#wren shepard

[finchmarie]

Happy N7 Day!

[acequeenking]

Wren Files #25: Tali’Zorah Vas Kick-Ass

Tali has matured into quite the leader by the time you meet her in Mass Effect 2.

In Mass Effect 1 Tali is a brave girl, intrepid, but...she's not a leader. She's content to take direction, to explain her exotic culture to you. She asks permission to share data; she doesn't cause waves.

By Mass Effect 2, Tali can make up her damn mind. You see it right away, on your first mission at Freedom's Progress. Cerberus isn't popular with the quarians (can't imagine why), and they pull guns on Shepard and their team. Tali is the who takes charge and defuses the situation, telling Pazza he has two choices: put up or shut up.

Her command grows still during the time we don't see her, Shepard being too busy running around getting the Illusive Man's coffee and extra crew members; by the time we meet her again on Haelstom, she's even more of a leader. She's revered by her fellow quarians, held as the leader of a high-risk mission. Unlike Pazza, Kal'Reegar listens to her, respects her. Your crew, too, follows orders from her. Without question.

A lot of the stories in Mass Effect's character arcs are about finding their ways in the larger universe. In Mass Effect 3, Tali expresses doubt about being an admiral, but replaying ME2, it's clear that she had the makings of one all along.

[finchmarie]

Taking it easy today so have some quick doodles of my trio of bird Sheps that are getting me my perfect game on Steam (plus they’re part of my insanity on all class play throughs).

Here is some info about each.

Wren - (adept/she/her/sole survivor/colonist) is huge into xenobotany and has a plant collection on the Normandy. She works hard to maintain a mask. Closest to Kaidan(li), Thane(li), Wrex, Garrus, Javik, Aria, Tali, Miranda & Samara.

Raven - (engineer/she/her/ruthless/earthborn)is competitive to a fault. It frequently lands her in trouble. Actual gremlin. Closest to Garrus(li), Javik, Grunt, Zaeed, Jack, Kasumi & Mordin.

Starling (Star) - (vanguard/they/them/war hero/spacer) has big thembo energy. They rip the sleeves off all their tees. Genuinely good despite calling everyone dude. Closest to Jack(li), Ashley, Liara, Vega & the Krogan.

[acequeenking]

Wren Files #24: The Futility of Cerberus

Okay So.

Now that we've gotten into Mass Effect 2 and how cute Wren is, now that she made the transfer, I can feel okay with being a bit negative and saying that I really resent how much Cerberus takes over the plot in Mass Effect 2.

I never particularly liked Cerberus in ME1. They weren't the most interesting enemy encounters in the sidequests (that honor still goes to the crazy biotic cult IMO); they were a boring sci-fi cliche. Nearly every space strategy game has a militaristic, humanity-or-die faction, and Cerberus doesn't really bend the trope in any meaningful way, despite the Illusive Man's insistence that Cerberus isn't as evil as we believe it is.

But that's not why I resent it. At least not entirely.

I resent the sudden hijacking of the Reaper plot; I resent the fact that most of the game has you playing a go-fer for a galactic sleaze. I resent the fact that Shepard is railroaded into doing this; there's not a fuck-you option, even if it would be pointless. Worst of all, I resent the idea that ME2 posits: That Cerberus is a good organization.

Because even if you don’t find their goals abhorrent, which is a bit of a stretch... by ME3, even Bioware isn’t giving them the benefit of the doubt. Even in the opening mission on Mars, you're headbutting Cerberus goons like it's going out of style. The desire to convince the player that this is going somewhere, that Cerberus has an important part to play, only to find out...it doesn't.  For Cerberus is a goon-factory, and into a goon factory, it returns.

[acequeenking]

The Wren Files #1: The Problem with Nihlus

(Welcome to the Wren files! I’m taking one last trip through the original Mass Effect trilogy before Andromeda comes out, and writing my thoughts down as I do. Come for the pre-Andromeda excitement, stay for the pointless speculation!)  One thing that really jumped out to me during this run through was how much everyone on the Normandy seems to distrust Nihlus.

In the introduction, Joker notes that he doesn't like Nihlus; the presence of a Spectre makes him uneasy. Pressly mentions not liking Spectre or turians; Kaiden's faint praise simply mentions that the Council has the right to keep tabs on their investment. Even Jenkins, easily the most excited to see Nihlus, seems to do so only becomes he hopes things will go down and he'll get to play hero and track down some "Spectre justice." Even Shepard has the option of playing very cagey with Nihlus, and you can purposefully construe Shepard's reaction to Nihlus' questions about Eden Prime as a threat.

Chakwas notes the prevailing opinion of the crew, that they are uneasy with a turian Spectre on board. Which makes me wonder two things:

A) Is the Alliance Crew uncomfortable because Nihlus is a Spectre?

B) Is the Alliance Crew uncomfortable because Nihlus is a turian?

I suspect the answer is a bit of column A, a bit of column B. It seems natural that humanity, with no representatives on the Council or in the Spectres, would see any Spectre presence as an "outsider." Given that the Council tends to rule against humanity whenever it comes against the big three, it would make sense that humans stationed to the Normandy may perhaps perceive it as the Council waiting to take away their new stealth ship and give it to the council races. Even after Shepard, this attitude persists, with Ashley (and Kaidan, IIRC?) hesitating in ME3 over whether they should become the second human Spectre.

On the other hand, it's clear that it's not just Spectres that put the crew in such a wary state. While no doubt a large amount of the information you get during your first run on the Normandy is an exposition dump, nearly everyone mentions something about turians that they find objectionable: Joker and Chakwas both note that they tend to be stick in the muds, while Pressly viewss them as shifty and mentions the war. The brief Turian/Human war seems to have made quite a long impression in human psyches in the ME Universe, despite the low amount of casualties. I think this is due to it being somewhat of a rude awakening for humanity; the realization that not only were were not alone in the galaxy, but other cultures had an immeasurable leg up in intergalactic society from discovering advanced space flight far sooner. It was a stunning defeat of the human vision as being able to triumph over aliens, of always being number one; some (like TIM) seem unable to handle that, and seek ways to return to that far-flung future fantasy that we hold now. Others, like Pressley, seem to view alien influences as suspicious, a sort of casual xenophobia.

It's interesting to note that Nihlus put forth Shepard's name for the Spectres and was also expected to be her evaluating officer. One wonders if he had to fight to get a human through to this point; certainly, I think the Council would be hesitant, from their later behavior. Given the past history between aliens and turians, the past history between his mentor Saren and Shepard's mentor Anderson, and the distrust toward Citadel society as a whole that humanity exhibits, Nihlus really does seem like the worst possible pick to evaluate human Spectre candidates. I wonder if perhaps the Council allowed him to suspecting that, given his turian prejudices, he would judge Shepard as equally harshly as Saren judged Anderson. There simply seems to be too much bad blood to make any working relationship comfortable.

It's to Nihlus' credit, I think, that he is prepared to treat Shepard openly. Certainly I doubt he had a warm reception from the human crewmates. And what on earth do he (and Garrus and Tali, actually) eat on the Normandy SR-1? The Normandy departs from our Solar System in the opening credits, which makes me wonder if he traveled to Earth to connect with the ship. What did the random joes in the street think of him there?

We'll never get to know, since sadly you never really get to meet the colonists of Eden Prime with a turian on your team.  

I had Wren treat him politely, but distantly. She's paragon, but, since I made her a sentinel, I don't think she's much of a hot head, given that she's a tactics based figher. I gave her the Spacer background, so she might be more comfortable in terms of aliens than most. I'd say I was looking forward to her relationship with Nihlus developing but, well...

[inkywarden]

How/when did Marika fall in love with Kaidan? Tell me the story of their relationship - what happened and what is their love like? Did they both survive the war? And your other Shepards: who do they romance?

I think she realized she was in love around the time they were heading to Ilos. She pretty much fell in love with his kindness, how good he is, and just.. his heart. She loves how much he loves her. He makes her feel safe and protected, and that’s just the best thing ever for her because she basically spends her day worrying about protecting everybody else. Their relationship is just.. very sweet. Marika’s canon ending is control so no.. (i’m thinking about making her a destroy shep though, because I strongly believe in the indoctrination theory and so I rarely make it through Marika’s playthrough without feeling sick). 

Clarke is with Garrus. She loves him because he never judges her, he’s always been there for her, and also because he’s kinda trigger happy and a wee bit insane. After Mindoir she made a point of never needing anyone and never, ever letting anybody become important. She’s so afraid though, because for the first time in a looong time she actually has somebody to lose and she hates that. Loves him though. Genuinely, truly loves him.

Wren is Vega trash. I’ve not given  their relationship much though, but i imagine it involves lots of wrestling, fighting or dancing if you’d like and food.

Rey/Jessa is with Liara. I’m still in me1 with them though, so I don’t actually know much about this  shep yet. 

[inkywarden]

Ok - this is one of my favorite questions to ask about Shepards: How do Clarke & Marika take their coffee (if they drink it) and what is their favorite way to spend a lazy Sunday afternoon? Thank you!! I'm excited to learn more about both of them!

Clarke takes her coffee in buckets! and also black. I’m glad you asked this, because i’ve been thinking about it actually. I imagine it helps her biotics. so yes. Black (and lots) coffee for Clarke. Also lazy sundays doesnt exist for this one. She hates to sit still, basically everything that gives her time to think about all the things she dont want to think about/deal with. Closest thing is probably hanging out with Joker, talking about crap/people they dislike. Or ya know, punching things with Wrex. 

Marika doesnt really drink coffee, but she drinks lots of tea. and also milk. and also just water with lemon in. She’d be a latte drinker though, I think. Lazy sunday afternoon would be spent with Kaidan. Watching old, ooold movies or reading. 

Wren takes her coffee spiked pretty much. Doesnt really have a preference, but there’s always alcohol in there. If she wasnt a biotic she’d be a mess. Perfect lazy sunday = lots and lots of food and Vega, basically. 

Jessa, who is now Rey, is kinda an unfinished shep, so I don’t really know yet? Black i think, lots of sugar probably. Dunno about lazy sundays yet, but I think Rey is like Clarke in many ways, and just doesnt do lazy. Whatever it is she’s doing it’ll be with Liara.

[inkywarden]

Vanguard / Colonist / War Hero

Wren Shepard, Clarke Shepard, Marika Shepard, Jessa Shepard