For the Empire: Sylvain Q&A

[Sylvain Torsin]

Was fun to bring Sylvain back and enjoy the ride once again. I had a tremendous amount of fun and wanna thank DD and everyone who made that possible. Only regret would be that I didn't get to meet and hang out with a bunch of the interesting new people, but my posting schedule tends to be a time when almost everyone is off.

If you have any questions let me know!

[Jun-Tsu Farro]

Sylvain, the white knight of the Empire. It was really fascinating watching a Light Side user (yeah yeah, grey, blah blah ) who was still a patriot to the Empire. When did this happen? Was he always light side, even back in Korriban? Because I think there are a few things we did together that should definitely have earned you conflict back then.

[Sylvain Torsin]

Yeah Sith-witch recreation is a conflict-fraught endeavor.

Back on Korriban there was a topic written by DD titled 'Light Side Sith' that helped formulate the concept of Sylvain in the early stages:

The (second) side (of being a light-side Sith) is someone who uses their Sith training for the betterment of the Empire. They espouse a collective view of putting the Empire before themselves. There are many Sith that follow this path, they still would be classified as Dark by the Jedi but they do what they feel is right for the betterment of the Empire. They still fight the Jedi because they feel the Republic is a corrupt monster and feel that true stability and peace can only be achieved when all live under the banner of the Empire.

In essence these latter Light Sith seek to break the chains of that hold down the Galaxy, it’s not an easy path but one that is respected. Many Imperials look up to these Sith as they tend to be more mindful of how they utilize resources and less prone to political infighting if they can manage it.

Playing through Kotor games and SWTOR on a bunch of different classes I never really liked the whole 'kill kittens for dark-side points' options that Bioware gave to the player to determine their morality. I really liked playing a Sith Warrior on lightside on SWTOR and figured if I had to be an imperial in this new system that I had never played before (FFG Star Wars) it should be one that I had some personal affinity for or else I'd probably not enjoy myself. So Sylvain was meant to be a 'happy nazi' who cared about resource management and other utilitarian principles that can be alluded to in order to mask light-sidedness.

In Korriban he was still dark-side aligned mechanically but had a holocron with Thy Yulani the jedi in it that gave him light-side cooties every once and a while. Some (un)fortunate (depending on how you look at it) morality rolls threw him way on to the Light-side of the equation pretty early, and then on Nar Shaddaa he crossed over to Paragon territory because he was willing to not murder every Jedi he saw and follow Baras' orders to create a peace treaty with the Republic. Mechanically he ended up in the grey zone again this game which is probably where he belongs. He's willing to do all the bad, murderous, cat-killing sithy things if need be, but ultimately will end up not doing those things if he thinks it'd be a waste of manpower.

[Remmington Thalalas]

As usual, I really enjoy Slyvain's story along with all the tragedy that comes with it. He just has no luck with his family sometimes.

[Sylvain Torsin]

Yeah, I've tried to lean into the concept of Sylvain as a tragic character rather than like a superhero. Kris' death was an interesting exercise of writing for me to be honest. I wanted to try and avoid some of the more simplistic depictions of dealing with grief (types that shrug off the loss by internally crying out 'I'll carry your dream on!' or types that are filled with despair; 'Woe is meeee, I'm so sad!') without being too kind of... emo-crazy. Sylvain had been a bit of a roller coaster emotionally at certain times in the past, but this time I had an image of a bit more... mellowed out/emotionally resilient character. That image was put to the test when the one person who he consistently relied on since his childhood suddenly died.

His reaction of anger at her death followed by a kind of deadening of all positive emotion and focusing on the tasks at hand came from the couple of threads he had with her at the beginning of the game where he cautioned her not to be overly confident and fall into a trap meant to kill her. This is obviously just an IC interpretation of the events and I personally love and think Kris' death was cool. But I was thinking how a husband left with two kids would feel... and Syl tends to be a jerk that focuses on results rather than morality... so he'd be skeptical of whatever meaning Kris' death would have at large in the Empire even if he cares for her deeply and will miss her in his life.

Ultimately, in discussion with Kris's player, the meaning of her death will be much more directed at their children; potentially putting some distance between the craziness of the Empire's systematized violence and their kids. "Empire killed my mom despite her being super cool..." starting point for the two of them. I've always wanted Sylvain to be a super-powered nazi space wizard... who is still completely believable as a human being and I hope that is still the case.

[Lucinia Malveaux]

So... how do you (plural, you and Syl) feel about how all this turned out?

[Jun-Tsu Farro]

Any plans on what his children will do now?

[Sylvain Torsin]

Hmmm....

Syl-

Sylvain is pleased to be alive to some degree. He's lost a great deal and isn't too sure one way or the other about the future of this new Empire (The Empress-regent was one of the people who plotted to kill his dad along with Baras. Little girl could potentially be Emperor pt.2 if not careful. He is a fan of restructuring the Empire and getting rid of Sith/Dark Council monopolies over the military... Mixed bag for him). He's mostly working towards securing a better future for his kids so they at least have the power to make choices for themselves on how they live. He's got a cure to the plague that he'll be dispensing to people who are friendly to him... and squeezing those who are less friendly. He's got a dossier of smear info on a lot of important people and is positioning himself into becoming something like a Baras Jr. So he's pretty happy with his progress so far and wants to keep playing the long game towards providing security for his own... and helping the Empire reduce some of its waste.

Me-

There is much less ambiguity for me. I'm quite pleased with the outcome. I'm aiming at taking one of the Minister of War seats if possible with one of my goals. Sylvain wouldn't pursue it himself, but if the call came it'd be hard for him to reject it. I think it'd give a nice arc for him... Dad was Minister of War when he was killed... and Sylvain would be given that position by one of the people who killed his dad (Arya), and share power with another one of those who axed his father (Vengean). It'd be a nice little twist of irony that I would enjoy. Sylvain would be the logistics guy in the room who also can do some bangup support with powerful Battle Meditation if need be. He'd be the grease in the wheels that makes Marr, Vengean, and others cooperate with one another more fully; helping to bridge the Sith/Military imbalance that led to problems in the past.

I'm happy I was able to do fairly well on a lot of the Influence mining events and got Sylvain to a place where he's really strong in the Force. It kind of validates his own unique way of doing things to some degree in both his and my mind. For him, he's 'stronger' with the Force than anyone of his generation... so it makes it easier to endure the insults and things that get thrown his way for being who he is. Kris dying is sad but it also opens up lots of other cool story potential, so I 'enjoyed' it as well. Found it interesting and fulfilling would probably be a better way of putting it. Overall it was a good game for me.

Any plans on what his children will do now?

So preliminary talks with Kristal have the kids growing up with Sylvain in his home. One of the girls is more like Syl and one is more like Kris. Syl's girl is force-sensitive and Kris' isn't. The plan is to raise them together and then when Kris' girl gets a bit older she'd enlist in the military but then kind of have her own moment of self-exploration where she goes off on adventures with her maternal grandmother (who has left the Empire) who will teach her how to be a 'Serasai'. Syl's girl will be a darker shade of Sylvain; more ruthless about her utilitarianism. Kind of a mix of Raven Torsin and Sylvain.

Syl would be really apprehensive about sending her to Korriban at a young age like in Jun-tsu's plan. He'd probably prefer a system where students can go in at a young age, but he thinks there's way too much similarity between the Jedi approach with younglings and a Sith academy for kids. He's cognizant of the ability of such institutions to limit thought in ways that could be detrimental to their own development as useful members of the Empire.

[Jun-Tsu Farro]

Syl would be really apprehensive about sending her to Korriban at a young age like in Jun-tsu's plan. He'd probably prefer a system where students can go in at a young age, but he thinks there's way too much similarity between the Jedi approach with younglings and a Sith academy for kids. He's cognizant of the ability of such institutions to limit thought in ways that could be detrimental to their own development as useful members of the Empire.

You mean by instilling a morality that embraces a totalitarian regime built on the subjegation of the weak by the strong, while also encouraging survival and success as the only true measures of excellence? My goodness, Syl....why ever wouldn't you trust them with your children. Especially, as the academy begins to (eventually) take on some delightfully Dark Side cult overtones.

I mean, the better one can always come and visit auntie Jun-Tsu, while she's off at school even.

*angelic halo of black fire*

[Sylvain Torsin]

Sylvain just had to knock out half a planet’s worth of brainwashed followers. He’d hate to have to do it again to his own children.

[Remmington Thalalas]

Well thank you once again for portraying Syl in such an interesting light. Rather enjoy reading his turmoils and conflicts.

[Jun-Tsu Farro]

Sylvain just had to knock out half a planet’s worth of brainwashed followers. He’d hate to have to do it again to his own children.

Oh pshaw! This is just winning hearts and minds....through dedicated indoctrination.

[Remmington Thalalas]

It sounds like someone needs a re-Neducation.

[Col. Hala Moraal]

I'm not really certain what to say other than I've enjoyed Syl being back, and thank you for providing a foil/letting Syl be a dick and throw his weight around when Hala was getting uppity. She's never really worked to actually befriend anyone even if I think she and Syl's ideologies share some similarities, so Syl calling her on the carpet each time she escalated her handling of Nuwadi was enjoyable.

[Sylvain Torsin]

No problem. I too enjoy the occasional moment of being a dick... it's Space Nazi Empire... someone has to be a dick sometime.

Sylvain kind of had an in on the Eagle not being Malgus' pet and instead it looked like it was Jadus' pet. So when you went all... 'we'll pin this on you and Malgus'... it seemed like Hala could possibly be doing Imperial Intelligence's bidding rather than trying to find out the real source of the problem. Sylvain tried to play the role of the good cop in that situation and entice her to be open with him... It also set up a possibility of him having good relations with the Nuwazi in case Malgus' bid for the throne fell short (like he thought it would).

So a mix of self-interest and skepticism of Hala's potential spy-ness led to the dick retaliation after the camera surprise.