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sullustangin · 2 years

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Forged Alliances Part 2: Manaan

Continuing on my replay of SoR with my latest smug...

Part I here

So, it’s been awhile since Tython and Korriban. Originally, in game, T3-G2 reaches out to the player to send them to Manaan. Alas and alack, 7.0 killed the breadcrumb quest, so now you just get a direct “go to Manaan” pass from Fleet. I have the video saved on a previous smug playthough and the text commemorated in my fic series.

I recently played KOTOR, and the music on Manaan comes from that game; the game map is a clear tribute too. It’s more pronounced here than it was on Taris. I can see why people were getting super hyped for Shadow of Revan to drop, with all of these references and planets to revisit.

Once the player arrives on Manaan, Theron talks about his favorite thing: intel (like father, like son). Or, in this case, why he does not have intel: Darok isn’t sharing with SIS as promised. This goes beyond SpecForce tensions with SIS however.

Even as Theron is dealing with the potential traitors in SpecForce, we also have some potential zany activities going on. Although Eva is seeing credits as they speak about infiltrating a lab (hello, kolto!), there’s also a few ghosts coming back from the dead: namely, Rakata technology.

If one played the planetary quests on Tatooine and on Belsavis Pubside or Impside, they encountered the remnants of world-ending machines and/or prisons built by the Rakata. Now, Darok and Arkous seem to moving this stuff around for unknown reasons. Nice and creepy.

At the end of the briefing, Theron mentions meeting a contact and seeing if the information she has is worth the hype.

Eva disapproves.

“She?” could convey surprise, but what’s so weird about a female contact? Do only men play spy games in the Old Republic? We know that not to be the case based upon planetary missions for SIS Pubside. Maybe “she?” is meant to represent the player wanting to know who this person is.

Me personally, I interpret this as sort of a hard push by developers for the Theron romance; this could be read as jealousy. And indeed, the developers did push both the Theron romance and the Lana romance throughout Forged Alliances and SoR, especially in the finale of Rishi. (Are you sure you REALLY want to go to Yavin NOW instead of talking to a SPY?!) There are some opportunities to play on the rivalry and/or potential for a love triangle.

While poking around the scientific horror show (and stealing kolto), Eva runs into Jakarro. This leads to one of the better comedic set-ups in the game:

Theron: Their story checks out (....) Charges against them both for smuggling, disorderly conduct, assault...

Eva: Even the droid?

Theron: Yeah, why do you ask?

(screenshot out of order...but you see the ‘problem’ with C2-D4 being charged with assault....)

The gag here is somewhat representative of the stronger writing on Pubside Forged Alliances and SoR, honestly. The Imperial side has no parallel to this interaction. Throughout Forged Alliances and SoR, Impside, there are more plotholes and less neat incorporation of prior content -- and more ‘forced’ funny bits rather than the well-played visual gag here.

Honestly, the writing in Forged Alliances/SOR for the Republic feels like compensation for the Dreadmasters and Oricon. In that case, the Pub sort of just gets plopped into Oricon, while the entire planetary plotline of Belsavis for the Empire was dedicated to the set-up. “Here, it’s your turn for crappy writing,” essentially. Although the Empire has more breadcrumb planets that lead up to this point (Dromund Kaas for the Revanites, Nar Shaddaa for the Starforge, as well as Tatooine and Belsavis for the Rakata tech), it’s nowhere near as well-integrated and well-written out as the Republic’s end of the content; the Republic side clearly conveys the danger of the Revanites, Revan, and even the Emperor -- it makes the player feel how important this operation is. I did not feel that sense of urgency as I played through on my Impside character. It just felt ‘lighter’ and less serious/significant.

We also encounter Lana Beniko, an exceedingly polite Sith Lord. What’s interesting here is how the writers handle Jakarro and the player’s opposing faction operative. If you play Pubside, it’s implied that Lana and Jakarro & D4 team up while Theron continues to be your handler. If you are Imperial, Jakarro & D4 and Theron become bros while you and Lana remain a team. This results in different dialogue and some different dynamics throughout SoR. Still, the five of you are fighting for the same cause, and Lana, as ever, is pragmatic:

We leave off Manaan aware of the potential of an Infinite Army: the Revanites are using Rakata tech to make self-repairing soldiers that could be unstoppable. We’ve thwarted them here, but what’s not to say they’ve already started exporting this stuff to manufacturing sites around the galaxy? Darok was shopping for smugglers who could handle such merchandise (including Jakarro), and we leave our intrepid friends wondering where the traitors-- and their Rakata tech -- are off to next.

#Swtor #forged alliances #Theron Shan #Lana beniko #Manaan #jakarro #c2-d4 #Theron Shan x smuggler #rakata #oc: eva corolastor

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particlemilk-unlockable-gender · 3 years

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I just replayed KotOR 1 and read about both the dark and light side endings. It now seems extremely obvious to me that the KotOR writers were aware of the Exegol super fleet idea, but that it was DEFINITELY a second Rakatan artifact 30,000 years in the making, and that the threat that turned Revan to the dark side and led her to seek out the star forge was in fact visions she was having of the return of the rakatan infinite empire in 4000 years. This would parallel her first, smaller fall to fight the mandolorians, and explain her second larger fall. Her intentions were ALWAYS to save the most lives, no matter how reckless that led her to be.

If Exegol had nothing to do with palpatine but was a Rakatan artifact, a Super Star Forge, that wasn’t even complete yet, and was the product of an intentional 30,000 year dormancy by remnants of the Rakatans so that they could conquer the galaxy again, it would tie KotOR in with the Skywalker Era.

It could also make Anakin or Luke’s status as “the chosen one” so much more relevant, as they wouldn’t have just ended one more cycle of sith vs republic like had been going on tens of thousands of years; instead what the skywalkers would be ending was the Cycles all together, and it would be because of Luke, Anakin, Obi-Wan, Qui-Gon, and Yoda figuring out how to MERGE the dark and the light, something Qui-Gon talked about wanting in Episode One!!!!

And why would Luke, in the revised episode 7, figure out how to merge the dark and light? and why would the sith accept it? because an eviler and stronger and older power in the galaxy has just awoken for the first time in 30,000 years and not only do the sith and jedi HAVE to join up in order to not die, but that dark side empire that just reemerged? they are So evil and wicked that all the sith in the galaxy quickly come the conclusion that their present dark sided ness is eccentric and decadent and worthless by comparison. What happens when the sith have to fight a power so dark that they do not need to kill the light within them?

Having a worse older darker empire with their actually practical version of a death star, a planet-sized, star-eating factory that outproduces the rest of the galaxy combined, to reflect against the useless imperial death star; and it would make KotOR much more cohesive, because do you know what the dark side ending of KotOR is? The one that isn’t canon and therefore does not have lasting effects in the universe? The dark side ending is that Revan stops fighting the republic and turns the sith fleets toward the Unknown Regions, where she vanishes from history. And what ancient hyper evil empire is from the Unknown Regions???? The Rakatans. And what could the Death Star and its evil but almost useless nature and extremely long construction time and moon-size chekov’s gun? An eviler, longer in production, less lavish, more practical, Planet Sized space station, and this time, one that ACTUALLY kills stars, one that brings death to actual stars by turning them into ships and droids.

I could go on but in conclusion, I think that Exegol being the non-prototype version of the star forge which took 30,000 years to complete and comes online a few years after Anakin and Palpatine die could serve as impetus to tie together literally every storyline and seemingly-forgotten random dialogue that seemed to hint at something from all of the star wars movies and games. Thank you for coming to my Ted Talk

#Star Wars #sorry about the mess of a post and rantiness

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lady--revan · 4 years

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howdy!!!!!

You’re probably wondering why I’ve reappeared out of the void after all this time. Well, the truth is, today is a very special day in my KOTOR experience. Exactly one year ago, I created my beloved exile, Liana Celine. I am surprised at how quickly I got attached to her, especially after developing my Revan so much, but she has a special place in my heart that will never be replaced.

I’ll never forget KOTOR. It’s one of my favorite games of all time and such a cool experience to shape a character in such an interactive, in-depth way. However, I’ve sort of moved on to other things. I got a PS4 a few months ago and I’ve been hooked on Subnautica (it is so good I could scream about it for hours) and Jedi Fallen Order! Also I’ve been really invested in Boku No Hero Academia and Tangled the Series :) The Rise of Skywalker had its ups and downs but overall I’m neutral on it >_< I’m so tired of being angry about fictional stories, I’ve become less attached to them in the past few months bc of a busy schedule and taking a step back I see how silly most of the discourse is from an outsider viewpoint. I just want to focus on my own characters and draw from the things i’m inspired by :)

I see other ppl i follow have (sort of???) moved on from KOTOR, and that’s perfectly OK! I’ve done it too, and I can’t dictate what fandoms ppl should be in.

Last year was super important for my growth as an artist, and I couldn’t have done as much as I did without you guys’ encouragement and support. I probably won’t update this blog again unless I replay the game, and I have no idea when that will be. I have so many real life things on my plate right now, but I wanted to drop this small update post both for the Exile’s anniversary and the mutuals who supported me <3

Thank you guys so much!!!! May the force be with you

#update post #my art #liana celine

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thatwitchrevan · 4 years

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So I finally played the intro to Jedi: Fallen Order! No idea if I'll keep up with it over the next few weeks, but I enjoyed what I've played so far. There are some things I find annoying, both about the gameplay and the story, but I'll be honest, any game with good lightsaber fights is gonna be fun to me. Plus I need to branch out more from KotOR (though I do also still need to replay KotOR).

Cal is a fun protag so far and he seems like a good kid but damn, he wants to die so bad. It's kinda played as a joke but. I mean I did chuckle at one remark but it hurt at the same time. Especially since I have no idea if I can prevent him from actually dying in the endgame. I already want to just send him somewhere nice and relatively calm with a blanket and some cocoa and make him stay safe. So maybe I won't play the game lol.

#personal #griffin plays things #no spoilers please not even small ones #i've seen some already and i dont need more #suicide mention #just in case #there's this lady who yells at him for his reckless parkour #saying 'youre gonna get yourself killed'#and he says 'thats the idea'#sir.#please do not #somebody. get the boy a space therapist.#edit: i've just watched the part on youtube and its just possible #that what the woman says is actually 'DONT get urself killed' in which case his response is probably meant to be positive #but it really doesnt sound like she says 'don't'#its just 'get urself killed' and 'thats the idea' from what i can hear #anyway he also calls himself trash says he has no purpose and does reckless stunts #so either way i conclude he's depressed af

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dalekofchaos · 4 years

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Will be going on a little hiatus in order to play my games. Do not worry I have a lot of posts in my queue. Will be back when I am finished with Jedi Fallen Order, Vampyr and SW Bounty Hunter and replaying both KOTOR games.

#Personal

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x-wearethefuture-x · 5 years

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How do you get inspiration? Is there a muse that you consistently have the muse for? What has influenced your writing and blog? Take the opportunity to write a short ramble/drabble about something you want to write about.

How do you get inspiration?I’ve actually been struggling with this a lot lately. Usually it’s music,books, games, shows, or movies that give me inspiration to write. Though, mostcommonly, my inspiration to CONTINUE threads comes from the people I write with.If they seem actually interested in the thread (it doesn’t matter how longreplies take, I just mean the writing. Sometimes you can tell through how theyreply whether they’re interested or not) then that gives me more reason to wantto reply to it :)

Is there a muse that youconsistently have the muse for?Sooyeon on my other account is the one muse that I ALWAYS have muse for. I think it’s because she’s been a muse of mine since even before I moved over to tumblr rp, so I have a ton of history with her.Over here, it fluctuates a lot more, mostly dependent on things I mentionedabove. Yongsun is my most consistent muse with Wheein being a closesecond. Then probably Hyuna and Hyuk? Usually my female muses are my strongest ones,honestly. Lately I’ve had a ton of muse for Sarah. When I have musefor my boys, though, the strongest ones tend to be Seunghyun, Hyuk, and Jaewon. I think that Jaewonand Hyuk have similar personalities in some ways, so when I have high muse forHyuk I tend to have high muse for Jaewon, as well.Also, I ALWAYS have a ton of muse for most of my secondaries. I’m alwayswatching, reading, or playing stuff related to Star Wars so those are mystrongest muses, closely followed by my muses for Jack and Nisha (I literally play Borderlands all the time, and TPS is my favorite of the three). I’ve beenDYING for another thread with Jack, one where I can show off the complexity ofhim. Jack is technically the “bad guy” ofBorderlands 2, but he doesn’t see himself that way... he honestly believeshimself to be a hero even if his methods of achieving peace are a little harsh. He kind of thinks of it like it’s “for the greater good”. I would love to explore that more and have a chance towrite about it. Atton is such a complex character, too. He’s one of the biggest reasons that I’ve replayed KotOR2 so many times. And, like, I would even be okay with writing him in a normal verse as opposed to a Star Wars one because I just love him that much.The one muse of my secondary muses that I have a hard time with is my maleRevan. People expect me to water him down so he’ll be easy/fun to write with orthey want to write with him because he’s a Jaejoong face claim and they haven’tread his bio, but he’s actually incredibly difficult to write as or with. Andromantic threads are an absolute no-go. If he’s intimate in that way withanyone, it’s purely for power, not for love. So while I think he’s super interesting and I’d love to write him in some very serious threads, I think he’s the kind of muse that people have to be careful of ^^;

What has influenced your writing or blog?I’ll be answering this one in another ask soon~ I’ll try to remember to link it here when I’mdone~

Take the opportunity to write a short ramble/drabble aboutsomething you want to write about. Can I ramble about more than one? I’ve been desperate to write almost anything on my Wanted Plots list, honestly. Something based a little bitaround Princess Yue from A;TLA. Hogwarts AUs. Star Wars AUs are (obviously) myfavorite and I’d REALLY love someone to write an Old Republic based AU with,even if you haven’t played any of the games (I’ve, personally, hardly evenplayed the MMO). I’d specifically love a chance to use Atton or Meetra. I’dLOVE someone to write their own version of the Exile opposite of my Atton becausein KotOR (2 specifically because that’s where these characters are from) youget some back story but mostly get to choose your own path, so you don’t haveto feel inclined to follow a specific type of character (also the Exile cantechnically be male or female in the game, so that helps too! She’s femalecanonically, but I’m not entirely like stuck on canon- in fact, I prefer Revanto be a female as well, personally, and canonically Revan is a male so...).But, yeah, I know I’m older than some of the rest of this community (andprobably more into Star Wars than a lot of them, too xD) so I know it’s a longshot finding someone to write Star Wars AUs with me, but they’re my favoriteand I could accidentally ramble for a hundred years about Star Wars AUs oTLI’ve also REALLY wanted to do an AU where both muses are on the run from the law(a serial killer duo would be fantastic, but I’d also just love one where maybethey’re both thieves doing heists together. Or maybe one of them hasaccidentally killed someone in a struggle and in a panic fled the scene and theother is a proper criminal who happens upon them and they join up to outrun thelaw). Speaking about NON-aus though, I’d really love to explore my muses powers more. I getto do it a little here and there (mostly with Hyuk and a little with Wheeinwhich is PERFECTION) but I’d like to focus a little more on the mutant side ofmy muses. How they discovered their powers growing up. The control (or lack of)that they have of their abilities now. How people react (both positively and negatively). How it affects their lives.Sooyeon trying desperately to control other elements because she knows shetechnically CAN, but she struggles with anything outside of water manipulation.Hyuna being able to transform into animals, maybe having to do so in order toescape. Also her ability to speak with them would be fun to explore, too. ALL OF HYOJIN’S ABILITIES. She can absorb memories and powers both, and shestill sometimes can’t control either. So her catching flashes of someone’smemories when she touches them, or finding out that someone is a mutant becauseshe accidentally starts stealing their powers and draining them of their life force. Hyojin is such an underrated muse of mine tbh.Ericka thinking the bar is closed and empty, but Rui didn’t tell her that shehired someone new so when Ericka teleports from home to the bar and suddenlyshe just kind of APPEARS there, she’s got a lot of explaining todo to the new employee. Sarah’s emotions accidentally manipulating the weather because she can’t alwayscontrol her powers, and it goes from a perfectly bright and sunny day tohowling winds and downpours. And maybe she has a friendwho kind of catches on, whether immediately or not. Her eyes go white when shechanges the weather intentionally, but that doesn’t always happen when it’sjust emotions causing it, so it might make it harder to catch on in that way. And I’d also love more chances to explore the harsher side of things-anti-mutant coalitions trying to assassinate mutants. Underground governmentprojects to create power suppressing/eliminating serums. “Science”outposts where they kidnap mutants and experiment on them, trying to discoverif they can eliminate their abilities or take them and give them to others tocreate super-soldiers. I’ve had a few opportunities to scratch the surface ofthese types of things, but I’d love the chance to go more in depth!Also, just about anything that’s a “broken timeline”. Like AUs but based on theactual muses backstories, just with a change or two that set things way offcourse and now they’re completely different people from who they are in themain verse. So, like, if Sooyeon and Seunghyun had never met, where would theybe right now? Or what if Wheein had kept her powers hidden and continued tolive with her over bearing, overly religious, family? What if Sooyeon’s father hadn’t diedand she’s stayed with him? Or if Seunghyun’s mother hadn’t passed away, wouldhe have ever discovered his abilities of resurrection? What if one of the museswho attended Xavier’s had been drafted into the Avengers? Or joined the X-Men?What if someone became an actual superhero, bringing vigilante justice andhiding in plain sight? What if one of them had started using their abilities ona larger scale for more sinister acts? How would they have gotten to thatpoint, anyway? Things like that.

#((ooc))#((Thank you for these~ I know I answered them a little late but I enjoyed it ;u;))#ofpearlsxgods

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ncfan-1 · 6 years

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Rewriting Malachor V

If you’ve played KOTOR II like I have, especially if you’ve played it more than once, the Malachor V stage, which was atmospheric and appropriately creepy on first play, gets a bit… tedious on replays, especially if you’re playing without the Restored Content Mod. It doesn’t feel like a stage the way the other planets do. It just feels like an endless boss fight that drags on and on and on, with little to punctuate it, and it just gets… boring. What’s worse is that, while the companions do get a couple of moments to shine, they aren’t allowed to do very much, which given the amount of emphasis the game puts on the Exile’s relationships with these people and on their importance in general, really isn’t good. And I understand that a lot of this is a natural consequence of the fact that Obsidian just wasn’t allowed the time they needed to finish this game, but I’ve thought of some ways the Malachor V stage could be made more interesting, could put more focus on the companions, and be made to feel more like a planetary stage the way the others were.

This post assumes an LS Exile (Since I’ve never played the Exile DS and the idea of doing so holds no interest for me). Also, since I’ve only played as a female Exile, I’m wary of modding my game too much, and I have no interest in playing as a male Exile, I have relatively little familiarity with Brianna. I know about her, don’t get me wrong, I’ve read through the Jedi Jesus Let’s Play and I’ve seen other posts about her, but while I can think of a couple of ways she could contribute here, there are probably other people who could think of more things for her to do here. So, with that in mind:

First, some general notes:

- The enemies you encounter on the surface of Malachor V should be diversified. If the game really wants us to believe that the planet is still inhabitable after everything that happened to us, there should be more than one type of hostile animal on the surface. There should also be, like, Sith outposts or listening posts on the surface of the planet, where they monitor the skies for any evidence that hostile ships have come to attack the Academy. The hierarchy of enemies on the surface (excepting Hanharr and the beast you find in the giant pen—more on that later) should go like this:

two or three smaller beasts, with roughly the same toughness as the tuk’ata you find on Korriban -> the storm beasts, which appear more rarely than the smaller beasts, and should probably not be allowed to deal out 100 in damage in one hit -> non-Force-sensitive Sith officers, more common than the storm beasts but less common than the smaller beasts -> Dark Jedi, much less common -> Sith lord, extremely uncommon; you run into maybe two or three of them across the whole surface of Malachor V.

- This is a Doylist gripe and perhaps not entirely realistic from a Watsonian perspective, but when dead enemies drop loot, they don’t drop credits. After all, what’s the point? This is the last stop in the game and it’s not like there’s a merchant here. Instead, the enemies drop (in the case of Force-wielders) lightsabers, armor, robes, useful items, and lightsaber crystals appropriate to the character’s level. Also health packs. Lots and lots of health packs (Though to be fair, they do that already). Some of them drop datapads for mini-quest-relevant information, or other quest items.

So, about Malachor V…:

- First, the prelude. On the way over to Malachor V, while the Exile is sleeping or meditating or something, the non-droid companions have a meeting. Basically, they know that the Exile is planning on heading out to confront Kreia by herself, that she’s trying both to shield them from the danger and trying to draw away from them because even if what the Jedi Masters said to her on Dantooine was myopic, blinded-by-fear-and-ignorance-bullshit, it’s still wormed its way into her head and she’s afraid of unconsciously manipulating her companions—and leading them to their deaths against their will.

But this is a game where free will is important, and if you’re playing as a Light Side Exile, it really doesn’t look as though she’s been psychically dominating her companions. They all have their reasons to go to her and their reasons to stay with her that can’t be explained that way. It’s not as though she hasn’t been influencing them in any way at all—see the conversation she can have with Mira, noting that even though Mira has avowed her refusal to kill, she’s been killing without compunction since joining up with the Exile—but for the most part, this influence is above-board. None of them are at all interested in letting the Exile go it alone on Malachor V.

- The Ebon Hawk crashes on the surface of Malachor V as per canon. While the ship is crashing, the loading ramp is forced open and, while trying to get it shut again, Mira is sucked out of the ship, thus explaining why she wakes up on the ground so far below the Ebon Hawk. Everyone asides from the droids is knocked unconscious in the crash, and wake up at differing points.

- Remote isn’t knocked out and sets out immediately to fulfill Bao-Dur’s orders. In this version, since Remote is heading out before the Exile has the chance to clear the area of any storm beasts, Remote has a bit more combat and defensive capability; Bao-Dur’s upgrades actually amount to something here. It can move faster than in canon, its shots pack a bit more punch (though it’s not the powerhouse T3-M4 can potentially be with his shock arm). Remote still has to sneak past the storm beasts, but the Sith won’t bother with it since it’s just a droid, and it can move fast enough to outrun the smaller beasts on the surface of the planet.

Past this, Remote’s mission plays out the same as in canon. Once it activates all the Republic warships, G0-T0 shows up and menaces it. At that point, HK-47 shows up because G0-T0 needs a killin’ and no way is he going to let anyone else handle that job. The HK-51s show up and, depending on whether HK-47 was able to program them to be loyal to him, he either has to fight them or they fight by his side when killing G0-T0. Upon dispatching G0-T0, HK-47 (and the HK-51s, if they’re loyal to him) heads back to the Ebon Hawk to make sure his escape route is kept safe.

- One by one, the non-droid companions wake up, and they start to carry out their own mini-quests before reaching Malachor V. In this case, each group must disable and/or destroy a Sith outpost they run into on the way to the Trayus Academy. At any point, if anyone asides from the Exile dies, they die permanently. If one member of a party dies but the rest lives, they don’t wake up at the end of the fight. If the whole party dies, you aren’t prompted to reload your last save game; it just skips to the next segment. Obviously, you can go into the load game list and reload your last save game to keep them alive, but I thought this feature might add a bit more weight to what is supposed to be one of the most evil, dangerous places in the galaxy, as well add more weight to the last stage of the game.

- Mira wakes up first, and we get the little cut scene about her commenting on the scenery, before it switches back to the next segment.

- Atton and Mical both wake up at around the same time. Their dialogue as they fight their way across the surface of Malachor might be strained sniping or it might be reflective of a tentative, uneasy camaraderie, depending on the way the Exile has treated them both through the course of the game, how much influence she has with them both, and just how far up the Light Side scale she, and by extension, them, is. When they reach the outpost, there should be an opportunity for some drama. Maybe somebody recognizes Atton as a Sith deserter, or maybe Mical recognizes someone he knew from his time as an initiate at the Dantooine Enclave. They take control of the outpost, and we cut to the next segment.

- Canderous, Visas, and Brianna (if you have her in the party) wake up next. This time, it’s Canderous helping Visas get up, to bookend their last exchange on the Ravager before they blew that ship to hell. Canderous and Visas’s dialogue reflects the camaraderie they formed on the Ravager, reflects their significantly improved relationship, maybe reflects the echoes of Revan Canderous sees in Visas. If Brianna’s in the party, her dialogue with Visas runs along the same lines as the dialogue Atton and Mical can potentially have. They have the opportunity to slice into the computer system in the outpost and with a high enough Computer Use and Security skill, decode some journal entries by the officer in charge of the outpost about transmissions coming from somewhere out further in the Unknown Regions. They blow up their designated outpost, and we cut to Mira’s segment.

- When Mira gets to and takes control of her outpost, she discovers a spaceship with a working hyperdrive in a hangar, and part of her “take over the outpost” mini-quest involves finding a code to get the hangar bay doors open so that the ship could potentially leave Malachor V if needed. This will potentially be important for later, and is a mandatory part of the mini-quest; Mira isn’t allowed to step outside the outpost until she's done this. When Mira steps outside the outpost, she confronts Hanharr as per canon, fighting and defeating him, and convincing him to take her to Kreia.

- When the Exile wakes up, it’s only her, Bao-Dur, and T3-M4 on the ship—HK-47 hasn’t gotten back yet. The Exile wakes Bao-Dur up and orders him and T3 to stay with the ship, because she needs to find the others, and because “[they] need to get away quickly once [her] business [there] is done.”

Malachor V is, for the Exile, like the tomb of Ludo Kressh on Korriban, except even worse. Part of it is the powerful Dark Side energy of the planet, part of it is the Exile’s PTSD, but she’s seeing Force visions (and possible hallucinations; it quickly gets to the point where it’s impossible to tell which is which) everywhere she goes. None of them attack her the way the visions in the tomb did, but she sees Jedi who were at the Battle of Malachor V dying in agony, she sees flashes of Revan masked and cloaked that disappear when she comes close, flashes of Malak whispering promises of power and answers, she sees a faceless figure writing in agony before becoming a void of stars and dark matter and unceasing hunger. And the storm beasts seem drawn to her as if she was emitting some sort of homing signal…

The Sith don’t attack her. Similar to the Sith Assassins outside the Academy doors, they treat her with a level of deference that is frankly disturbing.

- All the Kreia-Sion dialogues play out as they do in canon.

- The beast in the pen outside of the Trayus Academy isn’t a greater storm beast, because part of this rewrite is to inject greater creativity into the Malachor V stage. Instead, it’s a drexl. No, not a drexl larva like what we saw back on Onderon; it’s a full-grown drexl. Now, the drexl isn’t in the best shape, since it’s not in its native habitat and its wings have been clipped to keep it from up and flying away, but it still packs a wallop. Its toughness is roughly equivalent to the greater storm beast of canon; it can do 300 in damage in one hit, but if you’ve buffed your Exile enough you can do like I did and take it down in two rounds.

- The Kreia vs. companions confrontation plays out as in canon, except this time we also have a scene of Canderous trying to disable Academy security, only to be jumped by some of the students. They’re going to kill him, except Sion intervenes and tells them their master wants Canderous thrown in a cell with the others.

- The Atton vs. Sion battle plays out as in canon, with both of the possible outcomes intact.

- The Exile makes her way through the Academy, cutting a bloody swathe through the Sith as she goes. She can slice her way into a computer terminal at some point and read log entries about reports of activity in the Unknown Regions and old attempts on Kreia’s part to find out where Revan went after the events of the first game, all with the shadow of the enemy moving in the dark casting a long shadow over everything.

- Eventually, the Exile makes her way over to the cells where her companions are being kept. Upon freeing them (assuming the Exile doesn’t gas them all, which is an option in the game for reasons I don’t wish to contemplate), she, as per canon, asks Canderous to get them all safely back to the ship. Upon realizing that Atton isn’t with them, she tells the party that she’ll look for him and make sure he gets out safely, and that they shouldn’t wait for either of them.

- Immediately after this segment is done, we cut back to the Ebon Hawk. Bao-Dur and T3 are working on repairs, are almost done getting the loading ramp to close again so the ship can take off without everyone being sucked into space. They are, perhaps, having a conversation in which they express their worries about the Exile, about getting away from here safely; Bao-Dur again expresses his regrets about having caused all of this devastation, regrets that are amplified by being back on the surface of the planet itself. HK-47 (and the HK-51s, depending) returns to the ship just in time to inform Bao-Dur and T3 that a Sith boarding party is en route. Their mission now is to defend the ship and keep it from being taken over or destroyed by the Sith.

This is the point in which the Mira mini-quest with the other ship becomes important. It’s important because if you both fail to keep the Ebon Hawk safe, and Mira dies at any point during the Malachor V stage, you have no way off the planet, and you’re fucked.

If Bao-Dur and company succeed in driving off the boarding party, they decide they need to move the ship to a safer location as soon as they’re done fixing the loading ramp.

- The Exile continues to fight her way through the Academy, looking for Atton and Kreia both. She eventually finds her way to the room where the final Sion encounter triggers. If Atton lost that fight, there’s a big red smear of blood on the floor. The Exile vs. Sion fight occurs as per usual.

- Immediately after the last fight with Sion, we cut back to our party of companions who are desperately trying to escape the Trayus Academy. After many trials and battles, they have finally made it to the back door! …And it’s locked. Nobody can slice their way through. Nobody can blast or cut their way through. The door is sealed. Mical (or Brianna, depending on who you have in your party) determines that the door can only be opened with a Sith holocron, so… fetch-quest!

Yes, our party now has go rooting through everybody’s sock drawers to look for a Sith holocron; the back of the Academy happens to be where everyone’s quarters are. If you’re diligent and you search every room, you can actually find a Jedi holocron secreted away. Mical and/or Brianna takes one look at the thing and goes “…I’m just gonna take this. This really doesn’t need to be here.”

To get into the room where the Sith holocron can be found, you have to correctly answer a logic puzzle. I’m not quite what kind of logic puzzle; I just know this stage could be improved by logic puzzles. When you get into the room, it’s somebody’s quarters, but larger (And the stuff in the room gives the strong impression that these are Kreia’s quarters). There is a large footlocker at the back wall of the room that you can’t answer without answering another logic puzzle, this one harder than the last. But by this point, the team cannot be stopped by a logic puzzle, and they get the Sith holocron.

The team heads back to the back door, only to find Hanharr waiting for them there. He’s irate because Kreia didn’t kill either Mira or him, and he’s still stuck with his life-debt to Mira. When he and Mira fight, even though Hanharr is badly injured, he hits even harder than before and is immune to critical hits. Mira refuses to kill him, but when she’s walking back to the group, Hanharr tries to attack her from behind. Canderous shoots him, and thus ends Hanharr the Wookiee. They plug in the Sith holocron, unlock the back door, and get the hell out of dodge.

- The rest of the end stage proceeds as normal.

All in all, it’s not the same as the other planets we’ve had. I’d say this modified stage has more in common with the Korriban stage than, say, Dantooine or Nar Shaddaa. But it would definitely make the Malachor V stage less of a slog, and make it feel more like a finished stage. And it would give our companions the kind of end-stage focus they deserve.

#Star Wars: KOTOR II #Meta #Star Wars #KOTOR #KOTOR 2 #Malachor V

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todisturbtheuniverse · 7 years

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i just read the long list of cut content for kotor 2 and now i’m like...suffering.

ymmv, but i think it was a good game that happened to be waaaaaaaaaaaaay overambitious for such a short production cycle. (i’m sure most other people have come to this conclusion, like, ten years ago. i’m always behind with these things.) i would have liked to see a lot more threads get tied together toward the end; i think that was where the whole thing really lost me. it felt like both a rush and a slog. i did not want to spend an hour by myself in the depths of malachor v slaughtering random dark jedi. an hour trying to reconnect with my party, though, that would’ve been interesting and worthwhile.

i also think, given the amount of content for each, there were too many party members? i realize this isn’t a bioware game, technically, but...i have a similar issue with most bioware games. given the rate at which we tend to acquire party members, and at what point they enter during the game, i never feel like i connect very much with the last three or four we pick up. for me, that ended up being mandalore, HK-47, and mira. which is hilarious, because i’m obviously already familiar with mandalore and HK-47 from the first kotor. but the exile doesn’t know them, so i had a hard time connecting. and mira’s just a tough nut to crack. i think i ran out of time to get her to actually like me, which made it extra-weird when she was the only party member i saw on malachor v having her little showdown with hanharr.

i had the same issue with origins, inquisition, and mass effect 2. literal droves of party members, only so much time. i think the different between this and those other games is that i was willing to replay them to spend time getting to know different companions than my initial run. it’s unlikely i’m going to replay kotor/kotor 2. not because i didn’t like the game, but...largely because i’m playing an xbox version on my 360, it’s buggy, the frame rate randomly freaks out, aaaaaaaaaaaand i’m spoiled by modern games. i didn’t really start gaming in earnest until maybe five years ago; prior to that, i’d played a limited selection of what were apparently heralded as some of the best-looking games of that time (resident evil 4, for example), or games that were so cartoon-y looking that ‘realistic’ graphics didn’t matter (super mario sunshine falls in this category, i guess).

i was really, really intrigued by kreia’s ultimate goal. a star wars universe without the jedi, without the sith, without the force? i think if you’ve been around these blog parts long enough, you probably know that i have major issues with the jedi, so this whole no-more-force thing really appealed to me. her execution, though, not so much. if you have to kill/convert-then-kill literal droves of people in order to rip that wound wide enough to end the force and all force-using in the galaxy, then it’s probably not worth it, lady.

i was also really on board with the exile, as a concept; the idea that they had created this vacuum, somehow, and that it’s ambiguous whether or not they actually reconnected with the force or are just using it through their bonds with others was super interesting. i’m totally fine with that much remaining sort-of-ambiguous.

so then, uh, the real reason i play bioware-esque games: dating sims disguised as RPGs. i made a huge error and assumed i would like the female LIs better than the male LIs, so i rolled a dude. and then promptly fell in love with atton. ugh. self, why. i mean, from my digging, it looks like you don’t get a ton of content either way, but there’s always something appealing to me about that companion who’s been there with you from the very beginning (whether they wanted to be or not). i thought his particular story of redemption was a nice echo with the exile’s, too. in a game all about echoes/overcoming that shit in your past...idk. he was the best connection i made. i friggin love him. i waffled back and forth between the handmaiden and visas; just as one of them would start to resonate with me, they’d do something that would put me off, like...the sparring-in-unsupportive-bra thing, or visas’ absolute devotion from the get-go. ah well.

glad i finally played it, sad there’s no kotor 3, would like them both remade with modern engines and expanded content, please and thank you.

#universe plays kotor 2 #here are all my thoughts after sleeping on it #spoilers if you're like...fifteen years late with starbucks like me lol

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ncfan-1 · 7 years

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A recently finished replay of KOTOR 2, combined with inferences based on what I learned there plus my own head canon becoming more concrete, gave me a lot of feelings about the sort of relationship I imagine the Exile having had with Kavar. Very sad, and occasionally very angry feelings.

If the wiki is to believed, the Exile had many different masters over the course of her time with the Jedi Order. Which to me sounds like she got bounced between masters a lot, with maybe one or two of them dying. The impression I’ve gotten of the Exile’s general experience with the Order is that she was pretty isolated growing up. Her Force bonding was a powerful, mysterious ability that no one properly understood, she couldn’t control and no one could really, truly guard against. She had a small, potentially very small, circle of close friends (of which Atris was the chief; she seems to have genuinely adored the Exile before the latter went off to war), but otherwise, the other kids, whether they liked her or hated her (and it sounds very much as though there was no middle ground), just kept their distance. The adults had absolutely no idea what to do with her. Her gift was unsettling to them, verging on unnatural in strength levels. We know from an unlockable holorecording on Dantooine that Vrook had it out for the Exile since she was a child, considered her a potential threat since she was a child, and he probably wasn’t the only one.

Trying to figure out where Kavar, who was an informal mentor to the Exile but never formally took her on as an apprentice, fits into this inevitably intersected with the bit about the Exile having been bounced between masters a lot. Basically, what I came up with was that Kavar sort of functioned as a kind of substitute teacher, making sure the Exile kept up with her training whenever she was between masters.

The first time, she was twelve. Her first master had just died, and she hadn’t been picked up by another one yet. Given that she was still quite young, too young to train on her own, the Exile was sent back to classes with the older initiates. Kavar was instructing initiates in lightsaber combat during that point in time, and that was how they met. He already knew about her; there was hardly any adult in the Order who didn’t know about the Exile, that kid with that weird, mysterious, unsettling gift. For the moment, Kavar focuses in more on her skill with a lightsaber. She is unusually skilled for someone her age, and that does get his attention.

He trains her outside of the classes until she’s picked up by a new master, and expects that to be the end of it. It isn’t. The Exile never manages to keep a master for long—a year at most, but more often just a few months, before the master in question becomes so weirded out by her gift with Force bonds that they just decide they can’t deal with it and wash their hands of her. To be perfectly honest, Kavar’s weirded out by it too, but he cares enough about the Exile to not be driven away by it. It’s around the fourth time the Exile gets dumped by her newest master that Kavar considers biting the bullet and taking her on as his apprentice himself, because this is getting ridiculous, she’s seventeen now and she’s spent more time as a Padawan without a master than with one. But he’s been promoted to the Jedi Council by this time, and has zero confidence in his ability to balance his duties with the council with a Padawan. Further complicating the matter is that the Mandalorian wars have begun by this time, and seeing as the Council hadn’t yet decided to remain neutral, he was involved in several of the early skirmishes, and was often away.

The relationship between them was almost like a parent-child bond, but not quite; there was just enough distance between them to keep the relationship from being that. The Exile appreciated the fact that Kavar didn’t treat her like she was a problem, and she valued their relationship greatly for the fact that he treated her like she was normal, but the fact that he taught her without ever formally taking her on as an apprentice made her feel as though she was being held at arm’s length, which contributed to the Exile’s increasing feelings of isolation as she grew up.

As she grew older, the Exile was becoming increasingly aware of her status as the Order’s problem child. She knew what the Jedi Masters thought of her, knew that they regarded her as something strange, as a potential threat, for something completely outside her control. She could perform as a model Jedi and Vrook and those like him would still have had it out for her, would have still regarded her as a threat to the Order because of her strange power. The Exile always felt very separate from other Jedi, very alone. In the background of her mind, she remembers the whispers about her strange power, and sometimes wonders if her few friendships are genuine, if her friends like her for herself, or if it’s simply because of the bonding. Her increasing sense of alienation combined with her overwhelming desire to do something about the Mandalorians attacking the Outer Rim, to protect the innocents being slaughtered, led her to join the war at the age of twenty-two, becoming one of Revan’s top generals in time.

The relationship between the Exile and Kavar became a major source of regret for them both through the war and what came afterwards. It was especially that for Kavar, who after the end of the Mandalorian wars had enough time to reflect to come to the conclusion “…I might have been able to stop some of this if I had just formally taken her on as my Padawan. ……Oh.”

(During the confrontation with the Jedi Masters in the rebuilt Enclave, Kavar mentions that the Exile first began to sever her links to the Force on Dxun, though she didn’t go all the way through with it at that point in time. My first reaction to this was “How the hell do you know that?” It suggests that they either met face-to-face sometime between Dxun and Malachor, or that they had enough of a bond that Kavar felt what was happening to her through the Force.)

The first time they met again in that cantina was beyond awkward. Everything about that meeting was awkward. They were both dressed incognito (character models asides, I feel like Kavar probably had enough sense not to wear clothes that screamed “I am a Jedi” when he was living on Onderon, especially considering that probably would have made things worse for Queen Talia than they already were) and one of the people with her was a Mandalorian in full armor. Absolutely nothing about this was normal, everything was awkward, and the main reason nothing really got discussed in that meeting had less to do with a shortage of time and more to do with the fact that they were too busy side-eyeing each other from across the table for half an hour to do much talking. The Exile was trying to figure out whether she should be angry or not, Kavar was trying to figure out how much he could safely tell her (and, not for the first time, wondering if they’d made the right decision in casting her out in the first place), and both were trying to figure out how much the other had changed, and how much they hadn’t.

When they finally managed to have an extended conversation after Vaklu and his forces were put down, things were somewhat less awkward. It is probably a testament to what these two people are like that they can have a conversation while covered in blood more easily than they can in a cantina. Things do occasionally manage to veer into the awkward, especially when the Exile suddenly comes out with “I found Lonna Vash on Korriban. …She’s dead.” Mostly, things aren’t super awkward only because neither one of them are willing to get emotional. Remembered closeness manages to cut like a knife.

In the game, just judging from the way their conversation goes (this assumes an LS!Exile), Kavar seems fairly approving of the Exile’s actions and is amiable towards her, but we know how that winds up come the confrontation in the rebuilt Enclave. The Jedi Masters fall back on the “wait and see” approach that nearly wound up with the Republic falling to the Mandalorians, and once again, they decide that the Exile is a greater threat than the Sith looming on the horizon, and try to strip the Exile of whatever remaining connection to the Force she has left. The reasons why don’t matter—it could be that they all fell back on dogma, it could be that this was Vrook’s decision (he is markedly hostile towards the Exile when they meet, and is cool towards her even after all is said and done on Dantooine, refusing to admit that the Council might have done something wrong) and that he pressured the other two into agreeing, or something else. Their opinion, that the Exile had been bending her companions to her will and that she had just been feeding on them, and that any moment of affection that passed between her and any of them wasn’t real, was just the result of her bonding, reawakens her childhood fears, does nearly irreparable harm to her.

When the Exile gets over the shock of the three of them dying, when she recovers (somewhat; the insecurity is still there, though she tries not to let it rule her) from the idea that none of the relationships she’s formed with her companions are real, everything with Kreia is said and done and she recovers from that, she finds she’s actually angrier with Kavar than she is with Vrook or Zez-Kai Ell. The Exile expected Vrook to be hostile towards her; he always had been. She didn’t know Zez-Kai Ell all that well; for all that he seemed apologetic when they met on Nar Shaddaa, the Exile knew him primarily as one of the Jedi who had sat in judgment when she was exiled. But she trusted Kavar, and then he did this. There would be no closure, no chance at reconciliation; he was dead, after all.

Their relationship was like many things in the Exile’s life, now—something that had shifted irrevocably into the past, characterized by regret and tainted with bitterness.

#Star Wars: KOTOR 2 #The Jedi Exile #Kavar #Meta #Head canon #More head canon than meta honestly #Pictured: me having loud feelings about KOTOR 2 #Thinking about the Exile's childhood is painful #The Exile just flat-out can't have nice things

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ncfan-1 · 7 years

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K, M, and P for the meme please :)

This got long.

K - What character has your favoritedevelopment arc/the best development arc?

Ibelieve that one of the last few times I played this meme, I answered LondoMollari from Babylon 5. I still standby believing he has a fantastic character arc (And if you’re curious about Babylon 5, it’s a fantastic show, and he’sone of the best parts of it). A lot of people, I know, would put Zuko down forthis one. But having replayed KOTOR 2 recently, I think the Exile (when youplay Light Side) has a great character arc throughout the course of the game.Granted, this is kind of dependent on player choices even beyond being LightSide, and is kind of dependent on my head canon, but me, I play that game andwatch a broken-down, apathetic woman regain her sense of purpose, refuse to letgo of it again, and save the galaxy in the process. The whole game is heremotional journey, and it’s incredible to watch.

M - Name a character that you’d like to havefor a friend.

IdrilCelebrindal, and also her husband, Tuor, from the Silmarillion would both make very good friends, I think. Idril iswise and perceptive, and Tuor is optimistic and determined.

P - Invent a random AU for any fandom (wealways need more ideas).

(Thisactually happens to be a fic—or fics—idea I’m planning on writing eventually.)

Okay,after the events of KOTOR 2, the Exile—Kalani—goes looking for Revan. Atton’salong for the ride, because no matter what TOR or that novel have to say on the matter, the trajectory of the game wasdefinitely pointing towards him going with her. So it’s them in the Ebon Hawk, with T3-M4 and HK-47.

Theystop at Citadel Station to drop off everybody else, since as it happens,everybody else has other plans (Asides from rebuilding the Jedi Order, that is;it’s an important goal for them all—asides from Mandalore, and maybe Atton andMira—but secondary to their concerns right now). Bao-Dur’s getting back in withthe Telos Restoration Project. Mira’s heading back to Nar Shaddaa to settle oldaffairs there, and for other reasons that she doesn’t want to share with therest of them. Visas has hitched a ride with Mandalore and the Mandalorians backto Dxun; why, no one but her and Canderous really seem to understand. Mical isresuming his search of various Jedi Academies across the Outer Rim, and he’sbeen given clearance to enter the Temple on Coruscant, so he’s going to gothere and see if anything can be salvaged (He’s also planning on readying it asa base of operations for what admittedly is going to wind up being an extremely decentralized new Jedi Order).They’re also dropping off the HK-51 droids that showed up out of nowhere on theship after they were done on Malachor V, much to everyone (sans HK-47’s)relief.

Kalaniinsists on taking Atris with them in the EbonHawk. Atris isn’t really good to be left to her own devices right now—thoughKalani is more worried about Atris doing harm to herself than others—and needssupervision. There’s also the matter of getting her away from all of those Sithholocrons, and figuring out what to do with them (Kalani is seriouslycontemplating putting them in a box and letting them drift into the neareststar; it seems the safest way of disposing of them). Brianna is coming alongfor the ride, too. Atris had sent the other Handmaidens home to Eshan, buttheir family wouldn’t take Brianna, thanks to the stigma against children bornout of wedlock in their culture, and the fact that Yusanis is no longer aliveto shelter his youngest child. Brianna doesn’t really have anywhere else to go,so the Ebon Hawk and the search forRevan is her only real option.

Somebodyelse hitches a ride on the Ebon Hawk atTelos: Bastila. Carth can’t join the search, as much as he would like to.Revanasi is not part of my fic head canon, though I don’t mind the ship itself.Instead, I imagine their relationship as being rather like Marlin and Dory’s inFinding Nemo and Finding Dory, and a good quote for it would be Guinan’s from TNG’s ‘TheBest of Both Worlds’: “closer than friends, closer than family.” Carth ishorribly, intensely worried about Revan—whose post-brainwashing name is Jìngyī Yuen—buthis duties in the Republic fleet don’t allow him to leave to go looking forher. Bastila is also horribly, intensely worried about Jìngyī; she wants to findher, bring her home, and she feels that the bond the two of them share mightallow her to help Kalani in the search.

It’s…not a fun trip.

Atton,as you can imagine, is extremely tense with Bastila and especially Atris on board, worried of one or both of them digginghis past out of his head. He and Kalani have an understanding that what theyspoke of was between them, and Kalani agrees that it would be bad, really bad, if Atris found out, even asshe is now. Atton is okay with Kalani; he’s okay with Bao-Dur, with Visas andMira, even somewhat okay with Mical nowadays. But he is not okay with Atris and Bastila, especially as, to him, they’reboth the embodiment of the Jedi who could not give less of a fuck as the OuterRim burned during the Mandalorian Wars, but were more than happy to try to tearthe galaxy apart during the Jedi Civil War. He avoids Atris and tends to becool, bordering on hostile, towards Bastila.

(Thefact that Atris is his girlfriend’s ex doesn’t help matters. He knows thatrelationship is stone dead, but the fact that the two women still have suchstrong reactions towards each other, pretty clearly still have feelings for oneanother, well… Atton is both more than a little insecure, and more than alittle worried for Kalani’s well-being.)

Kalaniis still recovering from everything that happened with Kreia, and the idea thatshe is a Wound in the Force and may or may not be unconsciously psychicallydominating her companions is weighing heavily on her mind, even with Micaltrying to reassure her that the Council was full of shit and were so ready tochalk up every success of hers to her being a Wound in the Force that they didn’teven take into account that she is genuinely a very inspiring person withouttaking the Force into account. Her history with Atris complicates mattersfurther; all the old wounds there, the scar tissue slowly pulling open.

Andthere’s the fact that she’s dreading having to meet with Revan again. She knewRevan the legend much better than she knew Revan the person. They didn’t getalong very well, and there’s the fact that Revan basically set Kalani up to beeither killed or turned to the Dark Side at Malachor V; I feel like evenwithout HK-47’s comment about Revan ‘cleaning house’ at Malachor V, she couldprobably have extrapolated that. Kalani isn’t like Bastila. Kalani doesn’t knowJìngyī Yuen, redeemed; she only knows Revan, whom she once idolized, and whonow inspires mingled fear and loathing in Kalani. Kalani is trying to trackdown Revan because she believes that that’s what’s best for the Republic, butthat doesn’t mean she has to like it.She and Bastila, who was close to Jìngyī, after all, get into arguments aboutit from time to time.

I headcanon Bastila as having once been a student of Atris’s. I’ve noticed as I playthrough KOTOR I that she has some mannerisms in common with Atris—the way she gesticulateswhen she talks, for instance. Her tendency towards dogmatism, her (stronglyimplied) isolation from her peers, going far beyond what I would expect fromeven a Jedi, and the fact that Bastila is frankly the most tightly-wound personI have ever come across in a piece ofStar Wars media, have Atris’sfingerprints all over them. I imagine Bastila as having come under Atris’s careafter the Mandalorian Wars broke out and Kalani left to fight. Atris would havebeen a stern teacher even at the best of times, but after this happened, yeah,Atris was not the sort of person who should have ever been put in charge of a child, especially not a naturallyhigh-strung child like Bastila probably was to start with.

MyBastila actually left the Jedi Order a few months after the events of KOTOR I.She had a strong desire to proactively go good that she had no outlet for nowthat the Jedi Civil war was over and the Jedi were expected to file back totheir surviving Enclaves and Academies, withdrawing from the affairs of the galaxyat large. She had questions for the Council that they had no answers that theywere willing to give her, like why they’d been treating Bastila more like aweapon than a person over the last several years. And Bastila had noticed adifference in the way she was treated post fall and redemption, a differencethat made her feel even more isolated and alone than she already had.

Soyeah, Bastila left the Jedi Order, and proceeded to become the second personthat year to have a nervous breakdown/existential crisis in Carth Onasi’sliving room (I head canon Jìngyī and Bastila both as having crashed with Carthafter they, independently of one another, left the Jedi Order after the eventsof KOTOR I). Bastila’s feelings towards the Order are extremely complicated.She wouldn’t have left if she had felt like she had any real choice, if she hadeven the slightest chance for a life she felt like she could actually live with them. She has no lightsaber,and is no longer part of the Order, but verymuch still considers herself a Jedi. After a while of trying, to no avail,to find a job (life in the Order left her extremely ill-equipped for lifeoutside of it), she, with Carth’s help, gets involved with the planetaryrestoration efforts, and being able to do real, active good helps her come toterms, somewhat.

As forher relationship with Atris, Atris came down on Bastila pretty hard after herfall and redemption, but when Bastila actually left the Order for good? Then,the two of them had a truly horrific falling-out, nearly as bad as Kalani’sfalling-out with Atris was, minus the added complication of a previousromantic/sexual relationship. So for the two of them to have to be on the sameship at the same time is, umm, not pleasant for anyone.

Atrisis not murderous, and understands that what she did, regarding the Order,Katarr and Kalani, was wrong, but she is extremely brittle, extremelyshort-tempered, and just kind of broken. She rarely ventures out of the starboarddormitories, and just tends to sit on one of the beds, staring at the wall. Shecan be coaxed into speech, can be coaxed into ‘life,’ but something’s justsnapped inside of her—or, rather, something snapped in her a long time ago, andshe’s just now realizing it, just now feeling it. She’s not sure how to makeamends for everything she’s done, not sure if she even can, and this uncertainty leaves her paralyzed. She gets intobitter arguments with Bastila, into screaming matches with Kalani that leaveone or both of them in tears.

Briannais just sort of left to cope with her surrogate mother having completely fallenapart, and with her surrogate mother’s ex-girlfriend and ex-student being onboard and all of the messy baggage that comes with that. There’s also heremerging Force Sensitivity, and her desire to explore that clashing with thevows she swore.

Juhanimay or may not join the crew at some point. Yuthura Ban, too. This is really, really not a fun trip, and it’s only thedroids who aren’t dealing with baggage.

That’snot to say it’s unrelenting fear, tension and misery. There are a few softerspots.

Kalaniand Atton, with the events of their game taken care of, actually have time todevelop a romantic relationship. PDA freaks Bastila out like nothing else can,which is annoying, but it freaks her out in such an amusing way that they almost don’t care. Kalani and Bastila, whenthey aren’t arguing about Revan/Jìngyī, find common ground commiserating overtheir miserable relationships with Atris. Brianna gets kind of starry-eyedwhenever she speaks to Bastila and especially Kalani, and when the matter isbrought up, Atris is surprisingly okay with the two of them teaching Briannathe ways of the Force; Kalani and Bastila find further common ground inteaching Brianna. If Juhani’s on board, she and Bastila are of course friendlywith one another, and they support each other emotionally. If Yuthura is onboard, she actually gets on fairly well with Kalani and Atton both. Atriscan occasionally be persuaded to come out of the starboard dormitory and spendnon-miserable time with Kalani, Brianna, and/or Bastila.

Whenthey actually find Jìngyī, well… It’s a mess. Partially because Jìngyī is,herself, a complete, fucking mess of a person. Her memories are fractured; sheremembers that Revan found evidence of a Sith Empire beyond the Rim, but solittle beyond that that she’s just stuck searching worlds in Unknown Space fortraces of it. Her sense of identity is fractured. She remembers only bits andpieces of her life before being brainwashed and having the false memoriesimplanted; there are huge, gaping holes in memory. My Jìngyī basically fellapart after the events of KOTOR I, because with the Star Forge destroyed, therewas nothing to distract her from her crawling fears regarding Revan and her ownidentity. Her mental state can be best summed up by the phrase “afraid to sleepbecause every time she does she fears that she will never wake up again, butthat the shadow in the back of her mind will wake up and walk away wearing herskin.” ‘Revan’ feels more like a shadow to her than something, someone she actually was, once. It wouldhelp if her implanted memories had more substance to them, but they’re onlybare bones; they were designed that way, the better to avoid inconsistenciesshe might pick up on (And thinking about a life she never really lived ispainful and confusing anyways). She’s desperately trying to find traces of the SithEmpire almost more because she needs a distraction from her crawling fears thanbecause she’s trying to protect the Republic.

Kalaniwants to hate her. She is, when she finds her, genuinely extremely frustratedwith her, and loses her temper with her easily (Atton is genuinely surprised,but this is easily the angriest he’s ever seen her get). But she can’t hate Jìngyī, because she’s not theterrible, towering figure she remembers. She’s just a frightened, miserablewreck of a person who’s trying in her own fumbling way to do good. She can’tremember Kalani at all. She can’t remember using and using Kalani, and thenbreaking and throwing her away once she wasn’t useful anymore. Bastila has toexplain to Jìngyī who Kalani is and why she should know her. And it’s not goodbecause, oh, look, here’s yet anotherpiece of closure permanently denied to Kalani, but she just can’t bring herselfto hate someone so genuinely pitiable,and that’s just the story of Kalani’s life, having to find a way to move onwhen closure is denied her. Jìngyī is eventually wrangled onto the Ebon Hawk and carted back off toRepublic space. It’s easier than Kalani thought it would be.

#Ask meme #Star Wars: KOTOR 2 #KOTOR #you will be able to tell immediately #at what point I lost control of this post #chidorinnnnn

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