Iiana Shepard
Iiana Shepard
Earthborn/Sole Survivor/Engineer/Paragon
Iiana grew up on the streets with other orphaned kids, but quickly stood out with her constantly amused but cold exterior. Her silver tongue and calculating wit got her quickly into a gang, where she subtly manipulated her way through the ranks using charm instead of brute force. Most who disliked her only had to spend a few minutes alone with her before they were convinced otherwise. She never struggled for power, she never had to. Whoever she couldn't charm she either blackmailed or they 'disappeared', although she never personally attacked anyone who worked with or for her. Although she obviously had a ruthless and conniving side to her, Iiana was also known to rarely spend her hard earned credits on herself unless necessary. Instead, she gave to children, making sure they had food in their bellies. When she was older and had a bit more power under her belt, the kids got a place to sleep at night, even if they were little more than hand-me-down sleeping bags. They worked for their meals of course, using small time scams to get credits from adults or by bringing her useful information. If people assumed she was only using the kids, all the better. Still, the day she turned eighteen she enlisted in the Alliance military without a word to anyone, leaving all her funds with one of the oldest children of her little group to take care of the others.
Military life changed Iiana. Her early academy years passed before she finally understood she no longer had to lie and manipulate to get what she wanted, but she still felt oddly out of place among her peers, especially those who she felt had lived sheltered lives. She gained little friends and fewer lovers outside of distant one night stands. A structured and regulated life threw her off balance at first, and since she had decided to change herself and stop trying to charm others, her cold-yet-amused front endeared her to few. None could deny how effective she was on the battlefield once she graduated, and none knew how moved she had been to receive her first promotion based on hard work and skill rather than through subterfuge. As she grew older, Iiana found herself becoming the person she had always wanted to be, a proud and honorable, instead of what she had been forced to become to survive on the streets of Earth. Eventually, she made friends with those in her command and even managed to loosen up enough to tentatively date someone for the first time.
Then the events surrounding Akuze happened, and for months she retreated into an emotional shell, falling back on her cold exterior, this time without the amusement. On the field she was as efficient as ever, more focused, and despite attempts to evulate her for PTSD, Iiana appeared perfectly healthy and normal, if not bit withdrawn. No one knew of her nightmares, of how for the first two weeks she would spontaneously burst into tears whenever she was left alone in her stateroom. Time passed and she eventually recovered enough to put the events behind her, but never to forget the faces and names of all those who died in the thresher maw attack.
During ME1, Iiana found herself captain of a ship, and despite her wariness, grew close to her crew on an emotional level. Had she not been so terrified of growing too attached, she might have even fallen for Kaidan or Liara, but not even the threat of Saren and a Reaper invasion could make her shrug off her unwillingness to trust others with her heart, and she knew Kaidan and Liara wanted more than she could give. So no romance for ME1.
ME2 brought about a change, what with her being spaced and all. Iiana felt as if she had wasted something precious by not pursuing her feelings, and as much as she wanted to be furious with Cerberus for effectively manipulating her into being their pawn, she refused to waste the second chance given to her. But with the council and the alliance refusing to help her deal with the Collector threat, and TIM making her a discredible source by leaking her alliance with him, Iiana grit her teeth and collected who she could. Never had she been more thrilled to have Joker, Dr. Chakwas, Garrus, and Tali back. She immediately opened up more to them, wanting to make up for lost time, especially with Garrus, whom she had always felt a sort of kinship with and who know seemed older, calmer, but still steady and capable. Events on Horizon and Illium left her feeling guilty and betrayed by Ashley and Liara, but not heartbroken, the latter leaving her confused. The more intense things became, the closer she grew to her new crew, but especially Garrus and Tali. If asked, Iiana would be unable to recall when she realized her feelings for Garrus, but she took a chance instead of shying away as she always did and to her utter surprise, he took her seriously instead of awkwardly laughing off her affections and then pretending it never happened. She knew then there would be no going back for her and while she played it cool and smooth, she knew she had completely fallen for the turian. In the end, she destroyed the collector base and delightfully told TIM he could shove it. Oh, and "Fuck you sideways, you manipulative dick".
So in ME3, Iiana reuintes with Garrus and reconfirms their relationship ("Was there ever any doubt, Vakarian?"), deals with Ashley's lack of trust with more patience than she felt she had, and came to terms with Liara's guilt and her own lingering bitterness at feeling abandoned by someone she had once considered close enough to possibly love. With Mordin's help, she cures the genophage, hooks Joker and EDI up, united the Quarian and the Geth, shanks Kai Leng's ass for killing Thane and pretty much unites the entire galaxy to fight against the Reapers. So when Space God Kid pops up and delivers three choices to her, despite being completely out of it and about to pass out from lack of blood, Shepard fights and verbally challenges the Catalyst. She refuses to accept the three solutions to a problem he no longer felt his solution was effective for, and remains unconvinced that he can do absolutely nothing to stop what he set in motion. She also convinces him to stop using the child's image to manipulate her, and she catches a glimpse of the most unique and bizzare species ever encountered, beautiful and completely horrifying at the same time. The Catalyst continues to try and convince her those are are only three ways to stop the harvesting and although she's tired, beaten, and feels barely alive, she still argues that the Catalyst is wrong, that she has proven him wrong by doing what no other cycle has been able to do, and that this and subsequent cycles have earned the choice to decide their own fate. The Catalyst eventually agrees, but on one condition: if the Reapers are destroyed, the Mass Relays must also be destroyed, and Shepard must become the new Catalyst to ensure order. Shepard agrees, the beam of the Crucible expands until all she can see is white, and is completely engulfed.
The Reapers, now inactive, go back through the Mass Relays and back to Dark Space. All fleets in the vicinity of the Citadel disappear save for the Alliance. Then the Mass Relays are destroyed, the Normandy crash lands on Earth. All the remaining races on the planet are now stuck there, the fleets are gone and the Mass Relays are gone.The war ends, the death toll is staggering, and Shepard is unaccounted for. Anderson's body is eventually found, but no matter how hard they scan and search, Shepard's body cannot be found.
Months later, Earth is being rebuilt and room is being made for all the races to live together in unity. The Normandy crew mourn their lost leader, but no one takes the loss as hard as Garrus. He disappears shortly after the funeral, convinced she is somewhere on Earth waiting to be found. He scours the world in search for her, pouring himself into volunteer work to help rebuild when not actively searching. After a year with no sign, he almost gives up, until he has a strange dream about a familiar beach and Shepard. He follows her, but she turns into pure energy and scatters. When he awakens, he scans over the extranet and sure enough, he recognizes the beach as being from the Virgin Islands. He finds her there, not at a beach but in a hospital, locals having found her washed up along the shore. They are reuinted, everyone finds out she's alive, happy epilogue scenes for alll, roll credits.