#Nexus Uprising spoilers

[not-a-newt]

PSA I'm going to be reading the first mass effect andromeda novel, Mass Effect: Nexus Uprising and will be posting spoilers in the form of excerpts and commentary, which will be tagged under #nexus uprising — so if you don't want to see spoilers, you should blacklist that now :)

[hobgoblinsandpeachfuzz]

spoilers for Nexus Uprising if you haven’t read it!!

So it’s Reyes Vidal Appreciation week, and while I have LOTS of art with him, most of its shippy, so I wanted to take this time to finish up some of the more general work I have of him.

I’m INTENSELY curious about what he was up to on the Nexus before heading off with the Exiles to Kadara, and I hope we’ll get some info, but until then, I’ve got some headcanons: 

So in Nexus Uprising we find out that they woke up pilots about halfway through their 14 month ordeal (at least?? I think that’s the timeline. There aren’t any dates in the book, so its a bit fuzzy, at least from my memory). I think Reyes was one of those pilots, and he was sent out on a team to go check out the golden worlds. For fun, I like to picture he was sent with Tiran Kandros’s team to Eos, but more likely, he was one of the more random teams (and of course, at least one of the teams that come back because some don’t). 

I don’t really have too many headcanons about who he was before Andromeda (and most of the ones I do have are kind of lowkey and boring, not very dramatic), but I definitely think he was a smuggler before as well, but you know, was trying to figure out where he fit in Andromeda, and how he could ‘become somebody’. I think he was ambitious, and wanted to make things better for people, but wasn’t quite sure how to do that in Andromeda, and was excited to figure that out. I think he makes a couple friends on the Nexus while they are waiting around, not too many because I imagine some folks who’d been awake longer may have resented the pilots who were woken up--at least they were met with mixed feelings, so Reyes mostly hangs out with other folks who are ‘resented’ in a way. I think Zia was one of these people, (and maybe Bane, but he’s a wildcard for me it’s hard to figure him out) but those are headcanons for another day (and there’s a lot there, she’s awesome, and I have lots of thoughts). So the Uprising happens, and I think he’s not really a fighter, he stays out of it. But he sees how Tann and Addison all handle it and that’s the spark, I think, for his ‘wanting to be someone’ feeling. He sees the incompetence that reduces this great dream to chaos and violence, and he’s like ‘I can do better... Somehow I can do better’, so he and Zia decide to ditch with the exiles ‘cause as far as they are concerned, the Nexus is a sinking ship. 

The asari that woke him up is a character from Nexus Uprising, Irida Fadeer, whose pretty interesting and cool, and part of the team that wakes people up--I dunno if she’s really be the one doing that, especially at this point in the story, but she’s cool and I felt like drawing her, and she captured the sort of air that I feel like the pilots were met with when woken up--they went to sleep hopeful, and were woken up to cynicism, bitterness, and fear. 

[afragmentcastadrift]

Random Mass Effect: Andromeda headcanon - 

It was inevitable that it would, again, be considered.

The circumstances had changed, improved. Viability, growth, stability - these were tangible when once they had been figments of evaporating idealism, wishes cast upon dying stars. Yet the option remained, and the suggestion is uttered over the council table - integration of cryo sleep into the justice system.

Statis as punishment, for crimes committed.

And thus are the merits of cryo-sleep versus standard incarceration measured and weighed - just how do you handle the criminal element (mutineers, raiders, rogue factions, drug smugglers, thieves, murderers...) and the inevitable drain on resources to keep, maintain, and manage? Would sleep be a more optimal solution - cheaper than a secure cell, three solids, hydration, sanitation, posted guards? But then cryo crosses the line into ethical dilemma does it not - how humane is it really to mandate a sentence of life suspended? Tubed up, silent, without access to plead one's case, serve time with good behavior (or hard labor), to still be active and alert as a citizen, under restriction.

And what of the prison ships, some inquire. Is the Nexus, or the Hyperion, or any salvaged ark to become the new Purgatory? Moored or adrift, will we create new worlds in the image of our old? The same abuses, the same prejudices (to which the krogan rumble with discontent, a scoff that sounds like thunder as they expect nothing less than humans being incapable of breaking ties with their past).

To sleep, perchance to dream, one councilor murmurs, bittersweet and resigned, remembering the uprising, remembering the choice, and the lack of one. Knowing that it wasn't the intention to travel light years in order to become gods, and yet mortals must inventory the means by which to balance right and wrong.

And another recalls a transmission from the horrifying and desperate days just after arrival. Unfinished text, itself frozen before it could be sent, left on a tablet in a quarantined storage room. Simple words, but they had burned into memory...

If I go back to sleep, will you be there when I wake again? Or will we be separated by factions and years - a decade before there is sustainability, maybe two before those of us considered extra, baggage, are allowed to breathe.

What's a decade to 600 years? A thousand lifetimes away from that singular glance we had of a strange new sky.

And the mood becomes grim, still with no resolute answer. Perhaps all too soon, that sentiment would be called upon again - that restlessness, that uncertainty.

That fear just before night falls.

[hostagesandsnacks]

me too, Sloane

[felassan]

Who killed Jien Garson?

Detective Fogg tried to find all evidence so far and invites you all along for the search [x].

Under a cut for length, x-posted with permission. Post contains Nexus Uprising spoilers.

Arrival in Andromeda The novel Nexus Uprising describes how Sloane Kelly wakes up by accident in Andromeda. The Nexus is being torn apart as it moves through – what later will be described as – the Scourge. There are fires, doors are being ripped apart, systems are failing and a whole piece of the station breaks of. After Kelly saves herself and others from cryopods near her own, she wants to find Jien Garson, who she deeply admires. She heads for Operations. She firsts runs into Chen, a janitor, who also woke up by accident. He seems panicked, wants to get to safety badly. In another room, she finds an Asari that’s barely alive. She’s named T’vaan and with her last breath gives some details about the strange phenomenon that caused all the damage (hinting it’s not an attack, but something else, the Scourge we now know). She also tells Kelly to look for Garson in Chamber 00, where Garson’s cryopod is located. Chamber 00 is empty, all the pods already opened. There’s one person there. Foster Addison, with a head wound. “We were all up in Operations. For the arrival”, she tells Kelly. Kelly asks why she isn’t in Operations then. “I’d just left it to find Jien.” “She’s alive?” Kelly asks. “At last check. Before official launch of arrival protocols, the science team wanted to nail down final readings. Jien had just stepped out so when we were ready, I went to get her.” Kelly wants to know why Addison looked for Garson in Chamber 00. “I stopped in here for a sec. I had to use the… restroom.” Addison didn’t find Garson yet. “I was heading back to see if she’d returned when the whole ship lurched.” Kelly finds out T’vaan was also part of the science team. When Kelly and Addison arrive in Operations, there’s a lot of damage. They find the bodies of the Nexus’s senior leadership. But not Jien Garson. They find a list of everyone attending the ‘arrival ceremony’. Except for Addison and Garson they all died because of the Scourge. They find out that Jarun Tann is now in charge, or at least until Garson is found. He’s still in stasis at that moment. Meanwhile search parties are send out to look for Garson. 27+ hours after arrival in Andromeda In the 27 hours after arrival, Jien Garson is not yet found. Those who woke up by accident have to do a lot of stuff to save the mission. One of those things is to fix the oxygen in the Nexus. To do this, a large part of the Nexus is shut off from oxygen. Those who are awake (up to 600 pioneers) can only access a small part of the station. Then Kelly is called to the improvised morgue. Among the 100+ dead bodies, there’s a body bag. In it, is Jien Garson. “Where was she found?” asks Kelly. “In one of the apartments near Operations. We were doing a room to room, clearing bodies”, a tech (gaunt man with tired eyes) answers. A second life support-tech, his colleague, says: “Wounds are consistent with all the rest. Environmental damage. Significant burns. It’s… not a pretty sight.” Addison arrives as well. Kelly sees the last glimmer of hope bleeding from Addison’s eyes. Kelly pulls the body bag. She can’t piece together any evidence of identity at first. Much of Garson’s face is hidden under charred skin. The smell is terrible. Burnt and swollen flesh, left to rot for untold hours in open air. The Scourge survivors are accepting her death as a Scourge causality. At that time there are around 600 pioneers awake on the Nexus, confined to a limited area of the station. Among them, the killer? 14 months after arrival in Andromeda Pathfinder Ryder learned the official story about Garson’s dead: one of the casualties by the Scourge. He’s still investigating her apartment, curious for hints about a mysterious Benefactor that made the Andromeda Initiative possible. Tann doesn’t know about any Benefactor. SAM uses environmental data to reconstruct the scene of Garson’s death. SAM manages to do that with 82 percent precision. He generates an image of Garson lying on the bed in the apartment and ‘an additional unknown person’ standing next to it. It seems to be a male, but with 82 percent precision we can’t know that for sure, perhaps? “This was no accident. She was murdered”, says Ryder. “But… wait. This whole area was shuttered back then – didn’t open ‘til the Hyperion arrived. So what was Garson even doing here?” Further scans show a secret door to a hidden room. There are two datapads in there. Datapad 1: Voice: “This is Jien Garson, I don’t have much time, I’ve been hiding in the sealed-off sections of the Nexus since we got here. Someone’s trying to kill me. And now I can hear them down in the hydroponics area – they’re coming. I’ve embedded what I know in my VI in the Cultural Center. This log has the code. And whatever happens – oh god, they’re outside the door!” Datapad 2: Written: “Garson Notes. Entry 1.1 (2819). In 2179, once mentioned “A storm is coming.” Said “evidence was clear.” Meaning? Andromeda – why? Hyperion, still no contact. Where is Alec? Did they get him, too?” Ryder visits the VI in the Cultural Center. He hears her secret message on his private channel: “For years, there was a silent partner involved with the Initiative. The truth is, I was running out of money. Then a ‘benefactor’ stepped in. I didn’t ask questions. I never met them face-to-face. That was a mistake… I lied to everyone. Something big spooked them in the Milky Way, and now they’re moving 100,000 of us to Andromeda. I hope it’s all for the good, but… I have my doubts. And now I think they’re going to remove me. Alec Ryder and I had a codeword for this: “Fulcram.” He may have learned more.” Summing up Jien Garson was last seen alive at Operations, just before the Scourge hit the Nexus. After that she hid in her apartment, fearing for her life. One or multiple killers (she’s talking about her murderers in plural) tracked her down and killed her, making it look like another Scourge casualty. There is – in theory – a 27 hour window in which this could’ve happened. Potential suspects In Nexus Uprising there are couple of persona’s mentioned, who could be the killer. Although there’s a big chance the killer is not mentioned in the novel of course. Let’s run through a couple of them. Chen the janitor Chen is running around the Nexus on his own when Kelly encounters him. He appears to be in panic and might just be introduced by the writers to show the chaos. There is no reason – apart from him being mentioned – to assume he’s involved. Foster Addison Addison is the only surviving member of the ‘science team’ that woke up earlier in Chamber 00 to inspect first readings in Andromeda. Her reason for being in Chamber 00 (bathroom break) is suspicious. Unlike Kelly, Kesh and Tann the writers never describe her thoughts. You don’t know what she’s actually thinking. While Kelly, Kesh and Tann thoughts are described in detail, at the moment of arrival they all try their best for the greater good and are upset about Garson’s death. Furthermore, Addison is the first to discuss succession protocol while others are still hoping to find Garson alive. At the same time she seems upset Tann is ranked above her in that protocol (she didn’t know the order) and she still seems sad when she finds out Garson is definitely dead. William Spender Addison’s right hand, of who we know is a bit shady, was still in stasis when Garson was killed. He can’t be the killer. Jarun Tann Jarun Tann was also still in stasis when Garson died. So it wasn’t his way of taking over power. This is confirmed by his thoughts described by the writers. He never expected this to happen and just tries to do his best. The two life support-techs The two life support-techs that find Garson in her apartment could be suspicious. What were they doing there? According to the game that section was sealed-off, shuttered back. And Garson does describe men coming to her apartment in Datapad 1. But that’s far from proof, there could even be a slight writing inconsistency between the novel and the game about the section being sealed-off. Also, the life support staff was awakened by Sloane Kelly, so they weren’t awake during the initial hit by the Scourge. The Benefactor Garson suspects the mysterious Benefactor ordered (or even committed?) the murder. Further details about this Benefactor are in Alec Ryder’s logs and memories. It was the anonymous Benefactor, not Jien Garson, who first approached Alec about the Andromeda Initiative. He (or she) used Ellen Ryder’s disease to motivate Alec to cooperate, offering him his last straw to make SAM happen. Castis Vakarian tells Alec about the Reaper threat, while his son Garrus is still in C-Sec, so pretty short after Mass Effect 1. Alec tells the Benefactor about the Reaper threat, he or she already knew that ‘something’ was coming. But after it got confirmed by Alec, the Benefactor wants to hurry the Andromeda Initiative. When Alec arrives in Andromeda, there is a message from Jien Garson for him. “Alec, this is Jien Garson. For the record, Year 2185. It’s about “Fulcrum.” I’m on the Nexus, and we’re going into stasis for the voyage. Looks like you’re already asleep. I’m very uncomfortable with our “benefactor,” and the fact that we still don’t know who they are… and all these lives in our hands. I should’ve done something sooner. This is all very troubling, Alec. Let’s talk as soon as you reach Andromeda.” He replies: “Jien, I got your message about “Fulcrum.” It’s now 2819. We reached Andromeda, but have no sign of the Nexus. I have the same concerns as you. In all likelihood, the Milky Way… well, something terrible happened there. At least the benefactor spared us from that. But why keep hiding? Something’s off. But we’ve got bigger problems at the moment – Habitat 7 may be a bust. Finding a home is all that matters now.” Traits of the Benefactor - Has a lot of money - Is interested in SAM - Was involved with the Initiative ‘for years’ (before ME1 it seems) - Was an early Reaper threat adopter (right after ME1) - Wanted to kill Jien Garson upon arrival in Andromeda Other clues? So, is the killer someone we already know? When did Jien Garson get murdered, who had motive and opportunity? Is the Benefactor the killer, or did he/she order it? 

[theindieangel]

Reading Nexus Uprising makes me wish andromeda had just let me fucking shoot spender in the head He's a fuckin slimy piece of shit that just infuriates me

[ezrisdax-archive]

kesh is an absolute delight in the nexus uprising book

[apexcommander-blog]

So I just finished Nexus: Uprising at work this morning, and god damn, that was a much better book than I was expecting. Very enjoyable read, and like I guessed, it really fleshed out the motives and actions of all of the parties involved in the event - really made them all sympathetic in their own ways, while portraying them all as flawed. Spoiler warning ahead, I guess. 

There really were no bad guys, there. Everybody fucked up, but everybody also had valid points and understandable motives - Sloane Kelly, the Nexus leadership, the instigator of the uprising and his cohorts, the citizens of the Nexus. The only people who really behaved totally honorably throughout the whole affair were the Krogan, even after they were screwed over - that last due entirely to Kesh’s fucking stellar political skill and intelligence, mind. And the only person who was totally villainous was Spender, who acted in his own interest at the expense of others’ at all possible opportunities, and led to the aforementioned screwing of the Krogan.

I won’t add Tann to the small list of all-around bad guys, because despite the fact that he is definitely a prejudiced, manipulative, condescending little dickhead, he, unlike Spender, is shown to feel deep remorse and self-doubt when his decisions have negative consequences, and narrative attention is paid to the fact that he’s trying his hardest to fill Jien Garson’s shoes with no prior preparation, and that he’s fully aware that he’s not doing an amazing job of it. It made him just human enough (for lack of a less anthropocentric term) as a character for me to like him even as I dislike him. 

And meanwhile Kandros is off on some moon shooting Kett with no idea what kind of circus sideshow he’s about to come home to. 

[silentstephi]

As amazing as Nexus Uprising is

It had to Bury it’s Gay™ and I’m super fucking pissed it did.

Reg deserved better.

I have to see if I can find Emory in the game now.

[assryder]

My favorite part of Nexus Uprising. Sloane decking Tann in the face.

[omegastation]

Didn’t see that one before. If he is talking about the uprising, then basically the game has one canon and Nexus Uprising another. In the book, Sloane had no idea there would be an uprising until there was one. She never gave any sign for sure.

So basically I am left with: 1. interpreting this as something else (she gave the sign for a surprise birthday party! and Colt is scared of them! that's why he's saying goodbye! yay!) 2. having to seriously evaluate which is canon and which is not and considering I'm always saying games > everything else, I'm truly annoyed. Nexus Uprising really is a better explanation and exploration of what happened. But that’s kinda like picking which canon I like best, and it shouldn’t be like that.

@thevulturesquadron what do you think?

[not-a-newt]

Pls. Would you ever write a fix-it for Calix 🥺

Spoilers for Mass effect andromeda & nexus uprising below v

I spent a lot of time thinking about how I would un-gank calix and I think I've settled on the hc that he DID get shot in the head BUT didn't die and was left in critical condition (bonus points for sloane still thinking he'd been killed?) then was consequently shoved back into cryo because 1) They didn't have the resources to fully treat a serious neurological injury like that and 2) they didn't have the judicial/penitentiary resources to handle that serious of a criminal even if they did manage to get him patched up — because you cant, you know, exile someone who's unconscious?

Then, AFTER the events of the game (where Sloane may or may not survive depending on how angsty I'm feeling?), paragon Ryder pushes for exiles to be universally pardoned for crimes they committed in the name of survival (theft, insurgence, etc.) but not "actual" crimes (homicide, cannibalism, nonconsensual and inhumane sapient experimentation, sabatoging life support operations, etc.)

Whereupon Calix gets revived, gets treatment, begins a regimen of intense, morale-breaking physical therapy, and is then given some kind of house arrest/indentured servitude punishment ft. major angst and dissociation from getting knocked unconscious during the middle of an explosive, blood-drenched rebellion, then waking up to a new utopia where everything is suddenly clean and perfect again but (MAYBE) finding that the one person who had his back and who he was maybe starting to feel a deeper (more than platonic?) connection to is dead? Or maybe she isn't dead, but she's changed? Maybe she went pirate and was complicit in the deaths of countless innocent civilians on Kadara and had becomes warped into something unrecognizable to him, fueling the disconnect between his already broken mind and the reality around him?? Ouch!

"And—oh, by the way, while you were out, we successfully waged war against a highly intelligent, yet genocidal race of aliens that we just happened to run into out here, plus we discovered and conquered this ancient, more-advanced-than-prothean technology to terraform all of those world's that were supposed to be garden paradises that turned out to be desolately uninhabitable, so they actually are habitable again... also here are the angara, they're our buddies :) "

I don't know if I would ever get around to actually writing this... but that's the way it exists in my head. It's not so much saving calix, but rather forcing him live so that he can suffer longer because I like to play with my blorbos like someone who uses the sims to design prisons <3

[camalyng]

species lore in MEA: Nexus Uprising

Last Nexus Uprising lore post after my previous posts about aliens vs. English idioms and new human idioms and alien idioms! Interspecies perceptions, cultural stuff, biological stuff.

As always: Direct quotes removed from plot context (the most context will be which species has this idea about another); character identifying information limited only to species, with names and gender stripped; minimal commentary.

Species with data points within (sorted by species it's about rather than species with the perception): Asari (2), human (4), salarian (4), krogan (11), turian (12, including a body language subcategory); three multispecies.

Asari

that mysterious air asari all seemed so fucking good at

Asari blood is purple (see the fight with Tela Vasir), and yet:

the blue splatter of [asari character's] own blood

blue-tinged mucus

Humans

Coffee is still grown on Earth and probably great:

if wishes were packets of Earth-grown brew, they'd all have coffee for days

An asari character knows that "no Alliance, not even X, would attack someone without being absolutely certain of the facts"

Salarian perspective:

[Human] made a face, a uniquely human expression that said, I've got this.

[Salarian] could just about manage to convince themself that everything would be okay. Then they smirked, amused and annoyed that their mind would flirt with that very human way of thinking. Their [humans'] ability to filter and twist reality had always eluded their [salarian POV character's] comprehension

Salarians

More ghosts, perhaps. A reflection that caught them off guard. Salarians (...) saw no use for the concept of specters.

Krogan: "You must have more reason than just salarian instinct to stick fingers in all things at the same time." What may have been a lighthearted joke from anyone else did not translate as such when a krogan said it.

Salarians did not roll their eyes. Well, not as a sign of disdain.

salarian character makes a potentially stupid move while "sending up a small prayer to the Dalatrass that had birthed them"

Krogan

human character mentally considers a specific krogan character "Rational, for their [krogan] kind."

It had been a long few days out in the “wasteland” with [krogan] and their team. This was the term they’d adopted for the parts of the Nexus that hadn’t yet been visited.

They only used it among themselves, [krogan] explained, so as not to offend or worry any of the non-krogan crew. The fact that they [the krogan]'d let them [human] in on the slang was something of an honor. They [human]'d learned a long time ago that when the krogan honored you, you don't take it lightly, no matter how inconsequential it might seem.

if a krogan couldn't understand rising up against oppressors, who could?

Krogan making a political power play: "By sending a representative that is far beneath them in standing but above me in the political hierarchy, you will show them the importance of the request. X will be pleased by this, and also enjoy the opportunity to intimidate a puppet. Treat them like just any krogan (...) and they'll be picking your bones out of their teeth."

Turian looking at destruction: "Looks like a krogan wedding came through." Amused krogan: "We don't have weddings."

a krogan pissed off to be brought out of cryo gets headbutted

Family. Above all things, krogan clans meant family - perhaps more so than any other of the species. After all, for so long, the krogan had only each other.

one [krogan] paler than the rest, gray where the others showed more color in thick krogan hides. His was scarred, brutalized by wefts and ridges, and he very clearly looked older than the others. Ancient, given krogan lifespans.

[The air] smelled even worse [than burned chemicals], and that was to a krogan. They could only imagine what the humans were experiencing.

Human: "Any krogan throwing biotics around you know?" Asari: "No battlemasters around here. Only one I ever heard of was of the Urdnot clan."

big krogan throats led to deep voices, even in the rare women [turian character] had known of

Turians

Krogan, about a particular turian: "Competent, if a bit... you know, turian."

(...) Adding a turian's casual arrogance to this party would be a fascinating new thorn in X [not krogan POV character]'s side, to say nothing of the species' unique devotion to the meritocracy. One foolish move, and they'd all hear about it.

In various degrees of respect, depending on said turian.

Knowing turians - knowing them [particular turian] - they were trying to figure out their [krogan's] angle.

Turian: "I believe in that old Earth phrase: 'Absolute power corrupts absolutely."

This is in the turian section for the implication that turians do not have such a phrase - they said this to a character who also wasn't human, so they're not even adjusting to language use their human audience would be more familiar with to be polite.

Hell, [human]'d probably have made a good turian, the way they liked to cut through the bullshit.

Turians learned to process loss like factors in one's life. Every victory was achieved on the back of those who didn't make it. It made the victory somehow better. Mean more.

Human POV (rare exception to stripping gender because it's part of context):

Turians. It's like they had a weakness for women in charge. She'd never met one who didn't get all... turian-eyed when she started calling the shots.

Turian body language:

X's mandibles tipped up in approval

A tic jumped in the center of X's brow. Right at the crest. It wasn't supposed to move like that. X rubbed at it grimly, but no amount of that would make the stress go away.

X rubbed at a mandible as they worked on arranging their features into something much less brooding. It wasn't exactly a smile, not even by turian standards, but it'd do.

Human POV:

X's head tipped. It was faintly avian.

X tipped their drink into their mouth in that unique way turians did

Multispecies

[Human] laughing at being told to shoot someone's leg if needed "told [krogan character] everything they needed to know about the human's sense of humor. Much more like a krogan's, or a turian's, than not."

Krogan: "Funny. I didn't think they'd send in a salarian [to fix something in the company of krogan]." Salarian: "Funny. I didn't expect a krogan to think." Another two krogan and two humans: /DEAD SILENCE [Krogan] rapped out a burst of laughter.

Sure turians politicked. [Turian] was all too familiar with that truth. But not the way salarians schemed and asari hovered.

Of course, humans could be just as bad. The First Contact War had proved it.

[hostagesandsnacks]

so the Kadara Port part of the game has been bothering me since the first playthrough, where i sided with Reyes and started to really annoy and frustrate me in the second one, where i decided to choose Sloane. because the thing is, that part never feels like an actual choice that you have to consider and think about very hard. every time it feels like you’re almost forced to pick Reyes over Sloane, so probably the majority of the players do. and why shouldn’t they? he immediately starts charming you on the first meeting, you share a lot of scenes with him, funny, cute, romantic, you name it. on top of that, he’s a romance option, arguably the best m/m romance and in case you got too busy with other stuff, you get constantly reminded to have a chat with him. with Sloane on the other hand, the game frames her as pretty much The Worst Person, with little redeeming qualities, no hope of change and almost universally hated. she gets people hooked on drugs? well of course she does. i’m surprised they didn’t pile on cannibalism. you spend way less time with her and her attitude towards Ryder is cold at best, at least initially, and she only becomes more friendly after you’ve already saved her. she’s disillusioned about the initiative and openly hostile towards Tann. and the thing is, there’s a lot that could be explored with her character but never is. she’s the leader of the outcasts not because she wanted to be, but because for each choice she made during the uprising, the alternative was worse and at the end all the rest of the rebels expected her to take the lead so she did. someone who knows they all have 2 weeks of supplies and if they don’t find an alternative by then, they’re all dead. who probably knows she should return the port to the angara after liberating it from the kett, but realises she can’t afford that kind of luxury. who knows she can’t lead and inspire her people like Jien and she will have to resort to violence and intimidation to get them to work for their survival. who values loyalty only to realise she’s gotten to a point where people so easily betray her when the collective orders Kaetus to be beaten up. anything like that. but the overall portrayal of the conflict is very polarising and lacks nuance so one side is clearly favoured over the other in terms of content and characterisation, not to mention that Reyes survives the conflict no matter what you do and if you want to pursue and continue a romance you enjoy, you have to willingly allow her (a black woman in power on top of everything) be killed in a dirty duel with no alternative solution.

i wish i could hope there is some reason for that setup, but i’m too old and bitter and i know better than to hold my breath. and with so many players predictably siding with Reyes, demanding more of his content & creating tons of fan art and doing none of that for Sloane (quite opposite, i wish i could unsee the countless posts and threads of people joyfully declaring how they wish they could shoot her themselves, not terrifying at all), i wouldn’t be surprised if she ‘magically’ disappeared from any later content. 

for now i’m gonna keep saving her out of spite, because bioware apparently doesn’t want me to, but she really deserved a better treatment.

[quietsun5268]

(Poll) Mass Effect Andromeda: Kadara - Reyes Vidal versus Sloane Kelly

Sloane Kelly is the leader of the Outcasts, the criminal faction controlling Kadara Port. In 'Nexus Uprising,' Sloane does seem like she has her heart in the right place - sometimes, plus at least she's honest about some things. However She has a hatred of the Initiative which can prove to be a problem.

Reyes Vidal is smuggler but is also the Charlatan opposing Sloane Kelly's rule. He lies and has a sniper kill Sloane in the back in what was suppose the be a dual between him and her, but has concerns for angara then Sloane, he shows some desire to improve lives around Kadara, and is willing to work with the Initiative. Plus you can romance him as either Scott or Sara Ryder

Neither are perfect but who do you prefer as a leader of Kadara Port.

Kadara - Reyes Vidal versus Sloane Kelly: https://strawpoll.com/hzp6b13js

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[theindieangel]

Honestly reading Nexus Uprising makes me dislike Tann even more