#because even if he had amnesia he instinctively saw Borkus as a hostile and subconsciously refused any of his traits | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

mwolf0epsilon · 2 years

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I've been looking at some species-swap art recently, and it's given me yet another idea for a Clone Wars AU. I promise this one's got more of a 'that makes sense' feel to it than most of my other more transformative ideas.

Ahem.

The Kaminoans are nothing if not perfectionists. They perfected cloning past what it was originally intended for, the survival of their planet/species, and made it into something commercialized and profitable.

Secrets of the trade are kept well locked up, and only an exclusive few know of their "illustrious services", and no one provides quite the customized service that they do.

Customized in what way, you may ask?

Very simple...

The Kaminoans design and engineer clones that are based around a single genetic template, but who adapt specifically to a buyer's species.

More under the cut!

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This ability is something that is locked up originally, as to keep uniformity while the clones are in training. But, upon deployment, they are given an order that unlocks the full capacity of their adaptability (You could maybe even link this block and special order to the inhibitor chips).

At first no one really notices anything unusual. They just assume the battalions will stay looking like Jango Fett for the entirety of their lives (sans a bit of self-discovery and expression of the self through tattoos and haircuts here and there). But then, gradually, each battalion hones in on their Jedi and seem to start assimilating a few of their characteristics. This is most noticeable in battalion with non-human Jedi generals.

The clones know, of course, so preparations are to be had when they note what kind of sentient they'll be working with. The kitting department will always be very busy on that front, and for the most part they don't mind because they enjoy watching the Shinies blossoming into their new selves.

The 104th's helmets all have anti-ox filters installed for when they start slowly but surely becoming Kel Dor. They rarely remove their buckets once the change takes hold.

The 327th shone with pride when they started getting speckles of vibrant color indicative of their soon to be transition into Twi'leks. Bly was the very first to start growing in his lekku.

The 501st and 212th had a bet going on over which of the two battalions would stay fully human the longest, but eventually both began to assimilate Togruti aspects when Ahsoka became Anakin's Padawan. The first thing to change was the appearance of markings on their skin. Rex's pride over having jaigeyes as markings almost made the pain of growing in montrals worth it.

Not every clone transitions fully into one given species, however. It depends entirely on how much exposure they get to different species that they actively work with. They are engineered to mirror attributes that will benefit them in both their social situation and survival odds.

As such, clones who spend less time with any given alien species remain mostly human with just a few varied non-human aspects just barely showing through (the beginnings of lek, montrals or Togruti markings, speckles of distinct twi'lek skin color, slightly elongated skulls, scales, patches of fur, etc...). These little differences are celebrated, especially among Shinies who consider it a mark of pride.

Others, like the Coruscant Guard, are so surrounded by a variety of species that they go through a lot of changes, becoming something hybridized and ultimately seen as a bastardization of sentient beings. Their armour serves the dual purpose of protection and means to hide their "atrocious" appearance from the public.

There's a lot more to this idea, like how the clones are subconsciously very selective of what they mirror (None of them have any aspects they associate with what they consider the enemy), and how to some clones these changes are shameful because they don't really feel like their body is their own.

Currently I can't think of the words to do this any justice right now. But I definitely want to play around with this idea in writing...

#star wars #the clone wars #Species Swap AU #I just had the thought of the 501st becoming Ahsoka's honorary Togruta brothers stuck in my head #and then thought of the Corrie Guard getting the short end of the stick because they're surrounded by several hundreds of other species #also consider...Umbara... While the others vehemently reject any aspects of his Dogma's only non-human Jedi exposure was Krell...#not enough that he turns into a besalisk but enough that before he's carted off to be imprisoned Dogma grows a second set of arms #also Waxer and Boil definitely get some patches of twi'lek colored skin because of Numa #Gregor only has a mild mishmash of changes from people that frequented PowerSliders #because even if he had amnesia he instinctively saw Borkus as a hostile and subconsciously refused any of his traits #the Bad Batch could potentially be the only set of clones that don't have this power because they were Designed Different™#its part of the reason the other clones are so wary of them...

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