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Star Trek

2019-10-15T11:31:06Z

2406:3400:20F:FFC0:A80D:9EEE:1E6F:E984: /* The Orville */

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[[File:Enterprise.jpg|thumb|500px|right|If you aren't already hearing the theme song you might not belong here.]]

{{Topquote|Space: the final frontier. These are the voyages of the starship Enterprise. Its five-year mission: to explore strange new worlds. To seek out new life and new civilizations. To boldly go where no man has gone before!|James T. Kirk, third captain of the starship USS Enterprise}}

'''''Star Trek''''' is a multimedia science-fiction series and one of the cornerstones of nerdy media properties, and one of the few to crossover into mainstream popularity (alongside ''[[Star Wars]]'', ''[[Doctor Who]]'' and a few others). It's also one of the longest-running science fiction franchises, as it began when the the first episode of The Original Series aired in 1966, and since then has had over 50 years of geek history spanning several generations. Needless to say, it's had a huge influence on all things sci-fi, and, by extension, [[/tg/]].

Originally, ''Star Trek'' was [[noblebright]] beyond noblebright and, in many ways, was the polar opposite of ''[[Warhammer 40,000|Warhammer 40K's]]'' [[grimdark]]. The more recent reboot films, however, have taken a much, ''much'' more grimdark tone, which is delightfully [[skub]]tastic.

== Games ==
There's been plenty of tabletop games and [[/v/|vidya gaems]] featuring ''Star Trek'' without being merchandising bullshit (see: themed ''[[Monopoly]]'' sets), including one of the earliest action multiplayer wargame: ''Netrek''.

*'''''Star Trek: Adventure Gaming in the Final Frontier''''' (1978) The very first Trek tabletop [[RPG]]. Written by, I shit you not, Michael Scott. Groggy (grokky?) as all hell, and due for an OSR.
* '''''[[Star Fleet Battles]] (SFB)''''' (1979-) The crunchiest starship combat game you're ever going to find outside of a computer. Based on the original series and not any of the later series, for licensing reasons. Takes some liberties with the setting, which (combined with the aforementioned licensing) is why "''Star Trek''" isn't actually in the title. It's had its own video game spinoff in the form of Starfleet Command. The series died when the last company owned by Interplay broke up in the early 2000s.
* '''''Star Trek: The Role Playing Game''''' (1982-1989) Made by [[FASA]], essentially ''[[Traveller]]''-lite, or a happier, shinier ''[[Rogue Trader]]''. Hasn't aged terribly well, what with having been made when the only canonical ''Star Trek'' materials to work with were the original and animated series, the first four films, and a couple of now non-canon novels. If you try to dust it off, expect tons of conflict with the rest of the show. Died as they were trying to update it for ''TNG'', because Paramount's corporate suits (surprise, surprise) had no idea what an RPG actually entailed and were worried about violence, and getting their cut, and... oh you know the drill by now. Welcome to the 80's.
* '''''Star Trek: Starship Tactical Combat Simulator''''' (1983) FASA designed this, so it feels like ''[[Battletech]]'' but not as good.
* '''''Prime Directive''''' (1993-2008) The most successful tabletop RPG line (but that's not saying much), it's actually still in print. Produced by Amarillo Design Bureau, so again no direct name-dropping of "''Star Trek''." Lasted as long as it did by constantly evolving, in Borg-like fashion, to adapt to the current zeitgeist. Has had 4 editions, with the second using [[GURPS]], the third using [[Wizards of the Coast|d20]], and the fourth [[d20 Modern]].
* '''''Star Trek [[Card_Game|CCG]]''''' (1994-2007, 2011-2014, 2013-2015, 2018-) There's been a few of these, most notably the games released by [[Decipher]], but never globally popular. They also suffered from game balance problems from fans wanting their fave character, but needing extra rules for their quirks. There's also the problem of putting numbers to character stats, such as one game that asserted that [[Heresy|Picard having about twice the integrity of a Klingon pig]]. Later versions are "deck-building" games to try to cash in on the popularity of ''[[Dominion]]'' and ''[[Thunderstone]]''. And now virtual CCGs are the order of the day.
* '''''Star Trek: The Next Generation Role Playing Game''''' (1998-1999) The next attempt, made by Last Unicorn Games. Won an award for best new game, which makes it a complete shame that no one has ever played it.
* '''''Star Trek Red Alert''''' (2000) A Diskwars game themed to ''Star Trek''.
* '''''Star Trek Roleplaying Game''''' (2002-2005) When [[Decipher]] had the CCG license, they decided, "What the hell, let's make an RPG, too." It, like so many of its predecessors, died unnoticed and unmourned.
* '''''Star Trek Online''''' (2010-) An [[MMORPG|MMO]]. Decent gameplay mechanics, especially starship combat. Storyline leaves something to be desired, especially when the ostensibly [[Noblebright|peaceful]] Federation trades shots at least once with every other faction in the galaxy.
* '''''Call To Arms: Star Trek''''' (2011) [[Mongoose_Publishing|Mongoose]]'s license for ''Babylon 5'' expired, so they collaborated with Amarillo Design Bureau (the ''Star Fleet Battles'' guys), re-themed the game to Star Trek along with improving the system to make it more nifty. Less micro-management than SFB, and ships get some cinematic feats.
* '''''Star Trek: Expeditions''''' (2011) Ignore the tie-ins to the movie, Reiner Knizia designed this. Explore the gameboard, flip over missions, try to have the proper crew to get victory points.
* '''''Star Trek: Fleet Captains''''' (2011) Tile flipping, exploring, and spaceships fighting over resources
* '''''Star Trek: Attack Wing''''' (2013-) [[WizKids]] license the flightpath system from [[Fantasy Flight Games]] and adds ''Star Trek'' to the mix, [[Skub]] ensues. The game has been consistently plagued with balance issues, to the point that the rules errata is more than ten times longer than the actual rules. The actual current rules for things like the Borg special movement and fighter squadrons are completely different than the rules as written.
* '''''Star Trek Adventures''''' (2017-) The latest attempt at an RPG, by Modiphius, coming out soon to tentative praise. It also comes with a whole range of miniatures of the various crews from the show.

== So why should I care? ==
Because between them, these six TV series and their assorted spinoff movies, books, etc. can provide inspiration for any sci-fi game you could care to run. If you want light-hearted action, look at the sort of things that happened in ''TOS'' or ''DS9'' to get the crew into some dangerous situation. If you want a charismatic villain, look at Gul Dukat or the Borg Queen. If you want moral issues and debates, look at the shit that happened to Voyager and remove all the transparent deck-stacking and cheesy moralizing (or you could read any decent SF book/watch a ''Twilight Zone'' episode written in the previous 50 years, if you don't need your source material to be served at a 2nd grade level). Like [[Tolkien]] is to fantasy it's a prime gateway drug to science fiction and especially science fiction which is more than "action movie IN SPACE!"

Not to mention in any sci-fi RPG with remotely free-form rules you're likely to encounter ''Star Trek'' fanboys, so you might as well know what they're talking about. The unholy spawn of a Trekkie and a [[Furry]] is known as a [[Chakat]], and you should fear it.

At its best ''Star Trek'' is thoughtful, optimistic futurism with a positive human element and brings you to strange new worlds in the grand tradition of speculative fiction which is accessible to even the layman. At its worst ''Star Trek'' is arrogant, smug, hypocritical, preachy, dull, sloppy and prone to the strawman fallacy.

== Setting ==
Here's the Cliff's Notes on ''Star Trek''. A couple of general warnings; firstly, ''Star Trek'' likes to ''really'' take its "racial themes" bits just a little too far. Second, despite this, it's rare for an entire race to be completely irredeemable the way many fictional aliens are: there are heroic and sympathetic characters from nearly every race listed below, able to put more-positive spins on their racial themes. Thirdly, aside from very occasional appearances by [[H.P. Lovecraft|aliens who are so bizarre that humankind can barely comprehend them]], all of the aliens look like dudes with rubber masks on (because they are). In real life, this was because there was no budget for anything else, but in-universe it's been explained by some kind of [[Old Ones|Precursor]] race who seeded all of the planets with their broadly humanoid DNA, and every race evolved slightly differently from there. There isn't much [[fluff]] on what these precursors were like, and some of it was contradictory, and Gene Roddenberry didn't like the idea (although he still had to work with the rubber forehead stuff). The good news for fa/tg/uys who like [[homebrew]] is that this makes it fairly easy to write [[d20 system]] rules for all of the races - after all, most ''D&D'' races are just humans with rubber masks on...

=== A Composite Creation ===
This is a general note that one should consider: Star Trek was created in pretty much the opposite way as The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings. Tolkien worked out a bunch of linguistic stuff and general history of Arda in his spare time, then decided to use that as the basis for some stories that he eventually gave to some publishers which in the end sold quite well.

Roddenberry by contrast pitched a very broad general idea (it's the future, things are good, we got guys some on a ship exploring space; a "wagon train to the stars") to the networks who eventually took it up on it and had him work with a variety of writers and actors who added to this rough skeleton of an idea in a process that would continue on to this day.

This is not to knock either approach, but both have their advantages and disadvantages. In regards to Star Trek, a franchise which relies mostly on an episode of the week format that's been going on for more than half a century this means that the canon is a fucking mess. There were numerous people at the helm and many of them had often very different ideas about what should be done that were just thrown out to see what stuck, many of which were contradictory and some of which we'd frankly rather forget. In general fans and fluff writers have been spending a whole lot of time trying to straighten out things and much of the lore is basically a rough consensus of what people like and what fits in with it. Later series got more systematic about this, but there are still points of contention and a lot of flat out contradictions due to its scattershot nature.

=== Factions ===
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'''The Federation'''
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[[File:Federation_Ships.jpg|thumb|500px|left|Starfleet's ships of the Line (pre-reboot)]]
Might as well talk about that main faction. The United Federation of Planets is what the [[Tau]] think they are. Its backstory is that in the distant future of the 1990s, [[God-Emperor of Mankind|übermensch]] [[Space Marines|created by genetic engineering]] began conquering the Earth. The [[Imperial Guard|normies]] fought back and won through sheer numbers, cryogenically freezing the Augments and kicking them out of Earth, but the damage and mass political unrest of World War III got half the planet nuked. This was why genetic engineering was banned. Fortunately, in 2063, a <s>drunken asshole</s> heroic visionary named Zefram Cochrane created humanity's first warp drive (though it functioned based on the principle that gravity bends space-time, and was therefore more akin to an Alcubierre drive than anything that's dependent on the [[Warp]]) and made first contact with the Vulcans. The Vulcans eventually helped humanity rebuild and overcome poverty, disease, war and hunger. With its Earthly problems solved, man turned to the stars and found out its three closest neighbors were [[Imperium of Man|racist xenophobic dicks trying to murder each other]]. Since any war between them would've swept up puny little Earth and gotten it glassed, humans decided to force their neighbors to sit down and talk things out. Incredibly, it worked, and the United Federation of Planets was born.

The Federation is a commie [[noblebright]] hippieland society with a strong democratic government ([[Mary Sue|pretty much Roddenberry's idea of utopia]]). As a result, Federation citizens work not because they have to, but because they want to. However, despite their advanced technology, transhumanism, that is intentionally making [[Space Marines|SPESS MEHREENS]] and mutants like the infamous antagonist Khan Noonien Singh, is illegal.

The Federation's Navy is almost always called Starfleet. It's a mix between a military, a coast guard and a space agency, and usually rates scientific research as a higher priority than defense. One of its quirks is that it doesn't subscribe to the "bigger is better" policy used in most [[Warhammer 40K|sci-fi]], and even by most of the other ''Star Trek factions''. If the Federation ''does'' make a large ship, it's because they want it to have a daycare, swimming pool and ice cream bar. If they want a warship, they'll take a little gunship half the size of a modern day destroyer and pack it with enough antimatter nukes and guns to exterminate a solar system. In some cases, especially when dealing with ships from several centuries into the future, the ship is bigger on the inside than on the outside [[Creed|allowing it to hide a vast array of powerful armaments, ''space-bending'' equipment, and even whole planetary landscapes]]. They can get away with this because they out-tech almost everyone else by a country mile. The reason for the series' infamous "technobabble" is that <s>even ''they'' don't know everything their tech can do!</s> their technology is always evolving, and they know it so well that they can often use it in ways that even the original in-show design schematics did not intend.

In theory, Starfleet follows a rule called the "Prime Directive", which says that you're not allowed to interfere with low-tech races ("low-tech" being defined as "not having invented the warp drive", since warp technology apparently follows naturally from the laws of physics) or else things like turning the locals into Nazis might happen. The Original Series talked about this rule all the time, and Captain Kirk threw it aside whenever there was a sexy alien babe in sight. From ''TNG'' onward, it tended to instead be brought up whenever a hack writer needed a reason for the heroes to ''not'' instantly resolve a given problem with their superior technology or a way of making our heroes look like assholes for following it rigidly (yes, we could save this species from extinction but that would be interfering with the cosmic plan!), though there were a few good episodes that took it seriously.

Some of the more important member races are:
* [[Humans]]: You know 'em, you love 'em. Comprise seemingly 90% of Starfleet for reasons in no way related to the cost of makeup/CGI.
* Vulcan: The Original [[Eldar|Space Elves]], very emotional, especially during "pon'farr" (see below), who followed the teachings of an enlightened sage and embraced logic and rationalism after their emotions nearly led to them [[Slaanesh|wiping themselves out]]. They are what the average race of fantasy elves think they are, except on ''Enterprise'' because the writers wanted to artificially inject tension into the show (some of that was retconned to be a Romulan plot). Occasionally enter a state called "pon'farr," where they need to either [[Dark Eldar| fuck something half to death]], kill it with the nearest sharp object, or die of a brain aneurysm to let out all that pent-up emotional tension. Fa/tg/uys may recognize this as the sensation they feel every time [[Games Workshop]] puts out a new army book. Pretty bro-tier overall.
* Andorians: Blue dudes with antennae and constant fits of passion, the polar opposite of Vulcans and there one time foes. Pretty much fa/tg/uys, right down to the romantic streak, in the technical sense. Also, they live underground on a diet of meatbread and rage. Most of what defined them happened in Enterprise as they rarely showed up in the TNG-era, and even then did so as set dressing, allegedly because one of the showrunners hated their antennae and banned anyone from using them.
* Tellarites: Space [[Dwarf|Dorfs]]; like insulting everyone and arguing a lot (no, really, petty insults are considered a polite gesture in Tellarite culture), mostly because the very first tellarite ever shown in the series got in an argument with Spock's dad and now it's their whole racial thing. “Sarek said something in a scene once that was meant to demonstrate that he was stand-offish and kinda rude, but we like Sarek so it's now the defining attribute of this species.” It's all in good fun you understand, your confidence in your ideas and actions should be sturdy enough to withstand honest assessment and critique.
* Betazoids: Invariably attractive humanoid aliens with telepathic powers. Half-betazoid, half-humans apparently only have "empathic" powers, so they are well-regarded by Starfleet captains for their ability to point out the obvious and fill out the tight bodygloves that make up the Starfleet uniform in a pleasing manner, especially since theirs seem to come in a custom cut for reasons entirely unrelated to Roddenberry's erection. Their homeworld is like dropping a really hippie college and Space Vegas into a blender.
* Trill: Originally a one-off race introduced as a sapient parasite that possesses and controls a barely, or even unintelligent humanoid host, they were radically reworked in ''Deep Space Nine'', right down to losing their rubber foreheads in favor of spots. Now, the host is itself an intelligent humanoid, and some, but not all, of their kind are able to willingly merge with a symbiont (because someone can't spell) that allows them to access a mixture of the memories and personalities of all previous hosts, though in a way that, theoretically, enhances the host's personality rather than destroying it or subsuming it. Then, when they die, they can pass on the symbiont to another host, theoretically one they mentored. Also, because the makeup artist didn't want to ruin the leads' good looks on DS9, they went from having a rubber forehead to some spots.
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'''The Klingon Empire'''
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[[Image:Batleth.jpg|thumb|right|A Bat'Leth (sword of honor), one of several types of Klingon bladed weapons. Frequently mocked IRL for being a poorly designed weapon.]]
[[Commissar|''"It is a good day to die!"'']]

The Federation's main rival and (movie era and afterwards) the quintessential ''Star Trek'' race of lumpy foreheaded aliens. Originally they were a rough analogue to the Russians (though they took some elements from [[Communism|communist China]]) in a rough cold war allegory with the Federation (even though the Federation are as commie as they come, though admittedly much of that came around in the TNG era). Their defining feature was that they were militaristic and imperialistic while the Federation was scholarly and respected liberty. This gradually moved more and more into them becoming Imperial Japan/[[Vikings]] In SPESSS obsessed with honor, fighting and dying honorably in battle while worshiping at the altar of [[Sigmar|warrior Jesus]], even as they turned from the Federation's bitter enemies into that friend who's fun to be around when he's not getting into drunken bar fights. You see shades of it in during the movie era and it became more and more prominent through ''TNG'', culminating in ''DS9''. Do not make the mistake of thinking that Klingons are nothing more than barbaric savages however; with Worf being part of the crew, and with ''DS9'' dealing with Klingon politics an awful lot we can see Klingon society as it truly is. Even so they do often wander into self parody territory.

The Klingons, in their current iteration, are a feudal society ruled by a council made up of the most powerful families. Klingon society holds very little value on things such as currency and material gain (which results in the Klingon empire [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q65l7RHUx2A having a very simplistic understanding of economics]), believing that anything you acquire without some form of blood, sweat and/or tears on your part is a pathetic and dishonorable way of going about things, much the same way many cultures used to hurl abuse at merchants and bankers. Another thing to keep in mind is that a Klingon's reputation is literally everything. This can be easily seen in the episode "The House Of Quark" where dying honorably can literally change the outcome of an entire noble house, later when the Grand Council is visibly disgusted at D'Ghor. No respectable Klingon uses ''money'' to defeat his opponents. And no respectable Klingon would be so eager to perform an execution of an unarmed Ferengi in what was supposed to be an honorable duel. Klingons are still capable of being cunning and crafty however, and having a high diplomacy score is viewed as honorable as they still have examples of cunning and clever heroes tricking boorish and stupid monsters.

[[Warhammer 40000|Klingons often carry swords into battle in an age of energy beam guns]]. In-universe, this is less suicidal than it sounds in the context of boarding actions and tight starship corridors. The Bat'leth is actually a rather shitty weapon. The Mek'leth is noted to be better in most situations. They use the same Disruptor weapons as the Romulans, and at one point used similar starship designs. While is explained as the result of a temporary and unholy alliance, given the eventual animosity between the two races, it was just an excuse to reuse props on a limited budget.

The Klingons are tied with the Vulcans and the Borg as being the most prominent and recognizable non-human species in Star Trek. Beloved of the Internet and the general public, to the point that there are published books like "A Klingon Christmas" in the world. The Klingons have their own constructed language. If you are ever worrying that you might not be a nerd, learning Klingon will solve that problem for you. Please note that this is in general considered by experts to be pathognomonic of [[Chris Chan|autism]]. You have not experienced Shakespeare until you hear it in the original Klingon.
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'''The Romulan Star Empire'''
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''"It's always chess with the Romulans"''

You know those [[Eldar|Vulcans]]? Well a few thousand years ago, as their planet was ravaged by war, some of them turned to intense emotional control and logic to tame their murderous passions, while most others left the planet altogether, founding a colony on the planet Romulus and dubbing themselves [[Dark Eldar|Romulans]]. Since said planet shares a name with a mythical figure known for founding [[Roman Empire|a city which built a vast empire]], and they had warp drive while those around them did not, you probably know that they turned to building an empire of their own. They hold the second place of prominence as immediate rivals to the Federation. Comically, they actually have better emotional control than the average Vulcan, since they gene-engineered most of their problems away years ago, and don't have to deal with the emotional blowback from pon'farr. The downside is that they lost some of their cousins' niftier powers, like mind reading and being able to transfer their soul into another person for safekeeping. Although Star Trek Online also revealed that their trip to Romulus was a terrible ordeal, and their gene-engineering was taking during that time resulting in them losing most emotions save for bitterness of being "forced out".

The difference between the Klingons and the Romulans is basically the difference between Gork and Mork, or Khorne and Tzeentch. Klingons will fight you up front with simple brute force. Romulans are sneakier guys, preferring to fight you when you're not looking with spies, cloaked ships and complex plots behind the scenes and playing the long game. There is a lot of political infighting among them, though where the Klingons would duel to the death Romulans would seek to discredit their rivals, have them die in unfortunate "accidents" or disappear. This difference has left both Romulans and Klingons with a big hate-boner for each other, to the Romulans the Klingons are crude brutish barbarians and to the Klingons the Romulans are a pack of scheming cowardly weaklings.

Like the Klingons, they served as a rough Cold War allegory. In this case, they were rough analogs to Communist China (as seen by 1960s Americans), a distant horde of inscrutable and potentially dangerous Orientals who generally were unseen and projecting vague menace, but when encountered face-to-face could pack quite a punch indeed: the first major Interstellar War that Star Trek Earth fought was with the Romulans, which was fought entirely in space with neither side ever seeing the other face to face. Afterwards they set up a [['Neutral Zone' between the Federation and the Romulan Empire that no one even tried to cross for a century|North Korea]]. From the Original Series onward, they frequently squabble and bicker with the Federation, before joining forces with them to fight the Dominion in ''Deep Space Nine'' and having their government devastated in ''Nemesis''. Finally, Romulus itself got caught in a supernova as part of the Ambramsverse's backstory.
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'''The Ferengi Alliance'''
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[[Image:GW_Ferengi.jpg|thumb|left|A typical ferengi engaged in typical ferengi activities]]
''"A Ferengi without profit is no Ferengi at all."''-Eighteenth Rule of Acquisition

Introduced in ''TNG's'' early days as the villains for the series, and what [[/pol/]] thinks Jews are. Some Jewish people have actually complained about their being subliminally Jewish and thus anti-Semetic, specifically mentioning that they were moneyhungry, lascivious, and ugly, and their large ear lobes were stand-ins for the sterotypical Jewish nose ([https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/made-by-history/wp/2018/08/14/science-fictions-anti-semitism-problem/?noredirect=on more on that here, we're not shitting you]), based on an old medieval stereotype that was enforced to prevent them owning land or assets. The idea was to make a caricature of capitalism as a contrast with the techno-communist Federation. This might have worked if these were not [[FAIL|''TNG's'' early days]]. Instead they overshot the mark by a light year or so, on top of other bad decisions, and you got a race of short (Gene wanted to make an evil short race as big evil races were overplayed), big-eared, [[goblin]]-like losers about as threatening as a grumpy pug. Over the first and second seasons they tried to make these guys threatening, but they fell flat on their face every time. Eventually the writers just said "fuck it" and the Ferengi got demoted to comic relief species, and their status as terrible enemies was demoted to propaganda designed to scare the Federation while the Ferengi government tried to figure out what to make of a species that rejected the acquisition of wealth as a goal. The Ferengi had some good moments in the later seasons of ''TNG'', but most of the best stuff that fleshed them out came from ''DS9'', which had an [[awesome]] Ferengi bartender named Quark as a major character. For an idea of what the Ferengi might have been like if the writers had their shit together, look up the Druuge of [[Star Control|Star Control II]] or the Magog Cartel from Oddworld.

Ferengi religion is only hinted upon in ''DS9'', but what is seen implies a simplistic system based on financial success. Ferengi all follow a rulebook/canon known as the Rules of Acquisition, which can be described as Ayn Rand IN SPACE and condensed into the form of Confucius' Analects. There are 285 of these, each a short piece of advice on how to stay in the black. Examples include "Peace is good for business," "War is good for business," "Never have sex with the boss's daughter," and "Dignity and an empty sack is worth the sack." The first, and most important, of these is "Once you have their money, you never give it back." Sometimes, the Ferengi Randian spirituality extends into outright interpretations of the afterlife: according to some, the afterlife consists of the Divine Treasury and the Vault of Eternal Destitution, which are respectively analogous to Heaven and Hell. Entrance into one or the other depends on one's business ventures at the time of death; those that were turning a profit are allowed to enter the Divine Treasury, and the rest are damned to the Vault.

Ferengi government is ruled over by a Grand Nagus, a mix between a <s>pope</s>chief rabbi and a CEO, and he basically treats his civilization like some sort of company, with citizens regarded as workers. Directly below him is the Ferengi Commerce Authority, a [[what|quasi-religious]] organization dedicated to ensuring that correct business practices were followed and correct moral behavior was shown (including keeping the proles in line), although to the Ferengi, these are one and the same. The agents of the FCA are the Liquidators, who are essentially Inquisitors crossed with IRS auditors on steroids. Be afraid. Be very afraid.

Ferengi females have no rights and are mentioned as [[PROMOTIONS|not even being allowed to wear clothes]], which leads to [[That Guy|boorish behavior]] on the part of Ferengi towards just about any species. Of course, we see female Ferengi on the show who push that envelope, but it seems that overall "regressive" does not even begin to describe the gender relationships in their culture. Quark's mother, a social climber who marries the head of their government, begins pushing through a women's rights movement during DS9, which proves more successful as time goes on.
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'''The Borg Collective'''
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[[Image:Borg cube.jpg|300px|thumb|right|The Borg have assimilated and improved your [[d6|die]]. It always rolls six. Crap your pants, 'cause resistance is futile.]]
{{Topquote|We are the Borg. Lower your shields and surrender your ships. We will add your biological and technological distinctiveness to our own. Your culture shall adapt to service us. Resistance is futile.|The Borg's opening hail. This is not a boast or a brag, it's them simply explaining you how things are going to go down.}}
{{Topquote|One other thing. You may encounter Enterprise crew members who've already been assimilated. Don't hesitate to fire. Believe me, you'll be doing them a favour.|Picard going full [[grimdark]].}}

The Ferengi were utter failures as serious villains, so they needed something to fill that gap. Thus they made the Borg, an aggressive [[Tyranid|hive-minded]] collective of hyper-adaptive, [[Necron|regenerating]] cyborgs that assimilates entire species into itself in its attempt to improve and evolve. Shit, that's like coming up with [[Warforged]] while trying to replace [[Kender]].

In many ways, the Borg are the truest dark reflection of the Federation, and despite their name, they're not Swedish. While the Feds want you to join their little club on your own, to "add your culture to the galactic community," the Prime Directive means they will ultimately accept you turning them down, even if you have shit they really want. The Borg say "fuck that" and just absorb you. While the Federation believes everyone should work together [[Tau|for the greater good]], they still have a very strong sense of individualism and a culture of personal accomplishment (unless your individual belief happens to run counter to the Federation's principles anyway, in which case you're just WRONG because the Federation is the best). The Borg pool all their minds together into a massive collective consciousness in the pursuit of group perfection, becoming an almost-literal personification of techno-capital. The Federation is all about beauty and tranquility and all that hippie stuff, and their tech is eco-friendly and dolphin-safe. Borg [[Tyranids|strip mine entire planets and drain entire oceans]] in the name of growth and efficiency.

Your standard Borg [[cube]] is a huge multi-kilometer [[Firaeveus Carron|metal box]] (yes, bigger than most [[Imperial Navy]] cruisers) able to go up against an entire Federation warfleet and win. That's right, one of their ships could threaten the entire Federation and [[Exterminatus]] Earth. When done right, [[Necron|they are a cold, calculating, nigh-unstoppable force, a threat to all life]] that wants to retain free and distinct personalities (although they will ignore a single person if not on an assimilation mission, as what they really want is to absorb whole civilizations). Apparently, in Picard's nightmare in ''First Contact'', the Borg assimilation process includes a surgical [[Grimdark|drill through the eye. While awake.]] Of all the stuff to come out of the TNG Era they are undoubtedly the most well recognized in mass pop culture.

Unfortunately the got a bad downgrade during ''Voyager'' (the Borg Queen blew up cubes full of tens of thousands of drones because a few of them have been severed from the Hive Mind), but even there they were frequently not to be messed with. One amusing thing to note for people that haven't watched ''TNG'': the Borg were actually only in six episodes (and three were breakaway drones) and one movie, yet they're arguably the franchise's most famous pure villains aside from Khan. Goes to show how good they were when written properly. Then in ''Voyager'' they get their shit completely pushed in when they discover a new race of extradimensional aliens which they label Species 8472, which were immune to being assimilated, and had to ask the Federation for help in dealing with them. [[File:Bloodcrons.jpg|Wait, this sounds familiar...]]
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'''The Cardassian Union'''
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Introduced in ''TNG'', they are third fiddle to the Klingons and the Romulans. If the Klingons are hypothetically-honorable techno-barbarian warriors and the Romulans are an empire of civilized and refined but sly and ruthless expansionists, the Cardassians are essentially scaly fascists re-enacting ''[[1984]]'' IN SPACE. Their trials announce the outcome at the beginning, and the defense attorney is executed if he wins. Also, THERE ARE FOUR LIGHTS!

Originally a race of peaceable, spiritual artists called the Hebitians (ironically not dissimilar to the Bajorans), modern Cardassia was born in hunger and desperation when their homeworld began to suffer simultaneous mass famine, pandemic, resource depletion, and ecological collapse. A military junta seized power, figuratively and literally auctioned off the soul of their culture through liquidating all the planet's art and religious artifacts into cold hard cash, and turned the Cardassians into the opportunistic imperialists they are today.

Despite being a whole lot weaker than the Federation, the Cardassians manage to hold their own, partly because what they lack in resources and raw power is made up for by a combination of intense cunning and high charisma stats. Compared to the equally deceptive Romulans, the Cardies are more likely to flash you a smile while tickling your ribs with a knife. They'll use any tool they can to gain the upper hand and while that often means unpleasant and terminal sessions in dark rooms, strip mined planets and the enslavement of entire species, they'll gladly become your bestest buddy if it would achieve their goals. Their intelligence service, the Obsidian Order, is also one of the most ruthlessly efficient organizations in the entire sector, managing to outscale the Romulan Tal Shiar when it comes to producing magnificent bastards and manipulating the politics of entire worlds to their advantage. Unlike the Romulans or the Klingons, they don't tolerate the sort of literal infighting that is rampant in both those states, that shit only serves to weaken '''GLORIOUS CARDASSIA''' and needs to be stamped out with ruthless efficiency. Exposing that someone who just happens to be your enemy as being a dangerous subversive is just a benefit, although this can result in both sides of a conflict shouting "For Cardassia!" as they charge each other. Sort of how Democrats and Republicans are both for America, yet oppose each other.

Cardassia has a very fluid hierarchical government, similar to the political realities of post-Stalin but pre-Collaspe Soviet Russia. Broadly speaking, there are three different facets of the government: the Central Command (which holds all the power) the Obsidian Order (who holds the least amount of power, but controls the most puppets) and the Detapa Council (similar to the [[High Lords of Terra]] and just as worthless). Cardassian society holds a very strict view of family, placing family just below the needs of the State.

The State holds a semi-divine mythical status in the eyes of its citizens, with it being viewed as impossible for the State to ever make mistakes. The ideal Cardassian life was one of complete loyalty and servitude to the State and family, with the "repetitive epic," detailing how generations of Cardassians go on to serve both in exactly the same way over and over seen as the height of their culture. The Cardassian government is assumed to be omniscient, omnipotent, and benevolent by pretty much every Cardassian, with all Cadassians gladly giving of themselves to the State. Such was this level of belief that when Picard was tortured by the Obsidian order, the torturer saw nothing wrong with bringing his daughter to work because he was working for the State, and therefore the torture of Picard could never be disturbing or wrong. That's why their trials announce their sentences at the beginning and execute the defense attorney if he wins; their "trials" are more excuses to show off the power and infallibility of the State to the masses than actually determine guilt or innocence.

As far as plot significant activities went, they had a war with the Federation a few years before ''TNG'' which ended in the creation of a Demilitarized Zone between the two powers and (significant to ''Deep Space Nine'') abandoning the previously occupied planet of Bajor they had exploited for resources. After a disastrous war with the Klingons led to a popular revolution and overthrow of the existing government, one leader seized power, declared himself absolute leader, and joined the Dominion towards the end of ''DS9'', which was some serious bad news for the ''DS9'' crew.
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'''The Bajoran Republic'''
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The Bajorans are a species native to the Planet Bajor. They were, until shortly before the events of ''Deep Space Nine'', under a brutal occupation by the Cardassians who strip mined their planet. They had a fighting resistance which veered in and out of being considered terrorists and all in all were often represented as Palestinians IN SPEHSS. After that, they got their independence, although they're thinking about joining the Federation. The Bajorans have one system and are technologically backwards; the Federation is technically breaking the Prime Directive by interacting with them, but as they've spent years under the oppression of a warp-capable species, they can probably handle it. Also ''DS9'' proves that ancient Bajorans managed to travel at warp speeds to Cardassia using solar sails and an enormous amount of luck, which technically makes them a warp-capable species. The only reason why they are significant in terms of the politics of ''Star Trek'' is that they have a wormhole near their planet, which has some timey-wimey aliens living it that they worship as gods, and serves as the only way to get to or from the Gamma Quadrant that won't take decades, making it strategically priceless. Hilariously, this was discovered almost immediately after the Cardassians ''thought'' they'd extracted everything of value from the Bajorans and peace'd out, certain that the system was no longer worth the PR hit they were taking from it, only to get burned by some harsh seller's remorse. Also, their species has the oldest civilization (roughly a half-million years) of any major ''Star Trek'' race, and the wormhole aliens have gifted them some cool shit, like the Orb of Time.

The big thing that makes the Bajorans unique is that they actually have a serious religion going on -the human race is depicted as mostly non-religious. They're also probably one of the most accurate depictions of any highly religious alien race in a sci-fi franchise, because they are divided between the majority who interpret their religion as [[Noblebright|peace and love]], and a small but loud minority of bastards who interpret it as [[Grimdark|condoning acts of terrorism]]. A blatant attempt to simulate Israelis for criticism, although that can apply to many religions nowadays.
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'''The Dominion'''
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A vast empire which exists on the other side of the galaxy in the Gamma Quadrant. The Dominion is ruled over by a species of liquid shapeshifters called The Founders. They have at their disposal a military composed of two genetically engineered species that worship the Founders as gods: the short and articulate Vorta who serve as ambassadors, bureaucrats, and political commisars and the big brutal Jem'hadar, who are vat grown, drug addicted, cannon fodder. These oversee a large number of vassal races, including (as of later seasons of ''DS9'') the Cardassians.

The Founders were once (according to them anyway) a peaceful, kind civilization of explorers who wished to see the galaxy, explore strange new worlds, and seek out new forms of life. Unfortunately, they did this in the wrong neighborhood, and quickly ran into species who did not tolerate others. The fact that the Founders were shapeshifters capable of mimicking almost anyone did not help either. Paranoia, mutual mistrust, and some very bad things eventually led to the Founders deciding "fuck this" and moving their planet into a nebula so nobody would bother them. So more or less, a [[Grimdark|grimmer]], [[Grimdark|darker]], counterpart to the Federation, but with spookier Real Aliens.

The Founders are obsessed with order and are both extremely racist and xenophobic, and believe that all alien life is inherently untrustworthy and evil, and the best thing to do is conquer/enslave them before they do the same to them. They don't care about the rights of "Solids", and will happily ignore any sense of decency when convenient. This can be seen when The Dominion runs a simulation of the Dominion dominating the Alpha Quadrant. When O'Brien is assaulted by a Jem'Hadar and severely beaten to the point of needing emergency teleportation to medical (the crime being "disrespectful"), the Founders (disguised as Federation Officers) do not press charges, and when Sisko comes barging in demanding answers, dismiss him with little concern about their own soldiers brutalizing citizens. Their overall ideology could be thought of as Thomas Hobbes IN SPACE: people are inherently evil and the only way to make a better world is to impose order upon them through brute force from a position of absolute, unquestioned power.

The Founders, when not wandering around in various forms, tend to spend their time in a massive ocean literally made up of countless billions of Founders, something which is referred to as the Great Link. According to the Founders, this allows them to share information with each other and come to peaceful decisions. This is rapidly proved to be bullshit; when a separated-at-birth one of their own merged into the Great Link to share his memories of the Federation as peaceful and tolerant space hippies, not only did the Founders ignore his memories, but actively fucked with his mind in an attempt to turn him into a sleeper agent. And even if it weren't, it shows their hypocrisy through their willingness to share freedom and liberty among themselves while depriving all their various slaves and conquered peoples of the same.

The Founders are massive dicks, even to their own people. Failure among Jem'Hadar is rewarded with slow and painful death from deprivation of the drug they're created to need and their lifespans are incredibly short. To be even bigger dicks, the Vorta have no sense of taste and can't appreciate beauty. Not to make them better diplomats, but because they were raised from a primitive stone-age ape tribe, and the Founders think they shouldn't be ever allowed to forget that. (On the plus side, they did give the Vorta an immunity to poison that would make [[Mortarion]] himself jealous. [https://youtu.be/rACCZaBcq1g?t=1m29s Observe.]) This may also stem from their own neuroses: the Founders themselves have almost no bodily needs at all and require no nourishment, so they design their slaves to be like them. Notably, Vorta tend to come in [[Paranoia|packs of clones; a new one is activated when an old one dies, and they retain some memories and personality between "lives,"]] further hammering home how expendable they are to their makers.

And both races are literally engineered to love their makers for what they have done to them and worship and revere them as gods.
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'''Species 8472'''
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The one and only race in the galaxy even the Borg don't want to fuck with. Introduced in Voyager, Species 8472 are three-legged creatures that live in a space called Fluid Space. It's similar to the [[Eye of Terror]] for the fact that it connects to an alternate dimension and [[Khorne|everyone will be ripped apart upon entering.]]

When the Borg first came around to try and assimilate them they were completely obliterated in a war in which 4 million Borg were killed in the first few days at the cost of almost no members of Species 8472. This war was such a roflstomp that the Borg were forced to call on the Federation for help. [[Tau|The Federation being the better people swallowed their pride and decided to help their sworn enemies,]] [[Eldrad|but were dicks and sent only one ship.]]

Species 8472 fought with fast moving, small ships and devastating beam weapons so the small ship of the Federation could keep up with them and helped the Borg force the species back into Fluid Space. The Federation were the villains on this one. That said, they eventually came to an accord with Species 8472, preventing further wars between the denizens of Fluid Space, except in lots and lots of video games that want to use a fresh antagonist.

That and that in ''Star Trek Online'', [[Awesome|they look like the fucking Predator.]]
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===The Q===

A race of beings which are so advanced they are basically gods that look onto the Federation judgmentally from time to time with a more playful one of their ranks, who's not above fucking with individual humans from time time. They are mostly a TNG thing and mostly works by grace of John de Lancie's acting chops and charisma with Patrick Stewart, as de Lancie played the ''character'' Q, an all-powerful epic [[troll]] (no, not the fantasy kind) who's occasionally [[Tzeentch]]ian games sometimes appeared to be for his own amusement and sometimes to somehow act as education or event protection to the human race. Various subplots involving the Q ''species'' range from somewhat thought provoking to mildly entertaining to ridiculous and banal, but the classic episodes that highlighted the charisma and chemistry of the two actors were often quite excellent.
=== The Mirror Universe ===
Not so much of a faction as an alternate setting, this is a parallel universe in which [[Alternate History|things have gone differently]] at some point in Earth's History. What is the Point of Divergence never exactly specified though there are some vague Nazisque stuff involved, but what is clear is that where the main universe is Noblebright the Mirror Universe is Grimdark. Instead of a peace loving Federation searching for knowledge for it's own sake and built on the idea of understanding and cooperation Earth gave rise to the ''Terran Empire'' which seeks out new life and civilizations to conquer and enslave, as it had done with the Klingons. Pretty much it's the PG-13 version of the Imperium of Man with a bit more Grimderp. Junior officers get promoted by killing their superiors, those that fail at that get thrown in the agony booth for their troubles and Emperors get the job by usurping the incumbent. In general everyone in the Mirror Universe is a selfish asshole version of themselves and following comic book logic the uniforms for the female characters are more revealing. Occasionally people can cross over from one universe to the next due to technobabble and cause mischief in either realm.

Originally it was a one off TOS setting for an episode of the week, but it was brought back in a few novels and some romps in Deep Space Nine in which [[Fail|the Terran Empire had fallen]]. In Enterprise's fourth season it got a two parter that was pretty good and would have been an annual thing if the show had been renewed, this one having little crossover with the main universe (a ship from TOS ended up in the Mirror Universe). We also went there in Disco. Voyager never did the mirror universe, but instead got a homage episode with some alien historians in the far future getting the details wrong like historians tend to.

== The Star Trek crew ==
Whether the focus of the show is exploration, manning a space station in an important locale or trying to get home, all Star Trek series have a basic set up of casting and focus: namely on a collection of people who are usually the senior most officers on the ship. If you decide to make a Star Trek inspired game take this into consideration.

* '''The Captain''': Big cheese. Makes the hard decisions. Needs to be able to talk, think or fight out of situations as needed. The third option fetishist finding the balance between empathy and reason. (Two least skubby examples: Kirk and Picard, but the skub will fly hard if you say one is better than the other)
* '''The First Officer''': Second in command and trusted advisor. (Two least skubby examples: Riker and Kira)
* '''The Science Officer''': Got high Int stats. Can analyze the situation and work out solutions. The voice of reason. (Two least skubby examples: Data and Spock)
* '''The Engineer''': Hard working technically minded guy who gets shit done. (Two least skubby examples: Scotty and Geordi)
* '''The Doctor''': Ship's healer with a secondary scientific role. The voice of empathy. (Two least skubby examples: Bones and the EMH Doctor)
* '''The Security Officer''': Rough and tumble no nonsense sort who's job it is to keep these guys alive when diplomacy fails, which it often does. (Two least skubby examples: Worf and Odo)
* '''The Helmsman''': Got spacecraft piloting skills, either full sized starships, shuttles or fighters. (Two least skubby examples: Sulu and Tom Paris)
* '''The Other Guy''': Said individual might be a junior officer/butt-monkey, the ship's therapist, a bartender, communications officer, Linguist, Talaxian hobo or senior navigator whale who does not fit the generally established roles. Often acts as an outsider looking in on the grander affairs. (Two Least skubby examples: Uhura and Quark)

Some of these hats may be worn by more than one character.

== The Shows ==
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===''The Original Series''===
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Created in 1966 by legendary sci-fi [[spiritual liege]] Gene Roddenberry (who ironically became controversial as time went on, [[Matt Ward|like a certain Spiritual Liege in Games Workshop did]] but worse; Ward wasn't syncretizing, hypocritically preachy, vaguely Communistic, didn't stiff his employees or do things that come across as a misogynist sex offender) and pitched as a "Wagon Train to the stars", it's a pulpy adventure sci-fi, full of fistfights and sword fights (the guns never work).

The USS ''Enterprise'' is tasked by the Federation to go on a five year mission to explore space: the final frontier, to explore strange new worlds, to seek out new life and new civilizations and boldly go where no man has gone before, though due to budget constraints, her crew often finds that man has in fact gone there before. Or at least something that looks exactly like a man but is actually an [[Xenos|Alien]]. James T. Kirk sleeps with [[Hot Chicks|hot alien babes]] who either die tragically or leave tearfully at the end of the episode, but it's 'k because he's too in love with the Enterprise to ever love a mere ''woman'' more. Mr. Spock and Dr. McCoy are cold and logical and rash and emotional respectively, and Scotty [[gets shit done]]. Uniforms, while iconic, tend to look a bit civilian though. Miniskirts are apparently mandated attire for the ship's fan-servicey female "yeoman" and others, because 1966. The civilian nature of the attire (including, one must assume, the miniskirts, but they had a visual appeal all their own) were apparently an intentional design decision by Roddenberry who didn't want uniforms to look military. Further specialness on the part of Roddenberry demanded phasers not look like guns, instead looking like nothing in particular at all (although looking back at them today they look sort of like TV remotes, which would be invented much later), and also (probably the only sensible decision in this category) ships that didn't look like rockets, giving ships their distinctive saucer-engineering-nacelles look.

The Original Series frequently ran out of budget and entire episodes were filmed using spare costumes belonging to the production company, resulting in a series of extremely goofy excuses to go to planets full of gangsters or [[Nazi]]s. This is often copied by shows who don't realize it was done out of pure expediency, and nowadays this [[TVTropes|"Planet of Hats"]] gimmick is practically a box to check off when doing sci-fi adventure. The lack of budget also resulted in one of the more memorable inventions; unable to budget for a sequence showing the ''Enterprise'' or a shuttle landing on a new planet every week, the writers instead decided to invent the transporter to "beam" the crew wherever they need be. Also worth noting: despite its mediocre critical reception, ratings and eventual cancellation, not to forget the pretty poor quality of most third season episodes, ''TOS'' had a hell of a cultural impact thanks to syndication and it has been said that since it entered syndication in 1969, there hasn't been a 24-hour period without some TV station, in some country, playing Star Trek. Cancellation of The Original Series is now considered one of the worst decisions in TV history.

Fun fact: the ''Enterprise'' and each of her 11 sister ships have enough firepower to [[Exterminatus]] a planet by themselves, after getting issued an order called General Order 24. This however is likely a time-consuming task. According to a later DS9 episode, it takes a fleet of 20 warships 1 hour of sustained bombardment to destroy a planets crust and 5 hours of sustained bombardment to destroy a planet down to its mantle. These 20 ships were also in service 100 years after the Enterprise so they were also more powerful.
Kirk has the distinction of being the only known captain to issue a [[Exterminatus|General Order 24]], because a planet was ''too'' much into wargames (he changed his mind after they dropped wargaming).
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===''The Animated Series''===
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The often forgotten middle child. More or less "seasons 4-5" of ''TOS'' with the same writing staff and actors, sans poor Walter Koenig. He was replaced by a weird camel person. He learned this at a convention, from a fan, while he was trying to announce he'd be writing an episode. Being animated allowed the staff to get a lot more creative with the alien designs and plots, and the writing and acting remain... well, top notch is a stretch, but certainly at the same levels as ''The Original Series'', with the occasional low point. Not ''nearly'' as bad as you're probably picturing from the name, although still limited by the low budget and primitive animation techniques of the television era it was aired in. Notably some sci-fi novelists were brought in to write some episodes, such as Larry Niven and, yes, Walter Koenig.

Also, since the series now has no excuse for throwing in lots of Space Puritans and Space Wizards, it of course continued to do so to derptastic results, because by this point it had become traditional. The presence of a straight-up [[furry]] on the bridge, however, is downright unacceptable.
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===''The Next Generation''===
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Here's where it starts getting a little deeper and a little darker, although with a lot of left-wing political subtext turned up to 11. The USS ''Enterprise-D'' (the original and C were destroyed in action while A and B were retired) is, like its predecessor, tasked with going where no-one has gone before, but this time around the problems are less likely to be solved in a single episode. Jean-Luc Picard is the captain and he plots and negotiates his way to victory; Mr. Data is cold and unemotional, though not by choice - as an android, he'd very much like to change that; Riker takes over the captain's "sleep with alien babes" duties since Picard is married to the job; Worf the Klingon gets beaten up by monsters to show how tough the monsters are, meaning that Worf winds up looking incredibly weak by the end of the show's run and doesn't regain his badassery until his run on ''DS9''; Dr Bev Crusher is a less interesting version of good old Bones ; Dr Pulaski is a less interesting version of Dr Crusher; counsellor Troy causes some love triangles nobody gave a crap about; and Geordi LaForge [[gets shit done]]. Only two things need to be said about helmsman Wesley Crusher: he was [[Mary Sue|Gene Wesley Roddenberry's self-insert,]] and his sueness got to the point that even his actor started to hate him.

Due to the massive success of The Original Series in syndication (and Paramount being [[Rage|pissed off]] by broadcast networks treating their most valuable IP like any other show), TNG was aired through syndication from the beginning. Although the first couple seasons were laughably bad, the quality began to improve dramatically after [[Meme|Riker grew a beard.]] The later seasons are widely considered to represent the apex of the franchise on the small screen (although ''DS9'' also had its moments); sadly, this series only got one good movie.
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===''Deep Space Nine''===
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Unlike all the other series so far, ''Deep Space Nine'' primarily takes place in a fixed location - the titular space station Deep Space Nine, out near the borders of Federation Space. Said space station is near Bajor, which was recently freed from Cardassian occupation, and a wormhole to the other side of the galaxy which allows [[Warp|all sorts of of crazy shit to go down]]. If the other shows are a wagon train, this one's a border fort.

Benjamin Sisko is the captain, declared Emissary by the nearby Bajorans for making contact with the wormhole aliens they worship, and he successfully hybridizes the blow-the-shit-out-of-whatever-you-can't-punch Kirk approach with the talk-in-a-very-dignified-way-about-the-philosophy-of-the-thing-and-win-by-rhetoric Picard maneuver, in his ultimately-successful quest to become the baddest motherfucker in space, then literally becomes a space god. Kira the Bajoran ex-<s>terrorist</s> <S>''noble freedom fighter''</s> (who are we kidding she calls herself a terrorist) struggles to free and rebuild her people while coming to terms with the moral ambiguities of situations she prefers to see in black-and-white, Dr. Bashir works to find his character for several seasons before becoming a highlight, Dax gets often written poorly has to switch bodies doing it, Odo IS ''Liquid Space Cop'', Quark runs his bar and [[troll|heckles]] the Federation, Garak pretends to be a tailor while dropping killer lines, and Miles O'Brien [[gets shit done]]. Also, Worf wanders in halfway through, and actually gets to punch things instead of just getting punched by them. It's also a lot more political than other series (though ''TNG'' and ''Voyager'' have their moments) and the last series to have Gene Roddenberry's involvement (with less enthusiasm, in fact often much to the benefit of this particular series thematically, although Roddenberry's complete departure did not necessarily bode well for the franchise in general.)

It's the [[Awesome|closest the canon series ever get]] to [[Grimdark]], especially when the Dominion show up. The show has aged remarkably well and the terrorist/freedom fighter debate was repeatedly explored in a very mature and honest way. ''DS9'' is the most serialized of all Trek shows and could be considered a forerunner to the golden age of television with its long story arcs and deep character development. Overall, ''DS9'' has to be considered the most consistently good Trek show thanks to the excellent writing and fantastic performances from a truly wonderful ensemble cast. At least until the final season, when the writers who made it good were pulled to try and fail to make good movies, heralding the failure that was Voyager.

It wasn't without its controversies however. The show was airing around the same time as another thematically similar sci-fi show, ''Babylon 5''. Not only that but characters also shared similarities, as did the episodes. Interestingly, beginning of both series, introduction of characters and airing of similar episodes were often too close to each other for one show to copy the other but this did not stop massive [[Rage]] and [[/v/|fanboy wars]] from starting between fans of the two series accusing one another of plagarism and having an inferior product.

How good is ''Deep Space Nine''? Every Star Trek series and even the reboot movies have pretty much ripped off ideas and concepts established during the series.
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===''Voyager''===
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''Voyager'' is... decent. There is no debate on how it outshines Enterprise. The plot centers around the USS ''Voyager'', a smallish ship which gets teleported over to the other side of the galaxy, and the plot of the series as a whole centers on its efforts to get back home, with the primary obstacle being the consistently terrible decisions of its own captain. Think ''Gilligan's Island'' on a starship.

Like ''TNG'' and ''DS9'' it's a character-driven drama just as often as it is a sci-fi adventure romp, although it only has one half-decent character, called "The Doctor" ([[Doctor Who|No relation.]]); he's the solid-light hologram representative of the ship's emergency medical computer, who has to take on actual medical duties when their chief medical officer was conveniently killed in the pilot episode. Other than this, Chakotay is a peace-loving and spiritually rich indian <s>freedom fighter</s> <s>terrorist</s> [[FAIL|who was written with the help of a special cherokee consultant so native his name was Jamake Highwater and it turned out later on that he was actually jewish and didn't know dick about native cultures so he made everything up resulting in Chakotay basically being a borderline racist caricature of what you think indians are like. Akoochimoya.]] Tom Paris is an annoying jerk and is counterbalanced by Harry Kim who is the ideal boy-scout, making him only half as annoying and twice as boring. B'elanna Torres tries to perpetuate a lineage of dudes getting shit done but ends up blankly reciting her technobabble, having second degree plasma burns and – worst of all – systematically fails to get shit done whenever the warp core goes nuts. Tuvok tries hard to be as cool as Spock but ends up being a lame version of the n°1 Vulcan who uses logic to justify everything and makes it short for "you are wrong, I am right because I said so." Kes is passed as a fragile and nice character but it takes a couple of episodes to realize that having a short lifespan does not change the facts: [[powergamer|when you can boil someone to death from the inside of their body, drain life from everything around you to become stronger and do anything you want without knowing how, just by thinking of it]], you are a goddamn Mary Sue. From the fourth season onwards the only character the writers seemed to care about are Seven of Nine, [[Mary Sue|a human woman who recently escaped from Borg control and kept all of her cyborg enhancements but regained her free will]]; another Mary Sue, to be sure, but she's [[Hot Chicks|hot]], and the other characters are much worse, so that's not really a bad thing. (Fortunately, the one good character on the show, namely The Doctor AKA the EMH, still received a lot of attention from the writers and almost single-handedly made the show watchable). There was also Neelix, who was the apparent inspiration for Jar-Jar Binks, and any sane crew would have pushed him out of an airlock on the first episode. Fans who stuck with the show despite its glaring failings were given one final slap in the face with the <s>controversial</s> shit final season, in which the producers decided "screw steadily crafting a satisfying conclusion to a story which we have wasted for most of the last seven years anyway; lets just ignore it until the final episode and then throw in some shit about trans-warp conduits and time travel, bitches love time travel!" If you did not care about any of the characters or the subplots or time travel making sense (the writers sure didn't), then the final episode was explosions (and the Borg got a major setback, just don't think about the setup too hard).

The Doctor never once stopped being totally fucking awesome though (enough so to even earn a cameo in First Contact), and the great acting from the cast carries the series from being horrific to watchable. Just goes to show that no matter how good your actors are, they can't make diamonds out of shit.

Hopes that the franchise had sunk to a new low from which it could surely only get better were about to be proved wrong in spectacular fashion...
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===''Enterprise''===
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A [[Indrick Boreale|bald, foolish]] and (according to some) successful attempt to create a series even worse than ''Voyager'' was, from the minute the Nickelback-tier theme tune started the fans knew in their hearts it was fucking doomed. So bad that even the most devoted Trekkies gave up on it, in just four seasons this series almost single-handedly killed off the ''Trek'' franchise (which is actually quite impressive, in a perverse sort of way).

It's a prequel to the rest, taking place on the first ''Enterprise'', before the Federation was founded, and Earth was an independent power- so there's a lot of primitive versions of things from other series. At least the uniforms were pretty cool in an Air Force sort of way, although when that's the best thing you can say about a series, that tells you all you need to know about its quality (or lack thereof). Captained by <s>that guy from ''Quantum Leap''</s> Jonathon Archer, in hindsight the fact that they had to rename him from their original choice of Jeffrey Archer to avoid confusion with the disgraced British MP and author of the same name probably cursed the series with bad karma before it had even begun shooting. In an unusual twist for a ''Trek'' series, his first officer isn't a <s>terrorist</s> ''noble freedom fighter,'' however she does share a trait with her ''Voyager'' predecessor in that the actress who portrayed her frequently criticized the show's writers in interviews. Other than that, well, Hoshi Sato screams a lot, Travis Mayweather was so dull even the writers forgot he existed, Malcolm Reed has an accent, Dr Phlox is a weird creepy alien with weird creepy alien moral (and gets surprisingly interesting when given enough screentime, which hardly happened), and Trip also has an accent and [[gets shit done]].

Was retooled twice, the third season tries to be ''24'' IN SPACE (stop some guys the Xindi from blowing up Earth) while the 4th season is a massive apology about the last three seasons that tries to fix all the problems they had, and as a result, the only season that's close to being good.

Amusingly the final episode is set on the holodeck of the Enterprise-D and leaves us with the firm impression that the producers would have much rather have just continued making ''The Next Generation''; considering the mediocre quality of the ''TNG'' movies we got instead, this probably would have worked out better for all involved (Or not since ''Voyager'' was that; its first episode was even numbered 901, as in Season 9 Episode 1).

Yet despite all this bad directing, subpar plots, and frankly boring episodes, ''Enterprise'' still manages to be moderately enjoyable with occasional moments of awesomeness if you can suffer through it. The focus on founding Federation races like the Andorans was refreshing and the technology level, being somewhere between the original series and the real world present-day, was quite interesting. We also got to see the Vulcans portrayed as arrogant, superior dicks. Which makes a lot more sense than the way they're usually portrayed as fairly submissive towards humans because they are, obviously and objectively, the superior race. The Klingons certainly still considered themselves to be honorable but the show made it clear that the Klingon notion of honor is rarely analogous to the human concept which was interesting as all hell to watch. There have been a few small nods to it in discovery and the abrams movies.

And let's be fucking honest, [[/tg/]] loves 40k and the Xindi arc was about as grimdark as shit gets. And that was awesome.

Also makes a neat pairing with ''Voyager'' in that they really mess with the Prime Directive and question the Federation.
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===''Renegades''===
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Kickstarter ''Trek''. It's basically comprised of a good ''Star Trek'' movie, a mediocre ''Star Trek'' season, and a shitty ''Star Trek'' fanfic, with all sharing equal screentime. The makers submitted their pilot made-for-TV movie to CBS trying to get it made into a legit on-the-air series (and by god it shows). They said they can still make a season, just not one on TV. Pretty much has good and bad in equal measure. Some characters are actually interesting (about time we saw more of the Breen!) while others are pure [[Mary Sue]]s (including a male Seven of Nine with a built-in Borg-gun/personal shield/fully-functional hand). Some of the ideas are interesting while others are boring or already-been-done. The CGI is all Hollywood-quality, but the practical effects are okay at best.

Most of all, the biggest thing this needs/needed is time. It's obvious that they made this without knowing that they were going to be able to make a TV show or not, and tried to cram the sort of build-up and intrigue we saw in ''DS9'' into a span of 90 minutes. For now though, it's decidedly meh.
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===''Discovery''===
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----
<s>A LOAD OF SOCIAL JUSTICE SHIT!</s> Ahem, let's start again, shall we?

A new "prequel" series set 10 years before ''The Original Series.'' Run exclusively on CBS' paid streaming service (unless you live outside the US and Canada, in which case you can get it on Netflix) to try and drum up sign-ups and revenue, it features a mix of ''Enterprise'' and Abramstrek aesthetics despite supposedly taking place in parallel to the TOS "The Cage" pilot while [[what|having technology superior to late DS9]] and introducing [[dune|mushroom-based space travel]] that would imply [[retcon|all later events and warp travel would be outdated]]. The trailer has attracted a lot of concern over the fact that Klingons have been completely redesigned to look like slit-nosed ogres wearing ancient Egyptian cosplay, and rumors that the Klingons shown were [[Racial Holy War|primitives who had been trapped in stasis]] proved to be unfounded, so there is no excuse. Not having a cold war to posture about, the new villains are based off of Trump-inspired xenophobia by the admission of the authors. Also the lead character is Spock's human sister that he never mentioned before, aka the ''exact'' origin of the [[Mary Sue]] which is just fucking depressing. Want a new Star Trek episode about racism and immigration? Try the now-banned [https://youtu.be/3VEZH8bqytA Star Trek Continues]. Want Star Trek with humor, keep an eye out for the upcoming [https://ew-com.cdn.ampproject.org/c/s/ew.com/tv/2018/10/25/star-trek-animated-comedy/amp/?fbclid=IwAR2WN6auDNm5YiunYhaqiu7vt9f-P08AuUjMpLA5LlpUgvTm9_xloJNRYb0 Star Trek: Lower Decks]; want a pseudo-Star Trek show about other modern issues? Try ''The Orville'' below; that's right, American Dad In Space may right now be a better Star Trek than an actual Star Trek series.

Initial reviews have been... well, it's shit. The writing is overly convoluted, the massive injection of grimdark into pre-TOS continuity is anathema to the hardcore fans (the ''human'' characters are often the ones doing the nastiest shit, including [[Marines Malevolent|trying to kill a Klingon party by planting an explosive on the corpse of one of their comrades for when they came to collect the dead]]) and the Klingons are so flat and devoid of characterization that they might as well be Larry the Cable Guy lookalikes wearing Trump hats, which is a massive disappointment for a series that promised to put a spotlight on Klingon culture but ended up retconning all the characterization that happened in TNG and DS9. It ''may'' get better with time (remember that it took two seasons for TNG to get really good) but given the release schedule (split between 2017 and 2018 with a long break) it may come too late for the fanbase to care. Currently it's cause for more fans to lose their shit over whether it's good or not than the Abrams movies, which is a new record of [[Skub|Trek Skub]]. Releasing the show on CBS All Access instead of cable or broadcast TV makes it seem that executives don't really give a shit if the show succeeds or fails, bringing up the question of [[Bioware|whether they're deliberately putting Star Trek: Discovery in a no-win scenario where, no matter what happens, the executives have an excuse to cancel Star Trek altogether]].

Other stupid decisions are: not bringing back Bruce Greenwood and Zachary Quinto as Captain Pike and (at this time a likely a Lieutenant Commander) Spock. Who wouldn't mind taking a pay cut to bring the characters to the small screen. Their ages wouldn't have mattered either if CBS and Paramount weren't such cheapskates. As they don't even care enough to shell out cash for the CGI technology that Marvel Studios uses to make their actors appear younger during flashback scenes.

Naturally, nobody is ever going to let this series live down its unfortunate initials.
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===''Picard''===
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Set to be a continuation of the original timeline, featuring old man Picard with Patrick Stewart reprising the role. Stay tuned.
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== Homages ==
Being a longrunner with a wide audience, Star Trek has gained enough acclaim to have numerous references. In a few cases entire works get made to homage Star Trek. Here are some of the examples.

=== Galaxy Quest ===
A sci-fi/comedy film released in 1999, directed by Dean Parisot. It parodies science fiction films and series, particularly Star Trek and its fandom. The film stars big name actors including Tim Allen, Sigourney Weaver and the late Alan Rickman. The plot revolves around the cast of a defunct cult television series called Galaxy Quest (for example, Tim Allen played the Kirk/Shatner expy and the late Alan Rickman played the Spock/Nimoy expy). They're also suffering fatigue that mirrors the experiences of the actual Star Trek actors (Rickman's character is typecast with his Galaxy Quest character and laments it, similar to how these things happened to the late Leonard Nimoy).

The cast are suddenly visited by actual aliens, who believe the series to be an accurate documentary (it helps that the aliens have no concept of fiction and only the most bare bones idea of lying) and seek their help. They take the actors with them, who find themselves involved in a very real, and dangerous, intergalactic conflict, and unlike the show where it all wrapped up quickly they struggle to learn about and relate to the aliens.

Built around the basic premise of "What if the cast of ''Star Trek'' ended up on a real spaceship and had to actually do the shit they did in the show, including saving the world." Featuring a veritable all-star cast of talented comedians and character actors, this is one of the best parodies ever made.

===Star Wreck: In the Pirkinning===
Another parody, parodying not only ''Star Trek'' but ''Babylon 5'' as well. The seventh in a series fan movies released in 2005, it's about Captain Pirk builds a starship called CPP ''Kickstart'', allies with Russia and takes over the world. He wants to take over more planets but the ships of his P-Fleet aren't fast enough to travel outside the Solar system. A maggot hole opens and it leads to an alternate reality. Pirk wants to take over the Earth of this reality, which leads to an [[awesome]] space battle between the P-Fleet and the fleet of the space station Babel 13 led by Johnny Sherrypie. The movie features some of the best special effects ever put in a sci-fi movie, which is pretty impressive, considering that this is an amateur film with a very low budget and was rendered in five years in someone's bedroom. The film is spoken in Finnish but subtitles are available for a wide variety of languages, including Klingon. They also made [https://web.archive.org/web/20070828010927/http://rpg.starwreck.com/ a role-playing game based on it], where your character [[Truenamer|becomes more incompetent]] [[Page 42|as he levels up]].

=== The Orville ===
A comedy drama television series homage to Star Trek that's pretty much to Star Trek what Family Guy is to The Simpsons, even being created by and starring Seth MacFarlane of ''Family Guy'' infamy-- [[Skub|No wait, come back!]] The guy's a huge Trekkie and he felt that too many shows nowadays were up in their ass with grimdark, so he pitched the show the execs to make a loving comedic sendup of The Next Generation. Many of the executive producers are actually Trek alumni or notable industry Trekkies, such the guy who wrote the ''Futurama'' Trek parody episode, and the episodes aired so far have featured the same kind of themes that you would expect from a new Trek series. First airing in 2017, the series is about the strung-out not-Picard protagonist Captain Edward Mercer, played by MacFarlane himself, of the eponymous not-Enterprise spaceship "The Orville". His ex-wife is the first officer with the pilot episode about them reconciling for the sake of getting shit done. The crew of the not-Enterprise includes the not-T'Pol alien security officer Alara, gay beefy not-Worf alien Bortus, asshole not-Lore android Isaac, and John LaMarr and Gordon Malloy - an even more ridiculous parody of Harry Kim and Tom Paris. They explore the galaxy while fighting bad guys such as UV-allergic [[The Culture#Other civilizations|not-Idrians]] reptilians called Krill.

The show's reception is quite [[Skub|mixed]]. While the audience loved it and critics hated it upon release, the initial surge from the "honeymoon period" has mellowed, ultimately leaving both divided between adoration and hatred. Seth's signature style of humor is evident, for better or worse, combined with dramatic elements and sci-fi material. The Orville also contains some commentary on real world issues, and while less preachy than ''Discovery'' on some subjects, it's just as bad or even worse on other subjects (for one, the show's preachiness on atheism exceeds even Star Trek's). Some commend the show as a breath of [[Noblebright|fresh air]] in an overly [[Grimdark|stagnant]] genre with good special effects and a few splashes of genius - [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wright_brothers#Orville the titular ship is named after one of the Wright Brothers] and one episode discussed the pitfalls of social currency. Others denounce it as derivative (The Orville is piggybacking on Star Trek's fanbase and on top of the above, several episodes' plots are copy-pasted from other works - The Orville's "Majority Rule" and "Mad Idolatry" are pretty much Black Mirror's "Nosedive" and Star Trek's "Who Watches the Watchers?") with sophomoric messages, clumsy pop-culture references and hit-or-miss writing. Some think both its supporters and detractors have a point. Trekkies are equally divided on the show, with many [[butthurt]] over Discovery endorsing the Orville, a small group liking both and others disliking The Orville.

In the second season Alara/not-T'Pol was written out of the show (which may come back to haunt them as she's one of the more well-received characters) while being replaced with a [[TVTropes|suspiciously similar substitute]], Issac/not-Lore turns good at the last minute and the Krill become the "lesser villains that need to team up with the good guys to fight worse villains" cliche. The cast seems to be gelling better, the writers have a better idea of what the show should be and the humor works in service of the stories rather than being shoved in haphazardly, yet the same criticisms still remain. As always, stay tuned for how this turns out.

== Films ==
As a general rule, the even-numbered ones aren't complete shit.

* '''''Star Trek: The Motion Picture''''': AKA: The Slow Motion Picture, or the Motionless Picture. Old school sci-fi geeks like the ideas, but terrible pace and interminable special effects that were clearly meant to capitalize on this newfangled ''3011'' doohickey all the kids are yammering about kill them dead for everyone else. Besides the uniform worn by Kirk, the uniforms also look like pajamas. So no wonder they were changed only a movie later. Tries to look a bit like ''2001: A Space Odyssey'' but fails because it doesn't look, well, good. Features an entirely bald female alien who is [[What|so good at sex that she has to swear an oath not to get it on with the crew]]. Really. This is canon.
* '''''Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan''''': [[Meme|KKKHHHAAAAAAAAAAAANNNN!!!!]] Widely considered the best of all the films, and the only one considered a straight up great film, no qualifiers. If you haven't seen it, see it. Interesting fact: Due to time constraints, actors of Kirk and Khan weren't available at the same time. So the entire script was written so that Kirk and Khan never need to meet face-to-face. ''Nemesis'' and ''Into Darkness'' tried to recreate it's success without getting that it worked because Khan and Kirk had a history together. Roddenberry screeched autistically and objected to some of the actions of his characters, including Kirk shooting a [[Enslavers|brain eating space parasite]] rather than "[[Noblebright|keeping it for study]]." The fact that his strongest objections came to the most [[win]] of the films says a great deal about his deprecating value to the franchise around the TNG era.
* '''''Star Trek III: The Search for Spock''''': Where is Spock? ''He's on Genesis.'' ALL AHEAD FULL! Not really bad, just run of the mill compared to the superior films that surround it. It was also saddled with the misfortune of undoing some of the previous film's more-daring decisions, and having its only daring decision reversed a film later. If you had to say that any film broke the "odd numbers suck" rule, it would be this one.
* '''''Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home''''': The crew of the ''Enterpise'' travels back in time to save the whales. No, literally and unironically. Scott tries to talk to a computer through the mouse, Spock nerve-pinches a punk on a bus in San Francisco, and somehow it works, creating something perhaps not quite in the genre intended but a classic in sci-fi dramedy. ''The Voyage Home'' is a zany comedy romp beloved by the general public and fandom alike, leaving only the most intractable fanbois to bitch and moan. Nimoy directed this one but there was a contract stipulation that Shatner would get whatever Nimoy got, thus leading to...
* <del>'''''Star Trek V: The Final Frontier''''':</del> <s>The epitome of the "odd-numbered Star Trek films suck" rule.</s> {{BLAM|Lies! There is no}} '''''Star Trek V'''''{{BLAM|! It was not called}} '''''The Final Frontier'''''{{BLAM|! It was not directed by Kirk's egotistical actor and did not have a plot that could literally be summarized as "Kirk is betrayed by his incompetent crew, yet goes on to fight God and win!" The films mysteriously moved from four to six and ''we are all improved because of this!''}}
* '''''Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country''''': The Space Cold War ends amidst Tom Clancy-esque drama. However unlike his work, it's actually watchable. The sendoff for the original cast. Gene Roddenberry watched it, hated it and was going to seek legal advice but died a week later. And good riddance to that, because it's a pretty sweet political thriller if your hippie-panties don't get into a twist at the thought that the Federation isn't a perfect place full of perfect people.
* '''''Star Trek Generations''''': Malcolm McDowell blows up planets to get into a magic space ribbon to live forever, no it does not make any more sense in context. An already-weak story hamstrung by its obsession with being daring and unconventional rather than good. Also, Kirk dies on the bridge in the most face-palming manner possible.
* '''''Star Trek First Contact''''': The ''TNG'' crew face off with the Borg to ensure the future happens. Lots of action and some good performances make this the only good ''TNG'' movie. It sadly is also the only appearance of the Defiant on screen. Doing a pretty decent job of fighting the Borg. Before the Enterprise E saves the day of course. The Borg Queen was also introduced here before Voyager, ruining what could have been a good idea. It also has enough snark to rival a Marvel Cinematic Universe movie.
* '''''Star Trek Insurrection''''': If you thought the [[Avatar|Na'vi]] were a bunch of badly-written [[Mary Sue]]s, you ain't seen nothing yet! B-b-b-baby you ain't seen n-n-n-nothing yet! Also, Riker shaves his beard, and that's basically a war crime. Aged from terrible to forgettably bad thanks to that one scene of Picard and Data singing ''HMS Pinafore''.
* '''''Star Trek Nemesis''''': The last stand of the ''TNG'' cast, ending not with a bang but a whimper. It also required amending the even=good/odd=bad rule to "''Galaxy Quest'' counts as a ''Star Trek'' film so this one is also odd."
* '''''Star Trek''''' (2009): Alternate timeline "reboot" (sideboot?) with the original crew, albeit with new younger actors. Timey-wimey shit happens and old prime timeline Spock (reprised by old Leonard Nemoy) is hurled back in time along with a bunch of Romulan assholes. The dickbag Romulans begin fucking shit up, slightly altering history in a way that ensures gratuitous lens flare. [[skub| Skubtastic]], but at least watchable, which is more than ''most'' odd-numbered films can muster. If you still even count it as odd, without the ''Galaxy Quest''-amendment.
* '''''Star Trek Into Darkness''''': Some [[edgy]] shit. The second of the alternate timeline ''Trek'' films. Terrorism, conspiracy and flapdoodle. Even more skubtastic, but generally considered worse than its predecessor, partially because (like Nemesis) it tries to be a remake of ''The Wrath of Khan'' and having Kirk at his most punchable.
* '''''Star Trek Beyond''''': Fairly good, but lacking in the high-minded themes that even the previous two reboot films explored. More fun and adventure-y, almost like something you'd see in a TV series plot, and with a pared-down scope. At least they don't feel the need to threaten to blow up Earth again under the mistaken logic that nothing less will get us to care. Not enough lens flare though, so it looked more like ''[[Star Wars]]'' than ''Star Trek''.

== Novels ==
Like most long time franchises ''Star Trek'' has a massive line of books. Unlike most they're basically just fanfics as nothing but the show and the movies is canon so the writers can do whatever they want. This changed after ''Nemesis'' since they might never have another show or movie in the "Prime" universe, so the writers got their shit together and wrote a group of books as a tight community very close to the shows. The relaunch novels are a continuation of the show they're about. Also there's the ''Titan'' book series which is about Riker and Troi getting their own ship, which happens to be staffed by every race in the Federation including living rocks, [[awesome|space dinosaurs]] that smell like [[meatbread|toast]] and a [[what|space cyborg ostrich]].

During yet another novel continuity (Star Trek: Destiny), the Borg go nuts and eat Pluto... yeah... and then they finally get sick of the Federation somehow managing to not get assimilated all the time, so they finally just send every last cube they have with orders to Exterminatus the absolute SHIT out of the entire Alpha Quadrant. Pretty much every important character from TNG, DS9, and Voyager has to team up to stop them, and even then the Federation still get its shit pushed in and winds up having to rely on a vaguely ridiculous deus ex machina to win, and [[Grimdark|billions of people still die and dozens of planets are blown to shit]]. It was pretty insane.

Then all the Federation's main enemies get together to form an anti-Federation and start poking the bear, all the while telling their allies that they're somehow warmongering dicks.

== Video Games ==
''Star Trek Online'' is the free-to-play online game built by Cryptic Studios and run by Perfect World. With an official license CBS, recurring characters voiced by various Trek alumni, and recently a license to include references to the reboot chronology (officially known as the "Kelvin Timeline"), it's the closest existing thing to an "official" continuation of the "Prime" timeline, and contains history and fluff extending nearly 40 years from the end of Star Trek: Nemesis.

Taking place in the 25th century (around the year 2409-2410), the Hobus supernova (the event that kicked Nero and Spock into the past during Star Trek 2009) has devastated the Romulans, and its near-collapse and fragmentation causes tensions between a resurgent Klingon Empire and the Federation. The tensions blow up into a war, with members of a new, nicer, breakaway Romulan Republic playing both sides in exchange for development aid.

The game contains deep cuts from all over Trek lore, and answers questions about what happened to various key characters, including Data (took over the Enterprise-E, then retired), the Enterprise (now an even bigger ship run by Andorian captain Shon), and the Voyager crew (it took Harry Kim 30 years to make Captain lol). Raises barely-shown, unnamed, and otherwise obscure races to new prominence as big bad foes, including the Iconians (ancient aliens with god complexes who mutated into energy beings, currently live in dyson spheres and were only defeated by predestination paradox), Tzenkethi (4-armed halo guys whose weak points are the FRONT of their shields), and Na'kuhl (the alien nazis from Enterprise as time-traveling terrorists who blame the Federation for a throwaway event that happened in TNG's beach episode).

Ostensibly free to play, but don't let that fool you... the ''not-so-micro''transactions are the only reason the lights stay on.

=== Starfleet Command ===

''Starfleet Command'' was a series real time space battle games by Interplay based on the much older tabletop game Star Fleet Battles. It came out in 1999 and was followed by several sequels and expansions. Gameplay was much like ''Battlefleet Gothic'', but with the player only controlling one ship. SFC remains Interplay's best selling game, topping even ''Baldur's Gate''.

=== Armada ===

A series of low effort RTS's churned out by Activision in 2000. Tried to take on both ''Homeworld'' and ''Age of Empires'', both of which have recently gotten HD remakes and ''Armada'' hasn't so that should tell you all you need to know. However, for one of the first 3D model space RTS's it was surprisingly easy to mod, resulting in many ship mod packs being made for it.

== Would you like to know more? ==
And oh Lordy, is there more...
*[http://en.memory-alpha.org/wiki/ Main Memory Alpha: A ''Star Trek'' wiki]
*[http://memory-beta.wikia.com/wiki/ Main Memory Beta: The flip-side of Memory Alpha for the less than official stuff]
*[http://sfdebris.com/ SF Debris: opinionated episode reviews, has some non ''Trek'' stuff as well]

[[Category: Television]]

Star Trek

2019-10-15T11:28:45Z

2406:3400:20F:FFC0:A80D:9EEE:1E6F:E984: /* Picard */

{{cleanup}}
[[File:Enterprise.jpg|thumb|500px|right|If you aren't already hearing the theme song you might not belong here.]]

{{Topquote|Space: the final frontier. These are the voyages of the starship Enterprise. Its five-year mission: to explore strange new worlds. To seek out new life and new civilizations. To boldly go where no man has gone before!|James T. Kirk, third captain of the starship USS Enterprise}}

'''''Star Trek''''' is a multimedia science-fiction series and one of the cornerstones of nerdy media properties, and one of the few to crossover into mainstream popularity (alongside ''[[Star Wars]]'', ''[[Doctor Who]]'' and a few others). It's also one of the longest-running science fiction franchises, as it began when the the first episode of The Original Series aired in 1966, and since then has had over 50 years of geek history spanning several generations. Needless to say, it's had a huge influence on all things sci-fi, and, by extension, [[/tg/]].

Originally, ''Star Trek'' was [[noblebright]] beyond noblebright and, in many ways, was the polar opposite of ''[[Warhammer 40,000|Warhammer 40K's]]'' [[grimdark]]. The more recent reboot films, however, have taken a much, ''much'' more grimdark tone, which is delightfully [[skub]]tastic.

== Games ==
There's been plenty of tabletop games and [[/v/|vidya gaems]] featuring ''Star Trek'' without being merchandising bullshit (see: themed ''[[Monopoly]]'' sets), including one of the earliest action multiplayer wargame: ''Netrek''.

*'''''Star Trek: Adventure Gaming in the Final Frontier''''' (1978) The very first Trek tabletop [[RPG]]. Written by, I shit you not, Michael Scott. Groggy (grokky?) as all hell, and due for an OSR.
* '''''[[Star Fleet Battles]] (SFB)''''' (1979-) The crunchiest starship combat game you're ever going to find outside of a computer. Based on the original series and not any of the later series, for licensing reasons. Takes some liberties with the setting, which (combined with the aforementioned licensing) is why "''Star Trek''" isn't actually in the title. It's had its own video game spinoff in the form of Starfleet Command. The series died when the last company owned by Interplay broke up in the early 2000s.
* '''''Star Trek: The Role Playing Game''''' (1982-1989) Made by [[FASA]], essentially ''[[Traveller]]''-lite, or a happier, shinier ''[[Rogue Trader]]''. Hasn't aged terribly well, what with having been made when the only canonical ''Star Trek'' materials to work with were the original and animated series, the first four films, and a couple of now non-canon novels. If you try to dust it off, expect tons of conflict with the rest of the show. Died as they were trying to update it for ''TNG'', because Paramount's corporate suits (surprise, surprise) had no idea what an RPG actually entailed and were worried about violence, and getting their cut, and... oh you know the drill by now. Welcome to the 80's.
* '''''Star Trek: Starship Tactical Combat Simulator''''' (1983) FASA designed this, so it feels like ''[[Battletech]]'' but not as good.
* '''''Prime Directive''''' (1993-2008) The most successful tabletop RPG line (but that's not saying much), it's actually still in print. Produced by Amarillo Design Bureau, so again no direct name-dropping of "''Star Trek''." Lasted as long as it did by constantly evolving, in Borg-like fashion, to adapt to the current zeitgeist. Has had 4 editions, with the second using [[GURPS]], the third using [[Wizards of the Coast|d20]], and the fourth [[d20 Modern]].
* '''''Star Trek [[Card_Game|CCG]]''''' (1994-2007, 2011-2014, 2013-2015, 2018-) There's been a few of these, most notably the games released by [[Decipher]], but never globally popular. They also suffered from game balance problems from fans wanting their fave character, but needing extra rules for their quirks. There's also the problem of putting numbers to character stats, such as one game that asserted that [[Heresy|Picard having about twice the integrity of a Klingon pig]]. Later versions are "deck-building" games to try to cash in on the popularity of ''[[Dominion]]'' and ''[[Thunderstone]]''. And now virtual CCGs are the order of the day.
* '''''Star Trek: The Next Generation Role Playing Game''''' (1998-1999) The next attempt, made by Last Unicorn Games. Won an award for best new game, which makes it a complete shame that no one has ever played it.
* '''''Star Trek Red Alert''''' (2000) A Diskwars game themed to ''Star Trek''.
* '''''Star Trek Roleplaying Game''''' (2002-2005) When [[Decipher]] had the CCG license, they decided, "What the hell, let's make an RPG, too." It, like so many of its predecessors, died unnoticed and unmourned.
* '''''Star Trek Online''''' (2010-) An [[MMORPG|MMO]]. Decent gameplay mechanics, especially starship combat. Storyline leaves something to be desired, especially when the ostensibly [[Noblebright|peaceful]] Federation trades shots at least once with every other faction in the galaxy.
* '''''Call To Arms: Star Trek''''' (2011) [[Mongoose_Publishing|Mongoose]]'s license for ''Babylon 5'' expired, so they collaborated with Amarillo Design Bureau (the ''Star Fleet Battles'' guys), re-themed the game to Star Trek along with improving the system to make it more nifty. Less micro-management than SFB, and ships get some cinematic feats.
* '''''Star Trek: Expeditions''''' (2011) Ignore the tie-ins to the movie, Reiner Knizia designed this. Explore the gameboard, flip over missions, try to have the proper crew to get victory points.
* '''''Star Trek: Fleet Captains''''' (2011) Tile flipping, exploring, and spaceships fighting over resources
* '''''Star Trek: Attack Wing''''' (2013-) [[WizKids]] license the flightpath system from [[Fantasy Flight Games]] and adds ''Star Trek'' to the mix, [[Skub]] ensues. The game has been consistently plagued with balance issues, to the point that the rules errata is more than ten times longer than the actual rules. The actual current rules for things like the Borg special movement and fighter squadrons are completely different than the rules as written.
* '''''Star Trek Adventures''''' (2017-) The latest attempt at an RPG, by Modiphius, coming out soon to tentative praise. It also comes with a whole range of miniatures of the various crews from the show.

== So why should I care? ==
Because between them, these six TV series and their assorted spinoff movies, books, etc. can provide inspiration for any sci-fi game you could care to run. If you want light-hearted action, look at the sort of things that happened in ''TOS'' or ''DS9'' to get the crew into some dangerous situation. If you want a charismatic villain, look at Gul Dukat or the Borg Queen. If you want moral issues and debates, look at the shit that happened to Voyager and remove all the transparent deck-stacking and cheesy moralizing (or you could read any decent SF book/watch a ''Twilight Zone'' episode written in the previous 50 years, if you don't need your source material to be served at a 2nd grade level). Like [[Tolkien]] is to fantasy it's a prime gateway drug to science fiction and especially science fiction which is more than "action movie IN SPACE!"

Not to mention in any sci-fi RPG with remotely free-form rules you're likely to encounter ''Star Trek'' fanboys, so you might as well know what they're talking about. The unholy spawn of a Trekkie and a [[Furry]] is known as a [[Chakat]], and you should fear it.

At its best ''Star Trek'' is thoughtful, optimistic futurism with a positive human element and brings you to strange new worlds in the grand tradition of speculative fiction which is accessible to even the layman. At its worst ''Star Trek'' is arrogant, smug, hypocritical, preachy, dull, sloppy and prone to the strawman fallacy.

== Setting ==
Here's the Cliff's Notes on ''Star Trek''. A couple of general warnings; firstly, ''Star Trek'' likes to ''really'' take its "racial themes" bits just a little too far. Second, despite this, it's rare for an entire race to be completely irredeemable the way many fictional aliens are: there are heroic and sympathetic characters from nearly every race listed below, able to put more-positive spins on their racial themes. Thirdly, aside from very occasional appearances by [[H.P. Lovecraft|aliens who are so bizarre that humankind can barely comprehend them]], all of the aliens look like dudes with rubber masks on (because they are). In real life, this was because there was no budget for anything else, but in-universe it's been explained by some kind of [[Old Ones|Precursor]] race who seeded all of the planets with their broadly humanoid DNA, and every race evolved slightly differently from there. There isn't much [[fluff]] on what these precursors were like, and some of it was contradictory, and Gene Roddenberry didn't like the idea (although he still had to work with the rubber forehead stuff). The good news for fa/tg/uys who like [[homebrew]] is that this makes it fairly easy to write [[d20 system]] rules for all of the races - after all, most ''D&D'' races are just humans with rubber masks on...

=== A Composite Creation ===
This is a general note that one should consider: Star Trek was created in pretty much the opposite way as The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings. Tolkien worked out a bunch of linguistic stuff and general history of Arda in his spare time, then decided to use that as the basis for some stories that he eventually gave to some publishers which in the end sold quite well.

Roddenberry by contrast pitched a very broad general idea (it's the future, things are good, we got guys some on a ship exploring space; a "wagon train to the stars") to the networks who eventually took it up on it and had him work with a variety of writers and actors who added to this rough skeleton of an idea in a process that would continue on to this day.

This is not to knock either approach, but both have their advantages and disadvantages. In regards to Star Trek, a franchise which relies mostly on an episode of the week format that's been going on for more than half a century this means that the canon is a fucking mess. There were numerous people at the helm and many of them had often very different ideas about what should be done that were just thrown out to see what stuck, many of which were contradictory and some of which we'd frankly rather forget. In general fans and fluff writers have been spending a whole lot of time trying to straighten out things and much of the lore is basically a rough consensus of what people like and what fits in with it. Later series got more systematic about this, but there are still points of contention and a lot of flat out contradictions due to its scattershot nature.

=== Factions ===
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'''The Federation'''
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[[File:Federation_Ships.jpg|thumb|500px|left|Starfleet's ships of the Line (pre-reboot)]]
Might as well talk about that main faction. The United Federation of Planets is what the [[Tau]] think they are. Its backstory is that in the distant future of the 1990s, [[God-Emperor of Mankind|übermensch]] [[Space Marines|created by genetic engineering]] began conquering the Earth. The [[Imperial Guard|normies]] fought back and won through sheer numbers, cryogenically freezing the Augments and kicking them out of Earth, but the damage and mass political unrest of World War III got half the planet nuked. This was why genetic engineering was banned. Fortunately, in 2063, a <s>drunken asshole</s> heroic visionary named Zefram Cochrane created humanity's first warp drive (though it functioned based on the principle that gravity bends space-time, and was therefore more akin to an Alcubierre drive than anything that's dependent on the [[Warp]]) and made first contact with the Vulcans. The Vulcans eventually helped humanity rebuild and overcome poverty, disease, war and hunger. With its Earthly problems solved, man turned to the stars and found out its three closest neighbors were [[Imperium of Man|racist xenophobic dicks trying to murder each other]]. Since any war between them would've swept up puny little Earth and gotten it glassed, humans decided to force their neighbors to sit down and talk things out. Incredibly, it worked, and the United Federation of Planets was born.

The Federation is a commie [[noblebright]] hippieland society with a strong democratic government ([[Mary Sue|pretty much Roddenberry's idea of utopia]]). As a result, Federation citizens work not because they have to, but because they want to. However, despite their advanced technology, transhumanism, that is intentionally making [[Space Marines|SPESS MEHREENS]] and mutants like the infamous antagonist Khan Noonien Singh, is illegal.

The Federation's Navy is almost always called Starfleet. It's a mix between a military, a coast guard and a space agency, and usually rates scientific research as a higher priority than defense. One of its quirks is that it doesn't subscribe to the "bigger is better" policy used in most [[Warhammer 40K|sci-fi]], and even by most of the other ''Star Trek factions''. If the Federation ''does'' make a large ship, it's because they want it to have a daycare, swimming pool and ice cream bar. If they want a warship, they'll take a little gunship half the size of a modern day destroyer and pack it with enough antimatter nukes and guns to exterminate a solar system. In some cases, especially when dealing with ships from several centuries into the future, the ship is bigger on the inside than on the outside [[Creed|allowing it to hide a vast array of powerful armaments, ''space-bending'' equipment, and even whole planetary landscapes]]. They can get away with this because they out-tech almost everyone else by a country mile. The reason for the series' infamous "technobabble" is that <s>even ''they'' don't know everything their tech can do!</s> their technology is always evolving, and they know it so well that they can often use it in ways that even the original in-show design schematics did not intend.

In theory, Starfleet follows a rule called the "Prime Directive", which says that you're not allowed to interfere with low-tech races ("low-tech" being defined as "not having invented the warp drive", since warp technology apparently follows naturally from the laws of physics) or else things like turning the locals into Nazis might happen. The Original Series talked about this rule all the time, and Captain Kirk threw it aside whenever there was a sexy alien babe in sight. From ''TNG'' onward, it tended to instead be brought up whenever a hack writer needed a reason for the heroes to ''not'' instantly resolve a given problem with their superior technology or a way of making our heroes look like assholes for following it rigidly (yes, we could save this species from extinction but that would be interfering with the cosmic plan!), though there were a few good episodes that took it seriously.

Some of the more important member races are:
* [[Humans]]: You know 'em, you love 'em. Comprise seemingly 90% of Starfleet for reasons in no way related to the cost of makeup/CGI.
* Vulcan: The Original [[Eldar|Space Elves]], very emotional, especially during "pon'farr" (see below), who followed the teachings of an enlightened sage and embraced logic and rationalism after their emotions nearly led to them [[Slaanesh|wiping themselves out]]. They are what the average race of fantasy elves think they are, except on ''Enterprise'' because the writers wanted to artificially inject tension into the show (some of that was retconned to be a Romulan plot). Occasionally enter a state called "pon'farr," where they need to either [[Dark Eldar| fuck something half to death]], kill it with the nearest sharp object, or die of a brain aneurysm to let out all that pent-up emotional tension. Fa/tg/uys may recognize this as the sensation they feel every time [[Games Workshop]] puts out a new army book. Pretty bro-tier overall.
* Andorians: Blue dudes with antennae and constant fits of passion, the polar opposite of Vulcans and there one time foes. Pretty much fa/tg/uys, right down to the romantic streak, in the technical sense. Also, they live underground on a diet of meatbread and rage. Most of what defined them happened in Enterprise as they rarely showed up in the TNG-era, and even then did so as set dressing, allegedly because one of the showrunners hated their antennae and banned anyone from using them.
* Tellarites: Space [[Dwarf|Dorfs]]; like insulting everyone and arguing a lot (no, really, petty insults are considered a polite gesture in Tellarite culture), mostly because the very first tellarite ever shown in the series got in an argument with Spock's dad and now it's their whole racial thing. “Sarek said something in a scene once that was meant to demonstrate that he was stand-offish and kinda rude, but we like Sarek so it's now the defining attribute of this species.” It's all in good fun you understand, your confidence in your ideas and actions should be sturdy enough to withstand honest assessment and critique.
* Betazoids: Invariably attractive humanoid aliens with telepathic powers. Half-betazoid, half-humans apparently only have "empathic" powers, so they are well-regarded by Starfleet captains for their ability to point out the obvious and fill out the tight bodygloves that make up the Starfleet uniform in a pleasing manner, especially since theirs seem to come in a custom cut for reasons entirely unrelated to Roddenberry's erection. Their homeworld is like dropping a really hippie college and Space Vegas into a blender.
* Trill: Originally a one-off race introduced as a sapient parasite that possesses and controls a barely, or even unintelligent humanoid host, they were radically reworked in ''Deep Space Nine'', right down to losing their rubber foreheads in favor of spots. Now, the host is itself an intelligent humanoid, and some, but not all, of their kind are able to willingly merge with a symbiont (because someone can't spell) that allows them to access a mixture of the memories and personalities of all previous hosts, though in a way that, theoretically, enhances the host's personality rather than destroying it or subsuming it. Then, when they die, they can pass on the symbiont to another host, theoretically one they mentored. Also, because the makeup artist didn't want to ruin the leads' good looks on DS9, they went from having a rubber forehead to some spots.
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'''The Klingon Empire'''
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[[Image:Batleth.jpg|thumb|right|A Bat'Leth (sword of honor), one of several types of Klingon bladed weapons. Frequently mocked IRL for being a poorly designed weapon.]]
[[Commissar|''"It is a good day to die!"'']]

The Federation's main rival and (movie era and afterwards) the quintessential ''Star Trek'' race of lumpy foreheaded aliens. Originally they were a rough analogue to the Russians (though they took some elements from [[Communism|communist China]]) in a rough cold war allegory with the Federation (even though the Federation are as commie as they come, though admittedly much of that came around in the TNG era). Their defining feature was that they were militaristic and imperialistic while the Federation was scholarly and respected liberty. This gradually moved more and more into them becoming Imperial Japan/[[Vikings]] In SPESSS obsessed with honor, fighting and dying honorably in battle while worshiping at the altar of [[Sigmar|warrior Jesus]], even as they turned from the Federation's bitter enemies into that friend who's fun to be around when he's not getting into drunken bar fights. You see shades of it in during the movie era and it became more and more prominent through ''TNG'', culminating in ''DS9''. Do not make the mistake of thinking that Klingons are nothing more than barbaric savages however; with Worf being part of the crew, and with ''DS9'' dealing with Klingon politics an awful lot we can see Klingon society as it truly is. Even so they do often wander into self parody territory.

The Klingons, in their current iteration, are a feudal society ruled by a council made up of the most powerful families. Klingon society holds very little value on things such as currency and material gain (which results in the Klingon empire [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q65l7RHUx2A having a very simplistic understanding of economics]), believing that anything you acquire without some form of blood, sweat and/or tears on your part is a pathetic and dishonorable way of going about things, much the same way many cultures used to hurl abuse at merchants and bankers. Another thing to keep in mind is that a Klingon's reputation is literally everything. This can be easily seen in the episode "The House Of Quark" where dying honorably can literally change the outcome of an entire noble house, later when the Grand Council is visibly disgusted at D'Ghor. No respectable Klingon uses ''money'' to defeat his opponents. And no respectable Klingon would be so eager to perform an execution of an unarmed Ferengi in what was supposed to be an honorable duel. Klingons are still capable of being cunning and crafty however, and having a high diplomacy score is viewed as honorable as they still have examples of cunning and clever heroes tricking boorish and stupid monsters.

[[Warhammer 40000|Klingons often carry swords into battle in an age of energy beam guns]]. In-universe, this is less suicidal than it sounds in the context of boarding actions and tight starship corridors. The Bat'leth is actually a rather shitty weapon. The Mek'leth is noted to be better in most situations. They use the same Disruptor weapons as the Romulans, and at one point used similar starship designs. While is explained as the result of a temporary and unholy alliance, given the eventual animosity between the two races, it was just an excuse to reuse props on a limited budget.

The Klingons are tied with the Vulcans and the Borg as being the most prominent and recognizable non-human species in Star Trek. Beloved of the Internet and the general public, to the point that there are published books like "A Klingon Christmas" in the world. The Klingons have their own constructed language. If you are ever worrying that you might not be a nerd, learning Klingon will solve that problem for you. Please note that this is in general considered by experts to be pathognomonic of [[Chris Chan|autism]]. You have not experienced Shakespeare until you hear it in the original Klingon.
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'''The Romulan Star Empire'''
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''"It's always chess with the Romulans"''

You know those [[Eldar|Vulcans]]? Well a few thousand years ago, as their planet was ravaged by war, some of them turned to intense emotional control and logic to tame their murderous passions, while most others left the planet altogether, founding a colony on the planet Romulus and dubbing themselves [[Dark Eldar|Romulans]]. Since said planet shares a name with a mythical figure known for founding [[Roman Empire|a city which built a vast empire]], and they had warp drive while those around them did not, you probably know that they turned to building an empire of their own. They hold the second place of prominence as immediate rivals to the Federation. Comically, they actually have better emotional control than the average Vulcan, since they gene-engineered most of their problems away years ago, and don't have to deal with the emotional blowback from pon'farr. The downside is that they lost some of their cousins' niftier powers, like mind reading and being able to transfer their soul into another person for safekeeping. Although Star Trek Online also revealed that their trip to Romulus was a terrible ordeal, and their gene-engineering was taking during that time resulting in them losing most emotions save for bitterness of being "forced out".

The difference between the Klingons and the Romulans is basically the difference between Gork and Mork, or Khorne and Tzeentch. Klingons will fight you up front with simple brute force. Romulans are sneakier guys, preferring to fight you when you're not looking with spies, cloaked ships and complex plots behind the scenes and playing the long game. There is a lot of political infighting among them, though where the Klingons would duel to the death Romulans would seek to discredit their rivals, have them die in unfortunate "accidents" or disappear. This difference has left both Romulans and Klingons with a big hate-boner for each other, to the Romulans the Klingons are crude brutish barbarians and to the Klingons the Romulans are a pack of scheming cowardly weaklings.

Like the Klingons, they served as a rough Cold War allegory. In this case, they were rough analogs to Communist China (as seen by 1960s Americans), a distant horde of inscrutable and potentially dangerous Orientals who generally were unseen and projecting vague menace, but when encountered face-to-face could pack quite a punch indeed: the first major Interstellar War that Star Trek Earth fought was with the Romulans, which was fought entirely in space with neither side ever seeing the other face to face. Afterwards they set up a [['Neutral Zone' between the Federation and the Romulan Empire that no one even tried to cross for a century|North Korea]]. From the Original Series onward, they frequently squabble and bicker with the Federation, before joining forces with them to fight the Dominion in ''Deep Space Nine'' and having their government devastated in ''Nemesis''. Finally, Romulus itself got caught in a supernova as part of the Ambramsverse's backstory.
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'''The Ferengi Alliance'''
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[[Image:GW_Ferengi.jpg|thumb|left|A typical ferengi engaged in typical ferengi activities]]
''"A Ferengi without profit is no Ferengi at all."''-Eighteenth Rule of Acquisition

Introduced in ''TNG's'' early days as the villains for the series, and what [[/pol/]] thinks Jews are. Some Jewish people have actually complained about their being subliminally Jewish and thus anti-Semetic, specifically mentioning that they were moneyhungry, lascivious, and ugly, and their large ear lobes were stand-ins for the sterotypical Jewish nose ([https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/made-by-history/wp/2018/08/14/science-fictions-anti-semitism-problem/?noredirect=on more on that here, we're not shitting you]), based on an old medieval stereotype that was enforced to prevent them owning land or assets. The idea was to make a caricature of capitalism as a contrast with the techno-communist Federation. This might have worked if these were not [[FAIL|''TNG's'' early days]]. Instead they overshot the mark by a light year or so, on top of other bad decisions, and you got a race of short (Gene wanted to make an evil short race as big evil races were overplayed), big-eared, [[goblin]]-like losers about as threatening as a grumpy pug. Over the first and second seasons they tried to make these guys threatening, but they fell flat on their face every time. Eventually the writers just said "fuck it" and the Ferengi got demoted to comic relief species, and their status as terrible enemies was demoted to propaganda designed to scare the Federation while the Ferengi government tried to figure out what to make of a species that rejected the acquisition of wealth as a goal. The Ferengi had some good moments in the later seasons of ''TNG'', but most of the best stuff that fleshed them out came from ''DS9'', which had an [[awesome]] Ferengi bartender named Quark as a major character. For an idea of what the Ferengi might have been like if the writers had their shit together, look up the Druuge of [[Star Control|Star Control II]] or the Magog Cartel from Oddworld.

Ferengi religion is only hinted upon in ''DS9'', but what is seen implies a simplistic system based on financial success. Ferengi all follow a rulebook/canon known as the Rules of Acquisition, which can be described as Ayn Rand IN SPACE and condensed into the form of Confucius' Analects. There are 285 of these, each a short piece of advice on how to stay in the black. Examples include "Peace is good for business," "War is good for business," "Never have sex with the boss's daughter," and "Dignity and an empty sack is worth the sack." The first, and most important, of these is "Once you have their money, you never give it back." Sometimes, the Ferengi Randian spirituality extends into outright interpretations of the afterlife: according to some, the afterlife consists of the Divine Treasury and the Vault of Eternal Destitution, which are respectively analogous to Heaven and Hell. Entrance into one or the other depends on one's business ventures at the time of death; those that were turning a profit are allowed to enter the Divine Treasury, and the rest are damned to the Vault.

Ferengi government is ruled over by a Grand Nagus, a mix between a <s>pope</s>chief rabbi and a CEO, and he basically treats his civilization like some sort of company, with citizens regarded as workers. Directly below him is the Ferengi Commerce Authority, a [[what|quasi-religious]] organization dedicated to ensuring that correct business practices were followed and correct moral behavior was shown (including keeping the proles in line), although to the Ferengi, these are one and the same. The agents of the FCA are the Liquidators, who are essentially Inquisitors crossed with IRS auditors on steroids. Be afraid. Be very afraid.

Ferengi females have no rights and are mentioned as [[PROMOTIONS|not even being allowed to wear clothes]], which leads to [[That Guy|boorish behavior]] on the part of Ferengi towards just about any species. Of course, we see female Ferengi on the show who push that envelope, but it seems that overall "regressive" does not even begin to describe the gender relationships in their culture. Quark's mother, a social climber who marries the head of their government, begins pushing through a women's rights movement during DS9, which proves more successful as time goes on.
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'''The Borg Collective'''
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[[Image:Borg cube.jpg|300px|thumb|right|The Borg have assimilated and improved your [[d6|die]]. It always rolls six. Crap your pants, 'cause resistance is futile.]]
{{Topquote|We are the Borg. Lower your shields and surrender your ships. We will add your biological and technological distinctiveness to our own. Your culture shall adapt to service us. Resistance is futile.|The Borg's opening hail. This is not a boast or a brag, it's them simply explaining you how things are going to go down.}}
{{Topquote|One other thing. You may encounter Enterprise crew members who've already been assimilated. Don't hesitate to fire. Believe me, you'll be doing them a favour.|Picard going full [[grimdark]].}}

The Ferengi were utter failures as serious villains, so they needed something to fill that gap. Thus they made the Borg, an aggressive [[Tyranid|hive-minded]] collective of hyper-adaptive, [[Necron|regenerating]] cyborgs that assimilates entire species into itself in its attempt to improve and evolve. Shit, that's like coming up with [[Warforged]] while trying to replace [[Kender]].

In many ways, the Borg are the truest dark reflection of the Federation, and despite their name, they're not Swedish. While the Feds want you to join their little club on your own, to "add your culture to the galactic community," the Prime Directive means they will ultimately accept you turning them down, even if you have shit they really want. The Borg say "fuck that" and just absorb you. While the Federation believes everyone should work together [[Tau|for the greater good]], they still have a very strong sense of individualism and a culture of personal accomplishment (unless your individual belief happens to run counter to the Federation's principles anyway, in which case you're just WRONG because the Federation is the best). The Borg pool all their minds together into a massive collective consciousness in the pursuit of group perfection, becoming an almost-literal personification of techno-capital. The Federation is all about beauty and tranquility and all that hippie stuff, and their tech is eco-friendly and dolphin-safe. Borg [[Tyranids|strip mine entire planets and drain entire oceans]] in the name of growth and efficiency.

Your standard Borg [[cube]] is a huge multi-kilometer [[Firaeveus Carron|metal box]] (yes, bigger than most [[Imperial Navy]] cruisers) able to go up against an entire Federation warfleet and win. That's right, one of their ships could threaten the entire Federation and [[Exterminatus]] Earth. When done right, [[Necron|they are a cold, calculating, nigh-unstoppable force, a threat to all life]] that wants to retain free and distinct personalities (although they will ignore a single person if not on an assimilation mission, as what they really want is to absorb whole civilizations). Apparently, in Picard's nightmare in ''First Contact'', the Borg assimilation process includes a surgical [[Grimdark|drill through the eye. While awake.]] Of all the stuff to come out of the TNG Era they are undoubtedly the most well recognized in mass pop culture.

Unfortunately the got a bad downgrade during ''Voyager'' (the Borg Queen blew up cubes full of tens of thousands of drones because a few of them have been severed from the Hive Mind), but even there they were frequently not to be messed with. One amusing thing to note for people that haven't watched ''TNG'': the Borg were actually only in six episodes (and three were breakaway drones) and one movie, yet they're arguably the franchise's most famous pure villains aside from Khan. Goes to show how good they were when written properly. Then in ''Voyager'' they get their shit completely pushed in when they discover a new race of extradimensional aliens which they label Species 8472, which were immune to being assimilated, and had to ask the Federation for help in dealing with them. [[File:Bloodcrons.jpg|Wait, this sounds familiar...]]
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'''The Cardassian Union'''
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Introduced in ''TNG'', they are third fiddle to the Klingons and the Romulans. If the Klingons are hypothetically-honorable techno-barbarian warriors and the Romulans are an empire of civilized and refined but sly and ruthless expansionists, the Cardassians are essentially scaly fascists re-enacting ''[[1984]]'' IN SPACE. Their trials announce the outcome at the beginning, and the defense attorney is executed if he wins. Also, THERE ARE FOUR LIGHTS!

Originally a race of peaceable, spiritual artists called the Hebitians (ironically not dissimilar to the Bajorans), modern Cardassia was born in hunger and desperation when their homeworld began to suffer simultaneous mass famine, pandemic, resource depletion, and ecological collapse. A military junta seized power, figuratively and literally auctioned off the soul of their culture through liquidating all the planet's art and religious artifacts into cold hard cash, and turned the Cardassians into the opportunistic imperialists they are today.

Despite being a whole lot weaker than the Federation, the Cardassians manage to hold their own, partly because what they lack in resources and raw power is made up for by a combination of intense cunning and high charisma stats. Compared to the equally deceptive Romulans, the Cardies are more likely to flash you a smile while tickling your ribs with a knife. They'll use any tool they can to gain the upper hand and while that often means unpleasant and terminal sessions in dark rooms, strip mined planets and the enslavement of entire species, they'll gladly become your bestest buddy if it would achieve their goals. Their intelligence service, the Obsidian Order, is also one of the most ruthlessly efficient organizations in the entire sector, managing to outscale the Romulan Tal Shiar when it comes to producing magnificent bastards and manipulating the politics of entire worlds to their advantage. Unlike the Romulans or the Klingons, they don't tolerate the sort of literal infighting that is rampant in both those states, that shit only serves to weaken '''GLORIOUS CARDASSIA''' and needs to be stamped out with ruthless efficiency. Exposing that someone who just happens to be your enemy as being a dangerous subversive is just a benefit, although this can result in both sides of a conflict shouting "For Cardassia!" as they charge each other. Sort of how Democrats and Republicans are both for America, yet oppose each other.

Cardassia has a very fluid hierarchical government, similar to the political realities of post-Stalin but pre-Collaspe Soviet Russia. Broadly speaking, there are three different facets of the government: the Central Command (which holds all the power) the Obsidian Order (who holds the least amount of power, but controls the most puppets) and the Detapa Council (similar to the [[High Lords of Terra]] and just as worthless). Cardassian society holds a very strict view of family, placing family just below the needs of the State.

The State holds a semi-divine mythical status in the eyes of its citizens, with it being viewed as impossible for the State to ever make mistakes. The ideal Cardassian life was one of complete loyalty and servitude to the State and family, with the "repetitive epic," detailing how generations of Cardassians go on to serve both in exactly the same way over and over seen as the height of their culture. The Cardassian government is assumed to be omniscient, omnipotent, and benevolent by pretty much every Cardassian, with all Cadassians gladly giving of themselves to the State. Such was this level of belief that when Picard was tortured by the Obsidian order, the torturer saw nothing wrong with bringing his daughter to work because he was working for the State, and therefore the torture of Picard could never be disturbing or wrong. That's why their trials announce their sentences at the beginning and execute the defense attorney if he wins; their "trials" are more excuses to show off the power and infallibility of the State to the masses than actually determine guilt or innocence.

As far as plot significant activities went, they had a war with the Federation a few years before ''TNG'' which ended in the creation of a Demilitarized Zone between the two powers and (significant to ''Deep Space Nine'') abandoning the previously occupied planet of Bajor they had exploited for resources. After a disastrous war with the Klingons led to a popular revolution and overthrow of the existing government, one leader seized power, declared himself absolute leader, and joined the Dominion towards the end of ''DS9'', which was some serious bad news for the ''DS9'' crew.
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'''The Bajoran Republic'''
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The Bajorans are a species native to the Planet Bajor. They were, until shortly before the events of ''Deep Space Nine'', under a brutal occupation by the Cardassians who strip mined their planet. They had a fighting resistance which veered in and out of being considered terrorists and all in all were often represented as Palestinians IN SPEHSS. After that, they got their independence, although they're thinking about joining the Federation. The Bajorans have one system and are technologically backwards; the Federation is technically breaking the Prime Directive by interacting with them, but as they've spent years under the oppression of a warp-capable species, they can probably handle it. Also ''DS9'' proves that ancient Bajorans managed to travel at warp speeds to Cardassia using solar sails and an enormous amount of luck, which technically makes them a warp-capable species. The only reason why they are significant in terms of the politics of ''Star Trek'' is that they have a wormhole near their planet, which has some timey-wimey aliens living it that they worship as gods, and serves as the only way to get to or from the Gamma Quadrant that won't take decades, making it strategically priceless. Hilariously, this was discovered almost immediately after the Cardassians ''thought'' they'd extracted everything of value from the Bajorans and peace'd out, certain that the system was no longer worth the PR hit they were taking from it, only to get burned by some harsh seller's remorse. Also, their species has the oldest civilization (roughly a half-million years) of any major ''Star Trek'' race, and the wormhole aliens have gifted them some cool shit, like the Orb of Time.

The big thing that makes the Bajorans unique is that they actually have a serious religion going on -the human race is depicted as mostly non-religious. They're also probably one of the most accurate depictions of any highly religious alien race in a sci-fi franchise, because they are divided between the majority who interpret their religion as [[Noblebright|peace and love]], and a small but loud minority of bastards who interpret it as [[Grimdark|condoning acts of terrorism]]. A blatant attempt to simulate Israelis for criticism, although that can apply to many religions nowadays.
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'''The Dominion'''
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A vast empire which exists on the other side of the galaxy in the Gamma Quadrant. The Dominion is ruled over by a species of liquid shapeshifters called The Founders. They have at their disposal a military composed of two genetically engineered species that worship the Founders as gods: the short and articulate Vorta who serve as ambassadors, bureaucrats, and political commisars and the big brutal Jem'hadar, who are vat grown, drug addicted, cannon fodder. These oversee a large number of vassal races, including (as of later seasons of ''DS9'') the Cardassians.

The Founders were once (according to them anyway) a peaceful, kind civilization of explorers who wished to see the galaxy, explore strange new worlds, and seek out new forms of life. Unfortunately, they did this in the wrong neighborhood, and quickly ran into species who did not tolerate others. The fact that the Founders were shapeshifters capable of mimicking almost anyone did not help either. Paranoia, mutual mistrust, and some very bad things eventually led to the Founders deciding "fuck this" and moving their planet into a nebula so nobody would bother them. So more or less, a [[Grimdark|grimmer]], [[Grimdark|darker]], counterpart to the Federation, but with spookier Real Aliens.

The Founders are obsessed with order and are both extremely racist and xenophobic, and believe that all alien life is inherently untrustworthy and evil, and the best thing to do is conquer/enslave them before they do the same to them. They don't care about the rights of "Solids", and will happily ignore any sense of decency when convenient. This can be seen when The Dominion runs a simulation of the Dominion dominating the Alpha Quadrant. When O'Brien is assaulted by a Jem'Hadar and severely beaten to the point of needing emergency teleportation to medical (the crime being "disrespectful"), the Founders (disguised as Federation Officers) do not press charges, and when Sisko comes barging in demanding answers, dismiss him with little concern about their own soldiers brutalizing citizens. Their overall ideology could be thought of as Thomas Hobbes IN SPACE: people are inherently evil and the only way to make a better world is to impose order upon them through brute force from a position of absolute, unquestioned power.

The Founders, when not wandering around in various forms, tend to spend their time in a massive ocean literally made up of countless billions of Founders, something which is referred to as the Great Link. According to the Founders, this allows them to share information with each other and come to peaceful decisions. This is rapidly proved to be bullshit; when a separated-at-birth one of their own merged into the Great Link to share his memories of the Federation as peaceful and tolerant space hippies, not only did the Founders ignore his memories, but actively fucked with his mind in an attempt to turn him into a sleeper agent. And even if it weren't, it shows their hypocrisy through their willingness to share freedom and liberty among themselves while depriving all their various slaves and conquered peoples of the same.

The Founders are massive dicks, even to their own people. Failure among Jem'Hadar is rewarded with slow and painful death from deprivation of the drug they're created to need and their lifespans are incredibly short. To be even bigger dicks, the Vorta have no sense of taste and can't appreciate beauty. Not to make them better diplomats, but because they were raised from a primitive stone-age ape tribe, and the Founders think they shouldn't be ever allowed to forget that. (On the plus side, they did give the Vorta an immunity to poison that would make [[Mortarion]] himself jealous. [https://youtu.be/rACCZaBcq1g?t=1m29s Observe.]) This may also stem from their own neuroses: the Founders themselves have almost no bodily needs at all and require no nourishment, so they design their slaves to be like them. Notably, Vorta tend to come in [[Paranoia|packs of clones; a new one is activated when an old one dies, and they retain some memories and personality between "lives,"]] further hammering home how expendable they are to their makers.

And both races are literally engineered to love their makers for what they have done to them and worship and revere them as gods.
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'''Species 8472'''
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The one and only race in the galaxy even the Borg don't want to fuck with. Introduced in Voyager, Species 8472 are three-legged creatures that live in a space called Fluid Space. It's similar to the [[Eye of Terror]] for the fact that it connects to an alternate dimension and [[Khorne|everyone will be ripped apart upon entering.]]

When the Borg first came around to try and assimilate them they were completely obliterated in a war in which 4 million Borg were killed in the first few days at the cost of almost no members of Species 8472. This war was such a roflstomp that the Borg were forced to call on the Federation for help. [[Tau|The Federation being the better people swallowed their pride and decided to help their sworn enemies,]] [[Eldrad|but were dicks and sent only one ship.]]

Species 8472 fought with fast moving, small ships and devastating beam weapons so the small ship of the Federation could keep up with them and helped the Borg force the species back into Fluid Space. The Federation were the villains on this one. That said, they eventually came to an accord with Species 8472, preventing further wars between the denizens of Fluid Space, except in lots and lots of video games that want to use a fresh antagonist.

That and that in ''Star Trek Online'', [[Awesome|they look like the fucking Predator.]]
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===The Q===

A race of beings which are so advanced they are basically gods that look onto the Federation judgmentally from time to time with a more playful one of their ranks, who's not above fucking with individual humans from time time. They are mostly a TNG thing and mostly works by grace of John de Lancie's acting chops and charisma with Patrick Stewart, as de Lancie played the ''character'' Q, an all-powerful epic [[troll]] (no, not the fantasy kind) who's occasionally [[Tzeentch]]ian games sometimes appeared to be for his own amusement and sometimes to somehow act as education or event protection to the human race. Various subplots involving the Q ''species'' range from somewhat thought provoking to mildly entertaining to ridiculous and banal, but the classic episodes that highlighted the charisma and chemistry of the two actors were often quite excellent.
=== The Mirror Universe ===
Not so much of a faction as an alternate setting, this is a parallel universe in which [[Alternate History|things have gone differently]] at some point in Earth's History. What is the Point of Divergence never exactly specified though there are some vague Nazisque stuff involved, but what is clear is that where the main universe is Noblebright the Mirror Universe is Grimdark. Instead of a peace loving Federation searching for knowledge for it's own sake and built on the idea of understanding and cooperation Earth gave rise to the ''Terran Empire'' which seeks out new life and civilizations to conquer and enslave, as it had done with the Klingons. Pretty much it's the PG-13 version of the Imperium of Man with a bit more Grimderp. Junior officers get promoted by killing their superiors, those that fail at that get thrown in the agony booth for their troubles and Emperors get the job by usurping the incumbent. In general everyone in the Mirror Universe is a selfish asshole version of themselves and following comic book logic the uniforms for the female characters are more revealing. Occasionally people can cross over from one universe to the next due to technobabble and cause mischief in either realm.

Originally it was a one off TOS setting for an episode of the week, but it was brought back in a few novels and some romps in Deep Space Nine in which [[Fail|the Terran Empire had fallen]]. In Enterprise's fourth season it got a two parter that was pretty good and would have been an annual thing if the show had been renewed, this one having little crossover with the main universe (a ship from TOS ended up in the Mirror Universe). We also went there in Disco. Voyager never did the mirror universe, but instead got a homage episode with some alien historians in the far future getting the details wrong like historians tend to.

== The Star Trek crew ==
Whether the focus of the show is exploration, manning a space station in an important locale or trying to get home, all Star Trek series have a basic set up of casting and focus: namely on a collection of people who are usually the senior most officers on the ship. If you decide to make a Star Trek inspired game take this into consideration.

* '''The Captain''': Big cheese. Makes the hard decisions. Needs to be able to talk, think or fight out of situations as needed. The third option fetishist finding the balance between empathy and reason. (Two least skubby examples: Kirk and Picard, but the skub will fly hard if you say one is better than the other)
* '''The First Officer''': Second in command and trusted advisor. (Two least skubby examples: Riker and Kira)
* '''The Science Officer''': Got high Int stats. Can analyze the situation and work out solutions. The voice of reason. (Two least skubby examples: Data and Spock)
* '''The Engineer''': Hard working technically minded guy who gets shit done. (Two least skubby examples: Scotty and Geordi)
* '''The Doctor''': Ship's healer with a secondary scientific role. The voice of empathy. (Two least skubby examples: Bones and the EMH Doctor)
* '''The Security Officer''': Rough and tumble no nonsense sort who's job it is to keep these guys alive when diplomacy fails, which it often does. (Two least skubby examples: Worf and Odo)
* '''The Helmsman''': Got spacecraft piloting skills, either full sized starships, shuttles or fighters. (Two least skubby examples: Sulu and Tom Paris)
* '''The Other Guy''': Said individual might be a junior officer/butt-monkey, the ship's therapist, a bartender, communications officer, Linguist, Talaxian hobo or senior navigator whale who does not fit the generally established roles. Often acts as an outsider looking in on the grander affairs. (Two Least skubby examples: Uhura and Quark)

Some of these hats may be worn by more than one character.

== The Shows ==
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===''The Original Series''===
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Created in 1966 by legendary sci-fi [[spiritual liege]] Gene Roddenberry (who ironically became controversial as time went on, [[Matt Ward|like a certain Spiritual Liege in Games Workshop did]] but worse; Ward wasn't syncretizing, hypocritically preachy, vaguely Communistic, didn't stiff his employees or do things that come across as a misogynist sex offender) and pitched as a "Wagon Train to the stars", it's a pulpy adventure sci-fi, full of fistfights and sword fights (the guns never work).

The USS ''Enterprise'' is tasked by the Federation to go on a five year mission to explore space: the final frontier, to explore strange new worlds, to seek out new life and new civilizations and boldly go where no man has gone before, though due to budget constraints, her crew often finds that man has in fact gone there before. Or at least something that looks exactly like a man but is actually an [[Xenos|Alien]]. James T. Kirk sleeps with [[Hot Chicks|hot alien babes]] who either die tragically or leave tearfully at the end of the episode, but it's 'k because he's too in love with the Enterprise to ever love a mere ''woman'' more. Mr. Spock and Dr. McCoy are cold and logical and rash and emotional respectively, and Scotty [[gets shit done]]. Uniforms, while iconic, tend to look a bit civilian though. Miniskirts are apparently mandated attire for the ship's fan-servicey female "yeoman" and others, because 1966. The civilian nature of the attire (including, one must assume, the miniskirts, but they had a visual appeal all their own) were apparently an intentional design decision by Roddenberry who didn't want uniforms to look military. Further specialness on the part of Roddenberry demanded phasers not look like guns, instead looking like nothing in particular at all (although looking back at them today they look sort of like TV remotes, which would be invented much later), and also (probably the only sensible decision in this category) ships that didn't look like rockets, giving ships their distinctive saucer-engineering-nacelles look.

The Original Series frequently ran out of budget and entire episodes were filmed using spare costumes belonging to the production company, resulting in a series of extremely goofy excuses to go to planets full of gangsters or [[Nazi]]s. This is often copied by shows who don't realize it was done out of pure expediency, and nowadays this [[TVTropes|"Planet of Hats"]] gimmick is practically a box to check off when doing sci-fi adventure. The lack of budget also resulted in one of the more memorable inventions; unable to budget for a sequence showing the ''Enterprise'' or a shuttle landing on a new planet every week, the writers instead decided to invent the transporter to "beam" the crew wherever they need be. Also worth noting: despite its mediocre critical reception, ratings and eventual cancellation, not to forget the pretty poor quality of most third season episodes, ''TOS'' had a hell of a cultural impact thanks to syndication and it has been said that since it entered syndication in 1969, there hasn't been a 24-hour period without some TV station, in some country, playing Star Trek. Cancellation of The Original Series is now considered one of the worst decisions in TV history.

Fun fact: the ''Enterprise'' and each of her 11 sister ships have enough firepower to [[Exterminatus]] a planet by themselves, after getting issued an order called General Order 24. This however is likely a time-consuming task. According to a later DS9 episode, it takes a fleet of 20 warships 1 hour of sustained bombardment to destroy a planets crust and 5 hours of sustained bombardment to destroy a planet down to its mantle. These 20 ships were also in service 100 years after the Enterprise so they were also more powerful.
Kirk has the distinction of being the only known captain to issue a [[Exterminatus|General Order 24]], because a planet was ''too'' much into wargames (he changed his mind after they dropped wargaming).
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===''The Animated Series''===
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The often forgotten middle child. More or less "seasons 4-5" of ''TOS'' with the same writing staff and actors, sans poor Walter Koenig. He was replaced by a weird camel person. He learned this at a convention, from a fan, while he was trying to announce he'd be writing an episode. Being animated allowed the staff to get a lot more creative with the alien designs and plots, and the writing and acting remain... well, top notch is a stretch, but certainly at the same levels as ''The Original Series'', with the occasional low point. Not ''nearly'' as bad as you're probably picturing from the name, although still limited by the low budget and primitive animation techniques of the television era it was aired in. Notably some sci-fi novelists were brought in to write some episodes, such as Larry Niven and, yes, Walter Koenig.

Also, since the series now has no excuse for throwing in lots of Space Puritans and Space Wizards, it of course continued to do so to derptastic results, because by this point it had become traditional. The presence of a straight-up [[furry]] on the bridge, however, is downright unacceptable.
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===''The Next Generation''===
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Here's where it starts getting a little deeper and a little darker, although with a lot of left-wing political subtext turned up to 11. The USS ''Enterprise-D'' (the original and C were destroyed in action while A and B were retired) is, like its predecessor, tasked with going where no-one has gone before, but this time around the problems are less likely to be solved in a single episode. Jean-Luc Picard is the captain and he plots and negotiates his way to victory; Mr. Data is cold and unemotional, though not by choice - as an android, he'd very much like to change that; Riker takes over the captain's "sleep with alien babes" duties since Picard is married to the job; Worf the Klingon gets beaten up by monsters to show how tough the monsters are, meaning that Worf winds up looking incredibly weak by the end of the show's run and doesn't regain his badassery until his run on ''DS9''; Dr Bev Crusher is a less interesting version of good old Bones ; Dr Pulaski is a less interesting version of Dr Crusher; counsellor Troy causes some love triangles nobody gave a crap about; and Geordi LaForge [[gets shit done]]. Only two things need to be said about helmsman Wesley Crusher: he was [[Mary Sue|Gene Wesley Roddenberry's self-insert,]] and his sueness got to the point that even his actor started to hate him.

Due to the massive success of The Original Series in syndication (and Paramount being [[Rage|pissed off]] by broadcast networks treating their most valuable IP like any other show), TNG was aired through syndication from the beginning. Although the first couple seasons were laughably bad, the quality began to improve dramatically after [[Meme|Riker grew a beard.]] The later seasons are widely considered to represent the apex of the franchise on the small screen (although ''DS9'' also had its moments); sadly, this series only got one good movie.
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===''Deep Space Nine''===
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Unlike all the other series so far, ''Deep Space Nine'' primarily takes place in a fixed location - the titular space station Deep Space Nine, out near the borders of Federation Space. Said space station is near Bajor, which was recently freed from Cardassian occupation, and a wormhole to the other side of the galaxy which allows [[Warp|all sorts of of crazy shit to go down]]. If the other shows are a wagon train, this one's a border fort.

Benjamin Sisko is the captain, declared Emissary by the nearby Bajorans for making contact with the wormhole aliens they worship, and he successfully hybridizes the blow-the-shit-out-of-whatever-you-can't-punch Kirk approach with the talk-in-a-very-dignified-way-about-the-philosophy-of-the-thing-and-win-by-rhetoric Picard maneuver, in his ultimately-successful quest to become the baddest motherfucker in space, then literally becomes a space god. Kira the Bajoran ex-<s>terrorist</s> <S>''noble freedom fighter''</s> (who are we kidding she calls herself a terrorist) struggles to free and rebuild her people while coming to terms with the moral ambiguities of situations she prefers to see in black-and-white, Dr. Bashir works to find his character for several seasons before becoming a highlight, Dax gets often written poorly has to switch bodies doing it, Odo IS ''Liquid Space Cop'', Quark runs his bar and [[troll|heckles]] the Federation, Garak pretends to be a tailor while dropping killer lines, and Miles O'Brien [[gets shit done]]. Also, Worf wanders in halfway through, and actually gets to punch things instead of just getting punched by them. It's also a lot more political than other series (though ''TNG'' and ''Voyager'' have their moments) and the last series to have Gene Roddenberry's involvement (with less enthusiasm, in fact often much to the benefit of this particular series thematically, although Roddenberry's complete departure did not necessarily bode well for the franchise in general.)

It's the [[Awesome|closest the canon series ever get]] to [[Grimdark]], especially when the Dominion show up. The show has aged remarkably well and the terrorist/freedom fighter debate was repeatedly explored in a very mature and honest way. ''DS9'' is the most serialized of all Trek shows and could be considered a forerunner to the golden age of television with its long story arcs and deep character development. Overall, ''DS9'' has to be considered the most consistently good Trek show thanks to the excellent writing and fantastic performances from a truly wonderful ensemble cast. At least until the final season, when the writers who made it good were pulled to try and fail to make good movies, heralding the failure that was Voyager.

It wasn't without its controversies however. The show was airing around the same time as another thematically similar sci-fi show, ''Babylon 5''. Not only that but characters also shared similarities, as did the episodes. Interestingly, beginning of both series, introduction of characters and airing of similar episodes were often too close to each other for one show to copy the other but this did not stop massive [[Rage]] and [[/v/|fanboy wars]] from starting between fans of the two series accusing one another of plagarism and having an inferior product.

How good is ''Deep Space Nine''? Every Star Trek series and even the reboot movies have pretty much ripped off ideas and concepts established during the series.
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===''Voyager''===
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''Voyager'' is... decent. There is no debate on how it outshines Enterprise. The plot centers around the USS ''Voyager'', a smallish ship which gets teleported over to the other side of the galaxy, and the plot of the series as a whole centers on its efforts to get back home, with the primary obstacle being the consistently terrible decisions of its own captain. Think ''Gilligan's Island'' on a starship.

Like ''TNG'' and ''DS9'' it's a character-driven drama just as often as it is a sci-fi adventure romp, although it only has one half-decent character, called "The Doctor" ([[Doctor Who|No relation.]]); he's the solid-light hologram representative of the ship's emergency medical computer, who has to take on actual medical duties when their chief medical officer was conveniently killed in the pilot episode. Other than this, Chakotay is a peace-loving and spiritually rich indian <s>freedom fighter</s> <s>terrorist</s> [[FAIL|who was written with the help of a special cherokee consultant so native his name was Jamake Highwater and it turned out later on that he was actually jewish and didn't know dick about native cultures so he made everything up resulting in Chakotay basically being a borderline racist caricature of what you think indians are like. Akoochimoya.]] Tom Paris is an annoying jerk and is counterbalanced by Harry Kim who is the ideal boy-scout, making him only half as annoying and twice as boring. B'elanna Torres tries to perpetuate a lineage of dudes getting shit done but ends up blankly reciting her technobabble, having second degree plasma burns and – worst of all – systematically fails to get shit done whenever the warp core goes nuts. Tuvok tries hard to be as cool as Spock but ends up being a lame version of the n°1 Vulcan who uses logic to justify everything and makes it short for "you are wrong, I am right because I said so." Kes is passed as a fragile and nice character but it takes a couple of episodes to realize that having a short lifespan does not change the facts: [[powergamer|when you can boil someone to death from the inside of their body, drain life from everything around you to become stronger and do anything you want without knowing how, just by thinking of it]], you are a goddamn Mary Sue. From the fourth season onwards the only character the writers seemed to care about are Seven of Nine, [[Mary Sue|a human woman who recently escaped from Borg control and kept all of her cyborg enhancements but regained her free will]]; another Mary Sue, to be sure, but she's [[Hot Chicks|hot]], and the other characters are much worse, so that's not really a bad thing. (Fortunately, the one good character on the show, namely The Doctor AKA the EMH, still received a lot of attention from the writers and almost single-handedly made the show watchable). There was also Neelix, who was the apparent inspiration for Jar-Jar Binks, and any sane crew would have pushed him out of an airlock on the first episode. Fans who stuck with the show despite its glaring failings were given one final slap in the face with the <s>controversial</s> shit final season, in which the producers decided "screw steadily crafting a satisfying conclusion to a story which we have wasted for most of the last seven years anyway; lets just ignore it until the final episode and then throw in some shit about trans-warp conduits and time travel, bitches love time travel!" If you did not care about any of the characters or the subplots or time travel making sense (the writers sure didn't), then the final episode was explosions (and the Borg got a major setback, just don't think about the setup too hard).

The Doctor never once stopped being totally fucking awesome though (enough so to even earn a cameo in First Contact), and the great acting from the cast carries the series from being horrific to watchable. Just goes to show that no matter how good your actors are, they can't make diamonds out of shit.

Hopes that the franchise had sunk to a new low from which it could surely only get better were about to be proved wrong in spectacular fashion...
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===''Enterprise''===
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A [[Indrick Boreale|bald, foolish]] and (according to some) successful attempt to create a series even worse than ''Voyager'' was, from the minute the Nickelback-tier theme tune started the fans knew in their hearts it was fucking doomed. So bad that even the most devoted Trekkies gave up on it, in just four seasons this series almost single-handedly killed off the ''Trek'' franchise (which is actually quite impressive, in a perverse sort of way).

It's a prequel to the rest, taking place on the first ''Enterprise'', before the Federation was founded, and Earth was an independent power- so there's a lot of primitive versions of things from other series. At least the uniforms were pretty cool in an Air Force sort of way, although when that's the best thing you can say about a series, that tells you all you need to know about its quality (or lack thereof). Captained by <s>that guy from ''Quantum Leap''</s> Jonathon Archer, in hindsight the fact that they had to rename him from their original choice of Jeffrey Archer to avoid confusion with the disgraced British MP and author of the same name probably cursed the series with bad karma before it had even begun shooting. In an unusual twist for a ''Trek'' series, his first officer isn't a <s>terrorist</s> ''noble freedom fighter,'' however she does share a trait with her ''Voyager'' predecessor in that the actress who portrayed her frequently criticized the show's writers in interviews. Other than that, well, Hoshi Sato screams a lot, Travis Mayweather was so dull even the writers forgot he existed, Malcolm Reed has an accent, Dr Phlox is a weird creepy alien with weird creepy alien moral (and gets surprisingly interesting when given enough screentime, which hardly happened), and Trip also has an accent and [[gets shit done]].

Was retooled twice, the third season tries to be ''24'' IN SPACE (stop some guys the Xindi from blowing up Earth) while the 4th season is a massive apology about the last three seasons that tries to fix all the problems they had, and as a result, the only season that's close to being good.

Amusingly the final episode is set on the holodeck of the Enterprise-D and leaves us with the firm impression that the producers would have much rather have just continued making ''The Next Generation''; considering the mediocre quality of the ''TNG'' movies we got instead, this probably would have worked out better for all involved (Or not since ''Voyager'' was that; its first episode was even numbered 901, as in Season 9 Episode 1).

Yet despite all this bad directing, subpar plots, and frankly boring episodes, ''Enterprise'' still manages to be moderately enjoyable with occasional moments of awesomeness if you can suffer through it. The focus on founding Federation races like the Andorans was refreshing and the technology level, being somewhere between the original series and the real world present-day, was quite interesting. We also got to see the Vulcans portrayed as arrogant, superior dicks. Which makes a lot more sense than the way they're usually portrayed as fairly submissive towards humans because they are, obviously and objectively, the superior race. The Klingons certainly still considered themselves to be honorable but the show made it clear that the Klingon notion of honor is rarely analogous to the human concept which was interesting as all hell to watch. There have been a few small nods to it in discovery and the abrams movies.

And let's be fucking honest, [[/tg/]] loves 40k and the Xindi arc was about as grimdark as shit gets. And that was awesome.

Also makes a neat pairing with ''Voyager'' in that they really mess with the Prime Directive and question the Federation.
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===''Renegades''===
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Kickstarter ''Trek''. It's basically comprised of a good ''Star Trek'' movie, a mediocre ''Star Trek'' season, and a shitty ''Star Trek'' fanfic, with all sharing equal screentime. The makers submitted their pilot made-for-TV movie to CBS trying to get it made into a legit on-the-air series (and by god it shows). They said they can still make a season, just not one on TV. Pretty much has good and bad in equal measure. Some characters are actually interesting (about time we saw more of the Breen!) while others are pure [[Mary Sue]]s (including a male Seven of Nine with a built-in Borg-gun/personal shield/fully-functional hand). Some of the ideas are interesting while others are boring or already-been-done. The CGI is all Hollywood-quality, but the practical effects are okay at best.

Most of all, the biggest thing this needs/needed is time. It's obvious that they made this without knowing that they were going to be able to make a TV show or not, and tried to cram the sort of build-up and intrigue we saw in ''DS9'' into a span of 90 minutes. For now though, it's decidedly meh.
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===''Discovery''===
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----
<s>A LOAD OF SOCIAL JUSTICE SHIT!</s> Ahem, let's start again, shall we?

A new "prequel" series set 10 years before ''The Original Series.'' Run exclusively on CBS' paid streaming service (unless you live outside the US and Canada, in which case you can get it on Netflix) to try and drum up sign-ups and revenue, it features a mix of ''Enterprise'' and Abramstrek aesthetics despite supposedly taking place in parallel to the TOS "The Cage" pilot while [[what|having technology superior to late DS9]] and introducing [[dune|mushroom-based space travel]] that would imply [[retcon|all later events and warp travel would be outdated]]. The trailer has attracted a lot of concern over the fact that Klingons have been completely redesigned to look like slit-nosed ogres wearing ancient Egyptian cosplay, and rumors that the Klingons shown were [[Racial Holy War|primitives who had been trapped in stasis]] proved to be unfounded, so there is no excuse. Not having a cold war to posture about, the new villains are based off of Trump-inspired xenophobia by the admission of the authors. Also the lead character is Spock's human sister that he never mentioned before, aka the ''exact'' origin of the [[Mary Sue]] which is just fucking depressing. Want a new Star Trek episode about racism and immigration? Try the now-banned [https://youtu.be/3VEZH8bqytA Star Trek Continues]. Want Star Trek with humor, keep an eye out for the upcoming [https://ew-com.cdn.ampproject.org/c/s/ew.com/tv/2018/10/25/star-trek-animated-comedy/amp/?fbclid=IwAR2WN6auDNm5YiunYhaqiu7vt9f-P08AuUjMpLA5LlpUgvTm9_xloJNRYb0 Star Trek: Lower Decks]; want a pseudo-Star Trek show about other modern issues? Try ''The Orville'' below; that's right, American Dad In Space may right now be a better Star Trek than an actual Star Trek series.

Initial reviews have been... well, it's shit. The writing is overly convoluted, the massive injection of grimdark into pre-TOS continuity is anathema to the hardcore fans (the ''human'' characters are often the ones doing the nastiest shit, including [[Marines Malevolent|trying to kill a Klingon party by planting an explosive on the corpse of one of their comrades for when they came to collect the dead]]) and the Klingons are so flat and devoid of characterization that they might as well be Larry the Cable Guy lookalikes wearing Trump hats, which is a massive disappointment for a series that promised to put a spotlight on Klingon culture but ended up retconning all the characterization that happened in TNG and DS9. It ''may'' get better with time (remember that it took two seasons for TNG to get really good) but given the release schedule (split between 2017 and 2018 with a long break) it may come too late for the fanbase to care. Currently it's cause for more fans to lose their shit over whether it's good or not than the Abrams movies, which is a new record of [[Skub|Trek Skub]]. Releasing the show on CBS All Access instead of cable or broadcast TV makes it seem that executives don't really give a shit if the show succeeds or fails, bringing up the question of [[Bioware|whether they're deliberately putting Star Trek: Discovery in a no-win scenario where, no matter what happens, the executives have an excuse to cancel Star Trek altogether]].

Other stupid decisions are: not bringing back Bruce Greenwood and Zachary Quinto as Captain Pike and (at this time a likely a Lieutenant Commander) Spock. Who wouldn't mind taking a pay cut to bring the characters to the small screen. Their ages wouldn't have mattered either if CBS and Paramount weren't such cheapskates. As they don't even care enough to shell out cash for the CGI technology that Marvel Studios uses to make their actors appear younger during flashback scenes.

Naturally, nobody is ever going to let this series live down its unfortunate initials.
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===''Picard''===
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Set to be a continuation of the original timeline, featuring old man Picard with Patrick Stewart reprising the role. Stay tuned.
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== Homages ==
Being a longrunner with a wide audience, Star Trek has gained enough acclaim to have numerous references. In a few cases entire works get made to homage Star Trek. Here are some of the examples.

=== Galaxy Quest ===
A sci-fi/comedy film released in 1999, directed by Dean Parisot. It parodies science fiction films and series, particularly Star Trek and its fandom. The film stars big name actors including Tim Allen, Sigourney Weaver and the late Alan Rickman. The plot revolves around the cast of a defunct cult television series called Galaxy Quest (for example, Tim Allen played the Kirk/Shatner expy and the late Alan Rickman played the Spock/Nimoy expy). They're also suffering fatigue that mirrors the experiences of the actual Star Trek actors (Rickman's character is typecast with his Galaxy Quest character and laments it, similar to how these things happened to the late Leonard Nimoy).

The cast are suddenly visited by actual aliens, who believe the series to be an accurate documentary (it helps that the aliens have no concept of fiction and only the most bare bones idea of lying) and seek their help. They take the actors with them, who find themselves involved in a very real, and dangerous, intergalactic conflict, and unlike the show where it all wrapped up quickly they struggle to learn about and relate to the aliens.

Built around the basic premise of "What if the cast of ''Star Trek'' ended up on a real spaceship and had to actually do the shit they did in the show, including saving the world." Featuring a veritable all-star cast of talented comedians and character actors, this is one of the best parodies ever made.

===Star Wreck: In the Pirkinning===
Another parody, parodying not only ''Star Trek'' but ''Babylon 5'' as well. The seventh in a series fan movies released in 2005, it's about Captain Pirk builds a starship called CPP ''Kickstart'', allies with Russia and takes over the world. He wants to take over more planets but the ships of his P-Fleet aren't fast enough to travel outside the Solar system. A maggot hole opens and it leads to an alternate reality. Pirk wants to take over the Earth of this reality, which leads to an [[awesome]] space battle between the P-Fleet and the fleet of the space station Babel 13 led by Johnny Sherrypie. The movie features some of the best special effects ever put in a sci-fi movie, which is pretty impressive, considering that this is an amateur film with a very low budget and was rendered in five years in someone's bedroom. The film is spoken in Finnish but subtitles are available for a wide variety of languages, including Klingon. They also made [https://web.archive.org/web/20070828010927/http://rpg.starwreck.com/ a role-playing game based on it], where your character [[Truenamer|becomes more incompetent]] [[Page 42|as he levels up]].

=== The Orville ===
A comedy drama television series homage to Star Trek that's pretty much to Star Trek what Family Guy is to The Simpsons, even being created by and starring Seth MacFarlane of ''Family Guy'' infamy-- [[Skub|No wait, come back!]] The guy's a huge Trekkie and he felt that too many shows nowadays were up in their ass with grimdark, so he pitched the show the execs to make a loving comedic sendup of The Next Generation. Many of the executive producers are actually Trek alumni or notable industry Trekkies, such the guy who wrote the ''Futurama'' Trek parody episode, and the episodes aired so far have featured the same kind of themes that you would expect from a new Trek series. First airing in 2017, the series is about the strung-out not-Picard protagonist Captain Edward Mercer, played by MacFarlane himself, of the eponymous not-Enterprise spaceship "The Orville". His ex-wife is the first officer with the pilot episode about them reconciling for the sake of getting shit done. The crew of the not-Enterprise includes the not-T'Pol alien security officer Alara, gay beefy not-Worf alien Bortus, asshole not-Lore android Isaac, and John LaMarr and Gordon Malloy - an even more ridiculous parody of Harry Kim and Tom Paris. They explore the galaxy while fighting bad guys such as UV-allergic [[The Culture#Other civilizations|not-Idrians]] reptilians called Krill.

The show's reception is quite [[Skub|mixed]]. While the audience loved it and critics hated it upon release, the initial surge from the "honeymoon period" has mellowed, ultimately leaving both divided between adoration and hatred. Seth's signature style of humor is evident, for better or worse, combined with dramatic elements and sci-fi material. The Orville also contains some commentary on real world issues, and while less preachy than ''Discovery'' on some subjects, it's just as bad or even worse on other subjects (for one, the show's preachiness on atheism exceeds even Star Trek's). Some commend the show as a breath of [[Noblebright|fresh air]] in an overly [[Grimdark|stagnant]] genre with good special effects and a few splashes of genius - [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wright_brothers#Orville the titular ship is named after one of the Wright Brothers] and one episode discussed the pitfalls of social currency. Others denounce it as derivative (The Orville is piggybacking on Star Trek's fanbase and on top of the above, several episodes' plots are copy-pasted from other works - The Orville's "Majority Rule" and "Mad Idolatry" are pretty much Black Mirror's "Nosedive" and Star Trek's "Who Watches the Watchers?") with sophomoric messages, clumsy pop-culture references and hit-or-miss writing. Some think both its supporters and detractors have a point. Trekkies are equally divided on the show, with many [[butthurt]] over Discovery endorsing the Orville, a small group liking both and others disliking The Orville.

In the second season Alara/not-T'Pol was written out of the show (which may come back to haunt them as she's one of the more well-received characters), Issac/not-Lore turns good at the last minute and the Krill become the "lesser villains that need to team up with the good guys to fight worse villains" cliche. The cast seems to be gelling better, the writers have a better idea of what the show should be and the humor works in service of the stories rather than being shoved in haphazardly, yet the same criticisms still remain. As always, stay tuned for how this turns out.

== Films ==
As a general rule, the even-numbered ones aren't complete shit.

* '''''Star Trek: The Motion Picture''''': AKA: The Slow Motion Picture, or the Motionless Picture. Old school sci-fi geeks like the ideas, but terrible pace and interminable special effects that were clearly meant to capitalize on this newfangled ''3011'' doohickey all the kids are yammering about kill them dead for everyone else. Besides the uniform worn by Kirk, the uniforms also look like pajamas. So no wonder they were changed only a movie later. Tries to look a bit like ''2001: A Space Odyssey'' but fails because it doesn't look, well, good. Features an entirely bald female alien who is [[What|so good at sex that she has to swear an oath not to get it on with the crew]]. Really. This is canon.
* '''''Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan''''': [[Meme|KKKHHHAAAAAAAAAAAANNNN!!!!]] Widely considered the best of all the films, and the only one considered a straight up great film, no qualifiers. If you haven't seen it, see it. Interesting fact: Due to time constraints, actors of Kirk and Khan weren't available at the same time. So the entire script was written so that Kirk and Khan never need to meet face-to-face. ''Nemesis'' and ''Into Darkness'' tried to recreate it's success without getting that it worked because Khan and Kirk had a history together. Roddenberry screeched autistically and objected to some of the actions of his characters, including Kirk shooting a [[Enslavers|brain eating space parasite]] rather than "[[Noblebright|keeping it for study]]." The fact that his strongest objections came to the most [[win]] of the films says a great deal about his deprecating value to the franchise around the TNG era.
* '''''Star Trek III: The Search for Spock''''': Where is Spock? ''He's on Genesis.'' ALL AHEAD FULL! Not really bad, just run of the mill compared to the superior films that surround it. It was also saddled with the misfortune of undoing some of the previous film's more-daring decisions, and having its only daring decision reversed a film later. If you had to say that any film broke the "odd numbers suck" rule, it would be this one.
* '''''Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home''''': The crew of the ''Enterpise'' travels back in time to save the whales. No, literally and unironically. Scott tries to talk to a computer through the mouse, Spock nerve-pinches a punk on a bus in San Francisco, and somehow it works, creating something perhaps not quite in the genre intended but a classic in sci-fi dramedy. ''The Voyage Home'' is a zany comedy romp beloved by the general public and fandom alike, leaving only the most intractable fanbois to bitch and moan. Nimoy directed this one but there was a contract stipulation that Shatner would get whatever Nimoy got, thus leading to...
* <del>'''''Star Trek V: The Final Frontier''''':</del> <s>The epitome of the "odd-numbered Star Trek films suck" rule.</s> {{BLAM|Lies! There is no}} '''''Star Trek V'''''{{BLAM|! It was not called}} '''''The Final Frontier'''''{{BLAM|! It was not directed by Kirk's egotistical actor and did not have a plot that could literally be summarized as "Kirk is betrayed by his incompetent crew, yet goes on to fight God and win!" The films mysteriously moved from four to six and ''we are all improved because of this!''}}
* '''''Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country''''': The Space Cold War ends amidst Tom Clancy-esque drama. However unlike his work, it's actually watchable. The sendoff for the original cast. Gene Roddenberry watched it, hated it and was going to seek legal advice but died a week later. And good riddance to that, because it's a pretty sweet political thriller if your hippie-panties don't get into a twist at the thought that the Federation isn't a perfect place full of perfect people.
* '''''Star Trek Generations''''': Malcolm McDowell blows up planets to get into a magic space ribbon to live forever, no it does not make any more sense in context. An already-weak story hamstrung by its obsession with being daring and unconventional rather than good. Also, Kirk dies on the bridge in the most face-palming manner possible.
* '''''Star Trek First Contact''''': The ''TNG'' crew face off with the Borg to ensure the future happens. Lots of action and some good performances make this the only good ''TNG'' movie. It sadly is also the only appearance of the Defiant on screen. Doing a pretty decent job of fighting the Borg. Before the Enterprise E saves the day of course. The Borg Queen was also introduced here before Voyager, ruining what could have been a good idea. It also has enough snark to rival a Marvel Cinematic Universe movie.
* '''''Star Trek Insurrection''''': If you thought the [[Avatar|Na'vi]] were a bunch of badly-written [[Mary Sue]]s, you ain't seen nothing yet! B-b-b-baby you ain't seen n-n-n-nothing yet! Also, Riker shaves his beard, and that's basically a war crime. Aged from terrible to forgettably bad thanks to that one scene of Picard and Data singing ''HMS Pinafore''.
* '''''Star Trek Nemesis''''': The last stand of the ''TNG'' cast, ending not with a bang but a whimper. It also required amending the even=good/odd=bad rule to "''Galaxy Quest'' counts as a ''Star Trek'' film so this one is also odd."
* '''''Star Trek''''' (2009): Alternate timeline "reboot" (sideboot?) with the original crew, albeit with new younger actors. Timey-wimey shit happens and old prime timeline Spock (reprised by old Leonard Nemoy) is hurled back in time along with a bunch of Romulan assholes. The dickbag Romulans begin fucking shit up, slightly altering history in a way that ensures gratuitous lens flare. [[skub| Skubtastic]], but at least watchable, which is more than ''most'' odd-numbered films can muster. If you still even count it as odd, without the ''Galaxy Quest''-amendment.
* '''''Star Trek Into Darkness''''': Some [[edgy]] shit. The second of the alternate timeline ''Trek'' films. Terrorism, conspiracy and flapdoodle. Even more skubtastic, but generally considered worse than its predecessor, partially because (like Nemesis) it tries to be a remake of ''The Wrath of Khan'' and having Kirk at his most punchable.
* '''''Star Trek Beyond''''': Fairly good, but lacking in the high-minded themes that even the previous two reboot films explored. More fun and adventure-y, almost like something you'd see in a TV series plot, and with a pared-down scope. At least they don't feel the need to threaten to blow up Earth again under the mistaken logic that nothing less will get us to care. Not enough lens flare though, so it looked more like ''[[Star Wars]]'' than ''Star Trek''.

== Novels ==
Like most long time franchises ''Star Trek'' has a massive line of books. Unlike most they're basically just fanfics as nothing but the show and the movies is canon so the writers can do whatever they want. This changed after ''Nemesis'' since they might never have another show or movie in the "Prime" universe, so the writers got their shit together and wrote a group of books as a tight community very close to the shows. The relaunch novels are a continuation of the show they're about. Also there's the ''Titan'' book series which is about Riker and Troi getting their own ship, which happens to be staffed by every race in the Federation including living rocks, [[awesome|space dinosaurs]] that smell like [[meatbread|toast]] and a [[what|space cyborg ostrich]].

During yet another novel continuity (Star Trek: Destiny), the Borg go nuts and eat Pluto... yeah... and then they finally get sick of the Federation somehow managing to not get assimilated all the time, so they finally just send every last cube they have with orders to Exterminatus the absolute SHIT out of the entire Alpha Quadrant. Pretty much every important character from TNG, DS9, and Voyager has to team up to stop them, and even then the Federation still get its shit pushed in and winds up having to rely on a vaguely ridiculous deus ex machina to win, and [[Grimdark|billions of people still die and dozens of planets are blown to shit]]. It was pretty insane.

Then all the Federation's main enemies get together to form an anti-Federation and start poking the bear, all the while telling their allies that they're somehow warmongering dicks.

== Video Games ==
''Star Trek Online'' is the free-to-play online game built by Cryptic Studios and run by Perfect World. With an official license CBS, recurring characters voiced by various Trek alumni, and recently a license to include references to the reboot chronology (officially known as the "Kelvin Timeline"), it's the closest existing thing to an "official" continuation of the "Prime" timeline, and contains history and fluff extending nearly 40 years from the end of Star Trek: Nemesis.

Taking place in the 25th century (around the year 2409-2410), the Hobus supernova (the event that kicked Nero and Spock into the past during Star Trek 2009) has devastated the Romulans, and its near-collapse and fragmentation causes tensions between a resurgent Klingon Empire and the Federation. The tensions blow up into a war, with members of a new, nicer, breakaway Romulan Republic playing both sides in exchange for development aid.

The game contains deep cuts from all over Trek lore, and answers questions about what happened to various key characters, including Data (took over the Enterprise-E, then retired), the Enterprise (now an even bigger ship run by Andorian captain Shon), and the Voyager crew (it took Harry Kim 30 years to make Captain lol). Raises barely-shown, unnamed, and otherwise obscure races to new prominence as big bad foes, including the Iconians (ancient aliens with god complexes who mutated into energy beings, currently live in dyson spheres and were only defeated by predestination paradox), Tzenkethi (4-armed halo guys whose weak points are the FRONT of their shields), and Na'kuhl (the alien nazis from Enterprise as time-traveling terrorists who blame the Federation for a throwaway event that happened in TNG's beach episode).

Ostensibly free to play, but don't let that fool you... the ''not-so-micro''transactions are the only reason the lights stay on.

=== Starfleet Command ===

''Starfleet Command'' was a series real time space battle games by Interplay based on the much older tabletop game Star Fleet Battles. It came out in 1999 and was followed by several sequels and expansions. Gameplay was much like ''Battlefleet Gothic'', but with the player only controlling one ship. SFC remains Interplay's best selling game, topping even ''Baldur's Gate''.

=== Armada ===

A series of low effort RTS's churned out by Activision in 2000. Tried to take on both ''Homeworld'' and ''Age of Empires'', both of which have recently gotten HD remakes and ''Armada'' hasn't so that should tell you all you need to know. However, for one of the first 3D model space RTS's it was surprisingly easy to mod, resulting in many ship mod packs being made for it.

== Would you like to know more? ==
And oh Lordy, is there more...
*[http://en.memory-alpha.org/wiki/ Main Memory Alpha: A ''Star Trek'' wiki]
*[http://memory-beta.wikia.com/wiki/ Main Memory Beta: The flip-side of Memory Alpha for the less than official stuff]
*[http://sfdebris.com/ SF Debris: opinionated episode reviews, has some non ''Trek'' stuff as well]

[[Category: Television]]

Star Wars

2019-10-15T11:15:20Z

2406:3400:20F:FFC0:A80D:9EEE:1E6F:E984: /* The Ugly EU */

[[Image:StarWarsLogo.png|right|400px|thumb|A Long Time Ago in a Galaxy Far Far Away...]]
{{Star Wars}}
{{Topquote|A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away....|Star Wars opening text}}
'''[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_D0ZQPqeJkk/ Star Wars]''' is one of, if not ''the'', most influential media franchises of modern times, let alone its effect on science-fiction and fantasy. Indeed, among [[/tg/|nerddom]], it is challenged by only a few others, like [[Star Trek]] and [[The Lord of the Rings]]. The incredibly ardent fandom is spread worldwide and has a strong presence in popular culture. Many of the characters, like Darth Vader and Yoda, are iconic even to the general public. John Williams' score for the original trilogy is probably the best-known film score of all time. The universe has spawned numerous video games, hundreds of novels, multiple TV shows, one of the largest merchandising franchises ever, and, relevant to /tg/, a whole bunch of board, card, and roleplaying games.

It is also the current leading world source of [[Skub]].

==The Basic Concept==
Star Wars was originally a series of epic science-fantasy "space operas" that roughly followed the mythic cycle that's been around since Homer. They're set "a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away," [Note: this makes the entire series a fairy tale] where a mysterious life force called (reasonably enough) the Force permeates everything. This, in turn, can be wielded by certain people, giving them pseudo-magical abilities; thank the Emperor (no, the other one) there were no Commissars in that universe. Those who use it for good become mystical, selfless warrior monks called Jedi, whereas those who use it for evil are ruthless, self-serving bastards called Sith. However, the Force must always be in balance, so any time the Sith arise to cause imbalance, the Jedi have to pull together and take them out to restore the natural order.

The so-called Original Trilogy (made up of films IV through VI, released from 1977 to 1983) followed a young man named Luke Skywalker who becomes a Jedi and re-balances the Force. Meanwhile, the Rebel Alliance is fighting to end the oppressive Galactic Empire, which is secretly led by the Sith. Luke and his Rebel companions eventually defeat the evil Emperor Palpatine, but along the way they discover that his lieutenant, Darth Vader, is actually Luke's father. A financial, critical, popular and cultural H-bomb, these movies are basically the filter through which Generation X perceives the world... for better or worse.

The so-called Prequel Trilogy (made up of films I through III, released from 1999 to 2005) explained how Anakin Skywalker became Darth Vader and how the Galactic Empire was established. This involves a lot of convoluted politicking in the Republic, which is then torn apart in the Clone Wars, where the Republic (with an army of clones led by the Jedi) fights against the Confederacy (with an army of robots led by [[Necrons|General Grievous]] and secretly controlled by the Sith). It was not as well received as the first trilogy, for reasons we'll talk about below.

There's also a so-called Sequel Trilogy (made up of film VII and presumably films VIII and IX), which started in 2015 and picked up the story some three decades after the Emperor's defeat with a new generation of heroes taking on the remains of the evil Empire, which is a group of extremist former Imperials calling themselves the First Order. However, Episode VII aka ''The Force Awakens'', was directed by J.J. Abrams, who's mostly known for the [[skub|skubtastic]] [[Star Trek]] reboot, while Episode VIII was written and directed by Ryan Johnson who was a young director known for plot twists and genre experimentation on a handful of movies and television episodes that openly said he wanted to "subvert expectations" and make half of viewers dislike his work, then got pissed when half of them disliked his work. The result managed to fracture the Star Wars fanbase over issues of dull rehashing for VII and a whole laundry list of reasons for VIII (ranging from small ones such as it being too different, to major issues like half the movie being filler), as well as those who still enjoyed them and very little common ground between the three groups.

Finally, there are the so-called Anthology movies, standalone one-shots involving characters and plotlines that aren't a part of the main "Saga" films, except they kind of are. The first, Rogue One (2016), is an immediate prequel to Episode IV that follows those Rebel spies who stole the Death Star plans. The second film follows a young Han Solo and pals Chewie and Lando. A third rumored one follows Boba Fett.

There are also three separate TV series. The first one, ''Clone Wars'', was based on traditional animation, whereas the later one, '''''The''' Clone Wars'', was a weird 3D animation. They're both pretty good. There was also a terrible theatrical release that was basically just an advertisement for ''The Clone Wars'', but, since it's even worse than the Prequel Trilogy (hint: babysitting Jabba the Hutt's kid), nobody talks about it much. The third series is Disney's ''"Rebels"'' which is set between Episodes III-IV and it takes itself far less seriously than Clone Wars did, and is more of a homage to the original trilogy since not every character in the series is the owner of a lightsaber nor are they constantly talking about grown-up politics, senators and trade embargoes... pretty much the things that clogged up the plot of the prequel trilogy.

And then there's the whole Expanded Universe, which covers pretty much everything not covered by the films, like the Old Republic (set thousands of years before the prequel trilogy, when there were a hell of a lot more Sith and Jedi around) and the New Republic (set immediately after the original trilogy, explaining what became of all the characters. It could also reach 40k levels of grimdark with races like the [[Dark Eldar|Yuuzhan]] [[Tyranids|Vong]] characters like [[Vampire|Darth Nihilus]] and beings like [[Old Ones|Abeloth]].

The EU is no longer considered in the main canon of the films and TV series, due to the new sequel trilogy which does not follow EU, the reason for this being, according to Disney, that following EU would restrict their creative freedom. The reaction to this was, well, [[skub|mixed, for lack of a better word.]] They've since noted that they'll slot ''some'' of it in on a case-by-case basis, but the canon is in a highly fluid state at the moment. EU is now officially called Star Wars Legends, though most fans still refer to it as EU.

==Why is it so popular?==

Star Wars is as accessible as science fiction gets. It doesn't require extensive knowledge of a fictional world (a la ''[[The Lord of the Rings]]'' or ''[[Warhammer 40,000]]'') or cultural background (as ''[[Star Trek]]'' sometimes does) to make sense. Those elements are present for those who want them, but they largely stay in the (very rich and vibrant) background. It has well-shot action and good ''enough'' dialogue to make it interesting for both kids and adults (as well as allowing parents who grew up with it to watch it with their children, thereby hooking the next generation of viewers). It has simple, good-vs.-evil themes that resonate with almost anyone, anywhere, at any time. The science fiction elements are generally handled well if you don't obsess over making science fiction realistic and hard. It's a prime gateway drug for sci-fi which still holds up to the experienced eye, Isaac Asimov saw and rather enjoyed the films. All in Fourteen hours of cinema, plus optional sides for those who want it.

There's a ton of merchandise that is, of course, really cool. Also, given it's crossed over into the mainstream, many people feel comfortable being part of the community without feeling judged as "nerds" (as they might with ''Lord of the Rings'', ''D&D'', ''Star Trek'', ''Warhammer'', etc.).

Again, they roughly follow the mythic cycle that's been around since Homer. If you think about it, 4 of the 7 films can be summarized as: hero begins his journey under the tutelage of a wise (more or less) man, they encounter a threat which has captured/enslaved a princess/girl, who was in one way or another connected to an important secret (usually a superweapon but could be the identity of a political figure or the location of someone); the heroes save the princess/girl but someone dies tragically in a battle against the villain while someone else is blowing up a space station or a spaceship afterwards they are happy, they celebrate and mourn the loss of the poor bloke who died.

Additionally, the first film can be summarized as a samurai and a gunslinger team up to save a princess from Nazis in space. That is multiple cinematic genres at once, following the style of the epic myth.

==Characters==
Originally, a list was on this page. It was idiotically long, and so has been given it's own page to help streamline this page in particular.
*[[Star Wars Characters]], For those of you who care.

==The rise of the original trilogy==

A long long time ago, in a galaxy far far away....etc etc you all know the lines.

A man called George Lucas had the idea to create a series of epic sci-fi space operas that would become so successful that Disney would take notice and give it the franchise fluttering eye lashes, trying to seduce it.

They would be called... ''Flash Gordon''.

Unfortunately for Georgie boy, and fortunately for modern nerddom, Dino de Laurentiis already owned ''Flash Gordon'', and were busy making their own, hilariously eighties version, so he said, screw it, I'll make my own!

He decided to start with the fourth movie in the series he envisioned, for at the time he didn't have the special effects to create the first three to the standard he wanted, and/or he just kinda made up the first movie as he went along (drawing heavily on Akira Kurosawa's seminal samurai action film, ''Hidden Fortress'' in the process as well as the book [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Hero_with_a_Thousand_Faces ''The Hero with a Thousand Faces''], a complex 1949 Joseph Campbell analysis of the various mythologies of human history all boiled down into the basic archtypes and elements required in heroic myth). So Episode Four ''A New Hope'' was created (simply titled ''Star Wars'' at the time) and it is not an exaggeration to say it changed the face of sci-fi and general moviemaking forever, bringing a new era of special effects and imagination to cinema and changing the lives of many who would go onto to become dedicated fan boys.

Originally, the studio had forced Lucas to take ever-increasing paycuts for what they were sure was going to be a flop, and only let him keep merchandising rights. However, whatever his flaws, George Lucas was a man of vision. Having helped pioneer the summer blockbuster, he went on to do the same to ginormous piles of movie-tie-in memorabilia. His production company, Lucasfilm ended up rolling in dosh, and with Episode Five ''The Empire Strikes Back'' and Episode Six ''The Return of the Jedi'', the legend of Star Wars and its place in cultural history was assured.

tl;dr: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ij4w7ChpuaM Pretty much this.]

==The coming of the prequel trilogy==
With the year 2000 coming, George Lucas felt that special effects technology had reached the level he wanted and began to create the first three movies in the star wars story he had envisioned. (As a side-note, he also made some touch-ups to the three original films, re-mastering them with special effects and a couple of extra scenes that weren't doable with the eighties' animatronics. But those were mostly accepted/shrugged away since they didn't deeply modify anything.)

The hype for the movies was immense.

And then the first movie, Episode One ''The Phantom Menace'' came out.....and there was nerd rage beyond expectation.

Part of the problem was that the immense expectations of the fandom had grown until anything less-than-perfect simply would not do, so perhaps that is somewhat to blame for the reaction to the prequel trilogy. In a vacuum one has to admit that they aren't completely ''[[Twilight|terrible films]]'' .

Episode Two ''Attack of the Clones'' and Episode Three ''Revenge of the Sith'' followed after a few years each and didn't garner nearly as much hatred, though fans complained they didn't match the greatness of the original trilogy, more concerned with flashy action and effects than competent story-telling; but hooo-boy did it deliver in flashy action, with laser armed [[MI-24 Hind|MI-24's]] full of <s>storm</s>troopers extracting jedi from a coliseum full of shooty killbots.

''Revenge of the Sith'' did, however, receive higher ratings than ''Return of the Jedi'', and is generally seen as the best and most-complete of the three prequel films as a story. Unusually the novelization alters some details and is considered a legitimately good book on its own merits.

What was generally more well received (despite a rocky start with a two hour pilot being pressed into service as a movie and an art style that took some time to gel) during this time for Star Wars was the Clone Wars animated series (both the traditionally-animated ''Clone Wars'' and the later seasons of the CGI show '''''The''' Clone Wars'', the latter which most everyone agrees is what the prequels should have been), following the war between the Republic and the Confederacy that sprung up during the time between the second and third of the prequels.

In defense of the prequel trilogy's sins, they did at least do their own thing. Because of how much money the original trilogy made, practically every form of media in the 80s and 90s aped it to some form or another, and instead of falling back on the same old shit the prequels branched out and tried to get out of the franchise's comfort zone a bit. While a lot of it sucked, it blazed a trail for better writers to follow and helped liven up the universe by showing us the galaxy beyond fuckhueg spaceships and faux-Western shitholes like Tatooine. And all but the most [[Neckbeard|diehard OT purists]] can get behind shit like Naboo architecture, the Clone Army and Mace "The Ace" Windu. From a story perspective the worst sin of the prequels was demystifying the force, and subsequent works have largely swept that detail under the carpet.

==Disney and the sequel trilogy==

Finally, all the efforts by Disney to woo George Lucas paid off and in 2012 Disney acquired the Star Wars franchise for 4 billion dollars and immediately announced they would produce a new trilogy of films set after the original trilogy.

Expectations were almost as high as the private fears of the fans. Bringing on the creative talent behind the [[skub|skubtastic]] ''[[Star Trek]]'' reboot was equally... well, [[skub|take a wild guess]].

===Episode 7: The Mouse Awakens===
''Star Wars Episode 7: The Force Awakens'' debuted in December of 2015, and reception was what you would expect: the film was immediately a massive success from a monetary standpoint as everyone ([[China|almost]]) everywhere rushed to the theaters in response to the hype, with children engaging in as many repeat viewings as their parent's money could allow as fans did the same thing with their own. It has become a financial hit with the general public and a (critically) generally well-reviewed piece, with decent cinematography, special effects, technical stuff, etc. It also went on to become the third biggest financial success in film history, when not adjusted for inflation.

Fan response was a good deal more mixed. Many criticize the plot for rehashing Episode IV, without doing anything to establish its own identity and claim that it had a bland main character, [[Mary Sue|who had too many abilities]] whereas others find the replication of ''Star Wars'' feel an acceptable trade and praise it for being a decent action film, [[DERP|and FALSELY point out the lead doesn't even outdo any of the previous main characters in anything]]. These idiots fail to remember even '''Luke was constant embodiment of FAIL in his first movie,''' constantly being led by Solo and Obi-wan, and even the princess he goes to rescue takes control of the situation when shit hit the fan, and his final shot against the Death Star was aided by a Force Ghost so powerful he once kicked Vader's butt. Even Luke's final "triumph" against Vader was dwarfed by him having to be rescued by daddy. Also, said Vader, despite being the most Mary Sue character in canon, still lost his hand in his first ever lightsaber duel (Dooku) even after a decade of training under an accomplished knight (Obi-wan defeats a Sith in his first duel!), unlike MaRey Sue. And up until Padme arrived on Tatooine the boy Anakin said he never won a single podrace, let alone finish one. Even a genius like Anakin was matched with tough obstacles to match that showed him fail (Anakin's whole plot is the tragedy of "why can't I save anyone despite my powers?").

Some would argue that by rehashing the original trilogy it basically nullified the accomplishments of the original crew; the Empire's still around, they've got yet another superweapon, Han & Leia split up, Luke failed to rebuild the Jedi, etc. Other fans praised it simply for being a new Star Wars that was better than the prequel trilogy.

And at least the jokes were better this time.

Coincidentally, when Hamill and Fisher were originally approached by Disney to reprise their roles as Luke and Leia, they ''didn't want to do it'' right from the start. But, they didn't want to give an out-and-out "no" answer either, so they told Disney they'd return if Harrison Ford agreed to return as Han Solo as well. Knowing how much Ford ''hated'' Solo, Hamill and Fisher figured they were safe, until Disney irresistibly sweetened the deal for Ford by agreeing to kill off his character, thus forcing a reluctant Hamill and Fisher to make good on their deal... [[skub|only for the three characters to never appear on the screen at the same time.]]

===Rebels & Rogues: Star Wars Stories===
Disney also released their own CGI series: ''Star Wars: Rebels'', which is actually pretty ok (considering that it airs on Disney XD, it should be no surprise that they've toned down the graphic depictions of gratuitous violence, much to the chagrin of [[Neckbeards|those who love overly gory deaths]]). It focuses less on the Jedi that have come to dominate the franchise and more on the "boots on the ground" experience of the average characters, and while the show started slow and small, the plot gained momentum as the series progressed, especially after the first season. The Rebel movement started to grow, several characters returned from ''The Clone Wars'', and the enemies the main characters have had to face steadily got darker and more dangerous as more of the Empire’s attention was attracted. When Darth Vader gets involved (played by none other than [[Awesome|James Earl Jones himself]]) he immediately proceeds to [[Awesome|open a 24-pack of unstoppable whoop-ass on the rebel scum]]. The return of Maul resulted in three character deaths (possibly four), the crippling of one main character with another well on his way down the dark side, and to top it all off Maul himself was on the loose once again. Things did not turn out so well [[Grimdark|last time that happened]], so expect the body count to rise, especially with [[Creed|Grand Admiral Thrawn]] now also coming onto the scene. The show also continues the trend set by ''The Clone Wars'' in making the Force mystical again, though whether this is a good or bad thing depends on how you felt about the <s>bullshit</s> <s>scientific</s> [[Skub|skubtastic]] midichlorian explanation of the Prequels. The animation is on point with ''The Clone Wars'', which considering it's Disney should surprise less than nobody. Oh, and Steve Blum voices one of the main characters. However, it is also noted that Star Wars Rebels may indeed have [[Grimdark|dark ending]]. Which, to a degree, it did. An important character dies, and his padawan flees into the unknown regions, leaving us with two other characters to go look for him after the second Death Star blows up.

[[Skub|The way that Filoni (the creator of Rebels and The Clone Wars) has handled the Mandalorians, a fan-favorite warrior-culture based upon the Scots and Vikings, has either been met with praise from those who despised Traviss and her overpowering of said culture, or utter RAGE that he turned many of them into either pacifist morons or bloodthirsty barbarians- usually that particular criticism comes from the Traviss fanboys]]. Do take note, however, that the old ways for the Mandalorians are making their way back into canon, such as the language, the emphasis on martial honor, and the decentralized nature of their government.

December of 2016 brought us the first standalone Star Wars movie, "Rogue One", showing the theft of the original Death Star plans. While "Rogue One" has been criticised for being lacking in character development; (fair warning) literally the entire cast of the movie who doesn't appear in Episode IV dies by the end, and it still manages to pack more than it's fair share of awesome into the movie, with Donnie Yen, Alan Tudyk and Darth Vader all used to great effect. Rogue One also answers several questions, plugs several plot holes, and just generally makes A New Hope make a lot more sense in retrospect. (No wonder Vader wasn't impressed when Leia claimed to be on a "diplomatic mission.") It also has the distinction of being the only Star Wars movie to focus on regular soldiers instead of Jedi. Much, much [[Skub]] still exists of course, since no Star Wars movie will ever please all the neckbeards but out of the four post-Disney Star Wars movies released so far, this one is definitely the least divisive and arguably the best of the bunch.

===Episode 8: The Last Royalty Check (aka zomg Luke dies!)===
On December 14 2017, ''Star Wars Episode 8: The Last Jedi'' was released world wide. The critical reception was [[Bullshit|extremely positive]], with many critics considering it the best movie in the series since The Empire Strikes Back. The fan reception has been a great deal more negative and [[Skub|mixed]], and a number of fans are convinced that Disney leaned on media outlets to shill the new movie or else. If you have watched the Empire Strikes Back, you ''WILL'' be [[Rage|disappointed at best]], if you want to see a Star Wars film that would finally expand the characters of Kylo Ren and Rey, you ''WILL'' be satisfied and disappointed at the same time, if you want to watch the film because it is the last film starring the great and wonderful Carrie Fisher, you ''WILL'' feel hollow and sad inside, and if you came to see a pair of lightsaber-wielding punks involved in one of the [[Skub|greatest or worst lightsaber battles of the franchise, you ''WILL'' be pleased or horribly dissapointed]]. The Last Jedi is seen as one of the most divisive films in the franchise by the fandom, [[FAIL|which is one hell of an achievement]] considering other films.

The complaints about The Last Jedi are many: the treatment of Luke (which even his actor, Mark Hamill, hated, to the point that he has no interest in playing Luke again), Leia's Superman asspull, Finn's plot arc that serves practically zero purpose and has him undergo the same character arc as the last movie, the forced humor, the complete disregard for established [[fluff]], disregard for even the most basic laws of physics, the fact that the central conflict is essentially the same as the one in the originals right down to the last stand ripped straight out of ''Empire'', the PC bullshit (a hipster admiral who the plot always treats as being in the right despite killing 90% of the Resistance, the Gilded Age planet arc that [[Namek|sucks up a third of the movie to no benefit,]] Rose expressing her desire to get BLACKED with a horrendous and forced #LoveTrumpsHate one-liner in the final act) added solely to virtue-signal and the whole thing being basically a 2,5h screed against the franchise it belongs to and the culture which spawned it.

Fans have also criticized the movie for dropping or discarding major plot points from TFA and repeatedly invoking Shamalamadingdong-tier plot twists for cheap gotchas that are somehow less interesting than the recycled cliches they play off of. Director Rian Johnson has responded by shitting on said critics and trying to defend the film on social media like something out of an ED article. (Important note: George Lucas never tried to defend the prequels, despite the huge backlash at the time, and he agreed with fans that [[C.S Goto|The Star Wars Holiday Special]] was an abomination.) It later came out that Johnson had not been given any kind of roadmap beyond Lucas' old and unfinished concept scripts and was not allowed to see what Abrams had done until TLJ was too far into production to write in most of the previous movie's plot points, which makes the fail Disney's fault just as much as it is Johnson's. Except we also know that he had at least a modicum of influence over the ending of TFA, so they must have talked on at least some degree. As with TFA Lucasfilm has tried to paper over the holes with tie-in material, and just like TFA the fans recognize the damage control.

The Last Jedi has without a doubt torn the fanbase apart in ways even the prequels didn't come close to, with many fans declaring that they have dropped the sequel trilogy. Even Star Wars' famous merchandising has taken a mauling, as [[/toy/]] giggles at Rose Tico and General Hux figures warming shelves while new product shipments go straight from the transport case to the clearance bin.

===[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lg_FoEy8T_A I'm Solo, Han Solo, Han Solo]===
On May 25th 2018, the 41st anniversary of the franchise, ''Solo: A Star Wars Story'' was released. The general consensus seems to be that it is the most average film in the series. At the very least, most people agree that it is at least better than The Last Jedi (if barely) and the backlash from that movie can be felt even in Solo: many fans have chosen to boycott the movie. Even before release, many fans had derided the whole affair as unnecessary: no one was really asking for a Han Solo origin movie, particularly one without Harrison Ford. Han Solo's entire life history had already been explored thoroughly in EU novels and comics, so the movie could only be a retread or a retcon, both things most fanbases tend to disapprove of. Whether it is because of this boycott or not, [[Not as planned|something no one expected happened:]] ''Solo'' was a box office bomb. Its opening weekend performed way below expectations and as of this writing, it has only made half of the money it needs for it to break even. Disney still continued to labor under the delusion that China would save their bottom line regardless of the fact that Star Wars has never been popular in China.

So what is it like? Well, rather than being a space opera like the other films, this is a space Western. Rather than being about large-scale battles and saving the galaxy from tyranny, it's about heists and the galactic underworld. (Except for the Mimban sequence, which you'd swear was lifted from a live-action Imperial Guard movie.) It's essentially Disney's reboot/retcon of the old EU Han Solo novels, taking things that were mentioned offhand in the original trilogy (like how Han did the Kessel Run in 12 parsecs) and making that the subject of an entire movie. The film was perhaps cursed from the beginning due to its [[Fail|troubled production.]] How troubled? The lead needed an acting coach to get through his shoots (Han may have walked away with the Falcon, but Danny Glover's Lando stole the spotlight every time) and 70% of the movie had to be reshot by a different director due to [[Butthurt|creative differences]] between Lucasfilm and the original directors.

The fail only compounded when it premiered and fans got to see what those "creative differences" may have wrought: the writing staff started spewing bullshit to the press about Lando being "pansexual" with no precedent in any Star Wars production including ''Solo'', the film's tone is a schizophrenic nightmare to the last-minute reshoots and Han's sidekick for most of the movie is [[What|a self-built female droid social justice warrior]] named [[/v/|L3-37]]. Audiences ''cheered and applauded'' when that <s>man</s>human-hating self-insert character finally fucking died. Perhaps the most damning sin is that these are the movie's only notable qualities: take them away and you're left with a movie that would make you think "Huh, that was okay," and then never think about it again for the rest of your life, were it not for the crippling disappointment of seeing one of the most beloved franchises in the world fall so far. Between the boycotts, the mediocrity of the movie itself, and [https://encyclopediadramatica.rs/Gawker certain news outlets] claiming that the driving force behind said boycotts was [[/pol/]], ''Solo'' cratered so badly that [[Exterminatus|all non-''Episode 9'' Star Wars movies were for a short time shelved indefinitely, and the only side-movie still being worked on is the obligatory Boba Fett origin movie, which is more likely to sell tickets based on the name alone.]] Incidentally, one of the writers picked by Lucasfilm to handle ''Solo'''s tie-in content, Cavan Scott, has been hired by [[Games Workshop]] for the [[Warhammer Adventures]] series.

===Episode 9: The Rise of Skywalker (aka Papa Palpatine returns)===
We don't know much. What we do know, is that Palpatine (or the senate, according to some.) will be returning in a major role. However, this enrages the old guard of the Star Wars community. Why? The entire storyline of Star Wars was built around the idea of Anakin Skywalker's fall, and eventual redemption. He was the "chosen one", right? But now, seeing as the big bad is not dead and might end up being killed off by some relatively unknown new character compared to the classic characters from prior trilogies, this essentially means that Anakin died for nothing, and that all his character development meant nothing in the grand scheme of things (As a side note Papa Palpatine also returned in the old EU; but then again so did Vader with the whole force ghost thing.). This is made all the worse seeing how epVII basically detached the new trilogy from the events of the previous two by nullifying everything the heroes achieved in OT.

On the other hand, seeing the trailers for the other sequel movies, that JJ Abrams is known for revealing nothing of importance before the premiere of his films, and that Force ghosts exist; the most likely thing is, or that Palpatine is haunting the ruins of the Death Star instead of being alive, his force ghost is possessing someone else or that it is a big misdirection (although that would be a bullshit move).

If that's a good thing or not, we must wait and see. However, after finishing shooting, a poor showing among test audiences resulted in 3+ months of reshoots. If reception was poor enough to almost double the filming time and make it last till mere months before release, one can expect ''interesting'' results. The current speculation is, that Disney has about a dozen versions of the film thought out, and is making all the recent leaks on purpose to find one that would appease the fans.

==Expanded Universe==

It can be said what makes a franchise into a long term lasting thing is when a wealth of extra story and background is created that expands on the original story far beyond what there was. It could be argued Star Wars leads the race in this, as the sheer amount of extra novels, graphic novels and games based on Star Wars can and does overwhelm the ordinary fan.

The background has expanded into the distant past before the founding of the current Jedi and Sith orders and into the (not-quite-so) far future looking at the descendants of Luke Skywalker and other popular characters. Uniquely, especially considering [[Warhammer 40K|other]] [[Star Trek|franchises']] track records, the Star Wars Expanded Universe is <strike>remarkably</strike> <strike>sorta</strike> sometimes internally consistent, both with other sources within the universe and with the films themselves, at least in comparison to other comparable settings. Of course, it's got plenty of its own [[C. S. Goto|problem children]] that slipped through, and the [[skub]] mine of it all isn't much shallower than that of 40K. Good portions of it do hold up well, largely due to the efforts of Lucas' company's continuity department leaning on everyone to hold it together. Particularly well-loved parts include characters like Grand Admiral Thrawn (a rare alien officer in the Empire and popular enough that Disney brought him back to the canon from the EU) and Mara Jade (a woman who was a Force-user and former agent of Emperor Palpatine, who later turned good, became a Jedi, married Luke and had a son with him) - interestingly both were created by the same author [[Timothy Zahn]].

Upon their acquisition, Disney said "fuck it" and threw out everything but the films and the Clone Wars cartoons. Some popular old stuff got mentions or appearances (and Thrawn got to be a major character), but the overall quality is even lower than the old EU. What was set up as a major book contains phrases like "The TIE wibbles and wobbles through the air" and random virtue signalling. As though to top the previous, Disney literally published a book with an entire chapter about mass wedding farts (Yes. Really.). The only good stuff is from established EU authors writing stuff far away from era of the Disney films.

The [[rage]] over the EU's scrapping was major among many fans of it, but for all Disney's shortcomings, they were in a tight spot. Towards the end all that continuity and consistency got thrown out the airlock for increasingly dumb and disjointed narratives and garbled plot threads to the point that the Star Wars logo was just about as much a sign of quality as the Nintendo approval stamp on shitty SNES games. Though they have their fans, particularly contentious parts include the grimdark invasion of the Yuuzhan Vong - forcenull space-Druchii (no no, not Comorrites though they have the pain and body modification fetishes for it, space-'''Druchii''', riding enslaved tyranid bioships) from another galaxy, a personal-sized spaceship that could blow up whole galaxies and destroy fleets on its own, Mnggal-Mnggal - mindraping gelatin lost on its way to Star Trek, and Abeloth - an ancient (she predates the Jedi and the Sith) yandere Force entity who wandered in from the Cthulhu Mythos and is so dangerous the Jedi and the Sith '''joined forces''' to fight her. It's difficult to envision how Disney could have kept the EU when even before all that it was struggling to find a market beyond the most [[neckbeards|dedicated fans]].

Granted it's [[skub|debatable]] how much less successful the new EU is over the old.

===The Good EU===
* '''The Thrawn Trilogy''': The origination point for the EU, and focuses on the conflict with the Imperial remnants left over after RotJ. Basically the story "The Force Awakens" wishes it was.
** '''The Hand of Thrawn Duology''': A followup and closure of the EU to date (it was the last book of its publisher and could have been the last of the EU). The Imperial Remnant formally seeks peace with the New Republic, but an ongoing political crisis and rogue actors of the Remnant look to derail these efforts.
* '''The Han Solo Adventures''': Star's End was the second spinoff book written and the first good one. Would have made for a better film than ''Solo'' did.
** '''Han Solo Trilogy''': A later trilogy further expands Han's backstory that sandwiches the above.
* '''Shadows of the Empire''': Shadows is set between ESB and RotJ and fills in the details of getting the Death Star II's plans, finding out where Han was taken, Luke building his own saber, etc by the introduction of another bounty hunter by the name of Dash Rendar. The Special Edition rerelease of ''A New Hope'' added the Outrider to the background of one scene. Most notable for the fact that it was also adapted into a video game for the N64 and PC.
* '''Courtship of Princess Leia''': Deals with another Imperial remnant. This one has force witches.
* '''X-Wing Series''': The early books cover the siege and liberation of Coruscant. Then the series changed authors and it went for a more black-ops tone.
** '''I, Jedi''': A retelling of the Jedi Academy Trilogy (see down) with a lot less derp and more of the main character from the first set of X-Wing books.
* '''Revenge of the Sith''': The novelization is actually considered a serious improvement over the movie itself.
* '''Millennium Falcon''': A mystery uncovered in the Falcon's patchwork hull leads to a crotchety old Han Solo in his 70s and his granddaughter looking into what the Falcon's history was ''before'' Lando got his hands on it.

===The Bad EU===
* '''Jedi Academy Trilogy''': Luke sets up his academy on Yavin IV and tries to teach [[Rage|Kyp Durron]]. Imperial remnant superweapons hit ludicrous territory with the sun crusher. This was the beginning of Kevin J Anderson hammering out a couple dozen Star Wars books over about four years.
* '''Young Jedi Knights Series''': Set between Jedi Academy and New Jedi Order, mostly follows Han & Leia's kids.
* '''Jedi Apprentice Series''': Kenobi & Qui-Gon before Episode 1.
* '''Jedi Quest Series''': Anakin & Kenobi after Episode 1.
* All other books not listed. The stuff that made the Good EU list is there because it was either genuinely good or effectively canon. If you were to read the whole pile you might find bits and pieces of cool shit like Mace fighting Catachans or a Jedi turned P.I. in the Coruscant slums, but if it was genuinely good, or manifestly terrible, or had a lot of books, it would have made one of the lists.

===The Ugly EU===
* '''New Jedi Order''': The longest series with 20+ books by multiple authors. Extragalactic aliens called the Yuuzhan Vong - religious fanatics with organic technology, a thing for body modification and [[Culexus|partial immunity to The Force]] - invade and try to conquer the Star Wars Galaxy. While some parts were good, some were bad and there was also a lot of weird stuff while the series got long-winded and disjointed at times. Chewie dies Majora's Mask style.
* '''The Crystal Star''': They got a Star Trek author to write for Star Wars, with very strange results.

==Star Wars:The Television Shows==
===Star Wars:The Clone Wars===
While we're on the topic of the EU,let's talk about TCW. One of the most universally known and loved parts of Star Wars,most fans worth their action figures and limited edition movie sets have watched the show and have an opinion on it one way or another. Some of the most notable characteristics are:

* The Clone Troopers are fleshed out,and we see that they are manly motherfuckers who make Guardsmen's balls of steel look like the cardboard their armor is made out of (seriously,in the movie,they literally charge straight into close combat with ''giant armored walkers with large guns'' and jump off roofs to get top of them to shoot them point blank, and punch droids in the face)
* Anakin Skywalker is actually a good, fleshed out character, with a good voice actor and shows his descent to child-murdering Force-choking asshat wasn't just him going 'welp,guess I'll fall to the Dark Side.' There was a fair amount of casual bad-cop murder to get there.
* Non-OP non-Mary Sue female Jedi as a major character who doesn't invalidate characters from the movies.
* Obi-Wan being a sexy one-liner spouting sarcastic badass.
* And many others.

However, there were some pretty derp moments too, such as

* Babysitting episode.
* D-squad, where a bunch of droids become heroes of the Republic.
* Mandalore and how it's fluff was basically screwed 180 degrees, and then some.
* Droid were comic relief of the first and second seasons. It was annoying.

All in all, it was an ok show.

===Star Wars:Rebels===
Now that Disney owns Star Wars they can't go a season without something new to run on Disney XD, so after ''The Clone Wars'' ended they needed a series to milk episodes out of and launched ''Rebels''. ''Rebels'' is set a few years before ''A New Hope'' and covers the early formation of the rebellion from the perspective of one cell focused on the planet Lothal. If you liked ''Rogue One'' but thought it should be about 25 hours long and done in cartoony CGI then this is the show for you.

So what did we see in ''Rebels''?

* Grand Admiral Thrawn makes his debut in Disney Star Wars, along with the TIE Defender project
* The bearded old guy in the Endor strike team in RotJ turns out to be Captain Rex
* You CAN [[combi-weapon]] a lightsaber and a blaster, and it's OP as shit
* Force wolves (no, not [[Rune Priest|those force wolves]])
* [[A Song of Ice and Fire|Game of Thrones-style]] Mandos (Krownest is pretty much Space-Winterfell)
* Ahsoka fights Vader (and then escapes into the webway)
* The Obi-Wan Kenobi vs Maul in a duel that's as epic as it is brief

So about the wolves... ''Rebels'' turns the force mysticism up past 11. Forget precog space monks with laser swords; as far as ''Rebels'' is concerned the Jedi are [[craftworld]] [[eldar]] without the racism.

However, there were levels of derp that we got to see in this show, such as the following:

* Since this is a Disney cartoon, the bad guys can't have even a temporary victory. This changes Thrawn and the other Imperials from an imposing force to [[Abbadon|cartoon villains]].
* Battles slower paced than a Death Guard movement phase.
* Lightsabers the shape of toothpicks.
* [[Bullshit|Helicopter lightsabers]]
* Complete bipolarity in tone.
* Iron Squadron. Just...fucking [[Rage|Iron Squadron]]

All in all, it depends on your preference.

===Star Wars:Resistance===

Annnd they had to go and change things. With ''Rebels'' coming to a close and a burning need to keep Star Wars on their lineup, Disney had a choice: find a new plot and setting for a formula and art style that had produced two successful multi-season shows, or throw it all out and start from scratch. Remember, this is Disney we're talking about, the company that once paid a quarter billion dollars to fire the producer who made ''The Little Mermaid'', ''Beauty and the Beast'', ''Aladdin'', and ''The Lion King'' only for him to go and found Dreamworks out of spite.

Like its predecessor, ''Star Wars:Resistance'' sets itself up as a prequel to a trilogy, in this case following the early days of the Resistance in its fight against the First Order. Where it differs from ''Rebels'' is that ''Resistance'' is playing the warm up act for a trilogy that nobody likes. On top of which, the creators abandoned the 3D style that ''Rebels'' inherited from ''The Clone Wars'', and replaced it with a cel style that's half ''Treasure Planet'' and half ''Avatar: The Last Airbender''.

To be blunt, this show is 100% pure crystal derp. Our star is Kazuda "Just Kaz" Xiono, a manic depressive who literally fanboy-ed his way into being a spy under the cover story of being a mechanic, two jobs he is not qualified for. This kid is the Invader Zim of Star Wars. He gets both into and out of situations on bipolar luck; if this turns out to be the force then his force power is "being [[Ciaphas Cain]]". Filling out the cast we have the original only cockney girl in space, an autistic alien, their widower boss who is definitely gonna die, D.Va and her ex-imperial officer dad, and BB-8. Poe Dameron shows up regularly so he can be Ace Fucking Rimmer without having to compete against Rey for the TOP SUE trophy. Reception was so terrible it was confirmed canceled at 2 seasons before the second season even started.

Part of the problem with ''Resistance'' is that the First Order has a doomfort that can frag planets across the galaxy, yet has to resort to hiring pirates to encourage settlements into accepting the First Order's protection racket. Palpy's empire was a model of efficient, heavy handed governance; its evil intent veiled from the masses who mostly resent it for bringing order. The First Order on the other hand is basically just Cobra Command, a font of evil hamstrung by flailing incompetence.

Season 1 ends on the cliffhanger of "what exactly happens when you travel through hyperspace without precise calculations", because Neeku Vozo the alien bozo did just that.

==Species==
One important thing to note about alien species in Star Wars is that almost all of them were originally singular costumes added to the films for background color or to make a character stand out, then had a species name and culture retconned onto them by Expanded Universe writers. As a result, most species' "personalities" are just shallow clones of the character they're derived from. Many of the species seen in the original trilogy were given names and backstories by [[Star Wars RPG|the original RPG from West End Games]] that became canon as every other EU novel to come after used Star Wars D6 as a reference.
* '''[[Human]]s''': Leias. They originated in the Galactic Core, but have spread to most inhabited planets, first as slaves to a now-extinct race of precursors and then through initial space exploration with pre-hyperdrive generation ships. As a result there are a lot of [[Abhuman|"near-human"]] species kicking around that are basically just weird-looking humans and pretty much the only species humans can crossbreed with.
** '''Mandalorians:''' Bobas. A society of space [[Spartans]]/[[Vikings]] with cool armor. Actually not human majority initially (Unless you are a Disney fan).
** '''Corellians:''' Hans. Literally an entire culture of dashing rogues and space cowboys who like to go fast and smuggle shit; the Corellian Engineering Corporation made the ''Falcon'' (duh) and many of the Rebel ships seen in the original trilogy. Nearly ruined their planet with starship factories, but now they've gone green and relocated all of their heavy industry to space stations. Their home system reeks of precursor meddling and is detailed enough to be a setting in itself, complete with a Big Dumb Object in the middle (Centerpoint Station) for PCs to fuck with.
* '''Wookiees:''' Chewbaccas, and one of the only species to be named in the films. Huge, swole sloth people that do not live on Endor and can't speak (but absolutely understand) Basic. Most are actually pretty peaceful and intelligent and they have produced a lot of highly skilled engineers. They highly value people who save their life, becoming their eternal friend in what is known as a Life-debt; this is how Han met Chewie. Has the unfortunate distinction of being the first species in Star Wars lore to have their home planet and culture detailed... <s>in the Star Wars Holiday Special.</s> lore from the Legends.
* '''Trandoshan''': Bossks. Brutish, scaly [[Lizardfolk]] capable of regenerating severed limbs and absolutely obsessed with hunting shit. Have had a continuous race war with the Wookies since before FTL was a thing, which is a ''long-ass time'' in Star Wars. Their religion is about scoring "points", with the only known method of gaining them is violent action and the only known method of losing them is being captured alive by enemies. The system was first mentioned a mere three years after ''[[Doom]]'' so the fact that they essentially see life as a giant, violent video game is likely pure coincidence. Despite this they aren't universally evil, though they often are.
* '''[[Twi'lek]]s''': Hot alien babes. Enough have been transported off world, generally as slaves, they can be found anywhere, and many have never seen their ancestral home. Given it's a borderline death world whose chief economic exports are drugs and slaves, they aren't missing anything. Their most interesting quality is that they can communicate silently with the weird head-tails ("lekku") that they have instead of hair. TORtanic tried to rationalize their fetish for enslaving their own as being the result of a precursor project to design the perfect slave race, but nobody cares about this because TORtanic is shit.
* '''Duros''': Seen once in ''Hope'' during the cantina scene. Naturally they're one of the most important species in the EU despite not having a canon character until The Clone Wars introduced us to Cad Bane. Enslaved by precursors alongside humans, they were among the first to develop FTL travel based on salvaged hyperdrive technology and are the only non-human species to have an equivalent of "near-human" in a few "near-Duros" species.
* '''Bothans''': [[Meme|Died to bring you this information.]] A race of [[Beastmen (40k)|wolf-men/goat-men]] (depending on which author/illustrator) who are almost universally spies thanks to that one-off line from Mon Mothma. In truth the best and early EU works portray them as something far worse: politicians. The most prominent Bothan is Borsk Fey'lya, a Bothan politician who used his role in the acquisition of the second Death Star plans to maintain a place in the New Republic's senior leadership and uses his position for personal gain like any proper politician should. Now possibly NOT wolfgoatpeople, thanks to some Lucasfilm [[Troll|source]] being all like “it’s never explicitly stated that they’re aliens, maybe they’re humans, *WINK*”.
* '''Rodians''': Greedos. Their home planet being a death world full of predators means they are often aggressive and put hunters in high regard, which is the EU excuse for all the film Rodians being criminals.
* '''Chiss''': Thrawns. Near humans with blue skin, dark blue/black hair and red eyes. They dwell in the Unknown Regions, with they’re own fancy schmancy empire, crack navy and altogether superior technological advancements that make the rest of the galaxy look fucking backward (see blaster resistant clothes...whereas [[Derp|fucking stormtrooper armour can be defeated by arrows loosed by Care Bears]]). Known for being superb pilots, traders, negotiators, tacticians and all round scheming bastards with Danish accents.
* '''Gran''' are three eyed goat (?) like aliens with rough, tan skin. They are quite nice and peaceful with excellent vision, especially in distinguishing color. Unfortunately for the galaxy at large, Gran exile most of their criminals: They consider being unable to see the rich and beautiful environments of their homeworld a fate worse than death. These exiles often fall into criminal groups.
* '''Mon Calamari''': Ackbars. An aquatic species whose long history of making airtight vehicles for travel in three dimensions has made them excellent ship-builders. During the early days of the Rebellion the Mon Calamari were one of the few races to successfully throw off the Empire during Operation Domino and not be subject to immediate reprisal thanks to their isolated location and strategy of mining hyperspace routes to buttfuck any Imperial ships sent to shut them down (ships coming out of hyperspace don't have shields). Those weird-looking bubble ships from ''Return of the Jedi'' are built by Mon Calamari.
** '''Quarren''': Another background species from ''Jedi'' who share their homeworld of Dac with the Mon Calamari. Prideful isolationists who stick to the depths, with their main contact to the surface being trading deep sea mined materials to the Mon Calamari. Look more than a bit like [[Illithid]].
* '''Gamorreans''' are space [[Orc]]s: Pig-like, brutish, stupid and violent. Constantly at war with each other, their clan identity is so strong they'll try to kill each other if from opposing clans if they meet off-world. Frequently brought into the galaxy as slaves or by clans trading labor/muscles for outside resources. Like Wookiees, can't physically speak Basic. Unlike Wookiees, only their clan matrons and some high ranking men are literate in their native language.
* '''[[Robot|Droids]]''' aren't a true species, but are playable in all RPGs. They're supposed to be really smart appliances, but Star Wars technology is so fucked up that a few develop sapience if left on too long without formatting. Despite this droids aren't considered people by the galaxy at large because sapient droids are as rare as non-evil [[drow]] and most of the time leaving droids running for a long time just makes them slower and buggier until they can't do their jobs anymore, like Windows, or, at best, overly attuned to a specific user. That a good number of sapient droids have learned to bypass that pesky "no killing" clause doesn't exactly encourage experimenting with it either.
** Class 1 droids are designed to preform scientific applications like medicine or lab work. Since they were designed to be used in fixed locations most, but not all, have limited mobility.
** Class 2 droids are designed to preform technical labor like repair work. Since they are expected to work within artificial locations they are generally on wheels or treads and have short, non-human shapes. One notable subcategory of Class 2 droids are Astromech Droids (like the famed R2 series), which are designed to plug into fighters and bombers where they function as a co-pilot, navicomputer and in-flight repair.
** Class 3 droids are designed for human interaction, with jobs like translator or chef. Some lower end Class 3 droids were made for positions like waiter. Almost all of them are roughly human shape, with the main exception being those built by and for non-humans.
** Class 4 droids are the most varied but have one thing in common that clearly separates them: They are made for combat and (except for a few armed with only stun weapons) don't have programming against killing. Class 4 droids vary in intelligence from blaster turrets with some targeting AI to clever and ruthless assassins/commandos. Even [[Android|Human Replica Droids]], designed to be indistinguishable from humans, are technically Class 4. Many Class 4 droids have their nature obfuscated by building them into the shell of a Class 1 or Class 3 droid.
** Class 5 droids are made for manual labor like heavy lifting or a power generator with legs. They are barely intelligent, rarely have names and almost never become sapient. They are however cheap and quite common.
* '''Zabrak''': Mauls. Near-humans with mostly bald, spikey heads and two hearts. Those black markings Maul had are actually ritualistic tatoos that Zabrak men often get. They were pretty divided internally till the Empire decided to oppress them all and force them to join together. Eeth Koth of the Jedi Council was one.
** '''Dathomirians''' are a sub-species of Zabrak native to Dathomir who supposedly interbred with humans to create a new group, which was separated according to gender, though their origins have been neglected in current canon. Even so, the females of this sub-species do not have the spiked heads typical of other Zabraks. Darth Maul is the most prominent Dathomirian in the films and TV series.
* '''Togruta''': Red skinned humanoids with lekku and hollow horns that allow echolocation. Shaak Ti and Ahsoka were Togruta.
* '''Hutts''': Jabbas. (Fun fact: "the Hutt" was just a title in the original trilogy and Jabba was just some random slug dude. The original film didn't even intended for him to be an alien!) Naturally they're all mini-Jabbas who live in a clan/crime-family/zaibatsu type of arrangement known as the ''kadjic''. Kind of like the Mexican drug cartels in that they have their own corner of the galaxy that they rule independently, even after they join the Empire they pay the Moff to look the other way when they do shady shit. (They're always doing shady shit.) Because the Hutts own exactly one third of all organized crime (and a significant number of planets) in the galaxy and it is the third (after Basic and Binary) most widespread full language, Huttese is a good language to take, especially for criminal-types . Be warned! Hutts have four fingered hands and their numbering system uses base eight! Despite being looking and acting like fat [[neckbeards]] they're actually insanely strong and their less bulky youth are very agile for their size. They LOL at the Force, so the RPGs tend to give them a huge bonus to resist mental influence.
* '''Sullustan''': [[Dwarf|Short, tunnelfaring, crafters who can drink a lot without getting drunk]]. Near-humans with flappy jowls and black eyes that originally evolved for tunnels. Their SoroSuub company is one of the largest tech makers in the galaxy, and likely the largest that isn't Human run.
* '''Toydarians''': Wattos. Blue tapir-looking dudes from Hutt Space who can hover on fly-like wings. As their source character is a hilariously offensive Jewish stereotype, the EU largely ignored Toydarians until ''The Clone Wars'' reinvented them as a vaguely Cambodian monarchy on a mud world. Mind tricks don't work on them (only money).
* '''Jawa''': Utinni! They roam Tatooine (and a few other planets) scavenging technology and selling it. A handful of sources mention they are [[Skaven|rodents]] under the hoods.
* '''Neimoidians''': Trade Federation flunkies; they will not survive this. Their reproductive cycle is really weird, producing lots of grubs which are raised in warrens fighting over a limited amount of food in which the weak are culled. Unlike how this usually goes, this process makes the Neimodians prone to hoarding resources and wary of danger.
* '''Noghri''': Primitive, short Suarian people who happen to be some of the deadliest non-Jedi melee combatants and assassins in the galaxy. Darth Vader bought their loyalty by saving them from the environmental damage a crashed ship caused. They are a major part of Timothy Zahn's Thrawn Trilogy, which they were invented for.
* '''Tarasin''': Invented whole-cloth for the Living Force campaign for [[Star Wars D20]]. Lizardmen with scales that change color based on their emotions and frilled necks. With focus they can control their colors enough to camouflage themselves and even "speak" silently amongst each other. They had a high degree of force sensitivity, though if this a result of their species or their home system being a place where the Force is strong is unknown.
* '''Shards''': Sapient crystals. They are incapable of movement and don't speak the way humans do. They can however control droid bodies they are implanted into. Several are force sensitive which led to a Jedi teaching them the ways of the Force. The Jedi order shunned these "Iron Knights" and excommunicated the master responsible. This wound up benefiting them though, as the master and his students were able to survive the Jedi purge due to the obscurity this granted. When Luke's new order emerged they welcomed the Shards with open arms.
* '''Rakata''': The aforementioned precursors, developed by [[BioWare]] for the ''Knights of the Old Republic'' game (though there were a few mentions of precursors here and there before that). Formed an "Infinite Empire" long before the Republic using dark side powered hyperdrives only they could use. When they gradually lost their force sensitivity their empire fell apart. Responsible for why there are so many Humans and Human off-shoots everywhere: They were seeded throughout the Infinite Empire as a slave race and abandoned when it fell. There is no evidence they existed past the Old Republic era, where a few fractured and primitive survivors were seen on their home planet and this planet was devoid of life by the time of the Ruusan Reformation.
* '''Sith''': Red skinned near-humans with boney tentacles growing out from near their nose and an affinity for the dark side, especially illusions. Natives of Korriban, the order most people know as Sith were a result of exiled dark Jedi interbreeding with them and adding their knowledge of technology. So diluted with human blood they were extremely rare by the Old Republic era and believed extinct by the time of of the prequels. A few small mostly primitive pockets had been discovered however, but were covered up by Palpatine so he could grab more dark side goodies. More or less invented whole-cloth for the EU.
* '''Yuuzhan Vong''': [[Tyranids|Extragalactic aliens who only use organic technology]]. Pallid humanoids with tapered skulls who came from a living planet they worshiped as a god called Yuuzhan'tar. The first time the Vong met aliens was an [[Necrons|interstellar robot war]]. Fighting off said robots made them hate all machines and [[Khorne|gain such a taste for conquest they made up a new war god and conquered their galaxy]]... only to destroy it due to infighting. To punish their tyranny, Yuuzhan'tar [[Culexus|cut them off from the Force, unintentionally making them mostly immune to it]]. They developed [[Dark Eldar|a race-wide pain and body modification fetish]] trying to fix this before finding and invading the Star Wars galaxy. The resulting religious war decimated the New Republic, caused mass genocides and had a death toll of around '''365 trillion''' ([[Lamenters|including Chewbacca]]). Then Luke and his family killed [[Goge Vandire|the guy manipulating their civilization behind the scenes]], found Yuuzhan'tar's living planet offspring and ended the wawr. The Vong colonized it, reconnected to the Force and became terraformers as penance. Rendered part of the Legends by Disney.
* '''Grysk''': A near mythical species from the Unknown regions, where starships usually can't go because the hyperspace along its border is a level of fucked-up that only warp storms can match. Little is known about them except that they live on a spacefleet, have a fierce warrior culture, are humanoids with tapered skulls, their weapons and armor are ritualistically disfigured on the right side and they had a penchant for [[Tesla|electrical weapons]]. Likely Disney's replacement for the Yuuzhan Vong, since Space Cenobites with bio-tech is too weird and grimdark for Disney. The Rak'gol to the Yuuzhan Vong's Tyranids.

==Impact on 1d4chan and associated games etc==

Star Wars has had subtle and clear impacts on a number of other franchises and genres and it can be ''incredibly'' hard to gauge the extent of it all. Certainly it didn't create the concepts of sci-fi, space battles, sweeping storylines, and a blending of mystical and scientific ideas, but it certainly popularized them during the years of the original trilogy and influenced many people that would go on to have interests in sci-fi, fantasy and epic adventure today.

Hell, look me in the eye and tell me that the lightsaber didn't give us the [[power weapon]]. But then again, magic weapons.
==Sabacc and Pazaak==
A rather unusual entry here but it's well in line, Sabacc is an actual tabletop card game from the Star Wars universe which is basically a hybrid of Poker and Blackjack. A Sabacc Deck has 76 cards, most of which in four suits of 16 cards numbered one to 16, plus sixteen wildcards in two sets with values that were either negative or (in the case of the Idiot) Zero. The goal of the game is to have a set of three cards who's total as close as possible to, but not over, 23 or -23. If you got 23/-23 which could only be beaten by an Idiot's Array (One Idiot, a two and a three, thus 23). The stakes are raised every cycle until the cards go down or one player is left standing who gets the pot.

The notable thing about Sabacc that sets it apart from real world card games is that the Cards can change value every turn. A Pure Sabacc can easily become an instant lose 25 and an absolutely lousy hand can become an Idiot's Array. They can be stabilized to fix their value, but everyone knows when you do so. This feature has so far prevented Sabacc from being released in tabletop form as of yet. ''(Of course, there are ways to deal with this, such as simply re-dealing unfixed cards, but never let it be said that nerds will choose practicality over purity.)''

Pazaak is an older game from an in-universe perspective, similar to Blackjack but its player versus player rather than player versus dealer and also has some aspects of a collectible card game. Goal of the game is to raise cards from the main deck until their total value is 20 or they can also choose to stand if they get close but don't want to risk it. Best out of five wins.

CCG-aspect of Pazaak comes from the sidedeck: both players collect ten cards for their side deck and then randomly take four cards from their side deck to their hand in the beginning of the game. Hand cards are used to either lower or raise the total value: so if the player raises cards from the main deck to the total value of 25, they can prevent dropping out if they have a -5 card or higher in their hand.
Cards which only either raise or lower the value are the most common of the side cards.
More rarer are cards which can be used to both raise and lower the value.
Then there are flip cards, which change certain main deck cards on the table to negative ones. So if the player plays a 2&4 flip card, all 2:s and 4:s on the table become -2:s and -4:s. Flip cards exist in 2&4:s and 3&6:s.
Then there is the double card, which doubles the value of the last played card. So if the player raises a 5 from the main deck, playing the double card would turn it into a 10.
Finally, the rarest side deck card is the tiebreaker, which grants the player a win if the game would otherwise end in a tie.

==Tabletop games for Star Wars==

=== Role-playing Games ===

[[West End Games]] made a Star Wars [[role-playing game]] called [[Star Wars RPG|Star Wars: The Roleplaying Game]] AKA '''Star Wars D6'''. Like many West End products, it's a good game with the great misfortune of being published by West End games.

[[Wizards of the Coast]] picked up the license later and made two distinct RPGs based on their [[d20 System]], called [[Star Wars D20]] (imaginatively). Could be fun, but generally broken as hell, much like [[Dungeons & Dragons 3rd Edition|its parent game]]. It was then utterly revised that into what they called the '''Saga Edition''', which is relatively balanced and pretty good.

[[Fantasy Flight Games]] is presently selling [[Star Wars Roleplaying Game|a whole line of Star Wars-themed RPGs]], whether you want to play a bunch of scruffy space outlaws, members of the nascent Rebellion, or exiled Jedi Knights. Unlike their [[Warhammer 40,000 Roleplay]] games, which are all ''juuuuust'' different enough from one another to completely buttfuck any attempts at blending, all three gamelines use identical mechanics and are fully cross-compatible. Uses symbol-counting [[dice pool]]s with ludicrously overpriced custom dice.
Like the other RPGs they decided with the retardedly similar name, and thus this one is sometimes called '''Star Wars FFG''' to avoid confusion.

FFG have kept milking the franchise and in summer 2017, decided to [[Necromancer | reanimate]] the [[Star Wars RPG|Star Wars: The Roleplaying Game]] with a "30th Year Anniversary Edition" print of the original game. It '''''finally''''' shipped in July 2018 after spending a year in limbo.

=== Card Games ===

The big [[card game]] set in the Star Wars universe is the [[Star Wars Customizable Card Game]]. It's no longer produced by Decipher, but there is still a sufficiently large player community to organize annual tournaments, rule on cards, and so on. SWCCG was radically different from the norm of card games, being divided into light and dark side cards with different backings, with light and dark always playing against each other. For tournament play a player would need both a light and dark deck.

[[Wizards of the Coast]] made the [[Star Wars Trading Card Game]].

[[Fantasy Flight Games]] is presently selling [[Star Wars: The Card Game]].

Obviously, nobody is capable of creating a Star Wars card game with an interesting name.

Aside from the real, physical, games there was also ''Star Wars Galaxies Trading Card Game''. It was a real, functioning, card game within the MMO that used all virtual cards. Unfortunately no server emulators have implemented it yet.

=== Miniature Games ===
[[Wizards of the Coast]] did a tabletop battles game imaginatively called Star Wars: Miniatures, based on an extremely dumbed down version of the D&D ruleset. The figures were meant to tie in with the Saga edition RPG, it wasn't terrible on its own, just impossible to collect for competitive play since figures came in random booster packs so you never know what you were getting for what faction. Who could possibly stand for that?

[[Fantasy Flight Games]] is producing the [[X-Wing]] miniatures game based on individual starfighter combat (because, let's be honest, that's what ''Star'' Wars is all about). They have also released [[Star Wars: Armada]] which is a larger scale "fleet" combat simulator, using capital ships and squadrons of starfighters.

'''Star Wars: Imperial Assault'''

The latest [[Fantasy Flight Games]] addition to its Star Wars related games is a mix between a miniature board game and a skirmish wargame. It has two play modes:

One for campaign play where 1-4 players control a team of Rebel heroes and another player has the role of the DM, who controls the Imperial forces. The campaign, as the name suggests, focuses on character personalization, xp gain and the like, which you can find in any light RPG-esque (board)game. The main goal is to get a few friends together and casually play through the missions. Think of it as a Star Wars version of the original [[Hero Quest]].

The other play mode is skirmish play, where two players each get to assemble a team of miniatures plus a command deck (cards that have specific effects when played) and play against each other in an open-play scenario. The play area is still very limited to a few game tiles (as in a campaign mission) but players are free to bring whatever they want (with a few limitations of course). The skirmish part of Imperial assault is as close as you can get to an actual Star Wars skirmish wargame, but it is a missed opportunity from Fantasy Flight to create a true skirmish wargame (ala [[Infinity (wargame)|Infinity]]), not based on tiles and so confined spaces. Who knows what they have plans for though...

'''Star Wars Legion'''

And Fantasy Flight have now given us a fully fledged wargame, complete with AT-ST in the first wave. (They're 32mm scale, which means [[Games Workshop|no reusing your Imperial Assault miniatures]].) Legion has an integrated turn system, and the usual FF custom dice and forest worth of dead trees in cards and tokens that will be familiar to X-Wing and Armada players. The miniatures are PVC, reasonably detailed, easy to assemble pieces. A standard battle is 800 points, which could be anywhere from half a dozen to 16 units on the field, with an average army fielding 8-12 units comprising 30-ish models.

=== Card Miniature Games ===

In the late 00's, WizKids produced a short lived construct-able miniatures Star Wars game based on their styrene card system for Pirates of the Spanish Main. Although the game sold well, when NECA bought WizKids from Topps the rights did not transfer and it went out of print.

==Video games for Star Wars==

To put it bluntly, every game which could possibly have ''Star Wars'' slapped onto it, exists. Flight simulators. Racers. Rail shooters. Doom clones. MMOs. Age of Empires reskins. Hell, there's even a Kinect dance game. Here's a few standouts...

* '''Knights of the Old Republic''': A pair of single player RPGs depicting a Sith war several thousand years before ''A New Hope''. KotOR is widely regarded as the best Star Wars video game ever, and was the framework for BioWare's ''Mass Effect'' series. Of all the Legacy stuff, KotOR appears to still be in good standing with Disney since they continue to borrow from it. The sequel by obsidian was the original skubtastic take on the franchise TLJ wanted to be but failed miserably. Got an MMO simply called "Old Republic" (since you can play as things other than Jedi and Sith) that is the sequel, which had a very rough start but stabilized enough to still survive to this day somehow. Possibly still canon in the Disney continuity since a lot of things get borrowed or referenced from it.

* '''Star Wars Galaxies''': An early MMO, launched after ''Everquest'' but before ''WoW''. Galaxies is noteworthy for making force powers a prestige achievement requiring enormous in-game effort to unlock. The first expansion pack added a subgame that's a pretty solid flight game in its own right and the game eventually added an original, fully playable, trading card game that sadly has not yet been implemented in any simulator. Then ''World of Warcraft'' hit, Sony panicked and made Jedi a starting class and replaced the skill system with massive level grind, and offered refunds to the raging army of neckbeards. Subscription numbers tanked and never recovered. Like most "dead" MMOs that people loved it still lives on through illegal private servers (don't worry, the guys providing it would get busted, not people playing on it).

* '''X-Wing''': A series of ''Wing Commander'' clones released in the 90's. While badly dated today, they were the best fighter sims of their time, and if you can get past the highly primitive graphics some people still consider them to be the best to this day. Interestingly, TIE Fighter is largely seen as the best of the series while the N64 era Rogue Squadron and Shadows Of The Empire games are seen as being far more visually modern but largely inferior sequels. Did we mention you had to use a flight stick controller basically made for these games to really do well at these?

* '''Star Wars Battlefront II''': Not to be confused with that "game" released by EA in 2017. Solid game from the new-defunct Pandemic studio (fuck you, EA) in 2005 told from the perspective of a clone trooper that survived all the way up to the battle of Hoth, with a very down to earth boots on the ground approach. Also, just being thrown into random matches as a soldier because fun. Despite some issues, it remains the high point of the Battlefront series as well as the entire PS2 era, and on PC still has fans via an active modding community to this day.

* '''Monopoly Star Wars''': Its Star Wars Monopoly. With 90's FMV that plays for every square you land on. On floppy disks. Considered fucking amazing at the time, its too strange and tabletop to not mention. Also one of the last pre-Prequel things released.

* '''Super Star Wars''': A heavily modified retelling of the original trilogy (what, you don't remember how Luke chased down the Sandcrawler and murdered all the Jawas as well as their giant rat god in order to rescue R2-D2?) that was one of the ways to say "hard as fuck" by namedropping a game prior to Dark Souls existing. Amusing for the insanity of the added content in order to make a platformer sidescrolling beat'em'up as well as how neckbeardy you have to be to punish yourself trying to beat it without cheating.

* '''Star Wars: Yoda Stories''': A game geared for kids, released the same year as Monopoly above. Players play as Luke sometime after Empire Strikes Back, although an odd alternate version where Han sometimes is free from carbonite and Boba Fett and sometimes is not. They are assigned a quest by Yoda which requires them to traverse one or more procedurally generated planets doing whatever odd crap Yoda felt was necessary, including sometimes fighting Vader. Recieved middling scores as a PC release, with some individuals HATING the game and using it as a benchmark for how much they hate something when comparing the two, although to be fair that is because distributors tried to sell it like a full game when in reality its supposed to just be freebie software that came with other purchases and was meant to go with Solitaire and space pinball as default games on a computer to waste time with. It has lapsed into obscurity thanks to even those reviewers largely being forgotten on the modern internet. Noteworthy for being played on a grid with simultaneous turn-based movement with all enemies and NPCs on a screen, feeling very much like a tabletop game at times. A simple puzzle game, where getting blocked in a corner without enough space to pass the time by an idiot NPC is more dangerous than any foe.

==Assorted list of Awesome From Star Wars==
* What is likely the greatest duel in cinematic history, that takes place on a [[Death World|lava planet.]]
* Clone Troopers
* Darth Vader whenever he gets a speaking line or to murder rebel scum
* Darth Maul in both The Phantom Menace and TCW.
* Lightsaber Rifles
* The entirety of the Umbara campaign, where <s>Imperial Guardsmen</s> Clone Troopers die in the dozens attempting to win some godforsaken planet, earning them balls of titanium that make the guard look ba- {{BLAM| '''*BLAM*''' Heresy!}}
* 98% of the Starfighter designs.
* Mandalorians
* Boba and Jango Fett
* Lightsabers
* Obi-Wan Kenobi
* TIE fighters. They have the most distinctive scream of any fighter in cinematic history that just yells "I'm evil!". Tell me I'm wrong. I'll wait.
* Most of Episode 3.
* The entirety of Anakin's story, especially when you add the Clone Wars and prequels. While you're at it, watch CinemaWins' perspective on it the series.
* Admiral Ackbar
* Palpatine getting into some Tzeentchian-level scheming and backstabbing in order to overthrow the Jedi and the Republic.
* Grand Admiral Thrawn: So awesome that he rose to a high rank in the anthropocentric Empire despite being an alien and was one of the first (and rare few) things to be imported straight from Legends to Disney.
* Imperial Pilots get a mention, seeing as they fly literal garbage fighters against superior rebel fighters. By garbage, we mean that even the Imperium have better fighter designs than these guys. At least Imperial fighters conserve the life of the fucking pilot.

== See Also: ==
* ''[http://www.darthsanddroids.net/ Darths & Droids]'': A webcomic, made using photo-stills of the ''Star Wars'' movies to tell a story about gamers blundering through each of the six movies in sequence... though not quite exactly how you might expect. Think ''DM of the Rings'' in overall visual style, though unlike ''DM of the Rings'', ''Darths & Droids'' features several heavy twists on the actual events of the films, subplots about the players and their lives outside the game alongside the campaign, and a better overall quality of gamer.
*[[Timothy Zahn]]
*[[Star Wars:The Clone Wars]]
*[[Star Wars:Rebels]]
*[[Star Wars:Resistance]]
[[Category:Star Wars]]

Star Wars

2019-10-15T11:12:18Z

2406:3400:20F:FFC0:A80D:9EEE:1E6F:E984: /* The Ugly EU */

[[Image:StarWarsLogo.png|right|400px|thumb|A Long Time Ago in a Galaxy Far Far Away...]]
{{Star Wars}}
{{Topquote|A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away....|Star Wars opening text}}
'''[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_D0ZQPqeJkk/ Star Wars]''' is one of, if not ''the'', most influential media franchises of modern times, let alone its effect on science-fiction and fantasy. Indeed, among [[/tg/|nerddom]], it is challenged by only a few others, like [[Star Trek]] and [[The Lord of the Rings]]. The incredibly ardent fandom is spread worldwide and has a strong presence in popular culture. Many of the characters, like Darth Vader and Yoda, are iconic even to the general public. John Williams' score for the original trilogy is probably the best-known film score of all time. The universe has spawned numerous video games, hundreds of novels, multiple TV shows, one of the largest merchandising franchises ever, and, relevant to /tg/, a whole bunch of board, card, and roleplaying games.

It is also the current leading world source of [[Skub]].

==The Basic Concept==
Star Wars was originally a series of epic science-fantasy "space operas" that roughly followed the mythic cycle that's been around since Homer. They're set "a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away," [Note: this makes the entire series a fairy tale] where a mysterious life force called (reasonably enough) the Force permeates everything. This, in turn, can be wielded by certain people, giving them pseudo-magical abilities; thank the Emperor (no, the other one) there were no Commissars in that universe. Those who use it for good become mystical, selfless warrior monks called Jedi, whereas those who use it for evil are ruthless, self-serving bastards called Sith. However, the Force must always be in balance, so any time the Sith arise to cause imbalance, the Jedi have to pull together and take them out to restore the natural order.

The so-called Original Trilogy (made up of films IV through VI, released from 1977 to 1983) followed a young man named Luke Skywalker who becomes a Jedi and re-balances the Force. Meanwhile, the Rebel Alliance is fighting to end the oppressive Galactic Empire, which is secretly led by the Sith. Luke and his Rebel companions eventually defeat the evil Emperor Palpatine, but along the way they discover that his lieutenant, Darth Vader, is actually Luke's father. A financial, critical, popular and cultural H-bomb, these movies are basically the filter through which Generation X perceives the world... for better or worse.

The so-called Prequel Trilogy (made up of films I through III, released from 1999 to 2005) explained how Anakin Skywalker became Darth Vader and how the Galactic Empire was established. This involves a lot of convoluted politicking in the Republic, which is then torn apart in the Clone Wars, where the Republic (with an army of clones led by the Jedi) fights against the Confederacy (with an army of robots led by [[Necrons|General Grievous]] and secretly controlled by the Sith). It was not as well received as the first trilogy, for reasons we'll talk about below.

There's also a so-called Sequel Trilogy (made up of film VII and presumably films VIII and IX), which started in 2015 and picked up the story some three decades after the Emperor's defeat with a new generation of heroes taking on the remains of the evil Empire, which is a group of extremist former Imperials calling themselves the First Order. However, Episode VII aka ''The Force Awakens'', was directed by J.J. Abrams, who's mostly known for the [[skub|skubtastic]] [[Star Trek]] reboot, while Episode VIII was written and directed by Ryan Johnson who was a young director known for plot twists and genre experimentation on a handful of movies and television episodes that openly said he wanted to "subvert expectations" and make half of viewers dislike his work, then got pissed when half of them disliked his work. The result managed to fracture the Star Wars fanbase over issues of dull rehashing for VII and a whole laundry list of reasons for VIII (ranging from small ones such as it being too different, to major issues like half the movie being filler), as well as those who still enjoyed them and very little common ground between the three groups.

Finally, there are the so-called Anthology movies, standalone one-shots involving characters and plotlines that aren't a part of the main "Saga" films, except they kind of are. The first, Rogue One (2016), is an immediate prequel to Episode IV that follows those Rebel spies who stole the Death Star plans. The second film follows a young Han Solo and pals Chewie and Lando. A third rumored one follows Boba Fett.

There are also three separate TV series. The first one, ''Clone Wars'', was based on traditional animation, whereas the later one, '''''The''' Clone Wars'', was a weird 3D animation. They're both pretty good. There was also a terrible theatrical release that was basically just an advertisement for ''The Clone Wars'', but, since it's even worse than the Prequel Trilogy (hint: babysitting Jabba the Hutt's kid), nobody talks about it much. The third series is Disney's ''"Rebels"'' which is set between Episodes III-IV and it takes itself far less seriously than Clone Wars did, and is more of a homage to the original trilogy since not every character in the series is the owner of a lightsaber nor are they constantly talking about grown-up politics, senators and trade embargoes... pretty much the things that clogged up the plot of the prequel trilogy.

And then there's the whole Expanded Universe, which covers pretty much everything not covered by the films, like the Old Republic (set thousands of years before the prequel trilogy, when there were a hell of a lot more Sith and Jedi around) and the New Republic (set immediately after the original trilogy, explaining what became of all the characters. It could also reach 40k levels of grimdark with races like the [[Dark Eldar|Yuuzhan]] [[Tyranids|Vong]] characters like [[Vampire|Darth Nihilus]] and beings like [[Old Ones|Abeloth]].

The EU is no longer considered in the main canon of the films and TV series, due to the new sequel trilogy which does not follow EU, the reason for this being, according to Disney, that following EU would restrict their creative freedom. The reaction to this was, well, [[skub|mixed, for lack of a better word.]] They've since noted that they'll slot ''some'' of it in on a case-by-case basis, but the canon is in a highly fluid state at the moment. EU is now officially called Star Wars Legends, though most fans still refer to it as EU.

==Why is it so popular?==

Star Wars is as accessible as science fiction gets. It doesn't require extensive knowledge of a fictional world (a la ''[[The Lord of the Rings]]'' or ''[[Warhammer 40,000]]'') or cultural background (as ''[[Star Trek]]'' sometimes does) to make sense. Those elements are present for those who want them, but they largely stay in the (very rich and vibrant) background. It has well-shot action and good ''enough'' dialogue to make it interesting for both kids and adults (as well as allowing parents who grew up with it to watch it with their children, thereby hooking the next generation of viewers). It has simple, good-vs.-evil themes that resonate with almost anyone, anywhere, at any time. The science fiction elements are generally handled well if you don't obsess over making science fiction realistic and hard. It's a prime gateway drug for sci-fi which still holds up to the experienced eye, Isaac Asimov saw and rather enjoyed the films. All in Fourteen hours of cinema, plus optional sides for those who want it.

There's a ton of merchandise that is, of course, really cool. Also, given it's crossed over into the mainstream, many people feel comfortable being part of the community without feeling judged as "nerds" (as they might with ''Lord of the Rings'', ''D&D'', ''Star Trek'', ''Warhammer'', etc.).

Again, they roughly follow the mythic cycle that's been around since Homer. If you think about it, 4 of the 7 films can be summarized as: hero begins his journey under the tutelage of a wise (more or less) man, they encounter a threat which has captured/enslaved a princess/girl, who was in one way or another connected to an important secret (usually a superweapon but could be the identity of a political figure or the location of someone); the heroes save the princess/girl but someone dies tragically in a battle against the villain while someone else is blowing up a space station or a spaceship afterwards they are happy, they celebrate and mourn the loss of the poor bloke who died.

Additionally, the first film can be summarized as a samurai and a gunslinger team up to save a princess from Nazis in space. That is multiple cinematic genres at once, following the style of the epic myth.

==Characters==
Originally, a list was on this page. It was idiotically long, and so has been given it's own page to help streamline this page in particular.
*[[Star Wars Characters]], For those of you who care.

==The rise of the original trilogy==

A long long time ago, in a galaxy far far away....etc etc you all know the lines.

A man called George Lucas had the idea to create a series of epic sci-fi space operas that would become so successful that Disney would take notice and give it the franchise fluttering eye lashes, trying to seduce it.

They would be called... ''Flash Gordon''.

Unfortunately for Georgie boy, and fortunately for modern nerddom, Dino de Laurentiis already owned ''Flash Gordon'', and were busy making their own, hilariously eighties version, so he said, screw it, I'll make my own!

He decided to start with the fourth movie in the series he envisioned, for at the time he didn't have the special effects to create the first three to the standard he wanted, and/or he just kinda made up the first movie as he went along (drawing heavily on Akira Kurosawa's seminal samurai action film, ''Hidden Fortress'' in the process as well as the book [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Hero_with_a_Thousand_Faces ''The Hero with a Thousand Faces''], a complex 1949 Joseph Campbell analysis of the various mythologies of human history all boiled down into the basic archtypes and elements required in heroic myth). So Episode Four ''A New Hope'' was created (simply titled ''Star Wars'' at the time) and it is not an exaggeration to say it changed the face of sci-fi and general moviemaking forever, bringing a new era of special effects and imagination to cinema and changing the lives of many who would go onto to become dedicated fan boys.

Originally, the studio had forced Lucas to take ever-increasing paycuts for what they were sure was going to be a flop, and only let him keep merchandising rights. However, whatever his flaws, George Lucas was a man of vision. Having helped pioneer the summer blockbuster, he went on to do the same to ginormous piles of movie-tie-in memorabilia. His production company, Lucasfilm ended up rolling in dosh, and with Episode Five ''The Empire Strikes Back'' and Episode Six ''The Return of the Jedi'', the legend of Star Wars and its place in cultural history was assured.

tl;dr: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ij4w7ChpuaM Pretty much this.]

==The coming of the prequel trilogy==
With the year 2000 coming, George Lucas felt that special effects technology had reached the level he wanted and began to create the first three movies in the star wars story he had envisioned. (As a side-note, he also made some touch-ups to the three original films, re-mastering them with special effects and a couple of extra scenes that weren't doable with the eighties' animatronics. But those were mostly accepted/shrugged away since they didn't deeply modify anything.)

The hype for the movies was immense.

And then the first movie, Episode One ''The Phantom Menace'' came out.....and there was nerd rage beyond expectation.

Part of the problem was that the immense expectations of the fandom had grown until anything less-than-perfect simply would not do, so perhaps that is somewhat to blame for the reaction to the prequel trilogy. In a vacuum one has to admit that they aren't completely ''[[Twilight|terrible films]]'' .

Episode Two ''Attack of the Clones'' and Episode Three ''Revenge of the Sith'' followed after a few years each and didn't garner nearly as much hatred, though fans complained they didn't match the greatness of the original trilogy, more concerned with flashy action and effects than competent story-telling; but hooo-boy did it deliver in flashy action, with laser armed [[MI-24 Hind|MI-24's]] full of <s>storm</s>troopers extracting jedi from a coliseum full of shooty killbots.

''Revenge of the Sith'' did, however, receive higher ratings than ''Return of the Jedi'', and is generally seen as the best and most-complete of the three prequel films as a story. Unusually the novelization alters some details and is considered a legitimately good book on its own merits.

What was generally more well received (despite a rocky start with a two hour pilot being pressed into service as a movie and an art style that took some time to gel) during this time for Star Wars was the Clone Wars animated series (both the traditionally-animated ''Clone Wars'' and the later seasons of the CGI show '''''The''' Clone Wars'', the latter which most everyone agrees is what the prequels should have been), following the war between the Republic and the Confederacy that sprung up during the time between the second and third of the prequels.

In defense of the prequel trilogy's sins, they did at least do their own thing. Because of how much money the original trilogy made, practically every form of media in the 80s and 90s aped it to some form or another, and instead of falling back on the same old shit the prequels branched out and tried to get out of the franchise's comfort zone a bit. While a lot of it sucked, it blazed a trail for better writers to follow and helped liven up the universe by showing us the galaxy beyond fuckhueg spaceships and faux-Western shitholes like Tatooine. And all but the most [[Neckbeard|diehard OT purists]] can get behind shit like Naboo architecture, the Clone Army and Mace "The Ace" Windu. From a story perspective the worst sin of the prequels was demystifying the force, and subsequent works have largely swept that detail under the carpet.

==Disney and the sequel trilogy==

Finally, all the efforts by Disney to woo George Lucas paid off and in 2012 Disney acquired the Star Wars franchise for 4 billion dollars and immediately announced they would produce a new trilogy of films set after the original trilogy.

Expectations were almost as high as the private fears of the fans. Bringing on the creative talent behind the [[skub|skubtastic]] ''[[Star Trek]]'' reboot was equally... well, [[skub|take a wild guess]].

===Episode 7: The Mouse Awakens===
''Star Wars Episode 7: The Force Awakens'' debuted in December of 2015, and reception was what you would expect: the film was immediately a massive success from a monetary standpoint as everyone ([[China|almost]]) everywhere rushed to the theaters in response to the hype, with children engaging in as many repeat viewings as their parent's money could allow as fans did the same thing with their own. It has become a financial hit with the general public and a (critically) generally well-reviewed piece, with decent cinematography, special effects, technical stuff, etc. It also went on to become the third biggest financial success in film history, when not adjusted for inflation.

Fan response was a good deal more mixed. Many criticize the plot for rehashing Episode IV, without doing anything to establish its own identity and claim that it had a bland main character, [[Mary Sue|who had too many abilities]] whereas others find the replication of ''Star Wars'' feel an acceptable trade and praise it for being a decent action film, [[DERP|and FALSELY point out the lead doesn't even outdo any of the previous main characters in anything]]. These idiots fail to remember even '''Luke was constant embodiment of FAIL in his first movie,''' constantly being led by Solo and Obi-wan, and even the princess he goes to rescue takes control of the situation when shit hit the fan, and his final shot against the Death Star was aided by a Force Ghost so powerful he once kicked Vader's butt. Even Luke's final "triumph" against Vader was dwarfed by him having to be rescued by daddy. Also, said Vader, despite being the most Mary Sue character in canon, still lost his hand in his first ever lightsaber duel (Dooku) even after a decade of training under an accomplished knight (Obi-wan defeats a Sith in his first duel!), unlike MaRey Sue. And up until Padme arrived on Tatooine the boy Anakin said he never won a single podrace, let alone finish one. Even a genius like Anakin was matched with tough obstacles to match that showed him fail (Anakin's whole plot is the tragedy of "why can't I save anyone despite my powers?").

Some would argue that by rehashing the original trilogy it basically nullified the accomplishments of the original crew; the Empire's still around, they've got yet another superweapon, Han & Leia split up, Luke failed to rebuild the Jedi, etc. Other fans praised it simply for being a new Star Wars that was better than the prequel trilogy.

And at least the jokes were better this time.

Coincidentally, when Hamill and Fisher were originally approached by Disney to reprise their roles as Luke and Leia, they ''didn't want to do it'' right from the start. But, they didn't want to give an out-and-out "no" answer either, so they told Disney they'd return if Harrison Ford agreed to return as Han Solo as well. Knowing how much Ford ''hated'' Solo, Hamill and Fisher figured they were safe, until Disney irresistibly sweetened the deal for Ford by agreeing to kill off his character, thus forcing a reluctant Hamill and Fisher to make good on their deal... [[skub|only for the three characters to never appear on the screen at the same time.]]

===Rebels & Rogues: Star Wars Stories===
Disney also released their own CGI series: ''Star Wars: Rebels'', which is actually pretty ok (considering that it airs on Disney XD, it should be no surprise that they've toned down the graphic depictions of gratuitous violence, much to the chagrin of [[Neckbeards|those who love overly gory deaths]]). It focuses less on the Jedi that have come to dominate the franchise and more on the "boots on the ground" experience of the average characters, and while the show started slow and small, the plot gained momentum as the series progressed, especially after the first season. The Rebel movement started to grow, several characters returned from ''The Clone Wars'', and the enemies the main characters have had to face steadily got darker and more dangerous as more of the Empire’s attention was attracted. When Darth Vader gets involved (played by none other than [[Awesome|James Earl Jones himself]]) he immediately proceeds to [[Awesome|open a 24-pack of unstoppable whoop-ass on the rebel scum]]. The return of Maul resulted in three character deaths (possibly four), the crippling of one main character with another well on his way down the dark side, and to top it all off Maul himself was on the loose once again. Things did not turn out so well [[Grimdark|last time that happened]], so expect the body count to rise, especially with [[Creed|Grand Admiral Thrawn]] now also coming onto the scene. The show also continues the trend set by ''The Clone Wars'' in making the Force mystical again, though whether this is a good or bad thing depends on how you felt about the <s>bullshit</s> <s>scientific</s> [[Skub|skubtastic]] midichlorian explanation of the Prequels. The animation is on point with ''The Clone Wars'', which considering it's Disney should surprise less than nobody. Oh, and Steve Blum voices one of the main characters. However, it is also noted that Star Wars Rebels may indeed have [[Grimdark|dark ending]]. Which, to a degree, it did. An important character dies, and his padawan flees into the unknown regions, leaving us with two other characters to go look for him after the second Death Star blows up.

[[Skub|The way that Filoni (the creator of Rebels and The Clone Wars) has handled the Mandalorians, a fan-favorite warrior-culture based upon the Scots and Vikings, has either been met with praise from those who despised Traviss and her overpowering of said culture, or utter RAGE that he turned many of them into either pacifist morons or bloodthirsty barbarians- usually that particular criticism comes from the Traviss fanboys]]. Do take note, however, that the old ways for the Mandalorians are making their way back into canon, such as the language, the emphasis on martial honor, and the decentralized nature of their government.

December of 2016 brought us the first standalone Star Wars movie, "Rogue One", showing the theft of the original Death Star plans. While "Rogue One" has been criticised for being lacking in character development; (fair warning) literally the entire cast of the movie who doesn't appear in Episode IV dies by the end, and it still manages to pack more than it's fair share of awesome into the movie, with Donnie Yen, Alan Tudyk and Darth Vader all used to great effect. Rogue One also answers several questions, plugs several plot holes, and just generally makes A New Hope make a lot more sense in retrospect. (No wonder Vader wasn't impressed when Leia claimed to be on a "diplomatic mission.") It also has the distinction of being the only Star Wars movie to focus on regular soldiers instead of Jedi. Much, much [[Skub]] still exists of course, since no Star Wars movie will ever please all the neckbeards but out of the four post-Disney Star Wars movies released so far, this one is definitely the least divisive and arguably the best of the bunch.

===Episode 8: The Last Royalty Check (aka zomg Luke dies!)===
On December 14 2017, ''Star Wars Episode 8: The Last Jedi'' was released world wide. The critical reception was [[Bullshit|extremely positive]], with many critics considering it the best movie in the series since The Empire Strikes Back. The fan reception has been a great deal more negative and [[Skub|mixed]], and a number of fans are convinced that Disney leaned on media outlets to shill the new movie or else. If you have watched the Empire Strikes Back, you ''WILL'' be [[Rage|disappointed at best]], if you want to see a Star Wars film that would finally expand the characters of Kylo Ren and Rey, you ''WILL'' be satisfied and disappointed at the same time, if you want to watch the film because it is the last film starring the great and wonderful Carrie Fisher, you ''WILL'' feel hollow and sad inside, and if you came to see a pair of lightsaber-wielding punks involved in one of the [[Skub|greatest or worst lightsaber battles of the franchise, you ''WILL'' be pleased or horribly dissapointed]]. The Last Jedi is seen as one of the most divisive films in the franchise by the fandom, [[FAIL|which is one hell of an achievement]] considering other films.

The complaints about The Last Jedi are many: the treatment of Luke (which even his actor, Mark Hamill, hated, to the point that he has no interest in playing Luke again), Leia's Superman asspull, Finn's plot arc that serves practically zero purpose and has him undergo the same character arc as the last movie, the forced humor, the complete disregard for established [[fluff]], disregard for even the most basic laws of physics, the fact that the central conflict is essentially the same as the one in the originals right down to the last stand ripped straight out of ''Empire'', the PC bullshit (a hipster admiral who the plot always treats as being in the right despite killing 90% of the Resistance, the Gilded Age planet arc that [[Namek|sucks up a third of the movie to no benefit,]] Rose expressing her desire to get BLACKED with a horrendous and forced #LoveTrumpsHate one-liner in the final act) added solely to virtue-signal and the whole thing being basically a 2,5h screed against the franchise it belongs to and the culture which spawned it.

Fans have also criticized the movie for dropping or discarding major plot points from TFA and repeatedly invoking Shamalamadingdong-tier plot twists for cheap gotchas that are somehow less interesting than the recycled cliches they play off of. Director Rian Johnson has responded by shitting on said critics and trying to defend the film on social media like something out of an ED article. (Important note: George Lucas never tried to defend the prequels, despite the huge backlash at the time, and he agreed with fans that [[C.S Goto|The Star Wars Holiday Special]] was an abomination.) It later came out that Johnson had not been given any kind of roadmap beyond Lucas' old and unfinished concept scripts and was not allowed to see what Abrams had done until TLJ was too far into production to write in most of the previous movie's plot points, which makes the fail Disney's fault just as much as it is Johnson's. Except we also know that he had at least a modicum of influence over the ending of TFA, so they must have talked on at least some degree. As with TFA Lucasfilm has tried to paper over the holes with tie-in material, and just like TFA the fans recognize the damage control.

The Last Jedi has without a doubt torn the fanbase apart in ways even the prequels didn't come close to, with many fans declaring that they have dropped the sequel trilogy. Even Star Wars' famous merchandising has taken a mauling, as [[/toy/]] giggles at Rose Tico and General Hux figures warming shelves while new product shipments go straight from the transport case to the clearance bin.

===[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lg_FoEy8T_A I'm Solo, Han Solo, Han Solo]===
On May 25th 2018, the 41st anniversary of the franchise, ''Solo: A Star Wars Story'' was released. The general consensus seems to be that it is the most average film in the series. At the very least, most people agree that it is at least better than The Last Jedi (if barely) and the backlash from that movie can be felt even in Solo: many fans have chosen to boycott the movie. Even before release, many fans had derided the whole affair as unnecessary: no one was really asking for a Han Solo origin movie, particularly one without Harrison Ford. Han Solo's entire life history had already been explored thoroughly in EU novels and comics, so the movie could only be a retread or a retcon, both things most fanbases tend to disapprove of. Whether it is because of this boycott or not, [[Not as planned|something no one expected happened:]] ''Solo'' was a box office bomb. Its opening weekend performed way below expectations and as of this writing, it has only made half of the money it needs for it to break even. Disney still continued to labor under the delusion that China would save their bottom line regardless of the fact that Star Wars has never been popular in China.

So what is it like? Well, rather than being a space opera like the other films, this is a space Western. Rather than being about large-scale battles and saving the galaxy from tyranny, it's about heists and the galactic underworld. (Except for the Mimban sequence, which you'd swear was lifted from a live-action Imperial Guard movie.) It's essentially Disney's reboot/retcon of the old EU Han Solo novels, taking things that were mentioned offhand in the original trilogy (like how Han did the Kessel Run in 12 parsecs) and making that the subject of an entire movie. The film was perhaps cursed from the beginning due to its [[Fail|troubled production.]] How troubled? The lead needed an acting coach to get through his shoots (Han may have walked away with the Falcon, but Danny Glover's Lando stole the spotlight every time) and 70% of the movie had to be reshot by a different director due to [[Butthurt|creative differences]] between Lucasfilm and the original directors.

The fail only compounded when it premiered and fans got to see what those "creative differences" may have wrought: the writing staff started spewing bullshit to the press about Lando being "pansexual" with no precedent in any Star Wars production including ''Solo'', the film's tone is a schizophrenic nightmare to the last-minute reshoots and Han's sidekick for most of the movie is [[What|a self-built female droid social justice warrior]] named [[/v/|L3-37]]. Audiences ''cheered and applauded'' when that <s>man</s>human-hating self-insert character finally fucking died. Perhaps the most damning sin is that these are the movie's only notable qualities: take them away and you're left with a movie that would make you think "Huh, that was okay," and then never think about it again for the rest of your life, were it not for the crippling disappointment of seeing one of the most beloved franchises in the world fall so far. Between the boycotts, the mediocrity of the movie itself, and [https://encyclopediadramatica.rs/Gawker certain news outlets] claiming that the driving force behind said boycotts was [[/pol/]], ''Solo'' cratered so badly that [[Exterminatus|all non-''Episode 9'' Star Wars movies were for a short time shelved indefinitely, and the only side-movie still being worked on is the obligatory Boba Fett origin movie, which is more likely to sell tickets based on the name alone.]] Incidentally, one of the writers picked by Lucasfilm to handle ''Solo'''s tie-in content, Cavan Scott, has been hired by [[Games Workshop]] for the [[Warhammer Adventures]] series.

===Episode 9: The Rise of Skywalker (aka Papa Palpatine returns)===
We don't know much. What we do know, is that Palpatine (or the senate, according to some.) will be returning in a major role. However, this enrages the old guard of the Star Wars community. Why? The entire storyline of Star Wars was built around the idea of Anakin Skywalker's fall, and eventual redemption. He was the "chosen one", right? But now, seeing as the big bad is not dead and might end up being killed off by some relatively unknown new character compared to the classic characters from prior trilogies, this essentially means that Anakin died for nothing, and that all his character development meant nothing in the grand scheme of things (As a side note Papa Palpatine also returned in the old EU; but then again so did Vader with the whole force ghost thing.). This is made all the worse seeing how epVII basically detached the new trilogy from the events of the previous two by nullifying everything the heroes achieved in OT.

On the other hand, seeing the trailers for the other sequel movies, that JJ Abrams is known for revealing nothing of importance before the premiere of his films, and that Force ghosts exist; the most likely thing is, or that Palpatine is haunting the ruins of the Death Star instead of being alive, his force ghost is possessing someone else or that it is a big misdirection (although that would be a bullshit move).

If that's a good thing or not, we must wait and see. However, after finishing shooting, a poor showing among test audiences resulted in 3+ months of reshoots. If reception was poor enough to almost double the filming time and make it last till mere months before release, one can expect ''interesting'' results. The current speculation is, that Disney has about a dozen versions of the film thought out, and is making all the recent leaks on purpose to find one that would appease the fans.

==Expanded Universe==

It can be said what makes a franchise into a long term lasting thing is when a wealth of extra story and background is created that expands on the original story far beyond what there was. It could be argued Star Wars leads the race in this, as the sheer amount of extra novels, graphic novels and games based on Star Wars can and does overwhelm the ordinary fan.

The background has expanded into the distant past before the founding of the current Jedi and Sith orders and into the (not-quite-so) far future looking at the descendants of Luke Skywalker and other popular characters. Uniquely, especially considering [[Warhammer 40K|other]] [[Star Trek|franchises']] track records, the Star Wars Expanded Universe is <strike>remarkably</strike> <strike>sorta</strike> sometimes internally consistent, both with other sources within the universe and with the films themselves, at least in comparison to other comparable settings. Of course, it's got plenty of its own [[C. S. Goto|problem children]] that slipped through, and the [[skub]] mine of it all isn't much shallower than that of 40K. Good portions of it do hold up well, largely due to the efforts of Lucas' company's continuity department leaning on everyone to hold it together. Particularly well-loved parts include characters like Grand Admiral Thrawn (a rare alien officer in the Empire and popular enough that Disney brought him back to the canon from the EU) and Mara Jade (a woman who was a Force-user and former agent of Emperor Palpatine, who later turned good, became a Jedi, married Luke and had a son with him) - interestingly both were created by the same author [[Timothy Zahn]].

Upon their acquisition, Disney said "fuck it" and threw out everything but the films and the Clone Wars cartoons. Some popular old stuff got mentions or appearances (and Thrawn got to be a major character), but the overall quality is even lower than the old EU. What was set up as a major book contains phrases like "The TIE wibbles and wobbles through the air" and random virtue signalling. As though to top the previous, Disney literally published a book with an entire chapter about mass wedding farts (Yes. Really.). The only good stuff is from established EU authors writing stuff far away from era of the Disney films.

The [[rage]] over the EU's scrapping was major among many fans of it, but for all Disney's shortcomings, they were in a tight spot. Towards the end all that continuity and consistency got thrown out the airlock for increasingly dumb and disjointed narratives and garbled plot threads to the point that the Star Wars logo was just about as much a sign of quality as the Nintendo approval stamp on shitty SNES games. Though they have their fans, particularly contentious parts include the grimdark invasion of the Yuuzhan Vong - forcenull space-Druchii (no no, not Comorrites though they have the pain and body modification fetishes for it, space-'''Druchii''', riding enslaved tyranid bioships) from another galaxy, a personal-sized spaceship that could blow up whole galaxies and destroy fleets on its own, Mnggal-Mnggal - mindraping gelatin lost on its way to Star Trek, and Abeloth - an ancient (she predates the Jedi and the Sith) yandere Force entity who wandered in from the Cthulhu Mythos and is so dangerous the Jedi and the Sith '''joined forces''' to fight her. It's difficult to envision how Disney could have kept the EU when even before all that it was struggling to find a market beyond the most [[neckbeards|dedicated fans]].

Granted it's [[skub|debatable]] how much less successful the new EU is over the old.

===The Good EU===
* '''The Thrawn Trilogy''': The origination point for the EU, and focuses on the conflict with the Imperial remnants left over after RotJ. Basically the story "The Force Awakens" wishes it was.
** '''The Hand of Thrawn Duology''': A followup and closure of the EU to date (it was the last book of its publisher and could have been the last of the EU). The Imperial Remnant formally seeks peace with the New Republic, but an ongoing political crisis and rogue actors of the Remnant look to derail these efforts.
* '''The Han Solo Adventures''': Star's End was the second spinoff book written and the first good one. Would have made for a better film than ''Solo'' did.
** '''Han Solo Trilogy''': A later trilogy further expands Han's backstory that sandwiches the above.
* '''Shadows of the Empire''': Shadows is set between ESB and RotJ and fills in the details of getting the Death Star II's plans, finding out where Han was taken, Luke building his own saber, etc by the introduction of another bounty hunter by the name of Dash Rendar. The Special Edition rerelease of ''A New Hope'' added the Outrider to the background of one scene. Most notable for the fact that it was also adapted into a video game for the N64 and PC.
* '''Courtship of Princess Leia''': Deals with another Imperial remnant. This one has force witches.
* '''X-Wing Series''': The early books cover the siege and liberation of Coruscant. Then the series changed authors and it went for a more black-ops tone.
** '''I, Jedi''': A retelling of the Jedi Academy Trilogy (see down) with a lot less derp and more of the main character from the first set of X-Wing books.
* '''Revenge of the Sith''': The novelization is actually considered a serious improvement over the movie itself.
* '''Millennium Falcon''': A mystery uncovered in the Falcon's patchwork hull leads to a crotchety old Han Solo in his 70s and his granddaughter looking into what the Falcon's history was ''before'' Lando got his hands on it.

===The Bad EU===
* '''Jedi Academy Trilogy''': Luke sets up his academy on Yavin IV and tries to teach [[Rage|Kyp Durron]]. Imperial remnant superweapons hit ludicrous territory with the sun crusher. This was the beginning of Kevin J Anderson hammering out a couple dozen Star Wars books over about four years.
* '''Young Jedi Knights Series''': Set between Jedi Academy and New Jedi Order, mostly follows Han & Leia's kids.
* '''Jedi Apprentice Series''': Kenobi & Qui-Gon before Episode 1.
* '''Jedi Quest Series''': Anakin & Kenobi after Episode 1.
* All other books not listed. The stuff that made the Good EU list is there because it was either genuinely good or effectively canon. If you were to read the whole pile you might find bits and pieces of cool shit like Mace fighting Catachans or a Jedi turned P.I. in the Coruscant slums, but if it was genuinely good, or manifestly terrible, or had a lot of books, it would have made one of the lists.

===The Ugly EU===
* '''New Jedi Order''': The longest series with 20+ books by multiple authors. Fanatical aliens from another galaxy with organic technology called Yuuzhan Vong invade looking to conquer GFFA. Good or bad, things got weird. Chewie dies Majora's Mask style.
* '''The Crystal Star''': They got a Star Trek author to write for Star Wars, with very strange results.

==Star Wars:The Television Shows==
===Star Wars:The Clone Wars===
While we're on the topic of the EU,let's talk about TCW. One of the most universally known and loved parts of Star Wars,most fans worth their action figures and limited edition movie sets have watched the show and have an opinion on it one way or another. Some of the most notable characteristics are:

* The Clone Troopers are fleshed out,and we see that they are manly motherfuckers who make Guardsmen's balls of steel look like the cardboard their armor is made out of (seriously,in the movie,they literally charge straight into close combat with ''giant armored walkers with large guns'' and jump off roofs to get top of them to shoot them point blank, and punch droids in the face)
* Anakin Skywalker is actually a good, fleshed out character, with a good voice actor and shows his descent to child-murdering Force-choking asshat wasn't just him going 'welp,guess I'll fall to the Dark Side.' There was a fair amount of casual bad-cop murder to get there.
* Non-OP non-Mary Sue female Jedi as a major character who doesn't invalidate characters from the movies.
* Obi-Wan being a sexy one-liner spouting sarcastic badass.
* And many others.

However, there were some pretty derp moments too, such as

* Babysitting episode.
* D-squad, where a bunch of droids become heroes of the Republic.
* Mandalore and how it's fluff was basically screwed 180 degrees, and then some.
* Droid were comic relief of the first and second seasons. It was annoying.

All in all, it was an ok show.

===Star Wars:Rebels===
Now that Disney owns Star Wars they can't go a season without something new to run on Disney XD, so after ''The Clone Wars'' ended they needed a series to milk episodes out of and launched ''Rebels''. ''Rebels'' is set a few years before ''A New Hope'' and covers the early formation of the rebellion from the perspective of one cell focused on the planet Lothal. If you liked ''Rogue One'' but thought it should be about 25 hours long and done in cartoony CGI then this is the show for you.

So what did we see in ''Rebels''?

* Grand Admiral Thrawn makes his debut in Disney Star Wars, along with the TIE Defender project
* The bearded old guy in the Endor strike team in RotJ turns out to be Captain Rex
* You CAN [[combi-weapon]] a lightsaber and a blaster, and it's OP as shit
* Force wolves (no, not [[Rune Priest|those force wolves]])
* [[A Song of Ice and Fire|Game of Thrones-style]] Mandos (Krownest is pretty much Space-Winterfell)
* Ahsoka fights Vader (and then escapes into the webway)
* The Obi-Wan Kenobi vs Maul in a duel that's as epic as it is brief

So about the wolves... ''Rebels'' turns the force mysticism up past 11. Forget precog space monks with laser swords; as far as ''Rebels'' is concerned the Jedi are [[craftworld]] [[eldar]] without the racism.

However, there were levels of derp that we got to see in this show, such as the following:

* Since this is a Disney cartoon, the bad guys can't have even a temporary victory. This changes Thrawn and the other Imperials from an imposing force to [[Abbadon|cartoon villains]].
* Battles slower paced than a Death Guard movement phase.
* Lightsabers the shape of toothpicks.
* [[Bullshit|Helicopter lightsabers]]
* Complete bipolarity in tone.
* Iron Squadron. Just...fucking [[Rage|Iron Squadron]]

All in all, it depends on your preference.

===Star Wars:Resistance===

Annnd they had to go and change things. With ''Rebels'' coming to a close and a burning need to keep Star Wars on their lineup, Disney had a choice: find a new plot and setting for a formula and art style that had produced two successful multi-season shows, or throw it all out and start from scratch. Remember, this is Disney we're talking about, the company that once paid a quarter billion dollars to fire the producer who made ''The Little Mermaid'', ''Beauty and the Beast'', ''Aladdin'', and ''The Lion King'' only for him to go and found Dreamworks out of spite.

Like its predecessor, ''Star Wars:Resistance'' sets itself up as a prequel to a trilogy, in this case following the early days of the Resistance in its fight against the First Order. Where it differs from ''Rebels'' is that ''Resistance'' is playing the warm up act for a trilogy that nobody likes. On top of which, the creators abandoned the 3D style that ''Rebels'' inherited from ''The Clone Wars'', and replaced it with a cel style that's half ''Treasure Planet'' and half ''Avatar: The Last Airbender''.

To be blunt, this show is 100% pure crystal derp. Our star is Kazuda "Just Kaz" Xiono, a manic depressive who literally fanboy-ed his way into being a spy under the cover story of being a mechanic, two jobs he is not qualified for. This kid is the Invader Zim of Star Wars. He gets both into and out of situations on bipolar luck; if this turns out to be the force then his force power is "being [[Ciaphas Cain]]". Filling out the cast we have the original only cockney girl in space, an autistic alien, their widower boss who is definitely gonna die, D.Va and her ex-imperial officer dad, and BB-8. Poe Dameron shows up regularly so he can be Ace Fucking Rimmer without having to compete against Rey for the TOP SUE trophy. Reception was so terrible it was confirmed canceled at 2 seasons before the second season even started.

Part of the problem with ''Resistance'' is that the First Order has a doomfort that can frag planets across the galaxy, yet has to resort to hiring pirates to encourage settlements into accepting the First Order's protection racket. Palpy's empire was a model of efficient, heavy handed governance; its evil intent veiled from the masses who mostly resent it for bringing order. The First Order on the other hand is basically just Cobra Command, a font of evil hamstrung by flailing incompetence.

Season 1 ends on the cliffhanger of "what exactly happens when you travel through hyperspace without precise calculations", because Neeku Vozo the alien bozo did just that.

==Species==
One important thing to note about alien species in Star Wars is that almost all of them were originally singular costumes added to the films for background color or to make a character stand out, then had a species name and culture retconned onto them by Expanded Universe writers. As a result, most species' "personalities" are just shallow clones of the character they're derived from. Many of the species seen in the original trilogy were given names and backstories by [[Star Wars RPG|the original RPG from West End Games]] that became canon as every other EU novel to come after used Star Wars D6 as a reference.
* '''[[Human]]s''': Leias. They originated in the Galactic Core, but have spread to most inhabited planets, first as slaves to a now-extinct race of precursors and then through initial space exploration with pre-hyperdrive generation ships. As a result there are a lot of [[Abhuman|"near-human"]] species kicking around that are basically just weird-looking humans and pretty much the only species humans can crossbreed with.
** '''Mandalorians:''' Bobas. A society of space [[Spartans]]/[[Vikings]] with cool armor. Actually not human majority initially (Unless you are a Disney fan).
** '''Corellians:''' Hans. Literally an entire culture of dashing rogues and space cowboys who like to go fast and smuggle shit; the Corellian Engineering Corporation made the ''Falcon'' (duh) and many of the Rebel ships seen in the original trilogy. Nearly ruined their planet with starship factories, but now they've gone green and relocated all of their heavy industry to space stations. Their home system reeks of precursor meddling and is detailed enough to be a setting in itself, complete with a Big Dumb Object in the middle (Centerpoint Station) for PCs to fuck with.
* '''Wookiees:''' Chewbaccas, and one of the only species to be named in the films. Huge, swole sloth people that do not live on Endor and can't speak (but absolutely understand) Basic. Most are actually pretty peaceful and intelligent and they have produced a lot of highly skilled engineers. They highly value people who save their life, becoming their eternal friend in what is known as a Life-debt; this is how Han met Chewie. Has the unfortunate distinction of being the first species in Star Wars lore to have their home planet and culture detailed... <s>in the Star Wars Holiday Special.</s> lore from the Legends.
* '''Trandoshan''': Bossks. Brutish, scaly [[Lizardfolk]] capable of regenerating severed limbs and absolutely obsessed with hunting shit. Have had a continuous race war with the Wookies since before FTL was a thing, which is a ''long-ass time'' in Star Wars. Their religion is about scoring "points", with the only known method of gaining them is violent action and the only known method of losing them is being captured alive by enemies. The system was first mentioned a mere three years after ''[[Doom]]'' so the fact that they essentially see life as a giant, violent video game is likely pure coincidence. Despite this they aren't universally evil, though they often are.
* '''[[Twi'lek]]s''': Hot alien babes. Enough have been transported off world, generally as slaves, they can be found anywhere, and many have never seen their ancestral home. Given it's a borderline death world whose chief economic exports are drugs and slaves, they aren't missing anything. Their most interesting quality is that they can communicate silently with the weird head-tails ("lekku") that they have instead of hair. TORtanic tried to rationalize their fetish for enslaving their own as being the result of a precursor project to design the perfect slave race, but nobody cares about this because TORtanic is shit.
* '''Duros''': Seen once in ''Hope'' during the cantina scene. Naturally they're one of the most important species in the EU despite not having a canon character until The Clone Wars introduced us to Cad Bane. Enslaved by precursors alongside humans, they were among the first to develop FTL travel based on salvaged hyperdrive technology and are the only non-human species to have an equivalent of "near-human" in a few "near-Duros" species.
* '''Bothans''': [[Meme|Died to bring you this information.]] A race of [[Beastmen (40k)|wolf-men/goat-men]] (depending on which author/illustrator) who are almost universally spies thanks to that one-off line from Mon Mothma. In truth the best and early EU works portray them as something far worse: politicians. The most prominent Bothan is Borsk Fey'lya, a Bothan politician who used his role in the acquisition of the second Death Star plans to maintain a place in the New Republic's senior leadership and uses his position for personal gain like any proper politician should. Now possibly NOT wolfgoatpeople, thanks to some Lucasfilm [[Troll|source]] being all like “it’s never explicitly stated that they’re aliens, maybe they’re humans, *WINK*”.
* '''Rodians''': Greedos. Their home planet being a death world full of predators means they are often aggressive and put hunters in high regard, which is the EU excuse for all the film Rodians being criminals.
* '''Chiss''': Thrawns. Near humans with blue skin, dark blue/black hair and red eyes. They dwell in the Unknown Regions, with they’re own fancy schmancy empire, crack navy and altogether superior technological advancements that make the rest of the galaxy look fucking backward (see blaster resistant clothes...whereas [[Derp|fucking stormtrooper armour can be defeated by arrows loosed by Care Bears]]). Known for being superb pilots, traders, negotiators, tacticians and all round scheming bastards with Danish accents.
* '''Gran''' are three eyed goat (?) like aliens with rough, tan skin. They are quite nice and peaceful with excellent vision, especially in distinguishing color. Unfortunately for the galaxy at large, Gran exile most of their criminals: They consider being unable to see the rich and beautiful environments of their homeworld a fate worse than death. These exiles often fall into criminal groups.
* '''Mon Calamari''': Ackbars. An aquatic species whose long history of making airtight vehicles for travel in three dimensions has made them excellent ship-builders. During the early days of the Rebellion the Mon Calamari were one of the few races to successfully throw off the Empire during Operation Domino and not be subject to immediate reprisal thanks to their isolated location and strategy of mining hyperspace routes to buttfuck any Imperial ships sent to shut them down (ships coming out of hyperspace don't have shields). Those weird-looking bubble ships from ''Return of the Jedi'' are built by Mon Calamari.
** '''Quarren''': Another background species from ''Jedi'' who share their homeworld of Dac with the Mon Calamari. Prideful isolationists who stick to the depths, with their main contact to the surface being trading deep sea mined materials to the Mon Calamari. Look more than a bit like [[Illithid]].
* '''Gamorreans''' are space [[Orc]]s: Pig-like, brutish, stupid and violent. Constantly at war with each other, their clan identity is so strong they'll try to kill each other if from opposing clans if they meet off-world. Frequently brought into the galaxy as slaves or by clans trading labor/muscles for outside resources. Like Wookiees, can't physically speak Basic. Unlike Wookiees, only their clan matrons and some high ranking men are literate in their native language.
* '''[[Robot|Droids]]''' aren't a true species, but are playable in all RPGs. They're supposed to be really smart appliances, but Star Wars technology is so fucked up that a few develop sapience if left on too long without formatting. Despite this droids aren't considered people by the galaxy at large because sapient droids are as rare as non-evil [[drow]] and most of the time leaving droids running for a long time just makes them slower and buggier until they can't do their jobs anymore, like Windows, or, at best, overly attuned to a specific user. That a good number of sapient droids have learned to bypass that pesky "no killing" clause doesn't exactly encourage experimenting with it either.
** Class 1 droids are designed to preform scientific applications like medicine or lab work. Since they were designed to be used in fixed locations most, but not all, have limited mobility.
** Class 2 droids are designed to preform technical labor like repair work. Since they are expected to work within artificial locations they are generally on wheels or treads and have short, non-human shapes. One notable subcategory of Class 2 droids are Astromech Droids (like the famed R2 series), which are designed to plug into fighters and bombers where they function as a co-pilot, navicomputer and in-flight repair.
** Class 3 droids are designed for human interaction, with jobs like translator or chef. Some lower end Class 3 droids were made for positions like waiter. Almost all of them are roughly human shape, with the main exception being those built by and for non-humans.
** Class 4 droids are the most varied but have one thing in common that clearly separates them: They are made for combat and (except for a few armed with only stun weapons) don't have programming against killing. Class 4 droids vary in intelligence from blaster turrets with some targeting AI to clever and ruthless assassins/commandos. Even [[Android|Human Replica Droids]], designed to be indistinguishable from humans, are technically Class 4. Many Class 4 droids have their nature obfuscated by building them into the shell of a Class 1 or Class 3 droid.
** Class 5 droids are made for manual labor like heavy lifting or a power generator with legs. They are barely intelligent, rarely have names and almost never become sapient. They are however cheap and quite common.
* '''Zabrak''': Mauls. Near-humans with mostly bald, spikey heads and two hearts. Those black markings Maul had are actually ritualistic tatoos that Zabrak men often get. They were pretty divided internally till the Empire decided to oppress them all and force them to join together. Eeth Koth of the Jedi Council was one.
** '''Dathomirians''' are a sub-species of Zabrak native to Dathomir who supposedly interbred with humans to create a new group, which was separated according to gender, though their origins have been neglected in current canon. Even so, the females of this sub-species do not have the spiked heads typical of other Zabraks. Darth Maul is the most prominent Dathomirian in the films and TV series.
* '''Togruta''': Red skinned humanoids with lekku and hollow horns that allow echolocation. Shaak Ti and Ahsoka were Togruta.
* '''Hutts''': Jabbas. (Fun fact: "the Hutt" was just a title in the original trilogy and Jabba was just some random slug dude. The original film didn't even intended for him to be an alien!) Naturally they're all mini-Jabbas who live in a clan/crime-family/zaibatsu type of arrangement known as the ''kadjic''. Kind of like the Mexican drug cartels in that they have their own corner of the galaxy that they rule independently, even after they join the Empire they pay the Moff to look the other way when they do shady shit. (They're always doing shady shit.) Because the Hutts own exactly one third of all organized crime (and a significant number of planets) in the galaxy and it is the third (after Basic and Binary) most widespread full language, Huttese is a good language to take, especially for criminal-types . Be warned! Hutts have four fingered hands and their numbering system uses base eight! Despite being looking and acting like fat [[neckbeards]] they're actually insanely strong and their less bulky youth are very agile for their size. They LOL at the Force, so the RPGs tend to give them a huge bonus to resist mental influence.
* '''Sullustan''': [[Dwarf|Short, tunnelfaring, crafters who can drink a lot without getting drunk]]. Near-humans with flappy jowls and black eyes that originally evolved for tunnels. Their SoroSuub company is one of the largest tech makers in the galaxy, and likely the largest that isn't Human run.
* '''Toydarians''': Wattos. Blue tapir-looking dudes from Hutt Space who can hover on fly-like wings. As their source character is a hilariously offensive Jewish stereotype, the EU largely ignored Toydarians until ''The Clone Wars'' reinvented them as a vaguely Cambodian monarchy on a mud world. Mind tricks don't work on them (only money).
* '''Jawa''': Utinni! They roam Tatooine (and a few other planets) scavenging technology and selling it. A handful of sources mention they are [[Skaven|rodents]] under the hoods.
* '''Neimoidians''': Trade Federation flunkies; they will not survive this. Their reproductive cycle is really weird, producing lots of grubs which are raised in warrens fighting over a limited amount of food in which the weak are culled. Unlike how this usually goes, this process makes the Neimodians prone to hoarding resources and wary of danger.
* '''Noghri''': Primitive, short Suarian people who happen to be some of the deadliest non-Jedi melee combatants and assassins in the galaxy. Darth Vader bought their loyalty by saving them from the environmental damage a crashed ship caused. They are a major part of Timothy Zahn's Thrawn Trilogy, which they were invented for.
* '''Tarasin''': Invented whole-cloth for the Living Force campaign for [[Star Wars D20]]. Lizardmen with scales that change color based on their emotions and frilled necks. With focus they can control their colors enough to camouflage themselves and even "speak" silently amongst each other. They had a high degree of force sensitivity, though if this a result of their species or their home system being a place where the Force is strong is unknown.
* '''Shards''': Sapient crystals. They are incapable of movement and don't speak the way humans do. They can however control droid bodies they are implanted into. Several are force sensitive which led to a Jedi teaching them the ways of the Force. The Jedi order shunned these "Iron Knights" and excommunicated the master responsible. This wound up benefiting them though, as the master and his students were able to survive the Jedi purge due to the obscurity this granted. When Luke's new order emerged they welcomed the Shards with open arms.
* '''Rakata''': The aforementioned precursors, developed by [[BioWare]] for the ''Knights of the Old Republic'' game (though there were a few mentions of precursors here and there before that). Formed an "Infinite Empire" long before the Republic using dark side powered hyperdrives only they could use. When they gradually lost their force sensitivity their empire fell apart. Responsible for why there are so many Humans and Human off-shoots everywhere: They were seeded throughout the Infinite Empire as a slave race and abandoned when it fell. There is no evidence they existed past the Old Republic era, where a few fractured and primitive survivors were seen on their home planet and this planet was devoid of life by the time of the Ruusan Reformation.
* '''Sith''': Red skinned near-humans with boney tentacles growing out from near their nose and an affinity for the dark side, especially illusions. Natives of Korriban, the order most people know as Sith were a result of exiled dark Jedi interbreeding with them and adding their knowledge of technology. So diluted with human blood they were extremely rare by the Old Republic era and believed extinct by the time of of the prequels. A few small mostly primitive pockets had been discovered however, but were covered up by Palpatine so he could grab more dark side goodies. More or less invented whole-cloth for the EU.
* '''Yuuzhan Vong''': [[Tyranids|Extragalactic aliens who only use organic technology]]. Pallid humanoids with tapered skulls who came from a living planet they worshiped as a god called Yuuzhan'tar. The first time the Vong met aliens was an [[Necrons|interstellar robot war]]. Fighting off said robots made them hate all machines and [[Khorne|gain such a taste for conquest they made up a new war god and conquered their galaxy]]... only to destroy it due to infighting. To punish their tyranny, Yuuzhan'tar [[Culexus|cut them off from the Force, unintentionally making them mostly immune to it]]. They developed [[Dark Eldar|a race-wide pain and body modification fetish]] trying to fix this before finding and invading the Star Wars galaxy. The resulting religious war decimated the New Republic, caused mass genocides and had a death toll of around '''365 trillion''' ([[Lamenters|including Chewbacca]]). Then Luke and his family killed [[Goge Vandire|the guy manipulating their civilization behind the scenes]], found Yuuzhan'tar's living planet offspring and ended the wawr. The Vong colonized it, reconnected to the Force and became terraformers as penance. Rendered part of the Legends by Disney.
* '''Grysk''': A near mythical species from the Unknown regions, where starships usually can't go because the hyperspace along its border is a level of fucked-up that only warp storms can match. Little is known about them except that they live on a spacefleet, have a fierce warrior culture, are humanoids with tapered skulls, their weapons and armor are ritualistically disfigured on the right side and they had a penchant for [[Tesla|electrical weapons]]. Likely Disney's replacement for the Yuuzhan Vong, since Space Cenobites with bio-tech is too weird and grimdark for Disney. The Rak'gol to the Yuuzhan Vong's Tyranids.

==Impact on 1d4chan and associated games etc==

Star Wars has had subtle and clear impacts on a number of other franchises and genres and it can be ''incredibly'' hard to gauge the extent of it all. Certainly it didn't create the concepts of sci-fi, space battles, sweeping storylines, and a blending of mystical and scientific ideas, but it certainly popularized them during the years of the original trilogy and influenced many people that would go on to have interests in sci-fi, fantasy and epic adventure today.

Hell, look me in the eye and tell me that the lightsaber didn't give us the [[power weapon]]. But then again, magic weapons.
==Sabacc and Pazaak==
A rather unusual entry here but it's well in line, Sabacc is an actual tabletop card game from the Star Wars universe which is basically a hybrid of Poker and Blackjack. A Sabacc Deck has 76 cards, most of which in four suits of 16 cards numbered one to 16, plus sixteen wildcards in two sets with values that were either negative or (in the case of the Idiot) Zero. The goal of the game is to have a set of three cards who's total as close as possible to, but not over, 23 or -23. If you got 23/-23 which could only be beaten by an Idiot's Array (One Idiot, a two and a three, thus 23). The stakes are raised every cycle until the cards go down or one player is left standing who gets the pot.

The notable thing about Sabacc that sets it apart from real world card games is that the Cards can change value every turn. A Pure Sabacc can easily become an instant lose 25 and an absolutely lousy hand can become an Idiot's Array. They can be stabilized to fix their value, but everyone knows when you do so. This feature has so far prevented Sabacc from being released in tabletop form as of yet. ''(Of course, there are ways to deal with this, such as simply re-dealing unfixed cards, but never let it be said that nerds will choose practicality over purity.)''

Pazaak is an older game from an in-universe perspective, similar to Blackjack but its player versus player rather than player versus dealer and also has some aspects of a collectible card game. Goal of the game is to raise cards from the main deck until their total value is 20 or they can also choose to stand if they get close but don't want to risk it. Best out of five wins.

CCG-aspect of Pazaak comes from the sidedeck: both players collect ten cards for their side deck and then randomly take four cards from their side deck to their hand in the beginning of the game. Hand cards are used to either lower or raise the total value: so if the player raises cards from the main deck to the total value of 25, they can prevent dropping out if they have a -5 card or higher in their hand.
Cards which only either raise or lower the value are the most common of the side cards.
More rarer are cards which can be used to both raise and lower the value.
Then there are flip cards, which change certain main deck cards on the table to negative ones. So if the player plays a 2&4 flip card, all 2:s and 4:s on the table become -2:s and -4:s. Flip cards exist in 2&4:s and 3&6:s.
Then there is the double card, which doubles the value of the last played card. So if the player raises a 5 from the main deck, playing the double card would turn it into a 10.
Finally, the rarest side deck card is the tiebreaker, which grants the player a win if the game would otherwise end in a tie.

==Tabletop games for Star Wars==

=== Role-playing Games ===

[[West End Games]] made a Star Wars [[role-playing game]] called [[Star Wars RPG|Star Wars: The Roleplaying Game]] AKA '''Star Wars D6'''. Like many West End products, it's a good game with the great misfortune of being published by West End games.

[[Wizards of the Coast]] picked up the license later and made two distinct RPGs based on their [[d20 System]], called [[Star Wars D20]] (imaginatively). Could be fun, but generally broken as hell, much like [[Dungeons & Dragons 3rd Edition|its parent game]]. It was then utterly revised that into what they called the '''Saga Edition''', which is relatively balanced and pretty good.

[[Fantasy Flight Games]] is presently selling [[Star Wars Roleplaying Game|a whole line of Star Wars-themed RPGs]], whether you want to play a bunch of scruffy space outlaws, members of the nascent Rebellion, or exiled Jedi Knights. Unlike their [[Warhammer 40,000 Roleplay]] games, which are all ''juuuuust'' different enough from one another to completely buttfuck any attempts at blending, all three gamelines use identical mechanics and are fully cross-compatible. Uses symbol-counting [[dice pool]]s with ludicrously overpriced custom dice.
Like the other RPGs they decided with the retardedly similar name, and thus this one is sometimes called '''Star Wars FFG''' to avoid confusion.

FFG have kept milking the franchise and in summer 2017, decided to [[Necromancer | reanimate]] the [[Star Wars RPG|Star Wars: The Roleplaying Game]] with a "30th Year Anniversary Edition" print of the original game. It '''''finally''''' shipped in July 2018 after spending a year in limbo.

=== Card Games ===

The big [[card game]] set in the Star Wars universe is the [[Star Wars Customizable Card Game]]. It's no longer produced by Decipher, but there is still a sufficiently large player community to organize annual tournaments, rule on cards, and so on. SWCCG was radically different from the norm of card games, being divided into light and dark side cards with different backings, with light and dark always playing against each other. For tournament play a player would need both a light and dark deck.

[[Wizards of the Coast]] made the [[Star Wars Trading Card Game]].

[[Fantasy Flight Games]] is presently selling [[Star Wars: The Card Game]].

Obviously, nobody is capable of creating a Star Wars card game with an interesting name.

Aside from the real, physical, games there was also ''Star Wars Galaxies Trading Card Game''. It was a real, functioning, card game within the MMO that used all virtual cards. Unfortunately no server emulators have implemented it yet.

=== Miniature Games ===
[[Wizards of the Coast]] did a tabletop battles game imaginatively called Star Wars: Miniatures, based on an extremely dumbed down version of the D&D ruleset. The figures were meant to tie in with the Saga edition RPG, it wasn't terrible on its own, just impossible to collect for competitive play since figures came in random booster packs so you never know what you were getting for what faction. Who could possibly stand for that?

[[Fantasy Flight Games]] is producing the [[X-Wing]] miniatures game based on individual starfighter combat (because, let's be honest, that's what ''Star'' Wars is all about). They have also released [[Star Wars: Armada]] which is a larger scale "fleet" combat simulator, using capital ships and squadrons of starfighters.

'''Star Wars: Imperial Assault'''

The latest [[Fantasy Flight Games]] addition to its Star Wars related games is a mix between a miniature board game and a skirmish wargame. It has two play modes:

One for campaign play where 1-4 players control a team of Rebel heroes and another player has the role of the DM, who controls the Imperial forces. The campaign, as the name suggests, focuses on character personalization, xp gain and the like, which you can find in any light RPG-esque (board)game. The main goal is to get a few friends together and casually play through the missions. Think of it as a Star Wars version of the original [[Hero Quest]].

The other play mode is skirmish play, where two players each get to assemble a team of miniatures plus a command deck (cards that have specific effects when played) and play against each other in an open-play scenario. The play area is still very limited to a few game tiles (as in a campaign mission) but players are free to bring whatever they want (with a few limitations of course). The skirmish part of Imperial assault is as close as you can get to an actual Star Wars skirmish wargame, but it is a missed opportunity from Fantasy Flight to create a true skirmish wargame (ala [[Infinity (wargame)|Infinity]]), not based on tiles and so confined spaces. Who knows what they have plans for though...

'''Star Wars Legion'''

And Fantasy Flight have now given us a fully fledged wargame, complete with AT-ST in the first wave. (They're 32mm scale, which means [[Games Workshop|no reusing your Imperial Assault miniatures]].) Legion has an integrated turn system, and the usual FF custom dice and forest worth of dead trees in cards and tokens that will be familiar to X-Wing and Armada players. The miniatures are PVC, reasonably detailed, easy to assemble pieces. A standard battle is 800 points, which could be anywhere from half a dozen to 16 units on the field, with an average army fielding 8-12 units comprising 30-ish models.

=== Card Miniature Games ===

In the late 00's, WizKids produced a short lived construct-able miniatures Star Wars game based on their styrene card system for Pirates of the Spanish Main. Although the game sold well, when NECA bought WizKids from Topps the rights did not transfer and it went out of print.

==Video games for Star Wars==

To put it bluntly, every game which could possibly have ''Star Wars'' slapped onto it, exists. Flight simulators. Racers. Rail shooters. Doom clones. MMOs. Age of Empires reskins. Hell, there's even a Kinect dance game. Here's a few standouts...

* '''Knights of the Old Republic''': A pair of single player RPGs depicting a Sith war several thousand years before ''A New Hope''. KotOR is widely regarded as the best Star Wars video game ever, and was the framework for BioWare's ''Mass Effect'' series. Of all the Legacy stuff, KotOR appears to still be in good standing with Disney since they continue to borrow from it. The sequel by obsidian was the original skubtastic take on the franchise TLJ wanted to be but failed miserably. Got an MMO simply called "Old Republic" (since you can play as things other than Jedi and Sith) that is the sequel, which had a very rough start but stabilized enough to still survive to this day somehow. Possibly still canon in the Disney continuity since a lot of things get borrowed or referenced from it.

* '''Star Wars Galaxies''': An early MMO, launched after ''Everquest'' but before ''WoW''. Galaxies is noteworthy for making force powers a prestige achievement requiring enormous in-game effort to unlock. The first expansion pack added a subgame that's a pretty solid flight game in its own right and the game eventually added an original, fully playable, trading card game that sadly has not yet been implemented in any simulator. Then ''World of Warcraft'' hit, Sony panicked and made Jedi a starting class and replaced the skill system with massive level grind, and offered refunds to the raging army of neckbeards. Subscription numbers tanked and never recovered. Like most "dead" MMOs that people loved it still lives on through illegal private servers (don't worry, the guys providing it would get busted, not people playing on it).

* '''X-Wing''': A series of ''Wing Commander'' clones released in the 90's. While badly dated today, they were the best fighter sims of their time, and if you can get past the highly primitive graphics some people still consider them to be the best to this day. Interestingly, TIE Fighter is largely seen as the best of the series while the N64 era Rogue Squadron and Shadows Of The Empire games are seen as being far more visually modern but largely inferior sequels. Did we mention you had to use a flight stick controller basically made for these games to really do well at these?

* '''Star Wars Battlefront II''': Not to be confused with that "game" released by EA in 2017. Solid game from the new-defunct Pandemic studio (fuck you, EA) in 2005 told from the perspective of a clone trooper that survived all the way up to the battle of Hoth, with a very down to earth boots on the ground approach. Also, just being thrown into random matches as a soldier because fun. Despite some issues, it remains the high point of the Battlefront series as well as the entire PS2 era, and on PC still has fans via an active modding community to this day.

* '''Monopoly Star Wars''': Its Star Wars Monopoly. With 90's FMV that plays for every square you land on. On floppy disks. Considered fucking amazing at the time, its too strange and tabletop to not mention. Also one of the last pre-Prequel things released.

* '''Super Star Wars''': A heavily modified retelling of the original trilogy (what, you don't remember how Luke chased down the Sandcrawler and murdered all the Jawas as well as their giant rat god in order to rescue R2-D2?) that was one of the ways to say "hard as fuck" by namedropping a game prior to Dark Souls existing. Amusing for the insanity of the added content in order to make a platformer sidescrolling beat'em'up as well as how neckbeardy you have to be to punish yourself trying to beat it without cheating.

* '''Star Wars: Yoda Stories''': A game geared for kids, released the same year as Monopoly above. Players play as Luke sometime after Empire Strikes Back, although an odd alternate version where Han sometimes is free from carbonite and Boba Fett and sometimes is not. They are assigned a quest by Yoda which requires them to traverse one or more procedurally generated planets doing whatever odd crap Yoda felt was necessary, including sometimes fighting Vader. Recieved middling scores as a PC release, with some individuals HATING the game and using it as a benchmark for how much they hate something when comparing the two, although to be fair that is because distributors tried to sell it like a full game when in reality its supposed to just be freebie software that came with other purchases and was meant to go with Solitaire and space pinball as default games on a computer to waste time with. It has lapsed into obscurity thanks to even those reviewers largely being forgotten on the modern internet. Noteworthy for being played on a grid with simultaneous turn-based movement with all enemies and NPCs on a screen, feeling very much like a tabletop game at times. A simple puzzle game, where getting blocked in a corner without enough space to pass the time by an idiot NPC is more dangerous than any foe.

==Assorted list of Awesome From Star Wars==
* What is likely the greatest duel in cinematic history, that takes place on a [[Death World|lava planet.]]
* Clone Troopers
* Darth Vader whenever he gets a speaking line or to murder rebel scum
* Darth Maul in both The Phantom Menace and TCW.
* Lightsaber Rifles
* The entirety of the Umbara campaign, where <s>Imperial Guardsmen</s> Clone Troopers die in the dozens attempting to win some godforsaken planet, earning them balls of titanium that make the guard look ba- {{BLAM| '''*BLAM*''' Heresy!}}
* 98% of the Starfighter designs.
* Mandalorians
* Boba and Jango Fett
* Lightsabers
* Obi-Wan Kenobi
* TIE fighters. They have the most distinctive scream of any fighter in cinematic history that just yells "I'm evil!". Tell me I'm wrong. I'll wait.
* Most of Episode 3.
* The entirety of Anakin's story, especially when you add the Clone Wars and prequels. While you're at it, watch CinemaWins' perspective on it the series.
* Admiral Ackbar
* Palpatine getting into some Tzeentchian-level scheming and backstabbing in order to overthrow the Jedi and the Republic.
* Grand Admiral Thrawn: So awesome that he rose to a high rank in the anthropocentric Empire despite being an alien and was one of the first (and rare few) things to be imported straight from Legends to Disney.
* Imperial Pilots get a mention, seeing as they fly literal garbage fighters against superior rebel fighters. By garbage, we mean that even the Imperium have better fighter designs than these guys. At least Imperial fighters conserve the life of the fucking pilot.

== See Also: ==
* ''[http://www.darthsanddroids.net/ Darths & Droids]'': A webcomic, made using photo-stills of the ''Star Wars'' movies to tell a story about gamers blundering through each of the six movies in sequence... though not quite exactly how you might expect. Think ''DM of the Rings'' in overall visual style, though unlike ''DM of the Rings'', ''Darths & Droids'' features several heavy twists on the actual events of the films, subplots about the players and their lives outside the game alongside the campaign, and a better overall quality of gamer.
*[[Timothy Zahn]]
*[[Star Wars:The Clone Wars]]
*[[Star Wars:Rebels]]
*[[Star Wars:Resistance]]
[[Category:Star Wars]]

Star Wars Setting

2019-10-15T10:50:30Z

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The sheer number of characters in Star Wars is a massive undertaking, and one that cannot be folded into another page. As such, here is a list of characters who either are influential, [[Awesome]], [[Fail]], or hilariously memey.

==Pre-Disney==
* Luke Skywalker: All-round good guy and idealist, despite being a complete idiot, Luke wishes to learn the ways of the Force to defeat the Emperor and save the galaxy. A Jedi prodigy, he can lift heavy ton space fighters with just his force powers, though he struggles with doubts. Although he starts all brash and teenage and shit, by the conclusion of the trilogy, Luke is well on the way to becoming a wise and powerful Jedi ready to rebuild the Order. Then he ends up training Kylo fucking Ren and becomes a [[Neckbeard|grumpy old man who just wants the Jedi Order to die with him since he's been disillusioned in people not being shitty now that his shitty-feeling self is considered the least shitty person in the universe]] (something many fans, and even '''Mark Hamill himself''' considered out of character for Luke). It takes a direct Force-powered intervention from Leia as well as Yoda's Force ghost telling him "don't worry, we both fucked up and the kids still love our <strike>toys</strike> legends" to get him to nut the fuck up and help stop the First Order by embarrassing Kylo Ren in front of everyone. It got to the point where [[The Last Church|he tried to burn a sacred tree with contained the last books about the Jedi code]]. Yoda appeared as a Force ghost and told Luke the Force weren't limited to buildings or writings, destroying the tree which supposedly contained the last books about the Jedi code and history which turns out to be because Rey had already stolen said books and the destruction of the tree prevented Luke from discovering that fact, ensuring the Jedi will continue regardless of Luke's faith crisis. In the original EU, Luke was '''FAR''' more successful and trained many generations of Jedi including his niece Jaina and surviving nephew Jacen, destroyed massive remnants of the Empire over and over again, killed the fucking Emperor over and over again, fought off [[Tyranids|extragalactic]] Force-resistant [[Dark Eldar|space Cenobites]] called Yuuzhan Vong including killing their <s>Emperor</s> best fighter, blew up more Death Star-type things, helped defeat yandere not-Yogg-Sothoth called Abeloth (which involved a lot of things including a temporary alliance between '''the Jedi and the Sith'''; a testament to Luke's skill and Abeloth's dangerousnesss that he pulled it off) and hooked up with the Emperor's own hot red-headed assassin - Mara Jade (more on her below) - and had a son with her called Ben.

* Han Solo: Dashing [[rogue]] and space cowboy who somehow shoots his way out of debt to the mob, ends up a general, and bags himself a princess. Not a bad series' work. His ship, the Millennium Falcon, deserves a mention too for being as iconic as he is. Unfortunately his actor Harrison Ford always went back and forth on wanting to continue the franchise, mostly because he thoroughly hated Solo and wanted him to die pretty much from day one, only to be thwarted in Empire and again in Jedi by the character's popularity. Ford agreed to return for Episode 7 when Disney finally gave him his wish, having Solo fail to redeem his son Ben and getting a metaphorical and literal lightsaber through the heart for it. In pre-Disney continuity he was once a Swoop (flying motorcycle) racer turned Imperial Officer who shot his superior that was beating a Wookie to death and gained a lifelong friend in said Wookie - Chewbacca. He also had three kids with Leia pre-Disney with two sons called Anakin and Jacen and a daughter called Jaina who had widely different fates; Jaina was prophesied to become the Force-wielding Empress of a benevolent and reformed Empire - though it turned out that was actually her daughter Allana, Anakin was estranged from Han during the Yuuzhan Vong war because a mistake he made indirectly caused Chewie's death though he reconciled before being killed later in the war, Jacen played a pivotal role in defeating the Vong but later went full Dark Side and killed aunt Mara before being killed by Jaina and his actions in the Force accidentally helped free the Lovecraftian Force entity Abeloth. Post-Disney Han's origin is covered in a solo movie named Solo. It's generally considered skub.

* Princess Leia: The regulation piece of lady crumpet in the movies, Princess Leia was a leader in the rebel alliance and (spoiler!) Luke's long lost twin sister. Also both a capable soldier and politician. Her being forced to wear a metal thong by an overweight space slug named Jabba the Hutt has since cemented her role as sex idol to legions of adoring fan boys, while her general [[Awesome|door-kicking deadshot sarcastic asskickery]] made her a feminist icon as well (this was back in the 80's when the two could be the same). With her home planet and entire adoptive family destroyed by the Death Star, she became a General although somehow retained her princesshood (yes, she's now a Disney Princess), and went on to become a full-on Jedi warrior in the pre-Disney EU and had three kids with Han. [[Skub|Not in the new canon though.]] She manages to somehow [[Roboute Guilliman|survive getting shot into space]] using her latent force abilities in TLJ, probably the most ridiculous part of the film. Due to the death of her actress Carrie Fisher (given the amount of cocaine and partying she'd done over the years it was amazing Carrie lived as long as she did) Leia will only appear in Episode 9 using altered unused footage from Episodes 7 and 8...unless they do an uncanny valley CG model again.

* C-3P0 and R2-D2: Two robots trapped in a sexless gay marriage who are the only minor characters to have been in all the movies so far, and even in stories like The Old Republic outside of their millennia of existence will usually have an equivalent. C-3P0 is the shiny golden humanoid robot who constantly fusses about keeping the furniture clean and worries that his pies are getting overdone in the oven while R2-D2 is the brash, brave husband figure who swings into action regardless. He looks like a salt shaker next to the Dalek's pepper shakers, although is he more a plucky rabbit to their rabid wild cats. The robots mostly have comedy roles in the movies, since they might threaten to upstage the human actors if they became too useful, though R2 has an electric cattle prod and serves as the party's computer skillmonkey, while C-3P0 saves the day with his mad linguistic skillz at least once per film in the original trilogy. They starred in their own cartoon series that was surprisingly good. After the original trilogy in both pre/post Disney continuity the writers don't seem to know what to do with them, and they just randomly appear sometimes.

* Chewbacca: The original furry in space, the dog you can have a beer with in the space Winnebago. Nothing sexy about him; he is just hairy, huge, knows how to pilot a space ship, fix stuff, fire a gun, and generally get shit done which strangely makes him the coolest furry ever. Best friends with Han, has a family that we can all agree did not appear in the terrible Christmas special that does not exist (he got a much more badass family in the Galactic Battlegrounds games, so go with that). Hates Trandoshans like all Wookies, since Trandoshans are almost always assholes and are particularly assholish to Wookies. In the pre-Disney continuity he was a slave that the then-Imperial Han saved, he helped Han save the galaxy. He was also tough as nails having survived numerous injuries and abuse that would've killed most Wookies, and Wookies are already tougher than humans. His actual death was getting mooned to death by extragalactic space cenobites - as in they used a gravity manipulation device to smash a moon into the planet Vector Prime while he was accidentally trapped on it. He was hailed as a hero across the galaxy (with the boast among Wookies that [[Awesome|Chewbacca was so tough, it took something that can wreck a planet to kill him]]) and the fanbase cried or raged at his death; even the authors who killed him off went on record to say they were sad about his death and only did so for the sake of plot. In the post-Disney continuity he continues to be <s>awesome and</s> generally ignored in endings and the plot overall (ironic that he was the first major character who died in the pre-Disney lore and he's one of the few still alive in post-Disney lore). The prequel trilogy revealed he's REALLY FUCKING OLD thanks to Wookie lifespan.

* Lando Calrissian: Suave, charismatic, and an expert con artist, this guy is the original pirate king in space. He betrays Han and co. when Vader invades his city, later regrets it, and then atones by saving the cast from the Empire as well as the populace of his city at the same time, then helps save Han from the mafia, and finally leading the fleet that blows up the Death Star 2.0. Favorite beverage is Colt 45 Malt Liquor.

* Obi-Wan Kenobi: If, at any point, in any work of fiction, the hero has an old master/father figure who teaches him part of what he knows, makes sure that he will grow up to be a virtuous and decent hero, but ultimately dies fighting a great evil to buy the hero time to escape, then returns as a spirit guide for the hero later, the Internet has probably accused that character of ripping off Obi-wan Kenobi. The prequels show him as a young Jedi and a deuterotagonist to Anakin Skywalker, acting as ''his'' master, teacher, partner, and dear friend before their eventual falling out [[FATAL|ends with Anakin losing most of his major extremities and organs]] and Obi-wan hiding out in a cave waiting to turn into Alec Guinness. In hindsight he was a fucking moron to expect Anakin stay sane with her mother separated forever from him and doomed to slavery in a shithole planet. Certainly this won't torment the kid's thoughts about her, what's that? Tuskens tortured her to death? We are the Jedi, we do not take reve- oh well he went Sith. So much for Jedi and their wisdom. He is a great source of memes within the SW fandom, as well as jokingly referred to as Jesus due to his hairstyle in Episode II.

* Yoda: Ancient wise grand master of the Jedi Order who a tiny green alien is. Never named, his species was. Because of his size and age, most assumed just a harmless old teacher he was, your nice old granddad like. His pulling out a lightsaber and engaging a Sith Lord in combat at the end of ''Attack of the Clones'', one of the most surprising and popular fights of the series is. Became a big franchise mascot he did, despite a surprise for the audience he was meant to be in his first appearance, ruining it for future generations. A unique way of speaking, he has. A very popular target for parody, it has become.

* Darth Vader/Anakin Skywalker/"The Chosen One": The black-helmeted face of evil and the most well known villain from Star Wars (and arguably the most recognisable characters in cinema). Has become an iconic and memorable figure due to his menacing, robotic appearance and ultra-deep, wheezy respirator voice. He is [[Meme|(spoiler!)]] secretly Anakin, Luke's fallen Jedi father, thus allowing him to be able to say the most memorable line in the film series, "''I'' am your Father!" Abaddon wishes he could be this sinister. His children eventually manage to rekindle the spark of human decency in his heart, and he redeems himself by giving up his own life to save them and destroy the Emperor. Hates sand. Fun Fact: his portrayal required four actors in the original trilogy: body, voice, face and a stunt double. Single-handedly rescues the entire spin-off film Rogue One with [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=okAyvguQucs an '''incredible''' scene at the end].

* Darth Sidious/Sheev "Can't Peeve the Sheev" Palpatine/The Emperor: A creepy old wrinkly dude who sits in his badass evil throne constantly screaming "[[Just as planned]]!" And occasionally frying fools with force lightning. Built a giant planet-destroying weapon, then built another, bigger one as a trap when the first one blew up. He is very clever, managing to scheme and outwit everyone in the prequel trilogy, moving them all into place so he could take over the galaxy (although he still needed a big superweapon anyway to hold onto said power). Chews so much scenery they had to resort to computer-generated imagery. [[Meme|He is the Senate]].

* Admiral Ackbar: Giant tactical fish who has the need to point out obvious traps in memetic fashion. Leads the rebel fleet in the <s>third</s> sixth film. Dies in the eighth.

* Wedge Antilles: The anti-redshirt. Has almost no lines in the original movies but somehow survives all of them, even blowing up the second Death Star with Lando. In the EU he is one of, if not ''the'' best starfighter pilot in the galaxy, and co-founder of the über elite Rogue Squadron along with Luke.

* Padmé Amidala: Darth Vader's waifu who spends most of the prequel trilogy being a hopeless pacifistic idealist [[Derp|(which makes her a hypocrite with all the fight scenes she's in.)]] Get's choked by Vader and dies giving birth to Luke and Leia, which ironically Vader was trying to prevent in the first place after seeing a vision. [[FAIL|Way to go, dumbass]]. Haven't you ''read'' a work of fiction with that kinda prophecy in it before?

* Jar-Jar Binks: Solely exists to fuck up everything (and we do mean EVERYTHING) at the worst possible moment. This guy is so hated by everyone in and out of universe that his actor received severe backlash - including '''death threats''', and he even considered suicide because of it - even though he had nothing to do with the writing while also sympathizing with fans' complaints and Lucas shitcanned his role down into a very brief cameo at the end of Episode 3. He's actually something of a tragic figure representing someone good who tries to act to save the galaxy but ended up ruining it instead. He manages to be less of an annoying fuckup in the CGI Clone Wars series, though only just. The clones that get stuck with him from time to time ''can't stand'' him. There are rumors that he was originally going to be revealed as a villain but because of his poor reception, this idea was scrapped. People who dislike Episode 7 often refer to its director as Jar Jar Abrams. Got a depressing meta style sendoff in the Aftermath book after Disney got the rights, which is a shame since it was hinted at in the Clone Wars series that he would marry a powerful alien queen who thinks he's a sex magnet. No really.

* Wilhuff Tarkin: [[A Song of Ice and Fire|Tywin Lannister]] [[Indrick Boreale|IN SPHESS]]. Ruthless, ambitious, and cold, Grand Moff (Governor) Tarkin is the epitome of all that is Imperial in the SW Universe. His idea of ruling pretty much comes down to "They can hate me as long as they fear me", which is symbolized ultimately by the Death Star. [[Derp|However, he uses the stick far too often and hardly uses the carrot]], and this policy backfires on him horribly when he destroys Alderaan, a Core World and one of the founders of the Old Republic- for instead of cowing the galaxy into submission, it, along with the Battle of Yavin which saw himself and his battle-station destroyed, [[Fail|galvanized half the galaxy into openly declaring for the Alliance]].

* Jango and Boba Fett: Father and son, though the son is actually an unaltered clone of his father. Badass, mostly-silent mercs who get shit done and come from a line of Spartan/Viking/Māori warriors in space called Mandalorians. Sadly, both had very anticlimactic deaths, though Boba survived his in the EU, through the power of being too popular with the audience to kill permanently. (This became canon after Disney made the entire EU non-canon. Rumour has it Boba will be getting his own spin off movie.)

* Jabba the Hutt: Obese slug who is a cross between a Mexican drug cartel kingpin and Mafia crime-boss. He runs his criminal enterprise from an old palace-monastery on Tatooine. A [[/d/]]eviant at heart, likes to fap to hot alien chicks dancing for him until they try to escape, then faps even harder when he feeds said chicks to Rancor. Gets strangled to death by a bikini-wearing Leia with her own chains, because symbolism.

* Thrawn: Star Wars [[Creed]], if Creed was also a philosophical blue-skinned, red-eyed alien who loved art. Thrawn was renowned for being one of the few high-ranking aliens in the Galactic Empire and one of the Emperor's best subjects. He originally served as a member of the Chiss Ascendancy, but after being backstabbed he signed up with the Galactic Empire and worked with Darth Vader - having met him back when the latter was still a Jedi - and even the Emperor himself. In his tactics, Thrawn notably employed his philosophy based around understanding the philosophy and art of his enemies, and was a very capable tactician. Thrawn quickly became very well-liked with fans, to the point many considered him the best thing to come from Star Wars since the original trilogy. Disney even reintroduced Thrawn to the post-Disney canon because he's that popular. He also set up a vassal Empire called "the Empire of the Hand" to combat an alien menace encroaching on Chiss territory that was considered a threat to the Empire; pre-Disney this was the Yuuzhan Vong (AKA the Far Outsiders, AKA the space cenobites who killed Chewbacca by dropping a moon on him), post-Disney it's Vong-knockoffs called the Grysk. Pre-Disney he was killed by the betrayal of one of his closest aides but is alive and well post-Disney. His actual name is the near-unpronounceable Mitth'raw'nuruodo. With his philosophical nature and fetish for art collecting, he's probably a deliberate ripoff of M'Quve from ''Mobile Suit Gundam'', but good luck getting Zahn to admit it.

* Mace Windu: The original only black dude in space, he was the hardest-as-nails Jedi master of the council during the prequel trilogy and the best swordfighter in the Order, hence his unique purple lightsaber. That, and Sam Jackson wanted his own color to stand out. If Anakin hadn't interfered, he would have killed Darth Sidious and none of the original trilogy would have taken place. His subsequent anti-climatic death in the movie is regarded with annoyance by his fans. His mastery of the Force allows him to channel his anger and enjoyment of battle into his combat style without being corrupted by the Dark Side. He can also detect what he calls "shatterpoints", which lets him detect weaknesses to either mess people up in combat or exploit the "for want of a nail" proverb to turn situations to his side. Has a novel, Shatterpoint, which is pretty much Heart of Darkness IN STAR WARS. Was rumoured to be Disney’s wannabe Emperor, Supreme Leader Snoke, before *SPOILERS!* <s>Ben Solo</s> Kylo Ren killed him, so no one really cares now.

* Mara Jade: Sexy redhead Force user and former servant of Emperor Palpatine; essentially a Force-Sensitive Black Widow (the Marvel character, not the trope; ironic since Disney now owns Marvel and Star Wars). Raised as a servant to Emperor Palpatine, Mara trained under him and with his royal guards to become one of several high-level Force-using operatives with the title of "Emperor's Hand." A life of hard work gave Mara a liking for challenges, and she assumed the cover story of being a dancer. After Palpatine's death, his last command to Mara was to kill Luke Skywalker, but since she couldn't find Luke, Mara went rogue and became a smuggler, even having a fake relationship with Lando. When Mara finally met Luke, she tried to kill him but a survival situation forced them to work together. When she finally learned the the truth of her master, Mara abandoned the mission and worked alongside Luke. Over the years Mara developed a grudging respect for Luke that grew into love which Luke reciprocated, and the two eventually married. Then a Yuuzhan Vong agent infected Mara with a terminal virus, and she used the Force to keep it at bay. When the Yuuzhan Vong invaded at large she fought the Vong and the virus as much as she could, being cured of the virus around the time her and Luke's son Ben was born. After the Yuuzhan Vong War ended, Mara led the Jedi alongside Luke and fought in wars against various aliens and the re-emergent Sith. In the following poorly-received book series her nephew Jacen turned to the Dark Side and became the Sith Lord Darth Caedus, so Mara confronted him to put a stop to the threat. During the fight, Jacen distracted Mara with an image of her son Ben then killed Mara via cheap shot with a poisoned dart, Mara's last acts in life being to tell Jacen off while using the Force to alert Luke and Ben and say goodbye to them (Mara's death was one of the main reasons the book series was hated by fans). Her last appearance is as a Force ghost sending her love to Luke after giving a warning and tips on how to fight Abeloth.

* Qui-Gon Jin: Liam Neeson as a Jedi. He was the only one smart enough to recognize a Sith plot, and would've uncovered and exposed Palpatine if it weren't for Darth Maul's sword going through his gut. Was the master of Obi-Wan, and tried to teach Anakin the basics from beyond the grave.

* Ahsoka Tano: An orange, female togruta jedi padawan that helps tell the story of growing up. When she was first introduced in the skubtastic Clone Wars movie, she was basically annoying beyond belief and attached to the notoriously reckless Anakin Skywalker. However, she began to grow on fans, eventually becoming a fan favorite Initially, she dressed only a little better than a Dark Eldar wych, raising serious moral questions about a girl her age dressing that way, but this issue was resolved in season 3 of the clone wars. Her character grows from beyond the simplicity of an <s>(un)</s>amusing wisecracker, much like her master, into a wiser, kinder woman, who's actions speak louder than her words. In the final season of the Clone Wars, she leaves her master and the jedi order, and some believe that she unintentionally caused Anakin Skywalker to fall to the Dark side. She reappears in Rebels, where she takes on the wise guide and teacher for Ezra and Kanan, two other jedi who are fighting the Empire. Thought to have died in the second season, she is revealed to have been saved, and was alive even up to Return Of The Jedi.

* CT-7567/Captain Rex: If the Clone Troopers are the equivalent of Guardsmen, then this guy is the equivalent of the likes of [[Colonel-Commissar Ibram Gaunt|Gaunt]] and [[Colonel "Iron Hand" Straken|Straken]]. The defacto second-in-command of the 501st Legion under Anakin Skywalker, he fought in nearly every major engagement during the Clone Wars, leading his men through hellish battles like on Geonosis at the beginning of the war and on Mandalore at the end. He has a strong sense of morality and cares for the lives of both the men under him and the officers above him, which meant that he often came into conflict with asshat commanders like Krell (who treated their troops as little more than disposable cannon fodder). He even managed to face off against dark-side Force users and live- something very few non-Force users are able to accomplish (To get a better picture of what this is like, imagine a sergeant in the guard facing off against a Chaos Space Marine, and living). After the war and his beloved Republic's transformation into the eventually-despised Empire, he and two other clone commanders went into retirement on a backwater world, fishing for worms the size of skyscrapers on an old walker they converted into a mobile home. He was brought out of retirement by a combination of the rebels of Phoenix Squadron, his old friend and commander Ahsoka, and the Empire being their usual backstabbing, overreactive selves, and so resolved to bring down the corrupt regime and restore the nation he had served out of pride (although most clones were programmed to follow the Republic, and specifically the Chancellor, many ended up choosing instead to follow the ideals of the Republic rather than the people in charge, and some even managed to overcome Palpatine's programming via removing the chip he had planted in their heads during the cloning process). To that end, he participated in many Rebel missions, including the climactic one to destroy the second Death Star (yes, he is the old man you see with Han Solo's commando group in ROTJ, and was confirmed by Lucasfilm to have survived the battle)

* Count Dooku: An elegant, charismatic, gentlemanly Sith lord and master fencer who had dreams of liberating the galaxy from Republic control, but didn't expect his partner in crime to be a backstabbing douchebag. Hates Anakin/Vader for not being a gentleman. In the novels he's also an alien-hating human supemacist who believes the Empire's purpose is to establish humanity as dominant in GFFA. He'd do well as a citizen of the Imperium if he just changed which Emperor he revered.

* Darth Maul: Horned Sith only concerned with bloodshed and fighting. He'd do well as a Khornate Champion. Had his legs cut off then was brought back more badass than ever, until he was utterly stomped by the Emperor then gets killed in a duel with an elderly Obi-wan almost 18 years later. Wields a sick-looking double-bladed lightsaber, doesn't actually gets a single line in the first film dubbed in by a different actor, and played by famous martial arts master Ray Park. He was a silent badass in the movie but for some reason he was made very talkative in the animated series. The EU gave him a backstory as the scion of a race of Sith-aligned Force witches that ''The Clone Wars'' later made canon. The director of ''Solo'' picked him out of a hat to be the leader of the nefarious criminal gang Han gets stuck working with.

* General Grievous: An alien cyborg even more fucked up than what Darth Vader would become (being a robot body that was a canister for his eyes, brain, and vital organs), Grievous was the Supreme Commander of the Droid Army during the Prequels and the Clone Wars TV series (both versions), and a sadistic Jedi hunter. His competence is usually portrayed two totally different ways; in the 2D animated TV series (created by the same guy who made [[Samurai Jack|Samurai Jack]]), he is portrayed as an unstoppable killing machine who roflstomps experienced Jedi Masters, and is only bested by Mace "The Ace" Windu. In the CGI series and the third film, he is an [[Stupid Evil|incompetent, frothing loony]] with a record of failure that even Abbadon would laugh at hysterically. Actually has a somewhat-tragic past: he was a great and virtuous hero on his primitive planet, but Dooku arranged for the Separatists to shoot down Grievous' shuttle down and harvested his shredded body to repurpose him into their general/assassin. Dooku also lobotomized Grievous in way that reduced him to a raging killer. When Grievous recovered, Dooku then pinned blame for the shuttle crash on the Jedi and Republic. Hated being mistaken for a droid, being compared to a droid and all Jedi - especially Obi-Wan Kenobi.

* Stormtroopers: The elite soldiers of the Galactic Empire. Originally, these soldiers were vat clones of Jango Fett cloned in large numbers, trained from birth in combat and clad in environmentally sealed suits of their famous gleaming white full body armor. After the rebels blew up the gene-banks, the Empire switched to an enlistment system. (Not having a good dental plan to bring in recruits, the First Order resorts to [[Schola Progenium|kidnapping children and raising them as soldiers]] to fill their mook quota.) Numerous sub-categories exist, specializing to operate in different environments (deserts, frozen tundra, zero gravity, underwater, etc.) and serve different roles (scouts, aerial jump-packers, heavy-weapons teams, etc.). They are unwaveringly loyal and obedient to their Empire, ruthless and brutally efficient foes in combat, and incredibly precise shots with their state-of-the-art weapons. Naturally, these qualities all go out the window when they encounter the protagonists, but that's life when you're wearing a [[helmet]].

* Inquisitorius: Dark Siders trained by the Empire. While the Rule of Two prevents additional Sith, it says nothing about other force users under their command. It is not known if Darth Bane expected the Imperial Inquisition or if he would have approved of the Emperor bending the Rule of Two such. Their job is primarily to ferret out the remaining Jedi and other force users, but they are also used for all manner of wet work and internal affairs. Since their first mention ''way'' back in ''The Star Wars Sourcebook'', they have served as enemy force users that while still dire threats could still ''conceivably'' be defeated by the player characters. The source of many prominent antagonists in the expanded universe, including Jerac.

==Post-Disney==
* Rey: Protagonist of the new trilogy. Most people either think she's a sloppily written Mary Sue and wish-fulfillment character for the writers' female-empowerment fetish or that she's a fine protagonist and the former group is just being salty about new things. She hasn't undergone the traditional Hero's Journey to earn her skills, or develop her character, and many see natural talent and an innate well rounded personality as poor story telling in a fairy tale. Her static personality throughout the story is another common complaint. While it was foreshadowed she would have piloting skills with the pilot memorabilia in her home from which the audience was supposed to infer she knew how, most people simply assumed it was an asspull that she could fly the Falcon to the point that Disney had to later specifically point out "she literally plays flight sims anytime she isn't working, that's the shit on her table". To the credit of the writers however, the foreshadowing implies X-Wing obsession which makes sense that she royally trashes the Falcon trying to escape TIE Fighters with it (like everyone else who played the old X-Wing video games). She also has fucking god tier Force talent, able to pull off Force techniques that took the previous protagonists years to learn such as the Jedi Mind Trick. The sequel semi-explained that by suggesting that the Force balances itself and with only one remaining trained Force user below a master left alive she pretty much got cheat-coded to be at his level as Light Side opposite...although that ignores the Force users left alive in the Disney EU at the point who have no Dark Side opposites while also relying on information from that same EU (the trippy metaphysical Force entity kind) so it only works if you turn off your brain and give up. Apart from all that, Rey is a scavenger who grew up parent-less in a wreck on a desert planet, earning from the scraps of old Rebel and Imperial machinery. While she's been seen using the Light Side of the Force for the most part, the Dark Side seems to tug a great deal in her. A recent trailer for the ninth movie shows her as a Sith with a double-bladed red lightsaber, and of course that could be any kind of illusion/dream/simple bait, but who knows really. For the record Disney has been seemingly letting out a lot of artificial leaks, so the sources that accurately predicted things in previous movies are now giving entirely different explanations of things from her being Sheev's grandaughter to being one of a small army of Force clonetroopers to her grandparents being Force users from earlier continuity.

* Finn: A First Order Stormtrooper (serial code FN-2187) who has doubts about the First Order after a battle where he has to shoot innocent civilians, ends up defecting to the Resistance, allowing him to actually aim worth a damn. Finn ends up carrying ''The Force Awakens'' thanks to the acting talents of John Boyega. He probably would have made a much better main character than Rey because at least ''he'' has a fucking ''reason'' to go on a space adventure and undergoes actual character development. He’s basically Kyle Katarn, only he didn’t get to steal the Death Star plans or become a Jedi. Finn unfortunately is a character without an arc, as discussed below. Had a really cool scene where he fights a former squadmate with a lightsaber, before said [[FAIL|squadmate beat him with a big electric stick.]] He also had a second cool scene where he attempts to fight on a trained dark Jedi (not a Sith) with that same lightsaber before getting badly injured, showing tremendous fucking balls (and implying that Kylo Ren is about on par with a pissed off Stormtrooper with a lightning sick).

* BB-8: The R2-D2 replacement and mascot of the new trilogy. Poe's buddy robot, started out as the plot device that the First Order was after in The Force Awakens, saves Finn and Rose's asses twice by taking down prison guards and piloting an AT-ST to attack Stormtroopers in The Last Jedi as well as Poe's in the comic.

* Poe Dameron: An X-Wing pilot and one of the best pilots in the Resistance who gave Finn his nickname. Poe is the son of an ace pilot and an elite Rebel soldier, who was seemingly conceived in an Ewok hut during the Yubyub song and grew up with a holy Force tree in his yard that was a gift from Luke. Gets captured by the First Order but gets rescued by a defecting Finn and they both escape using a TIE Fighter. Assumed dead by Finn after crashing the TIE Fighter, though ends up coming back shooting down an entire squadron of TIE Fighters. Its never really stated why did he leave Finn behind in the crash site, how did he leave the planet or why did he pretty much abandon his mission of trying to find BB-8. As such he's barely in The Force Awakens. This is because the original script George Lucas proposed for Force Awakens used Poe as a means of Finn escaping, whereupon Finn takes it on himself to complete Poe’s last mission and eventually replace Poe in the Resistance. After Poe’s actor lamented that he dies in every movie, Poe was made to survive the crash and Finn gained a fearful coward who becomes a hero subplot, which unfortunately left both characters with nowhere to go for character arcs. Poe is far more important in The Last Jedi, <nowiki>but not in good ways. He disobeys orders and leads an attack on a First Order capital ship which not only results in the destruction of most of the surviving Resistance small fighters, but delays their escape long enough for the First Order flagship (so large it is essentially a giant capital city for the First Order) to catch up with them and massacre the Resistance. Poe then mutinies when the now-comatose Leia’s subordinate Holdo is put in charge of the Resistance (Ackbar was killed before that because his Voice Actor died, leaving Holdo as highest ranking officer) to enact his own plan using Finn...which fails, resulting in the deaths of most of the rest of the Resistance and the loss of their last capital ship. Poe’s counterattack also fails, and by the end its only thanks to Rey and Luke that anyone survives. By the end, there’s barely enough Resistance left to fill up the Millennium Falcon, although the First Order got it just as bad thanks to Holdo’s last act. In short: Poe is Magnus the Red tier of fuckups (for the same reason too, not being trusted with the truth but with even less justification).</nowiki> OR ALTERNATELY : Poe actually scores a massive victory for the Resistance as he destroys a massive dreadnought that would have wiped out a base on the ground and then some with a squadron of a dozen bombers '''and one fighter to protect them''' at the price of said bombers that were so stupidly designed they would basically kamikaze as their payloads are dropped gradually meaning the first explosion would start a chain going all the way up to the bomber itself. So basically, Poe destroyed a massive enemy asset at the price of some worthless ships but he still gets demoted because he had the common sense to not follow the order to retreat '''as the bombers were already hovering over their target and were completely defenseless in the first place and would have been even worse off during a retreat'''. This order makes so little sense, it's safe to assume it was only put in here so Poe could disobey it and the audience would understand he's a hotshot who doesn't respect the hierarchy while he was in the right in terms of tactics and strategy and it's already a miracle he got the raid to succeed. Essentially, claiming Poe fucked up is like saying blowing up a pillbox full of enemy soldiers and loads of ammo stockpiled in it with a single grenade is "fucking up" because you maybe probably possibly could have saved the grenade for later and made even more damage. If Poe hadn't had the dreadnought destroyed, it would have with ease one-shotted their ships and their base if they would have even got there (especially as the First Order could track the resistance and therefore the Dreadnought would've simply followed them and blown them up immediately). Not to mention that the bombers where the worst designed starships to date. No big loss there. In other words, he is the only reason they survived.

* Maz Kanata: An orange alien who knows a lot about the Force. In her backstory she was a Force-sensitive that’s somewhere in Yoda-tier age, but was never trained as a Jedi and instead used her talents to survive among the “third faction” (Hutts, smugglers, mafias, Mandos) while remaining as friendly to the “light side” factions as Hutts are to the “Dark Side” factions. Apparently also a supreme badass, judging from her brief appearance in TLJ. Definitely fucked Chewbacca and somehow survived. She procured Anakin’s/Luke’s blue lightsaber from the depths of the Bespin gas giant simply because she wanted it, and gave it to Rey in Force Awakens as well as some grandmotherly advice to her and Rey. She appears briefly to give the heroes contact information for a codebreaker in The Last Jedi.

* Kylo Ren: A Dark Jedi (not Sith, they technically went extinct with Vader, Sheev, Dooku, and Maul) who is actually the son of Han and Leia, Ben Solo, which the Internet absolutely refused to shut up about after it was leaked. He's likely inspired by Jacen Solo from the Legends (one of Han and Leia's three children who became a Jedi then fell to the Dark Side and became a Sith) with his new name likely taken from legends character Kybo Ren. He idolizes his grandfather, Darth Vader and wears a black suit and a mask to show this. He wields a unique crossguard lightsaber. People thought he would be a badass after seeing the trailers but after seeing the movie, he turned out to be a half-naked pussy looking like a gay Turkish oil wrestler who very often gets temper tantrums and gets his ass kicked by a teenage girl (though to be fair, if he had been a complete badass, everyone would’ve just complained that he was a rehash of Vader. So, you know, rock and a hard place. Also he only had his ass beat since he was already shot by a bowcaster and stabbed with a lightsaber, so fighting even in spite of that is pretty badass). Kylo's character became significantly more fleshed out in TLJ, ironically making him one of the only characters to have actual development in the whole movie. Between that and Kylo's actor Adam Driver being really bro-tier about the whole situation (he even appeared in a skit as Kylo which also included poking fun at Kylo's emo traits), Kylo has managed to win over many fans, with some citing him as probably the most interesting character in the Sequels.

* Snoke: Supreme Leader of the First Order who speaks to his underlings through a massive hologram. Very little is known about him at the moment. Though many fan theories say that he is Darth Plagueis, the old master of Palpatine who was assumed dead (everyone assumes every new Darksider is him, though, so grain of salt) the powers that be have repeatedly denied the theory (though it's admittedly a better guess than suggesting that Snoke is [[What|Mace Windu, Boba Fett, or a clone of Darth Vader]], which we would like to stress are [[Derp|actual fan theories]])...unfortunately, we will have to wait for an inevitable comic book or novel to explain it, since he [[RAGE|gets killed like a chump by his own servant, Kylo "Emofag" Ren.]] It is possible he may return given that the ring on his finger has inscriptions that translate to various rephrasing of “survive death” that is carved from the stone of Darth Vader's lava castle (yes, you read that right), but that may actually be a nod to Palpatine’s EU resurrections. To be fair, we knew jack shit about Palpatine's Disney canon origins until Episode 1, so at least we won't have to wait that long. Hopefully.

* General Hux: The First Order's Tarkin equivalent and a moustacheless ginger Hitler in space. Delivers a pretty cool speech, but can't fight to save his life.. The backstory for Hux is his father was an Imperial hero, and Hux wants to be the First Order version of his old man and lead the FO to a final victory. Hux openly dislikes Kylo Ren and has frustration with the Force-users borders on meta at times. Spends most of TLJ as a foil to the edgier and more toyetic bad guys, but he seems to be the only one to have noticed how impractical the Empire/FO's fuckhuge weaponry can be when you're fighting something smaller than a planet and have lost the element of surprise. Becomes Kylo Ren's comic relief ginger prison bitch at the end of TLJ, although he has an interesting scene where he was about to finish off the unconscious Kylo until he woke up.

* Captain Phasma: A First Order operative in charge of instructing the new Stormtrooper legions, Phasma serves as the Boba Fett of TFA - which is to say that she does nothing of note other than stand around and look cool until she figuratively and literally gets thrown into the trash in Force Awakens. Lucasfilm have apologized for overadvertising the character in the lead-up to the film since she was just supposed to look cool and do nothing like Boba Fett originally did but the huge presence of her in the marketing implied she was going to be a major character (remember, Jar Jar and generic Battle Droids had far more merch than Maul during the release of Episode 1) and have promised to give Phasma an actual role and backstory for TLJ that will play into Finn's story. (This turned out to be bullshit due to the fucked-up nature of TLJ's production, but the reshoots managed to give her a good showing anyway.) Her backstory was released in a novel where she was a tribal on a planet the Empire stripped into the stone age, who backstabbed her tribe for a stronger tribe, backstabbed her second tribe and brother to rescue a stranded Imperial officer and join the Empire, backstabbed her mentor to become the supreme commander of the Stormtrooper Corps in the First Order, then in the comic series she was shown to have survived the trash compactor when a Resistance bomb blew it up and she entirely disregarded everything (including saving Starkiller Base or Kylo Ren) to backstab and frame one of her subordinates for lowering the shields then promptly hunted him down to “bring him to justice”. So [[Skaven|she’s a spear-wielding backstabber extraordinaire.]] At the present she's got a nasty scar on one eye where her hyper durable helmet was busted in, and fell into a fire on a shattered starship (to be fair the ship wasn't exploding or breached where she was, and aside from that one hole her armor is fine so she's almost certainly showing up again even if not in a movie).

* FN-2199/"TR-8R": a First Order Stormtrooper who wields a badass riot baton in combat. Notable only for two reasons; he shouts "Traitor!" at Finn, and then he kicks his punk ass despite the latter wielding a fucking lightsaber. Such is the stuff that memes are made of. Gets a bit of backstory that he and Finn trained and grew up together, hence his outrage at seeing Finn fighting for the opposite side. Even if he goes out like a punk to Han Solo, by all accounts, <s>FN-2199</s> TR-8R is what Phasma '''should''' have been. [https://image.prntscr.com/image/VFRN0EFuQkCz3pkBYGCN2Q.jpg He would make a great commissar].

* Jyn Erso: A former member of the Space Taliban (Rebels who refused to group up with the rest of the Rebels due to their extreme willingness to do evil shit to kill evil assholes) who is captured by the Rebels so they can talk to Space Bin Laden (Saw Gerrara, a character who guest-starred in a few episodes of the cartoon Rebels and pretty much shows up to die in Jyn's movie) about rumors of a planet killer being fueled by Space Iraqi oil crystals (that makes lightsabers work), one that was partially designed by her father. Jyn is angry all of the time because her life sucks, she watches every parental figure in her life die in front of her, most of them over the period of a single day, and the movie hopes this will hide the fact that she really doesn't do much other then flip authority figures the bird. Her name mirrors that of Jan Ors, partner-in-crime of legendary badass Kyle Katarn which is REALLY not as well-received by the fans of the series her movie retconned as Disney thought it would be (to be fair, the old EU had around ten different versions of the Death Star plans being stolen which many fans just figured were combined into the one Leia had, so that doesn't mean Kyle and Jan can't ever be made canon again). Gets killed when Tarkin used the Death Star to destroy the facility in an attempt to stop the Rebels transmitting classified information, but Jyn and Cassian got the Death Star plans beamed into space before that.

* Cassian Andor: A Rebel spy and assassin, Cassian angsts about the fact that he lives in a political thriller about the space mafia VS the space Nazis set mere days before the simple good and evil morality of the original trilogy kicks in. His only friend is a droid, but that's not exactly as unusual in the setting as the movie implies it is. Shares an award with Luke for not getting the girl in the end...kind of; they do share a final hug before be died with her getting atomized by a partial-strength shot from the Death Star. The Disney Canon variant of Kyle Katarn, who was an Imperial officer turned Rebel turned Jedi Master, who is so badass he shaves with a lightsaber. A massive waste of character. UPDATE: We're now getting a TV series based on him, so there's at least that?

* K-2S0: What C-3P0 would be if he grew a pair. A reprogrammed Imperial tactical droid and Cassian's only friend. Does that thing where he spits out survival odds in stressful moments. Caught a grenade in mid-air then tossed it back at it's original thrower without even looking, shot Stormtroopers, and delivered some great deadpan lines which endeared him to even the audience that was growing more jaded to these new movies. So of course he dies first in order to establish that shit gets real during the last twenty minutes of the movie, although he died holding the line so Stormtroopers wouldn't reach Cassian and Jyn and smashed the control panel with his bare hands so at least he went out as cool as he came in.

* Chirrut Îmwe: <s>Discount Jedi</s> The real star of Rogue One. A blind martial artist who may or may not have force powers, can beat a squad of Stormtroopers with a staff, shoot TIE Fighters out of the air, and could take your girl if he wanted to. Haha, jk, he's totally homo for his bara partner-in-crime with the badass autocannon. Dies in a bombing run, but he doesn't fear death. Even his actor (from the badass "Ip Man" series) admitted that he was shoehorned into the movie in a desperate attempt to make China give a shit about Star Wars (which failed, because China really just doesn't give a shit about the franchise). Chirrut is memorable mostly because he belongs to the "Order Of The Whills", notable because "Whills" were a thing George Lucas kept wanting to use in the original trilogy (immortal beings who were supposed to be telling the story, hence "a long time ago", later the spirits that make up the Force itself, and finally an order of warriors that Leia was supposed to found after Luke's death in a sixth movie before he decided to take a break then do prequels instead).

* Baze Malbus: Chirrut's best mate and self-appointed bodyguard. Has three lines, but comes off as memorable because of his hellgun-looking backpack mounted autocannon with a scanvisor that lets him hold down the trigger and headshot stormtroopers until they are all dead. In early scripts Chirrut was his father figure, in the finished product they're ambiguously gay even though the director intended there to be a "finding peace with the pastor who heard his confession after a very grim life" vibe. Dies shortly after Chirrut, and actually makes a connection with the Force in his final moments. Quite a bit of work went into designing his visual style and his backstory, not a single bit of which ended up in the movie.

* Orson Krennic: Director of the Imperial Military Research Division. Forces Jyn's father into building the Death Star for him, causes the death of Jyn's mother, then proceeds to spend the rest of the movie getting roasted by the more competent Imperial characters because he's a fucking moron with a grudge. He's typical of the average Imperial who doesn't wear Stormtrooper armor in the Expanded Universe as well as Disney canon, notable mainly for giving off "Resident Evil villain" vibes.

* Saw Gerrara: Originally a member of the Space Viet Cong, this guy doesn't fuck around. Torture civilians? Check. Massacre entire patrols of Imperials? Check. In fact, his methods were considered so extreme that even the Rebel Alliance wanted nothing to do with him. Strictly speaking, he's a pre-Disney character as his first appearance on-screen was as part of the Clone Wars TV series; his first episode airing the same month that Disney acquired the franchise, making him one of the few characters to make the transition from the small screen to the big screen. Though he gets deaded within the first 30 minutes of Rogue One and does absolutely nothing of any value other than hinder the protagonists long enough to pad the run time, he has a lot more of his back-story filled out in the Rebels TV series. He was played by actor Forest Whitaker, so at least there's that.

* Sabine Wren: One of the main protagonists from the Star Wars Rebels show. A Mandalorian woman with a flair for art, explosions, and kicking Imperial ass, she is probably one of the most recognizable characters from the animated side of Disney canon. At first, she was a patriotic Imperial, designing weapons for the Emperor and his vassal ruler for Mandalore, Gar Saxon, until Gar decided to test one of her weapons on a group of Mandalorians, leading her to be labeled an oath-breaker by her people and cast out from her home-planet of Krownest by her mom. She then spends the events of the TV-series with her new surrogate family, the crew of the rebel freighter *Ghost*, and eventually recovers an ancient sword revered by her people, leading her to reconcile with her past, her birth family, and her people. Now, after the Battle of Endor, she is on a quest with Ahsoka Tano to find her 'totally-not-boyfriend', the Jedi Ezra Bridger, and Grand Admiral Thrawn, as they disappeared into the Unknown Regions following the events of the series finale.

* Amilyn Holdo: An [[Tumblr|overbearing, purple-haired “Rebel hero”]] who somehow winds up being one of the key leaders of the Resistance, despite displaying no actual military acumen or diplomatic skill what-so-fucking-ever or even feeling the need to wear an uniform, instead wearing a [[what|ballgown]]. If you don't like the direction the Disney canon is going in, this character is your Jar Jar Binks and probably is to you even if you do approve/tolerate it. Her only role was to basically die in style but unfortunately she was pretty forgettable and nobody actually cared when she was atomized, even if it was a really fucking cool death. Tie-in material tried to fix this; the only real requirement for joining the Resistance was "didn’t think Leia was crazy for thinking the First Order was going to perform Star Wars 9/11”, and Holdo was only the captain of a small frigate before her battlefield promotion due to the entire chain of command other than the other frigate commander dying or being incapacitated by a single torpedo blast to the bridge of the Resistance flagship. As a matter of fact, [[skub|her "super-duper secret plan" ends up getting most of the Resistance killed after Finn and Poe fuck it up]], due to the fact that she decided to [[skub|not tell the freshly demoted highest ranking pilot who had just lost the resistance the last of their bombers her plan, causing him to mutiny]], and she only partially redeems herself via [[What|FTL ramming their command ship into the First Order command ship, destroying most of the FO fleet, establishing that any freighter with a hyperdrive is a WMD which kind of breaks the shit out of pretty much any story going forward since the last movie established that a ship can come out of hyperdrive inside orbital shields and the supplemental material establishing a pilot droid can fly hyperdrive-capable fighters meaning almost anyone in the universe can deploy a supernuke anywhere anytime they want and nobody will ever know it was them)]], which is briefly visually spectacular but [[fluff]]-wise highly.... [[skub|take a guess]]. In the original script there was a subplot about there actually being a First Order spy aboard with the audience knowing in advance that there was a plan that spy could have ruined, but in an absolutely stunning display of terrible choices none of it was even filmed and the story was not changed to cut the references to that dropped plot.

* Rose Tico: A maintenance worker who acts as a tagalong for some of the most boring and annoying parts of The Last Jedi. After losing her sister in the beginning of the movie, she catches her idol Finn (who has apparently become something of a celebrity within the Resistance over the course of the week or so since he defected) trying to desert ship in order to warn Rey not to rendezvous as they were being chased by the First Order's fleet since Leia had given her a beacon indicating a rendezvous point (something that is entirely forgotten about for the rest of the movie, since Rey doesn't even use it to meet up with the Resistance at the end). She later went along with Finn to the Gilded Age planet to find the expert capable of helping them deactivate the First Order's tracking system, and despite literally growing up on a planet like that she still thinks its a great idea to just park their fighter on a luxury beach and run straight into a casino full of arms dealers wearing their military uniforms which results in the two being arrested and meeting a random criminal who sells the two out to the First Order because he overhears them literally explain their entire situation, despite the aforementioned "growing up as either a slave or a poor servant, its kind of unclear" backstory which means she should probably know more than the guy who literally only knows life as a Stormtrooper about shit like that. Her lust for Finn's BBC drives her to cockblock his heroic sacrifice on Salt Hoth before confessing his love for him at the worst possible moment in a plot point that will likely go nowhere. Also delivers the worst line in the entirety of the franchise: "[[What|That's how we are going to win. Not fighting what we hate, saving what we love.]]" Which is even worse because Finn was not fighting a hated foe since he has no hatred towards his enemies and was instead just sacrificing himself for the people he loves. This quantum singularity of [[bullshit]] led to a substantial fraction of TLJ's backlash being directed at her actress despite the fact that she had nothing to do with writing any of it. Was an interesting character- how some heroes could come from unlikely places- that got handed shit writing in a movie that was way too crowded with a huge ensemble to begin with, and almost zero development.

* Qi'ra: Han Solo's old girlfriend and partner introduced in ''Solo: A Star Wars Story,'' filling in for a number of older EU characters (don't worry, the Disney Star Wars comics had already given Han an ex other than her anyway). Grew up with Han on Corellia before getting forced into the Crimson Dawn, which is like the Mafia in space except run by Darth Maul instead of the Hutts. Helps Han survive an unobtainium deal gone bad, then backstabs her boss to become her gang's alpha dog and Maul's personal agent. Too bad this will probably never be followed up on outside of tie-in novels thanks to how bad the movie did. Also kinda awkward they made her Maul's Personal Assistant right after Rebels killed him off, meaning that Star Wars fans felt absolutely no curiosity about how the entire thing was going to go.

* L3-37: While K-2S0 brought droid characters to an awesome new high, L3-37 brought them to a new low. While not being as bad as Holdo and Rose, and being far more memorable than the chick, the spy dude, the TIE Fighter pilot dude, and the two Asian dudes from Rogue One (admit it, you don't fucking remember more than two of their names at best), she suffered the most from the reshoots the movie underwent. The /v/-tier name is only the warning label on this crock of shit. A droid that constructed a body for herself from spare parts and wound up as Lando's version of Chewbacca, L3-37 is a [[SJW|woke robot feminist in space by direct admission of the writers, with everything that implies]] while also being a revolutionary leader who gives no fucks about any disgusting meatbags and at the same time is physically romantically involved with Lando while giving romantic advice to other characters and at the same time is all about profit and shooting up the place while using other droids as just pawns in her rampages (did we mention this character REALLY suffered from the reshoots?) Her body is destroyed in an escape attempt but ends up as one of the droid brains running the Millennium Falcon (yes, the same computer C-3P0 complained about in the original trilogy; draw your own conclusions.) Long story short, the feminist/sexbot/droid-supremacist/human loving/spree killer provides constant tonal whiplash. Did we mention that since she began without having a body there was no reason to stick her in the Falcon which is a fate worse than death based on about 1/4 of her characterization, it adds a LOT of disturbing subtext to Lando's fondness for the Falcon and the fact that Han basically just kept it after winning the game despite knowing Lando's lover was trapped forever inside, the implications for the conversations she had with Threepio during Empire Strikes Back, and the fact it was kept abandoned by a criminal on a desert planet for at least a decade means she's probably gone even more insane? Fan reaction is mixed, but only between "worst character ever, would prefer to watch Jar Jar and Holdo star in a sitcom than watch the movie again" and "had potential, was disappointed, still don't like the name".

Edgy

2019-10-15T10:48:45Z

2406:3400:20F:FFC0:A80D:9EEE:1E6F:E984: /* Notable Edgelords */

{{Topquote|As far as I can make out "edgy" occurs when middlebrow, middle-aged profiteers are looking to suck the energy--not to mention the spending money--out of the "youth culture." So they come up with this fake concept of "seeming to be dangerous when every move they make is the result of market research and a corporate master plan".|[[Daria 40k|Daria]], Episode [3.05] The Lost Girls.}}

{{Topquote|My name is Not Important; what is important is what I'm going to do. I just fucking hate this world, and the human worms feasting on its carcass. My whole life is just cold, bitter hatred, and I always wanted to die violently. This is the time of vengeance, and no life is worth saving, and I will put in the grave as many as I can. It's time for me to kill and it's time for me to die; my genocide crusade begins... here!| The Crusader, aka Not Important}}

[[File:Marvel Edge.jpg|200px|thumb|left|Unabashed Edginess from the 1990s]]
'''Edginess''' refers to people trying too hard (and sometimes too aggressively) to make things more tragic, [[grimdark]], controversial or cool. This often takes the form of senselessly driving a vague argument, a plotline or a scenario to its darkest possible outcome, all the while openly expressing their disdain at rationalizing villains or finding a middle ground in discourses. Like most internet terminology, it has been beaten to death, resurrected hastily, and then beaten some more. Has no relation to ''[[Hunter: The Reckoning]]''.

Another far less negative use of the term is to describe something on the 'edge' of what's acceptable, pushing established boundaries of convention. For example, by this definition ''Batman: The Animated Series'' was edgy for making an animated series which defied expectations of how true to its base concept and generally well-written a show designed to sell toys could be. Some more examples of this would be Ren and Stimpy (which was crude and vulgar) or Invader Zim (which could get get dark in subject matter, and used a fair bit of black humor); in both cases, a decent bit of the comedy was of the "I can't believe that they'd did ''THAT'' on a kid's cartoon show!" variety. A milder version of this was Sonic the Hedgehog in contrast to Mario. In 1989 the Simpsons was the Edgy take on the classic family sitcom archetype and in 1999 Family Guy had slotted itself in as the Edgy version of The Simpsons. For the 1990s and early 2000s Edgy was a favored term of cynical marketing types which drew the attention of the world's sarcastic snarkers, many of which came to congregate on sites such as 4chan.

An "edgelord" is someone who essentially is guilty of serial attempts to be edgy, like [[that guy]] at your tabletop role playing group who always, without fail, makes brooding loners who hate authority/"the establishment" and have a troubled past (shit, they might also wear sunglasses at night) without the nuance or the skill to pull it off, and thus just constantly makes themselves look silly. "Art" done by edgelords contain characters who are as dark, brooding and as painfully unhappy as possible, conflicts have zero compromise, and any conflict of interest will have the worst possible outcome. An edgelord in writing will go out of their way to make the story extra depressing, and subject multiple aspects of it to an increased shock factor when it's clearly '''illogical''' to do so. Needless to say, it can drive a perfect idea to make an entertaining story into the shitter, grating the nerves of even the most jaded audience. When commenting, the "edgelord" will simply push any predicament in the artwork to the darkest, deepest, worst outcome, while describing his fantasies. For example: In an adult and/or bondage predicament picture, edgelords can be found describing a paragraph of horrible fate the captive would suffer, *should* suffer because slaves are shit, and *deserve* abuse, even when the picture was a...predicament with nothing in context. Or he will simply fill the comment of a NSFW picture completely out of the blue, sick fantasies adding "women DESERVE it".

This is not to say that said dark elements like murder, slavery, rape and bodily harm are bad for literature, but rather that their sloppy execution with no regard to their depth is. As shown above, even the most "edgelord" of concepts can be salvaged and even made bearable with proper handling, especially going by the latter definition - but if you do it enough, the boundaries shift and what was edgy becomes the new norm, and there is always the risk of falling ''over'' the edge. This is why the old definition has fallen increasingly out of favor as time has gone on - people began seeing the dross sold under the title of "edgy", and the idea of what it meant thus moved away from the positive coronations marketing execs desired to the qualities described above. Plus, this is the internet, and people would rather a word just be an insult or a compliment to reduce confusion.

==The Anatomy of Edginess==
Edginess is in some ways like a cargo cult. During WWII in the Pacific, the US military set up bases on remote, but inhabited islands, bringing with them a lot of stuff like planes and cars and so forth that was quite amazing to the stone age natives, to whom the world had been a few dozen square kilometers of land surrounded by ocean, with hazy stories of other such islands. When the military left, some of the natives took to making coconut and wooden radios and flight towers based of some hazy recollection of the military variants, unaware that making the shape does not get you the actual thing.

In that vein, most of what comes to mind when people envision "edgy" artworks tends to be the result of people who wanted to make ''morally grey'' characters and subject matter, but lack the maturity/experience/focus combo necessary to NOT end up with anything other than a multiple-personality-disordered ruin. Someone of (at best) mediocre creative abilities sees some fiction that makes good use of melodrama, gritty settings, dark humor and such, made by people who know what the hell they're doing and figures "I can do that!", leading to said person haphazardly applying those elements incorrectly. The results of such efforts are either tiresome, unintentionally funny or just painful. The stereotypical teenager, especially one of a Gothic/emo persuasion, tends to embody this - all too eager for "adult" things (eg: violence, sex and so forth) in their limited perception of such, often born of denial. Individuals who pander to said demographic (or are otherwise just downright hacks) will favor this approach over any sense of complexity, subtlety, nuance and some actual understanding of the human condition.

===Edgy and [[Grimdark]]===
While edginess is frequently associated with invoking grimdark [[Derp|for the sake of it and nothing else]], it's important to remember that this alone does not edgy make. As an example, [[WH40K]]'s [[Imperium of Man]] has reasons to be fair and kind when capable: though it has plenty of genocide, xenocide (completely annihilating species even when they are gentle and kind) torture, forced labor (though outright commercialized slavery does not exist), witch hunts and militarism that would give Hitler a chubby beyond the grave, said horrors have reasonable justifications. Aliens were buying and selling humans like pets and culling them by the billion, operating slaver outposts even in our solar system before the Emperor came into leading the humanity into a roaring rampage of revenge. And regarding souls and the universe after the Heresy, any deviation from faith in the Emperor will ''literally'' send a human to hell upon death, with their soul becoming daemon food (and/or sex toys).

Any mistreated machinery will attract foul entities and corruption that will fuck you up seven ways till Monday and chew you out; any ill-coaxed [[Machine Spirit]] will jam and blow up in your face; and any laxity will make [[Chaos]] cults pop up by the billion in a week. Then there's [[Necrons|the genocidal robots from another age]], [[Eldar|space elves that would murder a planet on the off chance that their]] [[Farseer]] would break a nail otherwise (and they're still the nice space elves despite that, as their [[Dark Eldar|webway dwelling cousins are even worse - murdering entire planets just because they like the sound of millions of people screaming]]), [[Orks|the ambulatory (AND belligerent) fungi that plague the entire galaxy in a series of wars]], and [[Tyranids|extragalactic horrors that intend to eat everyone's face.]] [[TL;DR]] The Imperium acts like an asshole Hitler/Hirohito bastard child because the alternative is much, MUCH worse.

Now if you want a senselessly edgy story in the Warhammer 40,000 universe, an example would be the now non-canon [[Khornate Knights]].

===In closing===
There are many paths to success for a storyteller, some of which include going over dark territory in various ways or by innovating and pushing boundaries. However, all of them require care and attention to detail to pull off well. Being dark is not a magic bullet for achieving profoundness without trying.

==Notable Edgelords==

*[[Elric]] of Melnibone, arguably the first one.
*The Punisher (pictured above), depending on the writer.
*The Joker, depending on the writer (colorful clothing doesn't cancel out edginess).
*[[Drizzt]] clones with extreme Alignment leanings, either towards good or evil.
*Some [[World of Darkness]] characters, particularly Sabbat or Baali.
*Various [[Original character, do not steal|fan-made]] and canon Sonic characters, particularly Shadow.
** If you want the textbook definition of "pointless edge", go look up [[/v/|Shadow the Hedgehog]] for the PS2/XBox/Gamecube. For the unfamiliar: Edgy, rated for everyone 10 and up.
*Several people and groups in [[World of Warcraft]], with the top three edgelords - in ascending order - being Illidan Stormrage (in ''"Burning Crusade"'' and ''"Legion"''), Deathwing (in ''"Cataclysm"'') and Sylvanas Windrunner (the entirety of World of Warcraft). Others include a lot of Demon Hunters, some Death Knights and a lot of Forsaken characters.
*Several characters from [[A Song of Ice and Fire]], depending on the books or the TV adaptation. Examples from both include Euron Greyjoy, Littlefinger and Ramsay Bolton.
*Half of the [[Animu]] protagonists in existence. Bonus points if the genre is isekai, triple points if there's a harm involved.
**Goblin Slayer. Goblins' characterization is based solely on the fact that they rape (they're almost as much personifications of rape as the Xenomorphs from "Alien"), to the point where most drama from the already bare-boned story comes from "x character was traumatized by goblin rape" in some way or another. The protag - the titular "Goblin Slayer" - is obsessed with killing Goblins so much that it's all he could think of because they destroyed his hometown and raped his sister in front of him when he was a kid.
*Reaper from Overwatch
*[[Blackguard]]s
* Warhammer 40k has too many to list them all. Notable examples, even for 40K, are [[Rogal Dorn]], most [[Chaos Space Marine|traitor marines]] along with their Primarchs (especially Konrad Cruze and Angron) and every [[Dark Eldar]] (who get bonus points for their love for spiky armor, dark colors and torture).
* Warhammer Fantasy, similar to above but to a lesser degree. Notable examples here include [[Valnir|Valnir the Reaper]] and most Dark Elves.
*[[Malal]]. As if the Chaos gods' emotion tantrum is not enough, there exist this guy who out-hate everyone including himself with servants who are tougher and stronger than theirs.
*Folks who unironically, and vociferously defend that Caesar's Legion must conquer the world in [[Fallout|Fallout: New Vegas]] when even Caesar himself thinks it's kind of shit and he hopes that if they conquer a less shit society, they'll change into something less aggressively terrible. Of course he is a cuntwaffle himself, though its creator insists he is "morally neutral" while an aggressive female general of NCR is "evil" because she is hands-on. Make of that what you will.
*[[Star Wars|Kylo Ren]] AKA Krylo Ben AKA Ben Swolo. While "Kylo" may be the worst Skywalker ever, there is no denying that the edge is strong in his family. His mom's side are a bunch of crybaby desert backworlders with an incestuous sex drive and his dad was a scruffy, nerf herding spice smuggler - and all were war criminals, some with body counts in the hundred thousands and some with children's blood on their hands... He probably fits the mold better than we'd like to admit.
* Lord Edgelord, later Lord Edgegod from Slackwyrm Keep. He's aware, and <s>he's loving it</s><span style='color:red;font-size:100%'>***CLANG!*** There's no love in edge, only chaos!</span>

[[Category:Gamer Slang]]

Edgy

2019-10-15T10:48:36Z

2406:3400:20F:FFC0:A80D:9EEE:1E6F:E984: /* Notable Edgelords */

{{Topquote|As far as I can make out "edgy" occurs when middlebrow, middle-aged profiteers are looking to suck the energy--not to mention the spending money--out of the "youth culture." So they come up with this fake concept of "seeming to be dangerous when every move they make is the result of market research and a corporate master plan".|[[Daria 40k|Daria]], Episode [3.05] The Lost Girls.}}

{{Topquote|My name is Not Important; what is important is what I'm going to do. I just fucking hate this world, and the human worms feasting on its carcass. My whole life is just cold, bitter hatred, and I always wanted to die violently. This is the time of vengeance, and no life is worth saving, and I will put in the grave as many as I can. It's time for me to kill and it's time for me to die; my genocide crusade begins... here!| The Crusader, aka Not Important}}

[[File:Marvel Edge.jpg|200px|thumb|left|Unabashed Edginess from the 1990s]]
'''Edginess''' refers to people trying too hard (and sometimes too aggressively) to make things more tragic, [[grimdark]], controversial or cool. This often takes the form of senselessly driving a vague argument, a plotline or a scenario to its darkest possible outcome, all the while openly expressing their disdain at rationalizing villains or finding a middle ground in discourses. Like most internet terminology, it has been beaten to death, resurrected hastily, and then beaten some more. Has no relation to ''[[Hunter: The Reckoning]]''.

Another far less negative use of the term is to describe something on the 'edge' of what's acceptable, pushing established boundaries of convention. For example, by this definition ''Batman: The Animated Series'' was edgy for making an animated series which defied expectations of how true to its base concept and generally well-written a show designed to sell toys could be. Some more examples of this would be Ren and Stimpy (which was crude and vulgar) or Invader Zim (which could get get dark in subject matter, and used a fair bit of black humor); in both cases, a decent bit of the comedy was of the "I can't believe that they'd did ''THAT'' on a kid's cartoon show!" variety. A milder version of this was Sonic the Hedgehog in contrast to Mario. In 1989 the Simpsons was the Edgy take on the classic family sitcom archetype and in 1999 Family Guy had slotted itself in as the Edgy version of The Simpsons. For the 1990s and early 2000s Edgy was a favored term of cynical marketing types which drew the attention of the world's sarcastic snarkers, many of which came to congregate on sites such as 4chan.

An "edgelord" is someone who essentially is guilty of serial attempts to be edgy, like [[that guy]] at your tabletop role playing group who always, without fail, makes brooding loners who hate authority/"the establishment" and have a troubled past (shit, they might also wear sunglasses at night) without the nuance or the skill to pull it off, and thus just constantly makes themselves look silly. "Art" done by edgelords contain characters who are as dark, brooding and as painfully unhappy as possible, conflicts have zero compromise, and any conflict of interest will have the worst possible outcome. An edgelord in writing will go out of their way to make the story extra depressing, and subject multiple aspects of it to an increased shock factor when it's clearly '''illogical''' to do so. Needless to say, it can drive a perfect idea to make an entertaining story into the shitter, grating the nerves of even the most jaded audience. When commenting, the "edgelord" will simply push any predicament in the artwork to the darkest, deepest, worst outcome, while describing his fantasies. For example: In an adult and/or bondage predicament picture, edgelords can be found describing a paragraph of horrible fate the captive would suffer, *should* suffer because slaves are shit, and *deserve* abuse, even when the picture was a...predicament with nothing in context. Or he will simply fill the comment of a NSFW picture completely out of the blue, sick fantasies adding "women DESERVE it".

This is not to say that said dark elements like murder, slavery, rape and bodily harm are bad for literature, but rather that their sloppy execution with no regard to their depth is. As shown above, even the most "edgelord" of concepts can be salvaged and even made bearable with proper handling, especially going by the latter definition - but if you do it enough, the boundaries shift and what was edgy becomes the new norm, and there is always the risk of falling ''over'' the edge. This is why the old definition has fallen increasingly out of favor as time has gone on - people began seeing the dross sold under the title of "edgy", and the idea of what it meant thus moved away from the positive coronations marketing execs desired to the qualities described above. Plus, this is the internet, and people would rather a word just be an insult or a compliment to reduce confusion.

==The Anatomy of Edginess==
Edginess is in some ways like a cargo cult. During WWII in the Pacific, the US military set up bases on remote, but inhabited islands, bringing with them a lot of stuff like planes and cars and so forth that was quite amazing to the stone age natives, to whom the world had been a few dozen square kilometers of land surrounded by ocean, with hazy stories of other such islands. When the military left, some of the natives took to making coconut and wooden radios and flight towers based of some hazy recollection of the military variants, unaware that making the shape does not get you the actual thing.

In that vein, most of what comes to mind when people envision "edgy" artworks tends to be the result of people who wanted to make ''morally grey'' characters and subject matter, but lack the maturity/experience/focus combo necessary to NOT end up with anything other than a multiple-personality-disordered ruin. Someone of (at best) mediocre creative abilities sees some fiction that makes good use of melodrama, gritty settings, dark humor and such, made by people who know what the hell they're doing and figures "I can do that!", leading to said person haphazardly applying those elements incorrectly. The results of such efforts are either tiresome, unintentionally funny or just painful. The stereotypical teenager, especially one of a Gothic/emo persuasion, tends to embody this - all too eager for "adult" things (eg: violence, sex and so forth) in their limited perception of such, often born of denial. Individuals who pander to said demographic (or are otherwise just downright hacks) will favor this approach over any sense of complexity, subtlety, nuance and some actual understanding of the human condition.

===Edgy and [[Grimdark]]===
While edginess is frequently associated with invoking grimdark [[Derp|for the sake of it and nothing else]], it's important to remember that this alone does not edgy make. As an example, [[WH40K]]'s [[Imperium of Man]] has reasons to be fair and kind when capable: though it has plenty of genocide, xenocide (completely annihilating species even when they are gentle and kind) torture, forced labor (though outright commercialized slavery does not exist), witch hunts and militarism that would give Hitler a chubby beyond the grave, said horrors have reasonable justifications. Aliens were buying and selling humans like pets and culling them by the billion, operating slaver outposts even in our solar system before the Emperor came into leading the humanity into a roaring rampage of revenge. And regarding souls and the universe after the Heresy, any deviation from faith in the Emperor will ''literally'' send a human to hell upon death, with their soul becoming daemon food (and/or sex toys).

Any mistreated machinery will attract foul entities and corruption that will fuck you up seven ways till Monday and chew you out; any ill-coaxed [[Machine Spirit]] will jam and blow up in your face; and any laxity will make [[Chaos]] cults pop up by the billion in a week. Then there's [[Necrons|the genocidal robots from another age]], [[Eldar|space elves that would murder a planet on the off chance that their]] [[Farseer]] would break a nail otherwise (and they're still the nice space elves despite that, as their [[Dark Eldar|webway dwelling cousins are even worse - murdering entire planets just because they like the sound of millions of people screaming]]), [[Orks|the ambulatory (AND belligerent) fungi that plague the entire galaxy in a series of wars]], and [[Tyranids|extragalactic horrors that intend to eat everyone's face.]] [[TL;DR]] The Imperium acts like an asshole Hitler/Hirohito bastard child because the alternative is much, MUCH worse.

Now if you want a senselessly edgy story in the Warhammer 40,000 universe, an example would be the now non-canon [[Khornate Knights]].

===In closing===
There are many paths to success for a storyteller, some of which include going over dark territory in various ways or by innovating and pushing boundaries. However, all of them require care and attention to detail to pull off well. Being dark is not a magic bullet for achieving profoundness without trying.

==Notable Edgelords==

*[[Elric]] of Melnibone, arguably the first one.
*The Punisher (pictured above), depending on the writer.
*The Joker, depending on the writer (colorful clothing doesn't cancel out edginess).
*[[Drizzt]] clones with extreme Alignment leanings, either towards good or evil.
*Some [[World of Darkness]] characters, particularly Sabbat or Baali.
*Various [[Original character, do not steal|fan-made]] and canon Sonic characters, particularly Shadow.
** If you want the textbook definition of "pointless edge", go look up [[/v/|Shadow the Hedgehog]] for the PS2/XBox/Gamecube. For the unfamiliar: Edgy, rated for everyone 10 and up.
*Several people and groups in [[World of Warcraft]], with the top three edgelords - in ascending order - being Illidan Stormrage (in ''"Burning Crusade"'' and the second half of ''"Legion"''), Deathwing (in ''"Cataclysm"'') and Sylvanas Windrunner (the entirety of World of Warcraft). Others include a lot of Demon Hunters, some Death Knights and a lot of Forsaken characters.
*Several characters from [[A Song of Ice and Fire]], depending on the books or the TV adaptation. Examples from both include Euron Greyjoy, Littlefinger and Ramsay Bolton.
*Half of the [[Animu]] protagonists in existence. Bonus points if the genre is isekai, triple points if there's a harm involved.
**Goblin Slayer. Goblins' characterization is based solely on the fact that they rape (they're almost as much personifications of rape as the Xenomorphs from "Alien"), to the point where most drama from the already bare-boned story comes from "x character was traumatized by goblin rape" in some way or another. The protag - the titular "Goblin Slayer" - is obsessed with killing Goblins so much that it's all he could think of because they destroyed his hometown and raped his sister in front of him when he was a kid.
*Reaper from Overwatch
*[[Blackguard]]s
* Warhammer 40k has too many to list them all. Notable examples, even for 40K, are [[Rogal Dorn]], most [[Chaos Space Marine|traitor marines]] along with their Primarchs (especially Konrad Cruze and Angron) and every [[Dark Eldar]] (who get bonus points for their love for spiky armor, dark colors and torture).
* Warhammer Fantasy, similar to above but to a lesser degree. Notable examples here include [[Valnir|Valnir the Reaper]] and most Dark Elves.
*[[Malal]]. As if the Chaos gods' emotion tantrum is not enough, there exist this guy who out-hate everyone including himself with servants who are tougher and stronger than theirs.
*Folks who unironically, and vociferously defend that Caesar's Legion must conquer the world in [[Fallout|Fallout: New Vegas]] when even Caesar himself thinks it's kind of shit and he hopes that if they conquer a less shit society, they'll change into something less aggressively terrible. Of course he is a cuntwaffle himself, though its creator insists he is "morally neutral" while an aggressive female general of NCR is "evil" because she is hands-on. Make of that what you will.
*[[Star Wars|Kylo Ren]] AKA Krylo Ben AKA Ben Swolo. While "Kylo" may be the worst Skywalker ever, there is no denying that the edge is strong in his family. His mom's side are a bunch of crybaby desert backworlders with an incestuous sex drive and his dad was a scruffy, nerf herding spice smuggler - and all were war criminals, some with body counts in the hundred thousands and some with children's blood on their hands... He probably fits the mold better than we'd like to admit.
* Lord Edgelord, later Lord Edgegod from Slackwyrm Keep. He's aware, and <s>he's loving it</s><span style='color:red;font-size:100%'>***CLANG!*** There's no love in edge, only chaos!</span>

[[Category:Gamer Slang]]

Edgy

2019-10-15T10:47:48Z

2406:3400:20F:FFC0:A80D:9EEE:1E6F:E984: /* Notable Edgelords */

{{Topquote|As far as I can make out "edgy" occurs when middlebrow, middle-aged profiteers are looking to suck the energy--not to mention the spending money--out of the "youth culture." So they come up with this fake concept of "seeming to be dangerous when every move they make is the result of market research and a corporate master plan".|[[Daria 40k|Daria]], Episode [3.05] The Lost Girls.}}

{{Topquote|My name is Not Important; what is important is what I'm going to do. I just fucking hate this world, and the human worms feasting on its carcass. My whole life is just cold, bitter hatred, and I always wanted to die violently. This is the time of vengeance, and no life is worth saving, and I will put in the grave as many as I can. It's time for me to kill and it's time for me to die; my genocide crusade begins... here!| The Crusader, aka Not Important}}

[[File:Marvel Edge.jpg|200px|thumb|left|Unabashed Edginess from the 1990s]]
'''Edginess''' refers to people trying too hard (and sometimes too aggressively) to make things more tragic, [[grimdark]], controversial or cool. This often takes the form of senselessly driving a vague argument, a plotline or a scenario to its darkest possible outcome, all the while openly expressing their disdain at rationalizing villains or finding a middle ground in discourses. Like most internet terminology, it has been beaten to death, resurrected hastily, and then beaten some more. Has no relation to ''[[Hunter: The Reckoning]]''.

Another far less negative use of the term is to describe something on the 'edge' of what's acceptable, pushing established boundaries of convention. For example, by this definition ''Batman: The Animated Series'' was edgy for making an animated series which defied expectations of how true to its base concept and generally well-written a show designed to sell toys could be. Some more examples of this would be Ren and Stimpy (which was crude and vulgar) or Invader Zim (which could get get dark in subject matter, and used a fair bit of black humor); in both cases, a decent bit of the comedy was of the "I can't believe that they'd did ''THAT'' on a kid's cartoon show!" variety. A milder version of this was Sonic the Hedgehog in contrast to Mario. In 1989 the Simpsons was the Edgy take on the classic family sitcom archetype and in 1999 Family Guy had slotted itself in as the Edgy version of The Simpsons. For the 1990s and early 2000s Edgy was a favored term of cynical marketing types which drew the attention of the world's sarcastic snarkers, many of which came to congregate on sites such as 4chan.

An "edgelord" is someone who essentially is guilty of serial attempts to be edgy, like [[that guy]] at your tabletop role playing group who always, without fail, makes brooding loners who hate authority/"the establishment" and have a troubled past (shit, they might also wear sunglasses at night) without the nuance or the skill to pull it off, and thus just constantly makes themselves look silly. "Art" done by edgelords contain characters who are as dark, brooding and as painfully unhappy as possible, conflicts have zero compromise, and any conflict of interest will have the worst possible outcome. An edgelord in writing will go out of their way to make the story extra depressing, and subject multiple aspects of it to an increased shock factor when it's clearly '''illogical''' to do so. Needless to say, it can drive a perfect idea to make an entertaining story into the shitter, grating the nerves of even the most jaded audience. When commenting, the "edgelord" will simply push any predicament in the artwork to the darkest, deepest, worst outcome, while describing his fantasies. For example: In an adult and/or bondage predicament picture, edgelords can be found describing a paragraph of horrible fate the captive would suffer, *should* suffer because slaves are shit, and *deserve* abuse, even when the picture was a...predicament with nothing in context. Or he will simply fill the comment of a NSFW picture completely out of the blue, sick fantasies adding "women DESERVE it".

This is not to say that said dark elements like murder, slavery, rape and bodily harm are bad for literature, but rather that their sloppy execution with no regard to their depth is. As shown above, even the most "edgelord" of concepts can be salvaged and even made bearable with proper handling, especially going by the latter definition - but if you do it enough, the boundaries shift and what was edgy becomes the new norm, and there is always the risk of falling ''over'' the edge. This is why the old definition has fallen increasingly out of favor as time has gone on - people began seeing the dross sold under the title of "edgy", and the idea of what it meant thus moved away from the positive coronations marketing execs desired to the qualities described above. Plus, this is the internet, and people would rather a word just be an insult or a compliment to reduce confusion.

==The Anatomy of Edginess==
Edginess is in some ways like a cargo cult. During WWII in the Pacific, the US military set up bases on remote, but inhabited islands, bringing with them a lot of stuff like planes and cars and so forth that was quite amazing to the stone age natives, to whom the world had been a few dozen square kilometers of land surrounded by ocean, with hazy stories of other such islands. When the military left, some of the natives took to making coconut and wooden radios and flight towers based of some hazy recollection of the military variants, unaware that making the shape does not get you the actual thing.

In that vein, most of what comes to mind when people envision "edgy" artworks tends to be the result of people who wanted to make ''morally grey'' characters and subject matter, but lack the maturity/experience/focus combo necessary to NOT end up with anything other than a multiple-personality-disordered ruin. Someone of (at best) mediocre creative abilities sees some fiction that makes good use of melodrama, gritty settings, dark humor and such, made by people who know what the hell they're doing and figures "I can do that!", leading to said person haphazardly applying those elements incorrectly. The results of such efforts are either tiresome, unintentionally funny or just painful. The stereotypical teenager, especially one of a Gothic/emo persuasion, tends to embody this - all too eager for "adult" things (eg: violence, sex and so forth) in their limited perception of such, often born of denial. Individuals who pander to said demographic (or are otherwise just downright hacks) will favor this approach over any sense of complexity, subtlety, nuance and some actual understanding of the human condition.

===Edgy and [[Grimdark]]===
While edginess is frequently associated with invoking grimdark [[Derp|for the sake of it and nothing else]], it's important to remember that this alone does not edgy make. As an example, [[WH40K]]'s [[Imperium of Man]] has reasons to be fair and kind when capable: though it has plenty of genocide, xenocide (completely annihilating species even when they are gentle and kind) torture, forced labor (though outright commercialized slavery does not exist), witch hunts and militarism that would give Hitler a chubby beyond the grave, said horrors have reasonable justifications. Aliens were buying and selling humans like pets and culling them by the billion, operating slaver outposts even in our solar system before the Emperor came into leading the humanity into a roaring rampage of revenge. And regarding souls and the universe after the Heresy, any deviation from faith in the Emperor will ''literally'' send a human to hell upon death, with their soul becoming daemon food (and/or sex toys).

Any mistreated machinery will attract foul entities and corruption that will fuck you up seven ways till Monday and chew you out; any ill-coaxed [[Machine Spirit]] will jam and blow up in your face; and any laxity will make [[Chaos]] cults pop up by the billion in a week. Then there's [[Necrons|the genocidal robots from another age]], [[Eldar|space elves that would murder a planet on the off chance that their]] [[Farseer]] would break a nail otherwise (and they're still the nice space elves despite that, as their [[Dark Eldar|webway dwelling cousins are even worse - murdering entire planets just because they like the sound of millions of people screaming]]), [[Orks|the ambulatory (AND belligerent) fungi that plague the entire galaxy in a series of wars]], and [[Tyranids|extragalactic horrors that intend to eat everyone's face.]] [[TL;DR]] The Imperium acts like an asshole Hitler/Hirohito bastard child because the alternative is much, MUCH worse.

Now if you want a senselessly edgy story in the Warhammer 40,000 universe, an example would be the now non-canon [[Khornate Knights]].

===In closing===
There are many paths to success for a storyteller, some of which include going over dark territory in various ways or by innovating and pushing boundaries. However, all of them require care and attention to detail to pull off well. Being dark is not a magic bullet for achieving profoundness without trying.

==Notable Edgelords==

*[[Elric]] of Melnibone, arguably the first one.
*The Punisher (pictured above), depending on the writer.
*The Joker, depending on the writer (colorful clothing doesn't cancel out edginess).
*[[Drizzt]] clones with extreme Alignment leanings, either towards good or evil.
*Some [[World of Darkness]] characters, particularly Sabbat or Baali.
*Various [[Original character, do not steal|fan-made]] and canon Sonic characters, particularly Shadow.
** If you want the textbook definition of "pointless edge", go look up [[/v/|Shadow the Hedgehog]] for the PS2/XBox/Gamecube. For the unfamiliar: Edgy, rated for everyone 10 and up.
*Several people and groups in [[World of Warcraft]], with the top three edgelords - in ascending order - being Illidan Stormrage (in the second half of ''"Legion"''), Deathwing (in ''"Cataclysm"'') and Sylvanas Windrunner (the entirety of World of Warcraft). Others include a lot of Demon Hunters, some Death Knights and a lot of Forsaken characters.
*Several characters from [[A Song of Ice and Fire]], depending on the books or the TV adaptation. Examples from both include Euron Greyjoy, Littlefinger and Ramsay Bolton.
*Half of the [[Animu]] protagonists in existence. Bonus points if the genre is isekai, triple points if there's a harm involved.
**Goblin Slayer. Goblins' characterization is based solely on the fact that they rape (they're almost as much personifications of rape as the Xenomorphs from "Alien"), to the point where most drama from the already bare-boned story comes from "x character was traumatized by goblin rape" in some way or another. The protag - the titular "Goblin Slayer" - is obsessed with killing Goblins so much that it's all he could think of because they destroyed his hometown and raped his sister in front of him when he was a kid.
*Reaper from Overwatch
*[[Blackguard]]s
* Warhammer 40k has too many to list them all. Notable examples, even for 40K, are [[Rogal Dorn]], most [[Chaos Space Marine|traitor marines]] along with their Primarchs (especially Konrad Cruze and Angron) and every [[Dark Eldar]] (who get bonus points for their love for spiky armor, dark colors and torture).
* Warhammer Fantasy, similar to above but to a lesser degree. Notable examples here include [[Valnir|Valnir the Reaper]] and most Dark Elves.
*[[Malal]]. As if the Chaos gods' emotion tantrum is not enough, there exist this guy who out-hate everyone including himself with servants who are tougher and stronger than theirs.
*Folks who unironically, and vociferously defend that Caesar's Legion must conquer the world in [[Fallout|Fallout: New Vegas]] when even Caesar himself thinks it's kind of shit and he hopes that if they conquer a less shit society, they'll change into something less aggressively terrible. Of course he is a cuntwaffle himself, though its creator insists he is "morally neutral" while an aggressive female general of NCR is "evil" because she is hands-on. Make of that what you will.
*[[Star Wars|Kylo Ren]] AKA Krylo Ben AKA Ben Swolo. While "Kylo" may be the worst Skywalker ever, there is no denying that the edge is strong in his family. His mom's side are a bunch of crybaby desert backworlders with an incestuous sex drive and his dad was a scruffy, nerf herding spice smuggler - and all were war criminals, some with body counts in the hundred thousands and some with children's blood on their hands... He probably fits the mold better than we'd like to admit.
* Lord Edgelord, later Lord Edgegod from Slackwyrm Keep. He's aware, and <s>he's loving it</s><span style='color:red;font-size:100%'>***CLANG!*** There's no love in edge, only chaos!</span>

[[Category:Gamer Slang]]

Edgy

2019-10-15T10:47:20Z

2406:3400:20F:FFC0:A80D:9EEE:1E6F:E984: /* Notable Edgelords */

{{Topquote|As far as I can make out "edgy" occurs when middlebrow, middle-aged profiteers are looking to suck the energy--not to mention the spending money--out of the "youth culture." So they come up with this fake concept of "seeming to be dangerous when every move they make is the result of market research and a corporate master plan".|[[Daria 40k|Daria]], Episode [3.05] The Lost Girls.}}

{{Topquote|My name is Not Important; what is important is what I'm going to do. I just fucking hate this world, and the human worms feasting on its carcass. My whole life is just cold, bitter hatred, and I always wanted to die violently. This is the time of vengeance, and no life is worth saving, and I will put in the grave as many as I can. It's time for me to kill and it's time for me to die; my genocide crusade begins... here!| The Crusader, aka Not Important}}

[[File:Marvel Edge.jpg|200px|thumb|left|Unabashed Edginess from the 1990s]]
'''Edginess''' refers to people trying too hard (and sometimes too aggressively) to make things more tragic, [[grimdark]], controversial or cool. This often takes the form of senselessly driving a vague argument, a plotline or a scenario to its darkest possible outcome, all the while openly expressing their disdain at rationalizing villains or finding a middle ground in discourses. Like most internet terminology, it has been beaten to death, resurrected hastily, and then beaten some more. Has no relation to ''[[Hunter: The Reckoning]]''.

Another far less negative use of the term is to describe something on the 'edge' of what's acceptable, pushing established boundaries of convention. For example, by this definition ''Batman: The Animated Series'' was edgy for making an animated series which defied expectations of how true to its base concept and generally well-written a show designed to sell toys could be. Some more examples of this would be Ren and Stimpy (which was crude and vulgar) or Invader Zim (which could get get dark in subject matter, and used a fair bit of black humor); in both cases, a decent bit of the comedy was of the "I can't believe that they'd did ''THAT'' on a kid's cartoon show!" variety. A milder version of this was Sonic the Hedgehog in contrast to Mario. In 1989 the Simpsons was the Edgy take on the classic family sitcom archetype and in 1999 Family Guy had slotted itself in as the Edgy version of The Simpsons. For the 1990s and early 2000s Edgy was a favored term of cynical marketing types which drew the attention of the world's sarcastic snarkers, many of which came to congregate on sites such as 4chan.

An "edgelord" is someone who essentially is guilty of serial attempts to be edgy, like [[that guy]] at your tabletop role playing group who always, without fail, makes brooding loners who hate authority/"the establishment" and have a troubled past (shit, they might also wear sunglasses at night) without the nuance or the skill to pull it off, and thus just constantly makes themselves look silly. "Art" done by edgelords contain characters who are as dark, brooding and as painfully unhappy as possible, conflicts have zero compromise, and any conflict of interest will have the worst possible outcome. An edgelord in writing will go out of their way to make the story extra depressing, and subject multiple aspects of it to an increased shock factor when it's clearly '''illogical''' to do so. Needless to say, it can drive a perfect idea to make an entertaining story into the shitter, grating the nerves of even the most jaded audience. When commenting, the "edgelord" will simply push any predicament in the artwork to the darkest, deepest, worst outcome, while describing his fantasies. For example: In an adult and/or bondage predicament picture, edgelords can be found describing a paragraph of horrible fate the captive would suffer, *should* suffer because slaves are shit, and *deserve* abuse, even when the picture was a...predicament with nothing in context. Or he will simply fill the comment of a NSFW picture completely out of the blue, sick fantasies adding "women DESERVE it".

This is not to say that said dark elements like murder, slavery, rape and bodily harm are bad for literature, but rather that their sloppy execution with no regard to their depth is. As shown above, even the most "edgelord" of concepts can be salvaged and even made bearable with proper handling, especially going by the latter definition - but if you do it enough, the boundaries shift and what was edgy becomes the new norm, and there is always the risk of falling ''over'' the edge. This is why the old definition has fallen increasingly out of favor as time has gone on - people began seeing the dross sold under the title of "edgy", and the idea of what it meant thus moved away from the positive coronations marketing execs desired to the qualities described above. Plus, this is the internet, and people would rather a word just be an insult or a compliment to reduce confusion.

==The Anatomy of Edginess==
Edginess is in some ways like a cargo cult. During WWII in the Pacific, the US military set up bases on remote, but inhabited islands, bringing with them a lot of stuff like planes and cars and so forth that was quite amazing to the stone age natives, to whom the world had been a few dozen square kilometers of land surrounded by ocean, with hazy stories of other such islands. When the military left, some of the natives took to making coconut and wooden radios and flight towers based of some hazy recollection of the military variants, unaware that making the shape does not get you the actual thing.

In that vein, most of what comes to mind when people envision "edgy" artworks tends to be the result of people who wanted to make ''morally grey'' characters and subject matter, but lack the maturity/experience/focus combo necessary to NOT end up with anything other than a multiple-personality-disordered ruin. Someone of (at best) mediocre creative abilities sees some fiction that makes good use of melodrama, gritty settings, dark humor and such, made by people who know what the hell they're doing and figures "I can do that!", leading to said person haphazardly applying those elements incorrectly. The results of such efforts are either tiresome, unintentionally funny or just painful. The stereotypical teenager, especially one of a Gothic/emo persuasion, tends to embody this - all too eager for "adult" things (eg: violence, sex and so forth) in their limited perception of such, often born of denial. Individuals who pander to said demographic (or are otherwise just downright hacks) will favor this approach over any sense of complexity, subtlety, nuance and some actual understanding of the human condition.

===Edgy and [[Grimdark]]===
While edginess is frequently associated with invoking grimdark [[Derp|for the sake of it and nothing else]], it's important to remember that this alone does not edgy make. As an example, [[WH40K]]'s [[Imperium of Man]] has reasons to be fair and kind when capable: though it has plenty of genocide, xenocide (completely annihilating species even when they are gentle and kind) torture, forced labor (though outright commercialized slavery does not exist), witch hunts and militarism that would give Hitler a chubby beyond the grave, said horrors have reasonable justifications. Aliens were buying and selling humans like pets and culling them by the billion, operating slaver outposts even in our solar system before the Emperor came into leading the humanity into a roaring rampage of revenge. And regarding souls and the universe after the Heresy, any deviation from faith in the Emperor will ''literally'' send a human to hell upon death, with their soul becoming daemon food (and/or sex toys).

Any mistreated machinery will attract foul entities and corruption that will fuck you up seven ways till Monday and chew you out; any ill-coaxed [[Machine Spirit]] will jam and blow up in your face; and any laxity will make [[Chaos]] cults pop up by the billion in a week. Then there's [[Necrons|the genocidal robots from another age]], [[Eldar|space elves that would murder a planet on the off chance that their]] [[Farseer]] would break a nail otherwise (and they're still the nice space elves despite that, as their [[Dark Eldar|webway dwelling cousins are even worse - murdering entire planets just because they like the sound of millions of people screaming]]), [[Orks|the ambulatory (AND belligerent) fungi that plague the entire galaxy in a series of wars]], and [[Tyranids|extragalactic horrors that intend to eat everyone's face.]] [[TL;DR]] The Imperium acts like an asshole Hitler/Hirohito bastard child because the alternative is much, MUCH worse.

Now if you want a senselessly edgy story in the Warhammer 40,000 universe, an example would be the now non-canon [[Khornate Knights]].

===In closing===
There are many paths to success for a storyteller, some of which include going over dark territory in various ways or by innovating and pushing boundaries. However, all of them require care and attention to detail to pull off well. Being dark is not a magic bullet for achieving profoundness without trying.

==Notable Edgelords==

*[[Elric]] of Melnibone, arguably the first one.
*The Punisher (pictured above), depending on the writer.
*The Joker, depending on the writer (colorful clothing doesn't cancel out edginess).
*[[Drizzt]] clones with extreme Alignment leanings, either towards good or evil.
*Some [[World of Darkness]] characters, particularly Sabbat or Baali.
*Various [[Original character, do not steal|fan-made]] and canon Sonic characters, particularly Shadow.
** If you want the textbook definition of "pointless edge", go look up [[/v/|Shadow the Hedgehog]] for the PS2/XBox/Gamecube. For the unfamiliar: Edgy, rated for everyone 10 and up.
*Several people and groups in [[World of Warcraft]], with the top three edgelords - in ascending order - being Illidan Stormrage (in the second half of ''"Legion"''), Deathwing (in ''"Cataclysm"'') and Sylvanas Windrunner (the entirety of World of Warcraft). Others include a lot of Demon Hunters, some Death Knights and a lot of Forsaken characters.
*Several characters from [[A Song of Ice and Fire]], depending on the books or the TV adaptation. Examples from both include Euron Greyjoy, Littlefinger and Ramsay Bolton.
*Half of the [[Animu]] protagonists in existence. Bonus points if the genre is isekai, triple points if there's a harm involved.
**Goblin Slayer. Goblins' characterization is based solely on the fact that they rape (they're almost as much personifications of rape as the Xenomorphs from "Alien"), to the point where most drama from the already bare-boned story comes from "x character was traumatized by goblin rape" in some way or another. The protag - the titular "Goblin Slayer" - is obsessed with killing Goblins so much that it's all he could think of because they destroyed his hometown and raped his sister in front of him when he was a kid.
*Reaper from Overwatch
*[[Blackguard]]s
* Warhammer 40k has too many to list them all. Notable examples, even for 40K, are [[Rogal Dorn]], most [[Chaos Space Marine|traitor marines]] along with their Primarchs (especially Konrad Cruze and Angron) and every [[Dark Eldar]] (who get bonus points for their love for spiky armor, dark colors and torture).
* Warhammer Fantasy, similar to above but to a lesser degree. Notable examples here include [[Valnir|Valnir the Reaper]] and the Dark Elves.
*[[Malal]]. As if the Chaos gods' emotion tantrum is not enough, there exist this guy who out-hate everyone including himself with servants who are tougher and stronger than theirs.
*Folks who unironically, and vociferously defend that Caesar's Legion must conquer the world in [[Fallout|Fallout: New Vegas]] when even Caesar himself thinks it's kind of shit and he hopes that if they conquer a less shit society, they'll change into something less aggressively terrible. Of course he is a cuntwaffle himself, though its creator insists he is "morally neutral" while an aggressive female general of NCR is "evil" because she is hands-on. Make of that what you will.
*[[Star Wars|Kylo Ren]] AKA Krylo Ben AKA Ben Swolo. While "Kylo" may be the worst Skywalker ever, there is no denying that the edge is strong in his family. His mom's side are a bunch of crybaby desert backworlders with an incestuous sex drive and his dad was a scruffy, nerf herding spice smuggler - and all were war criminals, some with body counts in the hundred thousands and some with children's blood on their hands... He probably fits the mold better than we'd like to admit.
* Lord Edgelord, later Lord Edgegod from Slackwyrm Keep. He's aware, and <s>he's loving it</s><span style='color:red;font-size:100%'>***CLANG!*** There's no love in edge, only chaos!</span>

[[Category:Gamer Slang]]

Edgy

2019-10-15T10:35:48Z

2406:3400:20F:FFC0:A80D:9EEE:1E6F:E984: /* Notable Edgelords */

{{Topquote|As far as I can make out "edgy" occurs when middlebrow, middle-aged profiteers are looking to suck the energy--not to mention the spending money--out of the "youth culture." So they come up with this fake concept of "seeming to be dangerous when every move they make is the result of market research and a corporate master plan".|[[Daria 40k|Daria]], Episode [3.05] The Lost Girls.}}

{{Topquote|My name is Not Important; what is important is what I'm going to do. I just fucking hate this world, and the human worms feasting on its carcass. My whole life is just cold, bitter hatred, and I always wanted to die violently. This is the time of vengeance, and no life is worth saving, and I will put in the grave as many as I can. It's time for me to kill and it's time for me to die; my genocide crusade begins... here!| The Crusader, aka Not Important}}

[[File:Marvel Edge.jpg|200px|thumb|left|Unabashed Edginess from the 1990s]]
'''Edginess''' refers to people trying too hard (and sometimes too aggressively) to make things more tragic, [[grimdark]], controversial or cool. This often takes the form of senselessly driving a vague argument, a plotline or a scenario to its darkest possible outcome, all the while openly expressing their disdain at rationalizing villains or finding a middle ground in discourses. Like most internet terminology, it has been beaten to death, resurrected hastily, and then beaten some more. Has no relation to ''[[Hunter: The Reckoning]]''.

Another far less negative use of the term is to describe something on the 'edge' of what's acceptable, pushing established boundaries of convention. For example, by this definition ''Batman: The Animated Series'' was edgy for making an animated series which defied expectations of how true to its base concept and generally well-written a show designed to sell toys could be. Some more examples of this would be Ren and Stimpy (which was crude and vulgar) or Invader Zim (which could get get dark in subject matter, and used a fair bit of black humor); in both cases, a decent bit of the comedy was of the "I can't believe that they'd did ''THAT'' on a kid's cartoon show!" variety. A milder version of this was Sonic the Hedgehog in contrast to Mario. In 1989 the Simpsons was the Edgy take on the classic family sitcom archetype and in 1999 Family Guy had slotted itself in as the Edgy version of The Simpsons. For the 1990s and early 2000s Edgy was a favored term of cynical marketing types which drew the attention of the world's sarcastic snarkers, many of which came to congregate on sites such as 4chan.

An "edgelord" is someone who essentially is guilty of serial attempts to be edgy, like [[that guy]] at your tabletop role playing group who always, without fail, makes brooding loners who hate authority/"the establishment" and have a troubled past (shit, they might also wear sunglasses at night) without the nuance or the skill to pull it off, and thus just constantly makes themselves look silly. "Art" done by edgelords contain characters who are as dark, brooding and as painfully unhappy as possible, conflicts have zero compromise, and any conflict of interest will have the worst possible outcome. An edgelord in writing will go out of their way to make the story extra depressing, and subject multiple aspects of it to an increased shock factor when it's clearly '''illogical''' to do so. Needless to say, it can drive a perfect idea to make an entertaining story into the shitter, grating the nerves of even the most jaded audience. When commenting, the "edgelord" will simply push any predicament in the artwork to the darkest, deepest, worst outcome, while describing his fantasies. For example: In an adult and/or bondage predicament picture, edgelords can be found describing a paragraph of horrible fate the captive would suffer, *should* suffer because slaves are shit, and *deserve* abuse, even when the picture was a...predicament with nothing in context. Or he will simply fill the comment of a NSFW picture completely out of the blue, sick fantasies adding "women DESERVE it".

This is not to say that said dark elements like murder, slavery, rape and bodily harm are bad for literature, but rather that their sloppy execution with no regard to their depth is. As shown above, even the most "edgelord" of concepts can be salvaged and even made bearable with proper handling, especially going by the latter definition - but if you do it enough, the boundaries shift and what was edgy becomes the new norm, and there is always the risk of falling ''over'' the edge. This is why the old definition has fallen increasingly out of favor as time has gone on - people began seeing the dross sold under the title of "edgy", and the idea of what it meant thus moved away from the positive coronations marketing execs desired to the qualities described above. Plus, this is the internet, and people would rather a word just be an insult or a compliment to reduce confusion.

==The Anatomy of Edginess==
Edginess is in some ways like a cargo cult. During WWII in the Pacific, the US military set up bases on remote, but inhabited islands, bringing with them a lot of stuff like planes and cars and so forth that was quite amazing to the stone age natives, to whom the world had been a few dozen square kilometers of land surrounded by ocean, with hazy stories of other such islands. When the military left, some of the natives took to making coconut and wooden radios and flight towers based of some hazy recollection of the military variants, unaware that making the shape does not get you the actual thing.

In that vein, most of what comes to mind when people envision "edgy" artworks tends to be the result of people who wanted to make ''morally grey'' characters and subject matter, but lack the maturity/experience/focus combo necessary to NOT end up with anything other than a multiple-personality-disordered ruin. Someone of (at best) mediocre creative abilities sees some fiction that makes good use of melodrama, gritty settings, dark humor and such, made by people who know what the hell they're doing and figures "I can do that!", leading to said person haphazardly applying those elements incorrectly. The results of such efforts are either tiresome, unintentionally funny or just painful. The stereotypical teenager, especially one of a Gothic/emo persuasion, tends to embody this - all too eager for "adult" things (eg: violence, sex and so forth) in their limited perception of such, often born of denial. Individuals who pander to said demographic (or are otherwise just downright hacks) will favor this approach over any sense of complexity, subtlety, nuance and some actual understanding of the human condition.

===Edgy and [[Grimdark]]===
While edginess is frequently associated with invoking grimdark [[Derp|for the sake of it and nothing else]], it's important to remember that this alone does not edgy make. As an example, [[WH40K]]'s [[Imperium of Man]] has reasons to be fair and kind when capable: though it has plenty of genocide, xenocide (completely annihilating species even when they are gentle and kind) torture, forced labor (though outright commercialized slavery does not exist), witch hunts and militarism that would give Hitler a chubby beyond the grave, said horrors have reasonable justifications. Aliens were buying and selling humans like pets and culling them by the billion, operating slaver outposts even in our solar system before the Emperor came into leading the humanity into a roaring rampage of revenge. And regarding souls and the universe after the Heresy, any deviation from faith in the Emperor will ''literally'' send a human to hell upon death, with their soul becoming daemon food (and/or sex toys).

Any mistreated machinery will attract foul entities and corruption that will fuck you up seven ways till Monday and chew you out; any ill-coaxed [[Machine Spirit]] will jam and blow up in your face; and any laxity will make [[Chaos]] cults pop up by the billion in a week. Then there's [[Necrons|the genocidal robots from another age]], [[Eldar|space elves that would murder a planet on the off chance that their]] [[Farseer]] would break a nail otherwise (and they're still the nice space elves despite that, as their [[Dark Eldar|webway dwelling cousins are even worse - murdering entire planets just because they like the sound of millions of people screaming]]), [[Orks|the ambulatory (AND belligerent) fungi that plague the entire galaxy in a series of wars]], and [[Tyranids|extragalactic horrors that intend to eat everyone's face.]] [[TL;DR]] The Imperium acts like an asshole Hitler/Hirohito bastard child because the alternative is much, MUCH worse.

Now if you want a senselessly edgy story in the Warhammer 40,000 universe, an example would be the now non-canon [[Khornate Knights]].

===In closing===
There are many paths to success for a storyteller, some of which include going over dark territory in various ways or by innovating and pushing boundaries. However, all of them require care and attention to detail to pull off well. Being dark is not a magic bullet for achieving profoundness without trying.

==Notable Edgelords==

*[[Elric]] of Melnibone, arguably the first one.
*The Punisher (pictured above), especially in the hands of certain writers.
*The Joker, depending on the writer (colorful clothing doesn't cancel out edginess).
*[[Drizzt]] clones with extreme Alignment leanings, either towards good or evil.
*Poorly made [[World of Darkness]] characters, particularly Sabbat or Baali who don't follow Path of the Hive.
*Sonic <s>fan</s> [[Original character, do not steal|"original" characters]]
*Some Sonic ''canon'' characters, particularly Shadow
** If you want the textbook definition of "pointless edge", go look up [[/v/|Shadow the Hedgehog]] for the PS2/XBox/Gamecube. For the unfamiliar: Edgy, rated for everyone 10 and up.
*DeviantArt OCs
**Many OCs, really
*The [[Night Lords]] Legion
*[[Rogal Dorn]]
*Several people and groups in [[World of Warcraft]], with the top three - in ascending order - being Illidan Stormrage (in the second half of ''"Legion"''), Deathwing (in ''"Cataclysm"'') and Sylvanas Windrunner (the entirety of World of Warcraft). Others include a lot of Demon Hunters, some Death Knights and a lot of Forsaken characters.
*Several characters from [[A Song of Ice and Fire]] - varying depending on the books or the TV adaptation. Examples from both include Euron Greyjoy, Littlefinger, Ramsay Bolton and Joffrey Baratheon.
*Half of the [[Animu]] protagonists in existence. Bonus points if the genre is isekai, triple points if there's a harm involved.
**Goblin Slayer. Goblins' characterization is based solely on the fact that they rape (they're almost as much personifications of rape as the Xenomorphs from "Alien"), to the point where most drama from the already bare-boned story comes from "x character was traumatized by goblin rape" in some way or another. The protag - the titular "Goblin Slayer" is obsessed with killing Goblins so much that it's all he could think of because they destroyed his hometown and raped his sister in front of him when he was a kid.
*Reaper from Overwatch
*[[Blackguard]]s
*Every [[heretic]], [[Chaos Space Marine|traitor marine]] [[Primarch|and traitor Primarch]] in Warhammer 40k. The fact that Chaos Gods are entities made from emotions of living beings should've gave you a clue.
**Specifically [[Konrad Curze]] gets a second mention. The edge is strong with him.
*Every [[Dark Elf]] and [[Dark Eldar]] from their respective Warhammer franchise. It's a miracle their society didn't crumble with their average elves being a bunch of brooding torture addicts with a habit of backstabbing each other. Bonus points for their love for spiky armor, spiky weapon and dark color like dark purple.
*[[Malal]]. As if the Chaos gods' emotion tantrum is not enough, there exist this guy who out-hate everyone including himself with servants who is tougher and stronger than they are.
*Folks who unironically, and vociferously defend that Caesar's Legion must conquer the world in [[Fallout|Fallout: New Vegas]] when even Caesar himself thinks it's kind of shit and he hopes that if they conquer a less shit society, they'll change into something less aggressively terrible. Of course he is a cuntwaffle himself, though its creator insists he is "morally neutral" while an aggressive female general of NCR is "evil" because she is hands-on. Make of that what you will.
*[[Valnir|Valnir the Reaper]]. Seriously, this guy is like so fucking sad that he has no enjoyment and passion to anything he did that he sworn to make everyone as sad as he is.
*[[Star Wars|Kylo Ren]] AKA Krylo Ben AKA Ben Swolo. While "Kylo" may be the worst Skywalker ever, there is no denying that the edge is strong in his family. His mom's side are a bunch of crybaby desert backworlders with an incestuous sex drive and his dad was a scruffy, nerf herding spice smuggler - and all were war criminals, some with body counts in the hundred thousands and some with children's blood on their hands... He probably fits the mold better than we'd like to admit.
* Lord Edgelord, later Lord Edgegod from Slackwyrm Keep. He's aware, and <s>he's loving it</s><span style='color:red;font-size:100%'>***CLANG!*** There's no love in edge, only chaos!</span>

[[Category:Gamer Slang]]

Sylvaneth

2019-10-15T09:03:26Z

2406:3400:20F:FFC0:A80D:9EEE:1E6F:E984: /* The Spirits of the Forest */

{{Age of Sigmar Faction|Faction=Sylvaneth|Logo=Most Friendly Being In Sylvaneth.jpg|Alliance=Order|Motto=WALKING TREES I TELL YOU! WALKING TREES!}}

{{Topquote|Tom's words laid bare the hearts of trees and their thoughts, which were often dark and strange, and filled with a hatred of things that go free upon the earth, gnawing, biting, breaking, hacking, burning: destroyers and usurpers. It was not called the Old Forest without reason, for it was indeed ancient, a survivor of vast forgotten woods; and in it there lived yet, ageing no quicker than the hills, the fathers of the fathers of trees, remembering times when they were lords. The countless years had filled them with pride and rooted wisdom, and with malice.|J. R. R. Tolkien, The Fellowship of the Ring}}
{{Topquote|Going up that river was like travelling back to the earliest beginnings of the world, when vegetation rioted on the earth and the big trees were kings. An empty stream, a great silence, an impenetrable forest. The air was warm, thick, heavy, sluggish. There was no joy in the brilliance of sunshine. The long stretches of the waterway ran on, deserted, into the gloom of overshadowed distances. [...] And this stillness of life did not in the least resemble a peace. It was the stillness of an implacable force brooding over an inscrutable intention. It looked at you with a vengeful aspect.|Joseph Conrad, Heart of Darkness}}
{{Topquote|Tarik backed away from the Bloodbound assault, stumbling and falling to the forest floor. Throughout the wood his brother Freeguilders were likewise breaking before the Chaos assault, men falling back between the trees as armoured shapes chased them down. Suddenly, a Chaos Warrior loomed over him, a crimson shape blotting out the sky. He raised his shield but his foe smashed it aside before raising an impossibly large axe to cut Tarik down. Then the trees moved. Roots and vines shot out of the shadows like thorny serpents, enveloping his attacker. Elsewhere in the gloom Tarik heard the screams and curses of the Chaos horde as new adversaries joined the fray. The Bloodbound lashed out at the branches as they struck, but it was as if the whole world had turned against them. Tarik watched, transfixed, as the vines tightened around the killer that moments ago had been poised to end his life. Appearing as if out of norwhere, the Dryad embraced her victim, his bones snapping at her touch. As the broken Chaos Warrior fell to the ground, Tarik looked into the Dryad's Eyes and felt a cold chill run down his spine.|Age of Sigmar}}

The '''Sylvaneth''', children of the goddess [[Alarielle]], have suffered greatly under the yoke of the Dark Gods. Their emerald kingdoms and woodland refuges in the Realm of Life have been infected and ravaged by the vile servants of Nurgle, until little but rot and decay remains. As Sigmar's tempest rolls out across the realms, a new age of hope is dawning, and the treefolk stir within their devastated forests and glades, taking up arms once more against those who have invaded their lands. However, this is not an ironbound contract. It is not unheard of for a slight misunderstanding to cause the Sylvaneth to depart from their erstwhile allies, or even attack them should they appear to threaten lands the Sylvaneth hold Sacred.

They were well-received upon their release, due to being one of the first factions unique to Age of Sigmar and being seen as a refreshing break from the near-constant focus on Sigmarines vs Chaos. It helps that one of their mainstay units (Kurnoth Hunters) are one of the best value units in AoS.

==History==
===Age of Myth===
The sylvaneth are the offspring of the goddess Alarielle, Queen of the Radiant Wood and ruler of [[Ghyran]]. Early in the Age of Myth Alarielle went around sowing soulpods, spirits she had saved from the World-That-Was. These formed into the first Sylvaneth. During this time, Alarielle sang a spirit-song, and this resounds in the souls of all Sylvaneth to this day, and through it Alarielle can communicate directly with them in Ghyran. The song of Sylvaneth helps bind them together as a united people, stopping them from struggling against one another not based on oppression but genuine feelings of unity. There was danger, of course, from rampaging beasts and hostile barbarian tribes. However, there were various spirits, most notably the Kurnoth Hunters, who formed the warrior caste and dealt with these threats while the others, most of all the Dryads, could nurture the lands and live in peace.

Alarielle looked upon her creations and knew peace at last. During this time, [[Sigmar]] found her and invited her to be part of his Pantheon, which she accepted. Time passed, and the children of the Radiant Wood spread beyond the bounds of Ghyran. Whether by soulpod seeds carried through Realmgates, or by the staging of deliberate expeditions, Sylvaneth enclaves sprung up across all the Mortal Realms, even realms less conducive to life, such as metallic Chamon and deathly Shyish.

These lands proved more dangerous than Ghyran. Entire sylvaneth clans were lost to war and catastrophe. Still, the sylvaneth prevailed and spread. There was one hazard they could not have planned for though; once beyond the Realmgates,the sylvaneth found themselves cut off from the spirit-song of their mother. The sylvaneth who travelled to new realms could still perceive the spirit-song that echoed from within, but they found themselves islands of harmony amidst a terrible silence. Some went mad, while others fled back to the comfort of their heartglades. Tales are still told of the terrible season in which Silverthorn Glade was lost altogether. Those sylvaneth who endured sought out those places in the new lands where life magic flowed the strongest. In these places of power, they planted soulpod groves and sank their realmroots deep; the realmroots being magical paths to travel accessible only to them.

These were places of ethereal pulchritude. The vast Hunter’s Moon, the Singing Mountains, the Citycaverns of Briardell and countless others echoed the beautiful wonder of the sylvaneth homeland.

===Age of Chaos===
They suffered grievously at the hands of the forces of Chaos. Nurgle, with his fixation on life and Alarielle's similarity to Shallya from the World-That-Was, focused his efforts on Ghyran and directed nearly all of his forces there, also seeking to claim Alarielle for himself.
So swiftly did Nurgle’s spawn multiply that tides of squirming terrors were soon sweeping across the lands at an unstoppable pace. The Queen of the Radiant Wood rose to repel this foul invasion, and a war began unlike any other. Renewal battled entropy, healing magic fought infection.

During the Age of Chaos the first appearances of the Outcasts among the Sylvaneth - the Spite-Revenants - occurred, in a period referred to as the "Shrouded Season". = No one but Alarielle knows the details, because she purposefully deleted this from the Sylvaneth's memory on a racial level, including the Outcasts themselves, and refused to talk about it ever since. No one knows why Alarielle did this but her, and it makes them uncomfortable to think about across the board.

All this time Alarielle had held onto Drycha's soulpod. She was conflicted about planting Drycha, fearing Drycha's madness and the harm she might wreak if freed but also concerned Drycha was a necessary darkness and that she was weakening the Sylvaneth by not including her. When she reached her lowest point during this Age, Alarielle headed to a hateful chasm and planted Drycha's soulpod there. Drycha emerged with a body of vines and thorn-root, torn between rage and depression, though she took the fight to the forces of Chaos, they were only slowed down, not stopped.

By the end of the Age of Chaos, all Sylvaneth had become warriors. Every Sylvaneth who wasn't a fighter had either taken up arms and learned to fight or been killed off.

===Age of Sigmar===
The Necroquake had less of an effect on the Sylvaneth than most of the other races, but they were still effected. The Gnarlroot Sylvaneth, who specialized in studying magic, devoted their efforts to studying the Necroquake and alleviating its effects where they could.

Recently, the events of the Stormvaults have revealed a new threat to Ghyran. There are objects called Black Seeds that sprout trees called Black Oaks that have a deterimental effect on the Realm of Life. Worse, the followers of Nurgle have found them and are starting to cultivate them all over Ghyran. It's mentioned Sigmar hid them in vaults in Ghyran for some reason and that Alarielle will be mad at him when/if she finds out what Sigmar did. It's hinted this could strain the Grand Alliance of Order, especially since Teclis is already mad at Sigmar for taking and repurposing some of his old tools from Hysh while Malerion and Morathi are plotting against Sigmar for their own gain.

==The Glades==
* '''Oakenbrow''': Said to be the First Glade, whose ancestors sprang from the very first soulpods planted by Alarielle. Have a strong sense of justice. Considered arrogant by some Sylvaneth - particularly Sylaneth from the Gnarlroot and Dreadwood wargroves, most see them as noble-minded.
* '''Gnarlroot''': Old beyond mortal thought, strange and grim in thought and deed – they care only for lore and the hidden secrets of ancient things. The magic-heavy Sylvaneth. They're one of the more traditionalist wargroves, though they're more open to allying with non-Sylvaneth if they're wizards or scholars. Their leader, the Old King of Gnarlroot Glade AKA Grum King Ithil-spond, claims to have been podborn during Alarielle’s first sowing alongside the first Oakenbrow Sylvaneth.
* '''Heartwood''': The clans of Heartwood Glade are said to be the most courageous and determined of all the Sylvaneth. They worship Kurnoth alongside Alarielle, and so have lots of Kurnoth Hunters. They're constantly at war with the enemies of the Sylvaneth as they see it as a disservice to Kurnoth to ever abandon the hunt. Despite this, they're very honorable and loyal and aren't cruel, just resolute.
* '''Ironbark''': The Dorfiest Sylvaneth. Originating from Chamon, the Ironbark clans are known for their tenacity and resilience, and are famous for weathering the most extreme of circumstances without complaint. They are skilled at drawing up precious metals and ores from the soil. These traits and a familiar attitude have led to strong alliances between them and the Dwarfs, being the only trees that Dwarfs like. During the Age of Chaos, they helped many Dwarves to escape the onslaught of Chaos by either leading them through realmgates to Azyr or to the tops of the highest mountains in Chamon, the latter of which would go on to become the Kharadron Overlords.
* '''Winterleaf''': The melancholy Sylvaneth. The spirits of Winterleaf Glade are fey and melancholy, given to fatalism and introspection. They had the most beautiful of places, but after Nurgles forces destroyed those places they got a major sad that's lasted ever since. But rather than making them lose hope, they fight for revenge against the forces of Chaos and will ally with anyone who can help them get revenge. They've also developed a strong affinity for and tolerance of cold temperatures, making their new homes in icy regions and glaciers.
* '''Dreadwood''': The most sadistic Sylvaneth. More vengeful than the Winterleaf, more xenophobic than the Gnarlroot and fear is their primary weapon. Utterly merciless, they're suspected of being the source of the Outcasts and have more in their number than any other Wargrove. They get along well with Drycha.
* '''Harvestboon''': The only ones born during the Age of Chaos, but surprisingly not unhappy about it. They're vibrant and optimistic, seeking to heal the damage done to Ghyran. The Branchwraiths of Harvestboon clans are known for the flowing beauty and power of their songs and spellcraft, and the Willowqueen sings strongest of all. Leading her kin to one deadly conflict after another, the warrior regent seeks a future free from Chaos, and she will lead Harvestboon through any danger to win that prize. Their numbers are growing rapidly, especially with Alarielle's rebirth. In fact, they grwo at such a blistering speed, they muster ''several'' new wargroves, complete armies with Forest Folk and Noble spirits every single ''day.'' They likely have the largest amount of Arch-Revenants.

==The Spirits of the Forest==

There are more Sylvaneth than just the treespirits, sprites (spites in AOS) are Sylvaneth, the spirits that possess deadwood to forge bodies out of it (treekin) are Sylvaneth, the ghosts and fae creatures of the glades are Sylvaneth. They ARE good people overall, with most of them having noble desires and despise chaos. Even the sadistic and racist ones will side with the good guys to fight the bad guys. It's just that they're so alien to others that the alliance is always quite strained. They're difficult to interact with, not just because of the language barrier. They do not like you, they don't think like you and they don't live and die like you. Your concerns are extremely alien to them just like they are to you; Sylvaneth in general don't care for glory, expanding borders or making money but instead are mainly concerned with ensuring the safety and cycles of the natural world are upheld. Some things Sylvaneth do share with others is that they build cities, work metal and stone and create artworks, tapestries and furniture. They are also unfathomably long lived. It is likely they only die due to violence or specific diseases, and even then some of them even have their souls in a part of them called a "soulpod" that can undergo a sort of reincarnation.

Despite these alliances, most Sylvaneth do not like mortals/non-Sylvaneth, usually calling them "Quickbloods" (a category that includes daemons, despite them not being mortal). They consider the Quickbloods to be short sighted, flippant, brief and unable to comprehend the importance of their extremely long term plans and the real meaning of everything. Some of said mortals that they will treat with include the aelves of the Idoneth Deepkin, duardin and humans. One of the reasons is because some of them worship Alarielle even if some of the humans also worship Sigmar. They used to be close allies with the Wanderers, who were formerly known as the Wood Elves. During the Age of Chaos the Wanderers chickened out and fled the battle, abandoning Alarielle and the Sylvaneth of Ghyran to the forces of Chaos. For that, Alarielle banished them from Ghyran and they earned the hatred of the Sylvaneth. For centuries they lived out a mission of repentance, planting waystones so that the forests of Ghyran can sprout in other mortal realms. During the Age of Sigmar when Alarielle built The Living City, she forgave the Wanderers for fleeing, and they were allowed to return to Ghyran and live there. They Sylvaneth themselves are divided, since though the military alliance has been restored some are still salty over the past desertion.

Also, the disparity in sentience can be pretty huge between different castes. For simplicity's sake, this will cover the ones who are playable in the game and any spites that hang out with them.

===Forest Folk===

*'''Dryads''' are lead by the wraiths, who act as druidic spiritual leaders and chieftains. Back in the day, they were the civilians, peaceful caretakers, gardeners and surrogate mothers to orphaned animals. In the Age of Myth it was extremely rare for them to be called to war. The Forest Folk who were not capable of war were driven extinct more or less by the forces of Nurgle, however. For many, life is very nomadic. Constant bouts of fleeing and hiding from the forces of Chaos. They're VERY mercurial as positive qualities among the survivors, such as joy and cheer, faded as they fought to stay alive. Sing a lot. Dryads as part of the living body that is the forest are best described akin to an immunity system and wound healing enzymes. They care for the flora and fauna with loving care, to heal the wounds time and Chaos have dealt to their home. Yet if an intruder is detected (and you will) they switch and act like white blood cells. You are the virus, the forest is the body, and the Dryad is your doom. This is an instinctual behaviour and they dont personally hate you, just as little as the leukocytes when they embrace the virus in order to protect the body.

*'''Branchwraiths''' are matriarchal and maternal figures. They're the primary "nodes" of the sylvaneth's song. a sort of mass communication method of the race. Among these teeming armies stand the branchwraiths, sorcerers who can rouse the woods themselves to fight alongside the Sylvaneth. Enchanted oaks burst from the ground and vines move among the enemy like venomous snakes. When not at war, they are absoloutely crucial for the Sylvaneths survival, as they are the primary care takers of the soulpd groves, the nursery and birthplace of all Sylvaneth. Like mothers they guide their wandering daughters in case a Dryad gets lost. In terms of the social order, Branchwraiths are on par with the Treelords, heads of their respective branch.
Forest Folk never carry a Lamentiri in their bodies, but particularly old and battle-experienced Wraiths take a leaf out of the Noble Spirits way of life, echoing their greatness.

===Noble Spirits===

Noble Spirits are set apart form the Forst Folk in their posession of a Lamentiri, basically a blackbox in the form of a seed that may be replanted in the Glades and lans Soulpod Grove to share its knowledge with the future generations and Treelords add another bit of wisdom to thei successors - CCTV footage from every battle ever fought. Every single impression, every twist in the spiritsong that informs new troop movements, every blow dealt, every loss of life, every decision made is recorded and stored so it can be reviewd later to not make the same mistake twice. The Lamentiri are harvested by Branchwyches after the Battle from the fallen Nobles.

*'''Tree Revenants''' are sombre. They make up the primary warrior caste of the Sylvaneth and are peace keepers, law enforcement and guardians. They're generally lead in groups with a Treeman and a Branchwych, a so called Household.

*'''Branchwyches''' are powerful druidic figures whose sorcery and combat skill is highly respected. They are short-tempered, but keep it in check towards higher ranking Sylvaneth and Alarielle (though most subordinates give them due respect so rarely experience this temper). They have a special relationship with spites; in the eyes of the wyches, the little creatures can do no wrong and the Sprites are very fond of the wyches, coming to their aid en mass.

*'''Treelords''' make up the nobility of the clans. Treelords are the most well known of the Noble Spirits and serve purposes like Royal Guards, Librarians, lords and military captains. All sylvaneth love them as fathers/mothers and would only disobey one in extreme cases. Huge swarms of Sprites make their home among the branches of the Treelords, nestled in their bark hides. They're inherently compassionate. They have an extremely deep connection to the spirit song. They communicate with one another in songs made up of streams of color and sensation, made into language. [Awesome[The forst itself recognizes them and literally bows down to them whenever they pass.]] Any human would see them as incredibly old, but their elders consider them reckless like teenager and too easily roused to wrath.

*'''Treelord Ancients''' are the Kings and Queens of the Sylvaneth. They're the most powerful mages, the masters of life magic, they have an inner serenity that persists no matter what it is they're doing, including while on the battlefield that they sing to other sylvaneth. They're extremely meticulous, every detail of their extremely long lives is committed to memory. They know the name of every sylvaneth they rule over and spend their lives amassing knowlege into their lamentiri to ensure that future generations can benefit from their experience.

Both of these noble spirits are extremely prone to deeply exemplifying the eccentricities of their glade. EG harvestboon treelords and ancients are very slight and lithe, but extremely passionate quick to rage and mirth. Ironbark treelords tend to have veins of ore in their wood that makes them glitter while being unreasonably stubborn. Dreadwood treelords are vicious and untrustworthy even in the eyes of other sylvaneth.

===Free Spirits===
The Free Spirits are much more directly administrated by Alarielle:

*'''Spirits of Durthu''' are carry their Everqueens word throughout her realm as law and speak with her authority. Unlike other spirits the Free Spirits arent confined to a glade and instead roam around to lend their wisdom and consderable brawn to all in need, as well as dispatching new orders from the royal court. Wielding massive Guardian Swords only few can hope to be on the opposing side of the battlefield and live to tell the tale of a giant tree felling foes by the dozens and using said sword as a magic missile weapon. The Sons of Durthu are Alarielles chosen generals, advicsors and bodyguard, giving sage council and even disagreeing with their goddess to make the best plans for the entire race. These individuals live every day trying to meet his stalwart example, with fierce loyalty and martial might. They have an innate understanding with every other Son of Durthu, akin to a shared consciousness.

*'''Kurnoth Hunters''' are the "Hunter cult" of the Sylvaneth. While they're their own caste of treecreature (hulking warriors much taller than a man) they worship [[Kurnous|Kurnoth]] as Alarielle's "Soul-Consort" and equal seeing themselves as embodiment of his wrath as the Sons are to Alarielle. They're the second-newest caste, they didn't arise until Alarielle picked up the spear of Kurnous well into the Age of Sigmar. Hunters are purposeful, driven and almost single minded unlike the bipolar personalities or capricious whimsy of other Sylvaneth. They act as Spies, scouts and frontline murdermachines. They're considered very strange creatures by other Sylvaneth who have a hard time understanding their single minded and taciturn natures. Like Treelords and Branchwraiths the spiritsong is especially powerful in them and they reverberate with it. While most Sylvaneth worship seasonal demigods in addition to Alarielle, but Kurnoth Hunters are the only ones to do openly another god, Kurnoth. Alarielle says this is fine and that's enough for most Sylvaneth. The Heartwood galde does everything they can to accomodate the Hunters.
The Hunt Master of Kurnoth is a recent addition to the Royal Moot. It's baffling for non-Sylvaneth to try and understand his purpose. Some sort of hybrid position of Spy Master, Martial Advisor, High Priest of Kurnoth and Captain of the Royal Guard.

Often times a completely random Hunter will take his place with only Alarielle knowing if it's really the Huntmaster. It's unclear if the Huntmaster is a spirit that temporarily possesses a Hunter, or Kurnoth himself making individual hunters his avatar temporarily. The regents of the sylvaneth are very distrustful of the Hunt Master, especially Dreadwood who consider him a clingy upstart.

The Forest Folk and many Noble Spirits consider the Kurnoth Hunters to be outsiders to the Glades, unlike them, almost alien, but their might in battle earns them respect, instead of trust.

*'''Arch-Revenants''' are a new type of Sylvaneth. During the events that led to the Nercoquake, Alarielle looked at Nagash's designs and the undead ravaging Ghyran and got reminded of the ravages Nurgle and the followers of Chaos. However, [[Awesome|this time she resolved not to dwindle or hide like last time and decided to go on the offensive against the threat]]. To this end she planted the soulpods that became Arch-Revenants, and enlisting the help of Zephyspites, bugs with giant wings, to carry her new captains into the fray. They fuel the warlike parts of the Sylvaneth spirit song, but without the sadism or insanity that can be found among the Outcasts.

===Outcasts===
The Outcasts are unsettling. Deeply so for mortals, but almost as much for the Sylvaneth. The Sylvaneth don't know where they come from, don't know how they're made, don't even know if they're not a reflection of the Sylvaneth made dark by Alarielle's vengeful desires. Many believe them to be Sylvaneth who caved into despair during the war in Ghyran against [[Nurgle,]] others see in them the attempt of spites trying to become Sylvaneth. Alarielle decided to give her entire race amnesia in this regard and keeps this secret to herself. Spite-Revenants are insane, literally. They're deaf to all but the darkest and most malevolent parts of the sylvaneth's song, dwell in gloomy and unsettling glades. Some Sylvaneth fear the outcasts madness is infectious. Where Dryads and other Sylvaneth sing, Spite Revenants "Scream a sawing, nerve-shredding cacophony of horror and hate fit to drive mortal minds beyond the brink of sanity." Murderous butchers all, they commonly soak themselves and their roots in blood and torture their enemies. For fun, if they can experience such an emotion.

*'''[[Drycha]]''' considers herself to be their regent, like the Willowqueen is the regent of Harvestboon or the Old King of Gnarlroot. Drycha and the Outcasts are far more than just racist. [[Nazi|They want to purge all non-Sylvaneth]], but they will ally with non-Sylvaneth in the short-term [[Just As Planned|if it helps genocide them in the long term]]. The malevolent and cruel sprites love her. She and the Spite-Revenants are warriors and distrusted if not hated by all other Treefolk.

==Notable Places==

===The Living City===
Raised by Lady Alarielle the Everqueen from the stone and Ironoak of the Jade Kingdom, the Living City is a natural bulwark against the savage powers of the realms, a mighty woodland city ringed by thorn-studded towers and walls of choking vines. It was the first of three fortified cities that would find themselves under siege by the forces of brutality and disorder during the bloody season of war. After a vicious campaign, the battle was won, as the city itself stirred to life to crush and tear its foes apart. In the wake of this victory the boughs of the living city have continued to reach ever outwards, forming new perimeter walls of venom tipped thorns and canopy-districts of winding, oaken pathways. Artisans and craftsmen flock to the Living City, fashioning wondrous artifacts and weapons from its sturdy ironoak branches. The city's hunters are renowned as some of the finest woodsmen and trackers in the realms, and their ironoak longbows loose arrows with unerring accuracy.

The Living City stands as a symbol of the great alliance between the people of the God-King Sigmar and the Lady Alarielle, and its citizens are attuned like few others to the wonders - and dangers - of nature. From an early age, the wardens of the city learn the arts of woodcraft and tracking, mastering the ability to move at pace while leaving barely a sign of their passing. In the depths of the forest and upon the battlefield, the shadows are a powerful ally. Warriors of the Living City pass unseen until the moment they strike, cutting down their prey in a pinpoint storm of arrows. Graceful, inhuman forms lead the city's armies to battle: Sylvaneth, separate but always close to their mortal allies, honoring the alliance between Sigmar and the Lady Alarielle. Though the guardians of the Living City are fine trackers in their own right, they know little of the ancient places of the realms, the primordial paths through nature that the everqueen's children still recall. Should battle be joined, the Sylvaneth will willingly lay down their lives alongside humans, Duardin and Aelves, sacrificing themselves for the cause of order.

===The Scoured Forest===
A region of the Realm of Fire, once inhabited by Sylvaneth. A sprawling land of carboniferous forests, this place was the site of a cataclysmic battle against the Skaven of Clan Skyre. The conflict left the land its self scarred and seared for ages to come, as the ratmen's engines of destruction washed the forests in flames and ignited the volatile gasses that permeated the swampland. CLouds of ash billow across this land, so thick that one can barely see more than a few hundred yards ahead.

{{Template:Playable Factions in Warhammer: Age of Sigmar}}
[[Category:Wood Elves]]

Age of Sigmar/Tactics/Order/Sylvaneth

2019-10-15T08:57:01Z

2406:3400:20F:FFC0:A80D:9EEE:1E6F:E984: /* Cons */

{{Age of Sigmar Faction|Faction=Sylvaneth|Logo=Most Friendly Being In Sylvaneth.jpg|Alliance=Order|Motto=WALKING TREES I TELL YOU! WALKING TREES!}}

==Why play Sylvaneth?==
So you like trees, nature, gardening and "Catch me if you can"? Well then, welcome to the Everqueen's glorious wooden host! Fleet of foot we spring from our forests, reaping our foes' lives with Mortal Wounds, before vanishing back into the woods, leaving those still alive confused and broken. When it comes to hit and run, keeping multi-wound models alive and literally shaping the battlefield to our needs, none compare.
For we live between the Elite Armies of the Everchosen and hordes of Death and Destruction, our glades and copses are filled with singing dryads and solemn Kurnoth Hunters, ever watchful of the outsides and our enemies. For the Deepwood stirs...

====Pros====
*New battletome for 2019 that replaces the four fixed one-drop army lists with a whole host of choices.
*We have a lot of new and glorious models, almost completely in plastic (just one finecast, which you ''will'' be needing).
*Easily paintable chaff with Dryads. Which is useful as you'll be painting a lot of them.
*Almost everything we have is at least -1 Rend.
*We get around quickly. One of our Battleline moves 7". Other stuff can teleport. If you like mobility and board control, we are one of the best choices to date.
*Just look at Alarielle model. Her buffs and damage output are also as awesome as she looks.
*Massive Board Control if you can get those woods out.
*Kurnoth Hunters. Even by heavy infantry standard in AoS, absolute damage monsters. They will do a lot of heavy lifting.
*Great, often colourful paint schemes. Whether you want your trees to be in full bloom, fiery autumn or paint them as a haunted ghastly forest, you have a lot of choices.
*Lorewise, we boast one of the leaders of an entire realm and two survivors from the World-That-Was (three if you count the Spirits of Durthu).
*I am Groot.
*We are Groot.

====Cons====
*We are very bad to transport. Seriously it's a pain with all these small bits and twigs. Even foam packaged boxes hurt us. You'll want magnets and a big metal box.
*Limited defense against Mortal Wounds - just a single artefact on 5+ and a glade Command Ability on 6+.
*Those Citadel Woods have been replaced with newer models, but you're still going to be requiring a few sets of them, which is still going to be a significant investment and still be a pain to transport. Just not quite as bad as before.
*A reputation for being no fun to play against due to overly defensive turtling. That should be mitigated now, but opinions die hard.
*Spite Revenant hordes are super expensive in terms of cash.
*I am Groot.
*We are Groot.

==Rulebooks==
The ''Sylvaneth Battletome'' 2019 version has all the Warscrolls, Battations, Allegiance Abilities and Matched play points
*This should be supplemented with the Sylvaneth ''Errata'' and ''Designers' Commentary'' from the [https://www.warhammer-community.com/faqs/ FAQs].
*Alternatively up to date warscolls (in the new style) can be found in the ''WH AoS'' app. Warscrolls on the GW webstore match those in the ''Sylvaneth Battletome''.

As with all factions you'll want:
*The core rules are either [https://www.games-workshop.com/en-GB/Warhammer-Age-of-Sigmar-Rules downloadable] or in the ''Core Book''.
*Games taking place in a Realm need the Realm of Battle rules from the ''Core Book''.
*In you want to take advantage of realm specific artefacts you'll need the Artefacts Of The Realms section from the ''Malign Sorcery'' book.
*Matched play battleplans are split across the ''Core Book'' and ''General's handbook 2018''.
*''All'' books should be supplemented with any updates from the [https://www.warhammer-community.com/faqs/ FAQs].

==Allegiance Abilities==

===<span style="color:#01bbe3;">Battle Traits</span>===
Armies with the {{AOSKeyword|SYLVANETH}} allegiance have the following abilities:

*'''Awakened Wyldwoods''': After territories have been determined but before armies are set up, set up ONE Awakened Wyldwood anywhere on the battlefield more than 1" from any other terrain feature, 1" from enemy territory, and more than 6" from any objectives. Soon in this article you will see why you can't really play Sylvaneth without them. ''2019 Differences: Distance changes.''

*'''Forest Spirits''': You can set up a {{AOSKeyword|SYLVANETH}} unit aside for every unit deployed on the field. In any of your movement phases, you can deploy it on the battlefield. Units must be set up wholly within 6" of an Awakened Wyldwood and more than 9" from any enemy models. This is their move for that movement phase. Sylvaneth deep strike. Exploit it with Spirits of Durthu, melee Kurnoth Hunters, and their shared battalion, Free Spirits. [[Rocks fall, everyone dies|Trunks fall, everyone dies]]. ''2019 Differences: Distance changes.''

*'''Navigate Realmroots''': Instead of moving in the movement phase, ONE {{AOSKeyword|SYLVANETH}} unit wholly within 6" of an Awakened Wyldwood can be moved to wholly within 6" of another, different, wood, and of course more than 9" from any enemy. Treelord varieties have the Spirit Walk Ability and can teleport in addition to this one unit. ''2019 Differences: This used to be usable for multiple units a turn and the rolling after has gone. Definite nerf, but also simpler to use.''

*'''Places of Power''': After territories are chosen but before armies are deployed, select one terrain feature (this could be an Awakened Wyldwood YOU deploy according to order of operations... might need an FAQ). Friendly Sylvaneth units wholly within 6" of said terrain feature do not take battleshock tests. Interesting buff, it lets you sort of pick a focal point of where you want to commit to battle, and then have your, say, 30 block of dryads get to ignore battleshock while holding up the enemy.

==={{color|#01bbe3|Command Traits}}===
A general of an army with a {{AOSKeyword|SYLVANETH}} allegiance can choose one Command Trait from the lists below (be advised that if you choose your army to be one of the Wargroves, you are forced to take a specific command trait instead of one of these):

'''{{color|#01bbe3|Aspects Of War}}'''
#'''Dread Harvester''': If you charged, you can reroll melee hit rolls.
#'''Gnarled Warrior''': Reroll saves of 1. ''This used to be ignore rend unless it's -2 or better.''
#'''Gift of Ghyran''': Your general heals 1 wound at the start of each of your hero phases. ''This used to bump to D3 if near a wood.''
#'''Lord of Spites''': Reroll all wound rolls of 1. ''This used to be reroll first failed hit roll. So, that's better now.''
#'''Warsinger''': +2 to any charge rolls made for friendly {{AOSKeyword|SYLVANETH}} units that are wholly within 12" of your general. Good choice for turning a spirit path walk into a charge on the same turn; essential for any alpha strike lists. ''Used to be +1 and within 10" (but not wholly).''
#'''Wisdom of the Ancients''': All friendly {{AOSKeyword|SYLVANETH}} units wholly within 12" of your general in the battleshock phase add 1 to their Bravery. Best near revenants, your most vulnerable to battleshock. ''Used to be within 10" (but not wholly).''

'''{{color|#01bbe3|Aspects Of Renewal}}'''

{{AOSKeyword|Wizards}} only
#'''Arcane Bounty''': General knows 1 extra Deepwood spell.
#'''Mystic Regrowth''': If General successfully cast a spell, then heal D3 wounds at end of hero phase.
#'''Voice Of Warding''': General can unbind one extra spell per turn.
#'''Glade Lore''': General gets +1 to casting rolls when wholly within 6" of a wood. Sounds great for Alarielle, but very restrictive getting her into position to benefit.
#'''Spellsinger''': General gets +6 range of all spells. Consider using the balewind vortex to double this. ''2019 changes: This used to be the silverwood circlet.''
#'''Radiant Spirit''': If affected by a spell/endless spell, roll a dice, on a 4+ ignore the effect. Note the correct usage of affect and effect.

==={{color|#01bbe3|Artefacts}}===

One {{AOSKeyword|hero}} in an army with a {{AOSKeyword|sylvaneth}} allegiance and has chosen to take the {{AOSKeyword|sylvaneth}} allegiance abilities, plus one {{AOSKeyword|hero}} for every battalion selected, can choose one Artefact from the lists below.

'''{{color|#01bbe3|Weapons Of The Glades}}'''

These affect a single melee weapon belonging to the bearer
#'''Daith's Reaper''': Additional rend of 1. ''Used to be on 6 get -4 rend. Much more useful now.''
#'''Greenwood Gladius''': If the bearer charges, +2 attacks that turn.
#'''Autumns Ire''': Re-roll hits and wounds of 1 as long as the bearer is wounded.
#'''Winnowstaff''': Can re-roll all hits against enemies with Wounds of 1.
#'''Ancient Barkblade''': +1 damage.
#'''The Darkest Bough''': On an unmodified wound roll of 6, deals an additional D3 mortal wounds

'''{{color|#01bbe3|Boons Of The Everqueen}}'''
#'''The Oaken Armour''': Reroll saves of 1. ''Used to be +1 to save rolls.''
#'''Briarsheath''': -1 Hit penalty for anyone attacking the bearer.
#'''Glamourweave''': 5+ save-after-the-save (mortal wounds only). Great for a Spirit of Durthu tanking Wounds because he can use that to protect himself, and also the only thing in the army that ignores mortal wounds. ''Used to be only 6+.''
#'''Lashvines''': For every non-negated wound from a melee weapon, on a 6 from a D6, the attacker takes 1 mortal wound.
#'''Silken Snares''': Ignore rend of -1 from enemies.
#'''Nightbloom Garland''': Unit is invisible to enemy units more than 12" away.

'''{{color|#01bbe3|Verdant Treasures}}'''

#'''Seed of Rebirth''': The first time you lose your last wound roll a D6. On 2+ they come back to life with D3 wounds. Obviously best for a Branchwych/wraith, as a monster with D3 Wounds might as well be dead again. Especially useful on a Branchwych, as if she dies and comes back, she still counts as having taken wounds for the purposes of her bonus. ''Used to not require the dice roll.''
#'''Wraithstone''': Subtract 1 from the Bravery of enemy units within 10" in the Battleshock Phase. Combine with Spite-Revenants for best results.
#'''Everdew Vial''': +2 to run and charge rolls.
#'''Lifewreath''': Roll a dice in hero phase, on 3+ all {{AOSKeyword|sylvaneth}} units wholly within 10" heal +D3 wounds.
#'''Crown Of Fell Bowers''': Pick an enemy within 6" at the start of the combat phase. All friendly {{AOSKeyword|sylvaneth}} can re-roll all wound rolls against them for that phase.
#'''Etherblossom''': Bearer can fly. Durthu will love this.

'''{{color|#01bbe3|Relics Of Nature}}'''

{{AOSKeyword|Wizards}} only.
#'''Acorn of the Ages''': Set up a Wyldwood wholly within 12", one-use only. The old favourite artefact of the one drop armies. You can simply throw a forest-shaped wrench into enemy charge lanes, you can let an isolated Hero summon their own reinforcement spawn point, you can make some cover to make a stand. ''This used to be within 5" (not wholly).''
#'''Spiritsong Stave''': Additional spell cast per turn. Amazing!
#'''The Vesperal Gem''': Once per turn, automatically succeed a Deepwood spell roll, which cannot be unbound. Sounds great.... but, then roll a dice, on a 1 you get D3 mortals. Ouchy. Good thing you have healing out the ass. Amazing relic because while you NEED magic, you don't have a lot of multi spell casters OR casting bonuses. Very solid choice. Note, Verdant Blessing is not part of Deepwood, so no autotree spamming.
#'''Luneth's Lamp''': +2 unbinding/dispelling rolls for endless spells.
#'''Hagbane Spite''': If you successfully unbind a spell, the caster gets 1 mortal.
#'''Wychwood Glaive''': Pick a melee weapon, it gets +2 damage against wizards.

==={{color|#01bbe3|Spell Lore}}===

All {{AOSKeyword|sylvaneth}} {{AOSKeyword|wizard}}s know Verdant Blessing, plus they can take a spell from the Deepwood Spell Lore.

'''Verdant Blessing''' (6+): Casting value 6. Sets up an Awakened Wyldwood wholly within 24". As useful as the Wyldwoods are to you, this spell is pretty good. ''This used to be 18", part of the Deepwood list, and was more or less auto include''.

'''{{color|#01bbe3|Deepwood Spell Lore}}'''

Every '''WIZARD''' in an army with a {{AOSKeyword|sylvaneth}} allegiance and has chosen to take the {{AOSKeyword|sylvaneth}} allegiance abilities can choose one of the following Spells:
#'''Throne of Vines''' (5+): Caster gets +2 to cast/unbind, but only as long as you don't move. <s>Amazing</s> MUST TAKE for Allarielle and her three casts per turn, which allows her to summon woods on a 4+ and buff her Metamorphosis! Also good on a Branchwraith to help her get the Dryads out more consistently. ''This used to be +D3 to cast and unbind.''
#'''Regrowth''' (5+): Casting value 5. Heal D6 Wounds to a friendly, visible {{AOSKeyword|sylvaneth}} unit wholly within 18". TAKE IT. I don't care about your strategy, take it. Alarielle? Take it. Treelord Ancient? Take it. Drycha? Take it unless you want a suicide bomb. ''Used to also heal D3 on non-sylvaneth.''
#'''The Dwellers Below''' (7+): Pick a unit within 10", roll a D6 for every model in the unit, every 6 deals a Mortal Wound. Basically Vermintide/New Treason of Tzeentch. It's good, with a potentially gigantic damage output, but unless used against units of 20+, Arcane Bolt will probably do more.
#'''Deadly Harvest''' (6+): Each enemy unit with 3" gets D3 mortals. Nice when you're stuck in melee, but only really good in combination with the Silverwood Circlet. Also, remember that it gets better against multiple small units, but worse against horde armies. ''This used to be call The Reaping.''
#'''Verdurous Harmony''' (7+): A unit wholly within 18" regains 1 slain model (or D3 for Dryads, Tree/Spite Revs). ''New spell! Is a variant of an old wargrove spell.''
#'''Treesong''' (7+): For one enemy unit within 16" and 6" of a wood, you get to re-roll melee hit and wound rolls of 1 against them. ''Completely rewritten, used to move a wood 2D6.''

==={{color|#01bbe3|Endless Spells}}===

Note that unlike the some of the [[Age of Sigmar/Tactics/Malign Sorcery|generic]] endless spells, the Sylvaneth spells can't be used by your opponent against you (other than moving them out of harms way).

*'''[https://www.games-workshop.com/resources/PDF/AoS_Warscrolls//AoS_Gladewyrm_ENG.pdf Gladewyrm]''' (30pts, CV 7, predatory 8"): Ancient protectors of the <s>[[Dune|spice]]</s> realmroots.
**Does D3 mortal wounds to non-{{AOSKeyword|SYLVANETH}} units within 1" and heals D6 wounds to {{AOSKeyword|SYLVANETH}} units wholly within 6" of where it ends up.
**Pretty good for the cost. For best effect, lob it in the middle of any combat not involving your battleline.

*'''[https://www.games-workshop.com/resources/PDF/AoS_Warscrolls//AoS_Vengeful_Skullroot_ENG.pdf Vengeful Skullroot]''' (40pts, CV 6, predatory 8"): Spooky tree
**Adds D3 to fleeing non-{{AOSKeyword|SYLVANETH}} models that fail battleshock tests within 3".
**Also does D3 mortal wounds to non-{{AOSKeyword|SYLVANETH}} units it passes across, boosted to D6 if said units are within 3" of an {{AOSKeyword|AWAKENED WYLDWOOD}}.
**Given the myriad ways of avoiding battleshock, and that enemies avoid woods where possible, you might find better use out of the slightly cheaper Gladewyrm.

*'''[https://www.games-workshop.com/resources/PDF/AoS_Warscrolls//AoS_Spiteswarm_Hive_ENG.pdf Spiteswarm Hive]''' (50pts, CV 7): More of Drycha's little gribbles.
**Lets ''you'' (and only you) choose one of the following effects in ''every'' hero phase (including your opponents) each turn it's around: Roll a dice for each {{AOSKeyword|SYLVANETH}} unit wholly within 8", on a 2+ ''either'' add 3" to normal moves and charge moves ''or'' roll re-roll saves of 1.
**Great spell, however be careful when using the move bonus that your models don't get out of range too quickly.
**Best case is to place it halfway between you and an enemy, use the move bonus to get into combat, then use the save bonus during your opponents turn (assuming you survive the first round of combat).
**The small base size helps to stop it getting in the way of movement, assuming you point the gribbles out of the way.

==Glades==
Every Sylvaneth army gets to optionally belong to a glade ''for free'', which gives you an extra ability, command ability, fixes your General's command trait (you cannot choose from the Allegiance Abilities lists) and fixes your first artefact.

The Core FAQ clarifies that if you take Alarielle/Drycha as your general and a Glade, you don't get the Glade's Command Trait.

''2019 Differences: These are named after the Wargroves from the old Battletome, but they're very different. Instead of being battalions, which restrict what units you take, they force you into a set of abilities/artefacts.''

===<span style="color:#4c741c;">Dreadwood</span>===

*''Ability'': '''Malicious Tormentors''': Spite Revs reroll hits of 1.
*''Command Ability'': '''Sinister Ambush''': Once per turn, take a unit within 18" of a Hero and replace them anywhere on the battlefield, >9" of enemy units.
*''Command Trait'': '''Paragon Of Terror''': Enemy units reroll successful battleshock tests when within 6" of your general.
*''Artefact'': '''Jewel Of Withering''': -1 to melee wound rolls attacking the bearer.

The spooky choice. Gives a reason to use lots of Spite-Revenants. The battleshock reroll jells nicely with the Spite's -1 bravery buff, and hit rerolls on top of their 3+ to hit should make them terrifying. The teleporting is only good for deep striking a single unit, but combine with wyldwood teleporting and you can also throw over a bunch of Treelords and a big unit of Dryads at the same time.

===<span style="color:#4c741c;">Gnarlroot</span>===

*''Ability'': '''Shield The Arcane''': Units reroll hits of 1 when within 12" of friendly Gnarlroot Wizards.
*''Command Ability'': '''The Earth Defends''': One unit within 12" of a hero negates wounds or mortal wounds on 6+ for that combat phase.
*''Command Trait'': '''Nurtured By Magic''': Once per turn, if your general successfully casts a spell, a unit wholly within 18" heals D3 wounds.
*''Artefact'': '''Chalice Of Nectar''': Roll 3 dice when casting or unbinding and discard one of your choice.

The magicy life choice.
*The ability to reroll 1s (for free) overlaps with the Arch-Revenant, so reasonable chance you already have that covered. But might be an excuse to drop Archie, freeing up 100 sweet points, or use both to further extend across your army (remember, Archie isn't a wizard).
*Command ability is best left for emergency damage limitation on a crucial unit that somehow got into melee, unless you're really good at rolling sixes and have lots of spare CPs.
*The Chalice, which means the bearer well may never fail a cast, sounds awesome at first glance, but it won't make you into a top-tier spellcaster. Your best wizard, Alarielle can't take artefacts (neither can Drycha), so that leaves a you with a Wraith, Wych or Ancient. With your artefact slot taken, the only way to boost your number of casts is to use the the Balewind Vortex on the edge of a wood with the Wraith or Wych, essentially giving you a branchwych bomb (see Branchwych section) or supercharging your Dryad summoner and making them a big target. Safest option is to use it by itself on your Wraith (hidden deep in a wood) to 'almost' guarantee those Dryad summons.
**Vesperal Gem (which guarantees the cast, but with a small chance of mortals) is roughly equivalent to the Chalice without tying you to a glade. This can then be supplemented with Spellsinger (+6 range, which you can double by using the balewind vortex), or Winterleaf/Harvestboon/Dreadwood if you're taking a battalion.
*The trait, whilst great at keeping stuff alive, is limited the same way as the Chalice - Wych, Wraith or Ancient only. Great for keeping an Ancient alive and keeping the damage table topped up. Wraith is less than ideal as you ideally want her away from the action.

===<span style="color:#4c741c;">Heartwood</span>===

*''Ability'': '''Courage for Kurnoth''': +1 Bravery wholly within 12" of heroes.
*''Command Ability'': '''Lord of the Hunt''': [[Markerlight|Reroll hit and wound rolls of 1 against 1 enemy unit within 12" of a hero]].
*''Command Trait'': '''Legacy of Valour''': If the general is slain, do D3 mortal wounds to an enemy unit within 1" on a 2+. On a 6, do D6 instead.
*''Artefact'': '''Horn of the Consort''': Reroll hits for Kurnoth Hunters wholly within 12".

The Kurnoth-ish choice. The CA overlaps with the Artefact and the Trait fits a suicide bomber - the best target would be the Arch-Revenant (who already gives rerolls of 1 to Kurnoth Hunters), but you don't want to just throw away 100 points. Strange. However, if you use the Arch-Revenant near close combat hunters on the front lines, and held the great bow hunters back near another hero like a Branchwych with the artefact, you could benefit from both reroll abilities.

===<span style="color:#4c741c;">Harvestboon</span>===

*''Ability'': '''Vibrant Surge''': Reroll hits of 1 after charging that turn.
*''Command Ability'': '''Fertile Ground''': A unit within 12" of the General gets +1 attacks to all melee weapons.
*''Command Trait'': '''Seek New Fruit''': After attacking, your General can move 6", ending more than 3" from enemy units.
*''Artefact'': '''The Silent Sickle''': One melee weapon of the bearer gets +1 attacks.

The Sparta General choice.
*To make decent use of the Command Trait, you're going to be taking Durthu (or maybe an Ancient on 1000pt games). Similarly, the Artefact is best used on Durthu (or Ancient). Problem is, the Trees are good at fluffing all their attacks, and if you've already given them an artefact, then they can't also take Ghyrstrike. Instead, you'll be charging to get the +1 to hit.
*The Command Ability and Ability are both more-or-less covered with the Arch-Revenant. Either use this as a replacement for the Archie, or load both Command Abilities onto a single unit (assuming you've been holding back the CPs) for +2. Use these on your Kurnoths or your already powered up Durthu. Damn.

===<span style="color:#4c741c;">Ironbark</span>===

*''Ability'': '''Stubborn And Taciturn ''': Reroll battleshock tests when wholly within 12" of any heroes.
*''Command Ability'': '''Stand Firm''': Pick one enemy unit that charges within 1", roll a dice. On 2+ they get D3 mortals.
*''Command Trait'': '''Mere Rainfall''': Your General rerolls saves against missile weapons.
*''Artefact'': '''Ironbark Talisman''': +1 for melee wound rolls.

In addition, you get Dispossed and Fyreslayers as allies.

The dwarven choice. Rainfall will probably just make your opponent target elsewhere (but you are forcing that choice upon them). Stand Firm is going to stop any small heroes from charging you.

===<span style="color:#4c741c;">Oakenbrow</span>===

*''Ability'': '''Our Roots Run Deep''': Subtract 2 from wounds taken by Treelords of all varieties when looking at the damage table.
*''Command Ability'': '''Yield To None''': Battleshock immunity wholly within 16" of a selected hero.
*''Command Trait'': '''Regal Old-growth''': +1 wound.
*''Artefact'': '''Dawnflask''': 6+ save against wounds and mortal wounds.

The Treelord choice. With all the point reductions to Treelords this sounds like a good idea, but with how terrible the bonuses are, you should probably just use a better Grove.

===<span style="color:#4c741c;">Winterleaf</span>===

*''Ability'': '''Winter's Bite''': For ''all your units'', unmodified melee hit rolls of 6 score 2 hits.
*''Command Ability'': '''Branch Blizzard''': Extra 12" shooting attack. Roll a dice for each model in target unit, each 6+ is one mortal.
*''Command Trait'': '''My Heart Is Ice''': Every melee wound inflicted on your general, roll a dice, on a 5+ the attacker gets one mortal.
*''Artefact'': '''Frozen Kernel''': Once per game at the start of the combat phase, 1 friendly WINTERLEAF unit wholly with 18" of the bearer can pile in and attack twice. It does the second pile in and attack right after the first time it attacks, and only if it is still within 3" of an enemy unit.

The obvious choice.
*The ability exploding sixes across your whole army is super deadly. Even better when the Arch-Revenant increases the number of attacks.
*The general's feedback on 5+'s in melee can also be super deadly. Can also help keep your guy alive - on a straight Behemoth vs Behemoth fight, those 5+'s will weaken your opponents attacks as it drops down its damage table.
*Regardless of how you play it, the Kernel is always super deadly. But it needs a bit of finesse to ensure you pick the best moment to use it - given that you choose at the start of the phase when to use it, it's very easy to super power something that didn't need it.
*The shooting attack isn't quite so super deadly as everything else, but who cares when you have everything else above. Mostly only of use against hordes and if you've got plenty of spare CPs.
*If you're unsure what to take, unsure of how to play Sylvaneth and just want to throw everything into combat then just take Winterleaf. Simple. Super deadly.
*On 1000pt games, where you can only really squeeze in a single big guy, and you really want to take Drycha, then Winterleaf is still useful. Simply make Archie/Wraith/Wych your general. Sure, the Command Trait is wasted, but the Ability and Artefact are still really good.

==Warscrolls==
==={{color|#dda16f|Named Leaders}}===

*'''[https://www.games-workshop.com/resources/PDF/AoS_Warscrolls//AoS_Sylvaneth_Alarielle_ENG.pdf Alarielle the Everqueen]:''' (660pts). As expected from the next big over-the-top God model, Alarielle is downright terrifying. Specifics? Sure.
**The lady has a massive pool of 16 Wounds with a 3+ Save and yet she still rocks a 16" Flying Move stat.
**She can heal a Sylvaneth models around her for D3 each turn.
** She also has a strong throwing spear with massive 30" range and the beetle hits harder than anything else in the game. It's so damn strong it damages people standing nearby if it charges and has five damage 5(!) attacks. And her other weapon is basically the Massive Impaling Talon, but supercharged and with 4 attacks and any hit rolls of 6 score D3 mortal wounds.
**Like Nagash, Archaon and Morathi, she is not really something you compare to normal models. She's too powerful for that. She's simply something you try to survive.
**Three casts per turn. Use them to cast Malign Sorcery endless spells and consider giving her the Throne of Vines spell.
**She gets a one shot unblockable summon of a Treelord (regular), 3x Kurnoths, 20x Dryads, 10x Tree- or Spite-Revenants or, umm, a single Branchwych. This effectively dropping her cost by ~200 points, and you get to decide which unit to spend those ~200 points on during the game. Remember, you've probably already got your Dryad summoning covered by the Branchwraiths.
**Her spell Metamorphosis (7+), you roll as many dice as the casting roll, and each 4+ deals a mortal to a unit within 16". If that kills the enemy, then you can place a wood there.
**''2019 Differences: Talon no longer auto kills, instead dealing Mortal Wounds, and the spell Metamorphosis is more expensive. However, Battering Ram is now based on the model rather than a terrain piece, but only effects enemy units and Ghyran's Wrath can be used every time (for a CP). Sadly she's gone up from 600 points, still probably worth the points given she was ridiculously cheap before.''

*'''[https://www.games-workshop.com/resources/PDF/AoS_Warscrolls//AoS_Drycha_Hamadreth_ENG.pdf Drycha Hamadreth]:''' (320pts). Drycha is back and more pissed off than ever.
**Now if an unmodified hit roll from Flitterfuries or Squirmlings is a 6, it's a mortal wound instead of going through the attack sequence.
**Flitterfuries are an 18" shooting attack with 10 attacks single damage, rend -1. Meanwhile Squirmlings are 2" melee attack, also with 10 attacks single damage, but not rend. At the start of each battle round, you can choose what mood she's in, and as a result one of these attack doubles to 20!
**In addition, her talons give another 6 attacks at damage 2, rend -2. This lady is a beast!
**She's also excessively fast with a 9" Move that is not weakened by her damage table.
**Her spell (6+) scores D3 damage to every unit within 10" based on a roll against the unit's bravery. This ends up being difficult to score damage against high bravery armies such as Death. This spell combos up with her relationship to Spite-Revenants though. The Spites lower enemy Bravery in order to power her damage-off-of-Bravery spell whereas she grants them better To Wound rolls.
**''2019 Differences: She's gone up from 280 points. For that you get both Flitterfuries and Squirmlings, which now have normal attack profiles instead of mortals, but the slendervines attack has gone. You get to choose her mood, instead of rolling, but it's effect isn't quite as good. The spell is simplified, both reducing its max damage, but making it more likely do damage.''

*'''[https://www.games-workshop.com/resources/PDF/Downloads/aos-warscroll-yltharis-guardians-en.pdf Ylthari]:''' (180pts, with Guardians) Shadespire Hero takes root in AOS.
**Requires you to bring Ylthari's Guardians along with.
**Similar to a Branchwych with a bit more melee power and is labelled a {{AOSKeyword|thornwych}}.
**Re-rolls wound rolls of 1.
**Her spell (6+) is a supercharged arcane bolt, giving you an average of 2 mortals per cast.
**Might be best leaving her for Shadespire. You're paying 20 points more for her and the Guardian's than you would for a Branchwych and 5 Tree Revenants and not really gaining much in return.
**''2019 Differences: New for 2019!''

==={{color|#dda16f|Generic Leaders}}===

*'''[https://www.games-workshop.com/resources/PDF/AoS_Warscrolls//AoS_Branchwraith_ENG.pdf Branchwraith]:''' (80pts) Essential summoning support
**As a Hero she sports a very meh stat wheel with the exception of her above average movement speed (7"). Her melee will offer only token resistance to opponents, big surprise, she's a Wizard after all, but when in a wood, she gets -1 to hits made against her, which helps. Although you shouldn't really ever be getting her into combat, she should ideally spend her life hidden in woods, teleporting between them.
**That summoning though allows you to summon 10 Dryads ''every turn''. Game breaking? Well, not quite. Firstly you need to successfully cast (7+) and not get unbound; secondly said Dryads need placing in a wyldwood more than 9" from an enemy. You basically have to put a forest in your backfield and just use it to churn out dryads, then teleport them where you need them to go. You could be looking at 2-3 movement phases before they can charge anything. If you have any sense you will keep this crazy looking plant lady in a backline Wyldwood churning out dryads as it also makes the lady harder to hit in addition to raising her Save like normal cover.
**Consider giving your wraith anything that bumps the spell cast to try and guarantee a whole 100pts of Dryads every turn.
**Consider taking two Branchwraiths. Use the second one for verdant blessing wood summonings. If the Dryad summoning wraith dies, you have a spare one. Now you can afford to be a little riskier and put one in a wood near the front lines to get those new Dyrads into combat quicker. And if that's convinced you, then maybe you want to consider a third Branchwraith. Arm them with an array of Deepwood spells and you should always have something useful to cast, especially given turn 5 (or even 4) it might not be useful to summon more bodies that you won't get into combat.
**''2019 Differences: Just some distances changing to wholly within.''

*'''[https://www.games-workshop.com/resources/PDF/AoS_Warscrolls//AoS_Branchwych_ENG.pdf Branchwych]:''' (80pts) Aggressive support wizard.
**Same meh stat wheel as the Branchwraith, but with slightly better melee.
**As long as she's taken at least one wound in damage, she gets 2 extra attacks on her scythe.
**Her spell Unleash Spites (5+) is a damaging pulse effecting all enemy units within 9". It works best against the more units that are in range - If there are only 1 or 2 target units in range, then arcane bolt will usually do more damage than the pulse, but it gets better against more units, of course. On average, you'll expect 1.11 mortal wounds per unit.
**In Skirmish, the pulse is extremely broken, as ''every'' model is a unit. So, get within range of the front line and suddenly every model is hit with rolling a ''minimum'' of 5 dice, giving mortal wounds on sixes. Most of those models are single wound chaff, because skirmish doesn't allow you to take any of the good stuff, and you've got a game winning massacre. Sadly that pulse is the only thing we've got going for ourselves in Skirmish.
**The oft whispered about ''Branchwych Bomb'' involves sticking her on a Balewind Vortex inside a mid to frontline wood, giving her Deadly Harvest, Spellsinger, and using whatever casting bonuses you can get hold of. Then sit back and cast both spells, spamming mortals out in 21" and 15" bubbles. In practice you're tying up far too much to get this off reliably. Just don't run crying when your 5 wound guy gets wiped out pronto after one round of this. Clearly hilarious if you can get it to work.
***It's possible to invest even more into this strategy by adding an Umbral Spellportal, but even that doesn't make it worthwhile.
**Difficult to recommend her when you can get a spare Dryad summoning Branchwraith for the same cost, and give her Dwellers Below which isn't that much worse than Unleash Spites.
**''2019 Differences: scythe attacks bonus is better as it is now whilst damaged, instead of just that turn. Also some distances changing to wholly within.''

*'''[https://www.games-workshop.com/resources/PDF/AoS_Warscrolls//AoS_Spirit_of_Durthu_ENG.pdf Spirit of Durthu]:''' (340pts) This is <s> SPARTAAAAA</s> *ahem* supercharged Treelord.
**The Spirit of Durthu is an absolute damage monster, with extremely powerful shooting, terrifying melee and all the standard tricks of the vanilla Treelord.
**NOT a named character (and therefore not reduced to 0-1 in Matched Play, etc etc), but very expensive.
**A shooting attack that is basically the vanilla Treelord's Strangleroots on steroids, with higher range, more shots and higher damage per shot.
**His sword is just about as terrifying as it looks, with constant damage 6 so long as he stays in good health and 2 bonus attacks for being near a wood.
**You really need those big melee attacks to actually hit. So have consider having your Sylvaneth be from Ghyran, and give your Spirit of Durthu the Ghyrstrike Relic. 3 attacks (plus 2 if near a wyldwood), 2+ to hit, 2+ to wound, 6 damage. Holy good fuck.
**He also adds 1 to the Bravery of friendly Sylvaneth.
**''2019 Differences: Other than the stuff copied across from the Vanilla Treelord, he loses the damaging shooting supercharge and the ability to take wounds from others (not that either were used much). The bonus for being near a wood is a fixed 2 attacks instead of D3. So, no practical changes, but he has gone down from 380 points! Drycha and Durthu are almost level pegging, and make for a scary combo.''

*'''[https://www.games-workshop.com/resources/PDF/AoS_Warscrolls//AoS_Treelord_Ancient_ENG.pdf Treelord Ancient]:''' (300pts). The swiss army knife Treelord
**If Durthu is a supercharged Treelord, then this is the slightly weaker but more useful version. He retains all the abilities and powers of the vanilla.
**Compare to a Vanilla Treelord, this guy has 1" less movement and 1 less attack on its Sweeping Blows. This doesn't seem like much, but the drop from 4 to 3 attacks is actually quite drastic. And what does this old fella get in return? An extra 3 to its Bravery, 18" range on its strangle roots, gains a command ability and becoming a freakin' wizard!
**His unique spell will do D3 damage to any enemy units on or around your woods. It's either a great deterrent to entering your woods or a great punishment if the opponent was dumb enough to actually do it.
**Once per battle he can unconditionally summon a new wood. This makes him an almost must take if you want to ''guaranteed'' second wood out on your first turn. Note this is once per game, not once per Ancient per game.
**Has a Command Ability that lets all the Sylvaneth around him reroll saves of 1s.
**He's got a lot of stuff going on, but at 300 points he's actually fairly expensive for what you actually get out of him, and possibly works best in 1000point lists where you've got less room other stuff.
**''2019 Differences: Other than the stuff copied across from the Vanilla Treelord, the wood summons is just once unconditionally instead of on a 4+, and some distances changing to wholly within.''

*'''[https://www.games-workshop.com/resources/PDF/AoS_Warscrolls//AoS_Arch_Revenant_ENG.pdf Arch-Revenant]:''' (100pts) A newbie in the Sylvaneth ranks, added with the Looncurse battlebox.
**Is very fast, with a move of 12" and an ability to fly until she loses her mount (see below).
**Has the best non-Behemoth Hero melee in Sylvaneth (which doesn't say much): three 2" 3+/3+/-2 Dmg 2 attacks with her glave and a single 4+/3+ Dmg D3 attack with her mount.
**Slightly more survivable than a Branchwych, with five wounds, a 4+ save and an ability to sacrifice her mount to negate one allocated normal or mortal wound.
**Has a shield for either defensive or offensive use: at the start of the combat phase you may chose to use it to re-roll either save rolls or hit rolls of 1.
**Buffs Kurnoth Hunters within 12" of herself, allowing them to re-roll hit rolls of 1.
**Has a great command ability, adding 1 attack to each model's weapon in a unit within 9" (12" if the Arch-Revenant is your General). Combine this ability with alpha-striking unit of Tree-Revenants, or buff the hell out of ranged or regular Kurnoth Hunters - either way, the following phase would really hurt your opponent. <i>Actually, this is used in the combat phase and only effects melee weapons, so no shooting bonus.</i>
**Sadly currently only available in the instantly sold out Looncurse box. If you've not got one you'll have to wait for a while or get scalped on ebay.
**''2019 Differences: New for 2019!''

==={{color|#dda16f|Battleline}}===
''Unconditional battleline''

*'''[https://www.games-workshop.com/resources/PDF/AoS_Warscrolls//AoS_Dryads_ENG.pdf Dryads]:''' (100/270pts, min 10, max 30) Your rank and file angry trees. These ladies are thankfully quite versatile and so can be used for a variety of situations.
**At first glance the ladies don't look like much, having only a 5+ Save and 2 attacks at 4+/4+/-/1. But they quickly become incredible as in units of 10+ they gain +1 Save, they hit on 3+ in your combat phase and they also have 2" range on their attacks, letting them fight in thick, two-row hedges. They also profit from being near a wood (-1 to hits against them), this is in addition to +1 save for being in cover. They are also very fast at 7". Keep them in big units as the Save-bonus and the 2" range heavily reward you for doing so.
**You can abuse their buffed save rolls by adding a unit of Sisters of the Thorn so you can reroll failed saves (which also deals a mortal on 6), so a large unit in a wood now has 3+ with reroll. For chaff, that's pretty damn good. However, those Sisters are going to cost you a fair bit in return.
**Remember to bring at least an additional 20 of these for the Branchwraith to summon. Unless you plan on playing super defensive, you won't need more than 30 spare.
**''2019 Differences: Wholly within measuring means no more daisy chains across the board. However, the large unit bonus is now 10 instead of 12. With all the other changes going on, pure Dryad spamming is probably no longer our strongest build.''

''Battleline in {{AOSKeyword|SYLVANETH}}''

*'''[https://www.games-workshop.com/resources/PDF/AoS_Warscrolls//AoS_Tree_Revenants_ENG.pdf Tree-Revenants]:''' (80/420pts, min 5, max 30) Troops for tricksy players - not your mainline infantry.
**At first glance look disappointing, with basically the same stat-wheel as Dryads but lower Move. Now here's where it gets good....
**They have Rend in melee, unlike the Drayds.
**They have the coolest rerolls in the game, getting to reroll 1 dice per ''phase''. So this seems wonky in melee, doesn't it? Well, it also allows them to reroll the dice to run, one of the charge dice, the Battleshock dice... you get the picture.
**The standards allow them to pile in 6" which lets them get more attacks in.
**Most importantly, the musician allows them to use a better Spirit Paths rule, letting you take them off the table and then place them '''anywhere''' on the table more than 9" from enemy units.
**Leader either gets two additional attacks or +1 damage.
**Do ''not'' use these guys as as you would Dryads. They aren't particularly killy, they will die quickly if attacked first and their kit is way too expensive to use lots of them. They are for board control:
***Charge blockers. Save until your opponent gets ready to charge a very killy unit they want to get into combat asap, then teleport a wall of Revenants in front. Revenants will die instantly in the following combat, but it'll free up your more important units.
***Back line threatening. Your opponent can no longer keep those war machines, Jezzails and Poisoned Wind Mortars unguarded. Minimum-size squads of them also have just high enough of a damage output to cut all the aforementioned units to ribbons. But, you will say, the 9" charge after teleporting is improbable. No. Since they can reroll one of the charge dice, they are more likely to make that charge than to fail it. A good rule of thumb is to use 2 units of minimum size. That way, it's very likely at least one of them will make the charge and then they will more than likely deal enough damage to neuter the war machine you attacked.
***Objective taking. Without any Revenants, your opponent might decide to leave a captured objective unguarded. With Revenants either you can teleport and grab the objective or they'll be wise to this and need to keep a unit tied up - one big enough to survive a teleport and charge strike.
**''2019 Differences: Teleporting is now anywhere instead of near a wood or table edge. It's a small change, but a good one.''

*'''[https://www.games-workshop.com/resources/PDF/AoS_Warscrolls//AoS_Spite_Revenants_ENG.pdf Spite-Revenants]:''' (60/200pts, min 5, max 20) Less tricksy, more creepy Tree-Revenants.
**No rend and single damage, but 3 attacks at +3/+3 each!
**They also exist to muck around with enemy Bravery. They flat reduce the Bravery of enemies around them, which combos well with Drycha's unique spell. Plus they force them to reroll passed battleshock tests. Even Death armies can end up with some battleshock losses.
**1" range means it'll be tricky getting all 61 attacks of a 20 model unit fully into combat.
**Your glass cannon battleline: Hits really hard, dies really quickly. Use Dryads for staying power.
**200 points for 20 of these is the same as Dryads! Against bad save hordes these guys might be the superior option. Sadly, it'll hurt your wallet a lot more - £90 for 20 vs £31.25 for the same in Dryads (add in your own local currency multiplier).
**''2019 Differences: 10 points drop, the scenery rule is switched for the rerolling battleshock, and attacks are up from +4/+4 to +3/+3, that's a huge boost! Finally these are a valid battleline option. GW must really want people to start playing these guys.''

==={{color|#dda16f|Other Troops}}===

*'''[https://www.games-workshop.com/resources/PDF/AoS_Warscrolls//AoS_Kurnoth_Hunters_Greatswords_ENG.pdf Kurnoth Hunters With Kurnoth Greatswords]:''' (200pts, min 3, max 12) The ultimate wooden killing machine.
**Incredible. Each of these guys is basically a minor Hero at 5 Wounds and a 4+ Save.
**The sword tosses out 4 attacks at -1 Rend and damage 2. And deals an additional mortal wounds on wound rolls of 6.
**When melee attacking, if they don't need to move (other than 1" pile in), they can gain the ability to re-roll saves.
***Since the warscroll only says at the start of the charge phase but doesn't specify whose, they can technically charge and pile in normally in your charge phase and then use Tanglethorn Thicket in your opponent's if you went first.
**At the end of combat you deal mortal wounds on a 4+ for each model in your unit
**They also channel Command Abilities. When you use a Command ability, any unit wholly within 12" of a Kunroth is also counted as being in range of the casting hero.
**GW has switched the points for these up and down over the years. Hopefully they'll be staying at a perfectly respectable and reasonable 200 points from now on.
**Consider pretending you're playing 40K and magnetise the arms for different weapon loadouts below. If you fix the weapons on one unit then you'll have enough shoulder pads spare to better magnetise a second unit. The Quiverbugs are trickier to magnetise. Sadly there are no official rules for using plasma cannons.
**These guys are crazy good now, especially if you take them in Winterleaf. Stick an Arch-Revenant next to a unit, send into something big, and watch it go **POOF**. Pop command ability for 10 attacks hitting on 3+, 5 attacks on 2+, reroll 1's to hit, with 6's causing mortal wounds AND extra attacks?! All wounding on 3's with their -1 rend and flat 2 damage (Bonus points for using the Frozen Kernel so they can do it again. Even Nagash will tremble in terror.)
**''2019 Differences: Other than the warscroll split, failed saves confusion has been fixed, some range changes, improvement to the end of combat damage. Plus swords get an extra mortal. Even stronger than before. With the mortal wounds buff, better than scythes against everything, though with 1" less range.''

*'''[https://www.games-workshop.com/resources/PDF/AoS_Warscrolls//AoS_Kurnoth_Hunters_Scythes_ENG.pdf Kurnoth Hunters With Kurnoth Scythes]:''' (200pts, min 3, max 12)
**Same as above, but with longer weapon range of the scythes, which tosses out 3 attacks at Rend -2 and damage D3. The scythes do more damage against 2+ saves, break even against 3+ and the swords win against everything else. But that's before taking into account the mortal wounds on 6 the Swords deal out (which the scythes don't get).
**In general the swords are your better option (especially given how rare 2+ and even 3+ saves are in AoS).
**However, the scythes have 2" reach. You'll want this for units of 6 or more to get them all into combat or if you want to place a screen of Dryads (preferably on the edge of a woods) or Revenants in front and attack through them. Tricksier players will go for the scythes.
**''2019 Differences: Same as the swords variant, except for no new additional weapon damage.''

*'''[https://www.games-workshop.com/resources/PDF/AoS_Warscrolls//AoS_Kurnoth_Hunters_Greatbows_ENG.pdf Kurnoth Hunters With Kurnoth Greatbows]:''' (200pts, min 3, max 12)
**Same as above, but now with ranged weapons.
**A stunning 30" range, two shots per model and D3 damage per shot, these guys are basically artillery.
**You also get the adorable Quiverlings who do the melee fighting for them, being very non-threatening, but remember, these guys are tough as nails and you can shoot into melee. Does a lot less damage overall than melee weapons, and you can only shoot during your turn (unlike melee, effectively halving the potential damage done per game), but that range means you won't be getting attacked back. <i>How dare they! The Quiverlings are no longer the source of their melee damage! Somehow, the giant tree people have learned to punch things of their own accord now</i>
**Take into account our woods block line of sight (so no camping in woods) and Look Out Sir means you should probably avoid sniping guarded heroes.
**Bows were the best option in original AOS, no longer so essential in AOS2.
**''2019 Differences: Same as the swords variant, except for no new additional weapon damage.''

*'''[https://www.games-workshop.com/resources/PDF/Downloads/aos-warscroll-yltharis-guardians-en.pdf Ylthari’s Guardians]:''' (Free with Ylthari) Shadespire Tree Revenants without the good stuff.
**Can only be taken along with Ylthari.
**Tree Revenants without a musician or banner, so you loose the pile in and teleport abilities.
**In return you get three different weapon profiles (sword, glaive, bow), which are upgrades on the Tree Revenants.
**Plus on a D6 3+ you get to attack first, which is going to make them a lot less fragile than standard Tree Revenants.
**You also lose the Tree Revs reroll any dice per phase, but you can reroll wounds of 1.
**Labelled {{AOSKeyword|tree revenant}}, but Ylthari isn't. As written means you can include them in Tree Revenant battalion requirements, even though you still have to bring along Ylthari who wouldn't then be in the battalion. Needs an FAQ to confirm.
**Rules as Written their Martial Memories ability will cause themselves and ANY other Tree-Revenant unit within 3" of enemy units to fight first, on a 3+, in the combat phase. This needs playtesting to see if it's worth the points, but in theory it sounds almost too good to be true. You'd bring Ylthari's Guardians to turn your decent Tree-Revenants into better than Dryad melee blenders. <i>Yeah, that's gone as of the battletome. Now Martial Memories is the same as the ability on the Tree-Revenants.</i>
**''2019 Differences: New for 2019!''

*'''[https://www.games-workshop.com/resources/PDF/AoS_Warscrolls//aos_skaeths_wild_hunt_en.pdf Skaeth’s Wild Hunt]:''' (120pts, min/max 5) Straight outa Beatsgrave
**5 unique models with ok melee (max damage of six wounds with all models) and a little bit of shooting (a single close range and single far range attack)
**One wound each, but the leader gets one extra. And the one of them is a Wizard.
**Might be easier to just think of these guys as a 120pt six wound wizard with a behemoth damage table. Remember, each model killed results in fewer attacks/abilities. Just make sure you remove the models you most care about last.
**Spell (CV 7), as long as the model lives, gives you +1 to wounds rolls on a nearby unit, which is neat. Especially given that's something not covered elsewhere in the faction.
**They can still charge and shoot after running, not that you'll be charging them much.
**Unique and not a hero.
**Really, the +1 wounds spell to work alongside your other buffs is the reason you'll be taking these guys. In an either/or choice, the Arch Revenant is 20pts cheaper and better, and the wych/wraiths are 50% cheaper if you just want a wizard.

===<span style="color:#dda16f;">Behemoths</span>===

*'''[https://www.games-workshop.com/resources/PDF/AoS_Warscrolls//AoS_Treelord_ENG.pdf Treelord]:''' (200pts) ''The'' Walking Tree. (aka Groot)
**[[DISTRACTION CARNIFEX]] with appropriate stats to match.
**At the start of combat he can stomp and on a 4+ cause one enemy unit to fight at the end of combat.
**You get a single attack at rend -2, and on a 6 it goes from 1 damage to D6 mortal wounds.
**Instead of moving, if close to a wood, he can teleport to another wood, more than 9" from enemies. This is in addition to the single unit that can do the same using the allegiance ability. Deep Strike!
**And they can also shoot, which is decent, not much worse than a unit of Bow Kurnoths.
**It should be remembered that these guys class as monsters and carry all the baggage that comes with that (You know declining stats, Large model, everyone wants to shoot it. that sort of thing), its still a pretty kickass unit.
**Everything this guy can do, Durthu and the Ancient can do, and more. But you're paying appropriately for them.
**Over the year this guy has seen as much battlefield usage as the Spite Revs, but now they are as cheap as a unit of Kurnoths. While the Kurnoths are arguably better in a casual play scenario, you ''might'' get more out of these with the stomp and wood teleporting.
**''2019 Differences: Stomp has improved from just causing -1 to hits, impale has been simplified. And down from 240 points!''
*** Not sure I'd class the stomp change as a straight improvement. It can only affect one unit now, and -1 to hit could be horrible, especially if combined with an artefact that did the same thing.

===<span style="color:#dda16f;">Scenery</span>===

*'''[https://www.games-workshop.com/resources/PDF/AoS_Warscrolls//AoS_Awakened_Wyldwood_ENG.pdf Awakened Wyldwood]:''' Trees everywhere.
**New models!
**An Awakened Wyldwood consists of 3-6 citadel woods arranged to form a circle. Everything inside is treated as woods.
**A Citadel wood is a single tree with a bit of base. They come in packs of three, which when formed into a circle are roughly the same size as the old dinner plate model.
**FAQ states you can use one old citadel wood model as one awakened wood terrain piece. Given that one old wood is roughly the same size of 3 new woods, you're at a disadvantage using them.
**Line of sight blockers, so no camping your shooters in woods.
**If a wizard casts a spell near a wood, then all nearby non-Sylvaneth get D3 mortals on a 5+.
**At the end of the charge phase, all nearby non-Sylvaneth get D3 mortals on a 6.
**Remember those damages hurt your allies and your ally in doubles games.
**All Treelords and one other unit per turn can teleport between two of these instead of moving.
**Branchwraiths, Branchwyches, Dryads and Durthu all gain bonuses for being near a wood.
**As per the allegiance ability, you can place one of these at the start of the game. The Acorn artefact and the Treelord Ancient can both unconditionally place one wood per game. The verdant blessing spell (6+) is known by all our wizards and can place a new wood per turn if successfully cast. Alarielle can set up a new wood after killing a unit with her spell (if there is room).
**Your first wood needs to be more than 6" from an objective, but none of the other wood placements have that restriction.
**Your opponent is going to want to place lots of scenery during setup and then spread out during the first turn in order to block our wood placements. A situation made worse by the increase in faction specific scenery. You could quite easily end up only get out the start wood and one more during an entire game. Getting first turn can help mitigate this.
**The new models will mean an end to tree-less bases, and they'll fit in your army storage box. However, it's yet to be seen how many of these you're going to need to bring along per game and whether they are as crucial as they were in previous additions. You could end up bringing along 8 packs of these, which still ends up being a significant upfront cost for the army and it's still a lot of extra plastic you're carting around between games.
**Note that the entire inside of the ring of woods is counted as part of the Awakened Wyldwood, which means you can't use a wildwood to surround another piece of scenery or objective.
**''2019 Differences: New models! No longer auto kills small guys after charge/runs, instead doing damage by just being close. Max footprint of a wood has shrunk by a third.''

==Battalions==

===<span style="color:#4c741c;">Forest Folk</span>===
'''''A Branchwraith and three units of Dryads''''' ''140pts (520pts min -> 1,030pts max)''

Units can retreat and then still charge that turn.

''2019 Differences: Sadly this replaces the old ability that lets you take the entire Battalion off the table and then redeploy them close to your Wyldwoods.''

===<span style="color:#4c741c;">Free Spirits</span>===

'''''A Spirit of Durthu and three units of Kurnoth Hunters''''' ''140pts (1,080pts min -> 2,880pts max)''

Always rolls a 6 for a run.

''2019 Differences: Much simpler than the old ability where you move twice but has to be closer to some scenery''

===<span style="color:#4c741c;">Household</span>===

'''''A vanilla Treelord, a Branchwych and a unit of Tree-Revenants''''' ''100pts (460pts min -> 800pts max)''

Units locked in combat with the Household cannot retreat.

''2019 Differences: The old version also had +1 Bravery, but that's gone now.''

===<span style="color:#4c741c;">Lords of the Clan</span>===

'''''Two to four Treelord Ancients and one to three normal Treelords''''' ''60pts (860pts min -> 1,860pts max)''

For every enemy within 6" of 2+ Treelords, roll a dice, on a 2+ they get D3 mortals.

Now only 60 points (down from 100!). Maybe now someone will play this.

''2019 Differences: Old ability was only for one name Treelord, was a wider range, but less reliable.''

===<span style="color:#4c741c;">Outcasts</span>===

'''''Three units of Spite-Revenants''''' ''100pts (280pts min -> 700pts max)''

Any enemy unit that fails battleshock within (not wholly within!) 3" loses an additional D3 models. Remember that Spites lower enemy bravery too.

''2019 Differences: This used to be a damage pulse based on enemy bravery.''

===<span style="color:#4c741c;">Wargrove</span>===

'''''One Lords of the Clan, three Households, three Forest Folks, one Free Spirits and one Outcasts.''''' ''80pts (5,240pts min -> 11,010pts max)''

Our only remaining super battalion. Allows you to place '''two''' Wyldwoods at the start of the game instead of one. Still, way too big to use unless you're playing 5000 point games.

''2019 Differences: Unchanged from the old battletome.''

==Army Building==

===1000 pts===

Two SC boxes and a box of Revenants get you a solid core. Convert one of the <del>useless</del> Branchwyches into a Branchwraith by stealing her scythe and pet. You will want more Dryads if you do this so the Wraith actually gets to do her job.

* Grove: Winterleaf
* Treelord Ancient (General, Grove artefact, Regrowth)
* Branchwraith (Throne of Vines)
* Branchwych (The Dwellers Below)
* 30 Dryads
* 5 Spite-Revenants
* Treelord

Total: 990 pts

You can also replace the Treelord with a unit of Kurnoth Hunters (give them the Greatswords).

To upgrade from that, get a bag of newly-undercosted Spite Revenants and a guaranteed second Wood:

* Grove: Winterleaf or Dreadwood
* Treelord Ancient (General, Grove artefact, Regrowth)
* Drycha Hamadreth (Deadly Harvest or The Dwellers Below)
* Branchwraith (Throne of Vines)
* 20 Spite-Revenants
* 5 Tree-Revenants
* Soulsnare Shackles

Total: 1000 pts

If you got the Looncurse set (or if you prefer), you can also do this:

* Grove: Winterleaf
* Treelord Ancient (Grove artefact, Regrowth)
* Arch-Revenant (General)
* Branchwraith (Throne of Vines)
* 5 Spite-Revenants
* 5 Spite-Revenants
* 6 Kurnoth Hunters (Greatswords)

The Arch-Revenant can stay safe and buff the Hunters with her Command Ability thanks to Envoys of the Everqueen.

Alternatively, you can be a dick and bring a god to the table:

* Grove: Winterleaf or Dreadwood
* Alarielle (Regrowth)
* Branchwraith (General, Grove artefact, Throne of Vines)
* 20 Spite-Revenants
* 5 Spite-Revenants

Total: 1000 pts

Can cut most of the Spite-Revenants for... something? Allied 3 Ishlaen guard? A Knight-Incantor? Open for suggestions, but if you do that, consider going groveless.

===2000 pts===

====Behemoth Spam====
With the cost reductions to Spite-Revenants and Treelords, you can easily fit 5 Behemoths into an army for a Monster Mash. While they're not Keepers of Secrets or Bloodthirsters, there might be something to this.

* Grove: Winterleaf
* Battalion: Outcasts
* Alarielle
* Drycha Hamadreth
* Treelord Ancient (General, Frozen Kernel, Regrowth)
* Branchwraith (Acorn of the Ages, Throne of Vines)
* 20 Spite-Revenants
* 5 Spite-Revenants
* 5 Spite-Revenants
* Treelord

Total: 1980 pts

====Dryad-based List====
If you played Sylvaneth before the recent changes, chances are you have a <del>forest</del> fair number of Dryads. Their Battalion synergizes pretty well with one of the better Groves, Harvestboon, letting you retreat from combat and charge right back in with the rerolls.

* Grove: Harvestboon or Winterleaf
* Battalion: Forest Folk
* Drycha Hamadreth
* Treelord Ancient (General, Grove artefact)
* Branchwraith (Acorn of the Ages, Throne of Vines)
* 30 Dryads
* 30 Dryads
* 10 Dryads
* 6 Kurnoth Hunters (Greatswords)
* Chronomatic Cogs
* Soulsnare Shackles

Total: 2000 pts

Can also run under Winterleaf, exchanging the 4 decent perks of Harvestboon for the Winterleaf artefact and exploding 6s.

The Kurnoths can be ran as a unit of 6, benefitting more from the Winterleaf artefact (and potentially realm buffs), in exchange for more Battleshock vulnerability, 1 less attack overall and fewer Trample mortal wounds.

====Spite-Revenant Buffs====
A max size unit of Spite-Revenants costs 200 points. As much as 20 Dryads (though still less efficient per wound than blocks of 30). Outcasts is also really cheap. Winterleaf gives the spooky trees exploding 6s now, too, and they have a LOT of attacks. '''The''' Spite Grove, Dreadwood, gives more mobility in exchange for less killing power.

* Grove: Winterleaf or Dreadwood
* Battalion: Outcasts
* Treelord Ancient (General, Grove artefact, Regrowth)
* Drycha Hamadreth
* Branchwraith (Throne of Vines)
* Branchwraith (Acorn of the Ages, The Dwellers Below)
* 20 Spite-Revenants
* 20 Spite-Revenants
* 20 Spite-Revenants
* Chronomatic Cogs
* Soulsnare Shackles

Total: 1600 pts, leaving you with a few options for a little extra punch, be it 2 Treelords, 6 Kurnoths (give them the Greatswords) or even 6 Morrsarr Eels.

This will cost you [[Games Workshop|about as much as a real forest]], with the Spite-Revenants coming in boxes of 5 and Looncurse already gone from everywhere but Eastern Europe.

==Tactics==

==Allied Armies==

The problem with allies, is that they do not get the {{AOSKeyword|SYLVANETH}}-Keyword. Our Forests can and will turn on our allies if they get too close. This massively reduces their mobility, weakens our board control and potentially makes us lose our models without the enemy having to do anything.

*'''[[Age of Sigmar/Tactics/Order/Stormcast Eternals|Stormcast Eternals]]:''' You don't particularly need stormcast. Their play style is too different from traditional Sylvaneth play and overall they don't synergise too well. Perhaps with the upcoming Stormcast Sacrosanct chamber, something might be available to use well with Sylvaneth, but as of now don't bother. Stormcasts are just too slow to keep up with us and allies can't make up for this with Deep Strikes. Prosecutors might be a better option than the infantry on foot, but the would-be woefully under supported, due to the lack of Stormcast Heroes. Additionally, they have worse shooting than our (costlier) options and again, do not benefit from Stormcast specific abilities or commands.

*'''[[Age of Sigmar/Tactics/Order/Wanderers|Wanderers]]:''' Okayish, and fluffy which is important, however as previously mentioned above, you only have 200/400pts to spare, which simply isn't enough to gain any meaningful army support from the Wanderers - ''although with the recent warscroll and point changes in the Cities of Sigmar release, maybe there is something to look at here.'' Wanderers suffer from much the same problems as Stormcast. Everything they can do, we can do better, with everything they need, we can't provide. 200-400 points are not all that much and spending these on a Unit of Glade Guard and a Hero gives us, again, worse shooting and we can only heal and not revive Models. This basically means that the many single-wound models are nearly worthless fodder. Sisters of any variation are simply too expensive to be a viable choice for us and don't benefit us. Wasted points, that we could use better for Hunters.

*'''[[Age of Sigmar/Tactics/Order/Idoneth Deepkin|Idoneth Deepkin]]:''' The fish guys have lots of cross-unit synergies, which are of no use here. Consider the Akhelian Guards (Ishlaen and Morrsarr). Compared to the Kurnoths, they are faster at 14' and can fly (but can't use wyldwood teleporting and need to stay way from them too), they pack more punch (but are much more fragile) and they are cheaper too.
**Alternately, consider running a Deepkin army with the "Alliance of Wood and Sea" Battalion, giving you all the benefits of the Deepkin tides at the cost of having no forests (for better and worse).

*'''[[Age of Sigmar/Tactics/Order/Dispossessed|Dispossessed]]:''' (Only if general is {{AOSKeyword|IRONBARK}})

*'''[[Age of Sigmar/Tactics/Order/Fyreslayers|Fyreslayers]]:''' (Only if general is {{AOSKeyword|IRONBARK}})

===Mercenary Companies===
*'''Blacksmoke Battery:'''
*'''Greyfyrd:'''
*'''Grugg Brothers:'''
*'''Gutstuffers:'''
*'''Nimyard’s Rough-Riders:'''
*'''Order of the Blood-Drenched Rose:'''
*'''Rampagers:'''
*'''Skroug’s Menagerie:'''
*'''Sons of the Lichemaster:'''
*'''Tenebrous Court:'''

==Buying Guide==

Sylvaneth is mixed in terms of unit price values. Some can be cheap, others horrendously expensive, but that's GW. A cliché recommendation would be the start collecting box. Sadly the Branchwych is of less use than she used to be.

Note that due to models coming from WFB, a box of Dryads has 16 models, so to get full use of them, you'll want two boxes giving you 3 dryad units plus 2 spare. Make these up as 3 Dryad Nymphs and 29 normal Dryads to give you full WYSIWYG flexibility of unit sizes. 5 boxes gets you a full usage with 80, which is probably enough unless you go full Dryad spam.

{{Age_of_Sigmar_Tactics}}