Okay. I'm sure that by now, we all know about BioWare's upcoming MMORPG, The Old Republic. For those of you who don't know, it's a massively-multiplayer Star Wars game set 300 years after KOTOR 1 and 2, and set in a period of galactic history where an Evil Empire threatens a Good Republic and Jedi and Sith are the major players in this repetitive conflagration. The Sith get Mandalorian and Bounty-Hunter allies, and the Republic get smugglers. Everyone dresses like it's The Clone wars for some reason, and the Jedi order hasn't instituted any changes in it's doctrine since the Jedi Exile presumably reformed it. Yeah, so much for originality and continuity. But I digress. Regardless of whether TOR will be a good game or not, regardless of whether it will be a fun Star Wars experience or an unworthy successor to two of the best sci-fi RPG's ever made, I'm certain that we were all disappointed that BioWare had eschewed the idea of giving us what we all really wanted. A third sequel in the same style of play as the first two games, like Mass Effect, (but with less…well, weirdness).

The reason the first two games have proved to be so enduringly endearing is because of the great characters and involving plots. The first game set you in the middle of grand old war between good and evil, had you sneak around an occupied world incognito to rescue a Jedi love interest, and then escape at the last moment from the dastardly Darth Vader-esque villain's world shattering attempt to destroy you. Your companions were pilots, scoundrels, droids and mercenaries as well as Jedi, and each engaging character in the party made you feel connected to something grand. You train as a Jedi, begin tracking down the maps to a secret world and the deadly weapon hidden there while defeating the evil minions the villain sends after you, until there's a grand confrontation, a lightsaber duel, a space battle and a happy ending for all! Hurrah!

The second game was darker and edgier, but not in a bad way. The galaxy had been broken almost to the point of destruction and was only beginning to recover. The hero from the first game is gone, but his actions still resonate throughout the worlds you visit. Characters from the first game return alongside new and ever cooler ones, and we travel to worlds both new and old on a quest to find out why you have suffered the terrible fate of losing the Force. Darker Sith hunt you and in return are vanquished, and after bringing hope back to the Republic, after taking a stand and proving that evil can be defeated even in the darkest times, you disappear too, following the footsteps of your master as you go into the unknown regions of space on a quest to find the truth and reunite with your commander like the good soldier you are.

Well, we all know that those games were great, with heroes and villains alike that we could root for, love and draw much fan-art of. I don't know how TOR will turn out in those aspects, but I have the feeling that the sense of belonging to a greater whole, of leading a party of diverse and wonderful characters will be painfully absent. So, I and my brother ZEROresolution, intend to try and fill that gap ourselves. We're starting a new project together, called KOTOR III: Twilight War. It's set 60 years after KOTOR 2, in a Galaxy that is well on the way to recovery, with the Force once again in balance and a new breed of Jedi to protect and serve it. But the final remnants of the Jedi Civil War rear their head one last time, in the twilight of their power to once again try and bring destruction and chaos to the galaxy. Arrayed against them are an unlikely cast of heroes.

A Jedi on a mission for good

An Operative, trained to succeed where others fail

An Officer, torn between duty and justice

A Sith, old, betrayed and bitter

A Healer, struggling against the darkness

A Seer, doubting what he sees

A Hunter on a quest of vengeance

An Assassin, enigmatic and unpredictable

A Scoundrel, tossed about by fate

A Pilot, untried but eager to prove himself

A Droid, prepared to serve however it can

A Warrior, calm, steady and lethal

These twelve companions find themselves brought together by fate in the pursuit of one goal; the defeat of the new Sith Order that has begun to wreak havoc on a galaxy that has only just recovered from the wars that their kind waged on it. I'll post journal entries that will update the story as it progresses from beginning to end and ZERO and I will both provide art of the characters as they are introduced, (in micro form, for the most part, but possibly with some sketches as well.) We'll also provide comments on what went into the design and what inspired the characters looks, backgrounds and motivations. We hope that you'll enjoy this, and maybe it will help your spirits up until TOR comes out. And possibly after.