call me leo or socks, they/she preferred. this is my sideblog for swtor shenanigans - my main is @sockaeologist! i'm perpetually getting distracted and making new toons rather than finishing my storylines - but i'll get around to legendary status soon, i swear...
i play on satele shan, shoot me a whisper if you see any of my toons online!
…okay some more thoughts about roleswap. at least of the force users. caveat that i will Not be making any of these in game and if i start making indications that i might kindly direct me here to this paragraph or gently take me out back and shoot me. future leo: you have too many toons already that you are never going to finish and i do not care if you have a super cool aesthetic idea for any of them that you think you can fulfill. stop thinking about it. stop.
okay… anyway. first, with saakash who Once Again will be the only roleswapped toon i make and play through: i specifically wanted the warrior origin for her because i desperately wanted her to start with the privileges of the warrior, as already an ‘insider’ who doesn’t need to fight to prove her place as the inquisitor does. i think it provides the best mirror to her original universe version, both the backstory elements i came up with and those that the consular is implied to have - saakash starts the consular story already being regarded as one of the strongest force sensitives in the order, and though the sith are far less close-knit than the jedi, i wanted her to be able to begin with that respect and not have to claw her way into it. vakyr would decidedly have ambitions of ending up on the council and dreams of bringing them into line with her - but i think accepts the position of wrath as something that can help her achieve her goals. it’s a tenuous position, both above and beholden to the council, and dependent on the notion that she is acting on the orders of an emperor who may or may not be present. vakyr does not like deceit, but she likes being at the whims of others even less - she’ll accept being leashed, so long as she alone holds the chain.
which admittedly, saakash/vakyr as the warrior does put me into a bit of a bind with araani - though the enslaved origin of the inq is easy to make fit with her existing backstory, the story progression and characterization of the inq is less suited to her. she’s a people pleaser - i can absolutely see her latching onto zash as the one source of positive reinforcement she’s gotten in… awhile, probably - would she choose zash over khem, when it came down to it? maybe - and force ghost corruption would be fun, but i don’t really see her showing the ambition that the inquisitor has to build a power base and gain a seat on the dark council. as the knight, she’s the hero - she does what needs to be done, the blade of the order, but the only planning she’s good at is heat-of-the-moment battlefield strategy. that said, the fear she carries that serves as a defining part of her character would be a perfect setup for the path to the dark side as described by yoda - it would be interesting to weaponize that against her and force her fall, and a truly fallen araani could be a very different beast indeed. so maybe i don’t know! i think one of the fun things about imagining roleswaps is thinking - how does this character adapt to this situation? how do they fall into line to fit? araani may not enjoy making the decisions of a councilmember, but if she had to take on that burden she wouldn’t dare half-ass it or shunt it off to an advisor.
i’ve debated jo’s and kaiva’s placements for a bit - i think it’d be easiest to make jo knight and kaiva consular. how jo ended up with the jedi is a fantastic question, probably involving one of her many tutors in some fashion… or i guess i could just mirror her warrior backstory by having her be trained with the jedi from a young age… ehh. (wait. secret child of the emperor? is that overkill?) unfortunately i do not think in this au that she would be any less repressed than canon. she internalizes a very conservative view of the code that she determines means she can’t have any passions, and as such is set on pretending she’s a blank slate whose only will is that of the Force. (this also means she doesn’t transition, or frankly even admit to herself she’s a woman until… uhh i don’t actually know but probably quite a bit later than in canon!) she would certainly have A Time having her autonomy stolen by the emperor :)))))))
kaiva as consular would be fun. act i shielding arc where she tries so hard to be a good jedi and take on the weight of the world on her shoulders and crumbles in the attempt. her mental and physical illness is not as bad as the inquisitor canon is, but it is certainly Not Great, and she’s not likely to obtain the technological/ritual solutions the inquisitor finds. that said - the jedi also practice healing much more readily than the sith do. if she asks for help, she’s likely to locate some kind of physical and/or mental therapy - but she also… might not ask for help… quite possible she’d try to learn force healing on her own to deal with her chronic illness? i think kaiva still has a slave background, though the jedi may have rescued her earlier than the sith took her for trials. she’s still internalized the belief that power = protection… i genuinely have no idea where she winds up on the morality spectrum. making and playing her would probably help! but also (takes a moment to whack self with stick) no…
so a few weeks ago i got sad that i wasn’t playing on repside as much anymore and, in keeping with my blog title, decided i still didn’t have enough warriors - so! meet vakyr!
an alternate universe version of saakash where an eccentric sith took her in instead of the jedi. (have i thought about whether this also entails a full roleswap of my other main toons? obviously… but i haven’t committed to making any of them and simply may not have time to…)
she’s arrogant, determined, and fully committed to her path - all the abilities and qualities that make her a good jedi ironically make her an equally good sith, and with a code guiding her, she feels little conflict about her actions - at least initially. though her species marks her as an outsider to the sith, she is assured in her right to be sith, that her incredibly strong force sensitivity and years of training and study grant her the privilege to become sith, and she refuses to entertain any insinuations to the contrary. when applicable, she intentionally leans into the predatory stereotypes of her species - not to the point of appearing ‘uncivilized’ or ‘savage’, but she finds it useful to be perceived as dangerous.
her mentor/master… i’ve put some thought into them, but not quite enough. i think they’re an alien, though not decided on what species they are. how exactly she ended up with them is slightly unclear as well, but they ‘acquired’ her at a young enough age that her memories of her family are faded to nonexistent, and being with them is all she’s known. they renamed her on acquisition - to what, i’m not sure yet - and brought her to their base on ziost, likely in older temples from previous sith occupations of the planet. they exposed her to as much knowledge as she could absorb, to dark side rituals to ensure she grow used to wielding her power, hoping to shape her in their image. she goes along with this for the most part, but is increasingly displeased by, until it becomes clear they plan to keep her to themself all her life, to restrict her access to wider sith society and stunt her political growth. she rebels, killing them and arranging with tremel her arrival on korriban and acceleration of her trials.
and a note on her name: when she killed her former master, she used her newfound freedom to research her birth family. while she could never find her full birth name, she was able to recover her surname - vakyr - and adopted that as her primary name when she entered the sith academy, symbolically distancing herself from the way they attempted to shape her.
also, as much as i love creating this backstory and planning for her eventual conflict with sith teachings, my primary motivation for playing her may always be the visuals because… hello… gorgeous…
i still need to make a financially unwise CC purchase and give her the dark side channeling tuning but for now i am SO pleased. i love her….
o - opened the door to horrors beyond comprehension
p - proved they cannot be trusted with each other (or tbh, anything else)
-
if you have not met all the STOP metrics, don't worry!! there's still time. consider adding in a couple more scenes where your OTP hold each other at gunpoint. or have fraught hand-to-hand combat on the roof of a precariously tall building. or set each other's lives on fire through gutwrenching betrayal and wanton destruction.
YOU can be the author who makes the reader feel physically ill about these people and their decisions!! BELIEVE IN YOURSELF!!
okay you know what. i think i was too positive in the last post about how kaivashara end up. i’d previously been thinking that pre/during kotxx kaiva follows ashara to wherever ashara ends up, maybe herself growing disillusioned with the sith and, like ashara, trying to make her own way… except. wouldn’t it be way more juicy if i didn’t do that…
kaiva isn’t the outlander, she’s staying firmly within known space during kotxx, so. technically the circumstances leading to ashara / her other companions leaving don’t happen. but the underlying emotions ashara is feeling, her growing disillusionment with both the jedi and the sith, don’t go away just because kaiva is still there to protect her. ashara stays as long as she can but she can feel herself changing - as much as she sees that kaiva is not. she offers/asks kaiva to go with her, and it sparks the worst fight the two of them have had since ashara first joined the crew.
ashara is an optimist, and she’s always hoping for ‘better’ from kaiva, despite everything she’s witnessed from her - this is how i’m choosing to interpret ashara immediately expecting the inq to be on board with her crusade to create peace between the sith and jedi. despite herself, she’s always hoping to find goodness in kaiva - but more often than not, finds her expectations unmet and her hopes crushed. asking kaiva to leave with her is, perhaps, her last chance at finding a common ground together.
from kaiva’s perspective, ashara is asking her to leave behind not only everything she’s ever known, but everything she’s ever worked for - her power, her titles, her position - it’s a ridiculous ask, and when kaiva dismisses it with all the gravity it deserves, she’s genuinely baffled when ashara becomes angry at her as a result. she can’t have been serious about that request, can she?
accusations are leveled - designed to injure, but carrying shards of their genuine hurt. kaiva is too selfish, ashara’s belief in selflessness is only evidence of her naïveté; ashara is living in a dream world if she thinks anything she does to help will matter in the long run, kaiva’s refusal to see those she hurts or kills as people with interiority is proof she is living in the dream world; kaiva’s wanton cruelty is unforgivable, ashara is a fool for thinking she could change; kaiva should have never brought ashara with her, ashara should have never followed. blades are drawn, but kaiva has the advantage - in her anger, she’s more than willing to hurt ashara, something ashara still can’t bring herself to do. when ashara flees, she doesn’t spare a glance behind her, and kaiva slams the door behind her with all the finality she can muster. (neither of them are willing to admit to the tears that fall from both of them.)
and the conclusion to this is… something i still need to figure out. i haven’t decided what kaiva does now during kotxx - presumably with the remainder of the sith, trying to keep her power base for the most part intact despite the turmoil. i want her and ashara to reunite, find their way back to each other and be able to find a home in each other - but in order for that to happen, kaiva needs to change, and of her own free will, because ashara has too much self-respect by the time of their reunion to take her back otherwise. but there are certainly opportunities for her to do so… i will think more on that latter bit!!
she'll deny up down and center that she isn't a princess or anything like that, but her family's net worth probably makes her effectively one in comparison to the gdp of a small hutt world. so. not a princess but definitely corpo royalty
slightly edited ramblings from discord be upon ye. kaivashara thoughts...
i think kaiva and ashara clash a LOT in the early days of ashara being with her. i know ashara is primarily written for an ls!inq but having them clash in this way is. so juicy to me... ashara starts talking about changing the empire from within and kaiva is like, no? this is your crusade, not mine. this is how the empire is: the most she can do is change herself to align with it - which she's begun doing concerningly well up until this point. she's good at being sith. the rush that brings, of wielding power that others respect and fear, is enough to crush almost every form of latent morality she's still carrying - to say nothing of the pain from the strain of the ghosts beginning to break down her body, her progressively worse hallucinations, increasing paranoia - all of which she's trying variously well to pretend are not there. she is not in a very rational place right now...
so they fight... a lot. in some sense kaiva knows she's probably in the wrong, but what ashara proposes is to her, impossible - ashara has already thrown her lot in with her, so the best thing that she can do, in kaiva's mind, is to accept it. in almost every way, ashara is a challenge, one she can't help but take personally - all of her efforts thus far have been concentrated on survival, which is inexorably tied to her journey to become sith and her amassing of power. in forcing kaiva to consider the consequences of the sith's actions, of what a genuine peace might look like, kaiva feels as though ashara is trying to pull her off that path, back to weakness. they're equally determined, but in completely opposite directions.
but they're honestly in very similar places, as they're both figuring out who they are, who they want to become, and how they want to change the galaxy. kaiva's told herself that her only chance at survival has been becoming sith, and she's been completely breaking herself apart to do so - but even she has to realize at some point that going as how she has been cannot continue, even as she finds miracle cures for the wreckage of her body and mind. ashara has been fighting so hard to be recognized as a jedi - the role she's been placed in for as long as she can remember, to the complete exclusion of everything else because she thinks she knows who she is and what she wants.
ashara will never be kaiva's moral compass, someone softly guiding her to be better - kaiva, despite how she recruited ashara, is not a seductive corrupting force, pushing her to the dark side. they are loud, and angry, and unafraid to take it out on each other. kaiva and ashara are not quite locked in each other's orbit but on a straight-on collision path into each other. their convictions and goals appear fundamentally opposed - but in their collisions, rather than hardening their resolve, they begin to soften each other's sharp edges. they start to doubt what they've been taught - the process is not a pretty one to witness, some of their arguments get genuinely ugly, but it's ultimately something the both of them need.
(and somewhere along that path they start to kiss about it - starting angrily, a way to take their passion out without resorting to all-out combat, especially with the small spaces in the corridors of the fury. but over time they start to soften, becoming less confrontational, more genuine - maybe even allowing themselves to find sweetness in themselves and in each other...)
📚 for cantik, 🔪 for both zimado siblings, ☀️ for mehduri, 🌸 for the yashens!!
hi!!! this is so fun for them thank you for the ask!!!
📚 If your OC was given some kind of forbidden knowledge, what would they do with it? Would they tell anyone? Use it for evil or good? How would it change their outlook on life, if at all?
oh MAN. cantik as the consular does warrant asking this question. I think in most cases they would NOT want that forbidden knowledge. having just taken them through the tython stuff, their reaction to rajivari is fresh in my mind. They want that guy GONE, they think his teachings are stupid, and they resent that any of this is considered worth preserving. like, they will do their best to do what Yuon wants, but uuugggghhhhh. So if they had forbidden knowledge, just in general, they're probably in agreement with why it's forbidden and try to bury it or destroy it or what have you. BUT. if it's forbidden knowledge because it was suppressed by oppressive history-keepers... well. Cantik is calling the media. Cantik is making speeches on bartops and street corners. Cantik is writing it down everywhere they can, actually, because how dare some asshole decide they're going to hurt people by suppressing this knowledge! they regard all knowledge the same, forbidden or not - there is some that doesn't help anyone, so you shove it away, but most of the time truth is better. blunt honesty, when in doubt. the reason forbidden knowledge falls so heavily on the side of shoving it away is, again, because of the fact that it's often forbidden from jedi for a good reason. (or. well. a reason cantik thinks is good.)
🔪 Has your OC ever killed someone? Ever had to defend themselves against violence? How did this make them feel? Or, alternatively, has your OC ever attacked someone? Seen someone die?
Both Kerrish and Sonnas are going to be canon to the class story, though Kerrish's fights in particular will not be 'shoot until they die' like the game is. Both of them try to get surrenders first, or talk people down. Kerrish is more than willing to trick people out of fights, just to make sure that nobody dies for something as pointless as smuggled goods. BUT. all things considered. i think they're gonna have to kill some guys.
Sonnas feels regretful but fairly stoic. This was something he was trained and prepared for, especially joining the jedi in the wake of the attack on coruscant. he wants anything else as an outcome, but he accepts this as a gruesome but necessary fact of life. Kerrish, on the other hand... he's just a guy. He's not a violent criminal, he just does a little theft and a lot of illegal moving around. Ducking taxes, not murder. I think of that part in leverage early on when they're like "hey we stole things but nobody got HURT" and like. that's Kerrish. He doesn't delude himself, and he does take those shots when he has to, but oh god. he feels like shit every time, and like someone else would have been able to talk them down or think of a way out of that fight. (the spectre of sonnas hangs over him even before sonnas dies...)
I don't know if either of them have ever actively attacked someone. maybe, maybe Sonnas breaks enough at the end of the story to go for the dark side choice and actively kill the emperor, instead of trying to redeem him. that tracks the most with the man i've got in my brain, where death is necessary at times. and Kerrish will have some kind of breaking point, if not several. maybe that asshole who experimented on Vaylin, actually. I can see him losing it there. but these are things I must ponder...
☀️ What makes your OC genuinely happy? A person, an item, their hobby? Where is the place they’re happiest, or most at home? What is the happiest they’ve ever been?
Oh Mehduri... my angsty revenge-driven beloved... what DOES make her happy... So much of her childhood happiness has been tainted since finding out about her origins. So while it's kind of her mother there's also the fact that being around her mother for long stretches brings out the self-loathing in her. She gets satisfaction from the fight, but that's not true happiness, just... revenge. I think it takes her a long time to feel really happy as an adult - her happiest state was as a child, when the resistance was a noble pursuit but not personal the way it became once she found out about her father, and she did things for the love of Balmorra. Her home there was the happiest place she could think of, even with the memories tainted... Eventually she is able to start being truly happy as she makes actual friends in Kerrish and Theron. There's a bittersweet happiness to her and Amerz getting to know each other, a kind of relief to learn that her half-sister is not the evil caricature of a Sith she assumed Amerz would be. the tentative arn romance... I need to give this woman a hobby but she resists that tooth and nail so one of her relationships is going to have to introduce it to her. I do think she is at her happiest when she can provide for the people she feels responsible for - her mother most of all, Balmorra, and eventually the Alliance. Mehduri is perhaps a big gift-giver and cooker of meals...
(and i couldn't tell which question that flower was? i feel like i'm losing my mind, there's three flower-ish emojis but not the one i'm seeing. is this my computer playing tricks on me. i will simply have to guess? and if i'm wrong let me know and i'll answer the one you wanted but given who you asked about I suspect it's -)
🌼 Write a short drabble from your OCs POV meeting their LI (or if they don’t have a love interest, their best friend. If you don’t want to do a drabble, describe their first meeting instead!)
I don't know if I have a drabble in me (curses) but. They met as teenagers I think. Zoyeir was fighting in a gladiator battle type of thing, a gift to the Hutt who already owned Nevelta and had her waiting on him. (she had to prove, with this fight, that she was actually a useful slave and a good gift.) Zoyeir saw this other girl watching her and thought she looked a little sad - on impulse, she throws a cocky wink Nevelta's way like a little 'this is for you' right before absolutely demolishing the animals she's being forced to fight. Nevelta didn't think that was really meant for her, except then Zoyeir tracks her down as soon as she can like "so what's your name?"
Nevelta isn't used to being pursued by anyone who can't just. order her around. so Zoyeir's flirtations kind of sweep her off her feet. She's desirable in the way that's worth waiting for, persuading, working towards, not just demanding. And, if she's being very honest, Zoyeir taking down opponents three times her size is very attractive to watch. They have a sweet, flirtatious relationship in all their early stolen moments, barely even touching for the first year they know each other, but every other slave they trust enough to let see that kind of thing knows how smitten they are with each other.
if i could take the fire out from the wire
i'd share a life and you'd share a life
if i could take a fire out from the wire
i'd take you where nobody knows you
and nobody gives a damn
we've both been very brave--walk around with bowed legs
got a question for jo again. what does jo always carry on her person? trinkets, bags, other items? why those items? are they special or out of necessity?
TUMBLR NEVER GAVE ME A NOTIFICATION FOR THIS ASK— i’m not dead i swear just busy 😭 thank you for the ask!!
that’s a very good question… in game jo’s inventory is almost constantly full of random things i keep forgetting to put into a cargo bay, but frankly she’d be the exact opposite - she only carries what she deems to be most immediately useful, and almost nothing else! oftentimes, this ends up being just her lightsaber - everything else, including items most of the galaxy count as essential, like a datapad or holocomm, is superfluous. (vette is often on her case about this - jo counters by arguing that if it’s really important, she can just use vette’s. it’s kind of a stupid hill for her to die on… but she’s very stubborn, and her habits are deeply ingrained at this point. she doesn’t care to be contacted in the field unless strictly necessary, preferring to operate as a ‘lone wolf’ as much as is feasible, and genuinely would not mind living completely off-grid if she could, and moreover she is powerful enough that being cut off from support networks reachable by holocomm is less dangerous than it otherwise might be. it still infuriates her crew and imperial base command trying desperately to give mission updates!)
jo has a couple utility pouches on her belt, but they’re not big enough to fit anything but the often-forgotten datapad, holocomm, and a few credit chips. bags are cumbersome and unwieldy - if she needs to bring anything that can’t be put into a pocket, she’ll just keep it in a compartment in her speeder. also… not that she’d probably admit it, but a bag or a bulkier belt pouch would also commit the criminal sin of interfering with the aesthetic. the more a sith can appear as though they are above trivial things like carrying water bottles, or ration bars, or any other such essentials, the more they appear as though they are above everything else. keeping up appearances has always been of great importance to her.
i will say - and this is also my concession to her in-game inventory, because i keep getting random color crystal drops from ops bosses, and as mentioned prior i keep neglecting to do anything with them - i do think she more often than has a stone or (non-kyber) crystal in a pocket, as a worry stone. she decidedly has Opnions on the proper texture of the stone but otherwise is not personally attached to it - if she loses or misplaces it, she’ll just buy another.
EVENT HORIZON: A Star Wars Story
2026 ⊹ 9 Seasons ⊹ TV-MA
12 destinies. 2 factions. 1 alliance.
In the throes of the Old Republic era, follow the heroes, villains and everything in between across the galaxy as their stories ebb and flow through tragedy and triumph, while inevitable war brews on the horizon. They can't save everyone from their fate, but they certainly can at least try -- and make every effort worth it.
Episodes
sometimes ... we get really carried away with a sketch idea and then lose like four hours of your life to it. its not even finished but i wanted it done for revenge of the fifth ... which i missed by like four minutes posting this. SIGHS.
but event horizon has a poster! and i kinda like it! gianna and astra technically are the only two missing here but theyre not relevant to the main story quite yet. my beautiful blueberry osiris is though :)
I worked out a few of the details of Rhiasma's Force illness, now that her rerun is past Chapter One. Basically, I think the constant use of the shielding technique should have actual consequences. So, when Rhiasma defeats Parkanas/Terrak Morrhage and gets the life force she spent back, it's... different. I've described it before as "a rubber band that's been stretched too far and is never the same after."
Rhiasma experiences fatigue, tremors, or pain upon prolonged use of the Force. Expending higher amounts of power can lead to fainting spells, or even temporary paralysis.
Using the Force can also occasionally cause her to "echo" or relive the suffering she shielded others from, experiencing phantom pain or trauma that isn't hers.
Certain environments or Force phenomena (*cough*Ziost*cough*) can trigger debilitating symptoms including nausea, migraines, hallucinations (usually disguised as visions), and short-term comas.
She sporadically experiences time out of sync, seeing glimpses of the past or future without warning, which can be disorienting or dangerous.
Annnnd here comes Valkorion with the steel chair!
After Valkorion moves into her head and messes around with her Force sensitivity, Rhiasma develops new symptoms. Bleeding from the nose or ears, unexplained fever, and prolonged trembling fits after using the Force.
The strain accelerates physical exhaustion. Simple tasks leave her breathless or week for hours or days.
She starts seeing multiple timelines at once, leading to confusion, paranoia, or difficulty distinguishing reality.
Her increased power comes at the cost of control, making her abilities dangerously unpredictable. She might unleash destructive power unintentionally.
She does develop coping mechanisms to help her as she attempts to navigate the Alliance and the galaxy's problems.
Rhiasma adopts strict disciplines to limit use of the Force to what's absolutely necessary, relying more on technology, physical skills, and delegation.
She uses Jedi healing trances, meditative breathing, herbal remedies, or simple medication to recover from pain and exhaustion.
Creates routines to distinguish memories and emotions as her own or not, like reciting personal mantras, or carrying mementos that anchor her identity.
Confides in trusted friends who can help reality-check her perceptions or pull her out of feedback episodes. Lana Beniko is very effective at this.
Rhiasma keeps a journal to help sort her true memories from others, allowing her to recognize patterns and triggers.
Identifies "sanctuaries" in areas where the Force feels calm or is shielded, offering respite from overwhelming energies.
Practices visualization or uses objects, like a personal memento or a sensory stone, to keep her anchored in her own time.
I saw an “OC Red Flag Bingo” floating around but it was not toxic enough for my needs so I decided to make my own LMFAO Feel free to use, but please credit me and link back to the original! :D (And @ me if you’d like—I’d love to see how bad your OCs can be!)