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Dec. 19th, 2011 09:21 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
thatswhathumansdoPlayer Name: Lucy
Player Journal:luciazephyr
Player Age: 21 (Jan 22)
Character Name: Lt. Commander Adelaide Shepard
Canon: Mass Effect series
Medium: Predominantly video game.
Character Age: 31 years old (admittedly, alive for 29 of those years)
Canon Point: Post-Mass Effect 2, including all the DLC.
Why did you choose this character?: Shepard's a fascinating character, especially when played Paragon. Most video games with a moral choice system fall into the trap of having "good" characters be flat, selfless, and pretty boring. But a Paragon Shepard is the master of Good Is Not Nice-- she is still a soldier. She is still strong. She will still pistolwhip you in the face if she feels you deserve it.
Give a brief idea of how your character will react to the setting: Both games (and likely ME3) begin the same: Shepard gets her bearings, sets a goal, then builds a team capable of pulling it off. She works well leading groups, and, as a friend of hers says, "show people you get stuff done and they'll sign up with you."
History: Wiki Entry here, but given the nature of the ME games and being able to choose much about your character, I'll list this particular Shepard's backstory:
Pre-Game History:
Mass Effect 1
Mass Effect 2 and DLC
That should hopefully cover the most important plotline decisions. Anything not specified, assume Paragon actions.
Personality:
"Is that the kind of person that we want protecting the galaxy?"
"That's the only person who can protect the galaxy."
A lot of elements came together to make Shepard into the woman who could save the galaxy (twice, soon to be thrice). Born on Earth, she spent many of her formative years in a gang called the Tenth Street Reds. She saw the Systems Alliance recruitment as a second chance, a shot at a better life than she’d been living. However, she did retain a quiet disdain for authority. She’d been through so much already (probably ranking up an impressive record of petty theft among other things) that colored how she reacted to anyone who claimed to know more about her situation than she. Shepard tended to favor her own judgement over others. Despite this, she was effective enough to rise in the ranks of the Alliance.
Shepard is a leader, and the way she acts in this capacity was greatly affected by the incident on Akuze. She was part of a mission to investigate a colony on the planet Akuze going silent. It turned out a Thresher Maw (think one of the worms from Tremors, times a hundred) had ravaged the colony. Fifty Marines died, Shepard the only survivor of them. This gave her a large case of survivors’ guilt. From that moment on, she swore to never lose another subordinate through negligence or recklessness. That’s not to say she isn’t aware of the sad truth that people in the line of fire die; she simply decided that their lives would not be lost for nothing.
That distinction is important to her, as she has sacrificed others’ lives for the greater good. On Virmire, she left one of her own behind with a nuclear device when it became clear she couldn’t save everyone. In the endgame of ME1, she similarly sent Alliance ships into combat to save the Citadel Council, losing nine human cruisers to do so. She feels regret for every person she’s lost, but believes her decisions were ultimately necessary, as tragic as they were.
Shepard is still a strong leader, losses nonwidthstanding. She works best with a small, tightly-knit crew. Keeping them up and functioning to their full potential is very important to her. In both games, she performs “Loyalty Missions”, working with individual team members to help them deal with extraneous issues that would distract them from the core mission. There is usually a professional distance between her and her people, yet she is still approachable; in ME2, all the crew members ask her for her aid without much prompt.
While most of humanity keeps its distance from non-humans, Shepard lacks her species’ habitual xenophobia. Salarians, krogans, turians, quarians, asari, drell, and geth are all welcome on her ship. She keeps a very inclusive attitude about the various races; in transit between relays, she spends time talking to her crew and learning about them and their cultures. She tries to maintain a view of the bigger picture and acts a mediator; when Tali’Zorah vas Normandy and Legion (a quarian and geth respectively who have a long history of interspecies tension and an impending war looming) get into a conflict on the ship, Shepard steps in and acts as a voice of reason to reign them in. Shepard even uses her influence to try and advert war between the geth and quarians when she temporarily gains a position of authority with the quarians.
She is quite capable of working with people with very divergent views from her. Tali’s hatred for the geth is one example. She acts as a guiding influence on a young krogan, Grunt, would love nothing better than to beat every turian he sees to a pulp. Shepard very ardently disagrees with Professor Mordin Solus’ actions in renewing the krogan genophage (a salarian Special Task Group enterprise that cut krogan fertility down severely to quell their uprisings), but maintains a warm relationship with Mordin nonetheless. Whether with a rifle in her hand or unarmed, having a chat with Legion, she works towards peace between all the races.
Philosophy-wise, Shepard is very much a Paragon. To put it simply, when it comes to open hand versus closed fist, she will always lean towards the former. The significance of this is hard to explain, but is most obvious in the second game. ME2 begins with Shepard dying for two years. She is brought back and forced by circumstance to work with Cerberus, the human supremacist responsible for many acts of terrorism and the death of her team on Akuze. The Citadel Council she sacrificed so many to save refuses to believe her warnings of the Reaper threat. Her closest allies push her out of Council Space into the lawless Terminus Systems at least in part to keep her out of their hair. Her former lover has in two years turned into someone unrecognizable. Another former team member sees her as a traitor for working with Cerberus. Her own body has changed, augmented by Cerberus’ cybernetic implants.
And yet in the face of all that, she continues on. She does what she's been trained, explicitly or incidentally, to do: she seeks out allies, peruses those who would harm humanity, and despite her inner turmoil and loss, she comes out on top. That shows a remarkable determination, and hope in the face of adversity. She still shows mercy, gives out second (and sometimes third) chances to people she sees as redeemable. Shepard fights because, as unjust and cruel as the galaxy is, tomorrow may be better, and she’ll fight for that tomorrow.
Very, very rarely does Shepard turn to the closed fist. The Arrival DLC in one of the sole exceptions; her hand is forced. With the Reaper’s arrival due in mere moments, she propels a Batarian colony with over 300,000 inhabitants into the mass relay the Reapers are set to come through. By sacrificing the colony, she buys the rest of the galaxy time to prepare for invasion. The Reapers’ arrival was facilitated by Dr. Amanda Kenson, a deep-cover Alliance operative who’s been brainwashed by Reaper tech. In a brief show of pragmaticism coming before compassion, Shepard shoots and kills Kenson without hesitation. (In game, this is the only major Renegade decision Shepard makes in a sea of Paragon.)
That’s all the core of her character. In her day-to-day, she is tough as nails and, despite that depth of compassion explained above, is very stern. Most of the time, she maintains a distance from her subordinates with a few exceptions (hugging Tali when she’s lost her father is one such instance). When she is around people she has no professional connection to or people she is too close to keep that distance, she tends towards desert dry humor. She’s friendly up to a point; when people get too close, she tends to stop them unless it is someone she already trusts. To her, the mission comes first.
"Shepard's a hero, a bloody icon. But she's just one woman. If we lose her, humanity might follow."
"Then make sure we don't lose her."
First Person Sample:
Third Person Sample:
Player Journal:
luciazephyrPlayer Age: 21 (Jan 22)
Character Name: Lt. Commander Adelaide Shepard
Canon: Mass Effect series
Medium: Predominantly video game.
Character Age: 31 years old (admittedly, alive for 29 of those years)
Canon Point: Post-Mass Effect 2, including all the DLC.
Why did you choose this character?: Shepard's a fascinating character, especially when played Paragon. Most video games with a moral choice system fall into the trap of having "good" characters be flat, selfless, and pretty boring. But a Paragon Shepard is the master of Good Is Not Nice-- she is still a soldier. She is still strong. She will still pistolwhip you in the face if she feels you deserve it.
Give a brief idea of how your character will react to the setting: Both games (and likely ME3) begin the same: Shepard gets her bearings, sets a goal, then builds a team capable of pulling it off. She works well leading groups, and, as a friend of hers says, "show people you get stuff done and they'll sign up with you."
History: Wiki Entry here, but given the nature of the ME games and being able to choose much about your character, I'll list this particular Shepard's backstory:
Pre-Game History:
- Background is Earthborn. Shepard was a member of the 10th Street Reds before joining the Alliance.
- Her psychological profile is Sole Survivor. She lost her entire unit on Akuze after a deadly thresher maw attack.
- Trained as an Infiltrator, meaning she has many tech abilities and is skilled with a sniper rifle.
Mass Effect 1
- Chose to spare the last of the rachni, a race that previously nearly wiped out the galaxy.
- Convinced Urnot Wrex to help the team on Virmire. (The alternative was Wrex's death.)
- Lost a crew member on Virmire. (Would prefer not to specify which, in case a Kaiden or Ashley from ME is apped into the game. Will not effect Shepard's personality greatly either way.)
- Romanced Liara, the asari archeologist.
- Sacrificed several ships in the Battle of the Citadel to save the Council.
Mass Effect 2 and DLC
- Reluctantly worked with Cerberus. Recruited all character (including DLC characters Kasumi and Zaeed) for the Suicide Mission. Secured everyone's loyalty. Will assume everyone survived unless a canonmate apps in and wants to have died in the mission.
- Destroyed the Collector base, earning the Illusive Man's scorn.
- May hint at having romanced Garrus, but unless if becomes vital to the character, it shouldn't be mentioned much.
- Overlord DLC: Infiltrated Project Overlord, discovered the truth about David Archer's integration into the geth network. Saved David, pistolwhipped Dr. Gavin Archer in the face for betraying his brother.
- Lair of the Shadow Broker DLC: Essentially helped her ex-girlfriend Liara become the new Shadow Broker.
- The Arrival DLC: Took a solo mission into hostile Batarian space to save Dr. Amanda Kenson. Discovered Kenson had been indoctrinated by the Reapers. When Kenson tried to facilitate the Reaper invasion, Shepard shot her. (Note: Pretty much Shepard's only Renegade action in her history.) Stopped the Arrival at the cost of 300,000 innocent Batarians.
That should hopefully cover the most important plotline decisions. Anything not specified, assume Paragon actions.
Personality:
"Is that the kind of person that we want protecting the galaxy?"
"That's the only person who can protect the galaxy."
A lot of elements came together to make Shepard into the woman who could save the galaxy (twice, soon to be thrice). Born on Earth, she spent many of her formative years in a gang called the Tenth Street Reds. She saw the Systems Alliance recruitment as a second chance, a shot at a better life than she’d been living. However, she did retain a quiet disdain for authority. She’d been through so much already (probably ranking up an impressive record of petty theft among other things) that colored how she reacted to anyone who claimed to know more about her situation than she. Shepard tended to favor her own judgement over others. Despite this, she was effective enough to rise in the ranks of the Alliance.
Shepard is a leader, and the way she acts in this capacity was greatly affected by the incident on Akuze. She was part of a mission to investigate a colony on the planet Akuze going silent. It turned out a Thresher Maw (think one of the worms from Tremors, times a hundred) had ravaged the colony. Fifty Marines died, Shepard the only survivor of them. This gave her a large case of survivors’ guilt. From that moment on, she swore to never lose another subordinate through negligence or recklessness. That’s not to say she isn’t aware of the sad truth that people in the line of fire die; she simply decided that their lives would not be lost for nothing.
That distinction is important to her, as she has sacrificed others’ lives for the greater good. On Virmire, she left one of her own behind with a nuclear device when it became clear she couldn’t save everyone. In the endgame of ME1, she similarly sent Alliance ships into combat to save the Citadel Council, losing nine human cruisers to do so. She feels regret for every person she’s lost, but believes her decisions were ultimately necessary, as tragic as they were.
Shepard is still a strong leader, losses nonwidthstanding. She works best with a small, tightly-knit crew. Keeping them up and functioning to their full potential is very important to her. In both games, she performs “Loyalty Missions”, working with individual team members to help them deal with extraneous issues that would distract them from the core mission. There is usually a professional distance between her and her people, yet she is still approachable; in ME2, all the crew members ask her for her aid without much prompt.
While most of humanity keeps its distance from non-humans, Shepard lacks her species’ habitual xenophobia. Salarians, krogans, turians, quarians, asari, drell, and geth are all welcome on her ship. She keeps a very inclusive attitude about the various races; in transit between relays, she spends time talking to her crew and learning about them and their cultures. She tries to maintain a view of the bigger picture and acts a mediator; when Tali’Zorah vas Normandy and Legion (a quarian and geth respectively who have a long history of interspecies tension and an impending war looming) get into a conflict on the ship, Shepard steps in and acts as a voice of reason to reign them in. Shepard even uses her influence to try and advert war between the geth and quarians when she temporarily gains a position of authority with the quarians.
She is quite capable of working with people with very divergent views from her. Tali’s hatred for the geth is one example. She acts as a guiding influence on a young krogan, Grunt, would love nothing better than to beat every turian he sees to a pulp. Shepard very ardently disagrees with Professor Mordin Solus’ actions in renewing the krogan genophage (a salarian Special Task Group enterprise that cut krogan fertility down severely to quell their uprisings), but maintains a warm relationship with Mordin nonetheless. Whether with a rifle in her hand or unarmed, having a chat with Legion, she works towards peace between all the races.
Philosophy-wise, Shepard is very much a Paragon. To put it simply, when it comes to open hand versus closed fist, she will always lean towards the former. The significance of this is hard to explain, but is most obvious in the second game. ME2 begins with Shepard dying for two years. She is brought back and forced by circumstance to work with Cerberus, the human supremacist responsible for many acts of terrorism and the death of her team on Akuze. The Citadel Council she sacrificed so many to save refuses to believe her warnings of the Reaper threat. Her closest allies push her out of Council Space into the lawless Terminus Systems at least in part to keep her out of their hair. Her former lover has in two years turned into someone unrecognizable. Another former team member sees her as a traitor for working with Cerberus. Her own body has changed, augmented by Cerberus’ cybernetic implants.
And yet in the face of all that, she continues on. She does what she's been trained, explicitly or incidentally, to do: she seeks out allies, peruses those who would harm humanity, and despite her inner turmoil and loss, she comes out on top. That shows a remarkable determination, and hope in the face of adversity. She still shows mercy, gives out second (and sometimes third) chances to people she sees as redeemable. Shepard fights because, as unjust and cruel as the galaxy is, tomorrow may be better, and she’ll fight for that tomorrow.
Very, very rarely does Shepard turn to the closed fist. The Arrival DLC in one of the sole exceptions; her hand is forced. With the Reaper’s arrival due in mere moments, she propels a Batarian colony with over 300,000 inhabitants into the mass relay the Reapers are set to come through. By sacrificing the colony, she buys the rest of the galaxy time to prepare for invasion. The Reapers’ arrival was facilitated by Dr. Amanda Kenson, a deep-cover Alliance operative who’s been brainwashed by Reaper tech. In a brief show of pragmaticism coming before compassion, Shepard shoots and kills Kenson without hesitation. (In game, this is the only major Renegade decision Shepard makes in a sea of Paragon.)
That’s all the core of her character. In her day-to-day, she is tough as nails and, despite that depth of compassion explained above, is very stern. Most of the time, she maintains a distance from her subordinates with a few exceptions (hugging Tali when she’s lost her father is one such instance). When she is around people she has no professional connection to or people she is too close to keep that distance, she tends towards desert dry humor. She’s friendly up to a point; when people get too close, she tends to stop them unless it is someone she already trusts. To her, the mission comes first.
"Shepard's a hero, a bloody icon. But she's just one woman. If we lose her, humanity might follow."
"Then make sure we don't lose her."
First Person Sample:
[Video flicks on; the majority of the screen is filled with a view of the ceiling. In one corner of the frame is a woman with dark skin and hair, looking at something. The image is badly out of focus and further details are hard to make out.]
-- haven't seen anything like this outside historical holovids. No planet in Council Space uses... [The woman takes a card out of the wallet in her hands and frowns at it. She waves it, bends it between two fingers. She doesn't look impressed.] Plastic cards? Hell, I doubt anyone in the Terminus System does either. Maybe Blood Pack. Got to keep things simple for the vorcha.
[She picks out another card.] Someone's got my name again. Not surprising. Is this a security pass?
[The woman tucks all the cards back into the wallet. Something catches her eye, and her gaze slides to the side to meet the camera's. The video blurs as she picks up the recording device and looks it over.] This belongs in a museum...
[She sighs, sounding far older than her relative, physical youth would suggest.] Last time this happened, I woke up two years in the future. What happened this time, I woke up in the 1900s?
Third Person Sample:
Her scars were gone.
How screwed up was it, that the lack of fissure in her cheek was messing with her head? This wasn't something to get hung up on. Shepard had hated them, the way anyone close by could see between the cracks and get a glimpse of cybernetics holding her together. It was bad enough that some Alliance brass bitched about the first human Spectre being an alien sympathizer, spitting the words like they were a sign of treason. It was bad enough the Quarians got turned down for decent jobs because someone whispered about how they must be part synthetic under their suits, and what did that mean for her, with no helmet to hide behind?
Shepard didn't need help feeling apart from her own species. Being displaced for two years did that fine on its own.
But the scars were gone. Like they were never there. Like none of it happened.
The dissonance was suffocating. No one here knew what a Reaper was. They didn't know what a geth was. No Citadel, no Alliance. Even the planet she was one, ostensibly Earth, was nothing like the home of her adolescence.
Her crew was gone. The status of the Reaper threat was an unknown. Any sign of her old life was gone, from her ship to her omni-tool. There was no mission.
The mirror was fogging again, leftover steam from the shower clouding it over. Adelaide Shepard reached out and drew a clear stripe in the surface so she could stare some more.
What was it Garrus said, the reason he'd gone to Omega? He'd asked himself, What would Shepard do, right?
Sounded like as good an idea as any.
Shepard met her own eyes in the mirror. "Okay, Shepard. What would you do?"