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004 ☆彡
Player Information
Name: 'Drea
Contact:![[plurk.com profile]](https://plurk.com/favicon.ico)
sovereignty
Age: 20 something
Other Characters: n/a
Character Information
Name: Commander "Jane" Shepard
Canon: Mass Effect series
Canon Point: Mass Effect 2 before the collectors attack the Normandy
Age: 31 (or 29 if you want to subtract the two years she was dead)
History: Mass Effect is one of those fun choose your own adventure type games, and by fun we mean things can get wildly confusing and headache inducing especially where Shepards are concerned because everything from looks and background to decisions that affect the world and plot are at least partially in the hands of the players. But here's some background information to get started:
http://masseffect.wikia.com/wiki/Timeline Universe Timeline
http://masseffect.wikia.com/wiki/Mass_Effect_Guide Events of Mass Effect
http://masseffect.wikia.com/wiki/Stop_the_Collectors Events of Mass Effect 2
http://masseffect.wikia.com/wiki/Mass_Effect_3_Guide Events of Mass Effect 3
http://masseffect.wikia.com/wiki/Commander_Shepard Shepard’s spartan page
Now let’s look at the dirty details of this Shepard.
Commander Jane Shepard of the Systems Alliance was born on Earth on April 11, 2154. Growing up as an orphan in one of the mega-cities of her time (never specified), Shepard ran with a gang known as the Tenth Street Reds, to survive and eke out a living on her own. Upon turning 18, she enlists with the Alliance to break away from this life of crime although her past continues to dog her well into her career. The Reds track her down, and appeal to old loyalties to try and extort a favor of her. But the Reds have since shifted their motives from petty gang activities like drug running to one with decidedly human supremacist overtones. The threaten to out the commander as being connected to them if she refuses to help but Shepard stands firm by stating her past is public record and her association with the gang ended long before they turn down such an unsavory path.
It would seem that Shepard was identified early on as a talented soldier with a promising future as evidenced by comments made by Admiral David Anderson -- something of a mentor and even father figure to the commander. She solidified this belief and really made a name for herself not long after the Skyllian Blitz. While Shepard was not the hero of the Blitz she was still present during the attack on the colony of Elysium in 2176. There, the minimal forces present held off the batarian backed pirates and mercenaries long enough for Alliance reinforcement to arrive and drive them off.
Perhaps due in part to her participation in the Blitz, she was selected to lead an attack two years later on the batarian strongholds of Torfan. Shepard was ruthless in her revenge against the aliens that attacked Elysium, going so far as to sacrifice a full three quarters of her own unit to pursue them. Her actions earned her the title of "The Butcher of Torfan" as a result but also cemented her reputation as someone driven and capable of doing what needs to be done.
At some point before the start of the series (though not clearly fixed within the continuity of other pre-series events), Shepard's talents earn her a place in N-School where she trains for Alliance special forces and eventually graduates as an N7, the highest level. Just being accepted into the program is a mark of distinction so her success there is further proof of her abilities.
In 2183, the SSV Normandy, a prototype stealth frigate, is commissioned. When the ship comes under the command of Anderson, he selects Shepard as his executive officer. And so the game begins.
Mass Effect begins with what is supposed to be a routine mission to obtain a special artefact from a human colony, as well as an opportunity to evaluate Shepard for spectre candidacy (a first for humans). Of course it wouldn't be much of a game if everything didn't go awry. They find the artefact -- a Prothean beacon -- but they also find the turian Spectre Saren Arterius who has apparently gone rogue and aligned himself with the geth, an kind of artificial intelligence that is considered hostile to the galaxy. Saren kills the Spectre Nihlus, who accompanied our team on the mission and uses the beacon himself for his own purposes. Upon arrival at the beacon, the Normandy team finds it's already active and Kaidan Alenko carelessly stumbles into its beam but Shepard pushes him out of the way and is subjected to it instead.
Shepard receives a vision from the beacon that is a jumbled collection of images and sounds that are hard to make out but she describes it as a nightmare and feels there is certainly something ominous about it. But the priority is to return to the council on the Citadel and report on what occurred on the colony. Unfortunately the council doesn't accept Shepard's proof that Saren is a traitor and refuses to help and thus begins their consistent and obnoxious trend that continues for the next three games. Furthermore, Shepard is rejected as a Spectre.
Now it's up to her to find proof of Saren's betrayal which she encounters in Tali'zorah nar Rayya. Tali has a clip of that incriminates Saren in the attack on the colony and further mentions their goal of bringing back the Reapers. Now Shepard's beacon visions starts to make sense. It was showing her a vision of the Reapers from the path. Furthermore it explains the involvement of the geth who revere the Reapers as the pinnacle of AI evolution, a kind of god to them. With this evidence, the council can no longer deny that Saren has gone rogue and Shepard is made a Spectre with the task of hunting him down. Anderson steps down as the commanding officer of the Normandy because Shepard will need her own ship and crew from this mission.
Thus begins their journey. Shepard is successful at assembling a diverse crew of many different galactic species -- something of a rarity in the galaxy -- that are all loyal and dedicated to taking down Saren. In addition to the quarian Tali, she enlists the help of Garrus, a turian and former C-Sec officer -- a kind of police force on the Citadel -- who was in charge of investigating the initial charges brought against Saren, as well as Urdot Wrex, a krogan bounty hunter who later claims he wanted to fight for something more than money. On Therum you find Liara, an asari expert on the Protheans and daughter of Matriarch Benezia who was proven to be conspiring with Saren in Tali's clip. Together with the humans Kaidan and Ashley, they form your ground team for the first game.
The mission takes them to Feros where they encounter the Thorian, a plant-like life form that can control organic species to work for it and protect it. Unfortunately, Shepard is forced to kill the Thorian which has turned hostile on the human colony. It turns out that the Thorian was an ancient life form that preceded even the Protheans and was ignored by the reapers since it was isolated from galactic civilization. The Thorian has knowledge of the Protheans that would allow one to understand the beacon better, and although the Thorian is dead, Shiala, the asari Shepard saves from it is still able to share the cipher with her. Shepard's actions enabled her to save the colony and they will support her in the upcoming invasion.
On Noveria, they encounter the rachni -- an old species thought to be extinct -- and finally track down Matriarch Benezia who reacts with animosity and Shepard's team is forced to engage her in a fight. But before the battle is over she seems to break free of the forces controlling her and admits to your team that Saren's ship, Sovereign, is capable of controlling minds and it is the real threat they are facing but it is unclear why. Benezia was sent to Noveria because they were searching for the Mu relay which they believe will lead them to the conduit and the rachni queen, with her genetic memories would have knowledge of it. Benezia can not be saved from Sovereign's thrall but after she dies the rachni queen speaks to Shepard and begs for her freedom, claiming that they were not acting with free will when they waged war with the galaxy in the past. Ultimately Shepard decides to take the chance and frees the queen.
Finally, the crew arrives on Virmire where they have been informed of the presence of a recon team who discovered Saren's activity there. On the ground they find labs where Saren has cured the genophage -- the forced near sterilization of the krogan -- and is breeding krogan in labs to further bolster his army. It is decided that the best course of action is to blow up the facility which upsets your resident krogan, Wrex. However, Shepard made a point of getting to know her crew throughout the mission and even went so far as to recover his family's heirloom armor that was stolen from them turning the krogan rebellion. Thus, she is easily able to convince Wrex she believes what they're doing is for the best as the krogan Saren is creating would only be slaves to his cause.
They manage to infiltrate the facility where they find another beacon like the one they first encountered only this one seems more complete and Liara should be able to make sense of it now. Before they can leave however, they are contacted by Sovereign who proves to be, not just a reaper ship but an actual reaper sent as a vanguard for the rest of the fleet which they in the process of trying to bring to the galaxy. The Normandy still managed to plant the bomb but the team is split up when Saren and the geth make a final push to stop them. Shepard is forced to make a decision no commanding officer ever wants to make. She must sacrifice one of her teammates to ensure the success of the mission as well as the rest of the crew's survival. Ultimately, she chooses to save Kaidan who was protecting the bomb because if it fails then the sacrifice would be in vain. As a sort of pyrrhic plus, the Normandy also manages to save the salarian recon team including their captain, Kirrahe.
With beacon's vision now in tact, Liara realizes the conduit is on Ilos which explains the need to find the Mu relay. They intend to return to the Citadel to enlist the help of the council and their fleet to stop Saren once and for all but once again they put about as much faith in Shepard as an atheist in god and, furthermore, detain the Normandy to prevent them from causing even more trouble.
Ultimately they escape but the delay means they arrive on Ilos two seconds too late and they are forced to chase after Saren. In the process they encounter Vigil. In the process they encounter Vigil, a Prothean virtual intelligence (VI) that relates the whole story of the reaper cycle. It turns out the reapers are an advanced hybrid synthetic lifeform that have existed for millions of years. Every 50,000 years they return from dark space to cull the galaxy of organic life.
Furthermore the Citadel was actually built by them and it is an enormous mass relay that allows them to return. However the Protheans resisted and although they ultimately failed, they managed to delay the return of the current cycle as well as build the conduit which is a small mass relay that links to inside the Citadel. Now it's up to the heroes to do the rest.
They follow Saren through the conduit and succeed in taking him down. This weakens Sovereign and gives the Citadel and Alliance fleets the change to attack it. However, Shepard is forced to sacrifice the council who was under attack by Sovereign, believing the full force of the Alliance was needed to be kept in reserve until they had their opening. This means humanity is in a position to assert a place for themselves on the new council and Shepard believes that Anderson would be the best person for the job.
And then she goes and gets herself killed.
Okay backup. After the battle of Citadel -- of which Shepard is named the hero -- the Normandy is tasked with uncovering the remaining pockets of geth activity and eliminating them. Because there's nothing like putting the best and brightest on cleanup duty when there's genocidal race of ancient machine overlords to defeat. But such is Shepard's life. And she does it. For a few months. Until a mysterious ship shows up during their search and pretty much annihilates the Normandy. Shepard gets caught in the blast trying to rescue her crew -- namely her pilot Joker -- and ends up what is tactfully known as spaced.
So begins Mass Effect 2. This game is a bit more straightforward. The wikia does a better job of covering it so let's try to make this quick.
It wouldn't be much of a game if they just went and offed Shepard and that's that. She's absolutely dead of course, nothing but meat and tubes, as a crewmate so eloquently puts it. Fortunately, there's an organization out there with massive resources that have determined that Shepard is crucial for the upcoming war with the reapers, particularly when that threat is being systematically ignored by just about every other faction in the galaxy.
Enter Cerberus. Actually Cerberus was an annoying thorn in Shepard's side in the first game that just wouldn't let the Normandy and company get on with the main mission without popping up now and again with their sick human experiments and general terrorist activities. Too bad Shepard is indebted to them for bringing her back to life and even giving her a shiny new Normandy for the next mission.
Turns out a mysterious race known as the Collectors has been abducting entire human colonies and not even the Alliance is doing much about it. Cerberus, who purports to have humanity's best interests at heart, tasks Shepard with putting a stop to this.
Since it's been two years since her death, the first task is putting a crew back together, since those of the original Normandy have moved on and even disappeared in some cases. But Shepard's team building talents allowed her to amass an even more impressive crew through the course of the game, including a couple of familiar faces like Garrus and Tali.
The mission lands them on Horizon which proves that the Collectors are indeed the source of the attacks and that they are targeting humans and Shepard in particular as evidenced by the fact that Kaidan just happened to be stationed there. Not long after, the team travels to a disabled Collector ship to gather information but this proves to be a trap, one the Illusive Man, the head of Cerberus, was well aware of. But they manage to escape and even learn of a way to travel through the Omega 4 relay which will allow them to attack the Collector home base. What they need is an Identify Friend Foe (IFF) transponder. This particular piece of technology is of reaper design thus providing a connection between the Collectors actions and the reaper invasion as well. They find the IFF on a derelict reaper ship that was destroyed millennia ago and resume preparing for their final attack on the Collectors.
Now, this attack is very likely going to be a suicide mission which means Shepard and her team need to be at their best to tackle it. She makes a point of ensuring that her entire crew has sorted out any unfinished business they have so they can face the threat with clear heads and hearts. However before they are completely ready, the Collectors attack the Normandy while Shepard and the ground team are away on a mission and abduct almost the entire crew. Only the pilot, Joker, and the Normandy's AI, EDI, prevent the ship itself from being taken. At this point they have no choice but to attack the Collectors lest they lose their crewmates in the delay.
Miraculously, the team manages to survive with almost no casualties although they are faced with the horrifying reality that the attacks were part of a project to built a new reaper using humans as some kind of base genetic material. The Illusive Man would have Shepard save the base itself for research they could use to prepare for the invasion she sees the temptation for what it is and chooses to destroy the base. After being jerked around by Cerberus enough, realizing that she cannot keep their dealings ethical for much longer Shepard decides to cut her ties and take the Normandy for herself to continue the task of stopping the reapers.
It's at this point the Alliance sends her on a mission to investigate an artefact in batarian space. The artefact turns out to be a sort of countdown to the arrival of the reapers. Once they reach the Alpha relay there they will be free to disperse throughout the rest of the galaxy. If they can cut them off there, it would take them months to reach the next relay, precious time that could be used to bolster the galaxy's defense. Ultimately, Shepard must blow up the Alpha relay, dooming nearly an entire species in order to preserve hope for the rest.
Although she could take the Normandy and her crew and run, she instead returns to Earth where the Alliance grounds her and confiscates the Normandy for her actions against the batarians. And this is where we find her in Mass Effect 3.
Since Shepard will be played from a canon point before this game, I will only briefly relate some important decisions from the last game. When the reaper war reaches Earth, Shepard resumes her command of the Normandy and is tasked with uniting the galaxy in the fight. Divided they stand no chance and even together it's a long shot. Still, Shepard manages to assist in curing the krogan genophage, easing thousands of years of tension between krogans and turians. She also upsets an attempted coup by the human councilor Udina. The geth and the quarians pick the absolute best time to start up a new war and while it seems like only one side will remain to live on the homeworld Rannoch, Shepard brokers peace between them that will see them living and working together in the end.
All the major players in the galaxy come together under her influence, to build the crucible -- a weapon believed to be capable of beating the reapers somehow -- as well as hold out long enough to see it in action. Cerberus continues to dog her through this mission but she finally takes down their base before the final assault on Earth. As is only right, Shepard is there from the beginning to the very end of the reaper war where she is faced with the difficult choice of how it will all end. She chooses to control the reapers, a decision that she believes will preserve the greatest amount of life without sacrificing the free will of the galaxy to develop along the lines it chooses for itself.
Personality: From an orphan scrounging around on the streets of earth to one of the most accomplished humans in the galaxy, Shepard is nothing if not driven. She is the sort of woman that looks adversity right in the eyes and then spits in its face. Which is just as well because she faces a hell of a lot of it. From the very beginning Shepard had to struggle to make something of herself, and even through the course of the game it often feels like she's fighting a losing battle between the omnipresent threat of the reapers, the endless mercenaries and terrorists getting in her way and the politicians around her that constantly balk at the threats she's trying to fight. Sometimes adversity even comes from her own hands and she has to deal with the mistakes she's made along the way. But through it all she grins and she bears it often with a sharp retort at the ready for anyone that comes in her sights. Because she knows the alternative isn't an option.
Lesser people would likely crumple under the weight that's been placed on her shoulders. But Shepard doesn't just pick up the weight, she carries it with near unfaltering conviction. Given the stakes they're often facing, if she hesitates, people die. She doesn't shirk the responsibility of making the tough calls but that doesn't mean she takes them lightly either. In the heat of the moment, the right call often comes down to what they call the "ruthless calculus of war". Shepard tends to act out of a certain sense of justice and doing what's right and also making sure people get what they deserve but she doesn't forget what's she's really fighting for either. When it comes down serving justice or saving innocent lives, the later always takes precedence, a lesson she learned the hard way through incidents like Torfan.
Those incidents, especially the ones where the right decisions aren't clearly delineated in black and white still weight on her however. When she makes a bad call, when things go awry, she willingly takes responsibility for it, regardless of how much of it could really be considered her fault. By the third game, all that blood on her hands, whether by her design or not, really starts to catch up with her in the form of nightmares. They're facing impossible odds and it's hard for her not to wonder if all the loss will be worth it in the end, if they really have a chance or they're fighting against the inevitable.
In spite of that, Shepard is still a very capable leader who always appears very well put together for herself as much as for others. There’s barely time to breath let alone wallow. She still picks herself up and moves forward because it's almost as if she doesn't know how to run in any other direction, even if it's headfirst into trouble.
Neither does she know how to slow down. In fact, in spite of being in command of her own ship, bearing a rank that places her outside the jurisdiction of the alliance military, she still has to be given orders from an admiral to take some down time for the good of her and her entire crew. For Shepard, there's the job and there's not much else outside of that. Mostly of the time she's all business. Otherwise, it quickly becomes clear that she's out of her element and doesn't know what to do with herself. While she's all sharpness and wit while looking down the barrel of a gun, she's just as prone to shoving her foot in her mouth in social situations. Perhaps that's where her obsessive hobby of collecting everything from model ships to artefacts to animals stems from; anything to keep busy.
Which is not to say that her crew suffers because of this. Far from it, their needs often take priority to everything but the mission, in part because she knows how things like that can affect their mission. Many characters comment on how she goes out of her way to spend time with the crew, rubbing shoulders with them and personally taking an interest in their most basic needs and concerns. She runs shopping errands as readily as rescue missions for family that's in trouble. She demands a lot from them and it's only fair that she take care of them in turn. After all, she relies on them just as much for their support as their abilities.
When it comes down to it, Shepard is the one who will put herself on the line before anyone else. She’s the one the lead the charges, takes the falls and pushes all the buttons. If she had her way, there would be no calculus; there would always be a way. And she’s proven that she can and does put her life on the line for causes great and small. In that way, she’s not always looking at the big pictures but taking every challenge as they come, seeing that most life is as important as the whole civilization, and every bit as worthy of her time.
That is perhaps what makes her such a remarkable leader. It is said that she has the stuff that makes people willing to follow her into hell -- a sentiment expressed by more than one of her crewmates. She doesn't make light of what they're getting themselves into but she gives them a reason to believe in both her and her cause. It becomes their cause and together they are greater than the sum of their parts. And they have faith that she will get it done. Many of them truly believe that she's the only one that can.
Abilities: Shepard is entirely human with no particularly supernatural abilities however she is an accomplished and decorated soldier. As an infiltrator, she is particularly proficient with pistols, submachine guns and sniper rifles. She is an expert at computer hacking and she can even hack temporary allies from hostile synthetics. She frequently employs the use of a kind of invisibility cloak, favoring stealth and subterfuge to a full frontal assault whenever possible. Physically she's in peak form, capable of taking down people over twice her size in hand to hand combat.
After her death and subsequent reconstruction she possesses many cybernetic enhancements that facilitate accelerated healing and even resistance to some types of damage. For example she has an alcohol tolerance that is through the roof -- although that doesn't save her from waking up on the bathroom floor once or twice -- and she's even the first to survive an attempted a poisoning attempt.
On the other side of things, Shepard has a near legendary inability to dance.
Strengths: Charismatic, Tenacious, Decisive, Cunning, Amicable
Weaknesses: Self-sacrificing, Reckless, Forceful, Anxious, Vengeful
God/Shinki: God
Why?: Shepard is a born leader, the kind that can bring people together and command unyielding loyalty. As a soldier she would certainly make a fine and loyal Shinki as well but her talents would be wasted. In a way, Shepard is similar to Bishamonten in that she sees the value of all life and would go out of her way, even putting her own life on the line the protect it. She understands what it means to be responsible for a ship, a planet, even a whole galaxy and she would carry out the responsibilities of a god with all the same conviction.
Top Choice:
The Morrígan
God Type: Shepard would accept any and all prayers. Shepard is the sort of woman that completes every mission from saving the galaxy from mass extinction, to routine data collection, to helping random civilians out with their baby woes. She would leave no prayer unanswered. That doesn't mean she would deal with them all in a universally benevolent way but as a kind of anti-hero it can be said she would still act out of a sense of what she believes is right and best for the situation.
Power: Shape-shifting. Shepard will be able to shape-shift into a crow.
Name: 'Drea
Contact:
Age: 20 something
Other Characters: n/a
Character Information
Name: Commander "Jane" Shepard
Canon: Mass Effect series
Canon Point: Mass Effect 2 before the collectors attack the Normandy
Age: 31 (or 29 if you want to subtract the two years she was dead)
History: Mass Effect is one of those fun choose your own adventure type games, and by fun we mean things can get wildly confusing and headache inducing especially where Shepards are concerned because everything from looks and background to decisions that affect the world and plot are at least partially in the hands of the players. But here's some background information to get started:
http://masseffect.wikia.com/wiki/Timeline Universe Timeline
http://masseffect.wikia.com/wiki/Mass_Effect_Guide Events of Mass Effect
http://masseffect.wikia.com/wiki/Stop_the_Collectors Events of Mass Effect 2
http://masseffect.wikia.com/wiki/Mass_Effect_3_Guide Events of Mass Effect 3
http://masseffect.wikia.com/wiki/Commander_Shepard Shepard’s spartan page
Now let’s look at the dirty details of this Shepard.
Commander Jane Shepard of the Systems Alliance was born on Earth on April 11, 2154. Growing up as an orphan in one of the mega-cities of her time (never specified), Shepard ran with a gang known as the Tenth Street Reds, to survive and eke out a living on her own. Upon turning 18, she enlists with the Alliance to break away from this life of crime although her past continues to dog her well into her career. The Reds track her down, and appeal to old loyalties to try and extort a favor of her. But the Reds have since shifted their motives from petty gang activities like drug running to one with decidedly human supremacist overtones. The threaten to out the commander as being connected to them if she refuses to help but Shepard stands firm by stating her past is public record and her association with the gang ended long before they turn down such an unsavory path.
It would seem that Shepard was identified early on as a talented soldier with a promising future as evidenced by comments made by Admiral David Anderson -- something of a mentor and even father figure to the commander. She solidified this belief and really made a name for herself not long after the Skyllian Blitz. While Shepard was not the hero of the Blitz she was still present during the attack on the colony of Elysium in 2176. There, the minimal forces present held off the batarian backed pirates and mercenaries long enough for Alliance reinforcement to arrive and drive them off.
Perhaps due in part to her participation in the Blitz, she was selected to lead an attack two years later on the batarian strongholds of Torfan. Shepard was ruthless in her revenge against the aliens that attacked Elysium, going so far as to sacrifice a full three quarters of her own unit to pursue them. Her actions earned her the title of "The Butcher of Torfan" as a result but also cemented her reputation as someone driven and capable of doing what needs to be done.
At some point before the start of the series (though not clearly fixed within the continuity of other pre-series events), Shepard's talents earn her a place in N-School where she trains for Alliance special forces and eventually graduates as an N7, the highest level. Just being accepted into the program is a mark of distinction so her success there is further proof of her abilities.
In 2183, the SSV Normandy, a prototype stealth frigate, is commissioned. When the ship comes under the command of Anderson, he selects Shepard as his executive officer. And so the game begins.
Mass Effect begins with what is supposed to be a routine mission to obtain a special artefact from a human colony, as well as an opportunity to evaluate Shepard for spectre candidacy (a first for humans). Of course it wouldn't be much of a game if everything didn't go awry. They find the artefact -- a Prothean beacon -- but they also find the turian Spectre Saren Arterius who has apparently gone rogue and aligned himself with the geth, an kind of artificial intelligence that is considered hostile to the galaxy. Saren kills the Spectre Nihlus, who accompanied our team on the mission and uses the beacon himself for his own purposes. Upon arrival at the beacon, the Normandy team finds it's already active and Kaidan Alenko carelessly stumbles into its beam but Shepard pushes him out of the way and is subjected to it instead.
Shepard receives a vision from the beacon that is a jumbled collection of images and sounds that are hard to make out but she describes it as a nightmare and feels there is certainly something ominous about it. But the priority is to return to the council on the Citadel and report on what occurred on the colony. Unfortunately the council doesn't accept Shepard's proof that Saren is a traitor and refuses to help and thus begins their consistent and obnoxious trend that continues for the next three games. Furthermore, Shepard is rejected as a Spectre.
Now it's up to her to find proof of Saren's betrayal which she encounters in Tali'zorah nar Rayya. Tali has a clip of that incriminates Saren in the attack on the colony and further mentions their goal of bringing back the Reapers. Now Shepard's beacon visions starts to make sense. It was showing her a vision of the Reapers from the path. Furthermore it explains the involvement of the geth who revere the Reapers as the pinnacle of AI evolution, a kind of god to them. With this evidence, the council can no longer deny that Saren has gone rogue and Shepard is made a Spectre with the task of hunting him down. Anderson steps down as the commanding officer of the Normandy because Shepard will need her own ship and crew from this mission.
Thus begins their journey. Shepard is successful at assembling a diverse crew of many different galactic species -- something of a rarity in the galaxy -- that are all loyal and dedicated to taking down Saren. In addition to the quarian Tali, she enlists the help of Garrus, a turian and former C-Sec officer -- a kind of police force on the Citadel -- who was in charge of investigating the initial charges brought against Saren, as well as Urdot Wrex, a krogan bounty hunter who later claims he wanted to fight for something more than money. On Therum you find Liara, an asari expert on the Protheans and daughter of Matriarch Benezia who was proven to be conspiring with Saren in Tali's clip. Together with the humans Kaidan and Ashley, they form your ground team for the first game.
The mission takes them to Feros where they encounter the Thorian, a plant-like life form that can control organic species to work for it and protect it. Unfortunately, Shepard is forced to kill the Thorian which has turned hostile on the human colony. It turns out that the Thorian was an ancient life form that preceded even the Protheans and was ignored by the reapers since it was isolated from galactic civilization. The Thorian has knowledge of the Protheans that would allow one to understand the beacon better, and although the Thorian is dead, Shiala, the asari Shepard saves from it is still able to share the cipher with her. Shepard's actions enabled her to save the colony and they will support her in the upcoming invasion.
On Noveria, they encounter the rachni -- an old species thought to be extinct -- and finally track down Matriarch Benezia who reacts with animosity and Shepard's team is forced to engage her in a fight. But before the battle is over she seems to break free of the forces controlling her and admits to your team that Saren's ship, Sovereign, is capable of controlling minds and it is the real threat they are facing but it is unclear why. Benezia was sent to Noveria because they were searching for the Mu relay which they believe will lead them to the conduit and the rachni queen, with her genetic memories would have knowledge of it. Benezia can not be saved from Sovereign's thrall but after she dies the rachni queen speaks to Shepard and begs for her freedom, claiming that they were not acting with free will when they waged war with the galaxy in the past. Ultimately Shepard decides to take the chance and frees the queen.
Finally, the crew arrives on Virmire where they have been informed of the presence of a recon team who discovered Saren's activity there. On the ground they find labs where Saren has cured the genophage -- the forced near sterilization of the krogan -- and is breeding krogan in labs to further bolster his army. It is decided that the best course of action is to blow up the facility which upsets your resident krogan, Wrex. However, Shepard made a point of getting to know her crew throughout the mission and even went so far as to recover his family's heirloom armor that was stolen from them turning the krogan rebellion. Thus, she is easily able to convince Wrex she believes what they're doing is for the best as the krogan Saren is creating would only be slaves to his cause.
They manage to infiltrate the facility where they find another beacon like the one they first encountered only this one seems more complete and Liara should be able to make sense of it now. Before they can leave however, they are contacted by Sovereign who proves to be, not just a reaper ship but an actual reaper sent as a vanguard for the rest of the fleet which they in the process of trying to bring to the galaxy. The Normandy still managed to plant the bomb but the team is split up when Saren and the geth make a final push to stop them. Shepard is forced to make a decision no commanding officer ever wants to make. She must sacrifice one of her teammates to ensure the success of the mission as well as the rest of the crew's survival. Ultimately, she chooses to save Kaidan who was protecting the bomb because if it fails then the sacrifice would be in vain. As a sort of pyrrhic plus, the Normandy also manages to save the salarian recon team including their captain, Kirrahe.
With beacon's vision now in tact, Liara realizes the conduit is on Ilos which explains the need to find the Mu relay. They intend to return to the Citadel to enlist the help of the council and their fleet to stop Saren once and for all but once again they put about as much faith in Shepard as an atheist in god and, furthermore, detain the Normandy to prevent them from causing even more trouble.
Ultimately they escape but the delay means they arrive on Ilos two seconds too late and they are forced to chase after Saren. In the process they encounter Vigil. In the process they encounter Vigil, a Prothean virtual intelligence (VI) that relates the whole story of the reaper cycle. It turns out the reapers are an advanced hybrid synthetic lifeform that have existed for millions of years. Every 50,000 years they return from dark space to cull the galaxy of organic life.
Furthermore the Citadel was actually built by them and it is an enormous mass relay that allows them to return. However the Protheans resisted and although they ultimately failed, they managed to delay the return of the current cycle as well as build the conduit which is a small mass relay that links to inside the Citadel. Now it's up to the heroes to do the rest.
They follow Saren through the conduit and succeed in taking him down. This weakens Sovereign and gives the Citadel and Alliance fleets the change to attack it. However, Shepard is forced to sacrifice the council who was under attack by Sovereign, believing the full force of the Alliance was needed to be kept in reserve until they had their opening. This means humanity is in a position to assert a place for themselves on the new council and Shepard believes that Anderson would be the best person for the job.
And then she goes and gets herself killed.
Okay backup. After the battle of Citadel -- of which Shepard is named the hero -- the Normandy is tasked with uncovering the remaining pockets of geth activity and eliminating them. Because there's nothing like putting the best and brightest on cleanup duty when there's genocidal race of ancient machine overlords to defeat. But such is Shepard's life. And she does it. For a few months. Until a mysterious ship shows up during their search and pretty much annihilates the Normandy. Shepard gets caught in the blast trying to rescue her crew -- namely her pilot Joker -- and ends up what is tactfully known as spaced.
So begins Mass Effect 2. This game is a bit more straightforward. The wikia does a better job of covering it so let's try to make this quick.
It wouldn't be much of a game if they just went and offed Shepard and that's that. She's absolutely dead of course, nothing but meat and tubes, as a crewmate so eloquently puts it. Fortunately, there's an organization out there with massive resources that have determined that Shepard is crucial for the upcoming war with the reapers, particularly when that threat is being systematically ignored by just about every other faction in the galaxy.
Enter Cerberus. Actually Cerberus was an annoying thorn in Shepard's side in the first game that just wouldn't let the Normandy and company get on with the main mission without popping up now and again with their sick human experiments and general terrorist activities. Too bad Shepard is indebted to them for bringing her back to life and even giving her a shiny new Normandy for the next mission.
Turns out a mysterious race known as the Collectors has been abducting entire human colonies and not even the Alliance is doing much about it. Cerberus, who purports to have humanity's best interests at heart, tasks Shepard with putting a stop to this.
Since it's been two years since her death, the first task is putting a crew back together, since those of the original Normandy have moved on and even disappeared in some cases. But Shepard's team building talents allowed her to amass an even more impressive crew through the course of the game, including a couple of familiar faces like Garrus and Tali.
The mission lands them on Horizon which proves that the Collectors are indeed the source of the attacks and that they are targeting humans and Shepard in particular as evidenced by the fact that Kaidan just happened to be stationed there. Not long after, the team travels to a disabled Collector ship to gather information but this proves to be a trap, one the Illusive Man, the head of Cerberus, was well aware of. But they manage to escape and even learn of a way to travel through the Omega 4 relay which will allow them to attack the Collector home base. What they need is an Identify Friend Foe (IFF) transponder. This particular piece of technology is of reaper design thus providing a connection between the Collectors actions and the reaper invasion as well. They find the IFF on a derelict reaper ship that was destroyed millennia ago and resume preparing for their final attack on the Collectors.
Now, this attack is very likely going to be a suicide mission which means Shepard and her team need to be at their best to tackle it. She makes a point of ensuring that her entire crew has sorted out any unfinished business they have so they can face the threat with clear heads and hearts. However before they are completely ready, the Collectors attack the Normandy while Shepard and the ground team are away on a mission and abduct almost the entire crew. Only the pilot, Joker, and the Normandy's AI, EDI, prevent the ship itself from being taken. At this point they have no choice but to attack the Collectors lest they lose their crewmates in the delay.
Miraculously, the team manages to survive with almost no casualties although they are faced with the horrifying reality that the attacks were part of a project to built a new reaper using humans as some kind of base genetic material. The Illusive Man would have Shepard save the base itself for research they could use to prepare for the invasion she sees the temptation for what it is and chooses to destroy the base. After being jerked around by Cerberus enough, realizing that she cannot keep their dealings ethical for much longer Shepard decides to cut her ties and take the Normandy for herself to continue the task of stopping the reapers.
It's at this point the Alliance sends her on a mission to investigate an artefact in batarian space. The artefact turns out to be a sort of countdown to the arrival of the reapers. Once they reach the Alpha relay there they will be free to disperse throughout the rest of the galaxy. If they can cut them off there, it would take them months to reach the next relay, precious time that could be used to bolster the galaxy's defense. Ultimately, Shepard must blow up the Alpha relay, dooming nearly an entire species in order to preserve hope for the rest.
Although she could take the Normandy and her crew and run, she instead returns to Earth where the Alliance grounds her and confiscates the Normandy for her actions against the batarians. And this is where we find her in Mass Effect 3.
Since Shepard will be played from a canon point before this game, I will only briefly relate some important decisions from the last game. When the reaper war reaches Earth, Shepard resumes her command of the Normandy and is tasked with uniting the galaxy in the fight. Divided they stand no chance and even together it's a long shot. Still, Shepard manages to assist in curing the krogan genophage, easing thousands of years of tension between krogans and turians. She also upsets an attempted coup by the human councilor Udina. The geth and the quarians pick the absolute best time to start up a new war and while it seems like only one side will remain to live on the homeworld Rannoch, Shepard brokers peace between them that will see them living and working together in the end.
All the major players in the galaxy come together under her influence, to build the crucible -- a weapon believed to be capable of beating the reapers somehow -- as well as hold out long enough to see it in action. Cerberus continues to dog her through this mission but she finally takes down their base before the final assault on Earth. As is only right, Shepard is there from the beginning to the very end of the reaper war where she is faced with the difficult choice of how it will all end. She chooses to control the reapers, a decision that she believes will preserve the greatest amount of life without sacrificing the free will of the galaxy to develop along the lines it chooses for itself.
Personality: From an orphan scrounging around on the streets of earth to one of the most accomplished humans in the galaxy, Shepard is nothing if not driven. She is the sort of woman that looks adversity right in the eyes and then spits in its face. Which is just as well because she faces a hell of a lot of it. From the very beginning Shepard had to struggle to make something of herself, and even through the course of the game it often feels like she's fighting a losing battle between the omnipresent threat of the reapers, the endless mercenaries and terrorists getting in her way and the politicians around her that constantly balk at the threats she's trying to fight. Sometimes adversity even comes from her own hands and she has to deal with the mistakes she's made along the way. But through it all she grins and she bears it often with a sharp retort at the ready for anyone that comes in her sights. Because she knows the alternative isn't an option.
Lesser people would likely crumple under the weight that's been placed on her shoulders. But Shepard doesn't just pick up the weight, she carries it with near unfaltering conviction. Given the stakes they're often facing, if she hesitates, people die. She doesn't shirk the responsibility of making the tough calls but that doesn't mean she takes them lightly either. In the heat of the moment, the right call often comes down to what they call the "ruthless calculus of war". Shepard tends to act out of a certain sense of justice and doing what's right and also making sure people get what they deserve but she doesn't forget what's she's really fighting for either. When it comes down serving justice or saving innocent lives, the later always takes precedence, a lesson she learned the hard way through incidents like Torfan.
Those incidents, especially the ones where the right decisions aren't clearly delineated in black and white still weight on her however. When she makes a bad call, when things go awry, she willingly takes responsibility for it, regardless of how much of it could really be considered her fault. By the third game, all that blood on her hands, whether by her design or not, really starts to catch up with her in the form of nightmares. They're facing impossible odds and it's hard for her not to wonder if all the loss will be worth it in the end, if they really have a chance or they're fighting against the inevitable.
In spite of that, Shepard is still a very capable leader who always appears very well put together for herself as much as for others. There’s barely time to breath let alone wallow. She still picks herself up and moves forward because it's almost as if she doesn't know how to run in any other direction, even if it's headfirst into trouble.
Neither does she know how to slow down. In fact, in spite of being in command of her own ship, bearing a rank that places her outside the jurisdiction of the alliance military, she still has to be given orders from an admiral to take some down time for the good of her and her entire crew. For Shepard, there's the job and there's not much else outside of that. Mostly of the time she's all business. Otherwise, it quickly becomes clear that she's out of her element and doesn't know what to do with herself. While she's all sharpness and wit while looking down the barrel of a gun, she's just as prone to shoving her foot in her mouth in social situations. Perhaps that's where her obsessive hobby of collecting everything from model ships to artefacts to animals stems from; anything to keep busy.
Which is not to say that her crew suffers because of this. Far from it, their needs often take priority to everything but the mission, in part because she knows how things like that can affect their mission. Many characters comment on how she goes out of her way to spend time with the crew, rubbing shoulders with them and personally taking an interest in their most basic needs and concerns. She runs shopping errands as readily as rescue missions for family that's in trouble. She demands a lot from them and it's only fair that she take care of them in turn. After all, she relies on them just as much for their support as their abilities.
When it comes down to it, Shepard is the one who will put herself on the line before anyone else. She’s the one the lead the charges, takes the falls and pushes all the buttons. If she had her way, there would be no calculus; there would always be a way. And she’s proven that she can and does put her life on the line for causes great and small. In that way, she’s not always looking at the big pictures but taking every challenge as they come, seeing that most life is as important as the whole civilization, and every bit as worthy of her time.
That is perhaps what makes her such a remarkable leader. It is said that she has the stuff that makes people willing to follow her into hell -- a sentiment expressed by more than one of her crewmates. She doesn't make light of what they're getting themselves into but she gives them a reason to believe in both her and her cause. It becomes their cause and together they are greater than the sum of their parts. And they have faith that she will get it done. Many of them truly believe that she's the only one that can.
Abilities: Shepard is entirely human with no particularly supernatural abilities however she is an accomplished and decorated soldier. As an infiltrator, she is particularly proficient with pistols, submachine guns and sniper rifles. She is an expert at computer hacking and she can even hack temporary allies from hostile synthetics. She frequently employs the use of a kind of invisibility cloak, favoring stealth and subterfuge to a full frontal assault whenever possible. Physically she's in peak form, capable of taking down people over twice her size in hand to hand combat.
After her death and subsequent reconstruction she possesses many cybernetic enhancements that facilitate accelerated healing and even resistance to some types of damage. For example she has an alcohol tolerance that is through the roof -- although that doesn't save her from waking up on the bathroom floor once or twice -- and she's even the first to survive an attempted a poisoning attempt.
On the other side of things, Shepard has a near legendary inability to dance.
Strengths: Charismatic, Tenacious, Decisive, Cunning, Amicable
Weaknesses: Self-sacrificing, Reckless, Forceful, Anxious, Vengeful
God/Shinki: God
Why?: Shepard is a born leader, the kind that can bring people together and command unyielding loyalty. As a soldier she would certainly make a fine and loyal Shinki as well but her talents would be wasted. In a way, Shepard is similar to Bishamonten in that she sees the value of all life and would go out of her way, even putting her own life on the line the protect it. She understands what it means to be responsible for a ship, a planet, even a whole galaxy and she would carry out the responsibilities of a god with all the same conviction.
Top Choice:
The Morrígan
God Type: Shepard would accept any and all prayers. Shepard is the sort of woman that completes every mission from saving the galaxy from mass extinction, to routine data collection, to helping random civilians out with their baby woes. She would leave no prayer unanswered. That doesn't mean she would deal with them all in a universally benevolent way but as a kind of anti-hero it can be said she would still act out of a sense of what she believes is right and best for the situation.
Power: Shape-shifting. Shepard will be able to shape-shift into a crow.