#master vrook

[sporadicsweetswitch]

Friend is still playing KOTOR. Here are their thoughts so far....PART II

PARTS HERE [1][2][3][4][5]

1. Bastila might rival Anakin in terms of mommy/daddy issues. Like, seriously, wow... is it a Tatooine thing?

2. Malak is not only super unqualified but desperately needs to do an undercover boss investigation into the incompetence of his entire fleet. Seriously, he sucks.

3. Zaalbar is the only competent one of the Ebon Hawk crew who doesn't ignore you, insult you, betray you, or romance you and therefore should be declared King of the Wookies with Mission as his right hand.

4. Revan is a massive drama queen and they deserved to suffer for all the bullshit problems they caused before they "died". (**spoilers, friend hasn't reached the big twist yet)

[bojangos]

replaying kotor 1 and constantly being entertained how every jedi master almost spills the beans about who you really are every .00005 seconds before ANOTHER jedi master aggressively shushes them. this is why 'revan knows who they are early' is practically canon.

i've counted 4 almost-spilled beans in the opening cutscene of dantooine alone. master dorak is the only exception

[dairine-bonnet]

Young Padawan Bastila: *in every possible way tries to wriggle out of awkward situations and questions or avoid detailed answers to questions about Revan*.

Wise Master Vrook: Well, if we start training you, how can we make sure the Dark Lord won't return? We're not certain that Revan is truly dead!

Amnesiac Revan: ...

Master Vrook: Obviously, we don't trust you!

Amnesiac Revan: ???

[ipreferfiction]

i've been enabled. you get Revan/Exar Kun parallels on this fine evening. more under the cut

the thing. the thing about them. the thing is that it's never enough. Exar is as powerful a fighter as the Jedi have, and clever, and so strong with the Force, but Dantooine is tiny and his master won't let him study the Dark and he's hungry for it, so hungry. he wants to know everything, he's ready, he knows he's ready, and damn what Vodo says about it -

and Revan. Revan who spends her childhood on Dantooine and hears the Emperor's voice at twelve and is never trusted, never enough, not for the masters (not for Vrook, who remembers the last war, who remembers the black-haired apprentice with his blue lightsaber and watches the black-haired padawan with her blue blades now). Revan who wants to study the Dark because she has to, because it's the only way to fight it, because she needs to know, because she knows she's ready and she knows she's good enough and she has always known herself better than any master did.

thirty years between them. and it's half their choice and half a master plan, getting them to fall. Freedon Nadd breaks half the bones in Exar's body. Vitiate doesn't even have to do that much, to push Revan into war, to make her seek him out in the end. they both deny it. they both surrender.

thirty years between them. was Exar's blood still dried on that tomb floor when Revan came to Korriban? did she know, when she went hunting for knowledge in those tombs, that she wasn't the first?

and they're good. they're so very good at galactic conquest. they're so very good at being dark lords of the Sith, at being the nightmares they once swore they'd never fall to. they're clever, they're terrifying - as charismatic as they are vicious, as creative as they are cruel. how many Jedi walk away to join Exar? how many Revanchists go to war, and how many Jedi turn to the darkness when Darth Revan reappears?

and they have so much power. so much it's terrifying. Exar walks into the Senate chamber and freezes every one of them in their seats without breaking a sweat. he works alchemy on a level only matched by Sith lords with decades more experience. he was born to power, the lightning at the center of the storm. and Revan, Revan who can kill with a wave of her hand, Revan who claws her way back from death so many times, Revan who bends the Star Forge and the Foundry and Yavin to her will - Revan, who faces Vitiate and survives - more power in her as a youngling than most Jedi have by knighthood, and she takes to it so very easily.

they are planet-killers, Revan and Exar Kun, and they gave the orders knowing the cost and deeming it worthy. Revan watches Malachor V and half her army die, and it wins her the war. Exar makes a star cluster go supernova, turns Ossus barren, destroys Urkupp. it's not even to win the war - it's for Ossus, for all the knowledge there. what is a planet, against a galaxy?

anyway. yeah. parallels.

[azems-familiar]

okay okay okay. fine. my interpretation of Ulic, obviously, which i personally think is pretty accurate if you get rid of some of the ridiculous shit that makes no sense the comics pulled, and extrapolated based on little things. anyway.

they're both gifted kids, you know. Ulic is given over to Arca when he's 11, this absolute powerhouse and prodigy. his mother believed herself incapable of training him, instead sending him to a master who scolded him for not developing the innate power of battle meditation; he resented her for it, and resented Arca, but never believed Arca was wrong. Revan, thirty years later, just as powerful in the Force, with the same martial bent as him, feared by Vrook Lamar and certain other masters she would resent for the rest of her life. picked up at twelve by Arren Kae, who only chose her because one day you will save the Republic, i've Seen it.

arrogant, both of them, even as the brightest of Jedi. Ulic knew his strength and believed he could handle anything - boasted about it, even. what were the Krath against his Jedi strength and righteousness? Revan had succeeded at everything she turned her mind to, and was certain she could outsmart Cassus Fett and win the war. what were the Mandalorians against her righteous anger and the Jedi's compassion?

(how long did a Jedi's compassion and righteousness last when loss came, when anger came, when a way to win that wasn't the right path presented itself?)

how often did Nomi Sunrider look at Alek and Qatya, Revan's most loyal friends, and see Cay? (see Tott, see herself?) Qatya, standing numb before the Jedi Council, a fresh scar across her face and her connection to the Force ripped away. Cay, bleeding out and crumpled on the ground, Ulic's lightsaber having carved through his chest.

a mask. an amulet. power, not of the mystic kind but of blade and charisma and tactical genius and an army loyal to the death. Ulic would have taken Coruscant had Aleema not betrayed him. thirty years later, Revan was six months out from conquering the Republic, Coruscant included, until Malak turned and shot her in the back.

Ulic was a prodigy. he proved it a hundred times over before the end. Revan saved the Republic, and then turned around and nearly destroyed it. both of them left shadows over the galaxy that would linger for generations. oh, they'll tell you Exar Kun masterminded the Great Sith War, and maybe they're right - from his hand was the dream of a new golden age birthed. but it was Ulic who led their armies, unmatched by any Republic tactician.

the same eyes in different people, time after time after time.

so yeah. sometimes i think about Ulic and Revan.

[klerothesnowman]

The Reason the Jedi Suck is Because Conflict is More Interesting Than Peace

Okay, here I go defending the Jedi.

I've mentioned it in a previous ramble, but my primary engagement with Star Wars for the past year or so has been a Neverwinter Nights roleplaying server set during Knights of the Old Republic. It is the most niche of niche corners in the overall Star Wars fandom, but it's given me a really great example of why a lot of people have the opinion that the Jedi are massive fuck ups who are responsible for all the problems in the galaxy.

If you somehow don't know, the big twist of KotoR 1 is that the player character is an amnesiac Darth Revan, the previous Dark Lord of the Sith who ruined everything. The Jedi concoct this big plan to mind wipe him, train him as a Jedi again, and then use him to turn the tide of the war. There's a lot of details to this that are up in the air, like if this plan was entirely premediated, or something spur of the moment when an amnesiac Revan exploded into their laps when Malak betrayed him. One of the Jedi Masters who is absolutely not on board with this plan is Master Vrook. Vrook is a real dick, he's crotchety and angry and he shoots down all of your achievements. At one point he flat out says that training you is a mistake because Revan will just come back. Homie does not care about OpSec.

In KotoR 2 one of the more shocking, yet extremely understated, twists is that Jedi Master Atris has fallen to the Dark Side and is partly responsible for the slaughter of the Jedi Order after she gave the location of the Order's meeting place away to the Sith in an attempt to lure them out. Because KotoR 2 was less about big twists and more about an unfolding of events you could see coming a mile away, the fact that Atris is evil isn't surprising, the first time you meet her she flips off the handle about how much she hates you and you watch a recording of her flipping out about how you should be dead later. The reason Atris' fall is shocking isn't because "Oh man, this character who I had a positive outlook on is evil? Say it isn't so" but more because she was all over the marketing for this game, she's on the box art fighting Sith, she's the one who juxtaposes the game's iconic Sith. She, metatexually, represents the light side for Kotor 2. Everyone who played Planescape Torment noticed that her name was an anagram of Trias and sniffed her ass immediately however.

These twists and characters are extremely well known, basically common knowledge to anyone who cares for KotoR. Like, for instance, the kind of reprobates who would roleplay KotoR in a 20 year old D&D RPG.

There was a time on this roleplaying server where, not getting into details, the Jedi players fucked up. The DM team deemed that their behaviour was unjedi, and that they needed to intervene to push them onto the right path. The method of doing so was to have their enclave be audited by Master Atris. When the announcement was given the Jedi characters panicked. Characters who were from Coruscant told horror stories they knew about how mean Atris was, one in particular described her as "The Worst".

There was another time where players ran into Master Vrook. Vrook was a dick, he smacked down any attempt to have fun, he seized on any attempt to criticize characters and completely wrote off particular characters as lost causes, almost gleefully rattling off lists of their failings. Vrook actually was The Worst.

These portrayals of Vrook and Atris were not challenged. Why would they be? They lined up with how players remembered them. Of course Jedi Master Atris is mean and awful, she was mean and awful to the Jedi Exile.

The issue with that should hopefully be extremely obvious. You're not the Jedi Exile.

Atris being an evil hateful shit is a twist, it's a reveal. Immediately after Atris flip out one of her Handmaidens steps up to her and asks "Are you okay? I've never seen you act like that before." The Jedi Exile was her hero, if you plan as a male PC she loved him, he stood as a testament to what the Jedi should be. And then the Exile betrayed the Order and joined Revan in the Mandalorian Wars. The Exile hurt her in a intensely personal way that only the Exile could. Atris acts mean and awful to the Jedi Exile and only the Jedi Exile.

Vrook is angry and dismissive of Revan because you're Revan, he thinks this entire plan is a mistake and that you're just going to fall to the dark side again and then everyone will be right back where they started. And yeah, he's angry, stubborn and dismissive of the Jedi Exile too, but again that's because you're the Jedi Exile, the guy who joined Revan. The guy who, in a very rare out of the way bit of dialogue that often gets missed, used to bully his Padawan.

Every time Vrook and Atris are interacted with is when they're at their worst, we the viewer never get to see them at their best, we just get to have the little not-Yoda's word that Vrook is actually pretty cool. The entire fanbases perception of these characters are tainted by whose perspective they were seeing these characters from, and the moment you are seeing them.

This is something that the Jedi get screwed by in the entire franchise.

Starting from the prequel trilogy, it's pretty oldhat to point out that these movies are about the Jedi Order falling for a trap, after being manipulated for over a decade. It's a story about good people having their flaws and fears preyed upon by an enemy they're unprepared for. The severity of the war, combined with the knowledge that the Sith are behind it somehow, pushes the Jedi to get involved. The Clone Army falling into their lap is too good to be true, but its discovery is intentionally timed with a sudden urgent need for an army. The Jedi are forced to make compromises on their ideals and convictions, and that's what leads to their downfall.

Meanwhile in the Original Trilogy, a similar narrative is playing out. The Jedi are defeated and in hiding, traumatized by life under The Empire. When Luke's friends are in danger Yoda urges caution to continue hiding, saying he's not ready to face Vader and that he's rushing into it. When Luke says that he can't bring himself to kill his father, Obi-wan laments that if he can't do it then the Empire has already won. But the thing is, Obi-wan and Yoda are wrong, their beliefs influenced by their fear. Luke isn't rushing to face Vader, he's trying to save his friends, Obi-wan thinks Vader cannot be redeemed but Luke holds onto that hope to very end. And in that end he's proven right, Luke redeems Vader, and the galaxy is saved. Luke stands true to his ideals and convictions and is rewarded for it.

Both of these narratives require that the Jedi falter, require the Jedi to not meet their own ideals for both tragedy and Luke's eventual victory as one of the greatest Jedi who ever lived.

Furthermore, once Luke can make a new Jedi Order, he makes one that has learned from the mistakes of the previous Order but also, crucially, understands why certain decisions that he wrote off as mistakes were done. There's an entire ass story about Luke coming to the realization that a lot of Star Wars fans have to make, that Attachment and Relationships are not the same thing, and that the Jedi Order were right to bar the Jedi from them.

The thing is about Luke's Order though is that the stories told within it could not be a three part movie series. They're episodic novels and adventures, where the writers have room for the smaller, day to day operations of the Jedi Order. Missions where Jedi swoop in and save the day, and it doesn't need to feed into a narrative that only has one to two hours to wrap shit up. Where they protect people, not lead armies against their enemies. Where they get to be everything they're supposed to be.

These novels are also a lot more niche. It's more of an investment to read a book than it is to watch a movie, meanwhile the movies are one of the most successful blockbuster franchise ever made, everyone watched the movies, no one read the books. So it's the movies that influence people's perception and ideas. And then it's those perceptions and ideas that make people go "It would be interesting to explore how the Jedi are actually not that great." which perpetuates the image of Jedi as fuck ups.

And it IS interesting to explore how the Jedi are actually not that great. You should always be critical of institutions, it's how you keep them honest and watching institutions fail makes for interesting storytelling. The institutions failing is the inciting incident for the movies. But the movies still maintain that the core of the institution was something good.

[tobyig]

Exile's and Kreia's conversation at the Jedi Enclave after killing the Jedi Order is. Godly. (this is a long one)

Kreia: "Is it as you expected?"

Exile: "You said all that is left of the Jedi will be here."

K: "Yes, and that is why this place is empty."

E: "But where is the order? And the rest of the Jedi?"

K: "Your actions have crippled the Order, perhaps destroyed them."

E: "Then I have wiped them out."

K: "No...perhaps...it is difficult to say. For every Jedi slain, for every Sith slain, another rises. But the Order is wounded, yes."

E: "Why have you brought me here?"

K: "Because there is something we must discuss. The destruction of the Order, the Masters, it was not an end in itself. I did not expect them to still live, their presence was...knowledge I did not possess. But now this has been corrected, and now the sides of this conflict are as I had thought them to be. There are no more unknowns. And what you have done - it is not enough."

E: "What do you mean?"

K: "Although I did not expect them to still live, I had hoped you would learn something from the Jedi Masters as they fell before you. Not just of battle, but of yourself...and the force."

E: "What was I supposed to learn?"

K: "I must know if killing them, if revenge brought you any measure of satisfaction. If seeing them dead has settled the disquiet within you."

E: "Why do you wish to know?"

K: "Because it matters to me, in a way that never mattered to the Jedi, to the Council when they cast you out. You must understand - I did not wish the Jedi dead. Defeated...perhaps. I merely wished them to see that they and their teachings were wrong. That one could not truly understand the Force simply by adhering to the Jedi Code. All I have ever trained have been failures to them, students who went to fight the Mandalorians, who fell to the dark side, who abandoned their training. To see one that had the strength to best them, that is a moment I will not forget. Yet, it has not been as satisfying as I had hoped. To best them in battle is one thing. To defeat them without striking a blow - that was my hope. Regardless...it had to be done. To have such powerful Jedi still live, still felt in the Force even on such worlds as they had chosen, was a threat to be ended."

E: "What do you mean?"

K: "Let us return to my question. If by killing these Jedi, if you gained any measure of peace."

E: "Yes, but there is still other opponents - it is not enough to kill Jedi, when the Sith remain."

K: "It is as I thought. You have failed me. Completely, and utterly. I have taught you to hear the force again, shown you the contrast, and yet you do not understand. This is what you have wrought. Countless murderers, slayers, assassins, born of war that has as always, has taught the wrong lesson. You showed them life without the Force - and instead of showing them truth, power, all you showed them was how the galaxy may die. You are responsible for all of this. Even now, events spiral towards destruction, and there is nothing that can be done because you refuse to listen, to understand. You have seen the effects you have on those close to you, heard the echoes scream across dead planets, and watched as your strength has grown. Yet it is for nothing. To have the Jedi Masters brought low by such a failure, there is no victory in that. You have not heard a thing I have taught, and for all I have said, you have never learned to listen. Vrook was right to come here, though he did not recognize the connection until too late. This place will hide you from the Sith for a time - enough to do what must be done. You were my last hope, the only one who could change what is to come. And now you have left me nothing. I shall teach you no longer. Our bond remains, but that is all. Stay here and die, apprentice, among the wreckage of all that remains of the Jedi. It is a fitting grave until the Sith come to end you...to end everything. And as you lie here, I pray you will listen...and finally awaken."

Kreia (telepathically): "Vrook was right to come here, though he did not realize the connection until too late. All life is connected by the force. You have felt it in your companions, your choices affecting theirs, their actions mirroring yours. Imagine such incidents, spreading outwards. From the smallest of actions, the smallest of cruelties and kindnesses, great tragedies are made. The wounds inside people, the wounds suffered by planets...both cause echoes, heard and felt through the Force. And these echoes build, and all that can hear them shall become deafened...or die. Choose the right moment, create the right echo, and then all shall be destroyed. And there are those that feed on such deaths. And when no life is left, they shall consume themselves. You have taught them to bond with others, and then feed on that bond. What you have brought is the death of all who can feel the force. It is your gift to the galaxy, exile. And unless you hear it and silence the echo you have caused, then every living thing, everywhere, that is touched by the Force...will die."

woah. that was a lot. but i'm most interested in Kreia's final spoken paragraph ("It is as I thought. [...] I pray you will listen...and finally awaken.")

There are so many absolute bangers in this paragraph.

- "It is as I thought. You have failed me. Completely and utterly."

(the line that i read and immediately my jaw dropped to the floor btw)

It is well known in the game what Kreia's intentions are--don't kill force sensitives, kill the Force. She says in an earlier paragraph, "For every Jedi slain, for every Sith slain, another rises."

We did not do as she wanted--not even close. not only did countless Jedi and Sith die at our hands during the Mandalorian Wars, but even more died in the time it takes to complete the story of the game. Countless Sith assassins, soldiers, lords, Jedi Masters, and more all died at our hands. We merely transferred the power into another persons hands.

This line also plays heavily into the Lord of Betrayal title she has, cause...i mean woah. In the Sion battle, you have options to try to convince him that Kreia (Darth Treya) won't ever see his potential as he does--not as strength in the Force, but as weakness for using it. and the same is happening here.

"You showed them life without the Force - and instead of showing them truth, power, all you showed them was how the galaxy may die."

is an exact example of her repeated ideals. It's what we get during the Sion/Exile battle now here.

Also, reading

"To see one that had the strength to best them, that is a moment I will not forget." and then "To have the Jedi Masters brought low by such a failure, there is no victory in that."

was an absolute punch to the gut.

[greyias]

Highlights from last night's stream (I swear, if I had the wherewithal I would actually do clips/highlights properly with Twitch's interface, but eh, effort):

Spending a good ten minutes or so to finish beating that stupid Ithorian at the spaceport so I could finally get the HK part I needed. As I finally beat him, and we cheered in chat, I realized: he had no HK droid parts. That was just being sold like normal by a different vendor a few meters away

Finding a room full of deactivated mute protocol droids, and without any reason whatsoever other than "chaos", activating them all at the exact same time, and cackling madly as they all bunched up and got caught in doorways as they tried to clank past one another to start their patrol routes

Baby Voice Padawan and Holly the Holocron -- most unlikely padawan/master duo

Not realizing the spider enemies somehow breathed fire until like, 45 minutes in of bonking them on the head

Running around for over an hour inside of the Enclave, progressing story bits, gaining light side and experience points, and in a moment of hubris-fueled chaos, decided to overload a computer terminal with a one second timer, insta-killing the entire party. I had not saved since setting foot inside. We had to do everything again

Mical. Just... Mical (being in the party .05 seconds before talking to the Exile like a stalker, "oh god I didn't mean to click on him! I was trying to talk to the turret!", "The Jedi Council convinced Revan to change her mind", *gives a guy some credits and tells him to stop breaking the law* "I've never seen a Jedi do anything nice ever! You're sooooo cool")

MOOKS BRING VROOK TO THE NOOK

Running around Dantooine acting like a little missionary for the militia, asking every single soul on this godforsaken planet if they've heard the good news about Zherron and his gravelly faux Clint Eastwood Voice

And maybe my favorite moment, fueled by my own particular brand of blonde obliviousness, where I am completely and utterly lost trying to find a stupid cave, and talk to our favorite bald, old Jedi hater hanging out near our ship:

Me: [proceeds through passing all of the persuasion/charm checks, probably making bi-disaster finger guns to get Baldy to talk]

Old Bald Guy: You're right random stranger who gaslighted me last stream! [proceeds to give detailed strategic info about all of Dantooine's weak points]

Atton: Wow! You're as smooth as the barrel of a blaster. I like that. 🤩

Me: WHOA THERE, ATTON! Are you talking about that guy's head? THAT'S SO INSENSITIVE!

Atton, probably:

Also Atton: [influence goes up], internally "My god she's so stupid. Why does that make me love her even more?"

[iconac]

aside from some generic comments about revan's hunger for knowledge and power in their youth there's an overarching preconception from the jedi council on dantooine that revan was corrupted/turned by 'something' as opposed to just. falling. it's literally a formula: revan was a little bit of a problem child, and then Something Got At Them because they were a problem child and didn't listen to reason, and now no one is surprised. when speaking to all the other members of the dantooine council, they give various permutations of alluding to something out in the outer rim corrupting revan and malak to the dark side (or in vandar's case, outright stating it).

jedi master lamar is the most antagonistic towards the player character, he's the only one who actually believes that it's possible that revan and malak fell before the mandalorian wars

PC: What happened on the Outer Rim to corrupt Revan? Vrook Lamar: I do not believe Revan and Malak were corrupted on the Outer Rim. They had begun their journey down the dark path long before the Mandalorian threat appeared. Here on Dantooine they discovered a sinister cave, a place where the strength of the dark side overwhelms the light. Perhaps this discovery was what first corrupted them… or perhaps they sought the cave out because they were already corrupted. Whatever the explanation, the Order was unable to turn them back to the light. Had the Council taken more decisive action in this matter, perhaps Revan and Malak could have been stopped. But in this we failed.

but even he makes a mention of the ratakan ruins possibly corrupting revan and malak somehow. the logic of it makes sense, considering the last jedi to fall and become Everyone's Problem was exar kun, who was turned by freedon nadd in some sith ruins. and in the context of just the game it's all very black-and-white, but taking in what comes out of the comics there's a deep rejection of the role the jedi council played in alienating revan and malak from the jedi order. if anything, the council would interpret their actions during the lead-up to the war as attempts at damage control for the inevitable storm that would be the jedi civil war. and again, none of this is acknowledgement of revan's fall as a something they wanted. it's always about something corrupting them, something dark and evil reaching out and winding its grip around them. and compare that to kotor ii, where you speak with others who had known revan during wartime, who had been on revan's side, that it's suggest that their fall is something they did of their own volition.

[a-master-procrastinator]

oooh I love outfit memes. How about Shailla and/or Jett? <3 -Oliver

@voidendron why not both?

So, Shailla has 6 outfits (putting them under the cut bc this is going to a long post. Yes, I'm showing all of them).

These are her simple robes, which she wears in chapter 1 of consular story.

Pieces:

First outfit: all the pieces are from Vrook Lamar armor set, no headgear, no dye. Second outfit:

Head - nothing (none of her outfits have headgear, so I'll skip this from on); Chest - Visas Marr robes, white and pale green dye (colors unified for all pieces); Hands - Visas Marr gloves; Wrists - Visas Marr bracers; Waist - Visas Marr belt; Legs - Freelance Hunter Greaves; Feet - Freelance Hunter boots.

This is her more practical clothing (for battlefields and that sort of stuff) when she's given the rank of Jedi Master, wears this from chapter 2 of consular story and until she leaves the Order.

Pieces: all pieces are from Exiled Knight armor set with olive green and tan dye module; except the pants, which are from Jarael armor set.

This is another set of robes that Shailla wears around the same time as the previous outfit, just for formal meetings, diplomacy, teaching, etc.

Pieces:

Chest - Zeyd cloth tunic, no dye, colors unified. Hands - something like this (can't remember exactly); Wrists - something small, doesn't really matter; Waist - Visas Marr belt; Legs - Freelance Hunter Greaves; Feet - Freelance Hunter boots.

Now this is her clothing when Shailla was, ahem, "encouraged" to leave the Republic and the Jedi Order, which happened soon after the treaty with Zakuul (bc Saresh really didn't like that Shailla pushed for this treaty and went behind her back with a couple of senators to arrange the negotiations with Zakuul). This outfit stays for the duration of KotFE and KotET and some time after. Probably my favorite outfit of hers.

Pieces:

Chest - Veteran Outlander Force-Lord robe, no dye, colors are unified; Hands - Outlander gloves (can be found on GTN); Wrists - some small bracers, doesn't matter; Waist - Remnant Yavin Consular belt Legs - Freelance Hunter Greaves; Feet - Onderonian Force-Lord (tier 1).

Remember that Arcann gifts the Outlander a piece of armor that he made? Well, in my version he didn't give it to Jett, the actual Outlander of this legacy (bc why? Jett barely tolerates his presence and tries to avoid dealing with him a lot in KotET). Instead, it is gifted to Shailla, with whom Arcann has a better connection at that point, and I decided to turn it into an outfit. I didn't think that the armor given in the game (same as what Knights of Zakuul wear) would fit Shailla's style, but I still wanted it to have some light armoring and a little of Zakuulan style, so I mixed different pieces. The result is pretty nice IMO.

Pieces:

Chest - Ruthless Scion, forest camo dye, colors are unified; Hands - Eternal Commander Stalker gloves (the metallic part is actually supposed to be more gold, like the rest of the outfit); Wrists - something small, doesn't matter; Waist - Underworld Anarchist belt; Legs - Veda Cloth leggings; Feet - Ossus Explorer boots.

Also, I find it interesting that Shailla is one of a few Force sensitive characters of mine who has the same lightsaber throughout the whole game.

---------------

Now, onto Jett's only 3 main outfits (there are more than 3 slots, but the additional ones are for helmet/no helmet variations, damn you preferred status).

This is the outfit that Jett has before and during the Great Hunt. I didn't even think that the chestpiece from Infamous Bounty Hunter set would be such a good fit for her pre-Mando days (bc initially I bought the set for her Mando outfit), but it's the closest to what I imagined.

Pieces:

Head - nothing; Chest - Infamous Bounty Hunter chestpiece, primary black dye, colors unified; Hands - Drifter gloves; Wrists - Impulsive Adventurer bracers (invisible ones); Waist - Infamous Bounty Hunter belt; Legs - Force Apprentice pants; Feet - Underworld Anarchist boots.

And here is her mandalorian armor! I know that this set is probably overused at this point, but it's so cool looking (can you really blame me?). Jett doesn't get the whole set right from the moment she accepts Mandalore's offer, just the basic pieces (like chestpiece, boots and gloves), and then, as the story goes, she adds more to the armor. For example, she doesn't have a jetpack until around Hoth, and when she does, it takes quite a bit to use it efficiently. Most of the weapons in the bracers are also added later.

Pieces:

Head - Infamous Bounty Hunter helmet, black and deep red dye; Chest - Mandalorian Stormbringer chestpiece, primary black dye; Hands - Infamous Bounty Hunter gloves; Wrists - Infamous Bounty Hunter bracers (matching the chestpiece colors); Waist - Mandalorian Stormbringer belt (matching the chestpiece colors); Legs - Infamous Bounty Hunter pants (matching the chestpiece colors); Feet - Mandalorian Stormbringer boots, black and deep red dye (I think?).

And the last outfit (for now, I'm considering another one) is her armor that she wears as the Alliance Commander. Probably the most expensive outfit I put together to this day, and still it doesn't perfectly reflect how I see her armor (but at least it looks pretty good in-game).

So, at the beginning of KotFE some parts of her previous armor (bracers, belt, helmet, jetpack) are taken away for safety reasons when she is Arcann's prisoner. Unfortunately, Jett doesn't have the opportunity or time to get them back, and that's why she runs the first few KotFE chapters pretty under geared. When she gets back to her home on Rishi, Jett modifies the pieces she still has, and the armor looks more like this outfit. Of course, her rough work doesn't compare to what could've been done with a proper forge, but at the time all she had is some old tools left by Shae's clan.

Luckily, when she is reunited with the Mandalorians, Jett finally gets the chance to forge new armor, and she makes up for the lost parts - gets a new helmet, jetpack, armor platings. It's different from the previous armor she had, and it sort of symbolizes her new role as the Alliance Commander.

Helmet is different from the in-game outfit (bc I cannot afford it, it would be from Charismatic Mandalorian set). And unlike in SWTOR, she actually has a jetpack.

Pieces:

Head - Infamous Bounty Hunter helmet, black and deep red dye; Chest - Proficient Hitman chestpiece, dark gray and dark blue dye; Hands - Infamous Bounty Hunter gloves; Wrists - Infamous Bounty Hunter bracers (matching the chestpiece colors); Waist - Furious Gladiator belt; Legs - Furious Gladiator pants, dark blue and dark gray dye; Feet - Proficient Hitman boots (matching the chestpiece colors).

Bonus:

Shailla's first outfit would actually look more like this, but unfortunately I couldn't find a good dye close to this color, so I left in the original red color in game (this picture is edited, not actually from the game).

[thatwitchrevan]

That first arc of the comic was very good! The Jedi sure are fucked. I love Zayne and Jarael a lot though. Gryph is pretty fun. I'm still thinking about sad captured Malak :( and his poor hair :(

I think Lucien has shot up the ranks of my least favorite Jedi. I don't know if he can quite beat Vrook but like... He's giving him a run for his money. His utter callousness about Shad's siblings has me seeing red. That man was never a protector or servant. He's utterly self interested and he doesn't even care to hide it as long as he thinks you'll be too dead to tell anyone. He's either not fooling himself that he's a good person or the cognitive dissonance is truly outstanding. Vandar can choke on a saber pike for defending him.

This comic really puts into perspective what Atton was talking about with the Jedi, how they only know how to lie and manipulate and destroy. It's not just in the course of war and it's not just against people like Revan or the Exile - it's their own, it's children and families, it's bounty hunters and bystanders, it's everyone all the time. The Jedi in power only care about power and protecting themselves.

The downside to Revan's culling and Jaq's revenge is that so often the Jedi who die are not the Jedi who deserve it and the Jedi who deserve it don't die. Malachor killed the Jedi who did go to fight and were willing to risk their lives for others. Jaq still said they deserved it and I don't agree -- don't even know if he agrees all of the time. The Jedi who died in the Civil War were young; Padawans and Knights and Junior Masters who went to protect their people while the Council sat and watched. Jedi like Bastila Shan. Jedi who had been controlled since they were toddlers.

The Sith killed the Jedi they could reach. Not the ones who were causing harm. It's a pointless cycle.

Zayne has the right idea going straight for the top. So did Kreia. I think collateral and hurting what you can because you can't hurt the person who actually hurt you first only keeps it going.

Anyway there was a panel of someone in a cloak who I presume is meant to be Revan? Their little war room looked very different from what I would describe as Revan's aesthetic though. Too opulent. I think Revan's very dramatic but very into dark and utilitarian war rooms. But that's just me.

[dirthara-dalen]

Does this place seem familiar Jeeta?

Ligastar's voice echoed in their shared mind as he glanced around the now heavily ruined archive. He remembered finding Mical down here alongside Meetra and Visas. He could have given less shits about Vrook at the time but looking back at everything that had occurred in these very halls...it made him miss the old bastard along with the other masters.

"Yes Ligastar...I've come home."

[ryuuna]

what better way to practice and warm up with a new brush than with 

K O T O R  S H I T P O S T S

[for-the-love-of-starwars]

Some Memories Should Be Forgotten- Part 2

Rated T- just in case: violence, gore, eventual romance.

First Fanfic! Just an idea I had. Let me know what you think?

All rights reserved.

“Revan! Where are you?” Alek called out into the Dantooine Plains. Master Zhar sent the young padawan searching for his friend. She was supposed to be in meditation with the rest of the padawans. However, Alek knew her ability to quiet her mind had been tampered with since the trial of Master Kae. Revan was hurting though she refused to admit it; seeking solitude away from others was more beneficial than the confines of the enclave that reminded her of Master Kae. Alek walked towards the creek near the Matale grounds. They had given Revan, Meetra, and him permission to rest and meditate there as long as it wasn’t a problem with the Masters. Revan was sitting under a Blba tree, meditating. She looked peaceful, even if that was likely a lie.

Revan's long dark hair was braided messily, strands falling across her face. Her green eyes were now closed, but he knew her eyes well, so vibrant and piercing it was like the consoler’s blade. But in the sun, if she tilted her head back, he could see flecks of gold highlighting what he believed to be a reflection of he should. Luminous, that was the word he would use to describe her. Powerful, the Forced flowed through her, as it indeed flowed through him. He would die for her if it meant giving her the galaxy. His attachment wasn’t befitting of a Jedi, but Alek was only vaguely aware of the emotions he felt. Deep down, he knew but didn’t understand it. Feelings weren’t discussed. If a padawan brought them up, they would be hushed and eventually talked to privately. He never consciously thought of them, nor did he suppress them. His love for Revan was pure, not yet darkened by the horrors of war. Why would anyone believe he would willingly kill Revan? It was incomprehensible. He would have laughed at anyone who would suggest that he would try to kill Revan. That’s the irony, isn’t it? He was always good at putting his emotions away and focusing on his mission. 

Even now, he didn’t let himself think about what the Master’s said. He had to find Revan, even if finding Revan wasn’t really a mission. He already knew where she was, and he had sensed it when she left. Was it really a surprise that they were bonded? Alek sat down next to Revan and meditated with her. He allowed himself to think about what he overheard. Master Zhar, Master Vrook, and Master Vandar discussed the benefits and consequences of training Alek and Revan together and the outcomes of such attachments. Master Zhar believed the Force wanted them to train together as partners. While the other Masters agreed reluctantly. They didn’t know then the consequences of their actions. Alek never expressed his emotions about Revan to them, that the bond created the desire for a different type of partnership between them, which wouldn’t be permitted. Alek was pulled out of his meditation when he heard Revan scream. 

“Alek! Do you sense…..” Revan’s eyes looked out in horror. Her body went cold. He reached out, touching her shoulder, unsure of what to do. He did sense it. People were dying. The Force was being ripped away somewhere, tilting the scale of balance. 

“ Come here. We’ll get through this together. Breathe…” Alek said

“ People are… who would do this? Alek... what do we do?”

Revan's pain was evident in her voice. Driven by his desire to help her, he forced himself through his pain, not that it made a difference. He tried anyway. So he put his arms around her, hugging her. Whether it was instinctual or a force of habit, Revan allowed Alek to comfort her. She cuddled against him, allowing him to get close to her. If you saw the two padawan’s then nestled against the Blba tree. You would have thought they made an attractive couple before remembering that Jedi don’t have relationships like that. Never thinking of the dark reality of what they were going through. Maybe the Masters would have realized the truth of why they were cuddled against each other. That they had sensed something terrible. Something that would have forever shaped the galaxy. Revan eventually found out the truth of that day. When she went to Cathar. She had sensed it. The massacre of the Cathar people and with them her future, masked in the shadow of the Dark side.

[azems-familiar]

...........i may or may not be writing kotor/totj fic again tonight,

“Must we exile even her?” Vash asks softly, as the silence stretches and the sun begins to dip towards the horizon. “If she’s penitent-”

“She is the worst offender of them all!” Vrook snaps back, gesturing with one hand. “Among the first to follow Revan to war, according to all reports one of the creators of this planet-destroyer and the one to give the order - what does penitence absolve her of?”

From the other side of the room, Kavar says, “She’s also the only one who came back.” There’s something exhausted and dust-dry in the words, and Nomi slants a look at the other master, younger than her by a little less than a decade, but old enough to recall Ossus.

There are dark circles under his eyes and an unhealthy pallor to his skin that speaks of little sleep and poor meditation, and his aura is locked down more tightly than Nomi can ever recall sensing it during a meeting - as if he’s preparing himself to take on a shadow’s mission once more. She…suspects she knows why, in truth. Not only is Knight- former Knight Petheir his padawan, but he had been the one to bring the infant Revan to the Temple all those years ago, and…there is a set of battered, blackened dog tags around his neck, resting over top his tabard. She hasn’t asked who he knew in the Republic military well enough to be known as their next of kin; the man has never been in contact with his blood family. But grief is a heavy companion, especially when fresh, and the Mandalorian Wars have brought it marching back to their sides once more.

Gaze lingering on the dog tags, Nomi finds herself thinking of Yavin IV, Ulic’s and Exar’s bodies lying across from each other on a temple’s stone floor, lightsabers between them. She thinks of Cay bleeding into the Ossan sand, the light of ten dying stars overhead, crying for his brother, and how it had been ground-shattering fury that drove her in that moment, a scream trapped in her chest and echoing into the Force instead of the air, binding Ulic within his own skin. Something in her had shattered, there on Ossus, something she has never been able to reclaim. Cay had been lost, and then dead; Ulic had cried, and then gone numb entirely, and it hadn’t been her fault but the guilt festers anyway. A deep, secret poison, one she has never let show.

Ulic Qel-Droma chose to redeem himself, even cut off from the Force, she’d told the High Council, as they’d gathered on Coruscant to try to rebuild their fragmented order. He engaged Exar Kun in combat, without support from the Order, and struck him down, though he was killed while doing so. Cay - her voice had hitched on his name - wanted nothing more than for his brother to return to us, and while Ulic’s actions are certainly far too reprehensible to be pardoned, even in death, I’d like to request his change of heart be noted in the Archives. Let him be known as dying seeking atonement, even if only to the Jedi with the clearance to look.

(She doesn’t know what Ulic would have wanted. She never has. He didn’t say a word to her after giving her Exar Kun, or to anyone else, as far as she knows. But when they burned his body, on the Yavin moon, she gave him and Exar a shared pyre. It had seemed…the least she could do for a man she had loved, who had never loved her.)

…to say she understands the weight on Kavar’s shoulders would be an understatement.

“Please,” she says tiredly. “The time to debate this was three days ago, when the votes were cast - and as I recall, we had a debate lengthy enough to rival the Senate. I agree the early vote was…distasteful-” not exactly the word she’d like to use, but as the High Council’s leader she has to be professional- “but we had no way of knowing Knight Petheir would even come back. Revan’s influence is as strong as Exar’s and Ulic’s was.”

Their youngest and newest Councilor, Atris, shifts in her chair. She had recused herself from the vote on young Qatya, stating that their past romantic relationship made her biased, but considering her response to the verdict Nomi wonders if that bias had inclined Atris towards exile, rather than away. Still, the echani woman has looked uncomfortable as the hour for Qatya’s trial draws near.

(The masters were right, Cay, she’d said, tugging him back towards the palace window. Cinnagar buzzes around them, an insect hive roused to furious action. If they don’t leave now, they never will. Ulic must make his own choices, and suffer his own consequences. We’re leaving him here.)

The same tragedies, again and again. How many more times must this repeat? How much more pain, writ galactically in blood, echoing the recent past?

[wrasslerjedi]

RIP Ed Asner, aka Master Vrook in KOTOR 2 :(