#it's also a good time to be an Arcann romancer

[sullustangin]

SWTOR 7.3 Feedback

Non-spoilery stuff first

No technical glitches that I experienced on two playthroughs on Pubside.  Minus one or two moments with Odessen NPCs wandering around, nothing broke the game or immersion.  All the quests worked for credit; I had the weekly for Ruhnuk not work the time round, so this was nice. 

I am aware that there are some financial changes they’re trying to patch back.  Basically, too much is being charged between trades with other players directly and when mailing to alts.  Also!  There is now a 30-day cooldown period between joining a guild and being able to access the guild bank. So get those alts in sooner rather than later, especially if you plan on raiding/doing group stuff with them.

On the Gunslingers and Snipers you now have a 2% per 3 seconds passive heal while in cover  -- level 64 option.  This is a big deal for survivability for these two classes.  I ran dailies and set my companion to DPS.  I had to pause and heal the comp after combat, not myself.   No more glass cannon, but this might be nerfed soon, since it’s a little op.  I’m going to have fun with it while I can.

If you love the Mantellian Privateer or Mira’s Armor from KOTOR II but can’t afford either on Cartel Market, good news:  the Mira set from Bounty Association (the event that comes around every 1-2 months) is now unlockable in collections.  So if you have a Mando char that goes hard on Bounty week, you now have a new cert sink + unlock with Cartel Points for the whole account.  There are some subtle differences in the outfits for the discerning Space Barbie player.

The Date Nights don’t happen in this patch; I would guess it will probably be activated during Night Life in July. Speculation on my part, though

Non-Spoilery Plot Stuff:  A lot of characters that we had the previous option to kill are present in this patch.  This really gives me hope for future content; I previously complained that Bioware was writing to the deadest version of the game (where they assume everyone is dead and only work with Lana).  We got A LOT of coverage with ‘optional’ characters, so this does give me hope for the future writing: assume everyone is alive, and some people get less content.  I’ll talk about what that means later for this patch.

Onward to spoilery stuff.

Torian does get an Alliance alert, which his ba’vodu Eva answered; this is unromanced I feel good about the Torian piece I just reblogged, because it seems consistent with what we see here.  Torian thought the drama over his father was over, the shame was done, the name redeemed -- and there is all is, resurrected from the dead.  Even more content with our neighborhood Mando really does make me want equivalent content with Vette; given that (shitty) decision was almost 7 years ago now and we JUST got a storyline with payoff for that choice, Vette needs some love now, romantic or platonic, beyond Date Night. 

The only downside to letting Torian live at the moment, especially if you’re a smug or bh, is that you lose quality screen time with Akaavi Spar on Ruhnuk. She comes to your rescue in the final fight.  I also feel as if this scene should have been back with the 6.2 content drop, when the banner is first stolen, but it does work here as well, with the burning of it compounding all of Torian’s feelings about his history. 

While Eva does hate that burnt tater thot, the content for Arcann was really good.  I actively wonder if they are pulling things from the aborted third KotXX expansion.  THIS is the character development many of us wanted to see before romancing him: we wanted to see the realization of what he’d done, the desire to fix things, the acknowledgement it may never be enough for some people.  Ding Ding Ding!  I did view both versions of the Darth Nul investigation -- I killed him on DS Eva and let him live on my sunshine and Rainbows LS smug Dyo -- and the version with Arcann in it is so much better.  You also get an additional scene with him; romanced folks get a hug! 

Like the Torian scene, this Arcann development probably should have been earlier in the plotline, but WAAAAY earlier -- like 6+ years.  I think before the romance trigger, most definitely, but at least by the time of Nathema, especially if the Commander takes any of his advice to heart regarding Theron.  I think this falls to fan fic writers to fix, in terms of char dev. 

As I mentioned above, both of these guys are killable.  And they got some great content this patch.  The story feels better with both of them in it. 

As for our dynamic duo, Lana and Theron do show up and play a vocal role with Shae in regard to the interrogation of Malgus.  Theron does get to call Shae out on her working with Malgus to sack Coruscant 2x years ago (I have no idea what year we’re in since COVID screwed everything up).  We also get wonderfully protective partners in Lana and Theron.  Theron makes a comment that the work among other “benefits” keep him young if you’ve romanced him -- poor Lana.  There is noticeable smoldering going on between him and the romanced PC.  Theron does provide significant dialogue content and reaction shots, even though he’s killable.  And of course you get a Theron letter, which alludes to Date Night.  In sum, I don’t think Theron was at all side-lined compared to Lana.

The one weak part of all this is the tenuous connection between the Voss and Malgus’s plans.  In part, it’s becacuse Sana Rae had to be on Voss and decided to kill a few birds with one stone (or one Commander).   It boils down to a vision in which the PC saves the galaxy again.  We do get the tidbit that if we outright kill Malgus, things happen faster, but ‘things’ are ‘inevitable.’  Some of the ‘mundane’ quests verge on the ridiculous, but Star Wars always stomps on character hubris when it can. 

Did I enjoy going back to Voss?  Yup.  Did it make sense, given the nature of the Arcann content?  Yup; if you didn’t spare Arcann, this feels more contrived than if you did, in my opinion.  If I recall correctly, Voss was supposed to be visited in an earlier expansion but that was also canned. 

The transition from Bioware to Broadsword may be bringing old things back to life to ‘finish’ the game -- or start a new beginning.  I remain optimistic.  I will say that the old story of Voss and the new story post Eternal Empire does spin together well.

Good patch, in my opinion, minus the issues with the economic system that are ongoing.

[shynmighty]

#12 - Be honest, how many outfit tabs do they have? And #13 - Let’s see those outfits! Which of the outfits is their main outfit and why?

Oooh we're diving into Aeony's wardrobe for this one!

(From these asks)

Pic of Aeony because I love her!! 🥰

Sooo...this is gonna be long so I'm just gonna go ahead and...

12. Be honest, how many outfit tabs do they have?

The short answer is 10. But we're being honest here, so...honestly... some of those slots have been replaced over time. Going by the number of outfits she's had historically, she probably had closer to 15 or 16 outfits. Some of them were pretty awful and I feel bad for disrespecting my baby like that. I've had Aeony the longest of my current characters, so I've done the most tinkering on her.

13. Let's see those outfits!

So... A bit of a disclaimer about Aeony's wardrobe. It's very much a work in progress. I first designed Aeony during the DARK TIMES (ie...before Arcann was an available love interest) and my concept for her was "Make a character so I can pretend to romance Arcann." I won't get into detail about her characterization because this post isn't about that, but my concept for her aesthetic was "Matchy Matchy with Arcann." So I decided early on that her colors would be either white, or white and gray (and this kinda spilled over to the rest of my legacy). And I wanted to avoid going totally matchy matchy by using Thexan's robes. Thus...the great adventure to find Aeony the perfect outfit began!

So without further ado, here are the outfits I have collected for her over the years!

This one was an attempt to give Aeony a Zakuul aesthetic, but...eh. I wasn't jazzed about it. I hardly ever use it, and to be honest...I kinda forget it's even there.

This is an EARLY outfit, and Aeony did wear this for a hot minute back during her first run of KotFE/ET. She hasn't returned to it since the time before stamping your weapon was a thing, so her gear lightsaber is showing! I actually kind of like this look, but for some reason it doesn't click as her MAIN outfit.

Aeony actually wore this for a looooong time, but didn't accomplish anything in the story. It's a nice outfit, but for some reason it's also just not clicking for me.

I actually thought this would be her main outfit, but I think it's a bit too rugged and doesn't QUITE mesh with her personality.

This is the closest I've come to finding THE ONE TRUE OUTFIT. I love love love this set, and it looks amazing dyed white, BUT....

See, here's the back. The black is un-dye-able. Booooo. It looks kinda cool, but doesn't match Aeony's carefully crafted aesthetic. So I thought to myself, maaaaybe I can make it work if I fuck around with it?

Here's my attempt to fuck around and find out... it looks okay, but it probably would look better with a black & white dye...and that's not Aeony. It's a bummer, because from the front I think it's actually decent. But I'll be seeing it mostly from the back. And I can't handle the un-dye-able black. I CANNOT. *stamps foot*

This is Aeony's OLDEST outfit, which she completed most of her class story with. You can tell it's old because Aeony was in her pointy headdress era. I like this outfit. But it belongs to a bygone era...Aeony has moved on!

Another oldie but a goodie....Satele's set! I think I ditched this look because at the time EVERYONE else was wearing it. Including Satele. One of them had to change, so I decided it would be Aeony...and then Satele changed her outfit 😂

Getting near the end now! I love this outfit. It's probably the closest I've come to finding Aeony's signature "look"...but I dunno. Something is keeping me on the fence about it.

I using this armor currently...and so is everyone else...but it's a good placeholder, I think. The search for Aeony's perfect outfit is eternal and ongoing. But the outfit of my dreams is out there, I just know it!!!

And those are her outfits! This was such a fun ask, thank you so much!!! 🥰

[queen-scribbles]

For the Swtor OC asks! Best girl Endrali gets 62, 76, & 77! For the amazing Kina...14, 21 & 56! 😁

Endrali

(KotET) 62. Was their love interest present? If so, how has their relationship developed?

Yes and no, since she's with Arcann, lol. He's there in ch 1, then gone until ch 6, then present for the rest of it. I could write books on how their relationship has developed (and have written a lot of fic, though p much all of it is post-KotET), but succinctly, they're in the middle of a good old fashioned enemies to lovers arc during KotET. He's been cleansed of his rage and it trying to atone for everything he did, she's hardwired to give people second chances, it's a very interesting dynamic.

76. Romance Questions(snipped to relevant ones): Did they romance Arcann? What made them fall in love with the man who was a former tyrant, now redeemed? When did they realized they cared for him?

She romanced Arcann because she saw how hard he was working to atone for his actions, without seeking recognition or credit or praise for it, fully aware some people would never forgive him and that was their right, just because he recognized and was taking responsibility for everything he did. He was doing it bc it was right, not because it was easy--in fact, despite it NOT being easy. She admires the strength and determination it takes to do something like that.

And then she starts bringing him on mission and aside from the fact they instantly sync up, he is a tenacious defender. It doesn't matter what it takes, what it costs/risks for him, he's going to protect. He's become someone patient, dedicated, considerate, humble, self-sacrificing who's also really hot when he's fighting /cough She's a Jedi, not blind

It's right at the end of my Unbowed fic(the Landing Party uprising, and boy was that fun to cover) that it clicks for her that she's attracted to him. I'd say it's about... a month(?) maybe two post-KotET by that point. /cue mutual pining

77. What are their feelings on losing the entire Eternal Fleet and the Gravestone and the greatly diminished power of the Eternal Alliance?

She's not looking forward to the way that power shift is going to ripple, bc she figures it'll hurt the people who just want to live in peace the worst. But she's honestly just a little bit grateful to have an excuse to not be the galaxy's go-to Most Powerful Solver of Problems(little does she know they will still expect her to solve all their problems. And get mad when she doesn't do it the way they think she should.)

Kina

14. Who is/are their favorite companion(s)?

PH4-LNX, Akaavi, and Bowdaar. She got Fay all the way to 50 and uses her all the dang time unless story constraints pair her with a certain golden retriever Mandalorian /innocent whistling

21. Would they continue their legacy by having children? Adopt? Get an apprentice?

I don't know, honestly. She had a rough childhood that she recognizes is a far cry from a normal one, but she's ambivalent about kids. I think if a) her partner wanted kids, b) a kid wandered up and attached him/herself to Kina, or c) BOTH she'd go along with it, but she's not going to be pushing for any herself.

56. Should Vette get them a giant droid for Life Day?

Absolutely, nothing could possibly go wrong in any way with her doing that.😇😇😇

SWtOR OC Asks

[rinskiroo]

my squishable star wars friends

Jasati - JK. My main girl. Theron x Jas OTP forever and ever. The reluctant Commander who went through a real depressive out of her mind phase during the whole losing five years and getting possessed (again) by the Emperor time period. Probably retired and living somewhere on Odessen.

Aqilah - Barsen'thor; I go back and forth if she exists in the same universe as Jas. She romanced Arcann, but I really miss Felix. She's a bookish nerd who, if she were Commander, would take the throne because no one else can be trusted to just chill the fuck out and be peaceful. She's got those healy hands so when Arcann wanted to spar with swords for their date she was kind of weirded out tbh.

Ruest - Baby boy Ru-Ru, my love. Poor, sad, little Cipher Nine. He loves Watcher 2, like, probably was a little out of pocket, workplace harassment, slightly stalker in love with Watcher 2. He lives in the same universe as Jas and was recruited into the Alliance by Lana. I think eventually he found Watcher 2 and they got married and had babies, at least that's how he thinks it's going to go.

Te'Jal - TJ is Ruest's sister. She's Pirate Queen of Port Nowhere. She'll help out the Alliance, for a price, though she's quite content to sit on her mountains of credits. TJ and Jas are buddies! Don't know how they met or why they're so close, but they're lovely together.

Sao'la - My sweet little Sith. Precious mouse. She exists in her own universe because she's just occupies too much space in my brain right now to share it with anyone. She's not the Commander. She did her thing in the sith warrior story and then kind of fucked off until Arcann showed up. She never made Darth. She's just too good and everyone kind of realizes she's not really Sith material! But she's a fucking badass and fights for the Empire and her family is super rich so whatever she's the main character. She loved Quinn fiercely, but I dunno, I don't things ever really recovered after The Incident and then after Another Incident. She found Theron (or Theron found her) and they had a thing that wasn't supposed to be serious, but then it kind of was?

Hat Yai - He's a Chiss bounty hunter named after food. There wasn't a whole lot going on but then I bought him a cool Mando outfit and he and Mako are just so adorable together. He tries really hard to be a good guy for her, but man the bounty hunting thing is a rough business. He's still chugging through the main story, but I don't think he's Commander material. Probably like TJ, he just sits on his piles of credits and does jobs for whoever pays.

Pekk - Ok so Pekk is still in the molding phase. She started out as a Cathar named after my cat to romance Jorgen, but then I got so many amazing flirts and conversations with Jonas that now I have this whole Cadet on temporary duty with the SIS and a little summer love affair with Jonas and then they meet again after she's in Havoc story rotating in my brain. I also really love how every conversation with Jorgan about the Deadeyes is "oh, we could ask Jonas!" and he's just like "UUGGGGHHH You and your stupid spy boyfriend." Pekk literally only exists in this very small time frame lol.

Jebamee - Darth Noxxxxx the wretched. Cruel squid head. She's just there to pick the absolute worst option. I skipped as far as I could with her after the main inquisitor story was over so she's not the Commander. She was probably hanging out on DK and Nar Shaddaaa subjugating people and running her little cult. She had the romance with the pirate, but Darth Rivix has piqued her interest now! (Sao'la HATES Rivix. She's so annoyed by him just being around.)

Oscasito - Man slut smuggler. He will always pick the easy way out, especially if it ends up with more dollary doos. Does he love Risha? Maybe? He REALLY loves that she's a Princess. Really doesn't understand why she just doesn't marry the guy that wants to make her Queen, they can still be fuck buddies. Hell, King guy can join in! My man is not picky.

[dgcatanisiri]

I start thinking about the whole Iokath arc, I remember why I swore off that whole segment of the game, that for me, even if I get subscriptions in order to have access for the later developments, to MAYBE try these things out myself.

I've complained before at length about how the Eternal Empire just comes out of nowhere and basically turns the whole game on its ear pretty much for the sake of exploring this side story and content that had no real bearing on the rest of the established lore and universe (particularly in the way that it glorified this new iteration of the already worn-out-his-welcome villain of the Sith Emperor).

But the whole traitor arc for Theron is just monumentally stupid. First of all, his entire motivation just seems to play as making him antagonistic for the sake of a betrayal, not because of plot, and the Commander and Lana both know that Theron's career has previously been as a spy, yet neither of them actually seriously entertain the idea that Theron is doing SOME kind of undercover work on his own initiative?

And then there's the fact that, in the end, it honestly kinda feels like there was... if not an active desire then a willingness to arrange things in this fashion, to have the Alliance leadership and core characters of the ongoing narrative reduced, presumably as a way to limit variables going forward, leading to Theron being potentially killed, which, unfortunately, continues a trend in TOR overall of letting M/M romance options be killed (Cytharat, Koth, Arcann).

And even beyond that, the kickoff drives me up the damn wall. The Republic and the Empire come to Iokath and decide they want to take control of a superweapon. Why the fuck doesn't the Commander just say "no one is taking it, we're dismantling the damn thing, and if you aren't going to help with that, you can go to your rooms without any supper, you squabbling brats!"

Also, while I struggle to accept the Sith Empire as good allies, it IS entirely reasonable to side with them when they actually HELPED fight Vaylin - the Republic just went "oopsie, our bad" with regards to Saresh attempting to assassinate the Commander and seize control of the Alliance, then sitting out the conflict with Vaylin in the hopes that the Alliance, the Sith, and the Eternal Empire would be too weakened by the fighting to make a push against the Republic. Like... yeah, the Sith aren't the best of allies, but they actually TRIED to help.

Frankly, I think the whole game lost the plot a very long time ago, and it's not going to get back there at this point. I can't say I don't enjoy aspects of the game, or want it to shut down, but... I also can't say I have a burning desire to play it at this point either, precisely because of the hash it's made of its own story.

[rubensmuse]

not to be dramatic or nuffing but uhhh

VOTE KOTH VOTE KOTH IF YOU VOTE ARCANN OVER KOTH I CANNOT UNDERSTAND YOU I CANNOT COMPREHEND YOU

here's some Koth Propaganda (Kothaganda)

The thing about romanceable companions in games that allow you to create your own original character and make your own choices is that they necessarily must be very plastic. If the idea is that the character in question should be narratively accessible to good and evil players alike, then that character's convictions, strength of will, and even personality must hit a glass ceiling at some point so as to keep them fuckable. This can be silly, but it's a reasonable limitation of the medium and to be expected.

The exception is Koth Vortena.

Alongside Arcann (to whom I will be circling back), Koth stands out from the main squeezes of KOTFE as somebody who is not like you and does not know you. He comes from the heartland of your enemy. Up until three years ago, he was a cog in their military machine, and he only broke away from that when the atrocities he was asked to commit could not be justified by the propaganda he had been receiving his whole life. Which is why I get a little heated at everybody's fixation on Koth's loyalty to Valkorian at the start of the expansion. Cuz like. Yeah?? Until Koth met Lana he was completely taken in by the myth of Zakuulan supremacy, and of Valkorian's benevolence. Any FORMER MILITARY PERSONNEL would kind of have to be.

What those people who roast Koth fail to acknowledge is that his trust in Valkorian, his seeming fatal flaw, is NEVER enough for him to walk away from you. He continues to follow you into battle, help you make your plans, gather resources and qualified personnel, PILOT your OBLITERATION MACHINE.

Because you prove to him that your cause is just. Because you prove that the system he came from is unjust. He has AN HONEST-TO-GOD ARC.

Wanna know what DOES make Koth betray you? Render him unromanceable, if you do it regularly enough?

You letting hundreds of civilians die in an explosion. You massacreing innocents to make a point.

The fact that you can fuck up Koth's romance AT ALL in this game is notable. Koth, unlike Lana or Theron, does not know you going into this expansion, and you are gonna have to prove to him that you are gonna be good for the planet he fucking grew up on. That you aren't gonna just raze his HOME to the ground.

KOTH IS ONE OF THE FEW ROMANCE OPTIONS IN A GAME OF THIS TYPE THAT HAS FUCKING PRINCIPLES. Principles that the game is tacitly encouraging YOU to have also, via its bias toward Light-Sided options.

Lana does whatever you wanna do. Theron does whatever you wanna do, and the one time he doesn't (spoilers) is an elaborate ruse. They had stronger personalities and principles and made regular fuck-ups on Rishi, in the last expansion, but they are rendered pliable cardboard cutouts by the time of KOTXX.

Koth is better than that. Koth WANTS YOU to be better than that. He is ten times more interesting and compelling than any SWTOR romance option from ANY expansion for that reason IMO.

So what about Arcann? Well, to be completely honest, I find his entire story and personality to be a goddamn cop-out. I suppose if you squint you could compare him to Zuko, and it's indicated that he's got Secret Hidden Depths beyond his violent imperializing ways learned from his dear old dad, but the thing that brings him over to your side is *checks notes* his mom throwing him in the mini-van and taking him to magical rehab. After which he pops out remorseful and well-adjusted enough to not only fully commit to your cause, but also have a healthy adult relationship with you. I find this completely immersion-shattering, and no amount of Arcann's awkward and maladjusted charm can fix that for me because there is just too much charm and too little maladjustment. That man has never had a best friend he wasn't directly related to, you cannot tell me he could carry on a real relationship this ably right out the gate.

But that's secondary. You shouldn't vote for Koth because Arcann is lame, you should vote for Koth because KOTH IS EXCELLENT.

VOTE KOTH FUCKING VORTENA.

Queer Star Wars Characters (Round 1): SWTOR Romance Options Match 2

Arcann | Identity: playersexual | Media: SWTOR

What if Zuko was in Star Wars? Arcann is the son of the Valkorian, the Sith Emperor ruling the Eternal Emperor. He was raised with his twin brother Thexan to help his father conquer the known galaxy. After being scarred and losing his right arm, he attempted to kill his father, accidentally killing his brother in the process. When the player character is brought before Valkorian, Arcann succeeds in killing his father (who then proceeds to chill out in the Outlander’s brain). He then rules the Eternal Empire until he is defeated by the Commander. His mother saves his life and takes him to Voss to recover, while his sister takes control of the Eternal Empire. 

In Knights of the Eternal Throne, the player character can decide to allow Senya to heal her son’s “rage”. If the Commander refuses, they will have to kill Senya and Arcann will be physically but not mentally healed. The Commander will later have to kill him. If the Commander agrees with Senya’s plan, Arcann will join the Alliance to help oppose his sister and can be romanced.

Koth Vortena | Identity: playersexual | Media: SWTOR

Koth Vortena is a former member of the Eternal Empire military, who deserted after being ordered to kill civilians. He joins up with Lana Beniko to help save the player character, becoming a founding member of the Eternal Alliance.

Koth Vortena’s story is highly dependent on the choices of the player. Despite his strong moral code, he is initially a supporter of Valkorian and believes all the evil the Eternal Empire is doing is the result of Arcann being in charge. Certain choices will cause him to betray the Alliance. If the player stays on his good side, he can also be romanced.

[relevant-url-incoming]

Introducing the last of my trio in the teenaged!consular universe, Vyme, who looks very polite. He mostly is polite, but that is because he's hoping people will like him more or at least not torment him. He's vain because a good appearance gives people a certain opinion of him; he is violent because a Sith must be. His moral compass is something he rarely checks, instead pursuing whatever is the greatest benefit to him, though there are certain moments when dealing with the particularly powerless where the former slave shines through and he takes it on himself to look out for others.

At Vyme's core is a deep desire for affection and security. He does not believe he can leave the Sith, or he would seek it out from his best friend and brother with the Jedi; instead, he tries to make Zash happy and look after his crew. He's the first of my inquisitors to be taken in by Zash's speeches, because he craves a positive relationship so badly. This desire is also why he's a bit of a flirt - not that he doesn't enjoy sex on its own merits, and he'll certainly try to save face by pretending casual sex was always his plan, but every one night stand he has comes with daydreams about living happily ever after. This is, of course, not something he admits to.

For all his craving for affection, his romances tend to struggle: though he spends a lot of time with Ashara, he feels a little guilt for how they came to work together, and is angry at himself for that guilt, and finds himself relieved when that romance falls apart. When he joins his younger brother's Alliance he has brief dalliances with a variety of Caibos's advisors that never go anywhere, because he dedicates all his energy to proving to Caibos and Caloma that he can be trusted in spite of his tendency to torture and maim. Oddly, it's Arcann that ends up breaking into Vyme's heart fully - partly because of him swearing himself to Caibos' service just as Vyme and Caloma have, and partly because Arcann's tendency toward dramatic flowery language hits at the romantic in Vyme's heart. He will, of course, never admit to this second part. (He admits to very little.)

Vyme becomes the man who quietly does for the Alliance what Caibos would be ashamed to do, but he never revels in it. To him, causing pain is a job. He will torture a victim, then bring them tea and ask about their family afterward. Even people in the Alliance regard him warily because of this, reading it as drastic mood changes, but the truth is just that Vyme never held it against his Sith masters when they hurt him, knowing that was simply how the Sith were, and it doesn't occur to him that someone would take his own violence personally.

[dottiechan]

6.2 is full of Tirall & Shan family drama and I'm sooo here for that

[imperial-topaz2003]

Arcann, what we could’ve had.

So, yesterday, I came across this discussion right here detailing on how a relationship between Arcann and the Outlander could potentially be toxic (great discussion BTW, go check it out), and it made me wonder what if Arcann was written a bit better?

Strap in, this one’s gonna be a long one. Now, I don’t HATE Arcann. I think he’s a fairly serviceable antagonist who does his job well and possess a threat to the main protagonists. He does have his sympathetic qualities, like his backstory being neglected by his own father, and the time on the Asylum where he was willing to let your companions go as long as you’re willing to surrender to him.

However...that’s all he really has. The whole rest of the time, he’s just a generic, raging warmonger with daddy issues. Then he’s taken to the Voss and either instantly cured of all of his negative qualities, or just eventually killed.  Now, I do like post-Voss Arcann quite a bit, but I feel like there could’ve been a bit better buildup to his eventual redemption.

My suggestion? Make his sympathetic qualities more prominent.  Instead of just being a tyrant for the sake of it, perhaps he was aware of his father’s plan to consume the whole galaxy, and dreads being just another pawn in his game. However, since his father’s one of the most powerful force users in the galaxy, all he could do was play along for now. But with Valkorion out of the way, he can focus now on ‘uniting the galaxy’, from a certain point of view. Essentially, he wants to turn Zakuul into a thriving civilization that can oppose any apocalyptic threat to the galaxy, wether that be Valkorion or something else.  That would help make him to a foil to the Outlander. Both of you want to unite your respective factions against a common foe, but while you’re doing it through unity and inspiration, he’s doing it through control and oppression. 

On top of that, we could also have a foil WITHIN the Eternal Empire. Enter Vaylin.

Perhaps instead of Arcann being the one who’s glassing planets and torturing people, Vaylin’s the one who takes that role. She’d be the one who’s responsible for the Eternal Empire’s more heinous actions, constantly going behind her brother’s back to achieve these actions. Meanwhile, Arcann can only really tell her off, because if he does anything about it, he’ll appear weak in the eyes of Zakuulan society.  So instead of two batshit insane siblings, we have an orderly and focused brother, and his unhinged sister.

We can still have things like that chat on Asylum, but let’s take that up a notch. Perhaps he shows that he genuinely admires and respects the Outlander and wants them to join him against Valkorion, rather than just trying to stab them whenever he can. This could pave the way for philosophical debates between the Outlander and Arcann, discussing their methods and ideals and such. We could even have times where Arcann lowers his guard, showing he might genuinely believe the Outlander to a degree and gradually understanding them more and more. So, instead of just being Deus Ex Machina’d into being a good guy, he gradually goes from being your biggest obstacle to being your ally, in an organic way. This could make his friendship, and yes even his romance arc, seem a lot healthier and more heartfelt. 

But that’s my two cents. What do you guys think?

[jt-artsandfics]

hey would you do 24 with arcann saying it? i absolutely love him but i am not a gamer so ill never get so far in the game that the romance options for him are available, i havnt touched the game since long befor the c 19 pleague and simply arn't realy into computer games, i just realy like him (i fell in love with him and befor that thexan through the trailer all thouse years back and then just read up on him a bit and started kotet because i new of the romance option in kotfe and wanted to play my way to that with little succes)

24- "I think I'm in love with you, and I don't know what to do"

Quite.

Quite was something Arcann wasn't used too, it had been so long since it had been quite. Last time he remembered was when Thexan, Vaylin and himself were children. But now as he stands out on this cliff it is one of his favourite things.

He knows there is a war going on a war that he started. He knows that once he goes back inside the noise will return, but as of right now it is quite. No arguments, no people following him around trying to earn his favour or kissing his feet.

He sighs as he takes a seat on the edge of the cliff, kicking his feet back and forth as he closes his eyes and just exist in the silence. His thoughts are quite another thing he hasn't has the pleasure of knowing for some time.

"Arcann?" His eyes shoot open at that sweet voice and he quickly looks over his shoulder to see the commander standing alittle away watching him. A small smile is pulled on their lips as they slowly walk towards him. As they take a seat beside him the wind rushes thought their hair making it flutter lightly in the breeze. "I was wondering where you wondered off too, I couldn't find you in your normal hiding places" they reply lightly with a smile before closing their eyes and basking in the sunlight and breeze.

"Forgive me commander, it.., it's to loud sometimes, I come out here to get out of my own head, and there aren't eyes on me constantly out here" he replies almost annoyed in the last few words. "I can understand. Sometimes I climb up the top of the base just to get away, I love watching the stars of restless nights." They reply before leaning their head against his shoulder, it makes Arcann tense up before he slowly let's his muscle relax at the gentle touch.

Gentle.

They are so gentle, even after all this time, all the pain and suffering he put them thought they still found it in themself to be gentle with him. "Arcann, are you alright. I know things have been difficult but I'm here for you if you need me" they say lightly which makes him shutter. He shouldn't feel like this, these emotions he has for them. After everything he has done to them. Arcann clenches his fist and jaw as he begins to mentally fight himself.

Soft hands gentle touch his face slowly tracing scars as they turn his face to look them in the eyes. "Forgive me Commander, I.. I'm not sure. I wish to talk to you but also all of this Guilt. It feels like it is eating me. And I have so much I want to say, and ask yet I feel as tho I'm not worth the time" he let's out and hangs his head.

"Arcann, I always have time to talk with you and your not going to scare me off with whatever is eating at you" they say. It almost makes him melt and it give him some small piece of courage to finally say it out loud.

"I think I'm in love with you, and I don't know what to do" he states. He refuses to look them in the eyes. He doesn't want to see the anger or disgust on their face.

"Well I would say kissing me would be a good start" that makes his eyes shoot up with shock and blush rises across his face as they pull him in for a gentle kiss. It's just a lightly brush of their lips against his but it makes him melt, his eyes flutter closed before his robotic arm moves to pull them closer and deepen the kiss.

he doesn't want to push his limits and after a little he pulls back, face flushed and then they smile at him and pull him in for another kiss. They both fall back onto the ground with his Commander on top of him as they run on hand up the side of his face and their other arm holds themself up above him.

They part almost suddenly which makes him worry that they have changed their until they look in the distance alittle with an annoyed look on their face. "Fuck off you eternal asshole, I'm going to enjoy kissing you're son and you can't do anything about it" they reply before leaning back down and pressing another kiss to his lips.

Arcann sighs into the kiss before parting with them with a smile on his face. Their eyes widen before they smile down at him. "You look very handsome when you smile"

"I.. thank you" he stutters as the commander rolls to lay beside him and run their fingers thought his buzzed hair. "You know we are going to piss off alot of people if we do this Arcann. I'm willing to but only if you are" Arcann goes quite before he speaks up. "I'm willing to"

"It's also going to Piss Valkorian off alot" they state which makes him smile again. "Making him furious will be worth every second of judgement from people" he replies before moving closer. "May I kiss you again" he ask lightly, they smile at him and lean in closer.

"I thought you would never ask"

[jackalopey]

i feel bad so im going to make a list of all of my favourite things about swtor. feel free to add anything good on

the fact that if you play as smuggler!outlander, the catalyst for the ultimate death of eternal emperor valkorion was skavak stealing your ship

the fact that the smuggler can flirt with valkorion

the fact that the smuggler can tell valkorion that he has a small dick and it pisses him off so much that he destroys a planet

the consular putting on a british accent when pretending to be a sith

the inquisitor putting on a... non-british accent when pretending to be from the republic

the inquisitor’s story as a whole having next to nothing to do with the war and just being the inquisitor making one bad decision after another to keep them alive in the immediate future

lana beniko writes poetry

lana beniko also thinks it’s funny to act menacing towards jedi just for the lolz when theyre on the same team

quinn making a huge deal out of his betrayal, then getting defeated immediately and asking the sith warrior not to tell the rest of the crew about what happened

lana being the big bad sith lord who makes sure that theron is taking breaks and tells him not to overwork himself

zenith’s first solution to every obstacle being to do something morally reprehensible, delivered completely deadpan to a horrified jedi consular

in echoes of oblivion, the outlander annoying scourge by asking why his ship is so big

ls!jaesa trying to pretend to be dark sided to pierce and his response being ‘yeah, you’re vicious’ in a tone that shows he does not, in fact, think that she is vicious

satele keeping a picture of theron as a teenager in a locket

the ghost of darth marr apparently telling satele to offer the outlander a meal when they come to her campsite

the ghost of darth marr hanging around with satele for 5 years, in general

lana being one of the most logical people in the alliance, and the confusion this causes in republic-aligned characters

gault beating lana at cards

the f!consular outlander giggling when she tries to scare theron on iokath

the fact that you can flirt with theron’s father in front of him

rumours of arcann reuniting orphans on nar shaddaa and also operating a pleasure barge on hutta

valkorion’s entire family getting to beat him up

ashara defining her own beliefs and being okay with the fact that she doesnt fit in with ‘jedi’ or ‘sith’

the outlander coming back just at the right time to ruin all of the shroud’s plans, and being completely unaware of the fact that theyve angered them

that glitch with ds!jaesa where if you romanced theron youd get a threatening mail from her, regardless of your class, alignment or prior relationship with her

[queen-scribbles]

Okay, I ran Deira (smuggler) through Arcann's date (Because Research is a v good excuse xD). I'd forgotten I did jump her to Inflection Point/Jedi Under Siege when she hit 70, so she is past the Fractured Alliances arc. But she also literally jumped to this point, started Arcann's romance and I hadn't done anything else with her, so it points to his being available soon as you recruit/lock in romance with him.

If I have time the next couple days I can power Nat through the rest of KotET and actually confirm for real, but she's only on chapter 3 rn. I need to get her there anyway, first week of Seasons was a huge time suck.😅

Non-Spoiler info about Date Night

So for the curious:

You can access Date Night from the moment you lock in the romance. For Koth, Lana, and Theron, that is Chapter 9 of KotFE. I finished Chapter 9 on an Eva, had not yet started Chapter X, and I did it. For Arcann, I assume that's right after finishing KotET Chapter 9 (can someone confirm?) when you get his Alliance Alert.

This stirs the questions as to when romances will be considered 'locked' in Vanilla... or do they only 'count' upon the comp's return to game in KotXX? Or do you get it once you get kissy-kissy with them in Vanilla? Dunno yet. Next round of romances might tell us alot.

The dates are signalled by Alliance alerts, so check your Crew menu. The only time you CAN'T repeat them is if your romantic partner is unavailable (i.e., Koth if he goes AWOL, Theron during the Nathema Conspiracy, etc).

The date nights appear to be 'neutral' in terms of time, as a result. They could happen after KotFE Chapter 9, Onslaught, 7.4.1 -- any time. They don't reference the current state of the game or ongoing plots. For your headcannon purposes, you can think this is an early date... or present day one, depending on how you've developed your versions of the romance and character development of the NPCs.

There are also multiple dialogue choices through each date, so you can change the tone and produce different dates each playthrough.

The quests are weekly repeatables. So don't worry if your outfit wasn't perfect or you did not record it or you cringed at that dialogue choice -- you can fix it!

The quests are 3 minutes long or so, but as indicated above, it's "Choose Your Own Adventure" in terms of the tone, dialogue, and certain key actions.

Overall, I liked it -- I just wish there was more!

[lily-orchard-gossip-blog]

2nd best Kreia

To a certain extent, I agree with Lily. Kreia is one of the most underrated and at the same time the best characters in the Star Wars universe. Why? Because despite my disagreement with some of Kreia's teachings, she is interesting. All her actions have a cause and consequences, none of her relationships is flat, her teachings, although cynical, are not essentially cruel. You may not agree with her, but you will admit that there is at least a grain of truth in them. I can believe in her character and her personality. I am writing all this to understand what Lily is guided by in determining the characters as the best and worst. Kreia is well written, but its pretty clear that that's not the main factor.

By the way, I was a little surprised by the comparison of Kreia and Luke in the new trilogy because... They are both quite different in their essence, and comparing them is dumb.

And given Lily's love for Kreia, I can't help but touch on TSR. Aliana looks like the character who is desperately trying to be Kreia. Aliana also lectures the younger force-sensitive character, her teachings are "morally cynical" (though in reality just needlessly cruel), and sass everyone around incessantly. Only Lily does not understand that Kreia is not an OC that came out of nowhere, but a well-placed character who, for the sake of her abilities, had to suffer and take responsibility for her actions and pay a huge price. Kreia can be rude because she has been improving her skills all her life (instead of just watching a couple of records from the ship) and because she basically has nothing to lose. Alina can not.

By the way... knowing Lily's unhealthy love for couples with a young naive innocent girl and an adult experienced (usually depraved) woman, I feel a little disgusted.

2nd blandest Darth Maul ???

OK. To a certain extent, I can understand the dislike of parasitizing on a recognizable character (which happens quite often in Star Wars), but ... wtf?

If the character was originally an empty shell with a good design, why not use it? Excuse me, of course, but I would rather get a story about 10 characters already familiar to me that expands my understanding of them, than about 20 new characters that I don’t know and don’t care about.

I haven't watched the Clone Wars so I can't say how well they developed Maul, but I think it's better than nothing.

2nd worst Koth

*heavy sigh* aw shit here we go again

It's pretty funny how half of the rant about characters Lily's just spent to discussing the other romances in the game (i.e. prizing Lana and downgrading everyone else because ~~ oohh LeSbIaN~~), and I can understand why. If you ask Lily what is the reason for her dislike for the Koth (as in the case of the Arcann, by the way), she will not be able to give a normal explanation, because the answer will always be a BAD WRITING.

Koth gets quite a lot of time in KOTFE (most of that time is spent on doing nothing but not about this rn), while already in the next expansion he… says a couple of phrases… wow. This is an incredibly missed opportunity.

So, here's a tip from someone who never on her life opened a screenwriting textbook... Just because a character STARTED with a rather wrong view of the situation doesn't mean they're already lost. If the writers had spent more time showing how Koth changes his mind, learns information, maybe even argues with the player, but ends up accepting the truth and apologizing, that would be a great character arc. Instead, they scored on him, and Lily, without even thinking, dubbed him almost the Antichrist (although he did nothing immoral, unlike the same Lana who supported fucking TERRORISM). That's why Lily shifts the subject in the video. By pointing out the writer's poor performance in the first place, she would have easily shown that the placement of the characters is not just a matter of taste, but a narcissistic statement devoid of both taste and obvios writing skills. (By the way, considering that according to the plot, Koth and Lana seemed to have mutual sympathy, I can’t help feeling that for Lily this is something, ahem, personal)

Does the character in any way not support Lily's views and is not perfect from the very beginning? Well obviously he's awful!

I see Lana as "1st best" and already I want to get drunk. To be continued.

Well, I won't spoil anything 😂

Also, nice to see these back! I quite enjoy reading these.

[thebreadtree]

SWTOR Character Meme

Tagged by @sullustangin

Tagging: @arkannis @thelesbianlegacy-swtor @shanfamilydrama @butterki @the-cauthon-legacy-swtor @thrn-shn @halibellecter @kreiadatingsim @rainofaugustsith

For this one I will exclude those toons I haven't started playing with and my replays because it would be a way too long post otherwise.

Do you have more Imperial or Republic characters?

So I counted 10 Imps and 9 Pubs which is almost perfectly balanced but still the Empire definetly wins since I am playing my Imps more often than my Pubs.

The dark side just attracts me more.

My toons:

-- 3 IA: Celeina(Neutral), Yklier(DS), Yoo'sa(LS)

-- 2 SI: Parena(LS), Vectrys(Neutral?)

-- 2 SW: Ky'rii(DS with LS tendencies), Aarvene(DS)

-- 3 BH: Tchin(full DS), Tchon(LS), Miskre(DS)

-- 2 Troopers: Reyhannah(LS), Oricii(Neutral?)

-- 2 Smugglers: Res's(LSish), Lukatee(DS)

-- 2 JK: Eprema(LS), Carriis(DS)

-- 3 JC: Rougeon(DS), Ammiey(Neutral), Raawek(LS)

Which class do you play as the most?

Agent. I have 6 of them in total and probably will have more of them in the future. All these different endings are just flirting with my inner completionist.

Also everytime I just want to do some Heroics or go achievement hunting I always grab Celeina because I just love stabbing people the Operative class.

Which race do you play as the most?

It's more or less balanced. The humans are always more though if you compare them to one of the other races.

That the humans outweigh is only because I created Celeinas descendants ingame. If it wouldn't be for them it would be a a balanced mix between all the races since I can't pick a favourite species. They all look so cool. I wanna play as all of them!

Celeina- Cyborg

Yklier- Rattataki

Yoo'sa, Tchin, Tchon- Chiss

Parena- Twi'lek

Vectrys, Oricii, Res's, Eprema, Ammiey- Human

Ky'rii, Aarvene, Lukatee- Pureblood Sith

Miskre- Togruta

Reyhannah- Zabrak(Pub)

Carriis- Cathar

Rougeon- Mirialan

Raawek- Nautolan

How many have completed KOTFE/KOTET?

So far only Celeina, Eprema and Res's but I am currently playing through Kotfe/Kotet with Parena and Rougeon and I am working on getting Ky'rii, Tchin and Reyhannah through the expansions before Kotet/Kotfe so that I can play it with them too and I am also planning to take Yoo'sa and Tchon through Kotfe/Kotet in the future.

How many have completed up too Secrets of the Enclave?

It's basically the same answer as before.

Celeina, Eprema and Res's have completed all avaibable story content so far and I am working on getting Parena, Rougeon, Ky'rii, Tchin, Tchon, Reyhannah and Yoo'sa to that point too.

Who has stayed loyal to their class romance? Who didn't?

Celeina stayed loyal to Vector. She was with Lana during Kotfe/Kotet but he choose Vector in the end. (In my headcanon she and Vector are going to break up in the future and Celeina will get back together with Lana but you can't do that ingame so...)

Eprema stayed loyal to Doc. I just can't picture her with anybody else.

Res's had a fling with Corso during her class story but rejected his proposal so I guess she stayed loyal to not commiting to anybody.

Now Parena and Rougeon have technically romanced Andronikos and Felix but I decided that they were lesbians all along and shall romance eachother halfway trough SoR so ingame they did not stay loyal but they did stay loyal to eachother in my head.

Ky'rii has not romanced anyone in his class story because he's gay.

Tchin stays loyal to Torian and Tchon will stay loyal to Mako. Same goes for Reyhannah and Aric.

Yoo'sa will not stay loyal to Raina ingame but in my head he does.

Who started a Romance with the Kotet/Kotfe companions?

Celeina I already explained.

Parena and Rougeon are both romancing Lana ingame because I can't have them romance eachother...

Ky'rii will get himself an idiot spy husband.

Yoo'sa will romance Koth. It's the only reason why I'm taking Yoo'sa through Kotfe/Kotet. I want to see Koth's romance.

And Res's basically kissed Arcann immediatly. (Those two are so chaotic together)

Who is your oldest (having played the longest)?

My oldest has been deleted a long time ago and so has been the second oldest. That would make my beloved Celeina my oldest still existing toon.

I still kinda remember my first two toons. The first one was a SI who was a pale Vampire DS Bitch and the Second one was a some LS SW who still got DS corruption because back then I didn't knew you could change your allignment.

Who's you newest?

Good question. I had a "Make a bunch of new OCs" night a few months ago so I can't really tell anymore but I think the last one I made was Jora Malvice.

She is a Cyborg Operative. I don't really know why I made her. I guess I just wanted another agent that goes stabby stab a cool looking Cyborg.

I would show you a picture of her but this piece of a toaster I'm playing Swtor on is currently having his 5 minutes.

[haledamage]

6, 8, and 16 Alliance asks, please 😉

6) Are there any NPC’s from the class stories you’d like to see/HC join the Alliance? Ex: Master Timmns, Ardun Kothe, Watcher One, etc

Jonas Fucking Balkar. He should be a full romance option for Troopers and I will die on this hill.

Also, Fuse! He should have played a role in later chapters of the Trooper story if you saved him, and he definitely joins Ves's Alliance. I also like to think he helps Havoc out during the years she's in carbonite.

I wish they hadn't killed off Crysta during SoR and that she and her daughter could have joined the Alliance. I headcanon that more Mando'ade than just Torian join up (Clan Ordo, at the very least, since they have an established history with Torian and the BH)

I wish Master Orgus's Force Ghost had stuck around to just annoy the hell out of Valkorian. Just the idea of Valk being constantly Statler-and-Waldorf'd by a dead Jedi Master is hilarious to me.

Trooper and BH are the only classes I've finished all the way through (so far), so I may have more to add to this in the future ;)

Also, I headcanon that both Vette and Torian are saved because I hate Bioware's obsession with "choose which beloved companion will die". Ves saves Torian while Kade saves Vette and Marii helps Arcann and Senya protect the Gravestone and everyone wins.

8) Are any of your other OC’s part of the Alliance? If yes what do they do for the Alliance? Do they get along with your Commander?

My "canon" Commander is Vesiya Hallis Jorgan (Colonel Jorgan, officially, but she doesn't use her rank anymore. f!Trooper, Medic Commando, mostly LS), but I've really enjoyed adding the others to her story in a non-Commander capacity. I like the idea of having a complete set of all of them working together eventually.

Marii Shan (former Jedi Battlemaster Aramarii Wrinn. f!Jedi Knight, Watchman Sentinel, mostly LS) is a really good combat tactician and an equally good spy. During the five years Ves is in carbonite, she gets a reputation as a terrorist among Arcann's forces for saving rebels and dissidents from his wrath. Once she officially joins the Alliance, she is Theron's favorite lead scout, she goes behind enemy lines for recon missions. Briefly, during the Order of Zildrog business, she's promoted to Spymaster, until her then-boyfriend (now husband) comes home.

Kade Mithal of Clan Cadera (f!Bounty Hunter, Bodyguard Mercenary OR Pyrotech Powertech (both, really, because I've never been able to choose), full LS) joins when Torian does. They're a team and she goes where he goes, no matter what. She's a very good bounty hunter. If you need someone found, she's your girl. I'm fairly certain she's the one who found where Ves was being held so Lana could rescue her.

I'm pretty sure Riykas (Jedi Shadow, full LS) and Jayce (Sith Juggernaut, full LS) join Ves's Alliance too, but I haven't decided in what capacity yet.

Ves and Marii become really good friends during the Revan business, and that continues once Marii joins the Alliance. They work well together and balance each other out. Really, the Jorgans and Shans in general get along well. Also, the two of them teaming up has got to be terrifying for Valk personally because they are the two biggest pains in his ass in the whole galaxy.

Ves and Kade have a lot of respect for each other, though they don't spend much time together outside of work until after Ves saves Torian during Vaylin's assault on Odessen. After that, Ves is as good as family as far as Kade is concerned, and she is an unofficial part of their clan.

Marii and Kade get along surprisingly well, considering the animosity between Jedi and Mandalorians. They have a bit of a playful rivalry, but trust each other completely when the shit hits the fan (which it often does). When one of Kade and Torian's daughters ends up Force Sensitive, Marii offers to train her.

16) From our OC’s point of view, SoR -> KotET wasn’t a fun experience, did they develop any fears as a result?

Ves is scared of carbonite stasis, and will absolutely fight to the death before ever being put in it again. She still sometimes wakes up from nightmares with psychosomatic stasis-blindness, and on really bad days has to remind herself that she isn't just having a very detailed coma dream.

Marii would never ever admit it, but she's scared of Valkorian getting in her head again. It's happened twice now (once during the JK story, once on Ziost), and she's not sure she'll be able to break free if it happens a third time. She stays behind when everyone else goes to free Satele from Valk's plague, even though her connection to Kira and Scourge would have probably protected her. Just in case.

I don't think Kade fears anything lmao

[queen-scribbles]

I have more of their backstory! Unfortunately lot of sad stuff 😅

Their parents(Faren and Sereda) moved from Coruscant to Makeb when Ren was really little, two as most, equal parts for a work opportunity and to get away from all the crime CorSec was not having much luck curtailing.

Dad worked in a mine, Mom stayed home with Ren and worked on building up social connections--both just friends among the neighbors and good rapport with the governor's staff.

One of Dad's foremen happened to see her in action and was impressed by her memory/ability to multitask, so offered her a job in communications.

Staggered schedules and separate mines at first so one of them was always home with Ren, but when he was old enough to go to day school, the hours got longer and they were occasionally at the same mine. Then regularly at the same mine(so they could commute together). Both parents got time off when Nat was born; few months for Dad, ~year for Mom.

Even then, Mom was only working 3-4 days a week when the groundquake hit. On one of the days she was working.

The groundquake was one of the worst on record up until RotHC; hit six mesas, knocked out light bridges, severely damaged one mine and destroyed three more.

Including the one where their parents worked. Ren stayed with Nat for three days inside their wrecked house waiting to see if either of them came home.

They didn't

Three days was the point he had to go out and get food bc they were running low. Ren waited until Nat was sleeping and went to find something. The grocer was mostly destroyed/scavenged already, of course, but there were a few things left the extremely haggard owner was willing to sell him

(He got jumped and most of it stolen on the way home. Wound up with three juma fruits and a small thing of milk. Made sure Nat was full first.)

(suddenly very glad his mother made sure he know how to change a diaper)

it's two day later an aftershock finishes the destruction of their house and forces them to live on the street

Thanks to worry about aftershocks and other "seismic activity" it takes three months for aid shuttles to land. They have to do surveys, confirm the results, round up people willing to go somewhere potentially unstable, supplies to take with them.

When they arrive, the aid goes to larger towns first, takes a while to get to Ren and Nat's.

He tries to avoid rescue workers for a while; worried being found will result into going to an orphanage and being split up. (even knowing there's a chance that would be best for Nat since he can't really take care of her)

Cue being found by the Jedi, who picked up on Nat's Force Sensitivity since it's so strong and very gently offers to take her to the Jedi Order, which Ren agrees to, and also offers to find Ren a place, which he declines. He'd rather take care of himself.

When Ren eventually gets his own ship, he names it after his mom.

Less sad note: I think I'm gonna have both of them wind up in Tragen's Alliance. They're on the same server and I can easily make it make sense and keep their planned romances even.

Nat joins the Force Enclave, starts talking to Arcann one time he comes to visit with Sana-Rae, befriends him bc she would, bam there's the spark for them. (Tragen, btw, would strongly encourage this and might even meddle)

Ren and Beryl is even easier; they're hired on as some of Hylo's freelancers(Ren and Hylo frequently bicker about who is the Republic Greatest Outlaw Hero while Beryl sips caf and rolls her eyes).

With Ren not actually being on the base much, and mostly in the underworld hanger when he is, I can take as long as I want for it to click for them that they're siblings >:3

if you read all that have a cookie🍪🍪🍪

Renatis & Rhenata

Okay, I don't have all the details of the newest sibling set's backstory worked out, but what I do have:

Ren is is six years older than Nat, and he was v excited about being a big brother

Their parents died when Nat was about 18 months old, and there was no family or friends around to take them in, so the kids wound up on the street

Ren tried so hard to take care of Nat so they could stay together and he wouldn't lose what was left of his family, dodged going to an orphanage bc he was afraid they would be separated, but he was seven.

They ran into/were found by a Jedi after about 6 months(so Ren's 8 and Nat's 2), who could tell Nat was Force-Sensitive. After some minor hesitation bc this is his baby sister and he's been trying so hard to stay together, Ren let the Jedi take her. It's better for Nat; he knows he can't take proper care of her like the Jedi will, she'll get shelter/food/training that he's struggling to find for them.

So Nat goes to be trained by the Jedi, turns out to be extremely gifted with the Force, happy sweet.... and there's this one lullaby she hums sometimes that she can't remember for the life of her where she first heard it.

Ren keeps living on the streets--much easier to do only looking out for him and not a baby(that's what he tells himself but he still misses her). He gets v good at charming his way into jobs/free food/a night's shelter in someone's storage room(or just sneaking in and making sure he's gone before he'd get caught).

Finally talks his way onto the crew of a smuggling ship when he's 12. H's persuasive, sneaky, dexterous, fits in small spaces... who wouldn't want someone like him on their crew? Thus begins his smuggling career.

The charm hangs on--and it doesn't hurt he turns out to be a looker--as he gets older, and almost unintentionally turns him into a bit of a ladies' man.

However he learned the-hard-way-adjacent you DO NOT flirt with people who will be stuck on the same ship with you long term(first mate and medic on his second smuggling crew had a romantic falling out and it got real ugly real fast).