Shepard and Mass Effect 3 Ending

Mass Effect: From the Ashes
GM
Mark
Game Time
Pre-production
Characters
TBD
Setting
The Citadel and Galactic Governance Council Races Factbook Rise of Corporations · Rise of Dragons The Matrix · Technological Advancements
Resources
House Rules · Character Gen Rules

Commander Alexandra Shepard of the System Alliance Navy, Spectre, and galactic war hero did not survive the Reaper War. She and a few small groups of allied forces (both regular military and insurgent "N7" teams) were among the few to reboard the Citadel to position and power the Crucible that ultimately defeated the Reapers.

In particular, one misfit group of N7s including a Quarian rapper, a pacifist, a psychotic biotic, and others, were the ones to ultimately Push the Button and in the process become Big Damn Heroes. Of course, Shepard still gets all the credit. However, anybody participating in the London ground campaign whose bodies weren't found are given the benefit of the doubt and assumed to have boarded the Citadel for the final push. You all get plaques on the Wall of Heroes that holds up the massive statue of Shepard. (Think Statue of Liberty sized.)

A variant of the Destroy ending occurred when the Crucible was ignited. This resulted in decimation of the Citadel, leaving little more than a husk of a station. The weapon created by the Crucible and Citadel combined – and emanated throughout the galaxy via the Mass Relay networks – relied on Reaper weakness to dark energy frequencies and pulses. This cascade effect of pulses throughout the galaxy eliminated all Reapers in a Relay system or any of its neighbouring systems. However, rumours abound of a few Reapers who were in deep-space transit at the time of the purge and who escaped the robotic genocide. Despite the "Star Child's" claims, the energy pulse only affected Reapers and most (but not all) Reaper forces.

Specific Outcomes

In case it matters, here's what happened to the many NPCs and team members of Mass Effect for the purposes of this campaign.

Normandy Crew Members

• Adm. Tali'Zorah vas Rannoch (Ret.): Tali'Zorah returned to Rannoch to help oversee her people's settlement on the Southern Continent. Over the next decade, her people transitioned back into a democratic government largely using the system in place on their ships. Tali'Zorah retired from her position as Admiral soon after. She retains the respect of her people as a war hero and has settled a scenic valley once described in stories by her father. She teaches engineering at the Aleri Institute of Technology, named after her father's ship.
• Dr. Liara T'Soni (The Shadow Broker): Liara maintains the twin lives of respected xenoarcheologist and Prothean expert, and Shadow Broker. She is a Professor at the University of Serrice (her alma mater) where she keeps a research lab dedicated to the Prothean civilization. She is by far the foremost expert in Prothean civilization, particularly after she co-wrote a book with the galaxy's sole living Prothean. As Shadow Broker, she does what she can to head off problems that might be too thorny even for a Spectre to tackle, and otherwise looking to keep galactic peace. Liara is the mother to one child, Benezia (Zia), the result of a melding with Shepard just prior to the final Battle of London.
• Garrus Vakarian, Special Tactics and Reconnaissance: For his efforts in the Reaper War, Garrus is given his second shot at becoming a Spectre, a task he easily completes. Out of Shepard's shadow, Garrus shines in his own right, forming his own loyal team once again to take down problematic individuals. Because of a Spectre's loose oversight, he can finally solve problems without fighting a bureaucracy over his actions. He also is highly valued by Primarch Victus, whom he served under during the Reaper War.
• Rear Adm. Ashley Williams, Special Tactics and Reconnaissance: Humanity's second Spectre stepped up to fill the void left by Shepard's death. Over the next several decades, she was promoted for her work both as a Spectre and as a trainer for the System Alliance Navy's next generation of officers and Marines, a job she continues to do. She was given command of the SSV Normandy SR-2, which has been through several refits to keep it a peak operational capacity. She has been offered newer starships for her work as a Spectre but is decidedly attached to the Normandy.
• Urdnot Wrex: Unusual among galactic powers, Wrex does not have a formal title but is simply known by his name. For just about everyone, that's enough. He rules over the Krogan Dominion with an enlightened hand (as enlightened as Krogan get), but it has meant a renaissance for his people.
• Kasumi Goto: Still around and responsible for the occasional large amount of credits going missing or valuable items. Kasumi trains several protegés and occasionally acts as a 'security consultant' for those with enough credits to ask her how to not get stolen from. Sometimes outwitting the competition is fun, too.
• Grunt: As a champion of Clan Urdnot, Grunt still leads and builds Aralakh Company to solve krogan problems in the way krogan solve problems best: by hammering it down hard.
• Jack: Jack returned to Grissom Academy to help rebuild it and train future generation of human biotics. Both her and her students' actions during the war have helped remove much of the stigma of being a biotic (at least among humans). Her war experience and remembrance of her time with Shepard have helped make her a motivated instructor. She is fiercely protective of her students as more than one administrator who has threatened to cut off the program has found out.
• Miranda Lawson: Miranda runs several organizations. One involves finding families for orphans and the other acts as a watchdog for genetic research and overambitious use that impact sentient beings. The latter puts her in conflict with many cutting-edge corporations such as Sirta Corporation, or numerous salarian scientists.
• Zaeed Massani: Still alive and leading a (relatively) quiet life of semi-retirement on Illium. He gets gigs from time to time on "security" related-matters from the many corporations who do business on Illium.
• Samara: As one of only a handful of Justicars remaining after the war, Samara has spent most of the last five decades retraining new Justicars in combat and drilling them in the Justicar Code. Despite this, she finds time to visit Falere at the rebuilt monastery where. Falere, true to her word, never left and is among the most senior members overseeing the sanctuary.
• Jacob Taylor: He has raised a family with Dr. Brynn Cole and serves as a security consultant while his wife teaches high-energy physics. Their family is large and Jacob is a soon-to-be great-grandfather.
• James Vega: Following in Shepard's footsteps, Vega joined the N7 program after the war. His combat experience during the War and service under Shepard led to his success in achieving the coveted N7 grade. He now instructs N7 initiates, using his war experience to expose them to the most extreme environments to fight under in preparation for future missions.
• EDI: EDI remains the AI on the SSV Normandy, though advancements in technology have allowed her to download a copy of her personality to the Cerberus android body and re-merge memories periodically. Her android self lives with Joker.
• Jeff "Joker" Moreau: Now an instructor at a "Top Gun" pilot school run by the Systems Alliance Navy. He enjoys the fame that has come with being the Normandy's pilot, not to mention having EDI at his side.
• Engineer Adams: Still with the Alliance Navy, but now an instructor for the next generation of voidsmen.
• Gabriella Daniels and Kenneth Donnolley: Both are still serving in the Alliance on the SSV Shepard, an Alliance dreadnought named after Cmdr. Shepard. To avoid conflicts of interest (because they're married), they are working for two separate departments within Engineering. The size of the dreadnought makes this possible and serving on the SSV Shepard feels like they are honouring their former commanding officer.
• Dr. Chakwas: Retired from the Alliance Navy and working a small clinic on the new Citadel. She has a lot of patients from the family of Alliance personnel posted to the Citadel.

Other NPCs

• The Rachni Queen: After the construction of the Crucible, the Rachni Queen retreated back to a system beyond the Rachni relay to rebuild her species. Numerous food soldiers participated in the liberation of Earth, however, which made for some touchy negotiations to return them to their Queen. She has limited participation in the Council Alliance deliberations, but maintains a representative (much like the asari you meet in Mass Effect 2 on Illium) to keep tabs on the rest of the galaxy. Much like Wrex, the Rachni Queen realizes that in order to manage one's image, one is required to participate in the broader society.
• Aria T'Loak: As much a Queen of Omega as ever, she has used her influence with the mercenary companies she took over during the Reaper War to expand her domain in the Terminus systems. She is now also considered one of the Great Dragons of the galaxy, given how much she personally controls.