What did you do today in ME?

Today, I hung this Paragon symbol cross-stitch.  It was made by the same friend who drew the quarian in my avatar, and was given to me as a Christmas gift.



Miriam Shepard's vanguarding adventures will resume soon!

Karen Shepard, Soldier (Shock Trooper), ME1 NG+:

Argos Rho Cluster: Krogan Family Armour

Wrex had told Shepard the story of how he had been betrayed by his father, Jarrod, and how he had given up hope on the Krogan ever recovering from the genophage as a result. He also mention a family heirloom - an old set of armour - had been stolen after the Krogan Rebellions and was in the hands of a Turian profiteer named Tonn Actus, who had a base in the Argos Rho cluster. Since the Normandy was in the area anyway, Shepard thought they might as well help Wrex get it back.

Shepard, Wrex and Tali took the Mako down to Tuntau in the Phoenix System, and quickly found the pirates' hideout. Any possibility of negotiating with Actus for the return of the armour disappeared when the mercs opened fire on the Mako as soon as it cleared the ridge leading to the base. The Spectre and her two squad-mates fought their way into the base and defeated Tonn Actus and his goons.

The ground team searched the base, and Shepard found a locker with some old Krogan armour that Wrex confirmed belonged to his family. It was, as Wrex described, "a relic, useless really", but he seemed happy enough (by Krogan standards) to have it back.

They left the base and explored the area, finding some mineral deposits, salvage, and an interesting Prothean ruin, shaped like a pyramid, with one of Matriarch Dilinaga's ancient texts nearby.

Decided to start the new year by doing a Femshep playthrough. Was going through my saves when I realised that I haven't done a Femshep playthrough in nearly 2 years. Decided to remedy that.

Name: Risha Shepard
Class: Infiltrator
Morality: Planning on going Renegade

Just completed the Eden Prime mission, ended up being an asshole to Ashley(No regrets lol). Will continue to update as I progress through the game.

Miriam Shepard rescued the Primarch...

Toured the Normandy. Alliance refit is jury-rigged and incomplete. Poor lighting; apparently Reaper forces have blockaded all supplies of 100W light bulbs. Still, glad to see that all the Cerberus logos have been removed. Very much approve of the memorial to the fallen Normandy SR-1 crew on deck 3. Fabricator access is rationed, but used CO's privileges to build an Adas rifle (quarian design; fabricator recipe was a parting gift from Tali six months ago).

Spoke with the crew. Impressed with Samantha Traynor's expertise and professionalism, quite a contrast to Kelly Chambers. Shuttle pilot Steve Cortez seems like a good sort too. Sparred with James; his attitude is a bit casual, but he's a good soldier, so will give him some leeway unless it becomes a problem.

Wonder what happened to the inactive geth unit that was recovered from the dead Reaper and left in the AI core; hopefully Alliance researchers are all over it.

Found hamster scurrying around deck 4; caught it and returned it to its cage. Whoever let it escape needs busting down to Serviceman Third Class.

Ordered the Normandy to Palaven's moon Menae to extract Primarch Fedorian. Went planetside with James and Liara; found the place swarming with husks; shuttle came in hot. Made contact with local turian commanding officer, General Corinthus. Learned that Fedorian already dead, but line of succession unclear. Sent Liara to repair communication tower; provided cover with James. Learned that next Primarch is Adrien Victus, general specializing in unorthodox tactics.

Renewed friendship with Garrus Vakarian, on-site acting as Reaper expert. Received message from Joker regarding systems failures on Normandy; sent Liara back to help sort things out. Defended turian camp with James and Garrus; encountered turian "Marauder" husks and gestalt turian/krogan "Brute" entities.

Proceeded to nearby military compound to locate General Victus. Found compound overrun with Reaper forces, including multiple Brutes. Cleared area using L5n abilities, conventional weapons and recovered Reaper "Blackstar" weapon. Secured Victus; returned to Normandy with Victus and Garrus. Good to have Garrus back on the team.

[No deaths here! The Adas is a fantastic weapon for a vanguard: it's good at any range, staggers unarmoured enemies and applies incendiary ammo very nicely, all ready for a follow-up power to set off a firesplosion. I did run out of ammo during the last battle; had a Predator as a backup weapon, stayed mobile and Charged constantly to keep shields up. Vanguarding in ME3 is so much more forgiving than in ME2 that I half-wonder whether the combat engine was designed around it

Garrus dropped during the last battle, first squadmate KO so far. Didn't use a medi-gel; ran to him and revived him multiplayer-style.

I pretty much gave up on the fixed gun turret atop the barricade, it was far easier to spray the husks with Adas rounds and slap them about with Shockwave. The Brutes got Charged whenever possible, Miriam does not fear being sync-killed

Went along with James' nicknaming this time. In my first playthrough, Miriam insisted on being addressed as "Commander"; this is because I wondered whether he was a potential love interest and wanted to keep him at arm's length if so. Now that I know he isn't, I can let Miriam cut him a little slack.]

Karen Shepard, Soldier (Shock Trooper), ME1 NG+:

Argos Rho Cluster: Pinnacle Station

Shepard was granted the opportunity to try out the combat simulator at Pinnacle Station, a training facility for elite soldiers and operatives from the Council military and allied races.

The station was pretty impressive. Built by the Turians in an asteroid in the Argos Rho cluster, it was originally used as a command centre during the Krogan Rebellions. The commanding officer was Admiral Ahern, a no-nonsense veteran of the First Contact War. Like many officers active during that time, he resents having to play nice with Turians now that they're allies, but he seems to understand the importance of the facility and his role in helping elite soldiers from various Council aligned races learn from each other.

The station featured some spectacular views of the Phoenix System from a couple of observation windows, but other than the combat simulator itself there didn't seem to be a whole lot going on. Along with Ahern and the staff running the facility, there were a few asari, human, and turian competitors about. There was also a krogan competitor, which was strange as this was a Council facility and relations between the Council and the Krogan weren't exactly friendly. Perhaps members of private military companies were given the opportunity to rent time on the simulator to help defray costs of running the facility.

Shepard, alongside various squadmates, ran through some of the combat simulations, overseen by Ochran, the salarian tech specialist who ran the simulator. At one point a turian competitor, Guard Captain Vidinios, accused Alliance Lt Bryant of tampering with the simulator, claiming that no human could beat a Turian's score without cheating. Shepard and her team disproved that notion by topping the charts in all categories, saving Lt Bryant from a spell in the brig.

Once Shepard completed all of the simulations, Ahern offered the chance to try one more that he had been working on - a recreation of one of his toughest
battles during the First Contact War. To beat the scenario, Shepard and her team would have to hold out for extraction for five minutes while under constant attack from turians forces. Ahern proposed a wager to make things more interesting - if successful Shepard would get the title to Ahern's "retirement home" on Intai'sei, but would have to run the scenario with the safeties off.

There were a couple of close calls near the end, but Shepard, Liara, and Tali successfully completed the scenario, and Shepard won herself a new "retirement" home. Shepard did a quick tour of her new home, but was unlikely to spend much time there in the short term The combat simulator had been a fun diversion, but duty called and it was time to investigate the reports of geth activity on Noveria.

Mark Shepard:

Zeona: Came here looking for the MSV Rosalie, and particular Drs. Cayce and O'Loy. First thing I found was the M-44 Hammerhead, a hovercraft. It was going to be necessary on this volcanic world. No sign of them, just remnants of their research data.

Neith: This mission came from Admiral Hackett. Got to hand it to the guy for sending me on N7 missions even while flying in a Cerberus ship. It's nice to know he still trusts me, at least somewhat. In this case I'm looking into a the wreckage of a freighter. The manifest said there were 180 Loki mechs and a YMIR. Hope they're not doing the same things the one on Lazarus and Freedom's Progress were doing. That's a lot of mechs to fight. A log said the mechs were activating a self-destructing. Sounds like that's why I'm picking through the remains of the ship. What it doesn't explain is why there's an active beacon. I see know signs of life, or of mechs for that matter. It was when I deactivated the transmitter that all the mechs starting coming out of the woodwork. I destroyed as many as I could but retreated to the shuttle before I could get overwhelmed.

Jarrahe Station: This was the last location of the MSV Corsica (the freighter that crashed on Neith) prior to its destruction. As soon as Miranda, Garrus and I stepped on board, the airlock door locked behind us. Not a good sign. The very next room contained bodies. A PDA said that the ship's VI was attempting to kill them. Evidence suggests that the Corsica itself brought something aboard the infected the VI. I thought this might be the end of this investigation but the source might be a Hahne-Kedar facility in the Titan Nebula. In any case, the VI is offline. Fortunately, it was nowhere near as deadly as the one I faced on Luna.

Capek: Decided to try to wrap up this mission for Hackett. First up, mech attacking me. Second, a dead asari. Message logs confirm this facility to be the source of the code that has turned mechs and VI dangerous. Fought my way to a control room where I was able to initiate a self-destruct code for all infected mechs. Should take care of the problem for good. Hahne-Kedar will need a new lab, though.

Daratar: Another mission to make Hackett happy. Eclipse have set mechs to destroy cargo to avoid Cerberus getting it. Funny that Hackett gave me this assignment but we'll see how it plays out. The Illusive Man is likely the get the most benefit. For now, that serves me. Only saved about half the crates. Not too broken up about it.

Zanethu: Looking for the lost freighter MSV Estevanico. It's nothing more than the shell of a ship. It's also perched precariously on the edge of a cliff, which is why I'm doing this one solo. Hopefully I can find out what happened. I accessed the mainframe data and escaped just before that thing fell into the abyss.

Purgatory: Came to pick up my convict, "Jack". No idea of who this person is or why I'm getting him. What I did know was that I was entering a prison ship and stepping off the ship of a known terrorist organization. I decided to bring Zaeed and Grunt with me - not Cerberus but tough looking if not dangerous.

They tried to take away my weapons. I refused, but did tell the guard I'd let him have a bullet. They were Blue Suns. I could never trust them. Futile, in any case, with me being a biotic and having a krogan next to me. We're weapons even when unarmed. Warden Kuril assured me we'd get our weapons back. Kuril relented when he realized there was going to be a firefight and that a lot of money was riding on my getting what I came for.

They sent me to Outprocessing. Something seemed off to me. Turned out I was being led to a cell so that I could be ransomed. Like I said, I can't trust the Blue Suns. Fought our way to the cryo cells and opened up all the prison doors. That's when I found out Jack was a female, covered in tattoos, shaved head, and a massively powerful biotic. At this point, it looked like Jack was going to have trouble with a couple of YMIR mechs. But when we got there she was gone and you'd have to melt those mechs down to get anything useful out of them.

After taking out Kuril, I finally found Jack. Took out a guard that was about to shoot her. But she saw the Cerberus ship and didn't want to come with me. We cut a deal where she could have access to Cerberus files, particularly any that pertained to her, and she'd work with me. I agreed. I didn't care what secrets Cerberus was keeping or who found out about them.


Normandy SR-2: Garrus helped me upgrade the weapons system of the ship. He thought a Thanix canon might improve our odds against the Collectors. Garrus knows ship weapons very well so I'm happy to take his advice.

Had a chat with the Illusive Man. He told me that Commander(!) Kaidan Alenko was stationed on Horizon, a human colony in the Terminus systems. That's outside of Alliance territory. He also had reason to believe the Collectors were targeting that world, possibly to go after Kaidan in order to get at me. It left me little choice but to go to Horizon. If we could strike out at the Collectors and save people it was worth it. And the chance to see Kaidan again, maybe get him back with me, was worth everything.

Fortunately, Mordin had his defense against the Collector swarms that paralyze organics. It's obviously not been field tested but he's confident it'll work.

Horizon: Took Garrus and Jack with me. I don't trust many of my crew at the moment. Garrus is one of them. Mordin is another but I'd rather keep him in reserve for tech developments. Also, if this swarm defense doesn't fully work he might be able to come up with something to save us - from the lab. Jack is my powerhouse and she hates everyone so she'll turn all that rage on the Collectors. Reality is that if I'm going to see Kaidan I don't want any Cerberus people with me. Need to keep things as positive as possible.

Gotta admit that it's strange walking past Collector swarms without them noticing us. Strange, but really good. If any confirmation was needed that the Collectors were working with the Reapers, we got it. There were husks present. That meant Reapers. Well, it could also mean Cerberus since they've made husks in the past but in this case I don't think so.

Found a lot of weird pods around, all of them empty. Also some paralyzed colonists with some of those Collector "bees" around them, as if present to make sure the victims don't revive. Came across a Collector particle beam weapon. It's organic and fires organic pellets. Strange thing but pretty powerful. It kicks ass against the Collectors, literally turning them into atoms.

Some of the Collectors would occasionally get upgrades and start talking to me. Looks to me like they're being taken over by something else, maybe a Reaper that's still out in dark space. They're tougher to kill but that particle beam still turns them to ash.

Found out from a mechanic that Kaidan had come to install defense towers but that there were massive problems with the targeting system. Sounds suspicious. Not that I think it was intentional on the part of the Alliance but like maybe there was sabotage. There's no reason to think there aren't indoctrinated agents around to do just that sort of thing. In any case, the towers need to be calibrated.

Rather than figure out how to calibrate this system ourselves, I decided to use a transmitter to contact EDI and have her do it. Quantum computations would be a lot faster, especially if there's any kind of virus preventing calibrations from happening under normal circumstances. Still, EDI said that could be done easily. It was powering it up that would take time and we'd have to defend it while that was happening, Meanwhile, a Collector ship was hovering overhead, waiting to drop troops down on us. Similar to what the geth did with their dropships.

Finally, the towers were powered up and they shot at the Collector ship, driving it away. Unfortunately, they got half the colony. I know this is a win but it's bittersweet. Then, of all the people who could have possibly been saved, Kaidan Alenko walked into view. My heart skipped a beat. That was before he hugged me. But then, when he pulled apart, he let me have it. He was angry, thinking I'd tricked him into believing I was dead. Thinking I didn't care about him. There had been reports about me being with Cerberus and that was the real reason he was on Horizon. We both said some hurtful things. I still invited him to join me but he wouldn't do it. Maybe it's for the best. If I don't come back from this suicide mission at least I'll know he's safe.

Normandy SR-2: The Illusive Man was the reason Kaidan was on Horizon. He'd sent intel to the Alliance about me, hoping they'd send someone close to me in an attempt to draw me out. I don't know why Anderson couldn't have just told him I was alive and what I was doing. Or why the Illusive Man had to manipulate me and others. I suppose it got results but I'm not happy with the repercussions.

Jacob was able to upgrade the Normandy's defenses. It was only specced to what the SR-1 had and the Collectors tore that ship apart. Hopefully, the new Silaris armor would prevent that from happening in future encounters.

Currently in the middle of a Broshep ME2 renegade run, Liam Shepard. Earthborn, ruthless, soldier.
I romanced Ashley in ME1 but have locked in the Miranda romance in this game, planning to see her's through in ME3, break it off with Ash in the 3rd. Doing an almost full renegade run which is something I've never attempted before. I killed the Rachni Queen, sacrificed the Council, killed Samara, destroyed Maelon's data but kept Wrex alive. Planning to sabotage the cure for the genophage in ME3 and kill Mordin and Wrex as a result. That's gonna be rough when I get to it...



This Shep will also keep the Collector base in tact, not give David Archer to Grissom Academy and make peace between the Quarians/Geth in ME3. Need those war assets since I'm throwing the Krogan under the bus.
He'll go on to kill himself by picking Control in the end. Something I've never chosen either, prefer shooting the tube (my canon) but this Shep agreed with alot of the Illusive Man's points, so Control it is.

Karen Shepard, Soldier (Shock Trooper), ME1 NG+:

Noveria: Port Hanshan

Shepard ordered the Normandy to travel to Noveria in the Horse Head Nebula, to investigate the Council's reports that the geth were sighted on the planet. If the geth were up to something, Saren was no doubt behind it.

Noveria was established to perform scientific research too dangerous or controversial to be conducted elsewhere, and therefore was granted special status and exemptions from following most Council laws. In exchange, Noveria Development Corp had to agree to recognize the authority of the Spectres, though they obviously weren't too happy about that, as Shepard found out.

Gianna Parasini, who introduced herself as the assistant to the Administrator, helped defuse a confrontation with the guards. She revealed that Matriarch Benezia had passed through, confirming that Saren was active on Noveria. Liara was concerned about Benezia's presence, fearing that her mother's actions would bring her own loyalty into question, but Shepard that she had proven herself as a member of the Normandy crew and had nothing to worry about.

Benezia had left Port Hanshan for Peak 15, but Gianna stated they would need clearance from Administrator Anoleis to leave the port. Before speaking with Anoleis, however, Shepard try and gather some intel about the place. She spoke to various business people, guards, a merchant named Opold, guard Captain Matsuo, and a mechanic named Lilihierax. She learned that there were rumours of some sort of accident at Peak 15, and of accusations of corruption levelled against the manager of the local Synthetic Insights office. One of the guards hinted that some of his colleagues did jobs for the Administrator that were not authorized by Captain Matsuo. The Captain confirmed this was a problem, and her policy of firing any officer found taking bribes didn't seem to be enough of a deterrent.

Tali and Liara were anxious to get moving - they were not fans of Noveria's cold climate- so Shepard went to see Administrator Anoleis. He refused access to Peak 15, blaming the weather (of all things), stating that a blizzard had cut off both communications and surface access. He did confirm that Saren was a "major shareholder" in Binary Helix, the owners of the Peak 15 research facility, and that Benezia had gone to Peak 15 to investigate reports of some problem that occurred before the blizzard moved in. It was, to say the least, suspicious.

Gianna suggested going to the hotel bar to speak to Lorik Qui'in, the manager of Synthetic Insights who had been suspended following accusations of corruption. Qui'in, in turn, accused Anoleis of taking kickbacks. He claimed to have evidence in his office and that Anoleis had bribed guards to ransack the place looking for it. He had a garage pass that would allow Shepard to leave Hanshan ("how fortuitous"), that he was willing to exchange if Shepard retrieved the evidence from the S.I. offices. Qui'in also commented on the Peak 15 incident, claiming that rumours of "ancient evil" and "plague from distant suns" were obviously the result of someone watching too many "bad horror vids". Hmmm...
Shepard went looking for Captain Matsuo to get her response to Qui'in accusations that ERCS guards were bribed by Anoleis, but neither her nor her second in command Sgt Kaira Stirling were at their post. Curious.

Shepard, Liara, and Tali went to the Synthetic Insights offices. Shepard convinced the guards at the door that it would be better for them if they made themselves scarce, but the remaining ones weren't interested in talking and starting shooting. The team defeated them and found the evidence Qui'in needed. On the way out, they were confronted by Sgt Stirling and more guards. Stirling had a rather high opinion of herself and her biotic abilities, but Liara quickly showed her what a truly powerful biotic looked like. Shepard and Tali mopped up without too much trouble.

Gianna Parasini approached Shepard and revealed herself to be an undercover Noveria Internal Affairs agent, sent in by the Executive board to investigate Anoleis' corruption. She wanted Shepard to convince Qui'in to give the evidence to her and testify against Anoleis, promising Shepard she would provide the required garage pass if Qui'in agreed to cooperate. Shepard was able to persuade Qui'in that testifying was the best way to deal with Anoleis and clear his name. Anoleis was arrested by Gianna, and the garage pass was finally obtained.

Shepard went to speak to Matsuo, now back at her post (Stirling must have created some sort of distraction to lure Matsuo away while she did Anoleis' dirty work). Shepard came clean about the incident at the S.I. offices. Matsuo confirmed that Stirling was "highly mercenary" and that she bore Shepard no ill will. Shepard, Tali, and Liara then headed for the garage so they could head to Peak 15 and try and find out what Saren and Benezia were up to.

Mark Shepard:

Joab: I was heading in the direction of the beacon from the long lost ship that Jacob's father served on when I happened upon Blue Suns activity. There's no wrong time to kill Blue Suns so I decided to investigate. Took the Biotic Babes with me. After Horizon, I'm sold on Jack and I'm curious to see if these two can play nice together. It'll matter in a serious fight.

Turns out this was an ExoGeni facility. Against, never a bad time to shoot them. Their logs say they needed transport out and the Blue Suns offered their services. Won't forget how ExoGeni created Thorian creepers (which they sent to Cerberus in the past) or how they planned to kill the Zhu's Hope colony so they could start fresh on Feros. Hope there's someone here besides the Blue Suns who needs a bullet.

Found a small pyramid, similar to the kind where I'd come across writings from a long dead asari matriarch. They were Prothean in origin and there was a Prothean video log standing in front of it. It behaved exactly like the beacons I'd found on Eden Prime and Virmire, instilling images. Also found a log referencing an artifact aboard the MSV Strontium Mule. Had to be my next stop. Sorry, Jacob. Oh, and the test went well. Jack and Miranda work great together in the field.

MSV Strontium Mule: Here, I chose Zaeed, because he loves killing Blue Suns. I also figured Kasumi might come in handy in finding anything unusual. When I found the desiccated corpses, I was more than happy I'd killed my way to that location. The logs I found said the crew ran into a Blue Suns trap. That's why they're dead. My creed: The only good Blue Suns merc is a dead Blue Suns merc.

2175 Aeia: On to find out what happened to Jacob's father. I figured if Jacob was going I may as well bring Miranda. Feels like a Cerberus op so may as well go all the way. The ship was obviously stripped down but no immediate sign of survivors. A log near the beacon did say that they had done terrible things. This was going to be a hell of a trip. Other logs suggest they were losing their memories or becoming very docile. I didn't like the sound of it.

Found a survivor but she talked nonsense. So did the "hunters" who attacked us. Found a settlement. Only women present and they said they had to "please" their master, who we knew to be Ronald Taylor. He also exiled all the males. So we have rape, murder and insanity. When we finally found he had wasn't able to come up with any good reasons for what he'd done. In the end, we left Taylor with a half-charged gun that he used to end his life. For the rest, we called in the Alliance for a rescue. These people deserved better than this and Taylor deserved worse than he got.

Normandy SR-2: Miranda was behind the intel on Jacob's father. Don't know why she couldn't just come out and say it. Also, got a message from Kaidan. He was sorry for what he said and hoped maybe we could catch up again.

Sanctum: Blue Suns at a mining facility. You know how this is going to go down. Blue Suns are dead and the false beacon was destroyed.

So I started my trilogy PT for ME, maybe a bit early as things will turn out but we shall see, we shall see.

Anyways: I am running with my most canon Shepard.

Abigail 'The Valkyrie' Shepard:
Earthborn
Ruthless
Soldier.

After Torfan ran into David Anderson who got her out of a court martial. After the success of their mission he offered her a posting on the SR-1 as XO. Proficient in most forms of weapons, though specializes with Snipers and Assault Rifles. No nonsense but since Torfan is not so much Ruthless as a desire to get the job done in the most efficient way possible. It will be curious to see how she gets along with her crew on the SR-1, especially given her anti-council sentiments.

From the personal log of Abigail Shepard:

From the logs of the SSV Normandy



Anyways forgive me for about the potential double post but I did want to go over my intention for this playthrough. For ME 1 I am going to do side missions specifically related to those that carry over into the rest of the games. So, Helen, Conrad, Cerberus, etc. For ME 2, I wanna do most of the side quests but I do not like many of them so I doubt I will. But will do all loyalty missions. For ME 3 will do most of the side quests except for some of the N7 op quests. For the three games entirely I am going to do all DLC except for Firewalker.

I will not carry over my ME 1 playthrough into ME 2. Since I intend to romance Kaidan this time and since Kaidan is not part of her canon romance I will simply re upload the ME 2 file into ME 2. I may do ME 2 into ME 3 depending on circumstances and how I feel at the end of the day.