74 réponses à ce sujet

[WarGriffin]

Seeing how royally screwed over Cerberus got in ME3

This would be a restructuring, reworking of various scenes... Making TIM's fall to reaper madness more apparent then... YUP his been indcotrinated the whole time!

Kai would get a upgrade from cliche' arrogant kung fu guy to arrogant, xenophopic, but Pragamtic, manipulative SOB who you just love to hate!

that and introduce characters that Flesh out the Cerberus side other then TIM, Kai and a few nameless mad scientists.

I think I'll spilt this topic in three Sections

1. New Characters and thier purpose

2. Restructing of events

3. New effects


Hopefully this will Prevent me from Rambling like in the forgotten topic XD ->.> which i need to finsih lol-


1.  New Characters

A: The Cerberus Heads

Joker had joked that since Cerberus has three heads he wondered if Cerberus has three leaders. That is of course wrong cause TIM is Cerberus' master... but that just make him Hades now wouldn't it

The Heads are Cerberus three most influencetial and powerful members in various tiers of human society, Like TIM they tend to comunicate with a QEC though they tend to keep thier figures obscured by a single color silhouette. The Heads act as TIM's cabinet.

The General, The Archetict and The Visionary

The General

The General is a High Ranking Admiral in the Alliance Navy -If you want to know... If Hackett bites the dust The General is only a few deaths away from being the head Admiral- He had met TIM back when he was Jack Harper and is one of the founding members of Cerberus -Remember they started as an Alliance Black Ops organization-

His  hologram is red in color and yet he seems to have the more Anti-Hero stance of Cerberus, condemning the Visionary for the attack of Sur'kesh stating that getting the Krogan and turain into the War world pull some of the pressure off human Colonies and Earth.

His very much Pro-Human but lacks the Xenophobic all Aliens must die mantra. He tends to question TIM's slowly slipping stablity the most -having known him and been in Ceberus longer then the other two heads- and calls him Jack more then the other two. -IE The General is the first to bring up if slaughtering the entire Archive staff was necessary since Eva could have easily slipped in and out with the data, while the Visionary states that would be a waste of time and the Reaper assualt forced thier hand, You can guess which end of the Spectrum the Visionary falls under-

The General seems to manage the more martial wing of Cerberus affiars, providing training and staging areas. Locations of weapon caches etc etc. Selection of operatives, The General is the one to suggest freeing Leng from prison... along with other various convicts.

He and Kai have the most respect for each other... though they'll banter over thier veiw of aliens.


His title is based on the message to a superior in the "last" Cerberus Rachni mission

The Archetict

The Archetict is a very wealthy Coporate Leader... who has changed over the years, implying a familal line, The current Archetict is the Youngest of the Heads having become one only 5 years ago. The Archetict appears to be female based on the hologram's figure and voice. Her Hologram color is purple. The Archetict is more middle ground of cerberus veiws... neither being extremely pro human nor extremely anti-alien. The Archetict tends to be he more level minded of the three -though that might be due to the fact she is not as close as the other heads are to TIM thus she tries to stay neutral in arguements-

The Archetict manages the more finacial and Tech aspects of cerberus -Where do you think TIM gets most of that money from.. Donations?- Black Market sales, Various dummy firms meant to channel funds to cerberus. Advancing and modifying tech is another aspect. Many of the implants Kai and shepard have come from Her sections work.

Kai has never met any of the Archeticts in person. He veiws them as typical executives who pays someone else to do thier dirty work. and The Archetict veiws Kai as TIM's hired thug to run errands for him -I wonder could that dispostion change-

The Visionary

Point blank Even Kai thinks this guy is nuts. Another one of the older members of Cerberus, He is one of Humanities first Biotics -which could possibly explain the insanity-  The Visionary is Cerberus most extreme veiws... taken up a notch. He supported and help plan out the various "accidents" that lead to a new wave of human biotics. He also tends to be the one behind mass social upheavals in human colonies and the various radical biotic groups.

His hologram color is blue -see what i did there-

He tends to be behind the more extreme/ mad science aspects of Cerberus, The Thresher Maw experiments, Pragia and Jack etcetc and is probably the most morally abhorent of the heads... as in he'd glady slaughter a xeno or human colony for results -Colony of the dead anybody-

He truly beleives in forcing humankind to evolve/ascend to the next level by any means necessary

In the past it was TIM who reigned the Visionary in... in a twist of Irony as TIM become more and more the Reaper's puppet, TIM starts to agree wholesale with the Visionary's suggestions


Kai HATES this guy... and that's saying something... It might be that The Visionary is very much into genesplicing and doesn't beleive in the "purity" of humanity.

[WarGriffin]

1. New Characters

B: Kai's Strike Team

One of the bigger changes is Cerberus operates a fleet of Normandy style Stealth frigrates -Remember they did help build and then Rebuild the damn thing- Kai operates from the Omaha -yes it's named after the less remembered D-Day invasion... the one that went alot worse >.>-

Kai strike team is made up of various new recruits and Cerberus operatives

Operative R. Dias
Kai's effective 2nd in command, is usually the Phantom that is around to help make Kai's more daring escapes. She stands out from other Phantoms due to a unique breasrplate and Helmet -it's a full screen helmet not the slits - is a powerful biotic further enhanced by her implants and will use powers in combat beyond the standard Phantom attacks

She double teams Shepard and Co with Kai on Thessia
Doesn't say much, seems rather soft spoken.


Operative L Triad
The person Kai tends to tell his orders too, Appears as a more heavily armored Centurion with a cyclops visor and the Cerberus Harrier.

Triad is generally the guy barking out Kai's orders and trying to get the troops moving... His encountered on the citadel along with Dias, but only fights you to stall for time before retreating when Atlas reinforcements arrive. Dias is is Kai second in command but Triad is the one that tends to lead the troops.


Other Cerberus Operatives

Operative W Spenz
A Sniper camped out along the other side of the Presidum taking potshots at Shepard. Isn't part of Kai's group but serves as a sniper battle for Shepard and Co. Apparently Kai's Coup attempt isn't the only Cerberus operation going on while the Citadel is in choas. Can be fought in a Rematch at Cronus Station.


Think I'll add more operatives later... kinda make them like the Blood Pack Krogan bosses in ME2 XD

[MACharlie1]

Interesting concepts. A little sketchy but you've clearly thought out the Cerberus plot more then Bioware did.

I do recall some concept art for Kai Lengs strike team though. Would be interesting to see a mirror to Shepard's team. An infiltrator for Garrus. A biotic to go up against Liara. Engineer for Tali. Atlas/Centurion for Wrex. Unique Pheonix agents from the multiplayer for Ashley and Kaidan.

Just two points to make about restructuring the Cerberus plot:

1) Make Miranda relevant. Seriously. 2IC and she's busy with little sister.

2) Have Liara do something Shadow Broker for once. 

Kill a bunch of birds with one gigantic stone. 

Modifié par MACharlie1, 08 août 2012 - 10:55 .

[WarGriffin]

Well the operatives are suppose to be Cerberus takes on player classes -Kai is suppose to be a broken mix of all six-

but I also wanted to keep the classic Cerberus mandate of Plots within Plots -IE Kai's assualt on the citadel is just a massive front for another operative to bug the entire system and swipe data on the races dirty little secrets... cough Thessia Cough-

[WarGriffin]

WarGriffin wrote...

1. New Characters

B: Kai's Strike Team

One of the bigger changes is Cerberus operates a fleet of Normandy style Stealth frigrates -Remember they did help build and then Rebuild the damn thing- Kai operates from the Omaha -yes it's named after the less remembered D-Day invasion... the one that went alot worse >.>-

Kai strike team is made up of various new recruits and Cerberus operatives

Operative R. Dias
Kai's effective 2nd in command, is usually the Phantom that is around to help make Kai's more daring escapes. She stands out from other Phantoms due to a unique breasrplate and Helmet -it's a full screen helmet not the slits - is a powerful biotic further enhanced by her implants and will use powers in combat beyond the standard Phantom attacks

She double teams Shepard and Co with Kai on Thessia
Doesn't say much, seems rather soft spoken.

-fun fact... one of your squadmates has met Dias before-

Operative L Triad
The person Kai tends to tell his orders too, Appears as a more heavily armored Centurion with a cyclops visor and the Cerberus Harrier.

Triad is generally the guy barking out Kai's orders and trying to get the troops moving... His encountered on the citadel along with Dias, but only fights you to stall for time before retreating when Atlas reinforcements arrive. Dias is  Kai's second in command but Triad is the one that tends to lead the troops while Leng and Dias are off killing people through the back door. Acts more like buff to his troops.


Operative Nigel Dragunov
If Kai wants a trap... or a City block leveled Dragunov is the man he turns too. Deck out in a custom set of Guardian armor that looks like it could take a few direct rounds of artillery fire. Nigel -as noone really calls him by his last name- is Kai's explosive expert. If shepard starts running into trip mines, detonation packs... or sudden the a large cluster of frag grenades start raining down. Nigel is somewhere near by waiting with his custom shotgun. The guy is a ****ing tank. He has more in common with a krogan then a human. He  is first encountered after nearly killing you in the c-sec hq due to a rigged room but falls back on Kai's order after Kai kills the Executor and co.



Operative B Kuchiki
The Strike teams Field Medic, which gives the Assualt troopers a the needed buff of regen. She's not only the healer she also knows how to **** up you system, with Neural stun and bio chemical grenades -Yeah remember posion.- runs around with a modified locust that hits like a truck thanks to her using sledgehammer rounds. You don't directly encounter her on the citadel... she does cause you hell cause all the sprinklers that are going off in the CSEQ HQ are laced with posions that eat at your health and shields. She is mostly Kai's science officer.

Omaha's Pilot/Field Pilot
-fill in here-

Other Cerberus Operatives

Kai and Co are not the only members of Cerberus, and while Kai is TIM's favored agent the other heads have thier preffered agents as well and TIM is known to have an agenda in an agenda. So just cause these operatives show up, doesn't mean thier with Kai.

Operative W Spenz
A Sniper camped out along the other side of the Presidum taking potshots at Shepard. Isn't part of Kai's group but serves as a sniper battle for Shepard and Co. Apparently Kai's Coup attempt isn't the only Cerberus operation going on while the Citadel is in choas. Can be fought in a Rematch at Cronus Station. -Like Kai, Spenz is a genderflip of his class his suppose to be representing, IE the Nemesis... However his more like a better armed Infiltrator using a Black Widow as his rifle of choice.

Think I'll add more operatives later... kinda make them like the Blood Pack Krogan bosses in ME2 XD

Whoops thoguht I hit Edit not quote XD

Modifié par WarGriffin, 09 août 2012 - 04:23 .

[Sweawm]

I've repeated this on these forums so many times: read Mass Effect: Evolution before you go making assumptions just why the Illusive Man runs an organization by the name of Cerberus.

The real reason its called Cerberus is because the Illusive Man fought on Shaxi as part of a squad of three; Cerberus. The squad composed of Jack Harper (The Illusive Man), Eva Core (Died, and and later became the alias of the Synthetic you battled on Mars) and Ben Hishop (Cord-Hishop, a massive ship manufacturing corporation directly controlled by the Illusive Man, most likely named in honor of his fallen comrade)

Cerberus has technically already lost two of its heads, the Illusive Man in the last. But then again, who needs heads? Cerberus is an idea.
Forget the three heads thing. Speculate about that Banes guy from ME1

EDIT: Assuming you've read Evolution, I still wonder why the Illusive Man would need additional leaders? Cerberus is a secreat orginization and everyone (Before the ME3 Galactic Empire of Cerberus), reported directly back to him. 

Modifié par Sweawm, 09 août 2012 - 07:08 .

[XFeroxX]

You know, I went into this thinking it'd be ok like all the other fan fic, but not very plausible. Ths though fully fleshes out the mythological connections while also providing a more fleshed out orginization. Bioware can't and won't implement this, sorry, but I definitely do wish these 3 heads of cerberus played a role, maybe adding an additional 5-7 hours of cerberus centric gameplay. Too bad it wasn't all there.

[WarGriffin]

Sweawm wrote...

I've repeated this on these forums so many times: read Mass Effect: Evolution before you go making assumptions just why the Illusive Man runs an organization by the name of Cerberus.

The real reason its called Cerberus is because the Illusive Man fought on Shaxi as part of a squad of three; Cerberus. The squad composed of Jack Harper (The Illusive Man), Eva Core (Died, and and later became the alias of the Synthetic you battled on Mars) and Ben Hishop (Cord-Hishop, a massive ship manufacturing corporation directly controlled by the Illusive Man, most likely named in honor of his fallen comrade)

Cerberus has technically already lost two of its heads, the Illusive Man in the last. But then again, who needs heads? Cerberus is an idea.
Forget the three heads thing. Speculate about that Banes guy from ME1

EDIT: Assuming you've read Evolution, I still wonder why the Illusive Man would need additional leaders? Cerberus is a secreat orginization and everyone (Before the ME3 Galactic Empire of Cerberus), reported directly back to him. 

Jack's Sqaud isn't the reason it's called Cerberus.

Evolution makes that clear. It's called Cerberus cause of it's relation to the Charon relay... IE A Guard Dog that sees who Charon brings to his masters realm.

granted that contradicts ME1's statement that they were an Alliance black ops group -Black ops and Merc freedom fighters are two very different things-

Why do you have a cabinet? Simply
Chain of command and backing also making decisions SHOULD not be placed on one leader and if TIM's as smart as ME2 makes him out to be he should know if he bites it for any reason Cerberus would effectively be out of the game.

I prefer to think TIM is honestly more intelligent then you typical extremist, or would you prefer the Wealthy business men give TIM thier money and hope for the best answer?

The Heads Physically represent the various factors of Cerberus -IE Thier pull in the Alliance military and military strength, Their vast coporate wealth and flow of technology, and Thier Stockpile of crazy ideas-

Cerberus as an idea is also represented, as the Heads idealogies are almost the extremist veiws fans can of the organization.

[Dark Satris]

as i told Dbohr in the cerberus psyc profiles;

Awesome. Possum.

Modifié par Dark Satris, 10 août 2012 - 01:37 .

[WarGriffin]

Dark Satris wrote...

as i told Dbohr in the cerberus psyc profiles;

Awesome. Possum.

Isn't it Opossum?

anyway the last major Operative would be

K  LaCroix

Who has essentially replaced Miranda as TIM's right hand woman -Kai does all the "wet" work, LaCriox deals with all the mechinics- This one is based on Miranda's original concepts, was suppose to be the blonde femme fatale-Alot more cold and calulating and alot less vulnerable.-

This changed over time of course to the Miranda alot of people love... the hair color change was due to dark hair matching the uniform better but I don't see it personally.


Operative "Dist"
If Kai is TIM's personal attack dog and somewhat the General's....  Dist is the Visionary's. Having no background and always wearing armor and face mask-full mask think the Fury's-... No one knows who the guy is or even what he sounds like. However as an operative his easily on par with Kai and if his around in other cerberus missions it's only cause The Visionary has some goal to accomplish.


any other operatives would be in the vein of the unique enemies in ME2 they serve as mission boss fights.
Fun fact Operatives comming from the Alliance military tend to get refered to by thier rank in the alliance
Mercs just thier name
and operatives that serve the Visionary tend to have code names, like Vector, Shade, ETC are seem to not exist anymore they are simply pawns of thier masters will


Will start the restructure later... got a T-storm blowing in guys

[WarGriffin]

Anybody gotta handy list of the Cerberus missions in order on them?

[WarGriffin]

On Miranda... IMHO Miranda should have been on the Me3 sqaud from the getgo, They make her one of the hardest to kill during the Suicide mission and even if you play horribly You have to have two squadmates survive. Miranda is logically one of those default two. and she's pratically a poster character for ME2's squad.

And with conflict with Cerberus pretty much overshadowing the Reapers... Miranda not being on the squad makes even less sense... Now I could buy the excuse of She wants to do her mission on her own even if it is stupid and being with Shepard would logically be more benefitinicail then dodging Leng and other Cerberus assassins on her own.


but the excuse they give why she doesn't join the squad after Sanctuary is just BS -or the game is pretty much over-

The Cerberus conflict should not have lasted into the final stages of the game... The Kronus station assault should have either been the end of a very long second act or the Third Act... Not be the prelude to the final act.

Then again I think Earth should not have been the final mission... but thats another arguement.



anyway

Here is how i've reorganized the Cerberus N7 missions

N7: Communication Hub
Since the early stage of the game your not suppose to know whether Cerberus is the villians are just thier usually villian with an agenda selves yet... Why not start with something that makes sense. A Cerberus strike team has been spotted trying to hack the communications of the alliance from an out of the way hub.
-The operative incharge would be like an elite engineer who seems to report back to the Architect-

This sounds like Cerberus usual MO instead of starting off with the most blantly evil missions and having Hackett act like an idiot with the whole "thier still a wild card in this." and Really I always felt this was a really easy mission.

N7: Cerberus Lab
Ahh the first sign that Cerberus is dabbling with things they shouldn't and this time it's a base run by Visionary's brand of operatives -biotics-... expect pyschotic banter-
The Grisson Academy mission would also be a company to this one with more of the Visionary's nut balls running the show.


N7: Cerberus Fighter Base
N7:Cerberus Attack
Tunchanka: The Bomb mission
These two would be after a certain event -cough Sanctuary's destruction- and would be basically Cerberus pretty much throwing off the guise of Villian with an agenda too thier own damn side-or TIM only thinks his his own damn side- and honestly Cerberus trying to screw the Krogan up after the deal with the turians in made makes more sense then them trying to prevent it for... dumb reasons also the Reapers being more dug into Tuchanka would make Victus' failed black op more sensible then they just got hit by the scouting party.


N7: Cerberus Abductions
This mission would be the swan song to Cerberus or the TIM we knew and love as he pretty much makes it clear his lost his mind. after yet another major event -Cerberus Schism anyone- TIM is forced to use abduction to fill his ranks with the loss of Sanctuary and losing a substantial chunk of his troops.


Liara as the Shadow Broker would come in handy when Shepard needs to track down the Heads.

[WarGriffin]

Cerberus outline

Mars Archive- Really not much to say, It works at making Cerberus antagonistic... if it is a bit heavy handed with just how TIM blows you off if you try reasoning with him

After shepard heads off toward the citadel you'd get the rest of the scene in the Cerberus HQ.

The Heads Meet - A simply Scene to introduce The Heads, Kai and LaCroix. The General seems disturbed that TIM resorted to killing everybody at the Mars base since Eva easily could have gotten the Data and left.

The Visionary defends the action due to the reapers forcing thier hand. The Architect comments that Most of Cerberus' Mars assets were secured before the invasion though a few Cerberus squads are left on Earth and Mars fighting reaper troops. The General asks whether Cerberus will commit to fighting with the Earth Resistance. TIM says he'll leave Earth's status to the Alliance and those left behind are on thier own.

The General -whose with his fleet after the Reaper kicked the crap out of Arcturus- seems offput by TIM's casual resignation of Earth and His own men. Kai speaks up from behind TIM asking what they should do about Shepard. Lacroix -in a manner similar to how Miranda was first introduced- states that Shepard is to be left alone.

TIM states he thinks Shepard will turn around to his thinking soon enough. Kai seems unconvinced with that possiblity and TIM tells him to stay away from Shepard. TIM says he'll send the data to the Architect for decrypting and Dismisses the Meeting.


The Scene is used to set up how each member represents something

The General and The Visionary are like the Fans veiws of the Cerberus Necessary evil anti-villian -The General- or Evil for the sake of Science and advancement -The Visonary. The Architect is a more neutral postion. The General and Visionary also serve as counterpoints to TIM's own state... The General how he started... The Visionary where his going.

Kai is less like Shepard's more balanced Mirror -TIM would be a better foil to Shepard- and more like A Extreme Renegade Shepard with Lacroix being a Miranda without a conscience or Family issue.

[WarGriffin]

Communication HUB

-The mission is pretty much the same except now with an operative boss -An Master Engineer- and a minfield of turrets-


The After Mission Cerberus scene has TIM discussing the failure with the Architect, While Kai uses the incident to prove his point that Shepard is too much of a liablity and should be dealt with -Kai brings up Tim being to lenient with Ezno and Miranda- insteadof just sitting around waiting for Shepard to undermine them at a crucial moment. The Architect agrees with Kai however TIM pretty much blows them off and tells Kai he has decided to change his assignment to something more challenging -The Citadel attack-


Grissom Academy still happens where it does

though you'll face two Cerberus operatives -A Phoenix Type Vanguards- running it

The Cerberus scene here is between Lacriox, TIM and the Visionary -The General is mentioned leading his fleet on a hit run campaign on the Reapers cause you know someone in the sword of humanity has to keep fighting for humanity-

The visionary laments not being able to retrieve as many of the biotics he wished- and will Mention Jack's capture as something he looked forward too- Lacriox will bring up thier Avatar project and Grayson. The Visionary states Grissom is where Kai recieved a good deal of wounds that lead to his first set of upgrades mentioning Grayson and Anderson as the two responsible.
TIM says Kai will soon show if those next set of implants he requested are worth it.


After Sur'Kesh
The General is reporting activity from Cerberus troops that were left on Earth and Mars and The Alliances current strategy for hit and run with TIM when the Visionary reports the Failure of the attack on Sur'Kesh.

TIM explains that his trying to slow the Genophage cure so the allied counter attack won't come as quickly... giving thier two main projects more time to figure out the Reaper indoctrination code. The General has the sane logic of that feeling that the Reapers don't need need the punches. While the Visionary says that the odds of a joint Krogan/Turian offensive were too great to ignore. -Proving his nuts!-

TIM however says they'll let Shepard have this alliance for now but for the Visionary to keep his eyes on Tuchanka... TIm doesn't want the Krogan to gain to much momentum.

Next update will be the Citadel attack.

[WarGriffin]

Small update

So The Cerberus Operatives would be wearing the Cerberus elite armors

http://images3.wikia...sault_Armor.png

http://images3.wikia...e_Armor_MEI.png

http://images3.wikia...e_Armor_MEI.png

http://images4.wikia...r_Armor_MEI.png

http://images2.wikia...h_Armor_MEI.png

Most of the operatives follow the ME2 concept of being unique

Makes them stand out when you fight them.


Question on Miranda Should She be a missable Squadmate or a you can only miss her if she's already dead -IE like Garrus- and when do you think is the best point for her to join up with Shepard?

[WarGriffin]

Citadel Attack -It's a long one-

While there would be hints of the upcoming attack -increase in traffic, purchases of weapons as though thier being cached and reports of people in the keeper tunnels-

The Citadel attack would serve as A: Cerberus' first major fight sicne the ambush on Sur'kesh B: The Formal Introduction of Kai and his Strike team.

However I'm one of the people that agrees with the notion that Cerberus has far to many troops without relying on Mechs and befroe Lawson has fully started to abuse to flood of war time refugees.

Thus The Citadel attack is now comprised of two stages of enemy factions
Cerberus -In the C-sec HQ- and the Reason C-sec has strecthed soon thin that a Cerberus strike team of elites can take thier HQ... Kai and his team has essentialy released every Criminal in C-sec's custody and armed them and thier runnnig wild all over the Citadel. -and depending how you dealt with the Blue sun quest depends on if you have boss fight with Jonas Sederis along with the optional Sniper operative battle.-

The entry scene would be more of homage to the ME1's scene where Saren got on the Citadel... -even if it didn't make sense- of the empty control room and the Backs of Kai and his two LTs leaving.

So C-Sec's HQ would be mostly the same except certain sections would hint at Kai's team members -IE the room with the sprinklers going off is laced with toxins-The Medic/Bioengineer/MadScientist-... Some rooms are booby traped with mines and trip wires -Explosive expert-  etc etc


The first Major change is Kai's Intro scene which would be wildly different depending on who saves/doesn't save the Councilar

If No one is around to save Councilar, Shepard simply sees the Councliar decloak and heads down but doesn't see Kai cloaked in the rafters... once Shepard arrives, in time to see the councilar get a bullet in the head and no one around save the faint glimmer of Kai's cloak form jumping off the ledge to which Shepard and co wildly fire at.

This means you won't see Kai till a little later and has a scenario that can be easily doctored to make it look like shepard killed the Salarian... without the stupid of Kai and Shpeard playing ring around the target.

If Kirrahe is alive-and you don't have Thane taking the bullet-, As shepard turns to Leave. Kirrahe decloaks from behind the Councilar and opens fire with his nifty STG weapons and tells the Councilar to run... Shepard and Co dash inside just in time to see Kai -still cloaked though- pull a Darth vader by biotically pulling Kirrahe into his grip and deliver a point blank palm blast. -Remember Kai is suppose to be brutally effective-  and in a Scene similar to to in Predator where they kill the forest,- Shepard and Co open fire to chase off Kai. Though Kai steals Kirrahe's scorpion in the process -it'll be important later-

If Thane is Alive and is the one taking the bullet.-or not if the thanemacers lobby enough support- Thane pretty much comes down on the Rafter like ****ing Batman armed with a combat knife and his phalanx. You see the cloaked Kai draw his sword and his googles glow -notice the Predator homages- All you see is a biotic explosion the Salarian councilar runs into you having fleed the scene, Shepard and co Rush to help thane just as Kai and Thane finish thier first Melee brawl.

Thane has not only gotten Kai to Decloak -you never see what Kai Looks like until he drops down on top of you- but also split his googles so you can see his face... however Thane's left arm-then one his using his knife with- is clearly been mangled from the exchange. You'll get Kai trademark cocky grin once he realizes Thane might actaully be a challenge and then Rushes at him, Thane tries to gun him down with the Phalanx -and Shepard and co try a to get in a few shots as well but Kai's impants basically let him weave through a guy shooting at him at nearly point blank range.  -Remeber the scene is suppose to First Establish Kai as threat... then THEN make Thane look good in death not the other way around- 

Kai goes for what appears to be a biotically charged upper cut but Thane counters with a biotic Sweep kick. A few close near point blank shotsand blade trikes later before Kai catches thane off guard when Thane goes for a downward Knife thrust into Kai' Head... but kai uses his shoulder to throw Thane's attack off so Kai can Skewer him, Kai then Steals Thane's Phanlanx and biotical kicks Thane -off his sword- into Shepard and Co so he can effectively retreat. while usinfg the Phanlanx as covering fire.


That would end the C-sec portion of the mission... now for the Presidium.

[WarGriffin]

Presidium  Portion


As Shepard gets in an Aircab trying to race to the besieged Council chambers, Kai appears on the hood giving you the first good look at him -and before he jumps off the bridge, he throws off the googles if Thane didn't break them due to them taking damage from you or Kirrahe shooting at him-

Shepard this time not being powered by stupid goes for the simple Barrel Roll -Insert Peppy Hare here- but Kai is using the boot traction trick. Shepard goes for the more requested scrap him off the hood using the bridges manuever... but sadly Kai apparently having just played ME2 does Kasumi's spider man jump to leap over the bridge and land on the back of the car. Shepard quickly opens the door and tries to fire a few shots but Leng simply reaches his arm behind him to activate his shield and then uses a Biotical charged palm blast to blow a hole straight through the car's engine... instead of just mildy stabbing it. Shepard grabs for the controls while Kai jumps and the does Samara's biotic float/glide trick to land on another bridge with Dias flying around to pick him up.

Meanwhile The VS and Two other spectres fight with a Cerberus squad that has breached the council Chamber
Kaidan will show off his Biotics, Ashley her marksmanship/Gunfu skills. Yeah just a scene to let the VS be different and look compentent for once. with them impressively killing Cerberus troops -even Phantoms- and escapees-

Shepard crashes into the Presidium wall and now must begin a treck through a a firefight between all the escaped convicts, C-sec and The Cerberus troops that are gonna be dug in waiting for them. As you go Cerberus teams will be apparently falling back, and Kai's team will be introduced  as they attack just to stall you. Dragunov, Kuchiki and other operatives will show up, buff some of thier troops and fight with you a bit then Either an Atlas, Phantoms or a large group of escaping convicts will show up givng them the cover to retreat.

 between all this, Kai and Dias will meet up with Triad whose acting as command and setting up a defense line, He'll note that the Council and one Spectre-The VS dud- have escaped the Tower and are most likely trying to get off the Citadel and his attempting to get the troops to corral them. Kai tells him to get Udina to lead them to a specific dock and he'll be waiting for them. Kai then mentions if all squads are accounted for as him and dias saw an operative and several engineers out of the operation area. Triad says all troops are accounted for, Dead or Active. Kai seems annoyed as he walks off stating to Dias that he should have known he was just the distraction.


Half way through Shepard will have get cut off by Dragunov just demolishing a large chunk of the strip with explosives forcing you to head down and over. This will take you into the Old ME1 Presidium map. You won't run into Cerberus but you'll meet heavy restistance from the convicts -Though you'll run into Aria, Gavorn and a few Spectres cleaning house- If you head by the Relay monunment you'll get a sub boss fight with Jonas Sederis if you didn't have her killed, If you skip the fight, Jonas willbe killed when she attempts to kill Aria, She's just a buffed up version of Vasir minus the rest periods.-

Your Goal is to get to Council Tower... once you get there you'll learn that the VS has taken the Council and spilt. Now you have to race to catch up. Luckily for you C-Sec has begun to make a comeback are slowing Leng's advance on the council though Udina might be purposfully leading them to a killzone.

you now have to use the other side of the Presidium get ahead of leng and crossover... however you'll eventually find the two Spectres that were helping the Vs defend the council one of them is wounded and the other is trying to fight off a Cerberus Sniper -Spenz- whose taking shots from across the Presidium. If you choose to help, you'll get and old school ME1 sniper rifle and engage Spenz in a Sniper duel... if you don't the unwounded spectre will attempt to cover you but will die in the process

Another treck through C-sec and Convict fighting and you'll crossover to the other side... just narrowly behind Leng -whose team has basically slaughtered through C-sec and Convict alike- and one last section of Cerberus resistance tohugh this time thier dug the hell in.

This will lead to the elevator section -instead of Kai and bunch of Phantoms, it's Kai and his team- and of course the Standoff


I'll write up the Aftermath later but I'd like some feedback atleast for the citadel part-


Before you ask The convicts fight like a mix of the Merc factions -Bloodpack, Blue Sun and Eclipse and have a variety of races, their just all in "street" clothes and not battle armor.-


Why add the Convict part of the plot... Cerberus needs to have a believable reason for why they can take over C-Sec and essentially keep the Citadel in chaos after Bailey regains control. Also This Makes Cerberus seem more elite and limited in number

Only a few Squads holding the Hq and a few Sqauds sprinkled throughout the Presidium fighting. The Convicts are them more numerous enemies. and Really it's plot that suppose make Kai seem more intelligent and Resourceful then just well Cereal killer.

Kai hopefullly comes off as more compentent an enemy even though alot of his lethality is due to him basically being evil thane + shepards upgrades + Reaper demon biotics. Though he is TIM's most dangerous pawn his still a pawn and even Kai knows that with Spenz's presence showing that even in a scheme that screams last ditch effort. TIM has the mastermind to hide a scheme in it and who knows what other things he planted while this attack was going on.

[WarGriffin]

Citadel Aftermath

Surprisingly there is no Kai/TIM mission failed talk -cause Kai pretty much figured that killing the council was the least important objective of this whole plan. Tim and his plots within plots gets annoying after awhile.


Helm of Hades

The Cerberus Heads conven to dicuss the ramifcations of TIM's Citadel operation. The General states that TIm's gamble has effectively destroyed public support and even have some of thier own rethinking thier stance on Cerberus, and Now  Humanity has lost a good deal of standing with the other races who could have helped them reclaim lost ground or eased the pressure.


The Architect implies that TIM planted a large number of data synchs and hacks. Giving Cerberus intel on the Citadel races entire war movements.

TIM defends the mission as a gamble, throwing out thier old advantages-Udina, several dozen sleeper agents and a reduced physical presence on the Citadel cause C-sec is gonna crack down hard- for new ones, like the Citadel's wealth of infromation in it's acrhives and using the Mars archives data they'll be able to gain access to even layers of the Citadel Mainframe that the Council never dreamed of.

The Visionary compliments it as a needed first step for Cerberus to stop playing in the shadows.

The General seems unconvinced and logs off, with the Architect following afterwards Leaving the Visionary and TIM to speak.

The Visionary points out that Leng may have been able to kill Shepard if not for TIM's order for Leng to avoid fighting Shepard. Almost coming close to saying he agrees with Leng's veiw that Shepard is too much of a threat to leave runnning around.

"I've never know you to care for what other think of your methods and goals, Yet I must agree with Operative Leng. Your fixation with Shepard seems... unlike you."

TIM refers to the visionary by his name "Renault" and you'd get you first look of him, but he pretty much blows the question off as to why his letting Shepard live and changes the subject to the "Avatar" project. Renault states that thier two operations on indoctrination research have paid off, Some of the Avatar's have regain/kept thier personas even when 80% reaper modified, and those that have fully sucumbed to indoctrination effects, They are showing close to complete control of them... aside the occasional slip up.

Renault states that one of the main researchers -Not Lawson- wishes to implement the Indoctrination treatment on all operatives with class 3 upgrades and higher to reduce the chance of Reaper infiltration and possibly undo some of the indoctrination mental damage -as you know Indoctrination leaves you pretty brain dead once you fully succumb-

TIM for a second seems like his gonna order it without a moments thought...an awkard pause latter. he says to postpone it, instead cycle troops in and out to the Facilty and let them recieve individual treatments -IE the slower way- stating they don't want to tip the Reapers off too soon that they've found a way around indoctrination

Renault pauses only for a second before agreeing with it, and asks if Kai's team should be the first ones through.

-We fade out before TIM answers-

The conversation is to show Cerberus is somewhat divided by thier own actions and TIM seems to be showing signs of his indoctrination is growing strong enough to directly changes his decisions. The General whose stuck in the Trenches seems to be losing faith in his old friend TIM, The architect seems on the fence. The Visionary seemingly in full support yet almost more like his egging TIM down the path.

The Visionary's reveal, The Avatar Project and They have two people working on indcotrination... one trying to cure it, the other trying to manipulate it.


Meanwhile... Shepard has the nightmare session post Citadel coup -It's been a long day- and awakens to find the room darker then usually and then...

"Sleep Well Commander?"

As the lights slowly come on to reveal Kai Leng crashed on Shepard's Couch


DUN DUN DUN!

[WarGriffin]

Kai Leng Convo/ Chat with Death

If Shepard is Zeus, TIM Hades and Anderson Posiedon... what does that make Kai? wouldn't that make Miranda... Ewww

-Yeh I haven't talk about miranda much trust me Miranda wil get  a whole section of her own.-

This is the first of three Convos with Kai -Remember His been orderd not to kill you, and at this point Kai, is still loyal enough to question TIM's order but follow them.- so instead of kill you his snuck onto your ship, The original intro for Kai was an assault on the normandy itself, but they decided that was too similar to the Collector attack so they scraped it... so instead We have Kai crashing on your couch, drinking your booze, just watching you sleep... cause Kai is some much of smug jackass... he can sneak onto your ship and kill you, and never know it... and he wants you to know that!...

Though if it was Deception's writer Kai would steal Shepard's box of Lucky charms and spam his email with porn.


This one is unique cause alot of Kai's opening greeting and comments are gonna be heavily based on your background and previous actions in ME1 and ME2 -IE If you call him out on being a monster... He happily agrees... and then Verbally pwns you for being  the Butcher of Torfan but apparently deep down you can't live with your choices. Remember Kai was sitting there as you thrashed about in your sleep dreaming abotu that one dead kid you couldn't possibly save... apparently he has a point. Yes to get the most out of Kai's dialouge here DON'T pick Red or Blue options... Kai is apparently immune to Shepard's verbal i win buttons those tend to be.

IE If you were really renegade in ME1 but went super paragon in me2, Kai will make the comment that Miranda rebuilt you minus the "hardass" aspect.

Kai has brought with him- depending on how the Citadel mission went- Thane/Kirrahe/His personal pistol and has it sitting on the table.

Kai tells you it's loaded and if you feel compeled to avenge your fallen friend/your failure. He won't stop you. Though Kai does say the price of revenge is high. -and about 80% of you just mentally hit the renegade button to grab the gun and poop Kai in the head without even reading that-

If you decide to control yourself, You can get a few tidbits about Kai's backstory, His thoughts on Kahlee and Anderson " Shouldn't they have three kids by now", When he brings up your being a Traitor to Cerberus, you can learn the fate of Paul Grayson and Kai stating he should have left a survivor... "If I had known the Asari's mother, I would have just left her. That mistake has caused me more trouble in the past fews then I can remember. Us taking Omega from her has just made it worse."

Heck you can even get a funny bit about Shepard's tolerance when Kai offers you a Drink. Shepard again... not running on Stupid knows you don't take liquids from the trained assassin -wouldn't that make dates with Thane awkard?-
 
Kai comments that with the liver they gave you, He'd have to have two bottles and pour them directly down your throat if he wanted to kill  you with posion.

Strung through the conversation are hints of Kai forming doubts about TIM's recent actions, picking the right one, -Hint When his talking about certain high ranking members starting to pull away- Essentailly suggest the Idea that TIM may have started Cerberus and its ideals... but is he still serving those ideals... or his own personal ambitions.

Granted your not gonna break Kai's loyalty with one conversation... especially in your underwear-NO Femshep you cannot woo Kai into accepting your opinion as fact... no boob flashing!- This is more you feeling out and looking for the ****** in the armor.

Once Kai has had enough trying to get a read of you, He'll ask you to escort him to the airlock, Yes, Kai has the balls to personally let you walk him off your ship. He does let you keep the Gun on the table though.

Again you have the chance to kill Kai, but if you don't Kai will place his helmet on and be shot out the Airlock... only for his Ship -The Omaha... a normandy class Frigate, Remember Cerberus had the blue prints for the thing... they could build as many as they wanted... and a fleet of stealth frigates with the fire power of a dreadnought makes more sense with Cerberus, then them having a fleet that can rival the allainces.- to appear and one of his team to pull him back in.


You can probably guess what happens if you killed Kai, In a scene that seems to be a replay of the ME2's opening, The Omaha will appear and attack the normandy... and Kai having rigged the ship, kills Joker -basically causes Joker to fry himself when he tries to accelerate- and results in a game over... but hey Atleast you can get your Kai hate out

[WarGriffin]

Quick question...

What would you think be a good Tell whether or not your getting through to Kai?

I was thinking as a Nod to ME2 the more indoctrinated Kai is, his Implants flare up like Shepards when you do renegade actions until you basically have the Glowy Red TIM eyes. -Since Kai's not wearing the dumb domino mask!-

[WarGriffin]

Anyway next one will probably be Horizon -yeah flipped that around-

The real issue with my idea is it would need a large content boost to go with it- Me3 is ridiculously short feeling as it is now- Most likely involving a mroe steady Reaper advance toward the citadel once the Main race worlds are invaded... Maybe let the Allies gain afew real victories instead of the all or nothing attack and hope the crucibe does soemthing mentality that Hackett adopts

[WarGriffin]

Priority Horizon / Hades' Queen
Taking place after Rannoch  but before  some more aggressive campaigning planned for Palaven and Sur'Kesh theaters, Miranda sends Shepard a distress call.
Throughout the First Act, Miranda has of course been trying to find her little sister and her douche' of a father, claiming she needs to do it alone despite her being high on TIM's hit list.
Now she calls for help at the Horizon Sanctuary. So Shepard and Co gear up and head off to save her.
There is a brief Cerberus scene where Lacriox discusses Miranda and her betrayal -if Miranda is dead she'll just skip it- with TIM. TIM provides his speculation that while Miranda was more controlled then Leng as an operative -casue Kai has done stupid things based on instinct ala killing Aria's daughter,, yeah yeah make it it look like Grayson did it and fled... but he did it on a whim- Miranda was not as grounded in her beliefs. Making her the prime target to be swayed by Shepard. Lacroix then Questions Leng's loyalty. TIM states Leng beleives in Cerberus' ideals... aslong as he thinks TIM holds those ideals, His loyalty isn't a problem.

The Horizon mission is now more mixed, with Cerberus and the Reapers fighting. After getting into the facilty and Learning Cerberus little secret. Shepard learns that Kai and his Team is there... along with Miranda. Depending on how your conversation with Kai went. Kai may be showing red techno eye from a new round of upgrades.
Kai will tell the two squad members he brought to get ready for Shepard and company, He'll deal with Miss Lawson.
Kai's Squadmates will be based on who Shepard brought.
Liara: Dias -Close combat biotic specialist, A phantom with alot more moves and biotic powers
VS: Triad -Support fire, A jack of all trades combatant
Vega: Dragunov -Heavy Weapons/Demoltions, high powered weapons fire and lots of booms
EDI: Kuchiki -Field Medic/Biowarfare specialist expect Neural stun and to be poisoned alot
Garrus: Syuveil,  Sniper 
Tali: Ambervale, The Tech Expert
Javik: Kazas - Project Warlock Bitoic same type of biotic implants they gave Kai except Kazas is natural biotic from a process that gave us Jack-

Shepard will fight the two in the underground tram area when trying to Reach Henry Lawson's Lab

When beaten a horde of reapers will rush in to stop the fight, allowing Shepard and Co to get around them, while they get stuck fighting a horde.


As you go deeper into the underground Lab Lawson's Logs reveal his work is on two things, Overriding the Reaper indoctrination -and thanks to Leviathan apparently it can be done- and completing the final stages of something called Project Avatar.

Another Log will well show that Miranda was here before you and Kai is right behind her... and her escape has released all subject

Another Log show Henry Lawson with Orianna close by showing Kai his progress. Kai will mention Grayson being used as he was a traitor... and then asks how Lawson choses who is to be made an Avatar and just a standard  trooper. Lawson says most of the Avatar canidates are the more talented operatives of Cerberus since the mental control is needed for them to withstand the much more powerful reaper implants they have.  Kai's pause kinda tells you everythnig you need to know.

Another Log has Lawson scoffing at the Work of  Aulin, His counterpart working on ways to reduce, recover the damage done by and prevent indoctrination, wondering how long TIM will keep wasting resources on her little naive dream.

Entering the deepest part of the lab reveals... something has been slaughtering the Reapers whole sale... and a very arrogant Henry Lawson  over the intercom welcomes Miranda to his Workshop. -Its clearly prerecorded so Henry saw Miranda coming to kill him- and Shepard is introduced to Cerberus Tier 2 units... The Avatar line.

The replacement for the standard Assualt troops and Centurions, The Heavily armed, Orthrus is armed with a mix between an saber auto/ Reegarcarbine combination... Stay at range and don't let it fry you up close.

The Avatar name convention follows Cerberus habit of naming things after Greek/Roman influences... most of the time anyway. All the Avatar units names are based on famous Greek monsters

The Avatars are more powerful enemies but few in number so be prepared. They'll wipe most reaper forces if you ignore them. 

The Avatar's duel wielding phantom upgrade, Is called Scylla and  Her Nemesis counterpart, Charybdis
The Avatar engineer is called the Nemean -as in the Nemean Lion- The Heavy weapon Avatar, The  Lernaean -as in the Hydra... and it due to his suit having a fare amount of weapons on it

The Avatar's Boss units is called the Ladon-it's a dragon in greek myth... Guards the golden apples-, while smaller then an Atlas, is a poor foul like David who has been fully intergrated with a powerful state of the art mech. It's alot faster and less clunky and has much more punsihing weapons.


after taking a 101 in all things Avatar, you'll finally reach Lawson's tower.

through out all of this, you'll have scenes of Miranda trying to stay a head of Leng... until Leng finally cuts her off, The fight is brief, with Leng's more unholy biotics and better hand to hand skills giving him the advantage, Miranda however is able to get away when a Banshee shows up and gets Leng's attention.  Miranda however is attacked by Lacriox, using slam to stun her long enough to escape as Leng finsishes off the Banshee

Lacriox orders Leng to head down to the base generator and rig it to blow, since they have a Reaper incoming, and She'll deal with Lawson. Leng grudgingly accepts and heads down to the tower's lobby... where STAND OFF with Shepard.

[WarGriffin]

Let's finish Priority Horizon and then discuss some things

One thing I'd probably try to get across if I had to redesign the Horizon level... Is make it feel like a Makeshift city for 100's of thousands of fleeing refugees, instead of finding the lab right next to the entrance.


This is the second confrontation with Kai... and what Shepard chooses to do will effect how the rest of the mission and the Cerberus arc plays out


After some tense banter, where you can more fully question his loyalty to Cerberus and TIM -Leng makes it sound like the two are one and the same, Shepard points out that may have been true at the start, and even Shepard admired TIM's devotion... but TIM'S changed and Leng should be smart enough to see that-

You essentially come down to a choice.

Attempt to Avenge your fallen on the citadel by fighting Kai... or Ignore him and let him head toward the Reactor

fighting him makes the mission shorter much shorter-and can be used as a preview for the battle on thessia-,  and once you drop his shield bar, his two squadmates catch up to you
making it a 3 v 3 fight


However once you drop one of them . The Reaper Dreadnought and two Destroyers show up to start destorying Sanctuary, breaking up the fight before it can finish.


A Badly Wounded Miranda will appear carrying her sister... Oriana is already dead but Miranda is kinda nuts from her wounds. You make a hasty retreat to Cortez and run like hell as the Reapers demolish the main tower.

Miranda will either die from her wounds or pull through based on her loyalty and how you treated her in ME3 to this point. you'll only find out what happenedif miranda surives

Miranda killed Henry... but only after he shot through Oriana to wound her. Then Lacriox and someone else attacked her and left her for dead.  Miranda thinks they were there for her father's research

Miranda realizing Her going it alone has cost her everything -If she's you LI... She'll ask where were you? It's best not to answer getting payback- and that she should have stuck with you and helped. She might have beable to stop her father sooner and not lost Ori.


Miranda will become a Sqaudmate after this... Kicking Allers out of her room and making Allers set up a room in the Hanger... like what Vega has going.



The Post Cerberus scene has Kai pissed he let Shepard make a fool of him and allowed Lacroix and Dist to get the data before him and he didn't even get to nuke the reapers. Kai contemplates getting new Reaper enhancements... more along the lines of the Avatar units. -He'll have the glowing Red  Renegade eyes on Thessia-

Lacriox revels in one uping Leng and Miranda as she present's Lawson's Data to TIM, who is pleased they can start the next phase of thier plan. The Visionary states that with the Data he can start equiping his Bitoics with special control enhancments that should allow them to take control of reaper units a much needed source of troops now that Cerberus doesn't have a steady flow of able bodies anymore- A New Cerberus Unit-

The General seems the most put off by the fact that TIm was using forced conscription -He was under the impression it was still mostly volentary- on Civilians and TIM's usual poetic justifications aren't working anymore. The general asks the simple question of when can he expect Doctor Aulin's research to be implemented

TIM seems to be hazy on the answer and the Architect says that a copy of Lawson's research will speed the finalization of her indoctrination treatments. The Visionary questions that now they have the means to control the Reapers in the field it's only a matter of time till they have the means to do it full scale. He basically says Aulin's work is unnessary and they should stop sending troops to her for treatment. The General and The Visionary argue over the dangers of such a move before TIM breaks it up and says he'll consider the General's concerns.

once the heads leave He'll ask Lacriox if Aulin is still a viable asset to keep. We fade out before She answers.

If you don't choose to fight Kai... Kai will circle around you and met his two Squaddies who he'll order to follow him to the Reactor.

you will climb the Tower where your attacked from outside by Lacriox in a shuttle who'lll take pot shots at you with a rocket launcher. fighting her off till you reach the top where you find Miranda and Henry in a face off -he is of course suing ori as a human shield-

you can talk Henry into letting Ori go, and  prevent Miranda from killing him -or just shot him yourself- If miranda is dead -I'd kinda make her like Garrus no import she's alive, you have to import her as dead since cerberus is big part of the story, it's dumb to make Garrus the exception to that rule- If Miranda is dead you have to talk henry down or shot oriana in the leg to kill Henry without killing her.


If Henry escapes he doesn't get far... as Dist appears and... releaves him of his research data... and his Head -You'll see when Dist gives the data to The Visionary, He collects heads of brillant people and has them on display in his control room. Yeah his not pyscho at all-

Kai feeling sporting since you did elect not to fight him... gives you the friendly warning that the Reactor will blow in 15 minutes... Making it a beat the clock to get to the bottom of the tower as fresh reaper troops show up to cause hell.

Get Oriana and Miranda to safety and book as A Reaper Dreadnought and Two destroyers get a nasty surprise when they land.



Miranda will be thankful for you coming to help her though she admits she should have took your offer cause she doesn't know what would have happened if you were late.

Miranda comes to the same realization that her understanding of Cerberus would greatly benefit you now that Cerberus seems to be ready to step up the game.


Kai presents Lawson's Data -He got it from the mainframe while he was in the reactor Dist's copy is given to the Visionary- to TIM

TIM is impressed that Leng was able to outfox Shepard and Miranda -Lacriox fumes in the background-

The head meeting goes like before with the General more at odds with Cerberus current direction.


Leng asks what thier plan is if Lawson's data isn't enough to control the Reapers. Aulin's approach could be weaponized into a way to make the Reaper's loose control over troops have thier own army destory themselves. TIM says he doesn't need to worry,Lawson's data and the archive will lead them to domination of the Reapers... making plans to simply destroy them shows that Leng like Shepard still doesn't think in larger pictures.  Leng... isn't very impressed by the answer. Leng seems to support the General's notion that Cerberus should start fighting the Reapers now that they have more viable means but TIM again dismisses the notion saying Leng is starting to sound like Shepard.

Leng states he will be heading back to Aulin's lab for another anti- indoctrination treatment and then asks if TIM has had one for himself... The Scene fades before TIM answers.

[WarGriffin]

Don't plan on a real update today just some clarifications

The Architect is the more neutral of the three heads hence why you don't see her argueing as much as the General or Visionary  She shows up more in scenes where thier discussing Cerberus operations and new weapons but for the most part she's overseeing the R&D of the more pratical stuff.

The Avatar line of units is more of a classic Enemy Tier upgrade, Since the Avatar units are more humanoid reapers yet serve the functions of Cerberus lower tier enemies. The Enemy change is to shake up your encounters since you'll have encountered ALL of Cerberus units by the Citadel coup. except for the most basic Avatar ehose more of a Heavy infantry unit... all of the Avatar units should be treated like phantoms, Boss units.

The Horizon mission always reminded me of the X-labs from Return to Castle Wolfenstein -fitting since Cerberus is pretty much turned into the SS Paranormal division-, and the novels hinted at TIM trying to created an army of humanoid reaper variants that are more then mere husks. Since that Mission introduced the Uber-soldat, I figured it be fitting to introduce the more upgraded Cerberus troops here.

The Avatar units were meant to explain why Cerberus can still be a threat once they run out of a supply of cannon fooder and... for the purpose of this concept When "_____" happens and reduces thier forces. Anybody who is reading proably knows what's coming.


Kai Leng essential develops two ways, Shepard can try the usual stick of being the main character therefore thier right method... which does nothing but make Kai blinded to TIM's slow corruption as all Kai does is get obsessed with knocking Shepard off his pillar hence Kai will ignore indoctrination treatments and get more Reaper upgrades, hence the Renegade red eyes.


The approach of Leng's character... is like Morinth, Essential an evil/amoral being, but they are so grounded in it, that it makes them interesting. Leng is a Xenophobic, Ruthless, SOB -Xenophobic comes out in his insults toward your taste in company... and well XD if you have a alien love interest- doesn't mean he lacks any qualities you can't admire, now note that having admirable qualities doesn't excuse him for his more A-holish things he does. Killing Aria's daughter comes to mind. Leng and Co had Grayson and Liselle was a non issue. Leng only cut her throat... cause she was an asari. Now yeah later he claims he did it out of pragmatism, Liselle did see them and Her murder would make it seem like Grayson did it and fled Aria but at it's Core... He killed her cause she was an alien and he could get away with it. Leng's basically Renegade shepard at its worse when he follows his instincts.  But Leng is admirable for his intelligence, cunning and loyalty. Hell unlike most villians his the only reason Anderson and Kahlee catch up to Grayson and he did seem geniune in his offer of an alliance. and Leng isn't unreasonable at times.

Many people admire Morinth's love of freedom, Her appreciation for culture etc etc... though i get the feeling it due to Samara openly challenging your Main character authority that alot of people pick Morinth. and find her stories really interesting. Doesn't excuse she preyed on a young teenage girl cause it pleased her to do so.



Hence why i dislike His and TIM's thier indoctrinated = thier EVIL -and let's not discuss that Morinth got more screwed over then Jacob-
Saren was indoctrinated too, and yet he was an interesting/fleshed out character?

TIM's slow descent into full indoctrinated madness could have been a beautifully tragic series of events with how well he was written in Me2
-Hence why i have moments where Cerberus could easily turn around and start fighting the Reapers with you... but TIM elects to wait alittle longer, to let it play out a bit more, We'll jump in when the time is right at first it seems his playing his usual shadow chess game... but then you realize his stalling... or He simply can't give the order.

[WarGriffin]

I actaully decided to rework Kai's squad's names and make them references to WH40k... oddly it's cause i got into a quote war with someone and realised Cerberus is just a few steps away from the Imperium XD

R. Dias to

R. Zar -Yes i'm trying to keep the R a suprise... even though the one person reading this will have guessed it by now since I love to reference back to ME1 and ME2 with subtle nods, outright ones and obscure ones-

Zar is a reference to the Phoenix Lord Jain Zar, of the Howling Banshee aspects -The deadly female Eldar melee experts- This makes sense due to Zr being basically a Phantom on drugs- Kai fight's less like a phantom more like a weird Slayer/Sentinel/Infiltrator mismash.- since Zar acts as Kai 2nd or atleast as his command phantom I thought the name fit.


Triad... I couldn't think of a decent first name for poor Triad... His suppose to be the VS's counterpart the jack of all trades soldier. Essentially just a more unique Centurion i kept thinking and then it hit me... His the Centurion that goes the distance... His that underdog that everybody expects to get slaughter but then pulls off awesomeness and holds the line. His a Commissar that rises to the occasion.
Ciaphas Triad


Dragunov, His suppose to be the big weapons guy and is the counterpart to Vega His honestly the most warm individual on Kai's team other then Kai's snark ridden greetings, constantly jolly about
throwing down with you, but i wanted something wierd yet larger then life sounding name.
so I went with

Fuegan Eireksson:

His new name is mix of two references like Zar, his first name going from Nigel to Fuegan is due to his nature as Kai's heavy weapons/demolition expert, Fuegan is the Phoenix lord of the Flaming Dragons Aspect... the Heavy weapons specilists kinda self explainatory and it's just kinda a funny first name to have.

His last name Eireksson, is a reference to the Space Wolf Chapter... Not the Space wolf in particular but in his personality. Fuegan is the type of guy who will try to blow you up in the morning then met you in the bar, buy you a few rounds-more then a few if he did blow something off- and He takes a great deal of thrill in battle but doesn't let it become a hate. Which is strange since his the eldest of Kai's team -older then Kai- but his the one with the most positive attitude.

Kuchiki was mostly just a place holder name till i figure out a better one -I hoenstly couldn't decide what i wanted her to look like... I just kinda wanted an "evil" combat "medic" for the team in the vein of Christine Yamata from Resident's Operation Raccoon City... Granted Now she looks more like Lei fang from DoA in my head.

I went with Xia Shen

Xia for simply Red Sky... Shen is actaully a reference to M'Shen, The only human to every kill a Primarch -said primarch is oddly enough Referenced later XD- an Assassin of the all Female Callidus Temple whose trademarks are using drugs and the Neaural Shredder to kill thier enemies.

The idea that the Field Medic/Doctor of the enemy team is the one that can screw you up the most... the thoughts kinda terrifying, She's kinda Edi's counterpoint in that Edi is master againt all things synthetic and is amp at dealing with them... Xia is master of all things Organic knowing several weakness and exploits. -You ever seen a Krogan sneeze out his own lungs?-


Syuveil
Syuviel gets a last name, Kurze -told ya- Being the Sniper and Counterpart to Garrus, Kurze gets his named from the fitting Konrad Kurze aka Batman of WH40K, a man whose pursuit of justice corrupt him. I'm still working on how Kurze fits into the Team. He isn't so much of a bro, His very much the more jaded cynical member, Its like if Garrus actaul was batman -even though I think his stint as Archangel was mroe akin to the punisher but that's another arguement for another topic and brooded all the time. -The Ladies would still love him-

Ambervale was just a placeholder name -again- I was kinda thinking of naming her after Ciaphas on again off again love interest Inquesitor Amberley Vail -Ambervale- however I wanted a tech fighting...

Zar is a phantom on drugs but she fights like a biotic. IE using charge,warp and Barrier instead of cloaking- So here I'd have a counterpart to Tali -or Kasumi if you follow some of the logic and my weakness for asian girls... I'm proud of it damn it!-

Ayumi Sien, Sien is a reference to the Tech heavy Iron Hands space marine chapter known for thier close relationship with the Tech core of the Imperium-

Ayumi is like Tali back in ME1 the youngest of the Team, She fights more like a shadow instead of hanging back sending in drones and trying to hack you... She can but she's usally throwing out electric, Fire or Cyro attacks. She's more like an aggresive Kasumi -Goto not Kasumi Dead or alive which is what i kinda picture her looknig like... now I've just confused you-

So if you bring Tali to Thessia, you'd be fighting a Boss Phantom. Shadow and The Hybrid of both!

Kazas is easily the most augmented person on the Team...-only Kai going full reaper Avatar outdoes him in number of implants- Kazas comes from the desire to actaully see a weaponized version of a renegade Jack -who regardless of what you did in Me2 cleans herself up- however to balance that out His the most reserved member of the team constantly keeping calm until he let's loose the beserker inside. Most of his nervous system has been replaced with complex biotic amps to give him a level of biotic mastery unseen by humans and even the asari to extent. however wonce he lets loose his a near unstoppable Maelstorm. Only one other person has had the biotic procedure done to them. -Seeing that it's insane to rip your nervous system out and repace it with a synthetic... I give you one guess who it is, Kai's the third so it's not him and you can prevent that if you don't push Kai toward the Avatar route-

I decided to change Kazas to Kharn in homage to the World Eaters greatest berserker and Champion.

Now I know what you saying... Shouldn't you have gone with something to homage the Thousand Suns? Biotics are basically the Mages of the ME verse so why name him after the most infamous Space marine Mages instead of the ones that abhore magic?

Two reasons
Kharn is a known by one name basis... It's to make him a counterpoint to Javik and like i said Jack who have a first name basis. Javik and Jack huh never noticed that you two more offesive biotic have j names.

The World Eaters are known for thier extensive neural implant networks to make them fearless unfeeling killing machines. Kharn here is that contradiction... His a Beserker Mage, His implants spike highest when his in full bloodlust do to the degree they are woven into his nervious system.


I think Ilike this name set better... unless you have a suggestion I'm all open for feedback... Insults?


could you alteast bring me a soda