#especially since my shepard is earthborn

[monowires]

you did good, son. you did good.

i'm... proud of you.

[illusivesoul]

Mass Effect Trilogy Tag

Was tagged by @nowandthane Thank you :)

I'll tag @marythegizka @vorchagirl @judithmactir @drelldreams @messydiabolical and @secretagentdragon . Only if you feel like doing this, of course.

I'll put the blanks here and my answers under the cut.

I am a fan since:

Favourite game of the series?:

MShep or FShep?:

Earthborn, Colonist or Spacer?:

Biotics or Tech:

Paragon or Renegade:

Favourite Class:

Favourite Companion:

Least favourite Companion:

My squad selection:

Favourite In-game romance:

Other pairings I like:

Favourite NPC:

Favourite Antagonist:

Favourite Mission:

Favourite Loyalty Mission:

Favourite DLC:

Control, Synthesis or Destroy:

Favourite Weapon:

Favourite Place:

A quote I like:

.

I am a fan since: 2017. I had finished the Dead Space series and was emotionally devastated, and wanted to try out more sci fic games. I had heard about Mass Effect (in particular the mess that the original ending for me3 had been and the Andromeda hate wave that was going around back then) and decided to give it a go. And I ended up emotinally devastated once more lol

Favourite game of the series?: ME3. The story, the soundtrack, the whole emotional weight and all the heavy moments make it my favourite of the series.

MShep or FShep?: Femshep, but I've definetely grown to like Maleshep over the years, especially cause of the Cortez romance.

Earthborn, Colonist or Spacer?: Most of my Sheps are earthborns, but I have a couple colonists and just one spacer. Love me some tragic backstories lol

Biotics or Tech: Tech 4 ever. Incinerate, hacking, tech armour goes brrr.

Paragon or Renegade: Have always leaned more towards renegade or paragade or renegon, mostly cause I feel that a pure Paragon Shep feels almost too naive and innocent with some of the responses they have.

Favourite Class: Infiltrator, followed closely behind by Sentinel and Engineer.

Favourite Companion: A tie between Javik, Kasumi and Zaeed.

Least favourite Companion: Legion. Not that I dont like Legion in particular, its just that i dont care much about the Geth overall.

My squad selection: I dont really have a set squad. Im always rotating characters to hear their dialogues.

Favourite In-game romance: Shiara was my main ship for many years, but now my favourites are Shaynor and Shortez.

Other pairings I like: Jack and Kahlee Sanders, Javik and Zaeed, Ashley and Samantha, Kaidan and Steve, etc. Rarepairs are my jam and I have so many lol.

Favourite NPC: So many, but just to name some. Gianna Parasini, Kelly, Lorik Qui'in and the turian mechanic in Noveria.

Favourite Antagonist: The Illusive Man without a doubt.

Favourite Mission: ME1 - Feros, ME2 - Kasumi's Loyalty Mission, ME3 - Thessia.

Favourite Loyalty Mission: Kasumi's.

Favourite DLC: Omega and Leviathan.

Control, Synthesis or Destroy: Low EMS destroy is my favourite ending, cause I love all the angst and how it really shows just how destructive the war really was, and how hard the rebuilding will be. Its imo the most "realistic" version of the endings. Also really like Control and Refusal.

Favourite Weapon: The Black Widow and the Phalanx cause I like the sound it makes.

Favourite Place: Ilos cause it always makes me so nostalgic about the first time I played.

A quote I like: "There. Earth. I wish you could see it like I do, Shepard. It's so... perfect". This quote from TIM devastated me when I first heard it and it keeps giving me all the feels to this day.

[sol-consort]

omgg i just read your Earthborn Shep and Thane post and ykkkk who else can have that past criminal angst? Earthborn Shep and Jack. Like they both had to do whatever it takes to survive at the end of the day. Like Shel gets why she likes to stay under the engine room alone and needs the noise and the solitude to feel safer and all the trust issues they both have. My friend you opened up a can of worms in my brain sjjdjdkck. Your mind…so powerful 💥

YES EXACTLY! fuck I wish I could've brought it up to Jack ingame when she says we wouldn't understand her. I wish earthborn Shepard had to chance to say actually they're very familiar with the world she's currently living in.

Shepard used to be in gangs since the earliest memory they could recall! With no parents who ever claimed them and no support system, they had to go out there and put food at the table themselves before they knew what algebra was!

Earth, the human's homeworld and cradle, has treated Shepard so badly. he same planet you sacrifice everything to save in ME3 is the same one that let freeze without a home in some alley.

The only option was to pick up a gun and fight for survival, run with scummy people, and befriend the lowest of the low in order to avoid getting stabbed in the back. The government hid those suffering kids in the shadows of glamourise buildings and pristine gardens for alien tourists to gawk at.

And Shepard's saving grace was the fact the army was willing to give you food and shelter in exchange for being willing to die for them. It just makes being labelled a war hero all the more bittersweet. People didn't care about humanity's saviour when they were a kid rotting in the street.

Shepard would completely understand Jack and defend her against Cerberus. Have her back when it comes to confrontations with the crew. Old habits die hard, and even Shepard still sleeps with a gun hidden under the pillow, so who are you to judge Jack sleeping in the engine room.

Maybe Shepard goes there too when stress becomes too much, and they revert back to their teen self looking for any shelter from the rain. They go to the engine room and sit in the corner, reminding themselves they're stronger than anything thrown their way.

Maybe it was Anderson who first noticed Shepard doing that in the first Normandy and kept it their secret. Knowing their history and never putting them on the spot, which is why Shepard is so chill with Jack's requests and behaviour.

In the shadowbroker info, it shows that Jack activity searched online about Shepard's history, watched the spectre ceremony halfway through before closing it, and even looked into your achievements. She was clearly frustrated with you being another decorated ship captain who had every opportunity handed to them on a silverplate.

If only she would've dug more and found the articles about Shepard's hidden past, the interviews with the gang memebers who used to be in your close circle, the paparazzi shots where your clothes slipped to reveal a part of a tattoo, speculations about its meaning and if it's related to a gang symbol.

All those things the alliance pays triple the market price just to keep hidden from the first page results of search engines. Keeping the stained glass imagine of The Commander Shepard as clean as ever, polishing your history until nothing is left but a symbol of humanity's greatest achievements, not the stain that is your attempt at survival after your own kin abandoned you.

Earthborn Shepard is just so interesting! That sort of scandal would follow you for life. Old habits and bad reputations. Especially with a paragon, Shep, who's all kind and proper, that used to be an actual monster in the streets.

Even more sweet when you see Jack again in ME3 and know she followed in your steps and left that life behind. Finding a reason to live besides pure survival. I always let her punch me because nothing would phase earthborn Shepard, who knows how this is normal, friendly things in the criminal world. Who used to have their own friends to wrestle with for fun. Who did a lot of stupid things like play russian rullet in their youth.

[onedismay]

Mass Effect Tag Game

Stole this thing from @messydiabolical. :)c Anyone is welcome to steal it from me as well!

-

I am a fan since: Forgot what year it was but I remember ME2 had already been out for a while before I bought ME1. But I caught up quickly and got to experience the release of the Arrival DLC in real time. :D

Favourite game of the series?: It's hard to pick between 1 and 2, but I'll say 2 because the concept of loyalty missions is MY JAM. Also ME2 is my favorite graphics-wise, it's got that high contrast I love so much. (hate the simplified skill trees though)

MShep or FShep?: Most of my Sheps are fSheps because the character creator for mSheps isn't versatile enough for me. :( Where's the long hair! Let me look impractical!

Earthborn, Colonist or Spacer?: I might slightly prefer Earthborn. I enjoy playing characters who've had a rough start in life and made some bad decisions, but grew up to become decent people anyway.

Biotics or Tech: Can't pick, I like variety!

Paragon or Renegade: peace for everybody in the galaxy :') But I reeeaally love the Renegade eyes so I do have some mean Sheps as well.

Favourite Class: I used to main the Infiltrator class but in my most recent run I really enjoyed the Adept. Hard to pick a favorite but I do know my favorite class is NOT the Sentinel, it always feels clunky to me somehow.

Favourite Companion: Tali or Javik. Kaidan and Thane are nearby too. Tali's character development feels very natural and wonderful to me on every playthrough and I always love to see it. Javik is a fave because he's haunted and completely alone and that combo always hooks me like, I MUST see to it that this sad man has at least one nice thing in his life.

Least favourite Companion: It's the writers' fault but Liara. It gets really old when the same companion treats you like her love interest in all 3 games no matter what. I haaaate forced hugs in roleplaying games, don't put me through that, it'll ruin the character for me.

My squad selection: In my most recent playthrough it was unsurprisingly Javik and Tali. But I also ran with Vega quite often in the early game and I kinda missed him in the end game, haha.

Favourite In-game romance: Kaidan, especially with mShep because I really enjoy a slow burn of several years. 🔥

Other pairings I like: I am motioning at my blog and presenting to you Tazzik and the Shadow Broker...... no i don't have anything else to offer at this time

Favourite NPC: I like all these shady-ass salarians like Anoleis and Jaroth and Maelon and Linron (yes) (no i'm not defending her, i just find mean characters interesting sometimes) and Chorban and probably others. Valern isn't all that shady but still a fave. Charn! And Balak, I always look forward to finding out how my Shepard reacts to him. Zaal'Koris vas Qwib-Qwib I always loved you and I knew you were the best admiral before ME3 ever happened

Favourite Antagonist: the Shadow Broker, I was so into the mystery in ME1 and man I was not disappointed when we got the reveal. I would have loved to learn more about his early life.

Favourite Mission: ME2's Suicide Mission because I lovvve how it's a culmination of all your previous actions. It felt really scary and chaotic on my first playthrough and like anything could happen. Now I know all the mechanics so nothing surprises me, but I still look forward to seeing every little detail play out.

Favourite Loyalty Mission: Tali. Also Mordin. And Samara, ugghhh I love Omega and I love playing bait uwu

Favourite DLC: Hmmm I love about half of LotSB very much but I might like Bring Down the Sky more as a whole? The mood is great, it's not super long, and nothing about it annoys me. :D I've only played the Leviathan DLC once so far so I'm not confident enough to call it a fave yet but I liked it a lot, too.

Control, Synthesis or Destroy: I just wanted an ending where we finally talk the Reapers down and they go "yeah u right actually, let's not fight anymore. :( handshake?". All this star child borderline magic stuff is kinda goofy to me. I've picked Destroy almost every time tho.

Favourite Weapon: Recently enjoyed the Blood Pack Executioner... Historically I've probably used the Widow the most. Also I LOVE the way the Revenant looks but I can't stand using it myself lmao. My hand hurts just thinking about it.

Favourite Place: nnnoooo there's so many good places. I adore the Shadow Broker's ship, first of all. Such a cool concept. Noveria for the snow and miserable people. Feels like home. I loved visiting the Migrant Fleet! But my absolute favorite place is probably Omega because it's so rough yet there's still a weird sense of community.

A quote I like: The first that came to mind is "I have a home." Idk, I don't really remember quotes unless they're repeated over and over and by that point I start hating them.

[clericofshadows]

For the mass effect questions: 4, 5, 6, 20, 21, 26, 44, and 54 (P.S. - I love your mods quite a lot, thank you so much for taking the time to make and share the ones you release :D)

thanks for the ask! and thank you, I'm so glad you enjoy my mods! my releases are definitely slowing down as I'm now in my third year of pharmacy school, but I still have some things and updates planned :)

mass effect questions!

4. First Shepard; Paragon, Renegade, or Neutral?

I think my first shepard, who was eventually an abandoned femshep playthrough because I started using mods and preferring mshep (lol) was more on the paragon side.

5. Preferred alignment?

Renegade, by far. I like the dialogue options and the overall more ruthless and brutal stance Shepard can take on things. I really play closer to "Renegon" but overall renegade is just a lot of fun. And the scars are sick as hell.

6. Preferred Shepard backstory (colonist, earthborn, spacer)?

Spacer. I like the idea of Hannah Shepard as a character you can interact with just a little, and I've had a lot of fun envisioning this relationship between Regis, my main shepard, and her as being quite strained. A perfect paragon Admiral in the Alliance versus the fallen Renegade Butcher of Torfan... very fun to explore.

20. Post Suicide Mission survival rate?

With Regis's canon, I lost Garrus, Grunt, and Legion due to Risky Suicide Mission, a mod that introduces some randomization and other neat mechanics to make the suicide mission actually feel like one. I would in fact choose to kill off those three intentionally since I like my ME3 world state without them/don't really care for them, so 9/12 would be my survival rate.

21. Favorite ME2 Squad combo?

Zaeed and Miranda. Great skills, I've made them match with my mods, and they're my favorites in the game.

26. Blue, Green, Red, or Fuck You?

Red, always. Destroy was always the goal, so it's the obvious choice for me.

44. A character you'd love to drop in a volcano and forget about?

Liara. I mean Therum is right there... but honestly, I hated the direction they went with her with 2 and beyond, and at least Garrus, my second choice for this question, I can get rid of in 2. I can't get rid of Liara, and if they didn't do the Liara grabs Shepard's corpse and delivers it to Cerberus plot line, I'd probably be a little more neutral meh on her. And if the game let me not be besties with her. And not forced to take her to Thessia... I could go on and on tbh.

54. Your absolutely NOTP

Shakarian, Shiara, Garrus/Tali, and EDI/Joker. I don't have one lol

First two because I don't like the characters and tbh why I can never really release a Shepard sculpt (sorry, I'm very biased and once I make a Shepard, he's mine and Kaidan's). Garrus/Tali came out of absolutely nowhere and I never got couple vibes from them, especially with Garrus's terrible elevator dialogue towards her in 1. Felt like a terrible "pair the spares" thing. And EDI/Joker isn't bad, but I vastly prefer them as friends tbh.

these were a great mix of questions btw :)

[menacingmetal]

Mass Effect Trilogy Tag

tagging my pookies @nowandthane @xoshepard :3

I am a fan since: I guess since early highschool era so 2013? i had played a bit before then tho

Favourite game of the series?: ahhh i rly like all of them, i guess me2 bc i like the vibe and updates to the game, but i do rly appreciate me1!!

MShep or FShep?: I love both of em but i've played femshep more.

Earthborn, Colonist or Spacer?: Colonist baybee. love that added trauma

Biotics or Tech: biotics are so fun but i play tech more?

Paragon or Renegade: Renegade voice lines can be extremely hilarious and badass, but I cannot be mean to video game characters so paragon ^^;

Favourite Class: i've been playing engineer recently and thats fun, but I do like vanguard and sentinel

Favourite Companion: you know its Legion

Least favourite Companion: Don't really have any bc I love them all, might have to say Jacob just bc of how bioware wrote him, and hes mean to tali, garrus and thane... and the fact he can cheat on you??? But its not fair, its not his fault they made his character like that. He deserved better. :/ (and also Liara SORRY just mainly bc of how much she is shoved into everything)

My squad selection: I have a soft spot of garrus & tali since you can have them in every game! but otherwise I mostly pick whoever would be good on the mission...

Favourite In-game romance: Garrus is what got me into Mass Effect but I dunno, I enjoy a lot of them. Jack and Thane's are very sweet, i'm a bit partial to Miranda bc she's my fav girl. Oh of course how can I forget Samantha, i love hers a lot!! Probably between her and Garrus!

Other pairings I like: Oh geez we will be here forever if i list them. But also I like almost everyone together lol. some top picks are Joker x Edi, Miranda x Jack, Shepard x Wrex, and Shepard x Legion of course lol

Favourite NPC: Kirrahe, Aethyta, Shiala, that smoking salarian lol

Favourite Antagonist: hmm... Bioware really got em right out of the park with Saren and Sovereign

Favourite Mission: I dunno they can be fun but then some parts can be annoying, i was literally gonna say the below answers but they're loyalty specific lol

Favourite Loyalty Mission: Kasumi, Thane and Samara, I love undercover mystery spy stuff. Legion bc well I like to spend more time with them even though the result in that is painful

Favourite DLC: Citadel obviously lol, lair of the shadow broker is also pretty good

Control, Synthesis or Destroy: you're not bioware you can't make me choose. (I do like synthesis personally only bc I wish I were a robot.)

Favourite Weapon: assault rifles, kassa locust and carnifex my beloveds

Favourite Place: wahhh everywhere, I wish I could actually go and live on the Citadel DESPERATELY, Illium is pretty, Ilos is gorgeous and I love the atmosphere

A quote I like: "Show me yours tough guy, I bet mine's bigger" Hot and badass femshep line. Of course anything from Legion, especially "Do these units have a soul" (not does this unit have a soul.)

[lilmissnatcat24]

Turn Left Ch 16- The Don, Barla Von

Shepard and Garrus exhaust their leads, until one of them has an interesting proposal

Relationship: Femshep/Garrus Vakarian

Archive Warnings in author's note

Additional tags: enemies to friends to lovers, slow burn, slow build, alternate universe- canon divergence, detective noir, sex club, anonymous sex, canon temporary character death, murder mystery, drug use, dom garrus vakarian, whump, smut, heavy angst, alien sex, dual pov, an overly sexual elcor named candy, earthborn, ruthless, fake/pretend relationship, dead dove: do not eat, identity porn, minor character death

Detective AU mixed with identity porn mixed with so much whump my fingers are bleeding

(or, start from the beginning here)

lil text blurb:

“ Surely you must know something,” Shepard said, her voice oozing with flattery. She’d been essentially bowing down to Barla Von since they’d entered his office, complimenting him and stroking his ego. Thank the fucking Spirits she’s better with people than me , Garrus thought to himself. Although, after her little stint with Wrex earlier, he realized it came and went in spurts of inspiration. “I mean, we were told that you were the best of the best.” 

“The best information comes at the highest price, psht, ” Barla Von wheezed. 

“And what would that price be?” 

He chuckled. Garrus wanted to punt him into the lake. “Oh, that’s more than C-Sec can fund, psht. I can tell you that, psht .” 

“How about this?” Garrus asked, feeling his patience wearing thinner and thinner by the second. “You tell us everything you know, or I can arrest you for withholding evidence and grand conspiracy.” 

Barla Von just wheezed at that, unbothered. “This one here doesn’t seem to like me very much, psht,” he said to Shepard, like Garrus was their little secret (and not standing right there). 

Shepard just sighed. “Yeah, he doesn’t like anyone, to be perfectly honest. You know how turians can be.” Was she putting it on for Barla Von? Sure, Garrus could recognize that any day. But did it still twinge a bit? Also, yes. He liked some people. Like Shepard, and Commander, and… no, that was about it. 

“Oh, yes, I am well aware of turians, psht . Especially one in particular, one that the two of you are hellbent on exposing, psht .” That got Garrus and Shepard’s attention. They both tried their very hardest to keep their expressions neutral, but if anyone could read the minute shifts in momentum in a room, it would be Barla Von. He just sat back in his chair, basking in the fact that he did, indeed, hold all of the cards in that particular moment. 

“You seem awfully well informed,” was all Shepard had to say, her tone remarkably colder than it was just a minute ago. 

[marythegizka]

Mass Effect Trilogy Tag

Was tagged by @illusivesoul

Thank you! 😊

Tagging (if you feel like it, of course): @mxanigel, @lady-carys, @wolfmilk-and-polenta

Answers under the cut! (Quite a bit of rambling there, I'm afraid...)

I have been a fan since:

Favourite game of the series?:

MShep or FShep?:

Earthborn, Colonist or Spacer?:

Biotics or Tech:

Paragon or Renegade:

Favourite Class:

Favourite Companion:

Least favourite Companion:

My squad selection:

Favourite In-game romance:

Other pairings I like:

Favourite NPC:

Favourite Antagonist:

Favourite Mission:

Favourite Loyalty Mission:

Favourite DLC:

Control, Synthesis or Destroy:

Favourite Weapon:

Favourite Place:

A quote I like:

I have been a fan since: 2021. I had been meaning to try the first game since 2017. I played for one evening, then life happened and I forgot about it. Fast forward to the 2021, when having less work and no longer having a commute made me go 'well, why not use this time to mitigate my existential dread and deaden my emotions with... oh. Okay. Nevermind that'. And then I sank... I don't know, a little under 200 hours into it? Yeah.

Favourite game of the series?: ME2. I think I like the stakes and storytelling of ME3 better (also, I think it was the first game to ever make me cry? Several times?), but ME2 is very character-focused and I just live for that.

MShep or FShep?: Well, I usually play as female characters (the one recent exception I can think of being a M!Cousland because that was the only way marry Anora. I have no regrets.) so I'm not really in a position to compare.

Earthborn, Colonist or Spacer?: Earthborn on my Paragon playthrough, colonist on the Renegon one. (I also started a spacer one but did not finish it).

Biotics or Tech: Both, but for different reasons. I like the visuals of biotics (yes, I really am that shallow), and having an enemy NPC floating helplessly in the air while you take aim is really, really convenient. That said, the 'overload' ability is extremely helpful, and I really like Tali's little drone, so tech is pretty cool too. I just usually make sure I have both in the squad (except for specific missions like the moon base in ME1).

Paragon or Renegade: Hmm, so... I'm going to say Renegon, because Renegade is very entertaining at times, and absolutely awful at other times (particularly in ME3). But my first Shepard was a bleeding heart Paragon. She was just so nice.

Favourite Class: Anything that lets me experience the story without dying too many times (and I play on casual so that's really all of them). That said, I find myself rather partial to the Vanguard's charge ability. It's not necessarily the *most* useful, but it's just too satisfying not to use.

Favourite Companion: Hmm. Well, I love EDI's dry humour and the fact that she becomes more human over time, so I'll just go with EDI...But honestly, it is a tough choice, especially when old grump Javik is right there, and Tali melts my heart, and Liara's arc is so good, and Wrex is too funny but also pretty tragic, and... see what I mean?

Least favourite Companion: Jacob. The thing with Jacob is, I don't even dislike him, I just think his writing is... how do I put it? Not bad, per se, but it doesn't quite pull me me in. He's pretty much the only companion who remained 'a coworker' on all my playthroughs. Other were either 'best pals' (Tali, Garrus, Wrex), great romances (Liara, Garrus, Thane), or downright antagonistic at times but in a way that felt natural and brought something to the story (Miranda and Jack come to mind).

My squad selection: I don't have a fixed one.

Favourite In-game romance: Garrus

Other pairings I like: Miranda/Jack, Javik/Liara, Tali/Garrus, Nyreen/Aria

Favourite NPC: Matriarch Aethyta

Favourite Antagonist: Saren

Favourite Mission: Virmire

Favourite Loyalty Mission: Tali/'Treason'

Favourite DLC: I haven't played them all (I haven't bought the Legendary Edition so they were separate purchases. This means I have never recruited Kasumi or played Lair of the Shadow Broker, any knowledge I have of them comes from the fandom + a couple of videos), but I really enjoyed the Omega DLC.

Control, Synthesis or Destroy: Oh man... I mean... I feel like Control comes with fewer moral downsides in the short term? Organics remain organics, so no consent issues there, and the Geth and EDI get to survive... the only real downside is that Shepard is gone. But in the long term? Who's to say they're not the new big bad? It's the one I went with on my 'Renegade' playthrough and her monologue was pretty chilling. Also, there's a degree of sadness in her being 'still there but gone'. What does the grieving process look like for Liara (or whoever else was romanced)? For Shepard themself? Isn't it lonely up there? I don't know, there are just so many questions. That said I went with 'Destroy' (and high EMS) on my first run because I looked up a wiki as I played and I wanted Shepard to survive. Let her and Garrus adopt baby Krogans.

Favourite Weapon: Ermm. I'm not good with names (or details in general for that matter 😂) but that big Prothean rifle you find in ME2? Yeah. That one.

Favourite Place: Ilium. Again, I am shallow. Though I initially mistyped that as Ilos (again, I am bad with names) and you know what? I love Ilos too, but more for the feels than its aesthetic. Also Liara's reactions. And the music when you get to Vigil.

A quote I like: "You did good, child. You did good. I'm proud of you." Man, the delivery got me right in the feels.

[choccy-zefirka]

Mass Effect Tag Game

Tagged by @judithmactir ! Sorry for breaking the rules and including the Forbidden Game in there as well XD

I am a fan since: Got the Forbidden Game (MEA) in late 2019, and then MELE in I wanna say early 2022

Favourite game of the series?: MEA, oops. ME2 otherwise! I am all about those gangs of misfits

MShep or FShep?: FShep

Earthborn, Colonist or Spacer?: I've fiddled around with all backgrounds, mixing and matching the canon elements (for example, Kay Shepard is an Earthborn but did not join a gang, while Maeve Shepard is a Colonist who did join a gang for a while after losing her family to Batarians)

Biotics or Tech: Biotics, especially in MEA. The combat there is so fun, and I don't even like shooters!

Paragon or Renegade: Paragon, Paragade at best. I am a softie

Favourite Class: Sentinel

Favourite Companion: I would say I enjoy everyone to a certain extent, though a lot of my blorbo brain power goes to Garrus, Javik, Ashley, Tali, Thane, Samara, Vetra, Drack, and Jaal

Least favourite Companion: ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

My squad selection: Ashley + Garrus, Garrus + Thane, Ashley + Garrus again (ft. Javik), Jaal + Drack

Favourite In-game romance: I've enjoyed all romances I've tried, though I only fully finished the trilogy as a Garrusmancer. Same wrt MEA and Jaal

Other pairings I like: Shavik obviously, also TIMShep, a proper Shepard x Samara romance, also various NPC/NPC crackships (Steve x Thane anyone? Steve x Vega? Idk I just want Steve to be loved while I play f!Shep)

Favourite NPC: Eve, Kesh (I love Krogan women ;_; ), our non-companion crewmates on both the Normandy and the Tempest, David Archer (my son who did nothing wrong), the Quarian Admirals

Favourite Antagonist: TIM, Saren (I am looking Disrespectfully). Also idk if she counts as an antagonist but I have a soft spot for Sloane Kelly (it might be the voice)

Favourite Mission: Theros, Suicide Mission (with guides!)

Favourite Loyalty Mission: Kasumi, Jack

Favourite DLC: Lair of the Shadow Broker, Leviathan

Control, Synthesis or Destroy: My own convoluted HC where Shepard chooses Control but their body is not destroyed straight away so they are unplugged from the Matrix eventually, and the Reapers are bricked, while the Geth and EDI are saved

Favourite Weapon: Uhhh flamethrower?

Favourite Place: Ilos, Tuchanka, pretty much all the planets in MEA. I like it when the landscapes are unique with minimum brown sand XD

A quote I like: "It's so much easier to see the world in black and white. Grey... I don't know what to do with grey"

[wingsy-keeper-of-songs]

Mass Effect Trilogy Tag

Lovingly borrowed from a great Mass Effect blog @whiskynorocks ya'll should go follow them they're rad as hell and have excellent taste

Been a fan since: I'd heard great things about the series since 3 came out but I never had the opportunity to play it until this year. I can safely say I'm pretty hooked.

Favorite game of the series: 2, without a doubt. There are things I loved about 1 and 3 but 2 stood out to me especially with the writing and how I developed my relationships with my crew. I wasn't thrilled about joining forces with Space Terrorists, but at least I was able to walk away from TIM at the end of it.

MaleShep or FemShep? FemShep, hands down. I do have a BroShep save, but he's not as...invested as FemShep is.

Earthborn, Colonist or Spacer? Colonist or Earthborn for FemShep, Earthborn or Spacer for BroShep

Paragon or Renegade? Heavy on the Paragade. I usually try to go mostly Paragon, but there are some motherfuckers that need slapping

Biotics or Tech? I like Tech but I go Biotics more often than not

Favorite class: Oh Vanguard full stop. Give me a shotgun and biotic charge and I'm up on the front lines gunning down assholes like I was born for it

Favorite companion: Garrus, but also Tali, Wrex, Legion, Kasumi, Zaeed, Vega, and Liara when she didn't sell my body to terrorists

Least favorite companion: Miranda (strictly just due to ability, tbh), Ashley (I saved her a few times, I get that she has a lot of emotional baggage and the way that the Alliance treats her is extremely wrong, but I just can't like her ya'll. I'm sorry. I've tried.)

My squad selection: Who wants to third wheel with me and the Space Kitty? In all seriousness, it's usually Shep, Garrus, and Tali in 1 unless I switch Tali for Kaiden a few times. Or Wrex if I need more fire power lol. In 2, soon as I get Garrus, I tend to keep him around for everything save Tali's trial since I like to bring Legion to that just to be a troll. Mostly, it's just me and the Dream Team. Vega third wheeled a lot in 3, though lol

Favorite in-game romance: Shakarian for the long haul, baby. But Talibrations is also extremely adorable too. My BroShep is hella bi so he's romancing Kaiden after losing Ash in Virmire and he's Damaged™ so maybe Kaiden can fix him

Other pairings I like: Tali/Reeger (that dude was so in love with her it's amazing), EDI/Joker, Wrex/Bakura, Nyreen/Aria, Cortez/Vega

Favorite NPC: Anderson, Councilor Sparatus because he's a dick but he comes through for you in the end, Saren, Nihlus for the five seconds you get to know him, Kirrahe, Nyreen Kandros, Primarch Victus, Aria (she's very hot), the bartender in the Asari bar, Biotic God Volus, Padok Wikks

Favorite antagonist: SOVEREIGN. Hands down, he is the most terrifying thing you encounter in the games. He's just so other, so alien, and so...mechanical. His lines are delivered with this matter-of-fact contempt that is so perfect for a sentient machine. He has no motive other than he just Is. And I love that. Harbinger never shut up, but Sovereign knew when to start and end a conversation. He said his piece and he said nothing more. And that is exactly how you introduce an Eldritch Being.

Favorite mission: Noveria. I loved meeting Lorik, and how the whole thing spirals down from dirty business deals to all out creep-fest when you encounter the Rachni. And the Rachni Queen's voice acting was stellar. She was just sympathetic enough to warrant pause from outright killing her and terrifying enough to consider it.

Favorite loyalty mission: Its a tie in between Garrus and Kasumi. Garrus for how it ties into his relationship with Shepard and just how their death truly affected him and how it reflects on his character (I have only allowed him to shoot Sidonis once, and it was not a good feeling). And Kasumi because dressing Shepard up is always a good time and Kasumi is a sassy, classy lady who lost someone dear to her and giving her that closure she needs makes me happy for her. She deserves pretty things. She's also cute as hell.

Favorite DLC: Either Citadel, Omega (for Nyreen), or Overlord because David's story made me cry. I'm also autistic and the story was handled very well with Shepard being so furiously angry that the Paragon Interrupt was to pistol whip Gavin was very cathartic for me.

Control, Synthesis or Destroy? 100% Destroy. I do not and will not trust the Walmart-brand Alexa that is the Catalyst. That little asshole is dying with the rest of those genocidal machines.

Favorite weapon: The Talon Heavy Pistol. Baby can pack a punch.

Favorite place: I actually really love the beauty of the Ardat Yakshi monastery. I hate that the Reapers destroy it and turn it into someplace so nightmarish but it really was such a beautiful building and felt really peaceful beforehand.

A quote I like: "You exist because we allow it, and you will end because we demand it."

[secretagentdragon]

Mass Effect Questions meme! Thanks @illusivesoul for tagging me, sorry it took me ages to get to this!! ^^;

anyone who wants to do this feel free to say I tagged you!

I am a fan since: 2016? I think that's when I started playing the games

Favourite game of the series?: Man. Idk...maybe 3??? I've played 1 the most though vs. 3 which I've only played like...1.25 times

MShep or FShep?: FShep

Earthborn, Colonist or Spacer?: Spacer is my personal fave but I've played all three and honestly like them all

Biotics or Tech: Tech though throwing ppl is fun

Paragon or Renegade: Paragon

Favourite Class: Engineer BUT with the sniper talent from Infiltrator, (played it on my 2nd playthrough)

Favourite Companion: Wrex, though very hard to pick for this one. I also have a bias for Ash b/c I've used her a lot

Least favourite Companion: I like them all ... i'll cheat and say Brooks. She's cool too LOL

My squad selection: I switch my primary team every run so I usually don't have the same matchups. For each of my sheps so far, these were my mains though i didn't always stick to them : Andy - Liara+Ash / Thane+Kasumi / Liara+Ash Alanis - Garrus+Wrex (or Liara) / Jacob+Garrus (or Thane) / Garrus+Liara (so far, haven't played much of 3 with him) Cavendish - Wrex+Kaidan / Thane+anyone / didn't play 3 yet Isabel - Ash+Tali / haven''t played 2 or 3

Favourite In-game romance: Really hard to pick, probably Ashley's though it's a bit lacking in 3 in some parts. Otherwise Traynor or Liara (especially in 2). The others I just need to actually play haha

Other pairings I like: I like most if not all of the "canon" leaning pairings, also like James/Steve, Liara/Garrus, Ash/Liara, tbh I'm open to a lot

Favourite NPC: Nyreen Kandros. I also love Nihlus a lot even though he lasts like 30 mins

Favourite Antagonist: I don't have strong feelings about a lot of them but probably the Illusive Man bc of the whole "betrayal" angle plus how involved he is in 2/3. I used to not like Udina either but now I have some respect for him

Favourite Mission: i like the find the IFF mission in 2. I like a lot of 3's mission's too but it's been so long since I've played I'm forgetting lol

Favourite Loyalty Mission: Kasumi's probably, or Thane's for the chase - or Grunt's! Love that Thresher Maw fight

Favourite DLC: Citadel + Lair of the Shadow Broker but I like leviathan a lot as well

Control, Synthesis or Destroy: Destroy

Favourite Weapon: Black widow (sniper main)

Favourite Place: Tuchanka

A quote I like: Not very deep LOL but Shepard's line to Ash in the ME1 romance scene along the lines of "sometime's I don't want to lead you, sometimes I just want to stand beside you"

[dovahbee]

Doing this for my earthborn, sole survivor, renegon Shep (from my fic) cuz these are some great questions!

1) Do bars count? She’s not much of a shopper (other than weapons).

2) Somewhere between hero & liability.

3) She spent a disturbing amount of shore leave at that arena.

4) Garrus ain’t calibrating.

5) She is terrified of becoming like him/ the renegade path.

6) The iconic red hair of course.

7) Fairly approachable, unless hungry.

8) Prominent glowing scars. Living to spite god. Both noticeable.

9) She noticed pretty early on that there are shitty people and good people in every species.

10) She will analyze her tactical failure and learn from it. Will probably seek advice from inner circle.

11) Inner circle: Joker, Garrus, Tali, and of course EDI.

12) Udina thinks she’s an unpleasant grunt, but can’t deny her skill.

13) He’s a puppet. Wishes she could have helped him. Saren dying was a real eye opener on how tactical the reapers are.

14) The word spread everywhere eventually.

15) She has befriended fellow marines throughout her years of service. Weary of making friends ever since Akuze.

16) Biotics. Genetic modifications throughout ME2.

17) She keeps things short.

18) The Alliance was exactly what she needed. Never wanted it though.

19) Would show signs around trusted crew, but not strangers or Cerberus.

20) Any weapon of mass destruction is glorious to her. The M-920 Cain, specifically.

21) Edgy teen.

22) It was a lot of dancing around feelings with jokes.

23) Big time.

24) She has hilarious renegade moments. Very amusing to the crew… not so much for the victims.

25) Various military specializations.

26) N7Shepard:

Status update: Alive. But at what cost?

27) Probably Joker. Lovingly, of course.

28) No family.

29) Yes, when she was dead. Pissed her off when she found out.

30) Whenever coffee rations were low.

31) She is a difficult patient. Squirmy and dismissive.

32) When necessary.

34) Jack sees Shepard as a role model. Someone who came from less than nothing, like herself.

33) Their indifference is a thin mask— they think she is quite extraordinary. And difficult.

35)

Shepard: NOW THIS IS WHY I JOINED THE MILITARY!

Garrus: HOLD ON TIGHT

Tali: WHOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

36) Not the first arrogant asshole she’s had to listen to. Still, it shook her to the core, especially after losing Ash/Kaidan.

37) Fries. Has eaten them raw before.

38) Unluckily lucky.

39) Terrorist.

40) Dissociation level 100.

41) A wet cougar.

42) No, doesn’t think she’ll live that long.

43) Four years in the past. Undo mistakes.

44) Absolutely.

45) Sometimes.

46) Underground bars in the wards.

47) Lets her inner circle & Chakwas help when necessary.

48) It is what it is. Miranda/ the XO gets to do most of it.

49) Tank & shorts.

50) Aliens for dummies.

@spookyvalentine @jtownnn <3

fifty (oops again) questions for commander shepard

I said I was done!!! Alexa play Britney

Round one, two, three and four

OH spoilery things ahead n in all fyi

1. What is Shepard’s favorite store on the citadel?

2. What is the public’s opinion/awareness of Shepard?

3. Armax arsenal arena: do they participate? How do they like it?

4. Shepard wakes up in an alternate universe. What tips them off?

5. What kind of relationship does Shepard have with Javik?

6. The first thing a person notices about Shepard’s appearance:

7. How approachable are they?

8. What is the difference between me1 and me3 Shepard? Do they notice, or does someone have to point it out?

9. Did/does Shepard have any alien biases?

10. How do they handle a teammate being badly injured during a mission?

11. Who is in their inner circle?

12. What does Udina think of them?

13. What does Shepard think of Saren?

14. Is Shepard’s first death publicized? (Since in game seems both people know about it and the alliance covered it up)

15. Did they have any relationships pre-me1? Still around?

16. What additions did Cerberus give Shepard?

17. Have they done any interviews? How did the first one go? And the most recent?

18. What do they think of the alliance?

19. What are they like, when in a bad mood? How obvious is it?

20. Does Shepard’s armor hold any significance to them? What about a weapon?

21. What was Shepard like before the alliance?

22. What was the post-lazarus reunion between shepard and joker like?

23. Ever had a broken heart?

24. Are they funny?

25. Have they made pursuits into further education? Any degrees?

26. Does Shepard have a Twitter account

27. The last time they were rude to someone:

28. Does Shepard have any family?

29. Does the alliance use their image for propaganda/recruitment? Did they agree to/want it?

30. A moment that almost made Shepard quit:

31. Ask Dr. Chakwas: what kind of patient is Shepard?

32. Is Shepard the type to give speeches?

33. What does the council think of their first human spectre?

34. What was Jack’s first impression of shepard? And now?

35. How was that mako joyride from ilos to the citadel?

36. What was going through Shepard’s head, when they met Sovereign on Virmire?

37. What is their favorite way to eat potatoes

38. Lucky, or unlucky?

39. What would Shepard say their flaws are?

40. What’s their pain tolerance like?

41. Shepard’s been turned into an animal! What are they?

42. Does Shepard imagine what retirement will be like?

43. What would they rather: wake up four years into the past, or four years into the future?

44. Does collateral damage matter to Shepard?

45. Do they vote?

46. Favorite bar/club in the galaxy and why:

47. Do they let others take care of them?

48. How does Shepard feel about paperwork?

49. What do they wear to sleep?

50. What was the last thing (non-email) shepard read? Book, play, poem, essay etc

(+1 would you bang your shepard? Lol jk we all know the answer to that. Share your favorite fact about them!)

[dovahbee]

Shakarian is canon (in my mind) and here’s why:

1) Shepard pretty much pisses her pants when she realizes Archangel is Garrus. Jen Hale hands down sounds the most excited in that scene than any others.

2) Their me1 dynamic is fuckin gold. Garrus has had feelings for shep since the sr1 but literally had no idea cuz he’s a moron. Mr “I don’t think I’ve ever met anyone like you😍❤️” & Shep was just trying to teach him to not kill innocent ppl. You cant tell me Shepard (especially earthborn Shep who probably isn’t fond of cops) likes Garrus right away. But she’s just like *sigh* how do I get through to this fuckin guy

3) They make each other better. Like I said in #2, Shepard is Garrus’ moral compass. When she dies, Garrus goes absolutely batshit feral starting gang wars on Omega. She drags him out of that life and redirect his anger to something actually useful. In me3 when Shep is literally one stubbed toe away from spontaneous combustion, Garrus (who is now the level headed one) sends her to bed.

4) there’s just something so beautiful about shakarian… like first contact war wasn’t that long ago. But those two idiots couldn’t care less being the pansexual bastards they are. Their union is more than just a friends to lovers trope…

Anyways I love them and needed to get these thoughts out of my brain

[luimnigh]

One thing I like to think about is how to make an "Ultimate Shepard Backstory".

That is, cramming literally every backstory option together.

Spaceborn and Earthborn are very general, covering Shepard's entire childhood and adolescence, while Mindoir is very much centered on the Batarian raid.

Which makes it useful as a center point. Shepard goes from one, to Mindoir, to the other.

My first though was Spaceborn > Mindoir > Earthborn. We never hear about Shepard's other parent, so it could be that they and Hannah are divorced, and they retired from the Alliance to settle on Mindoir, bringing Shepard with them.

Then the raid happens, Shepard survives, and as a result of trauma acts out when they get back to Earth, joining the Tenth Street Reds.

But that left me with the question of where Hannah is during Shepard's time on Earth, especially since Hannah served on the Einstein, which responded to the attack on Mindoir.

So I feel it might work better the other way around: Earthborn > Mindoir > Spaceborn. Shepard lives on Earth with their other parent, gets involved with the Tenth Street Reds. The elder Shepard decides that getting Shepard away from the gangs is a good idea, and signs up to colonize Mindoir. They live there for a few years, the raids happen, the Einstein responds and Hannah and Shepard reunite in the aftermath, whereupon Hannah decides Shepard should stay with her onboard.

Now the military career is less flexible: there's a timeline. Elysium is 2176, Akuze is 2177, and Torfan is 2178.

And, of course, Torfan is a little extreme compared to the rest, and doesn't really gel with Paragon Shepards at all. Renegade Shepards? That timeline works a treat: they go from Hero of the Skyllian Blitz, to the sole survivor who couldn't replicate their feat of saving human lives, to the ruthless killer who slaughtered surrendering Batarians.

As for Paragons? Well, Torfan's a bloodbath no matter if Shepard goes or not, we know that from Major Kyle. My thought is that Torfan likely had more than a few survivors of Elysium involved, who wanted revenge. But Shepard missed out on the mission because they were still on medical leave after Akuze.

(Renegade Shep seems like someone who'd ignore psychologist recommendations not to go into the field, while Paragon would accept the decision.)

Maybe Paragon Shepard feels that if they were there, they could have changed something, avoided the bloodshed. They held clout after all: they were the Hero of Elysium, the survivors respect them as the person who saved them.

So yeah. That's my idea to cram every single backstory into one Ultimate Shepard Backstory.

[thatdreadbitch]

For the ships: I know the easy two lol what about Shep/Jack (either gender shep)?

Don’t Ship It [As the canon stands]

Why don’t you ship it? I realize other people will have a different opinion on this but for me, it's the large age difference between her and Shepard in canon. That's why I don't have strong feelings about the ship either way but I don't personally ship it since my youngest Shepard has the canon birthday and I'm not really comfortable with an age difference greater than 5-6 years. If the wiki is to be believed, Jack is only 20, 21 at the most, during ME 2. Making Shepard almost a decade older than her if you use Shepard's canon age. Canon Character ages are one of the few things I don't touch when rearranging canon for my fic

What would have made you like it? It's not that I don't like the ship, I actually shipped it until i found out about the large age difference. If Jack were a few years older or Shepard a few years younger I would definitely ship it, especially with an Akuze or Earthborn Shepard.

Despite not shipping it, do you have anything positive to say about it? I adore it despite not shipping it. and i definitely see the potential for them to bond over their shared experiences or different experiences.

[mushstump]

Using what the writer said, ME1 original squad not trusting in Shepard in ME2, and my own Shepard being sole survivor earthborn here's the thing I thought she could be feeling during the games. My Shep's first name is Evelyn.

She died alone and she came back alone in a Cerberus place. They brought her back alive to be a weapon, a soldier. When they went to Freedom Progress and found Taki, Evelyn felt like things would be slightly normal again since she met one of her closest friends. *Miranda and Jacob saw Shepard smile for the first time since she woke up, just to this smile vanish after hearing what Tali said*

But it was fair, she couldn't trust herself either. And Tali had her own mission, so Shepard only smiled and nodded. That's what she continued to do everytime, it was the only way of not having a breakdown. Her paragon mask hided a pit of sorrow and despair.

Then we have Liara. The shock of how much Liara changed and her cold attitude hit Shep like a Thresher Maw. And i didn't played with the DLCs, so no excuses of them reuniting after the suicide mission. Garrus and Tali being there near the end were *essential* to her stability because they knew how much damaged she was after the encounter.

A fact, my Shepard wasn't really close to garrus until ME2 when he was the only one that trusted her without ask her to do something to prove it.

Things happened and she is locked up by the only institution that she knows half of her life. Shepard was arrested and didn't got contact of any of her friends *again* (she knew they were all busy, shit, they're all adults with responsibilities. But the darkest side of her mind keep telling her that she was just a weapon to be left in the basement when not needed anymore. Sometimes she had to hide her Cerberus scars from Vega to not make them think she was gone rogue)

One thing that made me kinda salty (especially not having Citadel DLC) was seeing the crew bonding together but having only a few conversations with Shepard, and most of it being about their mission. ME3. She survived to the destroy ending, but I think it would need time to Shepard trust on them completely again. Ofc, she would give her life to then and trust that they would do the same. But her mental state is...bad, she feels like a weapon and a tool and her friends didn't quite help deal if it totally.

She wouldn't isolate herself, more like...always trying to help them on something but not letting them do the same. Liara noticing this after seeing her mistake of don't talking with Shepard for entire six months? Yes. She would be worried about the woman she loves

why was a romanced Liara out of contact for the whole six months Shepard was under house arrest? After all those lengths she went to to get Shepard back, and then as soon as Shepard is back and not going anywhere she’s unavailable?

I guess, like, she does wait for Shepard to visit her rather than calling after Cerberus brings her back. maybe it’s a time blindness thing? She doesn’t always have the best sense of how much time has passed, and she has an Asari’s sense of patience. it’s her first romantic relationship but if she’s had friends before she’s had an understanding “oh she’s busy, I’ll wait for her to be available” (or that they’re not ignoring her, they’re just assuming she’s busy and waiting for her to reach out) and the amount of time it’s acceptable to wait like that is just a lot longer for Asari than everyone else.

like, it’s not a big deal to her, and then she realizes that maybe it is to Shepard.

she is also busy with research into the Reapers and Protheans and the Cerberus attack on her base. Shepard isn’t and would have loved as many vidcalls as she could get, but for a lot of that time Liara probably genuinely couldn’t.

the way the “do you want to continue this relationship into this game” options are framed as Liara being insecure also suggests a possibility. if she’s worried that after everything Shepard doesn’t want to see her, or doesn’t care about her as much as she does. or when she thinks of it she has no sense of how long is too long to be out of touch with a human.