Character footnote: Who knows who?

[Drin Kizael]

BIG EDIT to this post in case you read it last night when I first put up the thread...


When I first started posting, I was under the impression (not sure why, in retrospect, but I did) that there wold not be many older pre-Imperial Jedi. So I started to establish that I recognized everyone with a back story that predated the Clone Wars.

Realizing now that there are so many more of us, I wondered if it was realistic for Drin to really know EVERYONE. There were supposedly 100,000 Jedi across the galaxy at one point. The odds are pretty scary that we'd all know each other.

But then insomnia kicked in because I drank way too much coffee at my writer's group meeting tonight. Heh. I remembered the Shadows of the Republic threads, namely The Younglings and Beginning of the End.

Looking at those threads, it seemed you all had met, since everyone's story understandably revolved around the temple. It IS the only point of reference we really had when we made our characters after all, so it was natural.

The better question became, does anyone from before the Purge NOT know each other, even if we only met in passing?

Perhaps we should make an official declaration of a break from canon, just so it makes more sense, that there were actually far fewer Jedi than the movies claimed (like 10K instead of 100K) and that we all filtered through that temple. And just like life in a small town, "everyone knew everyone".

And by that I mean there is a chance we could have met, or knew of each other. People of wide ranging ages never necessarily met. I probably wouldn't remember ever meeting Barton among the sea of Padawans, for example. And likewise, Barton wouldn't necessarily remember many people beyond his own class and his master's immediate circle. But the potential for recognition is there.

So then, I think that unless you actually write it into your origin, the safest assumption is that our characters are likely to have known each other, or at least of each other.

Granted this is probably only an issue for me, since I'm the only one meeting characters for the first time, but it may matter to a new player who may come along, should they want to make an older Jedi, too.

Sidebar... Are there any active players who have Shadows characters that did NOT survive Order 66? I saw a couple mentioned in the wiki, but I don't know which if any are still around OOC.

[Barton Henning]

Of my characters:

Barton was a youngling - http://www.sw-fans.net/forum/member.php?u=4845 - he hung around the Mu Satach and Alex Coal. Barton was trained by Olana Chion, who is a canon character that was killed in Order 66.

Salem Ave (known then as Salemescro Avesca) was a youngling. He was initially supposed to be trained by Serena Laran, but ended up with A'na Eldhil (who also trained the young Lilaena De'Ville.)

All three of them (Salem, Barton, Lilaena) were younglings/padawans at the same time, but of varying ages.

Daria didn't even make it to the Jedi Temple, and was trained elsewhere in the galaxy. Corell was too young at the time to recognise or remember anyone, but she did grow up with a healthy curiosity towards the Jedi so it's safe to say she looked into a few of the more in/famous people.

[Droo]

Loki, young as he is, has no immediate history with any of the Jedi onboard the Wheel. However his grandfather and mentor, Master Barabas Tosca, will undoubtedly have a long history with the Jedi Order and perhaps that could be a topic on which he could find some common ground with the older Jedi. I hadn't before thought of this so cheers for raising the issue.

[Captain Untouchable]

Lúka Jibral (an Inquisitor) was a Youngling at the same time as Salem, Barton, and Lilaena, but I haven't established that he knows any of them. He might recognise names, but wasn't "friends" with that particular little group, or anything like that.

Inyos Aamoran and Mandan Hidatsa (who died eight years ago) had something of a "You were my brother!" Obi-Wan / Anakin relationship. Mandan was very much the make friends type; he was a sparring partner with Ilias Nytrau for example, so Inyos knows him by association. Together, Inyos and Mandan went on a mission with Tionne Thanewulf, so that's how that association came about. Since the purge, Inyos crossed paths with Amos Iakona as well, who is around, sometimes.

I think it's more likely that most of the surviving Jedi know who Drin is, rather than visa versa, necessarily. He's quite a distinctive fellow, whereas most of us were unremarkable younglings and Jedi before the purge, and basic humans for the most part. Ilias Nytrau and Tionne Thanewulf are perhaps names he might have heard of, whereas Barton, Inyos, and so on didn't have quite so much prominance or renown.

[Barton Henning]

Right. I wouldn't expect anyone except for Mu, Alex and perhaps Salem and Lilaena to remember who Barton is.

Anyone who knew Serena or A'na might remember Salem, as he was something of a problem padawan for Serena (hence his being passed on to A'na.) But Salem isn't on the Wheel anyway... so we can save that recollection for sometime the future

[Rev Solomon]

I was also thinking that Jedi of a similar class - healers, warriors, diplomats - would be more likely to know the others in their department, so to speak. Sol Iman was a warrior-in-training, even though Solomon's current skillset is much more in line with a consul. He only knew Serena, a diplomat, in passing before they were assigned to the same mission, but he frequently sparred with Loklorien, a fellow warrior.

You also have to take into account that any Jedi who trains in the field will be more isolated from other padawans. The Old Republic Jedi seemed inclined to dispatch only one master-padawan team per mission unless it was something unusually complex or dangerous that would require multiple knights.

In Solomon's particular case, he was very focused on his duty as a padawan, and outside two or three good friends, he only really dealt with other warriors. He probably knew (or knew of) many of the Jedi at Geonosis, though it's been a long time, and memory is a tricky thing. Now he's much more concerned with people.

[Drin Kizael]

I think it's more likely that most of the surviving Jedi know who Drin is, rather than visa versa, necessarily. He's quite a distinctive fellow, whereas most of us were unremarkable younglings and Jedi before the purge, and basic humans for the most part.

This is actually a good point. Although I hadn't stated it outright, I've assumed that Drin Kizael and his master Moorja Dreeshan were the only Trianii Jedi. So yes they were rather distinctive, even compared to other felinoid races.

Also, Drin fought at Geonosis (always meant to post to that "Beginning of the End" thread), so there might be some notoriety there. He was FAR from a legend like Obi-Wan, so I don't expect that level of recognition. He was only a knight at the time. He's in his mid-fifties now.

Kizael and Dreeshan (Trianii put their clan names first and given name last, but most humans get that confused so he happily answers to Drin) were both Guardians, so they were out in the field a lot, especially during the War.

Adding to the distinction is that Kizael possesses the Force talent of energy absorption, which (at least in canon) was a rare ability shown only by the Halcyon bloodline. He does not have it anywhere near the power level that they had it, though. He can't eat blaster bolts and love it. See the Shadows thread: The Initiate for an example of how he used it.

[Lowrook]

unless there is a Jedi who is long lived, Lowrook would probably not know, or be known by many jedi. He was frozen in Carbonite 60 years ago so that is before the time of many of the jedi. The fact that there were thousands of jedi, then his disappearance would have been investigated, but not necessarily noted.

[Acacius Blade]

The only person in The Wheel Acacius is familiar with is Loki. They first met perhaps weeks before arriving there.

[Serena Laran]

Serena knows Solomon from their time as padawans. She also would know Lilaena and Salem, though children grow up and change, so it wouldn't be "hey I recognize you straight away!" sort of thing. She knows Ilias, though does not know he is still alive.

She would probably recognize who Drin Kizael is, even though she didn't meet him?

Characters who were children at the time of the Purge may remember names, or faces, or both... or they may not. I mean, how many people who you knew only when you were 5 or 6 could you pick out of a lineup today or assign them their correct name?

Lilaena doesn't remember Salem or any other younglings because she was like 5 and a part of another Youngling clan. She may remember Serena, barely. After the Purge her childhood and growing up years were quite traumatic...

[Drin Kizael]

I hesitate to make too many mentions that characters definitely do NOT know each other, lest we all end up in a Shadows thread at some point in the future.

[Loklorien s'Ilancy]

s'Il was that weird padawan that never made any effort to say anything to anyone. She was about eighteen at the time of the purge, and escaped with Zem.

As Solomon said, she and Sol were sparring partners, and he's one of the few that s'Il would interact with.

The other was Oa Umi'u, but that's a story that Liz and I have only just started putting together.

Everyone else she's pretty lost with and is really only meeting them for the first time. Even if she might've passed by some in the temple back then, she'd never be able to put a name to a face, let alone a face that's grown older.

[Anj]

Before coming to The Wheel Anj didn't know anybody. He wasn't raised in the time of the Jedi Temple, so no chance of meeting anybody except those Jedi that worked very closely with the Alliance over the last 5 years.

[Anbira Hicchoru]

Zem would've most likely known most of the pre-purge Jedi. He was something of an up & comer before order 66

[Eragon_Dushall]

Unlike all of your characters Eragon was born on the founding day of the Empire. So he knows absolutely no one and dint even know there was still Jedi around until his master saved him. Lol