Bioware’s Dossier on the Imperial Agent

January 2, 2010 in Star Wars: The Old Republic 1 Comment

Bioware updated their Developer Blog with more information about the Imperial Agent. Apparently they’ve been hearing what people have been asking; “Why in the hell would I want to pew pew with sniper riffle when I can frikkin electrocute someone as an Inquisitor?!?”

I mean seriously, I’ve been asking myself that same question for quite some time now. I hate choosing the same race as everyone, however I still want to have fun.

That being said, the Imperial Agent actually interests me. Sure, they’re not nearly as powerful on the surface, but if Bioware does this right, the class will have so much leverage by other means that they will make for a very interesting class to play.

Here’s what they had to say in their blog entry:

Who is the Imperial Agent?

The Imperial Agent is the ghost inside the Empire who ensures the people’s loyalty. She could be your neighbor, your lover or your superior officer. When rebellion stirs, she silences or discredits those who commit treason. She’s always alert, always watching for signs of dissent, and with a word, she can consign you to a dark cell for the rest of your life.

The Imperial Agent is the undercover spy who’s earned the trust of powerful individuals inside the Republic. She attends all the best parties, steals the plans of Senators and generals, and knows just what to sabotage and just who to kill to bring whole fleets crashing down around her. When she’s discovered, she’ll disappear with a smile.

The Imperial Agent is the special operative who cleans up the messes made by Sith Lords who can’t see the big picture—or who further their own agenda at the expense of the greater good. Without anyone realizing it, the Imperial Agent keeps the Empire from falling apart by arranging backroom deals and undertaking secret missions into the underbelly of the Empire.

The Imperial Agent is the Intelligence officer who hunts down enemies no one else ever hears about—conspiracies, rogue Jedi, ascendancy malcontents, black ops groups inside the Strategic Information Service, and worse. No one will ever know about her victories, but the secrets she collects make her powerful… and that’s the way she likes it.

Long story short? The Imperial Agent is an expert at infiltration, seduction and assassination. She’s part of Imperial Intelligence. And she’s whoever she needs to be to get the job done.

Creating a New Class

One of our goals for the Imperial Agent was to take a fresh look at the Star Wars™ universe. We know what life is like for Jedi and Sith, smugglers and bounty hunters—but what does it mean to be a citizen of the Empire, charged with protecting its people and bringing glory to its Sith rulers? What does it take to be part of a military machine—not as a soldier on the front lines or a scheming Grand Moff, but as a player in politics and espionage? What sort of person navigates a galaxy of superweapons and superhumans with only his training and his wits, knowing that one wrong word could mean secrets exposed and wars lost? What’s the ultimate goal for such an individual? Power? Thrills? Or simply an Empire safe from its enemies?

The Imperial Agent is an unusual class in that it doesn’t neatly fit a specific Star Wars movie archetype. Oh, espionage clearly has a role in the setting—in the original trilogy alone, we see stolen Death Star plans, mysterious cloaked informants, good-hearted businessmen blackmailed into betraying old friends, infiltration teams flying salvaged enemy ships, and more—but the operatives themselves are rarely front-and-center. In a game with the scope of Star Wars™: The Old Republic™, however, creating a class to deal directly with this setting element seemed natural.

That addresses the “agent” part of the class. But why “Imperial”? We see a lot of loyal officers of the Empire in the films without getting inside their heads. Grand Moff Tarkin is the only character Darth Vader ever treats as an equal—he can stare Darth Vader down even as Vader violently chokes people around him. But why? How does an ordinary man like Tarkin come to “hold Vader’s leash,” and how would a lower-ranking officer ever survive a Sith’s wrath? Is it by proving yourself invaluable, or by having a secret edge your superiors can’t beat?

There’s also a lot to be explored in the role of the defender of a despotic nation. The Sith Empire has done terrible things, yes—but trillions of ordinary Imperial citizens believe in its cause. The Empire isn’t mired in the chaos and mediocrity of the democratic Republic. The Empire promises that great men will rise to the top, and lesser men can be proud to serve. Many Imperial Intelligence officers are genuinely patriotic, believers in the system… and others are jaded, self-serving or idealistic reformers. If we were going to create a game where half our stories take place from the Imperial perspective, we needed a class that dived deep into the Imperial story.

The thing to make note of here is that were it nearly any other game developer, I’d have my doubts as to just how much they can do with this class. But it’s Bioware. I have every faith in their abilities to load this class with so much back story and intrigue that it may very well become my main and not simply an alt to play every now and again.

Bioware, Imperial Agent, Star Wars: The Old Republic