You have no idea what you’re getting yourself into, haha! But I am all too happy to oblige.
My two Ryders are Isla-Saraide and Freya. I played through Andromeda with Isla first, as a way of testing the waters, and then moved on to Freya, who is my canon Pathfinder.
Freya and Isla are sisters, with Isla being the eldest. Although Freya also has a younger twin brother, Finian, making her the middle child. By the time they leave for Andromeda, the twins are in their early twenties and Isla is in her late twenties.
Their backstories got super long, so I’m putting them under the cut!
Freya Sierra Ryder
Freya has always been the family wildcard. More independent than her siblings, she had never shown a particular interest in all things military -an interest which seemed to run in the Ryder blood. She joined the Alliance despite this at the same time as her brother, as a way to appease her father. Freya’s ambitions were ever-changing, but never quite fell in line with what her father had intended for his children. This worried Alec, who cared deeply for his daughter, even in spite of her fickle nature.
Ellen’s passing only served to cement their difficult relationship. Freya was the one to suffer the most from her mother’s death. She applied for early release from the Alliance and, once it was granted, began denying any contact with her already distant father. With no ties to hold her back, she disappeared one night from their home on the Citadel.
Freya left for Elysium, where she stayed with a few distant relatives. A chance encounter would not see her stay there for very long, however. Shortly after her arrival, Freya met a turian by the name of Mendax, a distributor who claimed to be working for Armax Arsenal, and who was passing through Illyria on business. Swept up by his charm, by his stories, and by his promises of adventures to be had, she agreed to accompany him to Omega, where he was to go next.
Not much is known of the time she spent in the Terminus Systems, as Freya herself refuses to speak of it in detail. She admits to having continued her relationship with Mendax and to having worked as a dancer in various nightclubs. It is also known, from letters to her brother, that she began working under the name “Harlow”. Brief accounts from Omega tell of a smuggler operating under that same name, while others would paint Harlow as being the leader of a powerful narcotics ring. Freya dismisses these as rumours, however.
Her time on Omega came to end after six months. It is understood that Alec Ryder, who had been following his daughter’s movements the entire time, made for Omega once Freya’s letters to Finian stopped. He returned with his daughter in tow, only to leave for Andromeda a few weeks later. It was only after the arks had departed, that Mendax’s body was found in his home.
Andromeda would never have been Freya’s first choice. But it gave her exactly what Alec had hoped for: a chance to start over, to find herself and to believe in herself… Even if he wasn’t there to witness it.
Isla-Saraide “Sara” Ryder
Before the Initiative, Isla, often called Sara by those closest to her, worked as an engineer for the Alliance military. Most of her work was carried out on Earth, but she she spent a few years working aboard Alliance starships. She was the first to learn of Andromeda from Alec, who hand-picked her for the Pathfinder team to serve as Chief Engineer on the Tempest.
Isla was close with her father, and clearly the favorite child. This is mostly due to their shared interests in science and research, although the extent of her father’s interests went unknown for years. She respected her father immensely and hoped to one day follow in his military footsteps -albeit outside of the field, as Isla never received the weapons and recon training that the twins did.
The opportunity to leave for Andromeda was one that Isla could not pass up, if only to be as close to her family as possible. She left with the intent of redeeming her father, whose dishonourable discharge from the Alliance upset her deeply.
The trip to Andromeda was not an easy one for the family. Upon arriving in the new galaxy, Saraide was deemed non-essential to the Pathfinder team and was therefore not awoken from cryo-stasis at the same time as her siblings. The order came directly from Alec Ryder. His reasons for making the call upon arrival never came to light.
Isla underwent the revival process shortly after the discovery of Aya, and upon request from the new Pathfinder, Freya. Distraught over her father’s death and his decision to keep her in stasis, Sara refused her sister’s offer to join her on the Tempest. Instead she began work on the Nexus, keeping a close eye on Finian and staying as much out of Pathfinder business as possible.
