#revanant lore is pretty hard to break since it is very vague

[dasozelotvonnebenan]

I think that would be Grolg the vegetarian Ettin. I don't do much lore breaking so that's the extent of if. Even the reason he stopped eating meat is anchored in canon (he learned bunnies are made of meat, and we all know ettins like bunnies) so I really can't call it breaking the lore. At most I'm dangling my feet off the edge.

Some of the extra canonical bits about him are that I decided the main reason most ettin don't seem really intelligent is that due to having two heads with entirely separate persons inside they spend a huge amount of the cognitive capacity fighting over who gets to control the body. The really strong Ettin are those where either the heads work together or one of the heads isn't controling the body for whatever reason. In Grolgs case the other head (named Greg) had an unfavorable encounter with another Ettin's club.

Thus Grolg has almost free reign over their body, only having to supress frequent spasms which is the source of his speech impediment. Everytime Greg shoots out nonsense commands to their body Grolg has to think a lot more and that brain power has to come from somewhere. He knows people already assume he is not very intelligent based on being who he is and that the way he talks only further strengthens that but to him speech is not really an important function. Also helps him to sort who's worth getting to know and who to ignore based on how they talk to him. He can understand others just fine and has been known to throw people who keep mimicing his way of speaking through the lost precipice's tavern.

Of course a notable lore break is also the people he works for, considering the gentlemens gang's founding event included a dimensional portal to our world where charrlotte grabbed two books (League of extraordinary gentlemen and arsene lupin).

Other than that my other lore breaks are Valoop as a quaggan commander, though the rest of her commander career goes mostly normally, Aluen for keeping Bercilac's armor, Posh for joining Scarlet.

SHARE YOUR LORE-BREAKING GW2 CHARACTERS

We haven't done one of these in a while, and I miss em! Please, jump on here with a reblog and tell me all about your characters that break canon lore! Everyone, as usual, will get a response. Add pictures, ramble for paragraphs and paragraphs! Come play in this space with me and show off your cool-ass characters that stretch the limits of gw2's lore!

[greyias]

tr8r goes to the beach — er, I mean, Traitor Among the Chiss initial thoughts

I have gotten… okay not much sleep. Maybe third time’s the charm. Anyway, I’ll just mash on the keyboard and see if anything somewhat coherent comes out.

Spoilers below the cut.

Storywise, having read the datamined dialogue ahead of time, I knew we weren’t going to get all *that* much in the way of content this time. Which seems a bit weird, considering how lopsided the cutscenes on this storyline have gone. However, having recently replayed through Forged Alliances on *cough* one of my Sentinels, these very short cutscenes with dialogue is actually pretty in line with the SoR stuff, at least in length. Seeing as the next part is supposedly the finale, a four act structure is kind of, well, weird. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ But whatever. I understand since the last installment had the “twist” of Theron being the “traitor”, they have to attempt to maintain that charade here.

]Maybe the real traitor was the friends we made along the way — oh wait.

So, first up, we get to meet Saganu! For the one person on the internets who hasn’t played through the IA storyline (aka me), it was fun meeting him! He seems like an interesting guy, so that should be a fun little bit for my new Chiss agent whenever she gets that far into the storyline. Hopefully Vector won’t mind too much. We also meet Raina, who seems a bit soft-spoken (not to mention a touch nosy, but considering she’s in intelligence, that kind of comes with the territory), and loyal to the Ascendency. Given that this was also the first time I’ve really met this character, I also liked her. Another reason for me to buckle down with my (actual) Agent while waiting for the next bit o’ story to drop.

And I mentioned it before but Copero is pretty. Like really, really pretty. I plan on sneaking through the FP on one of my stealth characters at some point to get more pictures, possibly in 4K, because damn that place is gorgeous. I would do the same with Umbara, but I am not lying when I say that the train makes my computer cry.

The atmosphere of running through Copero, and especially facing off against Boss #2, I think I mentioned before, but I was getting some major spy-fi vibes from. Between the gorgeous scenery on the outside, the henchmen just lounging around in various cafes, some just goofing off, some stealthed and waiting to pounce was giving me serious flashbacks to those cheesy fight scenes from shows like Man from U.N.C.L.E. and Wild, Wild West. Like seriously, I know I’m chasing supposed tr8r boyfriend throughout this, but he should have been there with me, at least in spirit! This atmosphere is right up his alley. I’ll have to re-run it with him as a companion, so at least we can pretend to get our 60s Spy Flick on. Maybe I’ll put on the Austin Powers soundtrack in the background.

Mechanic-wise, I kind of miss my godmode droid, who makes re-running the story flashpoints much easier.  It certainly would have helped when facing off against the first boss, whose mechanics I suspect have something to do with those tank droids but was just trying to power through on the third attempt. The other two bosses were a breeze, because Sentinels are ♥.

There was some interesting by-play going on between all of the characters. I can’t help but get the feeling that these cut scenes are heavily redacted/reduced. I think they were trying to save the big reveal for the end that, but it kind of messed with the pacing beforehand. Bioware, I’m usually pretty lenient on story telling, but you’re kind of shooting yourself in the foot by trying to withhold information to preserve your twists.

First up, we have Miss Suspicious Sith. Maybe she’s just paranoid at this point, but I’m finding her so all over the map during this storyline, either I have the worst handle on Lana’s character, or there’s something weird going on here.

What was that for, Lana? Who were you nodding and giving secret signals to while the Outlander is busy talking to our unexpected guests? Why did the camera insist on focusing on you for this? Is it because he said where Theron was? Um, okay, if that’s the case, was that really a necessary cut? We like immediately go there in the next cut scene. STOP BEING SUSPICIOUS LANA. I HAVE TRUST ISSUES RIGHT NOW.

*ahem*

I mean, not that that’s your fault. We’ve been sort of written into a corner here. My poor sweet knight. She just wants everyone to get along. And yeah, I saw The Letter™, but I’m not even going to attempt to touch addressing that right now because it’s a whole other can of worms. And I’ve had my fill of needless dash drama I need to be operating off more sleep before I attempt to tackle that.

Hint: I think it’s suspicious

Also interesting in the “Wait? Am I imagining that?” realm of awkwardness: Was it just me, or was Valss (here on out to be referred to as Force!Chiss, because I’m just like that) checking out Theron’s ass?

Like seriously, look at him a bit more hungrily, pal. I mean don’t get me wrong, it’s nice to look at but--

Probably more meant to be evil smirk of evil.

Theron seems to be very studiously not looking at Force!Chiss. If there’s an attraction there, it seems to be one-sided. Which makes sense, even during Shadow of Revan, Theron was mostly focused on business. And well, he’s particularly motivated at the moment to finish up his spy shenanigans. Okay honestly, between his letter and the way he said “this is goodbye” back on Umbara, I kind of get the feeling he’s viewing this a suicide mission. Idiot.

Just like in the short story from the dev blog, he’s still having a very, very hard time staying in-character. You see him break character a few points in this scene, as the magnitude of what he’s gotten himself into seems to be weighing pretty heavily on him here. You got a little too comfy on Odessen, didn’t you, buddy? What with your nice, warm bed, and loving girlfriend, and all those people you actually kind of sort of liked? Makes it hard to go back to being a lone wolf secret agent trying to save the galaxy by himself. Maybe you’ll think about that the next time you decide to blow up a train in a very subverted attempt to play hero, hmmmm?

God, Theron, will you stop making those faces? It makes it hard to stay mad at you when I have to suppress the constant urge to hug your dumb butt.

The latest superweapon Theron has to blow up (it’s his schtick, along with taking out Dark Council members) is on a mysterious planet of mysteriousness. “Of all the gin joints in all of the planets in all of the galaxy, why do I have to go back there?” My guess is Yavin, with Ziost as a runner-up. Yavin’s got more lore (and that new PVP map), but Ziost has more bad memories. I’m bad at guessing, though, so watch it be something like Ilum or Hutta just to be like that.

Actually I know a few people are trying to decode the map, they have much better guesses since they: A) Know how to read a map B) Probably don’t get lost traveling in a straight line

Anyway, yeah, Force!Chiss happily hands a bomb over to blow up the map, thinking he’s found his soulmate in property destruction. Theron doesn’t have the heart to tell him all of Umbara was a bit. There’s mention of Force!Chiss having a vision, but after rewatching the scene a few times, I’m still trying to figure out if he’s pro- or anti-Apocalypse. This is one of those things I think they were trying to leave vague because Drama™. God I wish they had released this storyline as one giant chunk. This constant speculation and second-guessing of everything is killing me.

Back in the other land of spy games, Saganu forgot to do his research on Grey and asks her to go ahead and execute her prisoner. Oh. Oh Saganu. If she didn’t even punch Saresh in KOTET, why is she going to murder someone for a political alliance? Anyway, Syndic is going to be roomies with Saresh in the Greyverse. Maybe they can bond over how much they hate Theron Shan together in the brig. I smell a new sitcom coming.

After a series of puzzles I apparently just blindly walked through (THERE WERE MACROBINOCULARS??? SERIOUSLY????) we finally get to the big boss scene. And someone is in T-R-O-U-B-L-E:

Theron of course is pained to see Force!Chiss face off with his beloved Outlander.

I’m sure the subtle as a sledgehammer storytelling is to have me believe that Theron is purely concerned for the safety of his fellow conspirator, but depending on where Force!Chiss falls on the Apocalypse spectrum:

Theron is either like “Crap I’m getting everyone killed. Maybe I should have thought this brilliant plan through?” or possibly just “Shit, don’t kill my girlfriend plz”. Whenever the devs decide to stop being greedy with the facts, maybe we’ll find out.

So, all’s well that ends well. Sort of. Theron got away to tr8r another day. Grey accidentally started a Chiss civil war because she said murder was bad, but in traditional Fractured Alliances fashion, she’s probably just going to send Saganu a fleet of warships as an apology or something. Lana seriously needs to invest in a stationary set for the Commander or teach her how to write “sorry bro” on a napkin or something. At this rate there’s not going to be much of a fleet left, and I’ve got the strange feeling we’re going to need it soon.

But finally, we’re allowed to go “Hey, wait a minute!”

“Hahaha, oh, Commander, you silly goose, Theron’s proved himself to be a dirty filthy tr8r. The tr8r-est of the tr8rs. Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain! ANYWAY I’M GOING TO IMMEDIATELY CHANGE THE SUBJECT—”

I’m thinking Lana’s feeling left out, Grey. Maybe you should offer her a fleet of warships. After all, she got tazed on the last mission and you were more concerned about your boyfriend blowing up a train, and you have given them to everyone else at this point. Time to offer the Official Highwind Apology Package™.

I digress.

We cut over to Theron, and the next big reveal—

Wait? Could this be???? COULD THERON *GASP* NOT BE A TRAITOR? COULD HE BE UNDERCOVER? NO ONE SAW THIS COMING! WHAT A TWIST TO THE TWIST!

But actually what’s more interesting, is that someone on the other end of the holocall forgot to turn on his voice modulator this time around. And my oh my, isn’t that voice familiar?

GUESS WHO!

Hi there, Indo!

So I take it after the big Alliance soiree at the end of KOTET, you decided that the only party that could top it would be an Apocalypse Party, eh? Hope you don’t mind, but I’m going to pass on the punch/Kool-Aid. I’ve seen what it did to your last recruit.

Although, this does explain Theron’s hair and new jacket. No one can beat Indo Zal at being the Galaxy’s Next Top Model. He had to sabotage the competition, because the fauxhawk was a threat to that magnificent pompador and it had to be eliminated. Theron feared for Old Red’s safety and hid him in the nearest closet.

According to the roadmap, the next installment will be the last in the Fractured Alliances storyline, and you know what? Thank god! Like, usually I enjoy the serial format, but this particular storyline? I would have appreciated being dropped all at once, instead of them spreading this unrepeatable content across over nine months. I mean, sure, it gave us Gravedrog, but I’m not sure even Gravedrog is worth all of this in slow, drawn out and excruciating fashion.

I have thoughts on where this is all going, especially Indo’s involvement (go check out his codex entry. It’s interesting), but I’m going to save that for a spoilery, speculation thread filled with datamining and some other stuff from my observations.

I mean, I know I’m sounding a teensy bit critical, but overall my opinion on this storyline hasn’t changed. As long as they don’t stick the landing and do something stupid and jump the shark worthy, such as breaking up my OT3 Dream Team, or killing Theron and/or Lana, this has the potential to be building up as one of my favorite storylines. I really hope they don’t skimp on the emotional payout at the end, though, because all of this angst that’s building up needs somewhere to go!

I’ve got my suspicions that this storyline is actually a lead-in/build up to something much larger, although I have literally no evidence whatsoever to back that up. I guess we’ll truly see when we finally get part four next year. I hope it’s a meaty part, and it finally gets everything out in the open.