Go on Kiarn, you can trust him. He obviously isn't trying to cultivate allies and potential patsies among his more impressionable former students for dealing with his rivals or anything *snerk*. I liked the offer of his lightsabers, great technique to try to sucker her into trusting him, and I especially liked that she recognised it as such. She's well on her way to being paranoid enough to survive her apprenticeship. I can't wait to see how it all turns out. Somewhat surprised Baras took Karannai back given his 'tools are to be discarded when no longer immediately of use' mentality, but I assume he still has plans for her, or to use her to deal with Rylon and Dellocon and decide her utility after they're dead (compartmentalisation of information after all, she knows about the two of them and his plans regarding them, so he doesn't have to extend the risk of potential breaches beyond the 5 people who currently know). PS: What lightsaber style does Kiarn use? I ask because Erilinn was talking about sweeping style that could be used with a dualsaber back on Korriban (basically Shii-cho, ataru, shien, jar'kai or Juyo) and now he offers her his lightsabers (in an area he knows to be too close quarters for her dualsaber to be of use). I can infer which ones she doesn't use (for example one never allows themselves to be unarmed around a Juyo specialist: their entire combat philosophy is based around causing pain and so is usually mastered by disciplined sociopaths) but inferences of negatives aren't confirmation of positives.

Hey everyone, Comments and now for the story Prompt: Violence is the only option, Weapons of Choice Title: Assault on Grathan’s Estate: Breaking and Entering Perspective: Kaina’zul’anon, Exile from Csilla Word Count: 2,026 Spoilers: Grathan’s estate, mid-level BH Dromund Kaas class story mission Chronology: Immediately after Assault on Grathan’s Estate: Determination

Hey, looks like the thread is picking up again. Welcome back AKHadeed. Comments And now, back to our regularly scheduled prompt (the It Takes Two is coming, it's written but it'll be after these ones, the next one and possibly one after that depending on what I can fit into the next one). Prompt: Ménage à Trois (You keep using that word. I don’t think it means what you think it means) Titles: Assault on Grathan’s Estate: Dark Science Drabbles Perspective: Mako, Roan and Roan respectively Word Counts: 87, 50 and 79 respectively Spoilers: Lord Grathan’s compound Chronology: a few minutes after Assault on Grathan’s Estate: Determination

Firstly, Saber Ward is shared among both classes, so I'm assuming you meant Saber Reflect. In that case, absolutely not! Doing this will destroy what makes the two classes distinct. Saber reflect is the iconic jugg ability, just as predation/transcendence is unique to the marauder (though the Jugg can take a utility that encroaches a little on this). It's also characteristic of the differences in the classes Juggernauts are supposed to be shock troopers, as in moderate-high to high durability with decent DPS. They are meant to be in the middle of the melee, taking hits and shrugging them off. their DCDs are the strongest in the game for precisely that reason. They don't have stealth like shadows/sins and they don't have mid-range abilities like Vanguards/PTs. They only do only one thing and they are incredibly specialised to handle it. Marauders on the other hand are meant to be destroyers with moderate durability and high DPS. Before you complain that Juggs have much higher DPS than Maras, Bant's optimal stats comprehensively disproves that hypothesis, with anni and carnage in the top 3 specs for DPS. They are meant to kill things quickly, and their defences are more evasive than enduring. Part of this is their speed boosts, granted from 2 utilities (on camo, as well as a cleanse, predation and for general in-combat movement) (this includes slows if using PVP utilities) as well as their more often-ignored defences (aka obfuscate/pacify, cop/rebuke and predation/transcendence) The first effectively makes another player (even in full PVP gear) unable to hit you for 6s, the second reduce damage taken (aka past your defences) by 20% and damages your attacker and the third increases your M/R def chance by 10%. Yes, these don't have the same stopping power as a Jugg, but you don't need them. That's not getting into Saber Ward or Undying Rage (which should be saved for 'oh crap' moments). Worst case scenario, (focussed with all DCDs on CD) a mara pops force camo and uses the 4s stealth to LOS them and pop a medpack. If you're having trouble killing Juggs in PVP, I'd suggest getting PVP gear, learn your class abilities, (possibly speccing to combat/carnage as it has the best chance against a Jugg) and then watch them melt in your precision windows. As for 1v1, you're not a Jugg, so don't act like one. Think tactically, what are you trying to achieve, and go for that. Zerging in just plays to the Juggs advantage, and a mara won't win on those terms. As for Focussed Defence/Enraged Defence, as you specifically mentioned, I make sure my cloak of pain/rebuke is up, pop a PVP stim and burn through it (fairly easy with the ataru procs from combat and the DoTs from anni). Once the charges are gone, it can't be used for 1.5-2 minutes, effectively forever in a melee. If they're gearing up for a big DPS burst, use obfuscate/pacify, choke/stasis or intimidating roar/awe to make them delay or waste it. Now, If I was to suggest improvements that keep the mara 'viable' (though we don't really need them) I'd up the utility powers, possibly give Maras a pull to mirror the juggs push and perhaps share the intercede/guardian leap abilities, though the last one is stepping on the Guardian's toes a little. PS - PT/Merc DCDs are similar only in the abilities, there is a whole difference in methodology, abilities and the passives between them (aka into the fray and the AoE stun on on VGs/PTs, the knockback and self-knockback on merc/mandos)

This contains spoilers for the Sith Warrior story (obviously). Most Fanfiction writers are female, so they are more likely to have played a female Warrior their first time around. Betrayal from a spouse is far more intimate and devastating than betrayal from an underling. With an underling, one can execute them, punish them or whatnot without a second thought, but people love their spouses, and its why their betrayal hurts so much more. Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying the players love Quinn (okay maybe some of them do) but their characters do, and that's the lens through which they see the Warrior's story. So he betrays them, tries to kill them and admits he's been spying on them for the 2 years in which they've known each other. It doesn't help that quite a few of them got married on Voss (aka immediately before the transponder station). Imagine getting close to a person, getting married and then on the honeymoon, (s)he tells you (s)he works for your ex-boss tries to kill you. You would feel pretty betrayed too. As for why they are tormenting him? Love and Hatred are two sides of the same emotion and its much easier to flip one to the other than apathy. Just look at families, especially with siblings. Jim Butcher calls it Familial Dementia when a seemingly normal person goes insane around their family, engaging in petty pointless squabbles whose origins stem back decades and are bizarre to watch from the outside. A good example here is BrightEphemera. She has written about 3 warriors, 2 female, one male. The first (can't remember what it was called) details how it shattered the Warriors spirit, leaving her this broken bitter thing for the rest of her days. The second (No Death, Only Wrath) killed him outright and the story for the fiction is largely that of dealing with his ghost (stupid Voss wedding rituals) The third (Sevasht Warwiggins, Spoilers!) is a medium aware male LS pureblood warrior and his struggles with plotholes enforced genre blindness and Vette. This one has Quinn's betrayal barely affect him, and not just because he saw it coming (from all the way back to post-Balmorra).

Hey everyone and look. More people! Welcome JennyFlynn and welcome back H_Weber. Comments This time, I have two stories, one dark and one light. I don't think I need say which is which. Prompt: Bigger is better, Technology Title: Assault on Grathan’s Estate: Determination Perspective: Vette, Twi’lek adventurer Word Count: 2,610 Spoilers: side missions in the Grathan Estate on Dromund Kaas Chronology: a few minutes after Assault on Grathan’s Estate: the War Machine EDIT - Oops, forgot to add the second story before I left this morning. Here it is, incorporating the new prompt (there'll be another, don't worry about that). Feel free to read them first to second or second to first. I believe it works better dramatically if read second to first. As for the original idea, blame Mird. Prompt: Something borrowed, Cleanliness, It Takes Two Title: Shower Perspective: Third Person Word Count: 981 Spoilers: None Chronology: Set after the conclusion of the Consular Alderaan storyline

Tarring everyone with the 'emo' edgelord brush is dumb and pointless. No-one has been going on about stringing him up by his entrails for at least ten pages (or at all, that's hyperbole). If people want to play that way, it's cool. it's their story. You don't have to play the same way if you don't want to, so extend them the same courtesy. If they want to execute Jorgan for gross misconduct/insubordination/treason (perceived or actual), that's their choice. Some people say it's their alliance aka belongs to them entire and everyone in it works for them. Others say that its a collection of people all working towards the same goal. Benevolent or tyrannical, it doesn't matter. What matters is that, as Lana said 'there was no vote, no debate. It just was'. The Commander of the Alliance has the consent of the governed by at least a large majority as per end of C-IX. As can be inferred from this, they expect you to lead them. A part of that is the notion that your word carries weight and to be blunt, why shouldn't it? Yes, Lana and her crew spend up to 5 years arranging your escape, but in the weeks you've been free, you've taken out 36 EE fleet vessels in one shot, handed Arcann his first proper and public defeat on Asylum (in some cases tossing him off the balcony like some uppity pixie and storming off crackling with power) thwarting the best efforts of both him and Vaylinn to catch you (his very own Teutoberger Wald, showing he isn't unstoppable). You've taken down 6 of the most invulnerable fortress space stations in the galaxy and all around terrified him to the point where he's taking desperate moves to find and stop you, including killing half of his elite force adept forces and wiping out 6 planets (the 5 in C-X and Bothawui). You've built a unified task force (and small navy) from disparate factions, set up a massive smuggling network, arranged cells across the galaxy, established a temple of force users both light and dark and even started up an R&D department that is already beginning to unravel the technical superiority of the Eternal Empire. To top this off, you're a war hero from the great war as well as probably being a veteran from the Dread War, Revanite Rebellion and solved a whole slew of planetary crises on worlds ranging from Alderaan to Ziost. So you're not some newb fresh from the academy and are worthy of their support/obedience. Someone mentioned the Commander's a figurehead, and they're not quite right. The Commander is a beacon of hope for a galaxy without Arcann and his Eternal Empire. Now, let's talk about Jorgan and to a lesser extent Kaliyo. Jorgan isn't really command material. He's stubborn, proud, egotistical and hot-headed. Until the presumed death of the trooper, Jorgan has not commanded a squad. He has been an XO in multiple squads (Deadeyes, the one where he teamed up with Iresso and possibly Havoc) but never a CO. As an officer, he's grumpy, pointlessly argumentative and doesn't engender any camaraderie with those under his command (remember how much of an @ss he is on Ord Mantell?) someone claimed that the trooper's acheivements don't count because they were following Garza's orders. By the same reasoning, neither do Jorgans, for while it wasn't Garza, it was another general. Do recall he is just a major, and for as long as he serves the Republic, he is legally required to obey the orders from his superior officer in Specforce. Ironically, the only decision he makes on his own volition is to go AWOL, deliberately disobeying orders and attacking a superpower with whom the Republic is not at war. For the record, deliberate attacks on citizens and property of neutral states, as the EE is to the Republic at this point in time, is a War Crime. I don't think I need to go into Kaliyo's faults and flaws (we don't have all year). Suffice it to say, she is unpredictable and erratic but scarily competent despite or perhaps because of it. Now, with all that out of the way, the operation of C-XII. First of all, I am assuming Jorgan is here as an ally, not a minion. This isn't Jorgan's op. it isn't his intel, there are assets in play that don't report to him, overall command and supplies are coming from the alliance and so on and so forth. This is the alliance's op. Jorgan has agreed to be in it, by virtue that he is still in the planning conversation (Lana and Theron would have cut him out if he refused as part of compartmentalisation of information). In my playthough and a few others, Jorgan's job was to be a distraction, luring Zakuul forces away from the spire and keeping them busy while Kaliyo does her thing. Ideally, the Commander would have been with her, but they are unavailable (though why we couldn't send anyone else is questionable. After all, a shuttle to Zakuul takes the same time whether it carried the Commander or IDK... Pierce. At this point, they (Lana, Theron, Senya [maybe Koth], Kaliyo and Jorgan) made a conscious decision to proceed without the Commander. They could have waited, or called it off. Jorgan has a job of creating a distraction, luring Zakuul forces away from the spire to lessen the numbers Kaliyo has to avoid. that's his role in the op. Later on, the Commander returns, and control over the op devolves back to them by virtue of being in overall command. Remember, no matter how you run your alliance in operations, you need a clear chain of command. To illustrate what I'm getting at, go PUG the new warzone without any premades. Since pretty much everyone doesn't know what they're doing, it largely devolves into team deathmatch at mid with maybe one or two trying objectives. As such, victory is largely random. Now go try in a premade. Chances are, that premade will win. now at long last, the crux of the issue. Remember, we're assuming grumpy-cat's an ally here, not an underling. Jorgan, 'the loyal soldier' does 2 things wrong. First, he outright outright denies your authority as commander. "It's not your call." Bull, it absolutely is your call, its your op. He's been invited into it. You made a command decision: don't go in after Kaliyo, wait until we kno more. Now, Jorgan is on the ground and might have intel you don't possess, but he doesn't share it. He doesn't propose a new plan or try to reason with you. He straight out tries to usurp your authority. Hells, even Koth who is the poster boy for fandom hate ATM (preachy judgemental hypocrite who hero-worships the biggest mass murderer in the galaxy) doesn't raise hell over the spire until after the mission. He doesn't abandon your getaway ship to go save that power plant. If Jorgan raised objections but did as told, then afterwards chews out the Commander in his/her quarters post debrief, that's a different matter. Jorgan 'the loyal soldier' defies the chain of command for no reason other than being butt-hurt that you didn't choose his squad for the task. Next up, he abandons his post. Jorgan's job is to create a distraction so Kaliyo can do her thing. As such, he's going to have a lot of aggro bearing down on him. By charging in blind like Don Quixote, he and Havoc are bringing all that aggro down on Kaliyo's position. Kaliyo is a capable insurrectionist. She's not some damsel in need of rescuing. As far as I could tell, the only reason she drops the call is because she engages in a firefight and thus is busy. So, when Jorgan comes crashing in, bringing who knows how many knights on his tail, he botches the op. Kaliyo can't do her thing while fighting a whole planet: to survive, she'll have to get out of there and the alliance loses its window to take down Gemini. All because Jorgan 'the loyal soldier' can't follow orders. Now, the consequences. There have to be consequences for what he does. Even if you believe the alliance is made op of disparate allies, Jorgan's just proved he's a liability. He will botch your operations because he feels like it. You cannot trust him on any others, because he will do the same thing again and again, because he knows best. For those playing a DS Sith, they want to kill him. That's not because they're unstable (really Eanelinia, ad hominem attacks? I expected better from you) but because their characters follow Sith doctrine. There is a whole lesson on Korriban devoted to teaching that you cast aside liabilities in the Warrior storyline (second cage, the failed Sith champion). That's cool. it's their character and their story. For others, they don't necessarily want him dead but certainly disciplined, maybe even out of the alliance. Hells, even a fem trooper would take him to task over this. He just cost the whole alliance the eternal fleet. Every death caused by them is on his head. PS For the person claiming we lose the best demo team in the galaxy. Bull, IMP players have Major Pierce. Give me a call when Grumpy-cat cracks the Bastion without the trooper and 3 divisions of elite troopers, having personally assembled all the pieces needed for victory. EDIT - Jorgan wasn't disobeying an unlawful order, you didn't command him to jump off the spire. You told him to follow his standing orders and that you are 'not doing anything until (you) know more. As for not following someone because they're not there. a general's place isn't on the battlefield. if you're seriously suggesting you won't follow anyone's orders because they're not there in person, perhaps you should reconsider rejoining the armed forces. You're seriously telling us that you would refuse lawful orders simply because your general was incapacitated at some point. Again, I'll state that they could have called off the operation, subbed out the outlander for another person(s) but they didn't. They chose to go in without altering the plan, and that they includes your boy Jorgan. The Outlander wasn't off on a spa day, they were taking advantage of a unique opportunity that could turn the tide of the battle. Don't blame us for our advisors' incompetence and don't blame us for Jorgan's unprofessionalism.

Porsa regularly inboxes Eric Musco's account with suggestions for how to best dress the upcoming male companions in KotFE. Chapter 10 wasn't a bug, it was her doing. oh sorry, it has to be a lie. uh, one moment... Porsa is actually Microsoft's Tay programme, only reset and this time released into a world of Tumblr and the SWTOR forum.

^^ this, but also from a story point of view. A token lvl 60 is just a veteran of the war. They didn't do the class stories, Makeb, the Dread War, the Czerka acquisition, the Revanite Rebellion or the destruction of Ziost. As such, they don't deserve the titles from them, the same way someone who dresses up as a Veteran is met with derision and scorn. Did they do noteworthy things in the war? possibly, but they are not included in the game and therefore not counted. according to the game, your character has not done anything to be worthy of the Master or Darth honorifics (though neither really should be given to darksiders/lightsiders respectively for lore reasons)

Whoa, check your privilege dude. FPs, Tactical and especially HM FPs are not for self-discovery. That's what solo play is for. Hells, some Tactical FPs have solo options with the wonder droid largely for that purpose. It is a douche move of the highest order to insist that some stranger has to pay for your learning experience (which you have outright stated in the above quote.) Furthermore, you've completely missed the distinction between newb and noob. A newb is a newbie, someone who doesn't know the game or its mechanics but is willing to learn. I actually enjoy playing with these guys, especially on my Operative as they sometimes ask questions in the FP. A noob on the other hand is someone who wilfully doesn't want to learn and can be aggressive when people point out what they're doing wrong (no not what they could be doing better, outright wrong, as in ninjaing or chainpulling). These people get to go on my ignore list. Now, I'm going to repeat what a few people have already said here and that I'm cool with people asking questions about their spec and I'm usually happy to explain things to them (typically how aggro works for tanks ). Likewise, If I see someone with the wrong stance on (based off their procs) I'll send them a whisper explaining which one to use and why. I'll post tactics for boss fights and advise ways we can stealth through stuff. Hey, I sit through and do bonuses on my 65s when there are sub-65s or if people ask. So it's not that newbs don't have the availability for instruction. I say this as someone who has just levelled an Operative to 65 and is at 43 with a Sage exclusively via FPs (and warzones) on Progenitor or in the 4 years I've been on this game, I've never seen anyone kick a noob as soon as they load in. I've see people leave the group sure, hells I've done so myself on Satur.day when we got a replacement mando healer I know to be a rude noob (and somehow escaped the ignore list). I've seen people kicked for DC'ing for more than 5 mins, I've seen people drop group in the middle of the boss fight or after a wipe. I've seen some hilariously awful ideas tried ("Everyone, let's all huddle up under the firing rockets in the final boss on Cademimu so I can AoE heal us! Come on Feldraeth you incredible god among men, why aren't you coming: don't you like heals? Hey, why is everyone but you dead?"). I've seen basic attack spamming DPS, DPS queued as tanks and healers, had arrogant tanks who insist they know everything about tanking (and then guard the healer /facepalm) and flighty healers who shriek whenever a trash mob pokes them at the start of the fight (hey, when I'm not on my Mara, it can take a little time to applying dots before I burst). My point in this is that a lot of these people (bar the tank, he was a knob) were new and unaccustomed to the game. No-one demanded they be kicked, some 'elites' (as you put it) chose to leave, but that's their call. To illustrate my point, I shall give an example. Last night, I was on my 216/220 geared Fury Mara doing Tac Athiss. We had a 65 Veng Jug, who knew what he was doing, a 43 deception sin and a 65 corruption sorc. For the tomb section, the Sin was in dark charge. For the open-air part, we fought through practically every mob because the sin wasn't stealthing and using mind maze. For the Beast of VC, we wiped once because the Sin got tossed off into the lower area and chain pulled everyone on his way back up. All of these are Newb mistakes: they shouldn't really be going on in a FP, but the beast throw is understandable. After explaining the cave strat (and using it), we got through. Now the sorc on the other hand, he was the other reason why we pulled everything in the open air, using lightning storm on mobs when we weren't in combat. He could heal, was heal specced (I saw enough to the wandering mend balls to know that) and yet we had deaths in trash fights (namely the sin). At one point in the fight with the beast, I got caught in the wall and after the fight (boss was still in melee range, so less of a problem) asked him to come over and extricate me. He didn't, and after a minute, I gave up waiting for him and /stucked. poof, back to the start of the open air. Annoying but fine, I have rocket boots, blade blitz and predation for this. Now, I get back, go round the corner, into the room with the 2 champion mobs and Yoink extricate over to the sorc, dangerously close to one of the champs (without camo, I would've pulled it). Anyway, onto the 'fun' part. we fight every champion mob, not because the sin can't mez (he eventually did mez the stars I pointed out for him) but because the sorc decided 3 champs was a good target for a lightning storm. We wipe. The Jug, who has been patient up till now, proceeds to lose it, demanding *** was going on. Healer tells him to FU and that he's (healer) really drunk. At this the sin drops group. I was tempted to as well, but held in there, pulling out Jaesa. Here, I would've started a kick, but the sorc was the leader, and I've been in situations with an aggressive and increasingly hostile leader removed anyone who tried to kick them before the kick went through.Now down our stealther, we clear the rooms slowly, with the knob continuing to chainpull. Btw, chainpulling is a douche move too unless cleared with the group Said 'leader' only decided to queue us just before the prophet fight, and so we lose my Jaesa-tank when a sniper ports in a quarter of the way in. Irritating but we don't need a tank for this. Anyway, the sorc then started demanding that the sniper who ported in as we were fighting the prophet apologise for being 'late'. If I hadn't been running around avoiding the fire (guess who had the debuff) I'd have called him out on that crap. when the sorc got the debuff, I whispered an apology to the sniper because no-one deserves to be cussed out for doing the right thing and ticking the 'join an in-progress FP' box. Anyway, we finish and say our goodbyes. I bring this up to illustrate the difference between a newb and noob. The Newb made earnest mistakes, but learnt from them. Now some of them he should have already known, like the mind maze ability. The noob however, knew exactly what he was doing was a dick-move and caused 2 wipes from it.

Yes yes, I know. Twice in one day will glut the thread but it's now technically tomorrow. Besides, I couldn't resist the challenge for this prompt. So, without further ado... here's 300 (words, not spartans) Prompts: Good Things come in Small Packages Title: Assault on Grathan’s Estate: the War Machine Perspective: Roan, Kid Sith Word Count 100 exactly Spoilers: DK Grathan estate, ‘The War Machine’ mission area Prompt: Good Things come in Small Packages, Dialogue Title: The Jedi’s summons Perspective: Dr Tharan Cedrax, Exo-technologist supreme Spoiler: Republic Tatooine planetary quest Word Count: 100 Prompts: Good Things come in Small Packages Title: Fallout Perspective: Malavai Quinn, Captain First Class Word Count: 100 Spoilers: None (as a standalone without the context) Chronology: The morning after A Quiet Night In

Hey everyone, I'm back, shortly before the prompt. Prompt: Tools of the Trade, Cross Purposes, Title: Best Laid Plans Perspective: Mako, the Bounty Hunter’s Daughter Word Count: 2,067 Spoilers: general mid- Kaas planetary storyline

Innocence, ignorance and a poor understanding of how the empire operates. Others have described him as 'playing at being Sith', and they're not wrong. This character shows up in the SFWC so there may be some spoilers for people who read that. Okay, first of all, my warrior is 9-10 as of act I and 14-15 as of Ziost and KotFE. He was born with immense personal power and thus taken from his family and raised on Korriban by Overseer Ragate. There she resentfully instilled Sith virtues: namely self-reliance. Add into this a force-augmented sight that identifies hostile forces as red silhouettes, neutral as yellow and allied as blue or green (which he has been taught to never lower as it provides additional advantages over normal eye-sight) and he quite literally sees the world through a filter so intense he doesn't even understand what is truly going on around him. Consequently, he has grown up to be a very lonely little boy, who effectively lives in his own world. Enter Vette, the only person who so far has treated him as more than a pawn, burden or weapon. Unsurprisingly, he imprints on her as an big sister mentor figure, and does his best to keep her healthy, happy and safe. She introduces him to stuff like the movie, a story about a powerful outsider with a vastly different worldview. Couple this with liberating LS Jaesa (non-violently, else he would kill her) from her evil master and you get stuff like SW Taris (aka Gotta catch’em all, including the planetary storyline). Ironically, if any of the Jedi in act I weren't so far up their own behinds they could easily vanquish him by sitting down, not engaging and talking to him Instead, they treat him as a threat, turn hostile and that's that. After Nomen Karr, it's too late: he believes the Jedi to be hypocrites (6/7 of those he's met are) and that the Sith are right in wanting to wipe them out. That’s not to say he is pure LSV, though most of his dark side choices from act I also stem from fear over losing Vette (eg burning himself using force lightning untrained when fighting someone he believes has murdered Vette) or flat out innocence and ignorance (for example, he lets Flimress take Renata Alde to Duke Kendoh because he doesn't understand Kendoh’s foul intentions). As with most others in this thread, he is pro-empire, though mainly because he’s been told (and believes, because why would Ragate and all the other overseers lie?) it is the best thing for the galaxy. He’s been made to read (and can recite) scripture from political philosophers and Sith lords, though his understanding is limited. He doesn’t really have strong opinions about slavery because it has ‘always been there’ and is the ‘rightful’ place of people who have no power. He gets upset by Imperials who abuse their authority, as he believes it is derived from Sith like him and shouldn’t be used for their benefit. Conversely, he thinks that cruelty without a clear goal is pointless, though the reason why something is cruel may have to be pointed out to him. He has issues with mercy, not because he doesn't wish to harm others but because once an opponent is unconscious or surrenders, they no longer appear as 'red' and he loses interest in them. Their fates typically depend on whoever his companion is at the time. As for racism, well; he is racist, when he remembers he's supposed to be and actually checks what race the people he's talking to are. Otherwise he assumes human. as for the KotFE stuff, he's one of my 2 outlanders (the only one with Valkie in his head though) and he understands what Vaylinn goes through way better than everyone else. He's used Valkie's power twice, once to save Lana (who he likes because she once called him 'the closest thing the Empire has to a soul') and again to save the other outlander, who'd been stabbed by Arcann on Asylum.

So last night I was after a quick easy FP run to fill out [Weekly] searching for allies and a queue popped. There was a lvl 38 sin, lvl mid 40s Jugg, my 63 Lethality Op and a 15 Merc, all DPS and I don't recognise anyone by name (odd since I largely levelled my op through FPs trying to get the KDY title). Okay, so the merc might become a problem but we can always carry or kick him. I click and we zone in. It's Foundry. Already I foresee us chugging through mob after mob of easily avoided chain-pulls with everyone demanding offheals (MDPS can get so whiny at times ). As soon as I zone in, the two Sith drop out. Okay, so much for that. I'm about to do the same thing when I notice the merc is wearing Legacy SI gear, (the endgame gear from around the time of Makeb), and so I stay in and see how we go. Merc reveals it's her (toon is female) first time, but she has a JK main, and I recognise the guy from PVP (and he is a total beast). Anyway, so we go through watching the cutscenes (Jeff Bennett ftw) and aside molten burst on the first boss, there are no deaths at all (my fault, I didn't explain the mechanics because 'everyone' knows them by now). No new people join despite being queues so we use Mako and Kaliyo for the rest. we clear it main and bonus and I now have this beast of a PVPer on my friend list So in short, that lvl 15 nub you snub might turn out to be a boss.

Hey everyone, Comments Prompt: Missing You, Serendipity, Technology, House of X Title: Partnerships Perspective: Kaina’zul’anon, exile from Csilla Word Count: 3,630 Spoilers: middle of Dromund Kaas Bounty hunter story line Chronology: A few hours after Interviews in the Rain

Hey Shadowsjudgement, I have a Fury Mara and you really can use it to clear all bosses in SM and HM ops (assuming 216-220). Mechanics wise, it is simple, intuitive and fun. Your main goal is to buff yourself for one big crit strike followed by your most damaging abilities, akin to Combat, albeit with precision/gore being built into Raging Burst/Smash. It's unusual to run out of rage at any point (unless you use both Berzerk and Battering assault in the same phase) and you can easily switch between AoE and single target rotations by changing a button (Raging Burst or Smash respectively). You can cross the 4-10m zone faster than any other DPS via obliterate, which is a part of your rotation granting an auto-crit to your biggest hitting power The only two downsides are a lower theorycrafted DPS and that you may need a little more situational awareness. Straight theorycrafting puts Fury as second worst DS in the game, losing out to Marksman, though only by 300DPS in most cases [information garnered from Bant's optimal stats for 224 rating found (URL=http://www.swtor.com/community/showthread.php?t=847112]here[/url]]). As for awareness, Obliterate can effectively root you in the boss' AoE attacks, but Fury is easily the best for AoE (contrasting with Annihilation and Combat). Likewise some bosses can't be leapt to, which means most of your rotation is bunk (mainly talking about the Terror from Beyond here: you can Obliterate the tentacles & Hypergate anomalies, but not the boss itself)) In short, you won't do as much single target damage as the other specs (according to theorycrafting, players make a huge difference) but you are best suited for Add burning and being able to steadily provide Bloodthirst (using Frenzy as Berzerk is a half of your resource gathering abilities and is used in the rotation).

Wow, potent. Also, Spoilers for KotFE.

Hey everyone, I'm back (Yes yes, I know I posted once this week already, but when has that stopped me before) Comments None, no new stories between Friday and today (Sunday) so instead Replies Prompt: Out of Time, Health, Worlds Colliding Title: The Black Talon: Epilogue Perspective: Grandmaster Satele Shan Word Count: 2,698 Spoilers: end of Black Talon flashpoint

uh yeah does everyone remember how Mako used to be 14 in the Beta? They corrected that one pretty quickly. Now she's born in 3660 BBY, same as Torian. Given how both of their romances start in act II or 3642 (Mako shoots the hunter down all through act I to the point where him hitting on her is creepy if not outright sexual harrassment of a coworker), they are both 17-18 when they start. As for Nadia's apparent age... the 22 figure comes from the book of lies, the same one that states Quinn is 47 and Talos is in his late 20s. For a more in universe reason, perhaps Sarkhai is closer to or more swiftly orbits its sun than the Coruscant (the galactic standard) and thus their year is equivalent to 9 months. Factoring her age down to 75% would put her in the 16.5 age range. Hence you can have the whole innocent teenager thing and have her be over 18 (same with Hal Jordan and Arisia)... or you could play your Jedi as a Jedi and not date your student, or play a female consular and skip the whole issue (and get a better VA than a valiumed up Nolan North)

Hey everyone, here's a new story, just in time before the prompt changes Comments Prompt: Theatre, Slice of Life, ... Like No One's Watching Title: A Quiet Night in Perspective: Vette, Twi’lek adventurer Word Count: 1,455 Spoilers: None Chronology: thirty minutes after A Fly on the Wall Author Notes

According to the Third edition of the Dungeons and Dragons Player Handbook, 'evil implies hurting oppressing and killing others. Some evil creatures simply have no compassion for others and kill without qualm if doing so is convenient. Others actively pursue evil, killing for sport or out of duty to some evil deity or master.' Conversely, 'Good implies altruism, respect for life and a concern for the dignity of sentient beings. Good characters make personal sacrifices to help others. From these admittedly loose definitions, it is clear that the culture of the Jedi is objectively good, and the culture of the Sith is objectively evil. The Sith on the whole have a Spencerian power fantasy as their main cultural force, with elements of an outdated caste system, oppression of non-humans (near-human and genuinely alien). In short, their culture exists to enable absolute freedom for the few who rise to the top. Conversely, The Jedi are characterised by service and compassion. This is best seen through Renata Agethon [sp?] (the little girl quest giver in Coruscant's Justicar district) who states that it is common belief that a Jedi will appear when a child suffers or needs help. The next real question is Why? Why do the Jedi and Sith conform to such archetypes. The Doylian reasoning that they are the heroes and villains of the movies comes to mind, but I shall only use Watsonian (for more information, follow the same link as Doylian) reasoning from here on out. The answer stems from their ideology. The Jedi believe that the force is both a living entity and a unifying presence that holds the galaxy together. They treat it as an ally more than a weapon, refraining from its use (a Jedi uses the Force for knowledge and defence. Never for attack *cough Telekinetics Sages cough*) and allow it to guide their actions. This reverence for life extends to the physical world also, as helping and saving others aids the force, while all killing strengthens the dark side. As of such, a Jedi should only seek to kill if there is no other choice, and there is a greater net gain of life preserved. As such, you see Obi Wan creeping around the first Death Star avoiding battle wherever possible and later offer up his life to buy Han, Chewie, Luke and Leia time to escape. The Sith believe the force is a beast of burden, to be broken and mastered, and from this ideology springs the dark side. It is a corruption of the force simply due to the way it is treated. Jedi (Yoda & Obi Wan in Empire) say that strong dark emotions like fear, anger, greed, pride, jealousy, aggression and hate lead to the dark side, though it is more likely that all forms of strong emotion will do it, as they create 'ripples' in the force that can be sensed by others. Likewise, they spread this need for control (yes a paradox, but you must have chains to be able to break them) to every aspect of their lives. A good example (lore tight but not cannon due to its nature) is Mirdthestrill's She who hunts monsters: An assassin's tale, a fan-fiction that portrays a Sith's time at the academy with far more grace than the 3-4 hours players spend there (in real-time). It should be noted that simply because the Jedi are good and Sith evil doesn't make them palatable or unpalatable. For example, many decry the Jedi practice of recrutiing by taking infants as evil, and from a pro-freedom and choice society such as ours (Western Europe and Northern America to name a section), it is wrong. Likewise, there are some aspects of the Sith that people like, such as the drive for freedom from restriction (though that may fall into power fantasy). Furthermore, simply because a culture is one thing does not mean that all of its adherents are that thing. For example, Jun Seros certainly does not act in a goodly manner, and neither does Nomen Kar. Both have others killed for their goals, literally and figuratively. Conversely, Darth Marr (a title only gained through a complete understanding and mastery of the dark side) and Lana Beniko act in a pragmatic manner, sublimating their right to absolute freedom for the good of the empire. It is telling however, that the same two examples are trotted out each time, as there are few "good" Sith, with the majority (Praven, Sajar etc) being converted to the Jedi and even then, those two are more a heroic neutral than actually good. Perhaps a more telling example is Lord Hargrev from the oricon planetary questline. He is a sadist, revelling in sowing fear and pain among others, yet when he views the dread masters, he has a crisis of conscience and possibly redeems himself when he is given leave to destroy the twisted knowledge of the Dread Masters. so, to conclude (TL:DR) Good and evil have definitions, Sith are objectively evil and Jedi are objectively good. Their ideologies and applications mark them as such. That doesn't make either one nice. Furthermore, not everyone who adheres to a culture follows it properly. There are evil Jedi. Although the majority of Sith are evil, there are few neutral Sith with possibly an exception that proves the rule.

Hey again, I'm back and with another start to a multi-parter. (maybe I should focus on finishing some of the others first) Prompt: House of Something Title: Assault on Grathan’s Estate: The wall Perspective: Vette, Twi’lek adventurer Word Count:1,722 Spoilers: Lord Grathan’s estate side quests

Uh, Tulak Hord wasn't in that piece... that's Ghost! Marr. Think about it for a sec, the Ghost's armour is described as having spikes Tulak Hord's armour, while TH's doesn't have any, Marr's looks like he's in a shoulders race with Anduin Lothar (with a Satele for scale). As for the title, Marr inherited the title 'Lord of Hate' because he's TH's successor (possibly even a descendent IIRC from Fountain of Desire) Lastly, Destin would've freaked out if a strange ghost appeared in front of him, but what about his grandfather? Blast, you've tricked me into posting... well then here are my thoughts Lana/Balkar and the warrior crew: started off a bit like Aladdin with the chase (not a bad thing, mind) and then got better with the inclusion of C9 and the warrior's crew. Also, Acina's a cow, (can't wait to reclaim my empire with my SW, or y'know, watch her get Lia-stomped after 5 years [it's not like there's a precedent *Cough* Saresh *Cough*]) Theron storyline - really like the interactions, the paranoia and the mind games. just one problem... . I know it made perfect sense from a narrative point of view and it was a triumph for the character to subvert her reconstituted conditioning and everything but Aww, I enjoy watching her stoicly snark her way through stuff. She's like Quinn, without all the betrayals (okay, fine. most of the betrayals). and has a sense of humour. You couldn't even spare her replacement goldfish (Aka, Temple) could you... you monster XP As for the kids, I suspect Sephna's a reincarnated Tulak Hord. It's going to be hilarious after the 5 yr time skip, when the full power of a Lord of Hate is trapped in an adorable little girl (not that I know anything about that #shamelessselfpromotion) . Or I could be totally wrong and she's normal for a three year old, that works too.

we do now I've only read the first part so far (like what I've read so far, but not really enough to get a good feel for it, seems good though) but I already have a big point to make. Please leave a line between paragraphs, these forums don't do indents, so your story comes across as a wall of text. By leaving a line, you break the wall up, and make your story so much easier to read. Thanks in advance

Yes, it was possible to kill characters back in beta, though enough people whined because they could kill their healer and then... *shock, gasp* they didn't have a healer any more! This was before a Dev had the bright idea to give the ship droids the ability to be healer companions, so the baby went with the bathwater. I can get why people want to kill Skadge and have done Vik on pretty much every playthrough thus far, but Ashara? Future!Nox can really show off his b@stard streak in tormenting her with polite kindness, and if you romance her, he's effectively forcing Kalatosh Zavros, one of the spirits bound to him, to watch him sh@g his granddaughter (and until recently, with the knowledge that she'd be his last descendent). (now do you see why my Imperius is female? this game gets really dark when you think about things) As for the post. My hunter wouldn't kill skadge... she'd let him come on board, then jet boost his fat @rse into the holding cell, get Mako to remotely seal it the moment he's in, and then check with all the exchange bosses to see who'll pay the most for his blubbery hide. She is a bounty hunter, after all. it's just business.