Mass Effect: Legacy
- Thread starter Lord Raine
- Start date
Far as I know, there's no cut-off. Maybe they started one to cope with server strain? But then, older threads than yours would have vanished.
As for why? Three guesses. All slightly different colours. Also, the crucible looks like a Death Star with a giant erection. This is the only time the Death Star has ever been a justifiable use of resources.
As for why? Three guesses. All slightly different colours. Also, the crucible looks like a Death Star with a giant erection. This is the only time the Death Star has ever been a justifiable use of resources.
Eh, as long as it's not written poorly I can go with almost any Shepard romance.
Katsumi/Jacob though is totally my OTP. ^_^
As for the story: We've seen Jedi and Sith capable of living for quite a long time, and droids can survive for tens of thousands of years. Hell, it might just be Revan's Force Ghost animating a special droid replica he made of himself while he was a Sith Lord.
Another thought: Despite it's shortcomings there is an interesting idea in Halo. In some of the supplementary novels it's revealed that humans were a space faring empire 500,000 years ago and fought against the Forerunners, which ended with them being bombed back into the stone age and having to start over before the Flood arrived. Something similar might have happened in this universe.
Perhaps the Reapers don't wipe out all sapient space faring species, maybe they just bomb the shit out of them and get most of them. I mean, for all intents and purposes if the industrial base is gone, the fleets and other space assets destroyed and the population down to hunter-gatherer levels, the Reapers' objectives are complete right? If the species rises again it will simply be destroyed again as 50,000 years is a very long time to remember a holocaust. Hell, humanity has barely had civilization for a tenth that time.
Point is, there could be surviving races of the time of Star Wars, you just haven't found them yet because the galaxy is so fucking huge. If the timeline gives you trouble, you could simply say that the Reapers are lying. I mean, it's not like they're incapable of deception.
The 37 million year old Reaper ship is a problem with that but you could finagle it somehow. Aren't there Force abilities that can age things?
Katsumi/Jacob though is totally my OTP. ^_^
As for the story: We've seen Jedi and Sith capable of living for quite a long time, and droids can survive for tens of thousands of years. Hell, it might just be Revan's Force Ghost animating a special droid replica he made of himself while he was a Sith Lord.
Another thought: Despite it's shortcomings there is an interesting idea in Halo. In some of the supplementary novels it's revealed that humans were a space faring empire 500,000 years ago and fought against the Forerunners, which ended with them being bombed back into the stone age and having to start over before the Flood arrived. Something similar might have happened in this universe.
Perhaps the Reapers don't wipe out all sapient space faring species, maybe they just bomb the shit out of them and get most of them. I mean, for all intents and purposes if the industrial base is gone, the fleets and other space assets destroyed and the population down to hunter-gatherer levels, the Reapers' objectives are complete right? If the species rises again it will simply be destroyed again as 50,000 years is a very long time to remember a holocaust. Hell, humanity has barely had civilization for a tenth that time.
Point is, there could be surviving races of the time of Star Wars, you just haven't found them yet because the galaxy is so fucking huge. If the timeline gives you trouble, you could simply say that the Reapers are lying. I mean, it's not like they're incapable of deception.
The 37 million year old Reaper ship is a problem with that but you could finagle it somehow. Aren't there Force abilities that can age things?
All broship I had with Jacob vanished into nothingness when I found out what he did to Femsheps who romanced him.
But that's not important. What's important is the next part. I'm almost done with the rest of chapter 1, which covers the entire stay on Eden Prime. The Citadel events will be skipped over, with the major points being alluded to, because the Citadel sequence is massive, would take up an entire chapter on it's own at least, if not more, and we're all here for the crossover bits anyway.
Chapter should end with finding the Holocron.
[EDIT]
There are some scenes that I kind of want to do on the Citadel, but I have no idea how to do the few bits that I want without having to do all of them. The only way I can think of is flashbacks, but that seems pointless, and feels as though it would break up the story.
Do any of you have any suggestions?
But that's not important. What's important is the next part. I'm almost done with the rest of chapter 1, which covers the entire stay on Eden Prime. The Citadel events will be skipped over, with the major points being alluded to, because the Citadel sequence is massive, would take up an entire chapter on it's own at least, if not more, and we're all here for the crossover bits anyway.
Chapter should end with finding the Holocron.
[EDIT]
There are some scenes that I kind of want to do on the Citadel, but I have no idea how to do the few bits that I want without having to do all of them. The only way I can think of is flashbacks, but that seems pointless, and feels as though it would break up the story.
Do any of you have any suggestions?
Mostly, the scenes I'd like to do, in no particular order, are the initial scene in the bar, the fight in the bar, saving Tali, meeting Garrus during the hostage situation, and the scene where Shepard becomes a Spectre. And maybe the scene with the Consort.
A few of these I could maybe get away with as flashbacks, but not all of them.
I'd make it a chapter, but honestly I'm not sure how I could. I'm not sure if there's enough narrative there to make a chapter. How would I handle the breaks? Just skip from scene to scene in chronological order? I'm not sure if that would be coherent enough to work or not.
A few of these I could maybe get away with as flashbacks, but not all of them.
I'd make it a chapter, but honestly I'm not sure how I could. I'm not sure if there's enough narrative there to make a chapter. How would I handle the breaks? Just skip from scene to scene in chronological order? I'm not sure if that would be coherent enough to work or not.
None, because he hasn't found it yet. The holocron is discovered in some random space wreckage.
The deviation isn't the discovery of the holocron. It's the existence of the Force. Because of the Force, Jenkins and Nihlus will survive Eden Prime. The split starts from the very beginning.
I'm wondering if I should put in an abridged series of the important events on the Citadel before heading off into space to find the holocron, or if I should just skip the Citadel entirely and go right to the "and then we found something drifting in space" part.
The deviation isn't the discovery of the holocron. It's the existence of the Force. Because of the Force, Jenkins and Nihlus will survive Eden Prime. The split starts from the very beginning.
I'm wondering if I should put in an abridged series of the important events on the Citadel before heading off into space to find the holocron, or if I should just skip the Citadel entirely and go right to the "and then we found something drifting in space" part.
The "And then we found something in space" part seems like the most efficient way to go. We know the story, what we want to see is where it diverges. Think of it as DLC-You've gone to a new system, you've found an anomaly and you're checking it out. Cue quest. Only in this case, this quest changes everything else.
Hey Raine? You know what a good way of highlighting a bunch of significant events happening on the Citadel would be?
If Shepard did it.
So stop being a dumb and just do this in the form of a Log or Journal or Report or something of that nature. Detail a scene, have Shepard go "AND THEN" until you reach the point where he's sitting at his desk in his snazzy new Captain's Cabin "narrating" the damn thing.
It's an incredibly simple structure. And since it's just recollection by Shepard it means he's just noting everything he thought was important in the day or so he spent running around the Citadel like a maniac. I haven't read chapter one (particularly since it's not, you know. Finished) but I would suggest starting with Shepard waking up from the Beacon and going over the major events of the Citadel, and ending with him sitting in his new cabin in the Normandy, recollecting over it all.
If Shepard did it.
So stop being a dumb and just do this in the form of a Log or Journal or Report or something of that nature. Detail a scene, have Shepard go "AND THEN" until you reach the point where he's sitting at his desk in his snazzy new Captain's Cabin "narrating" the damn thing.
It's an incredibly simple structure. And since it's just recollection by Shepard it means he's just noting everything he thought was important in the day or so he spent running around the Citadel like a maniac. I haven't read chapter one (particularly since it's not, you know. Finished) but I would suggest starting with Shepard waking up from the Beacon and going over the major events of the Citadel, and ending with him sitting in his new cabin in the Normandy, recollecting over it all.
Almost done with the next part. Eden Prime is taking waaay too long to get done. At this rate, cutting the Citadel is a necessity, not just a recommendation. It'll just plain take too long to write that in. I'll have to do highlights of it later, like during flashbacks or something. Spread it out among the crew and keep it relevant (i.e. Tali has a flashback to Shepard saving her when she's asked something to the affect of "why do you follow Shepard"), that sort of thing.
I'm also considering giving the background a bit of an overhaul. I've started reading some character-driven ME fanfics, and some of the interpretations of the various backgrounds are fascinating. I'm considering changing a few of them around to make Shepard seem less "whiter than white ultra shiny," and more "a soldier who gets stuff done and is also a good person." He's not Jedi Space Jesus yet, that has to come later. If he starts out that way, it ruins the development.
The big thing I'm thinking about is Torfan. The current incarnation, as you probably know if you've read the thread, is that the "Butcher" label is stuck on to him because of an experimental chemical weapon the Batarians unleashed on their squad when they attacked the base on Torfan. I'm not sure if making Shepard go berserk and kill a ton of Batarians while gassed to the eyebrows is too. . . I'm not really sure what word to use. Clean? No, that doesn't work. Make him into a victim, maybe? Something like that.
What do you guys think about this, and the backgrounds in particular? The big thing I want to do is to not make him a shiny white knight, because I don't think that would fit the tone or theme at all. I don't want to make him a Revan clone, because Shepard is his own person, but I want Shepard to be the kind of person who, when told "I started an intergalactic conflict by declaring war on everyone so that when the real threat nobody believed in arrived later, they'd be ready for it," says "I may not have done that or gone that far, but I can understand why you did."
I'm also considering giving the background a bit of an overhaul. I've started reading some character-driven ME fanfics, and some of the interpretations of the various backgrounds are fascinating. I'm considering changing a few of them around to make Shepard seem less "whiter than white ultra shiny," and more "a soldier who gets stuff done and is also a good person." He's not Jedi Space Jesus yet, that has to come later. If he starts out that way, it ruins the development.
The big thing I'm thinking about is Torfan. The current incarnation, as you probably know if you've read the thread, is that the "Butcher" label is stuck on to him because of an experimental chemical weapon the Batarians unleashed on their squad when they attacked the base on Torfan. I'm not sure if making Shepard go berserk and kill a ton of Batarians while gassed to the eyebrows is too. . . I'm not really sure what word to use. Clean? No, that doesn't work. Make him into a victim, maybe? Something like that.
What do you guys think about this, and the backgrounds in particular? The big thing I want to do is to not make him a shiny white knight, because I don't think that would fit the tone or theme at all. I don't want to make him a Revan clone, because Shepard is his own person, but I want Shepard to be the kind of person who, when told "I started an intergalactic conflict by declaring war on everyone so that when the real threat nobody believed in arrived later, they'd be ready for it," says "I may not have done that or gone that far, but I can understand why you did."
I think that's an excellent point. Shepard being strung out on some kind of murder drug removes responsibility from him for the action. It gets the net result of dead Batarians, but it removes the moral and ethical dimension entirely, because Shepard didn't choose to slaughter them - he was forced to kill them, whether he wanted to or not.
I'd submit that it would be a more interesting starting point to have a Shepard with one glaring character flaw - he hates, hates, hates Batarians. This flaw lead to him wiping them out to a man on Torfan. After his rage had cooled, he recognized that he'd gone too far. That wasn't a military decision made according to his sense of justified sacrifice or necessary for the mission. It wasn't legal killing of enemy soldiers in combat. It was just murder.
Because of this, he adheres more strictly to "the bloody calculus of war" - with a strong undercurrent of proportionate response.
A Renegade Shepard who couldn't justify the necessity of his actions, who then behaves in a slightly more Paragon fashion, fascinates the hell out of me. What was that Doctor Who quote? "A good man doesn't need rules. Today is not the day to find out why I need so many."
Gives you a starting point to a more three-dimensional Jedi - and the temptation of the Dark Side to someone who's fallen once already.
I'd submit that it would be a more interesting starting point to have a Shepard with one glaring character flaw - he hates, hates, hates Batarians. This flaw lead to him wiping them out to a man on Torfan. After his rage had cooled, he recognized that he'd gone too far. That wasn't a military decision made according to his sense of justified sacrifice or necessary for the mission. It wasn't legal killing of enemy soldiers in combat. It was just murder.
Because of this, he adheres more strictly to "the bloody calculus of war" - with a strong undercurrent of proportionate response.
A Renegade Shepard who couldn't justify the necessity of his actions, who then behaves in a slightly more Paragon fashion, fascinates the hell out of me. What was that Doctor Who quote? "A good man doesn't need rules. Today is not the day to find out why I need so many."
Gives you a starting point to a more three-dimensional Jedi - and the temptation of the Dark Side to someone who's fallen once already.
Exactly. It washes him of responsibility for his actions. He just becomes a victim, a puppet. It was really the Batarians who killed themselves by being dumb enough to test advanced hallucinogenics on armed hostiles who wanted to kill them. Shepard was nothing more than a temporary vessel for their stupidity and arrogance. He's not at fault, because he did not choose, of his own free will, to kill them in cold blood.
I'm actually glad that you mentioned the Batarian thing, because I was thinking along similar lines. Assuming that all of the origins and psych profiles happened and co-exist, Shepard's life could be summed up as "would have been a successful happy life, Batarians fucked everything up, kept fucking everything up, and ultimately got fucked up."
Shepard watched them kill, butcher, enslave, and drag off his entire nuclear family, his friends, his teachers, his neighbors, and the woman he loved and had asked to marry him. The only family he has left is his aunt, stationed on the Einstein, and Hackett, who is not actually related to him, but is an old friend of the family who helped Shepard pick himself up.
The Colonist has the justification for hatred, murderous hatred, of the Batarians. I like to think of Shepard as being a professional, but if that pirate base had a slave pen in it, if Shepard had seen that, what they did to their slaves, their female slaves in particular. . . I'm not sure he could not lose it.
I will say, though, that I want to keep the element of the Alliance screwing Shepard over during the trial. It's important that that's there, because Major Kyle becomes an established, recurring villain later (though not an unsympathetic one), and the fact that the Alliance brass favored him over Shepard becomes a plot point.
Maybe Kyle losing most of his men and Shepard's rampage were completely unrelated events that had nothing to do with each other (i.e. Shepard technically didn't break mission to do what he did, since the mission had already been stated to wipe out the base, and what he did had no effect on the outcome), but somebody had to take the fall for the mission losses? So instead of the slap on the wrist or stern frown that they might have given Shepard ordinarily, they decided to make him the scapegoat to try and save Kyle's career, and pinned the entire failure on him, blaming him for the loss of men and not glossing over the casualties of what were technically non-combatants (because they had surrendered), which they would have done normally, because it's not like they like slavery, pirates, or Batarians either.
Which would have lead to Shepard's dishonorable discharge from service, but Hackett and a few other members of high-ranking Alliance brass put their foot down and refused to drum Shepard out for something that they normally wouldn't have cared about over dirty politics.
Which leads to him being stationed on Akuze in a dead-end position guarding the intergalactic version of a snowman, which leads us directly into the Survivor part of the psych profile (CERBERUUUUUUSSS), which I fully intend to exaggerate into the realm of "no human could have possibly survived that," only they know Shepard did, because they have the recordings in his helmet to prove it (remember, Shepard has a powerful, passive connection to the Force. People with such connections can stave off necessities like having to breathe, eat, or drink for hours, years, and months respectively). Remember, the fact that he survived Akuze at all is supposed to be a big deal. While that makes sense if that's the 'only' thing he's really done, it doesn't make sense for people to make a big deal about it if he also has a Star of Terra and the reputation as the Butcher of Torfan.
I'm compensating for this by making it so that Shepard was forced to endure conditions that would have killed any human, for a period of time in which he should have definitely, absolutely, no questions asked, died of dehydration. He did this alone, out in the middle of a lunar wasteland of desert-like heat, arctic cold nights, and solar radiation, with no protections from the elements besides his failing suit and whatever rocks he could take shade behind. Shepard literally survived something that is medically and scientifically impossible for a human to survive, ever, even with extensive (illegal) genetic modifications. We, of course, know that it was his connection to the Force that saved him, but the galactic community doesn't, so for all intents and purposes, Shepard is the guy who had a submarine implode on him at the bottom of the ocean and then walked it off. It is, literally, a goddamn miracle. No one can explain it. Salarian and Asari xenobiologists and various human professors of medicine have written thesis and published papers about this. It's not a secret. People outside the Alliance know about this. It made galactic news. They examined him extensively to try and figure out how he could have possibly survived (which, naturally, turned up nothing). It's a legend in the Alliance, almost memetic, like the stories modern soldiers tell about those mythical maybe-true-maybe-not badasses who "totally for real" used an aircraft machine gun taken off of a downed bird to saw incoming enemy combatants in half.
Only this is no bullshit, because this story has a name, a medical record, published papers, and a face. Commander John Shepard, "that guy who just can't die."
Which leads to Shepard being forced to take paid leave by Hackett because he needs to recover physically and psychologically ("You need a vacation, Shepard. Don't make me tie you to a chair and ship you out of here in a crate."). So he goes on an extended vacation at the popular resort world of Elysium. Cue the Skyllian Blitz. Standard defenses crumble, Shepard rallies together a group of on-leave soldiers and civilians, not all of which are Alliance, or even human, and pushes the attack back, leading from the front. The pirates and slavers, not expecting this kind of resistance, get steamrolled and pushed back to orbit and the forest fringes. Shepard then holds the entire resort-city for the half a day it takes for the Alliance Navy to arrive. The SSV Agincourt (which Pressley happens to be on board at the time) knocks so many carriers and fighters out of the sky the Pressley lost count, while coordinated fire from the ground under Shepard's direction kept the slaver transports grounded, allowing for every single person taken by the pirates to be rescued.
Number of civilian losses: 320
Number of militia KIAs: 5
Number of slaves taken: 0
Out of a resort population over 3 million strong, only 325 people died, the vast majority of which were killed in the initial assault. Out of the entire joint militia of on-leave soldiers (Alliance, Turian, Asari, and Salarian), only five suffered KIAs, a feat credited fully to Commander Shepard's tactical skill and leadership ability.
The pirate and slaver coalition suffered a crushing defeat, and was forced to withdraw to prevent total destruction. Elanos Haliat, the leader of the initiative, was ruined, his credibility in the Terminus Systems shot. He swears vengeance at any cost on Commander Shepard, and becomes another recurring villain.
Shepard is hailed as a hero across every news station and program in Citadel space. Hailed for uncommon valor above and beyond any calling, he receives honorary medals from all three extrahuman militaries for his actions in service of a higher cause. The Alliance awards him the Star of Terra, the highest possible honor it can bestow. It has only been given twice before, and both times it was awarded posthumously, making Commander Shepard the first living person to receive the award. The event was covered live. The story, and various accounts of the Blitz and the actions on ground, aired almost nonstop for an entire year. Books were written about it, including several 'inspired by real events' fiction novels, and no less than five video games were made relating to the event.
His skills unquestionable, and his integrity almost beyond reproach at this point, Shepard is recommended for elite special operatives training by Admiral Hackett, and is fast-tracked into the N7 program. He attains full N7 status in an incredible amount of time, breaking all previous records, and in accordance with the N7 requirement of practical field-usable higher learning, he attains a doctorate in Engineering at Grissom Academy.
He had a distinguished career as an elite N7 agent that spanned over a year and a half of service. It was then that the he was pulled from standard spec op rotations to go on an unexplained test flight of a cutting edge vessel that featured untested stealth technology.
And so it begins.
What do you think of that?
I'm actually glad that you mentioned the Batarian thing, because I was thinking along similar lines. Assuming that all of the origins and psych profiles happened and co-exist, Shepard's life could be summed up as "would have been a successful happy life, Batarians fucked everything up, kept fucking everything up, and ultimately got fucked up."
Shepard watched them kill, butcher, enslave, and drag off his entire nuclear family, his friends, his teachers, his neighbors, and the woman he loved and had asked to marry him. The only family he has left is his aunt, stationed on the Einstein, and Hackett, who is not actually related to him, but is an old friend of the family who helped Shepard pick himself up.
The Colonist has the justification for hatred, murderous hatred, of the Batarians. I like to think of Shepard as being a professional, but if that pirate base had a slave pen in it, if Shepard had seen that, what they did to their slaves, their female slaves in particular. . . I'm not sure he could not lose it.
I will say, though, that I want to keep the element of the Alliance screwing Shepard over during the trial. It's important that that's there, because Major Kyle becomes an established, recurring villain later (though not an unsympathetic one), and the fact that the Alliance brass favored him over Shepard becomes a plot point.
Maybe Kyle losing most of his men and Shepard's rampage were completely unrelated events that had nothing to do with each other (i.e. Shepard technically didn't break mission to do what he did, since the mission had already been stated to wipe out the base, and what he did had no effect on the outcome), but somebody had to take the fall for the mission losses? So instead of the slap on the wrist or stern frown that they might have given Shepard ordinarily, they decided to make him the scapegoat to try and save Kyle's career, and pinned the entire failure on him, blaming him for the loss of men and not glossing over the casualties of what were technically non-combatants (because they had surrendered), which they would have done normally, because it's not like they like slavery, pirates, or Batarians either.
Which would have lead to Shepard's dishonorable discharge from service, but Hackett and a few other members of high-ranking Alliance brass put their foot down and refused to drum Shepard out for something that they normally wouldn't have cared about over dirty politics.
Which leads to him being stationed on Akuze in a dead-end position guarding the intergalactic version of a snowman, which leads us directly into the Survivor part of the psych profile (CERBERUUUUUUSSS), which I fully intend to exaggerate into the realm of "no human could have possibly survived that," only they know Shepard did, because they have the recordings in his helmet to prove it (remember, Shepard has a powerful, passive connection to the Force. People with such connections can stave off necessities like having to breathe, eat, or drink for hours, years, and months respectively). Remember, the fact that he survived Akuze at all is supposed to be a big deal. While that makes sense if that's the 'only' thing he's really done, it doesn't make sense for people to make a big deal about it if he also has a Star of Terra and the reputation as the Butcher of Torfan.
I'm compensating for this by making it so that Shepard was forced to endure conditions that would have killed any human, for a period of time in which he should have definitely, absolutely, no questions asked, died of dehydration. He did this alone, out in the middle of a lunar wasteland of desert-like heat, arctic cold nights, and solar radiation, with no protections from the elements besides his failing suit and whatever rocks he could take shade behind. Shepard literally survived something that is medically and scientifically impossible for a human to survive, ever, even with extensive (illegal) genetic modifications. We, of course, know that it was his connection to the Force that saved him, but the galactic community doesn't, so for all intents and purposes, Shepard is the guy who had a submarine implode on him at the bottom of the ocean and then walked it off. It is, literally, a goddamn miracle. No one can explain it. Salarian and Asari xenobiologists and various human professors of medicine have written thesis and published papers about this. It's not a secret. People outside the Alliance know about this. It made galactic news. They examined him extensively to try and figure out how he could have possibly survived (which, naturally, turned up nothing). It's a legend in the Alliance, almost memetic, like the stories modern soldiers tell about those mythical maybe-true-maybe-not badasses who "totally for real" used an aircraft machine gun taken off of a downed bird to saw incoming enemy combatants in half.
Only this is no bullshit, because this story has a name, a medical record, published papers, and a face. Commander John Shepard, "that guy who just can't die."
Which leads to Shepard being forced to take paid leave by Hackett because he needs to recover physically and psychologically ("You need a vacation, Shepard. Don't make me tie you to a chair and ship you out of here in a crate."). So he goes on an extended vacation at the popular resort world of Elysium. Cue the Skyllian Blitz. Standard defenses crumble, Shepard rallies together a group of on-leave soldiers and civilians, not all of which are Alliance, or even human, and pushes the attack back, leading from the front. The pirates and slavers, not expecting this kind of resistance, get steamrolled and pushed back to orbit and the forest fringes. Shepard then holds the entire resort-city for the half a day it takes for the Alliance Navy to arrive. The SSV Agincourt (which Pressley happens to be on board at the time) knocks so many carriers and fighters out of the sky the Pressley lost count, while coordinated fire from the ground under Shepard's direction kept the slaver transports grounded, allowing for every single person taken by the pirates to be rescued.
Number of civilian losses: 320
Number of militia KIAs: 5
Number of slaves taken: 0
Out of a resort population over 3 million strong, only 325 people died, the vast majority of which were killed in the initial assault. Out of the entire joint militia of on-leave soldiers (Alliance, Turian, Asari, and Salarian), only five suffered KIAs, a feat credited fully to Commander Shepard's tactical skill and leadership ability.
The pirate and slaver coalition suffered a crushing defeat, and was forced to withdraw to prevent total destruction. Elanos Haliat, the leader of the initiative, was ruined, his credibility in the Terminus Systems shot. He swears vengeance at any cost on Commander Shepard, and becomes another recurring villain.
Shepard is hailed as a hero across every news station and program in Citadel space. Hailed for uncommon valor above and beyond any calling, he receives honorary medals from all three extrahuman militaries for his actions in service of a higher cause. The Alliance awards him the Star of Terra, the highest possible honor it can bestow. It has only been given twice before, and both times it was awarded posthumously, making Commander Shepard the first living person to receive the award. The event was covered live. The story, and various accounts of the Blitz and the actions on ground, aired almost nonstop for an entire year. Books were written about it, including several 'inspired by real events' fiction novels, and no less than five video games were made relating to the event.
His skills unquestionable, and his integrity almost beyond reproach at this point, Shepard is recommended for elite special operatives training by Admiral Hackett, and is fast-tracked into the N7 program. He attains full N7 status in an incredible amount of time, breaking all previous records, and in accordance with the N7 requirement of practical field-usable higher learning, he attains a doctorate in Engineering at Grissom Academy.
He had a distinguished career as an elite N7 agent that spanned over a year and a half of service. It was then that the he was pulled from standard spec op rotations to go on an unexplained test flight of a cutting edge vessel that featured untested stealth technology.
And so it begins.
What do you think of that?
:blink: or :jawdrop: at... well, most of his actions anywhere!I'd like to note that, in spite of his reputation, Shepard himself is not sterling. He still has serious issues with Batarians in general. He's less proto-Space Jesus at this point, and more a Renegade-inclined soldier who is trying to live up to his reputation as a paragon of humanity and military excellence beyond reproach. He is, in some ways, an atoner-style character, because as much as he hates the Batarians and slavery in general, he still cannot deny that what he did on Torfan was wrong. He shouldn't have killed those pirates and slavers in cold blood, no matter how much he thought they deserved it, because that's crossing the line from killing people because you have to (professional reasons), and killing people because you want to (personal reasons).
So he's basically a Renegade that's trying to repent and live up to the Paragon reputation that the galaxy at large has put on his shoulders. And I think that ties in very nicely to the Star Wars side of the game here, because the most interesting Star Wars characters were always the ones that weren't necessarily evil, but weren't fundamentally good, either. The repentant Sith who are still tainted by the Dark Side, and the rebel Jedi who deliberately meddle in the Dark to accomplish their goals, were always the most interesting ones in my own opinion. Mace Windu was at his best in Shatterpoint, where he was forced by circumstance to flirt with a howling, primal facet of the Dark Side to stop a Wild Adept that had fully steeped himself in the Dark Side from killing him and butchering hundreds of thousands of innocent lives. Likewise, Reven is in part so fascinating precisely because he not only straddled that line successfully, but, by all accounts, made the line his personal bitch (at least until Lucas Word of Goded him as being an evil Sith, but seriously, fuck Lucas), and I'm going for a similar line here. If Shepard were directly translated into the Star Wars parlance, he would be a Sith who is trying to become a Jedi because he knows what he was doing was wrong.
In practical terms, Shepard will ultimately become a character that uses the Dark and Light Sides of the Force, but will find himself sorely and repeatedly tempted to delve deeper into the Dark Side to accomplish his goals. His anger and rage, especially against things like piracy, dirty politics, and especially slavery and the Batarians, is intense, and it will tempt him to do things with the Force that he shouldn't. He won't magically and effortlessly gain a balance between the two. It will be a struggle. His darker nature, that just wants to kill all the scum and let God sort them out, will come up, and like all emotions, it will be magnified by the Force.
So he's basically a Renegade that's trying to repent and live up to the Paragon reputation that the galaxy at large has put on his shoulders. And I think that ties in very nicely to the Star Wars side of the game here, because the most interesting Star Wars characters were always the ones that weren't necessarily evil, but weren't fundamentally good, either. The repentant Sith who are still tainted by the Dark Side, and the rebel Jedi who deliberately meddle in the Dark to accomplish their goals, were always the most interesting ones in my own opinion. Mace Windu was at his best in Shatterpoint, where he was forced by circumstance to flirt with a howling, primal facet of the Dark Side to stop a Wild Adept that had fully steeped himself in the Dark Side from killing him and butchering hundreds of thousands of innocent lives. Likewise, Reven is in part so fascinating precisely because he not only straddled that line successfully, but, by all accounts, made the line his personal bitch (at least until Lucas Word of Goded him as being an evil Sith, but seriously, fuck Lucas), and I'm going for a similar line here. If Shepard were directly translated into the Star Wars parlance, he would be a Sith who is trying to become a Jedi because he knows what he was doing was wrong.
In practical terms, Shepard will ultimately become a character that uses the Dark and Light Sides of the Force, but will find himself sorely and repeatedly tempted to delve deeper into the Dark Side to accomplish his goals. His anger and rage, especially against things like piracy, dirty politics, and especially slavery and the Batarians, is intense, and it will tempt him to do things with the Force that he shouldn't. He won't magically and effortlessly gain a balance between the two. It will be a struggle. His darker nature, that just wants to kill all the scum and let God sort them out, will come up, and like all emotions, it will be magnified by the Force.
This is all incredibly awesome, but maybe it's because it's so damn late at night, and I really need sleep, but all I can think of is 'Doctor Shepard!' and 'what if Shepard and Conrad Verner shared a class or two?'.
I admit that last one is unlikely, even if it could add some humor to the Citadel scene, but considering how hotly debated Conrad's dissertation apparently was, it's possible that Shepard might have at least heard the name before.
"Conrad Verner? Wait, are you DOCTOR Conrad Verner?"
"Wow, you've heard of me!?"
I admit that last one is unlikely, even if it could add some humor to the Citadel scene, but considering how hotly debated Conrad's dissertation apparently was, it's possible that Shepard might have at least heard the name before.
"Conrad Verner? Wait, are you DOCTOR Conrad Verner?"
"Wow, you've heard of me!?"
