Syn App

[brokers]

P L A Y E R;
NAME: PG
AGE: 32
PLAYER JOURNAL: quantumvelvet (Rarely used)
TIMEZONE: EST
CONTACT: E-mail: quantumvelvet(at) gmail (dot) com, plurk: quantumvelvet
OTHER CHARACTERS PLAYED: Sabetha Belacoros (amadine), Dorian Pavus (prolificarse)

C H A R A C T E R;
NAME: Liara T'Soni
CANON: Mass Effect
POINT IN CANON: ME3, post-game
AGE: 109

APPEARANCE: Asari are the most humanoid of the Mass Effect alien species. In shape and arrangement of facial features, they very much resemble attractive human women, though they are generally taller than the human average. (Liara herself is about 5'8", and is average height for an asari.) The differences, however, are just as undeniable as the similarities - they are hairless, blue-skinned (with shade ranging from pale blue-green to almost violet), possess no visible ears, and have in place of a head of hair a semi-flexible cartilaginous crest that tapers to narrow blunted points behind their heads. Each asari has a unique pattern of facial markings, ranging from barely-discernible to extremely dramatic.

In this, Liara is no exception. Her skin colour is a light sky-blue, though it appears almost blue-grey under certain lights. Her eyes are blue as well, though a brighter, more dramatic shade. Her particular markings give her a peculiarly human appearance - she has narrow black arches along her brow that very much resemble eyebrows, though they're skin pigment rather than hair, and grey speckles across the bridge of her nose that give the appearance of freckles. Her crest, too, is grey-speckled, though these speckles are lighter, almost white.

CANON HISTORY: Here

CANON PERSONALITY: In many ways, Liara is a creature of dualities. She is by turns awkward and confident, excitable and serious, compassionate and ruthless, mature and childish. Which facet of her personality any given person sees is very dependant on the relationship she has with them. Someone who interacts with her solely as an information broker will see little more than a cool, calculating, ruthlessly intelligent woman, driven and unlikely to be swayed from her path. A friend, on the other hand, will see a slightly-awkward, passionate academic with deep loyalties and sympathy - and if they've never seen her on a battlefield, would likely be shocked by just how ruthless she can be.

Regardless of what facet of herself she's showing, Liara is always strong-willed and driven, occasionally to the point of near obsession. She turned her back on the expectations of her revered and politically powerful mother, and those of her people, in order to pursue archaeology out of equal parts love for the subject and rebellion against an ill-fitting role that felt as though it had already been decided for her. Later, she dedicated two years of her life to taking down the Shadow Broker in retaliation for his attempts to hand Shepard's body over to the sinister Collectors - and while the span of time is not necessarily notable when measured against an asari's millenial lifespan, the single-minded focus with which she pursued that goal, coupled with the stark deviation from her previous arena, is. Generally speaking, once Liara has set her mind on a goal, she pursues it with unwavering focus, and is entirely willing to suffer personal hardship in order to attain what she seeks. Her devotion to those who have earned her trust and friendship is similar - she is a friend for life, will go to the ends of the galaxy to protect those she cares for, and will remember with a very determined sort of fondness those she's lost. She is not, however, slavishly devoted - she has her own morals, priorities, and responsibilities which she will not abandon, and she does not take betrayal lightly.

She is just as determined an enemy as she is a friend and ally - loyalty and implacability are, in her case, two sides of the same coin.

Liara is a glutton for information. While at one point this was only true in terms of her fascination with the past - and in particular with the culture and extinction of the protheans - the time she's spent as an information broker has widened this interest to encompass all arenas of life. She is curious, observant, and entirely willing to spy if she feels the need to - or if her interest happens to have been piqued by a person or situation. In effect, she collects information the way a dragon collects gold (although she is somewhat more willing to share her bounty).

In situations that fall into her area of expertise, Liara is extremely confident and capable. She is passionate at what she does, she is good at what she does, and she knows it. Biotics, archaeology, science, and (with the few people in the know) her information network are all subjects she can discuss easily and at length - occasionally at more length than the person she's talking to might hope. She generally avoids being condescending by virtue of being so incredibly earnest - she loves what she does, and it shows - though she will occasionally (usually when greatly annoyed) get pedantic. In purely social situations, however, she can be somewhat awkward. She's spent a great deal of time in isolation, and it shows. While she has gotten better at navigating rough social waters - she has learned to lie and dissemble, and is no longer likely to within two breaths reveal an interest in someone and then imply she's actually interested in dissecting their brain - she still gets flustered when caught wrong-footed, and has some difficulty articulating what she means when nervous.

While Liara's general demeanor is fairly serious, perhaps in an attempt to offset her relative youth within asari circles, when faced with something of particular interest, she will often betray both her youth and her passionate nature with a flurry of excitement. If this something of interest happens to be a person (Shepard, who has been marked by prothean technology, and later in the third game a living prothean found on Eden Prime), this will often feed into the aforementioned awkwardness - when excited, Liara has a tendency to speak first, think second, and what comes out of her mouth will occasionally greatly embarrass her when her mind catches up.

By nature, Liara is extremely empathetic. She cares about those around her, and goes out of her way to make sure they're all right, or offer a willing shoulder and a sympathetic ear. She tends to try to see multiple sides to an issue, even if she's already decided on her own stance. In situations that are not black and white, she typically cautions mercy and understanding, and most notably is one of the first to express any sort of sympathy for an enemy who has been proven to be under the control of the Reapers. At the same time, she is unyielding in battle, and utterly ruthless when she believes someone has crossed a line. Her two years hunting the Shadow Broker, and the months since she took his place, have taught her to be cold and calculating when she has to - there is little room for compassion when dealing with people who are themselves ruthless betrayers. She is still kind and compassionate when she can be, but she knows when to put it aside, even if it risks driving a wedge between her and those who are used to the empathetic Dr. T'Soni.

Coming as she does from a long-lived species, Liara is simultaneously one of the oldest and one of the youngest members of the Normandy crew. Of the crew members with whom her tenure overlaps, only the centuries-old Wrex and Samara are her elders in terms of straight numerical age. At the same time, she is only just out of adolescence, in the beginning of the Maiden stage of her life. This mixture of old and young shows in her world view and behaviour. Like most asari, Liara is fairly conservative, preferring to take a middle road where possible. She tends to view things with a wider scope than her shorter-lived crewmates, and is more easily able to look at such things as galactic impact and long-term ramifications of the actions they take. At the same time, she has youth's certainty of purpose and romantic notions. She frequently expresses faith in authority which hasn't been earned, in a manner that evokes the belief of the young that parental figures are always right, and when this faith is proven to be unfounded, she reacts with a child's sense of betrayal. While she is generally even-tempered, when she feels slighted or insulted, she can react with a petulant sort of cattiness - which she will generally regret later, once her sense of self-possession has a chance to catch up.

While Liara is very much accustomed to danger, her personal experience remains in the arena of small-group conflict. She tends to intellectualize larger conflicts - she is aware of the scale of galactic warfare, of the number of casualties, and of what it means, but it doesn't actually hit home for her until her own homeworld is destroyed. She sympathizes with Shepard and Garrus, whose own homeworlds are both occupied early, but she sympathizes because it's Shepard and Garrus - two people she personally knows, who are visibly suffering. She has an easier time internalizing and reacting to the situation when a mutual friend is badly injured, because that's on a scale she's familiar with. While this is beneficial, in that it allows her to maneuver her assets as the Shadow Broker without feeling as much personal loss if they fall, it does mean she's ill-prepared for personal shock on a larger scale, and can occasionally come off as callous because of her remove from larger conflicts and tendency to see distant losses in terms of numbers more readly than people.

Liara has a slightly peculiar pattern of speech. She tends to be fairly precise in her word choice, and speak in a formal, occasionally almost stilted manner. She does not eschew contractions entirely, but uses them far more infrequently than most people would. Occasionally, she gives the impression of having rehearsed whatever she's about to say in her head, possibly in hopes of circumventing her tendency to trip over her own words when she feels uncertain.

POINT OF DEPARTURE: N/A
ABILITIES: Like all asari, Liara possesses a form of touch-based telepathy. She is able to meld her mind with that of another sentient being with whom she maintains physical contact, and share memory, experience, thoughts, and feelings. She can control the flow of this information, giving or taking as much as she wishes to. The other party doesn't have to be willing, although the process is implied to be extremely painful for the subject if it's done by force. This form of melding is intense, and can be extremely draining - it is implied that the more involved the exchange of information is, the more difficult the melding process is, though this can be offset by experience. (It should be noted that while a less gruelling version of this process is how asari have intercourse, psychic melding is not by definition sexual for the species.)

Liara is a powerful biotic, able to generate mass effect fields that allow her to manipulate the mass and density of objects around her, and to create localized alterations in the patterns of gravity. In practical terms, she can telekinetically fling or immobilize objects and people, create forcefields that can withstand a great deal of damage, generate small, localized gravity wells that are close kin to tame black holes, and generate unstable mass effect fields that shred solid matter and violently disrupt other telekinetic effects. She has a great deal of practice using her biotics in combat, though her biotics have non-combat purposes as well. She can manipulate small objects telekinetically, use her biotics in non-hostile tactile displays, and levitate herself several storeys.

Though she prefers using her biotics in combat situations, Liara is a decent shot with pistols and submachine guns.

Outside the arena of combat, Liara has trained as an archaeologist, and has fifty years of experience in the field. She is very good at putting together clues about ancient and extinct civilizations, and such research - especially field research - is one of her genuine joys. She also has some training in stealth and infiltration, and is a capable spy and sneak when she needs to be. She is good at finding and ferreting out even faint trails, and can extrapolate from even faint evidence. She has a knack for surveillance, both in person and remote.

Liara has a high level of proficiency with electronics-based technology - she can bypass security and hack into electronic systems, both vital skills given her career. She also has some proficiency with repairing damaged systems (which, once upon a time, helped her get stuck in a prothean barrier curtain), or inflicting damage on healthy electronic systems via her omni-tool.

Liara has a solid grounding in modern (for her; 2186 CE by Earth-date) scientific theory, with the majority of her knowledge focused in physics (necessary for understanding her own powers) and biology. She is capable of serving as a field medic, and is familiar with the physiology of several species, including humans. (She is not a fully trained physician, however - she can patch up someone's injuries, but don't ask her to perform major medical procedures.)

INVENTORY; *Ultra-light M-4 Shuriken submachine gun
*M-5 Phalanx pistol
*Light armor with kinetic shield module
*Omni-tool
*Three units of Medi-gel

ANYTHING ELSE WE SHOULD KNOW? Liara will be coming in as a veteran Traveller, albeit one who's been absent through the on-screen Jaunts.

S A M P L E S;
ACTIONSPAM SAMPLE: These ruins are fascinating! It is no wonder the Miners want so badly to excavate them. Even the mere physical structures are incredibly elegant. The ind- the infection has lost this world so much.

[There is a weighted pause, as though Liara's considering her next words carefully.]

It reminds me of the civilizations lost to the Reapers, in my own galaxy. Some managed to preserve pieces of their way of life - beacons, to lead future societies along the correct path, but so little survived. We could devote centuries to studying them, and still only understand the barest fragments of who they were. It is curious, the manner in which these patterns appear to repeat.

It is fortunate that the awakened Cryptos appear to be of a pleasant disposition.

[Read: not Javik.]

PROSE SAMPLE: (riffing off prompt #28)

Liara has long since lost sight of the number of times she's completed the maze. She'd kept track, at first, by counting steps, the number she'd taken divided by the optimum number to complete a single circuit. The math wasn't quite right, thrown off by missteps, a turn down the wrong corridor, an attempt to backtrack, but she doubts sincerely that the key to escaping this mess lies in knowing to three significant digits the precise number of circuits she's made. And then they'd changed, puzzles coming out of order, repeating within the same circuit, and she'd thrown tracking circuits out the metaphorical airlock, jettisoning the idea in a fit of frustration that left her knuckles bruised and the wall infuriatingly undented by either biotics or brute force.

She continues counting steps, however. It's the closest she can come to keeping track of time, with no breaks, no sleep, and no cycle of light to mark the difference between night and day. The count's faded into the back of her mind, a steady rhythm as second nature as the beat of her heart or the firing of nerve impulses that control the activation of her biotics. It's almost meditative, if meditation can be achieved by frustration so profound that it's almost a form of acceptance.

There's a part of her that's been tempted, more than once, to sit down and refuse to budge, call a quit to this ridiculous game. It's drowned out by dogged determination, the same that fuelled her through her studies, through weeks and months alone on strange worlds with only the faintest hope of discovering something worth the trip, through two long years spent hoping that she hadn't just made the biggest mistake of her centuries-long life. There is an answer. There is a way out, somewhere, if only she keeps looking, doesn't allow herself to stop. She'll find it, or one of the others she spies, far too infrequently and for not nearly long enough, will stumble across something. The unfamiliar puzzles she still stumbles across now and again are a good sign.

She refuses to believe this is all without meaning. They just haven't figured it out yet.