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Player Information:

Name or Handle: Cali

LJ: caliborn
Email: Carrier_of_solar@hotmail.com
AIM/ MSN / Plurk name: AIM: Calipso09
Any current characters here?: Rachel

Character Information:

Character Name: Garrus Vakarian
Age: 30
Canon: Mass Effect
Appearance: He's a Turian raptor. And by that I mean he is a tall walking dinosaur with talons and something like a beak.

His entire body is covered with a hard metallic exoskeleton, in sharp angles and plates that hide softer skin. It's a natural evolution his race developed that protects their bodies from their homeworld's high radiations. Despite the armored look he does not have any added 'natural armor' from the plates, as they evolved to protect from radiation and not blunt force trauma. He will still go down hard when punched, or when receiving a missile to the face. If you can catch him, that is.

His shape is mostly humanoid if you can get over the fringe and the raptor feet, and his deep eyes are a grey/green/blue color because apparently the developers couldn't make up their minds. He also has a blue stripe design tattooed onto the exoskeleton of his cheekbones; clan markings that are individual to different Turian groups. Finally, you may or may not notice a giant-ass scar that takes up about a quarter of his face, the gift of an over-friendly missile. He still wears bandages to cover up most of the wound.

Look at that sexy raptor face!



Personality: He's Batman.

But not Bruce-Wayne-Batman. Dick-Grayson-Batman, rather. And for those of you who don't know what I'm talking about, let's just say that he's a vigilante who got fed up with the roadblocks of the law and decided to take matters of justice into his own hands-- with a wicked wit and dry humor to keep things interesting. He struck out on his own to do good and punish evil. His tactical genius led him to success with a small guerrilla band in a war against a trio of major mercenary organizations. Fighting from the shadows, doing things his own way, Garrus put the bad guys on the run.

He's Batman. In Space, for great justice.

He wasn't always a space vigilante, however. This recoil into lawlessness is preceded by a very strict, militaristic father who encouraged Garrus to enroll in the police force after leaving a mandatory military service. Garrus tells Shepard about his father's view on things-- "Do things right, or don't do them at all"-- and then mentions how he has come to disagree with this notion, after years of fighting political red-tape and loopholes in regulations that allowed so many bad people to get away. Garrus is more of the opinion that if a bad guy is bad, Garrus should be able to shoot him-- not drag him to court and go through countless hurdles only to give that person a chance to get away again. This view is further colored by his failing to capture a mad scientist, who had been doing horrible experiments on live patients. The scientist escapes the Citadel with a ship full of hostages right before Garrus was about to catch him. He orders Citadel security to shoot the ship down, but they refuse, not wanting to risk harming the hostages. Garrus tried to explain that the hostages were dead anyway, and that letting the scientist escape was like releasing a blight on the galaxy, but still no one would listen. The guy got away, and Garrus never really forgave himself. It plagued him, and cemented his belief that police work is just busy work, and that nothing can be done unless someone with the right heart and mind is free from the restrictions of the law. This is part of what draws him to Shepard, the first human Spectre. She is given freedom from rules and regulations of the council in order to save the galaxy, and Garrus is smitten with this idea. He claims it's the best way-- nay, the only way-- to really get things done, and though Shepard can argue this with him, he ends up a vigilante on Omega later on, regardless.

While Garrus is the type of person to avoid collateral damage if possible, he's not opposed to it when there are no other options. Above all, he prefers to get the job done. Bad guys will pay, and the world will get a little safer each day. Or so he hopes. He trusts his own judgements, and is prepared to make the tough calls when need be. Ultimately, he has a higher plan he desperately wants to accomplish. He will tear at the criminal underbelly one tiny scratch at a time until it breaks; eventually, he's certain he can change things.

Although deciding to return to the Citadel after the first game, this attempt to return to normalcy (and give the law another try) is short-lived. Garrus is easily frustrated by red tape and stubborn politicians. Being in the Citadel, smack dab in the middle of the Council's "The Reapers Aren't Real!" campaign drives him up the wall. Normally, Garrus can be a patient Turian, stepping back to analyze situations before committing himself. However, being given an unbreakable wall whenever he tried to breech the Council's defenses and warn them of their foolishness is simply too much, and he is easily aggravated. Absolutely nothing goads Garrus faster than (in his opinion) stupid political decisions which impair his work.

He is vocal about his opinions, and voices his frustration to anyone that will listen-- as shown in several dialogue scenes in the first game where Garrus is completely honest with Shepard about how he has begun to view the world. He is honest, and dead set in his beliefs, although he does trust Shepard's wisdom and if Shepard disagrees with him, he withdraws and thinks about what they've said rather than immediately dismissing the foreign viewpoint. Even at some points when arguing with Wrex, a Krogan-- a race which Garrus has been taught to disrespect and ignore-- Garrus will pull back and consider the matter when Wrex makes a good point. He does not immediately attack those with opposing viewpoints, and instead tries to step back and re-analyze the situation when confronted with something unexpected. He is open to change, and values the beliefs of his comrades.

Part of him seems to expect the world to react the same way, which is why he gets so frustrated at being blocked again and again by the council. Raging against that well-oiled machine does absolutely no good, and Garrus's tender hold on his patience broke when he received news of Shepard's death. No one would do anything about the matter, nor even properly investigate it-- and the death of his friend and mentor wass a harsh blow to Garrus. What little faith he was rebuilding for the system faded away completely. Shepard had been one of the few Garrus would listen to, if she chose to defend the council's regulations and say they were there for a reason. With her death, that subtle encouragement was gone, and Garrus lost faith that the council or C-sec or anyone could possibly help him with his goals.

His decision to quit again and head to Omega may have been something borne of grief, letting anger and frustration drive him to desperate measures. Omega is a station that the law has forgotten, and therefore it seemed perfect for Garrus to begin his own personal revenge on the criminals of the galaxy. Omega is also the source of several major mercenary bands of the Terminus Systems, and since the law can't catch them elsewhere, Garrus decided he would make them bleed at the core. He was a Turian who chose to strike out on his own and rely on his own talents to succeed. He abandoned the familiarity of all he'd known in order to dive into the unknown and make something of himself. There was a steep change here when Garrus began his vigilante runs; he became darker, focused, more ruthless in his endeavors. Yet he still retained an essence of innocence; a naive wish to change things single-handedly for the better-- to save little girls from scary monsters in the night, keep young, honest entrepreneurs safe, and to protect old women crossing the street. He could still laugh and joke and hope for better.

He was also charismatic enough to make people want to follow him, and managed to build his own team of vigilantes in Omega. He has great leadership skills he rarely gets to exercise while serving under Shepard, but during this desperate period of his life, his command flourished. He built something of a family with his team and lead them to success after success.

Honestly, Garrus just wants to help people. He wants to make the galaxy a better place: safe enough for innocents to walk the streets after dark, scary enough to stop those who consider stealing candy from babies. His personal war against the gangs in the Terminus systems show his dedication to making a difference and an ability to actually pull through with his plans; despite having numerical and tactical disadvantages, Garrus is able to plan precision strikes against the enemy holdings, getting in and getting out again without casualties.

He didn't go out looking to recruit people to his team; they came to him, encouraged by the work he'd been doing, wanting to help. He grew close with the eleven members of his guerrilla squad and began to regain some hope in the peoples of the galaxy.

This delicate hope was forcibly shattered when one of his own betrayed him. One he trusted dearly.

Innocence, lost.

While Sidonis, the betrayer, lead Garrus away on a solitary mission that was really a wild goose chase, the rest of his team was ambushed at their home base. The mercenaries bribed and threatened Sidonis to set the whole thing up; to lead Garrus away so that they could sneak in and attack his team when they were least expecting it. Garrus lost his entire squad in a day. All but two were slaughtered by the time Garrus got back, and though he tried to help, they didn't last much longer.

After that, Garrus was lost. What little hope he had been building up was washed away like sand under a sea of anger and betrayal. He drowned in guilt and shame, blaming himself for the deaths of his men.

He vowed vengeance on Sidonis, but before he could put any plans into motion, the gangs found the fallen Batman. They pin Garrus down at his home base, hammering him with bullets and throwing away mercs by the handful. Garrus was able to stay alive because the only way for the mercs to reach him was across a long, narrow bridge. For a pro sniper, this is like shooting fish in a barrel-- a fun hobby that Garrus could indulge in while the mercenary gangs waited for him to fall over from exhaustion. At that point in time, he seemed to have accepted his death, a punishment for failing yet again-- although he planned to take down as many mercs as possible before he left.

This was where Shepard found him again, exhausted but still fighting, and she promptly stepped in and saved his life.

It speaks something about his personality that even then, at quite possibly the lowest point in his entire life, Garrus is still able to joke. It is a depressing, tiring situation and Garrus still manages to answer Shepard's questions with something of his normal sarcasm and wit, easing the tension in the room. He thinks about others before himself, always. Despite his exhaustion he wants to make sure Shepard and her team are all right, and give them (and himself) hope that this hopeless situation is still salvageable.

Even at times when other men would withdraw into themselves or grow depressed, Garrus tends to never show that side of himself. When they escape the mercs, Garrus is injured quiet severely and carried back to the Normandy for medical attention. Right as Jacob is telling Shepard that the Turian's chances aren't good, Garrus swaggers into the room, up and out of the hospital bed far before he should've been moving around. He does his best to act uncaring of the fact that he now wears horrible scars across the side of his face, even making a joke to show he doesn't intend to dwell on it. Horrible things happen, and Garrus Vakarian does his best to move on. And he will not allow his friends the chance to pity him, instead choosing to make fun of his own misfortunes so that everyone can move on.

Later, after joining Shepard's team, Garrus gets a hit on a chance to find Sidonis, and he enlists Shepard to help him hunt the traitor down. All he wants to do is put a bullet through Sidonis's head-- honor and vengeance demand it. Garrus wants to do right by his fallen teammates; the vengeance, as he explains to Shepard, is not necessarily just for him. Shepard ends up getting in the way and preventing Garrus from sniping Sidonis; Shepard gets Sidonis talking, and after hearing how broken and regretful the other Turian has become, Garrus reluctantly lets him go.

After this mission, Garrus does not immediately know what to do with himself. Although Shepard has steered him away from the deep end, the beliefs and convictions he had developed so strongly in her absence are hard to shake. Without her, he sees the world in black and white; but with her influence, he begins again see the gray. And he tells her, "Gray? I don't know what to do with gray." It's much easier to see the world in simpler terms, easier to know he's doing what's right-- but Shepard throws a wrench into things, forcing him to view things on a deeper level. The gray had become unfamiliar, and Garrus needs time to readjust to the color.

Still, he does his best to follow Shepard's example, and trusts her with his life regardless. He willingly follows her into Hell for the good of the galaxy, a second time, and without regrets.

Background: Garrus grew up on a planet which stressed military discipline. He enrolled in the Turian military when he was 15, as most Turians do-- and he did so well that he was sighted for Spectre Candidacy, and was offered special training for the position. Spectres are galaxy-renowned badasses who are given extensive freedoms and allowances by the intergalactic Council.

If raised to the status of Spectre, that person is a complete BAMF considered "above the law" and allowed to do whatever is needed to get the job done in service to the council, without much fear of reprisal.

Garrus's father was a C-Sec man to the bone (a policeman, basically) and did not approve of the way Spectres were given so much freedom from the law, so he cock-blocked Garrus's chances of getting special training.

Garrus later enrolled in C-Sec himself and became an investigator. Over the years he got so fed up with the political red-tape and regulations that he quit the whole thing in order to follow Shepard, the first human Spectre, into space to capture and/or kill the Big Bad Guy. They succeed in their mission, and after the end of the first game Garrus leaves the ship to return to C-Sec and enroll in Spectre training again, hoping to make something of himself.

Then the ship Shepard was on is attacked, and Shepard dies. Garrus is frustrated when no one will do anything about it, and also frustrated that C-Sec hasn't changed. He leaves again, this time traveling all the way to the worst part of the Galaxy, Omega. There he sets up shop as Batman and even builds his own vigilante team to take down the bad guys from the source.

He does well for a few months until he gets betrayed by one of his own men. His team dies, and by that point Garrus had managed to piss off so many people that the three biggest mercenary organizations in the Terminus Systems have joined together to take him down. He still manages to hold his own until they trap him at his home base with no way out.

And even then, he holds off the waves of mercs they throw at him for days by sniping the idiots as they funnel across the bridge.

Shepard finds him there, exhausted but holding, and together they manage to fight their way out.

But not before he gets half his face blown off by a missile 8D

After that, he joins Shepard's merry gang of badasses and they travel around the galaxy righting wrongs, shooting sapient cockroaches and killing giant alien Terminators.

It's a hard life.

Special Abilities or Weapons: Other than being a Space Dinosaur Batman, none. And he likes sniper rifles. Also he wields an amazing ability to ignore the existence of Hutt Porn vids.

Sect: Vigilante Civilian. No freaking way is he joining a military unless it's Shepard's Army of Twelve.

Job: Callibrashuns. No really he'll join up with Shepard aboard her Ebon Hawk or whatever and help upgrade the guns :|b

Samples:

First Person:
[There is a surprising lack of fumbling of buttons, with this new entry-- the Video turns on cleanly, and a non-human face studies the feed cautiously.]

Riiiiight. [Bare talons rub at the bone on the side of his jaw tiredly; he looks slightly exasperated, no doubt at the lack of armor in unfamiliar surroundings. At least his tattoos had come through with him, although nothing else had. Bare and stripped of weapons-- this wasn't good.] I'm going to go ahead and assume this is trouble. Right now, I'm looking for answers-- if anyone listening can offer some information, or point me at a place to find it, it'd be a big help.

Commander, if you're out there, send me your location.

...The location of an armor and weapons locker would also be fantastic, if there happen to be any lying around.

Third Person:

It wasn't that Garrus hadn't found himself in odd situations before-- traveling with the Commander, 'odd' was something one came to expect-- it was just that usually he had clothes. Or armor, to be more specific. He hardly took ff the heavy, protective metal anymore; not since leaving for Omega, not since traveling on a suicide mission to find and fight the Collectors. It had become something of a second skin to him, and to wake up in a strange bed without it--

In a human bed--

One that wasn't Shepard's--

Well. Something was going on. If mercs or slavers had somehow managed to infiltrate the Normandy and kidnapped them without their knowing-- No, wait, that didn't make any sense. The Collectors had been the only ones to successfully sneak up on the Normandy, and at that, only after sabotaging their software. But the Collectors were dead, which left...

Reapers.

But the Reapers wouldn't bother to strip him and leave him alive, would they? They'd get straight to the slaughtering. Which put Garrus right back at square one: Who had put him here, and where was here?

He scanned the room again, looking for something-- any sort of clue. But the room was almost military-standard in it's bare efficiency: a bed, a window, a door. White, clean walls. Nothing personal, nothing out of place, nothing--

Wait.

Some sort of ... device, left nonchalantly at the edge of his bed. Since he'd also been stripped of his omni-tool, he had no way to scan it, but it looked to be in working condition. Garrus lifted the small screen and silently prayed the thing wouldn't blow up if he turned it on. He wasn't familiar with the technology, but the controls looked easy enough. He found the power button, switched it on, and blinked when the display didn't flare orange.

Some sort of ... data-linking tool. Was it-- yes! It was connected wirelessly to an outside data stream, and he could follow the chatter of other beings through the device. He settled down to fiddle with it, hoping that he could find some way to link to the extranet and figure out what was going on.

Anything Else: He'd like to room with Shepard~ Also. Baw.