#councilor udina

[danypooh80]

All I ever wanted, Ch. 62

Kaidan has a conversation with TIM; The team finds the council

https://archiveofourown.org/works/34461097/chapters/100027374

#Mass Effect #mass effect trilogy #Kaidan Alenko #shakarian #Commander Shepard #female shepard #shepard #Nihlus Kryik #Ashley Williams #mass effect ashley #councilor udina #Garrus Vakarian #mass effect garrus #Shepard x Garrus #femshep x garrus #richard jenkins #fanfic

[stillknowntobequitevexxing]

The last word of a friend. Know that I always salute you Anderson. Always. RIP.

#gaming #mass effect #femshep #mass effect 3 #Mass effect Anderson #Admiral Anderson #My pick for councilor #Fuck Udina #the end is nigh

[acciokaidanalenko]

Taking on the Universe: Chapter Seventeen

Chapter Seventeen: The First Human Spectre

Summary: After providing the necessary evidence to the Council, Saren is disgraced and Natasha is given Spectre status.

CW/TW: None

Preview of chapter below the cut. AO3 link: here.

The scene laid out before her was much the same as it had been during her first encounter with the Council. They stood above the Humans gathered on the platform, staring down at them with expressions somewhere between reproachful and contemptuous. However, the mood was very different. The gravity of the situation lingered. Two things were obvious to Natasha as the meeting proceeded; first, the barely contained glee of the ambassador as the recording of Saren and his accomplice played out for all to hear, and secondly, the ambassador’s complete satisfaction in hearing Councilor Sparatus admit that clearly they had been wrong about Saren. All the Council needed to do now was bring him in to face the consequences of his transgressions.

But even still, they seemed reluctant to intervene directly.

"And what about Nihlus, Councilors? Do you plan to just leave him to his fate?" Natasha asked after listening to the politicians bicker for several minutes. They all fell silent, their eyes drawn to her as she stood beside Anderson.

"What of him, Commander? Are you so sure that Saren kidnapped him?" Councilor Sparatus questioned, a heavy silence falling in answer. "You've proven that Saren was behind the attack on your Human colony, but what possible reason would he have to kidnap Nihlus?"

"Are you suggesting, then, Councilor, that Nihlus went with Saren willingly? Was he also part of the attack on our colony?" Udina interjected in an accusatory tone. Sparatus huffed indignantly, clearly offended by the accusation that not only one but two of their best Spectres had turned on them.

"I can't begin to imagine why Saren did any of the things he did that day, Councilor. There's a simple solution to our problem here, if you're willing to listen." The Councilors waited silently for her proposal. "Send the Normandy after him. You know the stealth capabilities of the ship, Councilors. It's the best option." Natasha knew that, if given the chance, they could find Saren and bring him to justice. They could rescue Nihlus, if he was still alive. They were motivated. It was what Jenkins and the colonists deserved.

"Even with Saren stripped of his Spectre status, he may be difficult to locate, Commander. There are too many variables to this particular equation," Valern countered almost too quickly.

"She may have a point, however. We cannot send our own fleet after him without risking a diplomatic crisis. He is currently beyond the reach of the Council," Tevos spoke up. The Asari Councilor gently clasped her hands together in front of her and looked slowly from Sparatus to Valern before returning her gaze to Natasha.

"We know he's in the Traverse. Give us our Spectre, and send her after this traitor," Udina proposed tactfully. The Councilors remained silent, sharing another look between themselves. Another silent conversation happening in a matter of moments. One by one, each nodded in turn before pressing a button on their respective podiums. Natasha's heart thundered in her chest as their eyes turned to her with solemn expressions. The entirety of the upper chamber of the Tower fell silent as they awaited the Council's judgment.

#commander shepard #commander natasha shepard #kaidan alenko #captain anderson #david anderson #amabassador udina #donnel udina #councilor sparatus #councilor tevos #councilor valern #council meeting #first human spectre #mass effect #mass effect fanfic #war hero shepard #me1 #canon divergent #taking on the universe #totu v2.0 #shenko #f!shenko #the slowest of slow burns #shenko fanfic #britt writes #part two is DONE!

[xoshepard]

i have to CONSTANTLY correct myself with titles bc i keep trying to type admiral anderson and councilor udina cjdkdhdj

#i have anderson mostly down but for some reason i cannot stop writing councilor when i refer to udina #which is wild bc he is hashtagnotmycouncilor like i did pick anderson for the spot dhsjdhsk #but i guess its bc im used to him either being called just by name or having his me3 title #more mass effect rambles

[kaidanalenkosprmanager]

THE BEST OF PRIORITY: THE CITADEL (PART 2)

Featuring: Cmdr. Sophie Shepard, Lt. James Vega, EDI, and Maj. Kaidan Alenko With: Councilor Donnel Udina, Councilor Tevos, Councilor Laiel Sparatus, Cmdr. Armando-Owen Bailey, and Kai Leng And a Special Guest Appearance by: The Illusive Man But sometimes the way a thing goes down does matter, Sophie. Later- when you have to live with yourself. Knowing that you acted with integrity- then it matters. Mass Effect 3: Legendary Edition (2021)

#mira makes gifs ✨ #sophie shepard #james vega #EDI #kaidan alenko #shenko #fshenko #mass effect #mass effect 3 #me3 #mass effect legendary edition #dailygaming #james’s panicked face as the shuttle goes down you will always be famous to me bc you are so relatable #at this point i just know the normandy crew is not letting shep EDI or james near anything mechanical anymore #(something mechanical explodes around them on literally every mission at this point- cars.. bombs.. ships.. you name it!) :) #the way i didn’t even realize EDI and kaidan were wearing matching armor on this mission until i got to the elevator and i- 🥹 (blue crew!!) #but like- the way when soph gets off the elevator and kaidan has the gun drawn and she tells them to lower their weapons?? #and EDI and james don’t even hesitate? THOSE ARE MY BABIES!!! THATS MY SQUAD RIGHT THERE!! THE LEVEL OF TRUST BETWEEN THESE THREE!! 🥹🥹🥹 #and they don't raise their weapons again?? not until soph raises hers?? like it's the level of trust between her and them for me 🥹 #i will say i talk a lot about how me3 shenko canon doesn’t really follow my own shenko canon (and my canon coup is MUCH DIFFERENT) #but something i noticed about the coup that i really liked? when kaidan has his gun drawn on shep you can see his hands shaking a little #it’s SO SUBTLE (and it’s easier to notice when you’ve got the video slowed down) but like?? the way his hands aren’t steady?? #when he has the gun drawn on someone he loves?? i cried a bit making that gif ngl 🥺 #the soft little ‘you won’t’ from shep after ‘i better not regret this’ makes me 🥺 every time. #there’s a canon reason soph doesn’t take the renegade interrupt but part of it is bc i like kaidan’s convo on the docks better :) #speaking of the docks the intro to the convo is a bit nonchalant but i like kaidan’s speech about integrity/living with your decisions #and the conversation between him/shep about what happened on the landing pad (though i wish it was a tiny bit longer!!) #there’s no ‘i feel like you would have taken me out’ line in the soph™️ canon but we supplemented it with some rewriting bc loose canon™️ #(she never draws a gun on the landing pad either but that’s a story for the actual canon 🙃) #and yes i gif’ed the ass shot. there’s only one valid ass shot in the series and it’s this one! and you can quote me on that! ✨

[callmeshin]

Okay, but I genuinely think it's lazy writing that we don't get to see the All Human Council in Mass Effect 2 if you choose to kill the Council at the end of ME1. I can understand why we wouldn't see them if you choose Udina as the first Human Councilor but ... like ... IDK.. But what makes it stupid is that we don't even hear about them in Mass Effect 3? It's genuinely almost as if there never actually was an "All Human Council" in the first place?? And hell ... you can still technically have an "All Human Council" and still choose Anderson as your choice for the first ever Human Councilor if you go ... like ... 100% Renegade.

With all of that being said, why have this as an option if you're going to completely disregard them in ME3?? Were they ... like ... completely thrown out because the entirety of the Citadel did a big ass petition and threatened to remove them via a Universal Citadel Constitution or something?? Why doesn't Udina mention any of this in ME3 since he's all pro-human and talks about how the Council refuses to listen to them??

Now I could be completely overlooking information but it just makes zero sense to me at the end of the day if you were to kill the Council and go the 100% Renegade route having an All Human Council. I'm just saying.

#mass effect legendary edition #mass effect #mass effect 1 #mass effect 2 #mass effect 3 #mass effect trilogy #council #donnel udina #udina #david anderson #commander shepard #continuity errors #plot holes #plot hole #inconsistency #inconsistencies

[sparatus]

🐇🏜🍦🍅!

writers' truth or dare

thanks nopal!!

🐇 ⇢ do you prefer writing original characters, reader inserts, or a mix of both?

iiii am not keen on reader inserts personally, deffo ocs

🏜️ ⇢ what's your favourite type of comment to receive on your work?

gimme a book report. pick out the quotes you like, tell me what you Noticed, respond to the different story beats, speculate on what you think is going to happen next - i put a lot of work into these chapters man i want to hear your thoughts beat by beat, commint is commint but i want to know what you THINK as you're going through it

🍦 ⇢ name three good things about a character you hate

mmm hold on there's not really a lot of characters i hate that much [shuffles notecards] oh i guess i can say some nice things about udina

honestly. udina's just doing his job. the narrative wants you to hate him along with the council because he tells you No sometimes but he's really just doing his job

he's actually quite good at that job. listen when he speaks. he actually understands the game he's playing and what's called for in politics. i pick anderson every time but in-universe he's actually the FAR superior choice for councilor because he actually has legal and political training and knows how to work the field. it's not his fault he's in a bootlicker military propaganda video game that encourages the player to think all authority figures are bad and stupid

honestly? great suit. good color choices. looks great on him no notes

🍅 ⇢ give yourself some constructive criticism on your own writing

mmm i think i can always improve on action sequences. i struggle with them a lot and tend to lean on stream-of-consciousness, and it seems to work well based on feedback, but to me they feel rushed and over too quickly to understand what's actually happening. there's room to expand on what's happening without breaking up the flow i think, action sequences are hard but im doing my best

#press conference #writernopal

[cr-noble-writes]

WIP Wednesday

Because my brain has no compassion for the amount of work it makes me do, I've started a Regency AU for Alex and Kaidan. And because I am not particularly skilled at romance as the main plot, I've decided it's a supernatural mystery sort of thing. Anyway, have a verbal sparring match between Alex and Councilor Tevos, in which I think? Alex wins lol

tagging @ltleflrt @imbiowaresbitch @nickelkeep @ad-astra13 @bioticbooty @otemporanerys and anyone else who wants to do the thing, no pressure of course <3

“Welcome back, Commander Shepard,” Councilor Tevos says, her calm, cool tones reverberating through the room though she speaks softly. “We appreciate your swift response to our request.” Shepard looks up with steel in his gaze. “As I am currently an instructor, I thought perhaps your… request might be for a personal education on the meaning of the word ‘retired’, Madame Councilor.”

Garrus winces. It has been some time since he heard someone speak that way to the Council. It was Shepard last time, as well. The man has never been particularly patient with those who wield people like tools, and Garrus cannot say he disagrees. Councilors Sparatus and Udina glare at Shepard, but otherwise do not react to the flagrant insult. Tevos smiles. “I will not dally with your time or ours, Commander. An Alliance unit led by Admiral Kahoku has vanished. We believe you are particularly well-suited to the task of locating the Admiral.” “That cannot be the full extent of your reason for summoning me.” His face is pinched. Knowing he was coming, the Council ought to have provided somewhere for him to sit while they spoke to him. It’s tempting to consider the idea that it’s some sort of power play, but it’s more likely they simply did not give it any thought at all. Shepard, of course, won’t ask no matter how much pain he’s in. Stubborn to the point of being a detriment to himself, and he always has been. “You have the right of it. Admiral Kahoku and his men were investigating Cerberus when he disappeared." Garrus would have thought Shepard’s grip on his cane couldn't get any tighter, and he'd have been wrong. His knuckles, already impossibly pale, look like bone might burst through skin at any moment from the sheer force of it. Garrus knew the Council had been looking into the admiral's disappearance. That Cerberus may be involved is entirely new information. It does explain why they wanted Shepard. "And you believe I am particularly knowledgeable about Cerberus." It's really a wonder how even Shepard’s tone is. In his shoes, Garrus would not be capable of that level of control. In fact, it's for the best that the Councilors are so focused on Shepard, because if they looked his way, they would surely see the anger written across his face.  Tevos nods. “Given your past encounters with The Illusive Man, there is no one better qualified.” “So that we are all perfectly clear,” Shepard starts, somehow managing to maintain an air of politeness. “You believe a man who is no longer able to use arcana without threat of death, who cannot stand for any extended period of time, who, in fact, cannot do something so basic as writing without trouble, is more suited for this than all of your Spectres, who you carefully chose from the most capable and competent of your membership?” Even the nearly imperceptible clenching of Councilor Tevos’ jaw is an accomplishment to be proud of, but Shepard had always been skilled at finding and exploiting weaknesses. Garrus barely stops himself from smiling. It’s been too long since he’s heard Shepard give someone a proper dressing down. Truly, he’s glad that, for once, it’s not directed his way. “The Council is aware of your condition, Commander. Our Spectres simply don’t have the same level of… experience with the inner workings of that organization that you do,” Tevos says coolly. Garrus feels his hands curl into fists at his sides. Shepard’s jaw tightens, but to Garrus’ confusion, one corner of his mouth turns up into something that could be the beginning of a smile. “You will not be working alone, of course. You’ll be assisted by the Council agent we assign as a handler.”

#mass effect #regency au #commander shepard #garrus vakarian #councilor tevos #wip #wip wednesday #snippet #cr noble writes

[outpost51]

Sip of Snips 1/7/24: Abrupt

Want to play? Check out the challenge here!

Here’s a bit from Stellar Parallax, Chapter 5: A Matter of Pride. Under the cut for crude language and a bit of violence.

─── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ───

Three figures charged into the audience chamber. Jane had definitely killed somebody. An asari in white and blue armor leapt down from one of the balconies, landing with the same biotic corona Jane used. The Vindicator she leveled at Jane’s head didn’t faze his sister one bit. Behind the councilors, a salarian in black armor with yellow stripes uncloaked, omnitool at the ready to deploy god-only-knew what. And the third…

“Nihlus!” Saren took the stairs two at a time. “There you are. Maintenance called, someone broke out of Huerta Memorial of all places — vague physical description, as usual, humans are so—” He paused and took in the assembly of humans as if he would reconsider what he was about to say, then his icy gaze landed on Anderson. “Useless,” he sneered. “C-Sec lost the suspect on the Presidium, Blackwatch lost the suspect in the Tower, and now we need to go on lockdown, because I have somehow lost the little shit in the vents.”

“Human female?” Nihlus simpered. “Shorter than average, hospital gown, grippy socks?”

“Y. Yes, actually. How—”

Nihlus stepped aside. So he wasn’t corralling her. Was he protecting her?

Saren peered around his colleague’s bulk. Jane was baring her teeth at the asari. “Ah,” he acknowledged. “She’s awake.” Turning to the other two — they must have been Spectres as well — he waved a dismissal. “Vasir, Bau — crisis averted, it’s not a terrorist. I know this one.”

The salarian vanished, and only a moving shimmer gave away his exit. The asari still hadn’t broken eye contact with Jane. She blew a bubble — had she been chewing gum? She’d been chewing gum, and she looked bored.

John glanced at Nihlus. The Spectre winked and flicked his mandible. “She’s not gonna fuck you, Tela,” Nihlus snorted.

The asari didn’t break eye contact with his sister. “Who says that’s the logistical order?”

Sparatus cleared his throat. “Agent Vasir.”

Tela straightened up immediately. “Later,” she murmured to Jane on her way past.

“Bite me,” Jane snapped back.

Saren examined his talons and picked a stray fleck of— on second thought, John didn’t want to postulate further on what that fleck might have been. “Impressive, Shepard. Sloppy, but impressive.”

John furrowed his brow at Saren’s comment and pointed at himself.

The Spectre scoffed, briefly flaring his mandibles. “Not you,” he sneered. “Jane.”

Udina apparently decided it was the perfect evidence in his and Hackett’s favor. “See, Councilors! Even the racist prefers Jane!”

“Approval from Agent Arterius can only mean that it’s doomed from the start!” Anderson interjected.

Saren raised a talon. “Agent Arterius did not approve of anything, Agent Arterius was merely impressed,” he corrected. “But it’s nice to see I was right twenty years ago and David’s listening comprehension still hasn’t improved.”

Anderson was a big boy, he could defend himself. John had his own war to wage. “You really think you can be a Spectre with that kind of reckless behavior?” he shouted.

Jane’s smug face did nothing but stoke the flames, and then she poured gasoline on the fire. “Oh, is the Boy Scout angry he doesn’t get to be special anymore?”

“No, I’m angry because you refuse to see reason, and you’re going to get yourself killed!”

Hackett drowned out Jane’s reply as he went after Anderson. “How can you possibly turn down a better candidate, one that managed to get the approval of the longest-serving Spectre in history—”

“Again, not approval, simply impressed the pyjak could evade me in ‘grippy socks’—”

“— because of your own personal biases and failures! You have the gall to call me unprofessional while you stand there, practically committing treason!”

Anderson stepped into Hackett’s space, dwarfing the Admiral. “Treason? So now it’s treason to care about humanity’s image!”

Tevos finally lost her composure — not much, but her little chortle carried over the scuffles. “Humanity’s image,” she snickered.

“And what is that supposed to mean, Councilor?” Udina puffed up his chest, and if John hadn’t been contemplating strangling his own sister, he might have thought it was a little funny. Nihlus had no such engagement and very much did. “You want to talk, why don’t we talk about the *asari* image, hm?”

“You’re out of line, Ambassador,” Valern snipped, stepping in for his colleague.

A single, sharp krakk echoed around the Council chambers, silencing the lot of them.

“If we’re quite done shredding the unfortunate vau who’s been tossed into our playpen…” Sparatus huffed, a rolling growl rumbling like thunder in his throat and a smoking gun still raised above his head.

It was easy to forget how big their teeth were, how hard turians tried to stunt their emotional expression just to hide them. How intense their stares could be. Nihlus had already disarmed him, made him complacent through the easy smiles the Spectre handed out like samples and lackadaisical demeanor masking the cruel cunning underneath.

He’d already made John forget what he’d done down in the Wards.

John swallowed and fought the urge to shrink back under the deep, dark ocean in the Councilor’s eyes. Even with a combat diving certification, he knew there was no running from the sea. “I have better things to do than babysit eight grown adults and a shatha shaped like a human.”

Jane’s lip curled. Not helping.

“Saren, you’re without a student at the moment, aren’t you?” The lack of answer from Agent Arterius proved John’s theory that it wasn’t actually a question. The Councilor’s mandibles flicked as he tucked his pistol back into his suit jacket. “Congratulations,” he simpered, gesturing to Jane. “It’s a girl.”

“You can’t just—” Udina shut his mouth when that abyss was turned to him.

“I can,” Sparatus clipped. “And I did. Now humanity has two Spectres. Do my colleagues disagree?” The smile he gave them was a loaded gun. They both opted not to pull the trigger, shaking their heads. “Excellent, I’m glad we’re all on the same page. As John is handling the investigation into this… ‘prophet’ and whatever he had to do with Eden Prime and the threat to the Citadel, Jane’s evaluation will be an investigation into the ‘saviors’ he’s speaking of and their connection to the geth. That should take the two of you to opposite sides of the galaxy and everyone can be happy and leave me in peace with my lunch.”

John watched the Councilor walk away from the platform without another word. Without any further consideration about who he just granted extrajudicial authority to.

The other councilors filed out as well, with polite, civil dismissals the only thing either of them said after Sparatus took his abrupt exit. Neither of them fought it. They all witnessed Jane’s entrance, how… wild she looked, still half-dazed on sedatives and covered in gore. And they just agreed. They just gave the one person in the galaxy who shouldn’t have ever been given power at all, more power than any one person should ever possess, and the sole barrier of morality allegedly stopping her was Saren Arterius.

More rumors had surfaced about her exploits since Torfan.

He didn’t doubt a single one.

They were fucked.

─── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ───

SoS Taglist: @sparatus @thetrashbagswasteland

Want to get tagged for this game specifically? Reply or message me, I’ll add you to the list!

#sipofsnips #stellar parallax #sneeps.txt

[dragonflight203]

Mass Effect 1 replay, the Citadel final battle:

-I know most people say the suicide mission is the best finale, but I much prefer Illos + the climb up the Citadel tower. Much more atmospheric and interesting in my opinion.

-The Dragon’s Teeth almost feel quaint at this point. It’s been a long time since I last saw them.

-Avina – Shepard asks about the Council, Anderson, Udina, and Saren.

Interesting they ask about Udina. Do they actually care about them? Or does Shepard just ask because Udina is humanity’s representative?

-Avina must be the only entity in the galaxy besides the Council, Anderson, Udina, and Shepard’s crew to know that Saren is a former spectre. And there’s apparently a warrant out for his arrest.

Is there some reason Noveria was never informed about this?

-Saren (or Sovereign acting through him?) shooting Keepers is pretty funny. He is so sick of their bullshit. If they just did their job he wouldn’t have to put in so many extra hours!

-The Citadel is huge. Even Sovereign looks small compared to it.

-Why does Sovereign keep tapping the tower? Yes, it’s an impressive animation, but what’s the point?

-So Saren does know the Citadel is a relay. Or at least it’s strongly implied, he doesn’t actually say the relay is the Citadel.

-The angle changes when Saren talks about considering Shepard’s words on him being indoctrinated and Sovereign implanting him to remove doubts.

His game model was definitely supposed to be only his end game model. These angle changes were supposed to show the full extent of his implants.

-Saren: I understand that that the Reapers need organics. Join us and Sovereign will find a place for you, too.

Buddy, you are so indoctrinated. I don’t think Reapers give a damn about organics.

Oh look, there’s a dialogue option for that.

-Saren: The relationship is symbiotic. Organic and machine intertwined, a union of flesh and steel. The strengths of both, the weaknesses of neither.

I am a vision of the future, Shepard. The evolution of all organic life. This is our destiny. Join Sovereign and experience a true rebirth.

Hilariously, this is the closes ME1 comes to foreshadowing Synthesis. Building upon this, Synthesis is final victory of Reapers – and it doesn’t help that the star-child blatantly pushes is as the best option.

I definitely don’t think that was intentional on Bioware’s part, but it’s the logical conclusion based on the story they told if the trilogy is taken as a whole.

If they wanted Saren’s speech to not be linked to synthesis, they needed to differentiate the two at some point – maybe explain that Saren’s indoctrination meant he could never experience true synthesis. Still incredibly weak, but that’s how they justified that TIM’s attempts to control the Reapers are totally different than Shepard choosing Control...

Again: To form a cohesive narrative, you need to consider the whole story. You can’t just tack on an ending and expect it to make sense.

-When Saren dies, you get a good look at his mouth. Turians don’t have front teeth.

Admittedly, Saren may not be the example of turian biology at this point but I haven’t seen front teeth in any other turian’s mouth either.

-Shepard orders their companions to make sure Saren is dead.

And yet they don’t do the same with Kai Leng in ME3. Considering Saren wasn’t dead, you’d think they’d be putting multiple bullets in everyone to make sure they stay down.

-I took the neutral option when asked who should be councilor. It’ll be interesting to see how ME2 handles this, since the Legendary Edition does remember who you pick to be councilor in ME1.

I think it’ll be Anderson – he gave the final speech.

-And finally, my first insanity run of ME1 is done!

Honestly, that wasn’t bad at all. The start was a bit rough, but by about mid game it wasn’t that hard.

By all accounts, however, ME2 insanity is brutal. So this should be interesting. I’m not found of ME2 combat as it is – too much of a cover shooter, which I have zero interest in – so not looking forward to fights taking even longer since enemies have more health.

I am playing as a vanguard, so it’s more likely to take longer due to the numerous game overs. I suppose I can play it as a cover shooter if I absolutely must, but I’d rather not.

Edit: Fixed words and spelling.

#mass effect #mass effect 1 #mass effect 1 replay

[annalyticall]

Thoughts on Mass Effect 3 and Mass Effect Trilogy

Well. It's over.

I'll keep it real with you chief, Mass Effect 3 was by far my favorite of the three games. That might be controversial given what I know about the divisive endings (basically the only thing I knew before I started these games), but as a newcomer to the series, Mass Effect 3 had a lot of what I was looking for from the previous entries. I also realized that fundamentally I can't compare these games to Dragon Age because the truth is I still like the Dragon Age games more individually but I do like Mass Effect more as a unified trilogy.

Again, I played Shiv Shepard, colonist Sole Survivor, Sentinel, and Paragon. I played her with survivor's guilt in ME1, with a burning hatred of Cerberus for bringing her back from the dead (and for the Akuze thing) in ME2, and a mix of burning hatred of Cerberus and a survivor's guilt over Earth in ME3. I don't think I ever mentioned this but I intended Shiv to be Irish/Korean, full first name is Siobhan

You see that bit of red? Those are renegade points I got every time I talked to the Illusive Man.

Major Story Decisions: Continued relationship with Kaidan, let Mordin cure the genophage, killed Councilor Udina myself with Kaidan on my side, secured peace between the geth and quarians, killed the Illusive Man myself, and chose the Destroy ending (which I'll get into later). I entered the war with 8000 war assets and the only character deaths I saw were the scripted ones (Mordin, Thane, Legion, Anderson, presumably EDI). I also beat James' 182 pull-up record.

The Pros and Cons lists are a little tricky for this one since I found a lot of the good came with some bad and a lot of the bad came with some good, but I'll try to keep it all in neat bullet points.

Pros

Satisfying Ends. From Mordin curing the genocidal disease he helped perfect to the control-hungry Illusive Man driven crazy by the same control he sought to have, everyone gets a nice and neat bow on their character arcs that had been set up since the beginning, or at least since Mass Effect 2. Honestly, playing ME3 made me like ME2 more than I had before since I could now see the consequences of my actions on the characters I grew close with in the previous game. Speaking of...

Consequences. Moreso than Dragon Age, it's fun to see how much my choices from previous games impacted my experience throughout the trilogy following a single character and her friend group. Of course, it's not going to be perfect - I AM miffed that my major game-ending decisions of ME1 and ME2 like saving the council, rewriting the geth, and destroying the collector base ultimately resulted in very little change in the story. Weirdly, it was the lesser decisions that mattered most - keeping Wrex alive, preserving the cure data in Mordin's loyalty mission, not cheating on my ME1 love interest, resolving Legion's and Tali's hostility, and reuniting Thane with his son were all very effecting choices on my story since they all add up into a pool of possible outcomes rather than dichotomous decisions (it makes sense Kaidan might trust me a little less in an armed standoff if I cheated on him I guess lol). And I appreciate that even the minimal choices were at least represented as war assets.

Gameplay. ME3 had the best gameplay of all games by far. I think it's telling when I could spend over 3 hours in the combat center just trying out different modes. Unlike in ME2, I didn't feel as restricted in playstyle with the introduction of a bonus power and a healthier shield. My favorite bonus power was Aria T'Lok's Flare, a large biotic blast critical in any fight with bunched-up enemies. I'm glad I got that one early on because it helped me survive so much of the game.

It looks good. Not that I hated the graphics in the last two games, but this one had some nice cinematic angles, richer colors, and grander set designs that made it more immersive for me to get into.

Pace and Scope. ME3 really pulled off the feeling of scale in a galaxy-wide conflict. It didn't hold back with its bang of an opening as we survive the reapers attacking Earth within the first 10 minutes, then slowly we see these behemoth machines devastate every other alien homeworld and invade more of the map in each story arc until it culminates in a grand final stand. I was worried the game would, in a sense, "nerf" the reapers since it took so much to take down just one reaper in ME1 and a single half-built reaper in ME2, but although we kill many more reapers in ME3, each one is an earned spectacle that requires either a lot of combined firepower or a giant thresher maw to do the job. Side note, I do like the irony of my sole survivor Shepard getting saved by the thing that killed her whole squad in the past.

Romance and Friendships. Listen, I don't think I've praised a Bioware game on its romance since Dragon Age Origins (Alistair my beloved) and while this game is still a little sparse in the romance department, the DLCs more than make up for it with a lot of great content for the love interests. I enjoyed the flirty, lively banter and the cute domestic scene in the Citadel DLC (Kaidan my beloved), and how worried he was about Shepard's safety in the Leviathan DLC. But even outside those addons, I liked the quiet moment shared before the final Cerberus mission, and while I typically cringe at Bioware sex scenes, I found this one to be, uh... tolerable. The romance in ME3 felt like an oasis after the lonely desert I suffered through in the last game lol. As for friendships, I loved the little platonic dates you get to go on with your squadmates both in the base game and the Citadel DLC. I never felt closer to these characters than I have here.

Cons

Contrived Means. Although I enjoyed the satisfying ends to many subplots and character arcs, I didn't enjoy the somewhat forced means it took to get there. I can forgive the last-minute sabotage that doomed Mordin to die since ultimately the end it led to was most fitting for Mordin's story. However, I took issue with a lot of the geth/quarian buildup, mostly involving Legion and the reaper codes. To be honest, I LIKED the geth being a completely alien hivemind and existing as a neutral anomaly that takes effort to understand and accept in ME2. The focus of becoming an individual (the original question the geth asked was actually "do these units have a soul", not "does this unit have a soul" as ME3 claims) undermined what I thought was compelling about Legion and the geth in the first place. Also, Legion's sacrifice felt unnecessary, especially when the reason for the reaper code upload not working was flimsy. And don't even get me started on the Citadel...

The Citadel. Holy shit, what happened there? I'm not talking about the Citadel as a location - I liked exploring the Citadel more in this game than any of the other games - I mean the Citadel as a plot device. For one, I was very surprised to learn the Citadel was the Catalyst when it was already an important plot device in ME1, where it was revealed to be a secret reaper mass relay. Now it's the key to a giant super weapon against the reapers whose original designers are never specified? Okay? But my biggest issue was that it was inexplicably "moved" by the reapers in the last mission despite millions of people living on it, then we can use it to blow up the reapers, destroying the Citadel and I assume most people still on there, so we're basically condemning millions of people to die and never get to see the impact of that decision. Granted, this is not much different than the weird 300K Batarian mass murder Shepard commits in ME2, but the difference is that these people are people we knew and spent a good amount of time helping and building relationships with throughout the game. What happened to Captain Bailey? What happened to Kolyat? The game never bothers to address that.

Kai Leng. Now, I don't expect every character to be wonderfully fleshed out. I accepted Kai Leng was just a plot device to stand in the way of Shepard and her goals, but his presence still left a bad taste in my mouth. He's never mentioned in any of the previous games, then he's introduced here as having a badass reputation despite his best move being a shield. He is so painfully one-dimensional compared to literally any other character that killing him didn't even feel good. I think it would have been cool if Kai Leng was someone else, maybe a character scorned by Shepard in the past who wanted revenge. Or, he could have been another character revived by Cerberus and abandoned in favor of Shepard, which was hinted at in his video logs but wasn't completely followed through on. I guess maybe I just wanted it to be Evil Clone Shepard from the Citadel DLC because even she was more compelling. What a waste of Troy Baker.

Let Me Speak. It's complicated because I do think ME3 has some of the strongest dialogue in the series (I didn't have the same jarring Talk No Jutsu problem as I did in ME1 because even when you're talking down a literal war, the dialogue feels earned and natural). However, the cutscenes went on noticeably longer without any input from the player character. It was frustrating since I felt like sometimes Shepard was railroaded into saying or doing something I wouldn't have chosen to do otherwise, but so is the burden of being a finale, I suppose.

Femshep Romance. Listen. I like Kaidan's romance. I like Garrus' romance. I like Liara's romance. If you chose to romance any of them in your playthrough like I did, that's great! You get a good romance. But if you're playing femshep and don't choose those 3 options... you don't. Thane dies early-ish in ME3 (which, I mean, I guess that could be good if you like inevitable tragedy) and Jacob cheats on you (which is terrible and I have NEVER seen in a video game romance before). And if you want to romance a girl? You get Liara or some minor side character, and that's it. You don't get Tali, Ashley, Jack, Miranda, or any of the several other female options that male Shepard has access to. Even in ME3, a male Shepard can romance Kaidan if they want a male companion to romance. Ashley doesn't get the same bi treatment. It's kinda sad just how limited femshep's options are for romance compared to their male counterpart.

The Synthesis Ending. Yes, I chose the Destroy Ending for rather complicated reasons that I will get into, but after watching the outcome of the other endings, I have a bone to pick with Synthesis. I discuss my opinion on the endings in a later section if you want to skip to that.

The DLC

Omega. It was fun. Not much more I can really say. I liked Nyreen as a character (and it was nice to finally meet a female turian) but I also felt her sacrifice was rather hollow. Aria grew on me and I was able to get her to spare Oleg at the end, but really, the shining star of this DLC was earning her Flare ability.

Leviathan. It's a double-edged sword because while I liked the expansion of reaper lore (and the extra dialogue with the LI and EDI) I also think that overexplaining the reaper backstory ruined a bit of their mystique. It also had strange implications for the ending, as the reaper AI explains its purpose in a more convoluted and obfuscated way than the Leviathan does, so it adds to the frustration of the limited ending dialogue choices given to call the reaper AI out on its vague statements.

Citadel. This is possibly the best DLC of any game I have ever played, I'm serious. With the exception of maybe Trespasser from Dragon Age Inquisition, never have I thought a DLC was so perfect for the story it was accompanying. Granted, I think the idea of taking forced shore leave is a little laughable when the fate of the galaxy is at stake, but I digress, the DLC was near perfect otherwise. It had fun in-jokes, meaningful time to spend with squadmates past and present, great scenes with the love interest, and, yes, I did spend 3 hours in the combat simulator just to get the rare One and Only achievement. And that pistol? It was the only thing keeping me from dying to brutes and banshees during the last Earth mission. I am not exaggerating when I say most of my enjoyment of this game actually comes from this DLC, and I consider its bittersweet ending to be the real ending for Mass Effect.

The Squad (including past Squad members)

Kaidan. Once again, I am listing the squadmates in relative order of how much I liked them, and Kaidan skyrocketed to the top within the last 30% of the game. I mean, I had to like him enough to romance him in ME1, but ME2 made me sour toward him, and even at the beginning of this game I was a little bitter that he was still so prickly about Shepard's forced involvement with Cerberus. However, after the hospital and the initial awkwardness of rekindling a strained relationship, I fell in love with his character all over again. He's not quite as deep as the other characters, true, but his human and down-to-earth presence is SO needed in a cast of complicated and eccentric aliens, and the random things he says are some of the only things I ever laugh at in this game. It almost makes me grateful for the mid-series break, because, for all the frustration, the relationship feels earned by the end. He might not surpass Alistair for top Bioware romance for me, but he comes close. Also, the unconditional reassurance he gives once realizing Shepard had actually been clinically dead and may not have been completely the same when she was rebuilt by Cerberus was so nice to get after the accusatory headache that was the Horizon mission in ME2.

Garrus. Admittedly, I don't think Garrus adds much to the narrative of ME3. Even when helping me cure the turian-ordered genophage he doesn't have much stake in the story, and then he has almost none after the genophage is cured. But that doesn't really matter when his purpose is actually just to be Shepard's rock. He is such a good friend and his presence is so comforting that I wish I could take him on every mission even if he's got nothing relevant to say. His farewell to Shepard at the end was the only other farewell besides Kaidan's that made me tear up. Shepard said it best: there is no Shepard without Vakarian.

Tali. I still love Tali, but she was shafted a bit by the lack of screen time she had in this game. It's a shame that she comes to the crew so late, although I guess it's understandable given that she's an admiral now. Still, I loved seeing her wistfulness as she dreamed of her new home on Rannoch, and her time in the Citadel DLC was very fun.

Mordin. Despite his fourth-place ranking on the list, I think Mordin is THE best-written character in Mass Effect. He has one of if not the best character arcs, and he's so likable that I can't not love Professor War Crimes. His singing as the building was falling down around him... it was so sad but a perfect way for him to go.

EDI. Her earnest and heartfelt quest to understand what it means to be human was endearing to me, and her relationship with Joker was great. I brought her along most times if Garrus or Kaidan didn't make sense to take. I am heartbroken that my chosen ending means her death, but it was a sacrifice I still decided to make, especially after she said she was willing to give her life to save the person she loved.

Liara. While I like Liara, I still feel like there's something missing in her character that I can't quite put my finger on. That said, I like the friendship she has with Shepard. There's an implication to their interactions that suggest she never stopped having romantic feelings for Shepard even after I turned her down in ME1, but I like how she still wants to be a close friend to her rather than be bitter about it.

Thane. I think the story did him justice, giving him a pivotal role to play in the amount of time he had left. The prayer read as he was dying sincerely touched me. He wasn't my favorite in ME2 but ME3 gave him a boost for me.

Legion. Despite some inconsistencies I noticed in his writing, I still like my little robot guy. RIP, buddy, sorry your sacrifice was kind of for nothing.

Grunt. Similar to Thane, ME3 (and especially the Citadel DLC) made me like Grunt more than I did upon his introduction to the series. He wasn't as important, but his enthusiastic welcome and his "last stand" made me feel like a proud mama.

Samara. I liked Samara enough in ME2 to try to flirt with her, so I was excited to see her again in this game, but unfortunately, she didn't have much to do. Then again, she doesn't really need to, given that her arc is to accept being a mother to her remaining child rather than her jailor. I still felt like there was lingering unspoken sexual tension between her and Shepard though...

Wrex. It was good to see Wrex again, and I sincerely love how the game portrays his openness to cooperation as the key to saving his people.

James. I feel like James fulfilled the Krogan Companion role for me in this game, which is: I like him, but not enough to bring him anywhere. His flirting was rather alarming to me at first since I had every intention of reuniting with Kaidan and didn't want to turn James down so early, but when it became clear that he wasn't serious about any of it, I liked playing along, though really femshep doesn't have a choice in the matter.

Javik. Don't get me wrong, Javik is incredibly interesting and I think he's a critical companion to take on a lot of missions because the Prothean perspective is so unique and necessary in some instances (seriously, how did Liara not realize her goddess looked suspiciously similar to Javik). As a person, though, my Paragon Shepard didn't really gel with him. Also, my Shepard is rather sentimental and values memories, so I may have accidentally doomed Javik to a tragic post-game death with that memory shard. Oops.

Kasumi. Speaking of dooming people with memories! I told Kasumi to keep her lover's memories last game, which felt meaningful to my Shepard at the time since it happened before Horizon and I was still playing a lovesick Shepard who missed Kaidan and could empathize with her situation. That was, uh, maybe not the right call to make, and I'm a little sad that I basically condemned Kasumi to waste away her life reliving the past.

Miranda. I don't really have a lot to say about Miranda. She lived in my game, and I thought it was a good end for her character to finally fight back against her father. But she is rather bland to me, and I almost wish they kept her the cold-hearted bitch she was introduced as, just more sympathetic. You know, kinda like...

Jack. I like Jack A LOT more in this game than in ME2. I think putting her in a teacher role was a perfect decision that displays her impressive growth as a person and her ability to overcome her traumatic past to give future generations of biotics a better life. However, she is still Jack, and her inherent abrasiveness meant I always felt like I was walking on eggshells picking dialogue options with her.

Jacob. Unlike almost everyone else on this list, I downgraded Jacob. I didn't mind him so much when I was playing, really - I liked that he was having a baby and that meant he would get the chance to be a better father than his own was, and I liked the little get-together I had with him in the Citadel DLC. I thought he was still a little boring but nothing offended me. After learning he can cheat on femshep though? Yikes, dude.

Zaeed. I wouldn't say I hated him as I did in ME2. He was just... there.

Miscellaneous. I liked Samantha Traynor MUCH more than I liked Kelly Chambers, so I was glad to see her fill the role. She was resourceful and a bit awkward but not annoyingly so. Let's just say, if I was actually in the ME universe, I'd probably be Traynor. Steve Cortez was also a great addition. I grew to care about him a lot, and I'm glad Bioware gave us a face for the person driving our shuttle around lol. Diane Allures is, uh... there. Dr. Chakwas and Joker are great as always. That goes without saying.

THE ENDINGS

I want to preface this by saying I thought the ending before the ending, aka the Illusive Man standoff, was well done. I was a renegade every time I talked to him, meaning for my last action I was able to shoot him point blank and he was able to give an ending speech about how he wished Shepard saw the Earth as he did. I thought this was an interesting angle for my Shepard to take since she was so Paragon in ME1 that she was able to talk Saren down. Having the ability to do the same with the Illusive Man and not taking it gave me the chance to show some growth in my Shepard, finally willing to put her foot down and abandon the moral high ground when dealing with the person who both resurrected and ruined her life.

Now to the final endings. I will not be discussing the Control ending, as I immediately dismissed it as a possibility. It was what the Illusive Man wanted, and if my Shepard was anything, she was staunchly contrarian to Illusive Man's ideology. That's to say nothing of what I think of it, which is - eh. I think it's a good ending for a renegade Shepard, and possibly a paragon Shepard that wasn't as anti-Illusive Man as mine was. Still, the other two endings are what I want to talk about.

I will also not be calling the reaper AI the Star Child because I think it's misleading. To me, the child-like appearance seemed like a ploy to appeal to Shepard, and I didn't want to forget that this is essentially the same AI that appeared on the Arrival DLC asteroid I hurtled into a mass relay just to tell me he was going to destroy me. With that in mind, when he gave me my options and explained what synthesis would mean, I took a long, long time deliberating on what to do. The game presents this option as the unquestioningly best one to take. After all, it's the hardest ending to obtain, it's the option the reaper AI clearly favors, and it's the default platform you're standing on when it comes time to choose.

But here's the problem: if I were Shepard, even a paragon Shepard, even a Shepard who loves EDI and respects the geth, as mine did, I would not choose Synthesis. Because I can't trust that what he says would happen. I asked him why it would work this time around when all their other attempts at synthesis were horrific failures, and all he said was "they were not ready. You are ready." Even for a seemingly all-knowing AI, that's not enough to convince me to fling my body into a particle beam and potentially give up on this one and only chance to stop the reapers for good. Of course, as a player, I can use context clues to know that it WOULD happen. I'm playing a video game after all, and this choice is presented honestly to the player. But I decided to think as Shepard at that moment, not as myself.

He's also... wrong. He says conflict with synthetic life is inevitable, but it isn't. My Shepard knows this. She obtained peace between the quarians and the geth, and she's watched as EDI grew into her own kind and compassionate human consciousness. So while it sucks that they will have to die in the destroy ending, I ultimately chose it because 1) my Shepard can actually see it happen and know that she sacrificed her life for something real, not just a promise of what could happen, 2) destroying the reapers was what the whole galaxy unified to do and they didn't agree to anything else, and 3) destroying the reapers gives organic life a second chance to live and learn from their mistakes and to do better by synthetic life in the future. Maybe, in the wake of Shepard's sacrifice, the galaxy would see that they can work together, and ensure any future synthetic life will never be abused as the geth were.

But there was another reason I didn't choose Synthesis: it didn't make sense. I'm not talking about its practical application, although the space magic it takes to imbue technology into the DNA of every living organism in the galaxy is a little hard to stomach even by Mass Effect standards. I'm talking about its thematic purpose. Throughout all of Mass Effect, the main message has been that working together and sympathizing with people fundamentally different from you is critical to making positive change in the universe, DESPITE the differences. Synthesis, as a solution, is suggesting that conflict is inevitable until you ERASE the differences. This isn't letting people take the time and effort necessary to truly learn about and understand others, this is a no-effort solution that negates that very core theme. It's like saying there would be no conflict in the world if everyone on Earth were of the same race and nationality, because, one, that isn't true, and two, that solution erases so many beautifully diverse cultures that would have existed otherwise. To me, the Destroy ending allows the galaxy to rebuild what was lost while preserving most of the diversity that is so important to keep, especially since the diversity that was lost, namely the geth, theoretically CAN be rebuilt.

There's also another thematic problem: the conflict between synthetics and organics was not the main conflict in Mass Effect. Sure, it took up a lot of screen time in ME1, but it always felt secondary to the conflict between all other organics. There were tensions between the alien council species and the humans, there was tension between the krogan and the turians and salarians, there was tension between humans and humans, there was tension everywhere you looked. Your role was to be a mediator, a shepherd. You guided the people toward a better understanding of themselves and others, and by doing that, you were able to achieve impossible things together. Synthetic life was only a piece of that puzzle. But by making the conflict ONLY about synthetics and organics, it undermines the things we learned about other organics. If this solution was only meant for the quarians and humans, maybe it would make sense - these species have already achieved AIs that they could come into conflict with. But WHY should I make this decision for the krogan, an alien species not even close to developing AI advanced enough to go to war with? Why is it fair to them that I'm rewriting their DNA to ensure they never see a war that they might have never seen anyway? Haven't they already seen enough outside meddling in their bodily autonomy?

So I chose Destroy. And since I had enough war assets, I was able to avoid mass devastation, and somehow Kaidan seems to think Shepard is still alive. Oh, look, I guess she is. Not sure how that's possible, but I'll take slim hope. Overall, I was satisfied with my ending, although I was sad that I had to deny life to the synthetics that wanted it.

Then I watched the Synthesis ending and saw that it was basically perfect. Besides Shepard dying, everything is just better. Everyone understands each other now, there's no more disease, no more death, EDI is alive, and apparently, everyone is just cool with their new DNA. It was a utopia. And I thought that kinda went against everything I saw in Mass Effect. Sure, there are good choices, and some are definitely better than others, but rarely should there be perfect or easy choices. I'm not saying Synthesis should be a bad ending, by all means, make it a good one. Make it the best one, even. But it shouldn't be perfect. Maybe some people are upset that they were genetically altered against their will (hell, my Shepard had an existential crisis about this after learning how she was resurrected by Cerberus, and it's not a fate she would have imposed on anyone anyway). Maybe the husks and other synthetics that were once organics live a hellish existence in between existences and can never reconcile with their living loved ones. I dunno, something. Like I said before: thematically, it doesn't follow what was learned in the narrative, and therefore should not be the perfect solution to problems that the solution had nothing to do with.

I want to stress that I'm not judging anyone who chose the Synthesis ending. I deliberated it a long time for a reason: it is a promising conclusion if you want to avoid Control and you want to save EDI and the geth. I totally understand that. I just think the way that choice is presented and executed by Bioware is clunky and counterproductive to the narrative. I've also seen people dismiss the Destroy ending as genocide, and I won't argue that. It IS genocide, if you consider synthetics a valid form of life in this game, as I did. But I chose it anyway because doing so would stop the reapers who were the Ultimate Genocide Machines, and if there was any situation where genocide could be justified to stop genocide, uh, I guess that would be it. Sure, Synthesis would finally give organics a chance to understand and cooperate with the reapers, but that is only on the basis that everyone fundamentally change themselves at the request of the reapers under threat of mutual annihilation. The reapers had made no effort to truly understand and sympathize with organics outside of their one-sided conversations with Shepard until this point, so I didn't really feel bad I was killing them all, to be honest with you.

Okay, so, those were my thoughts on Mass Effect. This took a whole day to write. As frustrated as some parts of the game made me, I loved the rest, and I'm very glad I played it. Giving it a score like the other parts feels wrong, since I know now it's all part of a whole, but if I had to give it one, I'd say 8.5/10. I'll be missing my crew for some time, I think. Thank you to everyone who took the time to read my thoughts on this franchise!

Now onto Andromeda...

#anna plays mass effect #whoo #longest thing i've ever written on this site I think #shiv shepard

[mass-effect-anonymous]

CONFESSION:

It bothers me in ME2 that if you saved the Council and made Anderson the Councilor, the other three still suggest it best if Udina joins in on the meeting with Shepard. Anderson's the Councilor!! What do you need Udina for, unless you just want him there to kiss ass?!

#Mass Effect Anonymous #Mass Effect Confession #Mass Effect 2 #Citadel Council #Councilor Anderson #Uldina

[ecoamerica]

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[acciokaidanalenko]

Taking on the Universe: Chapter Fourteen

Chapter Fourteen: The Council

Summary: The Normandy's shore party arrives at the Citadel Tower, where they are to meet with the Council.

CW/TW: None.

Preview of chapter below the cut. AO3 link: here.

The most exclusive place on the Citadel was the Tower where the Council hosted all their meetings. Only the elite of the galaxy had access to the top floor, which overlooked the whole of the Presidium. Natasha, Alenko, and Williams stepped off the elevator and glanced around, taking in every immaculate detail of their surroundings; the fountain that greeted them, the garden full of exotic plants that teased their sense of smell with sweet aromas, and the curious eyes that seemed to follow them as they progressed across the shiny tiled floor that led up to the Council. When they reached the final staircase they were met by Captain Anderson and Ambassador Udina.

“Good, you’re finally here. Just in time for our meeting with the Council,” Udina huffed in an impatient tone. Natasha recognized it immediately, as it was the same way he’d spoken when she’d first met him at Alliance HQ. He even glanced at his omni-tool for the time before he looked at each of the soldiers in turn, appraising them with a critical eye before turning to the captain. “Make sure they behave while we’re in front of the Council. This is a serious matter, and it must be navigated delicately.”

“Don’t worry. We’ll leave the politicking to you, Ambassador,” Williams interjected with a pointed glare. Udina’s eyes widened as he prepared to respond.

“See, Ambassador, nothing to worry about,” Anderson assured him as he softly clapped Williams on the back and grinned widely at Udina. His expression told them he wasn’t amused.

“The Councilors will see you now,” an Asari called down to them from the top of the stairs. The group turned to see her standing above them, clutching a datapad in her hands like a clipboard as she glanced down at it briefly. Her eyes flicked up from the screen and landed on the Humans gathered together at the base of the stairs, a courteous smile flashing across her lips before she disappeared from sight.

Udina nervously straightened his suit jacket and glanced around at the soldiers once again, a pointed expression on his face, warning them to be on their best behavior before leading them up the stairs and down to face the Council.

It was a bit foreboding to walk out onto the platform, the very heart of the Council’s chamber. This was where they made the decisions that shaped the politics of the galaxy. Natasha felt a shiver run down her spine as she looked upward and found the Turian, Asari, and Salarian Councilors peering down at them. She could feel their gazes focused on her, knowing that she was still under their scrutiny as a Spectre candidate. Even though her mentor had been kidnapped on the mission she’d failed.

#commander shepard #commander natasha shepard #ashley williams #kaidan alenko #david anderson #captain david anderson #ambassador udina #donnel udina #the citadel council #the citadel #mass effect #war hero shepard #me1 #canon divergent #taking on the universe #totu v2.0 #shenko #f!shenko #the slowest of slow burns #shenko fanfic #mass effect fanfic #britt writes

[everyoneonthenormandyisgay]

Udina when Shepard picks Anderson to be the human councilor after he's been a dick to them the ENTIRE game

#mass effect 1 #mass effect #me1 #commander shepard #udina

[yarnnerdally]

... so in Garrus' dossier at the Shadow Broker base. His visor 'monitors feedback on target within 10 meters to detect heart-rate fluctuations or changes to breath pattern (standard council races only)'. So.

Like.

Udina's a councilor in this run.

Did his visor get an upgrade?

Can he tell when he's flirting with me and it works because his stupid visor picks up on it?

....... this needs to be written about.

#the baby girlification of garrus vakarian #garrus vakarian

[theoriginalladya]

Shepard asks 17 and 35 (Shepards of your choice!)

from this list here

Ohhhhh, let's see who's talking! *rubs hands together*

17. Have they done any interviews? How did the first one go? And the most recent?

Sebastien - Most definitely has done interviews, has even pretended to be the interviewer on occasion. Sebastien has, shall we say? He's a charmer (read: a HUSTLER of the most hustling kind! lol) and knows just how to respond to interviewers in addition to being able to turn it back around on them or someone else. It is part of why he's chosen to be Humanity's Councilor after the Reaper War. (later in life, he also has Coats and Kaidan acting as bodyguards and Cortez able to fly them out of any sticky situations that may or may not arise as a result of his charming nature. ;) )

35. How was that mako joyride from ilos to the citadel?

Oh gosh. I would say the majority of Sheps in my stable take it well enough - focus on the mission, curse the stupidity of the Council at not listening to him, etc. during the ride. One or two might hope that Udina is the first one Saren takes out (but you don't ever hear them say it). Outside of that, I'm not sure. I'm not a physics person - I'm not sure what sort of effect jumping from relay to relay in such a manner would have on a smaller vehicle like a Mako (if any). I would imagine Jayce, Kristofer and John (from ShepShep, if he had been there (he wasn't)) as engineers would have been all over the instruments trying to discern what they could. I don't doubt at least one of them felt sick to their stomach, though they never admit it aloud.

And you have now given me something else to think about when I get to that point of their stories! <3

Thanks so much for the asks!

#Shepard asks #ladya's OCs #All of them lol #Mass Effect

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