With a tentative release date for Star Wars: The Old Republic, one of the things I felt was incredibly important for all players was to have a firm grasp of the story. For those that have been following TOR Universe since we launched in December of 2008 or for those that have been following since our relaunch a month ago, one of the things you know is that story is the most important aspect for me. I can suffer a little with graphics if the story is so amazing.

Because of that, I wanted to go over each of the acts of the BioWare/Dark Horse web comic Threat of Peace. Each act goes into detail about one specific section of what’s going on during the very tentative peace between the Sith Empire and the Republic. Act one, in particular, goes into detail about the Treaty of Coruscant and how the Sith were able to deceive the Republic into doing what they wanted. The description specifically explains it as:

The Sith Empire has scored a series of solid military victories over the Republic, winning control of several critical star systems and seriously damaging the Republic’s logistical supply lines. Overwhelmed but stoic, the Jedi and the Republic Military have succeeded in defending the Core Worlds and have slowed the Empire’s steady advances. In a surprising turn of events, the Empire has now extended an offer of peace to the Galactic Senate. Wary but desperate, the Republic has agreed to engage in ceasefire talks. A large delegation of prominent Senate and the best and brightest of the Jedi are traveling to the planet Alderaan, where they expect to hunker down for lengthy negotiations on the terms of a treaty with a representative from the Sith Dark Council.

However, let’s break it down by issue so that we can really grasp the incredible story that is going on here. I’ve been a fan of Dark Horse’s work with comics for many years now and BioWare is obviously known for their story telling. Put the two together and what you’re going to find is that there is an incredible story. So, here we go.

Issues #1

In the opening issue, we are presented with a little information about what’s been going on over the past few decades. The Galactic Republic are at war with each other obviously. While the Sith are seizing planets on the outer rim, they are unable to push back the Republic closer to the core. For some reason, though, the Sith Empire has proposed a peace treaty of sorts. An Imperial delegation and Republic officials are meeting on Alderaan to discuss peace.

We run into Satele and her master. Satele, interestingly enough, is a descendant of Bastilla Shan from Knights of the Old Republic. Her ability to sense a problem is almost immediately realized. While this meeting is going on, a Lord Angral is leading a Sith fleet straight toward Coruscant. It runs into a Coruscant Security ship and immediately opens fire. Bam, destruction.  Finally, we are introduced to our characters Lieutenant Tavus and Jedi Master Orgus. They witness the initial invasion of Coruscant.

Issue #2

We are immediately introduced to characters Lieutenant Tavus and Jedi Master Orgus. At the time, they are meeting with the Senate, but as they leave, the unexpected happens. They witness the initial invasion of Coruscant. There are dozens of landing ships, all probably carrying Imperial troopers and chances are, Sith as well. The issue opened with Angral giving an order to his soldiers to move forward and “channel your fury, destroy our enemies.” It’s a little odd for him to be preaching this to average soldiers, but the Sith are the Sith. Orgus and Angral clash lightsabers which should turn out to be a rather epic battle.

Issue #3

What we witness in this issue is some good old fashioned comic book lightsaber fighting. They fight, they duck, they slash and in the end, the Jedi loses. While this is going on, the soldiers are probably trying to hold back the onslaught of the Imperial troopers. At the end of the issue, it appears as if Orgus is going to get an early death. Even Angral says “You’ll have the honor of being the first Jedi to die today…” Not likely. Thanks to some luck, Orgus is able to get away because of a ship that crashes. Rather than stay and fight, the Jedi realizes that he has been bested and quickly retreats. Instead of pursuing, Angral allows him to escape to focus on more pressing matters such as killing a Senator.

On Alderaan, the Sith and the Republic are still meeting when a Senator gets a message to the Republic delegation that it was a trick and that they had been betrayed. The information gets off right before Angral kills him. The issue ends with Satele matching lightsabers with one of the Sith lorders there, a Lord Baras.

Issues #4

Some very hard negotiating appears in issue three. What we realize is that the Sith took Coruscant hostage as a method of forcing the Jedi to make a deal that they liked rather than what both parties liked. Despite the fact Satele wants to fight, she is forced to stand down because there is little she can do. Sure, she can kill Baras, but what does that do for Coruscant?

Now that we are back on Coruscant, we, along with Orgus and Tavus, witness the destruction of the Jedi Temple. For whatever reason, this is what gives a Sith purpose: destroying the temple. We move on to experience an order by Master Zym to have Satele apologize to Lord Baras for being so hasty. While her master disagrees, in the end, an order is an order. We witness the true wisdom of Master Zym in ensuring that Master Dar’Nala (Satele’s master) doesn’t get too attached.

Issue #5

This issue is a nice break from the first few issues because it opens with a Wookie and another bounty hunter. We’re now on Dantooine. We’ve got two soldiers and Dalborra, an incredibly well known Wookie bounty hunter. He takes out the two soldiers easily, but is being spied on by another bounty hunter named Braden. He was, at first, ordered to take Dalborra out because he was working for the Sith, but when the Treaty is signed, the contract is closed. Being a rebel, though, Braden decides he wants to try it anyway. Using a concussive ordnance, they blow the area up, knocking him out and Dalborra walks right into him. An easy catch for our Wookie friend.

Issue #6

With the opening of the sixth issue, we are back on Coruscant. This time, Orgus is trying to find out where his Lieutenant friend ran off to when out of nowhere, two walkers appear. For whatever reason, this issue irks me. Orgus gets his ass handed to him in issue three and now here, Orgus says “I can’t hold ‘em for long! Get back!” I don’t know, but this just sounds like he is a bit of a panzy. Maybe I am just looking too deep into it. To the rescue comes Tavus who demonstrates how ferocious a Republic trooper is going to be in the game. His rifle destroys both walkers like they were nothing. After destroying the walkers, they move to the surface and see that the temple has been completely razed. The Jedi Order on Coruscant is no more.

Issue #7

Like issue number five, this one breaks from the Coruscant antics and takes us to Korriban. We are led to believe that the Jedi signed the unfair Treaty of Coruscant because Baras is now back on Korriban. Here, he is given some great credit for what he did on Alderaan from the Dark Council. They want to bestow more power to him, but he declines. Interesting for a Sith to turn down more power.

The best part of the Sith. A fight between two Sith. We can see that Angral is a Sith Warrior, very prone to immense attack and easy to spook. Baras, on the other hand, seems to be a Inquisitor. More about the “way that was meant to be” and less about the fight. In the end, though, the two duke it out, someone gets electrocuted and they concede. Angral makes it clear he has no intentions of never holding back when he has the Jedi in his grasp. Baras replies, “Never again will that be necessary. I assure you.”

We close this issue back on Dantooine where Dalborra is handing over the Republic bounty hunter to some Sith soldiers. However, when the Sith try to take Braden away, Dalborra freaks out and says that he is HIS prisoner. Okay…So, he gets to go to Korriban as well. Lucky him.

Issue #8

What we can begin to realize is that Master Dar’Nala is a bit angry. She hates the fact that Zym is sending them to the outer world to try and help ferry away soldiers. She’d rather be fighting the Sith, a sign that she has a bit of the Dark Side in her all along. She nearly destroys a protocol droid who is there to – for lack of a better word – spy on them to ensure they is “compliance with the treaty.” Dar’Nala obviously isn’t pleased with this and I can guarantee, she’d have destroyed him had he not explained his purpose.

The issue closes on Nar Shaddaa in the Star Cluster Casino (a place I hope to visit in the game). Business comes first in this place and if things are done that hurt the business, people die. Naatu, someone who works for an organization it seems, has been funneling information to the Republic. He is killed for that by Nok, obviously in charge of this motley bunch. And who walks in but Lord Angral who has an “offer which I’ve decided is too good to pass up,” according to Nok.

Issue #9

And finally, the last issue in the Treaty of Coruscant issue of Threat of Peace. This opens with Braden on an Imperial ship en route to Korriban. They are “attacked” by a Republic shit; however, that much is obviously not true. I come to this conclusion because they say “prepare a boarding party for immediate deployment. We need at least one of them alive.” They want a Jedi and they attacked because they knew they could get away with it. Satele runs into some of that boarding party and much to the protocol droid’s dismay (his name is Espee 99), she kills the commandos.

The issue closes with Dar’Nala trying to take down the captain of the Sith ship, but she is detained. She tells Satele to tell the Council that they have been betrayed once again. Fortunately, they get to an escape pod (Satele and Espee 99) and they get off. But, thanks to 99’s great math skills, we learn thee odds of being found: Approximately five hundred thousand years to be found. Lots of patience for Satele.

Conclusion

The truth is, this provides a lot of opportunity for players to understand what the heck went wrong. Because we are going to be starting the game in a cold war period after the Treaty of Coruscant, understanding how it all went down can give a better grasp of how to react to situations. The Sith are not to be trusted obviously. They’ll attack no matter what. The Jedi, on the other hand, are not all pure as we can see in Dar’Nala. She has a bit of a dark streak in her. And what about that deal on Nar Shaddaa. There is a lot of information that is obviously being revealed as time goes on. My next update will be on the second issue of Threat of Peace.