Monthly Archives: November 2024

Pets of the Old Republic: #4. Orosquab

To mark the arrival of Life Day and Thanksgiving, the next featured entry in the Pets of the Old Republic had to be, of course, the most turkey-like of SWTOR’s pets, the Orobird.

Orobirds have a long history in Star Wars: The Old Republic, debuting in the game’s first major update after its launch. The first two Orobirds introduced into Star Wars lore were the Orochick, which could drop as loot from Gargath, a World Boss found on Hoth, and is also now available from the Light Side Token vendor on Fleet, and the Orokeet which hatches from eggs found by players exploring hidden corners of Alderaan, Republic Taris and Imperial Balmorra. The third Orobird pet, the Orosquab, subject of this post, debuted shortly thereafter as a rare reward from the flashpoint Lost Island. The fourth and final Orobird pet, the Crested Orokeet was later added to a vendor in the Cartel Bazaar of both fleets. If you want an Orobirb of your own as a pet, you won’t need to spend a single cartel coin, and if you’re willing to seek them out yourself, three of the four won’t even cost you a single credit.

Players first encountered fully grown Orobirds in the wilds of the planet Rishi during the Shadows of the Empire expansion. In addition four varieties of Orobird mounts can be acquired from the Cartel Market and the GTN for players to roost upon. If you have sufficient reputation with the Underworld Exchange, you can purchase the Fawn Orobird mount for a handful of credits and a pair of Cartel Market Certificates on the Cartel Bazaar deck of the Fleets.

This type of large, flightless bird appears to be very common across fantasy settings from the Axebeak of Dungeons and Dragons and the Chocobo from Final Fantasy, and the reason for that is because they are all based on extinct varieties of creatures colloquially known as “Terror Birds” from the Earth’s distant past. The “Terror” in that name is apt because many could tower over a human and, based on their fossilized remains alone, all must’ve been impressive sights to see! SWTOR‘s Orobirds seem to have been based in particular on species known as the Phorusrhacos and Dromornis.

Phorusrhacos

Although not all Terror Birds are believed to have been meat eaters, I cannot imagine any of them would be safe to encounter outside their enclosure in an out of control dinosaur theme park or by a time traveller stranded millions of years in the past. Indeed their modern descendants should not be trifled with either! The Cassowary of Australia, which seems to be the direct inspiration for the Crested Orokeet is notoriously dangerous to provoke. And even the wild turkeys of North America are prickly and ill tempered. I myself have encountered them both in the dark woods of Vermont and on the mean streets of Boston. I once walked out the front door of my apartment and came upon a half-dozen Turkeys pecking around my front yard. I turned around and went back inside. It was their yard now.

Boston Turkeys

So know that if you adventure in the Star Wars universe with an Orobird at your side, you are protected by one of the fiercest creatures in both a galaxy far, far away and the one significantly closer to home!

Next time: Your plastic pal who’s fun to be with.

 

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Pets of the Old Republic: #3. Fiery Grophet

With the Feast of Prosperity event active in Star Wars: The Old Republic, and Thanksgiving season in full swing in North America, I decided the next subjects to depict in my Pets of the Old Republic series ought to be seasonally appropriate and perhaps even delicious!

Grophets were introduced to Star Wars during SWTOR’s Shadow of Revan expansion as wild animals found on the planet Rishi. Grophets are omnivores that combine the qualities of the wild pigs, the size and temperament of hippopotamuses with a dash of armored dinosaurs like the Ankylosaurus. Grophets are renowned as delicacies in Hutt cuisine, but they have proven difficult to domesticate. With their long sensitive ears and reinforced skulls, grophets are stubborn and formidable enemies, difficult to approach and dangerous to provoke.

The most notable grophets in SWTOR are the only know named examples in the lore: Straugh, Wudd, and Breck, three very large, rare spawns necessary to unlock Rishi’s datacrons. These grophets are named after the building materials used in the fable of the Three Little Pigs. If you’re curious who the bad guy is in SWTOR’s version of this story, well, it’s us. We’re the Big Bad Wolf.

If you need proof, look no further than the expression on the tiny grophet in my portrait. It is not the product of my imagination. Get close to any grophet and you’ll see they do not ever seem to be in the mood to be trifled with. Grophets are mad as hell, and they are not going to take it anymore.

The reason for that rage could very well stem from SWTOR’s Galactic Command gearing system from the Knights of the Eternal Throne expansion. Galactic Command was, in my opinion, SWTOR’s worst gearing system, so absolutely egalitarian that it frustrated casual players, hard-core raiders, sweaty PVPers and everyone else in between. Among the wardrobes of useless gear we acquired from the Galactic Command loot boxes, were occasional cosmetic items like pets and mounts. Players who advanced their Command level to the highest tier could loot this week’s pet: the Fiery Grophet.

If you were like me, you probably quickly ran out of characters to whom to give these orange space piggies. Unwanted loot from Command Crates could be converted into Command points towards more Crates, and many players were all too eager to “recycle” their poor unwanted grophets. But not me. I just couldn’t do it. Every single Fiery Grophet I received was saved. During KotET, I rescued nearly one thousand pets from the Galactic Command incinerator. Over the years I’ve given many away or auctioned them off to good homes, but I still have dozens and dozens left.

If you are on the Star Forge server and would like a Fiery Grophet of your own, leave a comment below with your character name (be mindful of spaces and special symbols) and faction, and I will mail you one free of charge. This offer is good while supplies last and I don’t expect my supply to be exhausted any time soon!

Sadly, I cannot extend this offer to players on other servers, but there are other grophet pets available from the Rishi reputation vendor and the Cartel Market; the Fiery Grophet itself can still be acquired using tech fragments and 75,000 credits from the Spoils of War Pets vendor on both Fleets.

Finally I want to give thanks to the great and powerful Shintar who suggested the Fiery Grophet and my co-guild leader Galaxiya who would taunt me every time she’d grind a grophet into CXP. I still wake up in the dark and hear the screaming of the grophets.

Next time: birds of a feather.

 

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Filed under General SWTOR, KotET, My Artwork, Pets of the Old Republic