Welcome to the second week of "The Lore of TOR!" This weeks subject has been a hot topic ever since the announcements of the Bounty Hunter and the Smuggler for their respective factions. Many people will question the decision to limit each class to its faction, thinking that they should both be neutral, but I have a different view on it. While it is true both are generally neutral parties, we have to think about the class' restrictions in context to the current time period.

First we'll look at the Bounty Hunter. He's a killer for hire, a jack of all trades, trying to earn as many credits as he possibly can. At this point in time, the Sith Empire has come out of hiding and opened hostilities with the Republic. They've probably got a HUGE stockpile of credits on them to spend as they wish! Now, if the Republic had the credits to spend, I'm sure they would hire some bounty hunters to take out their enemies; unfortunately, they don't have a cent to spare! Coruscant was utterly destroyed by the Sith. The Republic needs every credit it has to rebuild their crown jewel city. They can't even afford to rebuild the Jedi Temple, mech less hire the expensive services of a Bounty Hunter. Now, the Empire on the other hand, has plenty of credits with which to spend on these guys. At this point in time, they're the ones with the power and the money, so of course any sane bounty hunter would throw in their lot with the Empire. Now smugglers on the other hand may be just what the Republic is looking for...

Image via Wikipedia

Hello and welcome to the first installment of my weekly article, "The Lore of TOR" where we look at the Old Republic game and how its events fit into and affect the Star Wars canon. For our first foray into the realm of story, we look at an event called The Great Hunt. So sit back, relax, get some mountain dew and lets step into the Lore of TOR!

In the recent game footage and demos of The Old Republic we saw our first look at the Bounty Hunter starting dialogue. From the footage we can tell that you are entering an event called The Great Hunt. Now, for those of us who played the original Knights of the Old Republic game, we may remember hearing about a similar event called The Great Hunt started by the Jedi Order shortly after the war with Exar Kun, otherwise known as the Great Sith War. It was designed to eradicate any Sith members and the creatures they created, most notably the Tarentatek, a creature that fed on the blood of any Force-sensitive person. These hunts were never completely successful, for the tarentatek always slowly came back. The Great Hunt, considered far too dangerous, ended shortly before the events of KOTOR. For the final Great Hunt event, three Jedi were chosen due to their powerful Force Bonds with each other, Duron Qel-Droma, Shaela Nuur, and Guun Han Saresh. This trio eventually succumbed to the dark side and the tarentateks inside one of the tombs of Korriban where the player in KOTOR could find the body of Nuur.