Not sure if you remember me but I was they guy in the last thread that asked which supplements were worth getting. Well, I got the main rulebook on Friday, spent about an hour reading it, and immediately ordered ALL of the other books. Even if I never play this game, I've derived so much enjoyment simply from exploring the setting it was worth every penny.

Thanks

>>26550219

Exactly, I GM a game at college, but I get just as much fun from simply reading the books, exploring the setting in my mind, or thinking up ways to use and exploit the various weapons and morphs outlined in the book.

Glad you're enjoying it, I do remember you.

>>26550192
Nice to have you back Proxy, looking forward to it
Gonna put it out there now, have never read the Eclipse Phase books, but I thoroughly enjoy your stuff

>>26550260
Thanks.

Here, check out the books if you like. Don't worry about legal issues, the books are all released under creative commons, so there is no legal way for you to be punished for downloading them free.

http://robboyle.wordpress.com/eclipse-phase-pdfs/

>>26550192

Nihlus walked down the street, looking up at the roiling thunderclouds overhead. He was walking through a city on the Turian colony of Magna, his mind troubled by the implications of his current mission. Not that it was unusual for him to feel that way of course, be was a Specter after all, he was used to undertaking dangerous missions for the good of the Citadel and the council. But this, this mission would perhaps be the most dangerous he had undertaken to date.

By rights it shouldn’t seem that it was, he was to proceed to the designated meeting place, and contact an undercover agent with and return him to command. The code phrase allowing him to identify the contact was simple, the initiation phrase was “have you been to the mountains on Palaven?” the response was, “Not since spring before last.” Honestly, it did not seem that the meeting should be the kind of mission that sent his heart racing and his nerves on edge. Nor would it be, if not for the person he was to be meeting. He was sent to meet with a transhuman.

Firstly, the idea that there were transhumans operating within council space was scary enough, the new race being frightening and destructive beyond imagination. What sort of being could have infiltrated this colony, he wondered. Some form of mech perhaps, a sleek little drone which could hover at extreme height and observe the Turians below. Or perhaps some slimy slithering thing, which could creep silently through ducts and gutters, watching the city around it through far too many eyes. You could never say with transhumans.

>>26550316

He arrived at the given address after a few minutes of walking, finding the location to be a theater. A fairly nice one, if he was any judge, but Nihlus didn’t has as much time as he would have liked to enjoy vids in places like this. Well, at least that explained the number he had been given with the message telling him where to go. Nihlus walked over to the cashier.

“What’s playing in theater seven?” He asked.

“Relay 314.” The woman behind the desk said.

Nihlus groaned a little bit “Relay 314” was a recent blockbuster movie produced by the Palaven Film Group. It focused on a transhuman invasion of citadel space. From what he had heard, the film was another fairly standard depiction of what the Turian Hierarchy wanted their people to see the transhumans as, violent and malevolent, and having only malice towards the other races of the galaxy. It seemed that this agent had a sense of humor.

>>26550316

This isn't just a writing thread, I am ready to talk about anything you want as well as post some story, this won't take too long to write.

>>26550323


Nihlus grabbed a ticket and shuffled into the theater. He looked around, half expecting to see a hulking war machine sitting quietly in a corner watching the film. Of course, that was hardly the case, only a few Turians sitting around in their seats. The film had been out for a while, most of the crowds had dissipated from the latest action extravaganza to more enticing prospects. Nihlus found a seat towards the back and sat down, leaning back in his chair as the last of the advertisements finished and the opening scrawl of the movie rolled by.

The flashback intro described the Relay 314 incident, the war between the transhumans and the Turians. The audience gasped and flinched as CGI transhuman war machines stalked across dust choked battlefields and Turian troops called for help, the brutality and merciless savagery of the transhumans on full display.

Nihlus frowned. Unlike everyone else who fawned over movies like this, he personally did not buy into the hype machine that the Hierarchy had so quickly got running after the 314 incident. He had heard stories from some of the veterans of the conflict, who had been taken as POWs. On the battlefield transhumans were a menace, powerful and fearless, with weapons that were in some ways inferior, in others terrifyingly powerful. But they also told stories of the care they had received as prisoners, of comfortable cells and incredibly medical care, made available to them easily. The soldier who had told him the story swore that his leg had been blown off in the fighting, but when he woke back up his leg was fully healed.

Nihlus didn’t know whether to believe him or not, but he liked to think there was a little more to the entire transhuman race than bloodthirsty savagery.

>>26550447
Just thinking about the TEZ, and how smart the Council think they've been by kettling transhumanity into such a small area
Do they realise how effectively TH can colonise space? What were their reactions to the whole "we can totes build colonies inside the freaking Sun" thing?

>>26550578

Not inside the sun, but extremely close to it, or live in the freaking corona.

And no, they don't. They don't know all that much about transhumanity, and they don't really care to learn everything there is to know.

Think about the Keepers, vital parts of the very Citadel they live on, but they don't even really try to learn about them. They barely know how the Citadel itself even works! So long as something works, or seems to work, the council doesn't seem to care about the hows and whys, or what the real specifics of the situation are.

When they see transhumanity building space stations in every nook and cranny, they think their plan is working because transhumans are obviously hurting for space and are forced to build giant space stations to maintiain a population, whereas the sensible thing to do is to just plonk down colonies on garden worlds and let all the other space go unused.

They are simply interpreting transhumanity through their own cultural filter. And why wouldn't they? They are the Citadel council! The most powerful political body in the known universe! Their mandates binds all sentient races, whether they know of it or not! Surely those silly transhumans wouldn't live on gigantic space stations if they weren't forced to do so... Right?

>>26550502

His personal theory was that transhumans were, for lack of a better term, weird. They were simply unknowable, perhaps their minds operated in a completely different fashion, their melding of technology and biology remaking their minds. Or perhaps they were always that way. Whatever the case, Nihlus liked to think that no race could be as sadistic and destructive as the movie made the transhumans out to be.

He caught a flicker of movement out of the corner of his eye and snapped around to investigate, but it was just a newcomer entering the theater a few minutes late. The newcomer did a quick scan of the theater, and started walking back towards the seats where Nihlus had set himself up. Nihlus turned away from him and watched the movie for a few moments more, but looked back when he saw the newcomer walking along the seats in his aisle. The newcomer walked closer, and closer, until he finally sat himself down right next to Nihlus.

‘Oh come on.’ Nihlus thought to himself, trying to ignore how the newcomer crunched on the smoked nuts he was eating. ‘The theater is practically empty, couldn’t he find a different seat?’

Despite his silent complaints, the newcomer watched the movie in blissful ignorance.

A few minutes later, the movie was showing an interaction between two transhumans, a commander and a subordinate. The two hulking war machines growled at each other in words more felt than heard, which seemed to have a profound impact on the audience, almost intimidated by the sheer size and weight of the creatures on screen.

The effect it had on Nihlus’ new companion was somewhat different, the Turian to his side breaking out in barely muffled giggles.

I just had a thought. Reapers have the minds of entire civilizations unwillingly harvested inside them.

Could Transhumanity use mind-bridges to rescue and resleeve these minds, restoring thousands of races to the galaxy?

>>26550687

Nihlus tried to ignore the muffled laughter to his side, but they only intensified when the transhumans onscreen declared their intention to eradicate all Turians by invading Palaven itself. Slightly annoyed, Nihlus turned in his seat.

“Do you mind?” He asked.

“Sorry, I mean, it’s just so silly.” The newcomer choked out, finally managing to get his laughter under control.

Nihlus frowned again, he would not usually qualify something like this as ‘silly’. Likely highly inaccurate, but surely not silly.

“I admit, it is a little over the top. But show some courtesy, this is a theater.”

The newcomer nodded. Nihlus took a closer look at him. He had dark grey plates, almost black in places. His crimson colony markings were precise and angular, one of the outer colonies it would seem.

“Begeren colony.” The newcomer says, answering his unasked question.

Nihlus nodded. “Never been there myself.”

The newcomer looked at him, ignoring the film. “It’s a pretty nice place, lots of mountains if you’re into hiking. Oh, but nothing like the ones I’ve climbed on Palaven. Have you ever been to the mountains on Palaven?”

Nihlus almost choked, recoiling a bit from the Turian sitting beside him. Or rather, the thing that looked like a Turian, sitting beside him.

>>26550822

They went in as separate minds, but after eons as a Reaper, it is likely that they have more or less fused together into a single consciousness, and most likely fully buy into the Reaper plan.

So, they probably wouldn't be able to resurrect the dead races.

Now the Protheans are another story, with lots of cultural information, as well as genetic data from Javik, bringing back the Protheans would be doable, like with the neanderthals.

>>26550842

The transhuman beside him studied his face intently, waiting for his response. After a few seconds, Nihlus realized he was supposed to say something now.

“Not since spring before last.” He said, still examining the creature before him.

Was it a machine? Some kind of mech covered in animatronic Turian plates? Or some bioformed construct, a genetic manipulation grown in a lab? Whatever it was, it seemed entirely lifelike. The transhuman nodded, and reached out a hand.
“Specter Kyrik I presume?”

After a moment, Nihlus took the hand and shook it. The hand within his own seemed entirely alive and fully Turian, the heat, the pulse, the feel of the skin and plates. Entirely Turian.

“Yes, that I am. I assume you are my contact?”

He nodded. “Commander Shepard, Alliance special forces.”

Nihlus tried to put off the sense of uneasy by slipping into his professional operator mode.

“I have been sent to extract you and return you to the TEZ, my ship is waiting at the landing field.”

He went to rise, but Shepard held him back with a surprisingly strong grip on his arm.

“Oh come now. Surely we have some free time? I haven’t had a chance to see this movie, and if I’m going back to Alliance space, I at least want to see one more Turian blockbuster before I leave.”

Reluctantly, Nihlus sat back down. Shepard smiled and went back to crunching on his smoked nuts, trying to contain his laughter at the dialogue between the Turian protagonist and the transhuman villain.

Shepard offered him some smoked nuts, and after a moment he accepted them, sighing to himself.

This was going to be a long mission.


----

That's what I've got, a short little scene, but I think it gets the idea across.

>>26551107
Perfect.

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>>26551107

>>26551107
Would cultural artifacts also include porn?

>>26551166
...Man, Transhumanist porn must be weird. Its probably for the best that Japan no longer exists, the poor Octomorphs would never be left alone
I can't imagine that either the Council or the Alliance would let it slip by, but they can hardly scan every bit of data either

>>26551127

You'll notice that EP Shepard behaves differently from normal Shepard.

For one, he's quite fun-loving. This stems from his coming to terms with his immortality, sort of the transhuman midlife crisis.

He realized that being all grim and serious is a boring way to spend eternity, and that he will probably never retire from his line of work, so he simply tries to have fun along the way with as many friends as he can.

All while trying to ignore the crushing weight of his age that presses hard upon him, the sights he has witnessed over his long life haunting him in private moments, which he refuses to share with anyone else.

>>26551196
Well in Sunward, there is Parvarti which does do the weird porn stuff.

>>26551258
Copy/pasted from the description.

The habitat’s marketplace offers the entire range of vacation resort and adult services: spas, cloud-diving, gambling, customized companions, doll houses, robo-sex, exotic pleasure simulspaces, neotenic prostitution, porn XP casting, anonymous mass orgies, etc. For people in the know, various gray and black market agents provide darker services: animal sleeving/bestiality, illegal fork-sex operations, snuff XP, non-simulated rape scenarios, and worse.

>>26551166

Not legally, as in stuff the Alliance can export to council space.

Joke will see things differently, and try to export as much of it as he can throughout council space. EDI constantly thwarts his attempts to spam alien message boards with transhuman erotica.

>>26551298
>illegal fork-sex operations
Wait, its illegal to go full "My own clone! Now neither of us shall be virgins!"

>>26551315
Joker considers it a diplomatic duty to inform the citadel races what pornography TRULY is

>>26551408

EDI constantly stops him whenever he tries it.

Ironically, she is the one who uploads the porno, dumping his entire stash as an E-Warfare attack to overload an enemy computer network.

>>26551435
What happens to the data after the attack? Is it kept as 'evidence' or such?

>>26551454

Hopefully the bad guys ended up dead afterwards.

If discovered, the data might be damaging to the sanity of whoever found it.

Or make them really really rich, selling it on the extranet.

>>26551474
Would it be a warcrime to make use of weaponized Griefer morphs using mass wave tactics?

>>26551511

... Oh the horror...

Legions of griefer morphs, controlled by the egos of /b/ posters, attacking in massed waves...

Nothing is safe or sacred.

>>26551546

Thread is a little quiet tonight, though I expected as much from starting this late.

Anybody have anything to discuss?

BASED PROXY

So, how will Shepard be meeting the squad mates?

>>26551795
Eclipse Phase novice here. You could explain the concept of a Griefer morph.

>>26551795

Could you write up an encounter with Tali or the Batarian specter and Nihlus and Shepard? That is, if you still have enough creative juices left.

>>26551840
Also this. Tali, please. For obvious reasons.

>>26551795
So, what would Kaiden be like in MEEP? Would there have still been that eezo accident that affected him in the womb and gave him biotic powers?

>>26551856
>>26551854
Thirding this.

>>26551832

A synthmorph purpose designed for 4chan trolls. To troll people in the real world.

With massive speakers and hologram projectors, to bombard people with obnoxious music and offensive imagery as they charge through the town square.

GRIEFER (SYNTHMORPH)
Based on the case synthmorph design, griefers are
used by vandals, terrorists, and dedicated trolls to
harass enemies and antagonize the masses. Griefers
have embedded sound and holographic display
systems so they can easily harass an individual or an
entire crowd. They are also typically equipped with
numerous hacking tools and software aids, though
they do not come with these by default. Most importantly,
they are built without cortical stacks, so if they
are destroyed, the ego cannot be interrogated through
psychosurgery. Griefers are illegal in many habitats,
especially in the Planetary Consortium, but DRM-free
blueprints are easy to find in many darknets, thus
making them a persistent annoyance in some systems.
A few habitats have passed laws mandating that
killing a griefer is not considered murder, assault, or
even destruction of property.
Enhancements: Access Jacks, Basic Mesh Inserts,
Cyberbrain, Holographic Projector, Loudspeakers,
Mnemonic Augmentation, Puppet Sock
Mobility System:Walker (4/16)
Aptitude Maximum: 20
Durability: 20
Wound Threshold: 4
Advantages: Armor (4/4)
Disadvantages: –5 to two aptitudes of the player’s
choice, Lemon trait, No Cortical Stack trait, Social
Stigma (Griefer) trait
CP Cost: 5
Credit Cost: Moderate

>>26551869
That's amazing.

>>26551929
Yep, in the player's guide 'Transhuman.'

>>26551856
Kaiden would be one of the few Alliance biotic specialists, and would enter battle sleeved into a biomorph designed to have biotic abilities.

There really is no way for a shuttle crash to have affected him in the womb, as his current body is probably not his first, and he was probably matured in an artificial womb anyways.

>>26551929

Also, the picture from the book has it wearing a Guy Fawkes mask.

I thought that was important to mention.

>>26551840

I can try, though I am unsure of the quality of the result.

But I would like your input.

Set the scene fore me, if you will. What is the context? What is going on at the time? What morph is Shepard in at the time? What point in the story are we at?

Giving me information like this helps me write much faster, and give you what you want to see.

>>26551828

He will meet them basically the same as in the canon game.

After the Eden Prime attack, he will go to the Citadel under Nihlus' Specter authority, and be allowed to track down Saren and the Geth, though the council does not expect him to succeed.

Following that, he goes through the recruitment quests as per normal, though the squadmates would have some interesting reactions to working with a transhuman.

Only differences will be human characters. IE Jack will be imprisoned in transhuman space, and likely be an async, rather than a biotic.

>>26552043
Well, I'm assuming that Shepard makes the report to the Council in Nihlus' stead, so he'd probably be in the Turian morph on the Citadel for most of the time.
His intro to Tali through Fist would be similar, I think

>>26551992
That being the case, does he have some issue that mirrors the other Kaiden's earlier, inferior implants?

>>26552124

He was the 'test pilot' for the earliest Alliance biotic morphs.

Some of the original prototypes had... problems...

His current morph, whilst entirely stable, still has problems integrating the eezo in its systems, which gives him headaches and some other health problems.

Nothing like what he used to go through while testing the old models though.

>>26552116

Sounds good.

Anything else? What exactly would you be looking for in a potential story?

Also, while I like writing, I am interested in any more worldbuilding or questions anyone can offer.

>>26552351
Is there a way for transhumans using Turian morphs to be detected as such by other transhumans, or could Shepard interact with one and never know they were anything but Turian?

>>26552184
>dealing with a faulty morph

I guess his loyalty quest would be sneaking back into TEZ to get an update, and sneak back out?

>>26552351
I was thinking actually, since this version of the story is TH's first real attempt to diplomatically engage the council, would Shepard make his report in a baseline human body? Might be seen as unnecessarily aggravating, but its a good political statement
As to what I'd like to see, depends on if you want to make Tali our trans-Quarian waifu or not Just kidding, but seeing her torn between fear and joy at the opportunity would be nice
Oh, and background question. I know EP has energy weapons, how common are they and how do they stack up against ME guns?

>>26552420

If the other transhuman had a method to scan him and detect his implants, then yes. Or perhaps some sort of scent based detection of his slightly different biology, or see if he is using mesh inserts.

But with some caution, he would seem like a normal Turian.

>>26552467

Energy weapons are a little less common than kinetic weapons, but hardly rare in EP. They have some advantages over ME guns, like the laser gun has a built in nonlethal setting, the Particle Beam Bolter, which fires bolts of particles at near the speed of light, and the motherfucking plasma gun, which is basically the BFG.

They are much more powerful per shot than ME guns, but the really powerful DEWs fire in semi auto only, and can suffer heat dissipation problems in a vacuum.

As for Tali, it's taken as read that Trans-Shep's got enough love to go around.

At least, that's what the readers came up with. And I have no reason to contradict them.

>>26552043

I was thinking that they meet before Tali goes to meet with Fist's thugs. Shepard is in a baseline human morph and is walking around with Nihlus, looking for an informant on Saren EDI had heard rumors about on the Net. Tali sees them and tries to tail them.

Key word tries. After a misunderstanding involving guns pointed at helmets, Shepard realizes that Tali is the one that they're looking for.

"Why were you following us?"

"I was just curious who you were!"

"Curious? About a specter and his retinue?"

>>26552763

Problem here is that Nihlus is just a head floating in a healing vat at this point in the story

Otherwise, I think that such a meeting could work, but the story would stick very closely to canon ME, at least in the beginning before transhumanity starts changing a lot of things,

>>26552763

Or more believably:

"Curious? About two random aliens?"

"Yeah. One random Turian in military grade armor, and one transhuman."

>>26552816
I think the idea of Tali trying to hide is worth a laugh or two. Shepard meets Garrus, goes to a coffee (or whatever the Citadel equivalent is) shop to meet the rest of the crew, then spots Tali very obviously trying to be unnoticed
I'm talking like two eye holes poked through a newspaper levels of spying here

>>26552872

This makes sense given her actions. Trusting Fist? Trying to play the Shadow Broker? She may be smart, but not very experienced when it comes to espionage.

Like, she's not likely to be detected by normal civilians, but when you have Garrus motherfreaking Vakarian and Commander motherfreaking Shepard sitting at the table, they will notice.

>>26552816

Well, why does Nihlus have to get shot? Why can't Shepard go with him to meet Saren?

>>26552953
Make it the first moment of bonding between Garrus and Shep. They stop in an elevator, Shepard notes they are being followed, and Garrus rattles off rough guesses of Tali's height, age, physical strength and likelihood of aggressive intent
Shepard is impressed

>>26553053

Nihlus is a Specter, and while Shepard is the commander of the ship, he is technically seconded to Nihlus for his investigation.

With Nihlus out of the way, Shepard is free to be the protagonist and leader of men that he is, without having to follow along behind Kyrik. But with Nihlus still alive, he is able to rubber stamp all of Shepard's actions with his specter authority.

>>26553071

Sounds good. I don't think I can write another scene tonight, but tomorrow is a new day.

I shall of course continue to contribute to this thread as much as I can.

>>26553071
>Shepard is impressed

"Not bad for a Turian."

"-but you're a... Oh. Right. Now wait, what the hell is that supposed to mean?"

>>26553147

Shepard smiles his 'totally trolling' smile, and tells him to come on, they've got work to do.

>>26553178
I think Shepard's troll grin is going to get a massive work out in this setting, I already love it.
If he ever gets the renegade scars, that's what they'll form

>>26553178
Immortal party Shepard would have so much fun messing with straight-laced, uptight Garrus "Calibrations" Vakarian. All the trolling would only make the eventual horribly dirty sex that much sweeter.

I hope you're taking notes, Bioware.

>>26553229

In EP, scars are entirely cosmetic and easy to remove, or even give them to yourself if you feel like it.

If he's feeling angry, he could just give himself scars in the healing vat.

Glowing scars, because fuck you, that's why.

>>26553267

I'm taking notes, that's what matters.

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Proxy is an example of when it is okay to be a tripfag

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>>26553290

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>>26553335

Thank you.

Anybody got questions, suggestions, or comments?

There must be something I haven't thought of yet.

>>26553276
"Jesus Christ, Shepard, what have you done to yourself?"

"This is my war face."

When the party mask comes off, Shepard becomes truly terrifying. Because the man that stormed the beaches is still in there.

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>>26553276
You know actually, I think it would be interesting if Shepard branded all his own morph somehow. By his own I mean the ones he owns, seperate from the ones the Alliance give him for various jobs
Something like he tattoo's them with the Paragon symbol, or his old regimental logo

>>26553413
Assuming you've thought that far ahead, is Shepard still going to have to choose to sacrifice one of his crew?

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>>26553434
>Not renegade
I bet you even spared the geth, didn't you?

>>26553436
I don't see how he CAN.

Honestly, how does a transhuman feel loss of someone else? Maybe Shepard loses Nihilus and gains respect for the other council races for risking death without the backups transhumans have?

>>26553436

I have thought that far ahead, and the Virmire choice would still be a hard choice.

Whoever had to stay behind would lose continuity, and probably about a month of their life as they were restored from backup.

They would come back later, but it would be a very disturbing experience, and not a choice to be made lightly, or a sacrifice to be disregarded.

>>26553434
I like that, a lot.

>>26553421

Exactly, Shepard is basically a war go to the Alliance. He tries really hard to be happy and fun, partially as a reaction to exactly how violent and destructive he can get.

It was said best by Barney Ross in Expendables 2. "We keep things light, but when it's time to get dark we get pitch black."

Or something similar.

>>26553534
>Honestly, how does a transhuman feel loss of someone else?
The same way any human does? It might even be more potent... the cheapness of death can make true death all the more poignant for someone that could theoretically live forever.

>>26553483
>Not sparing the Geth and Rachni to be your army of shocktroopers and still getting Maximum Renegade anyway

It's like you didn't even play Bring Down The Sky.

>>26553547
Well you'd have to use a nonhuman character to do that. Nihlus would probably be the best fit for that. I would've loved to have more adventures with Nihilus than I got in ME1, but Saren got him good

>>26553603

If I were in Shepard's place, I would have covertly installed cortical stacks on all my friends while they were snoozing in their healing vats.

Stacks aren't illegal by the TEZ regulations, and any anger they might have over being augmented against their will would be nothing compared to Shepard's feeling over loosing a friend for the first time in a century.

He was driven to it by the fear of losing them.

>>26553636
Hell, if you combined that with the idea of the tattooed bodies above, you could make it a moment of misplaced affection. He cares for them deeply, its just his version differs greatly from theirs

>>26553636
Even still--it'd take one hell of a paragon/renegade score to pull off without destroying all semblance of trust.

>>26553661

Yes. Any sacrifice would likely be less that person dying, and more the relationship with that person, and the rest of the crew, becoming really difficult to maintain.

Though honestly, it would take a pretty massive reworking of the Virmire sequence to justify HAVING to leave an alien to do it.

Shepard would probably stay himself, using an emergency farcaster to egocast out right before the bomb detonated.

>>26553696
Is it possible to intercept a farcast like that?
Just thinking about Shep in ME2 and how much of that plot relies on him disappearing after his apparent death, only to be brought back by Cerebrus

>>26553696
I can just see it now though, man. They get ambushed, and in the frenzied retreat, Garrus--or Tali--or Liara--gets riddled full of holes. The last thing he/she sees as everything goes dark is his/her own guts splattered across the earth...

And then quite suddenly waking up in a databank. Goddamn that'd be terrifying--not to mention the reactions of the rest of the non-human crew who thought they lost a friend.

>>26553806
Have the Harvesters corrupt his recent backups, and the older ones stolen by Cerberus.

>>26553806

Right, that is a major sticking point.

In this setting, I am thinking Cerberus is the offshoot of a Jovian special ops group that merged with a Project Ozma cell and went rogue.

Shepard could simply be working with them in ME2, or just not have Cerberus being his primary benefactor.

After ME1 Shep returns to the TEZ, and doesn't see his friends outside for two years, then he just shows up out of the blue and tries to drag them off on another mad adventure to save the galaxy.

>>26553806
Generally, no. Normally, emergency farcasters are quantum-entangled to a facility of their choosing but it is possible to intercept the wide-band 'OH SHIT GET ME OUT OF HERE" part which destroys the morph, but it'd only intercept a copy.

If wrex has a cortical stack, than shepard can just shoot him on virmire and they can laugh later about how Shep got the drop on him. Which means you can be full renegade and always have Wrex. Always

>>26553880
Dear Diary, its been two years since I went on a crazy hunt for that traitor bastard Saren, but things have been quiet. The reapers still scare the shit outta me, but -

Hey Garrus!

What the fuck, end recording.

>>26553574
I imagine that for the regular citizens, actual death is a horrifying thing. Immortality means never really saying goodbye or losing someone important, so when it actually DOES happen, it's so much worse than when death was an inevitability.

>>26553962

Probably, though if I were writing it, Shep would just give him his word of honor that his scientist friends back home are already working on a cure, and with Wrex's help they could probably whip one up before too long.

>>26553962
You can be Full Renegade and have Wrex.

You just need to be a TRUE Renegade.

>>26553985
"Wrex, look at them. They're young and healthy, but they're slaves to Saren, to Sovereign. If you let that happen, that's all they'll ever be. If you want to save your people, help me stop them.

.
.
.

Then give me a blood sample so we have something to work off of back home. We'll have this whole thing fixed in a jiffy."

>>26554089

Yeah, basically.

The thing that is really hampering transhuman research into the genophage is they would need blood and tissue samples from a few dozen Krogan at least as a basis for the work.

But since Wrex becomes the chief of clan Urdnot in ME2, that would be a fairly easy thing for him to do.

>>26553985

Look of this genophage issue is so important to you why didn't ask for help earlier? We could have cure fix up in a couple of week if you come back with us.

>>26554118
Oh god, the council races would flip their shit if they realized transhumanity cured the genophage. Their rage, it sustains me.

>>26554127
I can also see Transhuman VR simulations and other similar things helping to quell Krogan aggression.

Who needs to go rampaging across border planets when you have an infinite number of planets with an infinite number of challenges at your command?

>>26554118

It would probably take longer than a couple of weeks, since they would have to start from scratch. Forwarding Maelon's data, and convincing Mordin to work with them would really help things along.

That nips the whole genophage cure arc in ME3 right in the bud.

Salarian Bitch Lady: I don't want you to cure the genophage!!!

Troll Face Shepard: I did, six months ago.

>>26554163
What about those in-bred Asari that steal memories and such and kill those they 'mate' with? How would Transhumanity view them/what would they do if they captured one?

>>26553880

Here is something to consider. Cerberus wanted Shepard because he was for all intents and purposes the guy who identified the Reaper threat and killed one. They even resisted modifying him out of fear of losing what made him successful.

When you include the EP setting into the equation then Cerberus could just settle for a copy. Even better they can modify him now since they have a base copy they can always fall back on if they modify him too much.

So you still could have Shepard be killed, of course he just farcasts out but Cerberus snags a copy of him in the process. Actually bringing EP into this setting actually improves alot of things about Cerberus in general that ME messed up. A Cerberus Shepard is better then Kai leng as a antagonist and the fact that Cerberus suddenly has a huge fleet and military isn't so strange when you consider the technologies available in EP.

>>26554188

Someone who takes sexual pleasure in killing someone? Someone without a cortical stack and who will never come back?

Shepard could not kill them fast enough.

Now the ones who live in monasteries and don't hurt anybody they would probably try to help with their genetic manipulation space magic.

>>26554220

Yes, I did consider having Cerberus-Shepard and Alliance-Shepard running at once.

Though whether they try to kill each other, or end up merging back together I have not decided.

As for Cerberus itself, I am unsure of whether they should see as truly evil in this setting as in the normal setting. IE a lot of the despicable acts they committed in ME3, implanting their soldiers, experimenting on civilians, casually murdering people FOR SCIENCE!, would not be needed in EP.

So they might not be real villains, just antagonists who don't play by the same rules as you.

>>26554220
Yes, let us remove the cereal killer!

>>26554279

Or at least make him, you know, not be a pathetic little worm.

>>26554278
So it's less "LOL EVIL" and more, "Oh come on, you assholes. Can you try and be a little cleaner?"

Where are the last 2 threads?

The big question in my mind is why the hell is the Citadel allowing a mission for Shepard to sort of become a spectre in the first place? They have transhumanity blockaded and refuse to allow them free access to the galaxy at large. Their status is lower than the Batarians at this point, so suddenly allowing them to send a single ship into their space is a major breach of protocol.

>>26554333

Here

http://suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com/archive/26494514/

And here

http://suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com/archive/26530381/

>>26554341
Cause Nihlus is a super special turian that understands the feels of humanity for some reason.

>>26554354
Thanks, what are you using as your tags? I couldn't find them earlier.

>>26554341

The attack was on a transhuman colony, with a council Specter as the primary suspect, at least by the transhumans.

Initially it's just Nihlus using his Specter status to get Shep and his crew onto the citadel, likely on his own ship, in genetically baseline morphs. Once Saren is proven to be the traitor transhumanity demands that they be in on the investigation, and the council eventually agrees, to avoid really pissing off the giant killing machines, after one of their agents tried to nuke a colony world.

After that, the Normandy shows up, and the adventure continues!

>>26554394

mass effect, eclipse phase, crossover, transhumanity

>>26554375
Nihlus was always like that. Even in vanilla ME he feels that Humanity has something special to offer to the galaxy; he's the one that vouches for Shepard as a Spectre, remember?

>>26554278

Killing or merging, that'd be a renegade or paragon choice for sure.

Well Cerberus in general was mishandled in ME and especially in ME3 I think anyways. However the basic concept is sound and still holds up even mixing EP in this. At it's core Cerberus is dedicated to the supremacy of humanity at all costs. It's just that now the term humanity could be considered pretty loose. Anything originally human or human made maybe? Be pretty funny if Cerberus's shock troops included uplifts.

>>26554450
I think Cerberus would be more geared towards "The Council is a bunch of spineless, weak-minded organics that don't know how to truly handle power, if they had any at all. Transhumanity and its allies know what is best for the galaxy. We will remove the Council, and show all the galaxy what it means to be uplifted"

-The Illusive Man (Or Men)

>>26554450

Sounds pretty good, though I personally like Cerberus being like 'The Shadow'. Scary, mysterious, working by a different set of rules, not wanting to tow the line of whoever is in power, but still not really a villain.

I prefer Kelly's way of putting it, they don't hate aliens, they just look out for humanity, er, transhumanity.

Or more like Ashley 'I don't hate aliens, I just don't think they'll ever have our best interests at heart' Williams.

>>26554482

I like the Illusive Men idea but not the remove the council part. Cerberus didn't care about ruling over other species, it just wanted humanity to be so strong as to be untouchable to be able to dictate it's own fate.

>>26554587

Sounds very Eclipse Phase to me.

The evolution of the transhuman race to the point where the council would never be able to restrain them, TEZ or not, we simply become beyond them.

Also, I am tired, goodnight /tg/, thanks for doing this.

I will be back tomorrow.

>Capture Saren
>hop into a gene-copied Saren morph
>start punching him
>"stop hitting yourself, stop hitting yourself!"

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>>26551107

Are there going to be any psionic/what the term was for EP squadmates?

>>26554450
>Killing or merging, that'd be a renegade or paragon choice for sure.
That's like calling the Destroy or Brainwash Geth choices Renegade and Paragon.
You shouldn't do that, there's no clear "good or bad" choice there.

>>26554450
Or they could just both continue to exist seperately, working to better humanity in more than one place at a time.

My problem with all of this is it somewhat trivializes. Certain aspects of the mass effect universe. Specifically its neat that transhumes can do all this cool shit, but supertech as a magic bullet cure all rapidly gets boring.
Why does the alliance care about a synthetic attack on eden prime?
Sure the colonists probably had to resleeve from backups, but that isnt the worst thing ever.
Now if reapertech maliciously redirected farcasting and ego transfers within one light second of a reaper......that would screw with transhumanity enough to justify just about anything. Plus adding fear of almost actual death.

>>26558941
My problem is that adding TH to Mass Effect renders every thing in Mass Effect pointless.

Transhumans can outfight krogans, out tech salarians, out fleet turians, out spehss elf asari, and out reaper reapers.

It's a power wank, pure and simple. Basically, everyone's looking forward to 'solving' everything in the Mass Effect universe with handwaves. Krogan get their genophage cured, Quarians get their immune systems fixed, and transhumans will be total buddies with geth all in Mass Effect 1.

Which kind of ruins the space opera part of Mass Effect. If everything is fixed by the space messiah, there's no conflict, no reason for the other species to even be present.

>>26558941
The Beacon

>>26559025
Which apparently transhumanity should have immediately gotten up and running and started passing around an expcast to the whole of transhuman space within fifteen minutes of discovering it.

>>26559034
Or they could have thought
"Hey, this seems a good chance to make us look less like murdermachines from the outer space. Oh they want to send someone to make sure we're being fair and not tampering with the data before we give it to them, okay."

>>26559183
Yeah, they only just tool around in freaking turian morphs. I mean, I know that the number one thing to allay my concerns if I ever encounter an alien species that killed a lot of my countrymen through means far beyond my comprehension (First Contact War, hurr durr hacks with seed AI) is if those aliens were wandering around looking exactly like ordinary people.

Who the fuck told the colony not to touch the beacon that would be respected by all of transhumanity? Why shouldn't an ultimate or an anarch be like 'lol fuck u mang gimme dem magic juices' and just hack the beacon anyway? Especially since foreign policy between transhumanity and the council is quarantine.

>>26559183
Actually one of the mass effect ganes had a factoid concerning the various council races and thier attitude toward transracial augmentation.
Basically the salarians are all for it, everyone else is iffy.
Which brings up a point, given that the salarian stg has a nasty habit of pre-emptive sciebtific research, what would they do about transhumans?
It would be easy enough to circumvent the turian blockade under specter authority, and since mass effect ships are superior to transhumans they could concievably get into and out of transhuman space..

>>26558963

Nothing's getting handwaved.

Research into curing the genophage and the Quarian immune system will take a lot longer than the period of ME1, and even if they did have a cure, without a method of administering mass treatments then there isn't a good way to administer their creation.

You could just give the Quarians medichines, but they don't have the tech to manufacture them themselves, and the council would definitely not be okay with the transhumans augmenting Quarians en mass with healing vats.

>>26560300
At the same time--what's going to stop them from doing it? Would the council risk open war with Transhumanity over the Quarians going to their banner?

>>26560300
>back again
>just before leaving for breakfast
Dammit.
At least I'll be coming back before thread ends this time, unlike yesterday.
Delicious alcohol...

>>26560377

The council would see something like this as a violation of the TEZ regulations, committed by an Alliance military ship. For that they would demand that punitive measures be taken against the Alliance by further restricting the TEZ, in a manner of the council's own choosing.

Refusing to cooperate would possibly push the council to a war setting, or demand to put their ships through the TEZ to patrol inside Alliance space.

Neither are things the Alliance wants, so any attempt to cure the Quarians would not be authorized by Alliance command, even given Shepard's extreme leeway with them.

>>26560400
Fair point.

How do the more minor characters change? Chakwas, Daniels, Pressley, Anderson? Also--what about the colony on Feros, or the shenanigans Shepard gets into on Noveria? How will this affect those segments?

>>26560445

Human characters outside the TEZ are replaced by aliens, because them being humans really didn't matter all that much, human characters within the TEZ remain more or less the same, with changes brought about by the EP setting.

IE, Chakwas would not only be a physical doctor, because healing vats can't fix everything, but a gene hacker, augmentation specialist, medical researcher, and psychological care expert. Killing a transhuman might not get rid of them, but they probably need therapy afterwards to deal with the issues it causes.

Anderson is the same rock solid admiral he always was.

Pressely goes through the same character arc, learning to trust alien crewmembers in the end. Obviously he doesn't die permanently after the Normandy goes kaboom.

As for Daniels, somebody still has to fix the ship.

So transhuman characters don't change in personality all that much from the normal human ones, unless it makes a lot of sense for them to be changed. IE dolphin-Joker, or async-Jack.

>>26560528
>async Jack

Hooooooly fuck that sounds like trouble.

>>26560553

Yeah... It made more sense for the character, the way she acts, and how a criminal probably couldn't get her hands on a biotic morph.

She's got to be completely off her shit, then. Jesus.

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>>26560528
>async
What?

>>26560673

Wondering why I made that change?

Or not familiar with what an async is?

>>26560696
The latter, probably.

>>26560713
A type of psychic created by the most inert strain of the exsurgent virus. Not the Akira style psychics, more like mentats with sensory powers.

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>>26560769
>Mentats

Oh my god the feels. I haven't heard that term in forever.

>>26560789
Good feels or bad feels?

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>>26560800
Mixed feels. I never could finish that fucking book.

But it was part of an extremely interesting sexual awakening.

>>26560769

Important to note that they aren't completely off their rockers. But something has done some serious rewiring in their heads, so they can behave, strangely.

>>26560865
It varies from async to async based on the disorders they have. Some will be pretty high-functioning, while others can be three shakes from a non-functional mess that can occasionally get up and scramble some brains.

>>26560882

So what now?

I could start writing up the scene where Tali tries and fails to shadow Garrus and Shepard?

As well as participate in any discussions of course.

>>26561010
That scene could be interesting, but I do have one question that cropped up as a result of this recent topic: how are biotics relevant to transhumanity? Do they exist, or is it going to be replaced by psi in your setting?

>>26561105

The alliance is experimenting with biotic biomorphs, but they have had a lot of setbacks, and only recently fielding a functional prototype as of ME1, which is the morph Kaiden uses, among several other people sleeved into one.

But they do not have the resources or expertise to field large numbers of them, no.

dis thread ded?

Or are you writing that scene?

>>26561362

I'm trying to write a bit, and hoping somebody comments.

I'm not sure what to talk about next, but I will answer any and all questions, and I should be here all day.

>>26561373
I have no questions right now, so I'm just waiting for you to post that scene.

Also I still think this should be turned into a quest at some point.

>>26561390

I might run mini quests if enough people are interested, interactive scenes or segments to allow for player interaction.

But a full on quest is beyond me right now, too busy with other projects and the last time I ran a quest it had issues.

>>26561417
I'm in. But I would probably do that in the next thread, this one seems a little dead, though it might get a little more populated later.

>>26561417

“So, just what kind of evidence do you have against Saren?” Shepard asked, looking to the young Turian beside him.

“Not as much as I would like, honestly.” Garrus said as they walked.

He had met the Turian security officer just before his conversation with the Council, where he relayed Nihlus’ report to them. Nihlus of course had been unable to deliver it in person, as he was recovering from injuries sustained on Eden Prime, and could not be moved from the ship. Shepard had neglected to mention that his recovery would involve re-growing his entire body, as that would hardly have been something the Council would have reacted well to.

Before the meeting, the young Turian had told Shepard of his investigation into Saren, though he did not know that Shepard was a transhuman at the time. Shepard was glad that he installed an XP recorder on this particular morph. Garrus’ expression when he found that out would be something he would enjoy for years. Regardless, Garrus seemed to have adapted well to the revelation, and seemed surprisingly calm about the whole affair, which was something Shepard was grateful for. There is only so many times you can watch a citadel native freaking out over your origins before it loses its charm.

>>26561417
Would there be omnipresent "We should fuck now", "Engage troll face", and "SURPRISE PUNCH" options?

>>26561822

I wouldn't consider most things to come out of them 'canon' for the setting, so if everyone said "Seduce now!' or 'Punch that bastard!' I would probably be okay with it.

One of my pet peeves is when a GM just says NO, for no other reason than because he disagrees.

>>26561708

“That’s a shame.” Shepard says, “I could really use some hard evidence to break this case open. I highly doubt that the Council is going to believe the word of a transhuman in a situation like this.

“Why not just have Nihlus tell them?” Garrus wonders.

“It would be his word against Saren’s.” Shepard explains, “So it would be the word of a Specter with some transhuman sympathies, versus their star agent who has been properly ruthless and antagonistic towards us. Simply put, it would probably be the end of his career and get us nowhere.”

Garrus nods, but frowns. “Why couldn’t he be here though, I mean I understand he’s injured but still, he should have been able to attend.”

“He’s only partially the man he used to be.” Shepard says.

“Huh?”

“He got a bit shaved off the top.”

“What?”

Shepard drops his grin. “Nihlus lost his head on Eden Prime.”

Garrus frowns. “I know the situation there was bad, but he’s a Specter, he shouldn’t have panicked.”

“No, I mean literally lost his head.” Shepard says, making cutting motions across his neck.

Garrus blanched.

>>26561951
See, this is why we have to have that "Engage troll face" option constantly.
It just keeps happening.

>>26561972

Immortal party Shepard and all that.

What's the point in living forever if you're not having fun?

>>26561994
Which brings me to a question about immortality, would you at some point just say "nope I'm done, time to die"?

>>26562020
some do

>>26562047
Some do and forget to cancel their backup service

>>26562020

Me, no, probably not. I remember the dying words of George Washington. "I die hard, but I am not afraid to go." Death may come, but I will cling to life for every last instant, not out of fear, but because I am not done here yet.

Shepard strikes me as the same kind of person.

But yes, some in Eclipse Phase do choose to 'check out' and not come back.

>>26562053

Well that would be embarrassing.

>>26562047
Death would be the perfect gift for the man that has everything, done everything and seen everything.

>>26562058
I think your opinion on that would change after a few thousand years.
"Death is the last great adventure I have left to live."

>>26562109
>I think your opinion on that would change after a few thousand years.
You think that because your opinion is colored by your temporary lifespan, and the way it shapes your worldview. You might be saying the opposite if we were immortals discussing what it would be like to have a life that ends at some point.

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>>26562150
That would definitely be an interesting debate.
Hey, we might even experience it, pic related.

>>26561951

“You can reattach that?” He asks after he recovered himself.

“Well, yes, but in this case his body was reduced to meaty chunks by a somewhat annoyed Geth juggernaut, so he’s going to have to spend a lot of time floating in a healing vat regrowing his body from the neck down. He’ll be fine in the end though.”

Garrus nods, still a little shaken by the explanation.

“Let’s get some tea.” Shepard suggests, not wanting to traumatize Vakarian any further, despite how fun it might be.

They found a nice little café along the side of the wide avenue they were walking along and went in, Shepard ordering two hot teas from the counter before sitting down. Their drinks arrived a few minutes later, and they sipped them in silence.

“You see her?” Shepard asks.

“The Quarian by the counter? The one trying to hide behind that datapad?” Garrus asks, “She’s been following us ever since we left the Council tower.”

“What do you think, an assassin of some kind?” Shepard asks, curious to see how Garrus might react. To his surprise, the Turian snorted into his tea.

“Hardly. She’s unarmed, not trained in any martial arts by the way she moves. Only minimal self-defense training by her body language, no ability in reading a room for threats. Given her positioning she obviously doesn’t have an escape route planned. And judging by her espionage skills…”

Garrus looked in the Quarian’s general direction, making her flinch back behind her datapad she was so intent on reading.

“Yeah, definitely not a spy.”

Shepard nodded, showing a wide mandibled grin. “Very nice Vakarian, for a Turian after all. You’ll do nicely.”

“Thanks I think.” Garrus says, sipping his tea. Then he realizes what Shepard just said and put his tea down.

“Wait, do for what?”

Shepard just grins and sips his tea, leaning back in his chair.

“You’ll find out.”


---

And that is that scene.

>>26562317

So, now what?

Enough people here want to try
the mini quest idea?

Or do you have another topic of discussion?

>>26562317
Would it be out of the question that Shepard has his own custom bit of bioware that allows him to contort his face into a troll face?

>>26562698

I don't think so, though Shepard's grin would have been perfected into a troll face over the course of decades of intensive training and practice.

>>26562762
Would Shep have a blog/twitter/etc equivalent that he keeps updated for fans back at the TEZ?

>>26562694
I'm in.
I suggest either playing through Eden Prime (lots of fighting, meh) or going to the citatdel, trying to convince the council, subsequently failing and then recruiting our crew.
These are the 2 scenarios which you have already worked on and I liked them.

>>26562786

Probably nothing about his missions, those would be classified. But general observations on life in citadel space would be entirely possible.

>>26562762
>Let me sing you the song of my people
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oavMtUWDBTM

>>26562794
>Twitter update: 250 AF. On Citadel today, meet interesting people. Also, turns out they have coffee. Who knew?"

>>26562694
Question: Pandora Gates?
Idea: QE targetting near c attacks?

>>26562889

Answer: Probably not, one form of FTL gate network seems like enough.

Clarification: Explain your idea further.

>>26562881
@CMDShepard Look a little closer what they make it out of, that isn't coffee

>>26562913
Now this is making me wonder if Citadel races have the social networking and if not, if transhumanity could introduce them to it.

>>26562985

I would imagine they do, but I hardly suspect they've turned it into an economy like transhumanity.

>>26562907
Abstract: QE communications allow for the relaying of targeting data at FTL speeds. By utilizing a multiple unit network of designation drones slaved to a gunnery AGI QE linked to an inbound vessel, it is then possible to conduct accurate turret fire as the ship exits FTL, resulting in a near c strike on targets.

>>26563026

Hm, theoretically possible, but if you miss your colony is going goodbye. I am unsure if I am going to let the Alliance get their hands on a c+ cannon, but QE forward recon could be a great boon.

>>26563073

Okay, well, I have considered the idea for a mini quest, and I am down with starting now if anyone is interested.

What scenario do you want to play through?

It has been suggested either Eden Prime, or our first visit to the Citadel.

Or do you have any other suggestions?

>>26563243
I'm down for it.
You're the DM, you decide.

>>26563243
Depends on what you want to explore. I'm in favour of citadel as that gives more trollface opportunities, but on the other hand... >Nihlus losing his head.

>>26563276
He'll probably never live it down.

>>26563269
>>26563276

I say we start with Eden Prime, after all, they are both right in the beginning of the story, so one could lead into the other.

I will go grab a drink and be back in a few, then we can start.

>>26563335

I return, I shall begin the lead into the Eden Prime mission in a few moments.

How exactly does a reputation economy work anyways? Somebody is really famous so you want to build shit for him?

>>26563552

"Hello there, I've seen you eying my my nanofabricator. You want to build a sniper rifle? Sorry, I can't let you do that, I don't know you well enough. Wait, YOU saved that station from pirates three months ago? Man I had a buddy on that station he would have lost everything, here I'll dial up the blueprint for you right now."

>>26563552
The same way Credit rating agencies now decide the fate of countries.

>>26563552
A reputation economy can also be called a favor economy. It works by presenting someone's life achievements in a digestible format, so that you can figure out whether that person is the sort of guy you want to owe you a favor, and whether you can trust that he might be the sort to pay back. Alternatively, favors can be paid forward, by someone else who respects that person paying you back in their stead.

Basically it's a bunch of people doing for each other based on how much you aren't a dick as a form of wealth.

>>26563576
I can understand it working from someone who has nothing, giving stuff to someone they like.

But how did the people who have stuff acquire it in the first place? Leftovers from Earth? Personal nanofabs?

>>26563626
>someone who has nothing

Make that someone who has stuff. Whoops.

>>26563626

Nanofabs, that's what gets you started, or bartering your services with someone who can get you started.

After that you keep building your reputation to where people are willing to help you based on your reputation.

It's like going to your neighbor's house to ask for a cup of sugar, and he gives it to you because you helped mow his lawn last week. Except the cup of sugar is a suit of power armor, and the lawn was infested with exsurgents.

You are Commander Shepard, Alliance special forces.

Your list of honors and accomplishments is far too lengthy to list in full, but some of the highlights are still worth noting. Founding member of the N7 program, served on the front lines of the first contact war, high level Firewall sentinel, personal guard of the transhuman ambassadors to the Citadel. You even have a Congressional Medal of Honor, from back when there was an American Congress to award such a medal. In short, you are among, if not the, best operative the Systems Alliance has to offer.

You have been summoned to a shipbuilding yard floating in the asteroid belt of the Sol system, the birthplace of transhumanity. You would ordinarily question such commands, but in this case you don’t as the summons came from your old friend Captain Anderson. You are currently en route in your private yacht, a small Turian ship you captured back in the first contact war.

What other information can you tell me? What morph are you wearing? Any other details, or actions to take before you arrive?

>>26563710
Man I wish I knew more about EP so I could participate.

The only morph I know about is Fury, but that's inappropriate for a meeting, and Shepherd would definitely have multiple morphs available.

>>26563710
We are currently wearing a fury morph that resembles canon femshep.
Give a briefing to the crew of the situation at hand, then converse with Nihlus to see of he has anything to say you couldn't tell your whole crew.

>>26563756

You can of course participate, some ideas sould be a 'casual wear' splicer or exalt, some form of synth, or his Turian morph, or most anything else.

Shepard is rich enough to have a decent selection stashed aboard his private ship.

>>26563783

You are currently alone onboard your private yacht, the last you saw of Nihlus was about a month ago back in citadel space.

>>26563802
Oops, I somehow skipped over the most important part.

Well, disregard what I wrote then.

I guess Shepard would be in his Turian morph then.
Also accessing the data he's got for the mission.

>>26563710

Anybody else here? Or just the two people.

>>26563841
Make that 3. Didn't check the tab for half an hour.
That diarrhea is getting really annoying.

>>26563841
Right, just two then I guess.

Moving on.

>>26563880
YAY! another one.

And I'm sorry to hear that.

>>26563887
Sorry, fell asleep and then Pathfinder session which ended up not happening.

>>26563841
I'm writing an abstract on the effects of plasma DBD on shock wave formation, a little distracted from the refresh button.

>>26563710
Infomorph at the moment, reading through mission brief (if present).
Action to take: Confirm place to stash the yacht for a while.

>>26563710

You are currently wearing your Turian morph, dark grey and black plates with crimson facial tattoos, to match your favorite armor color scheme. You lean back in the pilot chair and browse some augmented reality screens with your ecto implants, trying to figure out just what is going on.

You pull some strings with your contacts and check over the information they send you, furrowing your plated brow at the results. It seems that this particular shipyard has been receiving far higher than normal amounts of eezo, which is very odd considering the limited amounts that the Alliance has to work with. Whatever they are building there seems fairly important. No other information is available though, even to your contacts. That in itself tells you something, whatever is going on, the Alliance has gone to great lengths to keep it quiet.

You pull a cup of dextro-friendly coffee out of a small nanofabricator on the ship and settle in for the rest of your flight, arriving at the station a few hours later. You slide up beside the station as the smart material docking bridge seals itself over your airlock. You float out onto the null gravity station, seeing an escort of Alliance marines waiting for you. After confirming your identity they bring you further into the station. Through the next set of doors you see Captain Anderson waiting for you.

“Commander.” He says, as you salute. He returns it quickly. “Good of you to come. I’m sure you have questions.”

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>>26562317
>Shepard just grins and sips his tea, leaning back in his chair.

>>26563986

Um, actions?

>>26563986
"How big of a ship is it?"

>>26564092
Um, that wasn't really clear from that post.
Anyway
>why am I here?
>what is being done here that the alliance is so secretive about?

>>26563986
Also fist bunp.

>>26564120
This and this
>>26564121

>>26564121
>>what is being done here that the alliance is so secretive about?
It's either a ship or an army of biotic sleeves, and considering it's a shipyard it's likely a ship

>>26564175
Or ship related

>>26563986
MTOW and mission?

>>26563986

You nod. “So, how big a ship is it?”

Anderson looks surprised, then composes himself. “Not much gets past you does it?”

“When you have contacts like mine, no. So what is it? New ship design? The Alliance is being very careful to keep whatever is going on here quiet.”

Anderson nods and dismisses the marines. “Walk with me.” He asks.

You follow along as the two of you walk over to a large observation window.

“What we’re working on here is a Top Secret Alliance project. A new class of ship, designed in concert by every member of the Alliance, intended for high risk missions deep behind enemy lines.”

“Enemy?” You ask, “I was unaware we were at war.”

“Times change.” Anderson says, “Besides, if it isn’t the Council, it’s something else, exsurgents, terrorists, exhuman cults, rogue factions with weapons of mass destruction. We needed a reaction force that can deal with things swiftly and quietly.”

“Whereas most of the Alliance fleet is slow by council standards.” You reason.

“Right.” Anderson confirms. “So we came together and designed a new ship, something unlike any we have built before. Take a look.”

With a wireless command he activates the lights in the ship bay, and you see the vessel before you. It is unlike anything you have seen before, small and sleek, with swept back wings and an elegant hull. The engines seem more advanced than most, and if you had to guess you would think that this ship could run circles around council ships, given the amount of eezo they must have packed into that thing.

Your eyes linger on the name. ‘Normandy’. For a moment memories of blood soaked sand and red waves fills your mind, but it passes, just the ghosts of a bygone age.

“She’s beautiful.” You say.

“She’s yours.” Anderson replies.

TBC

>>26564279

Now it’s your turn to look surprised.

“Oh don’t look so surprised.” Anderson says, “You’re the best we’ve got Shepard, so you get the first Normandy class ship. Nobody at high command objected to the assignment.”

You nod. “It’s been a while since I’ve commanded a ship. What’s our mission?”

“Right now? Shakedown run to the Eden Prime colony, nothing special.”

You nod. A new ship would need a shakedown after all.

“When do I depart?” You ask.

“We’re departing as soon as the dock crew gets that cabin cruiser of yours stowed in the docking bay. Oh, and there will be another acquaintance of yours joining us.”

You start to wonder who it might be, before you hear the sound of magnetic boots clicking on the deck plates. You turn to see, to your great surprise, Specter Nihlus Kyrik walking up behind you.

“Surprised?” He asks, “So am I, but I could hardly pass up an opportunity like this. Been a while, Shepard.”


Actions?

>>26564354
Brofist/pat on the back/anal sex, whatever Shepard does in such situations.
Ask him how he's holding up and if the turian propaganda machine is still running at full force.

>>26564354
Mandible chuckle to the maximum, fist bunp, >>26564390

>>26564354
"Indeed it has, Kyrik. Surprised to see you here."

>>26564354

“Nihlus!” You say, floating over. You favor the Turian Specter with a wide grin, spreading your mandibles as you clamp onto the deck plates in front of him. “It has been too long. How you been?”

“Fairly well, all things considered.” Nihlus says, “Though I doubt my superiors would think so, given that I’ve volunteered to enter the TEZ.”

You nod, “And why have you come here?” I doubt that many Turian Specters come into the TEZ just to check up on an old friend.”

“I’m here to evaluate your new ship design, in a spirit of cooperation from the council.” He says with a remarkably straight face.

“Right.” You say, not believing a word. “So, how’s the Turian film industry doing? Still making giant robot monster scare films?”

“Of course, they even made a sequel to Relay 314.”

“Tell me you did…” You say.

A moment later Nihlus pulls out a little data chip and flips it through the air, you snatch it, smiling.

“Not that I like to interrupt this reunion.” Anderson says, “But we should probably get going.”

Before you go, you hold on your fist to Nihlus. “Just like old times.” You say.

Nihlus cautiously raises his fist, which you quickly rap with your own knuckles.

“I hope not.” He says.

After that, Anderson leads you down to the boarding gantry to the Normandy, and you enter the tight corridors of the ship. Just beyond the exterior airlock is the pod bay, small tube like pods lining the walls, each containing a biomorph most likely. A number of synthmorphs sit idle along the wall.

You open a pod and go to get in, when you see Nihlus standing in the middle of the room, confused.

“What are you doing?” He asks.

It occurs to you that he has never used an ego bridge before, or interfaced with a virtual reality system like the ones on transhuman ships.

Actions?

>>26564622
Show him the ropes of how everything works.
How extensive is the life support on this ship anyway?

>>26564622
Let him know that this is how Transhuman ships work.

>>26564650

Life support is extensive enough to sustain a number of people in the actual personnel bays, but the rest of the ship, that is to say, most of the ship, has no life support, or crew areas at all.

>>26564622
instruct him how this stuff works, and tell him its not dangerous

>>26564622
"Taking a look around the ship. All the cool stuff's in the VR. Oh yeah. Basically everyone's in VR, with just a few people in meatspace, it's more cost effective to everyone. It's like... full-sense movie experience, I guess. Except you're the main character and it's all really happening virtually."

Don't know how bad that is, seeing as I've never read anything except what's been written in these three threads about Eclipse Phase

>>26564708
I really like the term meatspace though.

>>26564622

“Something wrong Nihlus?” You ask, letting a little humor at the Turian’s confusion slip into your voice.

“I thought we would go to a bridge.” He says, not understanding.

“Right, council ships waste so much space keeping your little meat bodies alive.” You shake your head, making ‘tisk’ noises, “How dreadfully inefficient. The crew is in a virtual reality simulation in the ship’s computer, far more effective and efficient than having them all in meatspace.”

Nihlus folds his arms. “Oh, so am I just supposed to sit in this dark hold the entire trip?”

You shake your head and lead him to the pod next to yours, opening it up. You fiddle with the controls for a moment before gesturing him in, though he still looks cautious.

“Relax, this is standard operating procedure, and perfectly safe, I have done this hundreds of times. Just think if it like a full-sensory movie, your mind won’t leave your body, it will simply be interfaced one-way with the computer and put on life support. You won’t feel a thing.”

Nihlus nods and reluctantly gets into the pod. “Alright Shepard, see you on the other side.”

“Oh don’t be so melodramatic.” You say, slipping into the pod next to him. The hatch slides shut and the ego bridge reaches out slender tendrils to caress your head, synching itself with your brainwaves. A few moments later you are slipping off to sleep.

TBC

>>26564843
It's Bropard, I'm sure Nihlus'll trust him.

>>26564856
Well now I'm curious to know who you were responding to.

>>26564871
[Deleted] Anonymous 4 minutes ago No.26564843 [] >>26564856!
>>26564794
I kinda find it hard to believe that a spectre, even one as human-friendly as Nihlus, would just hop out of his body without any questions or reassurances.

>>26564856
>>26564871
>>26564885
I made the post, then re-read Proxy's post, and realized that I misinterpreted, so I decided to delete my post rather than confuse people and distract from the quest.

Clearly, I underestimated /tg/'s desire to derail themselves.

>>26564941
There is no derail
There is only /tg/

>>26564794

A moment later you are looking up at a wooden ceiling, laying on something soft. You look down and see that you are laying in a hammock which is gently swinging back and forth. You hop down, hearing your leather boots hit the wooden deck beneath you, and examine yourself. You, or rather your virtual avatar, is wearing what looks to be old an old British empire naval uniform, complete with a saber at your belt. You grab the tricorn hat off the table next to you and head out through the door, finding yourself in what seems to be a captain’s cabin at the back of a ship. You look out through the expansive windows to see an endless sea slipping away behind you. You throw open the door and walk out on deck, the salty sea air hitting you as you walk out.

You are on a simulation of a large sailing vessel, based on a British man-o-war, though you see the Systems Alliance flag flying from the masts.

“Commander on deck!” A man says, blowing through a small whistle as the crewmen snap to attention.

“At ease.” You say, allowing them to get back their duties. “And who might you be?”

The officer walks over, ramrod straight. “Sir, I am Charles Pressly, I have been assigned to be your executive officer and navigator for this mission. I believe that the pilot and captain Anderson await you on the upper deck. Oh, and the Turian is there as well.”

You thank and dismiss the XO and climb the wooden stairs to the rear deck, seeing captain Anderson there, as well as a few others. Nihlus is there, looking a bit odd. He is also wearing a British naval uniform, altered to fit his physique, including a tricorn hat that stays on his head as if by magic. A young man is holding the ship’s wheel, and next to him stands a woman, both of them wearing officer’s uniforms.

Any actions to take, or let Anderson get on with introductions?

>>26564998
Let Anderson do his thing.

Also that scene must be fucking hilarious.

>>26564998
"Sup everyone. We're doing a shakedown run of this beautiful ship to Eden Prime, not sure if Anderson'll join us for the trip, but we've an honoured guest and a friend of mine, Nihlus Kyrik, a Citadel Spectre. He's a softie inside his hardass shell and it's his first time doing this kind of thing so be gentle. I'm up for sabre sparring on deck 3 if someone's interested."

>>26565058
That seems... excessively unprofessional.
>>26564998
Take a screenshot of Nihlus.

>>26564998

“Anderson, you design this program yourself?” You ask, letting a grin slip onto your features.

“No, something I picked up on my last furlough.”

“So, are we ready to get underway?” You ask.

Anderson nods. “Joker, take us out.”

“Aye Captain.” The man at the wheel says, spinning the arcane device as a sudden wind fills the sails.

“Let me introduce the bridge staff.” Anderson says, gesturing to the man behind the wheel.

“This is Flight Lieutenant Jeff Moreau. Everyone here calls him Joker.”

‘Joker’ flips a salute with his hand, watching the sea before him.

“And this is EDI, our resident electronic warfare AGI, the best we have to offer in the field.”

EDI offers a formal salute. “Captain, a pleasure to be here.”

You return her salute. “Glad to have you onboard. Everyone, this is my friend Nihlus Kyrik, a council Specter.”

“I am, honored to be here.” Nihlus says, running a hand along the railing, as if trying to prove this isn’t real.

“Don’t let the bony exterior fool you, he’s actually a decent guy under all that Turian discipline.”

Nihlus clamps his mandibles shut and looks out to ‘sea’.

TBC

>>26565277

“Entering the relay in ten seconds. Joker says, taking a firm hold of the wheel. Up ahead, you see a large glowing gateway, seemingly made of lightning bolts. A moment later you sail through it and your ship leaps forward, wind straining the sails to their breaking point.

“Relay engaged, we are exiting the Sol system, on our way to Eden Prime. Everything looks good from here.”

Anderson nods. “Now Commander, I think it’s time you learned why we’re really here.”

“I knew it.” You say to yourself as you, the captain, and Nihlus go back down to your simulated cabin.

When you get inside, Anderson locks the door and latches the windows, high level encryption systems coming online to ensure the absolute privacy of your conversation. “This is far more than just a simple shakedown run.”

--

I think that might be it for the moment, I am kind of tired from the week and need to give it a bit more thought before we continue.

...

This is probably just going to keep going isn't it... Oh well, I am also going to try and continue the worldbuilding component of these threads as the main focus, but if everyone, including me, wants to play... I guess there is no reason to say no.

>>26565409

We can do the worldbuilding in character. Like, read codex entries, talk with different species, and have Shep reminisce about stuff.

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>>26565409
>When you get inside, Anderson locks the door and latches the windows, high level encryption systems coming online to ensure the absolute privacy of your conversation.

>>26565409
>This is probably just going to keep going isn't it...
Yes it is, and it's been fun so far.
Looking forward to the next thread. Also make that one on a more populated time, then things get really interesting. Also this >>26565431

>>26565455

I'm not leaving of course, I would still like to get into conversations, but maybe you guys are right. Perhaps the best way to figure out how these settings mash up is to just play them out and see how it goes.

I also intend to put in little side stories, and mesh/extranet articles to flesh out the setting and explain things without having to make players wade through exposition every time something new comes up.

... Here I go questing again...

>>26565409
As long as the digital Normandy is a Ship of the Line and everyone wears tricorns, I will participate in your quest.

>>26565590

That will only change if the players want it to. IE making it be a WWII battleship or the Enterprise.

Because there is a canon Eclipse Phase VR setting which is a gigantic Star Trek roleplay game.

>>26565409
"...That was kind of obvious, Anderson. A Spectre, you and me on the same ship for a shakedown? Even the Council would see that something's going on."

>>26565640
>you can do EVERYTHING!
Except that you can really do everything. Well, until we touch ground and actually have to go outside.
But this has a lot of fun potential. You should definitely keep at this quest.

>>26565640
Anything from WWII might bring up some painful memories for Shepard. But that might actually be a way to work through them. VR therapy of a sort.

I assume that, since the VR is really just a mask on top of the ship's actual system operations, our crew will be just as efficient at all of their jobs, whether we appear to be on the deck of a sailing ship or the bridge of an actual starship. So Shepard can change the sim without throwing everything off-balance.

I think immortal party Shepard would get a kick out of playing Kirk, with Nihlus as his bemused Turian Spock.

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>>26565827
He probably even is a Star Trek fan and Nihlus, not getting the references and in-jokes will be very confused. Lots of potential for fun, pic related.

>>26565827

Oh yes, this is all just set dressing, though their actions on the actual ship usually are translated to their actions in the VR, like retuning the engines is represented as trimming the sails, or activating weapons runs out the guns. No loss of efficiency at all.

>>26565896
>broadsiding Nazara
Fuck yes.

>>26565951

"Run out the guns Mr. Vakarian!"

>>26565981
Wait a sec, I just thought of something.
Turians come from a desert planet. No big oceans, probably never had something like a navy in their history. Probably also didn't really care for boats.

I think Nihlus is very, very confused right now.

>>26565888
"Shepard-"

"It's Kirk now."

"Dammit, Shepard, this is the third sim change today. I am severely out of my depth, and your refusal to explain even the most trivial details is wearing on my patience."

"So you're saying this... has... triggeredanemotionalresponse?"

"Just answer me one question. Just one. WHY AM I WEARING RUBBER EARS?"

>>26566028
"What's this blue stuff?"

"That's the ocean."

"And this white thing?"

"A sail."

"What's it for?"

"Will someone get the Turian a book so I can go back to steering the ship?"

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>>26566134
Oh damn, you better touch on that next thread, Proxy.

>>26566161

Choice of VR simulation is up to players.

>>26566353
And we can string them together. So we could have the bridge be the deck of a sailing ship, the mess be Ten Forward from TNG, the "airlock" be the gate room from Stargate, etc.

Poor Nihlus. His crash course in human culture is only beginning.

>>26566353

Bumping for still being here, but have to walk the dog now.

>>26567103

Is any one still here? I might be good to continue the quest if you wanted to. I got a second wind just now.

>>26567289
You've got at least one.

>>26567343

Cool. At least three would be ideal, let's see if anyone else turns up

>>26567289
You have two.

>>26566512
I like it!

>>26567368
You kind of have 3 but I am really, really distracted by watching Top Gear.

>>26567420

Okay, I am continuing shortly.

>>26565409

“I figured as much.” You say, “Most shakedown runs wouldn’t have a council Specter, me, and captain Anderson onboard. So what exactly is really going on here?”

“We really are going to Eden Prime.” Anderson says, “But it’s not just a random destination, we have a very specific mission there. Recently, some of our archeologists working there discovered this.”

He unfurls a scroll of parchment on the table, a 3-D image rising off of its surface. It seems to be a tall, black obelisk, glowing with a dull green aura.

“A Prothean artifact?” You ask, you recognize the handiwork of the ancient race.

“Not just any artifact Shepard, a Prothean beacon. A database of knowledge from an ancient civilization, a find like this could jump technology forward decades if properly utilized.”

You nod, then something occurs to you. “Sir, if the beacon was discovered on a transhuman world inside the TEZ, why is Nihlus along for the ride. No offense Nihlus.”

Nihlus looks a little awkward. “Council law mandates that Prothean beacons and similar data storage artifacts are to be shared with all council races. Citadel intelligence received a tip from somewhere inside the TEZ that a beacon had been discovered, and my superiors sent me to oversee its retrieval.”

You wonder why your superiors were allowing a find like this to slip into council hands, after everything else that organization had done to them. There could be underlying motivations though.

Actions?

>>26567563
Ask about Eden Prime, what kind of world is it, where is it and so on.
Also how was the artifact discovered and by whom?

>>26567605
Seconding this

>>26567563
Well aside from getting the beacon, can there be a virtual raid by pirates, like a video game? I like that idea.

>>26567563
"The Council sent you, alone? No transport, no research team, only Spectre Nihlus? Are we expected to load the beacon onto this ship and have the Council sign for it when we get to the Citadel?"

>>26567563

“I’ve never been to Eden Prime.” You say, “What kind of place is it?”

“Paradise by all accounts.” Anderson says. With a wave of his hand the image of the beacon is replaced by one of Eden Prime, gently spinning in midair over the table. “One of the four garden worlds the citadel council included in the space they added to the TEZ, it’s currently the furthest colony of its size out from the core of transhuman space. It’s become something of a symbol, of what transhumanity can achieve regardless of the restrictions imposed upon us.”

“And who exactly discovered the beacon?” You ask.

“Argonaut archeology team, investigating some Prothean ruins for some time I hear. They only unearthed the beacon recently though.”

“So we’re giving the beacon to them, why again?” You ask

“Galactic relations.” Anderson says, sounding like he’s quoting a pamphlet. “It keeps the citadel happy, so they don’t get antsy along the border. Besides, we’re sending some scientists of our own along to ensure that we get a fair share of everything the council discovers. Everyone’s happy.”

“If it’s so important to them, why not send one of their own ships?” You wonder aloud, “No offense Nihlus, but with the resources at their disposal why not send a retrieval ship, or an entire fleet? Why just send Specter Nihlus all on his lonesome?”

TBC

>>26567563
"If it leaked to the Council, I wouldn't be surprised if there were others who got the intel as well. No offence, Nihlus - I keep saying that for some reason - but the Citadel security isn't really top of the line."

"This whole thing's giving me Operation Cinnamon jeebies, Anderson..."

>>26567874
You sly bastard.

>>26567874
>>26567923
There's a joke I'm missing here, I just know it

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>>26567923
You have nothing on me.

>>26567952
You'll find out soon enough.

>>26567973
Is Operation Cinnamon something from Eclipse Phase?

>>26567773

((Are the Protheans the Factors in this setting? I think it would make sense that they'd be.))

>>26568021
Not that I'm aware of but let's just say the gentleman that made the post has the right "gut feeling" about that information leak.

>>26567773

“Actually, this was all my idea. The council’s initial idea was to send a Turian flotilla to retrieve the beacon, but I persuaded them not to.” At the look of surprise on your face, he decides to explain a bit. “Your people are, no offense, like a Varren that has been kicked too often and locked in its cage for too long. You resent the council for what they’ve done to you, how they’ve restricted you, shut you in from the galaxy at large. A Turian flotilla showing up to take a beacon, discovered by transhumans, off a transhuman world, only grudgingly given to them by the council, it would be the last blow to transhuman pride. It would be a public relations disaster, and a political nightmare if public opinion sifted as far as I was afraid it would. So, I volunteered to come and retrieve it on a transhuman ship”

“You have a lot of faith in us.” You say.

“I have faith in you, Shepard. I requested you for this mission myself.”

Well wasn’t that just a lovely little Chesnutt.

Anderson is about to say something when he is interrupted by Joker’s voice coming from thin air.

“Captain, message incoming from Eden Prime.”

“Patch it through Joker.” He orders.

The back window of the cabin goes black and converts into a screen, a 2-D image coming into focus. You see what looks to be the POV of an Alliance soldier, with several others in the vicinity. They are firing at some unknown enemies, explosions ripping the ground around them. One soldier, female, tackles the trooper with the camera to the ground.

A garbled voice transmission comes through. “This is…. Eden Prime defense corps, under attack by…… casualties, overrunning…. What is that!”

>>26568075

Suddenly a loud roaring noise overwhelms the audio, the camera falling to the ground. Descending through the clouds, a massive ship reaches the ground. Black as starless night with long tentacles reaching out to the ground, the massive ship emits some kind of shockwave and the link goes dead.

TBC

>>26568090
Shit. I thought today was going to go ALOT better.

>>26568090
What, at this point, does Nihlus know about TITANs? Are they a big TH state secret, did we tell them that they exist, what? Because this, to Shepard and Anderson, would definitely look like possible TITAN activity.

>>26568090

“Joker, ETA to Eden Prime?” Anderson asks.

“Thirty minutes sir, we will be entering the system shortly.”

Anderson nods. “Shepard, get geared up and prepare for a ground engagement. The Normandy can get you in, then it will be your job to secure that beacon and get out. I’m assigning Staff Lieutenant Alenko and Corporal Jenkins to your combat detail.”

“I’m coming as well.” Nihlus says. “This is my op, my responsibility.”

“You sure?” You chide. “The last time an armed Turian set foot on a transhuman world it didn’t end well.”

Nihlus flusters. “I’m here to help Shepard, I like to imagine there is something symbolic in this. Now if you can help me disconnect from this, whatever this is, I’ll start getting ready.”

You wave a hand and Nihlus promptly fades away, exiting the VR simulation.

What morph and loadout do you wish to take into battle?

Just a moment and I will explain more about weapons and gear.