Some fears were warranted.
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Other than indoctrination?
http://social.biowar...3/index/8669200
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Warning: It’s called TL;DR for a reason.
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Note:
This is a NON-spoiler TL;DR. You do not need to read the spoilers to understand this TL;DR, nor will any major OR minor missions or plot points be referenced.
Please do not reference spoilers from the Beta.
/Note
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Executive Summary
This TL;DR is broken into two parts.
Part 1) Motivations for People Who Work with Cerberus other than indoctrination and old-fashioned pure fanaticism
Part 2) Anti-Cerberus mission types (and why Cerberus would do them)
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Writing the villains of a work can be a surprisingly tricky task. On one hand, they’re villains: if they morally sound and reasonable, they probably wouldn’t be villains in the first place. On the other hand, good villains need good motivations: evil for evil’s own sake, or depraved nihilism, make for poor rallying cries. Their motivation doesn’t have to be morally sound (or else they wouldn’t be villains), and it doesn’t even have to be entirely reasonable (or else they wouldn’t be villains either), but villains should at least be understandable through their own point of view even if you don’t subscribe to it.
The paradigm of Cerberus has always been human survivalist/xeno-nationalist: for humans to survive and ascend and prosper. It has appealed to bigots and idealists alike, from Kai Leng to Jacob Taylor, and apparently maintains some mass appeal as well.
Even giving way to the buzzword catch-all of ‘indoctrination’, the sudden shift to siding with the Reapers, the epitome of death and destruction for all, is in major contrast to the established paradigm. Doubtless a lot of people jumped ship, or were indoctrinated to stay. But what about those who weren’t, for whatever reason? What about the new arrivals? How do they rationalize staying with Cerberus? How is what they’re doing in any way palatable, or consistent with their ideals?
The easiest way is for the intended results to match their goals… even if the role of galactic antagonist seems counter-intuitive at this point.
This TL;DR focuses on how Cerberus could be portrayed as a ‘rational’ antagonist force, something even the non-indoctrinated could be willing to follow of their own free will. Not in a commendable way, but in something understandable for anyone but True Believers or the Indoctrinated (who themselves are the real victims).
This is not Cerberus apologies. This is not to excuse, pardon, or sympathize with Cerberus actions. It is to allow Cerberus to make sense, both in-universe and out, and show how they can be a creative, interesting antagonist rather than generic villainy for evil’s own sake.
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Part 1: The Five Paths to Cerberus
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There needs to be something besides indoctrination to justify support for Cerberus in the worst of times. Some ideology, or some personal outlook, that holds in the End of Days.
Here are five archetypes who would qualify. These are not the best of people, but these are not the worst of people either. These are normal people, for the most part. People like this exist, and can serve as underlying motivations for non-indoctrinated cooperation with Cerberus. Notice that many of these would also apply for non-Humans as well, and can apply to alien informants and collaborators.
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1) Reaper-Benedicts: Submission is preferable to extinction
In a word, Saren. These would be the people who, through fatalism and despair at the Reapers overwhelming power, believe the only hope for any survival is through capitulation, not opposition. Believing like Saren that the Reapers, as machines, will preserve good tools, they believe submission is preferable to extinction. They key to being accepted, however, is to prove you are a good tool… and that means being effective in aiding the Reapers.
Cerberus thus becomes the beacon of cooperation and survival, rather than enslavement and extinction. An agency the Reapers recognize, and tolerate. The living ‘proof’ that the Reapers will take allies as well as slaves. (And if Cerberus itself is pushing this idea to put it in the mind of others…)They may be wrong, and they may be misguided, but the hope for survival, not just for themselves but for those they love and the ‘greater good’, will keep them fighting for the Invaders and Cerberus.
This group is especially suited for both the well intentioned, and even non-humans. Having already answered the question of ‘is submission not preferable to extinction’, the general objection to refusing to aid Cerberus has vanished… and Cerberus is far more palatable to direct Reaper control. Already deciding that the Reaper victory is inevitable, the harder the fighting the more desperate they are to prove their worth to the Reapers. This would make an ideal motivation for non-indoctrinated foot soldiers.
Cerberus would cultivate these useful-idiots because they are both more willing to commit any crime to appease the Reapers(98 must die for 2 to live under the Reapers), they fall outside the usual Cerberus-suspect profiles (a universal appeal to all races), and because they are self-motivated. These people have already rationalized that committing atrocities is the key to saving any fragment of the galaxy. While they might regret their acts as necessary, they would easily be among the most dedicated of all.
Example Scenarios: A well-respected alien charity is a voluntary front for Cerberus, sheltering Operatives and helping smuggle Cerberus equipment. Because of their race, they are never suspected. (Cue exasperated ‘Do I look human to you? Why would I help Cerberus?’ defenses.) Or other special forces/Spectres (notoriously pragmatic groups) reaching the Saren conclusion. Politicians seeking to preserve some fraction of their constituency, as is their duty.
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2) The galaxy will win anyway: Opportunists for the next era
If there are those who believe defeat is inevitable, there are also always those willing to bet on the improbable. Whether optimists who believe the Reapers will be defeated regardless, or pessimists who will only prepare for victory because they see no point in anything less, these people are more interested in the future than the present: if the galaxy will win regardless of what they do, then they might as well shape the post-war to their advantage.
Gamblers at heart, these people are willing to bet that their actions will not topple the galaxy into the abyss. The Reaping is thus their opportunity: how will the galaxy fail if they bump off a few old foes, or steal from certain people? Who else cares if a rival colony is wiped out: doesn’t the galaxy have bigger problems to stop? Once the War is over, it is fait accompli and everyone will be too busy rebuilding to care.
Cerberus is their opportunity to strike it big. The Illusive Man offers a deal they don’t want to refuse: the opportunity to do what they want done, in exchange for their services during this war. Sure, if everyone sided with the Reapers everyone would lose. But if just a few forward-looking individuals do? The galaxy will win anyway, so what’s the harm (to them) in one more looking to strike it big...
This group is made for those with an eye to the post-war. Corporations, xeno-nationalists, or people who want to be the future VIP’s of the galaxy: they support Cerberus not because they want the Reapers to win or even for Cerberus ideals, but because they think the Reapers will lose regardless and they want to get away with as much as possible. This isn’t just personal greed, though: humans/aliens who want to cut down future dangers as well can see Cerberus as the opportunity to neuter future galactic threats now (Salarian extremists who believe that the Krogan must not escape the genophage, no matter the cost).
Cerberus would cultivate these sorts for its own eye towards the future. Besides the immediate allegiance for this war, these people can further Cerberus’s vision of the post-war world as well. Elevating people who strike down anti-human rivals, or are pro-human themselves, is an obvious strategy. The post-war influence is important as well: the post-war blackmail leverage for Cerberus would be massive. The very elites Cerberus helps raises up would also be in Cerberus’s pocket, their past actions the basis for future relationships. While these people would only be prepared for so much personal risk (the intend to survive the war, after all), their use comes from their ambitions and positions they do have.
Example Scenarios: An Alliance colonial Vice-Governor is aiding Cerberus with the resources of a colony in exchange for the assassination of the current governor. Binary Helix is supplying Cerberus in exchange for Cerberus targeting specific rival Asari trade guilds. Cerberus is playing Terminus politics, helping Terminus warlords fight other Terminus warlords (which helps the Reaping as well).
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3) The galaxy is doomed regardless: Jackals
While there are those who will bet on the long-shot victory, there are the others who think victory is impossible and there is no surrender… and if civilization is doomed, they’ll take what they can, while they can. Nihilists, cynics, the spiteful, or the short-viewed greedy, they side with Cerberus because Cerberus accommodates their short-term ambitions.
These are the worst of people, with the worst of traits brought out in despair. All walks of life, all sorts of people who would otherwise resort to raiding or personal action if Cerberus didn’t pick them up first. They aren’t concerned about the post-war: they don’t even believe in the post-war. And if everyone’s going to die anyway, there’s no reason not to do anything they want for themselves, and anything else to others.
These people don’t work for Cerberus because they like Cerberus. They join because Cerberus enables them to do whatever they want. It could be as petty as stolen cash. It could be depraved acts against others. It could the fulfillment of long-simmering hatreds and revenge. And all Cerberus wants in exchange is some inconsequential acts against people who will be dead soon anyway.
This group can be any race, any class, or any species that lacks the honor to die with their ideals and civilization. These are the sorts who would be ‘raiders’ on their own: this especially applies to pirate gangs, merc groups, or private militias. Or they could be individuals who want one last thing before they die, and are willing to work for Cerberus in order to accomplish it. While this group lacks ideological commitment to Cerberus, it’s also already pre-disposed to helping the world burn: one more match doesn’t make a difference, and so even atrocious Cerberus requests are ‘meh.’
Cerberus would cultivate these nihilists because of how easily they can be turned to attack others. Many would already lack any serious objection to harming others who are about to die anyway, meaning they’re only a short step away from willingly committing treason or atrocities as needed. Whether enabling pirate groups to attack Cerberus-designated targets, or encouraging traitors by offering them their secret desires, the end of the world offers unique recruiting opportunities.
Example Scenarios: A government official commits treason in exchange for Cerberus helping them recover their child they lost in a messy, hate-filled divorce (a end-of-the-world reunion). Cerberus-armed/equipped/trained pirates and slavers are attacking Batarian colonies in the Terminus and Traverse. Cerberus-linked looters are sacking and stealing everything they can from evacuated colonies, passing choice items and a share of credits to Cerberus in exchange for tip-offs of good places to scavenge.
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4) Judas Prophesiers: Cerberus will betray the Reapers
While the debate of ‘is Cerberus worth it’ can go elsewhere, people in the Mass Effect universe generally do accept Cerberus as a pro-Human group… regardless of Shepard’s personal exposure with them. When such an accepted traditional defender/schemer of Humanity apparently joins the Reapers, it would only be natural for people to doubt and go ‘so, how long till you get in position to stab the Reapers in the back?’
Whether confident from history, blinded by hope, or biased due to prior experiences, these people don’t need ‘proof’ or ‘evidence’ to believe that the at-any-costs Human Survivalist group is siding with the Reapers in some plan to blow them up. That Cerberus is complicit in atrocities and helping the Reapers? That even parts of Cerberus are indoctrinated? Well, ‘any cost’ means ‘any.’ Once you accept that any outlier action is ‘necessary to win Reaper trust’ or ‘just indoctrinated parts, not the whole’, rationalization is easy.
People would follow Cerberus because they believe Cerberus deceit is the best path to victory. When the homeworld of Humanity was captured in hours, and when the Turian homeworld is evacuated, it must be clear that hard power alone won’t work: the two greatest powers of the galaxy were knocked down at the start. Shepard’s grand alliance is just repeating the same mistake. Galactic survival depends not only on power, but subtlety… and the traditional masters of subtlety, the Salarians, can’t pull this deception off. Only Cerberus is maneuvering itself for a backstab of epic proportions. Supporting Cerberus’s unknown plan, as unpleasant as it may be, may be the best chance for galactic survival.
This group is identified by its faith that, at the end of the day, Cerberus is still what it always has been: a deceitful but genuine Human survivalist group, willing to sacrifice many so that more might live. It might be opportunistic, it might be atrocious, but it plans to survive the Reapers... and in order for Cerberus and Humanity to survive the Reapers, there must be a galaxy for the other races to survive as well. You don’t need to be a human to believe this: any species, especially those familiar with Cerberus deceit, might hold out the hope of a hidden plan.
Cerberus would cultivate these views because there’s nothing as good as hope to persuade useful-idiots to rationalize anything. These people are convinced regardless of whether Cerberus actually has a secret plan or not: Cerberus openly admitting it would obviously ruin the plan, Cerberus denying it is exactly what they would do if they did have a secret plan, and obviously you won’t find a record of a secret plan (because it’s a secret, as opposed to doesn’t exist). These people have made their position one that can’t be disproven, because anything that would suggest that Cerberus is working for the Reapers would be just what Cerberus wants everyone, especially the Reapers, to think.
Example Scenarios: Cerberus true-believers who don’t want to defect back to the Alliance. Alliance or even Salarian intelligence operatives working as Cerberus contacts. Horizon colonists who refuse to doubt Cerberus after it brought Shepard to save them. A primary motivation for non-indoctrinated Cerberus soldiers, who believe ever more firmly in the Illusive Man.
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5) The Ignored Human Interests: Cerberus fights others who hurt humans
This one shifts a little into Cerberus’s portrayal in general, and who their primary victims are during ME3. If Cerberus universally targets all races with equal vigor, that’s one thing. But if Cerberus is seen as focusing its attacks on non-humans, that offers another public view of Cerberus within Humanity. Especially if Cerberus makes itself visible in fighting notoriously anti-human groups, groups that themselves are trying to hurt Humans as much as possible.
This doesn’t mean Cerberus is actively defending Human interests in a public way (Cerberus patrols protecting Human colonies). It doesn’t mean Cerberus is opposing the Reapers, the real threat. But when you’re at the end of a Batarian terrorist’s gun, that Batarian might as well be a Reaper. And if Cerberus is treating Batarian terrorists and pirate groups as enemies and those nihilistic raiders attacking you as their own enemies… well, the idea that enemy of my enemy is my friend is a common misconception.
Mostly, if not entirely, Human, these people’s willingness to work with Cerberus comes from the belief that Cerberus is fighting for Human interests. In what way can vary by believer: some might believe Cerberus is following the Saren route with an emphasis on preserving more of Humanity, others might see Cerberus as the galaxy’s most destructive Human-centric opportunists, betting on victory. And then you have the ones who expect a Judas against the Reapers. Regardless, the fact that Cerberus is also targeting anti-human forces will provoke some belief of common cause. It’s the equivalent of confusing ‘not anti-human’ and ‘anti-alien for ‘pro-human’: Cerberus isn’t attacking Humans (much), and is attacking aliens (a lot), so people will be willing to believe that it means Cerberus is still pro-human even in the face of cooperation with the Reapers. The more Cerberus leaves anti-Human missions to the Reapers and the more Cerberus itself targets alien groups (and opening up space for the human groups), the stronger basis for that view as well.
The key unifier in this group is that these people see themselves both as as safe(er) with Cerberus, and as having some sort of common cause. Working with Cerberus doesn’t necessarily safeguard you from the Reapers directly… but it doesn’t hurt, might help, and Cerberus could certainly destroy other threats to you. Naturally, this would be a more human-centric view, but it could apply to alien contexts as well. A Volus colony with a large number of human refugees, but at danger to Terminus warlords, could see Cerberus fighting the warlords for the Humans sake, if not theirs. Thus a bribe/trade might be offered, in which the Volus help/bribe Cerberus to destroy the Terminus threat. (This helps Cerberus regardless of whether it is truly with the Reapers or not.)
Cerberus would cultivate these hopes because, well, hope is an incredibly powerful tool. By simply picking and choosing their order of targets, Cerberus could strengthen itself even as it picks off the least-popular common enemy. It doesn’t even matter if Cerberus is really doing it to help someone in particular: just encouraging the view will give it new influence. The more the common-people of the galaxy think ‘Shepard will beat the Reapers regardless, we just need to survive until then’, the more striking a deal with Cerberus will make sense: a deal with Cerberus might destroy other threats or delay the attention of the Reapers until they’re no longer a threat.
Example Scenarios: Cerberus making deals/alliances to fight rogue warlords/batarian slavery colonies: often in the context of War Assets that Shepard can seize for the Alliance. Cerberus attacking non-human colonies in a context where a human colony stands to benefit (sack Illium for the profit of Noveria). Cerberus extorting bribes/deals from colonies in order to ‘delay’ a Reaping (claiming to use their influence with the Reapers to attack someone else first). Human militia groups joining Cerberus rather than the Alliance (Shepard interferes, gains War Assets).
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Remember, all of these are personal motivations for working with Cerberus. Cerberus itself doesn’t have to stick to one of them in particular: in fact, Cerberus can use different sources of propaganda to make mutually exclusive claims to different target audiences. Each group would either not care, or simply view their group as the ‘real’ emphasis and everyone else as the useful idiots.
While internal contradictions would be interesting, they’re also minor. The Reaper-capitulators would tolerate everyone else in Cerberus as advancing the greater good, up to a Cerberus betrayal of the Reapers: after that, however, they’d no longer be part of Cerberus, and Cerberus could expose them effortlessly. Opportunists are looking out for Number 1, and have no reason not to tolerate or indulge others beliefs so long as their ambitions aren’t ruined. Jackals are pure short-term self-interest: they just want to make it big while they can, and have little reason to organize and object to others motivations. Judas Prophets would have faith that everything is advancing some Plan, up until the point they are proven right (if Cerberus does try to betray the Reapers) or it no longer matters (if Cerberus never tries and the galaxy is lost). And the Human Interests are just trying to survive the war however they can, no matter the alliances: they already accepted Cerberus’s vices.
Nearly all of these groups specialize at rationalizing working with Cerberus in the first place despite Cerberus working with the Reapers: working with people who don’t agree with them would just be one small rationalization.
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Part 2: How To Be An Evil Reaper-Allied Organization (And Still Make Sense)
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We’ve discussed how and why non-indoctrinated people might join Cerberus in ME3. You can handle a villainous enemy without resort to evil for evil’s own sake. But how could you handle the group?
If we accept that the Reapers are evil, and that working with the Reapers is also generally evil, how can we avoid the slippery slope into DA2 territory? Evil comes in a spectrum of flavors: moral evil, pragmatic evil, lawful evil, depraved evil, desperate evil, and so on. Good villains make sense. Good villains don’t go around kicking puppies just to show how evil they are.
If you are going to have Cerberus be the evil, villainous antagonist, at least let them be an effective evil, villainous antagonist. Let evil be done for a point, and not just to justify a mission for Shepard to stop evil. No one needs an Orisino moment in ME3, or for Cerberus to be the Cobra of GI Joe. That means pragmatism, not insanity. Rationalism, rather than mindless sociopathy.
Here are tried and true points for rational-evil antagonists. These all embrace the previously established double-think: Cerberus is still nominally pro-Human group even as it works with the Reapers.
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-Go for the evil link. (People don’t mind.)
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They say that for evil to triumph, good men need only do nothing. But a big reason good people stand by is, hey, who wants to stick their neck out for that ****? In fact, don’t you want to join in?
If the first targets of Cerberus are the ****s of the galaxy, that’s going to win Cerberus some temporary friends and delay galactic unity. No one likes the old evil guys: no one is going to risk their own planet to help out the Batarian slavers, Terminus warlords, or oppressive merc groups. Positive sentiment won’t matter much for long, but keeping the galaxy divided works for the Reapers, and it works for Cerberus. Criminal scum and oppressive regimes are part of that galaxy to be wiped, and not one that good people care to save… no matter how many times Shepard says the galaxy must put aside its differences.
Ex: Cerberus is attacking a strategically-located pirate base. Moral dilemma: let Cerberus kill the pirates and their ships, removing the pirates but keeping the base (low War Assets), or save the pirates and let them join Aria? (High War Assets, retain regional piracy)
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-Petty-evil never goes out of style
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Not all evil opportunism needs to be world-destroying. In fact, pre-destroyed worlds are the best places to loot. Cerberus, with its ties to the Reapers and informants on all sides of the conflict, is well placed to know the best places to loot for their own resources: either worlds already reaped and open for looting, or evacuated worlds that remain intact. Cerberus (or Cerberus affiliates) looting planets for tech, resources, would make good opportunities for resource-gathering side quests, to take the war assets for yourself. Not everything to weaken the war effort has to be cruel and usual either. Simple rumor campaigns could cause havoc: if Cerberus leaks that Reapers will attack A, the panick at A could cause havoc.
Ex: Cerberus ‘leaked’ that the Reapers would soon attack a colony, prompting an evacuation for the Reaping that never arrived. Go to the colony, stop Cerberus looters, and stop attempts to blow up the colony.
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-Occam’s (Motivational )Razor: Keep it simple, not stupid.
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Not all Cerberus actions need to be part of some great conspiracy. Nor do they need to be retard motivational moments, or just the catch-all ‘indoctrinated Reaper villainy.’
It’s alright to use reasonable Human-first motivations even in the unreasonable Reaper alliance. Besides tactical/strategic targets, understandable ‘pro-Human’ goals are acceptable as well. The goal of a Cerberus operation can simply be ‘steal valuable technology’, or ‘steal supplies from allied caches.’ The key thing is that motivations should be understandable, practical, and not absurd. If the argument ‘how does that advance the cause?’ can be made, it fails Occam’s Razor.
Ex: Cerberus is attacking an allied space station to steal its ship-fuel. Stop them!
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-Destroy All (Alien) Rivals
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The long-sighted Cerberus/Human supremacists who are looking to after the war want to reduce Human rivals while they can. The Reaper-aligned want to reduce Human rivals because it helps with the Reaping. Thus, we have twisted, evil common cause.
As the vaguely-racist Human-first group in an alliance with the super-advanced aliens with a metal-on for Humanity, Cerberus shouldn’t be primarily attacking Humans. That’s more of the Reapers things, who want Humans for goo anyway. Cerberus works better when attacking aliens: not only does it the Human-advancement theme better (by burning down the rivals), but it also enforces those previously established ‘post-war’ motivations for people to cooperate with Cerberus. Whether rival alien corporations, competing colonies, or knocking off people and groups that will be a threat in the post-war, narrow-minded self-interest is at least an understandable, if despicable, motivation. Cerberus atrocities should also follow this model: unforgivable, unjustifiable, but fait accompli in the post-war setting.
Ex: Cerberus Commandoes are attacking Illium, the crown jewel of Asari commerce. Limit the damage they inflict!
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-Avoid pointless betrayals/abandonments just to show they’re evil
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There are three types of double-crossers in this world: those who do it because it’s fun, those who do it because it’s necessary, and those who do it because it’s convenient.
As far as serious villains go, the last two are fine but the first is poison. Cerberus is a duplicitous organization, we know. It wouldn’t be Cerberus if it wasn’t willing to pay ‘all costs’ with its own blood. But betrayals should have a point, rather than simply be ‘look at this, aren’t they evil abandoning their own?’ There are good reasons why someone has to be left behind, and why someone has to be sent to die: Shepard has done it more than once. Cerberus doesn’t need pointless-evil handling.
Ex: Cerberus leaks the name of one of its hidden spies in order to throw off the hunt for a more exposed, more important one.
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-Leave mass butchery to the Geth/Reapers (they’re better at it)
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If Reapers Reap, and Heretic Geth build consensus for genocide, what do Commandoes do? Well, one would assume commando-y things. Even evil Cerberus commandoes.
Keeping the theme/roles of the antagonists distinct will be important in ME3’s presentation. Reapers Reap: it’s in the name, it’s what they do. They’re the big, bad, individual genocidal WMD’s on legs. Heretic Geth and indoctrinated husks provide the conventional army: the sledgehammer to the Reaper’s nuke. They have the numbers and the scope to play the role in taking down entire colonies on their own. But where does that leave Cerberus and its commandoes? Commandoes are a precise tool, not a blunt instrument: Cerberus neatly fills the tactical/precision role for the Reapers, the small-scale targets that need more skill than the indoctrinated have, but less overwhelming force than the Geth. An objective-based force, to get in and get out, rather than a conquering army.
What that lends to is impressively focused crimes and limited-scale atrocities. What it doesn’t lead itself to is Reaping or mass-execution atrocities. There are already three factions of the Reaper alliance better suited for mass civilian casualties by fighting than Cerberus: avoid crossing wires and roles. When a mission goes by ‘enemy forces are attacking civilians: rescue civilians’, that’s better for another group to do. When Cerberus needs to be responsible for mass-death, do it in their style that can be countered by a Shepard team: catastrophic technical gambit (bombs, orbital artillery, computer virus). And when Cerberus does take this role, consider directing it at non-humans, feeding back into the anti-alien/pro-human theme from earlier: Cerberus massacring Humans wastes resources and their utility as a credible villain.
Ex 1: ‘Cerberus commandoes have captured a major Elcor space colony and are preparing a colony drop on a colony world: retake the station and stop them!’
Ex 2: ‘Geth/Husks are attacking through colony slums, butchering all the civilians they can find: stop them!’
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-Don’t be afraid to give evil a win (and more than one)
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Tactical victories don’t mean that the enemy was thwarted in their goals: even if Shepard wins a fire-fight, it can still be a partial victory at best. A good example of this would be the N7: Javelin Missile mission of ME2, where no matter what you did the Batarian commandoes blew up half a colony.
Shepard may win every fight, but you don’t need to win every battle to win the war. A single, unavoidable, token victory doesn’t make for credible opponents either: establishing that the enemy has their own successes is key to a ‘hard’ fight. Side missions in which Shepard can only manage a partial victory at best are one such case. Other missions could be in the context of a prior defeat. As long as Shepard is eventually victorious, setbacks only contribute to the underdog victory appeal. A side quest chain in which Shepard struggles to reverse a specific Cerberus campaign can help make the enemy a credible threat, as opposed to ‘how could these mooks threaten anyone?’
Ex: Consider a 3 quest chain.
‘Cerberus is trying to hijack a Elcor space colony to drop it on a colony world’: Shepard faces an impossible task of stopping Cerberus from entering a key room from one of four areas. (Say there are four points you have to guard, but you only have a three-man squad: even if you put a henchman at each door and they don’t go down, Shepard can’t quite cover two different areas). The longer you hold out, the more rewards you get, but the mission is ‘how long can you last till defeat’, possibly with an absolute time limit.
This is followed by ‘Cerberus is dropping the colony, but is now using AAA to block evacuations. Take out the AA guns and allow the colony to evacuate.’ Shepard takes a conventional assault mission with a timer, but in the background you can see the colony entering the atmosphere. The faster you do the mission, the more people get evacuated. No matter what you do, however, the colony drops and the planet-side colony is destroyed as Shepard escapes.
Finally, ‘the exceptionally-successful Cerberus commander responsible for the colony drop is withdrawing his troops. Pursue them and prevent their escape.’ Even though the colony is dead, Shepard can get revenge and now gets to catch, beat, and kill the Commander who dared thwart Commander Shepard.
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-Clear tactical/strategic goals for internal consumption (that we can find out)
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Evil doesn’t need to make sense to everyone, but it should at least make sense to itself. The people inside the group should know what they’re doing, and why they’re doing it, to a reasonable point.
This isn’t to say secrecy doesn’t have its place, especially with Cerberus, but the question of ‘Why are we doing this?’ shouldn’t be answered with ‘Because we’re evil.’ Even if they aren’t intentionally shared with outsiders, whenever possible there should be a understood reason for any mission, and any crime or atrocity.
Good: Why does Cerberus want to prevent the genophage cure? (To block the Turian-Krogan alliance.) Bad: Why is Cerberus attacking a Hanar colony? (Because they’re big, stupid jellyfish.)
Ex: Take the mission chain from above, the colony drop. Cerberus datapads/the Cerberus commander can inform Shepard that the colony was targeted because the Elcor colony was interfering with Human expansion/Cerberus activities in the region.
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-Evil is a two-way street
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Even the bad guys can be victims of unfair attacks, especially if they fight bad people. Avoiding the fallacy of ‘anyone Cerberus fights is good’, we can also acknowledge that ‘not everyone who fights Cerberus will fight nice.’ It couldn’t happen to a nicer bunch of people, but when that spills over and affects other people…
This is something that can play into the ‘Cerberus has changed/isn’t what it used to be’ theme. Some other bad person can pull out a dirty trick that they think would have worked on the Cerberus of old… only to find that it doesn’t work on the Cerberus of new. Shepard gets involved because not to defend Cerberus, but because this evil-both-ways squabble is getting in the way of the war effort.
Ex: A Terminus Warlord is trying to blackmail Cerberus by conquering a Human colony and holding its population hostage unless Cerberus convinces the Reapers not to Reap the fool. Instead, a Reaper force has shown up to attack the colony. Stop the Reaping and liberate the colony.
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-It’s perfectly fine to tell lies about Cerberus.
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Of all the things Cerberus has to worry about, Reputation really isn’t one of them. At this point in the series, the people who would be willing to join with Cerberus will do so regardless of its reputation, and everyone else is already appalled. As tempting as it is to believe that finding evidence of yet another Cerberus atrocity will swing public opinion, more evidence is rather redundant at this point. Instead of ‘reputation’, it’s Cerberus’s credibility that matters. Not in terms of consistent reliability: everyone knows Cerberus is reliable in general but also willing to turn when the payoff exceeds the price. It’s their credibility in each deal individually that matters.
If your goal is to break some link between Cerberus and an associate, public opinion and reputation won’t sway the people who have already made up their mind to make the deal in the first place. Credible evidence of duplicity might… but real evidence is hard to find, and may not exist. Fake evidence is far easier to produce. So what if you have to lie about Cerberus to take it down a notch? To fight the evil snakes, we do not have to be pure truth and honesty ourselves. And thankfully, we have an excellent smear-reporter who could help us out…
Ex: In order to break an agreement between Cerberus and a VIP, Shepard needs evidence of duplicity and an intended betrayal on Cerberus’s part. With the real evidence showing the opposite, that Cerberus will keep its word, Shepard needs to use Liara’s Shadow Broker network to manufacture evidence, and then Al-Jilani to run a public smear-job on it.
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-Propaganda Judo
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It’s old news that Cerberus has influence on Terra Firma, the closet-racist Human First party of the Alliance. Terra Firma would be an obvious choice to be the parrot to speak pro-Cerberus propaganda. But the obvious choice is not always the best choice, or the only choice. If the intent is to rally more people to your own cause, influencing your opponent’s propaganda is just as useful. To make a very brief analogy: think of political radio talk shows. The more radical the speaker, the more it turns off the moderates and pushes them in the other direction. If a speaker is too counterproductive, they might as well be a plant for the other side.
If Cerberus is trying to influence more hearts and minds, Terra Firma won’t be enough: the people who would be attracted already are. But if the anti-Cerberus opposition was distorted and radicalized into an anti-Human voice, then those good human moderates could well drift towards Cerberus influence simply by repulsion. Cerberus can increase its relative influence by tricking/leading the non-Cerberus groups to drive off Humans.
Ex: The anti-Human Turian politician from ME2 returns, and wildly ramps up the rhetoric: Humans are blamed for the Reapers, it is argued that the Sol Relay should be destroyed to take out the Reapers and Earth both, etc. Such anti-Human efforts are hurting Shepard’s efforts, and causing racial turmoil on the Citadel. In Shepard’s investigation, Shepard turns up evidence linking the Turian’s PR campaign with Cerberus backing and influence: the evidence can be used to blackmail or jail the Turian (despite his ignorance), or buried.
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-Accusing someone of being Cerberus is a Kiss of Death
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For obvious reasons, being accused of working with Cerberus is like being accused of being Indoctrinated: in the gravity of the situation, it’s up to you to prove your innocence. Even if you can, your reputation and position might never recover. Therefore, simply the accusation of association could be toxic.
This would work for bother Cerberus and non-Cerberus. Cerberus could ruin a politician’s career by leaking manufactured evidence linking the politician to Cerberus: political assassination without any loss of life. Given that Cerberus has the capabilities to fabricate video and image recordings of the highest order, Cerberus could ruin even anti-Cerberus leaders with some preparation. On the other side, political in-fighting and opportunism within the Good Guys could also see the Cerberus Card played. If the Council races finds a certain person especially troublesome to their cause… what’s to stop them?
Ex 1: A respected Turian general is under investigation for ties to Cerberus. Find the evidence that Cerberus manufactured the incriminating evidence, or else an able war hero will be executed.
Ex 2: The Volus/Elcor/Hanar Ambassador has been accused of ties to Cerberus by the Council. In truth, the Council wants the Ambassador out of the way because the Ambassador has been too successful in gathering pressure and demanding security aid for their homeworld.
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-You don’t need to be Cerberus to be a fellow traveler
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Relating to the above, just as not everyone accused of being Cerberus will be one, not everyone who does what Cerberus would like is working for Cerberus. While it’s tempting to believe that a good person would never have any common ground with Cerberus, that’s ridiculous to the extreme, even now. Cerberus is not the antithesis of all that is good and true, and being good and true is not being the antithesis of Cerberus.
There are plenty of other reasons for people to take an action Cerberus might support other than ‘they’re working for Cerberus.’ Linking them to Cerberus needlessly just reduces them to basic villains, rather than their own motivations. Unless a false-linkage is the point (you think someone is Cerberus when they aren’t), don’t link any pro-human politician or action to Cerberus by default.
Ex: Imagine a multi-racial colony in the Terminus with a large Human population. In the face of race-troubles (including a movement to give the Humans to the Reapers in an attempt to buy safety for awhile), a human politician has launched a pro-Human coup to put Humans in control. Even though the politician is a human-first guy and the coup forces might have secret Cerberus support (Cerberus enemies to fight), the politician and the movement itself are ‘just’ racial politics. The infighting is a crisis Cerberus was taking advantage of, not organizing.
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-The open human-centric racist is a good agent, but a better decoy.
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Everyone has their own idea of what a ‘typical’ Cerberus agent is, and playing to stereotypes is appealing. Racist, Human-centric, loud and brash and annoying. A hostile presence, and unsympathetic to the extreme. But if Cerberus agents were all like that, wouldn’t it be easy to figure out who they were? Wouldn’t the better Cerberus agents be the ones who don’t attract such suspicion?
The old truth about espionage is that the best spies don’t stand out. Not everyone in Cerberus is a vocal human supremacist… and not every human supremacist is going to be in Cerberus, or even a sympathetic to Cerberus. But if you area Cerberus operative, what better company to keep than the person who would draw the suspicion and take the fall?
Ex: There’s a Cerberus operative within an Alliance military unit. Among a number of patriots and moderates, there’s a remarkable bigot. Shepard can find plenty of circumstantial evidence that points to the bigot, but in fact it’s a sympathetic moderate who’s the operative.
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-The best Human-first operative is one who isn’t Human
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Similar to the above, but taking it a step further: if a Salarian, a Hanar, and a Human walk into a bar, which one is most likely working for Cerberus?
The correct answer would be ‘any of them.’ Ruling out possibilities on account of race is, well, racist. Going by the any of the individual motivations in Part 1, an Alien working for Cerberus is very plausible. And aliens working for Cerberus are precisely the kind not likely to be checked very hard at security.
Ex: Shepard is pursuing a wounded human Cerberus operative who’s gone into hiding in a Citadel safehouse. Among other locations (many of them public or Human), the Operative is hiding in a Hanar church.
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-The Committee-of-Nothing-But-Agents
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How many members of a five-man Alliance sub-committee can be Cerberus agents?
This point goes more for absurdity and humor than drama, playing up the extent to which Cerberus is still infesting the Alliance. Imagine, if you will, a house party in which everyone invited is a spy… but no one there knows that the others are also spies. In this case, it would be most amusing if the reason the issue even gets brought up is that one of the five suspects another is a Cerberus agent, and feels they have to report it to cover their own tracks.
Ex: An Alliance sub-committee chairman contacts Shepard, expressing concerns that one of his/her fellow committee members might be Cerberus. Shepard is asked to investigate to see if they can find the mole. Shepard can go to one of five distance-separated places (different hubworlds, even), to find proof about someone. The first proof Shepard finds will implicate the person as Cerberus… because they’re all Cerberus. While Shepard will be prompted to turn over the one name and end the quest right then (minor reward), if Shepard goes out of the way to uncover more you can realize that all of them are Cerberus, none of them aware of the other.
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-Read the Evil Overlord’s List
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The genre-savy people of the web notice the many failures of evil overlords. Some kind souls have even created a helpful list for aspiring evil overlords and minions.
It has a lot of good hints as to what to avoid.
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