#shala'raan vas tonbay

[edenprime]

In my mind, Tali's parents were in a sort of... lavender marriage*, and their true partners were Shala'Raan and Han'Gerrel.

I mean - Raan was the one who was with Tali's mother when she was born. They synced their suits with each other. It's implied that she was like a second parent to Tali, that she spent more time with her and her mother than Rael during her childhood.

On the other hand, Gerrel speaks of Rael'Zorah as being his partner in crime since they were teenagers. He tells their story with a fondness that speaks of years of partnership. He's the only one who notices that Shepard was deflecting when defending Tali, but let's be real - he doesn't know Shepard. He knew Rael. He's also the only one you're allowed to confide in when it comes to the secret geth experiments.

*Not because I believe the quarians are homophobic, I just think it could be a practice they used to mantain their population. After all, Tali explains in ME1 that sometimes they had to put in laws to make sure the population remained sustainable. Added to the quarian's inherent loyalty to each other... well, this way, they had a child as expected, but could keep their preferred partners.

[ehnari]

Tatjana Shepard MS Paint doodles (she sacrificed quarians...)

[edains]

[ideas-on-paper]

Small hot take on Shala'Raan (+ some The Expanse)

[SPOILERS for The Expanse S5 & Mass Effect 3]

That makes two sci-fi stories now where a series of terrible events could've been prevented by the vote of ONE. SINGLE. PERSON.

However, I think Drummer actually knows this; I feel like she regrets it quite a lot, and at least she's trying to make amends. (I'm at season 5 right now so don't spoil me!)

Meanwhile, the key role Shala'Raan played in causing the Quarians' petty and useless war against the Geth in Mass Effect 3 is never even talked about.

In ME3, Tali says she and Koris were outvoted when arguing against the war. We have five admirals: Tali, Koris, Gerrel, Xen, and Raan. You could write off Gerrel and Xen from the start, so with them being in favor of war (which is technically contradictory to Xen's anti-war attitude from ME2, but whatever), it would be 2:2, making Raan's vote the decisive one. So Raan must've voted in favor of war, basically making her the sole perpetrator of it. Neat.

What makes this worse is that she is literally Tali's aunt - and no matter what Raan says about Tali being a competent person, it was her, unable to trust in the judgment of her own niece and being too cowardly to chart a decisive course, who caused a war that almost annihilated her people when all efforts and resources should've been focused on the Reapers.

She could've prevented this - but she didn't.

If I was Shepard, I totally would've called her on the carpet for this.

[doolallymagpie]

“artemis shepard's single case legal career” now in HD

oh shit it’s shohreh aghdashloo

arti: my evidence is fuck you, tali literally killed sovereign with her bare fists.

hazmat suit chrisjen: ok. tali and her father didn’t do shit, i guess. case dismissed.

that’s gay, tali

[ideas-on-paper]

I thought I was the only one who noticed this!

I'd say ME3 also really messed up the writing of Gerrel and Xen - some of their actions downright contradict their attitudes in ME2.

For example, since Gerrel was a good friend of Tali's father, he was close with her as well. And you're telling me that the same guy had no issue with blowing up a ship that the daughter of his best friend was on? That's just complete disregard for your friends and acquaintances.

As for Xen, it's really curious how she switched sides from being against the war (not for altruistic reasons, as she wanted to bring the Geth back under Quarian control instead of destroying them, but still) to supporting Gerrel in his endeavor, which she called "idiotic" back in ME2. And strangest of all, Xen used Rael's research results (which she intended to use to develop his Geth hacking techniques further) to produce the weapon that made the war even possible. Pretty suspicious, if you ask me.

I mean, Gerrel and Xen weren't meant to be likeable characters, but ME3 just turned them into cartoon villains.

hi, it's midnight and I have a brand new mass effect hot take that I don't think I've ever seen before, which is surprising.

here it goes. Raan is just as much to blame for the quarians launching their idiotic war with the geth as Gerrel and Xen are. if it wasn't for her commitment to being a spineless centrist placating everyone, she could have very well stopped them, especially in the timeline where Tali is an admiral. with Tali and Koris voting against the war, Raan was the deciding vote! nothing was stopping her from just siding with them. and even when they have no fifth admiral, she could have still pushed for peace! but she decided to be a coward.

[magnimoon]

Let's add another question for our Shepards.

[balkanradfem]

GAMES: Almalexia from The Elder Scrolls / Billie Lurk, Emily Kaldwin, Cecelia, Lizzy Stride, Delilah Copperspoon from Dishonored / Jesse Faden from Control / Lohse, Sebille Kaleran, Siva, Malady, Dallis the Hammer from Divinity: Original Sin II / Toriel, Undyne, Alphys from Undertale / Commander Shepard, Tali'Zorah nar Rayya, Liara T'Soni, Aria T'Loak, Nyreen Kandros, Shala'Raan vas Tonbay, Matriarch Aethyta from Mass Effect

you saw that gaming category and said 'you know what i got this'

all added :) thank you!

(let me know if i spelled some of them wrong on the list, I will be honest I didn't verify them I trust you know what you're talking about)

[elizabeth-forbes]

Auntie Raan!

[innercherryblossomsoul]

[dirtybiowareconfessions]

Confession: Auntie Raan has got it going on

[marythegizka]

Well, I guess there's a part 2 now

Hey. So. With all the in-game easter eggs I know there’s already been speculation about Mass Effect and Dragon Age being set in the same universe but what if they were more like… parallel universes with the Fade as a buffer zone? What if whoever performed the last sacrifice in DA:O woke up as Shepard after their Cerberus reconstruction and was just completely lost? What if it were Loghain and everyone on Tali’s loyalty mission just got very confused? What if I wrote an entire fic in my head?

[gayzelos]

My 4k quarian retexture for Mass Effect 2 is live on the Nexus!

[doolallymagpie]

shala’raan: it’ll be a wonderful experience to sync our suits together as you give birth to this baby

tali’s mom:

[mylordshesacactus]

Shepard And Tali’s Nonconsensual Housewarming Party gains desperately-needed adult supervision.