#the closest to it is garrus and paragon shep

[clericofshadows]

 (2 out of 3 profiles, ask away if you want to know more about my canon shep!)

REGIS LUCIAN SHEPARD (ME2 PROFILE)

Gender: Male, uses He/Him pronouns

Sexuality: Gay

Love Interest: Kaidan Alenko (with preservice history)

Background: Spacer (But has a very distant relationship with his mother)

Psych Profile: Ruthless

Morality: 90% Renegade, 10% Paragon

Keeps and embraces the “Renegade” scars.

Class: Sentinel with Sniper specialization

Combat Style: Perhaps even more dirty than before.  Self-serving, every man for himself.  Violent, ruthless, quick headshots and disabling attacks, straight to the point.  Here to get the mission done, no time for crew relationships out on the field.  Follow his orders or get the hell off his ship.

Implant: Somehow, they were able to replicate his L2m into an improved model.  Lesser migraines, but the insomnia is arguably worse.

Birthday: February 9, 2151 (34)

Order of Recruitment: Kasumi, Zaeed, Mordin, Garrus, Jack, Grunt, Tali, Samara, Thane

Cerberus Opinion: Extremely low, insults/finds ways to fuck them over at every opportunity at all possible.

Thoughts on being brought back to life: Feels violated, even more so by knowing that Liara was the one that did it, that she withheld his dog tags from Kaidan and the Alliance, hell even his mother, that she ultimately was the one that brought him to Cerberus’s claws.  (He also broke the case she kept his armor in, and was nearly sick when he saw it)

Overlord Decision: Ended project, punched Archer in the face, David sent to the Academy.

Arrival Decision: Completed, tried to warn the system before detonation.

Shadow Broker: Assists, but ultimately does not approve of Liara being the Shadow Broker

Collector Base: Destroyed, taunting TIM with his decision.

More details under the cut about crew relationships/loyalty/suicide mission/other thoughts.

Kasumi: Told her to destroy the greybox.  Loyal.

Zaeed: Was able to save both workers and go after Vido.  Loyal.

Miranda: Shot Niket.  Loyal

Jack: Did not kill Aresh.  Loyal.

Jacob: Father is taken into Alliance custody.  Loyal.

Grunt: Completed rite, killed Thresher Maw.  Loyal.

Mordin: Saved data but killed Maelon.  Loyal.

Samara: Killed Morinth, was not able to be controlled by her.  Loyal.

Thane: Shepard shot Jorim, Thane and Kolyat reunite.  Loyal.

Tali: Rallied the crowd, Tali was not guilty.  Loyal.  Also, he sent Veetor with her and had Kal’Reegar stand down.

Legion: Destroyed Heretic Geth. Loyal.

Garrus: This one is the biggest deviation from canon, but since Regis did not recruit Garrus in ME1, there’s a different dynamic between the two.  Regis tried to convince Garrus to not take the shot, but he still found an opportune moment to kill Sidonis.  Not Loyal.

Regis typically brings Zaeed, Kasumi, Mordin, Samara, Thane, Tali, Legion, or Grunt on missions, depending on the situation.  After the loyalty missions are completed, he starts to bring Jacob and Miranda along, but still doesn’t entirely trust them.  He brings Jack along more often, but keeps Garrus benched as much as possible.  

Closest with Zaeed, Mordin, Samara, Thane, and Tali.  Keeps the Cerberus members at a far distance, but does have a mutual understanding that might one day lead to trust.

He installed all Normandy upgrades and had a drink with Chakwas.

Chose to not visit the SR-1 Crash Site.

He has a low opinion of the Yeoman assigned to him and of most of the Cerberus crew.  Appreciates knowing that he has an ally in Joker and Chakwas, and enjoys having EDI on board.

As far as Horizon goes... Regis did not take Anderson’s stonewalling well, managed to get in contact with Kaidan using an old private server of theirs, and convinced him to meet up with Regis either at the Citadel or Omega.  Kaidan being in Terminus chose Omega, managing to secure enough leave for the trip.  They reunite, but things are strained until Regis shows him as much data as he could get about his resurrection.  They rekindle their relationship, and there are no hard feelings on Horizon.  Kaidan even gets the heads up that biotics can repel the swarms, so he was able to lend assistance to Regis’s crew (Mordin and Zaeed).  Kaidan stays with the Alliance, but with the comfort of knowing that Regis is alive and still himself.  (I love the angst, I love the VS not backing down, but dammit this is my canon lol).

Suicide Mission: Garrus is not loyal, but Regis sends him with the crew to get back to the ship. He survives. No casualties.

[theoriginalladya]

11, 39, 49 fooooooorrrrrr Lachlan?

from this list here

AHHH! Thank you for asking about Lachlan!!!! <3 Let's see here...

11. Who is in their inner circle?

Oh gosh, tough tough tough.

Before ME1, it's his brother, Iain, Kaidan, and Serafina and Sean MacKinnon (who grew up with him and Iain on Mindoir).

He's close to all the NPCs in the games, but I would have to say his innermost circle of them would be Wrex, Garrus, Tali, Kasumi, Samara, Mordin and Dr. Chakwas. But like I said, he gets along with all of them very well, so it's difficult to narrow it down. (this is also predicated on the assumption that his husband really doesn't count on this list, you know? lol Because yeah, Kaidan's at the top of it)

After the war, it shifts a little bit. He recently told me he wants to go back to Mindoir sometime after the relays are fixed, and of course Iain and Coats will tag along. Serafina and Sean and their SOs show up at some point, getting land nearby. (something about the first time around and what their parents were trying to accomplish leading them all back home, I guess). I think Jack (who Lachlan adores but just isn't sure how to show it in a way so Jack won't haul off and hurt him), Kahlee and Miranda show up eventually and convince Kaidan to help them with a biotic school, so Lachlan is seeing them constantly and finally figures out Jack and Miranda and being the friendly guy that he is, pretty much pulls them into his closest bunch of friends he has at that point. (still figuring out the post war stuff, so that's subject to change)

39. What would Shepard say their flaws are?

Ask Mama Shepard: he's got too much energy and doesn't know how to put it all to good use!

Seriously though, Lachlan is a kind and generous man. I suppose his 'worst' flaw is that he cares too much and wants things to work out 'right.' (he is, I think, the most Paragon of all my Sheps)

49. What do they wear to sleep?

He switches between a ragged old Alliance T-Shirt he got in Basic (what he doesn't know is Kaidan switches it out on him when it gets too old and ragged lol) and a Fish Dog Food Shack one that Grunt gets him at some point, with cotton or flannel sleep pants.

Thanks so much for the asks! Lachlan is starting to perk up in my head again, so I'm delighted to explore some more about him! <3

[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.

[cosmicangst]

this is my shep!

made using picrews [ 1 ][ 2 ] one day i’ll draw her in my style.

name: augustine jane shepard (named by some “creative” nuns who worked in social services. legally changed her last name to shepard when she enlisted and it’s her preferred moniker. growing up she was called “jane” or “gus”, both of which she disliked — the former for what it represents and the latter for emotional baggage reasons)

origin: toronto / earthborn sole survivor (shep was a small time delinquent and ended up joining a gang partly for money and partly to make meaning out of her impoverishment)

morality: paragade (60% paragon, 40% renegade by the end though me2 was more renegon… shep has a lot of unprocessed rage mostly from ptsd and her upbringing which has been somewhat checked by military life and her relationship with anderson but was exacerbated by her resurrection by cerberus and disillusion with the alliance. though shep understands discipline and diplomacy as productive tactics, she still mistrusts governmental/institutional authority even as she rose the ranks)

class: vanguard (shep’s birth mom was a mining industrial employee who inadvertently exposed her to eezo in utero but shep didn’t manifest biotics until she left earth)

sexuality: bisexual

romanced: garrus (not that shep was xenophobic growing up, just that she had to unlearn certain preconceptions when she became more immersed in alien cultures as a soldier. but certainly falling in love with a turian who held some opposing ethical/philosophical stances no less was just about the last thing she expected lol)

ethnicity: non-white mixed (mother was pinay canadian/father was unknown)

religion: agnostic but retains several complicated, ingrained catholic/jesuit tenets (i.e suffering as a virtue kind of thing, service to the community and education as integral to the individual)

family: shep was an unintentional product of a short term affair. with the father out of the picture and lacking family for support, shep’s mother surrendered her when she was a toddler due to health problems and issues with the law. she succumbed shortly afterwards from complications exacerbated by long-term exposure to eezo. as a ward of the state shep was situated with juvenile centers and a few foster families, none of which took. though brief, her stay at a jesuit group home led by a former alliance chaplain named hannah shepard was the longest she’d ever been in one place but her own issues forced her to the streets. though she didn’t return in an official capacity, shep kept sporadic tabs with hannah, which gradually lessened when she became involved with the reds. hearing secondhand of hannah’s sudden death was a wake up call that incited her to leave the gang at age 17 and make something of her life. she connected with other kids in the system and street orphans but lasting relationships were hard to foster in such a transitory and survivalist lifestyle. anderson is the closest thing she has to a father.

education: inconsistent schooling but she studied hard for nearly a year when she was 17 in order to pass a high school equivalency test (elle woods lsat style lol) so she could enlist. she had a knack for social studies the times she could attend classes at the inner city school and read constantly outside of gang bullshit, thinking literacy would be her key to social uplift. she enjoys pre-first contact sci-fi novels the best and wasn’t lying to ashley when she said that she joined the navy because she wanted to see the stars (the thresher maw in akuze kind of killed that wonder). anderson encouraged her to pursue higher education in order to be considered for an easy promotion. so she majored in intersystems relations simultaneously as she committed to n-school (and her asking npcs for lore info is just her brushing up! she’s just testing their knowledge lol)

hobbies/interests: old school and neo-soul/jazz/motown music, model ships, mythology/constellations/stargazing (alchera dampened that quite a bit), krav maga and brazilian jiu jitsu, sci-fi novels and biographies of people with massive power and hubris, messing around with vintage (read: a 2017 corolla) ground automobiles/motorbikes, the art of struggle meals (or how to cook for more than ten people when all you got are like 40 credits)

[magicrobins]

Mass Effect Tag

Tagged by @commander-krios & @actualanxiousswampwitch! 💕

I am a fan since: ...Um... Oh god I can’t remember when I first heard about Mass Effect and decided I want to play it. It was a while after the trilogy had been out though. Like Andromeda was the first Mass Effect game I was there for the launch of. 2016 I think is when I first started ME1.

Favorite game of the series: If we’re only going with the trilogy, then ME3. If we’re going off of the Mass Effect franchise, then Andromeda is my favorite hands down.

MShep or FShep: My main Shepard is a male Shepard but he’s actually genderqueer, using he/him pronouns. So technically mShep but also technically neither as majority of my Sheps are nonbinary iirc.

Earthborn, Colonist, or Spacer: Colonist

Biotics or Tech: I’m a sucker for magic and biotics are the closest we get to magic in ME so while I have characters that don’t have any biotics, biotics and their classes are my faves.

Paragon or renegade: Paragade! : D Why pick one when you can have both? LOL.

Favorite Class: In the trilogy it’s adept, though I excitedly can’t wait for either of my vanguards. If we’re counting Andromeda, then my favorite is the explorer profile because of the biotic blink effect it gives you asdfghjkl;

Favorite Companion: I uh - I’m very basic in the fact that I love and adore them all and who I pick is more based off of the Shepard I’m playing and who they’re drawn to. With my main Shepard, Duncan, I had a variety of different squads I’d take with me ‘cause his main romance was Steve so I didn’t have a love interest to take around. I did take Samara a lot iirc in ME2 ‘cause I did her “fling” with Dunc.

Least Favorite Companion: I don’t have any LOL. I love them all. :’D It’s actually very rare for me to dislike a companion in a game (tho I can def think of two, they’re not from Mass Effect LOL).

My Squad Selection: Depends on the Shepard and who I feel like bringing along. Like stated above, the most consistent I took with me I think was Samara a lot in ME2. In ME3, I took Garrus, James, and Kaidan with Dunc a lot for reasons specific to Duncan. It’d def vary from my other Shepards, who are lucky enough to date squadmates and bring their LIs are mission dates. :’)

Favorite in-game romance: My favorite for ME in general would be in Andromeda. I’ve only completed Steve’s romance - and Samara’s “fling” - in the trilogy so far and while both are very nice imo and I adore them (the pacing in Steve’s could’ve been written better but I can admit that and still enjoy it) I wouldn’t say either are my favorites. /:

Other pairings I like: I like any pairings so long as they’re not like Steve/femShep or Traynor/mShep. All the romances in the trilogy are nice and I think quite a few are underappreciated. Jacob/Shep (regardless of gender) could use more love imo. I know how his romance ends in ME3, but his romance in ME2 seems quite nice still to me and Dunc would’ve romanced him so fast if he’d been bi, gdi the chemistry. -clears throat- Don’t mind me, I’m just crying in a corner LOL.

Favorite NPC: Oh no I love so many. ;-;

Favorite Antagonist: As a character I actually quite like Kai Leng and the Illusive Man. As people, I don’t like them LOL but as characters they’re very fascinating and interesting to me.

Favorite Mission: I really liked the Leviathan mission, the one at the end in that ocean. Maybe it’s ‘cause Steve was actually in it quite a bit and Dunc had some new/feelsy scenes with his boyfriend LOL. I’m desperate for Shortez content, okay? ;-;

Favorite DLC: Citadel. I am bASIC LOL. I like how almost everyone shows up again (I say “almost everyone” ‘cause obvs Chakwas isn’t there and Kelly doesn’t make an appearance again) and it’s funny and goofy and parts of it were some of the few times I actually felt like I related to my Shepard more or he felt more real to me during that DLC? Idk how to explain it tbh.

Favorite Loyalty Mission: It’s been a while since I played ME2... I think Tali’s maybe???

Control, Synthesis, or Destroy: Destroy! The other options don’t really appeal to me however I find it fascinating that there are players they appeal to and I find that really cool. :3

Favorite Weapon: Sniper rifle. Unless I can count biotics LOL. I got Dunc’s weapon weight down so low in ME3 that his biotic powers’ cooldown was 100% lolol.

Favorite Place: ...A bad thing about Andromeda being the most recent game I’ve played, I only remember the locations in that one LOL. ^^”” The quarian (sp?) homeworld was nice iirc!

A quote I like:

“They rebuilt Mindoir... It wasn’t the same.” - Colonist!Shepard

“Someone needs my boot up their ass.” - Shepard

“Never do that again! ...Sir.” - Steve Cortez

“50,000 years and I still don’t get picked.” - Javik

And honestly any dialogue line from the Citadel DLC or the final mission in ME3 LOL.

Tagging: @bxtgrl​ and anyone else who wants to ‘cause I’m realizing idk how many of my mutuals play ME. o-o;;

[lefthanded-sans]

A concept: Left Handed Mordin!

Bless. Those five words are magic.

And I admit: I’ve always displayed my Mordin action figure with his gun in his left hand. Intentionally. Because Mordin’s my fave, I’m a lefty, I have left-handed needs, and I can do that.

It’s not that I have a canonical base for it, but it’s that I like the concept.

First: Mass Effect games fail to show squadmates as distinct in their handedness preferences. I probably don’t need to get into this, but fuck it, I will because I can.

I’ve noticed that no character in the Mass Effect games displays left-handedness, beyond the fact Ryder can change weapon positioning from right to left hands. Now. I haven’t peered intently at everyone. I haven’t documented every cutscene and screencapped each time someone picks something up left-handed. There’s a chance I’m missing something. There’s always that chance. Buuuuut. I tend to notice people being left-handed in 0.005 seconds, I haven’t seen anyone else in the ME fandom talk about canonical instances of handedness, and I know how media depiction of left-handedness tends to go: they forget about it. 

And the way the game is programmed shows strong right handed bias, and it blankets every squadmate in the series.

We can’t determine handedness in many cutscenes because squadmates are meant to be interchangeable. Sure, there are some dialogue and action differences depending who you pick for your party, but the games aren’t going to customize everything. Squadmates’ positions and movements will be mostly the same, whether you took Kaidan and Ashley, or Tali and Wrex. And because everyone’s going to be interchangeable like that, that means that how they’re positioned and animated - hand preference choices - don’t get individualized.

To take the example of one scene - the start of Jack’s dossier mission - the variation that you see is characters with two-handed weapons facing more forward than to the side, and Jacob getting a special crouching animation if you take him. But the characters with one handed weapons always have the same position, and characters with two handed weapons always have the same position, and it’s clear that people weren’t given individual attention. Most peoples’ reactions are generic, and then there’s a squadmate who’s more likely to be in the scene - Jacob, since he’s a starter - with an occasional special “something.”

The very nature of these cutscenes means a character won’t get attention to being differently handed. Makes sense. I get the logistics of that. But we could try to look at special cutscenes for each character, and how the squadmate holds their weapon in game, to see if there’s handedness “variation” elsewhere.

We don’t have that, as far as I’ve noticed. Every squadmate in gameplay, when they draw their weapons, holds their firearm with the right hand. 

Individual cutscenes show the same right handed gun wielding.

Everyone puts their omnitools on their left arm so they can access it with their right.

Characters are almost always animated holding items in their right hand, or gesturing with a preference to their right, even for their special cutscenes. And there haven’t been standout instances of characters doing things with left hands. Like, the most we can say with Mordin is… his thinking pose is sometimes with his right hand propping up the left. And like, that doesn’t overrule how he’s animated throughout the franchise, and every individual has some mixed lateralization traits.

Even in the comics, I see lots and lots and lots and lots of right handed actions in every species. It’s been a long time since I’ve seen Paragon Lost, but I’d eat that DVD disc myself if there was a clearly left-handed character in that.

I think it’s safe enough to suggest everyone was animated with a right handed bias, and that’s why Shepard and all her squadmates appear to be right hand dominant. I’m not here to talk about how simple it is to program someone with different handedness in a video game, I’m just observing… everyone’s depicted as righties in the Mass Effect world.

Which has frankly always tickled me, because we’re dealing with aliens and robots and humans in all their diversity.

I know there’s scientific discussion on lateralization of limb usage from evoluationary perspectives, how most individuals using the same dominant hand could play into cooperative benefits within a population. Or, there’s preference arising from prior brain lateralization of tasks. Yada yada yada. All this means, potentially, is that some alien species in the ME universe could display the same phenomenon humans do: most individuals having the same hand dominant. But this is also aliens we are talking about, from different planets. There’s infinite possibilities! Their brains will be organized differently, for crying out loud; if they have a hand dominance, there’s nothing saying it has to be the right hand, and on and on and on. I don’t need to talk about all the handedness and evolutionary possibilities because there’s so many of them, and I’m sure you can creatively generate enough ideas on your own without me saying anything more.

Point is: there’s no good reason for every individual of every species in Mass Effect to be right hand dominant. I’m someone who’s extremely stickler to canon. I’ll acknowledge a character for everything down to the canonical hand dominance they display on screen. But from a realism perspective? From a perspective of ignoring game mechanics that plop people into a righty template? Chances are Shep’s got some lefties or ambidextrous babes on board.

So why not Grunt? Why not Garrus? Why not Javik? Why not Mordin? Why not 86% of the salarian species and 54% of the asari? I reject the game’s implicitly suggested canon of handedness and substitute it with my own.

Left-handed Mordin ALL the way! Give me ALL the lefty Mordin!!! It’s a little thing, but I feel like it adds more… flavor… as it were?

I don’t want to analyze Mordin’s personality and abilities as to whether he’s more stereotypically “righty” or “lefty”. That’d be applicable if we were talking human characters. But again: aliens are going to be wired differently, so I don’t feel there’s a need to sit back and say, “Lefties are usually pegged as more creative - does this apply to Mordin?”

It’s fun enough to accept Mordin, as he is, without any thought, and just scream, “Lefty Mordin!” Fly with that. Draw him like that. Pose his action figure like that. And be content.

If I had my way with handedness headcanons completely ignoring canon implications, I think I’d pick… [contemplates]

Righties: Kaidan Alenko, Suvi Anwar, Gil Brodie, EDI (just to mimic humans), Kasumi Goto, Cora Harper, Jack, Kallo Jath, Nyreen Kandros, Liam Kosta, Miranda Lawson, Jeff Moreau, Samara, Shepard, Jacob Taylor, Aria T’Loak, Liara T’Soni, Urdnot Grunt, Garrus Vakarian, Ashley Wilson

Ambidextrous: Thane Krios (born left at birth but has since trained to be indistinguishable - he’s a fucking assassin guys), Legion (a fucking inorganic, guys, why would inorganics have hand dominance?), Tali’Zorah vas Normandy (let’s just declare quarians are non-hand-dominant because why not?)

Lefties: Pelessaria B’Sayle, Nakmor Drack, Jaal Ama Darav (I feel like his species are lefty-heavy), Javik, Zaeed Massani, Morinth, Vetra Nyx, Ryder (come on she’s the closest we’ve got), Mordin Solus, Urdnot Wrex, James Vega, Reyes Vidal

People with italics are individuals I’m fairly sold on them being that handedness, for whatever reason. Others I might rethink. I haven’t headcanoned deeply for everyone!

[gxldencity]

Remember when I knew nothing of Reyes Vidal and he was just a name. Also that he was rumoured to be romanceable, by which Ryder? Idk. Also I was still reeling in from the confirmation that his straight Liam Kosta, and the possibility that there might be only ONE male LI for mRyder. (Rumours were coming out that Jaal is straight). Then the leaked romance lines for both Reyes and Gil came out. I heard most of Gil's lines and I was deadset on romancing him with Jean. (Space engineers WITH babies??? Aaaaaa). I listenes to Reyes' lines and I was like "wtf, what are they doing? Is he really telling this to Ryder infront of an audience? Yeah, so Jean might not be into this." (This was the storage room talk at the end). I wasnt into pretend dating either so I was initially turned off Reyes' romance. What I think got me into the romance was how beautifully animated his romance scene on top of the rooftops. When I first saw it, I was mindblown: the shot of Reyes and Ryder back to back after Reyes confesses he wanted to be someone, the panning shot at the end when Reyes and Ryder kiss. That was just amazing. Then I read more about Reyes, that's when I learned he was a smuggler. I was interested in the story of an Alliance poster boy (Jean) falling in love with a smuggler (Reyes), and the potential conflict they will have. Jean still seeks for his father's approval long after he's dead, and he knows Alec will never approve of their relationship. This was long before I found out Reyes was the Charlatan, which added another layer of conflict between the two. I was still into space engineers with babies but this was too good of a story to pass up. At this point, I learned more about Gil's romance and how much of it is Jill. The first "Complete Gil Brodie Romance" video posted was 8 mins long and I was just disappointed. I was sad cause Gil's romance scene was beautifully animated, the kiss and the hands. However, I wasn't up to throwing Jean into a romance where his LI's best friend tells him that he's a waste of resource if he can't have babies since he's gay. Don't get me wrong, I still love Gil and I will do his romance with another Ryder at some point. I just can't do it with Jean. That and the potential story Jean and Reyes could have is why I made Reyes, Jean's LI. By this point, someone also posted the full Reyes romance video, and Reyes asking Ryder for a dance and "Consider me hacked ;)" sealed the romance for Jean. So i mean that's my story of "I was gonna romance X but then Reyes Vidal happened."

[mass-effect-galaxy]

Time for another playthrough. 

Jennifer Shepard, Earthborn, ruthless, engineer.

Jenny had a very bad childhood. She hung out with various gangs, both teen-gangs, and criminal adults. She got in conflict with the law as early as the age of 11 when she stole a skycar and crashed it. She was given to a foster home but ran away after a few weeks. Back on the streets, Jennifer joined the next gang, stole a car, got caught, was sent to the next foster family from where she ran away soon after. And this cycle was repeated over and over again for the next years.

"Auto Shep” became some kind of criminal celebrity as a car burglar, was sold from gang to gang, beaten, abused in the process. At the age of 18, she was facing a prison sentence but was offered to join the Alliance social program instead - last but not least because her intelligence test came up with an IQ of 135. 

As a result of her past, Shepard had grown an armor of aggressive and rude behavior. She is very slow to trust and has a problem with authorities. This means she neither trusts her Alliance superiors nor the Council, leave alone TIM. She is not racists, but also not fascinated by aliens: everybody can be a threat.

This means, no paragon dialogue or charming unless talking to the (few) people she cares about. She also doesn’t talk much, so usually no “investigate” with her either. Jennifer wishes to keep encounters with other people brief. 

Shepard is disgusted by the racist caste system the Council has established and not interested in supporting it. So, becoming a spectre doesn’t mean anything to her. These are good news for the rachni and krogan though. 

Garrus is a cop and a turian, two reasons why Jennifer does not trust him and doesn't recruit him in ME1. Their relationship does improve in ME2 and in particular ME3.

Wrex is just a common criminal to her. She can deal with the kind of him. During their travels, she realizes that there is more to him. She is in particular disgusted by the genophage and does everything to end it in ME3 (including betraying the dalatrasse).

Liara never becomes her cup of tea. Shepard turns down any attempts of flirting in the rudest way (the same for Kaidan BTW). Their relationship doesn’t really get better, even though Liara is trying. They are way too different. 

With Ashley and Tali, she has a special relationship. She is romancing Ashley in ME1 and Tali in ME2 and 3. However, this mostly for technical reasons to give their interactions more emotional depth. It is not meant to be a classic love story but the story of three friends going through this together.

Jack will be another important person in her story: She sees herself in Jack, or rather Jack is what Jennifer would have become if she had not joined the military. They will always have a special connection. Needless to say that Jennifer thinks absolutely nothing of Cerberus.

Bad news for Legion and the geth: you shouldn't really expect someone who is closest to Tali and Ashley to do anything good for the geth. Legion won’t even be activated in ME2, and certainly, the quarians not sacrificed for the VI-holo-imitation-legion in ME3.

[ollifree]

Shepard meme: 1, 3, 9, 10, 11, 21, 27 :)

Eeeeeeey thank you!

1 // Forget my Name: What is Shepard’s first and middle name? Are they important or meaningful names? How do they feel about their name?

I need to give my Shepard a new name. I use Lanni as my default female protag name for any kind of rpg/roleplay game. Guess which Space Commander shares a name with a Warden Commander?

3 // Starchild: How was Shep’s childhood? Friends, schooling - did they like where they grew up?

Spacer Shep for life. Her father was something of a stay-at-home dad. He did odd jobs around the ship Shepard grew up on while Hannah did her officer thing. I do have a headcanon that she and Joker knew each other from an early age and kept in touch whenever Hannah’s work meant space travel for Shep. She knew Kaidan in a similar way as they had served together before the events of ME1.

9 // Casual Affair: When not in armour or uniform, what does Shepard wear? What do they wear when partying?

Shep is a cartoon character and her N17 hoodie is her outfit. “Nice outfit,” Garrus compliments her after she falls through a skylight. Her hoodie is sopping wet and there’s a fish stuck in her hair. It’s fantastic.

10 // Friends 5eva: Who is Shepard’s best friend? Why?

Joker, as stated previously. They’re the types of friends who have inside jokes dating back to the first couple times they met. Kaidan was up there as well, but the events of ME2 set them back a bit in their relationship. ME3 helped patch over things somewhat.

Tali became one of her closest friends during ME2. ME3 saw their relationship solidified.

11 // Undercover Lover: Who is Shepard’s love interest? Why?

Garrus, because why play a game where you date aliens and not date an alien? In all seriousness, the Shepard family motto is to find someone to watch your six. There’s no one Shepard trusts more on the field than her raptor bf.

21 // Human After All: How does Shepard feel about Artificial Intelligence?

She was pretty indifferent towards AI’s until she met Legion. Legion was a second child to her and she became much more courteous towards other AI’s as a result.

27 // In My Head: What are some of your personal headcanons regarding the Mass Effect universe?

My Shep was 100% a renegade before the start of the series and was known as the butcher of Torfan. After Torfan she was put on probation and became pregnant after a one-night stand. She kept the child, Molly, who was raised by her grandparents after Shep was assigned to the Normandy.

Shep took the Normandy as a place to start over and she was paragon throughout the series (minus punching a certain reporter in the face). She used her reputation as the butcher of Torfan several times throughout her carrier to call a few bluffs.

[orokay]

Blair Asks ;)

I’ve had a ton of asks abt Blair ripening in my inbox and I’m finally answering them~

you can tell how old these asks are by the fact that the first one there was sent when her name was still leire im so sorry i suck at answering my asks ;w;

Pre-Mass Effect / Background

Blair’s a spacer kid. She was born to Hanna and Ryan Shepard along w/ her identical twin sister, Nikora in Canada where her parents both grew up & where they met. Growing up, she was really into dance, esp. ballet, and she got into a course at a prestigious ballet academy in Russia which was her dream. However, when her dad was kia she fell into a depression and pretty much just stopped going to school. She became overwhelmed with guilt b/c her family sacrificed a lot to get her into that school and pay for it and she doesn't wanna disappoint her momma, so she doesn't tell her that she dropped out but  without being a student and not being fluent in Russian, she really didn't have any opportunities for employment or anything, and no way out w/o contacting her mom, so she joins the alliance and stays under the radar and doesn't talk to her mother or Nikora for a while. She develops an alcohol problem during this time. When Akuze happened, her face was all over the news and her lies were put to light.

NOT UP TO DATE

Familial Relationships

Her sis was PISSED and pretty much shunned her b/c Nikora had to pass up a lot of her own dreams n stuff b/c the family couldn't afford it since the money was going into Blair's education. Her and momma Shep worked things out, Hannah was more worried about what happened on Akuze than anything, but Blair and Nikora aren’t on speaking terms until after Blair dies over Alchera. Nikora had started working at C-Sec after the attack on the Citadel and Anderson arranges for the two to meet up again after Blair resurfaces and they make up.   

Crew Relationships / Romance

Blair smooched Garrus. I can answer questions about specific crewmates if you send them, but there are really too many for me to answer here haha. In the first game, Blair is pretty distant and is definitely more of a boss than a friend or companion, although during ME1, she was good friends with Joker, Garrus and Wrex. She was still fiercely protective of her crew, it just wasn’t as obvious how much she cared about them. When the search for Saren was wrapping up, she started opening up more, but after waking up on the Cerberus base at the beginning of ME2 she snaps shut again and becomes even more cold and paranoid. She’s distant in a different type of way, less a professional distance, more of a paranoid, skeptical sort of thing. In ME3 she’s waay too stressed to be distant and lets everyone get super close b/c she’s angry and sad and tired and just needs a hug. Even so, she has a much much shorter fuse in ME3 b/c she’s stretched so thin. 

Relationship with Anderson

All of my Shepard’s see Anderson as a father figure to some degree although Blair and Lucky are definitely closest to him. Anderson seemed to see something in her that she really didn’t see, herself. He helped her get help for her addiction and work through her issues with guilt and self-hatred and definitely played a huge part in pulling her out of the hole she’d dug herself into. She kept in constant contact with him throughout the series. 

Personality

Blair initially has a very neutral, professional disposition, but the longer you’re around her the more she gets a snarky, playful personality. The best way I can describe her would be like,, the protective big sister of the Normandy. To others, she often seems very rude or callous b/c she has a very Renegade personality, but her actions are Paragon. She’s got a cold calmness about her and she doesn’t mince words and speaks/acts before thinking so she comes off meaner than she actually is. In reality she’s very thoughtful and genuinely wants to see the best in people and help people. 

[fifthstar]

The Solitary Reaper

 by Brisance

Fandom: Mass Effect

Rating: Mature

Relationships: Female Shepard/Garrus Vakarian

(Novelization of the Mass Effect series. Paragon/Paragade Fem!Shep, eventual Shep/Garrus.)

Chapter 18: Through Graveyard, Over Garden 

The external cameras show the dusky cityscape, the ruins of the planet-wide city that surrounds them. The buildings are covered in moss and vines, rising higher than the Mako can show.          The tiny courtyard is mostly open, covered in strange spiky ferns and jagged spiny bushes. The light is dim, and throughout the air little specks of light glow and then fade. Little lights that glow above the ground, just for a second... Shepard thinks with a heartsick pang. Her father’s words, telling stories about catching fireflies while he was growing up on Earth. She can’t see whether these lights are a living creature or something even stranger, but the memory resonates regardless.          The heavy feeling remains even as Shepard maneuvers the Mako from the courtyard to a long roadway, framed by ruins of buildings. There are also strange sculptures, dark statues of the same vague bipedal figure, sitting – it could be asari, or turian… or even human. Is this what the Protheans looked like? Shepard leans closer to the monitor to study one as they pass it by. The upper body and head is slumped, the arms hang hopeless at the sides. As the Mako passes closer, the face is shown to be nothing but a melted-looking mess.          The breath catches in Shepard’s throat. It could be weathered by time, exposure to the elements – or it could be intentional. Before she can stop it, she shivers, visible even in her hardsuit.          “There’s something… about this place,” Garrus says, watching the monitor closest to him. The audible tone of his voice is thick, his subvocals ragged. “It feels… wrong, I guess. I can’t explain it…”          “This place has seen death,” Wrex says quietly from behind them.          “You mean like killing? Some kind of battle here?” Shepard says the words quietly. Even as she speaks she realizes how right he is – they talk softly, as if they’re in a tomb.          “Not like battle. It’s just… death.” In the corner of her vision Wrex nods his head. “That’s all this place is now.”          No one answers.

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