(no subject)

Player Information:

Name or Handle: Hal
LJ: interlude_adieu
Email: n/a
AIM/ MSN / Plurk name: Plurk: dichotomy
Any current characters here?: nope!

Character Information:
Character Name: Thane Krios
Age: 39
Canon: Mass Effect 2

Appearance: Thane is a drell, essentially a lizard like alien species. While the drells shown canonly are few they seem to vary in color, and Thane's coloring is largely green with patches of black scales, most notable around his scalp. His eyes are purely black besides a small, almost greenish iris that's cloudy at best. In true lizard alien fashion he has two sets of eyelids, one that blinks sideways and the other down. His middle finger and ring finger are fused together on both hands.

Thane seems to be of average height, about as tall as anyone else in the team and perhaps a little shorter than male Shepard. Being a fashionista he sticks with black, brown, black and black when it comes to his clothing, his normal (all the time video game) outfit is reminiscent of a long coat with some flourishes.

Also blue milk and Jolee Bindo. I suck at putting those in naturally B(

Personality:

Thane, on the surface, is a particular slotted role. Every badass space team needs it's cold, angsty killer to brood delightfully in the corner and Shepard damn well wasn't going to save the human race without one. At first glance that is very much Thane's place and personality, he is a man not prone to talking without cue, and one who choses his words well, though eloquently. He very rarely shows emotion in his voice or in his face, only when reliving memories and under the stress of the suicide mission's possible fatality.

Despite this "role" Thane, surprise surprise, is far more complex than this position. As an assassin trained from birth he harbors no ill will towards those who taught him to kill. The hanar, an almost jellyfish like race, saved the drell from extinction by taking hundreds of thousands of drell to the hanar homeworld as the drell homeworld slowly decayed. Because of this the drell are a 'client race' to the hanar and attempt to pay back their actions by doing what the hanar cannot- such as killing and fighting. In this new drell culture to be chosen into service such as Thane was is considered an honor, and Thane indeed considers it this. When Shepard points out this hanar/drell relationship is fishy and all too much like slavery Thane is even offended by the implication, stating that any drell can refuse such service to the hanar but he did and would not. Thane seems to put a great deal of weight on not only honor but repaying those who aid you. He goes as far as getting a procedure done that allows him to properly communicate with the hanar, allowing him to see ultraviolet light that the hanar use in communications, even though now he cannot tell the difference between dark red, black and other such colors.

Thane has a curious attitude towards his profession and the morality of it. During each hit he tries and sometimes even goes out of his way to keep innocents safe. In his first appearance in Mass Effect 2 he locks several workers away for their own safety and even expresses regret and blame for the fact he could not save more of the people caught in his target's wrath and the backlash of all the fighting. Despite this he always completes a contract, regardless of the target and regardless of how innocent or corrupt the target may be. In game he states that an assassin is merely a weapon wielded, and those who wield said weapon are the ones responsible for it's actions.

This is where Thane gets a little contradictory. He does not see his profession or his actions as an assassin as 'his fault' so to speak, yet after his kill he prays for his own soul and not the target, claiming 'Prayers for the wicked must not be forsaken.' He says he has taken a great deal of evil out of the world but he still joins Shepard's suicide mission almost as a final, penitent act. A great deal of Thane's behavior can be explained through his race's (and his own) view of life and soul. Thane believes that his soul dwells on a separate plane than his body, and his body is a 'tool' for this plane and those around him. While his morality makes it difficult for him to always agree with the actions of his body he is 'disconnected' during those times. The actions of his soul are other matters, and perhaps it's these penitent actions that try to make up for those disconnected times.

Mortality effects Thane's character almost as much as his morality. Thane has Kepral's Syndrome, basically the humidity of the hanar homeworld and elsewhere is too much for his lungs to handle. Thane seems to take his condition in stride, even though he has only eight to twelves months left to live he rarely shows any fear or remorse, simply working to 'make the world brighter' before he goes. He admits to Shepard he had hoped the mission they met on would be his last, and that his target's guards would kill him. In the spirit of being contradictory yet again Thane does show a fear of death before the suicide mission. Should he be 'romanced' by Shepard he admits to her he is afraid to die there, and that fear shames him. Like his other contradictions it seems to be another struggle between body and soul- he is afraid to leave his body behind, his son and their slowly reforming relationship.

Thane claims to have 'been asleep' for nearly ten years, that his body and his soul were disconnected. After his wife's death he detached and murdered her killers, men who set out for revenge against him. While he is fairly open with Shepard, answering whatever questions she puts to him honestly and usually without reservation or hiding, he is socially a quiet individual. He is used to having his eyes on the door and his back to the wall, as his life as an assassin taught him from an early age. While he is hardly a warm person he does seem to 'wake up' as he works on the Normandy, specifically when he reconciles with his son thanks to Shepard's help. With that weight off his shoulders he becomes just a little less withdrawn and intensely focused on Shepard's cause.

Thane is also a deeply spiritual person with a rather unique faith. While most drells moved on from their polytheistic religion Thane continues to believe in several gods. He spends a good deal of time a day in meditation and prays to certain gods before and after a kill, including gods of the hunt and gods of protection. He and his race view death as 'returning to the sea' as the sea is a great unknown.


Background: What is known of Thane's early life is this: Thane is a drell who was born in 2146, on the hanar homeworld. The hanar, a race that saved the drells from extinction, have a sort of contract between the races, known as the Compact. The drells help the hanar in areas the hanar are weak in, fighting being prevalent. At the age of six Thane was given to the hanar to be trained as an assassin, something that was considered a high honor by the drell and hanar alike. At the age of twelve he made his first kill but little else about this time is known.

Thane was trained and eventually became a great assassin, one of the best amongst the drell if not the galaxy, considering the Illusive Man's standards for Shepard's team. It was during one of his assassinations that he met Irikah, another drell who noticed him and stood in his line of fire to stop him from killing his target. He became fascinated by her, eventually approaching her and going as far as going to his knees and asking forgiveness for the chance to know her better. Eventually Irikah not only forgave him but fell in love with him, and the two married. Thane was then released from his duties to the hanar to settle into family life.

He and Irikah had a son, Koylat, but Thane returned to assassinations as a freelancer, as he knew nothing else. He tried to be loving to his wife and child but his work took him far away, and his attention was too often on work instead of his family. Eventually his work caught up to him and his wife was killed by pirates trying to get revenge against him. After the funeral Thane left his son in the care of aunts and uncles and went for revenge against the men who killed Irikah. Despite his training to make death quick he took his time with them, and when it was done he returned to assassinations rather than his son.

Eventually Thane learns he has Kepral's Syndrome, a fatal disease in drell whose lungs can't handle the humidity of the hanar homeworld and elsewhere. Thane then begins killing on his own, taking targets he deems evil in an attempt to leave the world a better place than he left it. It is on one of these missions he meets Commander Shepard, learning of her mission to stop the Collectors from abducting human colonies. He agrees to help her for no charge, believing the suicide mission a good way to end his life, or simply continue it.

And then Mass Effect 2 happens.

Canon point: Thane is coming from events shortly after the end of Mass Effect 2. The Collectors are thwarted, the base is destroyed rather than given to Cerebus, and everyone's flying off into the sunset like a boss, waiting for whatever Mass Effect 3 will throw at them, or likely throw them. I would like to play him from this point because his character is developed to a good place for entering a new situation, and more importantly there won't be a constant worry that he abandoned his mission and squad since the mission is over.

Special Abilities:

Assassin Training: This is pretty much just the fact he's been trained since he was six to kill. No special powers or what not, just that he's a good fighter and very stealthy, ect. Thane seems to be more about stealth and speed, getting up close to his target or sniping.

Biotics: Thane has biotic ability, namely two moves:

- Warp: I'm not entirely sure how to translate this into a Jedi power. The ME wiki states: "Warp is a biotic power available to Adepts and Sentinels. The power spawns a mass effect field that damages enemy targets and stops health regeneration."

-Throw: Basically what is sounds like, and basically Force Throw.

Drell's also have eidetic memory, so Thane can remember anything instantly. Occasionally the ability is burdensome as he'll relive a memory inadvertently, often narrating it. Thane has also had an operation so he can see ultraviolet light.

Sect: Civilian for now!

Job: Bounty Hunter, though he'll probably be following Shepard and if she needs him to do something else he will.

Samples:

First Person: [audio]

[when the audio turns on there is a beat of silence before the barest sound of shifting is heard.] Hm, curious. Fairly high technology, not what one would expect to be given when captured. Then, perhaps, it is safe to assume this is more than it seems.

[...] Though my current state is not particularly calming to wake to. [Translation: Why am I mostly naked B( ]

Regardless, I assume this frequency will provide something in the way of answers. I eagerly await them.

[audio off.]

Third Person:

Someone onboard the Normandy made a joke to him once, citing the common phrase of the 'routine mission' and the almost ritual complaints before each mission's start. Of course he could remember that moment with startling accuracy, the dim light of the ship, casting an orange glow on the various human's already reddened skins, the sterile smell of metals and fuels and, for reasons he still was not sure of, oranges. Yet out of all the details of that single memory, a memory lost in an ocean of memories, each as trivial or enormous as the last, those words floated to the surface now, as he stood crouched on a high balcony.

Yes, routine, the steady ebb and flow of habits that many species revelled in. His own assassinations had always felt similar, he was merely a gun shot in different places, at different people, at different times. So rare were the moments of brillance, enough to break through the monotony of danger and killing and nearly being killed. For all it's excitement it was merely another cycle.

Yet now things were different. His finger tightened ever so slightly on the trigger, his breath hitched at the voices shouting into his comm. If he died here it would be one less to help the humans, one less to help Shepard defeat the impossible. If one of her squad died here it would be the same, one less help, one less face with varying degrees of friendliness or scorn, one less soul who shone almost as brightly as Shepard did, all drawn together.

It was not the protection of the innocent, it was... different. He revelled in the feeling, so similar to the days with Irikah, learning something new all over again. Being something new.

"Thane, twelve o'clock!"

Thane leveled his gun at the command, taking out two mercs that came rushing through the gates, guns blazing. It was quick work, just a routine mission and routine odds. He could see the tell tale blue of biotics as he slinked across the balcony, shouldering his gun so he could jump and snap the neck of the last merc standing in confusion nearby.

"Area cleared." He reported into his mic, stepping back against the wall to wait for orders. His arm was Shepard's, and that was proving not to be a bad place to be.

Anything Else: Nope!