Only a year has passed since Saren’s attack on the Citadel. The recovery has been quick, though damage to the Citadel is still being repaired. Life for many will never be the same after having lost family and friends to Saren’s Geth, and a few scattered clusters of Geth still remain. It was during the hunt for one of these clusters that the Human Spectre, Commander Shepard, was killed.
But business in the Terminus Systems continues as normal.
Mostly indifferent to the politics of Citadel Space, little has changed since the short war against the Geth. Admittedly, some business has dried up - without the fear of Geth, the demand for weapons and mercs has gone down. But the Terminus Systems are hardly ever stable, being a “coalition” of independents outside of Citadel Space. While your neighbor might not be afraid of Geth today, he’ll be afraid of his neighbor by tomorrow. Mercs step on one another’s toes, power plays are made, and entire planets hinge on going unnoticed by one of the more powerful entities out here. The lack of regulation means most anything goes, and for the right price, you can drop the “most”.
𝐎𝐕𝐄𝐑𝐕𝐈𝐄𝐖
Mercenaries and Omega. They go together like a Krogan and infertility. The Terminus Systems are fraught with conflict and disunity - each squabble representing an opportunity to earn some creds. For those with the nerves and the entrepreneurial eye, the Terminus Systems are the perfect place to make your own destiny as a hired gun, and Omega is the Crown Jewel. That’s how you ended up here. Sort of. Perhaps you got tired of the rules and regs of military life. Maybe you just had a rifle and a set of dangerously loose morals. Maybe both. Regardless, you set out to make your fortune as a merc in the Terminus Systems.
For some, the cold war with the Council means uncertainty and danger, especially with holdouts of Geth still making travel dangerous. For others, it means great opportunity. You are the latter. Business is good, even as a freelancer. Corps and private entities are always looking for more discreet actors to carry out their wetwork. Perhaps in between jobs you raid merchant freighters for extra credits on the side, or maybe you take more legitimate work as a ‘Consultant’ for a colony. Lately though, things had been in a bit of a dry spell. Maybe that’s why you took this job. Maybe you thought it would be fun. Whatever your reason for accepting, the minute the small converted freighter took off, you had a bad feeling about this.
You're a freelance merc on a routine mission that takes you into Citadel space, but what's this? Banned from Citadel space AND a bounty on your head? For a crime you didn't commit? Looks like there's only one place for you. Omega. The galaxy's favourite lawless asteroid habitat. Maybe there you can get a nice glass of ryncol and a shot of neon and clear your name. And earn some credits, lots and lots of credits.
This roleplay revolves around a small mercenary squad based out of Omega. It’s hardly a choice - work and hope to survive, or be sold into slavery (or worse, thrown into the hands of Citadel bureaucrats who don’t know your side of the story). As missions are completed and the band grows in renown, their luck begins to turn. More renown means more connections, which means you can track down the bastard who burned you.
The party itself is expected to come from different walks of life, whether it be a Vorcha from the lower rungs of Omega trying to make a name for himself before he dies, or an Asari Commando who happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. That being said, let’s save the Keepers and Geth for a different time.
Considering the time frame, Reapers are a distant rumor that’ll pin you as a conspiracy theorist. Collectors are little more than rumors to those who aren’t human colonists in the far rungs of the Terminus Systems. Hate for Cerberus is pronounced (especially among the Quarians), and the ambitious actions of Humanity are met with mixed feelings across the galaxy. Archangel is popping mercs like pimples, and paranoia within the three major players (Blue Suns, Eclipse, Blood Pack) are in full swing as he and his crew tamper with operations.
𝐑𝐔𝐋𝐄𝐒
Don’t godmod. Pretty simple. Metagaming also falls under this category. Basically treat things with some form of realism. There’s no real reason to powergame or min-max in a co-op medium like RPing. It’s for fun, not to win!
Keep races and technology career, setting, and narrative appropriate. Sorry that means no Geth characters. Same goes for Collectors and Yahg and all that jazz. As for tech, just make it relatively grounded. It’s unlikely that a freelancing merc would be lugging around a Blackstorm or Cain. Also no super outlandish stuff like Geth Pulse Rifles or Collector weapons at all. Sorry but yeah just no.
Make your character a fully realised person with strengths and weaknesses! This goes hand in hand with powergaming stuff. RPing isn’t just about winning, it’s fun to have a character who absolutely sucks at some things and excels at others. Maybe they have an irrational fear or a weakness for cash or a strict moral compass.
Keep the classes to the six basic ones. Yes I know the Awakened Collectors are cool. No you can’t play one.
Be active! I reeaally don’t want to set a strict posting deadline but you should be active in either OOC or Discord or IC within a few days. If you start holding up the RP we’ll be forced to kick you for the sake of the other players. If you need to take a hiatus, just let us know. Your character can just take a backseat and it’s way less rude than just disappearing on us and potentially holding up the RP for the other players.
Premade characters are fine just edit them into the format that we use. If you are concerned just ask first.
It’s a Mass Effect game so romance and violence is expected, even encouraged. Just keep it to the levels found in the game. Fade to black basically.
Last one. Please be nice. Or I’ll renegade interrupt you out of the RP.
𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐑𝐀𝐂𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝐒𝐇𝐄𝐄𝐓𝐒
Name:
Race:
Gender:
Class:
Age:
Homeworld:
Appearance:
Psychological Profile:
Equipment:
Abilities:
Bio:
Strengths:
Weaknesses:
Misc:
Name: Self-explanatory. What do they call themselves? Can include nicknames.
Race: No ‘exotic’ races, e.g. Yahg, Geth, Collectors, Raloi, etc. Less-exotic but more outlandish races such as Elcor and Hanar require serious discussion.
Gender: Whichever they identify as.
Class: Soldier, Engineer, Adept, Infiltrator, Sentinel, or Vanguard
Age: How old are they?
Homeworld: Where they were born. Can be homeship if they are a spacer or Quarian.
Appearance: Description or picture. Either is fine. Make the description detailed though.
Psychological Profile: What are they like? What do they like? What don’t they like? What are their goals and hopes and dreams? What sets them off? Any quirks? Etc
Equipment: What do they use? Includes weapons, armour, special tech (assume everyone has an omnitool), etc
Abilities: 3-5 is a good number. You can pick any of the skills Shep has access to in the games. If it’s an MP power or one only a squadmate has access to ASK FIRST. Stimulant packs and stuff are lowkey and fine but if it’s too crazy it’s out. Also this is purely combat abilities, stuff like hacking and decryption or demolitions training or piloting skills can get listed elsewhere.
Bio: What’s their life story? Should be well-developed. It doesn’t need to cover their entire life from birth/hatching/crawling out of the underworld to right now but it should cover all of the formative events that turned them into the being they are today. Keep in mind that characters from Citadel Space are those who are initially affected by the inciting incident.
Strengths: What are they good at?
Weaknesses: What are they not good at?
Misc: This section is free to be whatever you want it to be. Got a theme? Slap it here. Allergies? Can go here too.
Feel free to get creative and fancy with the formatting, just keep it in the same order as above. I’m horrible at formatting so whatever you come up with will look nicer so have fun!
Race: Turian Gender: Male Class: Soldier Age: 42 Homeworld: Oma Ker
Appearance:
Ardan is a powerfully built and burly turian who has been conditioned by a lifetime of military conditioning and his own drive to strive for peak physical fitness. Standing at 6’05” (182cm) and weighing around 208 pounds (94 kilograms), he maintains a strict military-style fitness regimen, situation permitting, and a mostly regulated diet that permits few luxuries. His carapace is indented and marked from scars from years of combat experience and entirely too many close calls with shrapnel, he’s fortunate to still possess all of his limbs and digits and both of his eyes.
His face is covered by one of the Oma Ker colony markings, a dark blue that sometimes gets lost in the pale grey tone of his carapace when in darkened conditions, a constant condition on Omega. The entirety of his fringes are coloured, and a singular symmetrical line runs down his face, just under his pronounced cheek plates and across the bottom of his chin, and the left and right sides of his rectangular, serrated nose are similarly coloured. Much like his personality, it can be subtle until you begin to notice it, then it becomes very difficult to ignore.
His eyes seem to compromise between his tone and markings in that they are a pleasant blue-grey that are narrow and skeptical, if not outright distrustful, of people outside of what little close circle of friends and acquaintances he has left. Were it not for his perpetual predisposition to sneering and otherwise being dour of disposition, he could possibly be poster material for the Hierarchy recruiting vids, but those days are long behind him.
Psychological Profile:
Ardan Parvius is a classic example of a man whose entire life and beliefs were shaken to the core and responding in a less than ideal manner. Where he was once assured of the Hierarchy's supremacy and how it was a turian’s duty to fight until the enemy could no longer do so or there were no more turians left to fight, the fact that the humans breached galactic law and had put the turian military to shame during the Relay 314 Incident and the subsequent coddling the Council gave humans eroded the once ironclad faith Ardan carried in the Hierarchy. Now aimless and unsure of where his place is in the galaxy after coming from a strictly regimented society where all facets of life are assured, Ardan has had a degree of difficulty adapting to his new circumstances as a gun for hire on Omega. As a result, he is a bitter, sarcastic, and largely apathetic individual who lacks the direction or purpose that once defined him.
This has led to several career changes, an ill-advised and doomed marriage and little, if any, friends. While he is still boastful and confident to people he meets, inside he is like a puzzle that has been dropped; several pieces don't fit where they should and the whole package isn't quite coming together. Nonetheless, he is still an extremely capable individual with several decades of combined military and mercenary experience and a talent for getting the job done. While his personality might put him at odds with his comrades, having some form of structure and leadership in his life may be exactly what he needs to get himself back on track and reclaim some sense of the purpose he had once had.
Adran is also a compulsive snacker, and a bag of nuts or other salted treats are never long away from his person. He enjoys collecting handguns and military paraphernalia as they remind him of a simpler, much happier time. A childhood toy, a stuffed volus, is one of his most cherished and sentimental belongings that now sits on a shelf in his apartment along with several other personal effects.
He possesses a degree of animosity and resentment towards Citadel Space and he harbours a lingering prejudice towards humans for being unwelcome newcomers to the galactic stage that demand far more than their station would permit, krogan for being warmongering savages that would try to conquer the galaxy the moment the genophage is lifted, quarians for being nomadic freeloaders who were more than capable of finding a new homeworld or colony in their 300 years of exile, and batarians for being utterly hostile to innocent lives and their practices in slavery and torture. However, as an operative, Ardan is capable of looking past his prejudices and working with members of most species in the galaxy and he has an easier time seeing individuals as exceptions to the rather unfortunate rule.
Despite his more self-centered approach to life and apathetic nature, Ardan still believes in order and the duties a turian must perform, and a lot of that means sticking up for people who cannot stick up for themselves and to preserve innocent lives. He has on numerous occasions risked his life to protect a non-combatant, regardless of species. While he is very much a typical product of Omega, he still adheres to a personal code of conduct.
Equipment:
Elanus Risk Control Services M-100 Grenade Launcher
Elanus Risk Control Services Medium Guardian Armour
Abilities:
First Aid
Fortification
Proximity Mine
Adrenaline Rush
Concussive Shot
Fragmentation Grenade
Bio:
Born on the turian colony of Oma Ker in 2138CE, Ardan Parvius was the second born son to Varvius and Octaana Parvius, a turian artillery officer with the 78th Artillery Regiment and a fighter pilot with the 16th Flotilla respectively, giving the Parvius family a rather distinguished military pedigree and yet another cemented piece in a storied family mosiac. From a young age, Ardan learned of his family’s legacy and place in turian society on both his parents’ knees and grew up knowing that his parents could be gone any day, perishing answering the call of duty. Because their service often took them across Citadel Space, Ardan was constantly on the move and all but assured to follow in his parents’ footsteps and becoming a career military man.
While his older brother Casius would enter his mandatory 15 year public service position as a police officer on Palaven, Ardan joined the military in 2153CE and after basic training he was enlisted in the 105th Combat Engineering Corps due to his high scores in mathematics and sciences. Keeping in touch with his parents’ units via Extranet packets on an allotted biweekly basis, Ardan’s career took him across Citadel space, joining in larger military exercises on turian colony worlds and joint exercises with allied asari and salarian units, leading to friendly rivalries with the 10th’s counterparts from the other Council militaries.
While most of his career was training and rising up the rank structure, reaching Corporal after 2 years of service, Ardan did see combat on remote worlds, engaging with pirates, turian separatists, and others operating outside of galactic law. His unit, being a combat engineer regiment, was largely responsible for establishing base camps, building defenses, and laying area denial weapons like landmines and turrets to deter the enemy. At the earliest opportunity, Ardan took Sapper and underwater demolitions training, wishing for an opportunity to bring the fight to the enemy.
These skills brought Ardan into specialized strike teams that acted in support of the infantry regiments and were used to destroy bunkers, breach buildings, and sabotage enemy infrastructure and vehicles. For his role in destroying an enemy artillery emplacement ahead of the main assault, Ardan was given the Banner of the 105th to carry on parade for the next month and several commendations from his superior officers. This would be the height of his career, as the next year was relatively peaceful without any major combat deployments until word came of an unknown alien race activating the dormant Relay 314. Soon, an Ardan Parvius two months after his 19th birthday would be deployed to Shanxi in what would be the largest military deployment of his career.
Ardan’s first meeting with humans ultimately ended up being a long-range firefight where him, his fellow sappers, and the infantry they were attached to spent hours shooting at distant muzzle flashes. The first time he saw a human up close was the corpses of the line they had overrun, and he found the humans to be unnervingly similar in appearance to asari. Thinking they were some distant cousin of the asari, Ardan spent most of the conflict paranoid about the humans having powerful biotic capabilities which they seemed to be holding back as some kind of strategic gambit to hit the turian forces should they overextend their supply lines. The human forces were quickly overrun and the planet was soon under turian control. A month long occupation followed, luring the turian garrisons into a false sense of security. When the 2nd Fleet broke through and hit the turian positions, the once dominant turians found themselves on the defense and constantly losing ground to the fresh and vengeful human forces. Ardan fought hard and scored kills against human armour, including two Grizzly and three Mako tanks, before being ordered to retreat. Very nearly defying orders, Ardan and his unit reluctantly left the planet to regroup with the fleet.
When they found out that turian casualties at that point were higher than the humans, Ardan demanded his commanding officer convince his superiors to organize a strike force against the human supply lines and disorganize their forces before they could regroup and dig in to prepare for another invasion. Although rebuked for his insubordination, Captain Orodis nonetheless began to coordinate and organize an advance strike force with the Fleet with the blessing of high command. However, before the turians could counter-attack, a ceasefire was called and it came known that the Council was negotiating with the humans, the asari leading the efforts, further lending credence to Ardan’s suspicion that humans might be their distant cousins. Furious with the resolution of the conflict and how the turians, the most powerful military force in the galaxy, was forced into a treaty with the humans after suffering heavier losses was a scar that was, in Ardan’s eyes, an unforgivable embarrassment.
For the first time in the sapper’s career, Ardan started to think that maybe the turian Hierarchy had grown soft and would not be prepared to meet its peacekeeping mandate if its response to future threats was equally flaccid and spineless. Were the turians not the ones who had single handed stopped the krogans during the Krogan Rebellions? Ardan asked the Spirits for guidance, the spirit of the Hierarchy, of his Regiment, of his family, and he found no answers or comfort. Finding out his mother had lost a leg after being shot down in the conflict did little to steel Ardan’s resolve, and after watching the televised treaty being signed between human and turian representatives, most insultingly of all the Hierarchy agreeing to pay war reparations, was too much for Ardan. After 4 years of service, well short of the mandatory 15 years of public service turian culture demands of all citizens, Ardan deserted from the military, disappearing from the public eye for some time.
The next time anyone from the Parvius family heard from Ardan was his brother Casius receiving an Extranet packet from an unknown source that turned out to be Ardan letting him know he was safe and in the Terminus Systems some three years later, putting as much space between him, humanity, and the Hierarchy as possible. Ardan managed to get a few more messages back and forth with Casius, who was now serving as a hastatim, and now acting as an emissary between Ardan and his parents. The former soldier disappeared for quite some time, only trying to contact his family once every few months. Before long, Ardan came to Omega, hoping to make a new life for himself far from what her perceived was a corrupt and ineffectual galactic government.
The next three years had not treated Ardan kindly, as trying to adjust to life on the largely lawless station was far outside of the orderly and lawful existence he had lead up until his departure from the military. He took up work with a building firm that needed someone with expertise in blasting rock, or tearing down old buildings, and for a while, Ardan found a humble calling that brought in enough pay to support a small one bedroom apartment in a mostly turian district, a mostly out of the way place with few amenities and beneath the notice of the gang warfare that seemed to sweep across the asteroid colony like clockwork. And so for years, Ardan somehow avoided making any meaningful social connections as his life was a routine and regimented cycle of work, exercise and training, and preparing to do it over again.
He had a few belongings to his name, including a small crate of things he’d managed to grab from Oma Ker before his defection, but it didn’t take long for him to realize that he needed more than his old service pistol for defense. Coming from a society where violent separatist groups were an expected part of life, living somewhere that was owned and run by street gangs was enough to make the turian realize that the quiet times wouldn’t last forever. His fears were validated when his company began to mine a new section of rock to expand a commercial district and discovered a strain of rare metals.
Knowing that it wouldn’t be quiet for long, Ardan quickly answered the call for a citizen militia to form by one of the more proactive members of the community, Regalus Vendaris, one of the community’s security officers, and immediately the community banded together and began running drills and training in anticipation for what came next. Within the week, a gang called the Crimson Fist arrived with a force of 30 men, who upon arrival declared that they were there to provide “security” for the new discovery. For anyone who had been on Omega for longer than a week know what that particular amount of double speak amounted to.
The gang was allowed into the community, uncontested, and unaware of the trap that was lying in wait for them. When the Crimson Fist arrived at the gates to the dig site, they were held up at the security gates and that’s when a firestorm erupted around them from the concealed militia; a section’s worth of ordinance was unleashed from the capable hands of military-trained turians who made short work of the Crimson Fist group, and from their bodies pried military-grade weaponry and technology to supplement their civilian and surplus arms, and the more pragmatic in the militia made arrangements with ethically-flexible doctors who needed the bodies for organs and testing purposes.
Ardan found a spark he’d been missing in his life for a few years; he’d missed the combat, the fighting alongside a fireteam. It felt good, he fight the pride and dignity seep back into his bones.
He blasted rocks for three more years.
Granted, he trained constantly with the militia and with the new influx of credits from the mining operation and the growing population of their humble community he could afford new weapons and arms that could even make gangs with mechs and armoured support hesitate to press their luck, but a few of the dumber or more risk-loving ones took their shots, and the results weren’t much better than the Crimson Fists three years prior. Ardan found himself away from the community more and more, taking side jobs as a gun for hire or to pick up needed supplies, and it was on these excursions that Ardan began to frequent a strip club at neighbouring Rhytheia District, the Blue Oasis, and it was there he met his first, and only, wife.
In a whirlwind romance, if one could call it that, Veetsha D’alyt, an asari, and Ardan got married a week after they met in a sketchy registration office and moved into a new apartment in Rhytheia District shortly after Ardan left his job with the company and the militia behind. His quality of life was better, and he found a more martial application for his skills, and they were happy for about three months when Veetsha up and left with most of their meager belongings and left Ardan little more than a recliner, the coffee table (sans seat), the built in vidscreen in the living room wall, and his collection of sidearms and the stuffed Volus plus toy he’d deemed worth saving as a memento of his home and life back on Oma Ker. Ardan, not being one to flex his convictions, was back as a regular of the Blue Oasis a week later. This time, he tipped a bit less.
Without much else in the way of options, Ardan became a freelancer, often taking jobs that involved taking down smaller gangs and criminals with outfits that required a replacement set of hands, Ardan spent decades building up a name for himself as a man who could get things done to the point where he could start commanding a price. From clearing vorcha out from undercities to smuggling jobs to commando-style raids that called upon his expertise with explosives, Ardan was contented with his corner of Omega and more often than not, the turian wasn’t hard pressed to find someone who wanted to buy him a drink and offer him a side gig. When news came of his old community being overrun and Regalus dying heroically in a last stand, Ardan simply raised a glass for an old fallen comrade.
Such was life on Omega.
Strengths:
Ardan is a very disciplined fighter, as is drilled into most turians from youth. He does not lose his cool in a firefight, and he will stand his ground until victory or death, or a sound tactical retreat.
Courage and Ardan go hand in hand, and he is not afraid to stand up for his convictions on and off the battlefield. While some may see him as uncompromising, one could count on him to be unwavering in his commitments and see things through to the end.
Demolitions expert, Ardan is professionally and has a hobbyist proficiency in all manner of explosive devices and has an intuitive knack for yield sizes and how to properly rig together an IED out of spare components, and his throwing arm is impressive; if a grenade can fit somewhere, he can almost certainly toss it in, and he has an uncanny knack for being able to range the trajectory of a grenade or rocket launcher.
Weaknesses:
Ardan is very prejudiced, if not outright racist, towards humans, krogan, quarians and batarians. He is very slow to trust, let alone like, anyone from these species for a number of reasons. While he’s not petty enough to let it get in the way of getting a job done, on a personal level it is an uphill battle to earn his respect and admiration.
Still largely a military man at heart, Ardan has had a difficult time adjusting to the lawless Terminus Systems’ way of life. He has a strict personal code of ethics he is very reluctant to cross, and while he remains determined to succeed and forge his own path free of the Hierarchy’s regulations and treaties. He simply does not understand the finer points of life on the street and he often is frustrated at the lack of clean, simple military-like solutions in this region of space.
Ardan is a very competitive individual whose pride will not let him back down from a challenge, often leading himself into dangerous situations what he handles recklessly. He believes himself to be one of the best, and while he does have the skills to back up his hubris, he does not take well to losing.
Misc:
Right mandible twitches when Ardan is irritated or annoyed
Ardan will often idly fiddle with whatever he is holding, he enjoys keeping his hands busy, and it is a coping mechanism when he’s nervous
Ardan is a guarded personality type that will often cross his arms when he is in disagreement, if he is unsure of someone’s intentions, or if he remains unconvinced about a decisions or course of action.
Naryxa is a typical Asari in appearance, her skin tone is a light and muted lilac, her scalp crests taking a much deeper shade of blue towards the end with the colour applying in a pattern. She has white freckles that frame her forehead, temples, and her cheeks. The strips of freckles help to highlight each individual crest. The same bright freckles travel down the back of her neck and spine. She stands tall and proud at 5'9" and weighs approximately 142lbs.
During her time as a mercenary, Naryxa, like many other young Asari mercenaries, took facial tattoos. The bright red, drastic patterning above her eyebrows is always eye-catching to others, especially so when set against her amber coloured eyes. She chooses to further draw attention to the bold colour by painting her lips in a similar shade. The tribal-like curved style and bold colour choice gives her an overall sensual appearance on her face, and can appear dominating to some. She has no other tattoos or unusual markings, however she does have a scar from a battle in which she took a clipping shot from a Batarian sniper on the outside of her upper right arm.
Naryxa usually radiates a warm glow when she smiles that puts people at ease rather quickly and disarms feelings of hesitation. She carries a sincerity in her smile that so many Asari do. That said, her demeamnour can quickly shift from that to something more stern when something has displeased her.
She has a full and voluptuous feminine figure that years of dancing has given her. When not in armour, Naryxa wears light and loose fitting clothing - opting for a blend of comfort, fashion, and functionality. She likes clothing that allows her to stretch during yoga. She is not particularly vain and is relaxed about her appearance. She does not need to overly groom herself, and pays no attention to whether or not a garment is expensive.
Psychological Profile:
One could say that there are two sides to Naryxa - a human friend once lamented that the Asari must be a Gemini. Truthfully, she just keeps a very balanced approach to life. While working on a task, in the field and on missions, she is calm under pressure, methodical and organised. She absolutely requires her strong work ethic to be reciprocated by those she works with, and acts with dedication using a direct and honest manner of communication. Growing up with a Salarian father meant that she, from early childhood, was used to working at an extremely fast pace. This has served her well, as she is able to think on the fly and make logical decisions at the drop of a hat. She has a strong dislike of any kind of incompetence, dishonesty, and laziness from subordinates or people that she works with, and she will make her displeasure known.
She believes that order must be followed in order for the best outcomes in any situation, and she does her best to adhere to that, putting business first. While very professional in her work - and unafraid to say what must be said, Naryxa is rarely vindictive or mean, and is especially pragmatic.
Then there is the true side to the Asari - the yin to the yang! Many (usually non-Asari) find Naryxa to be aloof upon first impression, this is merely a byproduct of her age and maturity - past the initial serious surface is a warm and caring individual, who is nurturing and gentle towards those around her. She will often have sage words of wisdom and advice for those she grows close to, speaking in poetic metaphors. When in conversation, Naryxa listens with an intensity and enjoys making people feel special and heard. She tries to view all experiences with a gratefulness - even if it takes her some introspective thinking to reach that point.
Despite teaching in meditation and mindfulness - she is not without her own faults and weaknesses, and sometimes finds trouble in managing her own emotions. She can be prone to suffering temporary moments of depression and deep sadness but can usually overcome this by spending time alone and re-energising herself. Failure affects her, and she has a tendency to carry the burden of failure on her shoulders alone, such a strong need for perfection and order is just part of what makes her take it harder when things aren’t perfect, often blaming herself. Naryxa is a great networker who enjoys meeting others, but has strong opinions against nepotism, and is likely to clash with anyone who takes shortcuts through life.
Having such an ambitious personality, and a constant need for improvement makes her restless from time to time. Because of this she is prone to acting on impulse as a way to feed her desires and need for change. She can get bored easily, and has little patience for a lot of activities that are enjoyed by others - such as board games and movies. She will occasionally try to enjoy such activities as a means of bonding with others, but it's really just not her style, and she's at peace with that.
She can be passionate and geeky when it comes to certain subjects, like her scientific studies and she will definitely lecture her peers about plants if given absolutely any opportunity to. Whether this is annoying or endearing remains to be seen, but she always does so with a smile on her face and with an infectious spirit that is rare to pull from within her in any other way. She has a slight ditsyness about her that has given her an unintentional sense of humour.
She is incredibly open when it comes to matters of companionship - and has been accused of being overly flirtatious and promiscuous (impulsive tendencies) more than once. She is simply like many Asari, a free spirit who enjoys the pleasures of the flesh, the chase, and connecting with others in as many ways as she can. She is not ashamed of this side of her personality, and while she is not openly lewd and raunchy with her colleagues, she does not feel the need to lie about or hide her enjoyment of nocturnal activities. Naryxa will very rarely engage in these spontaneous activities with colleagues, unless there is a deeper connection there - stating that she would rather not complicate her work environment with no-strings sex, and in a far less poetic manner, "don't shit where you eat."
Equipment:
M-5 Phalanx Preferred weapon of choice
M-15 Vindicator Tends to use less, and would rather a pistol. Uses when in a tight skirmish and needs fast fire.
Magenta Asari light armour
Abilities:
Singularity Pull Shockwave Nova Passive - Barrier
Background:
Naryxa was born in 1898 to an Asari councilwoman, Vaessa Kesir, and a Salarian plant bioligist male, Gurok Teran. Naryxa was closest to her father, living with him for her first 22 years, until he passed away at the age of 41. This was not to say that Naryxa did not also love and spend time with her mother. Quite the opposite, she loved her mother deeply but understood that her mother’s position on the council was important, particularly with the ongoing difficulties with the Geth and Quarians that was beginning during the early years of her childhood. Vaessa worked hard during her Matriarch years at the Citadel, and Gurok’s scientific work happened to have brought him to the Citadel - where for the sake of his daughter, he chose to live out his elder years. Teaching Naryxa about plant biology, the planets in the Milky Way, and of planet geography and weather patterns. All of the knowledge that her father gave her, has served her well throughout her entire life.
Saddened by her father’s death, at 22, Naryxa finally left the Citadel on an adventure of her own. Her father had created a dossier for her, listing some of the most beautiful and remarkable plants in the galaxy that could be found on different planets. Armed with the dossier, Naryxa jumped from ship-to-ship, hitchhiking her way through the galaxy to see each plant on the list.
Every so often, a plant that she would tick off would unlock a video from her father with a message about the plant, and some words of affirmation for his daughter. Many of his metaphors and words of wisdom are ones that she repeats to herself and others in difficult times. Suddenly, this journey with the dossier became a pilgrimage of sorts - and at each stop, Naryxa found herself engaging with the communities and people, developing, learning, and educating. Spreading her fathers research. After 9 and a half years, and 885 plants had been ticked off, Naryxa’s journey was done. Her father had planned out this journey for his daughter, so that she may have more years with him - and more memories than he could have given her during his short life.
Naryxa then returned to the Citadel, and began working on scientific papers about her journey. For a while, this sustained her, but soon she found herself growing bored and wishing for a new adventure to embark on. Strangely, she found herself drawn, as many Maiden Asari do, to become an exotic dancer. So she did this. She danced her way around the Milky Way for over 80 years. She saw people come and go, friendships grow and flourish and then wither away almost just as quickly. It was during these years that she indulged in her first romantic relationship with another Asari, Valeen.
Their relationship lasted over 30 years, before Valeen’s lack of ambition seemed to put a wedge between the two. Naryxa was growing bored again, looking for something new - but Valeen enjoyed dancing too much to give it up. Surprisingly, the pair split in an amicable fashion - neither party sad and melancholic over the end of the relationship, but instead grateful and appreciative of the time they had spent together. After all, for many in the Galaxy, a relationship spanning 30 years was practically a lifetime. Naryxa once again found herself back at the Citadel. It was almost like the Citadel was the starting point for each chapter in her life.
She reached out to her mother for advice - who suggested that now would be a good time for her to start putting more effort into studying and honing her biotic prowess, commenting that Naryxa came from a good line of strong biotics, while also lamenting her strong disappointment that it was something Naryxa had not really dedicated any time to so far in her life.
So, off Naryxa went to Thessia, to finally dedicate herself full time to train under Matriarchs in Biotics. She found it off-putting that so many of her fellow students were younger than her - practically babies. What made her more uncomfortable was how little they seemed to care, how they were so disorganised and unwilling to follow rules. To make her mother proud, she did it. She studied, and studied, and practiced for many years. Naryxa’s natural talent and determination meant that she mastered the arts relatively quickly - excelling with her Singularity and Pull. The Matriarchs were happy to give her a small role in mentoring younger Asari in the basics. During this time, she taught the young Asari to meditate and tried to teach them to be graceful and elegant, and in methods to calm their emotions. When they had had their fill of that, she took to teaching them about plants, geography, and weather patterns, using her father’s dossier of course. She made sure that the new ‘students’ of biotics were whipped into shape. She of course, developed a little bit of a reputation for being bossy... And she actually quite liked it.
Once more, as had happened before, Naryxa grew bored and tired and longed for something else. Now armed with powerful biotics, she jumped at the chance to work as a mercenary. She spent years traveling with her unit, working her way up the ranks. The thrill of battle was exciting, and leading others filled her with satisfaction - but still her ambition was sitting in her chest - bringing her discomfort. There had to be something more than this in the galaxy.
The year was now 2125CE, she had reached the age of 227 in what felt like a heartbeat, her life already so colourful and full of experiences. She received a communication from her mother, that she would be traveling as a council ambassador to Parnack to open diplomatic contact with the yahg. This contact did not go as was planned by the council, and Vaessa was just one of the Ambassadors who perished in the conflict. As Asari do, Naryxa was able to look at her mother's passing without being too overcome with pain. Her mother had led a long and beautiful life, had achieved her goals and ambitions in life, and had successfully passed on that zest for success to her only daughter.
Now completely parent-less, Naryxa continued her work with her unit until around 2174CE, where she retreated back to the Citadel following an injury she sustained in the field. It had been a mission like any other, they were out in the far reaches taking down a rogue Batarian slave gang that has attacked a human colony, and all was going well. She and her team of fellow Asari had gotten into the field, and were scoping out the surroundings when one of her comrades was taken out by a sniper. The Asari in question was a young Maiden - who had been foolish enough to step out into an open area, but the shot was still a surprise to the team. A group of Batarians, including a Rocket Soldier, the Sniper, and several Shock Troopers came down upon the unit - releasing varren in the field to draw out the Asari. The group were able to push back with biotic barriers and eventually took the group out. Naryxa took a shot from the sniper which was thankfully, non-fatal, but the bullet did clip through her right arm quite viciously.
Her unit made it out, fractured and frightened, but they cleared it and completed the mission. The slaves were freed and brought to the Citadel for medical treatment. The mission deeply shook Naryxa's confidence in battle, and she suffered from PTSD for a while. She would have reoccurring nightmares of the event frequently and feel pains in her arm, loud clashes and sounds would frighten her, and she would suffer from panic attacks. During this time of recover, she chose to stay away from mercenary missions, and the familiar comfort of researching and studying in labs - as well as more frequent meditation and the study of Yoga was enough to help her manage the condition.
Now, hoping for a quiet period of reflection she chose to delve back into her scientific pursuits researching the effects of biotic boosting narcotics (red sand - and others) alongside the Citadel’s medical scientists. While working here, she met a human Doctor, Aaron Swan - with whom she began a purely sexual relationship. She hadn't encountered or formed many friendships or relationships with humans. He was truly enthralled by her, something which brought her a lot of joy. Their 'friends with benefits' arrangement lasted a number of months until it seemed that Aaron was growing more fond of her than she was of him, and she had to break off the tryst to save making their workplace awkward and uncomfortable for themselves and their colleagues.
In 2183CE, of course, Sovereign attacked the Citadel - and Naryxa’s home was all but destroyed in the process, she later found out that Aaron and many of her friends had been killed in the conflict. This time, unlike the other deaths she had witnessed in her life, there was certainly something different. Before, death was either a natural end of life (like her father) or a tragedy (her mother), but this - this needless violence went beyond tragedy. It was as if the people were just fodder to a power greater than she could imagine. For the first time, Naryxa truly feared for her own life, and struggled to understand the meaning of life when lives were being snuffed out... Her friends, her lover. It was all crumbling - and for what?
Fueled by fear, and her laboratories all but destroyed, Naryxa retreated elsewhere on the Citadel, and began writing again and publishing articles on her studies. But for the first time in what has seemed like her whole life, she feels a new kind of unrest within herself which is much less like a natural curiosity, but fear. A fear that plucks away at the PTSD she had thought had healed over time even despite being mostly out of combat. Having lost her people in such a difficult and terrifying time has left her with trust issues, both in others and in herself. With combat so rife in the galaxy she finds it difficult to connect to people who have her back, and as such has become a bit of a Lone Ranger. This is an unusual practice for her… Perhaps it is her sudden change of ways that led her to be framed for a mysterious crime she knows she hasn't committed. A crime so terrible it has caused her to be wrongfully exiled from her home - the one place that she loved, that has been her constant throughout her life. The place where she was raised by her father... The workplace of her respected mother... The whole thing is wrong and casts a shadow over her spirit.
For now, Omega is her home. But she needs answers, she needs to put this right...
Strengths:
Biotic force; - a skilled and confident biotic user, there’s very little she can achieve on the battlefield with her array of abilities, and she is strategic in using them too. Flexible/acrobatic; - years of dancing and more recently, Yoga, has given Naryxa a strong body that can get her out of all kinds of situations, and into some others. Problem solver/analytical mind; - the fast and ever running mind of a Salarian is written in her, and her sharp eye for detail gives her the ability to solve problems on the fly. Calm under pressure; - she does not easily crack under pressure. Whether through age and experience, Naryxa’s view on everything gives her a unique perspective in which during stressful situations she remains calm and does not act impulsively. Her PTSD can sometimes waiver this, however. Good reputation; - Naryxa is known as a dedicated hard-worker, and both of her parents were known figures of their respective fields.
Weaknesses:
Trigger shy; - she’s an Adept, which means while she is comfortable carrying a gun and firing it, it’s not her strong suit, and she is much better utilised for her biotics than for her gun-toting ability. Lingering PTSD; - more recently, there’s an unrest in her that makes her a touch more unstable than usual, and if she gets scared or fearful that things may not go well she may have emotional outbursts amongst other symptoms. Close combat is a no-go; - she may be flexible and athletic but will suffer in hand-to-hand, close combat if she isn’t careful. She is not as physically imposing as she would like to believe. Easily bored; - also known as, the 70-year itch. Ambition was contagious, and Naryxa wants to achieve everything she possibly can which makes it difficult for her to stay in one place for too long. Overly focused perfectionist; - sometimes she will get far too caught up in the detail and take longer than is necessary with a task to make it ‘perfect’. It is both a hindrance and help. Where did I leave my thing-a-ma-bob?; - frequently misplaces her belongings and occasionally will lose something of great importance. Bad reputation;- being openly promiscuous is not looked on highly by everyone and her reputation has a habit of following her around which can put her in bad stead with people from the get-go.
Misc:
She really likes cats. As in she really likes cats and dreams of owning several one day. Until that day, she keeps a folder of over 300 cat images on her own terminal, with a sub-folder 'catsinclothes'; Practices yoga frequently; Still dances whenever she gets the opportunity; Prefers to be barefoot whenever possible; Likes to give nicknames, and uses terms of endearment regularly; Naryxa has little to no talent with technological/computer sciences. She knows enough to get by, and because of this, she is impressed by those around her who can seemingly bend it to their will and create/improve systems using technology.
My CS is currently under construction and will be delivered ASAP. For people currently mulling over their character's traits, here's mine: Kyo Zhang, human Infiltrator, wields monomolecular blades instead of a sniper rifle. Emphasis on Tactical Cloak, Tech Armor and heavy melee damage. Proficient hacker of security systems, computers, door locks, etc. Essentially Kai Leng if he wasn't obnoxious.
(I was unaware of Kai Leng's existence when I came up with Kyo because I never got around to playing through ME3. I should really fix that...)
I've got a turian soldier demolitions expert who has a grenade launcher, heavy pistol, and a shotgun with explosive rounds plus a bunch of explosive-based powers. He also is horribly prejudiced against humans, quarians, batarians, and krogan.
Kyo carefully picks locks. Ardan negates the entire door.
I am honestly very, very tempted to bring Hazan back. Also tempted to make someone else that shares his traits of being almost annoyingly apologetic to everyone, a tremendous drunkard and a crack shot with a sniper rifle.
I am honestly very, very tempted to bring Hazan back. Also tempted to make someone else that shares his traits of being almost annoyingly apologetic to everyone, a tremendous drunkard and a crack shot with a sniper rifle.
I might bring Vellios or Ryria, though the latter would be harder.
I just hope we get a nice spread of species and classes and personalities!
I'm sure we will. ^-^ I spotted a lot of old friends I've played with looking on this thread and they always put out some quality and interesting characters.
I've got a turian soldier demolitions expert who has a grenade launcher, heavy pistol, and a shotgun with explosive rounds plus a bunch of explosive-based powers. He also is horribly prejudiced against humans, quarians, batarians, and krogan.
Kyo carefully picks locks. Ardan negates the entire door.
They clash in basically every way possible and I love it already.
I am working on a human engineer that was responsible for the cleanup efforts in the Citadel and sold Geth and Sovereign parts under the table for extra profit. So he might believe that the Reapers are real.
@Stormflyx Just a quick fyi, Narxya couldn't drink turian brandy due to it being incompatable with her biology, that whole dextro vs. levo amino acid thing.
@Stormflyx Just a quick fyi, Narxya couldn't drink turian brandy due to it being incompatable with her biology, that whole dextro vs. levo amino acid thing.
Listen.
Why do you think she likes it? Death by classy drink when y'all annoy her.
This was the closest thing I could get Andromeda to give me.
Name: Cheyenne "Shy" Jung Race: Human Gender: F Class: Engineer Age: 24 Homeworld: Earth
Appearance:
Shy's Korean father and Scandinavian mother came together to create a blonde-haired half-Asian woman with trace amounts of other ethnicity from the last hundred years of Earth's global unity. She isn't particularly imposing in either height or build, standing at 5'5" and weighing in at 120 lbs with a modest bust. Her skin is rather pale in only a somewhat unhealthy fashion, but mostly because of the two genetic sources for that trait. Said skin is unblemished for the most part, save for a few beauty spots and a plasma burn scar on the far end of her left jaw. This is hidden by her hair when its down, but is mostly faded by now and isn't terribly noticeable even when its exposed. While she has got some amount of muscle from her line of work, she's not cut by any means and tends to have other people do the heavy lifting for her, resulting in a little bit of squishy tissue over an otherwise skinny woman.
She's got the body of a woman who can do work, but would also prefer to lounge instead of actually doing the work, and the only reason she isn't any heavier is due to an inexplicable metabolism. She's got a soft face that's otherwise laden with sharp, feline features. Such features include her slanted amber eyes and high cheek bones, and the angles of her diamond-shaped face makes a sharp turn from her cheeks to create a pointed chin just below her pink lips. Her nose, though small, is long and hawkish enough to make up the difference. The expressions typically shown on her face range from sardonic and bored stoicism to carefree or cocky, which gives away her attitude without you even having to talk to her. This is only amplified by smudged, day-old or older makeup around her eyes that she never bothered to clean up, or the total lack of any makeup at all. It's a peculiar thing that no ever seems to see it freshly applied.
Her blonde hair is short, hanging just above her shoulders, and is somewhat choppy in a stylish sort of way, like it was cut by a razor. But it's also pretty uneven, which can only lead one to assume that she tried to do it herself. Her bangs isn't even or symmetrical with some strands being longer than the others, and it seems to gradually - just slightly - get longer toward the right side of her face, and if she keeps it down, she's typically sporting a bed-head or similarly unkempt sort of appearance. It's not particularly oily, so it's probably just Shy's own neglect at keeping her hair brushed. However, she prefers to tie her hair back in a short ponytail or tight bun, which her bangs are too short to take part in and one or two strands of hair always seems to get tugged out of her hair-tie. She can be seen pulling a strand or two out after putting her hair up, as if it's the same few spots that always feels too tight and pinching.
For a wrongfully-persecuted "criminal" turned mercenary on the Citadel, she certainly doesn't dress the part. While most mercenaries are decked out in armor or other kinds of gear, Shy likes to hang out in casual wares with a few odd gadgets on her person, and she does so with a confident strut. It's clear that she doesn't have much of a sense of style -- probably inherited from her dad -- opting for a button-up Hawaiian styled shirt (and she has a few of these, all in different colors, but yellow goes best with her hair) and a pair cargo khaki pants which are suitably baggy and comfortable, held up by a belt that might just be a size up from her, and some pricey looking work boots. Gadgets on her person includes the utility belt and what looks like a few watches on both her wrists, which on closer inspection are actually low-profile omni-tools. But when push comes to shove, she probably has an old onyx light armored suit in a footlocker somewhere, though she only really used it for inhospitable environments.
She has a couple of accessories which is composed mostly of piercings. She has two piercings on her left outer brow, an industrial on her left ear, one tongue piercing, and two more piercings that nobody has any business knowing about. She has a colorful, vibrant tattoo sleeve of saturated watercolors depicting a floral pattern, and it extends from her left shoulder down to her elbow -- though so does the sleeves of her shirts, so the intense, beautiful artwork isn't always in sight. There's another tattoo in black ink that goes around her neck that almost looks like a wired choker thanks to its thin, honeycomb-like design. There is one little tattoo on her right wrist of an inch-by-inch square that was done with a special kind of ink that interacts with the electromagnetic spectrum. Depending on the different wavelengths of light it is exposed to, it will either change color or have a faint neon glow of different hues.
"What, are you a shrink? No, don't-- don't tell me. I already know."
Psychological Profile:
Shy is a bit of an odd-ball when you set her next to other mercenaries, her own peers comparing her to being more like a salarian than a human. She's a strange combination of intelligence, entitlement, and a casual, laissez-faire attitude that would have her preferring to stay seated than do her job, and this combination is what makes her utterly disarming. She's an easy person to underestimate because of her lack of physical ability, temperament, and ambition, but she also has a chip on her shoulder that makes her feel like she's better than most people. It drives her to one-up those who would slight her and to do so in the most casual manner possible so that her clever ploys indisputably put her over the top. Indeed, she has very little ambition to do much with herself or her life and her prime motivation is spite. Spite is what drives her to surpass others, to tease and make fun of, toy with her enemies, and to survive (and look good while doing it). Don't let her nickname fool you; she isn't shy by any means, and her preferred method of having fun is relaxing and getting a rise out of other people. That said, despite her lack of boundaries, she isn't the type of person who would keep pressing someone's buttons if they're already having a mental breakdown.
And yes, she comes across as remarkably entitled and lazy. That's what happens with you have rich, intelligent parents who can pay for your education and take you travelling all around the world and into the stars above. She has lived a rather charmed and carefree life, so in that regard, she seems to expect a lot from others and is consequently let down when they don't step up or don't meet her expectations. This has developed her somewhat cynical, arrogant, and misplaced perspective on others that leads her to believe that most people are pretty incapable. She also doesn't seem to have learned to treat dire situations with the respect they deserve. She doesn't freak out or mishandle her emotions, but rather, she comes off as too detached from dangerous situations.
Even during her career as a mercenary, when such things started becoming normal to her, you can find her acting casual and without a sense of urgency while in the midst of a firefight and not understanding why you're freaking out so much. She speaks with such a deadpan expression, but also a sarcastic tone of voice -- all of the time, mind you -- that you're never quite sure whether she's being sarcastic or not, and she's too tone-deaf to realize it. On one hand, it would piss you off that she's not taking anything seriously, but on the other, it's nice that there's someone you can rely on to always have a clear head. This trait of hers also makes her seem absurdly brave and ballsy in the face of imminent danger, even when she probably shouldn't be. This isn't necessarily because she's overconfident, though that is certainly an attribute of her's, but because she simply doesn't seem capable of feeling afraid. It's like she can't properly process those emotions.
Make no mistake though, Shy is a prodigy in her field. When she was only in her twenties, she was already working side by side with her parents and some of the greatest scientists and engineers Earth had to offer. She has spent at least half of her life working on and interacting with different forms of computers, robotics, and V.I. and is capable of reading computer code as if it was her native language. Her disinterested attitude seems to be present in all facets of her life except for computing and mechanical and electrical engineering. To her, computers are so much easier to understand than people are (though she would never admit to herself or to anyone that people are tricky.) That's because working with computers is like working with math -- there are right and wrong answers, and if there's a hiccup in the program's execution, then you know to go back and change a variable. People and subjective concepts like art, morality, and the theory of mind -- understanding another person's point of view -- have no such rules, so she opts not to think about it altogether.
There are unique distinctions in her interactions with others which are dependent upon the other’s gender. Even as someone who identifies as bisexual, she approaches men with more caution and is usually dismissive of their advances whether it was due to being harassed one too many times, or being repeatedly disappointed in them after a few failed flings in the past. Even if acknowledging that a man might be attractive, she is still quick to judge their character and capability or doubt their intentions. Even outside of romance, she holds her ground whenever she's in conversation with men as she fully expects to defend herself and what she knows to be true. She doesn't judge people who are in or would otherwise engage in inter-species relationships, though she doesn't think she'd ever do so herself -- with, uh, exceptions, that is. She still finds herself with a predilection for asari despite the fact. It's hard to judge quarians since she has never seen one outside of their suits before. Also snacks. She plans on cashing in on Ardan's stash just in case she runs out of her own.
As one could probably expect by now, Shy has issues with commitment that goes beyond her interests, whims, and fancies. She is capable of working in a team if her history was anything to go by, but she was also surrounded by like-minded researchers who were all pursuing a unified goal that everyone was interested in. In a mercenary outfit full of strangers, Shy would very likely be one foot out the door and ready to bail as soon as things start looking bleak and find some other fools to ride with. Mercs come and go, do they not?
"Need more gun."
Equipment:
Shy incorporated the same concept of the tattoo on her wrist into a piece of her armor, the light onyx model, in a more sophisticated fashion. A piece of it was treated with a special polymer that reacts with the electromagnetic spectrum and changes in color and luminosity depending on the wavelengths it is exposed to, with small squares side by side for each wavelength. This has proven to be useful when the interference of such wavelengths may interfere with her omni-tool's scanner.
Speaking of her omni-tool, her tool's software is based on the Nexus model, which allows her an interface that can fluidly interact with tech. Her tool is essentially two smaller pieces, looking like inconspicuous watches, that can communicate with each other to make up for their smaller size. The design actually makes the tools more flexible and versatile than the traditional tool, and using both tools at once can create a larger display to give Shy more information at once, and both tools can break run different programs separately and at the same time. This feature helps her use her tech powers all at once. This includes both of the defense and combat drones that which uses the same technology as omni-tools and sticks close to her position.
The aforementioned utility belt carries magnetized contraption which she can use and toss into a direction, which then deploys a hovering sentry turret. She also carries with her a sort of suitcase that has a bunch of conventional engineering and maintenance supplies and a few crude inventions. An automatically unfolding chair or pool bench? Of course. A few power cells? Naturally. Some supplies for inventions, and so on.
As for weaponry, Shy isn't terribly great at using them, but she does have basic Avenger model sniper rifle which she uses for its scope, and only under ideal conditions with very little wind would she be able to make a long-ranged shot. In addition, she keeps a Raikou pistol as her sidearm.
Abilities:
Sentry Turret
Combat Drone
Defense Drone
Hacking AI/Sabotage
Decoy
"Well, isn't this a fantabulous shituation I ended up in?"
Bio:
There's not a whole lot to tell, to be perfectly fair. Where should we start? She had a functional family as a kid and was an only child born in a Mexican hospital during her parents' work trip. Her parents both had money, were both genius engineers that had met each other in the field, and they had the resources to give their daughter the same path to success. They were incredibly doting, providing whatever it was their little girl could want, which, to be fair, spoiled her terribly. Even when she was around 7 years old and she started developing strange behaviors, and later, as a doctor clarified to them that she wasn't developing strange behaviors, but wasn't learning the appropriate social behaviors and thought processes in her pre-operational stage of cognitive development. This had put her on the autistic spectrum. Yet, that barely changed anything in regard to how they would treat their child. They continued to raise her as they would have, but exercising a little more patience than they would have otherwise. This also meant tolerating more abrasive behaviors that the couple could have rectified before they became problematic later in life. Though Shy used to have a hard time understanding her dad's frequent use of sarcasm, she became accustomed to it and began to understand it better. However, she also developed the habit of speaking with a sarcastic tone of voice all the time, regardless of her actual use of sarcasm.
They gave her the best education they could afford, which meant an in-depth, engaging virtual program that she could access any time and from anywhere -- and with a united global community, that also meant she was able to travel the world with her parents as they went on their work trips, which would expose her not just to all the great sights and cultures, but also to some of the greatest minds the world had to offer... and Shy absorbed it all like a sponge. In a confusing world of nuance, double-meanings, and perspectives, people were tricky. Calculus? Calculus was easy. Calculus had rules and didn't contradict itself all of the time. She had the added bonus of learning mathematics in Korean because, like most Asian languages, it was better suited to learning math due to language's structure and brevity, leading to a quicker understanding and remembering a longer sequence of numbers. She also had virtually unlimited access to labs thanks to her parents, who would also give her little projects to work on, giving her a hands-on experience with both hardware and software. On very special occasions, her parents would be invited to the Citadel to work on a project. Her first visit was as a teenager, and exposure to some of the greatest minds the entire galaxy had to offer was beyond lucky. Though since Shy considered other humans being tricky enough for her to understand, she wasn't going to even bother trying with alien races.
Of course, then she met the salarians, which didn't take any effort on her part to get along swimmingly with. Likewise, one of them called her the only human they've ever met that made any sense. The asari, though confusing in their own right, were at least less emotional than humans most of the time and had a certain way about them that made her feel like she was understood. She was provided with everything she could hope for, which probably went a long way to developing her sense of entitlement.
It wasn't before long did Shy begin working alongside her parents and their colleagues as an apprentice at 20 years old. She was working on everything from virtual intelligence to sophisticated computer systems and defense technology. She didn't just work on the software, either. She was turning as many bolts and screws as she was plugging numbers into computers and data pads, being as well versed in the mechanics and construction of applied engineering as she was in the theoretic. She also got to play with all of the toys she made, operating and testing them to make sure they functioned properly, and while she is no crack pilot, she can sit in the cockpit and knows how to get a bird off the ground and back on again. She would later receive the equivalent of a futuristic Master's degree at 22 for her work on V.I., robotics, and automated systems. Though she received recognition and high credits for her work on weapons and defense systems, it was given to her because of her personal inventions. They improved convenience, quality of life, and automation, which reduced the risk of injury by having a robot or computer do it instead.
She was already well on her way to being called a doctor of engineering within the next year, and she was working on a project with her parents and their now shared colleagues in a laboratory on Luna; the moon orbiting Earth. Despite the Citadel ban on A.I. technology, the Earth Alliance didn't have such rules. Her, her parents, and the rest of their team was contracted by the Alliance to secretly work on making the jump from V.I. to A.I., and the program was known as Hannibal. They made sure that the team working on the project was aware that what they were doing was highly illegal under Citadel law and that they would be prosecuted if knowledge were to be leaked out of the facility. All of them, Shy included, agreed to proceed regardless. During one of their experiments, the program suddenly went rogue.
Obviously, Shy was able to get away after finding her parents, though very few other scientists were able to escape. With their escape pod being one of the very first to eject, the rogue V.I. learned and adapted, sabotaging the other escape pods before the rest of the scientists could escape. Despite Shy's conflict with her own emotions, what had happened on Luna did take its toll on her, and she still feels a sense of burden and responsibility for what happened. She still thinks about it quite often, and, as someone who knew perfectly well about what was supposed to be going in and out of the A.I.'s programming, it didn't take long for her to come to the conclusion that the project was sabotaged by someone. However, she wasn't given a lot of time to give it further thought. As the news spread, the Citadel took action. Her parents would be arrested and questioned, but Shy? Shy ran away, refusing to take responsibility and be labeled a criminal for what she believed wasn't her fault.
Of course, that meant evading arrest. She ended up where most criminals do: Omega. There are only a few ways for a young girl like her to make money on Omega, and most of them were completely and utterly demeaning. Two options were left: make and sell tech on her own in a cutthroat business environment where others could easily take advantage of her and her lack of people skills, or find safety in numbers and use her smarts and tech to make easy coin. The choice seemed like an easy one to make. So for the last year, she became a mercenary, doing all sorts of jobs with all sorts of unsavory types until she finally settled on one group she thought was only sometimes a giant bundle of meat-headed idiots. Though the transition was alarming and harrowing at first, she was once more able to find her chill again after working a few jobs. To become a mercenary and survive a whole year? She figured that she must've gotten pretty good at it. Though resented by other mercs for her attitude, she was valued for her expertise with tech and her ability to fix or invent damn near anything. Her drones would also make short work of a target without anyone risking their lives. Perhaps one day, soon, she'll be good enough to prove that what happened on Luna was one giant accident. Though she's highly confident in her abilities and self-righteous in her belief that she and her colleagues did nothing wrong, she partially blames herself for not being even better and identifying the error in Hannibal's code before it went rogue, and she carries that burden with her everywhere she goes.
Strengths:
As mentioned before, Shy is incredibly sharp for someone as young as she is and is an accomplished engineer, mechanic, and inventor. If you need someone to build or fix something, she is the person you want to go to. She can fix or break your ship, your robot, your gun, your VI, your AI, your computer, your mainframe -- you name it and she's all over it. She is also fantastic under pressure and her emotions never seem to leave her control, so she always has a clear head even during the most intense circumstances -- ironically, despite being the worst person to handle other people and is possibly one of the weirdest people you'll ever meet, she seems to be one of the best when it comes to providing a source of stability... and with stability comes comfort when everything has gone to hell in a hand-basket.
Other skills include piloting, though she is not an exceptional pilot and is only just good enough to take a ship off the ground, fly a straight path, and land again. She is also multilingual in Earth languages like English, Korean, Spanish, and Chinese -- but universal translators seems to have made learning new languages somewhat obsolete. Binary code, on the other hand, isn't as easily deciphered and Shy can read it like it's a children's book. She has also taught herself to understand the technology of the other Citadel races.
When she's out in the field, she is what you could call a support. You can trust her to keep a clear head at all times, and she can deploy numerous defensive turrets to hold down a certain location and overwhelm an enemy, and her tech savvy means she can disable enemy weapons, defenses, and other technologies. She can also use decoys to draw enemy fire, which can be useful in as many different ways as you are creative. Between all of her equipment and skills, she can command control of the battlefield if you can give her the time she needs to do so.
So to sum up:
Highly intelligent mathematician, capable of solving puzzles, identifying patterns, and creating plans in seconds.
A masterful engineer and mechanic specializing in computers, robotics, automation, and virtual and artificial intelligence. However, she is still highly capable in other engineering pursuits by transferring her knowledge over.
Possesses unshakable clarity of mind, capable of staying calm and focused in even the most dire and intense circumstances. Her detached observations of her environment means that she could witness someone die and not be too shaken up by it.
Amateur pilot and operator. Her knack for operating machinery also extends to vehicles.
Battlefield control can be obtained by sheer presence via her automated defenses and the manipulation of enemy tech.
Weaknesses:
Oh boy, where to start? Shy is not a close quarters combatant. Hell, she's not even a long-range combatant, or even mid-range. She's not a soldier, never had a soldier's training, and she hasn't even learned to shoot properly until a year ago when she first entered the mercenary business. The most exercise she gets is carrying heavy parts a short distance and turning wrenches and winches. So if she is without all of her tech against the enemy, the only way she's getting out of that sticky situation is if she's armed, they're not, and there's at least five or ten feet separating them. Of course, she has her omni-blade, but she's not so hot in a knife fight.
What else? Oh, and her people skills? Garbage. Don't put her in charge of any mission requiring diplomacy, because she is not good enough at picking up the subtleties and nuances in communications to defuse an unstable situation. If they're in need of a sound and logical mind, then by all means, invite her to the talks. But her impersonal, inconsiderate, and abrasive disposition can create problems with other people. Her abrasiveness can also create issues within her own crew, especially since she lacks initiative, ambition, and a sense of urgency and tends to be the slack that other people have to pick up. She's used to having robots and automation do the work for her, and some people might call that lazy, but Shy prefers to call it genius.
To sum up:
Lack of combat training; she only started learning how to shoot last year when she first entered the mercenary business, so her aim is far, far away from perfect. She prefer to let her drones do all the work for her.
Physical condition; she's strong enough to carry her supplies around, to give her some credit, but she won't be beating up any marines any time soon and she tires pretty quickly.
Socially inept; Shy cannot build up a rapport with others even if her life depended on it. She's too abrasive and quirky to quickly make a meaningful connection with others.
Her lackadaisical attitude can create problems with others. She is often lazy, unambitious, and unenthusiastic, preferring to take shortcuts whenever possible. She usually is never the one to take initiative and will frequently procrastinate on important duties.
Misc:
Very much dislikes Vorcha, but not for any particular reason. Then again, who really needs a reason?
Shy is also a film junkie and a huge fan of the Blasto movies. Blasto the Jellyfish Stings is a classic and is almost as good as Blasto Saves Christmas. She is very excited for the highly anticipated movie, Blasto 6: Partners in Crime.
