I’ve mentioned Zakuulan society before when I talked about the state of the galaxy a few months back. I said then that the setting we had to work with since the launch of KOTFE has been extremely difficult to grasp. Although creating a character’s personality is likely the most important part of roleplaying in an MMO, a proper understanding of the setting plays a huge role in establishing that character in the world in which she lives.
Today, I’d like to talk about Chapter 10, but from the perspective of someone who is creating a character to live in Star Wars: The Old Republic. How does chapter 10 help us better understand the world, and what pieces are still missing?
Filling in the blanks for Zakuul
When I first talked about Zakuul and the society of the Eternal Empire, we knew it was a kind of Utopian society, but certain things didn’t make sense. It was difficult to piece together how the day-to-day life of a Zakuulan worked. With the introduction of chapter 10, we know that a Zakuulan is completely dependent on the droids of the Spire. Kaliyo said it best when she was planting the first bomb in the Overwatch power junction:
“Yeah. These people… the droids do everything for them. Most of the locals sit around drooling while their tech feeds and protects them.”
This one statement fills many of the holes in our understanding of Zakuulan society. We already knew that their people used pain as an outlet, which we will discuss more in depth in a minute. But now we know how it’s done and why they are so dependent on the Emperor. And since Valkorion set up this system, it’s understandable why he is admired and even treated as an omnipotent god.
The crazy thing that comes to my mind when I think about this is that Thexan, Arcann, and Vailyn are a product of this society. And that brings up more questions for me. How aware of the inner workings of society are they? We know that the Sith Emperor was nearly omnipotent. Therefore, we know that Valkorion would have worked similarly.
When the player and Darth Marr finally run into Valkorion for the first time, Marr says, “Your constant absence across our history… this was your distraction?” And Valkorion replies, “This was my focus.” In my estimation, it took Valkorion some concentration to keep the Eternal Empire running. So it only makes sense that Arcann is unable to be the same kind of Emperor that Valkorion was. It’s clear that he didn’t have the same kind of power.
Another interesting factor of Zakuulan society was rebellion. As we’ve seen, it happens all the time, but it’s very taboo in the society, as it is in most societies. But unlike other societies where citizens might rebel because of social injustice, Zakuulans rebel purely for the thrill. In fact, the Overwatch, the police force, actually encourages a bit of rebellion. When it was discovered that Overwatch Administrator Tayvor Slen actually sponsored Kaliyo’s anarchist activities, Slen gave us insight into why rebellion was openly discouraged but privately encouraged. “It was an outlet for our people’s darker urges,” he explains, “a drop of poison to vaccinate against the disease of unrest.”
When a Zakuulan would rebel for a short period of time, she would be slapped on the wrist, her scars healed, and then sent home, knowing that she really didn’t want to rebel because real rebellion meant hardship and actually having to work for something. So that makes me question Koth’s real motivation. Is he just a spoiled Zakuulan looking for a thrill, does he see the flaws in the society, or does he really just want Valkorion back? Maybe that’s something we will find out in a later chapter.
The pronoun game
Nothing has annoyed me more than when writers play the pronoun game, and then when they don’t actually tell us who or what the pronoun is until much, much later, it annoys me even more.
The pronoun game is when one character says something like, “He’s done it again,” which forces another character or the audience to ask, “Who’s done it again?” If another character asks that question it will usually be answered to add emphasis to the reveal of who it is. Other times the pronoun game is played to keep the answer intentionally vague, which is an indication of lazy writing.
We get a big example of the pronoun game being played by the SWTOR writers when dealing with the bombardment of the five planets. First, Arcann says to Vailyn that she should take part of the fleet and bombard one planet from each of the five sectors. Then Senya is lamenting over five worlds being leveled but never names one. And then when Vailyn reports back to Arcann, we hear again only that there are five planets. What are the five sectors? Which five planets? Why is this information being kept intentionally vague?
Why should I care about the destruction if I don’t know which planets have been destroyed? The reason that Taris’ destruction was so devastating in Knights of the Old Republic was because we had just spent the last few hours saving some of its people and playing Pazaak in its cantinas.
Arcann could have said 20 planets, and it would have had the same impact: zero.
What tidbits did you see in Chapter 10? Am I wrong about the main character in Chapter 10 being Zakuulan society? Where do you think Kaliyo’s pain-inducer implant is? Let me know your answer in the comments, and I will talk to you next week!
Every other week, Larry Everett jumps into his T-16 back home, rides through the hypergates of BioWare‘s Star Wars: The Old Republic, and posts his adventures in the Hyperspace Beacon. Drop him a holocom on Twitter @Shaddoe or send him a transmission at larry@massivelyop.com. Now strap yourself in, kid — we gotta make the jump to hyperspace!
