friend to the Rogues, but not actually in their command structure, because that way it won't get weird if one of them gets promoted.

Another headcanon I have is that the age of majority in the Galactic Alliance is 14, a relic of the strategic realities of the late stages of the Vong War, so theoretically there's no rule preventing people Vestara's age from having a position here.

[silverstar15]

I posted 14,199 times in 2022

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I tagged 7,893 of my posts in 2022

Only 44% of my posts had no tags

#a dyad in the queue - 2,520 posts

#art - 1,067 posts

#star wars - 1,003 posts

#queue looks like starlight - 873 posts

#asoiaf - 608 posts

#rwby - 540 posts

#bnha - 287 posts

#arya stark - 245 posts

#lotr - 241 posts

#stranger things - 230 posts

Longest Tag: 116 characters

#the morally had the right idea but executed it in such a horrific way that you don’t want to outright side with them

My Top Posts in 2022:

#5

Freeze! ✧ ─=≡Σ((( つ•̀ω•́)つ You’re under arrest for being so lovely. Copy this message to 10 other blogs that you think are beautiful and deserve it. Keep the game going and make others feel beautiful!

Thank you !!!

2 notes - Posted June 11, 2022

#4

For the ask game, I see Ben Solo on my dash and I know it's you lollll

lol that sounds right

2 notes - Posted May 16, 2022

#3

What's your favorite star wars movie? I've realized I don't know and if I really had to guess maybe The Force Awakens or Rogue One...?

Actually it’s The Last Jedi!

I did really like both tfa and rogue one when i first saw them. but when i saw tlj i really got hooked into sw as a whole. i could gush about that movie all day 🤍

What’re your faves?

4 notes - Posted October 7, 2022

#2

ok what kind of farm do you want? animals or lots of fruits and veggies?

Ok so I’m more inclined towards having a garden but while doing my research and with how crazy expensive food is atm I would definitely have chickens, goats, and honey bees with working dogs and barn cats. Having other animals like cows, guineas, and turkeys would be awesome but that would depend on the size of the farm itself.

Lol I started rambling but yeah growing fruit/veggies would be priority.

How about you?

4 notes - Posted February 6, 2022

My #1 post of 2022

Comfort Things

Tagged by @/callthedarknessdown <3

Comfort Movie(s): Whisper of the Heart, Pride and Prejudice (2005), La Belle et la Bête (2014), Emma (2020), Matilda, & The Dark Crystal,

Comfort Food(s): Pineapple fried rice, chili beans, chocolate malt, fried apples, strawberry pie, & homemade mac n cheese.

Comfort Clothing(s): Lol any of my sweat pants / old t-shirts combo's

Comfort Song(s): Right now its the ENTIRE soundtrack in belle (2021) 😭

Comfort Book(s): Howl's moving castle by Diana Wynne Jones, The Hobbit by J. R. R. Tolkien, Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte, Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen, & The Chronicles of Narnia Series by C.S. Lewis

Comfort Game(s): TES: Oblivion, The Sims 2, Stardew Valley, Portal 2, & Fallout 3.

tagging (if you want!): @/skynapple, @/celestial-citrus, @/bluebellwren, @/celinou, @/shenzi-hemlock, @/fairytale-lights, and anyone else who wants to do this

15 notes - Posted September 26, 2022

Get your Tumblr 2022 Year in Review →

[lynns-art-blog]

Forgot to put this here since I colored it :D

[girlbossk]

2, 3, 4, 11, 14, 15, 17

i am going to have like, multiple answers for each of these because i truly cannot pick one thing when it comes to star wars. including.... 42 whole answers for #11, oh no 

2. which character do you want to be most like?

leia. i really really like leia!!!! i think it would be useful to be able to yell at people and have them listen to me. and also tenel ka djo because like... damn that girl is amazing 

3. which character are you actually most like?

gavin darklighter; i’m not entirely sure why but every time he does something i’m like “oh. me” 

4. what headcanon will you defend to the death?

ok i am not a headcanon person per se, in that i actually believe the things i say, but i have 2 ideas i have come up with which i do adore, and those are: 

- pash cracken as a fulcrum (because thats my BOY)

- oddsgiving, the whole concept of this weird corellian thanksgiving

and of course there’s the corran horn mara jade friendship which was super underutilized but it’s THERE and they are bffs who stab kyp durron together. that’s the plot of late legends no what do you mean evil jacen solo, abeloth who?

11. who is the most underrated character?

can i list 50? ok here we go. naming underrated by fandom and also by the star war itself!!!!!!!!! pash cracken, asyr sei’lar, yarael poof, yaddle, traest kre’fey, bela & krasov hara, rhysati ynr, jesmin ackbar, nien nunb, cheriss ke hanadi, momaw nadon, ben quadinaros, judder page, zerba cher’dak, chak fel, wyn fel, formbi, admiral yularen, oppo rancisis, suralinda javos, plourr ilo, xarcce huwla, koyi komad, teneniel djo, orrimaarko, wynn dorvan. every astromech droid ever who isn’t artoo, including (but not limited to): tonin, king of the droids, whistler, mynock/gate, gavin’s droid who is named JAWASWAG or TOUGHCATCH depending on where in the timeline you are (i love gavin), those droids from alphabet squadron that wyl lark befriended, and face loran’s droid VAPE who had a beer cooler inside him. also shout out to squeaky and also every gonk droid ever, despite not being astromechs. and jaina’s droid cappie from the new jedi order. and r5-d4. now back to organic beings with anni capstan, notable for inducing my first tears in the new jedi order series! ulaha kore. and we’re ending this list with some of lando’s original droid friends, vuffi raa and yvh 1-1a

whew. that is... 42 characters. not enough but whatever, i’m tired, also it is WAY too many. :) 

14. what is your favorite alien species?

ughhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh i refuse to answer this for confidentiality reasons, but a named member of this species may possibly rhyme with appear scalar

also i just remembered barabels exist so, barabels, because i do love them completely rather than just loving to make fun of them 

15. who would you like to bang?

wedge antilles

17. what is your favorite line?

oh, i could list so many favorite lines (master skywalker, there’s too many of them, what are we going to do?!) but it really just comes down to two

“look at the size of that thing!” and “it’s up there again” 

now if we aren’t talking dialogue but i can quote scenes from a book... i don’t have traitor in front of me right now and i honestly don’t want to quote it as a favorite line but like... the ganner stuff, specifically vergere talking about after he died how she saw the future in which ganner was a literal yuuzhan vong god and the vong had to fight him to get into the afterlife and all that, like, THAT passage was where i broke

oh and another favorite quote is Question Number One, “how can I hurt the vong today?” 

and again, if we’re talking passages, i can list like 5 in wedge’s gamble that would make the list for hilarity 

and AGAIN, if we’re talking passages... the extended it’s up there again scene oh my GOD

(”what is your favorite line,” you ask me. the question i actually answer is “what are your favorite star wars death scenes”) 

[hypergalaxy]

hey, for the writer asks: 1, 5 and 13?

1. of the fic you’ve written, which are you most proud of?So I’d say the one I’m most proud of is one of my kpop fics, it’s like 8 years old now, but it was for Super Junior (QMi My second fic I’m most proud of is for Marvel (Steve/Thor) which I wrote about a year ago, and after not writing for ages I got 17k of slow burn sweetness for them, and even though it wasn’t a popular fic or ship, I was pleased with how it came out!5. what inspires you to write?So many things can inspire me, tbh! But I’m one of those writers who LOVES writing, but really struggles if I don’t have the inspiration/idea to springboard off of, you know, I can’t just write for the sake of writing :(Music inspires me a lot of the time, either the tone/feeling of a song, or the lyrics, will say something to me, inspire a scene or a mood or even just a pairing. I don’t mean songfics either, but sometimes just the basic feeling or meaning of a song will inspire me to write something.Things I love inspire me! If I love a particular thing (say, Star Wars) then I’ll write an AU for the fandom I’m currently in, because I enjoy placing characters I know and love into different universes/situations and seeing what happens!Things I wish other people would write but haven’t yet will inspire me! I’ll whine and be all “why has no one written XYZ yet?” and then just sit down and do it myself, in the hopes that better writers will be like OH YEAH GREAT IDEA and I can read better fics than mine!Exploring a different aspect/scenario with a character or ship will inspire me, the need to tell a story someone hasn’t told before or tell a story in a different way, will make me want to write!And then sometimes the most ridiculous thing will inspire me. I once wrote 15k of kpop fic just because I like tall boots and wanted an excuse for someone to wear tall boots and look sexy. Actually, one half of the reason for the 32k epic Star Wars AU fic was ALSO because I love tall boots and wanted everyone to be walking around in tall sexy Jedi boots…yeah. 13. who are your favorite writers?Are we talking non-fic writers? My favourites are Tolkien, Phillip Pullman, Diana Wynne Jones, Jane Austen and China Mieville!If we’re talking fic writers, well, everyone on ao3 who writes promptis, because I love you (and am possibly tumblr following you sry >>). You guys are the best and all your great fics have been making me so happy Thank you so much for the ask, anon! It’s a lot of fun being able to talk about writing!(for this meme here)

[magnetarbeam]

Voices of the Force: Brainstorm Notes 4

For some clarification: At this point , the name Voices of the Force has come to refer, in my head, to a series of longfics that are intended to be approximately novel-length and constitute a full-scale major plot arc that follows FotJ, incorporating several different ideas I originally thought of as their own stories and may very well be written that way too. Some of the bits about Ahsoka, I already have written and posted.

The hypothetical series order I have so far, necessarily heavily abbreviated from my dedicated notes:

Relic, the first installment, opens with Vriaal II and Ahsoka joining the New Jedi Order, followed by her getting healers' orders for a few months of R&R and therapy. After that, it's three months of character interaction between Ahsoka and the various friends she makes, Jaina most of all, as well as her finding out about the Daughter's essence and some other important character developments that take place on Shedu Maad in this timeframe, such as Vestara's decision that she doesn't want to only be a Jedi and the chain of ideas that lead to her being set up to join the Rogues. Also inevitably a shitload of exposition that is me inserting my various musings on post-FotJ worldbuilding. Also some training flights in X-Wings, for some excitement.

Next is Reconstruction, which is the same time frame as Relic, and deals with events that happened in the rest of the known galaxy during that time. This includes a lot about the general political climate in the Alliance post Abeloth and Wynn's early actions as Chief of State, particularly early attempts to deal with the corporations that had come under fire for slavery after the Fountain was violated. Those actions are examined by Syal, who decides this is an Alliance worth fighting for and, after talking to Gavin, resumes her post at the head of Rogue Squadron after she left because of Daala. She immediately starts to work on the roster, and this is where she and Ves meet over holocomm. We also get the start of the Lost Tribe's contests to figure out a new leadership after Coruscant. Probably some Hapan politics too, maybe a proper introduction to Remnant Head of State Vitor Reige. The shared time frame ends with a large-scale GA fleet deployment being authorized to invade Hutt space, free the slaves, defeat their oppressors, and offer every world there representation in the Alliance and thus full sentient rights.

Shattered Glass I, II, and III cover that series of events, over maybe a year? At this point I'm just pulling numbers out of my ass as far as chronology goes. At the beginning is the first meeting of the new Rogues, and the point where Vestara starts to turn her characteristic ambition onto being the best pilot in the squadron. (I might not give her an extra romance in this version, though. Between Ben and the QPP with Ahsoka, that would possibly just be too much in her life at once.) The Jedi also send a sizeable force, led by Leia, Kyp, Jaina, and most likely another of the Masters who's an okay negotiator, since Jaina and Kyp are really only there for specific other narrative reasons I won't go into at the moment. Their objective is to ensure decent living conditions on the planets that refuse Alliance representation for whatever reason, and also to keep an eye out for any sign that the military's movements are being influenced by corporations that are trying to avoid having their shit brought to justice. In that case, the Jedi are supposed to bring the corporations' shit to justice themselves. So the other Master is Corran, maybe? I do want to keep this part a summary, but there are indeed evil corporations doing evil schemes and they're stopped by the Jedi and the non-corrupt government, and the Hutts, after 25 millennia of being a galactic power, are finally rid of their criminal empire and stuff.

[magnetarbeam]

One of the big themes I'm attempting to establish in Voices of the Force is in regards to the way power corrupts people, and how some of those people manage to retain their moral compasses in spite of that, and how most don't.

This'll hopefully permeate a lot of the political plots too - Wynn rooting out corporate corruption in the GA, the Hutts finally losing the last of their power, Tenel Ka managing to be largely benevolent to the average citizen of Hapes despite having to handle the Consortium's brutal court politics, the Empire of the Hand having made its command structures more centralized in and since the Vong War even though they didn't need to as the GA did at its formation, because the people in power in the EotH wanted more power - but the links with Mortis and Abeloth are involved too.

Starting with the GA slagging Abeloth's planet so no one else can claim the power offered by the weird artifacts there. Then, much later, as Ahsoka eventually starts to unlock the power stored in the Daughter's life force, my intention is to emphasize how since she's still part mortal, she's not immune to Darkness, and she's going to have a hell of a time keeping it at bay when the temptation of that much power is there. In regards to the Force god stuff, what I want to make clear is just that no one should have that kind of power. I imagine, in fact, that even once she can use that power, Ahsoka's terrified of doing so because of that and the potential consequences if she messes up.

In that vein, Ahsoka's going to give up her power at the end, and Abeloth's corruption actually being reversed and her reverting to the person she was before then would have some nice thematic symmetry to it.

It is said that power should be given to those that want it least, and I think that that's potentially part of the way to go with Ahsoka's arc in late Voices of the Force. She never wanted this power, and I still maintain, at least for this story's purposes, the transfer was the Daughter's idea and intent and not just an example of Anakin's inability to let go. That's not an actual character arc, of course, but it's an idea to be formed into an actual character arc.

I can picture a scene where Abeloth tries to lure Ahsoka to her side by referring to how the Old Jedi Order abandoned Ahsoka just as the Ones abandoned Abeloth, and it doesn't work because Ahsoka's spent the entire story up to that point (which is most of it, because Abeloth's not going to actually return until near the end, for obvious reasons of narrative structure and dramatic tension and all that) making a new family out of the Jedi in her new era.

The main problem with the "Abeloth's corruption being cured" idea is what happens after. Do I want to develop an actual character for this woman? Is there any meaningful thing to do with her after that? I think probably Abeloth's corruption is cleansed and then the Mother dies anyway, since the Mother isn't really a character and I don't think there's much of a point trying to make her a character at this point.

Also, like. Ahsoka having identity issues from the essence, and just having to actively affirm she's not the Daughter and that Abeloth was never her Mother. I think I'll reveal that the Daughter and Son never killed Abeloth, even though they could have, because they remembered what she was as their Mother and they couldn't bear to see her gone forever, even as twisted as she was. On the other hand, the Daughter knew that Abeloth was going to break free again, and she gave Ahsoka her life force knowing that Ahsoka would be able to do what she never could.

So the Daughter expected Ahsoka to kill Abeloth for good, but Ahsoka looks at those memories of the Mother and decides that the power bestowed upon the Mother by the artifacts on Abeloth's planet is the source of her evil, and if she can be cured, it'll be better for everyone.

Another thing I intend to address is the evident dichotomy between the philosophy that Luke decides on in the last NJO book and is still Jedi canon for the purposes of this AU - where the Force is not fundamentally divided into Light and Dark, and in nature a balance sustains itself, but sapient beings introduced Light and Dark to the Force, and the actions of sapient beings are what tips the balance - and Mortis, and how if the Ones truly guided the Force's flow, and were beings of Light, Dark, and balance, it implies a fundamental binary of the light and dark sides. As the Jedi have seen more and more lately, there are plenty of people who view and use the Force in ways that don't fit into that strict binary. The methods of the Aing-Tii, probably the best example, would be impossible if the Force was only Light or Dark.

Eventually, that's hopefully resolved by the discovery that since the Celestials had reached a partial merging of their physical forms and minds into the Force (as is the backstory in this AU) to the point where they thought they controlled it until the Rakata developed Force-powered weapons, that led to the Ones appearing as manifestations of the emotions and thoughts that are associated with Light and Dark, as they appeared in the society of the Celestials.

Essentially, this confirms the previous ideas in Jedi canon about the Light and Dark. Clearly the Ones had significant influence on the flow of the Force, but they weren't all there is to it.

Elsewhere in the realm of "no one should have that kind of power," I think another area of Ahsoka's arc involves her realizing/remembering that it was the Daughter that stripped the Yuuzhan Vong out of the Force. This matters since by the end of NJO, what we're supposed to believe is that the evil of the Yuuzhan Vong is in their government and their religion. They're not fundamentally evil any more than humans would be, raised in the same system.

For this to really land, Ahsoka would have to have come to know at least one Yuuzhan Vong (Scut, question mark?) enough to see that the evil for which they were stripped of the Force - their warlike and conquering ways - is not on a fundamental level, and in this way the fact that they were punished on such a fundamental level is reframed as an atrocity, and this is most likely before the final reveal of what the Ones really were, so as to have Ahsoka on a slow path to eventually realizing that even the Daughter was part of the byproduct of a civilization that was so arrogant that they thought they had control over the Force, and, like.

Something something Ahsoka's moral compass coming into conflict with the intentions the Daughter had for her, especially if the Daughter expected Ahsoka to replace her. Maybe if the Daughter did expect Ahsoka to replace her, Abeloth also tries to use that to convince Ahsoka to join her.

Something something rejecting the planned destiny not as a Denial Of The Call, but because that destiny is not a good thing, and no one should have the kind of power that allows them to influence the Force's flow.

Kriff, this probably makes absolutely no sense at all, and I've clearly gotten very sidetracked, but I've been typing for over an hour and I need to go do other shit now.

I've thought at times that how Abeloth's final defeat should happen is somehow curing the corruption that was caused from her drinking from the Fountain of Power and bathing in the Pool of Knowledge, and she's reduced to the person she was before then.