#swtor oc: aja verdona

[hurricanek8art]

Thank you @tiredassmage for the literal swift kick in the pants and behold the inaugural K8's SWTOR OC Bio extravaganza (maybe?!?! I don't know what I'm doing and I'm still not happy with this but anyways 🥴). Starting with:

Aja Verdona: The Commander

Homeworld: Naboo (birth world; Odessen (adopted)

Born: 3664BBY/21 ATC (age 21 at start; frozen in carbonite for 5 years, currently 34)

Species: Human

Occupation: Commander of the Eternal Alliance

Affiliations: Jedi Order, Eternal Alliance

Romances: Rass Ordo

Masters: Several, most prominently Connelly Draay (OC) and Orgus Din

Apprentices: Vega Kodral (OC)

Hero of Tython, Throne-breaker, Outlander, Commander—Aja Verdona has borne many titles throughout her life, but none have ever been able to outweigh her dedication and drive to protecting the galaxy. Arriving on Tython a hotheaded and arrogant young woman who was letting her 'grand destiny', her abandonment issues and her fear of failure push her to the edge, Aja found herself taken under the wing of Orgus Din. What followed was a whirlwind three years that saw her pushed to the edge of her sanity and beyond, the murder of the first Master to stick by her side despite all of her flaws and intensity, an eight-month stint as the mind-controlled pet attack dog of the Sith Emperor, and an unexpected quest to slay Vitiate once and for all. When that was undone by the actions of the Revanites several years later, Aja resumed her quest, determined to do what the Force had chosen her to do long before she was even born, leading her to mature and grow in the nearly two decades since her journey began, conquering her past anger, and defeated Tenebrae time and time again. But now that Tenebrae is gone, and new, different threats and challenges threaten to overwhelm her—the warmongering of Heta Kol, machinations of Darth Malgus, training a stubborn and determined young Padawan, and Aja's sudden, unexpected feelings for a Mandalorian warrior. Now, Aja is faced with a new question: what is she without the threat of Tenebrae constantly hanging over her head, especially now that a new prophecy threatens all she holds dear? And what will she choose to become?

[hurricanek8art]

I've been lurking on the outskirts of the community out of social anxiety and am stuck in a bit of burnout myself (mine's dealing with figuring out why the game keeps crashing on me. I'm not a techy person and am NOT having fun troubleshooting 😭) but youre welcome to give either of the two main OCs I've posted about on here a go!

Here's Aja in-game, sorry for the meh lighting but all my good screenshots are still on my old laptop. 😭 I can't make a good ingame Vega no matter how hard I try; if she looks vaguely like Iman Vellani that's best I've got, even for my own art. 🤣😭

Here's how I see my girls in my head/draw them. Glad I posted my ref sheets now. 🤣🤣🤣

Personality-wise, I've always approached Aja like what happens if you dump Anakin Skywalker, Avatar Korra and Carol Danvers into a blender. She's determined and hotheaded, loves a good scrap and always gets back up when she's knocked down, but after everything she's been through her fire's been tempered. She's still all that underneath, but she's a lot wiser and calmer nowadays, especially since taking Vega on as an apprentice.

Vega is eager and wide-eyed and excited to be here, but she's got kind of an old soul underneath it all—she's the Barsen'thor's niece and has all the Force power that implies, but she's only started scratching the surface of it. She's enthusiastic and wants to prove herself ready and capable of being the Commander's Padawan, even if it makes her get a little in over her head with how many responsibilities she takes on. My main point of reference when drawing her is Kamala Khan in general, but the Ms. Marvel show in specific. When I need a good pose ref for a drawing with Aja and Vega together, I usually fall back on early seasons Anakin/Ahsoka and Kanan/Ezra screengrabs from their respective shows for scene inspo for the Master/Padawan team vibes.

Who wants SWTOR OC sketches? c:

Sooo today's weather's bad (Canadian black ice type of bad) so I'm staying indoors and I was thinking... a lot of people have drawn my OCs and I'm really grateful for it, and I've always wanted to give back to the community but I'm having a hard time with executive dysfunction and perfectionism when it comes to drawing. Like, sketches take me SO much time now but I want to practice and try to make quick sketches of y'alls characters <33 trying to heal from burn out here lol!

You can reblog or comment with your request, and don't hesitate to put a theme/expression/pose 🫡

I can't guarantee drawing ALL the requests (or if I'm let alone gonna be able to complete one lmao) but I'll keep this post to come back to if I want to practice some more another time!

[hurricanek8art]

Master and Apprentice (SWTOR) (click for better quality, Tumblr crunched it on me 😭)

So, to start my hopeful depression spiral preventative art posting, these are some of my main SWTOR characters, Aja Verdona (my Commander) and Vega Kodral (OC, my smuggler's daughter/Consular's niece) I have so much lore in my head about them but my brain's too scrambled to write any of it down beyond Aja picks up Vega as her apprentice between Echoes of Oblivion and the start of 7.0, and Vega goes along on about half the missions from then on. My brain wanted a new POV character that would be part of Aja's journey and act as a contrast to her world-weary experience, and I already had Vega as a background character, so it worked out perfectly. In case you couldn't tell, I love them both a lot and like to ramble. 🥴

[hurricanek8art]

okay well i can't ask from the swtor yappery sideblog so you get more encouragement from main /lh. blorbo asks for blorbo(s) of your choice.

2) Who's your OCs best friend? How did they become best friends?, 8) What hobbies does your OC have? What do they do to unwind?, annnddd 14) Who's a character your OC cannot stand! It's on sight when they see them!

YAY MORE ENCOURAGEMENT why does my brain only respond to essentially being dared into doing things 🤣😭 and oh jeez I'm gonna have to put this under a cut so I don't take up the entire dashboard because I got through 1 (one) question and it's a monster of a paragraph 😭

2) Who's your OCs best friend? How did they become best friends?

Oh boy swinging out of the gate. Aja hates choosing and the answer is totally basic but in terms of who gets best friend: Teeseven, Kira, Theron and Lana, but NOT in that order she doesn't have an order she's too friendly for her own good.

Teeseven is best buddy droid in the entire galaxy, the BD-1 to Aja's Cal Kestis, and I take way too much inspiration from all the dogs I've had in my life when writing Tee. 🤣

Kira and Aja have called themselves sisters since around when the former's whole Child of the Emperor secret hit the fan—they contrast and compliment each other's skills and personalities, and Kira was a lifeline in getting Aja through the months post-brainwashing by Tenebrae.

Theron inhabits that similar "siblings now" niche mostly against his will at first; he pushed her away a lot in the early days because she's basically everything he grew up thinking he was supposed to be (and I mean, killed the Emperor, finished what Revan started, Hero of Tython, yadda yadda, was he wrong?) but Rishi kinda forces them all together and he got to see her as a person, and the realization of "oh she's kind of a dork underneath the Throne-breaker facade" kick-started one of my favorite friendships to write. They both bring out good in each other—Theron reminds Aja to keep focus on the target and do her best not to get lost in the gray areas, and Aja brings out some of that Jedi-raised side of Theron that he likes to pretend isn't there anymore, which is a big reason (in my head at least) why he's not as hard-liner about some stuff in KotFE onwards as he used to be. Occasionally they become the last two brain cells meme too but that's when they're off-duty and feel like annoying Lana.

Best friends status with Lana was... complicated to achieve. They're both a lot alike in terms of devotion to The Cause and a little bit in temperament, but the whole "throw Theron to the Revanites" thing took a really long time for them to... Aja didn't exactly forgive her for it so much as the two came to an understanding about each other, I guess? Aja and Lana frustrate the daylights out of each other, are both extremely alike and total opposites in every way, and there's rarely a week when they don't end up bickering about something at the very least, but they know two important things about each other: Lana knows that Aja will fling herself at every galaxy-shaking threat with every ounce of strength in her body if it means saving even one life, and Aja knows that Lana will unequivocally, 1000% be behind her every step of the way, because she's literally already followed her to the ends of the galaxy and back. Even if they don't like each other's methods, they still trust each other one billion percent.

(Can you tell that I've put way too much writing effort into KotXX-onwards Aja and not enough into origin story Aja I swear the Kira and Tee dynamics are more fleshed out words just don't wanna word with them tonight like they did for Theron and Lana 😬😬😬)

8) What hobbies does your OC have? What do they do to unwind?

Okay, this one shouldn't turn into a monster paragraph. 🤣 Aside from the very obvious sparring/swordsmanship stuff, she's into animal care (she kept a sleen she tamed during the whole Satele and Marr Force misadventure the game wouldn't let me keep sleen baby so I wrote it in BITE ME BIOWARE/BROADSWORD; she picks up a vollka/big cat thing from the High Republic books shortly after KotET because a plot bunny ran away from me and I spoil Aja way too much, and they rescued Bergola and the exoboars from the Dragon's Maw mission because I say so) so lots of hikes and trail runs in the woods. Quieter hobbies are crafting stuff with her hands—she does metal- and glasswork, and after she becomes the Alliance Commander, Sana-Rae introduced her to clay sculpture. Stuff like stained glass and metal etching in the early years, though I think once she's based on Odessen she starts experimenting with actually making glass and metal to work with. She doesn't really remember much from before the Jedi, but her parents would be proud—they were glassblowers on Naboo. All of it helps center herself, physically and spiritually. Crud it kinda turned into a monster paragraph

14) Who's a character your OC cannot stand! It's on sight when they see them!

Is Tenebrae and his various personalities too easy of an answer? 🤣 In honesty, though, if Kaliyo ever shows her face again, it is on. She was persuaded to leave peacefully and keep her mouth shut about the Alliance (read: Aja's banishment got a little reinforcement via threats from my agent—you don't mess with Chrysali, she's scary for more than just the usual Imp agent reasons, it's a long story) because Aja's greatest flaw and biggest weakness is that she always tries to give people a second chance, but Kaliyo got a lot of good people killed. She's forgiving, but she's not a total pushover and she's still kicking herself over misplacing her trust with Kaliyo in the first place. It's probably for the better that they never cross paths again. (Shae is also maybe on that list until we get an explanation because SHAE HONEY WHAT THE HECK ARE YOU DOING PUT THAT THING BACK WHERE IT CAME FROM OR SO HELP ME)

This turned out. Long. And it's 11pm, my dog is chewing on the baseboard again and I need to sleep. Thank you for kicking me in the butt so I could trick my brain into rambling. 🤣

[hurricanek8art]

Okay, so, um... Hi? So, I've been a lurker on Tumblr for a while, including the SWTOR tag, because I've got major social anxiety. Recently, I think I've finally worked up the courage to interact, which is great! Especially now, because I think I need advice about the game and don't really know where else to ask! Other social media sites scare me and I'm not currently a subscriber, so I can't access the SWTOR forums. :P

I've just finished Corellia on my Jedi Knight. She's technically my main, even though I already finished the class storylines for Consular and Smuggler. I got burnout on doing the planetary missions and side quests around Balmorra (I'm a huge goody-two-shoes, so I was doing almost every quest I came across) so I figured, hey, I'll just focus on the story for a while and come back to it another time! Except now I feel kinda bad for skipping them because my Knight's leveled at 53, when my other two finished their class stories around 60/65. I know over-leveling's pointless, but at the speed I take getting through stuff, they'll have to have raised the level cap again by the time I catch up. 🤣

Should I go back and do them before finishing the class story? I know it's pretty harmless to skip them but I dunno, I want to do as much as I can with my Knight so I haven't missed out on anything. My brother plays too, we share an account, but his philosophy is skip absolutely everything that's not important unless he's underleveled, so obviously we have differing opinions on the subject. 🤣🤣🤣 Can some more experienced players give me some advice? I'm paralyzed with indecision, help me Obi-Wan Kenobi, etc., etc., you get the gist.

Unnecessarily adding pictures of my Knight because she is awesome and I love her to pieces and I only really get to talk about her with my brother. I'm a writer/artist and I've got loads of stuff I've created about her and my other legacy characters but. y'know. extreme social anxiety says no sharing yet. You guys make such cool stuff and I'm a huge chicken, but I'm working on getting over that, so maybe someday I can actually tell their stories!

[hurricanek8art]

So! Update on my SWTOR woes! I figure putting it in the main tag makes it so everyone that helped me sees it. Thank you everyone for your advice! I was so nervous about asking and you guys are so cool!

I'm planning on just doing Voss and Corellia for now to keep from burning out! This is like attempt three at me making a Jedi Knight because I wanted her to be my Outlander and then I'd freeze up and panic because I wanted it to be "perfect" but y'know what? Perfect's overrated anyway, this is supposed to be fun! I'll keep the other planetary storylines on the backburner in case I need to level up any further, but since I hit level 50 before I was out of chapter one and I thiiiink I hit 54 last night finishing Maelstrom Prison, I don't think I need to worry about my level being too low for a while. 🤣🤣🤣

(side note—thank you so much @greyias I GOT THE STUPID WHATSHISFACE COLONEL GUY WITH THE EYEBEAMS FINALLY 🤣 I do not know why I didn't think of using those crates as a shield before, I am so dumb :P)

You guys were so helpful and nice and I don't know what else to say I'm so bad at this 🥴🤣 but thank you! All of this actually helped me work up the courage to maaaaaaybe share my stuff? At least screenshots and backstory rambles because I have to share it somehow. I can only yammer my brother's ear off about it for so long, and he's the only other person I know IRL that's as into all this as me, so y'know. 🤣 I might make a masterpost to introduce everyone but I gotta gather up all my screenshots first and I'm kinda meh about getting good ones, so :P we'll see. And condense about two and a half/three-ish years of my brain hurtling backstories at me faster than I can write when I'm supposed to be writing other stuff into readable paragraphs. Uh... yeah, maybe don't expect it too soon. 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣 I'm queuing this for tomorrow because I only got the chance to actually sit down and write this at midnight here, it's been crazy. Thank you again, everyone! I'm so bad at social stuff I don't know what else to say but thanks!

I don't know how to end this, so uh... Here! Unnecessarily adding all my Republic side characters in because I love them and I constantly want to infodump when it's not the time or place! 🤣

Aja Verdona, my Jedi Knight; Reilly Hawkins, my Smuggler; Ataraxia Kestis, my Consular (and my smuggler's twin sister); and Ijaaka Ordo, my Trooper. They have permanently rewired parts of my brain and I love them all dearly even though I accidentally play favorites with Aja. 🥴