107 réponses à ce sujet

[Mr.BlazenGlazen]

If only =(. But i think in me3 they are going to try to turn their backs on shepard, and possibly put him and his entire team under trail and arrest.

[Destructo-Bot]

Very good writeup.

[Blameless77]

Very good read, thanks for sharing.

[jklinders]

I'd like to think there is more going on under the hood of the plot than is being overtly shown. Regardless of how the council feels about the reapers, I do feel that Shepard's link to Cerberus did not help his bid for sympathy with the council.

I just hope I catch them with a caffeine fix in ME3 and I am still looking forward to making the turian councilor eat his words. "Ah yes reapers" indeed.

[Kwom Masbag]

All told, I'd still enjoy making TIM eat some hot lead more so than the Council, or a particular Councilor.  TIM...don't get me started... *sighs and shakes head*  At least the Council was generally open with you, and their "betrayal" did not involve your possible death.  TIM even betrayed you multiple times.  That's one man I'd not mind the Collectors get their hands on.

[jklinders]

Kwom Masbag wrote...

All told, I'd still enjoy making TIM eat some hot lead more so than the Council, or a particular Councilor.  TIM...don't get me started... *sighs and shakes head*  At least the Council was generally open with you, and their "betrayal" did not involve your possible death.  TIM even betrayed you multiple times.  That's one man I'd not mind the Collectors get their hands on.

I agree completely. Too bad niether is likely to happen.

[Sad Dragon]

Skyblade012 wrote...
...

An interesting perspective. Bioware could still have handled the situation better even if this was the case. However i doubt this looking at how the council and Mr Air-Quotes in particular where written in ME1. Though nice read

/TSD

[Notho]

I liked it. I really hope this or something similar is what's really going on. I guess we'll see in ME3.

[Torpasia]

Great read; sometimes it does rest on the shoulders of the fans to fill in the backstory and patch up the plot contrivances. Thumbs up.

[ReiSilver]

I hope this is at least somewhat going on in the actual game. As others have said the Council is experienced and has trillions of lives in their hands.

To be perfectly honest I haven't done a play through with a human council before, I tried loading up an ME2 game without a save file and immediately aborted when the default was Human Council. I just imagine the political fall out would be Terrible! The humans have no experience running anything but their own world and colony and the other races should be massively pissed off not to have political voices after running things for so long, I thought they would have started up their own council of unified races again from scratch.

Does this happen? From what I heard the games just plays out the same but is there any sign that things like this are happening?

But then I was also expecting Anderson to become a fourth hologram with a pedestal and that didn't seem to happen...

[Skyblade012]

In ME2, however, everyone seems pretty convinced that they're burying their heads in the sand intentionally, and there isn't even a hint to the contrary, that I can find. If there was even a slight indication that their ignorance is just a facade, one hint, I'd be ready to accept that and expect some sort of turnaround, but as it is, I seriously doubt the Council is going to suddenly show themselves to have been faking.

Actually, there are a couple hints.  First, there are news reports of increasing military mobilization among the Council races while on the Citadel.  The reason given is that it's a response to the colony attacks.  But the only colony attacks have been against human colonies, which the Council stated it couldn't interfere with.  That indicates that there is an ulterior motive.

Second, humans are moving even faster.  The human patrols are becoming more standard throughout the galaxy, and they are "closer to joining Turians as galactic peacekeepers".  Also from news reports.  Why?

Also, from what we can tell, Shepard did originally go public with Sovereign's origin, and was supported by at least one member of the Alliance fleet who eliminated Sovereign (Kenneth), if not more.  The Council would have to at least pretend to investigate it to placate the public, and their results would influence their decisions, even if they choose not to go public with it themselves.

While we're on the subject, their faith in Shepard would influence things.  As heightened Citadel Security shows, failing to heed numerous warnings got them slammed, and they responded by becoming more paranoid, taking more precautions.  Their on-board security precautions would not be the only manifestation of that paranoia, especially given that Sovereign was not an on-board threat.  They would be taking steps to secure themselves with more fleets as well.  It's the logical progression.

The Council burying its head in the sand just makes no sense with everything they have seen for themselves, let alone Shepard's report.  There has to be more to the story.

[Cpl_Facehugger]

Skyblade012 wrote...

And yet, if the council are really blind

Actually, there are a couple hints.  First, there are news reports of increasing military mobilization among the Council races while on the Citadel.  The reason given is that it's a response to the colony attacks.  But the only colony attacks have been against human colonies, which the Council stated it couldn't interfere with.  That indicates that there is an ulterior motive.

I really want to agree with you on the council not being idiots, but I'm not sure these points necessarily suggest the council is really mobilizing behind the scenes. It'd be awesome if that's the case, I'm just not sure it's enough.

I mean, sure the council says they can't intervene when it comes to attacks on human colonies, but any sane government would naturally start building up their own military, just to make sure whoever's attacking human colonies doesn't decide to start raiding salarian ones, or turian ones, etc. 

Second, humans are moving even faster.  The human patrols are becoming more standard throughout the galaxy, and they are "closer to joining Turians as galactic peacekeepers".  Also from news reports.  Why?

It's most likely a result of the human push for council membership. The main thing the humans bring to the table for council membership is a powerful and expanding military. Also probably an ego thing; a lot of humans aren't overly fond of turians, so the idea that filthy turians are militarily more powerful than humanity would be an impetus to pour resources into military expansion as a matter of national pride, much like how Germany tried to match Great Britain's royal navy in the early 20th century. 

Also, from what we can tell, Shepard did originally go public with Sovereign's origin, and was supported by at least one member of the Alliance fleet who eliminated Sovereign (Kenneth), if not more.  The Council would have to at least pretend to investigate it to placate the public, and their results would influence their decisions, even if they choose not to go public with it themselves.

This is the most likely evidence that the council knows things. Particularly because of how they must have access to Sovereign's debris, and thus they must have tested it for age and discovered that Sovereign predates the creation of the geth by thousands/millions of years. 

And yet, it's a bit of a leap to go from "okay, there's this ship that's really old" to "it's really an unstoppable god-machine bent on bringing back over nine thousand other unstoppable god-machines so they can exterminate all organic life."

I mean, imagine you're the council. Which seems more plausible to you: "Geth found prothean battleship, and used it with aid of the rogue spectre Saren Arterius to attack the Citadel" and "Alien god-machine is secretly manipulating Saren, the geth, and also created the mass relays and the citadel simply so we'd be easier to exterminate later. This alien god-machine then gathered up its geth servants and made a run on the Citadel in hopes of bringing back the rest of its kind so the entire galaxy can be cleansed of life, just like happens every ~50,000 years."

[CroGamer002]

God I wish.

[JaegerBane]

I would hope this is actually what the Council is really thinking. Ultimately, burying their heads in the sand and refusing to believe Sov was anything other than a geth creation (despite the fact Sov is nothing like the Geth technology that has been recovered by the shedload) is almost grounds for a coup.



It would be good to know that, despite outward impressions, some common sense is being employed within the Council.

[Inverness Moon]

If this is what the Council is actually thinking then the people who killed the Council might regret it, because I doubt the new one would be thinking the same.

[Cucobr]

Skyblade012 wrote...

Information leaked to use by Cerberus indicates that Shepard is alive.  As welcome as this news is, it is disturbing that Shepard would be working with Cerberus.  Our most trusted agent alongside one of our most cunning enemies.  The Salarians suggest we downplay this matter, and I concur.

The matter was confirmed earlier today.  Shepard arrived on a Cerberus frigate, a redesigned and improved version of Shepard's original Normandy.  Our security is weaker than we thought, even our most guarded co-development projects have been infiltrated.  Cerberus has proven its ability to deceive and manipulate yet again.  We cannot afford to share our plans or information with Shepard.  The Reapers are the worst threat we could have imagined, but we cannot risk Cerberus learning what we are planning to counter them.

Shepard came by to meet us alongside Anderson.  Thankfully Udina was absent from the meeting, despite the opinion of the Asari.  Shepard had interesting information concerning the attacks on human colonies in the Terminus.  Apparently the Collectors are behind the attacks, and Shepard and Cerberus suspect that they are working for the Reapers.  Anderson agrees, but, per our previous agreements, we cannot let Shepard, know this.
If this information is true, it is most disturbing.  We were hoping to have more time to prepare before the Reapers could begin taking active steps again.  Still, it could be misinformation leaked by Cerberus yet again, though we doubt they are behind the attacks, given the cost of human lives involved.
Shepard was unhappy with our reaction, of course.  Though she accepted a reinstatement to Spectre status, Anderson confirmed for us that Shepard felt betrayed by the lack of faith we displayed.  Anderson also said the "air quotes" might have been going too far, we don't want to alienate Shepard or appear so oblivious that Shepard, and through her, Cerberus, might catch on.  Regardless, the safety of the galaxy comes before any one individual.  Even after all Shepard did for us.  I only hope we can correct Shepard's interpretation after Shepard's work with Cerberus ends.

Despite the risks, the Council has agreed to leak the schematics for the Thanix Magnetic-Hydrodynamic cannon to Garrus Vakarian.  Despite the assurance of Cerberus getting their hands on this weapon, we need to do what we can to outfit Shepard against these threats.

Whatever the reasons may be, the constant attacks on human colonies have provided us an excellent excuse to accelerate our plans against the Reapers.  We can now build fleets and defenses much more publicly, with the justification that we must protect our colonies from attacks.  We still cannot go fully public with it as long as the only targets are human colonies, but we can still instigate investigations and increase recruitment.  And the Alliance can do even more, and we will help.

The information Shepard provided has been confirmed.  Ashley Williams was stationed on Horizon when the Collector's attacked.  Shepard arrived as well, and, with her new crew, was able to drive the Collectors away before the colony was entirely abducted.  The information on the seeker swarms is most disturbing, and we will have to develop counters right away (possibility to extract the information from Cerberus?  No, too risky, not enough resources in that organization, might tip our hand).  But the fact that the GARDIAN lasers were enough to repel the ship is comforting.  We will set up more automatics for such systems.  Even if the swarms paralyze the gunnery officers, we might be able to keep the lasers active.

The Salarians have suggested moving the Alliance into position as galactic peacekeepers, alongside the Turians.  They already have a great deal of ships patrolling Citadel space, and have taken huge steps forward in roles such as C-Sec as well.  This would let us funnel more resources to the Alliance to increase our buildup of vessels to help combat the Reapers, without appearing to be actively militarizing, which could incite public panic and possibly spark the Terminus Systems against us.  But there is still a lot of concern about humanity's swift rise to power already, and taking that step might shift things against them.  We can ill afford such instability, especially with criminal idiots like Joram Talid actively running as anti-human.  For now, we will help fund the Alliance to get their ships up to the number allowed them as council members under the Treaty of Farixen, and we will discuss the situation again once they reach that point.

Shepard forwarded us information acquired from a Cerberus agent who had been captured by Eclipse mercenaries.  This may be an indication that Shepard still realizes the danger Cerberus poses to the galaxy, or it may be another attempt by Cerberus to manipulate us.  Regardless, we still hope that once Shepard completes her mission, we might be able to convince her to rejoin us.

Shepard apparently encountered the Collectors again.  A false distress signal sent by the Collectors indicated that a destroyed Turian patrol crippled the ship, at least temporarily.  The council has decided to allow Shepard to proceed into the trap, to conceal from Cerberus the fact that they failed to properly prevent the signal from reaching us.  If Cerberus can be made to underestimate us, it will be most welcome.  Shepard succeeded in infiltrating and escaping from the Collector vessel.  What information was extracted is unknown, but hopefully it will help facilitate Shepard's safe journey through the Omega 4 relay.

Colonial countermeasures still insufficient.  The Alliance's New Canton colony was abducted by the Collectors.  Despite a delay when their efforts at Horizon were stymied, the attacks are increasing in frequency.  We still have no knowledge of what the Collectors are after.  Soon, we may have to take official notice of the situation.

Cerberus crews have taken our leaked information from the Alliance's survey of the Great Rift on Klendagon and backtracked it to the weapon that caused it and the Reaper that the weapon was targeting.  This gives us even more confirmation that the Reaper threat was not isolated to Sovereign.  Shepard successfully boarded the Reaper shell, and destroyed it.

The Salarian STG confirmed that the Normandy has passed through the Omega 4 relay.  In all likelihood, the ship is now vaporized on the other end.  But Shepard has done the impossible before.  We will wait and hope for as long as we can for her return.  But we cannot wait long.  If Shepard is unsuccessful, we must take action immediately.  If the Reapers are on the move, even through agents, then our time is more precious than we thought.  The fleet is coming, and we must be prepared.

Just some thoughts on what might be going on behind the scenes in the Council.  We get to see very little of the council and Citadel space in this game, but we've all heard the complaints about what we did get from them.  I just thought I'd provide a different take on the possible reasons for the Council's reluctance.

is this real? of fanfic?

[Cucobr]

double post

Modifié par Cucobr, 25 juillet 2010 - 03:27 .

[JulianP]

Pretty clever and highly entertaining, Skyblade! 

Personally, I think it's too good to be true, but I also fail to believe that the Council is as dumb as it looks.  I'm not as convinced as you are that so much of their conniving is actually sympathetic to Shepard, but they've surely manipulating, aiding, using, or even sacrificing Shepard more than they let on. 

Glad you wrote it from the perspective of Turian Councillor, since he's the most enigmatic that way.  Given how orderly and competent the turians usually are, it never made any sense to me how this fellow wound up on the Council and manages to maintain the prestige of his race.  Asari Coucillor is conciliatory and Salarian Councilor is shrewd, but what does Turian Councillor do?  He's got to have some hidden competency behind his bad-cop, pigheaded bluster.  Maybe he actually is, in fact, a bit of a jerk, but he must surely be a rational one. 

My favorite detail in your fic:  Explaining how Garrus got the Thanix.  Garrus is made of awesome, but even so, I didn't think it was realistic that he could singlehandedly build a Thanix; neither was there any particular reason he would have the ability to acquire one or access the plans.  He was respected but not completely trusted with C-Sec, was off the radar and probably not cultivating his contacts for more than a year, and now demonstrates a deep personal loyalty to a Cerberus-sponsored (controlled?) maverick of an ex-dead ex-Spectre human.  Not someone I'd casually hand a secret prototype weapon of mass destruction to. 

Similarly, I liked your take on the Cerberus Normandy showing up:  I was surprised in the game by the lack of finger-pointing and turian resentment over what would surely seem like a huge breach of trust and responsibility, especially when they didn't even require the original Normandy to have a single turian on its crew.  Ashley was worried about aliens seeing all this human tech - how come we don't have a bunch of high-ranking turians accusing the Alliance of intentionally leaking Normandy data to Cerberus?  Since the original Normandy was too successful to be merely a case of both sides sharing only insignificant information with each other, it does seem that the Council finds it expedient to downplay its concerns about the depth of Cerberus infiltration.  There's got to be a political reason for doing that.

I was pretty upset with the Council on my first playthrough, but ever since, I've actually been rather sympathetic to the Council's real or feigned skepticism.  Cerberus is creepy enough that I'm sometimes surprised they didn't send yet another Spectre to take Shepard out and capture the SR-2.  Looks like they still have their uses for Shep.

I really hope I get to kick Cerberus' ass in ME3.  Being their puppet sucks. 

[azerSheppard]

Damn skyblade, where were you when bioware was hiring writers? This would be very plausible, the reaction of the forum members says enough, most of them (including me) thought this was official.



Too bad bioware isn't planning anything like this. I wish the writing was a little less linear, the characters have little to no depth. ME2 should have broken the storytelling limitations of it's medium. Hope ME3 will be the one to do it.

[RiouHotaru]

Actually, reading this brought up a point. I believe that, at the very least, the Salarian Councilor knows something, or at least knows more than he's letting on. After all, Salarians as a rule NEVER publicly announce their plans until it's far too late for their enemy. And notice during any of the coversations with the Council in ME1, he's always quite neutral and cautious, veering neither towards confrontation (Turian Councilor) or towards diplomacy (Asari Councilor).



I suspect that, of the three, he at least knows a LOT more than he's letting on.

[Pacifien]

Everyone salvaged bits of Sovereign when it blew up. The Turians reverse engineered their bit of salvage to produce the Thannix Cannon. Cerberus used their bit for programming EDI. I like to think the Salarians captured something of great importance as well. Also, with the STG's work on Virmire, they have to know that there's more to Sovereign than just advanced geth technology. They'd want to know where that technology came from, how was it developed, how can they reproduce it. That Salarian Councilor... he's the Shadow Broker.

No wait, I mean... yeah, the Salarians know more than they let on. Only a fool tips their hand before they're ready.

[Skyblade012]

Aw, this thread is still around. Awesomeness!



Yeah, the Salarian has always been the most supportive of the councilors (which is backed up by the Codex, which talks about how the Salarians are the least conservative of the Council races, and were more dynamic, something they appreciated in humans). He is also the one who says "If you believe the Reapers are the true threat, you must do what you feel you must to stop them", in ME1, IIRC.

[lovgreno]

I realy hope this is what goes on behind the scene. The most powerfull people in the galaxy are hardly stupid, but they have no reason to belive anyone working for a terrorist organisation.

[RiouHotaru]

I also think that the Turian Councilor isn't just being an ass on purpose to antagonize you. I mean, I'd like to HOPE that. He's probably just a conservative Turian who's use to the the way things were done in the old days, and the changing era is challenging him.