Index Index of the Old Republic- KOTOR index and discussion- Winter update! New stories, new discussion.

One of the best games I have played on my PC and it inspired me to begin writing.
Marhin Aaquila was my character from KotOR II and I have used him to become the ancestor of my healer Aaqu Maerhin and the son of another healer Marhin who is now with his diary on the saga board. He too will reveal some of my KotOR character.

Diary of a young healer

In my finished / Diary of an exile my KotOR character is mentioned.

 

What does KOTOR mean to you?

Hehe, to be honest several characters from the game jump into my head when someone mentions KOTOR. Well, that was before Mass Effect Now some characters from that game join them as several voice actors from KOTOR speak for characters in Mass Effect.

What it means to me is a great game about characters that caused me to care for them. And oddly enough it brings a smile to my face cause I remember Nana actually getting into the game and basically asking me when I would play it so she could see what happens next. And it's hilariously funny, but according to Nana there is no way Revan could be male as is stated in the canon view. In her view Revan is female and falls in love with Carth. Heh, thinking about KOTOR also reminds me of Nana's reaction to KOTOR 2. She hated the fact that no one knew what happened to Revan and that Carth was left behind.

 

I keep hearing about Mass Effect. The only solution is that I must find it and play it.

Characters. Oh, the characters. I admit, I'm a little bit in love with them, too. That's the beauty of a computer game, really- the interactivity. By directly affecting the stories and characters, we're able to relate more closely to the narrative, and even though we know it's programmed and pre-determined, we can still feel like we're a real part of a major chunk of Star Wars history. You become, in a sense, Revan. Even in KOTOR 2 we tend to see the galaxy through Revan's eyes, even though we're playing the Exile, and I've gotta say, the game developers did a fantastic job of exploiting that. It's most obvious with Dantooine- I have to say, it just about broke my heart to go into the ruins of the Enclave.

Aaaaaand I could launch into a long essay about that, too. But it's why we care about the characters so much, so it's relevant... really, I swear...

KOTOR is one giant philosophy paper waiting to be written. You guys have no idea how hard it is for me to hold it all back, because it's really fascinating stuff.



...okay, so I'm a pretty huge Carth fangirl, too. When I think KOTOR, I think of Carth Onasi, the man in the orange jacket.

 

It's most obvious with Dantooine- I have to say, it just about broke my heart to go into the ruins of the Enclave.


I played KOTOR 2 not too long ago and it still breaks my heart to see the ruins of the Enclave. It is interesting how a video game can evoke such a response, but then great books can do that too and a video game is really nothing more than a storyline made visually interactive. I know there way more to it than that, but in my humble opinion, if the RPG doesn't have a great storyline with characters I can come to care for it's not played much at all.

 

I'm going to have to jump on the characters bandwagon. There are such great characters in the game that I grew very attached to them. The first time I played through as a darksider and got to the end where you kill your friends I was so in love with the characters that I was depressed when they died. Never before or since has a video game produce that kind of an emotional reaction in me. That's why KOTOR is great.

~lordmaul13

 

KotOR means a lot to me. The characters (for the most part) are ones you can care about, the story is familiar in some respects, but no so familiar as to be cliche, and it provides just enough holes to be filled in with fanfic.

As an example, I'm writing a fic for brodiew's latest challenge, and I'm using the conflict between Jolee and Nayama as my plot gizka. It's coming along really well, so far. I can't wait until I'm finished.

 

*peeks in thread* Hi! I'm not familiar with the KOTOR game but I've recently read all the KOTOR comics and was wondering if there are any fanfics based solely on the comic characters?

TIA!

 

Trace, not that I've seen, though I'll take a look around. I've been reading the trade paperbacks, and I love them, so I'm trying to work all those stories into my fanfic writing queue.

The main character you'll recognize from the comics in the game is Carth Onasi- and there's a fair amount of Carth fic floating around here. Also, both Squint and his master are central characters in the game. I'd definitely encourage you to take a look at some of the game-based fic- the stories are connected, and they've been doing a great job with continuity.

Also, hooray for another comics fan. I've got a lot of love for Zayne and his crazy cohorts, and I occasionally stalk the DH website to let me know when the next TPB will be released.

 

Thanks, DWH! KOTOR is my second fave comic and I adore Zayne & Co. (And I could so, totally, be a Zayne/Jarael shipper. )

When Carth showed up in the comic, I thought his name sounded familiar...just from hearing my gamer-friends talk. He was awesome! I?ll have to check out some of the fics.

 

February Update!

First and foremost, we've got a bunch of new stories for the index!

From lordmaul13
Creation
The Descent
Better Days Than These

From DarthJainaSolo
My Republic Soldier

From SabyneAmberle
Musings of a Jedi Wanderer
Tarnished Gold
Affection's Acceptance

From Commander-DWH
Everybody Stand Back
Simple Pleasures
Bursts of Colour: Drabbles from the Blue Side

There's a lot of great writing in this update, so you should definitely check some of it out!

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[face_love] [b][color=deeppink]And now... a new discussion![/color][/b][face_love]

It's that time of the year, and all our mushy feelings are coming to the surface. Theoretically, anyway. :p There are a lot of opportunities for KOTOR romance, so what are your favourite pairings? This applies to both the games [i]and[/i] the comics. What do you like about them? What makes them compelling? What non-canon pairings might you wish existed? (After all, I hear Exile/Bao-Dur has a pretty big following...). Which ones do you think [i]don't[/i] work, and why?

There has been some great discussion in this thread, so I hope to see it continued! And please, if you have any stories, PM them to the index, since we are always looking for more stories. :D

 

Let me guess- Legacy is your first favourite comic? It's my second-favourite, but I'm massively biased towards KOTOR.

After poking around a bit, you can find some fics with Zayne, at least, in them. If you do a board search in Before for Zayne, a number of stories come up with varying quality, but I don't think any of them are actually indexed here. Alas, Jarael doesn't seem to exist in any of them, and I feel like this should be changed.

Of course, you could write a Zayne/Jarael story.

As to the discussion topic, I'll come back with my opinions later, after y'all have had a chance to say something.

 

I think my ultimate favorite KOTOR ship is still Female Revan/Carth, just because that's the very first way I played the game, so it was my introduction to the awesomeness of KOTOR.

I could totally also be a Zayne/Jarael shipper though. Or Jarael/Squint (I thought they were great together in Demagol's lair)

 

Just a heads-up for anyone who is a fan of the KOTOR comics. There is now a Zayne & friends fan club thread in EU Community. John Jackson Miller has even joined in!

 

Rise, Lord Thread...

Well, hello there. It's been a few months since we've had anything new to talk about, and there aren't that many stories to be added. It's about time for that to change, so let's have a couple of stories, and some new discussion.

It Always Rains on Dxun by Commander-DWH
Knights of the Old Republic 3: Triumph of the Force by Team Ebon Hawk

Inspiration Station

What about the period inspires you to write a story? Are there scenes you want explained? Is there a 'ship the story doesn't explore that you'd like to? Do you just like playing with the characters?

Comics and video games both apply here, folks.

...and let's see some story submissions, no? I know there are a whole bunch out there.

 

What about the period inspires you to write a story?

I always liked how the timeframe was less developed in a way. It leaves more freedom then the later Star Wars eras, but the technology is still similar to the Star Wars I'm used to. Venturing into the far future to get away from the cramped timeframe just seems a bit intimidating with the need to create more realistic technology and such. Working in this era, for me at least, is like watching a non-linear play or movie: The audience often knows the outcome from the start and it's just up to us to fill in the pieces. I know that the Republic is going to fall, but I get to plant a little seed that helps to cause that downfall.

Are there scenes you want explained?

Of couse there are. I want to know why Revan is after the True Sith and who the heck they are. What happened between her a Carth? What is the Exile going to do now? You know pretty much everything that they should make Kotor 3 for. Also, it's fun to right some of the reactions to different events that happened throughout the games and missing moments so to speak (can't think of any specific ones right now though).

Is there a 'ship the story doesn't explore that you'd like to?

I'm still toying with the idea of a Revan/Exile fic, though I can't seem to get the right bunny for it.

Do you just like playing with the characters?

Playing with the characters is an added bonus.

 

KOTOR 3 news, peoples. Reports from E3 suggest it looks like it is going to be a MMO (massively multipalyer online) game.

I gotta say I'm a little disappointed, as I can't run fancy games on my 4-year old laptop, nor online games on my Xbox 360 which isn't hooked up to Live. But hey, at least there's some life in the franchise yet.

Maybe that'll be what it takes to get this thread moving a little again.

 

I think a KOTOR MMO could be really awesome if it's done right. I think it'll be worth trying, anyway.

And as for what inspires me about KOTOR, I really just like the idea of Revan a whole lot. There's a lot to explore there, about what makes a person evil, or even, for that matter, what makes a person. The whole memory/identity loss thing could have me thinking up different ideas for my whole life, probably.

As for the comics, Zayne and his storyline brings up the topics of what it means to be a Jedi.

I really just like the characters, all throughout the KOTOR era. They're fun to play with.

 

Okay, this is my first post here. Don't exactly know if this discussion died out or something.

I have only started out with KOTOR a year and a half ago. It was what attracted me back to the SW universe. I was more of a Treker, but the characters and story of the first story attracted me back after leaving SW behind a long time ago. This time, I was more interested in the characters than the battles, which I loved as a kid.

KOTOR was almost a revelation in the SW universe I think, but has come to an end now with that TOR thing. I really liked the story behind TSL most because it showed that even the Jedi were imperfect and that good and bad was not so black-and-white as it was in the Trilogies.

My favorite character is pretty obvious. I just loved Yuthura Ban because she was like a much more tragic character than Darth Vader. In addition, her redemption was more believable because instead of 'there is still good in you,' Revan asked 'has anything changed?' I also wanted to expand upon the scene in the tomb of Naga Sadow, but it went farther than that.

I'm writing a story about Yuthura Ban "Shrouded in Darkness" and hope that readers would at least read the first chapter. I felt that her character deserved a story that shows her difficult path to finding peace with herself. Despite seeing her on Dantooine, we are left with knowing she returned to the Jedi, but still had a long way to go.

 

Good to see you here, Darth_Yuthura! The discussion is never truly dead around here... sometimes it just takes a little longer to get moving.

I find it interesting how people latch on to different characters- I wouldn't have thought to investigate Yuthura much further, but I don't think I ever had high enough charisma to ever bring her back to the Jedi.

That, I think, is part of the brilliance of KOTOR, and one of the reasons I love the sub-fandom that has come from the game. There's just so much begging to be expanded upon, and it's resulted in a large body of good fanfic. Even though it's not as popular as some of the other eras, I maintain that it's the most fascinating.

All that said... I think it's high time I pulled together an update for this poor index.

 

I think that fanfictions are what keep me interested in KOTOR. The scene between Revan and Yuthura Ban was alright for the game, but I wanted to improve upon it and give more dialog than what there was in the game. Few here left feedback, so it might not be that great.

One thing I dislike in fanfics are people having the same scenes as in the game word-for-word. Although I used all the lines for the Exile's trial, I added a significant amount of dialog and emotion to it. I just think that being rejected and not having the Force would have been much worse than what I saw in the game. Even if the fanfiction's plot doesn't change from the cannocal version, I really like different interpretations of the same scenes rather than writing the same thing all over again.

Although I also like new plots completely, I do prefer having at least one anchor from the KOTOR series, such as characters, timelines, ext. One technique I really found interesting was multiple first-person-perspectives. This has the story told first person from a range of characters... much like in the game where you control one character at a time, but not only one for the entire thing.

 

I hope I do this right, but since this is the KOTOR index, I guess it's the right place to put up a link to the KOTOR story I wrote for C1-J2

Title: Choice
Timeframe: a few months after KOTOR 1
Genre: romance
Characters: Revan (female), Carth Onasi, a little bit of HK-47
Keywords: female Revan, Carth Onasi, KOTOR 1
Summary: After the destruction of the Star Forge, Revan seeks answers to what to do next.
Status: Complete

 

What is this? Is this an... UPDATE?

Yes, it looks like it might actually be one! I'm sorry nothing has really been going on here for a while- I'm going to try to put some more structure into the way this thread is updated, so hopefully there won't be such a lapse again.

New stories for the index!

We've got a fine crop of KOTOR stories that have been posted in the last few months.

JediTrace
Breakaway

Lord_Zeron
Heart of the Sith

SoA
Glimpses through Ebon Windows
Mishandled

Comander-DWH
The Dark Side Doesn't Serve Breakfast
Change of the Seasons

Seremela
Choice

Now, I know there are more out there, and I'll be happy to index them if you just PM your stories to the KOTOR_Index sock!

New discussion! Expanding the KOTOR universe.

KOTOR has gone from being a duo of excellent computer games to also being a successful line of comics, and soon it will include an MMO. How much of the KOTOR universe do you take into consideration when writing your fics?

 

I'm usually a bit of a cannon nazi in whatever universe I write. I really love to use all the details I can find. Other that going a bit AU with a female Revan, I like to flesh out a world that already exists.

 

Depends on the Fiction. I favor following canon, but doing so through different means to achieve the ends. This often is through versions not likely to have happened, but ultimately ends up all the same as the original story. I am very flexible with dates and character relationships, but won't likely have a DS where a LS ending was mean to be.

Shrouded in Darkness: this is focused on a minor character and starts canon, moves to (possible, but not likely to have happened) and ends canon.

Prior to Exile: canon all way around, but writing the Exile's story during the Mandalorian wars. It is meant to be an alternate canon (another path to the same conclusion)

Destined to Live: from scratch, it starts out completely original and will develop roots from the canon version of the story.

 

I haven't been following the comics too much, mainly because I always forget to pick the latest issue up, and I missed the first several of them due to this. The ones I did pick up had enough of a separation between the issues that I was totally lost.

So basically I follow the games, though I greatly prefer Female Revan to Male Revan, mainly because I love Carth and Bastila annoys me most of the time. The Exile I really don't have much preference for gender and such. Though I'm generally all for both being on lightside, I do enjoy toying with the idea of them being on the darkside, or one darkside, one lightside (especially if they meet). And even if Revan goes to the darkside, Carth lives.

I like AUs as much as canon, but either way I will probably only go by the first two games. Chances are I won't play the MMO at all. I never really got into them, partially because I had some bad luck with multiplayer online games in the past. I wish they would have either A. just made KOTOR3 to begin with or B. if they HAD to have a multiplayer feature, make it like the Jedi Knight series with a single player game AND a multiplayer portion.

That's my two cents.

EDIT: Just found out the MMO will probably have a book based around it as well, like The Force Unleashed novel.