#the n program

[swaps55]

The N Program

I’ve done a LOT of thinking and headcanoning about the N program, so for N7 day, I thought I’d share them for anyone who might be interested. :D

The fact that Shepard is a badass is something we all take for granted, because of COURSE Shepard is a badass. But I wanted to really take a close look at the N program to understand why and how, because it’s never really a focus in the trilogy aside from the really fucking kickass N7 logo.

I used the codex entry about the N program as a starting point, and filled in the gaps by doing some basic research on US spec-ops programs and extrapolating it to space.

I made the N training modular, undergone at spaced out intervals instead of all at once. This means that it would take over a year, if not longer, to go from N1 to N7.

As my Shepard is a biotic, I did a lot of poking at what it would be like to undergo such rigorous and brutal training in which food deprivation is standard as someone whose body requires significantly higher calorie counts than most humans. Given the rarity of human biotics, and the even greater scarcity of functional human biotics who would be of combat age, I also liked the idea that the Alliance doesn’t know what to do with human biotics. When Shepard goes through the program, the general line of thinking is just...survive it. It is only once more biotics attempt the N program - many of whom wash out - that the Alliance starts trying to integrate them. Kaidan Alenko is a key driver of the biotics training that eventually gets added to the N4 specialization course.

Since I have written heavily about N1 and N7 specifically, I put a lot of thought into what those particular programs look like in detail.

For N1 this meant developing an incredibly advanced Armax Arena-style simulator technology, nicknamed the Can, that sits off the coast of Brazil. This simulator, which is lined with gravitic plates that can raise and lower gravity in any plane, allows for elaborate recreations of alien environments, zero g and high g scenarios, and space combat, along with VI hostiles of any alien species.

For N7, I adopted Anderson’s description of the N7 asteroid test rather than the original codex account that states N7 is more or less awarded when a candidate proves themselves in combat, because I didn’t like the notion that N7 functioned more like a medal earned by random chance than something that could be earned via consistently administered and scored criteria. But I also didn’t like the idea that the asteroid test was basically a measure of how long you could hold your breath in vacuum. So I set it up as a skills test: candidates are dropped behind “enemy lines” in the asteroid belt, and told to survive as long as possible with limited supplies while being pursued by “hostiles” (other Ns). The idea is that candidates have to use everything they’ve learned about combat, survival, and zero-G to make the cut.

The document linked below includes my notes on what training is provided at each N level, where said training takes place, and its duration. I chose Ihla Grande, an island off the coast of Rio de Janeiro, as the actual location of the Villa.

This was a ton of fun to develop, and a lot of fun to write about. 

The N Program  

If you want to see fic that puts it in action, here is where I have written about it:

N1: Hope In These Wires, from Fugue.

N5: Fall From Your Ladder, from Cantata

N7: Facing Giants, from Cantata.

And just for fun, here’s the fic celebrating Shepard’s N7 achievement, with kissing.

The Words That Change Us

Happy N7 Day!!!

[spilycoris]

hop on tf2

[inf3ct3dd]

princess protection program

summary : after your country is invaded during your yearly ball, you are forced to flee to....jackson, wyoming? where even is that? assimilating to average middle class life may be.. devestating, but maybe you can handle it with the help of your new roomate.

pairing: ellie williams x black princess!reader

content + cws : readers a huge snob lowk, CLICHES, mutual pining, silly fun, slight violence in beggining + end

MASTERLIST.

001. ugh, as if!

002…..

more coming soon….

+*:ꔫ:* reader *:ꔫ:*+ﾟ

. ⭒☆━━━━━━━ ellie ━━━━━━━☆⭒

[om0000]

probably never finishing this so here

[blended-ice]

swap?

[cipher-the-sidhe]

Stay with me, Birdie...

for Apex Polarity by @naffeclipse

[wynandcore]

Episode 17

[felassan]

.

[castorfell]

Everybody give it up for the best single mom in pop troll village and his bite sized son!!!!!!!! 👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽 👏🏽✨

[noosayog]

[baby fever] ft. sakusa kiyoomi

wc: 400

iwa | ushijima | atsumu | osamu | kageyama | oikawa

You quietly slip into the gym, taking your seat on the stands to watch the boys finish up practice. You hear the whistle and your eyes are drawn to where Iwaizumi is running drills. You can’t help the smile on your face when you see the athletic trainer standing there with his daughter, only reaching knee height, but diligently blowing the whistle every time her father gives her shoulder a tap. 

Iwaizumi calls out the last set of drills for the day and you don’t have to wait long before a dark, curly head of hair hovers overhead to shade you from the harsh lights of the gymnasium. 

You crane your head backwards, smiling widely. “Hi,” you greet your boyfriend. 

“Hey,” Kiyoomi says. 

“You don’t need to shower?” you ask.

“Nah,” he responds. “We can shower at home.” 

“Okay.” He takes hold of your hand naturally. Kiyoomi is silent but pleasant on the walk home. You hold the conversation, but you don’t mind as he hums in affirmative and flashes you his sweet close-lipped smiles in acknowledgement at the appropriate times.

“Did you see Iwaizumi’s kid?” you ask casually. 

“Hm.”

“Do you like kids?” you peer at him through your lashes.

He looks at you strangely. He thinks for a bit. “No.” 

You pout a bit. “But she was so cute!” 

“More hassle than they’re worth, don’t you think?” 

He says this in a lighthearted tone but you ponder this seriously. “I mean yeah, but don’t you think a few really good moments can outshine the ugly? It would be worth it.”

He glances at you, slightly taken aback by your earnest response. 

“I’m not pressuring you though, okay? Just want you to know that you’re the one I want a family with someday.” 

He nods slowly but says nothing else and you drop the topic willingly. He’s silent the rest of the walk and you know you got him thinking. 

When you arrive at home, he keeps his hold on your hand until you’re both standing in front of the bathroom door. You tilt your head at him in question, but don’t pull away. 

He squints a bit, like he can’t believe what he’s about to say next. 

“We have to get married first, okay?” 

“What?” 

“Married. That has to come before the kid is… conceived,” his cheeks flush a bit. 

You laugh easily, “okay, Kiyoomi.” 

He lets go of your hand, retreating into the bathroom. You make your way to your room to change, all smiles, but Kiyoomi’s hand jolts out to grab onto you. 

“Aren’t you coming in?” he asks. 

Your smile turns into a huge toothy grin, as you cheekily tell him, “I guess we could practice now if you’re so inclined.” 

He rolls his eyes, but his cheeks are red to his ears.

[brahmenbones]

Yay!!!! Murder drones!!!!

[swaps55]

It's November 2nd -- can you share something about Sam's N2 qualification if you're feeling generous?

To tide us over ;)

Sure!!! I haven't written any narrative for Sam's N2 experiences, or walked through it in detail in my head, but these are my notes about it:

N2

Assault procedures: 5 weeks (Ihla Grande main facility & the “Can” simulator facility)

Instruction on alien offensive and defensive tactics

Live training exercises

Expands on everything taught in N1

Small Unit Tactics: 6 weeks (Ihla Grande main facility & the “Can” simulator facility)

Advanced marksmanship

Small-unit tactics

SF common tasks

Alien operations

Mission analysis

Military-decision making process

Linguistics – 18 weeks - Conducted remotely wherever you are posted

Overview of Council race linguistics, as well as batarian and krogan. 

Choose one language to specialize in. (Sam Shepard chooses a krogan language, Kaidan chooses a batarian language.)

[greedy621]

png anomaly design by @htsan I think this is pretty much how fellnomaly dynamic will be like

I have to screen record this because my adobe animate won't let me export normaly fasdgasg

[negativespace06]

after episode 7 i think n should just start killing people again

[tinylittlelilac]

[again saying these are fictitious despite how obvious just in case happyele comes down with an iron fist 🤛]

- Bleeding Ink ♡ Letters From the Heart

By request, StarPro idols are being recruited for the next round of the dating sim Love★Star. Due to the conflicting schedule of a required appearance at a ball, Yuzuru declines the offer, but the game’s director suddenly rewrites the plot…

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO MIDORI TAKAMINE!!!!!!!!!!

I find myself here again :) I have so much respect for enstars artists.. what they pump out 3+ times a week takes me 5 whole months . My gofd ! I really hope you guys like these 2 🙏 personally they don’t leave my head!

[pixelword]

♯┆“But You Didn’t” .ᐟ ★

MASTERLIST !! PINNED POST 🎧💿

Alastor x Gn!Reader <3

Inspired by the poem “But you didn’t”. Set before Alastor died. Fluff with a sprinkle of angst.

Remember the day, I borrowed your brand new radio and dented it?

The radio laid on the dining room table, an obvious dent on the side. It could still play, but it was still damaged. They couldn’t just give it back to Alastor in that condition! He had trusted them to take care of his most prized possession, and they had ruined it! Had it not been for their siblings running around and hitting the table it had been resting on, it would’ve been in the perfect condition they had received it in!

They bit their nail as their foot thumped on the wooden floor of their home, trying to think of how to fix it before Alastor came to retrieve it.

“Y/N! Alastor is here!”

I thought you’d kill me

Y/N freezes in place. He wasn’t supposed to be here for another hour! There’s no way they could fix it before he noticed! Oh he’s gonna hate them forever and never want to talk to them again and ugh why did this happen?!

“Y/N?”

They slowly turn your head to the dining room entrance, Alastor stood there with his usual smile on his face.

“…I’m sorry.” They move to the side, letting Alastor see the damaged gift.

But you didn’t

Alastor walks up to the radio and holds it up, inspecting the damage. Y/N squeezes themselves in a hug, trying not to cry.

“I was taking care of it but the twins were playing and,” the explanation and apologies kept slipping from their mouth.

“Y/N”

“And I’m so sorry I promise I’ll pay you back whatever it costs to get it fixed or get a new one-“

“Y/N,” Alastor puts a hand on their shoulder, making them shut up and look at him. “It’s alright dear.”

“What?” They could've sworn he’d at least get angry.

“Does it play?” He asked them. “Well, yeah-“ He cut them off before they could go on further.

“Then it’s all fine dear! It still does it function.” Their shoulders went down from the tense way they had them as they let out a breath of relief, glad he was not mad at them.

Remember that day, I vomited strawberry pie all over your new carpet?

“Cher, I don’t think you should eat that much.” Alastors gaze looked concerned as he saw them forcing themselves to eat the strawberry pie his mother had made for them. Y/N just couldn’t tell her no no matter how gross strawberry pie seemed to them. They didn’t want her to feel bad or have all her effort go to waste.

“Nonsense, I’m sure I can eat more!” Honestly they felt full already and like they’d regret eating it later. They tried to shove another bite down but the minute the flavor hit their tongue they couldn’t hold it down, puking all the strawberry pie they had eaten.

I thought you’d hate me.

“Oh my goodness Alastor, I’m so sorry!” They immediately apologized, their hands slightly shaking as they panicked and didn’t know what to do. Alastor had recently bought that carpet and they had puked on it.

But you didn’t.

Alastor walked over to them and helped them stand up. He moved their hair out of their face as he cleaned it with a washcloth. “It’s alright dear, I’ll just get it cleaned.” He smiled at them.

Remember that day, I flirted with a guy to make you jealous,

Mimzy’s bar was always full at this time of the night. Many men and many women went there to either have fun or to find someone to have fun with. Some simply went to distract themselves from their sorrows. No matter what someone was looking for, they would have fun finding it.

Sometimes however, what you didn’t want would find you. That was often the case with Alastor. He was a charming man with dashing looks, so it wasn’t a surprise many would try to get lucky and score him.

That let Y/N pouting by the bar, a glass of scotch on their hand. Alastor was too nice for his own good and couldn’t just simply tell all those folks to kick rocks, leaving poor old Y/N by themselves.

A man approached them, slightly flushed, as if he’d been drinking for a while. “What’s a pretty thing like you doing all alone?~”

Y/N was about to impolitely tell them to go away till an idea crossed their mind. Why should they watch someone hit on their man like a fool? If he didn’t want to pay attention to them, fine! They’d just get someone else to do it.

and you really did get jealous?

Alastor gave a glance over to Y/N, making sure they were fine and still there before having to do a double take. Some man had decided he was good enough to blatantly flirt with them. His flirting wasn’t even creative or charming! Straight up simple common flirts one could find in a ‘how to get laid’ guide written by someone who was never even touched by another human being with a 10 foot pole! And what was worse is that their dear Y/N was flirting back! If there weren't too many witnesses Alastor would’ve murdered that man right there!

“Excuse me ladies.” He excused himself, his smile now strained. Anyone who truly knew him would know he was in a horrible mood now. Mimzy could only giggle, such a basic plan that had the exact reaction Y/N was looking for.

I thought you’d leave me.

Alastor walked over to the man, grabbing his shoulder rather firmly. “Excuse me, kind sir, but I must inform you that you are flirting with my spouse!”

The man’s face only held shock as he stuttered out apologies, leaving the couple alone. Y/N simply crossed their arms and pouted at Alastor.

“Now my dear, what were you even thinking when you decided to entertain the behavior of that man?”

Y/N's eyes drifted from Alastors face, they could never lie to him when making direct eye contact. “So you can flirt with all those dames but when I do it’s wrong?”

But you didn’t.

“Is that what this is about?” Alastor chuckled, grabbing their chin and easing their face so they’d make direct eye contact. “My dear if you wanted my attention, you could’ve simply asked.”

Yes, there’s a lot of things you didn’t do…

Y/N sat at the table of the restaurant, waiting. He promised he’d be there on time, but it had already been half an hour of him still not arriving. They waved the waiter over, tired and too hungry to wait even more and ordered their food. They’d eat and if Alastor didn’t show up, they’d just go home.

But you put up with me,

They walked alone back home. Alastor had never shown up to the restaurant. From a bit up the sidewalk they could see a man dressed in red, rushing over.

“Y/N…” Alastor took deep breaths as if he had been running. They simply glared at him.

“I’m so sorry cher…” he apologized, his smile wasn’t as big as it commonly was but it was still there, which annoyed them more than anything.

“Fuck off Alastor.” They tried walking past him before he grabbed their arm.

Loved me,

“Mon Cher, I’m so sorry, I swear. It was not my intention to have you wait.” Y/N simply pulled their arm away from his grasp.

“No! You always do this Alastor! You make promises and then you always keep me waiting! I’m tired of it!” They walked away, crossing the road.

Protected me.

Alastor grabbed their arm again and pulled them back towards him in the nick of time. Y/Ns eyes were wide as shock took over, paralyzing their body. Had Alastor not pulled them back, they would’ve surely gotten hit.

There were a lot of things I wanted to make up to you,

Y/N picked up Alastors coat from the hanger, helping him put it on as he was finishing getting ready for work. They gave him a goodbye kiss and closed the door behind him once he left.

They immediately got to work and started preparations for when he’d get back home. Today was their anniversary and they wanted to surprise him with a clean house and his favorite meal, a recipe you’d gotten from his momma.

When you came back from work.

They put on the finishing touches for their outfit as they checked the clock. Any minute now Alastor would be home and they could celebrate together.

They stood by the door, everything done, and waited.

And waited…

…And waited.

But you didn’t.

MASTERLIST !! PINNED POST 🎧💿