Jedi Masters & Things They Do For/to Their Padawans: High Republic Edition

🖊 for your pretty green boy please?

Donnick babble here we go

I love writing/thinking about/RPing/drawing Donnick. Of all the Jedi characters I've made he's the one that's really been through the ringer and stuck the course. He's not a famous and renowned figure like his mentors, he didn't even start out as a full Jedi when I made him! Back drawing those yoga-loving scrub boy doodles I really wanted to make an OC that had fucked up, run away from his responsibilities and was trying to do a little good where he could. I found it very satisfying to think through his arc of returning to the Jedi Order after his self-imposed exile and rise up to meet the challenges of protecting a galaxy from evil. Exorcising some of my own self-confidence foibles through this OC was very gratifying.

He's also a character who landed some BALLER friendship ties with other people's OCs, foremost of which I have to shoutout to @sotc and her character Cahira for bouncing some of the funnest headcanon and memes around with me.

An honourable mention too to parttimedragon and their character Carter, who some followers of this blog might remember. RPing with them helped form some of Donnick's core values and his openness to love people that he maybe shouldn't! Not sure where PTD went after suddenly quitting tumblr but hope they're thriving, peace and love.

The trait of Donnick's that I like best is his empathy. His Force senses are extremely astute and he feels the emotions of others so deeply that it's a conscious effort to not affect or be affected by those around him (thank you KOTOR 2 for the inspiration there). But it's a trait he'd hold even if he wasn't a Jedi, it's the keystone to everything he does. He trusts when it seems bonkers to do so, he opens his heart and compassion to anyone who asks for help, and fights like hell with his whole heart.

Of course it's gotten him in trouble, a heart on the sleeve is antithetical to the prevailing Jedi mentality, but I like to build casts of characters that support each other so he's had understanding masters who helped him hone his empathy and protect himself from strong influences that otherwise might sweep him away.

Strong influences, such as Jacob. Forbidden or star-crossed love is one of my all time favourite tropes so when I came back to my characters after a break I saw no reason not to indulge in putting together the Hero of Tython and the Emperor's Wrath. A Jedi with the willingness to see the good in a heart that had found its own way to the Light? A Sith that recognised balance and harmony as the only way to build something good in his life, meeting one of the only people with the patience to take his hand and help him rise? Tasty stuff.

I LOVE TO THINK ABOUT HIS FAMILY! The Caya clan, mama Andora and brothers Karo and Donnick estranged for twenty+ years and reuniting again fills my heart. They get to find each other again and CHOOSE to be a family. By all rights Donnick should reject his Jedi-hunting brother but he can't do it. These are the people who passed on their hearts and hoped for him to come home more than anything. The biggest secret Donnick keeps from the Order isn't his romance with Jacob, but that he wants all Jedi to feel how fulfilling it is to be loved unconditionally the way they have to love and protect the galaxy. It makes him stronger, drives him onwards, and gives him something to hold onto in the whirlwind of burdens he lives in. That's true love babyyyyy.

But I also really enjoy that Donnick is a mess! He's imperfect, he's fallible! He constantly wobbles between his own desires and the expectations placed on him. He really wants to believe that he'll choose duty and responsibility above all else, but he just doesn't know! He's got bad habits (still smokes sometimes) and he relishes a fist fight more than he cares to admit, but he tries his best. That's what I like thinking about most, that Donnick will always Try.

I have some playlists and the piece of SW music I like most for him is Eno Cordova's theme from Fallen Order, heroic and melancholy.

I love to redesign his tattoos every time I come back to swtor.

I love his lil hair curls.

Arms.

Ok that's it for now.

“I t   i s   t i m e   t o   c o m p l e t e   t h e   R i t u a l.“

What I was taught growing up: Wild edible plants and animals were just so naturally abundant that the indigenous people of my area, namely western Washington state, didn't have to develop agriculture and could just easily forage/hunt for all their needs.

The first pebble in what would become a landslide: Native peoples practiced intentional fire, which kept the trees from growing over the camas praire.

The next: PNW native peoples intentionally planted and cultivated forest gardens, and we can still see the increase in biodiversity where these gardens were today.

The next: We have an oak prairie savanna ecosystem that was intentionally maintained via intentional fire (which they were banned from doing for like, 100 years and we're just now starting to do again), and this ecosystem is disappearing as Douglas firs spread, invasive species take over, and land is turned into European-style agricultural systems.

The Land Slide: Actually, the native peoples had a complex agricultural and food processing system that allowed them to meet all their needs throughout the year, including storing food for the long, wet, dark winter. They collected a wide variety of plant foods (along with the salmon, deer, and other animals they hunted), from seaweeds to roots to berries, and they also managed these food systems via not only burning, but pruning, weeding, planting, digging/tilling, selectively harvesting root crops so that smaller ones were left behind to grow and the biggest were left to reseed, and careful harvesting at particular times for each species that both ensured their perennial (!) crops would continue thriving and that harvest occurred at the best time for the best quality food. American settlers were willfully ignorant of the complex agricultural system, because being thus allowed them to claim the land wasn't being used. Native peoples were actively managing the ecosystem to produce their food, in a sustainable manner that increased biodiversity, thus benefiting not only themselves but other species as well.

So that's cool. If you want to read more, I suggest "Ancient Pathways, Ancestral Knowledge: Ethnobotany and Ecological Wisdom of Indigenous Peoples of Northwestern North America" by Nancy J. Turner

stop scrolling its dangerous to go alone, take this

Here are the requested gijinkas I got!

Swampert (had a lot of trouble with this one), Togekiss, Deoxys (I'd already drawn the Defence Form before I knew it needed to be normal ^^;), Wyrdeer, Galarian Ponyta and Klefki!

@roach-works // Melissa Broder, "Problem Area" // Mary Oliver, "The Return" // @annavonsyfert // Koyoharu Gotouge, Demon Slayer // Haruki Murakami, Dance Dance Dance // David Levithan, How They Met and Other Stories // Tennessee Williams, Notebooks

The inhabitants of my fanmade planet Visslell :)!! Which is an extremely windy planet and the final resting place of the Cerean sith Darth Tagium

Vissle can breath from the tube like appendages sprouting from their head and can even use them to create a humming or whistling noise. These noises are utilized in a form of singing which is usually quiet and best enjoyed in silence. Because they are unusually silent listeners the Vissle are noted to be unreactive crowds by performers across the galaxy.

The tube like appendages can also be used as a form of snorkel. While fishing a Vissle may tie rocks to their ankles and wait at the bottom using the tubes to breath. Because these appendages can move independently they are also used to express and even to tap individuals they are friendly with.

The annual tradition of harassing Jorgan has returned

yoda’s disaster lineage?

meet yaddle’s GOLDEN lineage!

I can’t believe I got roped into a Star Wars text RPG. But I did.

Anyway meet my Twi’lek character, they’re the singer of a punk band.