This is a world-building, character notes, and story notes thread for the story Mass Effect: Redress and Rebuild, written by Cantarella & Sync.
This thread will contain, among other things, character sheets and notes, world building notes, and various story notes as they occur through the writing.
The story takes place in the Mass Effect universe (duh! ), and begins approximately 15 years after the events of Mass Effect 3.
A brief history of the Reaper War and the years following.
2148CE
Humans discover a cache of prothean technology on Mars; this technology rapidly advances humanity's own technology, including the science of mess effect fields and faster-than-light travel.
2149CE
Pluto's moon Charon is found to be a dormant Mass Relay. Humans activate it and, after using it, discover it to be one component of a large galactic network.
2157CE
Humans attempt to activate a dormant mass relay (designated Relay 314); the turians, in accordance with Council law enacted following the Rachni Wars, attack the humans. The First Contact War begins, and ends when the Citadel Council intervenes to broker peace and welcome humanity to the galactic community.
2163CE
The Leviathan of Dis is discovered by the batarians, and later disappears under dubious circumstances.
2165CE
Humanity is granted an embassy on the Citadel.
Batarians and humans experience increasing tensions as they compete for territory in the Skyllian Verge.
2171CE
In protest at the Citadel Council's refusal to limit human expansion in the Skyllian Verge, the batarians close their Citadel embassy, withdraw to their home system, and effectively become a rogue state.
2176CE
Batarian-funded pirates launch a surprise attack (later referred to as the Skyllian Blitz) on the human colony world of Elysium.
The Andromeda Initiative is founded.
2178CE
In retaliation for the Skyllian Blitz, the Systems Alliance launches a major offensive against criminal bases (mostly batarian-populated) on Torfan.
2183CE (The events of Mass Effect occur.) The human colony of Eden Prime is attacked by geth, later found to be led by the Spectre Saren Arterius. Commander Shepard finds that Saren is working with, or for, a Reaper named Sovereign, which has plans to bring its kind into the galaxy. Subsequent events see Saren defeated and Sovereign destroyed; the Citadel Council is markedly changed.
2185CE
The colony of Fehl Prime is attacked by Collectors, although the Collectors are largely regarded as a myth.
(The events of Mass Effect 2 occur.) A revived Commander Shepard, tasked with uncovering the disappearance of human colonies, uncovers the involvement of the Collectors, and takes a team through the Omega-4 Relay to decisively eliminate the Collector threat.
The Andromeda Initiative launches its first wave to colonise the Andromeda Galaxy.
2186CE
The Andromeda Initiative launches its second wave to colonise the Andromeda Galaxy.
(The events of Mass Effect 3 occur.) Commander Shepard is reinstated to duty following a massive Reaper invasion of the galaxy. Shepard is tasked to scour the galaxy and collect every possible resource to help build a prothean weapon - the Crucible - that can stop the Reapers once and for all. Through Shepard's actions the galaxy unites to stand firm against the Reaper threat. The Crucible is successfully deployed, destroying the Reapers and all other synthetic life in the galaxy, and resulting in significant - but not irreparable - damage to the mass relay network.
2187CE
As the galaxy begins to recover from the devastation of the Reaper Wars, it quickly becomes apparent that the Mass Relay network is unusable, limiting survivors to their local clusters and whatever resources are available in them. FTL communications and travel are still possible, and people get to work cleaning up and trying to rebuild. With most political structures destroyed, military rule is enacted.
2190CE
As rebuilding efforts continue, asari and salarian scientists, together with human and turian engineers, commence work on trying to rebuild the mass relays.
While society struggles to put itself back together, some focus their attentions to matters of law and order and crime and justice, in particular the roles some played during the Wars. Events that occurred during the Wars are now reviewed with more-critical eyes.
With the galactic economy in tatters, individual cluster systems find they are struggling to meet all of the needs of the populations that are stuck inside them. Resources are organised as best as can be managed, and rationing is introduced as necessary.
2191CE
Military tribunals - sometimes referred to as Kangaroo Courts - convene to examine major events that occurred during the Wars. The hearings are often short and rough, with some former soldiers used as scapegoats to appease the non-military population. Those convicted are sent to prison, which then often results in work details such as clean-up, construction, excavation and burial duties.
2192CE
Former asari commando Alani Liadon is brought before a military tribunal on Lorek (Fathar system, Omega Nebula) for her role in the Erinle Incident (Osun system, Hourglass Nebula) that occurred during the latter stages of the Reaper War. She is found guilty and sentenced to ten years of labour in the Omega correctional facility.
2199CE
Scientists and engineers working on the Mass Relay in the Titan Nebula report they are ready to try and activate the relay in that system. Telemetry data shows a catastrophic energy surge just before the Relay exploded, destroying the system and everything in it (the star, Haskins, presumably survived the detonation of the mass relay). The readings from the Titan relay prove invaluable for other Mass Relay reconstruction teams.
DISCLAIMER:
The Mass Effect d20 PDF game manual was loosely used in the creation of the character Alani Liadon. The character holds true to the lore of the game universe, but the strict character creation mechanics were only used as a guide. The book was used for descriptive effect and character flavour; the character concept could not be properly realised had the mechanics of the manual been properly used, as the game mechanics do not tend to allow for the incredibly long lifespans of asari. However, the story will benefit as a result.
Also, while the character will be presented in a stat-block-like format, there will be no numbers presented; only descriptive/narrative terms will be used.
Name: Alani Liadon (ah-LAH-nee LEE-ah-don) Species: Asari Gender: nominally Female Height: 5'7" / 170cm Weight: 139lbs / 63kgs Age: 314 Occupation: former Asari Commando operative Combat Role: Infiltrator, scout, sniper Role: Field Medic, Pilot, Electronics & Systems expert, Hacker
QUOTE: "If you ever ask me to help you 'Embrace Eternity', I'll personally help you get closer to it."
Attributes: Moderately strong, capable of utilising a heavy sniper rifle with relative ease; extremely agile and light on her feet; toughness and durability commensurate with decades of military and mercenary service; quite intelligent and level-headed; has enough presence to command a small room, but not large gatherings.
Noted Talents: quick leaner; extremely stealthy; naturally adept with electrical and electronic systems; astute awareness of her surroundings; able to respond very quickly to changing situations; enhanced physical durability from extended field operations.
Noted Skills: well-trained in stealth and camouflage techniques; sure-footed; adept at piloting most vehicles; well-focussed senses; skilled in hacking and decryption techniques; capable First Aid skills; trained abilities with most electronics and security systems, including fixing and disabling; capable of extended field survivability.
Known Abilities:Tactical Cloak, able to become undetectable for up to 3 seconds; Incinerate, able to hit a single target and make it burn for several seconds; Disruptor, able to stun targets and temporarily negate biotic powers in a 15' diameter area for a few seconds; Assassination and Aiming, able to use intense focus to become more accurate and deadly with sniper rifles for a few seconds; Cryo Ammo, chills target for a few seconds; Barrier, able to generate a small defensive Mass Effect field; Throw, able to send a single target flying backwards several feet; Warp, able to use Mass Effect fields to cause damage to a single target.
Favoured Weapons: M-97 Viper sniper rifle (primary); M-5 Phalanx heavy pistol; also known to use the M-29 Incisor and M-92 Mantis sniper rifles, and the M-77 Paladin heavy pistol. Would love to be able to use the Black Widow sniper rifle, but lacks the physical strength to properly wield it.
Alani was born in 1872CE, and raised on the Asari colony world of Lusia – the second-oldest Asari colony world after Sanves. Being Asari with such a long lifespan – even though she's not quite a third of the way through her natural span – Alani remembers many, many decades of life before Humans arrived on the Galactic Scene. She remembers not doing so well with her biotic schooling, and finding a natural talent for stealth and focus. She was pegged early on for possible Commando training, and took to it eagerly when the opportunity was presented. She felt that being useful for her people was far better than spending a century or two dancing on tables in bars.
When she'd decided serving as a Commando - which included basic biotic training, basic tech training, basic medical training, and comprehensive weapons training - was no longer fulfilling, she turned to Mercenary work, serving with the Eclipse group for a time and working out of the Terminus Systems. She was based on Illium, but worked all over the Terminus, as well as taking assignments in the Attican Traverse and Outer Council Space – although the latter done mainly as stealth missions only.
The arrival of the humans was certainly noteworthy, and something that Alani took note of. The humans were young, short-lived, and pushy – they came with a drive that had not been seen in the Galaxy for some time. They certainly shook things up, especially when their appearance brought a sharp decline in the presence of the batarians…something Alani wasn't too bothered by or upset over. The humans made their mark in short order…and the rapid ascendancy of this Commander Shepard proved it. When Shepard brought news that seemed to fit with the sudden disappearance of the protheans some fifty thousand years ago, it made Alani curious. After all, you don't make a lot of noise about something like that if there's nothing to it; the Council's willingness to sweep it under the rug just gave more weight to Shepard's story. It bore watching, if nothing else…and if no-one else bothered to step up, then maybe she'd need to look more closely at it. Extinction Events were to be heeded, after all.
Unfortunately, this Shepard was proven correct, and the Reaper Wars started within a couple of years of Shepard's initial warnings. Alani had joined a rag-tag mercenary group at that point, but the weight of the Reaper forces pulled the group apart to go fight for their respective homes. Alani found herself joining an asari military unit; based out of Illium, the unit worked the borders of the Attican Traverse, Council Space and Alliance Space. The war was short and bloody; damn that the Reapers didn't pack all the punch that Shepard had warned of.
For all that warfare – especially one as dark and desperate as this one – brings honourable things, it also brings ugly things, and Alani wasn't about making deadly decisions. The Erinle Incident – that's what it was called by the time authorities caught up with her – was once such decision; her unit was stranded, surrounded by Reaper forces, while Alani was hidden on her sniper perch. She made the decision to kill the members of her unit, rather than have them be overrun and converted…what she didn't know, as she jumped on a shuttle and got the hell out of the cluster, was that one or two of her unit survived her efforts.
And two days later the bloody war was ended.
It took more than five years for authorities to catch up with her for that. She'd been stranded in the Omega Nebula cluster, and was using FTL to travel around helping rebuilding efforts (as much as she was trying to keep off the radars of the various authorities – especially the military ones). The Mass Relays were wrecked, but not so badly that efforts couldn't be made to get them reactivated. She was caught, tried, sentenced…it took about an hour for the tribunal to decide to lock her away for the next ten years.
Prison detail meant work duties: clean-up crews, mining crews, corpse crews, tech crews…always mundane, always under guard. Still, she didn't complain…much. She was still alive, at least, which was more than could be said for the billions that weren't so lucky. Over time she built up a modicum of trust and respect for and with her jailers, who needed her expertise as much as they resented her. She kept out of trouble, for the most part…as much as she could, anyway. Prison life was certainly easier than life fighting Reapers.
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), and begins approximately 15 years after the events of Mass Effect 3.
