Helen Shepard

Full Name: Helen Holly Shepard

Nickname(s): Shep, Shepard, Sheepdog, Red Rover

Species: Human

Ethnicity: American

Spoken Languages: English

Religion: Unaligned

Age: 46

Gender: Female

Pronouns: She/Her

Sexuality: Bisexual

Occupation: Veteran Alliance soldier, Commander of an Alliance ship

Eye Color(s): Green

Hair Color(s): Red

Height: 5’9”

Weight: 160 pounds

Body Build: Built, muscular

Notable Physical Traits: Scar along jaw

Alternate Forms: None

Faceclaim: None

Voiceclaim: Jennifer Hale

Phobia(s): None

Mental Disorder(s): Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, Hypervigilance

Physical Disease(s): None

Assistive Devices/Services: None

Medications: Sertraline 100mg

Parent(s): Unknown mother, unknown father

Sibling(s): None

Partner(s): None

Child(ren): None

Friend(s): Captain Anderson

Allies: The Alliance Military

Rival(s): None

Enemies: None

Content warning for war mentions, PTSD, violence, and death.

Born in a sprawling megatropolis on earth, Helen was orphaned by her parents at a young age and was presented with the opportunity to meet them. Not that she showed any interest in doing so. She had nothing left from them but the name they gave her, bitterness, and a low sense of self-worth that would plague her forever more as an insecurity, and so from early on, she was forced to fend for herself and hide her weaknesses. Her childhood was spent running with an underground gang. Afternoons and evenings were spent committing petty theft just to survive, and Shepard was often reported as a lost child rummaging through bins for food. She was known for being a gutsy and witty kid, using her innocent appearance and orphan backstory to draw pity and sympathy from many so she could either receive their handouts or distract them long enough to rob them blind. As well-recognized as she came to be, Helen was never able to be caught by authorities and relied heavily on the protection and provisions of the gang she lived with to get by, eventually growing more independent as time went on. As with many other things, Shepard’s perception of life and desires changed, and her interests began drifting away from that of her gang family. Wanting to turn things around and start a better life for herself, Shepard joined the alliance military when she turned eighteen and began training to become an elite marines soldier.

During her military days, Helen faced a lot of criticism from superiors and other marines on account of her infamous history. Many doubted her abilities or refused to let her on missions for fear that she was nothing more than a criminal, lacking in the skill to complete the tasks needed of a soldier or worse, that she would turn her gun on her brothers and sisters-in-arms. Desperate to prove herself, Helen volunteered for a mission to investigate a lush planet that had recently been colonized by humans in Alliance space– including some of her old friends from earth that she had stayed in contact with– but that had gone off the grid and answered to outgoing transmissions to it with radio silence. Upon arriving, her and the other volunteers found the settlement perfectly intact, but there were no signs of the settlers. When nightfall came, the investigating battalion was horrified to discover that massive organisms living in the dirt had emerged and began attacking the search-and-rescue party. Though all of the marines fought valiantly, no amount of gunfire was able to drown out the horrifying screams of Shepard’s fellow soldiers being entangled and devoured as they made a hasty retreat. Fifty soldiers were left to die on the planet, with another twenty-four dying en route back to base. Helen was the sole survivor of the encounter.

Upon reviewing recovered footage of what had happened on the planet, Shepard was praised for her efforts in trying to save as many of her comrades as possible and was eventually promoted. The whispers about her quickly changed their tune almost overnight, as she’d not only cleared but brought honor to her name at the cost of being forever scarred by what she endured on the planet. She was there to provide a eulogy as an honorary plaque was placed on the planet to commemorate those lives lost on the mission. From that point onward, Shepard became motivated to make sure she never lost another soldier or civilian in her charge ever again and vowed to complete any and every mission she found herself on without fail.

Determined not to let the incident get the better of her, Shepard continued to train relentlessly, going on countless other search and rescue missions, as well as the tracking and neutralizing of rogue elements, and other threats to humans and the Alliance as a whole. She received several more promotions before being named commander of an experimental prototype ship complete with its own crew handpicked and trained by the finest in their respective field. Now charged with helping serve as an intergalactic police force for the Alliance, Shepard looks into suspicious circumstances, reports to defensive and offensive operations, cracks down on smuggling and illegal trade, continues to carry out rescue missions, and does what she can to help make the galaxy a safer place for her kind and all kinds.

Many have mistaken Helen’s resting expression for exhaustion. However, nothing could be further from the truth. Helen is always as alert and aware of her surroundings as she is stoic and serious by nature. She constantly maintains a calm, collected composure, even when she’s running her ship with an iron fist. She’s determined, intelligent, innovative, and analytical, always taking notes (mentally and physically) on the information she receives and thinking hard on it to come up with solutions. She has a plan for everything, and in case something goes wrong, she always has several other plots to fall back on just in case. She’s methodical in her ways of going about tasks and tries to keep an open-mind in the event that she runs out of ideas. Moreover, Shepard takes every precaution in maintaining the safety and welfare of her crew. She eliminates any possible risk when going over mission plans, exercises her critical senses of perception and observation in a given circumstance, and never fails to relay information and keep close communication with her crew. If someone is injured she immediately sends them to retreat and have them treated if she cannot do so herself. She refuses to ever leave a teammate behind and is willing to die before any of her colleagues do. While getting close to her proves itself to be a challenge, her crew and colleagues have grown on Shepard and revealed that she has a very pleasant and amiable personality beneath her work ethic. She’s more of a listener than a talker, she’s very polite and respectful, and enjoy holding leisurely conversations with her companions now and again. For the most part, Helen is incredibly focused and work-oriented and often finds difficulty in separating herself from her job to have personal time. This is partially because in Shepard’s mind, work is a welcome distraction from herself.

Despite years having gone by, Shepard struggles immensely with her self-image and worth. She still hasn’t come to terms with what happened on the colony, and she feels lost when she looks in the mirror. She’s smart enough to know that she should be taking steps to face her issues and overcome them, but she feels immensely uncomfortable with the idea of facing questions she may never receive the answer to. This is helped in no way by the fact that she has become aware that her parents are still alive and didn’t want to see her for the commemorative ceremony on the lost colony, or even her award ceremony following it. In addition, she still occasionally catches wind of rumors about her that are still circulating, and while she knows better than to acknowledge them, they still sting. All in all, Shepard is a very tired soldier with a lot of weight to carry in her personal life. And so, to avoid dealing with it all, she focuses intensely on her work to continue putting off the responsibility of taking care of herself. And she knows she’s doing exactly that.

DISLIKES: Open spaces, bare dirt, not having shoes to wear, being hungry, avoidable conflict

MAIN - Mass Effect Trilogy

• Shepard serves as the commander of the N7 Normandy, traveling the galaxy to help wherever possible and save life as she knows it from the annihilation of the reapers.

• Shepard’s main focus is on her work. Her job and her crew will always come first to her.

• Shepard struggles to form deeper connections and be open with people on a more personal level. It’ll take time for her to come around.

• Shepard prefers to bottle up her issues and will not give an immediate response to being put down. She doesn’t like showing that she’s hurt, or any other sign of weakness.

• Shepard does not react well to being antagonized and she will react to direct threats or insults as an officer of the law.

• TXT