For those of you wanting an actual romance with her, I highly recommend leveling an Inquisitor. I'll post more behind a spoiler tag, but Ashara gives (almost) exactly the story you're looking for.

+1 Internets. Also, apologize to my dog, you made me wake him up laughing.

I had a LS juggernaut up to the low 30s before getting fed up with the storyline being such a complete mismatch for the character; I then played a 'sin LS through the entire class line and rarely had that feeling. The fact of the matter is that, as a former slave, the Inquisitor has a built-in, rational reason to have more empathy for people who are struggling and to take a dim view of the Empire and its traditions. The Warrior, coming from a privileged, noble background lacks that entirely. That said, I've been very pleased with my reroll of the warrior as less than lily-white and a pureblood to boot. So far, by complete accident, he's at exactly balanced alignment. He's very much a Sith traditionalist when it comes to the almost Mandalorian sentiment, testing himself against worthy foes while maintaining both his own honor and that of the Sith. He detests Barras' scheming machinations and looks forward to tearing him apart. Interestingly (to me, anyway), Vette seems to absolutely lap that attitude up. I'm curious, though, how a neutrally aligned warrior will fare with the class quest on Tattooine and then with Jaesa... we'll see...

They're random drop BoEs, so it's really just haunting the GTN in hopes of finding some or hanging out in general chat in the level appropriate zone (Hoth, mostly) in hopes that someone finds one and you're able to buy it. I got lucky and found mine early on for a steal (16k) on the GTN- good luck!

I'm of two minds on this. I do think that DPS-specced assassins kind of have a raw deal at the moment. They're running around in bathrobes with little enough survivability that they are really right to think that they ought to have the cannons to go with their glass; in that regard, the grass is most certainly greener on the Operative/Scoundrel side of the fence, with higher armor, dramatically higher burst, better CC, and heals to boot. However, Darkness 'sins and our Kinetic Combat mirrors are in great shape. We take forever to kill, we have absurd amounts of control over the battlefield (knockback, pull, stun, trap, whirlwind), and we still retain enough burst to be a credible threat. Moreover, because we're visually indistinguishable from our maul rat brethren, we're considerably more likely to receive preferential treatment (read: get attacked) than other tank ACs. So, if you rolled a 'sin with the idea of being a rogue-style burst DPS and murdering people out of nowhere, well, you have my sympathies... but before you throw the baby out with the bathwater, I highly recommend coming over to the dark(ness) side for a while. Rumor is, we have cookies.

I understand the point you're trying to make. It is not, however, borne out by either the existing canon material or the game. The issue that the Jedi in the Old Republic era take with romance and marriage is specifically that it leads to attachment. To quote Yoda (not Old Republic, but a staunch conservative nonetheless), "Attachment leads to jealousy. The shadow of greed that is." Or, to go with a SWTOR example, here's the treatment the topic receives in the "Lovers and Secrets" quest on Tython. (You can get this quest at about level 5 if you roll a Jedi.) There really isn't a lot of wiggle room here- the Jedi in this era consider relationships a Big Bad. If you can find supporting evidence for the notion that sexuality is *also* taboo, I'd love to see it- so far, though, your only tie is, again, conflating passion and love with sex.

That's exactly the attitude I'm bridling against here. First off, let's not kid ourselves. Love is by no means involved everytime the lights go out. I'd even wager to say that in almost every case outside of companion romance, the most I'd buy between the characters involved is a mild crush- and sometimes, it's even less, just an attraction. These do not constitute attachments that would lead anyone to the dark side, so, unless we're getting our Puritan on here, there's no reason they should lead to DS points. As for you claim that true, unconditional love does not lead to the darkside, again, I have to call bovine excrement. The whole reason for that prohibition is that attachment of that nature can, if the object of it is threatened, lead to passionate emotional responses of the sort that lead you to the dark side. See also: the death of Shmi Skywalker.

I have 150 DS points as an Inquisitor.

So much Ashara hate. -_- I'm actually almost full LS, so she and I get along great and her storyline for a carebear sith works remarkably well and ties in nicely with the main SI story. My issue with her isn't that I don't like her, but rather frustration that her storyline seems to have a lot of potential but to nonetheless be rather thoroughly underdeveloped. There are a couple of times where it looks like there were *supposed* to be companion quests with her that were simply not implemented. As far as quantitative metrics go, compare that Vette has 25 quests to offer while Ashara has a scant 16; I know you get her much later, but really? Finally, again... The whole "whee, max affection, now I'm an insensate statue" bit is really, really irksome.

No spoilers here particularly, just an observation... With Vette, I had the opportunity to actually go on a quest with her- objectives, stuff to do, etc- relatively early on in the affection spectrum. I just hit 10k with Ashara and never once had this experience- is this as intended? It's rather anticlimactic, especially given that it marks the dreaded "you're awesome and all, now we shall never speak again" point...

Cedric- If you aren't already, I *highly* recommend playing through the Inquisitor storyline, specifically the Ashara relationship. It actually covers this territory rather nicely.

I understand the backing information, how the prequels were really just made through the lenses of what George Lucas thought would sell, etc... but that doesn't really change the issue. Again, attachment- affection, love, and the like- *is not the same* as sexuality. If attachment- relationships included- is a path to the dark side, fine, though personally I think that's a weak and cowardly way of living, but, then, that's why I wound up holding my nose and choosing Sith over Jedi for my main despite my detestation for the Empire. In that case, however, again, companion romances are effectively the Big Bad. But that doesn't explain why sexuality gets saddled with DS consequences... which happens over, and over, and over again, across multiple class storylines and side quests. It reeks of a puritan mindset that just sets my teeth on edge, particularly given that it winds up doubling the hypocrisy- a. Attachments are a path to the dark side- except the ones with your companions that you build over time, those are fine and dandy! b. Sex is, without rationale, a path to the dark side- except within the bounds of your companion romance, then, no problem!

Without going into spoilerrific details: I'm really irked with the seeming conflation of sexuality and attachment in this game. There are dozens if not hundreds of different conversation options wherein a character expresses attachment to both companion characters and NPCs, none of which occasion the slightest change in Force alignment. However, every time the PC chooses an option involving a suggestive fade out, they pile on. ...EXCEPT in the case of a companion romance... Relationships are forbidden by the Jedi code not because the Order is a bunch of puritans but because they lead to attachment and, as such, open the participant up to tumultuous passions that can lead one astray. Among Sith it's even more permissive- indulge whatever passions you feel like so long as they do not control you or lead you to deny yourself or others the opportunity to experience life unfettered. So why, then, is it perfectly hunky-dory to spend an extended amount of time building a relationship, building affection, working together, even openly and mutually throwing about that ever-so-scary L word, but having black screen moments with fleeting NPCs that are in and out of your character's life in scant moments is a giant problem? Sincerely, "Still peeved about my only 150 DS points while at the same time stretching pleasantly after a first companion fade-to-black"

It's definitely a pain, but I got through it at 43 as a tank specced assassin. The thing to remember here is the same thing people forget before that certain climactic fight at the end of Act I- even with NPCs, if a spell has a cast time and targets you, it can be LoSed.