"Tell your friends we're coming for them!"
Biography: Kendra Shepard Part 1
The following is a biography I wrote for Kendra Shepard. She's a Colonist/Ruthless Vanguard. I wrote it all in one sitting and then posted it to the FemShep thread on BSN. It got lost in the shuffle and buried at the bottom of page 541. That didn't bother me, but finding it again was a bit of a chore, so I figured, why not post it here? That way I can find it easily. And, on the off chance someone else wants to read it, I can point them to it easily. So, without further ado, here's Kendra Shepard's bio. Oh, and it's only for ME1. ME2 and ME3 to follow... eventually. After reading it, I added a few things that I somehow missed. I also included the Author's note, if you will, when I posted it on BSN, for completeness sake.
===========================================================================
I think I figured out Kendra (somewhat). I had a hard time pinning her down, so to speak. That's why I haven't posted this until now. Then it came to me in the bathroom, just this morning. Isn't that where we all do our best thinking? Anyways, here's what I wrote, all in one sitting. And then refined it so it was (somewhat) coherent. I also gave her a middle name on a whim. Seemed to fit.
As for Maria, I don't know... I have a hard time with anything that doesn't make her out to be the ultimate "goody-goody". She's got to have flaws somewhere. When I find them, then I can write her bio.
For now, here's Kendra's Biography. I tried to use the template that's in the forums, but felt... constrained by it. I needed more than just one or two sentence answers.
The following is all pre- and during ME1. I plan to write a second one on ME2 and then a third one on ME3. Warning, wall of text follows!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Name: Kendra Marie Shepard
Background: Colonist/Ruthless
Alignment: Full Renegade
Class: Vanguard
Favorite Combat Ability or Abilities: Biotic Charge. Be your own bullet!! (Yes, I know it doesn't exist in ME1. In ME1 she used Warp a lot.)
Unlike most other colonists, Kendra didn't have the picture perfect happy home life on Mindoir. She wanted to go to the stars, but her parents refused her at every turn. So, she rebelled. She would prefer to spend time in the city hanging out with her friends than helping out on the farm. She was a bit of a tomboy. She also was into many vices. Smoking, booze, drugs, sex. You name it, she did it. She always fought with her parents. In fact, the last thing she told them was "I hate you!" as she ran out of the house. That was the day the slavers invaded.
She was in town when they hit. Her friends all scattered and she ran home. When she got there, her home was ablaze and many Batarians were milling about. When she saw the two corpses, she did the only thing a scared 16-year-old girl would do: She ran. She ran as far as her legs could carry her into the woods and hid until she was rescued by the Alliance. That was also the day she quit all her vices, cold turkey.
She still carries the guilt of Mindoir to this day. She doesn't even remember what it was she and her parents were arguing about anymore on that particular day. She has yet to deal with her guilt on this.
She joined the Alliance as soon as she was eligible. Due to her biotic talents as well as her skills with guns, particularly shotguns (see below), she became a Vanguard. She used her guilt and turned it into drive and determination to be the best Vanguard possible. This causes her to be noticed by the N7 program and she graduated with top honors.
As for Torfan, the thing about rumors is... sometimes, they turn out to be completely and absolutely true. What she left out of her report... what she never told anyone, mostly because they never asked, is that of the many insignias those Batarians wore, there is one she recognized. The same insignia that the Batarians that invaded Mindoir wore. When they tried to flee, she wasn't going to let them leave and gunned them down. All of them. Even those that surrendered. Afterwords she was completely stoic. "It had to be done," was all she said when asked. The Alliance brass wasn't happy, but since every member of her team, every single one of them, defended her actions, there was nothing the brass could do about it and dropped it. She even eventually got a commendation. The medal is in a box or bag somewhere with her things. She doesn't bother displaying it.
Alliance psychologists have tried and failed to get her to open up about Torfan and Mindoir. But, she simply refused telling them there's no point, it's all in the past. All the tests they would run, while not exactly listing her as a sane, functioning human being, she wasn't a psychopath. And while borderline, she technically didn't meet any of the definitions necessary to prevent her from being on active duty.
She also had a rebellious streak in the Alliance. She would question orders that didn't make sense, to the frustration of her Commanding Officers. They all eventually learned that Shepard required more than just "go do it". If she was given even minimal explanation, she would be satisfied. She also disliked those in authority that used that authority as a weapon against their subordinates. She vowed she would never, ever be like that.
She was proud to be selected as the Executive Officer of the Normandy SR-1, but she wouldn't let anyone else know that. She had worked hard to get to this point and hoped that she lived up to the faith Captain Anderson had in her. She also is very proud of being the first human Spectre. Another thing she earned due to her hard work. But, she also keeps that to herself.
Her favorite gun to use is the shotgun. She uses it almost exclusively. After months of begging, on her thirteenth birthday, her father finally relented and taught her to shoot. He used his old shotgun from his Alliance days. After careful instructions, he finally let her shoot some targets on her own. Seeing the near maniacal glee with which she used it, he pulled the gun from her hands saying, "That's enough, Princess," and no amount of protesting would make him relent. For days, for months, she searched that farm high and low and found no evidence of that shotgun ever again. This has added to her guilt. She wonders if her father had still had that gun, that maybe things would have turned out differently.
It's this guilt that causes her to lash out at others. Because of this, she is not good at dealing with her emotions, keeping things bottled up. She puts on a brave face for her crew and squadmates. When her emotions do seep out, anger seems to be the one that shows up first. She knows she has a short fuse and isn't always successful at keeping it in check. She's deeply flawed. She KNOWS she's deeply flawed, but thinks she's irredeemable. This is the path that she's on, and there's nothing she can do about it.
This all came to a head on Virmire. Wrex had got in the way of the mission. She lost her temper and shot him. She shot Rana Thanoptis. She executed the indoctrinated Salarians. She agonized and finally went and rescued Kaidan. Ashley forced her hand by arming the nuke. At least, that's what she tells herself. Maybe one day she'll believe it. At least she was able to save Captain Kirrahe in addition to Kaidan.
When the mission was over, and she was alone in her cabin, she broke down. She deeply regretted having to shoot Wrex. Over the course of the mission to stop Saren, she had slightly let down her walls and gotten to know her crew. Even the aliens, Wrex, Garrus and Tali. That is the only time she let herself cry over something and hasn't since.
She had started to feel like she had a family again. She didn't feel that Wrex betrayed her. She felt that she betrayed him. She resolved that she would never let her guns do the talking for her ever again. She would intimidate, she would threaten, she would yell. Even use her anger as a weapon. All to convince people to sway to her line of thinking. Guns would only be the last resort.
Of the two regrets she has during the mission, the first being Wrex, the second is waiting too long to pick up Liara. She didn't hate aliens. She just felt that humans were being unfairly held back, being treated like the children of the galaxy. She wasn't sure she could trust Liara, the daughter of Benezia, so she didn't go get her until she had no choice. She quickly learned how wrong she was. Liara was her polar opposite. Instead of hating her for that, she was intrigued by Liara. She had already become invested in Kaidan, but Liara became one of her best friends.
As for Kaidan, there was an initial physical attraction, sure. But, as she spoke to him, she learned there was so much more to him. Of all the boys she had on Mindoir, they were just that: boys. Kaidan was a man that fascinated her. Over time, she even convinced him to agree with her way of thinking.
As for the other major decisions she had to make:
After all the stories she had heard about the Rachni, and especially after fighting them, she couldn't take the chance that horror would be unleashed on the galaxy again. She had to exterminate the queen.
Feros turned out to be a scorched Earth, er, Feros philosophy. In her opinion, the colonists were beyond saving, like indoctrinated agents. She hated the Thorian for forcing her to do that. Yet another colony she couldn't save. Yet more guilt.
Conrad Verner upset her. She didn't think of herself as a hero, so why should he? She ended up sticking her gun in his face and got him to go away. (He lived for ME2)
On Noveria, Parasini rubbed her the wrong way. She didn't know why. So, she wasn't going to help her and helped Lorik instead. At least he was practical. Anoleis was a corrupt SOB. No way she would help him.
On Asteroid X57, although she used her gun as her voice on Balak, she didn't kill him outright. She tried intimidation through silence. When that didn't work, she fired warning shots, wounding shots, and then left him to bleed out. And, she wasn't able to save the hostages.
Saren. Of all the regrets she has, her talk with Saren is not one of them. She actually convinced him, through intimidation, that he was wrong and he shot himself. She considers that her greatest personal achievement. (as of the end of ME1)
The Council. The Council pissed her off most of all. Why bother making her a Spectre if they weren't going to believe her when she reported in? She frequently became frustrated and hung up on them. So, when it came time to it, she held the fleet back to go after Sovereign. It was also the right tactical decision. She tells herself that. Maybe one day she'll believe that, too.
She recommended Udina for the new Council. He was used to dealing with political BS, after all, might as well let him continue doing what he's good at. She was tempted to pick Anderson, but she considers him like a father to her. Much more than her own father. She knew he would hate the job.
All the guilt that she carries from what's happened in her life has just added to her drive and determination. Has just made her that much more focused. Just don't call her a hero. Not to her face, at least. Heroes are good people. She doesn't believe she'll ever be regarded as a "good person". Just as someone who made the tough calls and got the job done.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I hope that explains why I find Kendra so fascinating and why I enjoy playing her as a full Renegade. I know there's something I'm leaving out, I just can't think of what it is. So, if you have any questions about her, let me know. I'll be glad to answer.
© 2013 Created by JamieCOTC.
Powered by
You need to be a member of FemShep.com to add comments!
Join FemShep.com