Vetra Nyx, Maker Bless Sheryl Chee! (Official Thread)

Now, I never really liked the design BioWare came up with for female turians ... they just didn't look like they were quite the same species as the males. I would've expected a bit more similarity. Not only that, but given the need for protection from the radiation from Palaven's sun, you'd think being "bald" would be an evolutionary disadvantage, since turians needed to evolve a metallic carapace to protect them from said radiation. So the idea I came up with was that maybe the "bald" ones evolved in the polar regions of Palaven, which would likely get less solar radiation, and wouldn't need the additional shielding provided by the "fringes" or "spikes" or whatever they're called, that we've seen on the males previously. Which would mean that there are also bald males somewhere, but we just haven't run into any yet.

Also, other slight differences between the two could be the turian version of ethnicities -- slit pupils instead of the more roundish ones we've seen on the males, differently-shaped mandibles, and so on.

Either way, though, it's nothing I can't adjust to, and with Vetra, here, BioWare seems to have made some refinements to the design that I actually like. Part of it is possibly the "thing" I have for really tall, muscular women ... as Vetra's quite statuesque. Though it's possible that Sis!Ryder is below average human height, turians were always meant to be very tall. So are krogan, such as the dude accompanying her and Ryder, and Vetra looks at least as tall as he is. It'd be a nice touch if the devs made her exceptionally tall to give her a little more individuality.

But even though she appears to be quite tall, She doesn't look fragile. One of the things I noticed immediately -- and really like about her overall design -- are her upper arms. Look at those pipes.  And her upper body in general.

Vetra looks like she works out frequently.  Not only that, but from her pose [when she leans on the rail], she's giving the impression that she's not only tough, but calm, sure of herself, confident in her abilities to the point where she doesn't need to telegraph it.

A friend and I were talking about this yesterday, and he called my attention to it by pointing out that it'd be interesting if they wrote Vetra that way -- badass, but feels no need to broadcast it to everyone. No need to act badass, but she simply ... is. I really like that idea. It'd be so refreshing to see a character who is secure enough that she doesn't need to strut or boast like so many of the characters in the Mass Effect setting often do. Imagine her just going about her business, then when the shit hits the fan, she casually takes out the enemies and immediately goes back to thinking about some mundane task, like she barely even registered that she just beat the holy horsepiss out of fifteen mooks. If Vetra turns out to be that kind of character, or even similar to that, it'd be worth the price of admission all on its own.

Oh, and I'm hoping she'll be one of the romance options. It'd just make a fascinating story in itself, if it's done right. Particularly given the issues with turians being based on dextro-amino acids, while humans and most other Milky Way species are levo-based.