"Even the greatest nightmares cannot deter one's lust for blood."Age:Born on the 28th of November, 2038 by Earth reckoning, Karmana is 247 years old as of the present time.
Sex:Mono-gendered.
Species:Asari
Class:Commando
Weapons:Rosenkov Materials Volkov Sniper Rifle (Modified with Combat Optics and a Scram Rail)
Armax Arsenal Crossfire Assault Rifle (Upgraded with Frictionless Materials)
Asari Sword
Equipment:- Armali Council 'Nexus' Omni-Tool
- Medi-Gel Dispensor
- Serrice Council 'Savant' bio-amp
- Frag Grenades
- Kassa Fabrication Colossus Medium Armour (Upgraded with Ablative Coating and Shield Interface)
Abilities/Powers:- Assassination (Master)
- Biotic Barrier (Basic)
- Shockwave (Basic)
- Immunity (Advanced)
- Singularity (Basic)
History:Karmana's early life is not a subject she talks about regularly - if only because of its relative lack of noteworthiness. She was born on Thessia to an asari-turian pairing in 2038, over a century and a half before the events of the Reaper War, to parents of a middling sort, neither of the upper nor lower classes of society. She was, in just about every way, a normal, average child, with no boon or boost from family riches, wealth or status, just like many of her comrades who would go on to fight in the bloodiest conflicts the galaxy had ever seen. Karmana's father was a military man, and it was his influence upon her temperament and early life that would lead Karmana down the soldier's life which she would later go on to lead. She, like most others of her type, joined the military at around the age of 80, in 2118, 30 years before humanity would discover the Prothean cache on Mars. Her military service at first was uneventful, until an action upon a ship named the
Troubadour. On the ship, a boarding action had gone terribly wrong, and Karmana and her comrades were pinned down by relentless heavy fire from the ship's crew, who apparently had not taken the boarding and searching of their ship for illegal contraband well. Karmana herself was one of the unlucky few who were unable to find cover before the deluge of fire had engulfed them, and she had taken several serious wounds to her right leg and midsection, to the shock of her fellow troopers. It was not the last time Karmana would be laid low by her enemy, but it was her first, and arguably her most serious. She was barely conscious, bleeding heavily from gaping bullet holes that had torn through her armour and into her flesh, staining her armour's fabric and the surrounding metal with a steadily-growing pool of purple blood. The limited medi-gel dispenser that was issued to her was scarcely able to stop the bleeding, let alone patch the wound, and it seemed that a career was over almost before it had begun.
The situation was broken by the actions of an impetuous and hot-headed comrade of Karmana's, named Marianna R'myr. R'myr was able to gun down several of the enemy troops whilst avoiding return fire, to the relief and admiration of her fellow troopers, who were then able to clean up the area. However, R'myr would not go unpunished for her insubordination; the lead Huntress reported this to the commander of the company in charge of boarding the ship and Marianna was placed in detention awaiting trial for insubordination and recklessness. Karmana was indifferent to the matter personally, but she made a note of the trooper's name... for the future.
Karmana's injuries on the
Troubadour took months to recover from. The gunshot wounds had not only left Karmana with several rather painful scars and severe localised tissue damage, but the repeated hydrostatic shock from the numerous injuries had left nerve damage all across her body, as well as in her brain. She was bedridden for months, and almost guaranteed to be drummed out of the armed forces. Nevertheless, Karmana refused to resign her commission, and for three long, painful, torturous years, Karmana was nursed back to health by numerous medics, doctors and nurses on Thessia, until at last, in 2121, Karmana was passed fit for reservist service. Active reservists in the asari military were, and are, uncommon in times of peace, but for those who are recovering from medical leave, injury or personal reasons, reserve duty is considered a fitting task for them - and so it was for Karmana, for twenty years, until she was passed fit for active duty once more.
Years came, and years went, until the Great War, the Time of Blood. The Great War, also known as the Reaper War, tore the Asari Republics apart. Though many races in the galaxy suffered invasion and defeat at the hands of the Reapers, few suffered such ignominy and humiliation as the Asari Republics, as what was thought to be one of the most able and most skilled militaries in the galaxy was torn apart, crushed and rendered almost utterly useless in a matter of weeks. The final straw was the almost-wholescale loss of the Asari homeworld, Thessia - the clan-based system of ground forces proved unable to stop the tide of Reaper attacks across the planet, leaving only holdouts fighting desperately to prevent the complete takeover of Thessian soil. Karmana fought bitterly in one such holdout, and she watched as the citizen militias of the Republics gave their lives in futile attacks, ordered by those who simply could not comprehend or contemplate the magnitude of the task at hand. Simply put; they were lions, only instead of donkeys... they had no leadership at all.
The Reaper War left great scars upon the planet of Thessia and its people, almost none of whom did not know of several friends and family lost to, or even converted by, the Reaper forces. The defeat on Thessia led to a people who almost lost faith in their leaders, and the butchery of Thessia was burned into the consciousness of the asari, and would remain so for generations to come. The slaughter was unprecedented in Asari history... and Karmana vowed never to see the Republics brought so low as they were then. Since the end of the Reaper War, Karmana retired to a small village in the highlands of Scotland, where she hoped to find peace and solitude from the horrors of the galaxy after such devastating bloodshed. Yet she did not sit idle on her laurels - instead of the bullet, she found a new way to fight for the Asari - by the written word. Karmana had always entertained ideas of military theory and strategy, but the butchery of the Reaper War gave her renewed incentive to delve into the art of operational warfare... with the forlorn hope that the lessons of the Reaper War could at least be codified and preserved, if only to show what happens when military stagnation takes its toll. So far, over the last hundred years, Karmana has written some six essays on the subject of Asari military theory following the Reaper War.
She was researching and writing a seventh when the celebrations of the hundredth anniversary of the end of the war were announced on the Citadel. A gold mine, perhaps, but also a painful reminder of what happened, and how much the Asari had lost.
And how much the galaxy could still lose, were another conflict to break out.
Personality:Even the most hardened and distant of soldiers can only take so much devastation and bloodshed in their military career. The breaking point for Karmana was the Reaper invasion, and subsequent fall of, Thessia, the home and heart of the asari civilisation. The Reaper War left great scars upon the planet and its people, almost none of whom did not know of several friends and family lost to, or even converted by, the Reaper forces. The defeat on Thessia led to a people who almost lost faith in their leaders, and the butchery of Thessia was burned into the consciousness of the asari, and would remain so for generations to come. With the loss of so many of her friends and family, Karmana has become morose and fatalistic, her once-sweet and carefree persona soured with the memories of the deaths of thousands. Nevertheless, flashes of her former self can occasionally come to the fore around those who can gain her trust and perhaps friendship.
Essays/Books Written After the Reaper War:The Legacy of the Great War - Going ForwardKarmana's first work following the conclusion of the Reaper War, and her decision to begin writing about military history.
Legacy of the Great War is more narrative-driven than her other works, but aims to tell a story about how the lessons of the Reaper War could be learned. Well-received by academics.
The Case for Command - High Command in a New ArmyThe first of Karmana's solely-military focused works, this is the first in the 'Case for' series, where Karmana aims to explain how the Republics' armed forces can be reformed and integrated into a modern, conventional army which matches that of the other major Citadel races. As perhaps explained in the title, Karmana's first work details how a centralised High Command is the first step to reforming and modernising the army - after all, no soldier can win a war without a general telling him what to do and how to do it.
The Case for Combined ArmsThe Republics at War - An Analysis and Evaluation of Military Theory during the Reaper WarThe Case for Armour and Air PowerThe Case for ConscriptionIn Progress -
The Case For The Three Levels of Warfare - Tactical, Operational, Strategic