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1 Chapter 1 : Expanding the World of Star Wars: The Old Republic - IGN Star Wars: The Old Republic, Blood of the Empire is a series of webcomics that is a tie-in to the Star Wars: The Old Republic massively multiplayer online roleplaying game (MMORPG) by LucasArts and BioWare. Rather than a single dominant leader, a variety of generals, politicians, bankers and even aliens now have a voice within the Remnant. However, politics and backstabbing are still rife within this turbulent time. Amid this, operating on her own, Mirith Sinn has taken to hunting Kanos in a desperate attempt to bring him to justice. The Good A major strength of the original Crimson Empire was its apparent simplicity. Along with rapidly bringing the reader up to speed on current events within the first act, it was a streamlined experience. The focus was placed on a few key characters above all others, the full history of those involved was told through flashbacks and it led to a definitive final scene. The big point in its favour immediately is how the book broadens its focus without ever losing track of events. You have three major worlds with separate concurrent stories, and the comic bouncing back and forth between each of them in turn. This is used to build up the villains, but also to much more easily handle the complex schemes at work. Rather than simply killing the Dark Lord and leaving it at that, Crimson Empire took the opportunity to ask "What next? We see multiple details of just how Jax was previously holding the Empire together and the problems his death creates with internal feuds flaring up, and enemies seeking to capitalize on his end. Due to this, the sudden murders and the obvious threats on display, it sidesteps many of the immediate issues which turned people off the politics within the prequels. One who will become very prominent later on in the New Jedi Order. The switch from guerilla combat to cloak and dagger work is one which definitely benefited the story on the whole. This is most evident with Mirith Sinn, who is given substantially more to do here. While her role is initially unclear, the fact she so easily adapts to her environment and only fails at one moment due to a turn of events no one could have predicted gives a far more positive impression of her skills. Then again, that goes doubly so for Kanos himself. With him gone, he lacks some of the rage which kept his determination going to the point where he questions a few of his life goals. Of course, for all this, the book benefits from a massive amount of action. From running gun battles to starship engagements and airborne assaults on an enemy fortress, any time you start to adjust to a new status quo it throws something new into the mix. It helps to prevent the book from dragging and even when it seems to calm down for a time, you always know that something large, violent and likely explosive is going to come out of the woodwork. The heightened nature of the combat allows it to also be more evenly distributed throughout Council of Blood. You can pick out minute qualities, small signs of age and use on items, but without sacrificing bold style of the series. There is also a much broader variety of aliens on hand. Rather than having brief cantina-style appearances early on, the more prominent number of aliens here helps to make the galaxy seem more varied and ultimately fleshed out. The more subtle expressions and ability to convey a broader variety of emotions through the individual panels certainly makes the story all the stronger. As does the capacity to focus upon multiple figures within running battles over the more singular combat we had previously. The Bad You likely noticed that, for all the praise offered to the comic, little time was spent discussing Kanos himself. The truth is that, while he still plays a very prominent part, much of the time he is out of focus. In a Batman Returns move, the writing team seemed much more invested in exploring the shifting dynamic between the villains over the main character. Along with the above factor, another notable issue is that the story seems to skip a point in their development. While the book dangles the possibility of her vendetta over the tale for a time, she eventually admits that her hatred had died away some time ago. While it quickly and quite satisfactorily ends a few key figures within the story, others disappear for another day. This certainly makes a great deal of sense in one case, but when it comes to others it has the story just peter out. Because of this, it lacks the impact of the previous book and fails to end on a high note, leaving the promise of more but failing to satisfy you. Yet perhaps the most frustrating flaw the comic unfortunately suffers from a few idiot plot moments to try an encourage it to follow certain paths. Or at least those of Vader himself, which unfortunately contradicts much of what we saw in the first volume. In fact, the only thing which does prevent these points from marking down the book further is thanks to the pacing diverting your Page 1

2 attention away from them, or disguising them within some otherwise well executed scenes of character development. The Verdict While there are certainly a few apparent flaws with Council of Blood, the overall story still works extremely well. Something which, to be honest, the franchise needs a lot more of these days. Overall, it had some interesting politics, dealt with the repercussions of the past events well, and the action was still solid despite a lack of a major duel. It set up events for new adventures with some interesting new players, and a strong final chapter overall. Page 2

3 Chapter 2 : Star Wars: The Old Republic: Blood of the Empire Volume 1 : Alexander Freed : Set in the newest corner of the Star Wars galaxy!afterhundreds of years, the Sith Empire has returned to the galaxy, determined tocrush the Republic that sent them into exile. For young Sith Teneb Kel, it ishis only chance to rise above his lowly beginnings as a slave and prove hisworth to the Dark Council. Plot[ edit ] This story takes place in the Star Wars fictional universe shortly after the establishment of a tenuous peace between the re-emergent Sith Empire and the Galactic Republic, [14] years after the events of the Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic games, and more than 3, [15] years before the events in the Star Wars films. Suddenly, a Sith named Darth Malgus, and his master Vindican, along with several Sith troops, attack the base. Malgus then kills Vindican, who was wounded by Darach. Later in the "Deceived" cinematic trailer, however, Malgus, having appeared to survive the earlier attack albeit with a mask covering his nose and mouth, leads an army of Sith into the Jedi Temple on Coruscant, killing many Jedi including the Jedi Master Ven Zallow. The game itself is set in the cold-war soon after these events, with the Jedi Order and Galactic Republic struggling to maintain their control of the core worlds while the Sith plot their downfall and the expansion of the Sith Empire. The conflict opens on many fronts and across many planets, while native factions are engaged in political struggles or civil war. BioWare stated, prior to release, that the game would have a significant focus on the storyline. Each of the eight classes has a three act storyline that progresses as the character levels up. Player advancement occurs by a combination of mission completion, exploration, and defeating enemies. New skills, unlocked by level, are taught by trainers and can be learned in game at a multitude of locations. Heroic missions exist that require the cooperation of multiple players to complete objectives, and can be repeated normally on a daily basis. Every character in the game, including the player character, features full voice dialog to enhance gameplay, and interactions feature a dialogue system similar to that used in the Mass Effect series. The planet Makeb was added in Patch 2. The short clip provided by BioWare revealed that space combat would be a "tunnel shooter". Game play includes moving right and left on the X axis and up and down on the Y axis; however, players do not have control of the speed of their space craft. Jake Neri, LucasArts Producer, told PC Gamer in their October issue that their goal was to "capture the most cinematic moments that we can create. Species[ edit ] A range of playable species are available for the player to choose from, some limited to their factions. Humans and Zabrak can pick any class available, while the other species are restricted to limited choices of classes by default. The release of the expanded "Legacy" system in April allows for species to be able to play all classes both Empire and Republic by unlocking that species with an infusion of in-game money or by levelling a character of that race to level Under this system, for example, a player may choose Chiss, which by default can only choose the non-sith classes on the Empire side, as a new Sith character. Likewise, a Sith Pureblood, which by default can only choose the Force-powered classes, could choose to be a non-force class. Along the same vein, both species, which are restricted to the Empire, could even choose the option of fighting for the Republic, including training as a Jedi. By the same method, unlocking the Zabrak species allows users to play both appearances regardless from which side the character is from. However, the classes of one faction mirror the classes of the other for example, Jedi Knight and Sith Warrior. Advanced classes share the same storyline as their base class. For example, some lightsabers can only be bought if Light or Darkside aligned. Bounty Hunters have the D5-Mantis patrol craft. Sith Warriors and Sith Inquistors have the Fury. Imperial Agents have the XB Phantom. Smugglers have the XS Freighter. Troopers have the BT-7 Thunderclap. Jedi Knights and Jedi Consulars have the Defender. Certain pieces of these ships can be upgraded, allowing them to perform better in space combat missions. Each class gets five companions via their storyline. The player can assign up to five companions to perform up to 3 various skills. The item is destroyed in the process, but the player gets some of the materials back. Gathering skills allow the player or their companions to gather resources out in the world. The developers stated during the chat that only the Bounty Hunter would be able to get Blizz and that other classes would have unique companions as well, including some companions that are force users. It was also shown that companions would have a similar character screen as the players and can have gear just like a player character. BioWare Page 3

4 announced same-sex romance options with companions or other NPCs before release. Options for some new companions were implemented in Knights of the Fallen Empire. He was the first companion added to every classes, and can be obtained through a questline. He is an assassin droid based on the popular HK from the original Knights of the Old Republic series. A female Ewok companion, Treek, was implemented in patch 2. This companion requires either a purchase from the Cartel Market or a 1,, credit fee along with a Legacy Level of Subscription[ edit ] The Old Republic required a monthly subscription to play, following a month of play included with the initial purchase. Options are available to pay for one month, two month, three month, or six month blocks, with discounted rates for multiple month blocks. The free-to-play version integrates most of the primary features in the game, but has several restrictions, such as credit limits and reduced leveling speed. EA stated that, subscribers were needed to make the game profitable saying that they were "well above" that number, [40] By May, subscriptions had fallen below, but at the time, stabilized there. As of August the game has over one million monthly players. On September 29,, BioWare announced that they would be accepting applications for testers from the game community. Within minutes, the official website was down due to traffic, and BioWare announced shortly after that the site was being changed in order to accommodate the increase in visitors. A second cinematic trailer, "Hope", was released on June 14,, that depicts another battle that happened before the game, the Battle of Alderaan. On June 6, a new trailer "Return" was released at E3 depicting the initial Sith invasion force as it retakes its home world of Korriban. Game testing was officially announced to be underway on July 9,, for testers from North American territories. Although released in most regions of the world, EA have said Australasia will be getting the game at a later date. The Old Republic would be released globally on December 20, On January 18,, the first content patch 1. The update included the new Legacy system, a new Flashpoint, Operation, a PVP Warzone, as well as improved character textures and advanced options such as user interface customization. Guild banks and player character pets are also introduced. A Weekend Pass Free Trial was made available for new players but has since closed. The game update featured a New Group Finder, the ability to augment every item, and adaptable social gear. In addition, players will be able to request that their characters are able to transfer to other servers. These items include armour sets, lightsaber colour crystals, mounts, pets and character-perk unlocks. In January, Star Wars: On April 26,, BioWare announced that the game was available in the Middle East and remaining European countries who were excluded from the original launch. Page 4

5 Chapter 3 : Fridayâ s Update: Fan Friday and Blood of the Empire Issue #5 â Star Wars Gaming news The Old Republic 4: Blood of the Empire, Part 1 is the fourth issue in the Star Wars: The Old Republic comic series and is a re-release of the webcomic The Old Republic, Blood of the Empire Act 1: Shades of the Sith. Soeren Kamper blood of the eimpre, fan friday, forum post, Species swtor. The Broken World Chapter 1: But can one young Sith defeat a master of the dark side? Jedi, slaves and Sith alike clash in act 2 of Blood of the Empire. But what power does she possess, and what secrets will she reveal to the man sent to kill her? Check out 7 new pages here. And we also get a special Fan Friday, in the form of an E3 Wrapup: Thanks to everyone for checking in throughout the week and supporting The Old Republic. Thanks for all your support! Sean also took the time to provide sort of a manifesto to fans who might be a little over-zealous in their vocalization of what E3 brought: We have everything from people who read the site almost every minute to people who visit the site once a week; people who scour the web for data and people who like to be directed to what and where our updates are. So when we do our big broadcast messages, it is directed towards the entire TOR Community. And from day one, last week, we called out very specifically that we would have an update every day for this week instead of just throwing it all out on a Friday. Some of you knew about all of our updates come Monday. Some found out about the various updates all through the week. Will there be limitations? Yes, there will be. When we do, you will definitely know but in the meanwhile we are only confirming what we know will not change between now and launch. We only get to meet a fraction of them and the ones we do are amazing. Just this last week I got to personally meet a wide variety of people who participate in these forums on a consistent basis and it was great to see their excitement for TOR. But, like I said, our updates are crafted for the entire community and while a segment may learn everything before even the first day of E-3 and some even before the Pre-E3 Press Event, ack! Now, I know some of you will disagree with me I have been reading the threads and posts between shifts when doing demos and at night, I personally believe we revealed a lot this week: Hope â A new cinematic trailer. Player Ships â Announcing a mobile base of operations and even showing two of them. Armor Progression â Showed off a few new outfits and gave a small peek at how a character might progress. On live television where anything could happen. Hmm, and maybe I should go back and remove the part about me not ramblingâ because I think I ended up doing that after all Quick Edit: And no, not asking for you guys to thank us or anything else. I am just trying to give a little more information on why things are they way they are based on some of the posts I have been reading over the last week. Rob Chestney also made a post on the the official forums where he gives some explanation on the standard MMO roles seen in one of the gameplay videos: We wanted her to stay back from the action to provide a wide-angle view of the entire scene. Thus, where she might have run into to strike a few blows for righteousness in a regular group battle, she has to minimize that to keep the view right. New strategies for team combat develop as characters get new skills, get higher level powers, and select specializations. Keep in mind also, that the demo is designed so that people who may not be MMO veterans can understand it also. The Sith Warrior has two advanced classes; the Juggernaut and the Marauder. The paradigm of advanced classes is designed to provide branching options so that all primary classes have at least two options for the types of role they will play in groups. Eventually, we look forward to you guys getting your hands on the game to find out for yourselves! Visited 43 times, 1 visits today Post navigation. Page 5

6 Chapter 4 : Star Wars: The Old Republic Volume 1 -- Blood of the Empire TPB :: Profile :: Dark Horse Com Blood of the Empire is a series of web comics, set to tie into the Star Wars: The Old Republic massively multiplayer online roleplaying game (MMORPG) by LucasArts and BioWare. Written by of one the game's designers, Alexander Freed, the series was published every other Friday by Dark Horse Comics. I think SWTOR is an extremely underrated video game, or just that the immense vitriol it seems to get is almost completely unwarranted. I find there to be three big complaints with it: And when you take out the inclusion of Revan and the Exile, the world of SWTOR still has such a lush treasure trove of other great storylines and characters to offer. Even without the video game, Deceived does a decent job fleshing out the character of Malgus as well as providing some good new ones and Annihilation to me is the most underrated Star Wars novel out there. I will admit the weakest aspect of the game is the gameplay, for the gameplay, especially combat, is clunky. But the story elements and being able to roleplay our characters with my girlfriend more than make up for it. I have taken a hiatus from the game but I have been really wanting to get back into it. So where does this comic fall into all this? The goal of this comic was to flesh out the backstory of a character that plays an important role in the Sith Inquisitor class story. It follows Teneb Kel, a young sith who was formerly a slave. He goes through some revelations, battles a female sith who turns out to be a traitor, and talks to the dark council about it. It is that boring. This is one of the most boring Star Wars stories I have ever come across. The characters are incredibly bland. If you asked me what made Teneb Kel different from the sith lady he has to fight, or any of the other characters in this for that matter, it is only because the plot demands it or its because I recognize them from the game. The plot is nothing to write home about either, in that it is just a straightforward rise through the ranks story. Yet, it focuses very little on those elements, basically just spitting out backstory and plot dialogue until the next action scene occurs. Speaking of which, you know there is a problem when your character dialogue is more exposition heavy than your narration. At least he acknowledged how boring all that text was by stuffing it into a narration box. Nearly every single line of dialogue is used for exposition, plot, or backstory. No character development, no emotional connections, nothing! Oh and did I mention the narration? Even though I rated it lower, at least this comic is better than Dark Empire I. And even though it was incredibly boring, I found nothing so bad that it offended me. I will give a touch of credit that Alexander Freed at least tried to cut back on his use of narration The one positive thing I can say about this comic is with the artwork, and that it does look nice. When we do get to the obligatory action sequences they have some pretty unique and cool visuals. Overall the action was as fun as it could possibly have been, especially taking into account how little the artists had to work with. However, the art is not spectacular in any way and does not save the comic. Final rating is 1 star. Blood of the Empire is definitely quite bad, but it is not offensively horrible. In comparison, even though Dark Empire I was a dated piece of garbage that was more painful to read than this was, at least it had a good portrayal of Han Solo. Also, at least that one had the advantage of being memorably atrocious. Princess Leia and it was much mercifully shorter than Fatal Alliance. The Old Republic video game. Dark Horse, publishers of the print volume, had nothing to do with the production, as far as I know. Or read for free at swtor. Chapter 5 : The Old Republic 4: Blood of the Empire, Part 1 Wookieepedia FANDOM powered by Wikia Star Wars: The Old Republic Volume 1 -- Blood of the Empire TPB After hundreds of years, the Sith Empire has returned to the galaxy, determined to crush the Republic that sent them into exile. For young Sith Teneb Kel, it is his only chance to rise above his lowly beginnings as a slave and prove his worth to the Dark Council. Chapter 6 : Star Wars: The Old Republic, Blood of the Empire Wookieepedia FANDOM powered by Wiki Blood of the Empire is the second series of webcomics created by BioWare, Lucasarts, and Dark Horse Comics. Contents[show] Publisher's summary Teneb Kel, a fiercely clever young man apprenticed as a Sith, is selected by his Page 6

7 masters for a secret missionâ a mission concerning the Emperor himself. Chapter 7 : Star Wars: The Old Republic #4â Blood of the Empire part 1 :: Profile :: Dark Horse Comics Star Wars The Old Republic Volume One: Blood of the Empire is a graphic novel prequel to the Bioware/LucasArts video game. It's meant as a tie in but without the need to have played the game beforehand. Chapter 8 : Blood of the Empire - Star Wars: The Old Republic Wiki Read Star Wars: Crimson Empire II - Council of Blood Comic Online Following the death of Carnor Jax in the first Crimson Empire series, the Empire suddenly finds itself devoid of a strong leader. The Interim Councilis assembled to manage the affairs of the Empire until a new emperor can take the throne, yet something is amiss. Chapter 9 : Star Wars - The Old Republic - Blood of the Empire » Download Comics for Free Jedi, slaves and Sith alike clash in act 2 of Blood of the theinnatdunvilla.com the fifth issue of Blood of the Empire, Teneb Kel comes face to face with Exal Kressh, the Emperor's apprentice! But what power does she possess, and what secrets will she reveal to the man sent to kill her? Page 7