Paxaedra "Pax" Nectalas (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
spinelessdecoder) wrote2013-02-25 11:14 pm
spinelessdecoder) wrote2013-02-25 11:14 pm
Outsiders App
Player Info
Name: Tao
OOC Journal:fuckyouimfunny
Over 18? yes
Email/IM/Plurk: Taosenchii@aol.com AIM: TaoSenpai Plurk:![[plurk.com profile]](https://plurk.com/favicon.ico)
TaoSenpai
Current characters: Liara T’Sonidowhatittakes
Character Info
Name: Paxaedra “Pax” Nectalas
Canon: Mass Effect (Original)
Age: 28
Canon/AU/CR AU: Mass Effect OC
Reference: Not sure what to do with this since she’s an OC not based on multiplayer.
History: Pax is a turian from an upper middle class family on Palaven. Being the eldest of a family of eight siblings, the focus was always on her to do well both in her career and her social life. Her mother was a retired special forces officer and her father a university Librarian, a fairly normal family all things considered and Pax grew up with a fairly normal childhood for a turian. Being the eldest of eight, two girls and six boys, there was a lot of responsibility put upon her shoulders from a young age with the expectation to attend her younger siblings when her parents were busy. She took this duty with a slight bit of resentment because her younger twin sister was exempt from many of the responsibilities Pax had in taking care of her siblings. This created a rift between Pax and her twin sister, which wouldn’t be reconciled until they were much older, and left Pax with a bitter feeling toward her mother for heaping responsibility on her while doting on her sister.
That was not to say that Pax had no support from her parents, her father was highly supportive of Pax’s wants and needs, often taking it upon himself to help Pax with her schoolwork or familial responsibilities. Her foremost love in life was became apparent once she was gifted with her first omni-tool by her father at the age of eight. She quickly immersed herself in learning as much as she could about how her omni-tool functioned and the capabilities and limitations of it’s hardware and software.Often she would shirk her duties in looking after her siblings to spend more time on the extranet searching how to do coding and build programs. But the time she was thirteen, Pax had not only been able to modify and upgrade her omni-tool extensively but had started learning the basics of programming. Like all turians, Pax was sent for bootcamp at the age of fifteen where she started her training in becoming a coder and encryption technician for the turian military. Her prior interest in computers aided her to get one of the more prestigious jobs in the hierarchy in handling and encrypting most of the military’s closest guarded secrets.
While working for the turian military, Pax came across some classified encrypted files that were to be transferred and stored. Curiosity getting the better of her, Pax decrypted the files and read them, only to learn about several cover ups by the hierarchy that pertained to several separate colony world failures. This information now known, Pax merely encrypted the files and added them to the library as she was supposed to do.
This was where Pax’s luck took a nosedive. The file that she had read had been under investigation from the Hierarchy and upon noticing that the encryption coding had been updated, launched an investigation. Thankfully, one of her close childhood friends that worked in the investigations department dropped Pax a line as to what was going on and urged her to leave Palaven and Council space before she was arrested and interrogated for conspiracy against the Hierarchy. Knowing that her childhood friend was right, Pax quickly grabbed what she could and left from Palaven by stowing away on an asari cargo ship bound for the terminus systems.
The cargo ship made berth on Omega, where Pax managed to flee from the angry ship captain into one of the many dark alleys that line Omega’s streets. From there it took Pax a bit of work to get herself situated. She took odd jobs working from everything from delivery worker to an information broker. About two years into her stay on Omega, Pax lucked out in getting in with the Blue Suns. After a failed mission for a previous employer in attempting to assassinate a Blood Pack Mercenary, she was offered a position on the Blue Suns for her abilities in gathering information and hacking databases.
Pax hit her stride working for the Blue Suns, they gave her unlimited control over whatever she wanted for technology and supplied her with parts to build her own computers and modify the existing ones she had access to. She became an adept hacker and information broker, working partially for the Blue Suns and fractionally on her own. Although, one incident changes Pax’s outlook on Omega when she’s sent on a mission to recover some important documents from the Eclipse gang. After sneaking into the base and downloading the correct files, Pax runs into Erimita Vazult, an asari assassin working for the Eclipse. Pax makes a daring escape, being chased halfway through Omega before finally getting away from Erimita by detonating a skycar as a distraction.
This wasn’t the last time the two of them would meet. After several meetings at a preferred bar, only once where there was an attempt to kill each other merely on principle they agreed to disagree and came to the conclusion that with both of their skill sets they could be useful as partners. Although Pax was soon to find out that the assassination of the Blood Pack mercenary she had fumbled a few months prior had not been forgotten. Her luck was about to take a turn for the worse when setting up for a routine patrolling of Blue Suns territory, her squad was attacked mercilessly.
Despite Pax’s attempts to escape, she was caught and was stomped on several times by two krogan mercenaries, effectively crushing most of her spine and several internal organs. Despite this, she was conscious long enough to get a call to Erimita. Amazingly, with Erimita’s help and a known location of a free clinic, Pax survived the ordeal; even with her terrible condition and her spine barely functional despite several operations to repair the damage. Knowing that Pax needed help that she wouldn’t find on Omega, Erimita arranged them passage to Nos Astra on Illium.
Pax’s back effectively destroyed, Erimita took it upon herself to find a way to help Pax get her spine repaired. After eight months of work and Pax doing what she could from the apartment, large portions of her spine were replaced with advanced cybernetics and surgical implants. The healing process for the surgery is a long and slow one. But as a turian she’s terribly stubborn and she nearly halved the time it took to fully recover.
Pax already is well on her way to recovery and working as Erimita’s partner, despite the asari’s insistence that Pax is more of a hindrance than a help at times.
Canon Point: I’m Taking Pax from the time period after she left Omega and was living on Illium with her asari partner and had her spine recently repaired. This is roughly around the same time that Commander Shepard had destroyed the Collector base.
World Information: Mass Effect is a world based entirely around an element that humans found on Mars called Element Zero. The element was left there by the Protheans who had colonized Mars and were later annihilated by The Reapers (I’ll get to them later).This element tends to defy the entire laws of physics as is commonly known. By running an electrical current through the element it can lower or gain mass depending on the type of current. From this new discovery Humans discovered the ability of space travel and grew to find a kind of intergalactic relay system called the Mass Relays. These relays were built by an ancient race of ominous sentient starships called The Reapers in an attempt to grow organic life to a certain level before entirely wiping them out to begin the cycle all over again.
Where Humans can’t leave things alone that they find, once the dormant replay past Pluto (Which was always thought to be a moon) was activated they sparked a war between themselves and an alien race called the Turians, whom many humans initially thought could be the Protheans that they had found mentioned on Mars.
The Turians are a race of avian raptors that look much like velociraptors and act as the galactic police force in Council space. With the largest fleet, a militaristic outlook and society, they provide the necessary firepower and sheer numbers to fight any adversary that is deemed as a potential threat. Their society is entirely based on a series of 27 social tiers, much like the Roman Empire, with the Primarch being one of the highest (They make decisions for entire turian colony worlds) and working it’s way down in militaristic fashion to retired servicemen, children, and the disabled. Because every turian between the ages of 15-30 is expected to serve in some form of public service, they are a people that are called upon for many rigorous jobs in a wide ranging scale of occupations. They are a numerous race hitting the 20 billion mark, using their sheer numbers to make up most of the galaxies service jobs. They have a predisposition toward self sacrifice, the good of many over the good of one is their main theory and they work as a collective.That’s not to say that individuals don’t have their own desires, but they are taught from childhood that they are to own their mistakes no matter if they’re good or bad. Turians are the kind of people that if they commit a crime they will try to get away with it, although if questioned they will often turn themselves in or own up to their crimes without incident.
Turian government is tricky. After the Unification War ( Around 500BCE), a civil war in which different colonies attacked and killed one another over social status, the turians set about the system of Primarchs and social tiers based upon merits and service. The Unification War also is the reason turians wear different coloured paint on their faces, making which colony world and region they belong to as a visual identity.Barefaced turians are often seen as untrustworthy, often why politicians are often called barefaced. Primarchs make collective decisions about how a turian colony world is run. The highest of the worlds is the Primarch of Palaven, the homeworld of the turians. Their system is that of meritocracy, in which your social rank is given to you based upon a collective decision of other high ranking individuals to promote the smartest and most diligent to ruling their people. The system has a great deal of potential for misuse, but the tempering of honesty and owning decisions prevents many turians from stepping out of line.
Turians also enjoy a wide range of social freedoms, nothing is banned in their society but it is all based on an honour system. If a turian is unable to work because of recreational drug use, hungover, etc, then their superiors will step in and disciplinary action will be followed through. They were introduced to the asari and Salarians and took a seat on the council around 900CE to act as police and peacekeepers.
Back to the First Contact War (2157 CE); after attempting and succeeding to activate the dormant relay past Pluto, the turians noticed the unauthorized activationand went to assess the situation. Upon finding that relay 314 had been activated after strict orders that it was to remain inactive since the Rachni wars, the turians opened fire on the Alliance. One Aliiance ship escaped the turian bombardment to warn Earth about the attack, the humans retaliated and destroyed the turian fleet which escalated the conflict into a war between the turians and humans.
The fighting escalated until the seige of Shanxi, the closest human colony to the relay in which the turians lay siege to until the Citadel Council intervened and began negotiations. THe war only lasted 3 months but over 1600 humans had lost their lives and less on the turian front.
The war was quickly resolved by the council, a group of alien races that formed a ruling body of the larger part of the galaxy. That council is made up of Asari, Salarian, and Turian representatives to make decisions on how Council space is best run. The council doesn’t have strict ruling over all of the galaxy. Places like the lawless Terminus systems, where all of the underground and shady dealings of the galaxy happens. That is where Omega sits, a home for all of the lawless and outcasts of Council space.
From contact with the Council, humanity learned about the galactic community and just how wide bearing it was, but their introduction to space was certainly tainted by their first contact with the turians. Assuming hostility with any new race was a moto humanity adapted in integrating themselves into an already complex system. There is still animosity and tension between the humans and turians but it is slowly being worked out. As an example the Normandy SR-1 was a combined effort of designs from both humans and turian engineers.
Technology is as advanced as any in a sci-fi universe, faster-than-light travel is a standard means of travelling, medical advancements such as medi-gel can heal most wounds and major medical maladies and what can’t be fixed by that can be repaired with cybernetics. VI’s and AI’s, while the latter being controversial, are apparent and can be seen throughout the galaxy without a second thought.
Now in the year 2183CE, thirty years after the first contact war, humans have not only integrated into the galaxy but have a seat on the council. Outside of these council races there are also the quarians, geth, drell, hanar, volus, batarians, krogan, elcor, and vorcha. Because of all of these races there is tension amongst various groups, not everything is peaceful with century-old grudges, suspicions and paranoia, running deep in many of the galaxies races.
To explain some of the tensions, many of the tensions with turians are involved with the Quarians, Krogan, and humans. The humans and turians are still tense from the Relay 314 Incident, only 30 years in the past so many still remember the war. The turians were the race that deployed the genophage on the krogan, effectively neutering them and creating a genetic mutation that doesn't allow foetuses to fully develop by the time they are born often resulting in stillborns. The quarians have been exiled not only form their homeworld but from most of the galaxy due to breaking the one agreed upon galactic rule of not creating Artificial Intelligence. Upon the creation of the Geth (robotic synthetics that think as a collective mind, but some are seen to have developed individuality)the quarians went too far in developing them, causing a war between them and the geth and ending with them being exiled to the migrant fleet. The turians frown upon the quarians for being law breakers and have given them the title of thieves, gypsies, and will often come down harder on quarians than other races out of prejudice.
Because Humans are so new, they’re viewed with suspicion and unease not only by turians but by other races as well because of how rapidly and aggressively humanity has reached out and colonize other worlds.There is a worry amongst the turians that they will become a problem like the krogan. Breeding and repopulating faster than they can sustain themselves, but that is partially from the deep resentment of The Relay 314 Incident (as the turians call it).
A larger threat is looming in the Mass Effect universe with the onset of the Reapers. A group of sentient spaceships that are intent on eradicating all organic life in order to continue a million year old cycle to shape the galaxy every 50, 000 years or so. Commander Shepard is sent to find a way to defeat the Reapers with the help of his hand-picked racially diverse crew, fighting through both Reapers and skirmishes between different races and political issues in the galaxy as they go in an attempt to stop the annihilation of all organic life.
The galaxy at this point is wary of Shepard’s warnings that the Reapers are returning, the Council turning a blind eye and denying all of the signs. Despite the fact that Shepard has taken down the Collector homeworld, the Alliance and greater galaxy believe that all is well in the galaxy and many of the galactic inhabitants are also currently under this false sense of security until the Reapers make their appearance.
Personality: Pax has long stopped trying to hold the image of being a proper turian. While being fiercely loyal to what few friends she has, Pax often won’t bother to go out of her way to help anyone unless it’s in her best interest. While always being pushed by her mother to uphold the family title and image, she has wanted nothing more than the contentment of doing a job she loved unbothered by the strict social hierarchy of the turian race that has a need for fulfillment in service. The concept that the social status a turian holds is entirely dependant on how long they’ve publically served (either military or even in public services) Pax finds irritating, but she had grown to grudgingly accept it during her military service.
While she was still in the military, Pax followed the rules to their very minimum, often having her labelled as lazy or as a problem in terms of following a chain of command. This is still a problem for Pax. Following orders is often an issue for her, stemmed from a deep grudge she’s had since she was a child of being ordered to do various tasks without explanation. If a task is explained well and in detail, outside of it being a simple task, there often isn’t issue with her following through and completing it. She’s has a sharp mind and often that leads her to trouble in talking back to superiors or outwitting them with basic logic. While her brilliance lies in logic and technology, she can see many holes in plans of attack. Of course in her line of work she never had the opportunity to see active battle before her escape to the terminus systems.
It takes a very long time to gain Pax’s trust and even longer to gain her friendship. She sees the world in a sliding scale. Working in the Terminus systems has made her very aware of the varying degrees to which people fit into the categories of good and evil. While not being above killing someone for money, Pax tends to lean toward keeping her hands metaphorically clean. If it came down to a firefight Pax would rather run instead of stay for the adrenaline high of a fight. She has little interest in fighting and if any of her jobs do come to a confrontation Pax will take the first opportunity to escape she can. The only exception to this would be if one of Pax’s friends were in dire straights. If as such were the case then Pax’s deep rooted and unwavering loyalty can be seen. She will go to almost any lengths to keep her friends safe and out of harms way, as long as it’s within her power.
Pax’s quick tongue sometimes irritates the people she calls friends, but she never goes so far as to insult them or be malicious. She enjoys antagonizing people to see them get riled and agitated, but within herself she has a very long fuse to her own anger. Insults and insinuations tend to roll off of her unless a direct insult comes to someone she’s close to. If someone is that stupid, Pax’s anger comes forward as a cold and calculated fury and fighting dirty is not above her. She is not without her prejudices either, having a strong distaste for humans and batarians both, she’s never been able to shake the values she was raised with against them. There have been noted humans that she’s tolerated, but none she’s ever kept as friends. Although asari, salarians, and most other races, she has little to no qualms with them.
Abilities, Weaknesses, and Power Limitations: As a turian Pax has already been highly trained as a soldier. Her formal training was that of the turian engineer class, her attacks revolve entirely around mid-range weapons, turrets, and omni-tool attacks. Her attacks include:
Sabotage: An attack that can hack synthetics such as geth, or the electrical systems in a suit of armour. Weapons of opposing enemies will also overheat and cease to function.
Sentry Turret: A turret that can be thrown like a grenade that will fire at oncoming enemies. It only lasts so long before it runs out of ammunition and ceases to be functional.
Homing Grenade: These are grenades that when locked onto an opponent will seek them out and destroy them in a rather large explosion. Pax usually carries 3 on her person.
Beyond that Pax is skilled in computer encryption and hacking. She’s not a turian who likes confrontation and would prefer to walk out on a fight than to instigate one. Her few physiological benefits are that of her resistance to radiation, a natural ability derived from her homeworld’s poor metal core. On each hand she had three razor sharp talons that can easily sever a humans jugular without much effort, as well as two talons on each foot. Durable and fast, being a turian makes her slightly most dangerous of an opponent than some other races in the galaxy.
One of her biggest weaknesses is her laziness and disregard for other people’s feelings. She’s not very skilled with long range weapons and has no biotic abilities, but she is quick on her feet and thinks quickly when it comes to drastic measures.
Inventory: Pax will have on her several items:
->Her Omni-tool
->Standard issue Turian military boot knife
->Talon Heavy pistol
->Modified Mattock assault rifle
->Medium turian armour
->Basic turian clothing under the armour
->A toolbelt with several items to assist in lock picking and cutting wires.
->A circuit board (Because she was repairing things when they jumped through the Mass Relay.)
Appearance: Headshot sketches
Basic armour set with helmet and tinted visor.
Pax without her armour in civilian clothing.
Alternate Universe Info
If AU, how is your version different from canon, and how will that come across?
Samples
Log Sample:
Pax was bored, terribly so, so much in fact that despite her spinal injuries she was up and moving around the tiny apartment she shared with Erimita, her asari partner in crime. Kareggin, the teal salarian friend of Erimita’s, had a hell of a time politely trying to convince Pax that her spinal injuries were not going to get better if she didn’t lie down and stay resting. But the turian didn’t listen, up and moving around the apartment at a slow pace, she managed to get around without too much dependence on the crutch that Karregin had managed to get her. The salarian paced nervously beside her, gently trying to coax her to sit on the couch or at least stop moving so much.
“Karregin, move, I’m hungry and you’re between me and the fridge,” she grumbled and made a move to dodge around him only to find her path blocked. Changing tactics she twisted around him feeling a bolt of white hot pain along her lower back. It left her panting for a moment, having to lean heavily on her crutch for stability. “Spirits be damned Karregin, out. of. my. way.”
“You’re supposed to be lying down, Pax!” Kareggin felt like he had said it a hundred times, but maybe this time it would sink in. He kind of doubted it, though, as he reached out to put a stabling hand on her arm. “I can prepare you food when you need it, if only you’d ask instead of risking hurting yourself more.”
“I’m fine. If you would let me go to the kitchen I could get what I want and be back on the couch instead of trying to do the tango with you.” She snapped and made another attempt to get around the salarian. It failed miserably as her body screamed at her that she should be sitting down not hopping around like a salarian on crack. But she was stubborn and she’d be damned if a few injuries were going to keep her down despite feeling like one giant bruise. “Out of my way Kareggin.”
He winced, hating to see her clearly in pain, and quietly stepped to the side, only to follow her through to the kitchen.
“I wish you would just sit down...”
“I will once I get food.” It was clearly the best solution as she limped her way to the fridge and pulled it open. After getting several items she tossed them together in a bowl and stuck it in the microwave. It didn’t take long to heat and she was blissfully thankful that the counter was sturdy enough she could lean most of her weight against it for a few moments. She knew she couldn’t continue living like this. Her spinal column was still in complete disarray and the musculature over it had nearly been torn to ribbons. It was killing her slowly but without the money for a complete cybernetic overhaul she so desperately needed, she would live.
Once the microwave chimed that it was finished, she grabbed the bowl and a utensil and started wolfing down the entire bowl like she’d never seen food before.
“Do you, uh...” Fidgeting a little, Kareggin wrung his hands in front of him. “Need any help? I can help. You should rest.”
Kareggin was ignored until after she had finished her food and set the bowl in the sink. She knew that she needed to be resting, her body was protesting as such, so she would humour the nervous salarian and grabbed her crutch. She made her way over to him and gave him a pat on the shoulder and a flare of mandibles in a smile.
“Now I’ll go willingly to the couch.”
Kareggin made a worried little noise but helped her back to the couch to sit down.
“You worry me sometimes. More than you scare me, even,” he said.
“I can handle it, I’m not that fragile Kareggin.” She shook her head but accepted his help in getting settled on the couch. Her back and legs thanked her for it, even allowing Kareggin to shift her legs for her when she didn’t immediately move them to rest on the couch. It was painfulyl obvious that she was in terrible shape and it worried her as much as it did Kareggin. How long would it be before her body gave out entirely or her friends left because she was too much of a liability. It was a tough situation to be in, but for now she was merely glad for both of her friend’s help in trying to keep her going.
Network Sample:
[The face that appears on the feed from the omni-tool is certainly alien, and distinctly female to those who actually know her race. But she certainly doesn’t look impressed in the slightest, of anything she looks mildly bored with the entire scenario.]
So, I’m not sure if everyone has lost their minds since I was last to Omega, but I’ve had about six humans ask me what I was. Now I know that all of you have only been acquainted with turians for thirty years, but if you’re going to be part of the galaxy you should figure out what a turian is, there’s only twenty billion of us in the galaxy.
So if anyone else has stupid questions to ask me, I’ll be in Afterlife having a drink and trying to enjoy the dancers.
[She’ll pause for a moment and think, before address the recording again.]
Also, can someone kindly explain why I’m on Omega when I should be on Illium? Never wanted to be on this rubble heap again, and it only looks like it’s become more degraded since my last charming visit.
Name: Tao
OOC Journal:
fuckyouimfunnyOver 18? yes
Email/IM/Plurk: Taosenchii@aol.com AIM: TaoSenpai Plurk:
Current characters: Liara T’Soni
dowhatittakesCharacter Info
Name: Paxaedra “Pax” Nectalas
Canon: Mass Effect (Original)
Age: 28
Canon/AU/CR AU: Mass Effect OC
Reference: Not sure what to do with this since she’s an OC not based on multiplayer.
History: Pax is a turian from an upper middle class family on Palaven. Being the eldest of a family of eight siblings, the focus was always on her to do well both in her career and her social life. Her mother was a retired special forces officer and her father a university Librarian, a fairly normal family all things considered and Pax grew up with a fairly normal childhood for a turian. Being the eldest of eight, two girls and six boys, there was a lot of responsibility put upon her shoulders from a young age with the expectation to attend her younger siblings when her parents were busy. She took this duty with a slight bit of resentment because her younger twin sister was exempt from many of the responsibilities Pax had in taking care of her siblings. This created a rift between Pax and her twin sister, which wouldn’t be reconciled until they were much older, and left Pax with a bitter feeling toward her mother for heaping responsibility on her while doting on her sister.
That was not to say that Pax had no support from her parents, her father was highly supportive of Pax’s wants and needs, often taking it upon himself to help Pax with her schoolwork or familial responsibilities. Her foremost love in life was became apparent once she was gifted with her first omni-tool by her father at the age of eight. She quickly immersed herself in learning as much as she could about how her omni-tool functioned and the capabilities and limitations of it’s hardware and software.Often she would shirk her duties in looking after her siblings to spend more time on the extranet searching how to do coding and build programs. But the time she was thirteen, Pax had not only been able to modify and upgrade her omni-tool extensively but had started learning the basics of programming. Like all turians, Pax was sent for bootcamp at the age of fifteen where she started her training in becoming a coder and encryption technician for the turian military. Her prior interest in computers aided her to get one of the more prestigious jobs in the hierarchy in handling and encrypting most of the military’s closest guarded secrets.
While working for the turian military, Pax came across some classified encrypted files that were to be transferred and stored. Curiosity getting the better of her, Pax decrypted the files and read them, only to learn about several cover ups by the hierarchy that pertained to several separate colony world failures. This information now known, Pax merely encrypted the files and added them to the library as she was supposed to do.
This was where Pax’s luck took a nosedive. The file that she had read had been under investigation from the Hierarchy and upon noticing that the encryption coding had been updated, launched an investigation. Thankfully, one of her close childhood friends that worked in the investigations department dropped Pax a line as to what was going on and urged her to leave Palaven and Council space before she was arrested and interrogated for conspiracy against the Hierarchy. Knowing that her childhood friend was right, Pax quickly grabbed what she could and left from Palaven by stowing away on an asari cargo ship bound for the terminus systems.
The cargo ship made berth on Omega, where Pax managed to flee from the angry ship captain into one of the many dark alleys that line Omega’s streets. From there it took Pax a bit of work to get herself situated. She took odd jobs working from everything from delivery worker to an information broker. About two years into her stay on Omega, Pax lucked out in getting in with the Blue Suns. After a failed mission for a previous employer in attempting to assassinate a Blood Pack Mercenary, she was offered a position on the Blue Suns for her abilities in gathering information and hacking databases.
Pax hit her stride working for the Blue Suns, they gave her unlimited control over whatever she wanted for technology and supplied her with parts to build her own computers and modify the existing ones she had access to. She became an adept hacker and information broker, working partially for the Blue Suns and fractionally on her own. Although, one incident changes Pax’s outlook on Omega when she’s sent on a mission to recover some important documents from the Eclipse gang. After sneaking into the base and downloading the correct files, Pax runs into Erimita Vazult, an asari assassin working for the Eclipse. Pax makes a daring escape, being chased halfway through Omega before finally getting away from Erimita by detonating a skycar as a distraction.
This wasn’t the last time the two of them would meet. After several meetings at a preferred bar, only once where there was an attempt to kill each other merely on principle they agreed to disagree and came to the conclusion that with both of their skill sets they could be useful as partners. Although Pax was soon to find out that the assassination of the Blood Pack mercenary she had fumbled a few months prior had not been forgotten. Her luck was about to take a turn for the worse when setting up for a routine patrolling of Blue Suns territory, her squad was attacked mercilessly.
Despite Pax’s attempts to escape, she was caught and was stomped on several times by two krogan mercenaries, effectively crushing most of her spine and several internal organs. Despite this, she was conscious long enough to get a call to Erimita. Amazingly, with Erimita’s help and a known location of a free clinic, Pax survived the ordeal; even with her terrible condition and her spine barely functional despite several operations to repair the damage. Knowing that Pax needed help that she wouldn’t find on Omega, Erimita arranged them passage to Nos Astra on Illium.
Pax’s back effectively destroyed, Erimita took it upon herself to find a way to help Pax get her spine repaired. After eight months of work and Pax doing what she could from the apartment, large portions of her spine were replaced with advanced cybernetics and surgical implants. The healing process for the surgery is a long and slow one. But as a turian she’s terribly stubborn and she nearly halved the time it took to fully recover.
Pax already is well on her way to recovery and working as Erimita’s partner, despite the asari’s insistence that Pax is more of a hindrance than a help at times.
Canon Point: I’m Taking Pax from the time period after she left Omega and was living on Illium with her asari partner and had her spine recently repaired. This is roughly around the same time that Commander Shepard had destroyed the Collector base.
World Information: Mass Effect is a world based entirely around an element that humans found on Mars called Element Zero. The element was left there by the Protheans who had colonized Mars and were later annihilated by The Reapers (I’ll get to them later).This element tends to defy the entire laws of physics as is commonly known. By running an electrical current through the element it can lower or gain mass depending on the type of current. From this new discovery Humans discovered the ability of space travel and grew to find a kind of intergalactic relay system called the Mass Relays. These relays were built by an ancient race of ominous sentient starships called The Reapers in an attempt to grow organic life to a certain level before entirely wiping them out to begin the cycle all over again.
Where Humans can’t leave things alone that they find, once the dormant replay past Pluto (Which was always thought to be a moon) was activated they sparked a war between themselves and an alien race called the Turians, whom many humans initially thought could be the Protheans that they had found mentioned on Mars.
The Turians are a race of avian raptors that look much like velociraptors and act as the galactic police force in Council space. With the largest fleet, a militaristic outlook and society, they provide the necessary firepower and sheer numbers to fight any adversary that is deemed as a potential threat. Their society is entirely based on a series of 27 social tiers, much like the Roman Empire, with the Primarch being one of the highest (They make decisions for entire turian colony worlds) and working it’s way down in militaristic fashion to retired servicemen, children, and the disabled. Because every turian between the ages of 15-30 is expected to serve in some form of public service, they are a people that are called upon for many rigorous jobs in a wide ranging scale of occupations. They are a numerous race hitting the 20 billion mark, using their sheer numbers to make up most of the galaxies service jobs. They have a predisposition toward self sacrifice, the good of many over the good of one is their main theory and they work as a collective.That’s not to say that individuals don’t have their own desires, but they are taught from childhood that they are to own their mistakes no matter if they’re good or bad. Turians are the kind of people that if they commit a crime they will try to get away with it, although if questioned they will often turn themselves in or own up to their crimes without incident.
Turian government is tricky. After the Unification War ( Around 500BCE), a civil war in which different colonies attacked and killed one another over social status, the turians set about the system of Primarchs and social tiers based upon merits and service. The Unification War also is the reason turians wear different coloured paint on their faces, making which colony world and region they belong to as a visual identity.Barefaced turians are often seen as untrustworthy, often why politicians are often called barefaced. Primarchs make collective decisions about how a turian colony world is run. The highest of the worlds is the Primarch of Palaven, the homeworld of the turians. Their system is that of meritocracy, in which your social rank is given to you based upon a collective decision of other high ranking individuals to promote the smartest and most diligent to ruling their people. The system has a great deal of potential for misuse, but the tempering of honesty and owning decisions prevents many turians from stepping out of line.
Turians also enjoy a wide range of social freedoms, nothing is banned in their society but it is all based on an honour system. If a turian is unable to work because of recreational drug use, hungover, etc, then their superiors will step in and disciplinary action will be followed through. They were introduced to the asari and Salarians and took a seat on the council around 900CE to act as police and peacekeepers.
Back to the First Contact War (2157 CE); after attempting and succeeding to activate the dormant relay past Pluto, the turians noticed the unauthorized activationand went to assess the situation. Upon finding that relay 314 had been activated after strict orders that it was to remain inactive since the Rachni wars, the turians opened fire on the Alliance. One Aliiance ship escaped the turian bombardment to warn Earth about the attack, the humans retaliated and destroyed the turian fleet which escalated the conflict into a war between the turians and humans.
The fighting escalated until the seige of Shanxi, the closest human colony to the relay in which the turians lay siege to until the Citadel Council intervened and began negotiations. THe war only lasted 3 months but over 1600 humans had lost their lives and less on the turian front.
The war was quickly resolved by the council, a group of alien races that formed a ruling body of the larger part of the galaxy. That council is made up of Asari, Salarian, and Turian representatives to make decisions on how Council space is best run. The council doesn’t have strict ruling over all of the galaxy. Places like the lawless Terminus systems, where all of the underground and shady dealings of the galaxy happens. That is where Omega sits, a home for all of the lawless and outcasts of Council space.
From contact with the Council, humanity learned about the galactic community and just how wide bearing it was, but their introduction to space was certainly tainted by their first contact with the turians. Assuming hostility with any new race was a moto humanity adapted in integrating themselves into an already complex system. There is still animosity and tension between the humans and turians but it is slowly being worked out. As an example the Normandy SR-1 was a combined effort of designs from both humans and turian engineers.
Technology is as advanced as any in a sci-fi universe, faster-than-light travel is a standard means of travelling, medical advancements such as medi-gel can heal most wounds and major medical maladies and what can’t be fixed by that can be repaired with cybernetics. VI’s and AI’s, while the latter being controversial, are apparent and can be seen throughout the galaxy without a second thought.
Now in the year 2183CE, thirty years after the first contact war, humans have not only integrated into the galaxy but have a seat on the council. Outside of these council races there are also the quarians, geth, drell, hanar, volus, batarians, krogan, elcor, and vorcha. Because of all of these races there is tension amongst various groups, not everything is peaceful with century-old grudges, suspicions and paranoia, running deep in many of the galaxies races.
To explain some of the tensions, many of the tensions with turians are involved with the Quarians, Krogan, and humans. The humans and turians are still tense from the Relay 314 Incident, only 30 years in the past so many still remember the war. The turians were the race that deployed the genophage on the krogan, effectively neutering them and creating a genetic mutation that doesn't allow foetuses to fully develop by the time they are born often resulting in stillborns. The quarians have been exiled not only form their homeworld but from most of the galaxy due to breaking the one agreed upon galactic rule of not creating Artificial Intelligence. Upon the creation of the Geth (robotic synthetics that think as a collective mind, but some are seen to have developed individuality)the quarians went too far in developing them, causing a war between them and the geth and ending with them being exiled to the migrant fleet. The turians frown upon the quarians for being law breakers and have given them the title of thieves, gypsies, and will often come down harder on quarians than other races out of prejudice.
Because Humans are so new, they’re viewed with suspicion and unease not only by turians but by other races as well because of how rapidly and aggressively humanity has reached out and colonize other worlds.There is a worry amongst the turians that they will become a problem like the krogan. Breeding and repopulating faster than they can sustain themselves, but that is partially from the deep resentment of The Relay 314 Incident (as the turians call it).
A larger threat is looming in the Mass Effect universe with the onset of the Reapers. A group of sentient spaceships that are intent on eradicating all organic life in order to continue a million year old cycle to shape the galaxy every 50, 000 years or so. Commander Shepard is sent to find a way to defeat the Reapers with the help of his hand-picked racially diverse crew, fighting through both Reapers and skirmishes between different races and political issues in the galaxy as they go in an attempt to stop the annihilation of all organic life.
The galaxy at this point is wary of Shepard’s warnings that the Reapers are returning, the Council turning a blind eye and denying all of the signs. Despite the fact that Shepard has taken down the Collector homeworld, the Alliance and greater galaxy believe that all is well in the galaxy and many of the galactic inhabitants are also currently under this false sense of security until the Reapers make their appearance.
Personality: Pax has long stopped trying to hold the image of being a proper turian. While being fiercely loyal to what few friends she has, Pax often won’t bother to go out of her way to help anyone unless it’s in her best interest. While always being pushed by her mother to uphold the family title and image, she has wanted nothing more than the contentment of doing a job she loved unbothered by the strict social hierarchy of the turian race that has a need for fulfillment in service. The concept that the social status a turian holds is entirely dependant on how long they’ve publically served (either military or even in public services) Pax finds irritating, but she had grown to grudgingly accept it during her military service.
While she was still in the military, Pax followed the rules to their very minimum, often having her labelled as lazy or as a problem in terms of following a chain of command. This is still a problem for Pax. Following orders is often an issue for her, stemmed from a deep grudge she’s had since she was a child of being ordered to do various tasks without explanation. If a task is explained well and in detail, outside of it being a simple task, there often isn’t issue with her following through and completing it. She’s has a sharp mind and often that leads her to trouble in talking back to superiors or outwitting them with basic logic. While her brilliance lies in logic and technology, she can see many holes in plans of attack. Of course in her line of work she never had the opportunity to see active battle before her escape to the terminus systems.
It takes a very long time to gain Pax’s trust and even longer to gain her friendship. She sees the world in a sliding scale. Working in the Terminus systems has made her very aware of the varying degrees to which people fit into the categories of good and evil. While not being above killing someone for money, Pax tends to lean toward keeping her hands metaphorically clean. If it came down to a firefight Pax would rather run instead of stay for the adrenaline high of a fight. She has little interest in fighting and if any of her jobs do come to a confrontation Pax will take the first opportunity to escape she can. The only exception to this would be if one of Pax’s friends were in dire straights. If as such were the case then Pax’s deep rooted and unwavering loyalty can be seen. She will go to almost any lengths to keep her friends safe and out of harms way, as long as it’s within her power.
Pax’s quick tongue sometimes irritates the people she calls friends, but she never goes so far as to insult them or be malicious. She enjoys antagonizing people to see them get riled and agitated, but within herself she has a very long fuse to her own anger. Insults and insinuations tend to roll off of her unless a direct insult comes to someone she’s close to. If someone is that stupid, Pax’s anger comes forward as a cold and calculated fury and fighting dirty is not above her. She is not without her prejudices either, having a strong distaste for humans and batarians both, she’s never been able to shake the values she was raised with against them. There have been noted humans that she’s tolerated, but none she’s ever kept as friends. Although asari, salarians, and most other races, she has little to no qualms with them.
Abilities, Weaknesses, and Power Limitations: As a turian Pax has already been highly trained as a soldier. Her formal training was that of the turian engineer class, her attacks revolve entirely around mid-range weapons, turrets, and omni-tool attacks. Her attacks include:
Sabotage: An attack that can hack synthetics such as geth, or the electrical systems in a suit of armour. Weapons of opposing enemies will also overheat and cease to function.
Sentry Turret: A turret that can be thrown like a grenade that will fire at oncoming enemies. It only lasts so long before it runs out of ammunition and ceases to be functional.
Homing Grenade: These are grenades that when locked onto an opponent will seek them out and destroy them in a rather large explosion. Pax usually carries 3 on her person.
Beyond that Pax is skilled in computer encryption and hacking. She’s not a turian who likes confrontation and would prefer to walk out on a fight than to instigate one. Her few physiological benefits are that of her resistance to radiation, a natural ability derived from her homeworld’s poor metal core. On each hand she had three razor sharp talons that can easily sever a humans jugular without much effort, as well as two talons on each foot. Durable and fast, being a turian makes her slightly most dangerous of an opponent than some other races in the galaxy.
One of her biggest weaknesses is her laziness and disregard for other people’s feelings. She’s not very skilled with long range weapons and has no biotic abilities, but she is quick on her feet and thinks quickly when it comes to drastic measures.
Inventory: Pax will have on her several items:
->Her Omni-tool
->Standard issue Turian military boot knife
->Talon Heavy pistol
->Modified Mattock assault rifle
->Medium turian armour
->Basic turian clothing under the armour
->A toolbelt with several items to assist in lock picking and cutting wires.
->A circuit board (Because she was repairing things when they jumped through the Mass Relay.)
Appearance: Headshot sketches
Basic armour set with helmet and tinted visor.
Pax without her armour in civilian clothing.
Alternate Universe Info
Samples
Log Sample:
Pax was bored, terribly so, so much in fact that despite her spinal injuries she was up and moving around the tiny apartment she shared with Erimita, her asari partner in crime. Kareggin, the teal salarian friend of Erimita’s, had a hell of a time politely trying to convince Pax that her spinal injuries were not going to get better if she didn’t lie down and stay resting. But the turian didn’t listen, up and moving around the apartment at a slow pace, she managed to get around without too much dependence on the crutch that Karregin had managed to get her. The salarian paced nervously beside her, gently trying to coax her to sit on the couch or at least stop moving so much.
“Karregin, move, I’m hungry and you’re between me and the fridge,” she grumbled and made a move to dodge around him only to find her path blocked. Changing tactics she twisted around him feeling a bolt of white hot pain along her lower back. It left her panting for a moment, having to lean heavily on her crutch for stability. “Spirits be damned Karregin, out. of. my. way.”
“You’re supposed to be lying down, Pax!” Kareggin felt like he had said it a hundred times, but maybe this time it would sink in. He kind of doubted it, though, as he reached out to put a stabling hand on her arm. “I can prepare you food when you need it, if only you’d ask instead of risking hurting yourself more.”
“I’m fine. If you would let me go to the kitchen I could get what I want and be back on the couch instead of trying to do the tango with you.” She snapped and made another attempt to get around the salarian. It failed miserably as her body screamed at her that she should be sitting down not hopping around like a salarian on crack. But she was stubborn and she’d be damned if a few injuries were going to keep her down despite feeling like one giant bruise. “Out of my way Kareggin.”
He winced, hating to see her clearly in pain, and quietly stepped to the side, only to follow her through to the kitchen.
“I wish you would just sit down...”
“I will once I get food.” It was clearly the best solution as she limped her way to the fridge and pulled it open. After getting several items she tossed them together in a bowl and stuck it in the microwave. It didn’t take long to heat and she was blissfully thankful that the counter was sturdy enough she could lean most of her weight against it for a few moments. She knew she couldn’t continue living like this. Her spinal column was still in complete disarray and the musculature over it had nearly been torn to ribbons. It was killing her slowly but without the money for a complete cybernetic overhaul she so desperately needed, she would live.
Once the microwave chimed that it was finished, she grabbed the bowl and a utensil and started wolfing down the entire bowl like she’d never seen food before.
“Do you, uh...” Fidgeting a little, Kareggin wrung his hands in front of him. “Need any help? I can help. You should rest.”
Kareggin was ignored until after she had finished her food and set the bowl in the sink. She knew that she needed to be resting, her body was protesting as such, so she would humour the nervous salarian and grabbed her crutch. She made her way over to him and gave him a pat on the shoulder and a flare of mandibles in a smile.
“Now I’ll go willingly to the couch.”
Kareggin made a worried little noise but helped her back to the couch to sit down.
“You worry me sometimes. More than you scare me, even,” he said.
“I can handle it, I’m not that fragile Kareggin.” She shook her head but accepted his help in getting settled on the couch. Her back and legs thanked her for it, even allowing Kareggin to shift her legs for her when she didn’t immediately move them to rest on the couch. It was painfulyl obvious that she was in terrible shape and it worried her as much as it did Kareggin. How long would it be before her body gave out entirely or her friends left because she was too much of a liability. It was a tough situation to be in, but for now she was merely glad for both of her friend’s help in trying to keep her going.
Network Sample:
[The face that appears on the feed from the omni-tool is certainly alien, and distinctly female to those who actually know her race. But she certainly doesn’t look impressed in the slightest, of anything she looks mildly bored with the entire scenario.]
So, I’m not sure if everyone has lost their minds since I was last to Omega, but I’ve had about six humans ask me what I was. Now I know that all of you have only been acquainted with turians for thirty years, but if you’re going to be part of the galaxy you should figure out what a turian is, there’s only twenty billion of us in the galaxy.
So if anyone else has stupid questions to ask me, I’ll be in Afterlife having a drink and trying to enjoy the dancers.
[She’ll pause for a moment and think, before address the recording again.]
Also, can someone kindly explain why I’m on Omega when I should be on Illium? Never wanted to be on this rubble heap again, and it only looks like it’s become more degraded since my last charming visit.