For Storyteller Saturday: give me five head canons you have about Zakuul

oh BLESS i love you. someone has to do the hard work of fleshing out Zakuul since bioware won't!! .......... coming back up here to say i'm putting this under a readmore because i think i wrote like over a thousand words of rambling and it's So Long

the first one is one i've talked about before in other posts, so i won't go much into detail about it, but it involves the Old Ways and worshipping the machine gods. i've developed several different rituals to mark the year (a sort of wheel of the year thing but for the six gods), there's a whole thing, but the Old Ways are sort of... looked down upon by a lot of Zakuulans. the mainstream Zakuulan religion these days is based around worshipping their Immortal Emperor, who is basically their god - he took control by styling himself the machine gods' prophesied demon slayer (canon iirc), even though he wasn't actually, and so to follow the Old Ways devoutly basically implies that you don't believe he actually killed them and don't trust in the Immortal Emperor, etc. so very few people actually admit to openly being devout.

however! the Old Ways are not forbidden, and many of the festivals are still around today, just turned into parties - there was one involving human sacrifice that turned into effigy burning, another that involves ritualistic walking barefoot across hot coals where people can get the damage fixed up directly after. lighting a candle for Scyva in midwinter is a common way of remembering those lost, especially Knights of Zakuul fallen in battle. Valkorion didn't outlaw the practices, because it gave his people something to focus on, sort of like how Firebrand was allowed to do a little terrorism. perfection can get boring after all.

the people who still follow the Old Ways tend to be in one of two categories: the thrill-seekers who do it for a rush, or the truly devout who don't believe in Valkorion as a god. there are a lot of fascinating implications there and i have THOUGHTS about the Scions who believe Valkorion is the literal avatar of Izax and so practice a modified version of the Old Ways, and the Heralds of Zildrog who are a fascinating cult who practice modified versions of the holy days, including actually keeping up with the human sacrifice bit. it's considered an honor to be the person sacrificed to Izax so that he will not come to claim more souls for the rest of the year.

all of this leads into HEADCANON TWO! which is that after Valkorion dies and Arcann takes over as the Emperor of Zakuul, there is the formation of a.... sort of cult probably? a religious group of fanatics on Zakuul who worship the Outlander, either as a reincarnation of Valkorion or as a being more powerful than him, because who but another god can kill a god? there are absolutely some wild ass memes about it on the Zakuul holonet and a lot of theories. the Scions definitely think the Outlander is basically the new vessel for Izax's spirit and that's why they ally with them, it's a tossup on whether they believe "Valkorion" was ever a real person at all, or just their terrible, horrible god. (because in the end, the most fated thing about any one person's life is that they will die.)

headcanon three, which i really need to make a post about: METALWORKING AS A CULTURAL SKILL!!! most of the actual work on Zakuul is done by droids, so most people actually have a basic understanding of mechanics and like, very basic metalworking. the Knights of Zakuul forge their own armor as part of the final step from training into becoming full knights, and they are responsible for repairing it themselves. Arcann repairs his own mask and his own arm. all of this ties into my fourth headcanon, because there's two here, which is about gift giving!

gift giving is a cultural way of showing affection to people, of course, but gifting someone something handmade, generally jewelry or other bits of metal, is A Statement. it's usually done as an affection gift or a mark of loyalty and care. this is why, for example, Arcann forges the Commander a Knight of Zakuul breasplate. there are people who make metal sculptures, too, it isn't just about jewelry and armor but also about art! Zakuul is absolutely full of art because as a society they have so much more energy and time to be creative because so much of the essential work is performed by droids. artists are absolutely held in very high esteem there - this is supported in canon, see the Zakuulan singer who turned traitor being a respected leader for her people. ...that's probably a fifth headcanon but i'll give you one more anyway

okay for my LAST headcanon, i haven't developed this super thoroughly yet, but! some thoughts about the Knights of Zakuul. so most of them are found fairly young. Zakuul is a nexus in the Force and so a higher population than normal of Force-sensitives are born there, mostly because children who would have been weaker or only Force-attuned are able to get their senses sort of... blown open wide by living on a world so naturally strong in it. this is part of why we see some insanely strong people from Zakuul. (and part of why the Sith pureblood species, originating from Korriban, was nearly entirely sensitive, which became a genetic trait that has weakened since they were forced off their homeworld.) sometimes Force-sensitives from conquered worlds are brought into the Knights if they show signs of being loyal. Zakuul, after all, isn't the only world in its empire, there are several other planets in that area of Wild Space (not supported by canon, unfortunately, but canon can shut up. Zakuul being that fully combat ready just does not make sense otherwise, through sheer logistics. they have too many numbers) and all of them fell to the Eternal Empire a long time ago, but there is still fighting on the frontier worlds near the very far edges of the galaxy pre-galactic war, and of course the actual war with Republic and Empire.

so Knights are usually trained from a fairly young age. they are taught to view the Force fundamentally different from Jedi or Sith or other Force-using traditions, and many of them would fall where you consider morally neutral, but just as there is no actual grey in the Force, they don't actually use one side or the other. some are more in tune with the light, using the Force through selflessness and emotion frequently focused on protecting and bettering the Empire as a whole, rather than themselves; some use the dark, wielding it through a selfish lens, grabbing onto its power for their own gains. either way, which side of the Force is used isn't actually regulated. Knights are trained on both the basic single blade and on the lightsaber pike, and many of them carry both weapons on them and can switch between the two, as well as a blaster-resistant energy-field shield for front lines combat. they are also trained in hand to hand, though that gets used less often, and offensive and defensive Force use. there are no Force-blind Knights.

Knights go through a pretty intense set of final trials before they are named a full member of the force, usually involving a survival test on a remote world, as well as forging their armor to wear in battle. they have to forge their armor before the test and wear it to face their enemies during the survival challenge - if the armor isn't forged properly, it will not protect them, and they will more than likely die. if they die they weren't worthy of the gift of the Force (earned in service to a greater goal, aka their empire and emperor), etc etc. when Knights die their fellows will usually attempt to recover a piece of armor or a weapon to enshrine as a memory to the person who made it.

armor has to be uniform, but as i've mentioned Zakuul is All About Art, so the weapons can be customized in small ways! also a lot of Knights will add designs to the insides of their armor pieces as a way to mark them as theirs. if a fully intact piece of designed armor can be recovered from a dead body, the dead person's friends and family will often come together to paint the forged designs and turn it into a real artwork.

there are definitely Funky Religion Things going on with a lot of the Knights too but i need to figure out more of that before i start putting it on tumblr lol so! i'm sorry this is so long you did NOT know what you were getting into when you asked me this but Thank You

I wonder what happened to the twi'lek settlement on Tython according to your worldbuilding?

Ask Me About SWTOR NPCs

Thanks for the ask, @ayresis !

Kalikori Village is still there!

During the Zakuulan invasion, a handful of Jedi withdrew there, but they left Tython before the Skytroopers turned towards the village.

I actually have a posted story about it!

Click here to read "Growing Up" Thanks again!

100 Days of Writing Thank you @the-wip-project! Do you have prophecies and superstitions as part of the worldbuilding in your WIP? Could you add some? Yes. The entire arc with the Machine Gods and the Demon Savior is a prophecy that is canonically in Zakuulan lore: that the Demon Savior will defeat Zildrog and the gods. There's also something about Zildrog rising again, which certainly happens. As she delves into the Rakata lore, there may be other prophecies that arise. Viri is canonically precognitive. This is something shown in SWTOR's game canon - she is the only one of the eight classes who doesn't get their navicomputer hacked to point them to Rishi. She just has a vision while meditating where she seems to see a Ziost-like situation (ie, everyone dead) and is pointed in the right direction. In my story she gets increasingly edgy and upset as she kills off more of the Machine Gods because she knows that it's not going to end well for her - although like a lot of her visions, she does find a way to work within it. It's a talent/skill she does not cultivate because frankly she's terrified of it - given what she's been through in her life, she really doesn't want to know what's possibly coming, even if she knows it's a warning she can change. Lana has been encouraging her to work on it, with the Voss mystics like Sana-Rae helping her try to cultivate her visions. As to superstitions, I have it headcanoned that everyone's got them - the Sith, the Jedi, the Mandalorians, regular non-Force sensitives, you name it. My smugglers have superstitions about their ships. Viri's biggest active superstitions involve what she wears - it's absolutely a superstition, as well as love, that compel her to wear Lana's belt or gloves with every single outfit now. Another of Viri's superstitions is to automatically mutter a Qoorit (the Sith prayer for the dead in my headcanon) under her breath if one of her allies dies in battle, or if she finds them dead. Given Viri's precognition, Lana and others who are close to her actually take special care when Viri is especially agitated or focused on something specific, because they know that she is quite possibly being warned about something they need to heed, even if she can't say exactly that. Lana canonically can also see the future occasionally (it's said so in Onslaught). In the long story that preceded The Eternal Wrath, called An Open Affinity, she had a vision that Viri was actively dying in carbonite, and she knew she had to get to Zakuul and rescue her immeditately. Lana also comes across a soothsayer on Rishi, in Raiders' Cove, who tells her that she and Viri (not by name) will run together for a time, be separated, be revived and then be inseparable.

OC Worldbuilding Tag Pt 2!

...electric boogaloo! I’m sorry I know this joke is old now but I cannot help it, it’s ingrained in my brain XD

I got another tag for this from @a-master-procrastinator , thank you! :D

I think all my friends & mutuals have already been tagged for this one? But I’ll throw a couple out here if you want to, no pressure as always!: @mercurypilgrim​ , @actualanxiousswampwitch and @sleepswithvillains maybe?

Some more Saarai, because I love her. Some very slight spoilers for some of the differences in the Subterfugeverse plot points but nothing major! ;3 Long post warning again, as well as some brief mentions of Valkorion being a dick and causing a mass-genocide but all on the same level as the presented game canon.

- Saarai is psychometric and has been since she was pretty young, a Force power she inherited from D’leah’s mother, Saa’thri, because it “skipped” D’leah and Saarai got it instead. Though she didn’t realise it at the time and it wasn’t until she brought it up to her mother and D’leah went “oh yeah, your grandma had that too :)” that she realised it was actually A Thing.

- She’s not always good at recognising when a vision is from the Psychometry and when it’s just “her imagination”, particularly when she’s younger (which gets her into some trouble, see: the whole Tsâhis thing). Even after she gets used to it, sometimes it still hits her out of nowhere and if it’s a particularly nasty vision she’ll sometimes lose her footing and hit the deck - thankfully, because of their Force bond, Ni’kasi can usually figure out what’s happening and react fast enough to catch her before she smacks her head on something.

- Nathema was...not fun for Saarai thanks to the Psychometry. She’d wanted to go with them to protect them and ended up having to be dragged back to the ship and wait there because the moment she tried to touch anything there the Force went “Oh hey!! would you like some Detailed Flashbacks About What Happened Here!!” and yeah...she did not have a good time. Going to Nathema was kind of a mistake for her. Woops. (She gets through it though, Lana gets her back to the ship and she gets a handle on things but definitely doesn’t go all the way into the facility with Vano and Lana. Probably a good thing, too, if she’d picked up that toy of Vaylin’s I think she would’ve found those visions quite upsetting to watch, too.)

- She and Lana don’t share a Force bond, only because she has one with her sister, Ni’kasi instead. Neither of the twins are exactly sure when it formed, but they’ve had the connection for as long as they can remember. When they’re separated while Saarai and Ty are on Rishii, it’s harder for them to communicate because of the distance between them and Kas putting up barriers “just in case” the Sith tried to interrogate her at any point, she didn’t want to give Saarai away. They knew enough to know the other twin was probably still alive, but not to know exactly what was going on with each other until they finally reunite with the first Coalition on Yavin IV. That was the final relief for the twins, actually getting to see the other one standing there and definitely very much alive, there were hugs and a lot of tears, absolutely. <3

- Saarai is very much a “reluctant leader”, she never wanted to be a figurehead in the Alliance nor did she want to be telling people what to do, but circumstances “forced” her into the role and she had to stumble around awkwardly and adapt. With Vano gone and stuck in carbonite, somone had to step up and make sure the people that were working with Vano stuck together and didn’t fall apart (Not all of Vano’s crew disperse, Broonmark, Pierce and Jaesa always remain with the Alliance. Quinn ends up in jail after the Quinncident and Vette goes missing during one of their attempts to search for Vano’s whereabouts only to reappear as in canon later ;)) With Marr dead and the rest of the Dark Council under Zakuul’s heel or missing, that left Lana, Ni’kasi and Aria as alternative “leadership” figures. Lana lacked the ambition for it and was more tooled to be an advisor and while both Ni’kasi and Aria are bossy enough to delegate tasks, they’re abrasive and people don’t like them. But they like Saarai and they listen to her. So everyone kinda went “Okay cool you’re in charge now :)” I’m sorry, Saarai, you’re symultaneously the most and least qualified for this job but you got it anyway :P She settles into it eventually, though, but will be the first one to adamantly insist that it’s a team effort between not only herself and Vano once they have her back, but Lana, Koth, Theron and all the other trusted members of the Alliance acting as advisors in their respective fields of interest.

- In Subterfugeverse, I headcanon that Vano and Saarai share the command of the Alliance once Vano returns. Vano has the Commander title and handles most of the battle tactics and strategy, whereas Saarai handles things like conflict resolution and public relations, as well as controlling the Eternal Fleet. Things work very differently in Subterfugeverse in terms of the Throne so I’ll try to keep it brief but essentially:

Valkorion “took over” the Sith Empire from the Ahaszaai, Saarai’s ancestors. It was a very hostile takeover and currently Saarai, Ni’kasi, Ty, eventually Ni’kasi’s kids, and their uncle Vowrawn are the only four Ahaszaai left in the entire galaxy.

While they didn’t technically have claim to the Zakuulan throne, the original Sith homeworld before Valkorion’s bullshit was Medriaas (which is canon, I’m just borrowing this part because it fits in nicely ;)), which became Nathema after Valkorion did his whole “planet eating” thing.

Vano is initially the only one who can control the Throne and the Fleet via the whole “Valkorion is in her head” loophole. However, that loophole becomes defunct once Valkorion gets yanked out of her mind since it was Valkorion that gave her the ability to control it in the first place.

I’m assuming for the sake of plot flow that it’s based upon two specific “checks” and that’s 1) direct blood ties to the Emperor(ess) in power and/or 2) said Emperor(ess) currently controlling the throne directly and willingly passing their authority over the throne to a successor - which is how Valkorion is able to give the Outlander/Vano control of the Fleet while he’s in her mind, even though she’s not blood related to him.

They’re able to, with some research, deduce that they can exploit this apparent loophole in the system, to avoid losing control of the Fleet entirely and risking any of the GEMINI droids turning into another SCORPIO; and Vano essentially rescinds control of the Throne/Fleet to Saarai, everyone (including Ni’kasi herself) agrees that Saarai is the responsible choice because she’s not going to get a bee in her bonnet and with an errant thought accidentally set the Eternal Fleet on the Jedi or something of the sort.

Since Saarai has direct blood ties to the original ruling Sith before Valkorion userped the title from them, and Vano willingly gave the Throne up to her, the Throne can’t throw a tantrum about it and just has to deal with it. XD

- Once they do manage to track down where Vano is, before Lana and Koth head to Zakuul to actually break her out, Lana comes to Saarai for help with that. Ni’kasi has to stay to watch Ty and also try and keep a tenuous line with the other Sith thanks to her position on the Dark Council, Aria’s too emotionally charged to think straight and Lana is rightfully worried she might make a mistake that puts the whole rescue mission in jeapordy, so they ask Saarai instead. It’s kind of awkward and she and Koth rub each other the wrong way at first, they bicker for two thirds of the entire trip there and Lana almost throws them both out of the airlock for it, but eventually do find a way to bury the hatchet before they actually arrive at Zakuul to rescue Vano.

- By the time they find the Gravestone, Saarai and Koth have made up and though they are not yet involved with eachother at that time, have both agreed that fighting over Lana is stupid and they can make this work without making things difficult for anyone else, so the whole interruption in the Gravestone’s cargo hold, for Subterfugeverse, is genuinely an accident. Saarai heads up to check on him afterwards and they have another amicable and productive conversation and end up growing a little closer. Their side of the relationship is a little slower to form, but they do eventually end up developing deeper feelings for each other, though it’s strictly non-sexual between Rai and Koth and they are both 100% happy and okay with that.

other frustrating things about zakuul worldbuilding: the way it treats criminality and gangs as some kind of inevitability instead of a product of circumstance

like. if i wanted to say that senya and valkoriate are being unreliable narrators when they bang on endlessly about how zakuul under v’s rule was a perfect society with plenty for everyone and all was provided and blah blah blah then

that fits with them both being rather myopic at best

it has by itself the implication that all was not perfect and in the places where v’s all-seeing eye doesn’t care for is where the criminal element springs into being - people driven to desperation through lack of resources, lack of social care, lack of health care, etc

but if we’re supposed to believe that valk’s society was Truly Perfect and things have only gone to shit under arcann, then how and why are the gangs so well established? if senya hasn’t been on zakuul since she split up with valkoriate, and pre-Arcann society was Perfect, why were there gangs 20 years ago for her to be arresting? yes, as a totalitarian dictatorship, there will inevitably be dissent of a kind (see also: bnw), but certainly not to the extent of, say, the heralds.

is breaktown supposed to be an illustration of how unreliable a pair of narrators senya and valkoriate are, or is it supposed to be an illustration of how far zakuul has fallen under arcann? if it’s the former, why are we supposed to then take senya and valkoriate at face value every other time they open their traps? if the latter, then why is senya familiar with it as a rough territory to begin with?

(plot twist: ‘rough territory’ in senya’s mind is just anywhere that isn’t occupied solely by the zakuulan nobility)

might go crazy and just make some random ocs like. just for fun. just 2 draw occasionally. i’m already tempted to bring back my Zakuulan Knight and Scion idea that i used to have with That Asshole that went nowhere which just means it’s free real estate baby, and that gives me an excuse to do some Zakuulan worldbuilding because god knows there isn’t enough.

Zakuulan Death Masks

it's ya boi, back again for more Zakuulan worldbuilding re: the six machine gods and Zildrog! this is going to be a mixture of screenshots from a discord conversation last night and text, but basically, this all stemmed from me deciding that the Zakuulans have symbolic masks related to death and its place in their culture.

(off the bat: yes this is free for people to use just please credit me)

starting with: Zakuulan funeral traditions and the yearly festival celebrating/pacifying Izax, the dragon of Zakuul and god of death.

there are five festivals held throughout the year celebrating the pantheon: Tyth (winter turning into spring), Esne + Aivela (spring), Izax + Zildrog (summer solstice), Nahut (fall turning into winter), Scyva (winter solstice). each of them are important for various reasons, but we're going to focus on Izax and Zildrog's festival, set on the summer solstice, which is the longest day of the year, but the shortest, darkest night, after which the nights begin to get longer again.

in the old days, before Valkorion unified Zakuul under the Eternal Throne as the machine gods' demon slayer that was prophesied (which he was not actually, but that's for a different post), the Six Gods were revered more out of fear than anything else (Scyva being the only one truly loved). the most feared was the dragon, the god of death, Izax the Devourer, who consumed the souls of the dead and could strike at any time. nearly all-powerful, Izax was so far above mortals that he needed one of them to help him tell apart the human souls from the rest of the life in the galaxy - hence where Zildrog comes from. Zildrog is the one who guides Izax to take the souls.

during funerals, the entire settlement would wear death masks modeled after a mechanical rendition of Zildrog's face, with only the dead person's face left uncovered. when Zildrog came to lead Izax to devour souls, he would be confused by everyone wearing his face and, unable to tell them apart from himself, would only guide Izax to the recently-deceased. this logic was the same one that guided the death festival; before Valkorion's rise, the various settlements would have an annual sacrifice (volunteered for, not forced) at the culmination of the festivities. the sacrifice would be the only one not wearing a mask, and the hope was that having been given a willing sacrifice, Izax would thus leave them alone for the rest of the year.

Valkorion took power by claiming to be a prophesied hero who slayed the machine gods. he turned the festivals worshipping them into parties, but to keep the Zakuulan people content, and to give them something to focus on in their utopian society, he didn't outlaw the practice of the Old Ways. however, most Zakuulans look down on people who still practice, because it means they don't have complete faith in their Immortal Emperor. some people who practice just do it for the same reason they idolize Firebrand - it's a small, harmless rebellion that gives them a bit of a rush (ex: Tyth's festival involves bonfires and walking over the hot coals when the fire has burned down. it's still widely practiced; most Zakuulans get the damaged fixed up after. some do not. those ones are either the thrill-seekers - or the truly devout). others practice it because they really do believe in the Six Gods. there's a spectrum, ofc, but no one who practices it talks about it very widely.

after Valkorion's death, there's a renewed interest in the Old Ways, mostly by people who truly regarded him as their god and don't know what to do now that he's dead and their faith has been shattered. (there's definitely at least a small group of people that decide to worship the outlander instead, as the new vessel for their god's spirit.)

now we get into the various cults on Zakuul - the Heralds of Zildrog and the Scions. i'll start with the Heralds. the Heralds and their Exalted serve Zildrog and Izax, and their desire is to bring back their serpent to cleanse Zakuul in fiery death (wow, dramatic much?). they perform the Old Ways, especially the rituals to Zildrog and Izax, in their entirety - including the sacrifices (the Exalted seems to generally be less of a devout believer and more political, so i fully believe they'd use the opportunity to get rid of people who threaten the cult's stability) - but with the difference of not wearing the death masks. they want Izax's attention on them, they want Zildrog to return, and they are perfectly happy with, even eager for, their own deaths happening to bring that about.

the Scions, on the other hand, manage to be the ones to combine the Old Ways with the worship of Valkorion. yes, they worship fate above all else, but they are absolutely devoted to Valkorion. i believe they think Valkorion - who is absolutely full of dragon motifs, who calls himself the Dragon of Zakuul - is Izax in human form.

Valkorion is immortal. Valkorion has been guiding their civilization for a thousand years. therefore, Valkorion must be the god of death, because no true human could live for that long or be that powerful. the leader of the Scions does not wear a mask, but all of their followers do (this is supported by the game iirc), because only the leader communicates directly with Valkorion (only the leader is worthy to, perhaps, i haven't completely worldbuilt this out). Valkorion was very content to let them keep their mythology; he had no interest or use in the rest of the Scions anyway, except in how they could be useful to him.

(more screenshots of some Bonus Lore that i'm not expanding upon in this ridiculously long post but will go into more detail on at request will follow in a reblog, because i'm about to hit the image limit)

I should make another Zakuulan worldbuilding post. Ok to my three followers who pay attention to my original posts: more Zakuulan religion or like, the significance of metalworking and handmade gifts in Zakuulan culture

OC Worldbuilding Thing!

Thank you @cyrraluu​ for tagging me! About three weeks ago, but better late than never, as they say?  Tagging @itstheelvenjedi​ @thronebreaker-dorne​ and anyone else who wants to share some OC facts, no pressure. 

Suvia Kallig (Darth Nox): 

- Loves Jaesa intensely but will never commit to anything like a marriage. She has some very deep-seeded fears and uneasiness about any legal paperwork binding her to anyone else. Luckily Jaesa gets this and will never push her.  - Even though she doesn’t dig the Jedi Order, she is thriving in the Alliance, which is feeding her endless thirst for knowledge, especially Force lore.  - She dove right into Zakuulan lore and mythology and can effortlessly read ancient Zakuulan texts.  - Suvia knew from the lore that Zildrog was going to cause Viri great physical pain and bring her to the brink of death. She did not tell Viri and Lana this directly because she knew there was no way to change it. Instead, she insisted that Viri should spend a lot of time with her, researching and strengthening herself so she would be able to fight appropriately. The only reason Viri knew about the necessity for blood sacrifice vs. Zildrog was due to Suvia.  - Suvia did tell Viri straight out that the power of the Machine Gods was not meant to be held by organics and that she would need to dispel it as soon as possible so it would not destroy her. - Suvia and Talos are really close platonic friends. Talos is one of only a few people Suvia feels comfortable touching or giving a hug. 

- Suvia secretly enjoys all the pets and wildlife around the Odessen base, but she will not get a pet herself.  - Suvia’s greatest fear is actually love. She’s afraid of loving people because she worries they might turn on her or die or go away. She’s afraid it will make her too vulnerable and someone else will use her loves to hurt her. But she loves people deeply.  - Suvia will never tell anyone what her tattoos mean, but they represent her survival as a child and young adult. Every year she was still alive, she got another set of circles. It reminded her she was still alive and could keep fighting. When Suvia became Darth Nox, she completed the tattoo by getting circles tattooed down the rest of her lekku. It represented that she had faced so much and lived. 

time to make a new zakuulan worldbuilding post >:)

also zakuulan astrology and connected mythology

we’re never told the name that zakuulans gave their star/sun

i’m tempted to go with ‘tyth’ because i think i’m funny

[bangs fists on the table] bioware ‘stop half assing your cultural worldbuilding’ challenge

If Fare was a recruitable npc, I was thinking Copero would be different in that she replaces Lana. She’s the one Saganu reaches out to and should be the one going with the PC, Raina being recruited from somewhere else. (Plus that gives Saganu a break from her attempts to flirt with him lmao rip. Also I’d add a new category of companion gifts, Ascendancy memorabilia.) However, if you side with Zenta over Saganu, she leaves. You’ll have to get help with the rest of it from someone else.

ascendancy memorabilia yes especially if the chiss were a joinable or at least ally-with-able faction and i mean it’d be a perfect way for passive worldbuilding and there are existing companions who would also have reactions to it (mostly cultural artefact lovers but also specifically people like ranos and raina)

(i mean i’m still ??? that there wasn’t ‘zakuulan memorabilia’ for all those zakuulan npcs and zakuulaboos in kotfetet, just a single ‘cultural artefact’. but ho hum)

and yeah i mean raina going back to hanging out with saganu... i guess kinda makes sense, given that she used to be stationed under him? but like. her hanging out on copero is kinda ?? since the chiss are Super Picky about who gets to see their homeworlds (like they even put the sith to shame on that front) and for all raina is a giant chissaboo i’m kinda ??? at her involvement on that front

granted it’s less random than some of the companion returns/company but still.

(maybe if the player sided with zenta they’d get a comp from her house instead? or even zenta herself? although she’s not in the best of states by the time the player is done with her...)

worldbuilding things about zakuul that bug me, part n: lightsabers. presumably they were imported by valkoriate along with everything else he stole from the gffa (everything else that bwa are too lazy to provide a truly zakuulan alternative to), but why? what purpose do they serve in zakuulan society? what do they symbolise? what do their colours symbolise? the knights all seem to use blue, the royal children use yellow, the scions use reds and pinks. why? what do these colours mean to zakuul? the scions are a leftover of zakuul’s Old World, pre-Valkoriate culture - why did valkoriate retain them at all? why would they use lightsabers and not something truly zakuulan? no other culture in the tor gffa uses lightpikes - why aren’t these more common than lightsabers?

anyway, the asylum scion episode has to be the most tedious vison quest style exposition quest ever, even excluding the fact this is about my millionth kotfe run.

like. i am a huge sucker for vision quests and similar mind fuckery in storytelling. there are Reasons several of my ocs are seers. but kotfe’s is just so... unimaginiative. it’s a rehash of the chapter 2 bollocks, but instead with the scions bleating about destiny instead of valborian, and with fewer skipable fights. it’s lazy and tedious and absolutely pointless, and serves mostly to make senya appear untrustworthy (first by all the Big Mystery the narrative insists on building up around the introduction of the scions, and then her revalation about the kids) and to exposit some worldbuilding re the Zakuulan Old Ways that for the most part is little more than flavour sprinkled onto a shit sandwich.

i also finally realised why the alliance logo annoys the piss out of me

it’s not its own thing.

the Aliiance is not the result of the Republic and Empire working together, but defectors from the same rallying to the Outlander’s cause, along with Zakuulan reguees/exiles and miscellaneous third parties. but for some reason, the logo is half a republic seal and half an imperial one. and i just.

first of all, it fails entirely to represent the contingent that comes from neither faction. secondly, as something that is not derived from either faction’s authority, it has no place or reason to be using their seals to create its own.

a repurposed zakuulan seal or icon, or even something totally new, would have been infinitely more appropriate. it would establish the Alliance as something apart from the Republic and Empire both, distancing it from both regimes - something which can only benefit it. it dissuades defectors from those factions from bringing their pre-existing baggage with them, it makes the third-party members feel like they are actually bringing something worth having to the table, and it establishes right form the getgo that this is a challenge to zakuul on its own terms.

but. that would require some iota of creativity and/or worldbuilding proficiency, and $deity knows we can’t have that.

just thinking about kotfe/ kotet because i reblogged some swtor stuff today

and TBH the worldbuilding in it was just so so bad.

like we thought there was gonna be worldbuilding for the Sith Empire in Chapter Two of kotet with Acina, because they were all like “let me show how we changed” but then instead of that (because writing is Hard) they swapped to running around in a rainy forest. is it because if we saw more of the empire we’d have to acknowledge it’s an objectively shitty place?

I have no clue what life is like for the average Zakuulan. Valkorion claims his reign was peaceful but citation needed. I sure hope the writers don’t expect us to take him at his word because lol. why would we?

The republic hasn’t even really appeared in this expansion at all. (i’m talking about as a society, not badly written characters carrying villainballs)

it’s like ¯\_(ツ)_/¯  weak. very very weak worldbuilding. part of the reason i love star wars is because of the universe, but we don’t see really any of it at all.