Actually 3 underfuckers in a trenchcoat

Kal's SWTOR blog. I cannot follow or Ask people from deathstickz because this is a sideblog. Ask me about commissions or art trades.

[deathstickz]

It’s not like any writer can accurately ever write in SWTOR canon because of the huge disparity that choices cause.

But I assume SWTOR flushed eternal empire down the toilet to minimal impact and we’re right back to the beauty of Jedi v Sith and Empire v republic with political lining?

Because that would be nice. SWTOR is the one setting with an active empire and republic and its felt so wasted.

I already have stories in mind if so 😭

[deathstickz]

One more for Revenge of the 5th. Because sith are still cool. Caen Dreth, Darth Egrelon. An Umbaran Sith who calls himself the Architect of Convergence for the Empire. He thrives in diplomacy, using charm and calculated wit to draw planets from the Republic and toward Imperial influence. Though slower, his methods are far more enduring. His battlefield is the negotiating table, making him a difficult target for Jedi to confront directly.

[deathstickz]

My may the 4th Art is turning my ocs into SWTOR mode because this was fun. Tacq Drayl- Arkanian Offshoot 'former ex Republic trooper'. Angry techy is my favorite type. (p much my old oc updated) Japhis Bancar- Balosar Scoundrel. Pilot, infiltrator, and improvisation specialist. Actually good at things. Garek Rutlen- Kiffar Jedi. Shield/protector of the group. Loves his biceps. Rhysa Aldevar- Alsakan Politician. The brains. The leader. Excellent at guiding decisions, which makes her probably the biggest threat in the group on a wider, grand scheme scale. Tovias Ralos- Core World human jedi. Highly mobile, unpredictable, the unorthodox type. Lazy. Eirlyn Veen- Mirialan Jedi. Cute glass cannon. Kurzik Radevok- Zabrak Mandalorian. big softie but also just lives for direct combat. in a friendly respectful way, if possible. Corvyn Thalis- Miraluka Jedi. Emotional support and therapy companion.

[deathstickz]

Well I lost ‘tear’ and ‘yawn’ but I seemed to have kept other names. 😭

Its fair. I haven’t played the game in almost a decade but the nostalgia of the names is gone.

But with these renames I am forced to have, maybe it is an opportunity to redo a bunch of old characters into new ones…

[deathstickz]

I sit and I look upon SWTOR as a person more changed during my absence.

Honestly at this point if I returned in at least a creative sense, I’d be die hard republic. Thats how hard my interests changed from too much Knightposting.

Doing something for May the 4th when I get back from work shift…

[deathstickz]

Oh no my finger slipped and doodled the start of AU SWTOR oc canon stuff last night— (low quality)

New faces from my personal project ocs placed right back into SWTOR for fun…

[deathstickz]

I sit and I look upon SWTOR as a person more changed during my absence.

Honestly at this point if I returned in at least a creative sense, I’d be die hard republic. Thats how hard my interests changed from too much Knightposting.

Doing something for May the 4th when I get back from work shift…

[deathstickz]

New SWTOR content?

Is there a chance I kept my toon names throughout my absence or did they do another purge?

[deathstickz]

Weird, but friendly reminder the Empire is kind of a Police State.

Walk through Dromund Kaas. There’s literally soldiers on the street harassing civilians.

It’s a dystopian society, almost bullet point by bullet point.

Propaganda is used to control the citizens of society. Information, independent thought, and freedom are restricted.

A figurehead or concept is worshiped by the citizens of the society. (Sith and the Emperor)

Citizens are perceived to be under constant surveillance. (Intelligence and Minders)

Citizens have a fear of the outside world. (Everyone not-Imperial is bad)

Citizens live in a dehumanized state. (Their lives are just assets to the Sith).

The natural world is banished and distrusted. (or perhaps they can’t do shit about DK being on a jungle planet lmao)

Citizens conform to uniform expectations. Individuality and dissent are bad. 

The society is an illusion of a perfect utopian world. (If it’s not Imperial, it’s inferior).

Intelligence is used heavily against their own population that they have a Minder rank near explicitly for loyalty checks and the Empire has PACIFICATION DROIDS all over the streets. The majority art is rarely anything Sith-worshipping propaganda or direct Imperial propaganda.  The Keeper, probably the most aware Imperial, does acknowledge the Sith ARE the Empire. That is how it was made. That is how it is structured. The Empire IS a monolith of the Sith.

The Empire has an UNREAL amount of control. That is how they succeeded with what they had against the Republic and how they maintain so much control. They were nearly destroyed, so they have no more time for games. The Empire is a threatening force against the Republic because it is a MACHINE. The dismissal of morality for results is scary-effective, which is just a huge driving force of the light/dark choices this game has.

If the Empire was not a bad society, then the Light Side Sith Warrior or Inquisitor has no motivation in why they want to change the Empire.  The agent wouldn’t have had to frequently bash heads with the Sith leadership to succeed for the good of the civilians. 

As you can tell I love the adventure of working in a society like this for writing and RP. I RP’d open world back in the beginning days where there were wars of Sith powerbases and it was literally a scary hazard to walk around as a non-force user alone.  This is just the Empire. There’s potential for improvement, especially with the constant changes of leadership, but it’s not comparable in terms of Republic life. The scary part of dystopias are that they do leave their individuals unwanting and take care of their own, but the civilians have to remain ignorant of consequences of their utopia or they willfully ignore it because they are just fine. The sheer lack of freedom the Empire has alone is enough to make the call that it is not going to be the same as Republic life.

[deathstickz]

I’m seeing this go around again after all these years. It is from a time when people were beginning to deny that it was an evil entity as a whole. Either from contrarian anti-good guy Republic stances, or from extreme fetishizing of the Empire, which could only be glazed in such a way by outright apologetics and denying their fundamental corruption. The fun of rping in Empire was maneuvering the hell of that environment, the tragedy of being tools to the machine, or not knowing any better because you benefited from the machine your entire life. Playing VILLAINS openly, or playing their victims who are trapped in the system and perpetuating the system.

Idk how much more recent expansions of SWTOR grey blobbed the factions. I lost interest hard during the eternal empire junk, and the lack of any meaningful new gameplay forevermore. But I’ve not seen conditions improve on the fundamental level that changed the core identities of the Republic and Empire.

And imo if I were writing, I’d keep the identities as hardcore to their alignments as vanilla SWTOR was. Vanilla SWTOR was probably one of the best mmo experiences of my life. It was AMAZING to be allowed to be in an evil Imperial system like that in a game.

But it isn’t my place nor desire to police how people wanted to write their characters so I dumped this and lowkey moved into other things.

Once in a very rare while, when I think about SWTOR and about this post, I wonder if I was too hard or projecting my own mental canon on the game. But regardless of what it was, it didn't change the fact that some of the RP environment became a place that interested me less and less until I found better outlets.

At my present age and chillness, I probably wouldn't have made this post if given the choice now. But Tumblr back then was always a place of comedic vitriol for fandoms anyway.

[deathstickz]

agent goofs for may the 4th :>

[deathstickz]

Almost two months since the announcement. Work being done but slowly.

No more ifs ands and or buts about cutting my day job hours to make room for two projects (Star wars, original fantasy) and some contract work.

Once I am secure enough in progression, Patreon link shall go around to support. First week of July will be my first progression dump.

[deathstickz]

Just to be transparent: The moment I got into this Star Wars project, I got some irl studio work. Then I developed ambitions to make completely original passion project content so that I can share it around more without fear of big disney coming down on me. I don't have the time to dedicate to making a star wars project completely on my own anymore, anyways. Maybe one day if I am not juggling multiple animation projects, but as of right now, I can just churn out doodles. I still hop on Tumblr once in a while to enjoy what you all put out and I miss swtor dearly.

[deathstickz]

*crawls out of my hole of despair of indie life to wish everyone a good year before I descend back for another absence*

[deathstickz]

MAY THE FOURTH

First off:

Now for the talk. I have been woefully just gone from SWTOR.  But the consistent support I’ve been getting on my old art here has been very endearing. Charming. A lot of support I’m super grateful for. Despite my early years of cringe and my later years of turning into a grouch, People still like my stuff ;-; Now just for the announcement thing: Yea, I think I’m going to make Star Wars fan 3D art, and hopefully animations and stories. Like a fan series. A big aspiration, but it’s something maybe I can use to revive my patreon, polish my skills, and get out there more. Put some love back into the *stories I wrote for swtor but never could draw them*.

Lots of planning to come in mind, but between my personal passion project, and then this, maybe I’ll just be able to be happier and more productive inbetween work.

(I’ve already started :X) It’s still going to be auxiliary to my original project *for reasons of I don’t want to be sued and I want to make income on my hobbies*, but it’s something I’d like to try.

[deathstickz]

Wait until may the 4th…

👀

[tutterypuff]

unfortunately: them

[river-mort]

[rylandgraces]

Obi-Wan’s hands rated E for everyone

[rhomellegacy]

Yooooo that new trailer was so good!

[deathstickz]

Finally some good writing that puts some believable flaws of Jedi into a perspective without going into some ‘Jedi kidnap babies’ territory!