Andromeda/Ryder Meme
Wasn’t tagged by anyone but I’m doing it anyway.
Name: Scott Ryder (until I come up with something else)
Gender: Male
Race/Ethnicity: Caucasian
Eye Color: Blue
Hair Color/Description: Brown and either shoulder-length or pulled back in a tight ponytail
Skin (color, blemishes, tattoos, etc): He’s white and spent a lot of time in space. What do you think? Has an Arcturus Station tattoo on his arm, but he only thinks of it ironically.
Misc Physical Attributes: Fantastic ass, knows it, is confident about it.
Preferred Romance Option: No idea. He’s playing this one by ear. He’s into flings, but he might actually fall in love if he gets out of his own way. He’s between a 2 and a 3 on the Kinsey scale.
Relationship with Alec and sibling (do they get along? etc.): Relationship with Alec Ryder is strained; Scott’s always been the more introverted, less mature of the two Ryder kids, but while Sara got to go off and mess about in Prothean ruins, Scott got assigned to Arcturus Station on his old man’s request in hopes that some combat time would make him grow up. Scott did a lot of things at Arcturus, but ‘growing up’ wasn’t one of them, and he’s got quite a bit of resentment built up from the whole thing. Relationship with Sara is top tier; they bonded as kids over music, science, and reading, and stayed in touch as much as they could when separated. She’s the reason he signed up for the Andromeda Initiative. Scott would’ve been fine to see Alec leave and never come back, but there was no way in HELL he was going to let his sister see a whole new galaxy without him.
Projected BFF (the squad mate who isn’t bae but you always take): DRACK
Dreams/Hobbies/Likes: Scott doesn’t have any long-term dreams or goals, really; he’s spent so much time in the shadow of his father (whether real or perceived) that he’s kind of given up trying to make a name for himself, instead just being content to do his own thing, living one day to the next and not really worrying about tomorrow unless it includes waking up in someone else’s bed. He plays guitar, and used to want to be an artist; he still sketches things and people from time to time, but never when he thinks anyone else is looking. He’s got really eclectic music tastes, but gravitates towards punk/melodic hardcore, and 1990s-early 2000s hip-hop. In spite of his entire military career being his dad’s idea, he does enjoy combat and sparring quite a bit. Has a habit of picking fights he knows he’s supposed to lose, if only to test himself.
Fears/Dislikes: On an existential level, he’s deathly afraid of failure and disappointing people who believe in him, which is why he usually keeps everyone else at arm’s length through humor and self-deprecation. By the same token, he’s terrified of responsibility because that invites the possibility of disappointment; he figures nobody can ever be disappointed in him if they don’t have any expectations in the first place. He has quite a bit of natural leadership ability and excellent combat instincts, but he passed up promotion at Arcturus more than a few times because he didn’t want to have the rest of his squad depending on him in an official capacity. Honestly, he’s kind of a chickenshit - a well-meaning one, but still. He’s only got two real-life fears: open water where he can’t see the bottom, and drowning.
Other (what else should we know about your Ryder?): He’s so unprepared for becoming the Pathfinder that it’s not even funny. Scott isn’t selfish - his military record, numerous incidents aside, shows him constantly putting himself in danger for others, and when he’s a lot more altruistic of a person than he wants anyone else to know - but he is self-centered and immature. A big part of that immaturity is his own inherited stubbornness from his father; Alec sent him off to grow up, so Scott intentionally stayed immature out of spite. Now he’s going to have to grow up whether he wants to or not. Scott is also about 20% logic, 80% emotion, so that’s going to be entertaining. His gut instincts are usually right, but they’re still just gut reactions. Also, he secretly wishes he was a Krogan.
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In the original Mass Effect trilogy, my Shepard was very much an idealized version of myself: confident, charming, partially robot, and utterly selfless. Aside from occasionally socking fools in the face, he was about as Paragon as possible, and not just because I chose beforehand to just take those options, but because that’s what I would’ve done in that situation.
My Ryder, on the other hand, is probably going to be a lot similar to who I actually am: competent but effectively no self-confidence, hotheaded, geeky as shit, occasionally petty, and would pretty much bang anything that moves. Think Ash Williams from Evil Dead, except replace the egotistical overconfidence and brick for a brain with being entirely too nice and super-introversion. I’m happy to say I’ve got a lot better of a relationship with my dad than Ryder does, but, you know, drama. Bioware has said that Andromeda is going to be a transformative experience for the player character, that they’re going to go from being really inexperienced to becoming a hero, and I’m really looking forward to taking that journey with him.