Hyperspace Beacon: SWTOR spoiler alert!
Originally, I had my heart set on playing a Smuggler when Star Wars: The Old Republic went live, so I had intended on not playing one in beta. But the temptation was far too strong. I played a couple of Smugglers to try out the different specs and see the storyline from a couple of different points of view. Unfortunately, that burned me out on the class, and I could never finish the story on the live servers.
Another of my intentions when the servers went live was to max out a character as fast as I could so that I could get to endgame in a decent amount of time. Therefore, I picked a class that I didn't think would hold my interest: the Sith Warrior. Unfortunately -- or fortunately depending on your perspective -- I fell in love with the Sith Warrior storyline. I was impressed that an "evil" character could have such an interesting story arc, so much so that by the end I was really rooting for her to win.
What I didn't know was that there was a connection between the Sith Warrior story and the Smuggler story. I was right there listening to the characters speak, yet I didn't understand at first why I felt that nagging feeling as if I'd heard certain things before. Once I did discover the connection between those two storylines, I sought out other story connections. I found out that SWTOR is full of these tiny links. Since it's been a year since release, I figured that it's safe to share some of my favorites.
Yes, major spoilers follow the break.
As a Sith Warrior earns affection with the Twi'lek companion Vette, he learns about her exploits on Nar Shaddaa and her mother's death on Tatooine. But there is one name that pops up now and again that should spark a long-time TOR fan's memories. Vette mentions an old boss of hers named Nok Drayen and how she learned a lot by being part of his crew.
We were first introduced to Nok Drayen in the Threat of Peace webcomic before SWTOR was released. He was the criminal at the Star Cluster casino who met with Darth Angral. Reportedly, he also had a massive amount of treasure stored around the galaxy, and he was the only person who knew where this treasure was stored. Tracking this treasure became the primary motivation for the Smuggler to travel around the galaxy at the whim of companion Risha.
As if to complicate things further, we find out that Vette became like a sister to Nok Drayen's daughter, but we really don't hear a lot about that person. As an audience we are left in the dark until the end of chapter one of the Smuggler story, when we find out that Risha is actually Nok Drayen's daughter. On the old SWTOR website, we were given a hint: In the background of Vette's page, one of the Aurebesh phrases read "Risha's 'sister.'"
But what happened to Nok Drayen? For the answer to that, we turn to a brief companion of the Bounty Hunter. Nok Drayen told Braden, the first person the Bounty Hunter talks to on Hutta, that it might be best for him to disappear. Presumably, Braden helped Nok set up his own "death" because it was soon after this that Nok disappeared. But of course, Risha knew exactly what happened to her father. In fact, she carried him with her nearly all the time, frozen in carbonite.
Another class I played during beta was the Jedi Consular. Although that story is frequently deemed the most uninteresting by the game's players, it does link nicely to other class stories. The Bounty Hunter companion Mako mentions a Trandoshan hunter whom she and Braden used to work with, someone who'd be famous if he hunted criminals instead of animals. As it turns out, this Trandoshan is Qyzen Fess, friend of the Consular's Master Yuon Par. He eventually becomes the Consular's first companion. But this isn't the only connection between those two classes.
On Taris, all Republic characters have a chance to help the Twi'lek Governor Saresh rejuvenate the planet. Unfortunately, during the Imperial storyline for the planet, the Republic doesn't win out. But Governor Saresh survives.
At the beginning of chapter two, the Consular is made a Jedi Master and instructed to be the ambassador to the Rift Alliance by Republic Supreme Chancellor Janarus. However, when the Consular is offered a seat on the Jedi High Council, Saresh is introduced as the Supreme Chancellor.
To find out what happened to Chancellor Janarus, we have to turn again to the Bounty Hunter story. The Bounty Hunter became the scapegoat for Sero and ultimately Janarus. A large bounty was placed on the Hunter's head, and it took a direct confrontation with Janarus for his name to be cleared. Depending on the Hunter's choices, Janarus can be killed, frozen in carbonite, or set free. No matter the choice, though, Janarus disappears from the public eye.
For three centuries, a Sith Pureblood named Lord Scourge served as the Emperor's Wrath as a reward for his help in defeating Revan and Meetra Surik. However, Scourge had a vision of a Jedi Knight who would ultimately defeat the Emperor. He encountered this Jedi on the Hutt world of Quesh while on a mission to kill former Dark Council Member Darth Sajar.
Later, Scourge would join the Jedi Knight in his quest to destroy the Emperor. At this point, Scourge ceased being the Wrath. The secret sect of Purebloods known as the Hand of the Emperor knew immediately of Scourge's betrayal and hunted for a new Wrath. They settled on a Sith Warrior who had just been betrayed by Darth Baras, also on Quesh, coincidentally.
At the end of the Jedi Knight's story, he confronts and defeats the Emperor. In fact, the subtitles even state that it's the Emperor speaking. However, on Voss, at the request of the Hand, the Sith Warrior discovers that the Emperor uses other vessels to speak through. And in a secured transmission after the Warrior defeats and discredits Darth Baras as the Voice of the Emperor, we learn that the Jedi Knight defeated only one of the Emperor's Voices and that the Emperor is actually resting in a secure location under the watchful eyes of the Hand.
One final secret that I'd like to give away just because it was a point of interest when the game launched is who gets a romantic interest most quickly. Hopefully, you know that any permanent romantic interest comes from your companions. Those quests cannot be finished until later levels, but there are other story quests that have flirt options, and some of them ultimately pay off. But whose pays off fastest? What would you think? Smuggler, right? Wrong.
On Hutta, the Imperial Agent runs into a Zabrak named Dheno Rey, who claims to have known the Red Blade, the person the Agent is claiming to be. If you're a female agent, you can convince Dheno not to say anything by getting "cozy and talking about old times."
OK, what about the guys? It's still not the Smuggler who gets lucky first. It's the Jedi Knight. That's right; the supposedly celibate class is the first male to get it on. Shortly after Ranna Tao'Ven is made matriarch of the Twi'lek village on Tython, the Jedi Knight gets a chance to become extra friendly with her if he chooses the dark side options.
These are my favorite spoilers for SWTOR. What connections and spoilers have you run into? Which are your favorite?
The Hyperspace Beacon by Larry Everett is your weekly guide to the vast galaxy of Star Wars: The Old Republic, currently in production by BioWare. If you have comments or suggestions for the column, send a transmission to larry@massively.com. Now strap yourself in, kid -- we gotta make the jump to hyperspace!
