Wake up James, welcome to the new world of 2006, where you now have a project of incredible scale hanging on you.
Wait, I forgot to introduce myself? James. James Ohlem. One of BioWare's veterans helped develop the games that made the company a name. KOTOR, Baldur's Gate, Neverwinter Nights. And these are just the games in which you were in a leadership position.
Your company has long wanted to create an MMO, especially since you even had a studio for this task, in Austin. You have explored a wide variety of options about which universe to use for this purpose. The upcoming Mass Effect was not bad, but the open problem was that it could lead to conflict with the planned trilogy. Forgotten Realms was too complex a topic to create such a product, since no one would give you unlimited freedom. In the end, you settled on Star Wars and the era of the Old Republic, which has already made a name for your company.
It seemed like the best option. Events are so far removed from films that there are hardly any questions about intellectual property and contradictions of the canon. Just recently, the prequel trilogy films had shoots, which has revived interest in this Saga. In addition, in the released game dilogy, you just had a clue for the further development of events. In the end, LucasArts turned out to be quite interested in this project.
Why exactly the Old Republic and not the era of the Clone Wars or the Galactic Civil War? It's simple - you have much more freedom of choice. And besides, the universe itself is much different from the era of films. In the film, the Galactic Republic is the undisputed cultural hegemon, it has long digested and subjugated any other cultures that were in the Galaxy, in addition to the Hutts, that will still retain their independence. By that time, any threats had already been reduced to complete insignificance. At that time, however, many impressive forces were hiding on the outskirts of the Galaxy.
The Mandalorians were not yet scattered across the galaxy as mercenaries, but an imposing force that threatened the entire Republic with their crusades. Coruscant itself was not at that time the unambiguous capital of the Republic and it had its opponents trying to challenge its influence, for example, Alsakan. Even the Sith and Jedi were not practically the only adepts of the Force who were present at that time, at that time there were much more diverse cults - Jal Shey, Zeison Sha and many others. All these questions are present at the moment simply as references to the distant past, purely titles and footnotes in chronology, which we can develop as we see fit.
But, of course, we must not forget about the fact that at the same time we are in a difficult situation, since our potential audience is divided into two, or even three large groups. These are film fans who do not know that there is something outside of these films and who want kinship with them, who want to see a similar world. These are fans of the game series who want to see the continuation and conclusion of Revan's story first and foremost. Finally, these are Expanded Universe fans who are hard to understand, and who might prefer to plunge into the post-Endor era.
We've been given some guidance on how this product should be. First of all, he must be a competitor to WoW and follow its formula for success, namely, a game with a confrontation between the two sides of the conflict, with a moderate focus on PvP, in fact, going back to the Everquest formula for success. Going back to where KOTOR 2 ended, we can see that we have at least one guaranteed side to the conflict - the Galactic Republic, seriously weakened by the events of these two games, but still holding its ground. And on the other side there is a threat of some True Sith, about which Kreia warns the Exile. Two sides of the conflict, classic for this setting - the Light and Dark sides of the Force, which are in eternal confrontation.
However, before proceeding directly to the development of the gaming setting, we need to decide on the time frame. The events of the second part end at 3950 before the Battle of Yavin. And accordingly, the question arises - how much has time progressed since the previous update? This is an important question for two reasons at once. On the one hand, by choosing a shorter period, we can use characters already familiar to the players, which will be quite good options. On the other hand, we can just not use them, but postpone events for a longer period in the future, in order to be able to show more fundamental changes in the world.
Choose one option:
[] - 20 years. This is already quite a long time, but at the same time, all the heroes who participated in the game events can still be present here, remaining active participants in the conflict.
[] - 50 years. A much longer period, which leaves only the Jedi, for example, Juhani or Atton Rand, as possible characters participating in the events of the game.
[] - 200 years. An even longer period, which with a guarantee does not leave a single character who will survive these events. Except, perhaps, Zaalbar, due to the enormous lifespan of the Wookiees, as well as droids.
[] - Write-in your option.
The second issue that should be considered is the True Sith themselves, who represent one of the parties to the conflict. Throughout the existence of the Expanded Universe, we have had a wide variety of Sith with a wide variety of states. There are the Empires of Palpatine and Revan, which are a tracing paper from Nazi Germany, this aggressive and imperialist state, where everyone is just cogs in a huge state machine. There is, however, the complete opposite of this, much closer to our era than Palpatine. Namely - the Sith Empire on Korriban, under the rule of Naga Sadow with its pseudo-Egyptian style and deified kings-priests, ancient despotism with bloody sacrifices. And finally, the third and last version of the Sith that is present in this era is the power of Exar Kun, which is not so much an established state as enemies of the Republic that have appeared over many centuries, connected by a common enemy rather than common interests. Either way, the True Sith will have a significant impact here, but in what form?
Choose one option:
[] - Imperialists. Somewhere outside of known space, there could be a large and powerful Empire with the resources to face the Republic. The basis of her power, oddly enough, is not so much Force and Sith as large armies, a navy and a bureaucratic machine capable of crushing any resistance to itself.
[] - Priests. It's the same Sith Empire, but instead of countless legions of stormtroopers, there are powerful Sith who rely on their knowledge in the Dark Side of the Force, sufficient to make the most powerful of them stronger than the Jedi.
[] - Allies. Here, the True Sith are nothing more than the inspirers of the alliance between the various dark cults that have appeared on the territory of the Republic. This image is much more like a cross between warlords and the Confederation of Independent Systems, if instead of corporations it was dominated by various sects.
[] - Write-in your option
And finally, we still have a second significant side of the conflict, namely the Galactic Republic. Against the background of the confrontation between the Sith and the Galactic Republic, it is she who is the positive side in this conflict, at least nominally. Although it is worth recognizing that her good intentions are limited by her own incompetence, corruption and spinelessness. In the prequel trilogy, the Galactic Republic represents the Roman Republic as it was shortly before the establishment of the Empire. Too huge and too weak to rule the country, rotting under its own weight, with elites completely out of touch with reality.
On the other hand, we can imagine the Republic as an analogue of the United States of America, which is the New Republic. At least in the ideal view of the fighters for a democracy faced with a brutal reality. And against the backdrop of a mess in which Palpatine's Empire was not so terrible.
The third option is rather a natural outflow from the conflict itself. Namely, does the republic have to be a democracy? She is in the middle of a full-blown conflict with the Sith, not long after a series of conflicts with them. Under such conditions, it is likely that it will soon turn into a presidential dictatorship with great military authority.
Choose one option:
[] - Roman Republic. The Galactic Republic, or rather its capital planets, frankly did not notice the entire crisis they had to face. Therefore, the main enemy of the Republic is its own incompetence and the unwillingness of those in power for nothing but further decadence.
[] - Naive democracy. The Galactic Republic emerged from a period of crisis with the restriction of rights and freedoms, hitting a completely opposite part - total democracy, too slow to resolve operational issues in a war of galactic proportions, and unwilling to give up part of the freedoms in wartime.
[] - Stalwart Dictatorship In this view, the Galactic Republic is not much different from part of the interpretation of the Sith Empire. Military on the streets, fighting any supporters of peace with the enemy, the atmosphere of the Cold War. Its enemy is not so much a reluctance to fight as an excessive desire to pursue every shadow and be sure to find the culprit, even if they are not really there.
[] - Write-in your option