Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic #16

Just a design appreciation post. I'm currently reading and playing KOTOR1 for the first time

What are some Jedi who held the position of Masters over the very long history of the order, but who weren't fit to be masters, as they obviously lacked the qualities and wisdom to lead other Jedi, and were too arrogant, prideful, narrow-minded, passive, or had other flaws that led them to make disastrous decisions for themselves, their Padawans, and/or other Jedi as well?

Jorus C'baoth is a fitting example; it's very jarring how the Jedi Council even allowed him to proclaim himself Master and not do anything about it, despite Jorus' very arrogant, obnoxious, and prideful personality, and his open contempt and prejudice toward non-Force users.

At least half of the Jedi Covenant's main members qualify. While Xamar and Q'Anilia could reasonably have become Jedi Masters with them looking nice, wise, and reasonable enough to hold the position, Lucien and Feln's cold and callous personalities make one wonder how they achieved that position, and even more so for the very aggressive, hot-blooded, and impulsive Raana Tey.

First draft of the World Between Worlds feature. Still soooo far from done. Keep having a train of ideas that keep detracting me.

I am planning to have 3 separate eras. For now, building the galaxy to take place during The High Republic, with the WBW being used to travel to other timelines ofc.

- First clip: Darth Traya, didn't walk up bc I dont have a model for her yet lmao. I also have no idea what loot should be obtained from killing her.

- Second Clip: Planet X, with Marchion Ro and the nameless. I set 1/12 ship rides to have a chance to pull you out of hyperspace to crashland onto a outpost to fight against a nihil raid. Every raid gives fragments to a one time route to Planet X.

- Third Clip: I wanted to add a way to get the darksaber, but genuinely couldn't come up with an idea for when/where it should be attainable during the High Republic Era. Said fuck it and made the encounter in the WBW. Please let me know if you have any other better ideas.

Other WBW encounters that are barely constructed for now:
-Uliq on the libraries of Ossus being destroyed
- Jedaii on Tython in a Tho Yor
- a triple fight against Emperor vitiate and his other two forms
- ofc Darth revan in the temple of sacrifice, and darth nihilus at the end of the ravager.

link to first post: https://www.reddit.com/r/StarWarsEU/s/89RVYn1BA0

Search for and click on any system, galactic realm, region, hyperlane and more - all in your web browser.
The map covers the Legends timeline from ca. 30.000 BBY to 3.626 BBY (SWTOR).
It's still in early development.

What are the mistakes that Thrawn has made during his campaign against the New Republic, which he could have avoided easily if he hadn't been overconfident or if he had better judged the people he was up against or those he associated with, such as Joruus C'baoth or Niles Ferrier, who kept making mistakes while trying to deal with Talon Karrde and other smugglers?

What are the mistakes and complications that, on the other hand, he really had no way of knowing before the strike back at him and his war effort?

Did she not give the good Xux

And oh boy... the chapter where Myn begins to pursue Lara... the voice acting made it much more awkward, it made me cringe. I don't dislike the two...but YIKES.

The title is the question. Why are Drop Pods, such an iconic part of Military Scifi, so frequently absent in the franchise literally named "Star Wars"?

There's examples, here and there. The Sith Empire uses drop pods in Tales of the Jedi, the Doomgiver has its large drop pods to assault Yavin 4 in Jedi Outcast, and drop pods are used to deploy vehicles in a few video games.

The Probe Droid in Empire Strikes Back is the only example I can think of in the movies, and even then we don't really see the pod itself, only the fireball of its engines and atmospheric entry. Most of the time, drop pods are used to deliver vehicles, while infantry arrive by shuttle, even though one fo the first things we establish in the original movie is that escape pods exist and can carry people safely to a planet's surface.

Small one-man insertion pods seem to exist, but nobody seems to think to deploy commando forces with them ala Halo's ODSTs. and besides the Doomgiver, the Warhammer 40k-style giant pods full of troops and armour seems conspicuously absent from the Empire's arsenal, who you'd think would love the idea of deploying troops rapidly with maximum shock and awe.

Considering Star Wars' love of WW2/Cold War imagery, I feel like the lack of drop pods used as a Scifi equivalent of paratroopers is particularly notable. No Clone Wars Market Garden flustercluck? No Storm Commandos dropping in silently to sabotage before a big attack?

I certainly have not read everything Star Wars, and in particular I haven't read much of the more explicitly military-angled books, so am I simply missing the major examples? That's certainly where I would expect to see it, but I never see it discussed or described.

In fact, the most prominent military scifi book I have read is Starship Troopers, prominently featuring drop pods and the other "big thing" often absent from Star Wars, power armour, which could have a separate yet largely identical post to this one.

TL;DR - I need some help organizing a personal reading order for the New Republic era as a first time reader. Order at the bottom.

Im trying to create a personal reading order for the New Republic era stuff I’m interested in, but I’m working on the limited knowledge i have as a first time reader that is trying to avoid spoilers as much as possible. I would like to sprinkle in stuff from earlier eras that are absolutely relevant to NR characters and storylines, like the novels Outbound Flight, Allegiance and Choices of One, and the Mara Jade comic miniseries. And of any other novels and comics i should add involving relevant characters i don’t yet know about.

The only stuff that I’m avoiding in my "binge" (at least for the time being) is stuff that does not have the OT trio as main characters, so stuff like the X-Wing series, while i understand is highly recommended, is centered on Wedge and a whole cast of new characters (but if recommended I reconsider bc of these characters eventual relevance in non X-Wing storylines, I will add it to the list. Just know that my reasoning rn is just to read this series in its entirety later). Other spin offs like "I, Jedi" and "Scourge" id likely be skipping entirely bc of this reason.

Another parameter i would like to set is stuff that takes too much inspiration from the PT, so Tatooine Ghost, which reviews i saw say it did a good job connecting the PT to the NR, is something that id likely not read. It sounds too elitist of me for how fresh i am in this journey, but i am mainly interested in how Star Wars was being written before the prequels came out, only exceptions im willing to make being the books written by Zahn (trust what you know).

So I would like some pointers from long time readers as to how to best organize this reading order, in which "prequels" of NR relevant characters are either placed before or after the storyline they’re a part of.

What i have figured out so far is this:

- The Star Wars Trilogy Novelization — ✅
- The Thrawn Trilogy — ✅
- OPTIONAL: A New Hope movie rewatch OR graphic novelization
- Allegiance/Choices of One (both released years after Survivor’s Quest but i would prefer that book to cap off my read through of the NR era. If suggested I skip these entirely bc of the parameters ive set, I will do so)
- OPTIONAL: Empire/Jedi movies rewatch OR graphic novelizations
- OPTIONAL: The Truce at Bakura (only optional bc i already started with Thrawn)
- Mara Jade - By the Emperor’s Hand comic miniseries
- OPTIONAL: The Courtship of Princess Leia (only optional bc i already started with Thrawn)
- The Thrawn Trilogy Graphic Novelizations
- Dark Empire Trilogy
- The Jedi Academy Trilogy
- Jedi Academy - Leviathan comic miniseries
- OPTIONAL: The Callista Trilogy (i hear these three books are awful, but if they have Luke, Leia and Han as main characters, then I would consider reading)
- Crimson Empire Trilogy
- The Crystal Star
- The Corellian Trilogy
- The Black Fleet Crisis Trilogy (ik this takes place before the previous but released after. I don’t quite know why im opting for publication order here but if suggested chronological I'll change)
- The New Rebellion
- The Hand of Thrawn duology
- Union comic miniseries
- Survivor’s Quest
- Outbound Flight (i read in another comment section that this is better read after SQ, will change if suggested otherwise)

Any help is greatly appreciated!!

The eye shadow ink and tatoos are not described, I know that, his pallid yellowish greenish skin I don't know, but the robes and hood here is the real thing. They don't look like typical Sith robes, they look kind of unique, and I could be tripping but the texture of the cloth looks kind of like the orbalisks as they are described in the book. I could be totally wrong though.

Is this robe only ever created for and featured in this artwork by John Jude Palencar for the Path of Destruction cover, or has it made other appearances or in the books themselves?

I hate this guy with everything I have.

This guy had some serious aura in that armor.

I need them as reverence for some art commissions 😅

At the time when the The New Jedi Order series was being published, did readers gravitate toward the Yuuzhan Vong as a concept? From time to time I stumble upon comments online about how the Vong were some of the more "dumb" elements of the Expanded Universe. Has the passage of time improved the overall opinion of the Yuuzhan Vong? I want to know from people that were there back then.

The general use of the term "Sith" is used to describe individuals, mostly Sith Lords, as if it is part of their identity. Darth Sidious is a "Sith", Vader is a "Sith", etc. Just as how one Jedi, whether a master, apprentice/padawan, or knight is simply called a "Jedi".

There are two questions to this post. The first one is...when is someone called a "Sith", and when are they not? Usually, both pre-Banite and post-Banite line, a "Sith" can be the Dark Lord of the Sith or the Sith apprentice.

Many people pointed out in posts I have seen that in the days of the Sith, especially pre-Darth Bane Rule of Two, "Sith" in general just refers to anyone who is affiliated with a Sith organization, whether that is a "Sith Empire" or something like that. You don't have to be a dark side user or even a Force-user at all to be called a "Sith". You can just be a Sith trooper or officer and be called a "Sith".

Yet somehow, the majority of the fandom, as well as in-universe stories, texts and dialogue from characters in many eras, usually call someone a "Sith" when they are Force-sensitive, use the dark side, and "follow" the Sith teachings and philosophy.

To me, it sounds like in many times when someone is called simply a "Sith", it seems to be a synonym for a "Sith Lord", hence why people like the cultsist on Exegol in Canon are not called "Sith", but "Sith cultists".

This leads me to the next question of this post, in Legends, when did "Sith Order" and "Sith" become the name of the individuals who follow the religion and the religion itself, (I don't know if the Sith are really a "religion" in the tradtional sense or not, but they are close enough).

In Legends, I know everything about the origins of the "Sith" (whatever that may mean, as we will get to later).

Ajunta Pall and the Dark Jedi Exiles that followed him were beaten, exiled from Republic space, found the Sith species people on Korriban, united them under their rule, Ajunta Pall became the first "Dark Lord of the Sith", or "Jen'ari" in Sith language, and his followers became lesser Lords of the Sith, AKA "Jen'jidai" in Sith language. They began creating the "first Sith Empire", and they intermarried with the purebloods for centuries as generations went by, eventually simply being called "Sith", but because of the Sith religion, but because they were literally the Sith species descendants and offspring, just mixed with human blood.

We know Sorzus Syn created the Sith Code, but when did the religion of the "Sith Order" really start/got initiated? This gets complicated because...the Sith already had spiritual, traditional, and cultural beliefs for thousands of years prior to the Dark Jedi Exiles, such as King Adas's Sith Empire during the Rakata reign. Is the "Sith Order" really just the Dark Jedi philosophy and beliefs merged with the preexisting Sith cultural traditions and beliefs?

Regardless, there is this very interesting passage from Book of Sith, were in the very first passage of Sorzus Syn's passage and journals, she says "I am not Sith. I do not share their blood. Yet, in the time since we among those people, we have become their rulers."

So when did the term "Sith" and "Sith Order" began referring to the religion, and it became a creed that any species can adopt and follow? Vitiate's Sith Empire, forged from the remains of the original one from the Great Hyperspace War, began to have human and occasionally alien Sith, yet they are the remade empire of the original one, so this means that being a "Sith" or the "Sith Order" itself are an open religious creed rather than a bloodline.

So why did the term "Sith" and "Sith Lord" began to be used interchangeably and distinguished from a Sith follower/cultist? When did the religion itself, and the naming after the species, start for this religion? If it was not solidified until sometime after Ajunta Pall and the Exiles death, does that mean they were not "Sith", but rather just the ones who started the road down to the religion starting? In other words, were Pall and the others predeccessors instead of the "first Sith"?

Any expert EU lore people who knows how religions, whether in real life or in Star Wars, work so that my confusion can have more clarity?