My favorite antagonist for Mass Effect Andromeda was Akksul. I just prefer sympathetic villains instead of second rate cartoonish ones . While I did agree he needed to be stopped because he was posing a threat to his own people, I could not hate him. I felt bad for him. I just followed Jaal's lead and even saw the regret on Akksul's face after firing that shot. And everybody just walking away leaving Akksul alone was just so fitting. And the e-mail Akksul sent Ryder was the perfect final touch. That proverb really resonated with me. The whole Akksul/Roekaar Arc was one of the best parts of the game.
"To hate blindly is as dangerous as to trust blindly"
Hey there, I'm currently writing a fanfic about ME:A and while researching I kinda stumbled over your tumblr. And I'm so, so happy that I found this project about the angaren culture, biologie and language - especially cuz of the language. I'm triying to integrate some Shelesh in my story and your post really help a lot. At the moment I'm struggeling to find a word for the exiles (outcast, to cast out, displaced, expelled, s.o.) on Kadara. Do you have any suggestions? Thanks a lot.
Ooo, sounds wonderful! Glad to have you along for the ride. Exiles hmm, let's see what I have. The simplest thing might be to use vesegara - the term that the Roekaar use for all of the the Milky Way people. It's likely a repurposing of an existing Shelesh word. I have a general word for traitor too though! @uratowel
Vesegara - n, adj - uprooted people, or exiles, a derogatory term used by the Roekaar for individuals from the Milky Way.
shayfasan - n, adj - traitor, betrayer; lit. bloody heart
Don’t Tell Ryder; XIV: I Don’t Know What I’m Doing, But Trust Me Anyway
Chapter 14 of Don’t Tell Ryder (Master List)
Pairing: Evfra de Tershaav + OC
Words: 2442
The next morning, Cassiel set off to the Roekaar camp where Taavos was stationed. She had left Mr. Tumnus with Lexi, this time.
Cassiel went through this sort of engineered crevice in the Remnant walls, and on the other side she emerged into what looked like a courtyard. A clearing of somesort, and Cassiel found she actually had a sightline to the Roekaar camp despite it being a couple of clicks away, which was strange for Havarl, where you usually couldn’t tell what was going to be ten feet in front of you with the density of the jungle.
“Cassiel!” her head turned and she saw Vetra waving an arm in the air a little ways away. She jogged over to them with a smile.
“Hey guys,” she greeted. Before either of them could greet her back, though, there was a loud noise like a shuttle taking off.
“Forward Station Deployed,” SAM announced, and Cassiel cringed.
“Oh,” she muttered as she saw the pod being lowered to the ground a couple meters away from them. Vetra and Drack chuckled as Cassiel’s omnitool pinged, showing that Kallo was contacting her. She swiped to the side to accept his call.
“Colin is currently on the other side of Havarl right now,” he said, and Cassiel could hear his clear confusion. “What are you doing?”
“Don’t worry about it, Kallo,” she said. “I have Drack and Vetra with me,” Kallo sighed. Before he could hang up, however, Cassiel’s eyes widened as she remembered another important detail. “Oh and please don’t tell Colin!”
“What?” the salarian asked, disbelief in his tone.
“Please,” Cassiel pressed, and he sighed.
“Fine,” with that, Cassiel heard a low tone signalling the call had been ended. She turned back to Vetra and Drack.
“So what’s the plan, kid?” Drack asked, and Cassiel looked over at the Roekaar camp, brows furrowed as she contemplated how to get there with the least possible blood shed.
“Can you guys make a distraction, get most of the Roekaar away from the main camp?” she asked, and Drack chuckled.
“It’d be my pleasure,” he said, looking over at Vetra. “You got any explosives?” he asked, and the turian scoffed.
“Do I have explosives?” she repeated sarcastically, pulling out her pack. “Of course I have explosives,” Cassiel beamed.
“Great!” she said. “When you guys start, I’ll sneak into the camp and talk to our guy,” her two companions nodded before making their way closer to the camp. Cassiel did so as well. The camp was on the top of a cliff, with stairs leading to the main area, so Cassiel went to the cliffside a little ways away from the camp first and then crept along the cliffside as not to be spotted by the Roekaar while she was waiting for Drack and Vetra’s distraction.
It came in the form of a loud explosion with water shooting up into the air. She could distantly hear Drack shout, and the Roekaar all looked at each other in confusion before racing towards the commotion. Cassiel smirked, she hadn’t expected every guard to go to Vetra and Drack’s diversion. They could handle themselves, though, and it made it easier for Cassiel to carry out her part of the plan.
Staying low, Cassiel went up the stairs as quickly as she could without drawing attention to herself. At the top of the stairs, she saw a few Roekaar hanging about in a clearing with a couple buildings surrounding it. She was quickly able to determine which building was the main command, and she made her way to it slowly. Luckily, there was a large tree in the middle of the clearing, and if she kept on the other side of that, the Roekaar wouldn’t spot her.
Cassiel dove the last few meters to the door to the command building, it opening automatically for her. She quickly rushed inside, the door closing behind her with a swoosh and her eyes zeroed in on Taavos, who was sitting at a desk in the corner. He glanced up, expecting her to be one of his troops, presumably, but when he saw Cassiel he immediately stood, pointing his gun at her.
“Wait!” she shouted, raising her hands in front of her face. “Please!” the Roekaar tilted his head in confusion.
“What?” he asked, and Cassiel cringed, realizing he didn’t have the Milky Way translator update.
“Um…” she stuttered, before taking a deep breath. “Paavoa, tave aara Cassiel Ryder, pav las… resan denni?(Hello, my name Cassiel Ryder, you no… trust me?)” she said, and the angara in front of her gasped at her use of Shelesh, lowering his gun slightly. Cassiel slowly reached into her pack, pulling out the glove-like object that was Zorai’s heirloom. “Ta gasaan sov lonaat garen Havarl, lonoan caapan gaas,(I have idea for save Havarl, please touch thing)” she said, laying it on a table, and Taavos regarded her for a moment in pure bewilderment. He scoffed, reaching for the heirloom.
“I will humor you, silly alien,” he said as he reached for the glove, though the moment his hand made contact with it, he gasped, dropping to the floor while clutching his head. He let out a shout of surprise before looking up at Cassiel. “What have you done to me?” he demanded, and Cassiel scrambled for the words to explain it to him.
“Pav gosaan renan de Zorai,(You have remember of Zorai)” she told him. “Lanai unaara garen Havarl,(Can help save Havarl)” Taavos slowly got to his feet, putting his gun aside and facing Cassiel.
“I know Zorai… I know me,” he muttered to himself, and Cassiel struggled to understand him. “I need… time to process, meet me here tomorrow morning” he said, pulling up his angara omnitool and putting in a few commands. Cassiel’s tool pinged a moment later, and she saw a new navpoint.
“Kaana,(Thank you)” she bade Taavos before swiping on her omnitool. “Guys, I have a navpoint, retreat and meet me back at the forward station,” she commed Drack and Vetra, hearing a confirmation. As she made to leave, Taavos’ own comms lit up.
“Vesegarana ishan, jav loshan do,(The aliens have left, we’re coming back now)” they heard, and Taavos’ eyes widened as he looked up at Cassiel.
“Go!” he shouted, leading her out the door and showing her a back way out of the camp. Cassiel nodded to him in thanks before disappearing into the jungle and making her way back to the forward station.
After a couple minutes, Cassiel was back at the forward station. She saw Drack and Vetra sitting against it, panting a bit.
“So?” Vetra asked when they saw her, and Cassiel beamed.
“I have a navpoint!” she cheered, and Vetra chuckled a bit.
“Great!” she said, her head thunking back against the forward station. “I need a nap,” she sighed, and Cassiel giggled.
“Let’s get back to the Tempest then,” she said, and with heavy sighs her companions stood and began to follow her back to the Tempest.
“Is Cassiel really just looking around?” Colin asked Vetra as he came into her space off of the Nomad’s bay. Vetra shrugged her shoulders minutely.
“Yeah,” she answered, not even looking up from her terminal.
“Seriously?” Colin pressed, and Vetra sighed, pushing away from the terminal and standing, crossing over to him while pressing a couple things on her omnitool.
“She’s trying to get all these pictures of random things,” she said with a chuckle, pulling up a huge folder of images of Havarl’s plants and some of its animals. Colin didn’t need to know that these images were downloaded off of a database. “For memories or something,” Colin sighed, accepting Vetra’s explanation and leaving her to whatever she had been doing.
“Really?” Colin asked as Cassiel began gearing up once more the next day.
“What?” she asked around a protein bar she was munching on. She awkwardly fumbled with one of the buckles on her chest piece, and Colin sighed, approaching her and quickly fastening it for her. “Thanks,” she mumbled, and Colin nodded.
“You’re going out again?” he asked, and Cassiel nodded.
“Yeah,” she shrugged.
“I really think you should just stay on the Tempest, or at Daar Pelaav,” Colin said, hesitation in his voice as he glanced worriedly at her armor. Cassiel rolled her eyes slightly.
“I’ll be fine,” she assured him, eyes darting away as she thought of something to say that would calm him down. “Aarvos is… just taking me to this spot he was talking about, totally safe,” she said, making a mental note to actually talk to Aarvos later to ask him to cover for her. Colin sighed.
“Fine,” he groaned. “But be careful,” he pulled her into a quick hug, and Cassiel huffed out a small chuckle.
“Aren’t I always?” she shot back, and Colin laughed a bit.
“Absolutely not,” he answered, and Cassiel pouted before pulling away.
“Whatever,” she mumbled moodily before beginning to make her way to the Nomad’s bay. “Mr. Tumnus!” she called when she got to the ramp leading off the Tempest. The flanjaak bound over to her, rubbing against her affectionately before excitedly looking at the door. “Let’s go,” Cassiel giggled fondly at the flanjaak.
“You are a lucky alien, Cassiel Ryder,” Aarvos sighed once she asked him to cover for her. Cassiel beamed, giving him a large hug. “I am going to my family’s daar today, if you’d like I can bring Mr. Tumnus,” he offered, and Cassiel’s smile widened as her arms tightened around him.
“Thank you!” she squealed, and Aarvos chuckled.
“He will get to play with all the other flanjaaks there,” he said and Mr. Tumnus’ tail began wagging as if he knew exactly what they were talking about. With the angara’s bioelectricity, he just might.
“So what’s the plan this time?” Vetra asked as they all arrived at the forward station leading down to the Chasm of the Builders.
“Simple, we get to the navpoint, and Taavos will lead us to the third monolith,” she explained, and Drack and Vetra both looked at her in surprise for a moment.
“He’s going to be here?” Drack asked, and Cassiel nodded.
“Well, yes, he is the one showing us the way,” she said, confused at their surprise.
“I thought the navpoint was the third monolith,” Vetra sighed, and Cassiel shook her head.
“Unfortunately, no,” she said, and heard Drack let out a quiet growl before they began to head down.
As they got closer to the navpoint, Vetra and Drack both held out their arms to stop Cassiel from going forward.
“What?” she whispered, and Vetra pointed ahead, to where an eiroch was pacing the width of the Chasm. “Oh,” she muttered. “I don’t think we can get around that,” her companions shook their heads. “Great,” Cassiel sighed, pulling out her handgun while a blue field began to flicker around her, showing she was preparing to use her biotics.
“I don’t think that gun’s gonna do much, kid,” Drack chuckled, and Cassiel just scowled at him before charging at the eiroch with a yell. Drack and Vetra both froze, staring at the crazy human as the eiroch roared back at her. Cassiel wasted no time, propelling herself onto its back with the use of her jump jets. The eiroch roared again, running around and bucking to try to shake her off, but Cassiel held on, shooting its shoulders. When that didn’t do anything, she aimed her gun directly in the middle of its back, shooting it in the spine. The eiroch moaned pitifully before collapsing to the ground, Cassiel sliding off of its back with an ‘oof’. She looked over at Drack and Vetra, who were still frozen to the spot where she left them.
“Let’s go,” she prompted, causing them to shake themselves out of their stupor and follow her the rest of the way to the navpoint.
“That was crazy,” Vetra hissed when she caught up, and Cassiel giggled.
“I’m crazy,” she shot back, and Drack laughed as quietly as he could beside her.
“The navpoint is 15 meters ahead,” SAM’s voice piped up in Cassiel’s head, and she nodded, able to see Taavos waiting under a vine. He pushed himself off from the wall on which he had been leading when he saw their party, approaching.
“Hello, alien,” he said in greeting, and Cassiel smiled awkwardly at him, pulling up her omnitool.
“Uh… Ta gasaan evenaad lonaat canan?(I have technology for speak?)” she said, shaking her wrist which held the omnitool, and Taavos nodded, holding out his own. Cassiel stepped up to him, allowing the data to transfer.
“Did it work?” Drack asked, and Taavos looked over at him, startled.
“It worked,” he confirmed, eyeing the krogan with trepidation. “I will lead you to the monolith,” he announced abruptly, turning on his heel and beginning to walk through the ankle deep water. For Cassiel, the water was up to her knees, unfortunately.
“Listen, roekaar,” Vetra growled as they followed him. “You try anything, you’re dead,” she threatened, and Taavos nodded.
“I believe you,” he said. “While I still do not trust aliens, if I have to work with a couple to save my homeworld, so be it,” he explained, and Vetra nodded, satisfied.
Around half an hour later, the four of them arrived at the third monolith. Cassiel approached the console, activating it, but SAM piped up.
“There are glyphs missing from this,” he explained. “You will need to scan the area,” Cassiel sighed, looking around.
“How the hell do I find the glyphs?” she muttered.
“If you just aim your scanner around the walls of the monolith, they should be in the general vicinity,” SAM explained, and Cassiel nodded, activating her scanner and beginning to walk around, looking for the glyphs.
Once all the glyphs were found, she approached the console once more, activating it and beaming when they all heard a groaning noise.
“Yes!” she cheered. “We did it!” she turned to look at Vetra and Drack, the latter of which was shaking his head with a chuckle.
“Oh, we’re not done yet, kid,” he said, and Cassiel groaned, remembering the vault.
“Fuck,” she muttered, looking down at herself. “I need a fucking shower, we can deal with the vault later,” she grumbled, but Vetra piped up.
“How are you going to explain the monolith to Colin?” she asked, and Cassiel cringed.
“Okay, vault first, shower and angry brother later,” she acquiesced, and they began making their way back to Havarl’s wilds, thankful for the beacon of light leading the way to the vault.
Tiran Kandros stands up and takes charge when needed. He has always been less hotheaded than Sloane was, and creates the Apex strike teams from nothing.
Also, he gives really blunt and cliche mission briefings.
I know I'm late to the party but I had to wait until I could afford Mass Effect: Andromeda and find time to play.
So.
I really do not like how the game seems to treat Roekaar as generic enemy NPCs. I am not comfortable mowing down Angara, even if these ones are xenophobic. They have every right to be.
Frankly, it's a tone deaf mishandling of the symbolism inherent in the narrative. The Angara
Are largely displaced
Have no real refuge (even Aya is amid the scourge)
Are often the victims of a screwed up scifi form of eugenics (a very appropriate bit of scifi imo) which results in either
Forced labour or
Cultural & genetic genocide
So I'm trying to guide the Initiative into aiding and respecting them, but then the game mechanics force an attitude that "these ones don't count because our politics don't align".
It's so annoying because the dialogue etc. is quite on the nose about the Andromeda Initiative being the aliens in the region, unexpected, unknown, etc. But the gameplay is colonial bastardry through and through.
