"There’s something big happening inside the Empire. The relationship between the Sith Order and the Pureblood Sith species is fracturing, and so is the alliance with the Chiss Ascendancy; pro-manumission, pro-equality radicals have made their way into the highest places; and there’s at least one person on the Dark Council who’s heavily involved in some or even all of that."
--Theron Shan, recorded message to Marcus Trant

THE RECONSTRUCTION LEGACY

Among players of Star Wars: The Old Republic, the term "legacy" refers to a group of characters played by an individual on one of the SW:TOR serves, and the continuity the player has created between them. I'm still not quite sure of the legacy name, but for now I'm going with "Reconstruction". My focus in SWTOR, as reflected by my legacy, is: concerned with the worldbuilding implications of loot drop names, Jedi everyday religious practices, Imperial manumission-abolition efforts emerging from a subset of the Sphere of Production and Logistics, old men dreaming dreams, quest-giver NPCs, the biomedical ramifications of Dark Side Corruption, chosen family to the extreme, and a lot of bureaucracy.

You might be part of the Reconstruction legacy if: your ship is named after one if the words in the Jedi or Sith codes; you have an insatiable desire to stare into space reflecting on your relationship with your somewhat distant mentor; your religious views are decidedly on the mystic side (and/or you practice a syncretic faith); and/or you have never dressed yourself or any of your companions in a bikini.

IN SEARCH OF RECONSTRUCTION CANON

In the Reconstruction Legacy, the Sith Empire crumples under internal pressure for reform - central are not heroes with lightsabers, but workers demanding their freedom with fists and shovels, mysterious guardians of the Tsis people who realise their time has come to overthrow the reign of the so-called "Sith" Dark Jedi, and very scared cipher agents.

Officially, the Republic has nothing to do with this. In truth, an SIS agent, the Barsen'thor of the Jedi Order and a few others reach out. Grasping in the Dark, some of the Imperial agents of change reach back.

THE LEFT HAND OF DARKNESS

As Ursula K. le Guin once said, in The Left Hand of Darkness,

Light is the left hand of darkness and darkness the right hand of light. Two are one, life and death, lying together like lovers [...], like hands joined together, like the end and the way.

And,

"A man who doesn’t detest a bad government is a fool.

And,

I wondered, not for the first time, what patriotism is, what the love of country truly consists of, how that yearning loyalty that had shaken my friend's voice arises: and how so real a love can become, too often, so foolish and vile a bigotry. Where does it go wrong?

And,

what is the sense of giving a boundary to all that, of giving it a name and ceasing to love where the name ceases to apply? What is love of one's country; is it hate of one's uncountry? Then it's not a good thing. Is it simply self-love? That's a good thing, but one mustn't make a virtue of it, or a profession.

And,

at that pit's bottom is anger.

And,

“He will die of it.” “That he will: what does a man die of but his death?”

And,

If civilization has an opposite, it is war. Of those two things, you have either one, or the other. Not both.

And,

How shall we deal with strangers, except as brothers?"

And,

“Good night, Ai" said the alien, and the other alien said, "Good night, Harth.”

CHARACTERS

THE BARSEN'THOR

BRIDER SURRISS

The Old Republic incarnation of my beloved Jedi OC Brider, the Barsen'thor is a mild-mannered Zabrak sage who has never harmed a person she didn't first exhaust every option of trying to make peace with. She was very close to Syo Bakarn, regarding him as her father, and absolutely did not want to replace him on the Council. She has full Light Side alignment, with 20,000 LS points and zero DS points. There are two strongholds in her name, both Jedi academies, on Alderaan and Yavin IV. She and her "immediate family" (her companions) largely live a nomadic life on her ship, Serenity , going wherever people need help that they can give. She and Volya were childhood friends.

THE KNIGHT

VOLYA DONEETA

The Old Republic incarnation of my friend's beloved Jedi OC Volya, she's an impulsive, sometimes brash, and absolutely wonderful Twi'lek flygirl who loves Kalikori village. Her alignment is Light Side, but don't push her - she won't show mercy to slavers, and she will do almost anything to defend the people she loves. She she uses two lightsabers, with the hilts Orgus Din gave her on Tython, and two rare crystals - a pink one, and a black-blue one. There is one stronghold in her name - a complex base on Rishi that was reclaimed from pirates. She helps out the Republic Navy as an escort ship in her ship, Harmony, when she has the time to spare. She and Brider were childhood friends.

THE FURY

BROODIUS

Lord Broodius the Broody is a Sith Warrior. Her alignment is Dark Side, and Broodius is a human with a knack for dressing intimidatingly. She's patriotic, and it pains her to see the way much of the military hates the Sith Order, especially because it's an understandable hatred. She is married to Malavai Quinn, (with whom she many shared passions, including for killing abusers and for battle strategy) and is also in love with Vette, but silently; she knows Vette, unlike Quinn, doesn't feel the same way about her. She's autistic and nonspeaking; her primary form of communication is with gestures and very eloquent facial expressions, but when she absolutely has to communicate something complex clearly, she types on a datapad.

She lives partially in her penthouse stronghold with Quinn on Dromund Kaas, but is often deployed elsewhere in the galaxy in her ship, Strength.

LEGATE

SANEWSO

Sanewso is a Chiss, and he never lets the Empire forget this. Loyal out of fear, he is disgusted by Kaliyo's lack of professionality, and falls hard and fast in love with Vector Hyllus. He lost his father to the Empire at a young age, and came to regard the old Keeper as a father figure. He forgave him for programming him with mental restraints, since it was to save his life, but his faith in him was broken.

The extensive castellan restraint use by the S.I.S. and Hunter, and then self-reprogramming, caused epilepsy, and Sanewso now has frequent seizures. This impacts on his ability to act and survive as a field agent, and he wants to be extracted to the Republic to continue to serve as Legate, but he isn't going anywhere without Vector, and convincing his boyfriend to forsake the Empire will take some careful diplomacy...

THE RESEARCHER

ATTHILIKE

A Zabrak whose Force-Sensitivity was noticed when she was a slave of the Empire, she was ordered to enslave Khem Val. She did so out of fear, and is trying to work out how to free him. Tired of warnings that Zash was planning to betray her, she knew that if she stayed loyal to her much longer she would let her guard down and allow Zash to be a mother to her, so she ran, finding a place with the slave rebellion centred on the Unfinished Colussos. She became a fierce defender and breadwinner of the rebels there.

Eventually, she marched into Darth Vowrawn's offices, told him Qet was terrible at buildings statues, and that she could finish the construction in less than a year. Her solution: manumission and good pay and working conditions. Vowrawn was originally inclined to laugh her out, but she ended up with a position in the Sphere of Production and Logistics in "Labour Management". She's determined to take down human supremacy in the Empire, and has managed to convince Vowrawn, being himself not human, on that, at least. She may or may not be a Revanite (the historical/mythologised Revan, not the would-be undead destroyer of the galaxy). She has Revan's mask in her possession, something she guards very closely. Her other treasured possession is a tiny ship called Freedom.

After the death of Lord Shaar, she becomes the heir apparent to the Sphere of Production & Logistics - a seat on the Dark Council, and complete oversight of the Empire's labour forces. However, events involving Darth Thanaton lead her to take the Sphere of Ancient Knowledge, and after some internal scrambling within her faction, Jaesa becomes the heigh to Production. After some further shuffling, and she Jaesa agree that, when it comes time, they will swap Spheres, with Jaesa more suited to Ancient Knowledge than Atthilike. Of course, that assumes they both live long enough to do so.

THE SMUGGLER

AALIYAH SWOH

A hijabi Mirialian whose name means 'flight,' Aayliah is a Tired Mother who mostly regards herself as Bowdaar's best friend. An incurable do-gooder, she's worked with Vette's old gang to extradite Twi'lek artifacts back to Twi'leks. More recently, she's become a second-hand connection of Volya's. She has a small, nearly empty apartment on Coruscant.

THE HUNTER

JOH'QAI

Tsis, and born without Force-Sensitivity, Joh'qai left home at an early age to become a bounty hunter. Along the way, he met an S.I.S agent who he had a few things in common with, and they became friends and worthy enemies. They call each other 'honey-trap'.

Joh'qai is chivalrous, honourable, and family-orientated. To begin with, he's terrified to do anything that could be seen as disloyal, but an encounter with the recording of Kel'eth Ur led him to shed his fear in favour of following his instincts. He regards Atthilike as his sister, and eventually adopts a little Tsis girl. His ship is called Passion.

TROPSES