Now, for the Dark Siders this was an unpleasant story.
Not just because we keep dangling the Kuylen carrot in front of them, though that is obviously awesome, and amusingly curious seeing how few of you were actually playing when he was around.
And not because of the dangers of taking on a pirate empire. The Treganna Void under Emperor Rivas was created to give a new set of 'other bad guys' for the bad guys of the Dark Side to fight against. Evil vs evil is a classic way to run bad guy (or at least less moral) games in RPing and works well for us here, though you can't just keep putting Treganna Voids in their way.
It was unpleasant because the Dark Side sometimes needs to be, in this case focussed around the prison of Datura. One problem with the Dark Side is that the limits of heroic play the Light Siders have- the law, morality, having to protect others, sacrificing self-advantage for grater good etc- does not exist for the Dark Side. For example, even if they had to keep him alive, the Dark Siders could have beaten up Nebb until he stayed quiet, and happily slaughtered as many people on Ando as they needed to keep themselves safe. That sounds great for players, but for writers the issue here is that these limits help set the story. Totally free play like that is very dull from a writing point of view, so one of the most important factors for the Dark Siders is introducing different limits. There's the blunt force of the Bureau, of course, there to stop the Dark Siders going on literal galactic rampages, but that is very specific. There's also the challenge of working as a group within the Dark Side, which we try and take a little look at inside every story, full in the knowledge that self-destruction is what generally dooms the Sith.
(There are some GMs who run evil games as literal free for alls, but we would humbly advance the idea that this is not the best approach. It certainly does not fit our style and storytelling concept)
Here, the centrepiece of the story was surviving inside a habitat of pure brutality that was the Datura prison. No morals, no ethics, just power in the hands of others, and lacking their sabres the Dark Siders weren't quite as superior as normal, though they were still the most dangerous people there. The reason getting into Datura was so extreme- causing massive carnage in an assassination to get arrested in such a way as to be thrown into Rivas' prison- was because the Dark Siders were meant to have as much open fun as possible before the limits of being in Datura set in.
So, starting from nowhere, the challenge was to ride up through the strength-based Datuean power structure to try and work out the trail Kuylen left behind, if indeed it was really Kuylen. You THINK it was but... you didn't actually see him., Who knows? And if it was him, did that giant spider eat him? Well we don;t like to give easy answers. Anyway, from becoming people of authority, to leading your rebellion, to surviving the trogs. and then getting out through the airless lower depths, Datura was a barrage of constant harshness to challenge the carefree amorality of the Dark Side players. The stone given to them by Eller Jey was a get out of jail card for ONE of the problems they faced as dictated by myself, and as the trog fight had taken them to the brink (and as they used the geologist- one of my favourite characters- to actually have the route out of Black) I used the stone on the giant spider. This still led to a lot of issues for them to deal with and I also feel that we had not quite got used to the best way to play the battle system yet- it is an attritional system and the je is to try and act in the way that minimises your damage at all times except when extreme heroism is needed. There are no tanks as such in this game but there are those much better suited to front line duty than others, and some best suited to taking on super mooks instead of mook hordes. 'Impervious' was king schtick for the story on Blue level, which goes to show all powers have their day sometimes, as it is useless against people with guns which is your general fare.
Anyway, it was perhaps unfortunate they my great lengthening of the game for practical reasons happened in the middle of the Daturan unpleasantness and really meant we lingered on that more than was enjoyable, but that's just the way of things. Of course, the prospect of destroying Rivas afterwards was the bracket of fun at the other side of the prison, but I did make clear that this was going to be VERY dangerous. Still, whilst it was nearly a disaster, I think a lot of you learned well from it- about basics escape plans, and even advantageous combat behaviour., A turning point, maybe?
Will all your stories from now on be fun and frolics? No- that's still boring from a story point of view, and there will always be limits. The limits the next story, though, are more because of the need for social interaction, so time for those types to shine (let's face it, Datura was a combat story. This being Star Wars, can't be apologising for that...). However, the story after that will put you back in a harsh and evil environment once more, so be ready. You won't be power restricted this time, but the danger will be far greater.
I am talking a lot more about the style than the story That is in part because the style is half the point for the Dark Side, unlike the more traditional heroic Jedi narrative. However, it's also because the story was not the thing this time. The Dark Siders already knew about Adelmo and the SNK, so from a grand perspective they were marking time as the Jedi caught up. You went looking for Kuylen and made (and killed) enemies along the way. You didn't find Kuylen but you do think he was there and you got what seems to be his DNA sample, though you are none the wiser as to what he was up to. Edna's reintroduction to the story allowed me to demonstrate to the Dark Side what affect Adelmo can have on planets- and her way of arranging events o her advantage, much like what happened to your shield generator- much as the Jedi had seen on Cassilis.
Getting his DNA sample unlocks Briande's message, and I am afraid there are issues there as from a practical point of view there is a documentation mess in spring out who is meant to know what about the SNK that will take some time to resolve. The core of the message is that Briande is telling Kuylen he thinks the SNK is real. Now, I have a vague memory of him mentioning a planet, that the Dark Siders noted for future reference as there were practical issues getting to it as it stood. However, my brother thinks it was just more SNK clues, either in the message or from the planet Briande directed them to. We'll get it sorted sooner or later.
All the plot, then, was saved for the final twist as Ascar appears (chronologically speaking, this took place just as the Jedi are trying to catch Katai, so he talks to the Jedi about Briande AFTER he was talking with you guys). This makes several huge differences- the angering of Adelmo, the demonstration that she has a vulnerability, the potential of being able to exploit that vulnerability, and an edge against the oppressive barrier of the Bureau. Of course, none of you trust Ascar, and nor does he trust you, but one point here is that you cannot achieve things without building meaningful relationships. Can you make this work? He's been thrown as a big bone to the Dark Siders, and also to annoy the Jedi. His presence gave the strongest link yet between your storyline and the Jedi's (in fact, both groups were surprisingly close to each other in this game), it allowed an explanation of everything that happened to the Dark Siders from Episode III onwards, and will give plenty of chances in future. Eller Jey will stick around to provide Adelmo's perspective for a while, as the Lady herself is not best pleased with the Dark Siders right now and will stay off-scene for a bit. None of you is sleeping with her, as happened in the off-line game, nor done a great job of being friends with her so she'll be a little distant, but she certainly is of use (like with Ascar, there were opportunities there for new sorts of powers to be learned, and may yet be, though time is a factor).
This leaves you with no precise idea of what to do next. I did give you a slight hook though- Eller Jey's warning about upcoming death. In an out-of-game perspective, I will say this. If you had not met Adelmo, all of you would have died in the timeframe of the next episode... an indication that the troubles you face are not all because of the Lady. This doesn't mean Adelmo saves you, btw, though Eller Jey being there is a help. It just means things have changed for you as a result of meeting her, though Eller still sees extreme danger. The trailer I gave you for the episode also shows that bad things are coming.
Hopefully stronger than ever, let's see how you can meet your upcoming challenge!