In my spare time over these last several months I (and others, due credit where applicable of course) have been asking Charles Boyd some lore questions over Twitter for initially the Darth Malgus RP community but later also the Star Forge one. To my great delight I received a lot of responses from Mr. Boyd which make me naturally eternally grateful! Up until now the list of questions and answers was compiled over at the Darth Malgus and Star Forge RP Enjin forums.

https://malgus-rp.enjin.com/forum/m/46474106/viewthread/31921852-ryssius-question-answer-thread-replies-from-charles-boyd

https://www.starforge-rp.com/forum/m/17460172/viewthread/31993783-charles-boyd-responds-lore-questions-answered

However, I thought it might also be nice for the lore-geeks here to have the answers Charles Boyd provided as well as a lot of them are quite interesting and offer a lot of depth to the existing lore.

Also, Mr. Boyd, if you're reading this, you're absolutely amazing. Truly, I am a huge fan of you and am incredibly happy with you as the Creative Director for SWTOR! The way you have engaged with fans and players over Twitter is simply amazing <3

Right, onto the questions and answers!

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- How would Mr. Boyd justify a Sith Pureblood slave?

http://www.swtor.com/community/showthread.php?p=9308382#post9308382

- Regarding requisitioning warships in the Empire as Sith Lord and Darths.

https://imgur.com/a/m39IgWx

- Regarding the Spheres of Influence having reformed into Ministries.

https://imgur.com/a/gBnm8jR

- Regarding the state of the Jedi Order.

https://imgur.com/a/sgg0krV

- Regarding the existence of a Sith/Imperial Inquisition pt. 1

https://imgur.com/a/D8KH9oo

- Regarding the existence of a Sith/Imperial Inquisition pt. 2

https://imgur.com/a/xLzVABx

- Regarding the current state of the Mandalorians post-Nathema

https://imgur.com/a/ZCfa2hg

- Regarding the Sphere of Imperial Intelligence, or better said, Sphere of Sith Intelligence

https://imgur.com/xtBJ1Iw

- Regarding the Dark Council having been reinstated and restocked

https://imgur.com/VEeypZu

- Regarding the activities of the Sphere of Sith Philosophy

https://imgur.com/iijvKJq

- Regarding the city of Dreshdae on Korriban and its population in this era.

https://imgur.com/hqDBJXX

- Regarding Sith noble Houses and bloodlines

https://imgur.com/nQD0kCz

- Regarding Kalikori Village on Tython

https://imgur.com/pNI6tzl

- Regarding the Dark Council have been reconstructed already during/after the 5 year timeskip.

http://www.swtor.com/community/showthread.php?t=950700

- Regarding Inquisitors being a seperate rank and entity within the Sphere of Sith Philosophy.

https://imgur.com/a/IQYvp9u

- Regarding what a high-risk target to the Empire would be for the Assassins in the Sphere of Mysteries to be sent to eliminate

https://imgur.com/a/GTHNf1a

- Regarding the fact whether personal banners are a thing within the Sith Empire

https://imgur.com/a/VxiEVUb

- Regarding the fact whether Sith Purebloods are still considered a privileged species in the Sith Empire

https://imgur.com/a/M7tyoRt

- Regarding the fact whether the Sith Empire maintains a presence on Nar Shaddaa in light of the Makeb treaty between the Republic and Hutt Cartels

https://imgur.com/a/gKyGXi0

- Regarding the Sphere of Laws and Justice pt. 1

https://imgur.com/a/qaSdkGa

- Regarding the Sphere of Laws and Justice pt. 2

https://imgur.com/a/t7tit6U

- Regarding knowledge of the Old Sith Empire, the old Sith Religion and Culture in modern times pt. 1

https://imgur.com/a/IedQ3fO

- Regarding knowledge of the Old Sith Empire, the old Sith Religion and Culture in modern times pt. 2

https://imgur.com/a/ZyRwax4

- Regarding knowledge of the Old Sith Empire, the old Sith Religion and Culture in modern times pt. 3

https://imgur.com/a/CvNaJiD

- Regarding the Sith Purebloods and whether they are going extinct as well as their population numbers in the Sith Empire

https://imgur.com/a/aQTIGrH

- Regarding the number of Sith in the Sith Order as well as an additional remark on Sith Pureblood population numbers.

https://imgur.com/a/JT6d1dd

- Regarding the existence of the Dromund Kaas Sith Academy and other lesser Sith Academies pt. 1

https://imgur.com/a/YBS4Hak

- Regarding the existence of the Dromund Kaas Sith Academy and other lesser Sith Academies pt. 2

https://imgur.com/a/yFj1t7Q

- Regarding the training of Sith Acolytes by Lords/Darths outside of the Academies

https://imgur.com/a/Zn1UJht

- Regarding the current galactic resource crisis.

https://imgur.com/a/LXRCyAs

- Regarding how the Knights of Zakuul recruit Force Sensitives and whether Valkorion made a law about it.

https://imgur.com/a/bZ8TrIc

- Regarding how the Knights of Zakuul viewed themselves within Light Side and Dark Side.

https://imgur.com/a/7FnaZqe

- Regarding whether Valkorion truly believed what he preached and where he stood within the Force.

https://imgur.com/a/3ccoyYD

- Regarding the current relations between the Hutts and Sith Empire and whether they'd be able to travel to Vaiken.

https://imgur.com/a/zpd2Vt8

- Regarding Valkorion's motivations behind teaching the Outlander.

https://imgur.com/a/UJ7pjGE

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Thanks for this Yll, and Charles! Definitely bookmarking this thread.

I will update this thread the moment I get a new question answered

Update: Mr. Boyd has been active on Twitter again and has started to respond to my tweets once more! Yesterday he answered a lore question about the current galactic resource crisis, clarifying somewhat how it exactly works:

- It might be better to think of it as known resources are becoming depleted; by the time of the films, this clearly isn't an issue, and it's not Bioware's goal to override that. But multiple decades of galaxy-wide war are really costly, and even with millions of planets someone has to find the resources on those planets, develop them, harvest them, etc, all processes that can take many years and cost resources on their own.

Update: Mr. Boyd has been active on Twitter again and has started to respond to my tweets once more! Yesterday he answered a lore question about the current galactic resource crisis, clarifying somewhat how it exactly works:

 

- It might be better to think of it as known resources are becoming depleted; by the time of the films, this clearly isn't an issue, and it's not Bioware's goal to override that. But multiple decades of galaxy-wide war are really costly, and even with millions of planets someone has to find the resources on those planets, develop them, harvest them, etc, all processes that can take many years and cost resources on their own.

Fascinating! this really helps explain the situation better. Again thank you very much for asking these type of questions.

Fascinating! this really helps explain the situation better. Again thank you very much for asking these type of questions.

My pleasure! I hope to be able to add a lot more to this list

Thanks so much for posting this!

My pleasure! If anyone has any lore questions please feel free to PM them to me or ask them in this thread and I'll do my best to get an answer from Mr. Boyd!

Today I got several questions answered about the Knights of Zakuul, Valkorion and I found a question asked by someone else about the relations between the Hutts and the Sith Empire. The links to the screenshots are in the OP as usual and here are the paraphrases if you can't wait to read the new bits of information:

- Regarding how the Knights of Zakuul recruit Force Sensitives and whether Valkorion made a law about it.

Valkorion would've made it law, as surely he'd want to keep track of anyone remotely capable of challenging him. But it would've been framed as a great cultural honor, something all should aspire to, etc. Bioware would've loved to flesh that out more if they could've!

- Regarding how the Knights of Zakuul viewed themselves within Light Side and Dark Side.

In Charles Boyd's head (and this may have been contradicted, so he apologises; he didn't end up writing most of the relevant parts here & going off top of his mind) the Knights don't conceive of the Force as being Light and/or Dark particularly. So they don't think of themselves or their techniques as light side or dark side. For them, the Force is a power some special few can draw from, and it grows more powerful for those who are more disciplined and devoted to their duty/loyal to Valkorion. Now, Mr. Boyd wouldn't say they're *right* about how that works, and it's certain that some Knights are more light-sided and some dark-sided in fact if not in self-view, but he feels like they would largely write all of that off as outlander nonsense from the unciivilized core worlds. But again, he's just spitballing from how he had envisioned them way back when, so if the game says something different somewhere he's forgotten, go with that!

- Regarding whether Valkorion truly believed what he preached and where he stood within the Force.

Charles Boyd's feeling is that he did believe that he was beyond it all. He was pretty full of himself, after all. But him believing it doesn't make it true, obviously; he was dark to the core.

- Regarding the current relations between the Hutts and Sith Empire and whether they'd be able to travel to Vaiken.

With thorough security checks, yes, absolutely! While the Hutts are nominally treatied with the Republic, they don't care much about following it & Republic is too busy to keep a close eye on them. Empire is happy to undermine said treaty via continuing trade/investment.

- Regarding Valkorion's motivations behind teaching the Outlander.

Charles Boyd wouldn't look at it as seeking to change the Player's alignment exactly, since they may already be fairly middle-of-the-road. To him, Valkorion's goal is more about trying to make them see things as he does, to make them more like him & thereby easier to manipulate/take over. Although potentially isolating the Player from past allies could certainly be beneficial in some ways, ensuring that he's the only voice in their head (so to speak).

- Regarding Valkorion's motivations behind teaching the Outlander.

Charles Boyd wouldn't look at it as seeking to change the Player's alignment exactly, since they may already be fairly middle-of-the-road. To him, Valkorion's goal is more about trying to make them see things as he does, to make them more like him & thereby easier to manipulate/take over. Although potentially isolating the Player from past allies could certainly be beneficial in some ways, ensuring that he's the only voice in their head (so to speak).

Heh, This is what I 1st said (In the Misconceptions thread). Valkorian was trying to Weaken the Outlanders *Resolve, Wean them away from their convictions, Morals and Factional Dichotomies (Stop acting towards what you want and start acting towards what I want ((Disregard your teachings)). Kreia also tried to "Neutralize" the player (Meetra). KotOR II often had instances to *Help the people around (I usually chose to do so) Kreia always tried to prevent that saying whatever the Neutral choice was was better or More Urgent, "Neutral" (I hated Kreia ).

These are still examples of Lincolns quote, have a Direction or Drift.

Abraham Lincolns quote: "Those who stand for nothing fall for anything"... "Abraham Lincoln"

Today I got several questions answered about the Knights of Zakuul, Valkorion and I found a question asked by someone else about the relations between the Hutts and the Sith Empire. The links to the screenshots are in the OP as usual and here are the paraphrases if you can't wait to read the new bits of information:

 

- Regarding how the Knights of Zakuul recruit Force Sensitives and whether Valkorion made a law about it.

Valkorion would've made it law, as surely he'd want to keep track of anyone remotely capable of challenging him. But it would've been framed as a great cultural honor, something all should aspire to, etc. Bioware would've loved to flesh that out more if they could've!

 

- Regarding how the Knights of Zakuul viewed themselves within Light Side and Dark Side.

In Charles Boyd's head (and this may have been contradicted, so he apologises; he didn't end up writing most of the relevant parts here & going off top of his mind) the Knights don't conceive of the Force as being Light and/or Dark particularly. So they don't think of themselves or their techniques as light side or dark side. For them, the Force is a power some special few can draw from, and it grows more powerful for those who are more disciplined and devoted to their duty/loyal to Valkorion. Now, Mr. Boyd wouldn't say they're *right* about how that works, and it's certain that some Knights are more light-sided and some dark-sided in fact if not in self-view, but he feels like they would largely write all of that off as outlander nonsense from the unciivilized core worlds. But again, he's just spitballing from how he had envisioned them way back when, so if the game says something different somewhere he's forgotten, go with that!

 

- Regarding whether Valkorion truly believed what he preached and where he stood within the Force.

Charles Boyd's feeling is that he did believe that he was beyond it all. He was pretty full of himself, after all. But him believing it doesn't make it true, obviously; he was dark to the core.

 

- Regarding the current relations between the Hutts and Sith Empire and whether they'd be able to travel to Vaiken.

With thorough security checks, yes, absolutely! While the Hutts are nominally treatied with the Republic, they don't care much about following it & Republic is too busy to keep a close eye on them. Empire is happy to undermine said treaty via continuing trade/investment.

 

- Regarding Valkorion's motivations behind teaching the Outlander.

Charles Boyd wouldn't look at it as seeking to change the Player's alignment exactly, since they may already be fairly middle-of-the-road. To him, Valkorion's goal is more about trying to make them see things as he does, to make them more like him & thereby easier to manipulate/take over. Although potentially isolating the Player from past allies could certainly be beneficial in some ways, ensuring that he's the only voice in their head (so to speak).

Thank you! These questions are very informative.

Hello everyone! I wanted to ask for advice, in which chronology it is better to pass class plots for understanding the game lore? Thx for answer

There is probably a guide for the class stories out there but they kind of clash in terms of proper continuity sometimes, the planetary arcs sometimes too but those can be followed as you level pretty easily. I'd recommend running the class stories as you'd like, or finishing one then proceeding to the next one.