Who actually is in for Star Wars?

[Berkut]

No, people in Russia do not routinely kill each other the moment they think they are stronger than their superiors.

and neither do they in Bioware's Sith Empire.

They don't? I thought they did.  I guess I don't know much about it then. From trailers and such for SWOL, it seems like the Sith are killing each other pretty regularly, enough so that it seems almost routine.

[Barrister]

No, people in Russia do not routinely kill each other the moment they think they are stronger than their superiors.

and neither do they in Bioware's Sith Empire.

They don't? I thought they did.  I guess I don't know much about it then. From trailers and such for SWOL, it seems like the Sith are killing each other pretty regularly, enough so that it seems almost routine.

Well...

SLight spoilers below:

I played the Sith Inquisitor to level 10.  You're a slave, but with talent so they're training you to be a sith.  Your overseer though thinks no slave can be a sith, and keeps comparing you to a trueborn sith that is his treasured pupil.  He'd like nothing more than for you to die, and does send you off on what he figured will be suicide missions, but it is also made clear that he can't simple murder you because his superiors wouldn't like it.

Like I said, it kind of reminds me of Russia.  There is a justice system, but power and influence have ways of getting what they want - but not out in the open.

[Syt]

http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Sith

The Sith believed that conflict was the only true test of one's ability, and so emphasized its importance. It was their belief that conflict challenged both individuals and civilizations, and so forced them to grow and evolve. They believed that the avoidance of conflict–like the pacifist teachings of the Jedi–resulted in stagnation and decline.

Another purpose served by conflict was the elevation of the strong and the death of the weak. By encouraging strife, the strong were able to exercise their power while the weak were weeded from the ranks of the Sith. A core tenet to Sith philosophy was self-reliance and the idea that an individual only deserved what they were strong enough to take. Likewise, morality was treated as an obstacle to be overcome, as it got in the way of a Sith's ability to recognize and seize opportunities for advancement and self-empowerment.

Such philosophies were embraced and taught at Sith academies, where students were encouraged to challenge one another and fight for prestige that would be recognized by the headmaster of the academy. At the academy on Korriban during the Jedi Civil War, students were tasked with gaining prestige so they might become one of the "chosen few" accepted into the ranks of Darth Malak's Sith Empire. The strife to achieve prestige caused rivalries and animosity between the students, as there were few tasks that offered prestige, and many prospective Sith. Similarly, the students of the academy during the New Sith Wars were pitted against each other in dueling sessions atop the academy. It was during these dueling sessions that intense rivalries were formed - rivalries that resulted in the deaths of students Fohargh and Sirak at the hands of Darth Bane.

Also:

http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Sith_Empire

(One should remember that the original Sith were natives of Korriban who later intermingled with Dark Jedi)

Before the formation of the empire, the Sith were engaged in constant warfare with one another though this was seen as an acceptable practice as they believed it to be a fundamental aspect of their existence. This meant that they lived both a barbaric yet strangely harmonious existence on their homeworld. The early Sith often engaged in sentient sacrifices which they made to their deities.[2] Their constant warring led to a dwindling of the population on their original homeworld of Korriban as well as cultivated an intensely xenophobic society.[23] After the arrival of the Exiles, only those that were Force sensitive had the capacity to reach the upper echlons of the Sith Empire. Those that were blind to the Force were considered useless; fit for only common labor purposes or simple bureacratic work. Amongst the elite, power was craved due to the intense feelings of greed perpetrated by the Dark side which also meant that these individuals were also ambitious as well as paranoid. This society encouraged the survival of the fittest with only the most ruthless and powerful rising to positions of power as well as surviving.[9]

This empire ultimately thrived on slavery as well as exploitation and oppression of the masses. In addition, they lived in constant belief that they would face external threats to their dominion and thus had a belief in expansion or dying. Some believed that this was a necessity for the Sith as they hungered for new lands and riches to bring under their control. This allowed for Naga Sadow to lead his forces during the Great Hyperspace War though despite this being the case, there were other traditional and more conservative factions that believed in remaining within their territory in order to preserve their ways.[10]

During the time of the first Sith Empire, there were many instances of travelers stumbling into Sith space where they became slaves to one of the many members of the nobility. Over the years of enslavement, these aliens and outsiders continued to live for generations whereupon they forgot their origins thus turning them into true subjects of the Sith. Some Sith Lords even found value in the descendants of these foreigners such as those of the Tapani worlds due to their skills in science. Natural born Sith tended to focus on sorcery while the Tapani's excellence in the fields of science meant that they became valued members of the empire and developed the industrial as well as medical infrastructure for several Sith Lords. Through such means as those presented by the Tapani, the Sith developed new lightsaber construction techniques that more advanced than those produced by either Sith or Jedi. However, the intense rivalry and fierce competitive nature of Sith society meant that ranking Sith Lords never shared these new developments or weapons. Among the Sith, about glorification of self and the subjugation of others was a constant aspect within their society.[11]

One of the greatest secrets of the ancient Sith was their devotion to the arts of Sith sorcery. As such, those individuals that practiced this art took on the title of Sith mages who held great mystical power that allowed them to cause stars to go supernova.[4] The original Sith were also quite skilled in the art of Sith alchemy though it was the Dark Jedi Exiles who later became Sith Lords that perfected the ability.[28] Originally, the species was noted a united people who instead preferred to stay within different and divided tribes. These were led by one or more sorcerors who were in charge with the groups protection. This remained the case until the arrival of the Exiles who took interest in the species techniques in drawing on the power of the Dark Side of the Force which they used to accomplish their sorcery.[19] This practice was used by pure blood Sith who often dwelled in Library-temples where they sat in meditation as well as recorded their experiences as well as experiments.[5] They also created many tools designed to enhance or project their power which was commonly seen in Sith talismans. These Dark side empowered constructs were capable of a wide range of feats from being simple concentration tools to being a trap that turned other Force users to the Dark side when being used or defensive tools that absorbed weapon fire and even being used for healing.[19] They also created special chambers and sanctuaries that amplified the power of the Force which were either used as Meditation chamber or Focusing chambers.[27] One of the greater feats was the capacity to create sentient vessels such as Meditation Spheres that were capable of enhancing the power of a Sith sorcerer.

The Sith Empire had also made use of droids and recognized their potential as security troops leading to several different designs to be produced. Schematics for these droids were often stored within holocrons and though their inner workings were inferior to later generation droids, the fact that Sith alchemy was used in their construction meant that their outer plating was equal to a low powered shield generator.[27]

And

Government and PoliticsEdit

Ludo Kressh duels Naga Sadow before Marka Ragnos for rights to the title of Dark Lord of the Sith.

    "They must be precursors to an invasion...we should kill them at once!"
    "No—not until we interrogate them. They may be alien spies...or they may be the key to ripe new fields for the Sith Lords to conquer."
    ―Ludo Kressh and Naga Sadow discuss the Daragons[src]

Much of the structure of the Empire had changed following 6900 BBY due to the arrival of the Dark Jedi Exiles. Their government was ultimately led by a cabal of Sith Lords with a single Dark Lord who served as ruler of his people. It was these individuals that controlled the now Force-using magogracy of the Sith Empire. Their society also was left in a state of perpetual conflict as these rival Sith Lords often raised their own personal armies in order to unseat the ruling Dark Lord.[3]

The Dark Lord of the Sith was typically given to the individual by their deceased predecessor who manifested as a Dark Side Spirit after being interned within their tomb.[9] The cabal beneath him were the Sith Council who were a body of advisors to the reigning Dark Lord of the Sith. It consisted of ten members made up of Sith Lords within the empire. Each Lord on the Council personally ruled over a dozen worlds. This Council convened in a great citadel on Ziost. In this ancient age, the Lords of the Sith Empire were the undisputed masters of the worlds that fell under their control.[25]

Political factions were also known to exist within the ranks of the government of the Sith Empire with such coalitions formed around specific Sith Lords.

[Grey Fox]

Warcraft lore sure doesn't spark this kind of conversation.

Score that a win for SWTOR.

[crazy canuck]

Warcraft lore sure doesn't spark this kind of conversation.

Score that a win for SWTOR.

SWTOR has little to do with it.

WoW lore was created to explain the game.  This MMO was created because of the lore. It is not so surprising that people will have strong views about SW lore and not care one wit about WoW lore.

[Berkut]

That is actually pretty interesting stuff Syt. Does Bioware embrace that kind of stuff as canon?

Hell, that makes me a little more able to actually play the Sith, they don't seem nearly so stupid after reading that...

[Barrister]

That is actually pretty interesting stuff Syt. Does Bioware embrace that kind of stuff as canon?

Hell, that makes me a little more able to actually play the Sith, they don't seem nearly so stupid after reading that...

Yes, they embrace it as canon.  In fact I think Bioware helped create big chunks of it through the original KOTOR game.

From what I gather reading that big wall of text, this game takes place a few years after the sacking of Coruscant, which is mentioned.

[Valmy]

That is actually pretty interesting stuff Syt. Does Bioware embrace that kind of stuff as canon?

Hell, that makes me a little more able to actually play the Sith, they don't seem nearly so stupid after reading that...

Did you play the KOTORs?  I seems like Bioware either heavily used it, if didn't have a hand in inventing it themselves.

[Syt]

There were Old Republic comics in the 90s (e.g. Freedon Nadd Uprising, Hyperspace Wars, Golden Age of the Sith etc.). Bioware picked up on the setting and expanded it.

[Drakken]

They don't? I thought they did.  I guess I don't know much about it then. From trailers and such for SWOL, it seems like the Sith are killing each other pretty regularly, enough so that it seems almost routine.

I'm pretty sure not everyone in the Sith Empire are force-users, though. So the whole Sith social darwinist philosophy we see in SWTOR is among those who count: Sith apprentices and their masters.

The rest of the population are probably seen as cogs in the machine at best, or sub-racial slaves at worst, and thus routinely trampled on and fed orders but left alone unless they do a botched job.

[katmai]

Indeed the Sith are just a small upper class of the whole Empire.

And by Sith, i mean the force users, not the Sith "purebloods" which are a hybridized race of the original Korriban natives and the Dark Jedi who enslaved the world.

[Berkut]

What is a Dark Jedi then?

[katmai]

What is a Dark Jedi then?

In canonical they were the jedi that broke off thousand of years ago and founded the "Sith"

In the MMO, not sure how it will all work out with you being able to be "dark" jedi of the republic, yadda yadda

[Faeelin]

od vs evil as it is calm vs emotion. Games have done a generally poor job of depicting that. It's usually cruel vs nice or selfish vs unselfish. I'd like to see it done better for once.

I think you're casting your own assumptions on the Sith because lightning is cool. How many Sith lords didn't seem to casually toss  orphans into the vacuum of space for the LOLZ?

[Syt]

What is a Dark Jedi then?

In canonical they were the jedi that broke off thousand of years ago and founded the "Sith"

In the MMO, not sure how it will all work out with you being able to be "dark" jedi of the republic, yadda yadda

I was rather surprised to see the Sith purebloods reappear as playable race in TOR.

Meanwhile, Rodians, Trandoshans, Wookies or Bothans are left out. And why the heck did they include a human cyborg race? It would make more sense to be able to add cybernetic implants throughout the game (like in Star Wars Galaxies, though it was kinda silly when later on almost all high level chars seemed to have robot arms/legs).