Happy Life Day!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mz550T3QeAo

Time to scare you all!  FEAR ME!  MWAHAHAHAHA!

Recap: Mustafar and the Decision

John further his descent into the Dark Side, acquiring more power from his new lord Revan and informing everyone what his goals are (Peter, you should tell Sarah at some point OOC).  John was then picked up by storm troopers and, with the rest of the team, sent to the Star Destroyer Stormhawk to relax for the days before the operation.  Both Gorgon and John held meetings with Moff Vicious, and the team talked with the various parties on the ship, including Lily'Na, Telos, and each other.  Eventually, the operation to kill General Grevious and liberate Mustafar had begun.

Taking along an exhausted (unknown exactly why) Telos and a recently recovered Lt. Victor Farsius, the Black Mac began prepartions, only to see the partner Star Destroyer destroyed via an ionic cannon and starfighters.  The team sucessfully landed onto Mustafar, rigged defenses to help the Empire, and killed a bunch roger roger droids, before running into a group of Sith.  After some debate, the teams teamed up together to defeat Grevious; the Sith wanted him dead due to dead Sith and due to logistics. 

Meanwhile, Gorgon found that the ionic cannon was threatening to fire upon the Stormhawk.  Gorgon and Farsius went to the Cannon control room, found the 2nd in Command, a Genosis Big Engineer, killed him and deactivated the cannon.  The rest of the team fought Grevious, who killed two Sith Padawans, but was otherwise too not bad to take care off.

The Sith then asked the Jedi to join them in their presumably HQ, under the influence of Darth Chaos, aka Palinril.  Moff Argas Vicious also reminded the team to come back to the Stormhawk to receive their pardons.  Now the players have a decision to make: Who should they trust?

Remember

Today's the Day....

General Grievous hopes you have a rather unpleasant death on his birthday!  Have a nice day!

Preview: Mustafar

Last in the year for this preview series....

Planet: Mustafar

• Location: Outer Rim (One of these days I'll send you somewhere else, I swear!)
• 3rd Planet in Mustafar system, one sun (Priate)
• Gravity Normal
• About 1/3rd of Size of Earth for Comparison Sake

• Climate: As a young planet between two gas giants, the climate is predictably hot and the landscape barren, with many lava rivers running throughout the planet.  Somehow it's breathable.
• % of Surface Water: 0%.
• % of Surface Lava: 35%
• % of Someone Falling Into Lava somepoint in the next session: 100%

• Current Population: Supposedly about 20,000
• Current Species: Mustafarians.
• What?
• Mustafarians.
• WTF?
• Mustafarians: Hard-shelled creatures with cyper enchancements, can be long and tall or short or stocky, long trunk like noses and big eyes.  Focused on making a living via mining.  Do not usually leave the planet.  
• Oh.  Ok.  Fine.  Sure.  (......)

• Brief History: Formally a lush green planet that was used as one of many Jedi training areas.  During the new Sith Wars (Led by Exar Kun and Ulic Qel Droma), a huge battle between Sith and Jedi unleashed so much force that one of the gas planets moved closer to the planet (really), thus creating the current conditions.  After being forgotten for hundreds of years (during which all civilization/cities were destroyed via volcanic eruptions) it was discovered by the Techno Union, a new powerful trading organization.  The Techno Union supported the Separatists, helping build many of the ships used, with many using the various minerals and metals found on Mustafar.  After the Separatist Conflict, the Techno Union was dissolved, and production on the planet was thought to very small due to destruction of mny of the facilities during the last battle.  Reports have said though that are signs of production increasing.

• Trivia: Mustafar is Arabic for Chosen One.  Nice touch Lucas.  Does that count as subtle?
• Was originally designed to look like Lucas Idea of Hell.  Huh.

Comparison: The Code of the Sith vs. Code of the Jedi

The Code of the Jedi before Episode IV, a New Hope:

There is no emotion, there is peace. 
There is no ignorance, there is knowledge. 
There is no passion, there is serenity. 
There is no chaos, there is harmony. 
There is no death, there is the Force.

The Code of the Sith: 

Peace is a lie. There is only passion. 
Through passion, I gain strength. 
Through strength, I gain power. 
Through power, I gain victory. 
Through victory, my chains are broken. 
The Force shall set me free.

And The Code of the New Jedi Order, Founded by Luke Skywalker after Episode VI:

Jedi are the guardians of peace in the galaxy.
Jedi use their powers to defend and to protect. 
Jedi respect all life, in any form. 
Jedi serve others rather than ruling over them, for the good of the galaxy. 
Jedi seek to improve themselves through knowledge and training.

 Hate to say it, but the Code of the Sith?  Damn does it make sense on a personal level.  Not so much from an organization standpoint (the 2nd Jedi Code wins on that front).  The original Jedi Code, of course, works from a religious/self-discipline code but as a mantra for an organization?  While it does harp on the basics, it leave much to be desired.  We also learn from these codes that Luke is still not the most eloquent speaker around.

Recap: Korriban

Arriving in Korriban, the team headed into an abandoned mining town whose inhabitants were wiped out by a mixture of monsters and Sith.  Heading into a large triangular building, the group fought some Hssiss, defeating them rather easily.  The group then headed into the Valley of the Sith Lords, where the mercenaries had conveniently crashed.  John and Ayla went forward, being ambushed by Doji Wacao and Wolf.  Instead of going after them by themselves, the two teamed up and went after Wolf, entering the Tomb of the Sith Lord Revan.  Revan, after some failed conversation, attacked Ayla with a possessed Wolf, and Doji Wacao at John; both won.  He then manupilated the two to fight each other; Ayla figured out the trick, but John did not.  By the time John did figure it out, it was just about too late.  Sacrificing himself so that Ayla could escape the tomb, John entered Revan's tomb and started to go down the slippery road of the Dark Side....

Meanwhile Atty and Grogon headed to the ship to get the parts they needed.  There Atty was defeated by Ponce De Leon, a shapeshifter with a grudge aganist Gorgon. De Leon then defeated Lt. Farsius and headed into ambush position, while Chewroc was defeated by Gorgon and No Personality Telos.  De Leon, portraying Farsius, killed Chewroc and knocked out Telos before being killed by Gorgon, who had helped wipe out his entire city during the Separatist Conflict.  Acquiring the parts the team needed, they put Farsius in the Balta Tank and waited for Ayla...

When they were ambushed by a rather too prepared Moff Argas Vicious, not to be confused with Lt. Farsius (sigh).  Vicious promised no harm to the group, and gave an offer the team could not refuse: help Vicious eliminate the revived Separatist Leader General Grevious, and the team would be allowed its freedom.  The team agreed, and flying on Vicious's Star Destroyer Stormhawk heads to Mustafar. 

The team though will soon have to make a decision that will change the scope of the game.....with all the tam has gone through, can the team really trust themselves, their allies?  Or, can the only person they can trust...is their worse foe?

Preview: Korriban

Baisc Facts time...

Planet: Korriban

• Location: Part of the Outer Rim
• Number of Moons: 7
• Is Only Planet of system
• Day is slightly longer than Standard (28 hours)
• Size of planet is about 33% larger than Earth

• Climate: Cold, Windy, almost unlivable.  All desert.
• Visual Description of Planet: Red, Dusty Planet. Not fun.
• Gravity: About 40% heavier than Earth. 

• Current Population: 0.  Forgotten by most of the galaxy.
• Historical Populations: At time of Sith Empire, up to 10 billion; during Jedi Civil War, couple thousand (was 4000 years ago).
• Major Import: None (It's a dead planet)
• Major Export: None. (See Above)

• Current Native Species: None. (see above, above)
• Historical Native Species: Sith (Red Skinned Near-Humans).
• Current Creatures Living there: 
• Korriban zombies: Undead created from Sith Magic from native Sith originally, expended to other species.  Are Guardians of the Valley of the Sith Lords.
• Shyracks: Eyeless bats with vicious pointy teeth.  
• Tuk'Ata: Red eyed Giant (big as people) blue skinned wolves with poisonous teeth and claws.  Called Sith Hounds.
• Hssiss: Human Sized Lizards with Dark Side Poison.  Nearly impossible to recover from.

• Basic History: After the 2nd Great Schism, the Dark Jedi who were exiled landed on Korriban, homeland of the Sith, a war clan based society with inherently felt the call to the dark side.  The Dark Jedi became the Masters of the sith, uniting them one leader; the two groups would eventually mingle so much that the two groups merge to form a new Sith, now primarily Dark Side Jedi and other such creatures.  Was used as a major base during the Sith Empire Expansion, during the Great Jedi Hunt of 4000 years most Sith were killed off and Korriban was abandoned.  During the 4th Great Schism of 1000 years, Korriban was not used as a resource to either side.  It has no real trade goods, no valuable minerals, and is not on any major trading routes.  It is now a dead planet.  As the planet is the homeworld of the Sith, the various Sith Lords would come to be buried in the Valley of the Sith Lords.  The planet still maintains a natural attraction to the dark side, and many of the animals here still use that force. In addition, rumors of zombies and ghosts haunt this world.  Occasionally, a treasure hunter looks for Korriban for the legendary Sith Treasures.  They never return.

• Trivia of the Day: Korriban is a derivative of Korban, which means Sacrifice in Hebrew.  I wonder if that is relevant or not....

A Small Timeline of the Sith

The force has been around for as long as the universe has existed, but the Jedi Order has only been around for about 26,000 years, the Sith as an organization 7000.  However, Jedi who have turned have been around just as long as the Jedi themselves.  This post will be a small time line of all the Sith excursions that have occurred in the galaxy.....so far.....

Recap: The Beginning of the End (or this Year)

After escaping from Bestine and losing Boba Fett, the team, on 2 landspeeders and a Bantha, arrived to the outskirts of Mos Easley, where they were attacked by the Dark Sith Lord Zornagod Zythur (Zorn for short), the Master for Solona, the recently slayed Sith padawan.  Zorn destroyed one land speeder, divided into three, and fought the team for some time, until all three versions were defeated.  However, they were a decoy, as the real Zorn was out to capture The Queen (Again), who had, with Savaya gone ahead to prepare the ship.  When the team arrived to the port, they found Zorn dead....killed by the Jedi Master Obi-Wan Kenoibi. 

The team quickly left the port and headed to Akaan's secret home base on the moon of Tatoo I, located inside the actual moon itself.  The team had some needed kick back and relax time as the Empire failed to discover them.  After some discussion, Savaya and Obi-Wan developed a plan to both send the Queen to her allies and to send some of the team, aka the playables, to the homeworld of the Sith, Korriban, to investigate what the deal with the Sith was.  Ayla, Atty, Gorgon, John and Telos were assigned to take the Big Mac, and the team successfully convinced Lt. Victor Farsius to join the team as a second backup guard.  In addition, the rescued slave girl, a blue Twi-Lek named Lili-Na, wwas convinced to go with the team, where she has spent much time between Gorgon and John.  The rest of the team would ride Akaan's Helmet, (the spaceship). 

In addition, Atty has officially become a padawan of Ayla, Ulic Qel Droma (hologram) has gotten out of his funk and is walking encyclopedia, the Bantha is holed up in a cargo room, and other such things occurred.

Arriving near Korribban a week later, the team was promtly attacked by a following mercenary group, led by the Zathar named Wolf, who sought vegence and reward for his loss on Rodia.  Withe him included; Ponce De Leon of Naboo; Cewrac of Tatooine; and Doji WaCao of an unknown moon, killer of John's Master and Family.  After an epic space fight, the team defeated the the mercs, who crashed into the Valley of the Sith Kings.  The team landed the safest and biggest laning area, an old and abandanoed port, leaving Gorgon and Lili'Na to do repairs. 

Now Ayla, Atty, John, Telos and Farsius all march into the Valley, to find answers on who these other Sith are, where they are, and what their goals are, while fighting off the inevitable Mercenaries attack.  But should they really be concerned with their enemies?  The Sith Valley has a way of corrupting those who enter....changing those who enter.  Decisions will be made next session that will forever alter the scope of this game!  Just what road will you go down.....which path is the right path?  Only you can decide.... 

Links

Hey, every blog has these posts, so why not this?  Yep, it's the traditional posting of a ton of other links that the writer wished he had written about, but either forgot/didn't want to actually do work!  Woo hoo!

Biography: Solona Skyslayer

Sol'ona Skyslayer was born 23 years a daughter of a slave, a family who had been slaves for 15 generations.  The Twilek clan was given the human last name by their vicious owners after the first Ona slave they had fell  after looking the sky; they were the ones slayed by the sky.  Solona, the third and last daughter, was given much freedom by her masters, because she didn't have a purpose.  When she turned 10 though, she would finally be useful to her masters; she would finally be grown enough to be a sex slave.  All twileks born for this family on Cerea were for pleasure and pleasure only.  It was family tradition, both the master and the slave, for the child, not to find out about this life until the kids turned 10.  When Solona was 4 though, her oldest sister told her that she unless she escaped before 10 she would die.  Her oldest sister then tried to escape and was killed by the local authorities.

Solona thus learned quickly that she could not escape, but she would die if she did not escape.  She couldn't figure out what to do until she saw one of the Master's cousins come visit with some Arboreal Octopuses she had hunted.  It was at that point she knew she had to learn how to hunt, or otherwise she would be hunted.  Often ignored by her masters and family, she would have plenty of time to learn how to defend herself.  She stole a knife from the kitchen, and soon began practicing on using it.  The Master had a large estate, so she would practice hunting, killing, torturing the various animals that would wander it, learning the best way to move her body, the best way to kill the creature in one hit.

When the fateful day came, she was ready.  When she turned 10, she was brought to the Master's Old Uncle's Visiting Room to attend his needs....and she was explicitly told by the Master what those needs were.  When she entered, she pretended to be demur....and with one quikc strike to the neck, the first had fallen.  Climbing out of the window, she crawled to the room next door, killed a cousin sleeping there, and left the room.  The Master, outside the Uncle's room, was waiting to hear approval.  The last thing he heard was the sound of a knife going into his groin, forcing him to the group, so that the young Solona would stab him in the brain.  She continued throughout the house in a precise and orderly fashion, slashing numerous necks and brains, each one growing more and more afaird of her.  She knew she had to do this to stay alive.  To stay alive, everyone must die.

When the carnage ended, she had killed 25 humans....and 4 Twi-Leks.  In her blind anger, she could not reconize her enemy from her family.  It was at this point, she realized whaat she had done, and how pointless her life really was.  Just as she was about to kill herself, a Mandalorian entered,  one without a helmet, who knocked her weapon out, and convinced to go to town to see life.  The Mandalorian and Solona when to the town, where her Master, Zornagod just happened to be visiting, looking for a good new apprentice.  It was acceptance that she was born to a be a Sith at first sight.  Zornagod convinced Solona to join him, and the two left for the Sith Base....she followed her master for the rest of her life, learning, killing those who opposed him, and the two worked together well.  Some Sith did not like Solona, saying it softened Zornagod too much.  The two, despite what a Sith relationship was supposed to be, created a sort of kind Sith realtionship, an expectation where she would not kill him until he was about to die.  It was as friendly of a realtionship any two Sith could have.

Solona worked with Barose to create a new base for the Sith in her last mission, thinking of it as just another mission.  She never could have predicted that it would be her death.  While she grew to trust in Zornagod, she remain a cold, distant killer to most others, and she never hesitated to do what she had to do to complete her mission.  It can only be hoped that in death her young soul can finally find some peace...

Biography: Milich Barose

Milich Barose was born to a traditional noble family of scholars from the planet of Corellia, and was given anything anyone could possibly need to survive and thrive.  His parents often traveled, leaving their only son alone often, relying on him to be able to take care of himself.  As one can understand, this made Barose quite popular with the lads and lasses of his time, and he soon became the leader of a rambunctious, hard to control group that demanded to do anything they felt like and used their parents credits.  In addition, Milich love to skip school to go on vacations, see exotic animals, and considered himself to a fine art connoisseur.  Hard work was not in his nature.  His parents realized this only after on Milich's 17th Birthday Bash, where a man-eating plant from a far-off moon broke free and ate several of the party-goers.  As punishment for this "incident" his parents bought him a position into the Officer Corps, hoping that where they had failed, the Officers Corps could suceed in raising a fine lad of society.

Milich Barose, it became apparent, was not really prepared to be an officer, often showing up late, not fitting it with other lower-class officers, and making fun of rules and traditions.  He also held a poor attitude towards the soldiers below him.  He was traded often throughout the Clone Wars, as it was custom for commanders to trade those who they thought others could do better with (unknowing to Milich, he had the unoffical record with 8 times in a 3 year span).  However, Milich was inspired by a superior officer he had at the very end of the war, a man by the name of Tarkin, who said "Rule by fear of force rather than force itself." 

When Barose was made a lowly supply depot Executive Officer after the war, he thought that battles would not occur again, save for the occassional assassination attempt by the Jedi.  He therefore began rumors about how he often like killing people via his pets and animals, and began to buy exotic creatures, his favorite being the Netu.  Soon, his entire command was afarid of him, and did all the work for him.  To the eyes of leadership, his new found devotion to the use of fear was a great asset, and he was made a commander of a defense base.  However, any time he had absolute control, he would soon screw up, either by killing somone he was not supposed to, by screwing someone he was not supposed to, or having a visiting commander complain about his style.  Before Tatooine, Barose's Netu killed a Moff's Nephew, an old friend of Barose by accident.  The Moff angerily exiled Barose to Tatooine, hoping to be rid of the man once and for all.


On Tatooine, Barose held complete control which he liked; and no sense of culture, which he did not like.  Once again, he had the storm troopers kill a couple of known criminals and install a sense of fear.  Once again, control and respect came to him.  But he still had no base.  It was at this time Solona and her master visited, and offered a deal; they would help fund the building of his new palace (he would also embezzle some from his storm troopers secretly) in return that once he left they would take over the building.  He agreed, and soon began to import his usual arts, plants and monsters.  He never realized he was building his tomb...

Absurd Star Wars Merchandise Of the Week

http://www.starwars.com/kids/do/crafts/f20081106/index.html


And you thought Toasters were lame...

Recap: The Rescue of the Queen

Last time on Star Wars Episode 3.5....

After recruiting John, the Tuskan Raider Jedi, and acquiring the help of Jabba the Hutt, the group heads out to the Hutt's contact, with Boba Fett, to the Sandy Squirrel, where Poppin's cousin Puffin runs the place.  After talking to the leader of the local Sand Shark Gang, the group convinced the Gang to help them.  A plan was soon made; while Savaya and the Gang create a two-pring explosion distraction, Akaan and Boba would ensure that was an escape path, while the team (who was there) would infiltrate and rescue the Queen. Conveniently for the group, Commander Barose was having a dinner party to celebrate the grand opening of his new five floor Rosseau Palace. Each of the three found their own way in; Gorgon, after unsuccessfully gambling for a ticket, used his Iron Chef cooking skills to be hired as a cook; John pretended (I think) to sell Ayla as a slave to a visiting rich couple; and Ayla followed her new "Master" to the party as the adorable pet.

While entering the place, the group discovered the Queen was the slave for a Miss Solona Skyslayer, who just happened to be a Sith Padawan who help finance building the palace.  The group continued to mingle (John did particularly well with a Rodian Gal named Neeka) until the explosion occurs.  At this point, Barose and Solona moved the party to the top floor, and threatened to throw a baby Jawa and Ayla's "Master" into a domed area with a scary Netu.  While Gorgon ensured security did not interfere on the first floor (taking on numerous storm troopers), John and Ayla were able to defeat Barose (in a cunning ambush), Solona (via cutting her in half) and the storm troopers, while sending the Netu on its way back downstairs.

Which sent it right towards Gorgon, who managed to escape its grasp.  The group then escaped with the Jawa Babies, the Queen and the entire team via an escape line sent by Akaan and Boba Fett (who killed the Netu).  Leaving Bestine, the group, minus Boba Fett and the Jawa Babies, took two land speeders back to Mos Eisley, not knowing what would come next.  The group has not had a real talk with the Queen yet, so what awaits in the future is partially unknown...

Unknown to the party, Solona's Master, Zornagod Zyphur, awaits in ambush in order to pursue his mission at Mos Easley...but is it revenge or to recruit?  Meanwhile, Moff Argas Vicious gets closer and closer to the group's location and the trouble at Mustafar grows once again.  And what have Telos and Hakim been doing?