#earthborn shepard

[milkywayes]

■■■■ Shepard / earthborn / sole survivor / soldier. lovingly annotated.

scar refs (censored nsfw) under the cut >:) since I drew it and all.

[strawberrykidneystone]

earthborn! american shepard having crazy one sided beef with kaiden bc he’s canadian😭😭😭

[perkeleen-lavellan]

Earthborn Shepard who still had the gang tattoos.

Earthborn Shepard who woke up on Miranda's lab table and shrugged on the armor fitted for their exact proportions in a hurry to get out of the Cerberus station.

Earthborn Shepard who, when finally looking into a mirror on the SR2 Normandy, finds nothing but bare skin.

And if they'd ask about it from Miranda she'd explain, "We were meant recreate them, but thanks to Wilson we ran out of time."

How would that feel? Which is worse, the fact that enough of Shepard had to be replaced even their skin isn't original anymore, or the fact that there is a timeline where Shepard would have looked into a mirror and seen their tattoos, and maybe thought they're a little off? A little too bright and fresh in colors, and were the lines always so thick? But unable to really determine what's wrong for sure.

[average-mako-enjoyer]

Anyway, it's five in the morning and I can't sleep, so I'm lying here thinking about how Earthborn Shepard was never taught how to tell someone you love them, so he never uses the L-word, but he tries to find substitutes.

Things like an extra protein bar stashed under a chest piece of his armor, a gentle touch from a rough hand, a hug out of nowhere, a softened grin, a shoulder to cry on, a tongue held even in anger, a "you okay?" look thrown across the mess, on a mission, in the middle of an argument, a small space he takes in bed and how still he can be when he sleeps, a bottle of good whiskey, a sacrificed life.

[painterofhorizons]

Earthborn Shepard people. Do help me out.

How the heck did you figure out Shepard's backstory? I have such a hard time figuring out Reda before she gets out gang life with 16, like whatever happens before that point of time is just a blank file in my head. There's nothing. And whoever follows my akuze fic or my CM character knows I can come up with detailed backstory, absolutely no problems. But for reasons unknown to me, Shepard's history is just something my brain completely blacks out about. And I have zero idea how to solve this. I want to, badly, but I just. Don't. Know. How.

So if you wanna share a bit how you figured out your earthborn Shep's backstory, please feel free to reblog and add or pm me, or if you got any idea how I can tackle this and get Reda cooperate with me, I'm desperate for help.

Very desperate.

[ra1nbot]

a few of my shepard doodles from newest to oldest

[lonesurvivorao3]

Eris Shepard in a nutshell.

[sol-consort]

Okay Captain Anderson was definitely the closest thing to a father that Earthborn Shepard ever got to experience and that just breaks my heart

[membrayne]

me1 rayne </33

[favoriteblogonthecitadel]

Continuing with the Xiomara moodboards, today is Earthborn background vibes. Below the cut because content includes blood

[milkywayes]

teen shepard... save me teen shepard...

[blackjackkent]

Lord Huron prompts, any one of those for an oc of your choice:

🌟 prowling the night raising hell with the boys

🌟 where can you go when it’s all in your head?

🌟 was everything you said just a lie?

(Lord Huron Lyric Prompts)

Ty for the prompt! Hmmmm an OC of my choice... let's go back to the OG OC who I haven't written in forever, and talk about she got that scar that she had on her face in ME1. :D

Jenna Shepard - prowling the night raising hell with the boys.

-----

“You’re a fuckin’ dumbass, you know,” Ace says.

Jenna scowls, squinting at him through eyes swollen with bruises. “Yeah? That’s not new. Been a dumbass the whole time you’ve been with the Reds; never seemed to bother you before.”

“Don’t dodge the conversation,” he says irritably. “You know what I mean.”

Jenna’s nose twitches as a ticklish flow of blood drips from the slash across her face. The movement pulls at the torn skin and makes her wince. “I knew Finch was gonna try and thrash me,” she mutters defensively. “I didn’t know he was gonna pull a knife.”

“It’s not about the knife. Jenna…” He sighs, twisting the seal open on a medi-gel capsule. “You know why he wanted to kick your ass, right?”

“Yeah - ‘cos he’s jealous.”

“More than jealous. He’s pissed because you’re gonna get off-world and he’s never gonna amount to shit. And he wanted to fuck you up so you wouldn’t be able to go.” Ace glares at her. “And you almost let him, just because you wanted a fight.”

She’s never seen him like this. Ace is always the one in the gang with a joke and a grin; half the time he’s laughing even when they screw.

“I always want a fight,” she says, puzzled.

“No!” he snaps. “You don’t. Not right now. What you want is to stay fucking alive three more days. Then you get on that ship, and you go to bootcamp, and you get to be somebody. And you don’t miss your chance cos you lost an eye, or your jaw got broke, or you let Finch slice you up.”

She knows he’s right, and it pisses her off. “I didn’t know better, I’d think you were looking forward to me leaving,” she says sullenly.

His head snaps back, and his expression goes from angry to hurt - and then back to angry again. “You fucking know that’s not the case,” he says coldly. “You think I want to lose you?”

Something seems to grip around her heart and squeezes it. “I know,” she mumbles, looking away, wiping distractedly at the sheen of blood settling on her upper lip.

For a moment she thinks he’s going to walk away. Then his shoulders slump and he sits down next to her, handing her the gel capsule. She squeezes it so the viscous blue liquid oozes out into her palm, and starts rubbing it along the deepest part of the cut until the pain eases.

He rubs his thumb absently at a stain in his torn jeans. “I’m never gonna get out of Chicago,” he finally says quietly. “Let alone off this whole hunk of rock. But you are. And I love you, so I gotta let you do it.” Again that scowl, tightening his face into hard lines that don’t seem to fit there. “And if I gotta do all that, the last thing I’m gonna do is let you fuck it all up for yourself. But don’t you make the mistake of thinking I like it.”

She hisses out a breath through her teeth. “The fuck am I gonna do up there in the Fleet without you to tell me when I’m being an idiot?” she says with a crooked grin.

He grunts, and then laughs, and that sounds more like Ace, although it’s a humorless laugh, dark and tired. “I reckon you’ll find someone else to do the job before long.”

[gamerkitten]

Cassia Shepherd photo dump ft. Garrus

[dalekofchaos]

Fixing Kai Leng

The problem with Kai Leng is Mac Walters desperately tried to convince us that Leng was Shepard's ultimate equal when he could barely hold his own against an aged Anderson and a Drell with terminal cancer and in the end he was a tryhard egdelord that would make Kylo Ren embarrassed.

The solution to this is make Leng deeply connected to Shepard's personal history. Making him be a ghost from Shepard's past with a personal connection would have made this character much better. His backstory could change with whatever your selections are for Shepard.

If you are Earthborn, you are both members of the 10th Street Reds

If you are a Spacer, Leng and Shepard's families served together and Shepard and Leng were childhood friends

If you are a Colonist, Leng was Shepard's childhood friend and was in the rubble with Shepard

If you are a War Hero, Leng was wounded as Shepard held off the Batarians during Elysium. Leng's survival and stand against the Batarians attack on Elysium caught Cerberus' interest.

If you are Sole Survivor, you both survived an ambush on Akuze. Only Leng wasn't taken to be experimented on. Leng was recruited into joining Cerberus for his survival. Cerberus convinces Leng that the Alliance left him for dead and so did Shepard. Leng's sense of betrayal and human supremacy leads him to joining Cerberus

If you are Ruthless, you and Leng slaughtered the Batarians on Torfan without mercy, The sense of ruthlessness inspired Leng's cold hearted exterior and human supremacist beliefs and led him to Cerberus.

Where do we go from here? Replace Jacob with Kai Leng. And the books would be his ventures with Cerberus(but less as a cringe tryhard) Jacob ultimately added to nothing. He's so fucking boring and unlikable and turns into the stereotypical black guy who cheats on you.

Kai Leng's motivation when it comes to Cerberus would be this. I would say he was a young man who wanted to serve the human race and the alliance but when he saw that the politics of the Alliance kept holding him back from doing the right thing or the greater good,  he saw that Cerberus was the only ones helping humanity.

Remove the cyber ninja aesthetic and combine Soldier, Adapt and Engineer to make him a Cerberus super soldier.

As for Kai Leng. A Leng who has personal history with Shepard has potential, plus Leng being indoctrinated with Cerberus human supremacist beliefs, but also somebody with a moral conscience when it comes to the missing human colonists, somebody emotional that you could agree with or understand, contrasting Miranda as a starting squadmate.

Through the course of ME2, he would grow on you as the rest of the squadmates of ME2 did. His loyalty mission would be centered around our background. If we're a War hero, we hunt down the Batarians who survived Elysium. If we are Sole Survivor, we hunt down the Alliance officer who led their squad to Akuze. If we're Ruthless, we deal with Batarians who want revenge for Torfan who plan on giving human hostages to the Collectors. Throughout their talks, Shepard can convince Leng that Cerberus is wrong and eventually Leng's loyalty with Cerberus begins to wavers, especially after TIM sends them to be ambushed in the Collector ship.

Leng started completely loyal to Cerberus, but when he works with Shepard he sees that Cerberus is wrong, but stayed loyal, but also loyal to Shepard. When The Illusive Man asks Shepard to give the base over and when he/she refuses, he asks Leng to force it. This is where Kai Leng finally stands up to Cerberus. Kai Leng all his life, all he wanted to do is serve and protect humanity. He sees that the humans of the Terminus Systems were proceed into becoming a human Reaper and was horrified and when the man he looked up to for years says we should use what killed the humans, he gets the message we should sacrifice humanity and the costs of uplifting humanity. Kai Leng has had enough. He sees through the illusion of Cerberus and with Miranda tells TIM to fuck off and he stays loyal to Shepard.

Between the events of ME2 and ME3, when Shepard betrays Cerberus, they realize that Kai Leng is probably the strongest link between Shepard and themselves, and try to use him against Shepard. Not as lucky as Miranda, TIM does not want to lose Leng so he captures and indoctrinates Leng, making him an agent, and reprogramming his mind to become somebody he was not before, working mindlessly for TIM, as his first lieutenant in combat, much like Bucky Barnes, we have an emotional connection to Kai Leng before seeing him as a villain in ME3.

The first time we'd see Leng in ME3 is on Earth. We see this lead Cerberus Phantom in a unique mask stalking you and Anderson. And as we're leaving Earth, we see Kai Leng killing Anderson. With Shepard swearing revenge.

Throughout ME3, Leng would be stalking Shepard. Causing trouble as we encounter Cerberus. Trying to kill Eve, activating the bomb on Tuchunka and the attempt on the Council.

He would become the same Kai Leng that we all know and hate but we would be able to sympathize with him more.

When we finally confront him in Priority Citadel, we face him and omni-slash his mask off. We get the reveal. Shepard is shocked, Leng hesitates after hearing Shepard utter his name. Maybe in the Cerberus coup on the Citadel, if his loyalty mission was completed in ME2, he would not kill Thane, out of respect of a former squadmate, and regain conscious thought again for a brief moment to spare him. 

It would also help to explain his inexplicable plot armor. Rather than surviving against the onslaught of Shepard due to plot reasons, he would not be killed, as Shepard still sympathizes with him, and doesn't want to kill him, sparing him and letting him escape, or not being able to fully focus, hoping there's a little bit of the real Kai Leng still in there.

Of course this would lead to multiple outcomes towards the end of the game. He could either be recruited back or un-indoctrinated somehow, but for a good plot he would only be able to turn good again and rejoin the squad way too late in the game, maybe in the last third of the game, like Legion in ME2. Bonus points if you can romance him as Femshep, would still make a better romance carrying on to ME3 than Jacob.

Otherwise, he would have to be killed and could not be saved. I don't think that convincing him to commit suicide like Saren or TIM would work, because it would be too similar to the TIM suicide not too long, and would lose impact because of it. He would have to be fought and killed one last time in combat, and have a tragic end most likely.

If we saved Kai Leng, he would've been transported on the beam. Depending on your reputation and war readiness, Leng can break through the indoctrination and kill The Illusive Man or Leng kills himself, which distracts TIM and Shepard shoots The Illusive Man. If Leng broke through and killed TIM, he apologizes for killing Anderson and being unable to control himself. If you were just friends they hug, if they were LI, they kiss. Leng's fate would be either being aboard the Normandy to put Shepard's plaque on the memorial or finding Shepard's body and bringing him back and then we'd get Shepard putting Anderson's plaque on the Normandy.

SO that's how I would've handled Kai Leng. Making him more connected to Shepard and less of a tryhard edgelord that they made him to be in canon.

[ra1nbot]