#Null arc

[lalogawrites]

MRW reading the RC novels for the first time 🥰

[itsagrimm]

Rules of Kyrimorut

With so many different people living in the mandalorian bastion it's inhabitants had to agree on some rules:

no fighting in the halls.

keep the kitchen door closed to keep Mird out.

Don't talk to Walon Vau before his first caf.

Mereel, stop flirting with the neighbours.

No Baskar'gam polishing indoors.

Watch the doors! some are trying to sleep here, vod! and no loud comm calls, too! Dank Farrik, guys.

Don't annoy Laseema about what's for dinner. She has knives.

No blasters for little Kad!

Don't touch Parjas tools. Don't disturb Praja while working. Don't ask Praja how long the repairs will take. Don't go into Prajas workshop. Don't tell Praja how to do her job. Just. Don't. Okay?

if you need new ammo, ask Scorch or Sev for the key to the armory. No breaking in!

everybody hand washes their own Kama.

Stop worrying so much, Ordo. You are turning grey already.

Get yourself glasses, kal buir! We know you use your buyce to read and it looks ridiculous.

No talk about murder or crimes in front of the kids.

Fighting only outside and when Doc Gilamar is around.

Uj-cake is for sharing!!!

Don't forget the weekly cleaning duties.

Don't feed Mird cheese. the strill's cheese farts are deadly.

[cienie-isengardu]

My RepCom Musing: The use of “psycho” and “crazy” and similar terms

Not sure where my research will ultimately lead me as I’m still collecting data how RepCom book series treated the potential mental illness and/or the perception of the “psycho” characters - something I've been meaning to write for some time in regard to Walon Vau and Sev, but for now I would like to share a few observations made so far:

There is a visible difference in how Walon Vau and Kal Skirata approach the topic of potential mental illness of their clone commandos, which I think fits their introvert and extrovert natures well. As far as I can say, Walon in general is not talking with outsiders about his men’s mental state - he acknowledged (think) Sev is “psychotic” and lacks “the most basic social graces“ [True Colors] or confronted Scorch about his breakdown [Order 66] but we don’t see him revealing much of their traumas or how horrible was their training to anyone who wasn’t already a part of said training program (and we know that Vau and Skirata argued about that a lot). In contrast, Skirata talked surprisingly a lot to other characters about what happened to Ordo/Nulls or occasionally to Omegas, usually to explain why his sons act in this way. This happened with Etain and Obrim and even Fi, though how Ordo feels about his trauma being talked with “outsiders” is not really brought by narrative. 

Granted, both men are using different frames from what they count normal (good) - Vau is operating in the good soldier zone (as being a soldier has a special meaning for him related to his own fucked up childhood) while Skirata focuses on family life (something he failed at once and many clones may never have a chance to experience) but that is a topic for another time.

Similarly, Delta Squad and Atin(?) are rarely seen calling other characters as the psycho, especially in a negative way. Scorch did use that name for Sev, but either Deltas were in their own company or Scorch made an observation about his brother’s behavior as he was worrying about him a lot in Order 66. Frankly, as far as my research showed, Deltas did not call Walon Vau the “Old Psycho” but they did at least twice called Skirata “crazy” (True Colors and Order 66). Interestingly, the majority of “psycho” and “crazy” terms - in context of mental illness / dangerous behavior - used by clones alone in the books comes from Omega (those members originally trained by Kal) and Nulls. 

Old Psycho, as a nickname for Vau was used twice (or so I assume) by Fi and once by Mereel. Bonker Squad as a nickname for Nulls was used by Fi and Darman/Niner and Skirata who coined this term. 

  "Your buddy ... ," Darman teased.

    "Rather have him for a friend than an enemy."

    "Ooh, he likes you. Hobnobbing with ARC officers from the Bonkers Squad, eh?"

    "We have an understanding," Fi said. "I don't laugh at his skirt, and he doesn't rip my head off."

    Yes, Ordo had taken a shine to him. Fi hadn't fully understood it until Skirata had taken him to one side and explained just what had happened to Ordo and his batch on Kamino as kids. So when Fi had thrown himself on a grenade during an anti-terrorist op to smother the detonation, Ordo had marked him out as someone who'd take an awfully big risk to save comrades. Null ARCs were psychotic-bonkers, as Skirata put it-but they were unshakably loyal when the mood struck them. [Triple Zero]

 There are also variations of the “All Nulls are psychos / crazy” statement, quite often coming from Omega, Kal or Nulls themselves. Interestingly, Vau at the beginning of True Colors described them simply as hooligans (rather than psychos) and it was put in contrast to Sev and Vau’s men in general (the good soldiers) while Vau seems to be more prone to call Skirata the crazy one than Nulls. 

Also, it seems like most of the psycho/crazy statements or rumors repeated(?) started with Skirata and was adapted by his men at some point? Like:

mentioned Bonker Squad for Nulls (used solely by him and Omega)

the not best opinion about ARC even if Nulls are the psychos themselves? (“but an ARC who'd gone AWOL was-impossible. Jango Fett had raised and trained them personally, with an emphasis on absolute loyalty to the Republic. Sergeant Kal said that Jango was an unhinged shabuir, but he always stuck to his contract, and that contract had included creating a loyal, totally reliable army. Darman had heard rumors to the contrary, and the Nulls were living crazy proof that a clone soldier could be as eccentric and wayward as any random human, but nothing had ever been confirmed.) As in “Jango was an unhinged shabuir and because he trained ARCs, they are like that too” kind of logic?

And considering that Deltas do not call Walon Vau as the Old Psycho but Fi and Mereel used that nickname, I think it is safe to assume this comes from Skirata too?

Additionally, I made a working diagram - it's not fully correct, as for now I focused on looking for specific phrases (psycho and crazy, bonker or those specific moments that I remembered), but for curiosity's sake I'm posting it in regard to Nulls, Vau and Sev as they are the most prominent characters in regard to “psycho” nickname.

[mamuzzy]

When ARC troopers feel threatened they raise their shoulder pauldrons like collared lizards.

[clonememesfrikyeah]

Scenario

Due to an employee error the ration bar factory accidentally laced all their product with space weed, what do you think happens to the GAR?

[izzystizzys]

“ - but have you ever considered, I don’t know, not sucking all the time? Just a thought.”

It takes the combined grips of Nuisance and Hound to keep the wriggling, snarling body beneath Fox from throwing him off its back. With three years’ practice of having to fix his own rickety desk chair over and over again, the movement merely ruffles the proverbial fringe on his helmet.

“And I don’t mean that as an insult, necessarily. Well, I do a little bit. But also I have some amount of empathy for the no doubt immense amounts of trauma that had to go into the creation of something so dysfunctional as you, on a very personal level, so have you considered going to the root of that in a way that’s like… useful? Instead of wasting it all on kriffing Kenobi, I mean. Look at the guy. All he does all day is drink tea and commit warcrimes. I bet he knits for fun. Bit of an embarrassing nemesis, don’t you think?”

“I”, says Kenobi, then pauses. The space between his eyebrows is creased with uncertainty, and he looks deeply torn between continuing rocking the shaking Duchess of Mandalore against his chest from his corner of the throne room and re-activating his lightsaber to continue losing his fight against the Darksider Fox is currently sitting on. “I feel like I should object to some part of that, but I’m not entirely clear on what. Or how this happened, again. Isn’t Mandalore a few star systems from your purview, Commander?”

“Probably the warcrimes”, mutters Nuisance underneath his strained breath.

“About as far from my supposed assignment as yours, General”, says Fox a little louder.

Kenobi twitches. Fox cannot claim to know which of them does it. Both, maybe. Probably.

“I will - taste - your - flesh!”, heaves out Darth Maul, snarling and hissing.

“Oooh, kinky!”, calls Grids, from the corner where she’s got her stun-setting aimed at the other Zabrak, currently passed out cold. Fox sighs deeply. He knew he shouldn’t have taken those three - any combination of Grids, Hound and Nuisance in a room together usually spelled chaos.

Unfortunately, it also spelled competence. The Basic alphabet can be funny that way.

The point being: as of some months into the war, one of Fox’s assigned tasks is the surveillance of all GAR-wide communication. All command-class staff theoretically got that memo, but no one seems to have read the fine print where that includes both professional and personal communication, as well as any and all comm devices registered or suspected to be registered to that person. Especially not one Anakin Skywalker and Padmé Amidala.

The point further being, if that sounds both immensely impractical and sort of terrifying in a democratic supposedly non-surveillance state, you’d be bang on the credits, and to Fox’ eternal chagrin the singular person in this whole useless army who’s spent the second of thinking necessary for that conclusion.

The final point being, when one frantic General’s mad dash across the Galaxy to rescue his teenage sweetheart from the spectre of his supposedly dead nemesis crosses his desk on its way to the Chancellor’s inbox, it doesn’t take much time for him to block any and all trace of it across the digital space of the GAR commboard and take matters into his own hands.

“ - which is why I told Thorn to suck it up and be in charge for a few days, and also why you’re still alive, your Highness, very welcome, was no trouble at all”, he concludes, drily. The Duchess stares the wide-eyed look of someone attempting to reconcile clones with ‘sentience’ or perhaps ‘personality’ in her head, but won’t say it outright.

Or the look of someone who’s just been violently overthrown and nearly murdered, perhaps, Fox allows.

“Um -“, Kenobi hedges, blinking rapidly.

“And the reason you’re still alive, probably. You’re welcome for that too, by the way”, Grids calls from the back of the throne room, cheekily.

“Alright”, says Kenobi, loudly. There’s color back in his deathly-pale cheeks, Fox notes, even if that color is a lot of red. It doesn’t fade very gracefully into his beard. “Opinions on whether or not I had everything under control notwithstanding -“

“You really didn’t”, Hound supplies helpfully.

“ - opinions notwithstanding, I am admittedly still lost on why you’re now sitting on Darth Maul and attempting to, to - jeer at him, Marshall Commander!”

“We’re not jeering, we’re trying to create a safe space and lay the groundwork for more open communication”, Fox says, primly.

Maul screams into the ground, attempting for the umpteenth time to rear up and visit great violence upon Fox, which admittedly has him rattling in his crosslegged seat atop his back.

Kenobi raises a perfectly plucked eyebrow. “Safe space?”

“He’s restrained and not stabbing anyone, I personally feel much safer than before”, Grids muses. “Watch the teeth though, Hound. Little biter.”

Indeed. Fox’s right greave will have to be replaced posthaste.

“And anyways, the point isn’t to jeer at him, it’s to make clear that he’s focusing his energy in the wrong places and could be doing much better things with his admittedly not-great life”, Fox adds, shifting to cast a pointed look down at Maul. The Sith is panting open-mouthed into the durasteel floor, sharp teeth gnashing wildly as his piercing yellow eyes shine with barely restrained rage. “I’m just saying - aim higher. You aren’t seeing the forest for the Kenobis, Maul. Can I call you Maul?”

“I will feed you your own entrails”, yowls Maul.

“See, that’s exactly what I’m talking about. Right now, I’m an easy target to focus all that built-up rage on, but is killing me really going to help you achieve any of your goals? No! Think about it - when it all comes down to it, who sent you on that mission to Naboo in the first place? Who made sure the Jedi and, by extension, Kenobi would be there to kill you? Who used you as a dejarik piece and then cast you aside the second you outlived your usefulness?”

Beneath him, Maul slowly stills in his struggle, still panting heavily. Hound and Nuisance don’t let it deter them in their vigilance, because they’re damn good vod’e and possess an ounce of common sense.

“And, look, I get it. I could spend the rest of my life punching every civilian who spits on me in the streets and it would even be satisfying. I could hit back the Senators who think of clones as easy targets. Or - I can aim my sights at who’s on top. And I think you know who I mean, because you know as well as I do the same damn man has ruined both our lives.”

Kenobi makes an alarmed noise, and Maul an interested one - not that Fox is going to let him walk out of this place awake. Still, he tilts his head in a way he hopes conveys his helmeted grin successfully to non-vod, as well as the bloodlust behind it. “You’re also welcome for the fact that the Chancellor won’t have heard of your spontaneous resurrection yet, by the way. You’ll retain your element of surprise instead of gambling it away on petty revenge on Kenobi.”

“He cut me in half!”

“He killed my master!”

Fox waves their protests away.

“Also, that’s treason!”, Kenobi adds, sputtering. Fox grins. Kenobi purses his lips, and continues. petulantly, “…do you have any proof?”

“So. Much. Proof”, says Nuisance, dreamily. “Like, do you want it alphabetically or by date?”

Which is when the Duchess, of all people, bursts out into barking, crazed laughter.

“You - you’ve certainly given yourself an edge in that fight, Marshall Commander”, she wheezes, brushing tears from her eyes. Fox raises his eyebrows at her, which she somehow seems to be able to tell, because she gestures at the clunky handle dangling from his belt.

“What, this old thing?” He unclasps the black rectangle from its hook, holding it up in the air. Maul stills strangely beneath him, and Kenobi goes ghostly pale again. Fox is starting to get a bad feeling.

“I took it off Viszla and beat him over the head with it. I figured he’d taken it off a Jedi cadet or something. What? Why are you looking at me like that?”

[aka-trashrat]

Someone's about to get stabbed with that stylus if they don't sit down and shut up!

Ordo Skirata from Karen Traviss's Star Wars Legends: Republic Commando Series.

[mamuzzy-creates-stuff]

If we look cute enough, they will surely blame it on the alphas. 👉👈🥺

In order: A'den, Mereel, Ordo, Prudii (hiding), Kom'rk, Jaing.

Kal: OHhhhhh, you know where you shove up those tooka eyes, you think I was born yesterday, rascal sheb'ike!!! You won't get away with it this time!

Narrator: They, in fact, got away with it. Again.

[just-null]

the way you drew kokichi .. i think im ascending to the heavens .. i see the light .. chest collapsing .. heartbeat flatlining ..

oho, a Kokichi enjoyer!! tysm!! it was my first time drawing him at the time so im glad i didnt fail him. i dont want to fail any of the kyoto group. i love them all!! even w my clear favoritism

he's nice too, a bit more expressive than Noritoshi so i can finally draw something that isnt :| or >:( even if it isnt by much- i like him too

I like how he's both a dick but also kinda sweet. He's a different flavor of tsun... i can use this. my knowledge on him is limited but FROM WHAT I SAW IN THE WIKI OH MY GOD???????? OH MY GOD!!!!!!!!!!!! KOKICHI!!!!!!!!!!!!! WHAT THE FUCK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[isurrendertoclones]

Vau has a space bumper sticker that says “My strill is smarter than your Nulls”

[artbypockets]

stupid star wars doodles 🌈

[nereiix]

A space dad and his favorite son.

I took some liberties with their armors. I made a mix of the canon ARC armor and the official representations I could find for Ordo. And I did whatever I wanted with Kal, because I can't imagine he wears the exact same armor as Jango but in gold. Added his Bantha jacket too, because it's implied he wears it on his armor (in this scene in Triple Zero where Darman is on fire).

Rough sketch under the cut.

[mamuzzy]

Teaching gf the differences between blorbo and precious meowmeow. Both are beloved fictional characters, but not the same.

Tup is a blorbo but Dogma is a precious meowmeow.

Tech is a blorbo but Crosshair is a precious meowmeow.

Niner is a blorbo but Darman is a precious meowmeow.

Scorch is a blorbo but Sev is a precious meowmeow.

The Nulls are precious meowmeows.

A blorbo cannot do wrong, a poor meowmeow is a miserable mental mess who commits warcrimes.

[wyvernsrus]

Listen yall, these books mention how the Alphas are like as pure Jango you can get (Ill have to double check but I'm pretty sure they say it once) And ALSO describe the Nulls as the Kaminoans messing with them too much and being broader and heavier as a result and MY brain latched onto this fact by going "Wait, does that mean the Alphas are smaller than the Nulls?" I find this so funny cause all I can think of is Alpha-17 being shorter than like say Mereel for instance and this 5'8 man just THROWING Mereel off of Tipoca City like he's a particularly unruly bag of flour and I love this image so much it brings me so much join

[loverboy-havocboy]

ordo skirata for @mamuzzy <3

[aka-trashrat]

Just... Splat. Don't worry, Mereel is fine! He's OK!