Commander Jane Shepard (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
cmdreffingshepard) wrote2013-01-15 09:01 pm
cmdreffingshepard) wrote2013-01-15 09:01 pm
Entry tags:
application: ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
tushanshu
Player Information:
Name: Froda
Age: 27
Contact:![[plurk.com profile]](https://plurk.com/favicon.ico)
frodabaggins
Game Cast: Arthur | Inception |aloadeddie
Character Information:
Name: Commander Jane Shepard (but basically everyone just calls her "Shepard")
Canon: Mass Effect
Canon Point: post-Arrival DLC, which is set between Mass Effect 2 and Mass Effect 3.
Age: 30-ish
Reference: Here is a detailed, multi-part wiki article which covers all the media in the Mass Effect universe chronologically! And here is Shepard's page.
Setting:
So yeah, that's the opening text of Mass Effect, the first game in the trilogy. Think Star Trek - set in the future, with multiple species populating the galaxy and trying to get along - but with some pretty significant differences. For instance, the problem of deep-space flight is solved not simply by the standard sci-fi trope of faster than light (FTL) travel, but by these giant slingshots in space called mass relays which jump ships all over the galaxy in a fraction of the time it would take even standard FTL travel.
Oh, and also? Humanity is far from the first species to discover this form of travel - other species have been running around the galaxy using the exact same technology for thousands of years. Humanity is the new kid on the block, and this often causes some tension between different factions. Yeah, there's a lot of politics in the universe of Mass Effect. The turians, especially, aren't very popular with a lot of humans, seeing as they killed a bunch of them in what humanity has come to call the First Contact War (but most everyone else just calls it the "Relay 314 Incident") - though technically turians are now an ally of humanity and humanity's military force, the Earth Systems Alliance. A joint turian-human team of engineers, scientists and soldiers developed the first Normandy - Shepard's ship, an advanced prototype with a newly-developed stealth system. Still, despite these advances, humanity is seen by quite a few species as an "upstart" in the world of intergalactic politics. They're already gunning for a spot on the Council by 2183, despite the fact that other species have been trying to get a place in that prestigious body for centuries without any luck.
The Council - a representative from each of the three most advanced, powerful races in the galaxy (turians, asari and salarians) uses diplomacy and occasionally spec ops agents called Spectres to help keep the peace. The asari were the first race to discover the technology enabling deep-space travel. An all-female race, they're diplomats, mediators and peacekeepers. Turians, on the other hand, are much more militaristic and have the strongest fleet in the galaxy. Salarians are short-lived and quick-witted, and tend to make great scientists - or spies.
But there are a lot of other non-Council races, too. All of them with their own histories, cultures - and often longstanding grudges against other races. For instance, the krogan, who were uplifted technologically by the salarians over a thousand years ago to help fight a war - once that war was won, the krogan began attacking the other races, their population growing so quickly they were becoming a serious threat to the other species of the galaxy. So the salarians effectively neutered them with the genophage, an alteration to krogan DNA that affects their fertility rates. The krogan have hated the salarians (and the turians, who deployed the genophage) ever since.
Then there are the geth, a race of robots created by the quarians hundreds of years ago. In true sci-fi fashion, the geth eventually gained sentience, and started asking questions like "does this unit have a soul?" The quarians, being relatively genre-savvy, attempted to nip the burgeoning AI in the bud by shutting down all the geth - but the geth fought back in self-defense, resulting in a war which eventually led to the quarians being forced off their homeworld. For 300 years or so now, the quarians have been galactic vagrants, travelling around in their Flotilla, and the geth didn't venture out of the Perseus Veil system until some of them teamed up with Saren the rogue turian Spectre and the Reapers in 2183.
Most people assumed that all geth were hostile to organics - until Shepard met Legion, a geth mobile platform which explained that the geth working for the Reapers were actually only a small fraction of the collective - most geth want peace with organics. Those that sided with the Reapers - known as "heretics" - were re-written by Shepard during Legion's loyalty mission.
An explanation of biotics can be found in the abilities section.
Shepard was made the first human Spectre by the Council, a great honor, but a bit of a hollow one, at least in the long run. After her death in 2183, the Council basically enacted a smear campaign to discredit her talk about these supposed "Reapers". Because really, coming to believe that an ancient race of sentient machines invades the galaxy and harvests all advanced organic life every 50,000 years is a serious downer. Then when Shepard miraculously returned from the dead a couple of years later, she was working with that pro-human group, Cerberus. Sure, maybe they used to be an Alliance black-ops group, but they broke away and started doing things like human experimentation and bringing dangerous species back from extinction. The guy running the show, known only as The Illusive Man, is a shady character indeed - apparently his only agenda to advance the power and influence of humanity throughout the galaxy. Some consider this to be largely benevolent, if sometimes the means by which these goals are achieved are unethical (to say the least), while some consider Cerberus a terrorist group with nothing short of a racist agenda to place humanity at the top of the galactic political food chain. Needless to say, Shepard became a very controversial figure. Some people think she's a hero, others think she's crazy, a terrorist, or both.
Shepard's choices over the past couple of years, the events of the first two games, have had a profound impact on the galaxy, and the political balance of power. Generally speaking, she has followed the "paragon" route - attempting to resolve conflicts peacefully and with a minimum of lives lost. On Noveria, Shepard encountered a rachni queen, part of a race long-thought extinct, and spared her, refusing to commit genocide (again). On Virmire, Wrex survived his confrontation with Shepard, while Kaidan Alenko was killed in action. During the Battle of the Citadel, Shepard sacrificed human lives to save the Council - she later nominated her mentor, Captain Anderson, to be the first human Councilor.
After Cerberus brought Shepard back to life, her alliance with The Illusive Man was very uneasy, to say the least. She gained the loyalty of all squadmates (and all survived the suicide mission), but she never trusted The Illusive Man, and instead of handing the Collector Base over to him, Shepard chose to destroy it and cut all ties with Cerberus afterward.
Personality: Shepard has had a very tough life, right from the start - born on Earth and orphaned early, she spent her childhood basically on the streets in the slums of an Earth city. She joined a street gang as a kid to be able to eat and survive, but joined the Alliance military as soon as she turned 18 in order to escape that life. Despite these roots, she has a strong sense of morality and fairness, as well as self-discipline and the ability to both give and follow orders. She's used to dealing with a chain of command - though that doesn't mean she particularly likes bureaucracy and red tape. She relies on her own judgment as often as not, her street smarts - and expects soldiers under her command to do the same. She'll bend or break the rules if she believes it's necessary - to do the right thing.
Shepard comes from a universe which is incredibly diverse, with numerous different alien species inhabiting the galaxy and attempting to govern it as best they can, despite deep-seated cultural and biological differences, ancient conflicts and blood feuds and prejudices and varying ideological perspectives. Shepard has high ideals, about the sanctity of life (organic, cybernetic, and everything in between), about the value of unity and cooperation and respecting each others' differences. Being forced, over the past few years, to work with people of all different species and backgrounds, has eradicated most of the underlying prejudices Shepard may have had, shifted her worldview considerably, and she's generally a very open-minded person, but that doesn't mean she always lives up to her ideals.
For one thing, she has no qualms about brutally killing people who harm or threaten to harm those she cares about. Shepard is passionately loyal to her crew and those under her command, particularly those who have been with her since the mission to defeat Saren. They are her family, the people she cares most about in the whole galaxy, and they've become her reason for wanting to stop the Reapers.
Still, under most circumstances, she'll try to solve conflicts using non-violent means if she thinks it's remotely possible. And generally, she's confident in her ability to solve problems, whether by talking or by shooting things. She's a bit of a controversial figure in her universe, beloved by some as a hero, and seen by others as unstable or insane, and she's had to spend quite a bit of time (especially recently) justifying many of her actions to those in charge. As such, she projects an air of confidence in herself, of belief that she is doing the right thing. And, for the most part, that's the truth.
However, recently, that facade of confidence has been starting to show a bit of wear and tear, cracking around the edges. Shepard has been suffering from nightmares, reminders of all the people she has failed to save, and she feels a lot of remorse about what she did to the Bahak system, which killed approximately 300,000 batarian colonists. She believes it was the correct decision, but that doesn't mean those deaths weigh on her any less.
Shepard is a natural leader, capable of inspiring incredible loyalty in those under her command - even people with deeply opposing ideologies, worldviews and prejudices. For instance, Garrus and Wrex - members of two species, turians and krogans, who traditionally hate each other and have a long history of conflict - eventually become friends through their mutual association with Shepard. A similar dynamic occurs in the relationship between Tali and Legion.
In conversation, Shepard is generally straightforward and to-the-point. With friends, people she feels comfortable with, and other soldiers she's often shown engaging in playful banter and ribbing. She exhibits a lot of compassion for the weak, and disgust for those who would exploit the weak. She also tends to not get along with politicians and bureaucrats, because she doesn't play their games. However, often because of this, she can be quite good at mediating and resolving conflicts. Shepard tells it like it is, and people have a tendency to listen to her.
Keeliai will probably throw Shepard for a loop, though she'll hide it well - being a soldier has made her pretty adaptable, at least on the surface. She's seen and experienced a lot in the past couple of years that she previously would've considered outlandish or impossible, so she'll do her best to take things in stride - though internally, she may be standing on much shakier ground.
Appearance: Here is how Shepard looks in the game. Red hair, green eyes, fair skin and freckles. She's maybe 5'7" or so, relatively average height for a woman, and built relatively sturdy - due to being in the military. She carries herself like a military person, as well - and dresses very practically. She grew up on the streets, and went right into the military at age 18, so she never really had time to learn traditionally "feminine" ways of walking, talking, etc. "Tomboy" might be a word used to describe her.
Abilities: + Vanguard: this is Shepard's class type, which dictates the kinds of powers and weapons she has at her disposal in a fight. Basically, vanguards like to charge into the middle of the fight and mow down opponents with shotguns, but they also have -
+ Biotics: Biotic powers are basically like telekinesis - some humans, due to exposure in utero to the enigmatic Element Zero (or eezo) are born with these abilities, and Shepard is no exception. She can use her biotics to charge quickly into a fight, and she can also use them to toss opponents out of her way with a shockwave.
- That having been said, biotics have a downside - while some races, such as asari and krogans, have developed biotic abilities over thousands of years of evolution and natural eezo deposits on their respective homeworlds, humans don't have these powers naturally, and there are side effects to the eezo exposure. Overuse can exhaust Shepard quickly, and she occasionally suffers bad headaches. Shepard has it pretty lucky for a human biotic - she at least has never suffered any of the more severe potential side effects of eezo exposure (and the biotic implants in her body), such as crippling pain, or cancerous tumors.
+ Cybernetic implants: In the weeks following the events of Mass Effect, in 2183, Shepard was actually killed in an attack on her ship. Cerberus, a pro-human splinter group, recovered her body and spent two years and billions of credits to literally bring her back to life. This involved implanting pretty extensive cybernetics into her body, which had the side effect of making her a little more durable, a little more able to withstand things like drugs and alcohol (there are several points in ME2 and ME3 when people attempt to drug or sedate Shepard and fail because she actually requires higher doses to be knocked out than a non-enhanced human of her size). She's not a robot, by any means, and the implants don't give her any special powers or anything. She's just a little tougher to sedate or kill than a baseline human. Also, she can drink most people under the table.
+ N7 training: Basically what this means is that Shepard went through the toughest, most grueling spec ops military training that humanity has - and passed with flying colors. She's one of the elites in the Alliance military, she's seen a lot of action and really knows her stuff in terms of strategy and how to survive seemingly-impossible missions.
Inventory: + Omni-tool
+ M-11 Wraith shotgun
+ M-6 Carnifex heavy pistol
+ Spare thermal clips (4)
Suite: The Earth Sector will probably work best - her straightforward personality and sense of fairness means she'll have an easy time getting along with the locals, and she can handle herself if she has run-ins with the local criminals. Two floors should be plenty of space to keep her comfortably situated (and easily fortified, if necessary).
In-Character Samples:
Third Person: Shepard ducked for cover behind a pillar, checking the clip on her gun. They were being pressed hard, but they had to get into this compound to get the data Cerberus had stored here. They'd expected Cerberus troops, maybe even an Atlas mech.
What they hadn't expected had been the husks.
Tali was attempting to hack the lock on a door to get them to a shortcut, while Shepard and Liara held off the creatures. She saw Liara toss out a singularity, which swept two husks up into its field. Shepard aimed a warp at them, and the singularity detonated, sending out a shockwave which killed the husks, slamming the corpses into the ground with a meaty sound.
Shepard turned to her left, and threw a few more of the husks out of her way.
"Banshee on our six!" Liara's voice crackled into her ear, and Shepard turned just in time to see the creature charge right at Tali, grabbing her and lifting her off the ground.
She didn't have time to think about whether Tali's suit would be compromised, or where Liara was, or if a horde of husks were about to pull her entrails out. Her reflexes set in - her friend was in danger, seconds away from having the life squeezed out of her. Reloading her shotgun, she crouched low, charging at the creature with a yell. The banshee was knocked back, making that hellish screaming noise - but it cut off abruptly as the shotgun went off, exploding its head in a spray of gore.
Shepard was at Tali's side in an instant, making sure the quarian was still breathing, checking her enviro-suit for punctures, helping her to her feet. "Shepard, I'll be fine," she protested.
"I guess you will," Shepard said, assuring herself that Tali was unhurt.
"Is everyone all right?" Liara asked.
"Yes," Shepard said quickly. "We're fine. C'mon, let's get into that compound and get this over with."
Tali nodded, and got back to work. And Shepard said a quick thank-you to whoever or whatever might be listening, that she didn't yet have anyone to mourn today.
Third Person (2): Shepard splashed her face with cold water, patting it dry with a towel before glancing at herself in the mirror.
Those scars she had when she first woke up in that Cerberus lab months ago were gone - almost like they'd never been there. But she almost thought she could see faint red around her irises, or under her skin. As though what she'd done would somehow show on her face, for all the galaxy to see.
Three hundred thousand - a big number. A lot of lives. A lot of innocent blood on her hands. It was one thing to kill someone in battle - in self-defense, when it's kill or be killed. She'd done it before and she would willingly do it again. It was a part of herself she'd accepted a long time ago.
And, in a way, this decision was more of the same - kill those three hundred thousand batarians now, or sentence trillions more to death when the Reapers burst through the Alpha Relay. She couldn't question the decision, painful as it was.
Sometimes, she just wished it wasn't her who had to make those choices.
Sighing, she stepped back out into her cabin, eyes scanning over the room - the fish tank, the model ships in their display case, the hamster cage. Then, her movements quick and efficient, she went to the comm station at her desk.
"Joker," she said, her tone cool and professional, "I need you to set a course for Sol. Earth. Alliance HQ."
It was time to face the music.
Network: [The video comes on, revealing a woman with a very serious expression on her face. She gets right to the point, and her tone of voice is clipped, brooking no bullshit.]
My name is Commander Shepard, of the SSV Normandy. I'm looking for my crew. Any of my crew. I guess this is the best way to find them, if they're here. Not that the locals have been much help beyond that. Is there something in the water to make them that way?
[She frowns for a moment, looking away as though gathering her thoughts. Then she abruptly changes the subject.] I don't know who broke me out, or how, but I didn't ask for it. If they weren't going to court-martial me before, they will now, no thanks to whoever did this.
Name: Froda
Age: 27
Contact:
Game Cast: Arthur | Inception |
aloadeddieCharacter Information:
Name: Commander Jane Shepard (but basically everyone just calls her "Shepard")
Canon: Mass Effect
Canon Point: post-Arrival DLC, which is set between Mass Effect 2 and Mass Effect 3.
Age: 30-ish
Reference: Here is a detailed, multi-part wiki article which covers all the media in the Mass Effect universe chronologically! And here is Shepard's page.
Setting:
In the year 2148, explorers on Mars discovered the remains of an ancient spacefaring civilization. In the decades that followed, these mysterious artifacts revealed startling new technologies, enabling travel to the furthest stars. The basis for this incredible technology was a force that controlled the very fabric of space and time.
They called it the greatest discovery in human history.
The civilizations of the galaxy call it... MASS EFFECT.
So yeah, that's the opening text of Mass Effect, the first game in the trilogy. Think Star Trek - set in the future, with multiple species populating the galaxy and trying to get along - but with some pretty significant differences. For instance, the problem of deep-space flight is solved not simply by the standard sci-fi trope of faster than light (FTL) travel, but by these giant slingshots in space called mass relays which jump ships all over the galaxy in a fraction of the time it would take even standard FTL travel.
Oh, and also? Humanity is far from the first species to discover this form of travel - other species have been running around the galaxy using the exact same technology for thousands of years. Humanity is the new kid on the block, and this often causes some tension between different factions. Yeah, there's a lot of politics in the universe of Mass Effect. The turians, especially, aren't very popular with a lot of humans, seeing as they killed a bunch of them in what humanity has come to call the First Contact War (but most everyone else just calls it the "Relay 314 Incident") - though technically turians are now an ally of humanity and humanity's military force, the Earth Systems Alliance. A joint turian-human team of engineers, scientists and soldiers developed the first Normandy - Shepard's ship, an advanced prototype with a newly-developed stealth system. Still, despite these advances, humanity is seen by quite a few species as an "upstart" in the world of intergalactic politics. They're already gunning for a spot on the Council by 2183, despite the fact that other species have been trying to get a place in that prestigious body for centuries without any luck.
The Council - a representative from each of the three most advanced, powerful races in the galaxy (turians, asari and salarians) uses diplomacy and occasionally spec ops agents called Spectres to help keep the peace. The asari were the first race to discover the technology enabling deep-space travel. An all-female race, they're diplomats, mediators and peacekeepers. Turians, on the other hand, are much more militaristic and have the strongest fleet in the galaxy. Salarians are short-lived and quick-witted, and tend to make great scientists - or spies.
But there are a lot of other non-Council races, too. All of them with their own histories, cultures - and often longstanding grudges against other races. For instance, the krogan, who were uplifted technologically by the salarians over a thousand years ago to help fight a war - once that war was won, the krogan began attacking the other races, their population growing so quickly they were becoming a serious threat to the other species of the galaxy. So the salarians effectively neutered them with the genophage, an alteration to krogan DNA that affects their fertility rates. The krogan have hated the salarians (and the turians, who deployed the genophage) ever since.
Then there are the geth, a race of robots created by the quarians hundreds of years ago. In true sci-fi fashion, the geth eventually gained sentience, and started asking questions like "does this unit have a soul?" The quarians, being relatively genre-savvy, attempted to nip the burgeoning AI in the bud by shutting down all the geth - but the geth fought back in self-defense, resulting in a war which eventually led to the quarians being forced off their homeworld. For 300 years or so now, the quarians have been galactic vagrants, travelling around in their Flotilla, and the geth didn't venture out of the Perseus Veil system until some of them teamed up with Saren the rogue turian Spectre and the Reapers in 2183.
Most people assumed that all geth were hostile to organics - until Shepard met Legion, a geth mobile platform which explained that the geth working for the Reapers were actually only a small fraction of the collective - most geth want peace with organics. Those that sided with the Reapers - known as "heretics" - were re-written by Shepard during Legion's loyalty mission.
An explanation of biotics can be found in the abilities section.
Shepard was made the first human Spectre by the Council, a great honor, but a bit of a hollow one, at least in the long run. After her death in 2183, the Council basically enacted a smear campaign to discredit her talk about these supposed "Reapers". Because really, coming to believe that an ancient race of sentient machines invades the galaxy and harvests all advanced organic life every 50,000 years is a serious downer. Then when Shepard miraculously returned from the dead a couple of years later, she was working with that pro-human group, Cerberus. Sure, maybe they used to be an Alliance black-ops group, but they broke away and started doing things like human experimentation and bringing dangerous species back from extinction. The guy running the show, known only as The Illusive Man, is a shady character indeed - apparently his only agenda to advance the power and influence of humanity throughout the galaxy. Some consider this to be largely benevolent, if sometimes the means by which these goals are achieved are unethical (to say the least), while some consider Cerberus a terrorist group with nothing short of a racist agenda to place humanity at the top of the galactic political food chain. Needless to say, Shepard became a very controversial figure. Some people think she's a hero, others think she's crazy, a terrorist, or both.
Shepard's choices over the past couple of years, the events of the first two games, have had a profound impact on the galaxy, and the political balance of power. Generally speaking, she has followed the "paragon" route - attempting to resolve conflicts peacefully and with a minimum of lives lost. On Noveria, Shepard encountered a rachni queen, part of a race long-thought extinct, and spared her, refusing to commit genocide (again). On Virmire, Wrex survived his confrontation with Shepard, while Kaidan Alenko was killed in action. During the Battle of the Citadel, Shepard sacrificed human lives to save the Council - she later nominated her mentor, Captain Anderson, to be the first human Councilor.
After Cerberus brought Shepard back to life, her alliance with The Illusive Man was very uneasy, to say the least. She gained the loyalty of all squadmates (and all survived the suicide mission), but she never trusted The Illusive Man, and instead of handing the Collector Base over to him, Shepard chose to destroy it and cut all ties with Cerberus afterward.
Personality: Shepard has had a very tough life, right from the start - born on Earth and orphaned early, she spent her childhood basically on the streets in the slums of an Earth city. She joined a street gang as a kid to be able to eat and survive, but joined the Alliance military as soon as she turned 18 in order to escape that life. Despite these roots, she has a strong sense of morality and fairness, as well as self-discipline and the ability to both give and follow orders. She's used to dealing with a chain of command - though that doesn't mean she particularly likes bureaucracy and red tape. She relies on her own judgment as often as not, her street smarts - and expects soldiers under her command to do the same. She'll bend or break the rules if she believes it's necessary - to do the right thing.
Shepard comes from a universe which is incredibly diverse, with numerous different alien species inhabiting the galaxy and attempting to govern it as best they can, despite deep-seated cultural and biological differences, ancient conflicts and blood feuds and prejudices and varying ideological perspectives. Shepard has high ideals, about the sanctity of life (organic, cybernetic, and everything in between), about the value of unity and cooperation and respecting each others' differences. Being forced, over the past few years, to work with people of all different species and backgrounds, has eradicated most of the underlying prejudices Shepard may have had, shifted her worldview considerably, and she's generally a very open-minded person, but that doesn't mean she always lives up to her ideals.
For one thing, she has no qualms about brutally killing people who harm or threaten to harm those she cares about. Shepard is passionately loyal to her crew and those under her command, particularly those who have been with her since the mission to defeat Saren. They are her family, the people she cares most about in the whole galaxy, and they've become her reason for wanting to stop the Reapers.
Still, under most circumstances, she'll try to solve conflicts using non-violent means if she thinks it's remotely possible. And generally, she's confident in her ability to solve problems, whether by talking or by shooting things. She's a bit of a controversial figure in her universe, beloved by some as a hero, and seen by others as unstable or insane, and she's had to spend quite a bit of time (especially recently) justifying many of her actions to those in charge. As such, she projects an air of confidence in herself, of belief that she is doing the right thing. And, for the most part, that's the truth.
However, recently, that facade of confidence has been starting to show a bit of wear and tear, cracking around the edges. Shepard has been suffering from nightmares, reminders of all the people she has failed to save, and she feels a lot of remorse about what she did to the Bahak system, which killed approximately 300,000 batarian colonists. She believes it was the correct decision, but that doesn't mean those deaths weigh on her any less.
Shepard is a natural leader, capable of inspiring incredible loyalty in those under her command - even people with deeply opposing ideologies, worldviews and prejudices. For instance, Garrus and Wrex - members of two species, turians and krogans, who traditionally hate each other and have a long history of conflict - eventually become friends through their mutual association with Shepard. A similar dynamic occurs in the relationship between Tali and Legion.
In conversation, Shepard is generally straightforward and to-the-point. With friends, people she feels comfortable with, and other soldiers she's often shown engaging in playful banter and ribbing. She exhibits a lot of compassion for the weak, and disgust for those who would exploit the weak. She also tends to not get along with politicians and bureaucrats, because she doesn't play their games. However, often because of this, she can be quite good at mediating and resolving conflicts. Shepard tells it like it is, and people have a tendency to listen to her.
Keeliai will probably throw Shepard for a loop, though she'll hide it well - being a soldier has made her pretty adaptable, at least on the surface. She's seen and experienced a lot in the past couple of years that she previously would've considered outlandish or impossible, so she'll do her best to take things in stride - though internally, she may be standing on much shakier ground.
Appearance: Here is how Shepard looks in the game. Red hair, green eyes, fair skin and freckles. She's maybe 5'7" or so, relatively average height for a woman, and built relatively sturdy - due to being in the military. She carries herself like a military person, as well - and dresses very practically. She grew up on the streets, and went right into the military at age 18, so she never really had time to learn traditionally "feminine" ways of walking, talking, etc. "Tomboy" might be a word used to describe her.
Abilities: + Vanguard: this is Shepard's class type, which dictates the kinds of powers and weapons she has at her disposal in a fight. Basically, vanguards like to charge into the middle of the fight and mow down opponents with shotguns, but they also have -
+ Biotics: Biotic powers are basically like telekinesis - some humans, due to exposure in utero to the enigmatic Element Zero (or eezo) are born with these abilities, and Shepard is no exception. She can use her biotics to charge quickly into a fight, and she can also use them to toss opponents out of her way with a shockwave.
- That having been said, biotics have a downside - while some races, such as asari and krogans, have developed biotic abilities over thousands of years of evolution and natural eezo deposits on their respective homeworlds, humans don't have these powers naturally, and there are side effects to the eezo exposure. Overuse can exhaust Shepard quickly, and she occasionally suffers bad headaches. Shepard has it pretty lucky for a human biotic - she at least has never suffered any of the more severe potential side effects of eezo exposure (and the biotic implants in her body), such as crippling pain, or cancerous tumors.
+ Cybernetic implants: In the weeks following the events of Mass Effect, in 2183, Shepard was actually killed in an attack on her ship. Cerberus, a pro-human splinter group, recovered her body and spent two years and billions of credits to literally bring her back to life. This involved implanting pretty extensive cybernetics into her body, which had the side effect of making her a little more durable, a little more able to withstand things like drugs and alcohol (there are several points in ME2 and ME3 when people attempt to drug or sedate Shepard and fail because she actually requires higher doses to be knocked out than a non-enhanced human of her size). She's not a robot, by any means, and the implants don't give her any special powers or anything. She's just a little tougher to sedate or kill than a baseline human. Also, she can drink most people under the table.
+ N7 training: Basically what this means is that Shepard went through the toughest, most grueling spec ops military training that humanity has - and passed with flying colors. She's one of the elites in the Alliance military, she's seen a lot of action and really knows her stuff in terms of strategy and how to survive seemingly-impossible missions.
Inventory: + Omni-tool
+ M-11 Wraith shotgun
+ M-6 Carnifex heavy pistol
+ Spare thermal clips (4)
Suite: The Earth Sector will probably work best - her straightforward personality and sense of fairness means she'll have an easy time getting along with the locals, and she can handle herself if she has run-ins with the local criminals. Two floors should be plenty of space to keep her comfortably situated (and easily fortified, if necessary).
In-Character Samples:
Third Person: Shepard ducked for cover behind a pillar, checking the clip on her gun. They were being pressed hard, but they had to get into this compound to get the data Cerberus had stored here. They'd expected Cerberus troops, maybe even an Atlas mech.
What they hadn't expected had been the husks.
Tali was attempting to hack the lock on a door to get them to a shortcut, while Shepard and Liara held off the creatures. She saw Liara toss out a singularity, which swept two husks up into its field. Shepard aimed a warp at them, and the singularity detonated, sending out a shockwave which killed the husks, slamming the corpses into the ground with a meaty sound.
Shepard turned to her left, and threw a few more of the husks out of her way.
"Banshee on our six!" Liara's voice crackled into her ear, and Shepard turned just in time to see the creature charge right at Tali, grabbing her and lifting her off the ground.
She didn't have time to think about whether Tali's suit would be compromised, or where Liara was, or if a horde of husks were about to pull her entrails out. Her reflexes set in - her friend was in danger, seconds away from having the life squeezed out of her. Reloading her shotgun, she crouched low, charging at the creature with a yell. The banshee was knocked back, making that hellish screaming noise - but it cut off abruptly as the shotgun went off, exploding its head in a spray of gore.
Shepard was at Tali's side in an instant, making sure the quarian was still breathing, checking her enviro-suit for punctures, helping her to her feet. "Shepard, I'll be fine," she protested.
"I guess you will," Shepard said, assuring herself that Tali was unhurt.
"Is everyone all right?" Liara asked.
"Yes," Shepard said quickly. "We're fine. C'mon, let's get into that compound and get this over with."
Tali nodded, and got back to work. And Shepard said a quick thank-you to whoever or whatever might be listening, that she didn't yet have anyone to mourn today.
Third Person (2): Shepard splashed her face with cold water, patting it dry with a towel before glancing at herself in the mirror.
Those scars she had when she first woke up in that Cerberus lab months ago were gone - almost like they'd never been there. But she almost thought she could see faint red around her irises, or under her skin. As though what she'd done would somehow show on her face, for all the galaxy to see.
Three hundred thousand - a big number. A lot of lives. A lot of innocent blood on her hands. It was one thing to kill someone in battle - in self-defense, when it's kill or be killed. She'd done it before and she would willingly do it again. It was a part of herself she'd accepted a long time ago.
And, in a way, this decision was more of the same - kill those three hundred thousand batarians now, or sentence trillions more to death when the Reapers burst through the Alpha Relay. She couldn't question the decision, painful as it was.
Sometimes, she just wished it wasn't her who had to make those choices.
Sighing, she stepped back out into her cabin, eyes scanning over the room - the fish tank, the model ships in their display case, the hamster cage. Then, her movements quick and efficient, she went to the comm station at her desk.
"Joker," she said, her tone cool and professional, "I need you to set a course for Sol. Earth. Alliance HQ."
It was time to face the music.
Network: [The video comes on, revealing a woman with a very serious expression on her face. She gets right to the point, and her tone of voice is clipped, brooking no bullshit.]
My name is Commander Shepard, of the SSV Normandy. I'm looking for my crew. Any of my crew. I guess this is the best way to find them, if they're here. Not that the locals have been much help beyond that. Is there something in the water to make them that way?
[She frowns for a moment, looking away as though gathering her thoughts. Then she abruptly changes the subject.] I don't know who broke me out, or how, but I didn't ask for it. If they weren't going to court-martial me before, they will now, no thanks to whoever did this.