Development: Cho

War rages across the Galaxy. Both the brutal Galactic Empire and the desperate Rebel Alliance reel in the face of terrible losses. A tabletop RPG campaign set after the Battle of Yavin. Star Wars: Edge of the Empire (Fantasy Flight Games)

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rossi720
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Development: Cho

Post by rossi720 »

Thread to collate and tidy up Cho-related discussions via email with Bruce + everyone else.

Starter question: How would I build Game of Thrones' Arya Stark as a Star Wars character?

Favourite Career/Spec start point: F&D's Sentinel - Shadow. Why? Sentinels are pitched at being the spooky Sith-hunting, anti-hero dark jedi types who 'do what needs to be done' to ensure no-one else has to. Seems like best fit for an Arya type, slightly magical sneaking / lying / espionage / stabs in the back rather than gunslinging.

Non-Force alternative: AoR's Spy - Infiltrator. Good espionage skillset, talent tree gives melee murder oomph for when it goes wrong. Don't mind dropping the Force aspect if it doesn't fit the group/game, or if other characters have prior claims to heading that way, but eventually someone ought to be waving around a lightsaber without proper training ;)

Other notes of things which have occurred to me:
  • Chameleonic personality as well as physical form?
  • Almost never wears their own face, instead favouring a few well-practiced ones depending on context.
  • Clawdites tend not to be strong-willed, cunning but unlikely to directly oppose folks when pushed
  • Would see the Force as a source of personal power and thus security
  • Hungry for that sense of connection to others he/she's always lacked until recently
  • Force-sensitivity could definitely be a liability in Cho tho - lacks a strong sense of self
  • Can be anything to anyone, but has hardly ever had anyone get to know the 'real' Cho
  • Makes befriending the party both daunting and addictive, Cho's used to be being used but this time round maybe there's a spark of something real.
  • Crappy upbringing, slum living, pushed into working for criminals from early on
  • Perhaps a barely-trained padawan gone missing after the fall of the Order 20 years ago and dropped back into the criminal underworld while still a kid - being older and jaded now would fit with Cho being Zak's rival/partner in playing 'team mom/dad' like Kanan and Hera do in Rebels.
  • Started spying for a criminal cartel, then pressured into causing 'accidents' and built from there
  • nothing like a shapeshifting assassin to show nobody's out of reach, after all
  • might've been the favourite tool of a Hutt, or worked for the Crimson Dawn or Black Sun syndicates
  • Later might've taken (Imperial-backed) contracts to hunt down people with Jedi artifacts or sympathies
  • hiding in plain sight, as ever, taking any leads to see what's become of the old order
  • aim would be to steal any trinkets and maybe fail the actual hit, but people are often disappointing and failing one's employers too frequently is bad for continued business
  • (was it one of those contracts that led to Zak?)
Hi Ross,

Great brain dump and appreciate the early update.

Very happy for you to be force sensitive. As you say someone has to wield a light sabre!

Maybe consider a super solid personality to counter point the super flexible physical? Might be easier to play. Might be easier to stomach as a part member! Happy either way.

If I haven't commented on it I love it!

Hiding in plain site is a risky plan. I love it. You can almost smell the Inquisitors they are that close...

Regards,

Bruce
rossi720
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Jedi paraphenalia

Post by rossi720 »

Today's musings are upon access to Force/Jedi paraphenalia!

Naturally, I think lightsabers are awesome and want one (and in the game)

Q: How much of a quest should obtaining one be?

Reference points:
  • The F&D beginner game hands them out to 3/6 characters from the get-go.
  • The F&D core book, conversely, expects a group of aspiring Jedi to go on quests to obtain crystals and then build their own hilts. But then, it's assuming the whole group will be interested.
  • The films hand Luke one just for showing up, without even a "careful son, you'll have someone's eye out!"
Now, I don't see Cho being a terribly good Jedi. She'd suck at the whole spiritual quest thing, most likely.
I considered her having a really strong will, core sense of self, etc, but I think that's exactly what the films tend to show - and I'd rather not play someone with a core of inner strength and a grand heroic destiny laid out before them.

Basically, I want her to struggle with the temptations of power, and starting out, mostly give in - unless the rest of the party provide the necessary emotional support.

Story-wise, I think finding or stealing a lightsaber is far more fitting. She isn't an appropriate soul to truly 'earn' one by questing and building it, though maybe she'd try given the opportunity, or nudged that way by a mentor.

(also, vision quests and crystal hugging aren't really suitable for most of the rest of the party either, which is definitely a consideration here)


Q: If Cho had a lightsaber, what colour would it be?

Red, I reckon - not because of Cho, but because of who previously owned it.

Blades only go red after doing fairly terrible things with the Force, as I understand it, deliberately forcing a kyber crystal to harmonise with the dark side.

In some ways, I'd quite like Cho to find herself with just such a corrupted lightsaber - methinks it meshes with the thematics of struggling against the easy effective route through life. Long term, if she does find her way into the light, redeeming said crystal could be a nice moment.

If she actually made her own? Yellowy orange, probably. Yellow's the traditional Sentinel colour, maybe more of an orange tint for someone struggling more than most Jedi.
Hi Ross,

Totally agree on the light sabre!

Q: How much of a quest should obtaining one be?
Totally depends on the character and story you want to tell. I dont feel it should be a simple transaction. Neither does it have to be a Jedi spirit quest. Cho might not even know what a lightsabre is. I don't feel that building one fits either. Maybe discovering what one is and clues to a location would be more her style? More tombraider than Bob the builder?

I think a lot will depend on how much she knows about her Jedi heritage.


Q: If Cho had a lightsaber, what colour would it be?
Sparked a research afternoon on lightsabre colours. Apparently red is something to do with synthetic crystal manufacture. But I feel that lacks a certain charm / romance.
I prefer your explanation by a mile!

So redemption of a light sabre feels like a worthy long term quest. This would mirror Cho's own redemption methinks.

So finding one might not need be a long affair or even "the quest" if redemption is truly the key.

Depends how you want to play it?

Regards,

Bruce.
I definitely like it a lot as an idea.

I'm most interested in exploring what manner of downward spiral might entail from a misguided, poorly-remembered notion of what a Jedi is once translated into the effed up world of a galaxy full of criminality, misery and outright war - and then seeing whether or not one can pull oneself out of that with a little help from one's friends.

Either she'll grow to fit the crystal's corruption, or one day she'll fit the crystal to her, but I think it'd work best if it's by her side sooner rather than later - it'd be a symbol for the overall journey rather than a signpost she's reached a certain point on it.

As for where to find one, tomb raiding definitely works, but so would plucking it from someone 'undeserving' like, well, a tomb-raider, mercenary, criminal or collector who has no claim on bearing a lightsaber. She may never have made her own, but they're still the symbol of her childhood dreams and seeing one in non-Jedi hands would hurt.
rossi720
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Jedi Heritage

Post by rossi720 »

I think I'd prefer she knows, or thinks she knows, what they symbolise.

She'd have been a rubbish padawan, for all the aforementioned reasons. Could've been trained for years, have fond memories of patient but exasperated Jedi Masters. The lightsabre's a ubiquitous symbol of the Order, a Jedi without one's like a samurai without his sword, so she'd have seen plenty.

It's been two decades since the Order's fall. Most everyone's forgotten them now, but Cho remembers.

What were the Jedi to her, though?

Back then I figure even gutter rats had heard of Jedi, the power behind the thrones of the Republic. Sequestered off in their temples, away from the cries of the poor and the sick save when it suited them, descending into the muck to change minds with word and gesture, or striking down those who would not be swayed.

Did she believe in their words when they took her? Of course. Anyone would've, and where they found her was no place to be staying anyhow. The temple had better food and less bugs in the bedding, at least.

She tried to fit in. Mirrored the other padawans, mirrored their teachers as best she could, but it was an exercise in frustration. She could outwit most any student her age, but nowhere around her could she find the answers her Master seemed to be seeking.

Like water she was, apparently. Cho would show others their reflection, be swept around and redirected by them easily enough, then come creeping back by other paths to where she'd wanted to be. Except Cho wasn't so sure what she'd ever wanted; other people were generally so busy wanting things of each other and of her that she wasn't in the business of looking inward.

After a time her Master was called to travel, so young Cho travelled with her. Watched the way so many others reacted to a real live Jedi, that mix of quiet reverance and tinge of fear befitting a god walking among them. Knew, somehow, that she would always be safe by her Master's side.

She saw her Master do good, try to make a difference come what may, no matter how petty or disappointing people repeatedly proved to be. Until the very people she defended, the troopers of the Republic that Master served, turned upon her, and fell shadows stalked the long night.

She did as her Master bid, one last time. She ran, and hid, and wore another face. Night fell on the Republic and the Jedi, and Cho was left alone again.

Did she die buying Cho time to run? It seems like such a distant dream now.

So what are the Jedi to her now?

A dream that sometimes the powerful are also the good. A dream that she could've been more than she was, if only things had been different. A dream that things could be, and have been, better than they are.
And the sure knowledge that all of that can be taken from you in a moment.

They were the strongest, most powerful force in the galaxy; she'd thought if she could become one she would finally be safe, know peace, know what life was supposed to be. But it wasn't for her, and now it isn't for anyone.

The Force has not been her ally, not for a long time now; everything's gone to bantha crap since she fled. No energy for introspection, no time for what-ifs, too busy staying safe and a step ahead of whatever trouble's coming next, no matter what it takes. But it's a lonely life she'd drifted into, and lately she's forged connections with people even knowing how easily they can be lost.

Maybe those connections, having folks to care about outside of herself, are what'll forge Cho into who she ought to be. Or maybe she'll destroy herself trying to protect them.

--

On further reflection (and actually bothering to read a bit of how young the Jedi started training folk, when padawans got assigned, etc etc) some adjustment to the previous blatherings of "What the Jedi mean to Cho" backstory might be sensible.

For starters, it would appear that padawans were 13+ and had typically built their own lightsaber. That doesn't really work, though the overall thrust of things still works okay I think.

She'd have been taken in by a small enclave, taught a few things with the other younglings under the care of a Jedi or two, but I don't think she'd have gotten as far as passing any trials for the rank of padawan before everything went wrong.

Having lots of classmates works well to excuse her disappearing successfully in the confusion of troopers executing Order 66 and any Inquisitors coming to help, mind you. Lots of guilt over having abandoned friends, etc.

And it'd leave her still at a young, formative age (9-13, I'd guess) to be dropped back into the seedy underbelly of the galaxy, with a head full of dreams of Jedi life to misinterpret over the next two decades.
Like water she was, apparently. Cho would show others their reflection, be swept around and redirected by them easily enough, then come creeping back by other paths to where she'd wanted to be. Except Cho wasn't so sure what she'd ever wanted; other people were generally so busy wanting things of each other and of her that she wasn't in the business of looking inward.
I like this snippet into Cho's mind. I think the mirror / water part might make a nice Aspect. Something that says something about her changling powers as well.
I'm glad. Wasn't sure whether to include it, but it fits my internal logic as to why she is as she is. Quite how to frame it in Aspect terms I'm not sure, but I'll give it a ponder. Might do a Lady Blackbird take on her at some point, like Neil did with Hare, see how that boils down.
If you want to be partially trained, the younger the better. No need for you to even have graduated to Padawan. You could have been taken in very young indeed and rescued with other younglings to escape the massacre of Order 66. Anywhere between 4-9 for example. That would leave you with very little knowledge, just vague memories.

Although quite why the criminal underbelly would not sell you to the Empire is another mystery...
Well, the criminal underbellies probably never saw a lost Jedi-wannabe; it's not like younglings have 'Force-user' writ large upon them, they're just a little luckier than some at times.

So they'd just have seen a young, desperate and impressionable changeling - and that's a resource many would want to keep and shape for themselves, methinks.
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Morality, from Jedi to Assassin

Post by rossi720 »

How are you thinking of managing the juxtaposition of all that the Jedi stand for with becoming an Assassin?
It's not a choice she ever consciously made, the way I see it.

You start out on the street, with no friends, no shelter, no food.
You get kicked around a bit, get hungry, maybe have to steal food to keep yourself going.
You try to wear other faces when you can, to blend in, but you're still young, can't sustain them for long.
Some 'kind' soul offers you food and a place to stay. You don't trust them, but you're desperate.
They keep you warm, keep you off the street for a bit, they're kind in small ways.
They ask little favours of you, small recompense for what they've given you.
You get used to doing as they ask.

The jobs get bigger as time goes by, but you're getting older, tougher, more able.
You make friends in the crew, other kids that've been helped out.
There are other gangs though, that want what you have, want to hurt you and yours.
People get hurt. Your people. Your handler tells you how you might help them get even.
You wear the right faces, plant the right evidence, steal the right things.
People get hurt. Their people. Everyone's very pleased with you back home.

Full grown, you're fit, tough, big enough to wear most anyone's face convincingly.
You get better and better at it, until you can even sleep in someone else's skin.
The jobs get more and more difficult, but you like that. It's a challenge.
Better jobs get you better presents, too. All sorts of shiny sharp toys, fancy outfits, good food.
One day your closest friend gets hurt. Really hurt. Gone.
Your handler is there for you, in your grief and anger. Calms you down, promises to find out who did it.
They give you a name, but say it's too dangerous. You have to beg them to let you go after them.
They relent, but you'll have to promise to do it their way, to be safe. And you'll owe them big time.

Afterwards you feel empty, hollowed out by grief and pain.
Your victim never even admitted what they'd done, didn't even know your friend's name.
Your handler offered you some time to yourself, but you needed to keep occupied.
Of course they had a job you could do.
Jesus. I'm ready to top myself just reading that! Or get really angry!
Sorry ;)
Only kidding! But I like the angle and depth it brings.
Cho probably seems like she was always a bit of a monster, but I wanted to make the point that just about anyone could've wound up like her with the right/wrong guidance.

She's been lied to, manipulated, shaped into the kind of useful monster they needed, left with few illusions about what she will or will not do to survive and to prosper in this world.

Maybe that's why she hasn't listened too hard to what the Force has told her over the years; she didn't want to see her friends and mentors for what they were, didn't want to know why they did what they did.
I kind of like that. She doesn't even trust the force!
On some level she understands, though, and maybe that's why she started distancing herself, actively working to pay off old debts and gain some semblance of independance. She's still fond of her handlers and friends in the organisation, despite it all; it's hard to shake such ingrained feelings, but maybe it's time she surrounded herself with better people.
Definitely a good direction.
In fact I'd like to know more about Cho's moral code in this area.
Are there any jobs that she would not take?
If so why?
How does she rationalise the killing of people for money?
Is it True Lies - "Have you ever killed anyone? Yes, but they were all bad!"?
If so where did she get this moral code from?
Long years being worked on by one or two Black Sun (or Crimson Dawn, or whoever) handlers, I'd guess. To start with targets were painted as bad guys, but they made less and less a feature of that. Eventually you realise there are few real innocents in this galaxy.

Anyone can have someone killed if they've the means. Even the Jedi weren't safe, so why should anyone else be?
If someone can afford Cho, they can definitely afford messier means, and no doubt would use them At least she's professional about it, doesn't leave any more mess than necessary.

Jobs she wouldn't take for moral reasons? Kids, probably, but thankfully there's little demand there. The age-old "Please, I have a family!" still causes her pangs of conscience, doesn't like leaving dependents without support as she once was, but mostly she tries to avoid conversing with marks while killing them. Nothing good comes of it.
Not sure there would be little demand. Revenge killings often include the whole family. But easily avoided I would think. Some in your profession might even give a discount if they could kill the children...
Oddly enough, killing an entire family would probably be easier to swallow. At least no-one's left alone at the end. Still, mass killings like that are probably best passed on to someone else; Cho prefers individual hits where she can take her time finding the right moment and method, treat it more like a puzzle than a massacre.
An interesting twist on her personality. I had not seen a cold and calculating side of her. I think that would be worth encapsulating into aspect, motivation or some such.
I don't know that I'd call her cold per se, but definitely able to distance herself from potential targets emotionally. For the sake of her own sanity, they have to be looked at as puzzles, a tangle of relationships and routines viewed through the prism of what's exploitable to get close and how.

Feeds into her general wish to convince herself and the world at large that she's one of the predators now, rather than prey; she'll act callous deliberately, try to keep people on the back foot, etc. "Cho the Professional Killer" is just another role to play, to the world and to herself, and one that she tries to portray as far less vulnerable than she might actually be.
She did as her Master bid, one last time. She ran, and hid, and wore another face. Night fell on the Republic and the Jedi, and Cho was left alone again.
Cool. I can imagine her being terrified, running from Clone Troopers searching for her. Knowing they wanted to kill her. Maybe this is the point she decided she never wanted to be afraid again. That she would not be the hunted. She would do the hunting?
There's definitely an element of that, of being the predator rather than the prey now, which would appeal to her instincts. As mentioned earlier in the email tho', it's been more of a gradual slide into her present career. Few people decide to go into the business of murder overnight.
No true. But now I think she is a sleek hunter, comfortable in her body, graceful, deadly. I think "Predator, Not Prey" would make a lovely Aspect...
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Padawan-pals

Post by rossi720 »

Note: Timing-wise, Cho would never actually have made 'Padawan', but it's a cooler term than 'Jedi Youngling' or 'Initiate'.
She'd have been a rubbish padawan, for all the aforementioned reasons.
Cool. She may not have been alone in being a rubbish Padawan in this way.
Quite so. We can't all be Skywalker-esque prodigies! I'd imagine most Jedi took many, many years to train up, so aye, plenty of frustrated younglings in any given class. Kids will be kids even when they're force-sensitive ones.
Indeed. Makes you wonder how any children graduated - neither of my boys would make it!
Maybe she made a friend who had similar issues?
Maybe she has lost touch with this friend?
NPC angles for down the line?
Indeed!
She can't have been the only youngling to get lost in the Order's wake, aye. Probably got separated in the confusion, hasn't seen them since; I don't think Cho would've been quite so easily manipulated if she still had a close confidant from her former life.

Still, I suspect she's got one heck of a memory for faces. Maybe she'd recognise that same lost child in someone if she saw them again.
Entirely plausible. I just feel it is in the nature of the very young to make friends easily. They of course forget them just as easily. But as mentioned above it opens up another avenue for the story telling.
Whatever happened to her rescuers?
I'd guess they went to get help, and didn't come back. Too dangerous to travel with the children, long-range comms in danger of being intercepted, so they'd have left one Jedi with the kids while others made haste to get in contact with other survivors of the Order, only to be hunted down by Inquisitors.

To give the Jedi some credit, I can't imagine them giving up the location they left the younglings even under Inquisitorial pressure. No, it was probably local informants that brought troopers to the door, and the lone Jedi guardian went down fighting to buy their charges time to run.

Maybe they caught one or two, maybe they killed them, maybe they kept tabs on them for later review. Can't imagine Vader's various disciples raising or teaching kids, but they might assign ISB agents to keep an eye on them and ensure their lives stay suitably challenging and miserable until it's time to collect them for training.
rossi720
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Memories of the Jedi & the Force

Post by rossi720 »

So what are the Jedi to her now?

A dream that sometimes the powerful are also the good. A dream that she could've been more than she was, if only things had been different. A dream that things could be, and have been, better than they are.
And the sure knowledge that all of that can be taken from you in a moment.

They were the strongest, most powerful force in the galaxy; she'd thought if she could become one she would finally be safe, know peace, know what life was supposed to be. But it wasn't for her, and now it isn't for anyone.
Are they the unabtainable dream? The aspiration that seems distant?
Is Cho afraid now that they would never accept her given the things she has done?
Surely the dark side would take her in?
Do they even tell younglings about the Dark Side? Wouldn't that just create fear of failure and being cast out?
Not sure. Good question. Bogey man stories?
There were bound to be some tall tales circulating the halls, aye. Jedi gone rogue, forbidden teachings, ancient wars, they're the sorts of things that breed stories.
Lets assume she knows. Probably also warned to be careful anyway.
Besides, Senator Palpatine said the Jedi tried a coup, tried to seize power over the whole Republic; maybe they weren't so good after all. No, that must be a trick itself, people will say anything to get power over you.
The Masters she met all seemed peaceful, serene, accepting; maybe they'd always take her in no matter what.
But can you ever really trust people you know can twist your thoughts?
How true.
Or those that can twist their bodies...
In short, I'm not sure Cho really understands the difference between light and dark. She'd know the Jedi encouraged stepping back, thinking things through, not acting on impulse. That fraying tempers and lashing out was to be avoided. But that all just seems like sensible advice, not cautioning against great and terrible powers they wouldn't frighten children with stories of.
Frankly this also might be why they got whupped. I mean all that religious mumbo jumbo gets in the way of being effective. There is a time and a place for all that and in the middle of a fight is not one of them!
And she's had two decades in the school of unwelcome truths, of real life, to learn that generally you just have to go with what works to survive from day to day. Choices are a luxury of the powerful.
Or the rich. Maybe money drives Cho as a liberator. Maybe she joined the group once she had bought her freedom / paid off her debts / whatever she owed to those that rescued her.
Jedi = powerful = control of your life. She knows it's just a dream, but she'd chase after hints of it just the same.
Very true. Money buys power. But it can be out bought. Power probably leads to money in most cases anyway.
--
The Force has not been her ally, not for a long time now; everything's gone to bantha crap since she fled. No energy for introspection, no time for what-ifs, too busy staying safe and a step ahead of whatever trouble's coming next, no matter what it takes. But it's a lonely life she'd drifted into, and lately she's forged connections with people even knowing how easily they can be lost.
Has the force truly not been her ally? Or has she just not been listening to it?
Oh, it's probably guided her here and there. Maybe it's had more of a hand in her life than she knows. Dreams here and there, inexplicable gut instincts. But she hasn't really had conscious control or guidance from it for a long while, not once taken out of the quiet space of the temple.
A flabby muscle / distant companion then.
One could take the Jedi actions as a right to interfere in others business. That the strong strike down the weak, when they are bad people, when it is just.
In the Jedi's absence, one can take their actions as all kinds of meddlesome and troubling, which methinks is highly entertaining in its potential.
LOL. Let's work with that!
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Lightsaber acquisition

Post by rossi720 »

Either she'll grow to fit the crystal's corruption, or one day she'll fit the crystal to her, but I think it'd work best if it's by her side sooner rather than later - it'd be a symbol for the overall journey rather than a signpost she's reached a certain point on it.
Ok. The question is will the rules allow you to start with one?
Do you want to start with it?
Or would you like to discover it in game, but relatively quickly, say the first four or so sessions?
The rules are very much in the "lightsaber crystal pricing is wholly arbitrary, and characters get them when the GM says they get them" division so far as I can tell.

There are rules for a 'Corrupted Crystal' and they aren't listed as having a market value, but that's because they're only available by GM whim because, well, they have to be story-appropriate. Hilts have a credit value of 300, but don't do anything without a crystal, obviously.

I'd lean toward acquiring it in game but quickly, if you can find a neat spot to fit one in.

And heck, even if I started with one, it might be several sessions before it was taken out and used; I think Cho would've learnt a degree of caution there if she's kept an interest in Jedi artifacts over the years, she'd know that interested people sometimes disappear and that the Empire Does Not Approve.
Let's go with get it in session.
You ok with me making it moderately difficult / maybe cause some inter-party grief / angst / spirited discussion = roleplay without making it crushing?
[I ask because I am wary of making mistakes (of pushing boundaries too far or too hard) I have made in the past with your characters]
I don't have a problem with that in principle, no. Without more of a clue as to which bonds between / aspects of characters it'll be testing, I cannot say for sure, and with the characters as-yet-unplayed who knows how they'll actually turn out to work.
Yeah, I just don't want to be shouted at! Maybe we need to agree a safe word for when I push things too far or in the wrong direction.
I shall endeavour to do no shouting, and make it clear in a polite fashion if/when I'm not okay with something.

Ultimately, I think any player (or GM) needs to be able to stick their hand up and say "Y'know, I'm not actually comfortable with where this seems to be going" if needed. We's all grown-ups, we ought to be able to step back and talk things over and revise stuff as necessary.

And one hopes that one major point of the Hillfolk exercise was to build a party that can withstand the occasional in-character tantrum without stretching credulity when folks cool off and stick together in the end.
As for where to find one, tomb raiding definitely works, but so would plucking it from someone 'undeserving' like, well, a tomb-raider, mercenary, criminal or collector who has no claim on bearing a lightsaber. She may never have made her own, but they're still the symbol of her childhood dreams and seeing one in non-Jedi hands would hurt.
Maybe a mark? Maybe even a Sith hunting her? Maybe as as group the party could take one out? If there were wounded etc already from a battle with other forces, maybe even a Jedi in hiding?
I'd lean away from using a Sith early on. Maybe we could take one, but frankly that'd be disappointing to find out with starting characters. Plus, once you take out a Sith, you're definitely on someone's hit list, and that's not a story-bottle we want to uncork too soon methinks.
Ok. A cameo role then. To start with anyway.
Taking it from a mark could reinforce it as 'hers', aye. Picking over the wounded from someone else's battles could also work, but in some ways I'd be wary of introducing any actual proper Jedi early on - might work best if she's left to fumble around in the dark with few if any other force-users for guidance.
Ok. I have a thought on this. Well a vision. At least a little vignette that causes a kernel of an idea that could work.
Happy to chat over further, but my gut instinct is for it to be in the hands of someone whom she'd find it offensive to think of bearing one. If amidst starting adventures you need to establish some a-hole scavenger or mercenary villain who wouldn't know the Force if it bit him on the backside, possession of a lightsaber might add a certain aggravating flourish.

If someone's going to pay for them to relinquish their claim on it and everything else, bonus. But she'd probably steal it even without a contract.

What works best for you?
All good. I don't want to plunge the party into a crisis from session one. Cho steals a valuable light sabre and get the party name trashed. It needs to be difficult, part of the heros/villians journey. But not crushing.
Balance is the key... young padawan...
Fwiw, I'm not even sure an encounter with a Sith would wind up in a fight. If Cho's presence twists the Force around her at all, it'll probably be in a somewhat dark-sidey fashion given her past, and an Inquisitor might take the view that she's more likely an eventual asset than an opponent.
Oh yes. That had occurred to me as well. Cho sits uneasily in the middle. Both sides will want her. She is redeemable. Although I think to start with she sits slightly closer to the dark side than the light. If she was killing with violence then definitely. But as it is, if she is careful, calm etc then those are traits of the light.
I suppose killing people for money is killing people for money no matter which way you slice it, but it's definitely less dark-side than it could be; she's not picking her targets, not murdering people for personal vendettas, or out to hurt anyone more than necessary, etc. At this point, it's just a job; in her head she's just filling an effed up hole in society that would otherwise be filled by someone who'd do it wrong.
Cho would certainly be trying to paint things that way, anyhow, if confronted with a scary-ass force-user that helped take out the Jedi. Anything powerful enough to take down the Jedi has to be worth investigating, right? ;)
Um, or running away from. YMMV!
Well, if the choice winds up between "Come with me and learn terrible things" or "Fight and maybe get yourself and your friends killed", she's not so principled that she'd rule out the former as an option. Though maintaining her hard-won independence is something of a priority; if the Sith want her they can tender a contract same as anyone ;)
rossi720
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Inspirations / points of reference

Post by rossi720 »

Is the girl in Leon an inspiration here at all? Played by Natalie Portman of course which ties neatly into Star Wars.
Probably, hadn't consciously acknowledged it but Leon's a favourite film of mine, so it'd figure. Lots more violence involved than Cho would like mind you, she's not intended to have been a gun-toting badass as much as the unseen hand that poisons someone's food, or pretty face a rich target takes in for the night and gets their sleeping throat slit by.
Definitely worth making this clear somewhere in the creation. Again, maybe as an Aspect "Death does not require Violence" or some such!
Well, it's probably still quite violently unpleasant for the victim. But there's certainly no need to make a fuss; better someone dies quickly and quietly than go out making a scene.

She knows her way around weapons, I'm sure, but isn't accustomed to using them against targets who can see her coming; she'll be wearing the face of someone they trust or just wouldn't notice.
Villanelle from the recent BBC series Killing Eve, though Villanelle is an irredeemably broken psychopath and Cho isn't. Cho would think Villanelle messy and indiscriminate, I think. Still, I think Cho would enjoy her work in the sense that people make fascinating puzzles, and doing a difficult job well is very satisfying.
Not seen this!
The series ending was abysmal, but otherwise it's surprisingly funny for a series about hunting down an assassin.
Maeve, Thandie Newton's character from Westworld. Only recently watched S1, and liked her world-weary determination and insight into the human psyche insofar as to how most people are kinda disappointing if you look closely. Might borrow aspects of the character for one of Cho's many faces.
Loved this series. Not seen S2 as I was too slow. Waiting for it to come around again. That world-weariness needs to come through. Again, maybe an Aspect.
Arya Stark, obviously. Impetuous, enjoys keeping people off balance, also a shapeshifting killer getting quite comfortable with their own dark side.
I can see that. Not so much world weariness. She has a fierce determination though. So is there world-weariness or fierce burning ambition?
I suppose the world-weariness is mostly just having few, if any illusions about what people are capable of. Most of her clients are utter shits, but so are most of her targets, and most likely so were many of the friends she made along the way through her career.

Knowing what a dog-eat-dog world it is, yet wanting more than anything to feel safe in it, that's where the ambition comes in. Probably not so much a fierce burning one as a determination to claw her way to the top of the food chain before it's too late, ultimately born more of fear for herself and those she cares about than anything else.
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