I once rolled up a Batarian character for a possible Mass Effect roleplay. Never did end up joining in, and the roleplay wasn't intended to involve the main Mass Effect cast, but it also applied to my concept of how a 'good' Batarian might play (without being an apology for the Batarian race at all).
A character to consider carefully in a casual caucus of competitors. Cheerio, chap (or chapete, of course).
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Name: Captain Jarem Messa
Gender: Male
Age: 26 (or equivalent of Batarians: Young adult, but matured and with some experience.)
Species: Batarian
Appearance:Batarians all look alike to you Citadel-species, but
noticeable characteristics include a light red skin tone, appropriate
Batarian proportions for about 6 feet of height, and a crisp, clean
shaven, military manner and appearance. When it isn't required to appear
otherwise, a tendency towards a simple black military uniform, crisp
and neat regardless the circumstances. Decorated with only a few
recognitions of worth, the sparse but clean-cut uniform filled by a fit
Batarian sends a simple message: this one is plain and does not care
about your fancy awards or epitaphs, and is focused on doing his job
regardless of the obstacle.
Combat uniform, for the rare occasions Jaram changes into one, is a
typical equipment for a Batarian infiltrator: light armor, helmet with
visor designed for the four-eyed Batarian, and pistol and omni tool.
Quite frankly, though,he'll rarely do so: the armor is simply accessory
to the miniaturized kinetic barrier device he carries with him at all
times, making for only modestly improved shields. Pistol and omni-tool
are always with him regardless, making his 'casual' dress uniform just
as often his de facto combat uniform.
For the truly obsessive to details, he has dark brown eyes that
generally blend with his pupils, he is always clean shaven, and he has
no tattoos. Tattoos are foolish, as they are unchangeable identification
marks.
Equipment/Abilities: An officer in Batarian military intelligence,
by training he is an infiltrator, which means no biotics and a tendency
towards omni-tool (which is exceptionally high quality, but he won't
share). Avoiding outright fights whenever possible, preferring to hack
and, well, infiltrate past and around any, when in a fight he is
competent with a pistol, relying on precision and typical Batarian
chemical rounds to effectively end the fight.
While trained in other weapons, rarely uses them: if a military
intelligence officer is in the thick of a fire fight to justify one,
he's doing his job wrong. And Captain Messa does not do his job wrong.
In summary: a competant marksman who's military training puts him a step
above the rest, he is no god of war or master sniper. As he'd be better
off avoiding the battle, there's no reason for him to be one either.
Personality: Either so twisted he's straight, or so straight he's
twisted, Captain Messa is constantly perplexing those who take anything
at face value. He is a nationalist in regards to the Batarian Hegemony, a
paranoid officer in the department of unethical practices, ruthless and
not-quite speciest. He's willing to do anything to further the greater
interests of the Batarian species... which is quite likely why he may be
one of the best 'good' Batarians you may ever meet, because he puts the
Batarian good above all else. Because isolation, paranoia, and losing a
proxy war won't work, has only hurt the Batarian species and their
interests, and what's best for the Batarians is a re-integration into
Galactic Society... and the defense against the Reapers.
Captain Messa is military intelligence. He is intelligent,
analytical, insightful, and more than a bit ruthless. However, he also
has great self-control, and puts the good of the Batarians (establishing
a good reputation to enable a galatic re-integration) above his
personal likes and dislikes. He may hate your gut, but will never curse
you behind your back lest someone over hear and cause repercussions that
harm down the line. He may detest humans on a personal level, but he
will save a child for the photo-op.
He is Batarian in many ways. He will try and dominate an argument of
wills by sheer intelligence and causing confusion by which set of eyes
to look at. He has a revulsion against those covet the wealth of others,
partly reflected in his modest garb and life style.
Background/Origin: A Captain in the Batarian Hegemony's Military
Intelligence, which gives him about the weight of a colonel in other
matters. Rising from a family with a long history of service in the
unspoken services of the Hegemony, he follows in the significant
footsteps of his mother, who was involved in the vanishing of the
Leviathan of Dis (which never existed) and in several other, more
unsavory and unspecified, acts. Miss Messa died on Torfan, but not
before clashing with a younger Lieutenant Anderson on at least one
occasion. Surviving that encounter gave the family almost as much honor
in their secret circles as the Leviathan.
Raised by the state after his mother's death, and his mother's old
branch in particular, Jarem grew up knowing he would serve the Batarian
Hegemony as he knew best, and has spent much of his life doing so. He
has accumulated a respectable dossier of classified actions, some
against Batarian dissidents and some that would see him strung up by any
Alliance tribunal. However, Jarem is of a new generation, or perhaps
just sees the other perspective better than most others. Like others in
his profession, he is paranoid. But he goes beyond self-centered
blindness. He recognizes that the Batarians are weak. He knows the
galaxy dislikes them, and only ignores them because they are too much
trouble for now. He knows that they would lose any war with the
Alliance, and no one would say a word in protest.
Jarem also watched from afar as the Geth mobilized and Sovereign was
the vanguard of the Reapers, and he knows either force could tear the
Hegemony apart. He, like many Batarians with stolen transcripts and
reports on the true nature of the Reapers, also knows them as a true
foe. He is too paranoid to ignore the truth.
To Jarem, the only logical solution to protect and expand the
Batarian Hegemony is to end the hostility with the Citadel, who does not
want destroy the Batarians for living, and form alliances against the
Geth and Reapers, who do. Doing so requires that the Batarian Hegemony
realize its limitations, form alliances, to adjust its ambitions
accordingly; to seek greater prizes, the Hegemony needs to gain more
power, and to gain more strength the Hegemony needs to link to the
Galatic economy and technology pool. Piracy and terrorism haven't
worked: dreams of dominance of the Skyllian Verge have long since been lost, and others will be as
well if the Shadow War with the Alliance continues.
Jarem is part of a faction within the Hegemony that wants to
re-connect with the Galaxy. Naturally, there are many sorts within it:
there are the idealists, the Doves, the human-lovers, the socialites who
miss the Citadel. Jarem's decision, and those like him in the military,
is more cold-blooded practicality. Of course, their faction is also
currently a minority: xenophobia and paranoia still force
short-sightedness on much of the Hegemony military, within which the
most important political battles ride.
Spared most charges of dis-loyalty for such views by nature of his
own and mother's accomplishments, Jarem is well placed to be influential
in the final outcome. Having traded in many favors and pulled many
strings, Jarem has managed to be assigned on a foreign mission.
Officially, Jarem is to covertly investigate Sovereign, the Geth, and
the scope of their risk to the Hegemony. Politically, there is much more
at stake: Jarem is also to find any signs of willingness of the Citadel
Powers, including the Alliance, to forge an alliance against the
Reapers/Geth in return for galatic re-integration and a settlement of
piracy and colonial disputes.
Whether he will actually have the authority to make such an agreement when he returns home will entirely depend on the state of the Hegemony's politics at the time he returns.
Naturally, many elements in the Batarian Hegemony, even in its own
Military Intelligence, will do anything to stop this. For the greater
good of the Batarian Hegemony, Captain Jarem Messa will oppose them.
Miscellaneous: Less combat focused, more tech-support. He could
hack, AI hack, use his omni tool, but if he's fighting, he isn't doing
what he does best, which is making things happen. He's sooner hack the
Ambassador's extranet account than a Geth Trooper.
On a Renegade-Paragon axis, he would do many Paragon actions, but for very Renegade reasons.
^I agree with you.
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