im doing the thing

[safeguarder]

Applicant Info

◎ Name: shannon
◎ Journal: lyricized
◎ Contact: rainbowllama @ plurk

Character Info

◎ Character's Name: Jane Shepard
◎ Character's Canon: Mass Effect
◎ Character's Age: 32
◎ Canon Point: as she goes into the beam to go to the Citadel to activate the Crucible in Mass Effect 3.
◎ Background/History:

Background: some background is here, but seeing as how you can shape some decisions, I'll also be outlining them below:

• Earthborn
  
  Taken from Wiki:
  

  Earthborn: You were an orphan raised on the streets of the great megatropolises covering Earth. You escaped the life of petty crime and underworld gangs by enlisting with the Alliance military when you turned eighteen.

• War Hero
  
  Taken again from Wiki:
  

  War Hero: Early in your military career you found yourself facing an overwhelming enemy force. You risked your own life to save your fellow soldiers and defeat the enemy despite the impossible odds. Your bravery and heroism have earned you medals and recognition from the Alliance fleet. The War Hero almost single-handedly repelled an attack by batarian slavers on Elysium.

Major Decisions:

• Saved the Rachni Queen
  
• Saved Wrex on Virmire
  
• Saved Ashley on Virmire
  
• Saved the Council
  
• Lost no one at the attack on the Collector Base (aka loyalty missions all completed)
  
• Destroyed Collector Base
  
• Saved Rachni Queen again
  
• Saved Samara
  
• Cured the Genophage, lost Mordin
  
• Negotiated ceasefire between Geth and Quarians
  
• Remains romantically uninvolved with anybody eligible

◎ Is the character a hacker and/or do they have a sixth-sense? Shepard is able to hack into doors and encrypted things in the series, but she leaves major things to her comrades.

◎ Personality:

Shepard is the kind of person that everyone runs to when they need shit to get done, because she'll likely be the only one to either be able to or even want to do it. It's one of the reasons why she was awarded the Spectre status of the council -- to work within the realm of what she needed to do to get the job done without being questioned by most people. Her success with destroying Sovereign in the Citadel and destroying the Collector Base made her a beacon of hope for humanity for the war against the Reapers.

Honestly, humanity is one of her first priorities. Saving humanity from the Reapers (and also saving the rest of the galaxy in the process) is her main objective and one of the things that motivates her the most. She'll even put aside her differences with her enemy to get this across, because it's just that important to her. Even in parts of the galaxy she hasn't ventured to, those lives are just as important to her. And the loss of those lives still have an impact on her, too.

Another one of her first priorities is her crew. While she understands that some of them can take care of themselves, she'll put her life on the line in a heartbeat to make sure that they'll be safe. She risks her life to go back for Joker when the Normandy was in the middle of being destroyed, and she'll put her life on the line for anyone else on her crew at any moment. Even some of her enemies she'll try to save until they give her no other choice. It's what keeps people loyal to her and wanting to do anything for her in return.

However, while the crew running the Normandy tends to be human, personally she doesn't discriminate between other races. It's not just the fact that she needs their help for her needs, but there aren't even many humans in her party (depending on the game). She recognizes others for their abilities and how they react to situations instead of judging on appearance or race. So obviously, when these divides come up during the games she becomes pretty irritable that they're still dealing with the effects of these prejudices. To her, it should be a priority that they set aside their differences like she temporarily did with Cerberus to save the galaxy, so she doesn't hold back when intervening in what she thinks is an argument that just wastes time.

That being said, while she is good at solving conflicts, that doesn't necessarily mean that she's always very diplomatic or nice about it. There are many times where she interjects on an argument she views are pointless in the grand scheme of things -- for instance, with the krogans and pretty much everyone. While she can understand the krogan viewpoint, because of their sterilization by the salarians, Shepard quickly becomes exasperated about how this repeatedly gets brought up by the turians and salarians in particular. Her blunt attitude to subjects like these does end up helping sometimes, and putting current threats back on the table reminds people what they really should be talking about. Not that they don't make her jump through hoops afterwards, but it's the fact that they're willing to talk about it that makes it a success.

She's also a great leader. If it weren't for her leadership, they wouldn't have been able to destroy the Collector base, much less unite the entire galaxy. She knows exactly how to get to the hearts of those that surround her with her speeches to inspire them and keep them going, even when everything seems so hopeless. It doesn't make a difference if it's a small crowd of it's just a one-on-one thing, she tries to keep everyone's spirits up. When Liara voiced her doubts about being able to defeat the Reapers, Shepard was there to convince her that they were going to make it. She thought that she had to have faith that they could do it, or else they wouldn't be able to do it at all.

Despite all of these positive points, she does doubt herself a lot and worry about the outcome of the war with the Reapers. She doesn't show these doubts publicly, because this might affect the people that're depending on her. But she will show them to those closest to her, like Liara or Garrus. She also thinks a lot about the loss of the dead, such as Kaidan or the others who died in the war. The boy in the beginning of Mass Effect 3 is a continuing thought that haunts her, and she dreams about him often -- only exaggerated by the fact that she lost so many on her way to get to that point.

Shepard isn't all seriousness either, though. She's also pretty sarcastic and blunt in all matters, even when they have nothing to do with politics. Her interactions with her crew also show her joking around and having some good moments with them -- like shooting with Garrus on the top of the Presidium (where they weren't supposed to be in the first place), letting Vega call her Lola, or having some banter with Joker in the cockpit. It's important to know that while she does have a business side to her, she also can be sociable.

Just don't ask her to dance.

◎ Powers/Abilities:

Shepard is a Sentinel. This means that she is able to use Biotic powers as well as Tech abilities, and her powers are detailed here.

Other than that, she's good with tactics off and on the battlefield and she's a very eloquent speaker which goes with her leadership abilities.

◎ Weapons & Other Special Inventory:

• (1) pistol
  
• (1) assault rifle
  
• (1) sniper rifle

CEREALIA-Specific

◎ Element: fire.
◎ Sense: sight, because her eyes have to be sharp to aim a gun as accurately as she does.
◎ Seven Character Traits:

+ dependable
+ single-minded
+ encouraging
- blunt
- internalizes
- impulsive
+/- self sacrificing

Samples

◎ First-Person Sample:

Well, this wasn't how I expected it to go.

[The voice on the network sounds pretty irritated and a little weary. Not that you can really blame her, considering what she's been through, but when she speaks up again, she sounds more solid:]

This is Commander Shepard of the Normandy. If any of my crew is here, I want to hear from you ASAP.

[And so...carrying on.]

For everyone else -- can anyone tell me what the hell is actually going on here? Am I really supposed to believe that we're all preserved data, and that the Flamines really haven't gotten here yet? Is there anything actually going on to stop them?

[She's not completely sure that "Flamines" aren't just the Reapers, but that's a whole different scenario she doesn't particularly want to think about right now.]

If anyone can tell me, I'd appreciate it.

◎ Third-Person Sample: i got nice in the game so!!

◎ Is your character retaining any previous game memories? nope