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[forgivetheinsubordination]

PLAYER INFO.
✖ Handle: Jackie
✖ Contact: Nadat on Plurk
✖ Are You Over 16: Y
✖ Other Characters Played in Consignment: N/A



CHARACTER INFO.
✖ Character Name: Vakarian, Garrus
✖ Canon: Mass Effect 3, just after ending Kai Leng, before they return to the ship.
✖ Character Appearance: http://th08.deviantart.net/fs70/PRE/f/2012/072/3/1/garrus_vakarian_07_by_johntesh-d4sm7h0.jpg
✖ Character Age: Approximately 33
✖ Pick A Number: 33, 771

✖ Canon Setting: Garrus’ homeworld is Palaven, the homeworld of his race, the turians. The turians have hundreds of colonies, but their main seat of power and their capital (where Garrus was born, Cipritine,) stay on Palaven. Palaven is generally silver with sparse, desert-like foliage.

Turian government is a meritocracy. People earn their promotions. If someone is promoted to a position they cannot handle, they are demoted back to what they can manage and the person who promoted them bears the shame of the failure. It tends to prevent nepotism and corruption, for the most part. They are also a very militaristic people, as every turian enters the military at the age of 15 and serves for about 15 years.

Culturally, a turian is meant to be all about duty and carrying out orders. Ambition is frowned on; one is supposed to know what they’re capable of doing and stick with that. Showing off is another not-very-turian thing - you get the job done. That’s what you do, that’s what you’re supposed to focus on.

As far as powers go, there are two sets of powers in the Mass Effect universe. One is biotics - using mass-effect fields to manipulate their environment. One race does this completely naturally, but most others require amplification with devices creatively called bio-amps to harness and strengthen biotic potential into something usable. Very, very few turians are capable of biotics. The second type of power is tech powers, and that’s what you’re far more likely to see from a turian. They’re not natural. They are various programs designed and used by particularly skilled programmers and techs, created on and used through the omni-tool, which is a wrist device with a whole lot of uses. I’ll be going more into detail on this in the weapon section, as I’ll be having Garrus bring his omni-tool as his weapon.

Right now the Mass Effect universe is embroiled in war. Sixteen races are banding together for survival against the reapers, an ancient race of sentient AIs who has decided that their job is to keep dropping by the galaxy to wipe out everyone and store their historical data in the form of more reaper vessels. The turians, as the strongest military force out of the races, were focused on and hit hard in the initial attack, but they’re still crucial to the war effort. Turians don’t give up, turians don’t surrender. They just got the aid of the krogan (most powerful soldiers, biologically speaking) in trying to save Palaven, but they’re also looking at the bigger picture and are prepared to sacrifice the homeworld (temporarily) if it means the defeat of the reapers and the survival of their people.

On the front lines of this battle is an Earth Alliance spaceship called the SSV Normandy SR-2. A joint venture between humanity and the turians, the ship was designed and built by the latter, and staffed and run by the former. There is one turian serving aboard this ship - Garrus Vakarian.

✖ Character History: http://masseffect.wikia.com/wiki/Garrus_Vakarian

✖ Character Personality: Garrus starts off as, in his words, a bad turian. What that means is that unlike the obsession of most of his species (turians) with duty, regulations, and rules, Garrus likes to avoid red tape and simply get a job done. He’s direct. Why offer someone a chance to explain, or take them in for the legal system to handle, when a bullet can do the trick quickly and finally? His personality lends itself very well to his aptitude with the sniper rifle; keep the issue at arm’s length and eliminate it with one shot. This take on things changes somewhat over the course of the three games, as he starts to realize that while he can’t fix the whole galaxy, he can control his own actions and how he deals with what comes up. He still hates red tape and rather enjoys flouting it, as evidenced in ME3 when he takes the player character, Commander Shepard, to an area no one’s supposed to be in (there are 137 regulations against being there) for an impromptu sniping competition, but now he can also accept its existence and purpose. Most of the time.

Continuing on the sniper theme, Garrus tries to keep people at a distance. It’s not too surprising. He’s fought most of his life with his father, his mother is dying of turian alzheimer’s, and he and his sister are even on the outs for a good part of the game as he can’t tell her what he’s doing or why he’s not visiting. He loses his entire hand-picked squad between the events of the first and second game. Garrus has learned it’s safer to put up walls and barricades. Nonetheless, some of the crew of the Normandy (the spaceship the player character commands in all three games) have slipped in there, especially its commander. He’s not going to be quick to open up and let others in, not after losing so many, but with time and respect he’s willing to try opening up. His relationship with James Vega is a good example of this - Vega doesn’t join the series until the beginning of the third game, but a little over midway through Garrus can be found in the mess hall with him, swapping stories, bragging, and finally letting on that he appreciates the human just a little, even if ‘Jimmy Vega’ sounds like the name of a pole dancer in his opinion.

That leads into Garrus’ favorite way to communicate: sarcasm. Whether he’s remarking on the Commander’s distinct lack of dancing skills or sharing human and turian jokes with the human pilot of the ship, Garrus is most at ease when there’s something he can snark about. He gets very serious when things come down to it, though. In the final game he has to make a call for his people on where they stand and defend, and calls it the calculus of war - 10 million die here so 20 million can live over there. It’s a difficult call, but he’s matured to the point that he can make it. He does make it.

Vengeance and justice are key sticking points for Garrus. It bothers him when things go unpunished, when things slide through the cracks, and he’s very eager to go after people and make things right. Rather, make things right the way he thinks they should be made right. This is demonstrated in the first game with Dr. Saleon, someone who grew and harvested extra organs from people desperately in debt, and then in the second with Sidonis, who betrays Garrus’ squad. All he wants is to hunt these two people down and put bullets in their head, an action which he can take or be stopped in by the player character (Commander Shepard.) The third game is far more focused on the central conflict as opposed to any personal side-quests, but when you encounter a space-ninja-assassin-jerk who killed a former squadmate, Garrus yells “I’ll tear his head off!,” a stronger reaction than any other enemies in the game receive.

Garrus is also entirely loyal. Shepard earned his respect and he follows his Commander. This is demonstrated clearly in the second game, when Shepard has to go into an area dealing with a plague that kills everything except humans and vorcha. Garrus doesn’t hesitate to follow Commander Shepard in. Shepard’s on a suicide mission, working for a time with a terrorist organization that wants to put humans above all other races and Garrus is there no matter what, evidenced also near the end of the third game when the Commander states “there’s no Shepard without Vakarian.” Should the player stop Garrus from making the two kills (Saleon and Sidonis) there are questions, but Garrus deals with it. He even, after some time, understands. Once someone has earned his loyalty, Garrus cannot be swayed away from it.

The outer image Garrus tries to present is that of the snarky, suave, tough turian, but he’s a bit vulnerable. He’s lost a lot of people in his life and at one point says Shepard’s his only friend left. The third game shows that he’s actually got a few others, but as the galaxy’s at war everyone’s at risk of losing people. In fact, for about half of the third game he has no idea if his father and sister have made it to safety. It’s implied that his mother has passed away, and depending on player actions at least four teammates have been lost along the way by the point I’m taking him from, possibly more. It’s taken its toll. There are cracks in his armor, but he tries very hard to keep them hidden. He’s also really, really bad at pick-up lines. And flirting in general. So much for suave. At least he’s still snarky.


✖ Character Powers:
Natural Abilities:
-Sniping/shooting - Garrus is arguably one of the best shots with a sniper rifle, precise and skilled through many years of training. He held a base on his own against three mercenary companies for a full day with the use of a sniper rifle, due to it being approachable only by a long bridge. He’s also skilled with assault rifles and other weapons, but Garrus shines when sniping.
-Hand-to-hand combat - Not only do turians train from childhood to serve in the military, Garrus sparred for nine rounds against the hand-to-hand trainer on one of the ships he served on, having to settle for a tie in the end. While he often wears gloves over them, his talons can be useful for this as well.
-Calibration - Garrus knows how to modify, improve, and maintain weaponry systems. He improved the guns on the Normandy and keeps them in tune. He can also be called on to repair other systems you encounter throughout the games.
-Fitness - He’s a soldier. A soldier covered in metal-laced plating that isn’t lightweight. Garrus is in excellent shape and ready to go at a moment’s notice.
-Resilience - Garrus took a missile to the face and survived. And while it’s a little past his canon pull point, he’ll be taking a tank to the body and limping away with help, surviving that too. He’s tough, basically, and stubborn.

Powers:
-Overload - This is a tech ‘power’ that can be hurled forward, shorting out electronics, shielding, barriers, armor, and even harming living beings. It also serves to make some weapons jam up for a time. If the weapons are tech-based, like the flamethrowers used by some enemies, the device tends to explode. It originates from his omni-tool, which is coming with him.

CHARACTER SAMPLES.
✖ First Person POV: http://codecrew.dreamwidth.org/451.html?thread=350659#cmt350659

✖ Third Person POV:
The path back to the ship was significantly less complicated than the path into the base had been. The remaining Cerberus forces were demoralized, with most fleeing and a couple surrendering. Honestly, Garrus was surprised any of them had enough mind left to surrender, after what had been done to so many. He even wished they hadn’t surrendered. They were terrorists. Better to kill them now and not give them another chance to cause a problem in the future. But he wasn’t the Commander, and he wasn’t going to question Shepard’s call. She had enough on her shoulders.

One of the people gathered up, though, wasn’t in Cerberus colors. He was also staring at Garrus. After a few awkward moments where Garrus tried to pretend he didn’t feel the gaze boring into the back of his neck, he gave in and headed over.

“You really aren’t in a position to be asking for something,” he said. And if he thought it would do any sort of good in the long term, he might have yanked the gloves off, displayed his talons and exactly how bad of a position this whole group was in. Still. Chain of command. Garrus followed the orders of those he had faith in, even if he wasn’t a fan.

The guy didn’t look too bothered. “I had a question for you.”

Garrus folded his arms and tilted his head. “And that would be…?” He wasn’t even sure he cared. Everyone working for Cerberus had deliberately made the situation the whole damn galaxy was facing a multitude of times worse, and they wanted his people subservient or dead.

“Do you want to save Palaven?”

It was one of the dumbest questions Garrus had ever heard. All he’d done, all he’d been doing, was for Palaven. The galaxy too, sure, but Palaven was home and he’d save it if it was at all possible. Not only that… Was the guy threatening his world? Some Cerberus terrorist punk they’d just rounded up. “Yes. You suggesting that you know something? Cerberus have plans on Palaven?”

The man simply smiled, and something about the smile made Garrus wonder if somehow he’d just walked into a trap. Again. But he didn’t have long to ponder, because everything went black.

CHARACTER ITEMS.
✖ Pick a Team: Green

✖ Mission Freebie: Black Widow Sniper Rifle, detailed here: http://masseffect.wikia.com/wiki/Black_Widow with the fifteen bullets as mentioned in the FAQ.
✖ Personal Item or Weapon: Omni-tool with blade attachment. They’re generally used for tech things - communications, sensors, repairs - but Garrus’ is enhanced with the Overload capability and has a blade attached as well. Details on the tool are here: http://masseffect.wikia.com/wiki/Omni-tools His would come with 5 medigel packets, if permitted. Medigel is how healing is done in Mass Effect - one packet, dispensed from an omnitool, is generally enough to take care of anything that isn’t life threatening, either completely or for long enough for them to get to actual medical care. It allows him to interface with various machinery he comes across, play stored videos, fire Overload, slice through a great many materials (with the blade,) communicate with various people who also have omni-tools,

✖ Character Inventory:

-One full suite of medium armor, blue and silver and black, regular with a kinetic barrier included.
-One Kuwashi visor (since he never takes it off.) As detailed on the bottom section here: http://masseffect.wikia.com/wiki/Shadow_Broker_Dossiers/Garrus_Vakarian the visor magnifies, tracks, gives weather readouts, plays music, has Sonar, LADAR, thermal, and ER targeting capabilities, can take bio readings of anyone within ten meters who is from his universe (or someone who he has gotten bio standards from, like if he gets to know some of the trolls or something and gets biodata on them, but that will have to be manually added with permission,) can track kills, locate where someone is shooting at him from, and adjusts firing solution in whatever projectilve weapon he’s using.
-One set of turian tunic and leggings, worn underneath the armor.

Threads to be kept as game canon:
Hannah Talbot - player permission granted
Liara T'Soni - player permission granted
Dagger - if mods permit