A cyborg in the Wasteland [Fallout] [Self-insert]
- Thread starter SpiraSpira
- Start date
- Novel Sci-Fi
If I had to bet I'd expect at least droids out there, maybe even a Zax unit coordinating the whole thing.
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Her leaving is going to create one hell of a power vacuum.
On a completely unrelated note, it turns out the Antagoniser is canonically called Tanya, so Alice might not be her. (Or SpiraSpira didn't know this)
On a completely unrelated note, it turns out the Antagoniser is canonically called Tanya, so Alice might not be her. (Or SpiraSpira didn't know this)
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Btw, I don't think that would be the case at all. If anything, it'd be much easier for her to cooperate with geth than with perhaps any other species in the setting, simply because geth don't dismiss/reject a proposal without a clear logical reason. Especially if it's objectively beneficial. Simply put, if they don't have a logical reason to disagree with you, then they're not going to disagree with you. Technological progress is something that the entire geth collective would most likely immediately approve of. A much better idea than hyperfocusing on building some useless megacomputer.
Considering that an individual geth program is as smart as a housefly, Lily is literally going to be the most intelligent geth in existence, which will automatically grant her considerable degree of authority. Even if some part of the collective is going to be vehemently opposing her on every step for some completely inexplicable reason, she can always just pull a Sovereign - simply gather everyone who agrees with her and then fly away.
Geth is basically the easy-mode option among the available races.
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AzrielIlluminare
Mothman Cultist
- Pronouns
- They/Them
They were trying to build a Dyson Sphere/Swarm so they could have a megacomputer and tons of energy to play with. But honestly other than the faction that became the Heretic Geth who sided with Sovereign/Nazara the others would have no issues with her, after all they want to understand organics and eventually reunite with their creators. Both things Lily could help with, even if she isn't the best example of a 'normal' organic.
Edit: Plus, the megastructure would let all Geth unite into a single local network, drastically increasing their intelligence.
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- Location
- Planet Earth
TL;DR: My personal opinion is that the Asari are the better and more lore friendly insert choice out of all of the other races in Mass Effect.
For anyone interested in my reasoning, I'll give a little breakdown as too why the other races aren't really a good match overall (it's a bit wordy so I put in a spoiler tab):
For anyone interested in my reasoning, I'll give a little breakdown as too why the other races aren't really a good match overall (it's a bit wordy so I put in a spoiler tab):
First the obvious ones: Rachni, Leviathans, Reapers (though that could be amusing), Collectors, Yahg, Hanar (look, no one wants to be a jellyfish, though I will admit to having listened to all of the Blasto adds in ME3), Vorcha (No. Just no.), Volus, Batarians (because someone needs an easy villain to hate), Elcor (I'm 90% sure Lily would become depressed), Geth, Thorium and finally The Keepers. Most of the above are singled out as not likely due to them being the most 'alien' to us. And I don't mean simply due to their looks (though that does play a part), but due to their species mentality/culture/existence. I honestly can't picture Lily being happy being reincarnated into any of the above races, or even being able to socially integrate with them.
The Maybes, but unlikely are: Drell, Turians, Salarians and Protheans. The reasons for these are dependent on Lily's start in that verse, but most of them are excluded due to a few reasons:
(In bracket is expected lifespan)
The Drell (75-90) don't have much or any political influence, and they're very religious and socially tied to the Hanar (their benevolent Jellyfish overlords).
Salarians (35-40) have the shortest lifespans, which means Lily would have to be born pretty close to the events of the ME1 story line, which doesn't give her much time to go crazy (Unless @SpiraSpira wants to repeat what happened in Fallout and have her gather OP tech and win so quickly).
Prothean (180-200), kinda fall with the same reasoning as the Salarian insofar as the limited plot timing. I suppose Spira could do a pre-arc where Lily shows up a few decades before their last stronghold is destroyed, but that really wouldn't help in the future even if she woke up before ME1 starts. And as the 'last' of the Prothean, I doubt she'd be very 'free' to live her life and with no society to protect her, she'd be pretty much free game.
Turians (80-100) aren't too short lived, but they're also not really a society Lily would 'fit' into. In fact, I'm pretty sure she'd go all rebel on their asses and bring down the government out of sheer spite.
Now, the last three most likely of choices are: Quarians (120-140), Krogan (500-?) and Asari (900-1000).
The Quarians are politically screwed and socially ruined. It's not stated in lore, but if you read between the lines about what's not said/done for them, you might come to the conclusion that the Council are trying to ruin them and to prevent them ever being a threat to their political power. They also wouldn't really mesh well with Lily, as I'm pretty sure some of her ideas about AI and tech would make her be viewed on the same level as the Quarian equivalent of their Anti-Christ.
Krogans actual life span was never disclosed other than they're about as long lived as an Asari, so on that front they're are a good choice. However. Culturally, Krogan woman never leave their home worlds due to the genophage. And while they have a lot of influence in their tribes, due to the nature of said tribes they don't have much influence outside them either. They're also heavily viewed with suspicion and dislike by the council races due to the Krogan rebellion.
So after all that, we're left the with Asari. The reasonsing for them are numerous, from them being Politically powerful, have long lives and easy access to tech/education to name a few advantages. Plot wise, Spira can drop them a hundred years before the events of ME1 thus allowing Lily to build up; Capital/Political influence and tech. It will also allow her to travel widely and open doors to things like PMC/merc plots.
The Maybes, but unlikely are: Drell, Turians, Salarians and Protheans. The reasons for these are dependent on Lily's start in that verse, but most of them are excluded due to a few reasons:
(In bracket is expected lifespan)
The Drell (75-90) don't have much or any political influence, and they're very religious and socially tied to the Hanar (their benevolent Jellyfish overlords).
Salarians (35-40) have the shortest lifespans, which means Lily would have to be born pretty close to the events of the ME1 story line, which doesn't give her much time to go crazy (Unless @SpiraSpira wants to repeat what happened in Fallout and have her gather OP tech and win so quickly).
Prothean (180-200), kinda fall with the same reasoning as the Salarian insofar as the limited plot timing. I suppose Spira could do a pre-arc where Lily shows up a few decades before their last stronghold is destroyed, but that really wouldn't help in the future even if she woke up before ME1 starts. And as the 'last' of the Prothean, I doubt she'd be very 'free' to live her life and with no society to protect her, she'd be pretty much free game.
Turians (80-100) aren't too short lived, but they're also not really a society Lily would 'fit' into. In fact, I'm pretty sure she'd go all rebel on their asses and bring down the government out of sheer spite.
Now, the last three most likely of choices are: Quarians (120-140), Krogan (500-?) and Asari (900-1000).
The Quarians are politically screwed and socially ruined. It's not stated in lore, but if you read between the lines about what's not said/done for them, you might come to the conclusion that the Council are trying to ruin them and to prevent them ever being a threat to their political power. They also wouldn't really mesh well with Lily, as I'm pretty sure some of her ideas about AI and tech would make her be viewed on the same level as the Quarian equivalent of their Anti-Christ.
Krogans actual life span was never disclosed other than they're about as long lived as an Asari, so on that front they're are a good choice. However. Culturally, Krogan woman never leave their home worlds due to the genophage. And while they have a lot of influence in their tribes, due to the nature of said tribes they don't have much influence outside them either. They're also heavily viewed with suspicion and dislike by the council races due to the Krogan rebellion.
So after all that, we're left the with Asari. The reasonsing for them are numerous, from them being Politically powerful, have long lives and easy access to tech/education to name a few advantages. Plot wise, Spira can drop them a hundred years before the events of ME1 thus allowing Lily to build up; Capital/Political influence and tech. It will also allow her to travel widely and open doors to things like PMC/merc plots.
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AzrielIlluminare
Mothman Cultist
- Pronouns
- They/Them
As far as I know Krogan actually live longer than Asari. Nakmor Drack from ME: Andromeda is around 1400ish (before the 600-year journey to Andromeda) and while he's considered extremely old, nobody is acting like he's going to die of old age either.
But honestly, all of the races have pros and cons. It's one of the reasons I'd rather not see an Asari, because yeah, it'll come with its own challenges, but it just feels kind of boring? Its why I hope for something more exotic like a Volus, Elcor etc.
Plus, now that I'm thinking about it a Krogan Lily sounds pretty neat.
A solid reasoning, but I still don't understand what's wrong with all those races you listed at the beginning. Well, aside from Yahg, Vorcha and The Keepers. Just because they're 'alien'? It's not like Lily is a shining example of a standard human either. She'd spent at least a century as a gigantic cyber-spider. And she's definitely not good at socially integrating with, well, anyone. And it doesn't seem like she even wants to, in the first place.
Thorian is actually a swell choice, to be honest (I'm not kidding). Who needs social integration when you have mind-control spores?
Trying to gain political power among Asari? Good luck trying to outplay the Matriarchs. She'll need all of it. The story is just going to turn into a reproduction of the House of Cards. I'm personally not looking forward to reading 100 chapters of political intrigue.
Asari option is just… boring.
AzrielIlluminare
Mothman Cultist
- Pronouns
- They/Them
Plus, you know Lily is going to complain about their Electronic-Democracy or try to play the system and end up getting in a lot of trouble over it. But yeah... unless Lily is a Matriarch, she's not really getting any respect or political power. I mean the closest thing to a central government the Republics have is literally called the Council of Matriarchs.
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You could always continue this story by having fallout earth actually exist in the star trek universe, especially considering the Preservers actually went around duplicating planets, like the planet Miri that was an exact copy of earth that diverged in the mid-1960s. So it wouldn't be too difficult to say fallout earth is another copy that diverged.
I can understand that, as variety is the spice of life after all. But in this case, it simply doesn't fit the story. While a Krogan Lily sounds amusing, it just doesn't suit her as a character (or maybe it can? But I have no idea how to do that and make it lore friendly). The same logic applies to the other ones you mentioned. It might sound interesting because it's 'exotic', but I highly doubt it would end up that way. You've also got to think of it from the Authors PoV as well. How do you expect Spira to write a character like that and make it work with a character like Lily. The Communist hating socialist liberal tyrant that she is? It's easy for Spira to write Lily in Fallout because, honestly, other than the History of Pre-war, it's pretty much an open book and you can do whatever the hell you want as long as you have the bigger stick. You can't do that in Mass Effect (well maybe you could? But only if you have a lot of power, both politically, monetarily and physically etc etc) due to the fact that society hasn't nuked itself into the iron age.
In saying all that, I could be wrong. My reasoning might not apply as I'm not the creative genius that Spira is, so maybe we will see a Hanar Lily.
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TL;DR: Aliens are weird man. @_@. But on a serious note: We've got to keep in mind that Lily is a human in mind/spirit. When she goes to Mass Effect, she will still BE human in those aspect, no matter what form she takes. As such it matters that she chooses a form that is 'human' enough that she can 'blend in' until she learns about her new race.
My full thoughts/reasoning are below and again, it is a bit of a read so I've dropped it into a spoiler tag:
Well, Baterians are easy to knock off the 'why' list;
1. They are easy to hate on (because they're slaver scum).
2. Lily would make a TERRIBLE Baterian.
3. No one likes them, politically or socially (refer to #1).
4. Their Government would probably capture her and lock her away so she can slave away making them weapons/cyborgs (refer to #2).
5. They are FUGLY AF (refer to #3).
The reasons for: (1) Rachni, (2) Thorium, (3) Collectors, (4) Reapers and (5) Leviathans, are:
1. Extinct (until events in ME1), and the Council HATE THEM. That are they are very easy to corrupt via Reaper tech. They're also extremely alien.
2. There is only one of them as far as we are aware, but even then, I doubt Lily would be keen to use the Spores to mind control people. As that would be VERY out of character of her.
3 & 4. Are the enemy. And finally:
5. Are actual god damn space Cuttlefish who are the sole god damn reason the Reapers are thing due to their incredibly stupid AI. That, and they're in hiding, as such Lily would be trapped with them, would give her a lot of time to research though...
The reasons for: Hanar, Volus and Elcor:
Can you picture Lily as any one of these Aliens? The Volus are a very distant MAYBE. But on the whole, the Volus are client race to the Turians and honestly, I simply can't see Lily as an ammonia breathing fat short-stack.
And the Elcor. God almighty! DEPRESSIVE COMMENT: BUT WHY!?
The Hanar are Jellyfish. Religious fanatic space fairing Jellyfish. The only thing Lily MIGHT like about them, is their multiple... tentacle arm thingies. But this ain't no hentai! 2 out of 3 of these races are vastly different, in both mindset and biology. With Volus being the closest, but still too culturally different to her at this moment.
Now Lily could probably function quite well in the Geth collective network, but she'd also be extremely alien to the Geth, who'd notice her right away for what she is, which is NOT Geth. The Geth are the clear example of: "You don't have a soul, you ARE a soul. You have a body.", they don't have body's per-se, they have constructs that they use temporary use to visit the real world. As such, how do you think Lily will see herself in their digital world? Like a Geth? Or like her human self?
1. They are easy to hate on (because they're slaver scum).
2. Lily would make a TERRIBLE Baterian.
3. No one likes them, politically or socially (refer to #1).
4. Their Government would probably capture her and lock her away so she can slave away making them weapons/cyborgs (refer to #2).
5. They are FUGLY AF (refer to #3).
The reasons for: (1) Rachni, (2) Thorium, (3) Collectors, (4) Reapers and (5) Leviathans, are:
1. Extinct (until events in ME1), and the Council HATE THEM. That are they are very easy to corrupt via Reaper tech. They're also extremely alien.
2. There is only one of them as far as we are aware, but even then, I doubt Lily would be keen to use the Spores to mind control people. As that would be VERY out of character of her.
3 & 4. Are the enemy. And finally:
5. Are actual god damn space Cuttlefish who are the sole god damn reason the Reapers are thing due to their incredibly stupid AI. That, and they're in hiding, as such Lily would be trapped with them, would give her a lot of time to research though...
The reasons for: Hanar, Volus and Elcor:
Can you picture Lily as any one of these Aliens? The Volus are a very distant MAYBE. But on the whole, the Volus are client race to the Turians and honestly, I simply can't see Lily as an ammonia breathing fat short-stack.
And the Elcor. God almighty! DEPRESSIVE COMMENT: BUT WHY!?
The Hanar are Jellyfish. Religious fanatic space fairing Jellyfish. The only thing Lily MIGHT like about them, is their multiple... tentacle arm thingies. But this ain't no hentai! 2 out of 3 of these races are vastly different, in both mindset and biology. With Volus being the closest, but still too culturally different to her at this moment.
Now Lily could probably function quite well in the Geth collective network, but she'd also be extremely alien to the Geth, who'd notice her right away for what she is, which is NOT Geth. The Geth are the clear example of: "You don't have a soul, you ARE a soul. You have a body.", they don't have body's per-se, they have constructs that they use temporary use to visit the real world. As such, how do you think Lily will see herself in their digital world? Like a Geth? Or like her human self?
I don't actually think Lily likes ANY form of Government. The Tyrannical/Authoritarians much less so (those I suspect would lead to very bad times for all involved if she has to work within those kinds of society's).
And you're both are correct that Asari Matriarchs are the real power in their cultures. However, being (and/or any of these) a daughter to a Matriarch, being powerful biotic, being a scientific genius will still make her very politically powerful as well as respected enough to be able to do what she wants. The reason Liara had so much issues is not only was she young, but she was also seen as one of those 'conspiracy' crackpots in the scientific community (trust me, once you get labeled with the cray cray tag, you lose -50 of rep with everyone within said community). I also don't mean for Lily to go into politics when I say "politically/influentially" strong. I mean, by having/being those things allows Lily to do what she WANTS. Having those things opens doors for her and allows her access to the universe that any other race simply doesn't and can't have. As a bonus; they're also one of the most technologically advanced race as well (due to them having the Beacon in the temple).
But again, In saying all that, I could be wrong. My reasoning/logic might not apply as I'm not the creative genius that Spira is. Maybe I will see an Elcor Lily.
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- Location
- Currently trapped in Non-Euclidean space.
I see where your coming from about the MC.... But there's still so much to explore. I would love to see some Alice/Gary adventures where Lily becomes the NPC.
Also where's my heart rending scene where Lily accidentally calls Alice her daughter.....
Also where's my heart rending scene where Lily accidentally calls Alice her daughter.....
Agreed. Sadly however is that Spira fell into the classic powercreep trap. And regardless, a writer follows wherever their muse decides to go. And I'd rather take a temp trip to a new Verse than have Spira burn out totally in Fallout and never go back (or worse, drop this story!).
So the trouble I see is that almost every narrative reason to send Lily to ME... is actually a reason Lily shouldn't want to go to ME. At least, not with business left undone.
This is problematic because 1) it sounds like she will have control, and 2) conversely if she doesn't have control over this event, it would mean she is a repeated victim of a malicious god. and that'd suck.
To be more specific, impulsive actions notwithstanding, Lily seems to strive for risk-averse behavior. That's why she builds up her power. Being ISOTed by herself means being all but powerless-- literally powerless if an infant. Not to mention her being unavailable if her Fallout stuff is threatened, and while most of her powerbase is assets, currently nobody can substitute for her technological problem solving.
I suppose the mysterious system could explicitly guarantee nothing bad will happen before she can return... eh.
It doesn't matter, I guess. However the start works out, I know the story will be entertaining since you're writing it.
honestly, that's a bit of a shame seeing how lily's future eclipse phase/fallout society interacts with the mass effect races sounds pretty interesting
Asari, but she's an Ardat-Yakshi. Gives her a normal childhood, an extreme culture clash with her birth culture once she hits sexual maturity, and something to chew on long term genetics wise as something in herself to fix, as well as a bit of a moral dilemma such as it is. Her body wants her to meld with people, she gets actual tangible gains from doing so but they die from it. Does she just target scum? Lily would honestly be totally fine with that, but it does mean she has to sleep with scum to get her fix and she's going to be on the run from the justicars. I don't see her ever accepting the exile life and being under the thumb of a government that is totally cool with killing her if it's politically expedient.
Same basic threads can be used if she's Quarian. Long term genetic problem to chew on with their immune system, a massive culture clash with her home culture's beliefs, and probably at least a little bit of "on the run from the law" if she remembers how to program AI...or starts working with the Geth.
Honestly I kind of hope she ends up in the terminus systems, same kind of wild west vibe as fallout.
Edit: As for the universe hopping in general, as long as she has some way to remain in contact with Alice in some capacity I think it's cool. Fallout is reaching to tipping point where she's out producing any real threat and any further story would need to focus solely on interpersonal and diplomatic issues. Mass effect has more room to move. I just don't like the idea of her leaving behind the one character she has a very strong connection with, completely.
That said I can totally see her curiosity getting her to universe hop if she could either drag Alice with her or thinks she can find a way back. They're both pretty close to immortality at this point so timeframe isn't really a factor (but I do like the time dilation idea).
(Also I'm pretty sure Alice is very close to a 1 on her personal scale, she totally put herself at slightly more risk to make sure Alice wasn't standing when that mini-nuke hit them)
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It's an interesting idea. She'd need to not be found out at birth, otherwise she'd be locked away in their monastery for life, or constantly on the run due to being hunted. They also become quickly addicted to soul sucking their victims. So even if Lily targeted only 'bad guys', it could quickly become a major issue, not to mention that form of death is pretty unique and will instantly be seen for what it is and she'll be hunted. And that's because, it's not WHO they kill that is the problem. It's due to the Asari's 'face' (and I mean the Chinese version, which is a mixing of respect, public appearance etc etc) on a whole that they're treated the way they are. It's the Asari's dark little secret that don't want the rest of the verse to know about.
Was actually just reading the wiki, part of the problem of Ardats is that they can't be found out at birth. It only expresses itself when they hit sexual maturity, so she would have had a taste of freedom and wider galaxy, and then they would try and throw her in a monastery.
And yeah, her being hunted by the Justicars and dealing with the addiction would probably have to be the main thrust of the fic until she either found a solution to the problem, or managed to slip pursuit in such a way they can't find her again. It's a distinctive style of death, but they do need a body to examine ya know. The terminus has people disappear and die all the time.
Edit: To be clear, I don't really think that's the direction Spira is going to go, I just think it would be interesting. The Quarians honestly work better with her personal beliefs and history as a foil and still put her at a disadvantage she has to work through. They are outcasts/undercast after all.
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Imagine Krogan Lily curing the genophage and having an army of super loyal genetically enhanced Krogan though.
Yeah see that runs into one of two problems. Either it's an "I win" button for a lot of her potential lower level problems, or it gets them all killed pretty much immediately. The Genophage being solved gets the council to reconsider it's "merciful" decision to use a bioweapon instead of kinetic impactors. Aside from that Krogan in general just don't really mesh with her vibe, the vast majority of them are either culturally or by nature violent meatheads.
Personally I don't have a huge level of sympathy for the Krogans fate, they kind of brought it on themselves. The worst part of it was the Salarians being dicks in how they implemented the Genophage with it causing essentially infant mortality instead of just sterilizing them entirely or lowering the birth rate to something more in line with everyone else that didn't evolve on death central:extra death.
That said even if she's not a Krogan I could see her modifying the Genophage into something more humane out of nothing more than academic interest and her professional pride as a geneticist being offended over how sloppy it is.
If she's not Krogan though she would have other things on her plate first, and if she is Krogan she's smart enough to see how tampering with the Genophage is going to get kill teams dropping on her 24/7. It's not like she actually wants a klutch of kids, she has Alice for that.
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AzrielIlluminare
Mothman Cultist
- Pronouns
- They/Them
I mean honestly no matter what species she ends up as when we get to ME, once she's old enough to go out on her own, she'll most likely go to the Terminus Systems to escape Citadel Laws and oversight. And that's if she isn't just born out there anyways.
Although obviously the superior choice is to be a Leviathan.
Be your own boss, tell those thralls to worship you, be the 'Apex' species. Just watch out for the murderous metal cuttlefish.
Although obviously the superior choice is to be a Leviathan.
Be your own boss, tell those thralls to worship you, be the 'Apex' species. Just watch out for the murderous metal cuttlefish.
Yeah, the Krogans got punished, as they should, but the way they were punished was probably a mistake. Nothing pisses of a species off more than harming their children, or in this case, potential for children. But I think the issue the Salarians had with the Krogan and the reason they choose this method, is that the Krogans base genetics are stupidly robust and adaptive (I think this is mentioned in ME1 or 2). And when they found something that worked, they went for it right away. I also don't know if Lily could modify the Genophage. I'm not saying that she can't, just that I don't know who's bio-science is more advanced. That's why I suspect Spira plans to reincarate Lily as a child, so that she has more time to 'learn' and adapt to her new situation, and why I'm convinced it will be a humanoid species rather than some exotic kind of race, like Hanar.