#star wars retteyo au

[noperopesaredope]

Clones Post War AU (An Order 66 Didn't Happen AU)

(I made a sideblog for this)

At the end of the Umbara Arc in Clone Wars, Rex said “We’re clones. If the war is over, what then?” I thought this was interesting, and I love me a good “Order 66 Never Happens AU” where the clones get a happy ending. So this is my take on not just what the clones might do after the war if it didn’t go the way it did, but also a speculative AU focused on what a potential post-war clone culture and society would look like. Might also add a bit of an overarching plot, but this is mainly focused on worldbuilding. Still, I did make an underlying plot, so I’ll share it at some point during the write outs.

It kind of became a bit of a beast and I’ll likely be adding new stuff all the time, so it might explore a lot more than what I initially planned and have a lot more plot/story stuff under the surface.

Part 1 (this post) will be covering the main plot of the AU/set-up the premise.

(This Post is Long, Ya'll)

Set-Up

The Discovery of Retteyo (or New Kamino)

So basically, at a certain point in the war, possibly a year or 2 in, an Acclamator-class assault ship with 15,000 clone troopers, a Jedi Master, their padawan, and 170 regular personnel crashed on a small, remote and unpopulated planet that was rarely visited: Retteyo. The Jedi Master perished in the crash, alongside 2,500 clone troopers and 150 of the regular personnel. This left the padawan, 12,500 clone troopers, and 20 regular personnel completely stranded on an unfamiliar planet. The vast majority of those on board may have survived, but most of the ship (or at least the most important parts) did not. They had no way of communicating with the Republic, no way of calling for help, nothing. It was a somewhat bleak situation with little hope for escape.

Still, they were all determined to survive, and so the padawan and a few of the higher ranking clones held an emergency “meeting” together and decided to prepare for a long term encampment. Retteyo was far from safe, with 17 of the regular personnel and 45 clone troopers all perishing in the first few weeks, but it wasn’t completely uninhabitable. In fact, it was quite habitable, just about as dangerous as some of the less safe locations on Earth. There weren’t a huge amount of dangerous animals or extreme climate/weather, unlike most other planets we see in canon.

Most of those who perished died of either infected wounds that hadn’t gotten treated soon enough, and others died while exploring unfamiliar and more dangerous terrain on foot. The group did not make the same mistakes twice, and eventually began to figure which areas were safe and which weren’t. The battalion managed to organize themselves enough to make plans for what they were going to do, and got to work on making a good liveable environment.

While a lot of the flying vehicles were unusable, many of the ground terrain vehicles still worked well enough, they just needed a bit of fixing up, which happened over the course of about a month or so as they gathered materials from the ship’s remains. This really helped them better navigate and settle on Retteyo, and they made a pretty well functioning camp, all things considered.

After the first year, the leaders of the group realized that this might be a permanent situation that could last years, and they started planning out a permanent settlement. They began taking apart the ship properly, and used both it and some of Retteyo’s natural resources to construct buildings.

A Plot Device

Due to the nature of this AU, I wanted to create a reason that clones would keep getting made even after the end of the war, since I want to make them a proper society and their own species in a way. So, here comes the big, dumb “this is purely for the plot and not important right now” thing. One day, during Year 2 of being on Retteyo, two clone trooper scouts ended up in some unfamiliar territory and discovered a field of strange, giant flowers about the size of a basket.

One of the clones ended up cutting himself on something, and the blood dropped into the center of one of the flowers. It closed, and began to glow, pulsing with energy, before opening up again, and a small baby was inside. It looked exactly like the clone trooper when they were a baby, and they showed it to their fellow trooper, who was shocked and amazed by this. They marked the field down on a map, and went back to base, where they showed everyone the baby and privately explained the situation to their commander.

Fast forward 3 years, and the war is nearing a close. Recently, the Republic has been having a bit of a problem. Well, a few problems. And all of them are centered around the clone troopers.

To explain the biggest problem, let’s talk numbers for a bit (I spent way too long on this).

Mama Mia, That’s a Lot of Clones!

It’s highly debated how many clones were created during the war, as they stated at the start of the war there were about 3 million units. This at first appears to be the amount of clone troopers, but then you realize it said units, not soldiers. We don’t know how big a unit is. Some say that it refers to a single squad, which is 5 soldiers. Others say that a “unit” is equivalent to the size of a company (US military), so about 250 soldiers or so. If it refers to the first option, the war would start with 15 million. If it refers to the second option, it would be 750 million, which is far too much in my opinion, so the first option is more likely. 

3 million is still on the table, since perhaps units could honestly just refer to individual clones, but they did say that 200,000 units were ready when Obi Wan arrived, and that’s not nearly enough for this particular war. So I’m going with 15 million.

We also know that the Senate ends up paying for 5 million more units, which is apparently extremely expensive and could push them into debt (then again, 5 million is a lot more than 3 million when you really think about it). If we go with the idea that a unit is 5 soldiers, then that’s 25 million soldiers.

It’s likely that they have also ordered more clones before, so let’s go on the lower end and say they’ve already ordered about 2 million units in total (1 million to 5 million would be too big of a jump). They probably wouldn’t order that many more clones after the 5 million units, or at least would order very few compared to that.

If we go with the idea that a unit is one soldier, that means that about 10 million clones were made during the course of the war (still feels like too few for me). If we go with the idea that a unit was 5 clones, that is 50 million clones in total, which feels a little big, but considering that the Republic controlled more than 1 million planets, I think that’s actually a pretty reasonable amount. If every planet had an equal number of clone troopers on it to protect it, they would only have about 50 soldiers for the entire goddamn planet. Taking into consideration that there would be plenty of planets that had no clone troopers due to not needing them, and other planets who had thousands of clone troopers, as well as the clones not guarding planets and actually just fighting the war, 50 million is pretty reasonable.

In many wars, less than 1% of soldiers die. One of the deadliest wars killed about 2% of soldiers. However, I will be EXTREMELY generous and say that 3% died in combat since this was such a crazy war and the clones were seen as very expendable. I’ll continue to be generous by saying 3% died of causes outside of combat, like disease or getting eaten by a giant worm, since we tend to see a lot of clones die in really weird/random ways and I feel like a lot of them died that way. This means that 5% of clone troopers died during the war. This isn’t even considering how many clones were still too young to be in combat. I’ll still count all of them as soldiers, which will still prove my point.

5% of 10 million is 500,000, so that would be 500,000 clone casualties (which feels WAY too small despite being on the bigger end of the spectrum) and 9.5 million clone survivors by the end of the war. 5% of 50 million is 2.5 million, so that would be 2.5 million clone casualties (feels about right) and 47.5 million clone survivors by the end of the war. I believe it’s the latter.

That is a fuck ton of people. Like, that is bigger than the population of Argentina. That is almost the population of the world in 1000 BCE. That is 14% of the population of the USA, which might not seem like much, but it’s still a lot. If you replaced 47.5 million people with clones, then 1 in every 168 people on Earth would be a clone. 47.5 million is probably bigger than the population of some planets in the Republic. It’s big.

And in this AU, since the Republic wasn’t exactly sure when the war would end, they ordered 500,000 more units a few months ago, so there are about 2.5 million more clones on the way, making the population of clones 50 million again, almost the size of Sudan and bigger than Spain. Again, a massive population. Also, since this is an AU, I could make it so the war lasted for a lot longer and a lot more clones were made, but I’m still going with the idea of the war lasting for 3 years (unless I want to change that up a little bit).

So now, the Republic has millions of clones who will have basically nowhere to go/nothing to do when the war ends. Some suggested they keep the clones as the official Republic army and spread them out to do stuff for the Republic, but that’s still not the best solution, and the biggest problem is that these mf will grow old at some point and not be able to fight anymore. And since they aren’t even dying in battle anymore (even when they were, it still kept their population pretty big), most of them will grow old. And they still have all these younger clones who might not get to fight in the war at all.

So they basically have a ton of clone troopers who they will have no use or place for unless they figure something out soon before the war ends.

The Whole Clone Thing is Weird

But this isn’t their only issue. I saw a post a while back wondering why nobody in the entire Senate questioned the ethics behind the existence/use of clone troopers and how they are essentially property of the Republic. I thought that was interesting, so I decided to implement that into the AU. While not many questioned the concept of clone troopers early on in the war, overtime, some civilians began raising concerns. 

One civilization (an original creation of mine) whose people were considered non-sentient only a couple of decades ago and used to be enslaved was deeply disturbed by the concept of creating living beings in order to force them to fight, conditioning them into serving the Republic and even altering their DNA to make them loyal.

A few other civilizations (also original creations) who are hiveminds (based on bees and ants and whatnot) ended up fighting alongside some clones, and quickly realized that they were individuals who saw each other as family and shared a deep connection with their fellow clones as a whole. Many of the bee and ant people saw themselves in the clones, and became almost offended at the way clones were talked about and treated as mindless robots just because they had the same DNA and looked the same.

There were also at least 2 civilizations who were disturbed on principle and disliked the use of clones not for personal reasons, but for general philosophical reasons and the basic fact that they think slavery is weird and gross, especially this kind.

These civilizations all ended up having multiple meetings together discussing the issue and their reservations, with a few even somewhat wanting to back out of the Republic out of disgust with the Republic’s actions and okay-ness with this. This was an underlying point of contention that could get extremely problematic soon.

Overtime, a movement around the rights of clone troopers began to pop up, and while it wasn't a huge problem for the Republic, it was becoming one, and they wouldn't be able to ignore it forever.

Clones Are Dissatisfied

On a related note, some clones have begun questioning their place in the Republic, especially after many heard about the Umbara incident. While it wasn't a conversation that was had out loud, some clones were becoming concerned and secretly wanted more autonomy. They weren't questioning their loyalty to the Republic by any means. Almost all of them, including the ones who were dissatisfied with things, were willing to fight and die for the Republic. They simply felt that perhaps they would like to be treated like people whose lives matter.

After all, while they were protected by most of the same laws as other sentient beings, they were still the legal property of the Republic. It’s also hard to say if they really had a choice to leave. While one might point to the episode The Deserter as proof they couldn’t leave, Rex did say that they took an oath, and real world militaries do hold similar standards once you’ve joined. However, it’s unclear whether this oath was truly voluntary, or just out of formality. 

Did any of the clones truly volunteer to join, or were they signed up at birth? While it would be extremely unlikely due to their programming, if a clone was in training and wanted to leave, could he? When is this oath taken? They start training from childhood, after all. They likely took it then, because when else would they? Can you really hold an oath like that against someone when they were essentially manipulated into taking it as a young child who probably didn’t know any better?

While the clone troopers appear to be held to the same standards as US military members, which isn’t quite as big of an issue, they are still property, and are essentially enslaved. They aren’t even paid for their work, merely provided for, and being given basic essentials is literally the bare minimum. We basically all know just how messed up the treatment of clone troopers is, and the clones agree. This is a problem for the Republic.

So, as a whole, the Republic is having some clone problems.

Retteyo Becomes a Thing

Around this point, a fleet of Republic ships end up going to Retteyo, and there, they discover the blossoming civilization of (mostly) clones. They are all shocked, the fleet admiral quickly contacts the important Republic people, explaining the situation. At first, this doesn't seem great. But the Senate realizes that this could solve their issues regarding the remaining clones. So they decide to let the formerly-stranded group remain there and prepare the planet for a bigger colonization. While the main focus right now is the war, they shall be making plans to turn the planet into a new home for the clones once the war ends.

Eventually, as the war comes to a close, the Senate announces the new plan with Retteyo to the whole Republic. It’s a bit controversial, but I’ll get into all that in another post. Because the Jedi were once peacekeepers/ambassadors and they worked closely with the clones, they were designated to help with this operation. They would help this new society develop/prepare it for the arrival of new clones while also helping all the rest of the clones transition to this new planet. 

Due to pressure from the clone rights planets, the Senate eventually decided to give the clones rights and declared them no longer property of the Republic. Now, they were free sentients and citizens of the Republic.

At a certain point in the process, as many of the clones arrived on Retteyo and settled in, certain discussions were had amongst the clones as a whole, and the major clones in charge created a proposal: Retteyo becoming a sovereign nation. This was a bit controversial, but after a lot of tense discussion and complications and political BS, the Republic Senate agreed.

It would be a pretty big process and the Retteyans would need to start actually forming a government and their own society. It was a pretty big task in the grand scheme, but the clones eventually became more self-sufficient at creating their society. They did need help with creating new buildings and having everyone settle in, but the clones didn't actually need much help with developing things like systems of government and bureaucracy. Not every clone was good at that stuff, but some clones managed to put something together everyone could agree on.

Overtime, this society flourished, gaining its own spot in the Senate after a few years and becoming a fully recognized society.

As younger generations of clones grew older (basically while some of this stuff was going on), they began to realize that one day, all the clones might die out, especially since Kamino kind of cut them off and Retteyo probably could afford it anyway. The idea of losing their entire civilization was horrifying, and the whole Prox Flower was revealed. While it wasn't the same as Kaminoan cloning stuff, it would be able to keep their population afloat. So a massive program/government branch was started to continue populating Retteyo and keeping their culture/civilization alive.

Underlying Plot

While this AU mainly focuses on just describing the evolving culture of the clones and their new planet, I think there is definitely an underlying plot within it that I mention in subtle ways. I may even use OCs to tell more about this plot as a whole, especially in case I want to make a fanfic for it all. It’s hard to leave out this plotline, so I decided to write it out as part of all this.

One of the major underlying conflicts in this AU is the generational gap between clones. In a way, there are sub-generations, but there are 3 primary generations covered in this AU. 

Gen Vet

Gen 1, also known as the “Gen Vet”, is the generation of clones who were actually able to fight in the war and see the conflict, or were at least old enough to do so. This generation is split into two primary parts: The oldest gen, who were made and trained before the war even began, and the younger gen, who received training from the Jedi and thus have a slightly different perspective on personhood. It’s like that post where

Gen Trainee

Gen 2, also known as “Gen Trainee”, is the generation of clones born on Kamino who never got the chance to participate in the war. There’s also a slight split in the generation as a whole. 3 splits, in fact. For example, the older Gen 2 are slightly more likely to side with Gen 1 and relate to younger Gen 1, since they were almost a part of Gen 1. 

The middle Gen 2 are more rebellious and have unique opinions on the whole situation, and while they grew up with Kamino training and were raised under that type of environment, they are able to stray from the mindset more and have opinions slightly similar to that of Fives, where they hold certain loyalties and a militant mindset, but also believe in standing up for themselves and being their own people. 

The youngest Gen 2 are those who were toddlers/babies when the war ended and don’t remember much of anything about Kamino or have that particular militant mindset, but are aware that they were the last clones created by Kamino, and thus have a small superiority complex over Gen 3. Most of Gen 3 does not care, though.

Gen 2 is probably the most diverse and unique of the 3 primary generations, having a variety of different perspectives on things, but many are more progressive.

Gen Rebirth

Gen 3, aka “Gen Rebirth”, is the generation of clones born on Retteyo. Some are technically the same age as the youngest clones of Gen 2, but are considered different as a generation. They are the older of Gen 3. The younger of Gen 3 are all born after Retteyo becomes independent.

Gen 3 is the most distant from the war era of the Retteyans, and thus may not have the same values and beliefs as them, but various values have been passed down nonetheless.

~~~~~

I may add more details on the plot later, particularly the underlying plot, but that's all I have for now. Next post will be out some point soon!

[clone-wars-retteyo-au]

Clone Wars Retteyo AU Lore: Changes in Intergalactic Perspectives

When a few pro-clone-freedom planets and civil-rights groups began spreading little bits of propaganda around, attitudes started to shift (propaganda isn’t always bad, ya’ll). People’s attitudes started changing, and clones were viewed in a more positive light. Yes, there were still a few supremacist groups, but they were more judged, and fewer clones/Retteyans had to walk the streets with fear. Some people would even thank them for their service/salute them (which sometimes caught the clones off guard a little, but they appreciated it nonetheless).

One of the most effective pieces of propaganda were a specific set (mostly made independently of each other) of films/documentaries/docuseries highlighting the “humanity” and individuality of the clones, showing that they are people with thoughts and feelings. The first one was created by one of the hivemind civilizations. It was a series of interviews with some former clone cadets and shinies who just started fighting before the war ended. These interviews highlighted their personalities and what made them unique, as well as their relationships with each other. It was well liked for being extremely charming and was well received, though some claimed that a lot of it was faked.

The second documentary to come out was a piece covering the life of the average clone trooper during the war, what it was like to be on the battlefield and how they were treated. This documentary raised a few questions and was a bit more controversial, as it made the Republic and even the Jedi look a bit bad. However, it tried to remain more lighthearted while being pretty honest, talking a bit about the war in general and what it’s like to be a soldier.

The third documentary was a bit more serious and told the stories of individual clones who died during the war, interviewing squadmates/fellow soldiers/superiors, reviewing documents, even looking at pictures that had been taken during bits of down-time. It was legitimately heartbreaking and one of the most popular out of all the documentaries. It felt a lot less like propaganda and a lot more personal and kind of raw, and was consistently watched by people even years after it first came out.

The fourth documentary was possibly even darker, interviewing the older and more experienced soldiers as they talked about some of the trauma they faced due to the war and other things. It became complicated in terms of how people view it on a broader level, but was one of the most watched and discussed documentaries out of all the clone-centric documentaries distributed during this time. It was actually a more independent film made primarily by Retteyans and former clones that was supposed to be geared towards Retteyans to help them collectively process their trauma and teach younger generations about what the older generations had gone through. It wasn’t actually really meant to be watched by natborns.

But a human visiting Retteyo ended up seeing it and got a digital copy, then began illegally distributing it. Due to miscommunication issues, some theaters on planets like Coruscant (if they have movie theaters there) thought the film’s creators gave them the go ahead to play it, and so the masses across multiple planets ended up seeing it. This ended up causing a bit of a publicity crisis for the Senate and Kamino, as the documentary revealed some darker stuff that was less well known about. This was a bit distressing for the documentary’s creators and those on Retteyo, as they feared backlash from the Republic and issued a formal apology, stating that the documentary was meant solely for Retteyans and wasn’t meant to be publicly distributed.

To be more specific, the documentary involved former clone troopers talking about a wide variety of topics: the friends they lost during the war and the stress that caused them; the experience of witnessing the death of brothers on a constant basis; the loss of Jedi Generals; the somewhat abusive environment on Kamino; some of the underlying abuse committed by natborn superior officers (such as the Umbara incident, which has its own long section); the mindset of seeing oneself as disposable; and learning how to be your own person. Possibly a few other things. Generally very dark and depressing.

While the first and third documentaries humanized the clones, the fourth made the clones much more sympathetic figures and increased public support for their rights and the funding of Retteyo’s creation.

The fifth and perhaps final documentary that sealed the deal was one less focused on the clones and more on multiple groups. It was about the full history of the fight for clone rights and why many groups supported them. It made people understand the context of legislation and movements involving clones, and the anti-clone sentiments have mostly died down into non-existence, turning now into support.

[noperopesaredope]

The point on the clones and the Jedi is one I'm delighted to hear someone repeat since I thought I was alone in that sentiment. Honestly, while working on the AU, I realized it would make more sense if the clones took more elements from JEDI culture, since not only would they have been exposed to that far more, but they clearly have a very deep respect for the Jedi. Throughout canon, we see the clones admire the Jedi a lot, with many being deeply loyal to their Jedi generals. The Jedi also influence the clones' perspectives on themselves and life, encouraging them to be themselves and find a sense of individuality. If the clones were to look to anyone as an example, it would be the Jedi, and thus, they would take after them in a lot of ways.

I even have a whole thing I wrote out on how, while the Jedi believe in no attachments, the clones tend to act on this philosophy to the fullest extent even without realizing it. I saw another person make a post clearing up some misconceptions on that philosophy, explaining it through the lens of Buddhism, and how "no attachments" is different from "no connections."

I noticed that the clones move on very quickly from death (which is likely partially due to their mental health stuff but that's another topic-), but also seem to have incredibly deep bonds with each other due to their inherent connection via being literal clones. They share these deep emotional attachments, but when one dies, they grieve very briefly, then move forward because they understand they have a mission to complete and war to win. They hold deep bonds, but do not stay attached and are able to let go.

This is just one example of how the clones would take after Jedi culture, though I have a lot of thoughts on the subject and am working on a whole section in my writeout for the AU.

As a whole, I think that even if they took some of the more artificial elements of Mando culture, the clones would have very different philosophical/cultural beliefs and values. Even if they didn't take after Jedi, they very much have their own thing going on. For example, while found family/adoptive family is apparently a big thing in Mando culture, I have been working on a whole explanation on how that would be basically the opposite for the clones.

I think most of the similarities they would have with Mando culture is less due heritage and more due to them both having militaristic elements (though even those elements would be different). So while I find them taking bits and pieces of Mando culture (just little pieces, like certain words (not the whole language)) could be cool, they have such a different experience as a people and as a SPECIES (the clones are lowkey their own species at this point) that they would end up not having that much in common with Mando culture outside of artificial similarities that might not even be that meaningful to them.

Meanwhile, the Jedi have a much deeper influence on the clones, and I wish we saw more headcanons on how the clones would take after Jedi culture.

(Also, small sidenote on the food thing, but one of my favorite things to headcanon is that, if they made their own society, the clones would not know what they are doing in regards to food because they have spent most of their lives eating rations. Thus, I assumed they would make food concepts from hell because they are excited to eat anything with even a hint of flavor. However, the idea that they would have 0 tolerance to spiciness is even funnier to me, so them creating the blandest food imaginable is another good option for Clone Cuisine™)

I've decided that Rex is the one who paints Kanan's eye mask with his bird of prey design.

Kanan's feeling pretty low still just after Malachor, he's still distancing himself from everybody, and Rex decides to go try to talk to him at one point and the first thing he comes up with to say is to point out that his new mask is pretty plain. It's awkward, he regrets it immediately, but then Kanan says that it gets the job done and Rex is abruptly reminded of himself so so long ago back at the beginning of the war.

He sits Kanan down and tells him a story about how, at the beginning of the war, only a few of the clones had paint on their armor, to designate things like rank and battalion in order to make it easier for officers to find them in the middle of a busy battlefield. The paint was practical and it was limited to a very select few. But the Jedi almost immediately started trying to encourage the clones to utilize the paint less sparingly, suggesting that maybe everybody could wear at least a LITTLE paint and use more individualized designs so that it was still easy to tell the commanders and captains apart from the others when needed.

Some of the clones had taken to it with gusto, but others had been more hesitant, and Rex remembers having been one of them. He remembers telling Obi-Wan that there was no real REASON to paint everyone's armor and especially not to come up with personal designs. The armor was practical and it served its purpose with or without the paint and special designs. But the Jedi had insisted on at least TRYING to come up with his own design and if he didn't like it, he could always take it off, so Rex had given in and chosen something to paint on the armor. And, somehow, it felt a little lighter the next time he put it on. It didn't erase the horrors of war or the pain of loss or anything like that, but it helped.

He tells Kanan that the mask right now is just a reminder of the pain of the injury and whatever other feelings he's still got all caught up in the Malachor mission (guilt over what happened with Ezra, grief over Ahsoka's loss). But if he puts his own design on it, it might turn the mask into something other than a constant reminder of something bad. Instead, it's a reminder of who he is, the combination of the person he once was and who he's become. He is more than just his injury or this mission and he can use the mask to declare that if he wants to.

Kanan says he never realized Rex and the other clones had cared so deeply about their armor and Rex says that the armor itself was meaningless. It's better than what's being handed out to stormtroopers, but not but a LOT. It was the design on it that had meant something and, more than that, it was what the design REPRESENTED: having a choice about how you were perceived by others.

Kanan asks why Rex had chosen his particular designs, the bird of prey eyes on his helmet in particular. Rex explains that he chose it because he liked birds and thought it looked cool, but he's kept the helmet for as long as he has because it's come to mean something ELSE now. It's not just a cool-looking design, it's a reminder of a better time in his life. It's a reminder of when he'd been a part of something greater than himself, with the other clones and the Jedi. It's a reminder of a time when he'd had hope that he and his people could one day come out the other side of this war towards a brighter future.

Kanan looks at the mask he'd grabbed from storage somewhere or something just to keep light from hurting his eyes as they recovered and to cover up the injury from other people's stares (even if he couldn't see them staring), then hands it to Rex and asks if Rex minds sharing that symbol because he'd like a reminder of that, too. Rex remembers the 332nd and their helmets that they'd painted to look like their chosen Jedi, almost blindly giving away their individuality in favor of that loyalty that had been stripped from them anyway. And then he looks at Kanan, choosing to make himself look LIKE REX, someone who had shared his face with millions once, because he wants to honor both the connections he'd lost as well as this new connection the two of them have built together now. And Rex says he'd be happy to share.

[clone-wars-retteyo-au]

Clone Wars Retteyo AU Lore: Beliefs on (Physical) Disability

Retteyan society has a complicated relationship with disability. On the one hand, Kamino was always highly judgemental of those born with “defects,” resulting in an environment where many feared the idea of being seen as “defective” and imperfect in any way. On the other hand, many clones still saw their disabled and “defective” counterparts as siblings regardless of any “flaws” in their programming, and groups like the Bad Batch further encouraged the notion that you don’t need to be perfect in order to find a place in the world.

This is all further complicated by the relationship Retteyan society has had with veterans. Things like scars are seen as badges of honor, a representation of one’s battles and survival. When a clone was severely injured in battle, many would see it as commendable, believing that it showed how hard they fought for the Republic, hard enough to sacrifice their body for it. Even if the Republic didn’t always respect the clone troopers who became too injured to fight anymore, the other clones would always salute them for their hard work. So if someone receives an injury that causes disability, regardless of the cause, they will be treated with respect and compassion.

All in all, the Retteyans’ beliefs about disability are complicated, but the disabled are well cared for nonetheless, and society has even been working to make better accommodations for those born with “defects.”

[clone-wars-retteyo-au]

Clone Wars Retteyo AU Lore: Food

One of the most well known things about Retteyo and clone culture is that the food is unfortunately really, really bad. These mfs would have no clue how to make good food. Even if they could cook, they never had a reason to focus on the taste, just how easy it was to have on the battlefield and how nutritional they were. Texture and taste were not important, since they literally only ate military rations. Most of these people have not had seasoning of any kind.

So when they get the chance to experiment with food, it’s a bit of a mess. Either people would make things that are literally just bland war rations, or they would become like those people in the 1950s after WWII. You know, the ones who finally had access to various ingredients after needing to ration out food for so long and immediately decided to make food from hell because they could? Putting literally everything under the sun in jello? That was basically most of the clones after the war. Again, they had literally never had seasoning on their food before, and most food they ate wasn’t very flavorful.

That’s why they ended up trying to add flavor to everything, even though many didn’t actually understand/realize what would work and what wouldn’t. If there is ketchup in Star Wars or something similar, these people have been coating things in it. Never mind all the hot sauce some clones use. And the spices. These people have no idea how to portion or use spices correctly. Have you ever had cake with a minced maluv-garlic filling? They have a lot of maluv-garlic (basically Star Wars garlic but stronger) on Ratteyo and by god are they going to use it.

Some traditional Retteyan foods (gonna use Earth equivalents here) are:

Barbecued fish with berry sauce poured over it

Garlic-flavored heavy cream

Spinach mixed with orange juice

Fruit pie (any kind) with hot sauce

Ice cream with pepper coating over it

Ketchup dumplings

While there are some decent Retteyan dishes, those appeared well into Gen 3, and were few and far in between. Basically, the Retteyans have a pretty interesting culture, but if you visit, you should probably pack your own food or something.

[clone-wars-retteyo-au]

Clone Wars Retteyo AU Lore: Names as a Custom

Names are a pretty big deal in Retteyan culture.

While it seems like they’d be likely to not keep the serial number system, they decide to anyway, and for a very interesting reason. You see, part of the reason names are so important for the clones has been to show individuality and personhood, but also because you get to choose it. When the clones chose their names, they created their own identities, and names often said something personal about them, like their personalities or a special memory.

Part of what makes a name special is that you choose it for yourself. So giving new clones names at birth would kind of defeat the point/take that away from them. Sure, you could change your name when you were older, but that wasn’t the point. The point was that it was extremely personal and something to be discovered by living. It’s also good as an identification thing, almost like a SSN, but not exactly. So Retteyans give each baby a serial number, then, as adults, get to choose a legal name. They may discover their name at a younger age, but it will only become their legal one once they are of age.

Many outside of Retteyo may think that Retteyans all have weird and/or unusual names. Some may even mock these names. But Retteyans don’t care if their names sound strange or simple, as the point is their meaning. Besides, there’s a lot of things people find strange or off about Retteyans. Why should they care if their names are weird?

[clone-wars-retteyo-au]

Clone Wars Retteyo AU Lore: Early Intergalactic Perspectives

Early on when all the clones were moved to Retteyo and the Republic/Jedi were helping them set everything up, the Republic helped fund part of the construction for the planet in order to give them a head start. They also gave them independence with the compromise of a treaty that stated that Retteyans would receive a bit of funding and be an independent civilization with their own rights as long as they remained loyal to the Republic and used their army to help out when needed.

After things became settled down and the Retteyans had a functional government, the Senate considered giving them a seat in the Senate, especially once the Retteyans started populating using the Plox Flowers. This took a few years, but eventually, the Retteyans were able to have their own Senator to represent them.

When most people first heard that the Republic was giving the clones their own planet and whatnot, some were pretty angry about this, as they still believed clones to not be “real-sentients.” Why is the Republic spending all this money providing for the clones when they could be using that money and resources for other planets?

Anti-clone sentiments were pretty high in certain areas, especially those which had less good experiences with clone troopers or had been occupied by the Republic and patrolled by clone troopers. There were even a few natborn-supremacist groups who advocated for the subjugation of clones and even their eradication. Hate-crimes were common on planets like Coruscant, and many clones there quickly fled to Retteyo. Not everyone was completely anti-clone, but didn’t understand the point of helping them make their own planet and found it to be a waste of money and resources.

[clone-wars-retteyo-au]

Clone Wars Retteyo AU Lore: Beliefs on Mindfulness & Death

(Part of my SW TCW clone-centric AU)

I find the clones' mindset on death to be fascinating, so I decided it would be good to add a section discussing this somewhat unique aspect of Retteyan culture, as it's a bit different from most and a major cultural difference between clones and many of their natborn counterparts.

Many clones who fought during the war saw their loved ones die all the time, to the point that they became desensitized to it. They were also kind of made with a certain kind of resilience and ability to process violence and death easier. When someone died on the battlefield, you mourned for a short while, then moved on. Or at the very least, you mourned after the battle was done, and then moved on to the next thing. You could still feel grief for a long period of time, but you never let it affect you and your everyday life. 

This is kind of the case in canon, actually, and it made me realize something interesting about the clone troopers: while Jedi believe in the concept of “no attachments”/mindfulness, clone troopers are extremely skilled at practicing it. They care about each other as a whole, and can form deep bonds, but they don’t let things like grief or their feelings for others get in the way of their work. They are, as I said above, able to move forward after a loss, and see it as a part of life, even if it’s sad.

Clones’ main focus above all is the Republic and fighting for it, and it takes a lot for them to stray from that path. Even when some stop fighting for the Republic, they will fight for the rights of their fellow clones. They are far from disconnected from their emotions, but they don’t tend to linger on them as often or grieve in the same way, prioritizing the bigger picture over their personal feelings.

It’s hard to describe, but I think most people can get my point. Due to both this and the fact that the Jedi did have an influence on the mindsets of many of the clones around them, I believe that many clones would fully believe in and practice mindfulness, even if indirectly. They would then pass this on to future generations, teaching them to accept the death of loved ones as a part of life, and while you can grieve, you don’t need to linger on it.

This is why I think Retteyans would have a very interesting relationship with the concept of death. Not only are they shown to move on pretty quickly from death in canon, or at least process and accept it very quickly, but they (or at least the much older ones) were taught that their lives don’t matter all that much. They’re also forced to accept that they could die at any moment, and are extremely aware of that.

We eventually see them realize that they aren’t expendable and their lives do matter, but they still seem to be aware that death could come at any second and anyone you know could die very suddenly. During the Umbara arc, Fives actually accepts his death pretty quickly, and while Jesse is displeased, he isn’t freaking out about it, showing that clones are pretty calm about dying. Finally, they already have pretty shortened lifespans. Thus, they are forced to accept their own deaths pretty quickly into the war.

I conclude that while Retteyans do grieve and begin holding things like memorial services, they treat death as simply another part of life, and don’t fear it as much as others might. They obviously have a sense of self-preservation and do experience a fear of dying, obviously, at least in the moment. But they’re more concerned with the type of death than death itself. As long as it’s somewhat honorable, they can accept it pretty easily. They don’t worry about death or contemplate on it too much. They simply live while they can and spend time with those they care about.

[clone-wars-retteyo-au]

AU Masterpost

(Note: Some will not have links because I haven't posted them yet and am still working a bit on writing them out, but I still plan to post them eventually. I will also add more as I go along. The order in which I post things will be a bit all over the place but I honestly don't care)

Plot

All one post

Primary Societal Lore

Government & Societal Structure

Rank System

Branches

Economy and Jobs

Government Jobs

Outside Jobs

Childcare/"Family" Structure

The Sanctuary

Adulthood Familial Structures

Adoptive Parental Figures

Sibling Bonds

Customs and Practices

Names

Tattoos

Holidays

Funerals/Memorials

Physically Tangible Culture

Food

Fashion

Visual Art

Music/Dance

Architecture

Cultural Values and Beliefs (my favorite)

Fighting

Individuality

Community & Uniformity

Disability

Resilience

Mindfulness & Death

Honor

Manners and Etiquette

Gender

Discovery of Gender Identity

Gender Roles

Language

Development of Language

Galactic Standard Retteyan Dialect

Mando'a Retteyan Dialect

Retteyan Creole

Retteyan Sign Language

RSL Specific Examples

Intergalactic Perspectives & Relations

Early Perspectives

Early Tourist Sentiments

Changes in Perspectives

Senate Views

Modern Sentiments

Demands and Apologies

Anti-Clone Bigotry

Relationship With The Jedi

Retteyo's Founding & The Padawan

Jedi Assistance With Retteyo's Creation

Influence on Retteyan Culture

Generational Trauma

The Mental Health Epidemic

Mental Health Care

[clone-wars-retteyo-au]

Me making clone trooper OCs: You guys are gonna have the dumbest names :)