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I still dont know what happened with the layout, but everything that was in the sidebar was violently thrown to the bottom of the page under the posts... It was weird, and hopefully this new layout won't bother anyone too much. Everything you will need is down at the bottom of the page.

Anyway, time to get to business. Just yesterday I released a new Mass Effect short story. It details one of the origin stories for Shepard. So far people have liked it! If you haven't read it yet, you can find it on fanfiction.net: here, and on deviant art: here. I entered it into the Retake Mass Effect fiction contest, there aren't that many entries (2 including mine) at the moment, but still if there's a chance to showcase my work I will gladly take it. :D

But it doesnt end there. I want to add some explanation of what I did with the piece:

This piece, Shepard: Earthborn War Hero is an attempt to give Shepard some character. I decided to take an origin story of his, since that's really untouched territory, and make it explain some traits that you see in the games. I'll focus on some of the ones I touched on in the story so you can get an idea of what I mean.

The citadel's next big thing

The First Trait is something you can tell from this gif I found: Shepard's dancing. It is a well known fact that he is a horrible dancer and I wanted to add an explanation why.  It's kind of spelled out for you in the story, but he used to be an amazing dancer, even winning a dancing competition with Sam on their shore leave. Shepard even goes into how he learned it: his gang would hold dance fights and rap battles when the other side (or their side) had too many injured.  This is an incredibly stupid reason to be honest, but I added it in as sort of a jab at West Side Story's dance fights. I think it works eh?? Anyway, after Sam died, he lost that free spirit of his, after losing the one thing he cared for.  In fact she was the only thing he cared for, if you just think about it. Shepard left Earth to get away from the gangs and the violence, and he doesn't show any regret. I think this shows that he doesnt really have anyone.  Even at the bar in the beginning, he is all alone, and picks up an incredibly drunk girl.  Later he thinks to himself that he wont bang Sam that night because she was special. In fact he did do it to every other girl, showing that he didn't really make attachments. This is all due to his free spirit. When Sam died, no matter how brief their encounter was, she did show Shepard a different way than what he was accustomed to. That was enough to derail Shepard when she died, forcing him to realize how fragile life is. He became the stiff and workaholic that we all know him for to this day (or at least the way I know him).
Which brings me perfectly to trait two: his obsession with everyone dying on Earth. Again you can see how it all works out with Shepard's promise to Sam as she dies: Not to let any innocent soul die without Shepard giving it his all. Shepard, being a little irrational at the moment (Sam WAS dying...) took it to mean every single innocent being in the galaxy. This could also explain why he doesn't feel for killing everyone that he does, because he rationalized it was keeping his promise to Sam. Furthermore,
His general seriousness is also reflected in this as well.  I remember the scene in Purgatory where James challenges Shepard to buy drinks for the soldiers. Depending on what option you choose, either Shepard will order the drinks and win the hearts of the soldiers, or he'll opt out. I was really taken aback by that one, because it really showed that he was only a legend to others, not a person at all. After seeing what he said for the opting out choice, he really did seem like a dry and serious no-nonsense kind of person. And I made a reason why he was like that.

Finally, I wanted Shepard's romances to be more than what they are in the games. They feel lopsided to me; they are all about how Shepard heals the scars of his Love Interest or something along those lines, and then the LI falls in love with them as a result. Shepard "completes" them in a way, very evident in the OST song "I was lost without you." (which is actually pretty awesome). Shepard can accept their love or not, and yata yata they bang right before the end. But what about Shepard? I wanted that song to be about him as much as it was about the LI. I wanted Shepard to undergo some healing as well, I wanted HIM to be completed by the LI. It gives it a sort of balanced relationship. That's what relationships SHOULD be like anyway right? Plus, there could be some awesome narrative and storytelling magic if that were the case. But its not. I feel that a balanced one that I outlined above would be more fulfilling.
Now I do acknowledge that some people enjoy the relationship that is currently in the games: Shepard is the immovable rock, the one constant in the LI's life that brings about change for the better, I can see that. But for obvious reasons, I like my way better. haha
Something else that I think is that the LI should have a more critical part in Shepard's life, not just staying in their room and wait for the next discussion with Shepard. Maybe after a set number of missions, Shepard is approached by his LI for a discussion about something on their mind or something like that. I think it's definitely doable.
Finally, after all this complaining I want to set something straight: all in all, we cant blame Bioware for this at all. If they gave Shepard some much as a little more back story than he already has, it will take away from the immersion of the player more and more and more. Players just simply wont get as connected to the story as they are now. With some careful planning and fine tuning, I think a game like this can be done, but we cant blame Bioware for not trying either. It's risky business, and they made a pretty awesome game already. It's not like Bioware didn't do anything either, in the end they did give Shepard a big guilt trip, and gave him a trial by fire with indoctrination (which he did or didn't conquer depending on your choices :P). Finally, they gave us the chance, whether they knew it or not, to make our own stories about Shepard like I did. I am making Shepard more of my own by doing this. Bioware's stance on their Mass Effect saga is that nothing is canon. Anyone who wants to accept my story as their own canon, I would be honored. If you don't want to, I totally understand and hope that you make your own story to share with others.

All I wanted was a Shepard that was human. To be human, they have to feel and have reasons for the things that they do, AND they can't do everything on their own.  That is my philosophy at least. I hope you enjoyed my two cents.

Something else I want to mention is that I will be working on my Liara ending chapter two. It will be up soon. Then I will work on Mass Effect: Confirmation part 2 next. Then I'll get more stuff to do!

I shall be off now.

NotCras